Privateer Press Weekend 2009 Mercenaries Update

As work on my Legion forces progresses I’ve also been putting some work in on the Mercenaries I’m painting to be given away at Privateer Press Weekend this year.   I still have a lot of detailing and a little bit of re-working   to do but things are looking good as far as meeting my deadline.

First up is my Orin Midwinter, who I think is coming together well.   I shaded his robe by adding black to P3 Skorne Red and left him on the dark side to fit his fluff.   The trim, sash, and shoulder pads still need some work but I went with black to keep a sinister feel on the model.   Orin’s staff is P3 Brass Balls shaded with brown and black inks and highlighted by mixing in just a tad of GW Mithril Silver.

After I finish the the rest of the model I think I’m going to do some source lighting on the end of this staff and his left eye.   I have some P3 Arcane Blue that I’ll probably use – it’s an interesting greenish blue that looks like it’s good for this sort of effect.   I’ve tested it on some other models and I think it would look good applied to Orin.

I liked the way that Orin’s robe turned out enough that I decided to duplicated the red on Dougal’s sleeves and the dark gray on his vest. I’ve only blocked out a few more areas of the model but there are a lot of details on the model that will need finishing before he’s done.   I think I’m going to change the color of his sash though to be something other than the same color as his vest.   I’m not sure what color I’ll use yet but I just don’t like the current look of it.

Dougal has an issue similar to the Idrian Skirmisher models do – a variety of leather accessories on him.   Painting them all the same color would look too uniform and very un-piratey.   That means trying to find a few shades that work together well.

Last up is Thor, the model I’m probably the least happy with at the moment.   His armor plates look ok but still need cleaning up.   The biggest issue is the dark gray – I just don’t like it and I don’t think finishing the highlighting is going to make it look any better.   I want to switch to a different color but I’m not sure what yet.   I could use the same red that I used on Dougal and Orin but I think that would wind up looking to neat and clean for this dirty little dwarf.

After I repaint the dark gray areas I’m going to have to do detailing which will include painting the flame and giving him a 5 o’clock shadow.   I’ve painted fire before and if this goes anything like my first attempt it will be a long, frustrating experience.