So these minis aren’t Mantic minis. I went scratching around my bits box looking for something to do a little colour testing before I started hard core painting my Abyssal demons.
They are actually a bunch of resin grots that "Lucky" from the Monday Knights gave me as a birthday present a while ago (OK quite a few years ago.) So long ago that the good people at Pardulon Models have closed up shop back in 2016. It is a pity, given the end result, I would have been happy to pick up another couple of packs to make some more Imp swarms
I figure that these would make a suitable proxy for an imp swarm. The problem with the Abyssal starter box is there are only two imps in the whole box - not two swarms of Imps - just two Imp models
This was my first hit out with GW's contrast paints. I gave them a base cost of wraithbone spray. I then gave the minis one quick thick coat of Fleshtearer red (the darker of the two available red contrast paints). Wasn’t too sure what the results were going to be like - these minis are small (about 10mm tall) and have a lot of fairly flat surfaces.
Truth be known, today is also not the best day to be using spray paint & to be honest I probably didn’t give the base coat long enough to fully dry. I was a bit too eager to try the contrast paint. The spray was still a little “glossy” when I slapped on the contrast paint. This resulted in a couple of pin-hole size locations which the contrast paint did not adhere. (I should have taken a photo of this) Not a big problem, I just waited about half an hour did a minor touch up. All in all I am quite pleased with the result with the colour, coverage & contrast with the Fleshtearer contrast paint.
I could have left them with just the coat of contrast paint, but decided just to do the eyes (the only detail / highlight for this Imp Swarm). Old school Citadel paints (nearly 30 years old) were used to pick out the eyes, Skull white base, Blazing Sun yellow & outlined with black ink.
I based the swarm on a Gamer’s Grass Battle Ready Base. I these bases come ready to go with grass, rock and winter effects. The winter effect I think is a nice contrast for the read Abyssal demons. Proxy Abyssal Imp swarm ready to go! Or so I thought... I was quite proud of my first little a paint colour test and I showed them off to my gaming group. Admittedly I knew that the Mantic Vanguard miniatures were supplied with square bases, but didn’t think that it would matter if I based mine on a round base – boy was I wrong…
Turns out that having Vanguard miniatures on a square base is a thing, particularly for determining line of sight and attacks from the rear. My solution was to base on a square template.
