Tag: Stormcast Eternals

Age of Sigmar: Dominion

The new box set has been previewed! This thing is choc-full of interesting goodies, featuring Stormcast vs a new breed of Orruks, the Kruleboyz. We’re firmly in the realm of beasts, and we have some swanky new Stormcast models, the first (I think) since Soul Wars updated the range a few years ago.

The new Stormcast look like they’re a tougher breed than the wizards we had last time, but this addition has got to be making their battletome really quite bloated. Interesting.

The new Stormcast do look nice, of course, and I really like this character, as I think I have mentioned before:

She looks utterly amazing, don’t you think?

However, these are what has got me most interested in the box. The Kruleboyz have got a cunning look about them, and seem much more intelligent than the regular greenskins. I’m intrigued because it’s always nice to see a new race involved in these games, and there is an element of world-building that will be interesting to explore.

The big hero miniature is quite something, for sure, and I love the dynamism of the pose, with his big battle cat leaping down off the ruin. The draping filth off these things is really evocative of the swamp, and these guys are just brimming with character!

The sorcerer chap looks particularly funky, with his sous-chef assistant there.

There is a very interesting mix of guys, although of course they all follow the established pattern of having some leaders, a heavy group of warriors and a larger mob of more runty chaps.

This doesn’t seem to be all that’s coming though, as we’ve seen previews for a few more units for each force, including a Stormcast chariot (like the olden days! Chariots for all!) and this for the Kruleboyz:

It’s a wonderful piece of artillery, though they’re also getting a very angry troll:

The Mirebrute Troggoth looks wonderful, and I can’t imagine being able to resist this dude when he is released into the wild!

However, I’m finding it very hard to get excited for this box, because of the paragraphs towards the end of the article. It’s up for pre-order in June, but it’s another of these “while stocks last” thing. I don’t understand it. I was able to pick up Soul Wars about six months after the launch, but this is the same language as Indomitus, and that box disappeared at a rate of knots. Given the way things have been with the big boxsets of late, as well, I really have no faith in the Dominion box being any different – it’ll be available for pre-order for maybe 20 minutes, and then it’ll disappear. Which will no doubt make for good reading for the shareholders, but is disappointing because the odds are it won’t be available for the people at whom it’s intended.

But lets not end this on a downer. The new Orruks look wonderful, and it’ll be interesting to see how third edition changes the game – and whether we’re in for any more new races!

Warhammer Fest 2018 News!

Holy Buckets, guys!

I’m still trying to digest the amount of news that happened this weekend around Warhammer 40k, Age of Sigmar, and specialist stuff from Forge World. It’s just too much! Well, is there really such a thing as too much good stuff? Anyway, there was so much awesomeness coming out from Coventry that it’s taken me a while to process.

Where to begin? Well, let’s talk about new Stormcast stuff:

These guys were the bomb for me back when Age of Sigmar launched. True, they were new and shiny and all that, but I had an absolute blast painting up my Stormcast army as Lions of Sigmar, and to this day, I think some of my proudest work can be seen in this very Liberator:

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And here he is, finished! #Warhammer #AgeOfSigmar

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They’ve had more guys over the last few years, for sure, and I can’t say as I was a big fan of the weird lizard-riding Scout-like guys, but now we’re getting Stormcast wizards in bona-fide wizard garb, and I think I love it! I’ve been dormant with Age of Sigmar for a long time now, but I think I may well be tempted to pick some of these chaps up when they arrive. The temptation is real!

Before that, however, it looks like we’re getting some super awesome looking new Nighthaunt models to go alongside Nagash and his Mortarchs, and these are also proving to be a temptation too far! I’m trying to remind myself how fiddly and difficult it was to put those Spirit Hosts together back in the day, but even so, they look beautiful!

That’s not all though, as next month, just three years after the game first launched, we’re getting a 2nd Edition of Age of Sigmar, which sounds like it’s taking on a lot of the fan feedback from these last few years, and could be pretty much amazing! The new edition is coming with gaming aids and objective markers and terrain that sounds very much like the Dark Imperium launch from last year, and it looks as exciting as all hell! I’m still somehow resisting getting myself back into fantasy gaming, as I feel like I’m too heavily invested in 40k at this point, but I’ll certainly be keeping a very close eye on the proceedings!

Moving away from fantasy and Age of Sigmar, let’s take a look at what’s happening in the grim darkness of the far future…

Well, they did say they were starting! This is a preview of the first Sister of Battle model that will be made available as a kind of vanguard for the main releases, and she does look pretty damn awesome. The detailing is incredible, and I love that scenic base! I’m 100% sure that I’ll be picking these girls up to add to my Imperial force once they’re ready. Cannot wait!

I know I can’t not mention this, as so many people are chomping at the bit, but I’m really just not that interested in Titanicus. It looks like it’ll be a fine game, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not that bothered in Knights in general, so can’t say as I’d want to play a game devoted solely to these big guys.

What I am excited for is the next gang for Necromunda, however! I still need to do a blog on this game, but it continues to excite me with every release, and having just picked up my Van Saar pre-order recently, I’m already excitedly looking forward to the Cawdors coming to join the fray! I love how the game has been expanding, and I can’t wait for more!

We’ve also seen the announcement of the next Horus Heresy book, featuring rules for Blood Angels and White Scars among others, and we’re getting a few Alpha Legion models, including the big man himself, who looks awesome, and I’m still seriously considering picking him up soon!

I wasn’t expecting this, however – and I think I’m still pretty amazed at the fact we’re getting a Necron Titan! The thing looks immense, and I’m not sure I have the house room for it, let alone the budget!

I’m trying very hard to resist a lot of these things due to gaming budget, however something that initially passed me by late last week is going to very much be an instant purchase, and that’s the Rogue Trader skirmish game that’s coming out later this year:

I mean, this thing looks just beautiful. I don’t mean the gameplay, I just mean the models. Its subject matter is just so weird and out of left-field, I saw the blurry leak photo and wondered if it’s not just some weird knock-off thing, but it turns out that it’s very real, and it looks incredible!

Those Nurgle beasties could easily be used for Drukhari Grotesques, but I think this is another game that could very easily be kept as a game, something I think is almost a bit weird with a lot of these GW games that aren’t Blood Bowl or Necromunda. I mean, how many people bought Deathwatch: Overkill because they wanted an actual board game? I’m still wondering if there will be a way to use the Rogue Trader part of this force in regular tabletop 40k, and I’m sure the Nurgle stuff will either get rules in the same way, or you’ll be able to use things like the cleaver-guy as a Beast of Nurgle or Herald of Nurgle, or whatever.

But the fact that it’s Rogue Trader says so much about how far GW has come lately. There’s such an air of nostalgia around the products they’re bringing, along with a determination to do their own past justice with stuff like the Genestealer Cults, Necromunda, and now this. It’s not just the fifth or sixth re-release of the same Space Hulk game, but they’re pouring effort into things because, I can only assume, it’s now clear that people actively want to see this stuff, and will buy it up like nobody’s business, and will clamour for more until the cows come home. The Nurgle stuff looks gross, as it should be – some of the models manage to capture the perfect essence of creepy and cartoon grotesque-ness that Nurgle is all about, for me – while the Rogue Trader contingent looks fancy as all hell, and exactly like Rogue Traders should look. Man, it’s making me want to read that Omnibus now!

I’m finding myself genuinely excited about this, and I’m loving the fact that we seem to be getting a regular stream of board games from GW around Christmastime. It’s awesome to see how many games they’re producing now, and I really hope that it’s a success and sees further support down the line!

All quiet…

What a week! Between suffering with a cold, trying to get an essay written for my OU degree, and computer problems from hell, last week was quite the week… But the essay’s in, the cold is gradually leaving me, and so far my laptop has been behaving after a bit of help from a chap called Jeffrey at Microsoft. So there we go!

So, what have I missed?

Well, first things first, my planned game day blog didn’t go out, which is weird. I usually write these things a day or two in advance and schedule them for Tuesday, but something has obviously foiled me on that one! As such, my Dark Eldar learning blog will be coming out this Tuesday, which I suppose is fitting, given my current love affair with the space pirates!

Stormcast Eternals Vanguard Hunters

While we’re getting some wonderful new Eldar miniatures this weekend, it seems like the Stormcasts are back in town, with the new battletome coming out to support the Vanguard Hunters. I was initially planning to get some of the new models when they were first previewed, but now that I’ve seen them – to say nothing of seeing the price! – I’m having second thoughts… £37.50 seems a bit steep for 10 miniatures, and I’m just confused as to why this is happening to the hobby. There’s an excellent theory I subscribe to from Adam at Tabletop Minions about how GW work out their pricing, based on how many boxes of the models they think you’re likely to need for your army. Basic troops are the bulk of the models you’ll be fielding, so they cost less than the fancy troops, of which you might only buy one box. That makes sense to me, but we’re now seeing the Liberators, the tactical marines of the Stormcast line, at £37.50 for a box of ten. You can get tactical marines for £25 on their site, just for comparison’s sake. They were never exactly cheap, at £30 for five, so I suppose this new pricing structure is actually a saving (while a bit of a slap in the face for folks like myself, who spent £60 when they bought two boxes of Liberators in the past). Whereas I was planning to get some of these new dudes to sprinkle some diversity throughout my army, I’m now having serious misgivings about the whole endeavour…

But speaking of Age of Sigmar, I have read the new City of Secrets novella. It took me long enough, considering how short it is! The story is actually quite interesting, if a little join-the-dots Warhammer Fantasy style. We have a conspiracy among the ranks of the city guard of Excelsis, and the plot really kinda weaves through some very standard beats as a lone guardsman teams up with a Witch Hunter, they go to his powerful friend only to discover he has turned traitor, and escape with the help of a flamboyant pirate, before looking to the defense of the city against the hordes of gribblies. It’s pretty standard fayre, but I did find myself enjoying it all the same. Mainly because it feels so much like an old Warhammer Fantasy novel, I suppose. That sort of story has been lacking from GW for far too long, now, and while it was a bit predictable, I think it’s nevertheless an important development for the setting, and I hope we get more stories like these in the future!

I’ve also finished my first unit of Dark Eldar Kabalite Warriors, which has excited me immensely! I say “finished” – the bases still need a little work, but in the main, I’m excited! Back around New Year, I decided that I wanted to set myself the goal of painting one unit per month, as a minimum, and while January didn’t really feel like I’d succeeded – I mean, sure, I painted the Alpha Legion Apothecary, though he was just one dude – I’m now well on the track to success, I feel! Let’s see how many more of these folks I can get painted by the time I write up my February progress blog!!

All that said, I am kinda hoping to take a little step away from Warhammer for the next few weeks. After finishing The Beast Arises, and all the Dark Eldar stuff going on, I do feel a bit like saturation point has been reached. I’m still going to paint and whatnot, of course, but I think I’m going to once more look outwards among my various hobby bits, and see if I can broaden out the content on the blog here.

So stay tuned for that, anyway!!

So much change!

Hey everybody!
It’s another week of Change over at Games Workshop, as we enter the third week of Tzeentch releases for Age of Sigmar! After the human cultists and the beastmen, we’re now in the realm of the daemons, including the previously previewed Lord of Change / Kairos Fateweaver.

Tzeentch Kairos Fateweaver

This week’s releases, while exciting, are predominantly re-packs, however. From what I can tell, we have the new Lord of Change, and the Blue/Brimstone Horrors that we’ve previously seen in Silver Tower, but the rest of the range is the pre-existing stuff from back in the day, such as Flamers, Screamers, and Pink Horrors. Bit of a shame that those two “new” Pink Horrors from the boxed game haven’t made an appearance, but I guess they have to keep something in these boxes to prompt folks to buy them! While I might sound a bit down on the release, I do actually like the fact that they’re slowly getting round to re-packing all of their minis in the new stuff, so we have a more consistent look and all the rest of it.

There’s also a new Start Collecting box for Tzeentch daemons, which is good to see! I’ve been toying with the idea of getting more bits to flesh out my Silver Tower enemies for a while, so it would be a good way to do that!

Stormcast Eternals Lord Aquilor

It looks like this is the end of Tzaanuary now, however, with February once more bringing new Stormcast Eternals to the Mortal Realms. I mentioned these the other day, the so-called Rangers of the Stormcast forces, and we’re seeing some more of these guys now, with another Lord Celestant type miniature, the Lord Aquilor (above). Gryph-hounds have always struck me as a bit silly, and I’ve previously used High Elf lions to replace them with my Lord Castellant, but with this new batch of releases… I don’t know. It looks to be a bigger release than last year’s Extremis Chamber, which only gave us the dracoth riders and the stardrake of course, but so many silly animals have left me feeling a bit disappointed, overall.

Unless I can somehow build that Lord Aquilor to look like he’s riding a Tauntaun. That might do the trick…

I’ve picked up the new Gangs of Commorragh boardgame, and I’m very excited for more Dark Eldar, so expect a first look at that bad boy on this Tuesday’s game day blog!

I must admit, I’ve been really slow with painting stuff so far this year, and the purchases in the above instagram picture are kinda unnecessary really – I still have the first Venom only partly painted, after all! I think moving from weekly to monthly painting update blogs may have been a bad move, but keep your eyes peeled for the January update in the next few days, where I’ll talk about this more. While I may have been slow in getting anywhere with painting them, however, I am still very much enjoying the Dark Eldar miniatures!

Age of Sigmar isn’t the only thing to experience Change at the minute, anyway. I’d like to get a little more philosophical for a moment, as I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of late, as is often the case at the start of a year. In 2017, I’m going to be moving house, and while I’m currently renting the flat I’m in, I’ve decided to actually buy myself a house and move away from where I am currently. Naturally, then, I’ve been looking to downsize a lot of the stuff that I’ve managed to accumulate in the time that I’ve been here, to say nothing of what I’d accumulated prior to that! One of the biggest cuts, therefore, is the boardgames that I’ve amassed.

I’ve been slimming down the collection for a while now, and games that have previously featured here on my game day blogs have since been sold on ebay – who knows, you may be reading this having bought one of them! But while I’ve been doing so fairly infrequently up to this point, I think it’s time to really trim the fat now. While I have no intention of cutting back on game day blogs, as it’s one of my favourite aspects of my blog, I suppose it’s entirely possible that there may be a narrowing of focus as my collection shrinks. After all, pretty much every game day blog features a game that I personally own and have played. I think I might try and do more session report type blogs, though, rather than merely churning out review type blogs all the time, and see if I can mix things up a bit! I’d also like to do more news-y type game day blogs, which I did try towards the back end of last year, but haven’t really done that many since.

At any rate, if you’re a regular reader of this here blog – first of all, thank you very much! But let me know if you have any views on these thoughts, as I’m still very much in the sort of planning stages of everything!

For now, at least, the first look at Gangs of Commorragh will be coming up this week, so it’s not about to change overnight!

Stormcast Eternals Rangers!

Stormcast Eternals Vanguard Hunters

I was not expecting this! I’m a big Stormcast fan (I recently worked out my army is currently over 2000 points of the golden guys), though there is an element of same-ness to a lot of the units. Sure, the weapons might be different, but otherwise, they can be a bit too uniform. The weapons options on these chaps look really interesting – what’s that orb in the hand of the chap top, second from the right? Hm!

We’re also getting a menagerie of gryph-hounds, as well as gryph-chargers, and some stuff called aetherwings. I hope that means we’ll be getting more beastie-riding Stormcast! New battletome is also exciting, though it does make the Stormcast feel a lot like the Space Marines of the Mortal Realms, and I’m not sure it’s a particularly great move. Though I will obviously be buying it!

Three books for one army? Hm.

While I’m not exactly anticipating a whole new change for my army’s direction, I am excited to add a unit or two of these guys to the collection, at any rate!

I just wish they didn’t look quite so Space Wolves-y!

Hobby Progress, week 38

Hey everybody!
I had the week off work this week, and it has been awesome for my hobby-time! Prepare for one of the most exciting and prolific painting progress blogs since I began this series back in January!

Hobby Progress 38

To start with, it’s the Skeleton Warriors that have been featured in previous installments! These are the first Tomb Kings models that I’ve actually managed to finish, and while they won’t be winning any competitions any time soon, I’m really happy with them! That said, they are actually going to form part of my Armies on Parade display – my Stormcast will be invading Khemri/Realm of Death!

I think I’ve mentioned some of it previously, but let’s talk about the scheme in its entirety here – mainly because I’ll probably forget otherwise… So the models were sprayed with Corax White, and the bone shaded with Seraphim Sepia. For the gold, I’ve used Balthasar Gold, shaded with Agrax Earthshade, and drybrushed with the new Skullcrusher Brass. The shields were actually more complicated than I’d expected: painted with Teclis Blue, shaded with Drakenhof Nightshade, and lightly overbrushed with Lothern Blue. I’ve then shaded them again with Agrax Earthshade, then finally overbrushed some Macragge Blue at the top near to the gold trim. The result is almost a blending look, though was arrived at pretty much by accident! The headdresses were painted with Macragge Blue, and shaded with Nuln Oil. All of the spear hafts were painted with Dryad Bark and shaded with Agrax Earthshade, and the spear tips were done with Leadbelcher and shaded with Nuln Oil gloss, which hasn’t ended up with as glossy a look as I was expecting. I kinda like the idea of having a more obsidian look to those, so I might go over them again. The strips of cloth on the standard, and trumpet thing, as well as some of the shields, were basecoated with Rakarth Flesh, and then shaded heavily with Reikland Fleshshade – because I want them to look more akin to flayed flesh than cloth. Finally, the bases were painted with Blackfire Earth, which I’m upset to report my pot has dried out, so I had to mash it up with a lot of water to get it going. I think I’m going to have to invest in some more for all of the Tomb Kings I have, though! Also, the rims were painted with Dawnstone.

Phew!

Hobby Progress 38

I’ve also painted up some more Horus Heresy legionaries, further expanding my Alpha Legion! I’ve actually merely finished them off, as the armour and some of the silver had already been started. But it’s always good to get things actually finished! Following the main scheme for these guys, the skin has caused me a lot of trouble. In the novel Legion, the marines are described as having coppery skin, so I’ve wanted to emulate this, but didn’t really have much of an idea of how to do that. So, I initially painted their heads – lightly – with Balthasar Gold. You know, for literal coppery skin. I then went for a bit of an overbrush technique of Doombull Brown and Wazdakka Red in a roughly 2:1 mix. While this worked wonderfully for the chap on the right, the chap on the left didn’t seem to come out looking that great. So I went to the usual Cadian Fleshtone and lightly brushed that onto the one on the left, making him a bit paler than the other guy. But I guess it all adds for the variety! Again, they’re not going to win any awards up close, but I think they look pretty good when they’re in the middle of the other guys!

Hobby Progress 38

I’m really happy with how my Alpha Legion has been growing so far this year, and while it has been fairly slow to get anywhere, I think that’s the best for me!!

On Wednesday, I gave myself a bit of a painting challenge for the afternoon, seeing how far I could get with the unit of Vanguard Veterans. These are the guys, three of which I’d attempted to paint as Scythes of the Emperor, decided better of it, and stripped them before spraying them with Macragge Blue. At some point in this process, the finish on these models has become a bit rough and uneven, and I’m left with some chaps that are less than ideal, if I’m honest, but seeing as how I actually want my Ultramarines to be 4th company anyway, I’m treating these almost as practice miniatures – their armour is sufficiently detailed that I’m trying to make a good job of them with some different effects or whatever, but I won’t be too torn up if they turn into an absolute mess.

The challenge lasted four and a half hours, anyway, and in that time I think I’ve done a pretty good job on them! I have done more work on them since, of course…

While I’m not sure if I’m calling them finished, I think I’ve done as much on them for now that I can. I’m still not happy with them, and I’ve been thinking a lot about stripping them again if/when I get an ultrasound cleaner, as I expect that would be a much more thorough clean. And speaking of models that I’m also unsatisfied with…

Hobby Progress 38

The five assault terminators that I’d started ages ago! I don’t know what it is, but these models just feel really horrible to paint right now, like the previous layers of paint were applied too thickly. If memory serves, I sprayed these with Macragge Blue and, while the original batch of space marines didn’t seem to be too badly affected, it feels a bit like that has obscured too much detail for me. Again, I’m really not happy with these, and if I do go down the route of an ultrasound cleaner, I’ll be throwing these guys in there as well.

But to finish, I’ve been working on yet more space marines – it’s the second lot of ten from that first batch of marines I built up late last year! Including Captain Ventris and Sergeant Lysane!

Hobby Progress 38

These guys have been a lot better to paint, and over the course of Saturday afternoon, I got them done. The gold bits I’ve done slightly differently to my usual scheme, in that I used Reikland Fleshshade to shade it, rather than Agrax Earthshade, then lightly drybrushed with Golden Griffon. The green trip for 4th company is just three thin coats of Elysian Green, and the bolter casings are done with Abaddon Black and washed with Nuln Oil, as are the silver bits. Ventris’ face has caused me a lot of concern – it’s the usual Citadel scheme of Cadian Fleshtone, Reikland Fleshshade, and Kislev Flesh, but I think that last looks a bit too weird somehow. I’m still learning faces, of course, so I might change this soon. I still want to do something with the power sword, Lysane’s flamer I want to try and do the muzzle burn thing on, and I should probably add some decals to them too, so they’re not quite finished yet, but in the main, they’re done! I think the tactical squad looks great so far, anyway!

Hobby Progress 38

Shamefully, this is the extent of my Ultramarines army right now, also! I do have a lot of half-finished things on the go, of course, but still!

Going back to what I was saying about faces up there, I’ve also been painting a couple of others:

Hobby Progress 38

The two Dark Angels here are probably the easiest to talk about, as their faces are really hidden and stuff, so only the suggestion of skin and they look okay. The Blood Ravens librarian in the centre, however, has been more of a concern because his head is much more prominent! Again, it’s the same scheme as Uriel Ventris described above, as I was doing all of these chaps at the same time, though I’ve also put some Celestra Grey onto his eyes – some figures like the librarian here have more pronounced eye-bumps, while others like the captain actually have pronounced cheekbones, hiding the eyes. For the librarian, I’m going to paint his eyes vaguely glowing, so it isn’t a problem, but I think having the grey there looks a bit weird…

Unless it isn’t obvious, since the last time the librarian appeared in my progress blog, I’ve done a lot of the tan colours on his body – all Zandri Dust, though the tabard and shoulder pad have been shaded Seraphim Sepia, while the purity seals and librarian skulls have been shaded Agrax Earthshade. I’ve also painted his power sword, with a weird mix of Balthasar Gold and Leadbelcher. I basically wanted to see what happens when you mix these two paints, and it looks kinda nice, so I thought, why not?

Finally, I’ve been working on the Knight-Heraldor, who will be joining my Stormcast on the board for Armies on Parade next month!

Hobby Progress 38

He’s pretty easy to paint, actually, for all that he’s a character unit. The armour is Balthasar Gold, shaded with Agrax Earthshade, and drybrushed with Golden Griffon; the silver bits are Leadbelcher, shaded with Nuln Oil, and drybrushed with Necron Compound; the purple bits are Naggaroth Night highlighted with Xereus Purple, and the plume is Celestra Grey shaded with Drakenhof Nightshade. The pennant coming off the trumpet is Thunderhawk Blue, shaded with Drakenhof Nightshade, and lightly drybrushed with Celestra Grey. All I need to do is paint the hilt of the sword, and he’s finished! So that’s been surprisingly easy, anyway – I think it helps I used him to break the monotony of painting so many marines this week, which has certainly helped!

So, all in all, I feel like I’ve made some excellent progress this week!

As I said above, I’m going to abandon those veterans and terminators for the time being, while I figure out whether I want to actually keep them or strip them. It’s currently no great loss, of course, because my Ultramarines are hardly a force that just needed one of those units to tip them over the edge, but still! I think it’s shown me that spraying Macragge Blue might be best left for vehicles or larger things, and otherwise I’m best off just painting it on with a brush.

Getting those five tactical marines finished – pretty much in a day – has got me back in the mood for painting marines. Painting these faces, especially the Deathwatch Librarian, has got me back in the mood for painting more Deathwatch. So maybe next weekend, I’ll have some more of those chaps done! That said, I’m also feeling a bit in the mood for more instant gratification, so I might build some more 30k marines for my Alpha Legion. I really should try to work on my board for Armies on Parade. But all this talk of Genestealer Cults has got me thinking about making a start with those guys, as well! What to do, what to do…

I’ll probably end up painting something completely different to all of that, anyway!!

Hobby Progress, week 34

Hey everybody!
It’s been another pretty exciting week for hobby progress, which is something I haven’t said often enough lately!! Let’s start with the best:

Hobby Progress 34

That’s right, it’s more Deathwatch! After last week‘s armour business, I’ve now done a lot of the details over the week, starting with the silver arms, but then I’d decided I wanted to just focus on the chaplain out at the front there. I based all of the gold barding and details with Retributor Armour, which I’m not the biggest fan of where my Stormcast Eternals are concerned, but with the black here, I have to say, it looks incredible! The gold has then been shaded with Reikland Fleshshade, and a very light coat – almost an overbrush, if I’m honest – with Auric Armour Gold. I think it look amazing, anyway!

Like I said, I was intending to work on just the chaplain model, mainly because I found myself kinda intimidated by the level of detail on these guys, and I was finding it difficult to find a starting place. As it turned out, I’ve had some really bad trouble sleeping this week, so one night I painted all of the gold details on the other six models I’ve somehow chosen to work on (of the ten I currently have built), and have since done all of the silver arms and three guns. There are clearly a lot more details to work my way through, and I have missed a few gold details that will need to be done, but for now, I really love the look of these guys!

I’ve also done the leather pouches (and one of the Ultramarine guys has some pteruges hanging at his waist) with Rhinox Hide, Agrax Earthshade, and Doombull Brown. I’ve mainly been following the GW scheme for these guys, anyway, though I’m sure that, as I make my way through the rest of the details, I’ll be doing my own thing on some of them!

Returning to the chaplain, I’ve also painted his head with essentially a drybrush of Doombull Brown, focusing it around the face for a lighter colour, and I think the effect really looks great. It still needs some more work, but I like it – in painting the armour, I’d gotten some Eshin Grey on his face, which threw it into a really nice relief that eventually made me want to paint him as a black guy. Aside from the fact I feel there isn’t enough ethnic diversity among GW models, it’s also allowed me to work on my brush control as I drybrushed and overbrushed in a very confined space.

Indeed, these Deathwatch marines have been quite the exercise in improving my drybrushing techniques. I’d tried to edge highlight the armour and it didn’t work out on the first couple of miniatures, so I’d used drybrushing there to focus it on the angles, and have basically continued in this vein, trying to really focus my technique and whatnot. While it may or may not be evident from the photo above, I do feel that my technique has improved tremendously, as I’m not just all about trying to get colour onto models anymore, but really taking care over them. I think the fact that black armour will pretty much show any mistakes I make has a role to play here, also…!

So what else has made this an exciting week?

I’ve been building more models, first of all getting the rest of the Blood Angels Death Company models finished. In all honesty, if I’d planned it better I would have done these a few weeks ago, and essentially used them to practice painting black armour, but never mind. They look fantastic, and I’m looking forward to getting round to them. The kit is also replete with Blood Angels stuff, as well as some stuff I think I could use on other things, so stay tuned for some kit-bashing to come from this!

I mentioned a couple of weeks back that I was going to enter Armies on Parade this year, and will be doing so with my Stormcast Eternals. Well, I thought I’ll do at least a few more miniatures for the board, so have finally built up the Knight Heraldor! In addition, I had a box of Liberators that I’d weirdly built one of and left the other four, so have gone for the sword-and-shield guys. I’ve already got one built like this, so thought I’d best make a full squad, but I’m not really relishing the idea of painting four more Sigmarite shields, as the raised boss is not my favourite thing to do! Still, they can look really great when they’re finished, so we’ll see. It’s about six weeks until Parade Day, so hopefully I can get these guys done – my Lions of Sigmar scheme is actually pretty straightforward, when it comes down to it, anyway.

Finally, I’ve stipped the paint from the three Electro Priests that I started at the beginning of the year. I’d primed three with Corax White, and it really didn’t turn out well for me, going on the models all powdery and stuff. I’d tried to paint them anyway, ignoring the cardinal rule of miniatures painting (making sure the model surface is good enough to paint on), and it was really horrible. After having stripped the Vanguard Veterans last week, I threw these three into dettol, along with one of the Necropolis Knight heads, those models also suffering from a bad undercoat, and this time left them overnight. They’ve turned out quite grey, as if the primer hasn’t quite come off, but the surface is smooth now so I’ve accomplished the objective, I feel!

All of the recent builds have been primed this afternoon, so they’re ready for some paint now – again, as mentioned last week, I prime models in my hallway and I think leaving them in the area allows all of the particles in the air to settle on the wet primer, not helping the situation at all. I also mentioned it to the manager at my local GW store, and he suggested holding the can closer to the miniature – I’d been holding it almost two feet away, as I’d heard holding it too close can obscure details etc. So I’ve tried both a closer priming, and moving the models to dry, and I do believe that has done the job for me! Everything I’ve primed now looks pretty great, so that’s going to be really useful in the coming weeks and months as I move on to painting this stuff!

Finally, I’ve spent the afternoon building up more Necron Immortals, while listening to the Tabletop Minions live show that Adam does every other Sunday, and that was really great. If you guys don’t already, I highly recommend checking out that channel and subscribing, as he has a lot of awesome, top-notch content! In fact, in these week’s live show, I even get mentioned! Check it out!

In the coming week, I’m looking to get at least some of these Deathwatch chaps finished, with the chapter insignia and other remaining bits finished, and perhaps get the Stormcast Eternals base-coated, if nothing else. Since I worked out how to use those flat brushes from GW, I’ve been feeling much happier about painting guys in general. I mean, there can be something quite intimidating about having a lot of guys that you need to paint with one colour but the brushes you have aren’t exactly huge. So that’s cool. I’m going to try to focus like this more in the weeks to come, and see if it helps with getting stuff actually finished. I did have success when I was only working on the small numbers of Alpha Legion marines, but have a lot more stuff built up and primed, so we’re really getting into intimidating-territory now!

Hobby Progress, week 26

Week 26 is here, and I’ve been doing a few bits and pieces – finally!

First of all, let’s take a look at the Bloodletters!

Hobby Progress 26

I’ve been working quite a lot on these guys, but you can’t really see any of the results compared with the original picture of them from two weeks ago! I’ve used Carroburg Crimson to shade the recesses, then a light drybrush of both Astorath Red and Kindleflame – however, my Kindleflame has turned into something approximating rubber, so I didn’t really get the effect I wanted. I’m considering doing something with perhaps Troll Slayer Orange instead, but have left off for now.

I got talking with the manager of my local store the other day about these very guys, and he talked about shading them with green rather than red – by this time, I’d already used the Crimson, but I liked the idea of the green contrast, so decided to put some Kabalite Green on them, starting with the fins that run down their spines. That looked really nice, so I went ahead and did a similar thing on the horns – they’re kinda drybrushed, more to “dust” the colour onto the surface, rather than actually pick out details etc. I kinda like it, as it brings me back to when I originally sprayed the minis red but you could still see the black through there, it had a nice visual effect, anyway!

Hobby Progress 26

I’ve also been building more Stormcasts! I’ve had these chaps hanging about for a while, so it’s time to get down to business. I’m still holding off getting the Stardrake itself, but I’ve got a few plans for the dracoths, so looking forward to getting round to them!

We’re halfway through the year now, and to be blunt, I’m nowhere near where I’d hoped to be! I still have so many things hanging about that were still in progress on week one! I have some time off work coming up, so I think I might start making a serious effort to get that stuff finished. It’s been nice to have a variety of projects to work on, of course, but I’d like to be a little further forward with some of them, you know?!

Hopefully, you’ve all been having much better progress in 2016 than I have!

Hobby Progress, week 20

Hey everybody!
Last week was the start of something wonderful for me, clearly, as I began to put base coats on more Stormcast Eternals. For those of you who didn’t click on the link, I painted six Protectors with Balthasar Gold, and pretty much left it there. It was a promising start, but with an essay due at the end of the month, I hadn’t thought I’d be able to get much done this week to report. Well, I was wrong!

Hobby Progress 20

Let’s start with the Protectors. These guys are some of my favourites from the entire Stormcast line released to date. Last week, I’d thought about trying to make them look really ornate and stuff, but decided I didn’t want to make them stand out too much from the other guys I have. The gold armour is the usual thing: Balthasar gold base, washed with Agrax earthshade, then drybrusged with Golden Griffon. For the purple, it’s a basecoat of Naggaroth Night and then a thin, almost-glaze of Xereus purple. I think the official Lions of Sigmar scheme that inspired me initially also calls for Genestealer purple, but I’ve never really wanted to highlight it up that much – I prefer my models to look almost dark, with more realistic highlights provided by the natural light on the model. Anyway! The metal is the usual Leadbelcher/Nuln oil/Runefang steel thing, though I’ve also done a very light drybrush with Liberator gold on the glaives, as I wanted them to appear somewhat special. The haft of their weapons is Screamer pink washed with Agrax earthshade and drybrushed with Pink Horror, and that’s pretty much that!

Hobby Progress 20

I’ve done four more paladins, as well. The base set for Age of Sigmar comes with three Retributors, but the paladins box has enough for five guys, which has always been a bit of an annoyance for me. I’ve previously built up five Decimators, but when I was building the Protectors, I decided I’d make three units of six for the three paladin types. Hence the six Protectors in the first picture, of course. My prime motivation for doing three more Retributors was my second game of Age of Sigmar, in which my Retributors did extremely well. I also thought the Soulstar Mace was a really powerful weapon, so wanted another one!

Hobby Progress 20

My Lord Castellant is still one of my favourite models to work with so far! Unfortunately, I think he’s currently at the very limit of my skills with a paint brush, yet I feel there’s still a lot that could be done to him. However, I feel really pleased with the achievement here. Especially considering I painted him fully built! That lantern has turned out so well! Sometimes I’m overly modest about my work, but I feel really proud of what I’ve done, even though I know it won’t be winning any awards or anything.

The basic armour and stuff is the same as with the other guys. For the tabard and the ribbon that comes off his axe, I painted them Warpfiend grey and washed it Druchii violet, something I’ve previously done with the standing Lord-Celestant. For me, the biggest thing on this guy was his cloak. I just didn’t know what to do with it for days! I’d painted it Celestra grey, but had no idea where to go from there! This morning, however, I took the plunge and washed it with Drakenhof Nightshade. It looks good, and ties in well with the Primes from the various warrior chambers, whose feather crests on their helmets are all done in the same manner.

The lantern is basically Leadbelcher, washed in Nuln oil, the lightning bits done in Retributor armour, and then very lightly drybrushed with Runefang steel. I think it’s quite a simple thing that looks really effective now that it’s finished. Really happy with that, in case you can’t tell!

Hobby Progress 20

Something else I’m really happy about is the completion of these Prosecutors! They’ve been hanging about since September, and despite trying to get them done earlier in the year, I haven’t actually managed it until this week. It’s just those wings, you know? I’ve tried painting the wings first and then the golden bits, the golden bits first and then the wings, but no matter which bit is done first, it always needs to be re-done as I manage to either get blue on the gold, or gold on the blue. Gah! That said, they still look damn sexy as hell when they’re done, and I’m so pleased to have them done. The masochist in me wants to immediately start work on three more, perhaps wielding a grandhammer or grandblade, but I think I’m going to start on something different next…

Hobby Progress 20

Finally, I think my Orruk chap is completed, too! As with the Lord-Castellant, I think he’s as good as my skill can make him right now, so I’m going to leave him there. The bone has been done, just Dawnstone with an Agrax earthshade wash, and the wrappings have been painted in Kislev flesh and a mix of Agrax earthshade and Carroburg crimson – basically, I wanted the wraps to actually be strips of flesh torn from his enemies!

Something I’m particularly excited about with this model is that I’ve used Blood for the Blood God for the first time ever, pooling beneath the severed head. It’s actually a lot different than I thought it would be, and I’m already thinking I might try it on other models. I’m not really one for making my models look dirty and whatnot, I prefer a clean finish, but it might add to some of the scenery or whatever on the base!

Anyway, that’s all the progress for this week! I’m surprised there’s been so much of it, to be honest – particularly seeing as how I’ve also managed to read two books and write a 3000-word essay! I should clearly have time off work more often!

Don’t forget to come back next week, for what I hope will be a really exciting update blog!

Hobby Progress, week 19

It’s week 19 already! This week, I feel like I have a lot more to share with you all, though it isn’t quite up to the standard I’d have liked. But these things happen, and the important thing, for me, is that I’m feeling more positive about the progress I’m making, which is in turn making me want to do more. If that makes sense…

Hobby Progress 19

Firstly, let’s take a look at the Orruk brute I started a week ago. Was it a week ago? Seems longer, but anyway. He’s coming along nicely, thanks mostly to the shade that has been applied. I’m largely sticking to the Ironjawz Painting Guide for Stoneskulls, so have applied seraphim sepia to the armour, and Biel-tan green to the skin. As usual for this stage, it’s begun to bring everything together quite nicely, and I’m actually finding myself wanting to build and paint more, as I think it’s a scheme that will look really nice with a small throng! That’ll have to wait for now, however…

Hobby Progress 19

… because I’m painting Stormcast Eternals again! I’d built these gentlemen up in November, and have only now gotten round to doing anything more with them, which is just shocking! The Protectors are one of my favourites of all the Stormcast Eternals we’ve seen thus far (Prosecutors will always have the top slot for me, but Protectors look really cool as well). While I was putting the gold basecoat on them this morning, I found myself thinking about a kind of background for these guys within my stormhost, and came up with the idea that they’re like the obsessive weapons pros, who think they’re better than the average Liberator because the glaive is more difficult to wield, especially if they’re using it in defense. I want to make them look somehow perfect, with a lot of silver and purple details on the gold armour, to help promote this image of vanity, I think.

And this is something that I love about the hobby – the storytelling! Sure, the miniatures are just bits of plastic that we slap paint on, and the game is a lot of throwing dice around, but the fact that it can be made so much more is of huge appeal to me, and I find that I often start the story when I’m spending all of this time painting the models.

Anyhow, that’s about it for the progress I’ve made this week. I’m off work next week, as I have an essay to write for the degree I’m doing; the essay is due the end of May, so I have about two weeks to get it done, but I may not have much to report next week. I guess we’ll see, though, as I do feel like I may have rediscovered some motivation, at least!