2/13/14: Competition Time: Genghis Con XXXV!

Hey guys!

Just a quick post before I leave for the weekend! I'm going to be in Boulder for Valentine's Day with my girlfriend, and Saturday is Genghis Con! I'll be there Saturday and part of Sunday, so if you see me, don't be afraid to say howdy! I don't bite! Check out the painting competition as well! I'm submitting:

Single Miniature Small: 'Serenity';

Single Miniature Large: 'Helbrute "Laernae"'

Unit: "The Faithless"

Vehicle: "Dominator"

Wish me luck guys! I'll be back in the studio on Tuesday, ready to jump back into the Lugganath Wraithknight, as well as some Tyranids and some Horus Heresy!

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

11/7/13: Finished: Imperial Defense Lines Terrain

Hey guys!

So, as promised, I rocked through the Defense Line terrain commission this week! I've gotten called into work Tuesday and today, so painting was a little slow these days, but with a little elbow grease (and three seasons of Parks and Rec!) I dove in! Here's the results!

The Defense Lines, in all their glory! Really enjoyed these kits, there's a ton of detail all over them! Only downside is the amount of corpses on the sides. Not because they're there, because they've been sculpted so that skulls, arms, and torsos all extend crazy long and huge. 

Line #1: I opted for waterslides to break up the flat surfaces of the embellishments and the barrels on the backside.

#2: The floors were painted Doombull Brown. Then they were sponged with Chainmail to create an initial chipped look. After that had dried, a liberal amount of Forge World's Black Soot Weathering Powder was applied and brushed on. Finally, I reapplied the Chainmail to create variation in the chipping. It adds depth and detail to the floors, and really helps them stand out.

#3: The rocks and corpses were painted Scorched Brown, then overbrushed up to Baneblade Brown. The bones were drybrushed Pallid Wych Flesh and washed with Agrax Earthshade. Once the armor had been finished (I'll cover that below), the bones were again drybrushed with Pallid Wych Flesh.

#4: The Cadian equipment was painted Caliban Green. Some areas were given an Agrax Earthshade wash, then sponged with Chainmail. Waterslide transfers were occasionally added to shoulderpads and barrels to add realism and decoration.

You can make out the details better here. After everything was finished, the corpses and equipment was lightly hit with Forge World's Dark Earth Weathering Powder. This was done very moderately to blend everything into the base and add a final layer of shadow to everything.

Arkos the Faithless leads his Warp Talons against the Imperial Command Strongpoint...

...while his Chosen and summoned Bloodletters assault the Imperial horde.

Glad to have this all done, really makes me want to paint the Defense Lines we have at work now! Alrighty, tomorrow and Saturday are looking like work on the Vulture. I'll be out of the studio Sunday, Monday, and early Tuesday, but I'll be jumping into some Khador then! Stay tuned!

Granesh

10/20/13: Finished: Alpha Legion Murder Sword Lord and Warp Talons

Hey guys!

So following close on the heels of the Skaven Screaming Bell was something for my personal collection! See, I don't get to play a lot of 40k these days; despite managing my FLGS, our 40k group is either fairly spread out or busy. Even less, I get to paint for myself! I decided to remedy that a bit by breaking out my Chaos Marines.

This is my beatstick unit for the army. Sure assault took a hit in 6th Edition, but there's no sense in doing it half-assed; go big or go home!

I run the Lord with Mark of Tzeentch, Sigil of Corruption (Shant turn down a 3++ save!), a Jump Pack, a Plasma Pistol, and the Murder Sword. Background is he's Arkos the Faithless (Siege of Vraks Alpha Legion Leader) who is currently hunting down the Dark Angels that messed up his Warband; most specifically, Azrael. He jumps in, causes a ton of wounds, and usually turns into a Spawn. But he's a blast to play.

The whole army is about the freehand, as you can see. Not entirely happy with his shoulderpad, but it works. I opted for a green phase effect, much like a Grey Knight's Force Weapon, to really hit home the dangerous nature of the Sword. His Jump Pack is magnetized too, so I can run him on foot, either as a standard lord or as Arkos from Imperial Armor 6. 

And the weird part of the army! When I picked up the new book, nothing really caught my eye. I was running a 5th Edition army with a 6th Edition book, and not really having any fun with it. I'd picked up the Aspiring Champion Clampack at Genghis-Con to give me some options, and one day while at work, I decided to grab a box of Warp Talons. Definitely a good way to get into the book!

Love the champion, I'm all for helmet-less leaders! The skintone is layered from Caliban Green, and mixed up with Pallid Wych Flesh. The most extreme highlights are pure Pallid Wych Flesh and a little white. I always buy the Boon of Mutation upgrade for him, just to see what nonsense he gets!

First two Warp Talons. I hated the head I'd put on the second one there originally (Its the reject MK4 helmet, he looks like he's grinning like an idiot), so I found one of the old Possessed heads and slapped it on there. Glad I did!

Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb! Didn't realize I'd done nearly the same model, just mirrored, til I started painting! Oh well, they're more filler than anything (tell that to their four Lightning Claw attacks!).

I've never used their blind special rule; pretty sure the only reliable way to do that is to run the Dimensional Key on something like a Daemon Prince so they don't scatter, but its kinda tricky. I prefer to hide the squad behind cover for a turn or two, then rocket them up and at something squishy. Five Hammer of Wrath attacks and essentially 26 attacks that demolish 3+ saves is nothing to sneeze at! The Warp Talons are definitely tricky to run, and they're by no means a hyper-competitive unit. But they're fun to rocket around the table protecting Arkos!

Ignore the unpainted terrain! I've shown him before, but this is my Alpha Legion familiar. Lets call him Roger; say hello Roger! Roger here is the little familiar model that comes in the Terminator Lord kit; after converting two Abaddons and a couple other models, I've got quite a supply of them lying around. These guys paint up quick, and make perfect markers for Combat or Spell Familiars! Probably only took half an hour to do. Its the little things that make your army, so get on it!

Alrighty! Next up is that Cygnar Charity group, along with some terrain, an Imperial Vulture, and what looks to be about 50 points of Khadorian goodness! Keep up!

Granesh

10/16/13: WIP: Alpha Legion Warp Talons, Murder Lord, and Skaven Screaming Bell

Hey guys!

Just a quick post to prelude what should be coming tomorrow and the end of the week. After finishing those High Elves, I decided to take a little break to jump into one of my own projects I've had sitting around for quite some time. When the Chaos Codex came out, it took me a little time to really get into it. When I finally did, though, I picked up the Aspiring Champion clampack and a box of Raptors/Warp Talons to really get a feel for the book. I've had all 5 Warp Talons in various painting stages, and the Aspiring Champion had a Warriors of Chaos sword added in lieu of his axe and a Jump Pack added to make a super-dangerous Lord with Murder Sword. I finally decided to knock more of those Warp Talons out though, just to keep progressing on my Alpha Legion.

 

This is Warp Talon #3. The armor is done by basecoating the model in a 1:1 mix of Kantor Blue and Abaddon Black, then mixing Moot Green into the mix and gently overbrushing on the armor to achieve that nice blue-green. The trim is based with Leadbelcher, which is then washed with Nuln Oil. Once that's dry, I carefully brush Runefang Steel onto it, being sure to leave the shade around the bolts and middle of the metal. 

The Power Weapon effects are achieved by blending Abaddon Black to Warpstone Green, then into Moot Green and finally white. With the claws, I just stuck with a perfect blend on both sides to the tip. With the sword, I opted for a switch blend on each side. It creates a nice effect on the blade to switch the blending on both sides, as you can see with the Murder Sword in the picture.

You can see the underside of the sword was done in the same style, of course. I also did the Power Weapon effect on the Warp Talon's feet, as they're supposed to be Lightning Claws as well!

And the current group! The unit champion is in the back, so I only have 2 more to go. I also need to add a Sorcerer with the Burning Brand of Skalathrax, but we'll tackle that when I get there. I've been running the group as Mark of Tzeentch so the Lord gets a 3+/3++ (Sigil of Corruption) and the Talons get a 3+/4++. Sure they're expensive, but when they hit, they do a LOT of damage. I also like to take the automatic Gift on the Champion to give them a little extra oomph. 

This week has been an exercise in glow effects, as I've been rolling through a quick commission (super-secret on who its for!) of a Skaven Screaming Bell. First off, there's a ton going on with this model, so I found it best to leave the Rat Ogre, Grey Seer, and Bell off for separate painting. I started this kit in earnest Monday night after work, and spent all day Tuesday really getting it rocked out.

The highlight of this kit is the Warpstone. Games Workshop opted to paint the stonework in the middle as, well, stone! I decided I wanted to play a little more with the glow, and turned them into two gigantic blocks of Warpstone the Skaven had just tied to the contraption and built from. The glow effect was incredibly easy, and perfect for a gaming model; if this was more of a competition piece, I'd blend it by hand. The Warpstone was basecoated in Caliban Green, then overbrushed Warpstone Glow (fitting, right?), then up to Moot Green and white. The woodwork around it was lightly overbrushed with Moot Green to create an eerie glow. Focus on the areas that would take the glow from the stone, of course.

Here's the bell as it sits now. The bell was weathered and tarnished using Brass Scorpion as a base, then adding Gehenna Gold, dulling it with a black weathering powder, then washed with Nuln Oil, Agrax Earthshade, and watered-down Hawk Turquoise. Finally, Runefang Steel was sponged onto the model to create pitting and weathering.

All I really have left on the model is to get the Grey Seer finished up and to do any touch-ups on the kit itself. The picture above doesn't have the brazier added, and there's a little work that needs to be done on the straps and rope. Should have it done tonight, and will have pictures up on Friday, so stay tuned!

Next up is some 40k terrain, a little Forge World, and that charity Cygnar group! I may even get my Warp Talons finished, but we'll see!

And don't forget, we're just over two weeks from Extra Life 2013, so if you can afford it, swing on over to my page and support the cause! Anything is appreciated!

Granesh