Good work on your Blackstone fortress models Zerg, they have turned out very well. I particularly like the red lens in the middle, draws the eye in and looks very good.

Have you managed to play any Blackstone Fortress yet? I'm leaning towards it as a birthday present for myself in a couple of months time.

@youwashock: Thanks!

@MG: Thanks, and I haven't yet played BSF. I'm intending to paint everything before I play it, so I better get to work, huh?

Yet again, sorry for the lack of updates. I just haven't been motivated for hobbying lately. Too much time spent playing video games (especially Path of Exile). But, I have managed to make a little bit of progress over the last few days. Here's where UR-025 is at:

Metallics are down, so now I need to start picking out the smaller details, including the lights and the circle on his right shoulder. I'm intending to make some sort of small symbol there, but I haven't decided what it will be.

I've also begun working on my Space Marine Heroes. All I've done so far is the red armor for the Blood Ravens scheme:

Next up will be the cream colored shoulder pads, at which point they'll be more obvious what chapter they are from. I do need to figure out a good color for the Captain's cloak. I'm thinking about putting a big Blood Ravens symbol on the back, but I'm not sure my freehand skills are up to that. We'll have to see.

I did manage to get all the rest of my Blackstone Fortress models primed thanks to some decent weather yesterday, so no more excuses for not making progress. Hope to have more to share soon.

Even a little progress is a good thing, I figure. The bot and marines are looking good.

@youwashock: You're right about that. I've had too little progress though. Time to remedy that.

Finally back with some updates. I've been working but haven't had much motivation to update my blog. I'd rather wait and show real progress than just show pics that look the same as the previous ones. Anyway, UR-025 is very nearly done. Pretty much just the base left to do on him. Here's where he's at right now:

I picked out a few metal details I missed before, as well as some of the lights on the front of his chassis.

I also started working on the Chaos Lord, Obsidius Mallex, and his two Black Legion buddies:

Just the gold trim done so far, but at least it's a start.

I'm also nearly done with my Space Marine Heroes. Here's the latest WIP shot of them:

These guys just need their faces and bases done, plus some cleanup and a couple of small details picked out. I freehanded the shoulder pads already (not particularly well but I don't have time to go back and redo them), and I also added a Blood Ravens chapter symbol to the back of the Captain's cloak (not visible in the photo). I should have finished photos of these guys in a few days.

Yet again, I apologize for the dearth of updates. At times I've debated just shutting down this blog, but I do have a few followers (assuming any are left now that I've been going 2-3 weeks between updates) so I'll keep on keeping on with it. I need to pick up the pace on painting stuff too, as at this rate it'll be July or so before I even finish the Blackstone Fortress set, let alone get started on the Shadowspear models (which I've already assembled).

Any progress is good progress. Keep plugging away, we’ll be here when you are.

Everything looks to be coming along well.

All the stuff Nevelon said.

Also I will be adding "faces and bases" to my vocabulary for when there isn't much left to do on a model.

Just keep.swimming

If you post nice models as you do, followers will coalesce.to.drool

Having just finished my CSMs from BSF I can definitely say i hate all the trim!

@Nev: I appreciate the encouragement! I've been going through some stuff in real life that has had me kind of down, hence the lack of painting. Nice to know I've still got people interested in what I'm doing.

@youwashock: Thanks, and you're welcome for the "faces and bases" thing!

@Flinty: Thanks! I try to post cool stuff, but I just haven't been getting stuff done as fast as I'd like to. Hopefully that'll change soon and I'll give everyone a reason to stop by this blog. And you're totally right about the trim; it's arguably one of the cooler things about Chaos models, but it is very tedious to pick it all out!

Well, I've finally got some finished stuff to show. Nothing Blackstone Fortress-related, but I did finish the Blood Ravens as promised. Here are the final photos:



These are just the five I chose to be my entry in the March painting challenge. Here's another shot showing all six Marines:

The reloading bolter guy didn't turn out as well as the others, particularly the face (which looks very flat). In general I feel like this is one of my poorer outings, but at least I got something done, right? They aren't total garbage and it was certainly fun to paint some Space Marines that aren't wearing green for a change. Feel free to vote for these images in the Dakka Gallery!

Here's hoping I can rally and start turning out more of my Blackstone Fortress stuff. Unfortunately the next painting challenge doesn't seem to suit any of the stuff from that (I've already started on Mallex and he was the closest thing), so I'll have to figure something out for that.

Those guys get a thums up from me. Did you freehand the shoulder insignias?

They turned out quite cool. Nice work on the freehand. They make for a good-looking group.

@Josh: Thanks, and yes the insignias are freehand. I'm sure you can get Blood Ravens decals somewhere, but I didn't have time or patience or money for that, so I put my lackluster freehand skills to the test. I'm definitely getting there, but still need improvement.

@youwashock: Thanks! I'm pretty happy with them myself. They'll probably only ever do shelf duty, but at least they'll look okay on my shelf!

Well, I finally finished the robot from Blackstone Fortress. Took long enough, right? Here are the final photos:


The camera was not kind to this model, I feel. I notice lots of mistakes and sloppy painting, but maybe I'm just my own worst critic. Still, I'm satisfied with how he looks, and I'm happy to be able to move on to other stuff. Next up on deck for the heroes of Blackstone Fortress will be the Navigator, Espern Locarno. It'll be the first time I've ever painted purple on a model, believe it or not (Mortarion doesn't count; I used magenta/pink colors on him, not purple).

In other news, I've started painting a Daemon Prince of Khorne for the monthly painting challenge. Here's where he's at right now progresswise:

His skin and wing membranes are all done, and I've basecoated all the spines, horns, claws, and teeth. I'm using a very similar painting scheme to my Bloodthirster from a few years ago. This model is a bit easier than that one, so hopefully it won't take me too long to finish.

I hope to have more progress to show on my Blackstone Fortress stuff soon. My original goal was to have everything in that box done by June; I'm not sure that's going to happen, but I'm going to try. It doesn't help that I'm having my wisdom teeth pulled in the next few weeks. We'll see how that affects my painting. It may actually be a positive, as I won't feel like doing much while I'm recovering, but at the same time I may be in a lot of pain and discomfort. That won't be for at least three weeks, so in the meantime no excuses for me!

It’s easy to be harsh on your own work, and close ups from the camera never help with that. Solid work on the robot.

Good luck with the teeth. Be sure to save them, to take down to the local big mek to barter for some ork grubbins.

Another model done is always a good thing, and he looks good. Is it a he? D. Prince also looking good. Good luck with the dentist.

@Nev: Thanks, and you're right.

@youwashock: Thanks, and while I don't think robots have genders I tend to refer to them as whatever their voice sounds like. For some reason I always picture UR-025 sounding like a Cylon from the original Battlestar Galactica, so I think of him as male.

Some progress to show on the Navigator. His purple robes are done, now it's on to the rest of the model:

I'm pretty happy with how the robes turned out, so hopefully I can get the rest to look as good.

I've also made plenty of progress on my Daemon Prince of Khorne:

Next up will be the bronze details basecoated, then shading all the metallics. I'm hoping to finish this guy fairly quickly, but we'll see how it goes.

Making some slow progress on the Navigator. WIP shot (sorry it's kind of blurry):

Most of the model has now at least been basecoated, so actually there isn't a whole lot left. Just some very small details to pick out, plus a few shades and highlights.

I'm nearly done with that Daemon Prince as well. Here's where he's at right now:

There's very little left to be done on this guy. A couple of highlights and his base, and of course some Blood for the Blood God because he is a Daemon of Khorne after all!

I finished the Daemon Prince, so here are the final pics:



I'm very pleased with how it turned out. The brass turned out a bit flatter than I'd hoped, but highlighting metallics is something I've always struggled with. I do always enjoy an opportunity to put some Blood for the Blood God on models; it's fun to make them look gory! It's also nice to get this model done; I got him way back in 7th edition when I started my Khorne Daemonkin army (on the very first page of this blog!). Feel free to vote for the pics in the Dakka Gallery!

On the Blackstone Fortress front, I've made little progress on the Navigator, but I did get a little more paint down on the Chaos Marines:

The silver metallics are basecoated, and I tried to make a sinister glowing effect on the right shoulders of the two regular Marines and the Chaos symbol on the Lord's Thunder Hammer. Hard to see in the pic. It'll look better once the models are finished.

I may start working on some Ravenwing soon, as I'm starting to run them more in games and I plan to start taking them to tournaments instead of the Azrael Hellblaster gunline. I'll make sure to post pics when I get some work done on them.

Nice work on the Daemon Prince. I think your brass looks fine.

I like the Prince. You have nailed that classic Khornate look.

Love how the navigator is glowing in the picture from the light hitting his armor. “Someone’s mister fancy pants “

@Josh: Thanks! I'm glad you think so, as I feel like I did a little better highlighting it than I usually do.

@youwashock: Thanks!

@Theo: Yeah, that's what happens when I shoot WIP photos near my computer screen.

Well, my wisdom teeth are out now, so while I've been recovering I've gotten some paint down on some of my Ravenwing. My entry for the monthly challenge is three Black Knights, so here's the first WIP shot of them:

They look a bit rough, but that's because I haven't shaded or highlighted anything yet, and once I add the gold trim and details they'll come together better. Plus I haven't painted the chest details either. Lots more to do with these guys.

I've also been working on some regular Ravenwing bikers:

The guy on the right is one I basecoated a long time ago; I need him for a current list so I've been touching him up at the same time as I work on the other two to make a squad. As cool as Ravenwing look when they are done, they feel like they take a lot more work than other models. Not entirely sure why, but bikers in general are kind of a pain like that. I need to paint quite a few of them for a list I'm working with though, so I need to keep on going.

No progress to show on the Blackstone Fortress stuff currently. As for my dental situation, I'm surprisingly not in a huge amount of pain (of course that could be because I'm taking stuff for it), but it is annoying being restricted to soft foods and worst of all no soda! I'm a little concerned about caffeine withdrawal coming up, especially since I'll have to go back to work in a couple of days. We'll see what happens. I do intend to get more painting done in the meantime, because later this year I'm hoping to get into some GTs and I need a painted army. Wish me luck!

Switching gears! So far, so good on the bikers. Good luck on getting your tournament army together.

If the caffeine withdrawals down have you within the first 24hours you’ll be fine.

Good start onthe black knights

@youwashock: Thanks!

@Theo: I made it through alright after all, but I did end up with some headaches from the lack of caffeine.

Yes, I'm still alive and painting. I've gotten some work done on my models, but not nearly as much as I thought I would. The problem has been that I've been playing a lot of SMITE, Runescape, and even some Stardew Valley on my computer, and that has eaten into my painting time significantly. Electronic crack is trying to compete with plastic crack for control of my life! Still, progress has been made, so here are some WIP shots:
Black Knights:

Bike Squad:

Got most of the major basecoats down, and I also shaded and highlighted the white parts of the fairings and the sergeants' robes. Plenty more work to do on these models still.

I've also put a couple more colors down on the Navigator from Blackstone Fortress:

More work needed on this guy as well, but he's coming along.

Here's hoping I can get more work done. My mouth is healing nicely, although it is annoying having holes in it. Most of the discomfort is gone though, so no more excuses!

Finally finished the Black Knights for the monthly comp, just under the wire too. Here are the final pics:



I definitely rushed getting the final bits of detail on the models, but I still feel like they turned out okay. Lessons learned for when I tackle the rest of the 10-man unit.

Next time I post I should have a photo or two of the regular Ravenwing Bikers that I've been working on. They are basically done, and I'm not going to do much on the bases as I'll be upgrading them to the larger oval bases at some point, so no reason to waste time detailing bases that I'm not going to keep, right?

Nice job, man. The wheelie popper is a great touch.

Agreed. Nice work there. It can be hard to get a sense of movement from marine bikes. They are chunky and static. The wheelie lets you know they are moving.

@YWS: Thanks! I'm happy with how he turned out, and he got some compliments at an event I played in recently.

@Nev: Thanks! Totally agree on bikes: I love the Black Knights kit in that it lends itself to more dynamic poses from the bikers, at least as far as the weapon arms. I wanted my Huntmaster to be easily picked out from the rest of the squad, hence the wheelie and the robes.

Well, as fate would have it, I'm changing up what I'm bringing as far as competitive play yet again. Dark Angels just aren't performing, and since I just got my ass handed to me at a tournament the other day I think it's time to try something else for a while. Fortunately, I've been working on a Tau Ghostkeel Battlesuit for the monthly painting comp, so that dovetails nicely with my current competitive plans. Here's a quick (and blurry, sorry! ) WIP shot:

Still plenty of work left to be done, but most of the more time-consuming stuff is finished. Just mainly the details left to do, most notably the yellow head. I'm going with darker, more subdued colors because this is a stealth unit, much like the XV25 Stealth team I did a while back. The scheme will still tie in okay with the rest of my Tau forces, but with a darker tone. This is one of my all-time favorite models from the whole Tau range, so I've been having a blast getting it painted.

In other news, I picked up some new stuff for working on more Dark Angels (just said I'm quitting playing them for a while, but I'll still paint some of them because I enjoy that a lot!):

GW came out with those new Contrast paints, so I'm going to give some of them a try. I'll mostly be doing just armor details with these, using traditional paints for the weapons and metallic details. I'll probably try them out on a Tactical squad first, and then paint up all of my Vanguard Primaris guys from the Shadowspear box set.

I'm also probably going to be saying goodbye to a lot of my Chaos stuff soon. At this point, if I wanted to be decently competitive with them it'd be like starting a whole new army considering most of what I do currently have is not good on the tabletop. So I'm probably going to be selling everything that isn't Nurgle, since I love the Death Guard models too much and want to paint more of them. In fact, I might even expand my Death Guard collection with the money I get from selling the rest. We'll just have to see.

Finally, those of you who know about my second Dakka blog will be happy to hear that I'm getting back on painting my Imperial Knight stuff. I'll probably post some WIP photos in there pretty soon (tonight or tomorrow), so that's something else to look forward to. I'm very sorry for not posting in here for a while. I've been going through some more personal issues in RL that have affected my painting progress, but I'm hoping to kick it into high gear soon.

I think that pic is as in focus as ghostkeels get.

Have fun with the contrast paints. I think they add a nice tool l to the kit. I’ve just been using them as glazes+ and they have done well for that.

Always sad to part with minis, but you need to focus on the stuff you want to. I need to pare down my collection, but don’t have the heart for it.

Hope the IRL issues sort themselves out. Painting is often a balm for what ails you. Sit down at the bench, focus on the mini, and everything else just melts away. We’ll be here when you have time to post and paint.

Second what Nev said, especially the stuff about RL troubles.

@Nev: Thanks! It is fairly bittersweet to part with my Chaos Marines. It'll be nice to unclutter my shelves and make room for other stuff, but at the same time I've had a lot of fun with Chaos over the years. As for the RL stuff, it's getting better, so hopefully you'll see me on here more.

@YWS: Thanks for the support!

More progress on the Ghostkeel:

He's basically done at this point other than some tiny details and the base. I'll probably touch up some sloppy areas as well.

I just primed a bunch of units with the Wraithbone spray, so maybe after finishing this model I'll try out some Contrast paint and give some opinions on it. My first test subject may in fact be Deathwing Terminators, as their bone colored armor should be perfect with the Skeleton Horde contrast color.

Suit is looking good. I like the yellow as a counter to the dark blue. It is just the right amount of contrast, I think. Speaking of, have fun playing with the Contrast paints.

@YWS: Thanks! I've been pretty happy with the blue and yellow combination on my Tau stuff so far.

I finished the big stealthy guy. Here are my final pics of him:



I'm very happy with how the model turned out. The darker color scheme (compared with the majority of my Tau forces) helps denote it as a stealth unit while still tying in visually with the rest of the army. The main gun is magnetized, hence why different photos show the two different options (Fusion Collider and Cyclic Ion Raker). I didn't make the secondary weapons swappable unfortunately, but then I would rarely run anything other than the Fusion Blasters on this thing. Feel free to vote for these images in the Dakka Gallery.

This morning, since I had the day off work, I decided to try out the Contrast paints for the first time. The test subjects: a Deathwing Terminator Squad from Dark Vengeance, slightly modified (the Assault Cannon guy has a Cyclone Launcher and Storm Bolter instead of the cannon). Here's a photo showing the three different Contrast colors I used:

The colors are Skeleton Horde for the armor, Dark Angels Green for the sergeant's tabard and the chest eagles, and Black Templar for the armor joints and wing details. The paint is really good, providing good shading and even some highlights, but unfortunately I think Skeleton Horde has made the armor too dark. I don't think there's a different contrast color that would do any better for Deathwing armor though, so I'm not sure what to do. Maybe I'll go over the armor with Ushabti Bone, leaving the darker color still showing in the recesses [/duncanrhodes]. Even if I end up having to do this, I still saved some serious time, as I would have to have laid down 2 thin coats of Zandri Dust and an all over shade of Agrax Earthshade to do the same job as one coat of Skeleton Horde. These contrast paints are the real deal! I will be doing all the other details, like the weapons and stuff, with traditional paints. I'm probably going to try contrast on a Dark Angels Tactical Squad soon, so we'll see how well Dark Angels Green works on the power armor of its namesake Chapter.

That suit rules. Just an all around awesome piece. The Deathwing are shaping up nicely, as well. Interested in seeing how you develop the main color. Cool that you swapped the AC for a Cyclone. Wouldn't mind a better look at that conversion.

Big stealthy guy looks great , I haven’t kept up with 40K in a long time, but Tau are just looking better all the time and I think it’s because of paint schemes like yours and Nerdfest09’s

Ghostkeel does look good - always makes me think the Tau less goofy than usual and more spec ops/futureish

That Ghostkeel is looking really effective. I love that shade of blue and yellow together (it's not a million miles away from a scheme I used on some Swooping Hawks recently). Keep it up!

@YWS: Thanks! It may be a little while before I get back to the Deathwing, as that was mainly just a test of the new Contrast paints and I have other more important stuff to paint up first. As for the CML conversion, it's pretty simple. I just took the AC model from Dark Vengeance, replaced the AC arm with a Storm Bolter and shoulder pad from the actual Deathwing Terminator Squad kit, and put a CML from the same kit on top. It fits the monopose Termies just like any other. Simple as can be.

@Theo: Thanks! I've been really happy with my scheme and have gotten many compliments on it, so I must have done something right. The newer Tau models are just amazing too. I fell in love with them when they came out and I think I've probably painted some of all of them now, except for the new Crisis suits (which I do have, just not painted yet) and the Tidewall terrain.

@IGtR=: Thanks! The futuristic look is what first got me interested in Tau. It's very different from the chunky industrial look of Imperial models for sure.

@Bell: Thanks!

Sorry for the late reply, but I have been getting some hobbying done. The main thing has been this quick and dirty painted Stealth Team:

They aren't as well done as my Ghostkeel, but I didn't spend that long on them either. I just wanted to get them done up real fast while I had the right paints in my "ready rack" on my desk. I'll need them for my comp list, so now I don't have to worry about doing them. The antennas broke off a while back and I don't have any replacements, hence why the Burst guys don't have them.

My next major project, and my entry for the July monthly painting challenge, will be a unit of Wulfen for my Space Wolves. These will be a tough challenge, as the models are very detailed and some of that detail is tricky to get to and pick out. Look forward to WIP shots of them in the days ahead.

Quick, but effective. Sometimes it is nice to just get some guys done. Will we be getting an army shot of the Tau any time soon?

@YWS: Totally agree; with regular models it's nice to just get them battle ready. When we get closer to that GT next month and I've gotten my whole force ready for it, I will post an army shot.

Making progress on my Wulfen. Not a whole lot to show yet, but here's a WIP shot anyway:

I've only painted the skin, black carapace, and gray armor. Next will be the gold details, of which there are plenty. It won't be quite as bad as doing a whole squad of Chaos Space Marines with all their trim, but there's still plenty of stuff to pick out.

More progress on the Wulfen:

They're definitely coming together. Most of the major colors are done, so it's smaller details that need to be picked out yet. The only major parts left are the silver metallics and the weapon handles. The Great Frost Axes will be interesting, as they need to have a fairly unique look. Fortunately there are plenty of cool tutorials for making them look, well, frosty. More to come!

Making yet more progress on my Wulfen:

They are almost done. The only major detail left is the frost weapon blades (claws and axes), but there are a few smaller things, like the gems, shoulder pad symbols, maybe a couple of talismans that I missed, plus some cleanup where I got a little sloppy with the paint.

In other news, I will be going to a 40k tournament next weekend, and since it will be more of a hobby-related tournament (as opposed to super competitive) I'll go ahead and give the Dark Angels one last hurrah. The list rules are 2 detachments max and no repeat detachments (so no double Battalion), so I'll be running a Battalion made up purely of Primaris Dark Angels, and an Outrider of Ravenwing. This will best showcase my hobbying progress over the last couple of years. To that end, I'm actually painting a third 5-man Intercessor squad, as well as the special Dark Angels Primaris Lieutenant and the 30th anniversary Veteran Intercessor Sergeant. Here are some WIP shots of them:

Did all of that painting this afternoon mostly, a little this evening as well. It helps me to have something playing in the background; in this case it was some episodes of Stargate SG-1. Hopefully I can get these DA finished in time for the weekend, and get more progress in on my Wulfen. More to come on these!

Wulfen are looking great, so I should the progress on the intercessors

but there are a few smaller things, like the gems, shoulder pad symbols, maybe a couple of talismans that I missed

Isn't that the worst? Thew wulfen look good so far--I look forward to the finished models.

@Theo: Thanks!

@Josh: Yeah, it's frustrating finding little details that I missed and having to pick them out at the last minute. Happened a couple of times on these guys.

Finally finished the Wulfen, and not a moment too soon. Here are the final pics:



I'm pretty happy with how I did on these overall. I feel like the part I did best on was the frost weapons; they really came out exactly how I wanted them. The worst bit is the faces though; I didn't thin my skin tones enough and clogged a lot of the little detail on them, hence why they look kind of bland and lumpy. At least the hair looks okay and should distract from the facial failure a bit.

The Dark Angels guys are basically done; I'll throw up some finished pics in a day or two. I just mainly need to do a few touchups. In addition to the final pics of them, I'll post a group photo of my list from this past Saturday's tournament, showcasing the fully painted Dark Angels force I ran in that event.

Next month, my entry is going to be an Imperial Knight if I can get a window in the weather to prime it soon. If I don't, I'll probably do a unit of Tau Crisis Battlesuits. If I do the Knight, it'll be in my other blog.

The frost weapons did turn out awesome. Looking forward to that DA army pic and hopefully a Knight.

@YWS: Thanks!

As promised, here comes a fairly big photo dump. I finished some more reinforcements for my Sons of the Lion, so now I can show them to you all.

Firstly, here is an Intercessor Squad:

Nothing amazing here, just a tabletop standard squad. I painted them as 6th Company, as I figure Dark Angels would relegate a lot of their Primaris forces to the reserve companies due to their trust issues (hiding the whole Fallen thing and all). The models are a set of the ETB Intercessors, with one extra guy from a second set of them and the mini from the Getting Started with Warhammer 40,000 magazine (who is the same sculpt as one of the ETB guys but with a fancier base).

Next, here is the 30th Anniversary Veteran Intercessor Sergeant:

I got this model for free at Adepticon 2018, so he's been sitting around for a while. Nice to finally get him painted. The model is nice, but not really anything special (and not worth the inflated price tag). Sort of disappointing for a 30th anniversary thing, but I had fun painting him anyway. I use him if I want to equip one of my Intercessor squads with a Power Sword, as he has one sheathed behind him.

Lastly, here is the special Dark Angels Primaris Lieutenant, Zakariah:


I'm really happy with how this model turned out. He was loads of fun to paint, too, and is one of my favorite Dark Angels-specific models of all time.

As I said in my previous post, I played in a small local tournament recently. The event was more hobby-focused rather than super-competitive, so I decided to gather some of my best-painted Dark Angels and put them on the field. Since I haven't done any army photos in here for a while, here are some beauty shots of the army I ran in that event.
First, a shot of the whole army:

The force consists of a Battalion Detachment of Primaris Marines and an Outrider Detachment of Ravenwing.

Here's a shot focusing on the Primaris guys:


And one of the Ravenwing:


Sorry if the photos are slightly blurry. I'm pretty proud of how this army looked, although there were at least a couple of others at the event that put these guys to shame. Still, it was cool to see all the nicely painted stuff on the table, both mine and everyone else's.

For next month's painting challenge, I will not be entering the Knight, but rather the Tau Crisis suits. This is for a number of reasons, first of which is that I'll need one of the suits to run as an XV8 Commander in a list I'm taking to a GT next weekend. I'll probably still start the Knight at some point this month, but now I won't have to hurry with it and prime it in less-than-ideal weather conditions (the humidity here in central Missouri is downright stifling currently).

Yup. That's awesome. A force to be proud of. The DAPLt is a very cool model. Sort of like Cypher lite. Great work.

@YWS: Thank you! I really like all of the Chapter-specific Lieutenants. They all capture the visual feel of their respective Chapters. Had a blast doing the Space Wolves one last year.

Very much switching gears yet again. I've begun working on my Crisis suits. Here's where they are at so far:

That's basically all of the basecoats down, so shading and highlighting will be next, as well as touching up the black where I slopped a bit of the paint around.

I'm also working on my walking Ethereal for my GT list:

Sorry for the blurry photo. I actually started on this guy last year, but never got around to finishing him. Since I'm not running my Ethereal on a Hover Drone this time around, I now have need of this model. I really like the look of the different Ethereal models, and I do intend to eventually track down all the old OOP ones as well.

More to come on these guys soon!

Still a fan of that blue and yellow scheme. More cool robots is never a bad thing.

@YWS: Thanks, I've really been happy that the scheme has worked as well as it has. I don't see anyone else's Tau looking very similar, so if anyone else is doing one, I've never seen it.

Another image dump today. I finished painting that Ethereal, so here are the final pics of him:


He turned out okay, but not amazing or anything. Still, I'm pretty happy and he'll look good among the rest of my forces. The handles on his scepter thingies are blue to tie him in with the rest of the army.

I also painted a display board for when I take my Tau army to tournaments:

Nothing too fancy, but it is all freehand. I did the text in the T'au language (referencing Codex: T'au Empire). The top reads, "T'au Empire" and the bottom reads "For The Greater Good".

Finally, as I said earlier I'll be running my Tau army in a tournament over the weekend. The event is Siegeworld 2019 in St. Louis, Missouri. Here's a shot of the army I'll be running:

That's 30 Fire Warriors, 20 Shield Drones, 3 Riptides, 3 Commanders, some characters, and a Ghostkeel. I'm not really a good enough player to expect to win the whole thing, but I hope to do reasonably well.

As for the Crisis Suits I'm doing for the monthly painting challenge, the leader is being used as one of my three Commanders, and so is further along paintwise than the other two. I wanted him to look good for the event. He still needs some touchups, but he's basically done, so after the event I'll mainly be working on his buddies.

Look at that pile of greater-mecha-goodness. Pretty awesome. Good luck at the event!

That's a nice army. The blue-and-yellow combination is quite striking.

I haven't played Tau since 4thEd, and even then only once or twice. Twelve shield drones seems like a lot-- are they stronger now than they were way back then?

@YWS: Thanks!

@Josh: Thanks! Shield drones are a necessity if you want to run the big suits these days, as Riptides are not that hard to kill without the ability to pass wounds off to drones.

Sorry for no updates, but I have made some progress. My Crisis suits are very nearly done:

Only some very small touchups and minor details left on the suits themselves, and then I need to get the weapons finished. I also need to finish the bases. The suits are fully magnetized, but for the painting challenge I'll be using these weapons to show off a bit of the range of weapons available to Crisis suits. The Cyclic Ion Blasters are actually 3rd party bits, with a single and double on the arms (so 3 weapons total). The company that makes them is called Red Dog Minis, and I'd post a link but their website is down currently. I love the way they look, so I'm glad I ordered a whole bunch of them to arm some Crisis suits.

I hope to have final pics of these guys soon.

I finally finished the Crisis suits. Took longer than I'd hoped, too. Here are the final pics, at any rate:



They are not my best work by a long shot, but they'll fit in nicely with the rest of my army. Of course, I have yet to field a unit of Crisis suits in 8th edition 40k (other than one casual game), so they'll probably do shelf duty for the most part, but it's still nice to reduce the pile of shame a little bit. Feel free to vote for these in the Dakka Gallery.

After having played a few games with my Tau including in that GT recently, I've finally realized that I need to add Commander Shadowsun to my army. Neither of my local shops have her model in stock, so I decided to just get a Stealth suit set and kitbash my own. This is the result:

Yeah, it's kind of janky looking, but it looked a lot better in my head when I planned the conversion. Once I get it painted I'm sure it'll look better. Not sure what the time frame on that will be, as I've got a lot of other stuff to paint to get ready for a GT in November.

After seeing the Warhammer Community previews from the NOVA Open, I'm giving very serious thought to starting a Sisters of Battle army when those models drop. I know I need another army like I need a hole in my head, but those models they previewed are simply too cool! To finance the venture, as I'm still paying for dental stuff, I'll probably have to sell most if not all of my Chaos collection, including my Chaos Marines, Death Guard, and Daemons. Honestly I really should just do it, as I never play Chaos anymore and the models are just sitting there collecting dust. We'll see how I feel about it once the release date gets closer.

I do like those suits. Your Shadowsun is neat. I would be curious to see how it looks from a different angle. I am liking the Sisters previews for the most part. I won't be getting an army, but I would like to pick up a squad or so for the shelf.

@YWS: Thanks!

Started working on my Suppressors for the monthly painting challenge, so here's how they are shaping up so far:

Plenty of work left to do, and I haven't touched the bases yet other than to put the annoying flight stems and the little scenic bits that come with the box set on them.

Speaking of the annoying flight stems, I actually learned a neat little trick when I did my last batch of Inceptors. The Citadel Assembly Painting Handle (the one with the little arms) can actually be used to hold a model in place while the glue dries if you do it right. Made it a little easier to get the Inceptors to stay on their stems, so I'm hoping it'll work well for these Suppressors.

Man, I love those guns. They're like an updated version of the old 2nd/3rd ed Chaos Havocs. They are looking good in your DA colors.

@YWS: Yeah, I like the guns too. It's a pity the unit isn't really that good on the tabletop, so these may not see much play.

Still painting, but not too much progress of late. Grandfather Nurgle decided to bless me last week (perhaps hinting that I should be painting Death Guard), so I didn't do too much, but I have made progress on my Suppressors since my last post:

Not much left to do. Just some highlights on the red casings, a couple of minor details to pick out, and I need to clean up the green armor a little bit. The bases are coming along (no photos today, sorry), so I should have these guys done by the end of the month as planned.

I also ordered some stuff online relatively recently and had it come in the mail the other day. One thing was a set of minis for Warlord Games' Bolt Action, the characters from the classic TV series M*A*S*H. No photos yet as I'm not yet working on them, but they will be done by Christmas as a gift for my brother who loves that show.

The other thing I ordered was an eBay find. Wargames Exclusive's Greater Good Dash Commander, a counts-as Shadowsun that I call the "fantasy waifu" version:

That wacky conversion I did before ended up not being necessary now that I've found this. I saw the model and I just had to have it! I'll probably paint both versions since this new model is a bit smaller than the official Shadowsun and so might be considered to be modelling for advantage at some tournaments (probably not, but...eh).

Next month's painting challenge is going to be Halloween-themed as usual, so I'll have to see what I've got that fits the bill. I've got various Nurgle Daemons that need paint, the Chaos Beastmen from Blackstone Fortress, some LOTR stuff that could be scary (giant spiders, a Troll or two, various Orcs), so I've got choices. Leaning towards Blightlord Terminators, but those might be tough to fit in while I'm painting stuff for other projects.

Zerg you have been cranking out the armies! Love the yellow and blue tau and the DA are looking spot on. Hope your feeling better soon.

I look forward to seeing how "Shadowsun" turns out. She does look a little light on armor, but is a great figure. Cool models over rules any day.

 youwashock wrote:
I look forward to seeing how "Shadowsun" turns out. She does look a little light on armor, but is a great figure. Cool models over rules any day.

It’s a well established fantasy trope that a chainmail bikini offers the same protection as full plate. A little cheesecake Tau should be up to battlesuit levels, depending on her cup size.

Nice work on the suppressors. I keep thinking I need to kitbash a squad of those guys. With the UM super tac doctrine, they become a lot less confused in their role..

@York: Thanks!

@YWS: Yeah, I'm really looking forward to painting that model!

@Nev: Shadowsun's rules give her -1 to be hit, so I'm saying that the enemy is too distracted by her "assets" to shoot straight. As for the Suppressors, you really should find someone to split the Shadowspear box with so you can add all those Marine models to your Ultramarines army. Or find just the loyalist half of it on eBay or something. The models in there are awesome!

Finally got the Suppressors done. Here is the photographic evidence of this:



I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I freehanded the devastator symbol on their right shoulders since the purity seals on two of them would have gotten in the way of transfers. I feel like they turned out okay, so maybe I'm finally figuring out how to do freehand. Also, the assembly painting handle was no help at all for attaching these guys to their flight stems. I struggled mightily to get them on there, hence why they are kind of at odd angles. I decided to quit while I was ahead instead of trying to adjust them.

Next month's painting challenge will most likely be the usual "spooky" theme for October, so I'll probably be returning to my Blackstone Fortress set and doing the Chaos Beastmen. I've already got a few models from that set started, namely the Chaos Marines and their Lord, and the Navigator (yes, he's still WIP months after I started him ). My next blog update will probably have the finished Navigator and the start of my Beastmen.

Yeah. Those are pretty cool. Shoot. Now I want some for myself.

Returning to the hobby and Dakka after a long time away. Good to see that some of the old blogs are still going. You mentioned a few pages back about maybe dropping the blog. I'd echo what others said at the time and say persevere as not only does your blog inspire you to keep painting but also people like me. Great work as ever and looking forward to when you do decide to paint a few of those DG.

It's nifty to see you plugging away at the Dark Angels. Possibly due to my advanced age, I imagine DA as being darker and shinier, but your flat military green really makes the models seem like they'd seen action.

@YWS: Thanks!

@Lenny: I appreciate your kind words. I do sometimes hit a hobby wall where I feel like I'm not accomplishing anything and nobody cares what I'm doing, but then I remember that I care, and so I keep going. Not sure how soon I'll get around to doing more Death Guard though.

@Josh: Thanks! I don't particularly like the glossy look I've seen on some Space Marines, although obviously people should do whatever floats their particular boat painting wise. I've also seen plenty of Dark Angels that had a somewhat lighter shade of green, which while it does look okay, also doesn't really do it for me. Dark Angels should be, well, dark!

As I promised last time I posted, I've finished the Navigator, so here are a couple of decent (ish) photos:

My feelings about how I did on this guy are kind of a mixed bag. I'm very happy with how the purple robes ended up looking, but the helmet details could have been much better if I had wanted to spend a bit more time. I just got tired of looking at the model though. Glad it's off my desk and ready to go explore the Blackstone Fortress. That's half the Explorers knocked out (if you count the Ratlings as one, that is).

I've also had a bit of a change in plans for that tournament next month. There's no way I'm going to have my Guard and Knights ready in time, so I've decided to go with Dark Angels (because my Tau, although much more competitively viable, are boring as hell to play). I'm planning to run a list similar to what Chase Garber ran at the Iron Halo GT recently, with a bunch of the Phobos units. I even picked up a Leviathan Dreadnought from an acquaintance (no photos yet, the model isn't even primed). To that end, I've been doing a lot of work over the past week on my Phobos characters and I even got started on the Eliminators from the Shadowspear set. Here's some WIP shots:

How did I get so much done so fast? Contrast paints. They really do speed up painting, although the dark colors don't look as uniform as I'd like. Skeleton Horde works great for the camo cloaks to give them a desert look (which matches my overall Dark Angels basing scheme reasonably well). I'm not using only Contrast though; some of the smaller color areas and the metallics are done with regular paints.
Here's a WIP of those Eliminators:

Again, Contrast paints are making my life easier. I've got more Eliminators coming in the mail (two of the actual kits), and I'll probably do Contrast on them too.

As for my Beastmen for the monthly challenge, not too much progress on them yet. I hope to have some soon, though.

Contrast paints are very interesting, for sure.

Now, about that Navigator. He rocks. Love the purple and gold, but those eyes are the star. Super good.

Phobos Librarian looks good, too.

I think you did great on the navigator, makes him more realistic in my mind.

I have to agree with the others the navigator turned out great!
Keep up the good work I almost want to add some more DA to my old 6th edition list.

@YWS: Thanks! It's funny you mention the Navigator's eyes, as I was originally going for a slightly different effect. Kind of a "happy accident" as it were.

@Theo: Thanks!

@York: Thanks! If you do happen to paint up some of your own DA and post pictures, I'd be happy to have a look.

Finally have a little bit to show on my Chaos Beastmen. The skin is basically done, and I've basecoated and shaded the hair:

Lots more work to do, but it's hard considering my Dark Angels are kind of the priority at the moment. Speaking of which, I've made good progress on my Leviathan Dreadnought:

This model has been a lot easier to paint than I feared it would be. I'll probably to be able to completely knock it out in no time.

I've also been making progress on my Phobos-armored guys. Here's a second WIP shot of the Eliminators:

Still some work to be done, but they are definitely getting there. The Master and Librarian have gotten a little more work as well, but it's mostly small stuff that doesn't really rate another photo. They are very nearly done, so maybe I'll have some finished shots of them soon. The Libby has been cut from my tournament list though. I'm also still waiting on the other Eliminators in the mail. I ended up having to order some from a different seller, as the first seller has either lost my order or never sent it or something. I've asked for a refund, so hopefully that situation will be resolved soon.

That dread looks like he means business! Nice chunk of mean right there.

Phobos stuff is coming along nicely. Contrast pains look to be working well for you. I do think a mix of them and classic techniques are the best way to go. They are a great tool to have available, but not all encompassing.

Yup, the Dread is great. Big boy, big guns.

Hey Zerg is a pic of my DA and allies army. These were painted back when 6th edition dropped.

@Nev: Thanks! I totally agree about contrast paints. I don't see myself switching to them exclusively, but they are very handy for some things. Gives a basecoat and shade in one coat of paint, basically.

@YWS: Thanks!

@York: Those are some nice looking Dark Angels there! Thanks for showing them to me.

Well, I'm back. I've been painting and stuff, but I just haven't been taking any pics or anything until this evening. I ended up not finishing the monthly challenge for October (doh!) because I had too much to do to get ready for Mid-Mo Maelstrom (a GT that I played in). I ended up going 2-3 in that tournament and was the only Dark Angels player, but I did get some compliments on my army, so I guess I'm doing something right, eh? Anywho, one thing I did manage to completely finish was my Leviathan Dreadnought, so here it is:


This is my first painted Forge World model, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It's pretty powerful on the tabletop too, so it'll likely get plenty of play time unless GW decides to nerf it or something.

Now, my entry for the November painting challenge. The theme is Heroes and Villains, so with plastic Sisters coming soon I decided to enter Saint Celestine and her Geminae Superia. Here is where I've gotten to on them:

I'm more than halfway done already. Nothing like a big Warhammer tournament to get my painting juices flowing, as I did see plenty of inspirational stuff and got to talk to some friends of mine who also like to paint.

Coming soon, I'll probably start working on some non-GW stuff, namely the Bolt Action models of the cast of the TV show M*A*S*H. I'll be painting those as a Christmas gift for my brother, who really likes the show. I'll probably get a bit further on Celestine before I start on those, though.

That is one beefy Dread! He looks great Zerg, are those 4 autocannons?
I really like how Celeste and the sisters are turning out too, any plans to add some Sisters to your army?

That’s one mean green washing machine

I agree, the dready is looking fearsome! Sisters looking of top quality as well Zergsmasher!

Awesome Dread followed by Celestine and M*A*S*H to follow? What's not to like? Good stuff, man.

@York: Thanks! The weapons are the Stormcannon Arrays. Each one fires 10 shots per turn (so the dread gets 20 autocannon shots per turn basically, except with better penetration). As for adding more Sisters, I'm starting a whole army of them!

@Theo: Thanks!

@shaso: Long time no see, and thank you very much!

@YWS: Thanks!

Well, I was having so much fun working on Saint Celestine and her gal pals that I went ahead and finished on them:



I'm overall pretty happy with how they turned out. Not my best work ever, but I definitely feel like I'm getting there, as it didn't seem as difficult to get these models painted as I thought it would be. I'm not sure what I did wrong that ended up with Celestine leaning at an angle, but honestly it doesn't look bad so I'm not complaining. Here in a couple of weeks I'll be picking up the Sisters army box to give her the start of an army to lead into battle. My FLGS put in their preorders so I made sure to snag one.

In other news, I just brush primed the M*A*S*H models so I'll probably get started painting them pretty soon. Getting the colors right for their clothing will probably be a major challenge, as I do want them to match what was seen on the show as much as possible. I'll have to do some research and look up clips from the series and stuff.

Gals are looking sharp. We are getting a lot of pics of what’s in store for the sisters; going to be a TON of awesome stuff. Looking forward to seeing you paint it up. Going to do the whole army in gold? Or just save that for Celestine?

Saint C and her backup singers came out great. Glad to hear there will be plenty more Sisters in the works.

 ZergSmasher wrote:

I'm overall pretty happy with how they turned out. Not my best work ever, but I definitely feel like I'm getting there, as it didn't seem as difficult to get these models painted as I thought it would be. I'm not sure what I did wrong that ended up with Celestine leaning at an angle, but honestly it doesn't look bad so I'm not complaining. Here in a couple of weeks I'll be picking up the Sisters army box to give her the start of an army to lead into battle. My FLGS put in their preorders so I made sure to snag one.

In other news, I just brush primed the M*A*S*H models so I'll probably get started painting them pretty soon. Getting the colors right for their clothing will probably be a major challenge, as I do want them to match what was seen on the show as much as possible. I'll have to do some research and look up clips from the series and stuff.

ZergSmasher,

Nice Celestine, while she is leaning a bit, the burst of doves is level so I do not think anyone would think that out of place.

I see you did not paint her with the scrolls attached, smart move as a gaming buddy of mine who used to be a professional painter did and discovered she basically bounced as he painted her.

Good luck in the painting competition, there is a bit of a Sister's theme this month.

Cheers,

CB

I really like how they turned out! The flesh tones and gold is very good plus the blue gem on Celestine really pops.

@Nev: Thanks! I'm probably going to go with white armor and purple cloth for my main Sisters army. I did Celestine and her gal pals in gold because I wanted them to stand out.

@YWS: Thank you very much!

@CB: Thanks! You're right about how wobbly the model is. I just hope it doesn't break at some point...

@York: Thank you!

I've gotten a fair bit of work done on my MASH figures, so here's a quick WIP of them:

Ultimately the injured patient and Major Hoolihan will be on the same large base, but I've left them separate to make it easier to paint them. The models are actually pretty nicely detailed. I'm looking forward to doing the skin and faces as that is where the personality will really appear and bring the characters from the TV show to life.

Mostly just for fun, I'm also working on a Techmarine for my Dark Angels:

He's actually pretty far along. I left the servo harness off until I finish painting because trying to paint the model with that attached would be a nightmare.

Hopefully I can make some more progress soon. Real life's going to get fairly busy with the holidays coming up.

White/purple for the Sisters will be sweet. MASH is looking like a lot of fun. Techmarine is also good. That's one of those models that has a whole lot going on.

@YWS: Thanks!

Been a while since I posted, but that is because unfortunately I have been fighting hobby burnout once again, plus the holidays have kept me fairly drained (Retail work will do that to you during the Christmas season). I have made a little progress on the MASH unit, so here's a WIP:

Mostly it's just been adding some highlights and stuff to the characters' clothing, nothing major. The good news is that the clothing is basically done. The bad news is that I have 11 days to get them completely finished so I can present them to my brother on Christmas day. Next up will be the skin, which I'm starting on as soon as I post this blog entry.

Part of the distraction from getting actual paint down is that I've taken time to assemble the contents of the Sisters of Battle army set:

I left the Seraphim off the flight stands for painting. I'll be making heavy use of Contrast paints for my Sisters army, and while my initial plan was to do white with purple, one of the other local players is already doing that so I decided to do something different. My scheme will now be YELLOW armor with purple cloth. I would never even attempt something like this with traditional paints, but with Contrast it shouldn't be too hard, and my hope is to get a lot of models painted quickly. I'll probably have to wait until next year to paint them, as besides having other stuff I want to finish first the weather has turned really nasty because winter is coming very soon.

No progress to report on the Techmarine I'm afraid, but for the December painting challenge I'm going to try and get a Primaris Master painted. I need to focus on the MASH unit first and consider everything else to be stretch goals right now though.

Everytime I see the MASH figures, I hear the theme song. Looking forward to seeing how they and the Sisters turn out. Yellow for the armor sounds quite striking.

@YWS: The theme from M*A*S*H might be one of the most iconic TV themes ever made, so I'm not surprised you think of it when you see the models.

Nothing like waiting until the last minute to finish a project, but I finally got all the MASH models ready. Here are some final pics, and as the pics are shown I'll include who each character is and who played them on the TV series.
First, a group shot of the whole cast:


Starring:
Alan Alda as Capt. B.F. "Hawkeye" Pierce:


Mike Farrell as Capt. B.J. Hunnicutt:


Harry Morgan as Col. Sherman Potter:


Loretta Swit as Maj. Margaret Houlihan:


Larry Linville as Maj. Frank Burns:


David Ogden Stiers as Maj. Charles E. Winchester III:


Gary Burghoff as Cpl. Walter "Radar" O'Reilly:


Jamie Farr as Cpl. Max Klinger:


William Christopher as Father Francis Mulcahy:


Overall I'm reasonably happy with how they turned out. Not my best work, but they were actually pretty tricky to do, as they are somewhat smaller than most Warhammer 40k figures and have smaller details that are tough to pick out. My brother will be very surprised tomorrow morning as he has no idea these models are even a thing, but he loves M*A*S*H and has a lot of TV and movie memorabilia in his home.

In other news, we've been having some unseasonably warm weather lately so I did manage to get my Sisters of Battle primed with Wraithbone spray, so I am go for painting them any time I'm ready. I'll wait until after the new year before I actually get going. I'm hoping to knock out a couple more models, namely the DA Techmarine and a Primaris Master before the end of the year, but I'm not sure it's going to happen.

Hope everyone on Dakka has a Merry Christmas!

Nice seeing all the M *A*S*H minis painted up, that‘s a helluva christmas present for your brother (if I unterstood it right, that you gift them to him )

Merry christmas to you too!

@Viterbi: Thank you very much! Yes, it was a gift for my brother.

Well, it's that time again, folks. A new year dawns before us, so let's take a little trip down memory lane and see what I accomplished hobbywise in 2019. First, here's a pic of everything I painted in 2019:

Not seen in this image are of course the M*A*S*H models, which are now in my brother's apartment. He loved them and showed pics of them to all of his friends, who were very impressed. Gave me a warm fuzzy feeling for sure. Anyway, my total painted model count for the year was 62 models. I'm going ahead and counting the Phobos Master and Librarian for 2019 even though they are not 100%, because they are so close (only very small finishing touches needed). I've got other models that I did not count for 2019 which if I get back to them and finish them will count for 2020. Here's a list of what I painted in 2019:
Dark Angels:
Primaris Lieutenant Zakariah
Master in Phobos Armor
Librarian in Phobos Armor
Veteran Intercessor Sergeant
5 man Intercessor Squad
3 Ravenwing Bikers
3 Ravenwing Black Knights
Leviathan Dreadnought
Blood Ravens:
6 Space Marine Heroes models (Captain, Sergeant, and 4 Bolter guys)
Tau Empire:
Ethereal
Ghostkeel Battlesuit (with Stealth Drones)
3 Crisis Battlesuits
3 Stealth Battlesuits
Chaos:
Daemon Prince of Khorne
Sisters of Battle:
Saint Celestine
2 Geminae Superia
Blackstone Fortress:
Taddeus the Purifier
Pious Vorne
UR-025
Espern Locarno
4 Spindle Drones
4 Ur-ghuls
Bolt Action:
MASH Unit (9 figures)

Now, on to my hobby goals for 2019 and how I fared on them:
1) Get better at playing Warhammer 40k. I want to win a tournament this year if possible. I won't be totally destroyed if it doesn't happen as our local meta is very tough, but I'm hoping to improve my play. I didn't win any events, but I do think I improved somewhat and I had a legit shot at winning one event (I was on the top table at an RTT), but I couldn't pull it out. Gonna be generous and call this one a partial.
2) Reduce the pile of shame, as in paint more than I buy. Due to RL stuff happening, this should be easy, as I won't be buying as much plastic crack (my money is needed elsewhere). Hard fail on this, partially due to the fact that I didn't paint as much as I had hoped. Plus I got a fair number of cheap models like Guardsmen and stuff, which increased the pile of shame faster.
3) Get the bits boxes done. I'm already benefitting from what I've done so far, so now I just need to finish them so I don't have to fish through so many boxes and sprues to find bits I need. Didn't really touch this project, so I'm calling it a fail.
4) Paint everything from Blackstone Fortress. I probably won't play it until I do so. Painted 12 of the 45 models from the set, but then I got distracted and lost the will to finish the rest. Gonna go ahead and call this a fail too.
5) Improve my freehand painting. It's coming along nicely already, but I want to get even better. I'm pretty happy with the freehand stuff I did this year, so this one's a win. Always room for improvement though!
6) Paint some non-GW models. I've got a few around, including Infinity, Star Saga, Guildball, and others, and they need some love. Plus it'll be nice to paint stuff that isn't Warhammer related too. Going to call this one a win too, as I did the MASH unit which is neither Warhammer 40k nor GW.
7) Finish up a bunch of partially painted models. I've got a bunch of Death Guard stuff, some Dark Angels, and even some Tau in this category. I really need to go ahead and finish them. One of the Ravenwing bikers I did was partially painted from before, but that's not really enough to count. Fail.
8) Play some non-Warhammer 40k games. I've got stuff from some other systems as mentioned in goal 6 above, so I want to use it. It'll make a nice refreshing change from battles in the grimdark future. Didn't play any wargame other than 40k, so this one's a fail too.

Not a great showing for 2019. Only 2 of my 8 goals were met, and one partially met. 2019 was kind of a crappy year for me in all aspects of my life though, so here's hoping 2020 is better (it could hardly be worse). That being said, time for some new goals for 2020:
1) Paint more than I buy. Actually reduce the pile of shame instead of watching it grow ever taller.
2) Finish some of the stuff that's partially done. I need to stop leaving projects in the middle and actually get them done.
3) Paint more non-40k models. I've got quite a few, so I should get some done to break up the endless grimdark.
4) Play some non-40k stuff. I really want to get started with Infinity and possibly Guildball (although I'm not sure there's much of a local scene for Guildball).
5) Paint 100 or more models. That's a reasonable goal for me I think. That should definitely help with goal 1 as I don't see myself buying more than 100 models this year (although with my new Plastic Sisters army I suppose it could happen).
6) Get something entered in all of Paradigm's painting challenges here on Dakka. Every year I've fallen short as usually in a couple of different months stuff comes up that prevents me from finishing. I need to quit letting that happen.
7) Work on the bits boxes. It'll reduce clutter and help me find bits for conversions and kitbashes.
8) Update this blog regularly, at least once every single week. I've got to quit slacking so much and this will help me keep myself productive as I'd hate to have nothing to show everyone.
I think these goals are doable, and I'll have to push myself to make them happen, which is a good thing.

Finally, here are what I consider to be my top 5 models (or units) that I painted in 2019:

#5: Spindle Drones


#4: Espern Locarno


#3: Saint Celestine


#2: Dark Angels Leviathan Dreadnought


#1: Daemon Prince of Khorne


HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Nice progress for the year. Good luck making your goals in 2020!

@Nev: Thanks!

So, time to get to it for the year. My big main project for the year, money permitting, is going to be to get a tournament-ready Sisters of Battle army together, as in assembled and painted. To that end, I've already knocked out a quick test model to see if my planned color scheme will look any good:

I'm calling this an unqualified success! It turned out better than I had hoped. It's technically not done, as I want to add some highlights and stuff, but I'll do that once I get 4 more Battle Sisters done to make a batch of 5. The only change I'm going to make is to make the bolter casing black instead of red. It'll help make the model look a little less busy. I gotta say, Contrast paints are amazing! It did not take long at all to get this model up to this standard, and it's battle ready as is (other than the base, which will be fairly simple). I wouldn't try to do yellow any other way either. Those of you wanting to paint Imperial Fists, Craftworld Iyanden, or Evil Sunz, just do what I did and use Wraithbone base with Iyanden Yellow over it. You won't be sorry. The purple is Shyish Purple, and I used Black Templar for the hair (and will do so for the weapon casings) and Skeleton Horde for the parchment. The skin (not that you can see much of it) is Darkoath Flesh, and what few red details there are are done with Blood Angels Red. Everything else is done with traditional paints. One thing I have heard is that Contrast doesn't work well for large flat surfaces like vehicles, so I'll have to do something else for my Rhinos, Immolators, and Exorcists. Probably just undercoat them with Wraithbone and paint Yriel Yellow over it for the yellow.

In other news, I've started on a Primaris Master for my Dark Angels:

Technically I did most of this before the year turned as it was my planned entry for the December comp, but that didn't pan out so I'll try to finish it this month (not for the comp though). For the January comp, I'll be painting Amallyn Shadowguide (the Aeldari Ranger) from the Blackstone Fortress box. I'll see if I can find some spare time to finish the Techmarine and get properly finished photos of the two Phobos characters from last year sometime this month too.

Whoa, that's not your usual SoB color scheme. It's shocking at first, but compared to all the black, white, and red you normally see, this army will really stand out.

@Josh: Thanks! I went with the color scheme precisely because it's not something you usually see with Sisters.

More progress! I've gotten four more Sisters up to the same point I was at with the first one, so here is a (unfortunately somewhat blurry) photo of the five:

Some touchups will be required before I press on, but honestly I could probably just do the bases real quick and have a nice battle-ready squad right here. I'm probably going to at least do some highlights on the metallics and the purple cloth parts and perhaps the leather pouches and holsters, but I'm not going to go too crazy on basic troop type models. Characters will get a bit more love, though.

I've also begun work on Amallyn Shadowguide, the Aeldari Ranger of Craftworld Biel-tan from the Blackstone Fortress set. She's my entry in the monthly painting comp. Here's the first WIP shot of her:

This is the first Aeldari model I've ever done. In regular 40k I don't collect or play any flavor of them. So far all I've done is the cloak, and I'm not sure how I feel about how starkly bright the vine pattern turned out. I think the dark green I used (Caliban Green) was a bit too dark compared to what was used in the GW tutorial for the model (Waaagh! Flesh), but I didn't want to buy a whole pot of paint so I decided to substitute. It doesn't look horrible I guess, so I'll just continue with the rest of the model.

Really like your color scheme for the sisters! Yellow was one of the colors I thought about for the armor because another plog had the cloth in yellow and I thought the color should work on the armor too. In the end I went with another scheme but am happy to see it done by you!

Nice work on those Sisters. Loving the work so far on your Ranger, too. Also the Master. Looks great with that helmet.

Nice freehand on the cloak ZergSmasher.

Cheers,

CB

Sisters are looking good.

Solid work on the freehand. One of those Eldar thing I’ve always loved the look off, but was too chicken to try.

The sisters are looking great - they seem to look good in pretty much whatever colours.

The vines aren't bad at all for a first attempt - I've painted tons of those things on my Biel-Tan and they take ages to do. They really add to a model though. I've found that adding another tone works well - each vine pattern I've done I've painted it on, then done a thinner line down the middle with a slightly different colour. Makes it a bit more interesting, though with the size you have to do on an infantry sized model that might be a bit tricky.

Nice pace and finished product on the Sisters... mine are still awaiting assembly. Really cool color selection for the tabards, those will look great!

I like your Sisters' unusual color scheme, too.

@Vitterbi: Thanks! To be honest I considered going with purple armor and yellow cloth, but I'm not sure that would have worked as well.

@YWS: Thanks! I couldn't do a DA Master without the winged helmet. I would have done it on the Gravis guy way back when but there was no way to make it happen, at least within my skills.

@CB: Thank you very much!

@Nev: Thanks! It's not super hard, but then mine isn't as fancy as some I've seen that people probably spent hours doing.

@ Bellerophon: Thank you! I'm going to quit while I'm ahead on the vines, as I don't want to mess up and have to start over or something. Not like I'm starting an Aeldari army anyway, so this is a one-off. I've seen some of yours though and they are fantastic!

@Mac: Thanks! Get yours built too; they are a joy to build and paint!

@Max: Thank you! Unusual is why I went with it.

Wow, that's probably the most replies I've gotten on this blog after a single post! Thanks for all the feedback! Anyways, I've finished the first 5 Battle Sisters, so here's a quick shot of them:

Pretty crummy photo, but I'll take good pics when I finish the whole squad. At least I'm on the board for the year now. The plan for tackling the box set is going to be finishing the Battle Sisters, then I'll paint the Repentia, then the Repentia Superior, followed by the Seraphim, Arco-flagellants, and Canoness, and I'll finish with the Penitent Engine. Originally I hoped to have the whole thing done by the end of January, but that is unlikely at this point so I'll make my goal February instead.

I've also gotten a little more work done on Amallyn Shadowguide. WIP shot incoming:

White armor is done, and I've started basecoating the leather parts. Still some work to be done, but the color scheme is definitely coming together.

More Sisters and other things coming soon!

En masse those Sisters are going to be impossible to ignore. Seraphim in that scheme are going to look super good. Ranger progress is good. Will the yellow carry over to the Repentia?

@YWS: Thanks! The Repentia might not have any yellow on them seeing as how they don't wear armor. The tie-in will be purple which will be used for their clothing.

Yes, I'm alive and well. Just haven't been doing much of anything hobbywise for a while. Kind of needed a break, plus I've been playing a lot of video games instead. Not having much local Warhammer action hasn't helped my motivation either, but hopefully that's about to change in the near future. In addition to all this, I've been having some kind of trouble with my knee. It's probably nothing, but when I started noticing a popping sound that wasn't there before, I became concerned. An acquaintance of mine who is a doctor told me that as long as there's no pain or swelling it's probably just a tendon or ligament rubbing on a bone, but my fertile imagination had already run amok with worst case scenarios leading me to a bout of depression that I'm finally shaking off. I'm hoping that as far as my hobby progress and this blog is concerned, normal service is restored.

On that note, I have made a little progress on my Sisters of Battle. The other half of the Battle Sister Squad from the box set is actually nearly done, so here's a WIP shot:

Sorry the photo is so bright. I rearranged my setup a little and so the lamp is a little closer to my work area than I thought. Pretty much just some highlights and small details left to do, plus the bases. I'd hoped to have the entire box done by the end of January; now a more realistic goal will be to have it done by the end of March at this rate.

As for Amallyn Shadowguide, I didn't finish in time to enter her in the January painting comp, but I do intend to finish her before moving on to other Blackstone Fortress stuff. Here's the latest WIP of her:

She's definitely coming together, with mainly some highlights left to do. After I finish her, I'll probably go ahead and finish the Chaos Marines and the Beastmen from Blackstone Fortress, as both of those groups have been sitting partially done for a while now.

And at some point, I really do need to get on with some Dark Angels stuff. I might pick up Master Lazarus soon since right now I have a little bit of extra money, so I should get some of my WIP DA models off my painting bench before I mess with him.

Here's hoping I have some stuff finished soon, as I'm way off the pace to hit my goal for the year.

Again, much longer than intended between blog updates, so I'm already failing at one of my goals for the year, but there just hasn't been that much hobby progress to report. I've assembled a bunch of stuff and finally finished the first unit from the Sisters box, but other than that, not much doing. Here are the final shots of those Sisters (finished painting them a week or so ago but just now got around to taking good pics):



Pretty happy with how they turned out overall. Contrast paints make painting stuff like this pretty quick and easy. If I'd stayed on task better, this whole squad would have taken only a few evenings at most, and that only because I used traditional paints for some of the details. And I sure as hell wouldn't be painting them yellow with traditional paints.

I've also gotten started on the Repentia and their Superior (too late for the painting challenge, but still gonna get painted before I move on to other Sisters):

Again, Contrast paints for the win! I'm down to the traditional paint stuff at this point; things like metallics, leather, etc.

Assembly-wise, I've gotten quite a bit done lately. I've assembled two whole boxes of Battle Sisters, which will actually be combined with the ones I just painted to form different squads. Here they are:

Those are the 15 that are regular Battle Sisters. 2 Superiors (with combi-flamer and combi-melta), a Simulacrum, 2 Meltas, a Flamer, a Storm Bolter, and a bunch of regular bolters. As for the other 5, they have been built as a Dominion Squad with 4 Storm Bolters:

The alternate build for the Simulacrum bearer makes a good counts-as Superior, as her pose makes her stand out a little bit from the other girls.
Finally, here is an Exorcist:

It's in subassemblies for painting; this monstrosity would be a real pain in the ass to paint if it was fully assembled. The organ is not glued to the back; in fact I may not glue it even after it's done as it might make it easier to transport with that part separate; we'll have to see.

I've also assembled some stuff for my Dark Angels:

On the left is a Deathwing Ancient that I converted from one of the series 2 Space Marine Heroes. I needed an Ancient with Lightning Claws (my other one has a hammer and shield which is too expensive for this character), so this worked out well. On the right are a pair of Intercessor Sergeants with Thunder Hammers. I had a couple of spare ETB Intercessors and I needed some TH guys so I decided to make use of my resources. Not pictured is my Invictor Warsuit, which has its main gun magnetized (forgot to take a pic, sorry!).

As for the March Painting Challenge, my entry will be either the aforementioned Invictor Warsuit or Asmodai. Probably Asmodai as he'll be quicker. I'm waiting on a window in the weather to get some priming done on all this newly assembled stuff. Anyways, I hope to get back to regular updates soon!

Sisters finished off nicely. I, too, will be looking to Contrast for getting some stuff done and off my plate. LC Ancient is a very cool looking mini. Good luck getting back at it.

@YWS: Thank you!

Work continues on various Dark Angels and Sisters things. I work at a Walmart and so have continued to have a job in the midst of all this COVID-19 craziness, hence I haven't had the luxury of as much time and energy to paint (not that I'm complaining, mind you; I'm happy to still have my job). I have gotten started working on Asmodai for the monthly challenge, so here's a WIP of him:

Plenty more to do still, obviously, but the major colors are down and the cloth parts are finished.

I'm also painting Ezekiel, but not for the painting challenge as I had already started on him a (long) while back:

I'm looking forward to painting that banner, although it's got some small detail that will be tricky to pick out. I do love a challenge sometimes though!

Here's the latest WIP shot of my Repentia and the whip lady:

Pretty much the only thing that still needs basecoating on them is the leather, then I'll need to shade and highlight the non-contrast parts.

Here's hoping the two FLGS's in town don't have to close up because of the pandemic, as I might need paints and stuff as time goes on (getting a little low on Astrogranite texture paint). The one that is withing walking distance of my apartment has gone to "curbside delivery" service where you can call and ask for something over the phone and the staff will bring it to you outside the store, and both stores have of course stopped all actual gameplay. This is getting real, folks, not gonna lie, and it's a little scary. At least if I have to quarantine I won't be short of projects to work on. Gotta look at the bright side while Grandfather Nurgle works his blessings upon our planet, right? Stay safe and healthy out there, my friends.

New stuff looks good. Keep safe. Thanks for keeping the light on at Walmart. Good luck!

Nice progress with the DA and sisters. Stay safe!

@YWS: Thanks for your support!

@Viterbi: Thank you very much!

Not a whole lot to show today, but I did polish off Asmodai. Here are the final photos of him:



Tried out a new photo background, and I think it's better than the white. It's the thin foam topper things from Battlefoam that come with some of their tray sets. A little bit too "sparkly" perhaps, but I think it reacts better with my cheap camera's white balance sensor than the stark white printer paper background. Ultimately I should probably obtain some dark gray fabric of some kind to use as a background.

Not sure what's going to be on deck for April's challenge. I've got plenty of stuff that needs paint, so I'm sure I'll come up with something. Of course, I'll keep working on Sisters and some of my already-WIP models like Ezekiel. Everyone stay safe out there; that COVID-19 bug is serious business. Stay home, paint models, watch movies, binge your favorite shows on Netflix, and try not to get within 6 feet of anybody else!

Looking good! Love all the little details, like the insignia on the back and the white trim on the hood.

@YWS: Thanks! The little details are what make characters like this such cool models. It can be challenging to pick that stuff out, but the end result is worth it!

Started working on my Dark Angels Predator tank for the April painting challenge. The model's been sitting on my shelf with nothing but black primer for around 5 years, only coming off to play a couple of casual games. Time for it to at least look good sitting on the shelf (let's face it, Predators aren't exactly competitive in the current 40k meta). I basecoated it with Caliban Green spray and then shaded and highlighted the hull as well as basecoating some of the other areas. Here's where it's at currently:

Fun to work on so far. I actually enjoy painting armor as a break from endless hordes of infantry.

Speaking of infantry, here's the latest WIP of my Sisters Repentia:

Almost done, just need a couple of shades and highlights (on the metallics mainly, but also the leather).

In other news, my main FLGS opened an online store and I placed an order for some more Sisters stuff, which came in the mail today:

My Sisters of Battle army is coming together little by little. I mainly did this to support the store in this difficult time. I want them to still be around when COVID-19 is just an unhappy memory. I'll probably build the Seraphim kit as Zephyrim, as I've heard that those are really good. Then again, I do need some Inferno pistol Seraphim...

Support your local game shops if at all possible, everyone. They are very much the backbone of our hobby, and they need all the help they can get right now!

Good start on the pred and I love seeing more sisters painted (as my are lying around atm and not getting paint). Those flames are looking great!

I like the predator so far. Is that the same red that you use on your other DA? It seems a little garish compared to the green.

The Repentia are looking good. I look forward to seeing the flying Sisters in yellow.

@Viterbi: Thanks!

@Josh: Thanks! It is indeed the same red; I wanted the tank to tie in visually with the rest of the army. As far as being garish, well, it's not like Space Marines are known for their subtlety...

@YWS: Thanks! The Seraphim will probably be next on deck.

Man, I have not been keeping up with this blog at all. I have gotten some stuff done, but not as much as I probably should have (as usual). The Repentia and Superior are done, though, so here are some shots of them:


I definitely need to do something different with that purple contrast paint; it is way darker than I intended for it to be. If I hadn't done some purple edge highlights here and there, you wouldn't be able to tell in these photos that it was purple at all! I'll probably try mixing it with some Contrast Medium and see how that ends up looking. The yellow looks exactly how I want it, so maybe it's just the darker colors that are harder to deal with. Some of my friends have had similar experiences (saying light colors work better than darker colors). You'll also notice the red base rims; yes, they need a second coat of paint, but the reason for the red is so that they'll be more obviously a different Order when I play them. Since I'm planning to run Valorous Heart with Bloody Rose, it'll be important to distinguish who is from which Order, and I'd rather do this than two completely different paint schemes.

In other news, my Dark Angels Predator is nearly done:

Mostly just some touchups left to do, plus I need to shade and highlight the treads.

Next up for Sisters will probably be the Seraphim from the box set. I might also test out my color scheme for Sisters vehicles by painting a Rhino/Immolator (the old kit).

Repentia are awesome. They have a nice gritty, crazed look. Whip-sister looks especially good. Love the braziers.

@YWS: Thanks!

Finished the Predator for the monthly comp, so here are the pics:



Basic paintjob is basic, but I'm happy with it. This thing will be sitting on the shelf mostly anyway. Nice to get the model done after it being in my collection for over five years unpainted.

Not sure what I'll be doing for next month's painting challenge, but as I said in my last post the next Sisters unit I'll be doing will be the Seraphim from the army box. I also really need to get back to my Blackstone Fortress models, as I've got like 8 of them in various stages of WIP currently (the Chaos Lord and Marines, Amallyn Shadowguide, and the Beastmen).

That's a really nice tank. It seems a shame that it won't be seeing much action.

Screw efficiency! Roll out and vaporize some heretics!

(when it’s safe to do so, obviously)

Good job getting the tank done, and congrats on scratching another model off the to-do list. Looking forward to the Seraphim.