Weekly Waffle #367 – Champion
15th February 2025
In this week’s Weekly Waffle I have continued to work on my Leagues of Votann characters. This time going with the Einhyr Champion. I’ve kept the formula the same by starting with the airbrush and then switching to the brush. The big difference, or at least it felt like a big difference when I was painting it, was the overwhelming amount of orange. On the Kahl and the Prospectors the orange armour parts were offset by the dark grey clothing. But this guy is nearly all armour so you don’t get that relief.
I do think the base helps to offset things but it is still very in your face orange. Which is something that may take some time to get my head around. I’ve incorporated the blue into the shoulder pads which I think works well and makes the just that little bit different to a standard trans Hyperion army. Close enough to be recognised but different enough to stand out. Or at least that is what I’m going for.
Something I haven’t done for a long time is use decals on a mini but I have with this guy. And to be fair I did with the Kahl but didn’t add that to the update. I think they have worked really well and don’t have the tell tail border so often associated with decals. The trick has been to use Microsol and Microset.
These are products that are designed specifically for adding decals to your minis. There are loads of tutorials online about how to use them but the basics are really simple. You put your decals in a little luck warm water so they will slide. Then, preferably on a gloss surface, apply some Microset to the surface. Apply the decal and once it’s in place apply a little more Microset. Then leave everything to throughly dry.
Now depending on the decal and the surface you applied it to you may be done. But if it’s on a curve or more complex shape this is where the Microsol comes in. You apply some to the decal and it starts to soften it so that it blends with the surface. No crinkly edges, in fact with a little bit of practice, no edges. You can repeat this step as many times as you need, just make sure the last application is completely dry before doing the next.
You can get both products together on line really easily. In fact I got mine from Amazon because I’m that lazy. All in all for what they are and the results you can get with them I think they are something everyone should have in tool box.
I’ve used the same magnetised head approach so that I can swap it out for an aftermarket helmet later if I want. Making small, simple changes like that can really change the feel of a mini. So when you apply the same approach across all of the minis in an army you can completely change the feel of that army. Two armies for the price of one, plus some magnets. I know this sort of thing isn’t for everyone but it really doesn’t take that long and can offer big changes.
But what do you think of this guy.
You can see more Leagues of Voting miniatures at my gallery here
Looking forward I’m going to start on some Harthkyn Warriors next but I’m not sure I have it in me to crack through a full ten man squad in one go. So, not wanting to impact the mojo too much I think I’m going to break the unit down into two demi squads. Five feels like a number I can manage in a week. I don’t have any special plans for them other than keeping the orange and blue going.
My intention is to go very similar to the Kahl with orange for all the armour, dark grey for everything else and the blue on the shoulders. Ad in some decals for unit markers and I think they should quite nice. If I can get my head around some battle damage then I could be on to a real winner. But to manage expectations any battle damage will probe something for the future.
On the Infinity front the sarga between Royal Mail and the shop I purchased my lost minis from is rumbling on. But I’m resigned to the fact that I’m not going to get them. So I’ve taken the plunge and ordered another box set. But this time from someone else. I feel a little bad that a supplier is not going to get any further business from me because of a failure by Royal Mail. Or more accurately a whole host of failures by Royal Mail. But I do feel that give all the material I provided the supplier they could have put up more of a fight on my behalf.
Anyway I will chalk that one up as a lesson learned and move on. The minis I’ve ordered should fit in nicely with the lower point starter games. No real armour and just basic weapons of normal line troops. The lack of armour will pose a painting challenge because my existing colour scheme won’t work for these guys. Or at least not in the same way.
I do have some ideas about how to go about painting them but there is going to be an element of suck it and see. Given that they all have cloaks and are going to be on winter bases I want to go with something that will help them blend in. I can see the power armoured units not bothering with this. But if you only have light flack armour you want to keep any shooting at you to a minimum.
My initial thoughts are that they will be mainly in a dark grey body suit. Any armour will be in the same green as the Invincible’s then the cloaks will be in a lighter grey to match the snow effect on the bases. In my head this will keep things cohesive. But that could all change as soon as I get any paint on them.
And all of this is assuming that the minis will actually turn up in the first place. I think if these go missing I may just have to give up because I can’t face have two sets of the same minis going missing. Especially when it’s for a game we haven’t even started playing yet. But on the other hand they are very nice miniatures and if I can paint them even half as well as they deserve they will look very cool.
So I’m going to be positive, keep my fingers, toes and anything else I can cross, crossed. The mojo levels are nicely topped up and I have lots to be working on so I’m just going to keep plodding away. Keep the content rolling and enjoy my hobby time.
That’s it for this week. Harthkyn Warriors is the goal for next week’s update. Until then I hope you all have a great week. That the hobby gods are shining on you and that you can all join me back here next week.
