115 Target Aquired

Any regular reader may have noticed that I am well and truly inside the "slow to paint" group or at the very list the "intermittent painter" group. So it may come as some surprise that I have got round to putting together my Assassins from the (no longer) new Assassinorum box within a year of its release!

I have always been a massive fan of the fluff of the imperial assassins and the original models were, at least for there time quite amazing. Original Assassins!

My photos nor my paint job (!) dont really do the originals justice but they were and to a degree still are great models and the new ones had a lot to live upto but I am quite pleased with them. I dont think they all have quite the same character as the originals but I think they are helped by the rose tint of gaming in my youth!

I have started with the Vindicare and Eversor (the Eversor being my least favourite) so watch this space for more!

102 All your bases are belong to me!!

Nice little skirmish formation for my rifle men! Warbases did a great job getting these out to me it felt like literally a blink and they had arrived.

On this one the two layers of the base dont perfectly line up but I think it should be pretty easy to cover up when I floc the base. You can see I also go little washer inserts for the models to be mounted on so they drop right in. You can use pennies, which was my original plan but these work great.

I also ordered some ranked up formations to put the 30th on. However I fail at reading and ordered them in 2x6 rather than 2x3 which is what I was thinking I would do! But no fear I will still use these as it will make life easier for storing I think.

You will notice that these have a small hole through the centre, this matches up to a identical hole in the base washer I mentioned and can hold a small magnet meaning you and magnetise the whole lot! Perfect.

Warbases will basically make any arrangement and any size you need so go check them out!

101 Tomb Wraith

Such a classic miniature this one has been used again and again for conversions and it was my first use of it so I wanted to go for the original style.

I tried to include a few different colours in it to avoid it ending up too dull and I am quite pleased with the result.

I went for the more simple of the heads but he is only blu tacked right now so I may swap him out.

He looks quiet good alongside the Liche King too

100 The Rise of Mars

As many others I am sure, I picked up some of the starter bundles that GW released in the New Year. A bargain already I got them for another 20% on line from elementgames, win!

The first thing I am looking to put together is the Tech Priest from the Mechanicus box, now I already had this as a stand alone sprue but this will be the fist one I have put together.

It comes with a not too amazing construction guide but I guess it gives you a clue as to some of the parts.

The main body parts go together pretty easy and obvious and its a very interesting form compared to much of the traditional GW fare.

I drilled and pinned the obvious large parts to make painting easier. Connecting the weapon arm ahead of time as its not too bulk.

More on this will follow soon!

And w00t! 100 posts!

078 Beat the Drum

Got some time on the 30th's Drummer Boy over the weekend.

The pics don't really do it justice. I am still to sort out a proper set up for photos; always something to do isn't there!

Tilted left?

Or tilted right?

I am liking the right tilt but in think its meant to be the other way to line up with the strapping over his chest.

077 A Pop Fuss!

Found a little bit of time this week to work on something a little different and I finally put some colour to Prince Apophas.

I started off with a black base coat and then built up some ancient ancient Dark Angels green, and some washes of the new green wash whose name escapes me completely...

You can even see I used the pop as my model holder this time round :-)

I went for green colouring to the scarabs just because it seemed a suitable colour for the bugs.... right up until my wife asked me what they were and when I said scarabs she said "well why didn't you paint them blue??" hmmmmm a quick google shows yes, most of the world and the 'Eavy Metal team chose a blue colour..... Oh well

I have started with a bronze colouring on the details of the head and shoulder. Not sure yet if I am going to pick out more colour or stay with a all bronzy/gold with some degree of corrosion.

074 A few tweaks

The necromancer got a couple of details finished off today, not a massive update but a little WIP.

072 Necro Post

Some progress was also made back on the necromancer, this is quite a cool little mini with some great potential for conversion work so I may have to invest in another one or two.

I am experimenting a little with skin tones, at the moment he is a little (ok a lot) too dark but if you dont try you dont know!

sepia wash over everything was another little experiment; conclusion? Looks good on the reds and browns... looks absolute crap on the black, just made it a streaky mess....

I need to figure out a good way to do grain texture on the staff/crook. I have seen some good paint jobs on it but dont have a clue how they have done it. Just a very steady hand and small brush??

066 Test Update - The Stripping continues

And there you have it, two more or less stripped servitors! There is a little bit of remaining paint in those hard to reach areas but otherwise its all gone.

Now these guys had longer in the pot than I guess they really needed as I was away for a week and they got left in the soak but its not done any harm.

No smells, no residue or anything.

The paint seems to lift of but stays in clumps so sometime you will think nothings moved then you lift a corner and a whole chunk goes.

Used a sculpting tool to get at the bits and the detail and mostly although fiddly it came away without too much issue.

I would have liked something that dissolved it more rather than break up its adhesion but hey it works!

I will be carrying out some more tests including getting hold of the other products some of you suggested so watch this space :-)

060 Dredging the Depths of the Eldar

Once again I have been liberating ancient models from the clutches of my loft and garage and today I am able to bring to you the glory of the Eldar!

These are a mixed batch of models I put together probably between 15 and 20 years ago, gulp!
The most recent of which and probably the paint jobs I am most happy with being the Guardians above.

Farseer and Warlock

Howling Banshees (the originals!)

Fire Dragons and more Banshees

A second painting scheme I tried on the Banshees

Exarchs of the Striking Scorpions and Dark Reapers

A close up on some of the Guardians in a modified Ulthwe paint scheme

Striking Scorpions (originals again)

All the Exarchs!

Classic Dire Avengers

Night sky Swooping Hawks

Now some of these guys are down right awful in terms of their paint jobs but the classic metal casts jsut have something that I dont see in the new plastics so I think some of these will be getting paint stripped and reworked for sure!

059 Assassinorum

Having seen the quality of the new Assassin models I couldn't resist buying the new boxed game Execution Force.

While I don't think I will be worrying over the game too much, although it does look good. I just had to have those new assassins!

The Vindicare

The Culexus

The Calidus

The Eversor

Some of their older brothers and sisters.

057 Aussie Lady Love

I have been soooo lucky to be able to snaffle up some of the Limited Edition sculpts by the amazing Victoria Miniatures.

Both were Limited Editions for events that I had no hope of attending and had long thought I would have no chance of getting them, short of crazy priced Ebay resales.

For those of you that don't know, Victoria Lamb is an Australian sculptor that makes some quite brilliant Imperial Guard alternatives (among lots of other great models!).

She has a range of Cadian equivalents called Arcadians which I was immediately drawn to because the Arcadians were my original fluff for the Guard way back when. They appeared in White Dwarf, a copy I will be tracking down soon, and were based on a Hiveworld Gangers as recruits.

You can see here the Standard Bearer for the Arcadian, with a perfect FEMALE (!!) Guard sculpt.

Next up is the again FEMALE (!!) Tanneberg Officer.

Now I hope you realise my enthusiasm about this models is two fold, first is the fact that they are just damn good models but also the move into the realms of realistic female sculpts, something GW resolutely avoids and most other companies only manage to produce ridiculous over sexualised female models.

055 WD40?

Yeah again the witty title failed this is about WD 135 an early early issue of White Dwarf magazine by Gamesworshop.

Way back in March 1991 White Dwarf and to be honest the whole of GW was a very different beast to it is today.

In this issue we could see modelling guides on how to build a ruined temple, with arches, pillars and altar stone.

Rules and painting and modelling guides for using Ork-Genestealer hybrids.

Vehicle rules, (including a Imperial Guard Jetbike!!) when 40k was still really Rogue Trader.

Roleplay adventures in Marienburg.

And the amazingly good and long lost mail order parts pages!!