Tuesday, June 30, 2015

WIP: Warlord: Arctos Gorehowl

And finally some work on Arctos Gorehowl himself:

Head from the Wrathmongers/Skullreapers kit, legs from the Chaos Lord on Manticore, and torso from World Eaters Rampagers. It took a LOT of work to get the legs filed down to the proper proportions:

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Here he is with his pack on, from EvilCraft.eu:

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And here's how he looks atop his dragon:

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Still a long way from being completed, but it feels great to finally get started on the bastard. I plan to add quite a bit of greenstuff details, some brass khorne icons from FW, and who knows what else.

Oh, and here's a WIP shot of his daemon spear, Heartseeker: 

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Monday, June 29, 2015

WIP: Warp Dragon

Some more work on Arctos Gorehowl's still unnamed warp dragon:















I've used a rod of copper to pin the wings, but haven't glued them into place yet. I'm going to need to sculpt some wing membrane going down the dragon's back.

Friday, June 26, 2015

Allies of Convenience: The Shadowborne

I've been working on my CSM army, as well. At least planning it out and such.

The Shadowborne

The basic fluff is that this is a force of chaos which worships and follows the orders of Be'lakor. While he isn't "helping" Abaddon do evil things, he is finding subversive ways to strengthen his warband. The pursuit of daemonic artifacts, relic vehicles, gene seeds, and other goodies has made them a force to be reckoned with.

The army contains some elements of all four gods, as is befitting to Be'lakor's history and stature, but for the most part this is an undivided force. Plenty of marines, cultists, helbrutes, aircraft, and so on. Plenty of sorcerers, and a few chaos lords as well.

They have been known to make alliances and cooperate with other chaotic armies to accomplish mutual goals, or deceive them into doing the heavy lifting before stabbing them in the back and robbing them blind. They follow Be'lakor, what did they expect? There have been recent reports of Be'lakor's forces attacking an Imperial forge world alongside the Brass Stampede Khorne Daemonkin legion...

Here is the basic color scheme:



And their sigil, which I think I can pull off freehanding:




I had a CSM primed black, so I decided to test out the paint scheme. I LOVE black and purple in combination and I've really been looking forward to painting some CSM in these colors.

Quick and dirty Vallejo Black and GW Xereus Purple:







Pretty happy with it.

Then I cleaned up the purple and washed the mini with GW Druchii Violet:







I like the effect very much. It's quite subtle. The purple is deepened a little bit, and the black has a very thin tint of purple as well as some very faint purple edge outlines.

Monday, June 22, 2015

WIP: New Berzerker

Here's the original 'zerker, not looking too great but I tried out some weathering on his armor using a sponge and Vallejo gunmetal silver or whatever it's called. I also added GW Chainmail highlights to the brass bits, but over all it looks too gold:





I should have thinned the paint. I think I'd have liked it, otherwise. I may or may not bother painting the red trim around the silver "damage."

Here is the second 'zerker. This time again using Carroburg Crimson to wash the armor after a Bloodletter Glaze. The trim is Warplock Bronze with a wash of Agrax Earthshade followed by highlights of Balthasar Gold and Vallejo Brass:









I'm liking it so far. Notice on the back of his "bunny ears" I started messing with a sort of crosshatch type effect with the highlights. I like it, and the next time I'll try to be a little more systematic about it. The surface is large and flat, and only using edge highlights on it when it's being hit by the light source just doesn't make sense or look right. The way I painted it still doesn't look quite right, but it's a start!

Saturday, June 20, 2015

WIP: Botching a Berzerker

Well, I am still learning after all...

I sorta botched this berzerker a bit:

I drybrushed some stuff with a Vallejo silver (I forget the name right now) then glazed the red parts with Bloodletter Glaze:



Then I washed the red armor with Carroburg Crimson (accidentally doing some of the upper surfaces but trying to stick to recesses a bit) and the brass parts with Agrax Earthshade:





And then edge highlighting the armor with Mephiston Red followed by Vallejo Vermillion, and the brass parts with Vallejo Brass:





I got a bit sloppy with his faceplate highlights and his eyes. I'll really have to do a better job on the next 'zerker...

For this one, I still have to finish edge highlights on the brass using some sort of silver color, redo the eyes, then battle damage on the armor and blood on his chainaxe.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

WIP: Khorne Berzerkers

Went back to school this week to begin work on my second bachelor's degree, so I have way less time to work on stuff.

I decided to start on the power armor, specifically the Berzerkers which I have a ton of. This way I can experiment with some techniques and not really care about the results because I have ~30 'zerkers worth of the Forge World conversion kits to build in the future when my painting game is strong. The old ones are still cool, but the quality of the sculpt is just not up to modern standards. So many of the trim portions blend in seamlessly with the power armor plates, and it ends up looking funky.

I'll be rebasing these on 32mm bases eventually, I think. I was a bit sloppy when I based them so I ended up with rocks on their feet and such. Trying to build things separately nowadays to avoid that sort of thing.

As with many others, I was inspired by Nordicus's airbrushed CSM army. Not to say that his army is simple or mine looks anything close to his, but the method itself appears to be simple and rather effective.

I'm new to airbrushing, so I sought out a guide on painting power armor. I found a tutorial from Den of Imagination on painting a Khornate CSM, and changed up the colors to suit my own preference.

I started by basecoating with Vallejo Air Fire Red:







Then sprayed with a mix of Vallejo Air Fire Red & Khorne Red from above, getting some of the shaded surfaces but not too much:








Then another highlight with Mephiston Red:





Then a final highlight with Mephiston Red & Vallejo Orange Fluo:









Then I painted the trim with Vallejo Bronze and Chaos Black for parts I'll be mostly painting with some sort of metallic silver:





I'll still need to incorporate washes and a glaze, but I'm generally happy with the results so far.

Monday, June 15, 2015

Army List: 2000 Points Khorne Daemonkin

This is the list that I think represents the Brass Stampede most fluffily (it's a word when you're drinking) and accurately on the tabletop. Juggernauts all over the place, meltaguns exploding things all over the place. It will not win against every list, but occasionally it will bring the rape.

2000 points, Arctos Gorehowl and Umbragor the Hopeslayer leading their forces in battle.

HQ:

Arctos Gorehowl on Warp Dragon (Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage)
Umbragor the Hopeslayer (Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage)

TROOPS:

Cultists of Khorne x8
Cultists of Khorne x8

FAST ATTACK:

Juggernauts x2 (Spawn of Khorne)
Juggernauts x2 (Spawn of Khorne)
Juggernaut (Spawn of Khorne)

HEAVY SUPPORT:

Maulerfiend: Lasher Tendrils
Maulerfiend: Lasher Tendrils
Maulerfiend: Magma Cutter

GOREPACK:

Skullcrushers x3: (Khorne Bikers: Meltagun, Combi-melta, Melta bombs)
Skullcrushers x3: (Khorne Bikers: Meltagun, Combi-melta, Melta bombs)
Skullcrushers x3: (Khorne Bikers: Meltagun, Combi-melta, Melta bombs)
Skullcrushers x3: (Khorne Bikers: Meltagun, Combi-melta, Melta bombs)
Flesh Hounds x5
Flesh Hounds x5
Flesh Hounds x5
Flesh Hounds x5

Sunday, June 14, 2015

WIP: Cultists Almost Done!

Here we have them just about finished, other than basing. You know, I swear they look much better in person. The camera flash has a way of erasing the transition between colors. Not that they look great or perfect or anything near it, but I hate the way they look in these photos but I'm quite satisfied with the way they look in person.

Not that you couldn't tell based on the quality, but I am not that good at painting. There are lots of mistakes that I just had to accept, because my goal (for now) is tabletop quality. I have a ridiculous amount of unassembled and unpainted minis that just need to get done!

Blood for the Blood God is the coolest thing EVER. It's like painting with blood, or some sort of bloody syrup. You know, like the kind mom gave you when you were home with a fever. "You need your strength to take those skulls, sweety. Open wide!"