Get your brushes and clippers, and welcome to the Space Dinosaur Hobby Table, where I cover what I've completed recently in the Age of Sigmar hobby, along with my thoughts on the sculpts, how easy they're to paint, and any tips or tricks I can pass on to make your life easier. Today we're back to normal after a great Spooktober month, and we're kicking it off with a big ol' General on Griffon.
This is another one of those models that's been sitting half painted for years, although I'm pretty sure this one's been like that since 2017. It was also in multiple parts, tacked together with post-tac, which made the model annoying and fragile to play with. So, in an effort to kill two birds (hehe) with one stone, I painted up the big bird. Since this fine fella has been ported over to Age of Sigmar and Karl Franz is no more (RIP), this is now just a generic Freeguild General on Griffon (TM). But that's boring and it deserves better.
So, to fit in with my lore for Heldenmarch, I painted this model with black and yellow as the primary colors. Ravens are a common motif for my army, so that was the bird I referenced when painting the bird part of the griffon. To avoid too much black, I painted the beaks and feet yellow. Yes, I know ravens are all black and this is technically a black falcon now, but hey, visual interest is important.
Tired of the same old black with grey highlights, I decided to mix it up and use Incubi Darkness (GW) instead. This gives a slight hint of color to the black, and I like it better than the stark contrast grey gives. Definitely using this technique more often. Speaking of black, I originally wanted the matte black armor I used for my Demigryph Knights, but black on black would have been excessive. So to go with the black and yellow them I set out with, I used gold for all of the griffon's armor.
To push the contrast even more, I wanted the leonine half of the griffon to be a pale color. I decided to go with white to really push it, so I referenced snow leopards.
I also decided to use some painting techniques to get the appearance of fur texture. I will say that it makes the flat areas look nicer, but boy does it take a lot of extra time. If I was really looking to push this I'd add the same texturing to all of the spots, but ain't nobody got time for that so I left it as is. Does it look slightly like the spots were just painted on? Yeah, but I'll live with it.
On to the rider. I also wanted the riders armor to be black, but then it would be black on black on black, which was way too much. So I went for a very shiny silver. I even blended in a touch of gold in select areas to make it look reflective. I'm not entirely sold on my efforts, but hey, try something new from time to time. Doesn't always work, but you do learn.
Another thing I'm really proud of are the eyes, both on the griffon and the rider. I tried a technique I read about, where first you paint black over the eyes, then white on either side of the black, then paint the skin tone over that. Instead of working over a small area with tiny details, you get to be sloppy with getting the eyes done and clean it up later. Really happy with this and will use this in the future.
The feathers were also super fun to paint. I debated painting them all red, but that would look boring. It took some extra effort to have 3 different colors, but I think the combination looks really good.
The base is my standard base for human factions, but I have decided to go for a darker brown for the rim from here on out. I just think it looks better, so I'll slowly start to re-do the bases of my already completed units.
Now, as always, for my overall thoughts on the model, I will judge it based on two categories. Firstly, the sculpt itself will be scored on a scale of 0 to 10, with 5 being average, 0 horrendous, and 10 a marvel. For a reference point, I consider the Stormcast Liberator to be a 5, neither great nor bad. Just a passable, average model. Then I will score on Ease of Painting, between 1 and 5, 1 being a slog to paint and 5 being a breeze.
My Freeguild General on Griffon review:
Sculpt: 8/10
Despite being an older model from the Warhammer Fantasy days, this kit still holds up. The detail is sharp, its easy to build, and the proportions look good. Obviously, the renaissance germanic look doesn't quite fit in with Age of Sigmar, but I still think it looks good. My big issue with this model is that I think the chest of the griffon is quite large compared to the back legs, which makes it look like a massive bird was joined with a small cat. Not too big of an issue but hey, I notice it every time.
Ease of Painting: 4/5
For such a large model, it wasn't too hard to paint. The feathers are great for drybrushing, the fur is easy, and the rider doesn't have anything crazy going on. The downside is colors. I had a fairly simple color scheme, but if you wanted variations in the feathers or fur, you're looking at a lot of work.
Final tips: Like always with big models, sub-assemblies. The rider, griffon, reins, and base all separate did the trick for me.
-The Space Dinosaur
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