+ inload: Painting squats' face and making Battle for Armageddon tokens +

+ Kin and countryside +

+ This Kill Team of *checks notes* Hearthkyn Salvagers is not finished yet, but ticking on smoothly. Today's inload looks at the trials and tribulations of painting tiny faces in awkward recesses – and also looks at some Battle for Armageddon custom tokens, which account for the rather strained pun in the title. +

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+ Hello there +

I find it endlessly fascinating what a difference painting makes to a sculpt; how you can – intentionally or not – add (or destroy) character or emotion with the tiniest paint stroke. I guess it's down to how familiar we are with human (or abhuman, in this case) faces – though I'll note the same thing seems to happen even with aliens.

There's a hint of Ewan McGregor in the face of this Kin Theyn. Unintended, but amused me. Think I'll paint his plasma-axe with a hint of blue.

Unlike the rest of the gang, I've started this chap with the face. This is something I like to do on occasion, particularly for one-off or character sculpts, as it gets me invested in the figure early on. On reflection, I should probably have done this for the whole Kill Team, as having them half-done for ages has been quite demotivating. Remind me next time.

Of course, the risk of that approach is that you're not happy with the finish and it puts you off entirely. That's nearly what happened here – I got stuck in and slopped on the paint, and then... it just wouldn't resolve. Sometimes that's 

This work-in-progress [+viz-ref: below+] shows the point at which I told myself to step back. It's okay at this point, but for whatever reason I just wasn't feeling it.

Few things are more likely to further spoil a face than pressing on when you're frustrated, so I took a break, pinged a pict-capture over to the PCRC group chat for a bit of perspective, then came back to it after a cup of recaff.

Whether it was taking a break to come back with fresh eyes, a more positive attitude or simply leaving the layers of paint to dry properly, when I came back the face came together much more smoothly and quickly. What's the lesson? Nothing hugely revelatory, but 'take a break and come back later' is generally good advice.

Within reason, acrylics will cover previous layers, and as long as you're thinning your paint you'll not build up a meaningful texture. This means that even if you feel a face (or any bit, really) has gone horribly wrong, you can just paint over it and start again. 

That's what I did here. Pretty much the whole face was repainted, using the original colours as a map. It was a bit like redrafting a bit of text. Everything's there, but needs to be tidied or deleted or supplemented. This approach is particularly useful if you tend to be self-critical, as you can use that to your advantage:

Stop and take some time to identify the errors. Instead of thinking that you're repainting the face, just go in and fix the bits that stick out. Rinse and repeat until you're happy.

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+ The rest of the team +

While the face above took up a chunk of time, I also had a go at some others while the paint was on the palette. The Kin are supposedly clones – albeit with quite a lot of variation created with genetic tinkering – so I was in two minds on whether to include much variation in terms of skin tone, hair colour and complexion. 

On the one hand, it's nice to make a distinction between 'normal' humans and the Kin; but on the other it's a bit boring if everyone looks exactly the same, so I've decided not to run with them as clones. If the force expands beyond a Kill Team, perhaps I'll intentionally do little fraternal groups where the skin and hair are identical, but for these specialists I figure the controlling mind of the Votann might spit out a more diverse group.

A hint of ginger in this chap. Space Dwarfs they are, and I like a bit of Tolkein/Norse dwarf in the group. 

Fun little sculpts as the Leagues of Votann are, it's very awkward getting your brush in to such recesses!

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Another little picture of the group as they currently stand. Together with the Theyn, they'll be ready to go at the PCRC event in a couple of weeks. The other specialists – a couple of Ironkin and a Kin in a weapon-suit – are also off the blocks, but I'll show those in a separate inload when they're a bit further along.

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+ Ashes of Armageddon + 

I got home to some awesome post – at the top you can see an Inquisitorial missive with directions for the PCRC event(!); thanks to Omricon and TrojanNinja for these wonderfully evocative letters, which I'll hope to share in another inload soon.

Secondly, my test sheet of Battle for Armageddon tokens arrived:

These will be part of a little souvenir-package for the people attending the Third War in 3rd event next March to use in the event and take away with them. I hope they're as tickled by them as I am. 

As you can see, they're a close match for the originals (top row). For any future ones, I think I'll tweak the colours a spot – the colours I used were based on those from the free digital version of Battle for Armageddon that GW gave away in the early years of M3; but I suspect those were based on (not particularly good) scans of the production version, rather than the original artworks. Secondly, the coating I've gone for on these is a matt one, and I suspect that's further muted and darkened the ones above.

Still, both as a little personal indulgence and as a giveaway, I think they look the part. In isolation, I think they're easily recognisable while still being distinct.

These were definitely a successful proof test; and for the Armageddon Prime tokens [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], I'll be able to iterate further.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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