Ravenwing Land Speeders Strike force Animus Commission

Strike Force Animus

Land speeders for a larger force of Unforgiven. Check out Strike Force Animus on the search bar for more pictures. 

Paints used: Vallejo, Reaper Master Series, Games Workshop Washes, Com Art Medea Airbrush

Airbrush: Iwata CR Plus High Line

Paint Brushes: Rosemary & Co. Raphael 8040, Broken Toad Brushes

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Hunters of the Damned Heavy support Bikers and Ravenwing Commission Strikeforce Animus

Ravenwing Hunters of the Damned

This is an addition to a previous Dark Angels force painted up for a client. He now has a truly massive force of Unforgiven and more is on the way...

Paints used: Vallejo, Reaper Master Series, Games Workshop Washes, Com Art Medea Airbrush

Airbrush: Iwata CR Plus High Line

Paint Brushes: Rosemary & Co. Raphael 8040, Broken Toad Brushes

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The Averland Swans - An Homage to Swansea F.C

A vanity project for myself after becoming hooked on the iPad version of Blood Bowl. Listening to 3 die block podcast kept the enthusiasm and before I knew it I'd painted a team! The colour palette was pre-determined by my local football team; Swansea City F.C. Each team member was painted to represent a member of the current football team or legends of the club's history. 

This version of the human team is my favourite in Citadel's catalogue. It has a dynamism and elegance that is lacking in other versions. 

Because of the large amounts of white I decided early on to use a blue undertone for the armour parts and a beige undertone for the cloth. I also painted up a Dark Elf Team alongside the Swans and I made the concusses decision to make the humans look worn and weathered. I used Wilder products (mud, brown filter etc) as well as oil washes to give a grimy appearance to the players. 

A few of the players have some rather fetching footwear. What professional footballer would go on the field without wearing the latest sponsored, super engineered luminous turquoise boot? 

Team Roster

Ogre 

Thrower 

Blitzer 

Blitzer

Blitzer

Blitzer

Catcher

Catcher

Lineman

LinemanLineman

Lineman

Lineman

Lineman

Re-roll x2

Excess 30,000 coin.

Paints used: Vallejo, Reaper Master Series, Games Workshop Washes, Com Art Medea Airbrush

Airbrush: Iwata CR Plus High Line

Paint Brushes: Rosemary & Co. Raphael 8040, Broken Toad Brushes

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The Lady and the Dragon MDP products

Hello everyone. This one I am incredibly proud of. This sees me spread my wings beyond GW into a new realm of miniature painting. And boy is this different. This model was painted for MDP (mode display products) and will be on display at salute 2015. This was temendous amounts of fun to paint, and instead of giving you a blow by blow account of paint recipes I thought we'd examine the mood we were trying to create. 

When I saw the dragon my first inclination was not that it was a terrifying beast - to me it looked curious rather than threatening. Not what you expect from a diorama depicting a a young woman setting out to slay a wyrm. I wanted all the threat to be coming from the young lady, so I painted her in strong red and violet tones. In my minds eye I see her as belonging to an order that hunts these creatures down, while the dragon, having not learned to fear man is curious to find out what this awkward bi pedal creature wants of him. The scene is poised on the pint of an ambiguous action - will there be violence or understanding? 

Myles 

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Alexis Pollux The Crimson Fist Commission

Paints used: Vallejo, Reaper Master Series, Games Workshop Washes, Com Art Medea Airbrush

Airbrush: Iwata CR Plus High Line

Paint Brushes: Rosemary & Co. Raphael 8040, Broken Toad Brushes

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Jago Sevatar, Prince of Crows. Horus Heresy Character Night Lord

“It is wise of you to wear the helm this time, cousin. The last time I saw your face, most of it was a wet ribbon of flayed flesh stuck to the ground by my feet. My brothers in the First Company enjoy the tale, for it was the first time I’ve ever started to skin an Angel while he was still alive.”

Paints used: Vallejo, Reaper Master Series, Games Workshop Washes, Com Art Medea Airbrush

Airbrush: Iwata CR Plus High Line

Paint Brushes: Rosemary & Co. Raphael 8040, Broken Toad Brushes

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Strike force Animus Vanguard to apocalypse Ravenwing Bikers

Once upon a battlefield dreary, where I cowered, spent and blearly,
Within an Imperial bunker, darkly stained with dust and gore -
As I cowered, nearly shuttering, suddenly there came a sputtering
As some weapon quickly stuttering - firing at my bunker door.
"'Tis some bolter", I murmmered, "firing at my bunker door -
Only this and nothing more."

More poetry with the next post...

Paints used: Vallejo, Reaper Master Series, Games Workshop Washes, Com Art Medea Airbrush

Airbrush: Iwata CR Plus High Line

Paint Brushes: Rosemary & Co. Raphael 8040, Broken Toad Brushes

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Imperial Fist Forge World Command Squad Commission

Paints used: Vallejo, Reaper Master Series, Games Workshop Washes, Com Art Medea Airbrush

Airbrush: Iwata CR Plus High Line

Paint Brushes: Rosemary & Co. Raphael 8040, Broken Toad Brushes

"There is only the Emperor, and he is our shield and protector."

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Alexis Pollux The Crimson Fist Commission

Paints used: Vallejo, Reaper Master Series, Games Workshop Washes, Com Art Medea Airbrush

Airbrush: Iwata CR Plus High Line

Paint Brushes: Rosemary & Co. Raphael 8040, Broken Toad Brushes

Alexis Pollux the Crimson Fist. 

EBAY

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Autilon Skorr Painting Tutorial Part 1

Forge World Event Only Alpha Legionnaire. 

At the Horus Heresy weekender the topic of the alpha legion cropped up. Exactly what colour are they? It seems every new document or image portraying this legion has contradictory information. In some images they are purple, in others a metallic blue with a green shine. I’ve read ‘Eavy metal articles where the model has been painted in a dark blue/ purple and highlighted with green. Some have freehand scales, others are devoid of legion insignia. Nothing is easy when it comes to the Alpha legion but instead of this stymieing your imagination, use it as as a spring board. The Alpha Legion have no uniformity and allows the painter the versatility to explore their own interpretation of what this mysterious legion should look like. 

Preparation

Forge World resin needs to be cleaned in hot soapy water. Sometimes this still leaves a shiny layer of mould remover. I’ve recently started to use Cilit Bang Grease remover for that extra bit of grease removal. It hasn’t melted any of my models (yet! - I doubt it will but please no angry e-mails if you use the extra strong stuff) and does a pretty good job of removing the mould release agent. There were precious little mould lines to remove, but I used Wilder sanders - little fine grade emery boards that give an amazing finish once you’ve filed the models.

Tools used 

Paints used: Vallejo, Reaper Master Series, Games Workshop Washes, Com Art Medea Airbrush

Airbrush: Iwata CR Plus High Line

Paint Brushes: Rosemary & Co. Raphael 8040, Broken Toad Brushes

Resources - I bought all the tools (save for the brushes) used in this article from airbrushes.com. I’ve bought from other shops i the past and from various sellers on eBay but I’ve found this website to be one of the most comprehensive sites for everything a modeller may need. 

Undercoat the model white. Why white? I wanted a light vibrant end product which I would not be able to achieve to fully with a black or grey undercoat. But please feel free to use a black or grey undercoat and use this tutorial to guide you through the painting process. I’d love to see your final result if you do this.

Step 1 - Airbrush Vallejo Game Colour Turquoise (mix with Life Colour thinner 30:70 mix). PSI 20.

You don’t have to worry too much about your technique here as we are just base coating the model. Use even strokes with brush and use multiple layers to create a consistent layer of colour. If you find that the ratio is a little off please adjust it so that the paint is flowing evenly from your airbrush. 

Turquoise is one of those colours I love to use as you can go in many directions with it. You can shade with a darker shade of blue, green, even purple and highlight with a lighter shade of blue or green. You can manipulate it in a lot of interesting ways. The turquoise we have chosen is slightly darker and desaturated, which will make our highlights contrast with the base layer. 

Step 2 - Airbrush Com Art Medea White (mix with Life Colour thinner 10:90 mix). PSI 20.

This is our first highlight of the armour. I use the Iwata CR Plus High Line airbrush which has a little nozzle underneath the nozzle that can regulate the amount of paint that comes out. This allows for a greater degree of accuracy when airbrushing areas of the model and minimises those unsightly overspray flecks of paint that can sometimes occur.

With the first pass of the airbrush concentrate on sketching in where the light would fall on the armour of the model. 

At this point it is worth considering the context of the piece. Horus Heresy collectors do have more of a historical vibe to them, as we are interested in re-creating their favourite armies or characters to exacting details. When planning my own Blood Angel Heresy force I agonised for weeks over which armour they would have, where in the Heresy were they when I came to paint them, and would specialist troopers like assault marines have yellow helmets? Defining the context of your force is part of the joy of collecting a Heresy army as it allows us to delve into the history once more and unearth gems of details for us to create. 

I wanted to paint this model with very clean lines to show off the sculpt in an uncomplicated manner as possible. I over heard Mark Bedford talk about battle damage techniques normally used on tanks being applied to marine, and he commented that it breaks up the line of the miniature, it confuses the eye and can destroy the outline. I like that interpretation and I can agree that by adding chipping effects to exposed areas of the armour does break up the lines of a model. I wanted to avoid this here. The character of the model is therefore informed by this decision. This may be a marine who has recently made planet fall and has not had the chance to get dirty, or that he miraculously turns up half way through a campaign unblemished by the savagery of war. I think either would be fitting for this Alpha Legionaire. 

Once you’ve put in the basic highlight scheme reinforce this by adding a layer just inside the first highlight. You can repeat this stage as often as you feel is necessary to achieve the effect you wish. The more white stages you add, the smaller the bands of highlighting layers become, you intimate that the light source which the armour is reflecting is stronger. I find three layer of this stage to be perfect. 

Stage 3 - Airbrush Vallejo Game Ink Black Green (mix with custom made gunk 10:90) PSI 20…

…To be continued. 

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Unreleased Dark Elf Sorcerer on Howdah. Marlieste of Karond Kar.

Paints used: Vallejo, Reaper Master Series, Games Workshop Washes, Com Art Medea Airbrush

Airbrush: Iwata CR Plus High Line

Paint Brushes: Rosemary & Co. Raphael 8040, Broken Toad Brushes

Raiding the lands of the Tomb Kings, Marilste and an escort of Ch'Ihll guard seized a fabled clutch of Golden Hydra eggs. This being is the first Golden Hydra to walk the earth in millennia. Marlieste will do everything in his power to break the will of the Hydra, retarding its normal growth with black magics to keep it stunted and small so that he may ride it into war for millennia to come. 

++++++++++++++++++++++++

This is a model near and dear to my heart. I saw this model for the first time in the Dark Elf Army book (3rd/4th edition), and he subsequently popped up in the 4th edition Rule Book, White Dwarf entries and various other supporting picture content for Games Workshop products. I only remember seeing him on foot (although I am assured the Hydra makes appearances in the 4th edition books). As an over indulged only child it infuriated the hell out of me that I could not buy this model (of the America Games Day only release executioners). 

This grudge would stay with me throughout my adolescent life and into adulthood. Then eBay happened. 

There are a multitude of things you have to think of when approaching this kind of project. Should it be painted in an old hammer style, or should I use more modern techniques? Should I use the original size base, a modern sized base appropriate for the create, or go with what I think looks best? Colour choice - should I go with a classic scheme or should I go for something uncommon? Should I glue the model in place or magnetised it? 

I love the work of Georg Damm (more commonly known as Georc) and I feel that I'm walking in his shadow when painting this model. Although his own version was done many years ago and does not reflect the magnitude of painter he has turned into, it still remains a seminal piece for this model. 

Georc's Version

Georg took the classic approach, using earthy tones to produce a paint job in line with my conception of a Hydra (Jason and the Argonauts has left an impression). The Black robes of the sorcerer work well with the overall tone of the model. If Georg hadn't have conquered this scheme already I would have done something similar. However why go over ground well covered? 

Why the yellow? It stems from a linked mini campaign (one of the new digital ones - I believe it is called northern wastes) I played with a friend where my Dark Elves were exploring a part of Troll Country and inadvertently stumbled on the outskirts of a Tomb Kings metropolis. Over the course of the campaign the idea surfaced that the Sorcerer Lord was on a quest for the fabled Golden Hydra of Khursh. The final scenario saw us battle beneath the fabled hydra - but instead of the flesh and blood hydra the sorcerer was led to believe it was, instead it was a literal golden statue shaped in the image of a hydra. Disappointed, the Lord ordered the statue cut apart by his corsair bodyguard and smelted down, only to find a hydra egg at its heart. 

The model was painted with an airbrush to block in the colours - base, shading and broad highlights, then I switched t a brush to define the details and wash a bit of interest into the yellows. I used russet browns in the shadow and ink in between the scales. I knew from previous experience that turquoise works well as an accent colour to yellow. I purposefully varied the patterns on the heads - you do not see exact patterns being repeated across species, why should it be the same on this? Although I used what I consider to be more modern techniques I still used old school techniques to help bridge the gap between now and then. 

I didn't go for the small square base, but I went for the more modern rectangle. The model is very front heavy (if you look ad the photographs of the base you can see there is a slight bend on the centre) but I felt this better help frame the model - from streamers to heads. I have not glued the Sorcerer lord to the Hydra but instead I've attached a thick brass rod from his feet that go through the Howdah, into the back of the hydra. Once threaded it holds as seen in the photos, which I imagine will make for some scary moments when balancing on terrain. I don't believe that magnetising is the answer here as the models are lead and very heavy. 

This model will form the core of the Ch'Ihll rearguard. Much like my child hood self, the Sorcerer (named Marilste) is a collector or rarities and monsters. His host will comprise of classic Citadel miniatures and any monsters that I collect. 

http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/File:Unreleased_-_Dark_Elf_War_sorcerer_for_War_Hydra.jpg

http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/File:Unreleased_-_Howdah_for_War_Hydra.jpg

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