Pathfinder Pete

[posted early in a switch around with Stew, who's still writing his latest epic masterpiece!!]

Firstly, I’d like to welcome everyone back to my second Clash of Kings blog post, and give a tremendous thank you to everyone who took the time to read and/or comment on my previous exploits. The feedback has been really encouraging!

For this instalment, I want to talk about the finished pieces I have already, and take you through how, and why, I painted them the way I did.

Obviously, the first colours we have pre-programmed into us for evil Dwarves are red and brass. I won’t deny that the colours go great together, but I really needed to go for something different, to set my dark stunties apart from the rest- after all Abyssal Dwarfs have their own clans and kindreds as much as their nicer cousins do. Just a little more dysfunctional perhaps! I do believe, however, that it is entirely possible for an entire Dwarf Clan to have come under the influence of the Abyss, and as such I wanted a really striking and memorable unifying colour scheme to tie all the various units together.

By now I’m sure many of you will have seen the Avengers’ movie (I still haven’t yet) but as a long time Marvel Comics fan, for me, one of the ultimate bad guys has always been Loki (the guy’s a God!!) and one thing I can take from his image is that green and gold go well together. This was the starting point for my scheme. However, I didn’t just want Greedy Gold on them, as that seemed a little rich for their blood. So I swapped the gold for a brassy bronze colour, Weapon Bronze to be precise, and I had arrived at my chosen colours. All I had to do was happen across some spot colours, and I’d be motoring!

Starting work on the Immortal Guard, I quickly discovered that painting ALL the metalwork in Weapon Bronze was going to be way too much of one colour, so a quick test with some Plate Metal Metal, and a unifying wash of Dark Tone Quickshade, and I was really on to something!

Dwarf flesh has traditionally been of a more ruddy, well-lived in complexion, but yet again, these guys are supposed to be twisted and corrupted through years of service to the Abyss. I wanted them pale and wan, but wasn’t quite sure of the best way to go about it. I could very easily have laid a base of Barbarian Flesh, carefully applying some thinned Alien Purple, and then maybe a highlight of Skeleton Bone (or a Skeleton Bone/Barbarian Flesh mix), but I thought it would probably be better to save this style of flesh for the characters. Instead, I chose to apply a base of Elf Skintone, picking out Matt White beards, and shading again with the Dark Tone.

“Born of stone and Abyssal sorcery, these unthinking sentinels slowly crush all in their methodical advance…”

The Lesser Obsidian Golems were already included in my list, but obviously don’t currently have any models for them. This would normally put a lot of people off using them, but the background and look of these stone automata really gelled into my vision of the Dwarf part of the army. With most of the Pathfinders busy creating scenic bases and mini dioramas for the units- the innovative Nerve system means you don’t need to remove casualties from units- I felt it would be really awesome to do something different. Checking through my cupboards and storage area at work yielded me with five Dwarfs and the Berserker Lord, which I was originally going to use as a Dwarf King’s Hold: Ancient Grudge warband. Turning them to stone, and making use of them as corrupted Dwarf Hero statues seemed a much better use, and a more fitting way of pledging my dedication to the Abyss! But how did I go about creating and paint them? Read on, dear students of all things Abyssal, read on….

The first thing I did was to cut two strips of movement tray base, in lengths roughly equal to the space occupied by three large infantry bases (40mm) side by side. There’s no point in separating them, for the same reasons as mentioned about the diorama bases. The plinths were made by cutting strips of movement tray into 25mm x 25mm
square sections, and gluing them into a box shape. For the top of the plinth, the squares can be slightly more rectangular, leaving a lip that overhangs the base section slightly. Once in place and dry, the model’s ready bases were securely plastic glued top the top of the plinths. As an extra detail, spare pieces from the Dwarf Banner frame were added as dedicational plaques, no doubt denoting who each individual statue depicts. The statues-to-be could now be glued on to the tray base strips, staggering them a bit for monumental effect. Paint some PVA around the bottom of the plinths, and on the base tray strips, sprinkling first small slate pieces, then modellers sand. This will give a more authentic mountainous effect when painted, as obviously stones aren’t all the same size!

Once undercoated with Army Painter Black Primer and dry I set about painting them. This was a lot easier than it would seem, as to get the obsidian with a greenish hue, I simply dry brushed the statues and plinths first with Angel Green, then Greenskin, and finally a light dry brush of Necrotic Flesh to pick out the very finest edges of the statues. If you’ve never dry brushed before, it’s the simplest technique ever! Pop some paint on your brush, and then wipe as much off as possible on to some tissue or an old rag. There will still be some paint left on the bristles, so don’t worry! Next, gently brush the surface of the model, the paint will pick out the edges and raised surfaces on the model, and it also gives the paint a wonderful grainy texture which is perfect for stonework.

The eyes were first painted using Dragon Red, followed by a semi-circle of Pure Red around the bottom and one side of the eye. Then, as a finishing touch, a very small dot of Desert Yellow mixed with a little Demonic Yellow was pin*****ed into the opposite top corner of the eye, away from the semi circle of Pure Red.

The plaques were painted Weapon Bronze and given a wash of Dark Tone. Then a tiny amount of very thin Turquoise was applied in the recesses of the plaques as a verdigris effect to weather the plaques. This gives the impression that these statues are really quite old.

The veins running through the rock of the plinths were created by first applying a jagged line of Angel Green roughly in the pattern you want the veins to follow. With a detail brush, follow the shape of the veins with a thin line of Greenskin, and then an even thinner line of Goblin Green. Finally, highlight the corner and junction sections of the veins with an Insanely Detail brush line of Necrotic Flesh.

The base strips were simply dry brushed first with Uniform Grey, and then with Ash Grey. As a final touch, to show even these underground caverns are tainted by the presence of the Abyss, and final drybrush of Necrotic Flesh adds an unearthly, rather unwell greenish tinge. Finally, paint a thin strip of Matt Black around the base edge, just to tidy it up.

So there you have it, one Abyssal Dwarf one player starter set and a bespoke unit of Lesser Obsidian Golems built and painted in a month. At time of writing, I have had a chance to put this small force through their paces, and have learnt a lot so far from these early small games.

On to the subject of what to get next month? Well, so far, my mini army is leaderless and subject to disorganisation amongst the ranks, so I think a little leadership is required! See you back here in 14 days where I will show you the next pieces on my table, and see what other goodies I can write up for you all!!

FOR THE ABYSS!!!!!