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@Nev: Thanks! I'll look for some free software for touching up photos. Probably my only option with this cheap camera.

@Josh: Bit late for that now, but when I do the second batch of Assault Intercessors I'll see what I can do about some photos of each step.

Progress continues, a bit slowly perhaps but better than nothing. The Assault Intercessors' armor is done and most of the other colors are blocked in and ready for some shade love:


The Penitent Engine is pretty much all done except for some shading and highlighting on the gold trim plus a couple of minor details. I tried to take a photo showing where I made progress, but it came out really blurry and if I tried to hold the camera further away you couldn't see much:

The main progress was on the hoses connected to the guy's head; they are done now. I went with different colors to show different chemicals being pumped into this poor bastard to crank him up and make him crazy.

I'm definitely feeling better although it still hurts when I take a deep breath. I'm not going to be allowed to return to work until the 23rd (2 weeks after receiving the positive diagnosis), so I've definitely got some time on my hands. My main concern is running out of a couple of key paint colors, but I'm sure I could find other things to work on in that event. I'm definitely good for the two units I've been working on and I've got a bunch more Sisters that are primed up and ready for paint, so hopefully I'm good for a while.

Egads, man! Glad you are on the mend. Minis look good. Nice work on the PenEngine.

Assault inters are looking good in that green, keen to see more of them and the penitent engine.

Also glad you're on the mend!

Highlights on the Intercessors look good and I love that you put the different colors on the PenEngine cables, really makes a difference!

Hope you're getting better and to 100% soon!

@YWS: Thanks!

@Horde: Thank you for your support!

@Viterbi: Thank you, I am feeling much better now.

I managed to finish the Assault Intercessors, so here are the final photos:



With these done, I'm officially on the board for 2021! Now I can tick another box on my Indomitus checklist, still plenty of stuff left to go in that set. You may notice that the white balance looks much better in these photos; that is because I took Nevelon's advice and downloaded PhotoScape. It has a really easy (literally point-and-click) tool to fix white balance, and it can do a lot of other cool stuff besides. Once I delve more into it, I'm sure I can think of more ways to improve my photos.

The Pengine is coming along, just a couple more things to do for it and then I can call the Sisters of Battle Army Box done. Look forward to photos of the Pengine and a group shot of the whole box contents in my next post. It'll be nice to finally have all that stuff done; very satisfying to finish a whole set of something.

And as for my COVID-19 ordeal, it is over now. I feel completely normal. I'm gonna give it a couple more days staying home just to be on the safe side, and they won't let me go back to work until the 23rd in any case (has to be 2 weeks from getting my positive diagnosis), but by the grace of God I seem to have had it much easier than some other people (including some I know). I never thought I'd appreciate being able to taste my food so much! Thank you to everyone here on Dakka for your concerns and kind words; the response from my friends both here and IRL has been very heartwarming for me.

Those Dark Angels turned out quite nicely. Your drybrush and contrast technique looks to be really effective. Glad to hear you are on the mend-- Covid-19 is pretty scary.

Great job finishing the DA and good to know that the recipe is working out. I would find space marine armour very daunting, if I didn't use my metallics/contrast technique.

Good news on the full recovery and a good looking batch of DA.

Glad to hear your feeling better and I must say your photos are looking good!

@Josh: Thanks!

@Viterbi: Thanks! Contrast by itself doesn't really work on Marines IMO (having tried it myself that's kind of how I feel about it), but combining contrast with other things seems to work much better.

@YWS: Thank you very much!

@York: Thanks!

I put the finishing touches on the Penitent Engine this morning, so here are the final photos of it:


I'm satisfied with it, but not blown away. I really need to figure out something for future ones (or Mortifiers, which I will be painting as part of my larger army) to break up all the silver on the flanks and rear of the machines. Still, that's another model down, and with that the Sisters of Battle Army Set is complete. As promised, here's a group shot of the box contents:

I remember being super excited to pick up that box, and I couldn't wait to put everything together and paint it. Of course, as usual I didn't knuckle down and stay focused and it took way longer to get everything painted than it ever should have, considering part of the point of doing the Sisters with mainly contrast was to be able to put an army on the table quickly. But, at least I got it done and can call this project to a close. Now I can start working on all my other Sisters stuff.

Now that I'm off quarantine, I've been able to get to my FLGS for the first time in a couple of weeks. And I immediately picked up a new project for myself. Aliens: Another Glorious Day In The Corps. It's a cooperative survival game that, to me, compares very well to Space Hulk (which itself is derived from Aliens, so we've come full circle) and has the players controlling the heroes from the Sulaco trying to hold off the xenomorph hordes, rescue Newt, and escape Hadley's Hope alive. Aliens is one of my favorite movies of all time, so I pretty much had to pick this game up. The miniatures it comes with are incredibly detailed, and I've already put a bunch of them together.

These are the playable characters in the main game. From left to right: Lt. Gorman, Cpl. Hicks, Pvt. Hudson, Pvt. Vasquez, Pvt. Frost, Ellen Ripley, and Newt. Of course, these characters have to have something to fight...

I've assembled these four, and there are twelve more in the box still on sprues. The Xenomorphs are kind of a pain to put together, especially attaching their tails to their bodies.

In addition to the main box, I picked up the Ultimate Badasses expansion, which adds six more playable characters (Burke, Dietrich, Wierzbowski, Drake, Apone, and Crowe) and some additional mechanics to the game, as well as the Assets and Hazards pack which replaces some of the items represented by tokens (such as crates, sentry guns, and Facehuggers) with actual plastic models. I still need to come up with the other expansion, called Get Away From Her, You B***h! (my FLGS didn't have it and neither did their supplier, apparently, but they'll contact me if they get one in).

I'm honestly not sure how quickly I'll get stuck in with the Aliens models as far as painting. I'm actually thinking of doing the Marine characters for the March painting challenge, which, if tradition holds, will be themed on Space Marines. I'll probably need to watch the movie again just to get an idea for how everything should look before I start painting.

Nice work on those sisters.

One thing to do for the Pengine (and like models) is to use multiple metal tones. Like do the pistons in a much brighter silver, or the vents in a weathered darker tone. Help break things up a little.

I have the heroes of Aliens in metal from way back in the day painted. I forget who made them and for what game. Might be interesting to see what 20 some odd years and plastic does for them. You never need an excuse to pop that up on the screen for another watch. I’m kinda torn on making my son watch them. He’s not a big fan of horror movies, but they are classic. Aliens is more action horror, but I do like watching things in order, and the first movie is a straight up horror film. That actually holds up very well.

THe sisters turned out well, and the penitent engine will scare the out of anyone coming up against them.

Game over, man!

Congrats on finishing that Sisters box. They turned out well. Excited to see the Aliens minis. Awesome franchise.

@Nev: Thanks, both for the compliment and the suggestion on the Pengine. And you're definitely right about not needing an excuse to watch Aliens. That's one of my all-time favorite movies right there! Regarding the first one being a horror flick, it's probably just about the only horror flick I'll watch (because it's actually got a good story and not just gratuitous blood and gore).

@Theo: Thanks man!

@YWS: Thank you very much! I'm excited to paint the Aliens minis; I've already been looking over some YouTube tutorials for how to make the Aliens themselves look good.

Moving right along from doing the Sisters of Battle set, I've gotten started on my first Sororitas vehicle, a Rhino built from the classic Immolator/Rhino kit. I had actually started on this thing a while back just as a "proof of concept" for how I would lay out the yellow and purple on a vehicle, but now I'm going to actually get it fully painted. Here's a WIP of it:

The yellow hull is basically done other than some very minor touchups. I sprayed the hull with Wraithbone spray as a basecoat and originally painted the yellow with Yriel Yellow, and that's how it has sat for the last few months. When I came back to it, I decided that Yriel Yellow was a little bit too bright and gaudy and went back over the hull with Averland Sunset, and I think that's somewhat better (if perhaps too dark now). I then added shading with Reikland Fleshshade and edge highlighted the hull with Yriel Yellow. The purple was painted before I repainted the hull, which is why it looks kind of messy; I'll tidy that up probably as the next step. It's Xereus Purple, if anyone's curious. I'm also painting the Immolator bits for this model, but I will only be running this as an Immolator in casual play as it lacks the hull-mounted heavy bolter that the current Immolator kit has, plus it's not quite as tall (no giant stained-glass window).

In addition to the Rhino above, I'm continuing on with the Indomitus Dark Angels and painting the Primaris Chaplain. Here's where I've gotten on him so far:

He's got almost as much gold trim as a Chaos Marine (no "Dark Angels are heretics" jokes please), and plenty of other little details besides, so he'll be a decent challenge.

I also dug out a classic Chaplain model that I've had sitting on my desk for almost four years now and decided to paint him along with the Primaris guy. Here's a WIP shot of him:

Part of why I decided to do this model is because I actually think the Primaris Chaplain might be based on this very model. Both models have a somewhat similar pose, both have plenty of gold bling, and both have half their face replaced with bionics. This metal model is probably a 3rd edition sculpt, unless I'm mistaken, and I scored him on eBay back when I was putting together a Battle Company list for 7th edition. One thing I forgot to take a picture of is the backpack, to which I added a banner that I sculpted from modelling putty, by hand (the backpack had a bare banner pole on it). It didn't come out super great, but I'm happy with it for a first attempt. I guess a pic will wait until I actually get some paint on it.

More to come!

I had the exact same thoughts about the origins of that chaplain. The original has been tending to the faith of my battle company since 3rd, so he’s at least that old. And is the origin of Cassius.

If you need to add some hight and a HB to the immolator, just stick a heavy weapon sister riding on top.

Congrats on getting the sisters finished they look good! I never collected a lot of the chaplains back in the day, but have to agree they are very similar in design.

The yellow Rhino looks awesome. Bold colors, for sure. The old Chaplain rocks. Can't wait to see him next to his embiggened version.

Really cool seeing your color scheme on the rhino, good luck getting the purple finished!
And love both chaplains, you can hear the Primaris calling the old marine something like "short stuff" or "my little buddy"

@Nev: I figured you must have one of those, seeing as how you've been playing Marines (and 40k in general) a lot longer than me. No, that's not a dig at your age, either, I swear!

@York: Thanks!

@YWS: I chose yellow as my Sisters main color, so bold is the name of the game! The vehicle really exemplifies it though. And yes, there will be at least one comparison shot between the old metal Chappy and his Primaris counterpart.

@Viterbi: Thanks! Both for the compliment and the thought of a Primaris Space Marine calling a Firstborn "Little Buddy" like he's Gilligan or something!

About time for an update, eh? Work continues at a snail's pace on the Chaplains. Got a couple more colors blocked in on them, plus touched up some of the other colors:

Plenty more to do on these guys yet.

For the February painting challenge, the theme of which is "Showing Off", I decided to enter a squad of the biggest Space Marine showoffs of all, Space Wolves. Here's a WIP of them:

The gray armor is done except for some minor cleanup (which I'll do as one pass after I block in some of the other colors), plus I basecoated the shoulder pads and gold details. This Intercessor Pack is the one I got back in 2018 in the Tooth & Claw box set, so it'll be nice to finally have these guys all done.

Finally, I've made a little bit of progress on the Sisters Rhino:

I decided to do something different with the door emblems, going with silver for both the outer ring and the fleur-de-lys and filling it in with purple. I think that'll look better than my original idea, which was purple for the outside, then a combination of gold and silver on the rest.

In other news, I bought one of the new Storm Speeders the other day. I'll probably be at least starting the paintwork in subassemblies, as the cockpit and crew would be a real pain to paint if the whole model was already assembled. The model doesn't really need magnets as long as you're willing to make a couple of compromises as far as WYSIWYG goes, so I built it to be able to take all the options.

That's all for now, hopefully I have more to show soon!

The doors work really well on the sisters rhino, coming along nicely. Had a look at the Storm Speeders and they are cool minis, might buy one too in the future. Excited to see how yours turns out!

Rolling along. So to speak. All looks good!

@Viterbi: Thank you very much!

@YWS: Thanks!

Progress continues, slower than I'd prefer but at least it's something. The Space Wolves Intercessors are pretty much all basecoated except for a couple of very small details, and the Pack Leader's face. Here's how they're looking so far:

Next step will be to touch up the gray armor where I got sloppy, then it'll be time to get started on shades. Not much time left in the month, so I'd better get a move on.

No real progress to report on the Sororitas Rhino or the DA Chaplains, but just for funsies I started painting some of my other Sisters models. The original plan was to try to do a whole 5-girl squad in a day, but that plan fell through when I remembered that it's Double XP week on RuneScape, so I spent more time on the computer instead. Still, here's where I did get to on them:

All of the Contrast layers are down; pretty much all that's left to block in are the metallics and leather, which I use traditional paints for. Not that I needed yet another project, but these Sisters aren't going to paint themselves. I've got a ton of them that need primer, but the weather hasn't been cooperating (first it was ungodly cold, now it's too windy).

In other news, I've been gathering all of my Terminators together to see where I stand as far as putting together a full Deathwing list. Haven't put paint on any super recently, but here's a pic I took of the squad that's closest to done:

Haven't touched these in over a month, but they've been moved up the queue now that Deathwing are straight fire in the new supplement.

Finally, here's a pic of some random Terminators that don't have their own squad that they go with:

The six red ones on the left are unmodified Series 2 Space Marine Heroes models, including three with Storm Bolter and Power Fist, one with Lightning Claws, one with a Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, and one with an Assault Cannon. The two white ones in the middle are primed ones from my 7th edition Command Squad (orphaned since Apothecaries, Champions, and Ancients are their own separate units now). The rainbow colored ones on the right are based on the ones that come in the Space Marine Adventures: Rise of the Orks box game (which I got at my local Barnes & Noble). I kitbashed the models with extra Deathwing bits from my bits box to give me more useful loadouts and/or a more Dark Angels theme than the otherwise generic models would have. I might just try running an all-Terminator list just for the sake of the meme, assuming this pandemic ever ends and we can all get back to our lives.

Those sisters paint up nicely, hope to see some more coming along! And that's a lot of terminators, would be a fun army (probably not for the enemy) of all those 3 wound models slowly advancing

That Penitent Engine looks great Zerg, and congrats on finishing off the army box. It can be tough to get everything done and I feel you on that one with Indomitus.

Digging that yellow rhino too, good choice on the colours used for the door iconography, nice bit of contrast.

Also a man after my own heart with those termies, I've been getting an itch to paint them recently and I'm not sure why!

@Viterbi: Thanks! Haven't had many opportunities to game in 9th edition since the pandemic has pretty much shut down my local 40k scene other than the odd casual game (I've played exactly 3 games of 9th), but I imagine a full Deathwing army with all the defensive buffs they get would be pretty intimidating, although not terribly difficult to outmaneuver.

@Horde: Thanks! Maybe you're getting the itch to do terminators because they're actually good now, which is awesome!

Got the Space Wolves done:



Rushed them at the end, and oh boy does it show. At least they are tabletop standard and they do look okay from 3 feet away. They'll fit in nicely once I get a few more Space Wolves done, but Space Wolves are not a priority for paint at the moment.

Next month's theme for the monthly challenge is Space Marines, and I think I'll be painting the OG Space Marines, the Colonial Marines from Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps. Those will be fun, but could be pretty tough to make look good as they are smaller than most 40k models (and much more realistically proportioned).

Some good looking Wolves ZergSmasher. Good luck in the Unofficial Painting Challenge.

Cheers,

CB

Wolves look good. Looking forward to the Terminator army.

@CB: Thanks!

@YWS: Thanks very much! It'll probably be a while before I get all the terminators done.

I'm back, and I have progress to show. I didn't end up finishing an entry for the March challenge, as I just couldn't find inspiration to actually paint the Aliens models (not sure why, it's not like I don't like the source material or anything). I've back-burnered the Aliens stuff for now, as I've got more important things to work on. Such as this squad of Dominions that I actually finished almost two weeks ago but just now photographed:



As with most of my Sisters stuff, it's not going to win a Golden Demon anytime soon, but it looks okay from three feet away. I chose to do a mostly Contrast scheme on my Sisters so that I could paint them quicker, and I could do them quicker if I just focused better. So the concept is sound; I just have "hobby ADD" due to project overload.

And now for something completely different. Older members of the gaming community would probably recognize these right away:

This is a WIP shot of a Kzinti Battlecruiser (the red one) and a Gorn Heavy Cruiser (the gray one) from the Star Fleet Battles game system (a game from the '70s loosely based on Star Trek). I actually have the heavy cruisers from most of the other races in that game as well, but I haven't started painting them just yet.

More to come, as I've got a Sisters Seraphim Squad on deck as well as more Star Fleet Battles ships to paint. The SFB stuff is my entry for the April painting challenge, so it currently has priority.

Dominion squad looks good, great to see the army growing. And exited for the ships, that is something completely different.

Sisters look fine. I like the superior. Although if the doves are starting to flutter up, she really needs two bolt pistols. Kinda sorry I never got to work with the full kits, they look like a lot of fun.

So much nostalgia on SFB. That, Car Wars, and Battletech were the pillars of my high school wargaming. The rulebook might have been thicker then the yellow pages, but was the best organized ever. There was never a RAW/RAI argument to be had, just popping out obscure rules that you knew, and they didn’t. Like when you are in a tractor beam you can only shoot at the ship generating it, and not all the drones it just launched at you. Not that the Kzinti cruiser you are painting would know anything about that trick...