Man the Barricades!

This weekend I got some work done on a couple of terrain projects, finishing up my long-neglected Ork barricades and my recently-acquired "Battlescape", both from GW.

Mogambians and other RPG figs

 Some more figs for RPGs, continuing to scratch that itch instead of the Space Sharks at the moment.  On the right is a figure for the D&D game I run, a shaman type with ceremonial mask from Mogambia.  I painted him as an albino in tribute to one of the early bad guys from the Imaro stories.  He'll probably be one of the main bad guys, or perhaps one of the tribes will have a high incidence of albinism that they consider blessed.

Kilroy! Err, Killgore! The 40K Minotaur is finished, plus misc figs.

Secret secret, I've got a secret!

OK, not much of a secret - some completed figs, including the first completed figure for the Scythiak, the minotaur master of malevolence, Killgore!  This guy will count as the Bone'ead for my Chaos Ogryn squad, and looks much more impressive than his actual stats indicate.

Slicey dicey oncey twicey claw and fang will kill Dredd nicely! (old Klegg mercenary song)

Meaty beaty, chop 'em neatly, death or glory no retreatee!  For those not familiar with the charming and musical Kleggs, they were alien mercenaries who appeared in an old Judge Dredd storyline, and in some ways may be the idea from whence the Kroot sprung - alien mercs, eat their enemies, have alien hounds...yeah.

Takes a strong back to support that huge noggin.

I really like how his CCW turned out, and am glad repositioned it to make it more dynamic, but that made the face a real pain to get to!

One down, a whole bunch to go!

Next up, a bunch of Lord of the Rings rangers done up as rangers, bandits, or other bushwhackers as needed for RPG storylines, led by a Reaper rogue-type figure.  Very quick and dirty job here, with the washed out look very deliberate, wanted them to look very dingy.

Third we have an old Citadel fig, from the "Heroic fighters of the known world" group.  Basic job, with a cloak from a polar bear or something, and some monstrous blood or daemonic ichor on his weapon.

And lastly, a seeress from the always delightful Sandra Garrity by way of Reaper.  There's a lot more detail on the figure than I took advantage of; the outfit could have been done much more extensively but I was looking for something simple so kept it all one color.

The crystal ball was just white with a blue wash over it, and I tried the wash for her eyes too - just a little bit dabbed onto the white eye, made a little spot of color and filled in the outline in the recesses too.  I'll be doing that again, hopefully it keeps working well.

Dirty GIs - post "dip" Merkan IG

It's very wet out today, so the matte sealer will have to wait.  Here's some shots of them pre-based and pre-sealer, but post-stain.  Compare with pre-stain pics HERE.

The shading isn't quite as good as I wanted, but overall it did what I wanted - added a little definition, darkened things up a bit and gave them a grimy look.  More time and more traditional methods would yield better results, but for the time involved and a mass army I'm pretty pleased.

I didn't want to go as heavy as I did with my Orks so instead of using the wood stain straight, I made a watered-down mix.  I used equal parts wood stain, floor polish, and water.  I've heard of other folks using the polish to help washes flow, figured it would work here as well.

Once you mix it, it should look like cocoa.  Over time it will settle (second pic) and will need to be shaken up/mixed, as the stain will sink to the bottom.  Slower mixing or rolling can avoid the bubbles.

I use the water-based stain to avoid the smell and make working with it/clean up easier.  Even watered down, the stuff can be gunky so be sure to use specific brushes for it and clean them fairly often to avoid build up.  Also a good idea to refresh your rinse water cup before going back to regular paint/brushes.

I just brushed it on, though you could actually "dip" if desired.  I dipped a few of the figs to try it out, but for me the extra time from brushing was worth not having to take longer taking off excess and dealing with extra mess.

Dipping - Spray Stain?

I've recently done some "dipping" of figures, namely my in-progress Orks.

For those of you not familiar with the term, it refers to using a wood stain on figures as a shading medium, a quick way to get the effects normally obtained through washes, blending and highlighting. It's loads quicker, looks fine for tabletop, but isn't going to win you any prizes. If you want a Golden Demon, keep practicing those techniques. If you just want to crank an army out, especially if that army is in earthy tones like reds and browns, dipping may be an option.

The initial technique, as indicated by the name "dipping", is to dip the figure into the stain, then shake off the excess. This is obviously pretty messy, so do it outdoors! I've been brushing the stain on instead, and it works fine that way, with a lot less mess.

Yesterday though I heard a friend talk about using a spray stain on some wood. Spray stain? That could make everything even quicker? A quick search and I found this:

http://www.woodworkweb.com/Krylon-Spray-Stain.html

Will probably try it out on some figs soon, and will post up the results. Anyone tried it yet on figures?