I decided to start a paint log for my Lizardmen. I purchased any army on E-Bay so it came pre-assembled and most of the models had some paint on them. Unfortunately, the previous owner did little or no scraping of the mold lines. I am doing that before I paint the models and get most of the lines, but I am not able to get all of the lines. I have already broken some blow pipes and even had a couple of arms fall off some models. So repairs before I paint have occurred. The army I bought is two battalion boxes with an Ancient Stegadon and a Slann, and some Jungle Swarms added to the army. Two of the Saurus were converted to Lord/Heros, and one Cold One Rider was also converted to a Lord/Hero. Two of the Skinks were converted to Priests, and two more added to the EOTG on the Steg to replace older metal model? All the models were base coated with a light green. Some of the models had shield and weapons painted, and some had a green wash applied. See the photos below of a Saurus unit with spears for an idea of how all the models looked, except for the Ancient Stegadon and the Slann palanquin. These were already painted and looked good so I have only done a minor touch ups on them where paint had chipped away. I am basing the models as I am painting them. I wondered about a color scheme, and then I found an online copy of the old Sacred Spawning book. Since the models were already various stages of green, and the Water God Tzunki has green as the main color, I decided to paint my army green as a Host of Tzunki. I have a few posts to make to catch up what I have already painted. The photos in this post are a Saurus unit that shows the mix of painting on the models when I received them. This unit still needs to be painted to match my Host of Tzunki.
My army has two units of Saurus, one with spears and the other with HW/S. I decided that the first unit I wanted to paint was the HW/S unit. As a Host of Tzunki, I went with dark green scales and a green wash for the skin. Here is how they turned out. I used an idea of trying for a jade standard that I saw in another paint log at here at Lustria-Online, because I wanted to make the standard different from each other for each unit.
The next units I wanted to paint were my Skink Skirmishers. I have two units, and both are painted the same way, so I am only posting the photos for one unit. Same color scheme as the Saurus and this will be maintained throughout the army as a Host of Tzunki.
I took a break from unit painting (I still have a Saurus unit, a Temple Guard unit, and all my Cold Ones left to paint, and the Jungle Swarms), and get to work on my Lords and Heros. First I started with the Saurus Heroes on foot. One I left as I received it with two weapons, and the other I converted by removing the weapon arm and adding a standard for a Scar Vet who is my BSB.
I now wanted to update the Slann. As I mentioned earlier, the palanquin was already nicely painted, and I only touched up a few spots where the paint had chipped off. The Slann however, I needed to paint. When I received the Slann, it was the same light green as the base coat on the Sarus in the first post. The belly and cheek spots were a darker green, and the gold had been painted. In addition, there was a cool orange/brown pattern on the head of the Slann that I thought looked cool. So, since I was doing a Host of Tzunki, whose color is green, I decided to use the color scheme of the Lustria-Online mascot Slann, with slight modifications. I used a darker green wash on the skin, except for the orange pattern on the head. I highlighted the bumps on the skin with orange. I made the belly and cheek spots ushabti bone with a wash to the folds of skin, and I went with yellow eyes to match the rest of the army. The orange worked out well, because I am also using orange stripes on my Saurus heros and Spawn Leaders to designate them from the rank and file Saurus (perhaps this army also has the blessing of Chotec). I really like how the Slann turned out. I have also included a photo of the palanquin alone.
After painting my heroes, I turned my attention to the EOTG for the Ancient Stegadon. The Steg was painted when I received it, except for the eyes. So, I painted the eyes and gave the scales a drybrush with a lighter green to add some texture. Other than that, the Steg has not been painted. However, the EOTG and Skinks were glued in place and base coated black, so I had some painting to do there. painting the Skinks already glued in place was a pain, but I think it turned out alright.
I have been working on painting my unit of Saurus with spears. You can see their starting condition in the first post of this blog. This photo is a few days old and I have been working on them since. I hope to have the unit finished in the next 2-3 days. I will post some pics of the finished unit when I get them done.
Man, life does get busy. I did finish my Saurus with spears. Here are some pics. I have also started on my unit of Temple Guard. It is going slowly and they are harder to paint than the Saurus. I would recommend painting them without the shield arm attached, and then glue the shield arm in place. It would make access to the entire model much easier. Here are the pics before I started my painting.
Thanks for the compliments everyone. The steg horns started out with a layer of brown. Then a layer of ushabti bone leaving some brown at the base of the horns and some streaks of brown. Then highlight with white.
Well, the Temple Guard are still being painted. I have some details and touch ups to do before they are ready. Life got really busy, so the painting has taken a back set to other things. One of those things was getting some new models. Yay! I added a box of Terradons, two Salamanders, a Bastilodon, and another Battalion Box to my models. I have assembled the Terradons, and one Salamander and the Bastilodon for an upcoming battle. No paint on them yet. I really like the Bastilodon who will get the solar engine, but was disappointed with the model when assembling. Why you may ask? Take a look at these pics and you will know. The top armored plate was not fully molded and was missing some armored plates. You can see the big hole in front and then just in front of the Skinks nose, there is a half armor plate missing. So, I decided to get some green stuff and try to make my own armor plates. I have never used green stuff before, so I am glad the armor plates on the Basti are a little rough. I think it turned out OK even though I do not have shaping tools for sculpting. After the primer gets on the model I hope it will look alright. Here is after the green stuff.
After the green stuff dries a bit you can hit with some fine sand paper to smooth it up a bit, also you can square up any edges with either a small file or your hobby knife. Ps. nice job by the way.
Thanks for the tips. I will try some sandpaper to smooth the armor plates a bit and then trim where needed to help define the edges.
I use mostly the Games workshop paints and washes. Not really any of the specialty drybrush paints, just the standard base coats and washes. When I do blending, I tend to mix the base coats to create lighter colors. For my primer coat, I am going to use the Army Painter light green spray.