Amazon Archers beyond Skin (Finally!)

I set aside my competition entries for a bit and did a little more work on the Amazon archers. I finished off the skin tones (there is still some work to be done but that can wait) and moved on to the hair. I decided to go with dark brunettes for this, while "historically" the area produced mostly black hair I wanted something lighter for this. Fitz seems to spend a lot of time sculpting hair and I wanted to go a little farther than I normally would for a tabletop army. These are becoming a real time sink! I finished the hair though (I could probably do some more highlighting, I'll think on that) and decided to start blocking in the colors for the cloth. I'm starting off with a deep purple, red and green. I wanted to add some variety this way, since almost everything else is going to be a leather of one color or another. I think these will work.

Pictures (I know, or it didn't happen). I didn't have my grey background with me so these are a bit washed out.

Archer Type 1/ This is where I ended with the skin. There is still some work to do on the face, like the lips and mouth but I needed a break from the face.

Archer Type 2

Archer Type 3

Archer Captain

That's a lot of skin!

Archer Type 1; The darkest layer of the hair

Archer Type 3

Archer Type 2

Archer Type 3: Hair is pretty much finished at this point. Maybe some additional highlights later.

Archer Type 2

Archer Type 1

Group "Hair" Shot

Blocking in the dress colors. From left to right: Reaper MSP 9664 Carnival Purple (an LE color),  Reaper MSP 9663 Big Top Red (another LE color), and Reaper MSP 9226 Peacock Green. I'm not quite sure where I'm going to go with the rest of that right now.

Amazon Archers - First Skin Tones

I was checking over the Amazons before I started painting and I noticed that there seemed to be some reactions with the super glue I was using. Most of this occurred behind the quiver and was easy to pick out with a sharp tool. However one had it spread across the armor. This required going in with some acetone to loosen up the glue so I could pick out the debris and recover the detail.

Here you can see how the glue reacted and obscured the detail

Acetone and a sharp tool to recover the detail

Buffed with steel wool to remove the scratches. I then used some white brush primer on this one and let it dry

After I fixed this mini I started on the skin. At this point I don't have to be neat. Mid tone can be applied without fear of getting skintone on clothing. I'm thinking they are a bit pinker than I would like at this point. I then did a first broad highlight, and that helped reduce the pink. Then I decide I wanted a more bronzed skin look so I applied a wash of burnt sienna over the whole miniature with an emphasis on the shadowed areas. So a good start to the skin. At least another evening's work but that may not happen till next week. I started the skin tones because I was working on the skin for one of the minis on the diorama. I figured I would just go ahead and work on skin this evening.

First skin tone applied, this is essentially my mid tone.

First highlight applied

Then a darker wash of a burnt sienna. By applying the highlight first I "modulated" the skintones. After this I'll go in and start working the skin tones up again and probably deepen the shadows.

Priming Amazon Archers from Crocodile Games

Well I did some work on the Amazons. I needed to prime some miniatures for the "Steady Lads" diorama as well as for one of my vignettes (which may or may not get done in time for Genghis Con).
This is going to be long work in progress, at least until some more of my competition entries are finished. However, I'll do some work on them when I happen to have the colors I need on the palette. 

So they really look sharp even with just the primer on them. I love priming with the airbrush it gives me so much more control over the process.

Group Shot, 12 Amazons all primed up and ready to go

The unit leader, a bit of an out of focus shot

Pose #1, The mold line goes up the right side of  her face and into her hair.

The primer and the lighting really pop the details on these. Fitz is amazing

Pose #2, again the mold line is coming across her left eye and cheek. Looks like I did a really good job on this one.

Pose #3. The mold line here comes right down the middle of the face down the nose and chin.

A Change of Pace - Prepping Amazon Archers from Crocodile Games

I needed a break from working on the "Steady Lads" diorama last night so I dipped into the box I received from the Crocodile Games Wargods of Olympus Kickstarter. I usual need something else to work on when I'm painting competition pieces, the distraction from not having to be perfect is usually quite relaxing. I have quite the horde of Amazons at this point but I didn't want to start with one of the core phalanx units so I pulled out the archers. Like 90% of the Croc line these are sculpted by Chris Fitzpatrick and they are beautiful minis. 

There are three poses plus a command miniature. All of these have very light mold lines and the castings are near perfect which makes them very easy to work on. However, because of the pose itself that mold line goes right across the face of the minis (through the right eye, no less, on two and down the middle on the third). These are the types of mold lines that I really hate and in this case its worse because I'm dealing with a beautifully sculpted face.

I went in with one of my lighter edged files so I would leave as few scratches as possible. I followed that up by trying to buff it smooth with steel wool but I found it hard to get it into some of the crevices on these because of the poses. I pulled out one of my blue sanding sticks instead and I was able to buff out any scratches with this tool without a problem.

I'm definitely looking forward to painting these but progress is likely to be slow. I'm going to take some time and see if I can find some 20mm square resin bases for them that will push the Greek motif a bit more (I know Amazons, while part of Greek Mythology, are not themselves from Greece). There is some archaeological evidence that there may be a kernel of truth to the Amazon myth from graves found near Pokrovka, Russia (near the Kazakhstan border). While certainly not the Amazons of the Greek Myths it lends some credence to the concept of warrior women. I'm going to paint based around colors that might have been used by the Sarmations and Scythians. There is an Amazon Cavalry unit coming in the second wave but they still need to deliver the Athenians and Corinthians before the second wave gets started.

Here is what I managed last night:

11 Amazon Archers and an Amazon unit leader

Kickstarter Loot - Crocodile Games Wargods of Olympus - Amazons

So this one is a bit delayed, about two months so not bad in the grand scheme of things. The Amazons, along with the Automatons, are part 3 of Wave 1. Still to come are the Athenians (sculpted by Fitz) and the Corinthians (sculpted by Todd Harris) which come sometime early in 2015. Then the rule book which requires all the sculpts to be finished will follow and complete Wave 1. Wave 2 consists of the rest of the Trojans followed by the rest of the Amazons. Still looking at not being fully delivered till late 2015 is my guess. I might see if I can still jump in on the Amazon cavalry that's part of Wave 2.

Excerpt from the update in the Croc Kickstarter:
"The Amazons and Automatons are BY FAR the largest single release that Crocodile Games has ever done - with over 50 individual production molds, thousands of miniatures to cast, sort and pack, and over 200 pounds of metal used thus far! But the work is not yet over, as we still need to get these to our backers. Indeed, it is a bit like Santa's Workshop around here, and we are trying to get as many rewards shipped before Christmas!"
I received my shipment notice on Sunday (12/21). I anxiously started tracking the shipment figuring that even though it was being sent via 2 Day Priority Mail that it wouldn't make it till Friday. It was picked up by USPS on Monday, arrived sometime early, early this morning in Aurora and was out for delivery around 7am. I kept doing the F5 dance on the keyboard until it showed up as delivered on the doorstep at 12:15. This was confirmed by the youngest spawn.

Since I'm in Ft Collins this week they brought it up for the family Christmas Eve celebration at my parents' house.  I found a quite place to do the now traditional Kickstarter loot un-boxing pictures. I maybe re-considering some of my painting entries for Genghis Con and ReaperCon. The quality of the casting and the sculpting is awesome, mold lines are light to non-existent and the number of poses is great. This kickstarter was well worth backing. I'm extremely pleased.

Helen of Troy, Titan Hunter, Oracle of Delphi, Bronze Owl

The command set

One of three Amazon Hoplite units that I received. My pledge came with one and I ordered two more

Front and middle rankers depending on which arm you use.

Rear rankers, I love the variety in the poses

An Amazon Hero, Champion and a casualty

Archers

Archer captain on the right

Peltasts or light infantry armed with javelins

That's the captain with the sword

I also ordered two sets of front/middle/rear rank hoplites to increase the size of my units

And a couple of things I decided to tack on

A Sobeki from Wargods of Aegyptus that I didn't have and the demigoddess of Athena

The sculpting is stunning.