'nids part 67 - revamped Warriors

DimmyK asked back in August if there were some whole army pics. Although this isn't the entire force I had planned to take pictures of each unit type as a whole. Given I went back to my Warriors before Throne of Skulls in October to revamp their guns I thought it was appropriate to start with them.

All I've really done is add a bit of Mechrite Red to the Deathspitters. The original Liver mix and washes had begun to look a bit shabby and since I've introduced more of this red I thought I could tidy them up and enhance their appearance in one go.

The faces also got a lick of red.

And when they're coming at you over the shattered Aquila from the Honoured Imperium set they look mighty impressive.

Really glad I put guns on them now, can't imagine assault warriors being as effective in 6th Edition. It's bad enough having Hormagaunts and Stealers who can't get into assault and are overwatched but slogging Warriors across the board too?!

My extra Deathspitter Warrior with added arm length and my 2nd Prime from the original Space Crusade Warriors.

"What's that coming over the hill? Is it a Xenos?"

Not sure if you can make it out in the horde and lighting but here are the Warriors as they were, pasty guns and everything.

Look Around You! - Real world inspiration 2

More things that inspire me on a daily basis. On my way home in Manchester I pass this construction site on Great Ancoats Street. I think funding has stopped on it which is why most of the steel work has started to rust. Strangely though I was sure the safety netting was orange at some point last year, maybe it was replaced by this yellow stuff. Anyway there are some lovely colours and textures here to inspire your next construction.

I'm very keen on the idea of all this open space. I'm looking into producing a similar floor plate that can be stacked to make a building of any height. Original sketches wanted to mirror the current Hex aesthetic of buildings on Ferron Proxima but I want to do some structures that are more 'city-like' with a regular block structure. If I plan it right I could make the lift blocks in the centre have the same footplate as my modular plug socket, in which case that will mean the top floor could have any of the pre-existing plugs slotted in if wanted.

Next we have a train crane at Appley Bridge Station where I get my train to Manchester. The rust and deterioration on this thing is fascinating. I'm still trying to work out if the whiter bits below are white or in fact the same yellow faded by the sun.

Some interesting grime streaks as well. Not sure how this would translate to Ferron Proxima green chlorophyl does not exist on the planet. Yellow and white are the colours of most of the foliage on the planet and the sky is yellow, did I never mention that?

Another shot of the crane and two weigh bridges. There is a company alongside the station that constructs weigh bridges for transport and this area alongside the tracks is a storage place both for bridges that are to be refurbished and those that are under construction.

I'm particularly fond of the colouring and patination on this. It's not too apparent the side pits are a lot darker than they appear, almost black, especially when wet.

Another close up and an I-beam of steal that the local Banksy-Wannabe has left his mark on. Nice pitted rust effect. What I'm thinking though is how I would love to do some Iron Warriors that used these colours, although I'd probably rename them Ferron Barbarians, only appropriate don't you think? Only to play around with mind, although I don't really need to add any fun jobs when my to do list hasn't shrunk yet.

I have this as a starting point. Obviously I need a sword or banner to replace the one I've taken off and to remove the Khorne symbol but it might nice when I get chance to take this challenge. On top of that I have a few of the Space Crusade Chaos Space Marines to play with if I wanted something more than the one fella. We'll just have to see...

Last set of shots from a recent visit to Liverpool and some of the Verdigris on show on the many statues in the City. I really think my attempt probably needed Bonewhite to mix with the Turquoise than just white but we'll continue with our current efforts for uniformity. Interestingly, if you can just make out, is the way the Verdigris is much stronger on one side of the statue than the other. Clearly the elements are battering it from the left more than the right. Not sure if that would translate to a model as it might just seem odd without the prior knowledge that this does happen in nature.

Look Around You! - Real world inspiration

Recently Brian at A Gentleman's Ones completed four massive gaming tables to help out with the Heroes Of Armageddon charity endeavour. What's more he detailed how he came up with the design for the tables and more importantly what local Chicago references he was inspired by that were built into the Hive and Wastelands that formed the table. It's truly awesome work, a great team effort and a worthy cause, so take a look.

Now I'm not jumping on the band wagon regarding real world inspiration blog posts, I've been thinking for quite a while about the things that are smacking me on the noggin on a daily basis that just want to be recreated in red rockcrete for little 28mm future space battles. The thing is I tend to have an obsessive nature, when I get interested in something I embrace it whole. In much the same way when you buy a new car and all you can ever see thereafter are the same make I'm like an exocet interest seeking missile, homing in on those things that take my fancy. Of course when you extrapolate that to include architecture, but not like some famous landmark but just a bit of concrete, well sometimes it's a bit of visual overload...

Anyway, here's a bit of inspo, up first some concrete foundation casts. These now form part of the base of a local shopping outlet South of the Car Park that inspired the step in the Vulcan Plateau. Equally these cast buttresses inspired the look and feel of the hill and a future version will reflect this aesthetic more so.

Back in February I attended the funeral for one of my son's Godparents on the coach back we stopped in Truro to pick up more passengers and this was the roof of one of the bus shelters and this heavily verdigris-ed roof was useful inspiration for my Honoured Imperium's Matt Black: Former hero of the Imperium. Obviously he's a bit more vibrant, the picture isn't a true reflection of his colours and maybe using Bonewhite might have matched the tone a bit better but it was useful source material nontheless.

Next up are some as yet unproductive forms of inspiration seen on my walk to the station. As we know 40k Ruins always look like this:

But in actual fact most multi-storey building are constructed with a central lift-shaft core Like these three tower cores being constructed in Manchester. Most of the surrounding building is steel frame girders. And yet this simple box-like constructure with multiple access points [read fire points] seems to be grossly under-represented on the battle field. Just imagine the possibility of a multi storey core with numerous corner and side pieces that represent the outer edges of the demolished structure, so much scope... Whether I have the time or inclination to capitalise on this remains to be seen.

Nearby is this car park. Aside from the glass panes on the building which would make an interesting alternative to the usual stone structures in 40k, I know they refer to it as 'grim-dark' but there would be still plenty of worlds that have access to some form of transparent building materials. It's the wire mesh stairway that interests me more. Granny Grating may not necessarily be the best material for recreating this, the gauge of the mesh is a bit too thick but a simple frame out of foamcard with a mesh up against it would be relatively  quick to produce.

I'd do away with the curves though. You may not be aware but Ferron Proxima shuns the use of curves, it's an architectural anomaly. Sure they are used in arches and some access ports but cylindrical buildings are unheard of. This apparently goes back to the time Governor Sub-Sector Pringle (locally known as 'the Mad Popper') and his sector wide purge on all things cylindrical. It was only through intervention by the Dark Angels Second Founding Chapter - the Angels of Vengeance that the desecration was stopped. The Governor was removed from office without any explanation. Years of random architectural destruction halted in one surgical strike. What happened, or where the Governor now resides is a mystery but rumours, whispered behind closed doors, that he now resides in a secured vault in 'The Rock' persist to this day.

Lastly, for the time-being. here's another building, strangely enough from the other view it looks very much like the 40k Bastion model, but I was struck by the waterfall-esque cascading roofs on the back. Plenty of scope for some tarnished copper panels with plenty of fire ports. Again, maybe not something that may eventually see light on the battlefield but it 'speaks to me' visually on a daily basis.

So if you're in the terrain game you need to keep your eyes open, bits and bobs can spring up and be just as exciting to bring forth into creation as painting the latest figure. In fact I'm getting more pleasure and reward from this kind of enterprise than the figures themselves, and if you hadn't noticed Ferron Proxima is benefiting from this no end!

Terrain is everything - Honoured Imperium pt6.

Not sure why these day shots have come out so 'deep' but it's kind of effective. Old Matt Black: Former hero of the Imperium has had his final set of Vedigris highights which at times I though was a step too far but I'm happy in the end.

Additionally there are the bonehite accents on the base that tie it in with all my other red planet basing. On top of that some additional washes to the unrealistic but effective stains from the studs on the shield. 

Last shot and here's Matt's 'moody face'. Not entirely sure if the crack is too dark but again I've reached a point where I can just let go, before I muck it up.

The Aquila too has had another set of highlights and all the bonewhite accents. I'm sure I envisaged this paler with more effort put into the sandstone but again it works as it is so I'm prepared to leave well enough alone.

Here you can see some of the skulls, yeah man, skulls!

Terrain is everything - Honoured Imperium pt5.

Here we are with a little update on the Honoured Imperium, mainly focusing on the Aquila which has had some Bonewhite drybrushing to get the sandstone colours I'm after. Hopefully when I get round to completing my Cathedral Tower which is built of Red Planet rockcrete and rarer sandstone for such an auspicious building

Below you can see it in situ with my son's Tervigon for scale. Still got to paint all the little skulls Bonewhite but I like how the Red Sand scattered on top of the Aquila doesn't look totally faked, just marginally ;)

Terrain is everything - Honoured Imperium pt4.

Back to our Space Marine Statue of Matt Black: Former hero of the Imperium, noted for his valiant efforts against the Orks on Taurshaln (I don't know any of the actual worlds where Orks invaded). Eventually succumbed to spore poisoning, and is now believed to be known as Dok Graftbitz. Thanks C'nor (Outermost_Toe) for that history lesson.

So, having finished off his Red Planet based plinth I used my new found friend Tin Bitz as a metallic basecoat. Whatever level of verdigris I'm going to put on there will be some level of transparency which will show through this metallic colour.

Now I may have missed a few steps here [you don't say] but I think I did quite a thin mix of my Anita's Acrylic Turquoise and some black then some light overbrushing with the Turquoise and then mixing a bit of white into it for a second set of streaks. This paint has a very matt finish, it tends to have good opacity but if 'worked' a little bit with the brush can have areas of transparency and areas of opacity. It's why it worked so well on the 'nids in that you are never going to get areas of 'flat' colour in the natural patination of the 'nids.

The verdigris is also natural in that it weathers over time so this mix of transparency levels works and the great thing is that as it naturally streaks you can get away with all sorts of levels of brushwork. Once I added in some stain streaks using Devlan Mud it started to really come alive. The whole model is incredibly matt and dry to the touch, not sure if that has anything to do with the black poster paint basecoat but it really has the feel of some of the heavily corroded verdigris I've had the chance to observe recently.

All that's left now is to paint the skull on the plinth, add some more highlights to Matt Black and touch up the Devlan Mud stains but I'm really pleased with it. It may not be perfect and it may not quite follow the tutorial that I used as reference but I reached a point I'm happy with using the skills I have to do something different but not a million miles away from my what I usually do.

Terrain is everything - Honoured Imperium pt3.

Back to the old Honoured Imperium terrain. I'd be remiss if I didn't point out I actually got to this stage in around 24-48 hours, I'm not sure. I pretty much got carried away with it, really enjoying the process, again, because I knew what I was doing. This was because it's all just Red Planet basing up to here, click on the link if you want the full details.

As you can see the Aquila has also benefited from a Leather Brown base coat which I'm going to build up to Bonewhite.

The ruin is pretty much done, I'm not sure whether I want to pick out too much detail. I like the GW buildings but most of my buildings are scratch built and I don't want this to draw attention to the fact it's clearly not of the same design aesthetic. So long as I just stick to the same colours I should be able to let it blend in seamlessly with my other building/ruins.

Oh Lordy, that Red Planet effect is 'sweeeeet'! It's come out so well I can't believe it. Additionally I've added a thin coat of Black poster paint to the Statute. The Matt Black was a bit too smooth and I wanted to add a bit of texture for the verdigris to cling too. I think I also glued him together at this stage. Everything is looking rosey.

Meanwhile today is the day of the Kendo Seminar I've organised and tomorrow is the day of the British Kendo Association Kyu Grade [beginners] competition [although I'm too experienced to enter, I'll be refereeing]. So I'm gonna have sore feet and a sore throat and probably all sorts of other sore things!