Squaduary: Termagants and Van Diemen's World Vets

 

Hi folks,

The past couple of weeks (or has it been months??) I have been slogging away at a Van Diemen's World Veteran heavy weapons squad for my mate Wade. They were meant to be a Birthday present, and then a Christmas present, and now here we are half-way through February! I love painting them, but they are hard. It is just a really intense project. At the moment I am working on the heads, which have taken 1-2 hours each. I'm hoping that once that is done I will feel better about it all and push through to get them finished at last. 

"Stone the flaming crows, son!"

To give my eyes a break, I also painted a Hive Fleet Numereji Termagant brood for #squaduary. You can hardly see the pigment going on, so it really is a leap of faith when you sweep that paintbrush. After a few coats though, the reflectivity builds up, and if you turn it just so... well... take a look for yourself.

Rainbow serpent, indeed.

I had an Assault Intercessor squad planned for squaduary as well, which feels a bit like madness at the moment. But I achieved more difficult goals last year, so maybe I'll crank them out as well to add to my Iron Snakes (the finished ones... remember?).

See you across the table,

Marc

2nd Edition Army Painting Challenge: 1500 point Army TO-DONE!!!

 

Hi folks,

What I couldn't achieve in 25 years, I have finally completed in 6 months!! I feel like I have been preparing my whole hobbying life for this project and now that it is done, I feel the most profound sense of peace. As I have been saying throughout the challenge, many of these models were gifts from my family and friends as I was growing up. Many had been stashed away in bitz boxes, particularly my dreaded "too hard" box. Now, I think I have finally done them justice. 

During the next round of the challenge (starting in March) I will be painting some more Dark Angels, many of which I have purchased off eBay during the COVID-19 restrictions. Hopefully, I will get a chance to paint my collection of special characters as well; it would be good to include some more robes in this army! I have even started digging up some classic Tyranids, just in case there is a 3rd round of the challenge. Until then, here are some final pics of my completed projects.

See you across the table,

Marc

2nd Edition Army Challenge: Mk I Landraider TO-DONE!!!

 

Hi folks,

With the final deadline looming, I managed to get a few hours in the other day to finish this MK I landraider. It is a venerable old model from the Rogue Trader era, which was already rare when I started playing 40K in the mid-90's. This one was a gift from Sgt Waz, during a particularly gnarly kit-bashing session we had, a few years ago. 

I asked the 2nd Ed. challengers how I should paint it, and I think they unanimously voted for the Deathwing scheme, to go with my Terminators. I used an airbrush to get the white on, with some really subtle grey shading at the bottom. I added a bunch of more modern upgrade doo-hickeys, and even managed to sculpt some Plainsworld feathers. The lascannons were missing some barrels, so I replaced them with some modern spares from to different kits (Razorback and Landraider Mk II, I think), then painted them like I did the storm bolters on my Terminators. The twin heavy flamer is a complete kitbash, which as painted in the classic Deathwing scheme. I also cut some pieces from a spare Landraider engine and attached it to the inside of the top hull, to fill the rectangular shaped hole where the hatch should be.

TL:DR: it was a blast to paint, but a lot of work, both in kitbashing and colour scheme. I love it to bits!

The last model I am painting for the challenge is an old school techmarine, which I am plugging away at now. I am up to the detail stage: hard-lined highlights and eye-balls!

See you across the table,

Marc

BattleTech: Smoke Jaguar Command Star Progress

 

Hi folks,

With the BattleTech Clan Invasion Kickstarter starting to deliver on pledges, it has been a busy time around the paint table. I was able to knock together my Star of Ghost Bears pretty quickly, but I still have a few mercenary lances and a ComStar Level II to paint for my own collection. Wade and I have also been working on 'Mechs for some of our mates. Last week we met up for an epic painting session, which saw us setting up three airbrushes in my garden and weathering the elements to knock over a Command Star of Smoke Jaguars.

Australia is currently under the La Nina weather pattern, which means a colder than usual summer with frequent storms in the afternoon; a big change from the hellish armageddon we experienced year. Soon after we started painting the rain was coming in sideways and we were throwing on jackets!

We started with Vallejo grey primer, then added some darker ocean grey shading to the lower half. I also mixed an even darker grey in for the lower extremities. The top was highlighted with a 3:1 grey primer/white to provide the contrast needed for some jaguar spots.

Wade used the dark grey to add irregular jaguar spots to the top half of each model. I filled them in with some lighter grey shades to finish the shape, which took some practise before I was happy with them. A round of highlights in the centre of the spots helped, I think.

As I was finishing off the spots Wade worked on the laser lenses, painting the large lasers blue and the medium lasers green (MechWarrior colours). He passed me the first one and the medium lasers made my eyes pop out; Ha!! Wicked.

After finishing the spots I started building up a NMM style gold colour for the cockpit jeweling. The idea was to make it look a little like jaguar eyes, and provide a bit of contrast by using some warmer colours. I added the final white dots of the jeweling 4 hours after we started, which is pretty good for what we achieved, I think. Wade took them home to add some more panel lining and mud basing, in preparation for a jungle-theme.

To finish them off I managed to find some nice broad-leafed plants at Hobbyco to add some foliage, along with some stringy, dark, roots. I have also ordered some Smoke Jaguar decals from Fighting Piranha Graphics, which will take a while to come in; FPG is swamped at the moment!

All together, a pretty good effort for the amount of hours we put it in. More than anything, seeing these 'Mechs that we have all loved for 25 years coming to life has been an absolute joy.

See you across the table,

Marc