Sometime around the beginning of the month i realised it was Orktober and there were certain things expected of me. I cleared my table of non-Ork projects and had a rummage through my various boxes and a look in Freebooterz to see what mobz i was missing. Having made a selection I started work on the mobz, building and painting and convertin and all that. And here we are at the end of Orktober and this is what I have achieved this month… the biggest lesson here is one that I should have already known – don’t try and do too much at the same time! Ah well, Orkvember it is then too!
With these two squads I have now painted the whole Chaos Army! I will get a photo of the whole lot soon, but for now enjoy some gobbos and chaos warriors.
I have to say that I think both lots look better in the plastic, so to speak.
I’m struggling getting the best use out of contrast yellow. Sometimes it looks great, but here I think it looks dark and unsaturated (is that the right word?)
I don’t have an epic ork army, I just painted this one because it was there. I am not that happy with the outcome. Maybe it’s time to sell up the epic stuff!
The Freebooter Army project continues, with Freebooter Minderz. These are big tough Orks that would make an ideal close-combat unit. I picked a more modern Nob as the boss due to its size, and used some generic Space Crusade boyz for the same reason. A couple of Stormboyz minis to try and keep a vaguely uniform theme, to tie into the more modern idea of bodyguards being in tuxes, and used lots of greys to give that impression too, sort of. For most of us the closest we ever get to bodyguards are doormen, your names not down etc, so they’re Doorboyz. Randomisation of bioniks tables adds that orky feel, whilst assault weapons play to their strengths. I love painting Orks.
I had a heathlord trike and nothing to go on the back! I had this alien knocking about, which I think is from Colony 87. It works! Also, the alien looks like a bloke I used to live with.
Hello again and welcome to 2020. Since my last post its been Christmas and New Year, and then we’ve done something silly and got ourselves a new puppy. I’ve not had a lot of painting time since then 😦 She’s lovely though.
Now, the two main points of “interest” with this warband were 1) further experimentation with contrast paints; and 2) painting a random selection of miniatures in the way that I did when I was a kid! Point 2 needs no explanation, but point 1 maybe does. I followed some intructions for painting with source lighting from above. So I sprayed these minis black all over, then gave a grey spray from above, and then a white spray from above. I was hoping that the white would help the colours to pop out, as if there was a strong sun above – this warband is wandering parched chaos wastes. I think I’ve had mixed success. Mostly the source lighting failed and I don’t really know why. Likewise where it worked I don’t know why it worked. Was it my choice of colours or paint? Why are the mutants so dull whilst the Warqueen looks great? Still, I think I’ve learned a few things and I’ve painted some lovely miniatures. I really enjoyed painting the Warqueen – one problem with the beautiful modern minis GW is churning out at the moment is that they are so very detailed that it is hard for us mediocre painters to do anything with them. This one has just the right amount of stuff on it, a challenge but not impossible. The chap with the warhammer was fun too…. his tab just says OLDHAMMER but I can’t remember getting him. The chaos toilet was great, I really enjoyed painting it but I think that I could have done a lot better. The zombie ninja was fun too and simple. I messed up the shaman lady, I should have used different colours. The chaos warriors were tricky, I am not pleased with any of them really. The not-chaosette was a nightmare to paint, lots of faint detail, hard to get any of it right. The rhino-monster I enjoyed and I felt like I got the tattoos right too. In true chaos style, even the paineous bits were a pleasure!
I don’t get a lot of painting done these days. Busy times. We have a special needs dog now, who seems to take up a lot of my time. But twenty minutes here and there, the odd hour now and again, it all adds up to slow work.
This gang were put together on a theme – that theme being Big! It gave me an apportunity to paint a load of classic miniatures and a modern masterpiece too. This is quite a flexible gang, I could use it in a game of Rogue Trader on its own, or I could use them as part of an Ork army. Blood Axes are allowed ripper gun armed Ogryns, but all others are only allowed Ogryns armed with hand-weapons. I could also integrate my other Beastman space pirate gang into this one quite easily. There are also rules for a Big Mutant squad for chaos armies in (I think) Codex Eye of Terror…
Aside: I played my first game of 40K as an adult the other week. It was fun, but my Primaris Marines fell to a Necron force. The main thing I learned is that with Necrons you should shoot everything at a single squad until it is destroyed, then repeat until you or they are all dead. You mustn’t let any Necrons survive or the squad will be back soon!
On with the Big Lads… once again, apologies for the quality of the photos, I haven’t gotten around to making a different backdrop yet, but I will!
Its been a long eight weeks or more since I moved house again. A very busy eight weeks in which I have hardly managed to do any painting at all. But fortunately the Steel Guard paint-scheme is very forgiving, so here’s a Razorback in the colours of the 7th Company. Really this was an excuse to paint the rider, Lieutenant Ryen, as he hops a ride. I don’t think that modern GW does miniatures like this one anymore – he’s never been a gaming model, always just a spot of character sitting on a rhino chassis somewhere. I love his expression, chewing on a cigar, never mind that his pauldron (is that the shoulder pads?) is missing. I’ve also tried to paint the gunner as a techmarine – once upon a time all drivers and gunners were techmarines I think – well, they are in the Steel Guard! Happy Eggmas to all my readers, think of us sad diabetics when you’re guzzling your chocolate eggs!
A relic of years passed when Land Speeders were a support choice for the Imperial Guard. this is a lovely miniature that was a pleasure to paint. I’m pleased with the way this turned out, I think the crewmen especially came out alright. I was least pleased with the tiny repair job I did, replacing a missing under-slung bolter with a plastic bolter from a modern Space Marine tank. I decided not to put any iconography on the Land Speeder so that it could be used as either a loyalist or traitor army, depending on my mood.
Doris Plunger's Lead Mess 