Saving the Cygor

On a recent trip to Knoxville TN, I swung by the CM Games store in Cedar Bluff where they happened to be having a 50% off sale on their used miniatures. This Cygor stood out to me as a very good bargain considering the current after-market prices for this guy, but more importantly I felt like I could save this model. 

"Save me!"

Mostly I just need to finish the basecoat, and just build up the colors from there. Except for that big boulder he is holding. That thing will be completely repainted. Don't get me wrong, I admire the original painter's attempt to make this appear molten, but it just doesn't work for me with this model. 

In the Neverness Hobbyzone being studied.

And I need to rebase him also.  And that's where I am starting this project.  I removed him from the large oval base and sized him up for his 60x100mm square  base before gritting it up and priming it. And of course, I felt compelled to go ahead and paint it prior to affixing the Cygor to his new base. 

The new base.

I used Skeleton Horde on any of unpainted bones and skulls. Volupus Pink was used on the big guy's tongue and mouth. For the big rock I used Adeptus Battlegray Foundation Paint on the rock. That stuff is still amazing. I was able to coat it in no time and get that thing looking like a big stone again. This revealed details to me that I hadn't noticed before such as the vine of ivy growing acrossed it. 

New base attached. 

I liberally applied Bloodreaver Flesh over most of the fleshy areas, which immediately began. To brighten up the model. 

Bloodreaver Fleah. 

Bugman's Glow was added over that which really started to bring this thing to life. 

Bugman's Glow.

And then I topped the fleshy bits with Cadian Fleshtone. This seemed like a good place to stop on this part. 

Cadian Fleshtone.

Stop? No way, I was having too much fun! I used white ink to fill in the recesses on the big stone (I made a mess of it really, but I tried). Then I decided to use Tesseract Glow on the recesses. 

Super glowy rock. 

After that I used Adeptus Battlegray Foundation Paint again to sort of dry brush over these groves in an effort to restore the glowy spirals. Although this turned out OK, my choice of Tesseract Glow clashed with my choice of green for the ivy. 

White drybrusbing on the hair/quils/fur areas.

The solution was to paint over the ivy using thinned Khorne Red. This kind of gives it a bit of poison ivy look which also gives it the benefit of contrast against the Tesseract Glow. 

Fur Contrast Paint over hair/quils/fur areas.

And then I worked up the leather wraps using the original Blood Angels Red as a base for Screamer Pink which was then washed in Nuln Oil and thinly highlighted with Pink Horror.

The bones (of which there is a staggering amount adorning this fella) were finished off using Screaming Skull, Wraithbone and White Scar. Pretty much the same process I used on the skellies I painted up recently. Except I was way more conservative with the use of the White Scar. 

With my final touch-ups I'm calling this Cygor done! Enjoy the next few pics of this model from different angles. 

And here is a final shot to help give those of you who may not be familiar with this model a sense of scale...

"Wow, you're a big one!" 

He should fit in well with the rest of my Beastmen Brayherd, of which, he is the first one with a finished paint job.. Actually, working on this guy has inspired me to do more, and hopefully I will do so soon. 

Walking Bones with Spears

 What's an undead army without skeletons? * Well, here are my first batch of 15 skeleton warriors ready to spear your fodder.

Primed.

After priming these guys with the appropriately named Wraithbone spray paint I next painted all of the bone areas using Skeleton Horde Contrast Paint.  

Skeleton Horde base.

Next, I decided (pretty much on a random whim) to paint all of their spears red. I guess the '90s nostalgia vibe from the box photos was far too potent to resist? After I paint the first one I knew that this was the right choice. 

Red spears for that '90s vibe. 

Then I added layers  to all of the bones using Screaming Skull followed by Wraithbone. 

Screaming Skull and Wraithbone.

Touched up.

I decided I wanted to give these guys glowing eyes in the same color as the spirit hosts that I painted recently. I figured that the color would help tie the units together a bit more.  But when I got down to it, I really liked them the way they were. So I compromised and added a subtle glow around the bottom or the edge of their empty eye-sockets. Some of their eyes have a rotten eyeball in them and these I painted with the Briar Queen Chill paint as well. 

Subtle glowy eyes.

After I added the grass tufts to some of these models I felt they could use a subtle highlight of White Scar.  

White Scar highlights. 

And with that it's a wrap. Oh, and I want to mention the model in this next pic, the one in the foreground to the left: 

Beastman skull headed guy to the left. 

His head is from the Skulls boxed set. There is a variety of beastman skulls in that set and I decided to stick on one of these skeletons after getting frustrated with attaching the horns to the beastman skull that comes with this set. I think it worked out good in the end. 

*Lame! The answer is LAME!!!

Thunder Struck! (Part 2)

 It was a bit of a grind, but I finally got to a point where I can declare that these guys are DONE. 

I neglected to take stage-by-stage/ work-in-progress shots as I went along mainly because ai dabbled on these guys here and there since the previous post.  This dabbling took place randomly between work on some of the other miniatures that I completed during that time. 

Which leaves me with these snazzy glamor shots instead. I hope no one minds. If you want to know more about this scheme check out the Dwarf Warriors posts and the post that details the single test model I did also. 

The leadership. 

Oh, and check out those leaves! I ordered some leaves for scale modeling from Amazon. These are great for adding a touch of realism to models such as these. 

And I suppose that's all I can say about them at this time. I think they turned out well considering their original state that they were in when I got them. 

Another unit painted, more to go! 

The Restrained Slayers (Part 1)

While assessing my small (no pun intended -for once) selection of Warhammer Fantasy Dwarves (or "Dwarfs" as GW prefers) I noticed that the only Slayer models I have are the ones from the Battle of Skull Pass set, of which, I have acquired a hand-full. Specifically I have five of the tied up guys and two of the running guys that are holding double axes. 

This slayer was NOT painted by me. 

While reading through the Old World rules, the part regarding testing for restraint to prevent your unit from racing after an enemy unit whom you've just  beaten in combat, I couldn't help but imagine that these tied up slayers,  are,  literally, the models of restraint. Then I thought, "hey, they're slayer models right? Why not base them up and use them as such. 

Examples of restraint. 

They'll end up in the 2nd rank of this unit while the two guys I have running forward with this axes held high will be front rank models. 

Also NOT painted by me. 

I was able to find a musician and standard to go into the front rank, but I have yet to find a champion that I like, or one I like that falls within my budget.  That quest continues....

What a crazy crew! 

...I did pick up this guy, who I think will make a good addition to this force.  

 

We need to  bring these pants back into style. 

 I paid more money for that one model than all of the ones above. I think this is the lowest budget unit in my entire collection. And that's not a complaint! 

Restrained and holding the line.

Walling Banshee

The wailing banshee! 

(I was going to title this "howling banshee" but I didn't want to mislead the Eldar players). 

Well, all factions need a leader so I started off with this Tomb Banshee. Another overly complex and surprisingly complex build considering what the final model looks like. 

 

Briar Queen Chill basecoat. 

I employed the same steps that I used on the Spirit Hosts.  I started off by painting most of the model using Briar Queen Chill.  For the hair I used the same steps that I used on the Dwarf Queen. 

Magnadroth Flame  basecoat

For the specific paint  steps on the hair  I used Magmadroth Flame Contrast Paint as the base, followed by a Carroburg Crimson wash. This was followed by a subtle layer of Wildrider Red with a highlight of Trollslayer Orange. 

Finished hair. 

I tried to copy the steps on making her eyes appear glowy that I saw on a YouTube tutorial, but I don't think I pulled it off as dynamically as that example, but I am pleased with the end result. 

Finished miniature.

In most examples most folks choose to paint her corset a contrasting color. But ultimately I decided to make it part of her look by painting it a lot whiter than the rest if her. I was thinking of the kind of corset one might see as part of a wedding gown. 

White corset. 

The dagger I painted in Mitheril Silver, as I wanted it to definitely stand out from the rest of the miniature.  You might be skeptical about the ghost being real, but you'll have no doubt that that dagger! 

Mitheril Silver blade.

And here she is with her Spirit Host minions. This image is the totality of my fully painted Vampire Counts faction. And I really am getting a kick out of painting these things, they're just not like anything else in my collection. 

Imagine the cacophony they make together!

Hail to the Queen

 Attention royal subjects, bring forth your grudges so a determination can be made to choose which one to settle next! 

The Queen takes the field.

Here is the Dwarf Queen, an old model recently re-released for the Old World. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on one as the release of the this miniature seems to be a limited one (at the time of posting this it's not available on the GW US webstore).  The model was originally released back in the '90s as part of the Grudge of Drong campaign. Although sold as a generic Dwarf Queen, clearly she was designed to represent Queen Helgar Longplaits. (She has a fun history). 

Primed and ready.

I got this miniature and immediately started tinkering on her. In particular I took the simple round base and glued on a hammer and anvil glyph left over from the Dwarf Warriors boxed set. I thought an orc skull would be appropriate for her base, although a high elf helm or head would have been a bit more appropriate. I dream of an Old World version of the skulls boxed set, a bit like the one that came out for 40k recently. 

Contrast paints.

I primed the miniature using Wraith Bone spray paint, and then set about base coating (almost) the whole thing using Contrast Paints. The exception was the Caliban Green for her coat. 

Final basecoats. 

The mid-coats pretty much followed the steps that used on the concept paint scheme I did many years ago. Her hair though, is a whole new matter. I used Magmadroth Flame Contrast Paint as the bases, followed by a Carroburg Crimson wash. This was followed by a subtle layer of Wildrider Red with a highlight of Trollslayer Orange. The hair reminds me of the hair color of my friend Sammie, and I have caught myself referring to this model as Queen Sammie, Not that the actual Sammie is a dwarf by any stretch, I'm just reminded by the hair color. 

Mid Coats. 

Anyway, after focusing on some final touch-ups, her highness was now done!

Finished! Front view.

After a few grass tuft applications she was done. Well, for the most part. Her axe handle is supposed to be wooden, but I like how it turned out so I left it. The absolute final thing to do is to spray the model with a sealer as metal miniatures are prone to chipping. 

Finished (rear view)

She was a fun model to paint. Especially since this is the first dwarf I have painted for the Old World that wasn't a repaint on top of a previous paint job. Having said that, I'm enjoying how they are all coming together. 

Leader of the pack! 

There will be more dwarf goodness soon!