Raptors: Deathwatch Marine... complete (kinda)

Here's some updated pics of my Raptor Legion deathwatch marine.  I had to get him done quickly last week in order to submit him to The Fallen Princes Badab War character competition.  I figured out how I'm going to do the yellow on my first company Raptors (shoulderpad is much more muted and pastel than the bright yellow of second company - first company will have no camo) and as well I think I will update the rest of the Raptors bases with a little more green wash over the swamp scrub as on this mini.  A little water effects or something and I think they will really start to come together.

love how dynamic his pose came out

I say he's "kinda" finished, since in order to enter him to the competition (ps. voting has commenced - vote here! but not for me, the other entries are so much better!) he was supposed to have a combi-flamer w chain blade attachment.  In the end the chain blade was too much, but I did end up magnetizing a hand flamer from the death company sprue to attach to the bottom of his bolter.  I will probably end up magnetizing an infernus pistol and possibly plasma pistol to give him all three options.

good view of all the raven guard bits

You can see I used a bunch of FW raven guard parts.  I'm ok with it as there's lots of similar iconography on my counts as Shrike.  Even for the chapter shoulderpad - I'll just say he's allowed to use personal icons as a mark of honour for being accepted to the deathwatch - although he still has a small shoulder shield to match the camo colours of the rest of my Raptor Legion second company.  The bird skull and backpack really give him some personality.  I'd like to thank Chris @ Crosser Modeling for giving me a vote - his Laufrey is a better choice based on the criteria at minimum (better paint job and weather too!)

Barter Bucket + 6 easy painting points = win!

Have been doing pretty well getting brush to mini recently.  I've nearly finished my CF sternguard (just some decals and final details left), and as well have gotten another couple Space Sharks magnetized rhinos at the point where I'm working on the giant mouth/teeth painted on the front.  Today I pulled out a blister of spore mines with the intention of just getting them glued to their bases while I was doing some more work on the sternguard.  However I ended up undercoating them and from there they didn't really take much work at all.  The reason I picked them up is due to the "Even Wyrder" necromunda pdf put out by Anthony Case. The spore mines can be used as new beastmaster beasts "lashoaters" who float around and have random numbers of attacks.

3 colours, 1 wash = done!

All I did was use three different colours, in different spots depending on the model - then gave the whole model a healthy wash of baal red.  This all came around after some testing where a red wash over a coat of golden yellow gave me a nice gruesome fleshy colour, so I started with that and through some more testing chose two other colours to use  with the single red wash to tie it all together.  They look suitably different than my necro rats.

good ol' barter bucket

Finally, I should just throw a little shout out - I picked up these guys in a trade through the barter bucket over at Santa Cruz Warhammer.

Raptors: Chaplain with Jump Pack

First painting point of 2011! At least I managed it in January, I started on my terminator librarian conversion for my Novamarines, but kinda stalled out.  To go along with the Raptors paint method, I used only washes on his armour.  Unfortunately I think I did one layer too many, I started on a grey undercoat and did 5 coats (black/green/black/black/black) - I think he looked better at 4 coats.  As with my counts as Shrike, I didn't do any special highlights.  I seriously think when I have a decent army of this chapter they will look great for the amount of time put in.

In this pic you can see the chapter icon decal I used on his left shoulderpad.  For his helmet I just painted on a thin layer of dheneb stone foundation paint before using various splotches of washes.  Again I think I went a little far - it looked a little better before the last couple strokes.  Still I'm not overly disappointed, he still looks pretty bad-ass and I'm sure will be a welcome addition to an assault heavy chapter.

A little bit of scenery hedge and I'm pretty much done.  I've just noticed now though that Shrike has the tubes on the back of his jump pack in bronze, and wondering if I should do the same for this character, it might break up the large black area - what do you think?

Spyrers step by step.. or using washes the "wrong" way

I've always been a fan of washes. With the latest GW washes I've taken it a step further in many cases check out my Raptors space marines or my LOTR/WHFB orcs & goblins if you are interested in seeing more.

I've had a couple requests for step by step on my Spyrers, which I'd call more of a staining method than anything else.  I wanted a similar style to paint all my Spyrers but wanted the various "suits" to have an easily recognizable colour.  I decided to try stealing a technique I'd seen used in 'Eavy Metal by Mike McVey for painting horses.  This was basically a grey/black undercoat, with a heavy white drybrush and a couple coats of brown ink to stain it the correct colour.  It handled all the highlights and shadows, looked solid and above all seemed really easy!  I thought it would work well on the Spyrers due to all the texture to the models (armour plates, tubing, etc.)

Step 1: Basecoat

This will define the overall look of your finished mini.  I went with black & red mainly because I wanted my malcadons to be reminiscent of spider-man (and I'd chosen to use a blue wash for them)

Step 2: Drybrush

Here you can see I basically just drybrushed the entire model white.  It picks out all the detail, and looks like crap - until...

Step 3: Stain (aka wash) #1

Ta-da! You can see it starting to come together here with the first coat of purple wash.  The black takes on a purplish hue and the white is quite easily stained to a light purple colour.  I go quite heavy and literally just splash the wash all over (told you it was quick!)

Step 4: Stain #2

Here the effect has really come together.  Without close inspection you can't tell the highlights were originally white and drybrushed on, they end up looking quite natural since the wash is used (quite liberally!) all over it pulls all the colours of the model together with it's unique tone.

I usually like to do some small details with proper paints, I find instead of being glaringly obvious (the difference between the washed parts and painted parts) when used correctly it can really bring the mini to life and makes the staining method even less obvious.  For the Spyrers I painted their weapons silver with a black wash and painted their faces.

I hope this inspires you, be sure to let me know if you try out any crazy painting with washes techniques!

Must Finish Project #2..... FINISHED!!!

Back at the end of February I wrote a couple posts about some small-ish projects I hoped to complete this year.  I'm happy to say trying to get some necromunda organized and get my brother involved in the hobby again has gotten me quite motivated.  Over the weekend and today the rest of the MFP #2 - my spyrers - have been painted and based.

Sorry for the weak photo, but it's getting late.  This batch gives me two of the jakara, malcadon and orrus suits, as well as four yeld suits. It's pretty insane to have a collection of 10 spyrers considering it's about twice as many as I'll ever need, but the paint scheme I chose is so easy finishing them up was a breeze.

Next up, some posts about the necromunda campaign as well as some more pit slave posts.

30 wargs painted in just under 6 hours (356 minutes) +30PP

Well, I've talked a lot of talk about these guys, now I've pulled it off and my estimate of 6 hours was correct for total painting time (not including assembly, green stuff, basing, priming)

Here's a close up of three
and here's all thirty of them

Here's the list of steps for anyone interested.

(# of mins) step

1. (6) white drybrush on 6 wargs
2. (4) black drybrush on 6 wargs
3. (14) paint grey stripe on backs
4. (63) paint mouths black
5. (38) gryphonne sepia wash
6. (32) gryphonne sepia wash
7. (35) gryphonne sepia wash
8. (16) paint eyes yellow
9. (28) paint teeth dheneb stone
10. (14) paint accessible claws dheneb stone
11. (10) paint tongues skorne red
12. (25) paint hard to reach claws dheneb stone
13. (10) paint grass catachan green
14. (25) fix bases grey
15. (10) black wash base and teeth
16. (26) drybrush base bleached bone
    

30 wargs, ready to paint.

I've been threatening to get started on these for a while now, with the new WHFB escalation league at Heavy Support Games, I've finally been motivated to hunker down.

30 wargs - cleaned, assembled, green stuff'd, glued to washer base, sand glued to base, primed.

I took 2 from each group and gave them light mists of both white & black primer.
I will take a further 2 from each group and give them drybrushes with which & black.
That will leave 2 grey for each group - hopefully removing some of the uniformity of the models.

glued to bases
sand glued to base
primed & misted
Two posts in a day :O Well I had a long hobby day yesterday so it's not unjustified.

goblin characters

I got the finishing touches done on my two goblin characters tonight. To try and make them stand out from the crowd a bit, I gave them purple armour/robes (still using wash only technique) and decided that wasn't enough - so I used an actual paint on a single piece for each model (green dragon helm for lord, red skull spikes for shaman) - much better.

Total actual hours for this army should be record low! As for painting points, I've slipped a little behind - 82% done points for 86% of the year done. I really need to get those warg riders painted, as alltogether that'll be 60 painting points, more than enough to complete my goal.
They shouldn't take very long to paint either. I figure about 6 hours to paint 30 wargs and another 6 for the riders. The problem is getting their bases ready/adding magnets/filing gaps.

Goblin Hero/Lord
Goblin Shaman

O&G update - spear chukkas

Well I failed in my plan to get all my wargs assembled for priming this weekend. I didn't want to let the hobby room booking go to waste so I varnished all my orcs & goblins, and I also primed my two "spear chukkas" (aka mordor siege bows) and my two goblin characters (shaman & hero).

I still have the shaman and hero on the painting table (sorting out some of the colours for them is a little more complex) but I've completed the two spear chukkas and crew. Painted like all the other models from this army - nearly nothing but washes. I think it worked really well on the war machine itself, I used white and darker grey before starting the wash treatment to look like colour variations in the wood.

Eversor (+1pp)

I had primed this eversor to use up the last of a can of black undercoat. Really didn't have any idea how to paint him, until I decided to go with a scheme similar to the Spyrers I recently finished. Used elf grey and white drybrush over black, then I painted some parts mithril silver before using two washes of leviathan purple (my other assassin model wasn't painted by me, but is purple as well). I decided to base him the same as my novamarines, it tied closest to necromunda as I could see myself proxying this guy as a third malcadon in the Spyrer gang should I feel so inclined, or maybe the patriarch.

04/24/2014 EDIT
Some FOLDIO lightbox pics

First "Complete" project!! Spyrers

I've been quite busy recently, to be fair it's mostly been partying so I can't really complain. However I've managed to finish up my Spyrers I'd been painting at 2HD. Brought them home to finish up the details. I put complete in quotes because I'm not considering building a matriarch or patriarch models, but you know how it goes.. you never know!

Without further ado.. the pics. I used some different techniques on these minis. Let me know what you think. (ps. I'm still ahead of the game, 72.4% of points complete in 68.8% of days used)

Norah the Jakara

Ferdinand and Reginald the Malcadons

Gilbert the Orrus

Maximilian the Yeld

Lo2G final and Necromunda @ 2HD - Day 3

Stopped by 2HD today to finish up the Lo2G and ended up playing some Necromunda. Unfortunately the guys who are playing in the campaign were busy with their role-playing, so I ended up buying some primer, some brushes and a couple paints to start on the Spyrers I'm using in the Necromunda campaign to spend my time.

We've ended Lo2G early as there's only Philip and I left, and the Grey Knight program is closed - although both Philip and I are going to try to continue painting 150 points a month. The recent painting points I scored are from the orcs I painted.

Month 3 scoring;
3 Tristan - fully painted
4 Philip - fully painted, best painted
0 Ken

For reference (Grey Knight)
0 Karl

Final standings;
13 Tristan - fully paintedx3, best painted, 3 games, 1 win
14 Philip - fully paintedx3, best paintedx2, 2 games, 2 wins
4 Ken - fully painted, 1 game

For reference (Grey Knight)
3 Karl - fully painted

Congratulations to Philip. I think the plan is we split the third place prize. He'll get over $100 in GW loot and I'll get somewhere around $75.

Then I got a couple games of Necromunda in. First due to the massive rating difference I got to pick the scenario and picked hit & run. With my speed I was sure I would be able to quickly get a guy off safely. Ended up doing just that as Philip did a good job ensuring I couldn't get some easy kills before ending it. Yeld off on turn 3.

Hit & run is a great scenario for Spyrers. I can at most be missing one gang member, and every raider gets +10xp if you win. All my guys got some advances (even forgetting the bonus xp for having a lower gang rating)

Then we did a gang fight with three gangs. I only got a single wound in, and bottled on the third turn after Karl took down my Malcadon (getting blinded in one eye - HA who cares). But upon realizing not getting any bonus xp for gang rating - and complaining all day I couldn't roll a power boost - finally on my last roll my Orrus scores a power boost and I get a sustained fire dice for my bolt launchers.. /insert heavenly choir sound here

Legend of 2HD Gamers pt2 + BFG

We all got a little delayed first week of the month, so we met up the next Friday to play some games and let the GK judge our painting for the Lo2G competition at Two Headed Dragon. We all had a busy April so no more games were really played. I'm in bold. Also due to the GK program being canceled we are going to end this competition a month early due to loss of competitors. Looks like it's down to whoever gets best painted next month, or whoever wins the game between Philip and I. We could still end up tying, and if that happens will probably split the pot evenly.

Month 2 scoring;
4 Tristan - fully painted, 1 game
6 Philip - fully painted, best painted, 1 game, 1 win
0 Ken

For reference (Grey Knight)
0 Karl

Current standings;
11 Tristan - fully paintedx2, best painted, 3 games, 1 win
11 Philip - fully paintedx2, best painted, 2 games, 2 wins
4 Ken - fully painted, 1 game

For reference (Grey Knight)
3 Karl - fully painted

I also got to play my first game of BFG today. We played a 3 way with a huge dust cloud in the middle. Quite a fun game, don't know why I always hesitated so much previously to give it a try.
Thinking about making a Tyranid fleet and finding some really cheap way to construct it. Any ideas?

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)

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.

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