Age of Sigmar and a Shameless Plug

In the midst of all this Dreadtober madness, I thought I'd share a few photos of another project I've been working on. I want to clarify this by saying that these miniatures are at best a collaborative project and at worst just photos of wonderful things created by someone else. Regardless, behold!

The mighty Lord in all his glory - or should that be gory?

Now, I can't take any credit for the paint job on the Mighty Lord, it's all the work of a far more talented hand than mine (Berserkerbro). But I painstakingly built and assembled the model before handing it over, so I feel justified in posting pictures and claiming all the credit. I had slightly more to do with the grim faced fellows below.

My love for you is like a truck, BER SER KER!

My love for you is ticking clock, BER SER KER!

Not only were these guys lovingly crafted by my bare hands, I also applied the Khorne Red basecoat. I know, my skills are amazing.

So, the question on everybody's lips is. Why on Earth are you suddenly messing about with all this Age of Sigmar stuff in the middle of Dreadtober? Sit back, relax and I'll tell you.

It all started when Age of Sigmar was first rumoured to be around the corner. I had a few discussions with Berserkerbro about possibly painting the minis for our FLGS. So I had a chat with Keith (proprietor of said FLGS) and he hummed and hawwed and even sashayed a little and then eventually said yes. 

Marquee Models delivers exceptional customer service - mostly due to the cloning vats.

So, if you're in the area, and you fancy seeing some of the minis in the flesh then come on down. If you ask really nicely, Keith will probably let you play a game with them into the bargain!

Dreadtober - Progress update #2

Shockingly, I've actually managed to make some progress with the Dreadtober/Carnifex painting challenge. Trust me, I'm more surprised than you.

I think the paint was still wet when I took this.

As you can see, most of the chitinous areas are now complete along with the fleshy parts. All that's left is to fill in some detail (ie apply moot green with wallpaper brush) and finish off the base. This is definitely a good thing as I'm going abroad for the last week of October so I only have this week to finish him off. Wish me luck! More photos below.

Zoomed out so you can see some other random objects. You're welcome.

Rear shot so you can admire the junk in the trunk!

Moar photos!

From the top ie General's eye view.

Dreadtober - Progress update #1

A Carnifex?! For Dreadtober?!! Madness you say?!!! Well, get over it, it's happening so you'll just have to deal.

Ugh, that looks hideous!

As you can see, it's part way through painting. By the end of the month it will join my tie-dyed horde of alien gribblies. The colour scheme for my Tyranids is very basic because it was conceived when my interest in 40k was rekindled back in 4th edition. Essentially the fleshy parts are painted with an 80/20 mix of Evil Sunz Scarlet/Abbadon Black and the base is painted in Dawnstone. All of these areas are then washed with Nuln Oil. Once that's done the chitinous parts are painted with White Scar and then heavily washed with a 60/40 mix of White Scar/Altdorf Blue. The final details are picked out with Moot Green and Pink Horror and a goodly dash of Ardcoat is applied as necessary. The last step is to drybrush the base with White Scar.

Given that there is no highlighting, glazing, metalwork (non-metallic or otherwise) etc. it's not really surprising that I can turn these things around pretty quickly (now watch me miss the deadline!) I'm sure my fellow Tyranid players will agree that when you're playing a horde army, the simpler the paint scheme the better!  

What do you mean the photos are identical?!

As you can see, I've completed the basecoat on the skin and base, washed it down and made a small start in applying the white layer. As with most of my Tyranids, there's a bit of construction history to this guy. He's one of my ebay salvages; basically I went a bit nuts and bought three Carnifexes I didn't need along with nine Tyranid Warriors, a bunch of gaunts and spore mines and a Red Terror. Those who were aware of the size of my existing Tyranid collection simply shook their heads woefully. I think I'm about five genestealers away from an intervention.

Anyway, like most cheap things from ebay they'd had a hard life. Badly constructed with polystyrene cement, shellacked with layer upon layer of paint and displaying some impressive battle damage. Nonetheless, I take a perverse joy in resurrecting these poor miniatures and adding them to my armies in new and glorious forms. This particular model was stripped using Fairy Power Spray before removing the head and limbs. Once this was done I used a new head from my bitz box along with some new claws and re-posed the torso joint so that the model is rearing up instead of staring at the ground.

There's bound to be a few experienced players out there rolling their eyes and wondering why I would bother to put so much effort into building a Screamer-Killer style Carnifex. The simple answer is that I think they're awesome; are they the most effective build on the tabletop? No, not by a long shot, but it's a classic build that takes me back to the misty eyed days of second edition (when they were toughness 8 and had 10 wounds...).

More updates to come soon.

Dreadtober, Tervigon and other random things

In random painting news, I've finally finished painting my Tervigon. This is particularly significant, as it was a Birthday present from my darling wife, so I have to show that I appreciate it rather than just letting it join the forlorn pile of half finished, unpainted junk gradually accumulating beneath the bed. Here's a blurry camera-phone shot of the finished article for your amusement.

Thankfully the blur hides the painting flaws.

Now, many things have been said about my Tyranid colour scheme. They've been called garish; been described as hippies; and once even compared to Aston-Villa fans! Well to those people I say, screw you! This is how Tyranids look in my imagination! The terrible horrors from beyond our galaxy would surely be festooned with tie-dye! Ahem...

Moving swiftly on; I have come across a certain painting event known as Dreadtober. The gist of this is that the participants must build and paint a Dreadnought before the end of October. Sadly, I don't have a Dreadnought to hand, but I do have four spare Carnifexes! Using the old, Space-Crusade definition of a Dreadnought, I'm sure a Carnifex could be squeezed into this category (despite Greg's protestations). So, before the end of the month, I will produce at least one fully painted (tie-dyed) Carnifex. Updates and complaints about lack of progress to follow.