Great topic, I never got to read it before.
The purple and yellow is really good and complementary, the black band in between really add “structure” to the mini. So I would go option 1 for sure.
You are doing slapchop/speedpainting ? How does it goes ? I’m currently painting the remnant of my imperial army after almost 15 years of pause, my fine motricity is really down, I try my hand at speedpaint soon.
Nowadays I mostly do slapchop. It just so good for how little time it takes.
The only drawback is metallics.
There are speedpaint metallics, but they look a bit flat.
Why not just do metallics and also speed paints?
I usually end up doing this. But it does take longer.
But I do my speedpaints over a slapchop base, however the non-slapchop metallics can look “out of place” then. But since metal is mostly accessories that does not matter.
Aw man does anyone still have this stl? Not in the main Fabelzel folder! Also looking for the dreadquake mortar and crew!
Not wanting to derail Drexxl’s blog here, but I think these Ogre and dreadquake designs are Max152’s own. You can find them for sell on his Etsy store, PrincipeNero. As such they may no longer be available, using conditional here as I don’t have first hand information.
Decided on the black plate, both since it felt more “evil” and because my gut tells me it will look better. Now I am just afraid it is “too black”.
I am also unsure if I should add demon-glow to the “root” of the blades or keep it like it is. I lean a bit towards less is more atm, but I am afraid that makes it more boring than it needs to be.
Anyways, here are two more guys added to the pile of people showing their new toys!
Test-spearman:
War Despot:
Fwiw I do believe that the black plate looks great. You managed to create a good feeling and a good coherency. Great choice on the colors.
I personnaly love it and now that I’ve seen many people try out different color scheme, I baffled that GW went withe the Helsmith of warpstone pipe smoker addict theme …
Great stuff ! Keep it coming 
This is a fantastic scheme, don’t think it’s too black at all, works really well and nicely balanced
A simple conversion to get my Ashen Elder since I elected to use the “nameless” Daemonsmith on my Taurus and the Daemonsmith from the solo-kit.
Will probably fluff it so that this Elder is REALLY old aswell.
The hand was at a little bit wonky angle and I will probably do some more work smoothing it out, trying for a petrofied look, but the conversion works pretty well so far
imo.
I have slacked quite a lot with painting as I usually do without a goal. So i got myself a goal.
There is a guy that used to play in my Blood Bowl league that now does mostly AoS. I wrote him and a match was booked.
Thusly with a deadline whipping me I have spent the better part of July painting, oft hating myself for choosing to highlight, oft praising myself for how much better they look with some edges painted…
Not all is done, but I now have enough that with just a few proxies from my TOW army I can field 2000pts!
I based em all today and took some pics:
Tjäna Filip från Göteborg!
The Helsmiths look great! I think yellow with contrast paints really can pop. If you ever get the druthers though to highlight stuff, like a character or what have you, I can’t recommend enough Pro Acryl’s warm yellow… It’s the best coverage I’ve seen in a good while. I don’t know if you can easily access that range or not, but if so, do try. For purples, I stick with Vallejo Hexed Lichen, and highlight with Dwarfen Flesh. Not saying what you’re doing is wrong, just sharing what I’ve found to work…
Trevligt att träffas härpå… Lycka till! 
