From the Vaulted Realm of Pluto

Working over the female collosus has been good for my sense of accomplishment. It’s smaller on the 80mm base than the previous one but no less impressive when compared to the 28mm standard of the army.

As it is different from the other I decided to distinguish it with more blue in the patina. Using less pigment this time around I utilized straight rubbing alcohol as my carrier. Essentially going over the model with a dusting of pigment as if I were rubbing chalk on it the color settled where I sprayed. The “highlight” spots were purposeful and accidents. This model had corrosion sculpted onto areas that I touched up with dark and light blue. There were a few spots that the pigment fixer flowed and ended up carrying color where it was just too much for my taste.

Overall it’s done and I can only warn others to use dry pigment in moderation. I’ll also add that pigment fixer acts as a flow agent that will wick the dry pigment into areas you might not have wanted them. It works the same way as if you added a glaze over a matte varnish finish because of the surface tooth.

The hydra is a WizKids Deepcuts model I initially didn’t have much thrill for but the options for heads made me rethink it. Hydras can be gauged like beer. The more head the worse they are. There was potential for the five headed version and it felt right visually over the version with ten heads. It also had a base barely around the bottom from the model which was really plain.

Putting it on a 100mm round MDF base it was still in need of something more than flat terrain and tufts. I turned back to the Persephone model I did and added a great looking resin tree that got a foam foliage treatment. Having the monster coiled around the tree made more sense than just a plain monster on its own without other elements. I like the way this all came out.

I’ve decided to keep up with the notion of whittling and refining the Greek mythology army collection. I’ve given away half of the skeletal archers/swordmen, all the skeletal spearmen/centaurs as well as the Cerberus. I’ll be scrapping the half dozen fauns after I get done with them as I really am not a fan of the sculpts.

In the place of these losses I’ll be getting figures sculpted from Shadowforge Miniatures courtesy of Eureka Miniatures. A set of Dionesian Maenads as Hearthguard sits just right by me. That, with a unit of Dionesian Sythyr (likely archers) and command will be great for theme. For my fast attack/mobility I went back to the half cav and I have an order of Dark Temple Centaur on the way. I’m debating on whether or not to get a second as this first will be melee weapons. Archers “on the bounce” (a Starship Troopers ref, you apes) could be useful for area control.

Meh *shrug*. Like I said this has been a refining process to the army build.

The Children of the Hydra’s Teeth boxed set included King Aeëtes of Colchis who sowed the teeth which became the skeletons. Knowing the background of the movie I dug a bit and found some images to use as reference and paint it as best I could to be screen accurate.

I picked up Cranos Cranekiller from Lucid Eye Publications and once more I’ve got what might be taken as an undersized individual. This is a great 25mm scale figure that barely reaches the 28 mark with the crest of his helmet. It comes off as a grand Hellenic halfling when I put it up against some others. I’m OK with the figure now that its done. The painting was easy enough and I thought that the transfer from the skeleton box set was just right to add some interest.

This all said and done this is a Warlord on Foot for this SAGA army.

I have completed some centaurs and can field.. er… half cav? I’m sure Sundancer can come up with something from his penchant for coffee. Anywhat, it has been a bit of a pain with these figures as I’d expected them to be larger and more imposing for the unit. I guess it comes from putting together so many horses. I’ve looked at Eureka Miniatures for some metal ones which I hope might be bigger but for now I think having one unit is fine.

I do rather like the fact that some female torsos were included in the mix. The drawback for the sprues, however, were that the female heads were only for fauns. I supplemented with some bald metal Fine Scale ones from Statuesque Miniatures I picked up years ago. Note to kitbashers: Statuesque only offers the bald ones in their largest Heroic Scale which apparently works best with GW figures.

Quite timely an addition to the project as Ben added info on the Kings of War artisan Talos.

The patina was accomplished with airbrushing powder pigment on top of a metallic bronze. The underlying green was a bit heavier than I cared to have it and I knocked it down with a second layer of lighter greens. The random patches of scaling were happy accidents to try and get irregular weathering.

The basing was changed slightly as I used wood glue as a primary adhesive before putting down the flock. It looked a bit flat and I touched it up with some very watered down PVA and sprinkled more flock on top. The double layer seemed to catch more of the static grass than the fine sand/gravel and looked like the tufts were necessary.

Overall a big wolf that makes people shake in their boots makes me happy. The most fun part was his glowing eyes eventhough they’re don’t stand out until you look at the model. By sheer size it gains attention on a 90x120mm oval and then draws the eye to puppy heads for inspection.

I still am in need to get a warlord into the mix so I’ve turned to online retail to get one. Its probably sitting in my post office box as I write this out. I’m also having a bit of a fit with the centaurs currently.