Better pictures

The guys over at Stuff of Legends took some great pictures at Gamesday and got some great pictures two of my Golden Demon entries.  I'm terrible at the photo thing so am putting up their shots here. 

Stonecrusher Carnifex

... And the Blood Crusher Regiment.

I painted these up for the Big game in Boston and redid all the metals and the Banner in just prior to Gamesday.  The finishes on both of these projects were part flat and part gloss to convey the "otherworldly" quality of the Daemon flesh.  In retrospect I should have just gone with a dead flat finish.  I actually did not intend to go to the GD, and had never been to one in the US so these were initially intended as purely gaming pieces, I've got the bug now and am already working on next year's submissions.  This time doing them from the start as display pieces.  Both of these entries made First Cut so I'm feeling pretty good about my first foray.

Juggers done

Its been a hectic week with almost no time to work on projects. I finished up the Juggernaut unit in 10-15 minute increments.

In retrospect the standard cloth would have been more effective in another another color. I like the flowing surface of it but the whole thing ends up just a bit too red. On the bright side I've left plenty of room on the Standard to add battle honors. Maybe a different red shade would have been enough though I tend to think maybe a white or a black base with red effects instead of orange on red. In general though it'll do for a tabletop unit. While working on the riders I hit on a more satisfying gold process that has the dual benefit of being easier and looking better that what I was doing on the Juggers themselves. For the gold on the riders I used a Shining Gold (GW) higlighted with Rustungs Farbe (Fantasy Forest) then washed once or twice with Grypohonne Sepia (GW) and retouched lightly with Rustungs Farbe. I'm still sorting out taking decent pictures but you should be able to get an idea from the horn caps on the rider.

Next on the plate is to wrap up Azdrubael Vect and then hit the Sister's Fortress hard

Azdrubael and Bloodcrushers

Its going to be a busy week so I may not post for a few days.

Work Proceeds on Azdrubael Vect and the Bloodcrushers. I started painting Azrudbael like the rest of the Dark Eldar army but then realized that this army, while striking on the tabletop, was painted primarily as a speed painting exercise. The bulk of the army was completed in about two weeks to meet a deadline for a game. Since then I've beefed up the air wing and added some sniper squads. That update was also speed painted over a two week period. Looking at the massive army center piece model that is Azdrubael Vect I thought I'd go ahead and update it a bit. I'll likely end up spending as much time on this model as I have on the entirety of the army! It will still look like it belongs in the army but should stand closer scrutiny. At the moment I'm just wrapping up the base coats and have started the first highlights on the crew.

The Bloodcrushers are making progress as well. I'd have finished them by now if I hadn't jumped so hard into Azrubael but its proving to be worth it. Interestingly the two projects are informing each other as I progress. For example there is a nice pattern developing on the banner of the Bloodcrushers that I'll recycle for the cloaks of the Incubi guards for Azdrubael.

WWII, Azdrubael Vect and Bloodcrushers

A little variety on the bench today. I finished up some Flames of War Germans. I'd had these halftracks sitting around since my last painting binge in February. All that remained was identification numbers. This set is from the 10th company of Der Fuhrer regiment of 2 SS Panzer in 1944.


Next on the bench was the initial work on Azrubael Vect. My Dark Eldar Kabal uses the fractal red to white pattern here throughout its vehicles its a bold, simple, pattern and looks very distinctive on the table top. The bright pattern draws the eye away from the very simple scheme that is applied to the rest of the model. The throne is worked up from orange and yellow for a look of old pleat upholstery. The Dark Eldar are typically... well... dark! I took a little bit different look at them. They do have a good deal of actual black which contributes to the feel of darkness but there are also a lot of vivid colors, along the lines of Craftworld Eldar, to keep the force visually entertaining.

Juggers Assemble

Lots of stuff today. After smoothing out the claws a bit I got the Juggernauts assembled. Work on the bases proceeds and I'm starting on the riders. Having long ago cannibalized the riders for these guys I'm going to chop up some of the new plastic Bloodletters to use in their stead. Clean up on those starts today.

The Sisters of Battle Fortress got some additions with three of the interior floors installed. There is one more large floor to go and then an insert for the ground level. That will make five usable levels. I'll need two ground level floors. One to match the cut away for storage and display and one to expand and mark the footprint of the spire so the thing can be used in more tabletop settings.

I finished the repair/update on the mystery dragon... for the moment. I think I may go back and detail the eyes when I'm doing the gems etc for Azdrubal Vect. Azdrubal got the basic flash and mold line clean up and is ready for the wash, dry, and prime.

Jugger mania

Filling out more on the Bloodcrushers. Claws and spikes in progress... metals in progress. If all goes well I should get to assembly and clean up by the end of the week. The metal is taking quite a while just because there is so much of it. I'm starting to refine the finishes at this point. The early applications were very textured. For table top stuff the coarser textures are more visible but this unit will get picked up and looked at from time to time so will need smoother finishes. The claw areas show this particularly well. The coarse lines look great at range but are too chunky up close. I'll refine those a bit farther in the next day or so. I applied a thin Clear Glaze to these. This will keep the red looking wet and protect the whole thing from handling wear while I work. My Daemon armies are finished with a clear glaze so they look wet and otherworldly... the shine becomes part of the effect. All the other armies are finished flat.

Sisters Decided!

I finally decided on the Order of the Ebon Chalice for my sisters. I really like the color scheme and what background I've been able to locate. I started laying in the roughs for the large floor heraldry inside the fortress and cut some component stencils for the larger elements. On the Bloodcrusher front; the base coats of the Juggernauts' metallic areas is underway and the brass and bone areas are getting their initial coats. Nothing terribly fancy but long and tedious. Picture with the next update.

Juggers again

Got more work done on the Juggers. Most of the deep symbols are painted in using reds and oranges over the red back drop and then applying several layers of red glaze to bury the symbols. Trimming started for the gold/brass and steel areas. I've got to start prepping the riders. I don't seem to have the original riders for this set of figures so I'll be converting some of the new Bloodletters for the role. This will allow me to field the unit in 40k or FB and I'll be basing them on square bases to aid with the crossover.

The mystery dragon got some attention as well and most of the base coats have been applied. It's probably been 20 years since I last did anything on this piece and it shows.

Planning .... I need to get serious about the floors of the fortress and address the interior walls. I'll clean and prep Azdrubal Vect at the same time I work on the Bloodletter riders. That should position me to work on some Tyranid monsters. Once I'm back in the swing of monsters I'll consider working on the Gargantuan Squiggoth. If I'm still a bit hesitant to take on the Squiggoth I'll probably do a Battlewagon to get in the proper ork mood.

Ork Trukk and Khorne Juggers

I've been out of town for a bit so have a lot of catching up to do. Today I finished off the current Ork Trukk (The pic is actually just prior to the last round of touch ups). I'm going to have to retrofit names to these things just for ease of use when playing! This time I added a magnetic mounting to the Big Shoota/wrecking ball so I can run without it but, really, so that its easier to store the vehicle. Works great and looks typically Orky. I didn't make any attempt to hide the magnets other than just slapping some Tin Bitz (Citadel) over them so they look like big ole washers. I've got a pile of legacy trukks that look way out of scale with the new ones. The painted ones I'll keep and use as buggies while the unpainted ones will get cannibalized and built into models with a similar footprint to the new kits. Oddly enough the beds of the different generation of trukk are essentially the same so it should be fairly simple to beef up the older versions. The Juggers are getting a deep writing effect I'm painting in symbols in a non contrasting color scheme that I'll be able to bury in layers of glaze and wash. I'm going for the look of patterns and images appearing below the surface. I'll finish the Juggers with gloss coat that will intensify the effect.

Busy day

Its been a hectic day! I made a lot of progress on a lot of projects. The Mystery Dragon got some work with refreshing the base flesh of the embattled dwarves and a light green work up of the underbelly and transition scales as well as the wings and face of the monster. The next Orkk Trukk went from bare sprue to completed rolling chassis. It has the same black primer + Tin Bitz (Citadel) + Bolt Gun Metal (Citadel) as the last rolling from but the wheels are weathered and dirty using the same basic finish as the rolling chassis followed by heavy splotchy applications of Brown (Craft Art) and layering up through Spice Brown (Ceramcoat), Golden Brown (Apple Barn) and Flesh Tone #5 (Horizon). After wards topping with Devlan Mud (Citadel Wash). I may powder or chalk the wheels but that can be accomplished in the round up at the end.

The five Juggernauts of Khorne got their basic red treatments. Mechrite Red (citadel foundation) followed by dry-brushes with Harvest Orange (Apple Barrel) and Apricot (Apple Barrel) and a Baal Red (Citadel Washes) wash. The Citadel premixed washes, while expensive, are handy for repeating effects across large numbers of figures. The same effects can ,of course, be achieved by mixing our own washes but its quick and easy and doesn't require me to make a note of it in my color recipe book. I also began the black blocking process on the Juggers. This takes a lot of time and is terribly tedious but produces great results in the end. Basically all voids and metal items get painted black as well as some of the joints. This will make the metal effects stronger in the end and imply depth.

So where are we? Dragon, Trukk, Juggers... oh yeah Sisters of Battle Fortress personnel door got the basic work up of the icon and the colors (Which seem to have gravitated to red and black) and wings! I found the Wings for Azzazel on the priming tray with the Juggers. I thought I'd misplaced them but am happy to find them. They got a Flesh Tone #5 (Horizon) wash and a white brush up. The pinions and longer flight feathers will get a further white dry brush and we'll see where that leaves us.