Trollbloods Fennblades Unit by DC23

I just finished my first ever Trollbloods unit! I present to you my Trollbloods Fennblades Unit!

It took me a while to finish painting these 10 models as I experimented all sorts of painting techniques while I was painting them. My first time to attempt wet blending on the orange skirts, may first time attempting NMM on the yellow bronze parts of the swords and my first time to use both Vallejo Game Color and Vallejo Inks.

The experience was well worth it but the outcome was not something to write home about.

Pretty happy with the look of the models in person but the photos exaggerated my errors and painting imperfections. I think I could do better on my Trollkin Runebearer and my Dire Troll Blitzer as I could apply everything I learned with these models. I think I could paint faster too as I just did not know what to do or how to paint my first few Trollbloods models.

Anyways these models were painted with all Vallejo paints... Model Color, Game color and Inks. Now here are the photos guys, hope you like them.

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WIP - Trollbloods Fennblades almost done

The painting on the orange cloth parts marks my first time attempting " wet blending ".

Wet blending is basically a sort of advance technique in miniature painting when you blend different colors while they are still wet on the surface. I must say that I enjoyed it so much and I am excited to wet blend the skin of my next Trollbloods model.

After so many hours of reasearch, I now know the fundamentals of what makes a good painted miniature. unlike scale modeling wherein you try to achieve subtle color tones and achieve this mostly through washes. majority of the miniature gaming people like high contrast painting.

High contrast painting is basically making sure that you make the details of your minis pop out, by painting the highlights meticulously. I am enjoying every bit of it and will try to improve my wet blending and high contrast painting in every model.

Personally I think I am starting to get the hang of this miniature stuff and is learning a lot as I gain more experience. Loving how the orange cloth came out... notice how bland my first ever miniature in Madrak Ironhide is. So itchy to strip that Madrak and repaint it.

I am almost done with this project as I only need to paint the other details and add highlights and shading to the brown parts. Anyways here are some more photos of my still unfinished Fennblades...

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WIP - Trollbloods Fennblades armor painted ...

I managed to finished the base color of the armor parts of all the 10 Fennblades today and will finish the armor parts with light silver later. I am currently painting the base color of the orange cloth but I am getting tired as I am using some lousy Tamiya synthetic / nylon brushes.

I know that cheap synthetic brushes does not last long with acrylics as the acrylics being resin base and such, eats up the brushes and ruins them easily. Not really sure with my explanation on how synthetic brushes cannot withstand acrylics... but I do know I need a couple of expensive sable brushes soon.

Will be investing on new brushes after today ( waiting for payday ) and should paint faster by then. I am happy with the armor parts so far though. I painted them Bestial Brown, then over brushed with Boltgun Metal. I then gave them some black oil paint washes and added light silver highlights. Looks nice and contrasty I think.

The orange base color is taking me around 7 thin layers before it gets opaque... no wonder miniature painters do not use yellow and oranges as much. They are just too transparent! Kinda weird though as I find my Vallejo reds has better coverage than the orange and yellows ( might be normal ). The Vallejo blues are sooo easy to hand paint as they have great coverage.

Anyways I will also be painting a 3.5 inch Incredible Hulk soon... basically a commission work from an officemate. Once I get new brushes... should finish these Fennblades soon.

 

 

 

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WIP - Trollbloods Fennblades unit - basing painted

My real life job has been literally killing me for the past few days and Have not played with models much. I did manage a couple of hours today and finished doing the basic painting of my basing. Nothing special with the bases of my Fennblades as I thought of just giving them ordinary bases as they are just units anyways.

I just need to paint and pick up a few details on the basing and add the usual static grass after everything has been painted. Detail painting a few small pebbles on the base should complete it soon. I am pretty happy that the skulls on all the bases looks okay after painting even if they are sculpted poorly ( by yours truly )... I am pretty sure skulls with better sculpting should look great next time.

Noticed that the skin are also done... highlights and washes has been added and I hope that the blending and highlighting looks good on the final photos. I am now moving on to painting the armor and clothes this weekend... hope to finish these minis soon!

I am torn on getting an elder, a light warbeast or the Pyg burrowers unit as my next... will see by next week. Anyways here are a few more photos of my lousy progress so far...

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WIP - Trollkin Fennblades - skin and base painting

Just as I thought, it is kinda impossible for me to finish painting 10 Fennblades in 2 days. I managed to clean up the mold marks, paint the blue skin and paint the base color of the base though.

I thought I'd do some zenithal lighting and use my airbrush in painting the skin tone. The camera can't pick up the zenithal lighting effect as much as I wanted to, but it does work in person. Maybe I need to exaggerate the zenithal contrast next time.

I also thought of adding some red face war markings or paintings on 8 of the 10 Fennblades. I think it looks interesting as it gives the figures more character than just being plain blue. I am also adding some patterns on the back side of the skins as it kinda blends in with the growths on the shoulders. I really like my mottled skin effect, thus I am sticking to it for now. All Fennblades will have mottled skin soon!

Once I finish off the skin, will be moving on the armor and cloth parts. Anyways here are some progress photos so far...

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Trollkin FennBlades Unit - unboxing and basing

I present to you my very first Trollbloods " unit "!

I just finished my first Trollbloods mini in Madrak Ironhide a few days ago and was super excited to get my next! I was looking to get a couple of cheap metal Trollbloods as I enjoyed the change of working with metal rather than plastic.

A guy in the shop managed to convince me to get this plastic unit set though as he said it is a good investment if ever I plan to play the game.

Although I like to work with metal Trollbloods miniatures soon... I have zero regrets of getting these plastic figures. Great sculpt with almost  the same sharp and intricate details of metal Trollbloods minis. Exciting poses and huge figures to boot too. Besides you get 10 figures ( 5 unique sculpts ), thus I will get to practice on my painting before moving on to painting bigger and more expensive metal minis.

I just did some quick bases on this one as they are just ordinary units anyways. No elaborate basing except for the leader of the pack. Mini skulls and a few gears are standard on all the bases though. I should be cleaning up all the mold marks, nub marks and deepening the crevices these next few days, before painting all the figures by weekend.

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