Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 101: Preparing for Some Brutal Quest!

 Hi!

I'm finding myself in a bit of a quandary over what to do with my Fantasy mini project for Brutal Quest and have decided to post my ponderings here to help work my way through the approach I will enjoy the most.

On the one hand, I'd love to use whatever miniatures I fancy as I have done for my Sci-fi stuff but have found that I've hit a bit of a snag as there are no less than three different approaches I'm tempted by!

NMM Barbarians

I'm not sure as to which approach I'm going to go for as each have their own rewards and challenges that will result in some very different themed warbands depending on what I end up going for.

First up, theres the option of collecting some odds and ends and painting them in my usual style, something quite bright and jolly and rather similar to Games Workshop's Red Era but beyond that do I do a NMM (non metallic metallic finish) route or proper old school metallics?

Both approaches have their pros and cons so maybe I just need to grab some cheap figures and give it a try...

Second, do I try to do something a bit more dark, moody and gritty in a more Blanchitsu or Dark Age of Sigmar/Inquisimunda style? It's a tempting option as I wouldn't mind giving it a go and it would fit the Brutal Quest vibe rather nicely. The problem is, on the occasions I've tried such an approach, I've found the resulting models look a bit muddy and don't have the pleasing finish I'm more used to.

As with my last option, it's possibly going to be a case of just knuckling down and trying some sample paint schemes on some cheap plastics to see if I can get a finish that I'm content with. My suspicion with this approach is that it will take a lot of practice and experimentation to get this finish down to a standard I'm happy with the results.

Thirdly, there's to option of sculpting my own stuff and doing what I want ala my Somewhere on the Border warbands such as the Boar Company. This will have the added benefit of costing very little to put together but sculpting takes time and I'd only be able to very slowly expand my forces. 

Now I'm fairly sure this final approach isn't going to be many folks cup of tea as they are rather cartoony and stylised but it would give me the complete freedom to tailor whatever forces I want and save the pennies for my ongoing sci-fi stuff.

To be honest, I'm sorely tempted by option three as I've been hankering to make some more stuff but am keenly aware that sculpting time will be limited and as I'm hopefully headed back to work at the end of this month, it will slow things down considerably and eat into my limited hobby time.

I do have a lot of ideas for my own sculpts and feel it could well be the best option as I can really work towards creating a unique setting and warbands without the issue of trying to find suitable figures which is something I have struggled with in the past but I'll have to have a bit of a think about it as it would be a time consuming enterprise...

A fourth option would be to drop the scale down to 15mm. Again this is eminently doable but having worked in 15mm and 28mm this year, I must admit that for such small forces, essentially an adventuring party of two to four heroes against a similar number of villains is better suited to a larger figure scale that you can inject some real character and personality into. I do feel that 15mm is suited to larger skirmishes and mass battles.

As I've already mentioned, I'm kind of leaning towards the third option and sculpting my own stuff as I don't actually have many 28mm fantasy figures, other than some big Leviathan resin gubbins which doesn't really fit in with the scale of a small skirmish but I'll have a bit of a ponder this evening and will post my decision tomorrow along with a breakdown of Brutal Quest itself but in the meantime, All the best!