I have mentioned in earlier posts that I really need to just paint one miniature in a squad to completion before I feel good doing all the models. A lot of this is because I am constantly jumping around with ideas, and if I try to realize it over a number of models, I will change mid stream, and end up with three that are suddenly the "wrong" color. Other times, like I will talk about below, what I am doing is close, but will take a little tweaking. So that even though there is a slight difference on one guy, amidst his squad, you can't really tell. This happened with both of these test miniatures.
Storm GuardianI make pretty judicious use of Guardians in my army. I like Warlock/Spiritseer powers, and with just a little mojo a cheap unit can become kind of a pain to deal with. I plan to run a full squad of twenty, ten of which are all ready posted on this blog, so I wanted to add some diversity to the unit. In addition...I pretty much friggin' love Eldar corsairs. So with a little mix-and-match from the Wych kit, I have a piratical feeling guardian in a dynamic pose. What I do not have is an Alaitoc camo scheme I like with the new GW paints. This guy came out far too gray for my liking. I am grateful he was a test, as I can alter the highlights a little, and among his nineteen companions, his grayness will get lost unless viewing him up close. Also I did my bone build from a Zandari Dust base, and I am not wild about it either. There is a more yellow quality to this wraithbone vs. my other wraithbone, though in general I need to punch up the whole bone color a lot more.
Dire AvengerThe verdict isn't in for this guy with me yet. On his own, he isn't really setting anything off. That being said, I think as a squad, with the dark armor, and the heavily contrasting bright colors, they will be quite striking. Yet again, the rest of the squad will get a few tweaks, and this guy will be a bit of the odd man out. First off, I am going to tone the gems down a little. I want them to be bright orange, but I need to transition into the color instead of jump. I think I will try a reddish brown as a base and go from there. Second, his armor is really dark. That Drakenhoff Nightshade dries darker then Nuln Oil. I need to just shade with the wash, not bathe the model, or thin it down a little. This guy has a Macragge Blue base, but it is lost in how dark that wash ended up drying.
Thanks for reading,
T
