Monday 31 May 2021

Adeptus Titanicus - Titans in Manufactorum - Lighter Greys

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer #AdeptusTitanicus. With the Aberrants out of the way I'm looking at some of my WiPs and thinking what to do. Well that Deathwing Land Raider Redeemer is bottom of the list for sure. The Macragge Tactical Squad and Ravenwing Talonmaster are only just begun so lets ignore them too. So it must be back to the Reaver titan. 

So I tried applying some Stonewall Grey. I thinned it with some Instar Water+, hoping that would prevent the complete break-up of pigment I been experiencing previously. I even used one of my bullet tipped rubber clay moulding tools to try and get the dimpled effect on the armour.


Firstly I tried it mixed with Skavenblight Dinge, you can see the lighter spots on the back [left] leg.


I just wasn't convinced though. The fade between colours wasn't there and it just wasn't feeling right to me.


I even went back to the other side of the carapace and tried to scrub out a lot of what I'd done :(


And then in comparison to my [almost completed] Warhound I discover I went much lighter on my spots/grey. I think at this point I tried to make Lahmian Medium/Stonewall Grey glaze to try and lighten the Reaver's leg. It wasn't quite there.


I'd also attempted a little of the Skavenblight Dinge/Stonewall Grey mix spots on the second Warhound.


But you can see if it's to match the original most of that will be covered up. It felt altogether frustrating.


This was not what I was hoping for. When you take into account these were all pre-shaded and light and I've effectively darkened them all and now need to redo all that light grey that was there after the priming stage!


Very frustrating. So, this did actually kill my momentum. My mojo was in the bin and I could not think of anything to do next.


I'd been so productive I'm left with very early days WiPs or, dun, dun, durrrrr! The Dark Angels Deathwing Land Raider Redeemer... 😨

Friday 28 May 2021

Imperial Knight - Warglaives to Helverin quick conversion

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I had an idea the other week that individual Questoris Icarus Autocannons could have been alternate Helverin Autocannons all along. I shared the concept on Twitter but had to record it on the blog for posterity too, it's just genius!


On inspection they are much smaller but I did suddenly think as I'd magnetised the carapace weapons would my twin Autocannons match up with the Armiger magnets and lo-and-behold they did! I was so lucky. Although smaller than the Helverins Autocannons, they are doubled-up so I think it'd make a convincing alternative. I've seen quad guns used before but I've never seen Icarus autocannons. 


I then realised my carapace rocket pods were also magnetised the same and would also fit. Slightly oversized, but I definitely think there should be rules, two different missile options would be cool. Help thin out Horde armies perhaps.


Dunno if the actual Ironstorm or Stormspear rules would make the model viable but it's a start...


Also, why no option of replacing the heavy stubber/Melta-gun with a Hunter Killer Missile? Anyway, at some point I'll get onto the actual Helverins. I really do love Armigers, I think moreso than Knights themselves.

Wednesday 26 May 2021

40kaddict 40,000


Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've said many times that I'm not chasing numbers on the blog. I'm not saying numbers don't matter because they do, in a small way. They at least give a sense of achievement, even if they are not the primary motivation for the blog. I always tried to acknowledge milestones as it's a motivation in itself. It gives me a reminder that people see value in what I post and keep coming back. However, I've always questioned just how accurate those figures are, whether they're real people or not. Certainly my Google analytics produce different results than blogger's own stats. But I can only go with the data I have and for the first time ever I've managed to get more than 40,000 views in a single month!


You can see from the graph it's been a long time coming. Back in 2016 I got very close with a few months breaking the 35,000 barrier, but for the last four years I've been getting less than half that monthly. I know a lot of people might want just those numbers but it was a bit of a shock to see it fall like that. It bothered me insomuch as I was under the impression 'blogging was dead' that YouTube had overtaken it as a medium to share the hobby. But I think there's a resurgence. I'm seeing quite a few new blogs start up and I hope that's a trend. Twitter is also growing the community and I think that then encourages people to carve out their own space in the blogging world.


Some might think this is a humble-brag or [the new phrase] flex, hopefully not though. I just need to recognise that even among the inevitable bots, there are a lot of people coming back to the blog. I know it's not always easy and I am never as brief as I'd like to be, but hopefully it's a rewarding experience and there's something worthy of your attention. Thanks for visiting and we'll no doubt be having another milestone celebration shortly [going by these stats]. For a blog named 40kaddict, about Warhammer 40k, that 40,000 view milestone was always something I hoped for, just for the synchronicity. Thankfully, now I can go back to ignoring the numbers and likes again etc. 😉

'nids part 320 - Genestealer cult - Aberrants - TO DONE! [White Pics]

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer on my Genestealer Cult Aberrants. Here we have the pics on white backgrounds.


I'm not entirely sure if it helps convey the models better but it's the format of the blog now.


The red pics a re usually my favourite but were a little underwhelming. 


Its quite hard to spend so much time on something and be really pleased to finish and then not be able to capture the coolness and satisfaction in those pics.


All those little little details took so long to do, so many changes of paint, last minute decisions that I can't ignore.


It was quite draining in fact.


But I should just be satisified with what I;ve achieved.


The Turqs cam out really well. Subtle differences between the new 4 and the one on the far right. He does not have a red maw and the highlights are more fake muscle texture on the newer ones, as opposed to edge highlights. 


The dark skintoned ones came out OK too. There were variations in how I approached the browns. Some had a sepia tint, while I used purple on other.


And the paler skintones were also mixed up a bit. The fact is we all have different complexions and the whole purpose of this project was to play around. It heavily impacts the uniformity of your army, but that's the price of experimentation.


Luckily though they work in their three groups of five, so I can have some consistency even if there are variations within it.

 

 

Not the best Free Radical Collective symbol but it was very difficult for me to freehand on the ripped banner.


Challenging too, but mainly because I had to do it twice, and the one with the pole running through the symbol didn't help! Considering all those robes are sculpted I don't think I did a bad job on this one.

 

The sign came together at the end on the Hypermorph.

 

Another kitbash, one of these two was supposed to be a another Hypermorph but you only get one improvised weapon and I've painted them both in the same unit!

 

I simplified the power glow, because I was never convinced about the 'lightning' on the original four.

 

Blessed verdigris worked out well too and matches my Sanctum Imperialis.

 

Dark Angel Tactical Squad shoulder pad on the base. Adding the red arrow was yet another detail I hadn't considered.

 

The auspex and scything talon were the stumbling block on this one. All these extra details taking so much time and effort.

 

I wasn't much a fan of the face on this one, luckily I haven't taken a close-up. It's very much an 'elephant man' head and I don;t think I did the features very well.

 

Moar verdigris.

 

The verdigris is always a challenge as I just don't know where it's going to go. But that's the thing, it's natural weathering and I've seen plenty of real-life examples that look weird and unnatural when they're not.

 

I did think about possibly putting Free Radical Collective symbols on their clothes but I hadn't done that on the original 4. Part of me theorised they aren't intelligent enough to go around marking their clothes and no one is going to get near to them and do it.

 


It's only the more advanced hybrids that will take the time to do that, although sticking a banner on the back of one seems a slight contradiction but that's only the same as giving them a big hammer to wield. Anyway, I went without. I can always add on the symbols down the lien if I feel I wimped out... I don't!