#BloodBowl - Orc Team - Troll - final highlights

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Blood Bowl Troll. Following on from yesterdays dramatic decision to take clippers to my half-painted figure I'm now completely back on track and SO much happier for taking the risk. Highlights for all the skintones and scales.

Now, if I'm honest the scales aren't quite what I expected, although unhappy might be too strong of a word. The issue is I can't seem to resolve what is going on, the definition of each scale has gone and it's almost difficult to look at [exactly how they always describe anything remotely chaosy...]

Maybe I added to much shade washes and all that red inbetween has been obscured. The irony, or perhaps the saving grace is that as I write this it is complete and varnished and I still haven't come to terms with it. But, now I look at it and compare to yesterdays post and I think perhaps another thin heavy red wash inbetween the scales might bring back that definition. Do I take the risk? Well I just did with the clippers on his pose and was pleased with the results...

Anyway, having added some red to the Goblin, I threw on some white ready for the Fluoro Magenta so he can be in my Mongrel Horde team.

I also highlighted all the claws on the troll.

A bit of pink fabric, but this scrap will be from my Porkbelly Stuffers Halfling Team.

The moon badge on the glove, may not be the Mongrel Horde's logo but it'll still be pink to match the gobbo. His eye and the highlight on the skin came out alright in the end. Pure luck.

Almost done then and I think I need to gamble on this red wash. VGEO Heavy Red washes have never let me down before, they've always look awesome and if the fact it's too dark is failing to reconcile what's going on then maybe I need to go lighter...?

#BloodBowl - Orc Team - Troll - surgery

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been kitbashing on my Blood Bowl Troll. Although I think this is a great model, the pose has always irked me. The raised hand, although perhaps accurate for a throwing pose covers up the Trolls face - both hiding it and making it difficult to paint. I;d seen a number of conversions where it had been reposed and one very recent which was so good I was gutted I'd got this far down the road where I couldn't cut and shunt my model to something I was happier with... or could I?

I just got out my clippers and snipped under the armpit and behind some back scales. When it was removed I could tilt and rotate it down with the same scales somehow managing to form a pivot point and still stay mainly attached at the top of the shoulder. The gap in the armpit I filled out with bits of sprue - support which would be covered up with greenstuff.

I was so much happier at this point. You can see the Trolls face, which is amazing but also means I have to do a decent job on it! Having smoothed the armpit most of that will be in shadow anyway so it didn't have to be anatomically correct Some veins on the belly too.

I added a few scales onto the shoulder to help blend it in with the rest of the scales. The armpit is slightly more sculpted on the back, it looks something like skin and muscle stretching but it doesn't need to be perfect, luckily. You should also have noticed I've used a heavy red wash inbetween all the scales to make them look angry. I was using my turquoise Genestealer Aberrants for inspiration here.

Now that that unforeseen diversion has turned out for the best, it's back to painting this monster. 

'nids part 340 - Parasite of Mortrex - BIG BUILD TO DONE!

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer on a Parasite of Mortrex that was gifted to me by my mate Pete. Apparently he'd been scouring the blog for something I didn't have and what a gift!

He comes with a small chitinous piece for his base and the peg on his tails slots into it but I thought it was somewhat underwhelming. I've had this square cut piece of slate for over a decade, waiting for the right model to use it on and boy did this work out great. There's also a second piece added to the right facing to make it more rounded, it's perfectly flat otherwise.

Whether the pin holds or not is up for debate, he's definitely more fragile - that think drops the weight of the slate will send serious shock through the model causing all sorts of damage. And, for a creature you probably want to hide I've made it much harder - modelling for disadvantage! But it looks awesome and rule of cool wins out.

Here's the Great Big Big Build RUSTY Stamp of Approval for the build.

As I'm updating my oldest Zoanthrope it made sense to give this a progress boost - get the Red Planet BASE! done and basecoats.

Then I can batch the two of them for the chitin, washes and bone. The wings will be somewhat of a challenge but also something to look forward to.

And with the [mostly] painted base - Great Big Big Build BASE RUSTY Stamp of Approval. 

Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game - Moria Cave Troll

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been painting a #MESBG Moria Cave Troll. Marc from Old School Gaming kindly sent me it, along with some other Middle Earth figures that Otty, Liam, Scott and Ben are extremely grateful for. First of all I had to rebuild this metal monstrosity - pinning and gluing it.

Also, sand and gravel on the base. The blue and green chips were from one of those occasional forays into having a pet fish - fish tank gravel. It adds another scale of stone to my mix and among the gravel it's pretty consistent.

Here's the Great Big Big Build RUSTY Stamp of Approval for the build.

Liam had done something similar, for colours but I was following my Blood Bowl Troll - turquoise body with a grey torso, and some areas on the knees, feet, elbows, palms and face.

The grey was wet blended into the turquoise, which makes a change. It was roughly done but I was surprised with how much I liked it, confident any roughness would be mitigate by further washes and highlights.

Hammer, chain and loin cloth were basecoated black.

I also painted the base [mostly] - Great Big Big Build BASE RUSTY Stamp of Approval. 

And on to the scale base colours - as per the Blood Bowl Troll, and my Tyranids this starts with DoCraft Bahama Blue. I also used it in areas as a quick shade. I was thinking further shade washes of green red and purple would add even more tones to his skin.

Although it is not really in keeping with the toned down nature of my Middle Earth figures, there is something appealing about the Bahame Blue, even if it is garish.

Sepia and Strong Tone washes helped tone it down, which again looks pretty interesting and more in keeping with Middle Earth.

I also used the wash on the skin in places to add a bit more tones and variation.

#BloodBowl - Orc Team - Troll

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Blood Bowl Troll - just a bit of red, silver and bone.

Some minor details but I couldn't decide on the colours for the scales on the back - glossy black, or teal/blue from my Tyranids

I snap-decided teal/blue as I felt I knew what I was doing and it would help me get it done path of least resistance. Not everything has to be an exploration of something new.

Of course this looks insane, but in some respects I like this bright blue. Part of me wishes this was the look I had chosen, but washes were to follow.

And post wash. At the very same time I had a Middle Earth Moria Cave Troll to paint, which I decided to follow the same process on. I'll share those pics in a separate post

Highlights of the skin and the scales next, but before that there'll be the Moria Cave Troll.