A New Term At Woffwarts

 Don't bother with the Sorting Hat: they're all wrong 'uns!

I got very inspired (some might say 'carried away') by the set of Endless Spells I painted, so to follow it up, I grabbed every wizard on my unpainted shelf and lined them up.

It turns out, I quite a few wizards...

First up is the Rotbringers Sorcerer. He's originally Ethrac Glott, the magical one from the Glottkin trio. I bought him as a spare and, like the Plaguebearers before him, painted him almost entirely with contrast paints. Quick and effective, lovely!

Representing Slaanesh is Alakaar Whisperfiend, a Chaos Sorcerer Lord who's been waiting on the shelf ever since I picked up a box of extra characters for The Silver Tower game (still haven't finished the game, but it's a great excuse to paint random models).

This model started out with a Wraithbone undercoat, and then I stippled Emperor's Children and Pink Horror on his robes, fading it out towards the top and going darker towards the hem. It worked out okay, and rest of the model was standard steel and flesh techniques.

For Tzeentch, I tried something difference: zenithal highlighting in the undercoat stage, then contrast washes of blue and pink on the robes. Using Retributor Armour on the trim squared it off nicely, and the skin looked so good pale, it just needed a Drakenhof wash and some dryburshing of Idoneth Flesh.

The model is Zarshia Bittersoul, of the Underworlds Warband Khagra's Ravagers - it's really cool and I'll have to get around to the rest of her siblings at some point.

Even after my frenzied deamon painting earlier this year, I still found a Tzeentch daemon who was lacking paint. Qozgath Flamefeather, the Changecaster, was an experiment in Vallejo Fluorescent paint (which went a bit weird to be honest, and never really dried). 

I finished him off with traditional techniques, and he's looking pretty good on it.

My Beasts of Chaos army have also been patiently waiting for a shaman, and now Vulpox Fleshhide, Great Bray-Shaman, can fill the void. This was a bit of zenithal technique, though heavy on the wraithbone. 

Then it was an all-over wash of Seraphim Sepia (I like the shamans to have pale fur, and contrast with the rest of the gors), a pale drybrush, and filling in the rest of the details with contrast (his cloak is a patchwork of hides, so access to a number of browns and yellows helped here).

Sneaking in at the back of the chaos wizards is my favourite model of the lot: Tritt Vilescratch, the Grey Seer. This was painted in a sort-of 'slapchop' method: starting from a black undercoat and drybrushing successive greys until I reached white. I then washed the robes in Nuln Oil (to distinguish the grey of the fur) and picked out the extras with contrast. The gems and the orb did especially well with the turquoise contrasts (there's a couple of nice ones there).

The face and horns were done with traditional layering, which I still think works best, and I finally have a ratman for my collection!

Speaking of which, I appear to be starting Nighthaunts too. This is Sarkon the Phantasm, Guardian of Souls, and was another easy one with zenithal undercoating. With Nighthaunt Gloom, Tesseract Glow and Nihilakh Oxide to give colour, and some more drybushing to level out the blends, he was done. Boo!

Finally stepping up for the forces of Order is Vardaim Cometsight, a Knight-Incantor. I still have a reasonable Stormcast Eternal force waiting to be painted, and the ease of painting this one ought to convince me to get going with it.

An undercoat of Leadbelcher, wash with Drakenhof Nightshade and drybrush Iron Hands Steel. Pick out the details in gold and blue and he's ready to join the Faithful.

Not actually a wizard, but this Fyreslayer had waited long enough, so he gets a technical pass. Lofnung Brightforge, Auric Runemaster, gets the same scheme as his Doomseeker brethren: silver armour instead of gold, and charcoal skin instead of pink.

He was another one that started with a Leadbelcher undercoat, so the trick was trying not to make him look too silver. Contrast paints helped again, adding turquoise features and (around the back) a cloak of bronze scales.

And a late entry: when I was assembling my wizards I realised that the Forces of Destruction were not represented. This was clearly unacceptable, so I went out and bought a Swampcalla Shaman.

I hadn't planned on collecting any Kruleboyz, but I'm very glad I did, since he proved to be one of the most enjoyable experiences: starting from a Wraithbone basecoat and Seraphim Sepia wash, I just went at him with sickly-looking contrast paints and came out with Glug Sumpdreg, a delightfully swampy ork.

And as a bonus: he's accompanied by a Pot-Grot!

Similar techniques here, and a special mention for how easy the gourds and bottles were with contrast paints - just be careful about getting the colour exactly between the straps and it's done in one.

And thus ends my wizard quest - tremendous fun, very interesting to bring a number of different techniques to bear, and a great palette cleanser from any kind of sensible project.