"Get Off My Sump-Lawn" - The Deserter

None know the Deserter's identity, 
but his tattoos mark him as a veteran 
of the legendary Necromundan 8th. 
The crazy old soldier lives downhive in a booby-trapped warren, 
and there are few individuals as talented 
when it comes to laying traps or setting ambushes.

~ Games Workshop


Hi friends, welcome back to The Art of Caesura!

Man, I just cannot get away from Necromunda! Usually I'm a hobby butterfly, moving on from one game after about a month or so and coming back a few months later. But wow, I am just loving Necromunda! Pandora's box was first opened by painting my first gang, The Unkindness, but now I've been really enjoying painting a host of characterful Hired Guns. Today we have the second of those: The Deserter.

I wasn't crazy about this crazy old man at first, I felt his inturned toes looked a bit cartoony. But as I got in to building and painting him, the theme of an old recluse holed up in his own little part of the Underhive won me over. Even his shotgun-wielding "get off my lawn" pose is actually pretty great.

I like the box art colour scheme - wearing bits of his old military armour and rags of his undersuit. Generally, I only changed things very slightly - pushing his rags from the dirty white of the box to a sweaty beige. I did this to draw more attention to his white beard and hair. 

WIP - Pre-shades

The Fang shaded with Nuln Oil and highlighted with The Fang + White Scar produced the blue for his armour.

Ushabti Bone shaded with Agrax Earthshade and then re-highlighted was used for his undersuit. 

There are some really nice details on this model. Around his neck are his old dogtags and under his rags you can just make out the tip of some heavy duty armour plating. 

I also love the details on his backpack. The whole thing is hobbled together with three leather belts. There are dials, switches, cables and even a military helmet. I had fun painting the visor on the helmet making it look super shiny. He clearly polishes it - don't tell the Water Guild...

I originally thought that the thing over his right shoulder was a light and was going to practice my object source lighting (apropos as there is an article about this in the August White Dwarf). On closer inspection I realized that it is some kind of speaker. 

The final detail that I really worked on was his crazy eye. I spent a good bit of time on this, trying to leave a fair amount of his sclera showing to emphasize his deranged look.

His base was painted in the same manner as all of my Necromunda bases. You can read more about that over here if you're interested. 

And that's it for The Deserter, let me know what you think right here on The Art of Caesura!


Watching: Jeopardy!
Reading: Necromunda: The Book of Peril
Listening: Home - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes


Next Week:

Cyclopean...