Keshryii and her Centaur Troopers (SF ver)

 Keshryii from Raging Heroes is an amazing model.

 Her retinue, modeled in her own extreme image, is an example of powerful a personality she must be. 

Lust Elves are shape shifters.  the more powerful personalities among them determine the shapes of their followers... in the case of Keshryii, whose form is one of the more extreme, that personality must be powerful indeed!

 I've painted this batch as proxies for the Grotesques of my Dark Eldar Blood Rain Kabal.  These models really illustrate the feeling of horror that the flesh shapers of the Drukhari must evoke.  A horror made all the more terrible by the fact that the grotesques choose this existence and pay the Haemunculi dearly for the procedures that remake a normal Dark Eldar into such a fearsome visage.

I've continued refining the red process in particular and made some progress with cool highlights and lowlights.

Flesh also got a lot of attention being a wash of Sunny Flesh (Vallejo) over the base coat of Krylon Camouflage Khaki which had been dry-brushed with Apple Barrel Sandstone. A Flesh Wash from Secret Weapon was then applied followed by layering Sunny Flesh and Fairy Flesh (Vallejo).

 I love blue hair... probably the Anime geek in me but I do like it a lot!

Hair was Nightmare Black (Reaper) a heavy dry-brush of Void-Shield Blue (Warpaints), a Sapphire Wash (Secret Weapon) and a very light dry-brush of Void-Shield blue and top dusting of pure white.

Because the centaurs model themselves after Keshryii they all tend toward similar colors and were worked up using the same process.

 When started working on the model I kept seeing the cover of the old Chrome 2 supplement for Cyberpunk... and one of the old Gamma World covers.  I didn't look at them for reference or anything but I wanted to convey the metal augmentations.  Keshryii isn't just a shapeshifter... shes got ecstatic minions actually grafted into her form and the joins are very chrome!

A size comparison with the centaurs and Canoness Veridyan (GW).

As you can see the centaurs are massive!

 A couple of views of the assembled troop.

 they are even more frightening as a group than as individuals.

A final comparison with Centaur Trooper, Canoness Veridyan, and a Void Elf Hunter.


There is also a set of these in Fantasy Version.  But I may try to knock out the rest of my Lust Elf Sci-Fi stock first...

Choices, choices!

Ivanka Kurganova and Charlie

Ivanka Kurganova in the role of Commissar/Political Officer of the Red Caps,  The Red Caps are the elite Inquisition Storm Troop element of the Heresy Suppression Force. (HSF) 

This model does have a lot of red on it which is broken up a bit by the dark oiled canvas/leather cape.  I'm thinking officer capes would be leather while troopers and NCOs would have coats/capes in oiled canvas.

The base is from the excellent Trench Works series from Secret Weapon Miniatures.  It gives a good range of visual locations being equally at home in an urban assault, a siege setting, or even indoor combat!  The HSF being tasked with suppressing cults and internal disturbances will spend a lot of time indoors in the SWAT role.

These Raging Heroes cloaks are just awesome with the script being clean edged and in high relief.  Sharp lettering is usually a bit of a pain to do but these make it as easy as can reasonably be expected.

Some of the other details are a bit soft and nebulously defined which makes painting them a bit more challenging in some ways but always worth the effort.  It also makes the miniatures easy to modify in the fine details.

Charlie is Admiral Olga Kurganova's bulldog  and will be added to her base.  All of these Kurganova women have wide stances which is tends to make them look like Superheroes when viewed as a group so I'm hoping that the addition of the dog to the Admiral's (not pictured) base will break up that dynamic just a bit.  I do like the heroic stances for the officers and character personalities as its very 'comic book cover' in feel.

Check out the Raging Heroes TGG Kickstarter   to see a full range of complete Armies in three factions based on this figure series..

Raging Heroes Blood Vestals WiP

I've been making some headway on these Blood Vestals from Raging Heroes.  I've decided to keep them as fantasy figures sonce a really good SF version of these was released.  I'll be doing it soon.

That said, its been quite a while since I've done any minis in the "Chain mail Bikini"  genre and these are taking longer than I thought they would.

The armor is a rose color worked up using the Reaper Blood Triad and the hair is currently being based with Citadel Fenris Grey foundation paint.  It took a bit to shift me off the primary red that was my first impulse here but I'm really liking the Rose.

The down side of doing these as a Fantasy unit is that I may have to dig out the old giant box of unpainted Dark Elves and paint up an army to go with them...  There are worse fates!

Malifaux Kirai Ankoku and a pair of Onryo

OK... Crazy ladies with hedge trimmers that unknowingly summon hordes of angry spirits to take revenge on her oppressors are fun to paint... or maybe its just the blood?  For this Kirai Ankoku I bloodied both the trimmer and the floor using the Reaper Blood Triad and some spot gloss varnish from Vallejo.  I really like the effect, especially on the flooring. 

 For the Onryo I again reached into the reaper pile for the skin tones which are made up from the Olive Green Triad.  Very ghoulish! 

Due to the very Asian nature of these models I've gone into some colors like the GW Scaly Green top coats and a lot of touches of pink like the fan and some medallions.

The hair is another experiment.  Its simply P3 Armor wash over white primer.  I wanted the Asian black hair but kind of shiny and otherworldly.  

Next up... I think... are a pair of Gaki, a Datsue Ba, and some thing from the Court of the Archon.

Dark Eldar Tantalus Structures WiP

 Back from the Holidays for a bit.  Starting with a shot of where I've ended up at the end of work today.  As you can see the primary hull is together.  The red has been brightened up to the same level as the rest of the fleet.

The provided flight stand does not fit snugly into the slot which is OK since the stand seems a bit small for a model of this size and weight.  I've decided to  go with a weighted base from Kerr & King.  These bases are 60mm so will be the same size but I'm hoping it'll be a bit more stable.  I'm concerned about the height once the poop deck is added in terms of fitting it into a foam tray!  I think it'll be OK but it may be a close run thing.

The Brass decking is very interesting.  It sits very close on top of the engine details making me think that, perhaps, the similarity in color between the engine compartment and the deck surface  is less than ideal... especially considering that the second tier of decking sits about a quarter of an inch above a large part of the first deck!  In retrospect I might have considered a very dark engine detail with very bright point source lighting under the deck.

The schedule for the early part of the year is kur-aaaa-zeee! So I'll have to be extra disciplined to get anything done.

Dark Eldar Tantalus Brass and Structure WiP and Venom Strike Group wraps up.

 The Venom Strike Group is finished... no more proxies!

The Tantalus brass is integral to the structure of the kit.  It's not a thin brass etch but a hefty piece of the structure that holds the thing firmly in shape!  I also like the touch where "This Side Up" is effectively printed on the brass frame.

Here the mast footer is attached to the brass for stability and the mast footer mounting also serves as a backstop for the central engine mount.

The second set of plates lays in just above the main deck and guides the upper rear hull into position resulting in matching attitudes for the major blade structures that form the rear wing of the completed model.  This whole system allows for an exceptionally ephemeral look that would otherwise be hard to pull of in a model this size.

I'm experimenting with primers on this project.  Typically I've used black on everything and worked up from there.  This has made some of the red areas require an egregious number of layers to get to the right clarity of color.  For this build I'm priming the engine compartment and underside of the hull black as usual but am hitting the rest of the kit with Army Painter Rat Fur which is a reddish brown color.  I think this will allow me to red up more rapidly and still be dark enough of a subsurface to make the other colors behave as though they were painted over black.

My main concern is to match the color tones of the rest of the army which, for the vehicles, has been worked up from black throughout.

For this last shot the engine area that will be under the brass deck is being worked up as are the main engines.  once these are done I'll mask them and add Rat Fur to the hull section that is currently showing a light black over-spray.

The command deck and rudder assembly, and the side Blade Vanes are also built and sprayed Rat Fur at this point.  I haven't used this particular primer before and its taking just a bit longer than usual to dry but the coverage is very even and applied easily.

Raging Heroes Ashara standing in as a Dark Eldar Archon

I got a shipment of figures in from Raging Heroes about a month ago and had to bump the Ashara SF figure to the top of the pile.  Not that I need a cool new Archon for my Blood Rain Kabal, but she was just too tempting to wait her turn.

There is no shortage of detail and it is really a beautiful sculpt.  I especially appreciate all the different head and weapon option which I can mine for future conversions. 

Once I began painting a couple of things turned up immediately.  The most salient of which was that most of the wonderful detail is very soft edged... rounded even.  This soft border is especially prevalent on the filigree bits on her flowing sleeves.  I hadn't noticed this until I got started but it has an effect on technique.  Many techniques use the sharp edge of details to help carry and control paint, especially in fine lining.  The details here are so indistinct around the edge that these techniques are not as effective.  Essentially the detailing has a large freehand element.  This is not inherently bad but makes a difference in how much time it takes me to turn out a decent figure.  I'd intended to just have a quick run at her with a basic scheme and continue with the previously scheduled work.  No plan ever survives contact with the enemy!

The other odd bit was that the figure has cast in pins but they don't actually help with alignment.  Ultimately I ended up removing them and pinning traditionally.

I'm still quite taken with the figure even though it is a lot more work than I'd originally imagined.  I have a couple more of these in both the fantasy and sf version so I'll get plenty of practice.

Dark Eldar Reaper details WiP

 Work proceeds on the Dark Eldar Reaper.  The prow plates for the gun are blocked in with basic fractile shapes and the Kabal Glyph.  These were all blocked in with Bleached Bone and will be re-coated and highlighted as will the mirror imaged glyphs.  The black armor plates will likely be edged in  Mechrite Red and then highlighted in Blood Red.  This vehicle looks like it will be a lot more red, or perhaps a lot less black, than the first generation vehicles but the colors should tie together well.

 The main gun is almost complete.  There remains a repair to one of the large gems that managed to dry with a portion of its dust cover touching the gem.  I should be able to assemble the main hull at this point and we'll see how difficult it will be to work the decking plates into position.  Fortunately the paint in the tight areas is unadjusted Mechrite Red so repairs should be relatively invisible.

More of Da Big Red WAAGH!  status markers.  This time its vehicle speed condition.  I'm closing in on finishing this set with only a large Waagh! marker and the infantry status markers remaining.  Then its on to the Dark Eldar Counter set.

Travel board and more...

 Today I painted up the Battlefoam X-board travel display.  Its a good size for a regular game with most armies.  I painted this one up in neutral browns to minimize conflicts with different basing schemes.  I was a little disappointed in the clips that hold the side boards on.  They are hard to assemble and require special attention to avoid damage to the clips which have a tendency to splay wide causing one of the three prongs to miss the clip and splay even wider.  It does come with a great carry bag and the 1520 XL army bag features side pockets specifically to carry this item in the same bag your army is traveling in ... handy!  I think I'll make metal name plates for the armies and put some magnets on that slot.  Its either that or velcro and use my name tag.. which has its merits!

 Here you see some Dark Angels on three different themes of base.  One is pretty close to the board finish but the others are not and I think they display pretty well. 

 The driving section of the howdah for the Gargantuan Squiggoth is coming along.  detail painting is about 50% then weathering to match the rest of the Howdah and its epoxy time!

I've painted up the big shoota assortment for the critter and popped some magnets around the Howdah to mount them.  I figure the guns will just get broken off in moving if I affix them permanently so magnets FTW! Now I'm just waiting on the main armaments to arrive from Forgeworld.

I've decided to go ahead with a variant paint scheme for the dark Eldar Razorwing.  It will still sit well with the army as most of the elements of the variation appear in the main scheme.  I've been working on the red fade section but they were not complete when i called it a night.  I'm considering adding the red to the area at the front of the model covering the area from the base of the broken up white pattern to just past the cockpit and including the engine intakes.  The rest of the model would remain black with some highlighting and some picked out detail.

I also need to tighten up the cockpit and pilot as they are just a little blotchy looking at the moment.

Gunwagon Zzap!

Here is a more complete version of the Zzap! Gunwagon.  The last shot of it did not include the exhaust pipes, the big shoota on top of the 'ard case, or the weathering of the tracks and lower portions of the chassis.  I'm still deciding if I want to add a crewmember to the model.  I opened a hatch specifically to do that but have yet to come up with a working idea for it!  At this point I've realized that I need to do some searching around for some good source photos for distressed vehicles to really get a grip on the patterns and textures of rust.  I did experiment with some powdered pigments for the first time and I like the results... although I think I'll add more of it when I review the Ork vehicle fleet.  The weathering effect is, fortunately, something that can be added to or expanded upon easily after the model is otherwise complete.  I think I'll address the Ork fleet all at once to get a complimentary level of weathering across the whole thing.

Today I'm finishing up 2 Hive Guard, a Venomthrope, and 4 Bomb Squiqs.  That should make a good sized hole on my table that I can fill with Project Thunderhawk related work.

I'm thinking about bringing Orks to Geekfest this year so I'll have to be certain to review the army and inject projects into the workstream!  In the same vein the core of the display base for the Runtbot has been constructed and is ready for its work up.

Progress

Nothing is quite finished yet but there are some updates as I have been working!

I've had three projects make good progress:

An update to a Gobsmasha...  I've had this Epicast piece kicking around since second edition and It was painted in one of the very bright cartoon Ork schemes that were popular at the time.  Here I've simply dirtied it up and distressed it a bit to make it better able to blend with my current grubby Ork scheme.

Updated old Gobsmasha

 

Continuing in the red theme there is a new Tyranid Hive Guard.  I love these guys and the strongly remind me of the old Zoat!  I may actually use some Zoats in this capacity for a lark... I'm liking the fleshy look of the cannon and am working on a second one of these.  This guy is essentially done except for the base.  I do a paper mache treatment for the Tyranid bases so like to do them in batches.  This guy is waiting on his sibling and a Venomthrope that is being worked along with it so they can benefit from the same base materials batch.

Finally there is Old Greasus...  I really hate this guy!  He is a huge figure and has been the reason why the update has taken so long.  I actually like big projects but this figure just takes a lot of work! He's only about 40% at the moment.  I hope to finish him up by ... Wednesday..ish... before I get to work on Project Thunderhawk!

So there are the active projects for this week.  Next week sees Project Thunderhawk enter phase II, work on the display base for the Runtbot, and work resumes on Campaign based fiction. Worky worky!

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.