Aristeia!

The bases are from Custom Meeple. After assembly I primed them black, masked off the lip of the base, and then went to town with the airbrush. My plan was to use a hexagonal stencil but I discovered that A) it was going to make things look far to busy and, more importantly, B) getting good results with stencils requires technique and patience, both of which I was in short supply of for 24 bases. In the process, I used 3 or 4 different reds on a base and discovered that, while it seems counterproductive to paint over something you’ve already painted, using multiple shades creates depth and realism.

with this knowledge, I went to town on the rest and then went back over all of them with a red/brown mixture airbrushed along one side of the lines between the tiles. I then went back in with a brush and some red lightened with Vallejo Sunny Skin for an edge highlight, again on one side of the lines. Finally, I pulled off the masking and edge highlighted the black rim and grates with grey.

I’m quite happy with the result, although some of my highlighting got a little out of control.

This completes Soldiers of Fortune and begins Smoke & Mirrors. Only Human Fate left to go after that as I hav, against all odds, restrained myself from buying the expansions past that point.

Either my photography sucks or my painting sucks or…both. I will say I’m much more pleased with these in person but when is that not the case? Obviously, I mean outside of the dynamic duo of Giraldez and Bostria.

I still have to decide if I want to try for a tartan pattern on the kilt. It would definitely be a stretch for me.

Thanks to the encouragement of Templar007 and Soapdodger, and Romain’s tutorial, I tried my hand at painting plaid. It’s a little ropy but I’m quite pleased with the result as it helps break up that expanse of blue.

BTW Romain was right: it’s harder to do this well without a reference image. I tried to paint it from a memory of a tartan I saw and…it would have been better if I’d gone with a pattern.

I know that NMM is held up as a standard of excellence, and in terms of painting skill I agree. I have yet to even come close to mastering it. I have discovered, however, that I often like the glint and glitz of metallic paints on the table.

I’ve had good luck for golds with:

• A base of Vallejo 72.060, Tinny Tin
• A coat of Nuln Oil
• A highlight of Vallejo 73.055, Polished Gold

It’s quick, gives depth as well as shine, and isn’t overwhelming.

I didn’t initially have the leg stripe and wasn’t sure whether to put it in but I’m glad I did.

Yellow is usually a pain but I’ve been having really good luck with Montana acrylics for orange/yellow. They’re actually paint pen refills but they’re very opaque and very bright. They all work really well in the airbrush. Some of their other colors can be a bit chalky (see the kilt blue before the tartan on Murtair) but the oranges/yellows are impeccable.

My yellow recipe is, in ascending order, from base to highlight;

• Shock Brown Light
• Shock Orange Light
• Shock Yellow
• Shock Yellow Light

I have a question for everyone: do you use/prefer single images in entries or galleries?

In theory I’d use a gallery but the images are just thumbnails and, when I click on them, there’s no way to click forward to the next image. I have to click back and then click the next. For me, this dramatically decreases how often I click on the images in a gallery and seems a shame.

Am I alone in this?

Only Dart and Bixie to go! As slow as I am at painting, I actually think I’m getting a bit quicker. That’s not really my objective as I paint to relax but I guess it’s happening anyways.