Realm of Chaos Spawn

This is a figure I have had in my collection for a long time. I cannot remember the date it was bought, early to mid 2000s I would hazard a guess. Back in those days, I was an old fogey in the glass cabinet section of the Warhammer forum. I bought the pack and split it with [fiend], a fellow painter on the forum, the idea being we would paint half each. I never got round to it for whatever reason, until all these years later. It’s kinda sad that it took so long.

I did make a start back in the day, it was glued to a square base and I had a notion to paint it as a Nurgle spawn, so it was already based in light green and bone colours. But my painting style has moved on. I wanted to give it more interest and more contrast, so I started adding hues and they developed at random. The left head I thought looked a bit alienesque and was shooting for a silver grey look, like a shark, but overdid it with the blue, decided I liked it and stuck with it. The right hand head stayed green and yellow. The middle head I was trying for a flesh colour but it turned out angry pinks, but again I quite like it so stuck with it.

Finally, here’s the chaos sorceror of my warband, to give a sense of scale. I am hoping to play games of Warhammer using the old fourth or fifth edition chaos book, in which there is a possibility that a character will be turned to a spawn for the amusement of the chaos gods (and my opponent, no doubt). At the moment the warband contains just one character, this sorceror, so he had better make sure he impresses those fickle deities!

Realm of Chaos Sorceror

This is a scenario many of you will no doubt recognise. I started painting this mini in a flurry of excitement and inspiration. I blasted through the cape and added the decorative border in a couple of sessions and was really pleased with the progress. I had an idea on the skin and put down a base coat and then put it to one side, meaning to pick it up again later in the week. But when the allotted time came round I didn’t fancy doing it too much so I left it, get back to it next week. And then the next week came and I was busy with something else. And so on. Eventually, it was four weeks later before I finally picked it up and finished it off. So it took one month to paint one figure!*

This is a metal figure, a limited edition chaos sorceror released around 2002 (according to Stuff of Legends, who seem to know their, er, stuff). It’s almost 20 years old, by the gods I have been doing this for so long now. It originally had a tail protruding from the front of the cloak but I chopped that off, partly on a whim, partly because I don’t like having too much of the model hanging over the the edge of the base. Nobody likes massive dangly bits.

The palette was mostly determined by previously completed chaos warriors, but I flipped the dominant colour to a deep red. The pale skin was suggested by the face looking a bit vampiric, a bit like the Emperor of the stars wars movies. Most evil guys have a very sickly, pale pallor, they obviously spend far too much time secreted away in dark towers and deep dungeons. The green flames were a natural contrast to the red robes, and green flames just look magical.

Slowly, very slowly in this case, the chaos warband is coming together. With ten warriors at his side and ten little goatee men scouts, there is a possibility to play skirmish games at this stage. Ideally, there would be at least one more unit before gaming could start in a meaningful way. I have already built the next unit (see my previous post) and hopefully I can get them painted quicker than one model each month!

This last photo shows the sorceror alongside two of the chaos warriors. If we ever play games of Erehwon, these would be the bodyguard/acolytes. While the warriors were painted almost exclusively using contrast paints with no highlights, on the sorceror I did employ some traditional techniques, layering and highlighting. Is there a great difference in the quality of the finish?

* these days, I spend most of my spare time painting canvas rather than toy soldiers

Realm of Chaos Warriors

The first unit of warriors for the Realm of Chaos project are completed. Black armour, red cloaks and white fur makes a striking scheme I have used before and wanted to try again, though this time using mainly contrast paints. There is very little highlighting involved on these figures, it’s mostly glazing with diluted contrast paints. I explained the process in more detail in my previous post. I am happy with the way these turned out, black armour can be flat and dull, so getting the texture and variation there was probably the hardest part. I could also make improvements on the red cloaks, but for now they are done.

With the recently painted ungors, that’s two completed units for this project. I feel I have earned the right to paint a character, so that’s my next job. An old sorcerer model will do very nicely. A chance to stretch my wings a little and add some more detail rather than production line units. That’s what I need now, to keep the interest level high. I find as I get older that I have less patience with painting units, one reason I am keen to exploit the contrast paints in any way I can. 

Contrast Chaos Warriors

I am making some progress with the chaos warriors. Over the weekend I finished half the unit, the remaining half are quite well progressed too. I had the camera set up for commission work so decided to grab a quick shot and waffle a bit about the painting process.

As with most of my work I started with a light undercoat. In the past I have sprayed white, then added a wash and worked from that point. For these figures I primed black all over, then from above with a grey, then dry brushed with white. This gave me a much better range of tonal values, albeit monochromatic to start with, a good base to glaze over with contrast paints. 

I painted the cloaks first as I thought these (front bits) would be hardest to reach with the brush. I used flesh tearer red contrast paint, diluted with a little flow aid and matte medium. This gave a surprisingly good finish, I could easily have left it at this, but I did add a little more shading in the deeper creases using contrast cygor brown, which is a red brown.

The fur trim was washed with skeleton horde contrast, as usual thinned with flow aid and matte medium. I suspect this is how contrast paints are made, with pigment added of course. I then dry brushed with white for an easy, effective, light fur effect. I splashed in other glazes to the fur as I painted the armour, greys, browns, yellow at random, to make it look a bit less uniform, a bit more natural.

The black armour was a bit more fiddly. I used black Templar contrast paint, which has a green/blue tendency over white. Ideally suited to sci fi figures but not my taste. So I glazed with browns and yellows to warm the tone. I then added random patches of grey and highlights with light colours from my palette, and also used white contrast paint to really try to achieve some variation in tone. Black alone is so flat and uninteresting. There was quite a bit of lightening and darkening going on with white, grey, brown and black, some glazing, some stippling, until I was happy with the result. It’s not as simple a process as the fur but then it’s a more complex thing to paint.

Hopefully it will not be too long before I finish the rest of them and I can put up a unit shot. The project is ticking along at a nice pace so far, hopefully I can keep at it, not get distracted by other projects. I spend more time painting canvas than miniatures these days, this Realm of Chaos project could be my swan song.

Realm of Chaos warriors

The first unit for painting in my new Realm of Chaos project is the warriors, from the Start Collecting Slaves to Darkness starter set. The box contains 16 figures, comprising 10 warriors (foot), 5 knights (mounted) and one lord on a lizard type beast. Round / oval bases are provided. The figures are press together builds meant for beginners, though I assembled mine with glue. They are all built in a single pose, it is not possible to make your own poses. However, it’s easy enough to remove the flange on the necks, allowing you to twist the head and alter the pose a little. I did this quite a lot on the foot warriors, to avoid them all looking straight ahead. There’s also a choice of helmeted or bare head available on the warriors and the lord, though not the knights.

The engineering on GW’s figures never ceases to amaze me. They truly are amazing models. Each of the foot figures, which technically are footslogging grunts, could easily be a character model. These were a breeze to put together. I trimmed off a couple of bits and varied the head rotation as I mentioned above. If you wanted to make weapon swaps (if you had two sets and you wanted to avoid clones) it should be reasonably easy. The choice of heads is also a nice touch and you could potentially mix in heads from other kits. These are wonderful models and I am really looking forward to painting them. I would think that one or two might be slightly easier to paint if you left off the shield arm and attached it after painting was complete, but I tend to avoid this. 

As far as compatibility is concerned, they scale really well with recent chaos warrior models, as this photo shows. The red warrior is one of the Khorne models released for AOS. The black warrior is from the plastic box of chaos warriors released back when WHFB was still alive. The styling and scale are well matched, the newer figures have more realistic (smaller) weapons and heads. I would think it would be reasonably easy to base them on squares and rank them up. I did intend to do this, but found I had run out of mdf bases so just went for the easy option of using those in the box. 

Even though I have started the project on a nostalgia wave, I am using the project as a testing board for some new ideas. New to me that is. More on that in a future post, for now here are the figures primed black, then grey, then dry brushed white.

Realm of Chaos

This is probably the most thumbed in my collection of old Warhammer army books. It was not the first book I ever bought, that was Undead. It was not my first love either, that would have been High Elves. It was probably my third choice in a way, but I have collected and painted more chaos armies than any other. And to this day, I have a chaos collection that dwarfs my elves and undead (and my dwarfs for that matter).

This book was released in 1997 for fourth/fifth edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle. It contained three different armies - warriors of chaos, beastmen and chaos daemons. These could be combined to a degree, plus there was the option of including monsters and allies. Add in the different flavours provided by the four gods of Chaos and there were endless possibilities to explore. And that’s what I intend to go back to with a new project. Feeling nostalgic for the old fantasy world, I have been flicking through the book again and wondering if I could revisit those early hobbyist dreams. 

There were three sample armies in the back of the book, one each for warriors, beasts and daemons. Each would make the basis of a solid army, using figures from my old collection and supplementing them with newer models. Each of these armies was a fully playable 1000 point army in fourth edition, and it reminded of me of the joys of those early days. Here’s the chaos warriors army from the book, followed by a (mostly)modern interpretation. I am waiting for a warmer spell of weather so I can get into the garage to prime them.

The Wurmspat

Another Beastgrave warband I painted recently was the Wurmspat, a trio of Nurgle warriors in old money. These were really nice to paint up, a lot of detail as is the norm these days with Games Workshop, but not too much to drive you crazy. 

I have been painting on canvas quite a lot recently and some of the techniques I used on these models. So the armour plates I painted wet into wet, letting the paint run and blend into each other. I am also gaining a greater understanding of colour. It's good to learn new techniques, though I spend more time painting canvas than minis so it's not all good.

These figures (and others) are currently on sale on ebay as I try to raise funds to replace my knackered laptop. It would be nice if you could share with anyone you think might be interested.

Birthday Giveaway

It's my birthday soon and I am giving away a present. This (un)lovely dude is the prize.

All you have to do to enter the draw is visit my YouTube channel, specifically this video about painting Nurgle stuff. Leave a comment in the video, maybe even like and/or subscribe. I will draw a random name from the comments and that person will win.

My birthday is about two weeks away and I will make the draw around that time.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in my channel, then please share.

How to Paint Nurgle

The latest video has been posted to my Youtube account (link over on the right). It's a brief overview into how I painted the Nurgle character from the previous post, mostly the flesh and the armour. I go into some detail on how to use matt medium and flow improver to get different effects with your paints. I did have problems with my microphone (again) and ended up having to use the one built into the camera, which is not ideal, there's an occasional muffle noise to contend with. But all in all, it's worth a watch. Here's a direct link to the video.

Nurgle Lord

This is a modern classic. So many awesome versions of this figure around on the web. Here's my effort, painted it in about two hours, pretty happy with the way it turned out.

I shot some footage while I was painting. Hopefully it will be good to compile into a painting video, not had a look at it yet. It actually takes longer to put together a video than to paint the figure. Perhaps by the weekend I will have got it done.

In the meantime, here's Nigel from a few more angles. Yeah, he is called Nigel.

Tackling Chaos!

This is a photo of my new "studio". I spent all weekend clearing figures out of, and then moving the cabinet to a new location, so that I had this clear, bright corner. I am trying to set the room up re-using as much as possible, I feel guilty about all the stuff I have bought down the years and am trying to reduce my footprint as much as possible. The table I picked up from facebook marketplace for a good cheap price, that's better than buying new. It's absolutely perfect condition and cost me a quarter what it would to buy new, and I don't have to drive 50 miles to ikea to pick it up. It's made from bamboo, which is meant to be more sustainable I think.

The chair is an old one that my son was gifted, and now I am using it. It's a bit tattered in some areas and a bit wobbly, but it still works so there's no need to buy a new one. It's quite comfortable too and adjustable so I can get it right under the table and sit low, which is better for my back (sitting up straight while painting is better for my spine than hunching over).

The figures in the newly located cabinet have been re-organised. I have taken the opportunity to downsize my collection a little, you can see items for sale on ebay here if interested. This photo shows the bottom two shelves of the cabinet. It's not particularly clear, but it's basically the majority of my painted Chaos collection. On the bottom is mostly Chaos Undivided, with a few marked units. On the top, the right hand section is my Khorne Warriors, the left hand section is Tzeentch and Slaanesh daemons, while the middle ground is held by some Nurgle units. It really cries out to be rebased in one unified way, with magnetic movement trays, but that's one of those big jobs that just seems so daunting.

It was sheer coincidence that I had started re-organising all this and I was looking fondly at all my chaos collection, some of it stretching back a good twenty years, when the news dropped about the upcoming chaos releases from Games Workshop. So even if I do get through re-organising all this stuff, there will be more coming along in the not too distant future. The new sculpts have blown me away. They are not too different from the existing aesthetic, but certainly would add a little dynamism to older models. That's xmas sorted for me.

Armies never get finished, they sometimes rest for a while, but always they evolve. Embrace Chaos.

Shadespire : Magore's Fiends

Regular readers will know that I have a small collection of Khorne Chaos Warriors, mostly plastics from the newer Age of Sigmar range. The latest set of the red armoured, axe wielding maniacs is designed for the skirmish game, Shadespire - and that's how these are shown here. Straight from the box I have painted them for ebay. If you know of anybody who might be interested, please share the link to the auction.

The figures would also make a nice addition to my square based force. The three chaos warriors should slot in easily - though ranking up would probably be an interesting challenge. The bare headed figure makes a nice change, good to see the crazed warrior under the mask. The hound could well be a useful filler figure or possibly added to a cavalry unit. It would be nice to think that at some stage we will see a plastic set of the hounds released. Having just sweated over the intricacies of the painting of this set, I won't be adding it to my collection too soon, but certainly may do so at a future date, maybe in the winter when it seems more appropriate to paint my snow based army.

If you crave more images, there are many more photos on my facebook page - Nord's Painting Saga.

Krom the Paunch

Krom is the Packmaster of the Hounds, leader of the Blood Hunt. From a young age he found he preferred the company of the camp dogs to the human members of the tribe, though he learned early on that they were not to be tamed, losing his hand in that harsh lesson. Over the years he came to understand the pack mentality of the beasts, learn their language of gestures and growls. Gradually, he became accepted as a member of the pack, living, eating and sleeping with them, rising to become  the alpha hound, the packmaster. Krom and his pack roam far and wide over the snowy wastes, tracking prey and scouting out potential raids for the tribe to undertake. 

This is the Bloodstoker from the Age of Sigmar starter set. It was the obvious model to lead the hounds, with the whip and the prodder attachment to his arm stump. There's even a pair of jaw bones trophy attached to his helmet, the previous alpha male of the pack? It really is a lovely sculpt and looking at it, I was thinking about just how far ahead of the pack that Games Workshop have become in the production of plastic figures. I was struck by how far they had progressed when comparing the current marauders to some old school models, but these character sculpts are just in a different league. I reckon this model could stand proudly next to any classic metal sculpt of yesteryear.

It feels good to be painting chaos warriors again after a break of about two years. I have another unit underway and have been sorting through my old collection for more ideas. Three is not Khorne's number, but it is my favourite, so hopefully I will be adding a trio of units to the army.

Chaos Hounds

The recent Arctic vortex weather had me thinking about my snow based army, the Chaos Warriors. I felt inspired to paint up a unit or maybe more, so I started with these chaos hounds - mini beasts from the East. They are relatively quick to stick together and paint, the time prolonged a little by my decision to not use the provided ears but fill the holes with a little sculpted fur.

When it came to painting I googled a few images for inspiration, with half a mind on them being useable as hell hounds/flesh hounds in other settings - unlikely given the snowy bases but there you go, forever optimistic. I settled on a ruddy skin colour, with black fur and glowing eyes. I primed black rather than my usual white, thinking it would save time with the fur. But then I seemed to spend a good while recoating the skin a light colour before applying the flesh colour. In hindsight I should have stuck with the usual white primer.

I used nine of the ten figures, this gives me enough for games of Saga and most other systems we tend to play. Most of my units in the chaos army are either five or six wide, so two ranks of five will suffice. No doubt the mathematically talented have spotted a flaw here. Yes, there's a spare slot in the unit, now who could possibly fill that space?.....

Chaos Marauders Spot the Difference

Can you spot much difference between these two marauders? They both have very large axes, horned helmets and a pair of trousers. And they are both built from the plastic bloodreavers kit, right? Well, almost.

The figure on the right is 100% pure bloodreaver kit - apart from the mdf base of course! The figure on the left has head and arms of the same origin, but the body is the older marauder kit. The reason I have this one built is that I picked up a sprue of bloodreavers, built all ten but wanted twelve for a unit, so had to improvise a bit using some old bits. He's a bit scrawny looking and the shoulder join is not perfect, but lurking at the back of the unit, who's to know?

As you can see, the unit champion is no shrinking violet hiding from the limelight. He towers above his compatriots, even if he is cheating a bit by standing on a handy pile of skulls. I have them arranged here in an old move tray, that I use when assembling to make sure the unit ranks up. WHFB lives on in my dreams.....

And here is the unit in a more contemporary formation, just milling about in random fashion, hoping for a game of Saga perhaps. I like the ranked up look, really must try to get in a game of Warhammer again sometime soon.

X.VIII - Cold Warriors

As the snow gently falls outside, it's a reminder to once again visit a past project, in celebration of my decade of blogging. It was 2015 and quite an easy year to choose a highlight from, as I focussed on just two main projects. The first of these, at the start of the year, was painting a Wars of the Roses force to play Lion Rampant. I made really good progress and painted the whole lot in about three or four months. Billmen, archers and men at arms.

As pleased as I was with my historicals, it was fantasy once again that took the crown for best of the year, in the shape of a Khorne force based around the Age of Sigmar starter set, with a few classic metals from my collection added in for good measure.

I don't consider myself a particularly talented convertor, but I was really pleased with a couple of these figures. The ogre in the marauder unit was built from plastic bits, a rat ogre and an ogre kingdoms head. The khorgorath (daemon beast thingy) from the starter was a more complex job, adding an old metal bloodthirster head and a little basic greenstuff work. Compared to the work of other talented hobbyists, it is beginner level, but I was happy with the results. 

X.IV - Nurgle Giant

It's my look back to the year 2011 as part of my X celebration series. This was a very busy period for the blog, as I added to three of my main armies.

The dwarfs got the bulk of my time and attention as Avatars of War released plastic dwarf berserkers. It was quite an exciting time, I struggle to remember if there were any other plastic non-GW figures around at the time. It re-ignited my interest in my long dormant beard collection and I added two units to the army, berserkers and warriors.

Towards the end of the year I also made a start on resurrecting my very first fantasy army, as I made the first faltering steps in a new Undead army. I hammered out a large regiment of zombies and a couple of characters. Looking back, I was very productive at this time, regiment after regiment painted up. If only my current stamina levels matched those glory days.

My pick of the year is this friendly looking Nurgle giant. It's not a GW model, but possibly the first resin figure I ever added to my collection - an Ilyad Games grotesque which I was lucky enough to find on ebay. The company are long gone now, one of many that produced high quality figures but never managed to find their niche in the market.

I chose this figure for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I really like it - a good enough reason to be selected. Secondly, it marks the point when my painting changed to something resembling my current style. I started to use white primer and multiple layers of thin washes and glazes, a technique I have continued with to the present day. The result can be very subtle, as this close-up hopefully demonstrates. I find it far easier than the base/shade/layer/highlight system, and far more realistic.

So, another year assessed, another chaos appearance. I did also paint up a very nice unit of chaos ogres. At the time, the chaos army was my "elite" project, the one that I was in no hurry to finish, just wanted to achieve a high level on every element of the army. Apologies if you are not a chaos fan, there will be some other factions eventually, but chaos certainly ruled at the time. If you disagree, have a word with these friendly looking chaps, I'm sure they will be very understanding.....