Blipvertus multigame Dwarf army
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About the Project
It started out simple. I wanted a Viking army for Saga but I wanted it to be different because everyone does Vikings. So instead I did seven other armies. I finally hit upon the idea of using Dwarves as my Viking stand in. Dwarves are also a part of Norse mythology and they’re ill tempered and armed with axes. Seems like a natural fit! When Oathmark came out with a plastic Dwarf infantry box I found everything I’d need for a Saga army. You can make dwarves armed with bows, something that is pretty rare for most Dwarf models, as well as spear and axe armed dwarves. You can also equip figures with a weapon in each hand making them a great substitute for Berserkers. One of the nice things about this box is all the figures are wearing chainmail and to me, that’s quintessentially dwarfish. Originally I was going to make the spear armed dwarves my warriors and my axe and sword armed dwarves as my hearthguard. But Oathmark came out with a box of Heavy Infantry Dwarves so I may use them as hearthguard. These also feature chainmail but also have segmented armor and some platemail. They also feature a lot of steel face masks integrated into their helmets. This is something I love because Tolkien mentions something similar in The Silmarillion about the dwarves in Middlearth. With my Viking army all planned out and a couple of boxes of minis, I was set. Huzzah! Then Age of Magic arrived. And Warlords of Erewhon. The unit options in both games increased the variety of units a Dwarf army could take. So I set about trying to find suitable minis that would look good together. I found a nice set of crossbow armed dwarves from Conqueror. Conquer also had dwarves armed with two-handed axes. Both units are also in chainmail thus making it easier for them to blend in. I then found some chainmail wearing handgunners from Mirliton. Because I’m getting minis from several different ranges I worried about how to make them look like a cohesive army. I asked our local guru, Sean Twiddy. He’s one of the smart guys that teaches art at one of the local universities and uses miniature painting in some of his lessons. Sean is also an avid Saga player. He suggested using the same color pallet for the whole army in order to tie it all together. So I tried it and painted up a test color scheme and I think it’ll work. The header/thumbnail photo is of the test minis. I’m going to try to document how I got to those finished images. I’m going to try to show and explain every step as well as show the sources of the materials used.
Related Game: SAGA
Related Company: Studio Tomahawk
Related Genre: Fantasy
This Project is Active
The Army to Date
I’m still assembling the spearmen but here’s a glamour shot of everything finished to date. Spearmen Pt 1
The bulk of army is going to be 24 spearmen. Dwarfmen?
The plan is is to build and prime them all at once, then paint them in either three groups of eight or two groups of twelve. After they’re done, I’ll do the shields en mass.
One done! 23 to go! The Burrower Pt 5
After pulling off the masking tape I did notice a slight ridge of paint from the overspray. I used some very fine sandpaper to sand the ridges off. I then repainted the areas I sanded. Because of this there were going to be variable tones.
This actually turned out to be a happy accident so I repainted other areas as well, then reapplied the washes This gave a nice variation in tone for the wood which I rather like.
After washing everything in GW Agrax Earthshade, I dry brushed the drill with Army Painter Plate Mail Metal and did a small highlight of the rivets with Vallejo brass. I painted the base Leather Brown, washed with Agrax Earthshade and then dry brushed with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. 
I added some rust and chipping to the curved metal panels by using some torn up spongy foam and dipping it in Vallejo Flat Brown for the rust and Army Painter Plate Mail Metal for the wear and chipping.
The Burrower Pt 4
Here I’ve done a few touch ups while the masking tape is still in place. 
With the tape now removed, you can see a few places where the black seeped under the tape but fortunately not many. I’ll clean that up and move on to the next stage. The Burrower Pt 4
I painted the rivets with Vallejo Brass. Man, that’s a lot of rivets! 
I painted one of the curved panels in Army Painter Wolf Grey as a test. Not sure if I want to keep it or not. What do y’all think? The Burrower Pt 3
I painted the metal al bands using Army Painter Rough Iron. It’s not our black but close and has some metallics in it. It’s almost a bronze color. It doesn’t show up well on the camera though. 
After painting the bands I painted the drill and the steel plates with Army Painter Plate Metal. I’m unsure of how to paint the curved panels. The Burrower Pt 2
After letting the primer dry throughly I used Tamiya masking tape to mask off the metal bands. 
After masking off the bands I re-sprayed with the primer. This second coat over the masking tape will act kind of lake a paint barrier and make bleeding under the masking tape less likely. It won’t eliminate it entirely but will make it less likely and will reduce the amount of touch ups. The Burrower Pt 1
Ironclad Miniatures makes a really nice range of steampunk vehicles and I picked up this tunneling machine for my Dwarf army. For those interested it’s a Legendary Warmachine for the Masters of the Underearth.
A three part resin piece, assembly is pretty straight forward however you will need to sand or file it a bit as the pieces do not match perfectly. Test fit each piece and sand or file just a little bit before test fitting again. I just used Zap a Gap to glue the pieces together. 
As the wood is going to be the major feature I decided on Army Painter Fur Brown as the primer color. 
