Very effective detail work in the recesses there, Sixty.

Fifty,

Now I see the glow through effect you are working on, I first thought it was just coloured recesses.

Fantastic idea.

Cheers,

CB

Thank you everyone. I will try to post updateson the bone getting done as soon as possible.

That glow is pulsatingly brilliant.

I'm blushing.

 Fifty wrote:
I'm blushing.

Are you blushing electric blue?

 inmygravenimage wrote:

 Fifty wrote:
I'm blushing.

Are you blushing electric blue?

Normal colour. (rainbow effect)

Love those old eldar!!

FTL

Echoing the others here, great looking glow!

I've done lots of little bits and bobs, but nothing that has been worth posting. Tonight though, I got started on the next Wraithlord.



Once again, I will take a cast of the blade. I plan to model him to be leaping forwards.Not quite sure how well the metal will support itself, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Ambitious going full sculpt with the fingers. Pose sounds like it will be quite dynamic. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

Love that!

Daring Fifty.

Cheers,

CB

Now that is going to be a stunning wraithlord when it's finished. I have no doubts that you'll pull it off brilliantly. Looking forward to it!

Thanks everyone!

I think I'll be okay with the fingers as long as I am patient. I managed the last one okay, though it was only one hand, so less intricate. Not to mention less prominent. I'll be fine

And here is the start of number three. Number one has his dual stub-shuricannons, and number two will only have flamers, so no heavy weapons. Number three will be back to dual-shuricannons. Not stub over-shoulder efforts this time, but dual-underslung cannons. Oh, and they'll both have blades on, like Maugan Ra. In fact, this will be Maugan Raithlord. Maybe I'll even build him a Ra-esque backpack and banner pole.

That's an exceptionally cool idea.

I just love when folk are not precious about old metals. Looks snazzy.

Fifty,

Interesting conversions to modernize your old Wraithlords.

Cheers,

CB

Love that... just love it!

No work on overhead strike dude. I need to work out how to pose his with his legs in a diving forward position, and still have sufficient support for a relatively heavy model. I also worry that if is at too much of an angle, he might bend his own things.

Some updates on Maugan Raithlord though;

I wanted to have him stood at an angle, so I took a razor saw through his torso and twisted him to his left and lined him up with his left leg. The legs are just posed using some 1mm copper wire at the hips.. It'll need some greenstuff work.



I have the blades ready for some final shaving and sanding, before affixing to the cannons. The cannons just need their handles fixing on. I was able to just twist the fingers using small pliers, so no need to build new ones using green stuff.

The other image is just of an arm with its catapult removed and replaced with a flamer. I'll also need to do two of those arms with no catapult or flamer at all to use for each of my Wraithseers. I plan to build at least two Wraithseers, maybe more, and I need one soon.

Solid metalwork. Hard to believe it used to be that way for most all conversions.

Very excited to see that one come together!

 Dysartes wrote:
Very effective detail work in the recesses there, Sixty.

I only just noticed that you called me Sixty!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I am in a modelling stage, not a painting stage, clearly...

So I got my Warlock Conclave ready for basing and undercoating, prior to the next stage of Ascension...

Ten of them, though I'll only use nine.


I wanted them to be unique, so I did some cutting... I need ot do a little greenstuffing on the head of one of them.


Same deal again.


I hate the unmodified model on the left, and he won't be in the final ten. I am very happy with the right-hand version. I think he looks more naturally posed. You may be able to see where the topknot came from. The hand is from the dire avenger shield arm. I think the angle on the base might be important, so I need to be careful when I glue him in.

That’s a lot of psychic shenanigans!

Amazing metal work. I always hated it. Some things turned out OK, others just a pile of twisted shrapnel.

Fifty,

Fine collection of Eldar and some interesting subtle conversions. But they look so sad going just silver...

Cheers,

CB

Looking great.... the wraithlord will be epic.

FTL

Doing the conversions in metal is harder, as some people have said, but I find it is mainly a matter of patience and not trying to force things. Quite often I find I can't cut where I want to, so I drill into a gap or two, saw or cut as much as I can, then wrap the part in something soft, before gently rotating or even just wobbling back and forth using pliers in order to get bits off. Then it is just a matter of pinning. Again, people complain about this, but as long as I use a sharp point to make sure you start off your hole where you want it befre switching to the pin vice, I rarely have a problem. For some reason, a metal conversion feels more "proper" to me than a plastic one.

I recently tidied up my work area. It still does not look very tidy:



And even though I have enough Stom Guardians (for now) I played around making some more unique ones.. The guy with no legs will be a jetbike rider to mix things up a little.



This is most of my Wraithlord bits. The bits that are already part of a WIP model are not there, obviously!



And I did a bit of work on posing Wraithlord 2 and 3 (aka Maugan Raithlord). I also cast another wraithblade.

Something about those underslung, scythe-sporting arms says to me that a “Come at me Bro” arms-out pose might have been fun.

Excellent the way you built him.

That’s a huge pile of old lead. I should sift my own and see if there is anything salvageable in it. Some old stuff just don’t have rules these days.

 Nevelon wrote:
Something about those underslung, scythe-sporting arms says to me that a “Come at me Bro” arms-out pose might have been fun.

Excellent the way you built him.

That’s a huge pile of old lead. I should sift my own and see if there is anything salvageable in it. Some old stuff just don’t have rules these days.

That is just a dry-fit for now. The arms are only loose on their pins, so still very moveable. The pose you describe is the one I am hoping to make look good, so hopefully I can give you what you want.

Fifty,

I am very happy you have found a use for that Jetbike rider body.

Very good work on the metal parts.

Cheers,

CB

Loving the conversions Fifty, really enhances those monopose models!

Thanks for all of the support, everyone.

The jetbike body gives me an extra Storm Guardian variant, and the conversions make an old monopose model really bring me joy

Really digging these conversions - the Dread with the under-slung shurikats on the arms is gonna rock when done for sure.

The sword change on the Warlock is also inspired and I think better pose than the original even

 Fifty wrote:
Thanks for all of the support, everyone.

The jetbike body gives me an extra Storm Guardian variant, and the conversions make an old monopose model really bring me joy

Glad I could be of assistance with something that was not going to get used up here.

Cheers,

CB

I'm loving the warlock conclave, but then you know I have a thing for huge quantities of Eldar seers all together! The conversions to make them all unique work well without changing the fundamental style of any of them - well done.

The wraithlord conversions are coming along really nicely too, I can't wait to see what they look like when they're finished.

It occurred to me that I had removed the normal underslung weapons to make space for the Maugetar rip-offs, but not put them anywhere else. I could only think of one good place to put them...



I've decided to add some detailing to the scythes, and I have a tiny bit of greenstuffing to do elsewhere, but Maugan Raithlord keeps edging closer to finished.

Leapy gal has her sword finished and glued in position. Here legs are also made and ready to glue to her body. Next job for her is to start green stuffing her fingers.

I've also made a huge leap forward today with the Wraithseer. I hacked apart an arm earlier to reposition it pointing. Photos soon.

Getting excited about finishing the modelling on these. Once I do, I can start painting. At some point in the future, I will make a fire support section to go with this assault element, but I am excited to get this batch nearly built.

Now he spits hot fire. Looking awesome!

Love it!

But the mandiblasters go on the striking scorpion wraithlord!

 youwashock wrote:
Now he spits hot fire. Looking awesome!

Yeah, I quite like the idea of people running in close to avoid the blades and getting burnt up!

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Love it!

Cheers

 Nevelon wrote:
But the mandiblasters go on the striking scorpion wraithlord!

Yeah, that occurred to me and it bothers me a bit. I can certainly do it again for another Wraithlord one day, who will probably need a more toothy sword too.

I feel like I am approaching the end-game for building. Not a lot finished, but a lot of things getting there all at once...

I have only been doing a few knuckles at a time to avoid ruining previous work. Even so, the fingers are not perfect, but they'll do, I think.


I've also done a lot on my Wraithseer. These have not had the points reduction of the regular Wraithlords, but I am going to take one for my Ascension campaign anyway. Eventually, I will build another one with a Heavy D-Cannon, but this one will have the smaller assault variant.



I have also built a pointing arm which I have reposed the fingers and the elbow joint, as well as cutting below the shoulder and rotating 90 degrees. I am going to hold off on any more ribs until these ones hold their shape. I did a tiny bit of damage to these already, but nothing too awful, but anything worse and I'll have to start from scratch.



This weapon will be shoulder-mounted.

Any time I have left-over green stuff or grey stuff, I roll out some tubing. This time, I cut the length I needed for the hang grips and drilled through the centre, then fed through 1mm copper to attach to the parts of the glaive.

Excellent work. Just loving these conversions!

Cheers Gits.

I thought I was done for the day, but got a bit more done...



I will probably paint the support black. Probably won't look like a penis compared to the bone colour!

Just curious... why such a big post? I think a solid brass rod 1/4 of the diameter would do fine... perhaps even smaller?

No special reason. I don't have any brass rod.

It would also mean drilling a deeper, wider hole in the groin to pin into, and make it harder to fix to the base. As it stands, I sas able to pin both top and bottom.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
When I look at that photo, I hate it. I think I need to pin at the toes and knee and hope it holds it.

Slight repose at the hip to tilt the body back further, and supported at the knee and toe instead of at the groin. I am much happier with it now. He looks to me as if he is about to slam the sword forward like a released spring.


And here are four of them together.


There will be more in the future, but these four will be it for a good long while.

That's better. Nicely done Fifty.

Have you thought about a clear plastic rod for support?

Awesome collection

I tend to find them even more distracting. My plan right now is to paint it dark blue/black at the bottom fading to light blue nearer its top.

Now it is shorter, I suppose I could. I have done more of the base now though, so it would be a lot of hassle.

Alternatively, an explosion/column of ?

Epic chopping action.

The quartet looks amazing so far. Solid, solid call on repositioning the support. Looking at the profile shot I thought it was still too much, but the other angle in the group pic makes it far less obtrusive.

Wow, good work. I'm loving that dynamic leap. I think you're never going to be able to have that thing be invisible and have stability, but moving it down to the leg is an improvement on where it was before. Looking forward to seeing them painting now!

I played in Phase 5 of the Ascension campaign today. We only played two games so we actually had a chance of finishing!

My first game still only got to two turns as we we too slow getting started, but it looked great! We were playing a fairly straightforward mission with victory points for unit kills and holding three objectives along the centre-line. I won this one 5-4. For some reason I took very few photos. My opponent is one I have played several times through the campaign. Happily, he won "best opponent" today.





My next game was against a new opponent, though I have seen him at a couple of phases before. He was using Custodes, which is a first for me in 8th edition. Oh my god, it is hard to kill them. Especially when your opponent makes about 70-75% of their 4+ invulnerable saves! Our mission was Vital Intelligence from CA18 with a big twist. 10VP were available if I could get an infantry model off the board through a specific point at the back of the battlefield. Rather than plaing the actual mission, I decided to go almost all-in for that 10VP option. I got plenty of infantry over there, partly by using CPs to advance them 6" and Fire and Fade them 7" more, but the organiser decided we didn't just have to be within an inch of the door at the start of a turn to go through, but also unengaged. That meant my opponent could just keep on piling in models into combat. I put more and more meat into the grinder, but that is all I turned out to be achieving. (As you can see from the photos below).

Wow... now that's a beautiful game!

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Wow... now that's a beautiful game!

The first game (first three photos) in particular looks stunning, I think. I do love my Wraithlord flinging itself at the Telemon too, even though my Wraithlord is not painted.

 Fifty wrote:

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Wow... now that's a beautiful game!

The first game (first three photos) in particular looks stunning, I think. I do love my Wraithlord flinging itself at the Telemon too, even though my Wraithlord is not painted.

That is a pretty epic scene. Lovely games.

 Nevelon wrote:

 Fifty wrote:

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Wow... now that's a beautiful game!

The first game (first three photos) in particular looks stunning, I think. I do love my Wraithlord flinging itself at the Telemon too, even though my Wraithlord is not painted.

That is a pretty epic scene.

QFT! I'm hoping wraithy was able to chop the big gold boi down

Your army looks particularly great in action amongst terrain, all that bone is quite striking. I'm reminded of being 12 and being enamored of all the eyeless wraithbone constructs in WD, which is an itch I'm still trying not to scratch all these years later

Nah, Miss Leapy got smushed by Telemon. I think it'd take a couple of them with a psytronome, or at least three to take him out.

 Fifty wrote:
Nah, Miss Leapy got smushed by Telemon.

RIP Madame Leaps

I didn't think there was much hope but could dream.

I put paint on some models. Still a lot to do, but at least they are getting somewhere.





Haven't quite decided 100% what colour to put on the face of these guys yet. Probably a dark blue very faded to an ice blue.



And I started making some objectives. Objective 1 will have one red tile, objective 4 will have four red tiles, and so on.

Fifty,

Always good to make progress.

Cheers,

CB

Love the tile!

Cheers guys.

I spent a surprisingly long time this afternoon progressing the Wave Serpent. I had to paint slowly and carefully to get the texture I wanted, which is slightly grainy to look like wraithbone I am quite happy with it. There will be another layer of paint after this one.

That texture looks quite interesting and the colored lining is still the bomb.

The wraithbone texture looks quite effective. Will more layers of paint cover it up a bit more? At the minute it looks like some of the effect is coming from the previous layer of paint showing through in places. The liniing, gems and intakes are looking especially cool.

Is there a reason the shuriken cannon is upside down? I remember doing that by accident on one of mine, then breaking it off and flipping it over!

The next layer of paint will be done the same way, perhaps a fraction streakier, so should add ti the effect.

The cannon is upside down by accident, but it is only on there with blu-tac. I used the Wave Serpent half-painted in the narrative campaign event I went to. I hadn't even noticed!

Fifty,

Nice take on the Wraith bone look.

Cheers,

CB

About time I put in an army shot... Not a perfect army shot, I'm afraid, just sitting on the painting desk, and not quite up to date as I have done a lot in the last few days, but this is it at the moment. Should be finished by late June.



This squad are almost finished here. Still one layer of (creamy bone) paint to go in this photo.. They also need their grey weapons washed and edge-highlighted.



Here are some more Guardians. Not much left to do here. One creamy-bone layer, and yellow eyes.



I changed the scheme on my Rangers a bit as I hated it. Happy now. Still need to do camo patterns on their coats.



These are now finished. I started them a LOOOOOOONG time ago.



And the other half are ready to be gem'd.



The Wave Serpent looks a lot better now I have done the final, creamier layer of paint. It looked too cold before.



And I have two lots of Warlocks making progress

Those blue helmets. Oh my gosh.

Love all those classic minis! Awesome collection!

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Those blue helmets. Oh my gosh.

In a good way?




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 youwashock wrote:
Love all those classic minis! Awesome collection!

Thanks.I am incredibly happy with how well itnis coking together now.

Those blue helmets are quite awesome. Very striking contrast with the creamy white.

If you wanted to work on your blending, they would be better with a smother transition, but don’t sell what you have short; it’s quite cool.

Nice work Fifty.

Love the work on the Wave Serpent in particular, streak effect on the surface looks great, and the blue to white transitions on the lines are well done.

Gem work is really good too... on everything haha. Guess lots of practice.

Looking forward to seeing the guardians finished off, the helms are great and the yellow eyes should really make them pop.

 Nevelon wrote:
Those blue helmets are quite awesome. Very striking contrast with the creamy white.

If you wanted to work on your blending, they would be better with a smother transition, but don’t sell what you have short; it’s quite cool.

Yeah, the blending there is not great on them. I just don't have the time for it on troop choices. The Wraithseer will be better. I was more careful on the test model for this army, which I have not actually used:





Automatically Appended Next Post:

 vossyvo wrote:
Nice work Fifty.

Love the work on the Wave Serpent in particular, streak effect on the surface looks great, and the blue to white transitions on the lines are well done.

Gem work is really good too... on everything haha. Guess lots of practice.

Looking forward to seeing the guardians finished off, the helms are great and the yellow eyes should really make them pop.

Cheers. The gems.... yeah. Looooots of practice.

Fifty,

Nice to see the army shot...even in progress you can clearly see the theme of your army's colours.

Cheers,

CB

Even 'just' on the painting desk, the army looks great together. I'm particularly enjoying seeing all the warlocks together, and I'm also an admirer of the blue helmets. The fact that they're not smoothly blended doesn't matter - they almost look like they've come out like stylised flames or something. Very cool!

Great individual work, but really impressive as an army Which I think I said last time you showed them assembled and in action

That's a good lookin' group there Fifty...

Captain Brown wrote:Fifty,

Nice to see the army shot...even in progress you can clearly see the theme of your army's colours.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks I think they'll look pretty good. I have done pretty much all of the base colours to the top layer since that photo, and it looks very coherent.

Bellerophon wrote:Even 'just' on the painting desk, the army looks great together. I'm particularly enjoying seeing all the warlocks together, and I'm also an admirer of the blue helmets. The fact that they're not smoothly blended doesn't matter - they almost look like they've come out like stylised flames or something. Very cool!

Cheers I was worried about painting the warlocks, but I've really enjoyed painting them. Main thing left is all of the jewels though. Gonna be a slog!

Boss Salvage wrote:Great individual work, but really impressive as an army Which I think I said last time you showed them assembled and in action

Thanks Yeah, they've looked good on the table, but they are getting closer to finished and looking more unified. I am really pleased with them.

Gitsplitta wrote:That's a good lookin' group there Fifty...

Cheers Gits. Not as a big a group as your Mantis Warriors, but a sizeable force.

I finished the main colour on the Wraithlords. The pics are quite cold as they were shot under my daylight bulb.



And I did a lot of work on the warlocks. Still a long way to go, but I think you can see now how they are going to look when they are finished.

So, I have the base colours done for three of the Rangers. They take ages.



I also realised I forgot to post any photos from the Ascension Phase IV event.

Only going to post a few...

It was a doubles event. I partnered up with Nick, against whom I fought at the start of Ascension, so you've already seen some of his lovely models. We kicked guard and Tzeentchy arse in the first game.




My Wraithlord killed this flying contraption in game 2 against Dangles and Smurfs...



And in the final game, we faced off against a horde of daemons. These Wraithguard fluffed their lines and barely damaged this big flying thing...



My guardians and HQ units got themselves surrounded and killed.




We lost the game, but at least my Wraithlord cleaved this guy in two, straight down the middle...



We finished 7th out of 30-somehting, if I remember rightly. Not 100% sure.

Love the camo on those rangers.

Looks like you had a fun day out with some well painted armies. Nice pics!

Man, those in-game shots are what it's all about. Time consuming, maybe, but those Rangers are going to get a lot of compliments.

Yeah, I've always struggled to get fully painted armies together, and this slow-grow has really helped me focus. I'm really pleased with how good they look, and feel quite proud when I put them down on the table. Some of the games against other well-painted armies will be fanatstic.

Great scheme on your army sir

All of these rangers have red gloves because they are all former members of the Bloody Hands of Khaine.

Cool idea. Adds another layer of story. LOVE those old Ranger models.

Makes them look a bit like Crimson Fists though.

So much amazing work on display here. Honestly from every humble (awesomely 2nd ed.) guardian to the big leggy sword wielding dreads it's all just solid gold. So much hard work and dedication, no short cuts and a lot of inspired choices. I loved seeing it all. A real triumph of an Eldar army.

Youwashock - Thanks. That is the plan. It is almost unbelievable to me that I painted my first Bloody Hands of Khaine back in 2009!!!

TheCrowe - Wow, that is some praise! Thanks! I've worked hard on each and every model and can't imagine I could manage the same again for a whole army. I'll add the odd unit at a time to this but future full army builds will get a less demanding paint job, I hope!

Lovely battle shots!

Fantastic army shots and battle shots, really impressive stuff, especially your seer council!

Thanks Gits, thanks Horde

On Monday I needed a break from Eldar. I have committed to building some hive scum for my gaming club as we need guild allies on hand. On monday I did some blu-tac fits with some bits.

This dude needs some green stuff musculature. He will have slightly turquoise blue hair. He'll have a hotshot lasgun.


I might give this guy the same colour moustache, Again, green stuff musculature needed.


This lass has had her high heels removed. She has been cut off at the midriff. A cadian armour has been cut off at the non-armour bits, and hollowed out to fit over her stomach. She'll have a drop rig to help her "get the drop" on people before blasting them at close range with two pistols.


This guys has two stub guns and the same equipment as the girl above. I think his legs are Elysian drop troops.


This guy will have a stimm-slug stash too. No ranged weapons, just a one-hit smush. Obviously, his flail will get shortened and the extra hand removed.


Another double weapon guy


Yet another double weapon guy


The body is from the very old Eldar jetbikes. I think the way it makes the waist comes in makes it look female.


This guy has a 2-handed weapon and stimm slugs.


This is the same guy as above but with a chain glaive. Chain glaives are more expensive, so he would not have stimms. Can't decide what the best option would be.


But tonight I got the Eldar urge back. I didn't have much time though, so I just painted the windows of the Wave Serpent canopy



And finally, I bought some paint from Instar Paints. I tested out some of their colours when they were just starting out, and I felt they had a lot of potential, but weren't quite there yet. When I found out they do a Dheneb Stone replica, I knew it was my best chance to find a replacement, as it is an essential colour for my army, and I have realised there is no way I'll ever find enough out there on eBay. I am pretty happy with the colour match. Consistency seems good so far. I'll have to test it more thoroughly soon.

So I painted Eldar quite a bit recently including yesterday, and I am getting very, very close to a complete 100PL/2000 point army. I was out all day today though, and when I got home I wanted to do some modelling rather than painting.

I've been using my GSC from a few pages back in a campaign and suffered some pretty horrific losses. Elder Jocastum had a bad leg injury, but he got a bionic and that is a good job as he now leads the gang. God knows when I'll paint him.



I also gave some thought to my hive scum and I knew I needed something to make them seem more "iron-y". I am going to give a lot of them bionics. The official fluff has them as working with both raw materials and scavenged/recycled/reclaimed items. Where better for a poor hive scum to get a much needed bionic? And they only ask for a few years indentured servitude per bionic. The fact that many of the Iron Guild hive scum lose further limbs in service and stretch the length of their service is no disincentive to most, considering the alternative is generally to rely on the kindness of strangers in the underhive.

This guy has Elysian drop troop legs, a Cadian command torso, Skitarii arms, one of which is bionic, Orlock stub guns and an Empire Flagellants head.




I also had some legs with half the boot missing, so gave them a bionic too. Not sure what to add to make the upper half.

Mis-post.

 Fifty wrote:
And finally, I bought some paint from Instar Paints. I tested out some of their colours when they were just starting out, and I felt they had a lot of potential, but weren't quite there yet. When I found out they do a Dheneb Stone replica, I knew it was my best chance to find a replacement, as it is an essential colour for my army, and I have realised there is no way I'll ever find enough out there on eBay. I am pretty happy with the colour match. Consistency seems good so far. I'll have to test it more thoroughly soon.

This is good to know! Dheneb was such a great color in general, would be great to have a replacement available in usable amounts (particularly as I used Dheneb for terrain a lot).

Kitbashes look good

Good to know on the instar paint

For the new set of legs, how about you make an alternate of your new gang leader? He has the same bionic leg and even foul xeno scum have laundry day.

Fifty,

Quite the little conversion of the hive scum...five kits no less.

Cheers,

CB

That's a really characterful group of scum you've made there, will look great painted up. Liking the blue/bone colour scheme on the Eldar too.

I'm liking those bionic conversions!

Your bionics are top notch. So often alternate parts like that jar but these are perfect

Just as I have almost reached the end, I've started to find the Eldar a real slog. Playing a game with them on Wednesday, so hopefully that will motivate me to work on them again. Spent ages on gems today. They take ages.

Miss Leapy and Maugan Wraithlord only need some grey highlighting to be 100% finished.



The Wraithlord needs his weapon gems painted and greys highlighted.


Elsewhere, I need to;

Highlight Rangers weapons and hands, and wash pouches.
Warlocks need their gems painted, hands painted and weapons finished.
Storm Guardians need a few ouches painted and all of them washed.
The Wave Serpent needs greys highlighted.
Farsseer Qamiel needs lots of fine detailing, as befits an HQ unit, including lots of gems.

I really need to get this finished, so I really need to push through and get them to a point where I can put a varnish layer on them.

Before i forget- lovely flooring. Also generally awesome.

Everything looks amazing. All the long work is paying off!

Getting closer Fifty.

Cheers,

CB

So, I forced myself to do a bit of grey highlighting earlier in the week, and today I properly got my mojo back and did every single remaining gem.





Feels like that broke the back of what is left...

That’s a tonne of gems to get through, great job ploughing through them. They look aces! Not much left to finish the army by the looks of it.

Wow, Fifty, that seer council/warlock conclave looks great! Individually the paint scheme is very effective, but then as a group the effect multiplies into something glorious. Makes me want to finish the rest of my seers...

Those Warlocks are a sight to behold. I hope you've got a nice display cabinet for this whole army. it's too good for storage boxes.

Some of the best conversions of old dreads I've ever seen too. I had one of those lanky heavy suckers once. Never assembled it. Had grand plans for a cat-like ninja pose that the mini just wasn't sculpted for and it just never happened. But you're giving me hope that one day, still... it just might.

Legit. Classics getting the royal treatment. They're awesome.

Nice seer council man. So satisfying to build up a squad like that, where all the models are pseudo-characters.

Nice seer council, well done for getting through all those gems. Looking forward to seeing the completed army, not far to go now

 Nevelon wrote:
Everything looks amazing. All the long work is paying off!

I am really pleased with how well they are turning out. I am going to be nervous as hell when I varnish them!

Captain Brown wrote:
Getting closer Fifty.

Cheers,

CB

So close!

gobert wrote:
That’s a tonne of gems to get through, great job ploughing through them. They look aces! Not much left to finish the army by the looks of it.

Blitzing them meant they maybe weren't quite as good as normal, but they needed to be done.

 Bellerophon wrote:
Wow, Fifty, that seer council/warlock conclave looks great! Individually the paint scheme is very effective, but then as a group the effect multiplies into something glorious. Makes me want to finish the rest of my seers...

Do it! Your own army shot looks amazing. Mine will be ready soon, though only 2000 points. I've got a lot more on the go from many years ago soo I ought to get a lot of in painted.

 theCrowe wrote:
Those Warlocks are a sight to behold. I hope you've got a nice display cabinet for this whole army. it's too good for storage boxes.

Some of the best conversions of old dreads I've ever seen too. I had one of those lanky heavy suckers once. Never assembled it. Had grand plans for a cat-like ninja pose that the mini just wasn't sculpted for and it just never happened. But you're giving me hope that one day, still... it just might.

Sadly, my current home is too small to even consider a permanent display. Don't imagine the fiancee (wife in eleven days) will suddenly be keen to display them in our lounge! Maybe one day.

The Wraithlords are easier to work with then you'd expect. When I do my next batch, I'll know so much more about how to work with them. I have another six or seven disassambled that some of them will be built as long-range support. You should got for it. If you want advice, just hit me up!

 youwashock wrote:
Legit. Classics getting the royal treatment. They're awesome.

They've not quite had solo-HQ treatment, but every model in the army has had at least layer, wash, layer, highlight for the main colour.

 TheEldanariPrince wrote:
Nice seer council man. So satisfying to build up a squad like that, where all the models are pseudo-characters.

Yeah, I've liked the Warlocks a lot. It is nice that the minor conversion mean there are ten different models too.

Maharg wrote:
Nice seer council, well done for getting through all those gems. Looking forward to seeing the completed army, not far to go now

I think one more painting session will see it all done. I have bought a new light box and taken a few photos of finished models, so I looking forward to posting everything soon!

They blow my mind with their awesomeness, not to mention their psychic powers .

Okay, what do people think about the grey on these ladies and gentlemen? It is not my intention to do any highlighting on the grey unless people feel the two new groups compare badly to the group of 4 that follows?

If these are fine, this will be the final presentation photos for these units when I present the whole army at once...

Yeah, I love them. They grimeldark.

I think you are good to call them done. They rule.

Fifty,

The Guardians look great. There are a lot of weapon swaps you have made there.

Glad that those I sent you found a new home.

Cheers,

CB

Nice-looking army. The stone and blue color scheme really works well together. And I always love seeing some classic models.

-Rids

Very nice troopers.
Its amazing how unique each model is. *looks at the current guardian box & cries on the inside*

The guardians look very good. There is something really badass about them.
Digging the checker bases, rock on!

Nice guardians. I like how the blue on their helmets almost looks like blue flames. Very cool!

Storm guardians look great, particularly with all the weapon swaps. Grey looks done to me

Here are some final army shots!

Quality of photography is not that great. I might need to rephoto in better lighting. I used a light box but not sure I am happy with the photos.

I also ought to do a whole army shot, but I need better light for that, and I am getting married next Friday, so god knows when I'll manage to get that done.

Regardless, I am incredibly proud of my work on this army. I am especially proud of the Storm Guardians that I put new arms on and especially the Wraithlords that I converted.

First, some HQ units.





And some troops...






And a dedicated transport



And then the Wraith Construct detachment:

HQs



Elites



And the heavies!

These are exquisite. Fantastic work, and the colours just balance out perfectly. Great job!

Very pleasing color scheme, nice crisp lines where needed and great shading and blending where not. Animated and dynamic posing. Great attention to detail (it would interesting to witch all the gems on everything!). Very, very well done.

Some of those older metal figures are hard ot make look good and easy to make look bad. These look terrific!

The set up of the wraithlords was brilliant, but the paint job was amazing, especially the eye on the seer.

Congrats on the army and congrats on the nuptials!

So much character with all the old old guardians and dreads. And I love the red checkerboard bases. Really makes an impact against the white. An increadible job all round.

Those are all looking fantastic. I love the old school models, and the painting style, and they work together really well. The red and white tiles make for some unique and interesting basing too.

Also, congratulations on the upcoming wedding!

 Theophony wrote:
The set up of the wraithlords was brilliant, but the paint job was amazing, especially the eye on the seer.

That seer continues to blow me away every time I see it

Lovely stuff all throughout, really shines as a cohesive force. Shout out to the lil' Epic wraith boi, love all those Epic Eldar Thingies, happy to see one sneak into this army (as a ... bonesinger??)

Congrats and good luck on the wedding!

Amazing looking work. Looking forward to a full army shot when you have time. So many cool and characterful models.

Congrats on getting married. Best wishes for a long and happy life with the better half.

graven, thanks. They are surprisingly grimdark, for such bright paints. The colour balance was a fluke, but at least I recognised it once I hit upon it.

youwashock, thanks. Wedding is more important, but I am merely my fiancee's assistant for getting that ready. This is mine

Captain Brown, I am very pleased with how the weapon squads make them look like a militia instead of a military force. Your two will actually be in the next batch of eight. They will be in the next 1000 points. But they are still very necessary

Riddle of Steel, I only know colour theory from what I have read online, but I think it all works partly because the bone is warm and the blue is cold. Conversely, the bases have warm sand and red, and colod grey/white.

Argive, I have a bunch of actual Guardians too, and I might mix bits in with them. Undecided.

Ezki, thanks, I think they look a bit mercenary, which fits in with the background that many of them were former Corsairs.

Gobert, the flames were an accident, but not I like it.

Maharg, thanks. Weapon swaps have worked really well.

Meer Cat, thanks. I tried for a very particular style on the bone and I feel I have accomplished it. I would be scared to count how many gems there are.

Theophony, thanks. I am not sure I am 100% happy with the seer compared to the others. I can't figure out what is bugging me though.

theCrowe, thanks. I think the bases is what makes it all work.

Bellerophon, thanks. I wanted this army finished before the wedding, so I am glad it is.

Boss Salvage, the little guy is actually a Rogue Trader Eldar Assassin Droid. In some cases, they are referred to as Battle Droids. I do have some of the Epic Eldar Knights, and may use them as Wraithguard.

Thanks Nevelon, I'll get that shot done ASAP. Frankly, I shouldn't have stopped doing wedding stuff long enough to write this post!

So, with my Eldar complete for now, it is time to go Back to Badab. I'm helping to run a new slow-grow campaign, this time mostly at Bethnal Green HATE, with HATEstings getting involved too. I decided to go back to Badab, but to use an army I built a large number of models for a few years ago.

The slow-grow will start with 500 points, then 750, 1000, 1500 and 2000 in subsequent months. I don't intend to add anything to this army once it hits 2000 points.

My first 500 points will be;
Chaplain Amon Kull, the apprentice of Thulsa Kane (converted from Primaris Chaplain and Master of Executions)
Lieutenant (pics to follow)
Scouts with CCWs (pics to follow)
Sniper scouts (pics to follow)
Crusader squad (pics to follow)
Land speeder storm (built, but no need to see an unbuilt Land speeder)
Drop pod (yet to build)

Here is how I built the lieutenant. I need a name for him. I need to decide whether to put the bottom of the Mk2 armour on, or the waist cloth.

Almost certainly, I need something from Robert E Howard









I built these two scout squad literally years ago. I've lived where I am now for three years, and it was well before that!





And I built these guys about a year ago, maybe two.


And I made this guy today, using bits I bought from Anvil Industry about six years ago! He just needs a bolt pistol.

Right on, man. Good to see you back. The scouts look like a rough bunch and I am liking the Lt. I prefer the loincloth look. Just a little bit less scifi and a little more fantasy.

Congrats on the wedding.

Eldar look great, good to see them finished. It's a good feeling to finish an army, something I rarely get to celebrate myself. Nice start on the marines looking forward to watching your progress on these. Might even have to get myself to HATE some time to see these in the flesh, it's been ages since I was last there

Wow... that's every bit as obsessive as my most finicky builds... I approve!

Cheers youwashock. I think you might be right about the loincloth.

Maharg, definitely get down to HATE. Not too late to join in his slow-grow campaign. If you join at the start of phase 2, you won't really have a disadvantage.

Gits, cheers. This next one is even fiddlier...

Depending on what edition and/or game I am playing, this will either be my Thulsa Kane, or his appentice, Amon Kull.

Oh...wow. That rocks. Totally bad-ass grim servant of death. And the Emperor.

Nice conversions on the scouts and lieutenant! Lots of character in them. The Badab War rocks so I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more of this.

I did some green stuff work on Amon Kull. The front is probably done, but the back is just structural and needs the belt done properly.



Also, because I can never make life easy for myself, I made some bases for my scouts. The idea is that the bases have a bit in common with the treadplate bases all of my Astral Claws and Lamenters are on, but will also suit my board. There are photos of my board in my gallery, which also matches my Eldar bases. I might even put some red and white tiles on some of the Executioners bases, just to show how dominant the Imperium is over the degenerate Eldar.

I could potentially cast these in resin to use on othe scouts in future, but I am not sure - it might just be easier to make more, as I am all out of resin anyway.

Lovely, lovely bases.

Fifty,

You do love converting. I can see what you mean by the back being just filler for a base for you to do later blend in like you did the front.

Cheers,

CB

That's an awesome kit-bash Fifty.

Cheers guys. I've done some colour testing wih contrast paints on a spare marauder legs and scout torso, so hope to have some painted models to show soon. Contrast paints should relaly help with gettiing these models to tabletop nice and quickly. Even if I get a bit too detailed, it can't take as long as the Eldar did!

I've done a tiny bit of work on my Executioners, enough to get me started in earnest over the next week or two.

I'll be running my Executioners as Black Templars. I figure Fafnir Rann was Sigismund's sidekick, so although tthe Executioners are not an actual Black Templar successor chapter, it would make sense for them to have a similar approach.

This is therefore a Crusader, not an assault marine. The head and axe are old Anvil parts that I've had for this project, unused, for over five years. About bloody time! I bought all of these bits for the Badab Campaign from early in this blog, but never got to the Executioners.

It was undercoated with Army Painter Chainmail. I then mixed Contrast Black Templar, Contrast Leviadon Blue and Contrast Medium in a 1:1:2 ratio. On the left is just with the contrast. On the right it has been lightly drybrushed. It doesn't look much different, but I think it helps a little in real life.



I want to match to these images from IA10, and I am pretty happy with the match.



I'll be painting the skin and cloth wih Wraithbone, then continuing with Contrast paints to finish it. I was planning to use Foundation Iyanden Yellow to paint yellow shoulder pads, but now I am tempted to go with Wraithbone and then. Snakebite Leather for the yellow bits. I'll probably do the weapons with Greyseer, then Black contrast.

Next, a spare scout body with a bunch of test paints. The greaves on scout legs will be done with the same mix as the guy above. Most of the rest of their armour will be done with contrast blacks and greys. Skin will be Gulliman Flesh.

 Fifty wrote:
This is therefore a Crusader, not an assault marine. The head and axe are old Anvil parts that I've had for this project, unused, for over five years. About bloody time! I bought all of these bits for the Badab Campaign from early in this blog, but never got to the Executioners.

Fifty,

I can understand the delay in a planned project...I think my Eldar were on a 20 year repainting plan that did not finally start until 2017.

Cheers,

CB

Looks like you've nailed that colour match Fifty, a good start on the army. Can't wait to see that awesome Amon kull conversion painted up in that scheme

Cheers guys. I've had incredibly little time for painting lately. This is due to a combination of factors. One is that I've been writing missions for a slow-grow campaign at HATE in Bethnal Green, London, and playing those same missions; practising, playing and then even ringing for people whose opponents couldn't make it. By far the bigger reason is that I am embarking on a big change in life. I now only teach four days a week. Every Wednesday, I sit in the library writing. I submitted a piece for the last Black LIbrary Open Submissions window and am still working on the story it came from.

However, I also managed to force myself to tidy my painting space and get some progress made this evening.

I still need to undercoat and paint the base for this guy, and more obviously paint his shoulderpads. Annoyingly, I now don't like his eyes in red, as the photo shows it is definitely not a lens. I need to cheeks and eyes.

Anyway, this army will not be as well painted as my Eldar, but it should look decent on the table once I get it done...

Looking nifty, Fifty. Good luck with your writing efforts. Teaching is one of those things where you need some sort of outlet. Or indeed off-ramp.

New guy is coming along nicely. Hope you get the eyes sorted out and good luck with the writing.

Good luck on your writing submission Fifty.

Sincerely,

CB

Cheers guys,

I'm really not expecting this submission to lead anywhere, but it is better to try and fail that not try at all, and the experience will still be useful to me.

If I am lucky, I'll at least get a little feedback, and even the exercise of producing it will give me something to talk about. I am going up for the Black Library Weekender, and some friends of friends are Black LIbrary authors, so if I get a chance to talk to them properly, it would be good to have something to talk about.

Nice start on the executioners. I see what you mean about his eyes, the basecoated shot earlier the “lens” looked convexed but now it’s painted up it clearly looks like an eye and cheek! Wierd!

If you don't try, the outcome is already decided.
Fortune favors the bold

Good luck

So, I've been getting on with the basic of repairing my land speeders, undercoating them and so on, and done some work on my infantry.

I've also been having fun building Thulsa Kane's second and third disciples. (Amon Kull is the first disciple, of course.)

The first is Ivanus Enkomi, with all of his iconography removed and greenstuffed.



The next is a bits-bash. Lots more to do on this. I'll probably attach something fancy to his backpack. That is the primaris chaplain's book in a chaos space marine hand.



Main thing he needs is a Crozius Arcanum. I have some options;



Opinions?

The other option is to bash these two bits together, one wing and the blade;

Creepy helmet on the chaplain, the winged axe gets my vote!

I like the classic look of the double-headed eagle, but a wing-axe sounds pretty cool.

So, I ought to be painting models from my first 750 points for my next game, but instead, I have spent the evening building models I don't need for ages yet...

On the bright side, I can now present the three disciples of Thulsa Kane;

Thoth Khotan, second disciple; Amon Kull, first disciple, Amra Thune, third disciple.



I had a lot of fun building Thoth Khotan this evening. His crozius arcanum is made from a Space Wolf hammer, a random spare part and the arm of a standard bearer. There is a 1mm copper rod running through it all. The book comes from the primaris chaplain. The legs are from the plastic chaplain. His upper-half is sitting on a bike in my Astral Claws army. (Once Warhammer 40k Legends comes out, I'll get those guys finished)



I also finished Amon Kull. I love this guy. He is monstrously large, but I regard him as a freakish NON-primaris;




And finally, because this army has non-GW bits in it, I am going to make some of the parts of the army with alternative heads. The Crusaders do not have their heads or axes glued on, and here are the alternatives for my Lieutenant and Thoth Khotan;

These are an exciting, surly bunch. That last metal guy on the left is particularly awesome.

Nice job on the Skeletor-Marines. It’s an interesting project with some nice touches. Ivanus is looking pretty flavorful with the skull wearing the Greek helmet!

Skeletor-Marines! Love it.

The lieutenant will get some more work on him very soon.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
This squad is still not finished, but it is far enough along that I know how it will look once finished. I am pretty happy with it.

The bases have the sandy bits done in the exact same colours as my Eldar bases, so they will also match my home made board.

I need to decide whether to include any yellow or brass on the shoulder pads, as in the Badab books it is normally associated with veteran status, but I think it would be a good contrast.

I've been slowly progressing.

I decided to magentize my scouts so they will stay in their ride.

That's hilarious and somehow quite... orky ?!

Hah, I hadn't considered the orkiness of it! But yeah, I see it.

Ha! I thought for a minute that you’d forgotten to rotate the images! One question though; Who’s driving this thing?

If the cars in Mad Max could fly...

Wonderfully insane.

Gobert, they just haven't been glued in yet, as they were sprayed a different colour to the speeder itself.

Youwashock, the Mad Max angle is one I hadn't considered either. Shiny and chrome!

I've still been working on my Executioners, but haven't really had anything interesting to post, as I've just been building standard models and doing not-very-interesting and incomplete bits of painting.

However, I have added something to my Genestealer Cult. I still need to glue Dr Nostrox together, but I've completed all of the very tricky cutting and assembly.



Dr Nostrox features in my short stories about the Good News Brood as a sinister mover and shaker, upsetting Chosen Ghilabrious and everyone else too. He is a weird and even-creepier-then-normal Biophagus.

Now, he will be featuring centre stage. My arbitrator has let me replace his access to psyker powers with access to the medic skill in order to create him as I want him.

He is creepy Fifty.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks Cap'n.

I committed another example of Heresy. For a second time now, these are actual pages from an original 80s copy of Slaves to Darkness. It is the second of my two 80s copies, second of three overall and was bought for £10 in a very poor state of repair from a second hand book shop on Wardour Street that no longer exists.

That there is heretical beauty.

Played three cracking games of Necromunda today. A bunch of us played through the missions in the little White Dwarf booklet. I was using my latest gang with three Aberrants in the starting crew.

The first game was on a little bit of our club ZM board, using my mate Ben's wonderful bar that he just built. We made rules for throwing bottles, bar stools and tables and added them to the scenario. First thing that happened? My aberrant (Murd, in this case) lobs a stool and seriously injures a ganger! I had to roll the craziest sequence of rolls to succeed, and put the guy down!


Later, Murd himself got all tangled up when someone threw a table at him, but I finished victorious.


I forgot photos of my second game, but my Aberrant Glom, showed Murd and Vrag who to make a charge roll after they had failed loads, finally made one in this to catch up with the bent copper and rup him apart with a chainsword. I started the game with a frag grenade and the Present tactics card from White Dwarf, but they both had almost no effect, so I was glad to pull out another win.

In the final game, it was GSC vs GSC. The servitor defending the loot ripped my opposition to pieces and he had terrible dice rolls, but I still only just made it out with another win. The highlight was his Aberrant taking one of mine out, followed by my revenge taking his out.

Sounds like a lot of crazy narrative fun. And if that isn't the point of all that, then really, what is?!

So, I'm still getting on with my Executioners, promise. It is just none of what I am doing seems very interesting, and nothing is complete to justify posting it anyway.

I've also done bits and bobs on my Necromunda, but pics of that will follow.

But, this post is to show off my latest miniature. I'm also now signed up to a new version of Ascension, this time for AoS.

AND, I've decided to do hobby bingo. Pic of my bingo card to follow, but this will tick off my box of "paint a miniature for a faction or army you have no painted models for".

I am leaning towards leaving it 100% ethereal, but still might be persuaded to paint the weapons and chains, and/or put some flowers on the base. Opinions?



This was painted with a 1:3 Nihilakh Oxide to Lahmian Medium mix. Then undiluted Coelia Greenshade in recesses and around edges and fingers, etc...

The tiles are just plastic sheet with them pressed on, cut to shape, that I bought at 4D model shop in East London YEARS ago.

Little splashes of color really help the mono chromatic nature of the undead. I vote for a little something.

Looking good so far, but put me down for "paint the chains."

I'm in a different camp, glowy eyes and some base flowers please!

Nice ghost!

Fifty,

Interesting conversion of a shipping crate into a bar in the photos of your Necromunda game.

Cheers,

CB

Sadly, I can't take credit for it. My mate Ben built it .He does loads of amazing terrain and conversions.

So, I only have a couple of weeks until I need my Nighthaunt Ready.

I have a unit of Chainrasps 100% tabletop ready, though I may go back and do some gentle white highlights.I've decided against painting the weapons solid, at least for now. Of course, I can always go back and do it later. If I do, I need to decide whether to do it as a gradual fade, or a clear line showing where the eherealness is "phasing" in and out.

The main colour is 1:3 Lahmian Medium:Nihilakh Oxide. The darker lining and colouring on weapons is 1:1 Coelia Greenshade:Lahmian Medium. This is just stolen from Mengel Miniatures recipe. The bases are just bits of cobbled plasticard, Astrogranite and Eshin Grey, highlighted up.

Not going to pretend this is anything special, but I think the overall effect is pleasing.






I also have my first two Grimghast Reapers at the same tabletop-finished status. As you can see, they are once again pretty much monotone. The Coelia Greenshade is doing a good job on the chainmail here, in my opinion.

Very nicely done... but you need to fix the seam on that last one.

Those Eldar look great Fifty. Lovely selection of old models, really nice looking force

Those chainrasps look great, but those seams are horribly placed on some of them! Good enough for table ready though! Good luck getting the rest of the gang together

 Fifty wrote:
Sadly, I can't take credit for it. My mate Ben built it .He does loads of amazing terrain and conversions.

So does Ben have a painting log...or are you semi-responsible to share?

Cheers,

CB

Well dude, you've gone and done it: inspired the damn kid to use your colour scheme

Gits and Gobert, the seams are annoying, but I don't have time to deal with them for this project :( I think they are still okay for tabletop.

Captain Brown, here you go https://www.instagram.com/atelierdesnerds/?hl=en - the bar is not on there yet, but some other awesome stuff is.

Graven, whose kid? Your kid? Cool.

(If it matters then, the colour on the blades is 1:2 Lahmian Medium:Nighthaunt Gloom - though it occurs to me I've not yet posted those photos!)

I've just built a few spooks too and can agree that the seams are annoying, very easy to get fairly deep chasms on the cloaks if you're not careful! As you say, fine for tabletop and the minis look very effective for a fairly simple scheme

Fifty wrote:
Graven, whose kid? Your kid? Cool.

(If it matters then, the colour on the blades is 1:2 Lahmian Medium:Nighthaunt Gloom - though it occurs to me I've not yet posted those photos!)

Yeah my eldest. Damn kid Thanks for this. I found an unopened bottle of VJ thinner medium so once they're built they should be a quick job. Of course, it means I'll have to finish my various daemons so he has an opponent

I really like your ghost scheme, it makes them really menacing, because they look very otherworldly.

I love them, we’re so scary we don’t need color .

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Yeah my eldest. Damn kid Thanks for this. I found an unopened bottle of VJ thinner medium so once they're built they should be a quick job. Of course, it means I'll have to finish my various daemons so he has an opponent

Quick warning; I did the first two with Vallejo thinner, and they were okay, but did not work quite as well. The test one I posted was Vallejo, if you want to judge it.

Cheers, the rest of you. Very happy with the overall effect.

So, I've finished my small force for phase 1 of AoS Ascension. I might use the remaining time to produce an army board!

Just spotted that the second from the left does not have his hand properly outlined. Still, I think they look good.


I don't like these models as much, but overall, they've come out okay.


Lord Executioners are not powerful leaders, but he'll do.


An overall army shot, posed scenically!



And here are the paints I've mixed up, for the sake of consistency. I even used a plasic pipette!

Looks ace, and very useful reference! The boy's ones are in for priming, I'll let you know how he gets on!

Very effective and good looking way to paint those guys!

A scary looking bunch indeed.

Very coherent force Fifty.

Cheers,

CB

I was going for scary!

"Coherent" sounds like a polite euphemism for "repetitive and dull"

Thanks for the formula. They look great. Unable to ignore there guys they're so in your face bright.

Very nice! I really like the subtle shade difference on the weapons.

That's excellent work!

Thanks everyone. Still really enjoying this. I had another little project idea, which I didn't want to show until I was sure it would work.

I have an A3 frame from The R@ange with broken glass. I decided to use it to make a display board. I stuck down a magnetic layer onto the back plate of the frame, then undercoated, before putting on a layer of paste, then re-undercoating black. I've done one layer of highlighting in dark grey so far, and will do one more. I used a sponge for this, instead of a brush. All of the painted models have neodymium magnets in their bases, so it holds them in place better. The buildings are just built as-is, except for one that I extended by joining two bits with copper rod, then building up with green stuff.





I also built all of my models for the next-phase of this slow-grow. I'm going to need a bigger board by phase 3, but I saw this as kind of a test build anyway. I'll use a bigger picture frame next time, as well as using a thin layer of steel instead of magnetic layer stuff, as it will give a stronger hold for the magnets.

Sweet display board! I’ve been contemplating doing similar for my display shelves, glad to see how well it works matching the bases to the board. Are the floor remnants of the buildings magnetised too?

Not yet, but I may stick some neodymium magnets underneath.

The display board is looking good so far and is very fitting to the theme.

Always great to see those old ruins, and your idea to make the whole board magnetized is a smart one! However, I'd play around with the placement of the ruins a bit, right now they are a bit bland. Rather than having one big ruined building, try to convey the idea of there being 2-4. Even something like you had in the previous army photos would work!

You might be right. Fortunately, they are not stuck down.

I might even turn the board 90 degress, so that the Pale Tide is pouring down the frame at you.




I think it looks good when they appear to weaving between buildings. (Though why ghosts would go round instead of through eludes me).

At some point, for this board or its larger iteration, I will also build a small graveyard and one of the old Citadel woods. As they won't be stuck down, they can then go on my table as terrain. I have LOADS of these old buildings, as I pick them up cheap occasionally on eBay, plus I have a loads of Pegasus buildings and a huge Renedra tower which I have started converting to make a gate tower, complete with ruined walls either side of it. At some point, I'll sculpt some rose bushes too.

Most important is to finish painting these four building corners though. Some washes in various colours, followed by a black wash and some drybrushing, and maybe put some other textures on, such as moss or lichen, if I feel adventurous.

Originally I did it all for Frostgrave, but it is perfect for these guys too.

Also, this army needs a name. I am thinking of associations with the following as possibilities;

Coldness (such as Legion of the Cold Sun, for example.)
Moons (Pale Moon Rising, for example)
Tides (The Ethereal Tide, say.)

But none of the names have quite grabbed hold yet. This image , from Yoshitoshi's 100 Aspects of the Moon has obvious similarities and is one of my all time favourites. I've considered buying Galadriel from Citadel, just to paint her a bit like this as a mascot for the army.

I like the Ethereal Tide as a name, or maybe Corporeal Tide/Moon. Having them going the full length of the board would give them a sense of being part of a larger horde

Moonshadow Tide

Silver Crescent

Ethereal Blades

Also, looking good!

Hmmm... Moonshadow... there is something in that, perhaps.

I'm being followed by a Moonshadow, moonshadow, moonshadow...

I mean it's a really positive song on one level, but the lyrics are pretty sinister too


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, my son is loving your work, sir.

I'd never heard that song until I looked up "Moonshadow" on Google last night. Yeah, bit sinister!

Keep your son at it too. I always enjoy seeing more of the same things I am painting. There are lots of Nighthaunt on here right now, presumably due to Mortal Realms, and some of them are fantastic.

Yeah, and he's really smitten.
Here's what he's up to:

He's made a good start. I hope he keeps it up.

I've played a few games with my Nighthaunt. On Wednesday, I played against ArbitorIan's old-school Chaos. We only used about 400 points each. We only played one game. Ian had two turns in a row, and was able to make all of the charges and do too much damage for me to receover from. It is a feature of the game which can really change things, but I like it as it keeps you a bit honest, and makes you plan more carefully about BOTH possible priority scenarios.

In this image, you can catch a glimpse of ArbitorIan himself!



Today, I went to Reading for the first AoS Ascension event. I played 3 games, losing two and drawing one, as well as losing "game zero" whilst we waited for others to arrive. That was despite having Ruse and Sudden Death cards throughout!

Part of the reason is that we were playing ONLY with our warcscroll rules, and I think Nighthaunt suffer more than others without Allegiance abilities. I also think they struggle at lower points values. Not to mention the fact that Lord Executioners are gak. We had to use what comes in starter sets though, in my case Torment of Souls. Even though I added ten Chainrasps, I was still outmatched in points and quality!

Still, it was a good day, with plenty of beer drunk the night before with some clubmates, as we stayed at a hotel to make the early start easier.. My club (HATE) has a reputation to maintain, so I was delighted to get two (out of a max three) favourite opponent votes, tied with another HATE member who was also there.

I didn't take many photos. In this game against Stormcast, I had a Sudden Death card meaning I only needed to kill half his army for the win. I killed ONE model, and lost my entire army, then 20 chainrasps again, which came back via the reinforcements ruse Vanguard Stormguard are TOUGH, and even tougher against Nighthaunt!



I played a game against Seraphons, but forgot to take photos. I also played against some beastmen.

Ungors are REALLY bad...



but Cygors and Bestigors are REALLY good!

Looks like you had a good few game’s, it’s great seeing so many well painted armies facing off!

Yeah, it was great to play against fully-painted armies on fully painted tables.

I've decided where I am going with this army. LOTS of models in it feature roses. I've also made some preliminary attempts at sculpting more of my own. I reckon I can make something passable.

I'm going to try and make sure every model has some roses. They will all be a blood red colour. They'll be the only non-ethereal thing on them, if they are part of the model, or the only non-grey thing, if on bases. They'll provide highly saturated reds and greens to offset the ethereal bits.

The roses will be the one thing that doesn't become ethereal with them. For that reason, the Nighthaunt will both love and hate the roses. They retain their life, but remind the Nighthaunt that they are dead.

I need more to come from that, but it feels right as a starting point for their story.

That's a fantastic point of interest on the models, I look forward to seeing it!

That’s a really cool idea! Have you tried looking for tutorials on making roses for wedding cakes? Really thin layers of GS might work in a similar way, but then again it might be too much of a faff?l to get them so small?

gobert wrote:That’s a really cool idea! Have you tried looking for tutorials on making roses for wedding cakes? Really thin layers of GS might work in a similar way, but then again it might be too much of a faff?l to get them so small?

My wife does cake craft, and I have used the "rolled roses" technique to do exactly this. Dead easy, and very effective.

I did look at some icing sugar rose techniques, but hadn't seen that "rolled rose" technique. However, it is pretty much what I did! A long strip, as thin as I could make it, a few mm wide, then cut into a wavey pattern along one edge, then rolled around the copper stem. I also use a point to tease it out a bit in some places. I am going to try to introduce some folds next time too. More to come!

Very brief tangent (promise).

I am playing as a half-orc druid in my new D&D dampaign, but I couldn't find any models I liked, so I bought a half-orc druid and got rid of his axes, and added a quarterstaff. There is a copper wire running through the middle of the staff, then a layer of greenstuff, then a thinner layer on top for contouring.

It is a fraction thicker where I made it than where I left the haft of the axe, but I think I can live with it.

I decided I wanted the roses I had painted so far to stand out more, and be generally brighter. I'll do the same for others in future.

I think it adds more to the model now, rather than just being more dark clutter on the base.

That's rad. I think it is going to look sweet across the rest of the force.

Really lovely. Stolen

These 100% ghostly ghosts work so well, and the roses are such a great addition! They kinda make me wish I’d subscribed to the mortal realms magazines, but then I think of the 100s of minis sat in my loft waiting to see the light. I’ll live vicariously through your minis instead, if that’s ok?

Nice work on the staff. There is not enough variety in big burly guys with quarterstaves out there. It’s either wizened old men or kung-fu waifs. I did a search a few years ago looking for one when I was playing a nordic-style ranger who beat dragons to death with a stick. Good times.

The roses look amazing on the base, really pops out. You going to do themed objective markers? I think some graves covered with flowers would fit well.

Oooh... good call on objective markers

Spot color on the bases looks great! May steal that idea when I start my WarCry Nighthaunt, who will get another scheme than my Mordheim ones.

Oh yeah, painting those roses really elevates the whole paint job to another level! Monochromatic schemes can easily feel a bit unfinished, but now the spot color on the base creates a nice contrast, making the monochrome ghost more effective!

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. And of course vicarious living is okay.

I also think the additional color of the roses on the bases will make the army more eye catching.

Cheers,

CB

Here is my second attempt at rose sculpting. Okay, I guess, but I dropped it on the floor and lost it anyway...



Here is my third attempt. Very happy with it. I have found my sculpting method for this. Basically, I roll out a thin strip of green stuff and wrap it around the plastic stem. Then, I roll out a slightly wider strip and cut along one side to get a shearing effect. I then wrap that wider strip around the thinner strip to make the petals. Finally, I tease out shapes I want, and use a sharp blade to define petal edges, and use a tool to smooth into the stem.

I'll try to do a tutorial at some point.






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Found it...

Oops...

Wow. Those are amazing.

Now make 50 more.

Nice work indeed!

Up to the point the carpet monster jumped on it obviously, but that's hardly your work

Yeah, it turned out it was not the carpet monster at all. Turns out the reason I could not find it on the floor was that I had inadvertently squished it onto my wedding ring. It is not resting on the ring there, it is squished into it!

 Fifty wrote:
Here is my second attempt at rose sculpting. Okay, I guess, but I dropped it on the floor and lost it anyway...

Damnation!

I swear that the house elves wait under our desks for just such opportunities for thievery as I almost never find those lost bits again regardless.

Cheers,

CB

Good work with the sculpting!
Thanks for explaining the sculpting process for the roses. Would be a cool to see a tutorial for them.

Those are lovely. Nice fine work.

 Fifty wrote:
Yeah, it turned out it was not the carpet monster at all. Turns out the reason I could not find it on the floor was that I had inadvertently squished it onto my wedding ring. It is not resting on the ring there, it is squished into it!

I have done this an embarrassing amount of times. Great sculpting on the non-squished one

Amazing roses Fifty and that ghost is a work of art.

Great sculpting and love how you found the missing rose, even if it meant that it was destroyed.

The roses on the base looks amazing. Really perfectly spooky, s terrific idea. And it looks like you'll be executing (don't pardon the pun it's terrible) that plan to perfection. Good luck with the volume you'll need. That's a whole lot of roses.

I planned to spend today painting models but instead I did one of my Citadel woods. Nothing special, just designed to look suitable for my mini-display board and future Death board. As you can see in the woods there, I have ten Grimghast Reapers almost done. Just need their pinwashes.




But I have been slowly working away here and there on little jobs. My Knight of Shrouds now has a gravestone, with roses from the Briar Queen (I bought spares via Mortal Realms). My Spirit Guardian now has roses intertwined with the metal fence. These also came from the same Briar Queen, plus some green stuff to lead to the skull. I even sculpted thorns!



I also dug out my Viral Outbreak miniatures ready for painting.

They are extremely lovely, and like the varied base discs also. Handy.

Sweet scenery and really nice work integrating the roses on the Ghosties bases. Very on topic choice for your next project too, are they only allowed outside once per day for exercise too?

Nice working along, the ghosts and woods will go great together. And I wonder what made you get out those Viral Outbreak minis?

No progress on Viral Outbreak yet, but painted some roses...

Nice.

In the hectic madness of the battlefield, don’t forget to stop and smell the roses.

Man, that sculpting on the Rose's is excellent. The brighter and warm red roses really work as a contrasting colour to the dullness of the night haunt scheme. And referencing that scheme your medium to oxide mix is spot on, I am jealous of that.

Good job on the Citadel Wood, I think mine has been in the box unassembled for about two years !

So, I took the necessary photos for a rose tutorial lesson.

I think the photos are generally fairly self-explanatory, so I will keep my commentary notes to a minimum.

This is one of the things I am proudest of achieving. I am really happy to have developed this method for myself. Whilst many of the ideas and inspirations come from elsewhere, the method is, ultimately, my own.

In other big news, the slew of photos for this take me to over 1000 photos in my gallery!

So, here goes...


Remember to use water to stop anything sticking to your surface!

I used a bit of rod to roll this out, but a round pen would do the job

I used a sharp knife to peel my green stuff from the surface, then wrapped it carefully around the very thin (0.5mm?) plastic.

I used a sharp knife to make some petal shapes.

SLIGHTLY more green stuff for the next ball.




This is just the spare bits of green stuff from the triangles I cut out, used to give a bit of body to the rose.


I then wrapped the slightly bigger bit with triangles cut out all of the way around, and again used the knife to cut slightly o make petal shapes and tease out the tips of some petals.




I think this would be a very open rose, like a Eustacia Vye...



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However, part of me does feel that particular rose is slightly over the top, with too many petals for tabletop miniatures.

I therefore did the same thing again with about half as much greenstuff. I kept the same width of greenstuff, and flattened it out far more, but used shorter bits, each therefore wrapped around fewer times...




And I feel this would probably look better at 28mm scale.

This, perhaps, is more like a Wildfire;



Both pics from https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/shop-online a store who I would thoroughly recommend for their quality of service and wonderful roses.

That last one is downright beautiful.

Very nice. Thanks for taking the time to put it together.

Brilliant! (and beautiful)

Very nice tutorial there Fifty.

Cheers,

CB

Phenomenal work, you've really made it your own.

Those roses look great, useful tutorial too

Nice tutorial! I probably will never try it out, because I hate green stuff, but it's good to know, that it's there Keep up the good work!

Cool tutorial, the second one definitely looks more appropriate for the scale. You can still see the reference rose in the first one though!

Great tutorial Fifty! Where the roses on the tombstone above your sculpts??

Glad people like it.

zahnib, the roses on the tombstone come from the Thorns of the Briar Queen. Can't take the credit for those ones.

 Fifty wrote:
zahnib, the roses on the tombstone come from the Thorns of the Briar Queen. Can't take the credit for those ones.

Yours are still looking great, look forward to seeing some painted up

You might want to toss those up in the tutorial section, so they don’t get lost in your blog. Really useful and practical tutorial, should get more views and be easier to find there.

I posted it as an article, but I forgot about the tutorials section. Yeah, I'll do that, thanks.

Thanks for the tutorial!
It's always cool when you can come up with something original.

The tombstone with the roses looks really really good.

I finally forced myself to get through some of my Executioners. I had lost the love for them. I can't say I have fully got it back, as I do not love the end result here, in fact I am not even sure I much like it, but at least it is done.



As a reward, I let myself have a go at a future marine project - my Mentor Legion. Back in the early 90s (My guess is '93) I painted these guys;





I've had those photos in my albums for as long as I can remember, but not sure I ever posted them anywhere. These are the other squad of my tactical marines from my 2nd Ed Warhammer 40k box. The other squad, which I painted as Ultramarines back in the 90s, are now the Lamenters from the very first post of this blog.

Anyway, to get to the point, I've slowly acquired a fairly substantial group of these, and now plan to paint up a demi-company, with scout support, and probably terminator support too...




But of course, I don' have time to do a good job of this, so I'll be doing it with contrast paints...

I tested out how I'll go about it...

When I just used Apothecary White, he looks to grey


Using Basilicanum Grey in the crevices helped, but not enough...


So for the final method, I'll do the white first, so I can give a thorough drybrushing with White Scar.


It still looks far from perfect, but it is much better in real life.

And yes, I think I'll probably base them all with flock and Goblin Green rims.

I like the Executioners, but if you're not feeling it you're not feeling it. Kudos for pushing through and finishing them though.

Space Crusade Scouts for the win!

Yeah, not sure that white is the best colour for quick painting...

Bolter-huggers, ho! And Space Crusade Scouts, to boot. Lovely retro goodness.

Those old school space mariens are great! Would be a shame to rush the paint job on them

Hurrah! Mentor Legion are the BEST legion as long as it's classic Owls.

Owls for sure.


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I took the time to rebase one of my sets of Viral Outbreak miniatures, and I am delighted that I did. Whilst they still don't exactly match the scale of my Aflterlife minis, they are bloody close, and easily close enough to use in games of Afterlife.

Makes me want to get back to painting and playing some Afterlife.

I have posted in News and Rumours about this, but want to mention it here too, as I consider P&M Blogs to be my main home on Dakka.

I started an auction on behalf of John Blanche to raise cash for the NHS. He will sketch a personalised 40k-style portrait for the winner... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174259718281?_trksid=p2471758.m4704

It is already up to £1020 after less than 12 hours!

I have to say, I was confident that it would reach many hundreds, and thought it might top a thousand in the last frantic sniping rush, but to be at £1020 already, I can't believe how awesome that is!

Here are the pictures that inspired me to ask him if he would do something like it...

Awesome idea Fifty, give John a high-five for me as well. I hope the bidding continues!

Great idea, and I love to see the bidding that high already. Still plenty of time for it to climb higher too!

Epic stuff. What a gent.

I think I am a bit overdue on an update.

First, I want to go back in time and present some miniatures from my childhood. These were all painted in a house that I moved out of in 1994, so they must have been painted in '93 or '94 at about fourteen years old.

The first is not quite finished, and strictly speaking, I think the second one is from a Warriors set, not a Champions set, but he always lived with my Champions as a kid.

Something that took my years to collect - I now have every Jes Goodwin Chaos Champion from the late 80s. They are my all-time favouorite miniatures range. At some point, I'll actually paint a few more...







The last two of those above are my favoutes. The second to last has Chestnut Ink on the gold armour, and I sitll have a little left in the pot. I loved the red I got on the last one, and I love the colour of the bone armour. This model was Graveyard Earth drybrushed over Black, then the original, less creamy Bleched Bone over that, I think. I think red and bone is a great colour combo anyway.

I just started painting these guys as allies for my Nighthaunt. See the influence?;



I love the models so far. They seem to combine the best of Oldhammer and newhammer, in my opinion. For the bone, I bought Instar Paints' Graveyard Earth equivalent. I expect to land up with a slightly warmer bone colour than the champion above, but only one of the skeletons even has a second layer of paint on the bone so far. I plan to bring the red up as close as possible to the red of the Chaos Champion above. I am going to use a lot of thin layers, washes and glazes to get the red as smooth and vibrant as possible.

Finally, I started playing around with some sculpting, though not much progress so far. I have the top half of the orginal Blood Bowl Minotaur but little chance of ever acquiring his legs. This might turn out as a Giant Spawn, or maybe a Daemon Prince...

Extra thick copper wire

A bit of green stuff

Foil from an Easter Egg

Grey Stuff

Lovely old school champs! Loved the warrior with the furry head-dress, and scythe guy is one of my favourite models - actually finishing up a version of him and his jezzail toting brother at the moment.

Interested to see how the sculpting turns out, it's a good start.

And great work with JB on the auction

Love those old Champions, man. Reminds me of rolling up warbands out of Slaves to Darkness.

 youwashock wrote:
...rolling up warbands out of Slaves to Darkness.

That was pretty much my favourite part of the hobby when I was twelve.

I loved rolling up random stuff. I think I used the other half of that very minotaur with sabre tooth tiger head.
Looking forward to seeing where you spawn thing goes!

Jes Goodwin's sculpts were always the best of the metal ranges.

CB

Cool collection of old metal, some of those flames look pretty good too! Layering Skeletons is a level of patience beyond me, well done! I think my brother had the old blood bowl Minotaur, it was a cool mini! I like the snake type lower half he’s getting so far. Good use of Easter egg foil too!

 monkeytroll wrote:
Lovely old school champs! Loved the warrior with the furry head-dress, and scythe guy is one of my favourite models - actually finishing up a version of him and his jezzail toting brother at the moment.

Interested to see how the sculpting turns out, it's a good start.

And great work with JB on the auction

I'd love to see those champs. I have an extra of the scythe guy that I look forward to painting, as well as my jezzail guy. Now I got those five out, it has made me excited about painting the rest of my collection. Maybe I should constantly have at least one Chaos Champion on the go, for when I feel like working on something special...

Well, as I've just finished them....



I have duplicates of the jezzail guy somewhere... And a scattering of various champs from back then waiting for some love and attention. Chaos has plenty of character back then - as stated by others, rolling warbands in StD was the biggest part of the hobby for my group

If you have a duplicate of the jezzail chap I'll happily exchange you a pile of nurgley bits for him. Or the tattered remnants of my soul, whatever.

I don't think I have a duplicate of the jezzail guy, but I will check later for you.


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 monkeytroll wrote:
Well, as I've just finished them....



I have duplicates of the jezzail guy somewhere... And a scattering of various champs from back then waiting for some love and attention. Chaos has plenty of character back then - as stated by others, rolling warbands in StD was the biggest part of the hobby for my group

They look bloody great. I've never seen them painted up as a pair like that to emphasise their similarities before.

Fifty wrote:I don't think I have a duplicate of the jezzail guy, but I will check later for you.


Lol apologies that was @MT. Honestly, all these folk holding Nurgle, it's mighty confusing