• Part 1 - Assembly


• Part 2 - Painting


• Part 3 - Basing

Hi all, and welcome to part two of the Grimgor Ironhide Modelling Guide. Last time, we left off with the model pinned, glued together, and assembled. This week we look at painting the model itself.

I then painted the skin areas of the model with Catachan Green to give a dark almost natural tone to the skin. Brighter greens can be used such as Dark Angels Green. At this stage I then washed the model with Badab Black to add shading to the model.

The skin was then highlighted again with Catachan Green and then a final highlight of Camo Green. Highlighting is where you pick out the higher points on the model to give a shading affect. I also tried to blend each highlight in with the previous by thinning my paints down to about the consistency of milk.

Next up I tackled the strapping for the armour and the armour itself. For the strapping a base of Scorched Brown was used, followed by a highlight of Bestial Brown. Boltgun Metal was then used to pick out the buckles on the strapping.

For the armour I wanted a very worn and chipped look, but I also wanted to maintain the blackness of it. Boltgun Metal was used by putting a small amount on the paint brush and then gently running along the edges of each armour plate. In places you can get a bit messy with it to look like it has been worn a bit more, but the trick here is to not overdo it. The chest plate face and the chainmail of the armour was also given a coat of Boltgun Metal and then washed with Badab Black. It was then highlighted with Chainmail paint to brighten it up and distinguish it from the rest of the armour. The Chains were also done in this way.

For the weapon itself I started with a base coat of Boltgun Metal for the metal pieces and Scorched Brown for the haft of the axe, which was then given a wash of Badab Black. The metal pieces where then highlighted with Boltgun Metal again and then with Chainmail. Bestial Brown was painted onto the haft of the axe in thin strips to try and emulate wood grain and then given a wash of Devlin Mud. For the blood and gore, a mix of both Red Ink and Black Ink was used and stippled on to the desired effect. Stippling is where small amounts of paint, or in this case ink, are dabbed on to get a mottled effect.

Lastly, we have the severed knight's head in his right hand. I wanted to make it look like an Empire Knight's Panther. To do this, the helm was painted again with Boltgun Metal and highlighted with Chainmail after a wash with Badab Black (beginning to see a pattern). The ribbons were painted with Regal Blue and highlighted with Enchanted Blue, while the white one was first painted with Ice Blue and then with Skull White. The gold crest was painted with Shining Gold and washed with Gryphonne Sepia. The reith was painted with Dark Angels Green and then highlighted with Snot Green and then Scorpion Green. Lastly the skin tone was done with Tanned Flesh and then highlighted with Dwarf Flesh and then Elf Flesh. For the neck, just use the same method as with the gore on the axe.

• Part 1 - Assembly


• Part 2 - Painting


• Part 3 - Basing

“No one knows Grimgor's early history; the only Orc foolish enough to ask quickly joined the former Warboss of the Yellow Eyes tribe in a broken heap in a ditch. All that is known is that Grigmor had staggered out of the Blasted Wastes with a grizzled, bloody, and much scarred bodyguard. The few survivors were all tired and hungry, but they were also all Black Orcs and all armed to the teeth. They had clearly seen much combat and some of the blood and wounds were fresh, but after that first time nobody dared ask. What they lacked in numbers they more than made up for with a single-minded brutality. Grigmor easily took over the first tribe he met, conquered the second and annihilated the third. There was never enough killing for Grimgor.”

Courtesy: Games Workshop Online, Warhammer: Orcs and Goblins 2008

1. Remove the model from the blister and insure all parts are here. You should have a black square plastic base and three metal pieces, the main body, head and arm with an axe. If not you can take it back to the place of purchase and they should either give you the bit that are missing or more likely give you a new blister pack.

2. Look for any signs of flash or mould lines. These need to be clipped and filled off to make the model look presentable. Preparing your model is one of the most important steps in that if you neglect this part, when painted these areas will stand out like a sore thumb.

3. Once the model has been cleaned, you need to assemble the model. This stage is only required if the model is going to be handled a lot and requires extra strength at the joints. First these areas need to be drilled about three millimetres. This needs to be done in the centre of the neck/head joint and the shoulder/arm joint so that they match up. Once this is done a paperclip will suffice to act as the pin to join the two pieces together as can be seen below. A blob of Green Stuff and some glue can be placed in the joint and the pieces joined. It can be just glued though if you want.

4. Now that the arms and head are joined the model should look something like this. Next week in Part two we will explore priming the model and painting it. Good Luck.

Continue to Part 2 - Painting >>

Editor's note: I personally can't wait to see this bad boy painted! Thanks Rom! And thanks to Cicadymn for coming up with the idea of putting a Greenskin modelling guide together in the first place!

Snafzg: How much do you think Games Workshop stands to make if Warhammer Online does well?

Brandon: They probably have a royalty agreement and will take a portion of the monthly revenue. If the game comes out then we should be able to see its effects on GW in their quarterly earnings reports. That’ll be interesting as it could reveal a lot about the structure of their deal with EA.

Snafzg: I think EA is really counting on tapping into the GW TT gamers of Warhammer.

Brandon: I think so too. And GW is probably counting on getting some of those MMO players on board as miniatures collectors.

Snafzg: Do you have any opinions or thoughts as to the level of acceptance of WAR the current TT players have?

Brandon: I think everyone is looking forward to it, but that could collapse quickly if the game isn’t high quality on release.

Snafzg: How about just in your circles?

Brandon: My circle is a bit different because we’re ‘MMO insiders’ and I hear a lot of rumors…I think the game will have a somewhat rough launch, but should have a LOT of players on day one. I think the game had some game design troubles…issues with the public quest system, etc, but that Mythic has stopped their beta in order to address those problems. So we’ll see. I don’t think the game has any chance of upsetting World of Warcraft, but I think that it should be able to gain a respectable number of subscribers…by the pre-WoW standard of respectable (less than 1 mil, more than 300k).

Snafzg: You've stated you’re indifferent [about WAR's release]… do you think that’s the general feeling?

Brandon: Among MMO gamers I think there is anticipation. I’m indifferent because I’ve heard enough bad stuff and enough good stuff to be in “wait and see” mode.

Snafzg: My friend was at Games Day in Toronto last May and said [less than] 10% of the people in attendance had any interest in the new WAR MMORPG and that he didn’t think it was a great sign for EA.

Brandon: True… I wonder if they are having problems with product awareness. How many WoW players, for example, even know about the Warhammer MMO?