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.