Another Arcanist figure for my Order warband. Unarmoured and armed with only a hand weapon, this specialist is an expert in ancient lore and languages.

The mini was built using the new plastic female wizards kit from North Star. It's the first plastic Frostgrave kit I've bought, and it's pretty good. The bodies will be useful for all kinds of robed figures, there are dozens of female heads, a whole bunch of empty hands, and some other nice bits.

Since I preordered the kit through a Nickstarter, I got a few metal extras - including a new metal wizard. She's good material for another Conjuror. I love the little hooded familiar.

The plastic wizards can be mixed with Perry bits, which is very important to me right now. They lean a bit more towards heroic scale, but when combined with Perry parts they fit well in my collection of AoS28 humans.

BASING

I've been asked quite a few times about my current basing method, and now I'm at last delivering the tutorial I promised. 

I've changed my basing several times over the years. For quite a while I used to put my fantasy minis on grassland bases that matched my Wilderness board and scenery collection. You can find the step-by-step here: CXXVI. I'm still fond of this method, but its drawbacks became apparent when I started planning other scenery environments. When you put a grassy-based mini on a stone tile board, it sticks out and works against overall coherence of the tabletop. 

There were several solutions to this problem I could think of. First, there are transparent acrylic bases. That looks really good on scenic shots. However, I see the base as the background and frame of a miniature, and when photographed in a non-scenic context I would totally miss a "proper" base. Another solution is to make swappable bases for the minis, but I did not consider that very long due to all the extra effort and cost. 

I came to the conclusion that I would have to come up with basing that is subtle enough to fit more than one type of terrain, as well as being more detailed than a simple sand texture in order to offset the minimalistic paintjob.

After some testing I ended up with a recipe that is quick and easy to reproduce each time.

 

That is all. When I have a pre-sculpted base, I simply apply this painting formula over the entire base, disregarding the "natural" colour of the details: like you can see in this example: Dathalus.

1 - Zenithal priming: white over black. The recesses remain dark from the black spray, which gives me automatic shading in those hard to reach areas. The white provides a bright underlying surface for the glazes.

2 - Glaze of watered-down Rakarth Flesh (Citadel) over the enitre figure.

3 - Glaze of watered-down Zandri Dust (Citadel) over the enitre figure.

4 - Glaze of watered-down Russ Grey (Citadel) on the skin areas.

5 - Glaze of watered-down Dubai Brown (Scale75) on clothing, fur, weapon grips, helmet. Everything that's not skin or bone/horn.

6 - Glaze of watered-down Flat Black (Scale75) on the fur and helmet (not the helmet horns, though). I deliberately used the extra matt black for this.

7 - Glaze of watered-down Burnt Umber (Pebeo) on the leather belts and straps. I put the same glaze on the cape and loincloth, in uneven blotches.

8 - Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil washes (Citadel), slightly watered-down, on everything but the skin. More brown on lighter areas, more black on darker ones. Repeat where necessary.

9 - Highlight of sligthly thinned Rakarth Flesh on all bone and horn areas.

10 - Highlight of sligthly thinned Celestra Grey on all skin areas. Picking out the muscles, fingers and facial details.

11 - Another highlight on the skin, this time Celestra Grey (Citadel) mixed with a bit of Matt White (Pebeo).

12 - Highlight of Zandri Dust (Citadel) on select areas that were so far glazed with brown.

13 - Highlight of sligthly thinned Rakarth Flesh (Citadel) + Matt White (Pebeo) on bone and horn.

14 - The leather straps are a more reddish brown, so they were edge highlighted with a mix of Burnt Umber and Matt White (Pebeo).

15 - Watered-down Mephiston Red (Citadel) was added on certain areas as spot colour.

16 - The nipples were painted.

17 - The entire figure got a blacklining treatment. Slightly thinned Matt Black (Pebeo), applied with a precise brush where different parts/materials of the miniature meet. This step makes the mini clearer to read from a distance.

18 - The eyes were painted as white dots, for a particularly sinister look.

19 - The helmet and bit of chainmail on the loincloth were highlighted with Celestra Grey (Citadel) + Matt Black (Pebeo), and then Celestra Grey (Citadel).

The red spot colour was applied to the gaps between the weapons' teeth as a subtle wash. 

20 - Black and off-white splatter over the entire model. I do this because it adds so much to the atmosphere of a paintjob. I use an old #10 brush with stiff bristles for the task, flicking paint from it onto the mini. Depending on how thin the paint is, how loaded the brush and how far it is from the mini, the droplets will change in size, opacity and number. It's best you try for yourself to get a feel for it. Always check on a spare piece of paper before you go splatter the mini! If you make a mistake, you can still save it, but you only have seconds to wipe it off.

21 - The tattoos were done in freehand, using a #0 sable brush. The paint I used was a mix of Flat Black (Scale75) and Verdigris Blue (Secret Weapon). They're both rich in pigment, and will leave a neat line even when watered- down and made slightly transparent. The paint needs to be of such consistency to slide of the brush easily, but without running when it touches the mini. The brush needs to have a fine tip, but also enough body to hold a sufficient amount of paint to draw a few uninterrupted lines. I went with spiral patterns and dots, same designs I used on the entire warband. 

The final step was to base and spray-varnish the mini. My warband is now finished and ready to travel to its new home across the Atlantic.

1 -The first step is Russ Grey (GW) + plenty of water, applied as a glaze over the entire armour and all the rest of the metal surfaces.

2 - next was Dark Wood (Secret Weapon), a medium grey colour. Applied over the parts that will be  'silver'.

3 - Brown Rust (Secret Weapon) glaze.

4 - a few more patchy glazes with different browns. You want to avoid too much of it getting on the 'silver parts'. Chainmail was an exception- there I deliberately added a bit of brown in places.

5 - Nuln Oil wash over all metal, for shading and definition.

6 - first highlight is with Celestra Grey (GW). This is only slightly thinned with water, as you don't want it to run and flood into the recesses and around details. I'ts mostly edge highlighting. Did it on both the brown and the silver parts with this.

7 - The second highlight is with white.

8 - Then, to add a bit of interest to the mostly drab, brownish model, I glazed some spots of the armour with thinned Secret Weapon Verdigris Pale Green. It subtly makes the model more 'alive'.

9 - the finishing touches. A bit of blacklining where necessary. And - you've probably noticed that in the past year or so I started applying tiny specks of paint on many of my models (mostly white and/or black). I do it because this splatter adds so much to the atmosphere of a paintjob. I use an old #10 brush with stiff bristles for the task, flicking paint from it onto the mini. Depending on how thin the paint is and how loaded the brush, the droplets will change in size, opacity and number. It's best you try for yourself to get a feel for it. Always check on a spare piece of paper before you go splatter the mini!

 *   *   *

That's all there is to it. The warband is now finished and ready to go to its new owner, and I'm getting started on the other starter warband: the Untamed Beasts.

  

I picked up the Warcry starter on preorder (mainly for the fantastic terrain and the new Furies). I'll probably try the rules at some point. My next project will be painting up the two warbands: Iron Golems and Untamed Beasts, who will both be going to their new owners once finished. 

Iron Golems are getting done first. I think these minis have a lot of potential. I made only minor changes on them for this project, but if I ever decide to do them again for my own collection, I will definitely change their weapons. I think they're the weakest part of the designs. 

Here's a step-by-step of how I'm doing the skin on the Iron Golems. I'll be doing the same for their armour next. 

1 - I start by applying black primer over the entire figure, followed by white primer at a downward angle. I find this great for painting with glazes and washes. The recesses remain dark from the black spray, which gives me automatic shading in those hard to reach areas. The white provides a bright underlying surface for the glazes.

2 - Since I'm going for quite a light skintone, the next step is to give the skin a couple coats of thinned white. I focus on the areas that are exposed, leaving the parts in the shadows darker.
 

3 - Thinned Zandri Dust is applied on the skin to provide a yellow tint and mild shading. I use plain water to thin the paints. Make it really thin. It's better to make it too thin and have to add another coat than mess up with one that's too heavy (this is not irreversible, mind you, but it wastes your time).

4 - Thinned Russ Grey tones down the yellow, and makes the shadows more prominent.

5 - At this point first highlights are added with slightly watered-down white. 

6 - A thin glaze of Zandri Dust helps even things out.

7 - The proces finishes with the final white highlight to pick out the detail - muscles, folds in skin, etc. In case this highlight is too stark, it can be toned down by lightly glazing it again. All these paint coats are very thin, so just adding more coats will not cause any problems.

A new knight/Crypt Horror for Queen Ligia's army: Kazmer. The model is based on Citadel Lord of Blights, with a heavily greenstuffed Goblin Town goblin head. This one is not one of Janos' witch hunters, I just wanted to finish him 'cause he sat on my WIP shelf for months, poor thing.

*   *   *

*   *   * 

Tomorrow morning I'm hopping on a train to Belgrade, where I'll be participating in a Inq28 game titled 'Cerulean Gate' this weekend, and giving a talk about 28 Magazine and my work so far. Full report on that when I get back, though I may put some photos of the game on Instagram as it unfolds.