Blood Angels paint scheme sorted out + New HQ unit

Today is just a short and simple update- I tend to carry on way too much in general...

With my Blood Angels I've started work on a new scheme that only uses the current range of GW paints, with no reliance on older colours. Woe betide the painter who gets halfway through an army and runs out of their core colour...

The following is a sequence of shots of a Tactical Marine I had lying around in black undercoat. I was originally going to buy an army painter spray and work with that, but now im thinking that I can get this to work instead, and to be honest i'd prefer not having to go back and black out all the weapons on 30+ assault marines...

So, here we go: 

(Please note- the mini below isnt actually shiny- although in some shots it appears to be- its just that my white-light source is fairly close so it reflects a bit)

Mephiston Red base coat- two lightly watered down coats (basically just pre-wet the brush). Goes on super smooth, especially when compared to old Mechrite Red.

Apply a heavy-ish coat of Carroburg Crimson shade (wash).

Reapply a coat (or two) of Mephiston Red, avoiding the recessed areas.

Apply two thinned down coats of Evil Sunz Scarlet on all the major sections of armour, leaving sections of shading and darker red at joints and hard edges. 

Add this stage I add a highlight of Fire Dragon's Bright, which is a thin colour and gives a orange/peachy type highlight colour. And most importantly- two coats of Bloodletter (Glaze)- this smooths out the transitions between  all the previous steps as well as bringing the hue up to a richer red more in keeping with the boys from Baal.

Final step is to revisit the Dragon's Bright Orange highlights, and i've (roughly) painted in the eyes, armour joints etc for some more detail. But all in all, this is my Blood Angels will be painted. And all with straight-from-the-pot new colours, no mixing for me :)

Oh, and here's my next challenge- My new HQ unit- a 'Space Hulk' Librarian in Terminator Armour. I've removed his Stormbolter and given him a Storm Shield for some big time defensive ability. I've also freed him from his standard 'base', save a section of the step/pedestal under his back foot- this will be suitably disguised to blend into his new base (and more on that soon). 




Gah! The red, it hurts my eyes!


So that's all for now guys, hope you like.

Comments and feedback are always welcome!

Cheers,
Tempest

Farewell Orks, Hello more Blood Angels...

It was with a relatively sad feeling today that I handed my Orks over to their new owner, Colin, who had agreed to take them off my hands.  I was extremely driven to collect everything for the army that I felt I needed with the eventual list being pushed towards a Deathskull 'Big Mek' type rabble centred around a Kan Wall core, and in the half dozen games I played with it I was able to pull of some pretty convincing wins- in 5th this army was designed to chew up power armour which it never failed to do. So why sell it after all that?

Simple- I'd never finish them. With a new baby free time can be hard to come by at the best of times, and although I still have my Dark Angels to complete I'd decided that a close-combat oriented power-armour list was the thing for me, hence moving my focus to the Blood Angels. With the remaining funds I have from the Ork army sale I could go huge and buy everything I want but I'm going to try some restraint this time- I've purchased a 'core' of troops and a second Stormraven, and will work on it from there. The only other purchases remaining for the time being is a close combat Terminator unit and a Librarian as my HQ. This gives me a decent sized yet realistically achievable goal for painting and modelling in the months leading up to ANUCON (1500pts) and CANCON (expecting 1850pts).

Recent purchase just arrived- some Forgeworld Blood Angel Terminator shoulder pads. Love the detail, i've never bought anything from FW before but I can see why people like it so much.

So whilst the Orks are gone Colin is one of my gaming buddies, so i'll see the Deathskulls around for sure, and I'm sure I can get a lend if I ever feel the need to step away from the Imperium for a game or two. Although, having built that army I'm not sure about how I feel facing it across a table... at least I know where the weak points are! I hope they serve you well Colin, they are great fun to play!

Got half of the small bases painted up recently and I even glued on the tufts of desert grass/plants, the effect is awesome, better than I ever expected. Whilst the one previous 'test' base was painted with older colours the new ones are all done in the new range, and to be honest there is no perceptible difference. Had to be sure though, didn't want to run dry on a colour and then have to scrap or re-do all the bases, that would suck! I was mighty pleased to find that Gryphonne Sepia's replacement, Seraphim Sepia, is identical. Love me some sepia wash... whoops, I mean 'Shade'. I'm yet to paint the black around the sides of the bases, but thats a minor job for later.

 

 On a final note, one of my minis (Terminator Chaplain from my Sig/Avatar) is up on Facebook at the moment in an online comp, if you are feeling charitable I'd appreciate you 'liking' the picture- the more likes the better chance of me winning! To view the picture please follow the following link:

Slave To Painting- Painting Comp           

This guy here- he's awesome, vote for him!!

Thats all for today, thanks for stopping in for a look :)
Andrew

Blood Angels- Desert Bases

Got my shipment of resin desert bases in the mail the other day, all 45 of them (5 terminator bases, 40 stnadard size), and spent a lazy afternoon cutting off the excess flash and cleaning off the mold release stuff with a toothbrush and warm soapy water. About ten of them were a bit rough, in that some lumps of resin were actually found down on the base edges, but this was rectified with a sharp blade and some light sanding, and once sorted out I hit them with some black undercoat.

So with this new project i'm planning to only use "new" paint colours or those that are perfectly compatible with the older colours, but I still decided that a test scheme was in order. I took one base and layered on some Iyanden Darksun (foundation), followed with a Gryphonne Sepia wash, I then lightly brushed the Iyanden back on and finally a bleached bone drybrush. This was then finished with a glued on tuft of scorched brown static grass which I think works well. I was originally going to try finding a dark orange 'dead' static grass, but this looks more more pleasing and realistic. Still undecided on the colour for the base edges- I gave it a quick hit with black, but might change it to a dark brown instead??

Today's task is to hit up the local hobby shop for some 'new' versions of the colours above, paint up another base and compare them side by side. Im not expecting much difference, if any.

So all I'm doing now is waiting for my Blood Angels to arrive from the states... not much longer now... I hope. Will be cool to have all the bases done and waiting for the minis, I think it'll help me focus on getting them painted up properly- painted minis on bare black bases looks acceptible, but unpainted/part painted minis on completed detailed resin bases would look a bit silly I reckon.

One down, 44 to go.

Blood Angels and urban city board progress

Once again, another shift around from one army to the next.... everyone must be getting sick of the lack of consistency between the posts. Sorry, I'm a tad OCD and I kinda flit around from one thing to the next depending on what random ideas are going on in my head... current thoughts have been revolving around ANUCON which looks like being on in mid October, giving my 3 and a bit months to build a new army, paint it up (well, kinda) and get my head around 6th Ed. 

The Orks and Dark Angels got their last 5th edition swings in at Final Fifth, and its now time for me to start some serious work on some Blood Angels so the other armies are back on the shelf for the time being. The Orks had given me a thirst for close combat so the Sons of Sanguinius are definitely going to help me scratch that itch.

In order to get the Blood Angels moving I decided it was time to sell off a couple of my remote control cars as well- another of my hobbies, but unfortunately one that I haven't had anything to do with for at least 5 years. There just  wasn't enough time anymore for racing, drift meetups or even zooming round the street, and the replacement and upkeep on parts can get a bit prohibitive. However, as sad I am to see them go its very much outweighed by the fact that I can use their sale to fund my other hobbies, namely my 40K armies- with a young family and a mortgage there is generally minimal funds for things like this so I figure sell my old toys to fund my new toys and there's no impact on 'normal' finances.

The plan at current is to take the units I already have (one Stormraven definately, Sanguinary Guard... maybe) and then sort through my recent Blood Angel purchases- I went and bought a load of stuff from a place in the USA (via eBay), and the cost is around 50-55% of normal RRP. I've got 20 Assault Marines (4 boxes), 10 Death Company (2 boxes) and a squad of Close-Combat Terminators all en-route...  I also just recently got hold of some desert-themed (ie Baal) resin bases for the whole army and some Forgeworld BA shoulderpads for my Terminators.

Also trying to track down a Terminator Librarian from Space Hulk, i'll be giving him a Storm Shield as well for some phenomenal survivability and he'll be great for squad-buffing with his powers (giving Preferred Enemy to thunder hammer/stormshield terminators? WIN). Although at current most online sellers want AU$35 plus postage!!!, and I refuse to pay that for one plastic single mini (especially considering that my Termies cost me $46 landed here!).

So far I've laid down the final coat of red on my first Stormraven, painted up (most of) the cockpit details and have started on the turret servitor and the pilot, and its all coming along nicely. The Mephiston Red really starts to look really fine on the third thin coat and the smoothness of the paint is great, none of the grainyness of the old Foundations. I've also picked up a pot of Ceramite White for use on the wings of the chapter symbols on the hull/tail, as well as for some freehand stuff if time allows... maybe not before Cancon though- which, i'm now happy to say i'll be attending! Was going to be in Adelaide, but thats now been pushed back to the following week. Happyness :)

 
 

Might have two Stormravens for ANUCON, although it could be tricky with transporting units in due to the new deployment rules (only up to half your units can be kept in reserve- ignoring flyers/models that have to start reserved), so i'll be juggling a few lists and getting some playtesting in before mid-October, and also to get my head around the new rules. I've read the rulebook twice now, might be time for an actual 6th Ed game??

Also- i've finished the base layers of paint on 4 of my modular city boards, the recessed roads have a dark grey and the rest is a middle grey- starting to look something like a piece of city now. I'm planning on a few more coats on the road for durability as well as a couple more greys on top of varying lighter shades, and will eventually top it off with some drawn on details, such as drains, gutters and some intersecting lines on the raised areas to look like slabs of concrete (or the 40K equivalent at least). Will then seal the lot with some matte spray varnish- Testors or Tamiya most likely. Here's a couple of pics- sorry for the quality, the light in my room is fairly poor.

 



Four down, four to go.

 



This piece will become a set of 'Gothic Traffic Lights'  



   

 


Baneblade patrolling the streets

  
 



Landing Pad looks right at home now

 















Despoil This: Abbadon gets some colour

Abbadon WIP

Very quick update today- Abbadon was in dire need of some paint before the weekend, as Ash is also attending the "Final Fifth" tourney at Goodgames and will be using him. So, with some spare time in between painting Orks i managed to lay down some basic colours as well as getting his sword blade pretty much done. The photo didnt turn out exactly how he looks, there's a lot more "pop" in RL compared to the pic but its fairly representative of where Im at. The trim is all Burnished Gold, with a Devlan Mud Wash, with a few bits picked out in Boltgun metal that are washed with Badab Black. I did his face in one of the whitey stone colour Foundations (cant remember the name?) with a wash of Gryphonne Sepia followed by selective applications of Devlan and Badab to provide shading and depth here and there. Pretty happy so far. Hoping that he'll be able to crush some mortals come Saturday, as his last outing was the 40,000pt Apocalypse last year where he really didnt get to do anything.



Eeeeeeevill!!!!

   

Fifth Edition- the Final Hurrah + more Ork stuff

So today i'm going to rattle on about something that the rest of the 40K community is no doubt talking about themselves, the imminent release of 6th Edition. Its now been announced that the release date for this latest incarnation will be the 30th of June, with pre-orders having started yesterday (23rd) for most of the bits and pieces- normal rulebooks, collectors and gamers editions, and all the new tape measures, dice, psychic cards etc... all in all, its going to be a huge launch.

So what of the game itself? Well its interesting to see that a lot of the rumours were true, or at least partially true. Here's a small selection of the things i'm most looking forward to.

1. Close combat weapons now have an AP value. This is awesome. Ease of wounding is still handled by the strength of the attacker, but actually defeating armour is based on what is in their hands, as before, but- there is no on/off switch like the old power weapon rule. And if the rumours are true, power axes/ swords are AP3, and Powerfist/Klaws etc are AP2, meaning that whilst powerweapons are still around they represent the top of a scale that winds all the way back to AP6, though every CC weapon in the game. I'll be very interested to see what AP they give to Chainswords and Uge Choppas for my Dark Angel and ORk armies respectively. Oh, and i'm seeing Terminator survivability in close combat becoming pretty impressive against some armies.
2. Grenades are now thrown (or can be, as well as as CC against vehicles /entering combat?) This one harks back to 2nd edition, where the grenades had some of the wildest effects imaginable- I vividly recall the crazy results that Hallucinogen grenades used to inflict on my foes, or the smoke, plasma or blind grenades.. Whilst I'm not expecting the return of all these different grenade types, what I'm hearing is a return to offensive use of the humble hand grenade. Hey, if you can shoot em from a grenade launcher, you should be able to throw them at a target as well.
3. Wounds from shooting being taken from the front back. Thank you! One for realism- hit by a torrent of firepower, your troops at the front take the brunt of the attack. This is how it happens in real life!! No idea on whether the special, heavies or sgts (etc) fare, as normally these guys miraculously survive (or it represents their companions picking up their wargear?) with generic plebs taking the hits.And the general removal of the whole wound allocation shenangigans is a breath of fresh air, does one guy holding a different weapon to his teammate next to him make him more/less susceptible to being removed as a casualty? No, it does, and never should have. So chalk one up for a sense of 'realism' (if you can apply that to a game set 38,000 years in the future).
4. Psychic powers on the comeback!! To be honest, unless you've played Fantasy or can remember 2nd edition you may not really understand until the new edition hits. Psychic powers are some of the most fun elements to use on the battlefields of the future, and adds another element to the game. 5th edition kind of dulled it down to 'supporting powers' and 'shooting powers', but im hopeful of some more enviroment/game changing effects.
5. Psychology. Word on the street is that Terror (and maybe Fear?) are coming back, meaning certain actions against a Terror/Fear causing unit can only be accomplished after a succesful Ld test. Again, really really good. Guardsmen (or anyone else TBH) should not  be able to assault a Bloodthirster without some apprehension and the possibility of standing around wetting themselves. Prior editions only had you test after you lost combat, now the door swings both ways (again).

And thats all I can really think of just now for 6th Ed. Wont go into any negatives, as I have no real gripes so far, and its not really my style. If you want to go see what all the ranting is about, try any of the major 40K forums :)

Moar Dakka!!!

Its been a busy week for me here, with some illness and late nights with the baby, as well as some very slow/delayed progress on my Orks. I've now completed my Deff Dread build, and was able to set the bottom arm mounts up with magnets, so i can swap the weapons out as needed. For now its running with an extra CCW (3 total) and a Skorcha (heavy flamer). I've only just been able to start throwing some base colours and check patterns on, and TBH i think this is how it'll stay for a while.

Conversely, i've finished the construction of a second Rokkit-equipped Buggy/Trakk, once again piloted by a Rokkit-boy with a packpack full of ammo. I've almost got enough spare parts kicking around for a third, except i need another 6 tank wheels- a full 'skwadron' of three is my goal.  For now these guys are running basic colours, and the drivers havent been painted up yet- they're just blu-tacked in place.

      
And i've also gotten round to adding magnets to all my Ork infantry- they can now be transported quickly and safely on a metal serving or baking tray, instead of jumble up in a box like they've had to endure previously. This took quite a while to do, as I had to cut small sqaures of plasticard (about 1.5mm thick) to space the magnets close enough to the bottom of the base so they'd grab solidly. Im pretty impressed at how strong they are, none of them move at all, even with the tray inverted or hanging sideways. Eventually all the Orks will be magnetised, and i'll move them around on a custom built wooden carrier tray, using a 1mm sheetmetal surface, but this will do for now.

Next up will be a small Bat-rep from a 'Final Fifth' tourney on the 30th at one of the LGS's, which will be my last game of 5th edition- its 4 games at 1200pts, with the emphasis on fun, i'm really looking forward to it. I've also pre-paid for my copy of the 6th edition rulebook, which i'm picking up there as well. All in all, its gonna be a very exciting weekend!!

Cheers,
Tempest

Babies, Birthday presents and Boyz

Hey everyone! My first post in almost a month, it feels like forever- i've been off looking after my daughter, who was born on the 2nd May. Honestly, she's the best thing ever, I absolutely adore her! Sleep can be hard to come by, and its all a bit of a learning curve, but hey that's what we signed up for! So the updates may be a bit more sporadic compared to before, but I'll keep moving forward with everything.

Moving along to the hobby side of things- I've learned to paint in the small windows of opportunity that are given to me in between changing nappies/clothes and other baby tasks, and to be honest I think I'm getting quicker at painting.

Ulrik The Slayer- James' B'day present

I picked up Ulrik earlier in the year from an eBay seller, with the intent of rejuvenating him as a birthday present for my mate James as he has a Space Wolf army and also as something a bit different to try. This is the 'mystery guest' i hinted at a while ago. When I received the mini I found that the prior paint-job was extremely thick- most of the detail was obscured with a black/grey/gold scheme from a long time ago. Ulrik took a bath in the Simple Green for a while before being rinsed off and then had his mold lines cleaned up. I then spray undercoated him black and over the last few nights I gave him this quasi-retro paintjob. Its about 50% faithful to the GW 'Eavy Metal incarnation and the other half is what i wanted to try. For example, his grenade is painted green- the majority of 2nd edition marines had green grenades, and he's a 40k 2nd edition mini ('94 or '95 i think?) so thats what he got.


Although I gave him some shiny armour highlights and a glow for his Plas pistol I tried to limit his colour palette and use washes for the gold and the helmet and skulls as James' own army is done with a limited palette (which looks really good!) and I wanted him to tie in with them- this is also why his base isn't done as James is yet to decide on how to base his army.

So anyways, happy (belated) birthday mate, I hope to see Ulrik across the tabletop sometime soon...









Ork Rokkit Wartrakk/Buggy!!

As is the case from time to time, I stumble across some inspiring Ork scratchbuilds on the net, but I've never been taken with a mini quite like this. Its one guy's take on the Wartrakk/buggy from the PC game "Dawn of War", and the instructions for building it can be found at the following link: Irondog Studios- Wartrakk Tutorial. I'd also recommend that you check the rest of the website out, there is some unreal projects and commission works that really fire off the imagination.

Its actually quite simple to construct, provided you've got the parts and some patience, but the results are awesome. My first assembled trakk here is going to have a rokkit boy driver- he reloads the rokkits from his backpack supply- and I feel its a decent use for the three rokkit boyz I bought recently- I could pay the 16pts for a boy with Rokkit Launcha in an Ork Mob, and he may never get close enough to a viable target, however for 40pts I get a rokkit equipped buggy which is a fast vehicle, the rokkits are twinlinked and as a vehicle its fearless. I think a skwadron of 3 for 120pts is great- cheaper than the 45pts for a similarly armed Deffkopta (although I'll most likely run a few of these as well in the same list). I also have the option of giving them the "wartrakk" option which limits them to 12" only but allows for re-rolls on failed terrain tests- I'll possibly use this for city/urban games. These guys will be tasked with popping transports, hitting enemy MCs, or swoop in to contest objectives on the last turn, whereas the Koptas will be used more to alpha-strike or tie up heavy weapons squads.
 
Progress on "Da Ladz"

In the small windows of opportunity I get some days I've been getting some painting done on my Deathskull Boyz. I was always resigned to the fact that I wasnt going to make it to Wintercon this year due to my Daughter's birth as well as my Orks not being painted enough. However I'm thinking that ANUCON in mid-late October will be achievable, being that its 4 and a half months away and only 1500pts (compared to Wintercon's 1850). While 350 points isnt much, consider that my 30strong boyz mobs only come to 245pts- 350pts is a huge amount where horde armies are concerned.

So this is where I stand so far- 16 boyz done (a few need some washes and small details done), from a total of 60 for the two mobz- at least I'm now over a quarter done. Once these guys are sorted I then have 9 Killa Kans to complete as well as a Deffdread (who is currently en-route from the USA), 2 Deffkoptas, a KFF Big Mek and a full 15 Burna Boyz. So I've got a fairly busy 4 months ahead of me...