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Hey all,

Wanted to show what I am working on since I make comments about everyone else's projects all the time. Constructive criticism and ideas are very welcome.

I mostly play 40k, but every coupla years I do a Fantasy army. We have a nice group of people to hobby and play with in my area, so I would like to get one done and learn the rules again. I wanted to start an army that could play in every phase of the game, so people suggested Dark Elves. I also wanted to be able to use a buncha big monsters, so that worked out just fine.

Starting with the core, I came up with a pretty basic color and basing scheme and did a test model of a spearman. After I got what I wanted with that, I moved onto doing a block of spearman and some crossbowmen, which are basically just simplified versions of the former.

Pics - I am still pretty lousy at this; working on a little booth thingie.

Spearmen


Spearmen banner


Crossbowmen


A meh closeup of the Crossbowmen


Cold One Knights


Cold One Knights banner


Avatars of War Sorceress


I like to try new things, so sometimes that interferes with the overall look of the army. So far I have learned that I will wait to do banners, shields, and bases at the very end of the project. I like to finish whole units at once, but now that I look at what is finished I am aware of how they look different from each other - a little too much.

I have been trying to do some freehand, integrating the new(ish) GW washes on the armor and skin, trying out snow bases (gale force 9 snow), and trying out some cheaper alternatives for glue and primer spray (gorilla glue and krylon).

Next up is a block of Black Guard which I am looking forward to painting.

- Blackbone

Really nice work on the spearman banner, in particular the fur on the claws and the green border lines. And i like how you did the purple skin recess on the AoW Sorceress. Overall great job.

Big fan of the skin and freehanded flag work. Keep it up as it looks all around liek a nice army.

Nice job on the color palatte, by the way. The green contrasts nicely with the traditional DE purples and reds, I might have to borrow that color scheme!

These look great although that sorceress must be freezing.......

I like the banners, particularly the 'ripping apart the heart with claws' one. It's a novel idea executed well.

Thanks for the kind comments.

What can I do to spiff up the banners? When all regiments are finished, I am going to go back and kinda bring them together a little more.

I am going to try a different outline or something on the Spearman banner. I am going to add some more details to the gauntlet and a different sort of outline on the Cold One Knights banner. Also, want to figure out something I can do for the backs of the banners. I like doing checks, but I don't think they go well with the Dark Elves. Other options?

How does the snow look? I am willing to try out other methods (using the same product).

What other things can I change to improve the overall look of the groups of spearmen and crossbowmen. I am very open to suggestions, because I am think they lack something. I am doing at least one more block of spearmen, so I can use what I learned from the last one to improve it.

Next up is a full block of Black Guard and I think I am going to try to give them very dark armor and little to no purple.

- Blackbone

After finishing the Cold One Knights for now (until I clean them up at end of project), I am moving onto a full block of Black Guard. I have everything but the command primed up and ready to rock. I have done Black Guard for a painting contest years back and wanted to do it completely different this time.

This time around I want them to have very dark but still metallic armor and very little other color going on. In this test model, I did want to incorporate some red because I like how it turned out on the Sorceress. I did a little bit of purple on the lower robes just to see what it would look like. I think if all the robes were black it would be a little much.





Please don't be distracted by the residue the GW wash leaves behind. Everything will be matte-coated. What do you think about it for the Black Guard paint scheme?

- Blackbone

Great work on these. I definately feel a full army shot is in order once your done!

I like how the hair fades down it's length, but I'm thinking that at the top especially it doesn't really have much definition. That could just be the camera washing the image out a bit though.

I forgot to mention that the test model isn't done! I haven't even started the halberd yet. The pics are so bleh, I am working on getting them better.

I think I need to figure out some way to get the heavy armor darker and establish more contrast between the armor and the black robes.

- Blackbone

The down side of dark armor and back robes is that they are going to tend to blend together when casually viewed. Aside from lightening the armor overall, the only thing I can reccomend is mithril silver edgeing on the metal plates.

But even unfinished, that black guard looks very nice. I can't wait to see the finished product!

Looking good, love the banner on the spearmen.

A little more progress on the full block of Black Guard. I did a second test model to try painting all the armor black and do Mithril Silver edging all the way around it. Didn't turn out well so I reverted back to the old one. I refined it a bit by mixing Chainmail + Black for the basecoat instead of Boltgun + Black. After highlighting it in random places with pure Chainmail, I go back and do washes of Badab Black to put my deepest shadows back in. I even played around with Black + PVA and water mix to do some really dark ones.



The pics are still lousy, but it ain't much of a P&M blog without em. I think it shows that they are uniform and have enough punch to move forward and do the whole block. I am going to wait to completely finish them until the entire block is done and I see who will be front and center thus worthy of extra details

Pic of the back which just shows what the red crest looks like:



Thoughts? I am pretty much liking these so far. It's making me think I will go back to the Spearmen/Xboxmen when everything is finished and chill out the amount of purple on them.

- Blackbone

Ahh... rank those guys up now and figure out who's going to be in front, and then lavish the extra details on them as you're painting. The Black Guard minis only rank up properly in rather specific configurations.

I have actually numbered mine on the bases, to keep who goes where straight.

Love the flesh-tones on the AOW sorceress.

Nice scheme and clean paintjobs. Looking forward to seeing the whole force!

TOTAL TANGENT OF 40K-NESS!!

Our hobby club is having another little painting comp at the local Bunker and I like to participate. Added a new Rhino to my existing Chaos Space Marines army. I have Berzerkers that usually ride in a Landraider and it is high time they have their own transport option. I wish I had done some more WIP pics, but I am still getting used to doing those.

This is the first vehicle that has been primed gray and I pretty much enjoyed working that way. I kind of missed that instant black that fills in all the deepest areas, but the red color painted up so quickly and smoothly over the gray.

I always like to try something new so in this one I tried the sponge chips that I learned about here (I think it was greydeath or CMdante's threads). That was interesting to do and I liked how it turned out. I also tried out my new dremel to cut and scuff up some holes. That didn't go so well and I had to go back and clean those up with the usual hobby knife/mini-files/sponge sandblock.

I have also been trying to do more freehand (like the Dark Elf banners) so I can get more comfortable with it. If you look way in the background of one of the pics you can see the little paper sketch of the top hatch.




I haven't matte sprayed it yet (which IMHO is essential after using the GW washes) and I am thinking about doing some juicing of brown around the rivets and in the deeper armor areas.

What do you think?

- Blackbone

Wow, not a single comment or criticism for my little Chaos Rhino, huh?

- Blackbone

I like it ++

Khorne Rhino well painted red looks the correct proportion and doesnt look as if its been lathered all over the model...

Also like the weathering and the battle damage The Dark Elves are equally as good well painted.

Im liking this work keep it up dude.

Dark Elves looking sweet. Skin tone and basing is excellent.

WE rhino is suitably dented after 10k in service!

I'm loving that rhino as It really looks like you dented it first them painted cheers!

Very nicely painted Dark Elves. Think the Green Goblin (green and purple) scheme on the Spearmen works particularly well.

Coming up - more Black Guard. Not very exciting, but I am going to document trying to get them painted up fast but still nice-looking for tabletop. I can see a lot of work being done at the end of the project, just going back and cleaning up the front ranks or trying to figure out a better way to do the bases and banners.

Chaos Rhino was fun to paint; a nice departure from a Fantasy project.

Thanks for the comments.

- Blackbone

Alright, back to Fantasy. Bought my AdeptiCon tickets and realized I only had about month left to completely finish 2000 pts of Dark Elves - freakout time.

Got a lot of stuff assembled, based, and primed. Finished 12 more Black Guard after spending all day with one of my buddies at the Chicago Bunker. WIP pic with super-old paint scheme command in front that will probably be painted over. I think I might also drastically reposition that Tower Champion whatever guy because he is holding his weapon in such an unfriendly way for gameplay.




Hydra pre-prime. One of the heads was jacked up so I sculpted it up a little with GS. I then use 'Ard Coat to smooth the area between the metal and the GS work. Some white Milliput was also used to gap fill where the necks fit to the body.


Super exciting pic of assembling and smoothing movement bases. Still trying to decide if I am going to sand the outsides. I think I will. All the figs will also get magnets and movement bases will get that adhesive magnet sheet from Gale Force 9.

- Blackbone

Very nice work! Particulary impressive freehand!

The freehand banners are incredible! Wish I could paint that well.

I particularly like the slight variations in the armour, depending on the unit- a nice touch which differentiates units, whilst retaining an overall unified look.

Good luck at Adepticon!

Thanks for the comments. I am psyched to get that block of Black Guard done this week and move on to the next unit. I think I might treat myself with the Hydra and handlers.

Is there any trick to get sand on your movement trays without it sloughing off while drying? Should I superglue some bits of cork (similar to larger bases) on them to add a little interest?

- Blackbone

Nice elves, the banners in particular. And I like the weathering on the Rhino. Must have taken a while!

More updates. Unfortunately did a whole lotta painting in the last weeks and not a lotta pic-taking of WIP . I am very pressed for time to finish before AdeptiCon! I was a little dumb and painted up that Chaos Rhino for a contest (which TWO people entered) and a new Killa Kan for the FLGS because I couldn't resist.

Finished:
Block of Spearmen
Block of Black Guard
2 x 10 Xbowmen
5 x Cold One Knights
5 x Shades
Bolt Thrower
War Hydra and handlers
Sorceress (which I prob won't be using now )

Assembled and ready to paint:
Manticore rider
BSB Hero
Cold One Knight Hero (half-done when I decided I might not use it)

Some quick pics of things I cranked out in the last week. All the bases are unfinished because I am going to do them all at once. I didn't like how the early ones turned out, so they are all being redone.


War Hydra, as opposed to Business-casual Hydra . If I have time, I am going to go back and try some more colored washes and stuff.


Close up of Beastmasters


Bolt Thrower crew. Bolt Thrower is pretty basic, but turned out OK. I forgot to glue the little cranks on it, so I may be able to fix that if time allows.


Shades. Still haven't figured out what people do when they are fielding Shades with great weapons only. Someone suggested Mengil's Manflayers, but I haven't ordered any of those yet. Maybe for a treat after I finish this stuff.

Forgot to take pics of 95% completed Black Guard. Front rank needs a few more details. They all have big black cloaks and they look a little plain. Trying to figure out what to do with them.

Also need to figure out a very quick display board just to have one. I was thinking about copying the idea of a local player and just painting up a flat piece of hardboard with something cool-looking like a banner, shield design, big 'ol Dark Elf rune or whatever. If time allows, I'd like to try one of those picture frame ones.

Now, to get them magnetized and get some practice games in so I don't ruin anyone's time at the tournament.

Comments and constructive criticism welcome!

- Blackbone