Saturday 15 December 2018

"The Daemonic Hordes Of Khorne Are Largely Made Up Of Ferocious Bloodletters."

"These Lesser Daemons are deadly warriors believed to have been foremost amongst the Blood God's followers..."
These ten plastic 6mm scale Bloodletters used to be produced by "Games Workshop" for their tabletop wargame "Epic", and disappointingly are now long Out Of Production (OOP). However I was fortunate enough to stumle across a small tub of these lesser daemons of Khorne from a second-hand stall whilst visiting "Colours" at Newbury earlier this year, and now hope to paint enough figures up to at least give me a horde of some eight or so stands to probably use with some homemade rules.

The tiny figures were initially all super-glued onto a thin strip of wood, and primed using two coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Red. They were then washed using "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade and dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Red. I subsequently 'picked out' their loincloths and horns with some Black and applied a layer of Heavy Sienna to their Hellblades. Lastly, I pigmented their hand-weapons using a combination of "Vallejo" Brass and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade, finished the blades off with a delicate dry-brush of more "Vallejo" Brass, and assembled them in groups of five figures upon two separate small "Flames Of War" rectangular stands by "Battlefront Miniatures".
"Black Tree Design" WIPs - A Mandrel, Fourth Doctor companion Harry Sullivan and a Sontaran
I have actually started work priming even more of these tiny Lesser Daemons, but have stopped with their undercoats in order for them to be eligible for entry in the Ninth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge; which now starts in less than a week's time. Instead, I have managed to continue work on several partially-painted "Black Tree Design" 28mm miniatures from their "Doctor Who" range.

Foremost of these figures has been three Mandrel sculpts which I have actually re-painted (again) following my dislike as to how their scaly skin turned out when I had simply dry-brushed "Vallejo" Heavy Red over a layer of "Citadel" Abaddon Black. Having now thoroughly pigmented their torso, arms and legs with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Red I now plan to better capture their palette as seen during the 1979 "Doctor Who" TV adventure "The Nightmare Of Eden", through some significant shading using "Citadel" Nuln Oil and perhaps some Purple and/or Green inks...
"Crooked Dice Game Design" WIPs - James Bond, a Lizard Nazi Soldier and a Brown Shirt
In addition, I thought it was high time I finally finished off one of my favourite travelling companions Harry Sullivan, as well as another of the classic "belligerent and militaristic clones from the planet Sontar." I still have a few of these bulbous-headed warriors left over from a previous order with the Texas-based company. But could well be tempted in the New Year to put in an order with "Black Tree Design" so as to build up a far more formidably-sized force for the tabletop.

Lastly, whilst scrambling around looking for some more "Crooked Dice Game Design"  minatures I could paint during the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, I discovered a drawer full of half-finished figures from the manufacturer's "Danger Five" range. As a result I have started work building up some layers of flesh, shirt and leather on one of their secret agents, a lizard Nazi soldier and a facist brown-shirted trooper in readiness for making a welcome return to the "7TV" rule-set soon.

16 comments:

  1. The bloodletters all Look great dude. I must get arlind to picking up the D5 stuff. Good luck in the AH competition.

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    1. Thanks Simon. I'm halfway to finishing the eight bases of Bloodletters I initially set myself to use with "Epic", and hope to get them done in short order once the AHPC starts. The "Danger Five" stuff is great, and I'm hoping to clear a lot of backlog for that range too during the AHPC.

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  2. Cracking work on the Epic goodies!

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    1. Thanks Fran. I'm hoping to paint a lot of my unfinished "Epic" next year before my eyesight goes. LOL :-)

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  4. Great work on your epic bloodletters Simon, nice prep work for AHPC.
    On the Mandrel water down your nuln oil by 50%, then when fully dry add a green glaze, when dry edge the scales with a little silver, you can then add a red glaze to the edges if too bright. Don't get the red glaze over the green, you'll lose the green effect

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    1. Cheers Dave. Unfrotunately none of these particular minis will be eligible for the AHPC as they've already been more than primed. But I do still have plenty of other "Danger 5" figures which I can submit. These ones though I want to use as pilot pieces. Thanks for the tips Ref washes etc. I'll let you know how I get on.

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  5. The bloodletters look nice as a horde, nice job. The world in progress look nice too. That Mandrell has really grown on me, like it a lot. Interesting to see how the Sontarans have changed too. Good luck with the painting challenge but with all your prep I think you will hit the ground at a sprint!

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    1. Thanks Undercoat, I've a few more 15mm stuff to clear before next weekend and the start of the AHPC, and hopefully some of these 28mm figs will be done too :-)

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  6. Nice work on the Epic fig's they have turned out really well, Also some lovely figs from Black tree too, but who are the "Texas" based company, I always thought Black Tree were UK based? Lastly I do like that James Bond figure, not so sure about the lizard headed Nazi but the brown shirt should paint up rather well.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Cheers Roger. Lots more "Black Tree Design" stuff to come too. My understanding is that they're now just the UK front of "EOE Orbis Inc" which are based in Texas, and certainly the last few times I've had delayed orders its always been because the UK distribution hub has been waiting on minis from the USA. All their contact addresses seem to be Amarillo, Texas too? I'm hoping to get James Bond and his Nazi foes finished qyuite soon, so I can do some more for the AHPC :-)

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  7. The growing 6mm Khorne horde does look good (and 6mm!) and I'm looking forward to seeing your latest Who and Crooked Dice stuff finished,

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    1. Thanks Joe. Hopefully I'll have some more "Doctor Who" posted up later this week :-)

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  8. Doctor Who and Crooked Dice stuff is always good :-) . I'm mildly curious about the use to which you will put the hordes of small demons...

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    1. Cheers Hugh. I tend to use a homemade rule-set called "M.I.S.S." for a lot of 'pick up and play' games, and will probably pen something for my "Epic" minis. I've done a few BatReps on this blog using "M.I.S.S." if that piques your interest at all :-)

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