Screaming Blue Murder

Even after writing out my to do lists and seeing the sheer amount of models I've got to paint I still went out today and bought a box of Screamers. I was a huge fan of these when I saw them years ago but they've just gotten better with the plastic releases. The reason I bought them was that I was in the mood for some more crazy Tzeentch painting but I've not had much inspiration for my Lord of Change yet and my Horrors are the least inspiring of all the models I've painted even though they feature heavily in each game scenario I've run through in my head. As I've just done my Flamers I had nothing to satisfy my desire to go crazy so I trotted off to Merry Hill with Christmas money in hand so thanks to my nan and great-nan for that.

Cleaning My Act Up

After purchasing some second hand models a few weeks ago I've been wondering how to repair the awful paint job that was done by the previous owner. A lot of sites recommended using brown Dettol so that's what I went with. It's worked a treat but now my room smells like a hospital (fitting considering that my third nephew is being born tomorrow).

It was quite a simple method; fill a tub with Dettol, immerse the offending models into the liquid (making sure they're fully covered) and leave for around 24 hours. Tick tock, tick tock... So now we've waited, take a toothbrush and brush off the paint but not with water, just use the Dettol. Once all the paint is gone then rinse the models in water to get rid of the residue. Now I can paint them how I want instead of having to deal with an awful colour scheme that looks like it was applied by a very small child.

Burning the Midnight Oil

A flash of inspiration is sometimes all it takes to achieve something fantastic... Sometimes though it can just be some small children hassling you to show them what a large drybrush does, which is what happened today. As I was preparing some of my recently acquired models to have their paint stripped my nephews were asking what each brush and tool I own is for so I decided to just show them. I'd already base coated my Flamers in Mephistion Red and given them a wash of Carroburg Crimson but I had no idea where to go next. My demonstration of the dry brush technique had me use Troll Slayer Orange and from there my Daemonic muse took over and gave me the idea to carry on with the fire colours for the main body instead of the flames themselves. The next layer was another dry brush of Yriel Yellow followed by a 60:40 mix of Yriel Yellow and White Scar as both a dry brush and an edge highlight. Finally a very light dry brushing of White Scar around the edges of the mouths. The teeth were painted in the usual way (Zandri Dust, Ushabti Bone and Screaming Skull). The flames were done in 3 different sets of colours; pink, purple and blue. The pink flames were done in Screamer Pink, Pink Horror, Emperor's Children and dry brushed in Changeling Pink (side note, I never actually used Changeling Pink when I painted my Changeling. Funny.) The blue flames were based in Caledor Sky, dry brushed with Calgar Blue, then with Fenrisian Grey. Finally the purple was done with Xerus Purple, then Genestealer Purple, Daemonette Hide and finally Slaanesh Grey. A lot of dry brushing but I'm very happy with the results. Oh also the eyes were picked out with Temple Guard Blue.

The "To Do" List

My Daemon army is really coming along quite well but naturally there are still a lot of models to be finished. Currently my list is as follows:
1) Lord of Change (edit: completed 17/01/2013)
2) 4 Pink Horrors (edit: completed 12/01/2013)
3) 3 Flamers (edit: completed 30/12/2012)
4) 2 Daemonette riders (edit: completed 18/01/2013)
5) 3 Steeds for Chariot
6) Assorted body parts for Chariot
7) 2 Daemonettes
I think I may have to alternate between my two armies in order to get everything done and I'll have to set aside time each week to do it as well as everything else I have to do. I need to get organised now though because it's getting a bit ridiculous that I'm filling my shelves up with unpainted models. I have a box of models (CSM) that I haven't even assembled yet so I think I should do that and then buy no more models until I've cleared my to do list.

Edit (3/6/2013): I did actually complete this to do list but I forgot to update it with the dates

Reinforcements

I've recently acquired a battleforce for my Evil Marines so I've added 8 Khorne Berserkers, another 2/3 units of Chaos Space Marines, 5 possessed marines and a Rhino. I can't say I'm too taken with the Rhino but I guess it'd be ok to get my Berserkers into the action quicker. The only problem with these models is that some of them came pre-painted and the paint job wasn't exactly great so I've got to strip the old paint before I can paint them my way. I've also had to fix some of them as the units had the 4 marks of the Gods mixed in together and had weapons that they shouldn't have (like a Berserker with a melta gun or a Berserker champion with a mark of Tzeentch).

Changing with the Times

As you can see, the Changer of Ways has been very much in my head today as I've not only assembled my Lord of Change but I've also (finally) completed The Changeling! It's a glorious day for Tzeentch, it really is.

The problem has been his staff; I didn't like it so it just blocked all desire I had to finish him but after going through my Chaos Space Marines (more on them in their space soon) I noticed the Tzeentch standard and it suddenly all fell into place. I've really been playing around with my highlighting lately and it really shows on the staff which I'm really pleased with. I've kept the details on the staff to the bare minimum because it had the potential to completely overwhelm the model which I really didn't want so while it's highlighted there are no bright colours.

The Greatest Change of All

My Lord of Change arrived today so naturally I had to assemble him. After examining all of my books and magazines that feature this Daemon I decided to have a little play with his stance to make him more dynamic and less like he's just standing there being boring. I wanted him to look like he's right in the action changing those enemies into the worm food of tomorrow.

Steady as She Goes

While I have been very busy lately I have managed to make some slow progress with my models. I've finally glued together my Chosen unit, converted and assembled my new sorcerer, and started prepping my Cultists. I've also fitted together one of my Thousand Sons too and Abaddon the Despoiler. I've decided now that I'm going to assemble everything I've got and then paint through it. This will serve the duel purpose of having a production line of sorts and allowing me to see precisely what it is I have to do so I can estimate when I'll need more stuff..

My new sorcerer is going to be Tzeentchian and have TS iconography but that's only so I can represent the Athanean cult with a sorcerer and also allow TS's to be troops instead of elite choices. I'm adding Green Stuff to the skull on his shoulder pad to paint on the Eye of the Athanean cult and I've added green stuff to the other one so I can paint on the Mark of Tzeentch. This sorcerer will have one power from Tzeentch but will take his other two powers from the Telepathy discipline in keeping with his cult origins. I have a sorcerer that combines both Nurgle and Biomancy and my Aspiring Sorcerer will have the Pyrae symbol (but unfortunately he will have to use the Tzeentch discipline and not Pyromancy). All I need to represent now is Slaanesh and I've covered the whole range of Chaos magic (I have an idea for a rather cool conversion for that so stay tuned). My conversion for my sorcerer was to take away his plasma pistol and give him an arm from a Flamer Daemon. In terms of gameplay he will have a combi-flamer but I thought it'd look very cool for a Tzeentchian sorcerer.

Killing the local flora

I finally managed to finish a model AND do some awesomeness with the base! As the model I was basing was my Great Unclean One it had to be pretty spectacular so I used dead grass, mordheim turf, PVA glue, a piece of slate and a Nurgling (of course).

I mixed the PVA with a little Tamiya X-27 but didn't mix it fully so that there would be variations in the strength of the red as the mix dried. What I'm aiming for here is a sort of mucus trail type look so I'll probably add more PVA to really make it shiny.

Corpulence is Bliss

After finishing everything I had to do today I found myself with a fair amount of time in which to do nothing. Now this has become very rare lately to have these moments so I evaluated my options and decided to paint my new (and first) Greater Daemon; the Great Unclean One.

I painted him in the exact same way as the Plaguebearers and the Nurglings (wash over white, thousands of layers for every minute detail etc.) but I took more time really making sure that every maggot, vein and bone was covered and the effect... Well, I'm extremely happy with him and he looks fantastic if I do say so myself.

Feeling unclean

It has certainly been a while since I last posted but then again it has been a while since I last painted so I guess maybe that's why. I apologise to any regular readers I may have (I don't know, but just I'm case there is anyone out there) but I've been busy with 2 jobs and studying so painting has been on a back burner...

Relentless pursuit

After a visit to the Dudley store I decided to add a couple of extra touches to Kranon (whom I have renamed Meric Voyen, ex-apothecary of the Death Guard legion). I've neatened up and brightened his cloak, remoulded it (with the paint, not giving him a whole new cloak) and added a little something to the base in the form of a glowing rock.

Growing up

My latest addition to my paint collection is a mould effect from Modelmates. It's not quite the same as the rust effect but it's still pretty cool and now that I've figured out how to use it right it looks great. I used it on Kranon (new name still a work in progress) and while I slightly messed up in one area I figured out how it works and there's another area I absolutely love which is on the inside.

Riding the Waves

Brain waves that is. I finally figured out why I didn't like my steed and it was all the block colour. I like purple but I like variation and that was the problem so I changed the colour of the scales and now it looks and feels right. The purple and blue really stands out against the gold but then the armour blends nicely so it adds a sense of theme throughout the model. I'd like to say it was intentional but it was a complete accident that I've replicated.

Riders Required

Today I've started the Daemonette riders on my Exalted Seeker Chariot in line with The Masque (who recently came close second in a painting competition) so they are unnatural in the natural way they look with flesh tones and muted shades.

I've finished the Exalted Alluress (all bar her whips) and I've put her in position on the chariot but not glued her so I can see what it looks like and I quite like how it looks. At a glance she blends into the chassis but the more you look the more the eye is drawn to her which just embodies what Slaanesh is all about. I'm going to leave the horns black so that she doesn't become too bright and ruin the illusion.

Spreading the Word

Today I've assembled my Aspiring Sorcerer of the Thousand Sons Legion and my Dark Apostle (who is the centre of my internal debate as to which Legion he should belong to). I have to say that while I prefer to work with plastic, the detail on the resin is AMAZING! I know I've dealt with resin with my Daemons but this is just... Wow.

Staff Shortage

As you know (if you read the last post on the subject) my Changeling staff was... Diminished. By that I mean I accidentally broke the top off of it so I was thinking of whether I wanted to put it back on or find something different to do. Well, dear readers, I found something else to do... I stuck two Chaos icons back to back and then added those to the staff instead. The staff is now less imposing but I like it; now the focus is entirely on the body and the detail of the robes as opposed to seeing the staff first. I haven't painted it yet but I've taken a couple of pictures so see below.

Relentless by name...

Due to my lack of anything to do today I've not only made the progress I posted about before but I've also managed to pretty much finish Kranon the Relentless. I've actually quite enjoyed painting him as he's quite detailed and I've never painted Death Guard before. I did paint some plague marines many years ago but they weren't painted in chapter colours, they were in Nurgle colours.

Time of Decay

Today I've started to paint Kranon the Chaos Lord (who will be renamed to something more Nurglesque at a later date) as a Death Guard lord.

So far I've done a base coat on the armour in Ceramite White and then washed over with Agrax Earthshade. I was going to use Nuln Oil but I figured the brown would look more decayed than black. I'll go over the large areas with White Scar and then go over the raised areas with Nurgling Green. I'll then use the rust effect paint on areas of the armour to make it look like it has slowly decayed over the last 10,000 years. I plan on acquiring other weathering liquids to add more effects of decay such as mould and limescale to make my death guard that much more rotten. For now though, here's my current progress.

Signs of change

Last night saw some drastic changes to The Changeling such as the arms all being finished and runes painted onto his robes. At around less than half a centimetre each the runes really were a pain to paint but apart from a little tidying up on a couple of them that needs to be done I'm pleased with how they've turned out.

Change is upon us

My poor Changeling has been feeling neglected of late so I've decided to make it my mission this week to finish him.

Last night I did a Drakenoff Nightshade wash over the robe and then painted each of the arms in the various colours of Chaos. I did paint the Tzeentch arm blue without even thinking but when I stopped I realised that the arm would blend into the robes and that's not good.

Difference of opinion

Since the release of the new Codex I've been trawling the Internet for the slightest hint of legion-specific rules. As it turns out, it doesn't look like there are any so I'm just going to paint mine as all different legions, starting with... DEATH GUARD :D Now you may wonder why I've gone for Death Guard when I love the Thousand Sons but I just want an excuse to use more of my rust effect paint which wouldn't exactly work well with the bright and shiny look of the Thousand Sons.

I've been looking into their colour scheme and while most pictures show green plague marines I think they'd look much more striking if they are wearing their pre-heresy colours, but weathered and looking like they've really taken a beating over the last 10,000 years. As a result I've decided that their armour will be white and they will have the same pre-heresy marks on their armour (chapter etc) but over the top will be the Nurgle mark and lots of rust, bullet holes and strike markings so as with the Plaguebearers I did in my Daemon army, the focus will be the detail. I'll experiment first but I'm pretty sure it will look good.

I do plan on painting my cultists as just ordinary people though, just so that they'll fit into any legion really. My Helbrute will probably be Death Guard as well but I'm not sure just yet.

All is rust

I finally ordered the rust effect paint I talked about in my Plaguebearers post and it came this morning :D So naturally the first thing I did was use it and my God is that stuff amazing! It has completely changed the look of them from a bit gross to being total minions of pestilence.

The effect is absolutely amazing and it's easy to use. The paint itself is Modelmates Rust Effect and each layer changes the depth of the rust. Now it says that it's a dye but I'd go further and say its basically liquid rust because when it dries it looks (and even feels) like actual rust which I think is actually amazing.

Further on and further in

I haven't really made much in the way of progress over the last few days, partly due to being really tired and partly due to a lack of light bulbs but I've done a little more today so I'll share the progress with you.

Firstly the Changeling. It's really depressing me that he's just sitting on my windowsill, part painted and looking a little less that one dimensional so I've done a little more work on his robe. I've blended from Temple Guard Blue to Calgar Blue and then from Calgar Blue to Altdorf Guard Blue and while it looks subtle in the pictures it's actually looking pretty striking. I just need to give it a wash with Drakenhof Nightshade to pick out the detail again (I'll neaten it up with a cotton bud so I don't have to repaint the raised areas) and then I can focus on the arms. After the arms will be the staff and then the fine detail of the cloak.

The end is nigh!!!

Well, maybe not but my thirst for evil has been slated temporarily with the acquisition of... DARK VENGEANCE :D

I've seen the models painted in many different ways and I've seen various people assembling and painting them but nothing can quite compare to how it feels to open and handle the models knowing that they're mine and mine alone.

Now though I've got to decide how I want to paint them. Do I go for the colours of the Black Legion? Maybe the pinks of the Emperor's Children? Or the blues and yellows of the Thousand Sons? What about the reds of the Word Bearers or the World Eaters? It may not seem like it but it's a huge decision for me as it dictates how I'll be playing the game as I expand my army...

Praise be to Tzeentch!

Or at least that's along the lines of my latest project will say. Completed: one Herald of Tzeentch with pictures to follow below.

As my horrors are all pink I made him blue to contrast. To mark him as more than just a horror (and also to represent one of his gifts) I cut the tongue and tonsils away and added a metal arm from the old horrors. I had 2 old arms, both with and without flame but I decided to give my herald the Flames of Tzeentch gift so I chose the flame hand.

Geekgasm

Oh dear Gods it's beautiful! While not strictly a Daemons post I feel this will be the beginning of something amazing and will quite possibly end up as my second blog. New Chaos Space Marines release!!!!!!

The advance order stuff is enough to practically mind rape any geek and leave him/her with that tingly glow that you get after special times. I was already excited about Dark Vengeance but this is just making me go over the edge.

From what I can see this release really gives the Chaos Marines their own identity as an army as opposed to them just being naughty space marines. This is done by updating the look of the army and including new war machine beasts like the heldrake and the forgefiend which I will blatantly be having at some point.

What's nice about this is that I don't yet have Dark Vengeance set so hopefully I'll have seen the new army book by the time I get it so I can decide how to paint my models in like with a chapter or two. I think what we're witnessing here is the eventual birth of blog number 2 and I'll write a more in depth review of the new products there. Woo to new Chaos stuff :D

Edit (3/6/2013): I did have a second blog but it got neglected so I just mixed the two into one blog so this is the only one. I still have the blog under the old domain but strictly to redirect people here.

Nurgle Paced Progress

We all know the pace that Nurgle daemons move at. Very very slow. That's basically where I am with my projects right now, I'm getting through them but really slowly.

Yesterday I did some work on my herald of Tzeentch, or angry Papa Smurf as I'm currently calling him because he's all blue. I know, so original.

The other day I worked on The Changeling (as you saw) but today has been reserved for my chariot, or The Beast as I like to call it. Ironic that in an army full of actual beasts it's the non-living structure that gets that nickname.

Dancing Queen

Today saw the beginning of a new era of Slannesh when The Masque danced into my display case. I was going to paint it like my other Daemonettes but I've decided that they're too purple. I won't be repainting the Daemonettes but no more Slaanesh Daemons will be done in purple, they will be done like I've done The Masque.

I decided to make the model do what the character is described as doing i.e. assault the senses. Of course I can't simulate stimulation of four of the senses so I'm having to just affect sight. I've given her human flesh and made her look rather ordinary in direct contrast to the fact that she has clawed feet, 3 arms and a monster face. The idea is that her appearance is both natural and unnatural at the same time which is impossible yet possible because I've done it (I think).

Nurgling Update

After my last post I was thinking that the Nurglings just weren't working for me but I couldn't quite put my finger on why. As I was dry brushing the bases I realised there were two things bugging me. 1) I hadn't done anything with the maggots in some of their stomachs. 2) The blue Nurgling on the front of one of the bases didn't look finished so I cast my mind through the diseases I know of that turn flesh blue and all the ones I could think of eventually led to no oxygen supplied to the extremities. This got me thinking, instead of blood and gore, that one should have dead flesh so parts of his fingers and toes were painted black and around the split flesh was also blackened. It's a small thing but doing it has made me feel much better about the entire unit.

My favourite of all the Nurglings has to be the front one with his eye being poked out. I actually painted a lot of blood around the area to look like it's just happened and I love it.

Turning the Wheels

Today has been quite a busy day for construction. I assembled both wheels, the two stands and two of the four seekers for my Exalted Chariot of Slaanesh (pictures to follow). I've also constructed and primed The Masque and The Changeling. In light of having The Changeling I've decided to convert and repaint the model I was using as an Iridescent Horror to become a Herald of Tzeentch on foot because The Changeling replaces the Iridescent Horror. Also now I can fit the standard bearer and the musician in the front rank (once I actually get round to finishing them I'll show you) which my amazing modelling skills had prevented with the Iridescent as unit champion.

The main modelling job of today was assembling the Chariot. My life that was a lot of round spikey bits! I have to say though I'm impressed with myself because I've only put one piece in backwards and unless I told you which piece you probably wouldn't notice which one it was.

The Chariot Rides!

Or at least it will do soon as I've finally fixed my colour scheme! Oh happy days, praise be to Slaanesh! And to Shamus at the Dudley store for doing some painting experiments and helping me work this all out. Not too much though, don't want him getting too big headed.

So instead of the silver/gold effect I'm now going for a copper effect. The chassis and wheels are being based in Warplock Bronze, then layered up with Brass Scorpion and Runelord Brass, given an Agrax Earthshade wash on the wheels and a Seraphim Sepia wash on the chassis and dry brushed with Golden Griffon. The idea of this is to counter the brightness of the steeds and the daemonettes (which won't be painted like my unit of 10) to give the model a more balanced effect. The reason behind using the two different washes is that they each give a different hue to the Runelord Brass so it will have the effect of breaking up the block colour while still keeping to a theme.

Finishing Touches

I haven't actually painted anything new today (except for the Athonian Camoshade wash on my Nurglings) but I've finished off my incompletes i.e. my Plaguebearers from yesterday and the Pink Horror.

All I did was finish the bases but I took it nice and slow to minimise errors. The bases are done with the Astrogranite texture paints and dry brushed with Ulthuan Grey. I'm debating whether to do other stuff to some of the bases to distinguish them from each other such as add different colour for each God or something like that. I haven't decided yet but it's something I'm considering.

I'm not showing the Horrors until they're all done but I'll show the completed Plaguebearers (below).

The Devil is in the Detail

Quite literally in some cases and today has shown one such case as today's project was... Plaguebearers!!! I saw a YouTube guide on these that I liked so much that I ditched my own carefully planned and thought out colour scheme in favour of this one and by Nurgle I'm glad I did.

Yesterday I posted pictures of them all built up and primed in white, so today has been all about painting them. After a not so quick trip to the Dudley store and to Model Zone *gasp* I had everything I needed to make them look especially gross and diseased; they are Plaguebearers after all.

Chaos Fury

Since the last post I went a little... Crazy. I decided that the Plaguebearers weren't enough to satisfy my modelling cravings so I put together almost everything I have to paint (except the Chariot because that can't be painted how I'd like in one piece). Oh I also didn't put the Nurglings on their bases because I want to paint all of them first. No paint gaps on my watch, Nurgle would not be pleased if I didn't paint each Nurgling.

The rise of Nurgle

Once again I've gotten bored with my Horrors (but I did manage to finish another one so now I've got 6) and my chariot isn't looking great so I'm holding off until I can figure out what to do with it. In the lull my Plaguebearers were calling...

The horror... THE HORROR!!!

As much as I keep going on about my Horrors, I'm still not finishing the unit. Instead I'm working on my Exalted Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh. The reason is that as I was tidying up from my Daemon Prince I had an OCD attack and felt the need to organise my entire room; the only thing that didn't fit anywhere? The Chariot.

So far the construction of this beast has not gone smoothly. I'm constructing it bit by bit and painting as I go. The metal I've done was sprayed white, base coated with Leadbelcher, then Ironbreaker and then brushed over a layer of Golden Griffon. Unfortunately that was a lot of metal which I didn't like so I tried to break it up with purple gems so the dots were done with Xerus Purple and highlighted Genestealer Purple. That STILL wasn't enough so I painted a section of the front with Warplock Bronze to highlight the Mark of Slaanesh.

Daemon Prince... FINISHED!!

The day has finally come, he's finished!!!! It's only taken me just this side of forever but he's finished (pics are below I think).

I've told you how I did the flesh and the brass already and you've seen how that turned out. The wings would either make or break this model and I thought that with the intensity of the rest of the colours that the membranes would have to be dark so that it's not giving everyone a headache. I tried the whole black blended into grey thing I talked about before and after two thinned layers of Dawnstone I realised I hated the idea.

Daemon Prince Update (2)

My plan today was to come home from work and finish the axe arm, the spine, the belt and the wing flesh but my plan kind of went to pot... But not entirely. All I didn't do was finish the wing flesh but the rest I managed and I have to say I'm liking the way he looks!!

I decided to paint the spine like brass to break up all the red with a bit of dramatic flair. I copied the paint guide for the brass (Warplock Bronze, Brass Scorpion, Runelord Brass and Golden Griffon to dry-brush) and it really shines combined with the sheer intensity of the red flesh.

I've now decided that I'll be keeping the wing membrane dark so that it doesn't take anything away from the rest of the model and forms a contrasting background. Maybe blend a grey from the black base or something? I don't know I'll run a couple of experiments tomorrow.

In related news I have the Warhammer basing kit so the base of my Prince will be skull-tastic. I'm not too bad at painting bone now either so they'll look pretty cool. Then I'm going to mix up some blood too from Wazdakka Red and 'Ardcoat so he'll certainly be looking like a prized collector for Khorne. God I love this model. Pictures are somewhere around here, as usual.

Now this model was bought for me by a very dear friend of mine so he will get to see the finished product first but once he's seen I'll be posting it here for all to see. Then I'll move onto the Horrors (I keep saying that but it's possible I'll end up doing something else).

By the way, the Mark of Khorne on the skull on the axe? Freehand. Probably not well but for some reason I can never get this Mark quite right...

Daemon Prince Update

HE HAS AN ARM!!! He also has a tail too but it's not entirely finished yet, the spinal ridges need painting but it's stuck on now. I guess I ought to mention that I also finished and stuck his head on too...

The only thing I haven't done yet is the horns on his arm but I'm going to wait until the end because I'm not sure I want them done...

I'm a total geek now...

I've been keeping my models on my window sill only to find that spiders like to call them home which, frankly, has really annoyed me. Today I went to Ikea and got myself a rather swish display cabinet which I absolutely love. I've moved my Daemons into it already and now I'm more determined to work my way through my projects just so I can fill it up.

I'm keeping the top shelf for my Daemon Prince and my chariot, the second shelf down is for my core units and my heralds (when I eventually make them), third shelf will be for special units and I'll have to put rare units on the bottom. Or I'll see if I can squeeze them onto the third shelf...

The end of all that is...

So I've finished my exams now (and put some Plaguebearers on reserve for Wednesday) so it's time to hit the paint pots. I've resumed painting my Daemon Prince so now I've gone up to the Carroburg Crimson layer on one arm and the two wings and I've done a layer of Wazdakka Red on the other arm and tail.

As you'll see above/below/wherever (first post from the App so I'm not sure where the picture will be) I've made a small modification to the axe because I didn't like how it was like the butt of a gun. I cut one of the spike tips from the fetish decorations from the Daemon Prince kit, cut the end of the axe off, filed down both sides and stuck them together. Personally I think it looks much better.

Flames of Hell!!! (Or at least somewhere really hot)

In my first post I said I'd talk about some of my experiments and so today I'm going to talk about how I've played with fire. Considering I'm a Daemon painter and a quarter of my force is going to be Tzeentch then it stands to reason that I should spend some time getting my flame painting skills to their best, especially with a unit of Flamers on my "to paint" list. Due to the fact that the models I'm painting are pretty out there in and of themselves I've decided to keep the flames I use more realistic as an offset. So I did a few experiments but they weren't looking quite right but then I bought the 'Eavy Metal Masterclass book and 'lo and behold there's a bit in there on... FIRE!!

I tweaked what the book said slightly but in the main I follow what it says; start with a white base (gets a more intense colour than starting with black) and then apply a thin yellow layer. Add a couple of layers of the thinned yellow paint and then start blending into orange (this works best by using thinned down layers as opposed to the feathering technique). One of my personal tweaks here is that the 'Eavy Metal team say to leave white recesses but I prefer to have yellow as the highlight rather than white so I paint the entire area and not just the raised ones. Then I start layering up with the orange, really thin to start but getting thicker. As the layers get thicker start mixing in some red until the mixture is just red. You should be blending the yellow into the orange and then the orange into the red. Over all that a really light dry-brushing with black. Another couple of tweaks I added here; the first is to mix in a touch of orange to the black so that it blends better with the flames (and I mean just a little bit. It's a hint not a colour change) and the 'Eavy Metal team also say to add little flecks of white but I'm not a huge fan of that so I leave it out.

The effect is thus (pre-tweaks):

I used an old Horror model that I'd done some skin colour tests on because, as you can see, he was holding fire.

This is after I worked out all of my kinks and tweaks:

This is the standard of my Horror Standard Bearer (I repainted the metal since, it's copper now instead of silver and I'm debating whether I can be bothered to repaint the gems in light of the new paints I've bought). As you can see I didn't leave that much white and the colours all blend into each other quite smoothly because of the really thin layers. I'd paint all of my models with really thin layers of paint but it would take way more time and effort than I have the patience for but when I have to blend that's my preferred technique. I used to feather my paint but I seem to have lost the ability to do that which is frustrating but this way produces better results anyway.

If I knew how to edit videos I'd make video tutorials but because I can't this will have to do. Anyway, adios, I've got things to do that unfortunately don't involve a paintbrush.

Slaanesh is at it again...

So again the Lord of Temptation has been in my ear again because I went in for paints for my Daemon Prince horns and came out with Nurglings and the paints to make their flesh look quite sickly. I sat down in the store and tested out the paint scheme and once I'd tweaked my choices a little I think it came out quite well. In my defence though I did forget what colours I needed (I'd written them down but didn't have the list with me) and I got tempted. So now I've got half a unit of Horrors, a Daemon Prince, 3 Flamers, an Exalted Seeker Chariot and 3 Nurgling bases to do. At least I won't be bored.

With my Nurglings I didn't want to go with the green that seems to be advocated by most Nurgle painters but I didn't want them to have the kind of flesh colour they have on the box either, so I've tried to make them look diseased instead with my colour choices so they'll have a realistic flesh tone with hints of green. I'll make some of them more green than others and I'll use a different flesh wash on some of them but the basic colour scheme will be the same.

My Flamers I've decided will have red around the bottom... Mouth? I want to call it a mouth... It has teeth so I'm calling it a mouth. The red will be blended into blue for the body then that will be blended into purple for the heads. Which reminds me I need to pick up Lucius Lilac for when I do that... The flames will be flame coloured, obviously (I'm pretty kick ass as painting fire if I say so myself).

For my chariot I've decided to keep my Daemonettes the same as the others (see the entry on my Daemonette units for details on that) and the steeds will be done with the greys that are recommended (they'll look like they're expected to). I haven't quite decided what to do with the metal yet; I'm thinking the chariot part in gold or brass (depends how I feel when I get to it) and then I have to say I'm not a fan of the masses of purple glaze they've put all over the spikes but I heard someone say they were going to do that but in orange so I'm going to see how that works then decide whether I want to do something similar.

My Daemon Prince is in the typical Khorne colours but with a LOT of Bloodletter glaze so the red is really intense and my Horrors are done in the typical Pink Horror colours. I've slightly cheated with the horns on them by just using a couple of layers of Nuln Oil instead of doing all the dry-brushing and colour shading. I figure for a core unit where there will eventually be a lot of them then it's fine. As much as I put a lot of effort into each of my models, I put a lot more effort into stand alone figures (like my Daemon Prince) than into a large unit where detail gets lost amongst the scale of the unit. Don't get me wrong, as you can see from my posts with pictures I still put a lot of effort into my work, I just take more time on the smaller details with larger models.

I think I want to get some Bloodletters and Plaguebearers next, then I've got one of each of the core units. Although I might hold off on the Bloodletters and get a Daemon Battalion box. That way I'll get 20 Bloodletters, top up my Daemonette and Horror units as well as getting a Seeker unit. Then I'll just buy two lots of Plaguebearers and my core units will be a force to be reckoned with in their own right.

It looks like my army is really coming together :D

Daemon Prince

Well as much as I said I'd post when I complete a model I can't help myself, I'm really proud of my Daemon Prince already so this is a preliminary posting that will be edited as I get closer to completing it (which might take a while because I have a lot on at the moment but the second I finish I'll be right here to update this entry). So I'm working on a Daemon Prince (as I'm sure you've worked out already) but I've dedicated this one to Khorne. My reasoning is that a Daemon Prince is quite the fighting machine and then adding some of the Bloodthirster Daemonic Gifts into the mix makes the Prince just that much deadlier. Plus I've already got the Herald of Slaanesh and will have the unit of Horrors for magic so I figured having a big beast of a melee fighter would protect the magic users for a little longer.

So as a Khorne Prince he's obviously going to be red. I under coated in black and then base coated in Khorne Red (all the guides say to use Mephistion Red but I think Khorne Red is slightly deeper than Mephistion so that's why I've done that. Plus it says Khorne in the name...) So over that I did a couple of layers of Carroburg Crimson to make sure I've highlighted EVERY line of his musculature and believe me there's a lot of muscles. Then I've gone over with Wazdakka Red and then a layer of Bloodletter glaze. On top of that has been a layer of Evil Sunz Scarlett and then another layer of Bloodletter (on the torso I used two layers because it kept running down the body so I dried the first layer in front of a fan and then added the second layer). I originally went up to Wild Rider Red but the red lost a lot of intensity and no amount of Bloodletter helped, and Lamenters Yellow didn't really work either so I took it back to black and started again. As a result I lost the arrows on the Prince's chest but that just gave me a great place to paint on the Mark of Khorne so I don't feel bad at all.

So I've painted the head (minus the horns), the torso and the legs. I have started the weapon arm (I gave him an axe instead of a sword, I figured Khorne would bless a mortal who ascends to Daemonhood with an axe. I don't know why but that seems a very Khorne thing to do to me).

With regards to weapons and stuff lets talk gifts and things. Naturally I gave my Prince the Winged Horror Daemonic Gift; all the better to get him into combat even faster with the Fly special rule. I've also given him the Axe of Khorne (I decided this gift AFTER deciding to give him the axe as his weapon) and Immortal Fury so he gets more chances to get a 6 to wound and utilise the Killing Blow rule.

Slaanesh Wins....

So Slaanesh, the Dark Prince, the Lord of Indulgence has been in my head again because I've been very very naughty... I've reserved an Exalted Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh and I bought a box of Flamers >.< I have to say though that I was expecting the Flamers to be bigger; don't know why but I thought they'd be taller... Maybe they'll look bigger when they're off of the sprue? Or maybe the pictures were just misleading.

So the reason this is so naughty (aside from the price and the extra paint I'll need to buy to be able to paint the Flamers properly) is because I'm supposed to be studying for exams and I'm VERY tempted to paint and not stop painting. I mean I still have my Horrors to finish, my Daemon Prince and now I've got Flamers and I will have a massive death machine to add to the mix but I'm picking that up after my exams as a well done treat. And on the subject of, my GOD is that thing huge (insert penis joke here). I saw an assembled model in store and it's massive! The spikes are actually sharp too so be careful. Especially if one charges you, I'm told they're even more deadly in the charge. When I eventually get round to learning the rules of the game and actually playing I'll see just how deadly this beast is. But first I have to finish my exams, my Daemon Prince, my Horrors and my Flamers. So not much then ;) lol

I think I'd prefer Tzeentch in my head... Somehow I don't think he'd make me buy things. Might give me a couple of extra heads but that might actually be useful.

Herald of Slaanesh

So today we can skip the history lesson because (assuming you've already read it) it's in my Daemonettes post. Just in case you didn't, here's a brief summary; always liked Daemonettes, Could never paint well enough/afford a full unit, started painting again recently and started with Daemonettes. Why I didn't just write that version last time I don't know but oh well.

The Herald. She was actually something I decided to do when I was bored with my Horrors but I got that into it that I ended up painting the whole thing in a few hours which didn't really help with the Horror boredom much. She's on foot because I didn't have the parts to make anything that remotely resembled a mount, let alone a half decent one and like I said in my Daemonettes post she's a minor conversion. She was missing an arm so I had to add on a spare from the Daemonettes kit (lucky there were so many). I filled in the hole for the old arm and then cut the new arm to fit. Did I mention she's one of the old metal Daemonette models? I think from early 2000 or possibly even 1999, I can't remember.

Here is the Herald herself:

Now I should probably mention that by this point I had bought the 'Eavy Metal Masterclass book (which I have been informed has recently gone out of print because it uses the old paint colours) so I was playing around with a few techniques. The main ones here were thinned paint layers, blending (both of which I already knew but I tried different ways of doing them), gemstones and glowing stone.

So for the skin it was mostly the same as the Daemonettes, except instead of drybrushing I mixed a little Ulthuan Grey with the Daemonette Hide and watered it down so that her skin kept the purple hue but was slightly paler than her sister Daemonettes. I blended in the claw as opposed to having it just stuck on like with the Daemonettes and also on the front of her clawed arm you can see (sort of) that I blended Xerus Purple in with the Daemonette Hide mix so that the scales were darker than the rest of her skin. Her hair was done in exactly the same way as the Daemonettes as was her claw. I painted the bone crown thing on her head like her claws as to me they seem like the same kind of material so it seemed natural to do. Her cloth wrappings were painted in Screamer Pink and then straight up to Pink Horror with the edges done in Ceramite White. The gemstones were painted in Caledor Sky, highlighted in Temple Guard Blue and then I added Ceramite White dots and then added a layer of 'Ardcoat to the gems and the claw.

The rocks were something I had in my bits box from years ago which I painted with a mix of Dawnstone and Abbadon Black and edged in Ceramite White (I think) and then washed with Nuln Oil. The skull was a random mix of colours so I couldn't even begin to tell you what went into that and the glowing stone was done with Xerus Purple and then very thin layers were painted onto the surrounding area; the thinnest layers being painted furthest away from the stone. You can't really see very well but I added a few runes to the glowing stone and then painted the Mark of Slaanesh onto the skull (I'm very proud that it only took one attempt to freehand, which is good because there's no way I could recreate the colour of the skull). I was planning to have a banner of Slaanesh on here but as I was trying to figure out where to put it I realised that it was just going to be massive overkill and would really take away from the actual model so I changed my mind.

In terms of gameplay I've made her a Level 1 Wizard and given her the Allure of Slaanesh (leadership test taken to be able to attack the Herald) and the Daemonic Robes (3+ save). My reasons for this are that she can use spells to keep her enemies away but if an enemy manages to get close then it's harder to hit her and if they manage that then she's less likely to be wounded. Quite a defensive set-up but her 4 attacks and Always Strikes First rule (which she transfers to the other Daemonettes) turn her into a well balanced fighter and it's more likely to keep her around longer to keep allowing the Daemonette unit to strike first as well as keep generating magic dice once the Horrors start taking hits.

So that's my Herald. Pretty proud of her as she was literally just plucked from my head and my bits box and for a while she was my only general for my tiny army, but that soon changed... More on that next time.

Daemonettes

Well I figure that in order to do this right I should blog in the order that I completed a unit and so I'll therefore be starting with the Daemonettes but first a little history... When I first started painting (waaaaaaaaaaaay back in 1998) the Daemonettes were the reason I was initially pulled to Chaos but I went for the Chaos Marines so I started with the basic models and eventually discovered that at the time I couldn't afford a full unit of Daemonettes (this was back when they were like £10 per 2 model blister pack) so I gave up my dreams of a Daemon host and eventually moved onto the Tyranids when they got a revamp in early 2000. I wandered back to Chaos when the Warhammer Warriors of Chaos army got a revamp and my original plan was to field a massive Chaos host of men, Daemons and Beastmen but I stopped painting before I could do much more than a few warriors and a couple of the old metal Daemons (which weren't exactly painted well I'll admit.
Fast forward to April (I think) of this year when I decided to start painting again and what do I find? Not only are the Daemon models now in plastic kits but they have their own army!!! I was literally in heaven, but then I was brought back to Earth slightly because only half of the Daemon force was in plastic kits. Slight disappointment but not really putting me off. So my friend (gotta love her) sees how down I was about stuff and decides to buy me a Warhammer starter set, so I paint a few of the Elves included but I didn't really enjoy them because I had my heart set on my Daemons once more... First opportunity I get I go and buy... DAEMONETTES!!! Finally, I get the Daemons that started my whole obsession in the first place! I ask the guys at the store to help me with the colours (I had no idea what things were meant to be like now, last time I painted the black screw lids were just being replaced by black flip lids and Skull White and Chaos Black weren't just spray paints) and they start whipping off a million paints saying that this part should be in these 6 colours and so on and I'm like woah, I cannot afford to buy half the paint collection just for one unit so I looked at the back of the box and it has a few suggestions on skin colour and I'm thinking it's nice but I'm not a grey kind of fan so I think waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back to when I first started and remembered Daemonettes were more purple than grey. So I eventually pick up some Daemonette Hide, Xerus Purple and some Druchii Violet (remember I already had the paints from the starter set so I was just adding to them) and got to work. After a while I realised that the colours were just really bland, there was way too much purple so I trotted on back to the store and picked up some Screamer Pink, Pink Horror, Emperor's Children and Changeling Pink which added a splash of colour without being too garish so I ceased to be bored.
The results of my Alluress (first one I painted because I always start with the leader of a unit, then the musician and then the Standard Bearer) are as follows...

So let me take you through what I did step by step, starting with the skin. So I under-coated in black because I wanted my colours to come out slightly darker, to which I then base coated in Daemonette Hide, all over the skin. I left the armour, hair, claws and cloth alone while I did the skin (by the way I paint BEFORE I assemble so I don't miss out on any detail). Over the DH I then did a wash of the Druchii Violet and then went over the skin again with DH, leaving the recesses dark. I then VERY LIGHTLY dry-brushed with Ulthuan Grey (I know I was supposed to go to Slaanesh Grey and Warpfiend Grey but like I said I didn't like that) so then the hair. Base coat was Xerus Purple which took a few layers because it's a layer and not a base. I then did a few DV layers to make it all shiny and then again went over with XP. I then lightly dry-brushed with DH for a little emphasis. The armour I left black but did a slightly wet dry brushing with Ironbreaker so that it shimmers and looks silver in some lights but black in others (very other worldly I think). The claws I originally did in black and purple but I didn't like them so I went with the pinks. Started with the Screamer Pink, then layered over with the Pink Horror, edged with Emperor's Children and dry brushed with Changeling Pink. After this picture was taken I started to use 'Ardcoat on the claws for a little extra shine. The eyes are in Mephiston Red and the teeth are Ceramite White. I originally had the toe claws in white (like in the picture) but they drew attention away from the claws so they're black again now. They're based with Astrogranite and after this picture I started dry brushing the bases in Ulthuan Grey so they look a little better now. 

Below is a picture of the entire unit:

And here's the back:

You may be wondering why my command group is split up (or you may not, but how am I supposed to know?). The reason is that my PHENOMENAL modelling skills have meant that when I put them together in a unit like this, this is the only way they fit together. You may also notice the fact that they're sort of symmmetrical (and if you haven't you have now) and yes, that was intentional. I figured that it would please Slaanesh... And my OCD tendencies. Mostly the second one. Ok entirely the second one. Oh I did their tails the same way I did the claws, just without the 'Ardcoat. 

So that, my friends, is my first unit. Next will be my (sort of) conversion for a Herald of Slaanesh (which has just been completely smashed out of the water by the newly released models that contain enough parts to put a Herald on the various chariots AND build one on foot ¬¬ But more on that next time.

My Daemon Army: The Beginning (almost)

So I thought I'd document my new army because I really enjoy painting it and I feel like I want to share it with the world (or just the people that are interested in it). So eventually I plan to have an absolutely huge collection of Daemons which will even include the Forge World models but I'll be working up to those (they are amazing though and I have got to have them).

So as I start writing this, I'm sure you'll all be aware the new plastic models are about to be released for the Daemons and I have to say I am VERY excited. The Flamers I'm not 100% sure of; I thought they looked ok before but I guess the guys in Nottingham thought otherwise. I do like that they're now slightly more customisable, that's a plus. The Plaguebearers on the other hand... SO happy with how they look. Personally I think I'll be avoiding the insect looking heads in favour of the much loved Cyclopean heads but apart from that they're awesome, as are the new Nurglings. Years ago I tended to avoid Nurgle Daemons as a general rule because of the sheer scale of the detail (especially on the Nurglings that were teeny tiny copies of the Greater Daemons) and frankly it used to scare me but the Nurgling detail has been toned right back so now they look sort of cute, you know, in the way that teeny festering imps of pestilence and disease that want to eat your flesh can be cute. I'm so over the moon with the new Screamers though... They finally have eyes!! Every description of Screamers has mentioned their eyes and yet as far as I could tell the models had none. Strange  but now they look awesome. I'm highly tempted to paint their flesh in a similar way to real sharks being as that's what they're so often compared to, plus it'll make their eyes really stand out. I like the additional fin that can be attached to one as well but that's more a comedy like as opposed to wanting one on my screamers.

At the moment my completed models are 10 Daemonettes and a minor conversion in the form of a Herald of Slaanesh. I'm half way through a unit of Pink Horrors (but starting to get bored of the constant pink which is SO not my favourite colour so I'm working out something else I can do to make them a bit more exciting) and I've started a Daemon Prince of Khorne. My plans for this blog are to talk about how I've painted them, the way I plan to use them in battle (of course that may change once I learn the rules of the game) and what Daemonic Gifts I'll be giving to my units if they can have them. Of course there will be pictures and I may even do a step-by-step thing for some of them. Obviously I can't do it for my completed units because there's no chance on Earth I'm repainting one just to show you how I did it but I can for my Pink Horrors and my Daemon Prince. I'm also going to show my experiments in various techniques because we all know that practice makes perfect so I want to show how my ideas develop.

That's all for now folks, so I'm going to go and get half decent pictures of my current models to start writing about. Hopefully you'll continue to read my posts and watch my army grow and develop. Also comments are welcome.

Legal stuff

Before I start this I should probably just mention that I'm in no way affiliated with Games Workshop or their subsidiary companies, nor do I advocate their products or services over any other available products or services. Any opinions I give are my own and are not endorsed or affiliated with Games Workshop.

I know this is probably dull but it's my legal training coming out so that I can't be sued lol