I'm trying out a new segment today, as part of my plans to expand my use of the blogosphere. In the last week or so I have suddenly found myself in a burst of motivation to paint models. Brought on no doubt by the looming deadline of Adepticon.
Yes, Adepticon isn't until April. Yes, last year I built, converted, painted and based an entire 2000 point army in this same time frame for Adepticon (and wrote a blog about it!). So it's a more comfortable deadline than last year. But if I don't start now, I'll regret it later.
I wanted to start some sort of painting progress piece for my blog. I went back and forth on a few names, and finally settled on this one. it made me laugh, and if it makes one person chuckle on a Monday, my mission will be a success. I don't claim to be a great painter, but I enjoy painting. if you're looking for amazing, awe-inspiring paint jobs, go look at Coolminiornot.
Sorry for the long intro. next week will be shorter, promise.
This week, I worked on my Praetorian Swordsmen for my growing Skorne army. I've been using them for months now, and finally decided it was time to throw some paint on them. So far I've done a minimum unit.
Here's a shot of a few of the members of the unit. the color scheme is the same as the rest of my Skorne army. I don't like the red scheme much, and decided there were already enough red armies around. especially when the local club is made up of about 50% Khador players.
The color scheme is easy enough to do, but the bronze fringes on these guys take forever! it wasn't such a big deal on the other models I've done, since on a Titan the "detail" work is the size of one of these guys' arms. I still have another 4 swordsmen to paint, but I think I'll be taking a break from swordsmen to work on my solos.
As an aside, if you don't already mark your facings on your models, I would recommend it. sometimes, even with pretty standard poses, it can be hard to tell exactly where your front arc is. and after marking a few bases, I realized I was giving up several degrees on either side of my model. really, half the base is bigger than you would think. and in game, those millimeters might make a difference.
It's really simple to mark your bases. first, you need a way to make your measurement accurate. I started by making two lines at right angles using a ruler. the centerpoint is important. then place a large-based model on the center of the cross. you can actually get pretty close to center by eye-balling it. use a pencil to trace around the base in one quadrant of your cross. using a compass and this arc, it is pretty easy to make sure you have your centerpoint correct. repeat the process for each base size. it takes a few minutes to do, and you'll never have to measure it out again.
Even if you don't normally use arc markings, I would suggest giving them a try. I know some people don't like how they look, but I really think they work well. I use very subtle marks, so that it doesn't really take away from the overall effect. One half is dark green, the other half is black. it's subtle, but enough of a difference to see clearly in a game where it comes into play.
With that random sidenote, let's look at what's next. Next up on the painting table, the swordsmen UA. Can't have the grunts looking better than their glorious leader now can we? I already started on them before deciding to make this blog post, but they have a long way to go still.
Comments on the models are welcome as always. Hopefully next time I show some models I'll have access to my wife's camera. phone cameras have come a long way, but they still don't compare.
No comments:
Post a Comment