Shadespire journey continued (Spring Clean)

This is as far as I got before abandoning the project.

I could not decide and still haven’t fully decided on the colour scheme.

Still unsure how to tackle the bases. I will look to the box art and try to take them closer to the Stealheart’s Champions bases. Trouble is, the Sigmar bases look like ruins and the Chosen Axes bases look like a desert or lava scape.

The base is a grey colour just mixed roughly with Abaddon Black and Army Painter Barbarian Flesh just to see what it looks like grey. For consistency I will probably use some Mechanicus Standard Grey on the others with some Zandri Dust skulls and grey and Zandri mix as a dry brush.

The loin cloth red is Mephiston Red.

The belts are Army Painter leather brown with some Abaddon Black added. (I need to find a nice dark rich brown in my collection somewhere, but I just darkened the leather brown until I was happy.)

I have used Vallejo Bronze for the runes and bronze pieces, but I will probably use some Balthasar Gold as a highlight.

The metal of the weapons etc is painted in Leadbelcher, then washed with Nulin Oil and then highlighted back up with Leadbelcher.

The hair is Jokaero Orange with Casandora Yellow shade. I might get some Troll Slayer Orange to see whether I prefer it or not.

I used Abaddon Black for what I decided was probably a leather covered shaft of the axes. Being all metal coloured looked wrong to me somehow. I might add some leather brown damage marks to the black leather.

Got Tefk in the photo booth after a tidy up of some details.

Happy and probably won’t tamper with him any more.

Looking forward to taking this scheme to the other models.

Might choose different colours for the loin cloth to make them easier to tell apart when playing the game. In fact I will see if I can add the name to the bevelled base without it looking rubbish.

Fjul-Grimnir was fun the paint. I especially enjoyed the base.

I will keep the loin clothes all the one colour for now and worry about identifying them from one another later.

I know that the press fit speedy build is a good thing generally, but when it puts odd breaks in flow through fleshy thighs etc. it is a little annoying. I could just Greenstuff the gap, but the boardgame nature of Shadespire makes it feel excessive or wasteful to commit that effort to it.

From a painting perspective this feels like an odd attitude to take, because regardless of what you play you still want your efforts to look as good as they can be, but the feeling is still there. My mind rationalises thus… “the line is there and I will not fill it and I will not pretend it is a scar and make a feature of it, because even though it is a very detailed, high quality miniature, it is still a boardgame mini” . ?

I got some Trollslayer Orange paint and went back over all the warband and I can see why lots of people use it.

I am glad I painted them and enjoyed it, after initially falling out of love with them after picking a primer that probably wasn’t quite right.

I am calling these done.

The Trollslayer paint really helped get the hair to pop.

I can understand why BoW Ben went for the off the norm skin tones if he has painted lots of dwarves before, but as these are my first ever Slayers I was happy to go a traditional route.

These guys suffered the same fate of being disliked because I was struggling with the skin tones and as they are majority covered in flesh, mostly their own, and I got distracted by other games and miniatures.

I am hoping to try something different skin tone wise than I did for the Chosen Axes.

Wish me luck. ?

Garrek was already painted with a pale skin but not much else.

I mixed some Army Painter Wolf Grey and some Bugman’s Glow for the base skin colour.

I used a part Citadel Dark blue Nightshade and part Fleshtone as a wash.

I did a heavy highlight of the Wolf Grey and Army Painter Barbarian Flesh but found this was too bright for what I wanted.

I did a part Violet, part Fleshtone wash to drag the tone back down again.

I did a thin highlight of Wolf Blue and Bugman’s Glow and then a more selective highlight on the upper areas of blue and barbarian flesh. The scars got the same bright highlights but with a touch of Rakarth Flesh mixed in.

The metal on show is painted in my usual, recent, go-to of lead belcher and Retributor Armour. All the metal got an Agrax Earthshade wash and few highlights of the original metal colour to bring it back up again.

The red is Mephiston Red.

For the legs strapping I used Zandri Dust, Agrax wash and a Rakarth Flesh highlight.

The black used is Abaddon Black.

The blood on the axe and dropped in moderation all over him is the Blood For The Blood God technical paint.

The brown of the trousers is the primer spray Mournfang Brown with some Zandri Dust weathering and an Agrax Earthshade wash.

The skulls on the base are Zandri Dust, Earthshade wash and Rakarth Flesh highlights.

I think the base is Army Painter Ash Grey with a heavy Nuln Oil wash, but this was left over from my original paint job attempt and I might be wrong on the grey.

I think I am going to use a similar scheme for the other Bloodreavers, but I am going to experiment with some other skin colours. I think they are all going to be mixed with a Bugman’s Glow / Barbarian Flesh base in the hope this helps tie them back to all being from the same cursed squad. The mirrored city has had a bad effect on them, more than just making them even more mad and savage than they were before.

I looked at various paint jobs out there and decided on the skin tones I am going to go for.

I like the Vallejo Black Red that I chose for the flesh on this model. I mixed it with a bit of Bugman’s Glow for some definition on the muscles.

I used a basic Citadel Fleshtone wash for the shading.

I think I could go a bit more cavalier with the random Blood For The Blood God spatter that I have decided to make a theme for this warband.

• Blooded Saek – Is going to have an even darker fleshtone.
• Targor – I will take to a purplish tone for the flesh
• Arnulf – Will have a more  green tint to the flesh.

Sometimes you only spot missed details when you start photographing, so there will be a bit of play at home spot the difference comparing these pics with the group shot at the end. ?

I went for a darker skin tone with a Abaddon Black and Vallejo Black Red mix as a base, with a Bugman’s Glow added to the mix for muscle highlights.

I used a Citadel camoshade on the axe handle strapping. I used an Agrax Earthshade wash on the skin and then a light Nulin Oil wash once the Agrax was dry

The skin is a mix of Death Guard Green and Bugman’s Glow with a wash of Citadel Camoshade.

I like the level of blood spray on this one.

I could have blooded up the axe more like the other guys in the band, but chose to just bloody the spike on the axe head instead.

Arnulf seems like more of a stabber than a chopper.

I think I will add some highlights to the boot fur to bring it out more, but otherwise happy with him.

This guy was far more purple under camera than I thought he was out of it. ?

I think he looks satisfyingly berzerk and this painting experience has got me looking forward to playing the game again after quite a while away.

The skin is a mix of Vallejo Royal Purple and Bugman’s Glow with a wash of Citadel violet.

I tidied up a few bits I saw were wrong in the individual photos and added some Vallejo Iraqi Sand highlights to the skulls.

I have never painted models to a standard I am happy with so fast before.

I am looking forward to playing the game, but the deck building element was awkward for me.

I found a video and found it helpful.

Some of my likely opponents are fairly good, competitive and some have collected a lot of the warbands. The deck building and liklihood of being trounced put me off playing to a degree, but I mainly found fun with games like Saga and a recent first delve into Blood & Plunder to enjoy instead.

I am not a competitive gamer at all and love the painting and social side far more, but I am looking forward to playing and testing out my first Chosen Axes list soon.

If my painting efforts warrent it please comment and like to enable this obsessive hobbyist in need of constant reassurance and painting praise. ?

Wanted to add one last post to say once I completed the painting project it has sparked a fresh interest in the game.
I got to play in a 4 player match last night and it was a ton of fun. True to form I didn’t win, but I really enjoyed it and look forward to playing again.

I had a concern that maybe the new magic wielding factions from Nightvault would stamp all over the Shadespire war bands with their new tricks and toys, but I think the balance is still solid.

My other concern was that deck building power creep would ruin the fun side; where those with all the best cards from multiple expansions would crush other warbands and make it all feel too meta heavy and competitive.
I think there is a risk of that still but as long as I play with friends rather than strangers at tournaments I don’t think that is going to effect my enjoyment.
With some luck and clever choices on your part I still think most of the war bands can give a good account of themselves.
I was playing against unpainted minis last night, but it was still fun to look at my painted minis as I pushed them around. My friends will get around to painting them and playing the game regularly as time goes on because they are our sort of people.

Thanks for coming on this journey with me if you have read and followed my project thus far. I appreciate the likes and time you have shared. ?

I used the Orc skin and Dark Angels Contrast Colours for the skin.

I used Army Painter Skeleton Bone spray primer and used a heavy over brush of the official primers for the Contrast Colour Paints.

Thank you for the affordable OnTableTop online store for making this experiment possible.

I went for an accent colour on each model. Trollslayer Orange for this guy.

I am not sure the Contrast paints are the excellent tool that they were advertised as, but I definitely think they will make a great addition to my collection of washes and will occasionally save time as they promised.

My only major criticism would be at the suggestion that these paints save time for new painters. I would say that for a new starter the level of accuracy and brush control required to get a nice result far surpass anything I could have achieved when I started painting. Corrections, when you are doing a standard starter single coat of base colours, shade and dry brush / highlight style paint job, are far easier than with Contrast Colours. I have a nice collection of paints. So when I made mistakes I didn’t need to use the primer again, as prescribed, and go back over with the correct Contrast paints again. I just used a standard paint I was happy with and went over the mistake and considered it a highlight opportunity. ?

Typhus Corrosion tech paint was another great purchase.

The scheme I chose ended up meaning a lot of Leadbelcher and it became apparent that it would look way too shinny and lacking contrast. The dabs of orange toned down with Typhus Corrosion made me happy with the results.

I chose red paint as the accent colour for this mini, but knew that neatly painted red iron Jaws would look out of place.

The final finish with chipping, rust and a touch of Blood for the Blood God paint looks good to me.

I chose to only use the blood spatter on one weapon of the two most of the orcs are wielding, partly because the Garrek’s Reavers are covered in blood and I just didn’t want to go nuts with the gore on this warband.