Finally finished and based the War Ape. This was a quick paint job, but I’ve been busy working on other minis for a game I’m running, so I let this one sit for a while before I based him. Apologies about the quality of the photos. The lack of contrast made it hard for my iPhone to take a decent picture.
The sculpt itself is great. The contrast between the fur and metal is well-defined and easy to describe. The facial expression and lunging pose are just wonderful.
I went with a harvest brown/black mix in a 4:1 ratio for the undercoat, then added a bit more brown for the highlights. Many of the reference photos online go with a blue & red mandrill look for the face. A lot of those are lurid, in my opinion, but the piece really does cry out for color contrast. So I toned it down a bit but used the same color scheme.
Given that there isn’t much space to show the Drazen’s Horde faction color, I opted for copper in the arm pieces. As with the orcs, I gave a light green ink wash to indicate oxidation. I’m still not thrilled with this technique, but I don’t have the energy to figure out how to paint verdigris properly.
The Drazen’s Horde faction is almost finished. Only two hobgoblins and the hill giant left to paint. I should be done by the end of the month, at which point I may switch to Ahmut’s Legion.
I’ve also painted a bunch of rats and a couple of shadow figures for the Sunless Citadel module. I’m particularly happy with how the plague rats turned out.
Chainmail Miniatures 