Hive Bases for Tyranids (and other resin casting goodness!)
Greetings fellow wargamers! Caleb with White Metal Games here with another fun tip/tutorial for you!
Those of you that follow my blog will know that I am a long time Tyranid aficionado. I love me some bugs. And whether you love or hate the new Nid codex, we can all agree that the Tyranids are a dynamic, evocative race that are as fun to paint as they are to play! I’ve seen every sort of Nid color scheme from bumble bee orange/black to bio luminescent jellyfish nids, and everything in between.
However, what Tyranid army would be complete with custom bases?! There are some amazing resin bases out there on the market, from Dragonforge to Secret Weapon, to name just a few off the top of my head. But resin bases get pricey fast, especially when you are basing an entire army!
This is not to say resin bases aren’t worth every penny. The time they save you and the way they make your army stand out on the table cannot be matched. That being said, guys like me don’t love a project unless we’re doing it ourselves, so this article is for the folks out there, like me that like to do their own casting.
I don’t know if you’ve consider it or not, but there are some amazing silicone ice cube trays out there that work great as casting molds for a variety of basing purposes, terrain, etc. A few years ago I started experimenting with precast silicone ice trays and other mold like devices.
For this tutorial, we are using a set of silicone ice trays and a set of plastic ice trays I got at the supermarket.
As with most two part resins, you mix equal parts of either agent. I use measuring cups that I buy from the dollar store. It’s cheap and you can reuse them for hundreds of castings before they are finally so gross it’s just easier to buy a new set.
This article is not intended how to teach you how to cast. If you want to learn all that, there are tons of youtube videos and tutorials, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Hirst Arts. I can honestly say I learned 95% of everything I know about casting and mold making today by exploring his exhaustive site for days and days and days. A wealth of knowledge at your door.
After mixing the agents, and spraying a little mold release in the trays for good measure, I fill the ice trays with the compound resin. Some of the hex cells I fill to different levels, some barely at all. This will give me a variety of heights for my mounted models, and allow me some fun posting options.
I use the resin that sets in five minutes. If you have a vibrating table or the equivalent so much the better. If not, well, just rattle the table a bit after you fill the molds and you should be fine. These aren’t complex molds and they breath very well.
Once done, pop out your results. You can see here in just minutes I’ve cast up a wide variety of sizes, heights, etc. These trays have a very high yield.
This white tray below is a Portal cube tray. I’m thinking of using some of these as either objectives, or terrain, or maybe both. You could easily cover up the heart logo with a Space Marine Icon from a drop pod or the like with minimal effort.
Here you can see I’ve arranged a few of the hex bases around both a 60mm base and a 120mm base for the larger Tyranid organisms. I recommend NOT gluing them into place until you have experimented with how your models look onto top of the resin castings.
Some models, like the Tyrannofex or Exocrine, while quite larger, and not very poss-able. As such these hex blades won’t be ideal for every model out there in the current range, and bi-peds such as the Hive Tyrant, Carnifex, or the like will be ideally suited for these bases.
We’ll be working on a new studio army over the next few months and we’ll be testing out a few of these hex style resin bases on our own studio Nids.
YES, YES, I know, you’d like to see these bases look with some actual tyranids modelled on them, right?
Fine, here you go!
We’re thinking about using the Portal Ice cube tray to create some stacks of techno-crates. I could also seeing casting up a bunch and building some sort of strange pyramid or shrine with them.
If you found this tutorial useful, be sure to check out more of our work on our homepage, or at the very least, like us on facebook! We also have a new podcast called Warcouncil where we share other cool hobby tips! And you can see more tips through our Youtube channel! Caleb, White Metal Games
Crackle medium . . . what all can it be used for? .
Greetings fellow wargamers! Caleb with White Metal Games here! And today I have a quick tip for you!
Over the holidays GW Released their Agrellan Earth technical paint, a crackle medium paint. Mediums like Crackle, Frost, Pearlized, etc don’t have a major place in our hobby and I’ve never entirely been sure why. My theory is that until the major paint vendors like Privateer Press, GW, Reaper, Vallejo, and others release their own version of these mediums, most of the consumers remain in the dark about them.
Well personally, I don’t have time to wait around for their okay to proceed. I like to test out things for myself. Crackle Medium is very cheap and easy to obtain. I picked up a bottle at Walmart for $5 bucks!
I’ve been trying to think of uses for Crackle Medium for a while now, and suddenly the other day I got a burst of insight. Veins! Veins on wings (and anywhere else you want veins) no longer have to be a pain. Now, I’m not saying I am the only person that’s ever had this idea, but a quick Google search didn’t reveal a lot of findings, so I felt like a post dedicated to the technique could be valuable.
Okay, so here’s how it works: Firstly, grab a wing. I’m using an old pewter Gargoyle wing below from the Tyranid range, however any leather wing would do. Prime the wing, preferably in a light color like white or grey. I’m using Vallejo light grey primer below.
Next, grab your crackle medium, a color for the veins (I’m using VMA Scarlet Red), and a color to go over the veins for contrast. Since this is a training tutorial, I went with a simple flesh color. This is actually a sample paint from reaper, but it’s fleshy enough for my purposes.
Once your primer is dry, apply red. I was generous here and applied a nice, even coat using an airbrush.
Author’s Note: I realize veins can be a variety of colors, including blue, purple (for old veins), etc. However, the same technique can in theory be applied to any underlying color. And a clever painter might even blend together a few underlying colors, like blue and red to create some dark purple patches, so that the final effect is more rich and interesting.
After it dries, apply a generous amount of crackle medium to anywhere you want veins. I did it in the inner part of the wings, the leathery membrane. It goes on clear, so you’ll just have to trust me that this happened.
Now, let that dry. For the final stage, thin your flesh paint down a little bit. What you want is a nice, even top coat, not so thick you can’t shift it around on the model. If applied correctly, then the crackle medium will start to do it’s job in mere moments! So hold your breath and wait for the magic to happen!
And that’s it! Simple, yet effective. What?! I said this was a tip, not a book report. Honestly I could have made this a three word article: Crackle for Veins.
Even though this tutorial is brief, we could encourage readers to try crackle medium to achieve other fun effects. Try some of these!
Wood Grain: Black base coat with Brown Overcoat
Marble: Black base coat with off white/bone white top coat
Lightning: White or pale blue base coat with darker blue top coat
To see more of what’s going on at White Metal Games, like this interesting Ork Ghost Ark (wtf?) below, be sure to check out our facebook page for all the most recent happenings! And give us a like if you, well, like what you see.
And until then, PUT YOUR MINIS WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS!
If you found this tutorial useful, be sure to check out more of our work on our homepage, or at the very least, like us on facebook! We also have a new podcast called Warcouncil where we share other cool hobby tips! And you can see more tips through our Youtube channel!
Recently I was tasked with coming up with a right handed power fist for a Chaos Helbrute. I know, I know, nobody likes Helbrutes in this addition. However, I’d argue that a Chaos Helbrute with two power fists and twin heavy flamers is actually a wrecking ball at 130 points!
The problem of course was how to covert the second power fist. The only Helbrute on the market right now is the Dark Vengeance model, which while cheap and easy to acquire doesn’t have what I’d call many options, or any options for that matter. Fortunately, conversions like this are what I live for!
Since I had kit bashed a few Helbrute back when Dark Vengeance was released, I had a few spare helbrutes laying around.
Here’s what you’ll need for this conversion:
2 Helbrutes (stop whining, they’re less than $5 each on ebay!) 1 Daemon Prince open hand right arm (about $5 for bit plus shipping) Clippers, Glue, and a Razor Saw
All told, you can build this model for less than $20 and still have most of the 2nd helbrute left over for another conversion. This is how bits boxes are born, people! Get with the program!
Okay, this conversion couldn’t be simpler. Here’s how it works.
First, clip the long fingers off the Daemon Prince right arm. Be sure to save the fingers, as these can be useful for conversions down the road. You’d be surprised. Clean up the edges where you cut with a hobby knife.
Now, using a pair of clipper, carefully clip both halfs of the arm behind the ‘elbow’. Clean it up a little bit with a hobby knife. Now glue the arm together normally.
Remove the melta barrels from the helbrutes right arm. These are also worth saving IMHO. They are useful for melta guns, engine exhausts, etc, down the road. Now glue the arm together otherwise normally.
Once dry, you are going to dry fit the open handed daemon prince forearm against the helbrute melta barrel arm, which now is more of an upper arm/elbow. If they fit smoothly, great! If not, clean it up a bit with a hobby knife. Then using some plastic glue to weld the two pieces together. Allow at least 1-2 hours to dry fully.
Okay, one of your two helbrutes is what we are going to call the spare helbrute. Using the right (powerfist) arm on the spare helbrute, carefuly remove the fingers from the right hand. I used a craft saw to do this, carefully sawing the three main fingers off the hand, then using a pair of clipper to carefully remove the ‘thumb’.
Clean up the fingers so that they are relatively clean and smooth.
Dry fit the fingers onto the daemon prince arm and once satisfied with the placement, glue them into position. Let dry.
Now the model is more or less done. All you need to do is use a little 2 part epoxy to till in the gap along the elbow and under the hand/fingers. I know, I know . . . you don’t love the posing. Well, if you are up for a challenge, then feel free to repose the figure in a more evocative stance, like this feral beastie we are putting together for a themed fallen Wolf Brothers army.
Got a cool helbrute conversion? We’d love to see it! Post a picture in the comments below, and then you’ll really . . . PUT YOUR MINIS WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS!
Caleb, WMG If you found this tutorial useful, be sure to check out more of our work on our homepage, or at the very least, like us on facebook! We also have a new podcast called Warcouncil where we share other cool hobby tips! And you can see more tips through our Youtube channel! Caleb, White Metal Games
If you’ve got an old picture frame, you’re half way to your new display board!
Hey guys! Caleb with White Metal Games here. When most of us are getting ready for a tournament, the last thing on our mind is a display board, especially for new players. The cost of models, time to assemble (and convert) as well as time to paint eats up all our resources.
But a good display board can mean the difference between having a good looking army and having a great looking army! And building one can be easier than you think. I recently volunteered to building a few Demo Board for my favorite FLGS. In practical terms there is very little that is different about a demo board to a display board, and in most instances they can be used interchangeably. In fact if you can build terrain, you can build a display/demo board.
Obviously every player is going to want something different out of their display board, and certain armies will look better on certain types of board than others. For example, if I build a creepy graveyard board for my Vampire Counts, then it might not work well for my Sisters of Battle army.
This tutorial is more intended to show newcomers to the hobby one way they might bang out a fairly generic display board in a day or two for their upcoming tournament. It’s not intended for veterans, nor is it the end all be all only way you can do this. So with that being said, on with the tutorial!
To start I grabbed a large frame from a local thrift shop. Big frames like this go for about $10-$15 generally. You don’t need one with glass (since you’ll just be removing the glass anyway), so a broken picture frame can sometimes be a bargain. This frame is a little bigger than I traditionally use. Most of the time a frame about 24″ x 24″ will suffice, however, you can go a littler bigger or smaller depending on the army it’s being designed for. Obviously a horde army will need a bigger frame than a GK Paladin army, etc.
Remove the glass, if there is any. If you are going to simply break the glass, BE EXTRA CAREFUL! Obviously shattered glass poses a safety risk on many levels. I would instead recommend removing the backing material from the frame,then removing the glass that way instead. Glass can be recycled, so if you have a large recycling bin just deposit it gently.
This particular frame posed several challenges. The first of which was the matte. I decided to keep the matte as this would create some depth to the board once done, like the soldiers were in a slight defile. I removed the old backing paper, carefully bent the metal holding spikes up, and removed the old glass. Then I used the glass like a template to measure the size of a replacement piece of foam board. I wedged this in front of the backing cardboard. This helped to reinforce the board, so now there were several layers to the board: cardboard, foamboard, then the matte material. I bent the holding spikes back into place.
To be extra sure that nothing would collapse, I also grabbed a roll of craft paper (the my wife uses for parties like a tablecloth that kids can draw on) and outlined the size of the frame on the craft paper. Then I cut it out, glued it down to the edges of the frame.
I also stapled it for good measure. This will ensure that the paper doesn’t go anywhere. Be warned these staples could scratch a table so perhaps apply some felt to the staples once done to ensure this doesn’t happen.
Next, I gathered up a variety of terrain supplies out of my bits vault. I knew I didn’t want anything too flashy or too tall. The goal with a display board is to draw attention to your army, without drawing too much attention to the display board itself. It should accentuate your army and make them look better, sort of the way any geek looks better when standing next to a beautiful person of the opposite gender. Think of it like a narrative base for the entire army.
I lay out some of the bigger pieces to get a general sense of where I might want to put things. This isn’t a firm rule, I just want to have a sense of where things might go, so I can plan accordingly. Obviously this display board, being a demo board, was meant to have several different types of terrain, all of which are fairly flat and low to the ground. If you are designing something more extravagant, like a Necron Tomb World or Heldrake Aerie, then you’ll want to plan accordingly. I personally feel board with a lot of elaborate catwalks and such can take away from the army, but a few well placed pieces of even very tall terrain can really make the board pop.
Since this board was matted, I’m going to need to smooth over the transition between the higher level of the board with the lower level of the sunken foam board. I’ve used lots of different types of plaster over the years, from Plaster of Paris to simple spackle. The problem with plaster is two fold: One, it’s brittle, and chips easily. Two, it’s heavy and adds a great deal of weight to your terrain or boards. A few months ago I discovered this amazing stuff called plaster cloth, which sort of solves both problems! And it’s cheap!
Plaster cloth is a bit like an ace bandage. You cut strips of it and dip them into a basin of water.
Then you apply them much in the same way you might paper mache. The water activates the plaster and you simply smooth the strips out with your hands. You rub the strips down and it causes the plaster to fill in the holes on the strips, so that in the end you are left with a very thin layer of what looks like plaster, but is in fact much lighter and not at all brittle.
Obviously it gets messy and you’ll need to tive it some time to dry. Also, since the gauze it wet it tends to cling to whatever it is laid over quite tightly. For me, this meant that the transition was still quite pronounced ever after a few layers. I ended up applying about 4-6 layers around the edges of the matter.
This is around the halfway point. As you can see, the boarder is becoming less pronounced than before.
After the final strips are applied, the gradient is greatly reduced and the board appears to be a natural decline in the ground.
At this point I actually lay out my terrain pieces. I fiddle with them a little bit until I find an arrangement I find balanced and pleasing to the eye.
Okay, if there was a major lesson to be learned building this board, THIS IS WHERE I LEARNED IT! Learn from my mistakes! A lot of companies will try to sell you on scenic cement, which is for all intensive purposes watered down PVA glue. I thought I was being smart by making my own. I grabbed a spare bottle, mixed up a 1/1 ratio of glue to water and used it to coat the board.
Obviously when applying glue in this way, be sure to use some sort of template or mask to protect areas from overspray. For example, if I don’t want grit/dirty to be glued down in the center of the crater, I should take steps to ensure that the glue doesn’t waft over that area.
That wasn’t my problem. That was something I knew to expect. The problem came later, during painting. Here’s the rub. Scenic cement doesn’t have a lot of binding power. As you dilute the glue, it’s ability to hold things in place lessens. So when it came time to paint the display board, I ran into issues.
I applied my general house mix of dirt/sand/herbs/ballast, etc to the board. Normally for a project like this, I’d use a spray gun supported by a heavy duty compressor to basecoat the board black or brown or the like. However, even at lower operating pressure, the air was blasting the grit mixture right off the board.
I then tried using a brush to dab paint onto the board and smear it around. This method worked, but took over an hour and required multiple applications. Sand kept coming off the board and would get stained black by the paint brush, clogging the bristles with this half paint/half sand mixture. I would then smear this Azathothian like gel around the board, but it took forever! I don’t recommend this.
Instead, try this: apply generous amounts of PVA (white school) glue to the board in small areas, spread it around with an old paint brush (a big brush, like you’d used to paint something other than miniatures) and then apply your basing medium directly to the board. This will take longer in the application process, but will ensure a firmer grip on your basing medium and save you TONS of time in the painting process. Trust me!
So, after that entire debacle was done, I was finally ready to apply some actual paint. I primed the board black (see above) using a variety of techniques and many, many four letter words. Also at this time I blasted the interior of the crater with some brown paint from a spray paint can. My though process was they built this city on natural earth (and rock and roll), so when the bombs started falling, natural earth would be exposed. It gave me a chance to splash some color onto an otherwise very grey board.
I dry brushed the black with dark grey craft paint from my local Walmart, then applied a slightly light grey paint in the same fashion, create two levels of depth and light/dark contrast.
Already having spent a great deal of time during the priming process, I wasn’t interested in doing a great deal of detail work to the board. So I settled on a few simple techniques. For the crashed Aquilla wing, I overbrushed some dark red paint to the wing itself, overbrushed some boltgun metal (or the equivalent) to the exposed engine components, and applied some more grey to the ‘dirty’ areas on the wings. I applied a few simple black washes to pull out a a little detail and BLAM-O, doneski.
For the buildings I went even simple. I drybrushed some coppery metallics of the building, then some boltgun metal over the doors and vents. A simple black wash to pluck out a little detail and WHAM-O, donearoski.
I borrowed the same technique for the barricade and barrels, using brown and copper, respectively. Finally for the various metallic pieces on the board like the tank traps, etc, I used several different metallics (guess what I had on hand, you guessed right, copper and boltgun metal, what can I say, it was cold in my garage and I didn’t feel like getting up) to layer up from black to copper to a final dry brush of boltgun metal. The final effect was that these tank traps had the lock of rusty metal without every applying a wash. Interesting. I’ll have to try this technique again in the future. Iron Warriors, perhaps?
Here’s the finished display board, before bringing it to my FLGS. All in a few days work.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Highlen Terrain at this point. A month or two ago, I found out through youtube that Stephen with Highlen Terrain had designed an AMAZING Necron Tomb World gaming board for Project One Gaming. However, something happened (fuzzy on the details), and Project One had to cancel the project, even though it was practically done at this point. Stephen was very good natured about the entire thing and decided to sell of the board as four Necron Display Boards instead. At the time I last spoke with him, he had 3 of the 4 quarters remaining, and was offering them for around $100 each, which included a scratch built pylon. You can’t beat that!
If you haven’t seen the work done by Highlen, I can recommend them enough! If interested, you can email Stephen about what pieces he has remained. He also offered to rebuild the sections already sold if a buyer wanted to pick up the entire 4’x6′ board for $350 USD including shipping with everything (ALL THE PYLONS!). My mouth dropped when I heard that and if it hadn’t been so close to Christmas I would have most certainly bought it!
Recently Stephen has been working on some crater boards for a new client and let me tell you I can’t wait to see them done!
If you are a Necron player in need of an amazing Necron display board for an amazing price, contact Stephen at Highlen Terrain!
Or, if you’d rather tackle this project on your own then by all means . . .
PUT YOUR MINIS . . err, I mean DEMO BOARD WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS! If you found this tutorial useful, be sure to check out more of our work on our homepage, or at the very least, like us on facebook! We also have a new podcast called Warcouncil where we share other cool hobby tips! And you can see more tips through our Youtube channel! Caleb, White Metal Games
Greeting fellow wargamers! Caleb with White Metal Games here with another tutorial.
Magnetizing can be a daunting part of the hobby to jump into. Magnets seems to offer the perfect solution to the continued inflation of the prices of our favorite miniature games . . . limitless options for seemingly very little work. However, there are tons of issues you DON’T consider when you first start magnetizing. Namely where to sink the magnets for maximum effect, how to avoid just gluing a magnet in place and ending up with an an unaesthetic model, as well as issues with polarity and making sure you get the magnets put on the right way.
Whew . . . with all that to worry about, no wonder folks stay way from magnets. When I first started magnetizing models, I was daunted too. I started experimenting with other means of magnetizing models, and I’d like to present you with some of those findings today. Now I’m not saying that what I am presenting will replace your magnetizing ambitions. However, this is just another tool to add to your gaming arsenal for use in the future if and when the need comes up.
Anyone remember this popular game when you were a kid? Wooly Willy!
I sure do. Even wonder how it works? Of course not! You’ve got better things so do with your day!
So when why am I bothering to bring this up? Well, Willy can teach us a few things about magnetization! Yes indeed! You see Willy’s ‘wooly’, that stuff that looks like black sawdust is in fact Iron Shavings. And the reason this puzzle works is because there is a magnet on the stylus.
So what are iron shavings? Iron Shavings/Filings are just what they sound like: sort of the equivalent of sawdust in the Iron industry. The idea to use them for magnetizing occurred to me a few years ago and I’ve been experimenting with it off and on ever since.
You can buy Iron Shavings all over the internet, but you can also get a pretty good deal on them here. This site also offers some bulk orders here. In addition, this company sells tons of different sizes of Steel Balls, which are very useful for when you need a sphere for magnetizing but don’t want to pay the exorbitant prices of sphere magnets.
In addition to regular iron shavings, I’ve also experimented with a product called Magnahold. You can purchase Magnahold here.
Magnahold is a ferrite (iron) additive. It claims that when mixed with paint and applied to a smooth surface that it will make the surface attractive to magnets. In the case of a weak connection, it suggests adding an extra layer OR using a stronger magnet.
I bought a bag of Magnahold that was intended to be mixed with a Pint (16 oz) of Paint. Of course I wasn’t planning on using all of it at one time. For the purpose of this tutorial, I decided to compare Iron Shavings (generic) to Magnahold to see which held a better connection to several magnetized plastic limbs.
So, I gathered some supplies: the additives, some paint and brushes, and a sheet of plasticard. Eventually I switched over to a paper plate instead of plasticard. I also magnetized a few limbs.
For the purpose of this tutorial, I really just glued magnets on the ends of the arms, with the exception of the space marine arm where I actually drilled out a spot for the magnet.
As you can see here, even through the bag the magnahold has a pretty firm grip on the magnets. And that’s through a thin layer of plastic!
I felt like it was only fair to try it with the iron additive too, so I put some IA in a baggie and did the same. As you can see, there was a similar effect.
To keep everything on an even playing field, I started with a 1/1 ratio of paint to additive. I mixed it together, thoroughly. The Iron Additive is in Blue and the Magnahold is in red.
After thoroughly mixing the additives I could already tell a slight difference. In the above case, the Iron Shavings are of a much finer gradient than the Magnahold.
They were able to be mixed more thoroughly. As such, they seem to create a firmer hold on the magnets. It is very clear that the more concentrated the area of the Iron Additive, the stronger the magnetic hold.
It’s not that the Magnahold didn’t work, I just felt like the Iron Additive had a stronger connection, likely due to it’s denser concentration.
Final Conclusions:
Although Iron Additives are a suitable replacements for magnets, they never reach the strength of a true magnet on magnet connection, however, they do bypass the polarity issues, making them an ideal enty point for newcomers to magnetization.
Iron additives are ideally suited for small limbs, such as Resin or Plastic. The finer the grain of the additive, the denser it can be applied to an area, and thus the stronger the connection between it and the magnet.
In addition, Iron Additives such as Magnahold could be a reasonable alternatives when magnetized host points are too close together and the magnets are trying to rip each other out of their respective sockets. For example Tyranids often feature ball and socket joints very close together, and polarity is ALWAYS an issue in these areas as the host magnets often try to pull each other out of their respective sockets.
Due to the gritty nature of the iron additive, it is advisable to use paint as an application medium, but limit the application of the additive to areas that will rarely be seen by observers, such as ball and socket joints and underslung areas on a model.
Also AVOID using superglue to apply iron additive to a model. In tests it tended to clump and application was very difficult. Paint seems to be the ideal delivery method as it’s slow dry time ensures you can apply the additive wherever you like.
If you found this tutorial useful, be sure to check out more of our work on our homepage, or at the very least, like us on facebook! We also have a new podcast called Warcouncil where we share other cool hobby tips! And you can see more tips through our Youtube channel!
Until next time, PUT YOUR MINIS WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS!
Starting out in the miniature painting business is no easy feat . . .
Dear Reader:
What follows is a conversion between myself and the owner of a new prospective painting service called Terran Commissions. The painter contacted me a few weeks ago for help with developing their painting service, establishing rates, and how to reach out to the community. I was surprised by some of his questions and I felt that if this painter had questions, perhaps other would be painters out there do too. So, in the spirit of community, I thought I might post our discussion, chock full of advice for new painters, so that if they have questions but feel silly about asking them, perhaps they can learn from Alex’ example.
I was flattered that Alex would think to contact me, and while I wouldn’t consider myself an expert by any means, I have done quite a bit of research about other painting services, including outsourcing a few projects just to get the feel of being a client.
This conversation is being presented in it’s entirety. When the painter contacted me, I was both surprised and inspired to help them. I felt it was my duty in the community to help a fellow painter get their bearings.
FROM ALEX TO WHITE METAL GAMES:
To whoever it may concern As of a few weeks ago i set up a commissions “business” and have done everything i can to spread the name Terran Commissions using facebook, flyers, friends, youtube and so far i’m having no luck in finding people who are interested. I’m not one for self flattery but my painting skills is pretty high and my prices are fare (unless its a character model you’ll never pay more for the commission then you did the model) but because times an issue due to school i can only take on small jobs. I guess the purpose of this email is to ask for advice in both getting started and spreading my name any help at all would be greatly appreciated. thank you for your time. A.H.
FROM WMG TO AH: Hey Alex: This is Caleb with White Metal Games. Thanks for touching base regarding your new service Terran Commissions. Congratulations on the first step to running a new commission service. Just by looking over your Facebook page there are a few things I can tell you right away.
Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, I don’t see many pictures of your painted models on your facebook page. There appear to be 3 pictures of some Dark Mechanicum figures you did about halfway down the page, and they are all out of focus! There are far more pictures from Games Day and those are in perfect focus! This is confusing because if you are the one taking the pictures, why wouldn’t the pictures of your display models be the ones in focus? If I come to your website and want to look at your models, it would be ideal if I could see the product.
Secondly, I have no idea how much you charge for your services, or what services you offer. In addition, the only samples of your models I see are these three Dark Mechanicum models previously mentioned. What if I want some Ork Boyz, or Tyranids, or Ultramarines? Do have samples of those, or something remotely similiar? In order to get more clients you’ll have to show more examples of your works, including price estimates for have similar models done. Do you charge for assembly and painting, how much is shipping, etc.
Try to put yourself in the buyers shoes . . . if I came to your FB page, could I easily tell?
What you charge?
Examples of your work?
How to reach you?
You have a link to some youtube videos but every video has text over the pictures of the models, so I can’t see the models at all. This is like going to a movie with someone talking on the phone the entire time. I can’t pay attention to the pictures.
Finally, I don’t have any idea who you are as an artist. Too many commission artists are camera shy. If I’m going to send you $$$ for painting, I need to see a real person from time to time. So get in front of the camera, introduce yourself to the world, and talk about what you are offering, your services, prices, how long you’ve been painting . . basically why I should pay you to paint my models?
Also consider branching out away from the 40k Safety net. There are tons of other games out there and your clients won’t always play the same games you do. I realize that being in school you have limited time and resources. So maybe for the next few years, just work on improving your technique, creating samples of your work and posting them to your FB page, painting a few models for your friends and local gamer buddies, go to a few GT’s to showcase your work and build your service SLOWLY. The last thing you want are more orders than you can handle and then to burn out on commissions. It happens and it separates the hobbyists from the pro-painters out there.
With your permission, I would be happy to publish a version of this letter on the WWW, through BOLS, which would bring attention to your service, however, I would be using it as an example of how to improve a painting service when you are first getting started. I wouldn’t consider doing this without your permission, so consider whether you’d like 15 minutes of fame, but with a bit of public trolling on the side. I think this would be a good example of what new services should learn from these sorts of experiences.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: After waiting almost a month, this article was overlooked and passed over by BOLS. Therefore I am pubilshing it via Spikey Bits.
FROM AH TO WMG:
First of all Caleb thank you for getting back to me so quickly.
After reading through the advice you’ve given i’m happy to say a lot of it can be sorted sooner rather then later with lighting issues and blur sorted after getting my camera looked at, a video camera being ordered so that I can get some proper videos up of my product and maybe one or two videos of myself painting and of course specifying prices but there are one or two questions I have. Most important is how do I set up a fair pricing system so that i’m not over charging but also so that i’m not losing money due to shipping or buying paints and equipment needed for specific jobs and should i ask for money up front or wait until the orders sent back. Another issue is losing the 40k safety net as other then a few warhammer fantasy models i’ve never actually painted anything else from other ranges so i’m kind of in the dark on what else is out there, what to expect and will the GW paint range work for everything. A small thing but an issue all the same is what exactly does GT stand for, sorry im bad with short hand. As for your side note I have no problem with this letter being published on BOLS, I would however like to request once its posted that you’d send me a link once its posted,
FROM WMG TO AH: Hey Alex: GREAT! I think your example will be a wonderful learning experience for the community as a whole. Thanks for allowing me to post our discussion on BOLS. As per your questions above. there are sadly no perfect answers to any of them. Most services charge, on Avg. around $10 per Infantry figure painted. This cost normally allows for a small stipend to be put towards equipment and supplies like paints, brushes, lighting, etc.. This is assuming an infantry figure is based on a 20-28mm base with some details but not character level detail. A good example of this might be a space marine or ork.
Character models run upwards of $20-$40 usually or more, and vehicles range widely. There is no rhyme or reason. Some services offer speed painting and dipping services, others only paint to the highest level or standard. There is no primary metric for how a painting service should be priced.
However, in our research we generally found that painters charge more depending on lots of factors, including: Overhead cost, experience/years behind a brush, personal opinion of their own work, etc. Some services offer to match any price. Most of these are college kids that paint to earn a few extra bucks in school. These services generally disappear after a year or two and just sort of disrupt the entire pond of painting services. None of us want to race to the bottom. If one service lowers their prices too much, it generally hurts us all because expectations for pricing become unrealistic.
When you are first starting out, you can quote lower, because you are frankly not very experienced. So you charge less than the average service to get some commissions under your belt. You build up a gallery. Then you start getting inundated with work and sometimes more work than you can handle. This false sense of promise is usually the time many services buckle because you are pricing yourself out of work, offering your services for too little. So when this starts to happen, raise your rates a little. Not too much, just enough to weed out your lowest tier clients. They will sadly either have to step up to match your painting prices or find the new Johny come lately painter. There are dozens or them out there.
GT means GRAND TOURNAMENT. For me, I am an average player at best most days. So when I go to GT’s I bring a list that isn’t overly competitive but gives me a chance to showcase my painting and conversion skills. Got a new model to show off? Bring it! Stick it in your list even if it doesn’t help you win. It will help you get new business and that’s a win! This is just my opinion, because lots of painters run successful painting services and also kick a little ass!
As far as the 40k Safety Net . . . it’s not as safe as you think. You probably paint 40k stuff because it’s a game YOU play or played. That’s how you got started right? Me too. Here’s the problem. Your aren’t just a player anymore. Now you’re a businessman. If I went to a movie theatre and they were only showing one flick, you think I’d watch it more than once? Heck no! On a hillside of yellow boxes, you’ve got to diversify!
Once you start to develop a style if you haven’t already you’ll learn which models in which ranges you can paint best and you’ll gravitate towards those models. This isn’t a bad thing, since we want to show where we shine. But dont’ be afraid to paint a model from time to time that won’t showcase your talents, just to get some experience and learn some new techniques. “They” say it takes about 10k hours to master a talent. For me, I’m not anywhere close and I’ve been at this for years.
IMHO, the more expensive 40k and Warhammer get, the fewer clients I get for those games. If a potential client has $100 bucks a month to blow on models and they buy a $75 Heldrake, you think they’re going to spend that last $25 to hire me to paint it for another $75 bucks and go another $50 bucks into the red? No way! They’re going to buy some new brushes, paints, and glue and paint it themselves or hire Joe Blow Gamer in the shop to do it for the $25. Unfortunately Joe Blow will wise up fast and raise his rates.
In an age of kickstarters, there are new gaming systems being released all the time. These new models are going to need painters to paint them. So consider buying a few models in popular games like Infinity and Warmahordes, Flames of War or whatever the flavor of the week is at your FLGS . If the owners have a display case, ask if it would be okay to display some of your models in the case with a business card. Which reminds me, get a box of business cards! For $20 bucks it’s about the best investment as a painter you’ll ever make.
Consider spending some time at that same FLGS with a stack of said business cards on the table beside you while you paint or convert a new model. Answer questions, be friendly, and smile! Remember, these folks walking around the shop are your new client pool, so treat them well!
And there you have it, all my painting wisdom summed up from years of experiences in a few short paragraphs.
Here’s hoping it helps the next generation of painters
Caleb
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I checked back on Alex’ site after a month, and I’m happy to report he now has TONS of new pictures posted, including some from the Warmachine line of models. He also posted some rates on the ‘about’ section of the page, and it seems like he even got a commission or two booked! Keep an eye out for Alex, guys, and maybe if you like his Dark Mechanicum, book a project with him! Let’s help the guy out!
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Greetings fellow wargamers! Caleb with White Metal Games here! You can’t paint a miniature without hear about the quality of the kolinsky-sable line of brushes. Generally speaking these are thought of as a Roles Royce of painting brushes. But then I began to ask myself . . . why is that the case? Why are these brushes considered so great, and what the heck does Kolinsky-Sable mean? The answer might surprise you. But before I answer that, let me ask you this . . . how many of you stick your brush in your mouth from time to time? I know I have. Well, I might not be so quick to do so again. Ostensibly there is no such thing as a Kolisnksy-Sable. Here’s why: The Kolonok (hence Kolinsky) is a Siberian weasel native to parts of Asia, highly prized for its fur, in particular by . . . you guessed it . . . the paint brush industry. And before you worry, the kolononk is not currently at risk for extinction.
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The sable is a close relative to the weasel. Sables live in Russia, Siberia, Kazakhstan (yes, it’s a real place), Mongolia, China, Korea, and Japan, and is historically prized for its fur. Red Sable is obtained from any weasel with “red” hair, but ironically NOT from the animal known as the sable. A quality pure red sable brush is a good alternative to the more expensive Kolinsky with similar performance and durability. Kolinsky brushes are packaged as ‘Kolinsky Red Sable’ or just ‘Kolinsky’ while the name ‘Red Sable’, ‘Fine Sable’ or ‘Sable’ is reserved for non-Kolinsky brushes made from the hair of other animals in the weasel family. Kolinsky-Sable Brushes in fact contain no sable hair at all. The finest K-S brushes contain all male kolonsk fur, but many K-S brushes contain as much as 40% female fur. The hair used is primarily from the tail of the kolonosk, which is the bushiest and most responsive; because of its strength, spring, and ability to retain shape (“snap”), it is considered the finest fiber for brushes in the world. If properly cared for, it will last for many years.
The Kolonosk is known for being able to thrive in freezing wet conditions. Their fur was an evolutionary improvement because it would easily release all the moisture it held. The brush is great for what it releases rather than for what it holds, and the hairs are stronger than any sable or ermine hairs which are too soft and break easily with heavy use. Kolinsky bristles tend to be pale red in colour with darker tips. The weasel is not an animal that is raised well in captivity, and is generally isolated to the geographical region of Siberia. Due to this difficulty in harvesting the hair, and the fact that other natural and artificial bristles are not comparable in quality, these bristles are extremely valuable and consequently expensive.
It should be noted that some believe it is unwise to use K-S brushes with acrylic paint due to the nature of the polymer emulsion that eventually dries out the hairs and causes them to break. However, simple application of some brush soap or even a little shampoo/conditioner will help to restore the brushes luster.
So, there you have it, more than you ever wanted to know about Kolinsky- Sable brushes and their origins.
But how do they perform? Well, for that you’re just going to have to try them out yourself. Spend a few extra bucks and pick up a K-S brush and then you’ll really be able to . . . you guessed it . . .
PUT YOUR MINIS WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS!!!
Caleb White Metal Games
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For those of you that know me at all, you know that I’m not much of a competitive guy. However, I am always looking for new venues to showcase the studios work, so when I contacted Neil at the 11th Company about their GT in sunny Myrtle Beach, his advice to me was ‘Bring a Painted Army and come play!’
Well, I took half his advice. In a strange turn of events, three armies that I had been trying to sell suddenly sold in the two weeks before the GT. So it was with lament I suddenly found myself without a painted army in sight. I had plenty of odd figures, sure, a daemon prince here, a squad there, but nothing like what I would normally want to showcase. My plan up until that point had been to bring a painted army, but with the trip fully planned and paid for, I said the hell with it. At least I’ll have a good time. So I snagged every figure I could that would showcase our conversion work, and got in the car, bound for the golden shores of South Carolina.
To preface my tournament experience, allow me to set the stage: I’ve been to less than a dozen tournaments in the last few years, preferring to stay behind the scenes when I can. I’m not a competitive player by any stretch of the imagination, and other factors like cost, time away from home, work, etc often deter me from taking trips like this (in fact, I had to leave early, as you’ll see below). However, over the last few months I have reoriented my business plan to attempt to establish myself in the ‘community’ at large and to do that I have to get out there, shake a few hands, kiss a few babies, etc.
So it should come as no surprise that this was my first GT. Part of my desire to attend the 11th Co GT was simply to see how a tournament this large is ran. And while most of it will seem like common sense, seeing how the sausage is made is always interesting.
For starters, Neil and his crew did a good job of keeping people in the know with a series of newsletters released week after week as the GT drew near. Simple issues like rules clarification (FAQ type stuff, and in particular the allowance of the new SoB . .err . . Adeptus Soritas), number or attendees signed up, prize support, etc. were addressed en masse. Inadvertently, this helped me to get excited about the GT, since I was getting so many updates about it.
Through these letters, Neil made a humble request that if anyone wanted to show up Friday night to help set up, then the help would be welcome. I got to the hotel around 4pm, had a few hours to hang out with the wife, and then around 7ish I rolled down to the game hall. Well, me and about 40 other people! They turned out in droves to help the guys get set up. The only hiccup we hit Friday night was that the organizers were using massive rolls of paper to line the tables and help mark out the play areas Each roll was exactly 4 feet wide, which was a marvelous solution to mapping out that many tables that quickly. However, about 6 tables into the process the paper ran out and one of the organizers had to run out and get more paper. Whoops. These sorts of oversights have to be expected in an event of this size, especially for a growing GT like this one.
It was clear that at this point the guys had the art of terrain layout down to a science. Table were already set up at this point and dozens and dozens of trashbags were scattered around the room, each filled with a variety of scenery pieces. Hills, buildings, area terrain, etc. As the bags were emptied, you began to get a sense of history to the GT, as some scenery seemed made in sets (lava terrain, orky ruins, etc) while other sets seemed like assembly line buildings and hills with barely enough paint to cover their bright pink foam surfaces. Being that I have never attended another GT, I can only surmise when you are putting together over 400 pieces of terrain for more than 50 tables, you are limited in the amount of detail you can apply. So while I wasn’t terribly impressed with the terrain, it did the job just fine. Each table was seemingly identical in terms of the size of the terrain pieces, what each piece counted as, etc.
In addition, they had a terrain repair station running on the side, and like kids lining up for cafeteria food, we carried of battered pieces of terrain to the table to be glued and touched up with an airbrush. Generally repairs took less than a minute, so you didn’t have to stand around for long. Like I said, they had it down to a science.
The GT was for 2000 points, with 7 rounds played over the course of 2 days. Registration started at 7am (yikes) with dice rolling at 8am. A new system was being introduced to the GT this year called Torrent of Fire. Torrent of Fire was new to me, but the basic idea was to establish a way to rank tournament players in a way as uniformly as possible, and to be able to rank those players nationally as well, where scores could be tabulated pretty much at the click of a button. You can enter the results from each round on a smart device or computer and pairings for each round are posted on the ToF website. So you basically go the event, log in and enter your results from each round, then wait for the new round results to be posted for your next game. That’s a really dumbed down explanation of what ToF is, which is to say I’m a bit of an idiot when it comes to anything techy, but the potential for this application is immense. I asked the ToF guys to speak on WarCouncil where they could full explain what ToF is and how they are planning to spread the word about it. So once I hear from them, YOU’LL hear from them.
The 11th Company guys tried to get everyone to sign up for a ToF account before the event through their newletters, but sadly, not all of us (yes, that means me) did. So posting the results for the first round was painfully slow, as dozens of us had to create accounts for the event and then post our results. However, let me say that after this traffic jam, the software worked beautifully! Since 95% of the attendees had a smart phone or the like , they just posted their results each round on their phones. The rest of us used one of the dozen or so tablets or laptops the 11th Co guys furnished so we could quickly enter our results.
The only room for error I see here is that if me and my latest opponent enter different results, I’m not sure how they will establish which results are right. So while there is room for error, I think the overall feel was that ToF is amazing. On top of all that, ToF had several support personal on site, promoting ToF and helping to create accounts, answer ?’s, etc. Great job guys! I hope ToF spreads like wildfire!
Check out their site if you get time. The ToF site also has a list of events coming up around the country, so if you eager to get to a GT, there might be one closer than you think!
The event ran like you might think after that. Pairings were posted at the start of each round, players fanned out carting massive display boards to their next match up, trying to avoid tipping over or bumping into anybody. I can honestly say that every person I met or played all weekend was a delight, without a rotten apple in the bunch. There was just a good vibe in the room.
Judge support at the event was excellent! Judge walked the long lanes of the hall, answering questions, making rules calls, updating us on how long we had left to play, etc. I never felt like a judge was far away.
There were some amazing armies present at the event and while it would be impossible to show them all, these images represent a smattering of some of the armies I found most evocative. You can check out more on our Facebook Page!
Saturday was four back to back games. Playing four back to back games of 40k is just as exhausting as you might think it is. The only snaffu to the entire day was that since this was an uncatered event, with some players finishing later than others, there was a definite imbalance in the lunch break for many of the players. There was a bar next door to the hotel, but it didn’t seem the 11th Co. had informed the bar to expect a lunch rush around 2-3pm as the GT let out for lunch. So when 30-40 of us rolled in for a mid day snack, the bar staff was a bit overrun and orders took a bit longer to get out than they normally would have. I saw a salad take about 20 minutes to get to one player. If I had to make a suggestion, I would have either recommended 90 minutes for lunch to allow players longer to drive somewhere off site, or perhaps a catered event. Even a simple boxed lunch furnished by the hotel would have been a welcome option. I worked in a hotel for about 5 years, so I know this wouldn’t have been much of a stretch. A little more planning in this regard next time guys would have gone a long way with an already tired player base.
Sadly, four games was going to be it for me. The Sunday games ran from about 8am to about 7pm or so. That meant if you played all 7 games, you were likely going to stay an extra night in the hotel, and for me that wasn’t really an option. So while I bailed like a chump, I have it on good authority that day two at the event went very well. The players from day one that stayed over were organized into brackets and you played through your bracket in an attempt to match up players with those of similar standing. What this meant was if you wanted to play 7 games, you got to play 7 games, and those games would be against people of a similar W/L record.
So, final thoughts . . . .
Pros: 11th Co GT was an AWESOME time, and I had a blast! The event, while suffering a few expected growing pains, is handled with style and organized with professionalism. The staff are friendly, knowledgeable and well organized, and they are looking for ways to improve the experience for their players, both with some amazing prize support from vendors like Greenman Designs, MicroArts Studios, BitzBox, KR Multicase, Mr. Dandy and yours truly among a dozen others.
Torrent of Fire was a welcome addition to the event and definitely sped things up as the day went along.
Cons: A few organization snaffus were to be expected here and there, and since there is always room for improvement I don’t hold this against them. Catering or a longer lunch break would have been a welcome addition, but was likely overlooked to attempt to keep the cost of the GT as low as possible.
In a major oversight on my part and possibly at least partially responsible for why I lost four games back to back was that I had brought an 1850 point list to a 2000 point tournament! And while this was completely my fault, 100% my mistake, what was interesting that my list wasn’t looked at until the 3rd round of play, and that the judge didn’t catch the error or inform me. In fact, until the start of my fourth game, no one caught it. Finally my fourth round opponent brought it to my attention. I was more than a little surprised at my oversight.
And while I agree that vendor support at a GT isn’t always right for every event, if the event continues to grow they may want to consider allowing vendors into the hall in some form, fashion, or another.
Final Conclusion:
I give the Myrtle Beach 11th Co GT 9 out of 10! It was highly fun, exhausting, and a great chance to meet some cool guys (and gals! More lady players than I’ve ever seen at an event!)
Greeting all you boys and ghouls! Caleb with White Metal Games here! Today I have a quick and easy tutorial for you: textured urban rubble basing for your miniature needs
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Basing your miniatures is often the final step to really finish off your miniatures. The problem is that after you’ve take so much time to paint your miniature, you’re really tired and basing is generally the last thing you want to think about. Most folks default to the green/brown earth/flock scenario, which is perfectly fine. But not every battle should be fought on mother earth. Some battles are waged in the ruins of the 41st millenia.
So, how to kill two birds with one stone. The answer is texturing your paint! Textured paint is nothing new. GW sells it. Let me save you a little time and money. It’s sand. It’s just sand, grit, or ballast mixed into the paint.
So, how do we make our own textured paint? Well, this should come as no shock, we add it in ourselves.
First, grab a mini, some textured basing material (mine is a blend of sand, dirt, herbs, dried tea leaves, whatever I have extra that I add to the batch over time) and some cheap paint, plus an empty container.
First, add some paint to the container. Darker is usually better, because then you can dry brush up to create texture. In this case I use a dark grey paint.
Add some textured basing material.
Stir to the consistency you like. Pancake batter is about what I go for, or ‘gritty’. Yoggurt like consistency.
Use an old brush or wooden craft stick to apply some of the basing material to the mini. Be mindful of the paint areas, but a little drift is okay since this will look like dirt/grime/dust later.
Do a little clean up with your finger and then apply a little paint to the edge to polish it off. I used black below.
This mixture will take longer than usual to dry, a few hours at least, but once dry you can wash it to detail or dry brush to help the texture stand out more. You can also add some bits like spare weapons, skulls, etc into the basing material, which will be slightly pliant and will hold down those spare bits like glue. I usually paint mine first and then just stick them wherever I feel like.
If you found this tutorial useful, be sure to check out more of our work on our homepage, or at the very least, like us on facebook!
In this episode we speak with The Jen and Joe from Screaming Heretic about cosplay! The Jen is an avid cosplayer and she speaks candidly about her cosplay experiences, everything from how she comes up with her amazing costumes, to some of the antics they get into at conventions, as well as how to politely tell someone to take their hand off your costumed ass.
If you want to know more about Screaming Heretic be sure to visit their website:
You can stream this episode from the White Metal Games Website, here.
Alternately you can also listen to the episode on Itunes.
War Council is a new podcast about 40k and things wargaming related. Justin was a one time client of Caleb’s that stuck around long enough for Caleb to ask him to do a podcast with him. Episodes revolve more around the hobby and fluff aspect of wargaming, and part of each episode follows the progress of White Metal Games as it tries to make a place for itself in a sea of miniature painting services.
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