So I am building a FW Chaos Dwarf army and having put together my first unit I am now in need of some advice regarding the colour scheme, here is what I have on my tester model so far:
I would like to hear what you think, the main things I am worried about are as follows:
1) Is it too dark?
2) Does the red and green combination make it look like a Christmas dwarf?
3) Will the verdigris on the armour (The green stuff) look OK over the entire army considering there is going to be a lot of armour?
4) Does the red on the shoulder pad make it better or worse?
Normally I am OK with deciding themes but these models really have me stumped because I am not used to painting lots of armour and really want them to stand out and look good.
So yea, any advice or opinions you would care to give would be gratefully received!
Oh yea and obviously this is not finished, the right side of the model is not really touched at all and nor is the front/gun/head etc. Anything black has not been worked on yet.
also like it very much, keep it! if you want to improve it though, maybe lighten it up a bit, for better contrasts…but thats only me who loves contrasts…
I dont think i can give an opinion until its 100% finished, apart from i think the armour might be a bit too dark (not the red armour). At the moment im not a fan of the red and green but it might look completely different when its completed. Heres the only other green and red chaos dwarf army i can remember of seeing: http://www.chaos-dwarfs.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=4190&page=4
Hey Spikedog, here is my opinion on your test model.
1. Red and Green go together quite well, it is one of my favourite combinations. I used it in the last Golden Hat competion. It is quite effective.
2. The shade of Red you have used is really nice, so I wouldn’t change that all.
3. The upper armour, is indeed looking a little dark, you may want to add some “stronger” highlights.
4. The red on the shoulder pad is a really nice touch. Don’t change it.
5. As regards to the verdigris, you have achieved the technique perfectly, my only issue is that it is on the armour. This suggests to me, that your Chaos Dwarfs don’t look after their armour, and are letting them corrode. And that may be fine, if that is the theme of your army, but it is not my personal taste.
6. I can’t help but feel that, it just needs something to make it “pop”, something on the weapon maybe, something on the mask/face. I think that if you paint a whole group of these, they may just look quite bland as unit. You need something else.
Overall it is looking great, but it just needs somthing more, and I am not really sure what?
As mentioned above, the chest armour is perhaps too dark. I’d suggest going with a bronze/copper mix to tie it into the red scales on the bottom of the figure, it should unify it.
I like it. No ifs, No buts. I think people, (including me sometimes) sometimes equate verdigris to copper or bronze armour and baulk a the concept a bit. But what would light armour be, if not a lighter metal or a treated or enhanced etc to a harder state, leather. I would keep it as a theme. But as G.2. said “what self respecting Dawi Zharr would let his armour rust” ( I use the term rust for any metal corrosion as it annoys the aircraft mechanics). What I’m trying for isn’t set in stone yet and have thought valiantly on that style as I believe that it portrays age and patina that you are close to. Do the weapon etc and re-post a picture for more feedback. Only thing I can think of is maybe make the helmet stand out but only by two or three shades, as opposed to the colour/shading of the armour
Thank you very much for all the comments everyone, I will post more pictures when I have completed more of the model. At the moment you are looking at pretty much everything that I have done on it, I could post a front pic but all you would see would be the red scales as the rest is still black.
To everyone that mentioned the verdigris/patina/rust - Yea I see what you are saying about the fact a Chaos Dwarf wouldn’t let their armour rust. I guess I am so used to other armies (Mine being Skaven and Undead) that don’t care about their armour I guess I wasn’t thinking about it. However maybe it will seem more just like ancient armour rather than rust, after all I don’t think verdigris on the outside of copper/brass effects the strength of the material. I could be wrong though, I am no metalogist (sp?).
It seems most people have no major problems with the scheme though so what I think I will do is finish this model in this style with the details and see how it looks. I will post it back here so we can see if it needs something more and maybe we can work out what exactly to change/add.
I love the red it looks awesome, I also love the verdigris it also looks epic, however it does look a little dark, I know the Infernal guard armour has some decorative trim around the shoulder pads and round the edges of the elbows; this I feel would be a perfect place to add something a little more vibrant perhaps some gold or some much cleaner bronze/brass? Just a thought, your technique is really good though I’m thoroughly jealous
Imo you should drop that and use a rust powder instead. These guys having rusted armour would make sense fluffwise. You could do a dark orange rust to show it’s old or there was an attempt to grind it out. Check this out http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/blogPost.jsp?aId=17900004a
If you stick with the tin/bronze/copper imo you need to add on some dwarf bronze (with silver mixed in for sharp highlights).
Thank you very much for all the comments, I have done what I said I would and finished all the armour on my test model using the same method so you can see what it would look like:
I also did another tester using the same method for the red but painting the metal in a more normal looking silver:
So opinions on either of these would be gratefully appreciated.
they look great both of them but i definitely prefer the verdigris/patina style, even though dwarfs would absolutely never! let their armour rust… otoh, infernals are outcasts, fluff excuses shouldnt be to hard to find!
:~ thats a tough one, first of all great job on both, the red looks really good.
I like the silver, or I would like the silver with a couple of washes of a dark brown or sepia to darken it down a little, I think that with a liitle touch of verdigris would like awesome. It’s the only way the silver would look better then the orginal.
The new one, looks great. I still think it looks a little dark, but certainly an improvement over the previous one. … BUT … the old one has a more “evil” look about it, and I think it is that whole “un-clean” nature of the armour, which makes it look more evil. If I was facing these guys across a table, I think that the verdigris would look more evil.
So it comes down to what your view/perception of the Chaos Dwarfs should be. I know, what I would choose, but it should finally come down to you. They are both great.
Just for the record, I like your verdigris forumula, and I will be using it on some of my minis in the future.
