Forces of Glossvania! - A Bit of Terrain 20/1/23

[Jagannath]

Evening folks,

I'm embarking on a new, very different project so I hope you'll all forgive me indulging in a separate thread.

First of all: TRIGGER WARNING!! If you're not a fan of unabashedly unconventional paintjobs, gloss varnish and bold, blocky colours I'd suggest you abandon this thread here! 

A couple of things have contrived to bring this idea together - one is that I've been exploring gloss finishes recently. I'm a huge fan of Hobgoblin's thread on here, and I've be re-devouring the Heroes for Wargames book again, both of which are 'gloss advocates'. And I rediscovered a folder I had saved of some very early John Blanche fantasy to sci-fi conversions, which are perfect in every way!

I've also bought an airbrush recently, one of the joys of which is very solid, blocky colours. The other joy being nice, even varnish coats.

Most pertinently for this thread, I've got a bit obsessed with The Sword in the Sprue blog (and the authors Twitter account: @bundo_kess - which is updated a little more frequently).

He's a great painters (see the Oathmark goblin with the drawing pin shield) but I really like the 'toy soldier' style paintjobs he. I'm a sucker for very thematic armies and scenery that tie together nicely - I really admire the glossy, old school 'Lace Wars' armies people paint (though I'm not a fan of the era).

So, I've decided to try my hand at something similar, using Pulp-ish Sci-Fi. My plan is for this to be an unshamedly 'game'-centric project - all my projects seem to boil down to having a real-RPG focus (I love painting NPCs) but there'll be none of that here. Probably gamed using the Rogue Planet rules (I can add some interesting fantasy forces too that way).

Right, pics:



First up we have some basecoated, but mostly ungloseed naughty space boys and girls from Pulp Minis. In the bottom right of the group shot you can see a chap who's had his first gloss coat. They'll all be getting 3 coats of Polyurethane gloss. Not sure what I'm doing with the basing yet, so ignore that for now.

I've got my sights on a few more forces (some bits from Killer B games, some CP Models Birdmen, the Corelocks from Lucid Eye) then a small terrain set. I don't plan for this project to sprawl on and on, but we'll see. I'm not giving up my 'normal' painting, just adding this to my repertoire.

[OSHIROmodels]

I quite like them 

[Jagannath]

Thanks - they've got two solid gloss coats now, I'll do the last one tonight then work out basing. I'm pretty stoked on them actually!

[Mason]

I like them too.
 

I think it is the choice of figures which will make or break this project.
Bob Murch has a very neat and tidy style without too much detail cluttering up the figures (which I am a fan of) and his figures will work well with this approach, I reckon.

I am looking forward to seeing the rest as I have those CP Avians on my own 'wants' list too.
(And those bloody Radon Zombies.....)

[Hobgoblin]

I like 'em!

The basecoats look like they have subtle highlights on them. Is that the case, or is it just the natural fall of light? In any case, they look very effective - and the black lining gives them an excellent touch of 'formality' (which you don't get in conventional 'toy soldier' paintjobs).

How are you planning to base them? One thing about bundo_kess's stuff that I noticed is that he often pairs very simple paintjobs with quite elaborate - or at least 'high-end' - basing. I think that works really well.

[Jagannath]

I like them too.
 

I think it is the choice of figures which will make or break this project.
Bob Murch has a very neat and tidy style without too much detail cluttering up the figures (which I am a fan of) and his figures will work well with this approach, I reckon.

I am looking forward to seeing the rest as I have those CP Avians on my own 'wants' list too.
(And those bloody Radon Zombies.....)

Thanks -- yeah agreed. I started on the basecoat section of some Lucid Eye Corelocks, thinking they 'fit' my vision quite well, but they might be a little over detailed. Not sure it'll be quite as pleasing afterwards. I'll make a call once the basecoats are done - I can always paint them 'properly' instead and bump them over to another project. Un-gribbly seems to be what's needed for this to work - I'm a bit nervous about the avians too (though I am replacing the bird necks and heads with one big eye, which I think'll help).

I like 'em!

The basecoats look like they have subtle highlights on them. Is that the case, or is it just the natural fall of light? In any case, they look very effective - and the black lining gives them an excellent touch of 'formality' (which you don't get in conventional 'toy soldier' paintjobs).

How are you planning to base them? One thing about bundo_kess's stuff that I noticed is that he often pairs very simple paintjobs with quite elaborate - or at least 'high-end' - basing. I think that works really well.

Thanks very much - no, absolutely flat colour (or as best as possible using a brush) - both those greens have a slight 'satin' to their natural finish which probably gives that impression. Then black edges with gloss.

Basing I was planning on texture, one flat colour (probably a light grey) then a couple of coats of matt to 'flatten' them. I'd be interested to know what you think? I'm most worried about the basing to be honest! One concession I can't make to old school is goblin green bases - I hated them when I encountered them in 1994, and I hate them now!

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks very much - no, absolutely flat colour (or as best as possible using a brush) - both those greens have a slight 'satin' to their natural finish which probably gives that impression. Then black edges with gloss.

Well, it works very well.

Basing I was planning on texture, one flat colour (probably a light grey) then a couple of coats of matt to 'flatten' them. I'd be interested to know what you think? I'm most worried about the basing to be honest! One concession I can't make to old school is goblin green bases - I hated them when I encountered them in 1994, and I hate them now!

Couldn't agree more on Goblin Green!

I'd be tempted to try a drybrushed base to contrast with the 'toy soldier' effect. I really like the bases bundo_kess used on his EM4 dwarfs. Admittedly, he has shading on those in the form of Army Painter dip, but I thought the contrast between the simple painting and the sophisticated basing was very nice. If you were to have matt basing with some sort of shading or highlighting through drybrushing and high-gloss 'flat' figures, you'd get that contrast and more.

But perhaps you want a more purist toy-soldier approach!

[Jagannath]

We have a gloss coat (or three)!

The only way I could capture the glossiness was to take this poorly lit pic - suprisingly (to me anyway) gloss doesn’t look that glossy in pics!



There’s a few small patches of imperfection on them, so I might do one more thin coat to try and even those out. I’m pretty pleased with them though!

[War Monkey]

I like them! Great work, I wish they would make sets like those and others in 15mm

[Jagannath]

Thanks!

I did experiment with some 15mm - I've got loads! - but it doesn't work quite as well. I think the smaller surfaces  don't catch the light in the same way.

I know what you mean about 'pulp' though - seems like it'd be perfect for 15mm (nice clean detail, bold colours) but just isn't out there.

[Dr DeAth]

Interesting project and the results of the gloss varnish certainly give them the toy soldier look.

[Jagannath]

I’m resurrecting this thread because I’ve done some more for it!

Im trying not to really spend much on hobby this year but im very inspired my Mark’s Little Soldiers - then I remembered I’d already started a glossy, toy soldier style project!

In my hiatus I’ve managed to accrue an embarrassing amount of HeroForge credits so I put them to good use and made myself a kind of Trek inspired but not strict ‘Away Team’ to battle the finished Radon Zombies and anything else I can contour up. Captain wears green because sod painting yellow in this style haha









I’m really pleased with them, though the finish looks a little ugly in these pics. They should work nicely for 5 Parsecs from Home which I’m keen on playing - just need to finish a couple more rocks and maybe find some red lichen

[DivisMal]

They’re brilliant! And I really like to see this naïveté — I don’t mean it derogatory. Painting miniatures is such a nice, creative hobby, it’s needs to develop more styles!
In the same way, l admire Mark Copplestone‘s little soldiers or „flat“ models, yours really hit me.
Not sure why, maybe toy nostalgia? But it’s definitely great!

[zrunelord]

Nice work mate.
Quite like them.
Not a fan of gloss finish myself but the green skin suited guys came out nice as did the trekkies. I would say not having a lot of detail helps with the gloss finish.
If am not mistaken spirit based rather than water based varnishes have a more gloss finish to them, perhaps you can use those to get the desired sheen.

Z

[Redmao]

The look fantastic, perfect to clash with Radon Zombies.
Looking forward to see them in action.

Oh and funny thing, I already like them on Instagram