Trench Crusade Court, Part 2: Drybrushing and starting metals!

Okay, continuing!. (Also, here's a picture of the primed flail. I put a jawbone at the end of one of the chains.) 

Decided to do my initial drybrush in AP's Banshee Brown, believe it or not. No, you don't see it *super* well, but the idea here was to have a reddish-brown undercoat for the rust, of which there is going to be quite a bit of. 

I then followed it up with an AP Grey Castle, picking out some details here and there, and particularly hit some things like the skulls and such with it. I also did a few things in AP's Abyssal Blue(which will be verdigris-laden bronze.) Each model has something that will be bronze-the Hell Knights with bronze chain cloaks, the Yoke Fiends each have a little something, like a trinket, or some bit of armor. 

I went heavier on the Grey Castle brush with the fiends' skin, which will be a very sickly pale, mottled color(at least, I hope) at the end. 

Next, I started do do a rust undercoat for certain things. The chains and barbed wire are going to get a rust undercoat(AP's Dark Rust), and drybrushed metal over it, but the rest will be painted first and then I will begin the rust applications with Dirty Down, Grim Rust and everything else. 

For the base metals, as much as I love my beloved John Blanche Heavy Metal, my bottle is starting to get somewhat light, and I need to order some singles soon. They don't sell them in local stores around me yet. I want to also use this on the Praetor and the Saint, so to ensure I keep enough on hand, I used this as the base for the Yoke Fiends, which have less metal. For the Hell Knights, I opted for the excellent and aptly named Scale 75 Black Metal. I don't use a lot of S75, and I've seen some of their colors not do too hot, but I love this one and it goes on smooth and easy. It's also incredibly close in color. 

If you're a Citadel person, btw, the best suggest I have for you is 1:1 Leadbelcher(the Citadel Gun Metal equivalent) and Abaddon Black, and Leadbelcher straight instead of Gun Metal. (As for the other colors, I think Doombull Brown 1:1 with Rhinox Hide, Mechanicus Standard Grey and Thousand Suns Blue are close. All that said, I do not think I am someone you want to be taking paint advice from; I'm just listing color equivalents. There's a slew of way better painters than me online that give way better advice.) 

Anyway, here's the crew with some basic metal stuff done! (it's a bit messy, but I'll be painting over any of that, so I wasn't trying to be particularly neat here.)

And that's it for tonight! Tomorrow I am going to start the highlights and the weapons-Gun Metal for a lot of them, but I'll go over some other color picks. Note that starting then, I'm going to not be doing them as much in batches, due to the extra details I'm going to be doing. I want to give the three Hell Knights different levels of verdigris on the cloaks, for example, and they're going to have heavier rust in different places, and so on. But for the priming, drybrushing and base metals, it seemed good to do them together. 

Til next time! 

First real army getting painted, Trench Crusade Court, part 1

 So, while I've actually put paint on a lot of miniatures since late September, I have never painted a full, real army yet. Finally getting my Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent army in for Trench Crusade(I am partial to skirmish games a bit more than the Real Big Ones, and I like TTRPGs the most, even over wargames-but TC is awesome), I thought it might be cool to sorta catalogue the building, kitbashing, and painting process of a general noob in a little series. 

It goes without saying this army will be painted in the grimdark style. I have ideas on how I want them to look; whether or not I'll be saying "That's a fine looking army. WHY DOESN'T MINE LOOK LIKE THAT?!" will be up in the air. 

My chosen soundtrack for this is, surprisingly, a lot of 1349 and other assorted black metal. I know, shocking. 

So, the next photographs are just of the basic, new army; unassembled, I printed up the appropriate sized bases for them, and assembled the Praetor and the Desecrated Saint, both of which needed some. Particularly the Saint. I also filled in some gaps with Milliput. These are all the base models still. 

Desecrated Saint

Pic of most of the army. Then the Desecrated Saint(2 pics), Hunter of the Left Hand Path+Pit Locust, Praetor, and Sorcerer

Starting off, I decided to work with the Hell Knights and Yoke Fiends. I knew I wanted to add chains, barbed wire, skulls, inverted crosses, and all that good stuff to them, so I started attaching stuff to places, drilling out skulls and so on. Added a couple of demonic skulls as shoulder armor and a shield deco for the Yoke Fiends, as well as some additional weapon embellishments. Also was messing with some tissue + cigarette paper + PVA glue + water + a variety of speedpaints and washes to make flayed skin to add for cloaks and pieces later. (Grimdark Compendium Youtube Channel has been a wealth of ideas for this bunch.) 

After all of that, I added a few more embellishments, as well as a pass with some Green Stuff putty mixed with water(Tamiya + glue is stickier, but it's very cold out and my painting place isn't too well ventilated, so I went with the lesser fumes. I do use some fume-y stuff sometimes in winter, but this took me a little while to do, compared to the shorter bursts of working with things like a bit of Dirty Down or assembling models or whatnot.) I then carved up some of the putty areas to add some damage and weathering, and then some cheesecloth to a mace handle. (in hindsight, I shouldn't have dyed it yet due to it probably being hit by primer, but oh well. At least I see how the color looks.) Green stuff pictured in next bunch. 

From here, we did the other weathering passes. First with some AK corrosion texture to anyplace that seemed like it could be rusty, and then with some Vallejo Thick Mud to greaves and lower capes and armor and stuff. 

And the crew is now ready to prime! 

Part 2 soon, with the priming and drybrushing. Might go over the color choices then too, but I am still milling over a couple of those. 

(Bonus! I started to build a flail, though I'm not sure which yoke fiend is going to have this strapped to his back. Not primed yet because the green stuff isn't cured fully yet. Also I had decided to, after all, add some cheesecloth to one of the Hell Knights, since he had fewer embellishments. I think it looked pretty good in the end. I do have to prime him tomorrow morning, still, but hey. Also I am so thankful that I like skirmish and TTRPGs the most. If I had to hand prime and entire army I might walk into the sea.) 

Grimdark, "Black Metal" Rat Ogors, Part 3: The Ice Rat, Progress(kinda) Blog!

 I realized I never posted like, a progress blog. Actually it's gonna be a little hard to post one here because I forgot to take pictures of him besides the initial drybrush, but I can at least show that one. 

Disclaimer to those who don't know: I'm a relative noob with some paintbrushes and not some expert or teacher, so take any of this stuff at your own risk. I'm just showing off what I cobble together. 

I started with a drybrush zenithal deal over black primer. I did a dark grey and then a very light grey over it. I'm not using many speedpaints(I do use some for effects, though), but I do this mostly to get an idea of where I'm putting stuff. I kitbashed on some chains and barbed wire before this, though I might be adding one or two more things before he's done. I also added some AK corrosion texture to the metal parts. 

Then I did some underpainting on the skin with Blanched Berry from the John Blanche set. I wanted the skin to have a bit of a purplish tint at first underneath(it's going to have some frostbitten parts later, near the edges especially.) I brushed on some thinned Dark Rust(also from AP) all over the metal, because rat ogors are not smart lads and don't really maintain their equipment. I then drybrushed Heavy Metal over it(also from the John Blanche set), and then added Grim Rust(from the same set). I'll be doing more stuff with that later on. Some of the metals(that are hard to see in this pic) are done with Vallejo's Aged Metal drybrushed over an underpaint of Abyssal Blue and a wash of Verdigris to make it more like bronze. 

Now, in a "draw the rest of the owl" moment because I didn't take any pictures between then and now, I did a basecoat of Ironclad Grey(the JB set again), with a touch of Uniform Grey, before adding a mix of Grey Castle and Dusty Skull to the fur. The skin was built up with Abyssal Blue, Phalanx Blue, and a touch of Barbarian Flesh, and the claws done with Dusty Skull. The eye is Fiery Vermilion(JB set my beloved) and the nose area is Moldy Wine. Then the whole thing was washed in Grimdark Shadow wash(JB set), because I really want to try to sell the frostbite look to some parts of him, plus I really dig the color it turns everything. When it comes to grimdark stuff I really like the unifying washes(I don't use them on everything; some figures I only use them on a couple of small parts, but when I do the particularly grimdark style stuff, I quite like them.)

After that dried, I did a small drybrush and did the fur part again(mostly the longer fur) with some Dusty Skull; this is going to get the slightest hint of ivory for a dirty white. The skin got a drybrush of Phalanx Blue mixed with Ice Yellow and a touch of Barbarian Flesh to keep it with a more sickly look. I also started taking some Grimdark Shadow and Brownish Decay to fill in some of the parts I want to resemble frostbite. 

The next session I started to make the skin look frosty and rime-covered by using a mix of Ivory White(JB) Fenrisian Grey(Citadel) and Skeleton Bone, and also did a bit of rime-covering on the fur. Then using Brownish Decay speedpaint I started adding the 'frostbitten' effects near where the skin meets the fur in the torn parts. This gets a few covers. Drybrushed on some of that 'rime' mixture to the armor, chains, and wire too(more will be done at the end, along with a bit of work with AK's icy effects.) Also added more rust, started trying to darken the rust a bit, and added in more odds and ends like some verdigis. Decided to make his kilt-thing dark brown leather and the belt red leather to counteract all the cool colors, threw down a basic basecoat on those without  weathering yet. Also started on the warpstone. It looks flat right now since it's just the base tracing of it, going to be adding the effects and everything. I'm deciding on what color to make the tubes. Making them a similar green to the warpstone could look cool(I did that with the first rat, whom I affectionately call 'Filthgrinder'), but I'm still debating. I just painted the one in a basecoat to see how I felt. I might decide to make it another color. 

I am definitely buying Dirty Down Rust next week when I take my trip to the other hobby store. 

This session was more refining of various parts. Weathering the leather kilt(also distressing it physically, scratching the actual surface of that and the belt), using buildups of the previous colors(Blanched Berry and Brigandine Brown) mixed with more and more Grey Castle and Skeleton Bone. Washed it all with a slightly medium'd Desolate Brown wash(and the belt with Dark Red Tone), I use a messy-bristled brush to give it a less 'neat' look building up a little more.  This is a rather stupid lad who again, does not really take care of his stuff. 

Started to do some extremely careful use of Brigandine Brown around the cracks in the skin and added shading to the warpstone along with more effects. Painted the tubes green, but washed it in a slightly diluted Grimdark Shadow for an oily look(might actually come back with some oil stains tomorrow.) Fixed up more rime effects with the same mix as above and generally just refined more. Tweaked the chain since I have a plan for the skeleton for the base and he'll be wearing barbed wire around his neck, which I primed up(unpictured.) 

Today I started the base(no pictures of that yet, I'll grab one tomorrow before I do more of it and post it in a series, managed to get the cork glued and the Vallejo mud paste on it, along with some other bits. Want it to dry overnight, then will prime it up. 

Also to the ratboy, added the start of some blood effects, and his barbed wire/chain necklace with some severed heads. Was a little busy, so that's all I got done(besides a speed-painted little mimic I had been working on on the side while things dried, just a dungeon piece/enemy). The spike on the foot is getting trimmed off, since he's gonna get pinned to the base given the position. 

And almost done! A couple pics of the base in progress, followed by an almost-done fellow. He still needs some touch-ups, the 'altar' at the side needs a little fixing, and just some refining, along with painting the rim and varnishing. I used AK icy crystals and Citadel Valhallan Blizzard, along with Army Painter's snow effect mixed up to get a variety of snow types. Painted the wood in Brownish Decay(with a drybrush mix of frosty blue colors and bony white over top), along with some Battlefield Grey to give some gentle blue hue to things. True Blood touched up the gory stuff and did the glue stringy trick on the hand. (As for the parts, it's some modeling chain, cocktail sticks, some basing resin skulls, and some stuff from outside. Made the trappings from some 3D printed little cups and candlesticks and painted them in bronze with some verdigris.)

And here we have the completed model, after fixing up a few odds and ends, like adding a quasi 'hand of glory' to the inverted cross and fixing up some of the ice and such. This one was a lot of fun. I love doing ice-themed stuff. And we also follow up of the picture of all 3 together finally! 

The 'trinkets'(read: chains, wire, heads, etc), I can imagine, when I'm thinking of the 'story' of the piece which I like to do, despite being on the low end of the Int-scale(I would think these guys might be around a 5 or so on the AD&D scale and I'm being kinda generous), they *are* also rats, and rats like shiny things. IN their cases, they like chains, skulls and other death trophies, and sure, maybe the inverted crosses looked cool. I mean they could be in Warhammer, why not. 

Imagine if these guys ended up in a portal that threw them across universes into Trench Crusade and they're like, the Heretics' new war wolf additions or something, or creations of the Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent, in their cursed factories. 

Anyway, while I'm far from being some high-end painter given I only have a few months under my belt, I thought it would be fun to do a process blog. I will keep pushing to see how much a six-month improvement looks when it's time! (Which will be the end of March! Though I'll be blogging more before that.) 

'Til next time! 

Grimdark, 'Black Metal' Rat Ogor, Part 2: Plaguerat

 Back again with the 2nd rat finished! For now I'm nicknaming him Plaguewielder(the first we'll call Filthgrinder. I am somewhat consistent.)

I probably went a little overboard with the AK-corrosion texture, but I really did want to try to sell the rotted look of the metal that might be on a Nurgle-'blessed' rat ogor, who is already a mass of stitched-together horror and probably does not maintain his equipment at all. I think next week I am going to pull the trigger on the Dirty Down Rust; I know it's got some scent to it, and my painting area is not particularly well-ventilated in the winter(it's Finland), but I already use modeling glue and the like in sparing amounts, so I think using a bit here and there, especially with a mask, will be just fine. (It's a similar reason I've not pulled the trigger on getting some Villainy Inks; I might grab some closer to spring. Plus, and this is a technical thing, mail-ordering paints in the winter can be risky.) It's not as bad when I can open the window in my little area. 

With that aside, here's a few shots of him! I did lean heavy on the Oozing Vomit and Oil Stains(both from Army Painter, along with Nurgle's Rot; mixing Vomit + Oil Stains, or both/either of those with Dry Blood, btw, makes for some really nasty looking effects!) Mix of acrylics and speed paints; one day again I might list everything I've done. 

The third rat is going to be ice-based, and I think I want to base him like he's running down a hill, or on top of a hill, so putting that base together will be fun. I'll of course be utilizing more of the black-metal style trappings in that one, as well. 

Anyway here's Plaguewielder! (And extra shots of him with Filthgrinder.) If I ever play Skaven in AoS any day soon I'll have some big boys, at least. 

So far, time painted: About 4.3 months! I look forward to trying to challenge myself with a 6-month piece. If I can get ahold of that old Konrad Curze model, that may be a nice one; otherwise I will have a lot of Trench Crusade minis soon here keeping me busy!