SteveA: Trench Crusade Hell Knights

Fresh from the Trenches of the Crusade and the Court Of the Seven Headed Serpent I bring you HELL KNIGHTS!

I had a painting plan.... I had mapped out what minis to paint every week to progress thru the AHPC Devine Comedy themes and I had a hand full of minis in stuck on dowels being painted for that plan.... but then after a few recent inspiring chats with ByronM and our friend Mike, and after  the STLs from the minis from the Trench Crusade Kickstarter became available (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1405364378/trench-crusade),  well dang nabbit I went and done shot myself with the Squirrel Gun point blank to my paint brushes!   These minis presented here are less than a week off ByronM's  3d printer and fell into me grubby mitts just last Thursday, all while I have my modest pile of unpainted grey lead and plastic that have been 'round 30 years  still awaiting a loving lick o' paint...

I don't think I am using Speed Paints and the slap-chop technique to their intended efficient use, as I started with the foolish assumption that I could bang out these with a quick layer or two of slap-chopped speed paint action, then return to my original paint plan for this week... but after the first layers of Army Painter Speed Paint (Enchanted Steel, Slaughter Red, Bony Matter, Hoplite Gold)  my old 'Eavy Metal inspired painting habits kicked in as hard as an alcoholic falling off the wagon into a beer-fest where beer cures cancer and multiple layers of dry brushing, regular paint detailing and speed paints used as washes ensued for a few many more hours than I can in good conscious call a 'quick paint' ( and yes... I also confess to 2nd degree aggravated use of  GM's Agrax Earth shade and Nuln oil) .  I chased a moderately rusted look, and desaturated colors aimed to reflect these Hell Knights do not return to base for an armor polish and a shower, but they ain't falling apart from ill repair  any time soon.

Rust and weathering, many are the techniques and tools and products to make a mini look abused or ancient, and it seems many are the rusty lessons I must learn to well serve many of the minis in my queue.  Happily I found that a dry brush of Vallejo 'Orange Fire' game color dry brush over a metallic based pre-treated with a layer or two of speed paint browns provides me a satisfying rusty orange that I can confidently use to succeed the role of my ancient pot of old 90's Citadel Orange Ink in my rusty endeavors. 

Trench Crusade, another game for more minis and a deepening of the back log of grey to slay, a happy problem to have!

Total 21 Points

x3 40mm Foot Figure, Trench Crusade Hell Knights (3x7pts) 

From SteveA:Frostgrave 28mm

 For the theme of Greed I dug into my pile of grey and dusty minis to find what I could paint up to hint at a moment from a story telling of those who crave the gleam of gold, those who Greedily  hoard treasure and those who wish to permanently borrow that same hoard.

A mini of a Beholder looming over a couple treasure chests sparked my inspiration for the theme of Greed, and 4 gold chest objective markers and a couple of loot topped tables I felt would help support convey the sense of "mine all mine" to go along with the beholder's Mohahaha face, as it encountered the two wandering adventures who had been vacuuming up loose loot and gear on their way down into the dungeon depths.

I used a combination of Army Painter speed paints and regular paints for these minis. I am a pleased with how the Army Painter's 'Blood Red' speed paint over a grey/white dry brush quickly established satisfactory slap-chopped  red flesh tones for the beholder flesh.  I find the Army Painter 'Hardened Leather'  speed paint also serves well for dark wood tones, perhaps more so than for leather.  After stocking up on more Army Painter speed paints this year, I now find myself using their 'Pallid Bone', 'Sand Golem' or 'Boney Matter' where in past I would have typically relied on GW's Agrax Earth shade for liquid talent.

The Beholder is a 3D print ByronM provided, yet again a case of me having a few too many spare moments on a game night to poke thru his works in progress and backlog of minis on deck, resulting in me asking him "how much $ to print me a copy of this mini you have here".  While FrostGrave does not actually have a Beholder with the game's Bestiary,  I think as a "Major Demon" old one and ten-eyes here is fit for purpose.

The other minis are from the mists of time when Mordheim was new and in its prime.  The chests of gold if I recall correctly are from a sprue of Mordhiem minis, the tables are from a blister pack of scatter terrain impulsively bought from my favorite 90's local hobbyshop.   

The two loot laden 'Men At Arms' I will use for Frostgrave, are conversions I crafted about 20 years ago -  both to use when playing Mordhiem, and also for use in a Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play campaign I was game mastering back then  (where I wanted some minis that could somewhat represent the loot laden players). The loot and gear on these minis was a combination of some crude green stuff sculpting and a raid on my bits box.

Total 40 Points

x1 Beholder (28mm Artillery) = 10 pts

x2 Man At Arms ( 28mm Foot Figure)  = (2x5) =10 Pts

x2 Tables scatter terrain, x4 Gold Chest Markers = 0pts