4/25/14: Finished: Sanctuary 101 Good Games Terrain Set

Hey folks!

Things are starting to wind down as I get ready to move, once again. Durango's been nice, but there's better opportunities for an artist like me in different places. More information as things progress, but I'll be moving to Denver in July, so all my Denver fans, expect to see my goofy mug on the Front Range!

Anyways, been busy getting Good Games ready for Lost Souls. They've commissioned five tables total: A standard grasslands, an icescape, an Armageddon Ash Wastes board, a Moonscape, and this one. I want the terrain to have character and feel to it, like its telling a story as the combatants swirl around it. This time, we opted for Sanctuary 101: the Imperium's first real encounter with the Necrons, an entire shrine world was wiped out mysteriously, as Necrons are want to do. This board was supposed to have some hand-built pieces, but time became a factor, and we couldn't do that, unfortunately.

Anyways, pictures!

The battleboard was done with a mix of Army Painter greys and browns; the main tan color, however, was Krylon Camouflage: Its matte, and comes in a variety of earthy tones perfect for military miniatures!

Cookie to whoever gets the reference :)

Love the bunker kit, it never goes together that well, but it looks great when its all done!

My two favorite pieces. We originally were going to go with the Battlescape and just convert the Rhinos into Sororitas vehicles, but GW discontinued them. They're affixed to the new Quake Craters instead. 

My business card is on the other side, these little billboards were made using said business cards, 4 of the Aquila struts, and 4 steel girders from the CoD kits. You could very easily print off propaganda or paint up a Slurm board to go in there instead.

The table certainly has a desolate sadness to it all. I did the extra little lights on the buildings by airbrushing a quick green onto them to match the glow effect from the skulls on the table.

The Imperium is built on dead Cadians...literally!

Whew! Best part, this table was completed in two days of work. I'm very happy with how it turned out, as were the clients!

Working on some personal projects before I move, but when I get to my summer destination, its time for something...TITANIC! 

Stay tuned!

Granesh

4/14/14: Tzeentch's Trap Good Games Terrain Set

Hey guys!

Been super busy as I start to to pack for my big move! For those of you who don't know, I'm moving from Durango at the end of the month; will be in Gunnison for the summer, then moving up to Denver! Hoping to meet some new gamers and build Smells Like Wargaming up there, so I'll have more information as the time gets closer.

Doesn't mean I'm not busy though! This is the 4th table I've done for Good Games down in Farmington, and we've got one more to do before the 24th...time to break out the hardcore caffeine! This table was a lot of fun to do, I wanted to opt for a more chaotic table on a moonscape; the thought was that a warp portal, leading to Tzeentch's labyrinthine domain, had begun to destroy an old Mechanicum mining facility, which had revealed the Chaotic relics. Enough chatter, pictures!

The hills are made from pink foam solidified with wood glue, covered in playground sand, and sprayed black, grey, then dusted white. I'll be hitting the undersides with purple, to add to the Tzeentchian theme.

The portal was airbrushed to give a better transition between the purple, blue, and reds.

I opted for a rusty orange (I know, rust doesn't exist in a non-oxygen rich environment), it compliments the purple nicely.

The most interesting part is the size of the hills. They count as buildings to climb (4+ you get to the top), and grant cover to lots of bigger models, like the Lord of Skulls here or the new Knight Titans.

Cultists swarm the floating asteroids...

...as Arkos and the Faithless swarm out from the Chaotic portal!

The last thing the AdMech Explorator team saw before being destroyed by the forces of Chaos!

Next up is a quick Dark Angels assembly commission, a C'Tan of galactic proportions, and the fifth table for Good Games! Should be a busy finish to the month, so stay tuned!

Granesh 

12/22/13: Necron C'Tan and Friends Commission WIP

Howdy guys!

So just a quick little post for this fine Sunday morning! I'm headed down to Good Games to pick up some additional product for painting that TERRAIN last week and play some games this afternoon, so I should be back in the studio this evening to wrap up the Necrons.

I just couldn't hold back my excitement here; the pictures aren't great, but I really wanted to share the progress on the Necrons for those of you who don't keep up on Facebook or Twitter (shame on you!)

The C'Tan! I've always wanted to paint this model, so when the opportunity presented itself, I had to jump on it! I wanted to go with an "Emerging from his Essence" look; he is a Star-God, after all! 

I continued the galaxy effect into his shoulders and chest, where the robes meet the body. This model is finished, and if time presents itself, I'll try and do a tutorial on the galaxy effect, I've had a very positive response from the community with it!

Rockin' the waterslides! The Necron Waterslide transfer sheet is just pure awesome, lots of little ones and big ones to customize and really add character to your pieces. I had to opt for the gold, as the black ones wouldn't show up and the green would stand out.

I've dubbed the Destroyer Lord "Mr. Grumpy Destroyer" for shits and giggles; its not my fault he hates everything! Used the gold on the head to denote rank, and did the same galaxy effect on his Resurrection Orb so I could play with it some more.

This picture is a little outdated; right now, the C'tan, the Lord, and the 3 Heavy Destroyers are done, minus their guns. I've got 5 Praetorians to do, and Wave One is complete! Wave Two is 3 characters and 10 immortals, and Wave Three is 2 Doom Scythes, 6 Tomb Blades, and a Triarch Stalker. Stay tuned for these waves in January!

I would have had this commission done yesterday, if I hadn't been so busy with work and getting everything ready for the holidays! I still have gifts to finish up and errands to run, and I have to have these guys done by Monday evening! Whew! Gonna need me a LOT of Monsters!

I will have a blog post up on Monday night or Tuesday morning with the completed commission, so stay tuned for that! Smells Like Wargaming will be out of the studio from the 24th to January 2nd, as I'm visiting family for Xmas and my girlfriend for New Years. I will still have my phone and computer, and so will be on Facebook and Twitter, as well as email, if anyone needs to get a hold of me. Expect a special Year in Review post around New Years; I love looking back on my projects for the year!

Tally ho!

Granesh 

12/15/13: Even More Terrain! Tundra Themed Terrain Set

Howdy folks!

So its a little later than I'd promised, but instead of showing off some WIP shots of the terrain, I decided I'd just blow through it all super quick-like! Really pleased with this project overall, this is a table and a half worth of terrain finished in under two weeks and, personally, I think it looks pretty sexy! Enough jabber, more pictures! And believe me, there's a LOT of them!

First off, the battleboard! The clients wanted a tundra themed set this time; my last terrain sets for Good Games in Farmington were grasslands and generic-themed (Links HERE & HERE!). I themed the set around pg. 23 of the Chaos Space Marines Codex and Abaddon's 7th Black Crusade, where the Despoiler aims to crush the Blood Angels, personally leading a group of Berserkers against Devastator positions. Having a theme in mind really helps keep a terrain set like this in perspective.

The Battleboards and any outdoors piece were primed black. They were then dusted with grey and brown spraypaint to create a subtle blending from frozen earth to snow and back. Finally, the grey areas were sprayed with white to create a windblasted snowscape look. The ice was based a deep blue, then overbrushed with Ice Blue up to a white drybrush. When that was complete, the icy areas were sprayed with gloss varnish to create a sheen. This step was a little haphazard, as it created the effect of snow covering more ice than just what was seen on the surface. Most troubling for the aspiring general...

And with terrain! It really looks complete with a mix of trees, rubble, and buildings!

Citadel Woods; the clients specifically requested no leaves. I don't blame them, just looking at the leaves funny cause them to fall off! I'll have to find a use for all the leftover leaf pieces I have lying around...

Like the other forests, the trees are, in fact, removable for easy gaming!

Ah, the buildings. The commission included an Imperial Sector, so I had some fun with this! I had to do another billboard, so why not throw one of my business cards up, much like I did with theirs last time!

And the back of the billboard! The billboards really help stop crazy advantages with LoS, while at the same time, still remain fun and realistic for the set!

Damn cultists broke all my monitors!

Man that glow! This building could be a speech podium for an Imperial Governor, or a wastewater plant for the local hab-block!

Obviously the remains of the Governor's Quarters; look at all that gold! I've been working on a quick NMM effect for terrain, I may have to share it with you all soon...

Perhaps the Governor's Bodyguard's Quarters, but its hard to tell, its taken too much damage!

As I said, I wanted the set to reflect Abaddon's assault on the Blood Angels on Mackan during his 7th Black Crusade. Having two Blastscapes, I figured I'd aim for a theme and run with it! 

Waterslides and extra care really help to add personality to a terrain piece, so sometimes, its worth spending the same time you'd spend on a regular model on a terrain piece!

*Boo Hiss!* The Black Legion symbol comes from the Chaos Accessory sprue, and helped convey the Chaotic feel without affecting playability!

The Barricades continue the theme; each group has a bike that matches either the Blood Angels or Black Legion! If I do more, I'll throw some other marine chapters in, but we'll see how that turns out.

Arkos and his bodyguard stalk the ruins of Mackan, searching for the Emperor's faithful!

Chosen track their targets with plasma and melta drawn!

Whew! I hope you all enjoy the terrain! If you haven't read my artist's statement (Read it HERE), I like to see the game as a couple hours of immersing yourself in a narrative, a cinematic experience, if you will. Terrain is crucial to this effect, and I love painting terrain sets to complete this goal. I'm hoping to do some more personalized terrain sets with more pink foam and sculpting down the road, so we'll see where that leads!

Alrighty! Next up is the 1st group of a 3 part Necron Commission. Get to paint some really fun models in these groups (C'Tan AND Night Scythes, you say?!), so stay tuned for that next week! I'm going to be out of town from the 15th to the 17th, and will be on holiday from the 24th to the 2nd of January, so there's going to be a bit of a break, but I won't leave you guys hanging; I've got some fun posts planned for the holidays. 

Over and out!

Granesh

12/3/13: Smells Like Wargaming: Good Games Farmington Edition

Howdy folks!

So as I mentioned on Sunday's post, I was heading down to Farmington to pick up a new commission and play some games on the terrain I painted a while ago. I packed up my stuff late Sunday morning, and was on the road about 11. Farmington is about an hour from Durango, but thankfully most of the drive is through desert/rocky hills, so the highway is 75-80 mph the entire way. I used to make the drive to Aztec to play every Saturday, so I'm used to it. After a little navigational problems (blame the captain, not the equipment), I made it down there. I ran into some old friends from the area, and we jumped right into gaming!

My first opponent was an old buddy of mine from when I used to drive to Aztec to play; last time we played, Abaddon and his Plague Marines cleared his Genestealer army from the battlefield. This time, we had Arkos and his Faithless facing down a heavy podding Tyranid army headed by two flying Hive Tyrants. I have to say, I've never had a more anticlimatic game as this one. Let me explain.

Yours truly as I watch two flying Hive Tyrants run up into my grill. I completely forgot the rule that if you have no models on the table any time a game ends, its an auto win for the other guy. Knowing I was about to have 3 wound Lashwhip/Bonesword death drop in on me, I gunned the Hive Tyrants down HARD. Both failed their flight rolls and crashed on my turn one, where the Chosen ripped them apart with Meltas and Plasma. By the end of my turn two, both Tyrants were goopy messes, and I won the game. 

I need to play more often, my knowledge of the rules was a little rusty...

My buddy came down and hung out for a bit as well. I had him snag these pictures for me turning my game. My new Helbrute 'Lernaea' grounded a Tyrant before being ripped apart by Devourers and whatever else Tyrants are armed with.

The other Tyrant is behind the building there on the right. Massed Autogun fire and the Quad-Gun brought him down, where the other squad of Chosen got to clean a melted alien monster off their Rhino after the game. Alpha Legion love their Brill-o Pads!

I played one more game while down there, a two v. two 1000 points a player match between against two Tyranid armies. My friend brought his 40k stuff, but as he's just getting into it, we had to proxy some stuff for him. I wish I'd gotten pictures of the 24kt Dark Vengeance Chosen proxy-as Sniper Scouts! Needless to say, two Doom of Malan'tai make it hard to do anything against the big bugs strolling down the field towards you, and I lost HARD. 

Thanks again to the guys down at Good Games for making me feel like a rockstar while I was down there. There were a lot of positive comments on the terrain, as well as my own pieces. My artistic statement is to create the cinematic element of the game through fully painted pieces and terrain, and, for the first time in a long time, I got to experience that again. Speaking of terrain, though,...

...here's their next wave! Not included is 2 sets of resin barricades, but this should be a quick, fun commission, just like the last one....as long as the weather will cooperate for the next two weeks! Colorado weather in December doesn't lend well to spray-painting. But I digress! They want a taiga-tundra theme on these bad boys, so lots of spray paint and some tricks will get their new set looking sweet and sexy for gaming!

Assembly work has already begun, but if the weather plays nicely tomorrow, expect updates on the Battleboard, as well as the Citadel Woods! Stay tuned folks, I can tell this is gonna be one hell of a terrain set already!

Granesh

12/1/13: Finished: Alpha Legion Helbrute 'Lernaea'

Hey guys!

Happy December! Can't believe we're nearly done with 2013! Got some fun plans coming up in 2014, so stay tuned on the social medias, as well as here!

Its been a strange week! Last week and early this week, my girlfriend was in town, so that's dominated most of my time. I managed to clear my commission schedule though, so after she left, I had a little bit of a dilemma; what do I paint for myself! My Alpha Legion army is a constant WIP army, so I decided to do a little hack-and-slash and get my Helbrute converted and ready for the tabletop!

Here he is, in all his ugly glory! The markings on the base will be explained in the fluff later; I've wanted to go all out on this army, so not only are we going to see fluff, but a fully modelled display board as well!

The skintone on this model was the toughest part. Its a mix of Caliban Green and Pallid Wych Flesh, highlighted up to pure Pallid Wych Flesh. Mixing the color made the project a little tedious, but easily worth it in the end. The color sticks out perfectly and contrasts the dark turquoise of the armor.

Love the head on the model, though if I was going to do another, I'd probably throw a helmet on it. You can also see a minor mess-up on the waterslide transfer in this picture. Even the pros make the occasional mistake!

The detail on Lernaea's right arm plate. I opted for a quick hydra motif; I may go back in and play with it a bit, I'm only partially happy with it so far. Lernaea is the full name of the greek Hydra myth (the Lernaean Hydra fought Hercules, who bested it and completed his 2nd task), and I figured it was rather fitting!

I was aiming to have this bad boy finished by sunday, as I'm driving down to Farmington to pick up a new commission and play some 40k, and really wanted this guy to show off my paintwork. Its gonna be cool, my fully painted group playing on my fully painted terrain. I'll be sure to include some pictures!

Glad to have this project knocked out! I may do another one soon, but we'll see. I own 3 Helbrutes, and this is the only one I've assembled and painted. World Eaters, perhaps? Iron Warriors? Emperor's Children?! Next up is some more terrain for Good Games, the shop I'm visiting today (Wave One HERE), so expect pictures of the terrain again, as well as new pieces! Should have another Battleboard to do in that wave as well! Expecting Necrons and more Khador soon as well, so its going to be a busy December!

Stay tuned!

Granesh