Blackstone Fortress - Espern Locarno - TO DONE!

Now my character for  #blackstonefortress Espern Locarno [#paintingwarhammer]. I was compelled once again to add a few 40kaddict signature colour elements:

• yellow/black chevron wire to his 'recording device/Walkman'. 
• verdigris
• orange eye lenses

I also hadn't mentioned the script on his parchment bib, maybe it's like a Google map list of directions? I added the simplified Dark Angel Chapter symbol just to add further connection to my own forces. I wasn't particularly convinced about the orange lenses - so many times I do all this shading and highlighting only for me to question whether to add Tamiya Clear Orange X-26 and in this instance I know it'd be better for it and can't!

I decided the laurel wreath would be embroidered gold and I actually think it brings it all together. The cloak is less than I hoped but better than I feared half-way through. Perhaps a galactic star-field pattern might add some interference for the blends?

Having 'finished' the model I could not get past my dissatisfaction with the lenses. I saw a pretty good example and decided to just tweak them with a shadow under the pure white highlight. 

I'm much happier now - it's a bit more googly eyed but I think that's the point. The face and head should be a little exaggerated, I mean look at his hat! I've pretty much painted beyond the confines of the lens, into the surrounding frame but I'm happy.

Just a close-up of the base with the curious note that Locarno's force cane is positioned at exactly the intersection of one of the 'cracks' in the floor. Is it because the cracks move to meet the navigator or is Locarno so attuned to the empyrean he will find those power junctures naturally? Who knows? I just thought it was a nice little touch and gave me some direction in where the lines should be positioned.

Yeah, I wish his cloak looked more like this Big Galactic Stamp of Approval...

Blackstone Fortress - Beastmen - TO DONE!

I manage to finish the Chaos Beastmen for  #blackstonefortress [#paintingwarhammer]. There are definitely some compromises here. I could not fully reconcile the black armour in places. Ordinarily I'd have gloss varnished it, but as I've mentioned Liam is not a fan and ultimately they are his figures.

I was perhaps a little too uniform on the colouring, it might have been nice to mix in some different fabric colours, but that would have required decision making and from experience that causes delays. 

The bases came out soooo well. I added a little more black shading in places to smooth things out and make it more 'blackstone'

The GW tutorial does a 50:50 gloss varnish Lahmian Medium coat for a slightly shiny surface but again no gloss. I think it might have made things a little richer but even if I had been allowed to do it the others wouldn't so it would have looked a little odd.

The little trapped spy lens had a crude red OSL added. Again Tamiya Clear Red X-27 would have been the icing on the cake for me but I had to respect the 'client'.

The hooves and horns came out really well and something new. Alongside the bases this was a couple of new techniques and skills, so although compromises and less than optimal colour choices were made I think I pulled off some nifty new models and had a blast with it.

Still get a Galactic Stamp of Approval though!

Blackstone Fortress - Espern Locarno and Beastmen - bases

Now to follow the Games Workshop #blackstonefortress bases tutorial [#paintingwarhammer]. I have to say these were ridiculously easy to do, in fact the initial lines are potentially good enough in my book.

If you're new to the hobby and worried about basing this would be ideal. It looks cool, it's simple to do and the only real challenge is straight lines... however, this is ideal practice for brush control and improving fine motor skills. If you ensure you use thinned paint you can get the basic lines down and then a second coat near each junction takes it up a level. Drybrush the rubble and it's golden!

Or ramp it up to the next level with some blended slabs.

I think this was Incubi Darkness, thinned very much so your essentially glazing each section but extra coats at one end increases the gradient. Blotchy on places but I can live with that.

Additional lighter turquoise highlight on the junctions of the lines too.

And then a final lighter turquoise, followed by a dot of pure white on each junction and on the base edges [why not?].

Espern Locarno had his cloak done, it's not great unfortunately but again good enough. 

Details next, then varnishing.

Blackstone Fortress - Espern Locarno and Beastmen - next steps

Moving on with the #blackstonefortress models [#paintingwarhammer]. I added Incubi Darkness to all the clothing, painted the hooves brown and shaded them. All the metals got Typhus Corrosion

Hair and horns highlighted.

I added some further highlight to their faces. I used the first level highlight colour from my Red Planet basing paint-  mainly just to add definition and help the faces from becoming featureless red blobs.

Black armour plates got high contrast highlights. Ordinarily I'd be gloss varnishing these but Liam objects to gloss varnish and definitely when there are also highlights applied... seems my whole schtick is at odds with his 😜 still, interesting to have some restrictions, but I still got my orange grenades in...

Espern got further highlights, I'd originally intended him to be black skinned but a tanned flesh looked  little more in keeping with the whole scheme. I also committed to red shoes. I had a twisted idea that he'd be wearing sparkly 'ruby slippers' just like Dorothy from Wizard of Oz. Any time he needs directions he just clicks his heels and says 'no place like home'! 😂

The cloak isn't quite getting there but once again I shouldn't judge this until I;m finished. His ruby slippers got some sparkly stippled highlights.

Some minjor details next and bases...

Hobby Spends 2019

Following on from previous year's spending record I've kept another log for 2019 [and will do so for 2020]. The final figure of £150.42 was roughly a 75% reduction than last years gross spend of £624! But again I tried to limit my spends as much as possible to Christmas money and vouchers, and my GT4 refund of £65 helped balance the books.

On top of that I still have a number of surplus items earmarked to sell on ebay to cover my hobby costs. And I managed to save up some of those Amazon vouchers again and won a couple of social media competitions for Element Games [Use this code: DAV910 for DOUBLE Element Crystals], so I thought I had £10 added to may account and a further £10 voucher but when I checked I seem to have accrued of £100 from their Element Crystals reward scheme!? At some point I may find a use for that.



So my net spend of £55 over 12 months is £120 less than last year! My figure purchases are down again [9 models, although 1 is a big a$$ building] and having queried the group about Zombies!!! and whether it was a legitimate hobby cost, or something for the family, I included it in my spends. Having done that I feel even better that 10% of my outgoings wasn't even 40k related and not solely for me [even though we've not played it yet!]. And another 10% was on the Humble Bundle Black Library Audio books. I've not listened to any of them either but it was too good of a deal to miss. One day I'll get it all sorted.

I've still got the Warhammer Conquest Calsius models to sell on ebay, maybe need some bits for conversions and paint [always paint] but not much else planned. With my limited gaming there is really no urge to add to my grey tide. To beat this year's spend will be tough but I feel like I've plenty to paint already, so paint consumables could be my biggest outgoing in 2020 and even if I do spend on gaming I've got £170+ of vouchers to cover it!

Anyway, I had a very frugal year, bring on 2020.

Blackstone Fortress - Espern Locarno and Beastmen - basecoats

Despite my muse being the Middenheim MaraudersI was suddenly overcome to get my #blackstonefortress commitment done. Basecoats on the Beastmen - following my Garrek's Reavers colour scheme - Stonewall Grey for the hair, brown for the horns [I'd do the hooves the same too], Khorne Red fur/skin, gun metal and Brass Scorpion.

Purple wash over everything.

Hair in particular looks very different.

Khorne Red highlights on the skin/fur

Then Bloody Red highlights

Not 100% happy with things, think they still need some more highlighting but don;t want to lose the redness.

Espern Locarno was more in keeping with Steelheart's Champions - Stonewall Grey for the tabard, purple for the cloak and Warplock Bronze.

Blackstone Fortress - Espern Locarno and Beastmen Big Build - TO DONE!

After our game of #BlackstoneFortress we each went away with a unit of 'baddies' and our respective hero. I think I got the hardest part with the Beastmen but as I paint more than anyone else that might be the best disposition of the task.

I'd wanted to try the official Blackstone Fortress basing tutorial I hope the other guys give it a go too, so we have some consistency but it's Liam's game and he's just happy for it to be dark so if we all start from black it should all look similar. I sanded all the bases, added a small triangle of plasticard for some change in height and a small stone and debris for variety. I also used the 3D Dimensional paint to fill any gaps in the model. I'm thinking about painting them in the same colours scheme as my Garrek's Reavers, with one difference - Liam is not a fan of gloss varnish or even Tamiya Clear Red X-27 so I have to steer clear of those shenanigans.

Espern Locarno was based at the same time.

I'm not 100% sure on my colour scheme, although I'm lazily thinking back to my Steelheart's Champions as an option. The 'eavy metal version has a purple cloak so it would fit that but the white robes might offer a personal touch. all the metals will by my usual bronze fair.

In truth most of these had already been built by Liam so I don't really deserve the badge but I won't use them otherwise so what the heck.

And they're kind of based too, I mean not painted base which is the true criteria but... sod it.

Meanwhile, despite Liam saying he hasn't painted in months because he has no time, he only went and painted Janus Draik and the Ur-Ghuls in a day. He's still to do the bases but I'm suddenly very conscious about doing the Beastmen justice after he's done such an amazing job on his models...