Terrain Blitz!

I've been pretty quiet on this blog for the last few weeks, but I haven't been idle. Mostly it seems like I've been assembling and painting a couple of terrain kits for Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000. So with out further ado, here we go!

When the second edition of Age of Sigmar was released, I picked up a set of the new battlefield objects that was produced. The kit comes with seven objective markers with a lot of character. I've based and painted up six, I've still got one to do but its a big floating thing and I still haven't figured out how I'm gonna base it. These were nice kits, and allow me to get some characterful markers on the board with no fuss.

Each sculpt is really characterful and assembles quickly.

Well, except this weapon pile. This went together weird and took a
few passesof dry fitting to get right. 

I'm not sure why a wizard left his spell book/jar trunk here, but
its a lot of fun.

The interior of the sarcophagus is also well detailed.

Then its a jump over to the 41st millennium to work on some terrain. Games Workshop has re-issued some of their older terrain and I jumped on getting a few that I'd missed out on - the Skyshield Landing Pad and Honored Imperium. These kits were the polar opposite of one another, but in the end I'm happy with both.

This kit was a nightmare to assemble. Its super flimsy and tries to be clever with its engineering rather
than being robust. I'm happy to have it as a nice narrative objective for my games, but man was I happy
when this thing was done. Total pig of a model.

The blast shields raise and lower. Why? Why not! I guess!

Honored Imperium, on the other hand, was quick to assemble and a lot of fun to paint. 

I also made a decision my wallet will regret for years to come by picking up a copy of the new Adeptus Titanicus. I've already begun assembling a Warlord Titan, so keep an eye out for that in the coming weeks. I plan on working on this slowly, so I can savor the priceyness and keep pace with what I'm suspecting will be a glacial release schedule.

A game of Titanic Prices in the Age of Austerity. 

Cheers!

Mixed Bag 13: Bits and Bobs

After a big project like my Nurgle Knight, I have a tendency to slow down a bit for a week or two hobby-wise and pick off small projects and this time was no exception. I first returned to my High Elf army and knocked out a couple of extra Lothern Sea Guard models and a Sword Master that I had laying around. These models will just add to the existing units to bulk them out a bit. I actually played a game of 6th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle against my buddy's gorgeous Goblin army, but sadly forgot to take any decent pictures.

The addition of these cats will really help out their units. In our game, my regiments felt
painfully small.

Then it was a quick trip to Age of Sigmar Land to finish off a character from my Kharadron Overlord collection. This time it was an Aether Khemist, a very useful character model that can buff ranged attacks for nearby units. I have a feeling he and my Grundstok Thunderers will be the very best of friends. 

I was literally going for quick and dirty with the paint job on this fella.
I managed to crank him out in about 2 hours.

This guy has a ton of details, but I just wanted to keep him simple. I think it
helps him feel cohesive with the rest of the army.

Afterwards, I made an about face and headed back to more Elf-y goodness and completed a second unit of armored Archers and another Bolt Thrower. I think this firepower will really help the army in the long-run. 

This should help me dominate the shooting phase and make Orlando Bloom happy. 

I reversed the color placement from the scheme I used on the original unit. This way, each unit feels slightly distinct while still maintaining the feel of the army by using the same colors.

Finally, I also swung into the world of DIY paper miniatures for my D&D group's latest adventure. We play a super stream-lined version based on the original D&D rules that takes a more narrative "theater of the mind" approach and normally eschews the need for miniatures and maps. This adventure was the culmination of a year-long story arc and would be pretty complex. The characters were attempting to get a hold of a magic hammer and destroy a cursed gem in the midst of a battle between Cthulhu-esque Cultists and undead Dwarves. It was also a lot of fun to quietly do this and pull it all out for the final encounter. Everyone enjoyed it a lot and I was really glad I made the effort. 

The intrepid adventures prepare their plan to run the gauntlet and claim the Hammer of Creation from the Temple of Arra.

All the standees were designed to folded into place.
Also pictured: My tubby mug explaining something. 

The hammer was floating over an altar between two massive statues. It was a simple effect to pull off and really sold the
adventure.

The evil High Priest and his army of cultists and Deep One allies nearly managed to thwart the
players' efforts, but the forces of Good won out in the end.

I really enjoyed making these paper-craft items. There is a certain simple charm in them when they are done. 

My next "big" project that I'm gearing up for is building a Storm Eagle gunship for my Imperial Fists. Its a lot of work with resin and I feel like I need to mentally prepare for it before jumping in. Wish me luck.

Cheers!

Renegade Knight of Nurgle Complete!

The finished Knight. Corrupted and ready to spread the love and decay of the Plague Lord!

Welp, after about two weeks worth of work I've put the final touches on my Renegade Knight of Nurgle. It was a lot of work, but really worth the effort in the end. I do think I've satiated my appetite for conversions for a while, though. 

The head was a third-party piece from Shapeways. And the Mona Lisa is just a nice
touch of weird.

This project finally justified that purchase of the GW skull kit!

The mega melta may not be the optimal build, but damn if it isn't the coolest
looking one.

The banner was made by drawing the design out in Photoshop and then printing it
on custom transfer paper.

The plague censor will count as a power fist style close combat weapon.

The little nurgling is having the time of his unlife!

The billowing smoke really adds to the motion of the model and I'm super glad I did it.

I kept the back pretty simple.

My fingers were numb after cleaning and cutting all these skulls.

I've covered the basic build of the Knight a little bit here. Additionally, I sculpted some billowing filth for the smokestacks using expanding foam on wire armatures. I also made several of the boils and organic bits on the Knight using the same process. Expanding foam is a great tool for doing organic stuff. The trick is to squeeze some out onto some newspaper and then use a wire or some other tool to place the foam on the model. Just don't squirt the foam directly onto the model or you'll be sorely disappointed. 

A basic armature was madly twisting floral wire into shape.

I used some masking tape to fill in the gaps and give the foam a
surface to attach to.

Then foam was added to the frames. The foam expands
as it dries, so keep that in mind as you apply it.

One of the big things people have asked about as I've posted WIP shots on Twitter, is the image of the Mona Lisa on the Knight's rondel shield. I wanted to make the knight feel really Baroque and over-wrought, and adding the Renaissance image really helped tie it together. It was also a call back to some classic John Blanche paintings that have the image. I knew that there was no way I was going to take the time to try and paint it by hand, so I settled on a simpler way - I made a decal.

I grabbed a reasonably high rez image from the
interwebz.

I used Photoshop to scale the image and then printed it out on decal paper. One of the keys to making sure this worked was prepping the surface of the shield and painting it a nice clean white. This was done because any color the decal was placed on would show through. The white mimics the white of the decal sheet and ensured that it would look correct when finally applied. 

I'm super happy with the final result, and I can't wait for my Knight to stride into battle alongside my Death Guard and spread the joy of Papa Nurgle.

Cheers!

Mixed Bag 12: Revisiting the Death Guard

I knocked off a few projects this week and started a big one as well. A lot of my painting was focused on revisiting my Death Guard army for 40K. I had purchased a second unit of Tox Troopers from Anvil Industries to use as cultists as while back and it was high time that I got them done. These are great little sculpts and are a lot fun to paint up.

This gives me two units of 10 in the army and should form a nice speed bump for blunting assaults.

I also did some quick scenery work on some 3D printed crystals that I picked up off eBay a few months ago. I gave them coat of teal spray paint and then dry-brushed the up to white along the edges. I should probably pick up a second set, as I had intended them to be used as objective markers in Age of Sigmar - but the kit only comes with 5 models and I need six. Regardless, they will add a nice pop of color on my grey Hell-scape board. 

The build lines are pretty atrocious, but I can accept them for crystals and for the fact that they retail for about $12.

The vast majority of my week was taken up with building a Nurgle-esque Renegade Knight as an ally for my Death Guard. I've added a lot of bits and some putty work to him, and I think its gonna be a model I can really be proud of when all is said and done. 

I covered one shoulder pad with a ton of skulls from GW's Skull kit. It was a lot of work, but the
effect was really worth it in the end.

I've replaced the close combat arm with Skaven Plague Engine censor generously given to me
by my buddy Rob. I think it really set the tone for the model for me and damn if the spikes on all
those chains don't really hurt to handle!

The head is a 3rd party piece from Shapeways. I added the horn on it so it was a little more
Plague Bearer-y in its appearance.

I mounted the missile launcher on part of an Empire Celestial Hurricanum platform to give the
Knight more of an imposing and Gothic feel. I plan to create some billowing smoke clouds coming
from the engine stacks and this should be a nice visual counter-balance to the pulpit.

I managed to paint up the lower half of the Knight this weekend. I'm really happy with how its all heading.

The tumors on the knight were made by applying expanding insulation foam. After they dried, I smoothed them a bit with some green stuff and sealed them with a coat of white glue before priming. Protip: if you do something like this, put a little foam on some newspaper and use bit of wire to transfer it to the model. DON"T just squirt it onto your kit or it will
end in tears.

This week will probably see me focusing a lot on the Knight, but I think it'll be a while before he's finished up. 

Cheers!

High Elf Army

This week sees me putting the final nail in the 1000 points of my High Elf army for Warhammer Fantasy Battle 6th edition. I plan on expanding the army, but I'll probably try to get a few games in and squeeze in some other projects before expanding it.

The army in all its glory.

I'm really happy with how this all turned out, and the whole project has been a great mix of old and new sculpts to work on. 

The commander model is a classic Jes Goodwin sculpt. I love the balance here of elegant elf-y-ness with an almost
Celtic barbarian-ness.

On the other end of the spectrum is this High Elf mage who takes advantage of every modern part separation trick
to create a wildly dynamic model.

A unit of Lothern Sea Guard, which is one of the best sculpted incarnations
I think GW has produced.

These Sword Masters of Hoeth are great rendition of otherwise classic designs. 

This archer unit brings back some more classic sculpts by Jes and the plastic guys just have a special place in my
cold, black heart.

And the Reavers... well... we love the Reavers anyway...

So there it is. My little host is ready to march to war - against some invading goblins and their ilk, it looks like. Blow the horns of war and make ready your swords! We seek our glory or our doom!

Cheers!

A Sensitive Bit of Horseflesh!

On most projects I work on, there is always a kit or unit that I leave for last. Usually, its because it looks like a nightmare to build or a pain to paint and most times I'm pleasantly surprised that it wasn't the chore that I thought it was going to be. For my High Elf army that unit was the Ellyrian Reavers. And man, was I NOT pleasantly surprised. This unit was a chore from start to finish, but they are thankfully done!

Unlike the rest of the High Elves I've been working on, these guys were a nightmare to assemble AND
to paint. I don't know if was that I just wasn't in the mood to paint cavalry or what, but I could have
done a better job if I wasn't so hell bent on just getting them done.

This did lead to some re-working of my original army list, as I had factored for a full command with the Reavers and those sculpts weren't part of the set. That free'ed up some points and I now have room to add another Hero to the army. I think the army will benefit from the leadership boost and the extra melee attacks.

I'm using a classic Jes Goodwin sculpt for the Hero. I've still got to sort out a shield and
his base and then he's ready to lead my army to battle!

So now as it stands, my army list is as follows:

Heroes

Hero - Mage upgrade to Level 2 - 130pts
Hero - Commander w/heavy armor and shield - 76pts

Core Units

Archers - 10 w/standard and musician - 148pts

Lothern Sea Guard - 12 w/shields and command - 179pts

Special Units

Ellyrian Reavers  - 5 w/ bows - 120pts

Swordmasters - 15 w/command - 225pts

Rare Units

Bolt Thrower - 100pts

Total - 978 w/22 points for magic items

I should be able to finish up the Commander this week, then I'll take a few army shots of them all to show off. For all intents and purposes, though - I've finished up my first 1,000 points for Warhammer Fantasy Battle 6th ed. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some games in soon.

Cheers!

Moar Elfy Goodness!

I'm within striking distance of finishing the first 1000 points of my High Elves for 6th edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle. I've shifted my list around just a bit which means that I'll need to paint another three or four guys, but its nothing huge.

I finished up the command group for my Swordmasters, so they are pretty much ready to go. I still need to make some
banners for the Archer unit, though.

Over the course of the week, I finished the command section for my Swordmasters, bringing me to three playable units! Then I turned my attentions to a few quick units to finish this weekend. First on deck is a classic Repeater Bolt-thrower. I loved these when I was younger, and I still need to scour eBay for another.

"Hurry up and load! I want to shoot over there!!"
"I know, I know! Shut up Gary!"

Then I cranked out my General at this level - a High Elf Mage. This model was a lot of fun to work on, but I think I still miss some of the old models who are throwing out devil horn gestures. So, it may be back to the Bay of E to hunt for one of them as well.

Surf. Is. Up.

To close out the weekend, I finished up a test model for the final unit in the army - the Ellyrian Reavers. I found these models to be a nightmare to assemble and I know painting them is going to be a slog. I find I usually need to really be "in the mood" for painting cavalry, and I'm regretting saving these until last. But, 1/5 of the way done, I suppose!

So much whiteness...

If I can dig deep and keep working on the cav for the week, I should be able to put a pin in this project by the end of next weekend at the latest. Here's hoping!

Cheers!