(Partial) batch of Yu Jing

 I'm getting back to Infinity again. If some weeks ago I paitned a batch of Panoceania from the Code One range expansion kits, now it was time for their Yu Jing counterparts.

I applied the same technique I used the first time: a mix of yellow and orange, so I get a very light orange and then I used the Iyanden Yellow Contrast as a wash. This way I get a warm, coherent orange all over.

Let me start with this part of a set, in which I had already painted the Panoceania guy. They are a Yu Jing diplomat and his bodyguard, Imperial agent Adil Mehmut:

Ow, I'm going to ruin my shoes on this snow!

Next one is Liang Kai, wandering Shaolin Monk. Quite a dynamic pose and a cool design.

You can call him as you please. For me it's Tao Pai Pai and you cannot change my mind

Next one is quite a fovourite of mine, a Zanshi Paramedic. It's a nice mini with a cool standing pose and it's not over the top at all, I really enjoyed this one particularly:

Not that I trust that first aid kit with a huge knife

Now another cool kit, the Yáokòng Remotes, I'm totally in love with remotes in general, and these are enormously cool:

Properly magnetised, so all weapon options are interchangeable

Just as it happened with the Panoceania ones, I don't really know what some of those weapons are, they look like visors, sensors or lasers, who knows. Anyway, that's what magnets are for, so my pal can swap them as needed. I took care to look after polarity, and they are in the same position than the Panoceania ones, just in case you feel the urge of switching guns with the enemy. Who am I to judge.

We can move now onto the called Booster Pack Alpha, with some cool badasses in it: 

I'm not a big fan of tactical heels, but all females seem to wear them, must be unexpectedly comfy

Next... right, you got it. Booster Pack Beta. I had a problem here, as one bit from one of the minis was missing. Fortunately, the guys from Corvus Belli have it all covered. If you contact them identifying the missing bit (in this case it's a leg) and the control reference number which comes with each mini, they are more than happy to solve the issue.
In the meantime, I painted the other two minis from the kit: 

If that guy slips and falls to the ground I bet he can't get up again on his own

Unfortunately I experienced the same issue with another kit, the White Banner Expansion pack. One of the minis has its torso missing. Wow, bad luck. Again, I painted the other guys in the set while I wait for the replacements to arrive:

At least these two are cool as hell

So let me show the whole batch!

Imposing force, even with two numbers down

 When the missing bits arrive I'll paint the other two minis and I'll be sure to post them. I guess a pic of the two full opposing forces will be in place too.

I hope it will be anytime soon! 

Warhammer Quest Darkwater (Pt. 1, first characters)

 Here we go for yet another new project!

As the kids have shown more interest in fantasy settings rather than sci-fi ones, I've been looking for ways to channel that enthusiasm (while chanelling my own!). This new Warhammer Quest Darkwater box was quite an obvious choice, as it got everything we could hope for! The minis are ubercool and it looks like a better, easier choice than a full scale Warhammer army.

And so it all started. First thing I have to say as a disclaimer: apparently this game is set in this Age of Sigmar setting, of which I know barely anything (and I don't have any wish to learn more). So my minis would be fitting in the good old reliable WHFB setting. I can live with all the Nurgle thing (which looks ace, of course), but I thought I had to put some additional work on the characters. You'll see what I'm talking about:

Let's start with the Knight of the Manticore. It looks like it fits in that Cities of Sigmar thing and, while I'll admit the design is pretty cool, it doesn't really work for me.

Let's start the change

Ohhh, you see where I'm going...

Right, a Bretonnian knight! Well, it is kind of obvious, if you know me. I really coulnd't see but a Questing Knigt (because this is... well, Warhammer Quest!). The conversion is pretty basic. I wanted to change the axe with a sword, but the kids told that they preferred the axe, so nothing else to say.

Unless...

What's this?

Oh, didn't I tell you? My bad (Giggle). A friend of mine, knowing I was to embark on this project, commissioned me to paint his own set. So I had the chance to so some other stuff.

No kidding, I'm doing every mini twice

He liked a Song of Ice and Fire vibe more than Bretonnia, so we finally took a Baratheon approach:

That horned llama on the chest is supposed to be a deer

I also took yellow, but in another different direction

 

Look at the scale creep. Glups

Look at the finished result:

 Next one is the sorceress mini. I haven't read the lore of the game or the characters in depth, as I prefer to make my own version of it with my ideas and prejudices, not the ones from the box. I only know that she is supposed to make the sword she's wielding with the very water of the jar she carries.

Whatever. My character will be a Bretonnian Sorceress

My pal didn't want that for his mini, so we studied the options.

 

No sleeves, no Bretonnian lady, more like a forest Dryad or Naiad

The good thing about this mini is that the long skirt is not a single solid piece. On the contrary, it is hollow and even the legs are sculpted:

Peekaboo. Most hentai thing I've ever done in this blog

So this could be done. Now the mini looks lighter

My own, on the contrary, went full Bretonnia

My pal's mini got a pair of small antlers

I respected the sword made of water for him

For my Sorceress, I added some detail to the dress:

Next one, the only mini that didn't need a conversion for me! The Dwarf!

Well, I've been informed that Dwarfs exist no more in Age of Sigmar, now they are.. what are they called? Duard-what? Edwardins? Ok, cool. As you please.

Fili and Kili. As they should have been depicted in the movies

Little thing to say, I'm afraid, as the mini is superb by all means:

 

Last one of the batch, the Knight lady. I insist, I haven't read their background, so I don't know a thing of these characters. At first I toyed with the idea of a warrior lady in the Empire, but didn't find the way to make it work properly. It was my pal who opened my eyes. Do you see that torn armour? Those falling pieces? It's screaming "undead"!

Oh yeah!

But for my own mini I went a step further. I got to think too much. How could an Undead be part of my band of good guys? Vampire Counts don't often make friends with the living. So if an Undead was to fight for Good, it meant that... Hmmm... It meant that it was once a brave hero, bound by an oath beyond death. This knight (he or she or them) was a living saint and now is a undead saint.

First idea

 Of course, a Saint needs a halo, a crown of light...

Time to cut pins

I only hope the kids don't touch that one much

So these are the Undead guys:

And finished:

 Some final group shots!

My minis

My friend's minis

 This is all I got for now. I still have three other characters (well, six) to do! They will come, they will come...

Fifty shades of Grey...tchin

 I guess by now you have already seen the new WH40K Edition box. It's of course a... homage to THE box. The mighty Second Edition box. Blood Angels and Orks in Armaggedon. What can I say, I'm pleased that this is a thing, but well, I cannot be at ease with those new minis.

Have you seen the Gretchins? Have you seen them? I'll try to elaborate my opinion:

 Stung as I was by this bad taste joke of a mini, I took the only rational path one can take, the only one left. The only one, I say.

To paint all the Gretchins I have unattended

 50 great glorious Gretchins!

I know that as soon as you have seen that pic you have already discarded any trace of words such as "rational", "logic", "sanity" and some other expressions that are meaningless to me.

Fifty indeed

The first decisions involved general appearance and palette. Of course I was deep into Red Era, I wanted these to match my Orks and there would be no point in painting them any other way. I doubted if I should paint them all in a coherent way or more in different patterns. I chose the first option, not to have a colour explosion. I thought I could keep them colourful enough, yet not over the top.

You get the idea

 The thing is that the Codex (if you have to ask what Codex I'm referring to, I'm afraid this might not be your blog of preference after all, sorry) allows units of 10-40 Gretchins. I have 50. Would it be better to have two 25-Grot mobs or just ignore the Codex and have a single glorious large mob of 50 Gretchins?

Well, though I'm biased towards the second choice, I am keeping my options open. Though they are essentially the same, I painted 25 with a black helmet and 25 with a red one:

Cousins

This way I can take any of both options, making them recognizable at tabletop distance if I need two mobs, but keeping them visually coherent if I prefer just a large unit.

Not so many after all, if you think of it

 OK. This was the hard part, the dull one. To get these fit. Oh, BTW, note to self: I have to buy an electric drill. Making holes manually on all those autoguns was... challenging.

But if you have been following this humble blog for some time now, you may have a righteous question, or at least the hint of an intuition. Am I suffering to have 50 identical minis? Or 25/25 identical minis?

No. A hundred times no.

You can see that I have presented them in rows and columns, and it serves a purpose. I painted different motifs on the helmets following the columns:

Five by five

Besides, I cheated, there are columns where I didn't paint anything!

Then the same process on the rows, but this time on the sleeves:

Only four rows, the fifth one is clean!

This way I have made sure that there are not two identical minis. All of them are slightly different, if just by tiny touches here and there.

Now my soul is in peace with the universe.

I added a few random checkers here and there, just for fun, and to add more visual differences, but with no distinctive pattern this time.

You can say I got wild with that, huh?

The keen eye may have spotted a different Gretchin among the crowd. Right, in fact I only got 49 plastic minis, the fiftieth one is this metal Grot:

The Waldo of Gretchins

 Time to show some group shots. First the black helmets:

With Waldo the Gretchin

Then the red ones:

The closest to Red Era I could get

 What about having them all together?

50 Gretchins walk into a battle...

 The last pic includes a fat leader, the not-Grom I painted long ago, because you always look better when you take a pic next to someone fatter than you.

I insist, they are not that many...

Well, this has been quite a trip through the Valley of Insanity, but in the end I think they got the right vibe. I should really see what Ork stuff I have painted by now and build a proper 2nd Edition army list...