In the Shadows lies the Silver Serpent.......

This delicate little thing is the first of a small faction I am developing for Victorian/steampunk gaming. It is a plastic figure, from the Malifaux range, the Oiran. This is Jade, member of a shadowy, secret society known as the Silver Serpent. She will be joined by more willowy figures like this, plus a couple of more solid compatriots.

The details on this figure are absolutely tiny. I usually paint with a number 2 or larger brush for the majority of my work, number 1 for eyes if need be. For this model I had to go down to a number zero and dig out the optivisor - the eyes were especially challenging. The base is a nice solid 2p piece, giving the figure a bit of weight, hopefully it will not blow away in a slight breeze now.

In terms of gaming, I have recently enjoyed playing In Her Majesty's Name in the gaming dungeon. So far, all the games have been played using Matt's collection, but I thought it would be nice to add some figures and flavour of my own.  It will take me a while to get this faction painted, so I might use Dystopian Legion French troops as a short term solution. But rest assured, the Silver Serpent lies coiled, waiting to strike.

Blood Rage Previews

Pictures of the production versions of the Blood Rage figures have been released, and they certainly seem to live up to the original concepts and masters. On these photos I have removed the blue and sharpened them a little, but otherwise they are as sent. Nice sharp detail throughout, even on the smaller figures. They were originally promised for September but I always reckon on some delay with kickstarter projects. Hopefully they will be in my hands by xmas, giving me a nice project to while away the winter gloom. Even though the figures are part of a boardgame, my intention is to use them in Saga, or Dragon Rampant, or anything at all really. I can just imagine the werewolf stalking the Victorian streets in a game of IHMN or similar. And you don't have to possess the cunning of Loki to imagine what I will be doing with the undead vikings!

Fire Giant and troll

Troll and sea serpent

Mountain Giant and Ice Giant

Undead vikings and werewolf

Undead Vikings Painted

I managed to get the first batch of shambling Nordic revenants painted up fairly quickly. Most of these are simply mantic zombies and ghouls, with just a few viking bits to add flavour. Future batches will contain more historical bits, so in the end they will look more viking like than this lot.

There's 13 figures here, enough for a unit in either Lion Rampant or Saga. I see them as lowly fighters, the equivalent of bondi or even levy troops. I am hoping to double their number, and also add some more elite troops.

How to paint zombie flesh

When it came to painting the viking undead, I had a search around for a palette. I wanted something greenish, to contrast with the red tones of the clothing and shields. I used this image as a starting point.

The zombies were primed white and then I glazed with a grey and red, to give an undercolour of shade. The rest of the steps I have shown below. Each colour is thinned and matt medium added to add transluceny.

Step 1 : Glaze grey and chestnut

Step 2 : Glaze dead flesh 

Step 3 : Glaze camouflage green

Step 4 : Shade darker green, round eyes, mouth, lining

Step 5 : Purple line under eyes, in mouth, stippled on feet and some hands

Step 6 : Dark red for blood on gums, sores, hands

In the last picture I have also picked out the eyeballs and teeth with a very light grey (white is far too bright for eyes and teeth). Once the rags and weapons are painted I added more shading to feet and hands and splashed on some gore.  

Warg Riders

Lion Rampant formation

I finally finished painting the warg riders. There's eight in total, though as they are mostly metal only six are unique. That's fine for Lion Rampant, when playing Saga there will be a couple of duplicates. I must dig out (or invent) a battle board and get some games with them.

When it came to the palette, I was struck by how much the beasts looked like hyenas rather than wolves. A quick google and I was sold on the pale brown fur. The muzzles are grey for a little contrast. The riders are pretty drab, to match in with my Mordor and Isengard collection. Another unit crossed off my painting list, a satisfying feeling. I have quite a large force of orcs now, so I need to switch my efforts to the good guys for a while - either paint more Rohan or Dwarfs.

Saga formation

V&V Viking Berserkers

Another glimpse of a set of lovely sculpts by V&V Miniatures, courtesy of the Beasts of War news site. Again, these are described as resin casts, available only from Russian supplier Hobby Bunker. This makes them quite hard to acquire, but if they continue to release sculpts like this I may well take the plunge. One more set and it may be worth paying the postage supplement.