Slayers! (Part 1)

A Slayer charges in!

What do you do when you're down with the illness? Well, if one's not too ill, you jam out some models!  In this case I assembled 26 Dwarf Slayers onto their 25mm bases with basing grit added. Then they were primed. 

A horde 'o Slayers primed.

 

This will either make for a massive unit, or I  can break them up into smaller units. I definitely like having this option. Also I have the restrained slayers (which I promise, I have not  forgotten about) which can also be used to fill out the ranks. I pulled an old Citadel Catalog from the shelf  and began separating them based on their level (ie Trollslayer, Giantslayer, Dragonslayer  and Daemonslayer) and a fifth group of the few I couldn't figure out or that the catalog lists as just "Slayer". 

Primed, with Skeleton Horde on skulls.

These first four models are the ones I couldn't figure out,, so I chose them to launch this paint party.. I started off with Contrast Paints. Appropriately Fyreslayer Flesh was painted into their flesh. Their hair was coated in Magmadroth Flame and Skeleton Horde was used on their boots (except for the guy who was barefoot that is). 

Contrast paints started.

Then Black Templar was painted onto the weapons. I used Snakebite Leather on their boots and Warp Lightning (a deep green) was used on their pants. I had to apply two coats to get the coverage I wanted with the greens and flesh. 

Contrast Paint stage complete.

After some touch-ups (because I can get a bit sloppy with Contrast Paints) it was time for the traditional acrylics. 

I used Cadian Fleshtone in a very conservative layer onto of the Fyreslayer Flesh. An even more conservative highlight of Kislev Flesh was added on top of that. Firedragon Bright was carefully added as a highlight on the hair. 

Close-up at this step.

After those touches were added, I finished up the weapons using Leadbelcher and Stormhost Silver.

. I then, as best I could, added straight white stripes onto their pants.  This turned out as well as I had hoped considering how small the surface area was that I had to work with, and how wrinkled the fabric of their pants happens to be. 

I used a blue .05 Micron to draw some simple tattoos onto these guys. Most of them have them on their arms in form of lines, faux-celtic knots, or wavy lines. One guy has a heart with "Mom" above it. And another one has "LIV" and "DIE" on either hand. The guy below has a spiral on his back. 

Spiral tat.

Simple designs they are, but it does give each guy an additional sprinkle of character. So in my "head canon" (since I have been fruitless in determining what the actual canon is) I'm feeling that the more accomplished the Slayer, the more tats he'll have. So my Daemonslayers will likely look like crazy half-smurfs by the time I get to them. The Trollslayers are next, and I will advance their tattoos up to thicker patterns close to the examples I found in the tutorial from the 2004-05 Edition Games Workshop US Catalog.