…and stay dead!

This isn’t the post I envisioned… this is a painting project that I’ve given up on before even spraying the figures with undercoat.

A long time ago, a mate bought a box of multipart plastic skeletons and assembled them. He gave me four, that haven’t seen much use in that time. As part of my three-day weekend, I decided to paint some more undead. I  cleaned up three metal undead and started work on the skeletons…

I’d say these fit most of the things I don’t like about multi-part figures – fiddly and fragile. (Why do this with Skeletons!) If I’d been the one assembling them I likely would have cleaned up the mold-lines, etc at the time. Doing that after they are assembled is much more of a mess. I’ve cut off a thumb, broken two in cleanly in half (at join points), and detached an arm. A third’s upper/lower torso is glued slightly out of alignment; just enough to annoy me that I want to break it and re-glue correctly. He also has the tip of his bow missing. (Probably me in the past, or moving around in storage.)

I’ve decided that I’m not happy with the way this is going, with the expectation that painting them would be annoying and I’d probably break something else. So, it’s into the bits box with them for future use as base decoration or whatever – skulls, bits of skeletons, bows and quivers.

The suns out, so I’ll spray the three metal undead so they’re ready to paint. Then maybe I get all my Warhammer Beastmen out of their storage trays and start preparing them.

Painting: Warhammer Forces of Chaos #2

My second set of five Chaos Warriors. These are all Citadel / Warhammer single piece plastic figures. I think these came from a friend who’d bought extra figures. If I’d bought them they should have been packs of four or six the same. Two distinct sculpts, but not too different from each other or the original Hero Quest figures.

The chaos warriors got gun-metal armour like the previous sets. Axe wielders (0737 Citadel, 1997) then got their armour lightened with silver, and silver highlights. The halberd wielders got green ink on their armour and gold highlights. I wanted to do something different with the shields, and went with a two colour diagonal pattern. That was still a bit plain so I thought about putting an image or something over the top. Digging through my bits and pieces turned up a sheet of decals marked “Dark Elf Shields” – and these three white symbols (and only three) were just the right size.

I’m very happy with the final result. This now gives me an assortment of nine chaos warriors, who will also do as general evil/undead warriors, or even magically animated suits of armour since there’s no visible flesh (assuming you excuse boots and gloves). After taking photo’s I (of course) realised that I’d missed something – the silver on the chainmail of the halberd warriors! That got remedied before I took them out for a spray of clear acyclic.

Next off the tray: Probably the Hero Quest “Gargoyle”. I’m thinking of doing him as a statue, with a little bit of modification so that he’s not so balrog-like.

Painting: Warhammer Forces of Chaos #1

I’ve just completed five figures from Hero Quest as my first project for 2021: four Chaos Warriors and the Chaos Sorcerer. I’ve got five more Chaos Warriors started, and I think this is only the beginning of a lengthy run of Warhammer figure painting.

These five figures were fun to paint. The main reasons I’ve enjoyed doing them, and will continue are exactly why I got just past halfway through my Space Marines last year and haven’t gone back to finish them. These are all one part plastic figures with simple poses, nothing complicated but they do have interesting armour design and quite a bit of detail. While I’m going to have similar painting themes with the three different sculpts of chaos warriors, I’m still enjoying this and thinking of ways of making each have a distinctive look. (The marines, while being three chapters, were essentially fifteen identical, very simple and boring, sculpts. Maybe I can pick at them in between my warhammer fantasy painting.)

I particularly like the Chaos Sorcerer. I started out with a darker flesh/grey skin colour, that I thought was too dark, and lightened it to the very pale grey it is now. (It looks a bit whiter in pictures than it really is.) His hands are a little too big… a lot of the painted versions online have these painted as gloves, but there’s a lot of texture on both sides that I wouldn’t expect if you wore gloves. This figure is a perfect figure for any undead caster in my D&D games. The base decoration was fun too – I’d cut some skulls off the helmets of some of my other chaos warriors and one remained in good condition. I thought it would be fun to use. It sits of a pile of small broken sea-shells.

The chaos warriors got mostly gun-metal armour, with a bit of red ink to tint it, then silver edge highlights. The armour can look fairly dark, or lighter and shiny, depending on the amount of lighting.

 

Background: Hero Quest (Milton Bradley & Games Workshop) came out in 1989. I had both this and Warhammer Quest (1995), while a friend had both of these, and Advanced Hero Quest, and most of the expansions for the games. A group of us played through the initial games, and spend years on and off with Warhammer Quest. Over the years I collected a lot of figures – frequently to have them for these games and be able to use them for D&D.

 

Orctober – A squad of Citadel Orcs

Today I finished my squad of orc warriors for Azazel’s Orktober Unit/Squad Challenge.

These figures are all Citadel/Warhammer from a couple of decades ago. 6 typical orc warriors with swords and 4 orc “bigguns” with sword and shield. Plus a single goblin spearman as a mascot. The goblin got missed when I did my earlier group of goblins because he’s a different sculpt and the only one of his type I have.

 

Following my research on orcs in RPG’s I started these guys off differently to my previous orcs. I mixed a mid grey with flesh to paint their skin and was very happy with the way they looked. I’m inclined to do the same in future, with perhaps a little more grey.

 

I used the same fushia for pants, brown for boots and red belts to match up with the previous group of orcs. The standard warriors have a similar (but not the same) brown shirt to the previous warriors. All have a green tint (Army painter ink, green tone) over gunmetal for their metal shoulder plates, to tie them in with the two orc champions that I’ve previously painted.

 

 

I spent a bit more time and effort on these compared to the previous orcs and goblins – mostly because they are slightly more detailed sculpts. I’ll also be away for two weeks near the end of the month and don’t expect to get anything else painted before I leave. I don’t really feel like starting anything else, but there’s 14 kobolds on my desk (mostly reaper bones) that I’m thinking of at least giving a base colour to.

 

 

Orcs in RPGS

This is a diversion from painting to consider the appearance of one of the most common fantasy races in role-playing games – Orcs.

I grew up with an initial image of Orcs from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ‘Monster Manual’, alongside images of Warhammer Orcs from Games Workshop. I think visual images stick in mind more than written descriptions – I certainly saw many images of green skinned orcs. I’d say I had two ideas for orc skin – green from WH and brown from D&D. I played other games with orcs, but didn’t consider that they might be thinking of them as different again. There have been many gaming publications over the years, and in recent decades plenty of fantasy movies (even TV series) that present orcs that may influence what we consider their appearance to be. The Hobbit/LotR movies certainly suggest greys and blacks.

I had been assuming that D&D Orcs were of dark brown skin. While painting orcs recently, I started to look into their description in various editions of D&D and was surprised to see variations between editions that don’t exist in other D&D creatures. Skin colour has changed, and it appears that the designers wanted to get away from the “piggish” look that they started with. Since I’ve been (or will be) painting Goblins and Kobolds, I looked at their descriptions too. There is slightly different wording between editions, but those creatures physical appearance is unchanged in 1st through 3rd edition.

As a result of this minor research, here’s a simple description of Orcs drawn from a variety of sources – with the focus being prominent Role-Playing Games.

1^st Edition (AD&D): Orcs appear particularly disgusting because their colouration – brown or brownish green with a bluish sheen – highlights their pinkish snouts and ears. Their bristly hair is dark brown or black, sometimes with tan patches. Even their armour tends to be unattractive – dirty and often a bit rusty. Orcs favour unpleasant colours in general. Their garments are in tribal colours, as are shield devices or trim. Typical colours are blood red, rust red, mustard yellow, yellow green, moss green, greenish purple, and blackish brown.

2^nd Edition (AD&D): Orcs vary widely in appearance, as they frequently cross-breed with other species. In general, they resemble primitive humans with grey-green skin covered with coarse hair. Orcs have a slightly stooped posture, a low jutting forehead, and a snout instead of a nose, though comparisons between this facial feature and those of pigs are exaggerated and perhaps unfair. Orcs have well-developed canine teeth for eating meat and short pointed ears that resemble those of a wolf. Orcish snouts and ears have a slightly pink tinge. Their eyes are human, with a reddish tint that sometimes makes them appear to glow red when they reflect dim light sources in near darkness.

3^rd Edition (d20): Gray skin. An orc’s coarse hair usually is black. It has lupine ears and reddish eyes. Orcs prefer wearing vivid colours that many humans would consider unpleasant, such as blood red, mustard yellow, yellow-green, and deep purple. Their equipment is dirty and unkempt.

Pathfinder (d20): It has coarse body hair and a stooped posture like some primitive man but with a grayish-green skin tone and bestial facial features. Burning red eyes peer below a low, sloping brow, just above a flattened nose, and prominent tusk-like teeth. Greasy black hair.

Warhammer: A typical Orc is a naturally large creature that stands taller than the average Man, with long arms and short legs, huge slabs of muscle moving underneath tough green skin, and their jaws are lined with vicious fangs that jut out from their under-bite. They have beady red eyes, a generally foul demeanour, and are naturally bald.

M.E.R.P. (Middle Earth Role Playing): Build: Heavy, with thick hides, short legs, and long thin arms. They have grotesque, fanged faces and random hair growth. Colouring: Black or grey hair, black or reddish-brown eyes, and deep grey or black hides.

The One Ring: “Their appearance and size differs from tribe to tribe, but many prominent features are common to all Orcs, such as swarthy skin, short legs and broad, slanted eyes, wide mouths and long fangs.” Broad, with crooked legs and long arms, Mordor Orcs differ greatly in size and capabilities, from the small but deft Snaga to the large Black Uruk.

 

Finally, here’s some notes from J.R.R. Tolkien on the subject:

Swart, slant-eyed, with thick legs and large hands, ugly and filthy fanged humanoids. The Uruks are larger, more powerful and cruel and “black”.

“They are (or were) squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes”.

In case you don’t know… Sallow = “(of a person’s face or complexion) of an unhealthy yellow or pale brown colour.”

 

Okay… back to painting now… Some grey mixed with flesh for my new batch of Orcs!

 

 

Painting – GW Orcs finished

This took me a bit longer than planned, mostly because I got sidetracked by non-painting activities.

These are all Games Workshop/Citadel plastic figures, most of which I purchased to use with Warhammer Quest. The orc warriors are from the Hero Quest game. (Pictures can be clicked on for enlargement.)

1 black orc champion

7 orc archers

8 orc warriors – 2 with flails, 2 with cleavers and 4 with scimitars.

Like with my goblins, one of the orcs broke his sword in combat. The original sword is long-gone and the only bits I had to try and replace it with were too small. So I just trimmed it and he can hold his fist up in a threatening gesture.

I’d originally painted the orcs in flesh tones, generally darker flesh than I use for most humanoids, not green since I use most figures for D&D not Warhammer. I got sidetracked looking at different Orcs in RPGs and realised that my ideas of orc-flesh were closer to what 1st edition D&D had described, and weren’t “current” compared to recent editions. I’m not going with greyish skin, but they all did get a black ink over the top to darken their skin!

Each group is painted in almost identical fashion – the orc archers have different coloured pouches as contrast. Unlike the goblins, these guys are meant to look like a unit. While the archers have mostly yellows and greens, the warriors are mostly browns. I did use a dark fushia on nearly every figures pants (more obvious on the warriors), red for belts, and the same brown for boots. I have the same fushia and red on the champion too.

I’d previous painted a metal dark orc champion, and used the same green ink on gunmetal for the bulk of the armour to tie the two together. I’m also trying out taking photos here with a new phone. It seems to pick up the lighting better, so the images are as dark as with my previous phone (and my digital camera). Having loaded the photo, I note that I forgot to silver dry brush the champions chainmail!

EDIT: “Would you believe…” I’ve just brought all the figures in from a wonderful sunny afternoon. They have been outside drying after two coats of clear acrylic… and I found the missing orc sword! (Oh well, into the bits box.)

 

Painting – A score of Goblins

A score plus five goblins actually. Most were finished last weekend but I didn’t get to photograph them until today. (Lots of pics!)

Yes, these are all Citadel/Warhammer goblins and they are NOT greenskins! While these figures have been used over the years for Hero Quest, Warhammer Quest, (possibly Warhammer FRP), MERP and various editions of Dungeons and Dragons – it’s D&D that I mostly play.

The various editions of D&D (1st-3.5) have been fairly consistent with their descriptions of goblins: Eyes varying in colour from red to yellow. Skin colour ranging from yellow through any shade of orange to a deep red. I’ve usually gone with a dull yellow. These have a Army Painter Soft Tone (brown ink) over “Oriental Flesh”, and I really like the mottled effect that has resulted on many.

 

The full set here are:  eight bowmen, six spearmen, four with sword and shield, six with swords and axes, and one shaman. One goblin had his sword break long ago. I trimmed the hilt away, so he’s just got his fists – maybe he’s the tribe’s brawler. (He can always stand back and insult PC’s. )

I’ve gone with a variety of colours, brighter than what goblins probably should wear, but I wanted them to stand out as individuals. I also didn’t go for as much detail or fine paint work as I do for unique figures. These are basic units that could see a lot of use, and generally goblins die quickly – so they aren’t likely to be on the table for long. I wanted to paint the lot of them without spending weeks doing it.

The Shaman got more time because he’s a more detailed figure and deserved extra effort. He’s the only metal figure in this group and has stuff everywhere – pouches, skulls, bandages, jewellery, trinkets, etc. He was fun to paint. He hasn’t been varnished yet, so I might do a little more detailing on some of the jewellery/trinkets, etc. (Just thinking some of those odd shapes are mushrooms!)

 

 

Next up: I’ve got sixteen Orcs. They’ve all been undercoated, fleshed out and I’ve started on weapons and mail. Their champion is halfway done, so I’m hoping not to take more than 2 weeks to finish them all.

I keep leaving Star Wars figures at the back of the desk as I think of older figures I have that I’d like to paint to use in my mega-dungeon. This probably means that a group of Reaper Bones Kobolds will follow the Orcs.

Painting: Citadel Dwarven Trollslayers

It’s nice when free time, good weather and the desire to paint can all happen at the same time! I completed this pair of dwarves yesterday and they are outside drying after a spray coat of varnish. This now means I’ve reached having about 99% of my hero/adventurer figures (human, elf, dwarf, gnome, halfling) painted. It leaves a lot of “monster” humanoids to go.

 

A pair of troll-slayers ready for battle!

 

I bought these two together in a blister pack to use in Warhammer Quest a long time ago. (One of Azazel’s posts dates them to the early 90’s.) They are Citadel warhammer metal figures and they have a nice pose and reasonable detail. I didn’t go for anything fancy, just simple colours.

 

Dwarves – about face!

 

My next painting project is Zombicide – Black Plague. I’d undercoated a bunch of figures a month or two ago. While I didn’t get to start painting, the white has helped the necromancers stand out on the game board from the general zombies. I started painting flesh last night and should do more today. I’m aiming to paint the necromancers and the full range of abominations. Later, I’ll also start to paint the survivors.

 

I don’t want to see all of these on the board at the same time!

 

After painting my black orc recently, I really would like to paint a set of orcs. While unlikely to see use as army units, they do get used as NPC’s and in small groups in my D&D games. I’m sure that all my orcs (about thirty) are Citadel Warhammer figures, from a few different sets over a short space of years. There’s some variety of pose and equipment, but they have a uniform look. I really like the idea of painting a group of miniatures all with a very similar (or the same) colour scheme – as opposed to the very different work that all my unique heroes and adventurers have required.

Painting 8 – From Dark Elves to Drow

A long time ago I bought a pack of plastic Games Workshop (Warhammer) Dark Elves, and three metal figures to use in Hero Quest. More recently, the D&D campaign that I run has been encountering Dark Elves / Drow in increasing numbers. I have seven of WotC’s D&D pre-painted mini’s and started using my unpainted GW figures to bolster their numbers. Having fought their way through Hill, Frost and Fire Giants, the party are seeking the Drow that masterminded the assault of giants in the west of the Flanaess of Oerth. Their next step is entering Lolth’s Demonweb and so they will encounter many dark elves. Time to paint…

Eight standard Dark Elf warriors, 2 “champions” (I think they’re Blackguard) and a sorcerer. The standard paint scheme of my D&D mini’s seems to be black on black, with a touch of silver. (I’m touching some of those up next.) I’ve been watching Subedai on “The Lost and the Damned” a lot since the end of last year, since he’s done a range of Dark Elves. This was the basis for my uniforms. The plastic figures have as much detail as the metal ones, which isn’t common in my experience. I spent a week and a half working on these – if I can just finish some floor plans for parts of the Demonweb then I’ll be ready for another D&D session!

I wanted to show a painting progression for the standard warriors, but forgot to take pictures each night. Here’s what I do have:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I normally do flesh first, but I was still looking up how other people have painted drow flesh, so left it to last. If I do any more drow, then I’ll prime the whole figure in black! All of my figures had a long helmet ornament which I didn’t like – half got trimmed before I sprayed primer. The other half of that (skull) went part way through painting. I generally paint mail black, then go over with silver, but chose to start with my violet first to give a different look. The final result is noticeable, but doesn’t stand out. It worked well, whereas I don’t like the green (as much) behind the mail I did on the champions. I varied their boots a little by using two browns and then later did something similar with the scabbards. Blackened most of the areas to be treated in dark green and did the bottom of each figure – then glued into a new base. Browns on sword hilts and chest plate, then antique copper. Grey on helmets (I should have just done this in black too) and then silver on blades and helmets. I’d wondered about the chest emblem (skull) for a while – thinking that it could be a “house” symbol – and was considering red. These troops are what I’d consider city guards, rather than underdark patrols, but I decided against something bright. They ended up black, brushed over in silver. I’d done sleeves in a light grey and had to repaint those to violet once I started doing flesh – too similar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most of the sites and images I looked at for “drow flesh” suggested dark browns (supposedly easier to highlight) to very dark greys, to blacks (with grey/white highlights) I mixed a very dark grey that dried to a nearly black shade. A tiny bit of white highlight, then white eyebrows and eyes. Red over the white later for the eyes. The face detail on the plastic figures is excellent – made painting the eyes much easier than heaps of other figures that I’ve done. I gave all the figures a go over with AP Dark Tone Ink here – nice shading, particularly bringing out the weapons and the hair. Hair got a good paint now with white to clean up spill-over from other features, though I kept the detail brought out by the ink. I’d been doing the champions and sorcerer at the same time – same colours, mostly in different form.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sorcerer got extra effort because he has a lot of extra details – scrolls, rings, trinkets, etc. The yellow ochre on his cap was originally going to be painted over with something else, but it looked good and worked with the green and purple, so I used it with the robe trim too.