Winter is always a productive time of year for painting, and so far winter 2022 has been no exception.
As I introduced previously, I'm kicking off 2022 by working towards a fully painted Combat Patrol-sized (500 point) army for Da Ironbullz.
The recent Chapter Approved points updates have thrown a wrench into the works by generously making Meganobz five points cheaper, but for now I'm going to forge ahead with my previous plan and update the points for future expansion sizes (750, 1000, etc.).
Rotbag's Rippaz, the run-of-the-mill grunts from Da Ironbullz, were first on the chopping block.
I had already painted up their Boss Nob and three Boyz, so all that remained was six slugga boyz and an extra boy dual-weilding converted "Rokkit-Sluggas" (counts-as Rokkit Launcha) just in case I ever want to run them with a special weapon.
Thankfully, I was able to hammer out these remaining ladz in just about a week starting from their wash step. Here's the finished result:
You might notice I haven't varnished or based these boyz yet; that is very much intentional.
After the great Varnish Debacle of Winter 2021, I promised myself I would get my varnishing strategies sorted out before sealing any new models.
My main complaint about the Liquitex acryllic varnish I'm currently using is that it visibly desaturates some of the brighter/bolder colors on the model. I'm using bright colors sparingly on Da Ironbullz to retain a realistic, grimdark vibe, but I still want the bright reds and yellows of Da Ironbullz to pop on the finished models.
I've ordered some Vallejo varnish and plan to use these these models as an opportunity for some A/B testing to find the combination of gloss and matte varnish layers that produce the best result. I'm also going to try some tests cutting varnish with water, which some folks on the internet recommend but sounds somewhat controversial.
Finally, I'm planning on basing all of the outstanding models from my Orks Combat Patrol in one shot, so these boyz will unfortunately linger baseless for a while longer.
I hope to be back soon with more updates!