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.

So after my post a couple of days ago in my normal random Plog, I've gotten a bunch of suitable options drawn from suggestions here, on my Wordpress blog, and from poking around my collection looking for cool stuff. I've decided to move the discussion and project updates here, since Painting December is going to be it's own distinct, time-limited thing.

 Azazelx wrote:

I've been thinking lately. My painting has changed focus a couple of times this year. At the start it was simply to "paint models and maybe get an army finished" with a hopeful goal of getting 365 models painted in the year - which I've never managed to do. It then shifted to getting my Gondor Army (for KoW, etc) completed, then the Moria Army was added to that hopeful focus. Then it shifted to getting things that were started (often years, or even decades ago) finished before starting new units and projects. I've been reasonably happy with the way most of it's all gone, but in a few weeks I'm taking some leave from work, so I'll have pretty much all of December off.

I thought it would be a nice thing to paint something new/different/interesting/cool, to celebrate my holidays. The question is: What to paint? I don't really want to slot a unit of models or even a vehicle or Knight in here - I'd much prefer a cool character, or monster, or walker. Something I can enjoy, that can be a bit of something special and cooler than my usual endless Rank & File, but not something that's going to be off-putting in terms of assembly like a vehicle or knight. Or scenery.

I've got a LOT of models across a lot of ranges so there's a lot of scope/potential for something interesting here. GW, Forge World, Warhammer Forge, Fantasy, Raging Heroes, Avatars of War, Reaper, Blood Bowl, Citadel-Oldhammer/Rogue Trader, 40k, Historicals.... so I reckon I'll ask here, and then just disqualify any suggestions people make that are out of my scope or preference (Mantic or Reaper Bones models for example are probably not up to the level of what I want to have fun with doing as a special job.)

Any suggestions?

Here's the first list of nominees:


Bragg The Gutsman - Citadel Miniatures


Plague Ogres - Forge World


Ogre Hero - Avatars of War


Ogre Apocalypse Marauder - Avatars of War


Talos - Mierce Miniatures


Big Boris III - Heresy Miniatures


Be'lakor the Dark Master - Citadel Miniatures


Archaon (If I can find the rest of him!) - Citadel Miniatures


(some kind of) Contemptor Dreadnought - Forge World (Chapter TBD - maybe Crimson Fists or Iron Warriors)


Hecaton Aiakos - Contemptor (Minotaurs) - Forge World


Zombie Troll Shaman - Mantic Games


Giant - Marauder Miniatures


Age of Sigmar Lord-Celestant - Citadel Miniatures


Age of Sigmar Lord-Relictor - Citadel Miniatures


Age of Sigmar A Boy and His Dog - Citadel Miniatures


Age of Sigmar MurderBloodSomethingStandard - Citadel Miniatures

I'll probably work on two models at a time. If I work on either of the SigMarines, I'll probably do the pair - same deal with the AoS Khorne guys. Any other models won't need to be married together in the same way. Anything extra I work on to cleanse my palette will be from the half-painted pile but with very strict "if I get it out I need to finish it within a day" rule.

Obviously there's no chance I'll get all of the above finished inside a month - even a month off work - since it's December and I'll probably need a week to recover from a very busy and stressful year at work and home, and there's a huge, fresh batch of videogames to play Including Fallout 4... I'll be aiming for 2 models completed, but that's all. I don't want to ruin it with pressure to get 4 or 6 or 10 models. I'll (probably) choose any further models from the list above, plus anything that gets added.

I'm open to more suggestions, but the criteria has gelled a little more:

* No pain in the arse assembly (this means you, large complex metal multipart models!)
* Nothing smaller than an AoS hero or Ogre-sized model - I'm looking to have fun doing the kind of centrepiece models I don't usually allow myself to work on due to the backlog.
* Nothing from Mantic or Reaper's Bones line. They're just not up to par for this. (Except for Mantic's Zombie Trolls and newest metal Ogres)
* No Scenery - either Big pieces or Scatter terrain - I'll usually work on these sorts of things over summer anyway and I've got a few of each part done, but they're separate things to this "project".
* No Vehicles, Knights, Leviathans, Drop Pods, Dreadknights, etc. I'm happy to do a Contemptor, but nothing bigger or more complex. I want to avoid assembly for the most part.
* Theoretically, every model will be a gaming piece. But it doesn't have to be from an army I've actually started. If I've got the figure, it's fair game.

At this point, I'm kinda leaning towards the Marauder Giant and Be'lakor as my opening pair and Marouda likes the Talos - but as noted, I'm still very open to suggestions, both for consideration and for the opening/early slots. I think I'd really enjoy painting any of the models that are listed above, so it should be an enjoyable month, whatever happens!

I was going to suggest the AoS guys as before, but those Ogre heroes really are awesome, so I vote those!

I actually wanna see what you can do with Mr. Everchosen. I have the foot version and could use the inspiration

AoS guys and the dreadnoughts get my vote.

Archaon and Stormcast get my vote.

I vote for the AoW ogres, although the zombie troll is pretty nifty, as well.

I vote for the Talos, I'd like to see how you paint the big guy as I'll be picking one up for a project next year.

My vote is still for Belakor.

I'm for the Dreads - love to see some sci-fi stuff painted up by you

I'd love to see your take on the weathering and patina on the Bronze. So its Talos for me

Edit; btw what's the scale on it?

Marauder Giant!

I vote Zombie Troll, it looks like a cool model.

EDC

Marauder Giant for me...equally tied with a Contemptor. Would love to see some more sci-fi stuff from you Az.

Belakor or Archaon get my vote.

Whatever wins, it'll be good!

Giant! Because it is giant...

 FabricatorGeneralMike wrote:
I'd love to see your take on the weathering and patina on the Bronze. So its Talos for me
Edit; btw what's the scale on it?

The Talos has to be about 160mm tall, so he's a big boy!
It's actually one of the front-runners right now. As has been pointed out, it’s probably not a high-intensity paintjob, which means it should be doable faster, allowing (at least) another model to be worked on in December as well.

I do like that Undead Troll. He might well be teamed up with those plague ogres at some stage in a batch. The lot of them could be done relatively quickly as well due to the decay being really open to things like wet blending and washes.

Someone on the Wordpress reminded be that I actually have this guy as well, so this old Rackham/Confrontation Ogre is now in the running as well:

I think he'd make a suitable Army Standard for an Ogre army - almost an Ogre take on an Aquilifer.

Over the last 6 months or so I’ve really been wanting to start painting up some 40k stuff. The holdup has been wanting to clear this bloody desk! Regardless of what I end up painting here (Dreads being the only really 40k-ish things that have come up) I reckon I’ll let myself do some new 40k stuff in January at the very least. I just recently got some Forge World Mechanicum Gun-Servitors that look like they’d be easy, fun and quick, so they’ll probably be in the vanguard.

I’ve got to start cleaning off the desk in the next week or so, and start assembly and basing on these guys so when December starts it’s all sweet, sweet painting without painful prep putting me off!

Talos has my vote. So cool!

If you fancy 40k it's Contemptors from me

Gun-Servitors!!!! (I'm working on AdMech stuff at the mo so am totally biased )

The next question is, when will the winning model be revealed?

EDC

Well, it's going to be a pair, and possibly three to start with. With more in the wings in case I'm accidentally productive. I'll need to find/make some suitable bases if I end up going with those really big boys...

So, due to work being a nightmare, I haven't had time to update.

The initial three models I've chosen are:
Be'lakor the Dark Master (Citadel)
Marauder Giant (Marauder)
Talos (Mierce)

My original plan was to have the desk cleaned up, and everything assembled and ready for painting as of December 4th. Well, it didn't quite work out that way. As of late last night, I managed to clean off the desk, though not reorganise it properly. I had Be'lakor assembled and primed black. The Talos is a plastic zip-lock baggie full of resin and the Giant is partly-assembled, and in it's original box.

I've just started to slop the first bits of paint onto Be'lakor, and I'll have to get cracking on assembly for the others.

At least work commitments have finished for you in time for a couple of hopefully relaxing weeks leading into Christmas. Good luck with these three.

Good choice of models. They're all quite different. Looking forward to see how you paint them all up

 Archer wrote:
At least work commitments have finished for you in time for a couple of hopefully relaxing weeks leading into Christmas. Good luck with these three.

Not quite yet, sadly. I've spent a couple of hours each day since Sunday finishing things off. This morning I've already spent about 2 hours rewriting a godawful "final copy" of a document that a colleague was happy to send out. Sadly, people would have assumed it was my work since I'm the one who usually does the kind of document that it is, so I'd look like a fethwit if I hadn't requested it got emailed to me so I could do a final pass on it. Eugh.

Then I've got one budget to do a final pass over before I submit it. Then I'm free. If I'm lucky, I'll manage to get both done today.

ahem.


Assembly



I spent too long yesterday cleaning up the Talos. I had to Dremel out the space under his right shoulder where his arm is supposed to fit since it was just about filled with resin. Thank feth I have a dremel or it would have been even more of a nightmare. Some pretty bad mould slip on various parts of the model as well. So much for "premium resin", but I think I managed to cover up the worst of it before assembly. He's certainly a big boy, though. I need to decide whether to use the huge pie-plate base that he came with as a display base (and make a secondary square base for that to sit on for KoW. I could also fit him on a unit movement tray 105x55mm easily, which is a lot more "wargamery" but I'm not sure. A smaller round would be ideal, but with his wide, "Colossus of Rhodes" stance he ain't fitting on any smaller round base.

The Marauder Giant was a much more pleasant assembly, though. The parts went together like a dream, and I think the only part that will need pinning is the wrist joint, since all of the other parts have nice integral plugs. I reckon superglue and greenstuff might be all it needs. What a well-designed kit, especially in metal, and doubly so for the era it was released in. I've started on his legs, and have painted his sandal straps in red, in a homage to GW's "red period" that the figure came from, though I'm not sure if I should keep them or go with a duller brown instead. I'm also not sure how to paint his tunic. One thing's for sure is that it won't be a patchwork like the box art. If he's managed to have paned/slashed sleevelets on his shoulder, I figure he could afford/threaten whoever tailored his outfit to do it from a single kind of cloth. Something heraldic, perhaps? He's certainly not a completely feral giant, and definitely not chaotic. He also needs a base, since whatever he came with is lost to the ages, and I think it was a 40mm square, given his vintage. Maybe a slightly smaller Mierce round base if I can scrounge one up? With a secondary square aka the Talos?

Be'lakor looks like gak in the photos, I'm aware. I'm going for a fleshy underside/black back look - inspired by a photo on the internet - instead of the all-black box art or more typical "demonz = red". One drawback is that it's probably going to look awful until the finishing touches are done on it. He's sitting on a lipped 50mm WM base for the time being. The plan is to mount him on a 50mm round, and then blu-tac that onto a 50mm square for actual wargaming when needed. Though that lipped base is starting to grow on me...

Belakor looks so small next to the other two. I was always a fan of that giant growing up. Almost made my parents get me one (or at least try) but I was still in the loyal to a single army phase. What a pity I didn't branch out in the past.

It's funny how right you are.Just as funny how much he towers over "normal" models and even ogres. The Marauder giant might still be possible via eBay. I managed to pick up the original Dragon Ogre last year on the 'Bay - and that was one of my own "lost relic" models that I never got/missed out on. I think it was $25 or so in Mind Games back when I was a teenager. Who had that kind of money for a single model?

I've only been doing hobby stuff intermittently in the last few days. A little more paint on Bel'akor, and a photo so it makes a bit more sense. Going for a flesh tone on his "inner/lower body" and black on the outer. Still early days here, and I suspect it'll continue to look a bit rough, or crap until more of it's done.



Today I spent a bit of time basing and completing assembly on the Talos. After a few days working out which way to go with the base, we decided to go with the big round Mierce one instead of a 100x50mm movement tray. The movement tray is “better” for wargaming, but the Talos is going to spend more time just as a painted model than rampaging the table, so I’m going for form over function. Which has let me start to get on with it last night and get it finished today.



I needed to Dremel through the slate. It was not particularly easy.



Still, I eventually got the job done.



Had to heat-treat the right leg with a hairdryer to remove a bit of tension.



Now sand for the base, primer, and then I can finally paint!

 Azazelx wrote:
Still early days here, and I suspect it'll continue to look a bit rough, or crap until more of it's done.

That's why I never post WIP photos-- I think I'd lose all enthusiasm for a project if I did.

I like the Uruks from the other day. I just re-watched The Two Towers while doing some hobby work the other day, and was pleasantly surprised at how well the costumes hold up. Your Uruks will make a nice unit when they are all arrayed.

Funnily enough, I'm posting the WIP to keep me motivated. A bit of discussion or chat to keep me keen when painting these larger and slower-to-finish models.

Thanks for the words on the Uruks. I've got a bunch of sword & board ones that will get finished before I start on any new ones. But I want to focus a little more rather than starting units from all kinds of armies willy-nilly.