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The chest looks like it could be admech?
The head is a Rogue Psyker from Blackstone Fortress.
I don't know hte axe, but all in all that's an AWESOME model!

 theCrowe wrote:

Love this guy, he's such a crazy character. Chain saw axe on a chain, left handed no less! You know that's how he lost his original right arm and now has a presumably chai axe proof bionic replacement. Not to mention his head, which I expect also must have had a run in with the flying flail propelled chain axe requiring a graft to be taken, it looks like from his butt. But the twisted dark Eldar grafter just used his whole butt and threw it all on top there. Gives a whole new meaning to the term Brain farts.

Seriously though, where did this guy come from? Or where did the parts of him come from? He's a particularly striking henchman, certainly in danger of outshinig his boss, if perhaps for all the wrong reasons.

 Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:
The chest looks like it could be admech?
The head is a Rogue Psyker from Blackstone Fortress.
I don't know hte axe, but all in all that's an AWESOME model!

Thanks a lot for the compliments on this guy! The legs are from an Eldar Guardian, body and left arm from the Wych sprue but I chopped off the flail at the top and took a broken space marine chain axe and stuck the head of it onto the chain/flail nub. The head is a spare from the BSF rogue psykers and the arm is anvil industry with a space marine bolt pistol. The DE Wych kit is a fantastic source for so many bits due to the size of the pieces and how interchangeable across many factions.

Great little fluff bit too @theCrowe, it was very amusing and now I can't see this guy without an ass on his head

Not much in the way of updates today, but I have primed both warbands from Direchasm and I'll be looking to make a start on them this coming week while I think of other kit bashes to make a third member of the inquisitorial warband. I also got a delivery of magnets and I picked up some appropriately sized drill bits so I can magnetise my wraithknight. Something to do while the AI takes their turn on Civ 6!

Hey folks!

Back again with another update. Uni work has been busy enough as I am doing a bunch of training courses to add to my PhD qualification so time for painting has been quite low. I have been up to a few things both on the painting side and the modelling side so read on if you want to know more!

I figured I'd chat about the Underworlds warband and where I'm at with the Dread Pageant as the month is coming to a close and I'm a bit far away from being done! I was wracking my brain to come up with a scheme but I pretty much defaulted to the box art's representation of the minis with the addition of a blue green. I have been trying to work on my speed with these as they're only a small group of minis and I'd like to try the game sooner rather than later. I am hoping by the time the minis are done, the colours will tie together as right now they're quite garish with the mix of yellow-gold, green and purple, but I am intending on highlighting the purple with the same colours I mixed into the green (ivory) so I hope that will help and with some bright highlights on the gold it will improve the overall look. These are lovely to paint, crisp detail and a range of garments make for some interesting painting choices I think! At the end I'd like to back light the models with a filter of blue to make it seem like dusk is coming or they're exiting a cave. I have planned on using some turquoise ink through an airbrush but I fear it may be too bright and detract from the overall look. I'd like to replicate the harsh lighting that you see on the sand ripples (fun fact, the sculpts are geologically incorrect as even though some rocks appear to be buried due an apparent wind, the rest of the dunes don't represent this windblown effect! Must be a fantasy world or something ) of the Slaangor's base but I am unsure if it will look as good on the minis themselves.






Moving on, Myari's Purifiers are next up. These are a good bit further behind their box-mates, having only received airbrushed basecoats. I am stalling on these somewhat though as the models are all quite different meaning choosing a coherent colour scheme is difficult. I like the idea of mountain elves having apparel that matches their surroundings so I've gone for a pale sand look to them. I am not sure whether I want the clothing to be predominantly bone with a different coloured trim and armour, or the armour to be sand and the clothing be something else. I was thinking of keeping largely to the box paint scheme here too, although darker to match the colour I want to use. I also gave the faces a pass with the airbrush as I want to improve my fine control of the airbrush, something I feel I am getting there with based on the dread pageant above. Their skin was airbrushed. I was hoping to do the same with these elves but on their robes, as they've got really nice volumes to try blending with.




Finally, I jumped back into my Exodites this week as I listened to some seminars (harder to do than I thought) and during Civ and came up with some ideas for my Exodites. Ultimately, I'd like to exhaust the bits from the boxes I'd bought for the project before adding anything further to the pile of shame so I have a good few units of infantry to make. Below are my idea of what the civilians of the Exodites look like when they go to war.



These aren't just guardians, they're storm guardians! A unit I've never bothered about but seeing as I have the opportunity, why not try making some and then I have a unit for the table if they're ever any good. I wanted to give the impression that just because the system is more feral than their Craftworld cousins, they still mobilise their civilian population in dire times and I figured that you have to have a unit of swordsmen among the dragon riding knights. At this point I realised that shuriken pistols are quite hard to come by outside of Harlies and chainswords aren't common either. So I converted my own from the mountain of shuriken catapults I have from bits job lots I've progressively picked up over time to fuel the project. I shortened the catapults by removing the grip for the non-dominant hand and shortened the wedge shape to increase the stubbiness and show that it's a one handed weapon. I hope I achieved that with these. The blades are from the wych kit (great kit, as I keep going on about it), as are the legs, giving some dynamism to the group as I imagine they'd be used in a breaching action or the counter punch to an assault. This leads me to the shields. I think they're pretty cool for a start and I think it differentiates them from the standard guardian and exemplifies the feudal system of Exodite society. I haven't glued any shields on yet as I'd like to ask for some input. Is it worth sanding down the shields of some of the detail they have in order to add some runes of my own and avoid them looking too fantasy? Let me know your thoughts!





You thought it was just Storm Guardians to round out the post? Nope! I wanted to show off an early idea I had with the box of eternal guard I have from the beginning of the project.




I regularly see these modelled as Exodite Rangers, Guardians and less regularly Dire Avengers so I came to the conclusion that based on their attire, they may be best served as part of the Lord's court when the warhost goes to war. I think based on that, they'd be best used as an aspect warrior of some type. The bodies are fairly static/striding forward and I don't think they'd suit Banshees or Scorpions due to their posing. They're too lightly armoured for Dark Reapers and I have a different idea for them so I am left with Dire Avengers. The photos below are pretty loose, with only one fully assembled and I can't help but feel a little lazy due to the fact these are just arm and head swaps. I am trying to think of some way to make them less fantasy elf with eldar bits and more like Exodites. I do have a temptation just to forget about the eternal guard bodies and get some black ark corsairs instead as they've got a more feral feel that I am trying to go achieve. Who knows, maybe I'll pick up some anyway.

I am sadly running low on poker chips too! Anyway, thanks for reading, plenty to digest there so I hope it wasn't too boring! Hope everyone is staying safe too, up in Scotland, we're looking to ease Covid restrictions next month into the end of April but the pessimist in me says we'll have another lockdown because of the early reopening.

-TH

These are really cool. I love your use of poker chips as a quick, fancy base. They work really well.

Interesting idea with the shields - I wonder if maybe just a somewhat more 'techy' paint job would already do the trick, without altering the sculpt itself too much? Or rather even add some techy gubbins that would make the larger ornaments like some kind of conduit for powering the shield, etc. (storm guardians don't have any advanced defence equipment, though, or do they?)

One thing that could jump the shields up in sci-fi-ness is if you give a couple of them a "force shield" layer above the shield. Now unlikely that their stats can justify it, but deadlyprintstudios has a few options of really cool shield effects that you can buy either 3d printing files or pre-printed.

Nice mix you have on your desk atm. Love the color scheme of the Slaneesh warband, all my favorite colors

Warboss_Waaazag wrote:These are really cool. I love your use of poker chips as a quick, fancy base. They work really well.

Thanks! I wasn't much of a poker player so they're better suited here!

MobileSuitRandom wrote:Interesting idea with the shields - I wonder if maybe just a somewhat more 'techy' paint job would already do the trick, without altering the sculpt itself too much? Or rather even add some techy gubbins that would make the larger ornaments like some kind of conduit for powering the shield, etc. (storm guardians don't have any advanced defence equipment, though, or do they?)

Maybe if I was able to sculpt some spirit stones onto them, or keeping the ones that have them, I could paint lightning bolts or similar arcing from the stone around the shield as a way to show it's energised? They usually only have a chainsword and pistol but I think we can take a bit of creative licence eh?

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:One thing that could jump the shields up in sci-fi-ness is if you give a couple of them a "force shield" layer above the shield. Now unlikely that their stats can justify it, but deadlyprintstudios has a few options of really cool shield effects that you can buy either 3d printing files or pre-printed.

I've never really thought about 3D printed bits like that! I had a look and could get a couple but it may be a little cost prohibitive for the full squad!

Viterbi wrote:Nice mix you have on your desk atm. Love the color scheme of the Slaneesh warband, all my favorite colors

Thanks! Definitely with you on the scheme, green and purple are my favourite colours and the sand colours are great to paint!

Hey all, a quick update for you all. I managed to finish off The Dread Pageant in time for the painting challenge deadline and overall I am fairly pleased with how they turned out. I gave harsh lighting for the scene they're in a go so the minis are lit from the front and I am imagining a dark place they have emerged from hence the blue hues on the rear of the minis. It makes the sand look good I think and I think the contrast works between the dark blue and sandy yellow. Let me know what you think!








Thanks for looking and plenty more to come!

-TH

These are very interesting, and I think perfect Dire Avengers. As to the shields, I think they don't look too fantasy-esque; 40k is fantasy innn spaaace! And anything that isn't 100% super future tech for Eldar can always be played off as a ceremonial relic thingy

Thanks for sharing

Thanks IGtR=! I'm glad you like the dire avengers and given me some food for thought with the shields. I keep thinking of Black Panther as a blend between the tribal and high tech equipment. So maybe I can do something similar.

Good luck in the Unofficial Monthly Painting Challenge Tyranid Horde.

Cheers,

CB

The dread pageant look great TH, I am a sucker for purple and gold minis! The Slangor is my favourite, a great mini you did justice for.

Thanks Cap and thanks Gobert! Who have thought you like purple and gold eh?

Hey folks,

Having wrapped up the Dread Pageant at the end of the month, I ended up hitting 5th place overall in the Paint Challenge: Showing Off. I'm pretty pleased overall as the competition just keeps getting fiercer with everyone pushing their skills. Looking back, I see a few mistakes here and there when you zoom in but overall, happy with the scheme and they now sit nicely on the shelf, ready for a game.

With those aside, and my work on Lt. Amulius in the space marine thread, I've not been up to much outside of space marines but I did sit down during some seminars in the last few evenings and made an attempt at magnetising my wraithknight after shelving the project for so long. He's unlikely to see game time any time soon, but he's been in my pile of shame since the release of the wraithknight so it's about time right? I showed off what he looked like in pieces in the initial blog post and there he sat.

There is still loads to do, and magnetising a half painted wraithknight wasn't my best manoeuvre but better doing it now than down the line with a finished paint job. I don't intend on getting another either so the magnets are needed. So far he is magnetised to have a sword and board loadout and the double wraithcannons and I need to magnetise one of those to accommodate for the suncannon as well. The torso is magnetised too for storage and transport but it is a little bit wobbly so that's a shoddy job on my part. I'm a little bit disappointed I got this far actually, there are gaps on the arms and legs that are pretty unsightly and I think it may be worth filling and respraying the mini but it is also a lot of work to waste as I didn't think they would be overly noticeable. Let me know what you think, is it worth going back and refilling the gaps?





Can't magnetise something without a silly photo opportunity:



Yesterday evening I sat down to base the piece as I'd been holding off on it for a while. I have a limited supply of poker chips and I have a feeling I'll need to cast some in the future if I plan on making any more big bases for my army or make a display board (right Ezki? ) It was my first time messing about with milliput for basing and that helped to add some bulk underneath the poker chips as I wanted a stepped effect to help the knight's posing and make it less of a tactical rock. Still a tactical rock though... There is still gap filling and sanding to do before priming the base so I'll update you all with that soon enough. I'm hoping the basing scheme won't be too much light tan/wraithbone and detract from the model itself. The pose below would be ideal as it's quite a bit different from the other wraithknights I've seen online and I think it adds a lot to the mini.





Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!

-TH

Tyranid Horde,

The building up to one side looks like it will work. Although you might need something for the raised edge.

My two cents,

CB

The wraithknight is one of my favorite models, I really like how he is turning out. Maybe I missed it but did you have to cut the leg to get it into that position? As for the gaps maybe its my poor eyesight but I dont really see any on the model it self.

I wonder if it would look cool if the tiles under the feet of the Wraith Knight were cracked like the weight of the walker smashed them? Just a thought. Looks good so far.

Captain Brown wrote:Tyranid Horde,

The building up to one side looks like it will work. Although you might need something for the raised edge.

My two cents,

CB

Yup, definitely need something for the edge, I'm currently sanding down the milliput to have a smooth edge. I think it'll look decent with an extended black rim, making it a bit like a vignette. What do you think?

Yorkright wrote: The wraithknight is one of my favorite models, I really like how he is turning out. Maybe I missed it but did you have to cut the leg to get it into that position? As for the gaps maybe its my poor eyesight but I dont really see any on the model it self.

Thanks Yorkright, I didn't document the build at all last year but all of the nubs to help positioning the mini I cut off and swapped the legs so I could achieve that pose due to the joints being pre-set. The gaps run down the middle of the arms and legs and to be fair they're not overly noticeable in the photos, maybe it's me being overly critical.

Warboss_Waaazag wrote:I wonder if it would look cool if the tiles under the feet of the Wraith Knight were cracked like the weight of the walker smashed them? Just a thought. Looks good so far.

Think you're onto a winner with that one Warboss, that'll be the first port of call this afternoon I reckon. Great idea!

Looking good TH, the extended black rims are what I’d do for the raised area, so it gets my vote. As for the gaps in the arms, I’d get some liquid GS in there and you might be able to get away with a little touch up rather than a full repaint

Been a bit lazy on the forums lately, but trying to activate myself again.
Always hitting "my subscribed threads" leads to missing out on some really cool stuff.

Great that you decided to start another "general hobby" thread!
Liked following the last one, so I bet I enjoy my time here too. The first two pages are off to a good start.

I have seen the models in the painting competition threads and Instagram, but it was fun and interesting to read more about the projects themselves, and the thought processes behind them.

 Tyranid Horde wrote:

I have a limited supply of poker chips and I have a feeling I'll need to cast some in the future if I plan on making any more big bases for my army or make a display board (right Ezki? )

Haha, indeed you do!
No but really, seeing a board for these guys would be awesome! No stress though, there are always too many projects in our heads

Keep up the good work chap!

Hey folks,

I've neglected to update this blog as my attention has mostly been on Space Marines, but I have been whittling away at some other models in the background as I still have to get that pile of shame sorted!

From the last update, the wraithknight base has been sanded, filled, resanded, primed, sanded and primed again as I keep going back and forth attempting to smoothen the raised edge of the base. No photos as it's literally a base, but when I've got it looking a little bit prettier, I'll drop an update photo. I added some of the armour plates yet to be glued the the wraithknight as I'll be moving into edge highlighting soon and it'll be a good bit easier to paint on the model as I know where I don't have to edge highlight. Again, I'll show off more in the next update, all I have really done is touch up some areas of airbrushing where I've had overspray or any blemishes from my previous work, which is actually quite poor compared to what I do now, so that's nice progress to see I guess.

Included in some of the airbrush sessions, I broke out my kitbashed Autarch so he can get some love again as well as the jetbikes seen on page one. I wasn't happy with the airbrushing I'd done so I went in again and added shadows to the autarch and toned down how bright the jetbikes were as they didn't quite match the darker green of the rest of my army. They're still bright, and are similar to the last falcon grav tank I painted, but they have much smoother gradients compared to what they had. I did encounter a lot of clogging problems and one jetbike in particular got the brunt of it, so that'll have to be sorted out soon. I also gave the jetbikes' computer displays a quick OSL styled airbrush, as doing it now means I can touch them up if anything goes wrong or I can paint over it should I not like the effect.



I enhanced the shadows of my Autarch further by trying a different colour to dark green or black, instead going for GW's contrast paint Wyldwood, which is a really dark brown and I think it has added quite a nice hue to the armour under the mini while not being obviously brown. After that, I quickly airbrushed some initial gradients along his power glaive to frame the mini a bit more. I went with blue as I do with all my other power swords, to keep things uniform.




I did forget to add black for my shadows for this update for some reason, as I did that for the warlocks I painted up at the same time. These guys have been stripped and repainted at least three times as I've never truly been happy with them and having a fully painted warlock would be nice for a change to add to my painted farseers. Again, I shaded their clothing with brown contrast which has given a nice result. Still lots to do on these, but it is a start, and they aren't overly detailed to the point I'll be looking at them months later.



As a final update on the Eldar front, I also worked on the Warp Spider Exarch that I've been avoiding along with his squad for years, so his power blades got a blast of blue too. More to do on him, but the blades contrast nicely with the armour and when the bone is brightened up, he'll hopefully look the part.



In addition to the Eldar, I dug out some of my Nighthaunt as I intend to make a start on them this year and I picked a spirit torment with chainghasts as my test pieces. I am not really sure what direction to go with them yet, part of me wants to go full on AoS28/Grimdark/Blanchitsu on them and make them very grimy and gritty, but I am also tempted to theme them around one of the realms in Age of Sigmar, with bright colours that I haven't used before. The folds and flowing lines would make for excellent opportunites to increase my skills in airbrushing, but it also serves as a good canvas to do some oil painting, which would take longer, and I have 80 chainrasps that need doing. Let me know what you think, ideas are very much needed!



Thanks for reading and feel free to drop a comment or criticism on anything done so far, I'm all ears on improving, even if it is early days for a lot of these projects.

Cheers,

-TH

I would say go with the bright and colorful nighthaunt. I would check out Dana Howl's painting tutorials for inspiration. (https://www.youtube.com/c/DanaHowl/featured) Lots of vibrant airbrush blends and cool colors.

Loving the blends with all of your green!

Putting out some great stuff, TH.

Nice start to the bikes Tyranid Horde.

CB

That green on those pointy-eared xenos looks great and excited to see the direction your Nighthaunt will take!

I second E3DD about the bright colors. Would be interesting to see that!
You can always paint one in both (or more) styles and do the final decision then. At least I have a hard time deciding a color scheme without a test model.

Or you could hit it out of the park and go with a synthwave / retrowave look (a bit like in the Dana Howl's video).
Been dreaming about that kind of color scheme for an army, but never done it yet.

The Wraithknight, jetbikes and Autarch are looking good. The airbrushing is looking nice with those shades of green and I agree the brown fits in naturally and provides a bit more contrast than a darker green. The bright blue definitely provides a stand-out spot contrast for weapons. And your shine effect with the White is very cool. I’m excited to see where this project goes next.

The green is looking gorgeous, and excited to see where you take the rest of the models!

Seconding the vote for Howl-esque NH

Thanks for sharing

I always enjoy seeing more Eldar from you - those greens are looking really nice, especially the airbrushed gradients on the Wraithknight and the jetbikes. Looking forward to more progress!