Wednesday 26 November 2014

'Oldhammer' - Lizardmen Army - WIP - Part Two

With just a few days to go until the deadline for “A Tale of Several Gamers” first month, I have realized with some horror that I may well have been going about my ‘Oldhammer’ army painting in a decidedly wrong manner. Other painting distractions aside, I’ve found my choice of painting my force’s leader first and foremost an unwise move as despite the “Citadel” miniature’s excellent pose and sculpting, it is frankly so detailed that it is proving to be an absolute pain to actually paint (at least using the methods I ordinarily use for my 28mm figures).

As a result, my plan to spend just a few days concentrating on Gluckle the Greedy before painting up the rest of my skink warband has stagnated into a painfully slow month-long attempt to paint just the white-skinned champion. This means that few of my other Lizardmen miniatures have had much attention besides an undercoat of blue paint and a quick wash of ink to help me see the figures’ detail.
No more pontificating however, as I find there is nothing better than an imminent deadline to focus the mind and get the paint flowing. Clearly I’m not going to be attaining quite the number of points I initially had in mind for this month’s opening foray but as I spent only just over half my £25 budget, and should have a couple of minis painted, along with a few blog posts on the subject, I am hopeful that Space Cow Smith will be magnanimous enough to award me a handful of points in a few days’ time.

Perhaps my biggest problem has been to try and copy the superbly painted albino skink from my copy of the “Games Workshop” 1996 Lizardmen Warhammer Armies book. I quite quickly found this challenge tremendously off putting and demotivating as I’m simply not that good a painter. Having cast aside my ‘Eavy metal Painter syndrome, I’ve gone with a simple paint scheme for my Skink champion which should still make him ‘stand out from the crowd’. Instead of painting all his rope bindings a myriad of different colours, they’re just going to be red and the vast majority of his leathers, humble brown. This has allowed me to swiftly paint most of his numerous straps and bindings, with just a block colour and wash.
I’ve also started something of a ‘factory approach’ to the four basic Skink warriors I own. Presently they’re been undercoated, washed and then ‘black-lined’. I’m now starting to ‘block in’ their metal weapons, shields and arm bracelets.

Space Cow Smith has actually created a blog called “A Tale Of Several Gamers” for us to all post our ‘Oldhammer’ themed posts on so if you’re interested or want to take part then I’d recommend you give it a visit at:
A Tale of Several Gamers is Go!

14 comments:

  1. Nice Start you have got a good base colour.

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    1. Thanks Simon. Better late than never. The blue ink wash really helps with the tiny detail these little fellas have, so hopefully they'll be on the table quite soon, ready for me to paint some opposition next month :-)

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  2. I do love to see these old miniatures brought to life, wonderful!

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    1. They are lovely sculpts Michael, and as such I don't want to rush them. They are also extremely well-detailed as opposed to the modern plastic figures, which seem to have their detail smoothed out somewhat; or they expect you to glue the added bits to the model yourself.

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  3. As Michael says, it's good to see the old figures being used and not discarded for whatever is the latest incarnation of them.

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    1. Thanks Zabadak. That's the main reason I said I'd do this six-month challenge, as I wanted the opportunity to get some old models and paint them. Not a fan of today's modern GW plastic figures.

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  4. I do like the blue you chose and it should stand out from the crowd.

    You've got two back to back challenges! You're a glutton form punishment!

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    1. Many thanks Anne. I actually went to a show so I could pick out an appropriate blue "Vallejo" colour (as you simply can't tell on the internet). I don't anticipate doing too many 'Oldhammer' per month so fingers crossed they won;t keep me away from my 'pulpy goodness' too much :-)

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  5. You're off to a fine start. As Anne said, a great shade of blue. Really jumped out at me when I first saw the pics.

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    1. Thanks Finch. I think they'll look rather colourful once finished. Especially with an albino Skink in the front row.

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  6. You're off to a good start and as others have stated, that's a nice blue you have chosen. I quite like the old school Lizardmen. I agree with you that the new ones aren't nearly as good.

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    1. Thanks Vampifan. Bit of a way to go yet before these excellent minis are finished, but they are so much better than some of the newer plastics I was considering as alternatives.

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  7. Ah, I remember painting those models! Mine were a yellowish-green though, rather than blue. I think I might have given them bright crests?

    That is indeed a nice blue colour. I think we'll see it all come together quite quickly now

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    1. Thanks Colgar6. Now I'm focussing far more on the models I am finally getting some layers on them. Not sure where this month has gone though :-)

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