Shadows of Brimstone: Feral Vampires + Contrast Paint Experiment #9 (Squaddie September ’19)

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Shadows of Brimstone: Feral Vampires

A several day break and then more Shadows of Brimstone models! Am I trying to tank my blog’s views? Half-jokes aside, once again these aren’t good models. The good old “easy wins” motivation based on them being quite simple looking on sprue, plus the chance to try out the Contrast Paints in a much more involved way got these going. I went with the three different coloured coats for the dual purposes of variaton, as well as (3) grunts, (2) elites, (1) leader should that kind of breakdown ever be needed. I left dark red available in case I have the resin “hero” figure somewhere in the mess of a Kickstarter delivery that this game had.

The official package (which I didn’t get – because Kickstarter) artwork quality is straight from RPG sourcebooks circa 1992.

Painting was pretty simple. They were all sprayed Grey Seer and I basecoated the coats in Contrast Dark Angels Green, Ultramarines Blue and.. um.. one of the browns. Gore-Grunta Fur maybe? Unfortunately, it looked …a bit shit. So I gave all three types some drybrushing to add some nice nuance to the colour and then a wash to finish. Yes, Contrast by itself wasn’t good enough for these shitty models. To be fair, I blame the sculpts as much as the paint. Thinned (with Medium) purple for their heads, snakebite leather over a yellow-white for the nails and teeth, and some Blood Angels Red for their mouths and the blood effects there – which was originally a bit of slop on the first couple that I intended to overpaint, before I decided to keep it and go with it on the rest. That’s pretty much it.

Shadows of Brimstone: Feral Vampires

So what did the Contrast paint add to the process of painting these models? Well, I guess motivation was a big part. They’re pretty mediocre models, so the idea of spending normal amounts of time painting them in the normal manner did not appeal at all, while simpletown Contrast painting did. Could I have gotten pretty much the same effect if I’d used traditional paints on these, as well as thinning my Army Painter Purple wash for the skin? Yeah, pretty much, although a bunch of their native shading is still quite evident on these models. On these, though – the Contrast Paints special powers are pretty negligible because I wasn’t satisfied with how they came out.

Shadows of Brimstone: Feral Vampires

But that’s really what I’m working out here. I’ve painted for over thirty years using basically the same methods, or more accurately, building on the same methods I learned as a kid/teen. Now these new paints have come along – and despite what too many people with more mouth than experience will tell you (especially on places like Dakka) – are not exactly the same as painting with washes or Les Bursley’s custom washes. They have similarities for sure, but they are different, and because I don’t have my head up my arsehole – I see a new set of tools and am figuring out how to use them and where and how they fit in my workflow.

Aside from “dedicated” models like these, I do find them really useful for small spot-points of shading, as they’re denser than traditional washes but more translucent than paint washes, and I’m finding that a lot of them are getting regular use in that manner.

As for these models? In the end, I have six more not-good-but-not-terrible completed models for the boardgame and any other use that might come up on the tabletop. Now to prep another little batch of nonsensical Brimstone models for the next lot…

Necromunda ’95! – “Catachan” Gangers with Lasgun; Meltagun/Flamer (Michael Perry, 1993-4)

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Jungle Fighter with Lasgun 1 0437/2, Jungle Fighter with Melta-gun 0437/6, Necromunda 1995, Michael Perry, 1993-4

Here’s the final pair of the metal Catachan models used in my original Necromunda gang. Like the previous pair of Necro-Catachans, this pair was also designed to represent two versions of the same gang member. In this case, a ganger picked up the “specialist” (from memory) skill which then allowed them to use a special weapon (funny, dat!) At this point in time, I don’t think the metal Catachan with flamer was yet released – as the metal IG model ranges of the time each had some of the special and heavy weapons, yet lacked the full range – and so this meant that the closest I could come up with and use was the Meltagun. Either that or I thought that the Flamer design of the day – when seen on humans as opposed to Marines – looked a bit shitty. Because that would also be accurate.

Jungle Fighter with Lasgun 1 0437/2, Jungle Fighter with Melta-gun 0437/6, Necromunda 1995, Michael Perry, 1993-4

If you look at the weapon itself, it looks “close enough” to be used as a flamethrower. To really drive the point home, I did some 1995-level conversion by adding the fuel tank backpack, shoulder straps made from thin card and a fuel line cable from copper wire. His backup lasgun was added to the backpack, in the same way I tended to do with all my Necromunda heavies.

Jungle Fighter with Lasgun 1 0437/2, Jungle Fighter with Melta-gun 0437/6, Necromunda 1995, Michael Perry, 1993-4

As with the last pair, these guys were pretty much painted – though in a 1995 sense. I did touch up a small amount of damage, rebase them entirely, and then repaint a few of the more garish elements – toned down the guns from superbright blue, repainted the fuel line from lime green to striped black and yellow. I mean, we still have forms of all four primary colours here. Just two of them are less eye-meltingly bright now. I did decide to leave the pants in their original state. I’m also not quite sure what that red camo is supposed to blend into, but I digress – just think of them as “fashion” fatigues, the likes you’ve probably seen around at some stage.

While nothing especially outstanding, and still way more garish than I’d do them today, I’m happy to see this pair updated and once again – fully table-ready, 20 years later.