A detailed account of my various commission/hobby projects.
Warhammer 40,000 - The Spartan plastic kit is pretty cool, it’s well designed and goes together relatively easily. The new Warpsmith model is different and it’s a shame it lost the options previously available to the model as a plasma pistol is the most boring weapon to give a character in my opinion.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – The newest Abaddon sculpt is pretty amazing. So much so that I’ve painted it several times, and each time I enjoy painting it. At some point the Chaos Marine book should see an update along the same lines as the loyal marine book to bring the evil side up to the same power level as the loyalists.
Warhammer 40,000 – Death Guard are gross. This project is adding some special characters, greater daemon, basic troops and blight haulers to an existing Black Legion/Death Guard force. The initial force was a bunch of terminators who were part of a very nasty list. This scheme is unique to allow flexibility with the other models in the range while keeping a consistent look across the force.
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Warhammer 40,000 – Black Legion is one of the more popular color schemes for Chaos Marines. It’s iconic and ties in with the big bad of the faction so most people who play Chaos Space Marines have at least toyed with the black and gold scheme.
This Vindicator and Maulerfiend are both part of a Black Legion force that I’ll probably be painting a little at a time. The scheme is the same as most of the other Black Legion models I’ve painted starting with a dark gray base and shading to get the black right with gold trim.
Warhammer 40,000 – Apparently Chaos Space Marine Possessed are real good when combined with a Dark Apostle and Master of Possessions. Which of course means I have a bunch on them that crossed my painting table.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – For literal decades the metal Abaddon struck fear into the hearts of loyalist dogs on tables the world over. His tiny Napoleonic presence leading the masses of cultists and heretics in crusades leaving a trail of destruction. That all changed with the release of a new plastic kit, now the Lord of the Black Legion has a stature suitable to his station. An iconic release like this has players scrambling to tweak their lists to include the new hotness. Which leads me to my tale.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 - The story in Vigilus Defiant is quite good, the idea of Raptors infesting the spires as a precursor to the Black Legion invasion is great. Haarkon Worldclaimer is an amazing model with pretty “MEH” rules, which were intially “FAQed” to make him significantly worse. A tragic tale that seems to repeat itself over and over with the Chaos factions in 8th Edition. That said the model is pretty amazing and was quite fun to paint.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – The Black Legion commission I periodically do work on continues to supply a steady stream of models to fill out any options he doesn't own yet. At this point the models I've seen are less common for bulk painting so the models tend to be a bit more unique.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – Being able to shoot twice with a bunch of shots that ignore cover is pretty good. Being able to shoot with a model when it dies (even in combat) is really good. Which explains why one of my Black Legion clients is adding a bunch of them to his force.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – The Landraider has gone from a useless points sink to an unstoppable killing machine in 8th edition. Vehicles in general have become more survivable and able to dish out a fair amount of pain for your opponent. I for one am happy to see them on the table again.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – Sometimes it feels like an army is never finished, which for me is great because it keeps my painting queue stocked and my brushes busy. As Chaos players learn the ends and outs of their new codex many units that weren't optimal choices before are seeing more play on the tabletop, especially standard Chaos Marine Squads. More durable that cultists and able to hold their ground these traitorous bad boys can be a force to be reckoned with.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – It amazes me that I'm working on two separate but very similar Black Legion Armies. There has been a long stretch where a Chaos force would rarely grace my table and now I have 3-4 in the works. Eight edition 40K has really brought he game back to a fun time with some really interesting tactical decisions.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – One of the things I like to tell people first starting out in Warhammer is to build a core force and then expand on it based on what you like. As you can see by my plethora of Black Legion posts expanding your army is almost an addiction. Every new combo you find or cool model you see eventually finds its way into your army.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – More models for the Black Legion, this time it's a pair of Forgefiends. These rarely taken models have seen a nice power bump with the Stratagems in the Chaos Marine Codex. For a cheap investment you get a solid basic gun and a large body that can soak up some wounds.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – Knights are models that really draw my eye, they're huge and make a great centerpiece model for any force that can take them. The Forgeworld Chaos Knight kit is exceptional. The details and simple modifications to the basic model really take it to another level.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – I have another Black Legion Client, apparently he saw the work I did for another client with the same army and really liked what I did. Back in third edition Black Legion was my first army when I got back into the game and have always been one of my favorite bad guys.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 - Forgeworld makes some beautiful stuff. The chapter/legion specific doors are a great way to add some additional character to your transports and give them that little extra pop.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 - The Terminator Annihilation Force is a nasty formation available to Chaos Marines in the two latest supplements. Initially I think the idea of small combi-melta units dropping in to take quick kills on juicy targets was a big lure. After seeing them in action having some heavy weapons as an option is important.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 - The Black Legion continues to invade my painting table. Lately most of the army scale projects I've been asked to work on come in chunks. (I think the primary reason for this is that most of the army scale projects I've had the pleasure of working on lately seem to be new acquisitions rather than salvage jobs from the bargain bins.)
This time around I painted up a unit of ten cultist/guardsmen to fill the obligatory troop slot for a CAD detachment. The eagles were shaved off most of the models and where bits of them were still visible I paint a red "X" to show the troopers change of allegiance. These followed my standard three color minimum method of blocking in the various shades of gray and metallic followed by a quick wash. Quick and dirty to look decent on the table and match the rest of the force.
With specialty units like chaos marine bikers it's important to have some ablative wounds in the units so you don't loose those pricey special weapons before they do some damage to your opponent. Hence two basic bolter/chainsword bikers found their way onto my table. these follow the same process as the other marines in the force a dark pavement base with a nuln oil wash give the impression of a painted and shaded black. A quick edge highlight with mechanicus gray makes them look good on the table. I did a basic OSL glow from the screens onto their faces using a fluorescent yellow paint. I'm really liking how this effect turns out and it isn't to difficult to pull off.
The last portion of this round is a Kharybdis/Dreadclaw conversion. I think this is significantly smaller than the Forgeworld Kharybdis model but is probably passable for the Dreadclaw. The icons for each of the gods is a nice touch and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Again this is just a basic three color + job meant to get the models looking decent on the table.
Warhammer 40,000 – The hits keep on coming for this Black Legion commission. This round has me working on a squad of bikes, Terminator Sorcerer, Hell Brute and a Hell Drake. Painting follows the same recipe I've used on the rest of the models I've done for this force so you can read more here or see more here.
The Hell Drake is probably one of my least favorite models to paint. Assembly isn't to terrible but painting it is just a chore. The amount of trim on this model is just insane. ( I blame 3D sculpting for making it too easy to add this level of detail) I considered painting the whole think gold to start and them going back in to fill out the panels but because of the way it's set up there's just as many panels as there is trim. As with any difficult task it's best to just suck it up and keep forward momentum.
The bikers are pretty straight forward. I used a flesh with reikland flesh shade on the seats to get a fresh flayed flesh look. I think this helps to make them pop out against the dark color of the bike and armor. I did a basic OSL technique coming off the monitors on the bikes. My client for this project really liked what I did with the Kingdom Death Survivors and wanted to have that same effect in his force if I could find a place it made sense.
