“The Path Less Taken” (Paint what you got Challenge)

I’ve been taking part in “Dave Stones, Paint what you got challenge”, this basically means you paint stuff you already own (it’s actually a little difficult to paint stuff you don’t own, but that’s beside the point!). What this really means is you take this opportunity to get some colour on stuff you’ve had for far too long and have probably been putting off for one reason or another, and the figures I have for you this week definitely fall into this category. So I give you the “Pathfinders” from the Mantic “Dead Zone” starter set. Well if I’m brutally honest what I have here is half the figures from two starter sets, let me explain, a while back my youngest and I bought a starter set for this game on the recommendation of my eldest son, a while later he also passed on his starter set to me, I then glued together all the Pathfinder figures (10, see above) with a view to painting them all at once. However after adding the odd greenstuff “accoutrement” here and there in the form of slightly different hair, a slung rifle and a camo cape (on the standing sniper), then undercoating and starting them, I discovered, that a) I wasn’t actually that impressed with the figures and b) The dodgy detail on them made the a pain in the ar*e to paint! They therefore got pushed to the side of the painting table where they have languished ever since. But I have now decided that as part of Dave’s challenge I will get at least five of the bloody things finished.

So a quick run through as to where I was up to “vis’a’vis” the painting, as I said they had been undercoated in black, then their weapons were dry-brushed in chainmail. I’d also highlighted their torso body-armour in dark grey. Then I’d hit my first stumbling point, what colour to use on their other bits of armour? I decided (badly it turned out), to try sap green, now this is crafters paint (still acrylic, of course) rather than specific figure paint, and as such for some reason didn’t cover as well as I’d hoped and gave a glossy finish (not really a problem as they would eventually get matt varnished anyway), but I wasn’t that impressed with this, but carried on regardless. Next I couldn’t decide on a colour for their trousers, so eventually added the flesh to them in either European flesh highlighted with this mixed with pale flesh, or chocolate brown with dark fleshtone highlights, and this brought home yet another thing I didn’t like about them, half the figures are supposed to be female, but apart from slightly differing torso’s and heads, they use the same legs and muscular arms, now perhaps I’m being old fashioned here, but I don’t like my female figures to look like they have three square meals of steroids a day, don’t get me wrong I have no problem with muscular women, but if this is the case shouldn’t the men be just a little bigger again? Anyway it was about this point I decided there was other stuff I’d rather be painting, and so the inevitable happened, which was a shame as I’d actually been looking forward to painting these, after seeing the pic’s of them on the side of the box.

But I hear you ask what have you done to them this week? Alright I’m getting to that! Well first off I thought I’d highlight their torso’s again this time with mid grey, this was a mistake, as I really didn’t like the results (not off to the best of starts!😒), but then I thought, trousers, OK let’s start with Khaki (always a good military colour), with chocolate brown camo splodges, oh wait, they are going to have brown belts and straps so that won’t work 🤔, OK lets go for deep bronze green instead, and that looked alright, but it still needed a “pop” so I then added small irregular horizontal lines in stone green, this I really liked (first thing on these figures, I have liked tbh). Next I tidied up the sap green on their armour before highlighting these with more sap green mixed with some olive to lighten in slightly. Then I added the belts and bits in chocolate brown with leather highlights, looking at them now I realize the pads in their outer thighs should actually have been armored plates, so sap green again really but too late now. I still hated the mid-grey on their torso’s so went back and just painted it all dark grey, and left the Quickshade to (hopefully) do it’s magic on these (which it does seem to have on the finished figures  ). That left touching up the flesh with the same colours as before, adding the hair in sand and light sand, or chocolate brown and chestnut, some buckles in chainmail and a red “V” on the captains upper chest armour to pick him out from the “lower ranks”, and frankly I’d had enough of them 🙄.

As I said above I then gave them a coat of “Quickshade” (Strongtone) before hitting their bases with my old faithful trio of chocolate brown, khaki and coffee, and of course a final blow over with some matt varnish. They have come out OK’ish I’m still not a big fan of the sculpts, which is ironic in a way as these figures will probably see more table action than ninety eight percent of the figures in my collection. Well at least that’s half of them done, I hope to get the other five done at some point this year too. But for now “Fembruary” beckon’s, so expect some rather more feminine ladies over the next few weeks.

So till then, stay safe and cheers Roger.