Bog Trogs in 15 seconds

So, there's a story behind the Bog Trogs. There's a story behind everything, I know, but this one needs a little setting up. Remember that post, where I went on and on about color schemes? And remember that wonderful, pasty Bog Trog mockup? Yeah, not happening.

"But why," you gasp.

Two reasons. The first, and short one: Because it's haaaaard. Bog Trogs are my largest unit, by far; while they're the smallest percentage of my army, points wise, they're also going to be the largest percentage of my army, models wise. I hate painting the same guy over and over again. Hate. Solution: simplify the color scheme. Less time hating.

No. 2: Anthony showed me these wonderful videos on how to do a beautiful painting technique called "Zenithal Highlighting." It involved painting a model with either an airbrush (preferred) or with two primer coats -- a heavy black one, then an intentionally uneven white one. The idea was to use a spray can to apply the second, white coat, spraying down onto the model so you got a mostly white miniature that would have darker areas where you'd naturally have shadows. Then you'd paint the miniature with super-thin paints and essentially dye the white primer; where it was heavier, the paint would naturally be lighter (because less of the black primer shows through). We tried this on the Bog Trogs, and it was a 98 percent disaster. You see, there's a special chemical composition to washes -- real washes, not watered-down acrylics -- that causes the dye to bunch up. I was just using watered-down acrylics, which meant my inking didn't move or react like a wash. Every one of my Bog Trogs ended up a horrible, uniform muddy green color; I threw a tantrum then started over on them.

Examples:

Here was the first wash. So far, so good -- darker eyes, darker toes, darker space between the knuckles.


I know you won't believe this, but this was a thin, thin, thin wash. It was Citadel's "Dark Angels Green" lightened up a shade with Citadel's "Snot Green" and mixed 1:3 with water -- that's right, this was only 25 percent paint. Note how it didn't pool. Note how it didn't run into the crevices. Note how it did just mightily muddify the miniature.


Oh, it burns us! Just look at it! I tried this on three Bog Trogs before screaming about the Illuminati, stomping about the house like a child and generally acting like a spoiled, paranoid brat. I just did a standard paint job on the guys, working up from this horrible snot of a base color.


Here's the final product for one. Note the brass -- it's a minor detail on the model, but I wanted to go with something primitive (compared to steel, at least). Considering that iron rusts and these guys live, you know, in the swamp, I thought it was a nice touch. It's also better with the color scheme of green with red touches.


The backside of trog No. 1. I have a confession -- all the trogs have these little things hanging down from their belts, and I have no clue what they're supposed to be. This one has what looks like a quiver, but the Bog Trogs don't actually shoot or throw anything. Other ones have less identifiable junk; I played a game of "what's that object" and just ended up assuming the Trogs were carting around octopuses. It's what I'd cart if I was a Trog.


This is Bog Trog No. 2. I made a deal with myself -- every two trogs I paint, I get to paint something that's not a trog. That's why there's only two done -- to save my sanity.