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Those Kastelan robots look great! Like 'Robbie the robot' on steroids!

You double linked the BA army picture So we can't see a full link up of the robots...

But what I can see is awesome. Great stuff!

Your purple men from mars are downright awesome. Really sets them apart from the other ones i've seen.

I like the Kastallean robots a lot, just not the eye/helmet part, the rest looks great, but that one part turns it into a McDonalds toy to me.

Whoops, I did double link the BA army shot, here is the picture it was meant to be:



And also what will be my entry for the November Dakka (Unofficial) Painting contest:



@Paradigm: Very little on list 2 has been done, just the 'Speeder and Predator. But...I have put over 200 minis up for auction (mainly mantic and Space marines that I will never use)so that is one way of reducing the pile.

I do have a feeling to paint up a load of Chaos Cultists though.

Great stuff

Over the past week or so I got interested in Warlord (and Rick Priestley's) Beyond The Gates Of Antares game and as a result bought the starter boxed set, this consists of 20 odd Concord troopers and assorted drones vs 6 Ghar warsuits. The miniatures for the system are a mixed bag, and very much Marmite to most gamers (or Vegemite, or yeast based bread spreader of your choice). But I am a sucker for decent troops in HIPS so jumped at the chance of the boxed set.

Today I finished a test scheme for my Concord. The miniature is done bar a few touch ups, one of the benefits of taking pictures of your minis, and also tried some snow basing...





And a preview of some Ghar:





As ever, thank you for looking.

Sweet stuff. I think the yellow and dark work well together .

Looking good! The GoA stuff doesn't do much for me, but definitely suits your painting style!

Stuff looks awesome!

Very nice color choice for the Concords. It is also interesting to see how the darker main color makes the armor look a bit heavier, more like an armoured suit than the beige on the studio models. Your Ghars have nice poses. I guess with the spare heads (2 each) of the Ghar suits we can make some interesting headswaps for the Ghar outcasts (Fartok-style) and also use some for further base decorations.

Have you decided how to paint the Ghar eyes yet? The studio models have glowing eyes, but on the cover artwork of the game they have an insectoid, glossy black look which is quite cool. I think the latter if done well could be more intimidating. Maybe I will try that first. Vallejo Black is glossy anyway and I use that for undercoating. I prefer a metal tone like Necrons on the shells, scratched, battle-torn, dusty with only a few lighted areas in red and blue.

The Ghars could also look interesting using spray templates or fishnet stockings. I guess the Ghar heirarchy fluff allows for some interesting markings too. Like these shown on their dice bag.

Firts off, the BA and Ad Mech army shots look really brilliant.

I really like that grey and yellow scheme, very eye catching.

EDC

Thanks everyone.

@Paradigm: As I said Marmite! Am noticing that BTMG is really taking of in local circles in Coventry.

@Warhams:

I was thinking metallic for the Ghar as well, or possibly some kind of Ochre scheme, but metal with a few added colours seems like the way to go.

So faithful readers, shall I do a seperate blog for the BTGOA stuff as I am aware that there is limited interest in it? I am also wary to clog up the P&M blogs page with too many threads...so I think I am leaning towards keeping it in one place.

Keep it all in here! I may not be a huge fan of the design of the minis, but they still look good painted up!

Love the color scheme on your AdMech stuff, and those Blood Angels are pretty cool too. I don't really know anything about Beyond the Gates of Antares, but the minis look cool. Always nice to have something other than 40k stuff around to do, I imagine. Maybe one of these days I'll take a break from 40k painting and dig out some of my unpainted LotR stuff.

the ghar bots are the only GoA models I've really liked so far, looking forward to what you do with them.

Sort of glad they cancelled the kickstarter though, as I was very much in and enthralled by the great Mr Priestley, then they came out with exactly what you described a long time later 'marmite'.

I love those AdMech, The army shot looks fantastic. It'll be interesting to see how those Antares models look as you paint them up.

@ZergSmasher: They do say that a change is as good as a rest.

@Ignatius-Grulgor: Stay tuned.
.
@Azazelx: Thank you, it is a good feeling when an army comes together and look half decent.

Am really happy with how my BTGOA stuff is going...but the photos...the paint just looks globbed on

Got my first Concord Strike Squad done:



And also my first Ghar Battlesuit, I went with a kind of blue metal scheme...may change it to be more worn and weathered:





Also started work on the 2 metal minis you got with the pre-order boxed set, it is nice dealing with metal miniatures with some heft to them:

Kai Lek:



And the Ghar Outcast leader Fartok (sans battlesuit)



Adios

Looking good! The Concord squad definitely has a real hard sci-fi vibe to them, the bright clean colours and 2-tone scheme definitely calls to mind that genre and style.

The Battlesuit is good too, but to me it doesn't pull off quite the same effect. It kind of looks like it wouldn't be out of place in a Necron army or 40k as a whole, but doesn't (in my opinion) gel too well with the look of the other guys. Of course, that could have been deliberate to set up some contrast between the two forces, in which case ignore me! But personally I'd either go for a very shiny steel look or introduce some ceramic panels in a similar style to your Concord armour, just to nail the aesthetic the setting seems to be trending towards.

I am with you on that Para...the scheme is just a bit off on the Ghar. I may go back to the Ochre idea that I had earlier, I will give it a go on Fartok.

Psssst...when people say "hard sci-fi"...what do they actually mean?

Basically, hard sci-fi means less 40k/Star Wars style 'classic fantasy in spaaaace' and something more scientific/clean/'realistic' (as much as the term can be applied). So something like Mantic's setting for the most part, Infinity, BtGoA ect. It's kind of a nebulous description to pin down as everyone will have their own view of it, and it does often cross over with sci-fantasy sort of stuff .

For example, Star Wars as a setting is pretty much hard-sci-fi with its sleek stormtroopers and high-tech droids and big, shiny spaceships... but then you throw in the Jedi and the more gritty aspects like the outer rim 'frontier' sort of settings and the dingy and gritty ships like X-wings and the Falcon and it becomes something else.

But as far as painting goes, you'll want to aim for clean lines, lots of bright colours and the odd glowy lights and such to get the 'feel' right.

Your Concord schemes works well. Good work

The Ghar are not easy miniatures to paint I think, I havent seen a scheme for them that has fully convinced me. I think yours looks quite good, better than those already posted in the Showoff category on the Warlord forum (they are okay but not a 'That's it!' to me so far). My tablet is pretty dark so maybe that's why I like your metal and blue approach.

The green, red and blue dots could be too much. Maybe change the green?

I plan to paint my suits with no lights except for the generator thing on the back (with a subtle blue/white glow) and the eyes (either red or blue). Then add weathering effects like brown, rust or a bit of mud to give it character. I thought about cables, including 5-8 quite long guitar strings at the back, also maybe parts of vegatation or rubble so it looks like they were in combat action a moment ago. Another idea was a bit of OSL (I'm not a pro painter but I think that can be achieved with the help of tutorials) on the legs and the snow. I think the snow is a good, contrasting color to play with. Maybe add even a bit more to the base. I thought about 'lighting' the lower, out of sight parts under the shell with red or blue and paint the OSL on parts of the legs and snow. Same with the head lighting. Very subtle of course. These are a few thoughts I had, feel free to use any if you like them. I am currently working on my Bad Moon Orks so the Ghar will have to wait a few weeks.



Also you could try out large white, orange or otherwise coloured symbols over the metal carapace as it could look interesting. Like 'alien' cornfield circles or the symbols they have put on the Ghar dice bag.

The ochre idea sounds really good too.

Thanks gents, in the end I went with a slightly altered scheme on my Ghar and IMHO I think it looks better and fits the setting more. So the glowing green is gone, and in comes gold, I also added an Athonian Camoshade wash to dirty it up a little more:









Also got Fartok the Outcast leader done, I love this little guy standing atop his smashed Ghar suit like he has not got a care in the World.



Also knocked out some Concord drones:


And finally am nearing completion on my Exalted Deathbringer, he has been on the painting table for ages and it will be great to finally get him done. The skin and some metalwork are the main areas that need doing:



Until next time...

'Good work, new Ghar definitely look nicer and the drones and Khorne dude are very cool too.

Nice stuff all around! The new alien thing is good. Are there people inside those? If so neat that it's not a humanoid mech.

Those drones are perfect, very scifi, much wow.

Demon is cool too

The Khorne Blood Bound guy is looking good too

@GrimDork Yes, there are tiny dudes inside. They look like the Fartok miniature (who just lost his suit). Ghar are weak without their armoured shells. They conquer and enslave other races and are brutal and pure evil all along

The concept has some similiarities to these

Khorne dude looks boss. Very mean looking.

EDC

Thanks everyone.

@Grimdork: Warhams has hit the nail on the head, here is Fartok next to a Ghar Battlesuit, note the pipes and thinks on the back of his suit that he can connect when inside a battlesuit:





But they are not the biggest of Meks:



Here is all my Concord together:





I am pretty sure I can have the BTGoA starter set painted up in no time.

And if you are interested Grim Warlord offer all this for $80, or it is sub $50 online in the US http://yhst-12000246778232.stores.yahoo.net/ancococostar.html

Have finished my first unit of Ghar:





With Fartok:



Also did a little scene with some Deadzone scenery:

Ghar Sighted on Concord Prime:

Those definitely look the part now! Awesome stuff!

Although I now can't help but think your Concord scheme was picked with the intent of urban camouflage against conspicuously yellow door frames!

I continue to like your work. I perused your gallery, though, and saw that you hadn't posted my personal favorite shot of your Ghar paintjob here, so here it is: