A quick blurb about this miniature and why I chose it. I bought this model a few years ago with the intention of using him as a Herald of Khorne for Warhammer 40K. Long story short, that never came to be and it’s been sitting around.
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The model is Efreeti Emir and it’s a Reaper Miniatures model. It’s a metal model, which I dislike, but it was such a cool model that I didn’t care :)
Also, I have had the urge to play around with painting NMM forever now. However, until recently, I had batches of models to paint, not really ideal for trying a technique like NMM.
Well, I got into playing Warhammer Underworlds (love that game), and my painting queue dwindled. It was the perfect time to try something new, and I decided to use this long-forgotten model as my test piece.
Efretti Emir Showcase
I apologize that some of these shots are terrible. I’m not sure know why, but this model proved difficult to photograph and I was getting annoyed. I think it’s his stance, leaning forward, and my camera was struggling to focus everything at once.
Also, my Testors Dullcote has a slight sheen to it that’s bugging me. I’ve noticed this a lot lately when I use GW washes.
So, the skin on Efreeti had some serious wash applied to it and you’ll see the sheen. However, the NMM areas, with no washes, has no sheen.
It’s annoying, and I haven’t always had this issue, so I’m wondering if I got a batch of Testors that isn’t perfect. Lots of searching is leaning that way, but who knows.
Anyway, here’s Efreeti!
Painting Thoughts
I’m happy with how Efreeti came out. As I said recently in another article, it’s not perfect, but for my first real attempt at NMM – I like it.
I could have spent longer trying to get everything perfect, but I also know it wouldn’t work either.
At some point when painting a model, you eventually reach a level of diminishing returns. Meaning, something may not be exactly what you want, it could use some tweaking, but the effort involved in doing so is simply not worth the return. It’s kind of wasted effort.
I find it’s far better to complete a model, learn from it, and move on to the next and apply the lessons there. Keep moving forward.
More to the point of painting, I tried to keep things simple and basic. It’s not hard to see that I painted Efreeti in a Khorne-like fashion with the red skin, bronze armor, and some black accents.
I find when you’re trying a new technique that it’s best to stick to colors you know and let the technique be the focus of your efforts. Instead of trying to figure out ideal, unique color combinations, I went with what I knew worked so I could play with NMM, not stress over color choices.
I also kept the basing simple for the same reason. I want to draw the eye to the model, to the NMM work, so I figured a simple base would help with that. Plus, I just like simplicity.
Conclusion
I had a blast working on this miniature, I learned a lot. I’m looking forward to my next project where I can work on NMM some more.
Update
Since painting this model I have learned quite a bit more on painting NMM. So much so that I put together a tutorial on easily painting NMM.
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Love the NMM effects. Never sure on if they are worth the investment but something I will give a shot sooner or later.
Thanks.
I’ve always thought the same about the investment, and it is a time investment, though not as much as you might expect. I think for select models that it’s a great choice. As I said above, having full control over the subtleties of the metal (for those more skilled) that way really lets you create a metal that suits your needs much, much better than traditional metallics. However, when it comes to batch painting and getting things done quickly, yeah, not worth it there.