Blood Angels Batch Painting WIP

Lots of details are not complete on these guys because I am painting them in large batches. I wanted to share them because I think the air brush shading worked out pretty well. The Sternguard models are my least favorite so far because I had to remove so many damaged details. They are also on temporary bases while I finish up another batch of my resin bases.

I've got one squad of vanguard vets on the way, followed by vehicle painting. My intent is to get all of the main painting done this weekend, and then build a display board. I am just not sure if I have painted enough models for armies on parade. What I have so far is:

1 dreadnought (1)

1 tactical squad (10)

2 terminator squads (10)

1 death company squad with jump packs and lemartes (6)

1 Librarian Terminator

1 Chaplain Terminator

1 Corbulo

1 Asteroth

1 Mephiston

1 vanguard squad (7)

1 death company rhino

1 land raider

2 baals

1 vindicator

Because I am limiting myself to this new style of painting, my unit choice is pretty weird. I think I may need to find a way to get a squad of sanguinary guard and dante in the mix.

The display board is going to be basically a the same color as the bases. I plan on two levels, and will embed broken imperial vehicles all across the surface.

Grey Knight Army Progress

I've switched gears to Blood Angels, and soon will switch to IG vehicles for Heroes of Armageddon, so I wanted to put some better shots of my Grey Knights up here. After buying all of those GK kits, I ended up painting only two new miniatures. The rest are old GK or Inquisitor miniatures that I never got around to painting. I am really happy with how the army is coming, but BA are calling.

Grey Knights

I've had quite the month of travel, so few updates, but much speed painting between trips! I now have a tiny Grey Knights army nearing completion. I went really dark with these guys. I mixed a small amount of boltgun metal into black and used that as my base coat. I then slowly changed the angle of my airbrushing, increasing the amount of boltgun metal in the mixture until I had a nice dark gradient. Since the miniatures are cool and dark, I gave them warm and light bases to provide contrast. The bases are really simply. Forgeworld weathering powder mixed with water on top of army painter bone color. Nothing more than that!

I have also kick started my Blood Angels armies on parade army. I am still not sure I am going to finish in time, but the new Finecast miniatures re-enthused me. I have a new tactical squad, vanguard squad, terminator squad, and sternguard squads to share.

Now... Finecast..... I love that metal is gone, and I love the detail on some of the finecast miniatures I managed to purchase, but the quality of my sternguard, vanguard, and terminator librarian is just terrible. I had to cut off large parts of each model in order to deal with huge resin bubbles. Anyone looking at my Armies on Parade army will be able to see that my newer squads have weird details missing from them. On the other hand, I bought a box of raptors that is simply stunning. Overall I am thrilled that metal is gone. I just want my quality back.

The other thing taking time is work on my Heroes of Armageddon contribution. I'll be posting some WIP shots soon for the two devil dogs that are joining Dave Taylor's Steel Legion. I'd like to personalize the tanks, so if you have some cool name ideas, put them in the comments below. I was thinking of putting DTSL-159, DTSL-314 on the tanks as serial numbers.

Tau Ethereal

The light is a little harsh in these photos, but I wanted to share them anyway. This is a WIP of my second Tau Ethereal. I have never even played my Tau army, but just in case I do, here is my 4th HQ. I am not even sure what those weird gem weapon things are!

Daemonhosts

So my knights now have space orangoutangs and daemonhosts accompanying them into battle! It is such a strange looking but fun force. Not bad for iPhone photos.

Grey Knights W/Warm colored bases

Since my Grey Knights are predominately dark cool colors, I decided to use a warm light colored base to set off the miniatures. These quick iPhone pictured don't quite do the minis justice, but they do show how contrasting temperatures can help with presentation. I need to be careful going forward to not make the reds on the GK too warm. I can do this by using blue washes to shade the reds rather than red or brown washes.

My bases are dirt simple. I painted them with Army painter bone, and then used the dark earth forge world weathering powder as a wash. Afterwards I went back over them wiping off most of the powder from the raised surfaces. The bases are plain, but I think that helps the dark miniatures stand out.

Monkeys/Jokero With Grey Knights in the Background

I took my light box down while cleaning my office, so these photos were done with flash. I have been paining Grey knights for a few days, which you can see in the backdrop. Since my knights are dark metallics, I thought the army needed some lighter colors. I added Jokero and Demon hosts in bright light colors in order to spread the color spectrum out a bit. My wife does not like the blue gem eyes. At least I did not go with my original color choice of red gems eyes!

Now, on the models themselves. Jokero are small. The Grey Knights in the background are the old metal Grey Knights, which are already a little smaller than the current range. I had some trouble with the smaller scale earlier in the week while trying to paint some mordians. Despite the difficulty in painting, I really like this scale. The Jokero and Mordians look appropriate standing next to space marines.

Since the grey knights army is now in full swing, I started pumping out resin bases. Since the models are dark and cool (mostly) I am going to go for a warm cracked desert theme. I read somewhere online that mixing color temperature could enhance a miniatures presentation. Well, here goes!

Founding Day Painting Contest!

I won the GW springfield 2nd founding day competition for vehicle/monster! I took my Arvus Lighter, which unfortunately I do not have pictures of finished. It is on display in the GW springfield if you are interested in seeing it. I thought I was in strong contention for best squad, but a gentleman came in with an incredibly beautiful Angels of Redemption squad that just stole the show. I wish I had photos of it. I recommend that anyone interested in painting go to the Springfield GW store and check it out.

So how cool is the trophy? I love the brother Artemis model, and have always secretly desired one. After winning this one, and contemplating dunking it in green stuff in order to paint it up as a non-trophey, I think I will just buy one online. Bill's patina is just too cool remove with a simple green bath.

The day after the painting competition I went to the Bazaar Bazaar, and traded away all of my 2nd edition Orks, Eldar, and Tyranids. I managed to buy/trade for some weird adeptus mechanicus stuff, some cool space wolf miniatures, Mordian Iron guard, and vallhallan squads. I am most excited about the Mordian miniatures. The scale is slightly different than current models, so the miniatures look better proportioned next to space marines. I kept joking to Gil, the original owner of them, that I knew they were ugly, but I really wanted them anyway. My perspective has changed. I think they look cool, and not just cool because they are goofy, but actually cool looking in person. The scale difference makes them look odd online.