Some Random Painting Projects

It's been a while since I have posted, so I figured it was time to put up something.  Over the last few weeks I have been working away on a number of completely different painting projects in a couple of completely different styles.  Just trying to learn and improve on some of my painting skills.   Hope you like.


Kingdom Death Dung Beetle Knight


This was a piece I have wanted to paint for a long while but wasn't quiet sure how to go about it.  I wanted it to have an iridescent look like some insects have, but wasn't sure how to do it.  I decided to give the Forge World transparent airbrush paints a shot and am pretty happy with the results.

I painted the whole model silver, then clear coated it and did a pin wash with black oil paint to get all the crevasses black, then wiped up the model with white spirits so that there was no black outside the recesses and clear coated it again.  I then airbrushed on some clear green over the silver and then yellow at the highest points.  I then hit the wings with some purples and greens to give a shimmer to them. 

The "fur" type areas and everything else were done with my normal painting methods as this piece was just to play with that clear metallic look, which I think came out pretty well, especially in person.


Arena Rex Beast Master

This model is another great Arena Rex figure that has so much character.  Not really much new tried here other than some blending to get the transition on the hyena right.  I had a lot of fun with this one though.  Same NMM as on the other Arena Rex gladiator I did previously.

His tartan was fun to do, but not super clean, the lines are not all completely even.  Freehand is something I will have to work on sometime soon as well.

Ultramarine Space Marine

This figure was done to play more with glazes.  He was painted with a black base colour and then zenithal highlighted with grey and white with an airbrush.  Then the blue on him is a single shade of blue glazed over in thin coats, then glazed over again with an off-white mixed in for the highlights.

While I have glazed before, I wanted to do a test piece with the simplest colour to do (blue) to play around with what results I could get.

Since I was spending some time on him, I also decided to do NMM for the shoulder pad and chest, but used normal metallic paint for his shoulder pad trim and the teeth on his sword.

I then weathered him up with chipping and scratches and then attached him to the base.

Looking at him now, I may need to go back and transition the caution stripes to fit the rest of the transitions, but you don't really notice that in person it's only the camera that catches it.

Death Guard Knight

Last up is a piece I have wanted to do for a long time and just never have gotten around to. It was another chance to work even more on my weathering and rust effects, this time adding the cool new AK Oilbrushers product to the mix.

I wasn't really sure how to go about painting or converting this model as ideally I wanted it usable in both my 30k and 40k Death Guard armies.  I decided in the end that since Knights would generally be by house and not legion that I could get away with a lot, so went with a look similar to my 30k force which is old and weathered, since I am going for a look of the guys that followed Garro and had to weather the bombardment of Istavan IV.

I started by painting the whole model black, but leaving all the armour plates off.  I then painted the armour plates in various shades or brown, red, and oranges with the airbrush.  I kept the paint thick and the air pressure super low so that it splattered on in random patches, and kept layering in colours.  Once that was done I put on AK chipping and scratch solutions in various areas, and then painted on the bone and green colours.  Once that was all done the magic begins.  I spray the paint with water and then start brushing it, and it just starts pealing off randomly, revealing the under colour.



Once all the chipping was done, it was time to break our the AK Oilbrushers (pre-thinned oil paints in mascara type bottles) and use them to apply dots of colour to the chips.  I then used white spirits to pull that down into smooth rust and dirt streaks.

The entire mechanical skeletal parts were done black, then shaded up with 3 silver colours, and then treated to the same Oilbrusher treatment.  I put browns, oranges, and even yellows in to get the blends looking like rust.  I may go back and add even more.



Last up was "blueing" the barrels which I did mainly with the Forge World transparent airbrush paints I got for the Dung Beetle Knight from earlier.  I started with doing 1/2 the barrel copper (Vallejo) and then did purple over most of that, then blue over part of the purple, and then black over the very end.  I think it came out ok and looks close to realistic.

Onto other projects now...

So there you have it, 4 recent painting projects with 4 fairly different styles.  I am now moving onto a few new projects including even more different looks.  Currently on the painting table are some heavily converted Death Guard vehicles (with even more spikes, tentacles, pus, and skulls, because I know how Greg loves all that stuff on GW models), some alternate Sisters of Battle figures, another Arena Rex figure or two, and some modern stuff from Spectre. 

OH, and a pile of terrain that I need to paint up as demo pieces now that I am producing that again as well!

Death Guard Bloodied - Epic 30k Battle Report

Super heavy tanks from the 14th Legion prepare to bring hope and change to another world in the so-called "Imperium"

I was very pleased to host some more Epic 30k carnage last week! The game was notable for a couple of reasons.  For one, my great friend, Fawcett Avenue Conscript founding member and Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge host Curt was in town for a quick visit.  Curt loves 30k and loves Epic, so I knew an Epic 30k game would be a fitting way to mark his appearance here in Winnipeg. A further bonus is the game offered the chance for Byron to get his Epic 30k Death Guard force out on to the table for the first time.  Byron completed a Death Guard force during his mad-cap participation in the most recent edition of Curt's Painting Challenge (see here for example of this work, including his Epic Death Guard).

We all know what happens to newly-painted figures when they hit the table for the first time...I wanted a scenario that would ensure the baptism-by-fire happened in a fun and orderly fashion.  So the basics were simple...seize three objectives, or cause six formation breaks on the opposing force.  Byron had painted some drop pods for his troops, so I set up a drop-pod assault, backed by Titans and heavy armour.  The Sons of Barbarus would confront the loyalist dupes of the Imperial Fists, with both sides backed by Titans!

A view of the table as hostilities commenced

There was one other wrinkle - only infantry stands could capture an objective.  Even if you slaughtered all the infantry, you would not win it back unless you sent your own foot-sloggers into the breach.  I hoped this might balance things a little...both sides had oodles of firepower, but the loyalists had only two infantry detachments, giving the rebels a slight advantage in terms of grabbing the objectives, and forcing both sides to consider the use of their Marines carefully with Titans and super heavy tanks all over the place...

Drop assault! The Death Guard grab one objective...

I set the game for six turns, but with so many big guns on the table, we kind of knew it wouldn't last that long...Byron and Mike F took command of the Death Guard forces, while Curt and Dallas commanded the deluded loyalists fighting on behalf of the so-called "Emperor".

The engines of Legio Gryphonicus prepare to move out

Legio Mortis makes ready to bring hope and change...

Byron's Death Guard landed three detachments via deep strike - two tactical detachments landed in drop pods, while an assault detachment landed via jump pack.  They captured two of the three objectives, and plotted to use a detachment of Terminators riding in Spartan APCs to capture the third one.

Another drop pod landing...the Sons of Barbarus prepare to capture the objective

Curt and Dallas knew the Death Guard might capture that third objective at any moment, and so took very prompt action to, er, "liberate" one of them, using a Reaver and a Warhound to absolutely ventilate the relevant building.  Fight for the 14th Legion they said...anyway, it was a tough go for that tactical detachment as they disappeared beneath templates fired by the apocalypse launchers, and then the gatling cannons, and then the volcano cannon, and then the plasma blastgun, and then the vulcan mega bolters...you get the idea...

Forces clash in Epic 30k - note the Spartan and surviving Imperial Fists fleeing in the top right of the photo after the Death Guard assault detachment saw them off...

Note the pending retribution for the Death Guard assault detachment...lots of firepower prepared to exact revenge...ouch!

Byron and Mike did not quit, however, but they doubled down instead! They sent the assault detachment forward to confront an Imperial Fist tactical detachment mounted in Spartan APCs, routing them before they could even dismount! Mortarion would have been proud, and would have promoted the lot of them...if any had survived the follow-up counter-blow from the Legio Gryphonicus engines...wow, the Horus Heresy is brutal!

Death Guard armour and dreadnoughts move forward

The Loyalists buckled down and focused on another objective, concentrating fire on one of the Legio Mortis Reavers and destroying it, and then capturing an objective back from the Death Guard thanks to the support of Titans and a Glaive super-heavy tank.  For their part Byron and Mike suffered from some bad luck on the command rolls, and could not get their Terminators to the third objective in time.  By the time they did, concentrated fire from Dallas' and Curt's formations broke a sufficient number of rebel formations to cause the Death Guard to fall back, and plot their revenge...

"Great job! We captured an objective!"

Somehow the loyalist fools have captured an objective back! That Titan was soon to be at an end as the loyalists concentrated their fire...

In all, a hard-won victory for the loyalist side.  The objectives were tempting to seize, but not easy to hold, particularly with lethal firepower stalking all over the table. I absolutely love the 30k setting (as you can tell with a brief search of this blog) and I have to say that the Epic rules engine is an absolutely marvelous match for it.  The scale allows for the large sweep of troop types, vehicles and Titans to appear on a 6' x 4' table in a way that is hard to achieve with 28mm figures, and the rules mechanics are just excellent for offering the flavour of the setting, along with brutally efficient combat resolution.  Players must make decisions and can't do everything they want, creating some command tension without undue complication.  Epic really was a fantastic set of rules...

This poor tactical detachment from the 14th Legion was broken a second time, sealing the fate of the Death Guard attack...note the Glaive in the top right of the photo - the Volkite Carronade is a heck of a thing to come up against...

A big thanks to Dallas, Byron and Mike F for joining the game, and thanks to Byron for bringing his awesome Death Guard models out to the game.  Was great to see them on the table! It was a lot of fun to game with our friend Curt once again. 

Now that the Death Guard has endured their "first game" blooding, watch for them to appear in more menacing fashion in further Epic 30k action on the Fawcett Avenue tables...

Painting Challenge Theme Entry - 30k Frigate "Eisenstein"

Another Bonus Theme Entry for Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.  This theme was "nautical" - and while it is not as odd as "l'amour" or as painful as "defensive terrain", "nautical" is still an area I avoid.  In fact, the one thing I am less motivated to paint than terrain is nautical stuff.  Nothing against it - ship games are awesome! Just not my cup of tea.  These bonus themes are open to wide interpretation, however, and so I thought I might be able to tie "nautical" to one area where I do pick up the brushes - 30k, and space gaming!

We all have models that languish in the "pending stage" - or at least I like to say we all do, so I don't feel like such a dunce about my own hoard - but this model was particularly patient - it has been waiting for six years!  Oh well, at least I got to it eventually.

So here is the frigate "Eisenstein", painted in the colours of the Death Guard. Horus Heresy fans will recall that one of the things that made the Space Marine Legions so scary was that - in addition to their massive size, terrifying weapons and primarch leaders - they had their own war fleets! A ship like the "Eisenstein" hardly stands out in the Legion war fleets, packed as they were with scary capital ships - but the "Eisenstein" is notorious in that it was the vessel seized by loyalists who escaped Horus' fleet at Istvaan to raise the alarm about the Heresy.

In fact, as GW has started to mine the Heresy story more and more over the years, a novel was even published about the Eisenstein's escape:

Of course, there is no actual model for the "Eisenstein" or any other 30k era ships.  This model is, I believe, a "system monitor" from GW's vanished "Battlefleet Gothic" game.  Of course, I hope this model shows there is no reason some selective painting cannot be employed to create 30k-era fleet engagements with Battlefleet Gothic models. 

While I'm not about to launch on a project connected to this right away, I have managed to source a few old cruisers which I hope to paint in Legion colours, to keep my ambition/dream of one day running a series of linked games which begin with a fleet engagement, move to a game of Epic, and finish with a game of 28mm 30k...one day perhaps.  A single escort-sized model for Battlefleet Gothic hardly took any time to paint, but I'm too locked into "Team Yankee", Epic 30k and 28mm 30k to divert into a bunch of Gothic ships for now.  But sometime...
 

There is one theme round left in the Challenge - "Gambler/Risk Taker".  If I can make that round too, I will have managed to get something submitted for all of the Bonus Themes this year, which will be a first for me - and a surprise, as I had expected I would end up missing nearly all of them.  But I haven't accomplished anything yet - I do have some models lined up for that last bonus theme - just need to get them painted in time.
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Be sure to check out the excellent submission by Byron as well - some Langton Napoleonic-era sailing ships - incredible stuff.  I hope he will post them here on the Fawcett Blog, but you can go see (and vote for) them now at this link.  Incredible work Byron!

Fifth Painting Challenge Submission - Epic 30k Armour

A potpurri of Epic 30k armour

More Epic 30k material for my fifth submission to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge - a mix of vehicles, ranging from APCs to some super-heavy tanks - most of which were in action at Dallas' place last week.

Up first are two more Rhino APCs from the XIV Legion, the "Death Guard". They missed the deadline for the last batch, so I tucked them in with this submission. These two models are old, original plastics from the 90s...I'm still always impressed at how well the detail has held up on these little guys. 

Getting a little heavier, three Land Raiders, the "Proteus" variant, from the VII Legion, the "Imperial Fists". These tanks are the mainstays of any Space Marine armoured force - hitting hard while carrying troops in (relative) safety.

Up next is a battery of Whirlwind tanks - "Scorpius" pattern. There is one battery for the Imperial Fists.

And another Whirlwind battery, this one for the XVI Legion, the "Sons of Horus".

Now we move up to some super-heavy tanks.  This is a Cerberus Heavy Tank Destroyer, a sort of Jagdtiger of the Space Marine Legions.  This is a very heavy, scary laser array mounted on an extra-large and extra-armoured Land Raider chassis.  Fitting for the setting, the weapon can have serious side effects on its own vehicle...but I'm sure those are "isolated incidents", right?

The scariest is saved for last.  Getting run over by Land Raiders, hit by rockets from Whilrwinds and zapped by the Cerberus is bad enough - but when a Space Marine Legion commander is really mad, he sends a few of these things forward - Fellblade super-heavy tanks.  Armed and armoured to end-of-days levels, these thing obliterate the enemy at any range.

I have a lot more Epic stuff in the pending line for my painting desk, but now that I'm choking on the dust of others in my Painting Challenge side duels, it's time to crank the scale-o-meter back to 28mm, I think...hopefully will have some of that to share next week!

Third Painting Chellenge Entry - Epic 30k Death Guard, Imperial Fists and Sons of Horus

Epic 30k reinforcements

My third Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge Entry is more Epic 30k material. It's an assortment of forces, including some bits from another Legion.

Death Guard tactical marines, with Rhino APCs in the background

Death Guard "devestators" - infantry with heavy weapons, with Land Raider tanks in the background

Up first are elements of another Space Marine Legion, the XIVth, known charmingly as the "Death Guard".  I find their backstory has a tint of emo-loser-teenager-sulking-in-the-basement-of-his-parent's-$500k-house to it. But at the same time, there is a humourless endurance about them that I find interesting.  It continues the trend of the traitor legions generally being cooler than the dull loyalist ones.  Also Byron and Dallas like this Legion, so I wanted to have a detachment of them on hand for gaming in Epic 30k with the group.

The fellow with the back banner marks the detachment commander

The Death Guard figures are all old-school plastic GW Epic figures from the 90s. If any of you nostalgia geeks like me are out there, you might recognize, from the original "Space Marine" game, the elements of one tactical detachment, one devestator detachment, one rhino APC detachment and one Land Raider detachment all in this batch.

Old plastic figures from GW - monopose, but still fun

Love the old Land Raider models...these are from the early 90s

Painting the old plastic Land Raiders is a lot of fun - these models are really, really old, but still hold up well as a quite fine rendering of the original 28mm-size Land Raider model, and still look fine on the table with the newer figures.

Rapier battery from the Imperial Fists

Ready to cut down the minions of Horus

Up next are some Imperial Fists from the VIIth Legion.  There is a battery of tracked infantry support weapons known as "Rapiers", and a brace of four Predator tanks - three are equipped with the standard autocannon/heavy bolter configuration, and one is an "annihilator", armed with a lot of lascannons.

Imperial Fist tanks - the one on the right is configured with extra anti-tank firepower

The Predator is an old-time favourite

A final, lonely element squeezed in for this submission is a Predator tank for the XVIth Legion, the Sons of Horus - mostly painted just to keep in practice, just didn't finish it in time for the last submission. 

Lonely tank for the Sons of Horus

The "Annihilator" version of the Predator tank - lots of anti-tank energy weapons on the vehicle

Overall there are 60 infantry, three crew-served guns and 11 vehicles, all in 6mm, which should net me another 55 points if I have the math correct (always a big  "if") toward my overall total goal of 1000 points, as well as my sci-fi duel and my 30k duel.  Brushes are down for now as I kick back on vacation. Have a happy New Year everyone!  Stay tuned for more in the New Year...