#games workshop

If you missed part one (armour) you can find it HERE.
If you missed part two (trousers) you can find it HERE.
If you missed part three (cloak) you can find it HERE.
If you missed part four (wood/leather) you can find it HERE.

I use this same set of colours and technique to paint the trim on the gun, belt buckle and censors. 

Stage 17

Apply a basecoat of Runelord Brass to the areas that you want to be bronze/gold.

Stage 18

Apply a careful wash of Reikland Fleshshade (Gloss) to the areas you just basecoated. Guide the wash to carefully enter the recesses and shade.

Stage 19

Make a mix of two parts Runelord Brass to one part Runefang Steel. Apply this as an edge highlight to the bronze/gold parts of the mini. 

Next time I will cover the various details on the model in the final post for these minis.

If you missed part one (armour) you can find it HERE.
If you missed part two (trousers) you can find it HERE.
If you missed part three (cloak) you can find it HERE.

I use this same set of colours and technique to paint the gun casing, pouches and backpack/straps. This saves the mini from having too much going on with lots of different shades and textures.

Stage 14

Apply a basecoat of Rhinox Hide to the gun casing, pouches and backpack. 

Stage 15

Do a mix of three parts Steel Legion Drab and one part Rhinox Hide and apply an edge highlight to the parts you previously base coated.

Stage 16

Mix a small amount of Lahmian Medium with Agrax Earthshade and apply a wash to the brown parts to blend the highlights in and apply a bit of shading.

Next time I will show how paint the bronze/gold details.

If you missed part one (armour) you can find it HERE.
If you missed part two (trousers) you can find it HERE.

Stage 9

Make a mix of approximately three parts Stormvermin Fur to one part Abaddon Black. Apply this as a basecoat to the cloak. You may need two thin layers to get an even covering.

Stage 10

Mix a wash of four parts Nuln Oil, one part Lahmian Medium and one part Athonian Camoshade. Apply this to the whole of the cloak, using your brush to ensure it doesn’t pool to much (especially on flat surfaces).

Stage 11

Make a mix similar to stage 9 in which you basecoated the cloak. I like to make this layer a little bit lighter than the original basecoat by including a little more Stormvermin Fur. Apply this mix to the majority of the cloak as a highlight, being careful to leave your shaded areas in the creases of the cloak. 

Stage 12

Using Stormvermin Fur, apply a further highlight to the edges of the cloak and the most raised parts.

Stage 13

Mix a small amount of Administratum Grey with Stormvermin Fur and apply a final highlight to the edges and highest points of creases. 

Next time I will do the wood/leather.

If you missed part one (armour) you can find it HERE.

Stage 5

Apply a base coat of Steel Legion Drab to the trousers. To ensure that you get an even finish you will want to apply two thin coats.

Stage 6

Make a 50:50 mix of Steel Legion Drab and Zandri Dust and carefully paint the raised sections and creases for a first highlight.

Stage 7

Apply a wash over the trousers. I use a mix of two parts Reikland Fleshshade, one part Agrax Earthshade and one part Lahmian Medium. 

Stage 8

To finish off the trousers, mix two parts Zandri Dust with one part Kharak Stone and apply this final highlight the most raised areas and creases of the trousers.

Next time I will cover how to paint the robes.

Hi everyone. I’ve had a few requests from people wanting to know how I painted my Skitarii. Here is the first of a short series showing you exactly how it is done;

Stage 1

For stage 1 I airbrush Iron Hands Steel over a basecoat of Chaos Black. Iron Hands Steel is an airbrush paint from the Forgeworld Range which is now sadly discontinued. It is slightly darker than Leadbelcher,so you could get exactly the same effect by mixing in a tiny bit of Abaddon Black, but I don’t think it would significantly alter the final effect by using Leadbelcher.

Stage 2

I now use an old brush to stipple Scrag Brown over the metallic parts of the miniature. This helps give it a rusty effect. The aim is to get into a few of the crevasses and lightly stipple the flat surfaces, but leave a fair amount of the metal showing.

Stage 3

Apply a wash over all of the metallic areas to provide shading. I tend to use a mix of around 4 parts Nuln Oil, 2 parts Agrax Earthshade, 1 part Lahmian Medium. 

Stage 4

To finish the armour apply an edge highlight of Runefang Steel to all of the armour. It is also good to do a few scratches to make it look worn and enhance that rusty look.

Next time I will cover to how paint the inner robes.

Last week I attended my first proper Grand Clash which was a part of the first day of the London Grant Tournament (LGT). I’m not here to write about the organisation of the weekend, which has been covered extensively elsewhere, but just the games. I played against four brilliant opponents and had a thoroughly enjoyable day. 

Based on my performance in previous tournaments I felt that I really needed to review my deck and playstyle. My deck has previously always straddled the fence between objective grabbing and killing, but I’ve always had more fun playing aggressive objectives, so I went with a full Garrek’s Reavers aggro build.

Round 1 - Garrek’s Reavers Vs. Garrek’s Reavers

The first round was a mirror match, for which I’ve had mixed results in the past. My opponent had a very solid aggressive deck and knew how to play with it well. I did feel that my dice and deck were against me somewhat at the start of the day, so I had a bit of a rough start, but learnt about how to play with my new deck quickly.

Result - 0-2 (Loss)

Round 2 - Garrek’s Reavers Vs. Steelheart’s Champions

Next up I played against aggressive Stormcasts. I’d only played defensive Stormcasts previously and in the first match I was taken by surprise and punished! Having a better sense of what I was up against and playing more conservatively in the following two matches I was able to beat them and win the round. The Reavers really proved their effectiveness with their superior speed and numbers when they are used correctly.

Result - 2-1 (Win)

Round 3 - Garrek’s Reavers Vs. Ironskulls Boyz

The third round was the match-up I dreaded most. I had never beaten Ironskulls Boyz before, even if I hadn’t truly played them since some significant changes in the meta. I managed to sneak a victory by one glory point in the first match. In the second match I started really well, causing three damage each to three of his boys in the first couple of activations. I wasn’t able to capitalise on it however and he turned the tide and beat me. It all came to the third match which I won a little bit more convincingly.

Result - 2-1 (Win)

Round 4 - Garrek’s Reavers Vs. Sepulchral Guard

The final round for the day was against Sepulchral Guard. I always enjoy playing this warband because they are so different to the others and each person seems to use them very differently. In the first match I did everything wrong and was really disappointed with my performance. I obviously lost. In the second match I learned from my mistakes and played much more optimally. I had good control of the whole match and secured a comfortable victory. It all came down to the last match and we both knew it would affect our placement in the rankings. We both played our top game and every moment was tense and exciting. With the final end phase we realised we had a tie! A great end to a brilliant round.

Result - 1-1 (Draw)

Final Results

I was really pleased with my performance and how much it had improved from previous tournaments. I placed 12th out of 35 which I was happy with and it meant that I secured a few extra goodies from the official GW prize support. Each event I play makes me fall in love with this game more. I just want to keep playing regular events and collecting more of the awesome prizes.

Yesterday I made my first ever venture to the awesome 4TK Gaming in Colchester for their Shadespire tournament. It was supposed to have 16 players, but sadly four people never showed. Regardless, it was a really fun day in which I learned a LOT!

The tournament was split into 4 rounds, each of which was a best of three games. Total glory points were also being kept in case of people with equal tournament points.

Round 1 - Garrek’s Reavers Vs. Steelheart’s Champions

My first round was against a very skilled player using Steelheart’s Champions. I really struggled in the first game which I am attributing to not playing in three months, but the second game was much closer. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to pull out a draw or a win, despite a decent amount of glory.

Result - 0-2 (Loss)

Round 2 - Garrek’s Reavers Vs. Sepulchral Guard

This was actually the first time I had ever played against Sepulchral Guard, which I was really looking forward to. I managed to pull off a narrow victory in the first game. The second game certainly didn’t go my way. I’d lost all my fighters after the first activation of the third phase, allowing the Harbinger with six Katrophrane Relics to generate 12 glory points and rocket them to victory. However, by changing the board set up and tactics in the third game I was able to clinch a second victory.

Result - 2-1 (Win)

Round 3 - Garrek’s Reavers Vs. Sepulchral Guard

Up against Sepulchral Guard again, and this guy found my Achilles’ heel. He was playing a heavily defensive, objective holding game. My deck was completely unprepared for this, with no ploys to shake him off the objectives. I fought hard, but both games amounted in the same result.

Result - 0-2 (Loss)

Round 4 - Garrek’s Reavers Vs. The Chosen Axes

This was another warband I hadn’t fought before and was excited to try against. The first game went fairly horribly for me as he managed to inspire three fighters in the first phase. The duardin become god-like when inspired and proved too tough for me to hold back. The second game was extremely close! I managed to kill two duardin in the first two activations and was scoring glory along the way. Unfortunately, in the third phase the duardin leader raced past my fighters to an objective and I was unable to stop him, costing me a valuable three glory objective which would have won me the game.

Result - 0-2 (Loss)

Final Results

It was a great day, with nine games of Shadespire played and many lessons learned. Due to my underwhelming performance I came in last place *sad face*, but it wasn’t all bad news because I did win the painting competition for my Garrek’s Reavers (you can see them HERE) and got a £10 gift voucher. With 20% off all Shadespire stock for the day, I quickly redeemed this towards two new warbands, or more importantly, a lot more cards!

All participants received some prizes for taking part, so I also came home with some lovely alternate art cards and activation tokens.

I’m really glad that I got this practice in before the Grand Clash at the London Grand Tournament on May 18th. Wish me luck!