Weekly Waffle #332 – Death in the Shadows
18th May 2024
Time has been at a premium this week so I’ve been steeling a few minutes here and a few more there to make sure the weekly waffle was on time. The mojo hasn’t deserted me it’s just been extremely busy at work. A lot of extra hours so not as much hobby time. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for this phase of the work project. Which should then give me back a bit of time for a bit more hobby. And I have a lot of projects floating around in my head so as long as the mojo is there I should have content for you.
This week I have been working to try and finish off the last couple of the Artel miniatures I have been hoarding for the last couple of years. Although I have to say that I really can’t remember why I picked this one. All the others have been to represent a member of Eisenhirns warband but I really can’t think of a character for this mini. It has been some time since I read the earlier books so it may make sense. The other alternative is that I just liked the model and thought it would fit in on the table top.
Anyway he has made his way to the top of the painting pile and now has some colour on him. When I was thinking about how to paint him I tried to think about how he would don’t into an Inquisitors war band. And by that I don’t mean why would an Inquisitor have an assassin but how would they use them. Would they be out of sight in a safe house somewhere until they were needed. Or would they actually be with the Inquisitor so they were on hand if needed. I decided to go with the later, assuming they would be good for any sort of sneaky work that was needed and not just for killing people. And decision had a big influence on the colour scheme.
Instead of going straight black in the classic assassin way I wanted something that wouldn’t stand out as sinister in a crowd, but that was dark enough to hide in the shadows. Dark green was one option but because I have a thing for purple at the moment I decided to go with that. It ties him in with some of the other minis in the war band and I just think it looks cool. He could be at some stately function one minute and pursuing his pray down an alley the next. Or at least that’s the picture I have of him in my head.
I started things off by priming him in black and then giving him a zenith highlight in light grey. Really just to try and get it straight in my head how it would look. Then it was on with a thinned down dark purple. Going over the zenith base coat took a lot of the hard work out because there were already some good highlights and shadows showing through. But I did add a couple of levels of highlights before I was happy.
The trousers and shirt I cheated and used a contrast paint. Well it’s no cheating it’s just using a tool that helps speed up the process. I did the same with all of the leather including his boots and in it was looking quite good. It just a little bit too bright or really too vibrant. So I tried to knock things back a bit by adding a couple of layers of Nuln Oil. Which really did the trick. It just gave it a more moody feel which for me suited the mini.
I wanted to keep the base the same as all my other Necromunda minis but the resin rubble he was standing on gave me an idea. Now I don’t know if this works if it’s just me trying to overthink things. But I wanted to add some colour to the base to actually draw your eye away from the mini itself. My thinking was he is an assassin and shouldn’t be easily seen. So if your eye is drawn to the base first it makes him feel more sneaky. I don’t know if it actually works or if I’m just being pretentious to think about things like that. But I’m trying to improve my painting and this one of those things to try.
All of the above may have been for nothing when I gave him a vibrant red and white face mask. But I do think it looks good. Almost like he has gone from some high society ball and is now scooting across the roof tops looking for his mark.
The last step was to add some weathering powders help blend the mini in with the base. I have thought about trying different techniques for this last stage but I now have quite a lot of Necromunda minis and I’m trying to keep the same feel with all of them. I know I will have to make some changes at some point if I want to progress my painting but until I have something really clear in mind about what I want to do I’m going to stick with this approach. Although having said that I have been making small tweaks to the way I use them and I think if you look back at some older minis, whilst the feel is the same, there is a bit more subtlety about how I use it at the moment.
But enough of what I think what do you think of them.
You can find more Necromunda mins from a few faction on my Necromunda Gallery here.
That is all I have had time to paint this week but I do have more projects in the works. Most of the things I have lined up at the moment are Necromunda related, just because I’m enjoying this style of painting at the moment. That may change and if I feel the mojo slipping then I can mix things up with some D&D or some Orks. So I’m trying to set myself up for painting success over the coming weeks and months. With me defining success as actually getting something painted each week.
I’m trying to set things up because I know I have another really busy period coming up at work and don’t want it to bust my mojo. One of the things I’m trying to do is to clean up some of the models I have lined up and get them primed now. This is one of the stages that always takes a lot longer than I had planned and steals hobby time. So if I can have a few of these ready to go then I can turn to them when I’m short of time. My thinking is it’s much more fun slapping colour on a mini than it is cleaning it up. And if I’m having fun then the mojo won’t disappear. Or at least that’s the plan.
I think that is all I have for you this week. I hope you like the assassin and there is more Necromunda on the way. As I said earlier I do have a few other projects in the pip line but I’m sticking with Necromunda for now because that is where the mojo is. I’ll have more for you next week so until then I hop you enjoy whatever you have planed. Keep safe and I hope to catch you all back here next Saturday.
