Challenge 2013: Ophidians complete!

S’Erum, Ophidian Sydion

S’Erum rear detail view

S’Erum head detail

S’Ygma head detail

S’Ygma, Ophidian Umbrella Bearer (not really)

S’Erum umbrella detail view

Ophidian Warriors

Ophidian Vortirans

Vortiran head detail

Other Vortiran head detail

That’s it! All my Ophidians are completed, and unlike the recently completed AdMech force, there’ll never be any more of these to un-complete the project!

It’s funny, the closer I get to completing projects, the harder it seems to just push that extra bit to get them done. Maybe I subconciously like being ‘nearly there’, it seems less daunting than thinking ‘right, new project, 200 Romans, off we go!”

Anyway, these are all painted in broadly the same scheme as previous Ophidian entries, the main difference being the snakes’ skin tones, which are all unique shades of brown, green or blue. I did find some fairly spectacular-looking snakes on a google image search, but my skill with brush is only so great, and I didn’t feel up to ruining these models with ugly blotches of colour.

S’Ygma is one of main proofs of Rackham’s insistence on beauty over functionality – that umbrella (actually, now that I think about it, it’s a parasol) is a huge chunk of metal, that sits on the end of a tiny metal pole. Needless to say, my original long broke, and I actually shortened the pole significantly so that I could glue the parasol onto other parts of the model to try to hold it securely. Fortunatley, S’Ygma isn’t that great in the game so it’s likely he can now stay in my display case forever!

Challenge Tally: 397/500

 

Challenge 2013: Ophidian Archers

Ophidian archers

Somehow these 2 miniatures took well over a week to paint. Still, the fantastic ’50 models in a month’ run had to end at some point. I think I’m looking at an unofficial target of 500 for the year, which should be achievable and leave me with just a few ‘big armies’ to paint in 2014 (well, that is until new games come out/Kickstarter deliveries come through).

These snakes complement the slaves/apostates I painted earlier in the month and leave me with just 6 Ophidians to paint to get the whole warband done. The armour/cloth/weapons are done in exactly the same gold/purple/grey/purple wash scheme as before, I couldn’t decide between green and blue for the scaly skin so tried both. I prefer the green but I think the rest of them will still be mixed to make them stand out a bit from each other (the two models are the same but with a head swap with a warrior and posing of the tail – I’ve got 2 of each of the Ophidian models and have done similar on all of them).

Challenge Tally: 384/300

Challenge 2013: Ophidian Slaves

Ayane, Syhee

Syhees

Slaves

Asps

Reinforcing the alread-seen Apostates are the representatives of the Ophidians’ slave caste. The first up is Ayane, S’Erum’s personal Syhee. She’s a major character in the Ashes of Wrath novel that Rackham published, and became a miniature (though stat-wise she’s not brilliant and I don’t think I ever used her). Regular Syhees are next – like Apostates they have the drawback of not being Toxic, Toxic is one of the strengths of the Ophidian army and the toxic dice need to be carefully managed. Having non-contributing members of the warband could be problem.

Then there are the regular Slaves, solid stats for a relatively low cost and help bump their masters’ Toxic pool. Great choice. Lastly come the Asps, the Ophidians’ assassins. They’re supposed to be a magical fusion of an Ophidian and a Human to enable them to infiltrate human cultures.

Obviously all these are painted the exact same scheme as the Apostates, with the slight additions of Uniform Grey hair (which becomes a muted purple nicely with Leviathan Purple wash) and the Asps’ Army Painter Greenskin… green… skin. I guess. I was apprehensive as to how good this would look with a Purple wash (I usually use a brown wash on greenskinned creatures) but I like the effect and I think I’ll go for it again at some point.

Challenge Tally: 371/300

Challenge 2013: Ophidians!

Ophidian Apostates

Okay, so they’re not technically Ophidians per sé, but they are in their army. These Apostates carry on the “Darkness factions in Confrontation wear purple” theme my Mid Nor and Acheron started, but whereas the Mid Nor wear their purple against a striking rich blue, and the Acheron wear it standing out above gunmetals and grey, the Ophidians will be lording it over all with a very regal gold!

The colours are almost all Army Painter – Alien Purple, Greedy Gold, Uniform Grey, Platemail Metal, and Necrotic Flesh (on the ‘trophies’), as well as Vallejo’s Elf Flesh (for the Apostates themselves). The skin, robes, weapons and armour all received a Citadel Leviathan Purple wash, whilst the corpses had  Asurmen Blue and the slaves adorning ‘hammer guy’ had Ogryn Flesh applied. Lots of careful highlighting later they were completed.

Incidentally, I thoroughly recommend purple washes over gold. I used to always used warm browns (Citadel’s old Chestnut Ink, etc) and thought it was okay, but a purple wash seems to really capture the opulence of a rich, warm gold colour.

I guess the summer is the time for getting bored of ongoing painting projects and deciding to launch entirely new ones! As well as last update’s Kings of War Undead, I also plan this month to start painting my Hail Caesar Romans (I’ve put some paint on a few but I’ve got a slightly new scheme and basing style for the rest of them) and also my Epic Titan Legion. Hopefully I’ll find time to dip back into the other projects as well!

Challenge Tally: 362/300