Into the Breech. ::
Tick Tock
This is as much of a blog as it is an article. I figured I'd share my personal trials and tribulations of what I expect most people go through in order to get some painted figures on the table. Painting a model is easy. You sit down and you get to work. Painting an army is a beast of a completely different nature.
At the moment I'm looking at painting some Khador for myself and the irony of the experience is not lost on me. Khador is the army that started it all; the one that got me neck deep into WARMACHINE. Hulking red brutes of pure pain. I'm forced to savor that irony it on multiple fronts.... Here I am a BrushThrall an advocate of paint, and on my shelf in all their naked splendor, is an enormous Khador army.
Currently I have the following:
- 1 Karchev the Terrible
- 1 Kommandant Irusk
- 1 The Butcher of Khardov
- 1 Kommander Sorscha (And the epic version)
- 1 Vladimir, the Dark Prince of Umbrey (And the epic version)
- 1 Behemoth
- 2 Berserker Heavy Warjacks
- 3 Destroyer Heavy Warjacks
- 2 Devastator Heavy Warjack
- 2 Juggernaut Heavy Warjacks
- 3 Kodiak Heavy Warjacks
- 1 Marauder Heavy Warjack
- 2 Units of Battle Mechaniks
- 1 Unit of Doom Reavers
- 2 Units of Greylord Ternion
- 1 Full unit of Iron Fang Pikemen (with attachment of course)
- 2 Full units of Man-O-War Shocktroopers
- 1 Full unit of Man-O-War Demolition Corps
- 3 Units of Widowmakers
- 1 Unit of Winter Guard
- 4 Winter Guard Mortar Crew
- 2 Man-O-War Kovniks
- 2 Manhunters
Total Army Point Cost: Over 3000
Total Army Dollar cost: I don't even want to know. And don't any of you try and tell me.
So here sit my vast legions of Khador. A mass of bone crunching metal that is almost completely unpainted. I have only a few exploratory models done in schemes I've long since abandoned. Bluntly put: I'm looking at a lot of raw freaking metal. How did I get here? And how can I get out?
Ancient History :: Cue Wavy Flashback Sequence.
Long ago when I started WARMACHINE, I got the Khador starter box painted it red, and proceeded to whomp the living snot out of all comers (all 2 of them). Then Prime came out and with the advent of infantry, figmentia set in. Those Cygnar troopers were pretty dang cool. Those long gunners are snazzy. Trenchers are handy...and in a haze of metal, primer and paint, my Khador were set aside. Eventually I traded off my finished box set to a friend, when I decided the big red machine would look better another color. Several color tests and two years later, my Khador sit, collecting dust.
Enter the Wife
While I'm knee deep in Cygnar and not paying too close attention to my model collection, my wife's interest in the game is kindled, and quietly half of my Khador army disappears. Arguing over models is never fun so like any smart man I let yer have her choice and discover one of the secrets to marital bliss: Never play the same faction as your wife in a tournament. (Prideful husband side note: She's earned something like 7 or 8 medals with that army. One of which was the overall at the Pressganger tourney at GenCon Indy in 2004). Luckily for me it wasn't too hard to rebuild, and as she became interested in the Protectorate my opportunity to return to the motherland was granted.
So here's the deal after all this time away I want to play some dang Khador! I've never been one who felt right about unpainted figs in a tourney setting, so it's time to get cracking, but how? When looking down the barrel of over 3000 points, I have to start somewhere,somewhere sane.
Con season is revving up and frankly I've been falling behind. I made a deal with my fellow 'Thralls that this year we wouldn't field any model that wasn't painted. Every army we bring to the table will be Fully Painted. You'll be hearing more about this I'm sure.
With those rules in place, I've got a lot of work to do. To top it off I upped the ante (by running off my fat mouth) and claimed I'd have at least 500 points of every WARMACHINE faction done, but I'm at beginning at zero. I have every Khador model and not a single one painted. (I know... I know, but it's about to change.) The Man-O-War and the new Man-O-War Demolition Corps models have inspired me to do something new and different and with our bets in place I want them done fast so I can get em on the table.
Now I admit I'm an "alt scheme" junkie. I've yet to do anything in stock studio colors for myself. There's nothing wrong with the stock schemes, I'm just stubborn and I like to challenge myself to create something new. In the case of my Khador I've had five failed attempts. This sixth one is going to be done come hell or high water. I'm tired of the bare metal staring back at me. So tag along through my prepping for con painting 'blog. This article is kind of all over the place. It is two parts speed painting, one part theme and one part random techniques.
The "Alt" Lifestyle
If you are going to get into alt-scheming I find that coming up with a good background makes the ground work go faster. If your paint has a purpose, you have an immediate direction you're far more likely to achieve your goal of a convincing and cohesive force.
So here is mine: Instead of trying to do clean cut studio type schemes I want to change it up. I plan to run a tattered looking force, one that's really been through the wringer. I cook up a little theme in my head and set to work planning. The concept is stolen directly from a real world example and doctored up to fit the IK. In this case I'm creating the 4th Infantry Division (Mekanized), otherwise known as "The Phantom Fourth". A detachment of Man-O-War assigned to Zevanna Agha, the Old Witch of Khador. I plan to use almost all grey tones to give reason for the nickname. A bit of doctoring to the Khador emblem and I've got myself a unique force.
I feel like I need to add even more personal flavor. Since the witch is a packrat, (and none too tidy from the looks of her) I figure I'm going to need a grizzled group of hearty self sufficient soldiers that utilize a bit of the same mentality. Loners who support function over form, (a very Khadoran mentality). Keeping the armor neat and clean would take a quick back seat to the armor functioning.
Now to further convey this look I did a bunch of online research as to how their armor would look after much use and abuse. I found a treasure trove of information here: Metal examples. I've picked out a few of my favorites that I'll be using as a reference as I work. Man-O-War are pretty much the Jeeps of the Khador force (basically light armored vehicles). Most militaries don't usually take the time to make their equipment pretty. It is built to work. They build it, paint it and ship it out knowing full well that it'll be ravaged by the forces of war. I always picture the thickly over painted interiors of WWII subs when I think of what a factory fresh jack would look like. Four coats of thick rust proofing primer and a few coats of the faction colors slapped over poured iron castings. Can't ya just smell the burning coal?
Finally to drive the theme all the way home I'll sculpt little add-ons to the troopers to really get that "in the field" feel. This is no parade guard. These are the hard working foot slogging front liners. Tools, packs, bedrolls etc. will all serve to give me something special.
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Since my force will contain 17 Man-O-War (of varying types) I'm going to run through the scheme on just one or two, firstly because I only have so many hours to wrap this up and secondly because I don't want to bore you all to tears. Well ok...maybe some of you
Here's my paint list:
- Duplicolor gray primer.
- Vallejo MC Smoke
- Vallejo MC Brown Glaze
- Vallejo MC Black Glaze
- Vallejo MC Deck Tan
- Vallejo MC Cavalry Brown
- Vallejo MC Carmine Red
- Vallejo MC Burnt Umber
- Vallejo MC Red Leather
- Vallejo GC Parasite Brown
- Vallejo GC Brassy Brass
- Vallejo GC Glorious Gold
- Citadel Boltgun Metal
- Citadel Chainmail
- Citadel Blue Ink
- Citadel Red Ink
- Citadel Brown Ink
- Citadel Chestnut Ink
- Citadel Green Ink
- Citadel Yellow Ink
Demo Corps while not pictured in this article will see the addition of:
The Essence of Speed
This style of painting is a rapid departure from my normal work. For starters I'm making no bones about the primer. In fact it is the backbone for my entire scheme. Since gray will be the predominant color of my force, I plan to basecoat the whole army with the appropriate gray primer. Basecoating can be one of the more tedious portions of any painting project, and in the case of 17 Man-O-War, it would be a mind numbing and never ending task. I don't have time for that. In theory this methodology could be applied to base coating or an airbrush primed model as well. I'll try to run through a few examples of that at the end of the article.
I begin with Duplicolor gray sandable automobile primer. This is a metal etching primer that dries fairly quickly and dries flat. In theory you could use any primer in any color you like provided you purchase it in FLAT. Any gloss or matte will instantly ruin your chances of pulling this effect off. If you do find a paint you like that comes only in a gloss, you could try to use Testor's Dullcote before getting started. You're on your own for that test though.
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I've Got Tone and a Lock. Fox Two!
This next bit is new to me. It was born out of a failed dip theory of instant toning a white primed model. I'll spare you the grisly details of the aftermath of that project, but it did give rise to this method. Just because an attempt failed, didn't mean you were on the wrong path.
At some point along my painting career I bought what I thought was a paint, VMC's Black Glaze (Patina Negra). Well it behaved like no paint I'd ever used. It was goopy and waxy and didn't work how I expected. I had no idea what it was for. So I chucked it back into my stockpiles of misfit paints. Later on after reading some of Youngwolf's articles on glazing I got a far better picture of what this product was intended for. In reality this product isn't that great for glazing but it sure is sweet for toning.
So then you might ask (and rightly so) "What the hell is toning?" In a term stolen from the print world: "Toning is a method of soaking a print in selenium or similar chemical(s) to help give the print an overall feeling of richness." It's that richness I'm aiming for with this method. Ever hear of a sepia tone? It's the same idea. While we are not soaking models in selenium, remember that originally I was trying to soak them in something else to tone the model for me.
Have I lost you yet? Don't worry; pictures speak louder than words and I'll cut to the chase fast and show you how this works. Straight gray primer is flat and faceless. We went from one single tone to another (silver to gray). How boring, I can't do an army just like this. I can't see the parts any better as a flat gray than I could when they were metal, in fact with no reflections I may be seeing less. If I stick with my plan to use my primer as the base color then I'm going to need some definition and fast. I do this by mixing up a 50/50 split of VMC's Brown and Black Glazes. This creates a muddy murky looking viscous snot like substance. On the plus side it thins well with straight water. I then begin to apply this waxy mix to the ENTIRE model. I use and old brush with soft bristles and a rounded tip. You don't want to waste a good brush on this. The goal here is to bring out all the details you can. The glaze will dry flat, and its very nature wants to utilize surface tension to creep off into the corners, and like all things there is a trick to applying this stuff. Don't expect success right out of the gate. It might be wise to try this on a spare model first.
Is it Tricksy or Trixie?
If you find you're applying the glaze too thick you have two options, one option when it's wet and another when it's dry.
Wet: You'll need a rag and a lot of water for this. Assuming you've just glooped it on and you can't see any of the base color beneath, you can rinse your brush and while still wet, thin the glazing mixture that is on the model. Once thinned, rinse and dry your brush then begin to wick away the excess glaze. Provided you are quick about it, there is no real chance of ruining your paint job. Savvy painters can even use these leftovers elsewhere on the model if there's space for it. You've got a window to work here, so relax and play with the effect.
Dry: Once again you've glorbed on the glazing mix, only this time when you go to thin it, you manage to spill your rinse water all over you, your desk, and your floor. By the time you've returned from your disaster you've got too much glaze dried onto the surface. Lucky for you, this stuff scrubs off. Yep. You can SCRUB OFF the glaze. This is good and bad. If you are happy with how it's turning out, then you need to be careful not to scrub off the work you've already done. This also means you need to seal these models if you want any kind of longevity, just a helpful hint from your uncle Ark.
So let's look at a toned model. Now we can see all the rivets all the details, all the good stuff. It also means we can see the bad. Take extra care in your prepping of these models. Every mold line, every flaw and every bit of flash will be made very clear. You can see now that the model is much darker than the primed model we began with and as we go further the model will get darker. Keep this in mind. Whatever you choose to base with will need to be lighter than your desired final product.
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Technically these next few steps could be done in any order. Since VMC smoke and Citadel inks are for the most part transparent. I happen to like to start of with the browns. I begin with a thinned passing of VMC smoke anywhere I think dirt will accumulate. I like to do a pass of this before I get started on the metals but you could go either way. If you really want that filthy look over everything I advise you do the metals first. I try to use a little logic though and the way I see it, if the armor gets a wipe down at the end of a day, then smoother parts will be lest likely to collect dust and grime. Exposed and polished brass and steel are far less likely to retain dirt. That doesn't mean they won't collect some in the edges, but overall should stay cleaner than the porous painted cast iron armor would. Little details like that can really help give your model a more real world feel.
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Once I'm relatively content with how the smoke came out, I begin with a series of inks. Brown ink makes nice film of oil and grime, and works just as well when mixed with VMC smoke. Chestnut ink works great for a believable rust, yellow ink mixed with chestnut can really intensify a good rust patch. Alone it works as a film of good clean oil. Green mixed with brown and on its own can be any form or rot or well worn in dirt, along with any vegetation that may have been trampled underfoot. Because this doesn't even have to be uniform across the model or even they army. I'm just going to show you how I do it.
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Try to keep these passes in the cracks and crevices. Just because these guys don't have time to get their armor squeaky clean doesn't mean they wouldn't try to get the much and grime off. Couple that with the fact that this essentially auto-highlights some of the shape for us, and it's even more critical to take your time. Remember you didn't have to basecoat and blend anything, so take your time here. The details are what make this style of panting work.
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Now we have a good and filthy Man-O-War. Now is a good a time as any to clean it up some. I break out some VMC Deck Tan. I love this paint. It is my new secret weapon in the war of trying to do white over black primer. This great little paint is a nice light warm gray with a really high opacity. Two good coats over black are all it takes. I use this to outline various parts of the armor I think need to be clean, edges that through movement and brushing up against other things won't collect and trap dirt. It's a very subtle shift, but suddenly armor plates are a lot more defined and rivets pop right out making sure our model isn't just a dirty blob.
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The golds aren't too dissimilar to my standard set up, but I did mix in some VMC Smoke too the base coat of Brassy Brass. This helps to take some of the shine out of the metal. It's good for that tarnished look with out being too over the top. This step goes pretty quickly.
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The reds begin with a coat of VMC cavalry brown, then a quick wash of Gory Red. Then I do another thin layer of Red-Orange, and polish it off with a coat of Red Ink. I apologize for how hard it is to see in the pictures. I assure you there is a difference between the shots
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Then it's touch up time all around. Cleaning up the metal and adding more grime where it looks good. Notice below how much different the shield looks from the main armor? They started out the same color, but with just glazes, inks and smoke we've drastically changed the richness.
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All said and done, it takes me about 2-3 hours to do a Man-O-War this way. So 35-50 hours can have an army done in very little time...In fact I could be done in less than a month and easily expanding this army to 750 or 1000. You can see how well this would work on 'Jacks, so it's really not going to take me long to bring a number of options to bear.
Take a few more minutes and polish off with some nice basing (I did it early for mine simply because I didn't want to mangle the paint job.) That little bit of attention can really take your paint job up another notch and what may have been a 6 on the table can move to a 7 or an 8 with a little effort. Painting an army just takes a slightly different mindset than one miniature. Painting a large number of like models can help you develop some good concrete skills. It may not be the most entertaining way to paint but once you see those painted models filling up the shelves, you'll be surprised at how easy it is to stay motivated.
As promised, a few other ways this technique could be applied. The leg is how this might look on Cygnar, and the sheild Shows a good look on stock Khador and the Protectorate at the same time. It can be done over almost any color.
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This Isn't Paint By Numbers.
Remember to experiment. There is no right or wrong way to paint, only techniques. I am trying to develop a new style for myself that I can bring to the table as something different and unique. I'm happy with what I've accomplished here. I've discovered that clean painting isn't always cool painting. Sometimes you got to get dirty.
See em at Indy...Fully Painted.
--Ark--