Saturday 19 April 2014

A Warhammer Bestiary: Fimir



Its the Easter Holiday here in the United Kingdom. That means a four day weekend for most, and the tail end of a two week break for us teachers. Subsequently, all the 'jobs' required by the 'non-leadhead' have by now been accomplished and sometime can be invested in getting some painting done. 

As you will be aware, after a bit of a hiatus I am back on my task of painting a model for each of the entries of the Warhammer Third Edition Bestiary. This time, it was the enigmatic Fimir that were see the attentions of my paintbrush. 

Few races are as iconic as the Fimir, and Third Edition was their moment of triumph, despite a rather dodgy rules/model mix up in regards of the boys in the Design Studio. Immortality would be achieved due to their inclusion in Heroquest. If you are interested in reading more about their story I would suggest having a read of Zhu's short post on the matter here, before moving on to Luke Maciak's recent account here

Fimir Art by Gary Chalk
Now, Fimir miniatures have a reputation for being expensive. They are also quite popular with collectors which is probably why there are several companies producing their own 'versions' of them to this day. I managed to source mine from eBay for about £7, which I feel is a reasonable amount for a larger metal model. 

The model was sculpted by Nick Bibby and represents would the elite Fimm warriors. Its a two part piece with the tail being detachable and it was an easy job to stick this on with a little bit of superglue. I used greenstuff to plug the gaps. 


I mixed up a suitably swampy green to act as the basecoat and used a contrasting brown for the leather 'coat' that the armour pieces seem to be attached to. A second, more earthy, brown was selected for the haft of the axe and the head of the weapon base coated in chainmail.


I then washed the whole model with a brown/chestnut/green ink was (diluted with a few tiny drops of water) and waited for the ink to dry overnight. This is my own version of devlan mud and has a much darker result, similar to Army Painter's Strong Tone. 


The it was a simple case of just working up the green skin to the original basecoat. Once this was achieved I highlighted further by adding Bleached Bone and Skull White to the original mix. The teeth and claws were done in exactly the same way, only with a turgid (rather turdy, actually) brown before being edged with some browny/black ink. 


Returning to the basecoat colour for the leather I worked that up back to the original base before adding Bleached Bone to the mix. I have found that using a khaki or beige to highlight reduces the 'washed out' look I was getting on some of my other models. The gold was based coated in a gold/yellow/chestnut ink base and then washed over with brown (this was allowed to dry) and then orange ink. It was a simple job to highlight this up with the base colour and then use a final highlight using the base and added silver. 

Job done! 


Oh, and I added red to the eye to contrast with the green and suggest evil. The base was completed using my usual method this morning though I found it hard to locate some natural light in the house, as typically for a holiday in England, its rather overcast! hence these shots have been taken in the playroom rather than on my board. 

Right, from big to small. The next model in the project is another race that has disappeared from modern Warhammer. A gnome. 

Orlygg

15 comments:

  1. Superb; it's funny that of all the clans of fimir around the oldhammer community these days, nobody's really gone for the green colour! But I think you really do that colour justice here.

    Though this is one of the easier fimir to find, £7 is still a bargain, that's the cheapest I've managed to get any of my Nick Bibby fimir for.

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    1. For me, fimir are green. perhaps its the Heroquest influence creeping over me, though I prefer a swampy green to help differentiate between goblinoids and these swamp dwellers. Though, thinking again, perhaps a swampy brown would be interesting to attempt!

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  2. £7 eh?, you lucky fecker. Great painting as always James.

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    1. Thanks Chico. I thought you were the master of getting things for cheap though? Or 'man favours' as you call them!

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  3. Good work! I'm a fan of the Fimir and hope to pick up the Forgeworld set soon. I've been reading a few articles about their fluff and history and seems quite unfortunately they didn't stamp their own ground as an independent army of their own. Though I guess it's a good thing now since it gives them bit of a cult following.

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    1. There is an independent armylist of sorts for 3rd edition published in Warhammer Armies with background in White Dwarf.

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  4. Lovely paint job very subtle. Had a read through those Fimir post and the thing that really got me was the fact they were originally smaller and on 25mm bases. Which probably explains why Paul Bonners brilliant art works shows them only slightly bigger than a human.

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    1. Yeah, the mix up story is now becoming well known. But the rules in Third Edition are quite clear, only character models use a monster base, the rest are on 25mm squares.

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  5. He's my favourite of the NB Fimir by a long shot, and £7 for him is a bargain! :) But seeing as you've done a beautiful paint job you deserve it! Mmmmmm, Fimir. Must get back onto my army again very soon....

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    1. Cheers Fimm, worthy praise indeed, coming from you. I just now need to make some cotton wool 'mist' like Pete Taylor did back in the '80s.

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    2. Here's a thought, I've been wondering for a while now about having the display box for my Fimir encased in Perspex so I can feed one of those "not quite smoke machine" cans of fog into it for photographing. Any idea if that damages paintwork?

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  6. Super paint job. Thanks for sharing the stage by stage paint tips.
    Fimir are a greta range to collect but sadly a bit high in the price range for my taste.

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    1. Keep searching. I have seen several sell for about £10 each recently. Taking your time is key to collecting things like the fimir! Good luck!

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    2. I collected my vintage Fimir over the course of about a year, and didn't pay more than £12 for any of the models, even the LE 28mm Fimir. Patience really is key. But if you can't wait I can shamelessly redirect you to a range which might tide you over... www.oakbound.co.uk Miniatures, Marsh Demons. ;)

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  7. Not a fan of applying goblin skin tones on fimm. If one-eyed orcs are not your thing then try a more traditional leathery palette.

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