Hey everyone, I have decided to re start my blog since sadly there's about 200 pages of my original one that has no images to see thanks to Photobucket and their fantastic business skills and client support ..... or lack thereof

So, on a positive note I have found some older images of the Primarchs I've done and thought they'd be a nice start to the new improved blog and might entice a few newer faces to start following my progression and projects as I learn and convert and hopefully come up with some ideas to astound and amaze

I have some work for RiTides coming up very soon which i'm looking forward too and i'm pretty sure Whaley will find something for me to do so please help me out guys and keep me going by linking or keep commenting so I can pick up speed and not fade into Dakka history

Now! let's get Primarching!

Fulgrim is still one my favorite models I have painted in my time and feel I really did him justice and gave him the right amount of dark & light, bling & beauty, he was a one of the first I did for someone else and I got to try new things and play around more than I had previously, this is something I carried through with each progressive primarch I painted trying to learn and do things a bit better and more interesting.




Vulkan was a great experiment on a sort of candy paint effect on his armour, it led me onto the way I do my metals now.



Horus was fun, a real test to bring him to life with his face as a focal point and really good spot colours to work in with the black armour.




A more recent addition was Conrad Kurze, not being a fan of blue since it's a colour I find hard to get right I tried a darker technique and think it looks pretty good.



Ferrus was my Primarch in a day fun, I wanted to start and finish him in one sitting, I really enjoyed the blending of the metals into his arms flesh tone on this one.



Another of my favorite models I have painted was rather suprisingly Lorgar, his pose and base gave me a reason to do things a little different with lighting and try to evoke his chapters background, golden skin and history.



Lastly for today I have another completely different style of Primarch, Mortarion, an awesomely fun model with so much scope for weathering and environmental effects, toning them down to look realistic was the hard part.



and one last pic of a little group shot of the guys that Whaley has in his display



So welcome young and old I hope to bring you hundreds of pages more with updates of all the older finished models I managed to save pics for!

Well Im still proudly displaying the Warboss you sent me. If you need some action shots of that Id be more than happy to supply the pics yo!

And welcome back! And are you jet lagged from the trip or from the Wedding night *nudge nudge* *wink wink* *giggidy giggidy* *sex joke*

All aboard the Nerdfest Hype Train! Looking forward to to seeing what's coming up, and that's a hell of a showcase to open up with!

It's both brilliant and depressing to see so much awesome in one place...

Following along to see more pretties.

I guess I’ll follow along since this revamp was my idea. And the models in the op are mine.

Oh Whaley you sound so begrudging to follow I am working on your Enkomi model now for you so I can send them to you with Conrad and get ready for whatever you find to get painted!

So in keeping with my re posting of older works I've got more to put up today for you to see and bring back memories!

The biggest baddest reddest flyingest box eva! my old Flesh Eaters StormRaven.



A little toe in the water for a Badab force when I wanted to do Howling Griffons.



A Bug, .......a BIG bug! gifted to Gitsplittas sons army, I just wanted to have a go at something like this.




and lastly for today a small change of pace with two Hordes models.




I'll have some more tomorrow guys!

Following, cause I like shiny things! Looking forward to seeing what you will be painting next.

I think i'll post some of the old pics each time I get a reply until I run out it's great for me too since I get a buzz out of remembering the models and it might inspire me with something I forgot about!

So lets see what I have in the folder tonight......


Looks like it's Gits' Admech army I worked on for him and a couple of Imperial Fists These were so much fun to paint and working with the candy red and pairing it with the metals was a new style for me.






and the Imperial fist squad I started with, particularly it's the sergeant I am happy with the most, his face just looks good

Great idea. Really nice to see these blocked together. So much brilliant work. Of course I am here.

It's amazing to see all those finished models appearing together. Real sensory overload.

Nice to see your great work resurrected Nerdy. Nicely done.

New blog!!! And it starts off with some awesome looking Primarchs!! Nice!!!! great stuff as EVER Nerdy

Subbed. Got a case of popcorn ordered just for this thread

Thanks guys, it's really nice to see you still keen to re visit some of the work i've done that I managed to save, I kinda forgot how much stuff i've actually painted it's going to be a decent ride seeing them all again!

I've got some more Imperial Fists, a Nurgle dude and some more Whaley work.

Nurgle herald up first today with a bit of an experiment on different texture and colour blends.




Group shot of Whaley's Sallies assault marines, not too old but here they are again



Staying with the group theme, the Grey Knights converted beautifully by BigH that I got to paint.



Imperial Fists Sternguard and Landraider! I do miss that yellow........





and finally a Chaos Warrior for the Gorechosen arena.

Phew! Some masterful works here! Your blending is particularly fine. How thin do you use your paints?

 nerdfest09 wrote:
I think i'll post some of the old pics each time I get a reply until I run out

Well in that case... To bastardise some Shakespeare, if posting be the food of pics, type on!

I think I might have missed those Salamanders being finished the first time round, I remember seeing Tacs and Termies but not Assaults. Top work as ever. What have you got coming up in terms of new stuff?

Fantastic looking minis!

The Primarchs are amazing, and I love the skintones on that Hordes Werewolf thingy.

I love this, seeing so many amazing models in one place, but it's also a bit of everything too. This new thread is going to be great

Happy be Theseus, full of vexation I come against my daughter Hermia!

so firstly, yes, comments glean more pics until I run out and second, thinning my paint isn't a precise technique for me, usually I wet my brush, then lick it and grab paint from the edge of my colour on the palette if it needs more I repeat until it's right. the secret is I generally always end my colours with a wash over everything to tie them together.

and now today is another of my personal favorites i've painted, the Knight Atropos for RiTides! I just love how she turned out, the metals, the weathering, the yellow, the textures, just everything I think worked perfectly and i'm proud of this paint job.







and relevant models that belong with the big girl are a Magos and his thralls, I really love the yellow and brown theme on the Magos, a little different but looks striking!





I think in the folder coming up soonish is my most bestest favoritest model I've painted and it may come as a suprise which one it is!

May I have some more please?

Yorkright wrote:
May I have some more please?

Yes Yorky, of course mate here's a Dominus I did for Gits and a couple big bruisers for RiTides force to go with the Atropos!

I might have to experiment with some yellow on some AdMech stuff myself, it gives a wonderfully industrial feel that you don't really get from the red as that evokes more of a religious feel.

Superb work, what else?

Almost overloading, showcased together like this, but not quite, so I'll have some more, please!

Shame to hear that PhotoBucket has killed the old thread, nerdfest.

I'm going to echo a question from a little earlier, though - while seeing your Greatest Hits is really interesting, what's in the pipeline for new work?

Quite the cool photodump, Damo. Good to see a lot of these models back up!

Thanks guys, I still put all my work down to you all just being cool and liking my stuff and offering me critique and advice in a way I could use

So here's more of the re hash with a Contemptor, and some more of RiTides admech guys and vehicles,











and the next post is my personal favorite model I've painted.


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Oh and as for upcoming new stuff, i'm painting Whaley's Enkomi model and some sniper scouts for my Mino's

The efforts of photobucket have been a massive pain to so many (myself included) but I am glad to see you making sure we get to see these awesome photos again.

Good Lord those Ad Mech are perfect stunning, stunning work

So here it is, the model I have painted that for some reason I just really love, I don't know what it is about it, it could be the sculpt or scheme I used or even the feeling it evoked in me as I painted her but I am just really happy with that paint job and how it looks.

also got some more Gits' models to show and another addition to RiTides Admech.





Ancient Admech.




Tanky transporty thingy........ just cool and brutal looking!

Wow!! All of this is absolutely amazing something certainly to aspire to, my favourite has to be the ad mech with the hazard stripes - simply stunning! Subbed, you make me feel guilty for not doing painting since before the summer

You're right to be proud of Greyfax there. That burnished gold look for her armour is drop-dead gorgeous.

What was the technique?

 nerdfest09 wrote:

She's a stunner NF, love all those metals kicking around with a little brown / red to drive the warmth home

Also holy fakk those AdMech! So much whimsical weirdness combined with brutal af vehicles

Annnnd one more gush, this is one of the first times I've really appreciated the FW primarchs. Bros look fantastic, especially gathered together.

- Salvage

Thanks guys, I should have some new painting wip tomorrow to show but for now we delve back into the gross Nurgley goodness and some tt Space Wolf guys

Greyfax's armour was the same recipe as my normal gold but I used more layers to get it sort of silvery gold. does this mean that because this is a new blog I get a chance to re do all the tutorials that ask about?

Nurgle...... Ewwwwwww





And the Wolves characters

So much wonderful work. Think that this blog is my new favourite one stop eye candy.

Don't think I ever saw the big Nurgly fella before, he is the thing of nightmares and I love it. Does he count as a daemon prince or some other foul machine of chaos?

Awesome Space Wolves, Ulrik is just stunning. This blog is mint.

More amazing work! I love the eyes on the side of that converted nurgle maulerfiend, and the space wolf characters are perfect, super realistic and gritty - amazing! (can't stand baby blue space wolves ngl)

More of Gits' Admech today with Cawl taking the spotlight and to keep the darkness at bay I also have the Celestine and friends models

The Nurgle guy is a Maulerfiend with a bit of conversion work, he'll be back with me soon to go on an Armies of Parade board!

Cawwwwwwwwwllll





Celestine

Wow no love for Cawl! o.k I get it.........you want new wip?


here's my sniper scouts for my Minotaurs work in progress, I wanted them to still have the autumnal colours of the reds ochres and bronze metallic but still look as if they could hide and infiltrate and look 'right' next to their brethren the heads are from a place on Facebook called KF studios, they do some extremely cool Night Lords upgrades and models as well





and a little wip on Whaley's Enkomi, I'm approaching him slowly as i'm still working out his style. Blacker? verdigris? not sure but i'll work it out. he trusts me........

You gunna do some freehand chapter icon on the scouts? They need something to sell them as minos I think.

@Nerdy: Well... *I* love them! (for obvious reasons )

I agree with whalemusic though, some appropriate insignia on the shoulder pads would be very nice.

Or a laser printer, a clear decal sheet plus the decal images from B&C...

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/files/category/12-index-astartes/?sort_order=ASC&sort_key=file_name&num=10&st=160

Your yellow is quite gorgeous! This is true plastic (and resin) porn, I continue to watch with interest.

Since it's still kinda new, Nurgle needs a bit more re-love so here's the Nurgle Prince I did and something that could happily squish it into paste, probably a foul slimy rancid paste!


The Nurgley Daemon Prince!





and the Reaver Titan Deus Ex Machina!!!

Wow, lots of great stuff Nerdfest. Very impressive work and a great variety of colors and schemes makes it every more impressive. I can't wait to see whats next.

What is next, btw?

Found some OLD pics! you may remember these models from way back! these will certainly bring back memories and I wish I had of now taken better pics of them and done more with them on the paint side of things, kinda makes me want to go all conversion-y and get gribbly again! sorry it's a bit of a mish mash!

lots of pics warning! warning!

All kinds of awesome there Nerdy !

That Slannesh army was very cool. Great stuff Nerdy. Thanks for re-posting.

Awesome, thats it thats all I got.

It's funny, I actually saw those pink daemons recently trawling Google for maulerfiend conversions, didn't realize they were yours. Happy to see them again so soon Love the veiny weirdness going on with the fleshy Slaanesh dudes.

- Salvage

Absolutely have to follow this blog! You painting legend - I love the camo and colours on the Guard above.

Was the yellow paint you referred to last page Iyanden Darksun, by any chance? I must say, I do miss the old Foundation paints too, particularly Dheneb Stone. They all had a nice pastel hue which looked very natural. Still, the new range is awesome!

Stellar work, nerdy, thanks for sharing it all with us!

I just went and checked the paints I used for yellow work, so this is the way I do it.

The Army Painter Desert Yellow as a base, then wash with Agrax earthshade, next it's Flash Gitz yellow to start the yellow staining focused on the highest points and blended down with a damp brush after application. Next it's the same method but using Vallejo Model Color Lemon yellow, then last highlight is Vallejo Model Color Yellow Green and finished off with a wash of Cassandora yellow shade. if you need to or want to you can add another final small highlight of the yellow green again in spots.

Oh, man, I remember those swirls! But the goggles on the Chimera commander are still my favourite

That was the first time I tried to do the swirls! worked o.k I think, and my fave from those was the Leman Russ punisher barrel that I wanted to look like it was still glowing with heat from firing so rapidly! :-)

Thanks for the comprehensive breakdown, nerdfest! Really intricate process, and looks fantastic I’ve been using The Army Painter’s Skeleton Bone with a wash of Casandora Yellow for my Nids. It works quite nicely, but it’s certainly on the cartoony side.

Thanks again, nerdy, keep up the awesome work!

(I second the tank commander’s magnificent goggles! Clearly, The Imperium is for the kool kids (or should it be Orks?))

Do you guys want me to do a Yellow video for my youtube channel? I can find an old model or something with a few different surfaces to work on if you like? then after that i'll do my red tute!


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Oh and here's some more pics...... The test models for Alpharius' army that I hopefully will be working on soon and the first time I used clear resin for effects on a base and hacked up a Lictor










and i'm looking forward to getting a Goliath gang to paint up and experiment with some new ideas.....

Oh man that slime looks disgustingly excellent.

The Space Wolves and the Lictor are probably my favourites among your work, Damo. The Lictor in particular looks very "real": believably akin to some kind of crustacean or insect with the mottled skin effect and the natural tones.

Sweet God Damn! All of these are absolutely and utterly stunning, especially the Nurgly guys but especially the Slaaneshi daemons. Can't believe I hadn't taken the time to pore over your old plog to find these before.

Thanks for the painting tip on the silver-highlighted gold. I've just started experimenting with highlighting stuff with different colours (so something other than a lighter version of the same colour). Excited to try it on golds

I got my Snipers finished and ready to shoot people in the face from far far away!

Truly magnificent. And so important that your hair looks good shooting from far far away, so they called the Point Break Stylists. Just kidding about, they really look the business, the cloaks are superb, and really match the theme well.

Really brilliant, nerdfest! The colours - even the metal - tie together so well... the cloaks look like they belong in the base’s environment and are beautifully painted. Let the shoosting begin!

Nice work on the snipers. Look great.

Ja, do all the tutorials. We want to learn all your secrets... well the painting ones at least.

Thanks guys, it was a bit of fun making them look a little more camouflage but still marines from the Minotaurs chapter.

I have just built a marine to paint as an Excorcist since I have a long arching goal to paint each chapter who was part of the Badab War and it gives me a model to do a red video tutorial :-)

I also found a old marine primed desert yellow so I can do a yellow tutorial as well. and I started assembling a Christmas present for my Neice i'll grab some pics this arvo.

Beautiful work on the snipers Nerdy. Always have been some of my favorite sculpts. Nothing fancy about them, but I like them all the same.

I got a little bit more done on the two Chaplains, one for Whaley and my own for my Mino's trying to get beaten black armour isn't a real easy task! so while it doesn't look like much progression hopefully once the brighter colours are done like the bone and reds it will look decent enough!

so here's Whaleys Chaplain first up. (Whaley do you want the stripe on his shoulder to be red or yellow?)




and my own Chaplain to lead my Assault Squad.



I mentioned I was building a model for my niece for a Christmas present for her and I wanted something feminine but not too sexual or too dark since she's only 8 I decided on the Yvraine? model as a warrior elf princess (that's how i'll describe her) I started by getting the basics done on the base for her, sort of a glade i'm hoping for with a small pool and I'll add some small flowers from the scenic companies to make it look pretty not really much progress on her except the base colours and a wash mainly, the pale gold has been worked on but I'll touch it up after the skin in case I get any on the parts.

Red stripe to match the leg plate pot favor.

Lady space elf will be good fun to watch. Looking forward to seeing how you progress on her.

Last of the old pics I found! not that old though I wish I had the FW Admech pics or something cool, but here's Asterion Moloc for my Mino's






So i'm working on Whaley's Chaplain still and also a few more Mino's which I'll update soon as I get time, I'm sorry i've been so quiet it's not by choice, my new job has a steep learning curve and mentally exhausting but still extremely rewarding and i'm finding my feet as far as my painting time and hobby goes. Please don't give up on me i'm not going to disappear

I like what you've done with Yvrainne, I almost think that model works better with the fantasy aesthetic you're going for than the sci-fi one (though personally I'd swap the sword out for one without the power pack just to really sell it).

Good to see Asterion again, that is such a badass paintjob.

Great start on the lady. Wonderful to see and rummage through your stuff.

Lovely work as ever

Great colour choice on Yvraine - she really suits purples!

Chaplain love today! 2 models, both Enkomi from the Minotaurs Chapter but both slightly different, my own slightly converted to lead my assault squad and Whaley's version as he should be I struggle with black since I don't have a specific way I can turn to to paint it, so I sort of mixed a bit of metals through it and used scratches as highlights and pure black as the darker shadows.

I like them both, especially the bone on the handle, shame I couldn't use anything like that on mine, oh well, live and learn











and I started my assault squad for the Chappy to lead! main armour colour is done and started smoking the jet packs a bit.

I think the pose on yours came out much better then the normal lean that it has from FW.

Marine armies aren't right without some assault troops. Nice to see you working on them.

Thanks guys, I love the idea of the assault marines just barrelling forward and getting to grips with the enemy, hence such a large squad of them and it's really cool that I used the original pose of the Enkomi model and just put him on a differently angled terrain on his base and he looks heaps different, of course different arms help

I did a bit more on the model for my Neice for Christmas and she's really taking shape now, the colours are really nice together and look very whimsical for an 8 year old to enjoy! I painted little dots of cream and white and yellow to give the impression of small flowers in the grassland.

Lovely cape work. I'm not entirely sold on the flowers tbh, maybe slightly more definition around the edges?

Bit too hard to define them more, they are kinda brushed onto the flock, not what i wanted to do originally but I wasn't spending 20 bucks buying small flowers :-)

I am totally behind the flowers nerdy. I think they really add to the base and enhance the figure. The trane (sp?) of the dress is amazingly beautiful. One of the best executions of this area I've ever seen done on this figure.

What an interesting way to paint black, I NEVER would have thought to use scratches of all things to highlight it. Fantastic work on those two.

As for the Yvraine, the little flowers do its job quite well, fills the otherwise completely green area. A nice touch is the darker grass being on the side of the rocks, and the almost blend up to light green to the right is really impressive. The colour choice is obviously quite bold, but I think she suits it well. Not a lot of models I'd reckon would work as well as the Yvraine has, but nevertheless great progress on her!

Gitsplitta wrote:I am totally behind the flowers nerdy. I think they really add to the base and enhance the figure. The trane (sp?) of the dress is amazingly beautiful. One of the best executions of this area I've ever seen done on this figure.

Thank you so much Gits, that's some mighty nice words to read about Yvraine, I'm going for an entire picture with her and the base, it's as a display for a little girl and I think the bold colours and style will make it look pretty and princess like and still make a good looking Yvraine model to enjoy

WarbossDakka wrote:What an interesting way to paint black, I NEVER would have thought to use scratches of all things to highlight it. Fantastic work on those two.

As for the Yvraine, the little flowers do its job quite well, fills the otherwise completely green area. A nice touch is the darker grass being on the side of the rocks, and the almost blend up to light green to the right is really impressive. The colour choice is obviously quite bold, but I think she suits it well. Not a lot of models I'd reckon would work as well as the Yvraine has, but nevertheless great progress on her!

Thank ye Warboss! she's a really beautiful model and I wanted to have a reason to paint her, it may not be painted to fluff but I'm liking it so far!

She is a beautifully painted model Nerdy, and her base is exquisite. I have to chime in though how much I like the chaplain's cape, really well done.

Yes, Yvraine is looking stunning! Lovely purple on the cape, very Disney Princess, if that's what your niece likes. Spectacular base, too! Really makes Yvraine come to life.

That may be one of the best Yvraine's I've seen I hold my hands up to really disliking the combo of purple and blue of the regular Ynnari scheme, but I actually really like what you've done with it

Thanks again guys, I got a couple of boxes today from some people who live far away and want me to paint stuff for them again! :-) so now i've opened them and seen the contents you'll be seeing some more regular updates as I'll have to make sure I get some painting in each week! and while they're not 40K models they'll still be the ignition of me trying some new schemes and blends!

So I got a little box with 3 models to paint for RiTides and couldn't help myself so I immediately got assembling, converting and painting! and now they're done all in the space of less than 48 short hours! I know I need to go to hobbyists anonomous.

I hope you enjoy these models, they're really well cast and crisp as hell! and with a little tweaking I managed to come up with hopefully 3 individual looking models.

Top stuff!

Are those based on the Steam Powered Suit model from Black Sun miniatures? How were they to paint? I've been looking to get some of their stuff.

What do those represent in game? I'm guessing a lascannon of some sort on the arm.

Very 1950s.... love them! And an excellent job painting too.

Very cool Nerdy, your lens effect is always a wonder to me. I wonder how to do it,

Ace robots, nerdfest! Lovely models and conversions, gorgeous metals!

 nerdfest09 wrote:
I know I need to go to hobbyists anonomous.

I couldn't help but imagine this scene...

---Scene is set in a gymnasium hall, with the group gathered facing inwards on chairs arranged in a circle.---

Organiser: Hello everyone, and welcome! We are all here to help each other with our nerdy addictions. We'll begin by introducing ourselves, starting on my left, and going around clockwise. Welcome my friend! [Looks at nerdfest, seated to the Organiser's left.] What is your name, and story? We are all here to share and help each other with our problems.

nerdfest: Hi everyone, my name is nerdfest. I love painting and modelling miniatures! Sometimes I get the jitters if I haven't done any hobby-related activities for a couple of hours. I have come to meet others like myself. So, that's that, really!

Organiser: Thank you for being honest and sharing, nerdfest! That is most interesting, and a help to us all. And yourself? [Gestures to Bloke, sat next to nerdfest.]

Bloke: HI EVERYONE I'M ADDICTED TO STAR WARS SO I THINK THAT MAKES ME A NERD ANYWAY I LOVE JAJA BINKS COZ HE'S SO FUNNY XD

nerdfest: HERESY!!! FOR THE EMPEROR!!!

---Cut to nerdfest rapidly rising from chair, causing it to fly back into the gymnasium wall and shatter. Cut to nerdfest flying towards Bloke in a seething holy rage. Cut to black screen.---

---FIN.---

...

Sorry, I had to get it off my mind, and thought you might be interested Stay awesome, keep up the good work!

Lol exactly how that would happen! JarJar IS heresy!!! only thing to add is that much like wolverine i'd have protrusions from my hands although they would extend as I lunge and be paint brushes!

Now that’s some serious imagery!

Great robots Nerd, I love your blending effects and the way you can paint glass and gem effects.


Great work as usual now that im done the Warhound and the propheryon and after seeing your robots it might be time for some ad sec or thallax work.

Please keep the pic coming Nerd.

Looking awesome, the gem lenses give them real personality

Great work. Cool looking robo-thingies.

Hey, Nerd, can I be the 1001st person to ask where you published your scratchy, dirty metals tutorial?

I'm straight stealing it for my Goliaths and a cursory glance is not yielding me any results.

 moonpie wrote:
Hey, Nerd, can I be the 1001st person to ask where you published your scratchy, dirty metals tutorial?

I'm straight stealing it for my Goliaths and a cursory glance is not yielding me any results.

Bwahahahahahahaha you will never know the secret!

But the reason you can't find anything is either because A: It's not in this new blog or B: It was in the old one and Photobucket RUINED IT FOR EVERYONE YOU BASTARDS!!!!!!!

I also am going to use it on my Goliath when they arrive it'll make the armour super easy to do and give heaps of variation if you want it! on the robots I just did it was like this, the basics you'll need are silver paint as a base then you'll need seraphim sepia, nuln oil (and any other colour washes if you want to change it up a bit) an orange, and for the final highlights a nice mithril type silver.

*silver base
*wash sepia
*wash area with very watered orange paint
*wash black
*pick out silver edges and scratches

That's the basic formula but you can play around with it a bit for different looks, the order you lay the washes also makes for subtle differences it the final look so have a go and pop your progress on here if you like? i'd love to see it!

Thanks for posting the recipe, nerdy! If you're able to take some pics of the steps when you do them on the Goliath, I think we would all really appreciate it

And man, love the new plog with summaries! I daresay some other plogs could use the treatment although preferely without Photobucket nuking the old ones

The 3-man robot unit is just ace, and you varied them up really nicely!

I'm digging the Minotaur stuff Nerdy, very Blanchian paint-job - i.e - intensely atmospheric.

 MajorTom11 wrote:
I'm digging the Minotaur stuff Nerdy, very Blanchian paint-job - i.e - intensely atmospheric.

Ooooh Intensely atmospheric sounds kinda naughty! "Oh man are we fighting the Mino's again? those guys are just so..... so..... Intensely atmospheric! they make me all funny in my armour"

and seriously thank you MajorTom, you are a man with a plethora of amazingly brilliant painting skills and if I can do something you think is interesting or worth a look then that's a big compliment, so thank you and i'll try to keep going with them.

Getouttahere

You flatter me sir, not sure I rate it!

Get a room you two, damn.

Don't be jelly Paul.

Sliding in on our DM's Whaley!

speaking of Whaley here's my next commission lot! I primed and just started getting a feel for them today, so not a brilliant lot of paint but more to just show you what I'll be working on which is more fantasy based models and they are excellent and very characterful, the big ones are amazing and the smaller humans etc are still good although there's a few lines here and there that are pretty tricky to get too but nothing that should deter from the painting.

group shot of all of them,


This one is a firm favorite of mine! Hellephant!



Earth Golem


Fire Elemental


warriors


a cat warrior, a demon warrior and a wind elemental


metal dude and a werewolf!


Water elemental! awesome looking if confusing model, should I do the 'armour' areas in shell/bone colour or lobster/crab red?


and a damn Unicorn!

Not going with the full rainbow tail/mane on the unicorn? Figured that would be up your alley.

Ooooh, I really like the elephant thing!

I may add some more colour on the Unicorn just for you Whaley but for now here's a few updates on some of them. I added more base colours and worked on a couple getting some details worked out, so far they are coming along nicely and I think the cartoon style will look really cool on this style of figures.

So, this is the fire guy, I think I may get it to look better by painting the flames upside down? eg brighter at the top instead of bottom where the heat is. still heaps to play around with on this one.


Little Demon guy has been given some brass and a wash, very much reminds me of a bloodletter, even in posing.


Stone Golem is probably the closest to being done, also one of my favorites from the box.


Tin man, I wanted a different metal on him so i've gone a dark bronze.


Now this water elemental is so far my favorite as far as painting goes! I wanted to try for a look to give it the power of the sea with blues greens and greys in his scheme, also I was inspired by Bebopdrums and I am trying to work on the seashell armour and give it a pearlescent finish like the inside of an abalone?


Wood elf type model, just the usual earthy tones here.


Hellephant, has had base colours added and a wash to bring out some details. most of the brown parts will be gold.

Pure art. Beautiful work sir.

Does anyone else think Yvraine looks like she has Aeldari runes embedded in her skin? Because that's what I see.

Nice progress Nerdy!

I think the fire elemental will be hard to really judge until you paint the cage part on him, which should make the flames really pop.

Where are those from, nerdfest?

And, not as a criticism, but is Tin Man's weapon bent?

CMON's "Massive Darkness" RPG Boardgame.

Looking good, and looking good in here too!

Finished the first of the models for Whaley, the Stone Golem is done. I wanted to get one finished to use as a standard for the rest which is great except i'm struggling with the flame elemental so I'll do him next and then back to this style. but until then have a look at this guy and see what you think!

and yes Tinman's weapon is indeed a little bent from the last post, I tried the normal hot water fix but it followed the whim of the gods wouldn't stay how I wanted! I 'could' cut the haft out completely and use some rod to make a new straighter weapon? Whaley? what do you want mate?

He's monumental. In more than one way love the colour contrasts.

Re tin man: I know photos can make things seem worse then they are, so I'll leave it to your judgement. If its real wonky then cut away, but if it's just a little bent maybe he wacked someone too hard.

Re Earth Elemental: The skin and the brick wall look wonderful, and the browns and greens set it off nicely.

"tin man"
"bent"

Call him Bender?

Lovely work on the stone golem thing. Those wafts of "hair" really help set off the grey of his skin.

Nice job on the rock dude!

Thanks guys have a Fire elemental next in line! he was hard to paint because my style doesn't allow for much murky areas in sculpts and the blending of flames and his brazier cage armour made it hard for me to like what I was painting, so I had to keep putting him next to Golem to see if his overall look worked next to him rather than following my usual methods of paint.

hope he passes muster.

Dude! Those minis are friggin cool I probably skipped it but where are they from?

Not sure where to start with commenting on this thread, how about

The Reaver Titan Deus Ex Machina is an absolute joy to behold. Now, to pick up my jaw...

 KingCracker wrote:
Dude! Those minis are friggin cool I probably skipped it but where are they from?

 Alpharius wrote:
CMON's "Massive Darkness" RPG Boardgame.

Was a Kickstarter originally, with a lot of 'exclusives', but many of them are now available retail.

Three more done! I really like the water elemental and the Thundercat, I also wanted to do my metal on the Tin Man different than normal so I went bronze with green washing and golden highlights to try and make him look more old and solid rather than rusty.






Tin Man





Tigra

Awesome stuff. The contrast of the shell has worked brilliantly, but that metal weathering something else.

Lovely stuff!

I especially love your Water Elemental, as it will help me figure out how to paint it up too!

Have you played it yet Alph? It's surprisingly difficult.

Nope, not yet!

Thinking of breaking it out over the upcoming Christmas break and playing it with my oldest daughter!

Let me know what you think. Some of the combos that both the players and the enemies can get are pretty brutal, so don't be surprised if you get in trouble. It's also most balanced with 3-4 players. Fewer and you can get stuck, more and there are issues with pure model count on mobs.

So if there are only two of us playing, we should both run 2 characters?

Try it with 1 each, then add if you are really getting stuck. It is significantly more to track as opposed to zombicide, so running multiple is harder.

Yo dudes. more updates today, a little wip that should be finished completely tomorrow and my Goliath gang starts!

Working on the Werewolf.


Claytons Legolas the elf you have when you're not having an elf.


Skinny Deamon


And now the beginning of my Necromunda gang! the Blackstone Rust Miners. I wanted a sort of real world feel to them slightly so I shaved off the spikes and gave them the orange and fluro yellow like workmen. the armour is going to be beat to hell since I want it to look more like actual protection for mining.




As you see them the armour has been silver, washed with agrax and washed with watered down orange paint. more to come......

So much goodness happened while I was away! Great stuff Nerdy... varied too.

That is a bunch of big dudes. Going with any tattoos on them?

Was going to do the same re:Goliath mohawks, looks good on your team of working lads. Also I'm struck by how much that bloke with the stub cannon to the left in the second pic looks like Dave Bautista I guess it's Drax tattoos for my version of him

- Salvage

Everyone says what I want to comment on, weathering on the metals is always so good Nerdy. If anything a kudos on how the water elemental turned out love the water effects on the model.

Thanks guys, those Goliath are going to be really fun to just play around with hopefully I can do the tattoos o.k, that'll be the challenge. that guy that looks like Batista is called 'Barracuda' after the guy he resembles from the Punisher comics

I also finished those other 3 guys! they look pretty sweet!






I've done a little more on the Goliath gang and I'm loving the easy messy stage i'm at just getting colours and washes done so more updates on the boys later.....

Smashing work, Nerdy. All good.

I really like that werewolf. Must be hard to add interest to a model that is effectively all the same colour and texture. Great work.

All great, but love the elf.

Hey everyone! got another 2 of Whaley's models done and some more metal work on the Goliath's

Let's start with Whaley's favorite model in his collection! he specifically told me to do this one really nicely because he LOVES Unicorns and this is the model he wants to put beside his bed at night! awwww he's such a softie!






Next up is an Air Elemental, I wanted to make her different than the Water Elemental and give her colours more akin to storm clouds with some nice grey and darker blues and white in the mix, the bolt was just a bit of fun to reinforce the fury of the wind and storm.





Now it's my Blackstone Rust Miners, I think i'm done with the metals or i'll just keep going in circles washing and scratching and never say done next up i'll start on the clothing!

I'm pretty sure I did receive a unicorn calendar for you at one point. Did you show the nerdwench? I bet she'd be all about it.

Great models, but I love the touches of orange in the purple and the dappling on the unicorn.

I only realised today that Monday is Christmas and I needed to finish my Neice's model I'm doing! so I did! it might not be brilliant in parts but overall I think it looks very princess-y and a nice little display for her

I think your niece's model has come together brilliantly. Storm elemental looks incredible, pretty pretty unicorn, and can't believe that's the Munda guys still unfinished - I assumed they were done They are fab.

Thanks Graven I cut a few corners with the Elf Princess and painted her as if she had showing skin instead of the bodysuit but i'm pretty happy with her all together! a nice little present for Christmas. The Necromunda guys have only had the base colours done and the metals finished! so yes mate still a way to go! I need desperately to get new brushes, i've been putting it off for a month or more since my local supply store shut up at the start of the year! then I can do the tattoos!

She's just so pissy looking... not very princess like in my mind... but beautifully painted none-the-less.

Shes about to drag her big ass dress through that puddle. You'd be pissy too.

 whalemusic360 wrote:
Shes about to drag her big ass dress through that puddle. You'd be pissy too.

Nailed it.

Great job, Nerdy. She looks lovely. Great present.

Time to introduce you to the individuals in my Goliath gang! they are NOT finished yet but at least getting to the point where you can see what sort of look i'm going for dirty hi-vis coveralls with faded worn areas on the knees etc. and still sporting the reflective patches for when they're working in those filthy rust mines scraping the filings off the pinions holding the spires together .

My big plan is to add tattoos as an experiment on most of them, it's going to be hard because I love the look of painted skin maybe I just won't go as overboard as I thought I would.

only one has an actual name so far. but I can't work out which one is going to get it

Fantastique!

Really nice work, Nerdy. The Massive Darkness stuff looks amazing - especially liking the highlights on the Stone Elemental! Goliaths are coming along really nicely as well, and the worker's flouro is inspired!

Thank you gentlemen, I shall endeavor to get more done at my earliest convenience! they are fun to paint but as usual I felt the need to build them with slight modifications when it came to their visage and now I need to find a nice new brush somewhere to get them finished :-)

Yeah pretty damn grubby and great!

Just came across your work and wow. Had a couple questions about your minotaurs? I find it hilarious that I picked the same martian ironearth for the bases.... but are you still doing your minotaur armor the same as in your youtube video here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Ci4LFHO4g

And how do you do your reds?

 nintura wrote:
Just came across your work and wow. Had a couple questions about your minotaurs? I find it hilarious that I picked the same martian ironearth for the bases.... but are you still doing your minotaur armor the same as in your youtube video here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Ci4LFHO4g

And how do you do your reds?

Hey nintura, you bet I still do my Minotaurs the same as my video just haven't worked on them much lately and my reds, people really seem to like my reds! I have tried to get a video for it but it never shows the colours how I want to, I'll write you up a small tutorial with the colours I use when I get a chance if you'd like?

but until then I can show a couple more finished miniatures

3 more of Whaley's horde finished up, the two warrior women really didn't photograph well while they're not as good as the Hellephant they're a little better than shown but hey! at least the Hellephant looks good! he was the model that encouraged me to pester Whaley until he agreed for me to paint them all

Yes sir, that would be great. I'm trying to refine the wash method and get used to it. They still come out a bit splotchy in the end and I think it's due to adding to much Sepia at once. And I think on this latest batch I did them too dark? A second wash did not seem enough but a third made them too dark once I got them outside. So not sure

Firstly Nintura, please feel free to post your progress on here so we can have a look without seeing how you're going i'd only suggest that for the sepia you might use less for the subsequent coats and really push it around, it might not feel like you're washing the model as much but trust me even a light coat does change the colour.

and secondly I've finished another model for Whaley! i'm calling this the Chaos spawn as it looks amazingly perfect for what a spawn should be in my mind. very twisted and fleshy, I wanted to do it 'dry' so it was obviously a twisted creature with some wet parts. I really like how it turned out hence it didn't take me long to finish because I enjoyed painting it and wanted to keep going with my vision of how it looks.








And here are the next three i'm working on, not sure about the tentacle beast but I think I want to do eyes on him on those boils?

Wonderful work damo. That spawn is really top notch. I'd say eyes... definitely eyes.

Thanks Gits, I'm gonna do eyes! I can see (get it) how it will look and it will give a good chance to play around with doing them so they look good/real :-)

The Overseer was designed so that those were all eyes to begin with, so I'd definitely go for that

Technically the Chaos Spawn/Nightmare Thing was covered in eyes too, but you've really made it your own by painting them as boils; I love it

The spawn actually was doing my head in. It is so beautifully outrageous I was having a hard time figuring out what I was looking at, But I guess that means you hit the brief of a spawn right on. Good work.

Here you go. First model tested. I find it hilarious we both picked the Martian Ironearth for the base, but I did borrow your purple This one I feel I did too much on the scratching because the lamp I used didnt show it as well.

https://imgur.com/a/T6Yug

Second batch:

https://imgur.com/a/Ew7HY

I didnt want to post pics and take up your blog space

Great work on the Spawn and Hellephant there, Damo. The WIPs also look fantastic!

And nice Minotaurs, Nintura. You've got some great stuff over on your Plog!

Thanks I need to update it. but I dont wanna hijack this guys awesome models

Damn that Spawn is... disgusting in the best way possible. I don't think I even want to know how you got the colours just right on the spots

Outstanding work, particularly on that spawn (love the palette!) and the Hellephant. Twisted and gothic and beautiful -- all at once.

All looking good Nerdy, but I have to chime in on the spawn also. That thing is a nightmare in the best of ways to me it looks like things are writhing about under its skin, shiver.

Eyes on the tentacle monster would be great and give it that HP Lovecraft feel to it!

And your Spawn makes me want to pop zits.....ew

Eye know the consensus was for eyes so eye went and saw to it! seeing as it was the best idea eye now present the Vag-eye-ner monster.

Now that is awesome!

WOW!

Well done indeed - and dare I say - inspirational as well!

That's so good! And you know horribly creepy, foul and upsetting

Dear god the puns!!!!

Oh yeah, that's the ticket! Very Cthulhuesque.

These gribblies are particularly great, lovely work NF

- Salvage

Cheers guys! the Eye-Guy was cool, I actually was inspired (and you'll see this when I say it) by what I wanted to paint for a jungle themed Lictor :-) which may happen one day to go with his spire stalking friend. and yes, the puns! I wanted more but I had a brain fade Lol

Stunning bud, all so beautifully stunning.

Eye love it! Some people have some skills at painting but you really have an eye for it.

Lovely work on the eye-beast!

Dudes and dudettes I have another model

This is sort of a dragon ogre? I actually really quite like the job on him but he was hard to photograph which is a shame because I thought the photo's looked good on the camera the skin looks cool and I wanted to shy away from just doing an Ork green style on him, his face sadly didn't have as much detail as the rest of the sculpt but overall he's pretty beastly looking, I can tell you now I wouldn't want to meet him in a cave somewhere! Oh and I really like his horns!

Some green at last! Very nice, lovely model, and brilliant paint job.

I love how you basically use greyscale washing as your go to paint technique. I've always been a fan of this style and I wish I still had my skaven that I painted that way.

Looks great Damo. Were you going to do anything for it's eyes? The face needs something to give it focus I think.

Hey guys thanks again, not going to play any more with him Gits, the model is pretty muddy when it comes to his face, the larger areas of the bigger models are all great but they struggle with anything crisp and smaller, so faces and hands etc fall down a bit on quality i've got to sort of make bits up as I paint. but I do like them all, really great designs and characterful models

now another big guy! a Cyclops this time, good fun painting the skin a dusty mountain weathered colour and seeing what I can do keeping the comic style on all of them, a few blended highlights with the final one being more of an edge highlight and quite bold seems to have done the trick on them.

These monsters are INSANELY cool damo. I must say, you leave some mighty compliments on my page but whenever i come over here i always feel small when it comes to imagination and raw artistic output. You just have the vision bro. You got that 3rd eye ninja ish, and all of your works are larger than life because of it! I can practice technique all day but ill never have the imagination you bring to the table. Always inspiring my friend!! (( and i should mentionL the consistency of top level execution is the nail in the coffin) You da cat!!

Holy bejesus these are great. You have a fantastic eye for colors, man. And the sculpting is awesome. Looking forward to seeing even more.

Never skip eye day

Painting is amazing. You really bring out all the nice details in those amazing sculpts

I'm moving ahead pretty well with these guys and have another one done! this is a cave troll i'm imagining him from icy climes so have used lots of blues and greys again, I know I said it before but this slightly comic style is really fun for me to do as it speeds up my process heaps and on the larger models it just works so bloody well!

Its nice to see you painting some fantasy monsters, they look very cool.

Really like the eye guy

So cool!

Especially the eye monster and the troll.

Troll came out very nice. The blues work well.

Lots of fun. I like his nose, looks like he's got hay fever from the local weather!

Smashing work on the beasties, Nerdy.

Wow, amazing work on here! I must say, the eye beast needs some small veins in the whites of the eyes though, that would take it into nightmare territory!

Great work on those big guys, Damo - are they all from Massive Darkness?

While most Gnomes steal underpants, these guys will steal your heart literally, they'll cut that bastard out and take it home with them!





I also got a little box in the post! now this is some beautifully packed and presented models! the models themselves are stunningly crisp and the quality is 10/10. i'll show you the models when I assemble them but I got the big Ork boss, the Gabriel Angelos type one and the banshee/boneshee as well as the enforcer.arbites model,

The lil fellas look great. Could be a mascot for a travel site or something.

I'm looking forward to seeing these Artel models. I really like the designs they have been putting out.

Love the new blog. Your figures keep getting better!

I love those Gnome guys, so full of character!

Thanks fella's the Gnomes look pretty distinct even with a limited palette they work well! and I've got some nice Ogre models on the desk now with heaps of skin! LOVIN' IT!

Hey guys i've been working on some Ogres for Whaley and i'm pretty much done with all the skin, I really enjoy the flesh painting and thought i's see how my normal skin method looked over different first washes, I went over a blue, flesh, red, yellow, green/brown, brown washes and worked it up from then! the final result isn't too different but I think it might add more subtle colours on more in depth models. so far I'm pretty pleased with them and think the models will pop once the extra details get filled in.

So much skin! Did you find that any of the colors worked better or worse then expected?

Definitely like the top ones skin (with the Orange hair) so rich and smooth!

The guy at the top is the normal way with ogryn flesh but I prefer the darker agrax+ogryn wash it's almost greenish but works well, that's the skinny ogre with the horned helm.

Very interesting exercise Nerdy. They all look spectacular but it's really cool to see the subtle differences between them.

A little bit more, I got the base browns on everything else which will act as the base for browns, golds and bone colours. you can start to see the image of them as a whole now and they all look pretty cool! couple of pics are blurry but you can still see the difference in the feel with the change of washes.

I really like the variation in skin tone Nerdy. Makes them look quite natural.

Wow Nerdy these are fantastic. I really like your take on leather very realistic.

Agreed with Gits, the variance really adds to the group!

Great work on the skin tones. A bit of subtle variation never goes astray.

Where did your comments go about painting faces using washes and what not?

 nintura wrote:
Where did your comments go about painting faces using washes and what not?

Probably in my old original thread? not sure if the photo's of that method stayed in there o.k? if you can't find them i'll do another one

 nerdfest09 wrote:

 nintura wrote:
Where did your comments go about painting faces using washes and what not?

Probably in my old original thread? not sure if the photo's of that method stayed in there o.k? if you can't find them i'll do another one

Much appreciated. Do you have a link to your old one? I need to learn to paint faces asap

I don't have a link sorry but i'll see if I can get some info tomorrow for you !


Automatically Appended Next Post:

So this could become a thing just updating Whaley on his models quickly/

https://youtu.be/_rDKpYK-Se0

I hope you don't freeze your balls off in ze snow.

Great video!

Lets see if my hiatus can be made up with some finished models? I finished up Whaley's Ogres now, some sweet looking models and they all look either brutal or just plain nasty! really nice to paint for the most part, a few muddy details but nothing that distracts the acres of wonderful skin to paint! after these I've got another Admech Ironstrider to paint up and two more batches of models left from wave one of the Massive Darkness Whaley sent me.









right, now it's off to work for me and i'll get more paint tomorrow!

These guys are awesome. Really top notch. Beautiful work sir.

Gorgeous! Love the shading.

Hgnhhh, they look so good!!!

I think the two headed fella is my favorite. Reminds me of Monty python.

Thanks guys! my favorite are the last two and the two headed dude :-) they look solid and meaty and thug like! and now i'm on the next group of little goblin guys I've realised that one of the
'Ogres' was meant to be a Goblin *duh Damo* so now do I continue on with them with flesh tones and green ripped robes or change it up to have the rest a pale green? hmmmm

Love the ogres. Beautifully done!

Love the variety and character of the Ogre's heads.

Great job on the Ogres.

So the other week I was in Bunnings looking for a cheap primer for buildings, I found a lime/olive green that was suitable for plastics as well so I then liberally coated everything I had in it to have a cohesive look, these pics are just a look at where I am at with them all, so far I have sprayed them all the lime primer and a few squirts of goblin green and silver primer then sponged on some black. After that I mixed up a wash with brown/red/and black acrylic paints and a lot of water and gave them all a good ol washing and let them dry.

Next I'll drybrush some lighter greens and sponge on some more chips, then weather and detail them all so they match into the board better. not sure when I'll work on them again but I thought i'd give you a look at how I want the board to look like a settlement.

I think you've made excellent decisions so far Nerdy. It's natural that they'd use local building materials so the fact that the buildings mirror (to an extent) the color scheme of the board is perfect in my opinion.

I absolutely love your boards surface. What did you use to cover the board in?

 Archer wrote:
I absolutely love your boards surface. What did you use to cover the board in?

Hey Archer, that entire board only took me about 2.5 hours start to finish! yes, it really is that simple! I think i've got a run down in my old blog i'll try find it and link it for you mate, the base is literally watered down filler with some grit in it and cheap acrylic paint for colouring, then I used the acrylic paints as a wash over the lot in conjunction with some spray paint.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/8100/356350.page

Completely agree with Gits, you have nailed the colour tones on this, spot on, good and interesting pieces of terrain as well, great stuff bud.

Nice to see you live and kicking, was a bit worried.

No need to worry Cam! i'm still kicking but man i've been busy with work, this week alone i've clocked up 67 hours! and managed to finish Whaleys Goblins to a tabletop level and then just sort of chill and throw some paint on a couple of miniatures from Artel 'W' miniatures I've gone with a sort of character level job on the Kiborc and experimented with painting parts of him with martian ironearth before painting to give a weathered paint on his Klaw, and I had a play around with the bone on the Boneshee (howling banshee) and now I'm REALLY wanting to do a saim hann Eldar army I think it'll look super good with my red method on the models especially the vehicles! and if I can score myself a squad of the recently banned Boneshees then i'll certainly go ahead and do it!

but for now lets have a look at a couple of models! I'm hoping to sell the Kiborc (I have someone in mind ...... *cough* Whaley *cough*)







and now this stunning lady! I can totally see a 'W' squad painted up like this bursting from a wave serpent to have a slicing yelling good time! I also sort of attempted a more real world bone after seeing what my dogs left I added some brown and green washes to make it a little dirtier without being brown or filthy.





Now back onto the rest of Whaley's models before a special little commission arrives...... more later.

lovely work there damo as per usual

Excellent!

Looking so swish Damo!

Just so pretty, and for once I ain't talking about the ork. She is brilliant.

Of course the green skin is stunning, about time saw some love to the orksez.

Dudes! I finally got a chance to paint a Custode! and not only was it 'just' a Custode, it was Ixion Hale and if Mike likes my work on him then it appears I may get a chance to paint an entire army of them!

This guy just looks regal, he looks like he knows how to handle himself and for that fact is just waiting for someone to try him out knowing full well he'd destroy any combatant.

I used the same gold I did on my Sanguinary guard when I did them a while ago and I had another go at the velvet look on his cloak to make him special, I think he's come together really nicely and I might try and convince Mike to get a Contemptor for me to paint

love to know what you think guys.

Stunning work Damo. Love the way the cloak came out!

Great work man. Love the effect on the cloak, makes it look very much like fabric!

Oooooh speckled purple, very lush!

Ixion looking badass there! Lovely stuff.

Beautiful work Damo, that cloak.. fantastic.

Just blooming showing off now!

really lovely stuff damo as always. im gonna step outside of my normal gushing compliments and offer a bit of cnc. i think the texture on the cloth is a bit, hmmm, "abrasive" to convey the feeling of texture. it looks a little bit more like spots to me. i a few mid tones to soften the gradient a bit and maybe even the spots could be thinner paint as well, a little less obvious would convey that feeling of fabric i feel a bit more and really take it to the next level. of course, its a cool effect as is, and the intent is understood. either way as always great work and fantastic color choices.

Bebop

Thanks Bebop, I can tell from the way you wrote the post that was hard for you to type! lol don't be afraid to rip into me mate it might upset me but it also makes me want to improve what I do :-) I can see and agree with your statement but if i'm totally honest I hadn't done that style for a while and I may have needed to make the dots more gradual. maybe next time but it still looks o.k right?

Maybe have them merge into a smooth "normal" highlight at the brightest to lessen the spotty look to the whole.
So, highlight merges to dots merges to mid-tone blend to shadow.

Model looks great though.

Only problem with doing it too smoothly is the material in life has very stark levels of highlights and shades and while it looks odd in parts it is close to how it should look if that makes sense? :-)

Hey guys, I have something I've never painted before to show you! yes, it's still Space Marines but it's a colour I've often had issues with personally I have been asked to paint up a full squad of the special edition Japanese only Ultramarines! and boy i've enjoyed these guys, the posing and dynamism of them is really lovely and I want to save my dollars and get a squad for myself and paint them up as Howling Griffons But we'll see how that pans out, these guys do need the decals put on but i'm waiting for some Micro sol/set but I couldn't wait

I spent a fair bit of the process being careful and making subtle touches to get a really nice look that isn't too over the top but was still easy to replicate if I do more, I am really suprised at how much I like the look of them all, scarily so so I better now leave you with a bunch of pics and I hope you enjoy looking at them as much I enjoyed painting them.

Cracking stuff! Wish I could get a set of those minis even more now.

It's weird, some of them are really basic, but some are super awesome.

...wow!

They all look so good!!!

You are truly an artist!

I don't understand... what do you mean by "Japanese only"?

great work damo. love the olive green and blue contrast. unique but works so well. also the purple plasma glow. fantastic squad!

re: the previous post. The model is fantastic, all of your work is, but i know through our private chats etc etc, that youre a painter first and always striving to better. I think re your comment about too smooth, i disagree. unless its a rare texture or something like that, nothing can be "too smooth". And even though you are going for a highly reflective cloth, (velvet??), while the transition needs to be quick and tight, the literal texture youve painted still is too spread out. So yeah, the transition needs to be even be tighter and more smooth to pull off, but more mid tone transitions and softer dots i still think are the next step. id try to mess around with another figure just for the experiment of working out a more refined version of the technique. Cheers bro, you a bad dude!

 Gitsplitta wrote:
I don't understand... what do you mean by "Japanese only"?

They're special edition sculpts only available in japan at the moment boss: https://spacemarineheroes.com/

I found out about it as there was an extremely funny post about how crazy the bios come out in google translate

That squad is amazingly painted. I really like the off slightly darker blue shade you've went with. Very clean and crisp

They really do look good, not just as models, but the painting is top notch Damo!

Well. They're just smurftastic. As always, it's your faces I'm drawn to, especially the running guy with combat knife,

Well, lets go from something nicely painted to something that's not nicely painted I always love this point in my mini painting routine, it's where the colours are all based and washed and it's the start of the process of highlighting and applying the two sides if i'm blending into a middle colour

SO firstly it's another brother for my Contemptor squad, this time a Deredeo Dreadnoughtfor some firepower for my Minotaurs. I have as touched on above, based the colours being silver and red and then began washing the model, the main hull has the usual Mino's washes applied and next i'll start neatening it up making it look a bit less like a potato painting and starting the reds.





And secondly, something from waaaaaaay left field

Eldar, I sort of bounce between liking and hating Eldar and have never collected or painted them before so i'm not entirely sure what prompted me to begin now? it may be the two boxes of cheap Fire Dragons I got I have to say though that they Finecast on both boxes mini's was woeful so much flash and areas to clean up and even in places it's near impossible to get a blade too, but enough of that, we all know how bad Finecast can be. I wanted to convert them to change up the poses but didn't realise they were all one pose one part not heaps of room to move with conversions so I settled with a few small things like changing the direction of the heads and a few leg re poses for stepping or running-ish

So here's the squad of Dragons and their transport just beginning to get some love, red base washed with Agrax which is still wet

That's a nice change-of-pace Damo. Looking forward to seeing what you'll do with them.

Yeah, agreed with Gits. Are you looking at candy colours on these guys or more subdued?

Mmm wet blood red

One of the oldest skew armies I ever wanted was loads of Fire Dragons - thinking about it, Biel-Tan might have taught me the meaning of skew/spam all those years ago. Filthy elvses

Anyway, love that red base, wherever you take it!

- Salvage

Thanks fellas, I'm not going candy on them i'd suppose you'd call it 'more subdued' but I've just finished a test model and it's not really subtle! I wanted to see how one would look so I did an exarch up and I'm pretty happy with him, I can do this sort of standard across all of the army quite easily, the only thing I was pretty peeved with was the finish and condition of the finecast they were rough textured in spots and really not sharp in others but I think I can divert your eyes from the bad bits by burning your retinas with these guys!

(hey Whaley does the little squiggle tie them to the Craftworld?)

Saim-Hann Fire Dragon Exarch.

He looks great, and yes, the squiggles work well.

I want to see the Forge World Avatar of Khaine done in just that fashion.


Somebody with money... make it happen!

I mean, I own one of those....

Funny that was my exact same thought Gits. Please make it happen someone (Whaley).

Truly stunning Damo, really beautiful work.

nerdfest09 wrote:I can do this sort of standard across all of the army quite easily

And that, sir, is why you are the nerd king.
Stunning, and I'm no fan of Eldar.

Never wanted to play Eldar pretty much ever. They just dont do it for me. However, I have always been a fan of nicely painted Eldar. So this will be fun to watch.



I had a very small force once and I melted their helmets round and painted them white and glass black. They looked JUST like SpaceBalls

Lets have a look at some work in progress on the first Eldar transport i've painted. I wanted to paint red, so obviously Saim-Hann is the perfect choice for me! and I think they'll suit my vibrant reds nicely, I wasn't too sure when painting this model where and how strong to go with highlighting so it was a trial by error for the most part, you will see some slightly shaky lines etc as I find my mojo painting them up. so far I have just done the main hull and blacklined. once the gems are painted and the bottom half gets primed black we'll have another look and see how it works







I'm thinking this is gonna look totally tits on a WraithKnight


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also guys do you know any places that make loin cloth tabards for terminators?

^I think it's going to look the tits on whatever it goes on. Certainly awesome on that.
On the tabard question, if you're not averse to a bit of building, tomato puree tubes are an excellent source of cloth.

I find it funny how you get used to painting say an Ork and itll look good and obvious confidence in painting. Then you change it up to something you're not used to and then suddenly you have no clue how to paint its off to a pretty good start in my book Damo

Nerdfest does Eldar! Awesome Fire Dragon's looking really nice, and the grav-tanks' shaping up nicely

I've got around the whole 'eldar paint differently to other dudes' thing by just painting my eldar like I paint everyone else gritty and battle-worn is less of a stylistic choice than unadventurousness

I need to talk, I need some wisdom and i'm going to speak frankly about what i'm feeling. I love the hobby and have done for about 22 years collecting various armies and learning to paint along the way which i've loved, but something has been bothering me more and more lately. Why? Why do I collect an army here and then sell it at a huge loss soon after? the answer I believe is hidden in my subconscious, I'm not a stupid person and I have an exceptionally quick mind but since school age i've had a mental block with mathematics and book learning which put to rest a few career paths I wanted to follow but shied away due to the level of study and essay writing I was afraid of even though I knew I would excel at professions I had a strong interest in such as Psychology and Nursing.

What has that got to do with 40K? plenty, but first I need to veer slightly into the hobby for a second. Why do I love the 40K world? it's the escapism and the cinematic feeling I get from the hugely descriptive and fleshed out models and history, when I paint a model or begin collecting a force it's because I can 'see' it working on the battlefield, I can 'see' the sternguard throwing themselves against a concrete wall and see the dust settle on their pauldrons while they slam a new clip into the boltguns their lenses scanning the area for new targets while a mighty Dreadnought impervious to incoming fire strides towards the enemy. This is what I see and feel when I'm painting and this is what I want to replicate when I play (as little as that may be) I get excited about the models and squads and how they operate.............Until my excitement crashes down to depressing levels as soon as I start trying to learn how to play them or even learn the rules again.

Last night I wanted to get more of a feel for the Eldar I'm starting, So I went researching and very quickly became overcome with the fact I didn't really understand the fine points and that i'd been there many times before and felt the same thing, I didn't know how to differentiate the weapons and had no idea what the statements on each were telling me, I didn't have the foggiest idea what a 2+3++ is and even how to attempt the equation? my mind fogged over when discussing modifiers and many other essential aspects of the squads and how to use them to your advantage, I read the blurb about the Wraithseer and how they can be great at HQ hunting and very strong, and then I started to read how and I felt stupid, frankly stupid for not understanding what was written, I've got the rules and have done every edition since 4th and I still look at the numbers and feel sick I can't see how they work. I know how I want them to work and I know the models strengths and weaknesses but that doesn't help me, I may as well be putting them on the table and making pew pew noises while I smack them together.

And now back to 40K, I get so disheartened when I realise I am not going to enjoy the one aspect of the hobby I WANT to be able to do and enjoy, which just happens to be the cornerstone of what the whole thing is about!! I had the Eldar idea in my head of a beautifully painted Saim-Hann army skimming across the battlefield pattering shuriken off Marines while Wraith constructs took care of the heavier models and the Warlocks sent Psychic death forward into the fray. But that's not going to happen because I am literally so caught up in the fact I'm bad at mathematics and can't fathom how the game works so much so I bounce from army to army in what I believe is a way to put off the inevitable that I can't play, Dark Eldar, Marines, Howling Griffons, Blood Angels, Necrons, Marines Exemplar, Space Wolves, Salamanders...... all begun but never finished. am I sabotaging my own enjoyment? am I really out of my depth? should I stick to less academic pastimes? or is there a simple way I can help learn the fundamentals and enjoy both my Minotaurs army and continue with the Eldar?

Sorry to be so candid and depressing guys, I just want to enjoy every facet.

I feel your pain.
I am terrible at maths (I'm an English teacher) and have definitely uesd the hobby to escape from some pretty dark places in my life - equally, however, 40k got me into a lot of debt and nearly wrecked my marriage. I am a very competitive gamer and like to get my head round factions quickly. This combines to make me (a) not a very good 40k player (b) not a particularly pleasant 40k player (c) an army-hopping 40k player.
Some advice, make of it what you will:
(1) Paint what you love. Honestly, paint stuff you like.
....
but...
(2) Try other games.
There's a plethora of games that suit a wide variety of styles. I'm not a fan of number crunching, but some games really work for me - Batman/DCU and Walking Dead. Funnily enough, I love X-Wing, although I'm pretty rubbish at it. I enjoyed the challenge of painting tiny spesssheeps; I love star wars, so I went with that. Then, well, I love DC. So that forced me to raise my game with Batman and DCU. I'm not saying I'm not a fan of the grimdarkiverse - I am - but I just don't think it's me, somehow. Weirdly, skirmishy 40k - munda, killteam - I quite like.
Sorry if I'm rambling. I suppose what I'm saying is, I get where you're coming from, so my advice is, explore other options. See what other folk near(ish) you are playing, see what you like, and don't get too strung out on it.
And, y'know, fly casual

A lot of the mathhammer and number crunching only affects the top level of play. Sure, it can impact the casual play, but it’s a lot less relevant. You can do the math and figure out which is more efficient at popping T7 3+ save tanks, Fire Dragons or Wraithguard. Get information about wounds caused per point spent using normal assumptions. But when either squad disembarks from the serpent, that rhino is going to explode. One might just do it for less points. While one might be more efficient, they are both effective. And at the end of the day, the mood of your dice will have more of an impact then if you wasted 20 points on the sub-optimal (but cool looking) anti-tank option.

It sounds like you want to play a more causal, narrative style of game. Nothing wrong with that. 40k has always been easy to break. But if you find people who what to play on the same level that you do, it’s a lot of fun. But of you try fielding a fluffy list against a tournament caliber one, nobody is going to enjoy themselves.

Find a like minded group, and ignore the internet pundits. You can identify by them by the extremes. Something is either good, or garbage. Truth is, every unit has a use, and can be situationally useful at worst.

Keep doing the excellent job painting, and play what you like. The game is a lot more then just math.

I totally see what you're saying, I think it's possibly something made even worse by the disconnect between the fluff and the rules; you want your heroic Marines to be literal gods of war, striding across the battlefield impervious to all but the biggest guns and scything through enemies... then you put them down on the table and a few Lasgun salvos later, half your Battle Company is down...

I think the players have a big impact though; if you can find a/some player/s that a) have a good working knowledge of the rules and b) aren't going for a highly optimised or effective playstyle, you might find you get on better yourself. They can guide you through the rules (almost like a GM in an RPG, you can just roll the dice they tell you to a certain extent and don't really need to understand why/where those numbers are coming from) and if their army and playstyle is also one built around a narrative rather than the rules themselves, you have a lot more freedom. Suddenly, you don't need to think about what the optimum position for those Sternguard is, you can throw them where you think they 'belong' and almost play in character as the army.

I used to do this all the time with Guard; there would be times where it was almost essential that my infantry run for cover, but they'll stay ranked in the open, firing in ranks and holding the line because that was the ethos that Regiment was built around. Their Commissar would lead a charge into a mob of Orks because it was better to die for the Emperor than live for yourself. My tank commander would take extreme range shots at enemy armour rather than trying to snipe HQs or elite troops, because every tank he knocked out was a point of pride for him and his crew. It was a dreadful army on paper, but oh-so-fun to play and I was fortunate enough to have a casual enough group that I wasn't shooting myself in the foot by playing like that (I still won at least half the games with that army, and almost every game would create a cool little story for a squad or character).


Another option is to look into other ways of learning. Regardless of the game, I've always found that watching someone play gets things across far clearer than reading the books, even when those players aren't explaining their every roll. I learned to run D&D through various Youtube/Twitch shows, and only consulted the weighty rulebooks when I needed to clarify, for example, the exact way falling damage worked, or how much a Longsword would cost a player looking to buy one from the local blacksmith. So maybe set some time aside and check out some battle reports on Youtube, there's a lot of mediocre ones but also plenty with very respectable levels of presentation that might be a bit easier to learn from; rather than reading that a unit has a 2+ Armour Save/3+ Invulnerable Save, you can see a unit that has that and look at how those stats make it perform on the tabletop. There are probably also plenty of series that are just tutorials on how to play, I think Warhammer TV may even have their own for 40k 8th.


Alternatively, as Graven mentioned, maybe check out some other games. Kill Team is coming back for 40k soon with its own rules, and there you can focus on just a few models rather than having to concentrate on running an army's worth of units. Build up a really nice customised squad, personalise the characters, write their backstories and play them in line with that narrative. Maybe you build a Deathwatch Kill Team, and the Space Wolf always charges towards the biggest thing on the field, no matter how stupid that might be. Treat the rules as a framework for telling those stories, rather than an all-out contest of skill.

Finally, it's entirely possible that gaming isn't for you. I haven't played 40k in a few years now, and while at the first I missed it (it was basically a product of moving away from my gaming group for university), it's expanded my painting horizons massively. I've painted stuff for armies I never had any interest in playing, I've felt free to convert stuff that has absolutely no analogue in the rules but just looks damn cool, and my main concern has shifted from 'will this Plasma Gun explode my Tactical Marine on the table' to 'if I put a Plasma Gun on this Marine, I can make it look really cool'. Gaming may be at the core of this hobby, but it's perfectly possible to enjoy the models, the lore, the setting, the painting without ever rolling a dice.

So yeah, that's a very long-winded way of suggesting that you find some local players, have a chat with them about how they like to play and see if it lines up with how you want to do things; if they do, great, you can start playing with people on the same page as you, willing to help out with the rules and get you over that initial hurdle. If not, then you can keep looking, and in the mean time, maybe try some other games, keep reading the novels and lore in the rulebooks and most importantly, keep on painting beautiful models because as and when you do get them on the tabletop, they're going to blow your opponent away! I'm sure there are plenty of gamers out there who would happily coach you through every step of a game if it meant you got to get those armies down on an awesome table and create an amazing visual spectacle!

Apologies for rambling, hope some of it's useful, and best of luck with whatever route you take from here!

These guys have already given you lots of great feedback, so I won't repeat what they said just that I agree. I will add that I believe the person you normally play against isn't the kind of player you should be playing. From what I've seen he brings highly optimized lists and plays very competitively. Maybe next time you play him, ask if you can play a "highlander" list, where no unit can be repeated on the list. It is kind of a forced casualness, but maybe it would help him get in the same mindset you are in. Or maybe move to America and we will play some dumb casual games.

First and foremost I think you shouldn't feel bad in any way for creating these awesome armies you do and then selling them on for a loss, unless it's significantly affecting your financial stability.

I'm a creator myself. I just like making things. For me, a life well spent is one where you can look back on your life and say with confidence 'this list of awesome things would not exist if I hadn't have made them, and the world is richer because of it'.

Might sound a bit grand for little plastic soldiers, but the world is definitely richer for your work being in it whether you own it or not, it's out there.

On the gaming front, I'd suggest Necromunda/Inquisimunda if you can find a place to play it. Subjective, but I get the impression it attracts a different crowd more interested in enjoyment than winning, and the scaled-down nature of it means that there's less of a sheer volume of numbers to wrap your head around. Plus, you could really flex your creative muscles making little low-scale high-quality warbands

I have the same problem, with a twist of lemon:

I want the narrative. I started playing 40K when it WAS a roleplaying game, and that's coloured my perception ever since.

I've fighting my depression, and am only just now getting 'back' into building and modeling. And, regretfully, I KNOW the only way I'm going to get to play 40K is if _I_ do the work to find and attract like-minded people. Hopefully, I can build up a new stable of gaming comrades who want to see their skimmers zoom across the table, and are willing to play narrative or even open style with me.

It isn't easy. Here in America, it is heavily biased toward WAAC/Tournament play. Part of the reason I get so depressed.

Going to the UK last June, oddly, didn't help. It made things worse, because I saw people playing the way I want to play, and there were Warhammer clubs all over the place. Something we simply don't have here in the US.

So, to sum up:

What you're feeling is quite normal, happens to a lot of us, and you're quite brave to share. Thank you.

Whatever I can do to help, even if it's just someone to talk to, my phone/skype/webcam is always available.

--Brian

Nerdfest, firstly what I'd like to say is that you're just the kind of hobbyist who I aspire to be! Everything you do is interesting and beautiful, and your Saim-Hann are no different. What you have achieved in this hobby is something that not many people can say, and you should be extremely proud of all the work you have done.

I can't offer much on what has already been said, but here goes:

1). The background + painting and modelling side of the hobby is exactly the reason that I LOVE and want to participate in 40k, too. It is an immersive universe that you can get completely lost in, and that is a brilliant thing.

2). I have sold things, too. Most notably a Space Marine Battle Company that I has spent years collecting, cleaning and prepping. I sold them for a stupid price because I felt that I just couldn't do it, I couldn't paint them. It was a rash decision that I massively regret. In the long run, however, it has made me much stronger, as I focus on completing the task at hand before moving on to the next thing.

3). The Tyranid army that I'm working on is so that I can eventually get playing Warhammer again. I was still at school the last time I played 40k! Winning does not interest me at all, and I hope to eventually find like-minded people to play with.

4). I've discovered that some of my colleagues play 40k, too. However, all of them were into competitive playing, and they would tell me about rules and such, and about what units were best, etc. This is what interested them most - and that's fine - but certainly not why I collect and paint Warhammer.

To summarise:

You are exactly the kind of person that GW wants in the hobby. I would love more than anything to play a game against a person like yourself, even if we were to just spend the time working out rules and such. Just the pure spectacle of your units on the tabletop would be all I could ask for!

Yes, there are other games, and perhaps Killteam would be a good way of easing yourself into bigger games of 40k. (Probably for me, too!) I know that I'm not in this hobby for "winning", but purely for the experience.

TL;DR:

KEEP BEING AWESOME!

Been in this game a long time, and I definitely know how you feel, except to say, that was me years ago. This hobby has so much to it other than a table top game, this aint Monopoly, or Chess. This is Warhammer, the greatest hobby in the world.

You already have the advise from truly great guys above, but I feel I need to say something here. (I know this is nothing in comparison to the IRL military) We few are brothers in arms. We do this because we love it. Not because we can make money, not because it gets us connected to people for some networking, and not because we enjoy painting 100 bolters the same bloody colour. We love it, with all it's warts and bad manners.

Many years ago, I met a lad who played Epic, at the time I was well into it, we talked about it a lot, he was so enthusiastic. Eventually we set up a game at my house, he was a spotty teenager living at home with M&D. I set up my big table a full 8x4 with all the terrain and got out my Ork army.

I was a bit embarrassed, as the paint job was a bit scratchy and not complete, but we did not care about that it was all about the fun. So he arrives and we yak, and he starts getting his army out, a Space Marine Force to rival mine, except it wasn't it was Lego blocks and bits of card cut to base size but with just the unit details written on it. Now if I was a stuffy nosed idiot I could have blown it out then and there, but I have never been that guy, I just had a bloody good look at what he had so I could recognise it on the tabletop, and we got on with it. We played a fantastic narrative game, loose rules, house rules, he ended up staying over for the weekend it took that long to play the game. It was one of the greatest games I have ever had. Now it turns out he had never played anyone else before, he played against himself, proxying different armies, using his bed as a battlefield, for years, could not afford any models but had the rule books etc. He just loved the game, the background the story. Needless to say we played regularly after that for over 7 years, he was a truly epic friend.

I have not played a game since 2003, I have spent thousands of pounds on this hobby since, at one point I actually sold everything I had, I managed to live a whole 13 1/2 months without Warhammer. But it draws you back, and you need it, not like a drug, but like food or air or sleep, it is necessary. A couple years ago I discovered Dakka, and made some of the best friends I have ever had in this life, you included. And a couple years ago I decided that this was going to be my only hobby, you see I am poor, not begging on the streets poor, but can't afford a takeaway poor, a chinese takeaway is a luxury, we have no carpets in this house, been here 3 years. Mind you the kids have Xboxes and I have my hobby, but I am dedicated to it, you see I realised this is my passion, I can manage quite happily with a cereal box and some white glue, or some Lego blocks and some scraps of paper, and a bed for a battlefield.

Nowadays I do not even model for the game anymore, I build models I want to build, how I want to build. I live vicariously through you guys, I even get to see some of my silly creations on the table top because I am honoured to say you guys have accepted my junk into your passion.

You will find that guy/girl to play with, you will get your head around the rules, honestly. You will also spend a small fortune more on this lot and sell it for a loss (hey I give my stuff away, no bugger would buy it!), but you will always be here with us nutters, this is your passion, your love. I have to tell you bud, you are an artist, truly. Now you have to accept that, let it take you wherever it will, ride along and let it ebb and flow, but accept it is the most important thing here. When people ask me "What am I?" I do not say home delivery driver, manager, carpenter, I say I am a Modeller. So are you.

So chin up kid, accept your fate, and step bravely forward. Trust me you will enjoy this!

P.S. I have no clue what the heck 2+3++ means, I don't have a clue about any rules now, scares the hell out of me just thinking about playing a game.

Ayup Nerdy ! Firstly you are Truely a painter of demonic strength, so you MUST continue to paint what we all love.

Second, the game, it really genuinely isn't a simple game , I very seldom play, I just paint stuff for little H or something I want to, and frankly if I do play Little H has to tell me what to do.

Little H used to struggle with playing because he wouldn't remember when a certain thing was supposed to happen or a strength a unit had, so we made an army sheet breaking down each unit , it's save and special ability etc etc, essentially pulling all the waffle from the books and simplified it to a couple of A4 sheets that applied to his army. I had to type it up of course and make it look nice but I left room so he could make his own notes too.
it seems to work for him as he plays better when he takes the sheets than when he doesn't !

Perhaps something like that would help ?

 Camkierhi wrote:


Many years ago, I met a lad who played Epic, at the time I was well into it, we talked about it a lot, he was so enthusiastic. Eventually we set up a game at my house, he was a spotty teenager living at home with M&D. I set up my big table a full 8x4 with all the terrain and got out my Ork army.

Spoiler:

I was a bit embarrassed, as the paint job was a bit scratchy and not complete, but we did not care about that it was all about the fun. So he arrives and we yak, and he starts getting his army out, a Space Marine Force to rival mine, except it wasn't it was Lego blocks and bits of card cut to base size but with just the unit details written on it. Now if I was a stuffy nosed idiot I could have blown it out then and there, but I have never been that guy, I just had a bloody good look at what he had so I could recognise it on the tabletop, and we got on with it. We played a fantastic narrative game, loose rules, house rules, he ended up staying over for the weekend it took that long to play the game. It was one of the greatest games I have ever had. Now it turns out he had never played anyone else before, he played against himself, proxying different armies, using his bed as a battlefield, for years, could not afford any models but had the rule books etc. He just loved the game, the background the story. Needless to say we played regularly after that for over 7 years, he was a truly epic friend.

Not to hijack Nerdy's thread, but I love this story. Takes me back to the days when there was no way in hell I could afford an army for War of the Ring, so I printed hundreds of pics of models, stuck them to cardboard unit 'bases', used Plasticine blobs as wound markers and would fill the floor of a room with a massive 2D battle that would take days to finish, which most of the time I would then play out against myself (and, I admit, usually making sure the Good Guys won! ).

It just goes to show that this a hobby that can be enjoyed in as many ways as there are people participating in it, which is glorious and inspiring.

Thanks guys, I sincerely appreciate all the advice and confidence you have taken the time to give me and the time you took to read and understand my emotional ramblings I feel very grateful to have friends like you all, all over the globe but still there for a guy you've never met in person but you can feel connected to because the hobby instills the same feelings and aspirations across the globe. I think I need to start again honestly and succinctly without trying to adhere to an imagined timeline and trying to do things fast so I can play.

I started the Minotaurs army because it was fast to paint for me and could give me an army to actually play with quickly, yet I have more than enough for an army and I keep feeling like I need to buy more and that in itself puts me back again as I won't play with an unfinished army But I am going to play with this army and then I'm going to embrace the paint and the hobby and do the marine army I've wanted to do but literally gave away when I started it but it's going to need your help and guidance and encouragement but god dammit they'll look fricking amazing on that table when they eventually get there!! and they WILL get there, it's the journey not the destination (even though the destination will be great) I will have a nice Howling Griffons force and I know it's counter intuitive but I will have to sell my Minotaurs to fund my goal and do what Damo's do best, and that's paint a whole force at once!

My Eldar 'army' will be used firstly as my Armies on Parade entry for the year and then I'll see how it holds up as an army, they have so many great models I want to paint and convert and they're all so different I will be able to paint without getting bogged down in sameness! Wraithlords, Avatar, Jetbikes, Striking Scorpions, Harlequins it will be a great visual feast for myself and I hope you'll enjoy it as well, you all deserve something cool to look forward to seeing. especially as you are so encouraging and make me feel like I am actually a part of something greater than my Nerd room.

I finished my first Wave serpent so lets see what you think!











Thank you guys, everything you said and your own honesty is more than I could have asked for, love you guys and i'm glad you're all here.

That looks amazing. What will you do with the canopy?

Thanks Brian, I'm not sure actually I never thought about doing anything with it other than sticking it on! :-) I was kinda too focused on how the rest of it looked! i'd also like to thank you for your kind words and offer of a chat if I need it, that's something I appreciate it means a lot and you never know you might get a PM one day :-)

That is truly stunning bud. So rich and beautiful, really inspirational work.

Got to add, really love that you kept it simple. Hang on a sec. I know. Just hear me out. Every time I see a waveserpant these days, it is super OTT, flashy with a million colours and galaxies and beyond belief details. Now don't get me wrong, they are fantastic and spectacular. But you have kept it simple. Craftworld colour scheme. Red. Few details here and there. Your red is simply breathtakingly beautiful. Has so much depth and richness. Truly magnificent. But it stands out even more because you did not crowd it. Hope that makes sense.

 Camkierhi wrote:
That is truly stunning bud. So rich and beautiful, really inspirational work.

Got to add, really love that you kept it simple. Hang on a sec. I know. Just hear me out. Every time I see a waveserpant these days, it is super OTT, flashy with a million colours and galaxies and beyond belief details. Now don't get me wrong, they are fantastic and spectacular. But you have kept it simple. Craftworld colour scheme. Red. Few details here and there. Your red is simply breathtakingly beautiful. Has so much depth and richness. Truly magnificent. But it stands out even more because you did not crowd it. Hope that makes sense.

SO. MUCH. THIS.

I mean, they're gorgeous and great work, and yay. But, uh, which Craftworld is the purple galaxy with yellow stars, and which one is the blue galaxy with red and white nebula?

(I'm old, I know.)

--B.