Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Favorite Models to Paint

With all the crazy busy schedule in my life, and the push to play more often, I found myself in an unlikely position recently of having time to sit back and think about the models I paint while I was in between models. The question came to me recently from a local friend about what my favorite model to paint was and it really got me thinking. It wasn't easy to come up with a snap answer, and certainly not without a caveat or two about why something was my favorite. Since that time (a couple months ago), I've put some thought into it and what follows is an introspective look at my top 5 favorite models that I have painted.

First I need to qualify some context for this list:
* This list includes only Privateer Press models. There are models from other lines that I absolutely loved painting, but I decided to focus specifically on my Hordes and Warmachine models.
* It does not include models I have not painted, as I wanted to speak from my own experience. There are models that look great but turn out to be very not-fun to paint.
* This list is regardless of the painting quality I did on the particular models.
* I'm not big on conversion work. I'll do some small amount of conversion work, but I prefer to spend my time painting rather than cutting and sculpting.
* My list is biased with models I painted more recently. This has a lot to do with both my memory being fresher, and simply putting more thought into what I enjoy painting.

#1: Gnarlhorn Saytr
This model is incredible. I really enjoyed painting it for a number of reasons:
1) The pose makes sense. He has a sense of action and purpose without being overdone.
2) Everything on the model is accessible for painting when fully assembled.
3) There's a good mix of hard and soft lines to the model.
4) The model has good readability. I can't stress the importance of this enough. Some models have too much detail, with little sculpted bits all over them. Instead of looking like a street vendor cart from a kung fu movie, this model finds a good balance of detail and "non-detail".

#2: Skarre, Queen of the Broken Coast

Another great model. This one has the advantage of a sculpted base as well. I also greatly like this model because the combination of the pose, the features, and the base come together to tell a small bit of a story about the model.
#3: Gudrun the Wanderer

Gudrun will always hold a special place for me. I poured a lot of hours into painting him. Not sure what more to say other than I've heard many people comment about how they loved the sculpt.
#4: Sea Dogs

These guys were a blast to paint. Even if you don't want to paint them to a high quality, the detail level makes it so each model basically paints itself. Some simple techniques and you've got a kick ass batch of pirates. I also particularly enjoyed them because all 6 sculpts were different!
#5: NightmareThe only warjack to make my list. The Nightmare stands out from the rest due to its pose and it's detail work. The runes create a built-in opportunity for the painter to try out some minor OSL work. The only other warjack that had a chance of beating out Nightmare is the Seether, and I simply haven't painted one of those yet.

And what would a top list be without some Honorable Mentions? The following are models that almost made this list, but for whatever reason I decided not to include them.
* Bokur
* Raek
* Grim Angus
* Typhon

Thanks for indulging me in this brief introspective interlude. It's easy to get busy trying to paint an army and not stop to think about the enjoyment of spending quality time with a really good model.

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