Aha! Caught you unawares – these aren’t Orks, tanks, rats or
Ork-rat-tank-hybrid-walker-machines! These are in fact a couple of Dreadfleet
ships.
Here are my thoughts on the models, painting and some other general ramblings that have tangential relevance.
The good
The Nocturne (I couldn't fit 'Bloody Reaver' onto the gap on the sail).
The Flaming Scimitar was very easy to put together. I’m quite fond of
the opulent Djinn Palace look, but less pleased with the blowing wind sculpt
coming out of the air spirit’s mouth. The fire Djinn looks ace – the thought of
a sixty foot fiery sword crashing down onto an enemy ship’s deck just fills me
with joy!
I’m going to be reluctant to give the ships back as I’m quite happy
with the way they look. Doubtless the taste of sweet, sweet grog will help ease
the pain.
The Bad
Maybe it’s just my incompetence but the Bloody Reaver really was the
‘Bloody Will Not Fit Together’. I had to shave off parts of the starboard base
to make it even partly fit.
More annoyingly, the main sail sits awkwardly right up against the main
castle tower – which looks rubbish from the Starboard side. The highly ornate
sail (the one that took ages to paint) is positioned right behind the main sail
and is almost entirely hidden. These latter two problems are (I’m pretty sure)
not my fault, and a little bit more thought during the design process would
have sorted this out. Despite this - I do genuinely like the sculpt.
The Flaming Scimitar went together substantially more easily, the only
problem being a mould gap on the smaller of the minarets.
Artistic decisions
I decided to stay relatively close to the Games Workshop colour schemes
on the Bloody Reaver. The main exceptions were painting the tops of the towers and
other sections as rust. The shapes of the battlements on the castle walls were
so reminiscent of the gates of Mordor, I decided to assume that they were made
of cast iron that had been exposed to the corrosive sea air and paint them
accordingly.
The colours of the sunken ships differ as well. I like to think that
the rear ship on the Port side was a Bretonnian galleon.The Red empire frigate
to the fore of it has had its brass finery corrode into verdigris. Finally, a
ruined piece of boat next to the main ship got painted to look like a North Sea oil rig
lifeboat.
Poor Bretonnians and Empire
And roughnecks.
The flaming scimitar was again painted in a fairly stock manner. I left
the sails a little darker than I intended when I realised that I was having
huge amounts of trouble painting a decent flat layer of a light colour over
them. After a narrow scrape with bleached bone, I left them the ochre colour.
It spoils the overall look a little and it’s a shame that I didn’t quite pull
it off.
What I’ve learnt
2. I’m really not good at doing areas of flat, pale colour. Partly this
is because I so seldom need to – Orks and Skaven are so filthy and dark that it
hasn’t been a problem for me for ages
3. Watering paints down is essential for good painting. I probably
already knew this, but having to do loads of flat colour areas and highlighting
work like the wave crests really re-enforced this for me.
4. As far as career choices go: I’m not going to be a commission painter. This project has taken me
ages and I’m getting a bottle of grog for it. I could not live off this grog
for the next three weeks whilst I paint something else. Also, I’ve been getting
incredibly frustrated because I haven’t had the time to work on my own rats,
Orks, tanks and Ork-rat-tank-hybrid-walker-machines whilst painting the ships.
So adieu, and I’ll post again in a bit when I’ve done something new or
thought of a new way to talk about something old.
I do not hold myself to be any
sort of painting role model. My Jedi brush skills are middling at best and
constructive criticism is appreciated. Saying “Lolz, dat iz da wurstest paint
work I’z eva seen, innit” is not.
Nevertheless, I thought I’d share the finished product with you (my
adoring audience) before the ships sail away to blue pillow cases new.
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