The Glory of Asphyxious!

Painting a Warmachine Lich Lord

by Randy
@coffeeswiller

Hello there!

I wanted to show off my latest project. If you have played either Warmachine or the Iron Kingdoms Roleplaying Game, you have heard of Cryx. For those who haven't, Cryx is an island nation of nightmares, where the dead walk and do the bidding of the world's largest dragon. The dragon, Toruk, has appointed twelve Lich Lords to carry out his bidding as governors and generals to conquer the world for him. The mini I painted is one of those Lich Lords, Asphyxious. Asphyxious just recently acquired his title by slaying his predecessor, Daemortus, whom he has made into a spear.

Pretty fearsome, eh? The model itself is pretty impressive. Not counting the plastic base, it has 12 pieces. I'm not covering assembly here, though you'll probably get a little of that incidentally. With a model like this, it makes the most sense to paint it in pieces. I painted the model with Formula P3 paints, the paint range by Privateer Press, makers of Warmachine.

This pic shows me getting the model ready for priming. I have already washed the pieces, cleared mold lines and I have put together the upper and lower body, and the base and the stand piece for the base.Then I mount the remaining pieces to be primed with a spray primer. I used my hand drill to make small holes which double as places for pins when the model finally gets assembled.

Here it is after it has been primed in black and painting is underway. 

Here's the body. For his robes, I used Rucksack Tan mixed with Armor Wash. The green in the head socket, between the ribs and underneath the body is Necrotite Green. I went over the black metal with a little thinned Cryx Bane Base, then drybrushed Cold Steel. The soul cages hanging on the belt were done with Blighted Gold, highlighted with Rhulic Gold. 

Here's the base. I had already painted the base insert, not I have added the swirling souls and have painted them. Also, if you look closely, you can see a little metal pin in the top of the central swirly pillar. This corresponds to a drilled hole in the bottom of the lower body. This was done with Necrotite Green and Morrow White. 

Here's the 'backpack': the array of exhaust pipes coming from the back. Cryxians burn necrotite instead of coal,. and that burn with a green flame. The metals are the same as the body above, with most done with black drybrushed with Cold Steel, and the flares at the end of the pipes Blighted Gold highlighted with Rhulic Gold.

Here is the right hand & spear. Metals as above, with the blade being Cold Steel washed with Armor Wash. The eye was done in Morrow White, with the pupil Coal Black, and the edges done with thinned Murderous Magenta. 

And here he is... Lich Lord Asphyxious, in all his terrible glory! His skull was basecoated with Rucksack Tan, washed with Armor Wash and then highlighted with Morrow White. 

So... that's him! I finally got him together and painted, after having the model hiding in my unpainted pile for a couple years waiting for me to become a better painter. I'm very happy with the outcome, and maybe one day I'll field him in a battle, or plague the players in my upcoming Iron Kingdoms Roleplaying Game campaign with him. Any miniatures that you're particularly proud of? Let me know below! And also consider visiting my Instagram profile. You'll find quite a few miniatures on there!

I've Got 99 Problems But A Lack Of Bits Ain't One:

Miniature Modeling for Advanced Beginners

by Randy
@coffeeswiller

Hello, all! I think it would be an understatement to say that the Growing Up Gamers crew was on a big Privateer Press kick lately. The Warmachine Tactics Kickstarter really got us going, and speaking to Matt Wilson also really got us excited. This is not a new thing, however. I have personally been a fan of the Iron Kingdoms from very early on, and had a years-long roleplaying campaign based there. This article, however, focuses on the miniatures.

Elf warcaster Kaelyssa, on a custom Cygnar ruins base. 

I have been painting minis on and off for about twelve years, not counting a handful that I mangled in high school. Rather than a veteran, I would classify myself as an "advanced beginner". What does that mean? I can paint models, and they usually look pretty good. I can make pretty nice bases, do fun conversions... but when it all comes down to it, I don't have a lot of time to invest in it. So I try to get a lot of mileage out of the techniques I do know.

Scenic base, probably for a warjack.

One thing I love is what is called converting miniatures. Basically, this is taking a miniature and altering it. It can be as simple as a repose or a swap of a weapon or head from another mini. Or it can be a more drastic thing where you take a bunch of parts from different minis and/or made from epoxy putty and making something altogether different. It helps to have a well-stocked bits box.

Work  in progress: Mage Hunter Eiryss on fallen tree base.

What's a "bits box", you might ask? Well let me tell you. A bits box is a box where you keep any stray mini parts that aren't going on a mini. You have a kit with three different weapon choices? Put the other two in the box. You sawed the head off a mini to put on another mini? Put the rest in the box. Made an order from the Privateer Press Parts Store? Put 'em in the box! Here's my bits box:

Here's a few choice bits:

Weapons & accessories!

Heads!

Flag!

...and here's what you can do when you have a stocked bits box:

Master Necrotech Mortenebra, iron lich and crafter of Cryx's legions of Helljacks!

For the record, this is an alternate version of the Cryx warcaster Mortenebra that I started quite a while back, before she was released as a mini. Since then, she has gotten her own mini, and I picked up the upper torso from the stock mini to use. The parts are from eight different models from Wyrd Miniatures and Privateer Press, with some parts built from sheet styrene, putty epoxy, paperclips, some old guitar strings and a brass rod. I'll put up more pics when I paint her up.

So... anyone else into miniatures? What are some of your favorite? Any miniature modeling topics you'd like to see here? Let me know!