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So I just finished basing a bunch of Necron warriors with sand and painting it black, planning to drybrush some grey over it to look like ash.

The black gave me an idea, though.

I wonder if there would be a way to make it look as if they're on a planet covered with crushed obsidian. Aside from crushing up actual obsidian, basing them with it, and shredding my flesh in a million microscopic cuts of embedded volcanic glass.

The problem is that at first glance it just, so far, looks like the black bases on which they come, slightly more textured.
I'm thinking some way to make it look glossier than what you get from Chaos Black, maybe some larger shards sticking out of some of the bases.

Looking for any ideas/suggestions for this.

Try drybrushing it gently with codex grey, then gloss varnish it.
You could also use a wash prior to the varnish, maybe leviathan purple or thraka green.

Aquaterry

I really need to find a few pots of Leviathan Purple, since they don't make it anymore and my Necrons have a good amount of purple.
A shame they stopped making it.

I used to do a bit of knapping with obsidian (and have the scars to prove it), so I really like this idea. The gloss varnish may do the trick, but I think that thinned down water effects might do a better job of conveying the glassy quality. The surface really has a liquid feel to it.

Thought #1 - I'd recommend trying a drybrush of ard coat or something similar. If you slather it on too much, it will fill in gaps in the grains and give it more of a soaked or wet look, rather than just the shine of surface rocks.

Thought #2 - If you can find a good black flock that is hard like sand, that might work better than base coating flocking as the paint will also tend to fill gaps a bit...that also leads to...

Thought #3 - If you can find actual black sand, you might be able to forgo the rest, as black sand is essentially crushed volcanic rock. Not sure if it would have the same shine as actual obsidian though.

Nightbringer's Chosen wrote:I really need to find a few pots of Leviathan Purple, since they don't make it anymore and my Necrons have a good amount of purple.
A shame they stopped making it.

They still make it

Baron von Felixton wrote:

Nightbringer's Chosen wrote:I really need to find a few pots of Leviathan Purple, since they don't make it anymore and my Necrons have a good amount of purple.
A shame they stopped making it.

They still make it

You sure? My FLGS is convinced they are no longer able to order it.

Nightbringer's Chosen wrote:

Baron von Felixton wrote:

Nightbringer's Chosen wrote:I really need to find a few pots of Leviathan Purple, since they don't make it anymore and my Necrons have a good amount of purple.
A shame they stopped making it.

They still make it

You sure? My FLGS is convinced they are no longer able to order it.

Well I was under the impression it was out of commission - I must check that next time I'm at my FLGS

Nightbringer's Chosen wrote:I really need to find a few pots of Leviathan Purple, since they don't make it anymore and my Necrons have a good amount of purple.
A shame they stopped making it.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat470013a&prodId=prod1350022

Yeah, there you go buddy

You could just use cigarette ash. I used to do that to my Chaos marines from forever ago. Just super glue and then dip the base into a bowl of ash. No need to paint and it instantly dries rock hard. Best of all, it doesnt smell either (cant vouch for actual cigars though, as I only used ash from when I smoked, and cigars are nasty) but its an option, and everyone knows someone that smokes.

The Ash sounds promising, I would try that on a plastic frame to see how it comes out, don't just do it straight to the model

Just take some charcoal for fish tanks and sprinkle it all over the base. Give it a coat of ardcoat and you are finished. Honestly it doesn't get any similar or cheaper than that. I bought a bid bag of charcoal for a fish tank last year for the exact same thing. I don't have an army that would benefit from such a base, but I have the basing materials.

Black Silica, or Black Void fill.

Particles may be a little large though.

You could try black aquarium crystals/sand, or whatever it's called. It's a glossy, glass-like substrate. I'm going strictly from memory here, so I don't know for certain what size it is. If it is too big, however, that's solved easily enough. Spread some out and cover with a hanky or something and gently rap them with a hammer to break them down.


King Ghidorah

Another quicky.

Paste mix:

Sand, black paint and metalic medium. You'll need a dark blue to bring the dark colour back after mixing in the medium though. May be tricky to apply, but it will give you reflective blacks.

Use real obsidian. Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows.

Phayse wrote:Black Silica, or Black Void fill.

Particles may be a little large though.

Can you elaborate a bit? I'm curious about these.