Thursday 21 February 2019

Orlygg Rises From The Grave...


A cold, clammy hand emerged from the darkness with its fingers splayed outwards. The digits quivering with an ancient ague. Dirt encrusted the nails, the skin was sallow as if a stranger to the sun. The palm brushed against a rough surface and pushed weakly against it. Above, a bell tolled. Dusty, shuffling feet lurched forwards as the doors of the threshold were thrust open. 

"Can I buy some superglue, please?" 

This blog has been very inactive since summer 2018. Why, may you ask? Because its author too has been very inactive, extremely inactive to be precise. In fact, the only thing to have achieved anything on my modelling bureau since August last year is the superglue soldifying. Hence my trip out this afternoon to purchase some more. The reason? I was busy not dying. 

Six months away is a long time in the world of blogging and I had a mass of spam to deal with. A strange mixture of Pakistani tourist advertisments, curious requests from African witchdoctors and Chinese offers to up my page views and supply me with a lifetimes supply of lead. Oddly, no Raybans were offered to me! 


Without dribbling on about my medical woes too much, it seems my eyes can barely function and my fingers can only feebly fondle my paintbrushes. It was with some trepidation I set to work on a simple figure to assess the long term damage. I chose the classic skelly biting on his shield from the pre-slotta Citadel days. I have completely forgotten the range. 

Black undercoat, with Foundry Boneyard triad to pick out the skull and limbs. Army Painter silver did for the helmet, shield and axeblade. Old school Bestial brown for the leather strap and haft. Once dry, I just washed the lot in a dribble of Devlan Mud - what a much lamented wash - and highlighted back out using the lightest Boneyard tone. 

I have lost much of my skill with fine work though I was pleased with the scratches I could pull off on the flat shield surface. There was no way I was going to stuff up my hard work attempting any freehand. The base was the usual superglue+sand+Woodland Green, with yellow and again Boneyard drybrushed over the top. 


Here is a side view as most of the model is focused on the shield. I kept the rags black and drybrushed over the material with a little grey. A black wash brought the tones down enough to look passable. I struggled to highlight the strap over the shoulder as my eyes threatened to cross and my hand started wobbling like a Slanneshi accolyte's undergoing therapy, and those smeary lines are the best I could do. I am interested to see if my technique will improve before my next hospital appointment in March. 

Long time readers may fall from their seats now... but I have been helping my nine year old son paint modern GW figures this afternoon. He as independently bought himself 'Storm Strike'- the AOS starter boxset and has begun work on the undead GlaivewraithsTM. Being the boneweary veteran of the miniature hobby I advised him to read the book first, to get some idea of what the game is all about. After about twenty minutes he brought the ghastly publication to me and stated 'this makes no sense!'

Foolishly, I thought he'd have a rule querry but no... He had noticed that the photographs of the miniatures being painted lack paint on the end of the brushes. God knows what he would have made of the whimsical nonsense of the WFB3 rulebook!

I am going to try something a little more adventurous than a skelly over the weekend. Wish me luck! 

Orlygg

36 comments:

  1. Good to see you back - and best of luck with the recovery!

    Nice work on that skeleton. The preslotta skeletons and their early-slotta kin tend to get forgotten because of the plastic box set that followed fairly close on their heels, but there are some really characterful gems among them - including this fellow biting his shield, the ones with horns and the ones with hooves.

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    1. Thanks JC. I have just had a pick through the lead mountain and found another creepy fellow from (what looks to be) the same range. He is in the Dettol as we speak. I don't know much about this batch of undead but at least they look dead! (:

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  2. Welcome back, ah the sight of old lead given new life brings joy to my twisted heart

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    1. Thanks Phil - glad to hear your heart is still just as twisted as it always was! (:

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  3. Hey, glad to see you are back, and you know, not dead.

    Speaking of dead, that Skelly turned out nicely, and while the shield seems suited for freehand work, I like your take on it better.

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    1. Thanks, Mr Lasgun. Speaking of shields, I have often pondered on where undead necromancers shop for all those incredibly detailed shield designs. Perhaps there is a troop type we have all been missing? (;

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    2. I imagine that they get failed art students, who have become necromancers’ apprentices instead, to paint them.

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    3. Or the infamous undead urban artist 'Ranksy'. If you can find him...

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    4. Failed art students forced into necromantic heraldry sweatshops, now there's the seed for an excellent Fantasy Roleplay adventure (now to make a medieval Jerry Springer character) :)

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  4. Welcome back and I hope your health gets better! Also, thanks for alerting me to a model that I must now track down and purchase!

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    1. Glad to be of service. I, too, know next to nothing about the pre-slotta undead range - beyond the fact that many of the models are part of the famous John Blanche diorama.

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  5. Welcome back. Your skeleton looks very nicely painted to me.

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    1. Thank you sir, I am going to have another crack with the paints today. I haven't got that much undead unpainted it seems - but I have found a couple of models to work on.

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  6. Great to see activity again!

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  7. Welcome back, sorry to hear about your health, my best wishes to you. Lovely work on the skeleton and happy to see you blogging again. As to AoS I can only hope you have enough extra skeletons ready to stem the invasion of Nighthaunt. Next up (dare I say the name on this blog) Stormcast? Only six more weeks to make that an April 1st post ;)

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    1. He has only basecoated two. There was a slight accident with the grey paint and the table. Need to put some newspaper down next time. I am approaching AoS with an open mind but I have told my son to read and explain the rules to me.

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  8. Good to have you back and sorry to hear of your ill health. Skelly looks great.

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  9. Orlygg, excellent to have you back and posting. The skelly looks great! To be blunt, you haven't really lost a step!

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    1. Oh I have. It was a struggle painting up that skeleton. But I am perservering! Thanks!

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  10. So glad to see you back! I love your blog and classic takes on GW stuff. Hope you continue to improve!

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  11. Glad to see you are back. You still got it ! -Nicolas

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  12. I would be proud of painting that figure while in perfect health! Best wishes for a strong recovery.

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  13. Welcome back indeed ! I do enjoy your blogs :-) I must admit to not understanding some folks' antipathy towards modern GW stuff - as in my taste in music which ranges from punk to classical, I also like old stuff and new. Probably for different reasons. But if I see a mini I like I don't automatically question it's age.There was a lengthy debate on one of the FB groups recently about the stuff in the WHW museum - was it 'sterile' or 'rubbish' and so on... I loved it all. My collection is overwhelmingly oldhammer - but I recently bought some new (sssshhh... plastic) Necromunda models as recommended by none other than Mr John Blanche. I have followed that particular maestro since he painted stuff for Asgard - and if it's good enough for him....

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  14. Glad to see you are not dead yet. I was wondering what had happened to your blog. Have you invested in a magnifying glass? I use one of these to paint 6 mm figures as my eyesight is failing somewhat.

    https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/purelite-4-in-1-crafters-magnifying-lamp/591522-1000

    It is a lamp and magnifier in one and is extremely handy.

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