(Part 2) Best products from r/ageofsigmar

Having been painting for almost a year and still getting slightly better each week, I'd strongly recommend that if you want a 'collector's set' that you get some painting practice first.

It's a great hobby, but your first models will be messy. Heck, my last models have been messy. There is ample tutorials online, some official warhammer ones to, by Warhammer TV on youtube, but it would be unlikely that you will be a perfect painting right from the get-go.

Might be worth booking some painting sessions with your local GW, as that is something they can do. But if you want one brilliant army in battle against a few others, then maybe you could practice on one of its enemies. Stormcast and Blades of Khorne have the most (i think) official tutorials online, so you could get some of them to practice on.

Cost wise, excluding miniatures themselves, you would be looking at 3 or 4 brushes at minimum. The cost can vary greatly, Citadel (GW brand) tend to be sub-par. This isn't me GW bashing, I genuinely have tried a couple options and found them to be this way. I would highly highly recommend these though:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0013E68T4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I got the size 00 and size 1, and although the size 1 is big enough, it keeps a great point that you can use it as a detail brush. My 00 hasn't kept it's point, but still very good. Also, if you are doing Seraphon, you will need a drybrush. Normal brushes get wrecked after a few dry brushes. If you haven't heard, drybrushing is really good at bringing out raised detail in your models, particularly good with scales.

Wet palette is very useful, it will minimise your paint loss. Again, here is one I bought, but you can DIY one for yourself pretty easily with some kitchen towels and baking paper or something like that: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00J0CN8ZS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1.

Pretty optional, but a good LED lamp with a flexible head would be a god send. You won't realise how yellow your lights are until you see a good LED lamp.

For working with plastics, you need some cutters, a file, a mouldline remover is pretty good too. GW does all of these, but again, premium price. You can probably get equally good versions elsewhere for less if you look around.

Also will need super glue and plastic glue. Superglue won't ruin paint, plastic glue will melt it but gives a better hold in the long run. Usually for trickier models, you might paint it first before assembling some of the more awkward bits. Bad explanation, but for example I left my shields off my models so that I can paint their arms. Then I superglue them on to not ruin the paint.

Rad! Always a welcome sight to meet a fellow ashrat warmonger! Queeek! I am honored that you are impressed with the look but I must pass credit where it's due - my theme is super not original.

I wanted to start my skaven army but like you, I was also tired of the brown rats, so while searching for themes I stumbled onto this post on FB (not sure if you can see this, it's posted to the Age of Sigmar Fans group) Link

This fella said that he painted the entire army in 13 days and that was about the right amount of effort for me! But I didn't know how to get started. I was fairly new with my airbrush too, but I was starting to wrap my head around it.

So - to your questions/comments:

Zenithal: I prime in black and zenithal grey everything now. Because I use thin paints, the dark gradient beneath will influence the paint on the surface. The lumpy chibi models I'm working on now are all mostly painted with glazes and shaded thanks to zenithal. I learned the technique from Vincent Venturella.

I did use an airbrush. I'm using a master G-233. It's a step up from the airbrush & compressor combo G-22. I have used an Iwata Eclipse and these master airbrushes perform the same. The main differences between my cheap junker and the Iwata is maintenance (Iwata is much easier to clean). If you are starting out, learning to airbrush on the Master will give you an appreciation for more expensive equipment, though I can tell you for a fact, an expensive airbrush will not make you good. : ) Link to Master G-22 & Compressor Combo

Rattlecan Zenithal looks great also. This dude uses the speckling to his advantage and I admire it greatly: Phreshpaintminis

Regarding the stormvermin: No. I didn't follow any of my steps at all because I was learning how to get good results quickly, which was a stupid slow process.

Stormvermin process:

1. Zenithal grey over black
   
   
2. Drybrush Celestra Grey
   
   
3. Nuln Oil Wash
   
   
4. Second drybrush Celestra Grey
   
   
5. Waffle on the contrast color. Was white, then green, then red.
   
   
6. Paint the weapons as above
   
   
7. Edge highlight everything with a detail brush because I am insane
   
   
8. Never do this again or advise it
   
   PLEASE post your rats! I can't wait to see what you do with them. Also, it's totally worth it to get on instagram with your minis. Engaging with the minpainting community has propelled me in terms of motivation and learning.

MiniWarGaming has a good guide that will give you an idea of what size magnets you might need. Simply compare the AoS model you are working on to the WH40K models in the list, and go from there.

I don't have any Stormcast, but I'd guess you'd mostly use 1/16"x1/32" (just like a Space Marine). However, you may wish to buy a few different magnet sizes, which is what I did, then you can lay them over the piece you want to magnetize to see if they will fit. Be careful of getting too thin a ring around a magnet (for example, if magnetizing hands/arms for weapons), as you can tear the end of the arm/hand to shreds with the drill. I sometimes drill "backwards", because the plastic is soft enough and you can avoid the bit gouging out chunks of the model. It takes longer, but is effective.

https://www.miniwargaming.com/magnet-guide

If you are looking for magnets, I've find these guys to be the best.

https://www.kjmagnetics.com/products.asp?cat=1

They are pretty cheap, so you can buy a few different sizes and see what works best. You'll also want a set of drill bits and a pin vise. I've used both of these to good effect; the second one is good for larger drill bits (for bigger models, such as magnetizing the Megaboss to a Maw-Krusha).

https://www.amazon.com/Army-Painter-Miniature-Model-Drill/dp/B0037V3S08

https://www.amazon.com/Starrett-166C-Insulated-Octagonal-Handle/dp/B00375DEPI

Thanks, I appreciate the support and ideas. It's entertaining to watch myself get so excited about this and your response feeds into that feeling!

A few questions:

I currently have some miliput black and some green stuff. I tried to read in the instructions to the miliput about the different colors but I don't think I quite understood the distinctions for a number of the colors. Some were obvious, but black and white somehow left me more confused. Would miliput white be a significantly different experience using than miliput black?

I really like the mold idea and will give the sculpting a shot, I think it might go a lot easier with your suggestion of having one of the antlers at hand to base my attempts off of.

I haven't used a pin vise before but I have been intrigued by it (and magnetizing things, both are directions I'd like to explore in this hobby). From some research I came across this option: Drill

Would you recommend I also pick up a drill set with different measurements like this or would the options that come in that first drill be plenty to start with?

I have a few other projects at hand at the moment so I won't be jumping onto this one too quickly, I feel more comfortable letting ideas sit inside my mind for awhile before acting on them, so no worries on the time-sensitiveness. I hope your protest goes well.

I'm making some educated guesses on what the OP did, but a base like this is a lot easier than it looks.

The main parts are cork, glued together, painted black and dry brushed with shades of grey. Peronsally I try and ripup my cork by hand to give it a more natural appearence.

In various spots it looks like he glued on small pieces of rock and treated with the same paint as the cork. I typically use this

The grass can also be purchased. I use items like this.

Hope this helps, making bases is fun and adds a great layer to your models.

There are definitely better alternatives, but you can't go wrong using GW's brushes. All of GW's tutorials and videos use their own brand, and I find it easier to "follow along" by using them too. I imagine if I got some more experience and skill under my belt that I'd want to shift to using some higher quality brushes, but for a casual or beginner, I think they're just fine. You don't need to go hogwild and buy the entire range, just get some of the standard sizes and you'll be set (the essential set is a good selection).

Winsor & Newton brushes seem to be popular alternatives, but are kind of pricey. The Army Painter has a line comparable to GW at around the same price. Amazon has tons of inexpensive hobby brushes for acrylic paints; be sure to check the reviews to see how they hold up if you go that route.

Regardless of what brushes you get, do yourself a favor and get the Masters Brush Cleaner. It's like a magic panacea for brush care.

I have 6x4 Gamemat.eu and Frontline gaming mats, when I was buying a couple years ago the gamemat ended up being cheaper than frontline after factoring in shipping, around $100 compared to $120. Since you don't have to pay VAT on the gamemats you get around 20% off their advertised EU prices. Of course if you have a local store that carries frontline mats you can save yourself some shipping and at that point just comes down to which design you like the best.

If budget is an issue the cheapest 6x4 mousepad mat I've seen is from Strategem, $60 with prime shipping: https://www.amazon.com/Neoprene-Tabletop-Wargaming-Battlemat-Stratagem/dp/B01FY5ZH58/ref=pd_sbs_21_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01FY5ZH58&pd_rd_r=ABDYM12K5AJ0XTMGYD0A&pd_rd_w=cVTAO&pd_rd_wg=Emvnj&psc=1&refRID=ABDYM12K5AJ0XTMGYD0A I have this one as well and use it fairly often, the print quality is good but not quite as great as the more expensive mats, the quality of the mousepad material is just as good. They also have a winter print that I haven't personally used but has similar positive reviews online.

if you're looking at mats for smaller point games I've had good luck with 4x4 mats from inked gaming: https://www.inkedgaming.com/collections/wargaming-mats I have the rural plains and arctic battle lines mats and both are great, they also have a few other battlefield designs and the option to upload your own custom image, so if you're the creative type and want to design your own map that's an option. The prices look similar to other companies at first, but inked gaming frequently does free shipping and has some hefty holiday promotions so if you're patient you can score a killer deal, last black friday I picked up a 4x4 mat for $35 shipped to my door.

if you're looking even smaller inked also does 3x3 mats, and I've heard good things about the mats released by fantasy flight for Star Wars Legion and Runewars.

I've got an easier go for you -- this spray is close enough to Dryad bark to work as well.

https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-1918830-Camouflage-Spray-12-Ounce/dp/B00178VN1E

It's a solid Sylvaneth primer. It adheres well, dries flat, and is a great base.

My bark recipe is a little more complex, but still super easy:

Brown camo spray base
Drybrush Sylvaneth Bark (Heavy)
Wash Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush Terminatus Stone (Light-Medium depending on what you want to do)

I've been very pleased with the results of that approach on the dryads --- and it looks even better on the treelord.

http://imgur.com/a/TSiOS

The base! Sure, here's a quick guide;

So, the material that the rock is made of, is Plaster of Paris (you can find it just about anywhere, but here it is on Amazon). It can seem a little intimidating to start working with, but I promise it's very accessible. That material was shaped with rock molds from Woodland Scenics (this one and this one). Takes something like 30 minutes to do each batch, don't be afraid of failure and remember to spray the mold with Wet Water before putting the plaster in.

Once you have your rocks, you'll need to sand down the flat end, and super glue them to your bases. Next will be to use Vallejo Earth Texture to blend it all together.

Hit with some prime, then paint the rock grey, the dirt brown. Dry brush the whole thing with a light blue, then bring down the whole thing with one wash, I used Agrax Earthshade. Dry brush the dirt brown, then the whole thing light blue again, then the sun facing side of the rocks white. You're done painting!

You might want to put some grass on the dirt, your call, I happened to use these because they're tonally appropriate, though over-sized-- so I cut some up. Then you'll want to spot some Vallejo Snow, or whatever snow you want to use.

I pinned my guys to the rocks, but the the Vallejo Snow also works really well as a method for securing your boys, since it's pretty much just glue.

​

I hope this helps and I'm thrilled you like it!

As others have said, splitting either the tempest of souls or the souls wars box with someone is probably the cheapest way to start. There's also a great value paint set for the two factions that come in the boxes, stormcast and nighthaunt, as well. (Although I'd recommend an x-acto knife instead of the little piece of metal they give you). If you don't have anyone to split it with, or if you're not interested in stormcast or nighthaunt, then the start collecting boxes are your next best bet. Flesh eater courts and skeleton hordes are good value for the death factions, and the Khorne goreblade warband or either nurgle box is a good value for chaos. You can get a better look at all the factions on games workshop's website, but the prices there are a bit higher, which is why I've been linking to amazon. Simply going for the cheapest box might be tempting, but I'd make sure that you actually like the army you're buying. I know from experience that if you don't really like the look or feel of an army, it can be really difficult to feel motivated to paint and assemble them. I have a blast painting goblins, for example, but trying to paint fyreslayers was super boring to me.

Yeah no problem man, was kinda talking out my ass there before because I didn't have any pictures other than some slime and a low res scythe. Glad I could finally deliver.

I've got to also repeat back a tip I got from another painter and recommend an airbrush as well, because using it blew me away.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001TO578Q/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's the one I got about two weeks ago. Bought it and airbrush cleaner fluid (a mask is also recommended, I had one laying around) and have had a lot of fun with it. For years I had been intimidated by airbrushes because of the cost and seeming complexity, but after finally deciding to take the plunge and make the investment in one, they're not as intimidating as they seem to use and maintain. It's a whole new world of painting to explore. And it saves me so much fucking time when it comes to painting and shading my models well with an easy to learn but hard to master technique called "zenithal highlighting". I stripped some old rats and got 40 of the above rats done in 1 six hour sitting. Sure, I need to go do some detail work eventually, but the rats in the pics above would have taken at least twice as long for me to have gotten to the same point the old way, with a far worse result. The reason I am mentioning it now is I think there's a lot of potential to create glowing and flame effects with it. I did a trial run there on my rats using Vallejo livery green air to create the illusion of light shining on them from their warpstone spears. Maybe you could create similar glowing and/or shining light type effect with the fireborn?

I'm not sure what size is best for the zombie dragon wings. However I will say that I love the primal horizon magnets for my Tau. I went lazy with them though and use the 1/8 magnets for everything just doubling up on places that it isn't enough.

I used these ones from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Primal-Horizon-Magnets-16-50/dp/B00TGDMPDW

I attached them to the bases using green stuff as described here https://www.reddit.com/r/ageofsigmar/comments/cqank2/i_built_a_magnetic_carry_case_using_40_of/ewvahtd?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x