Lord of Plagues
28mm Plastic kit from Games Workshop
Assembled and painted in 2018
Games Workshop, well, Citadel Miniatures as it then was, is where I started to paint figures seriously.
Along with a few old Ral Partha sculpts, this is where I learned a lot of the painting skills that my methods are based on.
The metal GW figures have become something of the past, and I think – beyond collectors – are perhaps less well liked than the plastic kits available now.
The way GW have developed the plastic figures has come a long way from that first Dwarf and Orc released so many years ago, and the poses are more dynamic and the detail a dimension away from way back then.
This figure attracted my attention because whilst the box art is extremely good ( See photo #1 ), I feel that the flesh is too “new” looking. It’s just not diseased enough.
It’s a multi-part figure that is split up cleverly to leave few if any visible joints, and although there are mould part lines around most of the parts, these create no real problem, as they can be removed by gently scraping with a sharp scalpel.
It’s one of those figures I painted in the period where I wasn’t considering writing articles, so there’s very little in the way of “in progress” shots.
Horns – White undercoat as for the sores, then Burnt Umber at base, Mars Yellow blended in to that towards the middle and Titanium White worked in from the point to make them look sharp.
Leather – Undercoat with GW Snakebite Brown, then Vandyke Brown oils with Mars Brown, Light Red Mars Yellow and Titanium White blended in to make a mottled effect.
Washes / pin washes – These were Vandyke Brown oils mixed with White Spirit and added to the metallic areas, in some places just one coat was used, but in others initial coats were allowed to dry before adding more. Also pin washes of the same colour were added to the sores and wounds to make the deeper recesses stand out.
Photos #2 and #3 show the figure almost completed, looking a lot grubbier and decomposed – a lot more to my liking.
So a quick rundown of the colours used.
Primer – Isopropyl Alcohol with a spot of GW Flesh colour mixed in to show the areas I’d covered.
Flesh areas – Undercoat GW Flesh Tone, then Raw Umber / Olive Green oils over the whole figure, mid-tones and highlights blended in with Titanium White.
Axe head – Chaos Black acrylic undercoat, Mars Black oils with Old Silver Printers ink blended in, followed by Bright Silver Printers ink and a Molotow Chrome pen used for the sharp edge.
Wounds and open sores – undercoat with isopropyl Alcohol and White acrylic ( to allow the acrylic to flow over the top of the oils and not “bead” ), two more coats of the white acrylic, this time mixed with a little water, then Carmine or Purple Alazarin oils, with some highlights of Titanium White.
Final words
Lets talk about the bad things about this, and to be honest other singe figure offerings from GW.
I think they’re expensive.
There, I’ve said it.
£15 and more for a single plastic figure is a lot of money to ask. I know, there’s production of the metal casting blocks, the packaging, materials, transport et al.
But it’s still expensive, when compared to plastic military offerings comparing the sheer bulk of material you get in some of those.
On the flip side, the good points.
A lot of detail, a ready made textured base, excellent fit of parts, ease of conversion, all these things stack up to balance out the bad.
I’m probably preaching to the choir here by saying that I now don’t buy many single figures, I only pick and choose ones I really, really like.
More often than not I’ll by the sets with multiple figures, selecting the ones ( OK only in my mind, ‘cos I don’t get many of them actually painted ) that I like, and either selling on the rest to recoup a bit of the money, or letting them fester, sorry I mean sit, on the grey army shelves.
Writing this, I’m not even convinced I save any amount of money doing that, my subconscious mumbles. But it makes me feel better – Ya fool Hopwood !
Ultimately, GW models hold my attention, I love the old figures from the 1980’s and 90’s ( Oh how old that makes me sound ) and the some of the plastic figures are just too cool to not buy.
My abiding hope is that with so many younger people taking up wargaming and collecting GW figures – Look I’m nearly 60 so I look around and feel that almost everyone’s younger than me ! – that figure painting, vehicle building and modelling in general, will continue, rather than fizzle out and die.
Let’s hope, eh ?
Oh, and I need to get a nameplate made.....
