Metal Gems - Ashley Hall

MAY 2012

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Metal Gems - Ashley Hall


Presents:

Ash has been a member of the forum from it's beginning. Introduced to Black Knight Games by our own art director, Jeff Wagnaar, he has been a constant source of ideas and support. Ash's handle on the forum is "Gormath" Here is Ash's submission to the BKG Painting Contest. I am sure you will enjoy viewing it.

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Gormath's Verminion Entry

Normally when posting a bit of info about a painting competition entry I would incorporate some sort of babble about the miniature I chose and why I chose it but this time round I don't need to. I actually prefer to have a miniature to paint chosen for me as it makes it so much simpler to get right on with the fun stuff; painting.

The Verminion Heavy Infantry with Sword is a great miniature. There are many crisp lines and textures on the model that it really lends itself to ink washes and dry brushing which are my two favourite painting techniques. As to why they are my favourite techniques.. well that because they are fast to do and can actually allow you to pull off a convincing paint job in little time which means more time can be spent at the table gaming!

I have a number of this miniature sitting in my hobby room and they are all standing in the same pose. Early in the life of this miniature I was lucky enough to be given a review copy. One of my criticisms was that the tail was attached to one of the legs. I decided to fix this problem and see how hard it was to actually do so. While I was at it I decided to add some movement to the overall pose.

First of all I cut off the tab at the feet of the miniature to allow myself easier access to the tail. Next I got out my clippers and detached the tail from the leg. This was a relatively easy thing to achieve though I had to be careful to not break the tail off completely. I straightened out the tail to match the pose I was trying to achieve.

Next up was repositioning the arms. I wanted to tighten the bend in Verminions sword arm in order to give it more of a threatening pose. To achieve this I grabbed my clippers once again and cut into the elbow. By doing this I lessened the amount of metal I needed to bend which made for a much easier job. I did the same with the shield arm which I manipulated more in from of the body to give a much more natural pose.

Painting the Verminion was very simple. I used the most basic of techniques which sped up painting time considerably. I hate it when painting takes ages to complete. It feels like a chore but with a quick technique allowing myself to pump out models that look decent then it seems less of a chore and can be quite enjoyable.

I undercoated the model white. This might seem odd for a model such as this but I was not interested in giving it a dark tone. I have spent many years painting Orks in a dark colour scheme and I wanted to lighten up a little. Plus I am starting an Ancients Roman Army soon so thought I could use this as kind of a test model... I may even incorporate it into the finished army as a fun little extra for those that spot him in the ranks.

Over the white I literally blocked in the colours; Elf Flesh for the skin, Tausept Ochre for the fur, Blood Red for the cloth, Mithril Silver for the metal, Codex Grey for the wrappings. Obviously these are all paints from the citadel colour range. Although I did use a few other colours for finer details I won’t mention these as the list will grow too long.

Once these blocked in colours were dry I used my favourite ever painting product; Army Painters Dark Tone Shading/varnishing dip. This stuff is pure magic in a can. Rather than dipping it I brushed it on thickly and let gravity go to work. This stuff shaded everything in one hit and as a bonus it Gloss varnishes it as well protecting the miniature.
After a full 24 hours of drying I hit the miniature with a quick blast of Anti Shine spray. This completely nullifies the gloss sheen and really brings the model to life.
With that completed I finished off the base with a cobblestone effect overgrown with weeds and a small tuft of Silflor.

With that done I took my pictures and here we all are

Well I have achieved my goal of reposing the Verminion to give it more movement and painted it to a good standard in very little time.

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