After a two year hiatus it was high time that I got stuck back into Village Attacks and its myriad of expansions. I gave up trying to paint them as for whatever reason paint has an awful time adhering to the models, no matter what I prime them with. But now I have a secret weapon: AK Interactive Ultra Matt Varnish. 

I  had tried matt varnishes before; rattle can varnish had no effect on stopping the painting beading together, whilst brush on matt varnish did work; it was a pain to apply all over every model I intended to paint. The Ultra Matt Varnish stops the painting beading and I can use it through the airbrush so at the risk of sounding like a medical advert, application is both simple and effective.

First things first though I tidied up what mould lines I could and primed them with Colour Forge Standard Grey. Once that had dried I then gave all of the models a coat of the Ultra Matt Varnish. 

Werewolf

Werewolves have been around in folklore for a long long time. Ancient Greeks have a few stories of people being turned into wolves, most notably King Lycaon of Arcadia. From whom we get the term lycanthrope. 

The Werewolf has a few fleshy areas so I started by spraying some Army Painter Air Nomad Flesh on the face and arms. I then gave the model a zenithal highlight with Liquitex Titanium White acrylic ink through the airbrush, this brought out all the texture of the model. I then gave the flesh areas a coat of Reikland Fleshshade and the fur an even layer of Army Painter Speedpaint Burnished Red. Unfortunately the transitions between the fur and skin were a little stark. I decided to, sort of, start over and fill in the skin areas with Burnished Red, then came back with the airbrush to block in the skin areas with Nomad Flesh again. I lost the shading that the zenithal highlight provided but the transitions looked a lot better. I then washed the skin areas again with Reikland Fleshshade. I finished the skin off by running a line of Blood Angels Red into the scars. 

With the fur and skin done that was ninety percent of the model done. I finished things off by painting their tongue with Army Painter Speedpaint Familiar Pink, the remains of the vest with Army Painter Speedpaint Royal Robes and the shorts with Snakebite Leather. I finished things off by slathering the base with Stirland Mud texture paint, which when dry I washed with Army Painter Strong Tone. The base was then drybrushed with Tyrant Skull and lastly I stuck down a grass tuft. 

Sandman

Supposedly, the eye boogers (aka rheum) that we sometimes get when we sleep is a result of the Sandman sprinkling sand in our eyes at night. Said sand induces dreams so it’s not entirely malicious I suppose. The model however is decidedly more malevolent looking. 

For the model I started by basecoating the limbs and face with Army Painter Skeleton Bone and the sand that flows over their shoulder with Vallejo Khaki. I then gave the model a zenithal highlight with Liquitex Titanium White acrylic ink through the airbrush. The reason that I basecoated the areas I did before the highlight is that the washes and contrast paints I wanted to use are quite thin and using them over a grey basecoat would just drain the colour from them. 

In any case I moved onto the washes and colours proper. I started by giving the bone areas a coat of Skeleton Horde. And the sand areas with Seraphim Sepia. The hood and face wrap I painted with Army Painter Speedpaint Purple Swarm, while the underlying robes I painted with Army Painter Speedpaint Runic Grey. Pretty simple paint scheme in the end. 

For the base I dabbed on some Armageddon Dunes and once that had dried I washed it with Seraphim Sepia. I then drybrushed the base with Tyrant Skull and stuck down an Army Painter Scorched Tuft. 

Plague Doctor

At first I thought I could go right to the zenithal highlight as the Plague Doctor looked to be covered head to foot, but they do have a little bit of skin on show. I basecoated these areas on the chest and neck with Two Thin Coats Dwarven Skin. With that done I gave the model a zenithal highlight with Liquitex Titanium White acrylic ink through the airbrush. With the highlights established I gave the overcoat a layer of Basilicanum Grey. I was tempted to use Black Templar but I felt that would make the model a bit too dark. From there I painted the leather with Gore Grunta Fur. I had initially painted the helmet with Army Painter Speedpaint Royal Robes to introduce some blue onto the model as the Plague Doctor is an Cursed (blue) type. But it didn’t look good, so I repainted it and then the rest of the metallic details with Scale75 Thrash Metal. The metal areas were then washed with Army Painter Dark Tone. I finished the model off by painting the hair with Wyldwood.

There wasn’t much space on the base but for what space there was I dabbed on some Sitrland Mud texture paint. I then washed the base with Army Painter Strong Tone and then drybrushed it with Tyrant Skull. Sadly, there was not enough space for a grass tuft. 

Illusionist

The Illusionist is by far the busiest model of the group, as it’s technically two models in one. That being said, all I needed to do before the zenithal highlight was fill in the hands and face with Two Thin Coats Dwarven Skin. From there I could do my zenithal highlight with Liquitex Titanium White acrylic ink through the airbrush.

I started with the demon, or whatever it is, standing behind the Illusionist by painting them with Army Painter Speedpaint Runic Grey. The muted blue-grey was ideal for bringing out the texture of the demon-thing without drawing too much attention from the Illusionist. I finished them off by painting their horns in Skeleton Horde. 

Switching to the Illusionist I started by painting their robes with Army Painter Purple Swarm, and the tabard with Army Painter Speedpaint Familiar Pink. To add a bit of variety I painted the tassels with Army Painter Royal Robes.  As with the Plague Doctor I painted the leather details with Gore-Grunta Fur, and then the scrolls held in the satchel with Skeleton Horde. I then finished off the model by painting their hair with Army Painter Speedpaint Burnished Red. 

For the base I imagined them to be in a desert environment like the Sandman. So with that in mind I covered the base in Armageddon Dust. Once that was dry I then drybrushed the base with Tyrant Skull and stuck down an Army Painter Scorched Tuft. 

Final Thoughts

Really pleased how these turned out. They aren’t the most detailed paint jobs but I have a ton of Village Attacks that I need to get through. Hopefully now that I have found a decent fix for the paint beading issue I can crank these out like I did for the Zombicide Invader Civilian Extras last year. If I have anything I would improve it’s that I probably could have integrated the sand on the Sandman better with the sand on the base.