The Saddest Space Marine

I've a mega-lame post about my infatuation with all things Space Marine coming up, but until then please take a moment to feel a little sympathy for the Lamenters Captain. As you may know, the Lamenters are the unluckiest of all the Astartes chapters and have a potentially awkward paint-scheme to boot. I've had this wonderful 1991 Gamesday Jes Goodwin sculpt in my bits box for well over five years and decided that he deserved a paint job that was a little bit different to anything I'd attempted before. What with the Lamenters being descendants of the Blood Angels, I decided to give it a go.

The very literal definition of Noble-Bright

Skulls on everything.

I've sworn I'd never paint anything yellow again several times, but I actually really enjoyed working with the colour with this model. I've found that using a mixture of neat paint thinned with glaze really intensifies the overall colour. The shoulder pad design was also more fun to work with than anticipated, and in hindsight, I should have painted the checkerboard much smaller. My only issue was making the sword scabbard not look like corn on the cob - something I'm not entirely sure I managed to successfully achieve. I've a few other models that I'd like to use to make a very small Lamenters strike force over the next few months to mop up a few odds and ends I've got gathering dust in various boxes  - I love the idea of them being some noble suicide squad!

Grooving in Green

A few weeks back I was lucky enough to be sent parcels from friends for my birthday. I'm really stoked to have so many friends who skate and either used to, or have an active interest in little men. By some strange quirk of fate, two of these packages included classic Ork kits and models; more specifically 90's Kev Adams Bad Moon sculpts. I've always had a soft spot for the early aesthetic of Games Workshop Orks, particularly through the medium of Paul Bonner's wonderful artwork and Kev Adam's characterful modelling. Although GW fluff makes it clear from the start that Orks are brutal killers, there is something childishly naive and charming about the Ork background during this period.

All getting along together then

Paul Bonner's artwork was everywhere at one point and he had an excellent style that could portray any of the Warhammer 40000 races with accuracy and personality. His work on the Deathwing expansion in particular is excellent. However, it is his Orks that his work really shines through. It would be hard to reconcile the rather 2D characterisation of the present Orks with these creatively comical fellas. Bonner captures the naturalism of Orkish nature as a tumbling, bumbling dangerously out-of-control boulder of a force that crashes from one planet to another in a never-ending pursuit of war - because that's what they do. There is no over-arching, galactic political motive, no honourable quest, just Orks fucking things up. And that's beautiful in it's simplicity.

Awesome.

Anyway. Back to the miniatures. Having no (urgent) projects on the go, I've decided to put together a little Ork army to try and capture the spirit of Bonner's illustrations. Using only Kev Adam's sculpts (which should be easy as he sculpted nearly 99% of all the Orks until 1994) I'm hoping to get the majority of the force done before Christmas. This may seem a little optimistic at first glance, but I've just discovered that painting green is actually really, really good fun.

I'm serious, it's such a good colour.

Since I can't seem to get away from painting yellow and that I've ended up with several specifically Bad Moon figures, it's going to be a pure fluff Bad Moon gathering. Thankfully I don't need to be as nearly as precise or as clean with the colour as I was with the Alaitoc Eldar, so that should save on many agonising hours of holding my breath attempting not to ruin or smudge yellow areas!

The boyz.

So far I'm planning to keep the war band really small and simple. Thankfully I've not needed to spend much on additional bits as I've had a few models kicking around for awhile now. The only additional purchases have been some vanilla boyz and a Shokk Attack Gun with Snotlings. I'll probably add a few character figures in due course, but here is what the first phase looks like,..

Warboss Azzbutt

10 x Ork boyz

1 x Battlewagon

1 x Dreadnought

1 x Shokk Attack Gun

4 x Snotling bases

20 x Gretchin

The Gretchin are going to be mostly made up of the smaller proto-Gretchin 'Runt' figures as they have so much more character than the later models. Plus, it makes more sense in my head to have a rabble of badly armed little guys running around trying to impress the Orks. Obviously this list is not meant for play, but I imagine if I did play them, it would be a hell for leather 'ere we go, all guns blazing not hitting anything tactic - because that's well Orky. So far I've the Warlord painted along with a few Gretchin and some boyz - shall do a proper photo-drop when there's more to show!

Azzbutt.

The painting style is going to be as close as I can to the RT greens, but pretty rough and ready for everything else. I'm really looking forward to modelling and weathering the original Battlewagon, which in itself is an amazing kit for the time - thanks to Pob and The Melon for being so rad and sending me more rad old stuff to paint, you guys are the bestest.

Alaitoc Parade Part Two

I've not made as much progress during the past few weeks as a new role at work has meant that I've lost a few lunch hours sorting boring guff out. However, pretty much got my head around new things, so I'll hopefully get things back on track! The last couple of additions to the force have been a pleasure to paint and I'm really enjoying learning to play around with glazes. The difference that final thin wash makes on flattening and enriching colours is a technique I wish I'd picked up years ago. I imagine I'll be revisiting a lot of older models in the next few years and giving them some extra love! Anyway, here's what I've managed to push out since mid-August.

Cannot un-hear KLF right now.

So this isn't the first time I've painted this figure. This version of the Eldar Farseer happens to be one of my all-time favourite models. I think that's down to a combination of it's unavailability in the stores when I was a kid and that it's just a beautifully sculpted figure. (Jes, if you ever read this, I owe you a pint or several you wonderful Jesus and Mary Chain-loving goth you). The version on the left was painted in 2007 and I was proud of it at the time. However, it's rad to actually see some progression in painting skill as I've never noticed it much before. I could easily spend few days painting another one of these figures and not get bored. Think I've finally cracked red jewels too!

So proud of the freehand on this fella - massive confidence boost.

Really wanted to practice some freehand on this figure and took inspiration from the 90's output of Mcvey. I distinctly remember his wonderful spiral work that appeared on the famous 'Emperor vs Horus' diorama, as well as on figures such as Confessor Kryinov and Commissar Yarrick. I wussed out a little on going full-bore with it by making the swirls only slightly lighter than the backing colour, but I think the subtlety works well with Eldar textiles. Going to be doing a lot more of this in the future hopefully!

Konica, colours are calling me.

So yeah, feeling a lot more confident with colours these days. The only thing I'm not entirely sure worked on this figure is the yellow jewels on either side of the helmet. They've a nice fade on them, but as much as I thought it'd be nice to paint a jewel that wasn't blue, red or green, it does kind of look like a giant zit. Hmm. Space-puss.

DEATHPOD COMES FROM THE SKIES FLOATS AT THE BACK.

Ah, the wonder of the floating support platform. I've never painted one of the old Eldar missile pods and for the longest time assumed they were flat as they were always pictured side-on in the catalogue sections of White Dwarf. This was a really fun, quick thing to put together and paint. I'm quite fond of how chunky the weapon is too.

SHOOT IT UP! SHOOT IT UP!

So stoked to get Martin Degville in the army! Even in the grim darkness of the far future, war is better with ridiculous hair and Sigue Sigue Sputnik references. Seriously tempted to make an Eldar Corsair force based on the 'Flaunt-It' era band. It'd be amazing.

Oh fuck, I've just realised they look like Minions.

Saving the best for last, these two Ghost Warriors have been a real treat. These were phased out and unavailable by the time I'd got into Warhammer 40,000, but I remember being more into these models than the later Wraithguard that replaced them. Here they are with the still amazing 1989 Eldar Dreadnought. Both stoked and weirded out at how much they look like either Sonic the Hedgehog or Minions. Tempted to paint their feet red to reference the former!

Gotta go kill fast!

The most camouflaged assassin ever.

Out of the two, the bottom figure was the more satisfying to paint as I don't think the chain-fist / head-flamer combo was quite as well designed. However, they were both really good fun to work on and have a wonderful tabletop presence. Would love to make a little squad of these and have them count as Wraithguard or something.

So the last things I have to finish up are a squad of five Eldar Scouts and another War-Walker. I've also just managed to snag three of the original jet bikes without selling a kidney, so if I get a move on there's a chance that I'll have some classic aerial support too! However, I doubt that I've have time to finish them off to a standard I'd be happy with before October 24th, so might save them for the future.

Alaitoc Parade Part One

The past couple of weeks have bore witness to some actual work (who'd of thought it?) for the annual Armies on Parade competition entry at the local GW. I posted a fair while back about some of the inspiration behind the choice of army and I think I'm just about to hit the halfway stage with it. Sadly, I doubt that I'll be making a force-specific board to display these guys on as I can't justify the amount of space it could potentially take up, so will instead either mod one of the Realm of Battle tiles I already own or just lame-out and re-use the one pictured. I'm just hoping the manager isn't too bummed that I'm submitting ANOTHER old army. Anyhow, here's how things are looking so far,..

You can totally see Siobhan Fahey's naked back in this photo. Siobhan Fahey would well play Eldar.

Harlequin troupe shot with the Troupe Master leading - so stoked I finally got to paint this figure up! Kinda reminds me of Martin Degville from Sigue Sigue Sputnik!

More Jes Goodwin radness. Cannot fault these figures for design. Again, always lusted after these and felt a massive sense of accomplishment after finishing them. Really hyped on painting purple gems right now.

Alaitoc War Walker. Again, faultlessly designed model. The pilot has massive sideburns for a space elf!

Three of five Guardians. Love these photo Guardian / Avenger designs. The sculpt on the female armour in particular is really well realised.

Eldar Scouts. These were the models that really kicked off the idea of an Alaitoc force.  It's rad that the modern figures take so many design ideas from them.

Totally camouflaged. Ain't no one spotting us.

Feeling pretty pleased with the progress so far, especially now all the Harlequins are done. Painting up the Craftworld stuff is actually really nice and it's great to be working with such a vibrant palette. Still having issues with yellow though, it's satisfying to get right but can be such a ball-ache as it's such a thin pigment. The only thing I'm concerned about is the dominance of the blue on the larger models - undecided as to whether or not to take the plunge and freehand some bold Craftworld symbols to break it up. May leave that until the end of the project! So now all I have to paint up are the following,..

1 x Eldar Farseer (Pointy rad one)
2 x Eldar War drones (Never, ever thought I'd own, let alone get to paint these guys!)
5 x Eldar Scouts
1 x Eldar War-Walker
1 x Eldar Support Weapon

If I have the time, I've a squad of five of the original Howling Banshees and an Exarch, but I'm pretty sure that list alongside some other little bits I have on the go will keep me busy until October. I really wish I had a little more time and that was a faster painter as I've some of the amazing metal/plastic Guardian troops and would love to include them alongside the proto Guardians/Avengers.

Right, best start getting on with it!