ByronM - The Madness is about to begin... Analogue Painting Challenge #13

 

 "Well, it's almost that time of the year once more", I said merrily one morning over coffee a few weeks ago.  "Christmas vacation?" asked the wife.  "No, even better!" I replied quickly.

"What's better than that?", she inquired and then continued, "It's too cold for another motorcycle trip, and I am starting a new job soon so it's not a southern vacation".  If you were here, you could have heard that questioning worried tone in her voice that only a wife sensing impending financial disaster can have.

"Why it's time to prep for the painting challenge of course, and then to get more stuff painting as soon as holidays start!", I said cheerfully.

The reaction was immediate and terse....  "No more new projects this year!  You have more than enough that you started over the last several that are not done, and we are looking for a new house and need to keep minimalist so we can clean and move fast when we do." I am sure that there was more, as the next time I looked at my watch 30 minutes had past, but much like Charlie Brown sitting in his classroom (man, that dates me doesn't it) all I heard was wah, waah, wah.... 

(I expect to get smacked for this, but it's still funny and worth it)

So, with that warning in mind, what did I do?  Did I stop all plans of future expansion into new and exciting areas of miniature wargaming?  

Hell no!  

I immediately starting printing figures for Horus Heresy in 15mm that a few friends have started playing, saw that Malifaux had a 3rd edition out that I had not tried yet and had to get going on, starting printing a new 10mm Lizardman army for Kings of War, and printed some terrain to go with several games.

Then I went and visited Curt and got introduced to Turnip28...  That led to printing more models and terrain for the challenge.  

A unit of Fodder for Turnip28 printed and primed and ready to go!

 <I sense another smack incoming>

Now, in some far remote part of my brain, I know that Kim is correct (DON'T TELL HER THAT OR I WILL NEVER LIVE IT DOWN!!!!) that I have way too many unfinished projects kicking around and that I really do need to finish or get rid of some.  But, having a war gamer get rid of miniatures though as all of you know is as likely as Golem giving up the one ring willingly, NOT gonna happen even on a cold day in hell!!! 

So, with all of that in mind, and in an attempt to both appease the wife in some small way and to "Slay the Gray" I have made a list of just some of the projects I have on the go, and am going to endevour to get at least 3-4 of them finished this year, although I am going to try for more than that, but let's start out with reasonable expectations, unlike something like"No more new projects this year!" 

Byron's Projects of Shame and Impending Divorce if not Resolved

• Malifaux gremlins (assembled and primed last year but never touched)
  
• Malifaux ten thunders (started way back in challenge 8 or 9)
• Arena Rex Egyptians (started in challenge 10 )
• Arena Rex Collusium (planned in challenge 11 and never started)
• Kingdom Death (finish some survivors I assembled and based up for challenge 11)
• Western Commanche Indians ( started last year but only painted the mounted ones, not the infantry)
• Western Texas Rangers (primed and based last year but not touched)
• Ork Vehicles for chariot game (2 done, but 4 still sitting from challenge 10)
  
• Hagglethorn Hollow buildings for Frostgrave (printed and sitting for 2 years)
  
• Dwarf Frostgrave faction ( printed last year and not touched)
  
• Mierce vikings (primed last year then didn't touch)
• French 28mm Napoleonic unit (I assembled one last year and then didn't touch it, and I try to do one unit a year)
• Kings of War 10mm terrain (printed and primed last year)
• Gaslands terrain (printed but not even primed last year) 
• Gaslands Cars (want to finish at least 1 more faction)
  
• 6 or 8 Napoleonic tall ships to expand my fleet (way back from challenge 8 or 9)
• British WW2 army (started challenge 10 as part of the theme weeks and then left sitting)
• German WW1 unit (from my great war collection, I found 2 primed and ready to go units)
  
• MORE MORE MORE

Add to the above the new projects I have that include the following:

• Iron Warrios for Horus Heresy in 15mm
• 10mm Lizardman army for Kings of War
• At least 1 unit for Turnip28 with Curt 
• SEVERAL single models or units from various games that I just want to paint

As you can see I have a whole lot of crap to get at least started on this year....  The stuff in the image above is everything I have either primed or waiting to be primed that I could find quickly and dig out for a picture, I have WAY more stuffed away in boxes and cupboards.  

However, I am so far behind getting things done and even just getting things ready for this years challenge that I was not even going to write a starting blog post this year.  Curt however has shamed me into it, so I got to work the last few days cleaning up the painting area, priming a pile of figures, and (of course) printing more to add to the pile of grey.  Which led to this post.

Above is my painting area as it stands right now... Tidy, but still a mess as everything basically got stuffed randomly into drawers and cupboards, so there is much more to do! 

Part of the reason I am so behind this year (besides work being busy, and looking for a new house with shop) is the fact that we got a new puppy this year.  While he is so much fun, he is also a lot of time and effort (worth it, but still).  So, here is hoping that Kaiser will help with painting this year as he seems to like sleeping by my feet while I am painting, so that is a good thing so far!

Kaiser looking to see what I am doing

With all of that said, I hope everyone has everything all prepped and ready to go and that everyone has a blast this challenge!

Best of luck everyone,

Byron

ByronM - Pointy Ear Pansy Space Elves - Warhammer 40k in 15mm

Normally I like getting an entry in the first day of the annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, but this year I have been laid up sick for almost 2 weeks and haven't been able to focus enough to paint at all, so here is is over a week after the start of the event, my first entry.

Recently a group of friends here have started playing Warhammer 40k (old 5th edition since the newer versions SUCK BALLS) in 15mm true scale, and of course I had to join in!  Being true scale means that everything is sized to the lore, rather than to what GW had sized things.  This means Imperial Guard stand about 18mm tall (or real 15mm scale), while things like Eldar and Space Marines stand 22-24mm tall (20mm scale) since in the lore Eldar are 7' tall but have huge poncy helmets and Space Marines are 8" tall.  This scaling makes everything look so much better on the table as it makes more sense and looks better.  Also being 15mm fixes (or minimizes) so many of the issues in 40k being 28mm scale, like having lots of HUGE tanks on a table, ranges being ridiculously short and more.  It's still 40k at its core, so it's still not perfect, but it is better!

That said, the armies we play with are therefore mostly 20mm scale even though we call it 40k in 15mm.  The Falcon and Wave Serpent here are almost 5" x 4" so pretty damn big for what we would call 15mm scale.

Most of the models here though are actually 6mm STL files from Lord Chronos on Cults and are meant for use in Epic Armageddon.  As you can tell from these prints though, the guy is a genius sculptor and there is more than enough detail on the models to stand up when scaled up 260% to be about 20mm scale! 

The few models I could not find for my force were the Warlocks and Farseer models!  This would be a problem for most people but I have a friend that is a great sculptor and an even more helpful person which I asked for some help. He had me buy some files that had eldar helmets and weapons in 28mm per-sculpted and then bodged them up and modelled them onto some bodies and cloaks for me in like 2 days!!!  Thanks a ton, amazing work!!!  Before you ask though, no the warlock files are not for sale they were for personal use, and his name is not listed here as he wants nothing to do with GW and their insane legal team! 

These are the first batch in what will hopefully be a 2000 point Eldar army within the next few weeks.  I have been jonesing to paint these for over a month, but wanted to leave them for the painting challenge to start... so here they now are!  Much more to come...

I am sticking with traditional aspect colour schemes for these, but since the Eldar are space elves and therefore a bit light in the loafers, I needed a kinda pansy colour for the transports, so I came up with a kinda pale blue green that I think is almost the colour of corroded copper.  I think it works well, but had no idea how to actually highlight anything on it, luckily it looks OK as is I think.  I just need some magnets to come in so I can attach them to the flight stands and have them off the ground as they should be.

This entry should also count towards my "Squirrel Challenge" and as the first planet on the challenge map Vulcan where I have to paint something either logical or with pointy ears.  Eldar seemed to fit the bill, so I used them. 

The vehicles should each count for 15 points (30 total) and then the 10 Dire Avengers and 7 Farseer/Warlocks each count for 4 points (68 total) and 20 points for completing the Vulcan planet challenge for a grand total of 118 points!  Not a bad start!

Star Wars Legion AT-ST and Storm Trooper Squad (Byron)

 

There are some models that just speak to you, crying out to be painted.  This is one of those for me.  I have always loved the Star Wars AT-ST affectionately known as the "chicken walker" by many, and last year my mom got me one for Star Wars Legion.  She picked it as it was one of her favourite Star Wars models as well, having loved watching one get smashed by the Ewoks as we watched the movies over and over again when I was a kid.

Even though I got it last year, and promptly got it assembled, it has sat since then. Mainly due to covid hitting and not being able to get together with friends to play, but also since I knew it would be an awesome show piece model for the challenge.  Since I wasn't playing games, there was no rush to get it done, so it sat until now, waiting....

Honestly, I was also a bit intimidated by it.  It is well know that I hate painting flesh, but I also hate painting vehicles (even though I feel I am ok at it).  I just am never sure where to start or end with weathering, and either always feel I under do it or over do it.  So, I had a bit of trepidation starting on this model.

I started by priming black and then airbrushing in white primer where all the highlights would be, and then into the center of the panels where it would be lighter.  Next I applied a few thin layers of a neutral grey over the entire model, and with that the base layer should have been done. As usual though, I applied it a bit to thick and it lacked a bit of contrast and shadow, so I had to go back and airbrush in some dark grey into shadow areas and around panels, and a bit of light blue grey as a filter onto the panels to make it look right to me.

Next I clear coated the whole thing with a few layers of gloss to prep for the next step, oil paint washes and rust effects.  I first used super thin (1 part paint, 8 parts thinner) black to pin wash all the panel line edges and details.  Then pulled out a nice dark red brown rust coloured "oil brusher" from AK (think of a mascara tube but full of oil paint) and put dots of it around all areas I wanted a rust colour to appear.  I then used white spirits to pull the colour where I wanted, around details, or as faded runs where I thought it might reasonably go.  Now, I don't know what an AT-ST would be made of, and it probably wouldn't be anything that rusts (most likely some kind of ceramic type armour), but screw it, I like the rust look!

Once that was done, I went back with another oil brusher called space ship filth that looked like oily grim and an oil wash from AK called exhaust. I used them to apply oil type marks around the joints on the legs and exhaust marks around the vents on the back. Again, no idea if they are exhaust vents or intakes, but I went with what I thought looked good.  I played around with all the oil effect adding more, taking them away, or thinning the effect until it looked right, using a clean brush and white spirits.

After all that was done I clear coated it again, and then started applying the sand coloured oil wash that I normally use on my Storm Troopers.  I applied several thin layers on the feet and worked it up to about half way up the legs.  I probably could have applied a few more layers as it still looks a bit too little, but I didn't want to over do it.  It was then just basing and a final clear coat left, and it was done.

Last up was another unit of Storm Troopers, but I already described how I did the Snow Troopers earlier this challenge so will not waste time again.

Not sure what to call it for points though.  SWL is 36mm scale so I am assuming it counts as 40mm as that is than 28mm, but this thing is huge at 8" tall so I am claiming 30 points for him rather than the allocated 25.  If Curt or the minions feel differently, they are welcome change it.  So that should make this submission worth 65 points.

Overall, I am super happy with how this model came out, which is rare for me as I am always very critical of my own work.  While there are some minor things that I could touch again, maybe a bit more or less weathering, a bit more sand look, I am honestly very happy with it as is, so am calling it done. 

The Chamber of Darkness (Byron)

 

 Today I venture into the chamber of darkness to explore painting in grey scale.  However, since this is supposed to be an actual challenge, and since I have already done hordes of zombies in greyscale in past challenges, I thought I should challenge myself in some other way...  yeah, I know, I am a glutton for punishment.  So, in addition to doing this figure in grey scale, I also did it with oil paints for the first time ever! 

I know, I know, oil paints on a 28mm miniature?  Madness you say, and you are not far off.  To be fair...

Sorry, I couldn't resist...  I love Letterkenny :-)

Anyway, to be fair, I have used oil paints in the past but only as super thinned down pin washes for vehicles, so using only oil paints on a figure is now to me (and maybe a new normal? more on that later). So, here is all I used when painting this figure....

I started by priming the figure black then a white zenithal highlight, and then mixed some black and white together to make a mid grey tone and applied it over the whole model.

After that it was simply putting dots of black or white where I wanted shadow or highlight and using a clean brush to blend it with the grey already in place.  It was an amazing experience, as it was so much easier to get smooth blends compared to acrylics where you need to wet blend with incredible speed to avoid drying or super thin layers.

While the images are ok, they really don't capture the tones of the model in real life, try as I might I just could not get them to show in images.  At first I thought it was due to the white background, but I tried black, blue, and green and they all did the same thing, so I think it's more about my lighting washing it out. Trust that in real life the tones are better than they show, sorry guys.

I even painted the clump of static grass with thinned oil paint as I only had coloured tufts.  You can not imagine how hard it is to paint static grass until you try it.... OMG, not my best idea, but at least it turned out ok.

I always take this challenge as an opportunity to try something new each year, either a new era, a new scale, a new painting technique or tool, just something new.  After all experimentation leads to learning and growth (even if the experiment fails you learn something, sometimes you even learn more!). This year the plan was a new era (coming soon) and playing with oils, and I have to say that so far, I loved the process of painting with oils so much that I will be trying a few more full colour oil painted figures over the course of the challenge, so watch for more to come.  

I am assuming that working with colours is going to complicate the process vastly compared to just black and white, but it's a new chance to learn.  Also due to the drying times involved, it is not something I would consider for everything, but for characters or special models or even just for effects, I think I may just have a new tool in the toolbox!

Oh, and this is a 28mm French Great War infantry model, I am sorry I do not remember the company though.  It might be a Renegade figure as it is pretty chunky.

Necron Reanimator for the Golem's Haunt (Byron)

As I venture deeper into the chamber of challenge, I came across the Golem's Haunt.  This location requires something that is re-animated, stitched-together, bolted-together, re-created from steel, clay, earth, etc. 

Hmm, what to do.... Dig's through pile-o-shame looking for something.... Ah! How about painting something that is both a golem itself and a reanimator as well!

May I present to you the Necron Canoptek Reanimator.

This model is a relatively new one to the Necrons.  It is a huge model based on a 65mm base and standing over 125mm tall.  Being a Necron it is animated metal so fits the requirement of the room, but is also used by the Necrons to reanimate other models that die, keeping the endless tide of Necrons flowing over their enemies.

Shown with a normal Marine for scale

I once had a Necron army years ago when they first came out.  However it was all the old metal models and were painted back when I didn't even know that you NEVER EVER use paint straight out of the bottle.  So as I got to be a better painter I sold off the old army thinking that I would paint up a new one at some point...  

Fast forward probably 10-12 years and I am finally getting back to that project, with this first model for my replacement Necron force.  There will be more to come throughout the challenge.

I did not want the standard all silver and black for my force, nor did I want the standard green glows on the models, so I started looking for something else, something I liked painting and would look good.  I glanced over, saw my Spartans in their glorious bronze and crimson and a colour scheme was born.

I am going to keep all the under armour and mechanical parts the simple metal and black that necrons are known for, and to keep painting fast and simple.  However, I am going to paint all of the upper layers of armour in bronze and all the glows in crimson red and yellow highlights. 

The painting method is to get all the metal work done (both bronze and gunmetal) then wash it all with Agrax Earthshade (I put that shit on everything!) to tone down the shine of the metal and give it a worn / dirty look.  After that I start off at a deep crimson on all the gem type areas and then shade them up through 4 different reds and 3 different yellows, adding glow effects around them to bring some warmth to the otherwise cold pallet. I then added a few alien coloured plants to the base, to both add some colour and to allow me to distinguish units later on (one unit can have purple flowers, another blue, etc).

Overall, I am really happy with how the model came out and can not wait to paint up some more Necrons to go with it.  The effort vs reward on this scheme is very high (at least in my mind) as it is both quick and attractive looking.  Many more Necron's to come over the course of the challenge!

Oh and since this is a cross post from the painting challenge blog, its probably best I link an image of the map that we have to work through...

 

Return of the Greenskin Packers - Ork Bloodbowl Team (Byron)

 

As mentioned in a few previous posts, part of what I want to accomplish is finishing up past projects that have been sitting around in various states of incompleteness.  This post returns to my Bloodbowl team that I started painting back in 2017, the Greenskin Packers!  I started them by posting a single test figure and then a few more to go along with the QB, but then as is usual I got sidetracked, but at least it was due to two very good reasons....

- No one was playing locally
- Yellow and White uniforms SUCK to paint

Anyway, the team is now complete!

While I wanted to include a team shot of them all done, this submission is only for 8 of them as shown below, the other 7 were already submitted 3 years ago in the challenge.

While I am really happy with how they came out, and am glad to finally have a complete Bloodbowl team, they were a pain in the ass!  Painting white to not look all white (armour and cloth is actually 2 separate shades of white, each with several different whites and off-whites to make them up) and then getting yellow to look nice against it, was a lot of trouble!!!  As I am sure anyone who has worked a lot with either colour is well aware of.  People like MikeF (who does amazing yellows) must be masochists to actually want to paint full armies in yellows!

Here is a close up of one of the normal linebackers to show the details close up.

Once the uniforms were painted, I then went around the model and added chips and scratches to make them look used and abused (as any Ork belonging would be).  I keep thinking about maybe muddying them up as well, but like the crisp colours and worry that it would darken then too much and I would loose the overall bright cartoon look that I love about them.

These 8 new Orks should net me a very time consuming and frustration inducing 40 points!

15mm 30 years war Holy Roman Empire (Byron)

One of the goals I set for myself for this years challenge was to try and reduce the pile-o-shame (models that have not yet been painted) that has accumulated over the years at my place.  So I created a large list of projects that have started over the years, but never finished.  Once such project was last years foray into the 30 years war in 15mm.  While I finished quite a few bases of figures during last years challenge, I barely touched the stock pile of them that I bought, and have yet to play a game with them due to not having enough completed.  Therefore I thought it would be a good thing to get cracking on them over the Christmas holiday.

Here is the batch that I got done over the last week: 18 cavalry, 18 musketeers, and 14 pikemen.

All of these were painted using a very quick and messy method.  Essentially, all I did was apply base coats of the basic colours, then washed everything with the one GW paint I use (Agrax Earthshade), and then highlighted them with the base colours again, and in some cases 1 shade higher to get some highlights.

While this basic method produces tabletop ready miniatures quickly, they are nothing special.  Which means I get frustrated painting them quickly as well, as it feels like cheating to not put your best effort into something you are painting, BUT with something like 500+ more models to do to complete them all, I simply can not put much more effort into each model than this or I will never finish them!

Overall though, at tabletop level they look ok, and that's all that counts for these.  My plan is to use the "By Fire and Sword" rule set with them for small skirmish games (a great rule set that's super detailed and in depth) and then to use "By Pike & Shot" for bigger games (another great rule set, essentially GW's old Warmaster rules).  I look forward to getting them on Curt's table for a game with the Regina crew sometime this year.

Star Wars Legion: Snow Troopers and Pit and Pendulum room submission (Byron)

Painting has been slow over the holidays, with lots to do, but little getting done...  I have been assembling and priming more than painting over the last few days, but I have managed to get a few really quick things painted.

First up is a unit of Stormtrooper Snow Troopers for Star Wars Legion.  While they are relatively plain, that is how they are supposed to be, as you can not do a whole ton with white before it doesn't look white.

These were painted up grey then highlighted white. The black painted in, and then clear coated.  I then used a light tan oil paint to put all over them, then wiped it off with mineral spirits to leave it only in the crevasses.  While it may be odd to put a sand colour onto snow troopers, this was done as they are actually going to be used with my normal stormtroopers as part of my desert force.  Not traditional, I know, but I did not want them standing out against the rest of the force.

Next up is a submission for the Pit and the Pendulum room.  I had no idea what to do for this room, so I went off to thingiverse and grabbed a guillotine to go along with my French Napoleonic forces.  I am sure I can find a use for it as terrain in a game or two in the future.

Again, just a very simple paint job, mainly to play with my new "Instant Colours" from Scale 75 that showed up just before the holidays.

Overall, two very simple and basic submissions, but at least it is a few things complete! 

Analogue Hobbies Painting challenge 2020 - Entry 1

Once again winter is here, and with it, my friend Curt's annual painting challenge! 

The first figure I painted this year was something I picked up from a patreon that I immediately fell in love with and had to have.  It is from Great Grimoire and supplies monthly fairy tale themed STL files for 3d printing at home, and this was from a few months ago and I have been itching to get to work on it.

I painted this up with what is in real life a brighter green glow (but it kept getting washed out in the images) to show as an eerie eldritch magic allowing the hands to come through the cabinet.

While I had planned on having the green glow reflect onto the floor and the girls back, the figure is for my wife, and she didn't want it "ruined", so I left it out.

The girl was very tiny when printed the first time (as was the cabinet) with the base being less than 40mm.  At that scale it was correct for 28mm, but just seemed too small, so I reprinted it scaled up to a 55mm base, so the girl is actually 30mm tall just to get enough size to deal with the details that were there, since it is not for any game, and just for a display piece, scaling up really didn't affect anything.

It is amazing how many great Patreons and Kickstarters there have been for STL files over the last year, so this is the first of many 3d prints that I will be painting up this year.

Byron