Tuesday 16 February 2016

Elfman and the Fishdog

I've painted two pretty much unrelated figures over the past week. The only thing they really have in common is that they're needed for future games: a new Eldar figure for my Inquisimunda campaign, and a companion model for my 'Space Riders' RPG character.

Fishdog
'What on earth is Space Riders?', I hear you ask. It's a Rogue Trader themed RPG I'm currently involved playing online with a group of gaming buddies. My character is Fim, a rather moribund Piscean Warrior. We'll be playing a physical game of RT in a few months time, and need to represent each character, plus a companion, on the table. Happily, I painted up one of Obscure Creator's fishmen about 18 months ago, so I just needed to source and paint a suitable companion.
  

I've had a swamp hound model from Four A Miniatures sitting in a box for ages, for just this very purpose. I gave him a very quick paint job using a neutral skin colour to contrast with the more brightly coloured Fim.


Fim (Gymnothorax Fimbriatus), Piscean adventurer, with his faithful fishdog.

As a bit of interest, I painted some markings, loosely based on eels, along the length of each side of the fishdog's body. I hope Fim's mental state will be improved by having a loving animal companion to boost his mood!

Elfman
Lul the Younger is one of my Eldar Void Pirate band. He started out as a newly recruited bosun a few weeks back, armed with nothing but a simple lasgun. But the Pirates have accumulated some wealth and have splashed out some cash on new weaponry, including a fusion gun, now wielded by Lul.


In order to represent the newly equipped Lul on the table, I needed to discard the model I had been using, and replace him with a more suitably armed figure. I pulled out the Captain Aetolia Lightfoot figure (later more simply described as Eldar Guardian with 'meltagun'), and gave him a quick paint job.

Speed being the essence for this figure, due to a tight timeframe, his paint scheme is rather basic - a dark red set of mesh armour, with a cream helmet. The only concession to detail is the addition of the 'flowers' over his armour, picking up again on the Japanese style I've used on other members of the band. The 'flowers' are just simple cream dots, some of them not executed particularly well, but I think it just about passes muster.

Fim and fishdog run into a pair of inscrutable Eldar Void Pirates.

23 comments:

  1. Lovely models all ! Fim has found the perfect companion really ! The space elves all wearing their own colours remind sme of kinghts with tehir own coat of arms, really fitting for the characters I find.

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    1. Absolutely JB. When I started putting the Eldar together, I was trying to work out how to tie a couple of disparate schemes together. Then I decided I would treat them all as individuals, and it really opened up opportunities to do some interesting stuff.

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  2. Lovely painting on the fishdog: the patterning brings interest to the muted colour scheme. Loving the red on the eldar too: so deep,so rich.

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    1. He was quite dull before the patterns, but I didn't want to add a bright colour. I think it's done the job :)

      I used the same red on my Dark Elf blood bowl team - essentially a very dark red highlighted with a light flesh colour - it makes for an interesting red without getting baby pink or too orange.

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  3. Good stuff Jon!

    Could I ask you how you did the racing stripes on the fishdog?

    I was a bit surprised when you mentioned the name of the Eldar. I always thought he was holding a flamer. Oh well, suppose I can use him as carrying both now if I want.

    I'm very happy that you're painting them up with different colour schemes too Jon. Helps me with my project idea's :)

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    1. The racing stripes were done with very thinned down paints. I added black to the base colour and painted a broad stripe - you can probably see it's a bit translucent from being thinned. Then I simply painted the lighter stripe from the off-white I was using to highlight the flesh (it's GW's pallid wych flesh) - again thinned down to be slightly translucent.

      As for the flamer / meltagun, I think RT flamers were generally indicated by inverted cone nozzles, while meltas had nozzles like the Eldar one (Imperial nozzles usually had slots rather than holes). But hey, use it as whatever suits :)

      Glad you like the pick and mix colours!

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    2. Yeah, that's what I mean, this is the only example I've seen where a melta gun had holes instead of slots.....strange :)

      Thanks for the painting tip too Jon, much obliged.

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    3. After flicking through the catalogues, the only other example I could find is the space marine attack bike / squat trike multi-melta. All the others seem to be slots. Perhaps it's a custom-design? ;)

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  4. After seeing this all I ever want is a fishdog!

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    1. Everyone needs a fishdog. Imagine his little underwater kennel in the pond in the garden...

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  5. I like that eldar, mate! I never warmed to wysiwyg gaming. Having to do a new incarnation of a character due to a minor change in gear feels a bit too anal for my taste. I can see the reasons for it, and given infinite spare time it's a nice way of getting even more invested in a warband. Still, too much hassle for this nerd! ;-)

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    1. I'm very much with you on character progression. I usually don't bother at all. However this time I included a model painted several years ago as a stop gap, knowing that I'd be updating the equipment and painting him afresh in a few weeks. I suspect none of the other models will get upgraded :)

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  6. Lovely paint work, particularly on the fishdog.

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  7. Supercool mate, that Eldar looks pretty darn cool for a quick paint job, and fishdog is bloody brilliant - that skin looks amazing! Makes me want to collect more beasties :-)

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    1. I like painting beasties. The fact that they usually don't have too many details like clothes, armour or weapons, makes them pretty quick to paint up. And they're a nice change too!

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  8. Both models are great, I'm in love with the fishdog!

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    1. I'm sure he'd give you a salty lick too ;)

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  9. Great skin tone on the aquatic canine aka swamp hound. Did you use greys with brown washes?

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    1. The base colour is a GW light grayish brown (Rakarth flesh). I washed with browns and a thinned purple!

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    2. The base colour is a GW light grayish brown (Rakarth flesh). I washed with browns and a thinned purple!

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