Stop. Time for hammers. Also, machine guns.

I've had a lot of work to do with no deadlines and procrastination is nearing its peak for me, which ultimately means another painting figure! This one is the slightly larger than usual Grolar, again from Khador. I took the lazy way out and didn't magnetize him because I don't have magnets. And I thought at the time (without checking out the rules) that obviously the hammer and minigun were better than no hammer or minigun. Well, now I wish I could also play the Kodiak but oh well, I guess I'll have to throw more money at PP. Regardless, I do like the studio paint scheme for the Kodiak for these bigger warjacks than the normal red scheme. I'm not sure if I'm trying to be consistent or not, but in case I am I think I'll paint future standard Juggernaut chassis 'jacks that classic Khador red, and the bigger ones the field green.

But enough empty plans. No decent pictures today, just what I snapped from my painting table. Don't mind the distractingly beautiful table cloth in the background, that what we play board games on and we'll be starting Pandemic Legacy tonight so that's why it's out.

I tried for easily over two hours to replicate what I did on the Behemoth with this guy but I could not get the green to look right. But it's close as long as they're not shoulder to shoulder. As an update, this is my Legion of Steel 75pt theme list so far.

It's just missing the battle mechaniks I ordered with my FLGS, I need to finish my IFP and start my Great Bears, and then it could be tournament ready. Despite being a terrible list. And I probably won't play with Kovlov. Or in any tournaments.

Some Dark Grey Dragons

When I got the big army box two Christmases ago, it came with two full units of iron fang pikemen, with the option of turning either or both into black dragons. When I built them, I had no idea which one I'd rather have so I put them together as one unit of each. Which I'm glad I did, as they seem to have different purposes and are both fun to play with. Since then I've put some amount of paint on all of those miniatures except the black dragons which I've avoided both because "it'll be easy when I decide to get to it" and because I don't like painting black. Maybe I'm somehow still burned out after the Cryx. When I finish each of the other pieces, I'll put them up here too but these guys are the first unit that is completely done.

I'm going for some kind of dark Roman Legionnaires look, which I think worked out well enough. I didn't seal them because I may go back and touch them out, and I've also not based them yet (like the rest of my Khador). I'm a little disappointed that a lot of the details are difficult to see without getting VERY close, but I'm still glad I did it. After almost a year I think I've figured out what those dangly things are on their sash, extra pike tips! Realizing that I wanted the holder to be a different metallic than the bronze of the tips and ornamentation.

I also grabbed a Kapitan Sofya Skirova, a Black Dragon solo which refuses to die. I thought the miniature was great and she was fun to paint up with the rest of her boys and girls.

I don't think that I'm still as up to painting 13 models in an assembly style as I used to, but it definitely felt efficient. I think it only took me three days of painting to get them from primer black to this state.

Anyway I've got about as many half-finished Khador as I do fully finished ones so it's likely I'll be posting relatively often while I finish those off.

Scythe Base Game Miniature

I've been working on these a little at a time since my last post inspired me to take a look at some of my own board games for more miniatures to paint. If painted minis make wargames more fun, board games? So Scythe is one of my favorite games. My wife and I just played though the third expansion while I was painting these (don't worry, no spoilers), and if we're including that then I'd say that perhaps it is my favorite board game.

Scythe Base Game Minatures

Some were definitely more difficult than others to make look good, as would be expected, and others I was just either more or less on my game. Just like last time I'm just using my phone to take pictures on top of my kitchen island because it oddly seems to have the best lighting in my place. I hope the speckles aren't too distracting. More background (stories, art, etc.) are at Stonemaier Games.

Anna and Wojtek

 

Anna and Wojtek (the bear) were the first of the group that I painted because Polania is my favorite faction to play. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of detail on this model, and yes I know I should have remove that awful mold line but it's not as obvious in person as in pictures so I didn't think about it until it was too late. It's the same for the rest of the minis too. I decided for simple faces for these folk since not even the original artwork has eyes, and I think it works fine. I had to freehand Wojtek's name on his pack as well as all of the red and white. 

Bjorn and Mox

 

The Nordic Kingdoms are a close second favorite faction for me to play, as their style is kind of hilarious. The way I play them is that I just start spreading my workers toward my two flanks from the beginning because they can swim and then use my mechs and character for guerilla fighting from lakes. Anyway, I'm happy with Bjorn, I gave him a darker skin tone and fiery orange beard making a decent contrast with the blue of his overcoat and Mox. With Mox, I tried a lot of different things before I settled with what became the final product, a dirty and snowy (hopefully) coat of fur and a greyish face. As the only character who rides his animal companion into battle, Bjorn is clearly the most badass of the bunch.

Zehra and Kar

This one turned out to be my least favorite of the group to paint. Not only was the model completely different from the artwork, the details were shallow or lacking all together. Kar, for example, didn't even have a defined beak and so I had to freehand it (and it does not look very convincing unfortunately). I suppose I could have tried to sculpt it myself (why else do I have green stuff?) but after all this is only for a board game and everyone I've shown it too hasn't mentioned it so that's probably good enough.

Olga and Changa

I'm actually really proud of these two gals. Olga looks competently done enough but is clearer dull in comparison to her Siberian Tiger companion. Many people think that Rusviet is the most powerful faction in the game (I tend to disagree) so I anticipated my friends would frequently pick her in our pickup games so I really wanted the tiger to turn out well. I painted Changa from a reference image of a real Siberian Tiger, starting with a sulfur yellow which you can still kind of see in the face and then mixing the right shade of brown/orange for the top coat and a whitish yellow for the face, paws, and tail. With the strips I tried to match the face to the picture and for the body I just did what looked natural. Like I said, very happy with this one especially after the last one.

Gunter and Nacht

Ohhh Gunter. You are the most aggressive faction in the game, and by far the least subtle. I don't play you if I can help it but you definitely have a playstyle that I'm sure some people like. He was tricky because of all of the black. In the artwork, Nacht is just a silhouette with yellow eyes, but I brightened it up to make it more interesting. I have to say, I've enjoyed immensely the combination of human and animal companion in the same model for a lot of textural variety. I don't think either model would be that interesting solo, but together each make a decent pair. There wasn't anything special about painting Gunter and Nacht, I have a lot of experience painting black between my old Cryx and the 40k miniatures from years ago so I wasn't too worried.

I enjoyed painting these guys a lot, and my game is a lot more vibrant because I did. I likely won't paint the mechs, but in the future I do intend to paint the new miniatures in the first and third expansion (I'll put spoiler warnings for campaign relation figures).

Until then, I hope you enjoyed. I think my next project will be to finish up some more of my Khador and go show them off at the game store.