Tag Archives: painting

SAGA and Gripping Beast’s Harald Hardradda

A friend at my local game store has gotten me into SAGA.  (Yu know who you are (that’s a pun that one person in the world is going to get)).  I’ve not played yet, but we have some games scheduled in a few weeks.  I’ve just started painting my army, but tonight I finished my warlord.

I used Gripping Beast’s Harald Hardradda figure, but I’ll use him as a generic Anglo-Danish leader.

out_of_package Here’s what you get in the package.  I ordered from Gripping Beast’s USA partner, Architects Of War.  They shipped fast and have good prices, and an easy to use website.  I got my SAGA rulebook from them, also.

 

size Harald is BIG.  I read up on him, and he was a big guy in real life, also.

 

unpainted_back This is where the shield attaches to his back.

 

shield_decal I used a decal for the shield front.  It was easy to put on.

 

decal_applied The shield after the decal was applied.

 

before_shield_attached When I primed the figure and the shield, I put a bit of blue tack over the parts that I would need to glue, so that I could glue metal to metal with no paint in the way.

 

after_shield_attached The shield is attached.

 

after_wash Harald is painted and washed with The Army Painter Strong Tone ink.

 

Gripping_beast_Harald_Hardradda_front Done and based.  The sword on the base is from Wargames Factory Saxon Thegns.  He’s on a 30mm Litko.net wood base with a heavy duty magnet base underneath.

 

Gripping_beast_Harald_Hardradda_back

 

I am really looking forward to playing SAGA.  I’ve started on my Anglo-Danish warband.  Hopefully I’ll have some pics of them for you soon.

 

15mm Mutants and the Dangers of Dullcote When it’s Humid.

Over the weekend I painted up some of Khurasan’s 15mm Mutant Supersoldiers (END-202) and Savage Humanoid Cannibals (END-500).  It was just after dark last night when I went to spray them with Testor’s Dullcote.  I love Dullcote, it really “finishes” a mini.  But I learned to be careful about the time of day I choose to use it.

I live about 500 meters from the ocean in Southern California, so when the sun sets, the humidity rises fast.  This did not occur to me, and my minis ended up with a fogged finish. Damn.

After looking around the internet for solutions, I ended up brushing on Citadel’s ‘Ardcoat over the whole mini.  This took care of the fogging and brought back the original color.  Then, this morning, in full sunlight and lower humidity, I hit them will Dullcote again to kill the ‘Ardcoat’s shine.

painted_not_based This is the nine minis after painting and before any spray finish.

 

group_shot After the whole process – the fogged layer of Dullcote, then the ‘Ardcoat “fix it” layer, then Dullcote again.  And basing, of course.

 

Khurasan_mutant_supersoldiers_front Khurasan_mutant_supersoldiers_back The Mutant Supersoldiers, front and back.  I think they need another spray of Dullcote.  The ‘Ardcoat is really shiny, and some of that shine is still showing, especially in the back view.  The guy in the middle has a shiny ass, and that’s just not right.  🙂

 

Khurasan_savage_humanoid_cannibals The Savage Humanoid Cannibals.  I think I’ll spray them with the Dullcote one more time, as well.

 

khurasan_supersoldier_cannibal_size_referenceHere’s a size reference.

 

I’m glad I was able to rescue them, and I’ve learned a good lesson to not use Dullcote when it’s humid out.

I plan to use these minis with the Monster Hunter International RPG.  I’m thinking of a “The Hills Have Eyes” type scenario.

Army Painter’s Color Primer Review

I recently got a buttload of 15mm Sci-Fi minis from the Critical Mass Games Kickstarter.  I need to paint them, so I can have a full company vs. company to try out Quadrant 13.  I looked into how to speed up the painting process, and I came across The Army Painter’s Color Primer.  They spell it “colour” but they are wrong. 🙂

I use Army Painter’s washes – Strong Tone and Dark Tone, and I like them a lot better than the Citadel washes I had used previously, so I was already feeling positive toward the company.

The genius thing that Army Painter has done here is that they have a “100% match” regular paint for each color primer.  So you can, in theory, spray your minis with the colored primer, paint the other colors, then touch up with the 100% match paint.

Anyway, I wanted to try it out before I sprayed it all over my CMG minis, so I tried it on Kurasan’s “Terror Of Clambake Beach.”  These were perfect, because they are mostly one color.

raw_terror cleaned_terror The Clambake Beach minis before and after cleanup.

 

terror_primed After priming with “Ultramarine Blue”.  In the back is the spray primer and the 100% match paint.

 

Khurasan_terror_of_clambake_beach_15mm_PLA-6The completed minis.  I drybrushed a mix of the 100% match paint with a bit of Citadel’s Runefang Steel, then painted the eyes, mouth and teeth.  Of course I messed that up, so I had several touchups to do, and they blended perfectly.

Then I washed with Army Painter’s Strong Tone mixed with acrylic medium to thin it.  Basing was done my standard way.

 

The color primer really sped the whole process up.  I’m a fan.  The 100% match paints really seal the deal.  I think this will save me about 25% time when I paint the 79 infantry from the CMG Kickstarter.

Khurasan’s Modern Zombies – Part 2

I’ve made a lot of progress on the 15mm zombies today.  Eight are done and based.  That’s what you are traditionally supposed to do on Independence Day, right?  Paint and base zombie miniatures?

two_stands_done Painting is done.  I had just enough Dullcote left to spray them.

 

first_eight_zombies_basing_step_1 After the Dullcote dried, I mixed some red paint with CItadel’s ‘Ardcoat to make “wet blood” and applied that in some small areas.  The I superglued them onto Litko bases.

 

first_eight_zombies_basing_step_2 This is my standard vinyl spackling mixed with water and brushed onto the base to build it up even with the mini’s built in base.

 

first_eight_zombies_basing_step_3 I gave the spackling 2 hours to dry and then painted it.  I also painted a black edge.

 

khurasan_15mm_zombies_group_1_front khurasan_15mm_zombies_group_1_back One group got full on grass.

 

khurasan_15mm_zombies_group_2_front khurasan_15mm_zombies_group_2_back The other group got sand and grass and some grass tufts.

 

khurasan_15mm_zombies_group_1and2 khurasan_15mm_zombies_sizeI wanted to show just how small these minis are.  I know a lot of people are not used to 15mm scale minis.

 

I’m very happy with how these came out.  8 down, 12 to go.  As I mentioned before, I intend to use these with the Monster Hunter International RPG.

Khurasan’s Modern Zombies – Part 1

I got “The Dead — Modern Zombies” from Khurasan a few weeks ago, and I got finally got started on them.  I intend to use these for the MHI RPG that I’ve mentioned in previous posts.

ready_for_primer 20 15mm scale zombies in 20 different poses.  Also, 2 werewolves in the front.  Cleaned and ready for primer.

 

primed And primed.

 

first_zombie_doneLast night I painted one.  With the 4 day weekend coming up, I hope get a whole bunch done by next week.

These 20 zombies and the 2 wolves are my Reddit painting challenge for July.