Hulking Peril

Despite the lack of updates, I've actually been pretty productive with painting recently. That said, productive doesn't necessarily indicate that I've completed any projects - most are on the threshold of being finished with horrible little jobs to do before I can tick them off. This will be explained through the miracle of pointless narrative and full colour photography!

In Space, no one can hear you unjamming your stormbolter.

The inspiration for the Deathwing squads was twofold. Firstly, they're great models which have heavy tabletop presence, even if they do only come in three pieces. The background to the Deathwing and Bill King's accompanying story in the sourcebook materials to the original Space Hulk expansion were a big inspiration to me as a pup. This, alongside the numerous Paul Bonner illustrations has always had me hyped on the mythos of these elite Dark Angel troops. Secondly, I really wanted to be able to play Space Hulk again with models that fitted the gaming pieces. Although the modern figures that came with the third edition game are spectacular, they don't really appeal to me as a painter (as of yet anyway) as the lure of the (almost) mono-pose is strong! Please ignore the lack of the Deathwing markings on the shoulder pads and greaves - my printer died before I could print any transfers out, so am currently looking for a new printer so I can finally finish them off.

Heavy flamer on point.

I've had these models knocking around in the bits box for a few years and were all job-lot rescues. Most have some damage to them, be it dents or small gouges, but thankfully I've been able to paint back some of the detail or disguise it as battle damage / weathering. In comparison to the newer terminators, these guys are about 10% smaller but it's still kind of strange to see them on 32mm bases!

Space Hulk kinda sounds like it'd be a sweaty gym in space. 

I've tried to stick as close to the original colour scheme as possible with the addition of the aforementioned weathering as it covers an omniverse of sins. I've a soft spot for painting cream as it's one of those colours you can get really nice transitions with. After a base coat of Bleached Bone / Screaming Skull, they were lightly washed with two coats of a 50/50 mix of Sepia wash and Lamian Medium before any deeper shading was added. From that point they were progressively lightened with Bleached Bone / Screaming Skull mixed with Ulthan Grey and finally with White Scar.

Having a sword will never not be cool.

Sadly I'm missing one of the Sergeants' banner poles so will have to do some hunting to track one of those down. I've cut out the banners from cotton which I've stained dark angels green and will then draw on the classic Deathwing 'smashed up angel' design before painting. There's a lot of folk incorporating natural materials into their miniature work right now (be it hair, wool, textiles) and I'm interested to see how it'll work out with these guys. If it's successful, I can see me re-painting a lot of banners! 

So yeah, the Deathwing are ready to engage on some Space Hulk suicide missions! I've got some left-over bits to make up some close-combat terminators, a Librarian and maybe also a Captain, but we'll see how it goes finishing off these guys first. Could do with resting the beige for a little while! However, to continue to theme of terminators, as a reward for (kinda) finishing off the Deathwing, I dug these old bad lads out of the bits box.

Not the purple enemy you were expecting,..

Ah, the glory of the original traitor terminators! These guys are the raddest. Based on the finalised Jes Goodwin terminator, these evil spacemen are festooned in Chaotic details. Having painted up an awful lot of Emperors Children before, I thought it'd be cool to have these as a nod to their Horus Heresy counterparts.

Traitor terminator Captain armed with the universe's most breakable daemon-weapon.

Surprisingly, there are under ten skulls on this model. For shame GW.

The five man squad was really just an excuse to paint up the Captain and the skull-faced Sergeant figures. The Captain in particular was a much-feared model back in the day, armed as he was with the terrifying daemon-sword. In reality, the daemon -sword is the world's most snappable bit of metal I've ever worked with - had to repair it several times as the fret-work design means that it's barely attached! I quite like how the Chaotic stormbolter is based on the design for the Inquistorial combi-weapon of the same period - obviously this is a heretical opinion and I will be re-educated for such thoughts.

Thankfully, over ten skulls on this guy.

Such a treat to paint this guy in particular. Sometimes, all you need is more skulls. He is technically supposed to be the Sergeant, but he looked too cool with the assault cannon to pass up on. Also, really into the design for the powerfists on the traitor terminators; there's something about juxtaposition between the heavy baroque edging and the protruding horny spike on the wrist that really works! 

How many CPs to Low Rimmer a Genestealer?

Having almost finished this lot off, I'm looking forward to making some more head-way through the pile-o-shame as well as having a go at the new Slaanesh Fiends that came out recently. I've a few old Ork models I'm working on right now too, so as always, plenty to be making a mess of. 

Chaotic Distractions

Starting with Abbadon and Fabius Bile that were featured in the last blog entry, I've been going through a spate of painting up a series of Chaos miniatures that were released in 1996. This is mainly because I'm easily distracted idiot, torn away from other painting projects by the slightest hint of 'old model that I always wanted to paint'  and because they're wonderful, wonderful figures. These  excuses have been compounded by the recent acquisition of some 90's gems that demanded attention including these 1996 release Terminators. These guys are hecka nails, they're covered in spikes and trophies and are perfect examples of Goodwin's Chaos output. They were a joy to paint up too and Abbadon doesn't seem as lonely as he has done.

Worst stag do ever.

The mid-90's were an awesome time for little men. However, there's a very disparate clash of sculpting styles within this release, with the confident, classic GW stylings of Jes Goodwin, (blessed be his name) the Khornate marines and Juggernaut by Dave Andrews to the more (excuse the expression) chaotic output of Aly Morrison. Whilst I may be accused of being a Goodwin fanboy, it cannot be ignored that the majority of his sculpts from this period are still relevant and officially obtainable today, whilst the passage of time hasn't been quite so kind to the other releases.

'What this stormbolter needs is a chainsaw'.

'What this combo-melta needs is a chainsaw'.

'What this power fist needs is less digits and more chainsaw'.

I think the main downfall of the non-Goodwin sculpts is that they don't have the same solidity of design. Much of the armour looks organic, (more of a smashed trifle on the floor than HR Giger) and despite incorporating some great ideas such as furs, pendents and older-looking equipment, none of this coalesces into a pleasing final form. There's two many horns, oversized gloves and funky-looking weapons. The helms of the marines themselves are puggish and ill defined. I've a few Aly Morrison figures knocking about which I love, but these are definitely not his best work. That said, these miniatures cannot be mistaken for anything other than Chaos marines; there's no way you could convert them into anything else without loosing that element of them, so they succeed in that aspect. However, it feels like a missed opportunity to have had some decent bad lad spacemen who didn't look like they were made of blu-tac.

B R A Z E N  D O O M

"We're going to need a bigger pooper scooper".

Although the Juggernaut by Andrews may be criticised for being a very static looking model, it is a huge improvement on the earlier incarnation which looked like an angry egg. I've waxed lyrical about his previously released Khornate marines and would love to get a chance to paint some of those up some day. Seldom seen on the tabletop, they scream feral brutality some 20 years on. In summary (and if I recall correctly) Andy Chambers once said that 'not all Chaos marines are possessed mutants, most of them are just really bad men'. In essence, less is more design wise. Unless you're a Khorne Berzerker then more is more. I'm not really aiming to make an army out of these guys as the models I'd like for it are a little too expensive on the second hand market right now. However, I'm looking forward to indulging myself over the next few months as I've been lucky enough to acquire a lot of these figures through job lots. To finish off, here's a rad little Epic Great Unclean one for the Corehammer monthly paint competition. Productive month so far!

Gonna need more antibiotics.

Armies on Parade in a Space Hulk

Agh, can't believe that the Armies on Parade comp was over three weeks ago now! Thankfully I managed to get everything finished in time and I was pretty pleased with the board in the end, having successfully managed to play with some weathering powders to create some different effects. Again, our local store had the most entries on the planet, beating Warhammer World itself as well as the previous record set last year. The entries were fantastic, so many different styles of painting, force composition and narrative on display. My particular favourite was a multi-level Genestealer Cult vs Inquisitorial force, complete with atmospheric lighting! I didn't manage to take any of my own photees, so I've nabbed them from the local shop Facebook page.

Who's competing with that? So sick!

There were so many other great entries too, standouts including Lewis's fantastic Vampire Counts army complete  with a towering, skeleton festooned tree, Gaz's Orcs with a beast of a Mawcrusher and a great narrative board based on the film Zulu, featuring the excellent and under-exposed Praetorian Guard regiment against some brutal looking Orks which came complete with a soundtrack! An honourable mention goes out to the excellent Helm's Deep diorama, a Khorne / Nurgle Daemon army which featured some excellent freehand and loads of sculpted eyeballs and the the pictured Imperial Guard / Mechanicus force that had some great airbrush and weathering work.

Such symmetry, very balanced, much pleasing to my OCD.

Here's my entry, in it's final form.  kind of wish I could have done a little more the the board, but overall I'm really happy with it. I particularly enjoyed painting up the battered gold Shrine of the Aquila and working out how to do scorch-marks with the sooty weathering powders. It was awesome to get good feedback too, I was a little worried that after the varnish frosting incident the army would look a little dull.

The faithful few of Istvaan.

I've already got plans for next year and I'm hoping to pull off a narrative board, based on a battle between my half completed second edition Tyranids and another force I've yet to decide upon. Either way, it's going to be super fun to do. In the meantime, there's a fun little mini competition coming up in December based on whatever you can fit onto one of the larger model bases - I'm hoping to use that as an incentive to finish off the Emperor's Children force. Since finishing off the Armies on Parade project, I've returned to painting up more terminators. I've pretty much finished the RTB09 boxed set and saved the best of the classic figures for last - the Captain and Librarian.

Nearly thirty years old and still rad as fuck.

These are figures that have been on the 'always wanted to paint' list. I think I've painted the Librarian before, but the Captain was certainly a first. Sadly, the Captain's left shoulder icon was a little battered, but aside from that, both models were still pretty sharp casts. The Librarian provided a great excuse to try out contrasting colour highlights on the weapon, something I may play around with more in the future!

In the 41st Millennium, 80's Van Damme haircuts are legit.

The Captain stands out as one of Jes Goodwin's (have I mentioned how much I love Jes recently? Because I do) most iconic sculpts. There's something so solid about the composition and feel of this figure. Despite it being a relatively simple three-piece model, it oozes presence and character. One of my old friends had this miniature and I always loved the way he'd painted it. Whilst it's not an exact replica ( I seem to recall more yellow / white on his) it's definitely a little nod to the past.

Iconography based on the sculpted kneepad

May add more to this one, feels like there's too much blue space now!

I'm really pleased at how the freehand on the right shoulders turned out. I've recently changed brushes and I'm having much better results with the new ones as they hold a point without splitting and seem to be a little more robust than the older ones I've used. So now I've only another squad of five of these to do and I can officially play nearly all of the original Space Hulk scenarios! I'm also currently working on a squad of five second edition Deathwing as well as finishing off the five Emperor's Children Cataphractii terminators. It's amazing to see how much the scale of these figures has changed so much over the last three decades whilst still remaining some of the greatest models to paint. I hope to have all of these project wrapped up before Christmas so I can start on something different in the new year - need to get a move on!

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!

Off the map

Contrary to a lack of posts, I've actually been quite busy on the painting front! The Ork project is now nearly complete with just the Battlewagon, a few Gretchin and some scenery to finish off, which I'm hoping to get done in the next few weeks. Here's some recent additions - apologies for the darkness in the photees!

Mekanik and Gretchin Assistant.

Painboy with Gretchin Assistant.

Runtherd on his lonesome - finally had an excuse to use an ugly old power claw too!

Ork projects. 

This scenery first started life in 1995 as a weekend project with my Grandad. Being made of hardboard, they lasted much longer than the cardboard and polystyrene scenery I was used to smashing together with retarded paws building and I'm stoked I still have them. However, I felt that they need updating (or more accurately, finishing them off how I originally wanted them!) and it's been a fun little side project. Here's how they used to look,..

Halford grey primer, you've served us well.

Even aged 11, I was pretty misanthropic.

 

And just as juvenile as I am now. 

Little hut.

Ork spelling is the best.

I'll be mounting these on hardboard and adding some awnings to increase their footprint and make them a little more interesting. Obviously I'll be including a poster for forthcoming Goffick Rok events - watch this space for a tour from the mighty SQUIGSTERS OF MERCY soon!

Oh, also finished a couple of the Hybrids off that have been hanging around that Bob sent me awhile back (cheers fella, the Epic stuff is in the queue!) Pretty sure I have a complete set for playing old Space Hulk with now. Really excited that GW have brought the Genestealer Cult back in the last few days with the advent of the amazing looking Deathwatch game. I'm hoping to pick a copy up in the future as the miniatures are wonderful homages to the original look and ethos of the Cult!

Causing a ruckus in a Hive City near you.

The other project I've been preoccupied with has been starting an AOS force. I've never really been a fantasy gamer or painter, but there's a great group of guys at the local shop who got me hyped on the idea recently. I've working my way through the Chaos 'Slaves to Darkness' boxset which has some really nice plastics, painting purely for gaming rather than being a prissy bitch like I usually am. (On a side note, the new starter boxsets are incredible value, seriously considering picking up the Ad-Mech one soon just for fun.) It's been weird switching my brain around to painting in a different way, but it's actually been pretty liberating as I'm also using this set to experiment with some of the effects paints and different painting techniques. I'm not usually one for breaking habits and it's been refreshing to try some new approaches. Here's some progress pictures.

Casting all the spells with ma creepy Beadle arm,...

There's something vaguely Monty Python about these guys and I can't put my finger on it.

Hoping to have the chariot and the cavalry done before the end of the month so I can get some games in. AOS looks pretty simple to play and it'll be fun to get to hang out with the local CH crew. I'm already planning on adding a Giant and some Beastmen to bulk out the force, but more importantly, because I really fancy like painting them! The other old Chaos stuff I was working on will now go towards making up a Mordheim gang for potential future use as they don't really go with this new Chaos force. Was still great fun painting them though!

Jes Goodwin radness!

Accidentally almost did non-metallic metals on the Slaanesh icon - stoked!

No one expects random Slambo.

So plenty to be getting on with! The next things on the painting horizon should be entries for the local shop 'Paint in Black / Purple' competition, but I think I may be being a bit adventurous going for both colours due to time. However, I really want an excuse to build the FW Contemptor and Ravenwing Sammael models that have been sat in the cupboard of shame for over two years - really tempted to take a week off in April when next year's holiday comes around and just spend it painting!

Birthday Times!

Not my birthday obviously! It's been a year since the first post arrived (via a stork and left to be found under a lettuce) on this journal and I'm pretty stoked on how I've been able to use it as a guide of sorts to plan projects and get enthused about current ones. I've had some really nice feedback on my painting and I'm stoked to have got know of so many other amazing painters out there through lurking from one blog to another - you people rule, thanks for being a constant source of inspiration!

For 2016 I've a few projects that I want to concentrate on. Thankfully, there's no wallet-worriers amongst them as I'd like to work off stuff that's been accumulating in the bits box. There's some real treats in there too! Firstly I'd like to finish off the Orks as I'm pretty close to finishing them off now. Here's where I'm up to so far,..

Weirdboy and Minderz.

Not 100% pleased with this as I'm not sure the purple pyjamas were the best choice. I may try and add some stars and moons and make him look like a cartoon wizard one day. Also, the staff is a stand-in until I get more confident with sculpting - spooky glowing eyes though!

These guys are the best!

Seriously, when did GW decide to ret-con Snotlings? These guys are awesome. I'm so impressed at how Kev Adams managed to sculpt so much detail on 10mm figures. The expressions and musculature is phenomenal! This is the first of four Snotting bases - that should be enough for the size of games I'll get to play hopefully!

In the grim darkness of the far future there is only mullets.

Squig-pup.

Finally managed to paint up this amazing proto-Gretchin and Azzbutt's pet Squig! The original target of twenty Gretchin will probably end up being more like ten as I'd like to maybe get a small squad of Madboyz (that and I'm running out of case-space!) The old Squig models are super fun, really characterful tangents that add a great deal of atmosphere to the Ork background.

Wagon with new axles!

This thing is going to be so awesome to build. I've finally managed to track down and fit some new brass axles that will strengthen the overall wagon structure as the old axles had to be removed and were notoriously spindly anyhow. Going to be making a proper go of this thing soon so expect loads of WIP photos! After that there's only a few personalities and I'll leave the green skins be. Pretty sure they clock in at around 1500 points with wargear which is a respectable amount for what I'd want to do with them.

As well as the Orks, I'm going to finish off some Genestealer Hybrids that I was kindly given a few months back. I've also got some amazing sculpts from the 'Wild in the Streets' game which are begging for some attention. I've recently acquired a RTB09 Terminator set, so would love to finally paint up a RT era Blood Angel Terminator squad for use with Space Hulk. Moreover, I'd really like to make an effort to paint up some Fantasy Chaos stuff as everyone around here seems to be on that right now - plus it's a massive excuse to paint up all the old Beastmen that I've had lying around - made a start on this in late December!

Cannot un-hear Skeleton vs Beastman now,..

Finally, I'd like to try and speed up my painting as I struggle to finish anything off in less than six hours. I think this is down to a combination of motivation, paint-scheme and model choice as the recent figures I've finished have all been done under three hours - the thought of finishing off anything in an evening seems unreal; it'd be so good to achieve that!

Only three hours!

I think the main aim for 2016 is to actually play some games. I only played one game of 2nd Edition 40k last year and two games of Space Hulk which is woefully shameful. I'm lucky enough to know loads of people who play various games and I'm hoping that they'll actually believe me when I say I'm going to at least try to roll some dice with them this year. There's already tentative plans for a meet up around late February with Pob and Melon for game and I'm hoping that I might be able to get a few more 2nd Edition battles in with Dave too. Also, I'm sure Stu wouldn't mind if I bullied him into playing Space Hulk once in awhile!

Ooof, that's enough for me to be getting on with then! Hope everyone else out there has a super fun and productive year!

Armies on Parade 2015

So I did eventually manage to just about finish off the Eldar Alaitoc army off, but only just! It was a 2am painting session the evening before that finally saw the last of the work completed. Overall I'm really happy with how they came out and it's been a really good learning experience. Here's the very last units that were completed before the force was displayed at the local GW in the annual Armies on Parade competition.

Insert zooming noises here.

I mentioned in an earlier post about the possibility of adding some of the old jet bikes to the force but didn't actually come across any at a reasonable price until a month before the deadline.  These were good fun to paint and really add some mid-level height to the army as well as the opportunity to whizz around the house like a dick with them. They're really simple four-part figures (not including rider) and have a proper weight to them. The castings were a little off in parts, but nothing a little greenstuff and filing couldn't fix.

Proper flying bases! I always preferred the old hex style base.

Bonus shrieker cannon.

I would have preferred to spend a little more time on them and come up for a slightly more exciting design for the carapace, but they look okay and fit with the rest of the army. I really feel as if I've (finally) cracked using yellow with this project too and I've started adding glazes into the painting process so that should be something fun to play around with in the future. I can't describe how much of an epiphany it was when I realised how much more vivid they made certain colours pop, which is especially useful when painting 1990's inspired armies!

Last of the boy Scouts

The very last thing to finish was the last group of five Scouts. These were okay to paint, but nothing particularly special and felt like a bit of a chore (as the last of any project is want to be). I also had to do quite a bit of modelling work to clean them up as some of the casting was iffy. Still great figures though and it's nice to have had the chance to paint up all nine of the Jes Goodwin Scout models! Anyway, here are some of the entries from the event.,..

Chaos Iron Warriors with Thunderhawk.

Amazing Khemri Undead Army.

Fantasy Ogres on an amazing display board.

Fantasy Goblins on another great board - love those Squigs and Trolls.

Chaos Thousand Sons force that won - some rad airbrush stuff going on with these guys!

My Eldar on the day - stoked to have finally finished them!

The guys at the local shop really do go out of their way to hype up the event and it really paid off, with 18 entrants this year which turned out to be a record for the country! There were loads of other great boards that I didn't get to photograph, including a rad Werewolf-themed Fantasy display and an Undead graveyard scene.  I was really impressed at some of the scratch-built boards and the amount of narrative that was happening in some of them (something which my board had none of). In the end I didn't place in the top three, but wasn't really fussed as the event is always used as a deadline rather than a competition for me - seems to be the only way I manage to finish stuff off! In true hobby style, I've already started working on the next army and will be posting an entry on that in the next few days as there's some really exciting stuff to start working on! If you've never done an Armies on Parade project before I'd defiantly recommend it -nothing better than seeing other people's work and chatting about little men.