Back in the Warp Zone

  Okay, after getting one distraction out of the way and trying to refocus, I got back to Operation Azul and the Chaos Space Marine army that I'm committing to painting.  Admittedly, I'm still totally torn about what I'm going to include in my army list as I don't have any of the new stuff.  But I do know what I'm going to start with.

  Somewhere around six years ago, I built an army for Adepticon and had to be creative with my list.  Since the Word Bearers didn't have any specific rules, I chose Huron Blackheart to represent my commander.  The model came out awesome and it kind of replayed to today.  Having used all the bitz except the body for the Huron-to-Erebus conversion meant that I still had that cracked and unpleasant body to use.  With some Chaos Marine arms, a Possessed backpack, and Terminator Sorcerer staff, this model instantly became a perfect Sorcerer...


  In fact, this model has been chosen to be the general for so many of my Chaos armies.  This is because the Daemon Prince often dies and I'm not trying to just give my opponent victory points!  As the General, he's often where he is needed most and yet... he wasn't painted- just a big, flat black blob of command and warp powers...

  Here's the quick summary of how I painted the model in pictures:

First, the basecoat of Khorne Red over Black Primer.

Second, a very sloppy basecoat of Leadbelcher where necessary.  

  The red and the silver are the most important parts of the model as they are the dominant colors.  While I was pretty sloppy with the silver, it was important to make sure that all the mechanical bits poking through the MANY broken parts of his armor were silver.  Besides, some touch-up of Khorne Red should be expected anyway, right?

Basecoat Abaddon Black, Retributor Gold, and Zhandri Dust.  Also, Cadian Fleshtone for the head...

Now for the heavy washes of Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade over everything.

  With the basecoat and wash stages done, I could call the model 'done' and base it up.  After all, that's the definition of "table-ready"- where all the colors are where they need to be and the model is recognizable.  And I was tempted, but I have a commitment to fulfill.  So now comes the 'effort'...

First, I layered on a 50/50 mix of Khorne Red and Mephiston Red.

Next, a layer of Mephiston Red

Finally, only the 'top' and edges got Evil Sunz Scarlet highlights

  By this point, the rest of the model is just layering up and highlighting everything where necessary...

Dude is pretty much 'done'!

I had to do a bit of details, like the Legion symbol on the shoulder pad and the green effect for Warp power...

  When I painted the Legion symbol, I didn't expect for the yellow to have such a stark effect.  It drew the eye away from everything else and distracted from the model.  I had to do something to mute that down, so I decided to add some more 'effort'...

BOOM!

  I decided to 'wash out' the yellow by painting the daemon-skull in bone rather than that traditional black.  But this weighed the model heavily in color balance so I needed to draw the attention back to the center.  This is a Sorcerer and they do like the Warp powers, so I should represent it through more than the skull's eyes.  How about the big eye!?!?  A couple of layers of green, building up to white in many layers...  Plus, this hearkens back to the plasma effects in the original army!

  I based him up with some painted sand, static grass, and clump foliage and he's finished and ready to lead the force!  And I got a unit done.  Now I have to get another unit going and I'm afraid it needs to be a marine squad...

  Let me know what you think below and even leave a comment noting what you've been working on...  Happy Hobbying!

Terrain as a distraction...

  So I'm painting models and trying to take care of business and this week hit.  Where normally people would complain about a particularly bad week, I get to note that this week was pretty good!  I launched a grand professional plan and feel good with the direction that's already going.  The weather has been wet and we got our flower bloom down here, and now it's hot and sunny- perfect for hobbying and just downright comfortable for a guy like me!

  Most importantly of all is that this turned out to be a week of models.  My buddy tossed us some of his older models with the express goal of disrupting our current state of things.  I got more Eldar and some Primaris characters, my wife got more Nighthaunt stuff (boooo!), and my son received a ton of Ravenwing units.  Oh boy...

  Today I received another game that I 'kickstarted', but that's another blog post for a later time.  Even if I wanted to, I can't really say much as I'm still trying to inspect and learn the massive thing.  But this wasn't the only product of a Kickstarter I received recently...  Again, pretty good week!

  Now I had mentioned this over a year ago, and it finally happened!  My love of Necromunda, which had long sat in the back of the fridge despite purchasing everything, can finally be expressed.  While I need to start building the models and review the rules again (maybe even play that board game-version), the most important part is now mine- the terrain!

From Flickriver

  Now we all remember the old Necromunda terrain and the charm of those multi-layered, cardboard buildings and bridges.  Held together with a set of detailed plastic 'bulkheads' that could only be connected vertically, the terrain gave models plenty of room and dimensions to move around while also giving line-of-sight all the impact it needed.  Being able to peek through doorways and hide behind barricades made already average shooters more frustrated all the time.  The cardboard constructs were strong enough to hold a few models and came with color graphics to reinforce the 'setting' in the game.

   Luckily, I still have all this terrain and can use it if I really wanted to.  But have you seen those new models?  It's key that I use good terrain with those awesome models, I feel.  And honestly, even the board game looks cool.  But c'mon, it's Necromunda!  What about the Shadow War: Armageddon terrain?  That stuff is awesome, but it's really more important for 40k and even renamed to 'Mechanicum terrain'.  And while awesome, it only has one level above ground which is not what Necromunda is about.  Funny enough, I brought that terrain out to work on before being distracted by a box at my door last week.

  This company made some fantastic cardboard terrain, preprinted graphics and 3D layering included!  Called TinkerTurf, you can check it out and even purchase it here.  It's not expensive at all and can be used for more than just Necromunda and I can't suggest it enough.  This is what the Kickstarter page promised:

  How can you resist that?  Hopefully the product looks like that when it I get it all assembled.  Admittedly, it was much more work that I assumed.  The quality of the stuff is through the roof.  It's 2mm foamcore rather than just thick cardboard.  The sheets were deeply-cut so the pieces were easily punched out.  And the graphics were always lined up and crisp.  It was a lot of pieces and I spent a great deal of time just popping the many pieces out.  It was high-quality so far...

What came in the box and it weighted quite a bit...

All the sets in the Skirmish Bundle- six total!

  

All the sheets from one of the Elevations Sets and not all the same.

  With a bit of PVA glue and time, plus the instructions and helpful tips on their 'tip-site', and the weight of the unopened sets and bundles to press all the pieces together as I glue them, I finished on Skirmish bundle.  The best part of this assembly process is the markings that the company puts on pieces.  Rather than having to just 'hope' you put glue and the pieces together properly, the markings clearly define where to put the glue and where to marry the pieces together.

  Layered atop and pressed together while the glue dried created exactly that 3-dimensional effect that really matches the Underworld setting.  Additional parts like railings and pegs gave the pieces even more bulk and convincing image.  By the time I was done, taking many days of building, pressing, and drying, I was very happy with the results.

The Mechanicus terrain at the top...  And still had to finish some of the parts...

  Gorgeous terrain and well worth the cost!  Unfortunately, the most disappointing part is that this... what I have built...  well, this is only most of one Bundle and I still have all this build:

  Oh boy...

  I haven't gotten any units painted since the big, red T-Rex and I can blame it on this.  I have Chaos Space Marines on my palette right now and they are just not getting any attention as these boxes keep showing up at my door.  Now that I've gotten this terrain, I've got to start working on the Necromunda stuff.  But I'm supposed to be painting those 40k armies.  And those Shadespire models.  And this other game I just got in the mail...

  Let me know what distractions you've had pop up in your hobby recently and I hope you have a good week like this too!

Cretaceous Courtesy

  I wonder how many people are going to read that title and think of crabs...

  Anywho, I got another paint project from the buddy that I did work for recently, only this time it was even more left-field than I realized.  I'm so used to painting GW miniatures and the odd PC for D&D that painting monsters isn't something that I even think of.  But he handed me a Tyrannosaurus Rex model and told me to make him look like 'Devil Dinosaur'.  What's a Devil Dinosaur?  

  The model this time is a Nolzur's Miniatures model of a T-Rex for those RPGs, and a damn fine model it is!  It's huge and very well detailed.  Better, the plastic is actually good plastic that holds that sharpness much better then the cheaper PVC that Bones models use.  And the model is so big that it towered over all my other painting projects- as the King of the Cretaceous should!  

  But I still needed to find out what a 'Devil Dinosaur' is.  Apparently, the powers that be in Marvel decided many eras ago that a very protective pet monster from every kid's favorite geological period would make a good character, especially against other monsters of the same era and protecting those relate-able kids.  I found out that this 'Devil Dinosaur' has protected Moon Boy and Moon Girl over the years.  Not wanting to get too deep in my research, I stopped there and got to painting.

  So here's the key take-aways:  This Devil Dinosaur guy is a big, red, T-Rex.  That's it!  His color patterns have changed from completely red to red-with-black-splotches over time.  There's no costume, no standard setting (wherever the kid goes, he's there), and nothing else to overcomplicate things.  This project is my favorite dinosaur (I know- how original!) in my favorite color with a wide open mouth full of teeth.  I think I'm going to enjoy this one!  

  

  The timeline on this project was very spread out and interrupted by other projects and even the arrival of one of my Kickstarters (that'll be another post), but it didn't really take that long.  Surprisingly, the prep of the model took up about half of the hobby time I spent on this model.  The Monday after I picked it up saw four hours just for cleaning and putty-work.  After all, mold-lines on teeth and over scales do not a convincing monster make...

  The following Tuesday saw an hour dedicated just to the basecoating of the model.  Unfortunately, the putty-work on the tail didn't meet my standards as the dried product contracted and ended up showing off the join-seam.  As I had already primed it and was not prepared to undo all the work up to this point, I had to let it go (get that Frozen song out of your head- I dare you!) and move on to the red.

  This is where I had some fun while stressing just a tad about it.  You see, scaly skin, especially at that scale, doesn't make for an easy fade in a wash-out color palette like red.  And demarcation lines for such a fade are just... unattractive.  So I went with my four typical reds (Khorne, a mix, Mephiston, and Evil Sunz) and then drenched the model in an old wash that happens to be one of my favorites- Baal Red.  If you've never used Baal Red, find it!  It's one of the best washes GW has even made and works equally well over dark and light reds, fading it all together and adding a rich depth  even over darker shades.

  So now a week passes and I get back to it on the Thursday it's actually due (did I mention the distractions?).  My first order of business is the mouth- it's going to be my favorite part!  A little pink around and some washes meant that I had that started and ready to go.  This was the 'dessert' part of this meal and I was really looking forward to it.  But the body still needed some love, so half an hour of that and I had to return to the boring ol' body...

  Now, a big red T-Rex may be cool in principle, but it's rather boring to look at on the shelf.  So I chose to use the more modern color scheme and add the black markings on his back- that would give the eye something to look at!  First, I painted the splotches that I could with big black circles.  I tried to sneak a few extra spots in there, but the model's texture wasn't really helpful in that.  I eventually decided to black wash the whole top, blending those obnoxious black spots into the pattern and adding that more natural fade to the model.  A quick drybrush of red over the top of the area really brought it back together.  I was now 'riffing' and having a ton of fun (again, a BIG, RED, T-REX!)

  After three hours of playing with that, I finally returned to the mouth.  Admittedly, it was more work than I anticipated.  Mostly it was because I didn't do a perfect job in puttying the jaw-join (barely noticeable) and the teeth had even more mold-lines hidden than I expected (and I literally went tooth-by-tooth cleaning this up!).  Oh well, it's not fun if it's not a challenge.

  I had a blast painting the mouth because of the teeth (duh- that's one of the key parts of painting Warhammer Orcs already) and even more because of the tongue.  You see, the tongue is a muscle and has textures all it's own.  And adding those textures with a fine paint brush can be therapeutic...

Got any lollipops!?!?

  Another two-and-a-half hours for all the other little details (eyes, touch-ups) and this model was done.  I dedicated another half-hour to the base, but I kept it basic as I didn't want to overpower the mono-ish-tone model with the eyes travelling downward.  And it was done!  Around 12 hours from opening the blister pack to taking the final pics and I was finally finished (even if that twelve hours took two weeks).  And I was happy because, well, BIG, RED, T-REX!

  From here, I'm just going to put a couple of pics of the finished model.  I've already turned it into the local shop, but the owner is out-of-town and hasn't seen it yet.  I can't wait to hear his opinion and find out whether it's 'Devil Dinosaur' enough for him.  Regardless, this was a fun model and certainly a welcome break between my 40k army projects...

  That's really it!  Let me know what you think below and what you've been working on.  And as Devil Dinosaur would say if he could talk (and I don't know if he can...)- 

HAPPY HOBBYING!