Kali Yuga: The Age of Conflict

I’ve not been able to get my new photographer for the imagery here but I figure it would be good to have before the closing bell of the Spring Clean Challenge. I’ve gotten the figure done and I will say the swords are very frickin’ flimsy. This was modeled to be an 11″ model and not this small. I’ve managed to balance this out on an 80mm base. Another note for the size is these swords have busted off repeatedly and will likely keep doing so. I give up and I’ll just live with it.

Here I am very happy with the patina as it wasn’t too rich a spray using IPA and pigment powder. I think I’ll keep it and investigate what I can get done as far as a custom 3D print in metal. It would keep me from having to secure the hilts to the hands over and over again.

The first test was underwhelming at maybe 60mm tall. The full blown model needs to be double that. Off and away my printing pal went to figure out the scaling again. Now to think about paint.

There’s a charm about watching an old film in its standard definition and getting the grainy quality of resolution with the color washed out and not supremely defined. It does make for a pain in the rear when trying to make something look screen accurate and color match properly. Here is my best attempt at getting the details of the Kali statue as presented in its original form.

After a search, there was an enhanced version of some film stills and I’ve decided to use as further reference. It makes me think that the method I went about painting Talos previously. I think it was the best accident to achieve what I wanted. I’ll use the small figure as a test to try and achieve that again.

This is one hell of a large model. Parabellum was not playing around when they wanted to make a showstopper. My complaint is that there should be some measure like Gundam as to the difficulty of some models. This is beyond beginners and will only end in tears for the unprepared.

Trinitiavartha is a kit that requires building it in sections and subassembly painting if you want to up your display. There’s no way around it. It is also best held together with sprue goo. In order to get the best adhesion I suggest masking the connection points before priming so you keep bare grey plastic for later. The contact points were engineered for a moulding production problem and the modeler/player has been left with a functionality issue.

Assemble the body with the flowing fabric, head and arms. DO NOT attach the armor plating yet and leave the backpiece alone for now.

The first problem is trying to keep it all balanced as you join the top of the fabric to the bottom of the torso. It will hold but it does need some assistance to sit level at the end so be sure to figure out what base you’ll use and have it sit flat. If you plan on getting fancy with you paint job DO NOT attach the fabric to the base until your figure is varnished. You won’t be able to adequately get under the model to angle a brush very well. This is the same reason yo leave the armor off as the waist fabric has good open space to play with freehand.

The second problem is the armor once you get the fabric portion out of the way. The figure’s right side is fine to attach as there is a section like a pelvic crest that it fits onto well. The figures left side, under the sword closer to the body, doesn’t fit as well. Gap filling with a material that bonds like-to-like is the best course of action here. I make this decision after using 5 minute epoxy and gap filling with CA glue. Despite the short epoxy cure time it needed assistance to sit in place without shifting and falling off. The rear plate is molded onto he fabric so it doesn’t pose an issue unless you’re trying to get fancy on your fabric design.

The third issue is the greatest technically and visually. That is the wings. If you want to drybrush or do any work painting them first is the only way to go about it before attaching them. Once on there is no getting to the face closest to the body. You will need to work from bottom to top. The layered effect does not allow any other way. The bottom wings attach well and should have an extremely strong bond due to the engineering. This goes for the top pair of wings which should be attached last. The middle wings… they’re garbage. They work for the design but the connections are suggestions which won’t hold up well to play. It is imperative to pin them so they have a solid structure to prevent shifting while an adhesive is curing. The way the wings sit also will be a pain for how the top set into place. At your own discretion, if you want to avoid too much misalignment of the wings you can always attach the bottom set and the top before tackling the middle. It bears repeating, the center wing attachments are not great. They will need to be given extra attention to stability so that they sit with space between wings and stand up to play/transport.

With all those headaches out of the way the back panel device can be easily slotted into the divot between the wings. You might want to press against the lower end of it to and keep contact between the back/ornament for full adhesion of the part.

A lengthy rant on the build for a visually rewarding monster.

The lovely lithe lady who can sway back and forth with ease has been completed. As the inspiration images and video shows she is a rather dull blue. I hope this came out as an image as nicely as the color in person presents. I also chose to mottle the scale pattern slightly in order to give it some visual appeal which I don’t think was all there in the film.

A word of caution to anyone who wants this model on Myminifactory is that the flail is delicate and will break if too much pressure is applied. I suggest moving it with the torso when picking it up. The tail is hollow and will take stress well enough as I haven’t had any breakage otherwise.

Well well well, thanks to the staff for the Golden Button. As it was a little premature of these posts I’ll drop these for all to see.

Inspired by the image of Ganesh earlier and deciding that a lieutenant was needed (since I haven’t added anything planned) I went with the paint scheme that mostly worked in with the rest of the army. I got these images before I added a little detailing on the blue belt but this pretty much sums up the work. It was rather fun to break through the pure realistic model collection with this.

As another homage to mythology I added a small group of rats as Ganesh is supposed to have one that is rather large as his vahana (holy mount). Not having any ROUS’s available I opted for what I had.

Getting bored with solid colors I’ve thought about more freehanding. As is my wont I decided to make something difficult. Setting a bar for myself isn’t bad as a means of continuing to improve. In moving forward I’m pushing my gaming figures to be better. I decided to use Indian men’s wedding attire and formal jackets as inspiration for my current monster in progress. I promise to release pictures as soon after co.pletion and my photographer gets back from a business trip.

There are no Lloyd shots as the cameraman thought it unnecessary. My sincerest apologies to Lloyd and all those looking forward to seeing these guys from behind. As there are so many levy archers I think it can be forgiven.

These units were divided as best I could visually with the differences being there being only one banner bearer and a single swordsman. Both units have a musician to make noise to direct fire and movement.

Thank you random response generator of the search engine DuckDuckGo. I have managed to be gifted information about flags since I got curious abount Hindu banners. Why is this important? I had no idea about them and figured it might be better to have some frame of reference.

Apparently the big reference I keep coming across is the story of the Mahabharata. Research is always a dive into the unknown and these are waters generally unfamiliar to me. In the book, which seems similar in a way to the Iliad as a “someone done somebody wrong story, each warrior had his own personal standard and the narrator described each with their favored fighting style. With that in mind I’m using the palm tree used by the character Bhishmacharya (who led archers) and the moon with planets for Yudhisthra (the leader of some spear chukkers). I’ll be adding a very simplified image for the Hindu goddess of corn/plenty on the next banner (cavalry). The future tiger riders will likely get a tiger just for simplicity and ease of my brain. Don’t anyone ask me to try and actually write any names out in Sanskrit or get into the language background. Research has its limit to being fun and I’ve reached maximum depth to delve into these.

I have gotten a significant portion of the army painted

The drawback is that I need to be consistent in painting models to achieve great results in short order. Problems in workflow are just issues to be overcome. The growth from painting singular rpg models has been long and storied.

I looked at my paint scheme and realized that it started looking like the modern Indian flag. Despite the color balance I’m glad to have changed it to the greater value distinction I did. These figures pop much more than I thought they would. I like the way all these little people look and the colors please my eye. Onward to the cavalry and monsters. I hope the tigers get designed sooner than later while I focus on the big stuff.

Knowing that the swastika is a symbol older than was made infamous nearly a century ago I decided to add it on the shields of these Hindu fellows. I’ll probably get flack from this but I’ll gladly refer to the many images and just settle on the book “Gentle Swastika” by the late Canadian artist known as ManWoman.