"Though They Are Savage Creatures At Heart..."

"...Daemons of the Blood God adhere to a strict supremacist hierarchy..."

These four 28mm plastic multi-part models of the Blood God’s Slaughter-kin come from the “Games Workshop” Daemons of Khorne Bloodletters boxed set for “Age Of Sigmar”, and consist of a Icon Bearer, Hornblower and two of their Hellblade-wielding brethren. The figures have all been assembled using the instructions found within the miniatures’ box, and having previously assembled a Gore-drenched Icon carrier for my Bloodletters unit, I decided this time round to build a daemon waving a Bloodsoaked Banner instead.

All of the scaly Chaos creatures were treated to a double-dose of “Vallejo” Heavy Red, generously washed with "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade and dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Red. Having learnt some valuable lessons previously painting these daemons, I then turned my attention to their “jagged” hand-weapons, musical instrument and icon, and primed them with "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna before pigmenting them in a double-layer of Gold.

"...In which the most powerful and ferocious beings dominate all others."

In the past I’ve experienced the “Vallejo” Acrylic Model Colour frustratingly spattering my figures with tiny flecks of bright metallic paint, so I was keen to both wash these areas with "The Army painter" Strong Tone Quickshade and subsequently dry-brush them with (more) "Vallejo" Gold before moving on to the more detailed brushwork. This would allow me to ‘tidy up’ any irritating splashes of “Vallejo” Gold on their horns, “slavering jaws”, hands, hooves, back spines and sword hilts with “Citadel” Abaddon Black before gently blending these blackened areas in with the Bloodletter’s red limbs.

To finish the daemons off, I carefully picked out their numerous teeth using a combination of “Vallejo” White and “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade, and ‘dotted’ their eyes with a few spots of “Vallejo” Heavy Ochre. In addition, I gave their long snake-like tongues a base-coat of “Vallejo” Heavy Ochre and then drenched them in “Citadel” Reikland Fleshshade.

"Toon Realms" WIPs - One of King Victor's Royal Guard, Rookie the Dragonlord and a Men-At-Arms

The Bloodletter’s Bloodsoaked Banner was predominantly painted using a couple of layers of “Vallejo” Heavy Red, which was then heavily saturated in “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson and “The Army Painter” Strong Tone so as to give it a gory hue. The standard’s wooden parts were simply given a lick of “Heavy Sienna” and (more) Strong Tone, whilst it’s icon had some “Vallejo” Dark Vermillion sponged over it, before it was glazed with “Citadel” Bloodletter. Finally I applied an old Khorne “Games Workshop” decal to the front of the banner to help better tie the standard in with a daemonic follower of the Blood God.

Staying with Fantasy wargaming, albeit with a more humorous twinkle in the eye, I have also made some significant progress on three of the pilot pieces I'm painting up for my "Toon Realms" 'Forces of Light' army using the "Dragon Rampant" rule-set by "Osprey Games". Produced by "Lucid Eye Publications", I have almost finished layering both the first of King's Victor's Men-At-Arms and his Royal Guard, as well as the hero Rookie The Dragonlord...

“These Spectral White Dogs Wear The Face Of Man..."

"...With blazing red mouths and ears."

These four 28mm scale metal Gabriel Hounds are manufactured by “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” and are part of the company’s Villains and Monsters product line. Believed to be “the souls of unbaptised children wandering through the air until the day of judgement” the “howling of these beasts [apparently] foretold death to anyone who heard them.”

The creatures were all primed “Vallejo” White, washed with Pale Grey, and then dry-brushed using (more) White. Their eyes and ears were subsequently pigmented with Heavy Red, whilst their savage-looking teeth were ‘picked out’ using a combination of White and “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson.

"Their growling is loudest when they are at a distance, and as they draw nearer, it grows softer."

Due to their diminutive size, each model also needed to be significantly tidied up before I was finally able to gloss varnish them. This meant applying some additional “Vallejo” White and Pale Grey to their fiddly faces so as to cover over any errant "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson or "Vallejo" Heavy Red, before trying to delicately blend the ensemble back together using a smidgen more White.

Bloodletters WIPs - The Blood God's warriors are slowly having their blackened limbs 'picked out'

Stepping away from Welsh folklore I have also made some quite considerable progress with my month's main project, a unit of ten plastic Bloodletters by "Games Workshop" for "Age Of Sigmar". All the multi-piece daemons, including their Standard Bearer and Hornblower, have had their large Hellblades and fiery-red flesh finished, and now just need their black hands, hooves, and horns 'picking out' before being ready for varnishing.

Lastly, and somewhat surprisingly, I have additionally dug out a number of "Frostgrave" models by "North Star Military Figures", in order to better populate my frozen city of Felstad. I stumbled upon a series of Battle Reports over on the "Guerrilla Miniature Games" "YouTube channel, and found Ash Barker's enthusiastic commentary concerning the rule-set extremely infectious whilst I was busy painting my Blood God's minions.

"Frostgrave" WIPs - A Giant Rat, a White Gorilla and a Snow Troll

As a result I have dry-brushed both a partially-painted Snow Troll and White Gorilla with "Vallejo" White, and set upon a trio of previously-primed Giant Rats with a dabble of Heavy Charcoal. I rather embarrassingly own quite a few pieces for "Osprey Games" "fantasy skirmish wargame" so hopefully I can make some significant dent into my lead pile over the next few weeks by picking away at the occasional figure from time to time...

Top Ten Miniatures Of 2018 - An "Undercoat" Personal Choice

Happy New Year to all "Fantorical" readers! Well after stepping into the breach last year to do a Top Ten for this blog last year, I have been asked to repeat it for 2018 despite Roger being back. So apologies to Roger for duplicating his efforts, but hopefully I have chosen some different models to him...

This blog is a great source of inspiration to me, helps spur me on to paint my own models and has seen me having to invest in quite a bit of storage in order to house my own growing collection. However, as well as looking at the wonderful minis on "Fantorical", I have also found the website to be a great signpost to dip into the efforts of other bloggers, like the wonderful “Tail Feathers” World of Mice and Mystics miniatures on the "Da Gobbos Grotto".

I will be honest with Simon's prolific output this year it was actually hard to pick just ten models, so it became a bit of family effort. This then is the Undercoat Top Ten of 2018...

No. 10 - Nurglings by "Games Workshop" - August 27th

This may be a surprise choice as these are little models representing daemons of Nurgle, the plague god. However, despite their small size, they are amazing sculpts and the paint job is also just amazing, resulting in a miniature that I want. I want these Nurglings so much!!!

No. 9 - Chaos Chosen by "Games Workshop" - September 17th

A chaos champion playing fantasy football that has bags of detail. The paint job picks out the detail superbly while staying true to the evil theme of the forces of chaos. The skin is well done and the metallics look great. I really like this a lot.

No. 8 - Hydro Man by "Wizkids" - June 13th

This blog has a knack of introducing comic book characters I have never heard of and this chap is no exception. This has a great paint job. The face is well done, but the star is the water effects which I think are stunning. Another model I wouldn’t mind owning!

No. 7 - Slisssk The Adder and Shrew Warrior by "Oathsworn Miniatures" - May 12th/21st

We stumbled across the incredible "Burrows & Badgers" range of miniatures at Salute. I love nearly all these fantastic sculpts and there were plenty to choose from as the warband was painted over several months. As a result, I cheated and chose two to represent one choice. The little shrew looks so characterful he had to be selected, but so too did the adder, whose armour and scales are just amazing. A great "range of anthropomorphic animal miniatures" really brought to life.

No. 6 - Destroyer by "Wizkids" - February 6th

A comic book character who I did know about! But only because he was in the movie "Thor"! Simon has a great technique for painting metal, and is far more patient about it than me. His dry-brushing, highlighting and “polishing” (as he calls it!) is really top notch and this sculpt captures that perfectly. There were plenty of other examples but this one was the best for me.

No. 5 - Arnulf by "Games Workshop" - May 18th

This Reaver of Khorne, from Games Workshop’s "Age of Sigmar" setting, is essentially a blood thirsty barbarian charging into battle, whose excellent skin tones really stood out for me. I also liked the way Simon didn't copy the traditional red of the followers of the Blood God, but used a more original colour scheme that still captured the character perfectly. Very nice indeed.

No. 4 - Demon Bunny by "Wizkids" Heroclix - July 13th

A blood soaked giant rabbit. Need I say more! Great paint job that is so full of character!!

No. 3 - Yeti by "Black Tree Design" - December 10th

Well it wouldn’t be "Fantorical" without "Doctor Who". This classic Patrick Troughton baddie looks great. The fur is so well done and it just begs to be in a unit and on the tabletop. Simon’s techniques for picking out fur and hair are really, really good and this is a great example.

No. 2 - Wendigo by "Wizkids" - February 8th

I had never heard of this "Marvel Worldwide" comic book character before, but had to pay attention when I saw him. The sculpt is very dynamic and he really stands out because he is pure white. White is such a difficult colour to paint, well in my opinion at least, and the shading on this model is very subtle, very clean and precise, so this super-villain was always going to be high up the list.

No. 1 - Polar Bear by "Copplestone Castings" - March 22nd

This is a great sculpt and what makes it stand out is the realistic painting of it. It looks great in the photograph, but even better in real life. Simple, but so effective. This model really stood out for me.

Well that concludes my Top Ten and the reasons behind them. Happy New Year to all the readers of “Fantorical”.

"Out Of Millions Of Soldiers, They Are Unsurpassed."

"Those were Imperial Guards, Lando. The Emperor's personal protectors. Handpicked from the very best..."

These four 40mm tall hard plastic protectors of Darth Sidious are produced by “Fantasy Flight Games” and can be found inside the company's Imperial Royal Guards Unit Expansion for "Star Wars: Legion". "An elite unit whose members served as personal bodyguards to the Galactic Emperor", the Red Guard made their first 'Silver Screen' appearance in Richard Marquand's 1983 American epic space opera film "Return Of The Jedi".

Despite initially priming this quartet with a double coat of "Vallejo" Heavy Red, and subsequently shading them using a healthy dose of “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade, I actually found myself having to repeatedly return to these multi-part miniatures to 'plug up' some frustrating gaps which I kept discovering during the painting process. Admittedly, I had somewhat quickly assembled and super-glued "the most skilled warriors in the forces of the Galactic Empire" in my eagerness to get them on the tabletop, but even so I was rather surprised by just how ill-fitting some of their limbs were, especially when they were presumably supposed to blend in with the swirl of their famous flowing robes.

Bloodletters WIPs - Having had their Hellblades dry-brushed the daemons' black flesh is being 'picked out'

Fortunately, once the odd application of 'Grey Stuff' had both cured and been pigmented, an enthusiastic dry-brushing with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Red seemed to work wonders on the figures' overall appearance, and momentarily I was actually tempted to leave the soldiers' uniforms as was. Certainly I wasn't planning on following the "Fantasy Flight Games" official paint-job palette, which portrayed the Imperial Royal Guards with purple-hued undergarments and blackish gloves.

In the end I therefore decided to simply 'pick out' each bodyguard's armoured helmet with a combination of "Vallejo" Dark Vermillion and a generous splash of "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson. This seemed to break up the monotonous nature of the miniatures' colour scheme reasonably well, especially when mixed with the "Vallejo" Black, "Citadel" Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil used upon their hand-weapons.

Bloodletters WIPs - The daemons have all had their hand-weapons shaded and dry-brushed

Staying with my use of "Vallejo" Heavy Red and “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade, I have also begun slowly undercoating enough plastic Bloodletters by "Games Workshop" in order to double the size of my daemons unit for "Age Of Sigmar". However, rather than leave the blood-hungry warriors' "brazen Hellblades" until last, as I have done in the past, I've actually dry-brushed the weapons with "Vallejo" Gold before 'picking out' any of the Khorne creatures' other details in "Citadel" Abaddon Black, "Vallejo" Dead White and Heavy Ochre.

This should hopefully mean that I won't have to spend too long later tidying up each figure because all my previously finished paint-work has suddenly become infested with minute flecks of "Vallejo" Gold; something which has caused me a lot of frustration in the past. In addition, having spied in "The General's Handbook 2018" that a thirty-strong legion of Bloodletters only costs 320 points as opposed to 360 points, I have taken the step to assemble another ten of the multi-part furious fiends to help my "Blades Of Khorne" step ever closer to a future stand-a-lone force of 1000 points...

"For This War Will Last Through Years Uncounted..."

"...And you shall be summoned once again ere end."

These four "cartoon scale white metal" figures of Lord Rascal's Skeleton Warriors are produced by “Lucid Eye Publications” and can be bought from the company's "Toon Realms" range. Sculpted by Steve Saleh and destined to form part of the Necromancer's ever-expanding army of Skeletons, I thought these Undead soldiers would probably form part of a second Light Foot unit I'm currently planning for my 'Lord Of The Toons' project using the "Dragon Rampant" rule-set.

Originally primed with two coats of "Vallejo" Dark Sand, the quartet were heavily washed in "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade and subsequently enthusiastically dry-brushed using (more) "Vallejo" Dark Sand. I then dry-brushed them rather more lightly with Dead White, before 'picking out' their spear-tips and shield emblems using a combination of "Citadel" Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil.

"This curse I lay upon thee and thy folk; to rest never until your oath is fulfilled."

In order to give the pole weapons something of an edge, and to 'highlight' the details on each skeleton's ornamental armoured boss, both of these areas were later delicately dry-brushed with a little bit of "Citadel" Ironbreaker. I also painted each of their shields in either "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, Heavy Blue, Heavy Violet or Black, and eventually dirtied them all up with a splash of "Citadel" Nuln Oil.

Finally I used "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna to pigment both their leather boots and spear-shafts, and also applied some Heavy Brown to their spear-straps. All of these areas were subsequently shaded in "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.

Bloodletter WIPs - The demonic Standard-Bearer is slowly having all his detail 'picked out'

Having now completed half of the skeletons I plan to field as part of Lord Rascal's evil army, I have momentarily turned my attention towards the ten-strong unit of "Games Workshop" Bloodletters I want to add to my Blades Of Khorne force for "Age Of Sigmar". I usually like to start off any such similarly-sized group of models by painting their leader, however, as I hope to simply add these additional daemons to my already existing horde of Hellblade-carrying horrors I haven't included a Bloodreaper in their number.

Instead I have built a Standard Bearer, who will ultimately accompany the regiment's Icon Bearer, and simultaneously bestow upon his brethren a +1 to "Charge Rolls... for each enemy Hero that has been slain by attacks" made by the unit. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I have no intention of trying to replicate the amazing hand-drawn illustration which adorns the "official" model's banner on the "Games Workshop" website. But I do hope to obtain some old Khorne decals which will hopefully break up the merciless warrior's tattered plain flag...

"Loping Into Battle, The Bloodmaster Carves Through The Enemy Ranks."

"Each whistling swing of its blade of blood opens throats and splits torsos..."

This 52mm tall "Finecast" Herald of Khorne is produced by “Games Workshop” for their “Age Of Sigmar” range and comes in seven "finely detailed resin" components, which are the devil's own work to assemble as the model doesn't come with any instructions whatsoever. This lack of guidance was admittedly eventually resolved, but not before I had spent some considerable time pouring over the Nottingham-based company's website so as to ascertain how all the Bloodmaster's numerous and somewhat fragile skulls came together.

“The strongest of the Bloodletters”, the figure was treated to two layers of “Vallejo” Heavy Red before being generously washed with "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade. The "rampaging combat master" was then dry-brushed with more “Vallejo” Heavy Red and, as I wanted the Chaos daemon to tie-in with the palette of his previously-painted brethren, had his horns, hands, hooves, spines and sword hilt undercoated with “Citadel” Abaddon Black. Afterwards, most of these ‘blackened’ areas were blended into the surrounding spotted skin courtesy of some careful dry-brushing.

Skulltaker WIPs - U'zhul has been assembled, primed and had all his gold areas washed

With the majority of the Khorne Hero's flesh completed, I subsequently turned my attention to his truly formidable Blade Of Blood, as well as the great warrior's thigh armour, horn ring and wrist-guards, by priming them all with "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna. These parts were later treated to a double layer of "Vallejo" Gold, a hearty wash of "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade and a robust yet somewhat careful dry-brush using more “Vallejo” Gold.

Finally, I painted all of the Bloodmaster’s teeth with "Vallejo" Dead White and his forked tongue with Heavy Ochre, before washing them both with "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade. In addition, I 'picked out' all of the Bloodletter's numerous skulls using a combination of "Vallejo" Iraqi Sand, "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade, "Vallejo" Dead White" and "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson.

"Toon Realms" WIPs - One of King Victor's Men-At-Arms, Pootle The Wizard and a Royal Guard

Having completed the Blood God's Herald, I am already making some considerable progress on my "Finecast" model of U'zhul the Skulltaker. However, unlike before where I've always primed my Bloodletter's using "Vallejo" Heavy Red, I felt the heavily robed immortal champion would probably be far easier to paint if I finished all his gold adornments first, so have gone with a "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna undercoat instead. This is predominantly due to "Vallejo" Gold having a nasty habit of sending tiny flecks of paint flying onto the rest of the model even when the brush-tip itself is kept well under control.

Sticking with Fantasy wargaming, I have finally turned my attention towards some 'Forces of Light' miniatures for my "Dragon Rampant" project using the "Toon Realms" range by "Lucid Eye Publications". Joining my wizard, Pootle, will be a couple of units of good King's Victor's Men-At-Arms and his Royal Guard; both of whose colour schemes will be inspired by those of Gondor as seen in Peter Jackson's 2003 motion picture "The Return of The King".

(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Blades Of Khorne" February 2019

Bloodletter WIPs - The Hellblade-carrying daemons have all been assembled, primed, shaded and dry-brushed

This month's themed attempt to diminish my ever-increasing "landform" of metal, plastic and resin models will see me painting up a number of "Games Workshop" plastic figures from their "Age Of Sigmar" range. I'm hoping to settle down and fight plenty of "fantasy, tabletop miniature" wargames using this rule-set's second edition over the next several months so as to help better familiarise myself with all the changes it made last year to its gaming mechanics, and felt building a small 500 point strong Blades Of Khorne force to face my already painted 1000+ points Nurgle Host would be a good way to start the ball rolling. 

Admittedly, I own a few finished Khorne units already for my large(ish) Chaos army, so I won't even be starting from "Square One" for this project. Yet I will still need to assemble, based, prime, paint and flock a good dozen or so models to achieve my required goal. Indeed, for now, I don't even plan on using all of my previously pigmented models, such as the unique leader Karanak, as I really want to keep my battletomes nice and simple.

"Toons Realms" WIPs - Lord Rascal, Rookie The Drangonlord and Tully The Toll Troll

As a result, I'll only currently be counting both my unit of Bloodletters (120 points) and Garrek's Reavers (60 points) from my existing forces, having taken their unit size, costs, battlefield role and any notes from the "General's Handbook 2018". This means I need to find both a Leader and at least one more Battleline unit, so I've recently bought the Blood God's immortal "Finecast" champion, Skulltaker (100 points) and assembled another ten Bloodletters (120 points) which have long sat upon the sprue in one of my drawers.

In addition, I have dusted off my almost complete Bloodmaster, Herald of Khorne (80 points), which will not only take me close to my force's target cost tally for this month, but should also be pretty quick to get on the tabletop too. Of course, the Blades Of Khorne aren't simply all about daemons, and as I bought the original "Age Of Sigmar" Boxed Set when it was first released in 2015 I have plenty of plans for the Blades Of Khul's mortal minions in the future...

"Star Wars" WIP - A large Commerce Guild Homing Spider Droid ready for shading and dry-brushing

Momentarily stepping away from the Mortal Realms, I also aim to continue progressing my collection of "Toon Realms" inhabitants by "Lucid Eye Publications". The company have just announced their imminent "Caverns Of The Frog King" expansion, so I really need to finish painting all of Lord Rascal's Icky Spiders, Skeleton Swordsmen and Skeleton Warriors as soon as I can, along with the likes of Tully the Toll Troll, and then get them all submitted into the Ninth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

Similarly, I still have a fair few "Star Wars: Legion" figures by "Fantasy Flight Games" to complete, along with the many, many marvellous miniatures Phil Curran recently generously gifted me with when he arrived at my doorstep one night with a big box in his hands. In the past I've only taken a brush to a couple of my old "Wizards Of The Coast" "Star Wars" figures. However, I simply couldn't help immediately re-basing and undercoating a Commerce Guild Homing Spider Droid I spied, and hope to have it battling some Wookie Warriors on ‎Kashyyyk very soon.