Painting Dark Sword: Anti-Paladin

It has been a lot of fun painting the Dark Sword miniatures for tutorial videos, since they are packed with a lot of fine details which show up on camera quite nicely!

I've been working hard to get a second "palette camera" in place, and this was the first video where I tested it!

That worked out pretty well, and I have made more modifications to it since.  Now, the figure is in a more natural painting position for me, and it takes up a far larger portion of the screen.  Since I am using XSplit to record the videos, I can change the size of the palette screen when necessary, right as I am recording!  That is very cool!

For this episode, I was working with the Reaper Clear and Liner paints, doing a number of glazes.  For the second Dark Sword painting episode, I will do the same figure in oil paints.  I want to do this each month, because I think it could really provide some additional perspective on both mediums.

People can't tell which of my figures are painted in oils or acrylics when they look at them.  Heck, most of the time I can't even remember myself!  It really has more to do with time saving and efficiency.

The Dark Sword pledge is $10, but there are also a few other levels available.  These offer "hard copy" versions of the videos on USB drive, and even the miniatures themselves!!

You can find that on the Patreon Page here:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Nocturna Begins!

I was very happy to add a Nocturna Miniatures pledge to the Patreon Page last month!  I love those miniatures, and they are my favorite large scale figures to work with.

For the first Nocturna miniature that was officially part of the Patreon pledge structure, I needed to create a decent base.  This would create more of an "environment" around the figure, like a vignette diorama.

I decided on a Bark and Branch method base, which I have done many times here on the blog and in Facebook Live sessions:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10209658916083798/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

I chose the bark as my primary material due to the way it matched the "slate" look of the stones on the resin base.  It was a faster way to extend that partial base than using apoxy sculpt to physically sculpt it all.  I will probably do that on a future piece, just to show how that works.

I was able to shave down a few pieces of the bark to create some upright and angled pieces to mirror those on the resin base.  It took a few layers placed around it to make it match a bit better.

As usual, oxide paste (in this case a brownish version of it) was used as "mortar" between the layers, and as a way to build up some texture as well.  If you add some wood glue into the mix, you can place larger rocks and rough gravel too.

This gives you a better view of that upright section of bark.  You can see that I made a "cascade" or progressively smaller rocks and boulders moving down the the wooden plaque.  I could drop in my finer gravel and sand after those heavier elements were in place.

Those finer layers of sand and gravel help the bigger sections of bark and rock to stand out, but keeps them settled into the environment, as opposed to simply sitting on top.

Using the Oxide paste, glue, sand and gravel in this way helps to blend that smaller resin base into the entire larger base.

Ready for priming!  She now has a very solid base, and I look forward to dressing that up with several different kinds of flock, tufts, fallen leaves and maybe even a few vines!!

Here's the shaded primer, done in Stynlrez with the Badger Airbrush.  I will be using oils to paint this, so it will be a lot of fun!

This will be available to a few pledge levels.  The painted miniature itself is also available at a special level... you can check that out here:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Storm From the East: A new Tutorial Series

Whenever you begin a new army, there is always that first "color test" figure.  Not only does this give you a better idea of how your color scheme vision plays out, but it can give you a hint of how long it might take to execute that plan.

In this case, the color scheme was established long ago for my beloved Lord of the Rings Easterling army, which is about to be reborn!  Unfortunately, I had to sell off my original army, and with the relaunch of the Lord of the Rings system, it seemed to be just the right time to bring them back to life!

That first army was painted over 6 years ago, and I have learned many things since.  Even the materials I use have changed dramatically.

Now I have plastic minis for the most part, and I use the Reaper Clear and Liner paints, along with the Secret Weapon Miniatures weathering paints.  Even my basing has changed, as the "bark and branch" method came about 3-4 years ago.

Since I am creating the Army Painting video series for the Patreon Page, I thought it might be very useful for people to see the process of re-creating an army first hand.  I have already gathered up images of the old army, and I have prepped a brand new batch of figures!  

As with the first two army painting series, this will start off with basing, and then move to the Shaded Basecoat and Glazing phases.  I will even sneak in some freehand designs as well.

I also try to include conversations about making the figures as 'playable' as possible, and the realities of time constraints.  The "currency" of time is quite valuable, and there's usually only so much of it available for a given army.  My goal is to help you maximize that currency, and make your armies look as good as possible.

Unlike the first two series that focused on infantry, this will be a mix of cavalry and infantry.  Part of this has to do with the nature of the LOTR game system, which is part of that conversation I mentioned earlier.

You can get caught up on those first two series, and be ready for the third installment... with even more interesting goodies yet to come!  I will be recreating my Army of the Dead and Galadhrim elf armies in future series.

The Army Painter pledge is $15, and that is on the Patreon Page here:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Ready the Redcoats!

With all of the Army Painting videos that I have been posting to the Patreon Page, I thought it might be time to show an actual army painted with those same techniques!

This is just one of several that are being painted for Victoria Miniatures, which are amazing 40k Guardsmen, coming in a huge variety of factions. In this case, you have the Boer War type of uniform style.

These are the Victorian Guard, and as usual, there are Female and Male squads available.

All together, there were about 40 miniatures in this force.  Lots of glazing was used to establish the shadow areas, utilizing the Reaper Clear and Liner paints.

For instance, the red was created with a starting application of Clear red over a shaded primer base, and progressive amounts of Red Liner paints were added to the glazes that followed.

Something similar was done with Clear Blue and Blue liner for the pants, while Secret Weapon Weathering paints were used to areas such as the helmets, pouches and packs.

For the metals, I used the Metal Medium from Vallejo, mixed in with Blue liner and Brown liner.  As you have seen before, that type of mix creates a very dark blackened steel color.  By adding more of the Metal Medium, you can lighten those metal colors and get 'shading' without the need for washes and glazes (which tend to kill off your metallic effect!).

Even on areas such as sword blades, I was able to paint in a Non Metallic style, just adding some Metal Medium to those colors.  Since these had to match previously painted figures, metals were required.  I believe this is referred to as TMM these days :-)

You can find these figures on the Victoria Miniatures site here:

https://victoriaminiatures.com/collections/regiments-of-the-galaxys-finest/products/victorian-guard-universal-5-man-squad

I have more of the Victoria Miniatures armies to paint, so I will be making some of them the topic of Army Painting tutorials too!!

You can find these army painting techniques on my Patreon Page:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Glow and Reflections! Unit painting videos

Creating the Unit Painting videos for the Patreon Page was definitely one of the most interesting tutorial projects that I have done.  While the typical one off painting tutorials are always fun, these new videos allow me to dive into some aspects that I really love!

In particular, all of the planning that goes into every stage of army building.  I have already discussed the basing videos that begin each series, but now I wanted to talk about that middle area, where I do the Shaded Basecoat phase.

This is critical to everything that I paint, but even more so on multiple figures.  It occurred to me that such a process has never been filmed on a mass basis before.  It was a technique that I developed years ago for painting my armies to an award winning standard, and that has continued to evolve over the years as I have moved into new genres and mediums.

The first series covered fantasy miniatures in 'standard' acrylic paints, but Series 2 has covered painting units with oil paints.

I will continue to cover different genres and game systems.  Series 3 will show how I paint my Lord of the Rings Easterlings, utilizing my glazing techniques with the Reaper Clear and Liner paints.  That will discuss NMM in even more detail, and freehand designs as well.

You can get access to all of the Army Painter series, along with other content, on the Patreon Page:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

The Polar Express: Cheap Terrain Options!

When I saw one of these trains posted to a Bolt Action Facebook page as a potential solution to the problem of finding trains the the right scale that won't bust a budget, I had to look into it for myself!

Both Ebay and Amazon yielded results.  Each of these sets was less than $25 including shipping.  That is infinitely less expensive than purchasing "S" scale trains, which are the closest to 28mm.

It turns out that there are several more advantages as well!!

Each set comes with track, which is also less pricey than buying S scale track.  With some weathering powders and other techniques, this should look far more realistic!

I didn't even realize that with a few AA batteries, you get sound... and they actually move ;-)

One issue with S scale American Flyer trains is that they tend to look like 1950's or even '60's.  Removing these containers was important to make these more appropriate.  It turns out that all you have to do is snip a few tabs, and they come right off.  If you still wanted them on the flat car for whatever reason, they could be glued or magnetized back in place.

The primary reason I wanted these is for terrain, but also as tank transport.  While early war tanks will fit best, it was still possible to fit a pair of T-34's.

It takes just a few minutes to get the track pieces together, and hook up some cars to the engine!

Not a bad little train for less than $25.  Once everything is painted and weathered, it should be even better.

I realize that trains in different countries had a varying appearances, but I am very glad to have these.  I think they will add a lot, as fighting over rail heads was very critical in the war.  Also, this gives my partisan armies even more possible scenarios!

I was very glad that I found separate bundles of straight track links, since you only get 4 of them in the boxes.  This is a bundle of 20.  I will be hitting these with the Stynlrez primers to make them look more like track.

Now for a few scale shots.  It would be nice if the train was slightly bigger, but for the price and the mobility, it suits me just fine.  I can actually pack up these trains and bring them with me to a game, which was certainly not a possibility with 'real' model trains.

I will even have some containers of ballast with me to make them even more realistic.  Looking forward to including these in some battle reports soon!!  Stay tuned.

Of Stone and Sand

Time for another fun base created with the Green Stuff World texture rollers!

There is a bonus piece to this base, and that is one of the nifty resin statue pieces, which is something new from Green Stuff World.  It is a package of various broken statue bits, which now come in Aztec and Celtic ruins too!

Here's a link to the Egyptian pieces:

http://www.greenstuffworld.com/en/scenery-accessories/607-egyptian-ruins-resin-set.html

As usual, I had the Secret Weapon weathering paints and Reaper Liner paints on hand.

Here's a post that reviews how I use the rollers: 

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/04/rolling-on-to-victory.html

Starting out with the Brown Liner, Engine Grime and Sandy wood, I did a few glazes across the surface, making sure to alter the colors in the brush as much as possible.  These are designed to "interact" with each other, and do a watercolor style wet mix on the surface.

You can see how some parts are more sandy colored, and others more grayish.  This creates an "aged" look without lots of extra work!

I also wiped away some of the excess glaze colors, which revealed the texture a little more.

I did a similar process on the statue piece, using glazes to tint and darken various portions.

I continued to darken the stone around the edges, using very targeted glazes of the Enging Grime and Brown Liner paints.

Once the darkest tones had been established, I could go back in with a lighter mix of colors to pick out some more details.  I used a Maiden Flesh to lighten the Sandy brown and the Engine Grime (a grayish color).

You can see how matte these colors dry, which is part of their design!

In no time at all, you have a very nifty base!

Here is the figure which will stand on the base.  It is a large metal figure from Reaper Miniatures.  I will try to make a painting video for him too!

Speaking of videos, here's a Facebook Live session that I did with the texture rollers:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10212356287316393/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab