Claudia Rodriguez "The Sculpt" - Valhalla II Part 2

Having finished the first set of miniatures from the Valhalla II kickstarter I swiftly moved onto the next group: the valkyries. I had painted up a group of valkyries for the previous Valhalla kickstarter so I got stuck right in. 

I started by glueing them all down to a base and priming them with Colour Forge Standard Grey. Next I blocked in the skin using Army Painter Air Nomad Flesh, tidying up any overspill with Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone. By base coating the skin first it will maintain its warmth when contrast paints are applied, leaving it grey results in the skin looking very washed out. In any case, once I had tidied up with Dungeon Stone I gave each of the models a zenithal highlight by spraying Liquitex Titanium White acrylic ink through my airbrush at a forty-five degree angle to the model. I finished off the skin for all of them by giving it a wash with Reikland Fleshshade. With that done, I could start slapping down the remaining contrast paints. 

Mist

Next to nothing is known about Mist, she is mentioned a couple of times but there are no further details about her. 

Regardless, I started by painting her hair with Cygor Brown. Next I painted all the leather straps with Gore-Grunta Fur and the wood on the shield with Wyldwood. Next I painted all the metal parts like the shield rim and her tiara with Army Painter Speedpaint Broadsword Silver. Lastly, I painted her clothes with Army Painter Speedpaint Purple Swarm. 

I wasn’t sure what to do with the base as she’s printed on some oval plinth that I have then stuck to a 32mm base. I started by painting the plinth with Basilicanum Grey, which as it’s such a large flat area ended up a little plain looking. So I dipped a small piece of sponge in some Dawnstone, and dabbed it on some paper towel until there wasn’t much left on the sponge. I then lightly dabbed the sponge around the edge of the plinth producing a chipped stone effect. To finish things off, I painted around the plinth with some slightly watered down PVA glue and sprinkled on some Geek Gaming Scenics Base Ready Patchy Plains. And very lastly, I painted the rim of the base black. 

Thrudr

There are two Thrudr characters mentioned in Norse mythology: one is the daughter of Thor and Sif, and the other is one the valkyries that serve ale to the einherjar in Valhalla. 

I have to say, Thrudr’s outfit is very similar to the infamous bikini that Princess Leia wears in Return of the Jedi. So I kind of leaned into it, base coating the straps, boots and vambraces with Scale75 Dwarven Gold. In fact I did this prior to the Reikland Fleshshade step above so that both the skin and the gold could be washed with Reikland Fleshshade at the same time. The loincloth and cups of the bikini I painted with Blood Angels Red.

For the base I took a similar approach to how I did the clouds for Geiravor and Gunnr in the last batch of models. I started by giving the cloud a wash with Drakenhof Nightshade, then rather than layer Ulthuan Grey on the raised areas, I decided it would be quicker to drybrush it on. The result was a bit darker than what I had done before but it took a fraction of the time. Lastly, I tidied up the base and painted the rim with black.

Hildr

Hildr has the dubious honour of being about to revive those that die on the battlefield to fight in the everlasting battle between Hedin and Hogni. Like Thrudr, she also serves ale in Valhalla. 

I started by painting all the straps she has about her person with Gore-Grunta Fur. I decided that Hildr is a blonde so I painted her hair with Skeleton Horde. I painted her clothes with Army Painter Speedpaint Royal Blue and any metallic details with Army Painter Speedpaint Broadsword Silver. I did her cloud base the same way that I did for Thrudr. And with that, Hildr was done, very quick and easy paint job.  

Skuld

Skuld is the third of the Norns, representing the future. She is also mentioned twice as being a valkyrie, hence the wings. 

The paint job for Skuld proved to be just as quick as the one for Hildr. I started by painting her hair with Army Painter Speedpaint Burnished Red. To match in somewhat with the other Norns I painted her dress with Talassar Blue, which paired nicely with Verdandi’s sea green dress (sheet?). The book cover I painted with Cygor Brown and the pages I painted with Skeleton Horde. I finished her clothing by painting her belt with Gore-Grunta Fur. 

Her base and plinth I painted in the same way that I did for Mist except that I used Geek Gaming Scenics Base Ready Forest Ground Cover instead of Patchy Plains. 

Wings

As the wings would be all the same I painted them at the same time, and in the same way that I painted the wings of the other valkyries. Firstly, I gave them a wash of Army Painter Dark Tone (now my pot of Nuln Oil is finished) and then drybrushed the edges and tips with Army Painter Matt White.

And with that, I was done and ready to dive into the next set of Valhalla miniatures!