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.

@Azazelx: Thanks! Actually you don't have to paint the minis to play those boardgames, but you do need to assemble them. At least you can try out the game then if you are a slow painter like me! Of course painting does improve the play experience greatly...

Well, it took longer than I hoped due to being swamped with other stuff to do over the holiday weekend, but the Hammerhead is all done! Here's how it turned out:



I feel like I did okay, although the photo of Longstrike didn't turn out that great. My freehand is improving, but not a lot, and I still struggle to paint yellow over darker colors. The letters on the side of the gun spell Fury (I loved that movie!). I am happy with how the camo came out, and I'm really happy with how my Longstrike figure looks (at least in person). He wasn't as hard to paint as I thought he would be. Maybe in 8th edition 40k Hammerheads will actually be good and I can run this thing as a Hammerhead. Currently, I don't think I've ever run a Hammerhead, but rather just a Sky Ray. Speaking of the Sky Ray, I do intend to get started on that turret soon to make this thing truly complete. Feel free to vote for these pics in the Dakka gallery (thanks in advance! ).

Next up, I will most likely get started on a very daunting painting project. Next month's painting challenge is Legendary, and I've got a Primarch who definitely fits that description...

Excellent work on the Hammerhead. The camouflage is brilliant, and the freehand really sets off the piece.

EDC

Nice! I've missed quite a few updates to this blog apparently -- you've been busy! I really like how your dark angels turned out and that hammerhead is great. Love the yellow lettering against the camo.

That Hammerhead has finished up real nice! The Tau marking on the barrel and elsewhere on the tank add quite a lot to it, despite being fairly subtle, and the camp is quite effective.

On the boardgames, yeah I know you don't have to paint them.. but I kinda do. At least partially to get started. Call it OCD. I've been playing Gorechosen with proxies at least, and have started painting a set of proxies before I start on the proper guys. Need to get back into the Khorne-Groove first...

@EDC: Thanks!

@brush: Long time no see, friend! Thanks for the kind words!

@Azazelx: Thanks! I'm surprised myself at how well the camo ended up working out. It's incredibly simple to lay out, but it has ended up looking better even than I had hoped. I look forward to seeing your Gorechosen minis in your blog sometime!

I've started on the big Smurf himself, Rowboat Girlyman, I mean Roboute Guilliman! Here's where I'm at so far:

All I've done is basecoat the ground on the base, put a coat of Celestra Gray on the torch flames, and basecoated the armor in Retributor Armor and shaded it. I'll be layering the torches up to white and then adding progressively darker flame colors similar to how I did the flames on my Bloodthirster, after which I'll do the metal of the torches themselves. The gold on the armor will get a drybrush of Golden Griffon, after which I'll start the arduous task of filling in the blue around the trim (which might take a while). I'll also get started on the Emperor's Sword as well. Guilliman may be the most challenging model I've ever attempted due to sheer amount of detail. Let's hope I'm up to it. Breaking the model up into smaller areas to paint simultaneously may help me finish quicker and keep me sane. Wish me luck!

More progress on Mr. G:

I've pretty much finished the blue and gold parts of the armor, other than perhaps some touchups on the highlights. That's the really hard part done; now I can get some of the details, starting with the white Ultramarines symbols.

Here's where I'm at on his base:

This has to be the busiest base I've ever tried to paint. So many little bits of debris strewn all over it. All I've painted so far is the dirt, rocks, and skulls, plus I've painted the torch flames in white. Now I need to finish the flames so I can get started on the metallics (since the torches are made of, well, metal!).

In other news, I just got a package I had ordered from GW. I got a base for that Forgefiend that was in the big lot of Chaos stuff, as well as a set of Dark Angels Accessories and the Finecast banner bearer (since I love the model). The other item in the package was a set of Vespid Stingwings for my Tau army. Vespids are looking pretty nice in 8th edition, so I figured it was time for me to get a few (plus I love the models). When I paint them, I'll probably try to make them look kind of like Geonosians (seen in Star Wars Episode II). That way, they will be distinct from my Kroot as well as my regular Tau, although the guns and armor will be blue to tie them in with the rest of my Tau forces. This will all have to wait a bit, as I've got lots in the queue ahead of them.

With just one week left until 8th edition drops, I'm already planning what I'll do once I get my hands on the Dark Imperium box set. I'll probably postpone all of my current hobby projects in favor of doing everything in that box. Hopefully I can finish Guilliman before then, but I will finish him first regardless. Regarding the Primaris marines, I'm already brainstorming ways to customize them a little and make them look more Dark Angels-y. Some of them will probably get some custom shoulder pads from the accessory pack, and I might swap out the Primaris Captain's sword with the sword from that kit. I'll know more about what I can do when I have the set in hand, so until then I'll not worry too much about it.

Looks like a fun project!

RG looks good so far. All that gold must have been a bear to paint.

Yeah, Bobby G is coming along really nicely. From what I understand, the Primaris are fully compatible with heads and shoulderpads, so there should be a fair bit of leeway to DA them up right there with DA sprues, upgrade sprues and Forgeworld stuff.

Looking forward to seeing how yours come up. I'm going to update my Dark Angels soon(ish) to 32mm bases and finish the many DV DA I have before I do anything with my Primaris, so in the meantime I'll just be thinking about how to allocate them.

Interesting that you just based the whole thing gold. Looking pretty good.

Best of luck getting him done. I really need to start building mine.

@Aetare: Thanks, it sure is!

@Josh: The gold was actually the easy part since I based the whole model in gold. I may need to go back and touch it up in places to make it really pop, but I'll probably leave it as I'm okay with it now.

@Azazelx: Thanks! I recently saw evidence that unfortunately the shoulder pads are not interchangeable, at least on the starter set Primaris marines, because they are monopose minis kind of like the Dark Vengeance ones. Oh well, I've still got some stuff to bling them out with at least a little. I look forward to seeing some of your own Dark Angels!

@Nevelon: Thanks! If starting with gold was good enough for Lord Duncan Rhodes, it's good enough for me! And yes, you really should do yours too, being as you're more of an Ultramarines guy.

Another update, but this time the changes are somewhat more subtle. I've gotten all the basecoats down on Guilliman's armor and I've finished the Emperor's sword:

To be honest, I may need to add a glaze or something to the sword to blend the colors a little better. Blending is probably the only part of my painting skillset that is perhaps as weak as my freehand. Next to do on the armor is to shade the details such as the silver metallics and purity seals, as well as the scrollwork (like where the shoulder pad says "Guilliman").

The base is coming along nicely too, with the only part yet to be basecoated being the dead Chaos marine:

The torch flames are nearly there; they will look better once I finish the flames and paint the metallic parts of them. I'm probably going to go with Black Legion colors as the dead guy, since in Rise of the Primarch Bobby G was killing a lot of those guys.

My FLGS is having a release day event on Saturday, so I'm already putting together a couple of lists to try for my inaugural games of 8th edition. I'm definitely going to be running Dark Angels as they are still my primary army (despite me having much more success with my Tau over the last year). My Deathwing termies will finally get off the shelf and into my army bag for the first time in a long while. It'll be nice to have a good reason to paint them (but unfortunately not before Saturday).

You painted the blue inside all that filigree? That's insane.

Be sure to post your impressions of 8th Ed!

Awesome work on Bobby G so far. Love what you'very done with the sword.

EDC

Roberto is looking good, and I agree with EDC that sword is great.

@Josh: Yeah, it was kind of insane, but it may have actually been easier than trying to pick out all the trim after painting all the armor blue. Duncan Rhodes did a video about doing it this way (one of the Tip of the Day vids), and as you can see it works. And be assured you will hear about 8th edition right here in this blog!

@EDC: Thanks! I'm starting to like the sword more myself. I wasn't sure I'd done well on it at first, but it's growing on me.

@Yorkright: Thanks!

Another update, but unfortunately not about Guilliman. I haven't made any progress on him lately due to being tired from work yesterday and helping my brother move today. I may not get any more done on him before Saturday. Anyway, I've assembled some more stuff. First, we have a Company Ancient (banner bearer):

This guy will be fun to paint. He may rise to near the top of the queue after Dark Imperium, because Ancients are going to be good in 8th edition it seems.
Next up, here's a new Dreadnought:

Dreads are also looking solid in the new edition. Unlike my other one, this one's weapons are not glued on (I still kick myself about the other one) so I can run multiple configurations. I love all the DA bits from the Ravenwing Accessory sprue, lots of them are good on Dreads!
Rounding out the Dark Angels portion of this update, some Devastators with Multi-meltas:

The reason they look kind of crappy is because they were in the used minis bin at my FLGS. Hence all the mold lines and stuff. They were missing their left shoulder pads, so I put some of the ones from the DA Accessory sprue on them.
Finally, some Tau Vespid Stingwings:

These guys are going to be fun to paint and play with. The Strain Leader was leaning back badly on his slotta tab, so I cut that off and put him on some rocks.

Anyway, hope to have more to show on the Primarch soon!

Bobby is coming along nicely, but it's nice to see the DAs back to the fore. I've got the original version of that DA Ancient, back from when he had a name - Brother Bethor. The finecast version you have there has a kick-arse banner, though.

@Azazelx: Thanks! It's nice to bring the Dark Angels back to the fore as they are still my primary army despite all around better performance on the tabletop from my Tau. I really do look forward to working on Brother Bethor (thanks for the name BTW! ).

Well, what a momentous day it has been for 40k players around the globe! 8th Edition 40k is finally upon us; the waiting and speculation has come to an end. My FLGS, Magelings Games in my hometown of Columbia, Missouri, had a launch day event all day. 3 separate 2000-point games, with a random raffle for nice prizes for lucky players (including one Start Collecting box each round!). No, I didn't win anything, but who cares? I got to pick up my new swag that I preordered, so here are the "pics or it didn't happen", taken right at the store with my iPod Touch:

As you can see, I got the Dark Imperium box set as well as four of the five Indexes. This will allow me to play any model in my collection. I thought about buying Xenos 1 even though I don't play any flavor of Eldar or Necrons, but decided to save the money.

I ran a different Dark Angels list in each game. For the first one, I ran a combo of Deathwing and Ravenwing. Here's a picture of the models from that list:

I know, I know, I need to paint my gak. I got matched up against an Eldar player, who was running a couple of squads of Dire Avengers, some Striking Scorpions and their matching Phoenix Lord, a couple of Farseers, 3 Falcons, some Rangers, and a squadron of 3 Vypers. I ended up taking more drops and going second, but I siezed! I won't describe the whole game, but I ended up winning basically because of First Blood. We only got like 2 or 3 turns in due to having to look stuff up all the time, but that was everybody all day (I don't think anybody made it the full 5 turns all day!). It was a casual event and not a tourney, so nobody minded. In the second game, I swapped out the Deathwing for some Greenwing, including Azrael, Ezekiel, a Tri-las Predator, some Devastators with Lascannons, a couple of Dreadnoughts and some troops as filler. My opponent for that game was also playing Dark Angels, and was also running Azrael and some Dreads, as well as a solid Deathwing contingent including Belial. I ended up losing that one due to time, but given another turn or two I probably would have turned it around as I was only one point down (game was kill points). In Game 3, I ran Deathwing and Greenwing with Azrael again, as well as Belial and plenty of Termies. My opponent was running a Tyranids army including a couple of Hive Tyrants, the Swarmlord, a Broodlord, 2 Carnifexes, Old One Eye, a Trygon, a unit of 3 Warriors, a blob of 30 Hormagaunts that did the tunnel thing with the Trygon, and 20 Genestealers. Once again I was going second, and once again I siezed. This changed the game tremendously, as it allowed me to drop my Deathwing and murder the Genestealers, as well as annihilating the Swarmlord in a hail of Lascannon fire. I also got all 3 Deathwing units into close combat (using a Command Reroll to get the Knights in). My opponent had some really crappy luck on his own turn, as he failed a couple of crucial charges (one of which would likely have been the end of Azrael since I had positioned him poorly). I ended up winning, but it was really all down to a healthy dose of luck on my part. That Seize, like I said, was probably the difference in that game, as had my opponent gone first, I would have gotten badly mauled on the first turn.

My takeaways from today's experience:
-Azrael is almost a must take for Dark Angels. He allows you to build a nice little mobile firebase, giving all your weapons within 6" rerolls to hit and providing a nice bubble of 4++ goodness. The +1 Command Point is almost an afterthought.
-If you want to play Deathwing, Belial is probably a must take. Again, he provides a nice bubble of rerolling for Deathwing units. I think he's best used by deepstriking with a group of shooty Termies so that they can reroll their guns. All shooty Termie units should drop inside his bubble if possible.
-Deathwing Ancient is good, but I played him poorly. He is probably better riding in a Land Raider with some Deathwing Knights or something, as if he deepstrikes with some other guys and they get their charge, they will charge right out of his +1 Attack bubble unless he somehow makes an even longer charge to reach combat himself.
-Tyranids are completely bananas now. That list I faced would have ripped me a new one if I had not gotten that lucky 6 to seize the initiative against it. I think we're in for a big shakeup in the competitive meta. Orks are looking good as well!
-It was really awesome to see units on the table that you normally never saw in 7th. Old One Eye, any kind of Deathwing, Land Raiders, Predators, non-flying Hive Tyrants, Eldar Falcons, and many more obsure units that many of us had forgotten existed look to perhaps become mainstays of lists. And that is a good thing from both a gameplay and hobby standpoint!

Overall I'm looking forward to trying new things in 8th, and I have high hopes that it will be an even better gaming experience than 7th has been. Soon I hope to begin painting my Dark Imperium miniatures. When I do, you'll see it right here. Stay classy, DakkaDakka!

Well, I just couldn't leave the new set alone. The first squad of Intercessors is already assembled, and the second squad is already half done as of when I'm writing this. Here's a pic of the first assembled squad:

So far I am really liking the quality of the sculpts. On a couple of the other squads, there is some repetition with the exception that the heads can be posed differently, so no two are exactly alike although they are mostly the same. This is mainly because the sprue they are on is repeated in the box. There are a few mold lines, but nothing too bad. I'll probably look them over again before I prime them in case I missed any.

For those who may be curious or haven't seen a similar pic, here's a size comparison of a standard Tactical Marine with a bolter standing next to an Intercessor Marine with a bolt rifle:

As you can see, the Primaris marines are big dudes. This is part of the reasoning behind another purchase I made while I was at the FLGS yesterday: a can of Caliban Green spray. Normally I hate to pay GW prices for spray primer, but for something like this where I want the color to match exactly, it's worth it. For plain black undercoat, I'll stick with Rustoleum. I also had bought some other paints, including the new Death Guard Green and others that will be used when I get around to painting all the Death Guard models from the box set. I also needed to pick up a replacement pot of Khorne Red since mine dried out, and some extra Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade because I was almost out of those.

I really need to get back to painting Guilliman, but I'm really enjoying putting the new guys together. Regardless of what else happens, I'm going to finish him before I touch the new models with a brush (although I may prime them as soon as I get a break in the hot humid Missouri weather because such breaks are few and far between this time of year).

The Primaris marines look great. The only thing I'm disappointed in about the starter set ones is that I thought we'd be able to swap out the shoulder pads and heads. It sounds like heads might still be doable, but not shoulders?

@Azazelx: Thanks, they are great sculpts, truly some of GW's best. And you are correct; the shoulder pads are molded into the arms or torsos, so you'd have to be a serious expert to replace them. Heads on the other hand would be relatively easy, but fluffwise I don't think I would (that's just me though, don't take it as gospel).

Update: I've made a bit more progress on Roboute Guilliman, but nothing particularly photogenic. He's about 80-85% done, really just some highlights left and some stuff to do on the base. As for the Primaris Marines from the new starter, here's a pic of where I'm at with them:

That's all of them assembled! Once I got into a groove, I couldn't wait to get them all built! I did leave the Inceptors off of their flying stems for now, as otherwise priming them would be a problem. I actually did manage to bling out the Captain and Lieutenants with some Dark Angels stuff, so here's a pic of just those guys:

I took some of the backpack icons from the Company Veterans kit and put them on. I think they work well and really make them look more like they belong with the Dark Angels. I also put a couple of other random decorative DA bits on them (one is in the back of one of the Lieutenants and can't be seen in the photo) to make them look unique. I can't wait to start painting these guys. The good news is I may have a break in the weather soon so I'll break out the primer and get them ready soon. As I've said, though, I'm going to finish Guilliman first.

Hope to have more to show soon!

Very cool, Zerg - the DA parts look the business! I'll do a bunch of dry-fits once mine are here, but I look forward to you and others leading the way so I can learn from your successes.

I managed to do a grocery run today and picked up some green sprays for my own upcoming DAngels. Still waiting on my DV, though. It seems to be in limbo bouncing around Europe right now.

@Azazelx: Thanks! I'm happy with how they look too. As I've said repeatedly, I look forward to seeing your Sons of the Lion get painted!

Well, I'm finally ready to call the Primarch finished. It's been one hell of a painting challenge for me. Here are the photos for Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the 13th Legion of the Adeptus Astartes:



To be honest, I'm actually feeling a little flat about how he turned out. I think I could have done better given more time, but I'm frankly sick of working on this same model and ready to move on to other projects (like Dark Imperium, next in my lineup). To be fair to myself, this model has a high degree of difficulty and is definitely not for the faint of heart or lacking of skill. I think I did well to even get him to this low standard. So really, I guess I'm satisfied. I can always return to it later (much later...) and fix it up properly. Feel free to throw a few votes down in the Dakka gallery for these pics.

In other news, I have now gotten all of the Death Guard minis from Dark Imperium assembled:

These guys are going to be fun to paint. I've never painted anything Nurgle-related, so it'll be an adventure. I did buy a bunch of paints specifically for these guys (including the new Death Guard Green), so I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

The first batch of the Primaris Marines from Dark Imperium are already primed in Caliban Green, so I can get going on those right away. First up will be an Intercessor squad, so look forward to seeing that right here!

One way to improve Guilliman that nobody seems to do is use maybe some stirland mud texture paint to fill the gap around the basing that he's on. It will definitely make the base less unnatural looking I think as there wont be a ring of flat nothingness around it. Its slightly out of focus (I think, idk) so I can't judge 100% on the paint job, but its at least tabletop quality and it looks quite good if you ask me.

Papa Rowboat is looking pretty good Zerg. You did him justice.

Looking good Zerg. I'll echo the comments that a bit of texture paibt/sand will improve Bobby Green by removing that void.

You've been building like a machine, looking forward to seeing you get all these dudes painted.

How did the LR perform in the games you played?

EDC

Nice work. Lots of fiddly details on the big guy. Looks daunting to paint. Bit scared to start on mine. Nice to know there is life on the other side.

@Don Savik: Your suggestion has merit. I thought of doing exactly that, although I wasn't about to run out and buy a pot of Stirland Mud just for that model (I don't have any use for the stuff otherwise; it's probably my least favorite of the texture paints). I do appreciate the kind words about the paintjob!

@War Kitten: Thanks!

@EDC: Thanks! I've only tried the Land Raider once in 8th, and it actually did okay, but not great. Mostly it kind of intimidated my opponent, who didn't really want to waste shots on something that tough. I'll have to play it again to give it a real test.

@Nevelon: Thanks! Yes, the model is incredibly detailed; not for the faint of heart. I'm sure you could do better than I did, especially given that Ultramarines are your thing. Bobby G is my only Ultramarine model to date, and I have no plans to start an Ultramarines army any time soon.

Well, I'm finally getting some actual paint down on my Primaris Space Marines. Here's my first WIP shot of my first Intercessor squad:

I've actually already shaded and edge highlighted the green armor, although it is very subtle. I'll add another edge highlight to the sharper edges later. The only other major colors I've yet to add are black for the rifle grips and armor joints, and Leadbelcher for the metallic parts. I'll get those down very soon.

In other news, my crazy purchasing spree for this month continues. I finally picked up my first Techmarine while I was at the FLGS for a game last Thursday:

I've left his servo harness off so that I can paint it more easily. I actually had a couple of spare servo arm bits left over in the kit, so I'm thinking I might just kitbash a bike Techmarine as well. The Ravenwing accessory sprue comes with a Techmarine shoulder pad and head, as well as a chestpiece that looks okay for one. I just happen to have a couple of spare bikes since I never did finish my Libby conclave project.

Also while I was at the FLGS, I noticed a box of old-school metal Plaguebearers. Since I'm starting Nurgle, I went ahead and picked them up, for the same price as the plastic kit. Here's a pic of them on their bases after cleaning them up:

I love old minis, so finding these guys was great! I'll need to get some of the newer ones at some point as well since I need an instrument and icon, but now when I do I can run a blob of 20!

I've also got a Venerable Dreadnought kit coming in the mail. Definitely looking forward to putting that together, as Ven Dreads are awesome in 8th edition. That's all for now, hoping to have another WIP shot of the Intercessors soon.

Nice haul there, Zerg. The Primaris are off to a great start as well!

@Azazelx: Thanks very much!

Small update today. I've gotten a little bit more done on the Intercessors, so they are pretty much ready for some shades on the details:

I rotated the models different ways to show all the metal details as well as other cool details I found while I was painting (like the little com device and screen on the Sarge's left glove). These may be some of the better detailed of GW's plastic minis ever (not counting the Triumvirate characters).

I've got my first actual 8th edition 40k tournament coming up on Saturday. I'm going to use a bunch of the Primaris marines for that. Hopefully I'll have this squad mostly done before then.

Looking good so far. Those new Marines are really nice. Thankfully, my complete lack of interest in 40K is preventing me from spending any money on them.