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The Ogre Chariots are basically done pending dull cote. I still need to apply the flock and do a banner, but the pains are on the models, so that makes me happy. My biggest concern is that the only bright colors are on the ogres themselves, and the shields on the left hand side. From the front there isn't any real "pop." Well, the boar's tongues are a bright red, but they're harder to see than you'd think. I"m toying with the idea of adding some red, but they're boars pulling a leather and wood chariot. There's no way to avoid a lot of brown. Maybe they'll look better with the rich green grass flock.







I also got some nice brown on my movement trays:

Flock on the bases will help to visually separate the models from the bases. If you want to add more colour to the sides, you could paint the boars' shoulder armour to match the ogres' shields?

The same for the boars' "helmets" and the front angle.

I'm back from Adepticon, where I had a ton of fun, and also managed to avoid buying too many models. Unfortunately, I didn't get too many pictures of my army in action, but I do have a slightly blurry picture of it awaiting painting judgement:



I went 4-2, and finished in 8th place in the Clash of Kings, so I'm pretty happy about my performance.

The weather has taken a bizarre cold turn here in Baltimore, so I haven't had a chance to Dull Cote my chariots, but I hope to do that soon so I can see how they look with some flock and a banner.

My wife is going to be out of town for week, so I hope to get the Cygnar that's currently primed on my workbench painted and in foam, and finish building and then prime my 20 man resin tactical squad for my Emperor's children. after that, I might have some fun and paint some of the random minis I got at Adepticon:

the swag bag itself included the usual array of neat minis:





And sprues for Maelstorm's Edge handlers and a 15mm German Stug. In the Vendor hall, I scored a demo of Wreck Age, which was actually pretty fun. I'm not in the market for new games, but they did have a box of post collapse civilians/traders, which seemed like useful models for a wide range of games. One of my rules at adepticon is that I try to buy some small company models every year, because I think diversity is good for the hobby.

At the bitz swap, I scored two Goblin Bolt Throwers, which will go nicely with the two Battle for Skull Pass boxes and other gubbins I grabbed last year. I've got a nice goblin army brewing for either Age of Sigmar or KOW, depending on how I pivot. As of now, I've got only about $100 in it, so I'm comfortable keeping it boxed up in case of emergency.

the other big find at the Bitz Swap was a fantastic buy that will tie into my major, secret project that's still over the horizon.

Sounds like a good time. I'm not too far from Adepticon, maybe 4 hours? But I haven't made the time to go (not usually got a painted army or been playing enough to know whats what). Good to see other gamers having fun there though. Seems like a modest and restrained amount of purchases so good job, also yay for positive score in the Clash.

 GrimDork wrote:
Sounds like a good time. I'm not too far from Adepticon, maybe 4 hours? But I haven't made the time to go (not usually got a painted army or been playing enough to know whats what). Good to see other gamers having fun there though. Seems like a modest and restrained amount of purchases so good job, also yay for positive score in the Clash.

I highly recommend a trip down to Adepticon. There are plenty of casual and narrative events, there are also hobby seminars. For example, I took one this year that was all about the theory and practice of metallics. It was good stuff, I learned a lot, and it was only $20.

It's also worth wandering around for a solid day. There are so many great armies to see in so many different games. Plus, the $50 for a full badge more than pays for itself in the swag bag. This year the first 1000 badges got a full Hordes 2 player set (and army book), in addition to all the stuff I mentioned above, plus a 2009 CMON annual book, a wild west exodus paperback, bases, paints, and other stuff.

there are worse ways to spend $200 than buying a badge and a hotel room for Saturday night, driving down Saturday morning, and taking it all in.

Yeah, we went to Gencon a couple-three years back and it was totally worth it, just haven't had a chance to get back out since the second little one showed up

Swag bag sounds neat, I don't think gencon had anything like that and it still wasn't as cheap to sign up.

Maybe one of these days when the kids are a little older. For now, I'll have to live vicariously through my fellow gamers

I suffered some pretty serious post-Adepticon burnout, which is pretty normal, and I've been working 55 hour weeks, which is not. So last weekend, I was very pleased to finally have some time to myself, and I of course spent it painting!

First off, I finished the Ogres. Despite my earlier misgivings about the lack of color in the front half of the models, I feel better with the flock added. I also added a small pennat to the standard pole, which matches roughly the ASBs.





After five months with this army, including three tournaments, about 2500 points painted, and my first ever movement tray, it's bitter sweet to move on. The army actually isn't 100% done, I still have 15 or so Ogres that I can paint. I'm holding off to see how I'd like to build them. Given that I have more than enough to play even the largest game, I feel it's unlikely that I'll be returning to the big guys any time soon. Still, it's with heavy heart that I call that project officially done.

So what next for Polonius? I have a couple of smaller projects that I really want to finish before rolling out the next big one. First up is finishing my Cygnar. I had built and primed the last few pieces I got for Christmas a few months ago, and I started laying some base coats:

Some Artillery, which was tough because I painted my trenchers a couple years ago and barely remember how to match the color scheme:



Reliant, Triumph, and Ace: just a really, really bizarre battlegroup. Nothing paints up easier than Jacks once you pick your colors. I stick to a bright cygnar blue for all the armor panels, gunmetal for anything metal, enough brass to break it up, and electric blue on the gubbins. Easy enough!



Darius, who paints pretty much like a warjack, while the halfjacks and mines are super simple:



3Haley, one of the models that really challenges my rule about not included tans or browns in my cygnar uniforms. I stick with greys, which now I realize deprives most of my models of a warm color, but it's too late now. Present Haley is painted pretty by the book, while Past haley is going to be painted with muted greys and blues, looking very washed out. Future Haley is getting bold, bright blues, and should look more electric. They're actually pretty nice models, in that once built (a PITA) they have some nice dynamic posing and really look like past and future echos.



Finally, something not cygnar blue: Lady Ayana and Master Holt. I've only painted a few bits as I had the paint on my brush, but I'm looking forward to treating them like the one off mercenaries they are:



Once the Cygnar is complete, I'll have exhausted the primed backlog, which means I need to clean and assemble some more models. Next up are 20 Tactical marines I picked up at a bitz swap. They'll be painted to match my 30k Emperor's Children, and are based on Secret Weapon Runic Mountain bases. 10 of the lads are already built (except the shoulder pads, which were special order), and the other ten are cleaned of flash, with legs pinned to bases, and are ready for a wash in detergent.



I'm having fun with some different projects, I hope you all enjoy following them.

The finished ogres look great, and the flock really does make a difference to the colour. I don't know much about WarmaHordes, but cool looking models are always fun to view, I am looking forward to your EC, though!

Cool blog, looking forward to seeing the EC.

EDC

I painted a small army of EC last year. I had been slowly collecting the FW models, and then two years ago I bought a fairly large lot on the Dakka Swap shop. I had most of it painted, but I grabbed 20 more tacticals at a bitz swap at my FLGS. I had sold enough stuff that it doesn't cost me anything out of pocket, at least until I had to get the shoulder pads, of course!

Still, if you're curious, pics of my EC are in a folder on my gallery, and I'll post a few highlights below:

Some MkII Tacticals:



Phoenix Guard:



My original Tactical squad with officer:

I've been able to do a little painting and assembly, which is fun. First up are the assembled tactical marines, plus two apothecaries I forgot that I had!



I'm trying to decide if I should paint the apothecaries in white armor, or with the loin cloths and shoulderpads, I should keep them mostly purple with touches of white.

My Cygnar are rounding into shape as well!

Oh Darius. I love those early Mark I sculpts: relatively low detail, nice chunky sculpts, they were perfect gaming pieces. they didn't look amazing, but nothing painted easier:




On the other hand, the brand new HIPS also has some nice detail without being bogged down. The reliant looks pretty sharp!



And just in time for Mark III, I have two more artillery crews!



Haley 3 is a really nice model. My initial thoughts of having Present Haley normal, Future very bold, and Past washed out isn't coming along as perfectly as I'd hoped, but I can throw some layers of wash over the past to dull her while I try to make future pop.

I finished the Cygnar on my desk, of course I found an old MKI Charger that still needs painting, but it feels good to be done with the Cygnar!

Captain Darius, leading his pack of halfjacks:



Triumph, Ace, and a Reliant:



Haley3. I was actually pretty happy with how these came out. I tried to adjust not just the colors, but also the techniques to differentiate the three. Past is mostly washes and very muted tones. Future has an inked suit of armor, plus a richly highlighted cloak. Present has the same armor as the models in the rest of the army, but I have her a vibrant white cloak to accentuate her purity (in the magical sense) and her status.



The Trencher Cannon is a pretty boring model. It's quite nice, but there's not much to say about it.



PP gets a bad rap about it's models, and while I think they still have more duds than homeruns, their steampunk aesthetic for Cygnar is really on point. Nothing says mad scientist quite like a light artillery piece that throws lightning. I suppose the storm strider, but still...



Iyana and Holt were interesting models, in that they're Werner Klocke designed and look it. While they fit right into the Iron Kingdoms, there's a level of character and mystery to them that, of course, fits into the background for the models. Holt is so spiffy and square jawed, while Iyana is modest and aloof. These models were a ton of fun to paint, and I played a bit more with layering than I normally do. Holt's coat might be one of the nicest things I've ever painted.

I know what everybody has been secretly clamoring for: multiple angles on a quickly painted early MK I warjack! Well, its your lucky day. I got this little guy in a trade with a buddy, along with a partner that's missing an arm, and I finally got him built up last week. Over the weekend we had some nice weather, and I was able to prime him. Sunday and Monday evening I did a nice speed paint, and I think he looks very nice for a table top paint job:







I also painted the two razor boars that came with the Unleashed adventure kit to match my very small farrow army:



And thoroughly enjoying some time to paint odd projects, I finally finished a group of ten Deadzone plague zombies:



I have 75 more of these guys, which I'm no hurry to paint, but there's something primal about the urge to have a huge mass of plague zombies!

Nice looking WM stuff. I know next to nothing about it all, but a good looking force looks good regardless of the game. Zombies look cool as well, Keeping it down to a dozen or so at a time is my motto, with ample time for breaks in between!

Today's post is mostly updates on my EC. I was finally able to prime them in a narrow window between cold and rain and high humidity. Previously, I'd painted their secret weapon runic mountain bases all stone grey, highlighted up. After realizing there is earth and dirt modeled on many of them, I'm changing that up. I gave the bases a coat of Vallego model color smoke, the highlighted the earth with Reaper Master Series bone shadow, which is also the rim color. I also painted the bolter VMC basalt grey and all metal Vallejo model air gun grey. Anything eventually gold was painted autumn brown. Power weapons got a coat of Vallejo game color magic blue, and the bases and bolters got a SWM heavy black wash.



Next comes power armor, painted using the RMS Purple triad. Everything got a base a nightshade purple, which is close enough to black it'd actually make a neat highlight for rich black tones. Next I layered a mix of nightshade and imperial purples, which now gives some definition:





Next, I started the gold, using RMS Antique Gold:



For a peek at my paint scheme, here's a model from last year:




Last weekend saw the end of a pretty incredible streak: for the first time in well over a year, I bought minis off the shelf of a retail store at full retail! I had backed the first Deadzone Kickstarter, but not the second. Still, I might want to play if anybody around me buys in. However, despite getting seemingly dozens of models, and selecting the Rebs as my double pick, I was missing the specialists pack: the medic, the flying guy, the space hobbits, and the missile launcher team. A store actually had that pack on the shelf, and at $25 was better than the $40 I'd probably have to pay when mantic finally rerelease so the Rebs in two sets. Digging through my stuff, I also found a skink guy that had broken, and a plague elite that I had given up trying to assemble. With a pin and some glue, all were ready for priming:



This actually worked out, as the Rebs can now take a space skink commander. I'll give him a simple inverted paint scheme to stand out, and he'll do nicely!

Woah I go away for awhile and Spesh Mahreens?

Lovely cygnar stuff. I don't really like steampunk so there goes my interest for Warmahordes, but you've done a great job with your forces and like Az says it looks good regardless of me knowing much about it.

Nice little batch of deadzone. I really really wanted to love the Rebs, wanted to go in heavily on those but I held back. And then they sucked (more or less) in the rules so I held back more. I may finally assemble and paint a few to use in this is not a test

 GrimDork wrote:
Woah I go away for awhile and Spesh Mahreens?

I'm just cleaning out my project queue. Outside of a calth box and some character blisters, the 20 man tactical and two apothecaries are all that's unpainted from my EC. Its all about tying up loose ends!

Of course, I have a good sized used space marine army my brother gave me, so that's even more potential marine love... The project backlog never goes anywhere

Nice little batch of deadzone. I really really wanted to love the Rebs, wanted to go in heavily on those but I held back. And then they sucked (more or less) in the rules so I held back more. I may finally assemble and paint a few to use in this is not a test

I made some progress on them, getting a base coat followed by a wash. Most models got Army Painter Soft tone quick shade, but the blue guys got Asurman blue while the metal, the loader, and the medic case got a black wash.





And completing the set, a larger plague nasty, painted up pretty close to my old scheme. It was RMS Alien Flesh for the skin and RMS military green for the armor. I washed the skin with Thraka Green, and the armor with black/brown "dirty wash." I threw a quick highlight of alien flesh on the skin and 50/50 military and camo greens on the armor.



He's fine, but I'm not in any way in love with that paint scheme. Eh, at least it matches.

I like the green scheme on the plague S2. Very different, very striking.

 JoshInJapan wrote:
I like the green scheme on the plague S2. Very different, very striking.

Thanks! The box art scheme is nice, but it was a bit too hive fleet leviathan for my tastes.

I finished the Rebs to a pretty nice table top standard. The medic is the most interesting model of the set, but actually I found them all a real pleasure to paint. Mantic had yet to reach a "wow" state with any models, and technically they lag behind even the other mid level companies like Warlord or Wyrd. That said, the models are crisp enough to paint cleanly, and have nice character. The restic allows for more three dimensional models, while still having a retro vibe.



I got a sprue of the mantic abyssals at a Kings of War event, so I'm curious how they're newer plastics build and paint up. Stay tuned for the results!

Very nice stuff

I made some progress on my giant tactical squad. I layered some Imperial Purple, which may end up being the final purple highlight if I get lazy. Honestly, I like the way the purple pops, so I think any further highlights will just be too far.

I also threw a nice coat of RMS New Gold on the gold. Overall, they're basically done.



One thing I hate is the red trim on the shoulder pad. I'm going to switch that to gold, and see how I like it. I also need to play with the power weapon blue a bit to get a better glow.

They look good, but I do agree with you on that red. It's a bit garish against the purple and gold. Might it work ok as copper? (ie like gold but also like red)

I changed the trim to gold, added some blue layers to the power weapons, and threw a VMA aluminum layer on the hardware. Some (hopefully) final shots. Comments and criticisms welcome:

First apothecary.





Second apothecary.





Sarge





The lads




And then a bit of a detour. A very kind Dakkite sent me the Salute 2016 mini, a delightful steampunk lady with a fairly hefty rifle. For some reason, I felt she'd look great as an inquisitor paired with my IG. So here she is with her base coat of blood red and grey:

A good choice, the gold trim works much better than the red did. The power weapons look fine, but a little flat. Maybe some start edge highlights would make them pop a little bit more?

Steampunk Inquisitor looks the business, though much more brown than I'm used to seeing from the Inquisition rather than their more traditional colours, so as is, and without any =][= markings, she looks a bit more like a more generic Steampunk sharpshooter at present.

 Azazelx wrote:
A good choice, the gold trim works much better than the red did. The power weapons look fine, but a little flat. Maybe some start edge highlights would make them pop a little bit more?

You're right. I took another swing:

Steampunk Inquisitor looks the business, though much more brown than I'm used to seeing from the Inquisition rather than their more traditional colours, so as is, and without any =][= markings, she looks a bit more like a more generic Steampunk sharpshooter at present.

That's fair. I haven't the skill to really add any accoutrements, so I'm hoping the colors are enough. Here's her fully highlighted up:

Nice stuff here lately, that steampunk dame has really come along

Nice work on the EC. Very fitting for the III legion.

EDC

 GrimDork wrote:
Nice stuff here lately, that steampunk dame has really come along

I like her a lot. I noticed in the picture she's actually got two necklaces, so I need to go back and paint up the inner pendant.

 evildrcheese wrote:
Nice work on the EC. Very fitting for the III legion.

EDC

Thanks! It's just a simple purple and gold, but I love how it looks.

I'm starting on my next project, which is some artillery for my Praetorian IG. I went to Michaels craft store, and grabbed some matchsticks. Using them and a ton of glue, I put together a nice start on a field earthwork:



I'm going to give it time to dry, and them add layers of rocks and earth covering the "timbers."

Looking good!

Many years ago, both me and my brother were living at home as college dropouts, and while I'd already been gaming, my brother was pretty focused on partying. At my mother's "suggestion," he half heartedly took up 40k, building a codex chapter Space Marine army out of used bins. He threw his own paint scheme over top: dark grey with red/white/blue trim, calling them the "Miniutemen." We'd play scenarios and big games over the years, until he got his own place and instead of going to the FLGS to game, he was able to have me over to his place.

About a year ago, he presented me with the army, telling me that his wife was going to throw it out if I didn't take it. My own wife, keenly aware of how much stuff I had (even after the purges), wasn't thrilled but didn't say anything. Flashforward to the last few weeks. Two big things happened. One, I played some 40k and realized I enjoyed it in the right environement. And two, my wife was out of town, giving me the time to do some serious paint stripping. We live in an apartment, and with no utility sink, the best place is the kitchen sink, which I knew wasn't going to work while she was around. She'll return, hopefully none the wiser, although she's learned not to ask questions she does not want the answer to.

Some army shots pre-stripping bucket:





I use LA's Totally Awesome for paint stripping, and I quickly realized that all of the models had been overpainted, where my brother simply added his paint over a fully painted mini. More than a few were three coats of paint deep, with some having multiple layers of primer. A representative sampling of stripped minis:



I focused initially on the two modern Rhinos. Once stripped, it became clear that both had pretty serious building flaws:

The first owner glued a metal wolf's head to the front of this rhino the only way possible: a full tube of superglue. Also, the windows not being popped into the sockets was an odd choice:



Turning it around, oh my, the treads. Also, the hatch was cockeyed pretty dramatically:



Well, they both can't be that bad... Nope, both pretty bad. This one had headlights proudly attached to the roof, and the window armor glued propped open for some reason. I'm also reasonably certain those are parts of the hunter killer missile system glued randomly to the roof.


]

I did get lucky in that both tore apart pretty nicely. A few of the treads broke, but those are easy to patch with greenstuff, and the upper hull often bends when popped off, making it tough to hold into place, but with some time and love, I think they'll both rebuild: