Day 25: Khador Man-O-War

Three days into the final week & I'm running a bit behind. Sunday's mini took a little more prep than I'd considered, & I bit off a good bit more than I'd intended for Monday (Suffice to say, it's large & orange. Not a good combination)

Either way, Here's Sunday. Another Warmachine model: the Khador Man-O-War. I bought this one 5 years ago during a going out of business sale for a game store about 75 miles from where I live while visiting my fiance at her college. I'd always really liked the look for this unit. They're beefy and impressive, but still seem realistic to steampunk warfare. So when I saw there were a few blisters for 50% off I went ahead & grabbed one.

I'd originally wanted to paint them in a black & gold scheme, similar to a Necron test-mini I painted a while back, but I decided to stick to the classic red, since that's how I've painted all the other Khador I've done in the past.

I'm happy with him, although once I put him next to my other Khador types it occurred to me that the others don't have much gold.  I want Khador to have a more industrial look, not fancy, so most of them are silvery & brass rather than gold. Oh well. Maybe I'll sell him or give him away. We'll have to see.

Hope to catch up soon.

~Muninn

Day 8: Kovnic Andrei Malakov, Journeyman Warcaster

Back in August of last year I was touting the Warmachine: Tactics kickstarter. Sure, the video game sounded exciting, but I was more enticed by the limited edition minis you could get for pledging. The one I was most intrigued by was Malakov. I liked his look. In particular, he had this long, characterful face that struck me as neat.

My Miniature rewards showed up a few weeks ago, and while I was thinking about minis for this project Malakov came to mind.

He was mostly red & black (two easy colors for me) and this project helps keep me from overthinking the fact I'm painting a limited edition miniature. I tend to drag my feet about painting limited minis. I don't want to screw them up, so I never actually end up painting them. It's silly, but it happens.

I'm happy with Andrei here. There was a lot of little detail to work through. The minis isn't quite as large as I was expecting, and there was a ton of fine edging. I suppose these CAV models allow you to add small details an artist would be hard-pressed to add. Everything is pretty crisp though, and he'd stand out on the table.

He's a bit walleyed, but I don't want to try to fix that until after the month is over. I don't want to go back to repair the problem & make it worse in the process. Overall, I'm happy.

The next week or so will be dedicated to Space Marines. I'm finally going to finish more Night Wolves, and probably break into some of the marines I've neglected to finish over the years.

More tomorrow.

~Muninn

For sale: Khador Starter

I just finished snow flocking the Destroyer this morning, so I thought I'd show off the whole battle group.

This is first time I bought & painted minis with the expressed intent of selling them. I'd been wanting to try out the Zenith spray technique for a while and this seemed like the best way to get it done. So now that these guys are complete I'll probably seal them, & toss them on eBay. Don't worry, I won't be labeling them "pro-painted." I reserve that label to folks who are a lot better than I am. Rather, I'll probably say they're painted to a "high-tabletop standard."

I've never sold anything online before, so I'm not sure the price they'd fetch. I suppose I'd like enough to pay for the investment in the minis, as well as enough extra to buy some more.

~Muninn

Warmachine: Khador Juggernaut

Contrary to the low expectations I set in my last post, I did, in fact, finish the Juggernaut last night.

All it really took to finish him up was some washes & highlights for the metals, the blue for the eyes and axe (to match Sorscha) and the basing. All told I think he took about 6 hours of painting, so it was a really good turnaround for a model of this size.

I'll definitely be duplicating this technique in the future. Probably at least one more time in the next two days in order to paint the Destroyer Warjack. Once that guy's done I'll be selling the lot of them. Not sure how much I could get, but hopefully enough to make my money back, and buy some more minis.

~Muninn

(P.S. One final plug: The Warmachine: Tactics kickstarter is in its final hours. Go check it out.)

Test Mini: Zenith red

A while back I came across From the Warp. The author, Rob had a nice little blog going with some good ideas. Sadly, he stepped away from his little corner of the internet about 6 months ago and hasn't been seen since, but his words live on. I've pondered over one of his speed painting techniques for a while, and this week, with the onset of my rekindled interest in Warmachine, I've decided to give his Zenith overhead painting technique a go.

If you don't feel like clicking the link above the premise is simple: using two cans of spray paint to create a two-toned basecoat for your minis. Rob posits that you need a black basecoat, and a dark color for a secondary coat, but I'm trying something a little different in order to paint a Khador Juggernaut Heavy Warjack.

Khador's army usually uses a red scheme, so in the interest of selling this guy on eBay that's what i went with.

I used two colors of Krylon: Burgundy, and Pimento (both with satin finishes) I wanted two tones of red, and for the lighter color to be a bit more orange instead of "cherry."

Here are the simple steps:
1. A light black primer basecoat
2. 1-2 coats of Krylon Burgundy. When you first spray the paint on it doesn't look like it's well covered, but just give it a few minutes to dry, and it'll be more obvious where you need more paint.
3a. Wait for the dark basecoat to dry, then hold the lighter color, Pimento, at about a 45 degree angle above the front of your mini, so you're spraying down on it. Then make 2-3, light, even passes with the paint. The first layer looks really splotchy, but it evened out with a few more coats, and also as it dried.
3b. The initial spray didn't cover the back of the gauntlets, so I sprayed them individually, using an envelope to shield the rest of the mini from overpaint.
4. After that dried, I went through and painted highlights along the edges (I used Mechrite Red through Firey Orange, through Sunburst Yellow).

Steps 1 through 4 literally took a single hour. So I'd definitely call it a speed painting success.

Finally, I coated all of the red bits with a wash of Baal Red. This served a few purposes: It deepened the red into the right shade, helped even out the fade between the two colors, and it dulled down the glossy sheen of the spray paint.

Here's how it looks now, after about three hours of painting. I might actually be able to finish it tonight before I go to be. (Unlikely, but possible)

I think this technique is ideal for large minis with wide flat areas. I imagine the smaller you go the dicier it becomes. The Khador 'Jack is idea since it has these wide, flat panels, but detail-heavy Menoth 'Jacks might not fare as easily.

As Rob noted in one of his last posts, this method can easily obscure finer details. For instance, the holes in the Juggernaut's face plate appear to be divets instead of vents (or whatever they're supposed to be).  The best way to prevent this is by placing a bit of masking tape over details you don't want painted, or want to protect. You finish painting, and the tape strips away clean once the paint is dry.

The next step for me (other than finishing this mini, and it's brother) is to try a new spin on the Zenith technique with Fenrisian Wolves. I'll keep you updated on that once I give it a go.

~Muninn

Privateer Press Kickstarter

I mentioned yesterday that I've been getting pretty spun up about the Warmachine: Tactics Kickstarter.

I'm not invested at a very high level, but it definitely has my attention. In addition to liking the tabletop game and story background, the developers say game is modeled after Valkyria Chronicles and Final Fantasy Tactics. If they manage to capture a fraction of the enjoyment garnered from those classic games it should be a fun ride. Plus there are a number of great looking Limited Edition minis you can get in addition to the game, and I've been lurking extensively on the off chance they'll post more.

Of the eight minis they're releasing, I've ordered five: Two for myself, one that I'll paint and sell (the Evil version), one for Yorrik, and one for a friend's birthday present.

One of the minis that's piqued my interest is the smarmy, greasy, self-interested young Khador Journeyman Warcaster Andrei Malakov (below in white metal). The artwork is really characterful, and I think it will just be a fun mini to paint.

I don't actually *own* a Khador army, but I've been looking into it more and more. To that end I found a really good deal on the old, metal starter box which I decided to paint, sell, and hopefully turn a nice little profit (that I would then use to buy the plastic Khador box. I realize that makes no sense).

Here's the metal Khador warcaster, Sorscha. When I got her it looked like the previous owner has smashed her nose, so I had to re-sculpt it.

She turned out pretty well for the little time I put into her. The Warjacks are coming along even faster. I'm testing out a new painting style and it's working quite well for me. I'll show you the results tomorrow.

In the meantime though, Go check out the Warmachine: Tactics Kickstarter. There's less than 3 days left to pledge, so if you like what you see I'd encourage you to invest.

~Muninn