Here it is, my HUGE project and investment has come. Time is the essence here though. Im going to slowly add to a force here. Fully mechanized, hopefully.

Please dont mind the chimera, and the leman russ, they are in very early stages of paint thus far. But the Russ is converted into an exterminator.

Wow beautiful work on the infantry. I can't wait to see how this turns out. Consider me subscribed!

I want to paint that well...

Looking great so far, I'll be watching with interest.

Looks quite interesting. I guess I'll be watching this one

Maj.Winters wrote:Wow beautiful work on the infantry. I can't wait to see how this turns out. Consider me subscribed!

QFT

i like your paint palet your models look great BTW

very nice
like the others love what you are doing with the infantry

Great, now I want to buy that model.

Ooh Ok, I'm watching...

Some more work done on the VERY beginning of the newest project...enjoy let me know what you think thus far.

I must say though that if you do have the veteran experience and modeling and painting experience, that the death korps are a great investment. Just phenomenal. I have been doing historical and 40k modeling for years, from so many companies, but these are by far the BEST miniatures i have ever had the joy of stumbling upon. They are just fantastic. Every one is a joy to paint.

Wounderfull colours you have chosen for them, really makes them justice.

Thanks man. I want the old feel of ww1, that is so cliche for the DKOK, but it represents them so well. The dark german grey from Vallejo is just great for the color of the coats, and the green makes the contrast. A lot of colors, they just all fall under the neutral, earthy range. I love these models though.

Looking great....cliche or not, you are representing the scheme very well.

Can't wait for more to come

Keep it up

Wow, I'm impressed.

Thanks. But i do have a little problem with DKOK schemes. The guns! metal for the barrels i know. The housings however...what color. What color wouldnt look out of place? red may not cut it for these guys.

Why not just leave 'em black?

I was thinking of that, with a gray highlight. But they may fade out then also.

How about a slightly dark grey then?

Real quality work here. And it's duly given, FW models deserve awesome paint jobs!

The Dk's you have going so far are looking great, very nice color scheme. I'll be keeping an eye on the progression of this blog!

That may work. I think i may go with your idea of black though the more i think of it.
Thanks for the help, Munch your always good help around here.

How about going for a very dark greenish casing....that could work out nicely.

And if you really want to go over the top....wood which would represent your WWI theme

Wood was another idea i had, that would run well all the way to the stock of the gun, however that would be one wicked hard paint job. Here are some pics of what work has been done.

Nice Death Korps army dude I like it!.

Inspiring stuff. It's really interesting to see DKOK in a scheme close to what I'm using with my IG force, as I've invested in some Death Riders. I'm really behind with my painting; now I've got to raise my game! Keep on bloggin'.

I just made another order into forgeworld for two more infantry squads. Express, that way they should arrive around friday. Cant wait. Every week or two i will order a few things when i have money. Some infantry here and there. Bitz and odd things until i get a decent sized army.

I love the shades of green and brown you used for the troops; it reminds me of the stereotypical first world war stories and propaganda.

Are the tanks supposed to match the troops in colorscheme?

Looks very nice so far.

I cant wait for a full squad to be finished.

Those are some great looking guard

So i bought and put together 2 chimeras for a mechanized army. but now that i look at them. Im not sure if i like the look of them with DKOK. I may do some converting. What do you guys think? I want to maybe cut out the back hull and try something there but im not sure.

The markings of the command squad first and some of the other armor in my army.

The baneblade, standard out of box baneblade.

Then there is the WIP of my siege tank. I had a large barreled colossus type scratch-built barrel, but i didnt like it now i must start again.

And where i want to cut off the chimera. Not sure if i should just yet. Terrible renditions, but what i was thinking, in a way. Much like the FW centaur, just much cheaper to do.

Looking good.

Looking nice....coming out well

As for your conversion of the chimera....I say go ahead...just be careful not to change it too much into a centaur, especially if you are still using it as a chimera.

Other than that weathering of the tanks look great...I'm thinking that I should start learning on that technique soon.

Keep it up

The weathering technique i use and im going to stick to. Conisdering the first salt attempt was dreadful. I use GW ogryn flesh, delvan mud, and watered down paint washes. I use about 1 part paint to 4 parts water. This way i will get a very slow concentration and build up. Any veteran player knows that once you overdo a wash you may as well start over. But i try to build up to the final colors. This way i also form almost a shadow casting effect as well.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I ALWAYS get green with envy when I see FW DKOK....nice work so far!

Dude, amazing!

I actually saw this thread without realizing it was yours... Seriously super nice, your style really suits these models.

I really like the green you used on the armored plates

Lovely stuff!!

Impressive start. I'm thinking over what I'll need for a DKK army and I've got some great ideas, I'm just hoping they will pay off. I managed to start my collection by getting my hands on the limited gamesday mounted commissar and really looking forward to my days off when I can finally get some paint on it.

Well done so far. I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future *Subscribed*

@Major, thanks man. I tried to get a more real feel to them. Not just the dull grey all over.

@Reg, Hope to see some work from you as well. I would have more up but my other order has not come through, and im not touching either of my new chimeras until i know what i really want to do with them. My next order will be a very tough challenge for me. Hopefully you will see. Should have some updates tomorrow.

brush_slip wrote:
@Reg, Hope to see some work from you as well. I would have more up but my other order has not come through, and im not touching either of my new chimeras until i know what i really want to do with them. My next order will be a very tough challenge for me. Hopefully you will see. Should have some updates tomorrow.

I hope to start on my Commissar on Sunday Evening and will get some pics up if that goes to plan

nice i always liked the death korps

So got two more new squads in the mail today, let me tell you i got a bad batch this time. Almost every gun is warped. ALOT of flash. arms are not fitting right. Oh boy its a hassel.

Call em up, I hear forgeworld is usually pretty good about replacing stuff... oh and paint something already, don't keep us waiting lol!

Ditto MajorTom on the replacement side of things. Also, they're often quite reasonable about you keeping the stuff if it's seriously warped - which is, after all, often fixable with patience. FTW!


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Sorry, that sounds rather cynically exploitative of FW, doesn't it? Ah well...

Sorry about the lack of posts on painted minis. Im right now trying to straighten them out. Realized the first squad at ease i based did the fuzzy thing. So now i have to go back, strip them, with something weak and rebuild them. Then had basecoat them again and add color. What a waist. If only i took the time. Here are some pics of what i have thus far though, Not much changing, this process is becoming slower than i expected.


First pics of the new squad leader with command upgrade. Very useful for the army. Then the fuzzy squad that i really dont like at all. I was initially going to use them that way, but i cant do it. The chimera is me experimenting with MIG pigments. I like them alot. For death korps and rust they are perfect. Then there is the pic of some rust on the hull of the soon to be siege tank.

Mig pigmenting is impressive. I've been using Tamiya rust but not sure about the results; might switch after seeing this. Love the chunky chimy btw.

The chimera is an experiment right now. Im going to paint around the mig pigments and see how well i can blend them with acrylics. It is a hard technique but possible. Lots of water and clean wet brushes. should be fun to try though.

As for the fuzzies, arent they terrible?! Im really, really irritated by those.

The rust effects look amasing! Looking forward to see the finished model

brush_slip wrote:Sorry about the lack of posts on painted minis. Im right now trying to straighten them out. Realized the first squad at ease i based did the fuzzy thing. So now i have to go back, strip them, with something weak and rebuild them. Then had basecoat them again and add color. What a waist. If only i took the time. Here are some pics of what i have thus far though, Not much changing, this process is becoming slower than i expected.

Wow that's a shame....especially after the hard work that was placed into them....but if you are able to top the original off...its all worth it at the end

Really like the rust effect....would be interesting to see how the chimera would turn out.

What did you use for stripping resin....for resin can be a delicate material to strip (and I am in need to strip a FW model myself, but never dared )

Keep it up

Pine-sol, let it sit for a night, about 10 hours and it was still good. I was suprised myself! Im thankful though. It works, I was so happy to see that it did. Man was i happy.

So here it is thus far. The army as a whole. I plan on having MUCH more infantry. The first squad is in the paint process. The squad at ease got some maintenance. Next its off the stripping for them. The command squad still needs some work. Will finish them up while doing the first squad. The chimeras that are built. Havent touched two more of them. Those two are just in case i do decide for a mechanized army. Im probably going to scrap the rust one. Not sure if i want to use it. It is pretty beat up. The baneblade will probably never enter battle, unless i need it in a high point game. The leman russ and seige cannon need work as well.

Luckily i have off until Wednesday, this way i can get some good ol fashioned painting time in all day.

I must apoligize for the bad pictures...I was out a little too late last night, and lets just say i have the after morning shakes from a hangover.

brush_slip wrote:So here it is thus far. The army as a whole. I plan on having MUCH more infantry. The first squad is in the paint process. The squad at ease got some maintenance. Next its off the stripping for them. The command squad still needs some work. Will finish them up while doing the first squad. The chimeras that are built. Havent touched two more of them. Those two are just in case i do decide for a mechanized army. Im probably going to scrap the rust one. Not sure if i want to use it. It is pretty beat up. The baneblade will probably never enter battle, unless i need it in a high point game. The leman russ and seige cannon need work as well.

Luckily i have off until Wednesday, this way i can get some good ol fashioned painting time in all day.

I must apoligize for the bad pictures...I was out a little too late last night, and lets just say i have the after morning shakes from a hangover.

Looking great so far. Really looking forward to seeing these come together. I'm making my order in just under a month for some Krieg stuff. Thinking over what to order first. Its the choice out of the 3 squads.... the advancing, at ease or shooting...

A frosty gritty undercoat sucks squig, I HATE it when that happens, especially the first time when I thought painting would smooth it out lol

B Really loving this stuff, and still waiting for that blending tutorial step by step you promised!

C These guys are going to deserve really beautiful bases, do you have anything in particular in mind? Whatever you do, I really hope it has lots of details, whatever they may be.

Cool stuff as always Slippy

I know what you mean on huge investment, I've already spent 1500 dollars on krieg stuff. I'm a competetive painter and these models have too much detail to pass up. I have around 80 infantry, 15 heavy weapons, 3 command squads, 10 death riders, 2 machariuses, and 16 tanks.

Holy Man, that is a lot of DKOK, I hope i get there! Its also a slow process, Considering you have to buy them here and there, unless your a civil engineer or heart surgeon, or some sort of celebrity.

@Major, the tutorial is coming, Lets just say i may have something "orky" on the down-low, right now as well...Hmmm and yea as for the paint, thank the lord i have found pin-sol, doesnt warp or turn the resin to moosh. Worked like a charm. So they will be getting painstakingly stripped. That will be super tedious. Oh and im looking at doing trench bases, in the muddy fall season. Except some pools of nuclear waste here and there wouldnt hurt.

@Reg, I have a squad of everyone, to see which one gave me the best batch. I mean the one without busted parts and warping, and the at ease troops were the best, other than the spray paint mishap. OH and ORDER EXPRESS, you will not like to pay that much extra, but you will thank me later. I live in Wisconsin. VERY long way from the UK, and i get my stuff in 5 days, no more than that.

Oh, i found 5 of my other DKOK, the second hand cheap ones i recieved off line a while back. I dont know if i should add them to the command squad, or make them into tank drivers and other randoms for the other parts of my army. That would mean converting death korps, which a lot of people are NOT fond of.

You convert away if you are confident. I will be trying the pinesol thing to strip an old school hybrid I bought off ebay, I don't think we have simple green in Quebec...

Down-low orkyness eh.... sneak peak for a buddy???

"sigh", ok well here are the two sneak peeks i can offer.

Orky, cult of speed huh? whats more dangerous? Maybe something Feral?! Im still in concept with it, i wish i had a scanner i could show sketches.


Marshal, for the crusade? Maybe?

Took a little break from the DKOK, im getting to the irritating stages of painting the coats. Doing twenty of them is not fun, considering each coat has about 6 shades of gray, maybe more!. Here is what i started as a little project, only because i wanted to do an old school feral ork. here is what i have come up with.

Im going to be experimenting in weathering NMM metal. Just to get a feel for if it is possible. The Ork boss as a whole i think turned out to be a nice little conversion though.

oh man that's gonna be awesome... clone yourself a few times and get going on all at once lol

Oh man do i wish! I would dictate over all of my own clones though. Then i would want to make an army of myself, and i may get a little too ambitious. Lol

I didnt mean for that to sound arrogant. I think it may have. Im not sure if an army of myself would last. I would probably choose to overthrow myself, then myself would take power and then be overthrown by myself, this causing a very long chain of overthrowing until there was just one more of me left. Concluding my Tyrant journey, and me just walking away.

lol no worries man, I totally understood what you meant.

No matter how strongly I tell myself to keep my project under control, it seems every time I get close my mind wanders off and there is a new box of bits or supplies on my desk demanding to be used. Then I go back to models I swore were done and add some more. Case in point, I swore my purestrains were done, then last week I went back and added 3 more layers of highlights on the skin. Then I swore they were done again, and then I went back last night and applied 3 more colors of weathering powder. Then I GS'd and plastirodded the stealer with the toxic sludge base, so now I need to paints the base bits I added lol. THEN tonight I sawed the tabs off all the old metal hybrid models I got, and will be adding one of the familiars to the Broodlord base. THEN I can get back to the stuff I am supposed to be doing LOL...

So ya, ten of me would only mean 10X the work not getting done at anything even resembling productivity lol.

Btw, would love your opinion on the hybrid armor scheme over on my thread if you get the chance -

Sorry guys EVERYTHING is put on hold. I have been running the idea of going to Golden Demon this year in my head. I have 6 projects started that are secretive. I have been traveling the past couple weeks for a while, talking to veteran players and many upcoming artists, no, no big names. I have come up with the fact that i HAVE to at least try this year.

A. The first GD in one city. Meaning to win would be EXTRA-ordinary.

B. I want to know where i stand.

C. I just love the art and atmosphere of GD, who doesnt. Even a person not interested in the hobby would enjoy it.

The thing i have noticed though, is that many people are very quick to show off what they will be entering. Number one rule is, NEVER do that.

I also noticed how much talent is truly coming out in these competitions now. It is turning into a real life art form, and personally i love it. Some may not agree and believe it is about the gaming aspect.

Im excited about this. The projects should be quite different. Although its hard to be different when entering GD. So if this thread becomes stale for a while dont worry. I will be back with the DKOK every now and again. I just have a whole lot on my plate and time is wearing thin. TIME is going to be the enemy here. 8 hours of painting a day will be hard to accomplish with my schedule as is. I will try though.

Any words of advice and encouragement would be great.

Glad to hear that your going to attend Golden Demon this year.

I for one will not be able to join this year because its too much $$$ for me to get there, but will try to go next year for sure.

What I may suggest, and this comes from talking to GD winning entrants, is to keep your model as simple as possible but at the same time eye catching and unique. This will be true for this years competition for there will be a lot of competition and the judges will start eying out mistakes and will probably be very "brutal" with their judgment and decisions. And most importantly...have fun and experiment with your models and techniques. I have improved so much over 5 years in this hobby because Games Day was a great experience for me and has taught me well. This will pretty much put you to your maximum of your ability.

Once you're there and have placed your entry...head down to the painter's corner (if there is one in this years Games Day). There will be most of the GD painters and groups that will be more than happy to help you with any questions you have. I used to horde them with questions like there is no tomorrow, but they answered to all of them and will gladly show you some techniques if you ask.

Its a shame you won't be showing us your work....but the wait will be worth it at the end when you reveal your winning entry

Though may I recommend you work on fewer entries....6 is really a lot for the time allocated for you right now and this could effect your over all entries for you might start rushing and create mistakes. May I suggest you cut it down to 2 or 3 the most. Again choose the best ones and go from there. If you have time then work on an additional project, etc.

Other than that....enjoy....have fun....and good luck

How did you make the DKOK base for the squad?

That was just made using an unfinished plauque from my local hobby store. I used balsa wood to do the trench base and i cut strips ending them at each hole that i had to fit the bases in with the same pattern as the wood. i cut the holes out of foamcore and layered that up so that the second level would be higher than the first. I then added scenic dirt to the whole thing. It was time consuming with the wood. Took me a while to get it right. To keep the same pattern onto the bases.

So a little update. I have come a long way with the krieg thus far and have more on the way soon. And i have started a black templars army. Mostly in respect to my first army which was black templars. So today i picked up two space marine battleforces, a predator, and a terminator squad. I also got an extra tactical squad but i gave those to a friend who was considering entering a hobby such as this to try to put them together and paint them. My plan is to finish both of these armies and finally get some gaming in. I have not actually gamed in about 3 years so it would be a nice change of pace. The two armies being Krieg and black templars. Wish me luck. Pics to come by tomorrow for sure.

Here is some work i got done. I have many projects in the works, and not much time to spare lately but its still nice to get some modeling and painting in.

I did the rhino and some neophytes. They are not done to a great standard, just tabletop quality, I just want the army to look good as a whole. Spent about a 2 hours total painting thus far. Hopefully i can get a better standard of painting. Im just not used to highlighting black with just edging. Its strange to me.

Man you have an insane amount of stuff going! orks, dkok, marines, your gd projects, jesus lol.

I must admit, and don't take this the wrong way, but your dkok and orks are much more interesting because they are your own thing, while bt's are just bt's you know?

That being said, it's for playing, so; constant super artistic magnificence can't be the goal every time!

Hope you know what I mean brushy, it's meant as a compliment! Likewise, would like your opinion on my SH stuff when you get the chance, there has been some movement and your advice is always welcome!

p.s - you still owe me a skin tutorial!

Nice job!

Thanks guys.

@ Major, yea i basically went to the Local gaming store and they had 30% off so i bought an army. Im not so sure how smart it was to do so, but i figured I could do something with it.
I do have a lot of projects. The ork army gets some attention here and there. The DKOK is a straight up OBSESSION, and the BT are just kind of a bland, go with the space marine flow, thing. The GD entry is frustrating right now. Since i hit a wall with it im going to step away, take a little bit of time away from it and go back. This way I dont rush anything.

Oh, but i do plan to freehand all symbols and heraldry on the BTs, just to give them some unique feel

I have a problem with frivolous purchases of GW. Hence why I have a DKOK army in the works. In a few weeks I will finally have a macharius and quite a load more infantry. O joy!

Lol you are a gw'a'holic, makes me feel better. I have taken to purchasing painted minis on ebay if I like them. Inevitably, I receive them and give them an upgrade paintjob, but it's expensive. When I look at the time I would have to spend to do everything I want to do, it is kind of worth it. Kind of. lol.

Ya man, the BT comment is more because I feel the scheme kinda limits your abilities due to the colors etc, that being said, I bet it is a bitchin fast army to paint and get onto the table.

I am just selfish and want to see more dkok and orks! preferably with SKIN TUTORIALS

Just a few updates. Im trying to really deck out all of the troops as much as possible, and keep an extreme contrast in white and black. The thin highlighting of the black hasn't started yet though.

I also tried using Asurman blue wash on the white shoulder pads. This way worked well in shadowing, just a few touch ups will be needed.

Here is some more updates on the first squad. The assault squad, I will be starting the second assault squad soon as well.

More of a speed painting idea here, but im pretty confident that in the end the army will look good, and the paint jobs will look even better all together.

The shading with the blue wash actually looks good, I like


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Refering to the white that is

You truly are a great painter, to me all of your models look spectacular. That blue wash appears to have been successful




WHY CAN'T I HAVE TALENT?

It looks good so far, reserve judgment until I see how you treat the black though!

May I just add, this project is shaping up to be mightily impressive, Not sure if I missed it earlier, but what paint brand are you using for the Death Korps? They look really superb. I'm considering trying to strip my Death Korps which I did before my current IG and look at changing the colours. The green's gorgeous. I love the weathered tanks as well, they look fantastic.

Black Templars.. I have a thing for. My first ever attempt was BT, and they have a special spot in my heart So these are very very welcome. I like the Marshal as well, a bit unconventional but tremendously fitting somehow.

Great work, keep it up

sA

Spectacular, Sirrah! I truly believe that DKoK are the finest models made by FW, and their stuff outstrips GW by far

You may have already seen these, but Secret Weapon Miniatures makes some nice trench bases that might work for your DKoK.

http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com

Thanks guys.

For the DKOK i use GW, and Vallejo. I use GW catachan green for armor and helmets and vallejo german grey, as well as GW scorched brown and bestial brown.

I too am awaiting the highlighting of the black. I havent done this kind of highlighting since i first got into the hobby. It may be more difficult than i anticipated.

Stay tuned guys more to come shortly.

Black can be a bitch if you if you try to overdo it I find, I generally do about half the highlights I would on any other color, anything more than that and it starts looking dark grey... I have full confidence you will kill it though brushy!

What do you highlight the Vallejo German Grey with? I am considering using it on my own up and coming IG army (that will have some DKOK incorporated) but having never seen the paint in the flesh I am not sure what could be used to highlight it.

Was thinking maybe Neutral Grey from the same range?

very very nice.

Actually for the German grey i mixed white into it progressively, I did the same for the green as well. Try it out man, the key is to hit all areas lifted in the first highlighting stage, and leave more of the original German grey showing, this way its faster and also keeps the same grey between squads. If you want any advice just ask.

Awesome stuff brush_slip!

Very small update. I just kind of did a quick highlight method. Very subtle, not what im looking for
Its hard to even see it.

A very small update. I did the guns and some highlighting last night. I think all round they have a very good templar look. If it stays consistant throughout the army it should work perfectly.

sorry about the bad pics. The black armor makes it a dread to photograph.

looking good, nice rich red on the guns, icons and checkers looking good too, just need a minor clean up on some od the templar cross edges with black.

Nice! Any plan for the bases? I believe someone above mentioned secret weapon's trechworks stuff for the dkok, why not for the bt's too?

I do want to do some trench bases, but as you may know I am far to stubborn to buy pre-casted bases. I was going to do trench for the DKOK, if you look back to one of the earlier posts i have a display base for the HQ.

For the templars I wanted something simple. Possibly cork for rocks, but otherwise some sand and odd piping systems and sheet metal, just for a bit of attention.

I have some more painted pics ASAP. I did the second Assault squad, and the terminator squad last night. I really enjoyed painting the termies. So much room for free handed symbols!

Nice can't wait!

Power through the trench bases if you need to, but you could always embellish, some of these bases running around online these days are quality stuff!

I had some fun with my new airbrush yesterday, definitely comes in handy for basecoats, vehicles and smooth grading on things like power swords etc, ever try one?

I have been wanting an airbrush for years, never really knew how well they worked, until they became the new wave thing to paint with!. Is it worth the money investment and maintenance costs? I hope so.

Awesome Models

My girlfriend's mum has just got me one, waiting for it to arrive. TBH from the effects that I have seen LB do with his then I would say they are definitely worth the investment. I think along with several other factors they have upped the ante tremendously when it comes to modern day figure painting.

you can get a set really cheap dude, Mistress of Minis gave some great advice on it, you can get a brush for 50-60 bucks from amazon that works great, and you don't have to spend more than 100-150 on a compressor.

you are good to go after that, check out the thread in my profile though, it will answer a lot of questions. I can't wait to try it on a vehicle now though, I know it is going to make it so quick, easy, and perfectly graded.

Same thing for anything larger scale...

Go on Amazon for GREAT SAVINGS!
I'm not kidding and thats not Advertisement. Because it is completely true if you want your moneys worth of stuff get an Amazon Account.

I definately will be picking one up them. See my local hobby lobby has pache and Iawata, and compressors. They are expensive but they offer 40% off coupons on any regular priced item, so that may come in handy.

I will also try Amazon to see what deals they have, and shop around to find the best deal on one. Thanks guys!

If you can get amazon prime I get 2 day shipping for everything included.

Air Pro Tools PS900!!!

This is a clone of an Iwata brush, all the reviews afirm it is a just as good and well built chinese knock-off, and it is half to even 1/3 - 1/4 the price of the iwata, make sure you check that out!

Also, make sure to check out this thread for A LOT of good information on AirBrush related stuff, both general and specific-

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/289941.page

Here are some TERMIES!

Continued, Im trying to get as much freehand into the army as possible to make it pop. A few touch ups here and there though.

Very nice, the freehand is working well.

AHEM... skin tutorial?

Thanks man, I really hope the freehand sets the army apart from all other black templar armies.

Oh and I did a skin tutorial. I may do another one, a more in-depth and advanced one later. But for now that is the key steps to my technique.

Great looking stuff I cannot wait to see more

Great work as always sir. Really impressive stuff!

Im fumbling over some ideas for a commander for the Templar

1. converted/Scratch built emperors champion (my favorite choice at the moment)

2. Converted Marshal

3. Converted chaplain into a high marshal.

or Just do some commanders from the commanders box set straight out of the box in Templar colors to have a choice.

I do want the commander, whatever is chosen, to be painted and modeled to a much higher standard than the army, but fit in to the army as a hole. This is why I think doing a custom Emperors champion may be the best option here.

Wow! very nice templars you got going there. I myself am also in the process of building a BT army and have a question for you if you do not mind. I noticed on your neophytes, are your templar crosses painted on them as well? They are very crisp.

There was a termie with a handlebar moustache!

Yes all of the symbols are freehand. No decals. It really sets apart an army from another.

I love the freehand and the way you placed the symbols!

Thanks guys. I have to refine some of the freehanding. Some spots need to be tightened up. I started working on an Emperors champion conversion. Many bitz to choose from. I also am doing a marshal/chaplain in terminator armor, just to have a choice for a proper HQ choice. In a gaming sense I hate to load an army with HQ in risk of losing victory points should they be killed.

Friday I will be taking a trip down to the LGS. Im not sure what I will come home with, but you can bet it will be a lot, as usual.

The freehand is looking awesome! Very well executed and certainly makes a model pop.

Thanks man, I really did want the army to pop, BT are a rather difficult army to get a good solid execution on. Either you overdo the highlights, or not do them at all. And then you cant get a good white, or the white has too many brush stokes and looks bad. Its just such an easy army to paint until you actually start painting. I tried to speed paint the army, and take a little extra time on the freehand, just so that it stands out. Its just hard to sit down and paint, when its all one color. Thats why Im glad Im going the freehand route on them.

So I went to the Local games store today, on the last day of sale, and I picked up another huge load for my BT. I got two dark angels veterans sets, to convert into BT vets, a box of Sword bretheren, A dreadnaught, another termie squad to boost up my elites. A land raider redeemer to get some firepower in there, and another space marine battle force, just to add more troop choices.

I also picked up the DA Lord, with the draping cape and huge sword. Ive always wanted to paint him up, and I shall do just that when I get bored of BT.

Pics to come.

I must say as of right now I am never going to buy another Land Raider, This things hull is just a pain. Ridiculous construction, The bottom part wont even fit into the designated line or groove on the side hulls.

Very small update. My army is now 60 space marines strong, 15 scouts, 1 land raider redeemer, 3 rhinos, 1 predator, 1 10 man termie squad. 1 high marshal in termy armor. 1 squad of sword bretheren. 15 assault marines. Yea I think it should do for now.

Pics of some sword bretheren, and stuff.

The DA thing is to paint for fun, cant wait to get started on him. I have wanted to paint this little guy since he first came out.

So been a while. An update is here for now. The dreadnaught. My little DA buddy, and the Sword Bretheren Sargent. I tried something different on the Sargent face.

Hope you like em.

No feedback?

I did a little more work on the army, right now i started laying on some paint on the high marshal in terminator armor.

Im going to stick to the gold NMM on the HQ or more character models.

Nmm is looking particularly awesome on the dread! I'm not convinced on the halo though, it looks like it is painted the way a sword would be, light/ dark transposed on the left right sides, but Since it is a flat sided object the nmm is implying a facets where they don't exist if that makes any sense?

Da is going to be epic I can already tell, although the green looks a bit raptor khaki and not deep forest as usual, which so far isn't a bad thing!

Yea that halo has got to be changed. Its hard to get a good NMM effect on a flat fixed surface. Ill give it another go.

Thank the lord for the dread looking ok. I started the NMM process, and I realized just how much I would have to do. About half way through I started to get more motivated and pushed on.

The green on the DA, yea I wanted to go for something different. But i realized if I go the NMM route I need a darker green. A blue green possibly. That way I have a nice cool undertone. That green will be started over for sure. I also dont like how it highlighted. It looks almost grey.

Very Military green, very Raptor chapterish, I kind of like it though!

If you change it, go nice and dark, they are DARK angels afterall, I always like them blackish highlighted up to greens.

Looking good though!

I like it. How did you learn your NMM? Book or tutorial, trail and error?

holy cow That NMM is some of the best I have seen would you mind putting up your recipe?

Brushy has an nmm article in the tutorials section.

Actually from a friend who paints canvas. From there yes, trial and error. You must find the right edge highlights of your subject, and you have to get the right colors. Otherwise it will not end with the right effect.

Colors I use for Gold:

Scorched brown
bestial brown
sunburst yellow
white.

Mixed gradually you must try and try again until you get good consistancies as well as good coverage and mixes.

So here is an attempt at something way out of class for me. A power sword. It seems to be gaining more popularity so I figured I would try it out for myself.

It may be a quite feeble attempt.

Let me know what you think.

Stop biting your fingernails!

The only blade of mine that is close is a red jewel and no where near as good as that even though I put in more work on that dagger than any previous weapon.

BTW your footsloggers are better than many of my heroes.

Um I think it looks great!

Indeed, I think it looks fantastic, what color are you planning to paint the raised lines that go along the sword?

Brush_slip: you gotta stop putting your painting skills down! Your power sword is excellent! I would be proud to own that termie arm.

Sword looks great, I usually just paint mine mordian blue and pick out the power cords . For your BT I'd reccomend Grimaldus and his retinue as an HQ, hes great in CC and if you take all 3 servitors you pretty much have 6 wounds with his ability. Very good commander indeed. Great work and, could I see a tutorial for your freehand? I need to get some markings on my Templars' shoulders

Power sword needs more blue in the deep shadows. Perhaps some watered down Necron Abyss?

Thanks guys, I may add some darker blues to the sword. But I also want to get a deeper purple into the tops. Maybe even fade it to black. Not sure. Ill have to experiment.