02 January 2014

Dark Age Franks - 3rd Painting Challenge Entry

As enough time elapsed here's my 3rd entry to Curt's Painting Challenge:

Being a rather slow painter I finally managed to get the figures for my next entry done. These Saxon Gedrith will feature in future games of Dux Britanniarum and Dux Bellorum. I intend to use them as Franks as I want leave the British Isles story wise.

                                     
  

Although the Age of Arthur in good old Britain is for sure one of the most interesting Periods I'm a bit over saturated by the concentration on British history while there was so much more going on on the continent. The Franks struggling for a place in the corpse of the Roman Empire, the final death throws of the western Empire when Aetius led a coalition of roman and Frankish troops to victory over the Huns, the Visigoths carving out their empire in Italy and so on...

  
I wanted the miniatures to look like they were about to emerge out of a wood maybe attacking some merchants or a roman patrol on their way home.


The four long bearded models are from the superb Early Saxon range by Musketeer Miniatures. The two other guys are from the nice Arthurian Saxons by Westwind Productions. Both ranges fit together quite well although the Musketeer figures are more detailed.

Thanks for viewing and hope you enjoyed!

24 comments:

  1. Looks great. Really good shading on their beards :)

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  2. Very impressive...just how long do they take...?

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    1. About 3 hours per figure. That's the average amount of time I'd need anyway. The chainmail made it quite 'easy' for me to stay in time.

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  3. I agree. The beards and hair do look great. Have you ever done a tutorial? I'm curious about your technique...

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    1. I've never done a tutorial for hair as I only recently discovered a way to paint them to my liking.
      Anyway I used Citadel 'Snakebite Leather' as the basecoat, then I accentuated the single modelled hairs with Citadel 'Tausept Ochre' and went on to a finer line of Foundry 'Sand A'. After that I painted it over with Foundry 'Sand B' only leaving the 'Sand A' visible in the recesses. Last step was to paint the tips of the hairs in Foundry 'Sand C'. I know it's not that easy but I've tried using less colours but it didn't look quite right to me. As a final note I'd say sometimes I give the hair a final wash with heavily dilluted Armypainter 'Soft Tone' just to have different shades of blonde.
      Hope this helped.

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  4. I love the paint job on these models. You did a great job with them. Bright colors but lots of dirt.

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  5. A very beautiful unit. The beards aren't drybrushed but painted I think. We should make a meeting just to see how you do your paintjobs at Christopher's or in Roth.

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  6. very very nice. thanks for sharing these lovely pictures.
    cheers
    dan

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  7. Very nice! Not my favourite models (too hairy) but your paintjobs help that a lot.

    Cheers, SG
    mountainsoflead.com

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  8. Superb painting and basing. What do you use for painting the metal on the helmets as it looks very effective?
    Cheers,
    Pat.

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    1. Simply drybrushing with a Base of Citadel 'Boltgun Metal' then painting the bronze parts in Vallejo 'Bronze' followed by a last cautious drybrush of Citadel 'Chainmail'.
      Imho you can't beat the old Citadel metallics...

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  9. Lovely work indeed Nick! They look tough as nails!

    Christopher

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  10. Very good indeed!! Lovely painting, full of character and great bases too.
    Cheers
    Matt

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  11. Wonderful models mate great work :)

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  12. These fellows are lovely to look at! Your painting and the wonderful MM models are a perfect match. And thanks for sharing your techniques. I should try your dry brush technique on helmets in the future

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  13. Stunning work !!!

    It will be nice to see them in action on the wargaming table!

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