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You've done the whole set justice with your painting and conversions. Keep it up! Vigilator is my favourite so far, but looking forward to that dread!

I like the sword. The gamer (as opposed to the modeler) in me is yelling that a lightning claw is far superior when paired with a non-pistol weapon.

But you can’t argue with the looks.

Spent a little time checking out all your BoC stuff. It's really good, I like what you have done with it. Especially the Contemptor. My copy is sitting in the corner, just trying to decide what legion.

@40kFSU, ckig and graven: Cheers guys!

@Nev: When it comes to leaders, I'm generally a sword guy all the way. I just see my commanders trying to get into as many epic duels as possible, and claws just don't lend themselves to that imagery unless it's full-Wolverine with a pair of claws. Effectiveness be damned, I'll lose but I'll lose in style!

Shameful lack of photgraphable progress in the last couple of days, haven't been feeling too well. Got another Tactical Marine nearly done, and the Dread is coming along, should have them done tomorrow. Going to try and get the remaining Terminators done for Friday if I can, just to have options for the game.

OK Para, since you were kind enough to offer, a few HH questions:

Are Sgt loadouts similar to 40k (bar Grav etc)?
Terminator Squads: Is Calth an anomaly in that you can mix cc and ranged weapons or does it apply in 30k too?
Are there any loadout variations between Tactical and Veteran Squads?

Thanks in advance, hope you can shake off whatever bug you have.

And now, the moment you've all been Dreading.. sorry, sorry, that was bad and I feel bad about it! Have this Dreadnought to make up for it! Advance warning, my lighting setup is not being kind to this chap, he honestly looks a little better in reality than he does here. Being black, metallic and with a lot of flat surfaces, there's a hell of a lot of glare that my diffuser isn't dealing with, the only way around it was to add another layer of diffuser or dial down the exposure, both of which threw the colours off quite significantly.

Anyway, that's enough excuses! One Iron Hands Contemptor Dreadnought, name pending:







Not 100% pleased with him, but he'll do for the game on Friday and looks the part for the force. If anyone has any suggestions for areas to revisit I'm all ears. Mechanical, metal ears of course, because THE FLESH IS WEAK:


That's all for now, got another two Tactical Marines in progress (one is mid-way done, the other just needs basing really). Thanks for looking, any thoughts welcome! More interesting basing will happen for this guy and the whole army once I have access to the rest of my materials.

Oh, and wow, 50 pages! Didn't see that before! Blimey! Huge thanks to all of those who've comments, advised, suggested and critiqued all this way! Couldn't do this without you guys!

That dread is fantastic Para - really lovely paintjob. Crack on fella - you're knocking these out of the park

Love the dynamic pose on the Dread.
The weathering is top notch as well!

Really like the pose on the contemptor
Keep it up!
Grtz
Mark

It's a cracking paint job, mate. But honestly, I think the posing is... off. I understand the sort of pose your going for, but he looks too far forward. Perhaps if he is stood up a little more, but still with a noticable tilt, he'll look less like he's falling over.

And 50 pages is a lot of content! Especially seeing as you started [goes back to page one] 15 months ago?!?! How is that possible?!
Time for a summary of the past year? Or some sort of giant group photo?

Thanks guys! Honestly, you're all too kind! I think the paintjob is probably passable, and I'll feel happy to put it down on the table, but not quite up to scratch for the mini that'll be the centrepiece of the army. It could just be case of having looked at it too much, I don't know, it just feels like something is missing and I can't put my finger on what...

@Zambro: I think it's not so much the page count that surprises me, after all I ramble a lot, it's the marked difference in my output, quality and just general approach to painting that's changed in that time. At some point, I mean to go back and do a few comparison posts as I do think my painting has come on further these last 10-12 months than it ever has in a similar period, and so much of that is down to you guys that help keep this blog going! Especially as until recently this has been something of a 'wilderness year' in terms of gaming/socialising with other hobbyists, so family aside you are the only folks that can see my models and push me to improve, and you're all doing a marvellous job of keeping me motivated! Thanks again.

Come the end of the year I'll do a 'year in review' post like I did last year, lots of montages, group shots and such.

Regarding the pose, I discussed that a page or two back, short version being that it looks far more natural from a 'standing over a table' perspective than it does in the front-on pics. I may go back and raise him up a bit when more creative basing happens, but I'll see about that when I get to it.

Although I agree with all of the above comments, I have to say that I see Zambro's point as well - he's so close to being the most badass thing in existence since plastic sternguard, but the degree of his lean does look the most delicate smidge too excessive for me. If he was kneeling upon a rock or some debris or something it would perhaps be alleviated? Regardless of what you decide to do, on the whole that dread is beautiful - I know its a miniature but I still get intimidated just looking at it The paint job fits right in with the guys and he looks a right force to be reckoned with. Can't wait for more, looking through your HH progress are some of my favourite updates to behold

50 pages so quickly. Congratulations. With just a tiny bit of jealousy at the speed of your progress.

Really like the force. The weathering really brings them together into a group that looks desperate and capable of anything.....

You, sir, are flying through that BaC box, and doing great on those minis. I might have to echo what other have said about the Dread's pose, he looks like he tripped over something. The paintjob is great, though! I bet it is even better in person like you said!

Congratulations on the 50 pages Para, I think you are right you have improved a lot in a very short period of time. It is good that with the move to Uni you now have more access to the social side of the hobby as well.

Great paint job on the Contemptor, I like the addition of the Iron Hand on the leg too. Is that a plastic bit or a personal bit of sculpting?

I have now set a date of July 28th 2016 for you to reach 100 pages.

Nice contemptor. I'm divided on the pose, sometimes look at it and think it really works, other it looks like it's just tripped over rather than being brought down in the throws of battle...

EDC

Thanks guys!

@Thraxas: The Iron Hand and the scrap of parchment on the torso are sculpted. Not my best work, but better than the massive seam running down the side of the leg, and I think it looks passable and just adds a little more character.

Another 50 pages in half a year? Optimistic, but I'll do me best!

More later on!

Progress! Three more Tacticals and a Termie today!

First off, probably the least exciting, an Iron Hand. Nothin' fancy here, just my usual simple combo of black, blood and weathering to hell and back:




A Salamander with a flamer. I'm still finding this green hard work to be honest, but he does the job:





And the mini that rounds out the first half of the second Tactical Squad and gives me at least a painted and legal list for Friday, a Raven Guard vet with knife. Again, took a slightly different approach to the scheme, he's not actually a veteran in terms of markings (no white shoulder pads) but that gave me a better canvas for some more tribal markings and such:




Crappy squad shot (this weekend, once I get the Termies finished up, I'll go back and do squad/group/army shots properly)


And finally for today, another Terminator, as suggested by several of you he got Raven colours in the end, and I think he looks rather good in them. He's nominally the squad's sergeant:





That's all for now! As ever, thanks for reading, any thoughts welcome!

These look simply amazing! I'm probably tardy to the party, but care to explain the hand held vexillia? looks tons less breakable then regular backpack vexillias

Cheers! The vexilla was an easy enough conversion, just a bolter hand, the vexilla stuck to the top and the haft of the Chaplain's Crozius attached to the bottom (any long weapon handle or even plasticard rod would do). A little GS was then used to get the wrist angle, but there are probably many arms that would work with no GS needed.

Needed a change of pace after blasting through the stuff for the game last night (played 2, lost 2 but at least the minis looked good doing it! ) so with the 4th Annual Nerdcademy Painting Competition opening up and me finally feeling up to the challenge of entering, I've slowed down a little and decided my force needs a Standard Bearer. Iron Hands have been my strongest suit on the painting front thus far, so I figured rather than take a Sallie or a Raven and try and make it work well, I'd take the IH scheme and push it up to 11 with a few new techniques. The final mini will basically have everything I know how to do on it somewhere; weatherings, metallics, NMM, freehand, a wee bit of OSL maybe...

Sadly, my camera battery died and I won't be able to get any more until Tuesday, so the only shots I have are the ones I was able to get before it all stopped working. So they're not the best, but they do at least give you an idea of where it's going. Basically, I've taken my regular armour method and added some strong greens and purples before the final black wash, and been a bit less haphazard with the weathering, and I think he's coming along quite nicely. He's just tacked to the base, as I have a bit more to do there:





Again, apologies for the blur, I mean to retake some of these shots but couldn't. Finally, just so you can get an idea of where this is all going, the rest of the parts. Obviously the lighting and focus are off here, but you can still see the early WIP of the banner, and the general direction I'm taking the pose/sword painting.


On an unrelated note, I've bitten the bullet on X-wing, 2 Core Sets, 1 lot of Rebel Aces (A-wing and B-wing) will be with me at Christmas. After that, I plan to grab the TIE Advanced, the Imperial Aces set, the Y-wing and maybe a couple of others before getting the bigger ships like Slave 1 and the Falcon. This will probably be a slow-grow game for me, I'll just add the odd bit here and there, but I can see myself ending up with most of the movie ships and maybe a few of the EU ones as well further down the line. They'll all be getting repaints, so if anyone has any insights on that I'm all ears!

More soon-ish, once the camera's back in action. I'll soldier on with the Standard, and I'm planning to have the rest of the Termies done for next Friday as we escalate to 1000 points. Any thoughts welcome on this mini or anything else! Cheers for reading!

I'm sure that the reason your boys lost the games is because they're paying homage to the tragic events at Istvaan V

Throwing it back quite a ways - the termie sgt is one of my favourites that you've done so far. The tribal marks sit perfectly on him and I think he's still subtle - but a good standout piece. Liking the standard bearer progress - reminds me of the work that I need to get done on the contests that i'm in

Good excuse! I'll go with that, and not with bringing only 17 models in my 750 point list!

I am a fan of that Sarge, the red tassles really stand out in the force but he still looks a part of it.

I'm not dead! Just been busy with packing, travelling and STAR WARS! Which if you haven't seen yet, get out and watch it! In my opinion, it's unrivalled as the most entertaining film of the year, the best Star Wars film of the 7 and it inspires me with a great deal of confidence (and a New Hope! ) for the upcoming additions to the Star Wars universe. I wrote more in the OT thread, but suffice to say. 11/10 stuff! I shall be going again shortly!

And that's not entirely off-topic, as today I bring you my first painted X-wing miniature, an X-wing! Very nice model to paint up, the attention to detail on something so small is impressive, and the physical detail is very well defined. I did take the original scheme as a base rather than re-priming, but pretty much everything got painted over. On to the pics!








Vallejo Smokey Ink was the secret weapon here (cheers to Graven for pointing that out), then just painting over the rest as normal. The weathering is mostly restricted to blaster marks and oil streaks, but I think it adds a lot. The engine glow needs some more work, but on the whole I'm pretty happy with it, and I look forward to cracking on with the rest (A-wing, B-wing and another X-wing and then the Imps, 4 TIEs and an Advanced).

That's a wrap for now! Any thoughts welcome, thanks for reading, and I'll be back with new and old re-photo'd old stuff soon!

Great job mate! Lots of lovely damage there too. I ran a little light drybrush of gunmetal on the leading edge of the wings for a bit of extra chipping. Glad I didn't sell you a bum steer on the VJ ink. Can I make a suggestion? Add a little on the inside of the foils in the recesses. They look a little bright just now. Lovely astromech, too. Then, I challenge you to do Sabine's Tie Fighter (google it )...

Cheers! The ink was a great help, thanks again for the recommendation! I'll experiment with the recesses, I think I missed them by accident rather than intentionally avoiding them!

I'm a big Rebels fan, so I'd definitely do that TIE if I ever end up getting the Ghost to go with it! For now, though, I'm thinking 2 basic TIEs and two with veteran markings of some kind. The Advanced will be in classic Vader colours.

Crikey Para - that X-wing is gorgeous. That's one of your best paintjobs yet. Realy loving it and great photos too. Much closer than usual so we can really see the paintjob up close. Lovely work. Cracking film that eh - went to see it last friday with the missus (who has absolutely zero sci-fi interest!) and even she liked it. Ren did get on my tits a lot though. So glad they went back to the feel of 4, 5, 6 rather than 1, 2, 3. Cracking cracking movie
Begining to be a touch tempted to get some x-wing models......

Very nice X-wing Para, now I have something to aim towards when I do mine

Ta chaps!

@GiraffeX; The trick is washes! Brings out all that lovely, lovely detail that just needs some paint in the recesses to shine! Add some blaster marks and engine effects and you're golden!

@Jan: cheers mate! This camera is definitely sooo much better than my other, sadly it's a family one rather than mine so I can't use it at uni. I'll take new pics of my recent work over the next couple of weeks while I can. Regarding the film, I think Kylo Ren was definitely a worthy successor for Vader, similar enough to be equally iconic and threatening, different enough not to be just a copy. And his lightsaber combat was just brutal! I'd definitely suggest the X-wing minis if you have any chance of getting a game, if you're just looking for the models as display pieces then Bandai do some fantastic scale models from the Original Trilogy.

'worthy successor'.......hmmm, not so sure I'm with you on that one....yet. Hopefully he'll develop past the bratty little kid mode in VII next movie. If he does, then you could be right