BOYL exclusive Necromancer by Bob Olley

Hey all ! I'm in the middle of a stupid number of projects at the moment but I wanted to clear a few items rapidly lately. One of which is going through my BOYL exclusives and getting them all painted to show some gratitude ! Amongst the ones I hadn't painted, there was this Necromancer by the incredible Bob Olley from BOYL 2022 (iirc).

Adeptus mechanicus team - Iron Claw

Alright so I've been a little quiet, working on too many things at once but at least it means being busy (mostly) doing stuff and amongst the many things I was working on, there's this team of Adeptus mechnicus designed by Bob Olley.
After the really pleasing challenge around Trish Carden a few months back, I've decided to ask Bob Olley to judge another friendly competition based in his work this time ! So this month was the #paintabob marathon for plenty of us and great fun it was.

I really wondered about which models I would pick as Bob's sculpted a mind blowingly large amount of stuff and I finally settled for his iconic Adpetus Mechanicus range.

Picture from Solegends

Of wrinkled bones - Story of a Skolleyton

Hi all !

A few days ago, I saw a very nice proposition on the Oldhammer FB page, the kind you can hardly say no to...

Stuart K. offered a handful of Olley miniatures to the people who'd claim them first at the only condition that those models were painted within a month.

Now I do like to be challenged and I love Olley models even more ! This is how I ended up bagging this magnificent skeleton !

A family like any other - First generation hybrids

Despite the pause for other subjects, the cult has been gathering forces... This time, I wanted to have something a little stranger and a bit weirder (yes, stranger and weirder than alien hybrids I know). Something a bit more sinister that would use the roots of genestealer covens.

The Mutant Brotherhood

Alright, here's the last pair of mutants I've painted (for now) for my group. They're probably my favourite models of this group so far. The first one being a mutant dwarf armed with a powered pickaxe and the other one being some sort of leader or engineer.

Female magus and ranger - Genestealer hybrids

Hi all, here's another couple that goes with the 2 I did last time ! Here's something a little different, a female magus and a ranger !

By now all of you cult lovers should have seen pics of the new releases by GW and I believe we're all excited as hell to get our greasy little hands on the boxes. I have to say I had tears in the eyes at some of the nods like the webber and a few other items.
They're pretty excellent and the proof GW has been very cautious about what people desire for a little while now. I'm eager to add some of the new cultists to the mix honestly !

Trooper and Magus - Genestealer hybrids

Following my last post about the limited edition hybrids, here's a couple of new models from a bigger set. If you are wondering about what these sculpts are, well, they're brand new and sculpted by Bob "Patriarch" Olley. I cannot tell you all about it for now but believe me there are some very very nice models in this project, definitely must haves for any old school enthusiast and Hybrid lover.

The rise of the Cult - Genestealer hybrids

This project here has been growing for long time really. It's taken quite a while to gather a good load of models and it's taken another good while to get started on them.
I wouldn't have got round to them actually if it wasn't for an offer I simply couldn't refuse/resist. You'll know a bit more about it but let's get back to our main topic here.
Go back a couple of years back and I got lucky enough to take part in a private commission project that saw the release of a few Genestealer hybrids that filled a few gaps in the blank space GW had forgotten in the old days. Those were mostly sculpted by no other than Bob Olley. I think about 50 sets were made at the time so if you're looking for those... well... I advise you to just fall back to the good old ones or the new excellent ones  released in Overkill.

Iron claw mutants - complete painted set

Another quick one for today, Do any of you have those sort of projects you thought were finished and you realise afterwards you can still add a little something ? Well that happens a lot to me and it's just happened ot long ago.

Some of you might remember that a year ago I painted a warband of Rad mutants based on Iron claw pirates right ? Well I just happened to miss one of the mutants from that set. I'm not exactly a completist collection wise (despite some attempts) but since there are 5 mutant models in the set I thought it'd be cool to have them all as 5 makes a better number for a squad than 4 (or at leas tthat's how I feel).

An odd couple - Ogrynn and Goeblynkynn from the realm of Zhu

First of all here's an album that inspires me and helped me get into the right mood for those who fancy some good old inspirationnal music.

Now you might remember that some (long) time ago, I had the pleasure to change this blog's head banner from a Blanche rip-off for an unique artwork from Zhu Bajiee. Now I intended to repay him in some way from the start and the only real thing I can do is paint models really (don't think anyone from the hobby would be much interested in Kendo lessons or foundation designs...). So I offered to lend my painting skills in exchange.
To my surprise I received two very different models (at first), one big and old, the other small and new. A close look at the models first indicated that both were marvellous sculpts (no surprise given the sculptors really) but that they actually matched each other very well and that bonding one to another would be a very nice exercise.

The ogryn and goblin have got used to covering each other's back in combat

Along with the models and some visual references, I got a hand-written letter giving a bit of background for both characters to pick hints and clues about how those 2 should look like.
I have to say I absolutely loved this way of doing things, challenging one's imagination rather than being bluntly direct about colour schemes and all.

"Aeldwurth the Belch and Skungevinger Runtbottom are accustomed to a life of pig-sticking, mug-raking, mushroom thievery and occasional bouts of low-level thuggary. It's on account of this that they have been selected in the King's militia and honorable body of able bodied men, holbyts, dverger, gobblynkynn, urucks and of course ogrynns..." (Source from Zhu Bajiee)

That meant taking risks though as what I did was an interpretation mostly. I tried my best to get into the right mood which led me to very different choices and way to do things compared to my usual work. I surely learnt a lot in the process and I sincerely hope I managed to capture a bit of what Zhu had in mind.
I've tried to stick to a soft earthly palette and though I switched the greens you could expect for a light blue tartan to add some more vibrance I think the spirit is here. I painted the base rims in a dark grey rather than black to avoid any disturbance.
The cape was weathered with pigments (which have unfortunately lost some of their quality after varnishing).

Not joking when I say the eyes on that goblin are the smallest I've ever painted... ^^'

The ogre is an ogre hero from the Fantasy Warlord range and was sculpted by no other than Bob Olley (you could spot his style from miles away).
I'm a great fan of a lot of Bob's work but I have to say this is one of his best work here, just the right ratio of insane details with still fun for painters (without having to guess what's what). Despite a very annoying casting issue (which I stupidly didn't fix correctly) it was a blast from beginning to end.
If you want to read Zhu about those and see where to get those (still produced by SHQ miniatures) head to THIS POST.

Here are a couple of illustrations that inspired me :

In a hole in the ground.

From Arthur Rackham

The goblin is a goblin spearman from Redbox Games, and sculpted by the very talented Tre Manor. I don't think I've ever painted such a fine model at that scale. Definitely the first time I paint eyes on such a tiny one for sure !
Despite its size, it's absolutely brilliant and I will definitely check other models from Redbox if they're all as pleasant as this one.

Here are the main inspirations for the goblin :

From Brian Froud

From Paul Bonner

Just for fun , here are a couple of WIP shots to show how the model looked before any weathering :

I also had a go at playing with artificial water to add the feeling they dwell in the middle of nature. So I built this casing around the base with adhesive tape (there must be better solutions really) :

I used brown and blue inks to give a nice taint to the artificial water and build the effect layer by layer (about 4 IIRC) with each layer a bit more translucent than the previous one :

The rest of the model just consisted in finishing the base with grass tufts, birch seeds as leaves and some ground tea to represent humus. The guidelines indicated twigs would be a nice addition but I never managed to find the right size or disposition for them. The base seemed too busy and messy, catching the eye from where the real things happen. I considered doing a display base too but this would have been a project in itself and I didn't mean to delay the painting any longer. I will have a go at that sort of thing in a while though, I have the perfect model for it ! ;)

I've taken a little picture with some other models just to put them into context but I realise I cruelly lack good scenery now :

For more collaborative work, check Airbornegrove's blog Give'em Lead ! and the excellent banner he also got done by Zhu :

So that's it for now, I've spent a little more time than I usually do on these but I've had plenty of fun and pleasure doing so !

From Rien, Poortvielt

Rogue Quest Level Three : The Wizard

First of all, let me suggest a suitable soundtrack for this post with either a classic :

OR a suitably grim dark tune :

So here we are, already at the third level of the Rogue Quest ! After starting with my fighter for level 1 and after Jon/Axiom's barbarian for level 2 here is my entry for level 3 : The wizard !

The obvious way to represent a wizard in warhammer 40k is probably to use a psyker of any sort so I decided to pick one of the few I have. I'm lucky to have a good load of eldar psykers of all sorts but I have relatively few human psykers and the only one I had which looked heroic enough was this charming psyker from Bob Olley.

As you may know, I've become very fond of his models over the years for they often prove to be unexpectedly pleasant to paint. When I say unexpectedly, I mean I often struggle to understand what's what when it's unpainted but I usually discover the model as I paint. This makes the process very organic and enjoyable, something I've one-sidedly decided to call the "Bob Olley effect". I'm pretty sure most people who are not keen on his sculpts would change their minds the minute they actually paint one.

Since this model is meant to represent my wizard in cyber dungeon crawling stories, I wanted him to look a little different from the usual imperial psykers.

The wizard in a group is often stereotyped and amongst all the usually associated images, this kind of fellow was something I wanted to suggest in a discrete way :

BORACHORKS !

You may remember I once wrote I needed a drunk for my 40k games, well I actually meant I needed drunkS because let's be honest, while being drink alone has got to be the saddest thing ever, being drunk in good company can lead you to... well unexpected levels of stupidity or fun (sometimes both mixed).

After getting my hands on a couple of nice old models I thought the occasion was too good not to expand my very little collection of civilians for Rogue Trader.

The 3 models on the right are part of the Orc villager set by Trish Morrison while he one on the left is a madboy by Bob Olley. As you can se both ranges are full of character and are just perfect to make NPCs in games. I could actually get plenty more drunken orcs if I needed...

Rad mutants - Iron Claw pirates

At last I finished some models !

These have somehow jumped to the top of the paintqueue (well, greatly thanks to The one for sending me Captain Dunbar as a gesture of kindness) and as always with Bob Olley's sculpts, I just let the models paint themself without worrying too much.
I've already told you how I strongly believe you only truly know a model once you've painted it, well that is even more true with Bob Olley's sculpt. I called it the "Bob Olley effect" earlier, you may not like what the sculpt look like (I've been like that a lot in my earlier days), but the minute I painted one (I was kinda forced), I realised it was a tremendous pleasure to work with his models and I have come to be a huge fan of his work. I just love sculptors who work for painters. Just like Jes Goodwin (my own personnal favourite), Bob is a very painter friendly kind of sculptor and that's what makes his work so great and favoured.

But let me tell you about those particular models. They are Iron claw pirates dating from the time when Bob had his own studio producing models for Games Workshop (just like the Morrissons had the Marauder studio).

There's a full range of pirates to pick from, all particularly characterful :

I have most of this range except maybe 3 of 4  and I expect to paint the full set in due time. Looking at the picture above, I just feel frustrated to not have collected Ooglorg the cruel yet as it would have made a set of 5 aliens which would have been pretty cool but anyway... (if any of you feels like trading him, I'm your man)

As you can see, those models all bear the distinctive style of Bob with organic shaped weapons, very detailed faces (you may not be able to spot them but if you've ever handled one of these you surely know every single detail like eye lids and nose hair are sculpted), wrinkles and wrinkles over wrinkles and guns you don't know what to count as.

You may have noticed I didn't place the models in a random way. you can clearly see the one on the left is far more humanoid than his colleague on the far right. This is because I've decided to treat them as mutants. But not the chaotic sort, no, just like my Rad chimera, I want these guys to be the offspring of radiations and fallout of some nuclear holocaust. The further you get to the right, the more the mutant and his ancestors have been exposed to radiations.

That was a way to unite all those models by giving them a similar paintjob to tie them a little. I voluntarily left some remnants of "human" pink skin and coloured red the overgrown or most mutated parts (the heads in most cases).

Rogue trader Squats - The return of the Heavy Industrialist Union

After their summer adventures in the foreign lands, the ranger squad of the Heavy Industrialist Union have finally got the last bits of paint and have even gained a friend in the process.

If you want to read their summer adventures, here they are :

Episode One

Episode Two

Episode Three

I hope you'll excuse me the poor photos but I haven't bought another camera and have to take my pics with my wife's phone for now (Christmas should hopefully solve that matter...)

Although it took me almost 3 months to complete this little war band, I had real fun with them. The aim behind building this gang was to have a team of scouts or rangers, the sort of squats you send on remote locations to explore hence the limited militaristic look of them and the fact that 2 of them don't even have weapons.

The space rooster

An here we are with another model. This one arrived last week in the mailbox from my colleague Cheetor/Shoebox and as soon at it arrived, it was based and primed and good to go.

The miniature comes from Interloper Miniatures who produce excellent anthromorphic animals. You can also note that the model has been sculpted by no other than Bob Olley which is always a sign of quality :

I did not mean to paint this one as fast as I did and it was actually very low in my priority list but when I had it in hand I felt compelled to prime it and work on it. in a couple of sessions, it was done to a reasonable standard thanks to the great proportions of textures and details (juts the right ratio to have an easy and lovely model).

Mars Attacks

I don't and can't consider myself an artist. I'm deeply far too pragmatic and though I have some imagination, it's always tuned down by my scientific side.

Why do I say that ? Well, because I realise I always tend to stick to "realistic" treatment in my painting style (if I have such a thing). My artictic side though is visible through the trends I have and right now I'm in a red era. Since painting a chaos warrior in red In June, I've been putting red everywhere and I'm liking it a lot.

I've even been given the opportunity to work on this by a fellow oldhammerer on the forum who proposed me to paint something for him (whose blog can be found here).

I have to say that seeing a Bob Olley Techmarine was quite a surprise. I've had mixed feelings about his models for a long time and I've lately come to realise that these models have to be painted to be appreciated. I really believe you only truly know a model once you've painted.

Bob Olley's oldschool models always tend to have one of these points :

- they have weird textures you never truly know how to paint

- they lack flat areas

- Clothes always have an infinite amount of waves

- eyes are often hollowed

- you get organic shapes everywhere you never truly understand

- they are insanely detailed

So getting started with them is always kind of weird for me.

I started knowing these could be a tough job.

The only thing asked by the owner was to make it bright so I decided to give the armour a bright red to start with and to see for the rest afterwards. (Oh and did I mention how awesome the grey priming proved to be? I'll develop that later)

WIP with base coulours

The magic happend when I decided not to care about the textures and just apply the base colours where I wanted them. Once I did that, I realised the way to paint them came as an evidence, the texture on the legs just needed some drybrush, the stripes on the higher part of the legs just needed to be painted in different colours and so on...