40k and 30k Projects: Imperial Fists dream of metallic yellow sunsets - Part 1

Finally back into the hobby again! It has been a good 6 month hiatus inflicted with a move and job change but lets get back into it. I have been inspired by the smashingly good Dorn release from ForgeWorld and keen to bulk out an Imperial Fists army that can be used in both 30k and 40k

After experimenting with metallic paint jobs and techniques I must say I am very partial too the spray silver and then wash camp. I lack the space for an airbrush friendly area currently so away we go with washes again. I had been scouring the internet for ideas to

make a very unique Fists paint theme and came across a gent called Corai on the B&C forums back in 2014 who pushed out some fantastic conversions and was able to pull off a brilliant metallic yellow scheme. So in true internet fashion I stole his hard won wisdom and decided to apply it to my dudes.

I had a whole bunch of Cataphractii Terminators spare so I decided to build a Terminator only force to accompany Dorn when he finally arrives on my door. I started with 3 squads and 2 HQs and will expand from there

Painting is super easy for this scheme:
1) Spray silver
2) Wash with nuln oil
3) Wash the panels you want yellow with Casandra yellow wash 1 layer

4) Fill in your black and red sections to taste

5) Wash the panels you want yellow again

6) A thin coat of yellow glaze on your yellow panels

 

7) Fill in details and weather accordingly to taste

Lots more work to do on these guys yet like all the faces, weapons and lenses, will do an update once they are table ready!

40k 8th Edition Projects Death Guard and Nurgle: Fully painted and ready to rot! Part 4

Finally I have a fully painted 2k points worth of Death Guard I can field! Was a long haul but I got these chaps done just before an event this weekend, I still have to do all the shading and highlights on the purple flesh on everything but at least the force is table ready.

 

I smashed up a quick Daemon Price conversion with the addition of a plague drone head and wings as well as shaving off the tubes of his shoulders.  Was heaps of fun to paint and the skin is just a couple of shades of grey and purple drybrushes with some purple washes.

 

I desperately needed a Chaos Lord to baby sit my Plagueburst Crawlers and this little dude did the job marvelously.  The model is just form the first blood kit with a Plague Bearer head. Had lots of fun making up this guy.

 Mortarion is about 90% complete in these pics, but definatly table worthy. His smoke stacks and scythe are the bit that need the most attention and probably his attendants as well. I will try and finish him off soon hopefully. He is a monster to paint but very rewarding, now I just need to do up some Deathshroud bodyguards and a warptime jumpack sorcerer for him too!

 So there you have it, another completed force but its only about 30% of what I want completed for the entire force! I really want to be able to paint up just about everything Nurgle so I can run whatever configuration easily, if only Games Workshop would release the Miphitic Crawelers already!!!

40k 8th Edition Projects Death Guard and Nurgle: Tanks for the Tank God! part 3

With an event looming the worst thing to do would be add more to the painting 'to do" pile right? so that is exactly what I did! Got a 2000pt torny upcoming next weekend and most of the army still to finish painting so I went out and purchased two of the new Plagueburst Crawler Death Guard tanks like a spaz. I'm not looking to do well or win much at the event I just wanted to rock up and have some games with the models I had painted on hand, especially since I am really keen on eventually running a pox walker and cultist horde army backed up by waves of Plague Marines getting cover off Miphitic Blight Haulers that aren't even out yet (sadface)

I really enjoyed assembling and painting this kit, it was a dream to put together and the armor and trim of the tank complimented my lazy painting style for this army immensely. I did the usual trick of basing black followed by a couple of zenith highlights of yellow with an airbrush, dry brushing the raised edges and details bright yellow and then drowning it all in green wash.

These two pics are before the tidy up and weathering was complete, I probably need to go back and smash out alot more fine details but time is short on getting this army table worthy before the event.

Also taking Morty as well just even though i don't have his delivery units or protection bros converted up and painted yet, but damn it he is like just under 500pts I have pretty much painted at this point and even if he gets shot up at least he will look cool doing it. Morty isn't finished yet but as you can see he has come along much further than my last blog update, will base him up this week and try and finish his attendants off as well.

Will try and take as many pics as possible of the event, apparently about 60 players are attending so should be a wild ride.

40k 8th Edition Projects Death Guard and Nurgle: Bigger is better! Part 2

Death Guard codex is finally here and I can start putting together what works for me out of my hastily assembled collection. I did manage to grab both Mortarion and the forgeworld great unclean one as some center piece models for my Daemon and Deathguard armies and have started work on them slowly. Morty is a joy to paint but seriously time consuming, I am only about 50% done with him!

I followed my standard recipe for spooky green flesh and started out with some airbrushed yellow zenith highlighted over a darker base color.

 This was then dry brushed with a bright yellow to make the edges and raised sections pop, then hit with a very heavy green wash. As you can see in the pics one wash transforms a model in a single step. I use the same process on the marines and Morty's armor for a themed cohesive look to both daemon and marine forces so I can mix and match armies as needed.

 

I wanted to try something a little different from all the other Morty's I have been seeing all over the net so far, everyone seems keen on bright pale wings and highlights so I opted for dark purples, blues and greys. The wings themselves will probably be hardest part to paint on the model with all the veins and details everywhere in plain sight, I will leave them to last for sure haha! the cloak smoke is the same coloring as the wings so hopefully it will frame the rest of the model well and provide a cohesive look. I am opting for red robes that will be washed down and shaded with some highlights and weathering as well.

 

Like I said about 50% complete so far but you get the general idea, hopefully I can finish this guy before the end of the month!

40k Raven Guard Successor Army WIP Part 2: Paint it black....and purple!

Almost finished the Raven Guard successor recon force I have been working on, the purple iridescence armor has come out alright I think. I was suss on the bases but whatever they seem to work. The stormravens are spooking me with having to wash them due to the large flat surfaces haha, anyway here are the pics so far. Painting with washes and metals is fun but defiantly a new challenge for me and took me out of my comfort zone, would love to try some emperors children or alpha legion with the same technique just for a laugh.

 

Oh and seems this first pic of the Rievers got picked up by GW on Instagram and are now part of the product page previews!

Cerastus Knight Atrapos finally done...... well, mostly done.

For once I have actually finished a project! I got this sexy Atrapos last year and have been tinkering at it for a while now in between armies. I was using it mostly for my 30k forces but as I am winding it down into more 8th edition 40k.

The biggest tip of course is paint your Knights armor plates separate and please for the love of god make a big center piece model like this have a cool pose!!! I see way to many fantastic paint jobs on these big models ruined by the static and utterly boring poses, put some love into it! I themed this guy around a rogue or rebel Mechanicus force, so lots of suspicious runes and techno jargon symbols instead of the usual numbers and imperial symbols, anyway hope you like it!

40k Raven Guard Successor Army WIP Part 1: Shiney birds are best birds!

I am addicted to the new Reivers... sneaky skull helmeted crazies chopping and shooting up your backline? yes please! also they look sick, so of course I had to start a new marine army just for them. I experimented a while ago with a 30k Raven guard color scheme based on the purple iridescence of  actual ravens wing coloring. I was please with the outcome but with the failure of 30k heresy to transition into 8th edition anytime before the next ice age I have pulled out of all my 30k projects and will be selling them on as I have no love at all for the 7th ed ruleset and was only playing it for the sweet sweet 30k lore and fluff in light of 7th ed 40k being so unbalanced. So now I wanted a dark purple and black shiney Raven guard army and 40k was the format to do it in.

I really wanted a more purple look on this army instead of sheer black so held back on the 3rd black wash and this allowed me too retain a strong base color coming through. As with most metallic paint schemes you first chuck down a primed layer in this case silver then build up the color tone you want with successive washes. I was able to get it down too 2x purple wash and 2x black wash and then just batch painted the infantry. The two Stormravens with have to be done via airbrush due to their large surface areas so I will attempt that once all the infantry are completed.

 

  

  

Snuck in a cheeky primaris/cypher conversion for a captain model to suit the sneaky theme as well as a basic headswap on the primaris librarian. I am torn on bases for these guys so if you have any ideas please let me know

40k 8th Edition Projects: Death Guard and Daemons slumber party adventure part 1

I had to get the new 8th edition starter box and by that logic I had to swap my marines for a 2nd Death Guard half, and by that logic I had to pull out a mess of Nurgle Daemons I had hiding in a box! It was a vicious cycle and one that is pushing me towards about 100power points or a 2k points of a combined Death Guard and Nurgle Daemons horde army.

I like the new psyker rules as well as the new phase and coupling that with the new character rules of not being targeted unless its the closest unit I am dreaming of running nothing but huge expendable chaff units swarming the board backed up and buffed by pyskers and auras galore to drown the board in putrid bodies. One catch though........ damn its a lot of models to paint!

I decided on a spooky gross green glow I utilized on a Spooky Death army I did for AOS some time ago but wanted it to be a bit darker and more gross looking.

 

Will look at trying to crank more of this army out asap as its a heap of fun even though its a mountain of work to go haha!

40k 8th Edition Projects: Drukhari as Larry, Bleached Blonde Bones

All hail our 40k 8th edition overlords, its finally arrived! With a few test games under my belt I can confidently say 40k is back on the menu boys, and to celebrate I have dug deep into my hobby larder and started work on a long time dream of a bright yet dirty Drukhari (Dark Eldar) army.

I picked up some super good army deals from local lads selling old projects to fund them buying the new starter and now have about at least 3k points worth of Drukhari to paint............. so lets get to it!

I recently painted up and sold off a 30k Deathguard army and really took to the dirty worn bleached bone look with heaps of weathering and really wanted to try it on a Xenos army to combat all the primaris marines that will be popping up now with the starter set. The big change from my Heresy Death Guard scheme to Drukhari will be using vibrant purples and slick blacks as the contrasts colors to make them stand out on the table

 I managed to get trounced in a test game with a mate of mine on the weekend but at least the army is starting to look good haha. For sure I am getitng more wracks and dark lances painted first for sure.

annnnnd to finish off here is a sneak peak of the next project cooking in the background..... love me some cheap starter set splits :)