A-Haunting We Will go... My Nighthaunt Warcry Warband

Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone!

This week, I thought I'd show you my Nighthaunt warband for Warcry. Along with Kill Team, Warcry is one of my favourite games at the moment and, up until recently, I was playing it at least once a fortnight with a group of friends. I've even managed to get The Better Half to give it a go.* Like Kill Team, it's a game that's quick and easy to learn, with no complicated rules to get bogged down in. Warbands are typically less than a dozen miniatures and games take no more than 90 minutes or so to play. The fact that almost every faction in the Age of Sigmar universe has warband rules (some with multiple warbands available) and each warband has a wide choice of models to choose from makes it ideal for a hobby butterfly (like me) or someone who has access to only a few models for any given faction. It's easy to put together a viable warband from a few cheap Ebay purchases. I have had a few warbands planned for years, mostly making use of models that I already had kicking around, and the Nighthaunt was the first one that I got around to assembling as a viable force. I had loads of models to choose from, as I had collected quite a few from the Mortal Realms partwork, so I chose what I considered to be a good mix of lightweight cheap troops, medium-strength troops, and a couple of real heavy hitters. 

Having assembled my force (and given them a name- Lord Balowskyr's Retinue) I used a few test models to create a paint scheme which meant I could get the warband painted and ready in double-quick time. Here it is:

1. Spray with Grey Seer, then a zenithal overspray of Corax White

2. Then an all-over wash of a mix of Nihalikh Oxide/Hexwraith Flame/Athonian Camoshade.

3. Add in some Dark Angels Green into the previous mix and apply this in a pin wash, just around the deepest recesses, and where the different layers of cloak meet. Also apply this mix on the hands, blending it out up the arms.

4. Apply a wetbrush stipple of Grey Seer.

5. Paint all the details: 

Metal: Leadbelcher; Brass: Runelord Brass; Wood: Gorthor Brown; Leather: Mournfang Brown; Copper: Vallejo Copper; Gravestones: Mechanicus Standard Grey followed by Administratum Grey; Bone: Ushabti Bone followed by Screaming Skull. Then wash all of these areas with a mix of Agrax Earthshade, Athonian Camoshade and Nuln Oil.

6. Using a very soft brush, apply a light drybrush of Grey Seer followed by White Scar.

7. Blend Tesseract Glow around where the ghost form meets the base. 

8. Use the mix from step 3 and apply it to the tips of any ghostly flames. 

9. For the bases, I first applied some Stirland Battlemire, whish was drybrushed with Mournfang Brown then XV-88. I then applied Leaf Litter from Javis, stuck down with PVA glue. When the glue was dry, I sprayed the whole model with gloss varnish, then a spray of matt varnish. I then drybrushed Grey Seer around where the model met the base. Once all that was dry, I washed the base with Agrax Earthshade, then added Nuln Oil wet in wet around edges. And here's how they turned out:**

Lord Balowskyr, Knight of Shrouds	Lady Natasha, Guardian of Souls	The Brothers
Gwen, Edwin and Rikard	Nell, Vyvian, Mhikal

And, if you'd prefer that information in an easier format, here it is- my first one-sheet painting guide*** 

Since I started playing with them, they've fared quite well, I've won a few and lost a few. The playing style for them takes some getting used to, as they're fragile on the battlefield, but have some useful abilities, but they're good fun to play with. The next warband I need to do is to finish painting the Skaven one for The Better Half, that I started months ago****. After that, who knows? I've got miniatures for at least half a dozen other warbands, and a Stormcast Eternals one that is already half-painted (which I started for some other long-forgotten project.) To be honest, I'd happily paint up one of each of all the available warbands, there's so much character in each one. Trouble is, I'd also like to do the same with Blood Bowl, Underworlds, Necromunda...

Thanks for reading!

p.s. if you like what I'm doing here, a click on the link below and the donation of the price of a pot of paint would be a wonderful gesture. I'm thinking of adding special stuff to the Ko-fi, like competitions and prize draws, so it'd be a good idea to at least have a look there now and then 😁 

*True to form, she beat me. She beats me at every game we play...

**A gold star if you can identify the inspiration for their names...

***I realise I'm far from the first to do this idea, but I love a good bandwagon...

****She's very patient...

The Little Cars Are The Star..

 

Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone!

Over the last year or so, I've painted rather a lot of giant robots (and a few monsters) for Botwar. It's not all giant robots (and monsters) though. The human factions employ some normal-sized vehicles and, for those of a certain age group, they might be a little familiar. 

     

These Botwars vehicles are mostly single-piece resin castings (although some of the larger ones come in more pieces) and the castings are crisp and sharp and contain just the right amount of detail for miniatures this size (the cars are roughly 15-20mm long) and the quality of the castings makes them easy and satisfying to paint.

When painting military models on this scale, you can normally get away with a basecoat, drybrush and pinwash but, as these models are based on street vehicles, with much more bright colours often on show, I felt a slightly more detailed approach was necessary, so they were given the sort of techniques usually reserved for larger scale miniatures. 

There's two very important things to be mindful of when working at this scale and at this level of finish. The first is to make sure your edge highlighting is very fine and precise, and that your blends are smooth end even. Also, don't be afraid to have quite a stark contrast between the darkest and lightest colours on any given area, as this will help to give the impression of scale. However, large jumps between colours or thick edge highlights will throw off the sense of scale and leave the end result looking messy, which is why it's important to keep things tidy. It's worth taking the time to be careful how you apply your layers to get a neat, smooth finish, although you could get away with some very careful drybrushing of the main colours. I recommend using a very soft makeup brush if you take this approach. A bigger, stiffer brush would make larger marks and, again, ruin the sense of scale. I spent a couple of hours on the main body panels of each of these vehicles to get them the way I wanted, before finishing them off with the generic details, such as windows, tyres, etc. 

All these models are available as a single set by clicking on the logo below:

Delorean

Over a black undercoat, I painted a coat of Leadbelcher, followed by an all-over wash of Nuln Oil. This was then highlighted with Leadbelcher followed by Ironbreaker, with an edge highlight of Stormhost Silver.

Phoenix**

Over a black undercoat I blended a highlight of a mix of Abaddon Black and Dark Reaper, followed by highlights of Dark Reaper, Thunderhawk Blue and a final highlight, just on the edges of the roof, spoiler, etc. of Fenrisian Grey. The gold was Retributor Armour highlighted with Auric Armour Gold. 

Armadillo

Again, using a black undercoat, the lower half was highlighted with a mix of Abaddon Black and Eshin Grey, followed by Eshin Grey and an edge highlight of Dawnstone. The upper half was basecoated with Eshin Grey, highlighted with Dawnstone and given an edge highlight of Dawnstone/Grey Seer mix. The red was Mephiston Red highlighted with Wild Rider Red.

Nighthawk

I initially made the mistake of painting this black, as I used the wrong reference image, so it has a black undercoat. This one had a basecoat of The Fang, which was highlighted with Russ Grey, then Fenrisian Grey and a very fine edge highlight of Corax White. 

Interceptor

As with the Phoenix, over a black undercoat, a highlight of a mix of Abaddon Black and Dark Reaper, followed by highlights of Dark Reaper, Thunderhawk Blue and a final highlight, just on the edges of the roof, etc. of Fenrisian Grey. 

Freedom Eagle

Over a white undercoat, I applied a basecoat of Gryph-Hound Orange (contrast) which was highlighted with Fire Dragon Bright then Luggunath Orange before being given a glaze of Cassandora Yellow. 

Freedom Eagle 2

The black bodywork on this was done exactly the same way as the Phoenix and Interceptor. The glowing scanner on the front was done with Evil Sunz Scarlet, highlighted with Dorn Yellow then White Scar. This was glazed with Bloodletter, and a couple of glazes were also applied to the surrounding area to give the glow.

Deepdive

Over a white undercoat, a basecoat of Blood Angels Red (contrast) with a highlight of Evil Sunz Scarlet, followed by Troll Slayer Orange then Fire Dragon Bright. An edge highlight of a mix of Fire Dragon Bright/Dorn Yellow was followed by an all-over glaze of a Bloodletter/Carroburg Crimson mix. 

Cyclone

A slightly darker red on this one, which was started with Flesh Tearers Red (contrast) over a white undercoat. This was highlighted with Mephiston Red then Wild Rider Red, Fire Dragon Bright and an edge highlight of Fire Dragon Bright/Dorn Yellow mix. This was then given a glaze of Bloodletter/Carroburg Crimson mix.

Airblade

Over a white undercoat, a basecoat of Thallasar Blue (contrast) was followed by highlights of Caledor Sky, Teclis Blue, Lothern Blue and a final edge highlight of Blue Horror. The jet flames were glaze with a wash of Casandora Yellow. This was then glazed with a couple of coats of Bloodletter, making sure most of the red was concentrated at the bottom. A light drybrush of Mephiston Red was done on the tips.

Buffalo

Again, over a white undercoat, I applied a basecoat of a mix of Thallasar Blue/Ultramarines Blue (both contrast) which was highlighted with Macragge Blue, followed by Altdorf Guard Blue then Calgar Blue, with a final edge highlight of Blue Horror.

Big Bear

Over a white undercoat, a base coat of Volupus Pink (contrast) was given highlights of Pink Horror, then Emperor's Children followed by Fulgrim Pink. This was finished off with a glaze of thinned Carroburg Crimson.

Convoy

Saving the biggest for last! Over a white undercoat, I started with a coat of Flesh Tearers Red (contrast). This was given a basecoat of Khorne Red, leaving the basecoat only showing in the recesses and gaps. This was then highlighted with Wazdakka Red, followed by Squig Orange and Fulgrim Pink. I then glazed this with a couple of coats of thinned Carroburg Crimson. The jet flames were done the same way as with Airblade.

And that's the lot! How many did you recognize?

Thanks for reading!

-Stu

*A point for each one you recognise...

**The temptation was to paint this one gold. A bonus point for you if you know why.... 

Titter Ye Not, Balders, And Don't Mention The War!

Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone!

In this week's blog post I'll be looking at a commission piece that I did last year. Seeing as Richard Hale has recently posted this figure to The Stuff Of Legends, I thought it'd be a good time to say a few words about how he was painted.

He's a design from the early 2000's (a Brian Nelson sculpt, I think), when GW was going for a more generic look to their ranges (not my favourite periods aesthetically, if I'm honest) and, as such, he has no iconography on him, not even a chaos star, and certainly nothing to indicate what power he follows. Despite this, the sculpt itself is quite characterful, but was never released. As I've heard of it being referred to as the "Adolf sorcerer" I'm guessing his resemblance to a certain historical figure is why GW changed the head for a horned skull* for the released version.
Personally, I think he looks more like Rowan Atkinson. Or maybe Frankie Howerd. 

One thing I really don't like about the miniature, though, is the horse. There's nothing wrong with the sculpt of the horse's head (although, what's with the little skull on spider's legs familiar thing holding the reins?) but why did it have to be married up with a generic plastic horse body? It looks awful, the head doesn't fit properly and the two parts don't match at all. Surely a character model, one of the leaders of an army, could have had a one-off horse to ride?

As for the painting, well, as there was no clear power at work here, I took my lead from all the bones and skulls on it and headed for a traditional Nurgle feel, with lots of natural greens and browns.

I started by laying down a load of Contrast washes over an Athonian Camoshade underpaint.

These were:

Flesh: Darkoath Flesh/Plaguebearer Flesh 1/1

Armour: Militarum Green/Black Templar 3/1

Cloak Lining: Guilliman Flesh/Plaguebearer Flesh 1/1

Bone: Skeleton Horde

Horse: Gryph-Charger Grey/Gore-Grunta Fur 1/1

Robe: Basilicanum Grey/Plaguebearer Flesh 1/1

Staff: Cygor Brown

Bag and Boots: Cygor Brown/Skeleton Horde 1/2

Leather: Cygor Brown/Snakebite Leather 1/2

Fur: Nazdreg yellow/Snakebite Leather 1/1

Hair: Black Templar/Apothecary White 1/1

Scrolls: Skeleton Horde/Plaguebearer Flesh 1/1

Then the metallics were given the following basecoats:

Brass: Runelord Brass

Metal: Chainmail

Gold: Retributor Armour

Then the whole model was given a couple of glazes of thinned Athonian Camoshade to unify the colours and provide a bit of deep shading.

Once that was dry, the fun really began!

The first area I tackled was the face. This was given a highlight of Pallid /wych Flesh before being given various glazes to give it some colour. I'm afraid I didn't note down which ones were used, but it would have been greens and red, with a bit of blue around the eyes and blue/grey around the chin. A final highlight of Pallid Wych Flesh would finish it off.

The armour was highlighted with Loren Forest, then Ogryn Camo and Kreig Khaki before a glaze of Athonian Camoshade was washed over it to smooth and unify the colours. A final highlight of Kreig Khaki finishes off the armour.

The robe was given a highlight of Ironrach Skin, followed by Deepkin Flesh.

The fur was given a drybrushed highlight of Flayed One Flesh followed by Wraithbone, before being given shading washes of Seraphim Sepia, Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil.

The horse fur (hair?) was stippled with Steel Legion Drab, followed by Karak Stone then a glaze of Agrax Earthshade. This was then followed up with careful drybrushes of Karak Stone and Screaming /skull, before given washes of Reikland Fleshshade, Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil.

The cloak lining was highlighted with Tau Light Ochre, Ungor Flesh and Pallid Wych Flesh before being glazed with a mix of Reikland Fleshshade and Athonian Camoshade.

The staff was highlighted with Gorthor Brown and Baneblade Brown before being given a wash of Agrax Earthshade.

Leather areas were highlighted with Tau Light Ochre, Zamesi Desert and Wraithobne before being given a glaze of Snakebite Leather followed by Agrax Earthshade.

Bones and skulls were given a highlight of Ushabti Bone, followed by Screaming Skull then Wraithbone, a glaze of Athonian Camoshade and a final highlight of Wraithbone.

Parchments were given a highlight of Karak Stone, followed by Pallid Wych Flesh and White Scar, followed by a wash of Seraphim Sepia. The iconography was done with Fleshtearers Red.

The little areas of gold were picked out with Retributor Armour, highlighted with Liberator Gold and Stormhost Silver.

Bronze areas were picked out in Sycorax Bronze, highlighted with Stormhost Silver and given a wash of Athonian Camoshade.

The metal areas were given a coat of Leadbelcher, highlighted with Stormhost Silver and given a wash of Agrax Earthshade/Nuln Oil mix.

Gems were given a careful wash of Hexwraith Flame followed by Coelia Greenshade then a highlight of White Scar and a glaze of Waywatcher.

Finally, the base was done with a basecoat of Mournfang Brown then drybrushed with Steel Legion Drab, Zandri Dust and Karak /stone before getting a wash of Agrax Earthshade. The stones were painted with Mechanicus Standard Grey, given drybrushed highlights of Dawnstone and Deepkin flesh before getting a wash of Athonian Camoshade/Nuln Oil mix.

And we're done!

Total time was a round 12 hours and I'm quite happy with the result. He looks kinda Nurgle-y but there's more of a feel of a traditional wizard gone to the dark side, which I think really works for this miniature.

Thanks for reading!

-Stu

*Because what this miniature needed was another skull...