[Warfork Fantasy Battles] New Year's resolutions 2025 - The Battle for Arduthrond Glade

As tested with the Umbra Turris Orc Warband, I airbrushed the miniatures with a purple basecoat of 1:1 Molotow #233 purple violet and Molotow #043 violet dark both as an undercoat as well as an undertone, the reason why I did not choose my normal black. If my guestimation is not too far off, that mix is on the opposite side of the color wheel of the main skin color, Golden High Flow - #528 Green Gold.



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This was followed by a zenithal airbrush step of Liquitex White Ink.




Next I applied the main skin color, Golden High Flow - #528 Green Gold, which I thinned 1:1 with Golden Airbrush Transparent Extender. When sprayed on, the zenithal still shows through, providing the first level of color modulation. Here is also the reason for the purple rather than black basecoat.




From below, in an opposite zenithal (nadiral?) layer, I airbrushed a darker green, Golden High Flow #577 Phtalo Green (Yellow Shade), thinned 1:4 with the extender medium.




For the highlight color to really pop, I added another white zenithal from directly above the minis, and some choosen spots (like when directly from above did not hit the face enough, or the belly).




The final layer then was a 1:4 mix of Golden High Flow #587 Light Green (Yellow Shade) and extender medium.


 
I basecoated the engine of war and its crew at the same time as the Goblin Archers. The skin of the crew got the exact same treatment as the goblins'.




The skull crusha itself was airbrushed with Golden High Flow #532 Napthol Red Light, thinned 1:1 with Golden Airbrush Transparent Extender.


Next, with a thin brush I traced the wood grain on all side and upward facing areas with Golden SoFlat #549 Naphtol Red Light, the ropes of the mechanism with Golden SoFlat #689 Titan Buff;, and most of the metal decorations with /P3 Molten Bronze, followed by a P3 Copper Penny highlight. The iron parts were painted with Vallejo 77.711 Magnesium.


For the iron parts and to clearly distinguish the different wooden parts, I mixed an oil wash of Winsor & Newton Ivory Black and Winsor & Newton Cobalt Violet Hue - adding the violet to tie in with the basecoat. Then I enjoyed the capillary action of the oil wash.




Once this was dry, I followed with a Winsor & Newton Burnt Umber oil wash over the red and copper areas.




After another round of redefining the wood grain with red, I glued the wheels onto the engine of war and mounted it on its base. I only did this now, as for example the inside of the wheels, the chassis behind the wheels, the rope from below etc. would have been difficult to reach, otherwise. The arm and counterweight will still remain unattached for some time.


 
Do you know this situation, you take a look at a model a couple times, you get more familiar with it while removing flash, you think you know it - then you start painting and discover so much more you missed before. This is one of those models. The level of detail that went into the greebles on the frame is huge.


For highlighting, I used zinc white. In contrast to e.g. titanium white, it lightens the colour it is mixed into, but does not change the colour tone too much; titanium white influences the colour much more. For all the faces I wanted a dead (pun intended) look to the highlights, after all these are skins ripped from the bodies of slain enemies.




For the skulls I used a new colour recipee, I saw couple days ago in a video from Roman Lappat; mixing yellow, purple and white.




The hornblower snotling was started with a bright green, to which I added more and more yellow; no white in this case.




Still a lot of details pending, but I am happy with the progress.


 
I think we can all sympathise with missing mould lines despite having thought you'd got them all - especially on such a big piece. I've posted pictures and only notice the mould lines/flash at the point, even after painting!

Warmachine is looking great.
 
The counterweight has the face of a slain enemy nailed to each side. I used the following colors, all highlighted with zinc white again.












With all parts painted, I glued the arm and counterweight in place. Then I discovered my first gripe with the model: it is missing all the parts to make it function :) There is no wheel or lever to get tension on the rope, and there is no attachment point for the rope on the arm. Would I have discovered that earlier, I would have added a hoop to the arm and a hook to the rope or something like that, with everything attached this was too difficult. So I just glued a rope to the underside of the arm, and pulled it taught around the rolled up rope on the winch. Still thinking of placing a rod, that could be used for actioning the winch beside the engine... not sure yet.




Except for some final washes, the engine of war is done. On to the crew.
 
With the crew, I started painting the ammunition. Over the white over purple zenithal, I applied 4 washes to get some variation in color.




Once these were dry, I applied a thinned down wash of black ink.




Finally, I applied a drybrush of a very pale green.




These rocks make me quite proud, I didn't use a single grey in painting them :) There are no (purely) grey rocks in nature :)






For the crew, I used a technique the first time, I learnt of from Ninjon. He developed this technique over some time now and it features in many of his recent videos. The idea is, you paint an area in a colour transition of two colours, wetblending these where they meet. Then you paint your main colour of that area over this basecoat, letting it show through, and you quickly get a complex mix of colours without long blendind times. I decided to use this technique for all the greenskins in this project.


In the following three pictures, on the left you see the basecoated models, with the two colour blends, on the right the result after applying one colour on top. The metallics I stippled on, to let the basecoat shine through. The other areas I painted thin paint over the basecoat in two to three steps, in some areas with an additional second highlight step by adding zinc white.


Overall, I can still improve on this technique, but I like the effect a lot, and it is indeed a rather quick method.




I still have to apply oil washes, but so far, the majority of painting is done.
 
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