Age of Sigmar - Marshal Ashfield and Squire Udo
Having completed Estenna and the Unbroken models, I continued marching through my backlog of commemorative series miniatures. Which brings us, as you can probably guess from the title, to Marshal Ashfield and his squire Udo. These two are part of the Cities of Sigmar range, the mortal soldiers that both man the walls of cities and settlements in the mortal realms and form the bulk of the forces of the Dawnbringer Crusades. The latter being expeditions that seek to explore unknown regions and settle new cities.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
Before we can launch any crusades, we need to get the models assembled. I opted for the bare head for the Marshall but otherwise assembled the models as per the instructions. I did however, leave them separate from the bases. The Marshall certainly has a billowing cape that would make painting difficult had been glued down to the base. I primed the models with Colour Forge Raven Black and the bases with Colour Forge Hyrax Brown.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
As with the other models I decided to start with the faces. For both of them I started by basecoating with Two Thin Coats Dwarven Skin followed by a wash of Reikland Fleshshade and layered back up with Dwarven Skin on the raised areas. As I did with Estenna, I mixed Scale75 Golden Skin into the Dwarven Skin to shift the skin tone away from the usual caucasian. I figured that someone who spends a lot of time outside on crusade would probably have a tan complexion. To highlight the skin I added some Scale75 Pale Skin to my mix. Painting the deepest recesses and giving the skin an overall glaze with Scale75 Arabic Skin additionally helped to give the skin that tanned glow. I had previously tried to use Evil Sunz Scarlet to terrible effect to give Estenna’s cheeks a rosy glow but having learned from my mistakes I instead mixed it with Pale Skin and glazed this onto Marshal Ashfield’s nose. Perhaps, despite the tan, it’s rather cold out. Or perhaps our Marshal has a liking for brandy.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
To differentiate them a little, I decided to go in a different direction with the skin tone. Perhaps our hapless squire is rather overworked and doesn’t get out much. For his skin, I instead mixed in Scale75 Pink Skin and then Pale Skin for the highlights. To emphasise the tired eyes I ran some Scale75 Instant Colour Arcane around the sockets. I typically use it for the dead eyes of zombies but it works quite well here too. For the facial hair I gave the Marshal grey hair with Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone and the Squire brown hair with Two Thin Coats Scorched Earth.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
With the heads done I could switch back to the rest of the models. When I read about the Dawnbringer Crusades and how they can often end in failure the seed of an idea began to form in my mind. For some reason the idea of a Dawnbringer Crusade reminded me very, and I’m not a historical guy to cut me some slack, of the French Invasion of Russia in 1812. Perhaps it was that one of the higher ranks in the French military at the time was Marshal. Either way, my idea then was to transpose the Napoleonic French uniforms onto the Marshal and Squire. As the Cities of Sigmar models are more medieval than Napoleonic it was going to be a case of best endeavours. The idea really was to capture the broad strokes; blue and white being the main colours with gold epaulettes and a splash of red. To achieve this I painted the exterior of the cloak on the Marshal and the tabards with Kantor Blue. The trousers, interior of the Marshal’s cloak and the skull I painted with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. I then follow up the trousers and cloak interior with a coat of Pro Acryl Ivory. That took care of the blue and white. For the epaulettes, I painted the top of the shoulder pads on the Marshal with Scale75 Dwarven Gold. And finally, for the splash of red I painted the Sigmar symbol on their chest and shoulder with Vallejo Scarlet Red. It wasn’t a perfect rendition of a Napoleonic uniform but it wasn’t bad.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
For the remaining details I painted the gloves and any other leather details with Two Thin Coats Cuirass Leather. Any wooden details, such as on the guns and the Squire’s backpack, I painted with Two Thin Coats Scorched Earth. I then painted the armour and any silver details with Scale75 Thrash Metal. For the gun components, I painted the barrels with Scale75 Black Metal and to make them stand out a little, I painted the hammers with Scale75 Old Copper.
At this point the basecoats on the Marshal are done but the Squire has a couple of extra details that I needed to pick out. I used Caliban Green and Vallejo Terracotta for the various flasks. The strap of their necklace I painted with Two Thin Coats Dry Rust Brown.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
For the washes I kept things very very simple: a wash of Sonic Sledgehammer’s Marine Juice over everything except the head. In hindsight the silver details probably could have done with a coat of Dark Tone or something. But I was happy with the results that Marine Juice gave me. The highlights by contrast, I kept rather simple. I ran a line of Two Thin Coats Celestial Blue along the edges of the blue details, likewise doing the same for the white details with Army Painter Matt White. I highlighted the edges of the silver details with Scale75 Speed Metal and the gold details with Scale75 Elven Gold. Ordinarily I might leave things there but the models had a lot of leather details so it made sense to give them a quick highlight as well. Which I did with Army Painter Buffed Hide.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
Lastly there was the bases. Working from the prime of Hyrax Brown I started by giving the rocks an overbrush of Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone. This is like a drybrush except you have more paint on the brush so you end up “painting” the model whilst still leaving the recesses the original colour. Any wood details I painted with Two Thin Coats Scorched Earth. To bring out the texture of the rocks and wood I gave both a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone followed by drybrushing the rocks with Two Thin Coats Carcharodon Grey. To tidy up any spillage I then basecoated the flat areas of the base with Two Thin Coats Scorched Earth. I then dabbed on some PVA glue before submerging the bases in a tub of Geek Gaming Scenics Bases Ready Patchy Plains. I then sealed this down with some Geek Gaming Scenics Matt Sealant and finished the models off by painting the rims of the bases with a matt black.