Suffer Not The Alien To Live

Eldrad Ulthran - Farseer of Ulthwe

 
It's been a busy busy September but painting has still gone on regardless! With DeathWatch:Overkill & then later on Death Masque - GW has been busy ensuring that I never run out of stuff to paint! Or that I never actually clear my backlog >< On that note - GW of late have really turned around. The 'new', shall we calle it 'attitude' has been fantastic and done much to quieten if not shutup many of the whiners. All the new social media presence and a more open and communicative ethos seems to be serving them well and making things much better for all. Anyways that subject is a topic for another post and has already been done on numerous different boards and forums and blogs across the web.
So, August and September.....some stuff done, lots of stuff yet to be done and new plans beginning to take shape. Forayed into some of the DW:O marines to see how they are and damn but those are some gorgeous figs. I bought a load of resin bases for them and for the 'stealer half of the boxed set to match the setting - underground industrial mining complex. The bases are from Micro Art Studio and after searching a load of different companies for tech styled bases, these are, imho, the absolute cream. They do a ridiculous number of different themed bases not just the tech ones and are worth a look. Anyhow, got a few of the DW done and made wee collages for each one - see what y'think -

Antor Delassio - Blood Angels

Edryc Setorax - Ravenguard

Garran Branatar - Salamanders

Zameon Gydrael - Dark Angels

  Have also continued to press on with trying to get Space Hulk finished as well. The termies are just about all done now barring the Librarian which should follow in short order. Which is just as well as Ben aka TP-DC and I have started playing the 4th ed missions over FaceTime every second weekend or so. Love the technology - from Wales to Korea, the game goes on. Expect a batrep of the first couple of missions up soon :)

The other bit of painting to note, which I'm now quite sorry I didn't do here as an ongoing WiP, was the painting of the new Eldrad Ulthuan sculpt from the Death Masque box. Had a lot of fun with this one and tried out a few new things on him. I like the 'official' paintjob but I wanted to change it a little to my own idea of him. He is old, oh so very old - old enough to have been around during the Horus Heresey old. So I wanted to tone down his colouring a bit and make it less bright and fresh. Not dull per se but just a little less saturated. The spiritstones he wears for example are not as blingy as the ones you usually see on the eldar to give the idea that they have come from eldar now very long since dead. His cloak was the scariest part to paint as a starfield done badly looks like an utter shitmess so that was something I needed to really think about and plan out. I did a couple of runthroughs on plastic primed icecream spoons to make sure I was going in the right direction. Romain from BoW and Ben Komets on painting buddha both have done very good tutorials using slightly different methods to get the effect. I ended up going with a wet-in-wet approach and then several glaze layers and filters to get the effect. Really happy how it came out.
The snow was another thing that I've never attempted before and there are a load of tutorials out there on how to do it. A lot of them, I felt, end up with an effect that looks more like solid hard chirstmas cake icing, so a bit of fiddling and experimentation later and I settled on a mix of baking soda, ceramite white paint and my go to matt varnish as a carrier. Happy how it turned out. Actually I damned well delighted with how Eldrad turned out - lol. Couple more bigger pics for ye -

Well that's a lot of photos and I think quite enough out of me!! C&C always welcome as per usual. Any questions - just drop me a comment and I'll see what I can do

Cheers
Jan

"I Saw An Angel"

Hlaine 'Mad Larkin & 'The Angel Of Bucephalon'

Morning All - just a really quick wee update while I try to get my morning coffee into me and vanquish morning stiffness.
Recently finished up a vignette I had been working on for one of the 'Gaunt's Ghosts' OOP figures. A most excellent and really generous painter over on DakkaDakka sent me 5 of the old metal character figures from the range and I figured they each deserved their own little vignette of a scene they played a role in from the books. Previously I did the Aexe Cardinal farmhouse scene (which you can see here - http://warpbound.blogspot.kr/2016/03/commissions-done-back-to-mech.html ) which turned out rather well. So it was time to do another. First up - my favourite of Ghosts - Mad Hlaine Larkin.
In the books, Larkin is one of the saddest of characters. Originally a poacher back on Tanith, he suffers from a few mental disorders and is the 1st's Master Sniper. I'm not going to go into him too much here as you can read all about him in the books, which you should have already done. If you haven't read the GG books yet, then go and get stuck in for feth's sake!
Anyways - there is a short story featuring Larkin called 'The Angel of Bucephalon' where Mad Larks imagines (or does he??) that he is visited by an angel while he is getting ready to assassinate an enemy Chaos Magister, Nokad the Blighted. It's an awesome wee story and shows us a very intimate and sad portrait of Larkin. This was the scene I decided to do for his figure's vignette.

In the story, it's a statue of an angel that comes to life and starts talking to Larks. I didn't have an angel/statue figures to hand and I didn't really want another figure beside Larkin in the vignette as I wanted the scene to also portray the isolation that Larkin suffers due to his condition. So rather than showing the angel as a statue, I decided to try and make a broken stained glass window with the remnants of an angel in it. This was something of a challenge!! And the results......well.......judge for yourselves!!
I give you 'Hlaine 'Mad' Larkin & 'The Angel Of Bucephalon' '

 And there we have it - hope you like him and cheers for stopping by. C&C welcome as always

Cheers folks and catch you for the next one :)

Jan

All in the details....

The Thanatar Siege Automata Delta-7 is finally finished. Didnt take as long as the Imp. Knight but still was no quick job! Really happy with the big fella. Tried out a few new techniques and such with him and everything seems to have paid off. I won't be getting any proper photos taken for a few days yet. So here's a wee teaser of some (badly taken on the iPad) photos of some of his details.

Thanatar Siege Automata Delta-7

C&C always welcome


Cheers
 Jan

Where were we now?

Yes, I suck at blogging. I keep meaning to update more often but......I suck. There it is.
Anyways - still working on my huge list of unpainted stuff (which after Mymearan put up a thread getting folk to count their unpainted minis over on Dakka, seems to be nowhere near as long as some folk out there) and still trying (and failing) to not buy any new stuff in the interim.
So - quick catchup. What have I actually got done since......crap...March?!!!!

Vox Divina ServoSkull

Tech Priest Enginseer Dendris

'The Ashen'- Sicarian Ruststalkers

'The Ashen'- Sicarian Ruststalkers

'The Ashen'- Sicarian Ruststalkers

'The Ashen'- Sicarian Ruststalkers

Space Hulk - Terminator Brother Goriel

Ok - that's what I got finished. Looks less than I thought......o.O dammit!!

Enter The Magos II

Well, here he is. Arch-Magos Cybernetica Braetalan'Kot. Finally got the paint finished up last week and some photos snapped over the weekend Thrilled with how he turned out. Not much else to say as now he needs his retinue. First up am working on his bodyguards - a Scyllax Automata Covenant known as The Arachnae. FW models and should fit in nicely aesthetically with the Arch-Magos. I enjoyed building him so much, I'm gonna build a few lesser models to fit in as his extended retine. Servitor or two and a few wee others.

Just a few photos eh ;) Hope you like him and cheers for looking in. C&C as ever more than welcome

Cheers

Stephen/'Jan'

Magos' Progression

Last few days have been great for getting stuck into hobby. Gotta love the winter hols! Really buzzing with this Magos.

Something really satisfying about building your own unique fig, seeeing it really come together and then coming to life as the paint starts to go down. Been a fantastic start to the new year! I've got most of the metalwork done now and have been painting kinda from the inside out. The mechandrites really had to be tackled first as they get in the way of everything and as you can see, painting the meant getting metallics on just about all of the Magos' robes so I've had to leave them to last. I wanted his face to be quite recessed within the hood to give a darker and more ominous/sinister look and character to the figure as well ala a lot of John Blanche's visions of the Mechanicus so natually that also needed to be totally painted and finished before the outer robes.
I've stuck to the livery of his Achlys III forgeworld  and the methods/techniques I used on the other members of the forge I've alreasy finished - kats, dragoon, Dominus etc. However, with the Magos, I wanted to step it up a bit so to make him stand out both as being of a higher order and also much older and more senior to the rest of the collected force, even the Dominus techpriest. I needed something the rest wouldn't have. So I settled on his chestplates as been of a more archaic and rare nature. With the rest I use brass as a trim to thier weapons and armour and don't really use any golds. Here I wanted something brassy but a bit more goldy.....So I've gone with what his chestplates and cog axe now are. Comes out as a nice old, tarnished gold effect but still sits will with the ages metals of the mechandrites and the few brass trims. Very happy with how the effect came out and was very easy to achieve. Anyways - this is where we're at the now. Thrilled with how he's coming out.

AdMech Arch-Magos

I've always really like the fluff and aesthetic for the Adeptus Mechanicus/Mechanicum that GW has produced and the work of John Blanche that so often goes hand in hand with it. The FW Mechanicum models (you'll be seeing a fair bit of them coming up in the next few months here) and now the recent GW AdMech releases are all top notch and great stuff to build and paint. Their TechPriest Dominus is probably my favourite character release of 2015. However, for the Arch-Magos, I really wanted something unique and a model that would stand above and beyond the assembled forces. No two Magi are the same and are very much their own creations as they gradually augment and replace their biological parts as they rise up through the ranks and heirarchies down the centuries - becoming more and more mechanical and more and more aloof and even isolated from their peers as they get closer to their god.
And so I looked for inspiration for my Magos and found it from one of the best kitbashers out there - krautscientist and his 'Legion' model. If you haven't checked out his work yet, then do it. He doe some really amazing and inspiring work especially in the realms of the CSM, Inquisition and of course the AdMech. The 'Legion' model uses a WHFB cairn wraith from the hunched robed look so usually associated with the Mechanicum and it works perfectly. As I say, if you haven't seen his work before - go and check it out and be inspired! The 'Legion' model can be found here https://eternalhunt.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/meanwhile-aboard-the-arrke/  but have a look around the whole site.
Anyways - enough from me, time to get back to the brushes!

Cheers for stopping in and all the best for 2016

Jan

Enter The Magos

2016 is here and it's time to get some hobby done. Been working on a kitbash/sculpt for an Atch Magos over the last few weeks but with Christmas and that, time has been a bit short. However, finally got the big fella finished....well the build anyways!! Greenstuff parts went on fairly smoothly - those cable rollers are bloody handy! The axe haft was a bit of a pain to imprint a texure pattern on but worked in the end. Pretty happy with the result; bits from about 7 different kits/models went into him. Have a wee guess and see if you can get which ones.
Anyways - here he is - Arch-Magos Braetalan'Kot of Achyls III. Cheers for looking. Paint will be going on as soon as!

AdMech Arch-Magos Braetalan'Kot

From a Knight's End To A New Year

2016 has arrived!! New year, new projects and undoubtably there will be new models n figs to be bought and painted! First though, in the final days of the old year, I finally managed to finish off the Freeblade Knight - 'The Orphan's Wrath'. Took a fair amount of time overall but can't honestly say I loved every minute - from unboxing to the build to the planning of the overall scheme and livery to the painting adn the final finish. Amazing kit, amazing value and woulkd recommend it to any and everyone. Anyhow... here he is. The last Imperial Knight of the lsot planet of Tiryns - 'The Orphan's Wrath' piloted by the vengeance fuelled Sarpedon!

Freeblade Imperial Knight 1

Freeblade Imperial Knight 3

Freeblade Imperial Knight 2

 And there he is. Am beyond chuffed with how he turned out. Hope you like him. Fully magnetising him was so worth and would recmnd folk do regardless of whether you intend to use him in game or not (I don't even play but still wanted to suck the last drop of marrow out of the kit - lol).

So.......2016 eh?!! I actually made 11 new year's resolutions.......and then realissed that 9 of them are hobby related.....ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ But anyway - hope everyone had a great new year's eve and best of luck for the year ahead - paint till you drop!

Cheers

Jan