Some miniatures for Song of Blades and Heroes (Rust Monster face reveal)

[Severian]

Those snakemen are fantastic - great work. And I realise I didn't get round to saying how good the assembled horde of jacks-in-the-green looks - splendid stuff.

I've been lazily using washes more and more in recent months without much underneath except for some preshading. Maybe I should try a few things without even that...

Are you priming with white gesso, or did i imagine that? I've found it takes paint very well, but is a good deal grainier than the black variety, which gives an almost preternaturally smooth finish.

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks, both!

Jagannath: the green one was (I think) Citadel's green wash (Biel-tan) over white spray undercoat, then the green glaze (Waywatcher), then the yellow wash (Casandora). The yellow one - my favourite - was just yellow wash then sepia wash. And the blue one was just Drakenhof Nightshade over white - nothing more.

The snakemen are ripe for science-fantasy kitbashing; my son already has designs on one for that purpose.

Severian: these were spray-undercoated with Corax or whatever the Citadel white spray calls itself. I agree entirely with you on gesso: the black's great, but the white is a good bit grainier and less opaque.

The snakemen got their first tabletop outing today in a fathers v sons four-player game of Dragon Rampant, as a Venomous Elite Foot unit.

[DivisMal]

Brilliant! I must try this, too!

[Jagannath]

Jagannath: the green one was (I think) Citadel's green wash (Biel-tan) over white spray undercoat, then the green glaze (Waywatcher), then the yellow wash (Casandora). The yellow one - my favourite - was just yellow wash then sepia wash. And the blue one was just Drakenhof Nightshade over white - nothing more.

The snakemen are ripe for science-fantasy kitbashing; my son already has designs on one for that purpose.

Sweet thanks - I ahven't tried those citadel glazes yet. My recent painting has increasingly been more and more layering based, I barely use washes anymore, let alone glazes. Might pop and pick some up tonight.

[Hobgoblin]

Most of the ones I've been using are "shades" - i.e. washes - rather than glazes. I'd certainly recommend the yellow shade (Cassandora) over the yellow glaze, as you can thin the former with some medium to get the latter, but not the other way around. The downside is that the shades come in those big expensive pots now ...

I used the wash technique to paint up another quick orc before work this morning. I sprayed him late last night in a fit of enthusiasm, but ran out of spray. So I patched him up with white paint this morning, and he's a little rougher as a result. I'm happy enough with him, though, particularly given the time he took. I'm going to try a sample two-man HotT base of these shortly, as I really like the idea of blasting through a whole army in a day in this way.

[Dr DeAth]

I like the grey/blue skin tones on those

[Severian]

Oh, those work very well indeed. I'm a great fan of that drakenhof blue wash for goblin/orc skin. And a top notch shield as always.

All in all, the Citadel washes are good stuff, aren't they - though it is certainly annoying they only come in those huge pots now...

[DivisMal]

Oh, those work very well indeed. I'm a great fan of that drakenhof blue wash for goblin/orc skin. And a top notch shield as always.

All in all, the Citadel washes are good stuff, aren't they - though it is certainly annoying they only come in those huge pots now...

I love those GW shades, too, though I haven’t tried painting just with them over basecolors. Therefore I’m quite happy to have them in big pots.


@ Hobgoblin: Very nice results! They will certainly make a nice force, those orcs. And the shield is brilliant!

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks!

I've got a few more of those plastic orcs lined up for multiple basing, and have ordered some of the GW savage orcs to mix in. They're growing on me: I used to find them annoyingly goofy, but their odd physiques allow for some interesting pairings on multibases.

Here are some very hastily painted PCs for some Whitehack over the weekend (I've got two long sessions planned with a group of old friends):

[Hobgoblin]

As well as playing D&D until dawn last night and well into the small hours the night before, I managed to fit in my first game of 40K since the first edition. This was a proper old-school battle, books for hills and all, using my old mucker Dave's frankly astonishing collection of miniatures:

 

[Hobgoblin]

And some more:

[Vladimir Raukov]

Wow, those are some nice 40K...things there. How did you find it?

Also, I love the skin on those blue orcs of yours, as well as the freehand on the shield. Can't wait to see the savage boys all done up!

[Hobgoblin]

Wow, those are some nice 40K...things there. How did you find it?

Yes, Dave's won quite a few tournament prizes for best-painted army. They're pretty spectacular.

I found the game interesting. It was thoroughly enjoyable, of course, for nostalgia purposes (Dave and I used to play Warhammer 2nd and 3rd editions, plus first-edition 40K, many, many moons ago). And it was a blast playing with those glorious miniatures - especially, somehow, on improvised terrain!

As to the rules: well, it's certainly a better game than it was. I liked the victory conditions and objectives, which made for a very tight game (I won by a single victory point in the end, with everything hinging on a final saving throw). The card-based objective system was a bit arbitrary, but it worked well as a game (rather than a simulation).

There was also a lot of decision-making, which is good: which units to charge first, whether to target one unit with massed firepower or spread it around, and whether to concentrate on attacking the enemy or pursuing objectives. The use of teleporters in deployment was also a nice touch. I liked the power-up facility of the Tau walkers (losing wounds to gain greater firepower - a bit like the way that Whitehack uses HP to cast magic).

I can't help shake the feeling, though, that 40K is hampered by the game it once was - and by the need to differentiate every single unit type (to boost figure sales). It's still quite slow: three rolls to resolve combat rather than one as in Dragon Rampant (which covers hitting, wounding and armour in a single big roll). And it still has enormously powerful heroes.

The other thing that's odd about it - and a legacy of the past, I think - is the astonishingly short range for missile weapons. The original Warhammer did some unusual things with figure scale (I think Rick Priestley has spoken about this, discussing how there was an implied figure-to-troop ratio and yet this was combined with individual standard bearers, heroes and musicians). But in a genuine skirmish game - and one with a 1:1 ratio, it's really weird to have sci-fi guns with ranges of just 150 feet or whatever.

I liked the way that bolters became much more effective at close range, but I think the game would work better with unlimited range for most technological weapons and added impact when close up. That would certainly improve the importance of terrain and cover. Perhaps the charge mechanism could be used to simulate troops dashing from point to point and occasionally being caught in the open. (I don't know if it can be used like that in the current rules.)

One further peculiar thing is the importance of close combat. My space marines won the game mainly by closing in with the Tau walkers and beating them up in hand to hand. It was a little hard to visualise what they were doing, though - and why they were better off using their knives or bayonets rather than blasting away with their bolters. Perhaps the rules have a Dune-style rationale.

Anyway, it was a fun way to spend an afternoon. I plan to introduce Dave to Rogue Planet next time ...

Also, I love the skin on those blue orcs of yours, as well as the freehand on the shield. Can't wait to see the savage boys all done up!

Thanks! I've got another eight orcs well underway.

[Hobgoblin]

Not much progress with the wash-painted orcs over the weekend - but then I did fit in Solo, an inaugural game of Saga (great game!) and a D&D session, alongside the usual child-wrangling.

Here's how the orcs are looking so far. All washes, except for eyes, brash white highlights on teeth and bone, and a bit of a black-lining tidy-up.

[Aerendar Valandil]

They're looking great! Checked ouit the video. Inspiring.

M.