Guild Ball Resurrection

I was sent these two teams a while back, so far back that Guild Ball was a thing. Then all of a sudden it wasn't athing and now apparently it is once again, a thing. As a result these dust collecting boxes were bumped up the painting queue and simultaneously I thought why not do a bit of a guide on how I paint them efficiently but to a decent standard. As the motto on my website front page states, "Not the best and not the cheapest but pretty good value for money." Literally nothing is new or original here but as time is literally money in commission painting there might be some time savers you can use.

The two teams are The Honest Land Farmers Team which includes numerous chickens and The Blacksmiths Team which doesn't.

Both teams were primed appropriately for their colour schemes. The Blacksmiths in, well, black and the Farmers who were to be wheat and grass coloured in a dark brown by Pro acryl

Then airbrushing a succession of colours lightening as different layers were applied through Vallejo Burnt Umber, Flat Earth and Desert Sand up to a top highlight of Desert Sand with some Dark Sand. This got the wheatfield colour established with obvious lighter parts on the upper surfaces.

I then did the same with the Smiths using Vallejo metal colour Burnt Exhaust(?) followed by Silver.

To get a blueish tone I then sprayed over a thinned down blue contrast/speedy type paint as can be seen below. I cannot remember which blue but it doesnt matter to be honest.

Vallejo Flat Brown was painted on all flesh areas and then gloss varnish was then sprayed on the Farmers as I wanted a wash friendly surface and no damage to the fairly fragile airbrushed colours.

Here you can see the next steps. Two different Speedpaint s were thinned down and washed over the glossy surface. A slightly greener bown over the upper clothes and a darker brown over the trousers and left to settle and dry in the crevices as well as giving a different hue to clothes. My phone does struggle with gloss coated minis!

On the Smiths I had decide their armour was to be set off with red so similarly Red was painted in - Ak Deep Red I think, then washed over with a speedpaint dark red (Murder Red? - is this an actual colour?) then re-established with the Deep Red and Scarlet again. All the Smiths also gained Burnt Umber trousers painted, washed with a darker thinned down speedpaint and then reestblished with the original colour and a highlight.

Skin time. Over the Flat Brown base I use an old Army Painter Fur Brown, Vallejo Beige red and standard Vallejo flat flesh. These lay side by side next to the flat brown on the wet palette and go on in probably about 5 layers merging from darkest to lightest and often going back to pop a darker shade in again. There are lots of good videos on painting skin but key for me is have all the colours out and mixed from dark to light on your wet palette simultaneously.

Next up I had decided on a secondary team colour of green for the Farmers and the basic tone was Vallejo Dark Green which is quite emerald. I like this green as it can be darkened and lightened easily usinglots of colours to be vivid or desaturated as needs.

Flesh was less of a thing on the Smiths as they were big on armour...

Strappage and Leather work was the next stage across both sets. There is a surprising amount of straps, gloves, bindings etc. A very dark brown was the base in both teams but then the Farmers had a redder brown style of strappage while the Smiths had an Earthier brown type. Basically Earth Brown would not have shown well on the Farmers and the Smiths needed the brighter leather.

And with the strappage completed I would say 80% to 90% of the work was done. On the Smiths there was some edge highlighting of the armour and weapons as well as a bit of black washed into some of the cracks to up the armour contrast. The Farmers had various vegetables and wooden weapons painted (Vallejo flat earth then Old Wood). Whilst on both Teams belt buckles were blacked then silvered and different shades of hair painted and highlighted. The grass was dark green darkened then lightened with Pistachio and dry brushed.

I have no idea what the scenery elements play in the game but the Smiths' forge and Totem were nice pieces...

As were the various farm goods and poultry - 6 hens and cocks I believe!

Everything then was sprayed with a couple of coats of Vallejo Matt varnish Both teams were painted in a day, well just over including priming and varnishing and I am quite happy with them. I hope to see more cross my painting table as I think I have previously only painted Brewers and Masons, and those a while ago as can be seen in the style of photo.