So I've had quite a few of my Uthuk painted for a while, but I have been enjoying the game so much I have taken little time to snap photos of them. So I figured I'd throw up the pics I have and continue to add as I take more photos and paint more minis. Straight up, I love playing as the Uthuk. When I played Warhammer Fantasy I used the Empire and always envied the guys painting up the Chaos factions. Not this time around! I've started with the Uthuk and will continue to keep them as my main faction. I will say, however, expect to see some other factions getting some warpaint in the near future. I own each one and simply love this game. So much stuff is on the horizon and I'm looking forward to putting a brush to all of it. Hopefully, I can stay committed to posting my pieces here over time. Until then, hope these inspire some of you to sling some paint. I'm not a professional by any measure but do the best I can. Nuff' rambling - let's see some minis!!!

For the first post I'll put the king fear daddy on the page, Ravos the Everhungry

So that's what I have to share at the moment. More will be uploaded in the very near future. I personally love the skin and have used it on every one of my Uthuk. It is a bit slow to achieve as it is a five-step process but I simply love the depth of the end result. Let me know what you think - good, bad, whatever - I appreciate criticism in whatever form it may take. At some point, I will post the recipe I use for the skin in case you'd like to take a stab at it with your minis. Happy painting folks!

Here is a beserker 80% finished - personally my favorite pose. So dynamic - I have based all of them and have finished painting in the other details, but have only a few shots of those that I need to locate on my computer. Expect to see them soon.

The first go at a Spined Thresher. I painted it to completion but wasn't satisfied with the final outcome. I do think that this paint scheme would work for a Waiqar general looking to use Maro's ability to add Spined Threshers though. In the final pic you'll see that I repainted the mini to mesh a little better with my horde. You can see a bit of progression through the painting process here as well. Enjoy.

Below is the same mini that I repainted along with another thresher painted in the same color scheme. Don't get me wrong, I liked the purple plated people eater but, it just felt off in the overall color theme the rest of the army was sporting.

Back to the Beserkers for a moment. Here are a couple of the command figures awaiting basing.

And here is their legion undergoing a bit of speed painting...

Gathering up on my shelf patiently awaiting final touches and basing...

Until I can resolve to grab some better pics, this will be the last entry for a bit. Here is a shoddy pic of the Flesh Rippers.

Hope you guys are enjoying stuff up to this point. More to come!

While I work on getting some new pics - I'll throw some of the Daqan I've painted up. I haven't gotten through much of them. I decided on a Spartan themed paint scheme for them. As such, I stuck with bronze, deep red to vibrant red layering, treated their plate mail as thickened leather and treated their leaf mail as fur. Very happy with the outcome. I do plan on emblazoning the shield in the future, but not until I have a bulk of the spearmen to work on. Enjoy.

The mage of the Daqan Infantry Command

Here's the old man leading a small contingent of spearmen

That's it for this small Daqan sidebar. We'll be back to the Uthuk shortly

Back to the Uthuk ? I took a few quick shots with my phone to get the images up on display. I have more awaiting paint, but this post is dedicated to the ones who are finished and based. Well, 99% based. I still have some vegetation tufts to add that will break up the current monotony of the sandy bases. Hope you enjoy.

A snapshot overhead of the whole painted army:

Beserkers - ICU in the front rank

A closer look at the Flesh Rippers:

Let's not forget Ravos:

And a couple shots of the faction's reliable tanks - The Spined Threshers:

And another angle:

That about rounds out my Army's current state of painting. Kethra will be my next model to paint. I have a few more things I'll be posting in the meantime though - so check back. I've been working on some 3D terrain and trying my hand at sculpting the pieces with clay. Happy painting gents!

So, I picked up a box of Beserkers, Spined Threshers, Flesh Rippers, and Kethra but have not put brush to them yet. Today, I've taken the assembled/glued minis outside to get their base coats applied. Every time I base coat my minis I kick myself for having sold my Iwata airbrush kit. Oh, how I wish I still had that thing...Instead, I've gone back to rattle-can priming. Don't get me wrong, they do the job well enough. They are less optimal in the end result though. I figured I would try to catalog my progress and provide summaries of how I complete each step. Hopefully, this will help newer brush slingers in their process and encourage more painted armies to take the field! I'll attempt to list paints used and such as I go in case you're interested in achieving a similar look. Here's a plug for the Waiqar - I think the palad bruised flesh tones would work well for an Ankor Maro or Vorunthal the Cursed.

Let's get to it - I prime my miniatures using a simplified zenithal highlighting method (I am using rattle cans - Army Painter to be exact). When I say simplified, I simply mean that I use black and white...no gray (primarily because I don't have it to hand and save about 10-15 bucks by not purchasing it). For a better result - add the gray. The specific colors in Army Painter spray that I use are Matte Black Undercoat and Matte White.

I spray the black coat while holding the miniature in my hand at an angle such that the spray is focused on the undercarriages of the model.

For the white coat, I place the miniature free standing on some cardboard and spray directly from the top. This creates a contrast between the underside shadow areas and where a light would naturally fall. With those two steps completed - I let them dry/cure for a day before putting brush to them.

Here is the end result of the simplified zenithal priming

In follow up posts, I will stage out Kethra's progression. First with the infantry model followed by the cavalry/standalone variant.

One of the downsides to using rattle cans as a priming method is the occasional grit you receive from spraying. Temperature plays a role in how minimal this side effect will be. Spray from too far away and the paint tacks up before it hits the miniature causing this effect. Spray too close and you clog up the details. My take on it is this, get some primer on the mini and start painting. Do what you can to minimize it, but don't obsess over it. Unless you are painting for competition - no one will likely notice it on the final miniature. Remember - people are looking at these from a distance.

In the next entry - I'll be painting Kethra (Infantry Variant) starting with the flesh. Happy painting gents!

As promised, I have cataloged how I accomplish the skin for my Uthuk. Hopefully, I've captured enough for anyone wishing to do so to follow along. The end goal is to create a bruised and sore appearance to the skin. I happen to use the Army Painter line of paints to achieve this, but similar results can be achieved using other lines of paint. Simply find colors in your favorite line of paint that are similar and you'll get pretty close. Here are the paints and tones used:

STEP 1: Mix the base color. I use a ratio of 1:1 - Uniform Grey and Skeleton Bone. That's equal amounts for anyone new to painting ratios. One drop of each color.

Those of you with a sharp eye will notice I am using a wet pallet. Not mandatory, but it does help. For all of my steps, you will want to thin your paint (water works just fine). We don't want to completely lose the zenithal yet - it will be our roadmap for light and shadow as we paint. Apply this color (again - thinly) to the skin areas of the miniature.

STEP 2: Purple Tone the miniature - This is done with 1:1 purple tone to water. Do not slather on the wash. Focus the wash towards creases and edges of the miniature. Basically, anywhere clothing, spikes, or deep recesses of the skin occur.

Notice the miniature's left knee. The wash is focused where the tunic overlaps the leg and where the wraps around the calf begin. The knee is still the base coat done in step one. You don't have to cover the entire miniature in the wash. Also, please note the miniature's left hand. The wrist and middle finger - the pinky finger have been washed, but the index finger and thumb have not.

Once again, you can see that the wash is focused on the back of the miniature. The spine is picked out but the shoulder remains the base color from step one.

STEP 3: The Midtone Color - So the base color and purple tone provide the shadowed areas of the miniature. This step will cover the application of our mid-tone color to the mini. Here is the mix:

1:1:1:1 - Uniform Grey, Skeleton Bone, Barbarian Flesh, Matt White

Looks as though my Barbarian flesh could've used a little more shaking. I assure you that there are approximately equal amounts of each color in this mix though.

You can see our original base color in contrast to the mid-tone color in this shot. The step between the colors is a bit drastic. I will say it again - thin the paint! The will allow some of that dark color to blend nicely into the mid-tone via the translucency of the acrylic paint. If you go too thick, the transition will be too abrupt. I've been painting my entire army this way and still will inadvertently apply this layer too thickly. If you have the time, and patience, super thin this layer - allow it to dry - then apply this layer again gradually moving away from the shadowed areas.

STEP 4: Extremely watered down Red Tone. This step is even more judicious in its application than the purple tone. Mix 1 part Red Tone to 2 parts water. Focus in on the base of spikes and where armor would rub against the skin. I'll also typically use this step as a fixer to help smooth over any abrupt transitions I created in the last step.

STEP 5: Skin Highlight - To achieve the highlight for the skin tone, I add 1 part Matt White to the mid-tone mix that was created in Step 3. This is the resulting color:

Focus on placing this color precisely where the light would hit and try not to cover up your other layers with it. (Optional step, I painted in the eyes using Dragon Red - If you do choose to paint the eyes, do it before you add the highlight tone so you can shore up any mistakes with getting the eyes painted in.)

Summary: That is how I paint the skin tones for my Uthuk miniatures. More or less care is used pending the miniature I'm painting. With that said - I typically perform one last highlight on character or infantry command unit figures before calling it quits on the skin. With this being Kethra, I did just that. Here is a shot of her getting ready to get her base color applied to her tunic with those final highlights added. All I do is add a tiny bit more Matt White to the highlight color and apply it very sparingly to the most prominent areas that would be in the light.

Well, there it is. I hope some of you find this of value. I will follow up with the Calvary variant really soon since I painted them at the same time. The skin really begins to pop once the rest of the miniature has been painted. If you take a stab at this, I'd love to see your end result! Happy painting folks!

As promised, I have the skin of the cavalry variant of Kethra (and her Flesh Ripper) painted up using the same method as the infantry version. I'll save the chatter about each step for the previous post and simply throw up the images. Enjoy.

Step 1:

STEP 2:

STEP 3:

STEP 4:

STEP 5:

OPTIONAL STEP 6: Final Highlight - Yes the first layer of the Reds are in on this one as well but I seem to have skipped taking a photo of the final highlight for the skin tone.

Overall I'm happy with the skin. Once the additional details are painted in the depth of the skin really pops out. I hope you enjoyed this short tutorial on how I do the skin for my Uthuk. Happy Painting folks!

Bro I cannot wait for a finished product on this model! Just nice work! Every time I see your Uthuk army on the table I just love this game that much more!

Infantry Kethra breakdown to this point:

Tunic
---------------------------------
Base Color: Army Painter Chaos Red
Fold Shadows: 1:1 Army Painter Chaos Red/Army Painter Oak Brown mix
Wash: Army Painter Dark Tone
Mid Tone: 1:1 Army Painter Chaos Red/Army Painter Dragon Red
Highlight: 1:2 Army Painter Choas Red/Army Painter Dragon Red

Wrist/Leg Wraps & Hair
---------------------------------
2:1 Army Painter Uniform Gray/Army Painter Matt Black

Bone
---------------------------------
Foundation: Army Painter Oak Brown

A quick note about color temperature: So the reason I paint the bone foundation layer in a deep brown color first, is to combat the initial zenithal highlight colors of black and white. Black and white accentuate cold colors as an undertone while deep reds and browns help to accentuate warm colors. Cold colors being blues, grays, purples, greens. Warm colors being reds, yellows, oranges, browns. If you've ever tried to paint a vibrant red or yellow over a black primed mini and had to layer it three or four times to get the color you've wanted, then you've experienced the problem of color temperatures fighting against each other. This single step will help the final highlights pop.

I don't bother with the tunic because the chaos red is a deep enough foundation color to give a good base for the layers above. I did, however, place a mix of the choas red and oak brown in the deep folds to lean the tunic's shadows towards the warm spectrum.

The next post will have Kethra (infantry variant) painted to completion.

Kethra A'laak Infantry Variant Final

All set folks. This post will break down Kethra's finishing touches. But before we jump into the paint list - let's take a look at the end result.

Picking up from where the last post left off I'll catalog the paints used for the different areas of the model.

Bone (Armor, Weapons, Spikes, Skulls)
---------------------------------
Base Color: Army Painter Oak Brown (shown in the previous post)
Light Dry brush: Army Painter Skeleton Bone
Wash: Army Painter Strong Tone (this is a dark sepia wash that works well on skeleton bones)
Mid: Army Painter Skeleton Bone (this layer is pained wet instead of dry brushed and is more focused in the areas it is placed. Mostly focusing on where the light would hit the miniature.
Highlight: 1:2 Army Painter Matt White/Army Painter Skeleton Bone (very sparingly placed into the most extreme points of where the light would hit the mini.

Highlight on the cloth wrap around the Bone dagger
---------------------------------
Army Painter Uniform Gray - Very minimal lines placed on the topmost edges of the wrap on the dagger

Hair Bands
---------------------------------
Base: Army Painter Chaos Red
Mid: 1:1 Army Painter Choas Red/Army Painter Dragon Red
Highlight: 1:2 Army Painter Chaos Red/Army Painter Dragon Red

That's it, folks. From start to finish, the colors and techniques I've used for Kethra. I hope some of you find this useful in your painting. Here are a few more shots of the final miniature:

Final thoughts - Overall I'm very satisfied with the end result of the miniature. Having painted a number of beserkers already I didn't find her too much of a challenge. I simply applied the same process that I've used on my other Uthuk and added a few extra highlights since she was a character model. The very last thing I do is spray my minis with a Matte Varnish (yes - it's army painter as well). This will ultimately dull the colors a bit but protects the minis from handling. And to be honest - as much fun as they are to paint - they are more fun when they take the field! I will cover the basing in a future post, but that will likely be a ways off as I will base all of the mini's from the last batch of boxes at the same time. I hope you've enjoyed watching this unfold. Cheers!