Razorgor Conversion, Plus A Quick Review Of GW Texture And Base Paints

I'm quite taken by the bulgy-eyed weirdness of the GW Razorgor model, but seeing as I have a surfeit of bits(z) I decided to see if I could bash one together. It turned out to be a rather simple marriage of boar body and manticore head, with added spiky bits. I wanted this to be a dynamic piece so I'm posing him leaping over what will be an abandoned tomb of some once-celebrated warrior... or something like that! Anyway, I'm pleased with how this has come together so far.

I've photoed Boris (as my son has named him) at this stage because it also gives me a chance to mention the Ceramite White Base paint and Stirland Mud Texture paint that I used for the first time. I must say that I'm pretty impressed with both. The base white covers over my Army Painter white primer perfectly, while the texture paint is much better than I'd hoped, being rather flexible in how much gritty coverage it provides (I realise this photo doesn't do it justice, so you'll just have to take my word for it!). Well done GW on a couple of very useful products. 

Foundry Re-release The Citadel Norse Range

Brilliant news today for fans of the old school citadel ranges, particularly those sculpted by the Perry brothers. Foundry have put all the old sculpts that were once the citadel Norse range up for order on their website. It really is great to see all these miniatures available again. How I used to dream of ordering all of these once upon a time!

Lahmian Medium (Citadel Technical) Review

As someone who uses several different acrylic mediums already I was sceptical as to whether Lahmian Medium from the 'technical' section of the new Citadel paint range would be of any use to me. I'm quite sure now that I was mistaken - it's extremely useful - but this might be because of the specific paints I use.

I love to use Daler Rowney acrylic inks with my miniatures, I find everything about them a joy: the range of colours, their flow... everything. But the trouble with using artists' acrylics as opposed to paints made specifically for miniatures is that the finish can very often be too glossy. This is where Lahmian Medium steps in! It's perfect for adding in small doses to the Daler Rowney inks for achieving a matt finish - just a small brush-load mixed through the ink completely alters what you can achieve.

Using a medium when painting is a very wise move in all cases of course, but if you've ever thought about using artists' inks then this might give you a good opportunity to go ahead and do that. A note of caution to end on though, I wouldn't personally try this with regular artists' acrylics as they're totally the wrong consistency for miniatures work. 

Fantasy Miniatures 1988 - Oldhammer Gorgeousness

This link has popped up on a few blogs over the last couple of days so you might have already downloaded a copy of this fabulous book from 1988 featuring Golden Demon entries and other gorgeous miniatures. As others have already noted, this book is a real testament to the creativity and imagination that was then abundant in the hobby. I remember it fondly as I was getting into gaming for the first time when this book was published. I'm not sure that I agree with those who say that all this creativity is now lacking - in fact, I disagree quite strongly and offer as evidence the work seen regularly on the GW website taken from their flickr pool.  But I digress... follow the link, download and enjoy!

Here Come The Zoats

These chaps have to be among the coolest of the Rogue Trader era Citadel miniatures. I think I'll give them a paint job this month along with the rest of the genestealer cult. I imagine that when it comes to game time I'll use a blend of the Tyranid and Imperial Guard lists, which seems to be a common casual (i.e. non-tourney) solution, and these can sub as heavy weapons teams. Either that or I may retro-fit the rules from 1987!

Genestealer Cult Test Models

Here are a couple of test models for a smallish genestealer cult army I'm putting together. First is an old genestealer patriarch - it's been waiting over 20 years for a paint job (hopefully the entire cult project won't take quite so long!). Today I simply primed, base coated and added a few washes. I'm going for a very fleshy appearance here, which I believe is similar to that used for the Tyranid Hive Fleet Ouroboros.

Here's the second mini: a first edition Space Hulk genestealer. This is actually better than the patriarch, as I'd figured out a good painting recipe by the time I got to 'him'.

As with all my 40k / science fiction projects, the force will be pretty small with skirmish-level games being the aim. At present I have the patriarch, the genestealers from the reissued Space Hulk (plus some originals) and three very old space Zoats. All I really need to augment this lot is a unit of cannon-fodder human cultists, so I'm keeping a lookout for potential models.

New GW Citadel Paints REVIEW (Based On In-Store Trial)

Yesterday I popped into my local GW to take a look at the new paints. Here are a few thoughts based on the trial pots they had and the chat with the chaps working there.

The pots - will all have the prop-open system like the washes (no more tooth picks). New sealing system will apparently stop too much leakage and drying (we'll see...)

Base - these seem as good as the foundation range. The white in particular was quite impressive in covering a black undercoated space marine. Will be useful for quick jobs and beginners, hard to judge mid-to-higher expertise level uses at present.

Layer - seem to be ok, but only time will tell with these. Some nice looking new colours.

Shade - as good as current washes and the new colours look reasonable.

Glaze - interesting consistency on these, very thin but the pigment is tight so they could be a revelation to people not already using transparent mediums.

Dry - cottage cheese for painters.

Texture - grainy paint: nothing amazing, but there might be some interesting uses in creating rough skin on large monsters. Weathering mediums and powders might do this better though.

Technical - none of these were in the trial pots.

Supply - apparently each UK store will be getting 12 of each colour in the initial batch so pre-ordering is advised.

Hope that's useful folks!

Conversion Chart for New Citadel Paints

According to Tale of Painters, this is the official conversion chart for the new Citadel paint range:

New Citadel Paints

On trend with my topic of painting this month, a photo of some of the new Citadel paint line has surfaced (I found it here). Nothing more substantial yet - I won't bother rehashing the rumours - but it'll be very interesting to see what they've done with the range...

Citadel Small and Medium Dry Brushes - Review

Drybrushing is seldom a good idea on a miniature but it does work wonders for weathering buildings and terrain. I picked these two brushes up a few months ago and they've served very well at their intended purpose (unlike the other Citadel brushes, which are pretty rubbish).

I've also discovered a few other unexpected uses for them. Because drybrushing is tough job for a brush - life expectancy is rather short - I don't really mind what these get used for. 

As a result I started using them to hook paint out of the pots and onto my pallet. They're really useful for this as they'll take a reasonable load without clogging up the ferrule, which can be a sod to clean. Both are also useful for applying thinned base coats, delivering the paint very quickly and effectively on a batch job, like my Blood Bowl Orcs. As with all the Citadel brushes it's hard to recommend these, although they have come in rather handy. 

Citadel Primers - Review

Here are my reviews of two of the most commonly used primers, certainly by beginners who will probably pick them up when recommended by GW staff: 

Citadel 'Chaos Black Spray'

I've read some real hatred for this primer around a few sites. I'm not sure why, as I've found it to be reasonably good when undercoating ogres and orcs. Some people say that they've had issues with the spray ending up grainy in the finish but I can only assume on the basis of my experience that this might be due to atmospherics or perhaps bad technique. I would, however, give several of the primers from the Army Painter range a try before getting this again. 

Citadel 'Skull White Spray'

This has been a good primer all round - used on a good batch of my Marienburg army, plus Brother Paulo's Brets. As with the Chaos Black spray, I've seen some criticism about graining, but this only happened once for me, and it was entirely my own fault because I nipped out to spray just after a rain shower: lesson learned. 

Painting Tips and Reviews - New Page

I'm not an expert painter and the miniatures that I produce are only really average at best. However, like most of us I'm always looking to improve my techniques and find the best materials.

I'm now keeping a record on this blog of the tips and hints that I find, hear, or figure out through trial and (often) error. This will be on a new page, that you can see under the header, as well as in regular posts. I'm also going to keep a note of paints and brushes that I use, and importantly, how I use them; mostly for my own reference, but they might be of use to others too.

Here are my first two reviews, looking at a couple of the brushes I use most often at the moment:

Army Painter 'Wargamer: Insane Detail' Brush

This is probably the brush I use most often. It reminds me of the third gear on an old mini that I used to have - you can get started with it and push it really far before you need to think about using something else. Although it's called 'insane detail' it's actually a very useful size to use for a range of applications, as it helps me maintain a steady pace, instead of letting me being tempted to rush ahead and get a job finished. The quality of the hair seems really high for a relatively inexpensive product and I've not had any issues with forking or bending. 

Citadel 'Fine Detail' Brush

This is a real workhorse. It's also the only Citadel brush that I've used that hasn't turned out to be complete rubbish - all the others are now used for bases, adding large area washes, and even for applying PVA glue - that really tells you what I think of them! The fine detail brush, on the other hand, is never far from reach, although it does seem to be showing signs of wear after a couple of weeks of use. This brush is probably a false economy and I probably won't buy another, but it's worth it for a beginner.