High Warchief Ramses (Gencon painting contest entry)

I've been wanting to paint up High Warchief Ramses as a show piece for nearly a year now, so, when Hawk announced their painting contest at Gencon, I leapt at the opportunity!

Preparing and painting a piece of this size in under 3 weeks was very ambitious for me (I am not a speedy painter). Given another week to to improve, I think I'd update the weathering a bit more, to bind the base together better, but I had a lot of fun, and I'm pleased with how he turned out





Thanks to Dave and the Hawk team for letting me hang out and run demos in the booth. It was a good time!

Great work, I especially enjoy the base work and the little touches of foliage. Smooth transitions as well!

He looks ace dude

I really like the distance to croydon. Hahaha

As usual, excellent work, Klarg! The base detail is amazing - some graffiti, street signs, and awesome use of a civilian vehicle. Do you think you'll bring it out for any games?

Stunning! Love the detail.

Excellent work! Any comments on how you did the shading?

Very cool!

As usual, excellent work, Klarg! The base detail is amazing - some graffiti, street signs, and awesome use of a civilian vehicle. Do you think you'll bring it out for any games?

Thanks, Major.
He might make an appearance as a proxy for a Coyote war strider some day, but I don't think it will be a regular thing. That giant honking base would make him pretty unwieldy, compared to an unbiased walker.

Excellent work! Any comments on how you did the shading?

Um... slowly?

Honestly, this whole project was pretty involved.

1. Airbrushed base coat (Blended Vallejo Intense Blue, Deep Sky Blue, and white)
2. Hand edge-highlighted - I brough the edges of as many panels as I could up to a bright line, using the same paints. For the brightest highlights, I used Scale 75 white paint, which is very translucent, and eases the blending. (The exact opposite of what a lot of army painters want from their white paint)
3. Thinned oil paints to line the recessed patterns, and to outline each concave panel line. I used a blue-black oil and a dark ultramarine for this. I think thew were Windsor and Newton brand, but I don't think it's critical.
4. The white/bone parts are mixed with Reaper Miniatures Khaki and Bone triads to produce the desired colors. - That part is all hand-painted.
5. The "frill" around the walker's head is hand-blended, along each panel. I used a wet-blending technique to rough it in very quickly, and then refined it afterwards with thin glazes. The panels are further defined with oils.
6. I used Secret Weapon weathering pigments to rust up all the metallic wreckage on the base, and also added some random pigment grunge on the stone and pavement. Those colors are repeated on Ramses' lower legs, albeit fairly subtly.
7. I blended the walker's sensor domes with orange-red and yellow paint (plus a touch of black at the darkest points). I also gave them a gloss coat underneath the final matte varnish layer, so they would "pop" with a slightly satin finish, unlike the flatter body of the model. That part doesn't really come out in the photo.
8. Probably some other stuff I forgot? I dunno.

Given another 8-10 hours, I would probably go back to do a lot more shading on the base, especially on the road sign and large masonry chunks. They're kind of flat, as they are.

I hope that helps!