Gun Tower: Base Colors

This week I've started painting the titan's gun towers in earnest. Here's the base scheme laid out for Tower #1. I'm aiming for a dirt and grim version of the Legio Mortis red, black, and white scheme this time around. For future reference I'll list my paints here now:

Paints are Vajello luftwaffe uniform bluish-gray, Vallejo gunmetal, GW ironbreaker, Vallejo middlestone, GW khorne red, Vallejo flat black, and Vallejo white, and liberal use of Army Painter strong tone ink. Also often with a 1:1 mix of Vallejo matte medium to smooth the paints.

Homemade Barbed Wire

I made sections of barbed wire fence by cutting up some linoleum samples, and then coiling a couple spools of Gale Force 9 15mm wire. It was a pretty straightforward do-it-yourself project and saved a little money by not buying the pre-painted Battlefield in a Box barbed wire set.

Volcano Cannon

Everything old is new.

You never change.

You never.

You.

Rigorous, but.
Robust, yet.

Love letters in the Ether.
Love letters. to. the. Aether.

Do you still read.
Do you still.

Need?

A7V Tank

Today's post is about a WW1 German A7V tank I've been working on. My five-year-old has taken an interest, so I let her choose the tank's name. She chose Nixe, because that's German for "mermaid" and she thought it was a funny name for a tank.

It didn't take long to paint to a tabletop standard. I went with a rough approximation of the colors. I'm sure historical inaccuracies abound, but at least we're having fun.

Emperor Titan Carapace Towers

Okay, time to get back to emperor titan stuff. These are melta cannons for the upper level. They are kind of embarrassing, but I'm fond of them. That said, they just don't look like the Forgeworld melta cannons. They need some work in any regard.

The plan is to update them so people can recognize them as canonical melta cannons, or to modify them look like some other carapace weapon option.

These are eye-wateringly bad. Hot glue. Hot glue everywhere.

Wires. Plague bearers. Ugh. 

Much work to be done.

French in the Great War

I started painting some historical miniatures this month, focusing on French in the Great War. It's unclear whether I will ever get back into regular tabletop gaming, but I still love the models, and history is awesome. 

These are Battlefront's sculpts released circa 2015. They've got loads of details and have been fun to paint. There were a few bayonets and rifle-grenades that broke off when I cleaned up the models, but not a big deal at 1:100 scale.

As for the color scheme I tried to follow a painting guide for the French Metropolitan uniform, which was pale-ish blue. I probably went too bright with the blue, which is no big deal. Considering these uniforms were probably stained with mud and dirt in no short amount of time, I can live with the more intense color.  

Ruination Rumination

Today I've got some progress pics of the new recruits for the Word Bearers. They're fairly generic, though there are small details here and there that hint at their dark allegiance.

I tried to model them with bolters up, like they're on the move and tracking targets. It was successful, more or less. There are a couple that look a little awkward, but I'm satisfied.

I added some Word Bearer shoulder decals. And this is how they look after the first coat of matte medium. It takes me a couple more coats to get them looking seamless.

These guys will be finished sometime this week, and then we're on to whatever comes next.

Fresh Troops

It's been a busy week, but I found time to get started on some line troops for the Word Bearers. These guys won't be sporting as much bling as previous marines. The Scions are known for using waves of massed infantry so I want to tone them down a bit in favor of uniformity.

Held in Contempt

From a dusty shelf I found an old kit-bashed friend from days gone by. This contemptor dreadnought was originally built for my Blood Angels army, which has not seen play in quite a few years.

I'm debating leaving him as-is, finishing up the paint-job, or converting him over to the treacherous Word Bearers legion.

It seems I like painting red.

Double Heresy

Today I'm working on some air assets for the Word Bearers. The big one, the Storm Eagle, I won at a tournament a couple years back. It's been collecting dust for many months, but now I plan on finishing it this month.

I've also started work on a Stormhawk Interceptor, the smaller ship. While technically not a Horus Heresy kit, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to paint one in the Word Bearers color scheme. If I ever get around to playing again, I'll either proxy it as another spacecraft or use its actual rules. One could make a convincing argument why this 40K era flyer was around in the 31st millenium. There was a time that the 30K purist in me would have objected, but I find myself mellowing out as time goes on.

Sometimes Horror

Here's some pink horrors of Tzeentch I've been working on. The nostalgia bug has been strong this year, so some scouring of ebay has been fruitful. These guys are 1st and 2nd generation sculpts, blue arms and beak face respectively. Kevin Adams sculpted the 1st gen horrors from the 80's. Off the top of my head, I think Trish Morrison did the 2nd gen ones from early 90's?

Get Your Tzeentch Out of My Khorne

Now time for some oldhammer fun. Here's a Lord of Change called forth from the Ruinstorm. They'll make for some colorful allies on the table to buddy up with the Word Bearers.

Work With What You Have

I'd like to be consistent with posting. It's often a challenge because I tend to jump around too much. The plan now is to post short and sweet updates, at least until I can form a better discipline. 

So here goes.

Two Word Bearer HQ's that are works-in-progress: 

Under the Tree

These past couple weeks have been eventful in that I've renewed work on my Sylvaneth army for Warhammer: Age of Sigmar. Also managed to play a big game with 3 vs 4 last weekend at the local game shop. It was fun. The Sylvaneth are a straightforward faction with a large degree of synergy at their core.

Here's a pic of our setup for that game. Despite the big table and various factions involved it was a fast, crazy game. I always wanted to like prior editions of Warhammer, but they were often too convoluted for me to keep up with.

The scenario required two of our four opponents to deploy their forces on the ziggurat in the middle of the board. My team's goal was to prevent these opponents from escaping off the short board edges, while help from both sides trickled in from various points.

Durthu, the treelord, teleported out of those trees on  the ridge and took out the enemy standard bearer hiding up there. We had a good laugh about it.

Speaking of treelords, here's work on my treelord ancient. Construction was similar to Durthu, but the finished ancient is a very different-looking model.

My only difficulty with this kit is that attaching the talons to the left hand was fiddly, and the fingers project up and outward, so I keep snagging them on things.

I put a bit of extra time into the base, trying to make it intricate, but subtle. The cobblestones are sheet styrene whose edges I roughed up with an exacto-knife. Then I added some roots and vines pushing out from under some of those.

Next, I applied some spackle with a bit of black acrylic paint mixed in. The paint dyes the spackle and is useful for gauging the level of moisture as it is applied to the base. I find I can push it around with a paintbrush and simulate gnarled roots.

The final step before priming is to apply pvc glue and gravel to fill bald spots on the base.

Thanks for looking.

Let's Take A Look

I'm taking a few days off from titan-building, so lack0fbettername (my arch-nemesis) asked me to post some pics of the whole emperor titan assembled. Seems like a good opportunity to get feedback before jumping into the next phase.

Be advised, there are many parts unpainted, or painted in schemes that clash with the Legio Mortis colors.

One leg painted. One leg not. Still lots of parts all over that could use some revision.

Door-to-door salesmen beware my wrath.

I've noticed here and there some bits and pieces have broken off. Just little stuff, like a couple missiles from a tower launcher.

Here you see my two oldest spawn posing together. That wink says it all: "DEATH TO THE FALSE EMPEROR!"