Blog GhostWarrior Writes a Paint Log - It starts...

Greetings fellow Lustrians!

I would like to start this paint log off with quite the disclaimer - I am a slow painter!

I am a tournament-focused player who has lost his way a little when it comes to the hobby-side of things. I have been a High Elf player for years, and have played them almost exclusively in 8th edition. Well, its time for a change.

When changing to a new army, for me it's about the whole package. Painting/modelling opportunities and game play flexibility. I know that Lizards are not an army with the most abundant of choices, but the choices we have are generally rock-solid. With the exception of the Troglodon (that poor fella), I don't see any choices that I cannot find a way to make work in a balanced tournament force. My goal is to get a respectable army for the 2015 tournament season, so I'll be painting and play-testing as things develop within this game in the coming year.

This army is going to be different for me then my usual fare. I will be converting every single model in this army. Some will get more conversions, some less. In particular, I feel models with Saurus and Kroxigor can use quite a bit of improvement. The big dinos and skinks don't need as much work to get the look I want, mostly repositioning.

I will also be adding Scale free-hand, such as that described by neveroddoreven http://www.lustria-online.com/threads/a-guide-on-freehand-scale-textures.13476/.

So, without further ado, here is the first test model:



This is my second iteration of his color scheme - and I think I'm going to stick with it. It's a bit boring/plain to start, but the plan is that the scale freehanding, and some tattooing/warpaint in strategic places with a bold color will help enhance the model. Also, my plan is to make my shields for the army unique. I'll wait to describe that until I can put something together.

This was my first attempt at the Scale texturing, and I have to say that I like the effect it will achieve. The execution could definitely use improvement - but it's a start!

 

I applaud you for your determination to go with Nevermore's painted scales/
and moreso for vowing to convert all the saurus.

 

Pretty nice start, looking forward to see more!
Would you mind sharing the skin paint recipe, thanks?

 

As far as the paint recipe goes, I'll condition this by saying that I use Reaper Paints for all my painting (generally Master Series). I've been away from the GW paints for so long now (6+ years), that I don't know how the colors match up any more (they've changed the names twice since I last used them!). But, for the skin itself is something like:

Pale Lichen (09084)
Olive Green (09035)
Pale Olive (09036)

Start with the Lichen color, then gradually mix more Olive Green into the skin until full Olive Green. Mix Pale Olive into Olive Green until reaching just Pale Olive. (The assumption here with mixing is that there are multiple layers, and that the number of layers depends on the area of the model - larger surfaces getting more layers than smaller surfaces.)

For the test model, I didn't add any white to the Pale Olive, but I'd imagine on other models, I'll do just that for higher highlights.

The Scales on his back (not the freehanders) are Cold Greens, which I need to look at again to tell you what they were specifically. I didn't put too much work into them to start, as I was focusing more on whether or not I could get the scale freehand to work.

The dividing lines for the scales is a brown ink, but I'm not sure I'll stick with that. If I do, I need to create much finer lines, and I'd prefer if I could improve on the pattern itself.

Hope those explanations helped!

As for the Plog, I've assembled 2 Terradons (out of a planned 6), as I now think they are a must in a competitive Lizard list. The deciding factor? Someone pointed out to me that you could use the 'Drop Rocks' ability to knock off Charmed Shields! That, combined with all of their other redirecting/war machine hunting/etc abilities tipped it for me. Those guys (probably 2 units of 3) are going to find a way in the list!

Otherwise, I'm stalling/lagging a bit. My conversion plans for Saurus have hit a choke point, as I try to figure out what to use to improve upon the Saurus heads. I really like the heads from the Carno box - and I really want my regular Saurus heads to look more like that.

Also, I need to finish working on my Ogre army for a tournament coming up at the end of May, and I am not enjoying working at it. I'm making Lizards the reward for progress on Ogres - hopefully that'll help me get through it!

 

awh men... That looks just briliant!! maybe the use of colours which are less different to each other? you used colours which are quite different compared to eachother

 

Two months...Two months have gone by, and progress has been painstakingly slow.

Due to tournament schedules (and real life) - I've spent time dabbling with my Ogres, so that they can play in tournaments for now. As it happens, I now have a tournament break through the beginning of October. Time to buckle down, and work on some Lizards.

It would be a dream to have a 2.5k army ready for early October. Realistically, this is still an army to have ready for February of next year.

I've moved onto some units that are a bit more fun - Terradons and Cowboys. As follows:

A Terradon:







He needs to be highlighted more, for sure - and I'll need to work on finishing/polishing via some scalework. I also think the purple within the wing expanses has got to go - it'll be closer to a GW Ripperdactyl look, I think.

Piranha Blade Old Blood:






Overall - I think the Orange and Purple is going from the color scheme. Generally, I really like the two Greens on the Cold One. I think I'll stick to that for the 'hard Lizards' - and use Orange and Purple lightly as a tattoo color, or for markings on crests.

Finally, here's a Stegadon Helm Oldblood:







I really like his look. For further work on him, I think I'll be needing to 'scaly up' his backside. He looks strong and leader-like, but he could look 'tougher' (if that makes any sense). Also, I'll need to find a way to give him a tail that matches the awesomeness and prowess of the Pblade Oldblood, without buying another Carno kit. Looks like I'll be doing some sculpting!


Anyway, that's it for now.

 

Nice looking terradons,
and I think your second Old Blood definately wins the bigggest hat award.

 

Its a mix of the clampack savage orc big boss on foot and the weapon top from the carno kit.

Was going for a great weapon on him though.

I'll be working on a halberd scar vet in the future-we'll see if the difference is noticable.

 

My sentiments are mostly in line with this. Would take a little tweaking to get it looking particularly stegadonny, but very nice idea

You could consider fleshing out a tail shape with green stuff, then take to the carno kit tail and make some green stuff moulds of both sides.

 

Nice painting on the minis. I really like the Skink and the painted cowboy looks great! I have to second the award for the biggest hat on the second oldblood. It will be nice to see how he ends up painted.

 

Wow man! Awesome paint job and awesome conversion work! Loving that stegadon helm.

 

Very cool colors on the first oldblood. Love that purple.
What is that award winning hat made out of?

 

So it's been a very long time since I've posted on here, and quite a hobby and tournament play journey. Feel free to read as I describe, or to skip ahead to the pics at the end!



My spare time has become less and less recently. And 4 months ago it was cut dramatically by the birth of my first child (which has been awesome, btw).

This has necessitated a very time-efficient approach to my hobby time, where I only work on the things that I needed for the tournaments I would be playing in. I live in the Southeastern United States, and something that has become a huge deal in the past couple of years is the US Masters tournament, and the qualification process.

It has been both a great boon for the tournament scene, and a hindrance. It's a boon because it has brought out more players, those players have worked to up their game-play, painting and sportsmanship to give overall better games and a more competitive environment. On the drawback side, the top end painting has elevated to such height, that it is very difficult to start on a new army and compete for painting points. This becomes even more difficult because there is always a learning curve to be had when moving to a new army, or new play style. These difficulties have generally pigeon-holed the players competing to make Masters into using the 1 army they are best with, both to continually up their paint scores, and to make sure they can get the maximum battle points possible.

I fell into this category. My plan for last year (starting at the end of 2013 really), was to work on/practice/paint Lizardmen in my spare time, whilst doing the minimum necessary with my High Elves and Ogres (comped vs uncomped) to make sure I still made it to the show. What ended up happening was a general drain on my hobby juices, which was partly due to my perfectionist nature regarding color choices, and partly caused by the difficult-for-me task of converting and sculpting on so many models. In addition, through UB practice the build I was trying to make work (no-Slann lizzies) was just not competitive enough to make sure it could win games against the fastest armies out there. It has power, yes, but when facing the all fast cav WE or DE armies, it just couldn't force the expensive elements of those armies to engage until they wanted to.

So I rolled into Masters this year with my Ogres, had the worst cold I've had in at least a year, and placed in the bottom half of the pack due to poor in-game choices, a bad matchup (Stardragon) that I had to play against twice (both losses), and some of the most lopsided luck I've ever seen in a game (my 6th one), which caused me to be tabled in Turn 2.

All of this led me to call it quits from Tournament play for the foreseeable future. I found I just wasn't having fun with any part of the hobby or the game anymore. However, it's been a month now, and I've starting thinking about playing this game again. In thinking, I've wanted to try to move to a more aggressive army, and I think the Lizards can still give me what I want (3 OB Cowboys and a Slann can do that for ya - Go EndTimes 50/50!).

Here's the scheme I've finally settled on for my Skinks. I still have to figure out what I want to do for the Saurus, and my biggest holdup color-wise is the OB's on top of the CO's and not having those colors clash, whilst still maintaining the theme.

I can't say that there will be any posts again anytime soon, but I hope you all enjoy these!





@DanBot - The Helm is from the Carnosaur kit - its one of the crest options. The horns are also from the Carno Kit, they are the horns meant to be used to adorn the back of the riders chair.

@NexS1 - I did actually end up greenstuffing that guys tail. I don't have a pic for that right now, but when I do, I'll be sure to put it up - it looks much better.

On the the Steg Helm dude - I no longer see his build as the most competitive/efficient. I think the Glittering Scales has a better effect on damage reduction (and for less points too) - which makes me sad.

 

Very kool skirmish base,
and the skink mods look great...
I even like the colors.


Hmm... I suppose you could do a reverse color scheme for your saurus.
http://paletton.com/#uid=30W0O0kw0w0jyC+oRxVy4oIDfjr
Perhaps orange Cold ones ???

or maybe orange an teal cold ones..?
http://paletton.com/#uid=40N0X0kw0w0jyC+oRxVy4oIDfjr

 

Thanks for the kind words.


Orange definitely is my 3rd color of choice for this army, but I think my test subjects (even looking back on the Terradon on page 1 here) have been too red.

I think your link is definitely looking in the direction I was thinking, the orange needs to be much further or on the yellow spectrum. Thanks!

 

Love the effect on the terradon, dude. Looking forward to seeing the rest

 

I made a resolution to convert/personalize all of the models. I said no such thing about the movement trays or bases.

http://www.base-x-of-war.com/index.html

I'm using a mixture of 'Dark Wood' and 'Deadly Swamp' Movement trays and bases. Note that not all of their trays are shown as available for Skirmish trays, but they CAN custom make any of their products. I even had them create trays for my terradon units.

Also, I'm sure a lot of our members would like their Jungle Movement Trays

These folks offered a great service at a competitive price. It looks to be a smallish operation, so they're not always available to make new trays (for instance there was a period of about 1-2 months last Christmas time where their site said they weren't taking orders at that time) - but the quality is stunning (I didn't have to do any filing or washing - and I file and wash everything!).