Age of Sigmar - Grombrindal, The White Dwarf

The White Dwarf has had quite a few models throughout the years and despite how long I have been in the hobby this is the first one I’ve owned. Perhaps because I gravitated more towards Warhammer 40,000 than I did Warhammer Fantasy Battles. 

In any case, I have one now. And as it wasn’t going to be part of any army, and thus was purely for display, it was the perfect chance to do some experimentation. By this point, my slapchop adjacent painting method had been serving me well for nearly a year and a half. I had well put the process through its paces and although I am pleased with the results it gives I do feel it could be a little better. I had quickly switched from using a matt black as the base colour to a mid-grey as the results of the former were just too dark for my liking. And while the mid-grey brightened up the model it did perhaps rob me of some measure of contrast, as the darkest the model will get is mid-grey. Grombrindal therefore presented a chance to try something, something darker than a mid-grey but not as dark as a matt black. Enter: Army Painter Air Raven Black. 

I had used this colour previously for a Black Templar or two and liked how it turned out. So after getting the model assembled and primed with Colour Forge Standard Grey I gave him an all over coat of Raven Black. With that done I then gave him a zenithal highlight of Vallejo Game Air Cold Grey and painted his face with Two Thin Coats Dwarven Skin. I then gave the whole model a drybrush with Army Painter Matt White. It looked alright, though part of me wondered if I had just taken the long way round to get to the same point as a Standard Grey prime and white ink zenithal. 

First things first I basecoated his beard and hair with a couple thin coats of Ulthuan Grey. Admittedly I should have done this before the drybrush but I am a fool. Anyway I moved on, giving the face a wash of Reikland Fleshshade and the beard and hair a coat of Apothecary White. The sleeves on the tunic I picked out with Army Painter Speedpaint Royal Robes and any leather details I painted with Gore-Grunta Fur. His cloak, meanwhile, I painted with Flesh Tearers Red. 

With most of Grombrindal done I moved onto the base and the mass of weapons and armour contained thereon. The rocks I painted with Basilicanum Grey and any wooden details, such as spear shafts, I painted with Wyldwood. A few of the weapons have cloth wrapped around the handles, which I picked out with Snakebite Leather. The Orruk helmet, and the fur lining of the dwarf’s cloak, I painted with Black Templar. Any bone details I painted with Skeleton Horde. The Chaos Warrior shield I decided would be Nurgle, obviously, so painted that with Army Painter Desolate Brown and the trim with Gore-Grunta Fur. The shield I think is from the Gloomspite Gitz, I painted with Blood Angels Red. Any blades or bare metal details, I then painted with Ratling Grime. 

At this point, I figured I could use this model to get some Gold Non-Metallic Metal practice. To get things started I painted everything that was going to be gold with Garaghak’s Sewer, the deep rich brown would be the ideal shadow colour. The next step was to mix Mourfang Brown with Vallejo Scrofulous Brown in a fifty-fifty ratio. I layered this onto the raised areas, leaving the recesses in Garaghak’s Sewer. I then mixed in some Army Painter Matt White and did a second layer, in a smaller area than the first. I then did edge and spot highlights with pure Matt White. The next step was to glaze a yellow over the area to give it that gold appearance. The first area that I did this for was the Soulblight Gravelords shield and I used Flash Gitz Yellow, which turned out more green than I would have liked. Second area I tried was the compass and belt buckle, which I used Yriel Yellow. Which also turned out fairly green. Nearing despair, I then tried some thinned Iyanden Yellow contrast paint. Which at last, was the colour I was looking for. 

With the gold done I moved onto the highlights. For any blue areas I highlighted the edges with AK Interactive Pastel Blue, likewise I used Pastel Green on any green areas. The red areas like the cloak and Gloomspite shield I highlighted the edges with Evil Sunz Scarlet. For any leather details like the gloves I gave them a highlight with Army Painter Buffed Hide. The hair and beard I highlighted with Army Painter Matt White. Lastly for the highlights I used Two Thin Coats Carcharodon Grey on the weapons or anything else I painted with Ratling Grime. 

The final detail was the gems in Grombrindal’s beard and on his axe. For these, I started with a basecoat of Vallejo Scarlet Red followed by a layer of Evil Sunz Scarlet, itself followed by a layer of Troll Slayer Orange. 

To finish things off I stuck some Gamers Grass moss tufts to the rock and painted the rim of the base black. 

I’ll be the first to admit it, this is not my best painted miniature. The gold NMM is a bit simplistic and the grey highlights are a bit too harsh. But I don’t regret it. I do definitely need to find more excuses to practice gold NMM though, as I clearly desperately need it. Also as the model is quite squat and compact, despite the tactical rock it doesn’t really show off the difference in the Raven Black shadows all that well. Plus I may have gone a little heavy with the Cold Grey zenithal highlight. Again it’s more to learn from.