Everblight 2012 – Part XI

For the 11th article in my Everblight 2012 series we will be looking at Saeryn, Omen of Everblight. She is possibly one of the most dreaded Warlocks. She brings an onslaught to the table every single game. It may be the feat, it may be Breath Stealer, it may be Blight Bringer or it may be the potential 19 defense against ranged attacks.

Saeryn, Omen of Everblight

She is fast at 7 speed, and solid defense at 16 with 14 armor. She throws deathspurs at 2d6 + 7 for 2d6 + 8 damage. Which doesn’t seem like much (it isn’t much) but she does have Grievous Wounds on her spurs in Melee or at range. So no tough, self sac, or transfers. In addition she has Force Barrier so she not suffer blast damage and has an extra 2 def vs ranged attacks. She also has 7 Fury. 16 boxes and 5 warbeast points.

Nothing too crazy so far. So lets get to the feat…

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Tags: Angelius, Blight Bringer, Breath Stealer, Everblight, Hordes, Legion, Raek, Saeryn, Scythean, Warlock

Sculpting Tartan Sashes for Trollbloods

The first step is admitting you have a problem so here goes.

Hi… I’m Autumn Stone and I love tartans.

Phew – it’s good to get that off my chest. The wonderful sculptors at Privateer Press have given us so much greatness in the trollbloods – their characterful models, their fine sense of humour, and TARTAN. Almost every single model can show their true colours provided you can bear to paint them. And that’s where it all starts to fall apart.

There are some models that just don’t want to get into the plaid. Or more to the point, they DO want to, but have been cursed with minis that don’t have a scrap of material with which to show their gang colours.  Slag trolls, Pyre trolls, swamp trolls, a couple of whelps, and sadly the greatest hero of the entire trollblood army (the pyg who rides the bomber*) all suffer from this curse.

(* – Why is he a hero to be feared and respected?  Well mine wears a kilt.  Does no one look at the occupational health and safety angle? – well no – these are trollbloods after all – but if they did they’d realise – He’s holding onto a frenzied dire troll for dear life with one hand … Holding an open flame as big as he is in the other …Wearing a kilt …And we all know what a trollblood wears under his kilt …)

Oh I know you can argue that the slag troll would just dissolve his sash, and the pyre troll’s clothing needs to be kiddie safe and non-combustible, but really – these are trollbloods – known for recklessly trying the insane-est things.

So I made my pyre troll a sash

And it caught fire. Bother.

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Tags: Hordes, Miniatures, Modeling, Privateer Press, Sculpting, Tutorial

Everblight 2012 – Part X

I will admit…I am kind of excited. This is my tenth article in the Everblight 2012 series. I have really been enjoying this chance to share my thoughts, experiences, outlooks and failures with Everblight through Hand Cannon Online. My first article was a battle report with Kallus, Wrath of Everblight. After I wrote it, I recieved a great deal of feedback. I did another battle report with him. After I started the Everblight 2012 series I recieved more requests for a guide about Kallus. I have touched on Bethayne, Vayl, Vayl2, our Heavies, our Infantry, our play style and even some brain storming I have gone through with Lylyth1, Thagrosh1 and Kallus. It seems about time I really broke down Kallus in an article the way he deserves. So here goes…

Kallus, Wrath of Everblight

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Tags: Everblight, Guide, Hordes, Incubi, Kallus, Legion, Ravagore, Scythean, Shredder, tactics

This is it – the sculpting is all but done. Today’s guide is all about the fiddly bits of getting the thing together and turning it into a table worthy figurine.

Now it is time to take your jeweller’s saw and slice through her waist. Take your time and try to preserve any part of the pewter you want. File the rest of it to tidy up after your hack job.

Plan out your pin. I did a poor job of this, and had her slightly off center. I solved this by turning her so her right leg was forward like she was stepping forward onto that right foot.

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Tags: Hordes, Miniatures, Modeling, Privateer Press, Sculpting, Tutorial

Everblight 2012 – Part IX

Something has been on my “Blighted Mind” recently. I was wondering if Lylyth3 would have a tier list that could run 2 units of Raptors? It is an interesting thought. She very well may be raptor herself in her 3rd incarnation. It would make sense considering Lylyth1 has to have 2 units of archers in her tier list and Lylyth2 has to have 2 units of striders in her tier list. Why wouldn’t Lylyth3 be required to take 2 units of raptors? This thought process made me drool. Two units of Raptors with Annyssa just seems powerful on so many levels. Then on a completely unrelated note, I was thinking about Lylyth1 and I wondered if her tier list would provide +1 to my starting roll? (I had a wierd idea in mind for her) Then I grabbed my book and realized not only does her first tier provide +1 to my starting roll but it also says, “Raptors become FA:2″ and this is what inspired my article…Everblight 2012 – Part IX presents…

Lylyth, Herald of Everblight

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Tags: Annyssa Ryvaal, Everblight, Hordes, Legion, Lylyth, Raptors

I’m sure there’s a rule that you shouldn’t try to post a painting article on a site that the likes of Ghool and Althai write for.

If not, there should be.  I mean it’s just common sense.  Still, I figure that sometimes people may want to see the way mere mortals get stuff done, so Here Goes Nothing …

I’ll begin with my usual disclaimer – why are you asking someone still learning the craft rather than an expert like Arkentyre.  His Brushthralls tutorial is where I went to, and what I’m aspiring to here. It occurs to me that my pyretroll from Beginner’s guide to sculpting viii is probably the worst model to base this tutorial on as when the paint job inevitably looks plain average, you won’t know if it’s the technique, my mediocre painting skills, or my novice sculpting skills. Anyway, here goes …

You need to begin with a plan.

Choose your tartan and work out what paints you intend to use to achieve those colours.

Things you should consider:

• How will the pattern look when contrasted with your troll’s skin colour / leather colours / metals. Tartans are often bright. Troll skins are often bright. The browns you use for leathers can often be very saturated. If you’re crazy enough to be painting a sash for a pyre troll, the fire and the trolls back are going to be very bright. That has potential to be a lot of clashing colours. This is why all of the studio tartans from the trollblood clans are variations on browns not vivid colours.
• Can I bear this tartan? If you’re painting trolls, you could be painting an awful lot of this tartan. Be sure you do like it.
• Do I have the colours I need? I’m going to give you the first of my tips – make sure your base colour comes straight out of a pot. Don’t make it a mix of two colours. You’ll be patching a lot of small botches with this colour, and you want easy access to it.

I’ve chosen Clan Gordon Tartan as it’s my old high school’s tartan and I like it.

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Tags: Beginners, Hordes, Miniature Painting, Miniatures, Painting, Privateer Press, Tutorial

Everblight 2012 – Part VIII

With this article I am going to break the mold. I want to compare two of Legion’s warlocks that bring a simmiliar game to the table but still have many differences. Which two warlocks am I talking about? Read on…

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Tags: Everblight, Hordes, Kallus, Legion, Thagrosh, Warlock

Theme and Variation

“But wait a moment there Autumn Stone”-I hear you say.

“It’s all well and good you showing us techniques to make this one sculpt – we want to make our own personalised sculpt, and we don’t like the way you’ve chosen to do the [bodice/hair/trim/waist/arms - add or delete as appropriate]“

And you know – that’s a fair enough call.  I’ve done my best to stick to generic principals that I’ve figured out doing all this sculpting, and using the WIP of what I’ve done to demonstrate, but when all is said and done, I’ve just shown you this one sculpt being done.

In today’s episode, I’m going to try and show some variations that you might want to try out – and specifically I’m going to talk about first principals of how to do them, so you can try out your own themes and variations.

!!  Disclaimer  !!
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I’m no amazing/professional/talented/artistic sculptor.  I’m just some shlub who gave it a whirl.  There is no reason you too can’t give it a go.  What have you got to lose – the worst that will happen is you’ll have a small piece of greenstuff to throw away that never amounted to much.

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Tags: Hordes, Miniatures, Modeling, Privateer Press, Sculpting, Tutorial

The Torso

So less sculpting theory today, and more general guidelines on building and conversion.

First to add on the arms. If you’ve made the same mistake I made, then the shoulders are too wide.

… Bother …

So a simple snip in the middle of the bare wires between the shoulders and we’re back to the right length. A pin hole between the two dents you made for the shoulder sockets, a little superglue and our torso now has arms.

Next it’s time to add some detail to the torso.  If you haven’t read this already, stop reading the ramblings of a neophyte like me, and start with the wisdom of an expert.

Roll some crazy thin worms of greenstuff to outline the neck and make the straps for the armour. To stick them in the right place on your model and to snip them at the right spot, use a pin ended sculpting tool to place the end exactly where you need it, then pull it to the next logical attachment point, and use the same pin ended tool to pinch off the worm at it’s other end.

Back to the bluetac from last week …

Roll your crazy thin worms of greenstuff and just drape them over the area they need to go

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Tags: Hordes, Miniatures, Modeling, Privateer Press, Sculpting, Tutorial

Boys and Girls

I mentioned in episode 1 that the most important step is planning.  This still holds true, and so I’m going to take us on a short detour from sculpting to talk about the shape of boys and girls.  We’ll start with a look at the feminine form, and then compare it with the masculine form.

If you don’t have a feminine form of your own to look at, or if you do but don’t have a mirror to admire it in, then it will help to have some reference.

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Tags: Hordes, Miniatures, Modeling, Privateer Press, Sculpting, Tutorial