Sunday, 20 December 2009

The Christmas Period

I totally forgot I had something to update from the dwarfs.  Alsa, I will not be able to touch it until after Christmas as I am currently home from uni.  I did however manage to make a couple of heroes, though they have some faults.



This is my Runesmith.  I wanted a unique looking hero, so I used a mini from the Mordheim Treasure Hunter box set.  The book is plasticard, but does look a little bit flat - I hope to alter this with painting, or maybe adding a few more 'pages'.  His staff I have had trouble with.  I couldn't get the join to look smooth, its too obvious.  I might have another go at it when I get a chance.


 
 
This is my thane.   He's from a box set of thane + BSB.  I chose to remove the big feathers and the shield boss, as I liked neither.  Instead I plan to paint the hold's symbol on the oval.  The helmet looks OK, I may have to have another go at filling in the gaps for the 'wings', but I'm happy overall.

The Trading Post Blog
 I would like to make a little note about my other blog, the Trading Post.  Its quite at the moment, mainly because I don't have much to add - unfortunately.  Should you want to add to the blog, or have your blog added to the blog roll then please email me on thetradingpostblog@googlemail.com.

You'll also notice a small icon on my blog to the right, please feel free to add it to your own blog.

I was also considering doing a sort of collaborative post, the idea being "New Year Resolutions".  Only fantasy and hobby related though.  If you this idea, make a post before the New Year and send me a link to it on the above email address

Thursday, 10 December 2009

Dwarfs and what's to come.

 Right, so uni is almost about to have its Christmas break and I have managed to spend some time doing something other than uni work over the last few weeks (ish).  I have some dwarf quarrellers to show first of all.You might have seen previously the green bases I used.  Following this I decided to make stamps from them, and it worked pretty well.  Next I needed to make twelve bases.  This would have used an awful amount of greenstuff, so I used milliput instead.  Didn't need much off it, dried overnight and actually had enough to do sixteen bases.  Here are some pictures:



 

 

 





I'm not amazingly happy about the grey stones.  I was unsure how to highlight them and they are a bit rushed, as you'll see in the picture.  But, it looks OK.

Now.  On to the dwarfs.  I ended up with twelve quarrellers in the end, with shields.  The pictures have once against changed the turquoise to green (still no idea why it does this), but you'll get the idea of how they look.  I don't plan to use the shields GW made them with as I dislike the embossed symbols.  Instead I am hoping to use the older shields, minus the boss, and hand paint on my army's runic badge.

So,  I have two challenges.

  • What conversions are in the unit?
  • What does the runes mean?


 

 


If you know these, or can get close to them, well done.



So, that is my dwarfs done with.


I also have more to add.  Some plans.  I have seen these used on blogspot blogs, so figured I'd do the same.  I have built a small selection - between 500 and 600pts - for each of my proposed armies and made a little picture of them.  So I can keep track of what is being painted and how far through them I am.

I haven't included much details, I just want to get basic items down, rather than getting bogged down in magic items/wargear. 

Dwarfs


Orcs and Goblins





Space Wolves



Orks


Blood Bowl Teams - Currently only Orcs


Tuesday, 24 November 2009

LOCs finished!

A copy of my post on the forum:

Right then.  As Nem has already eluded to, the auction has finished.  Before I launch into the final total, I would like to thank all those painters involved in this project - this includes those who didn't get round to painting a mini.  The fact that you are all willing to give up something you brought and sell it off for charity is a big thing.  Thanks guys.  And I would also like to thank those people on LO (or off, if you know them) who actually bid for these minis.  It is quite special and good for us to do this and it happens once in a while, so thank you to all of you who bid - even if you didn't win it - on a mini.  The money is going to a good cause.

So.  Without any more halting and blubbering from me.  The total.  This time round, we raised a total of...


£168.50

While not as big as before, it was still rather impressive and all of it is going to a great cause.  This money, and maybe a few extra quid from myself, will be going to the Red Cross charity.

Again, thanks to all who were involved, whether painting or bidding, without you guys there would be nothing.  Be proud of yourselves. :)


Kuffy

Monday, 16 November 2009

Charity Auction sale

Hey guys.  This is an attempt to raise money for charity.  On my home forum of Librarium-Online.com myself and some other painted banded together to paint a number of miniatures to sell off for charity.  This has previously raised £181 from selling 40k characters, this time have done it with the Fantasy range.  Please view the minis, and if you are feeling generous, bid on one.  All proceeds will be going to the Red Cross charity.  P&P is free and we ship worldwide.  Do something good, bid!

Zen's Sigvald
Kuffy's Skink Hero
MrDee's Korhil
JQ's Empire Hero
Leech's Khazrak
Minus_t's Goblin Shaman

Wednesday, 11 November 2009

To Rune or Not To Rune



 Out of all the races in the warhammer universe, the dwarfs are perhaps the most well known for their powerful and potent magical items.  The ability to inscribe runes and make the item powerful is a great feeling.  In gaming terms, the dwarf magical items are the most customisable available to a general.  In addition the characters all have generally an extra twenty-five or fifty points over other races to spend upon these magic items.  This however tends to give rise to players opening their purse strings a little too wide, and letting lots of coins fall out.  I'd like to address this.

Firstly, it is important that the rules for making items are known and followed.  It is common for new players to either ignore or not see them, thus making illegal items.  The main ones you really need to know are the following;

Each item may only have a maximum of three runes.
  •  Only one Master Rune may ever be placed upon a single item
  •  Each Master Rune may be used in each army once.  
  •  Finally, you may only have one item bearing a certain combination.  This means no two characters may have the same combinations on an item.
Those out the way, we can now look at the centre of this 'article'.  This is the problem many players have.  Expensive characters.  Why?  Because they tend to go to town on the runes available to the character/unit/war machine.  While you want your lord to be the uber-unit slayer and have the ability to do so, points wise, there is one factor many forget.

Dwarfs are M3

Why is this important?  Because, dwarfs lack the ability to deliver their all tooled characters into combat.  Instead, the combat has to come to you, the problem with this is a good opponent will avoid taking on the uber-lord in a frontal charge.  Thus, your cunning opponent has now proven their ability, by instead of barrelling forward into the clutches of your units, they have decided to flank you and engage the weaker warrior unit to the east.  The low movement of dwarfs means that it is nearly impossible for them to react quickly to such enemy movements.  This leads to the sorry state of your uber, and very expensive lord being as impotent as a goblin.  These points you have spent making him into a powerful dealer of death perhaps could have been better spent bulking out your units with more dwarfs.

However, at this point I feel it is important to mention the war machines.  There are only three that may be given runes, however, there is no maximum point limit to your runes, just as long as they follow the rules for runes.  It is very easy to get carried away, with many runes looking great and handy, however there is an important lesson to be learnt here.  The more you add, the more expensive it becomes.  What was once a humble bolt thrower, cost less than fifty points is now the peak of destruction, that is nearly double that cost.  Losing this will hurt you even more.  Of course, there are exceptions to this and adding an expensive rune combination can sometimes pull off something spectacular (Bolt thrower + MroImmolation, anyone?).

Another thing to consider, when building a character, - is that magic item actually required?  Is it worth spending lots of points to just make the great weapon magical, or will a plain old, mundane version do just as well?  This goes for other items, armour for example – get yourself a set of shieldbearers and that MroGromril is no longer needed.  Stick a single RoStone on him, and he's good to go.  In addition, something many people forget, the shieldbearers negate the need for the RoPreservation, due to the fact the lord is then unit strength three (US3), but it also maxs out the lords save to the best available for dwarfs – 1+ - when combined with shield or RoStone.  Every item or rune has its uses, check each carefully and you'll grasp which is good and which to avoid, like a dwarf with krut.

When it comes to choosing your runes for the character, just sit back and wait a moment.  Think about them first.  What is it you want them to be do during the game.  Are they to kill big gribbly monsters?  Or perhaps to taken on their enemy counterpart?  Or to hack swathes of enemies down?  Or are they to keep your warriors safe from spells?  These are important questions as they will, or should, have an impact upon the choices of armament of magical items you give said character (or even war machine).  The runes you give your character is very important, some will be wasted, where others are invaluable.  For example, giving your Master Engineer or Runelord on anvil, weapon runes might seem good in case they get into combat – but if they do, then you have done something wrong or your opponent has done very good.  Each character has their place in the battle, and they fall mainly into two categories.  Offensive and supportive. 

Offensive characters are the dwarf lord, thane and slayer characters. 
Supportive would be runesmith, runelord, BSB, Master Engineer

The offensive should be given runes that increase their abilities to take the fight to their enemy; so mainly weapon runes are a good idea.  But, they also need protecting – not much point going all out of assault if they cannot take the return blows, unless of course they're meant to die.  Thus, a balance of armour runes and wards.  These characters are there to add kills to the CR, adding a character with the MroSwiftness is and has always been a good method, for example.  It is up to you to find a good method of balancing your characters so they can give as good as they get.

The supportive characters are there to give your army bonuses or protect them.  This means, they do not always have to take part in combat.  In fact is it often better to keep them out of this, remember things like RoSpellbreaking have no range, so you could hide them and just have them acting as a dispel caddy.  However, a runesmith with a great weapon is as good as a hammer champion in combat.  So, don't be too afraid to get stuck in if the moment calls for it.  For runesmiths and runelords, you are better to load up on magic prevention, or defensive runes.  Their main role is to support your army and keep away spells, this can also be given to characters in the form of Magic Resistance (MR).  Again, weapon runes are of less importance to these characters, a great weapon does the job as good as a runed axe does.

There is another character which I feel warrants his own short paragraph.  The Battle Standard Bearer (BSB ).  I would say there are mixed feelings on this character, mainly due to how players decide to arm him.  Due to the fact he can carry three banner runes, of no limit, many tend to rune him up to the beard.  This increases his supportive role, along with the break test re-roll he can add to the anti-magic of the army or combat resolution, however he tends to be so very vulnerable.  As one of the most important characters in your army, he is under protected with only his toughness and his average save of 4+.  The other view is to protect him a lot more, via defensive runes.  This removes his ability to add any bonuses past the basic BSB ones, but does mean that he is able to survive long enough to pass his ability to the surrounding units.  It also means he can be given a few offensive runes to augment his already decent combat skills.  But, again, it comes down to what you prefer and how you want to use him.

I'm going to finish with a list of runes I believe to be the most useful to a dwarf general, but I would like to point out all of this is all just my own opinion on runes and characters.  I am not saying that you should follow my advice to the letter or ignore it.  Instead, I would suggest you try new combinations out and methods of playing with your characters, this gives you scope and you might even find a new and potent combination.  Every player is different, don't be afraid to stand to the side of the masses and learn at your own pace.

Weapon Runes
MroKragg the Grim
MroSwiftness   
RoCleaving
RoFury
RoMight
RoSnorri Spanglehelm
Rofire

Armour Runes
MroGromril
MroSteel
RoStone
RoResistance

Standard Runes
MrofGrungni
RoCourage
RoBattle
RoSanctuary
RoStoicism

Talisman Runes
MroSpite
MroChallenge
MroBalance
RoSpellbreaking
RoWarding
Rothe Furnace

Engineering Runes
RoForging
RoPenetrating
RoAccuracy
RoBurning


All comments, criticism or discussion welcomed. :)


Kuffy

The Trading Post has been set up.

Way back in September, I was considering making a blog to act as a hub for fantasy blogs, ala From the Warp.  I have now made such a blog.  It is currently simple, mainly because I am the only member and I'm wondering what to do to make it look the part.  I hope to bring the blog into fruitfulness in the near future, all help is welcome.

http://the-tradingpost.blogspot.com/

I hope you join and see if we can get a decent fantasy hub going on.

Tuesday, 3 November 2009

Handicapping the dwarfs


That is how I would describe the battle report from the most recent White Dwarf. I will not spill the beans on the result, as not to spoil it for those who have not read it yet, but it was a crappy one. Now, I know its naive of me to expect a decent battle report from the magazine, but I couldn't help it. It had dwarfs in it. One look at the dwarf list shows it was once again just a showcase for the new Skaven due next week.

This was their list:

Dwarf lord; shieldbearers, great weapon.
MRoGromril, MRoKragg the Grim, 2x RoCleaving

Runelord
MRoBalance, Spelleater Rune

Runesmith
2x RoSpellbreaking

Thane; handgun, shield
RoStriking, RoResistance

Thane; BSB
MRoStromni Redbeard

Dragon Slayer
MRoAlaric the Mad

20 warriors, shields
Full command

20 warriors, shields
Full command

20 longbeards, shields
Full command

10 thunderers
veteran

10 thunderers
veteran

10 quarrellers
veteran

18 hammerers; shields
Full command

20 slayers;
1 Giant Slayer, Full command

20 miners; blasting charges
full command, steam drill

Grudge Thrower; engineer
RoAccuracy, RoReloading

Cannon; engineer
RoForging, RoReloading

Organ Gun

Flame Cannon


The list just isn't playing to the dwarfs strengths. For example, all dwarf players know VS any army with shooting attacks, you take the MRoGrungi on a unit, to protect yourself against them (5+ ward vs all shooting to all units within 6"). That would have been my first choice vs Skaven. The two units capable of runic banners, doesn't have them. Again, a stupid choice. In 3500 points the dwarfs have only 4 war machines. Four. And none are bolt throwers, which are pretty much designed for combating big ranked units. Oh, and to cap it off they took a runelord without the anvil. Now, despite being a long term dwarf player I have never used the anvil (I rarely game and my dwarfs are getting an face lift) but I know its strengths. The point of it is to give the dwarfs a tactical advantage of -

a) additional movement
b) resistant to psychology
c) damage causing, and movement prohibiting

These would have proved useful against the skaven, its undispellable and rather powerful. In addition, it adds another dispel dice adding again to the anti-magic ability of the army. Why they chose to ignore it is quite obvious, they wanted the skaven to win.

I understand the reasoning behind the choices, they decided to handicap the opposing army, giving them chance to show off the power of the new army. They always do it. This is a sneaky away around the whole fixing battles. This is upsetting as not too many months ago, Jervis in his "Standard Bearer" column stated that the battle reports are not fixed and they cannot play more than one battle. This may be the truth, but it seems that the way around this is to handicap the opposing side by taking poor choices and making the army less than competitive.

Poor show Games Workshop. Poor show.

Monday, 26 October 2009

Well... that was a while.

So, yeah. I am alive, sorry about not posting for ages. I had had work and all sorts happening over the last few weeks, just not had the time. =( I am however free from Wednesday evening onwards. I am hoping to get some painting done on Thursday and Friday. As you might have guessed I haven't really touched the hobby at all recently - still been on the forums I visit and that, but otherwise not had much to do with it. And so, I never got chance to enter into the Winter's Touch Challenge. Sucks, but I'm still going to paint him up. I am thinking pale blue skin, like the skink, but white in places and same with the hair etc. Will have to see.

After this, I am looking to move back onto the focus for my dwarfs. I want to get these guys worked on. They've waited for so long...

So yeah. Not much to say, except I am still around, just got quite busy and hope to change that soon.

Friday, 9 October 2009

Today I wear the dunce hat...

Yeah, as the title says I am a dunce. Why? Because I only just realised that two of the four dwarf quarrellers I have finished have the wrong arm. They do not have the correct one to allow the hand attached to the crossbow to connect. So, I do not have four finished quarrellers, I have two. =/ I feel like an idiot. Alas no pictures, but there will be when I get around to painting the rest of the unit - the proper unit that is. This means I'm probably going to have to buy another box of quarrellers. Bah.

One thing I have not cemented just yet is the bases. I don't want to do the typical rock-snow that almost all dwarfs have, even though it looks good and suits them. I have actually considered doing a stone floor, to make it look as though its a dwarf hold. So a uniformed look, that would probably be different and maybe a lighter marbled look. Not sure just yet. I have a tentative 500pt list planned, which is basically some quarrellers, two units of warriors, thane and a bolt thrower.

However, for the moment I going to be working on a single mini, this being my first from privateer press. I'll explain... Sheffield Irregulars have a monthly painting competition, and this one is called "Winters Touch". I fancy giving it a go, and so chose a non-GW mini and probably the biggest mini I have painted to date. Its the Trollblood Winter Troll from Hordes, he looks like this:


I am planning on doing him much paler, more white than the blue they have used and he'll be on a snow base. I have assembled him - came with two torso halves and two arms separate - and have greenstuffed the joins. I really....REALLY... need to practice with GS. I have covered the joins, but its not smooth or that well done. =( I hope to get him undercoated tomorrow. For once I'm going to try a white undercoat, followed by a light black wash. I'm looking forward to painting this guy actually, seems like fun.

I also think I have a problem. I am going to do yet another army, despite only one of the armies I partly own are playable. Its seems I have a thing for the green, as I plan to do an orc and goblin army as well. The reason being is they have a bit of pretty much everything and different to the dwarfs in almost every way. I also just love their character; brutal but with a huge stupid streak. I like it! So, I am adding them to my to do list. I think what I am going to do is paint my armies in 500pts increments, slowly building up units here and there. There is one thing I do like and want, and that is to keep my armies as they are - the four. But I want them to be MONSTROUSLY huge. I want to be able to field huge armies of a well painted race. This is my dream. Now, I just need to time and money to live it.

Friday, 2 October 2009

Irregular Magazine, and other.

I have been living in Sheffield, UK for three years now and not until middle of last month was I aware of a painting group within its limits. And not one that seems so well run either. Sheffield Irregulars is their name, and they're held in a part of Sheffield I rarely transverse - so no wonder I was unaware of them. However, I have begun wandering about their website/blog and its pretty cool to see a group of painters - many of which are not from Sheffield (they have a Facebook group open to the world - get together and enjoy painting. Also, they hold a monthly painting challenge where the community chooses a theme and those participating paint a single miniature in this theme - the winner receiving an actual little trophy.

In addition to this they have begun to put out a wargaming ezine. Its not like most you see, focusing on one range, they have covered a multiple ranges, but they do still focus on the painting side of things. The guides are really easy to understand and well written. I would suggest the Irregular Magazine to anyone.

The last thing I'd like to mention is two Blood Bowl podcasts. I have been listening to them recently and they're really good. The presenters sound like they're having a hoot, whilst giving some great advice. I enjoy listening to both a lot. Here

Three Die Block
Tackle Zone Radio

Sorry for any real updates, I haven't had chance to do much hobby stuff lately. Though, I did just lose my third FUMBBL league game of the LOBBA league. Its not going well for the Orcs. =(

Tuesday, 29 September 2009

Not dead!

Hey guys, just wanted to give a brief update. I turned twenty-five on Monday, so the weekend was busy and so was my actual birthday. Been doing other things since then, such as Batman -Arkham Asylum, hanging out with house mates, uni/uni society stuff and even gamesday today. I intend to try and make time for painting each week, and have decided that depsite having space wolf stuff (picked up two boxes of wolves and one wolf guard today) I am going to get my dwarfs to 1000-1500pts before moving on to the wolves or another project. Its just going to be slow, due to this being my final year, having an 8-12,000 word essay to research and write for the end of my year and other uni based stuff, it's not going to be easy finding time for painting and such. But I'll try.

Oh yeah, and here's some stuff from Sunday.
Gamesday 2009

Wednesday, 16 September 2009

The choices we make...

Or don't make, as it was in my case. I want to make this entry about remembering the beginning of my, and mayhaps your own, experience of the miniature hobby.

I actually forget how I got into the hobby, I know it involved "Heroquest". But from where I got it I am unaware of. I was then invited to a house of someone my dad worked with, and there I was thrown into the world of Warhammer. I loved it. It was brilliant good fun and after that my dad brought me a second hand dwarf army from one of the guys. So, my first ever army was not actually one of my choice. Seems odd now, and I'm not sure I'd have chosen them myself but I love the dwarf army.

Since then I have loved my dwarf army and they're always going to be my first love in the Warhammer world. I am looking forward to repainting my dwarfs and making them look all nice and great, I also want to expand them to include every unit and make it a great big army. I love their background and mostly their minis.

Tuesday, 15 September 2009

Test Dwarf B

OK, so new test subject. It was suggested I do the turquoise and the grey slightly brighter. So, I had a fiddle about with a second dwarf and came up with the following scheme.



I quite like this one, its a bit better in that the grey doesn't look either unfinished or too much like the armour. I used shadow grey as my base and went from there.

Monday, 14 September 2009

Back to my roots

Dwarfs were my first army ever, my first true exposure to the GW hobby and so always have a place in my heart. I have recently got the bearded bug and so I have decided to repaint and update my dwarf army.

OK. So, onto a new army project. The dwarfs. I mentioned before that I was trying to steer clear of the typical dwarf schemes (these being blue/khaki and red/white). I would still like to but not sure what scheme to use. Any suggestions are welcome. On my first test dwarf I have gone for a turquoise/grey scheme. I like it quite a bit. The turquoise (maybe a tad too blue) gives it a nice bright colour allowing it to pop a bit, the grey acts as a neutral colour - and both are more in the 'cool' group. But I'm not entirely sold just yet. Here he is;








I haven't used gold on purpose. I plan to use it only on characters, longbeards and hammerers to set them apart from the rest, who will be using bronze as their secondary metallic colour.

And now I want to grumble.

So, I was looking through the dwarf army book for ideas and I quickly came to the conclusion that its pathetic. GW in their wisdom decided to deny a cohesive looking army to the dwarfs, instead opting for multiple shades and colours in a solitary unit; making it look ratty and disparaging. I know my dwarf fluff well enough to know that dwarf armies are all drawn from different clans, most of which will adopt a different look when fighting alongside other dwarfs. Most know this and the method they use to represent this fluff aspect is to use a different method of applying the same scheme, usually to the shield. For example, you might have one unit with the scheme split horizontally and another who's goes vertically. Its not difficult and easy to explain, whilst keeping the army on the whole looking like one army.

The GW studio army looks horrendous, being a mass of different shades of a number of colours. It is a shame, because when it comes to a uniformed looking army, the dwarfs pull this look off very well. It suits their large deep blocks, banners and war machines. It bothers me, and seems like GW just didn't care at the time of production. For shame GW. The dwarfs need love as well, they are a staple of the Fantasy world.

LOBBA is a go!

So, on my home forum of Librarium-Online.com we have now begun an online Blood Bowl league. This is done via FUMBBL.com, a great site for playing an older edition of the game online using nothing but a java program. It has begun as of tonight and will run for about three months, so you may well end up hearing stuff about this on my blog now.

I am quite excited about this, for it will be another thing I have added to the forum and organised. Also, it adds another notch on my experience belt of the hobby. Not quite the same as a table-top version, I'm sure but its something.

So, for those interested here are two links. You should be able to keep up to date with things and view things. I hope so anyway. =)

LOBBA season I
Forum Thread

In other news, I am still trying to consider dwarf colour schemes. I want to steer away from the typical ones, like I said in my previous post but coming up with a suitable scheme seems more than hard at the moment. =/ And thanks for the comments about the fantasy blog hub. I dunno if it be a good idea, but its something to consider.

Saturday, 12 September 2009

Update

So, I felt like I should update this blog. I have no photos this time, but I have some words instead. =P

I started working on an orc blood bowl team, got one player complete but to make the rest of the team I'd need more bits, and the bits sites I use are all sold out. And I realised I have stuff I have to paint anyway, and so changed over to my roots. Dwarfs. So, I built seven quarrellers, so far and need to take stock on what I have with me. I have planned a small list, or have ideas, so I'm pretty sure I have that. There is one problem I have at the moment, the paint scheme! I cannot decide just what scheme I want for them. I am trying to avoid the typical schemes, mainly those of red/white (or cream) and blue/khaki (or white/cream). I like the idea of using brown or green as the more neutral or earthy tones tend to suit the dwarfs quite well. So, my plan is to strip my army and repaint it. New bases, scheme and everything. So, watch out!

I have an idea about something. I'm not sure I've seen many fantasy based blogs about on the blogsphere, plenty of 40k based ones. Why is this? I know the From the Warp doesn't discriminate against fantasy based blogs, but its a shame to see less of them. I was wondering if it would be worth it for a blog roll as such - or something - for the fantasy based ones. I'm just curious and enjoy doing these sort of things. *shrug*

Monday, 7 September 2009

Complete Dwarf Lord

Here he is, on his base and all done.






Blonde Hair

Being a dwarf player, blonde is often a colour I want interspersing my units and characters but it can be hard to paint a convincing blonde. I have come up with a method that works rather well.

You will need
Mini
Brushes
Paints; Calthan Brown, Snakebite Leather, Golden Yellow, Kommando Khaki, Dheneb Stone, Skull White and Gryphonne Sepia


Each layer should be quite thin, as not to obscure the hair strands. Also multiple layers will most likely be required for each step. Bear that in mind.

For this tutorial I have used a random dwarf body and painted only the beard. I am not being careful of the other parts of the mini as this is just for practice, on the actual mini you will want to be careful of other parts - especially existing painted parts. I also started with a black undercoat.

Step One



The basecoat is Calthan Brown. Paint it all over the hair (from here on in, the beard) until you have a nice solid colour.

Step Two



The next layer is snakebite leather. Paint this all over the beard, but try to leave the basecoat in the deepest recesses of the beard and next to facial features or body parts.

Step Three



Add a small amount of golden yellow to the snakebite and reapply to the previous layer. This will give it a more yellow tone, something blonde has.

Step Four



Add a small amount of kommando khaki to the snakebite mix. The khaki is a neutral colour and has a way of lightening without it gaining colour - it sort of mutes the colour.

Step Five



Now add some dheneb stone to the mix. This does a similar job to the khaki but is lighter in tone. The more you add the lighter the blonde will be at the end. It is also worthwhile to start picking out individual hair strands at this point.

Step Six



Here I have added some more dheneb stone to highlight the beard more.

Step Seven


Add some skull white to the mix. Again, how much determines how bright it'll turn out. Again picking out individual strands makes the beard stand out and look more than just a flat tone.

Step Eight



Wash the beard with gryphonne sepia. Don't just slap the wash on, try to add thin layers of the wash, allow to dry and repeat until happy.

Step Nine


Reapply the highlight from step seven, again looking at highlighting individual strands.

Step Ten



The final layer is to add more skull white into the mix. This is used to pick out the most prominent strands. Such as the moustache and parts of the central braid.


That is it then done. A nice blonde beard.

Snow Bases

If you're anything like me, you'll hate the GW style "snow flock". Or, white static grass. It never looks like snow, so I use a different method. Its a bit longer winded but works much better in my experience.

What you need
A base
Sand
Paints; Chaos Black, Charadon Granite, Adeptus Battlegrey, Astronomicon Grey
Flock - not needed, but adds to the base
PVA glue
Bicarbonate of Soda
Water


Step One
No pictures here. Basically make your base how you wish and undercoat it. Here I've just done sand and painted it black. Makes for nice contrasts.

Step Two



The first layer is to drybrush Charadon Granite all over the base. Be as heavy as you like.

Step Three



Next layer you drybrush Adeptus Battlegrey

Step Four


A final light drybrush of Astronomicon Grey

Step Five - Optional



You can add flock to the base at this point, or you can leave it off. The choice is yours. I usually leave it off - but only if I'm doing the whole base snowy.

Step Six





Take some PVA glue, and some Bicarbonate of Soda, mix with water until you get something that looks akin to the below;





It should be thick enough that it sticks to the brush, and doesn't run off it. (Note; It be best if you do this stage with an old brush you don't care about, as this stuff could ruin a good brush).

Step Seven



You want to apply the mixture quite heavily. It often shrinks as it dries. Cover as much as the base as you like. Then, again an optional step is to sprinkle pure Bicarbonate over the snow, to resemble fresh snow. Then leave to dry. Base complete.

Sunday, 6 September 2009

Dwarf lord (Pt III)

And so... he's done. Overall I am very happy with him. For once my gold turned out decent,
followed Minus_t's recipe along with a bit of my own addition. The axe head is OK, but the silver is a bit rough for some reason. The runes aren't perfect either, I think grey was too different, or too dark for the job. No worries. I have his base to do tomorrow and sorted.




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