Geekdad Paints! Warcry Ogroid Myrmidon

Other people will always be better at this than me. Lots of other people.

That’s kind of the mantra by which I live my entire life. And it’s the perfect excuse for being mediocre, not putting in that much effort, and accepting imperfection. It also goes some way to explaining why my Warcry models look the way they do once I’ve “finished” painting them.

Warcry

In my last GeekDad Paints! article I painted a Splintered Fang warband. This was only after being very recently introduced to Warcry. For me, that introduction was a bit like a blind date: I had no idea what to expect of the evening, whether my inexperience would be taken advantage of, or if I was going to have an allergic reaction and end up in A&E (I’ve not been on many successful blind dates). In spite of my apprehensions, I really enjoyed it and, uniquely for my dating history, I got a call back for a second rendezvous, which I enjoyed even more. So, now that lockdown has been eased here in the U.K., we’ve begun a formal Warcry campaign using my Splintered Fang warband and my friend’s far superior-looking Fimir.

Now, there comes a point in any Warcry campaign where players can recruit allies to their warband. This happens after a convergence, which after four sessions might seem a bit too fast to some, but we felt ready to bring new blood into our relationship. So, without doing any research (naturally), including discovering whether or not my chosen model could actually be added to my roster within the official rules, I selected the Ogroid Myrmidon to be my ally. Once again, I got to put my almost adequate artistic skills to the test.

I was thankful to discover that on the reverse of the packaging for this model it has suggestions for the paint scheme. This felt like a sign. And being always keen to follow the advice of experts and portents, I made sure I added the suggested paints to my citadel collection. I even tried to follow the pattern, and happily achieved an amount of success.

First I sprayed a primer of Mechanicus Standard Grey. I had learned from my previous experience that Chaos Black did not make a suitable foundation for the results I wanted.

Then, the first base coat was Grey Seer for the weapons, horns, claws, and bones, Ratskin Flesh for the skin, and hair, and Khorne Red for the gloves and leather.

Next came the washes: Nuln Oil for majority of the model, and Agrax Earthshade for the skin.

Then I layered with Ulthuan Grey, Karak Stone, Wazdakka Red, and Squig Orange, before some final touches with White Scar and Flash Gitz Yellow to give highlights and detailing, and to make it consistent with the rest of my Warband.

warcry ogroid myrmidon — I really like the look of this Ogroid Mymidon, especially all the spikey bits.

I was quite happy with the result. It’s certainly not your classic Warhammer painting style, and it won’t win any prizes, but it’ll do the job. I describe it more like abstract model painting, a bit surrealist or cubist perhaps. But maybe that’s giving me more credit than my impatient painting skills deserve.

Bases

After adding the myrmidon to my warband, one thing was bothering me about my models. There was a distinct lack of finishing on the bases. However, I didn’t really know what I wanted to achieve here. The Fimir warband I am facing have been finished with a cool gloss and dirt effect that give the feeling of them being swamp creatures, which I really like, but I don’t feel would work thematically for my Warband.

Also, I wasn’t going to kid myself that I had either the ability or patience to pull this off. So I undertook a bit of research—I asked the guy in my local Warhammer shop. Here I was shown a number of options, all very confusing and technical, but one in particular stood out as being both achievable and effective. So I gave it a go.

First I painted the base Troll Slayer Orange.

warcry myrmidon — I quite liked just the orange base and considered leaving it as it was, but this wasn’t exactly what I was looking for.

I never knew the Splintered Fang were fans of Orange is the New Black.

Then I glossed with a matte finish of Stormshield.

Finally, I added the technical paint Mordant Earth. This paint cracks and breaks apart as it cures which, when painted over the orange, gives a molten lava effect. I was really pleased with the finish.

Before I tried the effect on my Splintered Fang warband, I experimented with different base colors on some D&D models I had lying around. They didn’t look bad, but my favorite was the Trollslayer Orange.

First I tried a red lava finish on this Tortle Cleric.

Then I tried yellow lava on this Firbolg’s base.

Finally, I went with an orange lava which I practiced on this Dragonborn Wizard.

The whole warband together with the orange lava bases really finished off the job.

Overall, I’m really pleased with how my Ogroid Myrmidon and Splintered Fang warband turned out. What’s more I’ve just found out that the next Warcry starter set will be lava based, so it turns out that I’m ahead of the curve after all. I guess there’s always a first for everything.

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