When is a druid not a druid?

When he's a warrior priest!

I wanted to paint Branowen the druid from the adventurer starter set, but due to the fact I was unlikely to ever need a druid figure for my wargaming, I decided to paint him as a warrior priest instead. I'm not 100% happy with a couple of areas on him, but right now it's about getting models finished, and I can always go back and touch things up later. I also really struggled to get a decent picture of him (especially his purple robes), but here you go.

I used the new citadel paints on him, and overall I was really impressed. The base paints cover incredibly well, but don't suffer from being incredibly thick and drying way too quickly like the old foundation paints did. They also come in a much larger range of colours, so lots more choice which can only be a good thing.

The layer paints surprised me the most. I was expecting them to be the same formulation as the old citadel colour paints, but they are slightly thinner, and quite a bit less opaque. I found them really good for highlights, but when trying to paint a solid block of colour I needed an extra coat or two.

Shades worked pretty much as expected, and I couldn't see too much difference between them and the old washes. They didn't pool on the flat surfaces as much as washes, and found their way into the recesses more consistently, but they did seem to darken the raised areas more too.

I'm definitely a fan of the new range, and the massive increase in the number of colours can only be a good thing. I've read a lot about the new 'Citadel painting system' being a terrible thing which will stifle creativity and force people to paint in a certain way, but it strikes me as being a great system for beginners to learn with, and as they get more experienced they will find new ways to use the paints just like painters always have. As for anyone who is already an experienced painter, I'm pretty sure the Games Workshop painting police won't be knocking on your door if you don't use the paints how they want you to.

My next project is a group of 5 ghouls. I need to find faster ways of painting larger numbers of troops, and so I'll be using them as an experiment with 'dip'. I've seen some really great models done using dip, but also some really terrible ones, and I'll be hoping I can come up with something that fits into the former category.

The End of an Era

I finally got another mini finished, the original White Dwarf this time, which is a significant event in itself.

Grombrindal Mk1

Even more significant though, is the fact that this is the final miniature I will paint with the current range of Citadel paints. Chaos black, skull white and a whole host of other colours have been with me since I started painting miniatures nigh on 25 years ago, and I'll be sad to see them go. But having had a bit of a play with the new paint range it seems an improvement in almost every way, so I'm excited to start using XV-88, The Fang, Leadbelcher and all of the other weirdly named colours.

Expect to see the results and hear my thoughts on the new paints soon.

Bring on the trumpets!

It's a painted miniature!!

Orc Shaman

It may have taken twice as long as planned for half the output, but I finished something for the first time in about 6 months. Go me!

It took so long because of a couple of work trips and a weekend away, but towards the end of the painting I found myself really enjoying the process. Hopefully that bodes well for future projects.

In other news looks like some new paints are on the way from GW. 145 of them to be precise. I'm a huge fan of citadel paints, so I cant wait to get my hands on some of the new ones and give them a try.

The Trading Post is Open

I have shamelessly stolen the idea for a trade section of my blog from Gaj over at Warhammer for Adults. You can find a link to it at the top of the page, or click here.

If you have any of the models on there that you are willing to part with feel free to leave a comment or drop me a line at skarsnikandoldlead_at_sky_dot_com

If you would like to attach terms to the trade involving me painting certain amounts of models before you will send me new toys, feel free. I need all the help I can get!

The scale of the problem....

My girlfriend and I had a few days away in Edinburgh over the weekend, so I got zero painting done, but when I got back there was a big pile of minis waiting for me. I thought I'd take a picture to illustrate what I'm up against with my addiction.

What I bought this week:

Lots!

What I painted this week:

Nothing!

That's right, bought 39, painted 0. I bought more than usual this week as I was filling in some gaps in my LotR and WFB Empire collections, but 20 figures a week from ebay and the like isn't out of the ordinary.

I guess I'll just have to start painting faster!!

Ooooh, Toys!

Finally some pics of toys! I'm afraid that those of you who were here just for the messy desk pictures will have to get your kicks elsewhere from now on.

I decided I would do a couple of minis a week to begin with (easing myself in gently and all that). One will be started from scratch, and the other will be finishing off one of the many half painted minis that are sitting on my shelf. Once I'm back into the swing of things I'll start to be a bit more focused with my painting, and may even start working towards a painted army.

So here are week one's candidates:

The White Dwarf

Orc Shaman

The orc shaman has been kicking around my painting table as a throwback to when I experimented with brown undercoat. I hated painting over it and so never got it finished. But now is that time.

As for The White Dwarf, I picked up the White Dwarf Personalities box a while ago, but was missing Livingstone the 'ed Hitter. Well this week I finally got one on ebay, so I'm starting to paint the boxed set in celebration! Expect to seem more of his friends over the coming weeks.

Ready For Action

One clean and tidy painting area. I got some very quizzical looks from my girlfriend as she's never seen me tidy the 'geek room' before.

Clean, tidy and ready for action.

 So step one is done. Now I have to stop procrastinating and decide what to paint.

Stay tuned for some vintage Citadel loveliness!