22 February 2022

Fembruary: Maika von Ostwald


Maika von Ostwald (real name Julie Smith) was attending a Renaissance Faire when people went from munching on turkey legs to munching on human legs. Luckily for her, the whopping Flammenschwert she's leaning on is not only real, she's also very good at using it, as the deadhead shuffling towards her is about to discover.

So it turns out that one of my reader(s) is psychic! Dave commented that Astrid (the half-elf, not the spy) should have been a LARPer who'd brought her guitar for the after-party when the zeds started saying hi. Joe and Dai both agreed with Dave's idea, and should also probably ask him for next week's lottery numbers. I'd already had the idea to make Maika a RenFaire attendant and was about 90% done with her when I saw Dave, Joe and Dai's comments, and I think it's pretty awesome that we all had the same idea albeit about different minis.

Anyway, Juile Maika was an impulse buy from Hasslefree about 18 months ago. I put four zombie survivors in my basket, then decided to have a look around the site to see if any other minis caught my eye. Maika stood out a mile thanks to her awesome paintjob so I bought her on a whim. I didn't realise at the time that she also comes in a dynamic pose, but too late now.

She's dressed as a landsknecht, which were 16th-century German mercenaries who wore ridiculously flamboyant clothes and colours to flaunt their status and reputation as formidable fighters. I googled around for ideas and found this one in green and black, and as it's a colour scheme I haven't painted before and it looks good I decided to go with it. 

After priming Maika I kicked off by basecoating all the green bits of her clothes and hat with Heavy Black Green. Once dry it got a coat of Park Green Flat, then a wash with Biel-Tan Green. I picked out the highlights with more Park Green Flat and then Light Green.

The black areas are Black (shocking, I know!) highlighted with Dark Grey. The stripes on her right leg are actually etched into the metal to serve as a guide, but I didn't let that stop me from going over the lines, oh no. Much touching up later and her clothing was done.

I did her sword next, basecoating it with Mechanicus Standard Grey and then painting it Plate Metal. The hilt and leather bit are Red Leather over Dark Red, washed with Red Tone, and the laces are Ivory. The metal bits were shaded/discoloured with Nuln Oil and Sepia Wash and got a light highlight of Silver.

I wanted to add a tertiary colour on her sash and went with yellow, using Averland Sunset highlighted with Lemon Yellow and washed with Casandora Yellow. Her armour was painted the same way as her sword. Maika's hair is courtesy of Mahogany Brown, Umber Wash, and Orange and Light browns, and the huge feathers in her hat are Ghost Grey, Grey Wash and White.

Her leggings(?) are Chocolate Brown and Flat Earth, and her shoes Black and Dark Grey. The final bit was her skin, done with my own flesh mix (of which I really need to make more) and Reikland Fleshshade. Her eyes were the usual bastard to do.

Maika's a fantastic sculpt and is totally different to any of my other figures. Using her as a RenFaire/LARPer to get her into the zombie world was a great idea and I think her Flammenthingy will be a powerful weapon against the fragile undead. The only thing I'm left wondering about is whether I should have highlighted the green more, either by adding white or yellow. Any suggestions?

12 comments:

  1. Excellent work Matt, I think the green looks perfect as is, and wouldn't change it, if you do decide to add more highlights, I'd use yellow, as white can make it chalky in appearance, but you could use bone as a mix colour, to lighten it.
    What can I say great minds think alike ! LOL

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    1. Cheers, Dave! I am thinking about a touch of thinned Scorpy Green, which is a very vibrant colour, on her hat and hip, but I might leave her as is just in case I mess it up.

      You're right, great minds do think alike LOL! I had the idea of making her a RenFaire fan just after starting to paint her a few days ago, so you can imagine my surprise when I saw your comment on Astrid :-)

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  2. Great painting Matt, the green works really well with the black.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks, Roger! Green's not a colour I use too often so I'm very happy with how it came out.

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  3. That green looks perfect as is Matt. You've shaded and highlighted it so well I think it's some of your best painting to date in all honesty.

    Great character and I like her cocky pose. A more animated version I think would lose that aspect.

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    1. Cheers, Dai, I appreciate that! The dynamic version of Maika is still pretty cocky looking, but I do like her distinct air of arrogance in this model.

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  4. Top paint-work and marvellous back-story too, Matt. One of Hasslefree's finest female figures for sure.

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    1. Thanks, Simon! She really is one of Hasslefree's best sculpts, and I'm glad she was an impulse buy. She's a great addition to my collection.

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  5. Wonderful work. I of course love the mini (it's impossible not to), but your paintjob gives her quite a particular charm. Lovely!

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    1. Thanks, Suber! She turned out really good and the green and black worked really well together.

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  6. I know that Warhammer ripped it off from history but she looks like an Empire soldier to me! I had a small collection of them so it makes me nostalgic to see a similarly designed mini. I really like the green colors you chose. Its just the right amount of gaudy, I would say!

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    1. Cheers, Jeff! She does have that Empire look about her, doesn't she? I tried to tone down the gaudiness a bit, and compared to some of the examples I saw online she's pretty boring in terms of colours!

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