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Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/04 06:56:48


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Hello, welcome to my painting log! I've got a few different projects I'm always working on, and I like to jump from one to the other. To make it easier for those interested in a particular army/system/theme, I've made a list of Greatest Hits. Page numbers are included if you're interested in WIP pics.

Splintered Fang and Warcry Stuff
Spoiler:
Pg 1




Bearded Dragon-Themed Seraphon/Lizardmen
Spoiler:
Pg 2




Pg 4



Pg 5




Random Stuff (Necromunda, Ancients, Historical, Goofy)
Spoiler:
Pg 1


Pg 5


Pg 6







Pg 8


Marvel Crisis Protocol
Spoiler:
Pg 6



Pg 7


Pg 9


Pg 10




Pg 11




Pg 12








I love hobby and painting, so here's a heartfelt thank you for taking the time to look at my stuff. Let me know what you think, and link to your blog so I can check out your work!

(original text of first post below)

Spoiler:
Hey all,

After lurking for a few months and posting for a few more, I decided to get around to starting a hobby blog. One of my new year's resolutions was to not buy any new kit until July, and in so doing motivate myself to actually get some paint on some plastic. The hobby blogs that you lovely people have posted have been huge inspirations, and I figure that it would be a great way to keep myself honest!

So, what are we working on? At the moment, my gaming group has gotten into Blackstone Fortress and Warcry in a big way. I've been painting up the baddies for BF and working on my Splintered Fang warband. Here's my progress for the past two weeks on my lovely reptile friends.

First up is the test model, a Clearblood with an awkward pose.



I didn't like the yellow tabard as much, so I ended up painting it green.



Her hair was meant to look like a coral snake, but I think it's a little two bright. I'm not sure that the reptile scheme really works on a roach like that - I was going for something like below:



Maybe it would look better done horizontal?

Whip-elf was done up with green from the beginning, and I think it looks a lot better with block colors.



I was thinking of adding some tan-white blotches to mimic a green boa type look, but I'm a little trepidatious. I think I might try it out on another Clearblood first.



Over the weekend I pushed through and painted up the terrain from the Defiled Ruins. I used up my entire bottle of Nuln Oil. Very sad.





I experimented with some contrast paints to try and figure out a way to knock out the serpents pretty quickly. I have a bunch of leftover plastic snake-clusters from the Saurus cavalry kit. I'm not sure how I ended up with so many. I think I must have inherited some from a friend in the way way back.



I'm pretty happy with how they turned out - in addition to the serpents that come in the Splintered Fang starter box, I put the snake from the Serpent Caller base on a 25 mm to get three snake bases. My 1000 point warband will consist of 1 x Trueblood, 2 x Venombloods with spear/shield, 1 x Serpent Caller, 3 x Serpents, 3 x Clearblood with shield. Given that there's only one Clearblood with shield in the kit, I popped some skink shields onto two and I think they fit pretty well - they're not "fanged" bucklers, but you can bash with a plain shield as easily as a spiky one. I'm sure it's quite a violation to use Lizardmen parts on a chaos warband but I think it fits really well. I really like the backbanner on the first Venomblood.



I also need to craft a second Venomblood with spear and shield. I didn't really have anything in my bits box that matched, so I did break my resolution just this once to pick up a discounted Harbinger of Osiris from the Wargods of Aegyptus line. I love the lore and the game but it's pretty much moribund at this point, unfortunately. But if you're nostalgic for Tomb Kings I'd really encourage you to check out the Crocodile Games webstore - the models are a bit pricey, I was lucky to pick this up for half-off from my local shop. I liked that it matched the gladiatorial-theme (mail, headdress, sandals) and was on the same-scale as the other Venomblood.



I cut off the flail arm and added the sword arm from the elf Venomblood, gave his left arm a Saurus shield (more heresy, but at least it's got fangs on it), cut off the scarab pendant and put on a small chaos arrow that came from... somewhere.




Not 75% GW model, but I doubt I'll be playing in any official tournaments soon. One wrinkle was that the Venombloods are actually mounted on a 28 mm base, which I had never seen before. I figured it would be unfair to my opponents to mount him on a 32, which I had in abundance, given that he would have extra reach and area control (even if only 2 mm in any direction), so I ended up sculpting out a 25 mm base. It is... well, it's lumpy. And I don't think my friends would have minded, but well, rules is rules.

So that's where I'm at at the moment! I'd appreciate any comments and critiques, but no pressure please! I'll try and post at least a weekly update, although bi-weekly is more likely. I'll try and get through at least two models a week. The last two weeks were a good week for painting for me, mostly because I came off of a very inconveniently early flight and was absolutely useless to do any actual work, so I just did a bunch of drybrushing and ink washing while watching DS9.

Next up is some friends (and enemies) from Blackstone Fortress! This is a bit of a cheat because I actually did finish these guys in January, but I was pretty happy with them.

I rebased all of the Blackstone models with the Forge World Necromunda 25, 32, and 40 mm bases. Buying three packets of the small bases and two of the large bases gives you exactly enough for all of the units, although I ended up moving Mallex to a 40 and slapping a jumpack on him so I could use him as a smash captain - no one has complained so far!

I am pretty happy with the Spindles - I'll try and post images with better lighting but I like the bases. They took all of 45 minutes, start to finish.




I was really worried about the rebasing - their legs are ungodly spindly. They market the game as snap-to-fit and easy-to-build, but I'm imaging the 9-year-old Don Qui Hotep trying to force his termegants out of the Battle for Macragge sprues and most of the models from Blackstone would break from that. They need a lot of filing down and a bit of greenstuff filling to make them look good. When I was clipping off Amallyn Shadowguide from her sprue the barrel of her rifle just snapped off. > . <

Ur-Ghuls! There are four of them. Here they are:





I was pretty happy with how they turned out - I put some pink spots on them but I'm not certain that it had the effect I wanted. They should have been more of them, smaller, and more evenly spaced. Ah well.

So for the next two weeks I'm hoping to finish painting my Warband (both the starter kit, and the 1000 point list I wrote up), and to keep chugging away on Blackstone Fortress - I'd like to knock out the Traitor Guard, if possible.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/05 07:05:41


Post by: gobert


Nice work on the Blackstone Fortress baddies. The Necromunda bases work really well with them. The pink lesions on the Ur Ghuls are a neat touch too.

The reptilian warcry band look cool, with some neat conversions. The snakes are a great little addition


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/05 19:47:49


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Thank you, Gobert! I appreciate it. I thought I had been burnt out on painting after trying to catch up on my CSM, but turns out I was just burnt out on painting Power Armour. The Warcry stuff has been a really refreshing change of pace.

Here's some photos from a great game we played last night, a four-player free-for-all using the Triumph and Treachery rules. Spire Tyrants and Iron Golems are both a friend of mine's and look fantastic on the board. The Corvus Cabal are mine and the project after my reptilian boys are done.

https://imgur.com/a/6GdOwtB

A write-up of the game here:

https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?602893-Age-Of-Sigmar-II-I-Can-t-Believe-It-s-Not-Magic!&p=24386318#post24386318


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/07 17:26:46


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Last night spent some time working on some of my little guys ~ trying to clear out the the chaff of Clearbloods and Cabalists.


I wanted to have a quick and easy paint scheme for the Corvus Cabal - I want my primary warband to be Splintered Fang and it's worth putting the extra time in. But I'll try and do the Cabal all in one go.

Skin: Mix of Kislev Flesh and Wraithbone
Wood: Reaver Flesh
Metal: Copper color
Pants: Incubi Darkness, hilghlight with mix of Incubi darkness and screamer pink.
Feathers: Wraithbone

Give the whole thing a wash with Asurmen Blue, and then Nuln Oil, then highlight copper, skin, and feathers. I think I can get that done in pretty quick time!

I was really happy with how the Roach turned out this time - it looks much better than the flat green, and still looks snakeish. I'm going to re-do the Whip Elf in the same way. I might come back on the first Clearblood, but I'm not sure that model will appear in enough games to warrant it.

I love all of the Corvus Cabal models, but the first two Clearbloods I've painted are my least favorite - what I love about Warcry is that all of the models are in such great dynamic posing, whereas the Clearbloods kind of retreat into themselves - I think it's meant to look like they're ready to spring into action, but it comes across almost like cowering, I feel.










Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/13 18:59:26


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


I've made some good progress on my warband, a longer post to follow. In the meantime, I decided to do a little quarantining preparation by stocking up on yet more painting projects. Once again I have violated my New Years resolution, but this is seriously for the last time, I promise (except for the new Seraphon temple/battletome, but one's a book and one's a terrain features so it doesn't count, right?).


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/14 12:40:19


Post by: MegaDave


Hey, just found your blog! Hooray!

I actually really like the coral snake hair, you should do as many different types of snake hair as you can

And terrain totally counts! It's the 3rd army on the table

Better get you some more nuln oil though before there's a run on hobby supplies.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/14 12:55:30


Post by: amazingturtles


I really like the colors and accents on the snakey guys, they're pretty unique and characterful!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/14 22:51:25


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 MegaDave wrote:
Hey, just found your blog! Hooray!

I actually really like the coral snake hair, you should do as many different types of snake hair as you can

And terrain totally counts! It's the 3rd army on the table

Better get you some more nuln oil though before there's a run on hobby supplies.



Thanks, MegaDave! I appreciate it. I'd like to do a bit more snake hair variation on the rest of the Clear Bloods, I think the horizontal pattern works a bit better. I'll experiment with it on the next one!

 amazingturtles wrote:
I really like the colors and accents on the snakey guys, they're pretty unique and characterful!


Thanks, amazingturtles! I know you're a fan of miniatures with pets. I've enjoyed your posts as well.

An update today! Continued working on my Splintered Fang, only five to go; the True Blood, the Pure Blood (both names are a bit tricky to take out of context, I think they flubbed the titles for the Splintered Fang a bit), the Serpent Caller, and two Clear Bloods with shields.

First up, here's some sneaky snakes!





And our fair Venombloods with Spear and Shield! Historically they've been the MVP of my games.







[

I was really happy with how this one turned out; I think painted up he matches the aesthetics of Splintered Fang pretty well!







Last up is a fun little update on something completely different.

I suppose in Japan there's some fun little Chibi models of some of our favorite characters. My brother's been living there for a few years and got me one for Christmas. I thought it would be fun paint it up a bit!

I didn't take a photo of it before I started, but here's one I found online:



Next after a coat of Nuln Oil (I bought some more! Gotta stock up for the hobby drought we're about to experience!), Contrast Red on the sword, and some light highlights to the parchment.



Lastly, highlights on the sword, a few drybrushes and highlights on the armor, gold, eye lens, wax seals, and parchment. Slap some Agrellan Badlands on the base (first time using technical, sort of happy with it, although I wish it cracked a bit more), static grass, and a matte varnish.









There you go! That's all for me at the moment, but I'm hoping to have another update by next weekend. I think a weekly pace is sustainable for me, hopefully I'll have one or two new things to show off! This has been a fun experiment and a great way to keep me accountable to working through my backlog. Thanks everyone for your comments and critiques!



Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/15 02:14:44


Post by: MegaDave


That grey knight is amazing, haha, welldone!

Your slippery little snakes are looking good, and I think you are right about your dude fitting into the warband, especially with the saurus shield.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/19 13:26:23


Post by: amazingturtles


I'm glad that you appreciate the things i've done too! And the sneaky snakes look great, tiny and fearsome.

Also looking tiny and fearsome is... that guy! i never see grey knights around all that much so it took me a minute to place him, ha. but it's an excellent paint job.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/19 20:43:52


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


@MegaDave, @amazingturtles, thanks for the kind words! It's really fun being part of a positive community. Helps hold me accountable.

I was worried about finding a non-GW model that would fit in well. I used to buy kits to cannibalize for bits, but that's not really an option anymore budget-wise, and although I feel like I now have a lot of fun pieces for conversions, I want to make sure that they actual go to use, rather than just sitting in my bits boxes. To that end, I figured the easiest way to just get "gladiator with spear and shield" was to find a third-party miniature and go from there. I just got lucky in my local shop. He's a little more subdued in pose than the other Warcry models, but I played a game with him on Wednesday and no one complained. Nighthaunts are a challenging warband to play against! They have a huge mobility and toughness advantage, but their low-strength means that both of our models were usually hitting on 5+. Because of Splintered Fang's native double to hit on 3+, that kind of negated one of the key features of his warband. Still, his units could fly circles around mine, and ignoring terrain is a nice touch. All told, we each one game, then played Teotihuacan: City of the Gods, which is a pretty fun crunchy Eurogame.

Anyway! I've been taking great advantage of social isolation to get some painting done, I'll try and post an update later this afternoon. Lots of critters coming soon.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/21 00:40:06


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Well friends, here's the promised update. But before pictures of figures, I've got a bit of a confession. There is some irony to all this.

When I started 40K about fifteen years ago, it took me a while to find the perfect army that felt right from both a hobby and lore perspective. Effectiveness in game was always a secondary concern, because I was always pretty terrible (i didn't really understand how you could tailor your equipment to be more effective - what you got in the box was what you got in the box, right? Well, that illusion has since been well dispelled, but it took a seven-year break through college and beyond to get me to realize that). What was the perfect army? Why, Chaos, of course. I've always loved Chaos Space Marines. And my favorite Chaos god of all? Why Papa Nurgle himself! I liked the whimsy and joy that the followers of Nurgle could bring to the table that did not break my suspension of grimdark belief. And the third edition Chaos Codex, full of lovely lovely pen-and-ink and charcoal drawings was so full of character, it set my adolescent mind working. I've heard people say that orks are forgiving for learning how to do conversions, and I'd dare say Chaos is a great way to learn how to use green stuff.

So fast forward to 2020, and I'm making a hobby blog with the intention of working through my backlog of grey plastic, and I've yet to post a single chaos miniature (ur-ghuls and spindle drones don't count, being endemic to the Blackstone Fortress, of course). Outside of BSF, not a single 40K model. And in this time of Nurgle ascendant, where we have plagues a-plenty, I can't bring myself to paint power armor. Instead, I've spent the past week painting Lizardmen - Chaos's sworn enemy. And, it feels pretty good.

But we'll get to that! First up is some Warcry updates. I've got them almost all done! All that remains is a single Clearblood with shield, and one Pureblood - but I really don't like the way the Pureblood handles in the game and he's not in my main list, and I can't help but cringe every time I say his name. I tried to experiment with a darker skin tone on my Serpent Caller and Clearblood, in contrast to the lighter tone of my Trueblood, and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out - I think it looks like a natural gradient of skin tone between the three models. Any critiques are welcome! Click on the images to see larger versions.

















Also, as per Megadave's suggestion, I tried to do another coral snake hairdo, but with the stripes arranged horizontally, and I really like the effect. I think I'll repaint all of my clearbloods to have Coral Snake Hair, with the Green Boa hair reserved for the elites of the group.

Speaking of, I also updated the whip-wielding Venomblood's hair.



Next up is some Chaotic Beasts! Specifically, Furies. For these guys I thought it would be fun to do a living statue look, and tried to make them look as gargoyles come to life. I tried a bit of technical paints, Nikhilak Oxide and Blood for the Blood God. I probably overdid both, as is common for first-time users, but I'm overall happy with how they look as a flock. Kind of unhinged and menacing. That said, they are pretty flimsy, and one of them broke at the ankle joint just as I picked him up. A recurring critique of the new GW sculpts is that even as dynamic as they look, many of them tend to wobble on their foundations - St. Celestine, looking at you.













The spindly offender - fortunately I was able to mend him up with the magic that is the drill and a pin and you can see him up in the group shot above.



Alright, I took a bit of a break from actual work to set up this post, but I still have about twenty more images to show you - I'ma get back to work and I'll update the post in an hour or so. I'll leave you with a hint of things to come:



Thanks for reading!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/21 04:42:36


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Okay, second update. So I've been a bit stir crazy and painting has been a really effective way of keeping myself busy. So, a week and a half ago I went out and bought some Seraphon!



I never truly got into Warhammer Fantasy, but I collected a few small armies and, much like with 40k, had a couple false starts before finding the army that fit me best. As much as I loved Chaos, I found the Old World inhabitants much more sympathetic than the Imperium of Man, and quickly fell in love with the Lizardmen. Well, my brother's been pressuring me to give AoS a try, and I always told him, when the new battletome came out, I'd pick it up. Well it did, and so I did.

Having a bunch of unpainted (or poorly painted) lizardmen from my teenage years, I decided to test out a couple of color schemes on them before I got started with my nice, shiny new models. Here's what I came up with:









The colors are rough and any comments and suggestions are appreciated! I tried using a colored primer (Vallejo Desert Yellow) for the first time and find that I like it a lot, but I need to do a couple coats to make sure I hit all the edges - I don't have a perfect match in my paint kit to do touch-ups, which is a bit of a downside. I was interested in doing a desert-themed army, based on my beautiful bearded dragon, Ginger.



Basically everything is either a wash or contrast paint over the primer base, and then highlighted up to what you see. I wish the stripes came out more clearly - in the future, I think I will try drybrushing darker brown stripes before I do the contrast wash. Not sure if the claws, underbelly etc match quite the way I like them to, but it is a fairly easy paintjob to do in bulk and I'll try a few variations on the next batch of models, seen here with a reference pumpkin.



Not sure if I should paint my skinks the same color as the saurus - maybe a more amphibian yellow? Something a bit brighter than the saurus?

Lastly, the Realmshaper Engine. This model is quite lovely, although this photo is not. Sisko disapproves of the bad lighting. Believe it or not, this model is unprimed. I primed the base of the pyramid Desert Yellow and the top as Chaos Black.





It mixes a few real architectural styles that I think work well in miniature. The radial pyramid is pretty common for the Postclassic Maya (AD 1000 to 1521 or so), as part of the Mixteca-Puebla package of art and architecture. Here's a pyramid I'm sure everyone knows, El Castillo at Chichen Itza:



But in the radial pyramid you have staircases on all four sides, and the slopes aren't quite as steep. The steep steps are common in Rio Bec architecture, which has an earlier fluorescence (c. AD 700 to 900) and is seen a bit to the south of the Yucatan, appropriately enough, in the Rio Bec region. Here's some examples, from Chicanna, Santa Rosa Xtampak, and Xpuhil:









The steps were actually false steps. They would flank the household of the elite on either side, and used forced perspective to make the temples look much larger than they actually were.

Finally, the hieroglyphic staircase is an infrequent but not unheard of tradition that appears at a few Classic sites, notably Copan and Pusilha. I do have pictures from Copan but they're on a different hard drive at the moment, so feel free to google those. So that's all to say that I'm not sure how much research the GW team did, but I think it's fun the way that the RE indexes these real architectural traditions without copying any of them - it feels plausible, but distinct, and far enough removed from reality that you can call it "Seraphon."

So here's the Realmgate Engine, still in progress.











I tried to match the dirty-limestone look that I love so much from the Yucatan region, here's one of my favorite buildings in the Maya World, the Codz Poop from Kabah:



I'm going to experiment with some OSL for the first time on the top, under the lightning arcs, but I'm going to experiment a bit on the bottom first - both sides of the capstone were detailed so you could build either a modern or a ruined Realmgate Engine, and so I painted up the bottom and I'll try out a few things and see how it looks! If I can't quite get it right I'll just leave it alone, but I'm excited at the prospect!



Okay, off to paint a bit! Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/21 06:30:23


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


A quick update, here's my OSL practice. I'm not super happy with it, I tried something different in each streak. I like it a bit on the bottom where I tried to feather it out, and I like the center (on the right side) where the I put a bit of contrast green on the edge of the light. I tried to add a bit more in the center but I don't think it looked very realistic. It might be beyond me - I'm going to wait until I finish the base to decide whether or not to try the OSL on the actual pyramid.



Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/21 13:18:48


Post by: amazingturtles


You've been getting a lot done! I am heck of impressed. I like the furies but yeah, they are as flimsy as can be. These days when i see a GW model with both feet on the ground i almost sigh in relief.

The temple is gorgeous, i love those natural stone colors! And i am supremely jealous of your pet. I like the idea of skinks being a bit brighter. Maybe a warmer yellow tone?


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/24 22:07:51


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Thanks, AT! I appreciate it. Agreed on the two feet - those new Pointy Aelves are going to be a nightmare for people.

I took your advice and did some experimenting and am pretty happy with the yellow skink. I'll post pictures soon and the recipe (mostly so I can remember it for later!). I got a lot done the past few days - I finished up the last of my work from home work yesterday and have about a week before I can start any new projects (waiting for feedback etc. from collaborators) so I anticipate getting a lot of hobby done over the week. Thank goodness for having hobbies. Some of my friends are painting or baking or knitting. Whatever it takes to get through it!

I also finished my Splintered Fang! Even the Pureblood, despite not anticipating ever really needing to use him. Just for completeness sake. All the Clearbloods have the same hair now, too! Everything is as it should be. Will post pictures ASAP!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/25 19:58:01


Post by: gobert


Your real gate engine looks fantastic. It’s certainly benefit from your extensive research! That’s some commitment to hobby inspiration! I think the OSL should look pretty cool. I’ve been meaning to try this tutorial for a while now as it looks pretty easy and looks to give good results;




You’ve got a bit of space left to try another technique and I reckon it’ll work well with green too


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/25 20:01:59


Post by: amazingturtles


Hobbies are a must right now. I've got this and baking and cooking, but i've got to balance those two with you know, not actually running out of food!'

I am looking forward to seeing the skink!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/26 06:44:49


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


@Gobert - thanks for the link! That video made OSL seem super actionable. I'm going to keep practicing the technique. I think I have enough green paint of different colors to get it to work. I haven't done a lot of work on the Realmshaper but it will probably be my next project to finish up!

@AT - Yes, that is a conundrum. I made myself a batch of pancakes yesterday and realized that that was roughly half of my supply of flour.

But! Happy to report that the Splintered Fang is officially done!



In addition to painting the Pureblood and last Clearblood with shield, I've redone all of the Clearbloods with Coral Snake hair. I'm pretty happy with the result, and I like that the initiates have different roaches from the more elite members of the warband.

Here's a few group shots of the Clearbloods on parade:







And a shot of the Pureblood (bleh) in among his elite friends:





I tried a blue and red thing on his roach but you can't really see it at that angle - no worries. He'll likely never see gameplay (sorry buddy!). Splintered Fang don't really need slow, strong units in there army given that any of them can envenomate their weapons.

Lastly, here's some group shots of snakes having fun with their buddy.



This was a really fun project. Thanks for everyone for supporting me through it. I started working on the Corvus Cabal today but I'm just batch painting them to get done as quickly as possible. Hopefully I'll have an update from them soon!

-----------

And as promised, some lizardmen updates. Here's two other test sauruses I did up, with the first one on the far right.



I didn't really spend a lot of time on ther parts of the body (underbelly teeth etc) because I was happy with how they turned out on the first model.



I think I've figured out how to do the stripes well, although I wonder if I could blend them a bit better with the other colors. Regardless, for batch painting I think it's okay - the important thing is the overall effect. I personally like the grey stone speartips but there is something appealing about the green tips as a contrast to all that yellow. Thoughts?


And, just for you amazingturtles, here is our favorite yellow skink:







Very happy with how he turned out. Desert Yellow primer, wash in yellow ink. Follow up with a highlight of Yriel Yellow. Drybrush the scales with Wrack Wright then shade the whole thing with Agrax Earthshade. When dry, highlight again with Yriel Yellow.

I dug up all my old lizardmen. On square bases, I have ten skinks with blowpipes, 20 saurus with spears, five saurus knights, scar-veteran on cold one, and a skink starseer. Add that with what's in the skink StartCollecting! box, and that's about 1500 points!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/26 14:25:38


Post by: Theophony


I like your first Saugus warrior the best out of the three.

Yellow skink is awesome.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/26 20:27:40


Post by: gobert


No problem, their videos are pretty good and easy to follow!

The splintered fang look great all painted up and with the terrain. Great job and cool group pic!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/26 20:36:24


Post by: amazingturtles


I love the yellow skink! That's just about exactly what i was imagining.

Tremedous work on the snake fellows, I espicially like the guy with the red shield


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/26 22:49:47


Post by: youwashock


Your Warcry band is looking quite nice. The repainted GK is just the best kind of fun project.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/27 18:12:08


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


@Theophony - thanks! So do I, at the end of the day - it was the one that got the most time spent. I still am not entirely happy with how the stripes are coming out so I think I'll keep experimenting. Maybe a simpler brown back like the skinks have would be best.

@Gobert - I just got my Astrolith bearer in the mail yesterday (lucky me, I ordered it (and a bunch of Chameleon Skinks, and the Lizardmen Warcry cards - oh, right, my New Years Resolution) the day before GW stopped taking orders), I'm going to try using that OSL technique on it - I'll post pics as I progress. The RE is taking a backseat at the moment.

@amazingturtles - happy to hear it! Thanks for helping plan the colorscheme.

@youwashock - thank you! I had a lot of fun with both.

I've been more productive, hobby-wise, in the past few weeks than I have in the last year. I think we're probably all in similar boats - at this rate I may actually reach a halfway point of painted grey plastic. More photos to come today or tomorrow. I've made progress on the Corvus Cabal and am dipping my toe back into 40k.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/03/28 00:01:58


Post by: MegaDave


Warband looks great all together, and I'm loving those stripes on the saurus!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/01 04:07:44


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Thanks, MegaDave. I did a bit of experimenting but am happy with how it turned out.

So I haven't done a lot in the past week, mostly because I was able to pick up some equipment from work, which let me make some forward progress on a project that had to take a back seat for the quarantine. This is good, but also it means less time for hobby. Ah well. I managed to get this Astrolith Bearer painted up. It's not the neatest paint job, but I think like the Saurus it will work for an army - I want to push myself to get my Seraphon out as fast as possible to tabletop quality. The following pictures are of it before I try to paint it up with OSL, using the link that Gobert linked - in case I goof it up I'll have documented how it used to look.

I've worked with Finecast before and this was one of the more difficult models to clean - one line of flash connected one of the small chimes on the bottom of the icon to the base, and the one on the far right snapped off. I know we all complain about Finecast, but something about this model, I think because the icon is so wide and flat, felt rubbery and cheap. It didn't feel very sturdy as I was painting it, and I kept worrying about bending it the wrong way. I don't quite have that issue with the Chameleon Skinks, but I'm frustrated at how much flash is on the model that ended up obscuring some of the details. But that's nothing new to the hobby. Regardless, I still think the model is neat-looking.

Here we go, pre-OSL.







I was pretty happy with the stripes. I think the winning recipe is to drybrush Bloodreaver Flesh, then Abaddon Black, before the Aggaros Dunes contrast paint.





I think I need to do a bit of work on the face, now that I'm looking at it up close.

So that's a mini update. I've got two dozen half-finished projects on my desk and I need to pick one to stick with. First step will be to finish the Realmshaper Engine, and then my Chameleon Skinks. As a quick break I'll finish up the Corvus Cabal, then the Skinks, and, well, whatever comes next. Thanks for reading, all!

-----------

Also, now that I've figured out how to properly post images, I'm going to update the ones earlier in the thread so that they're not so ridiculously big.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/01 05:35:58


Post by: Viterbi


Congrats on finishing the WarCry warband and good start on the Seraphon. Some would call the research on the pyramids madness, but let's go with dedication Excited to see more of the lizardmen!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/02 01:42:26


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Thanks, Viterbi! Research is actually a full-time gig for me. I love archaeology, particularly Maya archaeology. See why I picked up the Seraphon?

A quick update, I attempted some OSL on the astrolith bearer. I'm not super happy with how it turned out - I'm going to keep playing around with it some more. One take-away - I think that less is more when it comes to glow-effects. Rather than green glow-over-stone, I think the edges look like green stone - the color gets pretty flat towards the end. I'm going to try and blend the transition a bit more and if that doesn't work, I'll just give the icon a quick coat of Zandri Dust and Wrack White drybrush and it'll be good as new!









Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/02 12:33:26


Post by: gobert


Yep, that’s what I struggled with when I tried it, my Psykers looked like they’d painted their faces green! I wonder if dry brushing the other way would lessen the effect of make it look wierd?


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/02 12:50:05


Post by: amazingturtles


Yeah, it does look a bit more like green stone in those spots. Seen as a whole it works though, with the skulls in the picture. I've never tried doing it myself so i can't really offer any advice on what to improve on...


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/02 16:40:43


Post by: Captain Brown


Nice work Don Qui Hotep.

Cheers,

CB


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/03 00:34:16


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


@gobert - hm, that's not a bad idea. I tried to even it out a bit this afternoon, going back and forth with the darker colors. Not sure I still have the effect down but I think it is looking okay - definitely something I'd like the opportunity to practice more.

@amazingturtles - I think you're right, zooming out helps with the glow going past the boundaries of the stone itself. I tried to expand it out a bit.

@Captain Brown - thank you! I really appreciate it. I've enjoyed your various blogs as well.

Here's another short update, from the heart. I took some to add more white to the center of the glow and expanded the circumference of the effect with a darker color.

I'm happy with how it turned out but it's not what I quite envisioned at the start of it. I think I'll leave it be for now, I'll wait til I get more work done before I revisit it, if ever. Based on this experience I think I won't try the effect on the Realmgate Engine (which I've been calling wrong this whole time) until I'm more confident with the technique, which might take a while.






Before:


After:


EDIT: Two pages! Thanks so much for reading, everybody!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/03 05:36:16


Post by: Viterbi


Updates OSL looks better! It‘s one of the things I‘ve never attempted, because I find it daunting, but you made a good first foray into it.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/03 10:09:21


Post by: MegaDave


New OSL looks much better, definitely glowier


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/03 14:16:38


Post by: amazingturtles


Yeah, that looks even better! I really like that red on the bits on the top too, it makes the rest of the colors stand out more


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/04 08:31:10


Post by: gobert


Yep, a definite improvement on the glowing. It’s tough to get right, so definitely a good first attempt!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/04 15:33:13


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


I think the only advice I have is have the actual sphere itself be brighter, perhaps bright white in the crevices, so it's clearer that it's the source of the light! As for the actual OSL itself, it's look really good now!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/05 02:16:16


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Thanks for the comments all, I really appreciate it. Thanks for the encouragement, Viterbi, MegaDave, amazingturtles, and gobert. Also thanks to Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll, that's really good feedback. Based on that suggestion I gave it a bit of a try. Here's what I promise is the very last image you'll ever see of the Astrolith (except for group shots, I suppose). I sprayed him with varnish and everything. He's done forever. Promise.



I'm prepping another update that I'll post in a bit, maybe later tonight or early tomorrow. Last week I was working on my skinks. They were equipped with blowpipes and daggers, but unfortunately no shields (they were built back in sixth when such things cost points). So I decided to sculpt some of my own, with positive results!

My priorities for the next week or so are:
1) finish chameleon skinks
2) finish Realmgate Engine
3) Finish painting Skinks from high school

Then I might give myself a break from reptiles and get back into some 40k! I have a half-finished armiger that's been shaming me for half a year.



Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/05 09:51:23


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Okay friends, here's the promised update.

So as I said before, a lot of the Seraphon I'm working through now I've had since high school or even earlier, and have just now got around for painting. I've got 12 skinks (which is 2 more than I need) and need to add some shields to them for that sweet sweet 5+ save. Problem: I had only two skink shields in my bitz box, and I've used exactly two for my earlier Warcry conversions. So I figured, I've got a bit of greenstuff, so I figured I'd give a try making some molds.



This was not the best idea I've had. Mainly because I realized that I actually have a whole bunch of skink shields still on the sprue from the start-collecting set that I haven't actually built yet. Ah well. I also wanted to add a bit of variety and thought it might be possible to add some round, scaly shields, in the style of the Saurus shields but a bit smaller. So here's what I ended up with:





Look at that! That looks pretty okay! It's got scales and everything.



Here we've got an example of me pressing a bit of the ol' GS into the molds. I let it cure about 75% and then pulled it out and straightened it. I did have to do a bit of touch up on the scales with a sculpting tool.



And then I realized that I could just sculpt them directly onto any available flat surface, because scales are easy.



I think they look okay ~ here it is on two old skinks, one unpainted and one with a high-school-paint-job.




(that's Agrellan Badlands on their bases, before being primed with Vallejo Desert Yellow).

Proof of concept: for the skink that I'd already painted, I did a quick sculpt-job of a shield and painted it separately:



Here he is, happy to have +1 to his armor save.




And there you go! Just like the OSL, this was a bit of a mixed bag, and although I am happy with the results I see areas I could improve. Scales are definitely sculpting on easy mode, but I think it works for a battleline force (plus these will be mixed in with a group of 20 skinks total, 10 of which will have the plastic shields. So hopefully it will look alright on the tabletop!

I'm typing too much. I oughta go to bed. Thanks for reading, friends!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/05 13:47:37


Post by: MegaDave


New OSL is best OSL. I'm sure as you go forward you'll get even better at it.

I think the skink shields turned out pretty good! Same as with the OSL, you'll get even better at it as you do more and sculpting them seems easier than press molding. Pkus since since you have so many skinks I'm sure they'll look amazing as a group! Numbers hide everything, right?!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/05 13:50:55


Post by: amazingturtles


Any thing done with greenstuff is an accomplishment. And the sheilds look excellent, they fit in perfectly with the originals, i think. And that's also a really well done eye for that skink.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/05 15:46:25


Post by: Viterbi


Easy mode sculpting looks really good, very crisp shield, great job!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/05 21:29:23


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


@MegaDave - thank you for your encouragement! I've been feeling like taking more risks lately - it helps having a bunch of models that are not in the best shape to experiment with, but also I think I'm finding a lot of opportunities to practice XYZ new hobby techniques that I'd have previously overlooked. And if it goes wrong - well, as you said, numbers hide everything!

@amazingturtles - thank you as always. I was pretty happy with how that eye turned out! I didn't realize how angry-looking he was until after his second ink wash. His is not the temple I would like to raid for treasures.

@Viterbi - thank you! I appreciate it. It's a bit of a first for me (other than some awkward chaos-type tentacle things) so I appreciate the feedback. One thing I learned from a pretty bad mold I made of the original skink shield is that the scutes needed deeper lines between them than I thought - the first attempt ended up coming out very flat.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/06 00:04:18


Post by: Arakasi


Risks is good! Eye looks acceptable - I can't really make any helpful suggestions here . Shields came out great .


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/06 01:59:36


Post by: MegaDave


 Don Qui Hotep wrote:
@MegaDave - thank you for your encouragement! I've been feeling like taking more risks lately - it helps having a bunch of models that are not in the best shape to experiment with, but also I think I'm finding a lot of opportunities to practice XYZ new hobby techniques that I'd have previously overlooked. And if it goes wrong - well, as you said, numbers hide everything!

Yeah man, risk for the risk god! Half the time I get a crazy idea and just go with it. I almost never have more than a rough idea in my head. Doesn't work for everyone, but keep at it and you'll make some amazing things that are all your own. Can't wait to see what else you come up with!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/06 12:26:11


Post by: gobert


The shields look pretty good, this whole Green Stuff thing is tricky! They’ll definitely look fine all ranked up that’s for sure!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/06 14:05:44


Post by: Honingtomaten


The greenstuffing is coming along nicely!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/06 16:13:42


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


Shields look good, you can knock out tons of those pretty easily now!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/09 09:20:31


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Hey all, thanks for the encouraging comments - I appreciate the support and it gives me good hobby energy. I got a rather short-term deadline for work so I'll be off hobby stuff for two weeks or so. Hopefully with my next update I'll have my realmgate engine finished.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/13 03:25:15


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Hi all, here's a quick non-update:

My last hobby purchase before this all went down was a pewter slann off of Ebay (not trying to throw shade, but I'll never buy Finecast if I can help it). I was worried I'd have to find a round 50 mm base but it comes with a 60 mm flying-stand, which I think should work just fine. I got a little nostalgic to see the red-bordered box.



All the lovely pewter pieces:



I have a hard time having two models with the same sculpt in my armies, so I tend to like to convert my HQs just to put a little personal spin on them. The Slann is no exception. I thought about making changes to his platform itself, but decided against it (other than taking of the three spikes on the bottom that surround the flying stand, which I thought looked a bit silly). Instead, I thought it would be good to give the guy a big headdress.

I had a cool banner topper from the Saurus Cavalry kit and thought about how best to support it. Going back to the Maya, I thought of these famous stelae from Tikal that show different kings wearing different style of headdresses:




There's kind of a cloth under typically with a whicker or wooden frame, that was often painted or had jade or other precious materials affixed. I decided to sculpt a cloth skullcap, then a layer of scales representing the pelt of some beast, then the banner-topper.

Here's the skullcap, not sure if it came out the way I meant but I think it looks woven. I textured it by rolling a seashell over it then used a sculpting tool to add the different cloth sections, followed by another round of texture and then redefining the lines.





Then the scales and banner-topper:



Hopefully sculpting those skink shields paid off! I think the scales look pretty nice. I also added some trophies from the Night Lords Leviathan Dreadnought kit, which happened to fit around the Slann's neck pretty well.

Here's it all together:



And a shot of the scenic base: mostly Agrellan Badlands, with some small and medium slate pieces, a pile of skulls, and some more reptiles.



Sprayed it up on my spacious porch, with a reference pumpkin in the background for scale.



I probably won't get to paint this guy for a bit; I have a big deadline to meet on the 28th, after which I'll have a lot more hobby time. This post is the product of a couple of minutes of work every few hours over the course of several days - anytime I got up to stretch or a glass of water I did a few minutes of hobby. It's a nice way to get both work and hobby done, but I won't have even that time for the next two weeks. So in my spare time I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to paint the toad. There are some pretty interesting and lively-looking desert toads. Here's a few:





I like the yellow-and-black one, but I worry it might be a bit too busy to paint easily - although I'd only have to do it once, so it might be worth spending some extra time on. And I have all the paints. The green toad with orange spots is also pretty neat, but I think it might be a bit too much of a departure from my other paint schemes - but again, it's a distinct character (and species), and the rest of the model will include details that will help tie it into the rest of the force - the stone chair, the skink handler, and the base. Then again, as long as we're thinking of other famous brown toads, there's one other scheme that has entered the ring:



Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/13 07:18:55


Post by: Vermis


Oh thank goodness. For a second I thought you were going to chop into that precious precious metal.

Looking good! I like how the headdress slots under the back piece of the palanquin. Neatly done.

Colour scheme: well I think you've gone and presented the right choice, haven't you?


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/13 11:05:40


Post by: Viterbi


Nice work on the toad, really impressed with the two different green stuff layers, excited to see it painted up.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/13 11:28:56


Post by: gobert


Hypno-toad ftw! Are you going to integrate the head piece topper more closely with the scaley bit? It’ll be tough but I think it’ll look neater. It’s cool you’re taking the time to differentiate two models of the same sculpt, keep it up!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/13 12:42:51


Post by: tinfoil


I love seeing all the photo/historical research and the step-by-step looks into your process. Thanks very much for sharing -- this is looking good!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/13 13:06:40


Post by: amazingturtles


Oh, I like almost all of those toads for ideas! I do think i have to agree, the black and yellow one may be the busiest and possibly the most challenging, but it also looks like the most interesting one to try.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/13 13:07:18


Post by: Honingtomaten


What a nice update. Nice to see the effort to make every model unique. Good luck with the deadline and looking forward seeing this one painted


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/13 14:02:21


Post by: monkeytroll


Nice work on the headpiece, and the trophies fit nicely as a necklace.

Black and yellow looks the most interesting - and also the most challenging...


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/13 15:51:19


Post by: Captain Brown


Don Qui Hotep,

That is going to be quite the centerpiece when it is painted.

Cheers,

CB


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/23 20:18:14


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Hey all, thanks for the nice comments. I've responded to them below. Sorry for missing updates on your own blogs, I've been pretty busy the past few weeks. I can't wait to see what you guys are all working on in May. I have a very silly little update, but first let's do some quick hellos.

 Vermis wrote:
Oh thank goodness. For a second I thought you were going to chop into that precious precious metal.

Looking good! I like how the headdress slots under the back piece of the palanquin. Neatly done.

Colour scheme: well I think you've gone and presented the right choice, haven't you?


Thank you, Vermis! I long ago realized that my style of conversions tend to lean more towards "slap stuff on" rather than "cut stuff up" - although I did have to shave one of the prongs off of the headdress to get him to fit under the palanquin!

 Viterbi wrote:
Nice work on the toad, really impressed with the two different green stuff layers, excited to see it painted up.


Thanks, Viterbi! The idea for layers was me trying to diagram how those headdresses were constructed. They are often depicted larger than life and although I am sure that even the most elaborate ones were worn at least once for particular ceremonies, the day-to-day would have been lighter material. Ancient Maya doors were often only five or five and a half feet high - you don't want your king to have a bad neck from ducking all the time! (well, maybe he had a special porter just for his hat) The "drum-major" headdress from Palenque is a good example of a more reasonable headdress that was only trotted out at certain times in the city's history.

 gobert wrote:
Hypno-toad ftw! Are you going to integrate the head piece topper more closely with the scaley bit? It’ll be tough but I think it’ll look neater. It’s cool you’re taking the time to differentiate two models of the same sculpt, keep it up!


That's a really good suggestion, gobert, as usual! Any ideas? I'm visualizing kind of a "ponytail" of feathers coming down off of the back of the helmet to hide the edges of the topper, but I'm not sure I'm up for that sculpting challenge. But now in my head it looks like I just plopped the topper on top of his head, which is exactly what I did. Lucky for me the slann has good posture or it would fall right off! Hmm, maybe the topper could have two extensions that go down the side of his face, like mutton chops? Helping to secure the headdress by bracing against the side of his face? Something like this?

 tinfoil wrote:
I love seeing all the photo/historical research and the step-by-step looks into your process. Thanks very much for sharing -- this is looking good!


Thanks, tinfoil! Doing the historical research helps me feel like hobby time is productive. "This isn't me playing with my toys, this is me doing my research!"

 amazingturtles wrote:
Oh, I like almost all of those toads for ideas! I do think i have to agree, the black and yellow one may be the busiest and possibly the most challenging, but it also looks like the most interesting one to try.


Agreed, AT, thanks for your feedback - I'm going to be ambitious and try the paint-splatter toad!

 Honingtomaten wrote:
What a nice update. Nice to see the effort to make every model unique. Good luck with the deadline and looking forward seeing this one painted


Thank you, Honingtomaten! I really appreciate that. The 28th is less than a week away but I'm feeling pretty good. Unfortunately (fortunately?) because of persistent mold issues my roommate and I are getting moved from the first floor to the fourth floor of the apartment, and our landlord is giving us from the 28th to May 1st to finish our move - so as soon as I finish my qualifying exam I gotta start packing up all my stuff! Really not looking forward to transporting all my little guys. XD

 monkeytroll wrote:
Nice work on the headpiece, and the trophies fit nicely as a necklace.

Black and yellow looks the most interesting - and also the most challenging...


Thank you, monkeytroll! I think I'll go with Black and Yellow. It's going to be a fun challenge!

 Captain Brown wrote:
Don Qui Hotep,

That is going to be quite the centerpiece when it is painted.

Cheers,

CB


Thank you, Captain Brown! I probably won't be able to work on him until May, but I'm looking forward to sharing updates with everybody.

-----

I really appreciate all the encouraging words that people have shared! It gives me good hobby energy. Like I'm accountable to all of you to do good work in a reasonable amount of time! My qualifying exam is still continuing as scheduled, and then my roommate and I have to move from the first to the fourth floor by May 1st. So it will still be a bit of time before I post anything of substance, but I have a very silly and very dumb little thing that I thought I might as well share. It contains some very mild spoilers for Star Trek: Deep Space 9.

Spoiler:
So, Academia is pretty hard, but one thing that always helps me unwind is watching an episode of Star Trek at the end of the day. It doesn't matter which series, I love them all - even Voyager! But I'd never watched Deep Space 9 before, so a few months ago I started from the beginning and holy cow. What an amazing show. I know I'm almost thirty-years late to the party, but man, DS9: really good. So I've been tearing through it at a breakneck pace. When I've got a lot of labwork to do I can sometimes have it on in the background (I only need to look up when I hear phaser fire), and even when I spend all day researching and writing I can still watch an episode before I go to bed. So the fact that I'm Star-Trek-less this week, I feel a little lost. I needed a bit of Star Trek to keep my spirits up while I worked.

Well, there's this character called Morn. He's a full-body makeup alien that goes past ugly back to adorable. As far as I can tell he started as just a background character, but for some reason the writers decided to give him more screen time. He never speaks, but you'll have characters just throw out one-liners every couple episodes; "man, I used to have a huge crush on him," or "he was an excellent sparring partner." I think it started as an inside joke. All Morn does is sit in Quark's bar and drink. So when he fakes his own death, Quark turns it into a business opportunity: "the best way to honor him would be to make sure his seat never goes cold. Keep it warm for Morn." Well, I might be crazy, but I thought that "Warm for Morn" was one of the funniest things I'd ever heard, and thought it would make a great out-of-context t-shirt. Not having any silkscreen printing equipment but lots of cardboard and spray paint, over the course of a couple minutes a day I did the following:





Is it silly and dumb? Yes it is. Does it look pretty bad? Of course it does. And really, isn't that the best way to honor Morn's memory? I like to think so!


Hope everyone's keeping sane this late into social distancing. Looking forward to checking back in with everybody's blogs and getting back to painting in a couple of weeks!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/23 22:42:37


Post by: MegaDave


Excellent use of hobby time! And just think about when you meet up with someone who understands the reference, it'll be magical.

Keep at it, glad to have you around!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/04/23 23:28:21


Post by: amazingturtles


I like it! We all got to keep busy somehow right now. I would have been utterly baffled by the reference if i saw it in person but sometimes that's fun too!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/04 06:33:42


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 MegaDave wrote:
Excellent use of hobby time! And just think about when you meet up with someone who understands the reference, it'll be magical.

Keep at it, glad to have you around!


Well I appreciate that MegaDave. Having fun being in the fold.

 amazingturtles wrote:
I like it! We all got to keep busy somehow right now. I would have been utterly baffled by the reference if i saw it in person but sometimes that's fun too!


There's a lot of things I see in my day to day that I do not understand. Always learning, every day.

----

Well, back from the dead and ready to show some very slight progress. Here's the Slann again, below. After a shade, needs another round of highlights.






Just a slight update. I'm easing myself back into hobby time after being off for a while - I don't want to accidentally pull anything!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I really see what Gobert means about integrating the topper better into the headdress - I'm going to have to affix some kind of Amidalas.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 0017/03/04 07:37:53


Post by: Viterbi


Nice start on the Slann, the colors complement each other very well! I'm sure you won't be pulling any hobby muscles


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/04 08:50:24


Post by: Honingtomaten


Some nice progress on the slann, really liking his skin.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/05 01:42:48


Post by: kavika0311


There's a lot of good looking work here. Nice job!

For your Splintered Fang Clearblood, I initially liked the vertical snake hair more, but I think the horizontal looks real good across the unit.



Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/05 01:58:37


Post by: MegaDave


Yellow frog is great so far!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/05 20:12:27


Post by: gobert


Frogger is coming along nicely, blending his topper in to a GS gold cap or crown might help, or maybe some flowers or some fabric it’s sown in to? A bit of paint has helped it come together more though


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 0162/04/11 11:11:53


Post by: amazingturtles


He's looking good so far, the bones in his... necklace? have a nice boney look about them


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/11 00:51:49


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


So given that many people have a lot of time for introspection right now, I've realized that one of the reasons that I could easily get frustrated with painting progress is that most of my brushes are at minimum 8 years old or more - they are quite frayed and can be difficult to work with. Part of the reason I haven't worked on the Realmshaper Engine is that I don't really have a good brush between tank and fine-detail. Which can be a barrier to making progress on something that large. I need a layer brush! I need a fine detail brush that is not frayed! So I broke down and spent some money to buy myself a new set of brushes (and plastic glue!) which should arrive here on Monday or Tuesday. So for this past week I've mostly been doing modeling stuff rather than painting, in the hopes that I can more efficiently work through my backlog once I have adequate tools for the job.

Here's a photo of my workstation in the meantime:



I've been working on expanding my Slann's hat by sculpting some Queen Amidalas. I wanted to frame the face at first but I had an idea of expanding out to create kind of a cheek guard. It is only roughly blocked out and needs some smoothing and filing. My hope is that getting it rectilinear will help it look more Mesoamerican, but it's not quite blocky enough. Depending on how things work out I might try adding some standing thrushes or similar on the sides of the helmet to try and create a blockier silhouette - as long as it is shorter than the topper itself, it will still fit on the palanquin.




Next up is some Saurus Knights I've had since high school, on their cavalry bases. I had five oval bases free and six Cold One Riders (the sixth being my Scar Veteran on Cold One), and so I plopped them all onto the new bases except for my least favorite (at least until I can pick up some more oval bases - or steal some from my chaos bikers? hm...). I still like these models and think that some of them have a great dynamic energy to them, but they need a little bit of help. So I wanted the three members of the unit with spears (champion and two line troopers, with the banner-bearer and drummer rounding out the unit) were doing something interesting. For the two line-men I tried to reposition their spears in a kind of jousting pose, whereas for the leader I wanted him rallying the unit around him. I've done very little greenstuff work of this kind and wanted to challenge myself - fortunately I've had lots of practice sculpting scales over the past few weeks. Let me know what you think! I am really looking for some honest feedback - what you think I could do better. I'd like this army to be the best it could possibly be and you have already given me lots of constructive advice on how to improve other painting and sculpting projects.









For that last one, the top of the spear had been clipped off previously so I had to hide the join with greenstuff. I tried sculpting some gore flying away from the blade of the spear but I think it looks pretty chunky - I might just pull it off and fill in the gap as best I can instead. That's why he's still on the square base.

Speaking of sculpting projects, I picked up a (cheaper) Sunblood to convert into an Oldblood. I knew I had to give him a weapon swap because I dislike the club, but I don't have many aesthetically-matching weapons in my bitz box that are not just smaller, line-soldier weapons (a barrier to all of my lizardmen conversions, really). I think I found a cool replacement. I also wanted to reposition him in a more active pose - I think I might want to rotate the shield-bearing arm too. Again, any feedback is appreciated! Here it is blocked out with sticky-tac, before final posing.





Very lastly, I dug out my old Tenehuain and glued him to around base. I don't know where his other arm is. I wanted to turn him into an Oracle (cuz of his two tails) or Skink Chief, but I realized there aren't any non-mounted version of either unit in the new Battletome. So I'm not sure what to do with him - I'll try and find a good weapon and maybe he'll end up as a Skink Priest at some future point. Who knows, maybe I'll find a spare Troglodon somewhere



Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/11 01:59:16


Post by: MegaDave


I think the scales look good, they'll blend in even better with paint.

Interested to see how the frog's hat turns out!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/11 05:01:09


Post by: Viterbi


Interesting update, second MegaDave, scales should blend in once you prime the minis.
Greenstuff on the repaired spear may look weird, don't know, if it's possible to paint like it's blood. And it's very close to the cold one and hides much of his face.
Torn on the sunblood to oldblood conversion. Without the shield it looks a bit like he's rallying the other lizards to party like it's the old world, but I'm not sure how it will look repositioned because of his pose, standing on the tips of his toe... claws.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/11 12:36:40


Post by: gobert


Nice work on the scales, you’re really getting the hang of them now. The cold one riders arms are particularly neat.

I was thinking the Amidalas were some ancient Latin American thing, but nope, actually a Star Wars thing! I think they’re helping tie the topper to the headdress too.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/12 18:09:40


Post by: Captain Brown


Nice work on the greenstuff.

I would stay away from trying to doing gore with greenstuff and instead try doing a pennant instead.

My two cents,

CB


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/13 01:17:00


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Thanks for the encouragement, MegaDave, Viterbi, Gobert, and CB. I appreciate the comments on the gore - I've taken it off and just smoothed the gap as best I could. It was tricky because it was a little bit too thin to pin, so I hollowed out the spearhead to slip the pin in and that left some ugly marks. It's kind of an awkward surface to smooth for the same reason.



I really hated how the Amidalas ended up turning out so I looked through my bitz box to see if I had any substitutes and I'm pretty happy with the crocodilian jaws from the plastic giant kit - do they look better open or closed?

Closed:



Open:



My vote is for closed, I think they look more interesting in profile. I also shaved some crests off of some extra Saurus lineman heads to cover up some of the rougher parts that I had sculpted. The whole thing needs some cleaning up of course.

Not wanting him to look like a party monster (thanks Viterbi for pointing that out), I decided to reposition both of the Oldblood's arms. It was a bit ambitious for me but I think it looks alright - still WIP. I think I need to bulk up his right shoulder muscle a bit more to even him out. Thoughts?





I also shaved down the top vertebrae so that it would be easier for him to be looking to the left, but I still need to sculpt an actual neck with actual scales on it. Eep!


Last bit on the Oldblood but thinking of slightly repositioning his shield. Not sure it improves his silhouette though.


That's it for major updates, I'm still waiting for my new brushes to arrive so I can go back to painting. They were supposed to be delivered yesterday but hey, it's really crazy times right now, so it's understandable. Not able to build new models because of lack of glue (which is a good thing, I think, to keep my backlog from getting even larger), I've started rebasing some of my Saurus with the 32 mm slotta bases from Blackstone Fortress and a few other kits (good thing I never throw anything away!).



Apparently 15-year old Don didn't think anyone would notice that this lizard's leg was an arm. I really wish I could remember what I was thinking.



Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/13 03:42:53


Post by: Arakasi


Lots of good progress and challenging yourself here! Smoothing out the spear head - are you able to file it perhaps? The Amidalas weren't doing it for me either (although I didn't mention it as I think it is just a preference thing) - happy to see you branching out though. I think closed on the croc jaws too. I'd paint them before attaching them if you can though! (At least the inside. Helps that the Slann is already painted / finished?) Agreed on the right shoulder bulking requirement too - it's a small detail, but can make the difference between looking good and, well, odd - when all is completed. Shield repositioning - I think the original is better, although the new pose looks like it is more open - which would be easier to paint and display. There is something odd about the angle of the right arm that I am having trouble putting my finger on. I suspect it may need the elbow lowered (and the wrist turned to keep the weapon angle the same). Try holding the pose yourself in front of a mirror


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/13 15:24:27


Post by: amazingturtles


I like the sunblood conversion, he looks like he's really swining hard there. It's ambitious but i think it's working out well for him. Though on a personal note i think a lizardman who's fighting for his right to party would be pretty fun too.

Good brushes are so important, i've had that problem of trying to stretch old frayed brushes as long as i can too, it's always a relief to get new ones.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/14 19:03:41


Post by: gobert


Leg for an arm, now that’s something you don’t see everyday! The old blood is looking really fantastic. His new pose is much more dynamic, great job! I think the closed jaw is the best option, when they’re open they almost look like arms coming from the head dress! Sorry, hopefully you can unsee that!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/14 19:50:33


Post by: monkeytroll


Absolutely nothing wrong with a good arm/leg change over

Agree the jaws work better than the amidalas, and also think closed is the better option.



Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/15 04:08:40


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 Arakasi wrote:
Lots of good progress and challenging yourself here! Smoothing out the spear head - are you able to file it perhaps? The Amidalas weren't doing it for me either (although I didn't mention it as I think it is just a preference thing) - happy to see you branching out though. I think closed on the croc jaws too. I'd paint them before attaching them if you can though! (At least the inside. Helps that the Slann is already painted / finished?) Agreed on the right shoulder bulking requirement too - it's a small detail, but can make the difference between looking good and, well, odd - when all is completed. Shield repositioning - I think the original is better, although the new pose looks like it is more open - which would be easier to paint and display. There is something odd about the angle of the right arm that I am having trouble putting my finger on. I suspect it may need the elbow lowered (and the wrist turned to keep the weapon angle the same). Try holding the pose yourself in front of a mirror


Thanks, I see that the arm ought to be rotated a couple of degrees. I think I've decided on the original shield posing, after rotating the model a coupla times to see it from different angles. Also vibing with closed.

 amazingturtles wrote:
I like the sunblood conversion, he looks like he's really swining hard there. It's ambitious but i think it's working out well for him. Though on a personal note i think a lizardman who's fighting for his right to party would be pretty fun too.

Good brushes are so important, i've had that problem of trying to stretch old frayed brushes as long as i can too, it's always a relief to get new ones.


What's wrong with having a good party in the middle of a battle? This is what the Gloomspite Gitz have been telling us all along.

 gobert wrote:
Leg for an arm, now that’s something you don’t see everyday! The old blood is looking really fantastic. His new pose is much more dynamic, great job! I think the closed jaw is the best option, when they’re open they almost look like arms coming from the head dress! Sorry, hopefully you can unsee that!


Thanks! Yeah, on the jaws I completely agree with you there. Gonna go with closed, in the final analysis.

 monkeytroll wrote:
Absolutely nothing wrong with a good arm/leg change over

Agree the jaws work better than the amidalas, and also think closed is the better option.



It does vibe a little bit gribblier, doesn't it! I've been thinking of putting together some kind of Azurite/Seraphonic robot leg. Although Seraphon have all sorts of regenerative magic... but then again, why does Gor-Rok only have one eye?
---
Quick update, I played around a bit more with the Oldblood and I think I'm happy with the arm positioning. I bulked up the shoulder a bit too. When I'm painting I'm used to rotating my wrist horizontally, so I see the model from a pretty consistent angle. This is a good learning experience for sculpting to keep rotating your model from all angles. It helped me get a more naturalistic pose.




Unfortunately the brushes I ordered might have been intercepted by a package peeper, so as I sort things out with the shippers I might have to put the blog on hiatus for a bit, because that package also contained the replacement glue I had ordered, and I'm down to my last half ribbon of greenstuff. So, I'll be around, but probably won't have much progress worth showing for a while. Thanks for all of your support and feedback though! I'm looking forward to putting them back into practice once I get all my brushes in a row.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/16 06:16:33


Post by: Viterbi


Good luck on getting your delivery sorted out! And Oldblood is looking good with the arm replacements and sculpting.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/18 20:59:08


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 Viterbi wrote:
Good luck on getting your delivery sorted out! And Oldblood is looking good with the arm replacements and sculpting.


Thank you, Viterbi, I appreciate it! Yeah, I'm pretty happy with the Oldblood at the moment.

Good news is the paintbrushes safely arrived today, so I now have no excuses. Expect prompt hobby updates as the week goes on!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/19 15:53:26


Post by: Captain Brown


How does the balance on the Oldblood work with the pewter weapon held high like that?

CB


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/20 19:24:11


Post by: amazingturtles


Nice to hear you got your brushes in! and yeah, now you gotta work! The audience expects no less. It's a demanding hobby, apparently!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/22 01:33:17


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 Captain Brown wrote:
How does the balance on the Oldblood work with the pewter weapon held high like that?

CB


A good question! Actually it's pretty well-balanced, the pewter components are very thin and only the haft below the fist extends beyond the base itself. If I place it on the tabeltop it won't wobble, if I drop it from two inches it falls on its side.

 amazingturtles wrote:
Nice to hear you got your brushes in! and yeah, now you gotta work! The audience expects no less. It's a demanding hobby, apparently!


So it would seem! My only wish is that I prove worthy, so that I my arise shiny and chrome in hobby Valhalla.

---

A few quick updates on the Slann, and his new friend, a Skink Priest!







An hour later, I've re-positioned the jaws again, finally feeling happy about how they're looking. But I think the black spots still aren't looking super naturalistic.

Bonus palanquin WIP pics.







Still to do: layering and highlights on the cloth and scale segments of that hat, and the gold pieces (I'm actually painting them to look like tumbaga, a mixture of copper, gold, silver in various combinations that was used by the Maya, various groups in Lower Central America, and many Andean highland groups - a lot of New World gold is actually bronze, mixing copper and arsenic or tin to make more silver-looking or more golden-looking bronze. The Maya didn't really value gold until the 800/900s, and don't really start doing their own metalwork until the 1400s and into the colonial period. Jade is the true precious rock of Mesoamerica! Although there isn't actually any jade in the Americas, it's actually jadeite or serpentine), and final highlights on the jaws. After that the Slann himself should be done, and then we just finish the palanquin!

Current projects in this thread that remain unfinished:

1) Realmgate Engine
2) The rest of Blackstone Fortress
3) The entire Start Collecting!: Skinks box
4) The Saurus Oldblood
5) The Saurus Knights
6) The rest of the Skinks
7) The rest of the Saurus
8) The Corvus Cabal
9) The Slann
10) And introducing the Skink Priest

Also, the chameleon skinks, but because you haven't seen any work in progress pics of them, they don't count. Let's try and keep this number under 10. Maybe it might even get to zero?


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/22 02:27:47


Post by: MegaDave


Slaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaann is looking good! The jaw bones really make him look the business. I think the black spots look just fine, but maybe it looks different in real life. All I know is you'll figure it out and it'll look great when it's finished.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/22 11:00:35


Post by: Viterbi


Yay for the skink priest. Love that model and despite not having a Seraphon army, I have the model painted up, so he can sometimes prowl the streets of Mordheim.

Black spots are looking good in my eye, just remember, he's not just a frog, he's a demon frog


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 0132/06/12 13:30:12


Post by: gobert


Frogger looks really cool, the jaw bones work really well and give him a real grandiose leader visage. As the others have said, I too think the spots look good. The priest looks cool too, his red feathers look great.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/23 14:02:58


Post by: amazingturtles


The skink priest! I love him, he's just so adorably threatening.

And I like the geological details, it's always a good day to learn about something like that. Really, serpentine just sounds neater than jade. Plus the name is more fitting for seraphon


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/23 15:37:12


Post by: monkeytroll


Big frog looks good. The final head-piece is great. Not seeing anything wrong with the spots, what bothers you about them?


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/24 01:38:15


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 MegaDave wrote:
Slaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaann is looking good! The jaw bones really make him look the business. I think the black spots look just fine, but maybe it looks different in real life. All I know is you'll figure it out and it'll look great when it's finished.


Aw thanks bud! I appreciate it. As I'm spending more time with the model I'm getting used to how they look - I think they went on a little flat but they're starting to grow on me.

 Viterbi wrote:
Yay for the skink priest. Love that model and despite not having a Seraphon army, I have the model painted up, so he can sometimes prowl the streets of Mordheim.

Black spots are looking good in my eye, just remember, he's not just a frog, he's a demon frog


Oh, rock and roll! I'd love to see any photos you have of him making his way through Mordheim. Agreed that he's one of the better models in the range (still a little sore we didn't get any new Saurus sculpts!)

 gobert wrote:
Frogger looks really cool, the jaw bones work really well and give him a real grandiose leader visage. As the others have said, I too think the spots look good. The priest looks cool too, his red feathers look great.


Thanks! I really appreciate your feedback during the process to help build the hat out. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out - I've had that bit in my box since 2004.

 amazingturtles wrote:
The skink priest! I love him, he's just so adorably threatening.

And I like the geological details, it's always a good day to learn about something like that. Really, serpentine just sounds neater than jade. Plus the name is more fitting for seraphon


D'aw. Yeah he looks a cutie but he'll melt your face with magic if you're not careful. I hope you like the photos that will appear at the end of this post!

Re: Serpentine: my understanding is that jade is either nephrite or jadeite, silicates of calcium/magnesium or sodium/aluminum. whereas serpentine is from kaolinite (a kind of clay). Both jade and serpentine form at high pressure contact zones, such as highland Guatemala.

 monkeytroll wrote:
Big frog looks good. The final head-piece is great. Not seeing anything wrong with the spots, what bothers you about them?


Thanks again! Well people are being really nice about the spots. I was worried at how flat they were but after double-checking the reference photos, and just spending more time with the model in general, they're actually growing on me. Blip blorp. I think I'll leave them as is!
---
A bit more progress on the Slaaaaaaaaaaann, and I'm happy to say that the Skink Starpriest is basically done! All that's left is to finish his crest. I'm especially happy with the feathers. I tried to use a different base yellow between the skinks (Yriel Yellow) and the slann (privateer press's yellow, don't remember the name right now). The Sonoran Toads that I've been using for reference photos for the Slann are a bit more saturated and I think you can see the difference between them. I also went a bit lighter in the highlights. Because they have so many natural textures, I think Seraphon are a great army for me to be learning how to use Contrast paints as part of my toolkit. I'm pretty happy with how the feathers turned out and the different layers of blending. Also used a bit of gem paints for the first time.

Comments and critiques always appreciated!










Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/24 04:56:55


Post by: Arakasi


Very nice. I can definitiely see the difference between the yellows. Which also means I can see the difference it makes in contrast with the stone / palanquin. While I think I prefer the Slann yellow, it does unfortunately appear to merge into the palanquin. I wonder if darkening him up, perhaps with an orange wash? (You could also darken the palanquin, but I think the palanquin is perfect as is.). It's a fine line though - and not one to be taken lightly this far along...


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/25 08:47:32


Post by: gobert


No problem on the suggestions, it’s one of the advantages of being opinionated! Good job getting the pair of them done. They both look great, but I agree with Arakasi that the bright slaan is my favourite colour wise. That flying stand must be under a fair bit of pressure with all the weight atop it! The extra highlight on the priests feathers were a great addition too


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/26 03:20:29


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 Arakasi wrote:
Very nice. I can definitiely see the difference between the yellows. Which also means I can see the difference it makes in contrast with the stone / palanquin. While I think I prefer the Slann yellow, it does unfortunately appear to merge into the palanquin. I wonder if darkening him up, perhaps with an orange wash? (You could also darken the palanquin, but I think the palanquin is perfect as is.). It's a fine line though - and not one to be taken lightly this far along...


Cheers, Arakasi, I'm glad that the yellow worked as intended. I see what you mean about the Slann blending with the palanquin tho, which is definitely unintended.

 gobert wrote:
No problem on the suggestions, it’s one of the advantages of being opinionated! Good job getting the pair of them done. They both look great, but I agree with Arakasi that the bright slaan is my favourite colour wise. That flying stand must be under a fair bit of pressure with all the weight atop it! The extra highlight on the priests feathers were a great addition too


Thanks Gobert, I really appreciate that. I hear what you're saying about the flying stand - I'm hoping to replace it with something. Fortunately it will be a while before I actually get a game in so he can rest on the shelf without the base. I feel I probably should have thought about that before getting this far, but apparently (and this surprised me to find out) I'm not above making very last-minute changes to almost-finished models.
----

So I actually went to bed thinking about Arakasi's comment and I decided that I don't want to change the stone on the palanquin, and opted to give the Slann an orange wash. I think part of the reason he blended in was because of the big old jaws and his big wraithbone belly that are basically the same palette as the palanquin itself. I mixed Blood Angels Red and Iyanden Yellow contrast paint on my palette and thinned it down quite a lot using the contrast medium. I started with a few dots on the back to see if I liked it, and finding that I did, did the rest of the body. I'm happy with the tone now, although I think it needs another round of edge highlights to help smooth it out.

A few thoughts:

1) The slann doesn't blend into the palanquin but I'm worried he's still too dark, so I'm feeling some really bright edge highlights.
2) Is the palanquin otherwise too busy? I'm thinking of that blue snake right in front of the Slann and the green leaves, I'm starting to think that I need to tone it down so it doesn't distract from the Slann and his bling
3) I think it's safe to paint the skink attendant the same color as the other skinks now that the Slann is no longer yellow.





Thanks for helping me to four pages, all. Plogs are fun.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/26 04:05:49


Post by: Arakasi


The contrast is much better now - and big on taking the plunge at this late stage. I think some bright edge highlights would work well - just try to keep it as thin (in width) as possible.

The palanquin is busy by itself, which makes things harder. I think the blue is fine. You could probably go for a lighter brown and green for the vines / leaves. In fact, if that is vines, just a lighter green for both (with a slight variation between leaves and vine) might also work - including the leaves he is sitting on. Just go for something closer in tone to the rest of the palanquin.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/27 00:28:19


Post by: MegaDave


I like the orange color on the slann, but I agree highlighting it a bit would look good. Bold choice!

I actually think the palanquin looks just fine as is, I really enjoy all the little pops of color here and there. I may be biased though, as I tend to do that myself on my models!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/27 01:27:44


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Cheers guys, thanks for the feedback. I think I'm gonna sit on the palanquin a bit and see how I feel about it once I finish the Slann.

Unfortunately the Starpriest had a bit of an accident - somehow I stepped on him, which means somehow he fell on the floor, and I could not tell you how that happened. Nothing too bad - his staff arm snapped off at the join, he lost a few fingers on his left hand, and some of his feathers are askew. Whoops! A drop or two of glue at the base of the feathers should help to stabilize. I'm trying to figure out what to do about the left hand - might just leave it as is, whose to say a Starpriest can't have a few battle scars?

[Thumb - image0.jpg]
[Thumb - image2.jpg]


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/27 01:47:43


Post by: MegaDave


Ahhh, no! Tragic. At least you saved most of him! I think I'd scrounge around in the bitz box for a spare skink hand if ya can, I personally hate busted minis.

If you're good with his fingers that way though, a little blood for the blood god goes a long way!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/27 05:59:49


Post by: Viterbi


Slann looks marvelous with the orange, don't know if I had been bold enough to try that And I feel you on the starpriest, I once sat down on my space marine reserves which consisted of 5 reivers and my freshly painted vanguard librarian. Luckily they could be mended and I hope your priest will get fixed soon. Some lost fingers might actually work as battle scars, as you said.

Regarding the Slann throne/base, I don't find it too busy (apart from what the designers did with it). The bright orange pulls the eye to the Slann, so no worries there from my point of view.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/28 07:27:19


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Thanks MegaDave and Viterbi, I appreciate the sympathy. Glad to know I'm not alone!

Happy to say that I completed the Slann Mage Priest and the Skink Starpriest both! I'm really happy with how they turned out, the Slann especially, and the decisions with which I'm happiest are the ones that were suggested by the Dakka community.





Not sure about names yet. I decided that the baby skink attendant is an acolyte, so I painted his crest blue like I did the Starpriest. Funnily enough, the skinks on the Bastilidon from the Start Collecting box are also about half the size of the battle line skinks - probably to make the Bastilidon look even bigger - but I'll paint those guys as acolytes as well. In an army without chapter badges or squad numbers, it's a fun way to show hierarchy. I also think that I'll paint the Bastilidon the same green as the shields, to show that they get only use the toughest hide for their protection.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/28 07:28:04


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


accidental double post, can't figure out how to delete - please ignore


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/28 07:35:02


Post by: Arakasi


Slann is looking good! Even better in the shots with better lighting. Well done


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/28 15:57:03


Post by: DJJazzyJeff


The Slann is solid. I like all the busy detail. Really a solid piece.
The flying stand is the one bit that I don't love. It makes me think of Monkeytroll's servitor floating on the wires.
Wires are all wrong, but I wonder if there is a way to make some vines trailing off the palanquin that would offer support without making it look like support.
Not to throw you back into modeling mode, that figure is gorgeous as is.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/28 16:08:28


Post by: MegaDave


Slann looks great, the extra highlights really did it. Starpriest is very cool with the red and yellow.

Great job!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/28 19:12:49


Post by: amazingturtles


Aw, the poor starpriest, i'm glad you were able to help him recover a bit. I've managed to do similar things.... more than i care to count.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/28 19:27:04


Post by: monkeytroll


Starpriest obviously had a brief lapse of faith, restored when he was scooped from where he lay by the gods.

Nice job on the Slaan, looks great.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/28 19:34:27


Post by: youwashock


The Slann has turned out great. Bummer about the priest, but it looks like he recovered well enough.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/28 23:44:22


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 Arakasi wrote:
Slann is looking good! Even better in the shots with better lighting. Well done


Thanks, Arakasi. Yeah, I've tried different lighting conditions every time I post a photo. Still trying to figure out what looks best! But I appreciate the good vibes.

 DJJazzyJeff wrote:
The Slann is solid. I like all the busy detail. Really a solid piece.
The flying stand is the one bit that I don't love. It makes me think of Monkeytroll's servitor floating on the wires.
Wires are all wrong, but I wonder if there is a way to make some vines trailing off the palanquin that would offer support without making it look like support.
Not to throw you back into modeling mode, that figure is gorgeous as is.


Thanks, Jazzy Jeff, and welcome! Yeah, the flying stand is only there for the photo. His palanquin's resting comfortably on the shelf directly. I like your idea of the trailing vines. I don't have a whole lot of stuff on hand to craft them so I'm going to sit on it for a while. I'm not going to be playing a game anytime soon so I'll figure it out when it becomes a bit more urgent. Any suggestions welcome though!

 MegaDave wrote:
Slann looks great, the extra highlights really did it. Starpriest is very cool with the red and yellow.

Great job!


Hey, thanks MegaDave! Always appreciate your feedback.

 amazingturtles wrote:
Aw, the poor starpriest, i'm glad you were able to help him recover a bit. I've managed to do similar things.... more than i care to count.


Cheers AT, happy to know I'm not alone! He's getting some special hornworms or similar as a treat to help him recover.

 monkeytroll wrote:
Starpriest obviously had a brief lapse of faith, restored when he was scooped from where he lay by the gods.

Nice job on the Slaan, looks great.


Oh yes, it was definitely his fault. Cheers!

 youwashock wrote:
The Slann has turned out great. Bummer about the priest, but it looks like he recovered well enough.


I just want my Starpriest to be happy. That's all I want. If a new hand will make him happy, then that's what I gotta do.

------

I've hit a good hobby wind this week. I hope to finish off a couple of things over the weekend, and we'll post shots when they're done! Right now, the list of ongoing projects (let's call it a painting queue) on this blog is (in no particular order):

1. All of Blackstone Fortress
2. The Corvus Cabal Warcry Gang
3. The Realmgate Engine
4. The rest of the Skinks
5. The rest of the Saurus
6. Cold One Riders
7. Oldblood
8. Chameleon Skinks

I'll try and keep this list below 10, and then slowly rotate in items from my shelf of shame into the current painting queue. Seems like a system, maybe! Moving forward I'll probably post fewer WIP shots ~ I think the remaining battleline troops won't warrant that much time experimenting.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/29 00:45:46


Post by: DJJazzyJeff


Secret Weapons miniatures has some vellum vines that could hide a wire support or two. Or anything else like that to cover or make the wire disappear. Probably floral wire wouldn't be strong enough. You'd need jewelry wire or something else a little sturdier, especially with the girth of that figure. Several somethings, probably. The ivy alone wouldn't hold the weight, but could hide whatever does.

Meticulously cutting out some vines would be just as effective, but paying for someone else to do it is easier.

http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=170

This might not blend exactly with your existing foliage, so maybe something else is better, Something like it, but different.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/29 04:34:28


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Oh, those look great! Yeah, that sort of thing would do well. I was also thinking about making a homebrew Balewind Vortex due to not being able to find them online for any price, and living vine tornado might be a fun thing to use as a replacement!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Okay, the winds of hobby have blown and I am doing my best to stay afloat with all this raw hobby energy. Here are the chameleon skinks:



They're not as bright in person. I am content with them. Not a blue ribbon job but to my standard of battlefield ready.

Next up is the Oldblood.



I'm really happy with this one, it was the most drastic repositioning of a model I've ever done and it's instilled lots of confidence in terms of hobby. Another model that was forged by input from the community.

For his shield I tried to do a wooden effect. I was looking at it for a long time and couldn't figure out what material it could be made of that would reasonably fit the theme, and still be carved like that. A solid jade shield being too tacky (and heavy!), I thought I'd stretched a bit and try to do a carved wooden look using very thin parallel lines with different browns. Then I splattered some thinned-down Contrast paints to show the Oldblood's creative side; I like to think he paints in his spare time as well.



Lastly, a better photo of the Starpriest.



So the painting queue has been whittled down to:

1. All of Blackstone Fortress
2. The Corvus Cabal Warcry Gang
3. The Realmgate Engine
4. The rest of the Skinks
5. The rest of the Saurus
6. Cold One Riders

I made some good progress on two of those other fronts today, but I'll wait to post finished pictures. Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/29 11:49:07


Post by: Honingtomaten


Been some time I scrolled through this blog. Looking good, the starpriest looks especially good on his base. Keep the raw hobby energy coming!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/29 13:02:30


Post by: monkeytroll


Good job on the wood there.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/30 19:46:45


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Thanks, Honingtomaten and monkeytroll! I've got another quick update incoming; all* the skinks are done! These guys have been sitting built but unpainted for about eight or more years, so that's some kind of closure.



Still on the queue:

1. All of Blackstone Fortress
2. The Corvus Cabal Warcry Gang
3. The Realmgate Engine
4. The rest of the Saurus
5. Cold One Riders

Fiddling around with the Cold One Riders, but I'll try and get the Saurus done next!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/31 08:54:43


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Based and primed all my Saurus, and started working through the unit. Started with just one to get the scheme down, and I'm happy with it - less time than I want to spend on it but it's what I need to stick to to get twenty sauruses painted up in a reasonable amount of time.

Also started working on the Bastilidon from the Start Collecting! box. It's a very cool model. For the armor plating I'm thinking of making a sandy scheme, as if it is camouflage. What dread beast would prey on a bastilodon? Best not to think about it, but the camouflage is likely no protection...

Gone with the crystal laser because the Ark of Sotek has a much less inspiring profile. Plus, all those extra snakes will be perfect for my Splintered Fang.


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Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/31 14:23:44


Post by: amazingturtles


It always feels so good to finish something that's been waiting a while. And i love those skinks, and just skinks in general, so i say well done once again.

The bastiliadon is a really fun model, and very very solid looking, which i like. That and the fact that it's a bit turtle like, of course.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/05/31 20:49:08


Post by: Viterbi


Good start on the big dinosaur, you'll have a lovely Seraphon force very soon.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/01 01:28:45


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Agreed, amazingturtles, and thanks for your kind words. I personally think the Bastilidon is a great kit, it was really fun to build and it has large areas of color that are sufficiently textured for the use of shades and drybrushing. It definitely is very turtle-lookin but it's the first time I'm painting something for this force without using a real-world reference, so I'm waiting to see if the colors I chose will work well together.

Thanks Viterbi, I'm feeling really confident about getting it all together!

Just for fun I've included a couple of reference photos that I'm using for the Saurus warriors (for the other herp hobbyists, I know aspen chips aren't the first choice of bedding but they make it easy to spot clean the terrarium and I'm planning on setting her up with a bioactive enclosure next month). I think it's really neat how the scales contain layers of color stacked on top of each other, almost through reverse highlighting, with the darkest tones appearing at the edges and tips. I feel like I am able to recreate this effect through dryburshing, but rather than showing it on individual scutes, because the 28 mm scale is too small, I'll try and show it across the body of the Saurus in general. This is the first army I've tried to recreate a specific color scheme and it's good fun.

EDIT for spelling

[Thumb - image12.jpg]
[Thumb - image1.jpg]
[Thumb - image01.jpg]
[Thumb - image0.jpg]
[Thumb - image 0.jpg]


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/01 16:32:56


Post by: gobert


I think the Basildon looks more of a war-terrapin than turtle! That could be a fun scheme to try to recreate.

Quite the mass of skinks you’ve amassed now Don, looking resplendent in their fabulous yellows. The Saurus (big chap next to the terrapin, right?) looks really good, very realistic replica of a real reptilian imho. Looking forward to seeing a big horde of them.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/01 21:00:18


Post by: howie


Great looking lizardmen. The slann is absolutely inspired. I've never seen this take on it. Really dig your take on the skin.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/03 00:08:43


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 gobert wrote:
I think the Basildon looks more of a war-terrapin than turtle! That could be a fun scheme to try to recreate.

Quite the mass of skinks you’ve amassed now Don, looking resplendent in their fabulous yellows. The Saurus (big chap next to the terrapin, right?) looks really good, very realistic replica of a real reptilian imho. Looking forward to seeing a big horde of them.


Thanks Gobert! I ended up looking at a couple different terrapins online and was surprised to learn that it is a paraphyletic group - that is, not meaningful in terms of evolutionary history (e.g., like how referring to birds as dinosaurs refers to their evolutionary history), but is so enmeshed in biology that people keep it around cuz its easier than inventing a whole new word (like how "fish" technically refers to all vertebrates but if you call your friend a fish they'll probably be upset and nobody knows what you're talking about anyway). Principle of least effort applies to scientific nomenclature as much as anything!


Also, I really appreciate the compliment. I really like the challenge of adapting schemes from nature, which don't always work on heroic-scale(y) miniatures. I am experimenting on a cold one rider trying to make something that looks like a gila monster but it's pretty tricky to try and adapt the beaded pattern on their bodies.

 howie wrote:
Great looking lizardmen. The slann is absolutely inspired. I've never seen this take on it. Really dig your take on the skin.


Cheers, Howie! Appreciate it. I don't have any names settled for my characters yet but my lore is that they've all been stuck on Aqshy for way too long and are starting to embody the fiery character of the real, and the Slann especially has become violently obsessed with defeating the Great Enemy, taking to wearing trophies and such.

----

Just got a quick update here with some WIP photos of the bastilidon and base (note bent speartip and javelin!). I said earlier that this was a really fun kit to put together and that is still true, although the Solar Engine (the big crystal on his back) was actually pretty tricky to put together. I'd recommend painting before assembly - I had the skinks on his back separate from the solar engine and it was just a little frustrating to get them to line up with it. Not a big deal, just an fyi if'n you want to make one yourselves!




Still have a few pieces to fix (esp. details on eyes, crests, and the crystal) but very happy with it so far! Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/03 14:09:16


Post by: gobert


Thanks for the zoology lesson! I figured they were a sub-branch of turtles, with me thinking Red-eared or Yellow-bellied terrapins. I also had to look up what paraphyletic... it seems everyday is a school day, even when I’m not the (short tempered and grumpy) teacher.

Anyway, the Bastilidon looks really cool, the sandy colour of his shell is well done. Neat touch on the stripes on his skin too. I love all of the skinks hanging on for grim death.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/03 18:33:33


Post by: Vermis


The saurus reminds me a lot of how I painted up a couple of kroxigors, back in the day. I used false gharials as reference.

You did a much better job, though.

I'm not a big fan of the bastiladon model but I very much like what you did with the... what would you call it in this case? Carapace? Scutes? Osteoderms?


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/03 21:57:51


Post by: youwashock


The battle turtle looks pretty sweet. Digging the power crystal. The wood grain on the shield also turned out quite nice.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/03 22:07:40


Post by: howie


The base on that bastilidon is looking great. Really.in keeping with your models and also looks realistic on its own merit.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/04 06:01:46


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 gobert wrote:
Thanks for the zoology lesson! I figured they were a sub-branch of turtles, with me thinking Red-eared or Yellow-bellied terrapins. I also had to look up what paraphyletic... it seems everyday is a school day, even when I’m not the (short tempered and grumpy) teacher.

Anyway, the Bastilidon looks really cool, the sandy colour of his shell is well done. Neat touch on the stripes on his skin too. I love all of the skinks hanging on for grim death.


Thank you, gobert! If you don't mind, what do you teach? I'm a graduate student so I work as a TA for my department (Anthropology). Summer session (online) is going to start in two weeks!

 Vermis wrote:
The saurus reminds me a lot of how I painted up a couple of kroxigors, back in the day. I used false gharials as reference.

You did a much better job, though.

I'm not a big fan of the bastiladon model but I very much like what you did with the... what would you call it in this case? Carapace? Scutes? Osteoderms?


Woah, that's a pretty reptile! That would actually be a really good reference if I ever added any kroxigors to my army. Thanks for sharing. A quick google reviews that scutes are the term!

 youwashock wrote:
The battle turtle looks pretty sweet. Digging the power crystal. The wood grain on the shield also turned out quite nice.


Well thank you! I'm still struggling with getting thin enough lines for the extreme highlights of the facets of the crystal. I feel alright with where they are now.

 howie wrote:
The base on that bastilidon is looking great. Really.in keeping with your models and also looks realistic on its own merit.


Cheers, I appreciate that! I was just thinking of ways to make the base a bit more cluttered, and I had some extra metal spears and I thought that it would be funny to have some spears that bent when they tried to pierce the hide.

----

Feeling sick of looking at it half-way done, I finally finished off the Realmgate Engine. It took forever. I have no idea why I picked the side with all the dang leaves and roots. Contrast paints saved my life.






Also finished up the bastiladon. Tried to do some scar-tissue type stuff on his lip but not sure if it worked out the way I wanted.





Took some army shots while they were all out:




Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/04 06:57:10


Post by: inmygravenimage


Scar tiisue looks great. I love the mix of colours you use, and how you make them pop. All looks ace


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/04 17:53:37


Post by: gobert


Oh, I meant to say homeschool teacher for my 7 year old! Not an actual teacher! My wife is an ecologist, so I’ve probably picked up a few biology bits through osmosis... I’m an Engineer turned Project Manager irl.

The realmgate engine looks a great centre piece, but does it fit on your display shelf!?! The whole army is looking really good and is certainly starting to fill out.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/04 22:08:57


Post by: Captain Brown


Nice work Don Qui Hotep.

Cheers,

CB


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/05 10:33:39


Post by: Viterbi


Nice update, really love the work on the big lizard and using the realmgate's side with all the details paid off in the end, it looks great!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/05 19:26:54


Post by: amazingturtles


The bastiladon is gorgeous! I just love his scales and plates. And of course his skink buddies, got to have skink buddies


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/05 21:27:34


Post by: tinfoil


Dang, the bastilidon is looking fearsome! And I love skinks!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/19 23:26:20


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Thanks for the kind words, everyone. Sorry for the delay on updates; this is more of a blog than a plog post. I decided to drive from San Diego to my hometown in Northern Illinois to be with my family during the pandemic (taking all the proper precautions before and during the trip). Recovered from the drive and starting to get myself set up for work here (summer semester starts in a week). Naturally I brought some stuff to paint and play with, so hopefully updates will continue shortly, albeit at a slightly reduced pace.

One major perk is that my brother and I are able to get in as many games as we can handle, including starting a 90s Necromunda campaign. This afternoon we played my first AoS game, my Seraphon vs his Maggotkin. It was a really fun game, the lizards lost but not for lack of trying - it ended up being pretty close until the last round, and he ended up winning about 8/9 to 5. I really like the system and didn't mind the double turn, and I think I know how to chop and screw my list a bit to get some better results: more monsters, more magic.

Here's some pics from the game. It was really fun to play with these guys, I feel like that's the last step before a model is finished - it's gotta be baptized in the crucible of war. Hope to share more soon!





Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/20 00:53:34


Post by: youwashock


Really like the ziggurat. The ancient tech stuff has really let you make some sweet focal points for the army. It all looks good together. Scarface came out good, too. Happy gaming with your brother. Looking forward to Necromunda pics.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/20 05:56:14


Post by: inmygravenimage


Excellent to see a game in full throw. As a worshipper I approve!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/20 06:48:02


Post by: gobert


Wow! That is one heck of a drive! Something us brits can barely comprehend, 24+ hours of driving by google. Worth the travel by the looks of the game pics! Hopefully you get some painting time to get them all done too!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/20 13:42:04


Post by: amazingturtles


It's nice that you can be with your family! That's an important thing. And getting games in is a nice bonus!

That temple makes such a neat centerpiece for your game.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/22 01:43:43


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 youwashock wrote:
Really like the ziggurat. The ancient tech stuff has really let you make some sweet focal points for the army. It all looks good together. Scarface came out good, too. Happy gaming with your brother. Looking forward to Necromunda pics.


Aw, thanks! I'm particularly happy with the Realmgate Engine, it made me happy to put it down on the table with all the other painted terrain. I've got some 'Munda pics coming at the end of the post!

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Excellent to see a game in full throw. As a worshipper I approve!


And neither did Nurgle neglect his chosen sons; the Blight Kings did a heckuva lotta damage that day.

 gobert wrote:
Wow! That is one heck of a drive! Something us brits can barely comprehend, 24+ hours of driving by google. Worth the travel by the looks of the game pics! Hopefully you get some painting time to get them all done too!


Very much worth it! Everyone's safe and healthy, we're all working from home. I didn't mind getting out of my two-room apartment either. You're not kidding about the drive though - four days of driving, about 7-8 hours per day!

 amazingturtles wrote:
It's nice that you can be with your family! That's an important thing. And getting games in is a nice bonus!

That temple makes such a neat centerpiece for your game.


Thanks again! I think my brother's Gnarlmaw looks pretty good too!

---

A bit of a painting update, I've been steadily stripping and repainting my Necromunda gang as they level up. Basically once they distinguish themselves they get a name and an updated paintjob. I had one zealot that I had never painted and decided to use him as the test model for the new scheme, and, wouldn't you believe, after our first game I happened to recruit a new ganger with an axe and a pistol.

I'll post some pics of the old gang in the Retro Models thread and the updated ones here as I go. On the left is the version I painted about thirteen years ago, on the right is the new version.





Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/22 03:28:07


Post by: youwashock


Oh, dear. Redemptionists. Time to break out the heat. And maybe a giant chainsaw. Great models. I like the blue masks.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/25 18:09:22


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Thanks, Youwashock. Looking at my older models I realize I've always liked brighter color schemes. Coming back to them now I still want to keep those colors, just update them a bit for the modern age.

Latest update is the Deacon with a Flamer. Before:



(first shots he's shiny cuz I fished him out of the Pine Sol for a quick photo)

After:


We don't need to dwell on it but I decided to clip off his pointy hood - it has different optics in 2020 USA than it does in 1990s UK. Plus, I realized that now he looks a lot like Ned Kelly, which is really fun.



Would you want to wear a metal mask when you're working with flame equipment? I personally wouldn't, but that's probably just because I lack the proper faith in the Emperor.

Two friends, hanging out:



Next up is the zealot with an eviscerator, one of my favorite models in the gang. Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/25 18:53:18


Post by: Captain Brown


Great work, love seeing the old Necromunda come out.

Cheers,

CB


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/25 19:09:10


Post by: youwashock


Interesting. Also looks a little like Monty Python's Black Knight. See how many times you get to say, "it's only a flesh wound" after rolling for injury.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/06/26 09:43:33


Post by: Viterbi


Nice work on those old minis. If you hadn't told, I wouldn't have guessed that flamer guy was wearing a hood before.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/10 16:28:08


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Thanks for the kind words, Viterbi, youwashock, and CB! I've been a bit all over the place hobby-wise the past two weeks; haven't been able to get as many games in since I've started teaching remotely for Summer Session, but we got a few games of Infinity in and over the weekend we played a game of 8th edition fantasy. That was my brother's idea, in the same way that I've been revisiting the lizardmen from my youth he's been building and painting his Empire. He got 2000 points of Oldhammer painted up and so we had ourselves a game. I admit I was a bit skeptical, because I had always heard that 8th edition was what killed the Old World (an ignorant position of which my brother quickly disabused me). We ended up having a great time. His artillery were very nasty in the first turns, one-shoting my bastilidon, but I was able to disable his cannon with my skinks and got lucky when his Hellblaster rolled double-misfires. We got stuck in a fun scrap with his 40 (!) State Troops enmeshed with my Saurus. Around turn 4 I won combat resolution by 7 points but thanks to his Warrior Priest his troops were able to rally in a magnificent way, and the melee lasted for one more turn - long enough for his fanatics to charge my flank and his block of 15 (!) knights to charge my rear. After a turn of carnage I conceded, we both had a lot of fun.

I had to do a bit of proxying, because I've been putting off building the rest of my Seraphon until I finish painting what I have, and we used dice to represent the number of sauruses because they were all rebased onto 32 mm and so couldn't rank up quite the same way. Even so, the tabletop was nice and colorful and it was awesome to see one fully-painted and one half-painted army together!

Part of my army was a unit of 3 Kroxigors. Didn't end up performing that well at all, but I really like their stats for AoS. Problem is Kroxigor models are expensive, and far from my favorite sculpts. So once again I return to our friends at Crocodile Games and picked out some of my favorite Children of Sobek models. Clip off the Egyptian-specific decorations and slap on a couple snakes, lizardmen weapons, and paint what's supposed to be gold like jade and I think they work pretty well. Only got one painted up so far but I think it'll work! I actually checked out Vermis's link to false gharials and ended up using it as a reference-point.

Here's the before:


And here's the after:


A few pics from the game:






Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/10 16:42:24


Post by: youwashock


Looks like fun!

I like the Crocs-i-gor. Sebeki are grand models, so it is nice to see them getting used.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/10 16:50:32


Post by: Boss Salvage


 youwashock wrote:
I like the Crocs-i-gor. Sebeki are grand models, so it is nice to see them getting used.
QFT Nice work Don!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/10 17:14:15


Post by: gobert


Nice work on the Krox, you really wouldn’t know he was really an Egyptian! That’s a really cool horde of knights your brother has too, is he a dakkanaut too?


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/10 17:53:39


Post by: inmygravenimage


Big and smashy. Great crocs, lovely colours.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/10 18:03:39


Post by: Captain Brown


A great improvement of the present models Don Qui Hotep.

Cheers,

CB


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/10 19:03:23


Post by: amazingturtles


Sounds like a fun game and they're great looking crocs! I especially like the one guys weapons. Big ol' mallets are a lot more fun than hammers


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/10 21:23:52


Post by: Vermis


 Don Qui Hotep wrote:
I actually checked out Vermis's link to false gharials and ended up using it as a reference-point.


Haha! Nice. They look great. I always liked those Sebeki minis. Funny, somehow I got the impression Crocodile Games had gone under recently.

Good work on everything.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/11 06:23:16


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 youwashock wrote:
Looks like fun!

I like the Crocs-i-gor. Sebeki are grand models, so it is nice to see them getting used.


Thank you! I actually got the idea from this blog years ago, I think that was my first exposure to Crocodile Games sculpts.

 Boss Salvage wrote:
 youwashock wrote:
I like the Crocs-i-gor. Sebeki are grand models, so it is nice to see them getting used.
QFT Nice work Don!


Cheers, bud, I appreciate it!

 gobert wrote:
Nice work on the Krox, you really wouldn’t know he was really an Egyptian! That’s a really cool horde of knights your brother has too, is he a dakkanaut too?


Thanks, I'll let him know! No, he's not on Dakka (I did get his OK to post the pics) but it looks like he shared some photos on Reddit - you can see the table from the Empire's side!

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Big and smashy. Great crocs, lovely colours.


Thanks Graven, and you know from crocs!

 Captain Brown wrote:
A great improvement of the present models Don Qui Hotep.

Cheers,

CB


Aw thanks CB! Really appreciate it. Doesn't feel quite done until you play a game with them though!

 amazingturtles wrote:
Sounds like a fun game and they're great looking crocs! I especially like the one guys weapons. Big ol' mallets are a lot more fun than hammers


Oh, I agree 100%. Years ago I bought a couple weapon sprues from Crocodile Games and ended up gifting some mallets to my chaos cultists. Mallets are good for smashing. I say we change the name to Warmallet Fantasy.

 Vermis wrote:
 Don Qui Hotep wrote:
I actually checked out Vermis's link to false gharials and ended up using it as a reference-point.


Haha! Nice. They look great. I always liked those Sebeki minis. Funny, somehow I got the impression Crocodile Games had gone under recently.

Good work on everything.


Yeah, I appreciate the reference. Crocodile Games is actually still going strong! They just released the Wargods of Olympus rulebook, which is a bit of foreshadowing for my next update. Their release rate is slow as molasses but there's plenty of third party historical miniatures to fill in the gaps that I'm not particularly bothered. A few weeks ago we played a game of WoO and I really got a kick out of it. I really liked the system for alternate activations - each General has a command score, you roll off and compare results. Whoever has the edge activates the first unit (or multiple units, if you win the edge by six or more). The cool thing is that all orders are assigned secretly at the start of each round, and on your activation you can either activate your own unit or one of your opponent's. So if you want to charge your opponent you can activate his unit first in the expectation that it moves into charge range, or your opponent could activate your unit first so that they fail the charge. It's also really fun when your opponent activates one of your units, you flip open the command counter, and you realize that you have no idea what you were thinking. It represents the chaos of the chain of command on the battlefield in a really neat way.

It's an awkward thing because I really want to recommend the game, but there's a lot of asterisks - the slow release rate, high cost of the miniatures, and a fairly moribund competitive scene. But then again, they just released the rulebook which has gotten a lot of buzz, the game itself is a lot of fun, and they offer some modern and interesting takes on Classical mythology. Plus, if you played as much Age of Mythology as I did as a young'n, it's kind of a dream come true to play a version on the tabletop.

We're gonna try and get a game of Necromunda in tomorrow, I'll post up some photos then. Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/12 05:45:45


Post by: Viterbi


Looks like a fun game and the Kroxigor substitutes are amazing, great paintjob!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/13 18:35:01


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Thanks, Viterbi!

We had two games of Warcry over the weekend, one of which was by lamplight during a power outage. Atmosphere! First match-up was my Splintered Fang against Corvus Cabal. It was the burn objectives mission (Matched Play set B, Mission 3), which ended in a draw. I had swapped out one of my acolytes with a shield (70 points) for a Fury (70 points) and am glad I did - an extra attack at the same strength, 8 inch move, fly, and only giving up one toughness. Because Splintered Fang has no native mobility boosters (other than the universal double, but you want to save those doubles for the venom), they are very much handicapped when going against a more mobile gang.

Bad pictures because of bad lighting: we called it a draw when the bugs started eating us up.



Second game was my Splintered Fang against my brother's Blight Kings, which are his main army in AoS. Mission Set B, Scenario 4 - get a point for each table quarter you control per round, game ends after three turns. I had two Furies with me this game (so I could use their Crazed Flock ability, which ended up being a wash), and I think that will be my main roster from now on. The extra movement is really nice. This mission I won, although it was surprisingly close (6 to 4). In my brother's words, Blight Kings are "borderline unplayable" in Warcry (although he said he still had fun). Movement 3, only Strength/Toughness 4, their fly cavalry has only Movement 5 and no Fly special rule, and he only had six models on the board. Compare to my gang with three snakes (movement 6), two furies (movement 8 and Fly), plus five other human fighters with a minimum Toughness 4. Small but elite armies just don't translate well to the game, unfortunately. I think if he allied in some chaotic beasts and/or mercenaries from the expansion then they might do a bit better. Next game I'd like to use my Seraphon - they have some really nasty abilities!

Better pics from better lighting:





But this isn't a battle report blog; this is a painting blog! I've been a bit productive over the past week. First is a meager offering to my expanding Necromunda warband - two weeks ago I picked up the new House Cawdor starter kit and a box of Genestealer Cult Neophytes to help build new gangers for which the my current models are not able to represent. Here's my sniper, armed with a Shotgun with manstopper rounds and an autogun. With BS4, the ability to shoot a manstopper at 24" (S4, AP-1, -1 to hit), he may be the world's first shotgun sniper.



Lastly, I've been really getting into Wargods of Olympus. At the start of the year I bought the Mycanean starter kit for half-off at my FLGS, which was a great bargain. Here's the unit of Hoplites (with a hero in the front rank) painted up in glorious Grecian green. Very happy with how they turned out.



All I need to get a 1000 point warband after the starter kit is a chariot (from Warlord Games; in the post) and unit of peltasts (from Crocodile Games; on the paint bench now). We'll play a game once the chariot arrives, using an Anubi warband from Wargods of Aegyptus I built in high school. I really enjoy the game and want it to succeed, so I'll probably be posting more in the future.

Ongoing projects:
-All the skinks
-All the saurus
-Cold One Riders
-Corvus Cabal
-Peltasts
-BSF

Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/13 19:21:25


Post by: youwashock


More Wargods? Sweet!

Mycenaeans looking great in green and gold. Always wanted to pick up an Artemis, but never got around to it.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/13 19:38:48


Post by: inmygravenimage


More Wargods? MOREGODS?! Sounds good. Interesting to hear your brother's take on Blightkings in Warcry, I would've thought smaller skirmish would work in their favour.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/13 21:35:43


Post by: amazingturtles


Congrats on you victory and on not being eaten alive by bugs (which is also a victory)

The shotgun sniper looks really neat and incongruous, in a good way (if that's the right word)


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/13 23:28:52


Post by: Vejut


Bronze definitely plays well with the green on the WarGods stuff there, looks good! Glad to see more of it starting to pop up.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/14 14:21:52


Post by: Boss Salvage


It's very cool to see somebody a) hobbying on War Gods stuff and b) with the intent of playing War Gods! I don't know if it'll pull me away from KOW - I'd love to do a human army for KOW using Croc minis, or finally paint my Sebeki Ogre army that I bought as soon as I started KOW years back - but I'm happy to hear Croc is gaining some traction.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/14 17:54:54


Post by: Captain Brown


Some nice bright colours there Don Qui Hotep.

Cheers,

CB


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/15 05:42:18


Post by: inmygravenimage


That's a mighty fine looking unit there.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/15 06:08:38


Post by: Viterbi


So much cool new stuff, the green shields on the Greeks are ace, very nice dark edge before the rim of them start. And shotgun sniper really should be a first But he looks cool, very nice shading on him.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/23 05:35:56


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 youwashock wrote:
More Wargods? Sweet!

Mycenaeans looking great in green and gold. Always wanted to pick up an Artemis, but never got around to it.


Cheers! Yeah, I think that all of the new demigod sculpts are really high quality. That said I've always thought that Wargods sculptors were better at matching naturalistic proportions, rather than heroic scale hands and faces.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
More Wargods? MOREGODS?! Sounds good. Interesting to hear your brother's take on Blightkings in Warcry, I would've thought smaller skirmish would work in their favour.


Mo'Gods, M'Olympus, amiright?

One thing I don't love about Warcry is that based on the scenario, different gangs will either be severely handicapped or very overpowered. 4/6 times it's who is more mobile, 2/6 times it's who can do more damage. That said, the game is quick and light enough that a bad match up doesn't drag through the afternoon. It's pretty hard to make a take-all-comers warband.

 amazingturtles wrote:
Congrats on you victory and on not being eaten alive by bugs (which is also a victory)

The shotgun sniper looks really neat and incongruous, in a good way (if that's the right word)


I think it applies here! And thank you, although the congratulations may have been premature - since I'm back home I've been covered in bug bites.

Vejut wrote:
Bronze definitely plays well with the green on the WarGods stuff there, looks good! Glad to see more of it starting to pop up.


Thanks! One of the first time I've used an official scheme for an army, actually. I thought it worked well as a combo!

I'm looking for people to talk tactics with on Wargods and unfortunately their own forums are a bit moribund, maybe I'll start a thread in the Misc. section.

 Boss Salvage wrote:
It's very cool to see somebody a) hobbying on War Gods stuff and b) with the intent of playing War Gods! I don't know if it'll pull me away from KOW - I'd love to do a human army for KOW using Croc minis, or finally paint my Sebeki Ogre army that I bought as soon as I started KOW years back - but I'm happy to hear Croc is gaining some traction.


Thanks, Boss! I'm very game to try KoW myself, although given that my primary opponent will be my brother for the next month or so, I'd need to convince him to get on board. It would be great to see a Sebeki Ogre army! I would follow that plog ~

 Captain Brown wrote:
Some nice bright colours there Don Qui Hotep.

Cheers,

CB


Thanks, Captain. I would say I am drawn to painting bright colors. I've always had trouble getting darker colors to pop on the tabletop.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
That's a mighty fine looking unit there.


Thanks again!

 Viterbi wrote:
So much cool new stuff, the green shields on the Greeks are ace, very nice dark edge before the rim of them start. And shotgun sniper really should be a first But he looks cool, very nice shading on him.


Thanks, Viterbi. I put down a layer of Mephiston Red, highlighted with Mephiston/Screamer Pink, very watered-down Screamer edge highlights, Agrax wash, then another Mephiston/Screamer highlight and another watered-down Screamer edge. Pretty happy with how it turns works on robes.
--------
A few scattered updates to share. Finished my demigod for my Mycanean warband: Pelagos, Child of the Depths, Son of Poseidon. Converted from the King Agamemnon that came in the Mycanean warband starter kit.



Two heroes - each unit from your home city-state gives you two hero options. They can be a standard Champion or Hero Hoplite with better stats, a specialist unique to your City-State, or a universal character. In this case I chose a Unit Champion to raise the morale of my unit. The other is the Champion of the Hippodrome, one of five Olympic athletes that specialize at a particular battlefield role (champion javelin thrower, runner, etc.), in this particular case he gives bonuses to any chariot he is riding. Of the five options he and the javelin thrower seemed to be the best choices. Stronger, faster chariots? Yes please. The chariot is still in the mail from Warlord Games, but no reason not to get the man painted. They're both minor conversions, the champion was one of Agamemnon's body guards. Swapped his sword for a spear and that did the job. He's got a slightly nicer shield. The other was converted from the Mycanean Hero model, I gave him a big long lance to use on the chariot. A bit anachronistic, I think, and a bit oversized on foot, but I hope it looks good on the back of a chariot.




Still working on the Peltasts. Halfway through the unit of 10, five still to go.

Played another game of 8th Edition Fantasy this week. Pretty fun, a very close scrap that swung both ways. We each had a moment where we thought we were on top, but he ended up pulling out a victory. His Knights Panther were simply invioble. They would not yield an inch.




At a certain point the General came out to inspect her troops. Note the disdain on her face as she watches the combined skink/kroxigor unit flee.



We've also been playing a really fun game from Osprey called Zona Alfa. It's a take on the tropes from Roadside Picnic and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Skirmish combat within The Zone, a mysterious region in eastern Europe full of strange radiation and apparently alien artifacts. We're just using miscellaneous urban/post-apocalyptic models and terrain, mostly from our Necromunda and Infinity kits. Both of us are interested in picking up more of these smaller, miniatures agnostic games. Next update I'll share some photos from some of the games we've played.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/23 13:15:08


Post by: youwashock


Talk about scale creep. The new Salamander model is HUGE.

WGoO minis look good. Quite heroic.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/23 20:04:33


Post by: Vejut


Heroes are looking good, and a chariot ought to make a nice centerpeice.

Actually kinda planning to use my basti as twilight kin for KOW if I ever get them done and manage to get up and out, I suspect at least for a small game, your Myceneans would work for that as well, or sebeki for that matter. I'd be down for a WarGods thread, though admittedly, never actually played...


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/23 21:43:46


Post by: brushcommando


Those are some cool models. For some reason, (I think the horned helms and tridents) they remind me of the red knights that guarded the castle in the SNES legend of zelda games. It's a nice and weirdly nostalgic look.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/24 01:05:34


Post by: CaptainWaffle


 brushcommando wrote:
...they remind me of the red knights that guarded the castle in the SNES legend of zelda games. It's a nice and weirdly nostalgic look...


I was wondering why I thought they looked sort of old school to me. Old Zelda knights are exactly it. The models look great, Don Qui Hotep, and the games are nice to read as well.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/24 05:52:29


Post by: Viterbi


I never had any contact with Warhammer Fantasy other than reading battle reports from time to time in White Dwarf, but your games look fun. Maybe in a few years I don't have a backlog and can start with the New Old Times Warhammer game

 youwashock wrote:
Talk about scale creep. The new Salamander model is HUGE.


But a great paintjob, almost lifelike


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/24 11:49:09


Post by: gobert


Great work on the Demi-gods, they look really cool. Sorry you lost out to your brother, but his Knights Panther are as good on the table as their minis are painted!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/26 08:10:56


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 youwashock wrote:
Talk about scale creep. The new Salamander model is HUGE.

WGoO minis look good. Quite heroic.


Thanks bud! Apparently lizards aren't super into wargames. She licked the board a few times and then decided that she'd rather be basking.

Vejut wrote:
Heroes are looking good, and a chariot ought to make a nice centerpeice.

Actually kinda planning to use my basti as twilight kin for KOW if I ever get them done and manage to get up and out, I suspect at least for a small game, your Myceneans would work for that as well, or sebeki for that matter. I'd be down for a WarGods thread, though admittedly, never actually played...


Oh hey, thank you! Yar, I think I'll make that thread, I have a lot of thoughts about potential builds that I'd like to get down in one place. You know, I think I'll grab a KoW rulebook next time we hit up our FLGS (if they have it...). Between the two of us we have so many options for fantasy armies that I think we could have a fun game really easily. I spent a decent amount of time the other day looking at really amazing scenic bases that people made for KoW and that set all kinds of hobby gears turning in my head.

 brushcommando wrote:
Those are some cool models. For some reason, (I think the horned helms and tridents) they remind me of the red knights that guarded the castle in the SNES legend of zelda games. It's a nice and weirdly nostalgic look.


 CaptainWaffle wrote:
 brushcommando wrote:
...they remind me of the red knights that guarded the castle in the SNES legend of zelda games. It's a nice and weirdly nostalgic look...


I was wondering why I thought they looked sort of old school to me. Old Zelda knights are exactly it. The models look great, Don Qui Hotep, and the games are nice to read as well.


Thanks guys! Hmm, you know what, I can totally see it. My first Zelda game was Ocarina of Time, which had quite a few memorable villains, not as many of which have miniature equivalents. Well, I suppose the skulltula always freaked me out!

 Viterbi wrote:
I never had any contact with Warhammer Fantasy other than reading battle reports from time to time in White Dwarf, but your games look fun. Maybe in a few years I don't have a backlog and can start with the New Old Times Warhammer game

 youwashock wrote:
Talk about scale creep. The new Salamander model is HUGE.


But a great paintjob, almost lifelike


Man, you have no idea how long it took me to paint all her little spots. I don't know if you guys remember the movie Holes, but the deadly yellow-spotted lizards were actually just bearded dragons with non-toxic yellow paint.

 gobert wrote:
Great work on the Demi-gods, they look really cool. Sorry you lost out to your brother, but his Knights Panther are as good on the table as their minis are painted!


Cheers! Yeah, it was a really fun game, thanks for the sympathy. He has corrected me that they were in fact the Reiksguard, not the Knights Panther. Either way, that 1+ save is a serious roadblock.

-------

Not much hobby this week, but a lot of gaming. We ended up playing a 1000 point game of Wargods, which was a lot of fun. I played my Myceneans against my brother playing Children of Anubis, one of the factions from WoE. I’ve had the Anubi for a long time and never really did anything with them, so I was really happy to have the chance to see how both armies performed.



Basic set-up at Turn 1. I had a unit of 15 Hoplites with medium armor, spears, large shields, with a hoplite champion as a unit captain, and the Sons of Mycenae upgrade (after they make their first rout save, +1 to all combat checks), a unit of 10 peltasts with a peltast champion as unit captain, my demigod in a chariot, and an epic poet (does nothing on the battlefield, but just for taking him in my army each unit gets to reroll their first failed rout check of the game). Starting god power: special trident from daddy Poseidon.
The Anubi had two units of 10 warriors, one with polearms (fight in two ranks, DM 2), medium armor, shields, and javelins, and one with bows and a champion as a unit captain, a unit of 10 necropolis guards (elite human warriors with double-handed weapons with killing blow), a harbinger of Anubis on foot, and a Master of Words (sorcerer). Starting god power: can fight until he reaches -2 wounds.
I really like how Wargods does activation. You assign command counters at the top of the phase, then roll off and add your Leader’s command value (Discipline + Fate). Depending on the margin by which you win the roll, you can activate either one, two, or three units. Then your opponent activates one, then trade until the end of the round. The twist: you can activate either your own or your opponents units. Think those enemy archers are going to fire this turn? Activate them when your own soldiers are still out of range!



First round of activations, Hoplites in a column formation fast advance up the middle of the board, with my intention to reform them into a phalanx next turn to give them defensive and aggressive bonuses. Peltasts and chariot each try to close in, while epic poet stays out of trouble. Sorcerer has cast some buffs on the archers but they’re still out of range. A bit uneventful, still waiting to close the distance.

Here’s where my plans started to break down. Phalanxes require a discipline test to form, which I figured would be just fine with my discipline 7. Rolled an 8, re-rolled cuz of the poet, and rolled an 8. Now my elite infantry are disordered and vulnerable. Luckily they weathered a turn of enemy arrows, carried further by magical winds, only losing one or two men.


Chariot wheels behind enemy lines. If you move within 1” you can make a passing attack, which with my demigod would have been pretty fierce. Unfortunately I was moving too fast to wheel as tightly as I would have liked, so I had to content myself with a javelin throw at the Necropolis guard – which did miss. Brother subsequently activated both Necropolis Guard and Anubi Warriors and swiveled them to face me. Eep.

Brother won activation (for the third turn in a row) and activated two units. First, he had his sorcerer cast wall of fire (represented by the two green die) – anything that passes through them gets burnt. Notice how it’s right in from of my chariot? THEN his Necropolis Guard charge me and destroy the chariot. The demigod and harbinger come into base-to-base contact, which triggers the Provocation – only one may enter victorious, engorged with his opponent’s divine essence. The loser – dead, or worse.


The peltasts open fire on the Anubi warriors, causing a few casualties, but the stalwart children of Anubis make their discipline save and stand their ground.


Meanwhile, on Turn 3, my hoplites finally rally – they are no longer disordered, but still have to wait until turn 4 to form a phalanx.


State of the board at the top of turn 4. I had won initiative (finally!) and was able to reform my hoplites. Finally, the phalanx! This would come in handy, the extra defensive bonuses allowing them to withstand several volleys from the Anubi archers.


The provocation! Pelagos, Child of the Depths, against Mekhetet the Weary. A fight to the death (or in the Anubi’s case, even beyond!)

Approaching endgame here – the Anubi warriors got in a scrap with my hoplites, charging them in the flank. After a harrowing round of combat, the hoplites managed to rally.


Hoplites pushed the Anubite warriors into a rout, and overran them in a charge. This exposed their flank to a charge from the Necropolis Guard. Luckily the hoplites survived the round of combat long enough for the peltasts to charge the Necropolis Guard’s flank. I think this was the same turn that my Demigod defeated his Harbinger in the provocation. I proceeded to charge his Master of Words through his Wall of Fire, only for Pelagos to lose his last wound to the flames.

We called it there, with my half-units of hoplites and peltasts to his full unit of archers and MoW; he won on kill points alone, but factoring in (optional) victory conditions I eked out a close win. Although I had a lot of fun (and my brother promises he did as well), it was unfortunately a bit of an uneven match-up. Wargods of Olympus focuses more on fewer, larger units of elite infantry, whereas Wargods of Aegyptus has a lot more bodies that tend to be a little less specialized. I thought they’d gel a little bit better than they ended up doing, but it ended up that my warband had the advantage in terms of toughness that he found very difficult to overcome. I’ll try and come up with a slightly more balanced Aegyptus warband for the next match.
-------
Anyway, sorry for the lack of hobby updates, but I wanted to share the game with you. Next week is the last week of summer session, which means I have a lot of grading to do! That translates to less hobby time than I’d like, but if I a few moments I’ll write up the first few games of the Zona Alfa campaign we started today. Also currently working on finishing the peltast unit and a few pieces of Olympus-themed terrain.
Thanks for reading, all!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/26 08:23:01


Post by: inmygravenimage


It's always interesting to see a batrep, even if it's a game got no clue about! Looks like a good time was had.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/07/26 14:09:58


Post by: Vejut


Its at least good to know how cross-set play goes! Always fun to see games you'd like to play but don't see much get a showing. Look forward to how zona alfa goes!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/08/24 23:50:12


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Oh hello! Been a minute. Not super productive hobby-wise this month, but we got a lot of games in. Since breaking the seal on miniatures agnostic skirmish gangs with Zona Alfa, we've thrown headfirst into many Osprey games. There is a curse: whichever one of us buys the rulebook, loses the majority of the games. Zona Alfa has been a really fun half-wargame, half-collaborative RPG. It felt like what 1st Edition Warhammer must have felt like - battle stats for everything, but entirely narrative-driven scenarios. I used my Necromunda Redemptionists and a few Infinity Ariadna to represent my cultists, and my brother used a new Infinity warband as his mercenaries. House Orlock models to represent bandits, Xenomorphs and daemons for mutants, Plaguewalkers for zombies, Warcry snakes for vermin swarms, and (mostly) painted urban terrain (combination scratch-built, GW, and Infinity paper), we had a really fun time. Very immersive rules. And we evened out different AI controls based on what made the most sense narratively. We never formally declared hostilities between us; we didn't break the truce until the second game, and only because the scenario required an attacker and defender. We played many games in a row and I made a lotta rubles. Then Brother lost most of his equipment and took a lot of wounds to his warband, so I played a game as the Zone forces against him in a solo mission to get him caught up. Loadsa fun.

Also picked up Dracula's America; I'm such a sucker for westerns and have been looking for a western wargame for a long time; never actively, just ready for the right one to come on my radar. I saw Easy E's review and decided to give it a try. We only played one game so far but I enjoyed it. The card-based initiative system is not entirely intuitive, but I think with a few more games we'll figure it out.

Next game was Ronin; we both love Samurai stuff and he'd seen the book in the shop; he looked up a review and decided to get it. It's my favorite game of the three. Combat is really interesting; you divide it into as many pairs as possible, so you are rarely fighting more than one model at a time; so everything feels like an individual duel, and you have to be really careful how you position your models to ensure you don't get shredded. In combat you secretly choose a number of attack or defense die. So there's an element of gamesmanship and bluffing. Each combat becomes a sort of resource management game, and you get to do it a couple of times per round because it's mostly individual combat. You're always engaged, there's no downtime while your opponent rolls die. Shooting is well done; muskets are inaccurate but deadly, arrows are mostly ineffectual. We each picked up a warband, though mine is far from camera ready. Strongly recommend the game.

Lastly, we popped the top off of Marvel: Crisis Protocol. Really fun stuff. Going to pick up quite a few of the character packs just for the sweet sweet 'stolgia. The game is surprisingly tactical. We've only played with the starter set so far so our games haven't had too much variety in terms of team roster, but the different combinations of missions make each game feel very distinct. Nothing too complicated, and everything felt very comic-booky. Throwing cars at people and such. Will definitely be posting a lot about it.

So here's some stuff I did get painted. First up, finished my unit of peltasts for Wargods of Olympus. Just need to finish the chariot (which arrived the other day from Warlord Games) and I've got 1000 points.



Next are a series of western models. The first are a gang from Blackwater Gulch; I haven't heard of the game before but they included the basic rules in the kit and it seemed pretty fun. A bit more of a tactical approach than Dracula's America, for sure. The models were really well-detailed, although fairly flatly posed (which works alright for cowboys, doesn't it?). I was impressed with the quality.




Next are some civilians for the game Dead Man's Hand. This one I have heard of and thought looked pretty fun, but the models weren't the best sculpts and at the time I had lapsed in the hobby. Dracula's America has some rules for NPCs so I figured I'd pick up a couple.



And some villains; the Malevolent Seven, also from Dead Man's Hand. I decided the leader (the one without a hat) is named Ghoul Brynner. I didn't want to just paint a bunch of skeletons, so I played around a bit; some (the ghost one, the one in denim) worked better than others (the bloodgheist; the glowing one). Still, I like the one that's dripping blood from his eyes.




Some characters from Dracula's America; they came in the same blister. More NPCs, or members of a bad guy's gang I suppose.



Lastly some Reaper cowboys, from the Bones range. WYSIWYG, but as long as there's cowboy boots involved I don't really mind.



The building is from Dead Man's Hand miniature range - that I highly recommend. Perfectly reasonable prices - $30 for the house, really high-quality MDF, challenging in a fun way to put together, interior and exterior doors all completely mobile. Great kit, I'm going to pick up another next time we got to the shop. Wheat fields are your standard welcome mats cut into squares, which my brother put together. Works great on multiple scales.

Lastly, some Marvel stuff; it was surprisingly fun to do these guys. Trying to replicate specific colors and patterns was a fun challenge, and the results were rewarding. Brother bought the starter box and asked me if I wanted to paint any of them; I said Doc Ock, who is one of my favorites, and Iron Man, because I thought it would be neat to experiment with contrast paint over metalics. He said alright, as long as I agreed to paint Spider Man and attempt NMM on Iron Man. Woops. I ended up experimenting heavily with Contrast on Doc Ock and Spider Man, which I thought helped make the colors look a little "comic booky;" growing up my brother and I read mostly late 80s, early 90s comics, and so that's what I picture palette-wise. I didn't look up any tutorials on NMM for Iron Man because I was pretty sure I was going to goof it up from the beginning, and I'd just have to redo it my way. But I was pretty pleased. I kind of stumbled into it on accident. I'm not completely happy with it, because I think it works from only one angle, and I wish I'd made the source of light be the repulsor blast. And it kind of felt like cheating. But still happy with it.





-------

All a bit of a potpourris, but it was all fun to paint. Doing little, non-standardized skirmish teams is really rewarding. Not having to worry about replicating the same thing over and over takes away a lot of stress that can for me at least cause painter's block. Still got a few things on the to-do list but happy with getting these guys done.

Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/08/25 01:18:21


Post by: youwashock


Quiet, but not idle, for sure. Lots of cool stuff. The Crisis Protocol stuff is rad.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/08/25 06:53:44


Post by: inmygravenimage


Overwhelming amounts of cool. Lovely job on Tony Stank.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/08/25 16:23:33


Post by: Viterbi


Very nice update and good to read about the many games you got in!
Everything is great, but I really love the MCP minis. That's a game I'm very interested in and possibly will reward myself with, when and if I drastically reduced my foothill of embarrassment (not enough for a pile of shame).


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/08/26 18:04:43


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Thank you, Viterbi, Graven, and youwashock! I appreciate the good vibes on Crisis Protocol. We've only got in three or four games so far but I've enjoyed each on of them. Ronin and CP both have very thematic mechanics - Ronin feels like a serious of tense, tactical duels between individual swordfighter, and Crisis Protocol feels like controlled chaos as superheroes throw cars at each other.

My chariots from Warlord games arrived last week. They are a bit smaller than the WoO models (true 28 mm as opposed to Heroic Scale). I don't mind too much (especially given that they were very reasonably priced) but when you put them with the Olympus models the difference in sculpt quality is pretty clear. But the nice thing about chariots is that they move fast and that makes them difficult to see, so I don't think anybody will mind too much. I extended the back of the chariot to accommodate a 25 mm base so I can remove the driver if the chariot is destroyed, and attempted to sculpt wood paneling on it. I also added some javelins from Crocodile Games.





(just for scale, it's mounted on a 50 x 100 mm base, as are all chariots in Wargods)

The second chariot is not yet ready to show the public. It is part of a SECRET PROJECT.

For fun I painted up some 3D printed models my brother brought back with him from Japan. I think I'll be able to use them in Dracula's America; grannie makes a good NPC and the fire skeleton will work for a number of summoned supernatural creatures. I didn't spend too much time cleaning off print lines, kind of wish I did, live and learn.





Today models painted so far in 2020: 105
Current unfinished projects:

All the Skinks from Start Collecting (n = 16)
High School Saurus (n = 18)
All of Blackstone Fortress (n = lots)
Sobeki Kroxigors (n = 2)
Corvus Cabal (n = 8)
Equals: 44 + lots

Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/08/26 19:18:53


Post by: youwashock


Flaming skeleton rules. Creeped out by the lady knitting herself a pentagram.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/08/31 17:13:23


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 youwashock wrote:
Flaming skeleton rules. Creeped out by the lady knitting herself a pentagram.


Well thanks buddy! I was happy with both, other than the printing lines they were actually really good models.

Some scenery today, or rather a special marker, or both. Back to Olympus, one of the Demigod of Poseidon's powers (Tears from the Earth) is to create a pool of water terrain feature (which happens to give him defensive bonuses). To quote the rulebook, "It is good form for the Poseidon player to provide this terrain piece." Good form! Well I wouldn't want to take advantage of anyone's hospitality. So I put together a little pool. First time using water effects.



Happy with how that turned out for the most part. Pretty basic set up; make a small pool out of foam, texture it, paint it. Use water effects very slowly - it took me about six weeks (I'd skip a day every now and then to let it cure fully). I thought it would be fun to create a kind of geyser effect behind the demigod, so I used the D&D Water Elemental, glued it to the bottom of the pool and letting the water effects pool up around it. It was a bit of trial-and-error, I did a few tests before I started putting it in the pool, in which I decided to not try and tint the pool. I made the splash ring by placing a small round tin in the lid of a slightly larger tin, filling the gap with water effects. It made a nice ring around the base which, once cured, could be rung around the elemental. I drizzled water effects over the elemental to add some drips and drops, then a few more layers of water effects to smooth everything out. Not perfect - I wasn't sure how to make a ripple effect around the splash ring. But hey, it was a fun experiment.



Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/08/31 20:00:49


Post by: inmygravenimage


That's VERY impressive. I'm just lazy, I go down the PVA and superglue route


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/08/31 20:30:42


Post by: Sherrypie


I like how those western games always just look so nice and characterful, especially on dense boards with pretty scenery. Takes me right back to Tex Willers I read by the bucket as a kid.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/08/31 21:39:19


Post by: youwashock


That water pool is the business. Great use of the elemental.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/08/31 23:48:38


Post by: Arakasi


Agreed - water pool looks great. Is Poseidon's trident meant to be curved?


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/01 07:49:55


Post by: gobert


The elemental came out really well. The water effects look really cool, I need to give some a try for puddles on my Orks and Crimson Fists.

That flaming skeleton looks great, but like youwashock, the knitting skeleton is Creeping me out!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/01 11:36:22


Post by: Viterbi


Everyone said it before me, but again that water objective is amazing. That is more than good form what you did there And good to hear that MCP is fun. How long do games usually last?


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/02 17:51:02


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 inmygravenimage wrote:
That's VERY impressive. I'm just lazy, I go down the PVA and superglue route


Thanks, fam. I appreciate it. I've also used wood glue; if it's contained within a feature so it won't dribble down the sides, if tilted at a slight angle it will dry in a way that suggests movement. In fact, that might come up at the bottom of this post...

 Sherrypie wrote:
I like how those western games always just look so nice and characterful, especially on dense boards with pretty scenery. Takes me right back to Tex Willers I read by the bucket as a kid.


Oh for sure, and I was surprised how much scale terrain there is for 28 mm westerns. There's a very rich world out there of western games and many of them feature that Weird/Horror Western feel that I love so much. Dracula's America is pretty fun, quick to learn and plays in about half an hour/forty-five minutes.

 youwashock wrote:
That water pool is the business. Great use of the elemental.


Cheers bud, I appreciate it. I spent about 15 minutes in the FLGS trying to find the right one!

 Arakasi wrote:
Agreed - water pool looks great. Is Poseidon's trident meant to be curved?


Eep! It is not. Thanks for pointing that out; I will unbend it anon.

 gobert wrote:
The elemental came out really well. The water effects look really cool, I need to give some a try for puddles on my Orks and Crimson Fists.

That flaming skeleton looks great, but like youwashock, the knitting skeleton is Creeping me out!


Thanks! It was pretty easy to use but there's no shortage of good tutorials; the sky's the limit! It's not terribly pricey at $14 a bottle, but it's in the category of what I'll call Accessory Hobby Materials that are probably just outside the skillset/budget of a younger gamer (or at least a pre-teen gamer, the period where I believe many of us started the hobby).

 Viterbi wrote:
Everyone said it before me, but again that water objective is amazing. That is more than good form what you did there And good to hear that MCP is fun. How long do games usually last?


Cheers, I try to be conscientious. MCP is loads of fun - although at this point we've played maybe eight games with the ten heroes that come in the box and we're ready for some more variety. That in no way is a dig at the game; rather I think it's a testament to how good the base box is. Our first game lasted about an hour, once we got comfortable with the rules it's gotten down to consistently half an hour/forty-five minutes.

-----

Thanks for helping me reach seven pages, all. Glad to be updating at more regular intervals. Today we've got some WIP shots. This is the last bit of Olympus before I finish my 1000 point warband; a special chariot for the demigod of Poseidon, pulled by one of daddy's own Hippocampi.



So the component parts for this are the Reaper Hippocampus and the Warlord Games Achaean Chariot I. There's a bit of a size mismatch but I'm not terribly bothered. I wanted to make a water base as if the Hippocampus was bringing water with it - kind of like the Idoeneth Deepkin, I suppose. In my hubris I thought this would be a simple process. I realized quickly that I couldn't only use water effects; I'd have to do a bit of sculpting as well to get the effect I wanted. Here's me blocking it out.



What follows next is a series of experimentation and failures. I set the chariot up at an angle and put some card around the sides and drizzle down water effects, let dry, drizzle, let dry. Maybe three days? I pull it away (and much of the cardboard came off as well) and saw I wasn't quite getting the effect I was looking for. Plus it was difficult to tell what would be visible once the base was painted. So I did a quick basecoat to see where more detail was needed. During that time I also sculpted the reins and bridle, and a wooden floor for the chariot. Used green stuff to crudely block out the basic shape of the current. Hoplite driver given a breastplate of sorts and a crop that's probably a bit too short.


(also not the best collage I've ever done)

Another drizzle of water effects and another layer of basecoating begets another layer of greenstuff and water effects. Sculpt a wood-panel base for the driver so he can detach if need be.



At this point I am satisfied with the water base; it isn't super naturalistic but I think it is clear what it is supposed to be, and so I present it as slightly abstracted. Plus I'm hoping the hippocampus will be the focal point for the model. So with that in mind I went ahead and primed the thing and basecoated the chariot and driver.

Here's where we got to last night; Hippocampus based with Ironbreaker and a combination of blue and green contrast paints. Hoplite just done up like hoplites do. Hopefully finish them by the end of the week.




Thanks for reading, all.





Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/02 19:26:13


Post by: youwashock


That's a fun idea. Best of luck wrapping it up!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/03 10:50:23


Post by: gobert


The water looks pretty cool to me. It might look better if it was a smoother transition in to the base. That side edge on the last photo looks to have an unnatural overhang. He’s gonna look EPIC with sea foam frothing from the wheels!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/03 11:16:37


Post by: inmygravenimage


That's a whole lot of very impressive work there. Keeps bringing me back to wanting to work up a full Amazons of Themiscyra force for general playing about with.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/03 18:33:14


Post by: Captain Brown


That is quite the sea chariot.

Cheers,

CB


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/05 05:34:05


Post by: Viterbi


That project came out very well, nice modeling of the water!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/07 20:03:05


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 youwashock wrote:
That's a fun idea. Best of luck wrapping it up!


Thanks! I put in a bit of progress over the weekend and am happy with where it's at.

 gobert wrote:
The water looks pretty cool to me. It might look better if it was a smoother transition in to the base. That side edge on the last photo looks to have an unnatural overhang. He’s gonna look EPIC with sea foam frothing from the wheels!


You're totally right - I think I understand where I messed up a bit. The size disparity is actually pretty severe so I elevated the chariot with the foam block before adding water - and at the time, I was planning on having the sides be flush with the sides of the base. That might have worked if it was a 5-10 mm difference, but the chariot's almost an inch and a half above the base so it would have looked pretty odd. Instead of shaving the foam down I tried to sculpt over it, which I think helped contribute to the effect you describe (also the fact that sculpting water is like, really super hard, you guys). I decided to treat this as a rough draft/proof of concept. Next time around I think I'll plan ahead a bit more and spend a little bit extra on a nicer chariot model.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
That's a whole lot of very impressive work there. Keeps bringing me back to wanting to work up a full Amazons of Themiscyra force for general playing about with.


Hell yes. I'm sure you already have it but the alternate head with a helmet from WW's DCU Figure is pretty sweet - it wouldn't be difficult at all to have an ancient Greek Wonder Woman-themed army!

 Captain Brown wrote:
That is quite the sea chariot.

Cheers,

CB


Cheers, CB! I appreciate it. As I said above, still a rough draft, but happy with how it turned out considering.

 Viterbi wrote:
That project came out very well, nice modeling of the water!


Thanks, fam. I'm not super thrilled with it but I appreciate the good vibes. Rough draft, I say!

---------

Still working on the chariot, but also made some progress on some MCP stuff. One thing that's really fun about comics is how many different versions of the same character there are - or how many different characters have the same theme/costume/abilities. So when I'm building up my own team (as in, not painting my brother's figures from the starter set) I decided to do alternate costumes/identities for each figure. Some it might be trickier than others (the only option with Captain Marvel would be to do the old Ms Marvel black-and-yellow costume, for example, but I like her current costume better), but most of my favorite characters are pretty old and so there's been plenty of stuff to play with.

Case in point: here comes the Hobgoblin!

Spoiler:


Smaller image:



Always liked the Hobgoblin, always liked the Green Goblin. Just like Goblins I guess (my first WFB army was a no-orcs-allowed Night Goblin army). He does have a cloak in the comics and I do plan on giving him one eventually, but I am all out of green stuff at the mo. I'm not stressing about it.

Also picked up the Hulk, which I'm planning on doing as Red Hulk. Very excited for that!

So next thing I'm gonna post is Red Hulk and the Hippocampus Chariot. After that the blog will be quite for a bit - after a long summer I'm heading back to SD. Won't be able to do a lot of hobby for a while, although I still plan on being active throughout the forum. You guys know how it is; sometimes the winds of hobby blow powerful, and sometimes they blow weak. All we can do is adjust our sails accordingly.

Thanks for reading, all!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/07 20:40:40


Post by: inmygravenimage


Wise words old son. I do indeed have that WW head, and in fact it's spare as I went unhelmed for mine. I plan on a few more Amazons and then having a big battle with the forces of Apokolips.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/07 22:04:04


Post by: youwashock


Hobby looks rad. Looking forward to Red Hulk. Nice to see some permutations of the Crisis Protocol minis.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/08 17:26:41


Post by: gobert


Hobgobbo looks great, very Haloween!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/09 05:04:23


Post by: Viterbi


Nice alternate color scheme for the Goblin. And already excited for your Red Hulk!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/10 00:07:03


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 inmygravenimage wrote:
Wise words old son. I do indeed have that WW head, and in fact it's spare as I went unhelmed for mine. I plan on a few more Amazons and then having a big battle with the forces of Apokolips.


With the rate at which you produce, I believe you could get that done in about 36 hours. Really like to see you tackle that project!

 youwashock wrote:
Hobby looks rad. Looking forward to Red Hulk. Nice to see some permutations of the Crisis Protocol minis.


Thanks! Yeah, I don't mind the bespoke poses that much because they are all named characters, so it doesn't rankle me the way that monopose generic 40k characters do. That said, I still wanted to put a bit of my personal stank on it. Red Hulk is in good shape and will be posted soon!

 gobert wrote:
Hobgobbo looks great, very Haloween!


Cheers! I like to get a head-start on Halloween. I would say it's the best holiday. Love gettin spooky.

 Viterbi wrote:
Nice alternate color scheme for the Goblin. And already excited for your Red Hulk!


Thanks Viterbi, the Red Hulk is incoming!

----------

Heading to San Diego tomorrow. Got the Red Hulk done and the Hippocampus chariot as well. I'll share the Red Hulk anon, but wanted to post up the chariot first because it was started first.

Here we go:

Spoiler:




And with Babby Poseidon. Notice how straight his trident is!



So that's a 1000 point warband for Wargods of Olympus! Quick fun warband shot:



Wow, that's some bad lighting. Pretty happy with how they all turned out. I really hope the game succeeds. I'm planning on picking up an Athenian warband once I clear out a little bit more of my backlog. Remember how this blog started with a promise to not buy any more models, and then I did exactly that?

Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/10 03:58:32


Post by: youwashock


The waves look great! Nice work on the warband.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/10 09:06:50


Post by: inmygravenimage


Yeah, really ace. More green than I expected, but not in a bad way.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/10 13:04:42


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


Beautiful wine-dark sea!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/10 17:00:55


Post by: inmygravenimage


Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:Beautiful wine-dark sea!

I see what you did there


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/10 18:41:59


Post by: gobert


The waves turned out amazing. They look really cold and uninviting!

Safe travels back to San Diego and we’re all eagerly awaiting the Red Hulk


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/11 01:37:20


Post by: Arakasi


Straight trident - check! How does the water on the chariot look in real life? I think the nice clear water on the previous terrain is tricking my mind into seeing it as stone if I don't pay close attention... I like the green though


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/11 04:45:15


Post by: Viterbi


Very nice Red/Green contrast on the final mini, the colors look great.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/12 22:54:17


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 youwashock wrote:
The waves look great! Nice work on the warband.


Cheers bud! It always feels good to get an army project done, even if it's a small one!

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Yeah, really ace. More green than I expected, but not in a bad way.


Thanks, Graven! I went through a couple different layers of color on the Hippocampo, from more blueish-green to a bright venom green. I like the more metallic color that it ended up with.

 Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:
Beautiful wine-dark sea!


Cheers! Another epithet for the ocean I like is "whale-road," from Beowulf.

 gobert wrote:
The waves turned out amazing. They look really cold and uninviting!

Safe travels back to San Diego and we’re all eagerly awaiting the Red Hulk


Thanks, fam. Arrived earlier today, made the trip in 2.5 days - a personal best!

 Arakasi wrote:
Straight trident - check! How does the water on the chariot look in real life? I think the nice clear water on the previous terrain is tricking my mind into seeing it as stone if I don't pay close attention... I like the green though


Yeah, I see what you mean. I think that's due to the texture; the foam base is peaking through at the bottom and my attempt at water sculpting gave it a kind of stratified look. I think rather than trying to elevate the chariot on a single block of water I should have done plumes on either side of the wheels, like are produced in water-skis. Always learning, always improving!

 Viterbi wrote:
Very nice Red/Green contrast on the final mini, the colors look great.


Thanks Viterbi, I wasn't sure if it would work but was happy with how it turned out. I think going for a more pastel red was a good choice.


----------

Anyhow, last update for a bit, here's Thunderbolt Ross himself. It's Red Hulk, the Hulk who is Red!


Spoiler:


Smaller image:



Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/13 02:16:28


Post by: youwashock


T-Bolt looks awesome! Nailed those angry yellow eyes.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/13 06:34:45


Post by: inmygravenimage


Excellent skin tones. After doing a bunch of Hellboy I sympathise!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/13 08:54:35


Post by: gobert


That’s really cool, not often you see a non-green Hulk. The red looks great, especially in the better lit pics. Congrats on the new record travel time, good luck settling back in


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/09/14 05:17:44


Post by: Viterbi


You definitely wouldn't like him, if he's angry. Great work and nicely layered skin!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/14 04:33:35


Post by: darkkt


that muscle definition is off the chain! Nice work


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/14 20:59:53


Post by: amazingturtles


I like the red hulk who is red! The red hulk who's periwinkle would have been a lot stranger.

The hippocampus is just plain lovely, it's funny how the driver ends up looking a bit nervous when you put poseidon next to him.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/23 22:04:20


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Thanks for the kind words, everybody. Some of the feedback I got was that I could have done more with the shorts, which I think is fair - I've never been particularly good with getting dark colors to look naturalistic.

Anyway, I though I wouldn't get to update for a while but I have a small fun project that I thought I'd share; a big ol' space ship.



Not really having time to focus on other projects, and most of my gear still being in Chicago, I decided to scratch the itch by doing a fun one-off project that I can display somewhere. I used to do that more often, but since I got back into 40k and AoS I haven't really been doing many non-wargaming models - except for the odd bit of terrain, I suppose. I picked up some green primer, five pots of paint and three brushes. Off to the races!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/23 22:23:25


Post by: inmygravenimage


Looking forward to you embracing the Way of D'Era! Jolan tru!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/24 01:14:01


Post by: youwashock


Neat idea. Always liked that design (looks vaguely Eldar to me). Good to see you still working!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/24 06:36:51


Post by: Viterbi


Interested in this little side project. I sometimes feel the itch to get some Star Trek/Wars scale models when we are in toy stores with the kids.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/24 09:28:11


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 inmygravenimage wrote:
Looking forward to you embracing the Way of D'Era! Jolan tru!


Khnai'ra! Could never choose a favorite Star Trek alien race, but Romulans have always been near the top of the list. Cool villains that demanded a menacing respect.

 youwashock wrote:
Neat idea. Always liked that design (looks vaguely Eldar to me). Good to see you still working!


Cheers, I think I might do some of these pick-up jobs more often. This is one of my favorite ship designs of all time, honestly!

 Viterbi wrote:
Interested in this little side project. I sometimes feel the itch to get some Star Trek/Wars scale models when we are in toy stores with the kids.


It's been really tempting! When we were going to the FLGS more-or-less weekly I never saw many on display so I just didn't think about it. But it's nice to have a project with a clear finish point; not starting a Romulan armada anytime soon!

Small update before bed. This thing is huge. Plastic out of the box was greyish green and didn't look so hot, so sprayed it with a deeper green. The nacelles aren't assembled yet because they have transparent bobs and I want to paint before gluing. Not sure how bright I want to go with the green, it really popped on screen but it got pretty teal.





Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/24 13:08:37


Post by: gobert


Interesting developments, it’s surprisingly big, I figured by the box size it would be much smaller. The green looks nice, but it looks like it could do with another coat


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/24 16:46:36


Post by: amazingturtles


That is indeed a big ol' spaceship. I agree that it's a good green but it does look like it needs something to make it pop more.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/24 21:06:43


Post by: ListenToMeWarriors


Cool, I love the TNG era Romulan Warbird it is a beautiful looking design. How good would you say the detailing on the ship is? I think your updated green is more in fitting with colour on the show. Good luck with it.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/26 21:31:47


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Thanks Gobert and AT, agreed - went over with a second coat the next day. @Warriors, I think the detail is really great - the exterior of the smith is pretty smooth but there is an abstracted pattern of feathers on the wings, and the interiors have lots of lines that look like power couplings or similar.

Progress from over the weekend:



Excuse the gaps where the nacelles and pygostyle should be, I'm painting them separately and keeping the two halves separate until after I apply the decals. I think I might need to do another heavy drybrush of green - but I want the paint to be a bit dirty and streaky-looking. Space ain't clean after all.

Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/26 21:41:54


Post by: inmygravenimage


I really like it, but whilst I would Db more I'd wait till the nacelles are in situ for osl.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/26 23:39:17


Post by: youwashock


Plenty of space for carbon scoring and dings on this one, for sure. Looking good so far.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/27 00:44:08


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Thanks guys. Graven, got me thinking - would it be possible to paint it like it was just decloaking?

Spoiler:
First 10 seconds only, but go ahead and watch the whole thing



Hm. I thought it went top-to-bottom but it looks like it fades in all at once. I could try and do a star pattern on the back - but I don't have all the paints I need to do it justice. I'll stick to basics for now. I'll keep the OSL subtle, just where it is on the show; the tips of the nacelle and inner wings. This is turning out to be a lot of fun!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/27 07:22:59


Post by: inmygravenimage


Yeah, it's that ripple decloak. The scimitar (nemesis) does a more progressive decloak like you're talking about. I would stick with the basics though, as you say. I think you can have a lot of fun with deep shadowing too, as in the show image.

Big fan of the D'Deridex, myself


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/30 04:30:17


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Feeling pretty okay with where we're at! I thought it might end up being a weekend project but it took a few more days; always busier than expecting to be.

I'll set up a nice background and lighting before I submit to the October Painting Challenge, but here's two quick pictures I took with my phone:



Took about an hour today to finish up all the decals, I think two hours of applying decals altogether.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/30 05:49:45


Post by: Viterbi


Wow, that is looking really great, I would have been very nervous to keep all those little dots halfway level


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/30 07:37:10


Post by: gobert


Looking good don. For a minute I thought you’d painted all of the dots! Still decals all over the model must’ve been pretty tricky too!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/30 10:51:12


Post by: inmygravenimage


Absolutely stunning. Love it. Makes my nerdy heart sing.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/30 14:16:56


Post by: ListenToMeWarriors


Stellar work, the recess shading really pops and filling in all those internal lights must have been a right pain to paint in...a steady hand and eye served you well there.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/30 20:38:54


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 Viterbi wrote:
Wow, that is looking really great, I would have been very nervous to keep all those little dots halfway level


Thank you, Viterbi! I will confess to you that now that not all of the dots are level.

 gobert wrote:
Looking good don. For a minute I thought you’d painted all of the dots! Still decals all over the model must’ve been pretty tricky too!


Cheers, Gobert! I don't have a lot of experience with decals, only recently applying them to my CSM shoulderpads, so this was a good learning experience. More forgiving than I expected of mistakes.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Absolutely stunning. Love it. Makes my nerdy heart sing.


Thanks, Graven. It was a lot of fun to put together. I applied the first half of the decals while watching "The Defector" (TNG Season 3 Episode 10).

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:
Stellar work, the recess shading really pops and filling in all those internal lights must have been a right pain to paint in...a steady hand and eye served you well there.


Cheers warriors, I'm afraid I cannot take credits for those lights, they are decals; but were they a pain to get in? Yes, they were.

Here's the D'deridax with better lighting, that I'll post to the October painting contest thread. Thanks for your kind words everyone!



Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/30 22:27:10


Post by: ListenToMeWarriors


You should not have divulged that they were decals, I would never have known!

The patina looks even better with the overhead shot and better lighting great stuff.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/10/31 20:24:24


Post by: gobert


Cool glamour shots! The last one almost looked like a scene from TNG... until I saw the X-Wing in the background! . Good luck in the comp


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/11/01 05:58:07


Post by: youwashock


Great display piece. The weathering looks very good.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/11/05 03:16:33


Post by: DJJazzyJeff


Fantastic. Love the ship.
Romulans are like a neat combination of Klingons and Vulcans. Brilliant, and ferocious. You've done them justice.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/11/05 05:52:36


Post by: Viterbi


Glamour shots are cool, would be fun to remove the background and put stars or a nebula behind it, would look like a still from the show.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/12/13 03:31:17


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Sparse was the praise bestowed upon the weakest of the undying ones, the false prophets from the stars. Yet the phaerons did its bidding nevertheless, for how could they know they served the avatar of rulership itself? Tehz Kaht'li, the Sovereign, glutted its incorporeal form on the cruel-minded ambitions of their undying servants even as they revolted against its kin. The Sovereign defied attempts to be bound, destroyed, escaping the battlefield in the form of the germ of an idea. From the inside did it work its evil will, causing allies to turn against each other as one petty noble suddenly claims the title of phaeron for his own. Only in the frenzied peak of battle would the Sovereign manifest in its tortured brilliance, growing stronger from the enemy's very attempts to conquer it. The revolt of the undying would surely have failed had not Tez Kaht'li encountered ambition of an entirely other kind - martyrdom.

Mehektek the Solar Lord of All Creation, Lord of the Jade Legion, had seen biotransferrance as the ultimate blasphemy. Unable to experience the ecstatic bliss induced by manic rituals performed when they wore their bodies of flesh, the Jade Legion became possessed with a fanatical hatred of the false prophets and fought in the War of Heaven with a nihilistic rage that consumed entire systems. During the Purge of the Screaming Nebula, Mehektek participated in the Siege of Kardun, in which the Sovereign had manifested, baleful spears of loathing hurling from its formlessness. Command ships and heavy cruisers were left adrift, legions of soulless Necron warriors standing silent while their masters destroyed each other. The Jade Legion appeared committed to its own self-destruction, planet-killing bursts of gauss energy leaping from ship to ship, planet to planet. In the wake of this battle, the entire system would be reduced to an Oort cloud ringing an exhausted sun. But Mehkektek's hatred kept his will intact, and was able to maintain control of his personal command ship, Godbane. Promising an ultimate victory for his people, he activated his ultimate contingency protocol. Godbane hurled itself into the sun, overloading his shields as he went. Star-killing radiation was scattered through the system, reducing everything in it to fine dust.

So did the reign of the Sovereign come to an end.


The War of Heaven was fought to a terrible end, the Silent King departed from the galaxy, and the Necrons entered the Great Sleep. The being known as the Sovereign never again manifested itself upon the battlefield, only the fragments of fragments of memory of its maleficence present in the ruinous ambitions of mortals. Until the great cataclysm shook the galaxy, and the Cicatrix Maledictum split the sky in half, immersing the Kardun system in a warpstorm of impossible fury. When the system emerged, something had awoken.

Mekhetek possessed many obscure phylacteries, one of which was an experimental nano-engram that could be imprinted upon atoms themselves. Slowly, over the course of millennia, fragments of his consciousness began to congeal, but scattered across lightyears throughout the oort field. Perhaps the skeins of fate, which could have left the Solar Lord of All Creation in restful oblivion, were corrupted by the time spent in the maelstrom. Perhaps they were twisted to a vengeful purpose. Mekhetek's consciousness was stitched painfully back together, and his body slowly resurrected atom-by-atom from cosmic dust. Hurtling patchwork through the emptiness of space, Mekhetek was driven quite mad.

What would have taken infinite time to occur by chance occurred in mere centuries. Alone in an endless cloud of debris, Mekhetek watched as his vast fleet formed around him, populated by ranks and ranks of mindless warriors. He desired nothing more than to once again take command of his Jade Legion, and begin a new, hateful crusade against all life, everywhere. After centuries of waiting, trapped in orbit around a dying sun, Mekhetek extended a hand blindly into the thick particle clouds around him and grasped onto a handle - the exterior hatch of a freshly reconstituted Godbane. Declaring himself Mekhetek, Presider of the End of All Things, the mad phaeron rules the Jade Legion once again. Does he also rule himself?

-------------

If you hear the clop of hooves right now, that's because I've jumped on the bandwagon and started a Necron army, inspired by all the cool versions I've seen here. I wanted to have an army that I could get to "battle ready" quickly, so I had to sit down and think about what my standards for "battle ready" are. I'll post more in the next update, but writing the nonsense above took longer than I thought. So here's some pictures!








The last one is a kitbash to make a Lokhust Heavy Destroyer; although I realize it looks more like the older version from the upgrade kit.

Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/12/13 07:03:36


Post by: Viterbi


Cool fluff and a very colorful and unusual scheme for your Necrons, excited to see more!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/12/13 10:22:53


Post by: gobert


Nice to have you aboard the bandwagon! A really different scheme you’ve gone for, is it contrast over metallics or reusing the greens from the warbird? It works well, I especially like the gold under the damaged bits. A good bit of fluff too, angry Necrons are the best kind!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/12/13 16:15:05


Post by: MegaDave


Warbird looks awesome and the necrons are coming along nicely, they'll look sweet on the table


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/12/13 19:35:38


Post by: youwashock


Those guys look COOL. Awesome color scheme. Nearly insectoid.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/12/18 08:03:52


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 Viterbi wrote:
Cool fluff and a very colorful and unusual scheme for your Necrons, excited to see more!


Thanks! I wanted to go for a classic B-Movie science fiction color scheme. Something you'd see on a garish poster.

 gobert wrote:
Nice to have you aboard the bandwagon! A really different scheme you’ve gone for, is it contrast over metallics or reusing the greens from the warbird? It works well, I especially like the gold under the damaged bits. A good bit of fluff too, angry Necrons are the best kind!


Yeah, it's leftover paints from the warbird, plus a few GW paints; recipe below.

 MegaDave wrote:
Warbird looks awesome and the necrons are coming along nicely, they'll look sweet on the table


Cheers to both! Hoping to start a Crusade force or similar. I don't really know how Crusade works. I've been trying to make a competitive list, but it's all theoretical at this point; mostly I'm painting what looks cool.

 youwashock wrote:
Those guys look COOL. Awesome color scheme. Nearly insectoid.


Yeah, I didn't realize but I was definitely thinking jade as in jade beetles.
-----
Thanks for the good vibes guys! Step by step (including leftover generic-brand Romulan paints)
1) your choice of olive green primer; 2) heavy drybrush of your choice of teal, two thin coats of your choice of ultramarine blue, details in Yriel Yellow (one or more thin coats); 3) wash the carapace with Biel-Tan Green, wash the blue and yellow with Drukhari Violet; 4) highlight carapace with teal, highlight yellow to soft glow in thin coats gradually mixing in white. Martion Ironcrust/Ironearth in generous combination for the base, wash the base with Drukhari Violet when dry.



Hey! That's what I call a three-color minimum. I'm happy with this as a tabletop standard. Lizardmen became a bit tedious because of the number of steps involved, this one is much easier to paint in batches. Speaking of batches, finished some scarabs, immortals, and royal warden!






Thanks for reading, all.

EDIT: dang semicolon


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/12/18 09:11:47


Post by: inmygravenimage


I really like this, it makes me think of the glorious colours of a sarcophagus. A really unique take on crons, really interesting.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/12/18 18:09:05


Post by: gobert


Nice walk through, graven is right that they look like Egyptian artefacts. You’re really cranking them out too


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/12/23 07:14:07


Post by: Viterbi


Nice force already, if you can keep this up they'll be a sizeable army in no time.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2020/12/23 12:03:54


Post by: Fifty


 inmygravenimage wrote:
I really like this, it makes me think of the glorious colours of a sarcophagus. A really unique take on crons, really interesting.


I think it is always good to see people being imaginitive with Crons. Nothing bad about them painted silver, I suppose, especially if it means someone gets a whole army finished, but it just makes me feel it is a missed opportunity.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/01/24 00:34:33


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Hey guys, it's been a minute. Have had hardly any hobby time the past few weeks, but not for lack of projects! Some fun gains this holiday season.

Thanks Fifty, Viterbi, Graven, and Gobert! I'm really happy with my Necron progress. About to polish off my squad of Destroyers, and basecoated half of the remaining warriors. All together I have about 1000 points. Played a game with my brother over the holiday ("one of the first times I've seen you with an almost fully-painted army"), Necrons are hard to keep down! I like this army a lot. I have a few more things to clean up before photos, in transport their flying bases snapped (I tried to pose them at dramatic angles but of course that's how you get broken flight stands) and they look kind of goofy just sitting on the desk.

The first model I painted in 2021 was Bullseye, for Marvel Crisis Protocol. One of my favorite characters, and really nasty in the game. A great objective camper, a must-run in any Syndicate list. Also picked up Kingpin, and given that Green Goblin is also Syndicate I've pretty much rounded out my Defenders/Syndicate roster (although still workshopping the Defenders list, they have so many high-point characters it's hard to squeeze them in).


Got some cool miniatures of the TOS bridge crew (plus Nurse Chapel) from Star Trek Adventures. Details are great, they nailed the look of the actors and I love Scotty's pose. No paint on them yet, put them together earlier today and thought I'd share.


Last bit, thought I'd share my Hobby Bingo card for 2020. Did a scroll through the blog to see how I did! Managed to get a Bingo by moving a point from one category to the other (not allowed for any one thing to count for two spaces). Not so bad.


Hopefully more Necron pics to follow! Then probably a lot more MCP; I've got Kingpin, Doc Strange, and quite a few others. Thanks for reading, all.




Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/01/26 16:19:09


Post by: gobert


Nice job on Bullseye. My knowledge of Marvel stops beyond the Movies; Is he doing shooting fingers? That’s a cool power if he is!
Well done on the hobby bingo, if rebasing my minis counts towards my total, then I think you can move categories in hobby bingo!
The Star Trek minis look cool, can’t wait to see them all painted up. I hope you have plenty of redshirts to sacrifice on the away teams!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/01/26 16:23:34


Post by: amazingturtles


Bingo! That alone is worth being proud of.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/01/26 17:40:07


Post by: youwashock


Bullseye hits the mark, for sure. And yay for bingo!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/01/26 18:36:51


Post by: inmygravenimage


I'm not a Marvel guy but that's a cracking bullseye. Great job


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/01/27 13:00:57


Post by: Viterbi


Bullseye looks great, but I'm really excited to see paint getting on those Star Trek minis. They are on my "might buy someday list" and if the Stargrave rules are good I may even be able to play with them


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/01/29 21:15:30


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 gobert wrote:
Nice job on Bullseye. My knowledge of Marvel stops beyond the Movies; Is he doing shooting fingers? That’s a cool power if he is!
Well done on the hobby bingo, if rebasing my minis counts towards my total, then I think you can move categories in hobby bingo!
The Star Trek minis look cool, can’t wait to see them all painted up. I hope you have plenty of redshirts to sacrifice on the away teams!


The nice thing about doing Bingo at home is you can cheat at Bingo at home. Thanks on Bullseye, he's a great character - his deal is that he's an expert marksman, never misses. He's got throwing knives, playing cards, ballpoint pens, all become deadly weapons in his hands (kind of like Shibumi, a spy novel I loved when I was a kid)

 amazingturtles wrote:
Bingo! That alone is worth being proud of.


Thanks Turtles, I appreciate it!

 youwashock wrote:
Bullseye hits the mark, for sure. And yay for bingo!


Cheers, fam.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
I'm not a Marvel guy but that's a cracking bullseye. Great job


Thanks Graven, I wonder sometimes if we're working at cross purposes.

 Viterbi wrote:
Bullseye looks great, but I'm really excited to see paint getting on those Star Trek minis. They are on my "might buy someday list" and if the Stargrave rules are good I may even be able to play with them


Ooh, I've heard of Stargrave. That and Grim Dark Futures are both appealing to me as rulesets, and that they're mini agnostic. Yes, definitely a goal is to run them in a sci-fi skirmish game.

------

Started with the bridge crew, got some paint on Chekhov this week. Nothing much to report there. Finished off my Destroyer squad though!



Here's a Destroyer Lord I put together, bit of greenstuff for the orb and the staff of light from all sorts of odds and ends. Problem with Necrons is they don't have a lot of flair. I put the staff together from the barrels of Gauss Reapers and a Deathmark rifle. Lower-effort conversion for a not-too-spectacular character choice. Very open to feedback on reposing/rejiggering the Staff of Light, I'm not entirely happy with it.



Let's get back to listing projects, because it helps me hold myself accountable. Current projects:

1. Finish squad of Necron Warriors (n = 10)
2. Finish Destroyer Lord (n = 1)
3. Bridge Crew (n = 9)

Then let's get back to Warcry!
4. Finish Corvus Cabal (n = 8)
5. Finish chaotic beasts (n = 6)

That's all very actionable! My goal for February will be to wrap up my Necrons, that'll get me to 1000 points fully painted. Then I need to quickly replace the Destroyer Lord with almost any other character choice.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/01/30 02:26:32


Post by: youwashock


That squad of Destroyers is looking good. Been a while since I paid attention to Necron statlines, but it seems like a grip of firepower. The Lord looks cool, too. His kit bashed weapon looks like it will bring the pain.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/01/30 11:10:35


Post by: tzurk


I'm a big fan of those colours on the crons. Anything outside silver makes me happy to see, but they give me almost Skeksis level decrepit luxury vibes.

The staff looks good to me, super intimidating, but it is also does read a bit like a BFG (I don't know the weapon stats though so if it shoots as well that may work in its favour!)


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/01/31 20:04:17


Post by: gobert


Good job finishing the destroyers, the jaunty angles add a bit of dynamism to otherwise static looking minis. The Lords star is rather, erm, large. The lower half looks to be at a slight angle though.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/01 13:19:59


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


For the Lord's Staff, I think it needs some modification. I absolutely love the way it's attached to his arm, and I like the bulk of it.

Firstly, I think it would look better if you cut the scope and handle off of the Deathmark gun part. You can consider making it shorter, but I actually quite like the longer staff on Destroyers; they could use the reach.

Secondly, Gobert is right that the lower haft looks like it didn't glue on quite straight.

Thirdly, Staffs of Light normally have small blades at the tip and even smaller blades at the base. I think adding a blade of some kind would help this look more "Staff-of-light"-y and less "Heavy Destroyer"-y.

Fourth, I think the ideal pose I would like to see with this staff is to have him have some sort of grip on it with both hands, but I have no idea if that's plausible with the pieces you have. If you have some of the Immortal or Lychguard left arms that have very bent elbows, you could maybe stick those with the elbow facing up towards their back, glue the Destroyer loose hand on it, bring the other arm across his body, so the butt of the staff is pointing behind him and he's pointing the rest of the staff ahead of him? Definitely tricky, but would be a good pose that would use the length of the staff.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/01 17:54:20


Post by: Captain Brown


Don Qui Hotep,

Another squad completed is another feather in the cap (or on the headdress for your Slann).

CB


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/03 07:01:59


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 youwashock wrote:
That squad of Destroyers is looking good. Been a while since I paid attention to Necron statlines, but it seems like a grip of firepower. The Lord looks cool, too. His kit bashed weapon looks like it will bring the pain.


It's a decent unit for the points. I guess I've been feeling pretty dakka lately.

 tzurk wrote:
I'm a big fan of those colours on the crons. Anything outside silver makes me happy to see, but they give me almost Skeksis level decrepit luxury vibes.

The staff looks good to me, super intimidating, but it is also does read a bit like a BFG (I don't know the weapon stats though so if it shoots as well that may work in its favour!)


Yaassss, these are decadent Necrons. Angry that they can't experience the manic ecstasy of their religious rituals anymore.

 gobert wrote:
Good job finishing the destroyers, the jaunty angles add a bit of dynamism to otherwise static looking minis. The Lords star is rather, erm, large. The lower half looks to be at a slight angle though.


Egads, yer right. Better pin it this time! Thanks for pointing that out.

 Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:
For the Lord's Staff, I think it needs some modification. I absolutely love the way it's attached to his arm, and I like the bulk of it.

Firstly, I think it would look better if you cut the scope and handle off of the Deathmark gun part. You can consider making it shorter, but I actually quite like the longer staff on Destroyers; they could use the reach.

Secondly, Gobert is right that the lower haft looks like it didn't glue on quite straight.

Thirdly, Staffs of Light normally have small blades at the tip and even smaller blades at the base. I think adding a blade of some kind would help this look more "Staff-of-light"-y and less "Heavy Destroyer"-y.

Fourth, I think the ideal pose I would like to see with this staff is to have him have some sort of grip on it with both hands, but I have no idea if that's plausible with the pieces you have. If you have some of the Immortal or Lychguard left arms that have very bent elbows, you could maybe stick those with the elbow facing up towards their back, glue the Destroyer loose hand on it, bring the other arm across his body, so the butt of the staff is pointing behind him and he's pointing the rest of the staff ahead of him? Definitely tricky, but would be a good pose that would use the length of the staff.


Thanks for the feedback, I have taken your advice and cut off the sights. I can't quite create the pose you describe but I think I can do something else. I also agree it needs a blade. I think I've got the right bits. Cheers!

 Captain Brown wrote:
Don Qui Hotep,

Another squad completed is another feather in the cap (or on the headdress for your Slann).

CB


I accept the accreditation, thank you!

----------

Progress on the Necrons, but pretty boring, I need to do the yellow piping and Drucchi Violet wash. Thanks for the feedback on the Destroyer Lord, I'm fiddling around with the staff. Trying to be strategic with my Necron bitz!

But I've been painting in the meantime a bit more for MCP. It's nice to go back and forth from batch painting to detail work, flexing different muscles! Here's a work in progress on the Kingpin:





Hope to share pics when he's done and then next up is the Necron warriors. Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/03 07:41:43


Post by: inmygravenimage


Very nicely shaded white there, I know what you mean about channel-hopping and using different painting muscles - keeps it fresh.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/03 14:39:43


Post by: Viterbi


Kingpin is already looking very cool, love the color on the details like his rings and such, makes them pop in contrast to the white suit. And OMG that must have been hell to paint, so much white...


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/03 22:16:18


Post by: gobert


Nice work on kingpin, he sure is a big fella!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/04 17:46:19


Post by: youwashock


Digging the white on Wilson. Great layering.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/06 15:12:35


Post by: Fifty


Kingpin looks amazing.

I am not a massive Marvel fan generally, but if I like anything about Marvel, my favourite hero is probably Spidey and my fave villain is Kingpin, and yours looks great. Kingpin is like an interesting version of Lex Luthor.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/06 15:29:46


Post by: amazingturtles


He's very good, and very sinister looking! I'm honestly pretty clueless about a lot of superhero stuff, but I've seen into the spiderverse at least so i recognize him! It's neat to see how different approaches to the same character can still capture the right personality.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/07 02:11:50


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 inmygravenimage wrote:
Very nicely shaded white there, I know what you mean about channel-hopping and using different painting muscles - keeps it fresh.


Glad to know I'm not alone! Sometimes you just want to treat yourself.

 Viterbi wrote:
Kingpin is already looking very cool, love the color on the details like his rings and such, makes them pop in contrast to the white suit. And OMG that must have been hell to paint, so much white...


Thanks, I think I've posted pictures of my white Chaos Marines in a few other places, I've got a lot of practice! I started that renegade chapter scheme a few years ago, I was playing a lot of Dystopian Wars at the time and painted each nation like their flag (little union jack tanks!). I really liked how the Japanese ships looked, the clean whites and intense reds. So I decided to make my renegade that scheme - well it was fine for a couple ships, not so much for dozens of marines! Got burnt out painting white and that's when I switched to AoS and started this blog, really.

 gobert wrote:
Nice work on kingpin, he sure is a big fella!


Yes! For scale, that's a 50 mm base he's on.

 youwashock wrote:
Digging the white on Wilson. Great layering.


Cheers! As I said, I've got way too much practice.

 Fifty wrote:
Kingpin looks amazing.

I am not a massive Marvel fan generally, but if I like anything about Marvel, my favourite hero is probably Spidey and my fave villain is Kingpin, and yours looks great. Kingpin is like an interesting version of Lex Luthor.


Definitely, I'm planning on painting Spidey next! Thanks.

 amazingturtles wrote:
He's very good, and very sinister looking! I'm honestly pretty clueless about a lot of superhero stuff, but I've seen into the spiderverse at least so i recognize him! It's neat to see how different approaches to the same character can still capture the right personality.


Agreed! I love Spiderverse, such a creative movie. Kingpin's a really fun character, whatever the incarnation. It took some googling but I found the one quote I remembered from the Spider-Man cartoon: "My body weight is approximately 2% fat." The rest is the mean streets.

-----------

Finished up the Kingpin! His suit as immaculate as ever. Say Mr. Fisk, what's that on your shoe?



Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/07 09:25:34


Post by: gobert


Good work finishing off the big boy! I’d use that 2% fat line myself, but I’m not convinced a quiet English Cul de sac counts as a mean street


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/07 14:53:15


Post by: Viterbi


He looks really cool and menacing, great job and that cartoon quote is fun


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/07 14:55:56


Post by: amazingturtles


Very excellent, he's looking powerful and brooding.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/09 20:55:55


Post by: DJJazzyJeff


Excellent work on Kinpin. Digging the Necron force. 1,000 points is no laughing matter.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/10 02:49:53


Post by: darkkt


KingPin is amazing. This white suit is an absolute killer job. 2 thumbs up!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/10 14:38:23


Post by: MegaDave


Kingpin is great, you really nailed the suit.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/11 00:53:53


Post by: tzurk


Yeah mate, that Kingpin is aces. You really smashed the white out of the park, and the shadowing on the skin is lovely too. Very thematic mini, looks straight out of the comic pages. Nice work!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/16 22:05:32


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Thanks for the kind words guys, I really appreciate it! I'll be honest, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about MCP lately - not a lot of hobby energy. Tried to fix that last night and get some work on my Necrons. Not much to report, finished cleaning up their blue highlights; last bit is to do green edge highlights on their armor and last spot white highlights on their guns/eyes. Posting here more to motivate myself than anything.



Based on the feedback received I went ahead and made some changes to the Destroyer Lord's weapon. Reposed it and his arms so he was holding it across his chest, using a trigger mechanism from a guass reaper. The blade is just half of a bread tag (following the advice of darkkt, everyone read his blog!). Cut off the sights, straitened out the bottom handgrips. Thoughts and feelings?





I see him slinging it under his arm when he takes aim, and swinging it two-handed (keeping the trigger mechanism in his right hand and gripping the shaft with his left). It's not quite, well, practical, but I think it does a good job communicating to my opponent that he's armed with a Staff of Light, combination blade and gun.

Thanks for reading all, hope to get these guys finished up soon!



Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/17 09:36:00


Post by: inmygravenimage


I love this, I'm getting a total 16 bit adventure vibe from them!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/17 14:08:41


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


Now THAT'S a weapon worthy of a Destroyer Lord! Love it.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/17 18:28:54


Post by: Captain Brown


 Don Qui Hotep wrote:
Thanks for the kind words guys, I really appreciate it! I'll be honest, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about MCP lately - not a lot of hobby energy. Tried to fix that last night and get some work on my Necrons. Not much to report, finished cleaning up their blue highlights; last bit is to do green edge highlights on their armor and last spot white highlights on their guns/eyes. Posting here more to motivate myself than anything.


We are always willing to help.

Keep up the good work.

Cheers,

CB


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/17 20:52:17


Post by: inmygravenimage


I hear your brother. Stay strong. Dakka is The Good Place.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/20 19:07:09


Post by: gobert


Good work Don, I think the new pose is better, his left hand looks like he’s playing a chord on his Axe! inmygravenimage has hit the nail on the head though, they have a great retro gaming vibe to them, and this dude is the really annoying boss that’s hard to get past.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/21 03:52:09


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Thanks for the good cheer, Graven, Cap Brown, and Gobert! It is appreciated. Managed to do a little bit every day this week. Polished off the Necrons, starting with 10 warriors.



And the Destroyer Lord!




Not a bad job for a three-color minimum "Battle Ready" HQ, I think! Why not indulge in some army shots; that's 1015 points on that shelf.



Shameless closeups





Thanks for reading, all. Gotta think about what to do next. There are five basecoated MCP characters on my desk, or I could go back to Warcry. I would like to finish up that Corvus Cabal. Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/21 10:51:51


Post by: gobert


That’s a fine looking shelf of painted minis! Makes me feel like I should build some more of my Necrons. Good luck deciding on the next project


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/21 11:45:27


Post by: inmygravenimage


The 80s Saturday morning vibe of these guys is unreal. I'd love to see them up against some blood angels or something. Hint


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/21 15:09:02


Post by: Meer_Cat


Very nicely executed army- the use of the paint scheme really ties every unit together into a composite whole. The level of skill in executing the painting is impressive also. Well done.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/27 23:46:02


Post by: DJJazzyJeff


Rock-solid. A really great color scheme, and a great looking force.

My Space Marines would make a good contrast. I don't think we are anywhere near each other, though.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/28 00:36:41


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 gobert wrote:
That’s a fine looking shelf of painted minis! Makes me feel like I should build some more of my Necrons. Good luck deciding on the next project


Thanks bud! As this post will attest, my next project has ended up being: more Necrons.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
The 80s Saturday morning vibe of these guys is unreal. I'd love to see them up against some blood angels or something. Hint


Ooh, that's a thought. I do still have my marines from the Elite Edition. I've had this idea for a while of marines whose gene seed has been tainted by Genestealers, probably using Blood Angels rules. Might be a fun match up!

 Meer_Cat wrote:
Very nicely executed army- the use of the paint scheme really ties every unit together into a composite whole. The level of skill in executing the painting is impressive also. Well done.


Cheers, I appreciate it! First army I've had fully painted in a loooong time.

 DJJazzyJeff wrote:
Rock-solid. A really great color scheme, and a great looking force.

My Space Marines would make a good contrast. I don't think we are anywhere near each other, though.


Hey green and red are a classic contrast! Might not be close but keeping the hobby energy strong in different parts of the country. I'm based in SoCal and very happy to meet internet friends.

-------------

Bit of a treat for myself, I picked up a Doom Scythe this month. It is part of my 2000 point list, but I'm going to try finishing up my Warcry stuff before I add any more Necrons. I was really chuffed with how it turned out! In some of the close ups I do see where I got a little sloppy with the blue paint, so I'll have to clean that up, but I think it's basically done at this point.







Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/28 00:48:57


Post by: darkkt


Love this blue-turquoise colour scheme: clean & bright, really distinctive

Also - how did I miss the Breadtag Blade??? Nicely done & Welcome to the Tag Revolution!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/28 06:30:07


Post by: Viterbi


Destroyer lord conversion looks good, practicality was never in issue in 40k
Croissant is really amazing, the colors work great on it and a nice contrast to the dusty base.
Excited to see you tackle some WarCry stuff next (looks to his on little pile that waits for paint...)


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/28 08:21:24


Post by: inmygravenimage


I just love your colour scheme, has a real MotU vibe to eat - by the power Necron!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/02/28 20:33:11


Post by: gobert


Keeping the bread theme going too with a Croissant this time! It looks cool and well done for persevering with all of those edge highlights. The only thing I don’t like is that it’s open topped, why GW didn’t put a canopy on it is beyond me. Nice job anyways


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/03/02 01:00:41


Post by: Captain Brown


Army is coming along Don Qui Hotep.

Glad to see you are chipping away at it.

Cheers,

CB


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/03/02 20:32:33


Post by: youwashock


Great army shots, and the Doom Scythe is really striking.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/03/05 01:15:56


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 darkkt wrote:
Love this blue-turquoise colour scheme: clean & bright, really distinctive

Also - how did I miss the Breadtag Blade??? Nicely done & Welcome to the Tag Revolution!


I may never look at a bread basket the same way again (sobs). Cheers!

 Viterbi wrote:
Destroyer lord conversion looks good, practicality was never in issue in 40k
Croissant is really amazing, the colors work great on it and a nice contrast to the dusty base.
Excited to see you tackle some WarCry stuff next (looks to his on little pile that waits for paint...)


Haha I never noticed it was a croissant. I feel like such a dummy - it's even got the knot in the middle. I think I'll get to Warcry next. They're scheme is going to be much darker so I better get prepared for it.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
I just love your colour scheme, has a real MotU vibe to eat - by the power Necron!


A certain Skull Master will be appearing in this update as well!

 gobert wrote:
Keeping the bread theme going too with a Croissant this time! It looks cool and well done for persevering with all of those edge highlights. The only thing I don’t like is that it’s open topped, why GW didn’t put a canopy on it is beyond me. Nice job anyways


That really bothered me too! That's part of the reason I positioned the pilot the way I did, looking down and gesturing to the soldiers below. Maybe he just retracted the canopy for a moment to give one last order before closing it again!

 Captain Brown wrote:
Army is coming along Don Qui Hotep.

Glad to see you are chipping away at it.

Cheers,

CB


Cheers as always Captain Brown, I plan on expanding it with a command barge next, but I'll have to wait a bit.

 youwashock wrote:
Great army shots, and the Doom Scythe is really striking.


Thanks, I decided to take it really bright with this one, especially as compared to my warriors. Maybe the sun will reflect off its wings and help distract the guy with the rocket.

-----------

Had a session of MCP on TableTop with the brother and some friends, it was a great interface and found it easy to use. We tried out a bit of Legion too. But that gave me a burst of hobby energy to finish off my roster of ten. First up is the Defenders, led by Doc Strange and Wong, and the infernal Ghost Rider.





Two of the Masters of Evil, the mad Baron Zemo and mercenary Task Master.




And a coupla wall crawlers, Spider Man in his symbiote suit, Ghost Spider, and Black Widow.


And the roster all together! Kingpin, Doctor Strange (Soul Stone), Wong, Ghost Rider, Ghost Spider (no relation), Zemo, Hobgoblin, Task Master, Bullseye.





Warcry next. Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/03/05 01:39:58


Post by: Arakasi


Looking really good all together.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/03/05 07:47:42


Post by: inmygravenimage


Ah, the Spectacular Smorgasbord! Particularly like your take on Ghost Spider and the Ghost Rider fire.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/03/05 09:33:06


Post by: gobert


They look great all finished. The big lad is a real centre piece scale mini and my pick of the bunch


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/03/05 20:35:11


Post by: youwashock


Ghost Rider is perfect. Great job.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/03/15 18:11:01


Post by: Viterbi


What a nice bunch of minis, my favorite is Task Master, great work on the white.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/03/17 19:13:57


Post by: DJJazzyJeff


That's a solid group of Marvel characters. It would take some sort of Earth-shattering event to get them all to team up, but it's cool.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/03/30 05:09:51


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Thanks for the kind words everyone, I really appreciate it. Things have been busy but I've been able to get a little bit of hobby done every day, sometimes every other day.

As promised, here are some updates to Warcry. After over a year, trying to polish off my Corvus Cabal. Here's as far as I got:



And that's all I have to say about that - because I got distracted by another Necron project. I think I might have a Necron problem. I was looking at the Catacomb Command Barge kit and was thinking that it might be possible to use the kit to make a Cryptek as well as a full CCB. When I get an idea like that I have to give it a try. I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of this.




Technomancer with Canoptek Cloak:





And I've got the basecoat on the CCB, hopefully I'll be able to finish it by the end of the week.





Thanks for reading, all.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/03/30 13:12:54


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


I like the cryptek's cane!


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/03/30 14:03:23


Post by: inmygravenimage


Still loving your colour choices.


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/04/02 23:19:39


Post by: gobert


Nice barge and extra dude, must be quite a sizeable force now


Don Qui Hotep's Backlog Painting Log - Small Mechanical Spider @ 2021/04/05 06:42:15


Post by: Viterbi


Getting distracted is always easy, but it is to our benefit, love seeing more Necrons arrive in your color scheme Nice idea with the kitbash, works really well.