The nice thing about hanging out with lots of like-minded hobby folk is that on occasion, they unite to have wholesome good times. One of those times has recently come! The Golden Gunch 2024, not to be called The Gunchies, was a little two month long painting contest organised in our little hobby community, Roll Models.
In this article we catch up with many of the entrants who share some of their work in progress and final models. First though, it would be good to define a few of the rules. To keep things simple, models were limited to a 40mm base (round, square or otherwise). They could be from any system, however must not be converted, just a stock model as it comes. Finally the model must be presented on a white, well lit background, with only a little adjustment allowed for contrast, brightness, colour levels and focus. Simple huh?
We will have another article in the future, but today, let’s jump over to our plucky painters and their thoughts on the Gunch.
Elaine Lithgow
What model did you choose and why?
Approximately 30 seconds after I decided to join the competition, I was snipping my mini from its sprue — a very dusty Necron Chronomancer. A few years ago on a whim, I decided to dip my toes back into 40k by taking part in a local club’s crusade tournament, which started ~2 weeks after I heard about it. So I had to buy and speed paint an entire Necron force at lightning speed. What followed was a messy montage of late night, coffee addled batch painting using whatever crusty old paints I had on hand.
I ended up quite liking the scheme I stumbled into, and I’d always intended on revisiting the army, but just never got round to it as I returned to my comfort zone of smaller scale skirmish games. The Gunchies provided the perfect opportunity to grab one of those unused minis from my Necrons and see how far I could personally push the scheme.
What was the biggest challenge you came up against?
The time investment. I’ve always been a very functional painter, ie: ‘Get it table ready and call it a day’, so prior to the Gunchies I doubt I’d spent longer than an hour on any individual miniature. By the time I hit double digit painting hours on the Chronomancer I really started to feel it — that burning urge to put the mini down and move onto something new. The intrusive thoughts that ‘Ah that’s probably good enough, right?’
I think in the end I put around 30 hours into the mini before I had to put it down for good, which feels insane to me. I guess it’s only fitting that, of all the miniatures I own, my Chronomancer has sucked up the greatest amount of my time.
What was your favourite part of this model to paint?
Easily the OSL (Object Source Lighting). I wanted to challenge myself to do something I’d never done before, and OSL was top of my list. It felt really daunting at first, but in the end I found it surprisingly easy and enjoyable. I reckon I’ll be using OSL a lot more in the future!
Did you learn anything new while painting your model?
That my eyesight isn’t what it used to be. Just about every time I thought I’d nailed a super crisp detail, I’d snap some quick photos of the mini, zoom in, and see just how sloppy it was. Honestly that was probably the most demoralising aspect of the whole thing. I kept thinking ‘Why can’t I see that?’ It’s given me an increased respect for pro painters who see their minis blown up on screens, where every brushstroke and blemish is magnified to the extreme.
In the end I even decided to invest in some cheap clip-on magnifying lenses to help with future paintjobs, and oh boy have they made a difference! Look after your eyes, kids.
What was the best thing about the Golden Gunch?
The community aspect really made the experience for me. I’ve never taken my painting seriously, or taken part in a painting competition before, so I had no idea what to expect. From an outsider’s perspective, I always assumed participants huddled in their secret corners, only revealing their masterpieces once they were done. But everyone in the Rollmodels discord had so much fun sharing their WIPs and giving each other advice that I finally think I get it. Challenging yourself and your community to do the absolute best you can, and celebrating together in the end, is such a wonderful experience. Who knows… the Gunchies might make a competition painter out of me yet.
Tom ND
What model did you choose and why?
Severina Raine – such a charismatic model, with a great pose that I thought would show nicely. I’ve wanted an excuse to try better skin tone painting for a while, and I love the red & black scheme of the commissar ~costume~ uniform. I also forgot I had her until this…
What was the biggest challenge you came up against?
The basecoating stage was terrible. Just looked totally awful. The model was also fully assembled, which is something I don’t tend to do, especially if I’m trying to push myself. There are (hard-to-see) unpainted sections that will haunt me forever! Also I snapped her sword off twice but I’m trying to forget that.
What was your favourite part of this model to paint?
Trying to do realistic skintone was fun. Not sure I nailed it, but it’s certainly my best attempt so far. I also adore the process of painting deep and graduated reds, which this model has in abundance.
Did you learn anything new while painting your model?
Not especially, to be brutally honest. It mostly affirmed what I knew; to do my best I need a good paint scheme, a decent wet palette, a sharp brush, and a lot of patience. Every time I rushed even slightly, something went wrong!
What was the best thing about the Golden Gunch?
It was lovely seeing (and being part of) some shared hobby focus amongst pals, and seeing people push themselves to make some of the best minis I’ve ever seen them do. Really motivating and cool stuff.
WhamBadger
What model did you choose and why?
Johann. I hadn’t intended to enter as I was busy doing an ambitious Secret Santa present. But I finished that with a few days of the Gunchies still open, amd was inspired by what I’d seen to have a go. With very little time I wanted a small, uncomplicated model with character. The first model I picked broke and as I was fixing it saw Johann on my desk and decided he was perfect.
What was your favourite part of this model to paint?
The hands. There’s basically no sculpting on them so I added lines and highlights on the fingers and palms. They’re not perfect, but it’s something I’d never done before and helps with the character as they’re a prominent part of the model.
What was the biggest challenge you came up against?
Fixing all the things you can’t see until you photograph. Every photo, including the submitted ones I can see things that aren’t right that I can’t see on the model even with magnifying lenses.
What was the best thing about the Golden Gunch?
Seeing the amazing stuff everyone was doing. So many different models and styles, but just seeing everyone push themselves in different ways was inspiring.
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Stephen (Teveh)
What model did you choose and why?
Old school Fuegan. I love the old Phoenix lord models but never had a reason to paint one. The Gunchies gave me a reason to pick him out of my opportunity pile and paint him up.
What was your favourite part of this model to paint?
The gun barrel. I checked out multiple versions online and I think the ones where the Gun Barrel was bright and stood out looked the best, it’s effectively the models USP I think. I was super pleased with how the yellow to orange fade came out, and it was a lot easier than I expected as I’ve never tried this sort of effect before.
What was the biggest challenge you came up against?
The model is small, metal is not as nice to work on as plastic, and the armour panels were a bit fiddly. I gave up on getting it super crisp and smooth at one point I just tried to get the overall composition right.
Other than that, taking the photo! It’s always difficult to get a pic which reflects how the model looks to the naked eye with my limited knowledge of photography, and I feel this is particularly the case with red/orange. Having said that, after tweaking some settings on my phone more or less at random I feel I got something fairly close to reality that I’m pleased with.
What was the best thing about the Golden Gunch?
Fuegan might be my favourite thing I have painted, so I glad it gave me the motivation to get him done. Also seeing other peoples WIPs and knowing he’ll be part of a cool community project was exciting, it gave me the motivation to get him over the line when I might have otherwise shelved him away at one point.
Would you Gunch again?
I hunger for more Gunch.
Chris Thursten
What model did you choose and why?
Grombrindal. I wouldn’t be surprised if that got a few eye-rolls from Rich and Luke, given that I’ve just written a book about him! There were a few other candidates – for a while I was fairly set on doing one of the Forge World Horus Heresy assassins. But I ran down the clock while going back and forth over that idea, and Grombrindal just seemed like the best option overall. I’ve been meaning to paint him, he’s on a 40mm base, and there are tons of different materials and textures to play with. Also I wrote a book about him.
What was your favourite part of this model to paint?
I painted a lot of little highlights of pure white on this model, and each and every one of them was extremely satisfying to do. It’s like a little reward for all that layering and layering and layering.
What was the biggest challenge you came up against?
Probably the non-metallic gold. There’s a lot of it, some of it in awkward places, and it took a fair while to come together. I had a repetitive stress dream about the process of painting the filligree on the head of Grombrindal’s axe.
Did you try anything new for your model?
I’ve done non-metallic metals before, but not very much, and not to this extent. I also put aside almost all of my go-to techniques, like Contrast glazes and oil paints. Because I knew this would be a one-off, I mixed most of the colours myself fairly freely and intuitively, which I really enjoyed doing.
What are your two big takeaways from painting your model?
I like painting non-metallic metals and I should do it more often. However the NMM Kharadron army I started daydreaming about while painting this model is a bad idea and I should not do it.
(Also read books!)
Scops
What model did you choose and why?
A harlequin shadowseer that my wife was randomly gifted last year. I didn’t have anything I was planning to paint with a base size that fit the Golden Gunch criteria, so I nearly didn’t enter, but then I remembered the shadowseer and thought it might be a fun opportunity to paint something different. And also troll the judges a little bit since I am a known elf-disliker and I thought they were unlikely to guess that I had painted it.
What was your favourite part of this model to paint?
Choosing a colour scheme was fun, since I wasn’t locked into a scheme by previous army choices or lore concerns or anything like that.
What was the biggest challenge you came up against?
I got halfway through painting it before I googled it and realised it was a harlequin. I’m not great at 40k lore but the one thing I know about harlequins is that you’re meant to paint them with loads of freehand diamonds and stuff. I hadn’t planned at all for this when deciding how to paint the model, so I opted for the path of cowardice and didn’t do any freehand.
Did you try anything new for your model?
Not really. It was a new experience because I very rarely paint 40k stuff, but I entered more because I wanted to participate in a fun community activity than because I wanted to stretch my painting. I didn’t want to spend loads of time on this model at the expense of not making progress on other projects, so I probably spent about 6 hours on it in total.
What are your two big takeaways from painting your model?
- I am terrible at mini photography in the style needed for competition judging…
- Given that I am terrible at the photography I should not paint models with lots of white elements when they need to be photographed against a white background.
Ross Meredith
What model did you choose and why?
I chose so many models! Each on bases larger than 40mm, or involving minor conversions. After discounting those, the Aeronautica Imperialis Valkyrie was the project that excited me the most. T’au air wings are allowed a small number of Imperial defectors, and I wanted to paint a Valkyrie that told the story of a hasty turncoat declaring for Greater Good
What was your favourite part of this model to paint?
The waves on the base. I had space to define swirls and eddies, combining the satisfaction of a good freehand puzzle with the flexibility of a more organic material.
What was the biggest challenge you came up against?
Making the graffiti look badly done! I wanted it to look like a rush job by the aircrew whilst still recognisable as an Air Caste icon. Placing it on positions that don’t fully blend in to the model helps, with the streaky ‘whitewash’ & drips doing the real heavy lifting.
Did you try anything new for your model?
The base is a new recipe, combining a putty section for the backwash and thick acrylic paint to shape the calmer waves. Though I’ve tried a 28mm sea base before, doing it at Epic scale let me contrast areas of foamy swell and calmer ocean ripples.
What are your two big takeaways from painting your model?
1) Composition is king. The backwash on the base clicked with the Valkerie attached, the spot red of the graffiti breaks up the expanse of military green. I almost get away without highlighting the metals thanks to the overall effect of the different shades in play.
2) Despite being the same essential skill, geometric freehand sparks more joy than edge highlights do. I accept this is completely irrational.
Find Ross’ blog here
James Alone
What model did you choose and why?
Alpharius, the ‘lovely’ Forge World primarch model. Only the gaming model though, as the fancy base was too big for the competition!
I chose this guy mostly as he has been in a box up in my garage just, well, abandoned. I’d gotten caught up in Horus Heresy second edition buzz, and I’d always wanted a traitor army for something. Well, fast forward two and a bit years and well, that project hit a wall, namely that I don’t like the game that much. So I just had this very expensive, primed and ready to go fancy model, and no real reason to invest time in it. When the Gunchies were announced, it just felt like a great time to get him done and push some 28mm painting after nearly a year of doing Epic scale stuff.
What was your favourite part of this model to paint?
I moaned and griped about the model a whole lot while getting him done, but my two favourite bits were the steel armour that runs between the scaled pannels, and the base. The base just came together in one session and looked exactly how I imagined, which is rare!
Did you learn anything new while painting your model?
Don’t enter Forge World models in a friendly contest! It is not the place to struggle with the density of details but also the drawbacks of the medium. I did learn however that ultra matt varnish is godtier. Getting rid of that rubbery shine just made the differnt materials read better.
Would you Gunch again?
Yes, with a much simpler and characterful model. Wish I painted a goblin.
Been
What model did you choose and why?
I chose an Age of Sigmar Chaos Warrior I got as part of the Miniature of the Month event from October. When I first got into Warhammer back in the 90s one of first things I got was a paint set collection that included a free plastic Chaos Warrior. I didn’t really know what I was doing with paints back then and did a pretty poor job of painting it with thick coats of paint straight from the pot. Having not kept many of my original minis I wanted to give that another go on a more modern sculpt but to a much better standard than my young teenage self was up to.
What was your favourite part of this model to paint?
I really enjoyed painting the bright red, slightly metallic armour. I haven’t worked with contrasts paints over metals much, and it felt great to spend time highlighting up layers of gold before carefully applying a red contrast all over it to give it a nice gradient effect.
Did you try anything new for your model?
Contrast over a metallic basecoat was new for me, I had to try it out a few times on a different mini to figure out how much I needed to thin them to get everything looking just right. Turns out that I didn’t need to thin it at all, just apply it in small amounts at a time.
Also, using basing mix with PVA rather than a basic texture paint. I was worried about getting bits stuck to the model but it was far simpler than texture paint and had a better overall effect IMO. I think I’ll be doing a lot more of that in the future.
What are your two big takeaways from painting your model?
That weathering adds so much more to a metal armour than you’d think, and done right it doesn’t even have to take that long to apply.
And that I really enjoyed painting chaos warriors and kind of want to do a few more. I’m not ready to start a whole new army, but maybe a cheeky Spearhead box.
What was the best thing about the Golden Gunch?
Our secret WIP channel where we could share thoughts and progress with the other Golden Gunch painters. it really helped keep my motivation up and stopped me feeling down if something wasn’t quite turning out how I’d originally hoped, and was a great source of advice and reassurance when I started to doubt myself.
Alistair
What model did you choose and why?
The Kroot Trail Shaper, as I’ve had a idea for the scheme for a while and it is a small model with a collection of interesting different details to paint. Though in the end, a distressing number of them had to be different variations of leather…
What was the biggest challenge you came up against?
Time! The Golden Gunch started as I was getting ready to a trip to the UK, so I was too busy preparing for that to think about painting much. Then after I returned home there were a few days left, and I got a rush of blood to the head from seeing other community members’ works in progress and wanted to join in!
At that point I had a little over 3 days left, which meant I decided to target painting as well as I could to a short deadline. I knew that I would have to fall back on every shortcut I could, so the technical results of my piece weren’t going to be to the limits of my ability, but that was ok!
In the end due to real life I ended up only able to work on it for about a day, but I’m really happy with the result, and I might go back to polish it later on.
Did you try anything new for your model?
I attempted to paint the skin with a fur texture, as it would fit my hyena idea better, and kroot can take on new features from their diet. I’m not sure how well it worked out, but it was fun to try.
What are your two big takeaways from painting your model?
First, I learned that I can crack out a single model to a level I’m quite happy with in less than a day, which is something I want to hold on to to break past those painting procrastination moments.
The other is that my scheme ran into some issues as I realised I was painting brown leather details on a brown-yellow furred model. Some extra planning ahead of time might have helped here, but I was also painting to match the aesthetic of my existing Tau army.
What was the best thing about the Golden Gunch?
Seeing everyone else putting up work and pushing themselves far past their regular painting. Its not something usual for most of us I think as we tend to be army painters, but its really cool to see the results if you sit with a model and really push the limits.
Evie Moriarty
What model did you choose and why?
I choose a Haqqislam Zayedan Intervention trooper. It had a really nice range of materials while letting me work on some of my favourite types (leather, cloth, skin) in my favourite palette (browns, oranges and greys).
What was your favourite part of this model to paint?
Probably the leather coat. Lots of really nice texture work and scratches to add in.
What was the biggest challenge you came up against?
The gun by far! I decided I wanted to do a NMM realistic looking rifle, and it was a fascinating challenge. The big breakthrough was understanding the difference in materials from each part and colouring and highlighting them differently.
Did you learn anything new while painting your model?
I learned what gun is made of (turns out, lots of different things).
What are your two big takeaways from painting your model?
An Indian and a Vietnamese. Both delicious.
Mx. Bellsprout
What model did you choose and why?
Kroot Flesh Shaper: My friend got it for my birthday, but I’ve been off T’au for a while. Since I hadn’t painted any Kroot yet I thought it would be a good opportunity to paint something different to my usual armies, and hopefully get me back into T’au!
What was your favourite part of this model to paint?
It’s always the tiny details I look back at with the most pride. On this occasion it’s the tiny glass earrings. The dark rich blue really contrasts nicely with the greens & browns on the rest of the model, and I’m thrilled with how the blends came out. Shoutout to the hunk of meat hanging off the belt too!
What was the biggest challenge you came up against?
Like most people I struggle with eyes. I cheated a little & treated the scarred eye as fully gone, simply painting an empty socket, but the other I really put some effort into, couple of layers of yellow/orange & a black pupil, attempting a feline look. But really I was jusg guessing with the yellows until it didn’t look bad & the pupil placement was blind (get it?) Luck. I don’t think my my painting skills have anything to do with how it looks!
Did you try anything new for your model?
I’m a painter who relies a lot on washes, so I set myself the challenge of doing all the shading without them. You can track across the model how I improved as I went, the leathers were first and would have benefited from pushing those tones much brighter, and finished with the flesh which I’m oh so proud of!
What are your two big takeaways from painting your model?
The first is that I need to push myself to paint models models to that quality more often, I had so much fun pushing myself to paint something I was happy to compete with, definitely something I’d do again!
The second is, hey, I’m a much better painter than I thought I was! I’m feeling a lot more confident about my abilities!
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And that is it for our little round up. See you next year?!
