The Horrors... The Horrors

The cellophane wrapping has barely left my Silver Tower box set, and I'm already assembling and painting.

You mean it's not going to sit in the leadpile for several years?
What heresy is this?

I've kicked off with the models I've been eyeing up since my introduction to the hobby in 1991 - the horrors!

These are my first proper 'Age of Sigmar' models, and by the all the Ruinous Powers, they are damn good! Lots of depth and detail, very imaginative, and they take paint really well.

The one issue is the sculpts are monopose, which I guess is the cost for having a unique pose (rather than the five/six piece heads, arms and torso models I'm used to). I switched around a few arms, so the models won't look identical, but that's about it.

Pinky and Perky

In anticipation of the bright colours of magic, I decided to expand my range of washes (currently brown, black and sometimes blue) - so now I've got a swathe of reds, greens and yellows to play with too.

I also tried something new with the priming: instead of black or white, I used a can of Halford's grey plastic primer (which already has the advantages of being cheap and covers well). Unless all the paint flakes off in the next week, I'd very much recommend a grey primer.

Unlike black, you can actually see what bits of the model you have to paint (I often find I'm in the dark - literally - until I've applied that first drybrush); and unlike white, you can apply the basecoats evenly without worrying about the colour showing through. You will have to put up with the fact that your grey plastic miniatures will still be ... grey plastic ... when you've finished priming, but that's just incentive to get painting.

Pinky and The Brain

I also picked up some brighter paints, so these two horrors got the full works:

• Base: Screamer Pink
• Wash: Carroburg Crimson
• First Drybrush: Pink Horror
• Second Drybrush: Emperor's Children
• Glaze: Thined Red Ink
• Third Drybrush: Emperor's Children
• Highlights: Pink Horror

... as you may tell, I had a bit of trouble getting them quite pink enough. I think I went too dark at the start, and had to recover from that.

The eyes were Nurgling Green, with another new wash - Bien-Tal Green (is that French?) - over the top, which frames it nicely.

And another new paint for the gold bracelets - Retributor Armour. This was one of the new 'white cap' paints that are slightly more expensive. And it may indeed be worth the money. For a metallic paint (which I've usually found alternatively thin or gloopy), it goes on a treat and makes me actually want to start painting the armour of my LoTR elves (you know, at some point...)

Huey, Dewey, Louie and Bluey

Next up: the next iteration of horrors. I do love the concept that killing one horror produces two more. Clearly it would be a right pain in a game like 8th Ed, but it's nice to see it back in something more skirmishy.

I found a satisfactory colour for these guys much easier: Caledor Sky base, Drakenhof Nightshade wash and Calgar Blue highlights (gee, I'm glad the two very-similar blues don't have near-identical names).

"Too many posters of Betty Blue, The Blues Brothers and Big Blue and Blue Velvet on their blue bloody walls!"

For the blue horrors' fire effects, I was aiming for pink fire, although the Cassendora Yellow wash appears to have turned it back into regular fire. Although I won't hear a word against that wash, for reasons below...

The chorus line of any Disney villain you care to name.

Oh, my quest for a Proper Yellow has been going on since I purchased my Ork & Eldar Paint Set in 1992 and began dabbing on the disappointment that was Bad Moon Yellow.

I've tried Citadel, Coat d'Arms and Vajello, and I've yet to experience a yellow that didn't require me to a) basecoat with a solid white b) glob it on like I'm plastering a wall. I blame this for the fact that my Marienburg gang remains unpainted.

But with Averland Sunset, a new day has begun - I think I've found the yellow I've been searching for (and I know it's been around for a long time, but I'd basically given up for years, and was just painting things that weren't yellow). It covers lovely, looks great, and when you whack on some Cassandora Yellow wash (which may look orange, but makes yellow more yellow), you get a lovely flame effect like these fiery buggers above.

A drybrush of Yriel Yellow (which is all right, but it's no Averland Sunset) over the top and the horrors were done. I added eyes and teeth - which may seem a bit on in beings composed of fire - but it seemed like there needed to be some point of reference there.

I had a bit of a conundrum with the bases - these are chaos models, and are very compatible with Age of Sigmar, so could easily augment my existing Chaos army. But the 'blood-flecked snow' scheme didn't seem right for a Silver Tower, so I went in a different direction (if I ever do combine them, just attribute the differences to the vagaries of the realms).

I threw down a colourful base paint (different for each of them - because, you know, Tzeench) and put a thick layer of Agrellan Earth crackle paint. It doesn't seem to work at a distance, but is decent enough at tabletop-level. I just have to be bold about throwing on a lot of paint for bigger cracks.

Family portrait

Time to bash on with some more of these lovely, lovely models. I might even pause and read the Silver Tower rules at some point.