8/7/14: Finished: Knights of La Mancha House Raven Commission

Howdy folks!

First off, I apologize for the lack of updates the last couple of weeks. I've just completed my big move, and am now located in Denver! I've been checking out a couple of stores in the area too, so be sure to drop me a line if anyone wants a game, to chat, or get a commission done!

I've been working my butt off too! Just got internet back yesterday, so I've got a HUGE backlog of pictures to post! Lets start with the most recent one though; a duo of Knight Titans, House Raven scheme, with a modified theme around Cervantes' literary work 'Don Quixote'. Enough blather though, lets jump right to pictures!

The heroic duo!

The first is 'Quixote'; he was supplied assembled, so the only things magnetized are the feet to the base.

His heraldry is a Necron Powermill, which was freehanded onto his tilting plate and his shoulderpad.

The Necron theme also continues onto his base!

The second knight is 'Cervantes'; I opted to run his name down the length of his carapace, rather than the front, due to spacing issues.

His heraldry is a chalice made from the converted heraldry of House Raven, full of blood to represent the lives he's responsible for protecting.

Both knights have a little extra detail on the back of their tabards for that extra touch!

And the bases! You can see the simplicity of the magnets to hold everything in place! The client also wanted dinosaur skulls on the bases; a throwback to their fluff in Rogue Trader as essentially giant herders of livestock!

Quick, easy, and looking good!

Lots of fun with this commission, the knights have been rolling in! I've got another to show off tomorrow, as well a trio coming soon and a Knight Lancer and bodyguard to accompany the Legio Titanicus commission I did back in May. Getting a lot of work done on the Nurgle Daemons too I need to show off, so be sure to stay tuned, there's a lot coming down the pipeline!

Granesh

7/20/14: Finished: Eldar Wraithknight Trio

Howdy folks!

I didn't get a chance to share my new Nurgle projects this week, but fret not! I'll get a post up on them next week at some point, I promise! In return, though, I blew through the latest commission to cross the painting desk and, boy, is this one a doozy! I've never had the misfortune to play against a Wraithknight (Toughness 8 and 6 Wounds?! Really?!), but I can't imagine playing against THREE! My Alpha Legion army wouldn't have a good answer for it, my old Guard would have had some issues, and my newest Nurgle force would still have their work cut out for them! Ahem...but I digress....enough chitchat, pictures!

The dirty trio in all their glory! The client has a deck-of-cards theme to his army; lots of harlequins with off-white, red, and black motifs. I was able to work this into each Knight by subtly theming each one to a suite; Diamond, Spade, and Hearts. 

As you can see, every option is magnetized. Wanna go crazy and run three Ghostglaive/Scattershield Wraithknights?! Go for it! Suncannons all around? Of course! All the magnets are consistent across all three models, so no need to keep track of each set either!

A shot of the bases before the Wraithknights were attached. My client's main opponent is a Children of Torment army (Slaanesh Black Legion), so he wanted them scattered across his bases.

'Diamonds' in all his badass glory! 

There's a gentle reflection effect done on his faceplate, and his pose, like all of them, evoke a look of urgency and attack. 

Love how his interaction with the base turned out!

'Hearts' braces for another shot! 

You can see the heart on the faceguard to designate him from the other two.

Those poor Terminators took some clean headshots, probably from the hiding group of Pathfinders. They're always a pain to find...

More freehanding for the Black Legion symbols!

And 'Spades', his left leg was cut and reposed to give him the appearance of leaping back from a missed enemy shot or attack. 

The checkering, I should point out, was done with a sharp blade and painter's tape. A general diamond pattern was cut out, and each individual piece was attached to the primed plate (black or red). Once affixed, they were sprayed with the airbrush the correct color, waited upon to dry, then carefully removed! Voila!

Little extra freehanding on his shoulderplate too!

Aww, that poor Aspiring Champion almost made it to Daemonhood....and no, he doesn't have two Chainfists, those Chaos Bayonets are crazy long...

Man, I had a lot of fun with this project! The client and I have been in talks about doing some Titans in the future so, fingers crossed, a Revenant or Phantom will cross the workbench! 

Alrighty! Next up are a whole mess of Imperial Knights, including one for Carl over at The Independent Characters which will be really cool, as well as more alternate Necrons, Nurgle Daemons, more zombies than you can shake a stick at, and an add-on to the Legio Metalica/House Raven commission I completed back in May. Looking forward to painting a Knight Lancer!

Also, Smells Like Wargaming will be moving house again the final week of July, so expect a minor delay in updates. I'm finally making my big move up to Denver with my girlfriend, which I'm incredibly excited for. I'm also going to have my own studio (!!!!) and be closer to more stores and conventions, so if anyone's in the Denver area, feel free to hit me up and maybe we can get a game in!

Things are heating up!

Granesh

4/15/14: Finished: Deathwing Assembly Commission

Hey guys!

So about a week ago, I was approached via email by a gentleman just getting into 40k. Having just trashed a unit of Devastators, he said, he was looking to get a squad of Deathwing Knights assembled, as well as Belial, along with both his weapon options. I was happy to oblige, of course!

Now, here at Smells Like Wargaming, we do, in fact, perform just assembly commissions. I charge a little bit more for assembly than if I was building AND painting the models (I prefer that, of course), but can build and magnetize everything from Tactical Marines to Land Raiders and even Forge World monstrosities! That being said, pictures!

Now look at that Watcher in the Dark, and tell me they aren't all Chaos Marines in disguise...

The Thunder Hammer is from the DW Knight kit, and the Storm Shield is from the old Dark Angels Accessories Sprue.

He looks like a boss with that Storm Shield, even if it looks a little small on him!

Alrighty, time to start on a C'tan and the fifth and final table for Good Games!

Granesh

3/3/14: Finished: Craftworld Lugganath Wraithknight

Howdy folks!

Sorry for the lack of updates last week! I worked most of the week at the FLGS, so most of my time was taken up there! Did a little work on some personal pieces, so expect a post, probably tomorrow, on all that!

Anywho, this post is about those damn dirty space elves! I was approached, after my interview on The Independent Characters podcast, to fully magnetize and paint an Eldar Wraithknight! Having never had the privilege to paint one of these bad boys, I had to take it! I think he came out rather well, methinks!

The beast in all its glory! I posed him as if he'd just crushed the poor Crimson Fists' bike and was scouting for another target. 

And the back! I opted to do all the gems on the black areas, and selectively do the ones on the orange to keep from overpowering those areas. You can see the Shimmershield well in this picture, I did the same marbling effect on the runes that I did on the hilt of the sword and on the gem on the back.

Speaking of the gem on the back! 

Dual Wraithcannons! All weapons are magnetized, from the Wraithcannons to the Scatterlasers on its shoulders!

And with the Suncannon! 

And all the pieces together!

While the orange was a pain to work with, as was the Montana Gold primer we used for the project, I still had a ton of fun getting this model all painted up! Would love to see a full Lugganath army painted up...maybe after my Alpha Legion...and my Grey Knights...and my Space Marines....well someday!

Next up is a Flying Circus of Tyranid Monstrous Creatures! Note for my followers: I will be out of town this Friday til Sunday, then from the 13th to the 22nd, as I'll be sunning it up in Hawaii! A break from this Colorado weather will be super nice! Should have the Nids done by then though, so stay tuned!

Granesh

2/24/14: Finished: Blood Angels Superfriends Group!

Hey guys!

Been a busy week of painting, work, and errands, getting ready for some really big commissions coming up very soon! I love going into Home Depot, I never know where the hell I'm going and DEFINITELY don't fit in...even better!

This was a quickie little commission; a client, fairly fresh to 40k, was looking to get his Blood Angels characters painted up to a centerpiece status. All he wanted was Corbulo, Mephiston, and a Captain on desert bases, chapter colors, and everything else was up to me. I love having free-reign, so I jumped right in! Here's the fruits of my efforts:

The group together! Lets break them down though, each piece has a lot of little details and extras on them!

Oh Mephiston, you pain in the ass you. I've fond memories of getting my IG's face stomped in by this guy. Never had a chance to paint him, so I knew I was going to have some fun! All metallics on this commission are NMM, just for some added fun. The most fun was the backbanner. Most pictures don't have him with it, but the Finecast mini comes with a backbanner backpack. I based this one off of Pg. 68 in the BA codex: Banner presented to Mephiston following his heroic exploits on the hive world of Hollonan.

A little freehand work on his cloak, and the back of the Banner, and Mephiston is ready to crush his enemies in his wake!

Brother Corbulo; this is not the first time I've painted him, but I can't seem to find any pictures of my previous job. Its been a couple years though, so it was nice to come back to this miniature. He's a badass in game, I don't see why anyone wouldn't run him!

I've been having fun with the drip effects lately! This one is, like my entry into Genghis Con, done using a strand of hotglue, strung from my desklamp, then cut into a drop. I then mixed a little red paint with gloss varnish, and applied it. Works a charm, and is easy to use! 

Now I'm going to just come out here and say it, I'm not a fan of the SM Commander model. He's so plain, and his pose sucks. That doesn't mean I won't do a stellar paintjob on him! This guy was magnetized, so the client can go back and add any other options in the future if he chooses. I prefer Power Sword/Plasma Pistol, personally.

Combi-Melta/Power Fist is good too, just don't get challenged...

Alrighty! Trying to decide if I want to paint some personal projects this evening, or try to get more work done on the Wraithknight. Dunno if I can stare at that much orange today though...so we'll see! I'm working the better part of this week, so updates may be slow, but I'll be painting in the evenings, so keep an eye on Facebook and Twitter; I like to post really late at night!

Granesh

2/8/13: Finished: Chaos Daemon Engine Assembly/Magnetization

Hey guys!

So I wasn't expecting to get a hold of my next two commissions til I got back from Genghis Con, but sure enough, I ran down to work yesterday, and they'd arrived early! Its like Christmas! I got back to the studio and jumped right into these projects! The Wraithknight won't be started until tomorrow or Monday, but I rocked out the Heldrake and the Forgefiend in no time flat! Lets let the photos speak for me though...

It was a quick commission consisting of a Heldrake and a Mauler/Forgefiend. Lets show off the Fiend first, shall we?

The completed Forgefiend, complete with Ectoplasma goodness!

And the Maulerfiend, ready to stomp, smash, and crush his way in the name of the Ruinous Powers!

As you can see, every aspect of the model is magnetized. The body has 1/4"x1/16" magnets on the inside to allow for unrestricted movement in the ball joints. The middle sockets allow for the Lasher Tendrils, Magma Cutters, and even the second set of legs for the Forgefiend. The gun arms have two magnets a piece, allowing you to swap them from the body, as well as change out weapon options.

And everyone's favorite, the Helturke....I mean...Heldrake! This guy magnetizes incredibly easily, so lets show how its done!

The left side of the head is glued to the model, while a magnet, placed at the back of the jaw, allows the halves to fit together. The gun is held in place snugly by the head and requires no magnets. I also magnetized the wings for easy transport; simply a case of trimming down the balljoint on the wings to allow for a magnet, then placing the other one inside the socket on the body, as there wasn't space inside the body ample enough to hold the wings in place. 

Just a quick little project, assembly commissions are fun as I get to build and play with all the cool new models, as well as learn how they go together for future commissions or personal projects! 

Next up, a Craftworld Lugganath Wraithknight, the man responsible for the Horus Heresy, Erebus, and some big ol' baddies fresh from the Spawning Pools of the Hive Mind! 

Granesh