Monday 30 November 2020

Middlehammer: 'Big hat' 4th edition Chaos Dwarf test miniatures.

 Yes yes yes,  I know I should really be continuing with painting the Daemon Legions, which is a fantastic project. However, yet again I have had a busy month and not had time to do any real painting. Indeed, I have had to dismantle my painting table in order to remove carpets and attend to a leaky radiator! None of these shenanigans, and working, has left any time for serious painting.

Instead, I have only painted a few test miniatures for my 4th Edition Chaos Dwarf army, painting them whilst sitting on a bed and using a couple of plastic boxes as an impromptu painting table! I never really got on with 4th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle. After 2nd and 3rd Editions it seemed such a let down. I was further put ill at ease with the dominance of the so-called 'Red Period' of Citadel Miniatures, both with the painting and sculpting, and so drifted away from Games Workshop for most of the 1990's.

I did however buy a few of the Hobgoblins which I always liked, but I never liked the 'big hatted' Chaos Dwarfs at the time. Over 20 passed and I decided to reappraise my view of the Chaos Dwarfs, and to my surprise I really liked them! I picked a few off of e-bay and, which as is often the case, this led me to collecting an army of them, well over 100+ including Hobgoblins, monsters, and artillery.

I really would like to paint these, but I have never settled on a paint scheme. The old 1990's red scheme is actually quite nice in it's own way, but after a test model or two I found it to be a real faff to do. To paint them in that style would take a lot of time away from all the boxes of other stuff I have to do, and I also wasn't too struck on them en-masse as an army. The paint scheme seemed 'too busy'. I tried a couple of other schemes, but It was only until the other day I considered the rusty look. I like the idea of the Chaos Dwarfs living in some fantasy version of a polluted industrial wasteland, and so have gone for the grimy grim look, using Citadel's Technical paints. I picked up the idea of adding old watch parts to the bases from the Nergling blog ( http://nergling.blogspot.com/search/label/minis ) .

Enjoy :)

Three Chaos Dwarfs.
I used Citadel's Typhus Corrosion over a black undercoat, with Ryza Rust. I have kept the palette quite small and simple to avoid looking too busy.  
I also chose a pallid green look for the skin, to make them look less healthy. I will vary some of the colours and tones as I go on. I also might need to highlight the beards a little more.
A controversial topic, but I prefer them on the 25mm round bases rather than the smaller 20mm square.
Blunderbuss.
I have kept the watch parts on the bases to a minimum to avoid clutter, and also so that I can paint the dark bases with dashes of bright colours to suggest chemical pollutants.
The left side.
I want to keep the red clothing to add a bit of colour and contrast, otherwise them might look too dark and amorphous when in regiments on the table.
Another Blunderbuss armed Chaos Dwarf.
Rear view.
Chaos Dwarf Axeman.
This is one of the mono pose plastic Chaos Dwarfs. He is actually quite full of character for a mono pose miniature. He requires a shield.
Rear view.


Next blog update might be the Daemons or the Chaos Dwarfs. I might even paint up something Christmassy!

12 comments:

  1. Love the scorched look of them, suits them perfectly !

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    1. Thank you. I wanted a grimy and evil looking look to them without it looking to bland and dark.

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  2. Great look Lee, personally I'm still not a fan of the models, preferred the first rendition, but each to their own

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    1. Thank you. I love the old 1980's Chaos Dwarfs as well, but it's nice to have both styles of armies from the two very different era's, although my paint schemes for both are quite similar.

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  3. Replies
    1. Thank you, it's great fun to paint and very quick to do.

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  4. Love the scheme a polluted waste land suits them perfectly.

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    1. Glad you liked them. I like the classic colour paint scheme, but wanted to give them a much darker and evil feel, without ruining their aesthetic. The industrial look fits nicely with the industrial background and their callous, evil nature.

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  5. I have always been more of a fan of the 3rd Edition chaos warrior mini-me versions of the Chaos Dwarfs and even the more recent Forgeworld models that have a rust theme in the Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos book. However, I always loved the lore of the 4th Edition big hat Chaos Dwarfs Army Book. Your big hats have combined the best elements from these groups. I think the rust scheme is so good at removing that sort-of cartoony look in the 4th Edition book. They look mean, resilient, and great!

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    1. Thank you.
      I too am a great fan of the 3rd Edition Chaos Dwarfs, they are the variety of Chaos Dwarfs with which I grew up with in the 1980's. I did try out the rust look on them last year, and posted a few:
      http://goblinlee.blogspot.com/2019/04/spikes-harvey-wotan-and-friends.html

      You are right that the Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos are a throwback to those older Chaos Dwarfs.

      With the big hatted Chaos Dwarfs I wanted to do as you suggest, to tone down the cartoony look of the 4th Edition, and give them a darker, more industrial wasteland feel. However, I still wanted be true to miniatures themselves and not try to turn them into something else. I tried several paint schemes, but the rust one seems to work, and is unusual.
      Glad you like them.

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  6. Great work as ever. As you know I regard rounds as heretical, but they do seem to work on these guys, particularly with the round to square movement tray. You are single handedly shifting the balance of the worlds vast unpainted lead mountain to being painted...

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    1. Thank you Stu, glad you like them.
      I did think about whether to use round bases for a long time, and even based some up originally on 20mm square. However I thought that they didn't give the miniatures the space they deserved. You're right, the movement trays do help.

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