Two Flavours of Knights

 

So these two were on my to-do list for a while now, and I've finally completed them. The Bretonnian Knight is a 3D print from Highlands Miniatures, and is one of ten total knights that makes up a full regiment. My plan is to paint each one of them uniquely in traditional Bretonnian fashion.      

The base will be the only thing that will match in the whole regiment, and it is an experiment on my part. The base is Vallejo Model Colour Beige Brown, then dry brushed Vallejo Model Colour Yellow Ochre, followed by a Citadel Agarax Earth Shade Wash. The rim of the base is also Vallejo Model Colour Yellow Ochre. A simple green flock application completes the base.

The Goblin Wolf Boss is also a 3D print, but from Avatars of War, and is painted in a similar fashion to the rest of my Orc and Goblin army, except using Vallejo Model Colour instead of Army Painter paints. The base is still using the old Citadel colours of Steel Legion Drab, Dryad Bark, and Eldar Flesh.

I'm going to use this bad boy to hunt down war machines and snipe wizards. He'll have the Shield of Ptolos to give him a 1+ armour save against shooting, and Nibbla's 'Itty Ring to give him a bound spell call 'EadButt. He'll also have a spear and bow so he isn't totally useless if there is no enemy wizard on the field.

Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!

 Panzers and Tigers

So I might have finished the Space Marines component of the box set I started a few years ago, but while I was working on them, and a few other things, I also finished these nine WW2 tanks, more specifically five Panzer IV tanks in late war configuration, and four Tiger 1 in late war configuration.

I started out with a prime through the air brush of Vallejo German Dark Yellow. This is followed up by stippling Vallejo Chocolate Brown and Vallejo Reflective Green in camo patters. Once completed, a quick wash of light brown and a dry brush of Vallejo Model Colour Middlestone completes the majority of the tank.

The crew are basic German uniform colours, Vallejo Model Colour German Field Grey, skin is Vallejo Model Colour Flat Flesh and the leads and headphones is simply a black. The tools are Vallejo Model Colour Beige Brown and a silver.

The tracks were initially painted a black, then dry brushed a silver, but more importantly they are washed by Citadel Agarax Earthshade quite heavily. The crew are also washed in the same shade, along with the tools too.

The decals are old Plastic Soldier Company decals, and they are still in good condition, and transferred quite well.

Another project ticked off, and more grey removed from the pile of shame.

The Youngest Wolf Lord

 

Ragnar Blackmane, the Black Wolf, Wolf Lord of the Blackmanes Great Company and the youngest and most promising Wolf Lord in the Space Wolves Space Marine chapter. Originally a Firstborn Astartes, during the Psychic Awakening, in the Era Indomitus, Ragnar fought to a standstill the mighty Ghazkull Thraka, even decapitating the Ork Warlord. 

In the process he was mortally wounded, to the point that even interment within a dreadnought wouldn't save his life, his only chance of surviving his wounds would be passing the Rubicon Primaris. Ragnar survived the gruelling
surgeries and healed his wounds. Upon recovering, he discovered that the Ork prophet, Ghazkull Thraka managed to cheat death yet again, and is set on tracking down the Beast and kill him once and for all.

So I finished this model separately from the other Space Wolves Infiltrators, but I did prime and shade it at the same time as the Infiltrators. I experimented a little with contrasts a bit, mostly trying out silver covered in paint to see how it shows up. I ended up not liking how the gold came out, using a yellow contrast over a silver, it looking like a sickly gold. I ended up painting the gold on, and using a orange contrast to shade it and it looks great I think.

The cloak was initially going to be pinkish, but I decided to use a more yellowish cream colour, and It looks more natural. The colour in particular was Vallejo Model Colour Tan Yellow. Quite a nice colour with great coverage, and only needed to coats to get a nice smooth finish. The sword was coloured using two contrast paints to get that transition, Citadel Contrast Iyanden Yellow and Gryph-Hound Orange. It worked really well and was very easy to accomplish.

Here he is with his Infiltrators, on the hunt for that rascally Ork.

Warhammer Armies Project!

 

So with the sudden desire to play Warhammer Fantasy again, and seeing various YouTube battle reports playing this version of fantasy battle, I've decided to head back to the old world and battle it out on the table once again.

As with anything, its not entirely perfect balance wise, with somethings getting a buff and somethings getting a nerf. Shooting has been buffed in a substantial way, with elf shooting or BS 4 shooting being very good, and war machines like bolt throwers being invaluable assets on the table. 

Elves aren't the killing powerhouses they were before in all phases of the game, and horde armies aren't the tar pits they were before. The game seems more balanced than eighth edition was, but there are still issues that need ironing out.

Onto the hobby, with Richard, Joe and I playing this game, I've had the desire to continue working on my Orcs and Goblins. The game has pushed me to get some more shooting into my army, and so I completed a unit of 20 Night Goblin Archers.

Night Goblins have always been easy to paint, with one can of black spray primer doing most of the work. The skin was done using my old army painter colour method, but since I've been actively trying to use only Vallejo Model Colour paints, I've since discovered an excellent substitute for goblin green, Vallejo Model Colour Flat Green.

Works really well, since I used to to fix any mistakes on the skin with it. In the future, next time I paint some Orcs and Goblins, I will try using it as a base, shading it with a green wash and highlighting back up with this again. 

The Yellow is done with Vallejo Model Colour Flat Yellow, which has a decent application and coverage, even over black. It's then washed with Citadel Agarax Earthshade, which has been used on the skulls, teeth, wood and bows. The bows and wood are Vallejo Model Colour Beige Brown, and the straps on the bow is Vallejo Model Colour German Camo Beige.

The arrow fletchers and mushrooms are painted Vallejo Model Colour Flat Red, with the arrow fletchers and silver washed Nuln Oil. If you're seeing a pattern, then yes, I am extremely impressed with these flat colours from vallejo. They have incredible coverage, and are quite vibrant even after a wash. I'm a big fan of the Model Colour line from Vallejo and it's why I'm trying to use mostly the Model Colour range going forward.

Before I completed the regiment, I decided to ease myself back into painting with these three Night Goblin hero models. The left is a Warlord, the middle is a Shaman who's going Super Sayajin, and the right is a Battle Standard Bearer. These are nice models, with the left one being an old sculpt from Games Workshop, in metal, and the middle and right being resin sculpts from Forge World.

They were great to paint, and they easily fit into the army both in theme and usability on the battlefield. Fitting them into the archer unit is also a breeze, and they look great leading a unit on the table.

The plan next is to 3D print some fanatics for them, and to complete the Mangler Squig for an all Night Goblin army I'm working towards.

Until next time.

The Wolf Pack and A Trukk

 The Wolf Pack

I recently decided to bust out this box and actually complete the contents of it. Richard and I had a test game in it and found that I enjoyed it, even if the games were lopsided against the Space Wolves. What spurred this on was of course, Richards sudden interest in the Warhammer 40k lore, and my subsequent desire to finish the long incomplete Primaris Space Wolves I had sitting around.

Well, incomplete they are no more, and what I envisioned a few years back when I got this box, has finally had the first stage completed. A full squad of Primaris Infiltrator Space Wolves.

Quite an easy kit to put together, with options to make them as infiltrators like here, or as incursors, with a similar loadout but more sapper like in essence. I decided to use Vallejo Game Colour Sombre Grey as a base colour, and primed it as such. Following a Vallejo Brown Wash and a thorough dry brush of Sombre Grey, the majority of the model is ready for fine detail to be applied.

Painting the bolters, antenna, inner joints, grenades, backpack exhausts and chest insignia Vallejo Model Colour Gun Metal Grey, I then proceeded to wash the joints, main body of bolters, bottom of antenna and grenades Citadel Contrast Black Templar, and the actual steel parts of the rest Citadel Nuln Oil.

Following this I applied to the straps, left shoulder pad, leg packs and holsters Vallejo Model Colour German Camo Beige. The left shoulder pad has three coats of Citadel Contrast Iyanden Yellow, applied as smoothly and evenly as possible.

The straps, packs and holsters are painted Citadel Contrast Snakebite Leather over the beige, and finally one coat of Citadel Contrast Iyanden Yellow over the insignia on the chest. The weapon scopes and eyes are painted Vallejo Model Colour Flat Red. The base is Vallejo Desert Sand Texture Paint and washed with Vallejo Sepia Wash. A simple Highlands Tuft is added on for flair.

Besides the Space Wolves, I also finished an Ork Trukk, painted to fit in with some boyz I painted a few years ago. This model also took a long time to finish, with much of the time being almost complete but for a things, and with our foray into Warhammer 40k, I finally decided to finish it off before I move on to paint the rest of the box, the Ork side, for playing with a narrative focus.

And here is the Trukk with all Da Boyz.

Here's hoping to the next update taking a lot less than this one :)

Stone Church and Stone Walls

 Since my last post on the new hedges, I decided to build some stone walls, too. Using the excess bits of felt from the hedges, I cut up some strips of Styrofoam and repeated the same process as I did for said hedges.
This time I went with a dark grey for the base, a lighter grey for a dry brush and white for a highlight and used the flock on the felt base, and a dab on top for detail. 17 simple and effective stone walls as a result.

As well as completing the walls, I also finished a stone church too. It was a cheap plastic church that cost me $16 from a local hobby shop. Although we already have a large church un-painted, I thought it would be good to buy a smaller one and test myself in painting up something in a different colour of stone.

It was a bit tricky to get the sandstone kind of colour, but over-all, I am very happy with how it turned out and I think it will be nice to use in some games, given it is smaller and a bit more portable than the wooden one we have. The only downside - and this was a mixture of both laziness, and alcohol - but I didn't soak it in hot water first, to remove the warp, and I also put the spire cross on a bit pissed - the same direction with which I was heading. Still, it is good enough..

Ranville Attack Scenario