I already learned tons of stuff that’s probably obvious to all the veteran Warhammer players around here, but for people just starting out it’s all still strange and new. That’s why I decided to share some of the stuff I learned.

But first, let’s show of some of my work!
Don’t forget to click the picture for a full size image.

Still work in progress, gotta do alot more details on the armour (what a bloody nice model this is by the way; Grimgor Ironhide) and got to finish up the shields and base on the bottom.
Still I’m very happy how his armour turned out. I decided to keep his armour a bit shinier compared to most Orcs, since he is the boss and all and gets the best and latest loot.

Off course the Boss needs to boss around a bit, so I also started painting on the Big ‘Uns, Forgot and Agok:

Basically at the same stage as the boss, got a nice layer of paint on them with some washes, but still need to work out some details and the bases. I also got to figure something out to make the 2 more different from each other, since it was nearly impossible to put this model (Black Orc Warboss) into a different pose. And off course the obvious missing arm, which will b revealed soon(tm).
Thanks to Loek I got an awesome idea, since Forgot has gained stupidity because of a battle wound, I will put an axe imbedded in his skull! That should explain those loose bolts in his puny orc brain. I’m also going to clip one of his helmet horns, also a wound from that battle.

Now what did I learn from all this painting and (minor) sculpting? I’ll tell ya after the break.

Well first of all, Orcs are one of the best warbands/armies to start out with. This is for a very simpel fact; Orcs. Are. Dirty.
If you mess up with painting, half the time it will just make them look more Orcy!

A very obvious one, but one I *bleep*ed up anyway is have patience. Nothing looks worse then two layers of paint mixing up.
That’s why it’s best to work on multiple models at once, so one can dry why you are working on the other.

Washes are awesome! They are the easiest method of adding depth to your model. I started out mixing my own washes, but it always seemed to be either to thick or to thinly mixed, so I really recommend the games workshop washes. They are just perfect and it looked way better with those.

But even with those nice washes you sometimes get a lot of it in a single hole/corner/whatever. That’s why I always had a few paper kitchen towels ready. By gently dipping it on the model I could suck away bits of wash until there was exactly enough. And by smearing it a bit you can get a nice alternative effect.

I haven’t really found a good way to dry brush yet, but it’ll be my next focus point to help with adding more detail to da Boss. It should be basically be dipping your brush on some kitchen towel first until it’s almost dry, but that doesn’t seem to work for me. It just gets too dry too quickly, and it won’t add any colour to the model then. So I could still use some advice on this bit.

Finally modelling. It’s definitely the best way to make models unique and stand out, and it’s not as hard as you might think. Off course when we’re talking about modelling, we’re going to need green stuff. There are really tons of way too use this nifty little putty like stuff, but the easiest application is redoing the joints of a model.

So that’s what I started out doing with it:

Just take a small glob of green stuff and attach it to the limb you’re adding. Press it against the model and put it into the right pose, then scrape of any excessive green stuff with something like a cocktail stick. Also be careful not to leave any fingerprints in the green stuff, it’ll show later when you paint it. And finally, be sure the limb is supported one way or the other, to prevent it from lowering while the green stuff dries.

As you can see, all of this is still *very* basic, but I hope I could at least help out some noobs like me.