Death Metal and Demos!

So we are at it again. This time with a slight delay in publication, but since I'm the only one making the deadlines, I'll allow it.

The reason for the delay is that my wife and I have been  a bit busy going to concerts.
We went to Esbjerg(at the westernmost border of Denmark) to see Cattle Decapitation and Suffocation. The next day we went to Copenhagen(at the easternmost border of Denmark) to see them again. In Copenhagen we met up with Lodsiwoc of Brains and guts-fame and we had a blast! And heard some blast beats.
One of the support bands, Exuviated, I had never heard of before, but as it turned out, they were completely awesome. I had a chat with their singer at the merchandise stand and he was a terrific guy, who was just happy to actually be on tour with such genre giants as Cat. Decap. and Suffocation.
In all: A great time and two great show with some great people!

Exuviated, Belgian death metal, Esbjerg.

The kings of death metal, Cattle Decapitation, Copenhagen.

But lets get to the point!


I've been doing a bit different things, for the past weeks which is also a bit responsible for my delay. I've taken on a commision, to paint the Dreadfleet game for a friend. It has taken alot of time, but hopefully, it'll come out well.

But for the Frostgrave warband, I finally have this guy:

"Lets me shoot you wit dis arrow Is don't have!"

He is more brightly green than any other orc, I've ever painted, but I though long and hard about it, and decided to try. And I am actually quite happy with the result! Here you can really see, how the Harlequin orcs are more similar to each other, than the old GW-ones. Compare this to my wizard and youll see they have almost the exact same facial build and expression. And most of them are like that, but when mixed with other orcs, you don't really notice it. And off course the paintjob also help to camouflage that similarity.

I also got to finish up my treasure trove with now a total of eleven treasure markers. That'll get me a ways... This is another thing with this game; it has got me totally motivated to actually go digging through my bits boxes and find uses for all sorts of Sh-tuff, that I had no plans for. Motivation, here we go!

Another project, was to do a demo of a new thing I got. This is to be viewed as an independent amateur showing how well it works using the Quickshade Ink from The Army Painter. I used an old HeroQuest Orc and just gave him a basic paintjob; only basecolours.
After that, I simply dunked him in a tin of Strong Tone Quickshade Ink and actually dropped him. The scratches on his sword arm are from my trying to pick him out of the tin with a pair of pliers. Let him sit for five minutes and shake him well. Really well! And then just wait for him to dry. For at least 48 hours. I gave him a poke after only 21 hours and left irremovable fingerprints in the paint, so KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF!!!!
Before the last step I had to redo some green on his' head, where a big glob of ink had settled, but it was only two small lines, to pick out his eyebrow wrinkles.
And the last step was a coat of Anti Shine, again from The Army Painter, although any matt varnish should do the trick.

Far left: Basecoat; middle: Dipped in Quickshade; far right: finished model.

So to simplify: Basecoats. Dip in TAP Quickshade Ink Strong Tone. Matt Varnish.

In my review of this technique, I must emphasize three things:
1: Remove excess ink after dipping, with a brush. If there are any flat areas, on the mini, ink will pool there, which will give you an ekstra step before you're finished.
2: Let it dry completely before handling! If the ink is not dry, very, very little pressure will leave marks, that you can't cover in the paintjob.
3: Use matt varnish after the ink. Eventhough the ink also works as a solid varnish, the matt coat is essential. The middle picture is with the Quickshade Ink completely dry and that stuff is reflective!

My conclusion here is that dipping with Quickshade Ink is a very good technique, if you need to make lots of minis fast. I spent a total of 40 minutes on this orc, bar the drying time, and I am very pleased with the result. If I had prepped my 30-odd clan rats I could probably have them all ready for play within a week(which, if you follow this blog, you know is an extremely short paint time! ... For me...). The finished model has not been highlighted, which really shows how well the Ink finds the right places to go! I will tough him up a bit, though; highlight the ground under him and pick out his eyeballs, but after that, he will go to his' place in the cabinet.

That's all for this time! Thanks for reading and feel free to comment and criticize!

Next up: Wizard Apprentice!