Workspace

Very little painting has been accomplished. However I did manage to do all kinds of weird damage to my titan's interior using AK-Interactive's interior acrylic paint. I air brushed it on, and somehow it produced all kinds of furry threads all over the interior.  I scraped off all those I found, and I have just resprayed some bone white over the weirdest furry patches. In the end most of this stuff can't be seen really well, so I am not inclined to simple green this guys. I think it will turn out ok any way.

NOVA Recap

The NOVA open was a blast. I met a lot of new friends, and had the opportunity to reconnect with old ones. Very little sleep was had.

Rather than play in the GT, my Ultramarines supported humanity against the virtue in the narrative event. Despite failing at nearly every battlefield encounter, they managed to win best painted for me.

The Narrative event itself was loads of fun. For years to come I suspect, Supreme Allied Commander of Humanity Owen, SACOH, will wonder if perhaps a few of his field commanders were Virtue double agents. He should probably just blame it on the Space Marine Scout Bikers like everyone else. There will be more scouts next year. Clearly what I did wrong was fail to bring enough of them.

The painting competition was very difficult this year, which is great news for the NOVA. One of my entries, the EC Dreadnought, earned me a bronze. I am very pleased about that.  Winning two painting awards is really special. I've been upping my painting quality slowly over time, but the forcing function of the competition made me spend more time than I normally would on both of those models. I intend to paint the rest of my EC's up to that quality or higher, so hopefully I am ready with a heresy list for NOVA 2014. I am also planning to submit multiple entries next year into fantasy, 40k, and Historic. I may paint a version of me 'from last week' for the historic category and see how it does. The model would be me holding a scale model of me. It would be fun to wear the 'me from last week' outfit when I hand in the entry as well. It is bordering on performance art, but I like the meta aware quality the piece would have.

The only thing I want to add to NOVA is a fully stocked painting room. I think it would be a blast to while away the days painting mini's while waiting for the narrative to start. Maybe we could borrow Dave Taylor's idea of a painter's lounge.

Oh, yeah about that model. I just wanted to play around with the hairspray technique for chipping. This is not part of any particular army, but rather a way for me to experiment. Originally it was slated to become a piece of no-mans-land terrain for my DKoK.  I am rather taken by the leaking oil effects though.

I hope everyone had a blast at NOVA. You will be seeing me next year.

*EDIT
I added some photos in better light. I am really happy with the spilled oil around the oil caps on the back of the centaur. In better light it should be easier to tell this is in Death Guard colors.

NOVA Open Entries

Neither of my entries are completed, but I am really happy with how this army is shaping up. I think it will be a really interesting force on the tabletop. The grayish stone and dead sons of horus marines complement purple really well. When I paint my living Sons of Horus, I'll make sure that the heroes have vibrant red cloaks and details. That should tie the armies together.

I am not sure how much painting is left in me tonight. It is rather funny that even though I pulled out of the 40k GT, that I am still rushing to finish miniatures. Tomorrow I will have to figure out a 2k marine list for the Narrative event as well.

Emperors's Children Basing

 

I wanted my EC Contemptor Dreadnought to be wading forward under a volley of fire across the ruined cityscape of Istavaan III. With all the purple on the dreadnought, I needed to work in a Sons of Horus marine in pale green. I wanted this to look like he was killed facing the same front as the honorable dreadnought. I like to think that the weight of the marine's body broke the cement as he was flung backwards.  I imagine these guys fighting on, honoring their oaths to the emperor, but feeling the crushing betrayal of their Primarch fathers and legion brothers. I am really getting into the story behind these purple and green loyalists. I think there are a host of modeling opportunities of the loyal remnants helping each other out. I am already planning a mini joint command squad. I think an EC medic helping a SoH veteran would look really cool. 

So. Is the base too bland, or does it complement the vastly too detailed dread?

Loyalist Emperor's Children Dreadnought Brother Argos WIP 1

I thought I should show you some updates with dull coat on the mini. It helps dramatically! There are areas where I missed the opportunity to remove some of the oil wash with thinner, but since this model represents a loyalist, I think the damage and stains will just add more character.

I wanted another entry for the NOVA OPEN painting competition, so I started working on a loyalist EC dreadnought. The model is glossy right now to make the oil wash flow better. Recently I've been experimenting with historical model painting techniques, and oil washes are one of my favorite finds. Tomorrow when the washes are dry, I'll dull coat the miniature and do the final blends and chipping. The arm segments are magnetized so the shoulders and elbows can be reposed. His head is loose, but I wanted a glimpse of the final model. It really is nice to be finally painting this FW stuff I've been hoarding. Rather than force myself to paint troops first, I decided I would just paint the cool stuff first.

There is a lot of work to go no this guy, but I think I can get him ready by Friday.

Fulgrim With Standard

I painted the III legion standard this morning to see how it would look on the base, but the closer I got to finishing it the less I liked it. My inclination now is to remove it from the base, since it draws attention away from Fulgrim himself. The other issue is that the casting of the standard is poor. Weathering powders could make it look realistically damaged. What do you think? Should I just remove the legion standard? I could always add it to an actual standard bearer. I've already decided not to paint up Fulgrim's gun because it looks cumbersome, but it feels weird to be editing off parts of a forge world model. Maybe I have too much forge world respect.

The last thing to do for this model is select a rim color for the base. It was suggested that I go with a darker brown, which I think makes sense. My first choice of black, may distract too much.

I have a painting marathon head of me this weekend. I need to paint more Ultramarine troops for the NOVA narrative campaign, as well as complete a few more entries to the crystal brush.

Fulgrim WIP2 Updated

Older photos below

I pushed through the day and now have the beginnings of a base for Fulgrim! Tomorrow morning I will seal the base and put Sons of Horus transfers on the dead marines. After that comes chipping, and then weathering powders. I was thinking of adding grime streaks to the marines to make it clear that they were on Istavan III during the world eater virus, but that might be too much. I really can't wait to paint up some live SoH troops now that I have recipe I like.

The photos with the unpainted base are truer to color than the ones I took tonight. The hazards of painting all day.

What do you think? Could this mini be entered into the NOVA crystal brush? I see lots of imperfections personally, but I just really love the model and how it is turning out. What do you think?

Sons of Horus Test Mini for Fulgrim

I knocked out a quick color test marine for a Sons of Horus loyalist. While Imperial fists would add a great dash of yellow, I really want this mini diorama to be set during Istavan III, when the traitor legions betrayed their fellow brothers and slaughtered them. Hence the green test mini. Fulgrim required three test minis before I had my purple recipe. I think this guy is pretty close already. I am tempted to add a bit more blue.

So a World Eater, a Sons of Horus, and Death Guard marine walk into a bar.... I was thinking about using those legions on the base, but I am worried the base would be too colorful. The alternative is just painting all three of them in SoH colors, and letting the dust tie them into the base. That would keep the focus on the third legions Primarch.