Friday 19 April 2019

Terrain is everything - Sanctum Imperialis - The blues [greens and turquoisey bits]

Annoyingly I was beginning to stall on this the raw bronze matched the red walls so well with the  cream interior complimenting it all and I was going to throw all that turquoise into the mix?! But before all of that I needed to gild the doors a little so they were a little more brassy/polished bronze. At least that was all I'd hoped it would be.


I'd already gone full verdigris on the roof top. There had been an original plan to do it rusted steel but if I chickened out of weathering the buttresses [obviously I didn't when you look closely] I'd have explored the effect in the roof at least. Unfortunately, even with my Photoshop mock-up and the reality in my hand I started to doubt this route even more. It was probably what prompted me to build some new figures! The roof is fully highlighted but I'll be putting some shadow washes on as I've been observing some patina'd overhead power cables at some of the train stations on my commute and black shading appears in some areas. Ideally that should have captured by the Warplock Bronze base - at which point we question why I did any of that but I'm a slave to the process...


Ultimately I just threw on the Hawk Turquoise. I came to the realisation I should just not care. If it goes wrong so what? This may well look odd and garish on the battlefield but often reality isn't always colour matched and complimentary, sometimes things just do look out of place. Failing that I could always repaint!


Having thinned the paint down a lot I needed to paint one side of each of the buttresses and leave it to dry properly before flipping to do the other side or the paint would just bleed everywhere.


A bit of a faff but now I'm ready for the highlights which will be mainly drybrushed so it should be straightforward. Just need to crack on and do it.

Monday 15 April 2019

GW Manchester Battle of the Brush - March - Characters

Following on from February's Battle of the Brush [or 'Tale of our Warlords', as it's also known], March's category is Characters. I entered my Space Hulk Genestealer Broodlord, aside from the Terminator Librarian [which might feature in June...?] it was my most recently completed character. Obviously if I could paint something in time I would but my priority is my ongoing projects so some months it will be legacy miniatures as my entries. So long as they've never been in the cabinet before, the store is OK with that. Luckily my Sanctum Imperialis will count as a 'Large Miniature' in May, if I get it done that is!

Anyway, I didn't get a lot of pics but these are the highlights. I think I was lucky in that I did capture the top three etntries with this Wight King gaining the top spot.


Gandalf was 2nd I think but he was absolutely stunning. You can even see Sir Ian McKellen in his face.


Riding Shadowfax too, and Merry or Pippin [I forget which].


An Isharann Tidecaster and some kind of Troggoth


Watch Captain Artemis and Spirit of Durthu - this Sylvaneth army is growing month on month so I lookk forward to seeing more entries.


Some additional entires, including a Biophagus.


Moar dakka?!


One of their taster tables, I like the fact it has the standard Realm of battle board next to the Sector Imperialis gamboard. I quite fancy having a couple of those to sit next to my own board as a transition to a more urban area, even if it's a nightmare to play on!


I'll be taking regular pics throughout the months for this challenge, so enjoy.

Friday 12 April 2019

'nids part 264 - Genestealer cult - Aberrants - Avoidance tasking

Having concluded that my Sanctum Imperialis should be verdi-gris I promptly ttried to avoid the task. Sadly I didn't even avoid it with any of my other priority projects. I spent one night making the torso of my Redemptor Dreadnought [more later] and the Aberrant Hypermorph. The next, night fully intending to paint I only went and made up all 8 of my remaining Aberrants. It says something when building until 1am is a more appealing task than painting that building green! These two are from the new Aberrant kit, but I think the power hammer dude has a Deathwatch Overkill head - they're more gormless looking


I went with 3 power picks, because with 13 Aberrants in total I planned to kitbash another 2 and the spare hammers seemed an easier proposition to convert, although I may just be completely wrong on that viewpoint.


Having 4 Deathwatch Overkill models already I needed to do a couple of things to differentiate these. The first had its raised claw cut and tilted downwards. Then the second claw holding a skull was removed and a spare claw, possibly from a Space Hulk Genesteal was attached - it's slightly bigger than normal. He also got the 'elephant man' head from the new kit but it might have been a mistake as you can't radly see the side of the face covered in skin. The other figure got a new kit headswap.


The robed guys, first one had it's raised arm removed and thn effectively put back in the same position because I couldn't remember what it was like. I did put a little 'dewclaw' in the elbow joint though. I also swapped out the skull holding claw for the smaller Stealer clawed hand. Lastly the power pick was separated from the chest and pointed outwards. The power hammer dude got a new kit headswap, allowing it to look in a different direction.


I might need to add some chitinous armour plates and possibly some adrenal glands/toxin sacs to make them look different to their duo-pose bretheren below. I also need to decide on bases, do I get another set from bases4war.com or just  do my own? Obviously there's a financial implication and although the bases are effectively complete the washing, sanding to fit the feet, gluing and washing again to get rid of the dust is as much effort as PVA, grit and little bits of debris...


Here's my early attempt to kitbash 2 more Aberrants, although one could be another Hypermorph so would need an 'improvised weapon' of some sort meaning I'd actually need to kitbash a third. Anyway, I had some oAssault on Black Reach Orks lying around doing nothing so they're bulky enough to form a base. I cut the arms off and trimmed down the neck to fit the steel collar of the eventual head. I also have a spare Genestealer leg to replace a foot so it's more 'Tyraniddy'.


I realised this hammer came with an upper-torso, so I'm going to really trim back the top of the Ork so it replace it. I'll greenstuff some robes as well to try and cover the orky fashion up too.


Here's where I'm at with my Redemptor, I couldn't even leave this stock. I had a big Dark Angel chapter badge I was going to split but then I found this one that I'd already removed the sword from and it fit perfectly. I might also put the Dark Angel Relics on a rope on the exhaust manifolds on its back, as that also fits perfectly. I'm going to bling the shizzit out of this, loads of purity seals as I'm guessing he earned them already to be in this thing! ;)


And his hips.


Hopefully this procrastination was sufficient to get me back to the Sanctum, we shall see.

Monday 8 April 2019

Terrain is everything - Sanctum Imperialis - it's not easy being verdi-green

If you follow the 40kaddict Facebook group you'll have seen some of these pics already. The plan was always to do full-on verdigris on the uprights, buttresses and external skirting boards, despite adding some highlights to the bronze. First was a wash of Army painter Hawk Turquoise.



Then another wash of my turquoise craft acrylic, followed by another drybrush of turquoise/white mix and I think it matches quite well my Matt Black Hero of the Imperium statue.


But putting it next to the big piece I was wracked with doubt about losing the bronze. It's such a consistent effect and will not stand out too much on the battlefield - tonal backdrop that does not detract from the miniatures.


But I realised I could Photoshop it to see the end-result and with the small piece rotated I could copy+paste elements across.


I also got to conceptualise the red glass finials, although didn't add the patina in the door relief. Asking in the group got a mixed response but I think the majority said go for it.

 The patina is my thing and as much as the terrain shouldn't take away from the models this is a piece in its own right.


If you look around there are always architectural elements that do not fit a single aesthetic. Not everything is designed to be harmonious and share the same palette of colours so I'm going ahead with it... And while I was in Manchester I came across this example to illustrate my point.


Not sure whether it was the inspiration [long in gestation] because they're just green painted drainpipes, not weathered copper, but you get the point.


So, more turquoise next.

Friday 5 April 2019

Terrain is everything - Sanctum Imperialis - moar from the inner sanctum

The big piece needed its grunge shading, it's come over all Tudor dwelling like.


Welcome to the grotty grotto.


I just wish I could leave things at this stage...


...but you know I can't and I'll be all over this with more paint...


2nd highlights, not sure if I've lost or gained with this? Definitely lost some of that oil paint effect :( but it was a bit OTT


I think I've got a mixture of both + and -. I just sponged on an even lighter shade.


Still some details to pick out and some shade applied in the recesses.


All the internal bronze 'skirting boards' need a sponging of Balthasar Gold. Ultimately the net gain or loss doesn't really matter. I'll do my process and what the end result is will suffice so it's best not worrying about it really.


Strong Tone wash in all the creases on the medium piece, as well as 2nd highlights.


At least there's consistency across the pieces. Don't know whether those two panel things on the right hand side are electrical switch boxes with wires/cabling going inside or just structural features. If they're cables I'll do my usual of a red and a yellow/black stripe.


The little control panels should be fun to paint.


Corner piece, first highlight on the left, second highlight on the right plus some verdigris on the bronze skirting boards. They were indoors at some point so they would never be as weathered as the outside brassy bronze. Still need to finish off the base as well but otherwise I'm almost finished with this piece.


Verdigris pictures next...