The Honour Guard are mostly Anvil Industries armour, with a couple of GW heads and weapons. I'll get some better pics next time I get the camera out.
Yeah, the Wolf is on a 40mm, with the upscaling he was too big to fit at all on a 25 and I have no 32s arounc (I need to get some at some point, they do make the world of difference).
Just a quick side note, if anyone has any Empire or Bretonnian Knights they'd be interested in selling, or knows of some company producing similar ones as GW have axed both, let me know! I've got plenty of sources for GW and non-GW Empire infantry, but the cavalry are proving difficult to get hold of.
Introducing Baron Leopold Von Grusse VI of Azyrheim, self-styled adventurer and perhaps the most dangerous mortal ever to venture beyond that great city's gates and into the Realms... Leopold is a man who knows no fear. He knows no danger. He knows... almost nothing! Having led a sheltered life of luxury prior to the unexpected journey that sent him half way across creation with only a handful of loyal (or at least well paid) companions, the young Baron throws himself into the role of warrior hero with little more than a remarkable enthusiasm and a very expensive sword...
Will he undergo a journey of self-discovery and find his way back home a true hero? Or will he remain an incompetent ignoramus, haplessly stumbling from misadventure to misadventure and somehow avoiding a tragic fate? For the moment, I'm leaving that in the lap of the (dice) gods, his exploits on the tabletop will form the basis for his story going forward....
On the painting front, I'm dead happy with this guy for the most part, I think I've managed to pull off a balance between muted/realistic and fantastical, which hopefully I'll be able to keep across the rest of the army. On that note, I'm still waiting for the MOM miniatures stuff (any day now! ) but I've got the other half of the Empire command set and a box of Sisters of Avelorn/Shadow Warriors to work on (I'm unsure whether to build a unit of 5 of each or a full unit of Sisters... anyone with AoS experience able to weigh in?) to work on in the mean time, so expect more soon!
That's all for now, thanks for looking, and any thoughts of course welcome! I'd love some votes on this guy if anyone can spare a moment, too!
Yeah, it's a lovely kit, the only trouble I had with it is deciding what weapons and parts to use! Still, gives me plenty of nice spares to bling up unit commanders and such.
Productive morning, got the other half of the command set done and a couple of test Elves. Pics later, I'll see what else I can get done first!
One question - how do you desaturate/mute the colours so heavily? Mix with the complementary colour, dark wash, or are there paints that come that muted straight out of the pot?
The muted colours come through a variety of methods. To take the model above as an example, the muted reds are done through mixing with brown or grey rather than black to desaturate and darken them for a basecoat, the highlights then add in more of the original red rather than a brighter colour, so it brings stronger colour but keeps the whole palette from getting too bright. Washes play a part too, if something gets too bright I use a black or brown wash to take it back down.
First off, Theodore Graff, Master At Arms. The duty bestowed on Master Graff is twofold; to carry the standard of Sigmar into battle, and to send to the grave any foe who would dare come near this holiest of relics. Graff's swarthy complexion and prodigious beard have led some to speculate that he has more than a little Dwarf blood in him, but such remarks are soon met with flying fists and hurled curses. To many, this only provides more evidence of his Duardin heritage...
This model was simply a product of my urge to use both that awesome warhammer (it is still the name of the game after all) and the frankly amazing battle standard piece, after much pondering and dry-fitting I struck upon the idea of having him in the action of defending the standard having planted it in the battlefield, which I think has come together well enough... it's a little precarious, but so long as I'm careful it should survive.
Next the first 5 Sisters of The Watch, no real fluff for these models yet as I'm still working through the Empire portion on that front. The Elves in the army will be the last remnants of an expeditionary force stranded after the Realmgate they were defending collapsed, but that's as far as I've got with that. The models are mostly stock, though I did use a couple of the Shadow Warrior helmets as they're too cool not to use! That's a wrap for today, thanks for looking! Any thoughts welcome!
@Brushcommando: Yeah, the Aelf name does bug me, but I figure I might as well go all in on this AoS thing and embrace it anyway! The minis are actually pretty fantastic, if models of this quality were around back when I actually played HE I wouldn't have shelved them in the first place!
@Thraxas: All NMM all the time on this fantasy stuff actually, though it's deliberately a little shinier on the Baron than I normally do. The cloak is meant to be leopard pelt.
While I'm here, does anyone have any experience with Scibor Miniatures Dwarves? There are a couple I'd like to add to the army and I think I've seen plenty of good reviews, but I just thought I'd ask in case anyone's had any horror stories!
Just a quick one today, finished up the Sisters of the Watch. Pretty happy with them overall. Hopefully some more stuff should be arriving tomorrow, and I'm putting together plans for Part III of the army, Mad Prince Grundi and the House Guard of King Gundrik... Might not order that until this previous lot has come in though, just to avoid a massive unpainted pile.
Man I've tried to stay away from AOS just out of spite to what they did to the old world, but you are making these look awesome. I'll have to play wit the desaturation you've been talking about, it really gives a nice effect.
Cheers! Must admit a lot of my enthsiasm for AoS probably does come from the fact I had no real reason to miss 'traditional' Warhammer, either the fluff or the rules, as I found the former interesting but a tad generic and the latter boring as hell! AoS on the other hand is my kind of game, a sandbox setting that allows me to build and justify an army that is at first glance completely random, but that can easily be explained within the boundaries of the setting...
It's also an excuse to buy all those cool Fantasy models that I've always thought 'nice, but I don't really need it'... now I do!
@Zambro: On paper they're pretty good. Powerful bows, which they can double tap with if they don't move and also fire as soon as they are charged, so yeah, rather deadly. Worse than Shadow Warriors in close combat, but as a static firebase they seem great.
@Ustrello: I look forward to seeing that! The Ironjawz are a pretty nice range of models!
Just an update, slogging my way through a unit of Freeguild Handgunners right now, 8 down, 4 to go, they're the old starter set 1-2 piece ones with a few duplicates of each sculpt, so not that exciting and in the annoying middle ground between intricate and lacking in detail, but they keep things ticking over while I'm (still) waiting for my MOM Minis stuff to arrive (not technically late yet, factoring in international postage, but I ordered the best part of 3 weeks ago so it's a little irritating). Pics of the Handgunner unit will come when they're all done, hopefully in the next day or two. Heading into exam time next week and the week after, so things might not be quite as productive for a bit, we'll see. I will be ordering some GW and Scibor Dwarves at some point soon though, I'd just like to get the Freeguild stuff in and at least mostly paint up first.
Sorry for the lack of pics, should have something for you soon!
Still nothing painted, I'm afraid, but my order from MOM Miniatures came in so I thought I'd throw up a quick review. I've gone through set by set, then there are some overall thoughts at the end.
First off, the imaginatively titled 'Elf'. Price: €4
Superb model, in short. The aesthetic is dead on for GW High Elves, right down to the style of armour, the flowing cape, the feather design on the shield, and the casting is fine. There was a bit of flash to clean up on the bottom edge of the cape and around the shield, and the spear was bent (nothing a few seconds under a hair dryer/hot water can't fix), but the sculpt itself is nicely detailed, the vents are all sensibly placed, and there's not a mould line in sight! The resin used for everything except the spear is nice and solid, not very brittle or bendy. so it's pretty sturdy.
Overall score (taking into account price, material, quality and design): 9/10
Next, another character mini, a monk inspiringly listed as 'Monk #2' Price: €4
Another one where MOMM have nailed it. Very, very crisp cast, instantly recognisable design, nice solid resin, no defects whatsoever. Not much more to say, other than to give this one the fulll 10/10, I defy you to find a better mini for €4!
On to the first troops, the command set for the 'Beefeaters', or halberdiers/state troops/Town Guards, they're very versatile minis. Price: €9
In a vacuum, these guys are very good. Bit more flash to clear up than the character minis, seems to be a different resin mix (there's at least 5 different mixes in the batch of minis I got, going by colour and feel) that is a bit softer and shinier, but that's not really a problem as it still holds the detail just as well and isn't going to crumble. Casting is likewise still good, apart from the two (circled) patchy areas on the banner which once painted shouldn't come up. That banner bearer being a single-piece mini (bar the icon at the top of the flag pole) is quite the technical feat! My favourite here is the drummer, though they are all nicely characterful minis. Building an army, that means you wouldn't want to duplicate them, but as one-offs they're fine. There is one issue I have, which I'll come on to in reviewing
The 'Beefeaters' unit Price: €10
As above, these are very nice in and of themselves. 10 unique designs is nice to see, lots of character in the face/attire and the design and detail is splendid. There were one or two problems matching up the 2-handed weapons with the arms, but I have a feeling that was in part down to me not test-fitting them all first, it was only after the first couple that I realised some were probably meant for certain poses. The heads of the polearms being separate may be a recipe for many a snapped weapon, but so long as I'm careful I can hopefully avoid that. Ultimately, they're dead good for a Euro a model! My slight problem with these guys, and the commanders, is the size; they're much better proportioned than GW Empire minis, which does mean they stand a good few mm taller. It's not that noticeable, though once you do pick up on it it's a little jarring. With any luck, though, a consistent paintjob will alleviate the issue, as that aside they're great models, head and shoulders above (sorry, sorry! ) the State Troops plastic in both quality and aesthetic terms!
I give both kits a solid 8/10, a point detracted for the banner's issues and one for the potentially flimsy weapons.
In conclusion, I'm very pleased with this order. Even with the €10 shipping charge and 3-week wait to actually get them, the models themselves will make fine additions to my army, are great for the price (and in the case of the Warrior Priest and Elf, just great period!), and I look forward to getting them painted up! MOM Miniatures can be found here, and are definitely recommended to anyone looking for nice models for Age of Sigmar, WFB, Kings of War or anything else 28mm fantasy really. Currently their Dwarf, Chaos and Orc ranges seem the most fleshed out (and they do have Chaos Dwarves if anyone's looking!), but with any luck we'll see some more for their other ranges soon. http://www.momminiaturas.com/divine-rage/
So on to painting! I think the Warrior Priest will be up first, especially after the Silver Tower one has given me some ideas for the scheme! Ta for reading, hope this review is useful to someone!
Yeah, should keep me busy for a while! One of the things I like about AoS over WFB is that in the old rules, that block of 13 guys would barely be a unit, and would get zapped off the board on the first turn by some Level 4 Mage. In AoS, it has both presence and utility, which definitely makes building an army a lot easier.
Started to crack on with it, though! Introducing the army's 3rd character, Eli Autreus. Baron Von Grusse's stranded party were the first mortals Eli had encountered in almost 5 years, years that he spent wandering the Realms delivering Sigmar's glory to the forces of Chaos with every strike of his blessed warhammer. His constant mumbled prayers, which he often neglects to share with his new companions, have proven divisive among the Baron's followers; some insist the priest is truly blessed, communing with Sigmar in every waking moment, while others take his mutterings as proof he has been travelling far too long. Regardless, all are glad to have the mighty warrior by their side when beset by the horrors of the Mortal Realms....
Going to call it a night there, and try and bash out the last couple of Handgunners tomorrow, then move on to the Halberdiers and the Elf prince.
Thanks for looking, any thoughts/votes welcome as ever!
Bit of progress, still not got the Handgunner unit done, but these guys jumped the queue because they are so much nicer to paint!
Enoch Von Grusse is the youngest son of Baron Leopold's eldest brother. Too weak throughout childhood to learn to wield a blade, Enoch nonetheless posessed the spirit of a soldier, and soon took his place as the House Guard's musician and a valued presence in their ranks, his heroic disposition and hearty courage in the face of adversity every bit as inspiring as the ever steady rhythm he plays out on his drum.
And a couple of his buddies, lovely models to paint really, full of character and lots of different textures to work with.
That's all for now! Thanks for looking, any thoughts welcome!
Really lovely stuff Para. Priest is great but I really really like the face on the drummer. You e succeeded in totally bringing out character in him. Fantastic work
Yeah, they're Renedra bases, they were the most affordable option for the amount I needed and I quite like the lower profile they have as well.
The Priest's eyes are supposed to be glowing with Sigmary power, looking at the pics that's not too obvious though. The drummer is a fantastic sculpt, the face in particular, so I'm glad I've done it justice!
Great work on the Crimson Fists Honour Guard, and all of the WHFB/AoS stuff that you've been powering through as well. Thanks also for the review of those MOM miniatures. They look great. Perhaps I shouldn't be thanking you for letting me know that they exist, though....
Thanks folks! Made some more progress after this morning's exam.
Aelf Prince Edryc Euradan, no fluff yet but it'll come in time. Turns out he's one of those minis that just won't play nicely with the camera, so the pics aren't the best, I think he looks all right but if anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears as I'm not 100% convinced by him.
He actually looks better in this hero group shot. The keen eyed among you will notice the addition of the Griffon chick/cub (being part bird, part cat, I'm not sure which term is more applicable ) to accompany the Priest when I'm using the Priest Excelsior profile from Silver Tower, or to act as an objective marker/spare body/whatever when I'm not.
Bit more progress on the Freeguild unit too, the Sergeant is done as is one more Guardsman:
(sorry, didn't realise how bad that lower pic was! )
That's all for now, I should have some more soon. In the mean time, any thoughts welcome, especially on the Elf as I'm not sure he's up to scratch or that I've done the sculpt justice. Thanks for reading!
Nice stuff, I like the free guild, nice paint jobs and the sculpts are good too, lots of character and they fit in quite well with the empire stuff. The Aelf prince turned out nice as well.
Great stuff Para! Love that Freeguild sarge, and the rest of them for that matter.
The elf is fine too. I mean aelf. Hmm.. in terms f suggestions, not sure.. maybe he could be a bit more shinier, since he is an aelf, and a prince no less. It may just be the pics but in the group shot, the horses barding looks a shinier than the aelfen prince's armour.
I'm sure you can do it in a way that still keeps him quite gritty and in line with the rest of your stuff. Either way, he still looks great even as is. Keep it up!
ckig, I had the same thought last night, and so shiny-ed him up a bit, the result is in my eyes a significant improvement:
At first it might not look like much has changed, but partcularly on the legs and shoulder armour the plates are much more defined and the visual impression much more striking.
Ustrello wrote:Since you live in a dorm (assuming here) how do you find it painting models at college? Especially if you got a roommate.
I share a flat, but I'm in a room to myself, so it's no trouble at all really. If I've got an essay on the go my painting area might get swamped with books instead, but I'm not painting when that's the case anyway! I'm lucky as the room I'm renting actually has a really good amount of desk space, a comfortable chair and a daylight lamp installed, so it's actually almost easier painting here than on my creaky old stool and tiny cluttered desk at home!
That makes sense, I am getting a dorm this fall and have a roommate so I think painting may be out of the question for me during school. But then again my grandma lives 5 minutes from the campus so maybe I could set up something there
No hobby progress worth showing, I have got the Handgunners to a playable size and a couple more Halberdiers done, but I think I might as well wait until the units are done before showing them off.
Instead, I'm here to shamelessly plug! I've just posted up a new and revised draft of my Fantasy Skirmish ruleset. Long-time followers of the blog will remember I toyed with this about a year ago but quickly ran out of steam with the project. Now, it's got a new title, massively expanded sections on things like terrain and missions, and is altogether shinier! I'd hugely appreciate it if anyone could take the time to have a look and maybe even a playtest (it's designed for any and all Fantasy miniatures, and you only need half a dozen a side, so I'm sure most of you have what you need! ). http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/691387.page#8664883
Please feel free to post any feedback down in that thread, I really want to get something proper out of the project this time and I can only do that with your help!
I'm really liking the most recent Empire models you've painted. And thanks for the mini review of the MOM stuff; I'll be looking at getting some of their kits once I have a bit of disposable income.
I'm back! Apologies for the extended hiatus, been busy with exams and the following move back home, and painting progress has been a little hindered by a complete playthrough of the Mass Effect trilogy (maybe a third of the way through ME2 now, these games are so great!).
I did get to put some paint to model in the last couple of days, though, and while I work out where I'm going next on the AoS/40k/BMG/Marvel fronts, I went for something a little different. Marvel recently released a large-scale figurine collection magazine in the UK, and with the first issue being only about £4 or so, I decided it might be a nice change of pace to grab that and give the model a little spruce up (read: complete repaint!) So without further ado, a 1:16 scale Iron Man:
Very happy with how this turned out, my first go at a large-scale model, a test of how my metallic methods work on larger pieces and overall, far cooler than the original factory paintjob which basically amounted to 3 colours applied in roughly the right areas... The model itself was reasonably detailed, though the 'metallic resin' it's cast in was at first quite resistant to primer. Still, the final product I'm pretty pleased with.
More stuff coming soon, I have a couple of commission pieces on the way and will be cracking on with AoS and 40k shortly, as well as maybe working on some actual scale models and/or finally learning how to airbrush.
Yeah, I think some of that is the lighting (the head is inclined forward, so casts more of a shadow than you'd think) and some of it is his eyebrows blurring with the sockets. I'll clean it up at some point, though. Cheers chaps.
Serviceable as a shelf piece, but really just the red, gold, silver and face painted on flat and with no real depth. Some of it was a bit sloppily applied too, there was a fair amount of overspill across the panels. I considered just working from that basecoat, but in the end decided to prime and start over to get the finish I was aiming for.
The face I kind of played it safe on, maybe too much if it looks flat; I didn't want to be highlighting as much as I would, say, a Space Marine face as it's many times the size and would look completely unnatural, so it was a bit of a stab in the dark in terms of how far I should actually go with it. I figured I was better off doing too little and letting natural light/shadow do its work rather than overdo it and leave him with a monstrous overhighlighted look.
Continuing on the comic book theme, half of my current commission, the Arkham City version of Batman. I've been wanting to paint this more comic take on Batman for a while now, and will definitely be picking up this model for my own collection at some point.
Up next (probably tomorrow), a much more obscure character, Catman... yes, there is a Catman... no, I didn't know about him before the model either! Cool mini, though.
In the mean time, any thoughts welcome! Ta for looking!
Catman. .. does he wear a Michelle Pfeiffer-like bodysuit? Lol. If so that's.... kinda haunting!
Anyway-
Nice work on the Dark Knight. Looks broody and grim
@AoV and Grim:No bodysuit (thankfully), just yellow spandex (lesst hankfully) and a pretty impressive cape. He started out as almost a Batman parody if I recall, then DC reinvented him as a more bloodythirsty anti-hero, he's become a member of the Secret Six (a villain squad led by Bane) and in the game will work for basically anyone except Joker. Not to be confused with Wildcat, who is the boxer-turned-vigilante and friend of Black Canary that Grim mentioned (and who also turned up in Arrow).
@Thraxas: This is only the second Batman I've done, the first being the Arkham Knight version almost a year back. I've tried to avoid duplicates in my collection, but at some point I'll definitely be grabbing this Arkham City version for myself it's a lovely sculpt.
Up first, the aforementioned feline vigilante that no one's ever head of, Catman:
The low pose makes him a pain to photograph well, but overall I'm pleased (and more importantly, the client is), and it was a fun model to paint, full of motion and with a solid presence.
And next up, one for my own collection, Batwoman. Great model (although an absolute pain in the Bat-backside to put together... no, KM design team, on a model with a cape like that, halfway up the opposite leg is not a suitable load-bearing contact point!) and gives me a pretty much complete Bat-family, at least until KM hurry up and give us Batwing. I've really not read enough with her in, but she's a fascinating character, quite unique among the Bat-folks while she's inspired by Batman himself, she has no real personal connection to him and operates more autonomously than, say, Batgirl or Robin. She's also quite the badass in the game, one of the few Sidekick characters I'd consider letting lead a team in her own right.
That's all for today, Batwoman is the first in a quite large BMG/MUMG order, so over the next few days I'll also be tackling new Deadshot, Gambit, Vision and the Arkham Inmates set. Any thoughts welcome!
Lovely stuff. Read Hydrology and To Drown The world, the first 2 vols of new 52 batwoman, they are stunning. Batwing? Meh. I hate Judd Winnick's writing, though. Catman is very natty.
Something I've not seen done with the Arkham inmates is freehand - tattoos, serial numbers etc. Just a thought.
The N52 Batwoman stuff is definitely on the list, but I'm trying to finish the runs I'm part way through before starting new ones. At the moment that's Outlaws, Batgirl and Justice League, once they're done I'll get to Batwoman. I've not actually read any Batwing, but he he was really cool in the latest animated movie, and I want to do the team from that at some point (Batwoman, Nightwing, Damian and Batwing).
Not sure what direstion I'll go with the inmates, I'm thinking black and white uniforms as a nod to the Arham uniforms in Gotham. Meatman will be quite bloody and grimy, Mezz perhaps a bit cleaner and with some tattoos or something.
Another addition to the X-men today in the form of Gambit, a fantastic model that was both very simple and very enjoyable to paint. Should be an asset to the team on the tabletop as well, able to shift his attack type between Physical and Energy to get around the enemy's strengths in either area.
Up next it'll be back to DC with Deadshot and the Arkham Inmates, before I get to The Vision on the Marvel side of things. Cheers for looking, any thoughts welcome!
Gambit looks pretty awesome! I kind of like the look of both the Batman and Marvel miniatures games, but I don't think anyone else around my neck of the woods plays either game, and I've never seen any of the stuff for it at my FLGS. Is it online order only from Knight Miniatures?
Most major retailers stock it, at least in the UK, off the top of my head you might want to try Miniature Market or Warstore in the USA. The Spiderman game is Direct Only from KM, and as a result pretty much died on arrival, but both the Batman and Marvel Universe games are gaining a lot of traction. Should be easy to get a few people interested, the games are easy enough to pick up rules-wise and you can't really get better in terms of background unless you're pitching X-wing!
Apologies again for the lack of progress, most of my free time has been spent on the Xbox this last week; I no sooner had I finished up Mass Effect than I then set about the last 2 Tomb Raider games... which were utterly fantastic, but now finished, so paint should resume soon... I need to strip some stuff before I crack on with the AoS and 40k projects, but I've still got a couple of Batman/Marvel minis to work through.
Looking forward to it. You tend to burn through projects at speed and from a diverse selection. Do you have a game plan for the next few months, or just going where whim takes you?
Not much of a plan at the moment. Here at home I don't really have a gaming group, so Batman/Marvel are taking priority on both the painting and buying front as those are the two games I'll actually get to play over the next few weeks, being that they're all I can convince my brother to stick with.
I do want rounded out 40k and AoS armies for when I head back to uni in September, but on the 40k front I need to go through my pile o' Marines and figure out what that entails, and with AoS I need to see where all this points/force org stuff is going, as while I'm not personally a fan of that direction with this particular game, I imagine it'll become the standard for the people I play against (though perhaps not, they were pretty enthusiastic pre-points anyway). Marines of various flavours, maybe some Guard and some more Skitarii are all on the cards, and for AoS I have plenty of Elves, then I plan to work on some Dwarves or Undead depending on the mood to strike me.
Is there anything in particular anyone would like to see me work on? I have a lot of time over the summer and a bit of spare cash for hobby stuff, so if anyone has any ideas for something I might not have thought of then I'm all ears!
Finally got an update together! Sadly, Deadshot wasn't playing nice with the camera today, but I do have something rather similar! Well, a guy with an obscenely large gun! Going through some old minis earlier, I came across some Infinity Order Sergeants and decided that with the prospect of me playing Infinity somewhere between slim and none, and the fact they needed stripping and redoing anyway, I'd give them in Inquisitorial treatment!
Just the one for now, which once I got over the shock of using metallics on an Infinity mini, I think has come up quite nicely. Suitably grimdark, I think, and should make a nice stand-in Vindicare once he hits the table. Not a huge amount of conversion, just added the topknot/ponytail and the Big Flarking Gun (borrowed from the Admech).
More of these chaps coming soon, there's something wonderfully heretical about Grimdarking Infinity minis!
Also got The Vision painted up. Not the most exciting scheme despite the sculpt itself being superb, but he's done, and looks good alongside his fellow Avengers (I'll do a group shot soon)
That's all for now, ta for looking! Any thoughts welcome!
Like the colors on the vision. Gambit almost looks a bit too dark but the same thing works for what you did with vision. Well for gambit too, I just like it on vision better.
That's a neat take on the infinity dude. I may be working myself up to doing infinity conversions too what with having too many and not getting Round to them. I'll be sure to ogle your work for inspiration.
Love the Infinity minis and what you've done with them. I also see what you mean with the Vision, but you can't really help that. Worked with what you were given!
Really cool stuff. I think I like the Edge best, the back banner just sets it off really well.
Good idea to re-purpose the Infinity miniatures, it does feel like we are in a golden age of gaming with so many excellent rules and miniature producers out there but ultimately it is best to focus your collection on 2/3 systems.
Must admit that for all the praise it gets, Infinity is not a system I can see myself playing, I just find it too fiddly and complex, and almost a bit bland because of that, I actually much prefer V1 Deadzone for my sci-fi skirmish (not tried V2 yet) despite the fact it's maybe not as polished, it just doesn't feel quite as gamey as Infinity.
I do still have a pair of small Infinity forces painted should I ever find an opponent who can convince me to give it a go, or to use them in another sci-fi skirmish as they are lovely minis, these guys were just in need of redoing anyway and I fancied experimenting a little.
Paradigm wrote: Is there anything in particular anyone would like to see me work on? I have a lot of time over the summer and a bit of spare cash for hobby stuff, so if anyone has any ideas for something I might not have thought of then I'm all ears!
I'd love to see your take on AoS undead. Aside from that, your skitarii are one of my favorites, love to see more.
Undead are definitely on the cards, I have a whole set of backstory for them, just need to decide on a few things model-wise and do some practice work for the scheme idea to check I can actually achieve it.
I did do up a handful Arbites about a year ago, might revisit them actually as I kind of want to bulk out these Agents into a proper Inquisitorial retinue. In the mean time, here's the old ones:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/721616-.html?m=2 My painting has come a long way since then, though, so I'll probably do some more at some point!
Funny enough, the Flesh Eaters fluff is in places very similar to what I already had in mind, visually mine will be more on the skeleton side than the ghoul/zombie side of things, but there is a lot of crossover narratively. I haven't fleshed out all the details yet, but in theory it will a) allow me to justify Undead alongside my Order-based force and b) be a nice nod to the Bretonnians of the Old World, helped along by a few visual cues I hope to include in the scheme...
Awesome stuff Para May have to get out the hackin and slashin tools and see what I can come up with!
I haven't gotten to play Infinity (except for one teeny tiny demo of last edition years ago..) but it does seem kinda neat in it's unrelenting brutality. Though it can be kind of make-it-take-it and you can suffer pretty badly for one non-obvious mistake or tactical omission (you can do WHAT through a smoke screen?!).
So specific comments on the gang.
Knife's head looks a little big but it could just be the perspective in a couple of the photos. I do really like the stance you got, the knife becomes the focus instead of something just kinda hanging out for extra detail. Neat selection of colors, looks like someone you don't wanna run into in a dark alley, but who probably won't blend into society very well.
I'm not a huge fan of personal banners (I know there's a name for those somewhere but that bit of memory is on holiday ) but it works with the crossed swords on Edge's back. Gun works too, she can operate from all angles. That bit of white clothing contrasts well with the dark banner too.
Assassin is probably my second favorite, I like the color scheme..it looks very Imperial. Decadent yet in decline or something. That's also a monstrous rifle and a good pose for it, looks functional but just fancy enough to be a specialist's personal weapon.
Not sure exactly why but Ghost is probably my favorite. I think it's the tone and shades you got. I can't pick anything much specific to say. The helmet takes a little adjusting to get used to but I think it's effective just different. Not sure how an energy crossbow actually works but the way you painted it leaves little doubt as to what you were going for, nice stuff
Great stuff, Para! Those guys look pretty good as the start of an Inquisitorial retinue! I've never even seen Infinity stuff for sale at my FLGS, much less seen anyone play it, so I know next to nothing about it other than a few faction names. The minis do look nice though.
I've not been around much lately, blame Fallout 4! Back now though, with my entry to this month's challenge. After a couple of 'well, I was painting it anyway' entries recently, I decided I would pick something as thematic as possible this month and really try and make is awesome, so to that end I stripped about 17 million layers of paint off my old metal Ghazzy and got to work...
Here's where we are about 4 hours later, not the best pics as the light is going but I'm rather pleased with him! Still a few details to finish off now I look at the pics, but as far as achieving the brutal, messy and gritty tone that I set out to achieve I reckon I've done all right!
Please do be critical, I want to really make a fight of it in this month's challenge and I need your feedback to make that happen! Anything you'd change, anything that needs fixing, let me know!
Ta for reading, hopefully I'll have some more stuff to show soon! I did get a few more Inq28 minis done, but couldn't get good pics for the moment.
Love it! The most over the toppest of orks. So much detail.
I'll be honest my only major comment is that your frame colour, background colour, really kill the work you put into the figure. it becomes a muddy composition.
Other than that, the black fabric on his banner pole looks a bit neglected (clean and plain).
I'll be honest my only major comment is that your frame colour, background colour, really kill the work you put into the figure. it becomes a muddy composition.
Other than that, the black fabric on his banner pole looks a bit neglected (clean and plain).
Funny enough I just brightened up the eyes, part of it is the poor lighting but they will be noticeably brighter in the next round of pics tomorrow. I meant to do something with the banner and forgot, I'll sort that too.
@BC: I do love this model, he may be pretty weedy by modern Ork standards, but he still has a brutality and a sense of menace to him that a lot of others seem to be lacking.
I'm hesitant to change up the background simply as I like the consistency of having all my work on the same background now, I don't want to switch to something like the bright blue I used to use and my style looks terrible on white. What would you recommend?
Yeah I think the banner is one of those "It's done! Oh bollocks." having seen the picture things.
I'd suggest something like Fenris Grey, if I were photographing in a studio. I know you're limited by camera, but cool/pale greys usually allow them to consider the bg a neutral and show the other colours up more. YMMV
Being really picky here, but looking at the images there isn't really much that really grabs my attention, a focal point if you will. I'd imagine the glowing eye would fix that, but for now that's my opinion.
Bloody awesome. Great job you've done there para. Love the beaten worn metals. Maybe a light warm brown glaze in the recesses of the skin. Orc skin really benefits from adding a slight brown tint to the shadows rather than just pure green tones. Maybe a few stronger highlight points would be good as well in areas to make him jump out. Echo what BC was saying too about the banner pole. Overall though fantastic work. Ol Ghaz looks awesome
'e looks ready to show evverone 'ow to 'ave a proppa WAAAGH! Dat paintjob looks ded killy, like da prophet of da WAAAGH! is gettin' ready to krump some o' dem 'umie gitz!
Cheers folks. With a few choice edits made and some better lighting, here's the final version. I couldn't find another suitable background, but thanks to the better pics he's not getting as lost in it as he was before.
on a silly note (yeah it's Theo, so that's expected),Ghazkull Mag Uruk Thraka was based off of Margaret Thacher , I heard that a few years ago and think of it every time i see the model . I also hear Austin Powers Chanting "Mag Uruk Thraka naked on a cold day " now I've ruined it for you
Great improvement with the photos! He does look a lot better.
I've been in CEX lately and a lot of cameras seem to come in cheap these days, may be worth a look over the summer?
I have this guy in resin waiting to built into a book cover diorama with Yarrick, a pile of Steel Legion, and a lot of modification. How was he to build?
Now all you need is a tactical armoured Belial for him to duel with . That's when he tests out his new tech for the first time. Listen to the audio drama Accept No Failure
Buttery Commissar wrote:Great improvement with the photos! He does look a lot better. I've been in CEX lately and a lot of cameras seem to come in cheap these days, may be worth a look over the summer?
I have this guy in resin waiting to built into a book cover diorama with Yarrick, a pile of Steel Legion, and a lot of modification. How was he to build?
In Finecast he should be all right, he was a pig to do in metal as he's just so top heavy, but the assembly itself isn't that rough. I'd suggest painting the head separately, though, otherwise the bottom half is completely impossible to reach. thanks to the jaw plate.
I have a pretty good camera to hand at the moment, I'll take a look though as I might need a new one to take back up to uni if I can't hang on to the family one.
angelofvengeance wrote:Now all you need is a tactical armoured Belial for him to duel with . That's when he tests out his new tech for the first time. Listen to the audio drama Accept No Failure
Oh, he'll be getting a sparring partner, it's just not Belial. I have a Yarrick on the way who will be done up to accompany him, possibly as part of a diorama if I can think of a good composition that's not too hard to put together. Looking forward to painting him, the current Yarrick model is another one of my favourites that I've wanted to add to my collection for a long time.
I'm going to have to break his joints and add more bulk on every one, to get the height. So I didn't go for metal as that would have killed me!
Modern Yarrick is adorable, I wish he was still metal though!
Haha, I managed to snag a metal one on ebay for half the price of the Finecast one!
I considered bulking up Ghaz, but instead I took the cheaty option and just stuck him on a wider and taller base, then beefed up his Klaw and banner pole a bit to give him a generally more imposing silhouette. I'd love to see GW do a 'proper' sized Ghaz, similar in bulk to something like the new Ironjawz Warboss, but I'm not sure they'd manage to update the iconic design without losing some of the classic menage and meanness.
Back to Gotham today, my latest commission pieces, the Black Mask starter set. 4 really great sculpts here, definitely the best dressed gang to be tearing up the streets of Gotham! And unlike the Caped Crusader, the big fella here is indeed wearing hockey pads!
Another set I definitely intend to add to my own collection at some point, and clocking in at precisely 150 points, a good shout if you're looking to get into the game as that's a good size for introductory games. Add someone like Deathstroke or Solomon Grundy to the crew and you're most of the way to a full list already!
Also put together an addition to my Deathwatch Kill Team, to represent my Crimson Fists among their ranks. Fairly random conversion here, parts from all over the place, but I do really like the pose and how it's come together, he doesn't look out of place among the DW:OK minis.
That's all for now, next up should be the Old Man of Armageddon. Any thoughts welcome, cheers for looking!
I've not seen the BM crew played, looking at the cards and theory-hammering it they seem like the kind of crew that wants to be bringing a bunch of cheap, duplicate goons to run objectives then bring a real heavy hitter or two to complement that. The 22-Rep assault rifle guy is nice, him and Branden for your $1000 at 300 Rep gives you a lot of bang for your buck while leaving room for plenty of goons, or even a high-Rep low-$ Free Agent, like Reverse Flash or Grundy. But that is all on paper, I've not got much experience with high-model crews as I tend to default to packing big, shiny heroes and villains!
Nice work on the Batmans, though two of them kind of fade due to being so monochromatic/black. One of the difficulties of our hobby (and, say, comics) versus real life and film.
The Crimson Fist looks great - what parts breakdown did you use?
The white suits has come up an absolute treat and coupled with the black mask it's very creepy. Your style really lends itself to the Gotham city mystique.
The Crimson fiat is also superb. Absolutely love his sword.
@Az: Parts list:
Legs: HH World Eaters Rampagers MkIII leg (chains from the same kit)
Arms: Anvil Industry Exo-Lord arms (can't remember which type)
Torso, head and backpack: new Tac squad MkVIII
Grav pistol from the new Tac squad, cape from WFB High Elf spearmen sergeant, sword from the AoBR captain with an extended hilt, shoulder pads from the under-pads from BaC Cataphractii,...
So yeah, bits from all over really! Praise be to the bits box!
Can I just say that Ghazzy is purely brutal! such a complimentary paint job you've done on him, the second batch of pics are much better and my only crit is his eye lens needs a bit more oomph :-) but the overall feel i'd say is perfectly done and just as he should be with the grime and mechanical detritus.
Cheers Nerdy, as far as I'm concerned your Orks are some of the best out there so coming from you that's high praise indeed!
Yarrick came in today, so without further ado, I'll introduce the Old Man of Armageddon:
Such a cool model to paint. This one came sans Power Klaw 'fingers', so I converted my own, the long upper klaw blade is an homage to the original 3rd Edition (I think) Yarrick model, which had a similarly slicey appendage on his 'borrowed' Klaw. Other than that, there's not a huge amount to go into, I went for a ivory breastplate rather than metallic just to stand out a bit, and kept the long coat clean and smooth to contrast with both his own Orky weapon and with Ghazzy if I do put the two together in a diorama down the line. In the mean time, here's the pair of them facing off.
Personally, I reckon these two represent a step up in my painting, I'm very pleased with them at the least! As ever, though, I need the feedback to get better, so please do be critical when looking at these and let me know if anything leaps out!
Thanks for looking, and if anyone could take a moment to give this a gallery vote then that's very much appreciated!
Nice looking Yarrick there. Also, for the CF Deathwatch marine I thought he was carrying a buster sword for some reason... All really well painted of course.
I'd like to do some kind of diorama base for them, the trouble is I often find that kind of thing to be a little beyond me. It'd have to be large enough to accomodate a 40mm and 60mm base plus set dressing, and I've not really done anything that big before...
In a perfect world, I'd put together something based on the classic and definitive appearance of the two, Ghaz towering over a defiant Yarrick (pic below), I'm just not sure I can achieve that.... Still, I shall have a think, as it really would put these two in pride of place on the shelf...
Sweet work on the old man. He looks great. Nice to see a touch more colour coming through. The only thing that might benefit from a further Touch up is his laser eye. Maybe a nice bright red glint to it as if it's about to fire. The two old adversaries are looking great though. Really top stuff Para. I'm with the others - a dio/vig base would be perfect and deserving for them
@Jan: Blame the hat! The eye is actually pretty bright. but the brim of the hat cast a shadow right over it! The perils of fancy headgear, I guess!
@EDC: 'Inspirational' is pretty much the highest praise going in this hobby to me, so thanks so much!
@Graven: Plans are in motion for a display base, hopefully once set against some more 'backdrop' the blood won't stick out quite so much, I agree it's a bit over the top at the moment but I wanted something to tie the two bases together visually beyond just grey rock.
Moving away from 40k for a moment, back to Sigmarland; I couldn't resist buying the mini-starter for AoS, just to get my hands on some of the models and also because the contents make nice skirmish forces for other games, but I'm not entirely sure what direction to go with the Stormcast paint-wise, so I thought I'd throw some things out and see what you reckon.
Ideally, I want to avoid a heavily metallic scheme simply because all my AoS stuff will be using NMM and I don't think painting whole, large models in that style is something I want to be doing (especially once I expand the force); things like armour trim and weapons I can manage, but I don't want a predominantly metallic scheme. If I go this route, I'll probably go for white marble/alabaster looking armour, with the shields in darker marble (or maybe green marble?) and gold trim where needed.
The other thing I thought about was black armour, with a high-contrast colour as a spot colour and maybe some glowy effects on eyes and such, to give them a darker and almost scarier edge, kind of riffing on Space Marines (as seen by regular men) there, but I think it could work, Sigmar definitely has a dark side from some of the fluff I've seen, so presumably not all Stormcast are bright, heroic figures, it's just as likely he needs something to scare the living daylights out of his enemies every now and then.
Another option is to go with ghostly Stormcast, cut off from Sigmar and slowly fading away, these would be done mostly in very pale green or white, with washes used to suggest hints of colours they used to be (think the King of the Dead in LotR, or the ghosts in Harry Potter). I think this could look quite striking, but it does kind of tread on the toes of what I have planned for my Undead force, who will be similarly ethereal...
The first two options would probably be heavily weathered, this force is still part of the collection of lost and scattered souls that make up my larger AoS army after all so I need to keep that same muted tone. Anyone got any thoughts on this, or any other ideas for cool Stormcast themes/schemes that fit what I'm going for here?
I have wondered how they would look on a white scheme. Sort of like ivory or bleached bone armour. That could be very striking but a real pain in the proverbial to keep consistent.
Yeah, those were the inspiration for one of the ideas over the page, only thing is I don't want to just copy that. Awesome as it is, I want something original.
If I go white, I'll definitely go cold rather warm, I don't want them to just be Fantasy Deathwing! Consistency shouldn't be too hard as for now I'll only be painting 5 of them... though the Start Collecting set looks very appealing to, though I won't get that for a while.
There's the Knights Excelsior, who have a very Heresy-era World Eaters paint scheme to them ie the red, white and blue. That would fit your pale palette nicely.
Yeah, it seems that a white/off white/bleached bone colour scheme would be the best. Maybe a Death Guard style colour scheme would be good? Nicely weathered but doesn't look too Chaosy either.
Nice work on the Yarrick! Especially getting his coat in blue. So often overlooked. He can look very plain when done in black, you've given him warmth.
The issue with making the classic cover is you cannot do it with the two existing Yarrick/ghaz figures.
For one he's hatless, and has dropped his weapon, and for two, Ghaz is actually flipped iirc.
It's something I've struggled with when building the Dio.
@WarbossDakka: white/green/gold is definitely a colour combo I like, I'd probably go with marble-esque effect on both as I don't like the look of 'painted' armour in Fantasy, especially on Stormcast as it makes them very Space Mariney in my eyes. Yeah, I think I'll go with that when they get here.
@BC: I wasn't planning to recreate the cover exactly for that reason, just the same sort of feel, Ghaz imposing and towering, Yarrick standing defiantly under him.
Sorry to be the voice of dissent but I'd far rather see you do a dark and glory scheme. Or a riff on thousand sons. Blue with gold, reversing the normal stormcast colours?
Minis came in earlier, I think I've settled on the respective schemes now as these three have come out really nicely, I reckon.
Liberator Prime, in armour painted as white and green marble, with red and NMM gold as accent colours. Quite striking, I think, muted without being dark and should be easily replicated across the rest. Really enjoyed painting him too, so more Stormcast may jump up the queue a bit soon.
Blood Warrior Champ (at least, I think he's the champ, they're all so blingy it's hard to tell! ). I was dead set on avoiding red here as that's the easy way out with Khorne, instead I wanted something that looks brutal and threatening but also very grounded and 'lived in', in contrast to the quite clean Stormcast. I also played around with a snow base here, bicarb of soda method, which has worked out all right for a first attempt.
And one of his minions, again I wanted a very 'real' feel, which I think I've managed:
So yeah, I think I'll go with these schemes, thanks for all your input, it definitely helped! Likewise, if anyone has any suggestions for changes or improvements then I am all ears!
Thanks for looking, should have some more for you tomorrow!
Awesome paintjob on those Chaos dudes. I normally don't like those models at all because of all the bling, but the toned down, gritty way you painted them makes them look really great.
Nice job on the AoS figs esp the champion - reminds me of the old Conan movies. Looks really worn and like he actually has fought and killed droves in it. Great job para
You know Paradigm... I just love that Blood Warrior Champion. I know it's probably the least complex of the three cool minis you just posted... but something about it really appeals to me.
Really like that Stormcast scheme Para, the ethereal green really sets it off well...and the Khorne dudes are probably better. I am just pleased that GW are now doing a nice introductory/ pocket money range to encourage people into the hobby.
The bicarb looks as good as any snow flock you can buy as well.
@Thraxas: Must admit, I'm hoping there's more of these mini-boxes released down the line, a set like this every 2-3 months would be an instant purchase from me every time! The fact they give me both a feel for the larger force and a couple of sides for various fantasy skirmish games is great, and the value is definitely there. What would really go above and beyond is if GW came out with a skirmish ruleset rather than small-ified AOS, that would really encourage people in.
@Gits: Definitely simple, that Blood Warrior and the one below are painted pretty much entirely with drybrushes, stipping and washes! Takes around 45 minutes tops, but the techniques give some lovely visual texture to the beat up armour and weapons.
On with the show, lots done today!
Second Blood Warrior:
And the Champion of the Blood Reavers, a really nice model actually. I'm not a fan of a couple of the Blood Reaver sculpts, but this guy has a real sense of power and motion to him.
Giving me this so far on the Khornate side:
And on the Stormcast side of things, I finished up the Liberators:
and painted the first Retributor:
Should have the set finished off tomorrow, but I'm on a bit of an AoS kick at the moment, so I'll probably grab some more soon... the new Stormcast Start Collecting set is very tempting...
You are properly pumping them out now, this is the Para we know and love! Your drybrush, stipple and wash technique really achieves some great results and in a timely manner.
What greens/mixes of greens are you using on the Stormcast? If you replicate that on some Death units it will look excellent.
The Stormcast Start Collecting set is tempting from an economic standpoint alone, I have one on order but just wish it had some Judicators in it.
As for more mini boxes hopefully the rumoured The Architect of Fate boxed set may pave the way for more...unless it is made of normal boxed sprues like we have seen with some of the recent 40K releases.
The green on the Stormcast is progressive drybrushes from black/green to pure green to green/pale blue to pure pale blue, then washed with Waywatcher Green to give it that final sheen and tie it all together. Not sure I can work it in to my planned Death stuff, but we'll see.
O.K Para, I really have to say quite honestly that those Khorne models are BEAUTIFUL (in a blood soaked kinda way) to put it simply, that's the sort of real world gritty look i'd pay for! eye candy for sure and saved in my inspiration folder for further perusing can't wait to see more and more and more of them soon.
Loving the AoS stuff, Para! At first I wasn't sold on your scheme for the Stormcast Eternals, but your more recent pics make it look much better (or maybe I'm just not as tired). The Khorne Bloodbound look great as well; I've considered getting some of them to convert for use in my Khorne Daemonkin army (of course, they would probably need guns or something...)
That blood warrior scheme is fantastic. Can you share any tips on how you achieved the effect? Whenever I try those muted color schemes...they don't work very well.
@Gallahad: The trick to the look is twofold, one is to use very desaturated colours, greys and browns specifically, and then to apply them in what can only be descried as a messy way! Don't worry about getting sharp, clean edges or smooth highlights, because you want to build up irregular textures and surface effects. Chaos Warriors are too busy killing, maiming and burning to worry about keeping their armour nice and shiny!
In more technical terms, the Khorne stuff here was done with a combination of stippling and washes. I wasn't able to get any WIP pics as I'd run out of minis by the time I saw your comment, but here's a step by step.
1) Stipple (basically drbrushing, but with a really flat brush and more of a 'stabbing' motion, be sure to use a crappy old brush for this bit!) a dark grey on the iron areas, and an earthy brown on the brassy trim. Don't worry about being too neat here, it's just to set the base colour and build some texture. 2) Mix in some pale grey to each, and heavily drybrush over the two colours, keeping your brushstrokes in a downward direction so you're only catching the upper edges of the armour pieces. Repeat 3-4 times with more pale grey in the mix, finishing up with a very light pure pale grey drybrush on the most extreme edges. 3) Washes! I used a black wash over the 'iron'/grey areas and a brown wash over the trim, but I also deliberately painted 'outside the lines' a little, the brown spilling over to the grey areas creates a nice rusty and grimy effect. 4) Weather by applying some more washes and drybrushes. The GW Technical paints Ryza Rust and Typhus Corrosion are great for this, but all sorts can be used. a light green/blue wash can be used to create verdigris, a purple or dark blue can add some pop to the shadows, a thick brown can emulate rust, dirt and grime depending on how it's applied. Finally on these, I applied Blood for the Blood God over all the areas it could conceivably get, these guys being Khorney and all.
And that's all there is to it! The washes being the last thing dulls down all the colours for that muted look, while the drybrushes and weathering add the texture that makes sure the minis still pop even though they're largely just grey and brown. Give it a go, I'd love to see what you come up with!
And with that covered, on with the final pics of the set ad they're all done up now!
Stormcast of the Knights Vitae:
Blood Warriors of Khorne:
Blood Reavers:
Family Photo:
That's all for now! Should have some more of something soon as a I have a fair bit of hobby cash set aside, I'm just umming and aahing over what to spend it on. The biggest question is how to expand the Stormcast; the AoS starter gets me more models, including the awesome Lord Relictor and Lord Celestant, not to mention a fair amount of Khorne guys for demo games and whatnot (or to tempt me into collecting a full Chaos force...), but the Start Collecting Stormcast set is also great value and does have more options gear-wise, though fewer models. At the moment, I'm leaning towards the starter, but we'll see... There's also some Knight Models stuff that I plan to get sooner rather than later, but I am on a real AOS kick at the moment.
Anyway, cheers for looking, and as ever, any thoughts welcome!
Just dropping in to say I love your AoS stuff, the Stormcast and Reavers especially. The Blood Warriors are a little on the bland-because-one-muted-area-flows-into-the-next-without-real-attention-grabbers side for me. Now I'm not doing your painting any justice by saying that at all because it Ãs great, it's just my preference; to me the Reavers stand out more than the Blood Warriors because they have the lighter skin to contrast the drab. Yeah, I wanna end positive here because I really do love your stuff, so let me just say that your models always have something really 'alive' about them in a realistic way, which you don't see that often I think.
Cheers Oddball, I do totally get what you're saying about the Blood Warriors, in a way it was what I was going for, seeing how muted and 'realistic' I could make them look even if aesthetically that's obviously not going to be to everyone's taste (though personally I'm pleased with the effect). Part of it stems from fact the models in their studio scheme are so garish in the red and brass that I felt compelled to go for the antithesis of that! The fact that they're part of the same force as the Blood Reavers should stop the Khorne lot as a whole from being too monochrome, as their bare torsos add some lighter tones to the overall palette.
Speaking of forces, I just got a good deal on the AoS starter, so hopefully I should have some more Stormcast and Bloodbound on show very soon!
Paradigm wrote: Part of it stems from fact the models in their studio scheme are so garish in the red and brass that I felt compelled to go for the antithesis of that!
I hear you there! I actually think I might like them quite a bit more still in real life. The mutedness might just not be very photo-friendly.
Beautiful works Paradigm. I'm not a huge fan of the AoS models...yet,..I think it's my age and my wish for the old stuff lol....but, you make em look great. the marble shields are really well done!! Great stuff dude. Really vibey!!
Thanks folks. The Starter arrived earlier and I've now built most of it (all the Stormcast and about half the Chaos stuff), so paint should be happening over the weekend. I'm going to treat myself to doing a character or two first, having just done a bunch of troops.
Paradigm wrote: Thanks folks. The Starter arrived earlier and I've now built most of it (all the Stormcast and about half the Chaos stuff), so paint should be happening over the weekend. I'm going to treat myself to doing a character or two first, having just done a bunch of troops.
Look forward to seeing your painted versions of Khorgos Khul, Grizzlemaw(flesh hound) Vekh the Flayer
Well, a week and a bit later than promised, progress on the AoS starter. Not got a lot done as a couple of failed experiments on some minis kind of knocked the enthusiasm out of me, but I do need to crack on... I ordered the new 40k Deathwatch vs Harlies box, so I've decided to commit to making a significant dent in the AoS set before that arrived. Over the next week, I want to have painted at least 10 Blood Reavers, 2 Blood Warriors and 2 Liberators (preferably more, but 2 of each gives me full units) and a character or two.
Enough ramblings, time for pics, so here's the Khorne Bloodsecrator, who in the one game I've played with the set so far has been the MVP, his buffing makes the Blood Reavers mental and he even put up more of a fight against the Lord Celestant than the Lord of Khorne did (something to do with the LC hitting him with 3D6 Wounds on the first round of combat ). I toned down the mini a bit, leaving off the spike collar and spine-braid, now he's suitably Khornate but not 100% over the top.
That's all for now but I will have more soon, so thanks for looking and any thoughts welcome!
Cheers, I'm pleased as well, I think if nothing else I've got this very particular style for the Khorne stuff down to a tee now. The face/skull tattoo was a bit of an emergency measure after an overzealous wash obliterated my face highlighting, but I think it looks rather striking.
Just realised a couple of shots are a tad out of focus, I'll get some more next time the camera's out.
Cheers folks. Made some progress today, two Blood Reavers finished and work on something a little different to bring me over the 200 mini mark. Pics tomorrow if the light is playing a little nicer with the camera!
And here's the piece that took me to 200, something of a distraction from the AoS stuff but the inspiration took me and this was the result.
Initially this was just a test scheme for the upcoming Harlies (though I'm only planning to keep the bikes, Eldrad and the Death Jester, I'll also be repainting my existing handful of them) but before long the scene had come together, the two duelling in Commoragh's arena. I kind of feel the base needs something more to add some context, but on the whole I think it's come out quite well, I am particularly pleased with the Harlequin scheme after my last attempt just after they came out that ended up pretty poorly executed in hindsight. Might knock out a couple more in the next few days.
That's all for now, should have some more AoS tomorrow. Cheers for looking,any thoughts welcome!
Diorama is excellent. The models really go well together. You have managed a real grittiness that I imagine is hard on the clean lines of an Eldar model.
Love the Bloodsek...Bloodsecra...Khorne banner dude, as others have said the warpaint on him is especially effective.
Cool diorama as well, it seems like every man and his dog is buying the Death Masque set (will be getting mine tomorrow), I may have to put a cheeky offer in on your unwanted Eldar.
Congratulations on the 200 up as well. Mental that you have done so much, in such a short space of time, since you hit the 100 mark. Is there a fair bit of commission work/ products that you have not shown off yet or do bigger miniatures/vehicles count as more than one?
@Thraxas: In the words of Gimli, even the larger stuff 'still only counts as one!' I can't think when I actually hit 100, but off the top of my head I've shown most of my stuff since then. There are a few things that didn't make it to the blog that push the numbers up a bit, things like the second Crimson Fists Tactical Squad that looked just like the first, some more AdMech troops that likewise were nothing new, a handful of AoS minis I think I just forgot as I finished them just before coming home for the summer.
Had to get Death Masque as I figured I'd be paying as much for just the Deathwatch down the line, so I might as well grab it while it's there. Helps that the Eldrad model is beautiful and I've wanted a Death Jester and some Skyweavers for ages, which again would cost almost as much as I'm paying for the set! Loved painting the Overkill guys, so hopefully the new Deathwatch are as nice.
Totally agreed on Gimli's philosophy. It is an awesome set, and given the rrp of GW's single squad sized boxed sets a bargain. I remember we pinged quite a few private messages between each other during the Harlequin release but I never bit the bullet...until now.
Any ideas of your Eldrad scheme? I think I am going the purple route
I do rather like the high-contrast black and off-white look the studio one has, but I might change it up a bit, add some more colour somewhere. A handful of Harlies aside, I've not really painted many Eldar before so I shall have to do a fair bit of googling for inspiration, see if I can find something that grabs me. He's probably not going to hit the desk for a while, though, as it's the kind of mini I wouldn't mind saving for a competition entry somewhere down the line.
I also agree with Gimli on counting any miniature (including big ones like my Bloodthirster) as only one model. Still, compare your 200 models to my lowly 31 (so far, that number will go up, as will yours!), and I look like an amateur. Too much video games, I guess. I'm gonna give the Death Masque set a miss, at least for now, as I need TWO more armies like a hole in the head right now. Looking forward to what you do with the set, though!
Thanks folks! AoS stuff is still coming along, pics will happen when I've got full units as there's only so many times I can post slightly different Blood Reavers on their own before it gets dull!
In the mean time, a big box labelled 'Death Masque' appeared this morning, so naturally with the AoS project still on the go I took the mature and sensible decision to stick DM in the cupboard until I'd finished everything else took up glue and clippers and dived head first into the pile of plastic... A few hours later, the Deathwatch are all built (save the Dread who's fated to join my Crimson Fists somewhere down the line). Rather than build just from the DW and just from the Vanguard sprues, I treated it all as one big kit, thus spreading round the Deathwatchy bling and getting some more unique combinations. To be honest I think this was to the benefit of the new DW stuff; lovely as those sprues are, they are more limited than they look, the legs and helmets all being pretty similar and lots of the arms working only with specific weapons. Great to see MkVIII armour in any quantity at last though, and there are a ton of cool parts to go round.
Anyway, enough rambling, here's the first two Deathwatch Marines.
A Veteran from the Sons of Medusa Chapter, going all 'Monty Python's Holy Grail' on the foul Xenos and one-handing his Heavy Bolter. The flesh Is weak, after all, so he's probably not that fussed about the severed arm!
And another from the Minotaurs Chapter, with one of those awesome new Shotguns.
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more, there's plenty on the way on both the 40k and AoS fronts! Thanks for looking, any thoughts welcome!
Nice kit bashes, good use of the Mark IV heavy bolter as well. I love the shotgun design and definitely want a squad or two of them. Are you going to go carte blanche on load outs? I am finding mixed unit of vets/Termies/Vanguard and bikes a bit counter intuitive.
We need more Minotaurs!
Agreed on the sprue, once you have made a Kill Team of 5 members there is not a hell of a lot left bar chapter specific shoulder pads.
Nice work on the DW. Mildly tempted to grab that box myself, but I’m loath to start a new army. Love the action and character you have going on here.
As far as loadouts go, I have them built so that, combined with the Overkill lot, I can have 3 squads as 'Assault' (all JPs and power weapons/claws/hammers), 'Tactical' (Bolters or Shotguns, a couple of power weapons) and Devastator (2x Frag, 1 HB, 1 HB/F) setups, but more than likely I'll just build teams from that pool of models depending on what gaps in a list I need to plug or what I want the squad to achieve. Some options were just too cool not to use (by which I mean the Heavy Thunder Hammer) even if they're a bit costly. As far as mixing in Termies or Bikes or Vanguard via the formations, I think I'm going to steer clear of that for now and just run CAD or Allied Detachments. The 'free' bonuses from Formations have never really sat right with me, and to be honest it seems like more hassle than it's worth trying to manage mixed squads in-game. We'll see...
@Whaley: That's what I get for not doing my homework thoroughly enough! Oh well, doubt anyone will notice on the tabletop, and if they do, then he's been seconded from the Sons of Nova Chapter!
@Shaso: Reloading implies he can't get the job done with one drum! Though I might have to see about putting together a Servo Skull on reload duty now...
More done today, starting off with another pair of Deathwatch Marines.
One from the Black Templars, the forward leaning pose meant he wasn't easy to photograph but I wanted to avoid duplicating the Minotaur's shotgun pose and go for something more aggressive as suits the Templars.
And one from the Black Dragons. I've been wanting to do a BD marine with the bone blade mutations for ages, this seemed as good an opportunity as ever so here we are!
And onto the Eldar side of things, the Death Jester. Great mini, but he only really looks good from two angles, front and back. I'm pretty pleased with the effect I got on the base, and I think the mini looks suitably menacing.
And finally on the AoS front, another lot of Blood Reavers. I've managed to get these guys down to under 20 minutes a model, so I should be able to get through the rest in short order between other bits and bobs. Going back to the Stormcast for a bit now though, as they are pretty repetitive.
That's a wrap for today, any thoughts welcome! Cheers for looking!
Whoa. You've been busy! Mad props for doing a Black Dragon. People so rarely do them, and they're such a neat chapter. What shoulder pad did you use on him?
I'm really liking the Deathwatch models overall. It's nice to see Space Marines with a more military look to them.
@Barzam: I just used a plain pad of the Dragon and freehanded the symbol (which then got mostly obliterated between weathering and gore, but oh well! ). He is the only DW Marine I have not to have a sculpted pad, but that's not bothering me too much, especially since the rest of the model suits the Chapter well enough.
@Illumini: Wet Blending crossed with Dry Brushing! Sounds counter-intuitive, but if you can wet-blend (for smooth transitions) while drybrushing or stippling (to give the impression of texture, and because it's fast) then stuff like weathered NMM becomes dead quick. For example, all the armour on a Reaver can be done in 2-3 minutes by going stipple dark grey>drybrush 1:1 dark grey:pale grey>drybrush 2:1 dark:pale, another couple of minutes to do the brass/bronze trim, with brown rather than grey, and that's the 'hard' work done. The skin I take a bit more time on, but it's still wet blended as that's the fastest way to get nice transitions, the leather and stuff is just various brown/grey mixes drybrushed over black then washed with good old Agrax (I do cheat and use a hairdryer to speed up the drying times, it'd take twice as long drying naturally).
These minis basically use 8 paints (dark grey, brown, pale grey for lightening, red and ivory for the skin, black and brown washes, and BFTBG for the gore), so I just stick a blob of each on my palette to save time swapping.
There's also a certain amount of not caring about neatness on stuff like these guys. Some brown spilling onto the grey on the armour will come up looking like rust or grime, a dodgy blend on the skin can be covered up with some blood or bruising, and when there's 20 of them in one unit, no one is ever going to notice even if you do forget to cover up a mistake.
Ultimately, it's all about giving the impression of looking good without spending an hour plus on each mini, it's not for everyone and I'm sure there are plenty of folks who don't care for the approach, but when I need 40 of them for an army and I can get them looking 'good enough' like this, I'll go for it!
You're not going mad, Gits, there is a small amount of blood on the DJ, just a splatter on the bayonet and across the mask just to make him a bit more threatening. Didn't want to overdo it, but no matter how fancy your moves are, I don't see anyone staying clean on a 40k battlefield for long!
I see you're cranking out the painted minis at an absurd rate again, Para .
Nice Deathwatch and Bloodreavers. The Black Dragon marine looks pretty cool! You should do another one with bigger arm blades and then fit a power weapon power supply to it. Apparently they like to do that.
Great to see you take advantage of your summer holidays Para IIRC in my days as a student the summer holidays were from May to November ). The Deathwatch continue to impress, love the work on kitbash/conversions.
The Death Jester and Blood Reavers are cool as well. The challenge is to have your Death Masque and AOS boxed sets done by August 29th!
@Jan/Sgt: Well, there was the idea of a Blackshield Ork being thrown around in the news thread!
@Thraxas: 29th August next year maybe! The Deathwatch will probably be done within a week as they have that great combination of easy methods and an end result I'm dead pleased with, but especially since I've decided to keep and paint all the Harlies now, they'll take a whole lot longer! Likewise with AoS, all the time I save on the Khorne guys will be made up for with Stormcast. Still, I probably shan't be buying many more minis between about now and Christmas, unless something awesome like another HH big box comes out, so hopefully by then I'll have the bulk of it done.
On to today's results, two more Deathwatch and a start on the Harlies...
Howling Griffons Marine with the Heavy FlamerBolter, because why only settle for one way to purge Xenos when you can have two taped together? Variety is the spice of life! (now we just need one of these that has a melta attached and a chainsword bayonet and I'll never need to arm a Marine with anything else! )
And a Raptors Vanguard, not much to say here but I do rather like the pose:
And the Harlies, going with the same scheme as the one I painted for the diorama last week. These are the old ones repainted, all told between these and the ones in Death Masque I'll have a nice, round 1k-ish points, and at least one of everthing save the Shadowseer, which I'll probably get down the line anyway.
That's the lot for today, more tomorrow! I also used the Deathwatch spares to fix up some old Bikers, so they'll be joining the boys in black soon as well. Ta for looking, any thoughts welcome!
Your stuff looks nice! I love that Heavy Bolter/Heavy Flamer combo, makes me think of the movie Aliens, except that Sigourney Weaver stuck her weapons together with tape. I probably should get Death Masque at some point myself, but I need to get some more competitive stuff for my existing armies first. Are the Harlies as hard to paint as they seem, or does that really depend on the color scheme?
They're really as hard or easy as you want to make them... there's a reason I'm not even thinking about painting chequer patterns! The trick is picking two colours that work well and basing the theme around that, you can get the colourful, contrasting look they're known for without needing to do the fiddly stuff.
Cheers mate. Mentor Legion are probably out for now as they share a symbol design with the Raptors, and you only get one of each pad per sprue. but if I get another set in future I'll keep them in mind!
@Warboss: I've actually managed to find suitable pads for everyone but the Black Dragon with these minis, but in general I freehand pads if I don't have sculpted ones as I don't like using transfers.
@Thraxas: Nothing Nid-specific as with gaming models I like to keep things generic, I used to do themed squads like that but it would then always bug me when my Termies modelled with Tyranid-themed additions went up against Necrons or Orks ect.
Regarding the Harlies, so far all I've put together are the Troupe I got when they first came out and the Death Jester. The former are actually pretty straighforward to assemble, all you need to think about is getting natural poses as the models are so dynamic; in theory any arm can fit any body but it's worth using some blu-tac just to check the pose from a few angles so you don't end up with any looking off. The DJ was a bit fiddly, but he is only one mini so I wasn't too fussed. I'll let you know when I get to doing the bikes how they go together.
Cracking on with the Deathwatch, just 2 more to go after this lot:
The Brazen Claws send a Vanguard Sergeant (yeah, I know DW Vanguard can't actually have Sergeants for some reason, but he's at least modelled that way! )
And a Blackshield, wielding power sword and axe for maximum use of the mental number of attacks he can achieve. Probably hideously expensive, but rule of cool and all that.
And a Flesh Tearers Veteran wielding a Frag Cannon, completing Squad Hellfire, the 'Devastator' unit in my setup:
That's all for now, should have the last of the Deathwatch and some more Harlies on deck tomorrow. Cheers for looking, any thoughts welcome!
Great chapter choices Para. I tried to look for clues on the blackshield you have to see if you had hid any hints but, nope.
The HG's chapter shoulder pad and the rest of his armour just looks so gritty, I really like it. I also never would have pictured a Flesh tearer as a dev but, I could see how it works now.
Really nice update. Sorry for lurking without commenting for a bit.
@Joe: Yep, they're cut down Lightning Claws, specifically the loose ones from the HH set.
@Stormwall: Must admit the FTDev was deliberate, lots of the DW minis both that I've put together and that came in Overkill are pretty much stereotypes for their Chapter, I wanted to flip that on its head a bit. After all, while they might be famous for Jump Troops or Veterans or whatever, pretty much all Chapters still have Marines in every role. Being a bit more cynical, I also figured that when it comes to paying their dues to the DW, someone like the Flesh Tearers might send off a Devastator to avoid denting their assault squads. That, and I wanted to avoid First Founding Chapters and the FT pad was one of the few left at that point!
Did get some more done today, but the light's gone so pics will wait until tomorrow.
Just put the finishing touches to Artemis and thus concluded the Deathwatch (save a pair of kitbashed bikes, but they can wait as I'm not a fan of painting them), so tomorrow's update will feature the first Harlequin squad finished, Artemis and assorted Deathwatch group shots. Maybe also the first Harlie Jetbike if I can figure out how I want to incorporate my scheme on that model, which is giving me a figurative headache at this point. I'm thinking a blue-red-blue fade across the width of the front section, but I'm not yet sure that'll work, technically or aesthetically. We'll see! It'll be my comp entry for this month, so I don't want to half-arse it.
@Tom: Cheers mate, I do plan to do some tutorials when I'm back at uni with reliable/consistent lighting, the speed-paint-ultra-gritty Paradigm Special method will be one of the first up when that happens!
And here he is, Watch Captain Artemis! I love this model, particularly how it manages to capture the essence of the classic 54mm version without cluttering the 28mm sculpt.Really rather pleased with this, he makes a nice figurehead for the force:
And speaking of that force, they're all done now, so here's the final squad shots... as I mentioned a bit back, I'm not strictly playing them in these setups necessarily, but it's a good way to organise them in the mean time.
Veteran Squad Brimstone, the Close Quarters unit, designed to get in, do some damage with the shotguns/bolters and finish off in CC if needed.
And Vanguard Squad Inferno, who have the pretty straightforward task of whacking stuff to a pulp with an assortment of powered hitty things.
And the commanders of the force, Natorian, Cassius and Artemis:
And the whole lot in one image, spoilered for size
Spoiler:
Back to the Harlies now, should have something on that front tomorrow. In the mean time, thanks as always for reading and do let me know what you think!
All told it's around 900, but that's including all the HQs and such, in game terms though I can put together a force of around 750-800 once things like Drop Pods are included. Probably won't expand them much, but rather shift my 40k focus back to the Crimson Fists and AdMech to fill them out a bit.
Your deathwatch look outstanding Para. They were made for your gritty weathered look. I hope you do expand them, or at least add the Corvus flyer! (I want to see you tackle some bigger models )
My only crit is, you need to start drilling out your barrels man. No excuses now with your painting as good as it is!
Cheers. The only expansion they'll get in the foreseeable future is another couple of Biker and maybe some Termies to run with the one from DW:OK. The flyer is pretty much out of the question as I just don't enjoy painting large models, and don't play often enough to buy it just for the tabletop worth.
Barrels are something I'll get to eventually, they don't bother me that much but I'll see to them when I can find the right drill bit (I've got one somewhere, just no idea where! )
Cracking stuff Son, Artemis looks excellent. The squads as a group look doubly impressive. I was never that bothered about drilling barrels either, even now I am worried it will be off centre and with feth up the miniature.
If you are not a fan of painting bigger models I will happily swap your Venerable dread for some Harlequins/
Voidweaver/Skyweaver (cheeky post over ).
) but I've got the other half of the Empire command set and a box of Sisters of Avelorn/Shadow Warriors to work on (I'm unsure whether to build a unit of 5 of each or a full unit of Sisters... anyone with 
" now I've ruined it for you 
O.K Para, I really have to say quite honestly that those Khorne models are BEAUTIFUL (in a blood soaked kinda way) to put it simply, that's the sort of real world gritty look i'd pay for! 
