Switch Theme:

ZergSmasher's NEW P&M Blog: DEATHWING ASSAULT  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
»
Author Message
Advert


Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
  • No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
  • Times and dates in your local timezone.
  • Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
  • Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
  • Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.




Made in us
Walking Dead Wraithlord






Congrats on getting the army ready! Have fun with the printer.
   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut






Nice army shot and you are getting good use out of the printer already, excited to see those minis get some color on them.
   
Made in us
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain






A Protoss colony world

@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!

My armies (re-counted and updated on 11/1/23, including modeled wargear options):
Dark Angels: ~15000 Astra Militarum: ~1200 | Adeptus Custodes: ~1900 | Imperial Knights: ~2000 | Sisters of Battle: ~3500 | Leagues of Votann: ~1200 | Tyranids: ~2600 | Stormcast Eternals: ~5000
Check out my P&M Blogs: ZergSmasher's P&M Blog | Imperial Knights blog | Board Games blog | Total models painted in 2023: 40 | Total models painted in 2024: 7 | Current main painting project: Dark Angels
 Mr_Rose wrote:
Who doesn’t love crazy mutant squawk-puppies? Eh? Nobody, that’s who.
 
   
Made in us
Walking Dead Wraithlord






Whoa. That's a lot of righteous firepower. Good stuff, ZergSmasher. Looking forward to that host of Stormcast, too.
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

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.

   
Made in us
Is 'Eavy Metal Calling?





Affton, MO. USA

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.

LOL, Theo your mind is an amazing place, never change.-camkierhi 9/19/13
I cant believe theo is right.. damn. -comradepanda 9/26/13
None of the strange ideas we had about you involved your sexual orientation..........-Monkeytroll 12/10/13

I'd put you on ignore for that comment, if I could...Alpharius 2/11/14 
   
Made in us
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain






A Protoss colony world

@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!

My armies (re-counted and updated on 11/1/23, including modeled wargear options):
Dark Angels: ~15000 Astra Militarum: ~1200 | Adeptus Custodes: ~1900 | Imperial Knights: ~2000 | Sisters of Battle: ~3500 | Leagues of Votann: ~1200 | Tyranids: ~2600 | Stormcast Eternals: ~5000
Check out my P&M Blogs: ZergSmasher's P&M Blog | Imperial Knights blog | Board Games blog | Total models painted in 2023: 40 | Total models painted in 2024: 7 | Current main painting project: Dark Angels
 Mr_Rose wrote:
Who doesn’t love crazy mutant squawk-puppies? Eh? Nobody, that’s who.
 
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

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.

   
Made in us
Walking Dead Wraithlord






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.
   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut






Love the year-end shot and am glad that the bias went towards Sisters, good to see such a great army!
   
Made in us
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain






A Protoss colony world

@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!

My armies (re-counted and updated on 11/1/23, including modeled wargear options):
Dark Angels: ~15000 Astra Militarum: ~1200 | Adeptus Custodes: ~1900 | Imperial Knights: ~2000 | Sisters of Battle: ~3500 | Leagues of Votann: ~1200 | Tyranids: ~2600 | Stormcast Eternals: ~5000
Check out my P&M Blogs: ZergSmasher's P&M Blog | Imperial Knights blog | Board Games blog | Total models painted in 2023: 40 | Total models painted in 2024: 7 | Current main painting project: Dark Angels
 Mr_Rose wrote:
Who doesn’t love crazy mutant squawk-puppies? Eh? Nobody, that’s who.
 
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

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!


   
Made in us
Walking Dead Wraithlord






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






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!
   
Made in us
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain






A Protoss colony world

@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!

My armies (re-counted and updated on 11/1/23, including modeled wargear options):
Dark Angels: ~15000 Astra Militarum: ~1200 | Adeptus Custodes: ~1900 | Imperial Knights: ~2000 | Sisters of Battle: ~3500 | Leagues of Votann: ~1200 | Tyranids: ~2600 | Stormcast Eternals: ~5000
Check out my P&M Blogs: ZergSmasher's P&M Blog | Imperial Knights blog | Board Games blog | Total models painted in 2023: 40 | Total models painted in 2024: 7 | Current main painting project: Dark Angels
 Mr_Rose wrote:
Who doesn’t love crazy mutant squawk-puppies? Eh? Nobody, that’s who.
 
   
Made in jp
[DCM]
Incorporating Wet-Blending





Japan

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

Now showing more Samurai Marines, Bad Squiddo Amazons, and an Oldhammer Chaos Thug!

Painting total as of 3/28/2024: 21 plus a set of modular spaceship terrain

Painting total for 2023: 79 plus 28 Battlemechs and a Dragon-Balrog

 
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

Nice progress.

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

   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut






Excited for Galadriel, will buy her too in the current MTO. Such a cool sculpt and interested what colors you will choose.
   
Made in us
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain






A Protoss colony world

@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!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/03/01 08:24:25


My armies (re-counted and updated on 11/1/23, including modeled wargear options):
Dark Angels: ~15000 Astra Militarum: ~1200 | Adeptus Custodes: ~1900 | Imperial Knights: ~2000 | Sisters of Battle: ~3500 | Leagues of Votann: ~1200 | Tyranids: ~2600 | Stormcast Eternals: ~5000
Check out my P&M Blogs: ZergSmasher's P&M Blog | Imperial Knights blog | Board Games blog | Total models painted in 2023: 40 | Total models painted in 2024: 7 | Current main painting project: Dark Angels
 Mr_Rose wrote:
Who doesn’t love crazy mutant squawk-puppies? Eh? Nobody, that’s who.
 
   
Made in jp
[DCM]
Incorporating Wet-Blending





Japan

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.

Now showing more Samurai Marines, Bad Squiddo Amazons, and an Oldhammer Chaos Thug!

Painting total as of 3/28/2024: 21 plus a set of modular spaceship terrain

Painting total for 2023: 79 plus 28 Battlemechs and a Dragon-Balrog

 
   
Made in us
Walking Dead Wraithlord






Nice work on all the cloth. Great pair of minis.
   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut






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.
   
Made in us
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain






A Protoss colony world

@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!


My armies (re-counted and updated on 11/1/23, including modeled wargear options):
Dark Angels: ~15000 Astra Militarum: ~1200 | Adeptus Custodes: ~1900 | Imperial Knights: ~2000 | Sisters of Battle: ~3500 | Leagues of Votann: ~1200 | Tyranids: ~2600 | Stormcast Eternals: ~5000
Check out my P&M Blogs: ZergSmasher's P&M Blog | Imperial Knights blog | Board Games blog | Total models painted in 2023: 40 | Total models painted in 2024: 7 | Current main painting project: Dark Angels
 Mr_Rose wrote:
Who doesn’t love crazy mutant squawk-puppies? Eh? Nobody, that’s who.
 
   
Made in us
Walking Dead Wraithlord






Colors look good on the Sister. 3D Dread looks good, too. Can't argue with the price.
   
Made in jp
[DCM]
Incorporating Wet-Blending





Japan

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?

Now showing more Samurai Marines, Bad Squiddo Amazons, and an Oldhammer Chaos Thug!

Painting total as of 3/28/2024: 21 plus a set of modular spaceship terrain

Painting total for 2023: 79 plus 28 Battlemechs and a Dragon-Balrog

 
   
Made in us
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain






A Protoss colony world

@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!).

My armies (re-counted and updated on 11/1/23, including modeled wargear options):
Dark Angels: ~15000 Astra Militarum: ~1200 | Adeptus Custodes: ~1900 | Imperial Knights: ~2000 | Sisters of Battle: ~3500 | Leagues of Votann: ~1200 | Tyranids: ~2600 | Stormcast Eternals: ~5000
Check out my P&M Blogs: ZergSmasher's P&M Blog | Imperial Knights blog | Board Games blog | Total models painted in 2023: 40 | Total models painted in 2024: 7 | Current main painting project: Dark Angels
 Mr_Rose wrote:
Who doesn’t love crazy mutant squawk-puppies? Eh? Nobody, that’s who.
 
   
Made in us
Walking Dead Wraithlord






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.
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

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

   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut






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!
   
Made in us
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain






A Protoss colony world

@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.

My armies (re-counted and updated on 11/1/23, including modeled wargear options):
Dark Angels: ~15000 Astra Militarum: ~1200 | Adeptus Custodes: ~1900 | Imperial Knights: ~2000 | Sisters of Battle: ~3500 | Leagues of Votann: ~1200 | Tyranids: ~2600 | Stormcast Eternals: ~5000
Check out my P&M Blogs: ZergSmasher's P&M Blog | Imperial Knights blog | Board Games blog | Total models painted in 2023: 40 | Total models painted in 2024: 7 | Current main painting project: Dark Angels
 Mr_Rose wrote:
Who doesn’t love crazy mutant squawk-puppies? Eh? Nobody, that’s who.
 
   
 
Forum Index » Dakka P&M Blogs
Go to: