Koyote's SAGA Britons, Irish,Late Romans, and Saxons

[Koyote]

Below is my first group shot of painted models.  Four more models and I will have all the infantry I need for my 6 point warband painted and ready to go.

[Captain Blood]

Superb 

[Phil Robinson]

Bloody brilliant.

[nikko]

Hello,

Excellent !!!
What colors do you use to paint the flesh 's Cymry Guides ?

Nikko

[gostgost]

Nice army

[Breazer]

excellent looking force

[Antonio J Carrasco]

Brilliant and inspiring!

[Koyote]

In this week's episode of 'Koyote's Revisionist History,' working backwards, I attempt t justify the coloring of my Britons' bases.  

For a while now, the coloring of my Briton's bases has bothered me. The Rhinox Brown basecoat highlighted with Vermin Brown produces a warm, brownish orange color that contrasts nicely the rocky portions of the base and compliments the greens and bluish-greys on my models.  I am quite fond of the coloring, but when I think about the soil of Britain, a burnt orange color doesn't immediately spring to mind.  In fact, it's not a color that I associate in any way with the color of British earth.

I thought about moving my warband's backstory to northern Iberia, but before stretching my backstory to its breaking point, I decided to do a bit of research into whether there is any orangish or reddish soil in Britain.

Well, it turns out that my initial assumption is wrong. Redish/orangish soil can be found in Britain.  In some areas this color is the product of the leavings of centuries of copper mining, while in other areas the mix of minerals that produces these colors near the surface of the earth is more naturally occurring.  

Staffordshire, a county in the West Midlands of England, has areas of reddish/orangish soil. Even better, Staffordshire contains heathlands, which is sorta-kinda what my bases look like.  





Because of the county's proximity to Wales, locating my warband in or near Staffordshire helps to justify my inclusion of of Cymry guides.  

Both Geoffrey of Monmouth and Chrétien de Troyes place Camelot in Caerleon, South Wales, one of three Roman legionary forts in Britain. The modern Welsh count among their ancestors the Romano-Britons who were pushed back towards the west of Britain by the Saxons in the 5th and 6th centuries, so the placing of Camelot in Wales and my warband in western Britain works nicely for me.  

Also, there's THIS.

The human mind's ability to rationalize just about anything is both a wonderful and peculiar trait.

[nic-e]

Absolutely gorgeous warband!

[Koyote]

Hello,

Excellent !!!
What colors do you use to paint the flesh 's Cymry Guides ?

Nikko

Thanks.

I begin with white primer.  Next, I apply a basecoat of GW's Cadian Fleshtone.  Once dry, I apply GW's Reikland Fleshshad.  My first highlight layer is Cadian Fleshtone mixed with a small amount of Reikland Fleshwash.  The next highlight is Cadian Flesh. The final highlight is 75/25 mix of Cadian Flesh mixed with Vallejo's Dwarf Skin.

If after, applying a layer of highlight I find that the transition are too stark, I use the cheat blending technique, described on page 4 of this thread.  I thin the Reikland Fleshshade with water and apply the mixture to the transition areas.  If I feel that a recess isn't dark enough, I may spot wash it with straight Reikland or a thinned Reikland.  If a recess is too dark, I may make a thin wash of Cadian Fleshtone to soften the recess.  After spot washing I may apply another thinned down layer of Cadian Fleshtone or the Cadian/Dwarf Skin mix. 

It isn't always as simple as basecoat, wash, apply two highlights, and then done.  Typically, I go back and rewash a certain area and then reapply my highlight and if I don't get it right, I may repeat the process again. 

[tancrede]

Wonderful warband ! 

[ErikB]

What reds and off-whites are you using?  They photograph wonderfully.

Also, with those Little Big Men transfers, how did you get them to look so opaque and visible?

I've had to put them on a white background and then paint over any white showing around them.

Did you paint the design over the transfer?

Great work, by the way.  Just fantastic.

[Koyote]

What reds and off-whites are you using?  They photograph wonderfully.

Also, with those Little Big Men transfers, how did you get them to look so opaque and visible?

I've had to put them on a white background and then paint over any white showing around them.

Did you paint the design over the transfer?

Great work, by the way.  Just fantastic.

Thanks.

My recipe for red is:
1) white primer
2) basecoat of GW's Scab Red
3) wash of GW's Agrax Earthshade
4) highlight GW's Khorne Red
5) highlight GW's Wazdakka Red
6) touch up, rewash, and re-highlight as needed

My recipe for off-white is:
1) white primer
2) basecoat GW's Karak Stone
3) wash of GW's Agrax Earthshade
4) highlight Karak White
5) highlight 70/30 mix Karak White and Vallejo's Bone White
6) add a little more Bone White to the mix and highlight again
7) touch up, rewash, and re-highlight as needed

As for the transfers, I prepare the surface with white primer, apply the LBM transfer, and then brush on a coat of matte varnish (I use Valejo's matte varnish).  The reds on these transfers aren't especially strong, so after the varnish dries I paint over them with a thinned Khorne Red.  Using thinned paint is important.  Not only does it give you more control over where the paint goes, but it dries smoother and when you are painting on a flat surface, like a shield face, you want your paint to dry flat and smooth.

Painting over the thin, often irregular shapes of the shield symbols can be tricky.  Even with a detail brush and a steady hand, one small slip and you've changed the shape of the symbol.  To help safeguard against this, I don't bother painting to the very edge of each symbol, but rather try to restrict my paint to the center or center line of the symbol, as illustrated below.  if you paint 'out of the lines,' you can always go back and clean it up with some off-white, but that takes extra time and can create areas of paint buildup that are visible to the eye.



On occasion I use the same technique on the white portions of the shield, but because I want some of the underlying scuffs and stains to show through, I mix my off-white fairly thin; not so thin that it's a wash, but thin enough that it dries slightly transparent.  If I need to add stains or just darken up the shield rims or areas touched up, I spot-wash these areas with a thinned mixture of Agrax Earthshade and water.

[ErikB]

Wonderful tutorial.  Thanks heaps.

I'll try the thinned paint technique on mine.

[nikko]

Hello and thanks for your answer.

It's always interesting to know techniques used by very good painters....

Nikko