Painting grey skinned zombies

Introduction

The remaining Mantic zombies got a different skintone, to have some variety. 

M.A.G.U.S. commission finished!

Here's a picture of the entire happy family!

I've actually finished this about a month ago, but forgot to publish this post. Expect the individual posts to trickle on for a while in the near future.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Yek must die

We started the last session before the winter holidays drained of resources and having almost completed level 2 of the dungeon. Almost.

Merry Christmas!

Artist unknown. And yes, for the first time in some time, Nurgle did not dominate my painting schedule, so last years' greeting card was a no-go.

Painting a Slaughterpriest with Hackblade and Wrath-hammer (dark skintone)

Introduction

My second Slaughterpriest, who will probably get to cast Bronzed Flesh all the time. Excuse the pun.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Level 2 complete!

Still online, thanks to COVID.

After a short argument (because many characters were close to exhaustion and needed a long rest to replenish their resources) solved by the DM's approximation of the time - around noon - we decided to move on.

Painting a Slaughterpriest

Introduction

My entry for the December painting competition - the reason why I spent all that time experimenting on Bloodreavers.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Beer, statues and rolling stones

We started off in the dwarven beer hall. We looked down the empty corridor with a dead end, and said: it's a trap. Turns out we were right, as we noticed a trap door after some looking around. We tried to trigger it by placing empty barrels on it, to no effect; but the corpse of the undead beholder did the trick. Unfortunately, the doors were rigged to close after opening, and so we did not find out anything. That is, until Solid tried to jump over, and rolled a 1.

Painting cthulhuids

Introduction

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

Painting a Bone Devil

Introduction

Another quick-ish part of the painting commission, done while not wanting to deal with the Bloodreavers. From Reaper Miniatures.

Paint mix chart

Thanks Patrick for the advice!

Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Vampiric tanking

Online again, due to COVID. Sigh.

Painting ghouls (Contrast)

Introduction

The last part of the Contrast undead commission.

Skull bases for Slaughterpriests

Introduction

I want my Slaughterpriests to stand on a mound of skulls. Not a mound made of skulls - that would be excessive - but something like this Bloodmaster. Except I want some giant skulls, too. Grab the Citadel Skulls set, and let's get to work.

November review & December goals

Spirits are still high all throughout the month!

Gaming went as expected: no Warhammer with everything closed due to COVID, but D&D and W&G as well as one more MAGUS online. This is all that I expect for December, as well - maybe less, as the holidays are coming.

As for painting, not only did I already hammer through my submission for the painting competition, but I also finished all of the commission work! Good job me, you/I can be proud of your/myself. In fact, I went through all my WIPs, leaving only one - which I hope to finish in the timeslot before the holidays hit. I plan to fill out the rest of the month with short and easy projects - fantasy miniatures for all the RPGs that I don't get to play face-to-face! :) / :(

Wrath and Glory: Indecision

The agents touched down in their rickety Aquila lander[1] and were met by the local enforcer, an older woman called Rashida. She brought them up to speed on the local state of affairs[2] and they witnessed the evening's feeding time - the refugees crowding outside the wall, and the villagers throwing them some scraps. They quickly identified two gangs that stood out: the Water Bringers (who are said to be harboring the Saint) and the Deluge (who Rashida knows to be the most violent gangers in the shanty town). I expected the agents to jump into the action, but they had other ideas.

Painting tormented skeletons in green flames

Introduction

With the Bloodreavers being WIP for weeks on end, I sometimes lost the will to continue. In times like that, I hammered through simpler parts of the commission.

Converting a techmarine with scratch-built servo arms

Introduction

My second space marine commission after the magnetized Repulsor. The specification: bolter, chainsword, two servo arms.

 

M.A.G.U.S. - Dwarves and dragons, part 2

Preamble

After a mere 9 months of hiatus (thanks Corona!) the MAGUS crew reassembled! Our initial plan was to meet face to face, but that changed real fast as the number of COVID-infections grew. Not to mention our kids bringing home all sorts of things from kindergarten. We decided to have the game night online, on good old roll20.

Repainting a skull faced D6

To cut it short, a friend gifted this to me. It looks awful. I decided to improve upon it...

...by painting the skulls in bone (Contrast!) 

Again, I prefered Wraithbone over Bonewhite basecoat for covering power.

Creating statues/terrain for Warhammer 40k and AoS

Introduction

I have a mound of stuff in various boxes which I'll turn into terrain - "some day". This is my first actual attempt at creating terrain, using two old statuettes.

Graveyard Shift: The end. Transition to Rain of Mercy

The session started off with the agents as rather passive spectators, as the scene of battle wound down. The interrogator shut down the last remaining arco-flagellant, then sedated Sister Palmulata and sealed her wound. The agents gathered her (and her arm) and placed her on a makeshift bed. As the interrogator went to check on the pilot servitors, the agents rummaged around the ship for healing supplies and regrouped to recover their wounds.

Bloodreavers updates

All 20 Bloodreavers are finally done! Yay!

Painting Bloodreavers

Introduction

The first 5 Bloodreavers took ages to paint. The second 5 were more of a test batch, as I experimented with traditional highlights over Contrast paints. I then took the last 10 to formalize the lessons learned into painting tips.

Bloodreavers skin enhancements

Introduction

I gathered several ideas of this sort over time, and I finally got to try out some of them on the Bloodreavers. Sadly, they are mostly helmeted and their flesh is ridden with all sorts of details - leather straps, bracers, rings, horns etc - but they show enough skin to be experimented upon.

Light skintone (Contrast)

Medium skintone (Contrast)

Dark wood (Contrast)

Medium leather (Contrast)

Black leather (Contrast)

Black rock (Contrast)

Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Bad touch

After getting our hopes up of starting early, we started even later than usual. At least we progressed through more rooms than last time, which had been pathetic even by our standards.

But cut the pleasantries.

We marched into the room where my flying invisible owl had previously noticed dog sized insectoid monsters eating a rusty helmet, and killed them dead.

Painting the Skull Altar

Introduction

I don't know if I'll ever actually get to play my Blades of Khorne, but hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.

Edit: I actually did make it to a couple of games since I initially wrote that, and the phrase holds true.

Painting light leather (Contrast)

Painting bone (Contrast)

October review & November goals

Looking at last month's dejected review... wow.

Gaming wise, October was as golden as the good old days! Not only did the usual suspects (D&D and W&G) march on, but we restarted MAGUS (online!) and I got 2 games of Warhammer in. Of course, COVID is back with a vengeance and face-to-face stuff are done for a while, but I had a blast with what I could. I don't expect anything except the usual online sessions to go down in November.

Painting wise, it also went incredibly well. That feeling is due to 1) I finished all 20 Bloodreavers! Skin enhancements and all! 2) I got a lot of small commission projects done. For November, I want to start working on my submission for the TGH December Painting Competition and mow through as much of the remaining commission jobs as possible.

Graveyard Shift: Daemons and heresy

The agents started off in the still burning chamber below the mausoleum. After some debate whether to rest there[1], they opened the door into the true crypt. There they found scenes of unimaginable heresy: the walls were carved with reliefs of humans trading with xenos. They looked around with hate and disgust, and could barely ward off the corruption emanating from the room.[2] Thrakus kicked the sarcophagus in frustration, only to reveal a rotten corpse holding the Revelator.

Painting giant worms

Introduction

The first "serious" part of the commission, these Reaper Great Worms are painted using traditional techniques instead of Contrast.

Dark earth with Contrast

Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Gods of the dungeon

We started off with my plan to ferry out as much of the copper ore as we can. We each loaded up our trusty Bags of Holding; I animated extra skeletons and zombies for even more carrying capacity (I knew those 3 extra backpacks would come in handy one day); and I conjured a Tenser's Floating Disk. The DM decided that it would take 5 roundtrips to take it all out, and we agreed to spend the day doing an easy job for about 1000 gold.

Painting zombies

Introduction

The second batch of undead minis for my DnD necromancer.

Blades of Khorne vs Lumineth Realm-lords, 2020.10.14

Introduction

Arbra'Gax dragged himself back to the mortal realms to face down the pointy elves in the Battle for the Pass.

Painting Bloodreavers (on Contrast basecoat)

Introduction

After all the "by-the-book" experiments with Contrast on the undead commission stuff, it was time to try out a serious paintjob. I laid down the basecoats with Contrast, did regular highlights, then painted the metallics in a normal fashion. I am completely satisfied with the end result. With actual planning (instead of these haphazard experiments), this can save some time on the basecoating stage.

Blades of Khorne vs Kharadron Overlords, 2020.10.07

Introduction

For the first time since March, Arbra'Gax walks the Mortal Realms again! And it was time to clash with the Kharadron Overlords in... the Duality of Death.

The table

Let's take a moment to admire this beautiful table, with all painted terrain.

Magnetizing a Repulsor Executioner

Introduction

I did this for a friend. Lay out the components and tools, and let's begin!

Note that I waited at least 24 hours between any steps that require green stuff.

Painting more skeletons (Contrast)

Introduction

The commission work carries on, as I experiment more and more with Contrast paints.

Graveyard Shift: Patient assault

 The pace of this session slowed down, as the agents analyzed a hundred different ways of entering the dark chamber.

Painting skeletons

Introduction

I assembled these guys a long time ago but lost interest. I primed them and painted the bone parts when I started playing DnD with my necromancer, then lost interest again. Now that I'm playing again, and they've seen already action, we're back to painting!

Green moss

Grey rocks (Contrast)

Creating plasticard gravestones

Introduction

Inspired by the Miniac (although he used styrene instead of plasticard), I decided to spice up the bases of my zombies and skeletons.

Filthy cloth

September review & October goals

Sigh... here we go again.

Technically, gaming wise September was better than August. RPGs are back on track on their biweekly basis. But I could not squeeze some Warhammer in, even though I tried. I really tried.

Painting wise I got some stuff done, including some skeletons I'm really proud of. I got to work on some commissions which were a blast to do. But I also got restless with the Bloodreavers sitting in my WIP area for weeks now, and instead started on other projects which are easier to do. Needless to say, I finished nothing.

Let's soldier on through October.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage: The altar of "we don't know"

 Having just slain the many-faced horror, the adventurers took their time to look around the cavernous hall. Unfortunately, we found nothing but broken mining equipment. Oh, and an altar.

Painting dark skinned Bloodreavers

Introduction

I assembled 20 of these guys ages ago but lost the drive to paint them. Well they are the last in the line of the "in progress" projects for Khorne, so here we are. Now I couldn't stand 20 near identical models, thus I give you the first give of the bunch.

Blood on weapons

Dark skin

Graveyard Shift: Travel montage

 The agents started off towards their goal, expecting half a day of leisurely travel. Hah! In the 42nd millenium? Not a chance. Not to mention heavy rains in monsoon season.

Toy repairs using milliput

Painting zombies (Contrast)

Introduction

More Contrast undead! This is where I started experimenting again, by doing pre-shading. As I don't have an airbrush, this was unavailable for me, but transparent glazes such as Contrast might make it happen.

Graveyard Shift: Investigation

The agents decided not to commit high-grade heresy by stealing a holy relic, instead visiting the Jolly Undertaker to meet Diomedes.

Painting a bell

We found an old bell and decided to fix it up for our daughter to use. My wife cleaned it and polished it (no before pictures, sadly I forgot to take any), and I got down to painting.

Painting skeletons (Contrast)

Introduction

The second batch of commission minis, where I got to play around more with Contrast colors. I have to say, they are crazy fun.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage: A shocking surprise

We started where we left off - I was recreating the summoning circle, with the rest of the party waiting in the now inanimate kitchen. The moment I drew the last rune, a man appeared in the circle - he was levitating, black cloak billowing.[1]

Painting 3d printed stone walls

In case we ever get to cast 5th level spells in D&D, I had these stone wall fragments to be created for... you guessed it, Wall of Stone.

Painting skeleton archers (Contrast)

Introduction

In my June/July review I mentioned a huge commission work for MAGUS. It contains a large number of basic undead miniatures, to be painted at the lowest possible level, with no basing. Enter... Citadel Contrast paints. First up, a trio of skeleton archers.

August review & September goals

At this point I'm just repeating myself. August was a bust as far as the hobbies are concerned. 2 RPG sessions for gaming, and that's it. Some painting, at a crawling pace. Blog posts are still regular for the time being, although gaming articles are now catching up with the current date (so if I miss anymore sessions there will be a hiatus). For painting, I have a few Contrast-type articles lined up, as well as some very small other projects. Perhaps September will see the end of 3 long running painting projects (zombies, skeletons, Bloodreavers). Most likely not.

Graveyard Shift: Interlude

The session started with the players brainstorming what to do, as their characters continued to put on their wargear. It was fun to listen to for a bit, but I soon started a 10-minute timer, and announced that sirens were blaring all over the place. Warder peaked out and assessed the situation quite astutely, but was also sighted by the military personnel running to contain the situation: 5 Sisters of Battle, 10 Skitarii and 20 Guardsmen.

Repainting Bloodletters (2) with glowing ember swords

Introduction

The last squad of the 30 Bloodletters to be repainted. I decided on following the same scheme and easy basing as before, except for some experiments on the swords to keep things interesting.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Lemon summoning circle

We swore vengeance against the goblins last time, but we were too few to attempt a direct attack... we continued exploring the 2nd level instead (after spending some time selling our trash loot, obviously).

Painting a Mystic

Introduction

Samael, the hexblade warlock had been switched to Okos Ember, the mystic for some time now. We got this miniature from Reaper Miniatures and drew up basic guidelines on how I should paint it. (Notice rough similarities with the painted example.)

Wrapping up Dark Tides:Descent and transition to Graveyard Shift

The session started with wrapping up the previous adventure. Thrakus kept Gerrit held down until arriving at the train station, while the other agents - left on the slower train with a pile of corpses - looked through the Prophet's belongings. Plenty of evidence to tie him to the murders.

Painting shiny Skullcrushers

Introduction

For the eBay Skullcrushers, I settled on a quick experiment: a WarhammerTV color scheme for the "Iron Horde". I'm not that into Age of Sigmar lore, but the color scheme looked fun, so here goes.

Speed painting silver

Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Money well spent

We started off with the party split into two groups[1]: Selene and Szivem in the throneroom with Yek, the rest of us hanging out outside in the market.

For the first interlude, a couple of guards brought a thrashing dwarf into the throneroom, and Yek ordered him shaved, then taken to his treasure room. Whatever, we don't care. I tried to use the interruption to contact Szivem through our Sending Stones, but apparently none of that works in this dungeon. Great.

Rebasing resin based Bloodletters to 32mm

Introduction

I really hate changing base sizes. Now, I only have 10 Bloodletters like this, but to imagine having a horde of these needing new bases gives me the shudders. I originally created all of my infantry for Warhammer Fantasy - so 25mm. But now GW is moving them all to 32mm. Luckily, 40k doesn't really care, so I refused to do any rebasing work. But I'm more into Age of Sigmar now, so here goes nothing...

Bloodthirster finished

Extended base for the Bloodthirster

Introduction

Same idea as with the Fire Demon/Bloodthirster's base. 

Dark Tides: the Cult of Luxury

The session started off at the marketplace, with the agents preparing for their trek into the underhive wastelands. The cult was to be found in a nice sounding place called the Sump Pits.

July review & August goals

Well, looks like I was way too optimistic last time.

Gaming wise, everything went well. Both Dungeons & Dragons and Wrath and Glory are progressing as scheduled. I went to the 40k event and had fun. I assume role-playing games will continue this month, but I'll probably continue skipping on wargaming. My daily schedule is way too tight to allow wiggle room.

Hobby wise, I think I'm into Contrast paints now. I went through the basic steps and I'm currently experimenting with more advanced stuff. This means that *my* backlog is still mostly untouched, but at this point I'll be happy if my originally proposed spring projects will be done by the end of the year.

D&D Wizard's Spellbook

Introduction

Originally, our D&D group got Inspiration for dressing up. Now that I'm a player myself, I thought about doing something for Inspiration myself. My first idea was to create a costume and get dressed. Unfortunately, this went out of style for some reason; nobody bothers anymore. Not that this would deter me, but I ran through some alternatives, inspired by my collection of painted character minis for MAGUS. I came up with the idea of creating a spellbook for my wizard. This has the added benefit of getting rid of the smartphone app for spells: I can keep my gaming strictly "analogue". Which is why we plan pen-and-paper in the first place, right?

After checking with the DM and getting his approval, I got down to business.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Level 2

The session started where we left off: fighting two mimics. Thankfully, we dispatched them quickly. The only notable issue was that Selene shot them with acid damage, to which they seemed to be immune, however a failed check convinced her that she should try again. Unfortunately, we killed them before that could happen.

Painting competitions

If anyone had told me this time last year that I would just be passed 3 separate painting competitions, I would have surely laughed. But here we are...

It started with the June painting competition at the Guild Hall. I was invited to be part of the "3-man expert panel"[1], which was quite the experience. With no time to paint up something of notice, I joined with my Bloodthirster with no real hope of winning, more to just show off and be a part of it all. In short, the three of us evaluated the entries before the community vote.

Next came this online painting competition - fitting for the times we live in.[2] I signed on with my Herald of Khorne. 

Finally came the event hosted at Checkpoint. This was originally announced before the lockdown - and so I had the time to actually paint something for it. 4th place isn't that bad. 

[1] Selection criteria: winning the advanced category at least once.

[2] See COVID lockdown.

Painting Skulltaker

Introduction

My entry for a painting competition: Skulltaker!

Yes, I know that he has a new model. I still think this is great. The looks, not the material. 

Dark Tides: Into the Underhive

The session started off with the interrogation scene. With both the psychic power Compel and the spinal column of his brother there as good reasons to talk, Ivill Kreet buckled and gave the agents every information they asked for. It wasn't much to go on, but he confessed to running a smuggling ring. The agents thought they identified the killer in one of the hooded clients smuggled at exactly the right times for the murders to happen. Ivill also turned out to be the one to hack the servitors. 

Reaper Fire Demon finished

Reaper Fire Demon finishing touches

Introduction

I painted this guy about 95% done, then left him at the Guild Hall as I was playing him in the Path to Glory campaign. Then the lockdown hit and he was left there... until now. I took the time for a trip and brought my errant minis home.

Extended base for the Reaper Fire Demon / Bloodthirster

Introduction

The Fire Demon/Bloodthirster's included base is roughly 60mm in diameter. I glued it on a regular plastic base (as the underside is irregular) to make sure everything is precisely as specified. Then, I magnetized it a 120x92mm oval base, for usage in Age of Sigmar/Warhammer 40k.

Dungeon of the Mad Made: Live Reunion

The first offline session since the COVID-related business began! Our old DM also took back his spot. Although we were few, and the distractions were many, we were eager to get back into the fight.

Painting a Bloodmaster, Herald of Khorne

Introduction

I was undecided whether I want to paint more Bloodletters at this point, but then came along my first remote, online painting competition. Now with all the COVID lockdown type stuff happening, time was running short, and I decided against both a more complex miniature and too much experimentation going on. Enter this old Finecast Herald of Khorne, now called a Bloodmaster.

Brass

8th Edition Last Stand - a 40K Competition

With 9th edition Warhammer 40k just peaking around the corner, we took advantage of the COVID lockdown ending to hold one last 8th edition tournament. Organisation was wonky, and we only played 2 games in a single day.

I went to have fun, and to try out the new exalted greater daemons from Engine War. I played both the first and last ranking players, and made the average - 3rd out of 6. Which was better than I expected. :-)

Here's the links to the games:

vs Tyranids

vs Aeldari

And my list. The idea here was to provide a target rich environment and multiple tough monsters. I gave the Great Unclean One 4+ ignoring wounds, one Bloodthirster 2+/4++/6++ and the other one only taking 8 wounds a phase and returning with d6 wounds after dying.

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Chaos - Daemons) [77 PL, -2CP, 1,409pts] ++

• Chaos Allegiance: Chaos Undivided
• Changecaster [4 PL, 78pts]: Gaze of Fate, Ritual dagger, Smite
• Great Unclean One [17 PL, -1CP, 250pts]: Bilesword, Exalted Great Unclean One, Fleshy Abundance, Miasma of Pestilence, Nurglings, Plague flail, Smite
• 30-man Bloodletters [12 PL, -1CP, 235pts]: Banner of Blood, Daemonic Icon, Instrument of Chaos
• 2x 3-man Nurglings [3 PL, 54pts]
• 30-man Plaguebearers [12 PL, 240pts]
• 2x 3-man Bloodcrushers [6 PL, 120pts]
• 2x 3-man Flesh Hounds [4 PL, 75pts]
• 3-man Plague Drones [6 PL, 108pts]

++ Supreme Command Detachment +1CP (Chaos - Daemons) [43 PL, -3CP, 585pts] ++

• Chaos Allegiance: Khorne
• Rewards of Chaos (1 Relic) [-1CP]
• Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury [17 PL, -1CP, 210pts]: Axe of Khorne, Exalted Bloodthirster, G'rmakht the Destroyer, Lash of Khorne
• Daemon Prince of Chaos [9 PL, 165pts]: Khorne, Malefic talon, Malefic talon, Wings
• Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster [17 PL, -1CP, 210pts]: Armour of Scorn, Axe of Khorne, Bloodflail, Exalted Bloodthirster, Hellfire, Oblivious to Pain, Warlord -> referred to as Arbra'Gax

++ Total: [120 PL, -5CP, 1,994pts] ++

Chaos Daemons vs Aeldari, 2020.07.04

Aeldari

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Aeldari - Craftworlds) ++

• Custom Craftworld: Headstrong, Wrath of the Dead
• Specialist Detachment: Wraith Host
• Farseer: 0. Smite, 2. Doom, 3. Fortune, Shuriken Pistol, Witchblade, Faolchu's Wing
• Spiritseer: 0. Smite, 4. Protect/Jinx, Craftworlds Warlord, Revered By The Dead, Shuriken Pistol
• Warlock Skyrunner: 3. Ghostwalk, 5. Quicken/Restrain, Shuriken Pistol, Twin Shuriken Catapult, Witchblade
• 2x 5-man Dire Avengers, Dire Avenger Exarch: Two Avenger Shuriken Catapults, Exarch Power: Shredding Fire
• 8-man Storm Guardian - Aeldari Blade: 8x Aeldari Blade, 8x Plasma Grenades, 8x Shuriken Pistol
• 10-man Wraithblades: Ghostswords
• Wave Serpent: Twin Scatter Laser, Twin Shuriken Catapult

++ Spearhead Detachment +1CP (Aeldari - Craftworlds) ++

• Custom Craftworld: Expert Crafters, Masterful Shots
• Spiritseer: 0. Smite, 3. Enhance/Drain, Shuriken Pistol
• 3x Night Spinner: Twin Shuriken Catapult
• Crimson Hunter Exarch: Two Starcannons, Exarch Power: Exemplar of the Hunter Shrine, Hawkeye, Marksman's Eye
• Hemlock Wraithfighter: 0. Smite, 4. Protect/Jinx, Spirit Stones

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Aeldari - Drukhari) ++

• Detachment Type: Kabal of the Black Heart
• Archon: Splinter pistol, Venom Blade
• Yvraine
• 3x 5-man Kabalite Warriors
• Raider: Chain Snares, Disintegrator cannon, Phantasm Grenade Launcher, Shock Prow

++ Total: [118 PL, 12CP, 2,000pts] ++

Chaos Daemons vs Tyranids, 2020.07.04

Tyranids

Battalion Detachment +5CP (Tyranids) [119 PL, 6CP, 2,000pts]

• Hive Fleet Adaptations: Metamorphic Regrowth, Senses of the Outer Dark
• Bounty of the Hive Fleet [-1CP]
• Selections: 1 Extra Bio-artefact [-1CP]
• Hive Tyrant [11 PL, 228pts] Selections: Adrenal Glands [5pts], Lash Whip and Monstrous Bonesword [15pts], Power: Catalyst, Power: Onslaught, Prehensile Pincer Tail, The Reaper of Obilterax, Toxin Sacs [4pts], Two Devourers with Brainleech Worms [14pts], Wings [2 PL, 47pts]
• Hive Tyrant [9 PL, 167pts] Selections: Adrenal Glands [5pts], Monstrous Rending Claws, Power: Catalyst, Power: The Horror, Prehensile Pincer Tail, Stranglethorn Cannon [15pts], The Venomthorn Parasite, Toxin Sacs [4pts]
• Neurothrope [4 PL, 90pts] Power: Catalyst, Warlord
• 2x 6-man Genestealers
• 5-man Genestealers
• 3-man Ripper Swarms
• Haruspex
• 6-man Hive Guard, Impaler Cannon
• 5-man Zoanthropes
• 3x Carnifex [104pts] Selections: 2x Monstrous Scything Talons [15pts], Spore Cysts [10pts], Toxin Sacs [4pts], Tusks [8pts]
• 2x Tyrannofex [11 PL, 179pts] Selections: Acid Spray [20pts], Powerful Limbs, Stinger Salvo [8pts]

Painting a resin Bloodthirster (of Unfettered Fury)

Introduction

As part of the Khorne push... an old resin Bloodthirster, now known as a Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury!

June review & July goals

Back to normal! 

Things are back to normal again!

But let's get down to the review. 

With the lockdown gone, we had two (2!) face-to-face Dungeons & Dragons sessions in June. That's great. I loved it. Going back to being Zyn was awesome. 

Wrath and Glory continues to be the "online" game for the time being. The party has completed the first adventure module, and we're set to continue without any issues.

I missed last week's Age of Sigmar game day, but I'll be there (unless something comes up) this Saturday for the 8th Edition Last Stand 40k tournament. I don't expect to win, but it will be fun to meet up with everybody after all this time.

As for at-home hobbying... my Khorne forces have shaped up nicely. Including a couple of miniatures I'm taking to painting competitions. If you told me last year that now there will be 3 in the same timespan... well, I would have laughed. But again, it's great. Obviously I did not paint anything that was on the top of the backlog, so there's still stuff to do before moving on, including my D&D skeletons and zombies, and the Bloodreavers for the Age of Sigmar Path to Glory (assuming it will resume at some point). I also got a huge commission for MAGUS, which was payed for in beer and paints... stay tuned for some experiments with Contrast real soon.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage - Interlude 2

Introduction

The players decided to open my Book of Many Things instead of doing Storm King's side quests, and so they were visited in their sleep again by the mysterious Games Master[1][2]. He alluded to people ever visiting his arenas once in their lifetime, but somebody wants the adventurers very dead... and is willing to pay for it. Enter...

Skullcrushers command group conversion

Introduction

I bought them off eBay for cheap, already assembled (which is always a mistake, I've come to learn). 

They were mounted on fantasy bases. The champion model had an icon stuck to the end of his glaive with blue-tac. Mould lines and even sprue clippings were still on.

Dark Tides: Audience with the Adeptus Mechanicus

Report to the Rogue Trader

The players started off by summarizing the last session's investigation in reasonable detail, so I had their pagers beep and request their presence at the dropship. They received a request to report to their boss-man, Rogue Trader Varonius himself. They spent some time with back-and-forth communication, but they could not dig out any reasonable lead to follow. At last, Tass the Skitarius mentioned wanting to contact the local Adeptus Mechanicus, to which Varonius assented, and they were on their way.

Speed painting Bloodcrushers

Introduction

The Coronavirus-related lockdown resulted in a sharp decrease in hobby time. With barely any progress, I decided on testing some shortcuts. Note that I don't have an airbrush, and my two criteria were: a) low effort invested b) result looking reasonably good. I am... OK with this.

Dungeon of the Storm King - Chasing the Weevil

As discussed at the end of the previous session, I gave the adventurers a choice of side quests to pick. We could have went to work on the story of one of the characters... but Szivem could not show up, and so the party went after their first imagined nemesis... the Weevil.[1]

Blood for the Blood God!

I was cleaning my sculpting tool after applying the Mordant Earth on the Flesh Hounds, when I felt a small sting. I look down, and the next moment, blood is flowing like crazy. Well, I guess... Blood for the Blood God!

Painting a purple lightning Hellblade

Painting a chaos blade

Wrath and Glory: Dark Tides

After the practice session, we dug into the singular campaign-level published adventure: Dark Tides.

Painting Karanak

Introduction

I looked at the painting instructions that came along with the Flesh Hounds and discovered that the technique is very similar to the Warhammer TV video that I based  the squad on, although the colors are subtly different. And so I decided to try it out on the boss-doggo himself: Karanak, the Hound of Vengeance.

Brass/Bronze

More of a bronze, with a warm cast to it.

Bright flame

Cooling lava

Volcanic rocks

May review & June goals

May was similar to April... but better in every way.

Gaming wise, Dungeons & Dragons is still the unstoppable juggernaut. I had to step in as DM due to reasons, so expect some deviation from the ongoing campaign. Wrath & Glory is also shaping up nicely, alternating every other week. With the available free time, DMing two campaigns is frankly exhausting... but things might go back to "normal" soon enough.

Painting wise, I did publish the last of my pre-lockdown painting articles, and so everything I put out from now on is going to be Khorne-y. Hehe. I managed to finish some squads, even to experiment here and there, mostly with time saving techniques. All in due time.

As for June: the lockdown is easing, but there are still weeks ahead until the first face-to-face gaming event. Online will proceed as above. Same for at-home hobbying. I'll keep it up, if only to hold on to some semblance of sanity. I'll probably switch from Khorne models in the near future (whatever that means, I can't estimate anything under these conditions). I have to do some D&D stuff for whenever we meet again in person, and there's an interesting commission work on the horizon... 

Dungeon of the Mad Mage - Interlude

Due to real life issues, I had to step in as DM. We had previously settled on going back to do some Storm King's side quests, but with no idea on where to start or what to prepare (and the book of side quests lost somewhere), I decided on dragging it out with a short encounter. Needless to say, it took the whole evening to solve.

New AoS bases for Blazing Firecats

I originally envisioned these models as functional Flesh Hounds, but they never made it to the tabletop. Now, with all these incentives I get to play Khorne, I decided on giving them new bases as well. Who knows, maybe I'll field an entire army of Flesh Hounds one day.

New AoS bases for Flesh Hounds/Warhounds

I painted these Warhounds as Flesh Hounds of Khorne a long time ago, and used them across Warhammer Fantasy, 40k and Age of Sigmar. I resisted when they got changed from biker bases (75x25mm oval) to 50mm round - I had already magnetized oval bases and rectangular movement trays, so none of that.

Now with the new Flesh Hounds kit out they got new base sizes again: 60x35mm oval. After having a jolly good laugh at everyone else, I decided to go with the flow.

Review: Citadel Finecast

Finecast must die.

Affiliates page updated

I did not maintain the affiliates page for a while, and most links and images became broken. I even removed it from the navigation bar... but now it's back! 

...Make sure to click my links for any purchases. ;-)

Wrath and Glory: Practice session

After the original attempt at Wrath and Glory, I decided to dig in by purchasing the digital rulebook and assembling a second party. This time, we started with custom made characters at Tier 2[1].

Painting Flesh Hounds of Khorne

Introduction

The first kit I painted from the Wrath & Rapture box set... about time. I wanted them to look differently than my Bloodletters, so I followed a Warhammer TV tutorial for the skintone, obviously translating the Citadel color range to what I have available.

Also the first thing I completed during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Saliva/gore/slime using UHU glue

Monstrous mouth

Storm King's part 34 - Muuuuu!!!

Groin insists on paying his drinking debt to the dwarves that helped us in the fight in the square, so this is the first thing to do in our new day.

Now that the payment was made we can advance in our quest.

Our way takes us to Adbar, but it’s a lot to walk and days are passing. Finally we reach the bottom of mount "Hammer of Ashes" where an ancient dwarven forge is supposed to be.

Storm King's part 33 - RIP Mouse!!!

It’s about a mouse being dead, so what better picture to start the blog?[1]

So after the deadly encounter, we decide to go to the city[2] to gather our forces and have a good night'sdrink.

Painting a Reaper Fire Demon as a Bloodthirster of Khorne

Introduction

After fixing the head of this demon, my friend had two identical fire demons. Not the most useful for RPGs... so he decided to give one to me, in exchange for painting the Kraken.

Now this guy really looks like a Bloodthirster with whip and all, except with sword instead of axe. Good enough.

This is the last thing I painted before the COVID-19 lockdown. I left it at the Guild Hall to be used in the Age of Sigmar Path to Glory and it stayed there... so no "finished" pictures available as of yet.

Grey rocks

Painting leathery wing/membrane

Wrath and Glory: Blessings Unheralded

Introduction

I had my eyes on Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Wrath and Glory for some time. With my gaming nights reduced to a minimum thanks to the COVID-19 self isolation protocols, I decided to dive in with an online session. I assembled a crew of loyal Imperial citizens, created an account on Roll20, and bought a short published adventure: Blessings Unheralded.

Painting: The Claw!

Introduction

What is this disturbing piece of art? Literally no idea. Meet: The Claw! The final installment of my January commission painting.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage - Hauntings, Trolls and Manticores

Having finished our short rest, we set out to explore the rest of the northern end of level 1 - after raising an army of undead, obviously. I also sent out my invisible owl, to avoid any mishaps.

April review & May goals

All of April, I've only published two types of articles: January painting backlog and online D&D sessions. With nothing else to do, I'd publish the last of both types next week. However... time to switch to some optimism for a change.

Gaming wise, I managed to creep into new territory:  Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Wrath & Glory! I had my eyes on this for some time, and I did manage to get some online gaming time in. Expect a post soon-ish.

Hobby wise... after the initial shock of social distancing, we managed to straighten our lives a bit. That means at least some free time to do, well, basically anything. But I have this hobby for a reason: it helps me relax and unwind. So I got back into painting, and I did finish a couple of things.

I don't know if the lockdown will ease in May, but I don't expect anything to turn for the better. Education facilities will not reopen this school year, that is still on us. I can't make any grand plans. So I walk into May, the month of trying to live a normal life. One that includes some miniature painting. Perhaps finishing my Sigmar/40k Khorne lists for the campaigns and events that will, eventually, at one point in the future, return.

Painting Modrons

Introduction

Another take on Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures: a monodrone and a duodrone. Our wild magic sorceress is a fan of summoning these, so I bought them from our FLGS. (No direct link, so look it up here).

Dungeon of the Mad Mage - Fake vampires, part 2

Having completed our "business" with the first fake vampire gang, we decided on pressing on towards the second gang. Of course, we wouldn't be ourselves if it went without issues...

Painting a Gelatinous Cube

Introduction

I bought this on a whim from our FLGS - my first ever pre-primed mini. (No direct link, so look it up here).

Painting

Skulls and bone; corroded bronze; dark brown wood; silver weapons.

Uhh... finished?

Dungeon of the Mad Mage - Fake vampires

The second online session during the COVID-19 self-quarantine went smoother than the first. We had the tools in-place... at least those of us who hadn't saved  their character sheets on different laptops :D

Painting a female elf bard

Introduction

Another commission work in Reaper Bones.