Tick Tock, time has passed me by

What a horribly long absense, and I am sure my post here is just a short return. Work has been wonderfully chaotic as I have gone through some major changes including location and new work team.
My little girl is now a very busy 15 month old and as soon as I get home from work, thats where my attention goes. Of course a person does not want to ignore their better half either, and so as soon as little person is in bed, some time is spent with the wife. Then you suddenly realize there isnt much time left to your evening.
The small amount of hobby time I have managed to squeeze in between life, a new Ipad, friends etc has netted me a couple of things though...

1) I have managed to paint a bit more for my small nurgle demon force. I will be creating a painting guide for them as soon as I have the oppertunity. I have several demons waiting for a spary of primer and these will make perfect candidates for a step by step photo shoot.

2) The release of 40K had me brush some dust off old figures. I was pretty excited (less so now after reading the chaos codex) and wanted to see what I had in the shelves. Turns out I had alot! Almost 160 unassembled Imperial Guard models and a fair bit of chaos marines.
I decided fairly early on that I would revist chaos by getting my guard ready to visit the dark side and the perfect compliment would be a force of Alpha Legion space marines. Models were prepped and painting guides were downloaded, and I did a test model. I will post some pictures of the model, but as it didnt look like the step by step of the guide for some reason, I became a bit less enthusiastic.
As soon as my enthusiasm withered in that direction, I rediscovered some of my old half painted Plague marines. I repainted some of them in browns and not my typical green. I like them and they might prove to be the motivation I need to keep plugging away at this time.

Anyway, less chatter and a few pictures...

Alpha Legion WIP

Rot and nuts

Still plugging away at the rot, and now I am going nuts with work going into full swing once again.

 

Bard 

Plague Bearers x5

The first 5 Plague Bearers are done. There are always things to touch up and things you realize you miss afterwards, but Ill get to them later. For now, enjoy and please feel free to critique/comment. Suggestions often lead to interesting discoveries in painting.
Bard

Unit Champion. It turned out a bit darker from all the washes applied to cover the liquid green stuff patches on the sides.

 

Almost there, almost there...

Plague bearer one is almost done...want to add some reds and purples to the mouth, and rust up the sword, but more or less done. Four seperate angles comming at you.

Bard 

Plague Bearer Progress

Hello again, and welcome back to "Painting models with a proper Primer". Thats right, the models already look so much better than previously, that I didn't wait to compare with the old primer but have stripped the primer and paint from ALL the models.
For those of you that have never tried to strip paint from a model, its fairly easy. Use SIMPLE GREEN! This marvelous product can even be accelerated through the use of an old toothbrush. Most of the models that had only primer on took around 2-3 hours to strip and the ones coated in paint took over night. I am very happy with the results.
So far, 15 of the models have been put together and primed. 12 of those also have a layer of my yellow green. 8 of them have a coating of sepia yellow wash on them. And if a train leaves from NewYork travelling at 60MPH....
Enjoy,
Bard

Close up of a couple of the properly primed "Beauties"

 

White Primer Hates Me

Here I was all excited to start painting! I assembled 10 of the awesome new demons and made some nice bases for them and then primed them with a brand new can of white. Needless to say, after you look at the pictures, you will understand why they are in a vat of "simple green" getting a bath to strip the primer.
Here is what I did to start, and will continue with when I re-start the models with a surefire army painter bone colour primer later this week.

New Bases. A darker stone to contrast with the yellows of the plaguebearers.

More later in the post. Including colour choice pictures and the mounting frustration that comes from trying to paint using a garbage primer. I wonder why so many issues have come from using these primers? Was it too humid? Was this simply another garbage can of primer? If anyone has any ideas i'd love to hear them. 

Preparing the rot

Not sure why, but I am a bit jazzed for the new Nurgle Demons being released by GW later this month. I have a very modest number of the old plague bearers and have never been overly keen on collecting more of the static pose troopers. The new plastics however, have revived a desire to finish up an all Nurgle themed list.

My color test model

Games Workshops new Plastic Plague Bearers

                                       
I am considering a conservative start of 20. It will act as a nice break between undead (which I seem to be burning out on). It would also allow me the chance to play with my airbrush.
Now what else would I need to get a force of 1000 points up and off the ground pronto?

Bard

A finished Dragon Prince...errr Blood Knight

Ok he is done. I am not overly happy about how he looks up close (aka in photographs) but he looks ok in person. The Spray primer has been thrown away as it continued to spray little pebbles of paint on all proceeding tests I did in the backyard.
Next project will be either some grave guard or another bloodknight. I have already trimmed down a few chaos knight helms to fit the look. The leader of the unit will use the helm from the new zombie dragon kit.
I also would like to paint up another of my Dark-Age miniatures, as I wanted to get my war band done this summer.
On a personal note, my family and I just came back from a little holiday. We ended up driving for around 6 hours each way with an 11.5 month old. She was very good, but even so, needed to stop every 45 min to an hour or we didnt hear the end of it. She also experienced her first Zoo while on the trip, and loved the two big Grizzly bears! Stuffed toys come to life??
Hope everyone is having a great summer!
Bard

Blood Knights 1/5 WIP

Having recently painted a Wight King as a gift, I found myself burned out. Not wanting to pursue the hobby to any extent and instead focusing on playing with my daughter and other computer games along with my new IPad. Yesterday I got some motivation back into me and started a Blood Knight. As I refuse to pay $120ish dollars for the official ones (for a box of 5 models WTF!?!) I put together a Dragon Prince and altered him a bit, and am satisfied with the start. I am not happy with the Primer that pebbled my model however. If by the end I am not happy, I may strip the model and start anew.

Cheers, Bard

Browns vs Greens

I tried two different colour schemes on the Wight king's collar piece. I started off with a khaki faded to white followed by a camo green faded to white edges. I think the green offers more contrast with the skull AND gives that clasic paiting useage of three spots of interest for balance.
I'll let you be the judge though.

Wight King WIP 2

A bit more done in between work, company, and family. I have the hood area to do, but this model is starting to get closer to the done stage. I hesitate on the hood though...should I paint it green like the cloak or stick with the beige/brown colour of the under skirt??

Oh, and this little morsel of goodness! Thank you D!

Bard

Wight King WIP

I have been working on a character model for the Vampire Counts army in my spare time this week. (when I am not playing Diablo 3)

 I am going for an eventual "earth tone" look. Things are still in the early stages and are bright and clean...that will change.
Check out the progress.
Bard

Thursday Musings

I don’t know about you, but I had a busy week. A nine month old daughter, visiting family and a hectic work week all added up to one tiered guy. On the bright side I did squeeze in the Avengers with a friend and enjoyed it tremendously! I went in to it with the Hulk being one of my least favorite characters and leaving with the big green guy being one of my favorites. I even felt sorry for several of the baddies that had run ins with him…those had to hurt!!

Crypt Horror 2

The second one is now done. Sorry for the crappy pics. Is it just me or is he purple guy, while the first one was red guy? Maybe I need to colour theme all of them, and then I would have me some power rangers for the undead army!
Bard

Mandible finished

He's finished. I tried something different with the base. Hope it turned out OK.
B

Dark Age Mandible

Mandible WIP. A swamp base is in the works.

Recently, my friend suggested he would enjoy playing a campaign warband based game over the summer. Both of us having once upon a time bought the Dark-Age book, thought it might be fun to re-examine the gaming system. Several new books have come out since I was last looking into playing and painting Dark-Age models, and things have expanded and improved. I am looking forward to collecting a Brood warband and have started with a insectoid looking character known as a Mandible. My 500 point warband will consist of 5 models. MeanJellybean, Mandible, a Pud thrower and 2 sawblades. I am looking forward to breaking up my current undead army push with the odd Dark age miniature.

Bard

40 Down

40 Sword and Board done!
Next:...
Putting together the next 50 spear and sheild (which no doubt will take a good year)
Putting together the next 35 ghouls.
Putting together 60 Mantic Zombies.
Finishing the first 3 Crypt Horrors.

WOW, lots of undead projects on the work table.

Nice and Dirty, marching off to war!



Productive Weekend

I had a great weekend. Got some painting done and found out I hit HOTpanda's Chaos Manifesto top X list. Not sure about the boy singer comparison, but it sure had my wife and I laughing.
Here is a sampling of some of my projects from the weekend.

Dungeons and Dragons undead troll skeleton and a lost legion orc by GW.



More pictures and comments after the page break.
Bard

Ghoul King

I have been painting a Vampire "ghoul king" up for a friend. The model is fantastic apart from the fact that he topples easily. I am going to get some lead fishing weights and hammer them down to fit the inside of the base to steady the model.
Hope you like. (I like the claws alot!)

 Bard

Crypt Horror

Oh the Horror, the Horror!!

Got a test crypt-horror done. I also got a scenic ghoul base done up. My 4th wolf is at 80% completion, and I have to add rust to a whole bunch of things this week. Once I do that I should have another huge chunk of skeletons etc done. (I still need to rust the metals on the ghoul scenic)
Let me know what ya'll think! Critiques and comments please!

Bard

Spring break wolves

Happy Spring Break!
To celebrate the start of spring break I am posting two new wolves that I finished tonight. I am happy with the difference between them and the original wolf. They have also managed to retain the similarities needed to be considered part of the pack.

The major differences with these two wolves is the darker brown (charred brown) that I added as a new interval between the washes and the gray paint. I quite like the look. Let me know what you think.

Bard

Dire Wolf AKA Fenris Wolf Guide

I don’t know about you, but when I picture a dire wolf, it is not as a creature that shambles along, sloughing pieces of itself and fertilizing the landscape. My vision of a dire wolf is that of a sleek and very large canine predator, capable of reducing men to urine soaked pants and tears just as easily as turning them into bloody ribbons upon which the pack will feed. One of the latest incarnations of this comes from the mind of George R.R Martin, in the form of house Stark and their pets, while many years ago my mind brought to life the descriptions found within the odd Dungeon and Dragon monster manual. Or, does anyone remember the reference to a Vulg?

Wolf Inspirations

Ok, trying to get inspired here. I am looking to paint a more realistic wolf than what I have done in the past. Here are a few of the pictures that have me thinking.

 I will be taking pictures as I go in order to keep track of the paints and steps I take. Should have something up by this weekend, and perhaps get a few more of them done the closer we get to spring break.
B

Newly risen

I have managed to clean off the desk a bit this weekend. Enjoy the offerings!

 I am considering removing the horn arm from the musician and replacing it with a weapon. That would then open up the option of adding a champion and a musician from the NEW box set. I really like the banner though...not sure about replacing that one or not.

Vampire counts - Skeleton painting guide

Vampire Counts, Skeleton Painting Guide

By: Blackbard

I have discovered a quick method of painting ranks of skeletal troops for an undead army. I have been told that the models look good, and with a nice base they look great on the table top.

Necromancer

Necromancer done! I bought a Corpse Cart necromancer off a friend a while back, and finally put some time into it this week. A different friend of mine was also painting his necro this week, and it inspired me. Sadly the model had been put together very badly, but glued together very well!! and ALOT of green stuff was needed to even out cloak areas etc. Hopefully it isn't too obvious?? The last thing I worry about is the amount of "dry mud" weathering powder I put onto the cloak. Hope you like.

 Bard

Zombie Ogre #3

Not sure how he came about, but the poor fella looks like he was playing hot potatoe with a grenade and lost. This was a learning experience for me too, as I never usually use this much blood and gore on my models, but I did enjoy adding more blood! More Blood!

I think I will finish basing the regular guys and add a bit of blood to them. I have very close to 50 of the freshly dead for this unit.
Bard

Corpse a la cart

This model has been on my painting table in the half finished stages for a LONG time! I had become frustrated with trying to paint the necro AFTER he was glued in (Mistake) and found basing the model to be problematic as the model was already glued down (Mistake).
Next time I do a Corpse Cart, I will do things seperatly and then glue together.
I got this model done after spending a whole night getting the base done, and by painstakingly seperating the necromancer from his pile of corpses for a paintjob.

 More pictures...
Bard

Spirits

Not much in the way of words... Finished a wraith and banshee. I love the wraith, hate the banshee. Banshee had glue issues and refused to join together properly. Not happy with it, but also not willing to put in any more time to "fix" it. Might buy another and try to put a new one together...will certainly buy a couple more wraiths though!
~White spray / Thraka green wash/ white drybrush highlight for ethereal areas.
~Wraith cloak is Luftwaffe grey, followed by two highlights on edges by adding progressively larger amounts of white, followed by a badab black wash to tie it all together.

Baby Break

Time flies when you’re in a coma. It also seems to pass by VERY quickly when you are trying to be a dad for the first time. My daughter is now 6 months old, which means according to the last post, it has been 4 months since I last posted!! SORRY to anyone who followed the blog!! I have been learning to balance the work component and the home component, while all the time adjusting to a baby’s ever changing schedule and of course, distractions, like new DVD’s, the computer games Star Wars online and Skyrim!! Did I mention computer games? I recommend Skyrim by the way, awesome game!