The Luna Wolves Legion Champion

So this week was rather good painting wise - I got to paint a little bit almost every evening and had a great tuesday afternoon paining session with a friend.

Pict 068: Luna Wolves Legion Champion

Pict 069: Luna Wolves Legion Champion

Pict 070: Luna Wolves Legion Champion

Pict 071: Luna Wolves Legion Champion

So here's the first thing I got done this week: my Luna Wolves Legion Champion. I just love the model and since he came in a pack with the Master of Signals I just had to have it. I do like the look of the blade that comes with the model but what's better than a giant chainsword? The hardest part of this miniature was to get the transfer into the space on the left shoulder pad. Once I get around to paint on the red markings onto all of the army I'll be sure to put some onto the heavy chainblade. I will only have to make sure that they don't look to much like White Scars.

Pict 072: Luna Wolves Tactical Marine

Pict 073: Luna Wolves Tactical Marine

Other than thae Legion Champion I also finished the second Tactical Marine. Pretty much the same as with the first one. I really like the faceplate on this one and standing together the white Marines do look rather nice. I very much look forward to having the Tactical Squad finished and taking a group photo.

Pict 074: Gor and Bestigor

Next up are the Gor and the Bestigor, that I had promised for the previous sunday. I added a little bit of blood onto the off hand weapon of the normal Gor - with the next batch I even might try and put some drops onto the base.

Pict 075: Bestigor and Gor (WIP)

Speaking of them: here is a picture of the next two Beastmen I just today got my hands on. I hope to finish the ten from the box, so that I can call this litte project done and move onto some more miniatures, that I want for my DnD game. The next project is already on its way from Forge World but more on that later.

Pict 076: Dáin (WIP 2)

Pict 077: Dáin on Warboar (WIP 2)

Pict 078: Luna Wolves Tactical Marine (WIP)

The last three pictures for today show what I am working on at the moment besides the Beastmen. I already showed Dáin last week and not to much was done on him. At least I finished all the basecoats and the washes and I also have drybrushed his furcoat. As I've said on the one hand I want to take my time with him, on the other hand I want to finish up all the miniatures from the last shipment from Forge World before the next arrives and Dáin would be the last two. With the Goatrider out this weekend I had to get myself some of them. As with my next DnD project they are on their way from Forge World but have not yet arrived. I may do an extra post once they arrive to show all the resin goodies I got for myself.
The last picture is just an other Luna Wolves Tactical Marine. He's just before the shading stage and if I'm lucky I might get to that today. In one of my last postings I complained about the many layers of light grey and white it takes to achive to Luna Wolves armour, but right now I'm rather enjoying the meditative exercise. Let's hope it stayes that way throughout the year!

The Iron Hills are almost ready for War (and yet they already went there)

As I promised last week, I finished the remaining five Iron Hills Warriors for my Iron Hills Army and I started work on Dáin. I did not however finish the Gors I started last week. Instead of paining I spent my sunday afternoon playing the Hobbit SBG with the almost painted Iron Hills Army.

Pict 062: Iron Hills Warriors

Here is a group picture of the five Iron Hills Warriors I painted this week and the one I painted last week. With this first warband done, only Dáin is missing to lead the 400 point army.

Pict 063: Dáin (WIP)

Pict 064: Dáin on Warboar (WIP)

And here are two work in progess pictures of Dáin. As of yet I pretty much have the main colours down. I will have to touch up some places like the handle of Dáin's hammer and his beard jewelry. I already started with the washes on his hammer - at first I was unsure how a red hammer would look. I decied to try and make the red not a solid colour but try and make it a metallic red. To achive this I used Carrobourg Crimson on the parts that will be red. I think it looks good, but I don't know how I will highlight this part, but that will come in time.

As mentioned in the beginning, I did play some games with the Iron Hills army consisting of Dáin on his Boar, eleven Warriors and the Ballista with an aditional crew member.
The first game was against a dark denizens of Mirkwood army with plenty of giant spidders, two Mirkwood spiders some Fellwargs lead by the Spiderquenn. Of course with Dáin only partially pained, he did not do to well and was swiftly eaten by the Spiderqueen. Without their leader the remaining Iron Hills dwarfs were overwhelmed by the giant spiders; the Ballista took of one wound each of four siders and a crewmember managed to slay one, but other than that it really was a points sink. Thanks to my opponent who took the next three pictures. The first one shows the situation before the lines clashed, in the second the lines have clashed and Dáin is just a turn away from death by spiderfang. The last picture is the end of the game - not to many dwarfes left...

Pict 065: Iron Hills Dwarfs vs. Dark Denizens of Mirkwood

Pict 066: Iron Hills Dwarfs vs. Dark Denizens of Mirkwood

Pict 067: Iron Hills Dwarfs vs. Dark Denizens of Mirkwood

In the second game I faced a Moria goblin horde lead by Durbúrz, a shaman with some prowlers and two marauders sprinkled in. Here the Ballista could capitalize on the closly packed goblins and killed seven of them even before the lines clashed. Dáin did his part and in the end I could eke out a draw.
For the third game we decided to test the Iron Hills against a Galadhrim army lead by Haldir, Rúmil and a stormcaller. The scenario was reconnoiter and with the short dwarf legs I didn't fancy my chances. My opponent spread out his elves to minimize the damage the Ballista could do and in fact it didn't do to much. In the end it even managed to kill two woodelf warriors in close combat to prevent them from getting of my board edge. And with breaking the opposing army, not being broken myself and killing the leader Rúmil, I surprisingly managed to win, since only one woodelf left the board!

To reflect a little bit on how the army played: I really liked how surviveable the dwarfs are. Only the mobile two attack spiders didn't have that much of a problem - even heros such as Rúmil and Haldir stuggled to kill lone Warriors even when they could not make use of their shieldwall. Speaking of the shieldwall: I foud it rather difficult to make use of this rule once the lines clashed. I hope to improve that with more practice (especially when backing away from a lost fight), but I think it will always be hard to get the defencebonus. I really like the Ballista as miniature, but agaisnt anything other than a battleline of shield/spear warriors it is not that effective. It only hits on a 4+, so only about half of every shot will hit (reroll ones is nice), even before rolling on the scatter table. I didn't have a engineercaptain with it and so every three I rolled to hit hurt. But then again: the captain is almost as expensive as a second Ballista. With only Dáin as the hero there were only three might points to go around each game, which is unfamiliar to me. Becoming used to that will come with practice. But I really want to get one or two Iron Hills Captains; they will help with their might points and with their tactical awareness special rule.

One more Iron Hills Dwarf and two more Gors

Last week has been quite the week... So there was not to much progress on the painting table as only one miniature got done. But at least I got the first layers of paint on two more Gors. So here's what the picter caught:

Pict 058: Iron Hills Warrior

Pict 059: Iron Hills Warrior

Pict 060: Iron Hills Warrior

So there are three pictures showing the only progress I got done on my Iron Hills army. I had hoped to finish all six remaining Warriors and to then take my time with Dáin. But since only one Warrior was done I will have to wait a litte longer for Dáin. This particular pose might be my favourite one; thrusting the spear instead of forming a shieldwall makes the model more dynamic and look more active. Seeing the pictures I might go and touch up the face, but since it's only a rank and file warrior I might just let it go. As I write this, paint on the other five is drying so expect to see them next sunday!

Pict 061: Gor and Bestigor (WIP)

And here is a picture of the Gors I started this week. With already the main colours blocked in and a wash of Agrax Earthshade all over them, they are coming together and should not take to long. As with the last Gor they will more likely be used for Dungeons and Dragons than for a game of Age of Sigmar. That's why I used some leftover Bestigor bits to build one of the Gors with a two-handed weapon and the other with two handweapons - which were be a problem if I wanted to play the ten Gors as a legal unit in Age of Sigmar there would be a problem. But with the variety added I will hopefully get to throw my players in DnD some curveballs.

Chaplain Dreadnought!

This week was quite a good one for painting. I only finished two miniatures but I got started and made progress on quite a bit. First I give you my Chaplain Dreadnought that I painted up for my Flesh Tearers Army.
 

Pict 047: Flesh Tearers Chaplain Venerable Dreadnought

Pict 048: Flesh Tearers Chaplain Venerable Dreadnought

Pict 049: Flesh Tearers Chaplain Venerable Dreadnought

Pict 050: Flesh Tearers Chaplain Venerable Dreadnought

As you can see I pretty much painted him up as you'd expect a Chaplain Dreadnought to look like: mainly black with some gold and bone details. I only went with only one Chapter Icon on the left shoulder and a skull on the right one. Usually I like to add some more transfers to my Dreadnought but this one is already quite decked out and I wanted to really let the amazing detail shine.

Pict 051: Luna Wolves Master of Signals

Pict 052: Luna Wolves Master of Signals

Pict 053: Luna Wolves Master of Signals

Pict 054: Luna Wolves Master of Signals

Next up is the second miniature I finished this week: my Luna Wolves Master of Signals. I really liked the model since I first saw it on the Forge World website; I find the notion that a Space Marine has to type something into a pip boy like device to get a signal into orbit rather amusing. Here I got to paint metal studs on Space Marine Armour for the first time and I have to say it was easier than I expeceted. I'm quite happy how he ended up but I forsee how that white-grey armour is going to be the bane of my existence. Dont get me wrong it's still a Marine and paints up rather quick, but the grey has to be built up in mulitple layers, wich is something I'm not used to.

Pict 055: Luna Wolves Tacitcal Marine (WIP)

Pict 056: Iron Hills Warriors (WIP)

Pict 057: Iron Hills Warriors (WIP)

Lastly here are some of the models I started work on this week. The first picture shows the second Legion Tactical for my Luna Wolves. He's coming along rather nicely; the washes are done, what's let to do is highlighting the details and cleaning up the armour, but the main thing is done.
The second and third picture show the progress I managed on my Iron Hills Dwarf Warriors. The main colours are down; missing here is a black wash and then the rehighlighting. The first warriors I painted in batches of three, these I want to complete in a larger batch of six to get them done for my next game. The only thing missing is a hero to lead them, but Dáin sits on my desk, ready to get some colour.

A Luna Wolf, a Beastman and three conversions

This week was again not as productive as I wish my weeks to be. Nevertheless I finished the paintjob on two models. The first one I want to show of today is the first Space Marine for one of my 30k projects.

Pict 38: Luna Wolves Tactical Marine

Pict 39: Luna Wolves Tactical Marine

Pict 040: Luna Wolves Tactical Marine

It's only a simple Mk IV Tactical from the Betrayel At Calth box, I painted up to be a Luna Wolf. The main visual inspiration was the cover art for False Gods. The Legion's symbol on the left shoulder is a deacal printed from the amazing sheets available on the Boler and Chainsword forum. Once the other 19 marines of the squad are painted up to this standart, I want to add sqaud markings on the right shoulder pad and maybe some of those red slashes the Luna Wolves show on the art work. I hope this will add some contrast since the white of the armour is a bit boring right now. If that wont help, I might add a bit of static grass to the base to get a splash of colour on the model.

Pict 041: Beastmen Gor

Pict 042: Beastmen Gor

Pict 043: Beastmen Gor

The next three pictures show jet an other little project. Since I really like Woodelves I also have a linking towards the Beastmen of the Warhammer universe. I think this is the third time I had some of them lying about ready for painting. The other two times I sold them off, but now I don't have the goal of painting a whole Warhammer army. This time there are only the ten that come in one box and I want to use them in my DnD game, to add some support to the goblin clan my players are fighting right now.

Pict 044: Thousand Sons Consul (Conversion)

Pict 045: Luna Wolves Praetor (Conversion)

Pict 046: Thousand Sons Contemtor Drednought (Conversion)

With the last three pitures of today I want to show of some more of my Betrayel at Calth box. With only a litte chopping you get some unique poses out of the characters. I'm not quite sure yet if the will stay the way they are now or if I will add or subtract some details. But I'm quite happy with them right now. What I will change though is the basing for the thousand sons. Insted of my usual coffee grounds I will use GW's Agrellan Badland. I bought a pot of the stuff last year for the base of a Dreadmaw and there is still quite a bit left.

A little bit of painting and quite a lot of new stuff

So this week was again a slow one for getting painting projects done. Only the three Dwarfs from last week have been finished. The dreadnougght saw the washes and a new big project has been started (Ah! Yes. So begins the flapping of the butterfly.) Anyhow, here is a picture of my Iron Hills Warriors up to this point.

Pict 015: Iron Hills Dwarfs (Mid January)

And now for the pictures I promised of the first purchased miniatures that will get added to my tally. It's quite a nice lot of Citadel Miniatures from the mid to late nineties; mainly Woodelfs and Bretonnians but with some Vampires and other stuff such as swarms and an Archers command group from Harlequin Miniatures sprinkled in.

Pict 016: Orion, King of the Woods (4. ed.)

Pict 017: Wood Elf General on horse (4. ed.)

Pict 018: Skaw the Falconer

Pict 019: Wychwethyl the Wild

Pict 020: Wood Elf War Dancers (4. ed.)

Pict 021: Wood Elf Scouts

Pict 022: Wood Elf Waywatchers (4. ed.)

Pict 023: Dryads (Harlequin Entlings)

Pict 024: Wood Elf Archers (4. ed.)

The Wood Elfs were my first Warhammer Fantasy Army and I always had a liking even for the older miniatures. I esspecially look forward to paint Orion and the War Dancers. But they will have to wait for some time, because I have some of their respective 6th edition versions started in my project box.

Pict 025: The Green Knight

Pict 026: Morgiana le Fey (5. ed.)

Pict 027: Suliman le Saracen

Pict 028: Bertrand le Brigand, Hugo le Petit, Gui le Gros

Pict 029: Knights of the Realm Command (5. ed.)

Pict 030: Knights of the Realm (5. ed.)

Pict 031: Knights of the Realm (6. ed.)

Pict 032: Bretonnian Archers

And that's the Bretonnians. I have started basing Bertrand, Hugo and Gui - I just love the models and hope to get to them soon, but we'll see. The plastic miniatures will all need a bit of fixing up. Some broken and bent bows, lances and headdresses will have to be glued, but I quite enjoy this part of the hobby. I will see what I will do about the missing backbanners that are missing from the Green Knight. I'll either raid my bitsbox or I'll keep a look out on Ebay.

Pict 033: Harlequin Miniatures Archer Command Group

Pict 034: Vampire Skeletons (5. ed.)

Pict 035: Vampire Skeleton Bits (5. ed.)

Pict 036: Manfred van Carstein (6. ed.)

Pict 037: Warhammer Swarms (Snakes, Spiders, Rats)

And that's it: Manfred van Carstein with some sekeletons and some animal swarms. The skeletons and animals will most likely be used in my Dungeons and Dragons Campaign to pepper my player. The skeletons wll have to be fixed as well - but I might leave some as they are now or convert them. I always liked the skeletons that are crawling out of the dirt.

And with that my Hobby Tally stands 7 miniatures painted against 156 miniatures bought (I counted the swarms as one miniature per base).