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Welcome to Idle Hands, my weekly segment where I discuss conversions, painting, and strategy for the Warhammer tabletop game…
THIS WEEK
I managed to get some models done this week, and in surprisingly short order. As I mentioned last week one of the things that I have been considering is that I tend to take longer to finish units when I have others on the shelf that I really “want” to work on. So, this week my attention is on dragons. More specifically the special character Galrauch and Dragon Ogres…
UNHOLY CONVERSIONS
The only real conversion work I did this week was on the Dragon character Galrauch, I have included pics of the Dragon Ogres however for comparison with their painted versions…
Galrauch, the Great Drake – First of the Chaos Dragons
I found Galrauch on eBay for a song, I gave $5 for this guy with no base and no front legs. The front legs aren’t an issue for me, because frankly I wanted my Galrauch to more closely resemble the one in the Army Book with tentacles instead. I used a decorative base from a local Hobby Store (this one cost 75 cents at Hobby Lobby), and liberal amounts of Milliput, Green Stuff, and bits from my collection. It’s a tedious process, but necessary to get the look I want, I’ve got some more details to work in. Mostly filling gaps and smoothing out lines. By next week I should be in the thick of painting this guy.
Dragon Ogres
As you will note, a significant amount of green stuff work went into these. The lizardman cold ones were used here and had to be beefed up significantly on the front end to keep the Ogre torsos from looking overly comical when attached, this also meant creating new legs and musculature from scratch as well as a significant number of scales. The bases are done with stone balast, some small stones, and of course thicker pieces of cork.
WET PAINT
My inspiration of late has been drawn more from the older Chaos books in my collection, but one thing is certain I wanted my Dragon Ogres to have the look of ancient warriors. Their armor needed to be worn and dated. To achieve this I used a base coat of Tin Bitz, dry brushed with Chain Mail then washed with Badab Black. Afterward, I added another lighter dry brush of Chain Mail focusing on the edges of the armor. This layering gave a very aged look to the armor without overly shiney or complex in terms of colors. I want them to look unique, but still fit in with the rest of my army after all. I’m pleased with the result there (get a closer look in the detail pics below).
For the skin I used Dheneb Stone with Badab Black wash, then drybrushed with more Dheneb Stone. For the dragon body I decided to go with a swampy “alligator” look, for this I started with Death World Forest, followed by a wash of Devlan Mud. I then dry brushed Nurgling Green and added a second wash of Devlan Mud to help tone down the brightness a bit and also to add a bit more definition in recessed areas.
Dragon Ogre Champion
Details
Dragon Ogre 1
Dragon Ogre 2
Dragon Ogre 3
Dragon Ogre Unit
How do magnets work? Quite well, thank you! This was my first time really using magnets on my models, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised with the results and the ease. With that out of the way, I just need to put the finishing touches on the unit.
COMING SOON
I just received an order of some resin bases that I’ll be using on my Chosen and my Marauder Horsemen, so I suspect I’ll have something to show for those units in the near future. For now, I’ll be finishing the dragon phase of the army, I have some work to do on the movement tray for my Dragon Ogres, it looks a bit drab right now. Additionally, I have some special grisly touches to add to their weapons and some war paint to add to the exposed flesh. There’s still a bit of prep work to be done on the actual Dragon before I start painting him, but I suspect he’ll actually paint pretty quickly.
I consider the Dragon Ogres to be a success, and will be making a second unit. I don’t intend to play two units of Dragon Ogres anytime in the near future, but I do intend to sell off a unit on eBay. Anyhow, that’s all for now check back next week for more!
