Blog: Old Man Paints – Oldhammer Wargaming Figures
Owner: OldManPaints
Author: Tideswellman / Old Man Paints
Post: The Nightmare Company
The Nightmare company were sent to me by Satyr Art Studios. They were part of a large group of miniatures that I’m painting and photographing for Drew. I was scared to death for some reason, probably a type of apprehension I always seem to get when painting miniatures by a new company.
These Skeleton soldier figures are very much in the Oldhammer style, as you might expect from me. I rarely paint anything that isn’t a bit retro. They are, if you like, proxies for the old Nightmare Legion, which are kind of difficult to get hold of these days.
The Nightmare Company by Satyr Art Studios
Like all miniatures, they needed a bit of cleaning up. I always like to go around every figure and make sure that there are no mould lines or additional flashing showing. It drives me wild when I start painting only to discover flashing that I’d missed…or some great big mould line right down the centre of a helmet or a sleeve. these were pretty good for mould lines there was a bit of flashing around the head voids where the arms were close to the face, but it was all taken care of very easily.
Always remember the 7 Ps Proper-Preparation-Planning-Prevents-Piss-Poor-Painting.
Or something like that. Anyway, I also had my usual scatterbrained moment of not ordering enough 20mm square bases. Luckily, I did have some in “the trove of useful things that rarely get looked at, but cannot possibly ever be thrown away, in case one day I might need them, like in 2053″… but they didn’t have slots. Obviously made for more modern plastic (spits) minis. So, I had to cut the slots, which was a devil of a job, but again it got done, so quit whining, Philip.
I primed the skeleton soldiers in black and added flock and sand to the base
I primed the skeletons with a black car primer. I buy primer from Poundland. It’s perfectly good enough to get a layer of primer on your minis and you don’t have to buy GW or Halfords Primer….which might be better, but it’s dead expensive for something you are just going to cover up.
I also added the flock and sand to the base before painting. Not something I always do, in fact, I rarely use flock, but in this case, the brief was “make it look oldhammer-like late 1980,s white dwarf”. So that’s why I used Flock. To flock my way, cover the base with Modge Podge and sprinkle on your flock and I mix flock and sand in a container with a bit of grit, so you get more of a mixed terrain feel.
To ensure that the flock and sand didn’t rub off white I was still working on the models, I then stood them in a shallow solution (6/7mm) of PVA and water (1/10th solution) for a second, until all the flock was saturated. Then stand them out on some newspaper to dry. Go off and do something else for a few hours. When you return to the minis, the water has evaporated off and the flack and sand is sealed in hard but still have enough texture to look natural.
I finally got around to painting. I’ll say not, that normally – I DO NOT LIKE BLACK PRIMER, some people do, and that’s fine, but I prefer white or grey.. In this instance, I wanted the miniatures to be grubby looking and so a dark primer has its uses.
I won’t bore you with the exact colours I use because frankly, nobody cares. Just use the colours you have that suit how you’re imagining the minis to be. I don’t endorse one type of paints I have a mix of Citadel and Vallejo with some Cote D’arms.
Skeletons usually get painted brown first and then washed with mid-brown ink. Then I paint the highlights on them with a beige/bone colour, then I highlight with a lighter version and use white here and there for the teeth and fingernails/ toenails.
Rough version of the base colours.
The armour was all painted black and dry brushed with Gun Metal and highlighted with Silver. A brown ink wash was applied to muck it up. Buckles and scabbard tops were painted silver and then highlighted to give the impression of worn brass. All leather was painted dark brown and highlighted with a mix of lighter and redder browns. the moss on the helmet is just PVA and sand.
The Nightmare Company with large Skull shields
A couple of people asked me about the shields, my method is always simple. Paint the shield dark brown. (burnt sienna) then dry brush with gunmetal, then with shiny silver. Then apply a wash of mid-brown ink. Then get a turquoise colour or a Verdigris effect paint, if you have one and slather the shield in it. Wipe it off with your finger…rinse and repeat till you’re happy with the effect.
That’s pretty much it. You’ll figure the rest out I’m sure. Thank you for reading and I hope you liked what I did, and will leave me a comment. I’m happy to answer any questions.
Here’s some photo spam
Continue reading on the Old Man Paints blog
Owner: OldManPaints
Author: Tideswellman / Old Man Paints
Post: The Nightmare Company
The Nightmare company were sent to me by Satyr Art Studios. They were part of a large group of miniatures that I’m painting and photographing for Drew. I was scared to death for some reason, probably a type of apprehension I always seem to get when painting miniatures by a new company.
These Skeleton soldier figures are very much in the Oldhammer style, as you might expect from me. I rarely paint anything that isn’t a bit retro. They are, if you like, proxies for the old Nightmare Legion, which are kind of difficult to get hold of these days.
The Nightmare Company by Satyr Art Studios
Prepping the minis
Like all miniatures, they needed a bit of cleaning up. I always like to go around every figure and make sure that there are no mould lines or additional flashing showing. It drives me wild when I start painting only to discover flashing that I’d missed…or some great big mould line right down the centre of a helmet or a sleeve. these were pretty good for mould lines there was a bit of flashing around the head voids where the arms were close to the face, but it was all taken care of very easily.
Always remember the 7 Ps Proper-Preparation-Planning-Prevents-Piss-Poor-Painting.
Or something like that. Anyway, I also had my usual scatterbrained moment of not ordering enough 20mm square bases. Luckily, I did have some in “the trove of useful things that rarely get looked at, but cannot possibly ever be thrown away, in case one day I might need them, like in 2053″… but they didn’t have slots. Obviously made for more modern plastic (spits) minis. So, I had to cut the slots, which was a devil of a job, but again it got done, so quit whining, Philip.
I primed the skeleton soldiers in black and added flock and sand to the base
I primed the skeletons with a black car primer. I buy primer from Poundland. It’s perfectly good enough to get a layer of primer on your minis and you don’t have to buy GW or Halfords Primer….which might be better, but it’s dead expensive for something you are just going to cover up.
Flock-a-Doodle-Doo
I also added the flock and sand to the base before painting. Not something I always do, in fact, I rarely use flock, but in this case, the brief was “make it look oldhammer-like late 1980,s white dwarf”. So that’s why I used Flock. To flock my way, cover the base with Modge Podge and sprinkle on your flock and I mix flock and sand in a container with a bit of grit, so you get more of a mixed terrain feel.
To ensure that the flock and sand didn’t rub off white I was still working on the models, I then stood them in a shallow solution (6/7mm) of PVA and water (1/10th solution) for a second, until all the flock was saturated. Then stand them out on some newspaper to dry. Go off and do something else for a few hours. When you return to the minis, the water has evaporated off and the flack and sand is sealed in hard but still have enough texture to look natural.
Painting the Undead Soldiers
I finally got around to painting. I’ll say not, that normally – I DO NOT LIKE BLACK PRIMER, some people do, and that’s fine, but I prefer white or grey.. In this instance, I wanted the miniatures to be grubby looking and so a dark primer has its uses.
I won’t bore you with the exact colours I use because frankly, nobody cares. Just use the colours you have that suit how you’re imagining the minis to be. I don’t endorse one type of paints I have a mix of Citadel and Vallejo with some Cote D’arms.
Skeletons usually get painted brown first and then washed with mid-brown ink. Then I paint the highlights on them with a beige/bone colour, then I highlight with a lighter version and use white here and there for the teeth and fingernails/ toenails.
Rough version of the base colours.
The armour was all painted black and dry brushed with Gun Metal and highlighted with Silver. A brown ink wash was applied to muck it up. Buckles and scabbard tops were painted silver and then highlighted to give the impression of worn brass. All leather was painted dark brown and highlighted with a mix of lighter and redder browns. the moss on the helmet is just PVA and sand.
The Nightmare Company with large Skull shields
The Shields
A couple of people asked me about the shields, my method is always simple. Paint the shield dark brown. (burnt sienna) then dry brush with gunmetal, then with shiny silver. Then apply a wash of mid-brown ink. Then get a turquoise colour or a Verdigris effect paint, if you have one and slather the shield in it. Wipe it off with your finger…rinse and repeat till you’re happy with the effect.
That’s pretty much it. You’ll figure the rest out I’m sure. Thank you for reading and I hope you liked what I did, and will leave me a comment. I’m happy to answer any questions.
Here’s some photo spam
Continue reading on the Old Man Paints blog
