Runewars Painting 2 - Infantry Priming

Now I posted a little while ago about painting the two main creatures out of the Runewars 2-player boxed set - the Rune Golem and the Carrion Lancer. Now painting centerpiece models is one thing -what about the rank and file infantry?

The term "zenithal shading", or highlighting, or pre-shading (with zenithal in front of any of those) is a term that's used a lot at the moment, but it's not a new technique. Essentially this is a way of adding depth and definition to a mini before you start painting, and it can be a great way of either speeding up your painting or helping you along the way. I won't go into exhaustive detail here (there are plenty of tutorials and explanations on the 'net), but essentially all this does is prime your models so that undersurfaces are dark, and highlights light, as here:

This group of reanimates looks nice and bright, but that's because we're looking at them from slightly above - if we look at one from slightly underneath...

Here you can see the shade on the undersides, which presumes a light source coming from somewhere above the model. Here are the spearmen treated in the same way:

That's fine, but spray doesn't act completely like light, and I also like to wash the minis to provide a really strong contrast before painting, like so;

I think you can see both the gradation in shading, plus the high contrast provided by the wash - this makes it much easier (in my opinion) to paint the mini as we go along, and get a feel for how the highlights and shading will work later.

Let's show this on a larger model - the horsemen. Firstly, let's have a look at the zenithal pre-shading using just the primer:

Then let's see one washed as well:

Now some people don't see the point in this, as you're going to be painting over this anyway. For me, the trick going forward is using thin coats, which allows this effect to show through, and then this guides the application of highlights, which makes the process more simple and gives you more time to think about the wet-blending on the model rather than where to put your paint. Next I'll be putting paint down on these minis to get them ready for the tabletop....until then...

Runewars Painting 1 - Rune Golem and Carrion Lancer

In a prior blog post I mentioned picking up Runewars at Salute 2017, and pledged not to play the game until I'd painted the minis. Inspired by Sorastro's painting guides (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmGwuoxuJ4U & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvtB1z1-cH0), I set about painting the two largest minis in the box.

The Rune Golem I painted pretty much exactly as the guide, just to adapt my painting style and learn from Sorastro's technique. I'd highly recommend his videos, they're very east to follow and produce great results. Here the work in progress:

Here is the finished Rune Golem - Overall I'm pretty pleased with the result:

The Carrion Lancer is a bit more involved - I also wanted to adapt some of the colours from Sorastro's work, since I wanted a cooler palette for my army, using steel and purple as the main colours, and I wanted the maw and boils to be more "realistic" - or perhaps "organic" - than the bright green used in Sorastro's work. In any case, I started exactly as per his guide;

Here you can see I was using a blue for the cloth, which I decided to change to purple as I wanted to adapt the blue for my humans - I thought it would tie them in with the Rune Golem well and I didn't really want too much of a Spartan theme for my army as Sorastro had.

So here you can see the subtle blue-green on the carapace, the washes and initial highlights, plus the colour change from the nice bright blue to a more dark, sinister undead purple. I also based the maw and rear (rectum?) in a flesh washed with red. Next was to build up the highlights across the model:

Here most of the highlights are done, with just a few to go on the lance, reigns etc. I also have the base to do, the varnish on the carapace and maw and a few other bits and bobs. They didn't take long to do, just quite a bit of time between steps (for the base to dry etc). Here's the finished Carrion Lancer:

I really enjoyed painting these models - they take paint very well, they have great detail and  are very striking models to put down on the table. I'm looking forward to the challenge of the rest of the box now!

Runewars Unboxing

In my prior post I mentioned I picked up a copy of Runewars from Salute this year, and I thought it would be timely to do an unboxing. This is a Fantasy Flight product, and the only other foray into their ranges for me is (like many others) through X-Wing. This is a bit of a different beast, however, and I'm interested into how it's going to pan out.

Now the first thing to say is that the box is BIG. I mean, it's not huge from an X-Y dimension front, but it's DEEP - deep enough that you can't really hold it in one hand (at least, not if you have hands my size). If you can, then you also need to be strong, because this thing is also HEAVY. This gives you an immediate feeling that you're getting quite a lot for your £75-£80.

Opening the box confirms that feeling:

There is ZERO space between the box lid and the contents - you're presented with rulebook, Learn to Play guide and Lore Book, FFG Catalogue and wrapped token sets up front and personal. I noted (with some amusement) that the token on the bottom right-hand of the photo above was a "Proof of Purchase" token just like in X-Wing (that I've yet to find any use for!).

Taking a closer look at the token sets, these include the order dials that look like an especially interesting mechanic for this game, which I think might set it apart from some of the other similar games out there. Also recognisable are very X-Wing-esque movement profiles, but I resisted the temptation to open this pack until later.

I also mentioned above that you get three books - a Learn to Play, Rules Reference and Lore guide. Taking a closer look at these reveals no real surprises - the Learn to play features lots of graphics:

The Rules Reference is less colourful (mainly having a lot of text references, as you might have guessed):

Whereas the Lore Guide is very nicely and lavishly illustrated, which is very welcome and lends a real sense of professionalism and the feel of a polished product to the whole package.

Now I know that I'm really wanting this set to get into the minis, ennjoy painting them and maybe use them for D&D, but all of this stuff so far also has me intrigued and excited - it feels like a product that's had a lot of thought put into it, and it's been produced with FFGs signature marketing skill. As I've said many times, I'm not a natural fantasy player, but this already has several hooks I'm liking. So let's get into the minis.

Well, removing the books and token pack reveals this clever tri-compartment card divider, which could have been blank but is instead nicely rendered in a single-colour print of the box artwork - again just giving that feel of extra polish. In the centre compartment are all the other bits you need to play the game - dice, bases, cards etc:

Removing the card divider then gets you to two large press-seal bags:

Inside these are more bags of the minis

So where do we start? Well, with the big minis of course! The first one I looked at was the Carrion Lancer - this is made up of 5 pieces plus the base. These all come without any sprue attachments or major cleanup required:

The detail on the minis is really nice, despite the simplification necessary for this sort of 2-player boxed set economy. Here is the smallest piece, the lancer torso:

The models are designed to be push-fit, though everyone will cement them of course. Still, the fit is excellent right out of the box - here is the completely push-fit assembled mini - no glue used here at all

This is impressive stuff, and as we turn to the other large mini - the Rune Golem - we're not disappointed here either:

Looking at the smaller commander pieces, FFGs ingenuity in how they've split these pieces up really comes into its own - this again is push-fit, and you would never guess how it's been split to make it - I'm looking at it now and I can't even remember, and I made it!

The other really nice thing about these commander minis is that although they come with these scenic bases, they can be taken out of them to mix them into larger units, which is a simple but clever thing to do.

So let's move onto the rank and file troops. For me, I think this is where this set really sets a good standard, as not only are the designs good, but the level of repetition is low - you multiples of each sculpt, but there are four sculpts for the basic units, which keeps these units from looking too "samey" - it's also one of the things that usually drives up cost in 2-player sets. Here are the skeleton archers:

And here are the melee versions:

Now you only get melee versions of the human faction:

BUT  you also get a mounted unit - only four strong, but again, two different sculpts, which I wasn't expecting.

So what are my first impressions? They're good - this looks like a very well produced and well thought-out game, which I'd expect, but the level of polish and presentation is extremely high. The minis themselves are very cleverly constructed to be able to be push-fit and played with, and although I'd personally never do it, it is possible. The minis themselves are good - not GW multi-kit good, but with the compromises needed for this sort of product, they're very high - compared to Mantic's Dungeon Saga, for instance, they're definitely superior.

You get a lot of product for your money, and it doesn't feel like FFG have scrimped on it at all - which is a good thing, I want to feel like they are respecting my investment. Some people have commented that they could have cast the two factions in different colours, and whilst that's true and would have allowed a clearer experience for new wargamers, I'm not sure that this set is really aimed at them, and I personally like the grey plastic - it makes it feel more like a miniatures game than a board game.

So, as an initial impression I'm going to give it a good 8.5 out of 10, maybe even a 9. The limitations on the minis just pull it down a little, but not much given the understandable choices FFG have made as a manufacturer. I hope the gameplay lives up to these first impressions!