I have just completed my unit of Karakuri robots for infinity the game and thought I would share the results with you all. I am in the process of writing up my battle reports for blog wars (which are taking a little time as I have never written one before) but I have still been hobbying and have a ton of stuff to post that should keep me going for at least the next month.
So onto the models. They have quite an interesting aesthetic that I was not overly fond of at first glance, but the more time I have spent with the models the more I really like them. I enjoy the smooth armour plates and the Geisha type aesthetics of them, and they really do feel like some futuristic Japanese creation, bristling with weapons.
Assembling them was a bit of a nightmare. I could not get the legs to stick together as they had some weird joins that meet at the inner hip, and I had to use a ton of glue to fix them in place. Once they were all assembled I realised I had not cut the tabs off at the base so I could mount them on their resin bases after they had been painted. In the process of cutting these off I managed to completely destroy all my previous attempts to assemble the minis. Arms, legs and heads were all broken off, much to my frustration, and plenty of cursing ensued. In the end I had to pin each part of the model at every joint to get them to stay together, which was immensely frustrating and time consuming, not to mention a little difficult. They are pretty robust now but I wanted to cry by the end of it all.
I decided to batch paint all three of them together, which is a bit of a departure for me, as all my previous Infinity models have been done singly. Because there were a lot of smooth areas and simple colours I figured it would be much more efficient to do it this way. I am glad I did but it was still a long process, and one that I will probably not do again. Infinity figures tend to lend themselves better to being painted singly, as they are so small and fiddly and much more time and care is spent in painting them
I like the finished result. The blending and highlighting works nicely, and the colours don't detract from the models at all, which I was afraid it would. The bases I am also pleased with, as I feel it adds a nice bit of character and story to each of the robots. All in all an enjoyable little break from painting thunderwolves :D
NafNaf out!
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Models look great! If I had any critique, it would be to add some variance in the black road surface so it's no so monotone. (Could just be the photos though!). Maybe bring it up to a darker grey with some dry brushing, then use some washes to make some sections darker...give them more of a look that matches your center model.
ReplyDeleteKnowing the size of these models, just getting them to this excellent paint job is a job in itself! Great job!
And I hear you on the battle reports...they are masssssively time consuming. It usually takes me hours to write one up.
Cheers Greg. They certainly were a challenge to paint and assemble but I am really pleased with the end result.
ReplyDeleteThe road parts were drybrushed with a dark grey followed by a lighter one, and then had a black wash over the top to blend them a bit. It probably is not evident in the photos as it is quite subtle. I wanted the end result to look like asphalt, which is very dark, and also wanted a contrast in the greys from pavement (light) to road (dark). I think in person it works better than in photo form. I appreciate the feedback though :)
I have attempted to write the battle report as a narrative story but it just does not work, so I am going back to square one. I like the way you and Thor both do yours (with more of a narrative bent to it) so I will attempt another try this weekend hopefully.
Figured it was probably the photos. Photographing black is seriously difficult!
DeleteI originally tried a "turn by turn, step by step" bat rep style. It took about 5 hours per battle report to type up. It was miserable. Concentrating on key moments in a narrative style seems to save a lot of time, and given enough photos, gets the same effect off.
Thor is also really good at "teasing" his battles on twitter.
Yeah black always seems to get washed out when I photo them.
DeleteI will be doing it the way you suggest I think, with just the narrative highlights and a few pics and maps. When I post it up I would really appreciate any pointers and feedback on how I can improve for the next one (got 3 to write) as I want to do them on a fairly regular basis when I get games in
Be happy to! One thing I'd suggest is copying them onto the battle directory http://the.battle.directory/
Deleteat a later time. Will help with traffic.
I also find that reddit/r/warhammer40k loves bat reps. I always get the most hits from people reading bat reps.
Sweet, some great tips there. I shall do that thanks Greg :)
DeleteNice and might help me figure out my nomads scheme.
ReplyDeleteCheers Aruki. I love the nomad models. They have some of the best in the range, especially the TAG's
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