Over the weekend I made a decent start on the first regiment of the new dwarf army. These are dwarf rangers, they patrol above ground, keeping watch on the mountain passes and the borders of the dwarf territories. There's a mix of old metals and some newer plastics, plus a couple of non-GW figures in the unit. I have plenty of the metal rangers but wanted to avoid a too regimented look.
The bases are 50mm mdf squares. I decided against individual bases for a number of reasons. I already have a few
Lord of the Rings dwarfs that I can use in skirmish gaming, such as Fantasy Saga or Dragon Rampant, so it seemed pointless in repeating that exercise. Choosing a dimension for the multi-base I looked through many options. In the end I went for this size as three bases gives a decent sized regiment for games like Hail Caesar, while just two is big enough for games like Kings of War. Flexibility of use in many systems is a key factor, but I also think it will look good when the base textures are applied.
I started to paint a test model, to try out some new techniques and to get a feel for the palette. I am aiming to keep the colour scheme fairly muted, but I want to increase the contrast, something I struggle with. Mainly I was trying out a skin recipe, having got this far I think it's too pink and needs a little more tan/orange in the mix. Not a waste of time by any means, often we learn more from our mistakes than our successes. In true dwarf style, this little guy will be rejected as not good enough, there's plenty more where he came from. Once I nail down the method, I can start to churn them out at a decent rate.
