Hobby Update: Monster Mash

It's been a minute since I've thrown any models up here.  I've made plenty of progress, but that is what's supposed to happen over the course of three weeks.

The Nightbringer has seen a fair bit of attention.  I've got most of the colors down, but before I can be closer to "finished" status, I need to A) decide if I like the placement of the colors and B) work on getting the colors to blend together more smoothly.  If you compare the before and current versions of the model, you can see pretty plainly that the colors are migrating north and becoming increasingly extreme.  I'm not sure if this is a good or a bad thing yet.  I think I'm going to remain patient and decide when I've cleaned things up a bit more.

I've managed to do something somewhere between an update and a redo on my Dark Apostle Daemon Prince.  Previously, he had white armor with black wings.  Now he has black armor with white wings...  so the opposite.  But with a lot more colors applied and technique.  The wings started with Dawnstone, Badab Black, Codex Grey, then finally Skull White with a quick drybrush of the new dry compound Praxeti White.  From a distance, they look great.  Close up, I am less sold.  A few of the lines are a little less clean than I'd like, but I think the biggest issue is I may have left too much of the dark coloring behind.  I'm not sure how feasible it would be to fix without redoing the whole thing, so I think I'm going to make my peace with it.  I also redid the shoulder pads and highlighted the robes.  Previously the colors were clean, but flat, which was typical of my painting back in the day.  With a new Chaos book coming up, I really want to have my army up to what I consider my current ability to be.  This guy is definitely going to be a centerpiece so I'm glad to have him done.

My Defiler has been a pretty regular presence in my Chaos Army over the last few months... or always, I suppose.  It has always been an awesome model and being able to throw around a battle cannon shot is a lot of fun.  However, part of the model's cool factor comes from its size and design, which makes it tough to transport elegantly.  Because of this, his spiky bits tend to take a lot of damage.  I got fed up with it this week when he took a tumble and one of the legs popped off.  I gave the others a pull and they actually came off pretty easily.  Before I knew it the drill was out and magnets were setting in the glue.  Despite repeated testing, not all of them were set the right way.  As a general piece of advice, definitely set the magnets that are harder to get in first.  Now the model breaks down into eight pieces that fit perfectly into one of the random extra slots in my carrying case that is currently unoccupied.  My big problem is the guy is a little finicky about standing up.  It was top and forward heavy to begin with, and now the legs tend to spin and slide out from under him.  I might try a second magnet, but we'll see.  And of course there's the high possibility that they just give the walker a base when they update the book in a month or so.

I showed off the Possessed Marines I finished in one of my last hobby posts.  I was hesitant to start the next batch right away since I was hoping to acquire two more bodies and a few arms and legs from some friends.  Honestly, I never got around too it and, surprise, surprise, my patience ran out.  I raided my own bitz box and came up with an Ork head, some Crypt Horror hands, and a few other bits that got grafted on randomly.  They don't fit perfectly, but if you don't know to look for them (cuz you're not me) they'll blend well enough.  Now on to paint!

Hobby Accomplishments

-Finished the Dark Apostle Daemon Prince
-Built Possessed Marines from scratch
-Added layers to the Nightbringer
-Magnetized the Defiler
-Wrote rules packet for this weekends tournament... so all in all, a productive three weeks.

Hobby goals for the next two weeks

-Focus
-Get the next two coats of red on the Possessed
-Get red and gold on the Death Company
-Finish the Nightbringer

Hobby Update: What I was supposed to be doing

It feels like forever since I've put up a hobby update, so here comes a two parter.  Two weeks isn't that long in the grand scheme of things, but lots has been happening in the real world that makes it seem that way.  Thankfully, they've been, by and large, good things.

I did not meet my original goal of finishing the Possessed by last Sunday.  I did get them finished though.  A couple extra days is nothing to sweat too much, particularly after putting in some really solid work on other things.

I'm very happy with the way they turned out.  I used to be afraid to experiment with new techniques.  None of them really made sense to me.  With this current batch of models, I told myself to just go for it, and it really seems to be paying off.  I'm also beginning to understand more of the theory behind certain things.  It's exciting.  I feel like I'm unlocking a whole new set of possibilities.

The regular Possessed used the standard color scheme I'm going to use across the whole of the force.  I started by airbrushing Mechrite Red, then a Scab Red/Red gore mix.  After that, I grabbed a brush and started on the Chainmail and Red Gore.  All the horns were done with Bleached Bone and a wash of (surprise!) Devlan Mud, followed, in some cases by a quick drybrush.  I really want to avoid having my models look like they spent a couple days incubating in the wash, so I tried to make sure I went back over most things to pick out the raised sections.  I put on the various highlights, typically a Red Gore/Blood Red mix.  With all the mixing and matching I did to stretch the Possessed kit over ten models, I had to shift back and forth between plates of armor and near-organic shapes.  This tended to break up the monotony, rather than raising the difficulty level.

Then we have the two unit champions.  Since this is supposed to be a Word Bearers army, I went with black armor and skull helms to make them appear to be Chaplains that have gone off the deep end.  I finished the one on the right first, then waited until the rest of the squad was finished to do the other.  In that time, I managed to snag a pot of G-dub's new Eshin Grey.  This may be my new favorite color.  It's very dark, and I don't believe they had anything quite like it in the previous range.  I am quite often wrong about such things.  Regardless, you can tell that one marine has a pretty obvious highlight line, while the other doesn't really show up on camera.  If you're willing to believe me, I'll assure you it's there, though quite subtle.  It's most apparent on the rib cage, where I used all three colors and they seem to transition pretty smoothly, while also not making him look like he's just gray which is always a danger when highlighting black.

Going forward, I plan on making this the beginnings of two separate squads, which is to say I'm currently at what amounts to a pair of combat squads for each.  That means I need to add nine more "regular" brothers, an icon bearer, and some small embellishment for each squad to delineate which is which.  Currently, I'm planning on a set of bells for one, but haven't decided on what to use for the others

Hobby Update

The Chaplain/Aspiring Champ

After a couple weeks of effort, the Possessed Marines are to the point where they're getting individual attention.  I even have a couple of them finished.  Three to be precise.  I'm hoping the remaining seven will be done in about a week.  That may seem like a long time, but batch painting details has never been my strong suit, especially since each model is relatively unique.  After that, I'm not sure what to use to replace them as the main project on my queue.  I suppose the other unit of Possessed might warrant some attention, but I can't remember the last time I painted that many of something.  It seems a little counter-intuitive and I don't know why. 

Possessed Brother

I decided to add in some green to the color scheme.  I wanted something to differentiate the Possessed from the regular brothers, and I only wanted it to take a glance to do so.  If the horns and beyond human parts weren't enough to do the trick, I thought a little color variation would.  The green will hopefully tie the Word Bearers to the daemons that I'm hoping to work more on.  Sort of a consistent color of corruption, if you will.  That'll give me the option to run them in a variety of capacities, whether it be as two separate army books or as whatever incarnation they appear in together in the next Chaos codex. I started with Caliban Green, but that was too dark and reminded me a little of Christmas... albeit, evil Christmas.  I jumped up to Warpstone Glow and that seems to work a lot better. 

Hobby Goals
-Finish the Possessed by next Sunday
-Greenstuff the Nightbringer

Hobby Update

Lately I've been keeping the number of irons in the fire at just two.  I began the week by finishing up a member of the Death Company clad in white power armor.  He needed a little cleaning up and a few details asked to be polished a bit, but it wasn't too much effort before he was finished.  I wouldn't call him perfect, but it's the best result I've had using that much white, and he's guaranteed to pop when people look at the squad.

My approach to the Word Bearers Possessed has been a little more workmanlike.  They're great models, but I think I bit off more than I could chew by trying to do ten at a time.  As it is, I'm up to doing the silver edging.  I'm making sure that I do at least some every day and that seems to be keeping the progress steady.  At the same time, I'm making more mistakes than I'd like to.  Every couple of shoulder pads has a little slip of silver paint that's just not in the right place, and it's starting to frustrate me.  It is also making me a little nervous as going back to repair the red might not yield the same result.

After a great experience painting the Manticore head, I jumped into painting the body pretty quickly.  That process turned out to be even quicker than painting the much smaller head.  I met with some level of success.  There are certain angles and certain parts where the color runs from dark to light in a smooth gradient.  Then there are parts where it looks like I painted a darker green next to a lighter green.  Again, it's not perfect, but I'm not exactly a Golden Daemon level painter anyway.  I have a few ideas of things to try to improve it.  Suggestions are welcome as well.  Really, I want to get him to a level where he holds up a little better under close scrutiny.  Once the greens are done, it's just a matter of a layer of black on the skin.  There won't be a lot of models in the army so if I can figure out how to achieve the right effect, I could keep the whole thing to a high standard. 

Hobby Accomplishments
-Finished the Death Company Shapechanger
-70% done with Possessed's Silver
-Manticore's green is painted

Hobby Goals
-Finish the Possessed Silver trim (by Wednesday) and decide what to do about the details to make them unique
-Try to improve the blending on the Manticore, apply the layer of black paint, and magnetize the Manticore's neck

Hobby Update: Ones and Twos

After wrapping up a bunch of Blood Wing projects last month, I've moved on to giving some of my other armies a little bit of love.

How could he not be awesome?

I am really hoping that whenever the new Chaos codex comes out that Possessed are just absolute filth.  I'm half expecting it as well.  In preparation, I'm grinding on what really amounts to two squads of five.  Initially, it was going to be one of ten, but I realized that when I was picking models for priming I grabbed both of the Aspiring Champion/Chaplain models.  It's not really a big deal, resulting in just a little extra black paint thrown around during basecoating.  For the other troopers, I put on their Mechrite Red, then applied the Scab/Gore Red mixture.  Now I'm up to straight Red Gore, then Chainmail.  There's a long way to go on everything, but it's nice to see things beginning to take shape.  I want to work out some unique details for each unit before I go much further, but Possessed are beautiful models and don't really need much added.

I promise there will be more colors

I've gone back and forth about what to do with the Manticore that I've had sitting around for most of the last year.  If I were to use it in the Widowmakers army, it would be painted in a more realistic (for a mythical creature anyway) style for an animal.  If I went with Chaos Daemons, I would be going for a more unnatural effect.  I still haven't decided what to do with the whole thing, but I thought it couldn't hurt to give the unridden head a shot and see how it turned out.  It would also afford me a chance to use some of the new paint line, since my greens don't get much of a workout currently.  I started off with a layer of Caliban Green on the mane.  From there, it's going to be Warpstone Green and then Moot Green on the more extreme lengths of the hair.  I want to really work on blending the colors well.  I have less space to do it than I'd like, but it should result in a cool effect.  Starting from black and going all the way to light would be a big change from the way I've painted anything in the past.  If all goes well, and I get close to the look I want, it'll definitely have an impact on my eventual decision.

Needs cleaning up, but looking good.

Finally, I'm still doing some Blood Wing stuff, but it is neither elite, nor is it red.  I procured the last Death Company models I needed following the tournament, did a little converting, and have begun working on painting.  Everything is primed, but the only model that's had major work done on it is the Mark of the Wulfen model.  I think this has a lot to do with how much I like how the model looks and how nice the new Ceramite White works.  Go out and try this stuff folks.  It covers black easily.  It covers red easily.  I'm not going to run out and start painting White Scars (or Knights), but I'm certainly more interested in trying to include it in various color palettes. As for the rest of the Death Company, they'll probably take a backseat to the Possessed, but I'm excited to be working with a new set of colors and a different style of armor.  For now, I need to focus on doing the rank and file guys.  It's so easy to get drawn into the shiny bits, but the bulk of armies really does get more time in the long run.

Hobby Accomplishments:
-Got initial basecoats on the Possessed
-Finished basing the Blood Wing
-Built and primed the Death Company and Astorath
-Closing in on finishing the DC Mark of the Wulfen
-Started working on the Manticore head

Hobby Goals
-Finish the DC Mark of the Wulfen
-Get the Red Gore and silver on the Possessed
-Work on blending skills
...so essentially more of what I'm already doing.

Hobby Update: In Which Things Come Together

One of the interesting things about HADD (Hobby Attention Deficit Disorder) is that, every once in a while, multiple projects all seem to finish at roughly the same time.  That can be in a number of different areas, whether assembly, painting, or converting.  In this case, it's over all of the above.

The Land Raider is "finished."  I guess I "need" to do a little clean up on the script on one side of a banner and do the second set of weapons so I can make it a Redeemer or a Crusader pattern, but I will proudly put it on the table and let other folks blow it up as fast as humanly possible.  Though it was definitely labor intensive, I ended up really enjoying painting it, and I'm even contemplating doing another one at this point, though I think that is a ways down the road if I ever get to it.

On the other hand, the Vargheists are finished.  Flat out.  I've never run into such a disconnect between models being good looking, yet utterly unenjoyable to work on.  I think they look great and I'm glad to have them in the army, but I'm done trying to improve the models themselves.

What I did really enjoy working on were the bases.  One of the guys at the local shop volunteered his bits box and I decided to go a little nuts.  The bases are built from various building sets, though it may have been mostly the basilica.  The plastic is quite thick, so it was a workout to get them into the shape of the bases.  In the end, definitely worth it as I think the look and the effect are very good.  They complement the models as well.  They'll be dark, but there are a few places I can add some splashes of color to make them more interesting.

I've also managed to assemble the Death Company models that I've acquired.  I'm planning on putting my tournament winnings towards the other half of the squad, and will likely try to score a Chaplain for them too.  The plan is to have nine painted in the traditional black color scheme, while the tenth will be in white.  A little deduction will tell you which one of these is not like the other.  The guy with no helmet will be in the opening stages of "the change."    He's got a little conversion done to him with a pair of ghoul hands.  His skin will be the same color as the Vargheists and his hair will be a light shade of gray.  I think he'll be quite striking.

The Word Bearers are also getting some love in anticipation of a coming codex release.  I busted out the airbrush and put on the initial basecoat of Mechrite Red, then began applying a 2:1 Red Gore/Scab Red mix in the traditional fashion.  Two of the models actually got coats of Chaos Black.  They'll end up being the Aspiring Champions for now, but we'll see what options are available in the new book.

Finally, I really enjoyed assembling a Chaos Manticore.  Of course, I'm not sure what I'm going to use it for.  I initially bought it for my Chaos Warriors army, but I'm debating using it as the first Daemon Prince for a 40K army that continues to occupy my interest.  I'm considering trying to do both, but I'm not sure the two color schemes will work.  Obviously, for the Warriors, red really is the only option.  For the Daemons, the scheme is going to be green.  Yes, they're complementary, but I'm worried about the beast looking like a giant Christmas tree.  Magnetizing the head will be easy enough, but I think I'm going to take some more time and consider the options before finalizing my decision.

Hobby Progress
-See above

Hobby Goals
-Get all the basing done for the Blood Wing
-Get the basecoating done on the Possessed

-Time allowing for it, work on the Chaos Dragon