Dauntless December: A Few Elucidian StarStriders

The last group of Models I did for Dauntless/Diabolical December, or at least, the last I got photographed. I actually finished them before the Ogroid Thaumaturge, but posted him first. For Dauntless December specifically, I painted up Voidmaster Nitsch, Knosso Prond, and the Galaxy's one and only Good Boy, Aximillion. (Voidsman Riguez is also included in this post, but does not count for Dauntless December, partly because he's just a squaddie, but mostly because the background describes him as being as much of a whiner and slacker as possible without getting sacked for it.)

I decided to change the Elucidian colour scheme to primarily white, since I haven't ever done much in white, and it seemed like a good chance to do some without having to do up a whole Army in white. I'm glad I made that decision, because not quite halfway through, and I'm already kind of sick of dealing with it.

First up is Voidmaster Nitsch. The sculpt kind of reminds me of John Wick, but with the white colour scheme, there wasn't really much I could do in that direction other than giving him black hair. I tried to do a bit of a wood grain effect on his shotgun's stock. Didn't come out as well as I wanted, but it did come out better than any previous attempts I've made, so I'm calling that a win.

I really wanted to do a pic in this pose, but couldn't get my camera to focus properly, and it sort of makes his cranial implant look like he's got cornrows.

Next up is Knosso Prond. The decision to go with a white colour scheme really changed the look here, but I like it. I also trimmed away the head she was holding, because it just didn't really feel right, and I liked it better as merely a counter-balancing part of the pose. I also had to perform some "breast-reduction surgery" because I couldn't deal with the fact that her nipples were sharper than her sword.

Dammit, just noticed I forgot to do the darts in the little holder on her left shoulder.

And now, what you've all been waiting for. The one, the only, the Galaxy's favourite Good Boy, Aximillion! I was a bit worried about getting his fur pattern to look good, but it was actually surprisingly easy. Very pleased how he came out.

Last, and least, the slacker Voidsman Riguez. He was my test Model for the group, which is why he's done ahead of the rest of the squaddies. I'm of two minds about my approach to new colour schemes, especially when they seem like they might end up being a serious pain to deal with. On the one hand, as in this case, I can do the least important Model first, in case I screw something up. On the other hand, I can do the most important Model first, so it will still be done properly in case I decide it's too much trouble and start cutting corners later on. What do y'all think about it?

His boots could use some touch-up. I'm sure Nitsch will have words with him about that later.

I like painting cigars. Trying to get the glow effect is fun when you only do it a little, but can become tiresome when you have to do a lot of it.

And a group shot to round things out

Incidentally, I didn't actually use white for any of this. After an article over on FLG a while back, I started taking Cavalier's advice and working just with off-whites instead. In this case, it's a Celestra Grey base coat, then Ultuan Grey over everything except the shadowed areas. As long as there are some strong contrasting colours, the eye pretty much reads it as white.

Well, that's it for Dauntless/Diabolical December. I have a few more minor things, some of the little gribblies from Rogue Trader, and then I should be done with my first Models of 2019. Until then, y'all have a good one, y'hear!

Dauntless December: The Chosen Axes

I didn't think of these guys as suitable for the challenge at the time I painted them, but really, nothing says "dauntless" like Dwarves. And they are all basically named characters. I certainly put as much work into them as I do most characters, which is one of the things I like about stuff like Shadespire and Kill Team. I can really take the time to get into every single Model in a force without it taking years to finish. I did a few group shots of them along with Spiteclaw's Swarm earlier, but just now got around to doing individual shots. Anyhow, on to the pics:

First up, Grimnir himself. I had to cut off and reposition his left hand to be able to get in there and sculpt his boot, in addition to the primary conversion work. The rune on his back is  unfortunately somewhat obscured, because I need to get some sort of diffuser for my light box, but it's Gebo, which, in addition to being his initial, represents the connections between gods and mortals, and the gifts the gods provide to mortals.

Next, we have Vol. The overall idea for this colour scheme, as far as I can reckon, I came up with on my own, but the decision to lock it in and some of the details of the execution owe a significant debt to Spooktalker's Fire Giant. His rune is Thurisaz, associated with the god Thor, and strength/power, particularly in defense of the home.

Tefk Flamebearer is my personal fave. The smoke didn't come out quite like I wanted, because I had to trim it a bit more than planned, but I'm still pretty happy with it, and love the overall effect. He wears the rune Kenaz, the rune of fire, because, really, what could be more appropriate?

Last and, yeah, pretty much least, we have Mad Maegrim. I wish they had differentiated his rules a little more, letting him, say, hit hard, but have substantially worse defence, or something like that. He also has a more two-dimensional pose that leaves him with fewer angles worth photographing. Incidentally, shortly before finishing these guys, I found out through a completely different source that "megrim" is an archaic term for a migraine, with, since it pre-dates modern medicine, more connotation of madness. Maegrim is marked by Naudiz, a rune signifying need, obsession, or distress, a combination that felt appropriate.

And the whole lot together

I've got one more set of pics for Dauntless December, and then it's going to be on to new stuff. My goal for 2019, inspired by a number of the end of the year posts and Azazel's regular tracking of his productivity, is to record everything I finish in the year, see what my productivity is actually like, so I can set reasonable goals for improving it. As we move into 2019, y'all have a good one, y'hear!

Diabolical December: Ogroid Thaumaturge

Another finished Model thanks to Azazel's Hobby Challenges! I've been procrastinating on this guy for literally years because of all those damn tattoos/scars/whatever. Finally forced myself to go through and get them all, a little at a time, in perhaps a dozen sessions over a week or so. He still wants a shitload of touch-up and some more detailing, but I can't deal with him any more, I need him to just be done. So I have commanded. So let it be.

I was trying to do a flame effect in pink coming out of the eyes of the skull. It's harder, because in normal fire colours, our eyes can accept a certain amount of simplification and still recognize it as something we're familiar with, but with different colours, we can't lean on that pattern recognition as much.

I was trying for a bit of a glow effect on the tats. There are a couple of layers of pink in there, but it doesn't come out well here. My camera seems to treat thin layers as being more translucent than they are to the eye.

Kinda washed out, unfortunately. Downsides of a cheap lightbox.

This one is probably about the closest to how the colours look in person

I kinda wanted to show off the eye on his Championship Belt. I'm also pretty happy with the work on his claw and hooves.

Holiday stuff, and the way I tend to work on multiple projects means I tend to get things done in bursts, so there's more almost done. I've got a couple of the characters from Rogue Trader ready, and I'm hoping to get one more in under the line. Might be able to finish the Gaunt Summoner and his Familiars, too, but not as likely. I also need to get around to doing individual shots of the Chose Axes still, and I've got pics of some of the little gribblies from Rogue Trader that I need to process. Hopefully I'll manage some more posts without quite such a long gap this time. In case I don't get around to it, tho, y'all have a happy New Year's, y'hear!

Beneath the Mirrored City

In long-forgotten tunnels and catacombs and basements, connected by gaps in crumbling, time-eaten walls, the search for the secrets of Shadespire goes on, just as it does in the streets and ruined buildings above. And so too do the battles between those who wish to keep those secrets from all others...

I'll put up individual pics of my take on The Chosen Axes sometime in the next few days. Right now, they're packed up for tomorrow's Sparkle Party Death Match. I must admit to being a bit nervous about this one, since I won the last one, but this time I'm bringing a couple of Bands that I'm still getting the hang of and I'm not entirely confident in my decks for, rather than Magore's Fiends, who I know inside and out. I don't feel like I need to win this one, I just don't want to completely embarrass myself with an 0-3 finish or something. I'll let y'all know how it went soon. Until then, y'all have a good one, y'hear!

Dreadtober Complete!

I think this might be a record for me. Not the completion, but actually posting my results before the end of the month! Anyhow, let's take a look at the actual Dreadnought first:

Oops, just noticed there were some more areas down underneath, like the pistons, that I forgot to go back and black out again. I'll get to it eventually, and it's not particularly noticeable in use.

The blue-green is Thousand Sons blue, with a rough highlight of Ahriman blue, and then a very heavy, splotchy wash/glaze with Army Painter green tone. It's a pretty cool effect in person, there's a subtle sort of camo pattern vibe, and from different angles and in different light, it looks more blue or more green. I went back over everything (at least theoretically) that wasn't an armour plate in black, and then gave all those areas a very light drybrushing with Stegadon Scale, just enough to make the detail visible, but not so much that the highlights themselves were visible. I use no metallic paints on my Sigma Chapter, doing everything that would normally be metallic in black like this instead. They're all about covert ops and such (Raven Guard Chapter Tactics), and don't want any gleam to give their positions away, so any metal surfaces are painted over or blued.

The lights are Nihilakh Oxide over white, a trick I picked up from Warboss Kurgan, and the rockets are light blue to indicate that they're anti-air (Anti-tank get white tips, anti-infantry get red). Simple drybrush up through the blues for the glow on the Plasma containment coils and a few more details picked out, and it's done!

I moved the Icarus Launcher over to the side because I like that look, sort of reminiscent of a lot of BattleTech stuff. Just a big wad of greenstuff filling in the gap. The launcher is magnetized, since the option to leave it off happened shortly after I'd finished the build here, and will almost never actually be used, since it kind of sucks.

The only other magnetized point is the waist. The legs are fixed in position, but the elbows and shoulders can rotate, and hold their positions well just through friction. I haven't painted the bits up yet, but I have the parts for the other weapon options as well, and those can also swap in just as pressure-fits.

A better look at the base, and another I did in the same style. You can see how the various spots of washes I dribbled over them have been mostly covered up by the successive layers of drybrushing, but still show through enough* to add some more variety to what would otherwise just be flat pavement.

The Armiger Helverin was done in my House Devine scheme, to add some support to my Renegade Knight from the summer. The whole thing was given a very heavy drybrush of Leadbelcher over the black primer, and then the major areas filled in with Balthasar Gold (highlighted with Gehenna's Gold), Xereus Purple, and Skullcrusher Brass.

The head and what's usually a hatch up top got done in Rakarth Flesh, which I half-assedly tried to blend into the mechanical parts around them, like the ceramite and whatnot is gradually morphing into daemonic flesh. Again, as with the full-sized Knight, I did an eye in the little window on the hatch. I left the Mechanicum/Mechanicus symbol on there because I figure that the Dark Mechanicum Techno-Magi who maintain these things consider themselves to be the true Mechanicum still, while it is the Adeptus Mechanicus who have lost their way.

No magnets whatsoever on the one, but it's still poseable, and completely swappable if a reasonably priced option for different arms becomes available. The waist joint gets some poster stick to hold it together, but the arms, carapace gun, and head are all just pressure fit, and hold perfectly.

I like to try to mess with bases that are this big, do something so they're not just a flat expanse, so this one got a chunk of insulation foam cut at an odd angle and trimmed to fit before I added on my usual basing stuff. I maybe should have made it a bit craggier, but it still fits well enough with the basing on its larger sibling.

I've got some stuff for Azazel's Unit-ed October to finish up this evening and take pics of, hoping to have those up sometime in the next couple of days. Until then, y'all have a good one, y'hear!

*That word combination is a pretty effective demonstration of how fucked up the English language is.

Good Enough

I've hit the limit of my sculpting skill/patience/willingness to keep working on these guys. Next clear day, they're getting some primer. I didn't get them to where I wanted, to what I saw in my head, but I'm far, far happier with them than I was with the stock Models.

Dreadtober stuff is ticking along nicely, but not enough to be worth another pic, between what I posted last and the finish line. Also got a few things coming up on completion for Azazel's Unit-ed October challenge, from Silver Tower and the gribblies from Rogue Trader. Y'all have a good one, y'hear!

Dreadtober: Mid-Month(ish) Update

I've been chugging along reasonably well on these two. The Armiger just wants a few more details picked out and then the base finished. The Redemptor needs that, plus a whole bunch of touch-up on all the parts that need to be black, but got some of the spillover from the blue.

A better look at a different base that I'm doing the same way as the Redemptor. They look like crap right now, but once there are a couple more layers of grey drybrushed on, the spots of colour leave just enough left to add some interest and visual texture, like there's litter and spills and all the other stuff that ends up on pavement.

I'm hoping to finish up some more Silver Tower stuff tonight, since my brother's coming by in the morning to play. So I should have something from that done to show soon. Until then, y'all have a good one, y'hear!