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These guys look super cool!

What new workshop toys did you get?

Man that looks great! I'll be putting those little mech debris parts in the mail Tues morning in case they're useful for display board purposes.

Alrighty guys! Last update for the rest of the year

Got the entire Shaltari army finished apart from the infantry! Waiting on a final OK from the boss before I glue the vehicles on the bases.
I started work on the display board while varnish was curing, adding in a few extra details to the already exceptional SWM Tablescapes tiles!
I also finally started on the Chaos Marine squad, so lots of purple, ala the PreHeresy ECs! (Just super sorry it all took so long to start on these!!)


But anyways!
As mentioned previously, I got some new Workshop toys! Firstly, I decided to give the Raphael 8404 brushes a shot- Ive heard good things about them, so I want to see how they stack up to my beloved S7 brushes. Secondly (and slightly unrelated to wargaming), I got a small set of lockpicks, as thats a skill I've always wanted to learn. Ive been watching a fair number of videos on youtube, and the puzzle aspect of locksport sounds awesome!

And thirdly, I got a brand new sexy backdrop from Hangar 18 Miniatures! Its completely matte, and I think it adds just that little bit extra professionalism to my shots. I think Im gonna love this thing
(No camera yet, but thats gonna be where the rest of my Christmas Money will be going to xD )

So without further delay, Rollin' All One's Final Project of 2014!

Jaguar, Ocelot, and Dreamsnare Walkers


Tarantula Walkers


Mass shot of the various flying Gates


In the coming days, Ill upload more detailed shots (especially of the Gates), as well as photos of the rest of the army work and Chaos Marines!

Have a wonderful rest of 2014, guys! Lets make 2015 even better

Happy New Year.

Beautiful work, simply beautiful.

I'm floored - the models look absolutely amazing!! Fantastic work

I have to pat myself on the back, perhaps somewhat undeservedly but I thought your airbrush fade work would translate to the smaller DzC scale, and it has in spades! I'll be posting up pics of the army on the DzC forums and I'm sure you'll be getting more inquiries about smaller models now

I spent last night speechless, and the absolutely only thing I have a question about now is the gem in the middle of the gates - I think perhaps an orange or green might work better than dark red there. Sent you a PM about it and I totally can cover the cost of tweaking that if it is possible. I was thinking something like this, but without the OSL around it of course, just the gem itself. Perhaps not quite that shade of orange or green, just showing the style:


What a way to start the new year! Thank you so much for your incredible work on this project!!

They look wonderful Ramos, very impressed.

Thanks you guys!!
Making a few minor tweaks to the gems after talking with RiTides, but nothing to extreme. just brightening up the gems to a more true orange instead of what I had- a more brownish-orange. Then there are the bases for the tanks and stuff to do, which I also figured out. Getting to learn how to use all my SWM terrain stuff

Plotted out the terrain boards today, most noticeably where the little dirt path and torn up bridge will go. Then I have marked a few ideas of where to put the burned out shells of some mechs hes sending me to use for terrain. The path will be dirt, of course, so will not be as obvious on the final product. It'll be overgrown in some places with shrubs and grass as well as some scattered dirt. In the back right corner will be a small dead tree, plus several stumps, to bring a bit of balance back to the layout.




But this wasnt the focus of today. Rather, today was all about getting rolling on the Emperor's Children. I've had these on the table for too long as I've been working on the Shaltari, and I kinda feel bad making the client wait so long

A few base shades of purple, pre-wash.


Close up:


Now as these are the older members of the chapter, they will still bear the purples of the Pre Heresy EC's, albeit with the warped and corroded effects of the warp on them! Im thinking a pale gold for the trim areas, opposed to my normal warm rich golds, and a bit of chipping and damage (these guys have seen lots of action in the past millennia!
To blend them in with the rest of the army, which will be similar to the two Noise Marines I painted earlier, I am considering two options. The first is to use my airbrush and add in spots of pink, sort of like a rust-effect, symbolizing the corrosion of Slaanesh on the marines bodies and souls.
The second option would be to add in some warmer purple filigree or tendrils on the armor. Some kind of freehand to tie certain areas of their armor back into the army's scheme. I almost imagined Lucius the Eternal's armor, where its covered in screaming faces and whatnot. Of course Im not doing anything so extreme (at least not overall ), but its what I thought of.
I suppose there is a third option as well, come to think of it, and that would be to pick out a few areas of armor and paint those in the "new" scheme, as if they were damaged and replaced. However I think this might look a little too patchwork and disorganized. Very not Emperor's Children!

Much to ponder yet... Would certainly appreciate any thoughts you guys might have on it!

A few more completed pics of the DzC guys. This time its grav tanks:

Yari light grav-tanks (prototype is on the far left)


Tomahawk medium grav-tanks


Cayman Heavy Grav tanks:



Still pondering what to do on the Chaos Marines, too, iffin you guys are feeling particularly creative! (seriously... need heeeeeelp!) xD

Anywho, Thanks for reading ^^

I think do them in purple with some pink and black freehand. Think of them as an elite unit, like the yellow mantis warriors.

Oooh, good idea. You could give them pink robotic cat heads too (like an unnamed Mod I know).

I think purple and pink and then tie them with the current style with black flames or you could do swirls like NF09 did on his.

Edit: dont forget gold trim.

Oh my gosh, I love the grav tanks, and the bases are perfect!! Layout of the display board looks great, too . I am thrilled with how this has gone

Unrelated to mine, the start of the ECs are a very nice color, too!

Thats brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Thank you WM and Gir!! Ooooohhhh This is gonna be good!

Pink robotic cat heads, eh? I think I could do something like that......



@RT: Super glad to hear it!!

=================

Still moving along on the ECs (especially with that new idea for treating them as an "elite" unit ). Ordered some more Vallejo Liquid Gold for their trim, so at least that bit is temporarily on hold), but in the mean time here are a few more completed shots of RiTides army. Now with retouched gate crystals!

Haven Terragates:


Group shot of the flying Gates:


Spirit Light Gates


Eden Medium Gates


Gaia Heavy Gate


No closeups of the Firedrake (thats the insect-looking thing in the group shot), as the pictures I got came out a bit blurry. Those are something for a later update

You make me want to buy DzC miniatures.

They're brilliant! Very eye catching, and as teleporters I think they should be . I think when seen together with the army the gems will match visually really well with the bases (visible in the first pic with the ground haven gates) since they are also "warm".

Thank you very much for your amazing hard work, and am I right that it is just the display (and maybe a bit on the infantry) left? I am so looking forward to seeing the whole army laid out on it, it's been such an impressive project!

@Brian: Same with me.... They look gorgeous, and according to everyone who I've talked to about it, the game is stellar to match!

@RT: Yarp! I have the displays to go, then the bits on the infantry. They just need highlights and small metal areas picked out, plus basing. So realistically not too terribly much left!
Its a little startling to see my workbench so bare... All of the Shaltari (save the infantry) have since migrated to a new shelf I put up in my workshop.





By the way... Have i mentioned how much I love this new backdrop? Its just sooooo damn cool! The material is easy to set up and I really think it makes the minis look that much nicer. I almost want to say its been helping my photos come out a bit nicer because of its matte finish... Could be completely making it up, though!
Hopefully it'll work just as well once I move on to other colors!

I definitely think the backdrop has helped the photos come out better! Where is it from again?

Its from Hangar 18 Miniatures. Specifically this is the A2-sized "Flame" backdrop.

They shipped this thing out super fast, too. Ordered it and a size 0 Raphael brush and got it in 2 days! (shipped from Colorado, no less!)

Nice! I've been considering this, and it can be used in conjunction with backdrops. I know sometimes people make their own light boxes (or what I've done till now, just hold a light or two really close to the mini ) but it seems quite handy coming in a package.

Holy hell man, I don't really know what they are but they look really really cool! :-) like really cool!! love the fades and colours used, the way you have gone about them all is really indicative of how good you are as a painter to process each mini on it's merits and bring them to the fore! really nice stuff, looking forward to more as usual

@RT: thats a neat little KS. Id consider it, but unfortunately its just a little too small to use this new backdrop in. Had I gotten the smaller version it would have probably worked. Looks solid, though. I like the LED bar lighting.

@nerd: Many many thanks!! I dont know much about the game, but its called Dropzone Commander. Planning on getting a few games in with RT during Adepticon, so Ill have a bit more to say on it after that

===================

Sooooooo.... im an idiot and ended up ordering the wrong kind of paint- Rather than the lovely Liquid Gold, I ended up with a bottle of the regular bleh vallejo acrylic gold. Whats worse is that I paid way more than I should have. Guess thats what I get for not reading what it said on amazon :/
So the ACTUAL paints are on order from the Warstore (rather than amazon). in the mean time, I'm slacking off a bit and messing with random other projects around the shop.

One thing was to do a base swap on some of WMs Scorpions.
Commander Culln got the fancy Typhon display base as well as a snazzy new cape.


While Typhon got the old Culln base.



I did get a little further on the ECs. After a wash of SWM Amethyst, the color seems to have taken a pretty nice deep reddish purple tint that I really really like!
Other than that, the metals and black areas are blocked out. Im still mentally plotting out the crazy slaaneshi freehand bitz, so nothing on that front yet.



In unrelated news, Its cold here now! We finally have snow (yay), but bleh... Im already tired of it
Think the windchill is in the negatives again...

I've done the exact same thing on amazon before - ordered a green minitaire paint and ended up with a slightly different one than I'd meant to, which of course made it useless for the task I had in mind . Their site isn't set up very well for that kind of thing, imo.

The removable display base is a good idea! And that cloak is indeed snazzy

Did the sword hilt break off (again)?

I guess so, WM... ergh... no idea when or where it did. :/
Dont worry, though. Ill patch it up before I turn it over to you

I think the EC color came out nicely. Much better with the wash.

Sooooooo.... Minor Technical issues here at the workshop.
For whatever reason, the internet here decided to take a vacation this past week, leaving me out of touch with the rest of the world. I mean, I have my Kindle with free 3G, but damn. You ever tried to use one of those things to go on a site with images? Nooooot a pleasant thing!

So where am I at... Lets see...
First of all, more DZC stuff I finished this week. This time, its infantry.

Firstborns (basic Infantry):


And Braves (elite Infantry):


These are the last of the models now, so at this stage its just some work on the display boards! Currently I have the first few base dirt colors on it, and Ill pop some progress pics on it later once it has some more done (probably tomorrow). Ran out of my main dirt color, so Im changing it up a little, but I think this is an acceptable break from the scheme. The Tablescape tiles have a different sort of texture compared to my bases, so I'd have to paint them different anyways. Initial results are pretty promising


Next up, the paint I've been waiting on came in for the EC's. Pure Vallejo Gold. Very cold, very sharp. I also figured out how to add in some of the pink I used on the earlier Noise Marines.
Heres where they're currently at:




At this stage, they are probably a bit more than half done. Need to highlight the primary armor and the gold, then its off to the fleshy colors (to be like Daemonette skin) and the silver metals. And the bases of course! Really the hardest parts of the painting are complete, so it shouldn't be too long before these guys are ready to profane the Emperor's name!


Finally, I had gotten into an assembly kick on Wednesday, so I set to the next two projects on the bench: Calgar + Honor Guard and a squad of Flash Gits.
I really have to hand it to GW... Their new kits are well executed. Calgar and friends look really sharp in Finecast (actually had to edit that after typing "Finecrap" ). Plus, they're super light compared to the metal ones, meaning easy assembly and hopefully no chipping!
Then the Flash Git kit is absolutely awesome. Very characterful and customizable, and I LOVE how easy it was to build them up with wild-looking guns! I'll be starting on these guys after the ECs and DzC Display board are completed, so stay tuned!

Till next time, guys! Thanks for reading

The (tiny) infantry look good!

So here's where I get to tell you a secret I've been waiting to reveal . The Braves are actually the normal infantry, and the Firstborns are the elites . I actually like the scheme you've chosen that way, and since you were headed off that way on a roll and I loved the look, I didn't want to break the news until you were done . I think the Firstborns look "flashier" which is perfect for elite infantry! They are also close combat infantry, so the white (not blending in) works great, and makes them stand out / look more badass, imo. So great job there

Regarding the board, if you need to get replacement red in (or have me send you some) that would be no problem - I'd rather do that than have it not match! If you think the replacement looks good, that's great too, just wanted to offer rather than have you do a lot of work on something that doesn't match! Speaking of this, are the bases on the Braves the same as the Firstborns? The two pics look different, but I think it's just your camera again (the Firstborns look nice and red like the bases on the other models, so I'm guessing that's the "real" color).

Can't wait to get these back from you, you have done such a fantastic job! And of course looking forward to seeing the display board, that's the last thing

Well played, well played...
But HA! I knew you'd say that, so it was part of my plan all along! Bwahaha! [/evilgenius]

<.<''

Well, they're different, at least, and thats what I was aiming for, I guess xD

Anywho, the bases are all the same, yes, and they all match the tank bases... Goddamn camera xD
As far as a replacement red, I dont think that's necessary. Even if I did have it, the color progression would be different on the boards just because of the texture. I got the base color right, and thats the biggest part of the scheme. At this point its just a lot of light airbrush blends and dustings of other weathering powders. I think it'll look close enough all the same.

Very happy to see you're pleased with the progress. Hopefully these guys serve you just as well on the tabletop!

Alright, sounds great then . Can't wait!

Nice work Ramos.

I like the pink flame additions to the ECs, especially on the backpacks.