Utterly terrifying warrior-smiths who, legends say, simply appeared out of nowhere, striding from the wilderness with a psychotic gleam in their eyes, the Skullgrinders are hulking creatures that command awe even amongst the most lunatic of the Bloodbound. Wielding sacrificial, burning anvils at the end of long brass chains, their arcing, swinging attack bursts the heads of their opponents instantly, leaving nothing but a faint red mist and some shattered, splintered bone. Each skull dispatched in this way causes the anvil to burn ever brighter, until the sheer heat melts enemy armour and roasts unfortunate flesh.
Miniature Review
Well there's only really one thing to say about this guy, and it's that hammer! The swinging pose is great, especially with the flame trailing behind. The size of the hammer must be almost impossible to swing with any control, even for a super sized chaos human, but once the momentum has built up it just needs to be maintained to cause tremendous damage.
Painting Techniques
Metal (Bronze)
Metal (Steel)
Skin
Agrax Earthshade is thinned down and only applied to the deepest recesses. Carroburg Crimson is applied in the recesses around the eyes and nose.
Armour (Red)
Cloth
Leather (Brown)
Leather (Black)
Bone
Trophy (Green)
Flame
After the base layer I slowly added each color further and further away from the heart of the flame.
Gore
Similar to before I applied the blood heavily to the weapon and built it up in layers on his butchers apron. I tried a splattered effect by pulling back the bristles of the brush while covered in paint and letting it flick towards the miniature. I ended up not being happy with the result though as the direction didn't look natural, so I ended up painting back over it.
Basing
With the miniature glued to the base I mixed sand with glue and applied it to the base, creating a wet mud like effect. I then base-coated it with Rhinox Hide, applied highlights of Mournfang Brown and Steel Legion Drab, then applied a wash of Agrax Earthshade.
Finally, I applied some Citadel Scorched Grass in patches as well as some Leaf Litter by Green Stuff World and then applied a light wash of Agrax Earthshade over the leaves.
Roundup
I spent a fair bit of time on the flame as it was something new to the mini over the others, and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. I don't normally go so heavy on the black but as it would be swinging so fast I wanted to show how the flame would cool and turn to ash in the air.
I'm disappointed the blood splatter effect didn't come out how I wanted but maybe next time! It's always a bit of a nail-biter as if it doesn't go right it can be a lot of work to put it back to how it was.
