I had not planned to post again this year, since I am traveling and will not be home till the new year, but I could not resist one more. I figure a lot of people out there are speed building armies right now. Since I just sped through a bunch of basing, I thought I should share. This time around I went for a darker look. As usual I started with a bunch of sand, broken tank bits, and little squares of plastic cut with regular old scissors. Once the glue had set I primed the bases black with a lot of primer. Don't skimp here because the paint helps the base stay together. I then took a tank sized drybrush and mixed up some deheneb stone and chaos black to form a dirty grey color. I used this liberally over all of the bases, following up with a very heavy wash of devlan mud. The final part is my favorite technique right now. I use Tamiya Acrylic Thinner X-20A to make a very transparent blazing orange wash. Then just cover each ruined machinery bit and a few random spots with it. It is possible to knock out a whole army's worth of bases in an afternoon if you assembly line the process. I did steal my wife's hairdryer to speed the process along!
My deathwing fought their first battle this past weekend at the local GW, so I thought I should commemorate the event with a class photo! It was only a 1030 point game, but I had a really great time, and can't thank my opponent Bill enough. As some know, the east coast of the US was blanketed by snow this past weekend. I faced a drop pod army captained by Lysander so I did not get to do much deep striking. 
It is snowing like crazy here on the east coast, so I spent the day being super productive hobby wise. I started by making some snow bases for my space wolves. I think the jury is still out on the bases, but I will put up a stage by stage and recipe so others can see what I did. I then went back to my roots and built 11 deathwing ruined city bases. I made them a little darker, and added a lot of broken tank bits.
With these two guys done, I only have three more terminators to paint! That will give me 2 squads, belial, and a land raider completed. I am really looking forward to getting all of this done so I can go back and add details at my leisure. I have already practiced painting the apothecary symbol, so I think that will be my first embellishment post completion. I need to create 6 more bases, though I think I will do a new batch of 11 so they all match. 
I have just finished Belial, the Captain of the Deathwing. Compared to some of the other terminators he is a little bland. I am considering painting his right leg green, and then adding a larger version of the red over green stripe heraldry as seen on the trooper to the left of him. Overall I am very happy with how the deathwing is turning out, and am looking forward to the final 5 guys being don so I can just lavish details on them. I am convinced that the black bases are the way to go since they provide the most contrast. Maybe I should raise Belial's base up a bit, or add more ruined detail. So far his only distinguishing characteristics are his chaos lord lightening claws.
I wish I had produced a few more hooded deathwing models, since I really like the way this guy is turning out. I know people complain all the time about terminators not wearing helmets, but I really like the character that can be head by painting an actual face. It gives the terminator a sense of scale that is really cool. The model still needs to have some cleanup, as well as censor ball, lenses and heraldry. I am not sure if I should paint the vials on the chainfist or just leave them bone colored. This guy represents 5 out of 11, so I am almost at the half way mark!
I just finished an AOBR terminator painted up as part of my deathwing, which gives me 4 out of the 11 I am painting. I was not as patient with this guy, which stands out to me, but I am pleased with how he turned out. I tried to paint a little heraldry the knee pad. What is clear to me from attempting it is that I need to buy new brushes.
I am churning through deathwing at the moment. Now that I know not to put red and green so closely together on the miniatures I think things are working out. These are really getting an old school clean look to them that I like one moment, and then am irritated by the second. I think I have just gotten used to the idea of mud covered guardsmen that cleanish armor looks weird. The photos do not capture the shading very well, but the I think you get the idea. I met a couple of cool guys named rob at the GW store who were interested in some narrative wargaming, so these DA are being painted up for some hard hitting variety.
I finished my first deathwing terminator! I think I may go with a dark brown dried earth for my basing, since that would work well with the raven wing that go along with these guys. The red and the green look a bit christmassy to me, but so be it. I want these guys to be pure bone white angels of death. The fact that they have a bit of holiday spirit should not detract.