Van Diemen's World Veterans: Grog Ard-Nogg TO-DONE!!!

 

Hi folks,

I have realised that I am posting most of my WIP photos on other platforms, so the blog is looking a little sparse. I don't like that, because my main motivation for blogging is to have a record of the journey I take with these models. I'll have to do something about that in 2022, I think; these miniatures don't just paint themselves!

I spent 7 hours on Christmas Eve painting this Ogryn bodyguard for a good mate for Christmas. The model is a sculpt from Victoria Miniatures which I have to say have been great to us the past 6 months. Their new sculpts are really wonderful, shipping has been quick and customer service has been both thoughtful and personal. Everything you would want from a little miniatures outfit.

So... 5 minutes before we had to leave for the Christmas Party I was up to this stage of the job:

Gah!!! So frustrating! 

Anyway, I had set the deadline with my family and I wanted to keep my word, so I held onto it for a couple more days (thankfully I had a back up present prepared; a newly released treatise on traditional samurai weapons).  Today we got together again to play some boardgames and I was finally able to pass the model on. Noticing an errant highlight, I had to sit down and do a quick correction, but after that I was really happy with the finish. See if you can spot the mistake that I had to fix ;-)

Over the next couple of days I am going to really try to push my 9th Edition Dark Angels army towards completion, starting with some Hellblasters. I also have some board game pieces to finish that I am fairly proud of, which I really need to get finished.

See you across the table,

Marc

Dark Angels Deathwing Squad TO-DONE!!!

 

Hi folks,

When Sydney went into hard lockdown halfway through the year I planned to make and paint a 50 PL Crusade army for 9th Edition. As things have turned out, I got a lot less time to work on those models than I ever could have imagined. I am on school holidays and have literally just fallen into a heap, following what has been a gruelling work slog right to the end. During my first couple of days off zombie-Marc managed to add some detail to these Deathwing terminators. Thankfully, this old school Space Hulk scheme pretty much just requires you to spray them white and then paint neatly, which I think I have done sufficiently. I have based them on 32 mm bases so that I can use them as a team in Space Hulk as well.

Overall, I am very happy with the scheme, even if it is a little jarring to the eye (so white!). They are a nice homage to my classic 2nd Edition Terminators that I painted in the same scheme during the 2nd Edition army challenge a while ago. My army list is not Terminator heavy, so this will be the only squad in a total of 2000 points worth that I am currently working on. I have to say, I am enjoying more variety in my lists in 9th edition, despite what appears to be the current Deathwing heavy meta.

I am not sure if I will fit another post in before Christmas, so if I don't I wish you a Merry Christmas and good health in 2022!

See you across the table,

Marc

  

2nd Edition Army Challenge Round 3: Legion of the Damned Commander TO-DONE!!!

 

Hi folks,

The 2nd Edition Army challenge has gone live for another round. Over the next 6 months I will be painting the Legion of the Damned Army of my dreams. If you have been following the blog for a while, you will know that my very first army was Legion of the Damned, back before they had the White Dwarf Codex. Back in those days you could only take a Tactical Squad of them, so I had to extrapolate how much the other units would cost and what their stats would look like. After a while, my gaming mates complained that the army was too cheesy, so I repainted them as 100% Codex legal Dark Angels. A little while after that the LotD Codex was released and it was pretty much exactly how I used to run them (though Terminators were conspicuously missing from the list...).

Having repainted the Dark Angels over the last two challenges, I felt it was time to revisit Legion of the Damned. With only a couple of 2nd Ed. figures to fill out the list, I hit ebay pretty hard for a couple of weeks to get everything that I needed. some of the models were once in a lifetime level purchases (looking at you Centurius and NIB metal Landspeeder!). Others were a lot cheaper to source. If you are interested in seeing my challenge list and intro, check out the blog post at Dr The Viking's Cowabunga blog. 

My first 200 point "slice" was a Legion of the Damned Commander, which I converted to carry a thunder hammer. The Codex says I must take one of these and the model used is an old Chaplain, so converting the Crozius Arcanum was always going to be the challenge. A thunder hammer or power axe are the obvious choice, as it only requires changing the weapons head. 

I chose a dedicated LotD bolter for the right hand to keep an open pose; I really wanted people to see the detail I had spent hours painting. Originally I had planned a Brother-Captain Tycho style combi-melta, but it would have covered up the combat blade and leg. The paint scheme is pretty standard for a 2nd Ed. LotD figure, though I will drop the hint that I painted all of the flames Corax White before painting over with yellow and orange, to make the flames brighter. The fireball on the right shoulder pad was inspired by the mana symbol for mountains in Magic the Gathering!

The backpack covers some of the careful flame-work I did on the left shoulder pad, but that could not be helped. You can still see it from the right angles, which will have to be enough.

 

The finish is not quite as crisp as my Dark Angels, but I am enjoying the free-hand work. It feels more like artistic expression, than the safe "colour-by-numbers" schemes I have used previously. Over the next 5 months I will have an awful lot of free-hand to do; let's see if I am still this enthusiastic in June 2022.

See you across the table,

Marc