Category: Miniatures

Steam Wars Venusians

Yeah, I got side tracked again.  It happens.  But if I get something painted that’s not too bad an outcome.  Coronasan suggested we get a game of Rogue Stars played so I decided to paint up a few new figures to help make up a different crew.

As I didn’t have too many new figures in a Sci fi theme at the front of the painting queue, I went looking for some that would fit the need. I delved to the other end of the painting queue, where the figures that once were at the front of the queue get pushed back to, and found these.

I call them Venusian mercenaries. Specialist warrior types that my Steam Wars Martians often employ for the more dangerous missions that they might not want to execute themselves.  Warcradle Studios call them Greys in their Wild West Exodus game.

With the heads done in contrast white (to get a very light grey skin tone) the body suits looked too washed out in such a light colour.  My plan was to match their armour to their attack barge colour but that was never going to work… Contrast black for the guns and contrast grey for the armour.

Contrast paints do make painting units faster. Especially if what you want is a set of solid base colours with a slight highlight/shade effect.  I found myself still adding a quick dry brush of silver over the black of the guns and feel something is still missing from these guys.

As always, using a strong colour when basing generally drab coloured figures helps them stand out more.

For Steam Wars this batch of ten figures gives me two units of 5 figures.  In Rogue Stars I will likely pick just 2-3 of these to go with some other miniatures when I build that crew.

Warhammer 40,000 – Yellow Assault Marines Finished

Quite a quick unit to finish.  I know I haven’t painted all the details that these figures have on them but I don’t think I need to.  I never aim for more than a good TABLETOP finish.  They are playing pieces for a game in the end…

Occasionally one unit or figure might get some more attention but an army needs grunts.  The poor bloody infantry that don’t get such a detailed finish so as to fill the table.

So these guys are done.  Primaris figure from my Kill Team added as he was the basis for the colour scheme.

A veteran 5 man squad with the sergeant front and centre.

And the newer recruits with slightly more up to date helmets.

After a few decals they are now ready to mount up and get going.

If only their ride was ready.

Warhammer 40,000 – Who You Calling Yellow

As I no longer have access to the original blueish grey that was used for the first half of the army, and as a close but not close enough match would REALLY bother me, it was always going to be a yellow base coat for these guys

With their black power packs and shoulder pads though, it at least keeps some ties to the original half of the army.

With base coating done its either weapons then wash or wash then weapons…

In the end, it was weapons wash and back to weapons again…  All because I was going daft painting ten silver swords in a row over that vivid yellow colour.  After dumbing it down with a yellow/orange ink wash it was much easier on the eyes.

Warhammer 40,000 – More Space Marines – Though Not A Green One In Sight

After so long painting Green Space Marines I thought it would be nice to do something a little different…  But what to do? I know! How about some Space Marines…

These ones will NOT be green.  In fact these bits of them look almost silver in this photo.  I shall correct you though…  They are newly sprayed, BLACK power packs and shoulders.

The power packs are for these guys.  A full 10 man squad (made up as 2x 5 man combat squads) of Assault Marines.  This time without jump packs as they will be either bussed about inside a rhino or delivered to the game in a drop pod.

I picked up a pack of normal Tactical Marines and dug out enough chain swords and pistols, from the old bits box, to kit them out.

Quite why they came with slotta bases is beyond me but, we will overcome and all that…

Now, some of you may note the use of Chaos space marine arms and weapons for a few of these boys.  My whole Space Marine army is made up with an odd relic of the Chaos wars thrown in (along with a couple of bionics and Space Wolves parts).

The back story, devised a decade ago, was of a decimated chapter that had to compromise on some codex guidelines in order to ensure their survival. Therefore they were not to picky about welcoming the odd renegade that had been returned from the other side (penitent marines and lost brothers) back to the fold.

This unit will be painted using traditional paints but the sergeants head was always destined to get some contrast skin tone.

Not bad for one thick coat.

Warhammer 40,000 – Death Guard Terminators

Enough with the distractions.  I need to buckle down and get the last of these GREEN Space Marines painted…

With the planned ‘Big Game’ looming it was time to get these done, so I just ploughed ahead and took my usual, care free, painting attitude to these last 5 figures…

They were fairly easy to complete in the end.  I have an aversion to the GW smoke effects, but this flail was the only bit on this set that was cast that way. In the end I used some of the new GW grey contrast paint over the original green undercoat.  That, along with a good dose of a green/brown wash over the whole figure, left it looking ok to me.  All I ever hope to achieve is a table top gaming standard (whatever that is).

Late at night the lighting in the shed works better for photos it would seem…

Exposed organs and horns galore.

Plenty of dark metals.

Brass trim here and there.

Browns for any hard surfaces like carapace. (Snakebite Leather is fast becoming my favourite contrast paint).

A flash of red for details and cloth.

 

Sorted…

Undercoating Weather

A single benefit that could be drawn from global warming is the increasing opportunity in the UK to get outside and undercoat a few models.  Usually it is too cold.  Often too windy, and all too often, too damp.

This time of year we get short windows of opportunity that cannot be missed, otherwise we would all have nothing in the painting queue when winter comes around…  (Who am I kidding, there is always something in the painting queue).

First up, and likely to get a bit of attention when I finish that run on GREEN Space Marines, are some Hasslefree miniatures that were purchased with Last Days: Zombie Apocalypse in mind.  I suspect Kev sculpted them all as African Americans and I might actually try to do them in an Afro-Caribbean skin tone. Most of my miniatures end up with pink skin purely because that is my usual flesh paint colour. The last time I attempted a darker skin tone was on a set of Buffalo soldiers for some cowboy game. 

The other batch to get a little attention from some spray paint was my Nurgle Kill Team.  These are the mutated crew from the Rogue Trader expansion.

I used a can of the new GW Wraith Bone contrast undercoat on these guys and it went on very well.  I plan to try a few of the new GW contrast paints on these guys.  I suspect that I won’t find it any quicker to paint them up.  I never spend a lot of time on highlights and shading so won’t be saving time that way.  They might offer up a few more colours and some interesting effects to these, well sculpted and nicely detailed, figures though…

Warhammer 40,000 – Finishing Touches

It seems an age since I set up a playing surface in the shed and, while I was out there doing just that for an hour or two last week, I decided that I should really try to finish a small job that had been bugging me for a a little while now.

My last GREEN miniature has a glass sided tank on his back.  I have seen some very nicely painted tanks, throughout the Internet, and all glazed with gloss varnish to give that glass like finish.

Mine is not the most realistic of fluid filled efforts but a gloss coat over the top can’t make it worse…  Can it…

Not to bad…

Catches the light nicely and distracts the eye away from some of the terrible painting on the remainder of the model.  So, please remember…  Just keep looking at the shiny bit…

Warhammer 40,000 – The Death Guard Characters

While I am making a habit of taking useless photographs I thought I should supply you with a useless group shot of the completed characters that will be making their stand in the ‘big game’ we have planned.

These add up to three HQ choices and two Elite choices if you understand the Warhammer 40K system.

My three HQs, the Daemon prince with wings (big bony chap) and the two Plague Casters, provide some much needed punch and can, between them, cast a respectable number of psychic attacks in a turn.

The Foul Blightspawn and the Noxious Blightbringer both have a fairly respectable combat ability but also add a couple of decent buffs to the regular Plague Marines in the force.

Next up Terminators… (when I can build up the desire to paint green Space Marines again)

Warhammer 40,000 – Foul Blightspawn

Some models don’t want to get painted.  I suspect this one was happy in green plastic.  Maybe it thought to itself…  ‘I know, when I grow up, I want to be one of those army men’.

I painted this over two nights with very little enthusiasm and I think it shows in this photo taken mid paint job.

Colours randomly splattered over the original green base coat, with no effort made to ‘colour inside the lines’.  Some details left unpainted because… well hell, the ink wash will bring them out…

I dropped this figure about 20 times during its time on the paint table.

It should be a great figure to paint.  The option for a glass fronted, fluid filled tank. Lots of well defined details and the chance to add a range of colours from outside of the regular Death Guard colour scheme.

I can’t say why it caused me so much trouble.  Maybe it’s time for a night or two off painting green Space Marines. I don’t want to get side tracked by something else so, if it’s a night off, it’s a proper night off.  No shed tonight, let’s just update the blog (and moan about green Space Marines.)

Don’t get me started on the fact that it was slightly late when I finished and even outside, in the fading evening light, I couldn’t get a good clear photo…

Annoyingly, tonight seems just as bad, as the sun is behind me and either casts my shadow on the BBQ or leaves a looooong shadow on the miniature.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again…

Then give up and pour yourself a stiff Vodka and Tonic.  Strong enough for the words to be lubricated enough to flow from your fingers (just like the shadows flow in my photos…)

Warhammer 40,000 – Plague Caster Pete II (Maybe I Need To Think Of Another Name)

Today it’s a story of success, failure and success.

My first success was actually finishing off the next of the miniatures that I wanted to complete. It’s another step closer to completing the force destined to be used in out next ‘big’ game.  It is a second plague caster that, in this case, I decided not to convert. I cannot say that I am a big fan of the modelled smoke effects that GW have started doing in the last few releases.  Last time I chopped it off without a second thought. This time though, instead of hacking it off and replacing it, I decided to see if I could paint it to look almost alright.

It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I had just noticed that, on the original Plague Caster Pete, I had added a Bolt Pistol to his hand when he already had one, sat in its holster, on his hip. (Maybe I should start calling him Two-Guns Pete).

The failure came when I tried to photograph the new model next to the old.  It was just before 10pm and usually the twin bulbs that make up the lighting in the shed can give a good photographic environment for me to use.  The shadow cast by a late setting sun, combined with slightly aged light bulbs, that definitely need changing as they are getting noticeably dusty, left me with less than perfect photos.

Using a flash was no better for getting a good photo. In fact I think they were even worse, so I decided to wait for the next day, and more light, to get better ones…

My final success was these slightly clearer photographs.  Plague Caster Pete and his brother sorcerer Plague Caster… Paul. (Wasn’t there a nursery rhyme with a Peter and a Paul?  I remember something about birds…?)

The smoke effect here has plague flies scattered throughout it and I picked them out in white as the smoke was so dark.  Not a bad effect in the end.  Not completely sold on it but its good enough for a Nurgle Psyker.

That leaves me just five Blight Lord Terminators and one final character model, a Foul Blightspawn, to complete.