Sláine 5 - Skull Swords Pack 3

Today we have YET MORE Skull Swords. This time carrying the feared repeater crossbow. These are my third and last pack of Skull Swords for now. Three packs of these murderous ruffians should be plenty for any scenario in the game. They'll be giving it a bit of this in a few weeks:

Now that I have enough troops and a couple of Skull Sword champions, I can start adding some of the more esoteric Drune units. One or two Badb to keep Feg safe might be the next port of call. 

But not right now. I have more than enough troops painted for the Slaine get-together myself and my gaming buddies have planned for March, where nine(!) warbands will clash on the sacred soil of The Land of the Young. Here's the whole warband:

So, that's two packs of Skull Swords with hand weapon and shield, one pack with repeater crossbows, two Skull Swords champions with hand weapon and shield, and Slough Feg. 

Let's take a look at them in a more natural setting eh? Chilling out at one of Drunemeton's many idyllic sacrificial circles.

So, with the Drune warband in the bag (unless I decide to add yet some more champions) it's onward to the next project!

Sláine 5 - Skull Swords Pack 2

The first three miniatures of 2024 come leaping into action! I've returned to my Drunes for Sláine, having neglected them for over a year. I've got a big Sláine  weekend coming up in a March, so it's time for reinforcements. You kind of need a few packs of skull swords for Sláine to hew through, in fairness.

These lay partially painted on my shelf for almost a year, so it's very nice to get them finished. 

I'm still using mostly Contrast paints over Wraithbone spray for these, as that's how I painted the others. The way I use Contrast has evolved a bit since I started my Sláine project, but I want these to stay consistent, so I'm sticking to the original technique for now.

This new pack of skull swords gives me nine Drunes in the warband, which is 62 points. Enough for a middling size game. I'm planning on another pack with repeater crossbows and then a couple of Babd to keep Feg safe. I'd like to have about 100 points to play with eventually, for a few options.

For Crom Cruach!

Sláine 4 - Skull Sword Champions

Today we have MORE skull swords for the Sláine project. This time a pair of champions. One from the new Warlord range, and one far older fellow, an OOP sculpt from Foundry whose time has come at last.

This guy had resided in my box of 2000AD minis for many years, with no project to call his own. With the release of the new Sláine game though, his lonely days were over, and as a little extra I decided to make him a champion, hence the 32mm base. 

Even when you've had a mini in your 'to paint' collection for years, I find it interesting that you only really look at it closely once you decide to paint it. I'd never noticed the little triskele on his sword hilt, or the fact that he actually had eyes. 

I painted him as the rest, and the contrast paint took to him well. His shield was very plain compared to the flamboyant designs of his new peers, so I freehanded a triskele on there to jazz him up some. 

It's rather satisfying having him finally added a wee force of his evil brethren.

Speaking of shields, look at this! This guy was a mini I'd been really keen to paint since the start of the project, with his massive over the top Gwar concert shield. He's a little more fancy than the basic skull swords, he has a fancier helmet, a better weapon, more bangles and that amazing shield. Let's see that barbarian Sláine get through this!

His basing is the same as the rest bar that little pile of bones. I think they belonged to a mouse. It's been in my bits box for about twenty years.

He's manspreading like crazy, but then big skull shields are great for confidence.

 So, a pair of new champions joins the force, giving me three heroes. It's past time I added more mooks, so another three pack of axe-wielding skull swords is up next, and a creepy Drune priest.

Sláine 3 - The Lord Weird Slough Feg

The Sláine project continues with one of my childhood favourites, Slough Feg. His pose is based on the iconic Bisley drawing for the Horned God series.

Feg is Sláine's predecessor, the old horned God, and he is not planning on retiring. Having thrown in his lot with Crom Cruach and the Dark Gods of Cythrawl, he now leads the Drunes, intent on destroying the land of the young. Also, he is as mad as a box of frogs.

How could you not love him? he also gets some cracker lines in the comic. His odd syntax only adding to his macabre appeal.

So yes, Feg, all round top guy. 

As to painting this loon, his skin took me a while to get right. I didn't want him to look too undead, as he isn't, just super old and fairly stinking. I uses GW Contrast paints almost exclusively, bar some highlighting. A mix of Basilicarum Grey and Fyreslayer Flesh mixed with medium finally gave me a nice wash for the skin. Over that I glazed, mostly in the recesses and on the elbows, knees and knuckles, purple, pink and red to add some unholy life to the flesh. Some minor highlights of Flayed One Flesh and finally Pallid Wych Flesh and that was it. 

The rest of Feg used techniques I'd tried on the Skull Swords for leather, cloth etc. All pretty natural materials. His horns and progressive washes of Contrast browns from Skeleton Horde down to Garaghak's Sewer, mixed with medium. 

So, now that the main man is done, it's time for some of his champions, and yet more Skull Swords.

Sláine 2 - Skull Sword Pack 1

 

So, that's my first pack of skull swords for Sláine complete. I'm sticking with the Contrast paint approach for this project, and I'm learning more about their uses all the time. Right now I'm of a mind that they won't replace my traditional way of working, but they will certainly add a very nice set of new techniques to my painting arsenal.

The Siocast these fellows are made from holds an insane amount of detail, and is quite pliable. These lads won't break in a hurry. On the downside, files are useless. The material shreds when filed, so a super sharp scalpel is your best friend when cleaning mould lines and such. It holds paint just fine, at least it holds primer fine. I'm using Games Workshop Wraithbone primer on these lads.

So considering I'm using new paint techniques on a new material, I think these lads are turning out pretty good. The shields designs are great, particularly the one you can see just above here. The designers have taken a lot from the art of Belardinelli, who drew the Sláine strip in the early days. 

Skull sword packs come in 3s, and die easy, so I have a couple more groups of these evil guys to paint yet. I need a bit of a treat though, so next up is their evil boss, the lord weird, Slough Feg.

Sláine 1 - Skull Sword Contrast Test Model

The recent Sláine release from Warlord Games was something I've been waiting for for a while. I'm a huge 2000AD fan, and of Sláine in particular. With some friends already painting up factions for the game, it wasn't something I wasn't going to be able to resist. So I gently laid aside the Silver Bayonet for now and took up the stone axe.

I decided to paint up the Drunes. I'm more often than not drawn to the bad guys, and their leader, the Lord Weird Slough Feg, is a childhood favourite. He's like Skeletor's cranky grandad. Sláine draws on rich seam of Celtic history and myth, and laces it heavily with delicious fantasy tropes. The Drunes, my faction of choice, misuse the Earth power running through the land, eventually turning it sour in their greed. So a lot to identify with there from modern life. At least Feg is straight up about destroying the world. Would vote for.

Anyhow, I decided with this project to go full Contrast paints, pale primer, the works. So with some (loads) of help from Juan Hidalgo's YouTube channel, I set to work on the first Skull Sword.

Lord Vade- I mean Feg will not be pleased.

Skull Swords are Drune soldiery. Bearing the dreaded Triskele and willing to part heads from shoulders at their master's slightest whim, they are a nasty lot. They wear breath masks to protect them from their Drune masters foul stench, as Drune priests begin to decay as they become more powerful, and you can only get someone a Christmas deodorant gift set so many times.

Yeah, look at those Skull Swords, getting their... asses... kicked...

I was on new ground painting this fellow, so there was a lot to learn. I usually paint metals first, but this time they'd be the last thing I painted on the mini. I find contrast very pleasing to work with, but up until this point it had been more of a supplement to my style. This was a another level though, and I'd have to dispense with some tried and tested ways of doing things. Old dog, new tricks? I dunno...

I borrowed heavily from Juan's Kruleboy Eavy Contrast painting video, as it has lots of natural materials like leather and wood. I find his videos suit my style well, and aren't too time consuming. One thing that did give me a bit of a pain in the arse is re-touching the primer after working on an adjacent area. That said, the Skull Sword took about four hours in total. I reckon I could shave an hour off that now I have the colours picked and I'm not searching for techniques. I'd probably batch paint troops too, maybe groups of three, which, conveniently is the size of a unit of Skull Swords in the Sláine game. 

I painted the bases in my usual recipe. Some dead leaves and withered plants give a nice impression of sourland.

I do like the control I get with painting the metallics more like I paint other colours; base, wash and highlights for the most part. I usually use a lot of drybrushing on metals, and I think I still will for things like chainmail and such. Contrast paints are fantastic, but they are just another arrow in the painting quiver. I do love being able to tint metals with Contrast so you can easily turn a single basecoat into steel, bronze, gold or whatever. I used Canoptek Alloy as the base metal colour on the Skull Sword as I like the warmer tone.

So, with the tester done, time for some buddies for this fellow.