Gutreth's Villans - More dodgy paintjobs

Hello stronghold, long time ogre collector and lurker here!

I've been collecting GW stuff (WHFB, 40k, epic, blood bowl etc etc) in its various guises for about 20 years on and off. About 8 years ago, my brother got me back into warhammer after a hiaitus with the purchase of the ogre batallion box at a gaming convention he dragged me too. I had many great ideas (even starting a gnoblog many moons ago) but alas life got in the way of that.

To cut a long story short, I'm now determined to get my fatties painted in time for Christmas for a battle with my brother who's since moved overseas and I'm hoping by starting a new gnoblog, it will give me added motivation and people can nag me if I get lazy!

I have close to 5000 points of ogres - all unpainted (I also have a tomb kings army and a couple of 40k armies which I need to get going on too...) so it could take some time!

Anyhow, my tribe are called Gutreth's Villans and are a wandering tribe of mercenaries who deck themselves out in claret and blue warpaint ready for battle. My current collection consists of:

Slaughtermaster
BSB bruiser
Butcher
Firebelly
Greasus Goldtooth

18 guts
17 bulls
4 leadies
6 maneaters
4 mournfang
10 sabretusks (actually chaos warhounds)

Thundertusk
Giant
Scrappie
Ironblaster

The aim is to have 2500 points minimum by Christmas to play my brothers Lizardmen. Today I did my first bull - mainly to try out skin tones and rust effects as my list I plan on using is mainly ironguts. Here he is, I've not painted for a long time so I'm very rusty but I'm happy enough to put him on a table without being embarrassed!





Hopefully more updates to follow soon!!

Lovin the face paint!! looks awesome!

I agree with Connor, the face paint looks amazing! Kinda has a Braveheart theme

Keep it up, can't wait to see complete units!

- Loran

Thanks for the kind words, the plan is for all the bulls to have different facepaint schemes with the common colour scheme tying them together. Braveheart was definitely part of the inspiration for this and the designs I plan to do.

Today I started on the Ironguts as I want to get these done first (I'm more likely to use them for my next battle). Hopefully I will get these finished tomorrow as I'm out tonight for my wedding anniversary! Here is a quick WIP shot of the guts so far

Looking good! It's always fantastic to have an end point to work towards as motivation. I also think the words of your fellow ogres will spur you on to greater feats of Ogre-ey achievement!

I really like the brightness of the pants, and as mentioned the face paint; which will look very striking if as you mentioned it's all different and Braveheart inspired (just re-released on dvd with extra features if anyone's interested. A cheeky ploy to cash in on supporters of Scottish Independence).

Looking forward to seeing how the bellies pan out!

Well, last night I finished my first set of guts. I think 3 at a time is about right, probably not the quickest way to do it but it's about all I can cope with. I'm not delighted with them but they are passable and look fine from a distance for a unit. As I say I'm pretty rusty and I learned a lot (from my mistakes) doing these to make the next set, which I have just started, a bit better. Anyway, here's what they look like:




Also, I thought I'd share my bruiser BSB model for those who are interested. I found him in my old bedroom at my mums from many years ago. It's blood bowl star player Morg N' Hthrog (or something like that) who I bought a loooooong time ago (BB first edition!). I think with a few additions he'll be a great BSB!

Tonight I finished another 3 ironguts, I also added a bit of blue to the gut plates of all 6 in the style of peeling off paint which I hope will tie them in to the theme a bit better. I'll post some pics tomorrow as the lights not great in the house for photos and the phone camera is rubbish. Next up is the command group which is part of my monthly painting pledge too.

Also, if there are any knowledgable people who take the time to read this, could anyone suggest the best way to varnish/protect their models? do GW do a spray varnish and is it any good? otherwise does anyone have any good recommendations of what to use that is easy to get hold of in the uk?

Thanks

Liking the look of the BSB - can't wait to see more of these!

I love seeing old models resurrected and given a new lease of life. In the case of this guy I really like the model (may have to try and source one for myself) and I think he will make a great conversion/ BSB.

As others have already said; like the theme and the face paint idea. Keep up the good work and lets see that old model getting back to the table after all these years!

G_H

Thanks for more kind words guys. Here are a couple of pics of my guts so far:




and a close up of one so you can see my shoddy paintwork up close!



I have some unexpected time this afternoon with my wife taking my daughter out for the afternoon so I'm going to crack on with the command group now to get the unit (and my pledge for this month) somewhere near finished.

Well, I've completed the command group to finish a unit. This may not seem much but is quite a landmark moment for me. I've been collecting WFB for over 20 years now on and off but was always far more interested in the game than painting as a youngster so rarely painted any of my models. This is (unbelievably and embarrassingly) the first complete unit I've been able to field in a game!! Hopefully I can keep up this motivation and continue with getting the army painted and honing my painting skills. I have a new family member due in about a week so I need something to do in the long sleepless nights!

Here are the complete unit then, no facepaint on the guts as they mainly have helmets and I'm saving it for the bulls.






Things I'm happy with: The rust, the trousers, the banner
Things i'm not happy with: The skin (I feel its a bit flat), the leather boots and belts, the weapon handles. I need to think about how to improve these.

It all looks good to me; we can all have a tendency to be too critical of our own work, you may be falling into this category my friend.

Where you feel anything looks flat, washes are your friend. I actually dont think the skin looks flat. It is pale but there is nothing wrong with that. Before Conogre mentions it (as he has a nipple obsession) maybe a blob of wash and or a mix of flesh + pinky red would bring them teats out a bit. I dont see flat though.

So; boots, belts and handles? Dont really see anything wrong with them myself, but here is what i do and this may give you something to play with.

Boots; i paint them the brown i want then wash them with brown wash then highlight the raised edges with a colour 2 shades lighter. If i am feeling really lazy then i do the above but highlight them with the original brown. Lots of wash for me seems to be the ticket (i get through tons of the stuff!).

Belts; two ways i do this depending on enthusiasm and how many hours i have worked that week ( ). I either paint them a dark brown ( Rhinox) then highlight the edge either side of the belt with mournfang them wash them with Agrax. They are far too small to spend too much time on!
Feeling lazy? Been a long week? Then i totally cheat paint them the highlight colour (for me Mournfang) then just paint a strip of the dark colour (Rhinox) right down the middle. Looks like i spent ages carefully going along either edge of the belt...but in reality i just kind of reverse highlight them. Wash to finish. What a lazy cheater. 

Weapon Handel's; I mean please? Who is looking at the handle when he is holding a massive great club/ sword thing? Same as the boots and belt for me. Paint them the desired colour then wash them. They don't really need much more than that. You could add in a couple of strokes of a 2x lighter shade along the edges of some of the "straps" on the handle before the wash, but that's only if you are feeling really pedantic about it.

Works for me almost every time.

G_H

Thanks for the reply G_H, I think we're always our own worst critics! It's so easy to be critical of your own work when you see some of the amazing stuff on here but I guess you're right, some things just aren't as important. I think I'll give the leather a quick brown wash and drybush just to give it some depth.  The skin was done using bronzed flesh (yes I'm that old!) washed with seraphim sepia and drybrushed lighter up to elf flesh. To appease conogre, I'll paint some nipples too (now there's a phrase I didn't expect to use on here!).

This weeks project is to get the BSB and SM done if possible, my wife is due to enter labour anytime in the next couple of weeks so it's a race against time! I have 2 options for the BSB below:




I was originally planning on the top one but I think it's too big and looks a little too OTT and out of proportion - that feeling of just loooking 'wrong'. For this reason I knocked up the bottom option which is not as grand for a BSB but I feel looks more realistic. I'd love peoples opinions on this, in the meantime I'll crack on painting the actual bruiser.

I like the second one more, too. Any freehand plans?

How well is he going to rank up with that pose? Definitely test out his placement, in the front rank and the second, to avoid future headaches.

Thanks Mavv, that's what I was leaning towards too. I'll definitely be trying some freehand on the banner! I've tried ranking him up, he fits in ok as long as he's on the right hand edge of the unit so it shouldn't be a problem. Amusingly enough, my SM has a similar problem but will only fit on the left hand edge, at least they're not both the same I guess!

I love the overpowering opulence of the first standard; truly a monstrosity of a banner that will over-shadow and put the fear of Maw in all who see it....

...but in all honesty, it's a bit too big. I think, you know that already though. Whilst not quite as imposing, number two is the banner to go for. It is more in-keeping with the size of the standard bearer and is big enough to be a standard that can call an army to arms.

When painted with a tribal symbol it will look the business. As MAVV has rightly said, dont forget to test out how this BSB will rank up with his comrades. Nothing worse than assembling and painting a great model only to discover that it wont fit in the movement tray with the rest of the lads.

Great work here again and i can't wait to see the new lease of life breathed into this BSB, keep up the good work (whilst you still can...for when that baby comes it will be less banners and more nappies i am afraid!).

G_H

Very quick update, the bruiser is pretty much finished, all that is left is to paint the banner pole and freehand a design on the banner (I went for the smaller and better proportioned option as recommended!). I've been delayed the free styling, partly because I'm afraid of messing up a paint job I'm really happy with and, more importantly, because I haven't decided on a design yet and I feel I need to put some thought into it! I'll post some pics tomorrow when it will be lighter and my phone can take a better photo.

Well former Chaos All Stars blitzer Morg'Th N'Hthrog has come out of retirement to carry the battle standard for Gutreth and his Villans!

It's really nice to give a model that's been in my collection for high on 20 years a new lease of life, I never play blood bowl any more so I feel it's fitting that he should join the ranks of my ogres. I'm really pleased with the way he turned out, definitely my best effort so far. I think this is mainly down to the simplicity (less details!) of the older model and the more open stance making the painting a whole lot less fiddly. As I said in the previous post, all  I need to do now is come up with a design for my tribe to paint on the banner itself - maybe some thought about the tribes fluff needed.

Anyway, here he is:




A close up of the banner:



And just to prove he can 'fit in' with the lads (please ignore the completely unpainted guy in the middle and the half finished headless slaughtermaster!):



Comments/criticism/suggestions always welcome

Well still no baby (5 days until due date  ) so I've put finishing my SM on hold to try and build a gnoblar for the hero competition. Here he is so far along with his base:




His name is Gnobtrek - no prizes for guessing the theme!

A very quick update as I'm knackered! Today I became a dad for the 2nd time to another beautiful little girl. Obviously this will impact my modelling capacity short term but I'm still determined to get gnobtrek done by the deadline. I'm off to get some much needed sleep now but hopefully more pics to follow soon!

Congratulations mate! What are you calling this addition to the unit? Please tell me that you and the Mrs settled on Gnobtrek as a girls name! 

Get some sleep now, because you wont be getting any for the next 18 months! Congratulations mate

G_H

Thanks G_H, her name is Zoe - the missus wouldn't allow any ogre themed names

I now have 2 daughters to hand the hobby onto but that's ok, because girls play warhammer right....!

I'm sure if I start them young though, we could have a couple of female tyrants stomping around (quite literally in my 3 year daughter Eloise's case!), I'll just have to make sure I introduce them stealthily when mum's not around....

On an ogrey note, Gnobtreks base is now painted and just needs some sand an grass and gnobtrek himself has his basecoating done so I'm still hopeful he will be ready to battle by the 29th

Congrats Villan, I have 3 children the eldest being 5 so yes it will impact on your painting.
Girls do play Warhammer, I had my 1st game with my daughter this past weekend with simplified rules. She slaughtered me and is looking forward to next weekend
She has also been painting models for a couple of years now, I did put a post up here somewhere about it.

Well, against the backdrop of a complete lack of sleep, I've finished the painting for my gnoblar hero Gnobtrek. All I need to do now is the basing which will be a fairly simple sand and static grass affair due to a lack of creativity and energy. I'm relatively happy with him given the context!

Well Gnobtrek is looking the business there! Well done mate, especially considering the recent increase in your army back in RL!

Basing should be pretty quick and simple, if your new addition manages to get their head down for 5 mins.

Excellent work mate
G_H

Awesome work Villan and congratz on your recent addition to the family!

Gnobtrek is really looking the business.

Kind regards Zolas.

Thanks guys. I've never really based anything before (I told you I was a lazy painter!) so this is a first for me and good practise for doing the rest of my ogres. So far I've slapped some sand down with PVA and sealed it with a mixture of PVA and water. I hope to paint it tomorrow morning and then spray varnish tomorrow night. This gives me Monday morning to get a bit of static grass on - Monday afternoon we're off doing the grand baby tour of parents so it HAS to be done by then to meet the deadline. I'm still optimistic!!

@ Neezy13, I found your post about you and your daughter painting the skinks - gives me great hope! Perhaps the funniest part of this is that my brother (who lives in Switzerland) today sent me a pic of his latest skink units colour scheme for his LM army and hilariously, he'd gone for an almost identical pink and blue colour scheme too!

Had some decent sleep last night

Here he is with finished base, all ready to get stuck in next month!



Now back to the fatties...

excellent work, Gnobtrek looks every bit the champion, good luck next month

I was going to offer some basing advice, but real life and the flu (combined with hours and hours at work) got in the way; as it turns out, it looks like you didn't need any!

Gnobtrek looks sweet! I am sure he will cut the mustard (or just steal it...them Gnoblars!) in the Gnoblar hero thing.

G_H

Thanks guys, I'm happy with the way he's turned out. I can't wait for the games to start now, after the cataclysmic clash of the tyrants, this should be the sneakiest, backstabbing grotfest going!

Your awesome Gnobtrek reminds me of the Lewis Clark army, and made me think this: Up with the gnoblars hero for the next book, halfling-eaters, the gnoblars counterparts to Maneaters...you have to imagine mercenary units of ogres traveling the world took some gnoblars with them...they should have a choice of 1 totally ridiculous and impractical rule, and crazy equipment options (great swords, gromil armor, repeater crossbow) that they stole from other lands.

A quick update, work and child have kept me busy so not huge amounts of progress and no photos. I have managed to base my first unit of ogres, a simple sand, paint and static grass mix but I'm happy with it and it makes a huge difference to the overall look of the unit, I feel much happier about my efforts now I've done this.

My bsb has not been based yet as I've decided to add a gnoblar to his base first, I'm going to convert one carrying a sword for him (sword gnoblar anyone!) as I always give him the sword of striking and the model has no actual weapon so it feels like a better fit that way.

Finally I am a good way through painting my slaughtermaster now that I've purchased a nice led lamp from Sweden's finest furniture store. After much frustration and repainting bits, he's starting to get there now. the fine cast models - love them or hate them - have loads of detail, however if your as clumsy as me at painting, this is not always a good thing!! I'm sure there'll be plenty of re-touching up of bits before he's done but I hope to get this finished soon and some photos up.

All I need to do then is decide on a symbol for my tribe, something easy to paint freehand....!

Some progress updates, as I said earlier, I have finished basing my ironguts unit. It's amazing how much better models look even with a simple bit of basing! I'm happy to field these guys on a table now, even if I know all their little flaws myself!


I've also based my BSB, the sword gnoblar idea just didn't work, I wasn't happy with the efforts I had at is so I went for a less interesting, but still fluffy, sword stuck in the ground


The biggest progress made though was the completion of my slaughtermaster, the finecast model was very detailed which made it a b**** to paint to a standard I was happy with (as it's been said many times, we're all our own worst critics!). Finally though I've ended up with something again that I'm happy to use



Finally, the reason I love ogres, nearly 1000pts of ogres in this pic - talk about minimum models to paint!!

Nice clean painting style here, and you're absolutely right, having some basin really foes make them a cohesive gorse and makes all the difference.

BB