Skeleton Warriors: Bones 2 Figures

     This past week I did a pair of Skeletons from the Bones 2 Shambling Dead set.  I had prepped these back when we were playing Ghost Archipelago a couple years ago, but never got around to painting them, and they had just kind of been floating around my painting table ever since.  I finally got tired of seeing them, so thought I'd slap some quick paint on them and get them finished.

      I had prepped the figures in the usual way, soaking the parts in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying them. I then had glued them to 1" black-primed fender washers with Aleene's Tacky glue.  I now glued the washers onto a tongue depressor with a couple drops of Elmer's white glue.

     Since I planned to use some Citadel Contrast Paint on these, I started off by giving them a base coat of Ceramcoat "White".

     When the base coat was dry, I gave them a coat of Citadel Contrast "Skeletal Horde".  When that was dry, I went over their armor and shields and shield straps with Citadel Contrast "Snakebite Leather".  After that, I did the boots with Citadel Contrast "Wyldwood", and the spear shaft with Folk Art "Barn Wood. 

    Next, I painted the tunic on the righthand one using Reaper MSP Bones "Cinnamon Red", and then I painted the spear point, sword blade, and belt with Americana "Asphaltum".   After that I painted the armor, shields, and sword grip with Folk Art Brushed Metal "Brushed Bronze".

     I then went over the shields and armor with  some thinned Americana "Sea Breeze" to give a verdigris look. When it was dry, I added some splotches to the left shield with Crafters Acrylic "Bright Yellow", and the right shield with Americana 'True Blue, to represent the remains of old paint on the shields.  I let the figures dry for a while, and then went over everything but the skeletal bones themselves with a coat of Citadel "Agrax Earthshade" wash.  I then filled the eye holes and mouths with some Citadel "Nuln Oil" wash to help define them better.

     When the washes were dry, I drybrushed the spear shaft with some Americana "Bleached Sand", and then hit the bones of the skeletons with a light drybrush of some Crafter's Acrylic "Light Antique White".  I then applied some splotchy rust to the spearpoint and sword blade with some accent "Golden Oxide", and then did highlights on the righthand skeleton's tunic with some Crafter's Acrylic "Orange Spice".  After that, I went over the paint remands on the shields again; using Crafter's Acrylic "Daffodil Yellow" for the one on the left, and Americana "Wedgewood Blue" for the righthand one.  I then painted on the remnants of some decorations, using Ceramcoat "Black"on the left, and Americana "Snow White" on the right.  Lastly, I painted the bases with Americana "Mississippi Mud".

     I let the skellies dry overnight and the next day I gave them a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.    Then, when  the varnish was dry, I used some white glue to flock the bases.  Another overnight dry, and I sprayed them with Testor's "Dullcote". 

     Not great, but good enough for the tabletop and I'm happy to finally get them finished and ready for action.

Gloom Stalker: Bones 4 Darkreach Figure

      This past week I painted the "Gloom Stalker" from the Bones 4 Darkreach Expansion; this is Reaper's version of the D&D Hook Horror.   This is the last figure from the Darkreach Expansion I had left to paint.  So it feels good to get one expansion completed. (Note: I traded or sold the Fungoids, and all but two of the Bloodstone Gnomes.) 

     I began by painting the body of the figure with Ceramcoat "Black".   Then when the "Black" was dry, I drybrushed it with Crafter's Acrylic "African Violet".  After that, I gave it a lighter drybrush of Apple Barrel "Apple Lavender".  I then worked on the underbelly, first using a mix of the "Black" and the "African Violet" around the outer edges, and then adding in some of the "Apple Lavender" to blend it lighter towards the center.  Lastly, I mixed in some Folk Art "Milkshake" for the center.  I then drybrushed it with Americana "Dove Grey", and then directly painted some "Dove Grey" highlights.

     Next, I painted the feet with the "Milkshake", and then painted the blade-like "hooks", talons, and beak with Folk Art "Barn Wood".  When dry, I attempted to blend them all into the black body by mixing the base color, ("Milkshake" for the feet, "Barn Wood" for the blade-like "hooks", talons, and beak,) with Citadel Contrast "Black Templar".  When that was dry, I gave the blade-like "hooks", talons, beak, and feet all a coat of Citadel "Nuln Oil".

     When the wash was dry, I drybrushed the blade-like "hooks", talons, and beak, with the base "Barn Wood".  I then did some direct brush highlights with the same color where it was too close to the black body to drybrush well.  Next, I mixed some Crafter's Acrylic "Light Antique White" with the "Barn Wood" and did another round of lighter highlights.  After that, I did a few spot highlights with just the plain "Light Antique White".  I then highlighted the feet with the base "Milkshake".  

     Moving on to the eyes next, I painted the immediate area around them with the "African Violet", and then painted the eyeball with Americana "Zinc".  When dry, I painted large pupil with Crafter's Acrylic "Daffodil Yellow", and then  a smaller inner pupil with Ceramcoat "White".

   I let the figure dry overnight and the next day I gave it a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish. I then used some white glue to glue some fine sand around the edge of the integral base to cover the areas where the black under-base showed.  When the sand was dry, I painted it with a coat of Americana "Charcoal Grey". When this was dry, I drybrushed the sand with the "Mississippi Mud", and then with some Apple Barrel "Rock Grey"; lastly I drybrushed it with a little Americana "Dove Grey". Next, I painted the sculpted bone on the base with the "Light Antique White".  When that was dry, I gave it a coat of Citadel Contrast "Skeleton Horde".

      Another overnight dry, and I sprayed the figure with Testor's Dullcote". When the "Dullcote" was dry, I went back and repainted the eyes with a little Americana "DuraClear Gloss" varnish.

     I'm really happy with how this guy turned out.  I wasn't expecting a lot from the figure, but for some reason the black, purple, and off-white color scheme really seems to make it pop for me.  Sadly this is another figure that suffers from some poorly placed mold lines, and I just don't have the patience to spend a lot of time trying to remove them from uneven and textured surfaces.  

Troglodytes (Spearman, Warrior & Boss): Bones 4 Darkreach Figures

     This past week I painted the "Troglodyte Spearman", "Troglodyte Warrior", and "Troglodyte Boss" figures from the Bones 4 Darkreach Expansion.  I've only got one Darkreach figure left to do after these guys, and I'll have completed all the figures I kept from that expansion.   These guys had a lot of nice detail sculpted into their scaly skin, so I thought they might be good candidates for some Citadel Contrast paint.  So I thought I'd try something of a hybrid approach using both the Contrast paint and regular paint.

      I prepped the figures in the usual way, soaking the parts in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying them. I then glued them to 1" brown-primed fender washers with Aleene's Tacky glue.  I then glued the washers onto a tongue depressor with a couple drops of Elmer's white glue.

     I began by giving all of them complete coats of Ceramcoat "White".  When that was dry, I painted their bodies with Citadel Contrast "Militarum Green".

     I began by working on their abdomen, chest, and the bottoms of their feet areas, using a blend of the base "Militarum Green" and mixing in some Americana "Antique White"; I then gradually increased the amount of the "Antique White" as I worked towards the higher center areas.  After that, I used some Americana "Jade Green" to highlight areas of the body like fingers, toes, and lips.  I then used Folk Art "Grey Green" to paint the spikes, horns, and claws; and then highlighted these areas with Folk Art "Porcelain White".  I felt the highlight wasn't enough, so I went back and added some Folk Art "Celadon Green" to the very tips.

          Next, I repainted the center figure's bone club, and the bone handle of the righthand ones' axe, with the "White".  I then painted the lefthand one's spear handle with Americana "Mississippi Mud", then painted the spear point, axe head, and all their ankle bracelets with Accent "Golden Oxide".  After that, I painted the bindings on the spear, club and axe, with Ceramcoat "Territorial Beige". I then moved to their mouths, painting the inside of the lefthand one's mouth with Folk Art "Milkshake", and then painting all their teeth with Folk Art "Barn Wood".  I then went back and gave the center figure's bone club, and the bone handle of the righthand ones' axe a coat of Citadel Contrast "Skeleton Horde".

         I then applied a coat of "Nuln Oil" wash to the teeth and mouth of the figures.  While that dried, I did highlights on the spear shaft using some of the "Barn Wood" mixed with the base "Mississippi Mud".  By now the "Skeleton Horde" Contrast paint had dried, so I did some light drybrush highlights on the bone club, and axe handle with Americana "Bleached Sand".  The "Nuln Oil" was dry too, so I highlighted the teeth with the "Bleached Sand" as well.  After that, I highlighted all the bindings on the weapons with Folk Art 'Butter Pecan".   

     Next, I moved to the metallics, Painting the spear point and axe head with Folk Art Brushed Metal "Brushed Bronze".  I let that dry for a while, and then came back and drybrushed it with some Ceramcoat "MetallicBronze".  I then mixed some of the "metallic Bronze with a little DecoArt Metallic "Bight Brass" to do lighter highlights.

    Finishing up, I painted the back of the open mouth on the lefthand one with a little Citadel "Black Templar" Contrast to give the appearance of a throat.  I then painted the eyeballs with the "Black Templar" as well.   When they were dry, Ipainted the eyeballs again using Crafter's Acrylic "Daffodil Yellow"  and then gave them Ceramcoat "Black" slit pupils.  Lastly, I painted the bases with Americana "Mississippi Mud".

         I let the figures dry overnight and the next day I gave them a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.    Then, when  the varnish was dry, I used some white glue to flock the bases.  Another overnight dry, and I sprayed them with Testor's "Dullcote". When the "Dullcote" was dry, I went back and repainted the eyes and teeth with a little Americana "DuraClear Gloss" varnish.

     I'm really happy with how this trio turned out.  I think the Contrast paint really was effective on the scaly skin, and blended well with more conventional paints.  

Burrowing Behemoth: Bones 4 Darkreach Figure

      This past week I painted the "Burrowing Behemoth" from the Bones 4 Darkreach Expansion.  This is apparently Reaper's version of an Umber Hulk, so I consulted my old original Monster Manual for color inspiration.   

      I prepped the "Burrowing Behemoth" in the usual way, soaking the pieces in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added; then giving the pieces a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying everything.  I then glued the arms, legs, head, and mouth into place using Gorilla Superglue gel.    I didn't glue this figure to a washer because I planned to sell it, and it already had an effective circular base build onto it.   The feet didn't fit as snugly onto the base as I would have liked, so I added a little white glue around the feet and here and there on the base; and sprinkled some sand on the glue, to help hide the feet joints and add a little more texture to the base.   When dry, I shook off the extra sand, and I then affixed the integral base to the top of a large pill bottle with a couple blobs of blue-tac. 

This was another figure with terrible mold lines on hard to reach and uneven surfaces.  Who's idea was it to have three intersecting mold lines meet in the middle of each eye ball! 

(Oops! I started my black base coat on the leg before I realized I hadn't taken a "beginning" picture)

     I began by giving the entire figure a base coat with Ceramcoat "Black".  I then drybrushed it with Americana "Charcoal Grey", followed by a lighter drybrushing with "Americana "Mississippi Mud", and lastly a highlight drybrush with a little Americana "Fawn".

     Next, I wet blended the lighter yellow-grey stomach area using first a base of Ceramcoat "Charcoal", followed by mixing in a little Americana "Antique Gold" (non-metallic).  I then mixed in some Crafter's Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey", and lastly a little crafter's Acrylic "Daffodil Yellow".  After that, I painted the to of the head with a little of the "Charcoal Grey", and Storm Cloud Grey mixed together, blending it in to the surrounding darker head, and then added some highlights with the base "Storm Cloud Grey"

     I then painted the ridged areas of the forearms with Accent "Real Umber" (Something on an Umber Hulk needed to be painted with an Umber Brown!), and then painted the claws and toenails(?) with Americana "Bittersweet Chocolate".  After that, I painted the mandibles with Americana "Antique White".

     Next, I applied a coat of Citadel "Nuln Oil" wash to the ridged forearm areas, mandibles, claws, and toenails.  While the wash was drying, I painted the eyes with Reaper MSP "Fresh Blood", and drybrushed the antenna with DecoArt Dazzling Metaalics "Rich Espresso", followed by a lighter drybrush of Ceramcoat "Wedding Gold".  

     When the wash was dry, I highlighted the ridges in the forearm areas with first, Pathfinder MSP "Urgathea Red", and then mixed it with a little Reaper MSP "Holly Berry" for a lighter highlight.  I then Highlighted the toenails and claws with Ceramcoat "Territorial Beige".  After that, I highlighted the mandibles, first with the base "Antique White", and then with a little "Americana "Bleached Sand", and then I highlighted the other mouth bits with some Folk Art "Barn Wood".  I wrapped things up by repainting the eyes with some Folk Art Color Shift "Red Flash", and then added small highlight dots with Americana "Snow White".   

     I let the figure dry overnight and the next day I gave it a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.   When the varnish was dry, I painted the base with a coat of Americana "Charcoal Grey". When this was dry, I drybrushed the base with some of the "Mississippi Mud", and then with some Apple Barrel "Rock Grey"; lastly I drybrushed it with a little Americana "Dove Grey".

      Another overnight dry, and I sprayed the figure with Testor's Dullcote". When the "Dullcote" was dry, I went back and repainted the eyes with a little Americana "DuraClear Gloss" varnish.

      I'm really happy with how this turned out.  There's still some annoying mold lines here and there, but I think the color scheme came out looking pretty good.