Friday 27 December 2013

2014 Projects Pt. 2

The Astral claws are dead, having painted and repainted I've got so sick that I've given up on them. They are now boxed away, bits salvaged, awaiting to be stripped and re-painted in a quick & dirty Black Templars scheme for my friend. This is one of my planned projects for 2014 and will be an exercise in speed painting.

I love / hate power armour. Love the lore of Space Marines, hate the monotonous painting of them. But you can't claim to be a self respecting 40ker without them! I've always liked the colour scheme of the Red Scorpions, simple but effective and given that Forgeworld have lots of tasty bits for the chapter I couldn't resist. I've started collecting bits and will be trying my hand at casting to for this project. This is something I won't be embarking on until I'm happy with my airbrushing skills. In the mean time I'm building a very small World Eaters 30k army. This will be to practice painting mk IV armour and to use up my spare Space Marine bits that are not going to be used for either the Black Templars or Red Scorpions. They will also serve as my Chaos SM's/Astral Claws standins in my small Chaos/Tyrant army.

Dark Vengance, I picked up the Chaos elements of the DV box on the cheap from eBay, mainly for the parts, but after a game of Killteam I thoroughly enjoyed playing as them. I'll be painting the Chosen, hell brute plus a Blackheart model in Red Corsairs colours. Any cultists I don't convert I'll also being painting.

Cadain Redux / Inquisition - I've got tons of spare guard parts that simply won't fit the asthetic of my Helghast armies, I also wanted to create an army based off the Helghast sworn enemies, the ISA. I'll be incorporating elements from HALO, TitanFall, Aliens, Metal Gear, anime and modern miliraties. The idea is to create a charachterful, modern clean looking forces that display a sort of Vietnam swagger. This is a small 1500 pt force to act mainly as my 'standard' list (No Imperial Armour stuff here!) but also to be the main contingent in my Inqusition force. Speaking of which the Inq force is a warband and some Grey Knight termies as Allies.

Finally there is my Late British infantry company and German Panzer grenadiers for Flames of War. These are my projects for the first halve of 2014 In between these projects I'll be fine tunning my casting / airbrushing / painting to gear up towards the bigger projects I have planned! This consists of preparing for my Red Scorps and Renegade / Tyrant Legion force.

 

Thursday 26 December 2013

2014 Projects Pt. 1

A good mate of mine asked me to explain all my planned / current projects not to long ago. As I detailed the various projects his brain quickly melted and was he left a jibbering wreck. I suddenly relieased that in my mad, dyslexic process I had only completed one batch of models during the whole of 2013 yet I must have painted and repainted my Astral Claws to death and planned half a dozen other armies. This evidently is quite an unproductive method! He popped round to use my airbrush and was visually assaulted by the sheer chaos that I call my office, again he was reduced to gibbering madness!

So with time to reflect and evaluate during this festive period and the pressing need get something done in 2014 I've decided to whittle my projects down from 14 to 8 and if I'm being truthful this will probably drop further. I've also resolved to buy as few models as possible (A small hurrah from my finance and raised sarcastic eyebrow to suit), the exception being the rumoured new IG/Steel legion kits and probably a handful of forgeworld bits but nothing major.

What have I learnt this year? Preparation is everything, airbrushes are not magic and that practice, practice and a god dam load of booze is the best way to paint, well maybe not but practice is something I need to stick at. The important of a clean and concise workspace is paramount especially if your like me who has bits and half done models everywhere. This coming year I'll be utilizing a laser cut mdf workstation to focus on one thing at a time, Project wise this means I'll be restricting myself to know more then two at any given time.

I'll be outlining my 2014 projects in the next post but it's safe to say this year has been a write off!

Wednesday 25 December 2013

Wednesday 11 December 2013

Blimey

6 months on and nothing complete! 2013 has been a year of waiting & planning but 2014 will be all action. I have broken down my projects and now attempting to setup a manageable system to complete several projects. In the near future I'll post up a plan so I can keep track of progress and keep myself motivated. 

Wednesday 31 July 2013

Objectives

Missed then but made up with other projects 

Friday 19 July 2013

A new direction

So yup I have changed my army again, specifically my long suffering Helghast. I'm now building a Tyrants Legion / DKoK Siege army whilst I wait for new bits to appear. When that's done I'll be starting my Assault Helghast army based around the DKoK Assault Brigade. 

With the Siege / Legion there's a lot of interchangeable units and again between siege and assault armies so no real worry there. I'll be creating a few units for regular IG codex stuff and some decent allies too. Finally I'll be making some fortifications to match. 

Anywho here is a test paint for the Siege Legion    


Monday 8 July 2013

All quiet on the western front

June can be summed up by the very little progress I've made on any of the projects. In my defence it has been a very busy month and I have no funds to spare on my hobbies. With payday around the corner and only a few social requirements I'm endeavouring to get back on track.

The plan for July is;

Finish the two squads of Astral Claws

  • Buy and paint rifles from anvil
  • Weather them (must get some pledge)
  • Base them
First layer for my Coldstream Guard 5th BATT. to prepare for a wash.
  • Flesh
  • Weapons
  • Highlights

I think there achievable goals.

Sunday 9 June 2013

Living with a bad decision

A few year's ago I got the Flames of War bug, bought a Panzer Grenadier and a Late British infantry company. As usual I rushed ahead and stuck as many units down on bases (unpainted of course) and played a few games and put them away where they've sat untouched since. It's always bugged me I've never played more games as I find FoW to be very fun and I love history, thus I've resolved myself to complete both armies as a side project. It's also an excuse to let me paint in the house (my mancave is outside in the garage) since the models require few paints and take up little room. Initially this side project kicked off well, I'd primed the models years ago so I just sprayed a little white to create a simple zenith lighting. Zee Germans where blue tacked on to there bases so removing them and pinning them to old bits of plastic sprues was easy (and time consuming). Good so far. I then opened the box of of Brits, oh bugger. 100+ models super glued to the bases, most are cramped / need clean up and attempts to remove them resulted in a few broken models. A bad decision then, one I will have to live with.

My thoughts are to apply zenith lighting anyways, use Badger Ghost Tint Brown to give shading, then dry brush with a lighter brown/khaki mix higher then the British uniform. Add flesh and details before washing with a diluted Army Painter medium tone dip. Still it'll be a major headache. Lesson learnt - plan, plan and plan some more!


Wednesday 5 June 2013

Gold!

Just a quick update! Gold painted with Vallejo liquid old gold.

Now just waiting for my AP Soft Tone ink wash to give some depth to the gold.




Tuesday 4 June 2013

No plan survives contact with the enemy

One of the principal goals of my Badab War is to put into practice the many theories and techniques I have been reading about for the past couple of years. In the first foray into the hobby back in '07 I gave no fore fought into what I was doing. No prep, just slap paint and get on with it. I returned to the hobby a few years ago but gave up again pretty quickly in the face prospect of re-assembling and re-painting. This time around I've wrote endless lists and read articles, books and watched videos over and again and have a clear idea what I am doing.

Then I changed it, missed out steps and the end result is frustration and a end result I am unhappy with it. Thankfully I had the bright idea to stop what I was doing before mucking up the models further but I guess what I am saying, make a plan and stick to it! Write it down, step by step of how you paint your minis. Print it out, draw it - whatever - just put it somewhere that's always in sight you and you'll never go wrong.

Friday 31 May 2013

First Cohort

In my previous post I talked about the method I am using to paint my old school Space Marines quickly as possible. Not to much care is afforded to them as they are basically for numbers. The idea is to make them 'game' ready and that is all.
With my 'proper' marines the process is different. First I use a white primer sprayed directly on top to give very basic zenithal lighting. I then prime the model in the chain mail. My preference would be to use a Vallejo air brush primer and use a grey for the darker areas, white for the light but I have loads of this chain mail primer left and this is more an exercise in making do with my existing materials. 

First Cohort primed and ready to paint
Once primed I use VMA Gun mixed with VMA Black (3:1) spray directly from the bottom for shadows.
 I spray Vallejo Model Air Silver from a 45 degree angle followed by a VMA Silver and VMA White (2:1) mixed directly from the top.
This is followed by a heavy black / blue wash (2:2:1 mix using Badab Black / Asurman Blue / Water) to give the metal a cobalt look, I am not being particular careful in the application though I do try to avoid pooling.
With all my airbrush paints I use Vallejo thinner at about 5:1 though this isn't a precise science and I am still very much learning.

Primed

Shadows Added

Light Added

Heavy Wash
In the next post I will be bringing back some shine to the armor! If you have any advice, tips please let me know!


And so it begins!

Over the past few days I've been cleaning and priming, all in all 40 models ready to go! The plan is to paint through sub-assembly. I've learnt the hard way when trying to paint a completed with or without an airbrush so I am not to eager to paint 40+ models in the traditional manner. The exception to the rule are the 20 oddschool space marines I inherited from my mate. There one piece models and my attempts to convert them where pretty fruitless.

20 of these shoulder pads where not fun
The plan is straight forward for these chaps, simply base coat them with Army Painter chainmail, this is followed by a heavy black wash (still debating which wash to use) then dry brush the original shade of silver back in key areas. This will be followed by a thinned brown wash for weathering and warmth. Before I wash with the black I'll block in the coloured areas (pads, chest etc) then reapply the colour where need be. I'll probably use a heavily thinned blue wash on the pads. I'll add some highlights and my weathering. At the moment I am toying with using Army Painter Dark Tone dip I got a couple of years ago, though I will need to thin it down.



Sunday 26 May 2013

The Tyrant of Badab pt.2 We are Legion

The story of story of the Badad War lends itself well to creating a legion based chapter, something  I had in mind for quite sometime. I've dithered about a 30/40k hybrid but settled on a pure Emp's Children to be tackled later. As I want an army to be Roman-Macedonian-Greek inspired yet retain the uniqueness that Ultra Smurfs lack, the toss up was between Red Scorpions and Astral Claws. The obvious solution is todo both!

I am Beginning with the Astral Claws given as I explained previously the sheer amount of random SM bits I have and the fact I want an army ready in pretty quick time. I will be building the army straight from IA 9 with 6th updates thrown in (like AA/Flyers etc). The interesting bit is my Guard 'Auxilia'. I had fancied doing a Steel Legion / Death Korp mashup but the cost and aesthetic put me off so I abandoned that project but not before buying a ton of Victoria mini stuff and pig iron heads. I had thought previously of just sticking them together to use eventually as mass conscripts for my Helghast but this gave them little purpose and I didn't particular relish the idea of painting 100+ models just for occasional used fodder. Now they are to be re-purposed as the Legion Auxilia with my basic fluff being that these are the proto Helghast who commit there forgeworld to the Tyrants cause. Thus the Helghan Mk.1's as I call them will follow a mix match make up to give the impression of a people pressed into service using whatever was to hand. In gamey terms they'll play the part of conscripts for my proper Helghan army, be large enough to be played as DkoK should I choose it and look a little like cultists for my future Red Corsairs.



The Tyrant of Badab Pt.1

So once again I am deviating from my Helghast Army, predominately as I await the release of new parts from a variety of bit makers. With this unforeseen delay I've had time to reflect and think before I commit to any of my projects. 
My problem has always been I start a project full throttle and they immediately lose interest or become so bogged down in the details that I lose all will power to continue. This has resulted in my Imperial Guard being built, painted, stripped, re-painted, stripped and disassembled. Like wise my first foray into the hobby was via the Ultra Smurfs who subsequently became Black Templars then Dark Angels. I then passed this lot onto my younger brother who proceeded to paint everything in thick humbrol oil paints with as much ask skill as a 9 year old would. There they sat for several years before being stripped once again. I also inherited my friends old SM army, old being the key word as the majority of the figures where 2nd and 3rd edition and in a bad way. I had also impulsively bought a ebay job lot of space wolves and various other marines and on top of that I have a mountain of bits from all sorts of places. 
So dozens of marines, several rhinos, two Land Raiders and what amounts to a huge mess of Space Marines with no aim in mind. Until now. Enter the Tyrant of Badab

I've always been intrigued by the story of Lufgt Huron and the Astral Claws, though poorly written in my opinion they do present a interested canvas to model a chapter on. The idea of a chapter gone rogue through the non cliche-cheese of Chaoictic intervention appeals to me, to often Space Marines are depicted as god like entities who rarely display anything other then two emotions, anger and passiveness. Here is a chapter who in attempt to achieve the greater good they break the rules in the face of the infective bureaucracy of the Imperium eventually sub-coming to hubris and pride in a conflict they didn't want. This is the hook for me as it shows a human element to the almighty Space Marines! The nature of the war and the legion-chapter makeup gives me an excuse to utilise my mish mash of marines and bits to create a truly unique army. So hear goes, I am committing to a Badab War project!


Thursday 21 March 2013

Working away....

Unfortunately not on my armies. Real life and a few games have kept me occupied but I have been planning. Oh yes with new releases around the corner it's been much easier to plan ahead.

First I've organised my first two projects. Theses will function as a proof of concept and a way to learn airbrushing before I start my Helghast army. Secondly the new planning has enabled me use up my current bit stock pile so I can really choose the bits I like and see where I'm lacking.

I'll follow up with a posts on each respective army build!

Thursday 7 February 2013

Now that's sorted

With the man cave somewhat sorted I'm ready to declare "so it begins" well almost. Just need to order some new AB paints and a few bits. Stay tuned!

Tuesday 5 February 2013

The man cave

Before the army building begins I'm redoing the mancave ....

Sunday 20 January 2013