Forest Rangers

Here's a little preview of terrain that will eventually appear in the Song of Ice and Fire battle reports (and some Lord of the Rings reports as well!).  It was originally created for y Bolt Action games.

The mat itself is from TableWar, and one of several fantastic, durable game mats that I am using for all my battle reports.  While I like to use 4 x 6 mats, they do have 4 x 4 versions of each.

Here's a peek at one of several terrain building articles I created for this terrain:

:  https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2017/11/forest-mist.html

I am also working on a few different winter terrain boards, which would be more appropriate for Free Folk vs Night's Watch:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/02/rolling-out-tundra.html

I can't wait to see my own Song of Ice and Fire armies on their movement trays negotiating this type of battlefield.  These were painted as a commission army for someone who is using them for his own system.

It is pretty interesting to see this view with archers instead of an artillery piece or mortar crew!

I have a number of YouTube live tutorials on how these guys were painted:

https://youtu.be/HB-nhuTmNbQ

I was really looking forward to the scene of these wonderfully sculpted horses charging along the bank of the river!

As you know, I really love how the horses are sculpted for this range.  Not only are the muscles and proportions done well, but the movement achieved is amazing!

These horses really do look as if they are running, instead of a merry go round horse stuck to a base.

Imagining these units on this board with the activation banners and other extras that I have planned is definitely inspiring me to work through all the armies that are being worked on at once... the Free Folk, Starks, Lannisters, Boltons and Night's Watch.

My own Night's Watch are in the "official" color scheme, and they are the subject of my Army Painting Series 6.  Here's a look at the basing episode, which is how every series begins:

https://youtu.be/INPfPLCTZcE

I will probably have fewer terrain pieces on the board than I normally do for my Bolt Action games.  That will likely be placed along the edges of the board, but I definitely want to have some slopes, rivers and so on, to create a more realistic setting than tossing out a few cardboard terrain "pieces".  

This central sloping hill is an example.  I think it will be really dramatic to have units heading up to the top of this hill to duke it out in close combat!  In my other games, it tends to be a line of sight blocking piece.  Now it should be the focus of many an objective marker grab.

I have a number of tutorial posts on how the terrain was made, such as this:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-old-made-new-recycling-old-terrain.html

To get a peek at how the terrain looks in a battle report, check out this Bolt Action report:

https://youtu.be/2LgWEoymVQw

A little different

It has been a very long time since I last painted a GW figure that wasn't from Lord of the Rings, so this was interesting.  This guy had to match all those other figures painted from several different miniature ranges.

I have discussed the challenge of matching figures from various ranges before.  It seems like it should be simple, but not only do some figures have very different armor, they also have lots of those "extra" tidbits added... especially if they are newer figures.

With the advent of digital sculpting, adding lots of buckles, straps, feathers, fur, and whatever other little things you can think of is a lot easier, and therefore you see a LOT more of it.  Sometimes the figure itself can be virtually buried under all this gear.

Back in the day, I really enjoyed the Celtos line, because there was a minimum of all those extra things.  The figures were more like a blank canvas, in which you could add (or not add) what you wanted.  I especially wish that the "sculpted freehand" designs were left off miniatures.  I understand why this is the case, but my choice would be for flat banners and cloaks.

This would let me choose what sort of freehand designs that I want, instead of having to try to file them off!

Skull and Bones

The latest Army Painting series begins as they always do, and that is with basing!  Here are some scenes from the first episode.

I will be working on a unit of Lord of the Rings Morghul knights, and I wanted to try out a new material.  That is the Crunch Times resin texture sheets from Green Stuff World.

The idea was to create skull piles integrated into the usual tree bark and oxide paste style of basing.  I had been wanting to try this for a while, and this seemed to be just the opportunity I was waiting for!

It was even more important than usual to think about the "footprint" of the figures, because horses can be tricky to get on a base.  That worked out better than I expected, with the help of the paste and some rocks/gravel.

I am also making some bases using the texture rollers, lust like the oil painted Morghul Knight which is what I am going to match...https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-fall-of-mordor.html

I made a variety of bases during the video, experimenting along to way to see what I could do with this previously untried material.  With each Army Painting series that I film, the goal is to try one new material or technique.

The results were very satisfying!  I was even able to combine the roller texture and the skull sheet on a base.

I also show the process of painting the bases before moving on to the second episode, which is always the color test figure.  A typical series is 5 episodes, and about 10-12 hours of running time.  It is hard to believe that this is already Series 7!  This is also my third series on Lord of the Rings.

I already have a series on my Easterlings and Army of the Dead.  Each of those covers a different type of basing, and various techniques.

The Army Painting pledge level is $15 a month, and will provide access to all the videos created that month.  This is usually 15-22 hours of tutorials!  You can find the page here: www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Chaos in Oils!

Something old and something new.  In oils. Here we have some old timey Chaos Nights which were painted with oils, which is relatively new for me.

It was really interesting to work on figures which are this old, utilizing a very new product such as the Mig Ammo Oilbrushers!  I had a lot of fun taking advantage of the extended drying times to be able to create various blends without having to rush around in a frenzy.

There are also a number of muted tones here, and being able to pull the oils from one area into another keeps things in line color wise.  All it takes to shift a color more towards the cool range is to slap a little blue or green, and mix it right into those wet oils!

At first I thought the oils would mostly work for painting historical figures such as my Bolt Action armies, but I have been so pleasantly surprised that they have worked for everything else as well, even figures with much brighter and saturated colors.

Here's a recent YouTube live session where I work with the Oilbrushers and traditional oils: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB-nhuTmNbQ

The Lady Val Live!

My latest YouTube Live session showed how I painted Lady Val from the Song of Ice ad Fire Miniatures Game.  She's another NCU, and now joins Craster and the Savage Giants!

I tried to show how to get interesting and unexpected colors in the shadows, as you can see in this image.  Grays, blues, purples and even greens were used, although the cloak registers to the eye as "red".  This kind of subtle addition makes what could be a bland area far more interesting!

I even went into the use of the Green Stuff World leaf cutters and the Secret Weapon crushed glass method on the base.

Here's a link to the live session!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAU3njr2Qc8

Awards Ceremony

This is something I don't believe I have ever done, and it seemed like the right time to do it before I lost track of more of them!  I attempted to track down as many of the awards as possible that I have come my way over the years... Best Painted Armies, Adepticon Awards, Crystal Brushes, Golden Demons, Reapercon Awards, etc.

This is certainly not all of them, because they are probably buried or hidden somewhere behind terrain or miniatures!

As some of you probably know already, Army Painting is by far my favorite thing.  I really love coming up with color schemes, stories for the armies, making conversions and scratch builds, etc.

These plaques go back to the heyday of army painting, when I was making 40K armies, Fantasy armies, and Lord of the Rings armies.

While the most recent was the Operation Sting Fallschirmjager army on the Monte Cassino display board, it all began with the Lizardman army:  https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2015/03/an-old-favorite-returns.html

I still remember the very first Adepticon we attended back in 2007.  I taught a number of classes, and it is also where I saw wonderfully painted armies and amazing display boards for the first time.  That had a dramatic effect on me, and I set out to do so myself.  I made a 40K Demonhunters army that played many games, along with my Dark Elves and Sisters of Battle.  All of those are on the blog:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-results-are-in.html

The medallions that you see came from the old Adepticon Rogue Demon painting contest.  We participated in that every year until it was ended in favor of the Crystal Brush.  I think I have 11 Crystal Brushes, but this is all I could fit in the picture.  My Tomb Kings won a number of those awards:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2015/01/dare-to-enter-tomb-city-of-pseusennes.html

The large trophy that you see here is still my favorite one of all.  This was the award for the United States Armies on Parade, which was won by the Lizardmen.  Hence the "Babo's Trophy" sign.  This was where I first learned to create a display board around the army, to create unique bases, and even to scratch sculpt what I wanted!

I created a number of those scratch sculpts, like these Engines of the Gods:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/11/revving-those-engines-side-by-side-racin.html

My Lord of the Rings armies for Bilbo's Bash were a pleasure to create, and to play in that amazing tournament.  You can also see the brand new Operation Sting award, which is bookend fashion was put on by the same good folks who used to do Bilbo's bash!

Here's a peek at that army:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-battle-of-fortress-falls-minis-on.html

I also won some Best Painted at various Blood Bowl Tournaments... most notably with the Mimes of Moria!

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-mimes-of-moria-what-they-didnt-show.html

While they were still held here in the U.S., Cathy and I did the Games Day routine each year.  That meant the Golden Demons, and the Art Contest.  I would enter in stuff from my armies at the start of the day in the Demons, and then head off to the art area.  That is where I created this portrait of Stikki Wikkit, and even the sketch that started off my Tomb Kings army.

Ironically, the last trophies that I won was for Mage Priest Babo, the main character in my Lizardman army!

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/07/games-day-comes-to-end-but-does-story.html

I also remember getting the Gold for my 40k Grey Knights Terminator squad that first year.  Eventually they stopped holding the event.

Here's the last sketch that I did during that final Games Day:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2016/12/from-sketch-to-sculpt-and-beyond.html

How to Take the Black

The final episode of  Army Painter Series 6 is now available to the Patrons... this was a pretty epic series on some principles that seem so simple at first.  That is, painting "black" and creating interesting snow/ice effects.

Each series is usually 5 episodes long, and it begins with basing.  In the case of the Song of Ice and Fire units, it includes the movement tray.  Here is an example of that first episode:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INPfPLCTZcE

While every series begins with basing... it also concludes with basing!  Most of the Song of Ice and Fire trays require some kind of snow effects, but those around and above The Wall need even more dramatic looking snow and ice!  Check out this video of a Free Folk Savage Giant towards the end to get a peek at how that's done:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LvJv3dyjEw

I try to show a number of different options along the way, so that you can pick and choose what kind of material that you might want to use.

As always, the why is just as important than the how, and these long format videos really allow me to dive into why I make the choices that I do on my techniques and materials.

Each series is 10-13 hours in duration, and I try to involve you in the process as much as I can.  The "Currency of Time" is something we all have in short supply, and I will actually try to keep track of how much time a given effect might have taken to achieve.  Then this is multiplied by how many figures are in the unit, and then again by how many are in the army.

From there, I try to ascertain what is possible and what may have to be trimmed, saved for special character figures or even left out completely. 

Painting the color "black" is a difficult task... especially to keep the interest of both the viewer and the painter!  I have already seen many posts on the SoIaF pages about boredom when painting an entire Night's Watch army.

It is understandable, because there are no bright distinct colors as you might have in Lannisters.

As I work through the episodes on this series, I attempt to show you ways to make the painting more interesting by creating variations in the colors... a little more greenish here, a little more blue or red there.  You can see in these back views that the leather of the packs and bedrolls are no simply 'tan', but have greens and grays in the shadows as an accent.

At the end of the series, I show the snow and ice process, including my favorite... icicles!  Those tiny twigs were placed in crucial areas of the bases in the very first episode, and now those branches are getting the final decorative elements.

Over and over again during the series, I mention how the "context" of how you will see the colors you are painting will have a huge effect.  The simple act of adding the snow and ice effects darkens the colors you painted by several shades, so it is important to keep that in mind, and not go too crazy with extreme dark tones.

Colors that seem too light next to the dark, snow free bases transform when the snow is placed.

The is the second Song of Ice and Fire unit that I have done as the subject of an Army Painting series.  many more are on the way, leading up to Adepticon.  My next Song of Ice and Fire unit is a set of Free Folk Spearwives.  This is not limited to that genre, however.  I already have 2 Lord of the Rings series, an Age of Sigmar and even a Bolt Action tutorial series on the Patreon Page.

The Army Painter pledge level is $15, and as I mentioned, it will provide access to all the various tutorials that I do that month, which is at least 16-22 hours of brand new video tutorials!

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel