Hey everyone, new guy here. I've recently caught the bug again, and have been painting a Dark Elf army for fantasy. But, the bug got worse and I decided it would be a fun project to completely repaint an old space marine army I painted when I was a kid. Oh my, what have I gotten myself into. But I want to do it while spending as little money as possible. I know the new kits are awesome, but I don't want my wallet to hate me too bad...
I've got a random hodge-podge of old old guys, dating to the late 80s. Lots of beakies, including the original Rogue Trader plastic kit. I've got various other lead figures I bought back before the hobby was brought to its current standards and I was lucky to find anything at the one hobby shop in my city.
I've been using Pine-Sol to strip paint off the lead figures, and Simple Green to clean the plastic. My painting skills have gotten better since I was a teenager, and I also have quite a better set of tools and paints now, as well as patience. Back then, I would just slop paint on thickly, without even trying to thin it. Although I did try my best.
So here's a pic of what I'm working with, my whole army I managed to collect and paint from back in the day.
I was initially really into Dark Angels, then Blood Angels, then White Scars. I've played a few games with this force...and lost miserably! This time around, I'm going to buy some more tanks!
Here's my first squad, they're just going to be tactical marines and I've got 5 more or less done. I'm going all out this time, and naming each squad for maximum geekage. This one I've dubbed "primae."
The chapter I'm creating is going to feature a Jack-O-Lantern as their icon. Yeah not very characteristic of marines I know, but it does have the advantage of looking cool and being relatively easy to paint freehand. Not sure what I'll call them, I'm thinking either Halloween Marines or Octoberforce.
I'm going for a heavily weathered and war-torn, battle scarred look with these guys. I got out my Dremel and just went to town, gouging and scratching tear marks and battle damage, as well as bullet holes. Technically, with a date of 1987 on these lead figurines, they're by definition Venerable.
I'd love to hear any feedback and I'll be enjoying reading the other worklogs here!
They do bring back memories. I remember getting the Rogue Trader manual with the kit of marines it came with--it was unlike anything I'd seen before and totally sucked me in. I especially liked how back in those days everything was less defined, you kind of had to use your imagination a bit.
Here's some more pics!
Simple green bath time! These guys have actually been painted twice, so there's two layers of fairly thick paint built up on them. I tested the simple green out on some backpacks earlier, and it came off fairly well after about 4 hours and some vigorous scrubbing with a tooth brush.
These five will fill out this tactical squad, giving me a flamer and missile launcher. Are melta guns really worth the points? I only have one and haven't really got to use him.
Close up of the sarge. I really like this figure, very clean sculpting on him.
Marine with lots of bullet holes
Tomorrow I'm gonna finish up their backpacks, and if I get plenty of work done perhaps I can start on the next 5 guys to fill out this tactical squad.
In the hot hot world of competitive 40K, Meltaguns are all the rage, due to the increased survivability of Vehicles. 'mech' lists are very, very popular.
Well today was fairly productive. I cleaned the paint as best I could off some old plastic Rogue Trader beakies. I had really caked it on there, and had repainted them several times, so it was thickly layered and quite a job to remove it. Not that these figures are especially detailed, but I did want to remove as much as possible. The Simple Green works fairly well, but my glove tore and I got some on my thumb, dries your skin out pretty bad. It's non-toxic, at least.
Here's a shot of them assembled and more or less as clean as they'll ever get. I used my Dremel to rough them up, and create dings and scars on the armor, which makes them significantly less boring. Space Marines sure have come a LONG way since these guys were made.
Here's the basic paint job. Macharius Solar Orange, which is a rather nice paint, it dries fantastically with a very flat, almost chalky finish as opposed to that waxy finish many Citadel paints have. Is that the difference of the Citadel Foundation line?
I'm a fanatic for standard bearers, so every squad must have one! I drilled a small hole through this guy's hand, and will have him holding the flag pole.
And my first stage of washing is done. I use Bestial Brown diluted with Tamiya X-20A thinner. I love this thinner, I use it for practically everything. Makes any paint flow so nicely, and dry very thinly, preserving detail.
And lastly I picked up one of these today. I've been craving tanks, and the price was right on this one.
These guys are coming along nicely, I've totally caught the bug for painting marines!
I've been doing a lot of work on the bases, adding in scrap bits and wire and other random pieces to create my own little world for each base. I want to take the war-torn theme even further and make it look like they are advancing through a field of wreckage or blasted scrap metal, along with blackened earth and dead vegetation.
I've been experimenting with various types of flock and plants from model train set/diorama stuff. Some of it looks good, but some of it just really doesn't work for 40k models. At any rate, five models are done and I'll clear coat them and be ready for gaming!
Cloved-footed space marines...this is just a bizarre model, kind of cool.
Flamer unit beakie, I need to work on their weapons...
Bolters seem hard to get 'right.' I kind of want them to look like real world weapons, which are painted black and weather to silver. But everyone always paints space marine bolters like a silvery color. Not sure how I'll proceed with these.
Hey fellow painters! Last few weeks have been a frenzy of paint stripping, modelling, painting and fun! So much in fact I've barely stopped to take a breath!
So, this is quickly becoming more than a pet project...more like an obsession. I've completely stripped the paint off my old old Rogue Trader boxed set beakies. That was a pretty laborious process, as I had repainted them several times and quite crudely as a teenager. It also makes one hell of a mess, using a toothbrush causes paint flecks to go EVERYWHERE. And I'm doing it in my kitchen
I've managed to construct 3 full tactical squads from all my Rogue Trader era figures, which is cool. Some of them required a bit of creative modelling, as I was missing arms, bolters, heads etc. A few have more modern bolters and weapons. I've also done a fair amount of modelling on them, drilling in guitar string into the recesses behind their shoulder plates to create cables etc.
Also using the guitar string to insert into their heads to create bionic implants and weapon linkages. In keeping with the spirit of Space Marine artwork, I've tried to make the bionic implants as grotesque as possible! One guy even has a servo-skull wired into his head (an idea I kind of stole from some guy doing superb Space Hulk termies).
I've also purchased and painted 2 rhinos and a razorback. I want to have a fairly armored force and eventually I know I'll have to own one of each tank at least. I also have 2 more full tactical squads I can repaint, 10 assault marines, 8 terminators, 1 newish dread (made of pewter) and one OLD style dread made of lead, and an old style predator tank that I can repaint. I want to keep my costs down, as this is already getting out of hand. Anything I can repaint = less money I have to shell out!
Here's what all those old beakies looked like just after I finished stripping all the paint:
And another squad I've yet to paint:
So here's some pics of work so far, I finished up squad Primae and their transport:
And I've more or less finished 10 more tactical marines, I call them squad Grim!
Here's the Sarge, this guy has a servo-skull that I made from various pieces of wire, guitar string and other miscellaneous bits, the skull came from the old HeroQuest game from the early 90s. There was some guy on here posting some amazing Space Hulk models and he totally inspired me to give this a whirl.
This is my favorite tank so far, the dozer blade turned out real well. It was leftover bit from an old Chimera kit my friend gave me. On this rhino I've gone a little experimental, utilizing the dozer blade and the hunter-killer missile. I've no idea if either are good or not, and it will make the tank fairly expensive, but I love the way it looks!
The antennae are made of heavy-gauge guitar string, and there are many bits from various Tamiya 1/35th scale tanks on both these rhinos.
Now I'm thinking about stripping the paint off this old predator and remodelling it. I initially had modelled this as a looted Ork predator, but lost any interest in painting and collecting Orks:
Problem with this model though, is that it, well, sucks. It's just wimpy looking, and nowhere near as detailed as the modern predator. I could buff the armor up with sheet styrene, and sort of "cool it up" with bits, but still it's just kind of a lame ol' duck. However, it would save me about 40 bucks if I used this instead of buying a new one...
And last pic...this is the pile of unbuilt models I've been accumulating. I'm starting to think this is an obsession. I'm always looking at more models I'd like to buy, and outside of warhammer stuff I do LOVE Japanese mech kits. I've also got a Dark Elf army that I've been working on, but has been put on hold due to my space marine painting frenzy!
This hobby is its own peculiar kind of madness, isn't it? I suppose it beats wasting your time watching TV or playing video games, I mean at least you have something to show for your time and hard work.
Anyways, love to hear any comments or suggestions!
Hey, don't dis' the Classic Predator! (I have four!)
Your army looks awesome. I absolutely love the theme. I've been waiting literally years to see someone make orange look good on marines, and you seem to have managed it almost effortlessly!
Fifty wrote:Hey, don't dis' the Classic Predator! (I have four!)
Your army looks awesome. I absolutely love the theme. I've been waiting literally years to see someone make orange look good on marines, and you seem to have managed it almost effortlessly!
Hey thanks man! I love orange think it's my favorite color, and I looked and looked at the various codices and noticed there are no orange Space Marines, so thought I'd take a stab at it. Did you do anything to your preds? I was thinking of making new sponsons and downgrading from lascannons to heavy bolters, using the leftover heavy bolters from my razorback kit.
You can see one of them in the blog of my sig. I am just about to go outside and finish undercoating it. That one has been converted into a Baal Predator - Assault Cannons and Heavy Bolters. The other three need stripping and repainting, but are currently in the classic Autocannon/Lascannon configuration. I'll probably keep them like that and use them as the Heavy Backbone of my Astral Claws army.
Alrighty got some updates here! I've more or less finished a razorback, just needs some detailing at this point. I'm going for the extreme weathering/damage on all my vehicles, I've decided. I've got a land raider crusader/redeemer in the queue, which I think I'll build as the redeemer.
I've got the bits to assemble 10 assault marines, which I will give the redeemer to as a transport. I do have 8 termies which I could put in a land raider crusader, but they're tactical termies and perhaps better suited to a shooting role.
And I've finished converting 6 Sternguard from various older lead figures and bits, some in Mk 7 armor and some in the rare Mk 8! I couldn't be more pleased with how they're looking. I gave them all combi weapons with bolters from the devastator squad, and imperial guard flamers all of which I picked up for a few bucks off eBay. Also added in various shoulder pads, grenades and pouches and purity seals to give them that 'veteran' look. One guy has a heavy flamer from a terminator that works out pretty good I think.
I've been wanting to do dioramas and fun stuff like that, so I stopped wanting and started doing. I took an old useless board, covered it with spackle mixed with sand and painted it. Kind of a barren planet or moonscape I think. I'm mainly using this to photograph my models, with background paintings from some sci fi artbooks I have. I'd eventually like to try my hand as a matte artist and see what I can whip up, but for now this looks pretty cool I think.
Here's some glamour shots of my tactical squads:
This guy is just a solid vintage citadel model, really one of my favorites:
I'm assuming this guy got shot and dropped his bolter, pulling out his bolt pistol in a last desperate attempt to kill the enemy!
Yes, that's a Chapter Approved Space Marine Tactical Field Handbag. I wanted it to look like he was carrying a satchel or something useful, but it does look like a ladies' handbag!
Here's a preview of my Sternguard, with their dedicated razorback transport in the background:
And a closeup of the razorback, nearly completed!
Ok so that Predator I have, well I gave it the Simple Green treatment and I'm slowly working it up, added a hunter killer missile and hatch spare from a rhino kit. I kind of want to build custom sponsons for it and use the leftover heavy bolter bits from my razorback kit, mainly because it would be cheaper than the lascanon sponsons, which double the cost of the tank. The old lascanons are also somewhat interpretive, as they don't look like the new stuff.
And lastly, I haven't been getting as much work done as I'd like to due to this game!
And yeah I built that computer, too. I should post some better pics of it, it's a complete warhammer 40k computer mod.
risewiththefallen wrote:Really cool exept the one beakie looks like his hands and face are melted. It could have been the angle or I'm just dumb lol.
I think he's supposed to look like he got shot...but the quality of the lead these guys are composed of isn't all that consistent. Some of the details are pretty bad.
Anyways, been working on these guys I've now finished 6 sternguard and their lascannon razorback and 90% done with my dreadnought. I'll have to get some pics up when I have more time, though.
Next will be 10 assault marines and their land raider redeemer transport. I think I'll buy a Chaplain with jump pack to be the HQ for my army, but I've also got a couple rogue trader era librarians, a terminator librarian and several captains I could repaint for free. And I also kind of want to get Pedro Cantor as my HQ cause he seems like a badass. I'm not really sure!
What does make a good HQ choice for codex marines? You only get one right, so I can't have a librarian and a chapter master and a chaplain all at once can I?
This thread is so awesome, old miniatures are fantastic, especially Rogue Trader era stuff. The new paint-jobs are incredible, so much character! You've really refreshed the plastic beakies and made them really very exciting personalities. the battle-damage is particularly attractive. Keep on cranking, definitely want to see more of the classics!
Ok I've got a few more classics here that have been refurbished and reborn as Sternguard.
These are some Mk.8 and Mk.7 figures from the early 90s, and I dressed em up with various bits procured from eBay. Lots of purity seals, decorative pauldrons and combi flamers. I call them squad Pyro since they mainly have flamers. The Sergeant is actually a captain, but I've given him a demotion along with a new paintjob!
Heavy flamer arm from a terminator!
Mk.8 'errant' armor with its neckbrace...pretty cool looking IMO.
This guy has an extra plastic head from a rhino kit, I had to drill into the lead figures neck quite a bit to properly seat it, but I think it turned out well.
And the Sergeant:
These guys have a dedicated Razorback transport, which I love and want to make another similar squad and razorback.
Ready for battle!
I've also finished repainting a dreadnought, but needs some finishing touches on the base. Current project is 10 assault marines, which took a bit of work since their weapons were all non-standard/illegal...guys dual wielding power swords etc. This squad will also have a land raider redeemer dedicated transport, which I'm rather looking forward to building!
Great painting, great concept. I personally don't like weathering all that much. But with Marines, I am going to play Ultramarines, and they are so regimented that the tanks would gleam
Thanks guys. I've really got to work on playing, as I've only played two 5th edition games and both were horrendous, epic defeats lol. I don't know the rules very well, or tactics. Hopefully I'll do ok. It sounds like there are some units and tactics that are essential, and some that are useless. But then again there is an element of luck and thinking outside the box, too.
I'm not super competitive and I don't want to game with rules lawyers or people who only care about winning. I wanna have a good time, make some friends in the hobby and admire other people's painted armies.
Been a while since I updated this. I've actually made a lot of progress, but I just haven't taken any new pics, so here's a few.
I made a bin to transport my army, since they're all magnetized, even the tanks, they all stick firmly to this piece of metal. Really nice way to move them around.
And now I've been working lately on my land raider redeemer. It's a very cool looking tank but I'm having some second thoughts on it and am wondering if I shouldn't have made the crusader instead. Giant flame throwers sounded cool, but bolters might have been better in practice. I won't know for sure until I play more.
I had some seriously bad luck on my first game with this army, and an eldar vehicle destroyed my redeemer with a lucky roll on turn 1.
But anyways, here's a few pics of it.
I'm trying something new with this model, something I've been reading about on modelling forums. And that is using oils on top of the acrylics. I've seen some amazing paint jobs on real world tank models on various sites, with incredibly detailed and realistic weathering and I'm discovering that this effect is typically achieved with oil paints, like the kind you use to paint a picture.
So I've been experimenting with them, not only to create effects of rust, dirt, scorch marks etc, but also to vary the base color of the model, to kind of glaze it and see what sort of finish I can achieve. It might look bad or could look awesome.
In this pic you can see a few spots where I was laying down some test spots of oils, just to see what it looks like. So far I rather like it, as they spread very easily, and you can wipe them off if you make a mistake.
So I've neglected this thread for a while now, but I certainly haven't been idle. I've been working on my army for a while now and thought I'd post pics of the troops and units I've painted. I've been gaming with it a few times as well and I'm still learning how to use it effectively....which can be challenging!
I've also gotten into Malifaux recently and painted up an Ortega gunslinger crew and a desperate mercenary. Those figures were kind of a pain to assemble, but I had a lot of fun painting them and playing the game! I'll definitely be buying more malifaux and playing it often.
And finally I've returned to what got me back into miniature painting after a 10+ yr hiatus: Dark Elves. See, back in October, I got entranced by the idea of a massive Dark Elf army for fantasy battles. Since it was October, I thought having a pumpkin as their icon would be fun and as well as just having a general halloween theme.
I worked hard on the battalion boxed set, and painted a few units up complete with custom built magnetized movement trays and the works. However, I then started eyeballing the boxes of old Space Marine figures I had. These figures weren't especially well painted as I did most of them as a teenager.
I painted up one lone unpainted lead figure as a joke, continuing with the halloween/pumpkin theme. I decided that orange Space Marines looked cool and then the sickness took hold fully, and here I am, on nearly a year-long tangent of repainting old Space Marines and buying new stuff. Pure madness!
Now I'll come full circle and finish the Dark Elf army, I think, while simultaneously collecting more Space Marine stuff and Malifaux. If I get really crazy I may even give WarMachine a try, since everyone at my club seems to be playing it all the time.
Anyways, on to the pics! Some of these are a bit blurry, apologies...
Assault Terminator Squad "brute"
This was an amazingly fun kit to build and I did some experimentation with the paint job. The highlights are actually done with oil paints thinned down with distilled turpentine. I find that it blends extremely well and lets the base coat of citadel acrylics remain visible, adding to the overall tone. Takes damn near forever to dry, though.
Assault Terminator Squad "brute"
Assault Terminator Squad "brute" and dedicated transport
The land raider was also painted over almost entirely with oil paints after the acrylics had set.
Dreadnought "bob"
repaint of the original pewter dreadnought from mid 90s.
Assault Marine Squad "mortis"
refurbished pewter tactical marines with jump packs from eBay.
Assault Marine Squad "mortis"
Tactical Marine Squad "primae"
Tactical Marine Squad "primae"
Tactical Marine Squad "grim"
Tactical Marine Squad "grim"
Sternguard Veteran Squad "pyro"
Ortega Gunslingers crew for Malifaux
I love the look of these minis and had fun painting them. They also kick ass in the game!
Dark Elf War Hydra
This model has been sitting on a shelf primered for many months. Finally decided to paint it up!
Dark Elf Cold One Knights
This kit here is what started it all, my re-introduction to painting miniatures after 10+ years. A very fun and challenging kit and it took me several weeks to complete.
Hey thanks, I wanted to paint up something simple as a backdrop--I LOVE world building! Yeah I kind of messed up those pics...I zoomed in from a distance instead of putting the camera closer. There's a lot of detail that I didn't capture there so I'll see if I can get some pics posted before I leave for the Canadian wilderness for a month.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Well putting the camera up close is definitely the way to go.
Here's some much better pics...
Malifaux:
Ortega Clan
Perdita Ortega:
Francisco:
Santiago:
Nino:
Papa Loco:
Desperate Mercenary 2:
And some better pics of my Land Raider Redeemer, Terminator sgt and Dreadnought:
Cyberskull is scratch built
I love these extra large bases for dreadnoughts etc, it's like a diorama!
Automatically Appended Next Post: Quick question: drop pods - worth it or not?
Well it's been nearly a month and I've made some progress. I've bought a thunderfire cannon (absolutely one of the hardest, quirkiest, pain in the ass models I've ever seen from GW) and am working on painting it up. Played a game with it too, and it seemed like a decent unit.
I've also just basecoated another 10 marine tactical squad, and painted an old school librarian in power armor.
And keeping with my focus of recycling old models I already own, I've completely refurbished and remodeled the original style Predator model, complete with magnetized heavy bolter sponsons and autocannon, with many extra bits.
Lastly, I scored a land speeder cheap off ebay, and bought a vindicator tank for next month.
I will have no problem fielding 2500 pts now.
Also used all the random, homeless models I had to create a rough draft of a 5 man vanguard veteran squad.
Haven't got anything done on my dark elves, nor malifaux.
I did however acquire 3 starter kits for warmachine: the protectorate, cyrx and khador I think, plus the card decks, for not a lot of money. =)
Also, on a lark, I stripped and repainted several Eldar models that were lying at the bottom of my bits box, and repainted them in a very militaristic, desert-themed style. I've always wanted to see Eldar painted differently than the traditional colors.
Well I finally got around to uploading the pics. I'm at work in Canada, so I wont be able to work on my army for a month.
Here's some pics!
Librarian:
This is an OLD model here, mid 80s perhaps? Still relevant though, and he will be playable.
Tactical Squad:
This will be the third tactical squad, mostly (~85%) composed of the original Rogue Trader plastic marine boxed set. I was missing many arms, guns and heads, so there was a little bit of substitution from other models going on here. This squad will field a missile launcher, plasma gun and Sgt. has a storm bolter.
Vanguard Veterans:
I've always loved the idea of elite close combat marines, but have been hesitant based on the many negative comments here on this site and others concerning them. But, who gives a crap? I'm gonna make some anyways, out of various pieces and bits I have. I still need jump packs, and I saw another cool thread here where a guy magnetized the backpacks, so he could swap them out. I like that, gives you some options.
This build I have here would be fairly expensive, and the jump packs would make them even more so. Might not get much actual game use, but they will sure look cool!
Predator Destructor:
Had this tank for ages. Originally I had painted it as looted Ork tank. Then, I stripped the paint off it and restored it as best as possible to its original state. After letting it sit that way in a box for many months, thinking of ways I could beef it up and make it look good, I finally came up with this after a bit of inspiration. I'm pleased with the results.
There are many pieces from many different kits here, including mecha, tanks, sheet styrene, wires, guitar string. I decided to not go for the original lascannons that came with the model, due to their ambiguity (and points cost). So, the heavy bolters were leftovers from a razorback kit I built, along with the hunter killer missile. I'm especially happy with the turret detail and can't wait to give it a filthy, muddy, war-torn paint job!
I've done some more work on my predator, given it a basecoat of macarius solar orange and then given it an oil-based wash from AK interactive products. That stuff works REAL nice, highly recommended.
I did some work on the tracks, mainly I thought they looked wimpy and basic:
So I simply overlaid them with some rubber tracks from a Tamiya M113 Vietnam era APC:
Here's some of the details on the front. Note the terminator codpieces.
Some details on the top:
Close up of the turret and cyber skull. I love the way the oil-based wash works, gives such amazing definition to every detail:
Here's a little glamour shot:
And lastly a pic of the old paint job I'd given it. It was supposed to be an Ork looted tank.
Ok, also been hard at work on completing a 3rd ten man tactical squad. Unfortunately most of the pics I took of them turned out bad...out of focus and stuff. Ill have to work on that later. Also have more or less finished a thunderfire cannon, assembled but haven't painted a demolisher cannon.
Finally I have another 10 man squad that I'm going to re-purpose as assault marines and an experimental squad that I'll convert into vanguard vets. And then there's my old-ass lead terminators, 8 in number. They're near and dear to me and will be a squad of deep strilke tactical termies, unless I decide to get another land raider...god the sickness!!!
Briancj wrote:Lordy, that Predator is a work of art. Amazing work on updating the RT-era model!
--B.
Thanks bud! It's been fun making use of old bits I've collected to upgrade that tank.
I've already played a game with it and it performed well. I'm so stoked I'm going home today
From a month in the Canadian wilderness...ive been jonesing for some
Painting and gaming!
Really excellent and inspiring army. The restoration of the Pred is great. The Dread is awesome, and the weathering in general. Great Land Raider. Probably my favorite is the Sternguard squad and the Sgt/Captain. That's an outstanding old model, and you've given him a suitably great paintjob.
Seriously, great weathering work. How do you do all the different brown and black stains? It's not just citadel washes I presume?
And I think the old predator looks ace, no need to fancy it up.
Actually I have used 100% citadel washes until I switched to the AK-Interactive oil-based wash. I primarily use Devlan Mud thinned down with Tamiya X20-A thinner, and occasionally black wash.
tkrettler91 wrote:have you been planning on this for a year now because i know i takes me a while to paint this much stuff let alone a month or two before a holiday
Yup I started painting this army last October.
@ Almarine
That was the very first guy I painted in this livery, so the technique was a little different. I wasn't using the standardized process I've streamlined now. I think on that figure I spent quite a lot of time shading with various browns and blacks and then highlighting with very thinned down paint to bring out the flat surfaces. I wasn't using devlan mud at that point.
@ Laney
Thanks bud!
Automatically Appended Next Post: Well it's good to be home, and even better to be doing some serious hobbying! I've assembled and primed a Vindicator tank and contemptor pattern dreadnought, both of which are totally awesome looking models. That Contemptor really towers over everything and will be a centerpiece of my army. I plan on fielding it as a venerable dreadnought or regular dread, and have magnetized the arms so I can switch to something else if I feel like it.
Here's the contemptor with my new (old lead!!) termie librarian for scale:
Also, I've been interested in the idea of a diorama/enclosure/display case for my army, and finally decided to do something about it. About a hundred bucks later, here's what I've built:
It has built in fluorescent lighting, and I'm going to paint a backdrop image for it, as well as sculpted terrain that matches the bases of my army:
I decided rather than simply paint the square box as the backdrop, I should make it curve and wrap around to better make an immersive world for the army, and after scouring home depot for a cheap material to do this, I figured for sale signs etc would work best.
I've gorilla glued them in and there is some seams but hopefully it won't be too obvious when I paint it up:
I'm using insulation foam to sculpt the terrain, and this will be a challenge to get right. I'm also trying to decide if I want to use some chicken wire and plaster of paris on top to further the ground work, or simply go with the foam. My whole army is magnetized, so they'll stick to the chicken wire if I decide to go that route.
Cave_Dweller wrote:
That was the very first guy I painted in this livery, so the technique was a little different. I wasn't using the standardized process I've streamlined now. I think on that figure I spent quite a lot of time shading with various browns and blacks and then highlighting with very thinned down paint to bring out the flat surfaces. I wasn't using devlan mud at that point.
Well I really like the effect, he looks extremely down to business. The predator turned out gorgeous too, missed it last post.
I've done some more work on my display case, mainly just put the basics of a background in and some preliminary sculpting of the terrain. I used oil paints, which I instantly regretted due to how frigging long they take to dry. Weeks, literally. I use oils quite a lot now on all my models, as you can get some subtle effects that aren't really do-able with acrylics only. But the main drawback is the extreme drying time.
Also basecoated my Contemptor. It sure is an awesome model, although hideously expensive.
Traveling at the moment, anchorage and then off to Canada for a month (gonna be cold!). But, I did get in a fair amount of work done. Anymore it seems like I have modeling ADHD...juggling several models and projects all at once.
So, I've more or less completed my display case and will post some pics of it soon as I download them from my camera. Also base coated my vindicator and played a game with it and the predator. They're both kick ass tanks! The vindicator destroyed a dreadnought with a shot that deviated fortuitously and the predator laid down a withering hail of fire and killed several terminators. I'd seriously consider getting another vindicator after seeing how powerful they are.
I also put a heavy oil wash over the contemptor and it's looking good. Haven't used it in a game yet...I have too many elites to choose from now I think. I'm also gonna buy a plasma cannon and auto cannon for it, as that seems like a slam dunk load out. Might also get dual auto cannons for my old lead dreadnought from forge world or other alternatives.
Lastly, in curiosity for the new necron releases I bought a kit of warriors, mainly just to have something different to paint. Painting so much orange does get tedious. I'm painting it in a desert khaki scheme and think I've got a pic of it to post later.
Stuck in Red Lake, ON, due to weather so thought I'd download those pics!
Here's the foam cut to the basic terrain layout.
Next I soaked paper towels in plaster of paris and laid them over the foam.
I added quite a lot more plaster of paris and eventually brushed sand and white glue over the whole thing and painted it with polly-S railroad acrylics
The paint ended up cracking quite badly over the entire thing! I guess it soaked into the plaster, which wasn't fully dry. I was kind of rushing the whole thing. But, it does sort of work as mud cracks, so it's not a disaster.
To hide the cracks and add more depth I applied a heavy wash of a polly-s paint called black oil or something like that, which surprise surprise, has a subtle oily sheen. It's actually quite a nice color. Also added some fires and smoke clouds in the background with artist oils.
Here's the case with my army displayed!
Did some more work on the Predator as well, mainly decals.
Slapped a hasty basecoat and wash on the Vindicator before I left home. That tank is sweet.
Gave the same treatment to the Contemptor. Can't wait to use it in some games!
This army has a great character to it. I love the old school models takes me back to when I first got into the hobby at the start of 2nd edition. Really really likethe Army case as well. Brilliant idea expertly executed.
Biohazard wrote:This army has a great character to it. I love the old school models takes me back to when I first got into the hobby at the start of 2nd edition. Really really likethe Army case as well. Brilliant idea expertly executed.
Thanks! Already kind of wishing I'd made the case larger, as I ve many more models to strip, refurbish and repaint. And I'm tempted to just keep expanding it to apocalypse point levels.
Wow, this is looking really great, and seems to be a very fun army. That case is great, really like the idea of making the backdrop and a complete environment for them.
@grimteef Thanks! It's been a lot of fun and a real obsession even. Also, your avatar is moderately disturbing, lol
Ok, so got some decent pics finally of my third tactical squad, Squad Bane! These guys are primarily Rogue Trader era beakies, with parts I had to salvage from other marine generations to complete the models. Squad fields missile launcher, plasma gun and sgt with power fist.
This guy is a reference to some of the illustrations in the original Rogue Trader manual, which depict quite grotesque space marines with ugly scars and bionics. I suppose nothing has really changed with the art in that regard! I wanted him to look like he has some kind of needlessly complex breathing apparatus.
Plasma gunner. And yes, it's a GREAT idea to plug your gun sights directly into your eye socket!
Poor quality shot of sgt with power fist, and the missile launcher. I got lazy with this missile launcher and neglected to add the yellow and black warning stripes, but I still think it looks cool.
Also, here's a decent shot of my thunderfire cannon and techmarine. There's still more weathering and paint chipping work to be done on them, as well as clear coating. I experimented with mixing flour into my paint to create the chunky mud.
This guy is just a solid vintage citadel model, really one of my favorites:
+1 , one of my all time favourites. I wish they would do a newer version of this, but I think the Jes Goodwin era Marines are anatomically so over the top and oversized this pose could never be recreated. I think this model is as close as you get to the one above.
I love your blog, for no other reason that the whole thing is a wallow in nostalgia, I even had a memory recall that trigger a smell memory earlier, it was like I went back 20 years to my pokey kids room.
mwnciboo wrote:This guy is just a solid vintage citadel model, really one of my favorites:
+1 , one of my all time favourites. I wish they would do a newer version of this, but I think the Jes Goodwin era Marines are anatomically so over the top and oversized this pose could never be recreated. I think this model is as close as you get to the one above.
I love your blog, for no other reason that the whole thing is a wallow in nostalgia, I even had a memory recall that trigger a smell memory earlier, it was like I went back 20 years to my pokey kids room.
Briancj wrote:This plog is such fun, I can't even begin to describe it. GREAT display case!
Thanks guys! Those comments really made my day! It's been a lot of fun for me to dig all this out of my parent's basement and totally rejuvenate them. I've still got the kit of 8 lead terminators, 10 lead tactical marines to be reborn as assault marines, and 5 vanguard veterans to do as well. I've also been working on making 4 of my own servitors, with heavy bolter and plasma cannon. I'm not sure I'd ever use them in a game, but they could be a fun modelling project.
I do like those Sternguard, and think I might want to get that kit and another razorback to go with them. I'm a little torn between continuing to expand this army, or build a new one. Maybe a little bit of both.
I bought a Necron warrior kit, as I've wanted a new army that isn't Space Marines or something everyone else plays. But, I can't honestly say they really draw me in. Eldar are also appealing, but not as appealing as Imperial Guard and their awesome tanks. I could really see myself building a killer IG army with heavy tanks. But, they're also a bit overplayed, no?
Anyway, I discovered you could change how the forum sizes your pics, so I re-did some of my posts so the pics are bigger. Also made a better pic of the display case!
On a whim I started experimenting with a set of Necron warriors. The new release of Necrons has kind of got me wanting another army...but if I'm gonna do necrons I don't want to paint them the same way everyone else does.
I was thinking of a kind of khaki/desert theme, with heavy weathering and rusting all over them, which while not in line with the living metal fluff, would look cool IMO. Also, I would deviate from the glowing green lights and circuitry things for a more solid mechanical look. So, this guy is mainly a test model. I also painted over the green plastic thing in the gun cause it doesn't look so hot.
What do you all think? ?The base definitely needs work...and the model is still unfinished.
I'm very impressed by the finished display case!! Nice work! If I didn't move every 2-3 years, your example would tempt me to build my own.
I also liked the beaky marine squad. Too bad GW doesn't put more of those heads in their plastic kits.
Good luck with the Necrons. I favor IG myself because I like building and painting humans and armored vehicles. It's easy to motivate myself to work on them. Necrons not so much (my daughter has a small army of them which is about to get bigger).
I'm very impressed by the finished display case!! Nice work! If I didn't move every 2-3 years, your example would tempt me to build my own.
I also liked the beaky marine squad. Too bad GW doesn't put more of those heads in their plastic kits.
Good luck with the Necrons. I favor IG myself because I like building and painting humans and armored vehicles. It's easy to motivate myself to work on them. Necrons not so much (my daughter has a small army of them which is about to get bigger).
Yeah I think I might enjoy a IG army more, as painting the vehicles would be lots of fun and you could make each soldier a personality, whereas with the necrons that's much harder
Well, been ordering some stuff up for Christmas! That's gonna be a MKIC Deimos Rhino from Forge World, with dozer blade and twin-linked assault cannon from bitspudlo! I was tempted to get the heavy flamer turret, but twin linked assault cannons are just so much more fun!
Should make a pretty sweet razorback!
Also from bitspudlo I ordered the demons of pleasure, which I would like to convert into harpies for my dark elf army. The GW harpies are just plain craptastic looking and I was rather impressed by these figures:
Also bought the flak cannon from him, which I'm gonna use to modify my old dreadnought into a rifleman. I've had absolutely zero luck with the multimelta and the poor thing has never once gotten to even fire its weapons, let alone crush something with the close combat weapon. It always gets destroyed by turn 2 in every game. I'm hoping to swap it to an anti-infantry role and keep it as a rear guard unit behind cover. These will make nice autocannons to magnetize, and I'll also magnetize the current arms to give me plenty of options!
Speaking of dreadnoughts, from Forge World I also ordered up a plasma cannon and autocannon arm for my Contemptor. I'm thinking with this combo, and having it 'count-as' a venerable dreadnought, it might indeed kick some ass paired with the other dreadnought as anti-infantry specialists.
This autocannon arm will require a bit of converting to get it to fight right, as there isnt currently an autocannon made for the contemptor. Hopefully anyone I game against isn't gonna bitch about it not being the typical left arm autocannon scenario.
Wow this is an awesome blog. Too bad I only found it after the project's end. I will subscribe as I'm interested to see what you do next. Are there more Marines in the future?
Flying Pooo wrote:Wow this is an awesome blog. Too bad I only found it after the project's end. I will subscribe as I'm interested to see what you do next. Are there more Marines in the future?
And nice Necron I love that scheme.
Thank you my friend. Rest assured this blog is far from over and I have many more models to repaint and I'm sure I'll buy more. That armored proteus land raider from Forge World would make a nice ride for my old school lead terminators.
@Olenos
Thanks for the comments. I can't wait to paint up the contemptor and vindi as well. The vindi really performed well in the one game I played with it, and I have high hopes for that Contemptor!
Aeroroot wrote:Looking good! Are you going to paint the eyes of that contemptor dread?
Good question. I paint all my marine helmet eyes black and then coat them with a gloss coat after, which gives a subtle but nice effect. On this dread though, glowing red eyes with a white helmet would look cool. I'm not very well versed in making glowing effects yet, so this could be a good time to experiment.
Well I got my forge world stuff only there's a big problem with the contemptor autocannon...it's limp like a wet noodle! Seriously the resin is crap and not fully solid. Hope they will replace it.
Also the hull of my Deimos rhino is slightly bent but I think I can fix it.
So I've really been slacking on my hobby lately. Had the last two weeks off and I pretty much played skyrim solid. Man, that's a fun game.
Played a 2000 pts game vs. tyranids and that was quite a learning experience. It's the first time I've gone up against monstrous creatures and other very dangerous units. I'm a little unclear as to exactly what units I faced, as they have a myriad of upgrades and ways they can be customized.
Anyway, I pretty much got owned. My vindi got taken out early but my land raider redeemer scored some kills with its flame storm cannons. Unfortunately, the assault terminators and librarian hq were utterly decimated by the tyranids hq. swarm lord or something. My sternguard actually scored some decent kills with their combi flamers and heavy flamer.
Best units overall were my contemptor dreadnought with assault cannon and my predator destructor, which laid down a withering hail of fire and killed a unit of zoanthropes before they could get into range. The thunderfire cannon also really shined at taking down gaunts guarding an objective.
I think if I'd kept hammering his gaunts with the thunderfire cannon and concentrated my firepower on his monstrous creatures one at a time I might have faired better. Also, I need more las cannons. I'm thinking about buying the devastators kits and making 2 las cannon guys to place with my tactical squads, or perhaps multi meltas. Stuff to give me some real heavy firepower to take down heavies.
Another battle report with my army, tonight at 2000 pts vs. a combined space marines and tau army of 2000 pts. I tried out a few new things in this battle including some new sniper scouts I just painted up...pics to come! Also some new dreadnought configurations, going all out ranged with no dccw.
My list was:
HQ: Terminator librarian and Pedro Cantor
Troops:
5 scouts with sniper rifle and missile launcher, plus camo cloaks.
10 tactical marines with missile launcher, melta and powerfist in a rhino
10 tactical marines with missile launcher, flamer. I was intending to combat squad them and place 5 into a razorback armed with twin linked lascannon and hunter-killer missile, and have the other 5 with missile launcher stay back.
Elites:
Dreadnought with 2x twin linked autocannon
Dreadnought with plasma cannon and tlac
5 assault terminators with thunder hammers and storm shield, lead by terminator librarian, riding in a land raider redeemer with multi-melta and hunter-killer missile.
Fast attack:
10 assault marines with power sword
Heavy Support:
Predator destructor with heavy bolter sponsons and hunter-killer missile
Vindicator with hunter-killer missile and siege shield
My buddies' force was tau and space marines from the tau battleforce box plus proxies and AOBR space marines with a few new units.
Space marines:
AoBR set
Predator annihilator with lascannon sponsons, heavy bolter and hunter-killer missile
devastator squad with heavy bolter, plasma cannon, lascannon, multi-melta and sgt with signum.
Tau:
Battleforce set
3 stealth suits with fusion blasters and plasma weapon of some kind
4 old Heavy Gear mecha proxied in as 2 tau broadside units of 2 each full upgrades.
We rolled for an annihilate mission, and the pitched battle deployment. In hindsight this wasn't so good as we were playing on a small area...my kitchen table which is small (3x5 ft). Scenery wise, all I have is lots of nice rocks and mineral specimens, a few trees and random old model railroad stuff. It's not the best but far from the worst!
I kinda got my friends into the hobby after them watching me paint up my army, so they're all jazzed up and painting away and learning the game. We've only played a few times and none of us are good at the game or fully understand all the rules, so playing beer and pretzels games like this is kinda fun but sometimes it gets frustrating with all of us constantly digging through manuals every turn. You need friggin flash cards for this game and we often make rules mistakes.
Anyway, they played a combined turn together and got the initiative. Set up wise, this battle was gonna be a slaughter with so much ranged weaponry stacked in prime killing range on turn 1. Turn 1 would be critical to gain the advantage.
Turn 1:
Space marines went first, and immediately destroyed my lascannon on the razorback, as well as stunning the crew with heavy fire from the predator annihilator. There went Pedro's ride! The rifleman dreadnought lost one of his arms from the melta on the AoBR dread. Marines did some bad shooting.
The Tau also faired well, the heavy firepower of the broadside proxies destroying my vindi before it could get into first gear, as well as killing a scout who wasn't in cover in the resulting explosion! Their stealth suit unit and HQ crisis suit opened fire on the land raider, but found their shots did nothing to its heavy armor, and jumped to safety during the assault phase.
My marines were shaken by the ferocity of the opening salvo, but were undaunted as they rushed forward. The plasma cannon mounted on the dreadnought slew 3 of the devastators in a single blast, reducing the squad to the sgt and plasma cannon marine. Definitely hard to lose so many awesome heavy weapons in one go like that! The land raider advanced at combat speed in order to shoot at the tau broadside proxies with its assault cannon, but failed to do any damage but did manage to incinerate 4 kroot instantly with its flamestorm sponson. Nice! My rhino with 10 tactical marines advanced at full speed in order to fire its melta from the hatch, and popped smoke.
I decided to keep my predator stationary and fire all its weapons, which was a good idea as I scored a wound on the Tau HQ.
Kill points:
Tau/marines: 1
Octoberforce: 0
Turn 2:
Kroot advanced as well as the devilfish, which fired a few shots but didn't do any damage. The marines did well, destroying my rifleman dreadnought and immobilizing the razorback as well as destroying it's storm bolter, rendering it completely useless for the rest of the game, but not getting a kp for it. Unless razorbacks can self repair? I know rhinos can, not sure about razorbacks. Marine player also got lucky with a terminator deep strike near my tactical marines!
A few tactical marines with Pedro died to fire from the tactical terminators and the tau HQ claimed one of my assault marines with its blaster.
During my phase, I moved my land raider forward again but made the tactical blunder of popping its smoke launcher too early. This prevented me from firing it's weapons and was a potentially costly mistake. I advanced my rhino at combat speed and shot with the melta from the top, but missed. Scouts did some ineffective shooting and my remaining dreadnought did no damage.
Assault marines were in position and engaged the tau HQ in close combat, scoring a wound. Desperately the HQ tried to use his jetpack to escape, but failed and was forced to fight!
My predator did better however, opening fire with all its guns and killing a broadside. Some shooting from my tactical squad with pedro managed to kill a few enemy marines.
Kill points:
Tau/marines: 2
Octoberforce: 0
Turn 3:
Marines managed to destroy my last dreadnought with the predator annihilator, also killing a tactical marine nearby from the massive explosion! Devastators did some ineffective shooting with the plasma cannon, as well as the now rapidly advancing terminators lead by a space marine captain. The AoBR dread was stunned by a lucky shot from the scout missile launcher, which was a help but definitely not the satisfying explosion we all want.
The advanced tau sensors on the broadside suits picked my rhino out from its primitive smoke screen and heavy railgun fire easily wrecked it, forcing the tacticals out, who were then assaulted by about 8 kroot with a shaper. Unfortunately for the kroot, they found it hard to crack the tough orange powered armor warriors and lost 4 in the melee with the shaper taking a wound from the powerfist.
The tau commander tried to use his jet pack to escape again, but failed and was slain by the assault marines, who took full advantage of their consolidation move to position themselves for the next assault. He also retreated one of his broadsides to more cover after the horror of witnessing his commander cut down.
Meanwhile, I was desperately trying to avoid a close combat with the AoBR terminators, so forced my other tacticals with pedro to run during their shooting phase, which was probably a good move as the terminators would have most likely decimated them.
Kill points:
tau/marines: 4
octoberforce: 1
Turn 4:
Dice rolling went to utter crap for the marine player this turn, failing to do any shooting damage at all and merely advance. He did assault Pedro's squad of tacticals with his dreadnought and killed a few. Lucky for me but I do feel a bit bad for laughing so hard at someone rolling nothing but 1s and 2s on their shooting.
Tau also suffered heavy losses, losing their team of 3 stealth suits to a well-rolled assault marine advance, who again positioned themselves during their consolidation to engage the fire warriors during their next turn. The fight with the tactical marines and kroot was a bloodbath, with the wounded kroot shaper the only survivor, who somehow managed to retreat. Tactical marines were now positioned to assault the unit of 2 broadsides nearby.
Did more ineffective shooting with the scouts and land raider at the devilfish, which the tau player used to block my land raiders path. I couldn't ram it as I wasn't moving fast enough, and due to poor rolling on my part, every single weapon on the tank failed to hit, all 1s and 2s! Assault terminators were however deployed and made a beeline for the remaining broadside from the other unit that retreated and the librarian force weapon downed him easily, also using the null-void power to hit all the remaining tau units in its range. Did manage to kill 2 terminators with the dakka pred which wasn't too bad.
kill points:
tau/marines: 4
octoberforce: 3
Turn 5:
Marines did decent this turn, killing about 3 of my tacticals and wounding pedro again. The tau also scored a devastating kill by wrecking my land raider with their broadsides! The surviving kroot shaper did the smart thing and jumped inside the safety of the devilfish. This denied me an easy kp.
Unfortunately for them, during my phase I scored some major kills by wiping out the unit of 2 broadsides in cc with my tacticals with powerfist sgt, massacring the remaining AoBR tacticals with my assault terminators, and due to some lucky rolls, wrecking the AoBR dreadnought in cc with Pedro and 3 surviving marines! Go Pedro!!
A roll of 2 brought the game to an end, resulting in a draw with 5 kps each!
Definitely a fun game, but my little home is too small for 2000 pt games. I kinda feel bad for the tau, as their battleforce is kind of lame. I also never thought tactical marines could be effective in cc, but they did allright for me this time, especially my assault marines.
I know people don't like em in codex marines that much, but I love the way they look. I guess they're situational and I'll definitely be taking them against tau in the future!
Had the last 4 weeks off work, so this has been a nice time to get some work done. Not as much as I'd have liked (thanks Skyrim!), but I have made some decent progress and can now field a pretty well-rounded force.
Firstly, I've completed a unit of 5 scouts with sniper rifles and missile launcher. I really enjoyed painting these models, as they were quick and easy to assemble and not difficult to paint.
Sergeant:
This guy's eyes turned out a bit psychotic looking, but then again he is a religious maniac proceeding to shoot someone, so I guess it works!
My latest configuration for my Contemptor:
The plasma cannon rocks. The autocannon arm is actually the right arm for a standard dread, but kind of works in this configuration as well.
Oh and I mentioned the actual Contemptor auto-cannon in a previous post, well here it is.
Garbage. The resin is soft, and clearly is chemically dysfunctional or didn't bake long enough. I don't know, but I also haven't heard back from forge world yet via email. Might have to call em but I don't want an international phone bill charge for a ~ $15 gun.
Got my stuff from bitspudlo finally, this guy from Poland who makes aftermarket resin parts to customize your marines. These autocannons look pretty nice and it was easy to modify the dread to be fully magnetized. I love the customization you can do with marines, so many options!
Also from Forge World, my deimos rhino! This model was in perfect condition fortunately, and was easy to put together. This one I'm going to build with full customization in mind, being able to run it as a basic rhino or a razorback with TL assault cannon or lascannon, with potentially up to 2 storm bolters. That would be a lot of dakka.
Here it is with the assault cannon and dozer blade from bitspudlo.
And here it is with a scratch built TL lascannon I've been working on.
Lastly, I've consolidated and tried to group as best as possible all of my remaining vintage marines that could be useful. I have more than this, but they're very oddball figures or are painted well enough that I don't want to redo them.
So I've got 7 tactical terminators with a captain in terminator armor. I'm missing his storm bolter arm, so not sure what to replace it with. Also have a full squad of 10 tacticals that I'm most likely going to redo as assault marines. And I also want to make some specialist weapon guys to insert into my tactical squads when they need more weapony. Things like meltas, plasma guns, powerfist sergeants etc. More flexibility is always good! Also have Cato Sicarius and a random old Captain with bolter and pf, could make a decent sgt for my sternguard, especially since they're lacking a melee weapon.
Bonus pics!
Got me some Infinity Haqqislam faction and have them assembled and primed, and finally painted one up. Very, very cool minis, superb sculpting and detail. But, they are a real bastard to assemble! Not for beginners. Trying to glue their arms on was a multi-hour process and I could only pin them so much, as their limbs are so thin.
Here's my sniper:
I kinda feel she's a little too bland and camouflaged. I wanted to go with desert shades, but there's just not enough variety there and I'm thinking some olive drab/green would go well with this color scheme. Thoughts?
Also, I bought 3 Warmachine starter kits from someone, already assembled but unpainted for the most part, and have been kinda wanting to work on them. I've played one game of this so far and didn't really like it. I'm willing to give it another go maybe after I finish these guys.
I really wanted to deviate from the standard paint schemes, so chose this dark green, which is from Testor's Model Master line (decent paints).
Thanks for all the comments guys. I plan on posting a few more updates before I head back to work in Canada next week.
Great update! Lots of eye candy for your loyal readers.
A few comments:
1. The "maniacal" scout looks crazy because he's got "Pop-Eye". You left too much white showing between his upper and lower eyelids. He kind of reminds me of Crazy Dave in Plants vs. Zombies so I say, leave him alone.
2. The Infinity Sniper definitely could use some more color variation. The OD green would help or maybe you could darken her boots, ammo pouches, holster, and belt a bit more?
Great update! Lots of eye candy for your loyal readers.
A few comments:
1. The "maniacal" scout looks crazy because he's got "Pop-Eye". You left too much white showing between his upper and lower eyelids. He kind of reminds me of Crazy Dave in Plants vs. Zombies so I say, leave him alone.
2. The Infinity Sniper definitely could use some more color variation. The OD green would help or maybe you could darken her boots, ammo pouches, holster, and belt a bit more?
Thanks for showing us your cool stuff!
I think I'll leave that infinity sniper as is, but definitely add more variation into the rest when I paint them. And yeah, maniac scout is gonna stay the same. In fact, I think his name is gonna be Maniac from here on out!
Hello again fellow miniatures fiends, I'm posting from the frozen north of Ontario. Definitely missing being able to paint and play, but earning money is quite nice!
I was digging through my photos and found one I hadn't posted. This is a very tentative WIP. But I've got a lot of figures that have either never been painted, or painted very badly. I'm in the process of refurbishing many of these, and wanted to get some input.
Here are some very early stage servitors, with heavy bolter and plasma cannon. They're a mixed bag of rejects including a heroquest barbarian, a shadowrun hacker of some type, and some D&D figures from ral partha or grenadier (OLD!!). I mainly assembled them as a mock-up, and they're going to require a fair bit of conversion work and bionic implantation. I also might opt for 2 heavy bolters instead of the plasma cannon, as that just seems like a waste on a servitor. I'm not sure they'd ever be used in a game, but having them would be a nice addition to my army as they would otherwise be quite useless.
I also found a very old lead deathwing bike in pieces that I managed to salvage! I'd attacked the windshield at some point in my youth with a file, and it's in poor shape to say the least. The model also kinda sucks (except for the wheels). The rider is tentatively going to be the master of the forge for my chapter, and he'll most likely be armed with a conversion beamer that I'll have to scratch build. I love the idea of such a destructive weapon on a highly mobile platform, and the challenge of converting that POS bike and figure into a decent character will be something I'll relish.
Also, if you had 10 spare space marines, would it be better to make them into a 2nd assault squad, or a 4th tactical squad? Both have advantages and disadvantages, and I've had some decent success using assault marines as a 200pt throwaway unit. I have all the parts to make them assault marines, but I'm torn between the utility of some more tacticals.
Looks like I'm gonna get a nice vacation in February and I'm going to genghis con in Denver! Gonna bring the full army and hope to play a few non-tournament games. I'm still not fluent in the rules and need more experience.
But I don't want to miss the chance to be shamelessly nerdy at an event for nerds! Also, I really want to enter the miniatures painting contest. Won't be able to enter the full army, but I think all of my rogue trader era stuff plus a few vehicles would be a fun entry.
Yay finally back home in the states! Now it's time to focus and spend some quality time hobbying. Hopefully I can finish up some tanks that are more or less complete, just need to rust them up a bit and clear coat.
Them old skool marines are amazing. The battle damage is amazing. They actually look really worn.
you putting a contemptor in the army?
hint hint. go heck mine out on my blog.
peace and keep up good work.
spudkins wrote:Them old skool marines are amazing. The battle damage is amazing. They actually look really worn.
you putting a contemptor in the army?
hint hint. go heck mine out on my blog.
peace and keep up good work.
Hey thanks man!
I've had a great time re-conditioning them. I've tried a number of techniques to get that weathered look and I definitely favor a heavily weathered, battle-scarred look. Clean armies just look too pretty for my tastes. The weathering powders etc are amazing to be sure, but you can also get some pretty good results with just the acrylics.
I am using the Contemptor in the army, he will count-as a venerable dreadnought. Ran him today in 2 games armed with a plasma cannon and autocannon and he did fairly well, especially with the plasma cannon and the higher BS. Comes in at 185 pts. Too bad you can't have dual plasma cannons.
Great job, Its nice to see some one not running out and buying new models. Its so rare to find the old models still being used. Every one i know sells everything off and buys the newest models. The paint job is great. I had a marine army with just about the same paint job, Orange armor and yellow helmets. I love seeing orange marines.
Any way, keep it up man. We can't wait for more to come from this. Do you have any more complete group shots with your back drop?
And have you thought about making a complete walk through of how you made that back drop?
I love the theme, and its done very well.
The orange looks just right in my opinion, its not too dark, and gritty, in a good way.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
PapaPiggy wrote:Great job, Its nice to see some one not running out and buying new models. Its so rare to find the old models still being used. Every one i know sells everything off and buys the newest models.
I find the older models cost too much, I would love to make a Space Marine army out of RT stuff, but it all costs so much :/
PapaPiggy wrote:Great job, Its nice to see some one not running out and buying new models. Its so rare to find the old models still being used. Every one i know sells everything off and buys the newest models. The paint job is great. I had a marine army with just about the same paint job, Orange armor and yellow helmets. I love seeing orange marines.
Any way, keep it up man. We can't wait for more to come from this. Do you have any more complete group shots with your back drop?
And have you thought about making a complete walk through of how you made that back drop?
Thanks papa piggy! There's another guy at my FLGS who has orange marines and we always joke about orange power.
I do have many other shots of the backdrop and with lots of different models. I posted a few shots of the construction of it and it was surprisingly easy to make. I'd like to add more details like foliage etc.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Small update here.
Been stripping some more paint off stuff. I've salvaged a few more marines to include in my force. 2 melta gunners, a plasma gunner, an old captain who will count-as Cato Sicarius, and some other random figures.
Also the remains of the very old Harlquins set, dated at 1988 on the models! They were really beat up, and had like 3 thick coats of paint on them, and missing legs, arms, weapons, in some cases heads! I guess I had planned on doing some conversions with them, but didn't follow through. I'm missing a few of the cooler figs, but at least have the death jester and one with a harlequins kiss. They will require a lot of TLA as well as replacement weapons from my dark elves sprues and lots of pinning. I was amazed at the details they have once the paint was stripped...they're quite intricate.
And from Annocetis workshop, got this in the other day.
Miniature leaves! Finally found them after a lot of searching, and these are nearly perfect for 28mm scale or even 1/35 perhaps. Also got this sweet looking tank which I bought purely to paint and maybe make a small diorama with. And some random 28mm sci fi girl with a gun, maybe for infinity, necromunda or RPGs etc. I like to paint stuff that really won't ever be used in gaming just for the fun of it.
Did a bunch of priming and assembling yesterday, and not as much else as I'd hoped to.
Here's some new guys to use in my tactical squads:
And my forgeworld deimos rhino w/magnetized storm bolter:
That same rhino can become a razorback, with dozer blade and assault cannon from bitspudlo:
Or it can be outfitted with a TL lascannon that I scratch built:
From antenocitis workshop I got this grav tank, which I cant wait to paint up! Not sure if it'll ever be used for anything, maybe scenery or tau proxying. I just wanted to paint it mainly.
Now, I've been flirting with the idea of a necron army on the side, and here's what happens to dead marines!
And lastly my malifaux peacekeeper is starting to really shape up, thanks to lots of decals. I wanted it to look like it was tattooed and extremely beat up and weathered.
Went to Genghis Con XXXIII in Denver, Colorado this weekend. Hooked up with a lot of friends from my local gaming club and met many new people and had a GREAT time! This was my first Con ever, and I wanted to maximize my vacation time and try as many events as I could.
So, I entered into some Malifaux intro games, a Rogue Trader 40k Tournament and a painting competition, as well as two painting classes. Overall it was a fairly decent sized convention, with lots of RPGs, wargames, board games etc being played at all times of day.
I was especially surprised at how popular flames of war and all these historical combat games were, people just couldn't seem to get enough of them and were playing them everywhere at all times of day throughout the weekend.
Friday was Malifaux and entering my submissions into the painting competition. This was only my third game of Malifaux, and I'm still trying to grasp the rules, as this game is actually quite complex especially with the endless myriad of characters and their special abilities. It's not easy to figure out what powers work best or when to use them. The game was played only with the boxed sets and 25 soul stones, with beautifully painted crews provided by the host, but I brought my own Perdita crew.
My opponent was about at my experience level and he ran the Viktorias, and I ran my Perdita crew. And while I did manage to whittle him down to 2 heroes at the end of the game, it was a draw due to the objectives and how the game is scored. Malifaux is a difficult game to win I'm finding, as I have only ever drawn or lost. But it was fun and the scenery was quite nice and it was a very friendly atmosphere.
This is the board I played on, kind of a sewer?
And this is the very cool western town board, all scenery made by my friend from my FLGS:
Late friday night I played Deathwatch RPG for the first time and had an absolute blast~! What a cool game, finally getting to play space marines in an RPG. I had a great time slaughtering traitor marines with my storm bolter.
Saturday was 3 games of 40k at 2000 pts from 9am to 6pm! God, I'll never do this again. Not only was it physically and mentally exhausting, but also demoralizing. This was my very painful intro to the competitive circuit of 40k, and I found it left a bad taste in my mouth.
After spending a year resurrecting my army from crap in boxes, lovingly repainting all of it and making it legal, I've come to the conclusion that it totally sucks. I've only ever won 1 game. Everything else has been draws or hard losses.
Now, entering into a tourney I didn't expect to win. In fact I expected the result I got, which was 3 losses. I'm not a competitive player. I mainly went for the experience, to have fun and socialize with other 40k nerds. Fair enough.
But, the insane hardcore level of competition and rules lawyering was very un-fun. And this was also a day of firsts for me, first time facing new necrons, first time facing blood angels and first time vs demons.
My first game was vs Necrons played by an extremely kind gentleman from my FLGS, and he was the highlight of the day for sure due to his upbeat and happy demeanor.
This game was a loss for me, but not a huge loss. I managed to slag an entire unit of destroyers and 1/3 of another with my Thunderfail (!) cannon, as well as general havoc with the rest of my army. But what lost me the game was neglecting the scarab swarms, which easily took out my tanks. I really didn't understand how this army works, and also him casting darkness twice messed up my long range shooting.
Second game was vs this drop pod army of blood angels:
And I have to say, I HATE BLOOD ANGELS! What a ridiculously powerful army. 11 drop pods, 6 dreadnoughts including librarian dreads, death company etc etc. Yes, it's legal within the game. But, man this is some cheap crap.
And not having faced them before, I had no idea what to expect.
This wasn't so much a game as me just sitting there listening to a guy explain all the ways he was going to kill me, and succeeding due to awesome dice rolling and my poor dice rolling, and being able to do absolutely nothing to stop it. It was over in 50 minutes. Total tabling for me.
I ended up surrendering when all I had left was my predator. You reach a certain point in games that go badly where you just don't give a damn anymore and are completely disengaged. In this game all I did was incinerate a death company assault squad with my land raider redeemer and the rest was total devastation for me. Big ouch. And to a crappily/unpainted painted army, no less. This guy was also not very friendly nor fun to game against, although he kept apologizing and I think he felt bad for beating me so badly, lol.
Final game was vs. demons, and the player was about at my skill level and had very enthusiastically painted his army and was a fun guy to game with. We definitely had a friendly game, but due to both of us being inexperienced we were unable to complete the game in the 2hr 15m limit due to rules checks etc etc and only made it to turn 4.
This game went fairly well for me in terms of KPs, as I slayed 2 demon princes, a soul grinder, and several complete squads. The stars of this game were my Techmarine, who after losing his thunderfire cannon killed about 3 plaguebearers with his ranged weaponry and finished them off in close combat after they assaulted him (WTF!?! That never happens!!) and my land raider redeemer, which mercilessly incinerated demons, as well as my sternguard which also scored some good kills with their combi-flamers and killed a demon prince in CC.
Was a good game, but again, I lost due to not scoring enough objectives.
There were lots of very well painted armies there and I was in full force with my lightbox/diorama. The painting award for the tourney went to this guy with a superbly converted chaos cultist IG army. It was truly amazing, with extreme levels of detail on every single figure and tank. Funny thing was, he just threw it all carelessly into a pile when he was done gaming! Everyone was like, WTF dude!
Here's the only decent pic of that army I got:
Also got a decent pic of this amazing DE army:
Also saturday I had signed up for a game called Betrayal at House on The Hill, but after the 40k tourney I was so fried I bowed out!
I'm honestly burned out on 40k now, and don't even want to look at space marines, let alone think of painting more of them. I suck at wargaming, and my army just loses every time. The best I can do is tie.
I hate to sound like a complainer, but after a year painting this army to find out they are unable to win a game is a hard pill to swallow. Every game I play seems to fail in some way or another and I have to admit I have no frigging clue how to win. I am just effing terrible at this game, and I'm unwilling to buy more units that may be able to enhance my competitiveness or sit on dakka for hours on end studying strats. Just eff it at this point, I say.
Painting first, gaming second. I was pretty hot after the tourney, and felt like rage-quitting several times especially vs the BA player. Sucks to lose that bad. The game should be fun, but when you're losing hard I'd challenge anyone to say it's fun.
I really don't know what to do strategy wise and I honestly don't want to spend more money on fail-units for codex marines at this point. I'll paint up what I've got stockpiled on my shelf eventually, but, man, I'm not at all liking 40k right now and the game against the BA really demoralized me.
Enough ranting.
Ok I lied! Played some Puppet Wars saturday night and I gotta say WTF was Wyrd thinking with this game? It's stupid.
Ridiculously complex for a board game. Just explaining the rules took several hours, as they were quite deep and we only got through 1 turn in about an hr and a half. Even the miniatures and artwork for this game were unappealing, and I love Wyrd minis. I feel sorry for anyone who has shelled out money for this...
At that point is was near midnight and I was fried, so I went to bed. I also missed the awards ceremony for the painting comp, but more on that later.
Sunday I took two painting classes, one on freehand techniques and one on blending. I really came away with a lot. These were tought by a golden demon award winner, and she really knew her stuff!
I live in Colorado, and at our altitude paint dries EXTREMELY fast. Many times it dries on your brush before you can apply it to the model and a lot of my brushes have been ruined due to this. So they tought me about wet palettes, which, wow, work really great.
And I never knew blending could be so easy. Just a few hours with this teacher and I got some fairly decent results. I'll be working on honing these techniques in the months to come, but they gave us a few free Reaper minis and here's some blending and freehand I did:
We also got some free minis for the classes:
After the painting classes, I collected my painting competition entries and learned I won 3 bronze medals for my efforts, and that made the whole weekend for me!
Here's what I entered:
Group category:
Single figure category:
Diorama category:
When I entered this stuff Friday I was fairly confident, but on Saturday as the entries filled up, I was quite nervous. There was some extremely well-painted stuff and it was VERY competitive.
Here's a few pics:
Very nice stuff to look at, and my pics suck and don't do them justice.
I won some prizes, too!
And I bought stuff of course:
From a company called DGS games based out of the midwest US, they're making their own 32mm fantasy skirmish game and had some really cool sculpts that I couldn't resist.
Also picked up the Infinity rulebook.
All-in-all I had a blast. I met many nice people and learned a lot. I'll definitely attend another con, but I believe I'll shy away from the 40k stuff until I feel more confident about actually playing these damn games, as I really seem to suck at them!
Small update here. Been painting these Infinity Haqqislam figures up and they're really fun to work with (albeit an extreme pain in the arse to assemble!). Some of the best (if not only?) true scale 28mm figs I've ever seen.
I need to finish their faces and perhaps a bit more highlighting on them, but I'm quite satisfied with the way they've turned out. Based them with my Skullcrafts autumn basing kit as well as miniature oak leaves.
Your Haqqislam figures look stunning, I really like the look of the figures for Infinity they are all so detailed.
In regards to 40k I'm in the same boat as yourself, I spent a year after getting back into the hobby painting a CSM army only to find the only game I can win when I go to my local tournaments is when I hit the bottom table on the second day. I've been to three now and its always the same. I only play at tournaments but all the guys who go are great so I have a fun time loosing, I enjoy the painting and modelling side more though but need to get and show people my stuff
Look forward to seeing what you have up next on the painting table.
I would have commented on all of this days ago but the huge number of pics caused my internet to crash 3 times! Still it was worth it in the end - I love that grav tank! . Good to see you branching out into different minis and stuff. And well done for winning bronze.
GiraffeX wrote:Your Haqqislam figures look stunning, I really like the look of the figures for Infinity they are all so detailed.
In regards to 40k I'm in the same boat as yourself, I spent a year after getting back into the hobby painting a CSM army only to find the only game I can win when I go to my local tournaments is when I hit the bottom table on the second day. I've been to three now and its always the same. I only play at tournaments but all the guys who go are great so I have a fun time loosing, I enjoy the painting and modelling side more though but need to get and show people my stuff
Look forward to seeing what you have up next on the painting table.
Hey thanks man. 40k does seem to have some issues and I'm sure I'll play it again after I cool off, but not for a while. The painting aspect of the hobby is so much more rewarding, I think.
I'm really excited to paint all these random miniatures ive amassed now, and take a break from GW stuff. They're definite not the end-all be-all of miniatures.
weetyskemian44 wrote:I would have commented on all of this days ago but the huge number of pics caused my internet to crash 3 times! Still it was worth it in the end - I love that grav tank! . Good to see you branching out into different minis and stuff. And well done for winning bronze.
Thanks weety, I was smiling all day when I found out how I did in the competition. It was also really interesting to see how many women were really into painting. One of the top painters in north America there was a middle aged housewife, and another was a very attractive young lady.
Sorry I crashed your browser! I've been posting my pics at a high resolution and it's even causing problems for me, so perhaps I should scale things down a bit.
I love the tank too, but my friends and I noticed that it contains a rather phallic part on the turret. And the name itself has the word phallus in it. The designer must have been feeling a bit cheeky when he made it, lol. At any rate I can't wait to paint it up and I'm leaning towards a dark gray-blue color. Any suggestions?
Just read your comments on the 40k event at Genghis. It saddens me that you left with a bad taste in your mouth. There are jerks and there are good gamers in CO. I voted your army for player's choice BTW. Loved the RT style of it.
Darkness wrote:Just read your comments on the 40k event at Genghis. It saddens me that you left with a bad taste in your mouth. There are jerks and there are good gamers in CO. I voted your army for player's choice BTW. Loved the RT style of it.
Hey thanks! What army did you field at the tournament? Did you do ok?
The people I played in the tourney certainly weren't jerks. I'm just finding the game frustrating as I really haven't found anyone I would consider to be a casual gamer. Everyone I've met who's seriously into 40k tends to be extremely competitive and determined to win, not necessarily WAAC but no one is going to tone down the level of their army for my sake, I've learned.
And my army isn't very competitive, nor am I a competitive gamer. I also don't really like the idea of just going with whatever list is popular on the Internet. I'd like to be able to buy the models I think look cool and would be fun to paint, but it turns out that's not really effective on th table, unfortunately.
I can understand your point. A tournament like Genghis is generally not low key. Colorado has a very good base of gamers and the tournaments show that.
For casual games in CO, you need to stay away from the main events. I have noticed most stores have a good casual gaming crowd. Gamer's Haven in the Springs is a good example, but that is a good deal away from you.
As for the tourney, I had the rusted up Blue Grey Knight army and I did do pretty well, as I won the event and don't hate me for the GKs. It was the first and only time I was playing them. Wanted to give them a good playing before I sold them(have had them on the shelf since the Deamon Hunter Codex in 3rd and never played them). I am starting work on my Tau for Wargames Con now.
Darkness wrote:I can understand your point. A tournament like Genghis is generally not low key. Colorado has a very good base of gamers and the tournaments show that.
For casual games in CO, you need to stay away from the main events. I have noticed most stores have a good casual gaming crowd. Gamer's Haven in the Springs is a good example, but that is a good deal away from you.
As for the tourney, I had the rusted up Blue Grey Knight army and I did do pretty well, as I won the event and don't hate me for the GKs. It was the first and only time I was playing them. Wanted to give them a good playing before I sold them(have had them on the shelf since the Deamon Hunter Codex in 3rd and never played them). I am starting work on my Tau for Wargames Con now.
Ahhh congrats! I remember your army I believe I have a pic of it somewhere. Very well done indeed. Hope you got some good prizes!
Allrighty! Back home and back into painting and gaming!
Today was the gaming club day at the FLGS and I played a game of Malifaux, 25 soulstones, with my Perdita crew and my Peacekeeper. Very fun game and although it was a tie I seriously stomped some face! Almost tabled my opponent but it ended up a tie due to the scoring.
I'm liking Malifaux more and more But I need to focus more on the objectives rather than killing every enemy in sight, lol. Old habits die hard I guess.
Also played my first game of Infinity today! It was a short demo refereed by a very knowledgeable person and was about 70 pts (3 figures each). We used the Beasts of War quickstart guide and kept things very simple.
I played as Haqqislam vs Ariadna. Awesome game! I really liked how tactical it is, as well as how brutal it can be. You can die seriously fast in this game and we used tons of cover. There are many differences to this and 40k and it took some getting used to, but overall it was fairly intuitive and I'm really looking forward to more of it.
Skirmish games are becoming very popular at my club and in fact today there was only 1 game of 40k played, with the other games being Malifaux and Infinity. Warmahordes has all but died out and there's only a few WHFB die-hards left. An interesting shift in focus.
But will Malifaux and Infinity die out as well after 40k 6th edition comes out? Only time will tell, I guess.
Also tied up some loose ends with my minis, putting on the finishing touches on my Infinity figs. Mainly faces, which are the bane of my existence!
Eyes usually end up all kinds of messed up, with my guys looking like psychotic maniacs (works well for Space Marines, but not so good for female figs...lol). Speaking of female figs I also tried painting lipstick on a few. And while it wasn't a total fail, they do look a bit like The Joker (ok well not THAT bad!).
Here's a few marine pics. Mainly built some melta gunners and powerfist sergeants for my tacticals.
Also pulled the storm bolter off my terminator librarian and gave him a storm shield, which is a sarcophagus from a dreadnought, but it works for the model.
Finally finished up my rifleman dread and I have to say I'm a bit disappointed with the guns. They're bent and not so great looking. Resin can be a real bastard, as there's really not any way to fix this without snapping them. Maybe heating them up would have worked before I painted them?
Been working on my new Haqqislam box set for Infinity. I just love these miniatures, they're packed with so much detail and the posing is awesome. Definitely a nice break from painting space marines.
Here's my box set with basecoat. Some Infinity figs I've finished in the background and this puts me at 10 Haqqislam soldiers which should make for some decent games I hope.
Hopefully will finish them by this Saturday for some Infinity gaming down at the club.
I also bought this figure a while back from Antennocitis workshop of the UK. I wanted to practice skin tones and faces and I finally feel like I did a decent one. I even got lipstick on her without her looking like The Joker.
And finally today I've got this cool old time diving suit from Chronoscape. I bought it mainly because it looked cool and I thought it would be a fun figure to paint. And it is!
With this guy I'm kind of making a reference to an old episode of Scooby Doo where there is a glowing guy in a diving suit. I wanted to go for some kind of irradiated green light coming from the helmet.
There's still more work to do on this, but I rather like how grimy and nasty the suit looks so far. Gonna do some highlighting and attempt to make it look like he's underwater.
Played some malifaux and infinity today again at my FLGS and man, I gotta say I'm getting totally discouraged at war gaming in general. I simply cannot win a game to save my life!
I literally lose every game I play, regardless of the system.
I completely suck at strategy and tactics. I don't think my heart is in this and even if I have good dice rolling or card flips, I'll still lose at all these damn games, it's actually making me sick at this point.
Don't get me wrong, i LOVE to paint and thoroughly enjoy that aspect of the hobby, but at this point my inability to win a game, any game, in any system, is starting to get really old. It sucks.
The people at my FLGS are great and really friendly and supportive, but they're also extremely competitive, veteran war gamers, and none of them will give you an inch. Every game I play there is an intense competition.
And what sucks the most is I'm basically one of two people who even bothers to paint stuff at this point. There is one other enthusiastic painter there with fully painted, lovingly detailed models and everyone else has unpainted figs or even worse, proxies.
I'm a painter first, gamer second. I guess that is my problem. It takes tremendous energy and time to paint this stuff to a decent level and I can't spend time memorizing rules and reading rule books and pouring over strategy in my spare time.
I'm really finding gaming unenjoyable, as it quite definitely sucks to lose at every game I play. Even if they're fun games versus a friendly, fun opponent, I can't help but to be frustrated at this.
Ok, rant over. Back to some painting, which i can actually win at.
First off, congrats on your three top three finishes in the painting competition. I mean, seriously. You should take this and wipe out ANY bad taste in your mouth from the actual gaming.
<opinionated bastard mode> It doesn't take a lot to use a 'top tier army' to crush someone who is new to the game AND is not playing an 'Ard Boyz list. Vanilla Codex Marines are just not a competitive army. In fact, my team going to Adepticon switched from Vanilla Marines to Blood Angels, and they're stunned at how much MORE you get, for LESS POINTS.
There are people on 'the circuit' who are taking their top tier armies against other veteran players. THAT requires some skill. But what YOU did by winning THREE BRONZE MEDALS in a field of VERY competitive entries is like a Veteran 40K player taking a NON-top-tier army, or an odd build, and taking down Top Tier Armies. You should stand up, right now, and shout out "I ROCK!"
I'll wait.
One of the reasons I stopped playing tabletop wargaming is because I am one of those old, cranky people who think that the game consists of painting, theme, background, and playing. Nowadays, the hobby store scene is balls-to-the-walls competition. In other words, I miss the late 80's/early 90's.
</opinionated bastard mode>
It is okay to shelve your Marines, and concentrate on that aspects of the hobby you not only enjoy, but are good at. I love GW's models, and I love cutting them apart and doing interesting things with them. The threads I follow, here, are not about rules or tactics, but about painting, conversions, tables and terrain.
If you want to get better at the game itselt, well, there's a couple of things you can do:
1) Talk to someone at the game store you like, and have them show you the ropes.
2) Put together a competitive army under their guidance. Chances are, you have the makings for this in at least one game system that's played at your local store.
3) Practice, practice, practice.
OTHER OPTIONS:
1) Talk to the owner of the store, and say you want to start an escalation league. See if he knows anyone else who says, "Wow, I wish there were people at my skill level I could play". Etc. The store onwer wants more sales, and advertising/supporting the non-hard core will only lead to more business for them.
2) Paint more.
That's my unasked for two cents. Don't be discouraged, take control, grab on to the parts of the game you really enjoy, and tweak the parts you don't to your liking.
Hey thanks briancj. It seems like a balancing act between wanting to be friends with people and wanting to be competitive and win. For the most part I have a good time, it just isn't fun losing all the time. Painting is definitely more enjoyable. No one seems to be playing 40k at this point at the store, its all Malifaux and Infinity, which is a good thing. I think we all need a break from it.
Speaking of painting, I've been putting some finishing touches on my Infinity figures.
This guy, who shall henceforth be known as Chuck Norris, kicked some major ass in my last Infinity game, and singlehandedly gunned down three enemy soldiers by climbing on top of a tower and taking some serious risks! What a cool game that you can actually do heroic stuff like this.
On him I did some more experimenting and practicing with tattoos. I feel like I'm getting closer, but they're still quite a challenge. Also his damn eye gave me no end of trouble. I must have painted it 5-6 times, and eventually the paint got so thick I had to scrape it out with a knife and start over!
I'm still not pleased with the eye, but I'm tired of messing with it.
Next is anime girl, whom I also attempted tattoos on but less successfully. I tried different colors and also made a poor try at a spiderweb tattoo on her elbow. Very, very tricky stuff and I often find my paint is dry on the brush within seconds of leaving the palette.
Overall though I'm pretty happy with them and the rest of the squad is shaping up nicely. I can quickly see this becoming an expensive addiction, as despite what anyone says, the Infinity figures aren't cheap and you quickly find yourself wanting more and more of them.
I agree it is hard to strike the balance, but I am glad that there is a rise in not-GW games. The more competition, the more options, the better it will be for all of us.
I haven't checked my subscribed threads for a while. Good thing I checked them and rediscovered this blog. I'm liking all of your work and that Chuck Norris guy is awesome. Have you made any special rules for him? Maybe an auto win rule would be appropriate.
I agree it is hard to strike the balance, but I am glad that there is a rise in not-GW games. The more competition, the more options, the better it will be for all of us.
Plus, hey.
CHUCK NORRIS FOR THE WIN.
--B.
So true. Maybe there will be some improvements with 6th ed, we'll have to wait and see.
Flying Pooo wrote:I haven't checked my subscribed threads for a while. Good thing I checked them and rediscovered this blog. I'm liking all of your work and that Chuck Norris guy is awesome.
Have you made any special rules for him?
Maybe an auto win rule would be appropriate.
Hey thanks for stopping by FP! I like your idea of an auto-win rule. In fact that sounds like the best rule ever! I'll have to see how that goes over next time I play
I'm back in the field in Ontario and jebus is it ever muddy here! What a mess, no real incentive to go outside. I'm longing for summer.
Anyway, finished up my Haqqislam starter box set before I left and took these pics. There are perhaps still a few details to finish but overall I'm quite proud of them and they were very fun to paint. And Infinity is a fun game!
I resized these pics to hopefully not lag this page out as bad.
Anime girl:
Lieutenant Chuck Norris, recently promoted due to his heroic actions in my last battle:
Anime Guy:
Flamethrower Chick:
Sniper Dude:
Da Big Guy:
And the whole family together:
A fair number of figures already! Plus I got some Kameel remotes for my birthday to assemble yet.
At this point I'm definitely wanting more Infinity, the only question is to further specialize with Haqqislam or branch out. I'm rather partial to Nomads or possibly Aleph. Or get them both!
I definitely hear you on the ‘can’t win a game’ thing.
I don’t like to play with a handful of metal. I like my guys to be a team, and I want the models to represent how much I care about the game. These Infinity models are badass and I want my paintbrush to do them justice.
I’m also terrible at actually playing the games. I love reading the books for the fluff, and I follow the rules… but winning is a rarity for me.
Hell, out of the TONS of games of RoboRally I’ve played, I’ve won ONCE. But that’s all sorts of chaotic fun anyway, so maybe not the best of examples.
This may sound super-elitist or whatever, but the way I’ve solved my problem is when I’m not playing with close friends (ie, random pick-up-games), I don’t play against people with proxies, and I don’t play against people with bare metal minis. The people who tend to play over and over again with metal models are the guys who only care about playing the game (and usually winning). That’s fine, the game needs people like that… but they obviously don’t share my same enthusiasm for making these great models shine. So I tell them, “I only play against painted teams. No hard feelings.” It comes off as weird at first, but I also offer to give them help with painting, and hell, they can even use my paints if they want to sit down and hobby with me rather than get a game in.
Gives us time to talk and shoot the **** about stuff while working on things too. Which I find is more useful for building camaraderie than a bloodbath on a table.
Your models look amazing by the way, and I really think it’s your basing that brings them to the next level. You really nailed that look, and your colors give them this excellent autumn look that looks wonderful on the Haqqislam minis.
You’re right about the ‘not being cheaper’ bit too. The models average around 12 bucks a pop, with some more and some you get 2 for that price. So you average around 150 bucks for an ‘army’. But the real spending of money happens when you start buying stuff for ALL of the armies, because the sculpts are just so damn cool! I may be running Haqqislam, but I also have:
1-PanO
2-Ariadna
1-Yu-Jing
If I had’ve spent that on more Haqq models my army would be done by now. Damn my compulsions!
Keep up the good work chief, and if you ever find yourself in the states and want to play a game of Infinity, hit me up. That way we’ll solve at least ONE of our losing streaks!
Chemical Cutthroat wrote:I definitely hear you on the ‘can’t win a game’ thing.
I don’t like to play with a handful of metal. I like my guys to be a team, and I want the models to represent how much I care about the game. These Infinity models are badass and I want my paintbrush to do them justice.
I’m also terrible at actually playing the games. I love reading the books for the fluff, and I follow the rules… but winning is a rarity for me.
Hell, out of the TONS of games of RoboRally I’ve played, I’ve won ONCE. But that’s all sorts of chaotic fun anyway, so maybe not the best of examples.
This may sound super-elitist or whatever, but the way I’ve solved my problem is when I’m not playing with close friends (ie, random pick-up-games), I don’t play against people with proxies, and I don’t play against people with bare metal minis. The people who tend to play over and over again with metal models are the guys who only care about playing the game (and usually winning). That’s fine, the game needs people like that… but they obviously don’t share my same enthusiasm for making these great models shine. So I tell them, “I only play against painted teams. No hard feelings.” It comes off as weird at first, but I also offer to give them help with painting, and hell, they can even use my paints if they want to sit down and hobby with me rather than get a game in.
Gives us time to talk and shoot the **** about stuff while working on things too. Which I find is more useful for building camaraderie than a bloodbath on a table.
Your models look amazing by the way, and I really think it’s your basing that brings them to the next level. You really nailed that look, and your colors give them this excellent autumn look that looks wonderful on the Haqqislam minis.
You’re right about the ‘not being cheaper’ bit too. The models average around 12 bucks a pop, with some more and some you get 2 for that price. So you average around 150 bucks for an ‘army’. But the real spending of money happens when you start buying stuff for ALL of the armies, because the sculpts are just so damn cool! I may be running Haqqislam, but I also have:
1-PanO
2-Ariadna
1-Yu-Jing
If I had’ve spent that on more Haqq models my army would be done by now. Damn my compulsions!
Keep up the good work chief, and if you ever find yourself in the states and want to play a game of Infinity, hit me up. That way we’ll solve at least ONE of our losing streaks!
Hey thanks for the comments man! Actually I live in Colorado but work in Ontario. It's weird.
I'd much prefer to play a fellow painter as well. It makes for amazing looking tables and you want to sync up with someone who shares the passion. I've played a few primered or bare models, but not very often. Sadly, the FLGS scene is dominated by exactly what you said: people focused entirely on the game, and specifically winning the game at all costs.
Basing really isn't too hard. It's my favorite part actually, and I try to make each and every base a unique mini-diorama. Skullcrafts sells these really nice basing kits.
Been working on some stuff lately! I decided to repaint these ancient Rogue Trader era Tactical Terminators. Great kit back in the day, not so hot today lol. But, would save me a few bucks for having to shell out more money for new ones.
I was really disappointed to learn how poorly this unit fits into the game today. With only 7 terminators plus a captain, it's quite lopsided and the weaponry is illegal. They have an assault cannon, heavy flamer and cyclone, but you could only have 2 special weapons in this squad if you had a full compliment of 10 terminators. Bummer!
The captain is even worse! If you upgraded him to a terminator as per the codex, his standard weapon would be a power sword. But since this model comes with a cool looking powerfist, I'd want that, so there's more points down the drain on a relatively ineffective fighter.
As it stands now, I think I'll proxy the captain as a regular marine, the flamer/cyclone as storm bolters and just use the assault cannon. If I want to play more 40k, as to be quite honest I played yesterday and found it completely unenjoyable.
And I've also been working on some Guild Hounds for Malifaux. Frankly, not even sure what possessed me to buy these in the first place. I guess I'm addicted to buying miniatures!
They're kinda cool, however. Not sure how to use them in the game effectively yet, as they can get cut down awful quick.
Briancj wrote:40K, today, is really about who/where you play. Maybe 6th Ed will restore some lost luster.
Yeah who knows. There certainly is something undeniably cool about having a large and coherent army. Something to be proud of.
Speaking of that, very happy with how these guys came out. They're not 100% done yet, need to have their bases finished and perhaps some mud/dust on the armor. The only thing that I really messed up on is the lettering on their shoulderpads. Too long of a word, ink pen was running out and I was having severe allergies and my eyes kept burning all day. Oh well, as long as it's readable!
I glazed them with an orange arists oil paint over the macharius solar orange to get this super rich, modulated orange finish. Takes a while to dry and I can't really handle them at the moment. They'll also need to be varnished quite heavily as the paint is delicate and I drop them a lot due to how heavy and unbalanced they are.
I also tried out the new citadel ceramite white base coat paint and I gotta say, I like it! It's the first competent white paint citadel has ever made. All their old white was crap that rapidly dried into a clumpy, waxy mess. I'm at 5000 ft altitude so that has something to do with it, as the paint dries very rapidly here, something many Coloradoans can attest to. Soon I'll be moving up to 7000-9000ft altitude, so I've no idea how that will affect my painting but it probably won't be good!
Anyways, pics!
Here's the Captain. I'm thinking I'll just field him as a regular guy.
Lettering on them, I call em squad 'griefer'
My favorite weapon!
And finally, working on some Kameel remotes for my Haqqislam Infinity group, which has grown quite large now! These are really cool models and were fun to assemble. Definitely required some serious pinning and I actually broke their legs off by accident trying to re-pose them!
The guy in the middle is a Tuareg hacker, an elite hacker who will remote control these machines, and who can camoflage himself to near-invisibility!
Also, finished up my entry for the Infinity painting contest here on Dakka today, so super excited about that and will be taking some good pics to submit!
I really like those old termies. They'll defiantly stand out on the battlefield, especially with that great paint job you've given them.
Those infinity minatures look great too. I've never thought much of Infinity before, but seeing these...
Flying Pooo wrote:I really like those old termies. They'll defiantly stand out on the battlefield, especially with that great paint job you've given them.
Those infinity minatures look great too. I've never thought much of Infinity before, but seeing these...
Thanks man. Yeah my army is hard to miss with its hunter's safety orange color. And no, you don't get a bonus to your to hit rolls on me!
You should definitely give Infinity a look. It has some really awesome looking minis and the gameplay is quite good. There's a lot to like about it.
Casey's Law wrote:Nice update to your Infinity force!
Yeah it's getting quite large. Also ordered a HMG and Panzerfaust Ghulam. I better draw the line somewhere or I'll be into 40k territory with the size of my Haqqislam. Gonna do Nomads next, they're irresistable!
Chemical Cutthroat wrote:Man those Kameels look awesome. It's going to force my hand to pick some up. I wanted an EVO remote anyway, and that just looks splendid.
Thanks. I don't think the official photos really do them justice. But I would seriously recommend bending their legs to fit entirely on the base, as they come with these 'extensions' that make their legs spill over the base, and just looks stupid IMO.
Small update here. I was given some more old terminators to fill out my squad of Rogue Trader termies to a full 10 man strength. These were painted by a good friend of mine who has been into warhammer and miniature painting with me since we were 13 or so. So, these are a teenager's work and I'll have to strip them and bring them into the fold of my army with a fresh coat of paint heh.
The inquisitor in the center is a rare figure that I always wanted to have, so I'm excited about that! The other two are a later generation from the original terminators, probably early-mid 90s?
Also, I participated in the Infinity Dakka Painting Challenge. Here was my entry, a Lizard T.A.G. for the Nomads faction. It was quite a tough competition and I think I got 31 votes or something out of 1776. Hard to stand out amongst so many amazing entries. I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out, however, and I'm excited to paint up a new Nomads force based around this unit in this color scheme.
As a side note, I think a neutral gray background is much better for photos than the diorama/lightbox I made.
I think you did a really wonderful job on your competition entry and deserved to place higher. In all honesty i don't think i voted on it but i truly wish i had. I'm not a fan of the model and i sadly allowed that to cloud my judgement when voting and not just with your model. Despite me not entering i guess i learnt from this comp that i need to think more carefully about voting.
Anyway, congratulations on your entry because you did a really nice job!
I think you did a really wonderful job on your competition entry and deserved to place higher. In all honesty i don't think i voted on it but i truly wish i had. I'm not a fan of the model and i sadly allowed that to cloud my judgement when voting and not just with your model. Despite me not entering i guess i learnt from this comp that i need to think more carefully about voting.
Anyway, congratulations on your entry because you did a really nice job!
Me too! I voted impulsively and would have changed a few votes in retrospect. Oh well, hindsight is always 50-50. And thanks for the comments. I've heard that this model is polarizing, people either love it or hate it for some reason.
Well, finally back home in the states. Gonna miss a lot of the Canadian friends I've made over the last year as I wrapped up my job there and got a sweet new job at a gold mine in Colorado! Gotta find a new place to live and move, and that will be hard work as im a total pack rat and have a TON of crap.
Gonna try to finish my kameel remotes quickly. Also got in a ghulam heavy machine gun and panzerfaust figure to boot.
Was looking at minis today at the store and was so tempted to buy a fine cast chaplain with jump pack, which is an awesome figure but I resisted. I'm proud!
Got a few last minute updates before I move. Tearing my place apart atm packing and I can't wait to get out of this dump into a nice new house.
My stash has grown fairly out of control. I really need to stop buying stuff and paint what I've got. This could easily occupy 1-2 years of non-stop hobbying right here.
It'll be like mega-christmas when I unpack all this stuff in my new place!
So, I decided to try my hand at building scenery. I've been wanting to for a while and have lots of materials to do it with, just never had the motivation. Bought this Tamiya 1/35 scale brick wall kit at hobby lobby for 5 bucks and built this stuff, along with some trees I've had sitting around for a while.
I wanted this scenery to be good for 40k, infinity and malifaux, and whatever else, so I tried to make it as non-specific as possible, while also pumping in some serious detail. Pretty happy with the results, although it is a little hard to reach into some of the crevices to get a miniature in there.
You made me laugh, I'm in the same boat as you.
I have enough hobby stuff for a couple years worth of painting/modelling but I just cant stop buying new stuff or getting distracted...
Nice terrain man!
I like those trees.
Are they part of a kit or scratch build?
Flying Pooo wrote: You made me laugh, I'm in the same boat as you.
I have enough hobby stuff for a couple years worth of painting/modelling but I just cant stop buying new stuff or getting distracted...
Nice terrain man!
I like those trees.
Are they part of a kit or scratch build?
It's definitely an addiction and the scale modeling crowd tends to be REALLY bad at holding back from piling the kits up. Far more unassembled than completed models.
The trees I bought at hobby lobby, but I painted them and used putty to cover up the gap on the base. They were a bit on the expensive side and this scenery also took a fair bit of paint.
Wow, we'll its been a while, dakka. So I've moved IRL for a new job and have had a pretty active summer. Many weekends spent mineral collecting in the Colorado Rockies. Love it!
Also discovered I really have a love for retro console games, specifically Sega genesis and dreamcast (is that retro yet?). I've spent a fair bit of money on games, controllers and other accoutrements for that particular hobby. I love my space ship shoot em ups!
As such, I really haven't done a whole lot of painting. I've only played 40k once in the last 5 months or so, and once again, completely failed to enjoy it. I think I've lost the spark of wargaming.
I do find some things about it appealing, but the 40k scene seems to have so much negativity and baggage associated with it. I haven't ever heard of anyone wanting to get together for a narrative, story-based game with heavy focus on the fluff.
Instead, it seems to be a droll recitation of stats and rules.
Plus I'm in the mountains now and there is no one around here to my knowledge that indulges in such hobbies. Maybe in Colorado springs.
At any rate, I haven't gotten a whole lot of painting done recently. And for a while my inspiration, my muse or whatever you want to call it was gone.
Up until last weekend or so. Rather than start. New project, I decided to really try and knock out some of the half-done models and projects I have laying around.
I'm easily distracted and often get bored with one model for whatever reason. Lots of times I get to a certain point where I'm waiting for one layer to dry, put it down, and start something new.
Also have numerous assembled and primed figures laying around that I haven't gotten to.
So, I'm getting some of this stuff done. So far I've completed 3 dioramas, 8 old school terminators with full basing and clear coating and 2 chronoscope models! What a good feeling to get this stuff done (and my display shelves are certainly a lot better looking!).
Still to do are space marine predator and vindicator, both about 80% complete, and my contemptor dreadnought about at 50%.
I'm also getting a bit worn out painting space marines, and damn, I still have so many more of them! Got some dark elves I want to finish up to complete that army, many of which are partially completed or poorly painted and will be stripped.
I'm getting the passion back and that's a good thing!
I have the same problem. I'm down to playing 40K once every few months. But, let me tell you, with 6th edition? Yeah. Me and my friends are playing wonderful, fluff-based, narrative games, and it has been a joyous resurgence.
"I don't play Warhammer 40K very often, but when I do...I play 6th Edition."
Enjoy the mountains! Fresh air! Rocks! Geocaching!
Briancj wrote: I have the same problem. I'm down to playing 40K once every few months. But, let me tell you, with 6th edition? Yeah. Me and my friends are playing wonderful, fluff-based, narrative games, and it has been a joyous resurgence.
"I don't play Warhammer 40K very often, but when I do...I play 6th Edition."
Enjoy the mountains! Fresh air! Rocks! Geocaching!
--Brian
The air is fresh at 10,000 ft, but it's also quite thin. I'm glad I quit smoking as I'm out of breath simply walking uphill or upstairs here.
So, this week has been a reprise of warhammer fantasy painting. I had these two stupid unpainted beast handlers for my dark elf hydra, which had been completed long ago. But these guys were just slacking around in the wings unpainted.
There's a reason for that. They're unappealing,, boring and basically useless accessories to a really cool model, and unfortunately necessary to field said model. So, I just got sick of looking at their primered hides and have painted them up.
This time I've taken a new approach and favored muted, earthy tones instead of the punchy, vibrant purples. I also wanted to make their skin blue-black colored and with menacing red eyes, like the D&D dark elves.
The pics are yet to come, as time each night is limited and I've been occupied with painting. Ive got a lot of stuff I want to photo all at once and hope to take some pics soon.
Update time! This one has been a long time a-comin'!
Summer has been busy. First, moved to a new place and have a nice new hobby room:
Video games for when I need a break!
Ikea display case. Really nice, but a weird Swedish model kit in its own right.
Library of artbooks, magazines and RPGs, and other games etc.
Infinity and Malifaux in their new home.
Spehss mareens interred in their display tomb.
Ok, painting!
Finally completed these guys. I'm not gonna lie, it was a chore. And they''re a pain in the ass to move around, so front-heavy. But I just love em!
And also finally completed the Dark Elf Hydra kit!
Been working on finishing this black unicorn thingy I bought years ago from Spanish company GameZone?
It's pretty sweet at any rate and there is a female wizard rider for it I'm gonna repaint.
Lastly for miniatures today, did up these two characters from the Chronoscape line of figures. I really like this line, not very useful for gaming but they're just enjoyable to paint and look at.
He's not happy someone made him spill his coffee and drop his donut!
Spooky, irradiated deep sea diver.
Aight, more completed projects! All dioramas strictly unrelated to Warhammer, but I hope you will enjoy them at any rate!
UFO diorama featuring the ship from Land of the Giants, some old-ass movie I've never seen.
Brocken Labor mecha from PatLabor anime series. Old-ass anime you've never seen!
Oh what a great weekend! Spent pretty much all of it completing a few miscellaneous figures for my dark elf army and a random malifaux figure. Will post some pics later.
Slowly prioritizing assembled and primed models to be painted next, as there are piles. Must resist the temptation to get bored and assemble more stuff when there are so many sad, lonely, unpainted miniatures just begging to be painted!
Also went on a terrain making spree after getting inspired by terraformers excellent work. Something so cool about making awesome scenery. I'd really like to do some Halloween themed terrain, like a graveyard and a haunted castle or something.
I read many articles on terraformers blog and learned quite a bit. I never knew acrylic craft/hobby paint from Walmart costing 97 cents a bottle could,be on par with specialized, and much more expensive, model paints.
Those picture links are broken which is a shame. The ones I can see look cool - I agree with you about the chronoscope range they are fun - so many characters. I like your sheriff. Nice sunglasses.
weetyskemian44 wrote: Those picture links are broken which is a shame. The ones I can see look cool - I agree with you about the chronoscope range they are fun - so many characters. I like your sheriff. Nice sunglasses.
Yeah I don't know what's up with that. They seem to work about half the time, and are hosted on Flickr. Maybe I got them linked wrong?
Been hard at work on this stuff all weekend and evenings. I love to create dioramas and little self-contained bits of scenery, just makes a nice little world for your gaming. The more detailed, the better.
Some of this is a bit non-descript, and hopefully good for any game system or setting, and some of it is what I'm calling a regressed colony. A world that was once a high-tech space colony on an alien world, but for whatever reason the colonists regressed to a primitive state, and their technology has decayed and their buildings gone to ruin. Good sci fi, right there.
Anyway, built this stuff with MDF board cut and sanded to shape, with pink insulation foam cut and sculpted, filled in with some spackle and dressed up with sand and glue and lots of miscellaneous bits in the case of the building.
Workbench with everything in very rough shape:
Rock outcrop after spackling and sculting, starting to take shape:
Another rock outcrop, tried to make them all have nice little bits of cover while keeping a natural, organic look to them:
A ruined building, not sure if it was a house or an office or what quite yet:
Pretty much done at this point, minus the paint!
Scaled to 28mm and large hands as best as possible while still looking like a relatively practical structure. This is the first time I've ever made a full on scale model building from scratch!
Completed rock outcrop piece. Looking a bit more swampy than I'd wanted, but I'm still quite happy with how it turned out:
Painted this almost entirely with dollar walmart paints, which to my surprise, are fairly decent! I would have never believed it. I mean it's walmart...
That's it for today, gonna finish painting some rock outcrops tonight then get started on the 2 story building, which I really want to give a detailed and realistic paint job to.
The only difference between the low-end paints and GW/Reaper/P3/Vallejo is the density of the pigment. Which, when painting on a small scale, becomes important.
For terrain (and also several coats on vehicles) you can swap out the cheaper paints no problem.
Briancj wrote: The only difference between the low-end paints and GW/Reaper/P3/Vallejo is the density of the pigment. Which, when painting on a small scale, becomes important.
For terrain (and also several coats on vehicles) you can swap out the cheaper paints no problem.
Looking sharp!
Good to know. I'm gonna have to get more of the walmart paints, especially black, which you can never have enough of. I've always found it good to use a wide variety of different types of paint and from different manufacturers. Maybe it doesn't really matter, but I tend to think it prevents your miniatures from looking too homogenous in their finish, and adds visual interest.
Did a bunch of drybrushing last night on two more rock outcrop pieces and now just need to add some flocking. Going to clear coat them all, too, so my hard work doesn't get chipped too fast. I found that adding in a red-brown wash creates a subtle effect that makes the rocks look more realistic, like they're oxidized, which nearly all rocks in real life are. I'd like to make some sedimentary looking rock outcrops too.
I'm thinking this weekend I might descend from the mountains for a sagebrush harvesting mission out on the prarie. After a recent business trip to Wyoming, I saw how absolutely cool sagebrush would be as miniature trees. It's almost perfect. Hoping I don't have to drive back to Wyoming to get some, though.
Also, I believe a trip to the hobby shop is in order. I've got a halloween hankering for some evil 40k or fantasy models. I'm thinking nurgle stuff, and some dark eldar.
Well, I've really been enjoying making this terrain!
I'm painting up the 2 story ruin now, and I want to give it a lot of detail with grime and rust in every corner.
Here's where I'm at with it so far. I just went with the institutional green color on a whim, and it does kind of look nasty, but once it's been weathered and rusted it will look sweet!
Here's the last 2 rock outcrops:
Here's some old OOP Dark Elf Corsairs that I've finally gotten around to painting. Think I got them for christmas last year from my buddy. I did a bit of conversion work on them, namely gave them some spikier weapons.
GiraffeX wrote: The scenery is looking very impressive, really like what you've done.
Thanks man! I'm looking forward to gaming with it, as I completed all the pieces this weekend.
Also I err, went on a bit of an impulse buy shopping spree Saturday. Procured more of the new citadel line of paints, which are excellent btw. Also bought three Nurgle kits: plague bearers, nurglings and the fantasy Nurgle chaos lord. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the nurglings and plague bearers are 2012 kits, and look very nice (can you really say that about them?).
The nurglings are kind of a fun kit, and I was actually able to create 3 extra bases of nurglings with the additional ones from the plague bearer box, which was a nice bonus.
I guess I've just got a hankering for an evil 40k army, and demons fit that bill. But I'm also intrigued by dark eldar, especially if the army was built to make use of some of the more monstrous creatures and aliens they employ. I think that would be a really sweet army, if not prohibitively expensive. So I bought the fine cast set of wracks as they looked the nastiest!
My thought was to actually field dark eldar force as the bulk of a new army, with a minor detachment of Nurgle demons. I believe this is possible after looking at the allies matrix in the rule book, but they are only allies of convenience, not battle brothers.
I'll really have to look at the dark eldar and what would appeal to me most is to have a brutal and deadly close combat oriented army with lots of nasty weapons and gruesome monsters and aliens. As it stands now I'm leaning towards a haempnculus HQ with wracks as troops. I'd also like the beast master and khymerae, as the models are awesome.
Also did some major refurbishing this weekend on some very old, first edition eldar harlequins. They were in abysmal shape: broken legs, missing feet, missing arms, all needed to be stripped of,paint and cleaned of mold lines. So that required a fair bit of precision pinning and limb transplants from my dark elf sprues. But they turned out decent. As decent as these crummy old models can look, that is.
My plan with them is to run them with dark eldar, got 8 of them including a death jester, and 3 harlequins kiss, 2 fusion pistols. I might need to do more conversion work on them and give them all a kiss if they're worth it.
Lovely terrain. The institutional green and corrugated iron roof will look amazing when weathered to within an inch of their lives. Have you seen this crackle paint craze that is going around? Check out Neil101 and Monkeytroll's thread for some pics, it would suit a decrepit institution perfectly. The interior furnishings are also a nice touch.
Bruticus wrote: Lovely terrain. The institutional green and corrugated iron roof will look amazing when weathered to within an inch of their lives. Have you seen this crackle paint craze that is going around? Check out Neil101 and Monkeytroll's thread for some pics, it would suit a decrepit institution perfectly. The interior furnishings are also a nice touch.
Thanks bruticus! I did look at those threads, and they're very inspiring, wonderful stuff to look at. I'll have to check into the crackle paint.
The rust turned out good, I use ak interactive rust and its nice stuff, however when I clear coated the models it got darkened a little bit. It's ok, but not as rusty as it looks I coated. But I don't want the paint job wearing off during games.
Gonna finish up these Nurgle models, which are a really fun change of pace. With them, you can pretty much be as sloppy as you want and it lends itself to the model very nicely. They're disgusting and I gave them a nasty blotchy green-brown paint job, with lots of gore.
I'm a little bummed to read that dark eldar and chaos can only be desperate allies, however. That's not so good and would make for very difficult games I think. Maybe I need to consider dark eldar and eldar if I want an alliance.
Two Spartan wrote: Just skimmed your thread, that scratchbuilt house looks great! Cant wait to see pics of it all rusty =)
Thanks! It's actually all done, I just need to take some pics. Only have a 3-4hr window each night to do anything these days, and I've been painting Nurgle stuff. Taking pics, uploading them and getting the gallery all set can take a long time sometimes and I'd rather do other stuff. Or, I'm just lazy!
@spuj thanks that makes my day. I've been super hard at work every night makin stuff. Creativity is an amazing feeling when you hit the zone. I absolutely love seeing something made from nothing, and ideas in my head come to fruition. I really need to post the cache of pics in my camera. Tomorrow I promise!!
Speaking of the zone, I'm covered in pink insulation foam, gorilla glue and spackle. And it's great! Been working on 2 large pieces of terrain, plus finished my Nurgle plague bearers and nurglings, and have an almost finished Nurgle lord. They're disgusting, nasty and ugly. Love em!
So fun to pain gak brown and vomit green, and have it not matter. In fact, if you're painting Nurgle, the worst and most badly you can paint those colors makes the models look all the better, IMO. Nurgle models should not have clean edge highlighting and nuanced shading. They should looks like a slimy, muddy, bloody gross mess!
And as a parting thought, Devin Townsend is Canada's best-kept secret. This guy is one of the best musicians I've ever listenened to. Pure awesome win metal, if you like metal that is. Just got his Epicloud album and I haven't been able to stop listening to it!!
Well I still have a ton of pics I want to post, but I'm too lazy to get on my computer and do it.
Currently working on 2 large pieces of area terrain with hills, trees and lots of cover, and are large enough to provide cover for tanks! I'm exclusively painting them with the el-cheapo Walmart acrylics, which have a very serviceable finish, but are so damn thin the paint scratches with alarming ease. Will have to very thoroughly clear coat these pieces to prevent dings and paint chips. But for 57 cents a bottle, I don't think you could beat them.
More or less done with my Nurgle models, and need to put the finishing touches on the Nurgle lord.
I'm torn between wanting more Nurgle, enough to field a 1000-ish pt army, or dark eldar. They are both appealing but would play very differently, I imagine.
I think before buying anything more, I need to paint the Wracks and harlequins I refurbished. So easy to fall into the trap of constantly wanting more.
Finally decided to pry myself away from the painting table long enough to upload some pics.
Here's some original RT era Eldar Harlequins, which as I mentioned were in really bad shape. I had to pin them extensively, including their legs and arms lol. I made a few improvised Harlequins Kisses for them.
Primed and ready to kill some stuff!
Also painted up a box of Nurgle Plaguebearers and Nurglings...great kits lots of fun.
I'm going to clear coat them and then add some more gloss coats to the swamp slime and blood n gore, just to make them extra nasty.
And also been making lots of scenery. Here's 2 large pieces, which are going to be hilly/rocky foresty areas with plenty of cover. I started with masonite boards that I had made attempts at painting on years ago, but well...let's just say I'm better at painting models than landscapes.
Next I glue down my insulation foam, usually with gorilla glue to ensure a very strong bond.
I do some rudimentary sculpting then add some basic terrain shapes, which will eventually be rock outcrops.
I then add more glue to ensure the additions are well-cemented together, and begin to carve them out.
I always like to place a marine on the terrain to get a general idea of scale, and make sure that the terrain will also be functional as well as aesthetically pleasing.
Next I use my soldering iron with a hobby blade attachment to partially melt the foam, so it creates the illusion of weathering. The glue seam actually was a nice accident, as it will look like a mineral vein when painted! Yay geology!
I actually cracked the knife blade attachment while doing this, hopefully it wasn't too hot!
This will even be good for tanks!
And here we are with some basic paint applied. Many more layers to go. One piece is actually like 99% done, I just wanted to buy more flocking to increase the detail level on the foliage, but otherwise they look sweet!
Galorn wrote: an nice technique I stumbled across and just tried out is using spackle to make a surface then "etching" in strata lines with a wire brush.
That's a pretty good idea. I've looked,at a lot of different rocks in my career, and there are a staggering amount of variations that occur naturally. It's actually quite ridiculous.
Ok this Sunday I really need to photo some stuff, but I also need to make a trip,to the hobby shop and that's like 3 hours round trip more or less. I wish there was a hobby shop in the mountains where I live.
GiraffeX wrote: Your scenery is looking very nice so far, the Plague Bearers are great as well.
Thanks, I finally finished them and several other projects today. I'm in the process of building a daemons/csm army. Not sure which will be the primary and which will be the ally, as they both have advantages and disadvantages.
I'm leaning towards Nurgle daemons with epidemus and csm allies with typhus, plague marines and forgefiends, as I really love those models. I also bought the new csm codex and I must say its nice to see color, even though it was crazy expensive.
I gotta say I also really like the models for the chaos cultists in the dark vengeance box set. It doesn't appear you can officially buy those models yet outside the box set, but I did see some attractive auctions for them on eBay. The idea of painting a horde army isn't very attractive to me, however. Nor would be placing the on the table and moving them around.
Bloody mess! Decaptitated eldar figure, very old. Was messing around with trying to convert stuff when I was younger, and now this fallen alien has served a higher purpose.
I actually have two bases like this. I did the blood with many layers of red + red ink and gloss coat, then followed up with tamiya x-27 glossy red, which really looks realistic!
Plague bearers
Chaos champ, will count as a herald of nurgle and lead my plague bearers
The family thus far
Festus WIP. He will count a a herald or possibly epidemius
And some WIP fine cast plague marines.
Now for some dark elf stuff....I'll finish this army sme day...
Sorceress on black Pegasus! This is a game zone mini, a Spanish company. Still not quite happy with it and I even repainted the sorceress. It's a cool figure but...something about it didn't quite turn out right.
Also completed a malifaux guild captain and guild hounds set, for my Ortega clan to give them a bit more variety. You don't see many fat bald guys depicted in miniatures, lulz.
Couple things I tried on him didn't turn out too well, for instance this unfortunate tattoo....
But overall they turned out decent I think
On to some terrain projects!
Been cutting a lot of foam and stuff, and my blade shattered finally. They're designed to do this but the bits flew all over the room in different directions!! lucky none went near my face, but I wasn't wearing safety glasses and man, that stuff is serious. I'll be wearing my PPE nex time.
This is the biggest piece of terrain I've attempted yet and it's eventually going to be a spooky keep and will be a centerpiece for games. I'm just not happy with the rocks yet, and I'm gonna do some more work on it.
Here's a completed piece of temperate forest, ready for the gaming table!
A large piece of woodland, I'm really excited with how these look and getting multiple types of foliage was well worth it!
They just keep getting bigger!
And finally my ruined building. Somehow that awesome desktop computer survived the apocalypse, and I wonder if there's any Mentats in that file cabinet...
Upper floor...observe the recycled skull candy earbud
That building looks spectacular. It's like you need a model for a Brotherhood of Steel Paladin stalking through it.
Malifaux is getting popular at one of the stores I'm at. That is a large man with very tiny weapons. Comically so. I think The Guild has some of the best models in the range easy. I don't see why you don't like the tat, I think it turned out pretty well, especially considering the size of the model.
@two spartan, thanks man I appreciate the feedback. I had a log of fun adding in those details and hope to make more apocalyptic type terrain.
@ chemical cutthroat, I do love me some fallout. Haven't played malifaux in a long time now but I do dig it. Tattoos Re just really hard to execute realistically, though practice makes perfect
Not sure about that, Chem. But I do have a lot of colored pencils and am gonna be giving more models some tatts, so its worth a try.
starting a major nurgle painting campaign now. Just finished up some plague Marines and bought another box of them, more plaguebearers, and 20 chaos cultists from the DV box set on eBay.
I'm also working on a great unclean one conversion and daemon prince conversion.
btw, writing this from a new windows 8 phone and I don't know how k feel about it yet. Cool toy in some ways, but lacking in other areas.
The nurglings are really revolting. And nice blood btw, very liquid.
I think I would say that the problem with the winged horse and sorceress is that they need a big craggy rock to stand on. Make it seem more airborne and makes the composition look less wide. The wings seem a bit low to the ground.
Your terrain hillsides are really appealling to me - this is why I got into the hobby in the first place - to make tiny perfect little worlds. I must do a diorama.
Had my first game with my daemons/chaos space marine force.
@ 1500 pts I had
Epidemius
Great Unclean one
20 plaguebearers
6 nurgling bases
CSM:
Typhus
7x plague marines w/ plasma gun & rhino
7x plague marines w/ 2 plasma guns & rhino
Vindicator tank
20 chaos cultists w/ 2 heavy stubbers
This was vs. codex marines and initially this battle went quite poorly for me, with the vindicator getting blown up on turn 2 (big surprise there, eh?) and a terrible deep strike mishap with epidemius and the plaguebearers. They ended up teleporting near a table edge into terrain, and were stuck there for the entire game doing nothing.
But, once the plague marines deployed from their rhinos, they soundly beat a squad of 10 assault marines and slew the chapter master, as well as wrecking a land speeder.
Nurglings didn't do much but managed to keep a squad of devastators locked in close combat and killed one, which kept them from firing.
The great unclean one prooved extremely hard for the space marines to deal with in close combat, and slew 3 devastators in one lucky round, routing the powerfist sgt from that squad.
Typhus blew up a razorback and then slaughtered the fleeing devastator sgt.
So, this is my first win in a long time. Definitely excited about that, as I'm not very good at actually playing 40k.
Overall I'd say the daemons were a dissappointment for me, due to my unfamiliarity with deep strike rules and how to effectively deploy them. It seems like a massive gamble and could go quite badly for you if your dice rolls suck. Daemons can also be completely screwed over by terrain, and I can see that boards with low terrain density would be better for those armies. But, I rather like to see awesome boards with lots of terrain. It's unfortunate that the rules work out that way.
Chaos space marines on the other hand were a vision in battle! The plague marines were the undisputed champions of the battlefield, and seriously angered my opponent. They are pretty damn hard to kill, even in close combat by assault marines. Well worth their points and probably a good idea to get more.
Typhus is also a total bad ass and it might even be worth getting a land raider to get him into battle faster, perhaps.
Also, I picked up a forgefiend kit and can't wait to nurgleify it!
Been a while since an update. I've finished my plague marines and plague bearers, as wel as the 20 chaos cultists with auto guns I bought off eBay. In between sessions of work and saints row III, which is a ridiculously underrated and disturbing game!
Also got a mega mondo bits bag during Black Friday from the war store. I've bought a bits bag from them before, but this was a mondo mega bits bag, and much more expensive. Like, 70 bucks expensive.
What I received, was a bloated bag of bits in a large box, along with the crappy November issue of white dwarf.
The bits were quite dense and varied, yet with a heavy bias towards space marines. I received a complete rhino kit, several decal sheets, a template weapon sprue, many good space marine weapons including an abundance of plasma pistols--several of which were customized with blood Angels junk--and more space wolf chain fists, power fists, lightning claws and assault cannons than I can shake a heavy flamer at, an item which also was included in abundance.
All in all, it was worth buying. And I haven't even listed the fantasy items I received. Enough spears, swords and bows to equip a small army with.
But it wasn't just random bits, I can actually complete at least 8-10 space marines, 6 or so imperial guardsmen and many fantasy characters. I mainly plan to use this stuff to make conversion models for wargaming, RPGs or jut plain fun.
Well, I haven't done fucl all this week. Work, work and work have been keeping me quite busy.
Actually it's not entirely true. I did do some greenstuff work on my Great Unclean One, which I now realize is a total badass space marine killing machine. I'll post a pic later.
Mainly, I've succumbed to PC gaming. I've played a hell of a lot of Saint's Row 3, which is an excellent game, and I beat it.
I've also exhumed Mass Effect 2 off my recently-repaired gaming PC, and been continuing a game I last played in ought-ten! This is a great game, very enjoyable on every level.
Also, Phoenix HD has been occupying a great deal of idle moments on my i-devices. If you love classic shoot em up type games, wow this is a good one!
And well, geez, that sums it up. Little productivity, but lotsa gaming! =)
Ok, another update. PC gaming and sega genesis have pretty much killed my painting activities. It's a cycle. Beat mass effect 2, now onto mass effect 3 which is mind-blowingly awesome! I just can't get enough, and the end of year steam sales have encouraged me to buy more PC games now that my gaming rig is operational. Tsk tsk.
Model-wise, I purchased a chaos rhino with my companies seasonal gift card, so now I have two rhinos to build for my chaos marines, and a forgefiend, however I discovered the base for that model is deformed. The plastic is all bent out of shape. A friend recommended I call GW for a replacement. Think I will, as that is an expensive model.
Also, genghis con is coming up soon for us Coloradans, and I really enjoyed competing in the painting competition last year. I have several mashinen krieger models I want to enter, all of which are still in box, and I think the groberhund is the one I want to do most. It's a sweet, very detailed ww2 themed sci if scale model kit, that has nothing to do with wargaming that I really want to complete.
After the severe and brutal defeats I suffered last year, I'm not sure I want to compete in the 40k tourney, as it is extremely competitive and cheesy, and you need to have mastered the rules quote thoroughly. With only 2 games of 6th Ed under my belt, I'd be cannon fodder with my flegdling and poorly understood chaos army. I'll leave that to the grey knights and blood angels players.
But still, I will be there and play many board games and other games and see old friends and make new nerdy friends!
Another long overdue progress update. My chaos force has grown considerably.
I now have 20 plague bearers, 14 plague marines, 6 bases of nurglings, a great unclean one, 2 rhinos, 20 cultists and a forgefiend in the works. Still need a proper model for typhus and epidemius, although I may just skip them since i have proxies that I'm quite proud of.
Also, I bought an airbrush! Got a sweet deal on Amazon for a Badger Patriot 105, and a pasche dual-piston compressor. I love this thing, it makes sweet paint jobs, although I still have much to learn.
So, here's a bunch of pics.
First up is a Great Unclean One custom model I've been working on. I've done a lot of greenstuff work on him, to get him properly Nurglified. This model is actually a Reaper troll king or somesuch, won him as a prize at Genghis Con last year.
And here he is with a basic paint job, still a lot of detailing and gore to add:
And here are my cultists. I basically just dipped them all. Although they are nice models, they were very tedious and boring to paint!
And a pic of my army as it stands thus far!
I also ordered a MEGA bits bag from the warstore during thanksgiving, and holy crap did it contain a lot of bits. They also included a White Dwarf, shown for scale here.
I ended up sorting them all and it took days, and there were quite a lot of nice, quality and rare bits in there, definitely worth it.
Ok, next up are two rhinos, one I bought and one was with the bits bag, complete, that I just added chaos bits to.
I wanted to make them as corroded and nasty as possible, and attempt the salt weathering technique. So, the airbrush was needed to do this well IMO.
First, I primered them with a heavy duty Krylon outdoor paint. On top of this I added some highlights and variations with lighter ochre colors, to break up the oxidation color a bit. Then I hit them with a heavy layer of aquanet hairspray and dusted them liberally with salt. In retrospect, I would have used even more salt.
Next I gave them a basecoat of Tamiya Olive Drab paint with the airbrush. I wanted a nice dark green for this phase.
Then I followed up with various Citadel paints to bring the colors up a notch, and give some variation to the paint job, to make it less uniform.
Then I was experimenting with spraying on some devlan mud and more citadel paint. And then I washed one under some mildly warm tapwater in my sink. Well, I discovered the devlan mud washed off completely as well as the salt. It was a total leap of faith. But it wasn't a total loss, as after I took a toothbrush to the model and scrubbed off all the salt, it left the citadel paint job totally distressed and nasty looking. Just what I was after!
Here's a side by side comparison:
Next I spent some time adding more washes and streaks to the models with Track Rust, an enamel wash from AK Interactive. It's really good stuff and gives them a delicious grime layer:
For the final phase, I used Windsor and Newton artists oils to create weathering streaks down the hull, as if from rain etc. I also added some AK Interactive weathering powders: rust and exposed metal weathering.
Great job, those are some suitably disgusting vehicles to get Papa Nurgle's minions to their destinations.
The salt technique is something I want to try out too. I agree with you that more salt might have been a good idea. Then again it might have distracted from their slimyness. I guess it's all about finding the sweet spot to achieve the desired amount of rust.
Did you varnish the model before you tried to take the salt off? I remember that was a really important part of the couple of tutorials I've read/watched. If not that might have been why you lost your wash in the water and the paint was roughed up by the toothbrush. Luckily you got a nice distressed effect anyway. It would have been heart breaking if it had ruined all your hard work.
Casey's Law wrote: Great job, those are some suitably disgusting vehicles to get Papa Nurgle's minions to their destinations.
The salt technique is something I want to try out too. I agree with you that more salt might have been a good idea. Then again it might have distracted from their slimyness. I guess it's all about finding the sweet spot to achieve the desired amount of rust.
Did you varnish the model before you tried to take the salt off? I remember that was a really important part of the couple of tutorials I've read/watched. If not that might have been why you lost your wash in the water and the paint was roughed up by the toothbrush. Luckily you got a nice distressed effect anyway. It would have been heart breaking if it had ruined all your hard work.
Everything else looks great too, keep it coming!
Hey thanks Casey. I didn't varnish them before washing. I was thinking if I did this, it may have sealed the salt in and prevented it from washing off. I'm not sure if there is a 'right' way to do this, as it all depends on the effect you want. It also requires some experimentation. And there are several variations on the technique.
As it stands I'm pretty damn pleased with the result, as I got the nasty textured look I wanted. But you're right, that would suck to ruin a more valuable model than these rhinos...
And you should definitely give this a try, it was a lot of fun and really cool to see them come to life.
Next step for these are the headlights and spotlights. I've previously just given them a lame coating of sunburst yellow and called it good.
This time I'm going to try making them look like headlights that aren't turned on. This will be a lot harder but I hope it will look better than trying to paint lights, or doing OSL and messing it up!
Salt weathering / rust effect looks great! I've used a similar process on my terrain and was happy w/ how it came out but your technique yields some results I want to replicate.
Skalk Bloodaxe wrote: Salt weathering / rust effect looks great! I've used a similar process on my terrain and was happy w/ how it came out but your technique yields some results I want to replicate.
Subbed and will be back!
Well thanks, glad you liked it. Let me know how it goes. I think this is actually not that complex, and much easier than trying to paint realistic chips, which is very time consuming and requires a lot of skill to pull off well.
Now, painting unlit headlights...ugh. Tried it tonight, and I less than satisfied. I'll post some pics tomorrow, but they didn't turn out how I wanted, that's for sure.
Allrighty then! Finished up them chaos rhinos, will take some pics soon.
Now I've gotten some modelers ADHD and have too many projects going on at once. Had a primered Cato and Pedro sitting on my shelf for ages, so attempting them with the airbrush. Also got a forgefield cooking, and a deimos(?) pattern rhino, the old-school looking one from forge world.
This model is sweet looking, but my inexperience with resin caused me to make some blunders here. Namely, the resin grease caused my primer to crack and flake off, much to my distress. So I scrubbed it vigorously with a wire brush and soap and stuff and hope that did the trick.
On the forgefield and this rhino I'm doing the salt weathering again, so wish me luck!
So I've been working on a number of things lately. A Chaos Forgefiend has proven to be a challenging yet excellent model to build. GW really did a cool job on this model, and I appreciate how they made it easily magnetizable. I plan on getting at least one more, maybe run 3 in my army for maximum firepower!
Also been trying to finish up some neglected stuff, mainly my Octoberforce marines. I got fairly burned out painting orange, and on space marines in general.
But I had an old pewter captain I stripped and will now count-as Cato Sicarius, same weapons and everything. Also have had Pedro assembled and primed for a long time, so wanted to finish him as well.
I've been using my airbrush on all of these models extensively. I'm very pleased with the results, but I still have a lot of bugs to work out. I live at 8500ft and paint dries very fast here, and I've had a lot of issues with the airbrush clogging, paint spattering etc.
Here's cato and pedro:
The forgefiend. I primered it with some outdoor grade primer to simulate rust and went with the salt weathering technique a lot. I really love the results I'm getting!
Now this is a Forgeworld Diemos pattern rhino I've had primered forever. I also bought a dozer blade and twin linked assault cannon upgrade for it from a Polish modeller. I wanted this to be a very tactical vehicle I could run as a plain rhino or as a razorback, intended for a quad-plasma gun command squad.
But I ran into some severe problems with oil on the resin. I didn't realize you had to wash this stuff off very well and my white primer ended up peeling and looking like crap. So I got frustrated and shelved it for like, a year.
So I ended up scrubbing off most of the white primer and cleaning the resin oil off, and re-primered it with the rust color.
On top of this I airbrushed some other ochre colors to break it up a bit. You can see the paint spattering issues here on the front, but in this case I don't mind as it makes the rust effect a bit more spotty.
I wanted to do the interior on this one as well!
Scratchbuilt twin linked lascannon!
Here's everything with the salt applied. I've gotten the best results with aquanet hairspray as the adhesive. I'm using a mix of coarse sea salt and equigranular table salt.
I beat up the forgefiend during assembly with gouges, scratches and bullet holes.
Airbrushing. Still getting issues with too much or too little paint flow.
Pre-washing. I broke up the tone of the orange to make it look less flat.
Post washing. I really went almost too far with the weathering on this rhino I think. Still I think it looks cool though.
Magnetized dozer blade and assault cannons. I love the look of this tank!
I'm quite pleased with how the lascannon looks.
And here's the forgefiend post washing. Love how nasty it looks, like the nurgle energies are slowly rotting the metal!
Here it is with the plasma cannons.
Working on the metal details. This was a very time-consuming paint job. First I hit it with a light layer of chaos black.
Following up with a thin layer of tin bitz.
And finally chased up with a thin layer of brass.
Then I liberally washed the entire model with AK interactive track wash, an oil based wash that gives great looking results.
First rate weathering, those vehicles look really excellent. I've had mixed results with salt weathering, I think you have got a really nice contrast between the rust and paint hues and that's one of the most important things. I don't think I would have tried brown rust with a yellow paint job, but it looks great.
Hey thanks for all the comments. It's a really good technique and I think it looks very appropriate in the grimdark 40k setting.
Here's an updated pic of Cato and Pedro, but to be honest I'm finding it hard to be really enthusiastic about painting them. It feels like a chore.
And now onto the Forgefiend, it's pretty much done. I'm tempted to add an evil red glow to the eyes, but I'm pretty damn pleased with how it looks now.
I applied a verdigris wash to the brasswork, just to give it an extra level of corrosion. Only thing that remains is to detail the base and clearcoat it, but its too cold for that. Probably wont be able to clearcoat till march-april with these temperatures outside. Can lead to bubbling/frosting of clearcoat, and I don't want to ruin this model after all this work.
Who wants some of this?
The autocannons are brutal weapons, and look very menacing
The backside sorta reminds me of a shrimp or lobster
I would lay myself in front of your Forgefiend to have it trample on me and shoot the snot outta me and be damn thankful for the opportunity! Very nice! I've been eyeing it up in the store but I have way too much other stuff to do right now, but I shall dream well tonight.
Can you do me a favor? Pose a space marine by that beast, so I can get a sense of scale? And is that the base that came with it? If so, what size is it?
Briancj wrote: Can you do me a favor? Pose a space marine by that beast, so I can get a sense of scale? And is that the base that came with it? If so, what size is it?
Thanks!
It is indeed the base that comes with the kit. I believe it's the same one as used in a storm raven or IG valkyrie. Large oval base. I'll take a pic of it next to a marine sometime, but the kit is about the size of a rhino, more or less.
Taking some of this stuff up to Denver today for Genghis Con. I had a lot of fun in the painting competition last year and hope to have fun today! Gotta put on some last last last minute details here and hit the road in a few hours. Wish me luck!
Thanks guys, and yes I did bring the Forgefiend, after a feverish session of last minute detailing! Also brought one of my Nurgle Rhinos, my Infinity mecha, and a diorama I made that doesn't really have anything to do with wargaming, but is in the sci-fi vein.
And I couldn't believe I got two 1st place trophies! The competition is always stiff at these things, you really have to bring it. You could have many great painted miniatures, but you're competing against people who have excellent to jaw-droppingly awesome miniatures. I got blown out of the water in the single figure category, where I had my infinity mecha entered.
Anyway, here's some pics!
My UFO diorama, not a very good pic...
Looks like a cool Hirst Arts mold dungeon, 2nd place diorama if I remember right
This was the Masterclass stuff, very tight paint jobs. Winner got a free trip to the Crystal Brush competition
Some of the large figures
The looted ork flyer was 2nd in vehicles and the baneblade 3rd.
From the Rogue Trader 40k tourney, this army got voted best of show, and very deservingly:
And I really liked this Necron army.
The tourney sounded like total cheese, as they always are. There were at least 4 CSM-Necron hybrid armies there, and each one fielded 3 Heldrakes. People were bitching about this and flyers in general quite a lot.
I had a good time, spent a bit of money on more minis, really nice ones from up and coming indie sculptors, and won two boxed sets of some stuff I've never heard of before as prizes. One was a post-apoc car game called Warlands, and the other was a skirmish game not unlike infinity or necromunda. Both came with dice and rules etc, so might be worth a try when I get time to check em out.
Also played Zombies! And this really cool tetris like game, called Blokus, which was really fun with 4 people.
Well this has been a productive weekend for me. I've taken a break from miniatures for the moment in favor of more sci fi scale models. Maschinen Krieger, in particular. Think WW2 meets Japanese mecha.
They're a super detailed line of models, all awesome. This one is a Groberhund, a robotic humanoid type with a laser and 2 panzerschreks, some kind of missiles I guess.
At any rate, it's one of the most complex model kits I've ever built. The assembly alone was an exercise in patience and seam filling. Painting was a lot of fun.
I did salt weathering again, although this time I scraped off the salt with my fingers and a hobby knife, rather than brushing it off with water in the sink.
So it's been a while since I've posted, but I have been working on some stuff! Got the new Daemons codex and CSM codex, and been fleshing out my army, albiet slowly. Major sidetour with the Maschinen Krieger stuff.
Here's 10 plaguebearers, 7 plague marines and 20 cultists all based and fully completed
They're all based as if they're in a nasty swamp, with lots of putrid sores and copious amounts of blood, all done with Tamiya transparent colors, which are magical!
And finally some plague drones I've been working on, did the bases with tile adhesive, with applies not unlike cake batter, looks like cake batter (and oddly smells like cake batter, maybe I've been inhaling too many fumes lately?)
And I still can't figure out why my flickr links are broken. They post just fine on other forums, but for some reason dakka and flickr don't like each other.
Played some Puppet Wars saturday night and I gotta say 
lucky none went near my face, but I wasn't wearing safety glasses and man, that stuff is serious. I'll be wearing my PPE nex time.
