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So, since returning to the H H Hobby at the tail end of 2012, I've been buzzing from project to project with the glee of a madman in an axe shop. I initially started up several blogs for various forces, with grand intentions of painting gazillionty trillion miniatures in five minutes. That hasn't happened, but I have started a few different forces, with more planned. All the grey and bare metal makes me a sad egg, but I'm slowly starting to refine my painting skills, and pick up the pace. I'm a slow painter, but I've been developing some speed painting techniques, amend am starting to 'paint smart'. I thought I'd pull all my projects into one place, more to ensure I keep adding to it than to show off my mediocre minis, but if anyone else enjoys reading or looking, then that's a bonus. Feel free to chip in with ideas, critiques and stuff whenever you like. It reminds me I'm not just talking to myself again.

I initially started out with the idea of having two house 40k armies, and two house WFB armies. Since then though, I've been distracted by war machine, infinity and dust tactics. So that I don't implode under the weight of all the plastic, metal and resin, for 2014 I've decided to concentrate on getting one faction for each system painted, with the other done in 2015.

I suppose it would be sensible to have an index of sorts in this first post, so that's exactly what I'll do. Links will update as i get the blog together. Apologies if you've seen all this before - I thought it best to amalgamate all my blogs into one, so that I don't clutter up the Dakka pages too much.

40K

First off, I started with a homebrew vanilla marines force. The Nomadii Imperialis. I'm eventually aiming to have the entire first and second company, and I'm well on the way to that (probably sitting at around the 4500 point mark). 2014 is all about getting the emperor's purple plonkers cleansing the xenos scum with flame and Holy Bolter. You can catch up with them at this post: here.

I also have the beginnings of an Eldar force. Trying hard not to buy all the new stuff yet, because I have only begun test painting the first guardian, to see how they are going to look, and the bulk of this force is being saved for 2015, but you can have a look at the beginnings of Craftworld Melodiac here.

Those two armies should keep me plenty occupied for the next couple of years. Looking ahead, I'd like a mixed chaos marines force at some point, and I also like the idea of a guard platoon, but they are a ways off at the minute.

Fantasy

Fantasy was my first love when it came to miniatures. I had a teeny small goblin army, along with the huge monopose blocks of spears and archers for gobbos and elves from the 4th Ed Box. I've rebooted both these armies, and have them both underway.

Orcs and Goblins are my pick for 2014, and I've been using the army to experiment with dipping. I'm fairly pleased with the results, and am getting some early 90's white dwarf style effects. have pretty much all the models I need for well over 3000 points, and I want to see if I can achieve 2000 points of fully painted models by the end of 2014. Adventures in dipping greenskins can be viewed here.

High Elves, I picked up the Elves side of the IOB box, and added a couple of bits and pieces to it. I love the elves models, but they are damned time consuming to paint. I'm just going to take my time with them in 2015. Watch me swear at pointy eared gits here.

Infinity

I've been seduced by the awesomeness of Infinity models. Because infinity has a pretty low model count, I eventually plan on having a few factions, but for the next couple of years, I plan on getting my ALEPH and Tohaa painted up. I'm going for a pretty monochromatic style for ALEPH, with occasional bursts of colour on hair etc. I'm also going to use them for my first experiments with OSL. Because of the low model count, I'm really going to try and raise my painting game with these models.
Watch the omnipresent AI here.

Warmachine

I bought the Warmachine starter box on a whim, because the models looked interesting. I'm not aiming to create huge forces at this point. Just looking to get the starter armies painted up.

First up is Khador, and I'm going to use them to try and master weathering techniques. I like the idea of a battered, dirty, encrusted soviet style force, and again, this has a pretty low model count. I'll also be using some speed-painting techniques, so the force shouldn't take too long to complete. You can see my proto-rusties here.

Ideas are still stewing for the protectorate side of the box....

Dust

With Dust, I'm going pretty traditional, and again going for a bit of speed painting. For 2014, I'm aiming on getting axis forces done, in the traditional drab grey the Germans used in WWII. This force is however bottom of my priorities for 2014, so if anything doesn't get done, it'll be from here. Watch the WWII shenanigans here.

Tutorials

I have a few tutorials planned, though only one finished so far. I'll keep them below, and update as and when.

How to build cheap and solid magnetic movement trays.
How to make a cheap, extendable Xwing mat.
How to make 3d Xwing Asteroids.

Sorry about the initial wall of text. I'll be updating each section as and when I do work. I'm hoping it will make me feel like I'm making more progress. I've made a bit of progress in the last year or so, but I really want to kick on and do a decent number of models in 2014. Time to stop buying stuff, and get painting stuff!

The Nomadii Imperialis

This bunch of purple-power armoured nit-wits were what got me back into the hobby after spending many years away. I found a bunch of my old purple marines when moving house, and I swiftly got sucked back down the plastic crack pipe. I have ambitions to complete the first two companies of marines, including vehicles. I'm nothing if not over ambitious...

This was the first guy I completed, complete with lumpy whites:



I enjoyed that so much, I soon had a tac squad stripped of old paint and so began the frustratingly slow journey to having an army...




I was finding it quite frustrating painting so slowly, so I started batch painting. I'm doing the army in phases, and by the time phase 1 is done, I'll be able to have a small game. The majority of phase 1 is complete, with just edge highlights and gear to do.


Phase 2 is almost built, and ready for undercoating.


Phase 3 requires a lot more work (as well as a few more models). A lot of conversions are necessary, in particular, the removal of other chapter symbols, and the addition of vet gear etc.


So that's where the marines are at. I've written a lot of fluff, but that's for another post.

**Update 28th October 2013**

So a couple of friends and I are kicking off an accumulator campaign in January to get us painting up our armies. Only painted models allowed. We are starting with 500 points, and I'm playing my marines. I was feeling inspired, so I got a scout squad painted up:






Next up, I have a librarian to do as my HQ, followed by a 5 man assault squad, and a razorback.

***UPDATE - 07/01/2014***

As planned, Librarian is now done, along with the last couple of recycled metal space wolves to round out the first Tac squad:







Next up on the painting table is a Twin Linked Lascannon Razorback. Should be done in the next week or so.

***UPDATE - 09/01/2014***

So, I thought I'd better take a few pics of the pristine Emperor's pimpwagon, because I'm away to experiment with some oil washes and pigments, so it may well go downhill from here!





Update - And it did go downhill in some ways. Oil wash and soot not so good. Like the mud though:






And a family pic!


Assault squad next!

***UPDATE - 26/01/2014***

So, I've got the first 5 man assault squad done, and with it, my first real landmark - a game-legal 500 point force. Still a long way to go before I have something that I can call an army, but I have an expeditionary force, or security detachment or something.

My small Eldar force was bought before the new shinies came out. I always used to love the look of the Eldar. I just picked up a battleforce, along with some more guardians from flea bay. I'll be adding some fire dragons, some scorpions and some reapers to that, along with a crap-ton of jet bikes. The reason I want a second force, is so that any friends around my place can just pick up my other army for a game, without any fuss.

I love the Eldar aesthetic, but not so much the mish mash of colours on the battlefield. (though I'll contradict this with my high elves!) I think a futuristic army should be fairly uniform, so I'm planning on them being my ode to stormtroopers. Throughout the army, armour plating will be white, though helmets and undersuits etc will reflect the relevant aspect. Undersuits on the guardians are white though - I will have loads of them, so they need to be fairly quick to paint.

Incidentally, I suck at painting white, which is why I'm making myself do an army in the colour - if I don't improve after that, I never will!

Mostly finished Guardian of Craftworld Melodiac:


Big pile of greyness...


Anyway. Once I've finished my current batch of marines, I'll be showing these peeps some love.

Orcs & Goblins were my first love. There are just so damned many of them! I want to build up a massive army eventually, but I simply don't have the time to lavish them with great paint jobs. Since my last sojourn into the hobby, there have been a few speed painting techniques developed. I received a supply drop today, which included amongst other things, a tin of Army Painter Strong Tone. I'm going to experiment with it, and see if I can get to grips with dipping. I think Orcs and Gobbos are the ideal candidates for this type of technique. I'm hoping that I can get a unit done a month once I get things up and running. This army is important, because my wife is very interested in it, and says she'll give the game a go if she can play O&G.

First up comes the stripping of older stuff. I have a unit of night gobbos not far off 40, and I picked up the last couple I needed today from ebay. A groupshot....


First bath my goblins have ever had. Nail varnish remover is thorough... I'll be doing a little converting once they are clean - I want to avoid the duplicates looking two samey samey.


I've nearly finished a savage orc. He is my first experiment with dipping. I gave his flesh some highlights, as I like bright skin, and I figured the Strong Tone would dull it down too much. Night Gobbos will get brighter skin. I'm fairly pleased with how he turned out, though a couple of learning points for me. After the dip, the leather straps have become almost indistinguishable from the bone. I'll have to use another colour. Also, any tiny bit of white, that would generally be hidden by a wash, shows up, so a couple of touchups required.


A group shot of everything at the minute;


10 savages
15 Orc Boys
40 Night Goblins
20 Goblins
20 Night Goblins
32 Monopose Spears
32 Monopose Archers
Azhag (metal)
10 Spider Riders
10 Wolf Riders
5 Boar Boys
umpteen fanatics and a couple of shamans.

I also have a few miscellaneous squigs and herders, and old style doom divers. Not sure if they'll be used yet. Keen to add more minis, such as the Arachnarok, black orcs, and savage boar boys, but I'm not allowing myself to spend until I have at least 5 units painted. I'm also going to see if I can convert the monopose stuff to have a bit more character and fit in with the rest of the army.

Update: Next few Orcs are dipped, and I'm fairly pleased with the result for the minimal effort required:


Update (28/8/13):
First batch of night goblins are done, along with the savage orc unit:








In the next two months, I'm aiming to add a unit of spider riders, a unit of Orc boys, and the old metal azhag.

***Update - 31/12/2013***

Hey folks, finally finished some more greenskins. Again, I've been trying to speed paint, so the quality does suffer a bit, however, the flip side of that is I actually get stuff finished in a reasonable time! As always, any critique or criticism is always welcome. Apologies for the bad pics - I've switched my background to black, and it seems to be confusing my camera a bit.

First unit is the first half of a block of vintage night gobbos. I have a bunch of netters and stuff to add to bring it up to 40, but first half is done. Not overly pleased with the banner, and may revisit it when I have more time.

Cult of the blood moon:





Second unit is a bunch of spider riders from the battalion box. Didn't enjoy doing these fellas - far too fiddly and small. Not too fond of the sculpts either, but hey ho, they're done now.




Next up on the bench is another 20 plastic gobbos, another 10 savage orcs, and then my Arachnarok. Looking forward to the big spider - a bit of a reward after doing 90 infantry without a break... On the plus side, that's the army sitting at 500 points painted. A fifth of the way there!

Family photo:


***UPDATE - 9th February 2014***

More Savage Orcs!
So today I finished up my second batch of 10 savage orcs. I really liked working on these models, despite the speed-painting I was attempting to do. First few pics are of the new batch and their custom magnetic movement tray, and then some of the full unit. As always with speed painting, there are inevitable compromises to be made, but I'm pretty happy overall, and now have the first hammer of my greenskin collection done. Next up is the next 20 night gobbos, so I have a unit of 40 to use as an Anvil

New Batch:




Full Unit




close ups, showing all the mistakes...

High Elves

I'm going to contradict myself here. I stated I wasn't a fan of the Eldar multicoloured look. I think the same idea might work quite well on their fantasy counterparts though. Thus I've started the Rainbow Host. A High Elves task force if you will.

I started with the Lothern Sea Guard, attempting to give them a palette that reflects their surroundings. The quality of the Island of Blood sculpts blew me away.


I've nearly completed a 10 man unit of these now, and I'll be bumping it to a 20 in due course.


I've also begun work on a test scheme for the Swordmasters. They are far more 'traditional'. This is because of the fluff - they guard the white tower of Hoeth, so are dressed to match. Dragon riders will be mostly red. Phoenix guard, maybe purple and gold and so on.


Next up is an old school bolt thrower. Whatever scheme I decide on, will be carried on through the archers too. Kind of a ballistics corps.


And then on to the juicy stuff...


Again, I'll be trying to adapt the monopose models to be a bit more interesting.

Albion

There is a pretty cool fan-dex available, written by M4cR1II3n. You can download it it here.

I read it, and found it drew on a lot of myth and legen from my neck of the woods, so I thought I would try and put something together using non-GW minis. The first bunch I came across was Rackham. They had some stunning sculpts, but were OOP, and very expensive. I then had a look at some Celtos Minis. They are nice enough, but not available in nearly enough unique sculpts for unit sizes that warhammer needs. In addition, the samples I bought, the swords just looked plain lazy. Like they couldn't be bothered finishing them:


I wanted to start out with a unit of Swordmaidens. Eventually I came across Raging Heroes 'Blood Vestals'. These seem pretty ideal if I can find other minis that are of a similar scale (the Celtos females look too chunky beside them. I might get away with the males)


Red hair is going to be an ongoing theme with this army, so I'm currently trying to get a decent coppery red that doesn't look too cartoonish.


I also have an old school giant I'll be adding to the mix. (With red hair of course...)

Infinity

Hey folks. First of my shiny ALEPH finally done. I suck at painting smooth whites, so I decided to do my ALEPH white and black mostly. A kind of I Robot vibe, with greenish glowy bits. Forcing myself to do a whole faction in a colour I suck at will either make me improve, or ruin a lot of models! I figure the monochromatic look will contrast quite well with the occasional burst of colour on hair etc. So far, my attempts at OSL are pathetic, but you have to start somewhere huh?

Anyway, all criticism welcome:









Coming up in the near(ish) future:
Some Dakini Tacbots
Naga Hacker
Deva
Nessie Alke
Penethsilea
Maruts

***UPDATE - 26/01/2014***

The first of my tacbots have rolled off the production line to keep my asura company. The osl is still a bit meh, but I'd say there is a small improvement. Aiming to finish the other two by the end of feb.

Nice! I didn't get a chance to check it all out this go around, I'm supposed to be managing folk and I needed a break, which Dakka is good for at work! I'll be back later to read on! Like all the models I've seen so far!

Thanks! I really need to update the blog. I have a whole bunch of stuff to add!