Back home in Lustria

Here are some images shot with a portion of the "Skink Tank" set of figures on top of that display base I showed a few weeks ago.

The skink tank unit was huge, with 4 kroxigors and 40+ skinks.  There is a thread here on the blog in the Lizardman section.

A few of the Kroxigors were also from Reaper... their Reptus line of figures.  I had some characters in this unit, like a skink chief with fencers blades.

There was usually a skink priest hidden in there as well.  Sadly, the new book will make my beloved Skrox units completely unplayable, so I think I will be breaking those up for other purposes.

The only way I would have any of those around now is as a bunker for Tetto Eko.  

Back in the day, I used to have a bunch of 16 skink, 2 krox units that I called my "Foot Cavalry".  You had something that caused fear (when that actually meant something!), had LD 7, poison shots, monsters, and moved really fast!

So, maybe it's time to switch to units of skirmishing skinks, or just have a bunch of cannon fodder cohorts that might be able to hold some cheap chiefs.  Those could baby-sit the saurus with the Predatory Fighter deal.

Or, I keep those little units, and have them attempt to charge the units which the saurus might run into... perhaps with certain buffs...

I will try to work in a Trog and some Basties.  I have never even looked at the lore of Beasts magic, so I guess it is time to familiarize myself with that!  Who knows...

Sculpting that Kroak figure is starting to sound appealing.  I guess he can't be targeted with cannons if he's with the Temple Guard.  With all sorts of little vassals running around, I would not have to do Big Ruinations.  Yes, he is a lot of points, but now any Slann is.

I only used him once, and he did manage to wreak some serious havoc.  So, we shall see!  Time to start sketching!!  Although, I seem to remember a neat design in one of the really old Lizard books, like 5th edition.

I have some images of the individual skinks that were in this unit, including some of the old plastic archers converted into javelin skinks!

The tanning spa

This one was an interesting video to create.  All of the other flesh tone videos involved 'natural' colors... that is, the appearance of the flesh colors were as they occurred 'naturally'.

These flesh tones were altered by exposure to elements, such as sunlight.

That meant that the eyes could be a lighter, or bluer, shade than they had been on the dark flesh video.  The colors also had to be kept more in the orange range.

However, that balance can go out of whack very quickly, and the figure ends up like they had gone on a vacation to the surface of the Sun.

That fact was mentioned over and over, and will be supported in text blocks advising of not getting the dreaded pumpkin flesh!

Glaze time!

It never ceases to amaze me how different things look from the shaded basecoat stage and then once the glazing is complete.

Working back in the mid tones...

And then side by side.

Time to go protect the forest!

More bikes...

Is this what the Great Khan ordered?  Yes, another bike enters the mix!

This time, plasma was the theme :-)

The next bike is the Sergeant with power claw...

Another group shot on the way!

More skin jobs...

Cylon!  No, it's just a Reaper dancing girl.

Colors on the palette...

Some handy color swatches!  These were very important, as they demonstrated the slight difference in highlight colors that would be used on the skin.

The shaded basecoat progresses, setting up the glazes.

A second sketch, this time the face itself, so that I could show some things that would be too difficult to demonstrate on the tiny figure alone.

Yes, there was glazing!  Each time you do this stage, there is such a transformation in the figure.  It goes from being very light to a figure filled with deep rich shadows...

Entire areas were completely transformed by the glazes, as I tinted and shaded away...

Extra fun was had mixing those regular paint colors into the glazes.  It's a great way to thin down your paint, and get a great 'softening' agent for any hard edges that might come up where you don't want them.  You also get some nice subtle colors...

And then there were two!

Conga line!

Fun with flesh, but still a few more coming!

Pennies from heaven

The metal painting continued, this time with one of my favorite Raging Heroes characters.  As always, they are sculpted supremely well, and the casting is fantastic!  It makes creating a video like this one a much more pleasant task :-)

They always begin with that shaded basecoat...

And then get those all important glazes and washes.  A whole row of them from Secret Weapon.  They have a kickstarter under way right now, I believe... Angry Sheep?

Once those glazes, shades and tints are complete, the mini certainly looks different!

But wait, there's more!  Time for the Verdigris effect!!!!!!!1

And then complete.

I can't say thank you enough to the folks at Raging Heroes.  There would not be any of these videos without their skill, kindness and support!!

Yellow Alert

Time to get the most from you yellows!

This was one of the specifically requested video topics.  It seems like everyone had a rough time with yellow.

Yellow can actually be lots of fun, especially when you 'expand the range' of yellows beyond  the typical sunburst yellow that comes to mind right off the bat.

Some leaves on the base as a starting exercise...

Even the glazes ran the gamut of yellow!

A sketch of the amber gemstone...

Finis!

So, lots of information presented once again, hopefully in a digestible form.

With props!