Your Absolute Worst Reloaded

So, the FTW collaborative post came out – many thanks to Ron for running cool ideas like this one!

This collaborative post was about our absolute worst miniature in terms of modeling and painting – my Blood Angels Scout Captain was part of it as well, of course. However, reading through the answers from other people I have to say a lot of stuff they did actually isn’t that bad. I mean, if I go to tournaments at the FLGS I see armies that are far worse but are still being tagged as “painted” by their owners.

Either way, I give my vote for “best of the worst” definitely to Gotthammer and his Chaos Predator tank that should really be an Orkzez Loota Waggon. I am sure you agree with me that it’s so bad a.k.a. crazy that it’s definitely cool. And if that’s not enough, check out his Apothecarius down at the bottom of the post.

(oh, BTW, I still have one of those HeroQuest Chaos Sorcerers, too )

Flashes everywhere

Over at the FTW network we have a new collaborative post on the topic what is the worst miniature we ever did.

Well, basically I don’t think I have anything to show that I need to be ashamed of. Shame is something for those guys who don’t paint their models because they are too lazy. (I have a couple fellow players who admit that they can’t paint and they have repeatedly tried it.)

My worst miniature surely is my first miniature in 2008 after my 12 year hiatus:

My Blood Angels Captain is:

• My first miniature after not painting for 12 years.
• My first miniature that went beyond just coloring, but involved (for me) new techniques like inking and drybrushing.
• My first glued together plastic (and resin) model. (yes, in the old days all GW miniatures were made out of metal.)
• My first freehand (on the Lightning Claw).

While all these factors may sort of excuse the poor quality of the miniature, there is one thing I repeatedly get criticism for: the leftover flashes from the casting process. I am simply too lazy to file them off. In the picture above, you can still see a fine line e.g. on the upper side of the Plasma Pistol, but most remarkably on the Captain’s boot on the right foot where the light changes. According to some critics, leaving the flashes ruins the entire model. I don’t care because those flashes still remind me that these models are toys, after all, and not living organisms.

So, if you give me credit for honing my painting skills, then my Blood Angels Captain is my worst miniature. If you blame me for being lazy, then pretty much each of my miniatures is.

Fresh off the painting table: OOP Space Hulk BA Terminators

As usual, click the image for a larger view:

My OOP Terminators from the old Space Hulk box painted as the 3rd (pictured above) and 4th Squad of the 1st Blood Angels Company. I didn’t take a picture of the 4th Squad as it really looks just the same.

With the three Terminators from my previous post I have now painted a total of 13 Terminators out of my 25 total. When I am done with the remaining half I will throw all my Terminators and Jump Packers at my enemies in Planet Strike.

Fresh off the painting table: Triumvirate

I am currently busy painting a total of 25 Blood Angels Terminators. Fresh off the painting table are the three HQ models who are going to be the Triumvirate of my 1st Company.

The Terminator Captain has fought many battles and seen all enemies the universe has to offer. He’s the type of guy who arrives with the first wave on the surface of a planet and is the last to be teleported up again. His Storm Bolter and Energy Sword are relatively simple weapons, but he knows to master them well. The more killy weapons are being carried by his Honor Guard who would never let themselves be separated from him. Of course, the Captain would never back away from an enemy, but it’s his Honor Guard taking care of the most imminent threads that lets him lead his company even at the frontline.
I’m especially happy with this picture because it nicely shows the different shade of red between the robe and the Power Armor.

The Terminator Chaplain is the Captain’s dark advisor. The Chaplain knows too well the human beings’ faults and weaknesses, but he also knows their strengths and noble feats. While the Captain may be a great tactician, the Chaplain is the strategist who makes sure that everything going on within the company is in the will of the God Emperor. The Chaplain leads the company in prayer, works as its spiritual adviser and sorts out those who are falling to the Black Rage.
I didn’t paint this Chaplain in any special way. However, I decided to leave the eye sockets in the same bone color as the rest of the skull (quickly thought about black or bright green) because this makes him more ghostly in my eyes. I also decided to glue the halo directly to his head rather than having it sit on the Power Armor because it adds more to the look of a tortured person as well. After all, the Chaplain knows all shades of life and death very well.

The Terminator Librarian is the keeper of the company’s arcane knowledge and the chief psychic. Whereas the other two characters heavily rely on their cognitive skills, the Librarian explores unknown worlds with his intuition. He channels the ruinous powers from the Warp into forms that help him and his battle brothers in their quest in the name of the God Emperor. He’s a mighty battle mage and both respected as much as feared not only by his enemies – but by his battle brothers, too.
When I was doing the Librarian I just wanted to combine the Librarians’ typical blue Power Armor with my other default colors for the Blood Angels Chapter. With Red, Yellow and Blue he turned out really bright and funky, however. When I look at the model it kinda feels to me as if Papa Smurf is carrying his own mushroom house. However, after a little while I think the funny look is actually quite good. If the Captain is the king and the Chaplain the dark advisor in the background, then the Librarian functions as the jester. The people around him find him rather strange and quite often don’t know what to make out of his words, as he speaks of things nobody else addresses and sees things nobody else can see, but the company’s Captain knows very well that sometimes the Librarian is his only weapon against the most dangerous enemies.

How to paint Blood Angels

One of the most frequent questions by newbies is how to paint Blood Angles. Well, for a large part I consider myself to be a newbie still, but I guess I have figured out the painting part.

My painting style has some shortcuts but is also very keen on details so I can keep up a speed that is fairly productive and produce decent looking miniatures at the same time. Just add more shortcuts or take better care of the details to get the quality you want. If you want an even shorter guide (only five steps, hurray!) you can look into Games Workshops slightly outdated Painting Blood Angels article. After all, my way is not the only way to paint.

• Basecoat the miniature with white color. Some people prefer black color because it makes all following layers of colors look darker. However, I prefer white as it allows you to see the details on the miniature better plus you can always darken the colors with inks later.
• After that, I paint the entire model with Mechrite Red. This provides the needed base color and prevents any white spots that may be hard to paint later.
• Next, I paint any part with Iyanden Dark Sun that is supposed to have a lighter color on the finished model. Good examples are faces, paper scrolls, wings, golden parts etc. Furthermore, Iyanden Dark Sun is a really good base color for yellow as it hardly shines through.
• In a next step, I apply a wash called Flesh Wash on the entire model. This wash has gone out of production, but you can use Ogryn Flesh instead. This wash darkens the lower areas of the red Power Armor and adds more depth to the model. If you have any question concerning inks and washes, I recommend Skarboy’s excellent tutorial.
• Once the wash is dry, I paint the yellow (e.g. an Assault Marine’s helmet) and bone colors (e.g. skulls, bones, and scrolls). For yellow I like Bad Moon Yellow, but once again this paint is out of production so you may have to find a substitute. The bone colored parts are simply being drybrushed with Bleached Bone. Just get some paint with your brush and wipe it off again on a piece of cloth until there is hardly any paint left on the bursh.
• Now it’s time for the Blood Red. On the average trooper, I use Blood Red only to highlight the edges of the Power Armor so the brown wash still leaves a dirty/muddy look. In the case of veterans I paint everything over with Blood Red except for the lower areas where the brown wash accumulated. This gives a fresher/cleaner look to the veterans and you get an effect called Brown Lining for free as the dark lines are already there – you just have to make sure you don’t paint them over with the Blood Red.
• In a next step it’s wise to do the black parts on your model, mainly the Bolters and other weapons.
• Up next is the miniature’s face if it goes without a helmet. Do a base skin of Dwarf Flesh, darken it with Ogryn Flesh, and finally highlight it again with Elf Flesh. The hardest part are the eyes as it takes a calm hand to do the black dot in the center. However, the more you try it, the easier it will get. If you prefer, you can paint the eye entirely black first and paint white parts second.
• Now is the time to do all the details you didn’t pay attention to before, for example ornaments, tubes and cables, metallic parts of the weapons, etc.
• Finally, you can add more highlights on the Power Armor by drybrushing Blazing Orange and Bad Moon Yellow on the appropriate parts. Just check where the light comes from and drybrush the parts of the model that it shines on. I suggest you work in a well lit room. If you’re in a dark room with just one lamp you may very well see the bright spots on the surface of the miniature, but there are also strong shadows that distort the shape of the miniature and make it harder to paint.

I usually water down my paints quite a bit so I get thin and smooth layers of color. Sometimes it takes you more than one layer until a color looks good, but that’s still better than having thick paint ruin the surface of your model.

I use Games Workshop paints just because they are convenient, but you may use other paints as well. Everybody has to find his/her own set of paints, I guess. When I was a teen and had less money, I used Humbrol oil-based paints, they are mainly designed to paint World War II armies. Now I swung over to Games Workshop paints because it’s easier to just add water (I take it directly from the tab) and because I have the paints I need all ready to use. I don’t mix paints and paint straight out of the pot. I love to paint, but I also like to keep things fairly simple.

One last piece of advice: everyone can paint good looking miniatures as long as they try to paint cleanly. If there is a speckle by mistake, just paint over it again with the correct color. Painting isn’t hard as long as you try to paint cleanly. There are painters who check the weather report before priming their miniatures, they have special sets of brushes and their arsenal of individually mixed colors. Surely they are pros and create master pieces, but you don’t need all that to paint a good looking miniature that you can bring to your local game store.