'nids part 326 - Tyranid Primes - bone 1

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer on these #Oldhammer Tyranid Warriors, which I kitbashed into Tyranids and painted 11 or 12 years ago now. I saw someone making fun of these sculpts the other day, comparing them to the new[er] models. Sure the current warriors are streamlined and have a consistent theme with the rest of the Tyranid range but these are really tall and menacing. They tower over the current models, which is why I thought they were so apt for Primes [when there was none].

Additionally, that rib cage tho! I can't think of any current model that utilises that hollow, layered effect. I think we've lost that ingenuity and creativity because you can cast in more detail now. That kind of layering of pieces seems to have been forgotten about, which is a shame. 

OK, their waistline and neck is a little anaemic, thanks to their insect-like head/thorax/abdomen design. But the head crest helps them look part of the current line up at least.

They're a devil to paint though, as I tried to individually pick out all the texture on the legs. Again, that texture has been lost on the current range. In some respects the smoothness looks cool, but quite often you will see artwork, where that non-chitin, non-fleshy area has lots of texture.

Just look at the work of Helge C. Balzer and his renditions of Tyranids. Now that is the level of alien horror we should be seeing. Fibres, threads, textures, slime and all sorts of bio-material emanating from these creatures.

I appreciate that might be challenging to injection mould, but we've evidently had texture in the past. Of course the design language for Tyranids is pretty set now, so we're unlikely to get more detail. Thankfully it's easy enough to simulate the effect of texture with paint, which I'll be doing with the next set of highlights. It took me 5 sessions to get these and the 9 Warriors done, fingers crossed bone 2 highlights aren't so time-consuming. I don't know why but I'm really looking forward to the turquoise...

'nids part 325 - Tyranid Warriors - bone 1

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer on my #Tyranid Warriors. Boy, did I forget how tedious this part can be! It's not really hard, but it takes a while to do each one and sometimes it can be fiddly.

To help with my motivation I've kept a progress log - just keeping track of what I achieve in a painting session. There's no pressure, but it's handy to see I painted the bone on 2 Warriors in a sitting, for instance. 

Then I know what I can do in the next sitting, or if I'm energised maybe do 3, or tired 1 and a bit. Of course I'm still mindful that there's 9 of these to do, so I'm always thinking about how many are left and if I've completed the bulk of them or not.

The Lashwhips are untouched as yet. I'm not sure when I'll tackle them in the process but I'm both excited and apprehensive about them.

My existing 4 updates were also brought up to scratch.

I had some doubts about why I was doing this initially but I think now it was the right thing to do, well there's certainly no going back.

But I think it'll look really impressive having them all painted to the same standard at the end.

The funny thing is 10 sounded like quite a big brood, or collection of broods, but now it seems like more would be necessary - not that I want to buy, or even paint anymore right now.

Should I need to scratch that itch I can revisit my kitbashed Hive Guard, to fix the frosted varnish at the very least. There's 4 of them that could do with a repair. Then I'd be looking at Termagants... there's at least 30 that are old skool and in need of a refresh. Plenty to keep me occupied for now though.

'nids part 324 - Tyranid Warriors - washes

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer on my #Tyranid Warriors. Right now I'm reminding myself I get a huge amount of satisfaction from the creative side of the hobby as the gaming aspect is leaving a lot to be desired.

I can't quite recall how long I've had these Warriors in my pile of shame. I think they were from a couple of ebay purchases. I remember vividly two auctions I won one time commuting home from work on the train. The auctions literally ending as the train is pulling into my station and I'm watching the bids to see if I was sniped at the end, but won.

I'd have guessed that was around 5 years ago, but with COVID skewing time up it's probably more like 7 or 8! Outside of a Hive Tyrant, 4 Lictors, 3 Warriors [I'm still debating turning into Shrikes] and all my Genestealer cult stuff [including my Space Hulk stealers and 13 purestrains] this represents the last of my purchased Tyranids!

As I've mentioned I fancy a Maleceptor and probably need a Zoanthrope/Venomthrope box to fill out minimum respective broods. But I can't really justify the costs and I've plenty figures I can painting to scratch that particular itch of the hobby.

After the 5 new Warriors comes the 4 upgrades to current painting standards [plus Spore Mine]. 

For the most part I've covered most of the original paint, very little of the Bone has been left unwashed, although I have left it in places. The glossed talons and claws have been left, hopefully and additional coat of gloss varnish will be sufficient,

There's also a subtle difference with the bases of the 3 on the right, as I originally used VGC Bronze Fleshtone for the highlights and now I use the Docraft Pumpkin [which I need a new pot of].

I don't think it makes too much of a difference and less so when all of the miniatures are synced up

Altogether the 9 Warriors and 2 Primes look like quite an impressive force on my display shelf. Even before any of the highlights it's a pretty grimdark army. Reaffirming my view that with a fraction more care they could be left at this stage. Of course I knew there were other layers to come so I can hide all sorts of mistakes - there's still Red Oxide overspray on some of the legs that I'm banking on adding more texture to the basecoats and shading when the highlights go on.

'nids part 323 - Tyranid Primes - washes

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer on these #Oldhammer Tyranid Warriors, which I kitbashed and painted 11 or 12 years ago now. Having upscaled and repainted their bases to 50mm it was time to wash the model now that all the basecoats are in place.

I often delude myself into thinking this is the halfway point. In reality it's no more than a third of the way through. With the 2 lots of highlights on the Chitin, bone ares, red fleshy bits, black talons/claws and any special FX there's so much still left to do. 

And these elements require far more finesse, painting skill and patience than those parts painted so far it can become quite a shock to realise this isn't the 'hump day' on the project. Add to that there are 9 Warriors also being painted/updated at the same time and there is significant work yet to do.

I'd washed everything with my dubious Vallejo Sepia wash, that does leave powdery deposits like Seraphim Sepia Shade, but a second coat of Army Painter Strong Tone on the Chitin always fixes it and gives this polished finish ripe for the first turquoise highlights. I've also tried a different approach to the Lash Whip - using Bloodletter glaze over VGC Pale Flesh.

It's a new way for my to tackle pinks in my army, not necessarily a good thing but I wanted to explore a new technique. I think as there are 3 Lash Whips among the Prime and Warriors, there are sufficient number to support this new take on pinks. If I confine it to this weapon alone it might not look out of place. Anyway, just had to check my previous WiPs - it's bone highlights next.

#ArmiesOnParade2022 #NewYearNewArmy

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been debating how to approach #ArmiesOnParade this year. As discussed previously, Games Workshop is trying to structure the event throughout all of 2022, which I find both exciting and concerning. I love the idea of them trying to reinvigorate the event, but I worry about how it'll fit with folks hobby commitments that don't match up with that particular month's theme. It'll be unfortunate if your plans are out of sync with GW's, maybe that's just my own OCD, but from my own experience these things work best when they're flexible. So far that flexibility hasn't been explained, the article linked above doesn't go into too much detail about how to take part if you just want to expand your existing force, rather than buy a 'new army'.

Ultimately it says to just use #ArmiesOnParade2022 so, perhaps it's less about conforming to the theme but if you can, great] and more about the taking part - which I thoroughly agree with. Maybe I'm just worrying about nothing. Anyway, after last year's AoP I'd been struggling to think what I would parade. As I've stated many times, I've no qualms about armies parading again, but I do like to showcase something new and with New Year, New Army as a theme I decided to add my Death Guard Kill Team to my To Do List.

Granted it is a small 'army' and not much to parade but I'm hoping to have another narrative board, with these traitors [such as they are] being the prey for my Ravenwing.

I may well add to the Ravenwing with my chaplain.

I can also add in the attack bikes, giving me a reason not to just ignore them.

Which is what's happened with my stalled Talonmaster. Of course with all the bikes and Land Speeders I have the Death Guard may appear a little outnumbered, but I'll try to find a way to make it look decent. I've a couple of other bits and pieces to add to them to make them appear more of a threat.

Hopefully, if I finish off some more terrain I'll be able to make a more interesting board and for once I'm not trying to overwhelm the board with miniatures - maybe give it some room to breathe.

Like I say, AoP is a way to showcase my armies and my hobby progress. If it's a mix of old and new that's OK with me, I've no aspirations beyond showing off what I've painted.

#BattleReport - 1,500pts Imperial Knights v Astra Militarum

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity we've been playing #new40k Following our last game we felt upping the points and a bigger board might add the dimensions so far we'd felt lacking. Another 500pts got me a Crusader, which I felt needed the Rapid Fire Battle Cannon for the extra range I' didn't have with my previous games against Ben's Orks. However, he switched to his Astra Militarum, and tanks. Don;t worry he gave me fair warning and I knew a Thermal Cannon would serve me well against them, but I figured so would a Battle Cannon, plus, the range... we rolled The Four Pillars we took secondary objectives but *SPOILERS* there wasn't much point keeping track of score as it became apparent very quickly only one of us was scoring points 😔.

Deployment can feel like quite the disadvantage for Knights. As soon as you put your first model down you're committed. I very quickly surmised that I'd put the Lancer on the wrong side. Although it was a shorter distance to potential targets it was through cover, whereas the Questoris Knights had great field of fire but would be slower to get to Ben's backfield. 

But, I look at it now and realise I can't second guess this,because at the time there are few models on the board, so I've no idea where he's going to put stuff. It's easy to say they're in the wrong place, when you know what they're up against and where they're deployed. And, of course, you don't know who is getting first turn. Ben won the roll off and only moved the Leman Russ Demolisher.

As shooting started I used the Kolossi Eternal stratagem - My Preceptor blended his Ion Shield with the Crusader and Armiger so they all had 4+ invulnerable saves. Now he already had the Ion Bulwark of a 4+ but this would help the other 2 weather the incoming storm. Unfortunately, everything was just thrown at the Preceptor who did blow up but I used a re-roll to prevent any damage to the other Knights. Then with the Preceptor gone, the blended Ion shield fell and the two remaining Knights had to rely on their own shields. I think the Crusader took 2 wounds and the Armiger 4, the Lancer remained untouched.

My turn and the Warglaive focussed its attention on the Demolisher, with the shooting and assault combined it was able to bring it down to just 2 wounds, which felt like I was getting somewhere, although I'd hoped to destroy it. Similarly, I felt I made some conservative target priorities with the Crusader - it's Stubbers targeted one infantry squad doing enough damage to force a morale check, it's Ironstorm Missiles another squad for the same reason and Endless Fury and the Battle Cannon laid into Pask's Leman Russ to destroy him, but I think I only halved it's wounds or it was on 4 when the dust settled. The Lancer failed to charge the Bullgryns.

Ben moved his Techpriests up - one repaired Pask so he was back up to top tier. The other fixed the Demolisher and it also Jury Rigged itself for another repair so it was back to 6 wounds. Now in middle tier it didn't take much to destroy the Warglaive.

And with the smaller knight out of the way the weight of fire went into the Crusader, who had 15 wounds stripped off it!

Luckily I had the Machine Spirit Resurgent stratagem to be at top tier wounds on the Crusader. Once again putting all the big guns into Pask to try to kill him but I don't think I did. I then charged the Demolisher. I still couldn't stomp it to pieces. Meanwhile, the Lancer strode over the Bullgryns into the trees and assaulted them from behind, as well as the infantry squad. I'd wanted to take out the Leman Russ, but it was going to be a 10" charge, so went safe. I perfectly split the attacks to wipe out the Bullgryns and by the end there were only 3 Guardsmen left in the squad.

I think I missed pics of Ben's turn here, all the tanks offl-oaded into the Lancer and killed it, with no CPs to give me any rerolls. The Demolisher, still in combat with the Crusader, fired point blank and stripped another 4 wounds off it so it was now left on 5 wounds. In my turn I used my command phase CP to use the Machine Spirit Resurgent stratagem again. I think I fell back 1", finally wiping out Pask with all my 'heavy' guns

Then I multi-charged the Demolisher and the other Leman Russ. I allocated 8 Titanic Feet attacks to the Demolisher with just 6 wounds to make and all I managed was 3 wounds! I think the other 4 stomps went on the other Leman Russ and didn't damage it! And there was me originally thinking I should have had the 8 on the 'fresh' tank and 4 on the damaged but I was adamant it had to go and still 8 attacks couldn't cut the mustard!

With only 5 wounds left it was easy pickings to bring the knight low for my 5th successive defeat.

So, what have we learned? Was this a better game? It felt like it, it felt like I was making intelligent decisions but losing first turn and losing the Preceptor, which had arguably the best ranged anti-tank weapon [and 2nd best melee weapon] in the lance, was a big blow. But when you think how long it took me to kill anything, in fact I only killed Pask, the 3 Bullgryns and a smattering of Guardsmen and yet I was deluded into thinking I was doing OK. It says a lot that whenever I tried to score Ben's VPs in the Command Phase he never even bothered to write them down. He knew the inevitable - that his gunline would persevere while my Knights would not.

Which still leaves us unsatisfied. No doubt we will try again, but I thin k with such a wealth of other options - Blood Bowl, Deathwatch Overkill, Blackstone Fortress, Middle Earth Battle Companies and our much paused MERP campaign I don't feel too bad if we just patiently hope 10th edition. Or, perhaps in the shorter term the next Knight or Tyranid codex will solve some of the shortcomings of 9th we're both experiencing. This isn't just me, Ben has won 5 times now and clearly there's no joy in it for him because it's just point and shoot. We're going to try Deathwatch Overkill next.

Dark Angels - Primaris Chaplain on Bike Big Build TO DONE!

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been working on the Primaris Chaplain on Bike that I got for Christmas from my friend Pete. He'll be multi-purpose, for both my Dark Angels and potentially for my Guardians of the Covenant Primaris force - if I ever go through with it.

As discussed, I don't have Primaris in my Dark Angels because of the scale creep between my old skool Rogue Trade metal models and then the newer plastics. A third increase in miniature size would be too comical. But this guy is a centrepiece model and although I also have the Redemptor dreadnought for my Dark Angels I think in isolation these work, because of that specialness.

Ultimately, if I can live with it, it's OK. And, I can live with it. I get a Great Big Big Build BLESSED VERDIGRIS Stamp of Approval.

 I went on with my standard Red Planet Base process. I had dabbed some Vallejo Red Oxid texture paste on the outcrop - just to give it its some gritty texture.

It was too smooth otherwise, and I think it works better because of it, less plastic looking.

Here's my Great Big Big Build Base BLESSED VERDIGRIS Stamp of Approval.

The Chaplain himself has been primed black and I'll be working on him alongside the rest of my Ravenwing... now that's a challenge!

Death Guard Kill Team Big Build TO DONE!

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been working on my Death Guard Kill Team over Christmas. Does this count for #NewYearNewArmy? When it comes to  #ArmiesOnParade2022 it might have to.

I'd been debating what I was going to do and will have a post at some point to share my plan. Small as this 'army' is it may well be the antagonist for my wider parade... other than that I'm out of ideas.

For this I get a Great Big Big Build BLESSED VERDIGRIS Stamp of Approval.

I am hoping to mage these as Grimdark and grungy as I possibly can - to stretch myself. I'm using my Blood Bowl Rotspawn as a starting point [maybe not with the threads though].

They will be tar based, like the blood bowl team, but I'll be doing the odd rock as red, to try and fit in with my Red Planet BASE. The rims will be black though...

Anyway, because the tar bases have to be done at the very end but they have been built for quite a while and could only be primed after adding the stones and odd bit of dead foliage so I'm still giving myself a Great Big Big Build Base BLESSED VERDIGRIS Stamp of Approval.