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So after seven years, I’ve finally gotten back into 40K. I started playing back at the end of 3rd Edition/ beginning of 4th Edition when I was in high school. I had a group of close knit friends and we got into it in a big way. We all lived in the same neighborhood and we had enough cash working part time jobs that we could get some really solid games going, which we would do just about every weekend. But as much as I loved the gaming, what really captured my imagination was the hobby side of it. Painting was always very relaxing, and there are few things more satisfying than rolling up with a fully painted army. But at the end of high school we all went our separate ways and between not having my old group, and not having any free time at college I ended up completely leaving the hobby. In fact, in the course of college I lost my entire army (2500 points of DA). It’s probably still sitting in some locker in the bowels of the campus.

But thanks to a completely random occurrence I ended up recently getting back in to the hobby. I have an extremely fast paced and very intense job and had been looking for something meditative I could do after work for an hour or two to help decompress and unwind. I tried reloading ammunition, writing, and shooting but nothing really worked. Anyways, I was visiting home last Thanksgiving and found out that my brother (who is a senior in high school) had gotten into DnD in a big way with a group of his bros. Much like I had back in high school, he spends hours around a card table with his bros having a blast. The big difference though is that he didn’t have any models so they were using marbles and stones to convey heroes and monsters and what not. So I figured as an early Christmas present I could paint him up some monsters for him and his bros to use and hopefully improve their gaming experience a bit.

So naturally I went to the local GW store I had gone to back in the day and picked up a container of skeletons and the paints I would need (which was a pain because they had changed all the names of the paints, which I didn’t realize till I had spent several minutes looking in vain for bleached bone). Over the course of the weekend painting those models I fell in love with the hobby again. I’d finally found something meditative and rewarding I could do. Basically, it turned out to be exactly what I was looking for.

So here I am. I figured I would start up this blog for a couple reasons. I’m brand new to the community and back into painting after a long hiatus so I’m looking for feedback and advice. Having browsed the forums there is obviously an abundance of ability and knowledge so if anyone has any feedback, suggestions, or spears definitely let me know. I’m always trying to improve as a painter and am eager to hear your feedback. Eventually, when I get my army built and painted and I start playing games I’ll start posting battle reports. Expect me to update at least once a week and I’ll be posting stuff I’m working on or stuff I’ve finished along with any thoughts or ideas behind the army or model. But for now, I’ll start with my brother’s skeletons. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!



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So here are those skeletons. I only had a weekend to do them so I was looking something I could finish before I left. The basing is basically non-existent; didn’t have the time/resources, and I didn’t know what setting my brother would be using them in. Oh, and I primed them black because that is the primer I’m going to use for my nids. Wasn’t gonna buy white primer just for one group of models. Overall though, I’m glad I didn’t completely forget how to paint. Please let me know what you think and what I can do to improve!

Welcome back! Those bones need a wash. Try agrax earthshade. I'd also recommend thinning your paints some. try using a wet palette, they're easy to make a simple one and there are video tutorials on the net.

Thanks Squid! I agree, the bones certainly do leave a lot to be desired. Unfortunately though I left the skeletons with my brother. Next time I'm home I'll have to do a little improvement on them. I am planning on using a wash for the skin on my tyranids though. And thanks for the tip on the wet palette; I'd never heard of them before!

So, spent some time over the weekend and finally painted a small group of gaunts as a test for the color scheme I was going to use. I also got to do a bit of basing for the first time ever! For the paint scheme I ended up basically doing a Kraken theme with a couple small variations (shiny black claws/guns). I chose this paint scheme mainly because it’s my favorite paint scheme for them. One of my buddies had a kraken theme back in 3rd edition and I thought it looked phenomenal. I did a bunch of research on other color schemes but couldn’t find/think up anything I liked more. Although there are some very cool paint schemes out there, the kraken one also has the benefit of being relatively simple and easy to paint, which is pretty important when you are painting a whole tyranid swarm.

As for why I went to Tyranids instead of going back to Space Marines, I basically got tired of painting little dudes in power armor. Space marines are awesome, but I just don’t feel like they have the same variation between models like the Tyranids do. With Tyranids I can be painting a hormagaunt one day, or a Hive Tyrant the next. With space marines I always felt like I was painting variations of the same thing, and was always jealous of my buddying painting who was painting massive space monsters while I was painting bro in power armor number 35 (on a bike!). That and I just love the models. There’s just something appealing to me about running an army of space bugs.

As for the paint job itself, I think some things turned out well and some not too well. I’m pretty happy with the basic scheme. I like the scab red, washed with nuln oil, dry brushed and highlighted with blood red over the bleached bone washed with seraphim sepia. However, for whatever reason all my washes came out shiny. They only did this with this batch of models (the termagants are not shiny at all) and I’m not the biggest fan of that. It’s kind of like I was using inks instead of washes. I guess I just didn’t shake the pots enough. Has anyone heard of this happening? I’m also pretty happy with how the black on the claws came out. I mixed chaos black with high gloss varnish and got a shiny effect which was what I was going for. I kind of think the blood red edge highlights ruin the effect though. I don’t think I’ll be doing that on future models.

I’m also pretty happy with the bases. They’re pretty simple but I think they get the job done. The big three are warrior bases that I used to test using cork to make rocks. The only thing I would do different is put the flock on thicker so the rocks don’t show through and rip the tops off of the rocks on the hormagaunts so that they look more natural and less like cork. In the future I’m going to try to expand my basing to include stone floor ruins and water. But I’ll get there when I get there; still trying to figure out the basics. Oh, and I’m really digging the goblin green rim; it’s a nice throwback to my old army.

Now for things I’m not happy with. Quite frankly the eyes and teeth suck. I just straight painted the teeth white, which was a mistake. I think next time I’ll paint the mouth area black and just highlight with white so that I can actually get some definition to the teeth. Also, the eyes are pretty bad. I tried just putty dark angels green but ended up making a mess and looked kind of crummy. Does anyone have advice for painting small recessed areas? Lastly, I haven’t decided how I want to paint the vents and joints. I was thinking maybe an emperor’s children pink with a crimson wash but I’m not sold. Thoughts?

As always, I eagerly await your feedback. Please let me know what I can do to improve and what you guys think about the paint scheme. Thanks in advance, and I’m looking forward to your inputs!