Varnish question and some warbands

Hey all, back to painting after a few years break. I have been collecting and modeling Mordheim warbands but haven't had the time or inspiration to get to painting.

I am doing 5 warbands with plans to do a few more. I have just got my gaming group into war gaming after years of fitful starts and attempts to pry them away from the computers. We have been talking about Mordheim for quite awhile.

So, the question. While I am not as skilled as many here at Tom's I feel this latest round of painting has been going very well. Much better than I have done in years past. But I just took my models to backyard and hit them with varnish to protect them for play. I feel they lost much of the quality with the varnish! I have read to hit them with a flat matte finish after but will this change it much? Does varnish destroy shading/washing?

I will bring them in for some photos when they dry and I can hit them with some flat clear.

Thanks,
Mike

Hi Mike.

Maybe with some pics and a little more info we will be able to give the correct answers, but meanwhile...

Did you use gloss varnish?

liquid or spray varnish?

Did you let ENOUGH time for your paint to dry (specially true for washes and metallics)?

Do your paints and varnish use the same medium (acrilic or enamel)?

Maybe did you used another medium for your shading (gouache)?



ANYHOW:

In my own experience, gloss varnish may give the IMPRESSION that some of your shading and higlighting are lost, due to the strong light reflections.

Also, if you usually paint under ARTIFICIAL LIGHT, and move your work to DAYLIGHT, most of the time there will be some differences.

That's natural, and that's why I use daylight bulbs, but as we usually play with artificial light anyway, that's not one of my major concerns.

Hope you give us some more details and maybe a few pics so we can help you.

Hope that helps.

Hey there -

I understand where you're coming from completely. Gloss varnish is usually tougher, so here's what I do:

2 coats of gloss varnish, then a thin spray of matte to soften it out.

Give it a try, and let me know what you think.

Do note that most matte varnishes aren't very matte at all. Shop around, read up on the brands available to you. Personally I love Testors Dullcote, but AFAIK it's not widely available anywhere in my country

I used all Citadel Paints as well as the matte varnish, which isn't matte. I have used GW/Citadel spray varnish and know it was gloss. I have a can of Testor's Dull Cote and will try that after a couple coats of varnish. Finishing up a couple warbands tomorrow and will coat everything.

Here are a few models of mine so far:
These are a couple that I had to compare varnish, left varnish, right nothing yet. Still learning how to photograph them. I am not having much luck with eyes either and decided to hold off on them to get them game ready.

I, too, have found that varnish seems to soften or blend my careful highlights. When it happens, it seems to be worse on certain colours like black and flesh. You are doing the right thing i.e. gloss varnish which has dried properly followed by Testor's Dullcote.

What's the issue with eyes? The pupils? If so, try one of those drawing pens with a tiny tip. A Rotring 0.1 or similar.