Road to STGCC - Army Prep

One of the best parts when getting ready for a tournament is the prep up to it. I enjoy it mainly because a dateline usually forces me to complete parts of my army that I have been putting away for months, sometimes years. Having played a few games now, I was prepared to commit to the painting table. 

Sanguinary Guard all primed and magnetized. In the back you can spy the 2 Thunderhammer Death Company Marines too

Using Astorath's wings I cobbled together my own Slamguinus from parts I had in my bits box.

I wanted the actual Smash Captain to use a cooler set of wings because he was after all using Angel's Wings, the Chapter Relic. Scouting around for a nice set, I found Astorath lying at the bottom of my box of semi painted models. Like a strange sign, when I picked Astorath up, the backpack slid off!

Based, and primed, here are the Golds that I used to paint the Sanguinary Guard

I use the Vallejo Model Air range because shooting metallic golds through an airbrush meant amazingly smooth colors.

Starting with Gold, Bright Brass and then a final highlight of Polished Gold

I had a few Primaris Marines lying around and some extra white, so I zenithal highlight these models too

Now to let the models dry

Detailing! Some hate it but I love it the most. Brings such a strong pop to the models and them alive.

The wings took me a lot of time to get proper.

Some additional Scouts to help put more of my stuff in Reserves

We are slowly getting there

Based and ready to rock and roll! 

I did not add too much to my existing army but these were a blast to paint. I forgot how much I do love painting. I do have to find a better way to base these fellas. Regan was kind enough to pass me a few metal shells but I did not have enough time to add them. Maybe the next time I polish the models up I will attach them to the bases. 

2017 a hobby review.

Wow its been a year! And what a year it has been! CSM getting a reboot in the first quarter, and then 8th ed drops for Warhammer 40k!

I was just sorting out my photo album, well primarily trying to find photos to keep or delete and I was surprised what I have painted this year.

List of personal goals accomplished

1.)     Buy something ugly on ebay cheap, repaint it, and resell it!    

The BEFORE photo, bought them off ebay at $0.70 each! #ultramarines #ebay

FINISHED as WHITE SCARS, and sold them off on #ebay and more importantly learnt a few techniques that I put to use on my #Deathguard.

            2.) Complete an iron Painter challenge

IronPainter was a 24 hour painting challenge,  where you have to paint something in 24hours and present it at our local hobby store later on.

I managed to chart my progress on instagram which is also another big thing for me this year, as the lazy blogger in me, just preferred to snap a photo and upload it. Plus all the instant 'likes' can be gratifying.

Search for me! im 'hobbieswithmazz' on IG

and heres my squad of #DeathGuard legionnaires, completed at 2pm the next day.

In hindsight it was really good fun, though the lack of sleep was really painful. and trying to solve a clogged airbrush at 3am was also another memory that I dont wish to repeat.

2017 was also a year for Netflix! My companion through all the long nights huddled infront of my wet pallet.

I think I have watched everything!

One of the few good offshoots from the IronPainter Challenge, was that I was inspired to paint and build faster. I have a habit of painting 40k minis in parts and then assemble them together, which takes just too long. At least for a few months, I was painting the models fully assembled.

I've since gone back to my old ways though =p

My Good Deed for the year!

2 weekends after the ironpainter challenge, Melvin invited me to join him in painting Andrew's Marines. Andrew's a friend of ours who has hoards of unpainted marines and we took it upon ourselves to help him reduce some of his backlog. Probably the most generous thing I have done this year!

Andrew's Dark Angels all painted for him! Really happy with the 24hour paint job too!

My ork collection also received a minor boost this year, again inspired by the Iron Painters Challenge.

 

So I got off my butt and finished another group of orks. Figured in any list combination, I would be covered if i had at least 60+ boyz nicely painted ork boyz.

Boyz ready for the great waaargh of the 8th Edition!

Wierdboy converted from a Warhammer Fantasy Savage Orc, added the trophies to give it a more 40k feel =) and plus to commemorate a great day of gaming, (see Ray's post of DP's 1k tourney)

the Butt Shot. NSFW!!! Sorry couldnt resist this photo =)

and so here rounding off the year is the mandatory family portrait... 

Man! have the Deathguard legion grown! #DeathGuard #legionXIV

 

and the great waaargh just got more awesome too!

CHEERS TO AN AWESOME 2018!

M

WIP: Blood Angel Sanguinary Priest on Bike + 20 Tac

Just found some old pictures in my phone and thought I would share them with you guys! 

Sanguinary Priest on bike

Loads of BA Tacticals but don't know when I'll use them if ever

Ashes & Dust - Monsters of Malifaux

Have gotten around to painting my Ashes and Dust for my Outcast faction. Really good fun putting this model and painting it. Here are some highlight photos from my journey! 

Big believer in putting as many models together as possible, even terrain! 

Raw plastic! 

Now with bases made of Milliput and a trusty press

Preshaded, I start off by getting the bases done up. 

Drybrushing always leave marks on the miniature if you're not careful so best to get it done first. You can always cover up those mistakes as you paint the actual model thus saving you time and effort. It's all about efficiency! 

I used the airbrush to get the base colors down on Ashes & Dust. The zenithal highlight on the Desolation Engine helped to create the highlights before I added a wash to crate the skin layers

Here are some pretty pictures! I hope you like them!

Femme Fatale Painting Competition

I missed out submitting in time for Total Testerone for Wyrd's monthly competition so I made it a point to complete my submission for Femma Fatale. It's a competition that Wyrd organizes on the Forums to encourage people to push their skills or for some, just to complete their models. I definitely used it as an excuse to pimp up some models!

Now that the judging is over, here are my entries and these are the results. My models were FF57 to FF65. Here are the images I submitted. Let me know which you like the most!

Unfortunately I didn't read the rules too carefully and missed out on a subtle rule. All images should be single models only. But here are some pictures that did not qualify.

In the end I did not place Top 3 but managed to snag a participation prize which I am quite happy about! I love these models anyway and getting a prize is just icing on the cake. Thanks Wyrd!

Painting Malifaux Models

Quite recently my Malifaux Whatsapp group has been discussing how to best prep and paint the Malifaux models. In particular, some of the guys are of the opinion that Wyrd models are harder to paint compared to a GW model which tend to have more defined lines. I disagreed and promptly was asked how I did mine in such short periods to a reasonable quality. 

Prep work - all the way up to zenithal

Prep work is very critical to shaving huge amounts of time off your eventual painting time. While it may seem slow at first, you must step back to see that the effect of priming in batches and then doing the zenithal in batches shaves down the per model time used per model.

Always build as many models as you can - prioritizing those you need first. I tend to go in batches where I build a thematic group or based on when Card Geeks bring in my models. I prime them all with Flat Black out of rattle can. I leave this to dry overnight.

Another question that comes up often: Do I build the model and glue it to the base?
Most of the time, the answer is "Yes" - especially with Malifaux models which tend to be tiny and you can lose the parts easily. Also, at this size, it's ok to miss spots. The wash technique I use in the later stages will cover any small parts which may be missed at the priming stage.

The time I leave them in sub assemblies is when the parts are significantly different colours such as Hannah and her suit. One was primed with silver while Hannah was primed using the zenithal technique.

I then come back and hit them with a layer of white using the zenithal method. I won't go into too much detail but this blogger explained it very well in his write up.

It can be done with a rattle can or an airbrush

An airbrush is not critical with this method. Why? Because you can achieve the same with a rattle can. Just word of caution, try to stick to a single brand because they manufacture rattle cans differently so the difference in pressure can cause significant spray buildup on your miniature. I use Nippon Paint - Flat Black. I then follow it up with Vallejo Flat White through an Airbrush at 20PSI 0.3mm nozzle. You can replicate this using a rattle can. Just use a miniature you can afford to throw away initially to get a sense of how the paint falls.

I then complete ALL their bases together

I chose to do all bases first to keep them consistent with each other and to tie them as one. Also, dry brushing tend to be quite messy so this helps prevent any screw ups which can destroy the paint job.

I then shift modes - focussing on one model at a time. I usually move between 3-4 models while waiting for them to dry between stages. From this point, I use the Wash Technique and you will have to give each model time to dry between colours and washes or you ruin your paint job.

Primed and based

Notice how the whites really pick out all the highlights and the primer created the shade? This speeds up the painting process immensely.

Always start lowest part then up

By lowest, I mean the part that is deepest in the model such as the skin. Why? Any paint you spill gets picked up by the subsequent colours you use to do the dress, hair etc. Saving you time again.

Once the Bone colour has dried (overnight in my case), I hit it with a shade

This shade can be any colour you like. For Levi and his creations, I visualise a very undead crew. There were not going to have lively skins or even a tinge of being alive so I went with a pallid colour over an equally palid base colour of Bone White.

I then leave the shade to dry and work on another model.

First coat of Dark Blue

You can choose any colour you like here but the key thing is keeping your paint extremely thin. I chose this Waif mainly because her dress was the largest, giving me ample space to demonstrate how the wash can do wonders and create a very realistic effect. Notice how the dark sections are still shaded? The wash naturally will sink into the deeper recesses and the highlights from your zenithal method will create the highlight, again very naturally.

Round 2 - coat 2

I thought the colour was too light in the first pass so I hit it with another very thin run of Dark Blue. Vallejo Air Color is fantastic because of how thin the colour is out of the bottle. Once you shade your model, leave it to dry. Work on another model.

Highlight that skin back up

After washing the skin with the Cathonian Shade, I felt that I needed to redefine the nose, the forehead, the fingers etc so I came back with Bone White again. Again, keep your paint thin to blend the layers together. I find that feathering really helped to tie the two colours together.

A mix of light blue with dark blue

I mixed a batch to thin highlight the edges of the cloth. This is done to pick out the tops of the folds of the dress. I am basically highlighting back the areas that my zenithal was showing should be light of color.

Pure light blue

After that was done, I came back with another pass, this time keeping slightly closer to the "top" of the model, where I visualise that the light would be coming. Keep your paint thin.

As the final run, I hit with pure grey

Using a very last layer, I hit it with an extreme highlight, in this case pure light grey. You can see in the photo above, it creates a distinct POP. You can skip this step if you like but I find this the most fun step of all!

Adding lipstick and some embellishments

Same technique on her back

Remember to keep that paint thin and running and you should be fine!

Good luck and enjoy painting!