Weekly WIP: Dungeon Saga IV
At this rate I’m going to surpass Rocky for sequels. Four weeks of painting Dungeon Saga. Last week I had a bit of doldrums but I pushed straight through to where I was enjoying painting for the sake of painting, which is always nice. I find it’s always the worst between miniatures so I try to make sure I’m prepping the next batch before I finish the current one. This is why I’ve decided to not finish the bases, as it’s a little bit of washing and drybrushing with a lot of waiting for paint to dry.
Monday: Dungeon Saga Zombie Trolls
Dungeon Saga Zombie Trolls
I’ve just realized that the last time I had so much opportunity to improve my airbrush skill was when I was painting the last Mantic game I picked up, Deadzone. I’ve been priming with a zenithal underpaint for a while now and have started applying the base coat to some of the miniatures when it felt appropriate. In this case I’ve tried applying the shading and highlights with the airbrush and then followed this up with some airbrushed glazes.
I really played with the airbrush and ended up flooding a few areas with a translucent turquoise colour. I had to go back a bit with the tan colour to fix it but I’m glad I made the mistake. The miniatures are far from ruined and I was able to try something different. Tomorrow when I brush in the details the flesh colour should reveal it’s quality.
Tuesday: Dungeon Saga Zombie Trolls again
Dungeon Saga Zombie Trolls
This was a bit of a relaxed painting night as I didn’t rush to completely everything on these trolls. Instead I painted what I painted and didn’t worry that the loinclothes, arm band and teeth were not finished. Yes, it means I’m likely not going to get everything finished by the end of the week but I’m not concerned.
The first thing I painted in the session was the rock the troll is holding. I used the same colour that I used on the base but didn’t apply as many dark washes. It’s not like the troll would have dragged a dressed stone from a different quarry that the one used to build the dungeon.
Next I painted the guts and exposed muscles. This was a fun process, after painting the muscle I went back over it with a slightly darkened red wash. I used a second damp brush to pull the wash down to redden the surrounding flesh. I followed it all up with a darkened, thinned version of the same wash I used on the boulders. I think they came out really well and can’t wait to paint some edge highlights on the torn skin to accentuate the effect.
Thursday: Dungeon Saga Trolls Complete
Dungeon Saga Minions
Since there wasn’t much difference between the last image of the trolls and their finished version I thought I’d take a picture of everything I’ve painted so far, minus the furniture. With only four bosses to paint I’m really in the home stretch. Unfortunately I have to remind myself that I hasn’t completed the bases on the majority of the miniatures. I will find it faster to do the drybrushing and washing required in big batches. One of the downsides of washing is the long drying time. I also need to coat the miniatures with matte varnish which I also plan to do once everything is done.
Friday: Dungeon Saga Ghost Queen
Dungeon Saga Ghost Queen
I painted the ghost boss with more care than I painted the ghosts but I feel they came out better. I think it’s their black hoods which makes them look so good. This miniature was also entirely painted with an airbrush. I started with my blue and then lightened it with white for the highlights. Next I mixed a greenish filter and applied it to the top of the miniature before going back over everything with white highlights. I was trying to make it look as if the blue was fading to green while the whole thing faded to white. There wasn’t enough definition so I brushed on a wash and then drybrushed why when it was finished.
The more I look at this miniature the more I think the sculpt doesn’t benefit from the drybrushing as nicely as the other ghosts. The smooth curves of the robes of the other ghosts, especially their hoods, created a larger surface for the smooth blending of the airbrush to be seen. Meanwhile this boss ghost has smaller surfaces which needed a wash to show their detail.
Saturday: Dungeon Saga Undead Dwarf King
Dungeon Saga Dwarf King
The dwarf king is an interesting sculpt. From the front he appears to be holding a staff of office but he is actually holding a large warhammer upside down. I was trying to mix a nice purple for his royal robes but I find the colours I have don’t mix a nice purple. There is too much orange in Napthol Red Medium and the mix is muddy. I did only mix Napthol Red Medium with Ultramarine Blue so perhaps the Pthalo Blue GS would work better. Since the Pthalo Blue has a green tinge and green is complementary to red I imagine the result would be even muddier.
I think I may be coming to the end of using Golden High Flow acrylics as my paint of choice. Some colours I find work very well and others are just a pain. Having to mix matte medium every time to keep the gloss down is also a right pain.
Sunday: Dungeon Saga Necromancer
Dungeon Saga Necromancer
I probably should have saved this guy for last, the perfect final miniature of this little project of mine. Alas, the zombie troll shaman’s large base makes him difficult to mount for painting and he wasn’t primed with the rest of these guys. Instead he’ll be the final piece of the project.
Not that I’ll be finished, at least not technically. As I mentioned before I still need to finish the bases and matte varnish all the miniatures before I’m truly done. Even then I also have a bunch of Orcs and Abyssals that I can paint, plus Valendor and Ba’al. They don’t appear in the base game so they can wait until I’m close to playing it through at least once. Of a more direct concern is the selection of character miniatures I have yet to paint. I concentrated on the base game but there are a number of other characters that could be used if we’re using the Adventurer’s Companion. I would be surprised if I can find people to play through the entire campaign more than once so I want to start with the Adventurer’s Companion rules.
Despite my preference for playing with painted miniatures I did not turn down a game of Dungeon Saga while I’ve been painting the miniatures. My last board game night was cancelled, and the one before that had too many players for Dungeon Saga. I knew this was going to be a problem when I backed the kickstarter. I love the idea of this type of dungeon crawler boardgame hybrid but they’ve never proved popular with my group. If I can’t require my boardgamers to play I may have to come up with another solution.
Do you have any games you’d love to play but can’t because of your group? Vent a little in the comments or find me on Google+ or Twitter. Don’t forget to subscribe for more. Next week will feature a little bit more Dungeon Saga but hopefully I’ll have something else to report as well. Then again, I have a secret project I need to complete on a deadline so we’ll see how much else I manage to paint.
