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Howdy, En guard! Kev!

My group decided to start up a new 5e campaign. We just hit Level 2 and I realized we where still playing with (my) unpainted miniatures, so I offered to paint them for everyone. They're a little below what I would normally put in, but I did all 5 in a single sitting, and they are fine for tabletop play quality, so I'm happy. My largest complaint I guess, is that I apparently ran out of my trusty Testors Dullcote, so with just the Liquitex Matte Varnish I had put on, they still have much too much sheen for my tastes. But I can fix that once I have a chance to pick up more dullcote. Given the above information in hand, I would love feedback on these none the less. No attempts at shading or layering where attempted on these, just basecoats, wash and a bit of drybrushing.

Continuing the effort to increase my options when rolling on the Frostgrave encounter charts, here is a Large Construct: Old Rusty the Iron Golem with his enchanted sword, Anvilbiter. 77168 Battleguard Golem Reaper Bones KS1 Bonesium PVC 40mm base

I know I was trying for once a month, but I just finished taking, croping, and compressing these and it seems silly not to post them. 89007: Valeros, Iconic Fighter I played this guy in a PFS game - as 4th level. Sure it says he is a fighter, but lets be honest, the figure will almost always get used as a ranger. I was experimenting with NNM on his sword, compare and contrast the ratmen weapons in the next picture. 77168: Battleguard Golem A little rusty but still ready for battle with his obviously magic blade. no NMM here he is brown liner, gunmetal gray, fireball orange (with sponge) and black ink. (not including sword or gem colors) 77174: Leisynn, Mercenary Mage I really don't have that many uses for a guy with a snake on his staff- esp one that one stay straight. His robe was more for fun than practice. I just didn't have the patience for the amount of color bleding and glazing it would have taken to do it right. That's not supposed to be just lighting, his robe changes color as it goes down/out.

I've been painting for nearly a year now, but I've never been happy with the TMM work I've done. This community has been really helpful in giving advice on some other pieces I've done, so I decided to pick out a handful of mini's with a lot metal on them, and put up a WIP. Hopefully, by the time I'm done I'll be much better. The finalists are: From left to right - 77055 - Anval Thricedamned, Evil Warrior - 77094 - Trista, the White Wolf - 77168 - Battleguard Golem - 77023 - Barnabus, Human Warrior - 77058 - Almaran the Gold, Paladin I've started prepping Almaran, hopefully I'll get some time to paint this weekend and be able to get some pictures up. References: http://mainlymedieval.com/ozpainters/viewtopic.php?t=878 http://www.coolminiornot.com/articles/1232-painting-metallics http://monkeyman7x.com/articles/metals-silver/ [edit 5/16/2014: added references]

So, here are the results of me attempting a tutorial. I am aware (and dismayed) at the mold lines, but I wanted to do this THIS weekend since it was the first part of spring and it felt ironic/fun to me. This was aimed at the tabletop, not display quality, since I could always use more Iron Golems. Outside of a black line to define the rust versus metals, any other suggestions? Here it is with a friend from the Thanksgiving 2013 Paint Binge...

Credit to Daniel36 on the Warseer forums, since this is where I originally saw this. His rust effects are what I use on the few things I make rusty. Problem is, his pictures were on Photobucket, and they have since disappeared. I will make notes of my differences in paints and what I do differently in the steps, as he is using GW paints and has some differences on what kind of rust he wanted. I prefer a more brownish orange rust, myself. Except for my notes and added steps below, this is a direct cut and paste, since his photos have long since disappeared. The aim for this was tabletop quality, however, I can use the same technique for display style quality (I did my dragon, Abyzarran, using similar techniques to the verdigris, and I used those same techniques on the gears of his base). Total time spent painting the golem between last night and today, including drying times was about 3.5 hours. Now, onto the Tutorial itself. I will warn you, this is taken directly on my workspace, so the pictures aren't the prettiest, but they came out pretty well. Step 1 Base in a dark tone. I use Vallejo Game Color Charred Brown as my base, you will note that, even with the Bones, I prime a medium-light grey. I personally like this regardless of what paint I put on top. My mix is 3:1 RMS Black Primer to 1 Vallejo Game Color White Primer, just enough tooth and just enough butter. You could probably use a similar "mix" of primers, even doing all black or white, or everything in between. The base is a 40mm resin base that I cast myself, along with a pair of rocks using a couple of rubber molds used for model trains. Great for filling up that extra space! Step 2 Once you have your dark base, here's where you start building up. I tend to stipple this, and it shows in the pictures. I use VGC Beasty Brown. The other thing of note is my brush. I use a pig hair brush intended for stippling. This is very handy and makes some of the work easier. When doing display quality, use something better (and SMALLER!), but this worked for my purposes for getting a second, tabletop golem out there for future player torment. Step 3 I diverge from Daniel 36 at this point. I begin with stippling Vallejo Game Color Fire Orange (really, any bright orange will do, but this one really pops and resists our next steps. Step 4: Lining where I want the metals to show. Yes, I want the golem to look like he's articulated and moving along the edges. I did this with my trusty #2, and used Vallejo Model Color German Grey. Step 5 Now, to bring down my rust tones, I follow his original step 5, and wash with a mix of VGC Charred Brown and Leather Brown This plays a huge role later on, when I return to this, using reds and oranges. This is also where his tutorial ends and I continue, since Verdigris is also going to happen. Step 6 We're going to start metals after this, so I want to be clear, we will return to the rust later on, but the metals become important in my sequence, while you may choose to complete the rust effects in your own path, this is my path. I start by painting the Shoulders Vallejo Model Color Brass and the steel areas with VMC Oily Steel. I will note I brought down the brightness, as the metals seem to glow when I do the standard adjustment. Step 7 This is my Verdigris recipe. I do not use Acrylic inks, I use India Inks. 2 parts Bombay Turquoise Ink, 2 parts Bombay Green Ink, 1 drop of Vallejo Model Color White paint. Step 8 Reclaim some of the areas of Verdigris with Brass paint. This will be done in a transparent, slow manner on a normal figure, but, for this guy, it was done a lot faster. Step 9: Back to the Rust! And Gem stones. I started them when I added the reds and oranges to the main body as well, as they were simple enough to add and contrasted with the surrounding verdigris. Following steps 1-5, I painted the sword of the golem, and began adding reds to the main body of the golem Step 10: Adding more interest with some scrapes on the sword. Step 11: Flock and Done! And, go hang out with an old war buddy while you're at it.

Like I mentioned I had a productive few days last week, and I had a few more after the earth elemental was all done- probably mostly due to the cheerleaders on here Since I was just done with the stone golems I figured I might as well finish all the golems while I was at it. So here they are, 2x Vampire golems all done. Removed the pants from the clay golems as I just find that stuff silly, other than that they're all stock. I know I've said I don't like having two identical models, but golems are an exception to that rule. Golems are pretty much made to, say, stand guard at each side of a doorway, and having two that are the exact same adds to that imo. I did all their eyes white with the same green fluo paint so they have a nice magic golem glow. I might add some dry/dead static grass on the bases, but I'm not sure yet. I kinda like them muddy and cohesive like they are now. On another note, I keep posting these show off threads with SKUs etc for every model I finish (and feel is good enough to be seen by others :P). I thought I read somewhere that that was the prefered way to go about it (due to ease of finding the model you want an example off etc), however now I see a lot of folks posting collected show off threads instead. Sooo if that's prefered I'll start one of those with my next submission instead.

So, more Bones painted: Thundercats, ho! Too easy to make a joke... More terracotta than Georgia clay, but anyway: Born on Monday... Technically not all Bones: Technically not Fire Beetles: