Silverlions Knight-Questor

I’m trying to get back to the habit of painting, and what better way is there than a quick, simple project. And this time, I actually managed to keep it so! This Knight-Questor was painted almost completely in a single weekend.

I don’t have too much “me-time” these days: an hour or two after the boy goes to sleep, and during weekend maybe two hours extra each day while he’s napping. And that’s if I don’t have work to do… But, in the week after finishing the Axes, I painted the metallic bits on this Questor and the “Getting Started with AoS” Knight-Incantor (to be continued later…) . The rest of the model was painted on the weekend, bar a couple finishing touches. And yeah, I know that “rest of the model” is basically just the cape, but still…

I’ve always loved this model, and think it’s one of the coolest SCE models available, even with all the new designs around. The pose is just so perfect: a knight imposingly scanning the scene, ready to take on whatever’s coming up, cape flapping in the wind. Rather than paint him exactly like the rest of my Silverlions, I treated him like a one-off project. The gold bits are the biggest departure, they are much simpler here and less saturated. More fun to paint and I guess it makes this guy a bit more silver! The reds got more love than usual – I took a more volumetric approach, blended the colors a bit more and added some extra highlights to improve contrast. I also continued practicing simple TMM on the sword blade. I actually had to paint it twice as the first attempt was awful. I’m not entirely happy with the scratching, but didn’t want to start over for the third time, so I called it good.

My only slight regret with this model is not doing any freehand lining on the inside of the cape, like they have on the box art. I decided to leave it out, obviously, to get the model finished sooner. As the cape is so flowy and especially with the “magical toilet paper” on the way, I knew there would be a lot of back-and-forth fixing mistakes. Oh well, there’s no reason I couldn’t come back to this some day 🙂

I was struggling a bit with the bingo card on this model (can you believe that this model hasn’t been in my backlog for even a year?). In the end I decided to claim the “finish a unit for your army before gaming with it”. This being just a single model, it feels a bit cheap. But I suppose characters are considered units too and I don’t see myself painting too many full squads anytime soon, especially for “armies”. So I guess this is as good a time as any to claim the square.

Silverlions Prosecutors

So far in 2021 I’ve only been working on the 40k side of the hobby, so it’s high time that I got some AoS in the mix. I have a few half-done/started models in my to-do pile and thought that I’d try to finish some of them during the summer. Amongst them were the three Stormcast Prosecutors from the AoS starter box who are now done!

These guys took surprisingly long to finish. The largest part, the armor, was of course quick and easy, but the wings, gold and the “magical toilet paper” took hours to do.. That’s probably down to inefficient workflow, but it’s the way I’ve painted this army and I’ll stick to it. I think the reason these were not too enjoyable to paint for me was that this was a “paint by numbers” affair, there’s no freehand designs, battle damage, bare faces or any other more freeform stuff, just neat painting. I tried to speed up the process by not going back to fix mistakes, instead using the next paint to cover any slips. There’s still some around, but I tried to remind myself about “tabletop standard”. The good things are that the end-result is still pretty nice and I’ve only got the Lord-Celestant to do and then this army is probably finished!

So yeah, I’m happy that they’re done and I’m just one model shy of completing this army. For the hobby bingo I’ll use the Prosecutors to claim the “to-do-pile”-square. They’ve been built and primed since 2018 and I started painting them more than half a year ago, so I think they’re well qualified. I think I have a small chance of scoring one complete bingo this year, so I try to set myself up for success. For the monster, I have two candidates: Ghazghkull Thraka and the Lord-Celestant. Hmm.. If I really get a move on I might be able to finish at least one of them before the end of the year.

Silverlions Lord-Relictor

A couple of months ago I painted the Bloodsecrator from the AoS 1.0 starter set. Now it’s time for his Stormcast counterpart – the Lord-Relictor. This guy also counts for another entry in Azazel’s Jewel of July-August!

If you’re familiar with the original model, you’ll notice that I’ve swapped his head. I hate the stock helmet with a burning passion – what were they thinking with that ridiculous nose? As Space Wolves heads have been shown to fit very well on SC bodies (not least by the OG Silverlions by Banzai1000 / Thilo Engels), I promptly copied the trick.

For the most part, he was surprisingly enjoyable to paint. Before this model I’ve basecoated the armor on the Silverlions with GW’s Ironbreaker, which is a bit rubbish and requires a lot of layers. This time I used Vallejo Metal Color Duraluminium, which is a pretty close color match but covers better (two layers, tops!). After an Agrax Earthshade wash and a drybrush of Runefang Steel (VMC is too thin for drybrushing, I imagine), the result is indistinquishable from Ironbreaker. Well, there might be some difference, but not due to the different basecoat! Comparing the Relictor to my older models, there’s a bit more Agrax showing through, which is an effect I like. More definition and a bit more weathered look. I think it’s down to me getting on the “make-up-brushes-as-drybrushes-train” a little while ago. They really are great (and cheap!), and can produce a really smooth result. With the Citadel’s small drybrush I tended to go a bit too heavy. It’s still a good brush for small details though.

Speaking of details, they were the most fun part of the model. Once again I tried adding a bit of color on to the face, and while it’s not my best work it’s one of the better ones. I think I got the black beard relatively nice as well. For the hourglass I took some pointers from an ‘Eavy Metal tutorial in an old White Dwarf (#362). Went a bit overboard with the reflections, but I guess it’s fine for a first attempt. Also, I’m not sure if the blue-gray color is the best choice here, as it’s not repeated in other areas of the model. It certainly stands out, but maybe too much. Finally, after finishing the gold in my usual way, I thought I’d try enhancing the contrast a bit with some Guilliman Flesh. I think this worked out great, although it might’ve been beneficial to re-highlight some edges with VMC White Aluminium / Runefang Steel.

The only part that was a bit tedious to paint was his cape. Those SC parchments are pretty annoying to paint, at least the way I do it.. And as if that wouldn’t have been enough, I also had an Agrax mishap which left the whole cape glossy after the wash. Thankfully after some coats of matte varnish and Lahmian Medium I was able to fix it. Hopefully now that I’ve painted the Relictor, who surely has the most flappy bits, the rest of my SC models will be easier to paint!

The Farstriders

My Shadespire collection grows by yet another warband! This time, I’ve finished the Farstriders! That makes six finished gangs, and two more to go to complete the first season of Underworlds.

Now, to be honest these could’ve been finished a lot sooner, had I not bought myself Hades from Steam. I’ve sunk so many hours into it during the last month that had I used them all painting, I’d probably have my Shadespire collection finished right about now.. It’s a pretty good game though 😀

Anyway, the Farstriders. I decided to change my default SCE color scheme to something else for this group. At first I toyed with the idea of going with the box art golden boys, but then I felt that I needed to change it a bit to make it mine. I thought I’d just change the blue to red, but then I decided to change the gold as well, to a more weathered looking brass. I came across a cool Space Marine Minotaurs tutorial on FromTheWarp ages ago, and finally got to try it out. Well, loosely speaking. I used Citadel paints and their brass triad, just adding verdigris effects before all the drybrushing. I’ve used Nihilakh Oxide a couple times before, and have been a bit unhappy with the results, thinking that the paint went on too opaque, even with 1:1 thinning with medium. This time I diluted the wash even further, to 1:2, and think that it looks good to me (as long as I only go over areas once). Well, I erased most of the verdigris with the drybrushing anyway, so it didn’t really matter even if I put too much on.

My favorite part of the models to paint were the capes. As you might have noticed, I’m a bit of a sucker for differentiating my warband models in some way, and here I decided on making the capes in different colors. I used around five base colors for the initial pattern in each cape, which I then washed with different washes and drybrushed them to finish them off. While painting the initial pattern, I mixed the paints on the borders to achieve a smoother transition, either by mixing an intermediate color on the palette or by wetblending on the model.

There are a couple of things I’m not totally happy about on the models. One is that I probably should’ve pushed the highlights on the reds a bit more, as compared to the black leather bits they look a bit flat. Speaking of red, with these models I tried to make the reds on the topknot, pauldrons and the loincloth(?) a bit different, and brighter on top to draw attention there. Success, I think? I’m also not sure about the color choice on the bird: I tried to mimick a golden eagle, but brown and white doesn’t really stand out from the brass armor and white cape. But these are considerations for future models, I’m calling these ones done.

Last but not least, I’m claiming a square on the hobby bingo: a team painted specifically for a skirmish game. Seems like the year has started well on the bingo front, one month down and two (/three) squares completed! If I can keep this up, I’ll be finishing the whole board before the end of the year! (Yeah, fat chance..:)

Stormsire’s Cursebreakers

With all that’s been going on IRL, these guys have taken quite a while to complete. Still, after a month and a half on my painting desk, Stormsire’s Cursebreakers are at long last done.

Model-wise, there’s not much to say as they’re a stock Nightvault warband. Nice models. I had to do some gap filling, which didn’t come out super smooth as I only had greenstuff and it wasn’t ideal for the job. I’ve since bought Milliput, which is maybe better? We’ll see in the future, once I get to try it out..

For the paint scheme I chose the Silverlions, as I’ve done with all my Stormcast, but changed the red cloth to purple, which helps to differentiate the SCE warbands on the board. I also got lazy with the gold, and tried just drybrushing it. This, along with using a brown wash gave a more worn look. It’s also closer to what Thilo Engels did with his original scheme.

Another new-ish thing I tried with these models was to practice blends, mainly with the hair on Ammis and Rastus, and the flame on Stormsire’s hand. I chose to paint the hairdos on Ammis and Rastus differently, again for easier identification on the board. Both started from purple, but on Ammis the color transitions to pink, and on Rastus to blue. I think the colors work pretty well, as they’re found in other parts of the models: blue on the glass vials, pink on the weapon straps. Also, stereotypical boy/girl colors 🙂

Most examples of Stormsire’s flame I’ve seen have been in some “magical” color. Cheap parlor tricks, I say. I thought that real(-ish) fire would complement the rest of the color scheme best, and I’m pretty happy with the result. To complement the fire, and to draw attention to Stormsire’s head I wanted to try red hair. Not quite as intense color as on dwarfs, but still reading as ginger. The image on my head was of the GoT Tormund Giantsbane, which I think I achieved, as my wife looked at the model and said “looks quite like the wildling boss man from GoT.”

Finally, by completing this warband I also finished my Nightvault core set, and claimed another square in the hobby bingo (“Paint all minis in a board game and play it”)! I’ve done the tasks in reverse order, as I played the game before painting the models, but I’ll still count it. Hopefully I get to play again before the end of the year though!

Silverlions Retributors

It took me a lot longer than expected, but I’ve got some new models to show: the three Retributors from the AoS starter set! A side effect of taking so long with these is that they totally qualify for Azazel’s Neglected Model June challenge, so that’s nice!

I started working on these right after the Space Marine Captain, and they were supposed to be an “easy win”, quickly getting multiple models done after painting single models for a couple of months. Two-three days, tops! That turned into two-three weeks, but that’s how it goes sometimes. For some reason I wasn’t really feeling these models, and I don’t really know why.

The painting was the same as with the previous Silvelions, so nothing special there. I’ll note that I used a different, finer sand for the basing than what I usually use. I think it’s too fine for my taste, and in hindsight I should’ve added at least some coarser sand in there. Fortunately the tufts and other bits do a passable job of hiding the flatness of the big bases.

For the next project I think I’ll go for something more organic. I’ve been painting so much armor lately that I feel I need some cloth in my painting queue. The 40k Skaven would fit the bill perfectly, so I’ll probably get on to those. I might also paint something else for Azazel’s challenge, but we’ll see if I have time.

Shadespire Collection So Far

One part of Azazel’s April challenge focuses on armies, and showcasing them “like 16 year-old girls post selfies”. My current collection doesn’t really have any proper armies, but I do have a collection of Shadespire warbands and terrain. They’ll do!

Just the one group photo this time. I have previously shown two of the warbands on this blog, my first proper post was to showcase the Skaven, and just last post was about the Stormcast Eternals. In the future I will be posting showcases for the remaining warbands – the Deathrattle, Khorne and Orruk teams – as well as the scenery pieces.

As you can see from the photo above, I’ve tried to come up or find a different color scheme for each of the groups, and if possible, go with something other than the box art. With that, I am just a couple colors short of a color wheel! If I can come up with a yellow and a green scheme, I’ll be set. Green should be easy, but yellow might be more tricky. Maybe I’ll count gold, and paint one of the Stormcast bands in the default Hammers of Sigmar scheme..

I’d like to eventually get all of the Shadespire warbands, and Nightvault as well, but I’ll have to see if I can keep up with GW’s release schedule. I’ve obviously fallen behind pretty badly (9 Underworlds teams to go, and soon two more), but as long as I can get the Nightvault box before it’s discontinued to make room for season 3, I should be good.

From the Archives: Steelheart’s Champions

Nothing new finished for this week’s post, so back into the archives we go! This time I’m presenting the Steelheart’s Champions from Shadespire.

I’ve only got one good picture of the group, as I hadn’t figured out my photo setup when I originally finished these models. Later when I took the above photo, for some reason I didn’t bother taking a shot of their backs. Not a big deal though, as apart from the leader they are not really that interesting from behind. I showed Severin in a previous post, but here’s the rear view again for convenience.

While I started the Revelators Tactical Squad before these guys, they were actually the first group of minis that I finished after the very experimental Chaos Cultists. Of course, there was plenty of new techniques to try out with these guys as well, such as painting faces, a big cape and using washes and glazes for tinting steel. The sword and the cape were not too successful, but I labeled them good enough. Overall, I’m still very happy with the models. As I’ve mentioned before, the color scheme is called “Silverlions”, and was nicked from Thilo Engels, aka Banzai1000.

Getting these models was actually pretty much a happy accident. When I got back to the hobby I though it would be just 40k, as that’s what I had been doing back in my teenage years and WHFB had never been too interesting to me. But when Shadespire came out I was really awed by the models and was also intriqued by the game. Shortly after the release I happened to see someone selling an unused copy for half-price, and that was too good of a deal to pass up. I thought that I’d get it just to paint the models, but it turned out that the game is brilliant as well, which was a nice bonus!

More Silverlions Liberators

The work continues on my Age of Sigmar starter set, and with it Azazel‘s February hobby challenge. Here’s the second set of Liberators, this time with swords instead of hammers!

As the box came with two sets of four identical Liberator models (the two leaders being different sculpts), I wanted to customize the other set if at all possible. I happen to have a box of five multipart Liberators, and as it comes with both swords and hammers, decided to go for a simple weapon swap. Drilling holes for pins was a bit harrowing, as it left the weapon handles with 0.1mm walls, but amazingly I didn’t screw it up on any of them. Finally, as I had access to a two-handed sword, I swapped one of the monopose models for a multipart one, and gave him the big sword. For some reason the arms were a nightmare to pose and required a lot of greenstuff..

The paint scheme is of course the same as with the previous group, so not much to add about that. The only thing that differs slightly is unsurprisingly the swords, which didn’t get a purple wash like the hammers did. I was originally a bit concerned that the large swords would be too similar in color to the armor, but the golden guards and leaving the wash off created suitable contrast. I played with the idea of some blue wash, but decided to leave it off as these are just standard swords.

To finish this post I give you a group shot of the 10 Liberators and the current state of my AoS starter set. For my next project I’ll be going back to 40k and I don’t know when I’ll continue on these guys. It feels good though to have completed all of the basic troops and a large monster, so I think I’m over the half-way-point at least! If just counting the models, then without a doubt, but the two yet-unbuilt heroes might take a while..

Silverlions Liberators

Azazel‘s February hobby challenge is dedicated to neglected models, which I’m sure we all have plenty of. I decided to dive back to my Age of Sigmar starter set (the first one) and get at least the ten Liberators done. That would mean that I have all the line infantry and the Khorgorath done, leaving “only” the elites and the characters. Here’s the first half of the Liberators done.

I wanted to use the same color scheme that I used for my SCE Shadespire warband. It’s called “Silverlions” and was created originally by Thilo Engels, aka Banzai1000. I really like the look and and it’s pretty fast to paint too. I wanted to paint to these up quickly, but still I ended up doing pretty much every step that I took with Steelheart’s Champions, except that I didn’t highlight black and was a bit more lenient towards mistakes.

Comparing the Liberator Prime to Severin Steelheart, the results are pretty close to each other. I maybe could have done another appliaction of thinned Druchii Violet, but there’s a hint of color and I think it’s enough. And to think it took me a month to paint the Champions (three models) and these five guys were painted in a week..

The red on the cloak/skirt/whatever was the only thing that I couldn’t color match, and it ended up brighter than on Steelheart. I tried layering with Wazdakka Red, but as that didn’t look right I changed it to Mephiston Red. I think I like this more though, so I don’t mind.

The five remaining Liberators are on the pipeline next. The steel armor and the black bits are already done, as I did those at the same time for all ten, so they’re pretty much half-way there.