Blighted Nyss Swordsmen
It’s been just over a week since I took on the commission, and I’ve surprised even myself by having completed the Blighted Nyss Swordsmen + Abbot and Champion!
Here’s how they ended up…
Being who I am, I like to keep clients within the loop when it comes to doing work. To that end, I maintained a stream of Work-in-Progress shots via my Twitter account, SMS’d the occasional image when I needed more immediate feedback/comment, and kept up a fairly steady chatter as to how I was progressing and what my plans were for the following days.
Fortunate that I did so too, because the client indicated that they wanted to “borrow back” the models for an event this coming weekend! Losing up to 3 or 4 days of painting time would have seriously hampered my ability to deliver, if I hadn’t already been ahead of where I planned to be. As things turned out, I was able to push through last night and finish the Swordsmen ahead of a delivery to the client on Friday so they can mark front arcs and field over the weekend.
So, what worked? Flesh, light leather and cloth were all given a heavy wash of Devlun Mud. This meant I could lay down all the base-coat colours in one hit, then effectively dip the miniature in one step – rather than having to wash/paint each colour individually. Finding the Golden Olive was also a win, as I believe it was the original colour used. Also, the models are quite simple (for the most part) which made laying down paint very easy, and very rapid.
What didn’t work? I never did apply a wash/dark brown base-coat to the bases. At the time, I wasn’t sure how far from the original bases I was heading, so I’m going to see them Swordsmen in situ and do an eyeball comparison. If my bases are out, I’ll attempt to fix them.
What surprised me? Washing. I’ve used it before, but never to this extent. Over Dec 2011, and these models I’ve really appreciated the amount of detail you can draw out of the model using a wash. The only negative I have at the moment is that Citadel washes, when applied heavily, stain the base colour and dry with much less detail then how they look when applied. It could be in my application though, or I may have to dilute them to get better results.
For those following along at home, here are the colours that I used for each component of the models.
Armour
- Basecoat of Black Primer
- Heavy Drybrush of Pig Iron
- Drybrush of Chainmail (Citadel)
- Drybrush of Mithril Silver (Citadel)
Light Leather
- Basecoat of Rucksack Tan
- Devlun Mud (Citadel) wash
Dark Leather
- Basecoat of Battlefield Brown
- Shade of Battlefield Brown + Cygnar Blue Base
- Highlight of Battlefield Brown + Rucksack Tan
Cloth
- Basecoat of Golden Olive (VMC) – I actually went and looked for a close match to the client’s colour rather than try to mix
- Devlun Mud (Citadel) wash
- Highlight with Golden Olive (VMC)
- Highight with Golden Olive + Sulfuric Yellow
Flesh
- Basecoat with Frostbite
- Devlun Mud (Citadel) wash
- Highlight with Frostbite + Devlun Mud
- Highlight with Frostbite
Base
- Basecoat of Black Primer
- Drybrush of Hammerfall Khaki
- Drybrush of Trollblood Highlight (stippled for variation in rock colour)
- Drybrush of Menoth White Base
- Army Painter Jungle Tufts
Feedback and suggestions are welcomed – leave a comment!