Huh, kinda sounds like the name of a kick ass Kung Fu movie in the vein of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon etc. Nice.
In the wake of me being a little bit excited that Games Day/Golden Demon is back in Chicago this year, I decided to actually participate in Golden Demon this time around. I didn’t want to spread myself too thin and try and enter a bunch of stuff, so I picked 2 things I thought would be fun to have a go at. First is a 40K Nurgle chaos lord and second is going to be a Forge World venerable dready in Salamander livery. I’m a little nervous about entering, as I have seen what I’ll be going up against in past years, and I guess I’m a little underappreciating of my work sometimes. But, what the hell, even if I get an honorable mention, it’ll be worth it.
A week or two back, I saw a great article listed under the Int’l House of Paincakes ‘Weekly Top X’ which had a link to Brian’s blog ‘Roll With It’ and a rather splendid article on how to ‘Nurglize’ yo’ stuff. It gave such a simple way of making your plastic CSM mini’s look pock-marked and corroded. It helped sway my decision about doing another chaos lord, particularly a Nurgle one. Hopefully I’ll be able to do Brian some justice when applying this method. We’ll see!
Assembly has already started on the lord. Here we see the bare bones (pun intended), before going at him with a hot pin or two, and any GS-ing I will be applying:
I had the Typhus head kicking around in a bitz box, as well as the rather’detailed’ torso. I ordered the shoulder pads especially for the project from Ebay. I wanted to keep him relatively modest, no cloaks, rows of trophy racks etc, as I feel it will give me more to play with when it comes to GS-ing and painting.
The dready is still in bits right now, but he has been cleaned up and washed, ready for assembly. I’ll post up more as and when I get more done.
C+C most welcome.
cheers!
When Cannons Fade... 
drill out your bolter barrels. If you don’t have the stuff to do it, bring him by and I’ll help you out.
They actually are. Are they not big enough?
Hey Paul
Glad to hear you found the article useful. I’m really pleased with the finished effect when painted.
Good luck with the Demon entry.
Thanks Brian! I’ll be posting up developments when I get chance to do some more. Awesome idea you had there!
doesn’t look like they’re drilled all the way through. may just be the photo or a shadow though
Ah, you mean across the barrel, or the actual muzzle? I haven’t drilled across it, but will do so!
it looks good so far, Hoagy. Lots of cool bits and bobs added from a lot of sources. Good stuff.
I’ve got some thoughts to share with you – offered in the friendliest spirit possible. Also keep in mind that I’m offering advice based on early photos without a lot of context.
you are a fantastic painter and you have sculpting skills to boot. You need to do more than paint a conversion if you want to get that honerable mention (or a trophy, or a sword – YOU CAN DO IT!)
An great paint job is only one fourth of the story when it comes to the people who win at GD’s.
the other three things are extreme customization, epic basing and narrative feel.
You’re gonna be up against some tough, tough competition (duh). So you need to squeeze every drop of juice from your model.
1.) customization: you need to do more than just convert some stock peices – you really need to make this model your own – something you can’t simply recreate with a bit bash. You said you planned on doing some putty, so good on you. Just make sure you make this model your own. having seen your nurgle rhino in person, I KNOW you can do this beyond a shadow of a doubt.
2) Basing: This is a big one that a lot of people overlook. I’m not saying it has to be some super elaborate mini-diorama, but it needs to be something more than skulls and sand on a 40mm base. A big part of any contest where you’re showing of your creation is presentation. Hell, even BBQ contest winners worry about this. Your base is more than just the platform the model stands on – its an integral part of the composition. Its even more space to make the model your own; a place to add some narrative elements and a way to give the model a sense of place (other than the gaming table). Though don;t overdo it – the base can’t be the focal point of the model. The base is as much a part of the model as that typhus head. Take a look at the rules to see what kind of size restrictions there may be. Consider a plinth.
2b) if you decide to get a little elaborate – I strongly advise that you paint the model separately from the base – pull that dude off and give him a temporary pin. The massive voodoo guys do this a lot and you can check their blog for some ideas on how to work with the idea. This will allow you to get all the nooks and crannies of both areas (base and model) and you wont have to worry about messy base construction so much. Just be sure to keep the two parts near each other so you can make sure they look like they belong together.
3) narrative: this doesn’t have to be a full length novel or anything, but giving the model a little bit of a story makes it that much better. It doesn’t have to be too elaborate either – just a little something to elevate the model above a simple gaming piece. Like that sense of place I mentioned further up.
really, the best advice i have on all three of these areas is to go look at past winners and see what kind of things they do make their work stand out from the pack. Look at each one in terms of each of the three areas.
I think that’s all for now.
I took him off the base and have started bulding up the base a little. I was always told that the base is not to overpower the mini, so I don’t want to go too OTT with it.
In regard to GSing, i’m a little nervous, as I don’t want this to look like a mini thats had a bunch of putty slapped on it. I really need to sketch up some ideas and see what I can come up with.
Thanks for the advice Lauby! 🙂
Hi there. I just drifted by this post and the comments trail. I’ve found it really useful as I am embarking on a mission to place as a finalist GDUK 2012 after returning from a 20 year break from painting http://willsinnerdemon.wordpress.com/ . Lauby, your comments are really useful and your points really gave me a lot to think about.
Great blog – cheers,
Will