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BIG WALL OF TEXT INCOMING, AVERT YOUR EYES NOW, SCROLL DOWN FOR DOLLS

After returning pretty much alive from this years Roskilde festival, i've aquired mononucloesis. Thus keeping me from smoking and drinking with buddies, I ended up with an ocean of time, a bunch of cash and an urge for models. The urge to actually finish an army (this time fo' real, I promise etc.) by applying systematic batchpainting while listening to the 40k-Radio and Podhammer podcasts to keep me focused.

I've been painting on and off for almost 9 years now, but as said I've never owned a fully painted fantasy or 40k army. I've been good at starting projects and not finishing them, a feeling I think we all know. This is partly due to the fact that I've always been trying to paint to my best ability, learn advanced, exciting techniques that nobody else at the local GW had tried out etc, partly due to lack of pre-planning. Therefore you'll see that I'll be preparing my minis properly (mold lines, assembly, basing, undercoating), painting to a clean tabletop standard (basecoat, stay inside the lines, wash), and then when the whole army is done to this standard, I'll add a highlight (but that's round 2...). I'll also be getting movement trays and magnetize all regiments, for ease of gaming.

I started out playing Orcs in fantasy for a few years, until i decided to take the plunge into 40k. I've been absolutely immersed in the universe, which I think is the most 'living' science fiction universe out there, to the point of becoming a 40k elitist, having fiddled around with pretty much every model in the range. So when I walked down into the local GW store the other day intent on buying an army and finishing it this time around, the 40k side left me with quite a 'meh', certainly not wanting to paint up a 1750p army. I ventured into the fantasy range, and seeing how much the models had changed since I began, this had become a whole new world to me once again.

I ended up buying a dark elf army book and a batallion, and I've now completed that box (8 days work), so I went to the shop again today and picked a few boxes/blisters up. My goal is to have a tabletop painted 2250p dark elf army before high school begins: 11th of august, leaving me 22 days to finish.

What I own at the moment:

Green=Ready to hit the table
Yellow=On the painting table
Orange=Assembled+Sanded
Red= Still in box

28*Warriors w/ spears and shields [Waiting for kraken shields to arrive from GW]
20*Corsairs [Need banner freehand]
5*Cold one knights [In progress]
1*Reaper bolt thrower [In progress]
5*Shades [Assembled+Sanded]
1*Assassin [Assembled+Sanded]
1*Sorceress [Assembled+Sanded]
28*Warriors/Crossbowmen [In batallion box]
20*Corsairs [In batallion box]
5*Cold one knights [In batallion box]
1*Reaper bolt thrower [In blister, missing front 'legs]

Total model count: 119 (129 including steeds)

I'll be working on two units at a time, fx at the moment I'm basecoating the cold one riders and the first pair of bolt thrower crew. Then I'll do the cold ones and the bolt thrower itself, wash everything (glorious Devlan Mud), fix the bases and move on to the next unit. Now the part that makes you actually want to read this (oh who am I kidding):

Overview pic:


Workspace pic:


Basecoated warriors:


Washed warriors:


Washed Corsairs:


I realize the pictures are crap, the finished models are in the cabinet with backlight from the window etc. Since I'll be venturing out into the world of outside tomorrow, I'll print out a photo background at the library and pick up daylight-bulbs. I've invested in a camera and got a corner of my table set up with dual lamps, so tomorrows picture will be better, i promise.

Peace out.

-Blisterjuice

Yeah better pictures would be really nice. But in prewashed picture they look good so far and freehands are definetly awesome.

And good luck with your project!

looking nice so far. good luck with your project.

Updated first post with better pictures, and for now I've got a current workspace pic:


The first cold one unit+Repeater bolt thrower is nearing completion, only need to finish basecoating the mounts.

Since I'm trying to keep it simple so my palette is very limited, primarily consisting of:
Hawk Turqouise
Dheneb Stone
Scorched Brown
Chainmail
Shining Gold (will exchange this for a similar p3 colour)

And using secondary colours to distinguish some models:
Mechrite Red (Elite troops)
Goblin Green (Some scales on cold ones/sea dragon cloaks)

I've also been thinking a bit about army composition, and did the maths yesterday. I'm hitting between 1750 and 2000 depending on the amount of bling, also only having two characters at the moment. I'm going to assemble the next 28 warriors as crossbowmen, running 2*14. I'm thinking i shouldn't invest points in banner/champ, but a musician would be useful I suppose. Also need input regarding whether i should split up the corsairs into 2*20 unit, one with handbows, one with dual handweapons. Or run them in a huge block of 40 now that infantry blocks are back in business. Same goes for cold one knights, since 1*10 would save me points on command groups, but would tie down twice as many points when I fail stupidity tests.

Give me your thoughts

Next update: Will have finished the COR+RBT, and assembled the first 14 crossbowmen.

Peace out.

-Blisterjuice

Cool, i look forward to seeing this project progress! The models are looking good from what i can discern atm. Simple palettes are definitely the way to go with fantasy armies!

As for the Corsairs, i'd be inclined to say run them in a 40-strong horde, but thats 'cos i like big blocks of infantry.

Keep up the good work!

I didn't get a lot of painting time yesterday due to throwing a party instead. Anyway the COR+RBT are nearing completion, and while the wash is drying let me put this out: I am not -AT ALL- looking forward to the next unit of cold one riders. Don't get me wrong, the models themselves are fan-flippin-tastic, but the level of detail is a double-edged sword. The mold lines are hardcore, all the little scales and spikes and... *shudder*.

Important part: I can move on!

Will upload pictures soon, when I've finished the bases.

Random but curious question: Is the gas mask for fun or do you use it in a practical use?

Maj.Winters wrote:Random but curious question: Is the gas mask for fun or do you use it in a practical use?

Well... It had a bong attached to it during this years Roskilde. Apart from that it's mostly just a decoration

Haha so your answer is yes, it does have a practical use?

Maj.Winters wrote:Haha so your answer is yes, it does have a practical use?

All comes down to ones individual definition of 'practical' but... Yes

if you pull this off then Kudos to you sir, you're a better man than me.

So here they are, sub-par photos but they'll be replaced with daylight-ones tomorrow.

Repeater Bolt Thrower 1:


Cold One Knights 1:


I just realized i haven't done the shields yet, but I'll do 'em all in one go when the spearmens arrive (I ordered 30 kraken shields along with the Gamers Edition Rulebook)

Now on to cleaning and assembling 28 crossbowmen (on another note, should I be equipping these with shields?)

Peace out.

-Blisterjuice

Uploaded new daylight pics of the cold ones + repeater bolt thrower. Also managed to clean up, assemble and base 14 of these:


And did a snapshot of the assembled/painted stuff so far:


Please keep those comments flowing, it's really what's keeping me going

Peace out.

-Blisterjuice

I love that scheme for the Cold One Knights, it really pops! You're making good progress atm, something i really struggle with with my Empiire.

I don't think shields are worth it on the crossbowmen tbh, seem to me like a point sink, but its up to you in the end!

Vitruvian XVII wrote:
I don't think shields are worth it on the crossbowmen tbh, seem to me like a point sink, but its up to you in the end!

My thoughts were that if I find my crossbowmen being charged by something fast, they'd have that 4+ armor save in close combat, increasing chances of survival drastically. But oh well, I don't need to decide right away, i got a bucketload of shields to spare that I can paint up some day and tack onto their backs.

With shields, RXBmen are the toughest infantry the DE has. Everything else has a 5+ armor save at best, since RXBs use HW+S they get the parry ward save as well. And given that the stuff that most often gets sent warmachine/shooter hunters is usually scouts (skirmishers, in other words) or fast cav, both of those would likely struggle against the shielded RXB's saves - and roll right over them if they only had the 6+ armor save if they were unshielded.

Edit: Double post

My point exactly, I'll do a shield-paintathon for Knights, spearmen and crossbowmen at a later stage.

On another note, I just finished basecoating 14 archers and will be basing and washing them after I post. This means I've completed 72 models in two weeks, making it seem likely that I keep my deadline...

Wrong!

I recently got back my 'job' at the LGS, and will be painting some 40k models in the next week. More precisely Deathwing:

"2 x Land Raider

5 x Terminators

1 x Terminator Librarian

1 x Dreadnought

25 x Shale Baser til Terminators

1 x Shale Base til Dreadnought"

I'll struggle to finish at least finish another unit of dark elves before starting the marines, but definetly looking forward to that anyway.

Peace out.

-Blisterjuice

I finished the 14 crossbowmen last night, and today I've gone through the unit of 5 shades+assassin. I'm really happy with this as it means I might even get to finish an additional unit before i start working on the Deathwing commission. Excuse the horrible picture quality for now:


Painted models: 76 (only 42 to go)

Peace out.

-Blisterjuice (who will now take a minor break from painting with some Heroes of Newerth or Assassins Creed)

Legendary!!! Keep it up!

Just a quick update to document the progress, first batch of crossbowmen done:


And shades:


And assassin as well (well technically not, but he recieved a few simple highlights after washing):



I'm now cleaning and assembling the remaining xbowmen, think I'll assemble a musician for each as far as command groups go.

Peace out.

-Blisterjuice

Nice paintjob.

Yes, very nice job on the painting.

My only comment is that the drow skintones really blend into the dull bluish color and straight silver armor you are using. You might consider brightening up the blue and/or go for a goldish tone on the armor, to add a bit more contrast.

But hey, it's your minis, don't let me tell you how to do them. And like I said, the painting is first-rate.

Yeah the devlan mud ties all the colors together, but as said earlier when the entire army is finished to this standard I'll go over it and add simple highlights. Comment appreciated

Today I was at the local GW since one of my redshirt mates throws these painting sundays. So 7 hours of watching silly youtube videos and painting models. I started on the sorceress and made quite a bit of progress on her. Hoping to finish her tomorrow before the comission begins. Photos up tomorrow as well.

28*Warriors w/ spears and shields [Waiting for kraken shields to arrive from GW]
20*Corsairs [Need banner freehand]
5*Cold one knights [Needs shields]
1*Reaper bolt thrower [Done]
5*Shades [Done]
1*Assassin [Done]
14*Crossbowmen [Done]
1*Sorceress [In Progress]
14*Crossbowmen [Assembled+Sanded]
20*Corsairs [In batallion box]
5*Cold one knights [In batallion box]
1*Reaper bolt thrower [Assembled]

Peace out.

-Blisterjuice

WIP shot of the sorceress:


I am now cleaning up my workspace, and will be starting the deathwing commission later today, more pictures later.

Peace out.

-Blisterjuice

Sorry for the lack of updates, but a few things came up:
1. I'm working on the deathwing comission at the store itself, so i won't be posting pictures of those before it's finished.
2. I spent the past few days being drunk miles outside town.
3. I received the Rockethammer book gamer's edition, alongside 30 kraken shields for my spearmen.

Anyway, I haven't been totally idle modelling wise. Coming home today, i started painting the remaining crossbowmen right away. I'm close to collapsing atm, so no pictures before tommorrow but things I've done since last update:

14 Crossbowmen (including 2 musician)
Assembled, based and primed the second Reaper
Cleaned up and primed 27 kraken shields
Built two 2*7 and one 4*7 movement trays

What I want to achieve tomorrow:

Finish movement trays.
Paint spearmen+cold one knight shields
Paint Reaper+Crew
Finish sorceress
>>>PHOTOGRAPH IT ALL<<<

Until then folks

Peace out.

-Blisterjuice

So heres an update with (incredibad) PICTURES, just to give a hint as to how the army's progressing.

I started painting 27 shields:


Then highlighted the lot of them:


Followed by a wash, and then stuck on the spearmen (who by the way have a movement tray now):


Just like their crossbow-wielding colleagues:


So this is how the army looks so far, I'll try to finish the RBT today, but real life is looming in the distance.

So at the moment it looks like I'll manage to paint the figures i purchased before 11th august, only things left on sprues are 5 more knights (including 5 shields for the painted ones, and 20 corsairs). This means I finished the boring core part of the army and can move on to black guard and scratch-built cold one chariot and Screaming Bell/Forgeworld avatar kitbashed cauldron of blood and...

>>>SLAP<<<

*Stays focused and gets back to work*

Peace out.

-Blisterjuice

This is legendary - and an inspiration to us all!

Fantastic, and good luck in reaching your goal!

Dammit. You're pumping out so much more painting and at a much higher quality than I was when I was rushing to paint up my High Elves.

Good work so far! I'm anxious to see more.

Amazing progress... Now don't yous stop ya pesky Dark Elf grunt! *crack of whip*

Honestly - All the best with this one!