Crusader progress!

The archers are about 3/4 finished.  That's a good thing.  I made darn good progress tonight once I got past a mental block of "what is that and how do I paint it?" on one part.

The next session should finish up those archers.

I also did put some paint on the sergeant since I had the skin color out and he might as well have the same one as the others.  His face is the only skin visible so it made sense.  That's a fiddly bit and now it's out of the way.  Yay!

I'm well on track for having all these figures painted by the end of the month.  The only thing that might slow me down is if I do a work-in-progress of the Guardian Beast (aka Doom Kitty) because stopping to take pictures at every step adds quite a bit to the total time to paint something.

I also remembered to write down the colors I used in case I add onto the army so the new ones will match the ones I've already painted.  I don't plan on adding on but it doesn't take much to do this and it isn't a bad habit to get into when painting armies.  I think I need to go back and write down what I used on the other figures but since they're in full armor and a more limited palette it should be easy enough.

I'm really hoping to have these guys done by the end of the week but life has a way of interfering.  We all know this.  I want these done more quickly so I can spend more time on the sergeant, as it should be.  I have an idea for something on his cloak and that will take some real painting attention, not like a normal cloak.

I've also got a couple of other figures being painted with the colors I'm using here since I hate to waste paint.  So there are even more partially painted figures on my table.  It's kind of fun when suddenly there's a half dozen finished figures because of other projects.  Of course, they're all just cannon fodder for our game but at least they're nicely painted cannon fodder.

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I couldn't resist

I did finish up a miniature at paint night (pictures later) and did some work on yet another partially finished one.  Rather productive.

I needed a little project to fill the hour or so before I was going to head up to bed.  So I thought I would touch up the primer on the last Crusaders.  Spray primer doesn't always get in all the nooks and crannies.  I did.  I also used some craft paint to finish up the back of a terrain piece but that's a different story.

I still had some time so I gave in and started painting the archers.  There's only two of them and they're completely different from the other grunts in that they're not in full armor.  So, I have to think about more colors.

Right now I would say I'm maybe 1/4 done with them.  The undergarment is done.  The tunic skirt is done.  The overtunic is done.  Sounds like a lot but they're pretty easy.  I still have a lot of fiddly bits like the straps to paint up.

I was able to use some of the paints on other primed figures.  The warm grey from the tunic skirt is on the hose of a court figure.  The khaki brown from the undergarment is on the scabbards on my half-orc.  I like using up paint and that's why I have so many partially painted miniatures.  I'll have some extra on the palette and slap it on a convenient mini.  Then it sits until I have more paint that will work or I just give in and finish the thing.

Total painting time invested tonight - about an hour.  I don't count the primer touchups since that's prep work.

I tried taking some quick pictures but the lighting was way wrong.  These are primed black so they really need good light to get a decent picture while most of it is unpainted.

I'm not 100% on the colors so far.  The warm grey skirt with the ultramarine overtunic is a bit of a contrast but then again maybe that's what is going to work.  We'll find out, now won't we?

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Update - more progress but still no pictures

I snuck in the priming tonight so now they're all sitting in the basement so they don't stink up the living areas of the house.

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Demo army progress but no pictures

I'm coming to the end of my Crusaders demo army.  Two archers, the troop sergeant and the monster.  The monster needed some assembly and that required green stuff (epoxy putty; Procreate in this case which is actually grey and not green when mixed) to fill the joins.  So that's a multi-step process.

Then I had to think about the next demo army to paint.  I'm a bit tired of doing full armor so that means Overlords are out.  I also have a personal Overlord army and no defined color scheme so that one was certainly out.  I decided on Razig, the undead pirate faction.

I know, undead pirates.  But they're completely different from the armored dudes, they're a different alignment which helps for demos ("You wanna play the good guys or the bad guys?") and I have no plans to make an army of them for myself.

Their monster required assembly too, and much more of it than the Crusader monster.  Since I was going to have to use all the tools anyway I pulled him out and started assembly.  This was a tedious one since there were 10 pieces that had to be glued, pinned, smoothed, then puttied.  They're all on the underside where technically no one will see them but I feel it's better to be thorough up front than to regret it later.

I found that superglue still doesn't like me very much.  I have to add water to get it to bond and even then it can take a couple of tries.  Might be time to look at the whole house humidifier setting but I also have this problem in summer when humidity can run over 90%.  The only time this is really a problem is when I'm working with water effects and the glue needs to be clear.  Using water to set it turns it white.

Now then, I have all of my remaining Crusaders assembled and waiting on primer.  I also have all the Razig figures assembled and waiting on primer.  I did have to pin a couple of the one-piece figures since I didn't trust that their arms would stay on.  Skeletons tend to be fragile at the joints.  I'm a bit concerned that the axe shafts aren't going to stand up to demo army wear but at this time I'm not going to replace them with brass rod.  If I have to later, I will.

Crusaders get black spray primer, Razig get white.  So tomorrow I turn on the heat in the garage and get to priming.  I like spray primer better than the brush on stuff and it's much easier to have the figures primed and ready for when I feel like painting.

Even after finishing the paint jobs on the Crusaders I'll have to base them, which means putting scenic elements on the bases (if you're not familiar with the lingo).  I'm thinking of going more with a winter theme - some snow on the rocks and the winter static and field grasses.  I think those will contrast nicely with the bright color scheme.

Why no pictures?  They're just pewter figures right now.  Nothing at all exciting.  I'll take pictures of the Crusaders as they're finished and then the Razig army progress.  I don't see another step-by-step on these since they're really not that intricate to do.  Maybe one of the other ones, but not this army.

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One last touch on the Crusader mini

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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