Over the course of last week I've finished a Verminlord Warpseer that has been staring at me in partially painted condition for way too long. Using one of the utterly marvelous Character Name Generators at Realm of Plastic I can now dub this painted fiend: Rikittar Slysnout, Conniving Usurper of Torn Realities.
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| I've been painted and I have a name! What a day, what a lovely, lovely day. |
We all have models hiding in boxes, bags and closets. Some freshly primed, others still in their plastic wrap. You know the ones I mean, those models we just had to have right now, the discounted or secondhand ones we couldn't leave behind and the meticulously planned projects that never got past the buy it now stage. We even have a name for it. Its the 'Leadpile' to old school metal model hoarders, the 'Plasticpile' for young'uns (and those young at heart) and the 'Resin Roost of Shame' for those of us that can't resist Forge World and friends (okay I made that last one up). Me? I'm fond of both the old school and new things. As a special punishment I also have to deal with my 'Window Sill of Shame'. It contains models I thought I would paint 'this coming weekend'. That may sounds soon(-ish), but it's actually a magical time that never quite materializes the way I planned. Windows Sill of Shame models usually migrate to my 'Casket of Failed Ambition' (dundunduuuuun) after some time. I don't talk about this casket in polite company ;)
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| Visible in the background: the Window Sill of Shame. |
This particular Verminlord was bought on august the 19th 2018. I remember because it was at Warhammer Fest after I decided to hold off on any Adeptus Titanicus purchases until later. After all I really needed a Skaven Daemon right away and <fill this part with some of your favorite excuses to buy a model>. Long story short, I glued the Verminlord together next Saturday. I airbrushed and washed some base skin color, fur coat and its horns on Sunday. then it sat in the Window Sill of Shame for not quite two years, staring at me accusingly with its unpainted eyes and slowly gathering a cobweb between its horns (it really did). Seeing the cobweb was my breaking point. I fired up the compressor and used an empty airbrush to blow dust and the cobweb of this model. It was time to finish it.
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| At this point I'm willing to admit that I'm running out of basing materials, especially flowers. |
I started out by blocking in missing bits of color. Painting most of the metal bits with Decayed Metal (Scale 75) and going for a bit of Khorne Red on the loincloth and spear haft. I used a random Vallejo Dark Green on all the warpstone and then remembered all the old Next Level Painting videos advising P3 Iosan Green and Necrotide Green for serious greenness (of the non-Kermit kind). Then (way too soon) I covered the model in Alclad II and gave it a nice 502 Abteilung oil wash. After getting the worst of the oil cleaned off (I am not able to pin wash, I give models oil showers). I re-established a non-gleam coat (AK Ultra Matte Varnish) and promptly discovered I forgot to paint the two skull braids. I also forgot how I painted the fur to begin with (and the skin). When the curses ran out (it was time for a coffee brake anyway) I grabbed a pot of red and decided never to tell anyone about this mistake...never mind.
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| I used some thinned down contrast paint to increase the contrast on the red tasles. |
The best part of this model (in my very humble opinion) is all the warpstone it is waving about. The trick to getting a bit of a wow-effect out of warpstone lies in making it truly pop. This can be accomplished by using real warpstone. Lacking that I went for option b. After spending way, way, way too much time highlighting the tail, arms, face and other skin bits (and applying a bit of extra off-white to the fur). I took out my airbrush and loaded up on thinned Vallejo Fluo Green. I applied generously to large warpstone surfaces and then proceeded to go for a bit of OSL style spraying on other painted bits that should receive the glow. I don't know how truly talented painters do this without flinching, but I can't. I was very worried, especially spraying the arm as it had some sterling highlights on it (in my very humble opinion). After the Fluo Green dried, all worries faded away I'd say it was rather successful.
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| At this point I am wondering if there'll be three times bigger Verminlord in another thirty years. |
After taking some pictures of the finished Verminlord I took out my very first Verminlord. I still love the old model (and I am quite happy I stripped and repainted it). Its quite a lot of fun to see a Greater Daemon that properly towers over the Mighty Fortress. Its also fun to have a flash of nostalgia at the old one. Now all that stands between me and a fully plastic pantheon to complement my antique metal one is a Greater Daemon of Nurgle and one of Slaanesh. I will not add these to my plasticpile however, because I have a lot to paint already. That is to say, I should not add these to my plasticpile, let's finish more stuff first. Then again, why not add these to my plasticpile? My plasticpile is big, what's do a few more models matter? What if GW stops producing them? Oh no! I should add these to my plasticpile as soon as possible.....oh this hobby, what a nightmare ;)
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| Why did this take so long? It was mostly a mix of airbrushing, strategic thinned down washing and drybrushing. I'll not mention the 'what'll happen if I brush on random globs of orange phase. It seemed like an interesting thing to try at the time and in real life it does not look quite as obvious as on this picture. |
Lets finish with a completely unrelated side note. I took this Purple Sun of Shysh out of my Casket of Failed Ambition and finished it on a whim. That's the beauty of this mad hobby: plastic, metal and resin (as far as I know) never complain about having to wait for paint. As far as I'm concerned: any painted model is a good model. And any model I painted is utterly sterling and wonderful (to me at least). Also assembling and painting your toys beats being a blisterf.....never mind that rant, this article is long enough. Cheers and until next time.
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