For a little while now Games Workshop have been offering a free miniature in store, as part of their Miniature of the Month promotion. As October is the spookiest month of the year, we saw the re-release of Cursed City, as well as a free miniature from the box.
As is now becoming a regular friendly challenge, we each headed to a local Warhammer store to build and take home a model, and painted them to compare our different approaches.
Arron (AKA @ajb_minis)
While I might not play a lot of Age of Sigmar games, I do have a small collection of Soulblight Gravelords consisting 90% of the vampire characters, so when this month’s free mini was announced, I knew I’d find something I’d like. What I wasn’t expecting to find was that nobody had claimed Radukar the Wolf, the ‘big bad’ of the whole box. Result.
I painted this guy up in a similar way to the rest of my Soulblight, using bright blues and burgundy tones (I’m a big fan of Screamer Pink lately). I’ve previously gone over my recipe for painting Dire Wolves with an airbrush, but figured I’d try a slightly simplified version using drybrushing. Overall, it has it’s pros and cons – It adds quite a nice texture to the fur, and picks out the individual strands really well, but just looks a little rough compared to the rest of the model which uses very crisp, hard highlighting.
Ben (AKA @manyotterminis)
It’s weird to think that once upon a time the community was in uproar because Cursed City was impossible to find, and now they’re sitting open in Warhammer stores being given away.
Since I didn’t know what I was getting I planned to try something fundamental, that would be applicable to most of the miniatures in the box, or at least something available in large numbers like this skeleton. So before I picked up the miniature I decided I was going to give non-metallic metals a go. (We’ve said it a lot but these free models really are a dream for someone looking to try something new without risking something valuable or feeling like they need to commit to a whole army.)
I found a fantastic tutorial by Angel Giraldez and bought the paints he used. I’m very pleased with the results, but also very excited to get some tips on what to do better. Some areas I’m really happy with, the face, breastplate, and sword have worked really well, and other areas where I didn’t feel like I knew what I was doing, his knee, right bracer, and feet confused me greatly. Other areas, like the shield, I knew what I was trying to do but don’t think I executed it very well. I find in situations like this the hobby community online can be fantastic at giving a few tips and tricks for improvement so I’ll be reaching out. Feel free to comment or message me on Instagram if you have any thoughts.
For the base I had my first go at using Valhallan Blizzard and took some inspiration from the tiled bases tutorial on the site to give the impression of a snowy ruin. This is something I’m planning to do for my Gnarlwood box so watch this space.
Kristian (AKA @kregory03)
Being one of the tens of people who was able to get a Cursed City box when they first came out, I was able to cheat slightly and pick my mini of the month; no random grab-bag for me. I decided on Watch Captain Halgrim: a character model with a lot of different textures to play with but not many minute details that would drive me to insanity.
The scheme itself is rather simple, a collection of my favourite contrasts (love me some Luxion Purple) and metallics, with an added dash of some colours I’d never tried before, namely The Fang and Coelia Greenshade all over to bring everything together. The result is a model that can only be described as “murky”, like he’s just emerged from somewhere dark and damp, and brought all that unsettlingness with him. Right up my alley in other words.
Did you enjoy this article? You could always tip the author with a coffee (or something stronger). If you fancy getting yourself any of these amazing looking minis, then check out Element Games. They have great deals on a wide range of Warhammer and accessories. Finally, make sure you’re following us on Instagram to stay up to date and get involved in our community!
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