Imperial Knights - House Corvus Twins in manufactorum pt14. Interim TO DONE!

With a bit of a push these are 'mostly' complete. OK so some weapon options haven't been finished, some haven't been varnished and the banners haven't been added. Not to mention these pics are just what I set up in the back room, when I probably need to do some 'proper' ones but that can be said about a number of completed projects recently.

But they are done and if you see all those folk claiming their models are 'done except for the base' - so they're not done! I think I'm owed some latitude but right now, regarding my To Do List, if it's all I complete this Season I'm happy with that. It's unlikely this would just be it, but all things considered they mean a lot.

Which is where the contradiction occurs, because as I've touched on before, they mean so much but their game play and the reputation of Knights in tournament setting are just at odds with how much I would love to play them.

Sadly you can't even dilute your force with other Imperium without being dubbed a 'soup' list player. It's a no-win scenario and it's just a bit galling really. You never know, now I have 4 Knights and 2 Warlgaives they could play differently but we'll see when I next have a 'friendly' game with my mates.

Lady Pettorini, she's going 'full tilt' on this. Really looking forward to showing them off at some point.

But I think I may have titled them wrongly, in that their namesakes - one is short and one is tall and I've switched them because this Gallant will be at the forefront and part of me thinks that representing that spirit was more fitting, than actual physical stature.

But I've already caught myself accidentally calling this one Lady Pettorini, when it's Ser Ellenbogen.

Considering I was originally not a fan of this face plate I absolutely love it now. As soon as I put it on I could see no alternative.

I've started a banner for this, but I can't imagine it will suit unfortunately. The space between the legs would be too cluttered I think.

The Gallant also has a banner that's less progressed but it might still fit and not spoil the silhouette of the model as it is 'in flow'.

Top view, sometimes I wonder how this stuff happens. I'm under no illusion this is Golden Demon level but I can;t quite comprehend what I've achieved. perhaps it's rooted in my history of not finishing things and now I do, to a standard I'm more than happy with.

I never expected this model to feel so 'alive', given the static pose, but somehow it does look like a captured a moment with it.

These are my desktop/wallpaper pics, suitable for phone or PC.

Although my Armies on Parade background is a little busy. Maybe when I do the Ferron Proxima mat background they'll be even better.

Something about the cheek guards and their old skool grime sings to me.

And a more sensible right hand image for PC desktops.

50:50 split

And what lies beneath the mask, so you can see what was lost in the eyes with the Tamiya Clear Orange X-26

My House Corvus is 'complete'. There's obviously a Castellan I should add, but I'm not overly fussed on the model. I'd love some of the other Cerastus but not really going to explore that. I might get some Helverins at some point but not sure I really need anything else.

If the Lancer is ever an issue - cost/performance benefits I'll swap it out for Euronymous to keep the other Knights in check and bring the points down. And I actually think the Freeblade rules give you extra benefits without spending CPs for extra Warlord Traits/relics

Anyway, a Big Teal Stamp of Approval for giggles.

Old Stuff Day 2019

It's old stuff day 2019. A few years ago now warhammer39999 wanted to join a movement to rediscover lost gems from the world of hobby blogs. To choose one of your own blogposts that your most proud of, or may not have got the attention it deserved or any thing that may warrant some necromantic blogpost bothering. On top of that you were to share blogposts from other bloggers which you thought deserved the same spotlight of attention before they were returned to their dark nightmare infested slumbers.

Here's some great posts from other bloggers [apologies to the many great bloggers out there I haven't included, you do sterling work too, these are just the ones I was reminded to remember over the last 12 months]:

The ever awesome Alex fitted out his garage as a gaming and hobby space. If you want to see how to do that sort of conversion then go check it out. I think there's only three parts but the results are brilliant

http://fromthefang.blogspot.com/2016/12/gaming-garagetm-conversion-part-2.html

The Mandulian Chapel hasn't posted in 4 years so this is prime Old Stuff fodder as folk may not have come across the blog, it had some good stuff. This Swamp Board by Grubnards was particularly impressive, here's the first post
http://synaps3.blogspot.com/2014/04/swamp-board-genesis.html
The rest of the posts can be accessed here: http://synaps3.blogspot.com/search/label/Swamp%20Terrain 

Shameless of me but this is Iapedus post about building terrain in which he made some of my print & play templates. I'd never seen so much of it used in one space and the clever approach to print it on card and have bases they could slot into - allowing it all to be folded up to ensure maximising space was genius.
https://languormanagement.wordpress.com/2017/10/04/build-it-and-they-will-come/

This Spanish [with English version] hobby blog has some additional scenery resources here, well worth checking out. 
http://www.toposolitario.es/workshop/index_scenery.html

Not so 'old' but Tangible Day has a great post on 'Focus Stacking for better miniature photos'. It's a long read and requires some extra skill and effort but if you want to take you miniature photos to the next level then you'll need to put the hard miles in - go check it out.
https://tangibleday.com/2018/12/04/focus-stacking-for-better-miniature-photos-how-to/

I'm not sure if I've posted this before on Old Stuff Day, but it's worth it again anyway. Mr Pink and his insanely good Sector Imperialis basing, to be honest anything on his site is worth a look.
http://www.modernsynthesist.com/2016/11/sector-imperialis-easy-urban-basing.html

And what of the Old Stuff Day instigator himself - Warhammer 39,999? In 2016 I managed to [unknowingly] convince him to buy a Gormiti Fire Mountain Playset to turn into a Tyranid Bastion. As far as I can tell this was the last update, he'll tell me if I'm wrong, but if I'm not it needs finishing Dude! I will add in his first post on the subject he wrote these words'Typically I reserve my 40k stuff for my blog, preferring to wall off my facebook profile due to nerdshame, but Dwez brings out the best in me'... 
https://warhammer39999.wordpress.com/2016/06/13/tyranid-bastion-progress-green-stuff-and-gubbinz/

And lastly the Godfather of Hobby Blogging, to which I still owe so much, even though he doesn't post any more - Ron From the Warp - still a treasure trove of hobby goodness we should all routinely visit first to answer a question - 'how do you make a greenstuff cloak?' Like this!
http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-to-sculpt-greenstuff-cloaks-and.html

And what of my own posts?

How about post numero uno? 25th October 2010, that's as old as I get and it kind of sets up my history and is a jumping off point to read my entire blog from start to finish... if you're a sadist, mind.
https://www.40kaddict.uk/2010/10/ive-really-fallen-of-wagon-now.html

And you could follow that up with a post I did a couple of months after that when I thought I'd exhausted my content but actually set out my basic blog manifesto
https://www.40kaddict.uk/2010/12/whats-in-blog.html

More recently I moved all [well, almost all ;) ] my hobby into '40kaddict towers' or the 'man-cave'. I still can't believe the effort I put into it and what I got out of it, especially having finally painted the back room last year so we now have a dining room. Not only do I have a room for my hobby the extra 'nice' room in my house has been great for family dinners and most likely added value to the house. That has definitely offset the £1200-£1400 it cost to do, and when a Warlord Titan costs nearly that it almost feels like a bargain! It certainly gets more use than a Titan would. An absolute no brainer and theres step-by-step pics of how I went about fitting it out in subsequent posts [in case Alex's garage was too fancy].
https://www.40kaddict.uk/2015/07/40kaddict-towers-man-cave-has-arrived.html

You may or may not have noticed but I have a milestone approaching, just over 2 years ago I made my first million...
https://www.40kaddict.uk/2016/11/1-million.html

Birthday hobby goodness - pics from Manchester GW Battle of the Brush

In the past I've tried to give away things on my birthday, usually a free terrain template but with everything going on I really haven't had time. Obviously it's a day with mixed feelings for me with past events but I've got to give my fellow hobbyists something right?

Well, my local GW [Manchester Arndale] is doing a monthly painting challenge and I decided to include Ser Ellenbogen as my vehicle/monster entry. I'll be trying to include something every month from now on, although luckily it doesn't have to have been painted that month [I can't keep up with that kind of schedule]. Anyway, I took some pics of the entries [as well as other items instore] and thought I'd share as the level of skill and effort on display was really high. You never know, I may even come back at some point and add some painfully obvious captions 😉 I will just say the first three are the 'winners' for this month [the 4th one was also nominated for it's efforts], there is a competitive element.

I love this Sylvaneth army, almost makes me wish I had one... I won't though!

Imperial Knights - House Corvus Twins in manufactorum pt13. Heroes of the hour.

Having been inspired to name my Knights after the surgeons who saved my son's life I finally put paint to the chest plates. Ser Ellenbogen and Lady Pettorini, much better than I thought I could freehand.

And the pipework that will be covered up by the chest plates. I really wish these could be more visible but it says a lot I'll hide it all to recognise, however trivially, the efforts of those surgeons.

And more pipework to be obscured.

And verdigris. Once again it's just Army Painter Hydra Turquoise thinned with water, blotchy in some places but that's what happens when you 'batch' two knights at once.

The line between red and cream/white on the ion shield didn't work for me so I did a quick cog pattern freehand, still not perfect but better. With the knights mostly done it was time to bring the weapons up to scratch - so many of them, my patience was flagging.

And then I threw this spanner in the works - yellow/black chevrons on some of the options [I've done 3 battle cannon barrels now]. Starting with orange...

Then Iyanden Dark Sun.

While everything else was Vemilion highlights.

Until eventually it was a mass of bits awaiting varnish or glow FX.

Something about the Gallant base was still 'empty' so I figured a wrecked banner might balance it out and I had an old one doing nothing.

I then distressed it further. This will be some kind of Nurgle affiliate. I've asked Liam if he'd paint it as he has a Nurgle army and it keeps it connected to our group, but it has to be Nurgle as testament to these Knights conquring the disease. I'll get it to him at some point to paint up.

Meanwhile I added some paint on the generators. This will be coated with Tamiya Clear Red X-27 so it's just underpainting to suggest some internals.

I also blobbed on some highlights in the eyes.

 These will be covered up, not just by the faceplates but the Tamiya Clear Orange X-26. Sad really, there are some nicely painterly splodges I really like that have since been lost :(

And next the joys of glow FX and varnish...

Imperial Knights - House Corvus Twins in Manufactorum
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