Going deeper underground (Warhammer Quest/Generic Dungeoneering project)

[Modhail]

Let's start at the beginning:
A while ago*, my wife bought a set of Warhammer Quest. I offered to paint it up for her.
At the time I made a start on half of the Skaven before this project petered out (I believe we suffered an episode of "real life", followed by a severe case of parenthood...)

*: A.k.a.: "When it was a new release by GW..."


Earlier this year, I happened across Shas'El Tael's Warhammer Quest threads (1 and 2) and website. Seeing his work, and his freeflow narrating approach got me fired up to get going on Warhammer Quest again.

So I finished the Skaven and started on the Orcs:



Sadly a hobby rut hit then, followed by rumours of a new edition of 40K...  But still the itch wouldn't leave me.
So I dug Warhammer Quest (WHQ) back out again.
At the same time I decided to simultaneously do some more generic dungeoncrawler stuff for myself and fold a long-dormant "chanson de geste/knightly quest" idea into this greater project as well.
That way I could alternate between sub-projects to maintain variation and interest for myself. Hopefully that would prevent, or at least postpone, project burnout/boredom.

The logical thing would be to continue painting the Orcs I started earlier. But after a month and a half of production line painting 40K Orks, I needed a break from greenskins... Badly.

So I prepped and primed all the remaining miniatures in the WHQ set:
**

I also prepped 2 figures for the Generic Dungeoneering part of the project, that I could paint individually, giving me a breather from production line painting:
**
(These are Hasslefree's Wolf (b) and Hayden, for the curious among us.)
The base toppers are home made from Milliput.

I started with the Dwarf Slayer lady, which is nearly finished by now.

(Since this picture was taken, I've finished her pants boots and top/boobstrap. I only need to finish the axe and some final details.)

So there you are, all up to speed. So I can now start posting updates as they occur....

**: For some odd reason, theses pic won't always display properly, if they're invisible to you, you can see them linked here and here.

[Major_Gilbear]

What a great start! Hopefully, you'll crack the project this time.  

Invisible pictures might be due to bandwith issues with Photobucket, so don't worry; after 24 hours they usually reset and are visible again.

The base toppers are home made from Milliput.

Yeah, I was going to mention those! They look really very good indeed, and I'd love to see a closeup of the one you inscribed with Celtic knotwork.

BTW, one thing I do with my bases is add a little bit of lead underneath them and then fill the underside of the base with Milliput. Once cured, I sand the bottom totally flat and then stick some black self-adhesive velour on underneath after painting.

This stops them scuffing the board sections, and the additional weight keeps them from getting knocked or tipped over accidentally (easily done with lots of models bunched up on a room tile).

I also think it add a bit of a "premium" feel to the models and is both cheap and easy enough to do.

Anyway, looking forward to your progress! 

[Modhail]

Yeah, takes me a while, doesn't it?  But then again, when she bought it, I was rather new to the hobby... I'm glad to have the extra decade and a half  () of hobby experience now, so I can do these figures justice.

The odd thing is, I'm nowhere near my bandwith limits. It could just be Photobucket being finicky...

I'm glad you like the bases. These are the best pics of that base I can find at the moment:
(pic 1)
(pic 2)

I like your approach for the underside of the bases. I'll have to take that into consideration.

[DoctorPete]

Looking at projects like this make me want to try building my own dungeon.  Nice paint jobs.  

[Modhail]

Thank you!

I put the final touches on her this morning (gee, that sounds wrong....).
Sadly Photobucket is being a right "donkey" with me today, botching all uploads I try. So you'll have to make due with just a teaser pic, until I can get this sorted.

Update: Well Photobucket works again, so here are all three pics:

[FramFramson]

You know, I used to know a girl who actually looked exactly like that last mini - even the same hairstyle! (Though her mohawk was hot pink).

[Modhail]

I hope she didn't accessorise in the same way, that axe seems dangerous! 

Nice to know I unwittingly painted someone's portrait... Thanks for telling me this, makes the mini even more special.

[Modhail]

I made some more progress on the painting side.
The Orcs got their leathers finished, currently waiting for the wash to dry on the skulls:

So now it's just: finish the skulls, the fletchings of the arrows and the two shields. Then I can paint the base edges and call them done. Oh, and see if I can put some nice checker patterns on somewhere...

I'm still pondering if I'll put some gore on their blades. I did it for the Skaven, but somehow I'm not sure it will suit these Orcs.
What do you think?

[Major_Gilbear]

They look great!

I'd darken the Orc blades a bit (but leave the edges bright) and add a bit of fresh-looking orangey rust to the sides of the blade after that. That way it'll look like an old blade that's not been too well looked-after, but which has been recently sharpened! 

[Relic]

Yup dull the blaeds unless they are brand new!
Superb painting. Will follow the progression of this project

[Modhail]

Ran the decision by the misses (seeing it are her miniatures, she has final say).
She preferred rust over gore. Since there was some daylight left, I set about immediately:

(The photo isn't that great, sorry. Had to quickly find a spot in the house that still got decent daylight...)

Doing the rust was new for me, so it was rather a bit of an experiment. I feel I may have gone somewhat overboard. Especially compared to the general state the rest of their gear is in...
I'll leave them for the night, and have a fresh look tomorrow.
If it looks good after a night's sleep, I'll declare them finished. If it still niggles, tweaking shall occur.

[Major_Gilbear]

Doing the rust was new for me, so it was rather a bit of an experiment. I feel I may have gone somewhat overboard.

Well, I think it looks good.

As a general rule of thumb, orange is more recent/fresh rust, and darker browns are older rust. So a good effect is to use a darker colour first and then stipple a little lighter mid tone on top. Then, with a thin watery orange, add a few careful streaks here and there, and a little around the crevices where it would wash in - build it up carefully so that you can control it.

Have a look at some of these pictures I quickly found on Google to see what I mean:

[FramFramson]

The main problem is that the blades you've got are very clean on the edge and fully rusty in the middle. If the rust is that consistent, then the only way you'll see naked metal is where the blade's recently hacked at things - so a jagged series of chips along the edge. Any flat surface with all parts equally exposed will tend to rust at the same rate, but until that surface is fully rusted, the growth will be irregular and bloom out from small spots.

[Major_Gilbear]

The main problem is that the blades you've got are very clean on the edge and fully rusty in the middle. If the rust is that consistent, then the only way you'll see naked metal is where the blade's recently hacked at things - so a jagged series of chips along the edge. Any flat surface with all parts equally exposed will tend to rust at the same rate, but until that surface is fully rusted, the growth will be irregular and bloom out from small spots.

At the risk of over-analysing this, I think that poor-quality steel would rust unevenly. Also, if you take a rusty blade and grind the edge sharp reasonably frequently, you'd end up with a "clean" edge as above. I cannot see Orcs being great metalworkers, but I can see them keeping their weapons sharp even if they don't look after their weapons otherwise.

Anyway, I might tentatively suggest the following technique for rusty swords:

1) Over a black / very dark brown basecoat, sponge on a dark-ish brown layer. Use a scrap of foam from a model blister, or a cheap sponge, or whatever. This is quick, and gives you the correct texture and appearance.

2) Repeat step 1 with a mid-brown that's a bit orangey. Leave some of the previous layer showing through.

3) Using a brush, carefully wash a little diluted orange around details like rivets and such. Also, stipple a little bit here and there to add to the rusty blemished look. Don't overdo this part.

4) Using a fairly bright silver, *very* lightly drybrush the blade. Then, paint the edge to make it look recently sharpened. Don't take it all the way to the hilt though, and it looks even better if you paint the edge in little stripes at 90 degrees the blade's edge.

It is pretty quick to use the method above, but it does produce a fairly weathered look. If you want it to look really good, you may need to consider oxidising the other metals on the model too (golds with a little green, bronzes with a little turquoise, etc) so that the model is evenly weathered. Not sure if this will fit the style of the other models though, but may be something to consider (perhaps do one model as a test?).

[Modhail]

Thank you for the advice and insights, guys!
I've fiddled with the swords a bit more today, but the light is too poor for a picture at the moment...
I gave the swords another light wash with a ruddy brown, and highlighted the cutting edge in an uneven manner.
I think I'm happy with the way they look now, and more importantly, the missus is happy with how they look. 

So, now I have to decide where to next: Do I soldier on with the Orcs, or do I tackle some of the smaller critters for some variation?