179 replies to this topic

[Lord Alisk]

Hello all,

 

Well, here is the very humble beginnings of my dwarf throng - it will be growing soon! I mainly play historical games, and one army I have for this is a Norwegian Viking army - I have basically painted these in the same way. I have left the bases very simple - normally I like to put shrubs, ferns etc on them, and make extensive use of multi-basing, as it looks better in units. However, I wanted these to have a subterranean look about them, hence the fairly dull grey textured look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[url=http://imageshack.us...warves2006.jpg/]

 

 

 

The miniatures are the Skag the Stealthy from Grudge of Drong (quite probably my favourite Dwarf model - simple, noble, and clearly set on defending his hold), and the Dwarf prospector from Mordheim, who might metamorphose into a miner champion or engineer, as needs arise. 

 

Anyway, hopefully they will be joined by some friends before too long! 

 

As I posted somewhere else on the forum, I am more interested in platoon-scale games (100 models on the table, 30 dwarves against 70 goblins, that kind of thing), so my collection will be character heavy (I ordered 3 more character models yesterday...). We'll see how this pans out anyway.

 

Anyway, I welcome any constructive criticism, as I am relatively new to fantasy painting (well, I did a lot more than a decade ago whilst I was at school, but that was a while ago now)

 

All best,

 

David.

Edited by Lord Alisk, 20 January 2021 - 09:10 PM.

[Alebelly_Cragfist]

Nice start and laudable selection of minis to get going with. Welcome the the brewery!

 

Your metals could use a wash. Nice and simple, but make a huge difference

[Lord Alisk]

Firstly, many thanks for the kind remarks. The old(er) metal dwarves are just lovely; shame Colin Dixon doesn't seem to be doing any more for GW these days 

 

Sorry Alebelly, I am completely self-taught painter, who has just muddled through by trial and error over the years - by a 'wash' I guess you mean inks and all that (I used some brown ink on the beards - it came out better on Skag than the prospector). Sorry to be ignorant, but I am not sure of the technique you are referring to. Could you elaborate that point? Or perhaps point me in the correct direction (website etc.) please? That would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks again,

 

David.

Edited by Lord Alisk, 03 May 2013 - 10:07 AM.

[Alebelly_Cragfist]

Hi David,

 

Pop over to the Forge (subforum). There's a wealth of information available from some very talented (self taught) painters in there. One of the sticky threads is called 'Bugman's One Stop Shop Painting Thread' which has links to all kinds of useful information when you're putting together a Throng

 

By wash, yes, I was referring to using some watered down black ink on your 'white' metallics. It's crazy quick to do and with a little practice will make your models shine, almost literally sometimes You could also use thinned black paint (aka a glaze), but inks are far easier to manage.

Edited by Alebelly_Cragfist, 03 May 2013 - 10:20 AM.

[Lord Alisk]

Cheers Alebelly. Hopefully my next batch of models will be along before too long (GW still hasn't dispatched them yet...hopefully today...), and I can try and experiment a bit. I guess it is one of those things one can just add onto already done models, which is nice!

 

Thanks again,

 

David.

 

[Oridur]

Looking very nice.  Stiped pants are not easy!

[Lord Alisk]

Dear Oridur,

 

Cheers! As I said, I am painting these in a very 'Viking' way (big blonde beards and all); for some reason, striped trousers are associated with Vikings (at least by mediaeval re-enacting societies and toy soldier painters). I am not sure whether it works as well on dwarves, we'll see.

I am still undecided what colour scheme to paint the army (well, it might be an army one day...); these guys have a blue/cream thing going on, which I think looks 'Dwarf-y', and also relatively benign. My Vikings are a mixed batch, but black/yellow are the dominant scheme for the shields and such, especially for the characters; however I think the black/yellow scheme can look subtly malevolent (certainly less 'good' than blue and cream/white), though the black/yellow scheme is also a bit more dynamic and striking. We'll see how things pan out!

 

Also, I will follow Alebelly's advice, and try and improve the armour next time round (maybe re-painting Skag a bit).

 

I should probably name them properly:

 

the guy with the axe will henceforward be Grettir Bjornsson, which I think is a good heroic sounding name (in part in honour of my favourite saga, the sage of Grettir the Strong)

 

The miner is Snorri Ironfoundersson, a dwarf miner/engineer I played in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, and the character the miniature was originally bought to represent.

 

I think names help a bit!

 

Thanks again,

David.

[Shadow-Beard]

Cheers David,

I'll say nice selection of figures as well, and I generally do the same with naming all my characters also. I love the predominance of earth tones in your color selection as well...definately works well with your viking theme. Look forward to seeing more!

[ardyer]

I've always loved the Skag model. And the idea of a "stealthy" dwarf has me in fits! 

 

As far as striped trousers go, I think they work fine on dwarfs, and I tend to see them a lot, especially on slayers.

[Lord Alisk]

Well, we have some reinforcements! These are the lovely metal longbeards, which are a joy to paint (though they do have perhaps too many fiddly bits), and occupied me over the weekend. 

 

 

 

 

Sorry the pictures are a bit dark.

 

Anyway, I have tried to improve my metal painting technique. I tried to follow a tutorial which used an ironbreaker as a base; now this was a bit difficult for my lowly level (don't run before you can walk, and all), but I do think they are getting better. I plan to paint a rank of normal guys before getting on with the command, so the less good first attempts can get lost in the throng, as it were!

 

They are not quite where I want them to be - I think the beard on one model is too dark, and that the gold isn't as good as I would like (it looks better in natural than artificial light). Anyway, with painting you are always improving!

 

Any more advice would be heartily welcomed!

 

All best,

 

David.

[Lord Alisk]

Also, as another note, after painting the longbeards, it seems more likely that the striped 'trousers' on Skag (sorry, Grettir) are really turned-over boot tops. They might get re-painted, I'll see how I feel.

 

David.

[Alebelly_Cragfist]

Looking good I think you are right about the stripes/boots, but they look fine stripey.

 

A note of caution on your Longbeards would be to keep in mind contrast. If they are all too similarly coloured (white and grey), when altogether they may become a bit lost and look quite "background". For such fine (and expensive) minis, you may want to bring the Green and perhaps gold you've used more into the minis. Perhaps gold details on the helmets' raised areas, or green leather/enamelled plate, or something

 

Also, fluffwise (proper fluff that is), Dwarf's with grey or white hair are not necessarily old and greying is not a sign of age, so much as length of beard. If it were, we're have greybeards and whitebeards rather than long beard and living ancestors It's a shame GW didn't think of this whenmaking their current range of plastics that all seem to have long beards to the floor! Just a suggestion should you want to add in hair colours

Edited by Alebelly_Cragfist, 13 May 2013 - 11:47 AM.

[Lord Alisk]

Looking good I think you are right about the stripes/boots, but they look fine stripey.

 

A note of caution on your Longbeards would be to keep in mind contrast. If they are all too similarly coloured (white and grey), when altogether they may become a bit lost and look quite "background". For such fine (and expensive) minis, you may want to bring the Green and perhaps gold you've used more into the minis. Perhaps gold details on the helmets' raised areas, or green leather/enamelled plate, or something

 

Also, fluffwise (proper fluff that is), Dwarf's with grey or white hair are not necessarily old and greying is not a sign of age, so much as length of beard. If it were, we're have greybeards and whitebeards rather than long beard and living ancestors It's a shame GW didn't think of this whenmaking their current range of plastics that all seem to have long beards to the floor! Just a suggestion should you want to add in hair colours

 

 

Thanks for this - I was tempted to paint the trim of the armour in green rather than brown - I'll try that for the next one I paint, and see which I prefer.

 

Also, re. the striped 'trousers' - they clearly are seriously flared - flared trousers, huge beard, eye-patch, I think my hero might well have been an accidental 70s rock legend.

 

Ho hum...

 

All best,

 

David

[Oridur]

Like the horns on those longbeards.  They look so nice and ivory like.  Technique?

[Lord Alisk]

Like the horns on those longbeards.  They look so nice and ivory like.  Technique?

 

Many thanks!

 

The horns are fairly easy to do. over a black undercoat, I painted them the old Citadel Paint bleached bone colour, put a browney-black wash around the joins with the metal, and then highlighted up (using straight strokes to try and simulate the grain of the ivory) with vallejo ivory colour, first mixed with bleached bone, and then by itself. 

 

I hope that helps!

 

In other news, I am thinking that dry-brushing beards is a bit hit-and-miss - the guy I'm painting now doesn't look right, and I'll try doing it a different way next.

 

All best,

 

David.

[Lord Alisk]

Well, I have been beavering away over the last few weeks, and my dwarfs now actually have a unit. OK, a small unit (I have another 5 to paint, and will probably buy another 10 to make it up to a fairly hefty unit of 30.

 

Anyway, here are some more longbeards:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have tried to get better at painting metals and beards. I am very happy with the blonde beards (whoever had the idea of using flesh colours as a basecoat was a genius). Also I think the best white beards used pale blue (vallejo glacier blue, to be precise) as the basecoat.

 

I haven't painted anything on the book on the standard yet. I might paint runic standard runes on it, but as I change the rune(s) I run, I am less keen on that. Any advice welcome.

 

I've got some more characters to add, back in 5 minutes!

 

Cheers,

David.

 

 

 

Edited by Lord Alisk, 01 June 2013 - 01:05 PM.

[Lord Alisk]

These two chaps are some more generic heroes. 

 

The blonde chap sometimes might be demoted to Long Beard champion - it depends how things pan out. He is a particularly lovely model!

 

The brown bearded fellow will be either a ranger thane or a ranger captain - he looks like he is striding across the landscape anyway, and his helmet looks like an iron so'wester, which is probably very practical when ranging around. 

 

Anyway, as normal, all advice welcomed - I do want to improve, so hints and tips are eagerly sought. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

David.

[Wendersnaven]

Very nice indeed.

[Lord Alisk]

Thanks very much.

 

Cheers, 

David.

[Grimwald the Surly]

Shaping up very well. Really like the beards you have done on the Longbeards.