Mythic Battles: Pantheon by lawnor

I’ve had some time off for Christmas so this seemed like a great time to embrace some heavy duty airbrush work and really sink my teeth in to this project.  I had a good look through the starter set and realised that the two main colours in there that wanted airbrushing were the Olympian Whites and the Spartan Reds, and Ares wears both.  I fished out all the models that use these colours and gave them a zenithal preshade.

I started off with the white, following the steps from one of the Angel Giraldez books for a Pan-O white coat.  Everything was airbrushed with VMC 70.994 German Grey. It was then given a few coats of VMC 70.906 Pale Blue, allowing the undersides and recesses to stay dark, while building up more layers on the higher and outer surfaces.  I then gave the outermost and highermost surfaces a spray or two of VMC 70.951 White.  I should perhaps have given more coats of this, but ultimately I am happy with the results.

Athena is holding an Owl who I wanted to paint up following the same steps as with the Griffon so I wrapped her in cling film and finished this off with Silly Putty.  The owl was then airbrushed with the following paints in the Manner described with the Griffon: VMC 70.986 Deck tan, VMC 70.872 Chocolate Brown, VMC 70.981 Orange Brown, and VMA 71.026.

Ares was then wrapped in Silly Putty  to cover the whites I had already painted and anywhere else I thought a red undercoat might work against me.  The reds were then painted in the same manner as the whites work up from VMC 70.859 Black Red, to VGA 72.711 Gory Red, to Gory Red with an increasing mix of VGA 72.709 Hot Orange, to just a final light thin dusting of Hot orange.

The airbrushing was now finished and everyone was allowed to dry overnight before I continued on to the next stage.  The masking was left on until I was ready to proceed just in case I smudged anything or decided I wanted to spray some more.

The whites were given a coat of thinned VMC 70.994 Dark Grey in the recesses to reclaim and enhance any shadows.  The peaks and upper surfaces were reclaimed with white.  I should have brushed this on but instead I went with the quick approach and drybrushed it on due to all those lovely folds in everything.  This gave the clothes a chalkier effect that i would have preferred.

The reds were similarly darkened with GW Agrax Earthshade, and highlighted up with a mix of Gory Red and GW Evil Sunz Scarlett, and eventually just Evil Sunz Scarlet.

Bulk work done, I decided to focus on the Gods first, beginning with the flesh tones using Reaper paints and instructions from an Asset Drop box that I really like.  They were all given a few coats of Caucasian Flesh and then a thinned wash of Flesh Wash.  Once dry, the deeper recesses were targeted with some undiluted Flesh Wash.  Non recessed areas were reclaimed with a thinned coat of the base colour.  This was then mixed with some Maiden Flesh and thinned, and applied to the upper 50% of areas needing highlighting.  Finally Thinned Maiden Flesh was used for the very highest of highlights.  I really like this effect, but I decided it was too pale for Greek soldiers.  They would have caught the sun after all.  I’ll likely keep using this for the gods but I’ll use a richer tone for regular guys going forwards.

Flesh done, I then went for the hair.

Zeus:

Base: VMC 70.905 Blue Grey Pale, Drybrush highlight with P3 menoth White Highlight, and then wash down with VMC 70.892 Neutral Grey

Ares and Athena:

Base with P3 Bloodtracker Brown.  She got a wash of GW Agrax Earthshade and he got a wash of GW Nuln Oil.  They were both highlighted with P3 Gun Corps Brown.

Zeus, Athena and her owl had a dot of white applied in their eyes which was given a wash of P3 Arcane Blue.  As the eyes didn’t quite have enough shape to them this did not work out as well as planned.  Ares had the same treatment, but had a was of P3 Ember Orange instead.

The next dominant colour was the Gold.  I really like the Ammo Mig Jimenez golds Asset Drop sent me.  They are a really high and shiny gold and perfect for classical mythology treasures such as the weapons of the gods.  Everything was given an even coat of Old Brass.  This took a few coats.  There were a few corner edges that just refused to hold on to the paint but I think I got there in the end.  This paint can take up to 24 hours to dry I hear so I went off and painted other stuff for a day.  I then diluted some Green Stuff World 1713 Pecatum Flesh ink wash and shaded everything.  Once dry highlights of Ammo Mig Jimenez Brass were applied over a few layers to provide tonal differences and get the shine where I wanted it.

Iron was painted using Darkstar Old Silver.  This was given a couple of washes made from P3 Cryx Bane Base.  Models were positioned to encourage their whole surface to be tinted during the second wash, rather than to encourage it to obey gravity and run to the bottom of a surface.  Once dry this was highlighted with p3 Cold Steel and extra gleam was added with a touch of P3 Quick Silver.

Ares’ skirt (He might be the god of war, but even he wants to look fabulous!) was based with VMC Panzer Aces 302 Dark Rust.  I picked out the studs with P3 Cold Steel and then washed it all together with Nuln Oil.  I drybrushed with P3 Bootstrap Leather and then reclaimed the studs

The shoes and remaining lather surfaces were painted with P3 Bootstrap Leather, washed with Agrax Earthshade, and highlighted with P3 Menoth White Base as this meant I could drybrush it on and not worry too much about getting it on nearby flesh.

The Bases were painted with P3 Bloodtracker Brown and then drybrushed with P3 Mouldy Ochre before being washed with Agrax Earthshade.  Once dry they got a drybrush with P3 Bog Moss.  The rocks were painted with P3 Bastion Grey and washed with Nuln Oil, then everything was drybrushed with GW Screaming Skull.  The edges were tidied up with Black. and everything was ready for a varnish.

Then I focused on the heroes and then the units.  They were painted the same as for the gods where applicable.  The differences can be found below:

Flesh

Based with P3 Midlund Flesh, then received 3 washes: Midlund Flesh & P3 Skorne Red, Midlund Flesh and P3 Battledress Green, and then Skorne Red and Battledress Green.  It was then highlighted in the same manner as above, firstly with Midlund Flesh, and then with a mix of Midlund Flesh and P3 Ryn Flesh

Fur

Based with P3 Cryx Bane Highlight, and then washed with P3 Beast Hide and P3 Thornwood Green.  Drybrushed with P3 jack Bone and then P3 Menoth White Highlight

Blonde Hair

Recipe and paints from Asset Drop.  I’ve never used this before so was good to experiment.  Based with Reaper 09256 Blond Shadow and washed with diluted Coat d’arms Ink Wash Flesh.  Undiluted flesh was was applied to the deepest regions of the hair.  Blond Shadows was used for the first highlight, followed by Reaper 09257 Blonde Hair and eventually Reaper 09258 Blond Highlight.

Wood Branch

Scale 75 base  followed by a Scale 75 Inktense Chestnut wash.  Drybrushed up with Scale 75 Iroko, and finally a Coat d’arms Horse Tone Bay drybrush

Wood Shields

Base coated with P3 Gun Corps Brown with thin lines of P3 Menoth White base painted on for the wood grain. P3 Yellow Ink and P3 Bloodstone were turned in to a wash.  A small amount of that was added to some P3 Brown ink.  This was applied over the wood.  A second coat was applied around the inside and outside edges.  A little P3 Blue Ink was added to the mix and this was repeated.

Flights

Painted P3 Menoth White Base and given a wash of GW Seraphim Sepia.

Wood Core Bows and Spear haft

Painted P3 Menoth White Base, thin lines of Menoth White Highlight were added for wood grain, and it was all given a coat or two of Agrax Earthshade