You, me and the Fear

This is the 75mm white metal Abyssal Warlord from the Scale75 range. This figure has a few components that lets you choose how you want it to appear, i.e. a mace instead of a sword, helmet or no helmet. I chose a sword in hand a helmet.

Since this is a fantasy figure it means that there isn't a colour scheme that needs to be followed, your imagination is the limit so i decided to go for a red armour but not a bright, clean red look; more like a red that's been in battle numerous times before. That meant a dirty look and not like it's been forged yesterday.

For that reason i first used black as the undercoat followed by liberal drybrushing of bright red called blood red in the Citadel range. What happens is that if you use bright red under a black undercoat the colour is reduced dramatically giving it a dirty, used look instead of the bright red that blood red really is. 

Also when you drybrush it instead of painting it you tend, in this case, to get a more rough look rather than a uniform red colour that works very well in this case. Allowing the detail of the sculpted figure to really show through as you can see from the picture below.

Notice the black undercoat still visible in the small crevices of the armour details giving it the depth and structure of the brilliant sculpting of that armour instead of just a layer of red paint covering those details that could not be seen if you had just doused the armour with layers upon layers of red paint.

Here you can see him on his right hand side. The sword has been painted typically with metallic colours and then a little black/red mix to produce the blood on the blade. The green water emanating from the grass on top was done with a mixture of greens and then coated with gloss varnish for that wet look.

The shield was done exactly the same as the armour with the sigil painted after. Here you can see the fish face on his shoulder painted metallic so it contrasted well with the red of the armour.

The cloak was done with a mixture of browns to produce that animal tone that's so distinctive on furs. basically working from dark browns to lighter ones using a brown wash ink to create the depth in the recess of the cloak. Drybrushing a mix of white/brown on the edges of the cloak gave it a worn look with a little bleached bone for the stitchings in the middle area.

The lava was done in clay by my wife and then painted with a mixture of white/yellow for that molten lava look. The red broken slabs of rock were painted using black/red colour to accentuate the high temperatures of that area. The pillar was a wooden cube covered with polyfila and then had the sigil carved with a toothpick whilst it was still wet. Then painted grey with some yellow at the bottom for the light coming from the lava. The top area was covered with PVA glue and had it sprinkled with sand and little stones. Grass was added later in random areas. 

Da Orcs are 'ere

Here are the mighty Black Orcs. This is once again from the brilliant Warhammer range Orc & Goblin army set. The painting of these figures was easy enough even though the detail involved, especially the wear and tear of the armour, was very tedious since it had to be done ten times; and that's a lot of chipping.

The skin colour was pretty basic to do. Dark green for the base colour, a lighter green drybrushed as the main colour and then pick out the highlighted areas (such as top of ears, front of face etc..) with a mix of that same light green with an even lighter green to make it blend better instead of just that lighter green painted on.

The armour was done simply by coating it all in a black colour and then adding metallic colour on random areas of that armour where i felt that the most chipping of the armour would occur. Places like the glove area joints, feet joints and random chipping on shoulders, legs etc.. I think the result was pretty good especially seeing how easy it actually is (though time consuming) to do the wear and tear.

This the General of the army Gimgor Ironhide done exactly the same way as the Black Orc regiment. He is just posted here because i think he looks great as a General and as the main focus of your army.

That's Grimgor from the back. The base, like the Black Orcs, was done by painting it in a sand colour, PVA glue on it and then dipping it in stones to create that rocky, desert effect. The static grass was added later once the base was dry.

The horns on their helmet were done in a very simple manner. Brown was streaked by doing straight lines on the horns, taking care to leave a gap in between each line. On that line bleached bone was used ( bleached bone is like white but with a little grey mixed in) on the brown line previously created but always leaving a bit of brown near the top. Finally pure white was used on that same line again but this time concentrating more on the bottom of the horn. Easy, time consuming too but very worth the effort in the end.

The Green Tide

This is where it all started for me, with the Warhammer series from Games Workshop. I had began painting Warhammer years ago with the Skeleton army but not only did i not have the know how but i also lacked severely in other areas such as paints, brushes and basically anything else. Needless to say that the outcome of the skeleton warriors left a lot to be desired.


However, that crappiness of a skeleton army did provide the basis for my love of painting fantasy figurines although it would be years before i attempted it again; and i have my wife to thank for that.


The first picture you see is my first attempt after the skeleton army and it is the starter kit for the battle of skull pass. Basically this box brings ten goblin warriors, a paint brush, six paint set and the instructions on how to paint them step by step in the most basic manner possible.


As you can see the results are not wow, in fact they have no depth or highlight. They have been painted in what it is called flat colour. To be fair this is not really designed for you to get all pro on them but to give you a taste of what it takes to do this figures. The pro came a bit later with much practice and effort, not to mention more brushes and a whole range of paints.

This was the second unit of Goblins that i painted ( i decided to stick with the Orc & Goblin army, what the hell), they are the Goblin Wolf Riders. Even now you can clearly see a very dramatic progression from my other Goblin unit. 


This is when i was taught drybushing which i used to very good effect when painting the fur of the wolf mounts. I was amazed at what results i could obtain with this method and it is one that has been the most useful of all even until now.

This is the Wolf rider's boss. With Warhammer armies every unit has a champion, musician and a standard bearer. Of course you don't have to have them but it helps when playing the fantasy battles, something that i still have not done, I'm more in it for the painting aspect of it. 


Not only did i began with the drybrushing of units but now i concentrated more on finer details of painting models, like the eyes, teeth, etc..

The standard bearer picture was done first in pencil and then carefully with black paint. In some areas i used codex grey to define the skull better with depth.


The finished Goblin unit ready to charge the enemy's flank. 

Lords of the Rising Sun

This is my 54mm, 13th century Samurai warrior from Andrea miniatures. This is one that you can really go all out in the Kimono, especially when you see the one in the cover.

The Kimono as you can see was done simply with orange as the main colour, a bit of brown ink for the recess for the shadows, lighter orange for highlights on the raised areas and finally a few stripes to make some sort of pattern.


I wanted to keep it simple, not only because i am not very good at free hand painting but also the fact that not all Japanese Kimonos were intricate in their designs. I think the outcome looks good.

The Armour was done by giving it a black undercoat to start with and then having the whole thing drybrushed with gold. I always thought that black and gold form a very good partnership.


The ribbons behind were drybrushed very carefully with red. Any mistakes like a bit of red going on the gold could be simply covered up with drybrushing that area with gold again.

The Japanese liked to use colour in their Kimonos and that also included their socks so i decided to give him some purple coloured socks with white polka dots to match. The dots were done with a toothpick. Dipping it first in pure white and kind of stamping it once in the desired area.  

The sword scabbard was done with pure red and then glazed with gloss varnish to give it that same shiny look that the Japanese sword masters used to give their swords when finished. 

Since the base was small i simply used PVA glue all over the base and used static grass to finish him off. There you go, one Samurai warrior ready for battle.

First blood

This 54mm figure needs no introduction i think but for those of you there who have been living under a rock for the past thirty years this is John Rambo from the Andrea miniatures range. 


A little interesting note here is that in nowhere in the book ,First Blood, does the author David Morrell ever say that his first name was John. This was something invented by hollywood :). Oh, and anyone who has read the book will know that there could not possibly be a sequel to Rambo, let alone four films.


Anyway back to business. This is another figure that you cannot really let your imagination run wild when painting him and that's because you need to paint him, more or less, how he was in the film. 

First off i painted the base of the figure which in this case depicts a street scene. The street was coated grey and then giving a liberal drybrush with a mix of grey/white to create that worn, used street look. The manhole cover was painted bronze, given a black ink wash and then drybrushed with a mix of bronze/black to create that typical manhole colour that's standard to everywhere in the world i think.


The fire hydrant was given a dark red colour, then washed with brown ink and then drybrushed lightly again with the same red colour. Some parts of the hydrant were nicked with a metallic colour to create that used look where the paint has been worn off.

The jeans were done by covering it in a dark blue first and then drybrushing everything with a mix of that dark blue with some white. Then more white was added to the mix and drybryshed yet again in the areas where he would most likely have wear and tear, i.e thighs, knees, bum etc..


The shirt is done the same but with a dark green followed by a lighter green tone to finish.


The gun and boots were done exactly the same. That is paint it all black first, mix black and flesh tone and then drybrush it all over the area to create that black colour but with depth. 

The figure from the back view. The bullets were done by painting them all gold first and then just painting the tips with bronze.

And that's one Rambo ready to raise hell again :)

Death from above

This is my attempt at a second world war figure that consisted of the famous Fallschirmjager or German Parachute regiment available from Andrea Miniatures. 


This 90mm piece consisted of the metallic figure together with the rubble scenery made out of plastic except for a few bits, like the pipes, made out of metal.


The scenery was painted first. Since this is depicting a bombed area ( supposedly the famous Montecassino monastery) i decided to paint it mostly grey and white. The whole area was given a black coating before drybrushing the whole thing with a light grey colour imitating the rubble powder that you get when a building is destroyed.


This was then drybrushed again with different tones of pure white to white/grey mix. A little brown was also added to the walls to create dirt. In some areas black was used to create the effect of a bomb blast.

As you can see there is lots of dirt including on his trousers and boots. All drybrushed with the grey/white mix.

The camouflage was done by copying it the best i could from the one in the box cover since this was also my first attempt at it. I think it turned out alright.

Seen from the back. Notice how the sack is a bit dirtied to add realism. The water canteen has also been nicked with metallic colour in some areas to appear worn and used. 

The gun was undercoated in black and then lightly brushed with metal colour to provide not only depth and contrast but also a realistic worn look. The bullets were done by drybrushing gold all over the casings and drybrushing bronze on the bullet itself. 

One German paratrooper ready for combat.