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Wow, thank you thank you thank you guys, was never expecting this kind of response!

@LordBoJangles - Thanks! The catachan arms are pretty ridiculous I know, I guess Hetlan just really really likes working out? It's less obvious on the tabletop anyway

@Rose_Mountainz - Thank you so much, that was exactly what I was going for! I like the Cadian models a lot, but they can look pretty 'cookie-cutter' if you line a bunch of them up

@hungryp - Cheers! Lobo is a giant wolf from the 10mm range at Copplestone Castings. There are 3 or 4 variations, and the scale is dead on for a regular-sized wolf in 40k. They come on a moulded base, which I cut off, and I've reposed the legs a little to fit better. I gave him some (rubbishly moulded) bionics too, but you can't really see so well in the photo! I'll see if i can get a few more pictures of the others with the next update.

@Vlad-X7 - Thank you! I've been working on my metal weathering, so I'm really chuffed you noticed that At the moment I'm using a GW sculpting tool, but I'll be sure to look into the clay shapers - sounds like a great idea. I had thought about the cleanness of the skin - do you think weathering powder would help?
Especially thanks for the interest in the stories, wasn't sure if anyone liked 'em I'll be sure to get another one up soon!

@FM Ninja - Thank you! The dog is from copplestone castings. I'll see if I can get some pictures of the others.

@Nowlan - See above

@Hits_the_spot - Thank you so much, that is a wonderful, wonderful compliment Thanks for the link as well, I've been looking it over, and I'll be sure to try some things out! (I love your guard by the way - been following your threads for a while, but didn't feel I had much meaningful to contribute than another "these are mind blowing" comment - great work!)

@Maliceinthelookingglass - Thanks a lot! I've nearly got a 500pt force now, probably a month or three away at the rate I seem to be working I feel mean, but I've already got a kind of 'casualty order' in my head for squads I've finished - the ones I'm proudest of will definitely be living longest!

@Blackhand - Thanks loads, man, loved your Tervigon

Thank you all so much again! I'm off to see family for a week or two tomorrow, but I'll try to get up some pics of what I'm working on before I go, as well as those dogs. And some fluff I'm working on too!

nice

Thank you! Here's what I'm currently working on - My master of ordnance (in charge of booby traps, defusal and ambushes in my army fluff) and a standard bearer.

Both are obvs very WIP!







Hope you like, and I'd love to hear what you think

Really like the cloak and banner on the standard bearer they have a lot of realism in the way they hang and catch the light (?) wind , like how you have sculpted the hair to move the same way as the cloak. Where did you get it from btw?

I like their individualism. Very Nice. Especialy the stern and slightly sociopath Captain who only confides in his dog..

Thanks a lot guys! The cloak is from one of the wood elf sprues, with a little modification - I'll check up on which one it was.

Just a quick one today 'cause I'm late meeting someone. Here's the completed MoO (in charge of booby traps etc.). I tried a bunch of new techniques. Not too sure bout the burn on his face, might get rid of it depending on what you guys think. I know the photos aren't the best, couldn't seem to get the light right today :(





Would love some feedback - remember, be brutal!

(Just looked it up and the cloak is one of the ones from the Wood Elf Glade Guard sprue. Hope that helps!)

Scarper wrote:

I'm really sorry, i don't mean to be offensive but this makes me think of the Wombles!!
Anyone that hasn't lived in Britain for a period of time in the past 15 years may not get this idea...

These are wombles:
http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2008/04/Wombles_450x350.jpg
http://www.birteff.de/Wombels/Bilder/Wombles-4.jpg

Sorry if this is me being really mean!

Imp. Monkey

Beautiful stuff every time! i always look forward to your updates.

Lookin good, lookin good! I just love the characterization, and your painting and converting skills are great too!

Imperial Monkey - that's fantastic! I think the wombles were a teeny bit before my time, but I can totally see the resemblence. Might have to pick a differen colour for the mask next time - maybe I could just say he's a big fan of them?

@Alarmingrick and Murdog - Thank you so much, those are both wonderful compliments! No model updates today (I'm visiting family for Easter - boo) but I've written this little fluff piece, which maybe someone might like?

"Jirik glanced briefly from behind the counter he'd upturned, saw the second soldier enter through the smoking remains of the doorway at the opposite end of the room. If he was incredibly lucky, he wouldn't have been spotted yet. This one seemed more cautious, edging over the body of his comrade and scanning the room for more traps. He called something out and brought his rifle to his shoulder. With a sharp intake of breath and a prayer to whomever would listen, Jirik threw the counter over again and fired four shots towards the soldier. By some divine providence, the third caught him square in his unarmoured shoulder in an explosion of red.

The man screamed, the sound ripping through the morning air even through his gas mask. He stumbled back, tripping over an uprooted beam and into the wall as his rifle clattered to the ground. He pulled himself upright, cursing as he lunged for the door, arm hanging useless at his side. Jirik shot again, spinning the man right round and to the floor as the stub round found purchase in the meat of his hip. He limped towards him, deliberately slowly, pausing briefly to pick up the discarded rifle. It was an autogun, probably once in the hands of one of the PDF. He checked the moving parts - a nice acquisition. He advanced on the soldier.

The first soldier had doomed his buddy - Scope could improve your reflexes, but it ate away at your sanity. It wasn't Kerin's screams that had woken Jirik, but the excited, animal yelps of the raider as he knifed him again and again in the next room. Tears filled his eyes as he trapped the door with his last grenade; Laren soundlessly dragged Brianna away to hide.

The survivor was begging now, a string of platitudes and apologies tumbling out of his treacherous, murdering mouth as he desperately tried to drag himself over the body of his friend with his one good arm. Jirik answered his pleas with a boot to his gut. The bastard's flak armour was marked with a blue cross, but scratched all over with crude markers - a tally of the men and women he had killed on the wastes. Kerin's knife, with the embroidered pouch, hung from this butcher's belt. Jirik brought his boot down again, as hard as he could on the soldier's wounded hip. The man's scream was sustained. Jirik smiled - a cold grin of malice. He leaned in and pulled off his mask, crudely daubed with grinning fangs.

The face beneath it caught his breath in his lungs. The soldier was a teenager, a child. No older than his own son. His face was bloodied, but even with the graze of a new beard, he had seen no more than fifteen summers. Probably hadn't even been born when the evacuation left. He had stopped begging. His eyes, wide around pinpoint pupils, never moved from Jirik's as his breath sawed ragged in and out of his throat. Jirik stepped back, rested against the standing bookcase behind him with his head in his hands. He though of Merin and Lasinia, all the others he had left escaping the compound. He thought of Levin, and what he must be doing now, whether he was still alive. He though of the fate of a lone soldier, wounded and defenceless in the wasteland. He raised his pistol once more and shot the child square in the forehead. He bent down and pulled Kerin's knife from the boy's belt. He had to find Brianna and Laren before more of them came."


I know it's cheesy as anything, but I just wanted to do something 40k-ey. Hope you like it, and I'd really appreciate if you let me know what you think, good or bad

Hahaha, I'll take that as a 'noone cares about rubbish fiction' then Apologies for the delay on new stuff, have been home seeing family for 2 weeks or so.

This guy is part of my command squad at 500pts. I was thinking of chem troopers, as well as civilians gathering up equipment from other fallen guard. He was also yet another exercise in making my GS work less pathetic. Hopefully I'm slowly improving! I'm not too proud of the painting on this guy, but I still think it's ok. Maybe you do too? Maybe you think it's my worst paint job so far? I'd love to know!

Looks cool and I liked the fluff as well.

Love it! This blog is great!
May I suggest for weathering, you find a brush with plastic bristles, let some paint and glue dry on it, and then use the drybrushing technique on the area you want to weather with boltgun metal.
The results look suitably battered. Works great for my Orks.

Good to have you back, the paint job looks good and the rebreather is a nice touch.

Wow, great work on all of them. There is more character here than in the Space Marine Codex. As for weathering, I've recently started using the Stippling Brush, works quite well.

@Ghost in the Darkness - Thank you! The fluff stuff is fun to write, even if it's also kind of rubbish

@Boss 'eadbreaka - Thanks a lot, and for the tip as well! I've never heard that one before, I'll be sure to try it out, I've got a few knackered old brushes lying around that couldn't do much worse with a glue dip anyway (p.s. Axe Cop is awesome - love your avatar!)

@Rose_mountainz - Thanks a lot! Really appreciate all your feedback, really keeps me motivated.

@Tim the Biovore - Thanks so much! I've been stippling the armour plates with an old brush, didn't realise there was a specialised one for the job - I'll have to hunt one out.

Next model up is nothing special - she has the unenviable role of being a standard trooper in a special weapons squad, so kind of a mule and cannon fodder of the highest order! I've been messing around with GS some more, hopefully you won't be able to tell where




As always, please let me know what you think, good or bad. I'd really appreciate the feedback so I can know how to improve!

Yeh, she's good, but her head looks too small for the body.

I'm liking the models and the background stories, but the eyes just get to me for most of them. I dunno, they just seem too wide open or something. The latest one, your not so special special weapons woman looks like a cat that's just seen something very interesting run across the floor...

Scarper wrote:

Gloucester: To Dover.
Cornwall: Wherefore to Dover?

Nice fluff and models, keep up the good work!

@Tim the Biovore - Thanks! Know what you mean about the head though; that's kind of why she's been relegated to a rubbish spot Ah well, live and learn

@Lord Kaesar II - Cheers for the comment! The eyes tend to look better from a bit of a distance, but I see your point. If i make the pupils smaller they all seem to look terrified though! How do you do eyes? I'd love any tips you might have!

@Nightwatch - Hahaha, thank you! I am stretching it a bit for names at the mo - I think Dover got mentioned in the news I was watching when I was almost done painting. Loads to be said for subconscious triggers!

I've been busy again - painted up my standard bearer and dirtied up the rest of them a bit with some FW dried mud weathering powder. I think I can call my command squad for 500pts done now! Had a bit of a mare painting the standard itself, but I'm happy enough with how it turned out. Please let me know what you think - first squad I've finished up in a while!




Ridgeway and his command squad:


Would love to hear from you all - thanks for being so supportive so far!

They look absolutely great togheter! Looking forward to see more full squads now so paint more!

Love your work dude! Keep it up, great ideas.

Scarper wrote:@Lord Kaesar II - Cheers for the comment! The eyes tend to look better from a bit of a distance, but I see your point. If i make the pupils smaller they all seem to look terrified though! How do you do eyes? I'd love any tips you might have!

Well, my eyes aren't much better right now, but I just follow a procedure I heard of where you make the whole eye the color you want the iris to be, then you add white on either side of it for the whites, keeping in mind potential eye turning and how much of the eye is naturally shown, when real people are looking about

Personally I leave them black and use a wash to add creases and shadow around them, In real life if you see someone from more 6 feet away the entire eye socket is in shadow anyway so when looking a model that is 3cm or less it seems a lot of effort to add the whites of the eye and every time i've tried I get the startled look as well. I know its fairly lazy but thats me

Thanks a lot guys!

New mini up now - the grenadier from my platoon command squad. He's the final squad member, so I'll get a unit shot up once I've painted up their dog

As always, I'd love to know what you think

No takers on that one then? No probs, I have more This is Fluke, the hound that tags along with Bowman's platoon command squad. I was messing around with interesting basing - hopefully it works?




I've shifted around Bowman's squad too, as I figured some of the poses were too similar. Here's the current (and finished!) lineup. Now remember that there's around a 6 month gap between me painting some of these figures, and I've only been painting for just over a year. So play nice on the crappy ones!
p.s. This one's better if you follow the link then zoom in!



As always, would love to hear any opinions. Seriously. Even if it's just one word

I like the dog. What model is that? And the animal skull on top of the banner pole looks very nice.

I'm liking the general incorporation of the dogs in your force, perhaps as though they're some traditional useful/ used creature with the original force or something. Is there to be any actual use for them in the squads, like, say, a laspistol-less bodyguard in your command, or are they more as decoration too the squad?

Fluke looks great, thought about adding a fox? lol have never seen a fox in WH 40K would be awesome!