duel

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Dwarf vs Skaven Duel – Relief of a Project Completed

Posted by johnnya10 on 09/05/2022
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment
dwarf vs skaven duel

Well, there you have it. The reason why my hobby has been a bit quiet of late. A dual between a noble dwarf, and a warpstone-crazed skaven. This one has been long in the making, and while I’m relieved it’s done, I’m not as happy with it as I hoped I would be. Not unhappy, but a long way from giddy. Let me explain…

skaven leaping on dwarf

So, a long time ago now, I had the idea for this piece. A dwarf vs a rat, with the former looking prepared and poised, and the latter leaping maniacally into the fight. I thought it would be a fun exercise in contrasting warriors, but it took a lot of work to get there. When it began, it was a stream of lava, and I had a Fyreslayer, big axe raised, charging in, but I switched the stuntier warrior for a couple of reasons. First off, I couldn’t get on with painting the slayer. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t get his hair or skin to blend smoothly, and the runes on his body were getting lost. So I ditched him in favour of a more classical dwarf. This meant doing away with the lava, which also made me a bit happier as I was being rather indecisive about whether or not that would produce a glow, and what that would mean for my painting. When I switched that to a swamp, the whole piece started to roll forward. I started this about a year ago, and it was only 3 months back that I started working on this iteration of the miniatures. 

rat vs duardin

It’s been a lot of fun, but it has stollen all of my effort and attention. The idea came into my brain probably 2 years back, and once I’d worked out the particulars, I have been very much laser-focussed on the project. Because I just needed it done, but with Golden Demon coming around again this year, I had half a thought that it might be good enough to enter, so I wasn’t rushing anything.

But I don’t think this is good enough for that sort of stage. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t hate it, and while there are some bits of this that I really like, there’s too much I don’t. That being said, it’s only my second ever duel, and I learned much and had a lot of fun, so it’s been a very useful jumping off point. I’ve got another silly idea for the next one, so stay tuned for that! 

duel not for golden demon

The plus points? I really like the dwarf’s beard, and the gem stones on him are, by and large, a step up for me. On the rat, the red armour works very nicely, and that green glow on the eyes is something I really like. To be honest, I think 25% of this is top drawer. 

There are too many mistakes though. My metallics don’t pop enough, the banner, while a fun addition is all wrong. I had thought about doing something more in keeping with my freehand style but I bottled it when I couldn’t find an image I wanted to transpose. Instead, I borrowed the design from some classic art, and while it’s fine, it’s also lacking. There’s a lot more I’m not happy with, but maybe 25% is enough to be happy about for now. 

pouncing

Other plus points to come out of this include my renewed enjoyment of Skaven – they are a lot of fun and I want more in my life. I enjoyed the duel format – even if I don’t think this story is told we’ll enough, I like the added challenge of trying to tell a story between two minis. And if I’m being honest, I’m so relieved that it’s done and that I get to look at something else now. I’ve got some big things on the horizon, and it’ll be good to pay attention to those for a spell for sure.

Thanks for taking the time to check it out. It was fun, and while I’m a little dissatisfied, I’m more than happy that it’s now done and finished. Oh the joys of being a perfectionist with lacking skills 😉 Onwards we go. 

Road To Warhammer Fest – Update 4: The Duel Is Done

Posted by johnnya10 on 01/03/2018
Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , . 8 Comments
chaos space marine eldar duel
Ladies, gentlemen, orks, t’au, and goblins of all ages, I present to you my finished Emperor’s Children Terminator vs Eldar Harlequin Solitaire Duel! Yep, it’s done, and I am properly pleased with myself with this one. There’s plenty to talk about, so let’s dive right in.
The first thing that my regular readers will notice is that there is no trailing monofilament wire looping around these models, and you’re right. Oh, how I swore. So many curses, screams and expletives. You see, the thing about really thin, fiddly wire, is that it’s incredibly annoying to work with. It also doesn’t hold paint very well at all. And, given the precarious nature of our Harlequin (and before you say anything about pinning, know that I very seriously looked into said solution and I don’t possess drills or pins thin enough), every time I tried to make an attachment of said wire, the damn thing fell to pieces (there’s no way this is making it to Coventry in one piece). So sod the @£€#ing wire. Just move on.
slaaneshi terminator solitaire duel
But does it need it? The hairy blood (ewww) works quite nicely, and there’s plenty of movement there already. I’ve also added blood, scraped paint and metal flecks to the end of the Harlequin’s Kiss weapon to illustrate the wound has been made by this weapon. That should be enough to give this duel motion and context.
In the end, I went with a star field pattern for the Harlequin’s coat. It’s a technique that I’ve used before that works quite nicely, and I gave it a few extra effects to break it up a little bit. I was thinking about going for a more intricate piece of freehand but it was just too fiddly a surface and I didn’t want to do anything that would have looked too forced. And I avoided painting a diamond pattern because I’m not very good at standardised patterns and that one looks rubbish if you get it wrong. The trailing, shiny diamonds will do.
emperor's children harlequin duel
The Solitaire was a lot of fun to paint actually, and I’d have no issue doing a star field themed Harlequin army in the future if the mood ever takes me. The face of the Solitaire wasn’t nearly as fiddly as I thought it would be, and there was some fun to be had with the jewels and gems on this model. There are lots of little details on here, and bar a couple of lines that I may tidy up before he goes off to the show, I’m quite happy with this guy and his contribution to this scene.
The terminator has just the amount of movement that I wanted – slow to react to the lighting fast attack that has just gutted him, he’s staring over at the Solitaire, still aiming in the wrong direction, not yet able to raise his heavy power fist to meet his assailant. Meanwhile the Solitaire is already bounding off to meet his next victim, or perhaps get behind the terminator to stick him in the back as well and finish off the job. I may add some text to the base of this piece that reads something like “In the dance of light, the shadows stand as statues…” or something like that. It might help to illustrate things a little more.
warhammer 40000 duel
I added a hidden rat too, just to make something a little more interesting on that side of the model, though hopefully the eyes will be drawn to the shoulder pad far above the rat – that’s still the bit of this model that I like the most. There’s also some light weathering on both models, and I’m quite happy that I only added a little bit of dust to the Harlequin’s toes to illustrate that he has been sprinting and dancing lightly on his feet.
And that’s about it really. You’ve seen all the WIPs over the last couple of weeks. I need to start work on my next project which I’ll hopefully get round to tonight. Of course, you’ll see all of that on H&H, so keep your eyes peeled for that work. From a very snowy London, I hope you’re keeping warm and getting plenty of painting and gaming in. Onwards!