Well, its been slow progress since last time, so not a huge post today.
The smaller creatures are all now done and appear suitably gribbly. Is it normal to develop an itch when playing with so many insects…?
Next batch will be the four little Glitchlings and a the trio of Vox-Shamblers. When they get done its on to the last, and biggest, of the figures.
Remember that Nurgle Killteam that I undercoated in the warm start to the summer. Startlingly it seems to have reached the top of the paint queue faster than a lot of other things…
Coronasan reminded me he had painted all of his Rogue Trader Killteam and would be ready to play the campaign from that game if only I had mine ready to go…
Well, as I wanted to try out more of the contrast paints, and while I was being helpfully badgered to get the crew done, I thought I might as well make a start.
Never one to do things in a sensible fashion, I started with all the smallest and most fiddly stuff. As these Gellerpox Infected guys are all close combat focussed, they are unlikely to be too effective in our normal games. They will make great choices, however, for a range of other games we play in the shed.
First up the Cursemites. Gotta love a few giant, mutant fleas.
Continuing the insect theme we also have some Eyestinger Swarms. Available in a number of sizes ranging from tiny fly swarm, too big, bulbous and buzzing.
As I was getting all the creatures done in one batch the wonderfully named Sludge-Grubs would also need to get done.
This lot have been treated to a small range of contrast paints, a selection of technical paints, along with my usual red, yellow and green, Smartie like, spot treatments (do they do Smarties abroad? Should that be M and Ms for all the non-Brits?).
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.
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.
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.
Last weekend Coronasan and I finally managed to get together for a ‘proper’ game of toy soldiers.
Coronasan has been working hard to get a 6’x4′ gaming table together that is constructed from all of the MDF kits he has designed.
Pringle towers, Pringleless towers, Square towers and base boards, along with a whole heap of scatter terrain and even a dice tower. Add in the large transporter, that he finished earlier this year, and you have a remarkable and hugely enjoyable table.
Even his Forgeworld Flyer came down off the shelf for this game.
When it’s all laid out this way, it’s enough to make a real impact.
It wasn’t too long though, before he took my mind off the scenery, by deploying a large unit of Grey Knight Terminators. My focus was quickly back on the game as, although my Death Guard are quite resilient, those guys throw out a lot of damage…
My proxy Plague Hulk had to climb its way across most of the table, ever hopeful that an enemy would come into its sights, and into range of its great iron claw.
My right was well protected by these three guys. Between them, they actually managed to clear away all of the first deployment of enemy units, before taking fire from Coronasan’s reinforcements.
The bulk of my basic troopers, along with their support units, had a long, slow trudge across the table though. They don’t run awfully fast with rotten limbs and blubber lolling all over the place.
One cinematic moment was Coronasan’s veteran jump troopers slowly rolling up my centre before being probed to death by my Greater Blight Drone.
In the end it was down to victory points, and I came out on top, although I had lost plenty of my own forces by that time. My new Death Guard Terminators finally showed up near the end of the game, and managed to push back at the enemy, clearing away most of the final Imperial Resistance.
Final thought for the game… Coronasan and I still, even after this many games, fail to remember the myriad of special rules for each of our armies. Dementia or a boyish excitement that leaves us forgetting everything in our rush to enjoy the moment?
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…
WARNING: lots of very similar pictures…
The Pringle Tower. Made from a Pringles crisp tube and some MDF. A perfectly simple idea that can become a piece of scenery quickly and easily. Coronasan has designed a whole range of Industrial Scenery around this humble crisp tube and expanded that range to include walkways, landing pads and even lighting options for the more technically minded.
Mine is a basic, early production prototype. It went through a few basic design changes before the final design was settled upon. Mine has all the basic parts of the final design, but the final kit comes with more guard rails and a couple of terminal points that can be fitted to the central column.
Designed with 28mm miniatures in mind (are GW still claiming their stuff is 28mm these days or is it more 30mm or even 32mm now?). The floor plans can fit base sizes up to 40mm without too much trouble.
And there is plenty of room up top for objectives to be fought over.
Even my new Death Guard Helbrute can fit on the ledges, although you might argue he would have trouble getting through those hatches…
All in all, a nice simple kit that I should be able to weather up and fit in with my, slowly growing, collection of Sci-Fi scenery.
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…
Last time on the blog I had mentioned I was out in the shed, setting up a playing surface for an up-coming game. I also said it took me an hour or two to do all this. In reality the table setup was just a half hour of rummaging in boxes and laying out a mat.
The remainder of the time was spent finishing off some neglected items that could then be used without too much personal embarrassment that they were still only half finished.
One feature of this table setup will be a landing pad (using my new plaza street blocks and stairs) with a flyer upon it. Said flyer is a Forgeworld Vulture that I originally owned about 8 years ago… Said flyer has just returned home as the lovely Veganman has been having a clearcut, and offered to sell it back to me. I suspect I may have mentioned to him, more than once, that I should never have sold in the first instance. It’s nice to have it back in the collection.
The majority of the setup time was spent on the addition of a little flock and paint to these Martian Base Entrances. They have been sat in their silver base colour for longer than I would like to admit, so it is nice that I can actually use them now.
A couple of control panels cover a hole that was for a post box that I chose to use elsewhere.
These are from Antenocitis Workshop and come with little printed screens that can be added to the resin casting. Nice easy touches that can be added to any wall, or entranceway, in this case…
An Archive For The Steinberg Shed Space Blog 