A Song of Ice and Fire – CMON miniatures game – Lannisters

Given the number of minis to paint I’m going for a simple approach hopefully.

I love the look of the Lannister’s by guillotine shown here  https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/1461439/ so trying to replicate that (poorly I suspect).

First step is to prime a few and get a couple of test pieces done.

Quick and dirty really – not my best work but there’s ranks and ranks of these so I’m hoping in bulk at table level they’ll look fine. Will see when I’ve done a few more I guess!

Paint scheme summary :

Red Armour – Contrast Blood Angels Red

Gold trim – VMC Ochre Brown (856) // VMC Tan Yellow (912)

Plate Armour – Nuln Oil // VMC Grey Sky  (989)

Swords / blades – Contrast Basilicanum Grey

Sword handle – VGC Glorious Gold // Reikland Fleshshade

Boots / Gloves – Contrast Black Templar

Shield wood/straps – VMC Flat Brown (984)

That’s the first rank done. I’d not gonna count how many more I have to do but it’s a lot!

Generally the scheme was quite quick , contrast paints over zenithal highlights obviously saves some time , but the gold trims took about as long as doing everything else. I think they are needed so I’m going to continue as is.

What I find difficult to avoiding getting hung up on the details – these don’t really need it given their role and the viewing range I’ll be at – so I’ll try harder with the next batch.

I like the overall look on the movement tray so I think the end result will be worth it.

Not exactly bashing these out but making some progress. Long way to go.

Photos aren’t perfect but you get the idea.

Progress – first complete unit done. I’m aware there’s mistake in individual models but as a unit they really work and are good enough for me I think when on the table.

All painted using the scheme previously posted, doesn’t involve a lot of highlighting and tries to make the most out of zenithal priming / contrast paints.

Basing was done using Woodland Scenics Blended Turf and then some Lukes Aps flock scatter (foam). I experimented with turfs but all mine were 4/6mm and just looked too big.

I’ve also magnetized these as when I play I’m prone to knocking units out of trays when I try moving them.

Will take a break from units and do a couple of NCU or elite units next I think but tackling another unit.

Cersei & Tyrion are the first two Non Combat Units (NCU) that I’ve done.

They were remarkable quick to do. As they were done mostly one colour I was able to use Contrast Blood Angels Red again to quickly get a decent highlighting effect over the zenithal priming. It’s especially noticable on Cersei where I thinning the contrast down slightly before applying. Then it was just a case of some flesh work and trim and they were done.

Basing was just left simple these units don’t actually go on the field of combat (clue in their name I guess) but on the tactics board so no need to flock them.

Same formula as before for these two figures.

Cape came out well for minimal effort – contrast paint over zenital – on larger surfaces the tip seems to be to move (paint) it quickly and not let it pool or dry before you’ve covered it all otherwise you end up with lines or patches.

One more NCU to do and then it’s back to priming the next batch of units.

Last of the NCU I have primed (and last from the core box I believe).

Spent a bit more time with his one and decided the go with gold metallic paint rather than the Ochre Brown. It does make a different, I guess he can afford it 😉

The final result is still a bit “meh” for me, I can’t quite explain why. Maybe it’s the metallic gold clashing with the non-metallic armour style. Having the photo enlarged also doesn’t help! Anyway it’ll do for distance / tabletop play  and the idea is to be finishing the army not spending hours on individual minis.

Not the most exciting of elements to paint but they’ll probably get more use than anything else so I thought I’d get them done.

Not from the core set but as I wanted to try them in a list I thought I’d better paint them first.

Paint scheme as before however when I looked at the card art I noticed that they were wearing colour metal breast plates rather than default silver/grey. I therefore picked up some Vallejo Mecha Color Metallic Red (69.066) thinking I’d use that. When I tested it however it was way too bright, almost pink like. I experimented added different washes and paints but in the end I found simply adding the Contrast Red I was using gave the best results. The added benefit appears to be that it also behaves more like the contrast to. Result. (see individual mini pic for mixed red vs cloth/contrast red.)

As I’ve used the High Sparrow a couple of times in game I thought I’d paint him up. Never seem to get white / off white spot on but it looks ok I think. Further decision after the finished pics below.

(Excuse the eyes on him, never should have attempted them as they are always a nightmare.)

So the formula I thought I’d use was pretty standard. Apothecary White Contrast over zenithal basecoat the blend up using an off grey/white and highlight with an off white (specially I used VMC White Grey 993 & VMC Offwhite 820. I didn’t like the result, looked too cold I guess and wasn’t that similar to the art work. I debated what to do but in the end risky applied a wash to warm it up (and dirty it). I used a thinned down Army Painter Soft Tone – I think it did the trick.

Here’s a WIP before and after anyway so you can see what I mean..

Horses. Never done horses before, and don’t think I did a great job here – luckily with tabard or whatever on them most of the horse itself it covered. I tried four different approaches :

Brown horse – VMC Charred Brown // VGC Dark Fleshtone highlights // Agrax Earthshade. 

Mane/tail – Black contrast

Chestnut horse – Gore-Grunta Fur contrast 

Mane/tail – Zandri Dust // Agrax Earthshade x2

Black horse – Black contrast // VMC German Grey // Nuln Oil

Mane/tail – Black contrast

Grey Horse – Administratum Grey // White contrast // VERY thin Nuln Oil x2

Mane/tail – Dawnstone // Administratum Grey drybrush // Army Painter Soft Tone

The brown & chestnut ones came out the best so when I do more I think start from those but “try harder”. I struggled to get the highlights in the right places I think. Overall as a unit they look effect enough for playing with so job done in that respect.

More of the same standard Lannister formula.

It’s getting a bit stale & I’m struggling to get motivated to do more. Never attempted an army before and I can see now why people struggle to finish. Not being about to use/play doesn’t help. Maybe taking a break from painting Lannisters will re-energise me.

Here’s some shots of individual sculpts as well. Colour looks a bit off due to lighting but they are done as per all my other Lannisters.

Yellow.

I’ve always struggled with yellow and there’s gonna be a lot of it on this model & the mounted version. Sort some advice from a friend who’s painting is far beyond mine and his suggestion was to start with Pink. So here you go, I thought I’d document my attempts in case anyone finds it useful (or it proves to be a cautionary tale!).

First step (after standard zenith) is a base code of GW Pink Horror.

Next, Averland Sunset. I happened to have some of the GW AIR variant as I find I get less brush strokes/lines with it, and even this I thinned slightly just to be careful.

One coat applied

So far, so terrible!

Second base applied

Better.

I got the idea it might work, so pressed on.

A third coat went on before I was happy I got a nice even coverage overall.

After that I mixed in some GW Yreil Yellow to the Averland Sunset to do the ridges/highlights. I did two/three layers at least gradually adding slightly more Yriel Yellow but covering less of the previously painted area. Standard stuff just a case of being patient.

Probably some of the best yellow I’ve done. Whether it was the pink base coat or I was just more patient I could say.

Final results look great tho.

More yellow.

I painting Gregor himself pink first as per unmounted figure but I’m not sure you can see the difference between the yellow on him or the horse.

Job done anyway.

As I had an alternative sculpt for the Gregor Clegane character I decided to try Iyanden Yellow Contrast to see if that was a quicker option to get the same effect as my previous two yellows. I think it’s ok but not as good. It also took two coats to get a decent bright yellow I found. I’ve decent to stick to my original approach for the Mountains Men unit. Some quick WIP photos of my test piece and a side by side below. 

After attempted contrast yellow (see previous post) I decided to paint the Mountains Men the same way as I did the Mountain himself.

Paint scheme uses the same techniques as the Lannister units, just with a touch of yellow instead of the red. The result ties them in nicely with the Mountain himself I think.

Poor quality pics below.

Minus The Mountain..

Details photos of some of the individual sculpts. (apologies for the poor lighting).

A quick and dirty paint job which seemed appropriate as this miniature represents a hostage.

I attempted a new approach on the cloak (below the shoulder / cowl). Rather than just use contrast black over the zenithal basecoat I gave the basecoat a thin coat of Incubi Darkness first. I think it worked out well, makes the cloak contours stand out a bit better. 

The other thing I did was stipple/sponge on some Mournfang Brown on his lower trousers/cloak and knees to try and make him look like he’s been dragged through the mud. 

Rest of the scheme was generally contrast browns for speed.

Couple of Commander minis done from the Lannister Hero box. You can tell they are commanders because they’ve found rocks to pose on & are pointing!

Same painting formula as before so I’ll not replay that again. Usual blurry pics taken on a phone below.

As the majority of this mini is just going to be the plate armour (which I simply apply Nuln Oil to be zenithal basecoat) I decided to try and document the other steps in pictures.

Firstly the final results for those that don’t want to see inbetween steps.

Flesh was done using my standard scheme – Bugman’s Glow  with raised areas picked out using Cadian Fleshtone before a wash of Reikland Fleshshade.

I added a beard briefly using Rhinox Hide but it looked terrible so I painted over it with Bugman’s Glow – surprising the result looks more like stubble so that was a result.

I wasn’t sure how to do the burnt skin but I ended up using Pink Horror then Reikland Fleshshade before highlighting with Emperor’s Children.

Hair …

Belt, gloves and chainmail.

Once all those were done it was a Nuln Oil wash over the chainmail and plate to darken it down as with all the other units so far.

I’ve been doing swords as follows.

Retributor Armour with Reikland Fleshshade on the hilt. Contrast Space Wolves Grey on the blade.

As the mini lacks colour I added a red gem to the hilt.

All that was left after that was the basing which you can see at the top of this post.