A productive year so far

This blog seems dedicated to my Blood Bowl painting, and I am keeping it that way for the sake of... Well, I am inclined to change it, but so far it's been like that, and that's left the impression that I don't currently paint much, or that I have stopped reading Warhammer-lit. The latter is somewhat true, though I do read fantasy, but I ran out of Warhammer-lit that caught my fancy, and my reviews on here have also been limited in scope to deal only with the fantasy setting, not 40K, and I am not likely to change that.

I do currently paint a lot though. In fact I have been painting a few commissions as well as selling off a good share of minis that I felt that I no longer needed or wanted. My primary motivation is not money, as I don't live in a place where I can make any sort of decent money that way. That's not just due to the level of my painting, but I do have a full time job (and then some) and to reach higher levels of painting does require more time, so this is pretty much the level of my "for sale items".

Here's a recent addition, just to get a splash of colour on the page here again: A chaos team. These are obviously all conversions and suitable for the "old" scale of Blood Bowl, ie 28mm-ish.

Old goats

These were originally done ultra quick, ie glued up and dipped, for a friend with a small budget and a big rush. At the time he made do without properly painted up warriors, and gors without any frills.

Dipping works, but results improve much if you actually brush it on. It works especially or perhaps specifically with earth-tones, and this burnt orange or terracotta is one. So are the skin and fur. That does mean that the minis lack some contrast, so-called 'pop!' perhaps, but it sped things up at the time. The somewhat hyper-green grass helps offset the orange and brown, though.

Warriors... plastics. One converted human thrower, one converted chaos warrior with a daemonic claw hand. All these warriors had very BB-friendly poses, so it was just weapon snipping that needed doing.

No goats?

The common Broo, Gor or goatman is not a bad beastman as far as that sort goes, but they do bore me a bit at this point. Fair enough, one might say, but that is your own fault for painting so much Chaos.

And that is perhaps part of the issue. It really is not very chaotic to have such a narrow definition of what a beastman is. Not counting a bit of minor variation such as horns, ram-like, cow-like, but usually not deer or moose (and why the not, one might wonder), there is precious little imagination involved.

Yes, GW once did some wild and awesome beastmen of a different stribe. More chaotic, and with more animals. Birds, canines, felines, and some who seemed a bit mixed. These are now expensive and collectable, and they will not be going under my knife.

Gaspez do a charming blood bowl team of farm animals. I like them, or at least some of them. They will be part of the team with the just completed warriors, I suspect. Some of them are huge, though. Especially the horse. I own the dog, rabbit, horse and ram, and plan to use two or three of them.

Then there are these three. Two rodents who are not skaven, and a wolfman who is not a werewolf. They are obviously conversions, stripped of their weapons and bags, except the wolfman, who is as is.

I plan to use these with the largely excellent Beast Face team. I say 'largely excellent' because the team has a weak minotaur, is incomplete with only six different beastmen and no warriors, and they are all a bit big and pricey. The beastmen may even seem like some regular variety of broo/gor, though they are a bit more burly and indeterminate in terms of animal ancestry.

Nothing is decided at this point, and plans may change still. Input is always welcome. I am well aware that one rodent is badly in need of a new hand or repositioning of the one he has. The other needs minor adjustment to his hand too. It will get done, and pads will be added.

Darkside Goatboys

Seeing as I have other unfinished business, ie two other teams to paint that see action, getting played in the league, it really made little sense to paint these.

They even look familar, because I recently painted abother team, the Rams-looking one, that had the same goats. So no, it was not really the challenge or some sort of mad inspiration.

Am I a Cowboys fan? No, not in the slightest. I have painted these up as Cowboys, because I toyed with the idea with a friend, and then I could not let it go without trying. Suddenly I was halfway through the goatses, and I liked the different look from most Chaos teams who tend to be dark.

The loin cloths were supposed to be silvery, but the mix came out a shiny, and not exactly with a metallic look or sparkle. And of course beastmen wear no helmets, so the silver helm is... their massive belt buckle instead. They like belt buckles in Texas though, right?

The warriors are converted and primed. They will have silver helmets. Promise.

Chaos group shot

In case anyone wondered about the relative sizes of the players... They are from three different non-GW manufacturers, but it's hardly an issue here.

All that's missing are numbers on the bases and varnish.

Chaos was the law of nature...

I have completed 12 beastmen and a converted minotaur... for no apparent reason.

Well, the primary reason being experimentation. These were painted rather quickly and with no pressure to deliver. This meant that I stuck with the Rams-colour scheme even if hated it at one point along the way and came close to changing it.

The warriors are 60% done, so they are to follow as soon as work permits me to focus on them.

Chaos team: washed up

I suppose you can not actually see much in the picture... but I am using a more yellow-brown skin wash this time, and the fur is darkened a little more by means of a wash there too. Not entirely happy with the result at this point, but I suppose it IS a middle stage, and there is far to go still.

Chaos team: like a brayer

Basecoated the fur on all the beastmen. Striking how little fur there is on the Kev Adams beastmen while the unknowns are closer to the current GW gors. Evolution, perhaps. Or Nair.

I went for a more reddish brown this time. The minis will be dark enough with the addition of black cloth bits and shading, and the reddish tone will hopefully set off the green quite well.

Some skin needs more in order to cover the undercoat, and I have to work on a lot of pouches that I was too lazy to remove, but the painting still seems easy.

Quick surgery: one gor got an oven mitten. Everyone knows beastmen love baking.

Chaos team: all catchers

I decided to keep it simple without more designers involved on this team, so basically I used up the Adams beasties, catchers all, or hopeless optimists, as the case may be...

Now, two things:

No, I have not chopped up priceless antiques. These minis are not out of print. They are not even very expensive.

I kept the conversion fairly simple. I was going to mess with the faces, but did not have the heart. So I gave the horns a bending, sawed one guy in half and switched it up a little with pads.

Chaos team: another catcher

Last of the Kev Adams catcher beasties. I like the sneer on his face, one that many Adams goblins have too.

These beastmen do not - of course - match the others completely. Sadly, three is not enough to make a team (Morley, take note here...) so I am forced to mix designers. Sadly I am not sure at this point who did the others, but I plan to add a few Olley beasts and I could add some Pickford too if I thought they together... However, I feel that a huge gap between your best mini and your worst works against your team, and different styles and purposes will not mix THAT well, I fear.

Size-wise the catchers are a little smaller, but that works, so hey...

Chaos team: catchers

I believe these two catchy fellows are the dark offspring og legendary goblin master Kevin Adams. I have more, but these two are first up and ready to go after some extensive work... On days like these I appreciate resin, as it would have made things much easier with the knife.

I think they both manage quite a convincing football pose. Catching, handing off... all the things you wish your gors would and could do.

Beastman thoughts

What is a beastman anyway? A little research will tell you that they used to be known as "broos" in the late seventies, and it does not take much of an interest in mythology to see that there is some inspiration from the satyrs and other pagan men-with-goat-elements that may be considered devillish, if one is into that whole sort of thing. They were apparently known as caprigors, but most of us probably know them as gors by now, or ungors if they're a little bit smaller and less goat headed. However, in early Warhammer books (I have reviewed quite a few here) the beastmen used to be... well, basically any animal that had been corrupted by warpstone. This gave us some pretty naf ones that were generally not represented as miniatures in any significant amounts. Please correct me, if I am wrong. I like to laugh. The squirrels, badgers, rabbits and other forrest critters that one might encounter made for some... not so scary antagonists. Chickens, anyone?

There is a pretty cool "animal" team for Blood bowl out there, by the way. Horse, rooster, sheep. I like it. Surprisingly, perhaps.

Even among the gors there is significant variation. The latest batch I have done are a funny bunch, for instance. Goats? Weeeell... I think they're a bit lama-esque, maybe. With horns. Is that some sort of antilope? Beats me. If you look at GW gors, you can find variation in the horns, making some of them more ram-like, buffalo-like or whatever other animal with horns you can think of and model with some wire and green stuff. I wouldn't recommend unicorns, but there's no stopping some people... Anyway, this last bunch of beastmen do not have the bull terrier profile. They are a little bit more like doggies with horns, think Mickey's dog Pluto with horns. And rabies, maybe.

Ideally you would want to mix and match your beastmen. It's Chaos, right? Do they need to look uniform? The very idea seems silly, philosophically speaking at least. Another point is of course the look of the team. So, tempted though I may be to just mix all my beastmen (I have enough for at least two teams), I think I may stick with more of a distinct tribe (?) look for each.  

Chaos team: more beasts

Been at it with the knife and sprays as I experienced a lull in my desire for brushwork. Staying productive and cutting a few corners - and weapons - will allow me to stay on course: 12 teams completed in 2014.

I am experimenting with two things as I create this beastie team.

Priming. Coloured primers and zenithal. This will hopefully aid the use of washes on these multiple texture minis.

Bending. One advantage to working in metal is the chance to create variation and better posture by means of bending. It takes some strength to do it in a steady motion, and be careful not to clamp down hard with your tool of choice. Sometimes snipping a weapon leaves you with a near hopeless mini, and indeed, why bother? If you end up with a mini who cannot conceivably be doing anything in that position, then try and bend the hell out of it or don't bother snipping.

Beastmen

This is a bit of a side project... or rather an unfinished former project that is now getting a little more love.

It needs a minotaur. Selecting one, converting, painting. That may well be next, as it is also most fun.

Chaos warriors. Need a quick paintjob. Otherwise done.