Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

You need to do something to punch up the bases.

How are you marking the squads?

@Lagduf: I never ever use GW paints (or just about any supplies from them, they haven't been high quality for years...and now that a few are, sadly I can still get better colors in a broader range for alot less elsewhere). Same holds true for other game company paints. Some are indeed very nice, but I can't figure out why I should ever buy 1/4 the paint for 2x the price at a lower quality. If I am going to pay a hefty premium for a brand name, that brand name better not be K-Mart. lol

I like the white bases because I don't like how the black looks...the model doesn't look the way I want it to when I use other base colors.

Sadly if that means they are standing on cheese, so be it. lol I will clean them up later today and see how it looks then.

@Blackmoor: Well whether the the cleanup I do makes them pop better or not, I've got to finish up. I'd rather not go to Vegas with gaping holes in my hands, and it takes a week to recover from painting. Not sure about a need to differentiate the squads. It's been a bit of a pain while playing, but almost everyone really is interchangeable with everyone else. Let me see...

The GK are separated by their weapons. Squad A has swords, B has halberds.

The Sisters are almost never intermingled.

The stormtroopers are also never intermingled but are 'crouching' so I can tell them apart from the normal IG.

The regular IG are almost all identical, and I'm not sure I need to do a whole lot to separate them out--or could at this point.

The retinues have different characters leading them, and the WH/DH retinues do have different looks so I can tell them apart, and are usually not deployed together.

That said, what I think would work is just giving every kind of unit a roman numeral on my facing (the back side) to tell them apart. So like the Sisters would be I and II. GK I and II. IG would be I - IV, and retinues I-III. Seems simple enough? It's quite a cluster**** on my side of the table anyway lol and with my theme I expect to confuse people. It's not like my drop pod marines who didn't need identifiers because they were usually physically separate on the battlefield despite all being quite uniform in appearance.

@ Grizgrin: You've got it down exactly. Even the lowliest servant in this army is very much in line with the Emperor being divine and protecting them.

@ old man ultramarine: Yep, it certainly does. lol

The paints I'm using are:

Apple Barrel White.
Folkart Sunny Yellow.
Apple Barrel Yellow.
Folkart Opaque Orange.
Apple Barrel Bright Red.
Folkart Engine Red.
Delta Black.

Cost of two GW paints? No wonder I have so many paints to choose from. lol Even the cheapest brands > GW.

I hear the foundation paints are good, but to a outside observer that's like saying the Olympic is a good ship.

Stelek wrote:Not with my friends. I'm too sexy.

Now you may puke.

done

I thought of this for some reason. Not to mess with the blog.

Stelek wrote:The paints I'm using are:

Apple Barrel White.
Folkart Sunny Yellow.
Apple Barrel Yellow.
Folkart Opaque Orange.
Apple Barrel Bright Red.
Folkart Engine Red.
Delta Black.

Cost of two GW paints? No wonder I have so many paints to choose from. lol Even the cheapest brands > GW.

I hear the foundation paints are good, but to a outside observer that's like saying the Olympic is a good ship.

I've been using GW paints since i'm just learning still and it's easier for me to follow the color guides on online tutorials for painting. Also convenience is a factor, I buy GW paints at my FLGS to support them. Although I do have some craft store acrylic paints in big bottles mostly of real generic colors (brown/green/gray/etc).

Thanks for the color list.

the emperor protects them from lava, but stil get blasted by heavy flamers/meltas by the enemies. interesting

enmitee wrote:the emperor protects them from lava, but stil get blasted by heavy flamers/meltas by the enemies. interesting

And I guess that those enemies have equally extreme divine protection to walk around on the same battlefield...

No, they are heretics and must be purged!

That's why you bring your own Inquisition army to death worlds, man what CAN'T you get away with? lol

You've pulled this off with aplomb, I likey. I would edge the bases in a darker colour though, maybe black or dark brown, but leave the tops the colour they are, it'd frame them nicely.

I'm a bit impressed and surprised that you use apple barrel and folk art paints. I've used them in the past, and while I've seen some pretty impressive work done with them I generally feel the pigment amount is just too low. There's a reason why they're so cheap!

As for the army, it's an interesting concept, and from a distance quite visually striking. I too feel that the bases aren't ideal - it would almost have been better without the cork, instead just putting them just on the glue or water effects or whatever. Then that really would be the "rising from the lava" bit. Oh well, next time!

Agreed. That would frame up nice.

Yeah my buddy Jimmy told me if I'd put the cork around the models feet and done the darker effect on it, it'd have come off beautifully.

Sadly, I can't really fix it without rebasing the entire army.

Though everyone at the local shop had a good time giving me suggestions on how to do it.

Some anatomically impossible.

I am going to go to a local toy store down the street, see if I can find a lava kit or something to build a scenic base around.

Guess we'll see, Utah is sadly a horrible place to shop on Sundays.

tzeentchling wrote:I'm a bit impressed and surprised that you use apple barrel and folk art paints. I've used them in the past, and while I've seen some pretty impressive work done with them I generally feel the pigment amount is just too low. There's a reason why they're so cheap!

I have a secret.

I know how to separate the extra filler liquids out (about a quarter of the bottle).

Once that is done, they have a very high pigment content. lol

Ok the opaque ones don't but...they are at least uniformly opaque unlike alot of other 'opaque' paints where you can see the damn chips floating like some kind of bad toilet disaster on your models.

Greebynog wrote:You've pulled this off with aplomb, I likey. I would edge the bases in a darker colour though, maybe black or dark brown, but leave the tops the colour they are, it'd frame them nicely.

Thank you. If I have time I'll do one and show you why I didn't like it.

Gotta run now though.

Man, Utah sucks on Sundays.

Every place that was open, had a science section consisting of playdoh.

Man, these are troubling times.

I know, shopping in SC can be a bastard on sundays. hell, you can only get booze on sunday in this state as of a couple years back. Thought I'd had an aneyurism when a new FLGS opened up that would keep sunday hours. Dude just likes mondays off, I guess. Suits me.

Stelek wrote:

tzeentchling wrote:I'm a bit impressed and surprised that you use apple barrel and folk art paints. I've used them in the past, and while I've seen some pretty impressive work done with them I generally feel the pigment amount is just too low. There's a reason why they're so cheap!

I have a secret.

I know how to separate the extra filler liquids out (about a quarter of the bottle).

Once that is done, they have a very high pigment content. lol

Ok the opaque ones don't but...they are at least uniformly opaque unlike alot of other 'opaque' paints where you can see the damn chips floating like some kind of bad toilet disaster on your models.

Can you share this secret with us (or at least me)?

Just read through all of this - Man, I wish i could handle the metal minis better like you. Try to avoid converting much in the way of metal as it's an expensive way to mess things up.

ninerfan wrote:Just read through all of this - Man, I wish i could handle the metal minis better like you. Try to avoid converting much in the way of metal as it's an expensive way to mess things up.

It's not that hard really. I don't use a vice or clamps or anything. Just a dremel.

The best way to get practice is to get some old metal models from the bargain bin, and work on those.

You really do have to destroy a few models to get the hang of it, but once you do you will have a valuable skill.

It will suit you well when chopping up plastics too.

Good advice - I'll have to find me some old minis to murder

temprus wrote:

Stelek wrote:

tzeentchling wrote:I'm a bit impressed and surprised that you use apple barrel and folk art paints. I've used them in the past, and while I've seen some pretty impressive work done with them I generally feel the pigment amount is just too low. There's a reason why they're so cheap!

I have a secret.

I know how to separate the extra filler liquids out (about a quarter of the bottle).

Once that is done, they have a very high pigment content. lol

Ok the opaque ones don't but...they are at least uniformly opaque unlike alot of other 'opaque' paints where you can see the damn chips floating like some kind of bad toilet disaster on your models.

Can you share this secret with us (or at least me)?

I let the liquid that appears on top of the paint after it separates, evaporate.

Concentrates the pigment nicely.

I "lose" about 1/4 of the paint this way and it tends to dry quickly as a result...

But I will gladly pay 79 cents for 2 fluid ounces instead of 3 bucks for 0.4 fluid ounces if I get triple the usable product for one third the price.

My paints are many years old and don't ever go totally useless unless it's been a decade or more, unlike GW paints which tend to crap out after two years sitting around.

I hear they are better now. Still overpriced.

If I want to pay 3 dollars for paint, I'll get the actual expensive artist tube paint that has the more expensive binder in it...about twice the price but usually comes in 4 ounce tubes.

Hope that helps.

You know, Stelek, I have to say that for all the naysayers about how this is ultimately looking, I gotta give you mucho credit for going out on a limb with something completely different. The fact that the paintjobs are totally outside the box for most viewers is okay - you've put a ton of work into executing these in an internally consistent manner.

It's because of this project that I'm reconsidering Bretonnians for WHFB. I hate the thought of painting up all those different heraldries. So, I started thinking about how you painted these guys up. You've got a fluff reason for why they are the way they are - it makes sense to you. Similarly, I got to thinking about making my Brets like the LotR Army of the Dead. I can still paint them in an interesting way, have good fluff for them, and play them as I want.

So, even if this doesn't turn out as you'd originally imagined, it's going to be a completely unique army!

And that's two people who have been artistically inspired by this thread. Two who have spoken up.

I learned long ago that if I start painting an army and it looks identical to anyone else's army, I'm disappointed.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with it, but I'd rather feel like my army is different than go through a lot of work and effort just to see people walk by my army on the tabletop as 'another brand X army' and not even stop.

I got alot of flack for my Eldar, but people stopped to look at it. Hell even if it was to ridicule it, I think that's better than walking by eyes glazed over.

Who knows. I stopped to look at precisely one army last year at Vegas because it stood out. It had like a reverse glow in the dark effect. It too got average paint scores. I took the time to let the creator of such a unique look know that I at least appreciated it very much.

Then I went on, impressed by all the very neat armies arrayed on the tabletop that in the end all looked the same to me and none caused me to oooh and aaah.

Hell, the guy who won best painted (who I played) had a very crisp paint job but it was his little conversions and multi-magnetization of just about everything that impressed me--not his otherwise excellent paint job, the labor of love he put into his vision.

Alot of players don't do that, or they do it poorly. I've made alot of mistakes in my time, but once I get a vision of how my army needs to look I do everything I can to make it happen.

DBM, are you going to Vegas? I made my Legion of the Damned in the LotR Army of the Dead scheme. I would do it a bit differently now if I could, sadly I can't.

very nice looking. They have come quite a ways from your original concept.

I like the concept. I really do. the problem isn't something you can easily fix though.

And it's all relative really. How real do you want it to look? If real is what you are going for, then you will have to highlight and shade each and every band of color. Also realize that no one can stand on molten lava, since it's liquid and all. but one could easily use hot "footprints" from the dripping lava over darker cooling thicker lava. again, that's not an easy fix, because you'd have to paint all the bases darker, except the footprints. Although the footprints would give your army a look of moving or motion..

Again, that's all just nitpicky to be honest. It's a bold attempt at a very difficult thing you are doing.

You are doing two things at once, using the relative heat of the areas to determine what color they will be and the heat of the surrounding area will also factor in. (although youhaven't done that.)

Your army will definately catch eyes. Even if when they approach they only do so to scrutinize and put down your effort.

I applaud you on a job well done. It might not win any medals but it sure is themed and all your models look uniform.

good luck in your games.

Stelek wrote:DBM, are you going to Vegas? I made my Legion of the Damned in the LotR Army of the Dead scheme. I would do it a bit differently now if I could, sadly I can't.

Unfortunately, I'm not. I've seen a few pics of your LotD and thought they were a really cool take on the theme - that was another reason I was thinking of painting up Brets that way. Can you post a link to those pics again? And not to derail this thread, but what would you have done differently on them?

I will take some pics and post it separately if I have time tonight.

I don't know how I feel exactly about the look of the army. I really like the concept, and if it were about 20-30% done right now, I would be excited about the future of it. It is a hell of an aggressive and unique concept to take on towards realization. Lemmingspawn did something similar, but I don't think it was source lit from the lava to anywhere near that extent.

Personally, I have trouble with source lighting effects, and weathering for that matter, but the technical "I put paint and highlights in good places" I am pretty good at. It is interesting that this takes the nearly opposite side from me.

Amusingly, I use almost all those same paints, such that I recognized the names and colors immediately. I thin mine a good bit, however, instead of condensing them. Currently I put distilled water, extender and medium directly into the bottles along with some metal sprue and base tabs, then shake the devil out of them to try and get a smoother result (particularly the Apple Barrel white.) I usually have to tweak the density (opposite of thinning?)of the paint after putting in the pallet though, which seems harder than it needs to be. But hey, you can win minor competitions using cheap ass paint, so woo!
I just put in an order for the case of Vallejo Model color though, so I will see if the dropper will allow more precise mixing and thinning as I hope.

I am not big on the Grey Knights, to be honest. They are a little too large for the effect to work well. Maybe they could be touched up to be center pieces and the Guardsmen are just how they are?

Not that it is not good work already.

Stelek wrote:I will take some pics and post it separately if I have time tonight.

Thanks, that'd be appreciated.