Cthulhu Wars Onslaught 2: Painting Sleeper & some IGOOs

OK, admission on mis-selling/advertising here - this isn't really painting the CWO2 minis, it's starting to paint them! There's a lot, and I also wanted to test out my new airbrush (more on that in another post), so this was really about priming them ready for painting. I went down the zenithal priming method, and I think it came out pretty well, as I hope you'll agree.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with zenithal priming, this involves three steps (all sprayed, I'm afraid - it's not impossible to do this by brush, but that's really better done with your final colours):

1. Prime the mini with a good-quality black primer - I use Vallejo and can't recommend it highly enough, it's great stuff - good coverage, sticks well and airbrushes like a dream.

2. Spray at 45 degrees with a mid-tone grey (I used Army Painter Cool Grey). This has the effect of covering the primer in all but deep overhangs, creating an illusion of depth - don't be worried if the effect is subtle at this stage, it'll soon pop at stage three.

3. Spray from directly overhead with white (in this case Tamiya Model Colour flat white). In practice, you need to spray from 90 degrees minus 10-15 degrees to create a good effect. Start with the directly overhead and then examine your mini to see how much you need to adjust - you'll get a feel for it quickly and it will differ depending on the make-up of the mini.

Here's it in action - Zenithal spraying (this isn't my video, but it illustrates the technique well and there's no point re-inventing the wheel)

So here's how the Sleeper faction turned out...first it's Tsathoggua

I think the fur really shows well using this technique. Next are the Wizards...

The cultists after that - again, the technique really shows up features like the robe folds well

I love the Formless Spawn - tentacles also come out well using this zenithal shading - you get good gradation and not such harsh definition as on some shapes which helps I think.

The Snake Men look good - elements of the cultists with the robes plus their heads have very clear definition

The High priest will probably need more post-work than the cultists, but the smaller elements here show up well, like the emblem on his chest.

I've found Sleeper challenging to play so far - I've not got the hang of them yet - played two games and come woefully behind in them both. Opener of the way, however, I blasted through and won easily - they're (quite literally!) monstrous!

I also had a bunch of IGOOs that I primed at the same time (oh, and some insects from Shaggai)...here they are:

This is one of my favourite figures:

So there you go - it might not look like much, but it does make the minis easier to paint and I think it enhances their appearance to play with them before they are painted. What do you think?

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...