Battlestorm and the Lords
of the Dead
by Bob Lippman
On Lharna, things are different. Ever since
the day that fairies first brought a part of humankind to this dark and
mysterious world by virtue of the great Androclysm, things have had to
be different. The good people of the Empires of Grodnus, Sinepaxia
and the barbarian lands no longer burying their departed loved ones.
The tombs of their great leaders are empty effigies by design. Even
the Church in Novaroma has modified the celebration of Easter, so that
the word "resurrection" is uttered no more. For this is now an evil
word, only ever spoken in hushed tones.
In an ironic twist of fate, the residual magical energy of the very
Androclysm that brought humans to save these battle swept plains, also
attracted the very messengers of Hell itself: the undead, in all of their
many guises. Agents of the supreme evil, undead spirits immediately
sensed the ease with which human souls could be lured with promises of
power and immortality. Thus, with their own evil plans in mind, they
planted the seeds of temptation and eagerly awaited those foolish enough
to seek out the secrets of necromancy. Agents of Hell, the undead
consume the life energy of the fallen like food. As Lharna
is a place where battles take place with tremendous frequency, the proper
administration of the fallen is a luxury rarely secured. As a result,
undead spirits and their agents, Litches, Wraiths and Necromancers, seem
to draw on an endless supply of fodder for their malevolent plans.
Causing fear where ever they tread, which they breath like air, they
grow in power with every breath....
With these chilling thoughts as my guide, I
set about painting Ral Partha's Legion of Doom boxed set of miniatures,
the Lords of the Dead. This is a wonderful set of miniatures for
anyone starting an undead army for Ral Partha Publishing's Battlestorm
game, containing several wonderful character and leader models around
which to built your units of mindless undead. The set includes
a beautifully sculpted Necromancer general to lead your army, a mounted
skeletal Captain to lead your undead cavalry, pair of skeletal halberdiers
and a pair of skeletal crossbowmen, all in full armor, an undead,
skeletal saber-toothed cat and, perhaps most unusual of all, a giant
skeletal cyclops. All of the miniatures were cast in Ralidium , Ral
Partha's own lead free pewter alloy.
As with any metal cast figures, some preparation
is always advised. While the castings were very well done,
some mold lines are always going to be present where the mold halves are
joined. These should be removed with small jewelers files, available
through any hobby distributor. It is a good idea to get a few
different shaped files for this finishing work, but if you can only
afford a few, my favorites by far are the half round and the triangular
ones. In addition to carefully filing away the parting seams
and any mold "flash" (small spikes of metal from the mold's sprues
and air vents), it is also recommended that you wash your miniatures with
a mild dishwasher soap to remove any mold release residue or oils
from your hands which could interfere with the application of paint.
Conversion
 In
addition to these steps, before I primed my "Lords of the Dead" miniatures,
I decided to make a few small modifications, or "conversions" to the miniatures
themselves. These are optional steps, however for those who do them,
the end result will always be a personalized work of art that you will
always be proud of. In this case, I decided to make some small
modifications to the saber-toothed cat miniature. Due to the
necessities of mold making, the saber-tooth's canine teeth were cast as
a single solid piece. I could have painted the space between these
teeth in black to create the illusion of space between them, but I decided
to use my needle files instead to open up the gap. |
|
 Having
done this, I also decided to free the sabertooth's left claw from
its chin, cutting the claw free with an X-Acto blade (always be sure
to cut away from your body for safety). I repositioned the claw away
from the miniature's head, and used a file to smooth away any evidence
of my work. |
|
Pinning
 In
further assembling these miniatures, I decided to add some strength to
the joint between the giant cyclops' pelvis and upper torso by inserting
a brass wire. This is known as "pinning" the joint. To
do this, you should have a pin vise (i.e., a hand driver for a drill bit),
available at any hardware store, and some narrow gauge brass or copper
wire. Drill a hole the same diameter as your wire in one half
of the joint and glue the wire in place. Next, put some paint on
the wire and line it up with the other half of the miniature in the
desired alignment. This will leave a spot of paint for you
to use as a guide in drilling another hole to receive the wire "pin".
When secured in place with super glue the resulting joint will hold
up to the rigors of table top war gaming nicely!
Finally, I placed a small amount of Kneadatite
Epoxy putty into the eye socket of the cyclops' skull, and using
a small spatula tool, reshaped the eye socket to make it smaller and more
round. Again, such steps are entirely optional. I only mention
them to make you realize that it is entirely possible to make such
changes to your miniatures. |
|
Priming
 After
all of the miniatures are assembled and glued to their bases, the next
step is to apply primer to them. I used black spray primer
which is sold in a convenient aerosol can to lightly coat the miniatures.
Once that was dry, I brushed on Partha Paint's Black Primer in all the
recesses where spray primer could not reach. I prefer black
primer, as it automatically darkens my first coat of paint, creating
just the right shade for the shadowed areas of my figure.
In painting miniatures, I like to apply color
to the deepest recesses first, working my way up to the last layer
of clothing or armor. While this means I usually start by painting
skin tones, in this case I began even deeper, painting the bones
themselves! To do this I used Partha Ivory and a #2 brush and
began dry brushing all of the exposed bones on the figures. |
|
Dry Brushing
Dry brushing is a very basic technique used in miniatures painting,
and should be mastered quite early on for best results. To
dry brush your miniatures, you simply dip your brush into the paint
pot and then wipe its bristles on a piece of paper toweling repeatedly,
until only a trace of the color remains on the brush. The paint
will be close to dry at this point. When this state is reached,
move the brush lightly over the miniatures features. The paint will
be transferred to the high points on the miniature only, bringing
out its details in high relief.
Washes
  This
technique can be further enhanced by using washes to color the miniature's
recesses. Turning back to the Ivory bones, I made a wash using a
mixture of 2 parts Partha Dunkel Braun and Partha Dragon Scale Red to three
parts water. The resulting chestnut color was applied liberally
over the Ivory bones, adding both depth and aging to the bones. After
the wash was completely dry, I dry brushed lightly with more Ivory, and
even lighter still with Partha White, to again bring up the highlights.
This is perhaps easiest to see on the larger cyclops and saber-toothed
cat miniatures. |
|
Layering
I like to dry brush nearly every coat of paint that I put on a miniature,
gradually changing the pigment as I go, using the paper toweling
not only as a tool for getting the correct amount of paint on my
brush, but also as a mixing pallet. So for example, in painting a
piece of blue fabric, I might start out applying a heavy dry brush
coat of Partha Dark Blue over black primer, leaving a hint of black
around the edges and deep in the fabric's folds. Next, I will mix
Partha True Blue to the dark blue on my paper towel pallet, and dry brush
this color on top of my previous work, hitting only the high points
of the miniature. Once this is dry, Partha Sky Blue is added
to the paper towel and mixed with the dark blue/true blue color.
When the color seems right, this is gently brushed on top of my previous
work, bringing up the relief of the highlights only. In this
way I can quickly get 3 or 4 layers of color blended onto the miniature.
The miniature will look very 3 dimensional and the colors will look
natural next to each other. Similarly, armor can be painted quickly
by dry brushing silver over the Black Primer itself. After
about two hours of dry brushing, my skeletal halberdiers and crossbows
are nearly table top ready! |
All that remains are the final steps, outlining and detailing. If
you use black primer and are careful not to overdo the base coat of color,
very little outlining will be required. Still, it is a good idea
to get a nice black outline in the places that would be totally in shade.
Use a very fine brush for this task, such as a #001 fine sable brush. |
|
Detailing
Detailing normally includes painting
faces and patterns on clothing. With most undead miniatures, this
step is quite simple indeed! For example, with the Cyclops I merely
had to darken the horn on his skull with a thin brown wash and do some
additional Ivory/Dunkel Braun highlighting to give the miniature a "finished"
look.. With the sabertooth, I brightened the teeth with some
white followed by a yellow-brown wash to simulate the staining of years
of using those teeth for chewing food. With the skeletal halberdiers
and crossbows, hair had to be painted and lightly highlighted, as
well as some belts, swords and armor details, such as gold buckles.
To age the armor on the undead, a light dry brush coat of Partha's
Autumn Gold was applied, to simulate rust.
Individuals
 
Pieces that will command a lot of table top attention, such as the Necromancer
and Cavalry Captain, call for something more. The last three
pictures chronicle the three basic stages of painting the Necromancer.
The first shows the Necromancer with his base coats dry brushed on.
The bones have already been painted ivory, washed with the chestnut mixture
used on the other skeletons and highlighted with ivory and white.
The hair has been painted dark grey, dry brushed with light grey and softly
highlighted with white. The book in his right hand has been painted
with stark white pages. His clothing has been brushed over black
primer in gradual steps, to accentuate the depth of the sculpture.
His red hat, sleeves and skirt were first applied in Blood Red, and gradually
brought up with dragon scale red. The blue shawl and purple cape
received very little dimension at this stage. |
The next miniature shows the Necromancer with his final stages of highlighting
applied. The red hat, sleeves and skirt continue to be brought
out with a light brushing of orange and finally, yellow. Both
the blue shawl and purple cape are highlighted by adding small amounts
of white to the base color. The lighter shade of the original
color is then gently dry brushed over the base coat. The bulk
of the dry brushing is now done, so small parts like his necklaces, the
band on his hat, his staff and armor can be filled in. There
is no strict rule about what order a miniature should be painted
in, but it is a good idea to work from larger brushes and sweeping movements
like dry brushing to finer brushes and detail work. In addition,
a reddish-brown wash is mixed and applied on the pages of his spell
book, and made especially dark around the corners and edges to simulate
aged paper. |
|
Finally, I am ready to begin detailing in earnest! The last image
shows how added final detailing really separates a well painted miniature
from an army centerpiece. The gemstones on the Necromancer's hat
are painted in dark red, fading to orange and yellow at the bottom and
a white spot is added to simulate light reflecting off the gemstone.
A fine #001 red sable brush is used to paint a pentagram on the pages of
the Necromancer's spell book, and lines of dots are added to look like
writing. "Omega" symbols are painted on the ends of his blue shawl,
and the snake is given a black, orange and gold reticulating diamond pattern,
as well as gold eyes with vertical black pupils. At this point, I
realize that I've gone well into the realm of minutia, so I stop
painting and, after applying a light mist of varnish spray to protect my
work, I set about flocking the miniature's base. All of this takes
me the better part of an evening to complete, but if you are a serious
gamer, that really is a small investment to make. The payoff will
come when I bring him down to my local gaming club and unveil him
at the head of my undead horde. Whether I win or loose on that day,
the admiration of my fellow gamers will be all the victory I require! |
|
|
In
addition to these steps, before I primed my "Lords of the Dead" miniatures,
I decided to make a few small modifications, or "conversions" to the miniatures
themselves. These are optional steps, however for those who do them,
the end result will always be a personalized work of art that you will
always be proud of. In this case, I decided to make some small
modifications to the saber-toothed cat miniature. Due to the
necessities of mold making, the saber-tooth's canine teeth were cast as
a single solid piece. I could have painted the space between these
teeth in black to create the illusion of space between them, but I decided
to use my needle files instead to open up the gap.
Having
done this, I also decided to free the sabertooth's left claw from
its chin, cutting the claw free with an X-Acto blade (always be sure
to cut away from your body for safety). I repositioned the claw away
from the miniature's head, and used a file to smooth away any evidence
of my work. 
In
further assembling these miniatures, I decided to add some strength to
the joint between the giant cyclops' pelvis and upper torso by inserting
a brass wire. This is known as "pinning" the joint. To
do this, you should have a pin vise (i.e., a hand driver for a drill bit),
available at any hardware store, and some narrow gauge brass or copper
wire. Drill a hole the same diameter as your wire in one half
of the joint and glue the wire in place. Next, put some paint on
the wire and line it up with the other half of the miniature in the
desired alignment. This will leave a spot of paint for you
to use as a guide in drilling another hole to receive the wire "pin".
When secured in place with super glue the resulting joint will hold
up to the rigors of table top war gaming nicely!
After
all of the miniatures are assembled and glued to their bases, the next
step is to apply primer to them. I used black spray primer
which is sold in a convenient aerosol can to lightly coat the miniatures.
Once that was dry, I brushed on Partha Paint's Black Primer in all the
recesses where spray primer could not reach. I prefer black
primer, as it automatically darkens my first coat of paint, creating
just the right shade for the shadowed areas of my figure.
This
technique can be further enhanced by using washes to color the miniature's
recesses. Turning back to the Ivory bones, I made a wash using a
mixture of 2 parts Partha Dunkel Braun and Partha Dragon Scale Red to three
parts water. The resulting chestnut color was applied liberally
over the Ivory bones, adding both depth and aging to the bones. After
the wash was completely dry, I dry brushed lightly with more Ivory, and
even lighter still with Partha White, to again bring up the highlights.
This is perhaps easiest to see on the larger cyclops and saber-toothed
cat miniatures. 
I like to dry brush nearly every coat of paint that I put on a miniature,
gradually changing the pigment as I go, using the paper toweling
not only as a tool for getting the correct amount of paint on my
brush, but also as a mixing pallet. So for example, in painting a
piece of blue fabric, I might start out applying a heavy dry brush
coat of Partha Dark Blue over black primer, leaving a hint of black
around the edges and deep in the fabric's folds. Next, I will mix
Partha True Blue to the dark blue on my paper towel pallet, and dry brush
this color on top of my previous work, hitting only the high points
of the miniature. Once this is dry, Partha Sky Blue is added
to the paper towel and mixed with the dark blue/true blue color.
When the color seems right, this is gently brushed on top of my previous
work, bringing up the relief of the highlights only. In this
way I can quickly get 3 or 4 layers of color blended onto the miniature.
The miniature will look very 3 dimensional and the colors will look
natural next to each other. Similarly, armor can be painted quickly
by dry brushing silver over the Black Primer itself. After
about two hours of dry brushing, my skeletal halberdiers and crossbows
are nearly table top ready! 
All that remains are the final steps, outlining and detailing. If
you use black primer and are careful not to overdo the base coat of color,
very little outlining will be required. Still, it is a good idea
to get a nice black outline in the places that would be totally in shade.
Use a very fine brush for this task, such as a #001 fine sable brush. 
Pieces that will command a lot of table top attention, such as the Necromancer
and Cavalry Captain, call for something more. The last three
pictures chronicle the three basic stages of painting the Necromancer.
The first shows the Necromancer with his base coats dry brushed on.
The bones have already been painted ivory, washed with the chestnut mixture
used on the other skeletons and highlighted with ivory and white.
The hair has been painted dark grey, dry brushed with light grey and softly
highlighted with white. The book in his right hand has been painted
with stark white pages. His clothing has been brushed over black
primer in gradual steps, to accentuate the depth of the sculpture.
His red hat, sleeves and skirt were first applied in Blood Red, and gradually
brought up with dragon scale red. The blue shawl and purple cape
received very little dimension at this stage. 
The next miniature shows the Necromancer with his final stages of highlighting
applied. The red hat, sleeves and skirt continue to be brought
out with a light brushing of orange and finally, yellow. Both
the blue shawl and purple cape are highlighted by adding small amounts
of white to the base color. The lighter shade of the original
color is then gently dry brushed over the base coat. The bulk
of the dry brushing is now done, so small parts like his necklaces, the
band on his hat, his staff and armor can be filled in. There
is no strict rule about what order a miniature should be painted
in, but it is a good idea to work from larger brushes and sweeping movements
like dry brushing to finer brushes and detail work. In addition,
a reddish-brown wash is mixed and applied on the pages of his spell
book, and made especially dark around the corners and edges to simulate
aged paper. 
Finally, I am ready to begin detailing in earnest! The last image
shows how added final detailing really separates a well painted miniature
from an army centerpiece. The gemstones on the Necromancer's hat
are painted in dark red, fading to orange and yellow at the bottom and
a white spot is added to simulate light reflecting off the gemstone.
A fine #001 red sable brush is used to paint a pentagram on the pages of
the Necromancer's spell book, and lines of dots are added to look like
writing. "Omega" symbols are painted on the ends of his blue shawl,
and the snake is given a black, orange and gold reticulating diamond pattern,
as well as gold eyes with vertical black pupils. At this point, I
realize that I've gone well into the realm of minutia, so I stop
painting and, after applying a light mist of varnish spray to protect my
work, I set about flocking the miniature's base. All of this takes
me the better part of an evening to complete, but if you are a serious
gamer, that really is a small investment to make. The payoff will
come when I bring him down to my local gaming club and unveil him
at the head of my undead horde. Whether I win or loose on that day,
the admiration of my fellow gamers will be all the victory I require! 
