First Full Unit of Gors Done

Well, my first 25 Gors are done! Wee-hee! Having this done, along with the Beastlord and Minotaurs, is real motivation to keep pushing ahead and get this army done. Up next will be a unit of ten Chaos Warhounds, followed by a Cygor. Until next time!

Beastlord Done

Got this guy done last night. I tried out a couple of GW's new paints- Nihilakh Oxide and Blood for the Blood God. I think the verdigris and blood stains both turned out well, with little effort. Now off to the next Throwdown's Core unit, with either more Gors or maybe my Warhounds...

Beastmen Continue With Minotaurs

Next step on the march to getting my Beastmen done- Minotaurs! My Beastlord General is up next on tomorrow's hobby plate....

Lunch Update- Dropzone Commander

Now before you say, "No, not another project change!" this time I'm not. Beastmen are definitely foremost on the hobby table, and this Army Throwdown is going to get finished. However, I did preorder the brand new boxed game 'Dropzone Commander', and I couldn't help but try out painting one of the Bear APCs as a test model. When this is done I'll take some pics with a proper camera, and not the mobile phone shots you see here.

For those who don't know, this is a 10mm scale sci-fi wargame. I've put a coin in the shot for scale purposes- as you can see these are pretty small. For my United Colonies of Mankind (UCM) force, I've decided to go with a three color, hard edged camo with patterns based on interlocking hexagons. Sci fi digital, if you will. Colors used are Panzer Grey primer, Hemp, and finally Russian Green, all from the Vallejo Model Air range. The Panzer Grey is a black replacement- at 10mm scale I think black is just a bit too stark. I did a very light drybrush of Bonewhite to pop the edges out a bit.

I still need to finish and attach the turret, paint the running lights, highlight the tires, and maybe do a black pin wish around all the panel lines, but the pattern is essentially done. Back to Beastmen, and afterwards it's time to get my UCM army done and give this cool looking game a go...

Beastmen Begun

Terrible pic I know but thought it'd be worthwhile to get back in the swing of posting progress. The first unit I'm painting for the Legio Army Throwdown will be a block of 25 Gors. Gotten started with basecoats and inking... we're off!

Valhallan Vendetta Pre Weathering

I'll get more pics up when this thing is well and truly done, but all the basecoat painting is done and the model's fully assembled. I just need to do a bit of weathering and some pin washes for the panel lines. I got it this far so I could get my hobby table clear for work on my Avenging Sons Space Marines. There's supposed to be a 40K tournament in late November that, for once, someone besides Legio Malaysia is running. That means I can participate! :)

Despite the lack of weathering, at least you can see what my plans are for the rest of the armored vehicles in my future Valhallan army. I like it!

So, this hobby patient has a pulse once again. Let's ride the hot hand and keep painting...

Valhallan Ice Warriors Vendetta Started

Over the last few days I've been puttering away at my first vehicle for the Valhallan Imperial Guard army I've started on. I'm trying out color modulation with my airbrushing, but it's only two colors and is fairly subtle. Still, I'm happy with the overall color scheme and palette. After finishing a sky grey airbrush on the lower surfaces of the aircraft, it's time to paint the surface details, decals, and of course weathering.

More pics coming soon!

Avenging Sons Sergeant Castines DONE

Well, I've finally done the first official power armored model for my Avenging Sons project, Sergeant Castines of 1st Tactical Squad. Big thanks to 'Dynath' for the design of custom Avenging Sons shoulder pads, which you can see in these pics. I love the tiny detail of the roman numerals on the bottom left and bottom right of the right shoulder pads especially. He did this work a long time ago (over a year!), and I'm only just getting around to using them... Thanks dude!

I'm using some Black Templar bits to help evoke the 'medieval knight' vibe I'm trying to channel for this army. I'm keeping the color palette very tight with most things blue, silver, or black. I'm pleased with this model and plan to go full speed ahead. Better pics and a play by play paint scheme are both forthcoming- this is just a few quick shots to show him off :)

Comments and criticisms most welcome- thanks for taking the time to pop by and check it out!

Valhallan Ice Warrior Test Model

Just got my very first test model done for a Valhallan army I've been wanting to do for a LONG time. I've slowly collected these old school metal models way back since I worked for GW, and now I'm at the point where I've got enough to do the army I want to do.

I also recently came into possession of a sample set of Army Painter paints, thanks to Bo at the Army Painter. This model was 100% painted with this range, and I have to say I think they're great. Here's my step by step- if you're interested be sure to check out Army Painter's web store or for local availability try Wolf Game Shop:

1. Prime model Black and allow to fully dry overnight
2. Airbrush basecoat of Ash Grey on greatcoat
3. Airbrush Matt White highlights on greatcoat
4. Cut small geometric shapes in masking tape, and apply to roughly 50% of the model
5. Airbrush Angel Green on the greatcoat
6. Airbrush highlights of Greenskin on the greatcoat
7. After a few minutes, carefully remove mask pieces
8. Paint Matt Black on the inside of the greatcoat, rolled up sleeve ends, coat edges, and all remaining parts
9. Trousers, helmets, rolled sleeve ends, inside coat, and scarves paint Angel Green. Since it's over a black undercoat, you'll get a darker tone
10. Highlight trousers, helmets, sleeve ends, coat inside, and scarves with Greenskin
11. All flesh, service caps, bedrolls, and satchels basecoat with Oak Brown
12. Highlight service caps, bedrolls, and satchels with Fur Brown
13. Highlight flesh with Tanned Flesh
14. Highlight flesh again with 50/50 Tanned Flesh/Barbarian Flesh, and then one more time with pure Barbarian Flesh
15. Matt Black cleanup painting. Black should remain on all boots, ammo webbing/pouches, coat trim, belt, fur caps, and weapons
16. Drybrush fur with Uniform Grey. Drybrush again with Ash Grey
17. Edge highlight remaining black areas with Uniform Grey
18. Paint all aquilas/eagles, buttons, weapon metal areas with Shining Silver. Follow with a wash of pure Dark Tone. Skull icons on standard troopers (lower enlisted) get the same.
19. For officers and sergeants, paint skill icons with Greedy Gold, followed by a wash of pure Strong Tone

For basing, it's the following steps:

1. Use PVA to glue a couple shale rock pieces down, with the remaining area fine play sand.
2. Prime in black
3. Drybrush with Fur Brown
4. Drybrush again with Skeleton Bone
5. Paint rocks Uniform Grey
6. Apply wash of pure Dark Tone
7. Once dry, drybrush rocks with Ash Grey
8. Stipple on areas of Matt White onto roughly half the base in patches- whatever looks good to you.
9. Apply a thin layer of thick paste to these areas made from a mix of Snow Flock, PVA glue, and water.
10. While the patches of 'snow paste' are still wet, sprinkle a little Snow Flock on top for extra brilliance.

It might read like a long list, but this is actually pretty easy. No particularly awesome painting skills are needed, and you'll get a nice wargaming standard that I believe pays homage to a classic paint scheme for these guys. Thanks for checking it out- comments, criticisms, and suggestions are most welcome, though please bear in mind I have to paint a little over 120+ of these guys for the list I have in mind!

Avenging Sons Chaplain DONE

Good news is that I've finished rebasing and touching up this Chaplain in Terminator Armor for my budding Avenging Sons project. He's been rebased and had his chapter icon changed from White Consuls to this:

Bad news is that I'm burnt out (for the time being, of course) on painting Sons of Horus. That project is going to wait until we get a few more people (including myself) sparked up again about Heresy Era goodness.

So, in the meantime I'll be working on these guys, as well as painting up a test model for my upcoming Valhallan Ice Warriors project. For that, I'm going to give a shot at using Army Painter paints for the entire project. Bo at Army Painter was nice enough to hook me up with some sample paints, and I plan to put them through the paces and see what they're all about. I've got them all laid out in my hobby rack, and I must say they are begging for a project! More on that later...

Avenging Sons Scout Squad Done

Foolishly, I've entered myself into not one but TWO army painting challenges. However, I'm looking at this as a positive, since I'll get two done (assuming I don't blow it), and it keeps things fresh without grinding on one paint job too much. I had a lot of fun painting these guys- some airbrush work for the fatigues and armor, along with some brush work over Hobby Night last night. I'm really loving the Vallejo Liquid Metal range of metallic colors. If you haven't tried them I highly recommend you do!

Sons of Horus Jetbike DONE

Well, the first one's all done. I'm pretty happy with it, and it shouldn't be too agonizing to get another four done in time for this Friday's Fast Attack Throwdown at Legio Malaysia. The model went together without too much trouble, though the pilot took a little maneuvering to get him in place.

Like the rest of the army, I kept the markings pretty sparse with a 'XVI' Legion number on the back left and an Eye of Horus on the front right. Decals went on without much trouble. I carefully ground off the Imperial Eagle normally on the prow- can't have those pro-Imperial images now can we...?

Having had some bad experiences in the past with the usual GW flying stand breaking too easily I made my own bases for these. I cut MDF circles matching the diameter of the flying base, and used brass tubing for the stand itself to ensure durability. Like everything else with a base, I used cork, Sculpey, and play sand.

Here's a few more pics I took- thanks for checking it out!

Sons of Horus Jetbike Progress

Now that the Land Raider is done I've gotten started on the Jetbike squad. I'm getting close to finishing the first one and I'm really pleased with how the green gradient airbrush came out. Hopefully I'll finish this tonight!

Sons of Horus Land Raider DONE (Pretty Much)

I've put A LOT of time into this, and frankly there are still things to be done. The red in the icons is a bit washed out, more details could be done, touch up painting, etc. but at this point I need to move on. For the tabletop and beyond this is more than sufficient methinks.

Time for jetbikes!

Sons of Horus Mk IIB Land Raider WIP

As cool as this thing should look when I'm all done with it, this thing is a real pain in the balls. The resin parts are comically ill fitting, requiring a great deal of bending, shaping, and general fussing about. As you can see from the pic above, the front resin hull part fits so badly that I had to make a plasticard shim just to get everything to butt up nicely and not have unsightly gaps. I've also got to make some ornamental rails to run along the edges of the upper assault ramp to hide the gap on the left. Ugh.

The resin sponson doors that came with the kit were the "Imperial Eagle" version rather than the plain ones I thought I had ordered. So, those had to go and get replaced with plastic doors from a Rhino kit. Both the resin and plastic doors are way too big for the sponson, so I had to do quite a bit of cutting and sanding to get the doors to fit properly. Still, after all the effort the assembly stuff is near completion.

With any luck we'll get this thing painted by the end of this weekend, and that will give me another week before the Heavy Support throwdown that I can use to play catchup with Legionaries I should've finished a couple months ago... :)

Garviel Loken (Conversion) Done

Well, he's all done. Unfortunately because of the cape he couldn't fit at all on the base I finished for him- poor planning I suppose. So, I settled on a regular base like the rest of the army has. I'll use the 40mm base for Captain Nikaetus when I start working on my Avenging Sons again.

Legs are Forge World Mk IV armor, with a plastic purity seal on the left leg. Torso and backpack are from the plastic Space Marine Commander set, though I did carefully cut off the exposed Aquila feathers poking out from under the tassels. The sword I'm using to rep his Paragon Blade is the Company Champion sword from the SM Command Squad frame. The head is from Forge World's Mk IV Command Upgrade pack.

The shoulder pads are Mk II pads from Forge World- the extra detail on the trim works well for a command model. The right shoulder I painted on laurels, and attached a Roman numeral "X" from Secret Weapon's Brass Etch Roman Numerals. Loken's the Captain of the Tenth Company, so I thought this would make a nice touch.

As fate would have it I got an email from Forge World yesterday telling me all about their new Garviel Loken and Abaddon boxed set. I did order it, but I sure could've used last month! Still, I'm happy with the conversion and paint job, and am looking forward to this Friday's HQ Throwdown at Legio Malaysia.

Loken's Base Done

I've been working pretty steadily on my converted Garviel Loken for next week's HQ Throwdown, and tonight I finished his base. Given he's the mighty Captain of the Tenth Company, I thought a mighty base was called for. Quite some time ago I ordered this base from Dragon Forge because I thought it looked cool. Given the rest of my Sons of Horus are based with a rubble motif, this makes a great add on for my army's leader. In case you're interested here's the link to Dragon Forge's selection of "Urban Rubble" bases. This one's the "Heroic Base 40mm Round". Thanks for checking this out- here's a couple more shots...

Sons of Horus Contemptor Dreadnought Done

Last week I finally finished this for my budding Sons of Horus 30K army. This is the first time I've tried "color modulation" by shading with my airbrush between Gunship Green, "Horus Green", and White. Up next will be my converted Garviel Loken for the next Throwdown...

Contemptor Progressing

Got the base done and quite a bit of progress done on the dread itself. Should be done in the next couple of days!

Sons of Horus Marine with Volkite Caliver

I'm not getting nearly enough progress done, but at least I've finished one of my Tactical Support Squad marines with a Volkite Caliver. Lots more work to do before Friday!!

Sons of Horus Sergeant

Well, I am seriously behind schedule, but nonetheless I'm pleased with how this sergeant came out. The final "Horus Green" I've settled on is a 2:1 ratio of VMC Pale Greyblue to VMC Gunship Green. This is painted over a basecoat of pure Gunship Green, and edge highlighted with white.

The base is made from cork and baked Sculpey that I made into a tile pattern. I'll post up how I did that later this week. The theme I'm going for is the shattered ruins of the Precentor's Palace on Istvaan III.

I've got a lot of work to go if I'm going to make the first throwdown challenge this Friday- back to work! :)