One last touch on the Crusader mini

Warrior 11a

The metallics were just that little bit flat so I decided to ink them.  I hadn't used inks before (mostly I use washes, which are thinned paints) so I was hesitant.  Some help from the Reaper forum got me moving.

Most but not all of the metallics have been inked.  The large smooth surfaces and the top 'skirt' of chain mail didn't get inked.  The large smooth surfaces had nothing that would be enhanced by ink.  The top skirt I wanted to keep lighter than the leg armor so I just didn't darken it.

Overall I'm pleased with the extra depth this added.

I've started painting the bases as well.  A layer of flock and the some static grass will complete that.  I know you can see the slot where the mini was inserted but that will get covered by the flock so I'm not going to waste time filling it in prior to that.

There's two coats of varnish on these so only one left to go.  My varnish mix is mostly Future floor wax so it can take some serious abuse.  Which is what I expect to happen to these figures since they're meant to be used to demo the game.

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Demo army first rank painting done

Finished up this first rank.  They still need varnish and basing but the painting itself is done.

Tonight I did the black fabric trim, then the leathers, then the sword and hotspots

Warriors All

Here's all the boys together.  The photos are a bit washed out since I overprocessed them in Photoshop.  Looks like my lights just aren't going to do it for me since I can't get the balance between the color and the brightness.

They'll get varnish then I'll set them aside until I know what I'm doing for basing.  Most likely it will be a grass/rock blend since they're the most generic of factions I have.

Next up is a couple of minis for me and then the next ranks.

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One more step in the minis

Warrior 07a

I only got one step done today on finishing up the minis.  I probably could have gotten more done but the long car trip we took in the morning to take the boat up to be stored for the winter didn't agree with me.  I'm feeling better now, thanks for asking.

I'm going with more vivid colors than anticipated when I started painting.  This is Ultramarine blue.  A nice purple-blue that fits in well with the silver and gold.  The trim will be black, as will the emblem you probably can't see on his chest.

Belt and hilt, trim, boots and gloves, sword.  Then I think I can call this rank done.  I have two each of spearmen and archers yet to paint and while they're not all the same pose I can probably paint them all up at once as well.  They'll go a little faster than these since I know the colors I'm using but since I do plan on doing the step-by-step it does take a little longer than if I were doing a straight paint job and posting pictures at the end.  Not that much, since I would tend to stop at these points anyway.  Just some more time in taking the pictures and posting.

I'm on the fence about primer color as well.  I typically use white so I have the flexibility to use any color and it will show up nicely.  But these guys are all dark colors.  So I could use black and save myself a lot of undercoating with brown.  It's something to ponder while I paint that difficult color - black.

As with the other posts, the collection of photos is below.

Demo - Crusaders

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Demo army progress

I'm moving on quite nicely.  All the armor bits are done on these fellows, except for the final detailing but that doesn't count because it's done at the end.  Trust me, that makes sense in my world.

We got the light box thing sorted out.  Now I'm just learning the best way to use it.  So these are a little more clear.

Chain mail and all armor pieces are done.  It's a little hard to see but there's a faction symbol on the top of his right shoulder that's also done in the silver so it stands out.

I'm reconsidering my color scheme for the fabric parts now that I'm really seeing how the silver and gold look together.  My original plan may be too wishy-washy to really go with the contrast.  I'm going to ponder this for a few days.  Or until I decide to paint them some more.

There's really not that much left to do.  I say that now.  When I actually paint I'll find all kinds of things yet to be done.  Of course.

The full progress of the paint job is in the collection below.

Demo - Crusaders

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