Walls, obelisks, and more...

Some final shots of the army and display board for you, before I move on to the Lizards!

You have seen numerous examples of small details being repeated throughout the project... the bases, icons, cartouches, color themes, and so on.

One little piece I would like to show here is the freehand design that you see on the wall behind the Casket of Souls.

That was used many times as a freehand element for the constructs, such as the Titan, Colossus, and Warsphinx, among others.

You can see examples of that right here:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-constructs-of-pseusenes.html

The conversions on the skeleton horses were fun as well!  Here's a post on that topic.

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-new-step-by-step-article-for-blog.html

Skeleton archers!  This unit took a while, since each one is a different color... no two are the same!

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/08/finished-skeleton-archer-unit-with.html

I mentioned that the upper walls and other pieces could be removed for transport and for use as terrain.  Here they are!

This is how I was able to make foam and paper look like carved stone... and not take 20 years to do it!

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/06/hows-weather-making-paper-look-more.html

I hope that you have enjoyed this series!

I will be doing this again for the Lizardmen, and the for the Dark Eldar!  Stay tuned...

Darkness in the woods

It's been a great pleasure to paint some Dark Sword minis!  As I have mentioned before, we started painting them almost from the beginning, 14+ years ago.

The incredible details and fine castings make them a joy to paint!

I went very traditional with this Wood Elf figure.  I would certainly not mind painting it again with a new palette... perhaps even going the opposite way, making it a Dark Elf.  That would be a very fun side by side comparison!

She's available now:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321656101272?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

The Demon Marble of Wappelville

I wanted to show you a few aspects of the interior, especially how the figures related to its design.

The Stalkers were meant to provide some extra interest on the columns, coiled around them, standing guard.

I thought it would be very unusual, and emphasize the "living statue" concept.

Here's an article on how they were made:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/06/why-does-it-always-have-to-be-snakes.html

Here's another:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/08/dont-forget-sneaky-snakes.html

This image shows you how the three figures came together to form an actual unit.  The columns with snakes were magnetized, as were the bases themselves.  Here's a post showing the bases:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/09/snakes-on-plane-snake-on-base.html

It was certainly one of the most complex units to engineer, as they served so many functions!

It was a little easier with the Necropolis Knights, but the bases were REALLY complex painting wise:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/07/sneaky-snakes-painting-bases-for.html

I loved how the snakes intertwined with the painted versions on the base!!!

The Ushabti were strictly decorative.  There was nowhere near enough points for them in the army, so they were taken from their movement trays and placed in the alcoves as guards.

They were exactly the thing I was looking for.

Here's  the group...

A view of the movement trays and how they related to the demon marble.  Essentially, all the "higher ranking" units would be down inside the tomb.  The edges of the movement trays were filled with actual hieroglyphs.

Check this out:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/08/secrets-of-silver-pharaoh-revealed.html

It wasn't easy, but it was fun to make all the marble match up!

Stay tuned for more, as I show some of the removable terrain elements of the army board.

Hide your fire hydrants

How much for this doggie in the window?  This is the K-9 robot pooch from Wild West Exodus.

He can be used with either the Lawmen or Outlaws, along with the Copelie Sisters.

They are much nastier when combined with the Sisters, as they get the Sic 'em ability.  This was pretty important, as this little doggie went to work on Edison and munched him... in one turn!

More bark than bite...

Here we have some finished images of the bases!

The view from above.

And the massive base, prior to the application of the water effects.

I had to wait a very long time in between layers for it all to set.  I will post the images in a few days.

The smaller variety, still very fun!  I look forward to applying the tufts of grass as well.

Stay tuned!

Don't get washed away...

So... shaded basecoat phase is complete, and out come the Secret Weapons.  Yes, Secret Weapon washes are brought out to glaze in the darker shades.

I also used some of the Vallejo shades and Reaper liner paints, which I frequently mix into those Secret Weapon washes.  You can see that I lay out as many different colors as I can, so that I can mix them together...

It's important to have them out in your line of sight like this in order to encourage a free flowing use of the glazes, and not be timid (or limit yourself in color choices).

I tend to use the watercolor approach of negative painting... that is, painting around the lighter areas, putting even more dark in that boundary line where the rocks will meet the water effects, for instance.

The #8 round craft brush I am using here is a little less distressed than the one that I used for the Shaded Basecoat phase :-)

You can see in this image just how much certain elements of the rocks are starting to stand out.  Be sure to vary the colors as you move from surface to surface!

Once I have all the colors as dark as I want, I will start to go back into the middle tones to bring out certain colors or details...

In this case, I am going back into the middle tones with various grays, so that the greens of the moss will stand out even more.  Since I have lots of nice warm colors in the darks, the grays will have a blueish appearance, which is what I want.

Those cooler gray colors mean that the skulls will also stand out nicely (also from Secret Weapob, by the way!).

OK!  Bases are ready for flock, grass, water effects... and miniatures!  Can't forget those.

From mess to base...

Well, lots of stuff going on.  Among the many tasks under way are more of the Bark and Branch bases.

As usual, they are a mash of bark pieces, branches, oxide paste, mica flakes and gravel.

To paint all that, I brought out the more decimated craft brushes, which are like sacrificial filbert brushes!

I had some bark browns, blues and such for the initial layers...

Getting the mica flakes covered takes primer, as that surface is not very porous. 

You can see on the right what kind of colors are being used at this stage.  A mix of seafoam green and tan.

In typical shaded basecoat fashion, everything is lighter than it will eventually be.  I am trying to emphasize the cooler colors in the lights, so that I can use many layers of warm colored dark glazes.

This means I can get the two parts of the contrast triple crown... light vs dark, and warm vs cool.

I tossed out a few light colors at this stage, such as some pale yellow and pale flesh tones for the skulls and other accent points.

Coming up next, the glazing stage!!! Stay tuned.