Warhammer Underworlds Shadespire Garrek's Reavers - TO DONE!

Garrek's Reavers - TO DONE! There was a point with these where I had no idea where I was going with them.

Luckily I had my Imperial Knights to focus on and with no real reason to be painting them the end result and the decisions needed to get there were broadly irrelevant.

Which is a wonderful learning experience -you have freedom to explore with no expectations and no targets to meet.

Although it helped I wasn't trying to follow a style it was a slight hindrance in that I had those questions about soft fabrics and wrappings.

So I'd definitely recommend doing something purely frivolous if you can fit it in amongst 'must do' tasks.

And as a palate [or even palette] cleanser it's also helpful in setting up your next project. It gives you renewed purpose having explored new territory.

Good old Garrek, he's a beast of a model in fact. As a sculpt it's really quite clever how subtly he's elevated to the leader status

The hair was almost by accident that I used purple to shade it. In fact I used it on the skin and all the armour plates. I'm not even sure if it's apparent but I felt like it was tying it all together.

I should have got a close-up of the decapitated head, it was one of the last things I did and really rough but came out quite cool - clearly newly severed.

Now, the scars... I'd had them all red but they looked too understated so I went purple on them and maybe they've gone too far the other way.

Possibly a couple of more washes, even a black might have made them less cartoonish but I wanted something else and that's what I got...

This guy's brand looks more like and open wound - the Tamiya Clear Red X-27 really came into it's own on these.

And just adding the gloss varnish on his helm I felt was a nice touch.

Come at me bro! Some black wash was added to the Tamiya Clear Red X-27 blood to make it darker. it also makes it matt, so you have to offset that with another dab of Tamiya Clear Red X-27, or gloss varnish.

A touch of blood from the spines rupturing out of his back - little touches just add more drama to the mmodel.

I don;t know why but I think this is my favourite of all the reavers. Maybe it;s because I think he looks like Willem Defoe?

The white background pics.

Individual character shots

And the Big Teal Stamp of Approval for giggles.

Warhammer Underworlds Shadespire Steelhearts Champions - TO DONE!

Second of my completed Shadespire Warbands - Steelheart's Champions.

And I know it's now Night Vault and the actual game is Warhammer Underworlds but these technically were Shadespire warbands and the name is just altogether better.

Just a reminder I [loosely] followed Rob Paint's Model's base guide for these.

And I also followed his painting guide for the Stormcast Eternals themselves.

He obviously did a much better job and I threw in some battle damage too but I'm more than happy with the result.

2 things about steelheart: 1. I love the blending on his sword - I wish I could do black like this ALL the time. 2. The pupils for his eyes or on his top eyelids. It looks OK, but it isn;t right and one day I may have to fix that.

The purple wasn't quite as smoothly blended as I'd hoped. It had been looking quite dire and just the edition of that white line across the bottom made it far more interesting and draws the eye away from the dubious blends...

I also glossed all the weaponry, again to make up for what I didn't explore on the Chosen Axes

Pics on the white background.

See what I mean about his pupils. However, do me a favour click on the pick and zoom in to the leather groin protector - see those individual brush stroke highlights? I love them! While you're at it look at the blend on that sword closely - I need to do all my blends like this!

Anyway, a Big Teal Stamp of Approval for these guys.

Warhammer Underworlds Shadespire Chosen Axes - TO DONE!

I finished the Chosen Axes just before the end of the last Hobby Season, but I didn't take my TO DONE! pics, well apart from one for the end of the season review.

With Garrek's Reavers done I thought I'd do all three warbands in one sitting and I ended up loving the Camera360 shots so much I didn't even bother with my digital camera - too much faffing.

It's really weird to look at these now, I haven't really paid them much attention since I finished and I'm pleasantly surprised what I actually did.

I'm not 100% convinced about the grey on the base, but the flock and skulls are OK.

Individual facing shots [where appropriate].

Gratuitous 360° rotation.

I can honestly say right now I don't quite know how I did the gold on that axe head. I need to go back and see if there are any tips. It might just be my standard brassy bronze with some extra highlights but that's what I'll go for on my Deathwing Knights when I get round to them.

Gratuitous 360° rotation.

Gratuitous 360° rotation.

Gratuitous 360° rotation.

And on a white background, with more natural colours.

I had considered coating their skin in gloss varnish, glad I didn't now; although I glossed the armour on Garrek's Reavers so I got to see what it would have looked like.

That 'gold' tho!

Of course these were completed in my 2017/18 Hobby Season and as I've only just got round to taking some pics here's the appropriate Big Gamboge Stamp of Approval!