Reaper's Warlord Figures: Work in Progress

So...while I wait for my Romans and Carthaginians to make it across the pond, I have been working with my new found friend, Reaper Master Series Paint. Of course trying out this paint would only be proper on new figures—so I bought the starter box for Reaper's Warlord and augmented the figures that come in the box with standard bearers and musicians for the factions provided. I took off this week (Thanksgiving week) and have been lazing around the house experimenting with the Reaper Master Series Paint instead of doing yard work (any excuse to avoid yard work is a good one in my book).

NB: These photographs were taken with a Canon XT w/ 50mm Macro in a light tent. The tent was lit from the sides and above by two 150w (equiv) daylight balanced fluorescent lights. The figures were lit by two incandescents, one on each side at about a 45 degree angle. The objective is to provide “flat” light to show off the layered painting technique. They were Photoshopped only to convert from RAW to JPG and reduce the size for uploading to this posting; no other alterations were made.

This is the front of the command group. The castings are pretty well done. Minimum cleanup required. The Triad system is hard at work on the faces, cloth and armor (yes there is a metallic paint Triad). You can see that the leader is taller than the other figures. This is by design. His size is actually a factor in the game.

Here we see the back of the figures. In some ways the back of the leader, Lord Ironraven, is more detailed than the front. All of the @*&%&*!!!! straps for holding the plate armor in place are sculpted.

This close-up of the musician will give you an idea of the detail that is sculpted into these guys. It’s pretty impressive, even for “heroic scale”. You’ll notice that I painted eyes on these (I don't on my historical stuff). They are fantasy figures and the troops (units) are so small at 8-9 figures that I can afford the time and effort. Besides when your army consists of, perhaps, a couple dozen figures at the most in a big game, each figure is out there for everyone to see.

I didn’t put quite as much effort into this one as the leader figure, I still need to go back and touch-up. See where I slopped black paint under the belt? Yikes! That’s what I get for trying to paint under the influence of caffine! The armor needs more shading under in the shadows. It’s particularly noticable under the calf of the grieves. I’m not real happy with the horn either. It needs to be more shiny (but not too much).

Lord Ironraven is obviously in progress. His hair is just blocked in and the spear haft and scabbard aren’t painted yet. If you look closely you’ll see all kinds of errors and touch-ups that need to be corrected. (See the metal bit on the end of the scabbard that I forgot to metalize?) I think the face came out pretty good though. The lighting in the pictures is flat to bring out the shading that the Triad system enables. This face is a good example. I base coated in the darkest color; did the eyes along with the touch-up around them; then the next lightest color for all but the deepest shadows like the cheek recess; then the highlight for the cheek bone, temples, and nose. I have to admit it was pretty easy, technically, but it was mentally exhausting because of the concentration needed for brush control.

Here’re all those blankety-blank straps I was was talking about each one is highlighed and outlined! What a chore, but the result is very nice. The base gament underneath the armor I wanted to look like deer skin and it came out pretty good. I’m not happy with the blue cloth though. I’m going to have to blend a lot more. Since it’s such a prominent feature of the model, I will have to use a wet blending technique. The same is true of the haft of the spear. It’s huge and it used to balance out the pose so it can’t be ignored or given half measure.

Ah well, work continues. The command group is, by far, the most difficult part of this faction (that’s what they call the opposing sides in Warlord). The rank and file are simple tin cans (like the standard bearer) and wear a simple tabbard which will be painted like the hornist’s. The other faction that came in the box is undead. They’re simple skellies with huge swords. They are going to be really, really, easy. Their command group is an armored guy with no face because of his helmet and a vampiress—that will be the challenging figure in that faction. The musician is interesting in that he’s playing a fiddle and the standard bearer is a reaper.

My Game Table on the Cheap

One of the things that I have always wanted was game table. I have a room that was being used for "storage", if you know what I mean. It's big enough to handle a 4x6 table with walking space around all four sides. In the picture below, you can see that I'm using cheap bookcases for pedestals to support the tabletop. I think these are made by Sauder, but to be honest I've had them for so long I really can't be sure. Anyhow, I outlined the table on the floor with masking tape to ensure I got everything aligned right. The boards under the bookcases are plain white, cheap, pine. Their purpose is to keep the bookcases stable on the carpeted floor. You can see that there is a huge amount of storage under this table and in the bookcases.

Here's another view of the same stage of assembly. It gives you a little better idea of the space around the table--not much, but enough.

This next picture is the four bookcases with a 4x6 chunk of plywood on top. This is pretty heavy stuff, 3/4", but it's pretty cheap since it doesn't have to be finished. B-C will work just fine. Most DIY stores will give you one cut for free on every piece of lumber. I had them do it on their big saw to make sure it is straight. After I put the top on the bookcases, I coverd the edge of the plywood with a couple of layers of wide masking tape to prevent picking up splinters. In the picture I've unrolled my Geohex mats, one on top of each other. It's great to be able to store these flat! The Geohex mats are slightly larger than 4x6. That's a good reason to use unfinished ply for the tabletop; it "grips" the underside of the bottom mat and keeps everything from moving as you brush against the overhanging mat fringe.

I want to be able to use the table for other things as well, like my miniatures photography so I also got two 3x4 pressboard sheets. I decided to use two for ease of handling. They go on top when I need the table to sort miniatures or set up my light box for photography. Not shown in this picture are the two $10 metal stools I got from Wal*Mart (which fold).

So there you have it. My game table. Cheap, simple, and easy to disassemble when you need the room for that unexpeceted relative who shows up. The table top and masonite go behind the bookcases which get moved against the wall to make room for the guest air mattress.

Reaper Paint-and-Take & NMM

02297: Kaballah the Colossus is the figure I picked to use for the Paint-and-Take. I highly recommend that, no matter what your skill level, you take part in this if you have the opportunity.

This past weekend I had some free time Saturday morning before setting up a big Napoleonic game at Millennium X in Round Rock, Tx (you can see the pictures here: http://huzzahm10.blogspot.com/). I decide to take advantage of that time to get a little tutorial on painting NMM (Non-Metallic Metal) from the guys at the Reaper booth where they had set up their Paint-and-Take table.

The Paint-and-Take is a way for Reaper to introduce people to their paints, brushes, and miniatures. I had been talking to the Shawn about their "triad" system which matches three colors to provide a base color, deep shadow, and highlight. I have been using various brands of paint like Adikolor and Vallejo, and I use a similar method except that I mix my own to arrive at my own "triad". This isn't a difficult thing to do with a little knowledge of the color wheel and a few tricks like knowing that red and green make gray. However, it is an advantage to have most of the mixing and matching done for you. Furthermore, when painting lots of figures or adding to an existing group of painted figures, having a "triad" provide consistant results.

So, since I have no experience with the Reaper "triads" and no experience with Reaper paints I took my place at the Paint-and-Take. I was instructed to pick a figure and take a seat. There were a buch of different Reaper figures that had been cleaned and primed (white) available. I pick an Arabian fellow that I thought I might actually use sometime in the future and took my seat. Ron, who was conducting the session handed me a "0" brush which was in pretty good shape considering its public use, and bade me to have fun.

I did the typical thing blocking in colors highlighting, and dry brushing to see how well the paints did and I was pretty impressed. The paint has a slightly creamier texture than the Vallejo that I'm used to and it stood up well to extreme thinning (with the tap water available). It also dry-brushed well though I did have to work at getting the brush dry enough.

I had had a conversation with Shawn in the Reaper squad the night before about the various paint sets they were selling and, in particular, one that had caught my eye. It was a set devoted to the technique of using regular flat colors to trick the viewer's eye into thinking that they are seeing shiny metal (this is the same thing that happens when you look at an oil painting--the cover of the latest Reaper catalog is a good example). Shawn was good enough to come over when he saw me at the Paint-and-Take table and give me about twenty minutes (an eternity in a convension venue) of one-on-one instruction in this technique.

The resulting figure is here for you to see. This took about an hour (including the instruction time on NMM). Shawn painted the front of the blade and I emulated his technique on the back. Obviously, this is going to take a lot of practice to perfect and there is just so much one can do in an hour with a single "0" brush. But I'm satisfied that I got a good start. I did buy the set (which now included the superior "Master" paints rather that the original "Pro" paints).

Notice the armor and how the painter tricks the eye into think "metal" with a few colors and skillful placement of highlights and shadows. Examining real world shiny objects and how the light plays on them helps a great deal.

Note that the paints have be replaced with Master series paints. There is a cross reference in the box for the colors used in the in the instructional brochure inside.