"End of the week" status

Even though it is alredy a few days in to the week I'm caling this the end-of-the-week update. I'm collecting my dogs again tomorrow and will have them the comming week, so my Warhammer hobby will get a few days rest.

These last days I've managed to almost complete my Tyranid test-figure. The only thing remaining now is to paint the rim of the base. I think the color scheme turned out real well, and for once I managed to just get a thin coat of wash on the model. Then I went for a thicker coat on the base. For the purple I washed with Druchii Violet and then I drybrushed with Genestealer Purple that I used to paint it in the first place. 
The skin and base was drybrushed Agrax Earrtthshade. The skin got a thin coat while the base got a good load. Then I used Moghast Bone to drybrush the skin gently, and the base got a heavier drybrush with Screaming Skull. 

Here is a close-up of the base, after the drybrush. When I get the rim painted this mini will be done. I look forward to building, priming and painting up more in this color scheme and I look forward to seeing lots of Tyranids painted up like this on the table.

The other project I have been working on is the Valkyrie for the Imperial Guard. This is what it looks like now, The next step is the cockpit, but that will happen when the dogs go to their other home.

I have to say the instructions for this set is pretty bad (hopefully they have gotten better over the years as my model is old), but despite of that I do enjoy building it, and I think it will look pretty good when it is all built and painted.

You don't see much of the inside from the side, even though the side doors are open, but that might chage slightly when the bird is standing on its stand. But still I wanted to paint the interior so I spent some time on that.

This is looking in through the back gate, and you can almost see the two gunners manning their heavy bolters peaking out of the side doors. Before I glued the wings on I checked if I could take them out and put them back in. I am not sure it will be as easy now that the wings are on, but I have to try sometime. The gunners are glued to the gun, and the gun is put in its cradle that is glued to the armholding it to the side of the Valkyrie. So by lifting and tilting the gun I should be able to take the figures out. I need to do this if Iwant to close the doors. For one of the other Valkyries I plan to build the guns but not add the crewmen.

I wanted to paint up the interior, so I have painted some pipes and cables and also screens and buttons.

I had to add a picture from the behind too. The tailgate is open, but I will see what whill happen when the model is finished if it closes, if I plan the model on the base with the gate open or if I might have to glue it shut.

Tyranids color cheme

Yeserday I wrote that I had bought the Leviathan box and that I would start a Tyranids army and build it up slowly to an acceptible size. 

When I was at the store I talked about my plans and got a "miniature of the month" called a Termagant to use as a test model for my color scheme. The Termagant is one of the smaller creatures of the Tyranid army and it is armed with some sort of bio-gun. There are several of these in the Leviathan box, and in the new online reveal yesterday we were shown this same creture with a lot of different weapons. 

This is apparently one of the most common creatures in a hive fleet, sort of the infantry, so I look forward to building and painting up a lot of them with different weapons options. 

I think I have found the color scheme I want to use.

The colors I have landed on is Morghast Bone for the bodies. I wanted a light color, but white is hard to get to look good at least without painting many layers. And I think this color will fit well as some sort of camouflage against my bases that will be Armageddon Dust or Armageddon Dunes like I do with all (at least almost all) my 40K models.

 

For the claws I wanted a horn color, so I went with Nazdreg Yellow. This is a color I use for most of the horns I paint in Age of Sigmar. This gives the claws a natural color, but not the classic black that you see on many pictures of Tyranids.

Then the hard scales, or the armor if you like, got painted with Genestealer Purple. This is a light purple color and I like that. I also think it contrasts well with the Morghast Bone and I have known for a long time that I would like to use purple on my Tyranids if I ever wanted to get this army.

The tongue and what looks like gills on the body has been painted with Volupus Pink. This is the same color I have used for tongues and the insides of mouths on a lot of other projects and I'm quite happy with that. 

After these pics were taken I painted the teeth Screaming Scull as this is whiter than Morghast Bone but not classic white.

I also found the color I think I want to use for the bio-weapons and I landed on Phonecian Purple. It is a darker purple but still quite bright. I have painted it on now, and to make it clear that the weapon is biological and part of the organism I painted the scales on the top of the weapon Genestealer Purple to match the scales on the body of the Termagant.

I will have another look at the model tomorrow, and if I'm still happy with the colors I will put Armageddon Dunes or Dust on the base, and then start with washes and drybrushing if I feel I need that after. My idea right now is to use the same paint as I have used now to drybrush.

I will post final pics when this work is done.

Imperial Guard, Space Marines and a new faction

If you have seen the lables for this post, then you already know that the new faction is Tyranids. So let us start there and let the cat out of the bag. I have bought my first Tyranids. I was at Warhmmer Oslo today and they had four of the new Leviathan boxes in the store so I got one. 

I have long stayed away from the Tyranids because I have no idea how to paint them up. I have tried with some Genestealers but have not been satisfied so I have stayed away. But as the years have passed I have given it a lot of thought and seen a lot of nicely painted 'Nids and now I feel the time is here to give it  go. I plan to give them a light paint scheme with some sort of off-white and light purple and maybe some pink or light red.

Today Games Workshop revealed models that will replace some of the old range and they look really good, so I look forward to expanding the force over time. But I do not want to do it too fast, as I have way too many models to build and paint as it is.

The Leviathan box also includes Space Marines and they have made new versions for several of the units. One unit that is all new is the Terminators that has been made bigger than the old ones and apparently the heads are placed in a more natural place compared to the shouders than on the old ones. I look forward to building and painting them, and I will get more of them when they are released as a separate box. I already have so many Terminators, but I think there always is room for a few more. 

I have also started on a new unit for the Walpurgian 3rd. This time it is a Valkyrie from the 1st Airborne and I have an idea how I want to paint it up. I have painted most of the interior of the troop or cargo compartment, but  the weapons and gunners remain. I am working on them now.

I think the Valkyrie will be black and dark gray just like the vehicles I have painted up for the army, but I will have to think a little bit more on what parts should get what color. The inside of the troop/cargo copartment is black, and I think the cockpit interior will be the same. The pilots will have dark gray pants, or maybe Death Corps drab if I want it to look like a rugged flight suit. I will see how they look when I come to that step in the instructions.

I have one big problem with the Valkyrie, and it is a showstopper so it will not be completed for a while. One of the two side panels for the front cockpit is gone from the set. Probably it has broken off, and I have managed to loose it when opening the box and looking at the sprues some time before. So I have to wait for the Valkyrie to come back in stock so I can get a new one. I talked to the staff at the Warhammer store and asked if they know if GW makes spares but they told me they don't but they would contact customer service for me anyway, as it could be possible that they had a spare sprue if something went wrong in the moulding of new sets. But I am thinking I will buy another one and then use most of the parts for an Ork flyer. Then I have extra crew and some extra parts to use on future builds. My plan is to have three Valkyries and kit them out a little differently for each.

More Ogors

I had planned to do mostly painting for this period, but I ended up spending a little less time than planned with the minis and also doing more buiding than painting.

For painting I have painted up the wheels and chassis on an old ork Trukk, I wanted to find out how the red contrast paint I use for my squigs would work for the trukks. I am quite happy with the way it turned out, so I will paint the  rest of the old trukks like this too. Also the old bike that I have from the same era.

I have also painted up the wheels on my Cargo-8, so it is one step closer to being finished. 

When it comes to building I have made two new units for my Ogor army, And i have also found a "unit" that i have been ooking for for a long time in my storage. The unit I found was The Great Mawpot, I plan to build that up soon, but there are a few other Ogor units I need to build forst.

The first unit I have built is an old box of mournfang cavalry from the Warhammer Fantasy age. That box has two of the Mournfang cavalry, and I have one more box to build so I can make one unit of four. 

I plan to make that unit with full command, and then the fourth Ogor will get armed with a club and a metal fist. Then I have a modern box with four Mournfang Cavalry and a Stonehorn or Thunertusk, and I will build that Mournfang cavalry with the two handed weapon options.

The second unit is in the rulebook, but not part of the Age of Sigmar figures. Instead it is part of  the Warhammer Underworlds range caled Harrowdeep. It is the unit called Blackpowder's Buccaneers. It consists of maybe the coolest figure in the entire Ogor range, the pirate captain with the big gun and the sword. He can be the commander of units of Leadbelchers and I do plan to have several units of those.

He also has to gnoblars with him, and to weird animals (a bird and a monkey). I know how to paint the gnobars but I am not sure how to paint the monkey and the bird yet except  would like the bird to have bright colors to look a bit like the parrots from pirate movies.

Ogors and Guard update

I haven't finished any units since my last update, but I have done some work. 

First off i have started to paint my first Field Ordnance Battery, the biggest mobile artillery in the Guard that isn't self-propelled. I till haven't figured out what units are used to pull them in to position, but I am hoping we will get some units for that in the future.

The bombast field gun, the one that looks like a regular cannon, has gotten a coat of Mechanicum Standard Grey. The next I need to do is paint the front shield and the wheels black and then the barrel (at least parts of it) and some small details metal. Then I plan to paint a stripe on the black shield, but I have not decided yet what color it shoud be. I'm currently considering red, yellow or orange.

The malleus rocket launcher has also gotten a coat of Mechanicum Standard Grey and the plan here is also to paint the wheels black and maybe the front support pillar. Then the rocket pipes will get a metal color and some green details. Then the plan is to paint the front of the front support pillar in one of the colors mentioned earlier. 

Then I will paint the crew and the ammo boxes. I am still considering if I want to give the crew the same look as the infantry or if I should give them a different color on their coats. I think it depends what I end up doing with the cavalry. They have Russ Grey jackets now, but I am not sure if I like the army to have so many different colored jackets or if I want most of my army to be the same. 

I have also built and primed an Ogor Ironblaster. It was an interesting build with one of the biggest instructions I have seen on a Games Workshop model. It had more steps than on some much larger models that is around today.

I ended up building it skipping some of the steps, but I still think I managed to get it to look as it should in the end. I am looking forward to see if the instructions have changed lately, as I have ordered up a new one. The one I built was from when Warhammer Fantasy was a thing, so it was really old. I know I will get more of them as I would like to have at least two maybe three Ironblasters and one or two Gnoblar Scrap Launchers that is built from the same set.

Another unit I have built and primed is a unit of Gluttons, apart from the Gnoblars. I plan to build me some of those too, but I'll get to that in due time. I have lots of them in the bitz boxes but they are basically lots of two different models as there are two models that you only glue a head to and there are 3 sprues with these models in each box A regular unit would have two of them, but it is hard to make them look individual.

I ran out of square bases for the Ogors now, I only had four left, but I found two bases of the right size that had some rocks and a dwarf shied on them. I am not sure what models they were made for originally, but it seems I have built the models on different bases in the past.

Games Workshop don't sell the square bases anymore, but they will bring them back when the Old World models come out some time in the future, but I think that is still quite a long time in the future. So either I will look at Ebay for the bases I need, or I will have to wait. 

The Ogors I had started to paint before all got a new layer of paint on them, so that they have all painted their pants now. Itill have the last batch I primed to paint along with this last unit of Gluttons, and the idea is to start on their skin next. I need to check the bases on the last unit of Leadbelcchers, and I think they have square bases as it is an old box. so I vill probably build and prime them before I start on the skin on the next units so that I can paint them up along side.

Then I will start on the Mournfang units and the big beasts (Stonehorns or Thundertusks, I still haven't decided what I will make them as).

just a quick one...

Just a quick little post this Monday. I mentioned in my post a few days ago that I had decided on how I wantd to display the Walpurgian 3rd markings on my army. I am afraid that is not true. Right after postin that I discovered that my design had a "V" and not a "W" and since the Walpurgians write their planet name with a W then a design based on a V will not work. so I will have to rethink it once again. Maybe I can use the idea for my Leagues of Votann instead as they are called the Valiant Veteran Alliance so there I have the V.

But the Space Marine iconography I am rather sure of, there I just need to try and paint it on and see how it will look on a shoulderguard. 

Status update, Orks and Ogors mostly

I don't have any pictures to show off for this update, but there has been some progress in the hobby room since I last posted here. 

The biggest updates are on the looted Cargo-8 for my Ork Waaagh. It is almost ready for the tabletop now, as a transport of some kind. The Cargo-8 is mostly painted up, I am missing the wheels, the cago container (the flatbed is done though) and just a few details (like the teeth) on the Ork driver and his companion Grot. I managed to squeeze the grot in beside the driver where the gunner usually would be, so now he points forward while looking at the driver. I like the pointing Grot, and I hope to make some other versions of him for future builds. The body is from the Ogor Gluttons box where he is standing lookout on the platform on top of the banner (if you choose to use that option). Since I have some banners where this option isn't used I have some spare. I plan to use this body with a fitting head in future projects as well. I don't remember in what set I found the head for this Grot, it just sort of lay around in my Ork bitz boxes. Hopefully I will manage to finish painting this model next week as I have a day off on Thursday.

I have also assembled a unit of six Ogor Gluttons with command. Since my first box of theese has a banner with both a lookout and a horned skull, I only used the horned skull for this icon bearer. I also found a different head for the bellower so he didn't end up identical to the one from my first unit.

My plan is to assemble one more Ogor unit and then prime them and add them to the pile of unfinished Ogors I already have on my desk (but I might make two boxes as well once I start).

I went with snow bases back when I originally made the unit that I have given a new skintone, and I have no interest in cutting them off their bases and making new. So instead I decided to try and make them look a bit more detailed, as just plain white snow looks a little dull. So I have started to experiment with adding some contrast paint to make patches of ice, and then I plan to add a new layer of snow on top to blend it in. On some of the bases for the bigger figures in the army (like Stonehorns and Thundertusks) I would like to add some mud as well (still with a little snow on top), to tie the army closer together with the other AoS armies I have. They will also get the green rim around the base as that is something I do for all my AoS minis.

I have started to paint my Witch hunters Galen and Dora ven Denst for my Cities of Sigmar army, and so far I have finished their coats and Doras classic hat. I decided to paint it in brown to give it a tough leather look instead of the classic black that the old witch hunters wore. They will not b in uniform, so I am a bit more free when it comes to painting their clothes.

The Walpurgian 3rd has also gotten some love, I have not gotten around to paint the big guns yet (they are primed and ready to paint), but I have started to paint the Castellan and the Commissar from the new release and the plan is to paint the Castellan with a light skintone and Commisar with the same skintone as I use for my Ogors for AoS. Then I will see if I can "sneak" in some more units with a darker skintone as an army with just one skintone might look a little dull. Since the Walpurgian have integrated other units in to their army over time then that is a good back story for different skintones, and Commissars rarely come from the same planet as the units they serve with so that is yet another good argument to paint him different from the other units. 

I've also started to think of unit markings for my armies. I think I know how I want to make unit markings from the Gatekeepers (my Space Marine chapter) and the Walpurgian 3rd, and I have started to think of how to do it for my Votann and Mechanicus armies.