Monday, November 22, 2010

Updated Warpfire Thrower and Poison Wind Mortar

*Squeek*

Following advice and comments from some of the fine Warlords who visited my Skaven Warpfire Thrower and Poison Wind Mortar Gallery, I have finally found some time to just add a bit of dirt and age to these two units.

Essentially all I did was add a layer of home-made Verdigris (heavily watered-down Ice Blue paint) to the brass areas of the equipment and follow this up with some carefully applied Devlan Mud. This has dulled them down a bit and made them look a bit dustier and not quite so bright. In reality, they now look duller than these photos show...

Before aging...
After aging...
Before aging...
After aging...
If you look closely, you can see how the ice blue paint has been left to collect around the edges and rims of the brass, while I used a folded tissue to gently wick away any excess. This is one reason why it is important if using a home-made wash to water it down properly. This makes it easy to wick away from areas where you don't want to leave a stain.

Now that I've got these two units to a point where I feel as though they are "Finished" I'll try to post a step-by-step guide in the next few days and add some more photos to the gallery. After that I'm going to have to buckle down to either doing another big unit...
...30-40 Slaves?
...40 Clanrats?
...20 Storm Vermin?

The list of models still to paint never ends for a horde army does it??
;-)

*Squeek!*

7 comments:

  1. They look great. I really like the weathering, however I find the use of the blue an interesting choice. How come you used that blue for it?

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  2. Hey Squeek,

    Great to read another entry on your blog! I´ve been checking your website bout everyday these last two weeks, so i was stoked to see that there was another entry. I wasn´t annoyed like you was about the ´brightness´ of your weaponteams, but I enjoy your updated ones just the same.

    As ever, looking forward to see more!

    Shendar

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  3. Have you done any storm vermin yet? They are great in hand to hand, surprisingly. For rats they hold up well. I put my characters in stormvermin units because they don't get pasted in hand to hand as easy.
    Miscasts will blow them up... all of them.

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  4. @ Kuffeh: Well, I guess I used that blue because I didn't have anything else in my small collection of paints and because watered down Ice Blue is the laziest, fastest way to get the effect!;-)
    ...also, GW Ice Blue is pretty close to the blue that you will see if you search Google images for "Verdigris". A typical example being here:
    http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=41837
    As always, Wikipedia is a good intro - and has another good pic too:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verdigris
    Finally, most of the threads or sites I have read on this tend to go for a light blue or green as being the most attractive and effective commonly available colour to use. There is a GREAT article here that goes into at least 3 different ways to do it:
    http://www.madponies.net/verdigris.html

    Cheers!

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  5. @Shendar,
    Thanks for checking the blog so regularly - sorry that I haven't updated it for a couple of weeks...I travel regularly in my work and that has taken a pretty big chunk out of my painting time recently!
    :-)
    Interestingly, I don't get too worried (anymore) about things not quite working out, but what I DO find is that I usually have a nagging feeling that I could do just "a BIT MORE" to a model and a feeling of guilt, and then that is confirmed by someone else. Then I CAN'T ignore it as every time I look at the mini all I can hear is that little voice in my head saying "You know what you need to do..." Do you ever get that?

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  6. @Ben English: Thanks for coming by the blog! I haven't done my Stormvermin yet. They are on the shelf waiting to be done (and glaring at me with their ratty eyes...).
    I guess I am saving them up as a centerpiece for two reasons:
    1. I've been swayed by people saying that they actually don't perform that well on the gaming table and that they are a "Nice to have" unit rather than an essential core unit. Perhaps this is because of the points cost? Due to that I'm going to focus on Clanrats and Slaves etc for the moment.
    2. I only have 20 of them, and I get the impression any Skaven unit should really have a minimum of 30-40 troops to do well. (Christmas is coming though...)
    It sounds as though the tactic of using them to shelter your characters is working well for you though?
    How many do you have in your unit?
    Thanks for leaving the comment!

    *Squeek*

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  7. Yeah I like the effect of the ice blue, gives it that lead roof effect. Love the highlights on the green you have acheived!
    Cheers
    Paul

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