Les Chiens de Guerre

Hi all,

My first post - just getting into the game now the minis are finally available here in Australia.
Here, after a few false starts (I kept getting the lava wrong), are the first two of my guys to see any paint.
The bases are finished pretty much - the models are not ;)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/Lava.jpg)
Comments welcome.

bases look great - love the lighting on the rocks are you going to carry that through to the rest of the model?? - it would add a rather brooding lighting effect to them and really place them in location - though i accept that it'll probably be quite difficult to do - definately out of my skill range.

cant wait to see how it all turns out

I probably won't carry it onto the models - way to scary for me :o
I'll see how I go though - you never know...

A bit more progress.
Still quite WIP but you can get a sense of how they'll look now ;D
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/Saracens1606.jpg)
Comments & crit welcome.

Very nice!
I like the use of metallics on the shields! it looks awesome

After a Looooong break I got back into the lads on the weekend.

here's the new WIP shot:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/SWarriors.jpg)
Still a few bits to go. 2 more bases made up for my Hashasin and the Pillar with Halberd. I'm going to try and get the entire force painted up for the Little Wars painting comp here in Melbourne in May

Loving them! The lava really is great, I love the turquoise and the metals are phenomenal!

There is more done now. I'll be posting new pics soon ;)
Starred on my Pillar and Hassassin - as you can see I paint very slowly.... ::)

The pillar and Hassassin so far...
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/Pillar.jpg)

Happy with them at the moment.

Beautiful as usual, I can't wait to see the whole group!

Sir, I represent a certain organization that will be known to you as "the rest of the saracen players". We have come to the conclusion that your painting skills have caused bouts of a) depression b) anguish c) loss of self-worth amongst the members of the aforementioned organisation. We urge you to cease and desist at this moment. If you do not comply, legal action will be taken.

imressive!!!Wish I could paint like that.One remark though,the blade of the axe could use a bit more blending(you can see the line).The rest is awesome 8)

Thanks guys!
@ oinky - the blade could do with more work. They are still quite WIP. The blade has only had a basecoat of Boltgun Metal and a hit of leviathan purple wash - lots to do there yet  ;) The only part of these guys that is actully finished is the base (though the pillar's armoured hand isn't far off). I still need to finis the two sanctified warriors too - my painting ADD kicked in though  ::)
@silveri - does it matter that I paint at a glacial pace and most of you guys will be onto your 3rd faction by the time I get basecoats on Layla the Bint?  :D

Hey Angora, your saracens are looking mighty good at the moment mate are you going to post them over on Oz Painters when finished or even show them as a w.i.p like here ?

b.t.w ill post some pics of the occidentaux i got from M.G in melb last month as soon as i can get my hands on a digital camera !!  :)

Your response has been noticed and by general consensus the people I represent have agreed to let you continue on the condition that you create a thorough tutorial on your painting techniques.

@ silmarilias - i suppose I should at some point but I'll probably just pop up the finished ones there  ;)  You should pop down to WSWA in Altona for a game soon. There's a buncjh of us meet down there.

@silveri - sure. Next model would you like a proper 'step by step' tute?

Yes please.

As requested here's the start of a complete WIP on painting a saracen...

The subject of the WIP will be this guy:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/BERBER.jpg)
An excellent mini and a bit challenging due to lots of cloth areas (so lots of blending to do)

I start by prepping the mini as usual (cleaning mould lines etc), clipping off the tab and inserting a pin. The slot in the base is filled with some old plasticene I had lying about. It's cheaper than greenstuff and just as good once it's covered in basing material.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/Berber2.jpg)

I roughen up part of the base so the glue adheres better, taking care to leave an area for the lava. I have a length of old matchstick blind that I scavenged. It makes great PVA smearers and can also see service as defensive stakes!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/bewrber3.jpg)

Now to aply the gravel. It's not  bad idea to give the box of gravel a gentle shake, just to bring the big ones to the surface. That way you get a nice balance of small and big rocks. At this point test fit the mini and remove or shift any basing that will be in the way. In this case one of the larger rocks on the left had to go as it was right where a foot would end up. Sometimes I smeal the entire base in PVA and push the flock away to form the lava, This also gives a nice ripple effect.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/berber4.jpg)

More to come soon....(the more interesting bits ;)

Onto painting the base:

first up it's given a black undercoat and drybrushed. Starting with GW Charandon Granite and the working up through Codex Grey to Fortress Grey in increasingly light coats. Concentrate on the larger rocks for the final highlights
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/base1.jpg)

Now for the lava: These are the colours used (apart from white which I forgot to show)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/base2.jpg)
They are GW Blood Red (BR), Red Gore (RG), Blazing Orange (BO), Fiery orange (FO) and Golden Yellow (GY) plus Black and White. Fiery orange has been discontinued and that's a shame 'cos it's a great colour >:(

For the base colour mix some RG with a dab on black and paint it on.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/Base3-1.jpg)

Then, while the first coat is still wet, start painting on some straight RG. Keep the paint fairly thin and sorta dab it on to get a nice, uneven texture happening.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/Base4.jpg)

With each colour you apply gently drybrush the surrounding rock to get the OSL working. This is important as it's a bugger to go back and mix the colours again. These should be VERY light drybrushes. if you can't highlight your fingerprint on your hand you've too much paint on the brush!

Working as quickly as you can start to add Blood red to the mix in increasing amounts. Every time you add BR, reduce the are you paint to get the glow started.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/Base5.jpg)


Now begin to add Blazng orange in the same fashion. Keep reducing the area you paint. With each colour change you kinda mix it with the previous finishing colour and work up to the next one. It's important to work fast but as you are dealing with pretty small areas you don't need lots of paint.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/Base6.jpg)

Work up through Fiery Orange and Golden yellow. All the time reducing the area you paint. By this stage I've dropped from a 2/0 brush to a 000!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/Base7.jpg)
You will note that at this stage I decided to add more Blood Red. It's important to get the balance of colours right and sometimes it takes some fiddling. I used very dilute paint for this to help it blend in.

For the smallest areas of highlight add some white to the Golden Yellow and work up to pure white. The white bits should just be very fine dabs.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/Base8.jpg)

Go back and paint the edge of the base. This part really makes the effect take shape I think. :D
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/base9.jpg)

After this I'll normally add some washes to the rocks (Leviathan Purple etc) to make them stand out.

More to come soon.

Beautiful!

I'll try it on my next model :)

Fantastic!I allready put big rocks on my bases,but I'm going to give it a try on the next ones.

Greetz Oinky  :)

Yep, I'm going to have to try this too.

So how many layers do you think you have on there?

Kinda hard to say how many layers. I guess 6-10 if you count all the different mixes. Sometimes I'll mix say, red & yellow together, and just pop a few dabs on and then change the colour a bit.
One important bit (that I may have neglected to say) is that the paints should be quite thin. The colour really needs to build and blend at the same time. It probably takes 10 minutes from start to finish to do the lava.

Good to know.  I expected it to take much longer than that.  And thanks for the clarification too.

More done today:

Here are the basecoats for the berber. His robes are basecoated in a mix of GW Snakebite Leather and Graveyard Earth. His upper 'cape' in a mix of Bestial Brown and scorced brown. The headdress is just straight Codex Grey. Hands and face painted in Dark Flesh. The gun is painted in a mix of Scorched brown and black.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/bnerber2.jpg)

The next step it to basically cover the mini in a light wash of leviathan Purple wash mixed with some Delvan Mud. Concentrate on the recesses.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/Berber2-1.jpg)

The next step is to repaint the robes with a mix of Desert Yellow and Graveyard Earth, adding more graveyard earth to start to form the highlights. Bleached bone is added to the mix to highlight the highest folds.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/Berber3.jpg)

After the first set of highlights I go back and add more of the wash mix to the recesses and form the shadows from the outer layers of clothes. I follow up with a few very light glazes of Liche Purple here and there. You can see I went a bit overboard on the RHS of his robes (just under his knee). I will fix that in the next stage.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/berber3a.jpg)

Here are the robes, pretty much done. I remixes the Graveyard Eath/Blacked Bone mix and rehihlighted, using very diluted paint. The dark patch was covere by progressively using the lighter colour to mask it - the key here is very thin paint and a decent brush. The final higlights are bleached bone and skull white, up to almost straight skull white.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/angoraflay/Berber4-1.jpg)

More to come soon... ;)

Looking good!  ;D