Friday 20 December 2019

"The Drillmaster Is A Very Versatile Fighter..."

"We Make War."
This 28mm scale model of a Drillmaster is one of the eight multi-part plastic miniatures which can be found inside the Iron Golem "Warcry" warband boxed set by “Games Workshop". “Clad in metal armour and marching in line behind big shields”, this female figure came in five separate pieces and arguably proved a somewhat frail-looking ensemble until I took the decision to glue the end of its spiked bola to its left hand.

Having permanently attached the Chaos cultist upon its 32mm circular base, the dynamically-posed fighter was primed with two layers of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, and had all of her numerous pieces of armour, as well as some tiny symbolic hammers dangling from her chest-plate, painted using a combination of Brass and "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade. With the exception of the warrior’s circular-plated loincloth and left gauntlet, these areas were then given a coat of "Citadel" Flesh Tearer Red, which had been previously 'watered down' using some Contrast Medium.
"Games Workshop" WIPs - The final two Iron Golem figures needed to complete my "Warcry" warband
This colour gave the model's shoulder-pads, helmet, shin-plates, back-plate, and gut-protector the Iron Golem’s distinctive metallic red hue, which additionally allowed some of the "Vallejo" Brass underneath to shine through; especially once the model had been gloss varnished. The Drillmaster's knee-spur, face-plate, chain-link belt, straps, terrifying spiked club and “Whirlwind of Death” bola were painted in "Citadel" Ironbreaker, and subsequently shaded with Nuln Oil.

In complete contrast to the “Warcry” warband's 'official' "Games Workshop" pale grey skin palette, I applied a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade to all the miniature's flesh. Lastly, I 'picked out' the shaft of the model’s hand-weapon with a little "Vallejo" Heavy Blue, and later shaded it using some out of production "Citadel" Badab Black.
"Crooked Dice Game Design" WIPs - These three Protoplasmic Terrors just need a final few washes
As long-time sufferers following this blog will be aware, I always like to ‘partner up’ painting a complicated miniature with a far simpler project, and the resin Protoplasmic Terrors produced by "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" fit this bill perfectly. Indeed, the biggest difficultly the three “bubbling, amorphous masses of viscous matter” have so far caused me is in my trying to decide just where upon their writhing, multi-eyed bodies to pin the variety of tentacles which come with the kit.

Admittedly, I did also spend a little time pondering over the monsters' colour scheme, before going with the decidedly dark 'official in-store' palette. As I was somewhat tempted to give the trio of ghastly grotesques a 'human' skin tone similar to that seen on the parasitic extraterrestrial life-form in John Carpenter's 1982 American science fiction horror film "The Thing"...

16 comments:

  1. Drill master looks sweet in that scheme! Pain in the arse it might have been, but the finished piece is eyecatching mate!

    Terrors!? I need a pic of the whole model - they look like they'd be supercool!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks very much indeed, Dai. Just two Iron Golem warriors to go... There's some wider WIP shots of the Protoplasmic Terrors in an earlier posting if you want to see them at a distance, or you can wait til next week when the finished articles should be posted :-)

      Delete
  2. I need to get me some of these terrors, they would be perfect for 15mm too and I really like your slick sinister black colour scheme.
    Great work on these Iron Golems as well!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Wouter. The Protoplasmic Terrors should be posted next week, as should my finished Iron Golem Dominar.

      Delete
  3. I like drillmaster, great job, she looks great. They are very detailed minis, must be a bit tricky to paint. You seem to have been painting them for a while now, how long has it been? Just keep going as the finished warband will be worth it. The blob things look good too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Undercoat, the Iron Golem warband was started in September, but it took a month just to get going on them following my unsuccessful experiments attempting to copy their 'official' flesh and metal palette. However, in the six weeks since then I've somewhat managed to power through them, and am pleased to have finished all eight before the end of the year. Phew!!

      Delete
  4. What an amazing model, but not sure I could cope with all those flailing chains, I would be worried that I would snap them off!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Michael. I was very worried the flailing chains would break, hence my decision to glue the ball to the mini elsewhere, so the weapon was actually attached to both ends.

      Delete
  5. Great work finishing another Warcry model Simon, the dark colour scheme on the terror's is a bit hard to see into so a lot of the detail is lost, could just be the photo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dave. The Protoplasmic Terrors are a writhing mass of tentacles and detail. I won't do such close-ups for their posting, so you should be better able to see them in all their glory.

      Delete
  6. The chaoa `bling' warriors look good, they have come a long way since my 1980's preslotta favourites. I really like the protoplasmic terrors.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh Merry Christmas to all those in Blaxkleric Towers.

      Delete
    2. Cheers Phil. I aim to post up the finished Iron Golem warband by the end of the year, and the Protoplasmic Terrors too :-)

      Delete
    3. A very Merry Christmas to you too :-)

      Delete
  7. The drillmaster has turned out really well, you must be so pleased with the final result! The final two golems are another pair of very impressive sculpts too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Joe. The other two Iron Golem warriors are thankfully now just waiting to be posted, so should be up on this blog before the end of the year.

      Delete