Otto Long Arm – Bestiarum Miniatures

I remember a time when I would get excited about new releases by Citadel Miniatures.  This faded as GW largely moved away from the sort of things that interest me, but every now and then I find a new range or miniature creator that rekindle that excitement.  One of those I have discovered recently are the models by Bestiarum Miniatures.

 

I don’t know much about the background of the world of Bestiarum, but they create some of the most characterful, crazy, dark and sometimes disturbing models I have seen for some time.  The only problem is they don’t produce ‘physical’ miniatures. but sell their ranges as files for 3D printers.  Now, I am a luddite and most technology is beyond me so 3D printing is a mechanical sorcery that frankly terrifies me!  Thank goodness for places like Etsy and eBay where licensed sellers can be found, sometimes providing this type of mini at a reasonable price.

 

Otto Long Arm is the first Bestiarum mini I have purchased.  I’m going to be sensible this time and only buy new ones as the last model is finished… that also encourages me to paint them faster.

 

And I need that encouragement.  This is the first model I have finished in over 18 months.

 

But what a model.  Very little cleaning was required, I wasn’t tempted to convert him… just a wash, build and undercoat (White over grey over black).  The colour scheme was rather guided by the helmet, which I though was similar to a Roman Gladiator – a bit of research meant that Otto here was going to be in armour which was partly gold / bronze colour and there would be some red areas.
 

 

 Otto might once have been great, but I figured he had spent some time on some crusade in this hellish underworld – his clothing is tatty, he has bandages and damaged armour.  He’s not been able to repair what he set out with, and has picked up replacements where possible – this meant a lot of his armour would be a more conventional iron colour with plenty of rust.

 

I started on the inside and worked outwards, so the clothing and rags came first… earthy, dull colours, largely using Vallejo paints.   Then the metal, also Vallejos with plenty of rust created using sepia ink, Modelmates’ Rust Effect paint and a little GW Ryza Rust.  I painted all of the metal shield at this point as I wanted lots of damage and chipped paint – painting all of the metal now didn’t take much longer and gave me more freedom when it came to painting the design.

 

The shield was painted a Gladiator-esque red with plenty of battle damage – let’s face it, Otto is a skilled warrior and most of the time the enemy’s blows should be landing on his shield!  Then came the design; I knew enough that in the Bestiarum world Otto’s enemies are called the ‘Corrupted Ambrosia’, so I figured that Otto’s symbol would be a (non-corrupted) Ambrosia pattern.  A little Google research showed that Ambrosia has an astrological sign, a bit like the infinity symbol with the top missing… perfect!  This was added to the shield, but I wanted the symbol to be fading, broken, a symbol of Otto’s sanity and resolve.  One day, after more battles, the symbol will be gone and Otto will succumb to the corruption.

 

(I think I’ve mentioned before that creating a backstory for your model - which grows as you work on it - helps you to add character to your creation as you look to convey it with the paint)

 

The remaining armour was painted in the gold/bronze colour (GW paints this time) and as a further nod to the Roman Gladiator I only painted in this colour those armour pieces that would have been worn by a Murmillo – right arm and shoulder, knee, helmet and edge of the shield.  Again you can see the armour is tainted by the environment.

 

 

 

 

 

 The only two items that are not damaged, worn or corroding are the two relics tied to Otto’s belt.  These represent his courage and strength so are bright, with some green spot colour.  More vibrant than the rest these embody the glimmer of hope that our brave warrior will prevail.

 

Normally my bases would use fine sand or mud, but this I went for coarser tiny stones.  Otto is in a brutal environment, not the sort of place you’d go barefoot, so I used something grittier to make it seem that he was walking on a surface that felt like lego blocks.  Nasty.  Pale and ashen with a few stone slabs and bony spikes (balsa and cocktail sticks for a bit of texture) plus a couple of skulls and some anaemic looking grass - you’d not want to stay there long.  When painting the base I also drybrush some of the colour onto the feet of the model… far too often do you see models with strangely clean shoes!

 

 

 

Not really my finest work but a nice start after such a long break.  I enjoyed painting this model so much I’ve picked up a bit of the painting bug again…  The next Bestiarum mini is already on order…

 

I hope you find these blogs useful – there are many other pages and sites that tell you what paints to use and describe the techniques to get the colour on the model.  I want mine to be a bit different, to describe the thought processes and background of the creation of my artwork.  If it helps you to think a bit differently as you build and paint and enables you to improve your work, then all the better 😊

 

Thanks for reading... thoughts, tips, questions and comments are welcomed!

Chaos Lord of Nurgle – Golden Demon UK 40K Single Miniature Gold, 2001

 

 Back in the day I was a sucker for an interesting wager.  One evening in 2001 I was out at the Purple Turtle Bar in Reading when one of the GW gang (Dave Palmer I think) bet me that I couldn’t win a Golden Demon award using a component from a non-Games Workshop model.  Use of non-GW components would result in disqualification… so I would have to be subtle.  The result was this 40K Chaos Space Marine Lord of Nurgle.

 

 

 It  was only when I had a good look at the model today to write this blog entry that I realised how much converting went into this mini.  It was based on a metal 40K Chaos Space Marine Lord but I don’t think there is a millimetre that has not been modified, added to or converted in some way.  I had really got to grips with Green Stuff at the time, so went crazy with that and bitz from my bitz box.

 

 

 

 

  

In addition to the metal model and lots of Green Stuff, this model was made up of plastic bitz, slate, wire, paper, metal rod and ubiquitous Nurglings.

  It was painted mostly with GW paints with some Tamiya Clear colours – red, green and yellow, sometimes mixed – still a staple of any decent painting kit.

 

 

 

 

 

I have always been more of a fan of Warhammer than 40K, and wanted this fella to have some archaic style weapons.  An axe and shield seemed right, but it took me a long time to figure out how to make them look interesting.  The axe is actually a small piece of the same slate I used for the base, embedded in a piece of flesh stuck to a long bone – pretty Nurgly I reckon.  The shield is wooden with stretched skin and three buboes in the Nurgle symbol, one of which has burst just in case there was any doubt as to which deity this Lord follows!

 

The armour might not be all that functional any more, only serving to hold the Champion together!  It’s failed in areas; the stomach has burst out and split, with some tasty Green stuff entrails.  It’s covered with cuts, gaps and zits, and I carved one foot into exposed toes.  There are no pipes – all have been painted as guts.  One shoulder pad has spines sticking out, the other has… well… a dirty old sphincter.

   

 

The backpack.  Oh that backpack.  I hope it’s not a reflection of my state of mind at the time, but creating backpack out of body parts just seemed to suit the character… There are a few themes in this model that have carried through to many of my later creations, which hopefully you’ll be able to spot as I share more.  The standard is based upon the first ever Nurgle banner I painted (sadly long gone) and the tongue has continued to feature, as has the burst bubo shield.

 

  

I’ve not had a good look at this model for so long, and it’s a joy picking out all the little conversions, from the bone handle of the sidearm to the wiring feeding the flayed face this model is wearing.  The painting is quite messy and a bit retro (like the Champion himself!), certainly not nearly good enough by today’s competition standards, but I think it’s the modelling and detail that make this one stand out.

 

  

This ghastly creation picked up Gold in the 40K Single Miniature category in 2001.  That same year I won the Slayer Sword with my Slaanesh Warband.  Interestingly when I went up to Lenton to have photos taken of the models, GW had no idea which was the Slayer Winner… apparently the judges couldn’t really decide between whether the Chaos Lord or the Warband should win, but both were mine!  I chose the Warband in the end, simply because it took longer, so that’s what went in the publications.  To be honest I’d be happy for this to have won.

 

And for the non-GW component?  I’m not telling… but if you can pick it out and identify please comment below.  You might win a prize.  Which reminds me, I’m still owed a tenner from that bet…

 

 

Thanks for reading... thoughts, tips, questions and comments are welcomed :)

 

 

The Wormlord

 

I can remember exactly when I became a devotee of Nurgle.  It was in 3^rd Year Senior (Year 9 these days), in the classroom before school.  A mate had brought in a copy of the Realm of Chaos Lost and the Damned book (not the more recent Horus Heresy novel of the same name.  Is nothing sacred?) and a few of us were discussing the merits of the various Chaos Gods.  I was immediately taken by the colours, the variety and the sheer joy felt by Nurgle’s followers, as well as the fact that they were so gross.  Happy but Gross.   It’s a coincidence that was around the same time I started getting really spotty.

That was it.  From then on anything that was a bit Chaosy was painted predominantly in greens, as Nurgle armour should be.  Then I started to convert and sculpt and as time went on more buboes, tentacles and goo were added to the mix…  If it looked like it could join Nurgle, it did.  Which too many years later eventually led to this character.  The Wormlord.
 

It was inspired by 2 things.  Firstly I liked elements of the newly released Warhammer Khorne Bloodstoker, and wanted to Nurglify him.  Secondly I had just got myself some Tube tools for making tentacles, cables, etc. Whenever I had some left over Green stuff it would become a little worm;  I had a small pot with a few of them… and so I set to work incorporating them with the Bloodstoker.  A lot of the original model was stripped and carved away.  His helmet and mouth area were great, but the front of the helm resculpted.  There are armour pieces and arms from the Putrid Blightkings and the spear is from a Slaaneshi Hellstrider.  

 I liked the idea of the original model having a whip, so kept that… of course it’s a long wormy tentacle, but near enough!  If you look closely you’ll see the tentacle is actually growing out the back of the Champion’s head.  Such are the gifts of Papa Nurgle.  Then of course there are worms, plenty of worms, sculpted out of Green stuff using the tube tools, some with a thin wire core so that they can be bent to shape once set and in place.




 

 

By this point I had figured out sculpting with Green Stuff and always keeping the tools wet (I use stainless steel dentists’ tools purchased from eBay).  I’m still not great at sculpting large complicated areas, I tend to layer each muscle / armour piece / area of clothing / etc. at a time, leave it to set, them move to the next.  Fortunately there are always more spots to add while waiting!

  I do a lot of research for my models – the colours, appearance and textures.  A walk in the woods with my camera for an Elf or tree, or I Google animals if I’m painting fur or horns.  It’s always worth doing your homework before you get started.  I’m lucky (or should that be unlucky?) enough that I work in an area that I can sometimes get to see some of the more grotesque things in life, which does help with things like this, but you want them at times to be a bit stylized, not toooo realistic.  It’s supposed to be Fantasy after all.

 

This model was given a straight black undercoat and painted with Citadel and Model Colour / Vallejo paints.  I tend to use Citadel for the colourful areas such as armour and clothing as well as the metals, while I use Vallejos for the more natural colours.  Also a combination of both for glazes and washes.

 

I love Nurglings.  They are one of the best things in the Warhammer World. Each one tells a little story of its own, and they are small enough to be able to add one or two to a base and have them interact with their surroundings.  You shouldn’t spot them at first as the natural colours blend in with the base a bit – the Character himself should be catching your eye... but then on further examination you can make them out.  Look at them, up to their mischief!

The long drip of goo coming out of the big worm was stretched clear plastic built up with glue, similar to the Lictor all those years before.  There is further stretched goo around the model (mostly on the worms) created with UHU glue left to dry for a bit before being pulled into shape between different areas.  If you time it right it will still be sticky and will stick to the next area.  These are done before the model is matt varnished, but are given a couple of layers of gloss varnish to bring back the shine and add some strength.

 

 

The base is a bit of wood chipping, shaped, with a mix of fine sand and glue over some areas (and plenty over the ‘supports’ so they don’t look like plastic tubing).  I painted the Champion, Nurglings and worms separate from the base then glued them in place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really like this model, especially the worms.  It was entered into one Golden Demon competition but didn’t even make the first cut.  Maybe too ‘wormy’ for the new Age of Sigmar…?

 

Thanks for reading... thoughts, tips, questions and comments are welcomed :)

 

 

 

P.S. I do get requests for commissions.  Sadly I don't paint enough or fast enough to make this viable.  I can however thoroughly recommend Average Joe's Painting Studio.  A nice enough guy, and a good painter ;)
 

Find him here:  https://www.facebook.com/AverageJoesStudio/