Genestealer Cult Limo

Hello!

First model of the new year, and it's one for me - a Genestealer Cult Limousine for overthrowing the oppressors in style!

This was a Christmas present from the wife, who had a friend 3D print it (from here). I received it without guns so I built it a little turret to be attached by magnets - the cult will need to operate under cover before they go fully armed! I imagine running this mini as a Golith truck in games, so the turret has a twin autocannon (spares from the Onager Dunecrawler).

I kept the paint job fairly basic, using a stippling effect for the highlights on the bonnet and wheel arches and used washes in the recesses to avoid looking too 3D-printy, as an all over wash or drybrush might have done. The green windows were a bit of fun though - a few layers of successively lighter green then hit with Dark Angels green contrast with the centre of each window cleared with a damp brush. I think it's quite a convincing eerie glow. The whole thing was done in a day, which was nice.

With the ride complete, I had to take some photos with the passengers. I thought these lot looked cool, hybrid bodyguards for the Magus striding out like a celebrity at a (blood soaked) red carpet event!

This was a fun little project, and it's always nice to get something completed in a day. Hope you like it, and stay safe.

2020 End of Year Hobby Review

Hello!

At the end of 2019 I did a little hobby review of what I'd done during the year, what I'd put on the blog etc. - mainly for my own amusement. Since 2020 is now over (much to everyone's relief) I thought I'd do a similar thing for the year just past. In spite of everything, there were still plenty of nice moments to look back upon.

Overall:

My total number of blog posts slightly pipped 2019's 55 posts with 57, suggesting I was equally as busy in the hobbY. I was a little surprised at this, thanks to various lockdowns and restrictions, but I did manage to play quite a lot of games before it all really kicked off and in the 'safe' period between the first two UK lockdowns. I also painted quite a lot of stuff - a good chunk of it not for myself. For quite a long time I've been wondering about doing 'commissions' for friends as a way for the hobby to pay for itself, and this year I took the plunge. Aside painting and gaming, I also got into the Podcast game, joining in on a few episodes of the Narrative Wargamer, which was a blast. 

Battle Reports:

Not quite so many on camera this year, with a global pandemic putting the Reuvengrad campaign on hold, but a fair few of the pics and text versions. The start of the year saw a couple of tournaments, a local at Grim Dice and a big one at Warhammer World, then in the middle of the year I had another spurt of them after the release of 9th edition 40k. A couple of my favourites were this matched play game against John's Necrons and this Crusade battle against Tony's Orks. It's been a fun year for games, but obviously I would have loved to play a load more!

Hobby Stuff:

The 'big project' of the year was expanding the Lizardmen/Seraphon - I've still not played a game with them but I'm happy with how they came out, especially the big dinos. After that I did some Admech additions, then cleared up a few older projects before starting work on other people's minis, most notably the big Space Wolf project. Overall I'm happy with the quality and quantity of minis I've painted this year - I did have a bit more free time thanks to the various restrictions, though as a key worker I've been working as normal the entire time, so it's not that far off what I could achieve under normal circumstances. I think the grand total is 132 miniatures painted, including some fairly hefty models.

Other Stuff:

I did manage to get in a game of Titanicus in February, and got a bit into the weird world of Turnip28, but the blog content was dominated by 40k this year. Outside of the blog I got a few 40k games in on Tabletop Simulator, and have been playing a load of D&D over discord to while away the lockdown evenings, but for the time being that isn't being recorded for posterity. Not much LARP going on, since hitting each other with latex swords isn't very social distancy. 

Looking Forward:

I think we're all hoping for a better year ahead of us, but I'm working off the assumption the the first six months are going to be a bit of a write off in terms of playing games. I will have much painting to do however. Having cleared my personal painting backlog, I gave in and bought the Tyranid box for Christmas (from me to me), plus a couple other things that arrived from Daddy Chrimbo's sack. I might finally do that Tyranid painting guide! There's also of course a whole load of fun stuff I'll be painting for others. Of course with any luck GW will release a load of new Codexes, some of which might be for me, so I could be playing games later in the year with another new set of rules, hopefully up to the standards of the Space Marines and Necrons.

So thanks to anyone reading this for sticking with me though that hell-year, and please do stay safe in 2021!

Drukhari Haemonculi Coven Done!

Hello!

Last post of the year for me, and another quick 'commission' - a small Drukhari patrol with Wracks, Talos and led by Urien Rakarth himself!

Again, bases unpainted as they are to be done up to match an army, but otherwise this little lot are finished. I don't think I've ever painted any Dark Eldar before, so this was a fun first - and I felt justified in making them a bit messy and dirty compared with how their clean cousins might look.

Wracks were painted up, appropriately enough, with Rakarth Flesh and Pallid Wych Flesh, then a assorted washes. I have no idea what all the crazy weapons they have do, but they look cool!

I'm definitely pleased with the results on the Talos, a bit of a messy job but turned out looking pretty sinister. The carapace was stippled dark green over a black undercoat, with the brass edging semi-randomly applied, then all washed in black, and a bit more brass added. Skin and bone sections were essentially the same as the wracks, and for a bit of extra colour I added some blue or red to the tail weapons, designating haywire and heat lance respectively.

Finally the man himself. A bit of a faff, being finecast, I kept finding bits to remove while painting the details - there's so much weird stuff on this guy I couldn't see it until I was actually painting that part!

There you have it, a fun little project to end this strange old year. I'll do a fashionably late 2020 review post at some point, but until then, thanks for looking, and stay safe out there.

Space Wolf Project Completed

Hello!

Hope you all had a great Christmas or winter holiday of your choice. I'm back with more festive Space Wolves! The project is now complete (on my end - client still needs to add bases to most of them) with a couple of Wolf Priests to keep them in order:

As character models I did put a little bit extra effort into these two, and I'm pleased with the results. I think some of the little extra 'cheating' details sell the models well - the transfer runes on the legs and the 'writing' on the parchment - done with a fine drawing pen.

With that done, it was time to unite them with their charges, the Thunderwolf Cavalry, Firestrike Turrets, Invader ATVs and Assault Centurions:

I'm really happy with the result - they look good all together, and it's probably some of the most 'efficient' painting I've done - optimal results from mostly simple techniques and painted pretty quick. Though it was the latter end of 2020 in the midst of UK lockdown and then tier 3 restrictions, so it's not like I had much else to do!

Anyway, thanks for looking, I hope you've enjoyed following along this project, and do stay safe.

Space Wolf Centurions

Hello!

More Space Wolves, this time the newly available Assault Centurions. Nearly done with them now, only a couple of characters left (coming soon!) It's been a largely enjoyable project, and I'm happy with the results, but I have to admit these were a bit of a chore, especially painting all the metal of the support struts and cabling. Anyway, here, look:

Hope you like them! Some fairly minor conversions and the addition of the transfers really sells the Space Wolf look I think, I'm always somewhat impressed by what transfers can do to 'finish' a mini. Though of course the bases are being done separately so they won't be truly finished until they make it to their home on Fenris. Stay safe out there, and I'll leave you with this self indulgent black and white image of my favourite of the set.