Hey everybody!
It’s the fourth week of my painting progress, and I thought I’d do something a little bit extra to mark the end of the first month as well – let’s take a look at what I’ve been up to!
So there hasn’t been an awful lot of movement on the painting front this week either – no surprise, given the essay troubles I’ve had all week! But I’m a little saddened that I seem to have been in a steady decline since the first one of these blogs, which seemed to be really productive! Hopefully that will return now that things have somewhat calmed down with the degree, however.
So the Deathwing Venerable Dreadnought has really come along nicely – he’s been pretty much the only model I’ve been focused on for the week. Last week had seen the windows in the sarcophagus there tinted with Coelia greenshade, and that was about it. This week has seen a myriad of details blocked in and, in parts, finished, too! First of all, the golden trim has been done in Balthasar gold – I’m actually happy with this exactly as it stands, so don’t plan to paint it any more from there. Next, the purity seals have been done in Screamer pink for the wax and Celestra grey for the paper, the latter then tinted with Agrax earthshade. I’m going to put some highlights on the wax, but otherwise they’re also done. Also in Celestra grey was the Dark Angel icon on the top, shaded with Nuln oil and just requiring a drybrush to finish the stone look. The metal bits on both arms were then done in Leadbelcher and washed in Nuln oil, and I’m currently at something of a loss as to how to finish the flamer, but anyway. I’ve also painted some of the tubing in Abaddon black. The plasma gun has got a Balthasar gold barrel, Khorne red casing, and the coils themselves were done in White Scar and layered with a really watered-down Temple Guard blue, much like I’d done two weeks ago for my not-Kurtha Sedd. Not sure if it needs some more yet, but for now, I’m leaving it.
Finally, I’ve painted the base in Martian Ironearth, a technical paint released about a year ago to coincide with the Mechanicum releases. It’s a red version of Agrellan Earth, and dries with that mud-caked appearance that looks pretty cool. I’ve already decided to paint my Ultramarines’ bases with Agrellan Earth, thinking the dull tan colour will complement the blue of the armour, so thought it perfect that a red base will do the same for the cream armour of the Deathwing, while maintaining the cracked effect on the base for my whole Space Marines forces. I think it looks great, but want to go back and pick out some of the details that are on these amazing dreadnought bases – the shell casings, and the skull that I had no idea was actually there until I painted it!
All in all, the dreadnought is well on the way to completion – hopefully next week will see the finished product!
The only other thing I’ve been up to this week has been some small details on these Assault Marines. I think I’ve mentioned these chaps before of course, but they’re very slowly coming together as my fourth company! The aquilas had been painted gold before Christmas, but we’ve not got the jump pack straps painted black, and the sergeant has his red helmet, so they’re starting to feel closer to being “done” than not, too. These were the very first space marine models I’d built, before the benefit of having read the codex, so I built them up to look awesome, not to be playable – I’ve since bought two more boxes of this old-style assault squad (hooray for ebay!) in order to make up enough that they water down some of the more insane load-outs.
Which brings me on to the second part of this!
I’ve been trying to go easy on buying models for a while now, particularly because I’m trying to stick to the new year resolution of being more responsible with money. However, I lose all sense of self-control whenever I walk into a Games Workshop store, and just want all the plastic. So I’ve been trying to hold back, but obviously haven’t managed to do so entirely. Every month, I’m therefore going to just take stock of what I have bought and see if I’ve actually done anything with it – not through any desire to shame myself or anything, but more because I just want the data. I’m a stats-guy in real life, so this kind of thing appeals to me.
So, I bought five kits in January, as you can see above. Of those, three haven’t even been touched – the cellophane has been removed, and that’s where it ends! However, I’ve built up three Electro Priests and five Dwarf Hammerers, the latter have also been painted, and only require basing before they’re done. So there’s something to be said for progress there!
I’m not aware of anything coming on the horizon that I really want, though since the Deathlords faction have made it into Age of Sigmar, I’m thinking I want to get myself a Mortarch. I actually bought that kit when it was released, then didn’t get to do anything with it for so long that I eventually sold it on ebay. It would be nice to get one however, especially now that I’m getting to play Age of Sigmar. So we’ll see about that. But the rumours that point to the Wulfen Space Wolves returning in plastic have no real interest for me, aside from the campaign book that is due alongside them. So I’m hoping that February will be a quiet month that will allow me to get on with just building and painting what I have! But I suppose we’ll see whether that holds true for me in four weeks’ time!
All in all, January has been a fairly productive month. I’ve not actually finished anything, but I have managed to progress quite a few models that had otherwise been languishing since well before Christmas!
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