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@Nev: Thanks! I had already seen how well contrast paints work for Nids thanks to your blog and contest entries, but actually doing it myself has been very satisfying. And yes, I did end up getting the Deathwing Assault box, read below!

@YWS: Don't worry, there'll be some Marines along presently to stem the tide of bugs.

Not much painting going on lately, but I have done some assembly. Thankfully my FLGS came through for me and I did get my hands on the Deathwing Assault box, so that's what I've been mostly working on here lately. I've put together Belial, the Deathwing Knights, and half of the Terminator Squad so far, and I gotta say I love these new models. Anyway, I guess I better show some pics!
First, new Belial:

This model is a great improvement over the old FineCrap Belial, and looks properly menacing in the new scale of modern Terminators. He's still got plenty of bling, but he should, seeing as he's the Master of the Deathwing, after all, amirite?

Next, the Deathwing Knights:

It's a pity these guys have been nerfed in the rules, as the new models are absolutely fantastic! Lots of head options, of which I chose the knight-looking heads as they are unique to this unit, and a lot less random bling on these models than the old ones, which is nice. Sometimes less is more when it comes to details, and the details that are present on these models will be pretty fun to paint. I went with the swords because I've already got a bunch of the old DW Knights with the maces.

Finally, the new Deathwing Terminators:

These are just the standard new Space Marine Terminators with some bits from the new Dark Angels Accessories sprue, which is an absolute gold mine for DA-specific parts. Lots of heads and shoulder pads, plus other little details to really customize various Primaris units. I went with the Plasma Cannon option as I already have several CML-armed guys and want to give myself more options, plus the Plasma is unique to Deathwing. I also went ahead and gave the sarge a power sword since in the codex he has to take it (unlike the vanilla Terminators who can take a fist on their sergeant). Plus the sword is a special DA-specific one from the accessory sprue so this gave me an excuse to use it. Two of the guys also got Chainfists instead of Power Fists, because you never know when you might need to cut up a vehicle of some kind.

For the painting challenge, I'm actually going to switch and paint old and new Belial. It'll give me a reason to paint the old model, plus it might fit the theme better. I can always do the Termagants really quick if I run out of time, and I'll want to do them this month regardless. Hopefully I have more to show related to all that soon.

Those new models are pretty sweet. Look forward to seeing the Belials in the comp!

How are those marines going? Week left of the month. Get cracking! Don’t let other projects distract you.

@YWS: Thanks!

@Nev: They're coming along (see below), distractions are distracting but I think I can focus. I hope.

Relatively quick update as more of a proof of life. I've been slowly working on my two versions of Belial for the monthly challenge, but there's not a lot of time left and there's lots more work to be done. Here's a WIP shot showing where I've gotten to on them:

As you can see, so far it's mostly been blocking in main colors. I'm actually using traditional paints rather than contrast/Speedpaints, so it's slightly slower going, but generally I'm hoping to get a little better results than I could with contrast. Contrast is better for "quick and dirty" bashing out of units, whereas named characters often deserve a little better treatment, at least in my opinion.

In other news, I've decided to move all of my board game related stuff into a separate blog, which I'll link here. That's where future updates to my work on Aliens: AGDITC, Ankh, and the newly arrived Primal: The Awakening, among others, will be found, freeing up this blog for actual wargaming stuff.

Let the weekend be your friend. You got this.

@YWS: Unfortunately it didn't work out thanks to RL stuff getting in the way. Single tear.

Another "proof of life" post this time around, as I haven't gotten a whole ton done. I didn't finish the Belials unfortunately thanks to some untimely RL things taking away my painting time, but I did make progress on them since my last post. Here's the WIP showing where I've gotten to on them:

Honestly they are pretty close to done, with just a few details plus a bit of shades and highlights to go. And of course the bases. You can't see it in this photo, but I'm pretty happy with New Belial's cloak; I like the look of it compared to old Belial's more bare armor even if it isn't quite as fancy as the Lion's cloak.

The only other paint I've gotten down recently is a test Gutrippa for my Kruleboyz. It's not done but the scheme is mostly there and I'm happy with it:

It's fairly basic, but it'll do the job. I still have a few things to pick out on the model, but I'll get around to that once I'm ready to actually start working on my Kruleboyz in earnest. All the paints used are Army Painter Speedpaints.

I haven't gotten a whole lot of paint down, but I have been doing some assembly of some new stuff.
First, a box of the new Space Marine Scouts:

I built these guys for maximum flexibility, as with these options I can run them as two Scout squads in 40k or as a Kill Team (where they just won't have the second sniper as they only get 9 guys).

Next, a Winged Hive Tyrant to add to Hive Fleet Kukulkan:

Now I've got one of each type of Hive Tyrant (Winged, Regular, and Swarmlord).

Finally, a Breakaboss on Mirebrute Troggoth for my Kruleboyz:

I actually really like this model; it has cool rules and it looks brutal. I like the idea of rushing this thing forward and breaking heads with him while the rest of my sneaky ladz do their wicked work.

For this month, the painting challenge theme is Space Marines (as is tradition) and I'm planning to enter some Infernus Marines from Leviathan. I haven't even really started, so I'm up against it for sure, as the month is more than half gone already. Wish me luck!

That's some serious upscaling on Belial. Except the sword, which appears to be the same size on both models.

Also, you're a brave soul for pairing purple with green.

Nice work on the belials.

The kruelboy seems bright? It might just be my limited knowledge, but I picture them as being dark and grungy. If you told me the next step for that guy was to dip the whole model into a soft brown ink, I’d believe you and think it was the right call.

Nice builds for the PoS. You can never have too many hive tyrants. (Looks over at the shelf) let me rephrase that; you don’t have too many hive tyrants. I had a lot of fun building the first half of my scouts, need to get to the rest of them.

Good luck painting the burner boys. I tried to do them in aug, but only the sarge was done in time.

Sorry to hear about RL woes. Hopefully it improves. Good luck getting your comp entry done!

How’s progress going? Any luck getting those marines done in time? Week left!

@Josh: Yeah, the new model is definitely bigger, as with all of the new Terminators. The tactical rock makes him look even bigger still. And I'm not pairing purple with green, I'm pairing magenta with green. There's a difference! Seriously though I'm basically just following the box art, and those are the colors. It works for the model, I think, as both of those colors are typical of Dark Angels robes.

@Nev: Thanks! I can see where you're coming from on the Gutrippa Boy, but honestly the ones on GW's site have fairly pale skin that doesn't look super dirty or anything. I'm concerned that a wash might end up too dark and since I used Speedpaint I'm not sure I could brighten it back up again afterwards!

@YWS: Things have improved, thanks for your support!

@Nev (again): Hold yer horses, fella! I got it done, read on!

Sorry for the lack of updates; I've been working behind the scenes, but just didn't feel like talking about it or taking pictures. I did finish my entry for the March painting challenge, the traditional Space Marine round, so here are the final pics of the front half of the Leviathan Infernus Squad:



Nothing fancy here really, but the models will look decent on the tabletop, assuming I ever actually play them (their rules are kinda meh). I decided that for all of the Leviathan models I'd put some decals from the special Tyrannic War decal sheet (that I got for participating in an escalation league a few months back) on them to signify that they have been helping to hold back the Tyranid menace. The ones on these guys don't really show up all that well against their dark green armor (they are on the right leg greaves), but on other models they'll probably show up better. It's nice to get more models done, and to finally be on the board for completing the Leviathan box set.

Next month's comp theme is Let's Finish This, so I might just look through all my backburnered WIP projects to see if there's a suitable one. There's probably some low-hanging fruit among my collection somewhere; I'll have to have a think about what to enter. Anyhow, that's all for now, stay classy everyone.

Nice, clean-looking bunch of Dark Angels. Good job getting them done!

@YWS: Thanks!

I haven't done any painting to speak of since my last post, but I have done some assembly and kitbashing. I need to get some paint down too, as that's what actually finishes models, but I like to give myself lots of options. The weather has definitely not been cooperating for getting any primer down either, and I was busy on Monday travelling to the path of totality for the recent solar eclipse (which was spectacular by the way). Anywho, here's what I've been putting together:

First off, I had preordered two boxes of Inner Circle Companions, and I finally got the second box put together the other day. Two boxes gets you all six possible poses. Here they are in their gray plastic glory:

These guys are going to be fun, but challenging, to paint, as they've got plenty of detail on their robes and stuff.

The rest of what I've been working on has been Ravenwing-related. I had gotten a box of Outriders as a door prize at a tournament a couple of years ago, but in 9th I already had 3 units of 3 and so couldn't actually use any more. I hadn't gotten around to selling them by time 10th arrived, and I'm glad for that because you can now take Outriders in 6-man units (with an attached Invader ATV too), meaning I finally have a reason to have more Outriders. Here is the new unit:

I made use of the new upgrade sprue to put some Ravenwing flair on the models (I picked up a third set of them at my FLGS so that all the bikes could have matching tail fins), with symbols on the sides, the tail fins, and a head with a thrown-back hood for the sarge.

Speaking of Ravenwing flair, I finally put the other set of 3d printed wings and tails on my other set of Outriders:

I'll probably brush prime the parts black before I start painting.

And finally, I dug out some old bikes I had sitting around, as well as my bits boxes, and cobbled together a second Ravenwing Command Squad. I love the unit's rules in the new book, so I really wanted a second set of them to lead another unit. Here's what I came up with:

Yes, I put grenade launchers on two of the models, but that was the winged fairings I had handy. I'm hoping nobody is going to be super strict with WYSIWYG. It worked out well that I had plenty of spare Command Squad bits from all the kits that I built as regular Black Knights.

This month's painting challenge is Let's Finish This, and we're allowed to finish up WIP models for it. I'll be doing a partially completed Redemptor Dreadnought, so I need to get to work if I want to actually finish before the end of the month. Catch y'all later.

Progress has been made on the Redemptor, and I'll soon begin assembling his two brothers for my planned Ironstorm Spearhead tournament list. Here's the WIP shot:

Plenty of work to be done, but he's getting there. I plan to go nuts with the decals, using some of the ones from the Tyrannic War sheet as well as the DA upgrade pack to really make this guy fairly snazzy.

Dread is looking good. Getting 2 more of the same flavor or mixing it up? One of these days I need to grab at least one more for my company.