A detailed account of my various commission/hobby projects.
Warhammer 40k – I've almost completed the first phase of my Space Wolf Commission. This is a tabletop quality paint job for this group. The big difference between these and the 3 color + wash jobs is that I do edge highlighting and pick out more details. This also has a freehand tribal pattern on one shoulder pad and knee pad on applicable models.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – With the number of armies I've painted over the years it amazes me that this is the first group of Space Wolves to have graced my table. I did some test schemes for these a while back and my client finally decided on the scheme he wanted to go with.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – I had a chance to sit down a put together my Fire Raptor for my Space Marine force. I've put together several Forgeworld kits recently and with each one it gets a little easier to work with the resin and figure out the best way to quickly clean, straighten and assemble resin models.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – My next big project is a Blood Angels Successor chapter. My client decided he really like the color scheme for the Angels Sanguine. Which means I'm painting a halved scheme for the first time. And of course this is a basic 3 color plus wash level so I need to figure out how to do it quickly.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – When the first of the new Space Marine Models came out on 32mm bases the internet exploded in anger. I didn't really care, happy with my bases as they were I ignored the uproar and kept on painting.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – Melkor AKA Belakor is done. This project was back burnered for a minute due to a rush request from another client. Luckily this job is not a rush and my client is in no rush to get these models done.
Read MoreKingdom Death – Ceramic Faces are a theme in Kingdom Death. Unfortunately the Survivor box I got only has ten 30mm base inserts. They're super cool but the monsters are on bigger bases and I want them to match.
Some time ago I purchased this Japanese product (Oyumaru) for $4 off ebay. Apparently its the same as another product sold by CMON which is branded as Instant Mold. Essentially it's some type of plastic wax that you heat and press the part you want to copy into. Once it dries it's very flexible but holds the detail. You then press greenstuff into it and make a copy.
Once you pull the greenstuff out of the mold you have a pretty decent copy of the detail. I've been triming it to fit on the base of the models. I'll fill in to blank areas with sand and ballast to give it a bit more insterest than the plain faces have.
Warhammer 40,000 – The air is getting brisk around here. It must mean winter is coming. Or maybe it's just these test models for a new client.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – The next batch of 46 infantry models are done for this Grey Knight force. This commission rounds out the other Grey Knight models I painted up a few months ago. My client opted for a basic three color job with a wash and gravel base. He also opted for a matte clearcoat, which is slightly more difficult to apply then a heavy gloss coat.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – I've been trying to make it out to more stores to get in pick up games lately. I've found it helps to keep things fresh. Playing at home with friends is fun but playing other places exposes me to more of what's out there. Case in point this week I played against Khorne Daemonkin, an army I know nothing about.
I made a 2000 point list prior to head out to the store as that seems to be the preferred 1v1 point limit at this location. Previously I've taken my Knights but I hadn't put my Sicaran on the table yet so I wanted to try this out. Here's my list:
HQ - Tyberos the Red Wake
HQ- Techmarine w/three servitors (2 melta)
TROOP - Lightning Claws Terminators w/Landraider Redeemer
TROOP - Tactical Squad (5-man bolt pistol and Chainsword) w/RazorBack
TROOP - Tactical Squad (5-man bolt pistol and Chainsword) w/RazorBack
HEAVY - Centurion Devastator (Grav-Cannons, Hurricane Bolters) w/Landraider Crusader
HEAVY - Relic Sicaran (Armoured Ceramite, Lascannon, Accelerator Autocannon)
HEAVY - Land Raider Achilles
I didn't write down my opponents exact list but he ran something like: Khorne Herald on Chariot, Bloodthirster, 2 units of cultists, 2 units of Fleshhounds, 2 units of Bloodletters, 2 units of Blood Crushers, unit of Posessed in Rhino, Defiler and three terminators.
We played the Deadlock Maelstrom Mission with Dawn of War deployment. The table was an odd mismash of City Terrain, Ruins and fantasy terrain on a green grass mat. Not a pretty sight but a good spread of terrain that balanced out the field.
I set up first and covered the full spread of my table anticipating him deepstriking in something in my backfield. As it turns out he instead spit his force and deployed heavy on either flank. He failed to seize the initiative so I had first turn, nightfighting was not in effect.
The first few turns I moved up and shot while he maneuvered around and took out my razorbacks. After getting the Crusader stuck in a crater I unloaded the Centurions who proceeded to destroy any unit they targeted. The Redwake and Company jumped out of the Redeemer to get in the fight but came up short on the charge range.
Lucky for me he kept his Defiler in the back dropping templates that could seem to cause any wounds. The Bloodcrushers that destroyed the rhino died from dangerous terrain check on the charge. The Herald and Bloodthirster smash the Sicaran and pinned the tactical squad on that flank.
On the other flank the Redeemer and Achilles killed a ton of stuff but I doubt they made their points back. The Techmarine just chilled in the Achilles the whole game as their were no juicy targets on his side of the table worth getting out to take care of. The game ended on turn five with a final score of 11 to 9 my loss.
I didn't play to the objectives well enough during this game and fell short on a few of the kill three or more units by leaving one or two models on the board. I'm happy with the way my list worked out as the units were pretty nasty with an amazing staying power. I was however lacking in the number of shots I could put out compared to the number of units on the board. The Achilles is really cool but I'm not sure it pulls it's weight with the cannon shots.
Warhammer 40,000 – Every year after Gencon my various clients seem to pick up some really good deals on models. Which means every year after Gencon I get a decent flood of commission work. This year seems to have more than usual however.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – I recently started work on an expansion force of Dark Angels for one of my clients. With the new book he realized that he was missing some units he needed for the formations so he picked them up and sent them my way.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – I recently found a good deal on ebay for a Knight Archeron to add to my collection. This will be my fourth Knight. With all of them I've avoided aligning them with a house. I think Freeblades make more sense to travel from warzone to warzone. As such I've been keeping the colors in the same pallet for each so even though they are unique individuals they still look good with the rest of my forces.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – I just wrapped up a group of three Hell Drakes for my Chaos Cultist Client. He wanted them to match the rest of his force with a basic three color plus wash level of detail. When I got these from him they were assembled and primed with a light coat of paint.
The models were pretty straight-forward to paint up using a red base, brass edging and some bone color for the talons. After a quick wash they were just about done. To make telling them apart easier on the tabletop I painted the eyes and bale flamer different colors on each. It's really subtle but if he needs to he'll be able to differentiate them. In 40K you use tokens more often than not that are placed on the model.
Warhammer 40,000 – Chaos Cultists have become the bane of my existence. Although I shouldn't complain work is work. My client continues to find good deals on cultists which turns into more cultists on my table. This latest batch has 71 of them.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – Recently I found a really good deal on a Relic Sicaran Tank on ebay so I decided to add to my collection of Forgeworld items. The Sicaran is a nifty fast tank that has a serious rate of fire and can be upgrade to not to shabby armour. It's pretty reasonably pointed as well and since I love to run Techmarines I can run it with my Landraider Achilles in a fairly balanced 2,000 point list.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – Finally I'm through the bulk of the cultists for this chaos space marine commission I've grinding away at. Now I'm starting to see some of the more interesting models for the force. First on the table is Belakor. This nasty beast has a data sheet that allows you to use him as an HQ choice in a chaos space marine or chaos daemon list. A flying monsterous creature with invisibility can ruin your day if you're not expecting it. So my client obviously wants him as a center piece for his army.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – Last weekend I participated in a really fun raffle event for Warhammer 40K. This is the first tournament I've played in for Warhammer 40k in quite a long time. Going into it I knew this was supposed to be a super fun casual event. The requirements were to build a battleforged 750 point list. The other limits were it had to be from a single source and Forge World was not allowed.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – Recently I was able to play a 2,000 point game of 40K and was able to field my three Knights as a Baronial Court allied with a Combined Arms detachment of Fire Hawks fro the Imperial Armor Badab War Supplement.
Read MoreDungeons and Dragons – My work on these three gods is progressing slightly slower than I'd like. I've been doing research on different OSL lighting techniques and have several techniques that I think will work well with what I'm trying to achieve with this job.
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