shhh...

Just about finished with this guy. My first blue paint job and I'm pretty happy with the almost-final result. Still need to do the weapons and all the hard highlights on the edges.


Somebody who stumbled on my blog from an amazing one, asked if I would show how I did my camo cloak..



black primer for base coat.



Really rough crosshatching of whatever 2 colors you want. I dry brush it and don't mind if the paint goes on a bit heavier in spots and with rough edges.



I went into all the areas that would have the darkest shadow with the black wash.



Here, I went over the whole back with the mud wash. I was liberal with it in the areas I had already hit with the black wash.



I repeated the last two steps and had to stop for the night so this is where it is. I still need repeat the whole process to get to what this one is at though.

The sergeant seems to have come a long way. I haven't done the shadows of the grenade yet so that will bring the green down a bit. I also need to bring out the highlights on the lenses and work on the gun/arm... I don't have any group shots but I've been pretty decent about keeping with "production line" style so they're all looking like the second pic.


I found this gem on the bay!




I was really lucky that all the parts were intact as the seller thought it wasn't a bad idea to wrap a 10+ year old box (thin-ass paper stock mind you) in butcher paper... the box was literally crushed down to an inch on one side. I'm stoked though..the metal parts on it are gonna make it so hefty! I still need to get rolling on the razorback but when I saw this one I had to get my bid on. I've been cleaning the parts up but haven't started to assemble it at all. I'm gonna wait and see how the razback goes... I imagine painting a tank is going to take some getting used to and I don't want to mess this one up.


Storage Solution

So at 500 pts my "army" (I can't even call it that...) consists of just 16 models. As of right now I was keeping them on the lid of where I keep my paints and supplies.. That wasn't the best move because I'd be moving the box and some would fall over or even worst... they'd fall off the lid and onto the floor. Small ass magnetized arms and packs flying everywhere.. it sucked balls.

My buddy at the office hooked me up with these awesome foam pads he uses for packing and... THEY FIT PERFECTLY IN MY ORIGINAL PAINT BOX! (yeah.. i needed a bigger box to store my paint pretty quick)





Distractions incoming...

As of right now, I'm taking a break on the assault squad. I picked up the OOP Chaplain that came with the original Death Co so I'm gonna revisit them. I took the backpack from the SM Commander that came with the AoBR set and it looks really damn sick. He's leaning on his left and the banner falls perfectly with him. I have a better idea of how I'm gonna do my blacks so I figure I can work on him and possibly redo my death co. After looking at the pics again, I'm not really into how they're looking...

I'm also waiting for my Librarian to come in the mail. Yet another OOP model but this one's sick (IMO) because he's wearing a helmet! I'm debating how to paint him. I've never painted blue before but I'm not sure if I want him to look like an ultra marine. I almost want to paint him like a Dark Angel in dark green... I definitely need to look into why librarians are generally painted blue...

PROGRESS!!! PT.2

So I've been working on my army, on and off, for the last week or so. Wanted to update this before I passed out for another wonderful day at the office.

I originally had the backpack straps black but with the Flesh Tearers being top-heavy with black as it is, the models were looking flat as hell. Sticking with my imagination's rendition of the Tearers, I went with brown leather straps. Figured it made sense as it's rustic and also added a nice accent to the red and black.

This is obviously still very much a W.I.P. I've only gone through initial highlights and have only added some wash on the red and black areas.

I actually just picked up some new washes and am looking forward to seeing how they look using combos of different hues. It's also gonna be nice to use a lighter wash tone on the paper hanging from the purity seal.. I only had the mud, red, and black for everything thus far...

PROGRESS!!!

I finally assembled (drilled, magnetized, and primed) my 500pt army. I also built most of the razorback, figured out my scouts' camo cloaks, and got close to finishing that assault marine...



Here's the camo cloak. I was originally going to make them black but got so sick of black from my death co that I opted for a more traditional "woodsy" theme... I was really pleased with how it turned out but now I need to finish the rest of them...



Here's my fully assembled (minus the razorback... not sure what I want to glue yet...) 500 pt noob army in all it's glory. I need to get some back packs for my death co still but other than that they're ready to go once painted. After some advice from a friend, I might need to drop Seth for a Librarian.. Not only would it be 60 pts cheaper (which opens up for a twin linked lass cannon and power fist for my assault sergeant), but they pack some really nice psychic abilities. I'd probably go with Blood Lance and Might of Heroes although I am going from what I've read in the codex.. I really need to do more research on these guys...

Updates!

I haven't picked up a brush in like 3 days! I'm falling far behind on my army's completion. I did however get my Razorback started (building...not painting) and received some OOP (out of print) miniatures! A Blood Angels captain (with a very questionable blood drop dangly ear ring...) and a Blood Angels Chaplain to be exact. If that wasn't enough... I found an incredible deal on 15 Flesh Tearer shoulder pads... $6 bucks at a garage sale in Brooklyn... WHAT?! Craigslist is just chalk full of win...

I'm planning for a very relaxing evening with the boy and I would really like to get that Assault Marine completed. I'm not touching another model until it's done... yarite. The little man is actually pressuring the hell out of me to get the tank done. We'd been talking about it for a week so when he saw the box he yelled "WE GOT OUR TANK!!!"

I am so glad I had a boy... I gotta post pics of his first couple painted minis soon.

So much to do! So much time!

As mentioned, I have a problem with sticking to a squad till the finish..



After getting my feet wet with my Attack on Black Reach tactical squad, I started the Death Company... It's obvious that I taught myself how to magnetize the arms on this guy... The left arm is a bit high and I didn't drill deep enough so it's popping out too much. I'll probably do a post logging how I only drilled my finger tip once... I have quite a bit to do with touch ups and hard highlights.



Next was the assault squad. I've been farming ebay for all the out of print metal mini's.. I hear some amazing things about the new school plastic ones but...eh. I guess I like the weight of the old school versions. Whatever the case, you can see that the arms look pretty damn good considering they're attached by magnets... I have alot alot to do on this one. I really only did first round of highlights and then shading on the armor... everything else (eyes, wings, metal, gems, etc..) is just base coated...



Unfortunately I didn't even get the base coats on the rest of them before my sniper scouts came in the mail.. I guess I got sick of the power armor and wanted to do some fabric-y type ish... the only thing shaded on him his pants,face and part of his gun.

So the GOOD news is I got a pretty good amount of models done while spending most of my time on the priest and seth... the bad news is I'm not even halfway done with my small 500 pt noob list...

Luckily I'm in no seeerious rush to get my ass handed to me in my first attempts to play this (extremely) technical game... I've read the damn manual twice and I still don't know wth is going on...

That's for another post....

Wait, wait....wait. Army Lists???

I figured it might be a good idea to have a small force to shoot for. I'm keeping it small and simple. 500 points seems within reach.

HQ

Chapter Master Gabriel Seth
160 pts

Elites

Sanguiniary Priest
50 pts

Troops

Death Company x 5
60 pts

Assault Squad x 5
100 pts
+5 pts for Melta Bombs

Scouts with Sniper Rifles x 5
75 pts
+15 pts for Camo Cloaks

Dedicated Transport

Razorback
20 pts (since it will be moving the Assault Squad)

This would give me 15 pts to play with...

So my reasoning for these troop selections are pretty noob. The Death Co. is only 60 pts and (IMO) there just has to be one company in a Flesh Tearer list. They're neck deep in Black Rage over there... The assault squad is kinda pricey but having the super-sweet reduction to dedicated transports gives me a big gun and some mobile cover to utilize. The snipers were chosen because they're 75 pts, have good range and honestly... they're f'ing ninja! All jokes aside, I'm hoping they'll provide some cover fire while possibly keeping some targets pinned so my assault squad or death co can keep from chasing. I'm not sure how to equip my razorback yet... I have the points for the storm bolter upgrade but man... I want some flamage. I gotta do some more research on that... The priest at 50 pts is sick and will roll with my assult squad for the bonuses it provides. I'm thinking about sending in Seth with my Death Co. Maybe I'll drop the melta bombs and pick up a Rhino so I don't need to worry about the psycho's ragin' on the first thing they see... at the same time he would go off with the priest buffs...sadly he wouldn't fit in the Razorback... hmmm

If you're reading this and can provide some pointers... DOEET! Please remember that I have never played a full game let alone laid a list out so flames will be deleted... unless they're f'ing hilarious and relevant.

More to come.

Sanguiniary Priest W.I.P

So here's my army's first priest. I'm really trying to make my guys look dirty... as if the fighting never stops for them. I glued the chain sword but magnetized the pistol arm and back to change up gear if needed.

I can't wait to get the pack done!

Chapter Master Gabriel Seth W.I.P

So here's where I am with my chapter's master. This is one sick looking model. When I was figuring out my army's color scheme, I tried to stay true to my imaginations rendition of the Flesh Tearers from Red Fury. I didn't want to use any gold because I felt that the blood crazed warriors wouldn't waste their already low resources on such gaudy decorations to armor.

I still have some highlights to do and also think the shadows in the face could be toned down ever so slightly...

Oh yeah.. and I magnetized the mofo.. So I can field another HQ if I want and just equip Seth to be a Sergeant or something.. Good times and money saved!

More to come...I hope.

Some sort of introduction seems to be in order...

Back in 1997, my HS buddy introduced me to the wonderful universe of Warhammer 40k. He was already incredibly talented at painting and was very comfortable playing the game. He showed me the Angels of Death Codex and I knew I needed to go Blood Angels. I bought myself the starter paint set, a box of death company, and got my happy ass to work.

I never finished that squad.

Before that stint was up, I painted almost 4-5 death company, 3 or 4 tactical marines, a solid standard bearer... and I think every named model you could get for the Blood Angels. On top of that, I got really into painting dwarves from the fantasy line of models. I finished a slayer...uh... squad? I don't think they're called squads in the fantasy game but eh... who really cares.. anywho... a squad of hammerers and almost all the named models that didn't have complex bases...

I painted for a while... probably close to 3 years... and even though I don't have any of those models to prove it, I think I got pretty good. Sadly, I never got a game in. I couldn't stick with painting a squad long enough to field an army haha...

Now I'm back.

It's been at least a decade and I think I'm ready to take the plunge.

This run, I'm goin Flesh Tearers. I finished Red Fury about a month ago and when they were talking smack to the Blood Angels for their artistic abilities... I was sold.

More to come I hope...