- contact@scarhandpainting.com
Magnetized bases is nowadays new hotness when it comes to miniatures transportation. This solution allows for comfortable transportation and fast deployment of your army. Once commited to this form of handling your plastic dudesmen, you will probably go back and magnetize all of your stuff. Regardless of choice of container, be it a professional carrying case like A-Case, or just a plain paper box with a piece of metal mounted at the bottom, first thing to do is actually magnetizing the bases.
And here’s where word of mouth and slight issues might discourage you from this glorious path to ultimate wargaming comfort. The internet is full of common misconceptions about magnetized miniatures. That is because a lot of hobbyists decide to go the most straightforward way and just glue a random magnet to the underside of a base YOLO style. This might result in a magnet falling off a base mid-transport, which in turn might transform your precious collection into a pile of scrap. Below I will show you how to avoid this fate with a very easy life hack.
Before we start, some notes:
This tutorial focuses on Games Workshop bases specifically as they tend to have empty undersides.
For conveniences sake I highly recommend magnetizing bases before painting.
Please take note that what works for me might not necessarily work for you.
Let’s start by toppling the topic of magnets falling off a base. This happens because the entirety of miniature’s weight is held in place by a relatively tiny spot of contact between a magnet and a base. The smaller the area of contact and the heavier a miniature – the more probable a COVFEFE in your carrying case. To avoid this, but also keep the size of magnets reasonable, I propose to use sockets. A socket extends the area of contact to the sides of a magnet and greatly increases strength with which the magnet is held in place. A proper material for a socket will also increase the bond between the magnet and plastic base.
Another thing is choosing a right size and the amount of magnets for each miniature. Personally I tend to go with two magnets for infantry, three to four for large infantry and cavalry and more for anything larger, depending on weight. The size of these varies depending on what bases I work with. For Games Workshop bases I go with 5x2mm magnets, which work as a charm, providing just enough strength to keep miniatures in place, but not as much as to prevent me from comfortably picking the miniatures.
Boy oh boy, so much theory… “where’s the actual tutorial?!” you might ask. Ok, let’s just go straight for the easy step-by-step.
Step one: the PVC
Start by drilling holes in the PVC one beside another with few mm in-between. No need to be very precise. Once done, use a hobby knife to cut the PVC into small two-holes pieces, as seen in the picture below. These are now “sockets” to hold the magnets in. Test if all sockets fit the bases, make some adjustments if necessary.
Step two: Mounting Sockets
Turn the base upside down, apply some Super Glue onto the surface and glue the socket on top. Avoid sticking your fingers through the holes as you might end up becoming one with the base by accident 🙂
Step three: the Magnets
Apply Super Glue into the sockets and glue the magnets in. Try to glue all the magnets in same direction for better effect. I found that it is better to put the magnet just barely into the socket, then flip the base and push it on top of a flat surface. This way the magnet will slide inside a socket up to a level of the base’s edge, thus providing good connection to a future metal transportation surface.
Hey! That’s it! These three simple steps will greatly increase your magnets (and miniatures) survivability during transportation. I’ve been using this solution for couple of years now, with no bad experience what so ever and I hope it will work for you just as well.
Alternative method:
If you find the above way to magnetize bases a bit too inconvenient, here’s a super simple alternative:
I hope you find this tutorial interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook.or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your hobby buds, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service be sure to contact me via this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Cheers!
Welcome to Painting Road to Survival Bandits tutorial. Here I will present to you a Step-by-step of an easy and fast painting process for Orzol Studio’s Bandits team from the Post-apo Survivors Kickstarter.
Before we start, some notes:
Step one: Undercoat
I applied a strong layer of Citadel Chaos Black spray. I prefer spray over manual application, but this is just a personal preference. Any matt black undercoat will do, as long as it’s thorough.
Step two: Grey clothes base
I started by airbrushing a strong layer of Vallejo Panzer Dark Grey all over the miniature. I used an airbrush mainly to have a thin but also strong and smooth layer.
Next I airbrushed a layer of Vallejo Cold Grey on top, zenithally and partially on the sides of the miniature.
Step three: Brown clothes
With a solid grey foundation I moved to painting browns. I started by applying a thinned down Vallejo Ghost Grey in a gritty, haphazard fashion on top of everything soon to be brown. I also used this opportunity to apply highlights on weapons and pieces of clothes meant to be black.
Then I applied a strongly thinned layer of Vallejo Burnt Umber instantly changing grey to nice vibrant brown, but keeping all the detail of the previous layer still visible. You might say I glazed with Burnt Umber.
Step four: Red clothes
I moved to Reds, staring with a strong layer of Vallejo Hull Red, followed by a wide highlight of Vallejo Flat Red.
Step six: Blue clothes
Another color I took on was blue. I applied Vallejo Prussian Blue then highlighted with Vallejo Electric Blue.
Step seven: Gas masks
For the masks and some additional detail I applied a layer of Games Workshop Karak Stone. I then strengthened the layer using Games Workshop Flayed One Flesh.
Step eight: Orange boots
For some shoes I applied a single layer of Vallejo Orange Brown. I knew boots will inevitably get messy during basing, so I decided to keep them super-simple.
Step nine: Brown wash
Here’s where all the magic happens. I applied a strong layer of Army Painter Strong Tone Ink mixed with just a drop of Matt Varnish. I washed everything, skin* included, except for weapons*. I kept coming back to the miniatures to remove the ostentatious excess of wash throughout the drying process.
Step ten: Highlights
I used Vallejo Glacier Blue and Games Workshop Pallid Wych Flesh to highlight blue, black and paint some extra detail on the shoes and buttons.
Step eleven: Gasmask visors
Finally I painted gasmask visors with Games Workshop Pallid Wych Flesh, followed by Vallejo Light Livery Green. I then applied a glaze of Games Workshop Waywatcher Green. Last step was to paint diagonal lines of Vallejo Off White through the visors – adding that extra flash effect to them.
Other steps: *You can learn how to paint weapons, skin and bases in previous tutorial: Painting Post-apo Survivors part 1 Stalkers
I hope you find this tutorial interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook.or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Ahoy Sailors! As you know I am most and foremost a passionate hobbyist. That being said I am also a pirate, a scoundrel and a fanatical enthusiast of Mantic Games Kings of War: Armada. The latter resulted in few strategy related articles, one of which you found yourself reading right now.
Kings of War: Armada is a game of fantastical sea warfare. Set in a rich world of Pannithor, the Armada clashes wonderfully crafted and strongly themed factions against each other. As much as miniatures go, KoW Armada offers a selection of beautiful miniature ships from across four factions, with more being released every few months. Although colliding prow first into enemy ships is forbidden by the rules, some ships are designed to Ram. This usually ends up with both ships getting crushed to ribbons, which led to a lot of misconceptions about Ramming in general. Most common being “Ramming is a weak faction mechanics”. Today I will topple the topic and prime you for successful Ramming. Hold on to the decking and All Ahead Full!
Ramming for Dummies
Allow me to start by saying this: Ramming is a very strong and rewarding mechanics.
That being said let’s focus on what makes a Faction oriented mechanics good. For starters a Faction game mechanics should be synergic with faction strengths (and weaknesses). It should allow for leveraging the common rules to faction’s advantage. A Faction game mechanics can be a strong independent rule, or a synergic one in which case the more synergy the stronger rules combo becomes.
For instance Baseilan ships have the best Structure Points to Points Cost ratio in the game. They have upgrades like Aegis Shield which reduces damage taken and Blessed Hull which allows them to Repair more efficiently. Basileans also have Slopes with Helping Hand increasing Repair efficiency even more. There is a theme to these rules which translates into a strong Faction Mechanics. Worth noting is the fact that it takes more than a single rule to achieve this synergy. Like, Elohi’s Halo of Light is useless in a vacuum, but kicks in when combined with other pieces of the puzzle.
Back to Ramming, RAM(n) allows to deliberately Collide with enemy ships and auto fail the Evade test. It also adds (n) damage to the total dealt to enemy ship in case of a successful collision.
In a vacuum the rule is very swingy. Unless (and sometimes regardless if) you Ram a much smaller target, there is a chance of taking more damage than dealt to enemy ship.
On a wider scale RAM(n) goes along the common Orc main theme: High damage output and expendable ships.
Orc ships are all about C weapons, which have best damage output, but the shortest range from among all shooting weapons. This means you need to get close and inevitably take some damage before you can unleash your C volleys in a devastating salvo. Orc ships, on average, are also cheap and have a second best Structure Points to Points Cost ratio in the game.
Still the main Faction mechanics for Orcs is Boarding Actions. On average, Orcs have more Crew Strength than other factions. They also have access to upgrades that further boost Crew Strength (Morax, War Drum of Spite, Rabble Rousing etc.). Going all ahead full to get close and use all the C weapons means Orcs are also close enough to Board and they even come with cheaper Boarding Hooks and a rule allowing them to try to Grapple enemy ships moving at Full Speed! And as I already pointed out – Orcs are great at Boarding Actions.
So the most efficient strategy should follow the most efficient mechanics:
– Go at Full Speed towards enemy to get close as soon as possible to start dealing damage, plus be harder to hit.
– Use C weapons once you’re in range. Best if moving between enemy ships to be able to fire both sides for more damage output.
– Initiate Boarding Actions to protect your ships from being shot at during enemy activation, plus further increase damage output.
Where does that leave RAM(n)?
RAM(n) is just a tool. It is not a main faction strength, but rather another synergic mechanics in a wide arsenal of increasing damage output. It is more of a situational tool, rather than go to strategy.
To be successful at Ramming you must master “when” and “where”.
Proper Ramming:
* Your ship is low on Structure Points and will probably get sunk in the next enemy Activation. Might as well deal a lot of damage in a blaze of glory, especially if it also carries a Crystal Keel of Retribution.
* Large, dangerous enemy ship is next to Activate, but is also on a brink of being Crippled.
* Your main C damage dealer is soon to Activate, but an enemy ship (low on SP) is the closest target blocking line of fire to much juicier targets.
* Enemy ship has not Fired as She Bears yet and you need to avoid getting in it’s side Fire Arc, electing to Ram head on and trying to initiate Boarding Action afterwards to keep it from Firing at your incoming fleet.
* Last turn, enemy ship holds an objective, Ramming has potential to sink the ship, thus swinging the game result in your favor.
Dummy Ramming:
* You main strategy is to prioritize Ramming over Shooting and Boarding Actions.
* You use Ram as an opening move in a battle.
* You just want to see the world burn and don’t care who goest to the bottom of the sea.
* You Ram same size or larger enemy ships with no additional goal to achieve with this action.
In short: Treat Ram(n) as a tool of opportunity, a strong Glass Canon type of Damage dealing. Accept Ramming means sacrificing your ship and be sure to Ram if it’s worth the sacrifice, or if it allows you to achieve important long term goals.
I hope you find this article entertaining. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your hobby buds, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service be sure to contact me via this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Cheers!
Welcome to Painting Five Layers Technique – Metal tutorial. Here I will present to you a Step-by-step of an easy and fast painting process for metal, that I myself use in most of my projects.
Before we start, some notes:
Prep: Undercoat
I started with a thorough layer of Games Workshop Chaos Black spray.
Step one: Base layer
I then applied first layer (base) with GW Warplock Bronze. Thinning the paint down a notch might help leading the paint to recesses and speed up the process.
Step two: Bronze Highlight
Next, with a side of a large brush tip, I applied a layer of Army Painter True Copper. The movement and technique behind this layer was similar to flatbrushing. The key was to leave some of the previous layer visible in recesses, all the while applying new color to everything beyond.
Step two alt: Metal Highlight
I did the same for weapon, except I switched to Army Painter Gun Metal, instead of True Copper.
Step three: Edge highlight
Next I edge highlighted all areas with Army Painter Shining Silver. This one does not have to be precise and might get a bit messy. Any additional scratches or lines painted on the armor will benefit the final result.
Step four: Wash
The Army Painter Strong Tone was next. I applied a rich layer of wash all over the miniature.
NOTE: I recommend applying and highlighting any colors compatible with Strong Tone before commencing this step. Proper layer planning is key to achieving fast painting time. For this tutorial I left the rest of the miniature as is.
Step five: Highlight
Finally I edge highlighted with Army Painter Shining Silver. I also painted few additional scratches and lines to add diversity to some areas.
Job complete. It is just that simple. Now you have a nice base to add depth and additional detail with color washes/glazes, or you can just leave it as is, if you prefer. Below are some examples of Metal painted with Five Layers Technique.
I hope you find this tutorial interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Being a commission painter, or even just a casual hobbyist, might see you grow attached to a certain line of paints. What if suddenly these paints become out of production? Having to change one’s painting habits is rough. Being left in a middle of a project, without means to continue seems even worse!
I’ve been hobbying for over twenty years now. Easy to say I have seen my share of paints going OOP. Been on a receiving end of such blows far too many times. The most recent and by far most painful was Games Workshop’s removal of the amazing Glaze series. Using these as Washes, Glazes and even Mix ingredients I grew to love them. No amount of Contrast paints will fill the void, as these are a thing of their own with different qualities and behavior.
And thus after burning (or rather flowing) though my stash of GW Glazes I started searching for a stable source of substitute. I experimented with Army Painter, Privateer Press, Games Workshop and more. In the end salvation came from Vallejo. It turned out their Game Inks are already pretty close to old GW Glazes. Few tweaks saw these pretty much spot on. See for yourself.
Recipe:
Vallejo Game Ing 72.085 Yellow 1 drop
Water 2 drops
Recipe:
Vallejo Game Ink 72.086 Red 4 drops
Vallejo Game Ing 72.085 Yellow 1 drop
Water 10 drops
Recipe:
Vallejo Game Ink 72.089 Green 3 drops
Vallejo Game Ing 72.085 Yellow 2 drops
Water 10 drops
Recipe:
Vallejo Game Ink 72.088 Blue 1 drop
Water 2 drops
There you have it. I hope this will help you refill your own bottles of old GW Glazes.
If you like the article, consider sharing it with someone who likes hobbying around with miniatures. Find me on Facebook and Instagram. Most importantly have a great hobby time!
I have been a huge fan of everything Pirates since early childhood. It started with LEGO Pirates back when it was still a brand new hotness, then continued to grow throughout the years. Once I moved to Miniatures Wargaming I dipped my toes in a range of Naval warfare games, Dreadfleet being the latest. Years went on, games rose and sunk, all the while I craved to find that ultimate Naval warfare experience – with beautiful miniatures and all the sassy fantasy vibes… and I did!
At the end of cursed year 2020 Mantic Games released their own naval game Kings of War: Armada. A wide range of artfully designed, beautifully detailed and perfectly themed “Tiny Resin Ships“. I fell for this game head over heels. Got all four available fleets and started expanding collection, feeding a typical hobby hype frenzy. Once I run out of ships I set my sights on a grand new project: Scenery set. But not any scenery set – an ultimate, well crafted and detailed set to match with the ships. Here’s where story of the “Kraken Islands” begun…
I set sails and ventured into the unknown, experimenting with stuff I had at home. Few hours of work saw a first pair of islands done. The process (that you can follow in it’s entirety here) was rather simple and the result looked pretty decent. It increased my hype and sealed the deal – I was about to make more islands!
As time passed, new islands joined the collection. First another pair in a similar theme to the first one, next a set of rocks to add verticality and diversity on the gaming board. The scenery seemed fine as a gaming set, but felt far from an “ultimate set”.
Armed with experience from previous endeavor and nagged by a creative muse – I gathered a crew and set sails in search of ultimate Armada scenery once again. This time around I aimed at larger, multi level, more interesting islands. Scenery pieces that could tell a story. For this purpose I decided to dump plasticard in favor of bark. More so, I spent over half an hour to dug up some old sculpts, made years back for unfinishedTM 3d Settlers of Catan board project. These costed me a lot of work back in the days and I was happy to use them for such a cool project.
It took me two days to finish a first amongst the new islands. “Lighthouse Island” looked pretty dope as a centerpiece and set the direction for the upcoming series.
The work continued and soon “Wizard Island”, “Volcano Island” and a series of smaller “Wild Islands” followed. The set looked great and brought a feeling of satisfaction. It definitely sated my hunger for Armada scenery. For the time being at least…
Having few games on the set and using it as a background for Fleets photographic sessions brought a creeping feeling of unease. Sure the islands looked cool and I already put a lot of effort into them, but something just felt off. It took a while to pinpoint the exact issue – bases just didn’t fit the fleets theme. They had to go.
Once I set my mind on something I go for it all speed ahead! I have contacted a friend from Micro Art Studio to help me out. He used a set of size comparison pictures I took and established dimensions for acrylic bases. Time stretched as I impatiently awaited delivery. Finally – they got here (like few days later) and I let the barbarism of removing previous bases, take control of me. Pulling off huge chunks of painted plasticard, all the while protecting detail from getting damaged, was the hard part. In contrast, basing went smooth and easy.
After an intense day of thorough rebasing I had it! The final form of the Kraken Islands was there for me to behold. And it seems I’m done with the project… For the time being at least…
See full gallery at: GALLERY KRAKEN ISLANDS
Thanks for reading. Be sure to let me know what you think of the project. Consider sharing this article with someone who likes hobbying around with miniatures. Find me on Facebook and Instagram. Most importantly have a great hobby time!
Here are some Colour Recipes for Horus Heresy Mechanicum from Gallery: Forge World Zhao Arkhad. Please take note that this is a simple colour scheme, not covering multiple overlapping layers and blends in between, that lead to the final product. It is supposed to be used as guideline not a step-by-step.
BRONZE armor:
Black Undercoat,
Mix Rust (val a) 1:1 Metallic Black (val a), *
Bright Bronze (val a), * zenithal
Shining Silver (ap), flbr
Strong Tone Ink (ap), wash / *
Shining Silver (ap), l&p
Soft Tone Ink (ap), wash dedicated
… GREEN metallic:
Jade Green (val), bl
TURQUOISE clothes:
Coal Black (p3),
Strong Tone Ink (ap), wash
Coal Black (p3),
Mix Coal Black (p3) 1:1 Turquoise (val), flbr
Mix Coal Black (p3) 1:2 Turquoise (val), bl
Turquoise (val), l&p
Ice Yellow (val), bottom drbr
SKIN:
Slaanesh Grey (gw),
Flesh (val a), flbr
Pale Flesh (val), l&p
Strong Tone Ink (ap), wash
Pale Flesh (val), l&p
BONES:
Flayed One Flesh (gw),
Ivory (val), flbr
Strong Tone Ink (ap), wash
Skeleton Bone (ap), l&p
Off White (val), l&p
GREEN osl:
Duck Egg Green (val a), *
Light Livery Green (val a), *
Off White (val), l*p
Waywatcher Green (gw), bl
DESERT bases:
Desert Sand (val texture), texture
Khaki (val a), * stones
Ice Yellow (val), drbr
Tufts:
Wasteland Tuft (ap),
Steppe Tuft 12mm (Paint Forge),
Steppe Tuft 6mm (Paint Forge),
l&p – lines and points,
p – points,
dl – deep lining,
bl – blend,
gl – glaze,
drbr – drybrush,
fltbr – flatbrush,
lobr – loaded brush,
stpl – stippling,
*Airbrushed (with multiple layers and mixes)
Welcome to Painting Empire of Dust Monolith tutorial. Here I will present to you a Step-by-step of an easy and fast painting process for Mantic Games Empire of Dust Monolith as can be seen in Gallery: Armada Empire of Dust.
Before we start, some notes:
Step one: Undercoat
I started with a thorough layer of Games Workshop Chaos Black spray.
Step two: Deck
I airbrushed Vallejo Khaki (air) over main deck and all top structures. I then flatbrushed GW Flayed One Flesh on top of Khaki layer.
Step three: Broadside
I airbrushed Vallejo Panzer Dark Grey (air), followed by a layer of Vallejo Cold Grey (air).
Step four: Gold
I then painted front and side ornaments, plus some additional detail with GW Warplock Bronze, followed by a solid flatbrush of P3 Molten Bronze and a highlight of Army Painter Shining Metal.
Step five: Wash
I then applied a lot of wash mix of Army Painter Strong Tone Ink 1:1 Army Painter Soft Tone Ink.
(If you followed my other tutorials you know at this point that the mixture is one of my very best friends in all painting.)
Step six: Main highlights
Once wash was dry I drybrushed broadsides with Vallejo Medium Sea Grey and then with Vallejo Ghost Grey. (I forgot to take pics). I then flatbrushed deck and top structure elements with GW Flayed One Flesh and edge highlighted with Vallejo Off White.
Step seven: Blue
I added accents of blue by manually painting chosen elements with Vallejo Magic Blue (air). I then highlighted with Vallejo Electric Blue, followed with Vallejo Glacier Blue. Furthermore I applied a wash layer of GW Guilliman Blue (glaze). Finally I added points of focus and thin highlights with Vallejo Glacier Blue.
Step Eight: Purple/Pink
I applied Vallejo Warlock Purple onto chosen areas, including top gem, piramid inner lines and catapult flames. I then applied couple successive highlights with different mixes of Vallejo Warlock Purple and Vallejo Off White. With few highlights made with pure Vallejo Off White I moved to glaze Army Painter Purple Tone Ink into few areas of choice. This was contained mostly to top gem and recesses in catapult flames (and around).
Such prepared miniature I airbrushed with two coats of Vallejo Polyurethane Matt Varnish and mounted on a base, following Tutorial: KoW Armada Water Bases.
I hope you find this tutorial interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Gamers Grass – is a Portuguese company producing a wide range of high quality basing accessories. For me Gamers Grass is a trustworthy, go to supplier of everything basing related. If you hadn’t had an opportunity to get to know their range, I recommend this article: Review: Gamers Grass Tufts. Now, all that introduction done, allow me to share my excitement over a new series of products: Flowers.
Painting miniatures is my hobby, but is also my job. Good quality tools and products used for modeling can save a lot of time (and nerves). This is why I strive to use only the very best stuff. I’ve been working with Gamers Grass range for quite some time now and can honestly say they meet my high standards.
Flower beds are precisely shaped with base being thinner in a natural way. Not many stray stalks protrude out of the main body. These are all done very precisely. The bottom is covered with a strong adhesive, capable of sticking into a variety of surfaces. I have no negative feedback to give about these. Most importantly, due to a more natural shape and no powdering Gamers Grass flowers present themselves much better than competition. Just see below:
Visually Gamers Grass Flowers present themselves great. A palette of colors to choose from, some strong, some a bit pastele, makes the range fit into all variety of projects and styles. There’s also a variety of shapes which makes flowers look more natural.
All flowers types are user friendly and there’s no quality difference between particular colors . There’s a clear separation between every piece on the sheet. Glue is strong and sticks to a range of different surfaces. There’s not many stray hair that require removal after application onto a base. Once used, flowers hold their shape nicely. Joy to work with. Additionally they come in two formats, one being four different colors packed into a single blister. This is a great way to get a lot of variety in a single cheap purchase, or a cool anniversary bouquet for your partner!
I generally don’t expect modelling flowers to make a good impression. This is because usually they are messy and not very user friendly, dragging other beds out of the sheet alongside them, leaving powder everywhere etc. That being said, the Gamers Grass Flowers are awesome. Easy and Fun to use, clean, well shaped. Just awesome.
Time to take in the price factor. I’ve done quick research and here’s how it looks like against immediate competition:
It seems that Gamers Grass is the more expensive, even though not that much.
To sum things up: I have tested about a dozen different suppliers in the past few years and compared to competitors, the Gamers Grass Flowers stand out both in quality and functionality. Visuals are great, range is wide. Price might use a tweak, but in my opinion the product is totally worth the extra. Also due to reality we now live in, more suppliers will probably increase their pricing throughout the year. Call me a sucker and a fanboy of the Gamers Grass range, but for me price is not a decisive factor when compared to such high quality!
What’s your opinion? Does quality top price or vice versa? Let me know in the comments 😉
You can order through Gamers Grass official store, or try out your luck in a local hobby store. To make things easier for you, Gamers Grass prepared this awesome Store Locator.
Welcome to Painting Road to Survival Stalkers tutorial. Here I will present to you a Step-by-step of an easy and fast painting process for Orzol Studio’s Stalkers team from the Post-apo Survivors Kickstarter.
Before we start, some notes:
Step one: Undercoat
I applied a strong layer of Citadel Chaos Black spray. I prefer spray over manual application, but this is just a personal preference. Any matt black undercoat will do, as long as it’s thorough.
Step two: Uniform
I started by applying a strong layer of Vallejo Dark Green RLM71 (air) onto entire uniform. I used an airbrush for this, but it is not necessary. This layer might as well be applied manually, but might take few runs to look smooth and solid. Although boots, weapons and other detail got painted alongside the uniform, it’s not a problem. If you switch to manual painting you don’t have to worry about messing these up at this stage of paint job.
Next I airbrushed Vallejo Interior Green (air) over previous layer. Similarly to Dark Green this one can be done manually and follows same philosophy.
I switched to manual painting and with a basecoat size brush, flatbrushed a mix of Vallejo Interior Green (air) 1:1 Vallejo Heavy Khaki over the miniature. I then used a more precise brush and highlighted some edges with the same color mix.
Step three: Vest
With a solid color underneath a single layer of Vallejo Russian Green (air) was enough to provide a smooth base for the vest. The key was to avoid messing up all the bright uniform around. Because of that I outlined the vest with a precise brush and only then switched for a larger brush to gain speed.
Next I flatbrushed a mix of Vallejo Russian Green 1:1 Vallejo Olive Green over previous layer. This provided nice thickness, something the upcoming Wash will work good on.
Step four: Boots, Gloves, Mask
Using a small brush I applied a strong, precise layer of Vallejo Panzer Dark Grey (air) onto boots, mask, gloves, weapons and buckles.
I then switched to Vallejo Medium Sea Grey, thinned it down with medium and applied a somehow misty, irregular layer over Panzer Dark Grey, leaving spots of previous color visible. I deliberately left weapons and buckles be for the time being.
Step five: Brown wash
Using a large, soft brush I applied a lot of Games Workshop Agrax Earthshade onto entire miniature. After a while I used a clean precise brush to strip some of the paint from areas where too much pigmentation covered all the detail. I left the miniature to dry after that.
Step six: Weapons
I applied a partially translucent layer of thinned down Vallejo Wolf Grey (air) onto weapons and buckles. I moved a brush alongside blade and barrel, trying to leave pigmentation on the edges.
I then highlighted weapons with Games Workshop Pallid Wych Flesh. Mostly on the edges and with no dillution.
I then followed up by applying Army Painter Dark Tone Ink. Similar to Agrax, I let the paint flow then removed the excess and let the thing dry.
Finally I edge highlighted with Games Workshop Pallid Wych Flesh. This time around I included gas mask filter plus added few scratches here and there.
Step seven: Skin & Eyes
I started painting skin by applying a solid layer of slightly thinned down Vallejo Tan. This layer had to be precise and I avoided going out of line and messing up paintjob around it. I deliberately started painting skin before applying Agrax Earthshade Wash from previous tutorial so that any corrections could be done much easier, if required.
I then applied Games Workshop Dwarf Flesh onto previous layer. Same premise, except I left just a bit of Tan visible in the recesses.
Next I highlighted skin with Vallejo Flesh (air), which due to it’s consistency produces a partially translucent effect. I then re-applied Flesh on top of the head, cheeks and nose.
I followed up with Agrax Earthshade wash (done at Step five: Brown wash).
Finally I highlighted with Games Workshop Dwarf Flesh. I also blended some of the Dwarf Flesh over wash made stains on top of the head.
Painting eyes is a topic on it’s own and I’m not trying to write a book here, so I used a simple method of a single white line followed by a black dot in the middle. Any necessary corrections can be done to your heart’s content by painting over and over till good results are produced.
Step eight: Backpack & Holsters
I started with a strong layer of Vallejo Charred Brown (air), ensuring not to leave a mess on top of any previous layer around the backpack.
I then flatbrushed Vallejo Beasty Brown over Charred Brown. No thinning, just paint straight from a bottle and onto a palette before application.
I used Games Workshop Karak Stone for gritty highlights plus painted a blanket strapped at the bottom of the backpack.
I then switched to Vallejo Panzer Dark Grey (air) and re-painted all the buckles grey.
Agrax Earthshade wash followed (done at Step five: Brown wash).
Finally I applied a highlight of Games Workshop Karak Stone onto the edges and middle areas.
Step nine: Mask Visor
I tried to keep this one extra simple. Started with a gritty, messy layer of Games Workshop Pallid Wych Flesh. No need to be overly precise, nor smooth. The more irregular, diverse the visor looks now, the better the end result.
I then applied slightly thinned down Vallejo Hot Orange (air). Once dry I applied another layer of the same stuff. Done.
Step ten: Teddy Bear
This one is such a cool detail. I decided to go purple/pink to make it stand out. I started with a solid layer of Vallejo Royal Purple.
I then applied Games Workshop Agrax Earthshade wash (done at Step five: Brown wash).
Once wash dried, I highlighted most exposed areas of the bear with Vallejo Warlord Purple.
I then used Vallejo Squid Pink for final highlight, applying dots and lines on top of most exposed areas.
To bring all layers together I applied a strong layer of Army Painter Purple Tone Ink.
Step eleven: Yellow Kneepad
Once again I decided for a feature to stand out. I started with a strong, precise layer of Vallejo Heavy Goldbrown.
I then applied an irregular highlight of Vallejo Pale Yellow.
Finally I washed it with Army Painter Soft Tone Ink, which brought both layers together and made the knee pad look darker and used thoroughly.
Step twelve: Basing
Time to finish the paint job with a proper looking base. For this purpose I decided to go with something easy to follow. One texture, one highlight and one tuft type for extra detail. I started with a large flat brush, applying a thick layer of AK Interactive Dark Earth texture. You can switch to any dark texture like for example Games Workshop Stirland Mud. I just prefer AK’s one because I find it easier to apply.
Once dry I drybrushed Dark Earth with Games Workshop Karak Stone.
Finally I glued an Army Painter Wasteland Tuft and re-painted base’s edge black afterwards.
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