Hobby Progress: Urien, Warhammer, Wolf Guard, and Miscellany

One by one I'm popping out some finished work ... keeps me sane. 

 

The old DE model for Urien ... all the key themes of stapled flesh and torture devices are there.  A standout in a field of in otherwise heretofore medicore range.

And OOP Warhammer 'Dogs of War' Witchhunter model.  Good fun to mix the browns with more browns to achieve that Puritan / 17th Century effect.  Gets me thinking about Mordheim, actually... 

A relatively easy mod to the now-OOP Logan Grimnar model.  The flail is from the (now) OOP Chaos Maruaders box. 

 And finally ...

A miscellaneous fighter from the Reaper range. Painting the reds in his cloak was good fun.

Project - Counts-As Squiggoth pt. 1

The Historicon Flea Market was very good to me a couple weeks back ... I picked up an Archnarok new-on-sprue for just $25.

So now I get to make something that I've been interested in for quite some time -- a Snakebite Clan counts-as Squiggoth.

At this point I am leaning towards a lobba to make it comport with the general ruleset for the Orks, but there is definitely some appeal in having a direct fire kannon too.

It's big, but not as big as I'd hoped, so I plan to build out a big howdah for it.

Separately, its legs are too expansive to allow for true basing -- too big a footprint for the bases used for a Dakka Jet, for example.

Mmm...tasty Chaos Space Marine...

The 'little' guy on the right is what I'm aiming for...

Ultramarines Praetor

A survivor of Calth ... I'm especially proud of the radiation burns I created by mixing in some red into the Army Painter Flesh Tone after I'd already put a layer down.

Initially he had a blue sword and blue power pack on his gun -- but it was too much, so I redid them.

I'm still not 100% on the lack of white to contrast -- but that's as much a factor of the Heresy paint scheme as it is the 'this is a generalist model you can use for any Legion' factor.

These have a different 'dust and grime' scheme than my Scattered Legion troopers, to represent Calth's urban terrain, vice Istvaan V's open ground.

The final -- with a wash of Asurmen Blue over Boltgun Metal, and a blended green powercell.

The original -- just too many different shades of blue going on.

And a close up of his face ... blended to look like he got rad-burns.

Iron Hands Project - Contemptor Drednaught

My latest work ... themed as another survivor of Istvaan V.

I tried to make the left breast look like it'd been burned, but that's very hard to do on black armor ... so instead it looks metallic and rusted.

Product Review - MDF 32mm bases from Modularterrain.com

When it was announced, I was violently opposed to the new 32mm basing push by GW. And the ones on the GW store sell for $.50 each ... which doesn't help matters. 

But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to see what all the fuss was about ... I'd heard some of the podcasters I listen to talk about how good they look.  And, let's face it, many of the CSM and SM sculpts are falling off the edge of their 25mm bases.

I looked at my local FLGS ... which carries a lot of the green plastic bases made by Renedra (http://www.renedra.co.uk/index.php).  I'd bought some for some WW2 minis I have to use with Bolt Action and they're quite good.  But Rendera doesn't sell 32mm -- only 30mms.

So then I turned to an old friend for help - Ebay - and found a Spanish seller called ModularTerrain.com. 

That's right... just about $.10 each after shipping...

 

Modularterrain.com has an eBay store that lists all their products. (http://stores.ebay.com/Modular-Terrain?_trksid=p2047675.l2563) :


The bases arrived within 2 weeks (they come from Spain after all) in a small box (*amply padded) and packaged thusly.  I also got an email from the seller when they shipped.

Each one is 2.5mm thick, has flat smooth surfaces (ie: there's no top or bottom) and tight, lasercut sides that are fairly smooth too.  They take glue (*in my case I'm using LOCTITE) like a champ -- both for affixing the miniature to them, and for putting on base materials.   I've even pin drilled one to take a metal Chaplain (after snipping off the tab) and it worked just fine.

My final note would be that if you look at their store on Ebay, they also sell a wide variety of paint stands -- and their shipping costs a re less than those from Hobbyzone (http://www.hobbyzone.pl/en/). I can't compare the products, since I only own those from Hobbyzone (*and heartily endorse them).

So all in all, very satisfied with my find on eBay. Worth a look if you're looking for bases for your armies (40K or otherwise).   

A Little Progress: Eldar, Ultramarines, and Berzerkers

Cleaned a couple of projects off the to-do list last night...

The Farseer -- I'm aiming for the Alaitoic color scheme, but didn't quite hit the mark here.  First, painting yellow over black is a nightmare, but second, I didn't get the right balance of dark blues and yellows that I wanted.  I think this is because of how the cloak came out -- it's too bright. But I like the black robes and turquoise wraithbone.

Next, the Ultramarines Captain ... love how this one turned out.  He's a metal cast with a resin HH-era backpack slapped on.  Didn't go for the weathered look -- he's an Ultramarine after all. His base looks like crap, but I'm waiting on some 32mm to show up so that I can rebase him.

Finally, the Berzerker.  My CSM Khorne theme is one of Blood Angels fallen to Chaos ... so the blond hair and white skin is a deliberate move to make him look like some Lestat knock off.  As you can see, this model is a mix of CSM Berzerker and the old SM Tactical box.

Try not to focus on how terribly oversized his left hand is compared to his right.

"SING IT!!!"

"Hey, at least I don't wear glitter..."

Iron Hands Project - Demi-Squad 1

Armed with some resin crack, I am setting out on the path of building a small Heresy-era force.  Am aiming for something I can use to play the 'Victory is Vengeance' campaign from Book 3 of the HH series.

Got these fellows on Ebay ... which has its own challenges.  The casts are nice and clean, but the resin is very soft and frequently snapped when I was trimming them out.

For the paint scheme, it's Leadbelcher with a black wash (in this case Vallejo's Black Wash heavily thinned down) and some flat black for the armor -- and then some rust and dirt (Vallejo's flat earth) liberally stippled on.  I also stippled some more Leadbelcher on to put chips on their armor.

The effect I'm looking for is 'it's Day 27 after the Dropsite Massacre ... we're still here, and we're REALLY pissed off.'

All in all, quite pleased with them -- frankly they make my 40K-era Iron Hands test models look too clean and well behaved.

 

"Get off my lawn!"

Ultramarines Standard Bearer - Games Workshop Skullz Limited Edition

Once upon a time, when I was a poor college student, Games Workshop had the Skullz program. Basically, if you sold enough of your blood to buy mountains of their stuff, you could get swag -- which included some neat limited edition miniatures.  For a long time, I coveted that Ultramarines standard bearer -- I thought it was a neat cast, despite its waspish waist.

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!

So many years later, Ebay, blessed blessed Ebay, delivered said model unto me for a staggeringly reasonable price ($20, if memory serves...).

I chose a red banner, because GFY if you think I'm going to try to paint that much white...

Iron Hands Project - Captain

A simple conversion, taking my inspiration from some podcast or Independent Characters HPC post ... I honestly can't remember where.  But the simple addition of a Grey Knights sword - cut to make it a bit more like what I think the sword used by Bion Henricos in the Little Horus short story would be like.  If you've not read that particular piece, I highly recommend it... it's Abnett at his best.

Add to this some purchases of both 30K and 40K Iron Hands models and I find myself doing a lot of edge highlighting of black armor.

For the 30K folks, I'm thinking more and more about a force composed of Shattered Legionaries, with the odd member from either a mainstream force (e.g.: a small band of Space Wolves) or some of the nameless unmarked legionaries mentioned in Book IV -- those who cast off all their parent legion markings.

As for 40K, not sure... probably just enough to get a feel for painting that legion.  I'm an unapologetic junky for the 6th Legion, with a penchant for Ultramarines in my spare time.

Elves and Cockroaches

Finally got around to finishing up some projects that I'd been toying with for a while ... namely a Carnifex and the Eldar Avatar.

For the former, my goal was to make it look as realistic as possible, more like a cockroach than any kind of specific Hive Fleet. 

Of course, when I tried to base the model, I got a lot of dusting and clumping and had to soak the mini in Purple Power to get that back to a more normal coating.  That completed, I proceeded to use a combination of Vallejo Iraqi Sand for the flesh and Chocolate Brown (70.872) for the carapace, with an overbrush of German Camo Ochre for highlights, with a heavy wash of Agrathax Earthshade and then a layer of 'Ard Coat to give it a shiny appearance. 

As to the Avatar, its an unaltered use of the Dark Eldar Cauldron of Blood statute.  I used multiple layers of Citadel's Stegadon Scale Green, gradually working more and more white into it. A little Guillaman Blue glaze on the chest plate, and that was that.  I deliberately kept the sword as clean and metallic as possible -- the better to contrast with the darker tones of the Avatar itself. 

The challenge now, of course, is to find something other than a shaving cream cap to use as a base! I've got a good one from the Secret Weapon Miniatures "Bone Fields' range, but the Avatar's feet don't really fit well in the slots provided.

http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=79_30_60&products_id=248

And of course, now that I stare at the mini some more, I find myself reminded of another otherworldy being that underwent a tragic transformation ...

Special Rule - "Moonwalk" - This model has a 3+ Jink Save