ANFSCD*: Andira Runehand

I saved the Andira Runehand post for last as she was actually the second the model I painted in this ANFSCD series and I had delusions that I would go back and correct all the tiny mistakes on her that add up to a mess of a model.

But then I remembered that ANFSCD isn't about obsessing over mistakes.  It's about trying new things, seeing what went wrong and then trying again on a new model (in this case, Silo was the model I did better on!).  It was also about keeping up with the hobbying despite having burnt out on Crimson Fists.  At least I had some success there!

Runehand has been a staple mage in our group since day 1.  Her focus has been on AoE type spells, both Breath and Blast runes to wipe out the little enemies so Lord Hawthorne and Silo can handle the big threats (while my guy ports around grabbing treasures and supplies).  She's a neat character, though her base ability to pierce 2 armor has become slightly less useful as the monsters we're facing have advanced to Silver/Gold levels...they have a lot of armor to pierce now!  Her player is brilliant though and has done a great job of rapidly building an attack plan and getting us on-board for the killing and the looting. Sometimes he bites off a bit more than he can chew and winds up getting beat up and sent back to town, but his sacrifices are always well-calculated for the overall team win. 

This model is easily the weakest model in the set.  Her fingers and head are mediocre sculpts and there is no rational explanation for her to be carrying a banner through the dungeon.  It doesn't even connect to her power (which is a Runehand presumably.)  Along with this, her drawing demands a gold trim and a highlight on the hand, both of which I failed at!

Many tiny mistakes add up to an angry Andira

I started with a black gesso base and then painted all her armor bits with the foundation paint Adeptus Battlegrey.  In a moment of inspiration, I then decided to give her armor a wash of Asurman blue instead of using any regular paint...so what you see here is just straight blue wash over a grey-white basecoat.  It actually came out looking rather nice for her...makes for shiny armor without using any metallics!

I then tried to use sunburst yellow along the edges (or is it golden yellow now?) and here is where I flubbed it.  Lots of fat lines that should be thin and I feel like I should have used a different yellow to act as gold.  Live and learn, I guess.  Not much time lost though as I finished her in a night (not counting the gessoing that I let dry overnight).  You'll note I didn't bother trimming every bit of armor as I didn't want to continue compounding the error...as stated, I was going to go back and fix it.  But now I'm not.  Take that, perfectionist tendencies!

She looks much better from the back...

This little trip into ANFSCD really worked to keep me painting and as of Sunday, I'm back to fists in preparation for Planetstrike on Saturday. Huzzah!

*And Now For Something Completely Different: A sporadic post about my exploits outside the WH40K hobby.  I paint and play with other minis too!