Here are the Thralls from the core set of The Order of Vampire Hunters board-game.
These are a speed paint and some technique experiments so they were not cleaned up prior to painting. I'll do some clean up on the Bosses and Character models.
This game portrays vampires in more of the "Blade" vein than the Anne Rice so I decided to go with a really inhuman look for the thralls.
I used the new Nighthaunt Gloom technical paint from Citadel. Its very similar to the Algae Wash from Secret Weapon. The models were sprayed Khaki and dry-brushed Sandstone and then a second dry-brush of Sandstone/Pure White. Nighthaunt Gloom was painted over this base.
Because there are only two models in the pile, and I didn't want to go down the conversion rabbit hole, I decided to go for a rabble look by painting many different colors of clothes.
During this time I was talking to a friend who was interested in getting some better yellows on his minis so here is what I'm doing for the yellows and oranges here.
There are two paths discussed here... one for a fresh yellow from the primer up and one for adjusting an existing yellow.
For the "Yellow from scratch" path see the shirt on the left. Its been sprayed Khaki and dry-brushed with Sandstone and then with Graveyard Bone (Reaper).
Next is a thin, watery layer of Marigold Yellow (Reaper) but any orange yellow will do. A more brown yellow also works here as this is just to establish tone and shadow. Marigold Yellow is part of the Reaper yellow triad as the shade tone.
Here you can see how watery and thin the coat is. Basically the consistency of milk being careful to chase out the bubbles. I often add a drop of Glaze Medium (Vallejo) which extends the working time of the paint and prevents tidal lines on the model. I did that here. I tend to use 1/4 to 1/3 when doing this.
The base yellow looks like this when dry.
Next I'll dry-brush Pale Saffron (Reaper) this will establish the baseline color. Pale Sapphron is a yellow yellow...like Sunz Yellow.
I painted Pale Saffron first for the female model so we can see how to adjust an existing basic yellow.
I'll wash the existing yellow on the female model with Yellow Snow (Secret Weapon)and a drop of Glaze Medium, You can see how its now looking a bit like the male model with a sort of orangery tint in the shadows. You can also achieve this with a very thin wash of made of any orange/yellow paint I often use premixed washes for consistency and ease.
A note, and shameless plug, about Secret Weapon washes. They are very densely pigmented for a premix wash while remaining highly translucent. I often (as I did here) add a drop of Glaze Medium to them. I tend to use them as targeted washes without dilution and area washes when diluted.
Secret Weapon can be ordered directly from their website where they offer a military discount on all of their products and deliver to APO/FPO addresses if your Local Brick and Mortar doesn't carry them. A bottle of this stuff goes a very long way.
Once dry I layered Lemon Yellow (Reaper) to get a nice bright yellow. I think the "Salvage Yellow" reads really well while the "Yellow from scratch" is more subtle. That said they both do the job!
As a bonus you can jump directly to a very nice orange here by doing an area wash of Orange (Secret Weapon) or by diluting an orange paint to make a very thin wash.
Our "Yellow from scratch" workup on the pants of the figure on the right after one coat of Orange wash.
The last bit is lining. Often I use the old Black Lining technique to get separation of color and imply depth between say... skin and clothes... Black is an easy go to choice and works with almost everything but sometimes I prefer other dark colors.
Below I've used a Sepia Liner (Reaper) to add some definition and depth to the model. Its especially helpful to outline light colors like white, yellow, pink... etc.. as they tend to just fade into the next color if left to their own devices.
This guy just needs his Prisoner ID number and a little more base work!
On the bench are Kingdom Death inspired terrains an amazing Raging Heroes champion and a gaggle of medieval children from Brugleburg.
Thats it for today!
A lot of stuff wrapped up at once!
