Kroot Mercenary Warband (been a while folks!)

[LeMephiston]

Well ive not posted anything here for the better part of a good few years! Used to post on Exterminatus.net long long ago more then i was over here. But ive just started getting back into inquisitor again with some chums so thought id have a browse and make some posts. Get a bit more "involved".

So Here we have it, Chris' getting back into the swing of things model thread The kroot warband.  You get funny looks  and alot off "whys....?" when you go into GW andf ask for five kroot inquisitor models. More then that though you get a long arsed wait. Took me 2 months to get these models!!! Ordered them in February i think... got them middle of April. Stuck a few bits together, played with them once using standard merc rules with only kroot rifles and short swords against a few guard. No wait one of them had wings still i remember that. I lost. Horrificly. It seems the kroot rules are nothing like their fluff (the very limited fluff we have) and they were utterly decimated. Well i lost interest after that. I even got drunk and accidentally knocked one out the window... he came back though, was just missing an arm. But youll see him soon enough lol.

Anyhow ive not come up with a compelte robust back story yet. They are recently back from a campaign with sombody or other against the noble orks, which justifies the amount of ork parts i used  . And they are currently in the employ/study of a techno magus who is on the path to becoming dark mechanicus. Hes a bit of a rebel, siding up with aliens and using his unique skills to outfit them in ways that are beneficial to theyre mercenary Lifestyle.

Well they were re-outfitted with some nice new weapons and im pelased to report that they won the game thanks to one kroot with a "chainaxe" who brutalised most the enermy team. None of my Kroot have armor at this point. Thats their major weakness you see. They hurt lots untill they are shot. Then they tend to just die...

Without further adue here is some WIP's post the game i just played. Felt they earned some paint and Greenstuff 

Heres the whole team:






Heres the shaper and a bit of the winged guy in the background. Hes dropped one of his metal chunks of death at this point. Still not glued that back on i really should... lol



Token "standard" guy. Not much done to him. In the game he surved as cannon fodder, and he did so well.


These two guys kicked a whole lot of ass. In the background we have the chainaxed fiend and my friend in the mask has the part of an ork dreadnought that allows for interchangeable weapons. On this instance he used an autogun at semi-auto and laid waste so well. Made me damn proud lol.





All comments are welcome Only cannon fodder and chainze guy are really anywhere near finished im still getting back into the swing off things. Im a real back to basics moddeller ive only got the same crap i had a few years ago. Which is two standard sized brushes and the starter kit paint set lol. So please be gentle huh? 

Thanks for reading people!

[phil-o-mat]

the conversions look very nice, and it's impressive what you do with the starter set.
but i'd say, get some more colours. devlan mud, for example, it works perfect on metallic or leather-colored surfaces.

hope this helps,
phil

[LeMephiston]

Yeh i definately need to spend some more money on paint! Mud... mm sounds like my kind of texture lol. I appreciate the advice good sir thank you 

[LeMephiston]

More done today. Had the choice off more paint or a talos/pain engine for parts.... Needless to say i went for parts as that is an awesome kit if your going dark mechanicus!!! Pics to come soon :-) also 120 views and no comments? Opinions please people im entirely open to questions and suggestions! Its why im here afterall lol

[MarcoSkoll]

also 120 views and no comments?

In general, this forum is the kind of place where threads which aren't one of astounding, radical or wrong often won't get many (if any) comments. If they've not got questions for you, and you haven't asked questions of them, it may be they simply don't have anything they feel is that worth posting.
Particularly if you ask them to be gentle. That's not far off saying "Hey, give me constructive criticism, but only about the stuff I'm doing mostly right!"

As it is, personally, I think you need to expand your paints range BIGGGGGGG style. You need more shading and highlighting in your painting, because at the moment the colours are just pretty flat.
While I'm at it, the blue is interesting, but I think it could have done with a dash of a dark green in there so it wasn't quite so drastically at odds with the other skin colours, and to better act as shading.

Modelling wise, I'll say the same thing I say to everyone - smooth greenstuff is key. You can do a lot to improve this with cheap watercolour brushes, which can take all that out if kept wet and used when the putty is just starting to go off (if it's freshly mixed, it doesn't work quite so well).
Also a bit of a life saver if you put a fingerprint in your work. Not as good as proper rubber tipped clay shapers, but considerably cheaper. Don't get them mixed up with your proper painting brushes though!

[LeMephiston]

Ho do you mean use watercolour brushes on the greenstuff? This is new to me! I Can never get that stuff straightened out haha! I know to wet my fingers when sculpting with hands but brushes this is new! So you wet the brushes and brush to take fingermarks out? surely the bristles arent strong enough to have any effect on taking the lines out? I must try this...

I wont lie to you the blue was only used a s base coat because i had mroe blue then anythign else! I basicly got the skin tone by mixing enchanted blue with bronzed flesh in layer upon layer of damp "dry brushing". I was never great at highlighting and blending paints! Somthing i need to really learn how to do. I would have preffered to use dark angels green as the base coat and work that up but its solid from years of misuse! lol.

[MarcoSkoll]

Surely the bristles arent strong enough to have any effect on taking the lines out?

You have to press quite firmly (which is why you want crappy cheap brushes, because it basically wrecks them - I guess you could use old model painting ones, if you've got some around you've not relegated to mixing or such.) and stroke over the area several times, but it's pretty effective.

Still, as I said, not as good as clay shapers - which are a bit costly, but a valuable addition to a modelling kit if you take it seriously.

[Nevermore2010]

I would have preffered to use dark angels green as the base coat and work that up but its solid from years of misuse! lol.

As always... just add water... Hot water for preferance. Citidel paints do indeed tend to dry out, however slowly adding water and rubbing the dry surface with a stick (or old Paint brushes) can rehydrate the paint. Hot water works faster but will still take time. Well worth it though as it saves you from throwing them away! Remember to not add to much water or you'll thin the paint to much. I'm aware some people add a touch of oil to their paints in order to prolong their life, though i'll admit to never having tried this.

[DapperAnarchist]

Would that be a special painters oil? Or just cooking oil, like olive or sesame?

But yes, warm water, carefully stirred in, makes a big difference. As does keeping them properly sealed... though that isn't perfect.

[Ramnok]

I like them! they are certainly creative! My only qualm is that I wish I had the funds and time for an all kroot warband, I had theorycrafted a group awhile back but decided on eldar since they were more of a challenge of my modeling skills... (I'm terrible with modeling armor or clothing.)

Keep up the good work! I look forward to seeing them!

[Nevermore2010]

@DapperAnarchist, There are special oils you can get, mostly used in oil paintings to help give the paint elastisity and prevent the paint from cracking over time as it dries. However i belive any common vegie based oil will do, just a few drops mind, oil has a similar effect to water but also increases the drying time of the paint.

[DapperAnarchist]

Oh, for oil blending! I'm going to try that, try painting my Necron Lord (when he's finished) with NMM...

[LeMephiston]

  i never knew that about the paint! My god im going to revive them all if i can! That will open a few more colours up i can tell you!

Hmmm whether to purchase these modelling tools you speak off... i probably should. I am really getting back into the whole creativity thing after spending far too many years doing nothing but playing with cars and mechanics its time to get "artsy" again lol.

Thanks for the tips people i greatly appreciate them!

A few things have changed in the last couple of days, and i will get pictures up as sooon as i can 

[Myriad]

Great example of variety based off the same kroot model, esp. the wings.

[Quickdraw McGraw]

Speaking of wings. Where did those come from?  They look great on that Kroot!