Archer's Chaos Dwarfs - Part of a massive modelling project

Chaos Dwarf Miniature Showcase
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Very quick update on progress.

First up is some really quick and dirty medieval scatter terrain:


Four outhouses to add some character and get in the way of line of site and charges in Mordheim most likely.


Really, really basic and not planning on them winning any votes, but they are done and will look good sitting behind a house somewhere.


Some of the laser detail is really cute too.





Now onto the main point of this post, I would like some opinions. I am almost finished the first lot of Infernal Guard for the Chaos Dwarfs (these are 20 armed with Fireglaives) and will run as two small units of 10. They have no command group so what you see here is the two basic poses (front and rear ranks). Overall I am ok with them, but they are very dark (and the poor quality lighting doesn’t help). I just feel that they are lacking “pop” and wonder if anyone has some ideas? It is hard when they are pretty much an armoured shell with not that much point of focus. I tried highlighting the armour again and found I really didn’t like it as they got far too shiny and “do-gooder” look to them.

Anyone want to venture some ideas?

Also, I have decided to keep a model count painted for the year and hope to manage 365 models. An extra motivation hopefully to get things done. This will not be anything more than if it is a single model (terrain pieces included) it counts as 1 to save on working out a system for bigger stuff. So, based on that simple criteria I have so far this year painted…33 models out of 49 days. Not too far behind and I have almost finished these 20 Chaos Dwarfs. I think at least for now I can do this.

Thanks for reading.

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Great stuff archer. You want to make your cds brighter without highlighting the metal…hmmm

I get around this by painting most metal stuff in bright colours.

You could do verde gris oxidation on certain points of the armour
I like to seperate segments of armour using black ink, can make stuff stand out more.
Edge highlighting on the armour with bright silver or gold.
The red can be highlighted with orange.
Or a unit filler with something cool maybe?

Great stuff, you are probably being hard on yourself.

Looks pretty nice to me

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I think something that would make them pop would be either red helmets or red/bright details on the helmets (runes?). This would pick up the colours of the hems and add a focal point to each model. This is at least my scientifically unsupported theory^^

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I know exactly what you mean I had the same thing for mine, there is a limit to what you can do with the elements that make up the LoA

I do enjoy weapon glow on the infernal guard, that’s what I ultimately went for (on the Grim Dark link below) or maybe as was said glowing runes across the armour :thinking:

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You could glaze in some color in the shadows of the steel? Maybe a dark blue or turquoise? Also, maybe a few very selective edge highlights? The copper could probably do with some edge highlights as well, or you could shade the scales in shadow down with glazing to make it more dynamic, or both. Looking good though!

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The silver on their armour is ace, looks dark and greasy.

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What madness is this? Yet more progress? I must have really caught the motivation bug or something.

So I would like to thank everyone (from this site and others I post on) for their ideas on how to solve my issue with my Chaos Dwarf Infernal Guard. An absolute wealth of ideas, but in the end I went with this:


I think the bold red on half of the helmet ties it to the hem of the armoured skirt and also breaks up the solid helmets quite nicely and I am much happier with them. I also had the opportunity to distinguish the units by one having the right side painted and the other the left. Not much of a difference, but will allow me and opponents to remember which one is which.


Unit one, in the photos it shows some paint that looks almost textured and it is true I am literally scraping the bottom of the pots. I have a heap of new paints ready to go and replace my current ones, but I haven’t cracked them open yet. I am going to be largely switching from GW to Vallejo with my paints (unless I find that Vallejo are trash and I will keep looking).


Unit two, 10 Chaos Dwarfs in each and the plan is that they will sit between the 2 bigger blocks of Infernal Guard and try to support them as long as possible. Time will tell.


Even with the red on the helmets I think they retain enough of the dark brooding look.


When I sat down to give the split helmet colour a try it became obvious that they wanted me to do it as the helmets have a fine ridge down the centre that made keeping a crisp line between the 2 colours really easy.

So there you have my first two units of Chaos Dwarf Infernal Guard, I am much happier than where I was with them several days ago. That leaves me the two combat blocks of Infernal Guard and this Chaos Dwarf army will be complete! I am hoping that with the paint scheme sorted out now I will be able to breeze through them much faster than these ones. We shall see.

Oh and with these twenty complete my yearly total has increased to 53 models painted in 52 days, so just ahead on the count now. I am planning some more laser cut MDF fences (different style to the previous ones) that are VERY simple so should help keep that number in my favour.

Thanks for reading.

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Nice work on the helms, they are indeed a very basic, solid design aesthetic, but adding red paint to half definitely makes them “pop out” more.
It’s always the subtle colors added as this, that really gives a nice touch of a cohesive unit and a bit of individual personalization.
And I think you’ll like the Vallejo paints, they’re infinitely better than Citadel.
I’d recommend Army Painter warpaints too.
Anyways, again, nice work on the dark brooding paint scheme, balanced with a spot of color :+1:

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Great colour scheme, love those helmet!

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Great choice for those helmets, they really pop without overpowering the minis, great work.

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Thanks guys, I really appreciate the sentiments and the help in sorting out the scheme.

it’s time to knuckle down and work on the two blocks of Infernal Guard with sword and axe/pick/hammer now. But since these guys have let me sort out the colour scheme I hope they will come together quickly.

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Yes this was a really good choice and a really impactful change to the scheme
Love seeing the LoA down so well

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Another day another update, hopefully I can maintain my prolific (at least for me) start to the year. This time it is yet more scatter terrain as I am on a drive to get some of this stuff finished and able to be added to games.


So more fences but unlike the last lot these are more livestock style. I put an in progress Flash Git for my Orks in to give some sense of scale.


Quick and dirty like all the recent “timber” terrain, but I think it comes up pretty well.


Have enough to make some ok sized pens that would be annoying to navigate during a game, which is kind of the idea. Especially if I end up figuring out a way to do some easy wheat/crop fields to go inside them…


The last shot of this update, I tapered the mdf bases so that they come down to meet the table rather than having an odd square edge to them, I think it adds a little bit of “I actually cared” to the models. Oh and yes that is an MDF forklift in the back ground of this shot.

I get a bit confused whether this forum has interest in things I do other than Fantasy/Chaos Dwarf related stuff.

Thanks for reading.

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Always! We have whole blogs that are not chaos dwarf related on the off topic showcase.

We celebrate chaos dwarfs first and foremost here but we celebrate the hobby in general as well. Basically every user here has other armies and projects on the go!

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We celebrate ourselves basically

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Well I may start posting some of my other progress around the Chaos Dwarfs then…

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Sure. Why not start an off topic blog?

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So, it has been some time. When I last left you I was being treated for kidney stones and I guess you can probably tell by my long absence that it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. So what I had been assured was a “simple and straight-forward procedure” ended up with four surgeries, what was described as a horrific fungal infection of left kidney that led to a short bout of renal failure. So ended up in hospital for a little while and a long recovery that was completely unexpected.

I also know now why I never dabbled in drugs as I was tripping hard on the combination of drugs I was on and still find it hard to look at my bathroom floor the same way…but with a supportive family and a stupidly understanding employer I am finally starting to feel half normal. Although a bout of COVID and now the tail end of a cold or flu I am feeling well and truly beaten up. But, the fact I am posting back here is a sign of the bright horizon can be seen and that some painting progress has been managed.

So without dwelling on the horrific, let’s turn our attention to the positives and have a look at what I managed.


When I left off last time I had managed to get to within the finish line of the Chaos Dwarf army I was doing. With only two units of Infernal Guard between me and ticking another one off the list. So I am happy to say that they are now complete. This is a pretty crappy photo (when are mine not?) of the front row. I followed the half red helmets of the units of fireglaive users and kept that going on the shields.


This is the other unit (same configuration). I copied the helmets onto the shields to break that area up a little and decided to use the sickly green from the Heroes on the shield symbol. I actually ripped the symbols off from the standard bearers who have the two tiny symbols on the plaques below the bulls head.

So, this means that the army is now complete (apart from needing to add magnets to the latest units, but that is a minor point). So a quick review before showing the whole army.


Here we have the Lord of the army, my Daemonsmith. He will likely rank up with one of the Infernal Guard units as he is a decent fighter as well as my only magic user. A tough combo to get right. He may end up hanging with out on his own or with the small units of Fireglaive wielders.


The Heroes of the army, a Bull Centaur Taur’ruk and a pair of Castellan’s; one with a Army Standard (I know it is very small…)


The Core of the army, two blocks of Infernal Guard for up close and personal relations and two small units to hopefully scare away small units. I am REALLY happy with how their paint scheme has turned out.


The Bull Centaurs, a lot of fun to paint, but really think the scale of these guys is WAY off. But will be amazing missile attracting models right from the start I think.


And finally the rare part of the army my K’Daai Fireborn. I really took a while to be happy with these guys, but they have really grown on me and I think they are my favourite unit.


The whole army together. They are finished and I think as far as the armies done so far they are my favourite. I do have plans in the future to do a second Chaos Dwarf army and it will focus on hobgoblins and war machines to really give me a different feel to this one.

Thanks for reading and it is nice to be back.

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Great collection of FW Chaos Dwarfs you got there! The army looks ace! :slight_smile:

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Awesome army. compliments!