A Song of Ice and Fire – CMON miniatures game – Lannisters

Not the most exciting of elements to paint but they’ll probably get more use than anything else so I thought I’d get them done.

Not from the core set but as I wanted to try them in a list I thought I’d better paint them first.

Paint scheme as before however when I looked at the card art I noticed that they were wearing colour metal breast plates rather than default silver/grey. I therefore picked up some Vallejo Mecha Color Metallic Red (69.066) thinking I’d use that. When I tested it however it was way too bright, almost pink like. I experimented added different washes and paints but in the end I found simply adding the Contrast Red I was using gave the best results. The added benefit appears to be that it also behaves more like the contrast to. Result. (see individual mini pic for mixed red vs cloth/contrast red.)

As I’ve used the High Sparrow a couple of times in game I thought I’d paint him up. Never seem to get white / off white spot on but it looks ok I think. Further decision after the finished pics below.

(Excuse the eyes on him, never should have attempted them as they are always a nightmare.)

So the formula I thought I’d use was pretty standard. Apothecary White Contrast over zenithal basecoat the blend up using an off grey/white and highlight with an off white (specially I used VMC White Grey 993 & VMC Offwhite 820. I didn’t like the result, looked too cold I guess and wasn’t that similar to the art work. I debated what to do but in the end risky applied a wash to warm it up (and dirty it). I used a thinned down Army Painter Soft Tone – I think it did the trick.

Here’s a WIP before and after anyway so you can see what I mean..

Horses. Never done horses before, and don’t think I did a great job here – luckily with tabard or whatever on them most of the horse itself it covered. I tried four different approaches :

Brown horse – VMC Charred Brown // VGC Dark Fleshtone highlights // Agrax Earthshade. 

Mane/tail – Black contrast

Chestnut horse – Gore-Grunta Fur contrast 

Mane/tail – Zandri Dust // Agrax Earthshade x2

Black horse – Black contrast // VMC German Grey // Nuln Oil

Mane/tail – Black contrast

Grey Horse – Administratum Grey // White contrast // VERY thin Nuln Oil x2

Mane/tail – Dawnstone // Administratum Grey drybrush // Army Painter Soft Tone

The brown & chestnut ones came out the best so when I do more I think start from those but “try harder”. I struggled to get the highlights in the right places I think. Overall as a unit they look effect enough for playing with so job done in that respect.

More of the same standard Lannister formula.

It’s getting a bit stale & I’m struggling to get motivated to do more. Never attempted an army before and I can see now why people struggle to finish. Not being about to use/play doesn’t help. Maybe taking a break from painting Lannisters will re-energise me.

Here’s some shots of individual sculpts as well. Colour looks a bit off due to lighting but they are done as per all my other Lannisters.

Yellow.

I’ve always struggled with yellow and there’s gonna be a lot of it on this model & the mounted version. Sort some advice from a friend who’s painting is far beyond mine and his suggestion was to start with Pink. So here you go, I thought I’d document my attempts in case anyone finds it useful (or it proves to be a cautionary tale!).

First step (after standard zenith) is a base code of GW Pink Horror.

Next, Averland Sunset. I happened to have some of the GW AIR variant as I find I get less brush strokes/lines with it, and even this I thinned slightly just to be careful.

One coat applied

So far, so terrible!

Second base applied

Better.

I got the idea it might work, so pressed on.

A third coat went on before I was happy I got a nice even coverage overall.

After that I mixed in some GW Yreil Yellow to the Averland Sunset to do the ridges/highlights. I did two/three layers at least gradually adding slightly more Yriel Yellow but covering less of the previously painted area. Standard stuff just a case of being patient.

Probably some of the best yellow I’ve done. Whether it was the pink base coat or I was just more patient I could say.

Final results look great tho.

More yellow.

I painting Gregor himself pink first as per unmounted figure but I’m not sure you can see the difference between the yellow on him or the horse.

Job done anyway.

As I had an alternative sculpt for the Gregor Clegane character I decided to try Iyanden Yellow Contrast to see if that was a quicker option to get the same effect as my previous two yellows. I think it’s ok but not as good. It also took two coats to get a decent bright yellow I found. I’ve decent to stick to my original approach for the Mountains Men unit. Some quick WIP photos of my test piece and a side by side below.