Sunday 13 February 2022

Squaduary - Part Deux (Squad Harder)


 You can't rush these things.  Navel gazing and contemplating the universe make us better human beings.  At a rough estimate I'd say I was about 25% done.  With just under 50% of Squaduary elapsed.  

I've been trying out different contrast paints.  I found that if you paint the model black and white and then just block in the main colours with contrast, it works pretty well.  I've been trying out recess shading with Black Templar before dry brushing the white highlights and the results are interesting (this is why only the back of the wizard is painted).  The only colours on Barb the Barbarian's skin are a very light wash of Cadian Fleshtone and undiluted Cygor Brown.  I tried using a clean brush dipped in Contrast Medium to thin out some of the highlighted sections but it's not quite working.

I suppose I should be batch painting these but they're all going to be completely different so it isn't really saving time.  I kind of got obsessed with Wendy the Warlock and decided to finish her.  So that's one model done at least.


I had to do something about those bases.  I couldn't leave them like that.  Covering them in plants and rocks just seemed wrong because there are no 'outside' quests in the game.  There are people out there who have created full outdoor boards with all the requisite scenery and missions lovingly realised. But that's another rung down the sanity ladder and I'm not willing to take that step just yet.  

  

They will look pretty cool with bases painted as actual Heroquest tiles I reckon. I actually carved out the flag stones on Wendy's base with a Dremel before realising that I could just paint it on and it looks pretty much the same.

Those poor, hapless heroes.  In their miniature world of dungeon crawling, they are starved of sunlight.  Fated to wander in perpetual darkness, they battle a never ending tide of beasties who seem to spawn from nowhere.  No wonder Wendy the Warlock went insane.  Such a pretty little thing, she couldn't handle all that Stygian gloom.  Upon checking herself out of the clinic she acquired a glove fetish and changed her name to Michael.  

You know I'm bad, I'm bad, Shamone!


15 comments:

  1. Wendy is looking great, and I think basing them like that will look great as you play. I do hope they find a case of vitamin D tablets while exploring though.

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    1. Cheers mate. I'm going to try building it into the game somehow. e.g. secret revealed if they stand next to their painted base square

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  2. Trying out new methods with new paints is one of my favourite bits of the hobby.

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    1. yeah I'm trying to make things a bit cleaner and more vibrant than my usual 'grimdark'. Although my dark is not as grim as some :)

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  3. That base looks great! They will tie the different heroes together nicely.
    And I do like the skin colour on the Orc Barbarian, looks more and more like I will want to incorporate Contrast or something similar into my workflow.

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    1. Thanks Xar, I still end up 'overpainting' but the contrast is interesting to play with.

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  4. You don't need to start with black and white. Apply Gryph-Charger Grey over a light base colour to establish some shadows and then use the final colour. Check out this dude https://www.youtube.com/c/JuanHidalgoMiniatures

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    1. There's loads of different methods for getting different results. I've recently been playing with sand undercoat and then zenithal bone. I also got a good result from a plain undercoat, an Agrax wash and then a drybrush before starting on the painting "proper".
      I'm having a lot of fun trying different methods of preparation and seeing how it affects the final look of the model.

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    2. Yeah that channel looks good (still haven't come across the 'Gryph Charger Grey' episode!). I am having fun just trying different things out though.

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  5. Love the base idea! Wendy came out great. Congrats.

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    1. Cheers DAM. I painted her on yellow tiles at first until my son pointed out that Alice should be on a chessboard. Doh!

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  6. Always cool to see one completely finished, fair play. Loving how the bases tie into things.

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    1. Thanks! Actually, I was thinking I could go back and touch up the... no! Finished! One is finished!

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  7. I showed the top pic to my non-gamer GF and she thought it was awesome! That and she wanted to know if it was some sort of Alice in Wonderland theme...lol.

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    1. Reel her in. Everybody's a gamer when you scratch the surface. Just don't start her off with 40k! Try Coup or Skull or Settlers.

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