A detailed account of my various commission/hobby projects.
Warhamer 40,000 - Now that tenth edition is actually here and evolving as a system many players are looking to add some units to their existing forces. Terminators and Inceptors are solid choices to bring a bit more survivability to a force.
Warhammer 40,000 – The Indomitus Box has so much good stuff in it that its no surprise another set has found its way onto my painting table.
This time around part of the set is for a Death Watch force and part of it is going to be used for a Dark Angels force. Both of these are painted to match existing forces that I’ve been painting on and off over the last couple of years.
Warhammer 40,000 – Slowly but surely I’ve been painting up models for a growing force of Iron Hands Successors.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – The Space Marine codex dropped earlier this month and for the first time in a long time all 9 of the original chapters are included as well as Deathwatch.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – The newest Space Marine codex has dropped and brought some significant changes to everybody’s favorite space soldiers.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – With a new edition on the horizon I anticipate getting an influx of models to flesh out 40K forces. It seems several of my clients have been finding good deals in the used bins as well as getting things put together that they’ve had in storage.
This batch has a few more Hellblasters and Landspeeders. Pretty basic Ultramarine scheme.
Warhammer 40,000 – Hellblasters and a Stormhawk Interceptor are the most recent Ultramarine Models to grace my table. These guys are part of a larger commission I’ve been getting piecemeal of the last year or so. The paint is pretty basic tabletop quality.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – I love Jump Pack Infantry, they’re not always the best choice but man I love moving fast and hitting something. Sadly Assault Marines are really better as a mobile firebase like Chaos Raptors, they’ve gotten a bit better with the advent of Angels of Death but jumping around with melta guns or flamers is still a better role for them. In previous editions I would occasionally run lightning claw equipped Vanguard Vets as a throwback to the unit Shrike used to bring with him back in Third Edition. They were ok but really expensive and rarely made back their points. At the end of Seventh Edition that unit got way better with the Raven Guard formations that allowed for first turn charges but once that went away my clawed maniacs went back to being shot off the table before they could connect.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – This week my Night Lords faced off against Space Marines and Sisters of Battle/Inquisition. Since the Inquisition was involved it's pretty easy to twist the narrative to accommodate a three-way carnage game.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 - The Triumvirate of the Primarch seems tobe a pretty popular box as I've done two separate commissions for them over the past week. This time around the client wanted them to be closer to the studio schemes.
Cypher is a bit darker with Dark Angels Green as a accent color. I like how this ties into the current scheme for the Dark Angels as a throwback to the studio version of the old Cypher model that was painted with green armor. (Dark Angels armor was black pre-heresey which is where Cypher is supposed to come from as one of the Fallen.)
The Grand Master Voldus is done in the traditional metallic silver scheme. I really like how this looks and the metallic paint really pops.
Roboute Guilliman matches the other Ultramarines I've been painting for this client. The Maccrage Blue base with a Drakenhof Nightshade really pops against the gold trim. For the flaming sword I used fluorescent yellow, orange and red followed with a wash of Casandra Yellow. The result is pretty good for a Level Two Tabletop Finish.
Warhammer 40,000 – The new marine book is out. I can still use my lists for the most part. Happy day.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – The Imperial Guard/Tyrant's Legion project is finished. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out and my client is thrilled. He was amazed at how fast I was able to do this quality of a paint job and is happy to have his force in hand. I'm happy with the system I came up with to do a three color paint job and look forward to applying it to large army jobs in the future. My client mentioned that he will have a Baneblade and some aircraft on the way at some point so I can see this growing over time in smaller batches.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – On the table today are more models for the Tyrant's Legion force commission I'm working on. This is essentially a three color minimum job with a wash and custom decals. The models were supplied to me "assembled and ready to paint" which is a state that can vary significantly from client to client. I guess everybody has their own idea of what that means...
Anyway pretty simple color scheme consisting of gunmetal armor with white, black and red detail work. I've found using a dark gray primer works best for this job it puts down a solid base that is easy to cover quickly with a single coat of paint. To start I overcoat the model with the gunmetal color and then go in and block out the details with foundation paint. Once that's all blocked in I do a black wash and let that dry. The next step is to go back in and do a simple highlight picking out any details that got lost in the wash.
Once everything is dry I begin applying the decals. I use a laser printer water slide paper to print these. It works much better than the ink jet version as you don't have to seal it and the toner won't bleed like ink does. The only issue I have with the paper is it is very thick so it takes a bit of work to make the decal lie flat. Mircosol and Mircoset do wonders to help but it's still more work than a commercially printed decal. The other issue with the decal paper is you have to meticulously cut close to the edge other wise it won't lie flat on the shoulder pad. Once the decal is in place and smooth I apply a coat of gloss varnish. I've found that if I do this while the decal is still moist the liquid in the varnish helps it soften up while it sets. If there are any issues with the edge showing I'll go back in and paint the edges to blend them in.
With this custom color scheme I've been able to crank out these models fairly quickly and my client is thrilled with how they've turned out. The trick with any large project is figuring out a system and sticking to it. For tabletop quality focus on how it looks at arm's length, if it looks good you're done and move on to the next model.
Warhammer 40k – So I've been pretty consumed by Malifaux as of late.
So it's time to take a short break. Prior to August 2009 I was really excited about the 5th Edition Rules for 40K. I've had my Space Marine list pretty close to completion for a while now and eventually will get around to finishing up the tanks and characters I have left. I'm really proud of my Twilight Ravens, chapter. Each marine has there name applied to a scroll on the base (which are all scientific names of birds) and each unit has specific markings and campaign badges. I've kept them very generic so I can use whatever codex suits my needs at the time. For the most part I like to use the White Scars rules or the Raven Guard rules.
When I first designed my chapter they were based around the Index Astrates: Raven Guard article. I had acquired a toolbox full of random marines as partial payment for a commission, and wanted to build a force with them. At the time the Chaos marine codex was running rampant at every event I attended as well as in my local play group, so the bonuses against Chaos were a big deal. I also had a Witch Hunters list that paired well with the Marine ruleset I was using.
Then 4th edition came out and 40K died for my play group and any stores that were running events. So my loyal marines were shelved unfinished. After jumping headfirst into Warmachine and subsequently being turned off by the direction the game was headed. I returned to 40K excited about the possibilities available. Unfortunately I had sold off my Wordbearers, Sisters of Battle, and a good chunk of my Black Legion ... leaving me with just my Emperor's Children and the piecemeal Twilight Ravens. The current Chaos Marine book left me with a bad taste in my mouth, my heavily daemon based biker army wasn't viable any more and all the custom work I did to create an all Slaanesh force didn't seem like a viable option. So my marines got the spotlight and became my list of choice.
As I was cleaning up and organizing my game room I realized that I had enough Slaanesh Daemons to field a force on their own. So I dumped them all into a Simple Green soak and stripped them down to bare metal. And then began repainting them, until August 2009. Then Malifuax came out and it became my game of choice, 40K got shelved again. And my daemons sat partially assembled and painted.
Needing a break to do something different I recently brought my daemons back out to work on them. I began with the Ultraforge Pleasure Daemon. This model was a pleasure to assemble after the nightmare that was the Khorne Daemon Prince I recently put together. The pieces were simple to assemble and there were no huge chunks that needed to be removed. The only problems I found were a large gap in the arm assembly, and the slight "miscast" along the arms that required a bit of sanding and green stuff filler. The model isn't as detailed as the Forgeworld pieces, but it's still very impressive and fits the theme of my force. Once it is finished it will fill the roll of my Bloodthirster of Slaanesh.
