Going a bit "old-school"

Sometimes the old ones are the best.  That's a statement not usually applicable to jokes, but I really do think it applies to GW Chaos Miniatures (see the Realm of Chaos section here).  I do like some of the newer Chaos stuff, but it all seems too regular - a unit of the new Chaos Warriors is a regiment of almost identical looking, similarly armed soldiers that appear to be marching in unison - where's the "Chaos" in that?  Surely that look of the unit would be more suited to "Lawful Evil"?  Why are Daemons and Beastmen separate armies now?

Just needed to get that off my chest...

There are a few "Oldhammer" blogs (and a forum) out there at the moment, and I love both the idea and the nostalgia.  While I'll never have enough old miniatures to create a valid army, this time last year I thought it would be cool to create some warbands for games like Skulldred and Get The Girl, Kill The Baddies, using some lovely old miniatures, and maybe mixing in a few newer figures that "fit".  My first warband was a group of Barbarians, but I got bogged down with other projects, and never did much more.  The bug bit again, Easter came around, and I spotted this miniature sat around in a box:

He had a ropey old paint job that was probably 20 years old, so I stripped him and started again.  It's a quick paint job, so it has a few rough edges, but I'm pleased with the result.  The "old-school" (I don't like the term old-school very much, but I couldn't think of anything else, and it's at least better than "retro") in the title should give you an idea of the look I was going for, and although the green is possibly a little too jade green for Nurgle, I think it works.  It's a base coat of Caliban Green, washed with Agrax Earthshade, then highlighted with the green and then mixing in a bit of Steel Legion Drab, and then some Rakarth Flesh to finish up.

The leather bits are a base coat of Rhinox Hide, again washed with Agrax Earthshade, and then highlighted with Rhinox Hide and then mixing in more and more Snakebite Leather.  The axe handle is the same, but with Dryad Bark and Steel Legion Drab instead.  The metallic parts are simply Army Painter Gun Metal base, washed with Nuln Oil, Chestnut Ink and a little watered down Dryad Bark.  This was then highlighted with the Gun Metal and Chainmail, with a combination of blending and dry-brushing.

The shield is my favourite bit of the model.  I've never really done a lot of freehand work, so this was a little trial and error.  I tried to combine a lot of Orlygg's tutorial here with a bit of Realm of Chaos/John Blanche style.  It's possibly a little too "regular" (it should have been a little more "swirly"), and the eyes aren't great, but I'm really pleased with it.

So with Krull N'Garth completed, I've been digging out other old miniatures to fit in to the "Soul Hunters" warband.  I have a Sorcerer (a hooded chap with a scythe), a couple of old Marauder beastmen and a couple of old armoured zombies that will make "nice" plague victims.  One thing missing so far is toadstools,  a must-have in all old Warhamme,r so I will get the greenstuff out and get creating them.

How this will all work out as a warband I have no idea, or even if I'll ever get to play with them, but  painting them will be a whole lot of fun.  :-) 

In other news, the Ancible team had a grand old time at Firestorm Games in Cardiff, playing Star Wars X-Wing, shopping and hurling abuse at one another.  My win record in X-Wing has dropped to 25%, which is probably a lot better than most other games I've played, but even in my losses we've had some fantastic games.

It was also really great to meet up with Jeff from Pirate Viking Painting, who I haven't seen for a few years, and just ramble on about life, painting and gaming for a while.  :-)

As always, comments and criticism welcome!

The Cult Expands...

Not making the best of progress at the moment, I guess it's the time of the year or something...

First up is the next five cultists from the Dark Vengeance box 

They're all painted in the same way as the chap in the background, I went for speed over technique as I just want to get them done and out of the way, so I can do some of the more interesting stuff.

Speaking of which, there's also a little more progress on the Hawk Lords character:

The gold is the usual Dryad Bark base, but with the new Auric Armour Gold mixed in for the highlights.  The colour is a little more brown in colour, which I like a lot.  That's it I'm afraid, not a lot to show for the week or so since my last post, but it's at least some progress.  :-)

As always, comments and criticism welcome!

Dark Vengeance Chosen and Other Animals

The bulkhead door crumples with the first impact, the second blow sends the door flying across the room and it clatters against the back wall.  The monstrosity that fills the doorway terrifies the guardsmen manning the hastily constructed barricade.  It is huge, bigger than any normal man, armour plates of putrid green and bleached bone, foul symbols hanging on chains from its armour.  The corrupted warrior screeches, a high pitched wail of static, and the face in its left shoulder pad starts to gibber uncontrollably.

"You will all die tonight little fleshlings, more souls for the great father, more souls!"

The unnatural voice stuns the guardsmen into action and they open fire.  Las rounds burn the air  between them and their enemy, but nothing breaks through the corrupted armour.  It raises a bolt pistol and fires, and a guardsman's chest explodes, spattering gore over his comrades.  The invader strides forward. and a second shot removes another man's head.  It is at the barricade now, and a blow from its glowing left fist punches a hole through the flimsy piles of furniture.  As it forces its way through, one of the defenders is backhanded across the room, his skull and ribcage smashed.

There are only two defenders left.

"Run!" Shouts one.  "Get everyone out, we cannot hold!"

His shouts attract the attention of their enemy, and the guardsman is face to face with this vision of hell.  Too close to fire, he swings his las-rifle like a club, but it is futile, and the powerful left hand envelopes his helmeted head and crushes his skull.

The last remaining guardsman runs...

The first of my Dark Vengeance Chosen is finished, and finally spray varnished to a finish I'm actually happy with!

The first colour I put on the miniature was the bone - I figured it was easier to do this than do the green first, as there was so much fiddly detail, that base-coating the bone, would end up with some slippage into the green areas.  It started with a base of Zandri Dust, washed with Agrax Earthshade.  The highlights were then more of the base coat, Karak Stone and finally some Dheneb Stone (I really need to find a replacement for this).  I could have added some white to this, but I didn't want to go too light - it's probably a little too bright  for Nurgle as it is, but it looks good so I'm sticking with it.

The green was based with P3 Cryx Base, which was dark enough not to need a wash.  Originally I highlighted this with Catachan Green, Deathworld Forest and Ogryn Camo - but the green was too dull in comparison to the Bikers, so I went back and added in Camo Green to brighten things up a bit.  The brown is done the same way as on the Cultists.  The pipes, eyes and details are based with the new Balor Brown (which is a poor replacement for Tausept Ochre in my opinion), washed with Sepia and highlighted with the base and Iyanden Darksun.

The powerfist is one of my favourite parts of the miniature - I used the same colours as for the rest of the green, but added a lot more Ogryn Camo to the top "edges" of the crazy paving effect.  I'm thinking about having a little bit of this pattern on all of the Chosen, just to tie them all together.

I'm a big fan of the faces sculpted into the armour too - I like the thought of this one gibbering away, hurling insults and expletives at the enemy.  The tongue is highlighted with the old Scab Red and the new Screamer Pink, which works quite nicely over a dark brown base.

With Chosen number one finished, it's back to the Cultists.  I'm working on a group of 5 of the close combat squad, but before I start batch painting them (if I can bear it), I thought I'd do a test model first to make sure I like the colour scheme.  I wanted to do something to distinguish them from the rifle armed squad, but still keep them tied together.

Although red isn't strictly a Nurgle colour, it does feature quite heavily on one of the covers of the Realm of Chaos books (obviously the one with Nurgle in it), so I thought I'd give it a try. It's just dark brown, with a layer or two of Scab Red, then Scab Red and Snakebite Leather.  One plus point is that he didn't take too long to paint - just as well, as there's one chap who's 50% skin, who probably will take a while to paint...

He works alongside our new Chosen Marine too:

More of these ugly scum soon hopefully.

In other news, I still have a few of the "half-finished" on the go - I've actually made some good progress on Commissar Yarrick, with only a couple of colours left to do:

He's coming along nicely, although I still have some work to do on the red of the power claw.  I'm particularly pleased with the Ork skeleton on the gun and the sash.  I'm also working on another of the Imperial advisors:

The metal work is pretty much done, I just need to decide on a uniform colour.  Last but not least I'm still struggling with the Bushido Dragon:

No idea what the problem with this miniature is, as it's a lovely looking creature, I just can't stand painting it.  There is a lot of yellow to do, but that's not usually been a problem.  Hopefully posting it up here will give me the incentive to crack on with it...

...and that's all folks!  I've started my next article for the Ancible, so that will be taking up some time too.  I also solemnly promise to comment on other people's blogs more - I really appreciate all the comments you guys make, and I have been very rude in not extending to you all the same courtesy - I am going to make this right.

As always comments and criticism welcome!

Lords of the Flies

After buying the Dark Vengeance boxed set I did a fair bit of ummming and ahhhing about the colour scheme for the Chaos force.  In an earlier post I had settled on making them Word Bearers, with the Cultists following different gods, the autogun armed bunch being Nurgle worshippers, and the close combat ones slaughtering for Khorne.

Then I looked at my 500 points worth of Lords of the Flies marines I did for a GW store painting competition a few years back and thought "Why don't I just expand this army instead?".  So we're back to Nurgle colours, which to be honest are my favourite colours to paint anyway.  The original force consisted of:

• Chaos Sorceror
• 7 Chaos Space Marines, 1 x Flamer, Aspiring Champion with Chainsword
• 7 Chaos Space Marines, 1 x Meltagun, Aspiring Champion with Power sword
• 3 Bikers

I have no idea how much this costs out as now, I'll pick up the new Codex this week hopefully and work out a new army list using the original force bulked out with the new Dark Vengeance stuff.  The Bikers have never made an appearance on the net, so they deserve a little of the spotlight:

From what I remember these bad boys were an absolute pain in the posterior to paint, they just weren't much fun (which doesn't bode well for the Ravenwing).

The green I think was Catachan Green washed with Devlan Mud and highlighted with Catachan and Camo Green.  The bone colour was Khemri Brown, shaded with Devlan Mud, highlighted with Khemri Brown and Dheneb Stone.  The brown was Scorched Brown, again washed with Devlan Mud and highlighted with Scorched Brown, Bestial Brown and Snakebite Leather.

They fit in reasonably well with the new cultists I've done, although I think it does go to show that I've progressed technique wise a fair bit in these few years.  I'm not sure whether to go back and do the classic brown base trim on the cultists, or redo the old stuff with a black trim - the brown is Graveyard Earth, which I very much doubt I'll be able to get any more of.  

The first of the Chosen marines is 60% done, so hopefully should have some pictures of him, and 5 more cultists up soon.

As always comments and criticism welcome!

Dark Vengeance: Cultists Set 1

So having finished off a couple of miniatures that I've had on the go for a while, I rewarded myself with some miniatures from the Dark Vengeance box set.  The temptation was to start with one of the character models, but that would have been spoiling myself, so I went for five of the cultist/traitor guard models.  This might amaze you to read, but I actually batch painted them!  Well not quite, I base coated and shaded them all at the same time, but when it came to highlighting and detailing, I did them one at a time - so not quite batch painting, but nearly...

I wanted to do these quickly (for me), so the paint jobs are a little more rough and ready than my usual work, but I'm still really pleased with the way they came out.  They are a bit drab looking, but as they're meant to be Nurgle cultists, it didn't didn't feel right painting them bright colours.

I'm a big fan of these models, loads of character and all quite nasty looking - when reading the Gaunts Ghosts novels, this is what I imagined the "Enemy" looked like.  The quality of the models is really impressive for snap-fit pieces, and there's not too much "stretching" of elements to make it work as a two piece miniature.  I've gone for a Nurgle style scheme, to fit in with my Lords of the Flies Chaos Marines that I painted years ago, so plenty of greens and browns.

My favourite model so far is this chap:

He looks like some some heavy built Forge worker or mechanic, I love the apron, the tools hanging off the back pack and the enormous Heavy Stubber.  The leather is my new favourite method - Dryad Bark, shaded with Agrax EarthShade and highlighted with Dryad Bark and Snakebite leather.  Highlighting was only a 2-3 stage process, keeping it quick and simple.  The skin was a base of P3 Beast Hide, washed with Earthshade, and highlighted with Beast Hide and then Rakarth Flesh.

The rest of the guys aren't quite as great as "Heavy Stubber Mechanic Man" but they're still nice sculpts and were a breeze to paint:

The green was a basecoat of P3 Cryx Base, shaded with the Earthshade, and dry-brushed with Catachan Green and Death World Forest, with a little Ogryn Camo in places.  The guns were Stormvermin Fur, washed with Nuln Oil, dry-brushed with Leadbelcher and Chainmail.  The wrappings were even quicker, Zandri Dust washed with EarthShade and highlighted with Zandri Dust again.

The bottom two cultists had Chaos stars branded on their shoulders, I washed these with Catachan Green, and then painted them in with Death World Forest and highlighted with Ogryn Camo.  I used the same effect to do a little OSL around eyepieces - not strictly "realistic", but it looks cool - especially on the odd bird like mask:

The great thing about this colour scheme, was that I could base coat everything and then wash it all at the same time - certainly cut down on the painting time!  I don't usually enjoy batch painting at all, but these were really fun to paint, and as long as I vary it up a bit, I reckon I can get all the cultists done in a couple of weeks - which is pretty damn quick for me...

So with these 5 done, it's on to some more half-finished stuff before I do 5 of the close-combat weapon armed cultists.

As always, comments and criticism welcome!

Polluted Royalty

I've posted about this chap a while back, but hadn't progressed him for ages.  I'd got a bit stuck with him, but in my desire to get my workstation cleared ready for the next projects, I put some serious effort into getting him finished.  Only quick pictures today, I'm going to sit down next weekend and learn how to use this camera properly...

I've described the green method before, but here it is again:

• Charadon Granite base coat
• Devlan Mud wash
• Charadon Granite overbrushed highlight
• Charadon Granite + Catachan Green
• Catachan Green
• Catachan Green + Camo Green
• Camo Green
• Camo Green + Dheneb Stone as a thin edge/point highlight

As I've said I'd toyed with the idea of leaving it "clean", but this didn't feel right for a Nurgle Lord, so I painted in some discolouration patches

• Base coat: Scorched Brown
• Shade: Devlan Mud applied to the recesses
• First highlight: Bestial Brown
• Second highlight: Snakebite leather

This was also the scheme used for the Chaos Star quarters on the corners of the cloak.

I ditched the original brown colour of the cloak for a khaki/beige look .

• Base coat: Khemri Brown
• Shade: Liberally applied Devlan Mud
• First highlight Khemri Brown
• Second highlight: 1:1 mix of Khemri Brown and Dheneb Stone
• Final highlight: Dheneb Stone

I think this works much better against the green.  I'm really pleased with the freehand - nothing complicated, but it's come out nicely, and not too big to be overwhelming.  I don't do a lot of freehand work, so it's something I'm going to be practicing more of from now on.

I wanted to make the metalwork look aged without it being too rusty looking - I know he's a follower of Nurgle, but a Lord still wouldn't be too impressed with having to use rusty axes I'm sure...

• Base coat: Tin Bitz
• Shade: Devlan Mud applied liberally
• First highlight: Tin Bitz
• Second highlight: P3 Blighted Gold (similar to the very old Citadel Colour Shining Gold, but a little darker)
• Third highlight: Chainmail
• Wash: 1:1 diluted Devlan Mud
• Glaze: Heavily thinned Scorched Brown
• Final highlight: Chainmail blended in to edges, top surfaces and points
• Final shade: Devlan Mud applied to recesses

It's a bit laborious and it came about because the Blighted Gold wasn't really working for me, but I'm pleased with the end result.

The skulls, horns and axe handles were all painted the same way.

• Base coat: Charadon Granite
• First highlight: Khemri Brown
• Second highlight: Dheneb Stone
• Final highlight (skulls only): Skull White

I'm not sure about the base, but I think it's alright, I hadn't used lichen before and to be honest it's a bit of a pain, but I think it will get easier with practice.  I think varied colours would also help - particularly with a chaos figure brownish lichen, to suggest the plant life has died, would probably have been more appropriate.  Still it's not a bad effect, and something I'm going to be using more of in the future.

Question - does me listing all the colour I use help?  Do you guys read it all, or does it just get in the way?  Would I be better off posting pictures and shutting up?  I'm no expert but I like to share how I do things if it will help others.  I really would appreciate some feedback on this, so if I'm missing stuff too, let me know.

As always comments and criticism welcome, have at it!

To rot or not?

In my previous post I talked about "messing up" the green on my Nurgle chaos champion.

I've decided against it.

I know it's going to be too clean, but I like the green as it is, which seems a bit of a cop-out, but one piece of advice I've always remembered is "when you're happy with it, don't do any more".

The green is slightly different to the shade I've used on the last couple of minis:

• Charadon Granite base coat
• Devlan Mud wash
• Charadon Granite overbrushed highlight
• Charadon Granite + Catachan Green
• Catachan Green
• Catachan Green + Camo Green
• Camo Green
• Camo Green + Dheneb Stone as a thin edge/point highlight

As always comments and criticism welcome!

In other news I've splashed out on a posh paint brush - one of these Windsor and Newton Series 7 everyone bangs on about.  I've not bothered with an expensive brush before, thinking that it won't make that much difference, but with both the wet palette and the light box making a world of difference, I thought I'd take the plunge.  I'll post some feedback once I've used it for a while.

Lucius the Eternal

I've mentioned this chap before and now he's finished and photographed.  Lucius is an absolute blast to paint, lots of detail and loads of different elements to keep you interested.  I've noticed on a few forums that he's not a popular model, which I've always found a bit strange.  He's always felt like an "old school" chaotic model to me - cloven hooves, faces coming out of his armour, a whip and a creepy face - what's not to like?

I haven't gone for a strict Emperors Children colour scheme, as I'm not a big fan of the black and pink, but I think he looks Slaanesh-y enough.  The green isn't really a Slaanesh colour but I think it works well with the purple and gold.  I'm really pleased with the faces in the armour, which used Dheneb Stone as a base colour and then washes of Ogryn Flesh all over and Devlan Mud in the more shadowed parts, then highlighted back up with Dheneb Stone. 

I spent a lot of time on this model, particularly:

• Blending of the purple and of the green
• The gold - starting with a Scorched Brown base coat
• Trying to paint as if there's a light source directly above the model
• A more "targeted" use of the GW washes

All the extra effort has been worth it, and I'm really pleased with the way he came out.

The pictures were taken in using my new photo box, built to Tentakel-Spec.  I've not had to do any processing of the images on the PC except for cropping, which is a big plus for me - I really wish I'd built one sooner.

Of course a big thank you to Big Al at Hogs of War for a superb Christmas present!

As always, comments and criticism more than welcome!

The Lair of the Breviks: Missouri Edition

Finally, I get around to posting for the first time in a month or two, and I'm in a different country to do it...

The Breviks are in Sedalia, Missouri visiting Mrs Brevik's family and friends for Christmas.  As well as experiencing my first ever white Christmas (seriously, I'm 34 and this is the first), eating so much I can barely move and watching hours of both types football from both sides of the Atlantic, I actually managed to purchase some miniatures.

A few days before Christmas we were in St Louis visiting some good friends of ours (thanks Julie and Glenn, we had a great time!), and they took us to see the Napoleonic exhibit at the history museum.  Inspired by the collection of artwork and the weapons on display, I decided to get myself something historical to paint.

So our friends called around and we found this place - CRM Hobbies, a fantastic little hobby store/model shop, staffed by some really friendly and helpful people.  I didn't go crazy, but I managed to pick up a couple of nice 54mm figures:

Granted the first isn't Napoleonic (Crimean instead), but it's a nice model still.  The wife was a little horrified when the owner of the store said that he shipped world-wide...

Just after Christmas we met up with some more friends including Big Al from The Hogs of War.  Al provided me with my next miniature that I'm going to paint as soon as I get back to Blighty (cheers mate, a superb choice!):

Photo from Games-Workshop.com

I've always considered getting this chap, but there's always been something else that I needed first, so now he's in my possession and he's going to be painted to fit in with the noise marines I did a while back.  I'm now thinking about a Slaanesh themed army with both Lucius and Fabius Bile in it...

I probably should finish the Eldar first, but what the hell.

My next post should be when I'm back in England, where I've actually got something to show for my efforts...

Going Berzerk...

...not literally, but here are the pictures of the completed Berzerker.  I've got 5 or 6 of these nutcases, plus an icon bearer - I'm going to make them the bodyguard of Huron, when he's repaired...

It's a pretty quick paint job - he has no chapter/warband symbol yet, I'll probably use the Red Corsairs claw  symbol for these guys.  I'm really chuffed with the way he's come out, and I feel like I've got a reasonable "Blood" red as befitting a servant of the Blood God

 

 As always, comments and criticism welcome!

Long time no update...

Sorry everyone, poor health, plus a trip up to London meant it's been a long old time since I actually updated this blog (and commented on all your stuff, which is even worse).  However the trip to London was fantastic with the high point being Saturday.  I've been getting a bit excited about the movie "Solomon Kane" (IMDB link) - OK maybe more than a bit, but anyway...  

Opening weekend this weekend, and the main actor, James Purefoy (he of "Rome" fame) and the director, Mike Bassett, were signing all sorts of expensive stuff at one of my favourite stores in the whole world. Forbidden Planet.  So I got a cool canvas and a "making of" book signed by the pair of them, shook the hand of the director and chatted to Mr Purefoy briefly.  Then off to Leicester Square to see the movie at the Empire.  While not the best movie in the world, it was pretty damn good for the budget (low), and it was an absolute blast to hear an action hero talk with the same accent as me - hurrah for the West Country!  Yes, I loved it.

(...and yep, I'm from the Cotswolds and we all sound like farmers...)

...and easily inspired as I am, I now want to theme my slowly growing Empire army around Witch Hunters (Dark cloaks, pistols, flagellants and Sigmarite Priests)...

...not to mention using Malachi's face make-up on something chaotic.

Anyway, got a couple of pictures of my finished Noise Marines.  I'm stopping at 2 for now, these blighters are hard work and I want to do something else for a while.  I'll be taking some more pictures when I have the time - these two are actually an improvement on previous efforts as I've learnt a little about light-metering now - I just need to practice!

Noise Marines 1 & 2

 

They've both come out really well and they look good next to one another.  As I've said before the third one needs some repair work, before I can even think about painting him.  So this week it's going to be Legion of the Damned and some Empire...

...and good lord, I need to get back on with this updating malarkey...

Mid-Week Progress Report: Getting some structure into what I do

I really, really have to work on updating this blog more than twice a week.

But, more than that I need to organise what I paint better.  The last few weeks, months even, I've done bits and bobs with very little to show for it.  So, the plan is to organise what I'm going to paint into "Main projects" and "Side projects", concentrating on the main and spending half an hour at a time on the side projects when I get stagnant/stall/hit the wall.  The difficult bit is going to be only doing half an hour on the side project, stopping, and then moving back to the main project(s)...

This is also going to be difficult as I can't really batch paint - I suppose I can, but I don't enjoy it.  I've managed 5 Imperial Greatswords before, but even that was a struggle.  Also, I'm quite a slow painter and rather too easily distracted - not an ideal combination!

The Main Projects

• Legion of the Damned - I want to get 250 points of these guys done to compliment my Crimson Fist force (of which I have 750 points).  I currently have 2 marines painted and I'm about to start on a chap wielding a Multi-Melta (the first time I’ve ever painted one of those weapons!).  Then it will be two more marines and a sergeant.
• Noise Marines - the first chap is pretty much finished and the second is well under way (see the picture below).  The third Guitar-wielding psychopath needs some reconstruction work as the previous owner chopped off the end of the guitar (but thankfully kept the piece), so it looks like I’m going to get my first experience with green stuff - should be interesting!  The other marines that will make up the squad will have to wait for a while.  Thanks to the people at the B&C forum I have a good idea for a Doom Siren, and it looks like I have the parts for it too - bonus!

The Side Projects

• Imperial Carroburg Greatswords - I’ve got 8 done, I just want to get them to 10 (for now), so I need to get the standard bearer and one soldier done.  These guys are a mix of Empire soldiers from the last 20 years, and at some point I plan to add the latest box set to make up a unit of 20 - a real mongrel unit!  These are painted in the darker, rougher, "John Blanche" style, which did make batch painting a little easier, and feels very "Old Worldy" to me 
• Khorne Berzerker test model (see the picture at the top) - finally stumbled on a red I like (gotta love trial and error) and I had some Berzerkers I found second hand and cheap in a local model shop.  So one of these nutcases will be painted up, more pictures to follow!

I have plenty of other ideas (and certain people have been tempting me to try Tau recently with their lovely painted stuff, I may have to get some of those funky looking Stealth buggers!), but I’m trying to put them to the back of my head while I get the two main projects I have done first.

It does make me wonder how other people stay so focused?  Any hints and advice would be most welcome.

So, after all that wordage - progress!

Second Noise Marine - the KISS style helmet has come out well, and I’m really pleased with the purple flames.  The guitar will be black, and the arms will be painted the same as the first noise marine.

The flames on the greave are the base coat of what I've done on the shoulder pads - which I should have taken pictures of as they've come out really well.

Legion of the Damned - I wanted to do something a bit different to how they painted them in White Dwarf.  As good as they looked in the magazine, I thought they looked too clean - these guys are meant to have been to hell and back, and I wanted their armour to look like it had been ravaged by age and fire.  So I went for a Scorched Brown and Codex Grey highlight to the black, and a Tin Bitz base coat for the metallics.

I’m not entirely sure I’ve pulled it off, but they look different and I felt that was a good start.  When I get some burnt grass flock from GW, I'll properly finish the bases off.

As always comments and criticism are welcome!

A night of no progress...

Well, not much happened tonight, due to me being down the pub playing skittles...

So just the one picture, just to keep things interesting:

Tzeentch Chaos Champion

A relatively quick paintjob, not too much in the way of blending, but it looks pretty effective.  I'm toying with the idea of giving him a wash of watered down Devlan Mud, just to take the edge off the colours, and tone it down a bit.  I think the axe needs it anyway, so that will certainly happen - advice gratefully received though.

In other news, I've been doing some research into better photography - looks like I might have to build my own lightbox, as the one I've been using (obviously not for the picture above) has panels that are perhaps too opaque, and aren't letting enough light through.  We have a whole stack of white tissue paper which might do a better job, but I'm going to have to make a frame for it.

I kind of wish we hadn't chucked away all those carboard boxes now...

Why did I bother getting up this morning?

I've had one of those days.

Stupid slushy snow made the walk to work "interesting" this morning.  Work was decidedly uninspiring.  Walk back from work was cold and unpleasant.  This evening I watched the rather dull Liverpool v Tottenham game (2-0) rather than what appears to be the rather more exciting Aston Villa v Blackburn game (6-4).

So I decided to take some pictures of some of my latest work:

Huron Blackheart

These two (not great) pictures were taken before he fell off the desk and bounced off the floor, knocking off his backpack, bending the talons of his claw and chipping the paint off his head.

...and yes, I was a little upset...

He's now on the shelf awaiting me to get the motivation to repair and repaint.

Classic Skaven Sorceror

This is the only picture that came out well of this guy - I've put him in this post as it's my best attempt so far at Object Source Lighting (based loosely on the tutorial in a recent White Dwarf), and I needed a positive...

As always, comments and criticism welcome.