Friday, March 29, 2013

Workbench: Zombicide Survivors

Started work on the Zombicide Season 1 Survivors a few nights ago, and here's the progress so far on a few of the models. I'm finding the detail rather exceptional for single cast plastic figures (and it's not a hard plastic, more of a medium-hard with a bit of flex to it). Mold lines were sometimes tricky to remove, but at a distance it should work out well enough. I'm also liking how the flesh tones are contrasting quite vividly with my rather dark, grimy, and sickly looking Zombies.

Nick, Phil, Wanda, and Josh


I had to make a Word document to keep track of how I'm painting them because their counterpart Zombivor models will either be here in a few weeks or come with Toxic City Mall much later this year when the Season 2 Kickstarter ships, and I'd like to match the paint techniques and process as best I can.

LITKO, Hasslefree, and Reaper all confirmed my orders had shipped, so I'll patiently wait for a few boxes to arrive next week, then start testing how to remove the molded bases and replace them with the clear ones.

Also, Reaper stated they'd started shipping for their Bones Kickstarter, which is excellent, so the wait is down to 4-5 more weeks for those, which is exciting.

~iPaint

Monday, March 25, 2013

When There's No More Room in Hell...

The dead will walk on board game tiles.

Here's the box contents of Zombicide (minus the Abomination and the Survivors) all painted up. I need to finish up the bases from the latest batch, but I couldn't wait to snap some pics.



I also have some clear LITKO bases on order for both these Zombicide miniatures and my incoming Reaper Bones Vampire+extras, and will experiment and see what works. I really like the effect To Boo Co achieved over at LAF (Lead Adventure Forum, for those not in the know).

Also, I splurged a bit and ordered some Reaper and Hasslefree Survivors.

Gallup (probably going to be my avatar for any future All Things Zombie games, though I may try and add some greenstuff glasses frames on him)

Oh, and because, why not.

So yeah, lot's of cool Zombie things happening.

Also, I've heard that Battlegroup:Overlord has made it to the printers and should be on schedule for a release around Salute. Not that it helps me any, because that only means the WW2 backlog will be growing ever larger. My decals came in from Dom's Decals, and they look great. Perfectly sized for 20mm, even though they're marketed as 15mm. Kudos to Dom.

~iPaint


Thursday, March 7, 2013

Better dead than Zed...

Inspired by a bout of The Walking Dead, and of course the Zombicide Season 2 Kickstarter, I painted up my first 20 Walkers for Guillotine Games' Zombicide. The bases are still drying, and will see a treatment of drybrushes and washes to bring out some variance, and some scattered litter and newspapers will be added for effect.


I have everything for the base game primed minus my Abominations and Survivors, and will move into churn and burn for the remaining Zombie hordes of Walkers, Runners, and Fatties this weekend.

To paint these guys, I started with a white primer undercoat, and painted the flesh areas with Reaper Ghoul Skin. Next, I gave the clothes a basecoat, mixing various browns, reds, yellows, blues, grays, and black on my pallet, and where necessary leaving some parts plain white primer. Thinned paints helped achieve some subtle shading. Hair was painted a mix of browns, yellows and blacks, and given a quick highlight drybrush of Vallejo Pale Greyblue.

Once everything was dry, the models received a coat of gloss varnish, followed by a wash of Lamp Black oil paint thinned enough to allow the paint to flow and not stain the high points of the model. This was then set to dry for 24 hours, after which the models received a dull coat.

After the dull coat had set, I highlighted the skin with Reaper Moldy Skin, focusing on the tops of the models. I then made a 1:1 mix of Vallejo Chocolate Brown and Flat Red, and painted blood spatters and stains randomly across the clothing, and then focused on the mouths, chests, and hands. I then whipped up a concoction of 3:3:1 parts Citadel  Devlan Mud, Baal Red, and Leviathan Purple, and then thinned this with water at a 1:1 ratio. Using a medium sized brush, I applied this mixture randomly across the models, making sure to also get wherever I had painted the blood spatters previously. Finally, before the wash had a chance to dry on the models, I took thinned black paint and mixed it with the still-wet wash on the model, moving it around to form streaks, stains, and splatters, and to redefine key features like eye sockets, mouths, fingers, and deep recesses. Once this all dried, I went back and toned down any places that were too bright red with some Devlan Mud and thinned black, as needed.

Last of all, the eyes were painted with small dots of Vallejo Pale Greyblue. The bases were painted black, and the model was sprayed with a few coats of gloss and then dull coats. The basing material is a black table sand I picked up at Michaels in the kids' arts and crafts section, and is great because the grains are quite small and uniform, creating an asphalt look.

I need to find some Zombie themed newspapers, flyers, and warning signs, and print them out for the bases. I'm also thinking litter like food wrappers, cans, and bottles would look good as well.

First German platoon finished and some PzIV's


Finally, the first bare bones German Heer platoon is finished. The AB figures are a treat to paint compared to the Warmodelling, but the two lines fit together quite nicely.




 And some more work on the Panzer IV H's:



~iPaint

Friday, February 15, 2013

On The Workbench - Feb 15, 2013

Here's what's on the Workbench.

Over the past week, I re-based a company's worth of 15mm Flames of War Panzergrenadiers for Battlegroup Kursk, but they'll most likely see action when Battlegroup Overlord is released. I decided to base in groups of two, with a half dozen or so single based figures for when casualties (inevitably) start piling up. I have about a half dozen more LMG teams unbased, since FoW called for two LMGs per squad instead of one. I also have a dozen or so models with Panzerfausts, which I will most likely mount as singles.

They need some static grass ordered to work with the smaller scale, most likely 2mm length. I will also probably get some more small summer/spring tufts, and some flock to finish.

On the 20mm front, I started applying filters and pin washes to the PzIV H's and the Tiger, and am pleased with the results. The burnt umber filter really sets the tone for the dunkelgelb, and ties the camo together quite well. I'm hesitant to do too much weathering to the vehicles with pigments until I can do a bunch at one time. I did spray some German Camo Light Brown along the lower parts of the hulls with the airbrush, and stippled some Buff/Khaki with a sponge along select points of interest.

I couldn't help but base one of the PzIV's  (lesson learned, prime the plasticard with a dark spray for when the middle gets left bare when texturing the base...derp) and finish up most of the details. Base is 2.0" x 3.5", and will be universal for Panzer IV, Panzer III, and T-34 chasis tanks, so I can get cases and foam cut/shaped accordingly and it will be mostly universal for a good number of the tanks needed for Eastern Front gaming.

I need to decide on decals (15mm or 20mm, not sure yet) for the German Division I will do (if any, I may not want to do division-specific stuff) and grab some slogans and such for the Russians.

And I also finished up two more Russian rifle squads (plus extra LMG gunner), allowing me to field a full platoon of rifle-only squads once their bases are done.

The Workbench from this past week

~iPaint

Monday, February 11, 2013


Been a while.

I've been messing around with  the airbrush, and have a good amount of the German armor camo'd up.

Panzers

Plastic Soldier Company and a Trumpeter.

251/7
Dragon pre-paint, additional camo stripes added.

 Le Tigre (glossed up ready for decals)
Dragon prepaint, re-painted.

I've also had some time to finish up some Russian and German infantry.


AB Figures

Warmodelling/Fantassin
I had some pics of the T-34 and T-70 horde, but the tanks were too dark to see any decent details. I'll have to get outside and takes some pics in daylight.

Meanwhile, I'm still muscling through another 20 or so Russian and German infantry, bit by bit.

~iPaint

Friday, January 4, 2013

Armor Incoming

Well, the airbrush arrived, and I had to give it a go over the last week. The results are below, and so far I'm satisfied with the purchase. I am still working on trigger control, but for a first time user, it's been fun. I bought an Iwata Eclipse HP-CS, dual-action gravity fed brush and an Iwata Silver Jet compressor.

I'm still trying to hit the sweet spot when thinning the Vallejo Model Color paints.

German armor:

Plastic Soldier Company Pz IV G's, StuH 42, and StuG III G's, along with a repainted  Panzerstahl Pz IV F1 diecast
The Pz IV's have received a quick glosscoat, though in hindsight I should have waited until getting the details blocked in with their base colors before glossing them, as the acrylic paint chips off easily. They're in line for decals and oil paints next, hence the premature glosscoat (/facepalm, but oh well).

Colors used:

Rustoleum Ruddy Brown Primer (spray can)
Vallejo 70824  German Camo Orange Ochre basecoat
3:1 mix Vallejo 70913 Yellow Ochre and 70976 Buff overspray
Vallejo 70976 Buff fine highlight
Camo done with Vallejo 70894 Camo Olive Green

T-34 Company:

Plastic Soldier Company T-34/76's and a Dragon T-34/76 for the command vehicle
Rustoleum Black Primer (spray can)
Vallejo 70894 Camo Olive Green
5:1 mix Vallejo 70894 Camo Olive Green and 70976 Buff overspray

I'll eventually get to weathering this whole lot with sponge chipping and oil paints, then pigments. All of my vehicles will be based to match my infantry.

I need to do some research and find some decals.

~iPaint