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The freehand is excellent. It makes a big difference imo.

I'll do another batch of them. Just not for a little while, at least.

A couple of very simple paintjobs to share today as the first 6-month "Tale of Gamers" painting challenge comes to a conclusion tonight, at the end of June. Like many of us gamer-types, I have a shedload of random figures from Reaper's Bones I and II Kickstarter campaigns. I did back the third one, but skipped the base pledge this time round as Reaper delved deeper into add-on territory and offered less "value" with the base pledge. Especially as I've got more than a lifetime's worth of random bendy PVC fantasy models, as one friend can attest to as I offloaded a bunch to him awhile back! With Bones III, I picked a much more "curated" set of figures. But this isn't a discussion of Bones III. It's showing off some rather bland and generic figures with paint to match!



These three are the 77126: Vermin: Spiders. Not a bad sculpt to be truthful. I painted them in red tones with yellowish markings because Marouda's far from a fan of realistic, life-size spiders and because they'll be used in the Undead army, and red/black with a touch of teal/bronze/etc are the army colours. Their fangs are done with Citadels' new "Gemstone" paint (the blue one) over a dark metallic base. Mostly because I'd only just gotten them and wanted to experiment with them a little on inconsequential figures.



The next three are Reaper's 77128: Vermin: Spider Swarms. These are what they are, I guess. Much more for generic roleplaying purposes, but they didn't take much time to paint up and ink. I used a few shades of ruddy red-browns so as to distinguish the spiders a little. It didn't especially work, but at least the blobs are varied a little. I could have gone through and very carefully painted eyes and markings on each individual spider, but at the end of the day, these Swarm models don't deserve that much of my - or your - time. As gaming models for what are essentially trash mobs, they're good enough. I have a bunch more of the larger spiders and beetles and such somewhere from Bones I that I was cleaning up for paint a year or two ago, but they've gone missing somewhere.




All six models were based on 30mm bases I got from Impact! Games, as 25mm rounds are too small, they fit them well enough - and quite frankly I'm buggered if I'm going to use my expensive 32mm Citadel rounds on them. I then made up some unit bases for them from 120x40mm cuts of MDF that I purchased for unit trays - somewhat inspired by Grimdork's unit trays. The trays are for their main use - as "Undead Army Swarms" in Kings of War. Technically, they're a unit that is part of the Army of Dust (Not-Tomb Kings) and not the more generic Undead (that covers the Vampire Counts stuff), but I'm in favour of fluff over RAW when it comes to army lists for friendly games. When I paint scorpions, they'll be much more AoD/TK themed. I noticed after taking the photographs that the grass tufts I've added to the bases here are a little dull, so I've since added a few in a slightly brighter green.

The Skeletons on the last page look amazing. Great freehand work .

Really liking the larger spiders too.

EDC

Those spiders turned out quite well, IMO. I find it fascinating that red and yellow are realistic colors-- all the spiders where I grew up are black and/or various browns.

The patterns on the spiders are a nice touch. And I like the brighter red on the spiderlings, makes them look more..young and raw. It's like their carapace hasn't hardened yet like the bigger ones.

Love the giant spiders, though the spiderlings don't appear to have come up very well in the photos :( Looking good though I'm sure.

The spiderlings are pretty much trash models, IMO. Average workmanlike sculpts (in Bones to boot) and quickly painted with as much respect as such sculpts deserve. They'll be fine on the table, but they're not works of art in any way.

The red/yellow isn't a typical realistic colour for the spiders around here either, which is why I went with it. If I did them in black/brown then Marouda would be thoroughly squicked by them and probably wouldn't want to touch them, let alone use them on the table. Of course, with Google Image search you can find something vaguely similar in colouration, because of the millions of types of insects and arachnids. Honestly, even those larger spiders look a bit better IRL. I might reshoot one of them down the line from a higher angle. The brighter green tufts I added since shooting the photos make them look a bit better as well.

Those skellies over the page really are top notch, Az!

You've definitely convinced me to go with Mantic over GW skeletons for my Undead (I won't be using any Zombies, otherwise the choice would be much easier! Can't stand GW zombies! ). not needing to paint that many means I should be able to get through them without getting bogged down. Out of interest, what are the Mantic skeleton cavalry like? The GW ones are newer and look very good, I've not managed to find good pics of their Mantic counterparts.

I've got the Mantic Undead Cavalry, but haven't assembled them yet. At a glance, I was very happy with the look of them, even though they're restic. They're "early restic" from before Mantic went cheap & nasty with the KoW KS, so they (should) be decent. I'll have a look when I get a chance - hopefully this weekend?

Now the penultimate of my Tale of Gamers I posts...

This update is slightly odd for me. Alongside the unit of skeleton infantry I shared with the previous update, I also managed to finally complete the two crew of Mantic's Balefire Catapult. The odd part is that I painted the actual Catapult last year, and was sure I'd posted it here, but can't for the life of me find it posted. This has of course been the final month of the first 6-month "Tale of Gamers" painting challenge that I've run over on Dakka.



As they were painted separately and at different times, the iconography of the Catapult is more than a little different to the plain freehand skulls and bones I've been giving the skellymans. I actually went for a stylised red eye. (hmm....) in order to allow the actual war machine (sans crew) to fit into several armies aside from solely belonging to the undeads.



The crew on the other hand, were started (well, assembled) at the same time as the Balefire, but only painted recently, more or less in concert with the infantry, so their livery is the more current, developed one that the army has taken on. Painting the crew does of course combine with the catapult to create another completed, finished unit - entirely the point of the ToG challenge!



That's pretty much it. It has made for a good, strong finish to the final month of the painting challenge for the undead. Especially so, considering I had the painting doldrums and didn't finish anything at all until almost three weeks in. I also finished something for Gondor in the wee hours, so that's got the varnish drying outside, and I hope to have it flocked, etc and photographed tomorrow or the day after.



June's "Tale of Gamers" Undead painting contingent. I'll get some "6-months worth of Undead" and "6 months worth of Gondor" posts up soon, and then follow them with a few "Army Showcase so far." posts for my various army projects. Should be a bit of fun, or at least keep me interested for a little while...

That's a nice addition to the army.

Did I read that right-- you do your basing after you paint and varnish? I usually put sand on the bases before I prime so I minimize the risk of screwing up the model's feet. Do you find that to be a problem?

 JoshInJapan wrote:
That's a nice addition to the army.
Did I read that right-- you do your basing after you paint and varnish? I usually put sand on the bases before I prime so I minimize the risk of screwing up the model's feet. Do you find that to be a problem?

Oh, no. I mean I add flock and tufts, etc last - after varnish. I glue and paint the sand very early in the process. Sometimes I need to touch up feet, but it's all early, so not really a problem.

Great looking undead. My brother in law went with the same scheme, but yours is miles/kilometers apart. The spiders and carrion swarms are great also. I like the color that you did with the swarms.

Thanks Theo. As I've said they were no fun to paint, but now they're done I'm pretty happy with how they look.

My final model for the first 6-month Tale of Painters challenge, a second Gondor Battlecry Trebuchet for the collection. In an obverse situation to the Balefire Catapult, the crew were painted ages ago, alongside some batch or another of Warriors of Minas Tirith, while the Trebuchet itself languished for at least a year.



This one, like the first, was an eBay rescue job. The metal was assembled, but coming apart and sprayed black. I assumed that I'd be able to knock it together in just a couple of days like I did with the first one, and in the same style. I took apart a few of the bits (stone, counterweight, cranks), cleaned them up from the glue residue, then started to set up a base on a large GW oval, and then... meh for the better part of another year. Until I finally got it done on the last day of the challenge. So there's that as far as motivation goes.

Love me some siege weapons cracking job on the trebuchet there Azazel. Those skellies are fantastic too! Love the freehand on the shields.

The paint job on that trebuchet is ace, really looks like it would fit right in the pages of an old WD.

Looking good! What's your recipe for wood?

Fancy siege weaponry there

Really like that trebuchet

Finally checked back after too long staying away, and I have to say your stuff is AWESOME! The skeletons, the spiders, the Gondorians, all have turned out well!

The trebuchet is, indeed, a great looking model, although I can see how painting all that wood might be a drag.

Thank you guys - The trebuchet was actually very easy to paint once I pulled my fist out and made myself just do it. Just old-school drybrushing in several layers - staring with "Scorched Brown" (Vallejo Model Air Tank Brown) for the base over black then "Bestial Brown" (Vallejo Beasty Brown). Finally a mixture of Bestial, Bonewhite and VMA Khaki Brown adding a little more Bone towards the highlight points.

It's a lovely piece Az. Really nice clean smart paintjob. Love the classic feel you endow your work with. Top banana
Reminds me as well of when I made a mini-treb when I was a little fella.......yeah.....that caused trouble

Nice work on the trebuchet and crew, very tidy.

EDC

 Januine wrote:
It's a lovely piece Az. Really nice clean smart paintjob. Love the classic feel you endow your work with. Top banana
Reminds me as well of when I made a mini-treb when I was a little fella.......yeah.....that caused trouble

Sounds like there's a story waiting to be told there.

Your painting of wood is always so lifelike, great stuff Az. It is always good to clear something out of the painting backlog, especially when it has been hanging around for a year odd.

Well, the first 6-month Tale of Gamers challenge has concluded, and so I'll be posting a few pictures of the completed stuff. For the challenge, I pledged to complete (at least) one unit each for Undead and Gondor. A Unit being a troop or regiment, or a war machine, monster or even a single hero model. Here's what I managed to get completed.


6 months worth of Undead Army painting challenge.

Now an important thing to bear in mind is that the challenge is/was to complete units. This means that models like the Black Númenórean units (to be used as Vampiric Infantry) count, as the heroes were completed within these past 6-months, which combine with the other models painted last year, to form completed units. Likewise the Balefire Catapult crew that I recently finished combine with the actual catapult that I painted last year to make another complete unit. Because it's as much about motivating the participants (and especially me) to finish off those things that just sit there for ages staring back at us, as it is for starting and finishing the newest shiny - and gives the opportunity to do both.


6 Months' worth of Right Flank


6 Months worth of Left Flank

I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. There's essentially enough here to run as an army in and of itself. Sure, it's lacking in bits and pieces - such as ranged and cavalry - but as (the larger half) of a project put together in 6 months, I'm satisfied.

That army looks great and as you said it must be a nice satisfying feeling on getting that lot completed!

Between the colors and the general shapelessness of Bones, the spider swarms on the left flank look like gut piles, which would be an evocative addition to any undead army.

Most impressive and inspiring!

That is a really nice looking addition to a force. Very cohesive, yet each unique.

Once again a big thanks for running this