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ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/06/02 05:16:00


Post by: ZergSmasher


Hello everyone. I've decided to restart my P&M blog as I've made some changes in my hobbying (mainly in my life priorities) and wanted to start fresh. I've had a bit of a "crisis of faith" recently, meaning that I've realized that, as a Christian, I've realized that I've neglected my relationship with God. I began to question a lot of things I've been spending time doing, and Warhammer was at the top of that list. I realized that I was obsessing over it too much, to the point that not only was I forgetting my religion, but it was overriding my life decisions (and even common sense) as I'd begun to structure my life around my hobby instead of fitting my hobby into my life. I also started to wonder about the content of Warhammer, with all its hopelessness and demonic imagery and stuff, and its possible impact on my mental and spiritual health. I seriously considered quitting Warhammer right then and there and even prepared to sell all of my models, but then I kind of came to my senses, realizing that, first of all, I'd regret the decision pretty quickly, and also I'd probably just start obsessing over some other stupid thing unless I got my head on straight. So I've decided to continue, but tone down how much time I spend on Warhammer-related stuff. I've also sold my entire Tau collection and I am currently in the process of selling the remainder of my Chaos armies. Meaning that as of now I'm a purely Imperial player. It actually feels good to downsize a little bit, as now I can focus my collection on my other armies. I'm also going to get rid of Blackstone Fortress as it's just taking up space and I've pretty much lost all interest in it (probably was a mistake to pick it up in the first place, just one example of poor life decisions in my hobby).

I'm going to be diluting my Warhammer hobby time with some other model stuff, mainly Lord of the Rings, as I've already got a decent collection sitting around. I picked up the Pelennor Fields box set recently and have assembled a bunch of the models already. I'm really looking forward to painting that, as The Lord of the Rings is probably my favorite book series of all time and the movies (which inspired most of the miniatures) were really good also. My first Lord of the Rings project in this new era is actually going to be Tom Bombadil and Goldberry, who I'm painting for the monthly painting challenge. Pics of them will be coming soon.

As for Warhammer, I'll be continuing mostly as before. Most of the changes will be "behind the scenes" things like not making as many purchases and stuff. On that note, here's a WIP shot of Logan Grimnar, who was going to be part of my entry in last month's painting challenge:

Plenty of work left to do on him, but he'll get there.

On the Sisters of Battle front, here's a WIP of the Seraphim:

Kind of a crappy photo, but most of the contrast paint work is done, so I'm down to the parts that will be done with traditional paint.

Finally, here's a link to my old blog, in case any new viewers want to see my past painting and modelling exploits: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/647095.page


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/06/02 13:18:10


Post by: youwashock


I hope these changes make some positive impact for you. Looking forward to seeing how you progress.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/06/02 21:18:25


Post by: Theophony


Always good to put the Lord first. Tolkien was a believer too, I have a book dealing with it at home. I have a hard time prioritizing hobby and God at different stages of life as well. It gets even harder if your gaming group has no desire to even discuss it.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/06/02 21:46:39


Post by: Nevelon


On the plus side, working on your faith should get you that sweet 6++ save!

You do what you need to do to keep yourself happy and going strong. If the hobby was edging out other more important things, paring it back is not a bad idea. It should be something done for fun and to relax, not a burden or an obligation.

Looking forward to seeing what you are up to. I’ll be here if you need anything.

—Nev


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/06/23 03:28:33


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Thanks, I think it has already helped.

@Theo: Good to know I'm not the only believer around here. My local group had one other good Christian guy, but he left once he got his PhD.

@Nev: Thanks for your support, and you're right. My hobby had become too much of a controlling aspect of my life, but rather than a burden, it was just kind of an unhealthy obsession. Going forward I'll be more careful to keep things in perspective and keep my priorities straight.

Been spending a bit too much time playing video games and stuff and so not getting a lot of hobbying done, but I do have some progress to show finally. I've gotten a pretty good start on Tom Bombadil and Goldberry for the monthly painting challenge, so here's the latest WIP of them:

Still some work to be done, but all the major colors are blocked in and some shades and highlights are already down.

Got a couple more colors down on Logan Grimnar:

Gold and the gray Crux Terminatus on his left shoulder have now been basecoated. Not shown in the photo is the underside of the pelt which has also been basecoated in Rhinox Hide.

Finally, in part as preparation for the upcoming 9th edition of 40k, I've gotten back to some of my WIP Primaris Dark Angels, starting with this Eliminator Squad:

They were already decently far along, but now they are almost done. Just a few highlights and small details, plus the bases to finish. After this, two more Eliminator units to finish. I'm hoping to get most if not all of my Primaris Dark Angels done in time to pick up the Marines half of the Indomitus box when it drops (and ohh baby am I looking forward to painting those models!), but I might get distracted with some Lord of the Rings stuff (got some Minas Tirith guys primed and I'm itching to paint them!).

Stay foxy, my friends!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/06/23 03:55:00


Post by: youwashock


Tom Bombadil, Tom Bombadil-o...nice to see them coming along. More Dark Angels are looking good, too.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/06/23 10:41:35


Post by: Nevelon


Looking good. Nice progress.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/06/23 12:18:36


Post by: Theophony


Yep, hard to find "believers" who game. It's a stigma from my youth when news media made up stories of D&D cultists and wargames being an entry drug into the satanic lifestyle. My parents did not approve of my gaming, but most of my friends who gamed either were church goers, are now pastors (one priest) and/or live a life which is generally wholesome.

Good to see some more models, any progress is good progress.

Video games are the death of my hobbying. While sitting at my printer it is so easy to turn on our old desktop computer 10+years old and play a 20+year old game of Alpha Centauri , then hours are lost .


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/07/01 04:36:59


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Thanks!

@Nev: Thanks!

@Theo: Major kudos for mentioning Alpha Centauri! That's perhaps my favorite Civilization game ever (I mean, it literally is Civilization on another planet). Very easy to lose track of time and keep playing into the wee hours of the morning because "just one more turn!"

Finally finished Tom Bombadil and Goldberry, and in the nick of time too! Here are the final pics:



Really had fun painting these models, as they are fan favorites from the books who didn't make it into the movies. I probably could have done better, particularly on Tom's jacket (probably should have done an intermediate highlight instead of going straight to the stark bright blue edge highlights), but overall I'm happy with them (particularly how Goldberry's hair turned out).

Next month, my painting challenge entry is likely going to be some Warriors of Minas Tirith. From what I've seen and heard they are about like painting Space Marines, in that the color scheme is pretty straightforward and the models aren't overly busy. Getting a bunch of those done will help bolster my flagging model count for the year, as I'm massively off the pace to make it to 100.



ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/07/01 04:52:07


Post by: brushcommando


Nice work! I'm kind of glad Tom and Goldberry didn't make it into the LOTR films. I doubt Peter Jackson would have understood them and would probably have inserted needless drama. You did a really nice job bringing the models to life. Excited to see what you do with the rest of your LOTR stuff.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/07/01 13:13:09


Post by: Theophony


Nice work highlighting the browns and blues on tom .

Yep, Alpha Centauri is a time suck. But the other game I’d rather be playing, which I can’t find the play disk for is Might and Magic Vi (I think it’s 6) the next iteration the graphics sucked. I had found the cheat/secret passage on the first map to the dragonlands and if your quick you can amp your characters up from first level with basic attributes to all max attributes in a half hour or so. Then your dropping meteors within 24hours of starting the game and wiping out all the dragons in the dragon sands . This is why I can’t play newer computer games .


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/07/01 17:31:30


Post by: youwashock


Good job getting them done. I love Tom's trademark yellow boots.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/07/19 05:23:11


Post by: ZergSmasher


@brush: Thanks, and you're probably right about Tom Bombadil in the movies.

@Theo: Thanks!

@YWS: Thanks! The bright colors really made these models fun to do.

Gotten some more work done. Finished one set of five Infiltrators (half of the squad from Shadowspear) that had been sitting half done for the better part of a year (since late October 2019!). Here's a quick pic:

I'll take proper pics when I finish the rest of the squad. Speaking of which, here's a WIP of them:

These are my entry in the July painting challenge. I'm off the pace to finish them by the end of the month, but I think I can still do it if I can just get over my short attention span for once.

I'm also working on the Lieutenant in Phobos Armor at the same time:

He's going to get a little more attention to detail than the regular joes since he is a character, but otherwise I'm using the same techniques and paints (a lot of contrast paint). Overall I don't think I'm going to use Contrast paints for Dark Angels armor anymore as it gives kind of a candy look that I don't care for (like a green jaw breaker or something, if that makes any sense). Contrast is wonderful for some things, but Space Marine armor isn't really one of them IMO. Your mileage may vary, of course, and I would definitely stick with contrast for painting Imperial Fists or anything else yellow (hence why I'm using it for my Sisters).

Finally, I've started working on some Warriors of Minas Tirith as well:

Might be one project too many right now, but these guys are low-effort, simple models that should be very easy and give me a break from endless Space Marines. I do want to build up some fully painted stuff from my Middle-earth collection, and I'm starting with Minas Tirith as it's probably my largest Good army right now.

Just one week left until I get my hands on the Marine models from the Indomitus box set and probably the 9th edition rulebook as well, so something else to look forward to!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/07/19 09:28:43


Post by: Viterbi


Nice work on the first Infiltrators, they are some of my favorite marine models and were really fun to paint.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/07/19 10:20:49


Post by: Nevelon


Infiltrators are coming along well. They are fun models. I’ve still got 2 more from my squad I need to find time to paint.

Painting up different things helps keep the burnout away. The LotR stuff might help you there. Mix things up, keep it fresh.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/07/19 18:30:21


Post by: youwashock


Infiltrators look real good. Looking forward to seeing some of those new Marines in DA colors.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/07/19 20:05:56


Post by: brushcommando


Looking good! I hear you about contrast paints and space marine armor. I do however find that if you just want to use it a base coat, following Duncan Rhodes' famed advice of two or three thin coats works wonders for getting a solid foundation down. Weirdly didn't occur to me to use as a technique until I saw his video. Minas Tirith look great as well. They're very simple to paint up (except the tree on the shield) but they look great when finished. Excited to see more.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/07/19 20:24:09


Post by: JulietTango343


I actually really like the look of those infiltrators. Contrast paints are finicky, but I kinda want to experiment with that now. What'd you paint it over? Also the Minas Tirith look good too.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/07/20 01:57:11


Post by: JoshInJapan


Sometimes it's good to take a step back, reflect, and make some changes. I'm sure you'll find your new balance quickly.

I like your work on Tom Bombadil and Goldberry. I find it refreshing to work on something every now and then that isn't about killing and violence.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/08/01 05:28:28


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Viterbi: Thanks!

@Nev: Thanks, and you're definitely right about variety helping keep the burnout away. Not a cure-all, but it helps.

@YWS: Thanks, and hopefully you won't have long to wait...

@brush: Thanks! To me, using multiple coats of Contrast kind of defeats the purpose. With the dark colors, it just makes it all look black (I tried it once and had to redo it).

@JT343: I painted the Dark Angels Green contrast over a basecoat of Wraithbone.

@Josh: Thank you, and you're right. Tom and Goldberry made a nice change of pace from endless Warhammer stuff.

Some small progress, but nowhere near enough to make the painting challenge deadline. Latest WIP of the Infiltrators:

Metals and leather are down, still a few basecoats left to do on smaller details and then those things will need shades and highlights.

Lieutenant is in a similar spot:

Once I finish this guy, he'll be my fourth Primaris Lieutenant. The one from Indomitus will be number five. Speaking of which...

Indomitus has arrived, and it heralds the 9th edition of Warhammer 40,000. This will be the third edition of the game I've played (assuming this stupid pandemic ever lets me get any games in ). A lot has changed, but overall I'm still a huge fan and the models are getting better all the time. I picked up the Marines half of the Indomitus set, and I've assembled the models complete with a few Dark Angels-themed accessories to show their allegiance. Here's a shot of all of them in their bare plastic glory:

The picture doesn't clearly show what I changed, so I'll list the things I did to customize some of the models:
Captain (Master): Instead of using any of the stock heads, I opted to use a robed head. It fits in well since the model has robes on. I also added a bit from the old DA upgrade sprue (with keys and a sheathed dagger).
Chaplain: Only thing I did was add a censer to him on the front right side. These models are posed very specifically and already have so much bling that it was tricky to figure out how to add anything.
Bladeguard Ancient: Added a Deathwing icon to his backpack, and a ritual dagger (from the Deathwing Terminators set) to his right front side.
Intercessor Sergeant: Instead of using the Sergeant front plate from the kit, I used a regular front and added the tilting plate from the DA Primaris Upgrade sprue. I also used a head from that sprue instead of the included Sergeant head.
Bladeguard Sergeant: Added a ritual dagger, similar to the Ancient above.
Outriders: Added a Ravenwing icon to one side of each bike, and a rucksack to the other, which should evoke the old Ravenwing bikes well enough. Didn't see an easy way to add the iconic winged fairings, and I don't have enough of them or the tail fins to add them to all three anyways (the tails from the Ravenwing sprue are a little small anyway).

Hopefully I get a chance to prime the new stuff soon, then I'll get started painting! I already have an order planned for them: 5 Intercessors, Judiciar, 5 Intercessors, Chaplain, Eradicators, Lieutenant, Bladeguard, Bladeguard Ancient, Outriders, Captain. This way I'll start with the least interesting stuff and "reward" myself by painting a character each time I do a unit.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/08/01 12:58:21


Post by: amazingturtles


That's a lot of neat little changes! I like that you're adding variety to them, keeping it interesting.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/08/15 04:23:33


Post by: ZergSmasher


@turtles: Thanks, adding little things like that is one of the most fun things to do for a unit. Kind of lets you make the models your own.

I've gotten a little bit of hobby time in over the last couple of weeks, although now that I've finally jumped on the Skyrim bandwagon (waaaaaay late for that party but whatever) I'm finding that it's hard to quit with the video games long enough to paint. Anyways, my entry for August's painting challenge is my Sister Dialogus, since she fits the theme of Mastermind very well. Here's a WIP shot of her:

For the purple on her robes, I used like 3 parts Contrast Medium to 1 part Shyish Purple, and I think I finally got a shade of purple that I'm happy with. If anything, it's a little too light, but it works okay. On this particular model, I actually used black on part of the cloth to break up the purple a little (this model has a lot of cloth and very little yellow armor showing). I still need to basecoat the gold details, but otherwise I think she's getting there.

While I'm on the subject of Sisters, I actually got back to work on the Seraphim from the army set. Latest WIP shot:

Basecoated the leather parts and started working on the metallics (not all done yet). Ways to go, but they're coming along.
I also assembled one of the new Sororitas Rhino kits:

I love this kit! It has enough different stuff in it to make it a refreshing change to the same tired old Rhino hull (of which I've now built at least 13 in my hobby career), and the little details are very cool! Looking forward to eventually getting some paint down on this thing.

In Dark Angels news, I got the Indomitus models primed, but I'm not actually going to start painting them just yet. The only way I'm going to motivate myself to start clearing my backlog is to wait with these models until I finish another project. So, I'm going to finish painting all the Marines from Shadowspear (already sold the Chaos half to a friend). On that note, I've gotten back to work on the Infiltrators I was working on before:

And the Eliminators from the set:

And finally the Phobos Lieutenant:

Still some work to be done on all these, but they are at least going to get done, hopefully by the end of the month. Waiting to work on the Indomitus guys will be reasonably good motivation I hope. And don't worry, when I finish there'll be at least a couple of group shots of the whole Shadowspear gang.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/08/15 11:11:58


Post by: Nevelon


Solid progress here!

Shyish Purple comes out of the pot DARK. I was on the fence about thining it down on my ‘nids, but took the lazy out and just embraced the shade.

I’m with you on the half-finished projects that need to be wrapped up. It feels like I’ve got a dozen irons in the fire and just want to clean some of them off the to-do list. Setting aside the new shiny to take care of the old is the adult thing to do. Not that it makes it easy.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/08/15 22:13:42


Post by: youwashock


More yellow Sisters are good to see. Putting off new for old is the adult thing to do, indeed. That must be why I hate doing it.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/08/16 23:50:36


Post by: JoshInJapan


Dude, your Dark Angels force must be pretty huge by now. I'm truly impressed that you can stay focussed on one force for so long.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/08/17 05:37:21


Post by: Viterbi


Ah, finishing projects... does anyone ever do that? Great update, good luck on working through the shadowspear box and nice to see more of your sisters!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/08/31 03:44:54


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks for the input! Good to know I'm not the only one who finds Shyish Purple to be really dark; makes it far less likely that I got a bad pot or something. Also nice to know I'm not the only one with "project overload"!

@YWS: Yeah, adulting is rough sometimes, huh?

@Josh: I've got a sizeable army of Dark Angels, yes. Something on the order of 16k points in 9th edition. Sadly half or less of it is fully painted. As for staying focused, I wish I had done better at that; more of them might be painted!

@Viterbi: Yes, I have finished a project before. I painted all the Marines from Dark Imperium! What's sad is that's probably the only box set from which I fully painted a force...

I finished the Dialogus; here are my final pics of her:



She turned out pretty good if I do say so myself (not to blow my own trumpet or anything), other than some of the script lines on the parchment. Still haven't quite gotten that down yet. I also made my first attempt in a long time at painting eyes; she ended up appearing to be looking out of the corners of her eyes down at something, but that actually works on this model so I call it a happy accident!

Sadly not much else to report on the painting front. Some progress has been made on the Shadowspear models but nothing worth taking a picture of. They are SO close to done, I need to just go ahead and finish! I did recently receive these in the mail after ordering them way back when:

The Librarian will go to my Dark Angels. The Sister will either get painted in my own color scheme and join the rest of the army, or I might do her as a one-off display piece to match the artwork the sculpt is based on as closely as possible.

Hopefully I'll have some final photos of at least some of the Shadowspear marines soon! In the meantime, stay classy!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/08/31 16:41:17


Post by: youwashock


Dialogus turned out very nice. I think Tariana would look awesome in your Sisters scheme.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/09/01 12:04:10


Post by: Viterbi


Very nice job on the Dialogus! I'm a little torn with that model. It looks great, but I haven't really read her rules and am not sure, how she would contribute to my army.
Have fun with painting the LE sculpts!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/11/06 07:44:47


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Thanks!

@Viterbi: Thank you! The Dialogus is an interesting support piece. Probably not super competitive, but a cool model and fun to use.

IT'S ALIVE!!!

It's been a couple of months since I posted here last, but I am indeed still alive and well. And I've gotten some hobby work done, too. The Shadowspear Marines are finished. Yes, I probably could improve them a bit, but I am just ready to get them off my painting bench. They look good enough and are certainly decent tabletop standard. As promised, I've got pics. Massive photo dump incoming:

First, the three characters:





Of these, I'm happiest with the Librarian, I think. He's certainly the most interesting of the three, at least in my opinion.

Next, we have the Eliminators:


They turned out okay, but definitely not my best work by a wide margin. They are pretty cool models though for sure.

Finally, the Infiltrators:



Few spots I see where I made a little bit of a mess, but overall I'm happy with them. They may get a fair amount of use in 9th edition 40k, so I'm glad I can say they are fully done.

"But Zerg, where are the Suppressors?!" I can hear you say. I painted those a fair while back, but since I've changed blogs since then I'll throw up a pic of them from before to catch everyone up:

These are the only Shadowspear models for which I did not use Contrast paints.

Finally, I know you are all wanting this, so here's a group shot of the entire contents of the Space Marines half of the Shadowspear box set:

Overall, I think these are very cool models. The Phobos-pattern armor has a distinctive look compared to the standard Mk. X Primaris armor, giving these guys a kind of black-ops feel, which fits well with their fluff and how they play in games. Most of these models are now packaged as the Start Collecting: Vanguard Space Marines box (except for the Captain and Librarian, who are available separately). While it was a worthwhile experiment to use Contrast paint for these models, I consider the experiment to be a failure overall. Contrast paint is a wonderful thing, but not for all the smooth surfaces found on vehicles or Space Marine armor. I feel like a lot of the armor came out looking like it was made out of candy (like a gumball or maybe a Jawbreaker). Doing more coats might help with that, but to me that defeats the purpose of Contrast paint. In future, I'll be painting my Dark Angels with traditional paints, and save my Contrast for other projects. Still, it's nice being able to call a project to a close, so now on to my next projects which will be done concurrently: the Marines half of Indomitus, and the remaining models from the Sisters of Battle army set (Good Lord has it been a year already since that box dropped?!).

In other news, I tried and failed to finish the Witch-King of Angmar on Fell Beast for the September painting challenge. Here's how far I did get on him:

All of the basecoats and shades are done, so really it's just highlights and small details left to do. I'll try to finish it soonish.

I also picked up some new stuff for my Dark Angels:

That is a box of Incursors, an Invader ATV (no Mario Kart jokes please), and a Primaris Chaplain on bike. Not shown is a unit of Outriders that I got from the Elite Edition starter set, as well as 2 sprues of Assault Intercessors and the characters from both the Elite and Recruit starters (sold all the Necrons from those sets to a friend). The Intercessors and characters are going to be Space Wolves rather than Dark Angels, but I needed the Outriders for my Ravenwing.

And finally, I bought another box of Repentia for my Sisters of Battle. Haven't assembled them yet, but I did decide that since I don't need a third Repentia Superior, I'd build her as a Canoness. Here's the result of that kitbash:

The body is from the aforementioned Repentia Superior, the arms, head, and backpack are leftovers from the Canoness kit, and the chainsword is a leftover from a sprue of Mk. III Space Marines. I had to use some modelling putty (not-Green Stuff) to get the right arm on there because it was designed to fit the Canoness torso; it was kind of a pain to get it to work. That's a weakness of the newer GW kits; parts are far less interchangeable between them, even within the same range.

Anywho, it's nice to be back to my blog, and I hope to have some new things to show off soon. Peace!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/11/06 12:11:48


Post by: Nevelon


Nice looking work. Always nice to hit a milestone and check off a block of stuff as “Done”.

The Shadowspear (slash SC box) is packed full of cool minis. The librarian is my favorite of the lot, but I don’t think there are any really bad ones. The more tactical aspect of the phobos armor is starting to grow on me personally. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

I agree on the the contrast paints. I think it works really well on fabrics and organics, less on the flat armor plates that make up most marines. Something to think about, before dropping the concept. Use them like a glaze? Basecoat in the normal green you would use, and then put a layer of contrast over the whole thing. Should give you some of the auto-shade/highlight, but as you are going over a more solid basecoat, should negate a lot of the blotchy nature. Something to think about if you have a test model kicking around. I don’t use contrasts on my Ultras, but glaze with old inks, which I’ve found are similar in many ways.

Keep painting and keep safe.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/11/06 15:23:14


Post by: youwashock


Shadowspear looks great all together. Looking forward to the final shots of the Witch King. He already looks awesome. Plenty of cool stuff to come, too.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/11/11 06:25:17


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks! I think the Librarian might be my favorite of the Shadowspear guys as well, although the Captain's right up there. I might try out that Contrast glaze trick at some point; my concern is that it would make everything too dark or that I might as well just stick to my current method of painting green and then recess shading with Nuln Oil. We'll have to see; I do have plenty of Tactical Marines that I really don't care too much about so I could try it on some of those.

@YWS: Thanks! The Witch-King is a fairly iconic villain from the Lord of the Rings story, so it's pretty fun to get to paint him, especially on the back of a Fell Beast. Not sure how quick I'll get back to him though.

Progress on Indomitus has been made. I decided to change up my planned order of painting the units and start with the Outriders, as I'll be using them a lot in games. Here's a WIP of a few short evenings' work:

They're actually very nearly done; just need to add the Ravenwing decals to the shoulder pads, maybe clean up the black a little bit where my initial drybrush made a small mess, and then do the bases.

My entry for the November painting challenge is going to be the Judiciar and Primaris Chaplain from Indomitus, so I'll probably get started with those and the first 5 Assault Intercessors as soon as I finish with these Outriders.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/11/11 19:18:44


Post by: youwashock


Bikes are turning out good. Digging them in the Ravenwing scheme.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/11/16 23:45:34


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Thank you!

Finished my first Indomitus unit, the Outriders. Have some pics:



Decent tabletop standard is what I generally go for with models like these, and I feel like I achieved it. Despite the lack of tail fins or winged fairings, they'll fit in nicely with my existing Ravenwing models I think.

I'm off to a decent start on my Judiciar as well. Here's a WIP shot:

The robe will need some shading and highlighting, but that won't be difficult. Still lots of stuff that needs basecoating, especially all the gold bling and purity seals that are scattered around. I am going to have to scour the internet for good ways to paint the hourglass thingy; it's kind of an important detail and I want it to look good.

I also need to get back to painting my Sisters army set contents, and perhaps get started on the first five Assault Intercessors from Indomitus. So much time, so little to do...wait, strike that. Reverse it. Until next time, stay foxy!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/11/17 00:26:12


Post by: Nevelon


Getting paint down, even a layer, makes for progress. Sure, there might be a pile of shame looming in the corner, but the crusade of a thousand lightyears begins with killing a single heretic. And then the next.

Bikes look good. How hard would it be to slap some wings and iconography on them? Dig up the old RW accessory spure?

I’m looking forward to seeing how your Judicar turns out. I want to start mine, but so many other projects. He might be the first thing I paint in 2021.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/11/17 02:09:12


Post by: youwashock


I think the Ravenwing does understated well, and these guys are rocking it. All about the viewscreen.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/11/18 06:07:49


Post by: Viterbi


Great job on finishing those Outriders, I am really looking forward once I tackle mine.
Good luck with the hourglass, excited to see how you will tackle it.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/11/18 11:31:55


Post by: Theophony


You are making it hard to pass up on indominus . Seriously, especially with the Dark angels color scheme.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/11/20 06:21:33


Post by: Yorkright


Outriders look good Zerg going to make a fine new unit for your Dark Angels. I also like how the judge is turning out.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/12/01 05:18:30


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks! As far as Ravenwing winged fairings and tail fins, I've seen it done but I've never seen it done particularly well. The tail fins are a little too small for these big bikes, and there's nowhere to really attach wings that it will really look all that great. Of course, I'd be very happy to be proven wrong in this assessment. For me, I'm sticking with the symbols on the sides of the bikes, and on my other squad I've used RW Black Knight helmets and a bare head from the same kit.

@YWS: Thanks! Honestly with the viewscreens I wish I had a better brush for painting thinner lines, and a steady enough hand to pull it off!

@Viterbi: Thanks!

@Theo: In the words of then-Chancellor Palpatine, DO IT! The models from the set are fantastic; some of the best Primaris Space Marine sculpts yet IMO.

@York: Thank you!

Finished the Judiciar, but did not do anything with the Chaplain as I had planned for the painting challenge. Oh well, he'll go back to his originally planned place in the Indomitus queue, right after I knock out the first 5 Assault Intercessors. Anyways, here are the final pics of the Judiciar:



I really need to figure out a better way of doing shadows in light-colored robes, but other than that I think this is one of my better pieces (not to blow my own horn or anything). I'm super happy with how he turned out! Truly one of the more interesting models from Indomitus, and mine is fairly unique in that I used the stock head that came with the model!

In other news, my Sisters of Battle Seraphim are nearly done, mostly just a couple of touchups and I need to finish their bases. Here's a crummy final WIP of the Superior (couldn't be bothered trying to get the others to stand up):


And I also got something for my Space Wolves:

This has to be one of the best Space Wolves sculpts yet. A great update for one of the coolest characters in all of 40k lore. He's not near the top of my painting queue by a long shot, but whenever I get back to painting wolfy stuff he'll be something I'll enjoy painting.

I'm really not sure what I want to paint for the December painting challenge. No theme so it's literally anything goes, so I could do something from any of my 40k armies or even perhaps something from Middle-Earth. I'll have to think about this.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/12/01 15:51:20


Post by: youwashock


Liking the Judiciar. Good detail work on the hourglass.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/12/04 05:17:38


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Thank you very much! I'm pretty happy with how the hourglass turned out too.

I finished the Seraphim after having them sit around for literally months WIP (I really need to stop doing that with models; they get kind of grumpy at me ). Here are some pics of how they turned out:


They look pretty crappy compared to a lot of my other stuff, but since all I'm really going for with my Sororitas is tabletop standard they'll do alright. Contrast paints are pretty good for getting an army done quick (don't say it, I know it's been a year and I've hardly gotten any Sisters painted). I've got a buddy who does his stuff with Contrast and while it won't win a Golden Demon anytime soon by golly he gets his gak painted.

My entry for December's painting challenge is the Canoness from the box set, so I've gotten a decent start on her. Here's a blurry WIP:

She still needs the gold and leather basecoated but otherwise she's coming together nicely I think. Easily the coolest model from the Army Box.

I'm also working on the Arco-flagellants from that set:

Contrast paints are really coming through for me here; I'm using Darkoath Flesh for the skin and it looks good if a bit dark. I went with red for the tatters of clothing; I was originally going to go with purple to tie them in with my main army but then I decided that since these are not Adepta Sororitas they should stand apart; the bases will be the thing that ties the army together.

My real final goal for the year is going to be to finish all of the Sisters Army Set models. The only one of them I have yet to start on is the Penitent Engine, and that thing might be kind of a pain considering I've already assembled it. We'll see how it goes.



ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/12/04 17:47:16


Post by: youwashock


Sometimes done is good enough, man. New minis are looking good. Here's hoping you can get them all done this year!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/12/04 21:10:46


Post by: Nevelon


Paint is looking good!

I’m also trying to finish the SoB box. Cannoness and seraphim left for me. The Pengine is a PITA in one block. Good luck and try to keep calm working on it. To be fair, its job in life is to be a torture device...


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/12/05 09:44:35


Post by: Viterbi


Great work on the Judiciar and good luck getting all the sisters models done.
And as Nevelon said, painting the built PenEngine is not a nice job, but it is doable if you can live with the knowledge that all those syringes are unpainted


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/12/25 03:31:00


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Thanks!

@Nev: Thank you! Good luck to you on getting your own Sisters painted. They are looking pretty stellar so far.

@Viterbi: Thanks! The syringes on the back of it are mostly hidden down in there, so nobody has to know (and you'd better not go telling on me, either! ).

Quick WIP before Christmas just to show that I'm still alive and making slow progress. The Canoness is actually nearly done, just need to touch up the metallics (been looking around online for tips and tricks for making gold look better, as it's a major weakness for me hobbywise) and base her. Here's how she looks right now:

You might have noticed that between my last update and now I've got a new computer keyboard that lights up. I might need to turn the lights off whenever I take WIP shots on my desk if it's too distracting.

Arco-Flagellants are getting there as well, also mainly just needing touchups on the metallics:


That's the power of Contrast paints for you. Makes blocking in and shading certain areas a total breeze. They work very well on more textured surfaces like cloth; less so on smooth surfaces like Space Marine armor or vehicles, although I actually did find a neat trick on YouTube that I might try on some of my shelf-guarding Space Marines that involves using Contrast paints similarly to how Nev mentioned to me earlier. But that will be a project for next year.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/12/25 13:28:47


Post by: Nevelon


Nice progress.

I’m getting close to done with my canoness as well. For being the Boss Lady she actually has less detail then I expected. Not a lot of fiddly little purity seals or roses or anything. She does have big details, and everything in layers, which makes getting a brush to places frustrating.

Good luck with her.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/12/25 14:44:06


Post by: Viterbi


I also only put paint on the end of the syringes that were visible and am quite content

Canoness is looking good and yeah, Contrast paints are amazing for small organic/mostly cloth minis like the arcos.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2020/12/26 20:53:50


Post by: JoshInJapan


The Canoness looks good so far. I, too, have been struggling with metallics. Be sure to share whatever technique you come up with.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/01 04:39:39


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks!

@Viterbi: That's ultimately what I'm doing with the Pengine. Nobody will see the rest anyways.

@Josh: Thank you! I ended up mainly just replacing my pot of Liberator Gold; I think my previous one was bad as it never did seem to mix very well and I've had better results with this one.

Well, time for my final minis of 2020. Got the Canoness and Arco-Flagellants done in the nick of time, so here are some pics.

First, the Canoness, my entry in the December painting challenge:



She turned out alright, I think. One thing that has been frustrating me a lot is how I seem to constantly miss spots when I make passes with Contrast paint, requiring some touchups later. And touchups are not as simple with Contrast as they are with traditional paints. Also, I'm not sure but what they rub off easier, so maybe I better start varnishing my models (something I've been too lazy and too afraid of ruining my models by having varnish frost up on me to do yet).

And here are the Arco-Flagellants:


I'm pretty happy with these, considering how little time I really spent on them. Just goes to show the power of Contrast paints on models like these, although I did have some more "missed a spot" problems (and even looking at these pics I saw a couple of spots where I missed ). Still, for getting an army on the table quickly and to a decent standard, they are pretty great.

And rounding out this blog update, here's a WIP of my Penitent Engine, the final model from the Sisters of Battle army set:

Mostly just got the silver metallics done, plus some gold on the syringes on the back (not visible in this photo). I had hoped to get this thing done this year, but it'll have to wait and perhaps be one of the first things I finish in 2021.

My next post, which I'll probably do tomorrow or Saturday, will be my annual "Year End Review" where I'll show off my hobby progress (or lack thereof) for the year.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/01 13:03:12


Post by: Nevelon


Nice work. For the PEngine, getting the silver metallics done is like 3/4th done with it.

Looking forward to your summery.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/04 04:33:15


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks for the encouragement!

Well, it's that time again, perhaps a bit late but that couldn't be helped. It's time to have a little trip down memory lane and see what ol' ZergSmasher got done in perhaps the worst year in most people's memory. You might have expected me to get a lot done what with the pandemic and lockdowns and lack of tournaments, but unfortunately I'm what they call an essential worker so if anything I was even more busy than usual all year, and therefore much more tired, and it definitely impacted my hobby progress for the year. At any rate, here's what I did get painted (please excuse the cluttered desk in the photo!):

For the year 2020, my grand total of painted miniatures was 47. A very disappointing figure for sure, but as I said it was kind of a tough year. Here's the breakdown of what was painted:
DARK ANGELS:
Asmodai
Lieutenant in Phobos Armor
Judiciar
10 Infiltrators
3 Eliminators
3 Outriders
Predator Annihilator
ADEPTA SORORITAS:
Canoness
Dialogus
10 Battle Sisters
5 Seraphim
4 Repentia
Repentia Superior
3 Arco-Flagellants
MIDDLE-EARTH SBG:
Tom Bombadil
Goldberry
Somewhat less variety of stuff than in previous years, but that is partly because I sold off my Tau, Death Guard, and Chaos Space Marines armies. And I have absolutely no regrets about doing so; I am now truly a loyal servant of the Emperor, with no more filthy heretics or perfidious xenos to tempt me away from his light. Actually in point of fact I still have a few more Chaos models left to get rid of (Daemons mostly but a few CSM stragglers also); those will probably be sold to my FLGS sometime this year assuming nobody in my local gaming group wants them.

So anyway, on to my hobby goals for the year 2021:
1: Paint at least 100 total models. I need to shrink the pile of shame if possible, and that's only going to happen if I get stuff done. 50 a year is just not going to cut it.
2: Paint all of my Indomitus Space Marines. Got started on them in 2020 (4 done), but there's still plenty more left to do. Won't be too hard of a goal, as I'm very much looking forward to most of the models.
3: Get my Sisters of Battle fully ready for tournaments. Whether or not I'll actually get to go to a tournament will of course depend on if they can get a handle on the COVID-19 situation, but I want to have a tournament-ready army of Sisters in case I am able to go. That's going to be a tough one, as I don't actually own all the models I need yet (still want to pick up a couple more Exorcists and perhaps the Triumph of St. Katherine), plus I've got a lot of unpainted Sisters that need work.
4: Get a full army from Middle-Earth done. I've been wanting to get some non-40k stuff done for a while now, but the motivation isn't there. Even my little "crisis of faith" from a few months back didn't really get me doing other stuff, so it's high time I did some non-grimdark stuff for a change.
5: Paint some non-GW models. I've got plenty of candidates, ranging from Infinity to Guildball to Star Saga, plus some actual scale models and stuff, and I've thought about picking up Star Wars: Legion as a side game.
6: Learn to take better photos of my models. This may necessitate purchasing or crafting an actual lightbox, but my current photos just aren't cutting it, particularly on my Sisters of Battle. I'm proud of my painting even if it's not going to win me a Golden Demon anytime soon, and I want to be able to show others my models as they truly appear rather than have their colors look drab and uninteresting.
7: Work on my bitz boxes. I've got so many bits sitting on sprues from kits I've built. Consolidating them into boxes will allow me to toss the sprues and boxes and therefore reduce the clutter in my apartment.
8: Paint more than I buy. I'm going to try to keep track and actually reduce the pile of shame rather than grow it, although I will definitely be picking up some new stuff when it drops.
Bonus: Play some games that aren't Warhammer. I'm calling it a bonus because it will depend on whether the world can open back up, but I'm hoping to maybe try some new games. And I hope to play some more casual games of 40k instead of always playing as if it's tournament prep (my local group is fairly hardcore!).
We'll see how I can get on with these goals.

And finally, as per tradition, here are my top 5 favorite things I painted in 2020:

5: Sisters of Battle Canoness:

Had a ton of fun working on this lady (indeed on all of my Sisters stuff); the reason she isn't higher is because I don't think I did as well as I could have on her. She's passable at least and a very cool sculpt.

4: Dark Angels Predator Annihilator:

Vehicles are fun to paint. I don't really do as many of them as I'd like, but maybe that's because they haven't been all that competitive and I mostly play tournament-style games.

3: Tom Bombadil and Goldberry

These models were so much fun to paint! Two of my favorite characters from the Lord of the Rings books, and the sculpts for the models are amazing; like they leapt straight from the pages of Tolkien's work.

2: Ravenwing Primaris Outriders

I was so excited when I found out that GW was releasing Primaris Bikers, and doubly so when I heard that they would be Ravenwing when taken in a Dark Angels army. I'm super happy with my paintwork on these guys too; they'll fit right in with the rest of my Ravenwing.

1: Sisters of Battle Dialogus

Okay, this is probably the least crummy of my photos of this model, but even it doesn't do the model justice (like my other Sisters pics, the purple looks very washed out). I may not use this model in games much, but I'm still very happy to have painted it and it's probably my best work of the year.

Big shout out to everybody who's been following my blog! Without your support, I wouldn't be motivated to keep doing it. I'll try to do a better job of regular updates, but sometimes life happens and I'm not able to post as often (or I just don't have any progress to report). Thanks for bearing with me. Here's to a better year in 2021!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/04 12:03:34


Post by: Nevelon


Nice work for the year and good set of goals. I forgot to pick my top 5, will need to go back and do that.

“Improve my photography” was one of my goals for a while and two things helped it out. One was just using a white balance tool in a paint program. But once I started using a light box, I didn’t even need to bother with that any more. The other was the box.

This kit looks to be a newer version of the box I use. Just plug in “light box photography” into amazon and it brings up a whole bunch of options. Sure, you can make your own out of a cardboard box, some parchment paper, and a couple of desk lamps, but you’ve know that for years and haven’t done it. Or that was my case. This will cost less then a box of marines, and MASSIVELY improve your pictures. Bonus points for getting one that comes with lights and everything folds up neatly to tuck away when not in use. While I use a point and click camera, for a while the one on my phone actually had more megapixles. The really important thing is having enough light and holding it steady. Just bracing on a box works wonders, but the light box I have came with a little tripod with an adapter for holding phones.

Looking forward to seeing how you do in 2021!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/04 17:53:28


Post by: youwashock


Nice haul, Zergsmasher. Nice work wrapping up the Canoness, and I agree that the Dialogous turned out sweet.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/05 05:10:36


Post by: Yorkright


For one thing thanks for being one of the essential workers you guys had a rough year. 47 is not a bad year plenty of people don’t get half that done and they don’t have your job. Your picks for the year are all standouts in my opinion, that predator looks sweet! As for next years goals my guess your going to reach them.

PS if you figure a way to get better pics let me know. I use my iPhone a overhead painting light and either white paper or some grey canvas I painted. Looking forward to seeing what you do in 2021.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/07 02:56:59


Post by: JoshInJapan


47 models that you can be proud of is a fine yearly total.

I agree with Nevelon-- a folding lightbox is a simple but effective way to take better photos. I use a Foldio, but pretty much anything would work.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/10 22:11:15


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks! And thanks for the light box suggestion, I'll shop around and see what I can find. I'm a little concerned that my cheap camera just doesn't have detailed enough settings. For white balance, it gives me Auto, and then Daylight, Cloudy, Flourescent, and Incandescent. No manual option at all that I can see. Like I said, it's a cheap camera that has gotten some scathing reviews on some websites (didn't see that until AFTER I bought it on an impulse at Walmart, of course ). Maybe I need to find a cheap/free program to do post-production on my pics; a pain in the ass, but perhaps necessary.

@YWS: Thank you!

@York: Thanks, and you're right. I'll let you know if I can figure out the photo thing.

@Josh: Thanks!

Time for my first regular post of 2021. Nothing finished to show just yet, but progress has been made on my Penitent Engine:

Most of the colors have at least been basecoated now, other than a few small and/or hard to reach details. This model is turning out to be a bit of a PITA with all the little hoses and cables and stuff. And to think, my planned competitive Sisters list will be running several Mortifiers (based on the same model as this). Hoo boy, I can hardly wait to paint those...

I've also gotten started on some Assault Intercessors from Indomitus. I'm doing the green power armor a little differently than I usually do (and thus counting it as a new trick for the monthly painting comp, New Tricks); what's different is that I started by doing the whole models in an all-over drybrush of Warpstone Glow, then an all-over wash with some thinned-down Dark Angels Green contrast paint, and highlighted with several drybrushes of increasing brightness, focusing the last on only the more extreme areas. Here's where they are at after the last drybrush:

I was a little sloppy with some of the drybrushing, probably because I'm not terribly good at brush control with it, so I may go back with some more thinned-down Dark Angels Green to fix it. I'm already planning to add a few specific recess shades with that color to really make certain recessed areas pop.

In other news, I may have a little more time to paint for the next couple of weeks. I started feeling a bit sick the other day and realized that I could no longer taste my food (or smell it), so I went in to get a COVID test and quarantined myself. Fast forward to this morning, and I get word that it came back positive. I have COVID-19. But don't worry, I think so far it's a very mild case. I had a fever, but it seems to have broken. Maybe this is Nurgle's punishment for selling all of my Death Guard last year or something. Either way, I'll be quarantined for a while.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/10 22:32:21


Post by: Nevelon


Quarantine time is hobby time! But seriously, get well, and take care of yourself.

The photo app on my Mac laptop has a little magic want for white balance, although it’s been a while since I’ve used it. I’m pretty sure there is also one in PhotoScape, which is a free program I use to make the collages for my entries, etc.

Pengine is looking fine. One nice thing about all the fiddly details it has, you don’t notice almost any of them at arm’s length. Marines look pretty good, but they are dark, and in a bit of shadow, so hard to be objective.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/11 04:10:14


Post by: JoshInJapan


Your drybrushing experiment is quite intruiging. Be sure to post lots of WIP photos.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/15 03:09:36


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks! I'll look for some free software for touching up photos. Probably my only option with this cheap camera.

@Josh: Bit late for that now, but when I do the second batch of Assault Intercessors I'll see what I can do about some photos of each step.

Progress continues, a bit slowly perhaps but better than nothing. The Assault Intercessors' armor is done and most of the other colors are blocked in and ready for some shade love:


The Penitent Engine is pretty much all done except for some shading and highlighting on the gold trim plus a couple of minor details. I tried to take a photo showing where I made progress, but it came out really blurry and if I tried to hold the camera further away you couldn't see much:

The main progress was on the hoses connected to the guy's head; they are done now. I went with different colors to show different chemicals being pumped into this poor bastard to crank him up and make him crazy.

I'm definitely feeling better although it still hurts when I take a deep breath. I'm not going to be allowed to return to work until the 23rd (2 weeks after receiving the positive diagnosis), so I've definitely got some time on my hands. My main concern is running out of a couple of key paint colors, but I'm sure I could find other things to work on in that event. I'm definitely good for the two units I've been working on and I've got a bunch more Sisters that are primed up and ready for paint, so hopefully I'm good for a while.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/15 05:10:30


Post by: youwashock


Egads, man! Glad you are on the mend. Minis look good. Nice work on the PenEngine.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/15 11:34:02


Post by: Tyranid Horde


Assault inters are looking good in that green, keen to see more of them and the penitent engine.

Also glad you're on the mend!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/16 15:17:06


Post by: Viterbi


Highlights on the Intercessors look good and I love that you put the different colors on the PenEngine cables, really makes a difference!

Hope you're getting better and to 100% soon!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/19 05:05:18


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Thanks!

@Horde: Thank you for your support!

@Viterbi: Thank you, I am feeling much better now.

I managed to finish the Assault Intercessors, so here are the final photos:



With these done, I'm officially on the board for 2021! Now I can tick another box on my Indomitus checklist, still plenty of stuff left to go in that set. You may notice that the white balance looks much better in these photos; that is because I took Nevelon's advice and downloaded PhotoScape. It has a really easy (literally point-and-click) tool to fix white balance, and it can do a lot of other cool stuff besides. Once I delve more into it, I'm sure I can think of more ways to improve my photos.

The Pengine is coming along, just a couple more things to do for it and then I can call the Sisters of Battle Army Box done. Look forward to photos of the Pengine and a group shot of the whole box contents in my next post. It'll be nice to finally have all that stuff done; very satisfying to finish a whole set of something.

And as for my COVID-19 ordeal, it is over now. I feel completely normal. I'm gonna give it a couple more days staying home just to be on the safe side, and they won't let me go back to work until the 23rd in any case (has to be 2 weeks from getting my positive diagnosis), but by the grace of God I seem to have had it much easier than some other people (including some I know). I never thought I'd appreciate being able to taste my food so much! Thank you to everyone here on Dakka for your concerns and kind words; the response from my friends both here and IRL has been very heartwarming for me.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/19 06:35:28


Post by: JoshInJapan


Those Dark Angels turned out quite nicely. Your drybrush and contrast technique looks to be really effective. Glad to hear you are on the mend-- Covid-19 is pretty scary.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/20 06:26:20


Post by: Viterbi


Great job finishing the DA and good to know that the recipe is working out. I would find space marine armour very daunting, if I didn't use my metallics/contrast technique.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/20 17:02:42


Post by: youwashock


Good news on the full recovery and a good looking batch of DA.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/20 20:56:30


Post by: Yorkright


Glad to hear your feeling better and I must say your photos are looking good!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/22 04:09:46


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Josh: Thanks!

@Viterbi: Thanks! Contrast by itself doesn't really work on Marines IMO (having tried it myself that's kind of how I feel about it), but combining contrast with other things seems to work much better.

@YWS: Thank you very much!

@York: Thanks!

I put the finishing touches on the Penitent Engine this morning, so here are the final photos of it:


I'm satisfied with it, but not blown away. I really need to figure out something for future ones (or Mortifiers, which I will be painting as part of my larger army) to break up all the silver on the flanks and rear of the machines. Still, that's another model down, and with that the Sisters of Battle Army Set is complete. As promised, here's a group shot of the box contents:

I remember being super excited to pick up that box, and I couldn't wait to put everything together and paint it. Of course, as usual I didn't knuckle down and stay focused and it took way longer to get everything painted than it ever should have, considering part of the point of doing the Sisters with mainly contrast was to be able to put an army on the table quickly. But, at least I got it done and can call this project to a close. Now I can start working on all my other Sisters stuff.

Now that I'm off quarantine, I've been able to get to my FLGS for the first time in a couple of weeks. And I immediately picked up a new project for myself. Aliens: Another Glorious Day In The Corps. It's a cooperative survival game that, to me, compares very well to Space Hulk (which itself is derived from Aliens, so we've come full circle) and has the players controlling the heroes from the Sulaco trying to hold off the xenomorph hordes, rescue Newt, and escape Hadley's Hope alive. Aliens is one of my favorite movies of all time, so I pretty much had to pick this game up. The miniatures it comes with are incredibly detailed, and I've already put a bunch of them together.

These are the playable characters in the main game. From left to right: Lt. Gorman, Cpl. Hicks, Pvt. Hudson, Pvt. Vasquez, Pvt. Frost, Ellen Ripley, and Newt. Of course, these characters have to have something to fight...

I've assembled these four, and there are twelve more in the box still on sprues. The Xenomorphs are kind of a pain to put together, especially attaching their tails to their bodies.

In addition to the main box, I picked up the Ultimate Badasses expansion, which adds six more playable characters (Burke, Dietrich, Wierzbowski, Drake, Apone, and Crowe) and some additional mechanics to the game, as well as the Assets and Hazards pack which replaces some of the items represented by tokens (such as crates, sentry guns, and Facehuggers) with actual plastic models. I still need to come up with the other expansion, called Get Away From Her, You B***h! (my FLGS didn't have it and neither did their supplier, apparently, but they'll contact me if they get one in).

I'm honestly not sure how quickly I'll get stuck in with the Aliens models as far as painting. I'm actually thinking of doing the Marine characters for the March painting challenge, which, if tradition holds, will be themed on Space Marines. I'll probably need to watch the movie again just to get an idea for how everything should look before I start painting.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/22 12:13:11


Post by: Nevelon


Nice work on those sisters.

One thing to do for the Pengine (and like models) is to use multiple metal tones. Like do the pistons in a much brighter silver, or the vents in a weathered darker tone. Help break things up a little.

I have the heroes of Aliens in metal from way back in the day painted. I forget who made them and for what game. Might be interesting to see what 20 some odd years and plastic does for them. You never need an excuse to pop that up on the screen for another watch. I’m kinda torn on making my son watch them. He’s not a big fan of horror movies, but they are classic. Aliens is more action horror, but I do like watching things in order, and the first movie is a straight up horror film. That actually holds up very well.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/25 02:51:27


Post by: Theophony


THe sisters turned out well, and the penitent engine will scare the out of anyone coming up against them.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/25 20:26:40


Post by: youwashock


Game over, man!

Congrats on finishing that Sisters box. They turned out well. Excited to see the Aliens minis. Awesome franchise.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/28 06:27:53


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks, both for the compliment and the suggestion on the Pengine. And you're definitely right about not needing an excuse to watch Aliens. That's one of my all-time favorite movies right there! Regarding the first one being a horror flick, it's probably just about the only horror flick I'll watch (because it's actually got a good story and not just gratuitous blood and gore).

@Theo: Thanks man!

@YWS: Thank you very much! I'm excited to paint the Aliens minis; I've already been looking over some YouTube tutorials for how to make the Aliens themselves look good.

Moving right along from doing the Sisters of Battle set, I've gotten started on my first Sororitas vehicle, a Rhino built from the classic Immolator/Rhino kit. I had actually started on this thing a while back just as a "proof of concept" for how I would lay out the yellow and purple on a vehicle, but now I'm going to actually get it fully painted. Here's a WIP of it:

The yellow hull is basically done other than some very minor touchups. I sprayed the hull with Wraithbone spray as a basecoat and originally painted the yellow with Yriel Yellow, and that's how it has sat for the last few months. When I came back to it, I decided that Yriel Yellow was a little bit too bright and gaudy and went back over the hull with Averland Sunset, and I think that's somewhat better (if perhaps too dark now). I then added shading with Reikland Fleshshade and edge highlighted the hull with Yriel Yellow. The purple was painted before I repainted the hull, which is why it looks kind of messy; I'll tidy that up probably as the next step. It's Xereus Purple, if anyone's curious. I'm also painting the Immolator bits for this model, but I will only be running this as an Immolator in casual play as it lacks the hull-mounted heavy bolter that the current Immolator kit has, plus it's not quite as tall (no giant stained-glass window).

In addition to the Rhino above, I'm continuing on with the Indomitus Dark Angels and painting the Primaris Chaplain. Here's where I've gotten on him so far:

He's got almost as much gold trim as a Chaos Marine (no "Dark Angels are heretics" jokes please), and plenty of other little details besides, so he'll be a decent challenge.

I also dug out a classic Chaplain model that I've had sitting on my desk for almost four years now and decided to paint him along with the Primaris guy. Here's a WIP shot of him:

Part of why I decided to do this model is because I actually think the Primaris Chaplain might be based on this very model. Both models have a somewhat similar pose, both have plenty of gold bling, and both have half their face replaced with bionics. This metal model is probably a 3rd edition sculpt, unless I'm mistaken, and I scored him on eBay back when I was putting together a Battle Company list for 7th edition. One thing I forgot to take a picture of is the backpack, to which I added a banner that I sculpted from modelling putty, by hand (the backpack had a bare banner pole on it). It didn't come out super great, but I'm happy with it for a first attempt. I guess a pic will wait until I actually get some paint on it.

More to come!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/28 12:30:55


Post by: Nevelon


I had the exact same thoughts about the origins of that chaplain. The original has been tending to the faith of my battle company since 3rd, so he’s at least that old. And is the origin of Cassius.

If you need to add some hight and a HB to the immolator, just stick a heavy weapon sister riding on top.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/28 15:55:49


Post by: Yorkright


Congrats on getting the sisters finished they look good! I never collected a lot of the chaplains back in the day, but have to agree they are very similar in design.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/28 16:00:23


Post by: youwashock


The yellow Rhino looks awesome. Bold colors, for sure. The old Chaplain rocks. Can't wait to see him next to his embiggened version.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/01/29 14:45:01


Post by: Viterbi


Really cool seeing your color scheme on the rhino, good luck getting the purple finished!
And love both chaplains, you can hear the Primaris calling the old marine something like "short stuff" or "my little buddy"


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/02/12 05:20:07


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: I figured you must have one of those, seeing as how you've been playing Marines (and 40k in general) a lot longer than me. No, that's not a dig at your age, either, I swear!

@York: Thanks!

@YWS: I chose yellow as my Sisters main color, so bold is the name of the game! The vehicle really exemplifies it though. And yes, there will be at least one comparison shot between the old metal Chappy and his Primaris counterpart.

@Viterbi: Thanks! Both for the compliment and the thought of a Primaris Space Marine calling a Firstborn "Little Buddy" like he's Gilligan or something!

About time for an update, eh? Work continues at a snail's pace on the Chaplains. Got a couple more colors blocked in on them, plus touched up some of the other colors:

Plenty more to do on these guys yet.

For the February painting challenge, the theme of which is "Showing Off", I decided to enter a squad of the biggest Space Marine showoffs of all, Space Wolves. Here's a WIP of them:

The gray armor is done except for some minor cleanup (which I'll do as one pass after I block in some of the other colors), plus I basecoated the shoulder pads and gold details. This Intercessor Pack is the one I got back in 2018 in the Tooth & Claw box set, so it'll be nice to finally have these guys all done.

Finally, I've made a little bit of progress on the Sisters Rhino:

I decided to do something different with the door emblems, going with silver for both the outer ring and the fleur-de-lys and filling it in with purple. I think that'll look better than my original idea, which was purple for the outside, then a combination of gold and silver on the rest.

In other news, I bought one of the new Storm Speeders the other day. I'll probably be at least starting the paintwork in subassemblies, as the cockpit and crew would be a real pain to paint if the whole model was already assembled. The model doesn't really need magnets as long as you're willing to make a couple of compromises as far as WYSIWYG goes, so I built it to be able to take all the options.

That's all for now, hopefully I have more to show soon!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/02/14 07:24:41


Post by: Viterbi


The doors work really well on the sisters rhino, coming along nicely. Had a look at the Storm Speeders and they are cool minis, might buy one too in the future. Excited to see how yours turns out!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/02/14 21:09:35


Post by: youwashock


Rolling along. So to speak. All looks good!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/02/24 04:33:20


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Viterbi: Thank you very much!

@YWS: Thanks!

Progress continues, slower than I'd prefer but at least it's something. The Space Wolves Intercessors are pretty much all basecoated except for a couple of very small details, and the Pack Leader's face. Here's how they're looking so far:

Next step will be to touch up the gray armor where I got sloppy, then it'll be time to get started on shades. Not much time left in the month, so I'd better get a move on.

No real progress to report on the Sororitas Rhino or the DA Chaplains, but just for funsies I started painting some of my other Sisters models. The original plan was to try to do a whole 5-girl squad in a day, but that plan fell through when I remembered that it's Double XP week on RuneScape, so I spent more time on the computer instead. Still, here's where I did get to on them:

All of the Contrast layers are down; pretty much all that's left to block in are the metallics and leather, which I use traditional paints for. Not that I needed yet another project, but these Sisters aren't going to paint themselves. I've got a ton of them that need primer, but the weather hasn't been cooperating (first it was ungodly cold, now it's too windy).

In other news, I've been gathering all of my Terminators together to see where I stand as far as putting together a full Deathwing list. Haven't put paint on any super recently, but here's a pic I took of the squad that's closest to done:

Haven't touched these in over a month, but they've been moved up the queue now that Deathwing are straight fire in the new supplement.

Finally, here's a pic of some random Terminators that don't have their own squad that they go with:

The six red ones on the left are unmodified Series 2 Space Marine Heroes models, including three with Storm Bolter and Power Fist, one with Lightning Claws, one with a Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, and one with an Assault Cannon. The two white ones in the middle are primed ones from my 7th edition Command Squad (orphaned since Apothecaries, Champions, and Ancients are their own separate units now). The rainbow colored ones on the right are based on the ones that come in the Space Marine Adventures: Rise of the Orks box game (which I got at my local Barnes & Noble). I kitbashed the models with extra Deathwing bits from my bits box to give me more useful loadouts and/or a more Dark Angels theme than the otherwise generic models would have. I might just try running an all-Terminator list just for the sake of the meme, assuming this pandemic ever ends and we can all get back to our lives.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/02/28 07:40:00


Post by: Viterbi


Those sisters paint up nicely, hope to see some more coming along! And that's a lot of terminators, would be a fun army (probably not for the enemy) of all those 3 wound models slowly advancing


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/02/28 13:30:05


Post by: Tyranid Horde


That Penitent Engine looks great Zerg, and congrats on finishing off the army box. It can be tough to get everything done and I feel you on that one with Indomitus.

Digging that yellow rhino too, good choice on the colours used for the door iconography, nice bit of contrast.

Also a man after my own heart with those termies, I've been getting an itch to paint them recently and I'm not sure why!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/03/01 05:05:05


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Viterbi: Thanks! Haven't had many opportunities to game in 9th edition since the pandemic has pretty much shut down my local 40k scene other than the odd casual game (I've played exactly 3 games of 9th), but I imagine a full Deathwing army with all the defensive buffs they get would be pretty intimidating, although not terribly difficult to outmaneuver.

@Horde: Thanks! Maybe you're getting the itch to do terminators because they're actually good now, which is awesome!

Got the Space Wolves done:



Rushed them at the end, and oh boy does it show. At least they are tabletop standard and they do look okay from 3 feet away. They'll fit in nicely once I get a few more Space Wolves done, but Space Wolves are not a priority for paint at the moment.

Next month's theme for the monthly challenge is Space Marines, and I think I'll be painting the OG Space Marines, the Colonial Marines from Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps. Those will be fun, but could be pretty tough to make look good as they are smaller than most 40k models (and much more realistically proportioned).


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/03/02 01:08:47


Post by: Captain Brown


Some good looking Wolves ZergSmasher. Good luck in the Unofficial Painting Challenge.

Cheers,

CB


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/03/02 20:29:13


Post by: youwashock


Wolves look good. Looking forward to the Terminator army.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/04/06 04:22:06


Post by: ZergSmasher


@CB: Thanks!

@YWS: Thanks very much! It'll probably be a while before I get all the terminators done.

I'm back, and I have progress to show. I didn't end up finishing an entry for the March challenge, as I just couldn't find inspiration to actually paint the Aliens models (not sure why, it's not like I don't like the source material or anything). I've back-burnered the Aliens stuff for now, as I've got more important things to work on. Such as this squad of Dominions that I actually finished almost two weeks ago but just now photographed:



As with most of my Sisters stuff, it's not going to win a Golden Demon anytime soon, but it looks okay from three feet away. I chose to do a mostly Contrast scheme on my Sisters so that I could paint them quicker, and I could do them quicker if I just focused better. So the concept is sound; I just have "hobby ADD" due to project overload.

And now for something completely different. Older members of the gaming community would probably recognize these right away:

This is a WIP shot of a Kzinti Battlecruiser (the red one) and a Gorn Heavy Cruiser (the gray one) from the Star Fleet Battles game system (a game from the '70s loosely based on Star Trek). I actually have the heavy cruisers from most of the other races in that game as well, but I haven't started painting them just yet.

More to come, as I've got a Sisters Seraphim Squad on deck as well as more Star Fleet Battles ships to paint. The SFB stuff is my entry for the April painting challenge, so it currently has priority.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/04/06 05:40:07


Post by: Viterbi


Dominion squad looks good, great to see the army growing. And exited for the ships, that is something completely different.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/04/06 11:06:23


Post by: Nevelon


Sisters look fine. I like the superior. Although if the doves are starting to flutter up, she really needs two bolt pistols. Kinda sorry I never got to work with the full kits, they look like a lot of fun.

So much nostalgia on SFB. That, Car Wars, and Battletech were the pillars of my high school wargaming. The rulebook might have been thicker then the yellow pages, but was the best organized ever. There was never a RAW/RAI argument to be had, just popping out obscure rules that you knew, and they didn’t. Like when you are in a tractor beam you can only shoot at the ship generating it, and not all the drones it just launched at you. Not that the Kzinti cruiser you are painting would know anything about that trick...


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/05/17 06:45:18


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Viterbi: Thank you!

@Nev: Thanks! The full Sisters kits are a real joy to work with; lots of options and extra bling to customize them with. As for the SFB stuff, I've been a fan since I was 14 years old (found Basic Set at a game shop that closed maybe a year later, if that), but I never have had anyone to play with besides my dad and my brother. So all I've ever been able to do with it is play monster scenarios or a couple of games where I played both sides just to try out some of the more exotic stuff (like my only outing with an Andromedan ship). And maybe Kzintis use that tractor beam trick, but the Gorns invented it. That's why they call it the "Gorn Anchor" after all.

One month later...

He still exists. Battle-scarred, war-weary, downtrodden, he soldiers on. Far behind now in his goal to paint 100 miniatures in the year, but he'll never give up no matter what the forces of evil in the world throw at him to try and keep him down...

Melodrama aside, I'm back. 2 failed monthly painting challenges later, I'm trying to get something entered in the one for May. That something is Sammael on his jetbike, Corvex. Here's where he's at right now:

Lots more work to do, and only half the month left to do it. Let's hope I don't have all the motivation drained from me like the previous couple of months.

Sammael is not the only member of the Dark Angels Ravenwing on my painting bench. I'm also working on some of the first Ravenwing models I obtained, trying to get them painted and done after years in the primed or WIP state. First, an Attack Bike:

Just the whites and metals done, so a long way to go still. Attack bikes are strong on the tabletop right now, especially Ravenwing ones, so I really want to get this thing done.
Next, the Ravenwing Bike Squad from my original copy of Dark Vengeance:

They've been sitting with a few colors blocked in for a while, so I finished up the whites on them (using Apothecary White contrast to give subtle shading which really helps pick out the feathers on the fairings and tail fins) and finished blocking in some other colors. Still work to be done but at least they are finally on their way to being done. I also rebased all of my bikes and put them on the current oval bases that bikers are on.

I also recently obtained a bunch of Ravenwing stuff from a friend of mine, plus a couple more Attack Bikes on eBay. Here's some of that stuff assembled:

Another Dark Vengeance Ravenwing squad, plus the two aforementioned Attack Bikes. I ran out of winged fairings and tail fins, so one of the Attack Bikes has plain parts on it, with a little flag I sculpted with "not-Greenstuff". Not pictured is yet another DV Ravenwing unit (bringing me to a total of four sets of those models) and an Outrider squad (making three units, a full "play set" in 40k).

I do want to get back to the SFB ships as they are really cool, but I'm finding less motivation as they are something that won't get a ton of use and will just take up shelf space. I almost wonder if I should buy (or make) a little curio cabinet thing to put them in, but that probably wouldn't be a good use of my money. One thing I did buy that should help A TON with my photography is a light box. My local Michael's had a sale on them and my sister-in-law (who works there) mentioned it to me, so I went ahead and got one. Hopefully it works well for me.

Well, that's all I have for now. Hopefully I'll have more to show in less than a month this time around.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/05/18 14:18:42


Post by: youwashock


That's a lot of bikes.

This year hasn't been the best for productivity, for sure. Keep on pluggin'. Looking forward to pretty pics of the Ravenwing in the new light box.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/05/19 10:41:32


Post by: Nevelon


I found a light box was really a game changer for me. Spending all the time and effort getting a mini painted, but not being able to show people what it’s really like because you take potato pictures. Frustrating. Once you get it set up and dialed in you should cycle your armies through it to get formal glamor shots.

I like the way bikes look, I like the way they play, but boy do I have problems painting them. Good luck getting those Ravenwing done. If you need more RW accessory bits, I have a chunk in my bits box.

Nobody in my group really liked the Gorn. I learned about the anchor eating a face full of drones. And honestly forgot which race is was attributed to (but knew "Kzinti Anchor" sounded wrong). We played a lot with the tournament pack, which gives you balanced cruiser duels, but sometimes we did other ships. I generally went with the Hydrans or the Lyrans (or mixed in the LDR? forget the name of the sub-faction that got the best of both)

Painting something to collect dust does hurt on the motivation. I’ve pushed through a few projects like that, and had many more never get out of the built/primed pile because of it. For me, getting something onto the battlefield is a big motivator, and without that it is harder to find the energy to get to the paintbench. Keep plugging away, keep putting layers down. You will make it.

Good luck!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/05/30 06:08:14


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Thanks for the encouragement!

@Nev: I'll eventually go back and get some of my best pieces in the lightbox, at least. Probably won't do absolutely everything though. You're right about painting bikes, too. They look great when they're done and they're fun to play, but for whatever reason they are a major pain in the ass to paint. As for the SFB stuff, it's still on my to-do list, just kind of lower priority especially since I signed up for a big 40k tournament in August and I need to paint stuff for that. As always, thanks for the encouragement and helpful advice!

Sammael is done! Here are the glamor shots in the fancy new lightbox:



I'll have to work with the lightbox and my camera to determine optimal settings, but these will do as a first attempt. What my lightbox really lacks right now is front lighting, as all the lights are at the top and that can cause shade issues on the bottom of models. I'll have to think about that. I might experiment with other backdrops as well. It came with a white and a black backdrop, but others are available for this model of lightbox. As for the model itself, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Probably not my best work, but certainly not my worst, so I'm calling it a win!

I'm also pretty close to done with the Dark Vengeance bike squad:

Mostly just some highlights and small details left to do. It'll really be nice to have these painted, as they have been in my collection since very near the beginning of my 40k journey.

I'm also further along on the Attack Bike:

This model has been in my collection even longer than the above squad, so again it'll be nice to finally have it done. Plus Attack Bikes are really strong right now on the tabletop!

Next month's painting challenge theme is going to be Boots on the Ground. I'm spoiled for choices for this, so maybe I'll dig into my Lord of the Rings stuff or perhaps a few regular Battle Sisters. I'll have to think about what I want to do. Whatever I decide, you'll see it right here, so stay tuned!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/05/30 06:42:42


Post by: Viterbi


Great work on Sammael, really cool mini and very clean whites. Good luck on getting everything ready for the tournament in August!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/05/30 11:17:58


Post by: Nevelon


Nice entry and progress on the bikes.

For the lightbox, if yours is like mine, it’s a translucent white box with side lamps. (If not disregard advice) While the panels do a good job diffusing the light, they do not do a perfect one. They are not just homogenous squares of even light. There should be a hot spot where the light hits. By angling the lamp you should be able to move that spot around. I’ve found you generally want that in front of the mini, so place the subject towards the back, and the lamps pointing towards the front. You can also adjust it up or down, depending on camera angles. If you are shooting a low angle shot, that’s where you want the light coming from. If you just have the lights pointing at the center of the walls, it would be in shadow.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/06/07 04:17:45


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Viterbi: Thank you very much!

@Nev: Thanks! My lightbox is a ShotBox (We R Memory Keepers is the brand, and I got it at my local Michael's craft store), so it's a bit different from what you describe. Lighting-wise, it has two strips of LEDs at the top of it and that's it. The brightness is adjustable, at least, so maybe I just need to play with the settings of it and my camera. I kind of wish it had front lighting as well, and I believe there's an accessory available for the ShotBox that adds that (it's a bit that also is meant to hold a smartphone, so it might be tricky to use with my Polaroid camera).

More finished stuff to show! Finally polished off those Seraphim that have been sitting in a WIP state for a while now:



Far from my best work and I'm still fiddling around with learning to use the lightbox, but these will fit in well with the rest of my army. I'm not angling for a Golden Demon or anything with my Sororitas army; just a good tabletop army that will hopefully make an impression due to the unusual colors (still haven't really seen anyone else doing yellow and purple Sisters). The only problem is that in the upcoming codex Seraphim, particularly those with Inferno Pistols, just took a bit of a nerf bat to the kisser so these ladies might be doing shelf duty for the most part. We'll have to see.

I also finished the Attack Bike, so it can finally be added to the finished pile after 6+ years in my collection:


Decently happy with how this thing turned out. I think I missed a few mold lines here and there, but this is literally one of the first models I ever assembled so I didn't know as much as I know now. It should see regular play given that Attack Bikes are pretty strong in the meta.

I also decided to go with Battle Sisters as my Painting Challenge entry for June. Already got a fair amount done on them:

Contrast paint makes it quicker to get good coverage and shading, but it's less neat than traditional methods, I'm finding. Especially on the purple cloth, where if I don't keep after it the paint wants to pool in spots. I'm afraid to do multiple coats as I might go back to the original problem I had with Shyish purple; that it turns out looking way too dark (almost black, in fact). I really like it for skin tones, parchment, and hair though, and it gives a good enough look on the yellow armor as long as I don't put too much on at once, so I'm going to keep using it.

That's all for now. Hopefully I can crank out some more Ravenwing sooner rather than later, and maybe some Sisters stuff as well.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/06/09 04:27:41


Post by: Eeps


Loving it!!

You're a braver man than I to take on so many different armies at once. Are you planning on a display for all these or are they just intimidatingly loitering on shelves?


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/06/09 06:35:45


Post by: JoshInJapan


It's nice to see the return of the yellow sisters. That's a really neat color combo.

I have similar problems with lighting in my light box, and have found that a darker background makes a big difference, since the white doesn't overpower the comparatively darker colors.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/06/09 13:31:42


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


 JoshInJapan wrote:
It's nice to see the return of the yellow sisters. That's a really neat color combo.

I have similar problems with lighting in my light box, and have found that a darker background makes a big difference, since the white doesn't overpower the comparatively darker colors.


I can confirm this. I've switched to using dark backgrounds, the colours are far more visible there!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/06/10 21:40:39


Post by: youwashock


Seraphim and Attack Bike looking good. And more Sisters on the way. Good stuff.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/06/11 17:33:44


Post by: Yorkright


Sammy turned out great, and not sure why you dont think the sisters look good, that yellow will really stand out on the table top.
Have to agree with Josh and Gwyn a darker background will make them pop. Keep up the great work Zerg your painting is getting better and better.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/06/12 12:07:18


Post by: Nevelon


It’s worth experimenting with backdrops. My lightbox came with 4 options.

Spoiler:




For me, I stuck with white. The darker ones made my camera do things with the light I wasn’t happy with. But some of that might be the colors of my models, etc.

With digital photography there is no real cost to just giving it a shot and see what happens. If your light setup didn’t come with backdrops, you can experiment with shirts/towels/fabric/whatever.

Post production stuff can also help a lot. There are tools for free (I use PhotoScape). With my current light setup, I don’t need to white balance anymore, but that’s a step that helps a LOT. Plus the ability to make composite pictures is nice.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/06/14 07:01:41


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Eeps: Thanks! I actually used to have even more armies; I sold off my Tau and Chaos collections. And for now most of the models are on shelves, many of them glaring at me waiting for paint, while occasionally they get rotated to my army bag for games.

@Josh: Thanks! I've been pretty happy with the scheme, and I think my execution is slowly improving. I'll probably try a dark background next time and see what I get.

@Gwyn: Thanks for the feedback.

@YWS: Thanks!

@York: Thank you! It's not that I don't think the sisters look good; it's that I think they could look even better. I know I'm my own worst critic sometimes.

@Nev: As always, thanks for the advice. I actually have started using Photoscape a couple of months ago, and it really makes a difference. And like you, once I started with the lightbox I haven't had to really adjust the white balance. I'm still trying to figure out the composite stuff on Photoscape; half the time it feels like I'm fighting the program and it doesn't want to do what I want it to do (refuses to load one of my photos, etc.).

More progress has been made on the Battle Sisters:

Basically all of the Contrast colors are down, plus the other colors are blocked in. Still need to tidy up a couple of small areas, then shade and highlight the non-Contrast areas. And, of course, the bases.

And speaking of Sisters, over this weekend I've hit both of my FLGS's and picked up a decent little supply drop for my Adepta Sororitas:

New codex, plus one of each of the new kits (and I doubled up on Sacresants so I can make a full unit of 10), and a Rhino (which brings me up to 3 in my Sisters army). The Rhino will be the 14th Rhino hull I've built in my 40k career. I can probably build it with my eyes closed at this point. Really looking forward to painting all these new units, as they are really awesome models.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/06/14 07:35:28


Post by: JoshInJapan


 ZergSmasher wrote:
The Rhino will be the 14th Rhino hull I've built in my 40k career. I can probably build it with my eyes closed at this point.


Please do this, and post plenty of WIP photos. I'd love to see what sort of non-Euclidean creation you end up with!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/06/14 10:53:03


Post by: Nevelon


That’s an impressive supply drop! Looking forward to seeing them painted.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/06/14 12:47:24


Post by: Theophony


Nice work on the Ladies in Yellow , They can sub in for Imperial Fists anytime .

Good haul as well.

As for Rhinos... I'm at least neck and neck with you there on the modern Rhinos, but I had almost as many Mark I rhinos to that count at one point. That's without all the razorbacks, predators and Whirlwinds counted in there. THe original ones could easily be done blindfolded and turn out just about as good as having your eyes open due to the bad kit designs.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/06/23 06:03:12


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Josh: Eh, no. But, I probably won't even look at the instructions because I've got them memorized.

@Nev: Yeah, it's going to be fun! Now I just need a window in the weather to get some priming done.

@Theo: Thanks! I kind of figured that my Rhino count might be rookie numbers to any 40k veteran. In case you're curious, my 14 includes: 1 Rhino, 4 Razorbacks, 1 Predator, 1 Whirlwind, 4 Chaos Rhinos, 1 old-style Sororitas Rhino/Immolator, 2 current Sororitas Rhinos. I also have one of the newer Exorcists, but it's not based on the classic Rhino kit even if the aesthetic is the same, so it doesn't count.

Little bit of progress, but not a lot. The Battle Sisters are getting close to done. Here's where they are at:

Mostly just a few highlights left, mainly on the metallics. Then I need to texture and finish the bases.

I'm also nearly done with that old-school Rhino:

Just minor details left to finish on this metal box. I'm pretty happy with it so far.

At this point I'm actually wavering a bit on which army I'll take to that tournament in August. I was mainly thinking of bringing the Dark Angels, but now I'm actually considering bringing the Sisters instead. I'm working on both, but I need to pick up the pace if I want to have either army ready in time. Just 2 months to go!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/06/23 06:21:36


Post by: JoshInJapan


I still really like your bright yellow Sisters. It's a bold choice, and it works so well.

The Rhino looks good-- the little spot highlights on the viewports are nice touch.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/06/26 06:12:05


Post by: Viterbi


Nice additions you got for the sisters. I only sprang for one box of Sacresants and the codex (the latter still MIA and desperately awaited ) and I'm excited to see you tackle all the new minis.
Great work getting the BSS along, hope you can decide, which army to take in August. I would err towards sisters


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/07/02 04:53:41


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Josh: Thank you very much!

@Viterbi: Thanks! The new models were simply too cool to pass up, so I went ahead and got all of them (would have eventually picked them all up anyway, most likely). I'll probably still get at least a couple more boxes of Sacresants so that I can run a few of them with the maces. As for August, while I'm tempted to do the Sisters, I'm starting to lean back towards the Dark Angels. Lot less models to paint that way. But I'm not 100% decided, so we'll see.

I finished those Battle Sisters, and none too soon for the painting challenge. Here are the final pics:



Nothing amazing, but these will fit in well with the rest of my army. I decided to try the black backdrop for my lightbox to do these photos, and I think I'll be using it for all of my Sisters pics from now on. Really brings out the purple, I think.

The Rhino is nearly done. No new WIP photo, but I hope to have final pics of it in the next few days. Then maybe I'll gather everything I've painted so far for my Sisters and do an army shot or two.

And now for something sort of different. I recently finished assembling my Paragon Warsuits, delayed somewhat by having to order more magnets for them. I took some extra pics of them in order to do a short tutorial on how to magnetize the suits to use all the options (although I did not make the melee weapons swappable):

The reason I didn't do the melee weapons is that they are attached by some very thin pieces, and even with thin magnets there would be visible gaps, which I considered unacceptable (and not worth the risk of damaging the pieces beyond repair). All magnets used were 1/16 x 1/16" cylindrical neodymium magnets, obtained from K&J Magnetics. 30 total magnets are needed for the unit.

For the shoulder weapons, all you need to do is drill a hole in each shoulder right where the little indentation is that the weapon normally seats in. To make this easier, do this early in the assembly, before putting the decoration on the top of the shoulder assembly. Then, insert the magnet in the hole (of course!); you may not even need glue to hold it in place (most of mine stayed in without any glue). On the weapon pieces themselves, you can assemble the weapons, then cut off the tabs. You will then need to drill a hole in the middle of where the tab used to be and put your magnet in there. Watch those polarities though; I imagine having to fix them would be a real pain in the ass. Here are pics of the seated magnets in the shoulders and weapons on one of the suits:

For the main weapons, it's important to do most of the assembly before adding the magnets. Getting the arm that holds the gun in position can be a pain, but it is important that it is lined up correctly in order to have the hoses on the guns able to attach. Once the arm is in place, fit an assembled gun to the end of the arm. It should stay there by friction. Once it is in place, take the matching power/fuel cell and glue the hoses on it to the ones on the gun, holding the part in place on the back of the suit while the glue dries. Repeat this for each gun. Once the glue is dry, you can slip the entire assembly back off the arm. Install a magnet in the back of the suit where the power cell goes, and a matching magnet in the cell itself. Technically you could perhaps skip these magnets and just let the gun stay on the arm by friction, but I did the magnets for stability and so the weapon would be less likely to fall off during a game. Here are pics of the seated magnets, showing where they should be placed:

As can be seen it is relatively easy to magnetize these models, and well worth it to save you having to buy another kit to use different weapons.

The July painting challenge theme is Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself, so I'll probably be entering one or more of my Nazgul from my Middle-earth collection. That'll be a nice change of pace from all this power armor.



ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/07/02 05:36:00


Post by: JoshInJapan


Nice work on the Sisters. The dark background makes a world of difference in the photographs-- the shading on both the yellow and the purple show up really well.

Thanks for the magnetizing tutorial. I don't do a lot of magnetizing, so I don't get much chance to improve my skills. Your advice will be quite helpful.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/07/02 10:35:33


Post by: Nevelon


Black backdrops working well. Nice looking sisters.

I think some Nazgul are exactly what needs to happen for the comp. It looks like a lot of people are having trouble with the theme, but they fit it exceptionally well.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/07/11 05:40:25


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Josh: Thanks! Glad I could help with the magnetizing; I posted it because I know other people might be new to magnetizing and/or not know a good way to do it for those specific models. My own (small) way of giving back to the community for all the helpful advice I've gotten over the years.

@Nev: Thank you! When I saw that theme for the comp, Nazgul just seemed to be the best choice for it. I only hope they turn out well enough to actually get noticed.

First off, let's just say that big things are coming in my hobby life very soon. But I'll go over that at the end of this post. For now, feast your eyes on my newly-finished Sororitas Rhino:



Pretty happy with how this metal bawks turned out. The old-school kit certainly had some differences compared with the current Sororitas Rhino offering, in part because it was a dual kit that could also make an Immolator. I have all the Immolator bits and I have done some work on them, but they aren't done quite yet. As I've said previously, I'll probably only ever run this as an Immolator in casual games because Immolators suck in game and it doesn't have the right dimensions or the hull-mounted Heavy Bolter like the current Immolator does.

I've also gotten started on the first Nazgul, just as a test for the method that I found on YouTube:

Not a lot to see yet, and the blurry photo doesn't help (sorry! ), but I've gotten the basecoats and shading down, and started on the highlights (mainly just laid the base color back down on the non-recessed parts). I'll be using progressively lighter colors to build up highlights and really bring out the texture of the cloth, then I'll highlight the metallics. This particular model is metal and came with a mounted Nazgul (who is also in the comp); I do also have a resin version of this same model, but I wanted to paint the old metal one.

As for the big news, it's two things. First, thanks to an eBay score and GW tempting me too much with the new box set, I'll be starting collecting and playing Warhammer: Age of Sigmar. I found a great lot of Stormcast Eternals, including their half of the Dominion box set and a bunch of NIB kits as well as plenty of loose minis, and I'm finally taking the plunge. Right now I'm already trying to think of a clever color scheme for the models, as I want them to be visually striking and not just the same old blue and gold ones you see in all the box art. I might go with something to homage some video game or movie, or perhaps try to do a fantasy version of my beloved Dark Angels from 40k. I'm certainly open to suggestions if anyone thinks of something clever I could do with them paintwise.

The other big news: thanks to the extreme generosity of a friend of mine, I have inherited an AnyCubic Photon S 3D printer. My friend is moving at the end of this month and won't have room in his new house for it (he has like 3 other 3D printers), so he wanted to give it to someone who would make good use of it, hence why he gave it to me. I still need to come up with a washing/curing station and some actual resin for it before I can actually make use of it, but I'm excited to join the 3D printing club and look forward to making some cool stuff.

Anyways, that's all I've got for now. Next time I post I should have some Ravenwing bikes to show, and the promised "army so far" shot of my painted Sisters, and hopefully more progress on the Nazgul.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/07/11 20:17:27


Post by: Yorkright


That is one gorgeous looking Rhino Zerg! Yellows look nice and smooth, can’t wait to see the army.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/07/11 21:21:07


Post by: youwashock


Very exciting things happening here. Latest Sisters and their funky fresh ride look great. Looking forward to yellow mech suits. Also to the possibility of Dark Angel Sigmarines. Nice scores there with the printer and AoS.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/07/16 21:14:22


Post by: JoshInJapan


The yellow on the Rhino came out super smooth. It must have taken a lot of patience to get it that clean.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/09/16 07:28:58


Post by: ZergSmasher


@York: Thanks! I'm pretty happy with how it ended up looking, and I've gotten several compliments on it (including several at that tournament I talked about in earlier posts).

@YWS: Thanks!

@Josh: It did take a couple of coats, but one thing that made it a LOT easier was starting with a Wraithbone undercoat (same color I use for Contrast paints).

After 2 months, I'm finally back. I've gotten a ton of hobbying done, but I've been either too busy, too tired, or too burned out to take any pics or add anything to this blog. Indeed, this post isn't going to be comprehensive. I'll just hit some of the highlights and perhaps in my next one there'll be another picture dump. Anywho, here goes...

So, those of you who have followed this blog may recall that I had a tournament to prepare for in August. I ended up taking my Sisters army to it, and that decision was made with just over two weeks to spare. Meaning that I had to paint almost 60 models in two weeks. It took a truly herculean effort, but by God I got it done, at least well enough to meet the painting requirements for the event. The following photo is one I took of my army before the first game of the event:

Everything there is painted to a level that I consider to be finished, if only to a low-medium tabletop standard, with the exceptions of the Mortifiers, one of the Rhinos, and Morvenn Vahl. Those five models were hastily basecoated the day before the event. I almost needed to bring a "Wet Paint" sign to put next to my army! The eagle-eyed viewers among you might have noticed my forum signature showing my 2021 model count going up over that two weeks; this is why. I even painted a couple of models that aren't part of this army (extra models from these units that I wanted to paint at the same time, such as a couple more Repentia and a Cherub). In total, I think I finished like 58 models and got the five vehicles basecoated; while I was psyched to get it all done, it has left me very, very burnt out and I actually haven't painted anything since (meaning those Ravenwing bikes from before are still sitting here unfinished ). Still, the army got several compliments for the unusual color scheme, and comments about me being brave for painting the models yellow. All I had to say was that Contrast paints are amazing; the yellow really is much easier with the contrast version, and contrast paints were the only way I could get that many models painted in such a short time. I ended up finishing the event with 2 wins, 2 losses, and a tie, so I feel like I did pretty well given my lack of experience with 9th edition and the fact that my previous tournament outing was at the end of 2019.

When I wasn't busy banging out Sisters models, I was fiddling around with my 3D printer. I've printed a decent variety of things, and I've decided to show them off here. Photo dump incoming:

First, here are a couple of Spartan-themed Space Marine characters, whose files I got from the friend who gave me the printer (not sure where he got the files):

In addition to these, I have files for an Outrider squad that are mounted on mechanical horses instead of bikes. Haven't printed any of those, and I'm not sure I will considering I don't think I'd actually use them. I only printed these characters to try out the printer (these are the first models I printed).

Next, here's a Ravenwing Attack Bike that I found a set of free .STL files for:

I'll probably print a few more of these, as I like the look of the model. The supports were a pain in the butt to remove because there were so many of them (the files for the model were presupported), but I think it's worth it compared to going out and buying more of the official GW Attack Bike models.

Here we have a couple of Terminator models.

The one on the right is from a set of "built your own not-Terminator" files that my friend gave me. Has a somewhat different look from the official models. The one on the left is something I'm not sure how the author has gotten away with given GW's current IP crackdown; it comes from another set of mix-and-match files to build your own Deathwing squad (complete with DA iconography). I was very pleased to find that set for free, as there are several body variants and basically all the weapon options. The models aren't as fancy as the actual ones from the GW kit, but they'll do the job. I'm sure I'll print more of them as needed.

Here are some of my favorite models I've printed, from a Patreon I've signed up to follow:

The guy calls himself Ghamak, and the models (which he's done 3 waves of and is now done with) are what he calls the "Red Sisters". Basically Soviet-themed Sisters of Battle. The ones I've printed here are a couple of not-Sacresants and a not-Repentia (I've printed all of the Repentia poses, but I haven't put the heads on the others). I was considering using these models for a mixed-Order list to make the two Orders visually distinct, but unfortunately the scale is a bit bigger on these compared to the official models, so it would take quite a bit of work to actually make it happen (basically I'd have to rescale the models and then do my own supports for them, and I'm not sure it's worth the time). Here's another Red Sisters model I printed:

This one is a counts-as Mortifier, and it is WAY off scale, like 50% bigger than an actual Mortifier. And scaling it down wouldn't work very well as it would make the girl inside look tiny. It's still a cool, well-designed model. Even if the scale is off, I'll probably print the not-Celestine and not-Morvenn Vahl from the Red Sisters range as they both are cool models.

Finally, here's a Dark Angels Relic Contemptor:

This is probably my best find as far as .STL files go. Had to pay a little bit for it, but since Volkite Contemptor are so strong in the current meta it was well worth it (especially with FW prices being what they are!).

That's all for now, folks. Next time I will probably do some individual shots of some of the Sisters units. None of them are probably worth doing in the lightbox, but I still think I should give everyone a better look than just that army shot above.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/09/16 10:37:15


Post by: Nevelon


That’s a lot of progress!

Interesting to see things come off the printer. So many options out there.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/09/21 15:06:31


Post by: Captain Brown


Sisters look good ZergSmasher.

Cheers,

CB


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/09/21 16:33:10


Post by: youwashock


Congrats on getting the army ready! Have fun with the printer.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/09/26 06:22:45


Post by: Viterbi


Nice army shot and you are getting good use out of the printer already, excited to see those minis get some color on them.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/09/28 03:20:29


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks! 3d printers do open up a lot of options model-wise, and many of the STL files out there are free. Plus a lot of artists have Patreons where you pay a small monthly fee and get a lot of files from them each month.

@CB: Thank you!

@YWS: Thanks!

@Viterbi: Thanks! I too am excited to get paint on some of these 3d printed models; I hope they'll paint up as well as they printed.

Massive image dump incoming, as I went ahead and took individual shots of many of the models from my Sisters tourney list:

Canoness and Dogmata:


Celestian Sacresants with Anointed Halberds:


Retributors:


Repentia:


Zephyrim:


Sorry some of the photos are kind of distant; it was hard to get all the models in the shot for the larger units. My lighting setup at my desk isn't the best so it usually works better for fewer models at a time. Also, this isn't literally every model I painted; I didn't bother showing my second Dominion squad or the few Battle Sisters that I painted, as those are more mundane. Also, on the Retributors, I actually ran them as 2 Multimeltas and 2 Heavy Bolters in each unit; I painted them in groups with the same weapons though.

Continuing this theme, here's how Morvenn Vahl looked at the tournament:

Good enough to count as painted for a tournament, but still very much WIP. I chose purple instead of the blue shown on the box art for the cloth parts in order to tie her in with the rest of my army. Plus it goes really well with the gold.

Switching gears, here's how my entry for the Dakka monthly painting challenge is coming:


Don't think I'm gonna make it by the end of the month. Of course, I did paint a whole army in two weeks so anything is possible, but I don't think the motivation is there. A game I play online a lot just released some new content though, so I might be too busy with that to paint anything for a bit.

Rounding off this photo bonanza, here's a shot of my entire assembled Stormcast Eternals army for Age of Sigmar (I got it all put together, including some stuff I added after I got that eBay lot):

Some of the models look gold; they are in gold plastic. Nothing has been primed or painted yet. This may become my winter project, unless one of my myriad other projects takes precedence. We'll have to see. Here's a list of what's there:
The characters:
Yndrasta
Vandus Hammerhand
Lord-Imperatant
Knight-Arcanum
Knight-Vexillor with Banner of Apotheosis
Lord-Arcanum on Gryph-charger
Lord-Relictor
Lord-Castellant
Knight-Vexillor with Pennant
Lord-Aquilor
Knight-Judicator
The units:
5 Vanguard-Hunters
3 Vanguard-Palladors
3 Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows
3 Aetherwings
9 Gryph-Hounds
2x 5 Sequitors
5 Evocators with Grandstaves
2x 3 Castigators
3x 5 Liberators
2x 5 Vindictors
5 Protectors with 2 Starsoul Maces
3 Annihilators
3 Praetors
Stormstrike Chariot
All told, this is almost 5000 points worth of models. A pretty good start to an army. Next on my list to add to it (probably not real soon) will be a box of Judicators, a second box of Vanguard-Raptors (so I can run a full 6-man unit, these guys are awesome!), and a second box of Paladins (so I can flesh out the Protectors, they work good in larger units). I would also love to pick up some of the new Dragons and Dragon riders, but I'm guessing those are going to be exorbitantly expensive, so I consider them long-term goals. I'll probably pick up the aforementioned things first, then perhaps a box or two of Dracothian Guard before I look into the dragons. One big difference between this and my 40k stuff is that right now I have no plans to start any other armies for AoS. Space limitations is the main concern, but also I just won't have time to spend on them. I'm already stretched thinner than gold foil with my existing projects!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/09/28 03:43:11


Post by: youwashock


Whoa. That's a lot of righteous firepower. Good stuff, ZergSmasher. Looking forward to that host of Stormcast, too.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/09/28 10:30:40


Post by: Nevelon


Month isn’t over yet! Get painting on that dread.

Sisters are nice as always, and man, that’s a TON of SCE. You have a scheme in mind? I know that in theory they have chapter-like things, and a lot of official patterns.

You should break out the lightbox and get close up formal shots of all your finished squads. I love wide army pics for the majesty and scale, but individual pics let you see what’s going on better.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2021/09/28 12:39:41


Post by: Theophony


Gun nuns are looking great all together.

That list of SCE is . I like the new sculpts so much better than the older ones that I don't want them on the same painting table together in my house. I too would like to build up some of the Dragons for a SCE army, but unless I win the lottery, that plan must wait.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/01/05 09:07:45


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Thanks!

@Nev: Yeah, the dread didn't happen. But thanks for the encouragement as always! As for the Stormcast, I was looking through the battletome and settled on a gold with purple scheme that I saw in there (I think the Stormhost was called the Lions of Sigmar or something). I'm really not sure any of the Sisters units I've done recently are worthy of the lightbox and closeup shots; they look good from a distance but up close you can see how I cut corners to bang them out fast.

@Theo: Thanks! Personally I think the older SCE sculpts hold up just fine; the new ones are even cooler though. And yeah, the Dragons are expensive. Gonna be a little bit before I grab any of those, although my FLGS does have a box of the Stormdrakes and one of the big dragon kits in stock to tempt me...

Just about choked on all the dust on this here blog as I got ready to finally add to it. Really sorry about that, too; I just haven't felt like taking pictures of anything lately. Not sure why. Anyways, it's high time for my annual Year End Review, so here it comes!

First, the final count for the year: 119 miniatures painted, well above my goal of 100 and my second most productive year ever (2018 had more painted, mostly because of Adepticon prep). Here's the compulsory shot of all the painted stuff (pardon the messy desk in the background):

Those of you who are really observant will notice that there's a just a little bit of bias in terms of which army I did more work on. Here's the breakdown:
DARK ANGELS:
Sammael, Master of the Ravenwing
5 Assault Intercessors
Attack Bike
SPACE WOLVES:
5 Intercessors
ADEPTA SORORITAS:
Canoness
Dogmata
Preacher
Sister Tariana Palos
10 Battle Sisters
10 Dominions
10 Celestian Sacresants
18 Sisters Repentia
2 Death Cult Assassins
10 Arco-Flagellants
5 Seraphim
10 Zephyrim
20 Retributors (plus 6 Armorium Cherubs)
Penitent Engine
Sororitas Rhino

With all of this done, this actually is very close to my entire Sisters army painted; just a few vehicles and characters left. Got some stuff that's just basecoated to a minimum level to be able to run it in tournaments (Morvenn Vahl, 2 Rhinos, and 3 Mortifiers are at this stage); might get those polished off this year, might not, we'll have to see.

So, now to the goals for last year:
1: Paint at least 100 total models. I need to shrink the pile of shame if possible, and that's only going to happen if I get stuff done. 50 a year is just not going to cut it.
2: Paint all of my Indomitus Space Marines. Got started on them in 2020 (4 done), but there's still plenty more left to do. Won't be too hard of a goal, as I'm very much looking forward to most of the models.
3: Get my Sisters of Battle fully ready for tournaments. Whether or not I'll actually get to go to a tournament will of course depend on if they can get a handle on the COVID-19 situation, but I want to have a tournament-ready army of Sisters in case I am able to go. That's going to be a tough one, as I don't actually own all the models I need yet (still want to pick up a couple more Exorcists and perhaps the Triumph of St. Katherine), plus I've got a lot of unpainted Sisters that need work.
4: Get a full army from Middle-Earth done. I've been wanting to get some non-40k stuff done for a while now, but the motivation isn't there. Even my little "crisis of faith" from a few months back didn't really get me doing other stuff, so it's high time I did some non-grimdark stuff for a change.
5: Paint some non-GW models. I've got plenty of candidates, ranging from Infinity to Guildball to Star Saga, plus some actual scale models and stuff, and I've thought about picking up Star Wars: Legion as a side game.
6: Learn to take better photos of my models. This may necessitate purchasing or crafting an actual lightbox, but my current photos just aren't cutting it, particularly on my Sisters of Battle. I'm proud of my painting even if it's not going to win me a Golden Demon anytime soon, and I want to be able to show others my models as they truly appear rather than have their colors look drab and uninteresting.
7: Work on my bitz boxes. I've got so many bits sitting on sprues from kits I've built. Consolidating them into boxes will allow me to toss the sprues and boxes and therefore reduce the clutter in my apartment.
8: Paint more than I buy. I'm going to try to keep track and actually reduce the pile of shame rather than grow it, although I will definitely be picking up some new stuff when it drops.
Bonus: Play some games that aren't Warhammer. I'm calling it a bonus because it will depend on whether the world can open back up, but I'm hoping to maybe try some new games. And I hope to play some more casual games of 40k instead of always playing as if it's tournament prep (my local group is fairly hardcore!).

Here's how I did on these:
1: Got it done, and then some. Yay me!
2: Painted 5 of the Assault Intercessors, started on the Chaplain...and that's it. Just kind of lost interest. Gonna have to call this one a fail.
3: I think I can call this one a very solid win!
4: Eh, no, I halfheartedly attempted to paint a few Nazgul, but again, lost interest for some reason. Fail.
5: Unfortunately, nothing non-GW was painted this year. Fail.
6: With the ShotBox and using Photoscape, I think I've definitely upped my photo game this year. I'll call this one a win.
7: Didn't really even touch my bits boxes. Fail.
8: Nothing to see here. Move along...
Bonus: Sadly, didn't really get a chance to do any non-Warhammer gaming. I did play a few casual 40k games though.

Okay, here are some new goals for 2022:
1: Paint at least 100 models. I think 100 a year is a pretty good pace; obviously it's even better if I can get more because my pile of shame is truly mahoosive at this point, but I've already been dealing with burnout issues so I don't want to push too hard.
2: Finish up Indomitus. Should have done this last year. If I can get it done in 2022, I can just say better late than never, I guess.
3: Get a competitive Space Wolves army painted. This might be even more work than the Sisters were, although the model count won't be as high.
4: Paint up a full playable force from Middle-Earth. Lots to choose from, really (I'll probably do Minas Tirith or possibly Mordor though).
5: Paint some non-GW models. I've got even more to choose from now, plus a Kickstarter that will hopefully be fulfilled later this year, so I'd like to get some more variety in my painting lineup.
6: Play some games that aren't Warhammer 40k. It could be Middle-Earth, it could be AoS, or even some non-GW games, but I kinda want to broaden my horizons a bit. Let's just hope we don't have another massive surge of COVID cases or something that could spoil it...
7: Work on the bitz boxes. This will really help reduce clutter in my home, but it's a pain in the ass to deal with clipping all those little bits. I need to just spend a weekend doing it sometime though; it needs to happen.
8: Paint more than I buy. This is a pretty tough one, as I tend to grab ALL THE NEW SHINIES for my armies when they drop, but since GW has already done most of the armies I play there might be a chance for me to make this happen.
Bonus: Get better at using my 3D printer. So far I've been sticking to presupported models for the most part; I'd like to learn to do my own supports eventually, as it could help me get better prints.

Many of these goals are repeats of last year's, but to quote an old saying: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Shaking off this funk I've been in is going to be a must if I'm going to make any headway though; I don't know whether it's somehow depression related, or if I've just been too tired or too busy with other things, but I want to get back to my painting, and I want to enjoy it.

Finally for this year end review post, here are my top 5 painted models (or units in some cases):

5: Battle Sister Squad:

They may be fairly basic, but this might be my best squad out of the army. Gives a good example of what my army looks like, anyways.

4: Sororitas Rhino:

This unassuming metal bawks has gotten some compliments at events and at my FLGS. I'm very happy with how it turned out; it fits in well with my infantry, which is what I was going for, after all.

3: Space Wolves Intercessor Pack:

I really enjoy painting Space Wolves; their color scheme is cool, and it's fun to add things like pack markings and stuff. Hopefully all of my other Wolves turn out as well as I feel like this squad did.

2: Dark Angels Assault Intercessor Squad:

Tried out a more elaborate method for painting green armor, and I think it paid off. I'll probably be doing all of my Greenwing with this method in the future.

1: Sammael, Master of the Ravenwing:

I feel like this is one of my better pieces of all; I really poured my heart and soul into it. Still doesn't hold a candle to some other people's stuff, but I'm very happy with it.

Happy belated New Year, everyone! Normal service on this blog should resume soon, I hope. I've got plenty of news, but I wanted to get this review done first, so that'll wait until my next post. Sorry for not posting for so long!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/01/05 11:26:41


Post by: Nevelon


A solid year, well done!.

Don’t compare yourselves with everyone out there. This is a hobby, not a profession. It’s supposed to be fun. Your painting is solid table top work. I don’t say that disparagingly, that’s the level I’m at. And there is nothing wrong with it. Be proud of what you do. When you see the flaws in the zoomed close up pics, make a note to work on that next time. But also take a moment to admire all the things you did right on the model. It’s easy to focus on the negative and be your own worst critic.

I still want unit pics from you. Squad pics and individual models in a collage. One thing this will do is force you to find the best angle for each mini. Look at it until you see where it shines. And capture that, both with the camera and your mind’s eye.

Keep plugging away, keep moving forward. Chin up.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/01/05 21:15:58


Post by: youwashock


Nice wrap-up. Great looking group shot, and your top 5 has some really good stuff in it. Here's to more awesomeness in 2022.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/01/06 12:12:27


Post by: Viterbi


Love the year-end shot and am glad that the bias went towards Sisters, good to see such a great army!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/01/29 09:52:39


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks for the encouragement. I am my own worst critic far too often, and that's probably the cause of some of the burnout issues I've suffered lately.

@YWS: Thanks! Group shots like this take some work to arrange, but are very satisfying to do!

@Viterbi: Thank you!

Finally been getting some paint down on stuff in earnest (nothing finished this year yet), and finally broke out the lightbox for some pics. First, here are WIP shots of what I've been working on recently:
Canis Wolfborn:

My entry for the January painting challenge. At this point, there are three days left in the month, so I'm unlikely to finish in time, but I am going to finish before I move on to other SW stuff.

Stormcast Eternals Liberators:

Started feeling the itch to paint a few of these, and Liberators felt like a good first unit to paint. The scheme I'm going for is from the Battletome, but not one of the Stormhosts that has rules. They're called the Lions of Sigmar. In-game I'll probably play them as Hammers of Sigmar most often.

And now, here are some nice pics of a couple of my better looking units that I painted last year:
Arco-Flagellants:


The individual in the top right corner is Damian 1427, a nice little "easter egg" that GW included in the Arco-Flagellants kit (he was in the old Inquisitor 54mm game or something). He's the Endurant of the unit. I also got some closeups of a few random models in the unit to show a little detail.

Death Cult Assassins:

These were a lot of fun to paint. They may not see much use in the future though, as rules changes have made 2-model "action slave" units obsolete. I'm probably shelving the Sisters for the time being anyways.

I also have some pics of the first few units that I've been printing on my Photon S for my Japanese Drukhari army. Haven't completely decided on whether or not I'm going to print a full 2000-point army; that will depend on if I think I'll have time to paint it, and if events I want to go to will allow an entire army of 3D printed proxies. Sorry you can't see a lot of detail; white resin does not like being photographed very much.
Kabalite Warriors:

Wyches:

Wracks:

Pain Engine (most likely a Cronos as it lacks any guns to be a Talos):

Reaver and 2 Hellions:

And finally, the only 3D printed models that I've even started painting, an Archon, Succubus, and Haemonculus:

These were going to be my December painting challenge entry, but sadly I ran out of time before I could finish. All of these models are from the same Patreon that I got the Red Sisters from earlier (Ghamak). He's doing Vostroyans now, and I'll probably print a few of the vehicles and Bullgryn at some point.

In other news, I got tempted by the new releases and have started building up an Adeptus Custodes force. Fortunately they are not expensive at all compared to most 40k armies as you don't need a huge number of models. I've picked up and assembled Trajann Valoris, and I have a box of Custodian Wardens awaiting assembly. Whenever the Combat Patrol for them drops, I'll probably pick one up (but not more than one as I don't need large numbers of Sisters of Silence). I've already got some sword & board Custodian Guard, a Vexillus Praetor, and a sword & board Shield Captain, plus a unit of Witchseekers (Sisters of Silence) from the Burning of Prospero box set, so I've already got a small leg up on collecting.

That's all for now; I might see about getting nice pics of a few more units from my Sisters of Battle later. Take care and stay safe!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/01/29 13:46:12


Post by: Nevelon


Keep plugging away. Paint gets done one layer at a time.

Purple and gold is a good look for the stormcast. How you going to base them?

Nice work on the conclave units. How did they deal with being split up? I painted a chunk of them back in the day for mixed unit use, where you could have the crusaders tank and the DCA/arcos blend. It seems that taking them alone takes a lot of the play out of them.

Nice detail from the printer. Resin is probably the way to go for minis. There might be things I could do to get better results from my Ender, but filament comes out a little rough for the scale we work at. Fine for terrain though, which I need to do more of. Your painted guys came out great.

Custodes seem interesting. Better pick up a few more pots of gold paint if you are doing them and the stormcast. Going to need a lot of it!



ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/01/29 16:43:29


Post by: youwashock


Stormcast will certainly be good practice for the Custodes. Love the Assassins and flagellants. Lovely grimdark minis. Highly intrigued by the Dark Eldar.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/01/30 18:42:01


Post by: Viterbi


Am a bit sad that the big wolf isn't getting ready for the comp, but still excited to see it finished! And nice glamour shots of the arcos and DCA's!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/02/07 06:25:29


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks for the encouragement as always, buddy! I'm planning on basing the Stormcast models in a swampy theme; some of the Dominion models (and the Knight Judiciar) have kind of a swamp-covered ruins thing going on with their bases, so I want them to be consistent. Not sure exactly how I'm going to accomplish it, but there will at least be some mud on the bases for sure. As for the Conclave stuff, taking them alone lets each one accomplish its specific job, but honestly none of them are very competitive, especially now that action slave units aren't really a thing. Arcos are almost competitive and it's fun rolling a bucket of dice for their attacks, but when I ran them in a tournament last November they just didn't get much done for me. Regarding printing, resin is absolutely the way to go for minis, and FDM is better for large stuff like big vehicles (e.g. Titans) and terrain. Even the best FDM printer is only going to get a layer height of 0.1mm, and I printed all of my resin minis at 0.05mm, half the layer height. Much more detail.

@YWS: I was originally thinking of doing my Custodes in the same exact color scheme as my SCE, but changed my mind because one of the actual Custodes Shield Hosts uses that scheme and I'd rather do my own so I'm not locked into a specific one (not that most TO's are going to care, but GW events might if I ever decided to go to one).

@Viterbi: Yeah I was kind of bummed too, but I've been too distracted by...things (coughTerrariacough). It's going to get done though, sooner rather than later I hope. Thanks for the encouragement.

I've been working on my entry for February's painting challenge lately; made some decent progress too:

Picked up these models last year; Celeborn was in a pack with Haldir, and Galadriel was a Made to Order from GW. I'll need these painted if I decide to run Lothlorien in my local Middle-Earth scene (which started pretty recently, much to my surprise and delight!), plus they are cool, characterful minis.

I've also been assembling stuff for my Space Wolves. Just finished putting together these Assault Intercessors:

These were part of the Shieldbreaker Strike Force box, which became the first one of the Christmas battleforce boxes I've ever picked up this past December. Most of the contents went to my Dark Angels (needed more Bladeguard and some Heavy Intercessors particulary, but it was nice to get a second Storm Speeder as well), but these and the Primaris Captain became Wolves because I don't need either of those things for my DA. I've still got quite a few kits to assemble for my Space Wolves:
2 Redemptor Dreads
1 box of Vanguard Vets (to make some jump Wolf Guard)
1 box of Infiltrators/Incursors (will probably build 5 of each)
2 boxes of Thunderwolf Cavalry (those have been sitting around for a while)
1 sprue of Assault Intercessors from the Elite Edition starter (again, been kicking around for a while)
I'm not hurrying with this; having things around to assemble gives me something hobby-related to do when I don't feel like painting. I really need to get more paint down; I still haven't finished a mini yet this year!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/02/08 06:59:51


Post by: JoshInJapan


The Lord and Lady of Lothlorien are coming along nicely. You have some nice, vibrant metallics on them-- what do you use?


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/02/08 11:44:15


Post by: Nevelon


Nice progress.

Assault intercessors were a lot of fun to put together. I enjoyed building mine.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/02/13 08:16:42


Post by: Viterbi


Excited for Galadriel, will buy her too in the current MTO. Such a cool sculpt and interested what colors you will choose.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/02/28 04:37:23


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Josh: Thank you! I'm just using Citadel metallic paints; Retributor Armor for the gold, with highlights of Liberator Gold and Stormhost Silver to give a bit of depth (after being shaded with Reikland Fleshshade). For the silver, it's just Leadbelcher with Nuln Oil for the shading and Stormhost Silver for the highlights. Retributor Armor is the best gold paint I've ever seen, and is so easy to use!

@Nev: Thanks! I'm not going as crazy as you did with Intercessors (no mixing between Assault and regular with the legs and stuff), but it's still fun to put stuff together.

@Viterbi: Yeah Galadriel, Protectress of Lothlorien is a really good sculpt. She has kind of a "war aspect" look that is a perfect look for her on a battlefield (really fitting that she has Terror in her rules profile).

I finished Celeborn and Galadriel, here are the pics:



These two were really fun to paint. It's definitely nice to paint something that isn't from the grim darkness of the far future once in a while. I'm happy with how they came out, too, although my pics are a bit pixelated due to too much zooming with my cheap ass camera (and the fact that I couldn't figure out how to fix them in Photoscape). Still, you can still see the paintjob well enough, so job's a good'un, as the British say. And perhaps the saddest bit of doing these models: they are my first completed models of 2022. I've got some serious catching up to do if I want to hit my 100 models a year goal. Of course, last year I was way behind until August or so and then I bashed out more than 50 models in three weeks, so I'm far from out of it.

Next month's painting challenge will be Space Marines, if tradition holds, and I've got the perfect entry for that: Sergeant Castus, the exclusive model from last year that was given for free for orders of over $240 on GW's webstore. Got it all primed up today, along with a bunch of Middle-Earth stuff. He'll be fun to get painted, as I'm planning to make him a Blood Raven rather than an Ultramarine.

Work continues slowly on the Stormcast guys. No real progress to show as I've done only the shading and the first highlight on the gold armor. Lots more highlighting to do. In addition to those, I'm still nominally working on Canis Wolfborn, although I haven't done much to him either. Been still playing too many video games to get much hobbying done.

In other news, I've decided which armies I'm going to focus on for Middle-Earth in our local group. I wanted to do both a Good and an Evil army, as that will give me some options. I have several forces for both, but I've chosen to focus on and expand Lothlorien as my Good army (so Celeborn and Galadriel might be pretty busy soon enough) and Easterlings as my Evil army. I bought some more stuff for both armies recently; a box of Galadhrim Warriors and a box of Galadhrim Knights for Lorien, and two of the MtO lots of Easterlings that they did recently (they came really quick in the mail too and got primed today). I've also ordered some of the FW Easterling models (the two characters on preorder and two lots of the Dragon Cult Acolytes), so when those get here I'll have a pretty complete army of them. That's actually my first order from Forge World, as other FW models I own I either bought from friends or, in the case of a couple of Mortis Dreadnought weapons, bought from the FW booth at Adepticon 2018.

Between the Custodes that I'm starting, the Stormcast Eternals, and now the Easterlings, I've got a bit of a golden future ahead! Hopefully I can make some meaningful progress on some of those things soon, in addition to getting back to my Angels and Wolves. You'll see it here, whatever I do, so stay tuned!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/02/28 07:35:13


Post by: JoshInJapan


Celeborn and Galadriel both look great. I especially like the rich colors on Celeborn- they suit his battlefield role as opposed to his more stately appearance in the films.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/02/28 20:27:21


Post by: youwashock


Nice work on all the cloth. Great pair of minis.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/03/13 13:30:10


Post by: Viterbi


Great seeing both minis finished!

Need to grab Celeborn if he becomes available again or look at ebay for one. But I got my Galadriel from the store and am excited to paint her in the near future, probably when a fitting painting comp theme comes along.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/03/14 07:15:39


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Josh: Thanks! I really enjoyed doing the rich colors, and I'll be doing more of that with the rest of my Lothlorien army whenever I get around to it.

@YWS: Thanks very much!

@Viterbi: Thank you! This particular Celeborn is packaged with an armored Haldir model, and AFAIK is available on the GW webstore (maybe not in your country though). I look forward to eventually seeing your take on Galadriel.

Work continues, but much slower than I would like, as usual. I've been working on my Sgt. Castus model for the painting challenge. Just a few base colors down so far, here's a WIP shot:

Heaps left to do for this guy, and I'm trying to get other stuff done at the same time.

Meanwhile, on the Custodes project, I've been getting my 3D printer busy. I found some stl files of some nice proxies of a few of the Forge World models, and I ran off a couple of prints that turned out decent. First, here's the body of a Caladius Grav Tank:

The body was in two pieces, which I hollowed out in Chitubox and actually did the supports myself since there was no presupported version (I think the model was originally intended to be printed on a FDM printer). I still need to do the supports and print the rest of the parts for the model.

The other model I printed was this Contemptor Galatus proxy:

I'm slightly concerned that he's a little shorter than the official model, but honestly I don't think that'll be a major problem (it's obvious what the model is supposed to be and the size is close). The legs are about right, but the body is a bit scrunched compared to the real thing. I'm still pretty happy with it, and I actually have the separate files to also make a Contemptor Achillus. It really feels good to be able to use less that $2 worth of resin to avoid having to shell out $100+ for a FW model. In addition to these, I also have files for a Telemon, Pallas Grav-Attack, and the guns and other parts to turn a standard Custodian Guard squad into Sagittarum Custodians.

Also being worked on currently are a few Easterlings for my Middle-Earth collection. Here's an early WIP shot of them:

All I've done is basecoat and shade the gold armor; I still need to highlight that, and then do the rest of the models. It's a start, though. I've got all my Easterlings primed at least thanks to an earlier window in the weather, so I should be able knock them out. And that's a good thing, because I went ahead and sprung for the new Forge World Easterling Heroes plus a couple of packs of the Dragon Cult Acolytes for them (the models were too cool to pass up). So hopefully I have a nice army for those to join soon.

And finally, in what might be considered a suprising move, earlier today I went to my FLGS and picked up the starter set of Army Painter Speed Paints. I've heard good things and wanted to see if they are better than Contrast like some reviewers say. So not only did I pick them up, but I immediately put them to work on a model:

This is an Adepta Sororitas Imagifier, one of the heroes that I didn't end up painting as part of my massive Sisters pushes last year. I did all this paintwork in less than two hours including some drying time. So far I'm reserving judgment as far as whether I like Speed Paints or Contrast more, but I do massively prefer the dropper bottles to the GW pots.

No real progress to show on the Stormcast Eternals, although I did add a couple of shades and highlights since my last post. That's all I have for now, cheers for looking!



ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/03/15 22:00:07


Post by: youwashock


Colors look good on the Sister. 3D Dread looks good, too. Can't argue with the price.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/03/15 23:33:40


Post by: JoshInJapan


Did you have any problems with reactivation of the Speedpaints? That seems to be an issue for a lot of people, and I'm very much on the fence as to whether or not to try them for myself. Also, were they easy to control, or did you get a lot of slop?


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/03/25 07:54:12


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Thanks!

@Josh: I haven't really tried painting over them yet. They were very easy to control, more so than GW Contrast, so that's a factor in favor of the Speedpaints.

Been a little bit since I posted. In that time, I finished up Sergeant Castus of the Blood Ravens 5th Company:



This model was really fun to paint, and not to toot my own horn but I think it ended up being one of my better pieces in a while. It's not a model I'll ever actually play with, but it's a nice little vignette model that will look good on display in my home. It feels good to get a painting challenge entry done with time to spare for once instead of coming down to the wire!

I've also gotten some work done on other stuff. I've finished the gold armor on the Stormcast Eternals Liberators and shaded most of the other details, so here's a WIP of them:

Plenty more to do to finish them; I still need to pick out the leather belts and stuff, plus the parchments need work. And then I need to figure out a good way of doing simple swampy bases, something that is easily repeatable across the army.

I've also finished up the armor on these Easterling swordsmen:

Now I need to do the cloth and leather details on them.

Finally, here's a second test model I did with the Army Painter Speed Paints. This time I decided to try them on a Deathwing Terminator:

I picked one with an Assault Cannon because I'm less likely to want to use those in games currently. I'm happy with how the Speed Paints perform generally, but like I found with Contrast the bone color is a bit too dark for Deathwing armor (and the green in the starter kit is too bright, but that's my fault for using it, not something wrong with the paint itself). Ultimately I can't say I think the Speed Paints are better or worse than GW Contrast; they simply seem to be alternative products for the same job. Speed Paint is easier to control, but others have had issues with reactivating it (I've avoided those issues so far). Once the full range drops it'll be a fairer comparison though, as right now only the starter set is available for Speed Paints (so, ten colors).

GW did some product reveals at Adepticon on Wednesday evening (local time), and out of all of them the one that piqued my interest the most was, believe it or not, the Necromunda Ash Wastes box. Those models are absolutely amazing, and I might just have to have them (I've been interested in Necromunda but never took the plunge; maybe that's about to change!). The AoS terrain is cool, but not something I'm likely to need, and I don't play spiky Knights (the bait and switch in that trailer was a great touch!) or Blood Bowl. The only other thing there that I could potentially be interested in would be the Horus Heresy, but they didn't really reveal all that much so the jury's still out on that one. Lord knows I don't need more projects but new shiny syndrome is real (maybe I need an intervention or something!).


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/03/25 16:39:18


Post by: youwashock


Congrats on getting the Blood Raven done. He looks great. Liking the Stormcast, as well. The Terminator looks OK, but I agree that the bone color is a little dark. That red looks like a nice color to have around, though.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/03/26 11:44:04


Post by: Nevelon


Nice progress. The sarge turned out great. Fun model.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/03/29 08:56:32


Post by: Viterbi


Lot of cool stuff on your desk and good to read some more real life speedpaint tests. I may try them out at a later point, but seeing how sloppy I paint I would probably activate them to no end, when I'd need to correct

Sgt. looks great, the base really makes that model!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/04/03 05:33:13


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Thanks! I definitely like the Army Painter red speed paint; might even be better than the GW contrast version.

@Nev: Thanks!

@Viterbi: If you're a sloppy painter, SpeedPaint is actually good for you as it doesn't "run" as much as Contrast does, so it's a little more forgiving when applying it. Agreed that the base is what really sells the Sgt. Castus model; I had a lot of fun working on it, so I'm glad you like it.

Not much hobby progress to show this time around, unfortunately. I've mostly been doing assembly. I've put together some more Space Wolves Jump Pack Wolf Guard (using the generic Vanguard Veterans kit), and I recently was on a trip and picked up some Vertus Praetors for my Custodes and have started putting those together. I also picked up a box of Sisters of Battle Novitiates.

The big thing I wanted to show is that an order I placed over a month ago finally arrived right before I went on my trip. Let's just say my Easterlings got some very nice reinforcements, plus my brave Rohirrim got a couple of new personalities to defend the Hornburg:

I rarely want to shell out the money for a Forge World order, but I just had to have those Easterlings, and I threw in the Defenders of Helm's Deep just to put the order over the free shipping threshold (thought about getting a third pack of Dragon Cult Acolytes but decided to stick with just two). Whenever I get around to expanding my Rohan army, I'm wanting to build towards the Defenders of Helm's Deep Legendary Legion, so these guys will help with that.

A new month means a new painting challenge, and this time around the theme is Reborn, Remade. What better way for me to fit that theme than with some Stormcast Eternals Vindictors, beings who have been remade by the God-King Sigmar. I plan to finish up the Liberators first, and then get to work on those, but I may at least lay some basecoats down before the Libs are 100% done. We'll have to see.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/04/09 04:04:56


Post by: ZergSmasher


Hobbying continues for me. I think I'm finally getting back into my groove. I put the finishing touches on that Sororitas Imagifier and got some decent photos taken, so here they are:


Overall not my best work, but far from my worst either. Army Painter Speedpaints are definitely a decent product, although as I've said I don't know that I would consider them better than GW's Contrast. I did use Contrast for the actual icon (specifically Apothecary White), as Army Painter has yet to release their full range of Speedpaints and there wasn't a white one in the starter set. Either way, that's one more model out of the pile of shame and onto my shelf painted. Unfortunately, that's only my 4th mini of the year, so I've got some serious catching up to do!

In other news, I did end up getting started on the Stormcast Eternal Vindictors. I've finished the gold armor using a method I found in one of Artis Opus' Youtube videos, and while the photo doesn't show it that well I'm very pleased with the results:

Of course, there's tons left to do on these guys (and gals, 2 of them are female), so expect to see more of them as the month continues.

Finally, I put a basecoat red on the Easterlings' clothing:

Not really very much left to do on these, so I need to go ahead and knock them out.

I'm hitting a bit of a crisis point here in terms of the sheer number of projects I've got in various stages. I'm working on Dark Angels, Stormcast Eternals, and Easterlings on the painting front, and I'm wanting to get started on the minis from the Ankh: Gods of Egypt game soon, as I've really been looking forward to digging in on that. I'm also wanting to get more of my Space Wolves assembled and eventually painted (this was going to be the Year of the Wolf for me, remember?), and I've got Custodes that need work if I want to have an actual competitive 40k army. Plus I'd love to work on my Lothlorien army for Middle-Earth so that I've got both a good and an evil army painted. And I want to finish off the models from Indomitus. So many projects, so very little time (especially since I also want to play video games too). I've already back burnered a lot of stuff (like my Guard and Knights, the small remainder of my unpainted Sisters, and my 3D printed Drukhari), but it's still too much, yet I want to keep working on all of those things. I definitely need to find a balancing point, and I don't need to take on any more projects. I've already got a Kickstarter that should be coming in later this year, although from what they've said it could get delayed yet again. Maybe for me that wouldn't be a bad thing. Anyway, I'm gonna keep on keeping on, thanks for listening.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/04/09 11:26:54


Post by: Nevelon


Good progress! Like how the sister turned out.

Sounds like you have a lot of things going on. Unless you need to finish something for an event, just paint what you want. If you are having motivation issues about getting to the table, try to find your muse and roll with it. Look at what you have, see what fires your interest, and get some paint down. And keep at it. That I think is the key. Every day either put just one layer down, or clean the mold lines off one bit. If you feel like doing more, do it. But just sit down and plug away a little every day.

If you are playing more video games, work a little between maps/matches/load screens. I used to clean bits while the computer took its turn playing Civilization.

Tidying things up might help as well. If you have decision paralysis from looking at the whole picture, put most of it away.

Good luck and keep at it!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/04/09 18:52:37


Post by: youwashock


Nice work on that Sister. The icon really shows how effective Contrast can be.

As to the project overload, Nev's covered it pretty well. Just stay working, and things will get done. Avoid long lapses, especially. It is so much easier to feel overwhelmed if you are not engaged with the projects.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/04/23 06:14:33


Post by: Viterbi


Imagifier looks great, easily one of the best sisters sculpts, loved painting mine last year. Other projects look great too!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/04/24 06:21:47


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks very much, both for the compliment and for the good advice, as usual. I'm doing my best to work a little bit each day, and it really is helping, as I've been more motivated to paint lately than before.

@YWS: Thank you! Honestly the Apothecary White was one of the colors I was least sold on at first, but having used it a few times it's now one of my favorite Contrast paints!

@Viterbi: Agreed about the Imagifier; it's one of my favorite Sisters sculpts as well. Thanks for the comment!

I'm still plugging away at stuff, and it's paying off, because I've gotten some models finished. Let's get right into it, shall we? First, here are those three Easterlings that I've been slowly working on:

Quick and dirty paintjob is quick and dirty, but honestly I'm pretty happy with them as a low-effort attempt. As a full army they'll do the job. Now I just need to paint the rest of my massive golden horde of these guys.

I've also finally finished my first Stormcast Eternals Liberators. Honestly the bases were what was holding me up, but I finally found some inspiration and got them done. Here are the pics to prove it:



I'm really proud of my swampy bases on these guys, for some reason. They weren't terribly difficult to do; I just had to acquire a variety of grass tufts from my FLGS as well as some Ammo by MIG Acrylic Water and they just kind of fell into place. The models themselves I'm pretty happy with too, as a first attempt at painting Stormcast. Nothing super fancy, but they'll look the part on the tabletop.

Speaking of Stormcast, work continues on my Vindictors, but I'm way off the pace if I want to finish by the end of the month. Here's the latest WIP shot:

Most of the colors have been blocked in, at least crudely (some cleanup will be required). Three of them still need their white details blocked in though. I might also want to start working on the bases sooner rather than later, as they are somewhat more complicated than other bases on other armies of mine as can be seen on my Liberators above. Once I get these done, I'll reward myself by painting my Lord-Relictor; I'm trying to motivate myself to paint the grunts by doing 2 units of them and then doing a character, rinse and repeat.

I've also been doing some assembly. I put together a squad of Novitiates for my Sisters of Battle; they were fun little models to assemble, but they look fairly daunting to paint well. Here they are in their gray plastic glory:

I'll need to have a think about how to make them look really different from my normal Battle Sisters.

I've also put together some of my recent Forge World Middle-Earth acquisitions. Here's Rutabi and Brorgir, the two Easterling heroes:

I'm looking forward to painting these, as the sculpts are some of the best ME models I've seen yet.

And here are one pack of Easterling Dragon Cult Acolytes:

Sadly the guy on the left had his throwing knife blade snap off during assembly. That thing is gone into the nether, too. I might need to fabricate a replacement or something. And speaking of replacements, my other pack of Cult Acolytes had the wrong set of arms in it (it had 2 sets of C arms and none of the A arms). I emailed Forge World, and after a quick back and forth and a picture sent to them showing the problem, they sent me a whole replacement pack of Cult Acolytes! So now once I assemble the ones I can do, I'll have 8 of them instead of 6. Say what you will about Forge World, but their customer service rocks!

Finally, thanks to warmer temperatures I revved up my slowly dying Anycubic Photon S and cranked off a set of not-Tempestus Scions from Red Makers:

I found these at MyMiniFactory and just had to have the files, so I bought and downloaded them and ran a few off (all the parts for these barely fit on one build plate!). I then attempted to run off the final parts for my Custodes Caladius and my damn screen decided to screw up, so now I need to clean up a mess in my resin vat. I need to face the fact that my printer is probably not long for the world, at least its screen isn't, as this is the fourth time I've had the screen mess up. I'm hoping to save up some money and get a better printer, with a mono screen and a bigger build plate, rather than get a replacement for my current older machine. Been eyeballing the Elegoo Mars 3 mainly, but I'm also considering the Anycubic Photon Mono X. May not happen soon, as I don't have the money for a new printer right now. The old machine is gonna have to hold together a bit longer (Hear me baby, hold together...).


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/05/01 05:41:25


Post by: ZergSmasher


Rounding off the month of April, I've gotten yet more models done. I finished the Vindictors for the April painting challenge, so here are the final pics of those:



These really are cool sculpts, and were really fun to work on. I definitely need to work on learning to paint non-white people though; I wanted some diversity in my Stormcast so I decided to make the one helmetless guy black, but I think his skin ended up a bit too dark, or maybe it's just the highlights didn't show up well. I might need to look up techniques on Youtube or something for how to paint different ethnic skintones. Either way, overall I'm happy with the unit and think they'll look decent on the tabletop.

I also finally polished off my other Army Painter Speedpaints test model, a Deathwing Terminator:

This guy is just a stock Series 2 Space Marine Heroes model, painted in Deathwing colors using Speedpaints. I don't think I like this result any better than results I've gotten with Contrast; the bone color of both is too dark for Deathwing IMO. If I do further tests, it'll be with Contrast, using Contrast Medium to thin the paint so that I hopefully end up with a lighter color. Still, the model doesn't look too bad, and since it's not a model I'm likely to use there's no harm done if he doesn't match my other Deathwing.

Next month's challenge is Mayhem, and I'm gonna have to think hard about what I want to enter. I might 3D print some appropriate models, or maybe I've got some Middle-Earth models that would fit the bill. On the Stormcast side of things, my next model will be a Lord-Relictor; it'll be fun to do a cool character model as a reward for doing a couple of units of basic mooks.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/07/04 02:37:45


Post by: ZergSmasher


Wow, has it really already been two months since I posted in here? I deeply apologize for that. RL has been keeping me on my toes. What painting I have gotten done in the meantime was covered over in my other blog (finished up painting 6 Imperial Knight models), so see that for details. I do have some other things to tell about here, mainly assembly and collection related.

First off, I now have an Orlock gang for Necromunda. A friend of mine sold his unpainted and mostly unassembled Orlocks to me very cheaply, so now I have 20 basic Ganger models (7 are already assembled with various weapons), plus a set of the Arms Masters and Wreckers (some of which are also assembled), and even a set of the old FW weapon upgrades. I recently added a pair of the Ash Wastes Outrider quadbikes to the collection, but haven't put those together either. No pics as there just isn't really much to show at the moment.

As you might have seen in my Imperial Knights blog, I actually won a 40k tournament last month. The prize for winning included the Kill Team: Octarius box set, which features Ork Kommandos and Death Korps of Krieg teams fighting over some cool Orky terrain. I've actually assembled both teams already, but none of the terrain as yet (that stuff will take up some serious storage space, so I'm waiting a bit). Here are the assembled Kill Teams:
Veteran Guardsmen:

Front row, left to right: Sergeant, Sniper, Spotter, Gunner with Flamer, Medic. Back row: Gunner with Plasmagun, Gunner with Grenade Launcher, Bruiser, Comms, Confidant Veteran
These were pretty fun to put together. Lots of cool characterful bits, including the obligatory shovels (no DKoK unit would be without their trusty shovels!), and there were even more potential assembly options that I didn't include, so a second box may be in order in the future.

Ork Kommandos:

Front row: Kommando Nob with Big Choppa, Slasha Boy, Rokkit Boy, Snipa Boy, Comms Boy, Bomb Squig. Back row: Regular Kommando Boy, Breacha Boy, Burna Boy, Dakka Boy, regular Kommando Boy, Kommando Grot.
I really like the models, but they were much more of a pain to assemble than the Guardsmen, mainly due to the parts for each model being scattered across the sprue instead of mostly being together. That might be my only real criticism of the kit, as the models go together pretty well, and they are full of character and will be fun to paint (really nice change of pace as I've never painted Orks before, and this way I'm less tempted to do a full army of them). All of the options are already here, so I don't really need another box. I might actually 3D print a second Kommando Nob (with a Power Klaw) from Ghamak's patreon so that I have both weapon options. Ghamak's Orks have a slightly different aesthetic, but it should still work okay with these guys.

The other thing that happened in the last couple of months is that I started to work on one of the gods from Ankh: Gods of Egypt. I was going to enter Set as my entry in the Mayhem painting challenge, as he was the Egyptians' god of chaos and war, but I ended up not really doing much (hence no photos). I'll need to rethink how I'm going to approach those models, as they are pretty different from other stuff I've done in the past (and Set might not be the best place to start, as he's pretty complicated; indeed I might be better off starting with some of the Guardian models rather than the gods).

My painting challenge entry for July is probably going to be Easterlings, as it'll give me an excuse to knock out a bunch of them (since the 5-model limit has been lifted for this month). That'll hopefully give me a chance to catch up a bit, as 24 models done in half the year is well short of where I should be.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/07/19 06:33:25


Post by: ZergSmasher


I'm still alive, but I've been pretty busy of late with RL stuff so not too much hobbying. Mostly I've been cleaning my apartment, but I've also been actually working on my bitz boxes, clearing out some of those pesky extra kit boxes and sprues. I also had a death in the family to deal with (my grandfather), so that kind of took some of the wind out of my sails. It'll get better.

I did recently run off another print on my slowly dying Photon S. I decided to go ahead and print that Kommando Nob I was talking about in my last post, and as long as I was printing that, I thought I'd throw a couple more of the Orks from that patreon in there as well. Here's how they came out:

2 of the Bullboyz (just Boyz with Sluggas and Choppas wearing cowboy hats), plus the Commando Nob with his Power Klaw. Hard to see much detail in the photo as the white resin I'm using doesn't photograph particularly well. I'll probably need more resin pretty soon (in addition to needing a new printer), and I plan to switch to gray resin if possible.

For those who are curious, here's a comparison shot showing the size of the printed Kommando Nob next to the official GW model:

They are pretty close in height, but the printed guy has more human-like proportions, rather than the bigger body and shorter legs of GW Orks. Gives him a bit more of a long and lean appearance. He'll still be pretty badass once he's painted.

I need to get right on the Easterlings if I want to actually finish any before the end of the month. They paint up fairly quickly so I'm not worried just yet, but deadlines have a nasty habit of sneaking up on me...


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/07/27 06:24:40


Post by: ZergSmasher


Work progresses slowly on my Easterlings. I'm gonna have to rally big-time if I want to meet the end-of-month deadline. Work has been burning me out pretty hard, though, so it's made it hard to find energy for hobbying. Anyway, here's where they are at so far:

The gold has been shaded, now it needs highlighting, then I can work on the cloth. The silver metallics (mostly the business end of weapons) has been basecoated, but nothing else. Plenty of work to do.

I also got a tiny bit of work done on my next Stormcast unit, a Lord-Relictor:

Not much here, just some black basecoat on some areas. I figured since several of those areas will have gold trim or filigree, it was a good idea to paint them black first and then work on all the gold armor and stuff.

Finally, just today I decided to put together one of my Necromunda Orlock Outrider Quads. Mostly I wanted to see how easy it was to put together (it wasn't easy at all...). Here it is all shiny and gray:

The driver and gunner are separate subassemblies that will hopefully make the vehicle easier to paint. The chassis and suspension are a real PITA to put together though; lots of tiny join areas that make it tricky to assemble correctly (the handlebar part of mine ended up slightly crooked because of this).

More to come soon, hopefully I can find the time and energy to keep on going.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/07/27 10:10:41


Post by: Nevelon


Oof. Keep at it. I feel you about work, burnout, and deadlines. Need to get moving myself.

Lots of good progress.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/08/12 05:51:26


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks for the support!

Easterlings have been temporarily back-burnered due to, well, basically me just not feeling it with them at the moment. I hope to get back to them fairly soon though; they would be a good way for me to get my painted model count back on track. For now, though, I've switched gears as far as Middle-Earth goes and started working on some Lothlorien troops, in particular some Wood Elves. Here's a WIP of some swordsmen:

I'm trying to keep my color palette with these centered around natural-type colors; mostly grays, greens, and browns. All of the cloaks are going to be a greenish color to somewhat unify them, but other colors will vary throughout as they aren't wearing any kind of uniforms. Once I add a shade I'm hoping that will tie all the colors together a little bit, then I can get to highlighting each of them. In addition to these sword guys, I'm also working on a banner bearer as my entry in the August painting challenge:

The real challenge here is going to be some planned freehand on the banner itself; the pic on GW's webstore for this model shows a fairly intricate design that I want to at least somewhat replicate. Banners are something I feel should really pop in a game like Middle-Earth.

In other news, I printed another model for those Wild West Orks, this time it's a counts-as Nob on Smasha Squig:

There are 5 of these Squig Riders among the files I have; this is the size they print at 100%. If I want to make any of them into regular Squighog Boyz, I'll have to scale them down. I went ahead and brush primed this model before taking the picture because frankly the white resin I've been using hates being photographed; at least this way you can see the details of the sculpt. My favorite part of this one is, of course, the grot being held in front of the Smasha Squig's face!

Hopefully I'll have finished stuff to show by the end of the month, at least the Wood Elf stuff. Maybe I can also knock out those Easterlings too; we'll have to see.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/08/23 16:37:10


Post by: ZergSmasher


Here comes mostly a proof-of-life post.

I have been making slow but steady progress on the Wood Elves and they are nearing completion. Hopefully I don't stall here in the home stretch. Here's the latest WIP shot of the banner bearer:

Still a few highlights to go, plus the skin and hair needs to be done (basecoated the faces of all the Wood Elves and then forgot the hands ). And, of course, the freehand on the banner; wish me luck on that.

Here are the regular Wood Elves:

Basically the same progress as the banner bearer; they are coming out a little darker than I had anticipated, but I'm taking that as a happy accident as they should be dark to blend in with their surroundings better. These sculpts are really showing their age though; I don't know if there's any salvaging these faces even if I really pour my heart and soul into them when I get around to finishing them.

I actually did find time to work on the Easterlings a tiny bit. I actually decided to try a silver drybrush on the armor, and I'm pretty happy with how it ended up looking. Here's a pic:

It actually toned down the yellowish color of the gold very nicely, I think, which fits the look of the armor in the movies (it was more of a whitish gold than a brilliant yellow gold on screen). These are Easterlings, after all, not Stormcast Eternals or Adeptus Custodes. I think I can probably call the armor done at this point and move on to the cloth.

Finally, I picked up some useful allies for my Easterling forces. Enter the Variags of Khand:

I absolutely love GW's sculpts of these guys; they look like Mongols or something, which fits with what little Tolkien told us about them in the books (they were another enemy from the eastern side of Middle-Earth). The main thing I like about them in-game is the fact that they ride actual chariots; unfortunately the place I ordered them from only had the King on Chariot, so I'll have to get some regular ones elsewhere. I also need a lot more Horsemen. In addition to the models shown, I still have a second box of infantry that I haven't put together yet. I am looking forward to painting these (not sure how soon though); I love all the models that come from the books rather than the movies.

More to come, so watch this space.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/09/01 05:43:02


Post by: ZergSmasher


Hey, I finally have some finished models to show off! Miracles do happen around here! Anyways, here are the final pics of my Lothlorien Wood Elf Banner Bearer:



I had a ton of fun working on this model. My freehand is still not quite up to scratch, but I feel like it's getting there, and I really enjoyed doing the design on the banner (it's not entirely original; I tried to at least somewhat mimic the one seen on GW's webstore).

I also finished those four Wood Elves with swords, so here are a few pics of those that I took as long as I had the lightbox out:


Honestly the plastic Wood Elf sculpts have not aged nearly as well as the metal Banner Bearer; I tried to at least make the faces look passable but a couple of them just don't make it, and this time that has less to do with my paintwork and more to do with the fact that these are 20+ year old sculpts. I still enjoyed painting them though; it was fun to do a slightly more muted color palette rather than the bright and garish colors of some of my 40k stuff (or the shiny gold of my Easterlings).

I'll have to have a think about what I want to paint for the September painting challenge. The theme is big guns, so it'll pretty much have to be something from 40k, but I need to look through my pile of shame and find something I actually want to paint that at least vaguely fits that category. I'm sure I'll think of something. In the meantime, take care and I'll hopefully be back soon with more hobbying to show.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/09/01 12:32:09


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


Great blonde hair!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/09/09 06:01:38


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Gwyn: Thanks! I use a very simple recipe for it, but it seems to end up looking okay.

I decided to go with a Space Wolves Redemptor Dreadnought for the September painting challenge featuring big guns. The base model is the Easy to Build version from a little while back, but I added a little bit of bling to it to enhance the otherwise fairly bland model. Here's a WIP shot:

Most of the basecoating is done; I still need to touch up the metals and the black parts, but the gray armor is done (including shades and highlights; hopefully I don't mess it up while working on the other parts).

I'm way off the pace as far as model count for the year; even if I get those Easterlings that have been sitting on my desk for the last few months done I'll still be woefully behind, so I need to step it up. I'm still struggling with motivation and more than that, distraction. I'm not giving up yet though, not by a long shot.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/09/18 11:10:25


Post by: Nevelon


Elves turned out great. Dread is coming along nicely. I should probably grab one some day.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/09/27 17:18:29


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks, I'm actually pretty proud of the elves myself (not to toot my own horn or anything)! You should definitely grab yourself a Redemptor; the ETB one is no longer in production but I know the regular one is, and they look pretty good in Smurf Blue.

Progress has been made, slowly as ever. I should hopefully be able to finish up the Redemptor at least before the month is out. Here's where it's at currently:

I'm definitely in the home stretch on this guy; next thing I'm doing is the decals, then possibly a few more spot highlights, details, and touchups, and the base of course.

I've also made a small amount of progress on the Easterlings that have been giving me a death stare for the past couple of months. I've basecoated all the red clothing on them as well as some of the wooden details (like spear shafts and the back of the shields). Still more brown stuff to pick out yet though. Here's the latest WIP shot:

More work to be done on these guys for sure, but they are getting there.

More to come soon. I'll need to figure out a subject for the spoopy painting challenge in October; if all else fails I could just cheap out and do some of my Dead of Dunharrow (they are crazy simple to paint and would feel a bit like a cop out, but at the same time would boost my flagging numbers for the year...). Once I finish on this big batch of Easterling troops, I should probably paint a couple of leaders for them. We shall see.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/09/30 03:58:03


Post by: ZergSmasher


AWOOOOOO!!! The Space Wolves Dread is finished! Here are the final pics of it:



While I am calling the model finished, I do intend to go back and add snow to the base, hence why it looks a bit barren. My big pot of Vallejo Ground Texture Snow was completely dried up and hard as cement when I got around to using it, unfortunately (guess that stuff has a limited shelf life...), and I won't have time to get back to the FLGS to get more until Sunday at the very earliest, so it'll have to stay this way for now. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with the model, and it was a lot of fun to paint.

I am thinking I will go ahead and paint my Dead of Dunharrow for next month's challenge, for the reasons I mentioned in my last post: they'll be quick and easy to do, and it'll boost my numbers for the year. It kinda sucks that we're three quarters through the years and I've only finished 30 models. I gotta fix that. To paint those undead boys, I'll be basically just using Hexwraith Flame over a Wraithbone basecoat, and drybrushing a couple of layers over that to give a greenish spectral look. Quick and easy, but not very fancy. I eventually need to get myself the King of the Dead to lead them so I can actually play the army, plus some Riders of the Dead for mobility in games. No rush on those though.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/09/30 10:35:52


Post by: Nevelon


Looks great!

No shame in cranking out squads of easy ghosts. Undead yes, unperson no! Even the restless dead deserve their time in the sun. Or gloom, whatever; we don’t judge.

For snow I just use a big tub of woodland sceanics soft flake snow and PVA white glue. I have to mix it up every time, but it doesn’t dry out or go bad on me. Plus it was like $12 for a lifetime supply.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/09/30 20:18:36


Post by: JoshInJapan


The dread turned out great! The panel lining is crisp, the edging sharp without being obtrusive, and the bones are top-notch!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/10/04 04:09:12


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks, and thanks for the suggestion to use Woodland Scenics snow. My FLGS is waiting for a shipment of Woodland Scenics stuff (got a whole blank spot on their shelves allocated and everything) so I'm hoping it'll come in soon.

@Josh: Thanks and welcome back!

Just a quick little proof of life post mostly. No real progress on the Easterlings lately; I've mostly been assembling this squad of Auto Bolt Rifle Intercessors for my Dark Angels (from last year's Christmas battleforce box):

You may notice the white shoulder pads; all I can say is 3D printer go BRRRR! on those. Found a whole set of Dark Angels shoulder pad files on Cults and downloaded them (for free, no less!), so I decided to print some for this squad (printed them a month or two ago and finally got around to building the squad). Not sure how soon these guys will get paint; quite probably not till next summer, if then.

I'm hoping to have the first WIP photos of the Dead of Dunharrow soonish. In the meantime, stay classy!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/10/10 09:08:23


Post by: Viterbi


Great Dread, will look even better when the snowfall arrives


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/10/12 06:40:40


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Viterbi: Thank you!

I thought I'd put up a pic of what I've got so far on the Dead, namely the test model I did a while back (not sure if or when I took a pic of it). Here it is:

Unfortunately the pic is blurry, the camera just did not want to cooperate tonight and it's pretty late here so I couldn't be arsed to fight with it. Basically all I've done is prime the model with Wraithbone, paint it all over with Hexwraith Flame, then a couple of drybrushes with progressively lighter shades of gray (will probably do another one of Ulthuan Gray since it isn't really showing up well). I'll probably do at least a light drybrush with actual white at the end. It really is a simple scheme, but it does accentuate the detail on the models pretty well.

Just for funsies today I decided to try out the new Luxion Purple contrast paint on my Sisters of Battle Palatine, and I gotta say I really like it better than the diluted Shyish Purple I was using before. Here's a WIP shot:

Again, sorry for the blurry photo. I did all of this this afternoon pretty much (a couple of touchups this evening), and all I've really got left to do is to shade and highlight the non-Contrast bits (the metallics) and do a simple Astrogranite base. I only wish it was practical for me to go back and redo all the purple on my Sisters to match, but realistically that will require me to strip them all and start over, and that's just not gonna happen. Honestly, I'll sell all the old ones and start the army over before I do that, most likely. Also not going to happen, so I'll just have to live with there being a visual difference in any later models.

More to come, particularly on the Army of the Dead, so stay tuned.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/10/19 01:23:01


Post by: ZergSmasher


Work continues on the Army of the Dead; in fact the models are all done except for the bases. Here's proof of that:

Extremely simple paint scheme is extremely simple, but honestly I think they look about like they should, since in the movie they were kind of glowy ghostly beings. The bases will probably be done with Armageddon Dust so that they look like they are at the Pelennor Fields.

In addition to working on the ghosts, I finished up the Palatine for my Sisters army. Here are a few lightbox photos:


Again, nothing Golden Demon-worthy, but she turned out okay I think. The new Contrast purple is a game-changer for me, as I said before; there's no going back to Shyish purple after this.

Final pics of the Dead of Dunharrow should be coming soonish.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/10/24 04:56:53


Post by: ZergSmasher


As promised, here are some final pics of the Dead of Dunharrow:



These are the ones that I chose to be my entry in the painting challenge. Now here's a shot of the whole lot of them (20 guys total):

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. Nothing fancy about them, but honestly getting them reasonably close to the look they had in The Return of the King isn't difficult, being as they are spectral entities. It was very nice to be able to add 20 more models to my 2022 total, which now stands at 51 (still very much off the pace to hit 100 by the end of the year, probably a forlorn hope at this point).


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/10/24 06:45:36


Post by: JoshInJapan


Your specters are impressively spectral. I struggle with ethereals, so yours are quite inspirational.



ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/10/24 17:23:20


Post by: Nevelon


Very ghost-like. Well done.

If you make your goals all the time, it’s a sign you need to set them a little higher. Keep working towards it, but it’s OK to miss them. Just keep the faith and moveing forward.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/11/13 03:39:02


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Josh: The idea that I could be inspiring to a talented painter like yourself is heartwarming, to say the least. The look I achieved took very little real effort, either.

@Nev: Thanks, and you're right about the goals. Onward and upward, as they say, eh?

Haven't really gotten much painting done lately. I took my Imperial Knights to another GT, this time the Mid-MO Maelstrom, and wasn't nearly as successful as last time (no complaints, I can't win them all), but I did have a blast. Ended with a 2-2-1 record (the draw was the first game, and probably one of my favorite games of 40k I've ever played, and it was against Tau, no less!) and met and talked with lots of fellow toy soldier enthusiasts. One of the main guys from my FLGS was also there with a bunch of 40k stuff, as usual, and I was able to trade in the last of my remaining Chaos models for some store credit, and with that I picked up something:

Yep, the temptation was just too strong, especially since one of the players in the tournament actually had a Leagues of Votann army (the guy owns a FLGS and therefore had early access to the models and had time to get a 3-color paintjob on them) and I got to see just how dead sexy the vehicles are in person. So now I get to experience the joy of starting a new army yet again! The downside is, I'm going to have to sell one of my existing armies in order to both finance the Leagues army and make space on my shelves, and the army on the chopping block is my Space Wolves. I've come to the realization that I'm never probably going to actually play them in an event and I don't really need two Space Marine armies; the Dark Angels are plenty. I've just kind of fallen out of love with the sons of Russ. RIP to one of this year's goals, but that's okay, sometimes those decisions have to be made, and I think I'll be happier with the Leagues than I ever was with the Wolves.

Speaking of the space dwarves, I've actually already assembled everything (well, the bikes are in subassemblies to make them easier to paint), and I even got one squad of Hearthkyn Warriors and the two characters primed on a rare mild not-too-windy day. Here they are:

As far as how I'm going to paint them, I'm actually taking inspiration from a video game I play frequently, that being Warframe. I'm going to paint these guys like the Grineer enemies seen in that game, as their armor is not entirely dissimilar in terms of aesthetics (obviously the Grineer in the game are taller than dwarves, but whatever). The camo pattern should be easily enough to replicate and I think will be fairly striking on these minis, so I'm very much looking forward to getting some paint down.

On a much sadder note, one of my local 40k club's founding members, a friend of mine, passed away earlier this week. While he and I were not super close or anything (I never hung out with him outside of 40k-related stuff), I did enjoy playing games with him and will miss him. He was always nice and frequently had helpful advice on how to play 40k better (he really knew all the tricks to getting the most out of rules interactions). He was a really good player and just a generally nice guy, so it's very sad that he died so young (I don't think he was even 40). Our entire group is kind of in collective mourning for him, as he was universally loved by us all. May he rest in peace.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/11/13 11:37:10


Post by: Olthannon


Nice to see some more Votann on the forum. The colour scheme you have in mind sounds really interesting. I had to google it, but am I right that it is going to be a teal and grey scheme?

Sorry to hear of your mate passing away. Even if you didn't know them that well, it's always tough when a friendly face is no longer with you, especially in a group where they clearly made a big impact.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/11/13 12:36:26


Post by: Nevelon


Space Wolves always hit some of the traditional dwarf notes, so I can see the easy switch. I guess it would be more fair to say they both classically pull from some norse/nordic roots. It will be fun ti watch yours come together. You have a theme in mind? Plans for bases? Googled the Grineer (never played the game) so teal hard amor over grey fatigues? Plans for weathering, or going for a clean job?

Glad you had fun at the tournament. I always have mixed feeling about even going to small ones. I love the time spent with fellow gamers, and am guarantied to get a number of games in. But it breaks out my competitive side in a way that I don’t enjoy.

Death sucks. Sorry for your loss.

Good to see you still painting and posting. Keep up the good fight agains the Pile of Shame!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/11/16 03:39:53


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Olthannon: Thanks for the encouragement, and welcome to my little hobby corner! As for my Grineer color scheme, that is the subject of this post, so read on!

@Nev: Thanks! A little competition is healthy and stimulates the mind; just remember that it's a game at the end of the day! You really should try a tournament sometime just to hang out with fellow enthusiasts and gawk at their awesome armies.

Here's a small WIP of the test mini for my Grineer color scheme. Rather than the teal with gray of the standard Grineer troops, I elected to go with the orange/light tan of the Tusk Corps, the Grineer that occupy the Plains of Eidolon on Earth. Nobody who hasn't played Warframe is going to know what I am babbling about; suffice to say that in a certain open-world area of the game you fight Grineer that look something like this:

All I've done is the armor parts, and they need some recess shading and highlights. But this should give some idea about the camo scheme I'm going for (orange base, with off-white stripes in organic, irregular layouts). It's gonna be a pain in the ass to do this for all of my troops (it'll be used on pretty much everything with armor, so Hearthkyn, Hearthguard, the characters other than the Grimnyr, and the Thunderkyn), but it'll be worth it for an army that'll probably look like no one else's. The vehicles will actually look pretty different to the troops with more subtle hints that they belong in the same army; more on that once I get painting some vehicles (first look will be the bikes, when I get to them).

More to come, thanks as always for looking!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/11/23 06:10:42


Post by: ZergSmasher


Small proof of life update today, plus my personal thoughts in the form of a review of the Leagues of Votann kits from the army box. First, though, here's the finished test model, minus basing:

I'm actually really happy with this color scheme, and have begun to replicate it on more of my Warriors. One of my friends in one of the Discord chats I'm in immediately recognized that I was basing the scheme on the Grineer, so I guess I did something right! Basing wise, I'm planning to carry the theme through and make the models look like they are on the Plains of Eidolon as shown in the game, so I'll need to do medium to dark brown soil (patches of dark with mostly a lighter brown) as well as brownish grass tufts and maybe a rock or two. I'll need to take a look for appropriate grass tufts next time I'm at the FLGS as I don't have the right color in my possession.

And now for some reviews of the new Leagues of Votann kits!

Hearthkyn Warriors: This is a solid basic troop kit. The sprues are well laid out, with the parts relevant to each particular model near each other (unlike the Ork Kommandos kit, which had parts for each model all over the place! ). The models themselves go together really easily; I had no real fit issues, and the instructions are pretty clear as to what goes where. There are also lots of options, both functional and cosmetic, and you can pretty much build these guys any way you want. Every model can have a helmet, or every model can be bareheaded, and there are a good mix of male and female heads (and the heads will work with other Votann kits easily enough); sadly only one Ironkin head, but that didn't bother me too much. Like most GW kits these days, the bodies are pretty much monopose, with a bespoke set of arms (although some of them could probably be swapped around), and certain special options are meant to work with a certain body only (particulary the Medipack, which is molded to fit on a certain torso pose), but again you might get away with at least some swapping. There are enough bolters and ion rifles to equip each model with whichever one the squad will carry, and one of each special weapon, plus some pistol and melee weapon options for the Theyn (squad leader), so the kit is quite flexible. As far as ease of painting goes, the models have decent detail, but are not overly busy, so they should be pretty easy even for a new painter to handle. The kit comes with extra bling like equipment pouches, grenades, and tools to the models to give them more detail if you really want. Overall I think it's a solid offering and one of the better troop kits out there for 40k.

Hernkyn Pioneers: I don't rate this kit as highly as the Warriors for a number of reasons. The models themselves look nice enough when built and painted, and honestly they are not terribly difficult to build, but painting them can potentially be a pain if you want to do the riders separate (and you should). Due to the way they go together you have to leave each model in like five subassemblies (bike body, handlebars, two rear hover pod thingies, and pilot) plus the base, and the one with the heavy weapon needs seven (because the gunner and his weapon are additional subassemblies). You could of course put them fully together before painting, but then it'll be hard to pick out all the details. That's not a problem if you want to speed paint the models, and honestly if you can't get a brush to it you probably can't see it, but I want to do the riders separately, so I had to do the subassemblies. Another gripe I have with the kit is that they don't provide any blank roll bars for above the driver. You have to take one with either the heavy weapon mount, comms array, scanner, or searchlight (and you get exactly one of each), so you'd have to do some cutting to get a plain bike with no options showing (or leave off the rollbar entirely, which wouldn't look as good). Or do what I'm planning to do, and include the options showing but just tell my opponent that the searchlight ones don't actually have searchlights (or the scanners, etc). At least you get a decent amount of cosmetic options, including plenty of both male and female heads and lots of stowage options. The kit as a whole is decent, but could be better IMO.

Kahl/Uthar the Destined: This kit is pretty standard fare for toolbox characters; not quite as many options as an Adepta Sororitas Canoness or Craftworlds Autarch, but not 100% monopose like the Drukhari characters. You get some cosmetic choices like head options and two different crests, plus two different gun options and two melee weapon options (and a third bespoke melee weapon if you build the kit as Uthar). Haters of tactical rocks won't like this kit at all, but I like it because it gives the little short leader some height to stand above his troops. One slight disappointment is that there's no female head option; fortunately that's easily solved by taking one from basically any other Votann kit, as the heads are mostly interchangeable between them. I definitely like this kit better than the Space Marine Primaris Captain; who is way too static and lacks options, but I wouldn't have minded seeing one more of each type of weapon and/or a couple more head options.

Einhyr Champion: This model has the least options of any of the kits in the army set, with only one weapon that's swappable (axe or hammer). The kit also only comes with two heads, but like with the Kahl you could use a head from a different kit easily enough. There are a couple of other cosmetic options, but otherwise the kit only goes together one way. That being said, he's pretty cool looking, and he's not terribly difficult to put together, so overall still a solid offering.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/12/01 15:11:49


Post by: Theophony


Nice looking LoTR ghost army

Looking forward to more of the Voltrons....I mean Space Dwarves.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/12/07 06:27:11


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Theo: Welcome back, and thank you!

I've gotten four more Hearthkyn Warriors nearly done to the point of the test one, here's a quick pic:

I still need to do some highlights, but otherwise they are ready for their basing.

The main attraction for this final month of the year is going to be my Exorcist for the Sisters of Battle. It will be my entry in the monthly painting challenge and so far is really fun to work on. Here's a WIP shot of what I've done on it so far:

Still somewhat rough as I haven't done the wood basecoating around where the gunner (organist?) sits. I also need to basecoat some of the metal filigree, much of which is going to be silver since gold would blend into the yellow hull of the vehicle a little too much. One thing that is kind of bugging me is how crappy a job I did assembling this thing almost three years ago; so many ugly gaps, but not a lot I can do about them at this point. I still haven't even started on some of the subassemblies yet, such as the brazier/exhaust stacks that go on the sides. Lots of work to do yet for sure.

Finally, just as a bit of a palette cleanser, I decided to drag out the Contrast paints and Army Painter Speedpaints and do a quick job on the 3D printed Ork Kommando Nob. Here's where he's at so far:

I still need to pick out a couple of small details, plus shade and highlight the metallics. This model is a nice change from all the armored stuff I've been doing lately (Sisters and space dwarves).

More to come yet, please stay tuned.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/12/07 14:27:13


Post by: Theophony


Strong work on the Votanns.

I have yet to try the speed paints, but if I can't get more contrast paints soon, I may have to switch. I'm just worried about the reactivation issue I've read about and seen.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/12/20 07:04:00


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Theo: Thanks! I personally still prefer the GW Contrast line, but I do like the dropper bottles that the SpeedPaints come in. The reactivation thing can be a headache, mostly if you make a mistake and have to cover up something you painted with one of those, but it can be worked around.

I've fallen off the pace if I want to finish the Exorcist by the end of the month. Work has been absolutely slaughtering me (I work in retail, and it's Christmas time, so...), so I have very little energy afterwards for painting and stuff. I have made progress since last time, even if it's far too little, so here's a WIP shot:

All of the colors have been blocked in now; shades and highlights are what's left to do. Hopefully that will go quicker. The organist herself is actually all done. I am concerned a bit about the flames in the exhaust stacks sort of blending in with the yellow vehicle hull once I attach them, but I don't think there's much I can do about that.

As for the Votann, things are progressing slowly. Not a lot of visible progress on the first five Hearthkyn Warriors, but they are basically done other than basing. I have, however, begun working on something else:

This is the cockpit of a Sagitaur; it needs to be painted before I assemble the body, and will be masked off whenever I prime said body. I picked up the Sagitaur a few weeks back and got to work on it (also picked up a Brokhyr Iron Master, but he and his robotic buddies are just assembled at this point).

Finally, I actually have an entry in another painting contest. Ghamak, whose Patreon I'm following for 3D printed models, has been having monthly painting competitions for his stuff. Usually he requires that the entry be something that released that month, which left me out in the cold as I can't actually print anything right now since my printer's screen quit working, but for this month he's allowing any of his models. I chose to try to paint the counts-as Ork Nob on Smasha Squig from his Wild West Orkz line, and I've definitely gotten off to a decent start:

I think between this and the Exorcist I might have bitten off more than I can chew. The Ork will be the one to be sacrificed should it come to that though. I also want to finish those five Hearthkyn Warriors and also those Easterlings from before by the end of the year. Not sure whether any of that's gonna happen, but I might be able to make one more big push here in the final days of 2022. We shall see.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/12/31 06:51:41


Post by: ZergSmasher


Update time! The Exorcist is basically finished, just a couple of minor details left and I want to tidy up the yellow hull a bit. Final WIP shot:

As you can see, the vehicle is assembled now, other than the cherubs. The Hunter-Killer Missile on the back is magnetized and therefore removable. Look forward to final pics of this thing tomorrow night local time, most likely.

In addition to this Exorcist, I've now finished the first five models of my Leagues of Votann army. Here's a quick and dirty pic because I'm too tired to fiddle around with the lightbox tonight:

Full lightbox photos may wait until I finish the other five dwarves in this squad. These guys were fun to work on, but the irregular striped Grineer camo is time-consuming to do.

In a miraculous event, I actually managed to squeeze out yet another print from my dying Photon S. This time it's a squad of alternative Einhyr Hearthguard for my Votann force:

Sadly it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows; the guy on the right has no arms because those pieces failed to print. I'm basically out of resin at this point, the weather is getting too cold for printing again (only managed this print because we got a rare unseasonably warm day), and the screen on my printer only works about 1/4 of the time, so replacement arms may be some time in coming. Hopefully this spring I'll be able to buy a new printer and some less temperature-sensitive resin.

Last but certainly not least, I finished up the Ork Kommando Nob:

Sorry for the crappy photo; I do plan to take a shot or two in the lightbox soonish. This is the first 3D printed model that I've actually finished painting.

In my next post, in addition to the final pics of the Exorcist, I plan to do my usual year-end review, so stay tuned for that.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2022/12/31 15:04:45


Post by: Nevelon


Looking good.

One advantage of camo is it doesn’t mater if you screw up a little. It’s supposed to be irregular. But it does take time to get all the stripes down.

Shame about the printer. How much did you get out of it before you needed to replace parts? And how bad is it to replace the screen? I know nothing of resin printers.

Year end retrospectives are always fun! Good to take a look back at everything that was done.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/01/01 07:52:00


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks! I managed to use up two 1kg bottles of resin during my printer's time in my possession. Not sure how long its original owner had it; a couple of years at least. Replacing the screen would not be difficult or particularly expensive, but I want to upgrade to a slightly bigger, newer machine with a mono screen (those print much faster and have a longer service life).

The Exorcist is done, albeit rushed near the end. Here are the final pics:



I'm happy with how it turned out, but it's not my best work. It was certainly challenging, as the model has a lot of little details and decoration. Painting the vehicle in subassemblies was very helpful, as some of the detail would have been difficult to reach with it fully assembled. Way to end the year with a bang, I suppose.

And now, it's time to see how I did for the year. Overall it was a disappointing year in terms of output, with only 58 miniatures completed (albeit some of those were vehicles). Here's the requisite shot of everything I painted:

And now, the list of models:
WARHAMMER 40,000
2 Questoris-class Knights
2 Armiger Helverins
2 Armiger Warglaives
Space Wolves Redemptor Dreadnought
Adepta Sororitas Exorcist
Adepta Sororitas Palatine
Adepta Sororitas Imagifier
Blood Ravens Sergeant Castus
Deathwing Terminator with Assault Cannon
5 Leagues of Votann Hearthkyn Warriors
3D Printed Ork Kommando Nob with Power Klaw
MIDDLE-EARTH STRATEGY BATTLE GAME
Celeborn with armor, shield, and sword
Galadriel, Protectress of Lothlorien
4 Wood Elves with swords
Wood Elf with banner
3 Easterling Warriors with swords and shields
20 Warriors of the Dead
WARHAMMER AGE OF SIGMAR
5 Stormcast Eternals Liberators
5 Stormcast Eternals Vindictors

Decent spread of models across game systems, but it's still all GW stuff unfortunately, other than a single 3D printed model. More disappointingly to me is the fact that I only painted a single inconsequential Dark Angel model, and that's my main army. That burnout I was feeling at the end of last year carried over into this year and really took the wind out of my sails, which leads into the next part of this review: the goals from last year. Here's what they were:
1: Paint at least 100 models. I think 100 a year is a pretty good pace; obviously it's even better if I can get more because my pile of shame is truly mahoosive at this point, but I've already been dealing with burnout issues so I don't want to push too hard.
2: Finish up Indomitus. Should have done this last year. If I can get it done in 2022, I can just say better late than never, I guess.
3: Get a competitive Space Wolves army painted. This might be even more work than the Sisters were, although the model count won't be as high.
4: Paint up a full playable force from Middle-Earth. Lots to choose from, really (I'll probably do Minas Tirith or possibly Mordor though).
5: Paint some non-GW models. I've got even more to choose from now, plus a Kickstarter that will hopefully be fulfilled later this year, so I'd like to get some more variety in my painting lineup.
6: Play some games that aren't Warhammer 40k. It could be Middle-Earth, it could be AoS, or even some non-GW games, but I kinda want to broaden my horizons a bit. Let's just hope we don't have another massive surge of COVID cases or something that could spoil it...
7: Work on the bitz boxes. This will really help reduce clutter in my home, but it's a pain in the ass to deal with clipping all those little bits. I need to just spend a weekend doing it sometime though; it needs to happen.
8: Paint more than I buy. This is a pretty tough one, as I tend to grab ALL THE NEW SHINIES for my armies when they drop, but since GW has already done most of the armies I play there might be a chance for me to make this happen.
Bonus: Get better at using my 3D printer. So far I've been sticking to presupported models for the most part; I'd like to learn to do my own supports eventually, as it could help me get better prints.

And here's how I ended up doing on them:
1: This is a failure, no two ways about it. I need to be pushing out 100 per year, and I barely crested half that this year. Better than 2020, but that's a low bar.
2: This didn't happen at all. Most of the Indomitus Dark Angels are still unpainted and glaring at me from the shelf.
3: This also didn't happen, and won't happen in the future as I did a 180 and decided at the end of the year that I'm going to sell my Wolves to make shelf space for the Leagues of Votann.
4: I did paint a bunch of stuff for Middle-Earth, including a ton of Warriors of the Dead. I'll give myself partial credit here, as I did paint all of my Dunharrow army; I need to actually obtain the rest of what I need for that before I can paint it.
5: Gonna call this one a fail as well; one measly little 3D printed Ork hardly counts. To be fair, the kickstarter did get delayed multiple times and is now looking to be fulfilled sometime in the spring of 2023, but I could have done some stuff for Ankh at least.
6: I'll take partial credit for this one, as I did play a little bit of Middle-Earth early in the year.
7: Partial credit again; I did a little bit of work on the bitz boxes, but there is much left to do.
8: Yeah no
Bonus: I did my own supports on my Caladius tank for my Custodes and even hollowed the bigger pieces, so maybe that counts? My printer's screen deteriorated rapidly in the meantime so I didn't get as much practice as I would have liked.

Didn't do very well on the goals for the year at all, but I'm not gonna give up or anything. Here are some new goals for 2023:
1: Paint at least 100 models. This really needs to happen every year for a while if I want to make the pile of shame smaller. It's only 8.3 models per month, so it's not that backbreaking of a pace.
2: FINISH. PAINTING. INDOMITUS. There's really no excuses now; with a new edition most likely on the horizon for 40k it would be good to have last edition's starter models painted!
3: Build and paint a full Leagues of Votann army. I'm actually excited to do this one; the models for Votann are awesome and that will help me stay motivated!
4: Paint up a proper Middle-Earth army, complete with heroes and stuff. It'll most likely be Easterlings or Lothlorien that gets this treatment, as those are my main armies.
5: Paint some non-GW stuff. Ankh is probably what I'm gonna aim for, but the Primal kickstarter should be fulfilled so that might jump the queue, as I'm really excited to get my hands on those models.
6: Play more games that aren't Warhammer 40k. I own stuff for several, but haven't really done much. Interest in Middle-Earth has waned a bit in my group, but we're hoping to get a Necromunda campaign going sometime this year so that will give me a chance to pull this off.
7: Finish working on some partially-completed models. I've got lots of stuff that I just lost interest in halfway through; I really should go ahead and polish that stuff off.
8: Paint more than I buy. Painting lots of models will help with this, but I'm already looking at this being tough to do with a new edition of 40k looming and a Votann army to acquire. We'll see how it goes...
Bonus: Paint a bunch of 3D printed models. I've printed a lot of stuff, and have plans to print a bunch more, but I need to actually paint it. Otherwise I'm actually manufacturing my own additions to the pile of shame instead of just buying them at the store!

These goals should be achievable with a reasonable effort. It would bolster my morale greatly to knock out some of these instead of failing or only partially completing all of them, so hopefully I don't have a repeat of 2022, the year of disappointment.

Finally, here are my top 5 models or units from the year:

5: Stormcast Eternals Vindictors

These were super fun to work on, and I'm very proud of how they turned out. Hopefully the rest of my Stormcast turn out this good.

4: Adepta Sororitas Exorcist

The final model of the year, I'm pretty happy with it overall.

3: Celeborn, Lord of Lorien

This guy was a lot of fun to paint, and I couldn't be happier with how he turned out! Now I need to give him a full army to lead into battle!

2: Space Wolves Redemptor Dreadnought

Probably the last Space Wolf I'll ever paint since I'm selling the army soon (hopefully), but I couldn't have finished on a higher note. Really proud of this model!

1: Sergeant Castus of the Blood Ravens

I'm so happy I jumped through the hoop from GW to get this guy, as he was a blast to paint and looks great on my shelf. He'll never see a game, but makes an awesome display piece and I love showing him off. In my opinion, he might just top the Mortarion I painted a while back for my best painted model to date.

Happy New Year to everyone who's reading this! You are all awesome and I hope 2023 is good to each and every one of you!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/01/05 23:45:54


Post by: JoshInJapan


The Exorcist turned out great. I especially like your subtle use of edge highlighting, and of course your yellow-and-purple color scheme.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/01/07 13:37:43


Post by: Nevelon


Don’t beat yourself up too hard over missing goals. They are there for motivation and direction. It’s not like your manager is going to call you into their office an have A Chat with you about your performance and put you on notice until you can get your Dark Angels painted. It’s a hobby, not a job. Having fun and relaxing is the real goal.

While your volume might not be where you want it, you did paint a wide variety of things. That’s a lot harder then just executing the same paint scheme over a mass of grey plastic.

Love your top 5. I forgot to do that myself. And now everything is on the shelves. I might go back.

Keep painting. Best wishes for the New Year.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/01/12 06:48:01


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Josh: Cheers! I really enjoy doing the yellow and purple; it's pretty satisfying once it's done.

@Nev: I'm not beating myself up, but I am disappointed in myself. I've got all these cool models that I want to paint, and I just didn't get very many of them done last year. It's tough finding time and energy when I've got a full-time job and other hobbies (mainly video games); I don't know how people who have spouses/kids in addition to those ever have time or energy to hobby! As for the top 5, you should totally do that! It helped me feel much more positive about what I did get done, as I genuinely had a tough time ranking which models I felt the best about (not a problem I usually have, so I guess I'm getting better at this stuff, huh?).

Finally got around to the first regular post of 2023, and I do have some stuff to show. As those of you who participate in or otherwise follow Paradigm's monthly painting challenge may know, I've chosen to paint Master Lazarus of the Dark Angels for this month. I've actually gotten him mostly done and then realized I hadn't taken any WIP photos yet, so it's high time I showed my progress:

This model has been a joy to paint so far; I should finish him this month with plenty of time to spare. As long as my Space Dwarves or other things don't distract me too much...

Speaking of Space Dwarves, I've started on the other half of my first Hearthkyn Warrior unit. Not much to show, but I did the basecoats of the orange parts of the armor (which will eventually have the camo pattern applied) and weapon casings:


In addition to these, I started working on one of the Hernkyn Pioneer bikers to test out my idea of a color scheme for it. Here's a fairly early WIP (the rider is a little further along since I started on him earlier):

The reason I've chosen a greenish color for the bike is because in Warframe the Grineer Tusk Corps have some flying vehicles called Dargyns that fly over you and strafe you, and they are fairly close to this green color. Their pilots also have off-white/bone colored armor bits with gray fatigues, hence my color choices on the rider. The Grineer guys in-game don't wear jackets, so I had some freedom as to how I wanted those to look. Went with more of a leather "bomber jacket" look for now, might not keep that color though.

More to come, hopefully soon. Thanks as always for stopping by!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/01/12 11:34:34


Post by: Theophony


Lazarus is looking good. Get him ready for the Lion’s return .

Your top 5 are all winners as well.

I have struggled over the years in making time to paint/hobby. When the kids were really little it was easier when they laid down for the night or when I first get up in the morning, but then again I only get a few hours a night as it is. The kids are mostly grown now. The twins graduate high school this spring and my oldest will be turning 21, so she generally isn’t around much (though she lives here). I think the trick is to hobby what you can when you can. Though I have not been a video game player much in the last 20 years, it is a segment of the hobby. It inspires ideas, motivates and even brings players together in another form. You’ve already taken inspiration from the color of the dragyn, so you are merging the two hobbies. Do what you can when you can. More than 20 years ago I played a couple video games non stop (Sid meier’s Alpha Centauri and might and magic....6 I think). That was before the wife and right after being married, but I still think back to those, I may have gotten inspiration from them as well, I just don’t realize it.

Long ramble over.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/01/31 06:44:54


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Theo: Thanks! Hopefully the rumors are true and the Lion is actually returning this time. Also, you mentioned Alpha Centauri; years ago (before I moved out of my parents' house), we had an old PowerMac that had long been replaced with a newer machine. I got it running again and put some old games on it, including Alpha Centauri. Spent many hours playing that game and others (including the Descent games and Total Annihilation). Not sure where that computer ended up or if it still works (it did when I moved out). I wish Steam would get Alpha Centauri so I could play it again, especially if it included the Alien Crossfire expansion.

Haven't done a ton of hobbying other than working on Master Lazarus, and I'm sorry for the lack of updates (I honestly kind of forgot). The good news is I did finish him, so here are the final pics:



I really enjoyed working on this guy and I'm happy with how he turned out. With that, I'm officially on the board for 2023 with 1 miniature completed. 99 to go if I want to make my output goal. The longest journey begins with a single step, and all that, so I'll just keep going.

In other hobby news, I did pick up a Hekaton Land Fortress earlier in the month and got it mostly put together (as far as I will go before painting). No pics of it yet unfortunately, but it's not as photogenic when it's gray plastic anyways.

I have also acquired not one but TWO new 3D printers. One of my friends had bought them and started using them, but apparently his roommate couldn't cope with the resin fumes or something so he had to get rid of them. He knew I had a Space Wolves army for sale/trade, so we traded. The printers are a Creality Halot One and a Creality LD-006. The Halot One is similar in size to my dead Photon S (RIP to a real one), but the LD-006 is comparable to the Elegoo Saturn in size. I'm actually hoping to sell the Halot One, as I don't really need two printers. I will probably just straight up give away the Photon S to anyone who's willing to replace the screen and give the Z-axis a little TLC in order to use it. The only reason I didn't do that is because I wanted a bigger, mono-screen machine (which I now have). I've actually run a couple of prints on the big guy, including these Vostroyan-style Bullgryn by Ghamak:

I'm hoping to print some bigger stuff on that machine too, including tanks. I actually have files for a Fellblade, but I'm not sure I'm up to the challenge of trying to print something quite that big (it would probably take a ton of resin, even with the big parts hollowed out). I'm also strongly considering printing an Admech army using the files I've gotten from Ghamak's patreon, but my first attempt at that was less than stellar (two of the three Kataphron bodies I printed failed because the supports let go, and the third ended up slightly distorted but still very usable), and I might actually discontinue Ghamak and pick up a certain MyMiniFactory tribe that does some nice Middle-Earth stuff. We'll have to see.

I'll have to come up with an idea for next month's painting challenge. The theme looks to be Location, Location, Location, and I'm not actually sure I've got much that fits. I'll have to have a good think on that, so in the meantime stay classy!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/01/31 15:28:00


Post by: Theophony


Congrats on the new printers.

Lazarus is looking good.

Sadly, no Lion or even rumors from LVO.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/02/01 00:49:04


Post by: JoshInJapan


The design on the inner surface of the cape is fantastic.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/02/09 07:11:33


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Theo: Thanks! Disappointed by the lack of hints of the Lion, but reliable rumor mongers still say he's coming. It probably won't be before summer though, but that gives me time to get more of his sons painted.

@Josh: Thanks! It took a steady hand and still isn't perfect, but it's more than I would have even attempted a year or two ago.

Not much painting has been done recently, but I have been doing some assembly. I picked up a Votann Combat Patrol, and have put together the Kahl and the Cthonian Beserks from that so far:

I built the Beserks stock, but I used one of the female heads from the Hearthkyn Warriors set for the Kahl. It's actually yet another Warframe reference, as I'm planning on making her look like the Grineer commander Kela de Thaym, and that head seemed to be a decent fit. Once I get the model painted it'll look more the part as the character in the game has dark armor and a black facial marking on her chin that I should be able to pull off easily enough.

I've been putting my big Creality printer through its paces recently, running off a couple more prints. Just last night, I printed off this not-Leman Russ hull, and I cleaned and assembled it today:

The model is from Ghamak's patreon and since I scaled it down to 92% it actually is just about the perfect size to match the official Leman Russ Battle Tank model.

I also printed some Middle-Earth models, some Numenoreans:

We have a Numenorean Captain foot and mounted, a Warrior with a Banner, and six Warriors with sword and shield. These miniatures are from Davale Games on Myminifactory. I signed up for their tribe and so will be getting a selection of STL's each month from multiple different factions. Last month I also got some files for an Iron Hills Captain and some Easterling Dragon Cult Acolytes, and this month I've gotten some Numenoreans with bows, a Mirkwood banner bearer on an elk (I don't think there are rules for this in the game but the model is dope), and some Easterlings (which I don't need as I've got plenty of the official ones).

I think I may give the painting challenge a miss this month. I was going to do my Firestrike Servo Turrets, but I'm really just not feeling it with those right now. I might just keep working on the Votann guys, or those Easterlings that have been in WIP hell for months now...


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/02/09 07:48:23


Post by: Olthannon


Some fantastic updates, the exorcist is superb and I really like your Votann colour scheme. The wine red colour on the cloak on the Dark Angel is very nice too.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/02/11 13:09:24


Post by: Nevelon


With LotR minis in that resin all I can see is an army who’s broken oaths are being called up.

I feel you on losing motivation on minis. Sometimes trying to force something that there is no drive for will just keep me away from the bench altogether. Which is not good. The competition is a good way to push yourself, but if that push is away, better to skip. We’re here for the hobby fun.

Sometimes you do need a kick to get things done though. I slowly worked on my drop pods as background projects while doing other stuff. When I had the right color paint out, I might splash some on a bit. No way I could just sit down and work on those.

Nice batch of stuff getting built/printed. Will be better painted.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/02/27 06:58:17


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Olthannon: Thanks!

@Nev: I had the same thought upon seeing the printed Numenoreans in the green resin. If you actually printed Dead of Dunharrow with it, you might not even need paint! Your good advice is well taken, I know better than to try to force myself to paint something when I'm not feeling it. I've had that issue before, and it did keep me from painting for a time. That's one of the advantages of having so much stuff to paint though; if I'm not feeling like working on one thing, I can easily pivot to something else.

I've finally gone back to work on the Indomitus models. I've had the Primaris Chaplain from that set sitting here in WIP hell for probably over a year now, but he's basically all done now, along with his little brother (just need the bases done, plus a couple of minor touchups). Here's the photographic evidence:

Speaking of minis in WIP hell, I've had these two Ravenwing characters partially painted for probably 3 years or more, and now it's finally time to get them done, as I may be going to use them in a tournament next month. Here's where they are at:

Plenty to do on these guys still.

And finally in DA news, I've decided to start painting my 3D printed Contemptor Dreadnought. Brush primed it with Monument Hobbies dark gray primer, and have basecoated the green armor. WIP shot:

This model may be in my tourney list as well, hence why it's now getting work.

Finally, I've bought and assembled yet more Space Dwarves, this time a squad of Brokhyr Thunderkyn and a Grimnyr:

Yes, I need to paint my dwarves, but honestly I've kind of back burnered this army, and probably won't play it until next edition.

Hope to have more to share soon. If I want to run Dark Angels at the tournament next month, I've got plenty of models that need paint. I'll try to keep updating this blog as I go.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/02/28 20:36:53


Post by: youwashock


Year-end wrap-up has some great minis. Love the Exorcist. Looking forward to that Contemptor!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/02/28 21:50:46


Post by: Nevelon


Time to get the 9th edition box painted before we get to 10th! (he says, looking at the remnants of the 8th starter in the primed pile)

Chaplain is looking good. I love that the indominus one is the spiritual successor to the classic one beside him. I’ve got the same pair, and in my mind, the new guy is just the old crossing the rubicon. (unless I need a JP chaplain, then he crosses back over)

I’m sure the stunties won’t hold any grudges having to wait while other armies get paint...


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/03/02 04:26:51


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Thanks and welcome back!

@Nev: Here's hoping I find time to get all the 9th edition starter guys done before 10th, but I've got other stuff that needs work sooner so we'll see. The Kyn have been mollified by me telling them they'll look better than the others once they are done, so hopefully that'll keep them from putting judgment tokens on me...

The Chaplains are done, a classic and his reimagined counterpart. Here are the final pics:



Besides the basic freehand on the banner, this is the first mini on which I have hand-sculpted a simple banner, using a product similar but different than Green Stuff. I had purchased the little metal guy for my Battle Company way back near the end of 7th edition, so although I never got to run the list he would have been in, it's nice to have him painted. The Primaris guy is a fantastic update of that classic sculpt. That is one more part of Indomitus finished. Next up will be the other five Assault Intercessors to round out the squad of ten, followed by the Primaris Lieutenant from that set.

I am planning to pick up the Strike Force Agastus box set this weekend. I'm in the minority, but I really like the Desolation Marines, and I absolutely love the Brutalis Dread. More Heavy Intercessors will be nice to have as well, although they may not see much use, and I can never have enough Primaris Lieutenants (the one from that box will most likely be built with a fist and will be the 6th one for my Dark Angels).

Next on deck will be some Deathwing. I've got a tournament later this month so hopefully I can knock out not only said Deathwing, but a bunch of other stuff as well. Gotta get my game face on, as it'll be a similar rush to the Sisters a couple of years ago.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/03/02 05:34:09


Post by: youwashock


He will call him...Mini Me.

Great side by side project. It is nice to see the homage in the new model. The old one is still a classic. Nice work on both!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/03/07 06:11:07


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Thanks! I really had fun working on these guys side by side since they are so similar. Also it's satisfying to put paint on old models; like they're finally getting the attention they deserve after languishing so long after manufacture.

Work progresses on my Deathwing, albeit slower than I'd like. It's gonna be a mad rush to finish in time for that tournament in a couple of weeks. Here's where they are at right now:

Most of the main colors are blocked in with Contrast; I'll probably just add the gold bits, shade all the metallics, put the texture on the bases and call them good for now and finish them after the tournament.

Speaking of tourney prep, I've done a couple more things with the 3D printed Contemptor. WIP shot:

I did a subtle drybrush of Warpstone Glow on all the green, and I basecoated the trim in silver, as can be seen in the photo. I'm going to do a second drybrush of Moot Green that will probably be more visible, and then start picking out more details (and paint the weapons and the base). Again, gonna have to make it quick and dirty for now.

Complicating matters is the fact that I've picked up a distraction in the form of the Strike Force Agastus box set. I went ahead and put together the Lieutenant and one of the Desolation Squads:

This is Primaris Lieutenant #6 for my Dark Angels. I went with the power fist because I don't already have one with a fist, and also a Master-Crafted Bolt Rifle because pistols aren't very good in-game. On the Desolation Marines, I went with the Superkrak launchers because anti-infantry is better gotten elsewhere, but the long-range anti-tank is something Primaris Marines generally lack. I also took the Vengor launcher because it has some good use cases. I for one do not get the hate for these models; they are pretty badass actually, and their guns are no more ridiculous than the ones carried by the Suppressors. I look forward to (eventually) painting them, and assembling the rest of the Agastus box contents. I've got some interesting plans for the Brutalis dread in particular, involving a victim being on his base or in his metal hands...

As far as getting ready for the tournament goes, I've still got to get these Deathwing ready, and I have a further five of them yet to paint (four still don't even have primer, the weather hasn't been cooperating at all here). I also have SEVEN Ravenwing Black Knights to paint, plus the Dread, a Ravenwing Apothecary, a Storm Speeder, a Land Speeder Tornado, 2 Attack Bikes, and an Invader ATV. I may have to settle for 3-color minimum on most of that for now, and then finish them later.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/03/07 06:45:34


Post by: JoshInJapan


Both chaplains turned out great. I especially like the back banner-- they was de rigueur back in the day, but you don't see them much anymore.

Good luck getting the DW done in time. There is a lot there to paint, and one doesn't want to get anything wrong on a centerpiece unit like that.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/03/07 21:54:53


Post by: youwashock


Deathwing coming along. Hope you get them how you like them in time!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/03/22 16:05:04


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Josh: Thanks! I miss back banners, they really are one of those little things that make the Warhammer 40k setting stand out from other sci-fi. It was nice to do one on one of my own guys.

@YWS: Thanks for the encouragement!

I'm back with an update, or more of an after-action report. I did indeed end up going to that tournament as planned, but I changed my list a bit, swapping out the Contemptor in favor of more Terminators. Here's a pic of how my army ended up looking for the tournament. Apologies for the low quality photo, I used my cheap cell phone's potato camera for it:

Because of how little time I had to work on this stuff, most of it is bare minimum basecoated with texture paint on the bases, other than what was already painted prior to this event. The Land Speeders/Storm Speeder are basically done though and only need relatively minor touchups before I count them as complete; I even found time to put decals on them. As for how I did, I went 3-2, losing my first two games but winning the last three. I did a small summary of it over in the Dark Angels tactics thread if you're curious to know more.

Since the tournament, I've gotten back to hobbying and have made some progress on my Terminators for the monthly painting challenge. Here's where I've gotten to:

The bases have been shaded, as have the metallics on the weapons and armor. I still need to do highlights on those areas, and paint all over the bone armor with Ushabti Bone to make it more even and bright. I'll probably then do some edge highlights with Screaming Skull to really make it pop.

I also found time over the last couple of days to put together the Brutalis Dreadnought, although I have not yet decided as to how I'm going to add his victim to the model (might put it in his claw, or under his lifted right foot). Here's the model assembled:

I went with the claws over the fists/bolters, because I like the look of them and they are better in game (might change with the new edition though). I made the nipple guns swappable, using blu-tack rather than magnets because there wasn't really much place to put magnets. I'm planning to paint this model in Deathwing colors.

More to come, I'm hoping to at least finish the terminators and put the final touches on the Speeders to boost my numbers for the month. I'm falling behind and need to catch up!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/03/27 06:32:08


Post by: ZergSmasher


More progress on the Terminators. I've drybrushed the silver metallics with Necron Compound, and also done an all-over layer of Ushabti Bone (leaving darker color in the recesses of course) to brighten up the armor. One last WIP shot before the end of the month (will have at least something to submit, even if it isn't much better than this):

I'm still planning to do my usual drybrush of Terminatus Stone on the bases, plus I need to highlight the gold details and perhaps edge highlight the bone armor.

Assembly-wise, I finished putting together the models from Strike Force Agastus, so here they all are in their gray plastic glory:

Now I just need a calm day to spray prime these models (good luck with that in March/April here in central Missouri ), as I really do want to get them painted. My Primarch is coming back, and I want him to have a cool army to lead when he gets here.

Thanks to the miracle of eBay, I managed to score Primaris Azrael without having to buy the whole Soul Forge King box (or even the whole DA half of said box, I really didn't want or need 10 more Intercessors). I put him together with the bare head option, with his helm being carried by the Watcher in the Dark:

I think I screwed up some of the assembly; the head didn't want to cooperate going first into a hood piece and then into the armor, and the gun arm is lower than I think it was meant to be (still looks okay though). It'll probably be okay once I paint it. Not like I'll likely be using this guy much anyway once I get my hands on Lion El'Jonson.

Last week's reveals provided plenty to get excited over. Obviously my favorite thing was The Lion (that model is absolutely spectacular and as a DA player I simply have to have it), but the 10th edition launch trailer was pretty good also, and the new better-scaled Terminators do look good. My current collection of 40+ Deathwing will probably look a bit stunted next to the new guys, but as long as the current ones continue to be valid for play I shouldn't have a problem. Can't wait to see what all will be in the launch box; it'll probably give me temptations to start Tyranids, but I really don't need yet another army project. That's probably a decision for a later date, though.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/03/28 01:19:20


Post by: youwashock


Can't wait to see your take on the Lion. The Deathwing look very cool!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/03/28 01:43:23


Post by: Nevelon


Deathwing looking good. Scale creep is a thing you get used to. At least your guys are reasonably new. When the new guys drop with 10th mine are going to be fighting shoulder to shoulder with my old metals. Or shoulder to mid-torso more likely.

Think you will be able to clear the decks before the new edition gets here? Going to be a lot of shiny models, which can take some steam out of finishing old projects.

I considered grabbing that box with the dread and missile guys, but just couldn’t justify it. Looks like a nice batch of guys though. How are the missiles guys in the flesh? A lot of pictures didn’t seem to show their good side.

I knew you’d be chuffed for the Lion. Such an awesome sculpt. Wish Guiliman was cut from the same cloth. Much prefer the understated determination to the gilded flair that the Ultras got.

Join the hive mind. Free hugs and all the biomass you want to eat. Also, a completely different style of paint and play to marines, which is a nice change.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/03/31 05:27:01


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Thanks, I'm looking forward to having the Lion to paint.

@Nev: Thanks. I think I can live with the scale creep; after all I used to have old metal Azrael standing in the middle of a crowd of Hellblasters in my mid-8th edition lists. As for clearing the decks, I'm hoping to at least get the rest of the Indomitus Marines painted; it would be nice to have the previous edition's starter set models painted when the new edition drops! Regarding Strike Force Agastus: I personally like the Desolation Marines, but I can understand why some would not. The guns do look better in person IMO, and of course will look even better painted (with gaudy red casings since I'm doing Dark Angels). And I personally think the Guilliman model looks just as cool as Lion, but in a different way. I had loads of fun painting Guilliman (way back in 2017, hard to believe it was 6 years ago now!), and I was pretty happy with how he looked. I am really looking forward to painting Lion though, and since I like to think I've grown as a painter in the last 6 years I think I can make him look even more spectacular. And as for the Nids, I mainly want them as a very different type of painting project. I've seen how you've been doing yours, and I really want to give it a go myself. I would probably need to drop a different army to make room though. I just don't have shelf space for everything, although I suppose I could pack some of my stuff in a box or something until I have a bigger place.

I got the Deathwing done for the monthly challenge, so here are the final pics:



Nothing super spectacular, but they'll do the job on the tabletop. I'm happy that the Space Marine Heroes series 2 models fit in well with the actual Deathwing kit models; much better than the series 1 guys would fit in with regular Tactical marines.

In other news, I've started on the back half of the Indomitus Assault Intercessor squad. They've been waiting far too long, and the next starter set is coming in probably 3 months or so, so I figured I'd better get moving on that. After them, I've still got the Lieutenant, Bladeguard Vets, Bladeguard Ancient, Eradicators, and the Relic Shield Captain to paint yet. And I wouldn't mind getting started on the Agastus models as well, and Azrael, but I'm waiting for a window in the weather for those so I can prime them (still too windy here most days).

Another thing I'd like to do if I can somehow find time is get the few remaining Sisters models painted; they've all been primed already, so the hard work is done on them. I want to be able to take an epic full army shot of my collection. I still need to paint the Novitiates, some Celestians, a few random Battle Sisters, and 3 Paragons, as well as finish the paint jobs on Morvenn Vahl, the Mortifiers, and two more Rhinos. That's the closest I am to having a a full collection for an army finished. Okay, technically all of my existing Knights are painted, except I do have a Questoris still on sprues and a (probably recast) Cerastus Knight-Castigator that need to be built and painted. Not likely to happen this year, so yes, Sisters are indeed closer.

And in other project overload news, I also want to find time to work on my Grineer Votann army. There's just so much to do and so little time! I could probably take two months off work and not make a significant dent in my backlog, and that's just for 40k. I've also got an AoS army and multiple Middle-Earth armies, and even stuff for other games (like Ankh, and the Primal kickstarter that should be fulfilled here in the next few months). I need to increase production and start cranking things out faster, but not so fast that I burn out. That's a delicate balance that I've been on the wrong side of more than once.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/04/01 00:34:57


Post by: youwashock


Deathwing turned out quite well. A classic look, well-executed. No shortage of cool things coming up, either. Too bad we can't paint everything all at once, right?


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/04/01 17:40:25


Post by: Nevelon


Nice work on the deathwing.

Too many projects, not enough time is an old song, one we all sing. It’s not like minis go stale, just keep plugging away at them.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/04/07 01:19:30


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Thanks! And you're right about not painting everything all at once; I just don't have enough arms or eyes for that.

@Nev: Thank you for the encouragement, as always!

I'm off to kind of a slow start on this month's painting challenge. I chose to do the Chaos Marines from Assassinorum: Execution Force, as it will give me a suitable entry for the Doomsday theme and allow me to check another box on the projects list. Here's the WIP of those models:

I went with a blue and magenta armor color scheme, because I wanted these guys to look like Tzeentch-worshippers (the colors sort of match common Tzeentch Daemon colors). The scheme will come together better once I paint the armor trim in gold.

I'm also working on getting the Assault Intercessors done to make progress on the Indomitus set. Here's the latest WIP shot:

The green armor is done, and I've blocked in pretty much all the other colors except for the silver metallics. These guys aren't too hard to paint at all, which is good because I want to finish them and move on to the more exciting stuff from that set, and have it all done in time for 10th to drop yet another launch box's worth of models in my lap.

And as something to give me a little variety to paint, I got most of the way through painting a few Battle Sisters. Here's where they are at:

I was just feeling the itch to paint some of these up. My color scheme is just so satisfying to paint for some reason, especially with Contrast paints.

I do have a tournament I plan to attend in June, which will almost certainly be the final event of 9th edition for me. I'm planning to run Dark Angels, but I don't want to spend money on more Hammer/Shield terminators since we've got better-scaled models incoming. I might just run a few Deathwing off in my good ol' 3D printer, assuming the presumably-upcoming Balance Dataslate doesn't nerf them or something (DA are squarely in the crosshairs for the nerf bat currently). Otherwise, I might just print more Middle-Earth stuff, or something a bit...bigger...


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/04/07 01:28:16


Post by: Nevelon


Slow start he says, as 15 models work across the bench...


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/04/20 13:10:06


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Yeah but they're slowly making their way across the bench.

Apologies for going 2 weeks without updating. I'm making progress, but not as quickly as I'd prefer. The Chaos Marines are coming along:

All the basecoats are basically done, now I need to shade and highlight these bad dudes. Basecoating the trim reminded me of one reason why I quit playing Chaos Space Marines...

The DA Assault Intercessors are coming along as well, albeit slowly. Next steps for them will be shoulder pad decals (gloss coat is already down for that) and some highlights on the red weapon casings. WIP shot:

I really need to step on it with these; 10th edition is coming up fast and I've still got plenty more 9th edition starter models to do.

Finally, I did finish up the Battle Sisters I was working on. Dragged out the lightbox this morning and got a few nice pics of them:


I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love the Luxion Purple contrast paint. It gives a much better color than Shyish Purple, which I had to heavily dilute to avoid it looking black.

More to come, hopefully very soon.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/04/20 20:39:30


Post by: JoshInJapan


Ah, so you did change your purple! I was just about to ask before I scrolled down to the last line.

You Chaos Marines are delightfully vivid-- Tzeentch would be proud. I feel your pain re: all the trim. Years ago, I painted up a bunch of CSM that I got as a job lot, and that was probably my least favorite stage of painting them.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/04/20 20:49:47


Post by: youwashock


Good looking stuff, all around. Sisters are quite nice.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/04/20 21:54:09


Post by: Nevelon


If I wasn’t half and army deep into Shyish purple, I’d ditch the stuff. It’s not one of the better contrast paints. I would not recommend it to new people starting projects now that it’s not the only purple in the range.

Nice work and good progress! keep on painting.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/05/04 07:13:07


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Josh: Changed to the newer purple a while back and it's made all the difference in the world. And regarding CSM and their metal trim: I have to think a lot of potential CSM players have turned away because of that. It's a royal pain to paint even though it does look good when finished.

@YWS: Thanks!

@Nev: Agree completely, and thanks as always for the encouragement.

Unfortunately the month got away from me regarding the painting comp in April, and although I did submit a set of late-stage WIP shots as my entry (so I'm 2 for 2 on entries so far) the models are not complete. They are mostly there though, so I'll go ahead and share the pics here:


I might go ahead and polish these off if I need a break from my Dark Angels push; there isn't all that much left to do on them.

Those of you following (or participating in) the current painting challenge know that my entry is the boss Dark Angel himself, Lion El'jonson, freshly returned to join his sons once more. Thanks to a fortunate window in the weather I was able to prime him as well as some other stuff, so I've started painting him now. Here's where he's at so far:

Lots more to do, but it's been a ton of fun so far! Doing him in subassemblies is the only way; trying to do it while he's glued together (especially on his base) would be absolute torture! When he's done, I'll probably grab a quick pic of him next to his brother Roboute, because such a thing is probably obligatory (and it should show my progress in painting skill).

The Assault Intercessors from Indomitus are basically done; just a couple of small things to pick out and the bases to do. Here's the latest WIP:

Next, it'll be on to the Primaris Lieutenant. I'll probably get started on my Desolation Marines as well since I'll need them for my tournament list.

Assembly-wise, I finally added a couple of victims to the Brutalis Dreadnought, using leftover Chaos Marine parts (turned out I had enough for a complete Heretic Astartes, plus parts of more). Here's how it looks now:

The guy under his foot is probably already dead (probably already was before the Dread got there), but the one in his hand is in the process of getting his guts squished out. I'll probably add some blood and stuff once I get around to painting this brute (probably not real soon unfortunately). I probably shouldn't have glued the guy to the claws either; not sure what I was thinking, because now painting will be a bit more complicated.

I also put together the Bladeguard that came with Lion, bringing my total of Bladeguard to 15.

I love that the Bladeguard kit has so many pose options, because it allows for a kit with only three bodies in it to be stretched a lot further than many other kits (looking at you, Death Guard Marines and Terminators).

And now, I think I'll take a page out of Nevelon's playbook and give my thoughts on the revealed contents of the 10th edition starter box, Leviathan.
Space Marines:
Terminator Captain: Besides Belial (also rumored to be getting a new model this year or early next year) I have only one other Terminator Captain, that being the one from Space Marine Heroes season 2. It'll be nice to have one with a different loadout. The model itself is awesome, and I can probably add some DA bling to it to make it really belong with the rest of my guys.
Terminator Librarian: This will be my third one of these; I have the limited-edition one from a couple of years ago, plus an old resin Finecast one. The new one is cooler than either of those though, so I'll be happy to have it.
Phobos Lieutenant: Yay, another Primaris Lieutenant. This will be my 7th for my Dark Angels. The model is pretty cool and unique, at least.
Gravis Apothecary: Probably my favorite of the new characters. Nice to see a new and different role for a model (more of a battlefield researcher rather than a medic).
Infernus Squad: Possibly the only Greenwing unit in the whole box? An all-flamer unit is at least something different, and the previewed rules look cool.
Terminator Squad: Compared to my current Deathwing Terminators, the models are pretty plain, but at least they look more anatomically possible. I can probably use bits from the Deathwing kit to make them look cooler.
Sternguard Veterans: Dark Angels have never had access to Sternguard before, so this is new and exciting. From the one pic of the decal sheet, it looks like these are meant to be painted as Deathwing, which is interesting to say the least.
Ballistus Dreadnought: A mobile gun platform with decent guns. It looks cool and will look even cooler in Caliban Green with some DA bits on it.
Tyranids:
Winged Prime: Not sure why the hate for this model, it looks pretty cool. I'm glad he's modeled on the ground so we don't have to screw around with annoying flying stems.
Neurotyrant: Kind of like a Neurothrope on steroids, and I am here for it. Lots of painting potential there.
Screamer-Killer: He's cool and all, but I'm not sold on the pose. Maybe if there are some shots of it from other angles, I'd like it more.
Von Ryan's Leapers: I keep thinking of an old WW2 movie with a train when I hear the name of these bugs. They are cool models though.
New Termagants/Ripper Swarms: A great update of a classic. Since I'll be starting Nids from scratch, I don't have a ton of the old ones kicking around, which means I'll definitely need these.
Neurogaunts: A new type of gaunt; the models are pretty cool and have enough different textures to provide a decent painting diversion.
Barbgaunts: Yet another new type of gaunt, now with added artillery. The poses on them look too erect; makes them look a bit top heavy.
Psychophage: Probably my favorite of the new bugs. He looks really dangerous and like he'll be pretty fun to paint.

For me, the Nids will represent a new and exciting thing to paint. I've never painted anything quite like them, so it'll be different. The Marines will all be welcome additions to my Dark Angels; any new stuff there is always appreciated.

More to come folks, stay tuned!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/05/04 23:22:39


Post by: Nevelon


How many phobos Lts? I know I’m not one to talk about overstaffed officer corps, but that seems excessive. I’ve got a total of 6 Lts collectively in all armor styles and firstborn. Anytime you can say “I’ve got more of these then those crazy guys working on their 1d3+2th companies” you should take a step back. And then cackle manically. Related: You mentioned that the flamer guys are the only greenwing? How do DA treat phobos guys? They are scouty, but not on bikes like the ravenwing. They get green paint?

Other wise stock up on whatever paint you use to paint bone armor, as this is a very vet heavy boxset

I think the folded wings on the flying prime put people off. I think it’s the first time a winged nid has not been shown in full flight. Also I might have swapped the wings to the upper socket (and still might once I get him in hand). He’s also cut very much from the same cloth as the existing range. Nothing really new or exciting from a modeling POV. I like him, but he’s a little short of the “wow” factor that some of the rest of the box has.

I can’t wait to get my hands on the box. At worst I’m neutral on a few things. Don’t hate anything, and actively like quite a few.

Keep up the work! You’ve got a lot on deck. Get those last touches down so guys can get off to the finished pile and make room for the new stuff incoming!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/05/04 23:35:56


Post by: youwashock


Lion on deck! Also looking forward to the bladeguard.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/05/09 04:33:31


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: It's 7 total Primaris Lieutenants, not Phobos ones specifically. Good sweet Lord, who would need 7 of those?! I'm keeping count of my Primaris Lieutenants mostly because of the memes. If we count non-Primaris ones too, I have 10(!) Lieutenants, as I have two Ravenwing Talonmasters and a firstborn Lieutenant that I kitbashed. I've probably got more total Captains than there are companies in the chapter though, if you count named characters. As for Phobos Marines in general, they get green armor kind of like scouts (I kind of assume they are 10th Company, but I'm not sure that's fluff accurate). As always, thanks for the discussion and encouragement!

@YWS: The Bladeguard from Indomitus should be soonish; the ones that came with the Lion will probably be much later, but you never know. For now, the Lion is my priority for paint.

Lion is coming along well, his paint scheme is definitely taking shape. WIP shot:

The green on the cloak is done to a point I'm happy with it; nothing super fancy but it works (I don't want to try to learn advanced blending and stuff on a model like this). I still need to highlight the hair and beard, and shade and highlight the red on the shield, sword arm, and sword grip. Then it'll be on to the metallics. Gonna have to be careful there; the gold trim on the cloak is gonna make me nervous because I don't want to ruin my hard work. The lion pelt on his back will probably need another drybrush or something; it just doesn't "pop" to me.

In other news, I finished the Assault Intercessors, so they can move on to the finished pile (disclaimer: it is not an actual pile). Here are a few lightbox photos:


Nothing fancy going on with these guys, but it's nice to have them done. Time to paint the more exciting parts of Indomitus now.

Next on deck besides Lion is the Primaris Lieutenant from Indomitus, plus all 10 of my Desolation Marines. The Desolation guys are going to be needed for my tournament next month, so they get to jump the queue. I'm actually excited to paint them too, as unlike a lot of people I love the models. Those giant awkward weapons will look interesting in red, I think. Hope to have more updates very soon!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/05/09 23:09:31


Post by: DJJazzyJeff


Between you and Nev, I might just have to go buy the Leviathan box now. I don't have any Nids, so there is that. Good work so far.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/05/18 06:08:55


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Jeff: DO IT! (you should have heard that in Ian McDiarmid's voice) The stuff in the box looks pretty good. Thanks for the encouragement.

Quick proof of life post, hobby work is going far too slowly, but I'm not gonna rush it and paint when I really don't feel like it. Still, progress has been made. Lion is really coming together:

Still more work to do, but he's getting there. It's been a blast painting him, and I'm looking forward to running him next month, and of course in the upcoming 10th edition (hope he's still good then...).

I got started on more stuff, including the Lieutenant from Indomitus. Here's a WIP shot:

Early WIP shot is early, but the scheme is starting to come together.

I've also started painting both squads of Desolation Marines. Early WIP shot:

Not much to look at now, but once I get a few more colors blocked in, they'll start to look awesome. The armor on these and the LT is already done; nowadays I paint that completely before doing anything else on my Dark Angels (thanks to a tutorial from Artis Opus that inspired me to change up my green armor recipe). Getting to their chest emblems was difficult or impossible on most of them, but honestly they can hardly be seen so if it's not perfect, who cares?

In other news, I'm planning to participate in a Kill Team campaign starting next month, so I actually need to paint my Ork Kommandos that I got last year. Thankfully they are already primed and ready for contrast paint, but the extra painting burden will be a challenge. I don't think the models will be terribly difficult to paint, at least.

I've got some thinking to do about how exactly I'm going to paint my Tyranids once Leviathan drops. I think I'm going to call them Hive Fleet Kukulkan (named for the Mayan winged serpent deity), so perhaps some kind of jade green would be one good color to use. I'm debating picking up some kind of cheaper Tyranid unit explicitly to test out paint schemes; maybe the used model bin at my FLGS has a squad of gaunts or something I could buy for that. Not gonna happen right away, too much other stuff to worry about first.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/05/24 23:30:41


Post by: ZergSmasher


It took plenty of work, but I finally finished Lion El'jonson, and a week ahead of the painting challenge deadline too. Here are the final pics:



Not to toot my own horn or anything, but this might be my best piece ever. I'm super happy with how it turned out. My photography has room to improve (mostly I need a better camera but I don't want to pay for one), but it's getting there. The model itself was a blast to paint; easier than the previous Primarch (Guilliman) by a good margin, as the model is less busy. And speaking of Guilliman, here's a quick pic of the two brothers together:

Kind of an obligatory shot if one owns both models, I think. They actually are about the same size, which makes sense. It also lets me see what six (!) years of painting skill improvements have done for me. At the time, Guilliman was probably one of my best pieces, and yet when I look at the model I can see plenty of areas where I could have done better (but I didn't know how at the time).

As far as the other stuff I've been working on, I've made some progress but nothing particularly photogenic as yet. I need to keep on going, as that tournament is only a little over a couple of weeks out. Thanks as always for looking!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/05/25 00:50:09


Post by: youwashock


Great job, Zergsmasher! The cape is awesome, and the detailing on the shield really turned out well. Toot that horn, man. Glad you are happy with the results, too!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/05/25 10:30:10


Post by: Nevelon


Wow! Amazing work. You deserve to be proud of him. With time to spare as well.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/06/21 07:15:00


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Thank you very much!

@Nev: Thanks!

Big photo dump incoming, as I've got a lot of irons in the fire currently. Gotta at least make a credible attempt at clearing the decks. Some of these models have been worked on for that tournament that is now over a week past. First, here's a WIP of the Bladeguard Veterans from Indomitus, my entry in the June painting challenge:

Not much done yet, and they'll look odd until I do their armor, but with Contrast I prefer to do dark colors first as it's easier to clean up.

Next up, here's the Indomitus Lieutenant:

He's mostly done actually, just a few details to pick out, and I need to highlight the metallics. He'd probably be done if I hadn't had to prep for the tournament and work on a bunch of Desolation Marines. Speaking of, here's where they are at:

These guys are also nearly done, actually, with only relatively small details, plus shading and highlighting on the metallics and gun casings. I also broke with my usual procedure and actually added squad numbers, as I often deploy the units together and needed a way to tell who was in which squad easily.

Also needed for the tournament, my Bladeguard Ancient:

Needs a bit more work, but again he's mostly there. I needed to paint him to complete Indomitus anyways, so it worked well that I had another reason to get him painted.

And finally in the category of WIP stuff, here's Ezekiel, the Dark Angels Chief Librarian:

For being such an old sculpt, I think he holds up well. He'll look better when I'm all finished painting him, but he did the trick for the tournament.

And now for some new acquisitions, all picked up while I was on the tournament trip.
First, I stopped by the FLGS in Springfield, MO (Meta-Gamed Unlimited) on the way down to the tournament (it was held in Branson) and picked up the Rohan Battlehost set for Middle-Earth. I've put together the new plastic Eomer from that set, as well as a few of the Rohan Warriors so far:

Eomer is a nice looking model; went together easily enough and should look great painted. The ancient Rohan warrior sculpts, while needing very little in the way of assembly, have a ton of mold lines that I've had to remove and look really dated next to their leader. Seriously, the sculpts have got to be almost old enough to drink as they came out around the time the Two Towers movie did.

On the way back, I decided to stop by the very new Warhammer store in Springfield to see how it was (it's only the second ever time I've been in a GW store). I mainly wanted to see about picking up some kind of Tyranid unit to get a feel for the models (Meta-Games was completely sold out of Nids when I visited), so I snagged a box of Warriors, but the shop guy managed to talk me into buying a bit more to get the cool Tyranid coin, so I ended up picking up the King of the Dead for Middle-Earth as well. Got them all put together after I got home (decided to go with ranged weapons on the Nids):

Definitely spent a bit more money than I had planned to (those GW salespeople are sneaky...) but it's all stuff I kind of needed anyway. That Winged Prime is going to need some buddies to lead after all. In addition to those, I got the current free mini from the store:

Not sure when I'll get around to painting this little guy; I have no plans to start a Seraphon army, no matter how awesome the new models are.

Anyway, I hope to have more to share soon. Sorry for going so long without an update, I'm trying to do better.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/06/22 16:28:36


Post by: youwashock


Plenty going on there, ZergSmasher. The DA are looking good. Ezekiel does still hold his own, a testament to the lasting appeal of old minis.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/06/29 06:17:47


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Thanks! Things are hoppin' around here for sure.

The Bladeguard are getting there, but it's gonna be down to the wire as the month is nearly over. Here's where they are at currently:

I'd be further along, but I've been distracted by a certain new box set. Speaking of which:

Yep, I assembled all the models, and did it pretty quick too. My fingertips were sore from pushing so many plastic pieces together! As much as I'd love to get stuck in on the painting for these new models, I'm going to hold myself to finishing the Indomitus models (and the Desolation Marines that I've got nearly done) before I start. If I get a chance to get them primed, I will do so, as the weather around here can be pretty fickle.

I should have final pics of those Bladeguard in the next day or two. I will hopefully polish off the Bladeguard Ancient and the Indomitus Primaris Lieutenant soon after. That will leave me only the Captain and Eradicators left to paint and I can finally wrap up Indomitus.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/06/29 08:07:51


Post by: BarryScott


Blade guard are looking great and looking foward to seeing what you do with the leviathan sets


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/07/01 10:17:01


Post by: Nevelon


Nice work. That box went together fast! Keep the paint flowing!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/07/03 06:08:19


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Barry: Thanks! I may not get started on Leviathan right away, as I've got some other stuff that needs finishing first. Thanks for looking in, though!

@Nev: Thank you!

Finally got the Bladeguard Veterans finished. Here are the pics:



Not my best work by a long shot, but I was tired of looking at them and I've got other stuff to work on. Sometimes you just need to call it good enough and not worry about it anymore.

As for the other stuff, I still haven't done anything else to the Desolation guys or the Bladeguard Ancient, but I did put the shoulder decal on the Indomitus Lieutenant. No pic, but he should be done soonish, probably this week unless I'm REALLY slacking. I've been on more of an assembly kick, as I picked up something at the FLGS and just had to put it together:

I'm not sure a can of Raid is gonna work on this bug! For those who don't know Nids, this is a Tyrannofex. Basically a big walking tank, with a big gun to match (this particular weapon is the Rupture Cannon, and is one of the few ranged anti-tank weapons Tyranids have currently). Getting the front legs and the gun to stay positioned was a major pain in the ass, as there's no locator pegs or anything. Maybe I was spoiled by the Tau I used to have.

As for planned further expansion of Hive Fleet Kukulkan, I did pick up a discounted box of Genestealers from my FLGS (they were marked down as they had no shrinkwrap, probably someone opened them and decided they didn't want them or something). Combining them with my 12 from the Lost Patrol box will get me to a nice round 20, which is 2 full squads. Happily the sprues also contain a Ripper on each one, so between the sprues from Lost Patrol and the new ones I'll have enough to make another base of them to go with the two from Leviathan, making a game-legal unit of Rippers. As for future purchases whenever my hobby budget allows (I'm probably tapped out for the next month), I do plan to pick up at least one Haruspex, as those look strong in the Index. I also would like to pick up some Carnifexes and/or Old One Eye, and I probably want a Broodlord to go with my Genestealers. Might check the usual sources for some STL files and maybe make the 3D printer go BRRR for more bugs if I find some interesting alternate sculpts.

July's painting challenge is Renewal, and I'll be painting the new Primaris Azrael for it. He's going to be in some of my 10th edition DA lists, so I need to paint him anyways. I'll see if I can squeeze in the rest of the Indomitus models this month as well. Stay tuned!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/07/05 04:22:00


Post by: Captain Brown


Loads of progress there ZergSmasher.

Cheers,

CB


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/07/17 05:41:13


Post by: ZergSmasher


@CB: Thanks for the encouragement!

I finished the Lieutenant and Bladeguard Ancient last week actually, but just didn't get around to dragging out the lightbox and taking pics until this evening.
Lieutenant:


Fairly basic paint job, but it'll do the trick. Glad to finally have this guy done. That makes 5 Primaris Lieutenants down and 2 to go (the Strike Force Agastus one and the Leviathan one).
Bladeguard Ancient:


I feel like this guy turned out better than the LT, but that was kind of a low bar. Sad thing is, this model will probably be doing shelf duty unless he gets better rules whenever the Marines book drops.

With those done, that only leaves 4 models to go and I can finally call Indomitus done: 3 Eradicators and the Captain with his relic shield. I've already started on them, just not much to show yet. I'm sort of doing them alongside Azrael, who is my challenge entry for the month. I really need to get moving faster, as the month is already half over and I have a ton of work to do.

In other news, I really needed to pick up a Primaris Apothecary, as he's a very useful character for Marines in 10th. Unfortunately both of my FLGS's were fresh out, and I didn't want to order online, so I decided to rummage through my bits collection and see what I could put together. This is the result:

I took the body and backpack of an Easy-to-Build Intercessor (one of the promotional ones with the sculpted base included), put the helmet, left arm, right shoulder pauldron and accessories from a Ravenwing Apothecary on, then added the back lights from a Deathwing Apothecary, the Heavy Bolt Pistol and holster from an Assault Intercessor, and a DA shoulder pauldron from the older accessory sprue (NOT the Primaris one). Painting will help sell it, as right now it looks kind of janky. Nice to make use of my spare bits and save myself a bit of money at the same time.
I also managed to pick up a Broodlord from the used model bin at my FLGS recently. The model was in pretty rough shape, with thick paint absolutely glopped all over it (random colors too for bonus points) and the tongue broken off and missing. Sadly I don't have a picture of the state it was in when I got it (forgot to take one, d'oh! ), but I decided to try my hand at stripping it with Isopropyl Alcohol and this is the result:

I didn't get all the primer off, but enough came off that I'm happy with it and it'll probably look okay once I re-prime and paint it properly. I also added a tongue from a spare Genestealer head; it's nowhere near as long as the one that the Broodlord normally has, but it looks better than nothing. Feels kind of good to rescue an abused model; it'll feel even better once I get it painted and maybe play with it some.

Since I am a fresh Tyranids player, I think I'll take a page from Nevelon's book and give my opinions on the newly-revealed Tyranids models from this past weekend:
Termagants: Not gonna lie, I'll be fairly salty if the squad can take all the specials, as it'll mean the Leviathan ones are just sad and stuck with the basic fleshborers. The models and new weapons do look cool though, so I'll probably pick up a box or two.
Hormaguants: I don't have any of the old ones, so I expect I'll get a box or two of these at some point.
Genestealers: I've got 20 of the old ones, so these are not a priority even if they are really nice looking. At least now I have an excuse to add the base extenders to my old ones so they aren't stuck in 25mm hell (with the arms sticking out they look comical on 25s).
Lictor: Cool new model, not sure it's a priority unless they get really good rules or something.
Neurolictor: Same story.
Deathleaper: I don't know why, but the flesh cape is just silly to me. Like why would a dinobugalien have a cape? What advantage would the Hive Mind see in giving this particular creature a cape? It just doesn't make sense and actively detracts from the model.
Biovore/Pyrovore: I need some Biovores, so I'm glad they are getting a new kit instead of the old derpy one. I was going to 3D print some otherwise. Pyrovores I'm on the fence about, but we'll see.
Norn Emissary/Assimilator: OMG I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE! I LIKE BIG BUGS AND I CANNOT LIE! Seriously this is probably the coolest of the new Tyranids that were previewed. I hope it's easy to magnetize between the two variants.

That's all I have for now, stay tuned for more.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/07/17 11:58:04


Post by: Nevelon


Nice work on the ancient and the Lt. Are there deathwing lieutenants? I know you guys get extra rules for 1st company stuff. I was looking over my collection the other day, thinking of what I could assign to the veteran company, and kind of regretted not giving the indominus Lt. white trim on his shoulders. He doe fit in very well with the BGV and similar primaris vets.

Is your lightbox all high-angle light? The ancient’s shadows really stand out as obvious. With my box, as the lights are separate, I don’t just point them at the middle of the sides, but slightly lower and to the front. While it diffuses the light, it’s not homogeneous. I’ve painted/photographed that mini recently enough to know there is detail I’m not seeing, that you put work into. If you can’t adjust the lights in the box, try taking some pics with an additional light shining into the box from the front, or lower front corners.

Nice work on the apothecary. He should serve you well. It looks like he can pull some nice tricks in plasma-forward lists.

Interesting to see a new hive mind’s perspective on the new swarm. For the termagaunts I’m hoping it’s kinds like a devastator box, where you get more guns then you have bodies. That way spare basic ones can be tricked up and used to backfill squads. I try not to borrow salt from the future. At least you have a 3D printer, so if you just need a barb launcher or spike rifle or two, you can troll around for the STLs. There are probably going to be a lot of nid players looking to modernize old collections.

Broodlord leading a pack of stealers seems like a nice missile to toss down the table. A bit of a glass cannon, but has the cannon part down, and some shenanigans to help with the glass bit. Nice rescue/repair.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/07/17 20:53:24


Post by: youwashock


Nice work on LT and the Ancient. Apothecary conversion also looking good. Congrats on reviving the big bug. Any chance of a group shot once the Indomitus boys are complete?


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/09/22 07:10:35


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: There are Deathwing Lieutenants; in the game they are under the profile of the Deathwing Strikemaster (not sure that term exists in the fluff or not). I'm sure there could be non-Strikemaster Lieutenants (like the Indomitus one) but I chose to paint my LT in the standard green of the battle companies. I'll also be doing my Sternguard that way, despite the fact that they would almost certainly be in the 1st company of most Marine chapters (I want mine to be more like the former Company Veterans unit). As for my lightbox, yes the lighting is fixed in two strips at the top of it (one on either side). It's not an ideal arrangement as it does tend to cause shadows in lower parts of models. There is an accessory that I believe adds some lights to the front that I should probably get, as the lamps I have are equipped with daylight bulbs that glow in a much different color to the lightbox lights. Thanks as always for the encouragement and advice!

@YWS: Thanks, and there will certainly be a group shot of the Indomitus Marines (how can there not be? ).

A thousand apologies, dear friends, for my (checks calendar) two month hiatus from this blog. I've been doing a little bit of hobbying, but mostly it's been assembly of stuff. I have gotten a bit of paint down here and there, but I've only finished one thing, and that is Azrael. Here are some lightbox pics of him:



He's far from my best work, but also far from my worst. I'm happy with him, and he's a big improvement over the old metal one that was one of the first character models I ever painted for my Dark Angels. It looks like he's gonna get plenty of work from me in 10th; more so than even The Lion, as his abilities are stupidly good and he even got a points cut in the latest balance dataslate.

In other news, as mentioned I have been doing a bit of work behind the scenes, both getting a few colors down on some models and assembling/priming a lot more. I got everything from Leviathan primed and ready for paint, so whenever I finish the long-overdue Indomitus models I can get stuck in right away. Speaking of, here's where the final models are at so far:

The Eradicators are nearly done, just some shades and highlights on the weapons mainly, plus the shoulder decals. The Captain has a bit further to go, but shouldn't be hugely difficult (it is a fairly busy model though).

The only other WIP I really have to show currently is my Paragons that I was going to enter in the August painting challenge. Unfortunately I ran out of motivation partway through the month and just haven't been feeling these models for some reason. Here's where I did get on one of them:

All of the color on the model so far is Army Painter Speedpaints 2.0, and I have to say I like those paints. I picked up a set from one of my local shops and I've been pretty happy with them. There's even a couple of metallic colors in the Essentials set I got (one gold and one silver), although I've only tried the silver so far and found it not to be very, well, "contrast-y" (it looks basically like Leadbelcher with no shading). I've been happy with most of the other colors I've tried so far though, and I'll probably use at least some of them for my Tyranids.

I have put a lot of paint down on one other project, but I'm not going to share any WIP photos of it. The project is my Ork Kommandos Kill Team, and I want to wait until they're done before I show them (don't get too excited, I don't think they'll be anything too special). They've been getting some of the AP Speedpaints too, and again I've been happy with the results, if not exactly blown away.

Finally, the assembled stuff. Get ready for yet another photo dump!

First, an Exaction Squad of the Adeptus Arbites:

I originally picked these guys up to run in regular Warhammer 40k in addition to Kill Team, but since they have now been nerfed into uselessness in 40k they'll be used only in Kill Team. They are one of the weaker teams, but I absolutely love the models and look forward to painting them (eventually).

Next up, some Custodian Guard:

I picked up the Custodes Combat Patrol from Amazon at the same time as some 3D printer resin, and so far I've only assembled these guys. Custodes got hit with the nerf bat real hard, so I'm not in a hurry to put the rest together.

And here are some Aggressors:

I've already got three of these guys, but I needed three more to have a full unit of six to go with my Apothecary Biologis and destroy stuff in games.

New bug time, a Neurolictor:

Hive Fleet Kukulkan grows, albeit slower than I'd prefer. I actually want to get another one of these, for redundancy and because it would help lean into their gimmick of causing Battleshock tests.

3D printer go BRRR! And now I have some Zoanthropes:

I'm super happy with the STL file I found for these, as the models look very much like the official ones, just with somewhat smaller heads. For the cost savings ($80 for three bugs is ridiculous) I just had to try it, and I might print a bunch more of these things in future. I might have to touch up the primer on these ones though, as my rattle can was nearly empty when I primed this batch (along with some other bugs). I say $80 for three bugs is silly, but I did buy one box of that kit and built them as Venomthropes. Partly that was to size compare the printed models so I could see that they would be appropriate or if I would have to scale them up or down (turns out they were spot on).

And finally, for something COMPLETELY different:

Yep, I picked up some Kings of War stuff. Actually I bought the Sands of Ahmun starter set back in like April or so and just didn't bother showing it as I felt pretty silly for taking on yet another project. I kind of had to do it though, as Tomb Kings were probably my favorite looking army from old WHFB and the KoW starter includes their analogue, the Empire of Dust. Ironically, having now assembled everything in that starter, it's the Ogres that are inspiring me more, and if I find time I might enter these guys into the monthly painting challenge (Sun's Out, Guns Out seems appropriate for ogres with giant guns in their hands). There's not a whole lot of month left and I really want to finish the Indomitus stuff, so I may not have time, but we'll see.

That's all for now, I'll try not to wait two months to post again. I might be feeling a bit of my old painting mojo again, let's hope I don't lose it.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/09/22 16:42:45


Post by: youwashock


Welcome back! Azrael looks rad. Plenty of good stuff on the go! Imperial servants all over the place. The bugs should be nervous.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/09/22 17:18:03


Post by: Nevelon


Good to see you still at it. Get that paint down, one layer at a time!

 youwashock wrote:
Welcome back! Azrael looks rad. Plenty of good stuff on the go! Imperial servants all over the place. The bugs should be nervous.


Bugs refer to that as a buffet. Tons of delicious options. Nomnomnom…


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/09/25 00:01:57


Post by: shasolenzabi


Zerg it looks like you are doing well and making good minis again!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/09/26 05:05:28


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Thanks! I certainly have lots of stuff going together, but the bugs have gotten some reinforcements too.

@Nev: Thanks for the encouragement!

@shaso: Welcome back, long time no see! Thanks for stopping by as always.

No real paint updates, but I did get a couple more bugs for my swarm. First, one of the new Biovores:

This model is such a vast improvement over the old one. I love the design, and the fact that the same kit also builds a Pyrovore (although I'm not sure it would be easy to magnetize between the two, and I didn't even try).

And thanks to making my 3D printer go BRRR! once again, I now have a Swarmlord to lead my bugs into battle:

I found the files for this guy for free, and I'm very happy with how it looks. It's not super obvious in this pic, but the carapace is pitted and scarred, and one of the boneswords is actually broken (the file is made that way, nothing happened during printing or the cleanup), making it look like this bug has been in a few battles and lived to tell about it, furthering the tactical prowess of the swarm. The model is a bit lanky compared to the official one, but I like it better.

I have additional files for a regular walking Hive Tyrant that I'm planning to print at least one of (from a different maker), as well as some Tyrant Guard, so I might be bringing more bugs out of the resin spawning pool soonish. I've already got a full 2k points of Tyranids now so I can start playing proper games with them any time. I do need to get some paint down on the last of the Indomitus models so I can get started on painting the bugs. More to come soon, I hope!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/09/26 05:46:47


Post by: JoshInJapan


Welcome back. It can be hard to keep up with PMBlogging, can't it? It looks like you've bee productive. I've been painting ogres this month, so I'm looking forward to seeing how you approach yours.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/09/26 21:36:43


Post by: Olthannon


Good to see you back blogging! Some nice updates, I'm a big fan of the new biovores as well so looking forward to seeing yours all painted up!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/10/24 04:32:02


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Josh: Yes it can, my lack of motivation isn't just holding my painting back, but also my desire to talk about painting and modelling. As for the ogres, I haven't actually started. Believe it or not, I'm stuck on how I should paint their skin of all things. I want a darker fleshtone but not something as dark as African people or something, but I'm not sure which paints will look good and really work as skintones. I'll eventually find a video tutorial or something that will have a method that I'll like.

@Olthannon: Welcome back! I'm looking forward to working on some Tyranids myself, but if I don't get these last few Indomitus Marines done I won't get there, and motivation has been pretty low of late.

Holy hell, has it really been nearly a month since I last posted in here? This lack of motivation has really got to go away, but lately I've been finding more fulfillment in video games than in hobbying. I've been playing games of Warhammer, but haven't been wanting to paint much. However, I do have the Eradicators from Indomitus nearly done. Quick WIP shot:

As you can see, they are basically done other than a few small details and highlights, the shoulder pad decals (gloss coat is already down so I just need to add the decals and seal them in with matte varnish), and shading and highlighting on the bases. Once these guys are done, I only need to finish the Captain and I can finally get that group shot and call the Indomitus project closed, over 3 years after it began.

On the assembly side of things, work continues as I acquire a few new things. First, though, a unit that I actually assembled a little while back and primed at the same time as I primed my Leviathan models. I went through a big lot of bits that I had been given by a friend years ago, and discovered that I had enough robed DA veteran bodies as well as some old Sternguard bits to make myself a unit of Sternguard, albeit somewhat smaller than the current ones:

With these being made from actual GW parts and on the correct bases, I don't think anyone could stop me from running these models as Sternguard Veterans. The sarge has a power maul from the Ravenwing Command Squad kit (that box is a gold mine for cool DA parts), as well as a bolter (basically a smaller bolt rifle, so it should count), and as you can see I've got three other guys with rifles plus a Heavy Bolter guy, so a nice little 5-man unit. I ended up priming these guys, as well as the Leviathan Sternguard unit, in green. Technically they would probably be part of the Deathwing, but I decided to deviate from the "official" canon and make them basically the equivalent of the old Company Veterans units.

Next up, I did go ahead and pick up the Company Heroes box since I like the sculpts. I'm especially a sucker for banners so I just had to have it. Here they are assembled in all their gray plastic glory:

I went with the Neo-volkite pistol and power weapon on the Captain, as I've already got one with a fist and plasma pistol. One thing I'm frustrated about is that I ended up with a gap in the Ancient's cloak. It must have separated after I stuck it together, and now it really bugs me. Maybe I can greenstuff fill it or something, I don't know. Either way, I really do love these models even if they mostly end up doing shelf duty.

Back over to the Tyranids, I've got a couple more additions to my growing swarm. First, I bought and assembled Deathleaper, despite not being a fan of the sculpt:

In all honesty the thing that bothers me about this model is the fleshy cloak. I wish there was a way to build the model without it, but alas, no. And I couldn't find a suitable 3D print file for Deathleaper, either.

However, I did 3D print this big beautiful bug:

Now I have the Swarmlord and a regular walking Hive Tyrant (with Monstrous Bonesword, Lash Whip and Heavy Venom Cannon). One of the vents on this new guy's back actually partially failed, but it came out good enough that I'll just say it's battle damaged, like he got that vent blown off and it grew back a little bit stunted or something (you can't really see it in the picture since the sword is in the way).

And now for something completely different, a real blast from the past. There was a toy and collectible show at my local mall a couple of weeks ago, and while I browsed I happened upon this beat-up boxed game:

Yep, it's a copy of Battle Masters from 1992. The box is in really rough shape and there were a few pieces missing (a couple of goblins, a Chaos archer, and one of the bases) but thanks to eBay I was able to source replacement parts for all of that. Now other than the box the only real damage is a couple of the figures' weapons, but I'm not too terribly worried about that. I had heard of this game before so I was thrilled to actually find a copy, and I hope to find some time to actually paint up some of the really old-school figures from it. Quality-wise, the figures seem to be a step in between normal board game pieces and actual wargaming miniatures, but they have plenty of detail and should look good once painted. I've found plenty of inspiration online as far as paint jobs for this game go too, so I look forward to working on it. Maybe it'll be my side project over the winter or something.

Anyways, hopefully it won't be another month before I post again in here. I need to pump out some numbers before the end of the year somehow, so maybe I'd better get to work, huh?


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/10/24 13:52:13


Post by: Nevelon


Nice selection of stuff. Keep plugging away at the pile of shame at whatever pace is good for you. It’s not a race.

Although you have one week to get something painted for the October competition. No pressure. ;P


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/10/26 01:54:52


Post by: youwashock


The new Swarmlord is pretty dang sweet, as are the new Marines. But, the copy of Battlemasters is downright treasure. Make sure you get the ogre painted quick! He's a great mini.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/11/07 06:18:58


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks, but as you have no doubt noticed, I had no ideas for October, at least nothing I had any interest in actually painting.

@YWS: Agreed on the Swarmlord; once I saw that model I knew I had to print it. I, too, like the look of the Ogre Champion from Battle Masters, and look forward to getting him and the rest of the set painted.

I finally finished the Eradicators from Indomitus, or rather I finished them a few days ago and finally got around to dragging out the lightbox and getting decent pics. Here they are:


Nothing super impressive here, paintwise, but they'll look okay on the tabletop, which is the goal of most of my painting. These models may see a fair amount of use as they are pretty good in 10th edition 40k. With these done, just one model remains and I can FINALLY bring Indomitus to a close.

And speaking of that final model, here's the latest WIP of it:

This is such a busy model, it takes a while to pick out all the little decorations all over it. If I really get stuck in, I might be able to finish it this week. I've got some time off work, so no excuses really.

The 3D printer continues to go BRRR and crank out more stuff for my armies. I printed out these Jump Pack Intercessors a little while ago, but two of the jump packs failed and I only recently printed a couple of replacements. Here is the now completed unit, awaiting primer:

The models actually have robes and bling to look like Dark Angels (bit of a miss that the shoulder pads are blank though), so I was happy to find the files and print them. They'll look great once I paint them, I'm sure, and will sure save me money compared to buying 5 of the official ones from GW for $60!

Here's another model I printed mostly to save me money compared to buying the official model from GW:

This is a Techmarine, whose files I got from the Ghamak Patreon. The aesthetic is different to GW's Space Marine range, but I think I can make it work well enough; there are some small differences in Techmarine armor compared to other SM armor that I figure it's just the Mechanicus choosing to give different gear to those who are more closely associated with them. I may actually print another one of these so that I can think about running the Ironstorm Spearhead detachment from the SM codex.

In addition to those whole models, I also printed out some winged fairings and tail fins for some of my unpainted Outriders:

Now they look like proper Ravenwing, or they will once they are painted. I won't be able to get the side wings onto the Indomitus ones as I already had added some saddlebags to those that the wings won't fit over. I might eventually add tail fins to them, but not right away.

In non-40k news, I actually did start painting a few Battle Masters models, specifically some of the Men-at-arms:

Not much to see yet, but I primed the models by hand using Monument Hobbies gray primer and added some Leadbelcher to the metal armor. I plan to paint this particular group in traditional colors of the Altdorf Militia (blue and red), as that is where they are supposed to be from (other Men-at-arms will get other appropriate colors), and the shields will be painted to match the stickers that go with the unit. That'll be a test of my freehand skills for sure. It does feel good to be giving these 31-year-old models some painting love at last.

And for my final pic in this particular post, here are some primed examples of models from an upcoming game called Ravaged Star:

The models are (from left to right) a Veil-touched Valkyr, a Gorkog Fleshseeker, and an Immari Soldier. The files are being distributed for free to people for a painting contest, which I will probably go ahead and enter. I just have to have one or more of these painted by the end of the year. I don't know much about Ravaged Star or the factions thereof, but the models are interesting and will each provide a different challenge for painting.

That's all for now. For the November painting challenge, the theme is Wrecking Ball, so I may just enter the back half of my Deathwing Knights squad. Those big maces they carry certainly wreck stuff! Stay tuned for any further developments.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/11/26 16:05:22


Post by: Nevelon


How’s the progress going? Finish the Indominus box stuff yet? I just put the first layer down on the gravis captain from the DV box. Really need to do better about clearing old stuff from the queue myself.

Great variety of stuff. Love the 3d prints to DA up the bikes.

Little bit of month left to get at least one of the Deathwing Knights done.

Slow but steady, all progress is good progress.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/11/26 18:12:22


Post by: Olthannon


Lovely work with the Eradicators. At some point I need to finish the rest of my Indomitus box and paint more of Leviathan!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/11/26 22:15:18


Post by: youwashock


Veil-touched Valkyr, eh? Sounds intriguing. The 3D prints look great. Hope to see your name amongst the wrecking ball entries.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/11/29 18:15:12


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Indomitus is done, as this post will show, but the Deathwing Knights are way behind and will likely not be fully finished. Hopefully I can have them done enough to enter (like just the bases may not be done). And yes, it'll be nice to have some Outriders that look like proper Ravenwing with the winged fairings and all.

@Olthannon: Thanks, and yes you should!

@YWS: Like I said in my previous post, I don't know much about the fluff of Ravaged Star, but I think the Veil-touched are kind of like Chaos Marines or something. The model certainly has all the trim like a CSM. We'll see if I can get something entered for Wrecking Ball.

Finally, 3 and a half years after their release, the Space Marines from the Indomitus box set are complete. It's definitely been a longer road than it should have been, especially when I did all of the Dark Imperium Marines in like 3-4 months. Of course I've been trying to get fancier with my painting since then, but I've also let things like video games distract me, and I'm still struggling with hobby burnout. But, onwards and upwards as they say! Here are the nice lightbox photos of the Captain with Relic Shield:


Perhaps not my best work (I say that a lot, I know), but far better than anything I did for the aforementioned Dark Imperium set, so I'm definitely making progress as a painter. It's a very cool sculpt, if a little bit too busy. Now that it's painted, I only wish this loadout for a Captain would become a meta choice so I have more excuse to actually use the model instead of letting it collect dust on my shelf.

Now for the thing everyone expects when one completes a project like this, the group shots. Sadly I don't have a lot of places to take group photos like this (trying not to show my messy apartment in the background), so these will have to do:


It is a huge relief to finally be done with this project and ready to move on to better things. I still remember how stoked I was for these models, especially for actual Primaris Deathwing and Ravenwing stuff. Many of these models have seen service on the tabletop in both casual and tournament games, both before and after painting. Here's hoping I'll be able to say the same about the Leviathan models. That will be my next big box set project, and since I kept both sides it'll be a lot more plastic to paint. Let's just hope I can get it done in less than three years!

As for ongoing painting projects, I've gotten some colors blocked in on the Deathwing Knights, using Army Painter Speedpaints. Here's where they are at:

It may not look like it, but a lot of the hard work is done. I'll paint the armor all over using Skeleton Horde contrast (or the Army Painter equivalent), then brighten it up with Ushabti Bone leaving the darker color in the recesses. Then I'll need to do the silver metallics, which won't be too bad. I definitely need to get stuck in though, as I've only got two days (maybe three if we get an extension) to get them done. The bases are probably going to have to wait.

In the meantime, I picked up and assembled a Terminator Chaplain:

This is a cool model, and he might be pretty useful in-game too, so I went ahead and grabbed him. Not sure how soon he'll get paint.

As for upcoming stuff, I'm super stoked that we're getting new Deathwing Knights and a new model for Asmodai. I just hope Asmodai gets good rules to go with his cool model, as he's been garbage the entire time I've been playing 40k (since 6th edition). And regarding the 40k Christmas boxes, I was going to get the Votann one as it would have pretty much gotten me to 2k points of them, but thanks to some kind of major snafu my FLGS ended up not getting any. I could order one on eBay or something, but I was doing it through my FLGS because I've got some store credit from selling old models and I don't want to go into credit card debt for plastic crack. That way lies chaos. So I'll just have to live without. My store credit is still good, so maybe I'll get myself a Gladiator or two for my Dark Angels, or save it and put it towards the new DA stuff when it drops, or maybe grab some more Tyranid reinforcements. Decisions, decisions.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/11/29 18:26:25


Post by: Nevelon


3 years to finish the starter box minis matches the release cycle. Right on time! Nice looking batch of marines. One of these days I get around to painting my copy of that captain, He’s very busy, but I like that on 1st company vets (and their captain)

If you need an extension, feel free to ask in the challenge thread. An extra day, especially a Friday, is not a problem. The default is we end on the end of the month, but if someone asks, I’ll always tack on an extra day. But someone does need to ask.



ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/11/30 03:48:38


Post by: youwashock


Nice wok, ZergSmasher! Always love a group shot, especially on a comfy blanket. Good luck getting something into the challenge.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/11/30 07:18:39


Post by: JoshInJapan


Being able to say that a project is finished is such a great feeling. I'm looking forward to what comes next.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2023/11/30 18:32:41


Post by: Olthannon


Lovely jubbly! Captain looks excellent. Congratulations on getting the box finished.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/01/01 07:36:26


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Yeah, the point is to be ahead of the release cycle, not matching it! And I would love to see you paint the Indomitus Captain in Ultramarines colors. I think you could make him look pretty special.

@YWS: Thanks!

@Josh: Yes, it's a great feeling indeed.

@Olthannon: Thank you very much!

I managed to squeak a few last minis in before the end of the year, although the new year has just begun as I compose this post. First up, here's a Ravenwing Storm Speeder:


I started on this model a while back, and got it mostly done back in March of this year for a tournament, and it's been sitting in mostly-painted limbo ever since. I'm glad I was able to get it off the decks and into the completed pile before the end of the year. And I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, too, which is always a plus.

The other things I managed to finish were both of my Desolation Squads. I only bothered with lightbox photos of one of the units, as the two are nearly identical (and technically one is not finished to my usual standards, but I got tired of working on them). Here are the pics:


I'm pretty happy with this squad. I for one like these models, although they get a fair amount of hate from the wider 40k community (their guns are goofy, but so what?). As with the Storm Speeder, these guys have been mostly painted for a good chunk of this year, so it was nice to finally get them to a point that I'm satisfied with them.

My next post will be my customary end-of-year review, so stay tuned for that.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/01/02 06:10:52


Post by: ZergSmasher


And now, as is tradition, it is time to see how I did as far as progress in the year that just ended. 2023 was a lackluster year to say the least, with a mere 40 miniatures completed, although given how many I left partially completed there might be some low-hanging fruit to boost my numbers for 2024. As per usual, I took a photo of everything I painted, so here it is:

Looking at it, it doesn't look like I did too terribly in terms of quality, but quantity is sadly lacking. 58 was the count last year, and I'm down from that, which is impressive in the wrong direction! Anyways, here's the list of models I finished:
WARHAMMER 40,000:
5 Battle Sisters
5 Assault Intercessors
10 Desolation Marines
3 Eradicators
3 Bladeguard Veterans
5 Deathwing Terminators
Lion El'Jonson
Master Lazarus
Grand Master Azrael
Captain with Relic Shield
Lieutenant with Neo-Volkite Pistol and Storm Shield
Primaris Chaplain
Old-school Chaplain
Bladeguard Ancient
Storm Speeder

Everything I did in 2023 was for 40k, and with the exception of 5 random Battle Sisters it was all Dark Angels. Not much variety there at all, which is frankly awful since several of my goals were variety-related. Speaking of which, here were my goals for 2023:
1: Paint at least 100 models. This really needs to happen every year for a while if I want to make the pile of shame smaller. It's only 8.3 models per month, so it's not that backbreaking of a pace.
2: FINISH. PAINTING. INDOMITUS. There's really no excuses now; with a new edition most likely on the horizon for 40k it would be good to have last edition's starter models painted!
3: Build and paint a full Leagues of Votann army. I'm actually excited to do this one; the models for Votann are awesome and that will help me stay motivated!
4: Paint up a proper Middle-Earth army, complete with heroes and stuff. It'll most likely be Easterlings or Lothlorien that gets this treatment, as those are my main armies.
5: Paint some non-GW stuff. Ankh is probably what I'm gonna aim for, but the Primal kickstarter should be fulfilled so that might jump the queue, as I'm really excited to get my hands on those models.
6: Play more games that aren't Warhammer 40k. I own stuff for several, but haven't really done much. Interest in Middle-Earth has waned a bit in my group, but we're hoping to get a Necromunda campaign going sometime this year so that will give me a chance to pull this off.
7: Finish working on some partially-completed models. I've got lots of stuff that I just lost interest in halfway through; I really should go ahead and polish that stuff off.
8: Paint more than I buy. Painting lots of models will help with this, but I'm already looking at this being tough to do with a new edition of 40k looming and a Votann army to acquire. We'll see how it goes...
Bonus: Paint a bunch of 3D printed models. I've printed a lot of stuff, and have plans to print a bunch more, but I need to actually paint it. Otherwise I'm actually manufacturing my own additions to the pile of shame instead of just buying them at the store!

And here's how I did on those goals:
1: EPIC FAIL! It's like I'm regressing, given that my numbers this year are even lower than last year's disappointing totals. I gotta quit playing so many video games and focus on my painting if I ever want to shrink my pile of shame.
2: This one's a solid win. It took me long enough, but I was able to finally put Indomitus to bed.
3: Fail, I didn't even touch a Votann model. I don't even have my full army of them yet either. This was probably not a great choice of a goal, as it's too specific and my whims are far too mercurial to commit to a single army at the beginning of the year and count on finishing it.
4: Also a fail, didn't even paint so much as a single Middle-Earth model. And those Easterlings that have been sitting in various places around my work area are still giving me dirty looks...
5: I'm seeing a pattern here, this one's a fail too. I didn't even strongly consider doing any non-GW stuff.
6: I'll take at least partial credit here, as I participated in a Kill Team narrative league over the summer. I didn't finish painting my Kill Team (I played Ork Kommandos), but I enjoyed the games for the most part.
7: Again, I'll accept partial credit, as I had started on the Chaplains before this year. There's plenty more partially-finished stuff that needs tidying up though.
8: Hahahahaha, yeah no. Between multiple box sets and other purchases I probably bought five times as many models as I painted, or close to it.
Bonus: Nope, didn't touch any of my 3D printed stuff unfortunately. I also didn't print very much, oddly enough, despite getting a nice new printer.

So I didn't do well on the goals either. No surprise considering how little I got done, but also I think some of my goals were a bit specific. That's probably not a great idea, as meta shifts in games can make me less willing to work on an army, as at least some of my painting is done as tournament prep. Anyway, here are my new goals for 2024:
1: As is tradition for me, my first goal is to paint 100 models, of any game system or combination thereof. 40 models in a year just isn't going to cut it. I really do need to keep knocking stuff out if I want to complete projects.
2: Get another army tournament-ready. This would mean having 2k points of either a 40k, AoS, or Kings of War army, or 500+ points of Middle-Earth, or a 300-point force of Infinity, etc. Ones I've already got to that level obviously don't count.
3: Gonna go ahead and repeat my goal of painting at least something that is not GW. I've got plenty of candidates these days. That kickstarter that has now been delayed for like 2 years past its original planned release is finally going to be delivered this year, unless something very odd happens, so maybe I'll get started on that.
4: Play a decent variety of games. Obviously I'll play more 40k as it's my main game, but I'm hoping to restart Middle-Earth locally as well (had a little bit of interest), and I hope to finally actually play some Age of Sigmar. Might even squeeze in some Kill Team as well.
5: Knock out more big models. Last year I only did one vehicle, and maybe you'd count a Primarch as a big model, but otherwise it was all infantry. I've got a decent motor pool for several of my 40k armies, as well as some decently big AoS things (like Stormdrakes), and even a few monsters for Middle-Earth (Mordor Trolls, Spider Queen).
6: Knock out a few things that are currently (as of this post) partially painted. Models shouldn't have to sit in painting purgatory forever, and I need to actually finish stuff.
7: Get back to working on clipping all my leftover bits and putting them into the bits boxes. This will help with my apartment clutter situation, as I've got boxes sitting around all over the place with mostly-empty sprues. One issue with this is that newer 40k kits have bits that are much more specific and can't just go with any old models, so it's harder to actually use leftover bits. We'll have to see.
8: As is tradition, I'll go with my old standby "paint more than I buy" goal. We all know this probably won't happen, as I tend to get new shiny syndrome pretty badly, but the attempt should be made.
Bonus: Paint a bunch of stuff for a boxed game. I've got several canditates, including Ankh, Aliens: AGDITC, and the upcoming Primal: The Awakening, and I might also count Guildball or Godtear for this. Might not get a whole game done, but as long as I get a good amount I'll be happy.

Hopefully these goals aren't too lofty. As long as I do better than last year, I'll be satisfied.

And finally, as usual, I'll list my top 5 models or units for the year, in my own opinion of course:

5: Indomitus Captain

This is a really cool sculpt; the whole thing of having a guy's skeleton attached to a shield is peak 40k. I had fun picking out all the detail on the model, as well as adding some Dark Angels stuff to it during assembly.

4: Storm Speeder

I love this revamp of the classic Land Speeder, and I'm pretty happy with how mine turned out. I still need to go back and do the parts for the other variants (the Hammerstrike and Hailstrike).

3: Master Azrael

This model is a great revamp of the old tiny metal Azrael, and I had a lot of fun working on it.

2: Master Lazarus

This is probably one of my better Infantry characters I've ever done; I'm very proud of my work here.

1: Lion El'Jonson

Was there any doubt that this would be my pick for #1? I've been waiting for The Lion to lead my Dark Angels ever since they started bringing Primarchs back, and I knew I had to get him right once I finally did get the model. I'm super proud of this guy, and he gets compliments whenever I get a chance to show him off, so I guess I did alright on him?

That about does it for my year end review. Here's hoping for a much more productive 2024! I do hope to keep up with this blog a little better, maybe that'll help with engagement some, both for me staying motivated and for my viewers following along.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/01/03 15:12:53


Post by: Nevelon


Nice collection of stuff done for a year.

You’ve got some aggressive goals. Good luck in 2024!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/01/03 19:29:09


Post by: youwashock


Look at all those cool DA. Great lineup there in your favorites. I agree that The Lion takes the top spot. He really came out great.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/01/08 07:07:41


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks! I just hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew with those goals!

@YWS: Thanks very much!

Down to business for the year. For the monthly painting challenge, the theme for January is From The Shadows, and some Xenomorphs from Aliens: Another Glorious Day In The Corps fit the bill perfectly. I've only assembled four of them, and earlier this week I started working on painting them (hand priming because the weather sucks this time of year). Here's where I've gotten to on them:

Basically I just primed them black, did a couple of gray drybrushes (focusing on the head and upper body with the lighter one), and then added a coat of Army Painter Speedpaint Beowulf Blue, as I think the Aliens look bluish in many shots of the movie (due to the lighting). I could almost leave them here and be happy with them, but I intend to at least pick out the teeth in a lighter color (possibly silver so they'll be shiny) and give them an all-over gloss coat for their signature sheen. I'm debating doing a light drybrush of Thunderhawk Blue first to really sell the blue color, but I'm not sure I need to. I'll then need to paint the bases to look like dirty, dingy metal, which won't be hard to do.

In other news, I have officially gotten started painting my Tyranids, and I think I've gotten my scheme for them the way I want it. The test model is a Tyranid Warrior, and here's what it looks like:

I'm using Kroxigor Scales for the carapace, drybrushed with Temple Guard Blue to really pick out the edges more. The white bodies are just Speedpaints Holy White, and the weapon casings, claws, and hooves are Volupus Pink Contrast, with a layer of diluted Speedpaints Grim Black over the claws and hooves to make them darker. I picked out the eyes in yellow and used a couple of different flesh Speedpaints for the fleshy sac and tube on the weapon. Simple but effective color scheme that should be easy to execute on a lot of models quickly. I'll have to figure out how I want to pick out things like exposed brains on certain models (Zoanthropes, Neurotyrant, etc.), but I'll cross those bridges when I come to them. Hive Fleet Kukulkan, coming soon to a biomass-rich world near you!

Towards the end of last year, I decided to try and see just how cheaply I could acquire a whole army. The army in question was Kruleboyz for Age of Sigmar, and I mainly did it because my FLGS had their Christmas box from 2022 still and I had a bunch of store credit. So I picked that up, plus a Dominion half, as well as the Big Grikk's Kruleshots set (which gave me 6 more Boltboyz and a Killbow) as well as a 3d-printed Swampcalla Shaman and some extra partially-painted Hobgrots from a friend of mine who sold them to me very cheap. Here they are on my shelf:

Probably an extremely bone-headed idea to pick up yet another army at this point, but it is the cheapest whole army I've ever purchased, so there's that. Here's a list of the Kruleboyz units I now have:
Gobsprakk, the Mouth of Mork
Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast
Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof
Killaboss with Stab-grot
Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot x2
Murknob with Belcha-banna
10 Gutrippaz with Instrument and Banner x2
10 Hobgrot Slittaz with Scrap Totem and Instrument x3
6 Man-Skewer Boltboyz x2
Beast-Skewer Killbow
This is just over 2k points; the actual list I want to run leaves out the Murknob and the third Hobgrot unit. I do like the idea of Kruleboyz, being more subtle and sneaky than other Orks (sorry, Orruks, this is AoS after all), and I've already got a few friends wanting to play against them. The only other models I really want for the army would be a Breaka-Boss on Mirebrute Troggoth and possibly a second Sludgeraker, but neither has to happen right away by any means.

Hopefully I have more to show soon, stay tuned!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/01/08 11:29:52


Post by: Nevelon


Be sure to get good pictures of the aliens. Getting the bases done will help, but at tabletop distances all the subtle work you’ve gone to get the right flavor of black is hard to see.

Nice to see a nid in color. Sounds like a pretty easy scheme to do en mass. Which is good, if you plan on having swarms of little gribbles. If you are already using pink, that might be a good choice for brains. You can use the flesh speedpaints for wing membranes. I think the only other thing that might come up is poisons/toxins/smoke. Painting nids should go a long way to getting you to 100 models for the year.

The kruelboys are another army that should take well to contrast/speed paints. Lots of organic bits and swampy grime. Should be able to get them to a good tabletop level and get some games in with them.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/01/28 02:02:48


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: I tried my best to get good pics, as I did want to show my subtle work. Alas, my camera and lightbox are only so good, and it was hard to find good angles where there weren't reflections from the gloss. The models turned out pretty good in person though! As for the Nids, you're right about it being easy. My scheme is quick and dirty and yet pleasing to my eye at least. I think I can knock out a good number of bugs fairly quickly. And I'm definitely planning to do contrast for the Kruleboyz. Thanks as always for the suggestions and encouragement!

I finished the Xenomorphs over a week ago, but didn't feel like dragging out my lightbox and camera until last night. Here are the final pics of said Xenomorphs:



I'm pretty happy with them. I wanted to keep them pretty dark and shadowy, as that's how they usually look in the Aliens movies, and I'm very happy with the glossy look I managed. I still have 12 more of these critters to assemble and paint, plus the four variants from the In The Pipe, Five By Five expansion, and of course the Alien Queen. And that's just the bad guys, I also need to get back to the Colonial Marines that have been in partially painted hell for the last three years or so. Still, with these done I'm officially on the board for 2024.

As for the Tyranids, that Warrior that I painted before has been joined by two more to form a full unit of Ranged Warriors:

The models themselves are done, but now I need to figure out how I want to base them. I added some dark color around their feet for now, as then if I'm not perfect with the texture paint it won't stand out the way a white base would. I'll probably go with a wasteland theme, with brown earth and sparse tufts and maybe the occasional rock on some of the bugs (probably not these three). Similar basing scheme to my Dark Angels and Imperial Knights, but I like simple basing as it's faster to do and won't distract the eye from the models.

In my next post, I'll have the completed Tyranid Warrior unit to show, and hopefully more as well, so stay tuned for that.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/01/28 11:51:52


Post by: Nevelon


Looking good!

High gloss models can be tricky to get pictures of. I’d suggest trying a light background for the dark minis, but would guess that would make the reflection issue worse. Some minis just crave the shadows...

There is something to be said for basing all your armies the same, so you could just use what you do for your DA. Makes them look nice on the shelf together, and for when you eventually build your own table to match. Plus you already have all the supplies and system set. From a color POV, it should work. And will explain the half eaten marine parts scattered around the nids.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/01/28 14:41:32


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


Those Xenomorphs are very threatening. Great job on them.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/02/04 06:36:44


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks for the advice, as always!

@Gwyn: Thanks!

The first members of Hive Fleet Kukulkan have been painted. Appropriately, they are also the first Tyranid models I acquired, as I purchased them before I picked up Leviathan. Without further ado, here are my Tyranid Warriors with Ranged Bio-weapons:



Nothing super fancy here, just a demonstration of how well Contrast-type paints work on organic-looking models like Tyranids. Honestly I like the scheme even more than I thought I would when I first came up with the idea, so I can't wait to see how it looks on all the various Tyranid bugs. I've already got quite a variety in my collection, plus I've got the Leviathan set to work on, so it should be a fun year! The other thing I'm happy about is how quick and easy it was to get results like this. Contrast paint (and other brand equivalents) really is "talent in a bottle", as you can get pretty acceptable (if unremarkable) results with very little time or effort.

Speaking of the Leviathan Tyranid models, I've started working on the first set of 10 Termagants for the monthly painting challenge. I've only blocked in the Kroxigor Scales on the carapaces, but here's how they look:

Working with these, I'm really impressed by how dynamic they look compared to the old Termagants. I never owned any of those, but I faced them on the tabletop a few times and I thought they mostly looked alike, with very little personality or flair. These look uniform enough to tell they are the same type of bug, but not so samey as to be totally boring. Maybe I wouldn't feel that way if I was painting a hundred of them for an Unending Swarm list, but...eh. Either way, I really do like the new and improved Tyranid range as a whole, and these little dudes are a good example.

Hopefully I'll have more progress to show soon. I want to get to work on some of the Leviathan Marines soon, so maybe I'll get some of the Infernus guys started alongside the bugs. I had hoped to have the Deathwing Assault box in hand by now. but my FLGS hasn't gotten it in thanks to GW shipping delays (or maybe it got dropped just like the Christmas boxes last year). I'll be upset if I don't get it, too, as Dark Angels are my primary army. Until next time, stay classy!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/02/04 13:21:31


Post by: Nevelon


Good progress and nice work!

The new gaunts are monopose, but the old ones did not have a lot of wiggle room either, You could turn their heads, and angle the gun up or down a bit, but that was all. And there were only 4 bodies on the sprue, and they were very similar. The new guys might not have pose options, but at least none of them are horribly distinctive. It’s not like one of them is pulling a grenade’s pin with it’s teeth, or has it’s pistol out in a rifle squad. They should swarm up nicely. Looking forward to seeing your hive fleet grow. My new gaunts need to wait till the weather is nice enough to break out the rattle can. Then I’ll have like 30 of the little biters to paint.

Contrast paints are a godsend to nids. They are quick, and their inconsistencies mesh well with organic effects. I would not started nids without them.

Fingers crossed you get the DA stuff.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/02/04 18:18:28


Post by: youwashock


This has turned into Zergsmasher's House of Buggin'! Everything looks good, really like the Tyranid scheme, but we need to get some Marines going (colonial, DA, whatever) to clean up this infestation.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/02/14 06:36:55


Post by: ZergSmasher


@Nev: Thanks! I had already seen how well contrast paints work for Nids thanks to your blog and contest entries, but actually doing it myself has been very satisfying. And yes, I did end up getting the Deathwing Assault box, read below!

@YWS: Don't worry, there'll be some Marines along presently to stem the tide of bugs.

Not much painting going on lately, but I have done some assembly. Thankfully my FLGS came through for me and I did get my hands on the Deathwing Assault box, so that's what I've been mostly working on here lately. I've put together Belial, the Deathwing Knights, and half of the Terminator Squad so far, and I gotta say I love these new models. Anyway, I guess I better show some pics!
First, new Belial:

This model is a great improvement over the old FineCrap Belial, and looks properly menacing in the new scale of modern Terminators. He's still got plenty of bling, but he should, seeing as he's the Master of the Deathwing, after all, amirite?

Next, the Deathwing Knights:

It's a pity these guys have been nerfed in the rules, as the new models are absolutely fantastic! Lots of head options, of which I chose the knight-looking heads as they are unique to this unit, and a lot less random bling on these models than the old ones, which is nice. Sometimes less is more when it comes to details, and the details that are present on these models will be pretty fun to paint. I went with the swords because I've already got a bunch of the old DW Knights with the maces.

Finally, the new Deathwing Terminators:

These are just the standard new Space Marine Terminators with some bits from the new Dark Angels Accessories sprue, which is an absolute gold mine for DA-specific parts. Lots of heads and shoulder pads, plus other little details to really customize various Primaris units. I went with the Plasma Cannon option as I already have several CML-armed guys and want to give myself more options, plus the Plasma is unique to Deathwing. I also went ahead and gave the sarge a power sword since in the codex he has to take it (unlike the vanilla Terminators who can take a fist on their sergeant). Plus the sword is a special DA-specific one from the accessory sprue so this gave me an excuse to use it. Two of the guys also got Chainfists instead of Power Fists, because you never know when you might need to cut up a vehicle of some kind.

For the painting challenge, I'm actually going to switch and paint old and new Belial. It'll give me a reason to paint the old model, plus it might fit the theme better. I can always do the Termagants really quick if I run out of time, and I'll want to do them this month regardless. Hopefully I have more to show related to all that soon.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/02/16 22:11:23


Post by: youwashock


Those new models are pretty sweet. Look forward to seeing the Belials in the comp!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/02/22 13:02:41


Post by: Nevelon


How are those marines going? Week left of the month. Get cracking! Don’t let other projects distract you.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/02/23 06:42:39


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Thanks!

@Nev: They're coming along (see below), distractions are distracting but I think I can focus. I hope.

Relatively quick update as more of a proof of life. I've been slowly working on my two versions of Belial for the monthly challenge, but there's not a lot of time left and there's lots more work to be done. Here's a WIP shot showing where I've gotten to on them:

As you can see, so far it's mostly been blocking in main colors. I'm actually using traditional paints rather than contrast/Speedpaints, so it's slightly slower going, but generally I'm hoping to get a little better results than I could with contrast. Contrast is better for "quick and dirty" bashing out of units, whereas named characters often deserve a little better treatment, at least in my opinion.

In other news, I've decided to move all of my board game related stuff into a separate blog, which I'll link here. That's where future updates to my work on Aliens: AGDITC, Ankh, and the newly arrived Primal: The Awakening, among others, will be found, freeing up this blog for actual wargaming stuff.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/02/24 00:56:05


Post by: youwashock


Let the weekend be your friend. You got this.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/03/18 05:03:54


Post by: ZergSmasher


@YWS: Unfortunately it didn't work out thanks to RL stuff getting in the way. Single tear.

Another "proof of life" post this time around, as I haven't gotten a whole ton done. I didn't finish the Belials unfortunately thanks to some untimely RL things taking away my painting time, but I did make progress on them since my last post. Here's the WIP showing where I've gotten to on them:

Honestly they are pretty close to done, with just a few details plus a bit of shades and highlights to go. And of course the bases. You can't see it in this photo, but I'm pretty happy with New Belial's cloak; I like the look of it compared to old Belial's more bare armor even if it isn't quite as fancy as the Lion's cloak.

The only other paint I've gotten down recently is a test Gutrippa for my Kruleboyz. It's not done but the scheme is mostly there and I'm happy with it:

It's fairly basic, but it'll do the job. I still have a few things to pick out on the model, but I'll get around to that once I'm ready to actually start working on my Kruleboyz in earnest. All the paints used are Army Painter Speedpaints.

I haven't gotten a whole lot of paint down, but I have been doing some assembly of some new stuff.
First, a box of the new Space Marine Scouts:

I built these guys for maximum flexibility, as with these options I can run them as two Scout squads in 40k or as a Kill Team (where they just won't have the second sniper as they only get 9 guys).

Next, a Winged Hive Tyrant to add to Hive Fleet Kukulkan:

Now I've got one of each type of Hive Tyrant (Winged, Regular, and Swarmlord).

Finally, a Breakaboss on Mirebrute Troggoth for my Kruleboyz:

I actually really like this model; it has cool rules and it looks brutal. I like the idea of rushing this thing forward and breaking heads with him while the rest of my sneaky ladz do their wicked work.

For this month, the painting challenge theme is Space Marines (as is tradition) and I'm planning to enter some Infernus Marines from Leviathan. I haven't even really started, so I'm up against it for sure, as the month is more than half gone already. Wish me luck!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/03/18 06:35:45


Post by: JoshInJapan


That's some serious upscaling on Belial. Except the sword, which appears to be the same size on both models.

Also, you're a brave soul for pairing purple with green.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/03/18 19:53:26


Post by: Nevelon


Nice work on the belials.

The kruelboy seems bright? It might just be my limited knowledge, but I picture them as being dark and grungy. If you told me the next step for that guy was to dip the whole model into a soft brown ink, I’d believe you and think it was the right call.

Nice builds for the PoS. You can never have too many hive tyrants. (Looks over at the shelf) let me rephrase that; you don’t have too many hive tyrants. I had a lot of fun building the first half of my scouts, need to get to the rest of them.

Good luck painting the burner boys. I tried to do them in aug, but only the sarge was done in time.


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/03/19 03:07:04


Post by: youwashock


Sorry to hear about RL woes. Hopefully it improves. Good luck getting your comp entry done!


ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT @ 2024/03/24 11:16:39


Post by: Nevelon


How’s progress going? Any luck getting those marines done in time? Week left!