Claudia Rodriguez "The Sculpt" - Valhalla Part 1

As I had done for the first of Claudia Rodriguez’ Kickstarters I split her second into two groups as well. For the first group, I chose the blokes. Mostly because they didn’t need as much assembly. A few of them also seemed to come with their own rudimentary base, in fact in the group of models I had selected only Heimdall needed a base. Regardless, so that everyone matched, I still stuck them all down to a base. Njord needed a slightly larged 32mm base but everyone else fit on a 25mm base. To add a bit more character to Heimdall, before I primed anything, I glued some slate chips to his base with superglue around the rock he is standing on, and sealed them down with some thinned PVA glue. Once that was dry, everyone was primed grey and I could make a start on painting.

Njord

The sea god Njord seemed like a fairly obvious place to start, as I figured that I could paint him in a similar colour scheme to the sea goddess Ran. However, where Ran is more commonly associated with only drowned individuals, Njord is more about the sea and seafaring in general.

To start things off, I basecoated his skin with a few thin coats of Cadian Fleshtone. His hair I painted with Mournfang Brown, a nice rich brown. His skirt I painted with Vallejo Russian Uniform, doing the trim with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. The rope around his waist I painted with Vallejo Khaki, and the loops I picked out with Scale75 Thrash Metal. While I had the Thrash Metal out I used it to paint the tip of his spear. His helmet and arm braces I painted with Scale75 Dwarven Gold.

With most of the basecoats done, I turned to the numerous bits of sea life around the model.

The scales across his skin I painted with a thin layer of Dawnstone. The shell he’s using as a belt buckle I painted with Vallejo Pale Sand. The two starfish and what I assume is a hermit crab I painted with Jokaero Orange.

Moving onto the washes, I started what would become a recurring trend in this article by giving the skin and any gold details a coat of Reikland Fleshshade. The skirt I then gave a coat of Nuln Oil. His staff and hair I washed Army Painter Strong Tone. Lastly, I put a coat of Scale75 Ancestral Blue on the tip of the spear. It give the spear a slight blue tint but it wasn’t quite as prominent as I had hoped.

Once the washes were dry I layered his skin with Cadian Fleshtone before giving it a slight highlight with Kislev Flesh. For his skirt, I first layered with Russian Uniform then for the highlights mixed Russian Uniform with Vallejo Pale Sand. I applied the highlights in a streaking motion so that it might give the impression of fabric. For his hair, I first layered back up with Mournfang Brown before giving it a highlight of a mix of Mournfang Brown and Pale Sand.

The base I painted in the same way that I did Ran’s. I basecoated it with a few thin coats of Thousand Sons Blue before giving it a wash of Athonian Camoshade. When that was dry, I then drybrushed the tips of the waves with Ceramite White.

Loki

The trickster god turned out to be a relatively easy paint job as the model isn’t cluttered with detail like Njord is. I did however start the same way as Njord and painted his skin with Cadian Fleshtone. In a nod to his Marvel counterpart, I painted his loincloth with Caliban Green. The fur cloak that he wears on his shoulders I painted the Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone. Loki’s appearance is never explicitly described, the closest we get is that he is “handsome and blond”. So with that in mind I painted his hair with a few thin coats of Vallejo Pale Sand, to give him a radiant platinum blond mane. His staff I painted with Army Painter Oak Brown, and in preparation for brighter colours I painted the ball at the top of the staff with Army PainterSkeleton Bone.

For the snake that is coiled around Loki I decided to take a step into the real world. In the mythology for his part in the killing of Baldr, Loki is bound and a serpent drips venom from above. Loki’s wife Sigyn collects the venom in a bowl, when the bowl is full Sigyn must empty it allowing a brief period for the venom to drip onto Loki. When it does, it causes him to writhe in agony which in turn causes earthquakes. Now it’s not stated exactly what serpent it is that drips venom, but there are not many venomous snakes native to Scandinavia. One of them being Vipera Berus, or the common adder. Aside from the infamous black adder, most adders are light brown with dark brown dorsal crossbars that run the length of the body.

All of that is a very long winded way of saying I painted the snake Vallejo Khaki and the markings with Rhinox Hide. For the markings, I painted a line of Rhinox Hide along the spine of the snake as it coils around the model. I then went back adding the crossbars in thin triangles. As nothing in nature is particularly neat, I didn’t need to be either. And in fact the slightly blotchy application helped to sell it as natural markings.

With all the basecoats done it was time to make a start on the washes and detailing. To start with I washed the skin with Reikland Fleshshade. Next I washed his loincloth with Nuln Oil. As his fur cloth was quite light, I gave it a coat of Basilicanum Grey contrast paint to really darken it down. Everything else (i.e. his staff and hair, and the snake) I washed with Army Painter Strong Tone.

As with Njord, I started the detailing on Loki by layering the skin with Cadian Fleshtone and highlighting it with Kislev Flesh. For his loincloth, I first layered with Caliban Green and then for the highlights mixed Caliban Green with Vallejo Heavy Goldbrown. Lastly, I highlighted his hair with Pale Sand.

I kept the base quite simple as the snake’s tail takes up most of it. I started by applying some Stirland Mud texture paint and once that was dry I washed it with Strong Tone. As things would be quite difficult to get to with a drybrush I instead decided to dab on some PVA glue, stuck down a tuft and sprinkled on some Geek Gaming Scenics Base Ready Forest Ground Cover.

Heimdall

Heimdall it seems is the only one of this batch that deemed it necessary to wear a shirt; Loki, Thor and Njord all running about with their guns out. Heimdall is also, interestingly, the only one in this batch with more than one mother. He is the offspring of Odin and nine mothers. Without imagining too hard how that might actually work, it is speculated that the nine mothers are the nine daughters of Ran and Aegir.

Whatever his parentage, I started by giving his skin a few thin coats of Cadian Fleshtone. I decided that Heimdall would be a blond, so I painted his hair and beard with Vallejo Khaki. His cloak and tunic I painted with Macragge Blue with a Vallejo Heavy Goldbrown trim. For the various leather details, such as his belt, shoes and armour, I painted them with Rhinox Hide. His various fur trappings I painted with Dawnstone, a nice neutral grey that wouldn’t clash with the rich blue and brown of his cloak and leathers respectively. The horns, but the ones on his helmet and the one he’s blowing into I painted with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. The axe handle I painted with Army Painter Oak Brown and the wrap on the handle I painted with Vallejo Khaki. For the metallics, I painted his helmet, bracer and axe blade with Scale75 Thrash Metal. The armour plate on his belly and the band around the horn I painted with Scale75 Dwarven Gold.

Moving onto the washes, I gave his skin and any gold details a coat of Reikland Fleshshade. The cloak and any silver parts I washed with Nuln Oil. I then used Army Painter Strong Tone on the leather details, the axe handle and the horns on his helmet. To help differentiate his blowing horn, I gave it a coat of Snakebite Leather contrast paint. Like on Loki, I gave the grey fur a coat of Basilicanum Grey to help darken it down.

Once the washes were dry I could move onto the layering and highlights. I started with the skin, first layering with Cadian Fleshtone. Ordinarily I would then highlight with Kislev Flesh, but as Heimdall is usually described as having pale skin I decided to bump the Kislev Flesh up to a full layer. The cloak I first layered with Macragge Blue and then highlighted with a mix of Macragge Blue and Two Thin Coats Celestial Blue. The trim I layered back up with Heavy Goldbrown then highlighted with a mix of Heavy Goldbrown and Pale Sand. I was tempted to keep on layering and highlighting every part of the model but in the end I decided against it.

So without further ado I moved onto the base. Which I started by applying Astrogranite texture paint to the flat areas. Once that was dry I painted the Astrogranite and rocks I had glued down earlier with Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone so that it all matched. To wash the base I dabbed on Nuln Oil, Strong Tone and Athonian Camoshade in random patches letting them flow into each other. Once that was dry, I then drybrushed the whole base with Dawnstone.

Thor

Thor doesn’t really need an introduction, just about everyone is at least aware of the Marvel films. Only real difference is that in later sagas he is usually referred to as having a red beard. Apart from that, he isn’t too far off from the hammer wielding ice-giant slaying depiction of the films.

Getting started on the model, I painted his skin with a few thin coats of Cadian Fleshtone. Per the above I then picked out his hair and beard with Jokaero Orange. As I’m rather unimaginative, I painted his skirt the same as I did Heimdall: Macragge Blue with Heavy Goldbrown trim. Again like Heimdall, and Loki, I painted the fur wraps around his ankles with Dawnstone. His belt, suspiciously modern shoes and tassels around his waist I painted with Rhinox Hide. The rope-like trim on the belt I painted with Vallejo Khaki.

His cloak I decided to use as a bit of an experiment for an upcoming project. I started by base coating with a couple thin coats of Archive-X Reefer White. I then gave it a wash of Scale75 Instant Colours Ancestral Blue. Finally, I drybrushed the cloak with Ceramite White. It turned out alright, Ancestral Blue was a little more green than I was expecting. But this is by far the best use I have found for Ancestral Blue so far.

Rather than have a big block of silver I decided to paint Mjölnir with Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone, which is a bit less eye-catching and blends in with the rest of the model better. The handle I painted with Army Painter Oak Brown. The various silver details, such as the bands on Mjölnir and Thor’s helmet, I painted with Scale75 Thrash Metal. Finally, I painted his bracers with Scale 75 Dwarven Gold.

Moving to the washes, I gave the skin and gold a coat of Reikland Fleshshade, the skirt and helmet a wash of Nuln Oil, Army Painter Strong Tone on the leather details and finally Mjölnir for a wash of Drakenhof Nightshade.

To finish him off I then layered the skin with Cadian Fleshtone then gave it a few highlight layers of Kislev Flesh. I also ran a bit of Greenstuff World Fluor Blue paint into the runes on Mjölnir. Won’t show up unless you shine an ultraviolet light on it but I’ll know it’s there.

The base I painted with Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone, which I then washed with Drakenhof Nightshade. Once that was dry I then drybrushed it with Dawnstone. The rim around the rocky outcrop I first painted with Scale75 Dwarven Gold then washed with Reikland Fleshshade.

Final thoughts

These turned out pretty well. Although in hindsight I should have made Heimdall’s skin paler, maybe used Kislev Flesh as the basecoat rather than a highlight. I used a whole bunch of skin tones when I painted the Norse Goddesses, not sure why I didn’t for these guys. Plus I could have put more highlights on Thor. Oh well, they’re done to a decent standard at any rate.