Tozons Crusade of Sotek Lizardmen (Tester comparisons & Sneak Peek!)

Greetings Strongholdians!

After a bit of a hobby lull (and a long forum absence) I am finally returning, and this time with a new army.  When I first started playing Warhammer (15ish years ago) my first army was Lizardmen and I am returning to what was my first love.

The army is going to be led by Tehenhauin on a crusade for Sotek and will be entirely skinks and monsters.  The idea is a pretty traditional colour scheme based off of this image:


It will be a bright blue with Red crests & bronze weapons.

I'll be aiming to do 200pts per month, the first month will be:

- Skink Chieften (Later to be used as a BSB)
- 1 Kroxigor
- 14 Skinks

And here are the first 2 tester models of the army:


So let me know what you think and check out my Ogres blog here

Cheers for reading!

Tozon

They look really nice. The playstyle of lizardmen is just not my cup of tea, but the look and color on the models are really great. Have fun falling in love with them again.

Thanks Evoluo!

But I've had a change of heart......they were too bright!

So here we have (crap picture as I have terrible lights) Tester #2, a much more neutral colour and also slightly quicker to paint which is nice as I have 60+ basic skinks to do over the next few months):



And here's a sneak peak of what is coming next.....



Let me know what you all think!

Cheers

Tozon

Looking good so far. I have to confess that I am not a huge fan of Lizardmen (as I tend to lose against them allot) but these are looking really good.

I am interested though; why did you dumb the colours down? I think they looked ok with the bright colours and I was under the impression (not being a Lizard player) that they are supposed to be painted pretty bright.

Not that I am knocking the darker tones, they do look more realistic, but you may be giving up the chance to go crazy with the colours here.

So, taking the latter two pictures, the skink looks great; the highlights on the head fin thing look great. Subtle but there which is always the way to go. I can't wait to see the rest of the other guy as seeing the whole model will give a good impression of how this guy will look as a whole.

Keep up the good work and keep posting pictures of you army, they are looking good so far.

G_H

Thanks for the feedback Mr.Herder!

So the reason it was dulled down a bit is hard to show via photos as it's more obvious in real life - the first blue is really garish and the new toned down version is still very bright but less offensive versus the shade (the final layer is Sotek Green/ Temple Blue 50/50 as opposed to pure Temple Guard Blue).  I think it's definitely an improvement when you see it properly! Also the final paint (Temple Guard Blue) didn't seem to have great coverage so with this method I get a much smoother finish!  I'll try and get a like for like photo later this week.

The final reason is that being less in your face will hopefully let a lot of the rest of the army shine through as it will be lots about the monsters and gribblies which is really where I want the models to shine!  Lots of Greens/ Reds/ Creams to contrast against it.

Thanks for the feedback - I'll be really interested to hear your thoughts when I take the like for like photo!!!!

Cheers

Tozon

Cool beanz  I await your updates with baited breath....
 

G_H

Looking good so far. I have to confess that I am not a huge fan of Lizardmen (as I tend to lose against them allot) but these are looking really good.

G_H

As both a lizard and ogre player, I'm very curious what you are facing that gives you the most trouble.  Are there any particular units or strategies that you find hurt you more than others?




As for Tozon, I like your paint work with both versions.  The shading is excellent, and I like how sharp and well defined the eyes are.  Very well done.  How are you painting those?  Are you painting them first, then putting the rest of the face paint on, or painting those last?  Any tips?

Regarding which version is better, it's really a matter of preference.  My own skinks are darker, but with bright yellow and orange patterns on the scales on the back in order to give them the poison tree frog feel.  I've seen a several that are painted both really brightly and really dull.

I'm drawn toward the brighter colors primarily so that they stick out better when you are playing with them.  The last thing you want to happen is to forget to move a unit because it blended in with the surroundings.  This happened to me the other day with a sabretusk.  It's harder to lose a bigger unit, but if it is supposed to be a flanker, it can happen.

Thanks LawGnome! (PS. Just saw your awesome blog.....it's awesome!)

The eyes I'm leaving until afterwards, it's just Yriel Yellow (with a tiny bit of medium) followed by a Black (whatever the new one is called) slit down the middle.  It's done after the skin and my only advice is get a small brush and take lots of care.....  No special pointers I'm afraid.

So onto the lighter vs darker - hopefully these pictures will show the differences better (new on the left, old on the right).  Hopefully you can see how much smoother the finish is (PS just for you:





And up close of faces (though pixelated you get an idea):

New


Old


So let me know what you think!

And as a bonus, here is my pet peeve of the day, models you have to paint seperately, then stick together, and then greenstuff therefore needing to repaint sections.  Any solutions?  Answers on a postcard....



Thanks for reading!

Tozon

As both a lizard and ogre player, I'm very curious what you are facing that gives you the most trouble.  Are there any particular units or strategies that you find hurt you more than others?

Fat toads on pedestals, little blue guys with red fins on their heads, ridiculous magic that seems unfeasibly broken, more fat toads on pedestals, big lizards with odd weapons that look more like a stone tablet than  a weapon, more magic, old dinosaurs with howdah's full of the blue guys with red crests, things that look like pterodactyls....did I mention a fat toad on a pedestal?

Odd bunch.

G_H

The new version of the paint job is much better. Tiny difference but it makes a dramatic overall change I think.

I love Lizzies! Great fluff and characterful army. Yes they can be a tough opponent but in no way overpowered. I love a challenge anyway

Cheers Belchfist!

So I'm currently sat trying to paint the remainder of this months 200pts in dreadful lighting - not a smart move.

I've manager however to tart up my previous images (noise reduction mostly) so here's some better piccies of the final colour scheme:



And his adorable face:



Cheers for looking!

Tozon

Ok, These lizards are some the best I have seen in a long time.  Any chance for a step by step/ tutorial?