As posted earlier, I purchased the full line of GF9 desert ruins last week. While I am very pleased with the miniatures, I thought they needed a little light work. First, I wanted to lighten the sand a little bit. Then, I thought the ruins could use another highlight to show off some of the detail. Finally, the gold crown had to go (like that would last two seconds in the desert!).
So, first I decided to do a little lightening (wanted these to match my existing terrain better). So I hit the sand with two levels of lighter tan to brighten them up. I also hit the corners and raised details on the ruins with the same colors. I did a contouring dry brush on the sphinx to give it a look of previous coloration.
Finally, I really hated the gold crown on the sphinx ruin. First I thought about painting it over to match the sand. However, I was worried that the matching would be off and it would look weird. So, the next thought was just to go with an aged bronze effect. I opted for that option. With that, I covered the gold with the GW technical paint (forgot the name) for aged bronze. I then hit that with a brown wash to tone it down.
I then sealed the whole set with some dull coat. Project done. It does not radically change the models (some might not even notice), but they fit better for my table and I think it was worth the time taken (less than an hour).
- Manteuffel