Crooked Dice - Ettin

I picked this grotesque looking fellow up at the UK Games Expo (UKGE) this year. At the time I wasn’t sure what an Ettin was but judging by his boils I’d figured he would look right at home standing next to my various Nurgle models. With a mountain of Zombicide Invader models done recently I was looking for a change of pace. Plus I had some Army Painter Speedpaint Malignant Green that I wanted to test out.

So with that in mind, I got the two-headed giant assembled, stuck some rocks to the base, and primed him grey. Once that had cured I gave the skin a couple coats of Two Thin Coats Griffon Claw, a nice pallid grey-brown colour. Next I dotted a small ring of Guilliman Flesh contrast paint around each of the boils to make them stand out a little more. While I had it out, I also gave their noses a coat of Guilliman Flesh, so it looked like they had the flu or at least a runny nose. Then to make the skin look really nice and sickly I gave it a coat of Army Painter Speedpaint Malignant Green. I then pick out each of the boils with a small dot of Vallejo Heavy Goldbrown. This made them look infected and pus filled.

Wouldn’t you just love to pop all them boils?

Once that was dry I broke out the wet palette. The first step would be to layer Griffon Claw on the raised areas, leaving the Malignant Green in the recesses. Next I mixed Griffon Claw about fifty-fifty with Pallid Wych Flesh. The latter is quite a chalky paint but I find that mixing in a bit of Lahmian Medium can help to keep it smooth. With this mix I set to layering the highest areas on the skin. Once this was I felt that the skin had become a little too pale, this Ettin wasn’t dead yet after all. To put some life back into the skin I mixed Griffon Claw with Malignant Green, which I was then able to almost glaze over the skin. To further add some warmth to the skin, I mixed Griffon Claw with Cadian Fleshtone, which I then applied in thin layers to the lips and noses. Finally for the skin, I mixed Griffon Claw with some Two Thin Coats Sorcerer’s Cloak to give the skin a purple tint. I applied this colour around the eyes and on the cheeks. It turned out a bit too subtle and hindsight I should have just used a thinned purple wash.

With the skin done I moved onto the remaining details. I didn’t want to put as much work into these as I did the skin, as I wanted the skin to remain the focal point of the model.

I started with the leather details, such as the bracers and sacks on his waist. First I basecoated them with Rhinox Hide. Next I layered them with Two Thin Coats Scorched Earth, adding the layers in thin scratches with the brush. I then highlighted with Skrag Brown around the edges of the leather, again adding the paint in a thin scratching motion.

The loincloth I basecoated with a couple thin coats of Balor Brown, the yellow-brown colour giving the impression of dirty unwashed cloth. I then gave this a simple highlight with Army Painter Skeleton Bone, adding the paint in scratches as I had done for the leather.

Whilst I had the Skeleton Bone out, I used it to basecoat the teeth and nails. These were then given a wash of thinned Army Painter Strong Tone before I highlighted them with a small amount of Skeleton Bone at the tips.

The fur beneath I loincloth I painted with Mournfang Brown that I wet blended with Rhinox Hide to give a mismatched and dirty appearance. Why a dark brown for the dirty patches? You already know the answer to that. To highlight the fur I gave it a quick drybrush with Mournfang Brown to bring out the texture.

The sculpted wood grain on the club gave me all the excuse I needed to do perhaps my favourite paint combination. I basecoated the wood areas with Vallejo Khaki before giving it an even coat of Wyldwood contrast paint. The result is a spot on wood grain effect, absolute chef’s kiss.

The last bits of the model to do were the metal parts of the weapons. I was tempted to do a bunch of rusted and weathered effects but in the end I kept it simple. A basecoat of Scale75 Thrash Metal followed by a wash of Nuln Oil then another wash of Strong Tone. Perfect dirty metal look.

Moving onto the base, I first slapped down some Vallejo Thick Brown Mud that, once dry, I washed with Athonian Camoshade and then drybrushed the base with Tyrant Skull. With that done I dolloped on some PVA and sprinkled on some Geek Gaming Scenics Base Ready Forest Ground Cover. And once that was dry, I added a bit more PVA and sprinkled on some static grass. Finally, I painted the rim of the base with a matt black.

Overall, I’m really pleased with how this turned out. And honestly, even though I didn’t go Maximum Effort™ on the non-skin details they turned out pretty decent looking anyway. The skin itself turned out nice as well, I didn’t push the highlights quite as far as I probably could have but Pallid Wych Flesh can be a bit of pain to work with. I have heard it referred to as “Pallid Wych Chalk” on more than one occasion. Perhaps I’ll replace it with something from the Two Thin Coats range.