Friday 11 September 2020

"Water Elementals Are Elemental Creatures..."

"...Made of water and various other liquids."
These six 15mm scale metal miniatures of some Lesser Water Elementals are produced by “Alternative Armies” and can be bought either separately as blister HOT88 Lesser Elementals or as part of the company's pre-made twenty-four point strong HOTT1017 Elemental Army pack. The diminutive sculpts count as a Warband for "Hordes Of The Things", with three figures sitting quite tightly upon a 40mm x 20mm base.

Initially, each model was super-glued upon a wooden baton to help my brush-tip better reach all their details, and were primed in "Vallejo" Heavy Blue. The Water Elementals were then drenched in "Citadel" Drakenhof Nightshade, before being dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Blue. 
"Its torso trails off into a vestigial whirlpool."
Next I took an old brush and lightly highlighted all the creatures' waves with some "Vallejo" White, making sure to apply the paint far heavier towards the crest of the waves. As a final touch, I went back to each figure's eyes and mouth, and applied some additional "Citadel" Drakenhof Nightshade to these areas.

All of the miniatures were then 'snapped' off of their sticks, and super-glued onto some pre-cut plastic bases I bought off "eBay" many many moons ago. To their credit, "Alternative Armies" do supply the necessary bases for the figures as part of their HOTT Army packs. However, the resin stands are a bit chunky, and I was keen to maintain the aesthetic established by my previously painted "De Bellis Antiquitatis" forces.
"The area around the aiming point is plastered with heavy shells."
Having finished the first of my entries for my HOTT'ember Challenge with Roger "Dick Garrison" of "Rantings From Under The Wargaming Table" fame, I have also completed painting one of the resin craters sold by "Warlord Games" to use as an Artillery Barrage marker for "Konflikt '47". The kit actually comes with a number of "craters of different shapes and sizes depicting pits in the ground where a bomb, shell, or a military mine has exploded", but even its smallest offering was somewhat larger than I would have liked.

I had hoped to contain my marker to a 25mm circular base. However, in the end I had to use a "Citadel" 50mm base instead. The crater itself is excellent though, and was painted using my 'tried and tested' basing palette of "Citadel" Doombull Brown, Rakarth Flesh highlights and Agrax Earthshade wash...

12 comments:

  1. Great painting on the elementals simon, the shape reminded me of a melted tombstone though ! LOL
    the painting on the blast crater looks good too

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    1. Thanks Dave. I fear the sculpts for many of these HOTT units aren't my fave 15mm minis. But the Lesser Water Elementals turned out okay. There's a Greater Water Elemental I might purchase at some point if I find myself playing enough HOTT.

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  2. Nice work Simon. Water's really hard to get right, I think you nailed it.

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    1. Cheers Ray. Much appreciated. It's been ages since I last painted something 15mm, and had forgotten how much less detail some of the sculpts can have for catching a dry-brush.

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  3. Nice work on the water elementals Simon, like Dave I immediately thought of melting tombstones too, been banging away at a few of mine this morning, so hopefully I will have at least something to show by mid-week.

    (Putting on best Bernard Cribbins voice!)" There you were just a painting this hole, hole in the ground it was based and sort of round!". Sorry, nice work on your hole too:)

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks Roger. Straightforward stuff, which is why I went for the Elemental Army in the first place. LOL!! Looking forward to seeing how your HOTT force is coming along :-)

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  4. Hardly, I think is the best word to describe it!

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. LOL!! I'm sure you've at least got them primed by now, right? ;-)

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  5. Really nice painting on the water elementals. I think they look great! I am not sure about the sculpts themselves though, as they don't really convey water to me but the painting does though.

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    1. Thanks Undercoat. I fear the "Alternative Armies" sculpts are leaving me rather cold too. I'm not sure I would have gone with them if I'd known how soft their detail is - and the Fire Elementals are currently driving me crackers with their round, blob-like flames as there's no edge on them to catch the red/orange of a flame's tip.

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  6. I like these 'water ghosts', or at least that's what I thought they were from the picture. Great job on the water effect considering what you had to work with - it's fairly obvious what they are really !
    Yep, the shell holes looks like shell-holes and not some dungeon dwelling critters!

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    1. Cheers Joe. I'm pleased to have gotten the first of my HOTT units finished, and obviously the Shell-Hole will give games of "Konflikt '47" that bit more atmosphere than a simple token.

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