It has taken a while, some of these models I’ve owned since the 1990s. Some of these models were still in blisters from the 90s but now I have a fully painted and even a fully based Night Goblin err Gloomspite Gitz Warcry gang and this weekend if the pandemic doesn’t stop us they will descend upon the Sentry Box and the unsuspecting.
If you’ve been following me on Instagram you’d know I’ve been making progress despite my work, gym, and study schedule. I finally painted for seven hours straight last Saturday and another three hours on Sunday to get them to “done”. It is unlikely I will paint that hard again for a long time. Loyal readers will remember me painting until the wee hours and updating this blog before 40K tournaments.
Posting from a New Laptop
Another thing that finally happened this year is I got a new laptop, two new laptops if you count the one work assigned me in case we all have to work from home. I was looking at docks that support Thunderbolt or at least USB-C just today. The reason this was important is it took a long time to transfer all my date to my new MacBook Air and that held up my painting as did reading 100s of pages about Python and Finance. My laptop is nice, but switching form self hosted to WordPress.com is confusing me a bit.
Painting Goblin Skin
The goblin skin may have been completely painted by January 27th. They were largely done the same as the previous two batches. I start with black primer and build up to a paint called “Moth Green” made by Reaper. That is my new recipe and new brightest green. If you want even brighter greenskins you can highlight up to yellow or I guess even white or you can apply several glazes of green. If you like paler greenskins you can use colors similar to GW’s old “Rotting Flesh” or Vallejo makes a color called “Green Grey” which I actually used on the squigs too. I’ve also been given a bunch of Reaper skintones including “Moldy Skin” which is a pale greenish color.
Painting Black Fabric
My black recipe is also not top secret. I use the Foundry Charcoal Black triad. I may need to replace it soon, but it along with a black wash is good enough. You can of course go to a lighter grey and I do that sometimes using Citadel and Vallejo paint to highlight the edges further.
Painting Purple
My purple recipe has changed over the years, I use a Foundry Triad for that too, but I also think it benefits a lot from a thin purple wash. I can also go brighter if I feel like it. These models took a long time so I didn’t want to spend more time on their robes than I had to. The Contrast Purple is pretty good and I actually used it for my squig eyes. One thing to remember about the Foundry Triads is you don’t have to go A, B, C. You can start with the midtone then just do a wash, of go midtone then shade or midtone then highlight. I used to have different orders I used for different triads. Going A, B, C is safe to start with but usually you need a second coat of B or C to get the best results after a wash.
Top Secret Squig Recipe
The key to getting good flavour out of a squig, I mean color is lots of thin coats. I have three squigs in my Warcry gang. Actually because I’ve never played I tried to get the greatest variety of models in my gang so I have one squig, one squig hopper, and Boingrot Bounder. The paint I used on all three is called Aethermatic Blue. I painted over Wraithbone most of the time. As you may recall I primed my goblins black, this meant the squigs got primed black too, well the ones with riders did. If I had to do it all over again, I’d paint the Boingrot Bounder in pieces, that is what the experts will do.
If you’re not an expert and you’re just trying to get your models “battle ready” you have to decide what is more import, easier black robes or brightly coloured squigs. If you want your cake and to eat it too, you can do what I did and hand paint two coats of Wraithbone then two coats of Aehtermatic Blue then a bunch of thinned washes both blue and green along with the aforementioned strange Vallejo highlight colors including my latest discovery “Light Green Blue” which is darker than “Green Grey”.
Painting Teeth and Bones
Apparently another of my specialties is painting bones. You’re in luck the new Contrast Paint, Skeleton Horde works great over Wraithbone. I used it on skulls and horns and it is fine for goblin teeth. But if you want your squig mouths to be red too, you need to paint the red between the teeth either with paint or a wash or even Contrast Paint. GW seems to think you should use them as a base coat but you can use them as a wash or a glaze, remember GW recommends not thinning them with water so I generally use them at full strength but you can thin them with something else. Although Skeleton Horde is a winner, you can still highlight with a beige or bone color, I have several from GW and Vallejo. You can also do a thin red or even red and black wash if you want a more unique look. Highlighting with pure white was also done especially on teeth for these models.
Metallics and Other Details
I used mostly GW metallic paint, some very old pots, but many of my oldest paints had to be junked out. The era of GW paint with either the flip or twist bolter lids is the worst. Every single pot I had from that era dried out while my paints were in storage whereas some of my Ork VS Eldar paint set still works though I wonder how many pots are left from then, I still see my original Hawk Turquoise paint pot among my current collection but I can’t recall using it since I moved to Calgary. For metallics I recommend a wash, you can use black, brown, sepia, even multiple washes. I still use my “Rust Brown Ink” that is almost as old as my Ork Vs Eldar paint set paints. I think my “Waaargh Green Ink” is older and I definitely used it on the squigs if not the goblins. I need a new leather brown paint and likely a few other midtones they seem to run out first with the lightest colors lasting the longest because I paint a lot of dark evil models. White and black also dry out quickly and need regular replacing.
Remember no matter what you’re painting the same basic principles hold, multiple thin coats and thin washes being better than drowning your model in the latest greatest wonder wash. In fact now on YouTube there are many tutorials where you can see people wet blending and using lots of glazes, these advanced techniques aren’t that hard and I used them plenty on previous models.
Secret Squig Skin Recipe Number Three
Although I used Wraithbone and Aethermatic Blue for two squigs, for the third squig I painted it grey, I think a Foundation grey, those are paints that also dry out easily. I then put highlights on the grey then over the highlights two heavy washes of Contrast Paint. Then I built up the highlights using various grey, blue, green colors and of course thin washes. I think it came out pretty good, but it is not my best work.
Basing Goblins
These goblins are based the same way the last 50 plus were. I used a brown called “Terra Cotta” two words made by Delta Ceramcoat and I used two coats. Then I used all kinds of different basing materials that I acquired and thought might work for an Autumnal scheme, which should be fine for Warcry and Gloomspite Gitz they have desserts in the Age of Sigmar somewhere. I liked the “dead grass” that Citadel made but I also used basing material from Galeforce Nine, Woodland Scenics and others.
New Lamp
While painting for hours and hours I decided that although I had three lights on my desk I needed more light. So experts online recommend a natural LED based light so I got one on Amazon and it is soon to be famous if you have a shelve above your desk like me. I haven’t gotten to paint by it yet, it literally just arrived, but I think it will be a winner. It is powered by USB hence why I need a USB hub or dock on my desk real soon now.
What Will I Paint Next?
Nurglings, Bill doesn’t understand it but they are legal in Warcry now and I think they are good models for testing paint combinations. I also have long schemed of a horde of Nurglings, others can have their hordes of cultists or plague zombies, I want a horde of Nurglings obstructing any clever tactic my opponent comes up with. I’ll also be painting one of my original Escher gangers Wraithbone and trying the Contrast Skin color out, they are still primed Smelly Primer from the 90s. I don’t know what I’ll put in my gang, but it will be an Escher gang and have some vintage conversions and of course it’ll be purple and green.
If you have painting advice or questions or you’re an Internet Expert in Warcry or Necromunda you can try to leave a comment below.
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