WIP Wednesday: Holodiscus' Farsight

 WIP Wednesday 4/12/23

Holodiscus#9664 's new Commander Farsight!

Holodiscus has been painting for about two years, and is based near the Sacramento area in California. He was first introduced to Warhammer through a friend teaching him the older version of Killteam, and from there his love of the hobby grew like wildfire. Although his first army was Dark Angels, he eventually found himself spreading the good news of the Greater Good. You can follow him on Instagram at Martial Minis, though he rarely posts.

There’s a lot to love about the new Farsight, and I struggle with knowing where I should start. When I saw his new model, I immediately contacted my LGS and got put on a list for it. I feel incredibly grateful and lucky that I was able to get it on release, despite the numerous production issues that GW had with shipping it out to stores. With how beautiful this kit is, and how difficult it’s been for many people to get their hands on one, I knew I needed to do everyone’s favorite renegade general justice with my paint job.

    Assembly was fantastic. GW did an phenomenal job not only with the sculpt, but with the final product, which notably had almost no mold lines on the entire piece. Ninety percent of the time if there was a mold line, it was in a place that fit underneath something that would hide it. This was one of the most important factors in how much I enjoyed putting Farsight together. GW has had some rough kits in the past when it comes to mold lines–anyone who’s assembled the Space Marine Incursor/Infiltrator box will know the pain–but this was just a breeze. 
   

     I love that the new kit is so easily customizable. Anyone who loves conversions will find it remarkably simple to shave off some of the pegs on the legs and arms to pose him however they want. I myself was in love with the base sculpt such that I didn’t want to pose him any other way. Everything about his base pose is dynamic. With both of his arms aiming away from him in the same direction as the ribbons on the hilt of the Dawnblade and his armor, combined with the growth pattern on the flowers of his Tactical Rock(™), the whole scene comes together to add a sense of motion to the entire design. All of that said, it actually took some doing to get parts of the intended design to fit together because of how small those pegs are! I’m not sure I ever got Farsight’s shield arm totally in the exact right spot. There are some really unique bits to this model that will really feel rewarding to anyone willing to take just a little more time to make sure you have it right. 

    I absolutely recommend subassembling this model when painting it. I separated out the sword, the main body, and the base, but in hindsight I’d recommend subassembling the arms as well. The inside of the floating shoulder joints has a really cool engraved pattern that reflects the magnetic nature of his new suit in the lore. I decided not to paint this, but it’s a space for anyone who wants to show off to really make something amazing in an area of such detail. 
   

     One thing that some people at my shop are surprised to learn is that I don’t paint my army using airbrushes. My army, this model included, is primarily rattlecan. I love my airbrush, but it apparently doesn’t love me and decides to stop working at inconvenient times. So I found a workaround! I start with a basecoat of Citadel’s Macragge Blue spray, and once that's down I give it an all-around coat of Army Painter’s Wolf Grey in a circle from above. From there, I move back to Citadel and do light little passes of White Scar from quite far away from the direction the model is facing until it’s built up a nice gradient on the extreme parts of the model. This is fairly noticeable when you inspect the model up close, as this method doesn’t hold up to intense scrutiny. I’m okay with that, because I primarily paint my minis to look good from 3+ feet away.
   

     I spent the rest of the time being as precise as I can with brushing on the rest, and working up highlights on the things that need them. I used the same colors or most of the metal bits like the undercarriage and the Dawn Blade, I just went significantly brighter on the sword since that’s one of the primary focuses of the model. The sword in particular is very difficult to highlight well. The break between the top half of the sword and the bottom half is a very soft angle, and cutting a good edge highlight in the center felt genuinely impossible. I finally decided to varnish it and use painter’s tape on the top half to block off an area for it, and I think it came out pretty good. My last step was panel lining, and wow I can’t recommend AK’s enamel panel liners enough! I used their Grey and Blue Camouflage. It’s as simple as varnishing your mini, using the panel liner, and wiping up the excess with a Q-tip and mineral spirits after it’s dried. It’s probably at your LGS, so please don’t feel intimidated by adding another product to your repertoire–this stuff is forth it, and the bottle feels like it lasts forever.
   

     In short, Farsight is here with his Supernova AI and he isn’t messing around. I’m so happy with how his new model came out. I think that I did some justice to a gorgeous sculpt, and I hope that you think I did too. He looks right at home as a centerpiece in my army, and I’m excited to put him down on a table in the coming weeks.