Beli'al Build

Ready for action.

Background:
I snagged Beli'al at GenCon16 and was super excited about him. Other than the Derelict Ship expansion, Beli'al is my 2nd most-wanted SoB addon/expac. I had great intentions of getting him assembled and painted over the winter of 16/17, but real life got in the way and I had a lot of things on my painting table ahead of him (which mostly didn't get done either). I was also fairly intimidated by him - given the investment of time and money I really didn't want to screw him up, and my indecision about what to do with the base cost me months (and persisted through the build process).

Goals:

1. I am not a pro painter. The goal of anything I do is to look reasonable as "board game pieces" from several feet away. 
2. Learn something new. I am not a raw beginner, but I also realize that I'm bumping up against the limits of my ability/patience and I pick techniques that I can be successful with. That being said, each big project I try to add another entry into my bag of tricks.
3. Be done before GenCon17. 

Disclaimer: 
I'm posting this not as a "look how cool I can paint" but more of a reference for others wanting to paint Big B - searching around for references resulted in few google hits, and several of you will be buying Beli'al at GenCon or when he hits retail this fall.

Beli'al Model & Assembly:
Beli'al is a large model. The pieces are big, assembly is not particularly difficult. The instructions in the box are helpful. The cloth ribbons around his "legs" are perhaps the most tricksy, but refer to the instructions, use the process of elimination, and take your time and it's pretty straightforward where they are supposed to attach. It's been a few months now, but I remember no excessive trimming or sanding. I used GaleForce9 plastic cement and dry fit every piece beforehand.

Here's box contents (GenCon16 preview edition, NOT retail), the sprue, and some assembly pics. (Where there are FATE dice included, they are intended for scale).

Yes, the Mrs. lets me do assembly on the dining room table.

Opening the GenCon16 Preview Box.

Box contents. FATE dice for scale.

Body sprue.

Wing sprue.

Torso assembled.

The wings are socketed. I briefly considered magnetizing for storage options.

Note the scale to a standard SoB Hero.

Back view, before installing wings.

Front view.

There is not a ton of superfine detail. With Beli'al and a few other XL/XXL monsters, it feels like FFP does their modeling in one scale and then makes the end product bigger or smaller during production - but there are a lot of little things that can and should be brought out. Claws, the jewel on his shoulder, the inlay work on the armor, even the battle damage in his wings are all things I knew I wanted to highlight during final.

Gaps: There are a few unfortunate mold line placements where the torso pieces fit together - straight through the shoulder pads in particular. I am apparently one of the few people on the planet who struggles using Green Stuff, so I refused to risk it on Beli'al. Instead, I used a combination of Vallejo Plastic Putty and Vallejo Matt Varnish to hide the seams. This worked very well on the shoulder pads, but left a seam-if-you-look-close on the legs/smoke. If I were after a perfect finish, I should have sanded and re-primed, but the result fit my criteria of tabletop.

Paints Used:
I use ArmyPainter primer/brushes/colors/shaders almost exclusively. Most of the color names I mention are from the SoB painter packs, but all translate to the core ArmyPainter line. Where I know the "real" color name, I've included it.

• Primer: Matt Black rattle can
• Crystal Blue (wings)
• Molten Orange (shoulder jewel)
• Skeleton Bone (Cowl, claws, base doodads, base drybrush)
• Matt Black (Cowl interior)
• Spirit White (selected highlights, claw highlights)
• Gold (Belt, Key, rope, armor dry brush)
• Necromancer Cloak (legs/smoke)
• Crimson Hand Red (cloth ribbons)
• Leather Brown (base drybrush)
• Dark Flesh (base)
• Dark Tone Ink (everything but armor)
• Blue Tone Ink (armor)
• Red Tone Ink (blood effect)

Color Choices:
I didn't want to do Beli'al with lava legs. Those look great, but wanted a different, perhaps more sinister or smoky effect. But I do love the model enough that 'someday' I may do a 2nd one for Cynder fights.

The crystal blue wings were the biggest decision point for me. Arguably should have been deep red or even charcoal black. But the rest of my Otherworld crew are all painted with Crystal Blue and then given a Dark Tone Ink wash, and I wanted to stay consistent with the rest of my set. I had just done some other pieces with the Pistol Silver / Blue Tone Ink technique and loved the result, so I wanted to use that for the armor. From there, the rest of the colors kind of fell into place.

As I was painting I had a mild panic attack because the raw colors were so different that he looked like a demon clown (nothing against Pennywise fans, but not the look I was after), but I knew that the dark tone ink would subdue everything dramatically AND I also started putting some of the colors (skeleton bone in particular) into the base to help pull things together. With only a mild change in planning I pressed on.

Base Colors:
I primed in AP rattle can black. The skeleton bone cowl took several coats to cover reasonably, but everything else went down in 2 thin coats. Due to the model size, I typically worked with 2 brushes at once - one fairly large brush for open areas and another smaller brush to work towards the borders. Once the base colors were down, I needed several passes to straighten lines and catch all the little spots I missed. Beli'al is a twisty-turny model with a lot of little nooks that are easy to overlook.

Here are some work-in-progress pictures of the basecoating process.

ArmyPainter rattle can primer worked great.  Watch the wings, old-B actually took flight due to some late afternoon wind.

There is an old fence post in my back yard that lets me work at chest height when priming.

Most base coats done. At this point I am straightening lines and need to do the maroon cloth.

Basing done, ready for shading.

Shading:
I started with the Armor - Blue Tone Ink (unthinned) over the silver base coat. I really can't say enough about the colored AP inks. The rest of the model got Dark Tone Ink (unthinned) working in sections. Here's a picture showing one wing just after the shading was applied versus the basecoat, and another showing the shaded and drybrushed armor. (I am most happy with the armor).

One wing shaded with Dark Tone vs. unshaded.

Armor is silver basecoat, Blue Tone Ink, then dry brushed with Loot Gold.

The cowl came out blotchy after shading. I attempted to fix with some liberal dry brushing, but lost all of the color/texture definition in the process. I ended up mixing some very thin base color and reglazing most of the cowl, followed by a thinned coat of Dark Tone to even the colors out. A little dry brushing finished the cowl off. I am least happy with the cowl, but have to remember Goal #1.

For the 'legs,' I was really after the look of dark billowy smoke (think: oil tanker fire) and happened to find the AP Necromancer Cloak color. This avoided custom mixing the color for repeat coats. The legs also got a Dark Tone Ink to push the shadows back towards black, and then some dry brushing to bring the charcoal color back out. The result looks more convincing in the normal room lighting vs. the direct outdoor light in the pictures below.

Base:
The base is a Secret Weapon 95x120 Flagstone. I wanted a little extra room to place the Scibor faces, and during play will need to remember that Belial plays as a 3x3 base. I painted the base separately (due to size) using similar methods - thorough wash and dry, then black AP primer, Dark Flesh (Oak) base coat followed by a liberal (and unthinned) Dark Tone Ink, then dry bushing with Leather Brown, Fang Bone, and Necromancer Cloak in a radial pattern. The rim was touched up with Matt Black. This is a work in progress shot:

Flagstone base with the Dark Flesh basecoat down.

Scibor Faces: Wash and dry, Skeleton Bone AP primer, Dark Tone Ink, Skeleton Bone dry brush, and Red Tone ink for the bloody tears.
Here they are after initial shading:

Scibor faces shaded with Dark Tone and some other bits I didn't use.

And finally.... the finished model.

Rawr.

Running away. Not that he ever would.

Red tone ink for the bloody tears.

This weekend was our 4th GenCon, and so I submitted my Beli'al for the painting contest. Knowing my limits and skill, I did NOT expect to win or place, but I was completely jazzed to see my big B behind the glass at the FFG booth. There was a small army of Beli'als submitted, and all looked great so I was in good company. Mine is the back right.

I'd also thank Pevil if he's reading this, and other friends at GC17 for stopping in to visit Beli'al and sending me txts of support.

Beli'al at GenCon17 with his brothers Beli'al, Beli'al, and Beli'ial.  Mine is back right.

A better shot of the phenomenal lava base.