finally updates... pt3

Ok I know I'm not supposed to use a flash but it's getting late and I couldn't get decent pics of the trolls without it. These guys are my April entry for the Lo2G @ Two Headed Dragon. At least this lets you see the colour scheme and details and not just a brownish blob. These guys were really quick as well. Here's my paint list.

1. black wash base
2. sepia wash on stomach and leading to arms
3. while wet, devlan wash around sepia
4. devlan wash rest of troll
5. repeat steps 2-4
6. ogryn wash entire body
7. thraka wash in 'healed' spots, followed by blue wash and another thraka wash
8. devlan wash scales
9. ogryn wash again
10. paint metal black, then boltgun metal, then black wash
    
11. loincloths are baal wash x2, leviathan wash, baal wash
12. teeth/fingernails/toenails are dheneb stone foundation followed by ogryn wash
13. eyes are blazing orange
14. fresh cuts are emerald green
15. leviathan wash on the nips
    
16. drybrush bash bleached bone

Converted hammer to sword (no idea what impact this has for LOTR, but looks dead cool)

Hammer

Spear (plastic)

finally updates... pt2

Well so far the troll photos aren't turning out so hot. I'll give it one more go in a bit. I did however get a couple decent pics of my techmarine conversion. He'll need some green stuff work but again enough to get playing with. He'll be my Space Sharks techmarine. I may still need to add a beaky helmet in there somehow - anyone think I should replace the head with a beaky?

I cut up an extra techmarine backpack to provide the extra bits for the conversion. The servo-arm I pinned to the middle exhaust vent, the wires I pinned to the bottom. For the laser cutter I combined an old and newer plastic plasma pistol, for the flamer I just used an old hand flamer. I didn't bother with any other weapons as the servo harness gives enough power for a support character and he has a bolter slung under his shoulder so he's both WYSIWYG and a nice round 75 points.

finally updates... pt1

Whew, had a few hectic weeks there where I didn't really have time to take pics and post. I did manage to do some modeling and painting in between being busy and being hurt. I've put together a fair number of models since I've decided it'd be nice to be able to use them before being painted, and includes;

• 3 magnetized AoBR dreadnoughts
  
• 1 techmarine with converted servo-harness (basically 2 servo-arm backpacks combined)
• 1 eversor assassin
  
• 2 magnetized rhino chassis' (minus side doors and rhino top hatches)
  
• 1 set of magnetized predator components (the turret needs another magnet to keep the barrel up I think but it's good enough for now)
• 5 iron knights 'squires' (SM scouts aka neophytes - planning to use the black templar list for that chapter - since my iron knights are going to have the studded shoulder pad, i've used old RT001 arms for these guys and they are perfect sized for a smaller model)

The only pics I've managed to take that came out ok are of the three dreadnoughts - so without further ado, here they are. I used magnets in two positions on each arm to try and make sure they stay pointed up.

Arms detached

Arms attached

I need to post up pics of my painted trolls for the Lo2G competition @ Two Headed Dragon tonight (done with same techniques as the goblins), so parts 2 and possibly 3 of "finally updates" to come.

Legend of 2HD gamers - pt1 B

The scores have been posted for the Lo2G competition at Two Headed Dragon. I expect these scores to increase as with the campaign (I'll keep posting about the campaign too) we can keep playing games (afaik) until the next deadline. I'm in bold.

Month 1 scoring / Current standings;
7 Tristan - fully painted, best painted, 2 games, 1 win
5 Philip - fully painted, 1 game, 1 win
4 Ken - fully painted, 1 game

For reference (Grey Knight)
3 Karl - fully painted

I know I alway say this, but I want to start getting pics of these events. Maybe even do up a batrep or two.

Force Pages

You may have noticed the little "GWpertinent forces" sidebar that's been up for a few weeks now. I just want to bring some attention to it now as with completing my undead blood bowl team I'm really aiming to keep an up to date page for each force I collect. Look to see new photos and updates on those pages, as well as maintaining a to-do list plus awards and background info. There's also the (% painted) to show you how far along I am to completion.

The new Torne Bane Flaming Ears force page is pretty much what I'm aiming for as a standard.

to-do updates;

• Player photos for Badlandz Deff Ramz (taken, need to be editted)
• Good pics for Novamarines
• Add photos to Space Sharks
• Create Orcs & Goblins (WHFB/LOTR) page
• Get photos and pages going for mordheim and necromunda.
  

Introducing... The Torne Bane Flaming Ears (+13 pp)

Well I set a moderate goal for myself for this weekends painting. Friday night was given over to warhammer, but I wanted to keep the momentum rolling in terms of painting. I decided to get the undead blood bowl guys I had started finished up to the point where I'd dip and base them.

Pleased with the way these guys turned out. I'm hoping the right dip will dirty them up a little more. I decided it would be boring to base every team on a superbowl champion, so I picked the '76 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, one of the worst teams in history - not winning a game until the end of their second season. I chose this for the undead team because I figure if any team is gonna fall apart on me, it's the undead!

All the players are named 'dead' lastname using a real player and number from that year, you can check out the force page for more info.

Onto the pics. What do you think?

Painting motivation - lists

Something I have begun doing recently when staring at a bunch of models on my painting table is create a list of how to paint them. Scratching items off the list helps feeling like you've accomplished something - even if it's just a wash and doesn't make much difference in how complete the model looks.

At first I would just do this once I get down to the nitty-gritty details, to make sure I didn't miss anything - however I took it a step further with the goblins I recently completed since I had a deadline and not lots of time to meet it. Here I planned out the exact colours and order of painting to be most efficient. It worked really well and additionally I can use it when painting the next batch from the same army to ensure they look cohesive.

I think it's time to scam Admiral Drax's notebook idea, and keep lists for all models I paint. That way I always have something to reference and even months or years from now could reproduce the paint job if adding models. Currently thinking of my undead blood bowl team for when I manage to get a couple more zombies and maybe another ghoul.

Any of you guys have other "non" painting tips for me?

Goblin Archers (+30pp)

I remembered not to throw out the list I made for painting these guys so here it is. I really only used washes on these guys, the only solid colours were the metallics, black and bleached bone. Using this method I managed to paint all 30 of these guys in probably just over 6 hours work (not including prep) which equals out to almost 5 guys an hour. I'd definitely recommend experimenting with a gray undercoat if you haven't tried.

Prep
1. tape over washer.
2. trim off tape with scissors.
3. cut off slot.
4. super glue to base.
5. white glue and dip in sand/rocks.
6. prime grey with Armory.

Paint
1. black wash base
2. paint eyes white
3. gryphonne sepia wash over eyes, flesh and hair
4. alternate splotches with other skin tones (colour group a)
5. skin tones on all flesh (colour group a)
6. paint body clothing twice (colour group b)
7. shade body clothing (colour group c)
8. paint body clothing (colour group b)
9. boltgun metal on front of boots, shoulderpads, quiver bottom
10. black wash boots, armbands, arrow feathers, shoulders twice
11. paint quiver twice (colour group c)
12. paint bows (colour group d)
13. paint eye pupils black
14. paint teeth bleached bone
15. drybrush base bleached bone

Colour groups
a) gryphonne sepia, ogryn flesh, baal red, thraka green
b) baal red, thraka green
c) devlan mud, ogryn flesh
d) gryphonne sepia, ogryn flesh, flesh wash, devlan mud


Here are some quick pics of the goblin archers I painted up for the Lo2G deadline. Sorry for the lower quality.

Couple shots of the whole unit


Closer pics of the archers, front & back with showing

Champion
Musician

Legend of 2HD gamers - pt1

First deadline for Lo2G at Two Headed Dragon was last night. This is the fantasy version of the tale of four gamers. I got my 30 gobbo archers painted up (I will post pics of them later tonight), and I played 2 games (we are using the Scourge of the Crown campaign rules - found here [http://www.bfgclub.org.uk/Scourge_of_the_Crown_rules.pdf]) so started by rolling up three territories, where I got 2 Stone Circles (+1 wizard of any value OR +1 magic item up to 50 points) and a Road (+100 points). This let me add a level 2 shaman with the staff of sneaky stealing to my army. The rest of my army was a goblin warlord with a couple magic items, 5 river trolls, 25 orcs with shields, 15 black orcs with shields, the 30 goblin archers and a spear chukka.

1st game was against Philip and his Wood Elves. He had lots of wardancers, some dryads, 10 scouts, 10 glade guard, 5 glade riders and a hero and mage. Game seemed to be edging his way (he kept running his scouts out of charge sight of my black orcs and pelting them with arrows) however my shamans staff meant I was able to stop his mage from using the forest moving/attacking spell for the first few turns, which left his wardancers stuck in the forest until I was able to charge them with my trolls. My trolls proceeded to rout his wardancers (after he killed my shaman - who had miscast and lost a wound) and destroy them pursuing, then do the same to his dryads. My goblin archers saw off his glade riders in one good round of shooting. In the end I got a marginal victory, and took the Town as new territory (woohoo extra special choice!).

2nd game was against Ken and his High Elves. Ken is just learning so this game was a bit of a mess, as I forgot about his horses attacking in one turn and we ended up having to cut off before my turn four could happen, however my black orcs had seen off his lion chariot and a unit of lothern sea guard. Also had his Silver Helms locked with my orcs, about to be flank charged by my trolls, and also while they were stuck in the middle my spear chukka killed 3 with a good shot (coming from the side, as he had 9 and we lined them up in one long rank). Ken decided to forfeit cuz he had to get home, so I picked up another territory (another road, woot!) bringing my total up to 5.

In total my trolls got 2 experience points (need to remember about these in game!!!), my black orcs got 2 and my goblin archers got 1. Other stuff I forgot sometimes through these games being my first games with O&G were; bonuses to waaagh magic from units in combat, elves cause fear to goblins (made my general useless a couple turns), calling a waaagh for one turn and the change where shields give you a better save in close combat.

Quite pleased with this night (tons of fun!) and also with my army. I will eventually want to change from goblin characters to orcs or black orcs. Also very impressed with my trolls, I'm going to want to keep my warlord with them in future as well I think. I should also have a second spear chukka for future games and was pleased with their performance. Gotta give them an orc bully though as Philips hero mauled the crew in my first game. Also I need to build some movement trays for the guys with magnetized bases.

Now.. what to paint up for next month's deadline. I really like how my goblins turned out (only used washes and metallics over grey undercoat and they look awesome - hoping I picked up best painted for this month). 3 trolls would make the points limit. Might be easier than painting another large batch of guys.

I'll post the scores on Sunday once our Grey Knight posts them in the Two Headed Dragon forums.

ps. I also traded Philip some Wood Elves for an Escher gang and some Space Marine bits, so unfortunately my mini queue #'s are going up. Le sigh ;)