Like a little magpie, I’m constantly distracted by shiny new figures to paint. Well not always new but I tend to move on after I start a project. This is the doom of the miniatures painter.

I have been toying with the idea of doing a side project of a small Chaos Tzeentch army. I have all the figures I need so I figured why not? I’m still working out the color scheme for the warriors but I was pleased to discover this little treasure that I can use as a general:

His picture from Games Workshop’s The Lost and the Damned circa 1990

and him sitting in unpainted splendor on my painting table

This should be a treat to paint. I’m approaching this army like the warbands in the old lost and the damned books.

and from the other side

I hit the standard bearer with Armory Matte Clear and he got kind of foggy and gray – I added the arm with the standard after the fog treatment. Only going to use Testors dullcoat from now on!

This is principally a post to remind myself of how I have worked on these figures. I’ve begun with a new way of doing things… painting unassembled figures. The upside – easier to do detail. The downside – its tricky to paint part of a part and then leave it to dry so you dont smudge. It seems to be working out quite well so far.

Step One: Partial assembly. I’m using Dragon Forge Bases and special order chapter specific shoulder pads for these guys. I’m assembling torsos and arms and priming each part… which means alot of blowing little arms around the newspaper on the porch.

Step Two: Base coating. Im using Games Workshop foundation Mechrite Red. I’m unconvinced about the bolter holster. Seems superfluous and distracting but I may add it yet… we shall see.

Step Three: Painting the base. Im starting with foundation Astronomicon Gray and Adeptus Battlegray. This is followed by a Badab Black ink wash, then a drybrush of more Astronomicon Gray on the flagstones and Graveyard Earth on the rough parts.

Step Four: Painting the figure. I inked all the red with a Baal Red wash to deepen the tone. Then details got picked out in Boltgun Metal, skulls done in Brazen Brass, I had no good yellow so I went with foundation Iyanden Darksun for the flames around the chapter insignia, and finally the chapter skull was done in bleached bone and Commando Khaki. I used Brazen Brass, Tin Bitz and Bolter Metal for the bullets.

Step Five: More inking. I gave the whole thing a wash of Badab Black. The transformation at this point is always remarkable.

Here is the final assembled product – needs a touch up here and there but there is the basic idea. I like the dark red, but maybe some highlights would help.

Not super thrilled with the banner, but what can you do.

and from the side (I really need to make a photo light box for picture taking)

Here he is…

Here is the command – the only two lead minis in the bunch…

The highlights on the hoods were done with a blend of Charadon Granite, Rotting Flesh and Snakebite Leather. The ink wash was Devlan Mud.

I’ve started up on the monks. Im painting them very basic colors. The robes are getting gretchin green and the hoods are getting charadon granite – both GW base paints.

Im doing the same skin/fur scheme as the clanrats but I’m washing them with devlan mud instead of ogryn flesh – its more of a dark brown/black instead of the warmer color of the flesh wash.

Then its just a matter of picking out details, making the hems of the robes dirty etc. One issue I need to resolve is what sort of highlight to use on the hoods. They are too dark as is, but I like them. I will probably go for a brown/gray to bring out the detail in them.

“GIANT ROLE PLAYING DIVORCE SALE!!!!!!!

My X-husband was a compulsive gamaholic shopper and purchases items on a whim or in bulk and never uses them. It was a status, bragging right thing for him. So he could say to his other gaming friends that he has more or already has it. Since he had no job, I guess I am the sucker who had to pay for all for this stuff. I will be listing all his role playing stuff of Ebay for you to bid on, from all editions of miniatures, D&D, L5R, Paladium, Robotech, Macross, so many that I can’t list them all. Please help me get some of my money back.”

Finished the banner – started out with a Dheneb Stone basecoat and then just roughly penciled in a design that is an amalgam from GW banners.

A quick and dirty freehand got the rat and paw insignia done…

…and then a wash of Gryphonne Sepia and some Scorched Brown and Black Ink gave it a well worn look.

I attached it to the pole with zap-a-gap, but was disheartened when the figure wasn’t balanced properly and flopped on its face. A quick trip to the garage for a spare washer to glue to the base for support and problem solved.

So I have started the finishing touches on the regiment, namely the banner and the shields. I decided to go with the triangle top to the banner and echo it in the shields. It is typically colored white in the fluff, so that is what I went with. The challenge here is that anything Skaven can’t be pristine so you have to make the white ratty looking. I put down a base of Khemri Brown foundation paint and then drybrushed on the white.

From there, I went on to add Brass to the nail heads and black-lined the whole mess so that it looks like the painted boards are separate and nailed together. Not 100% convinced that it is successful but it’s good enough for government work.

The warbanner itself remains to be done… HOWEVER, I have started on the 19 shields I need for the Clanrats. I began with Calthan Brown foundation paint for the wood and Brazen Brass for the rim. I then gave it an ink wash of Talarn Mud and finished it off with some watered down Catachan Green to give it a slightly moldy look.

I then freehanded the Skaven emblem in Bubonic Brown with the strategy of building it up in three colors. This makes the process much easier because you can correct your mistakes with the subsequent layers of colors.

I followed up with a layer of Bleached Bone and then topped it off with a light layer of White.

Painting on the sprue did make the whole process much easier. I was able to snip it off with an exacto knife, give it a quick dab of brass and it was good to go. One final touch was to use brown to cover some white that didn’t go exactly where I wanted it.

Now to do the same thing 20 more times…