Terrain is everything - Aegis Defence Line - Lense FX

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity it's #TerrainFriday ... OK, lets just accept every day should be a #TerrainDay! Anyway, Aegis Defence Line... we're getting close to the finish line now. As mentioned these 'lenses' on my bastion were orange glow FX but I didn;t think that would work here so I painted them as red lenses

Just your standard dark at the top, fade to colour at the bottom and a specular white highlight in the middle of the black. Now that's not much of a fade at all, in fact it's almost non-existent/

Because I then coat the lense with Tamiya Clear Red X-27 which smooths it all out, make's it more monotone.

It also colourises the specular highlight but I will pick that out again in this one and be more wary of covering it in the subsequent lenses. I also did the green activation button on the hatch - it's a bit too bright, nothing Tamiya Clear Green X-25 couldn't fix. But although I think the tone is completely incongruous with the rest of the tone of the piece I'm keeping it

I picked out some silver areas as well. Just those scuffs through the rust and where weapon damage has pierced the wall. I could have added a little more to this, Rhinox Hide underneath to enhance the effect and make the silver sit better.

But I was rushing at this stage, cutting corners and I don't feel it loses anything for it, in this case.

If I( wanted a 100% accurate weathering techniques I'd need to really up my game and spend a disproportionate amount of time on these things. As it is they're stylised approximations of weathering effects that I'm happy with.

And I'm OK with that, naturally. Also, as much as I love terrain and I've loved painting these the same question keeps coming back to me...

WHY? Why am I painting these? I'm not playing, even before lockdown we weren't playing and certainly not at my house. Maybe I'll find a use for them in Armies on Parade. I'm thinking perhaps a narrative scene this time based around my Dark Angels defending their Bastions... who knows?

Terrain is everything - Aegis Defence Line - 'Rust and her embrace'

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity it's #TerrainWednesday ... of course it is! Anyway, Aegis Defence Line... some first steps with rust. Now the original plan was to stipple on some browns and whatnot but I just went straight in with a mix of Vallejo Model Wash Rust and Secret Weapon pigment Rust Orange.

The pigment powders usually needs some kind of fixer to keep it in place, it seemed to make sense that i use one that's already adding rust colours.

It also means I can have areas with minor rust, where it's just the Vallejo wash and more exaggerated areas that combine more of the pigment powders, you can see the difference between the two approaches here.

It's a bit hit and miss, sometimes I can go too far. I did consider trying to knock things back with a sepia wash in places, but also a second application of just the Vallejo rust often smoothed things out.

I also tested it out on the backs too.

As well as finishing off all the metallics. I still have to decide on the lenses but with all the rust I think orange isn;t going to work so red appears to be the sensible choice.

I remember on a French exchange going up the Eiffel Tower in Paris and I was horrifies at the massive balls of rust in some places. They had just been painted over in the brown that covers the tower but it always stuck with me. I've gone a bit OTT  on the orange in places but hopefully I can claw it back.

Here too I was very liberal with the powder/wash mix so I'll have to see what I can do with it.

There are the remaining wall pieces to do next and then the lenses, but close to being done now that I have a proof of concept. I don't think I'll even need to sponge on any other weathering effects this has come out so well. it may not be 100% accurate but tabletop wise it's striking and high contrast and that works for me.

Terrain is everything - Aegis Defence Line - Highlighted

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity it's #TerrainMonday ... Anyway, back to the Aegis Defence Line. What with detours to Rotspawns and Munitorum Containers its back to me detour from the Aberrants!

Sorry, colour's gone funny on this but all of the panels have been highlighted and then shaded with black. It always feels odd that I pre-shade prime [most times], basecoat, shade, highlight and then come back in and add shading again!

 All of the Imperial eagles have been painted VGC Stonewall Grey and had Army Painter Strong Tone wash applied. Stonewall Grey highlights next and then some white highlights.

All of the shutter mechanisms have been painted black in preparation for bronze metallics. I won't be blessing them with verdigris but they will be grimy and weathered.

I'm debating the screen/light fittings top and bottom of each panel [6 on the double walls]. On the bastions I did an orange glow. It was a bit rough and ready and not my finest work but here I'm not so sure.

I'm going to be applying some rust effects and powders I'm not sure orange glow effect would stand out. I'm thinking instead to go Tamiya Clear, either Red X-27 or Orang X-26. 

I'm figuring these are lights for the defenders, not radar screens - why would they have radar screens at boot height? So if they're lights you might want ones that only shine minimal light like the red torches the army used to use. Red lenses might look pretty cool against the green walls.

Terrain is everything - Munitorum containers - [pre]-rust FX

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer & it's #TerrainFriday, of course it is! That's the snappy hashtag right? Anyway, munitorum containers...

Another undertaking that mysteriously has my attention. I genuinely don't think this is an avoidance task for the Aberrants, I'm over the mental obstacle preventing them moving forward. I think I'm just trying to cover all bases. Once again, everything needs to be done, there's no harm in moving things forward even just a little bit when it feels right to do so.

So I have been adding some browns and burnt umber to the areas of most corrosion. I may even consider the salt weathering technique on one of these...

I filled in the vents with silver and then washed them in black, no doubt I'll scuff them up with their eventual container colour, but until then that bit is safe.

I may also need to add some recess washes in places just to get definition. They're all going to be drybrushed/stippled, but even so I think it might help.

These are so forgiving you could practically use them as tabletop-ready now should you feel so inclined. I mean I'm looking at them from a distance and they look pretty cool as is. But, I have grander plans though and look forward to playing around with them, much as I did with my Galvanic Servohaulers. Not only that, if I were to put them next to my existing scratchbuilt future containers they'd be pretty underwhelming in comparison.  

Blood Bowl - Nurgle Team - ROTSPAWN - TO DONE!

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer my #Nurgle #BloodBowl Rotspawn and what can I say? I never expected to finish this so quick. It was bough on the Monday, built on the Tuesday and primed Wednesday. I didn't work on it Thursday as I was role-playing and it was finished/varnished Friday with just a little extra gloss on the Saturday.

And I love it! I had my reservations in places, moreso the model itself but I think the end result overcomes those issues. 

This is by far the most 'Blanchitsu' miniature I've ever painted and it's surprised me how easy it was.

I have my Death Guard Kill Team knocking around somewhere and I had plans to replicate stained concrete that had been immersed in water on them - think the pontoon structures at marina that are black at the bottom, in the water that fades into green and sepia tones.

This could be the process I was looking for. It's not quite what I had in my head, i also wanted a pink mold effect in places, like bread that had gone off, but that could work on the tentacles like the purple/red areas here.

Not sure I'll employ any wool effects but the models are detailed enough. At least I managed to fin a way to make them work here in the end.

The bloody rawness works too. I wanted to keep the base pretty empty as I didn't think there was room for anything other than the tar, the lone skull was a curious addition at the last minute. 

And I got the 'face' to work, just a lot red and shading with Tamiya Clear Red X-27 to blend it. I'm not entirely convinced about the maggots crawling out of the side of the head and his chest but it was the best I could do.

YOUTUBE 360 view

And next to a couple of team mates. Thankfully my mixed skintones means so long as the orange matched he'd fit right into the squad.

And against a black background, because he look so much more disturbing in the dark.

Ditto

This gets me my Great Big Granite Stamp of Approval - TO DONE! 

Blood Bowl - Nurgle Team - ROTSPAWN - base colours

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity a wise man once said "'cause you come from out of nowhere, oh, oh" and I've been #paintingwarhammer my #Nurgle #BloodBowl Rotspawn which has done just that. Having built the thing I primed it Army Painter Bonewhite [not forgetting a warm soapy bath beforehand - Nurgle really appreciates the cleanliness before it gets dirty, dirty, dirty].

Ok, let's address the Rotspawn in the the room - veins. I once saw an episode of How Do They Do That, which featured artificial eyes and one of the tricks they do to make them realistic is they embed red woollen fibres under some gloss varnish to represent veins. I think they also draw some on but that stuck with me and I wanted to do the same.

Now the only red wool I had was really bright so I added some sepia wash to get some variation and then applied it with some Lahmian Medium to try and bind the fibres on. Overall it wasn't bad, but I really shouldn't have deviated from the recipe of gloss varnish. Gloss is thicker and would have provided a smoother transition between flesh and vein. As it was the Lahmian Medium left the fibres very much on top of the skin instead of embedded in it. Also, I did pause between applications and that meant some of the sepia washed fibres dried and became difficult to mould to the form below - lessons learned.

I obviously wanted a pale grub but with some underpainting going on. So, rather than go in with the Bonewhite highlights after some shading I went straight to my Miniature Paints Cream. The only problem with that is even thinned down it's still quite opaque.

VGC Heavy Red [Khorne Red] again comes to my rescue to add that angry rawness to the skin.

I also added some shading to his horns, although I get the impression from the painted box art they might be tentacles, he at least has that mutation in his stats. Anyway, I'm doing horns. I also added Burnt Umber shading on the lower part of the model and Typhus Corrosion to the armour plates.

I'm already surprised how quickly this is coming together, I guess in no small part because it is just a big maggot with a couple of orange armour plates and horns - there aren't too many colours to contend with.

The face is starting to reconcile itself, it's almost just like a Lamprey. I do still wish there was an alternative head to go on it but it's not quite as bad as I feared.

Here's where the choice of Lahmian Medium as a binder for the wool fibres rears its ugly head. You can even see in some cases the fibres have broken loose and I'll have to 'surgically' remove them. Frustrating because the process is sound, I just executed it poorly, but it was a first attempt and we live and learn. 

I tried to paint over some of the veins to help embed them under the skin. I think that lack of a gloss finish made them even more pronounced so I think a gloss varnish now might help. It could be closing the stable door after the horses have bolted, but it's the best option I have right now to try and smooth things out.

Here we have it glossed up with some more progress on the model - oranges and yellow pustules.

It's improving and with the bits of purple and red there are all kinds of mottled skin effects going on. I know it could have been even better but I still think this is beyond what I was expecting to achieve.

The gloss coat on everything has gone some way to embed the veins a bit. It's not perfect but better than it was. I just can't believe how quickly it has all come together. Admittedly it is still a distraction from my Aegis Defence Line and Aberrants but it would have sat on a shelf for so long if I hadn't just gone with the flow.

The face is a mess, literally and figuratively. I'm not sure if it's better or worse but I'll keep plugging away at it 

So far it is definitely the most disgusting player I have on the team and although it's not perfect it's definitely an improvement. When I come to do my Death Guard Kill Team I'll be using this as my template, that for certain.