Starting up my Horus Heresy alpha legion (Part II deliverance)

So as i mentioned in the previous post. I had tried a BUNCH of  different ways of doing the Forgeworld recipe but i only got half hatched solutions that were,simply put, not up to scratch at all. Even to my standards.

Alas a wise Raven came to me rescue....No. Not hugin or munin, but my actual mate that goes by the moniker.

He runs a sweet Tau army with a cool camouflage patterned set of crisis suits, now the mere idea of CAMOUFLAGE is so ridiculously usefull and utilitarian, that it had to be invented by the renegade farsight enclaves. Which is what he rolls, what does that entail? Him blasting me with melta and plasma from all angles generally.

But still, enough bellyaching about the state of 40K. More bellyaching about my painting.

So basically my mate went, "hey, wanna borrow my airbrush for a session and see what we get?" Little did i know that the first free taste is what gets you addicted......

Now he has a Harder steenbeck infinity airbrush, with a matching compressor. Now, at the time i had no idea, but this is a really.really. REALLY good airbrush, only as good as the use. of course. But good for beginners and excellent for experienced users in regards to the details you can get.

Now to AGAIN reiterate. This is the formula i went after


1. AIRBRUSH WITH THINNED LEAD BELCHER/ IRON BREAKER (50/50 MIX) 
2. AIRBRUSH FROM TOP OF MODEL WITH THINNED RUNFANG STEEL 
3. MIX A LITTLE TAMIYA CLEAR GREEN WITH TAMIYA CLEAR BLUE (25/75 MIX) AND AIRBRUSH OVER THE MODEL IN 2 COATS 
4. AIRBRUSH ARMOUR PANELS WITH TAMIYA CLEAR BLUE. BLENDING FROM MIDDLE OF FIGURE DOWN, SO THE STRONGEST BLUE COLOUR IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PANNELS 
5. AIRBRUSH FROM THE MIDDLE UPWARDS WITH TAMIYA CLEAR GREEN 
6. USING AN AIRBRUSH BLEND A HIGHLIGHT ON THE HIGHEST PANNELS (HEAD, SHOULDER PADS, TOP OF BACKPACK) WITH RUNEFANG STEEL WITH A TINY AMOUNT OF LOTHERN BLUE, EXTREMELY THINNED DOWN. 
7. APPLY THINNED COAT OF TAMIYA CLEAR BLUE OVER THE HIGHLIGHT AND BLEND INTO THE SURROUNDING AREA. 
8. USING A BLUE GLAZE, DRAG DOWN THE WHOLE MODEL ALLOWING IT TO SETTLE IN THE DEEPEST AREAS. 
9. SILVER – BASECOAT WITH LEADBELCHER 
10. WASH WITH NULN OIL 
11. HIGHLIGHT WITH LEADBELCHER IN STRIKING MOTIONS TO CREATED CHIPPED AND WEATHER APPEARANCE 
12. HIGHLIGHT WITH IRONBREAKER

I actually printed it out and had it laminated next to me. 

basing (step 0) 

So started by basing all the ones i was going do black, using Vallejo standard black primer. 

After this i ran into a snag, i had failed to notice that my one bottle of leadbelcher had dried out. Oh shit son! My friend, full of calm and wisdom suggested i move away a bit from being GW centric, and broaden my horizons...live a little.....

Falling for his husky tone and slender frame i quickly agreed. Where was the harm, really? 

Nowhere actually, i went with testing the Vallejo metallic range. And it was good. So good. 

sin in a bottle. Albeit a new sort of bottle for me. 

Step 1 

Having replaced the leadbelcher iron breaker step for a different selection colours ( thinned chainmail and metallic black) i moved on with priming approximately 30 Alpha legionairres, HQ's and two rapiers platsforms. 

Now, had i been more experienced i would have realized that this step alone would take more than an hour (my estimation) but still. lessons learned 'n all dat' zog 

Step 2 

moving on from the first step, i gave all models a slight shine of silver from overhead. To get a nice shine of depth. 

I was kidding with my friend that if i had done iron warriors i'd be half done now. Then i cried a bit in pitying myself. 

After being slapped into a semblance of normality,i moved on. 

Step 3 

So this is actually what the mix should look like in Step 3. 25% tamiya clear green 75% tamiya clear blue

After using my friends mixer bottles and thinner, i concocted the base mix of colours, and started doing models.

As is readily visible, after the first coat, you will have some transparency to the metall underbase. Which is why it is so important to be neither to silvery,nor to leadlike  

just plugging some despoilers here. 

Afte doing the first overpass you are going to want to let it dry off. Here is a good tip again. 

CLEAN YOUR AIRBRUSH INBETWEEN COATS. 

The alcohol based paint CAN and WILL deteriorate the metal, and rubber parts of the brush proper. So you will want to do a quick clean between each "drying phase" or not. It is up to anyone of greater experience to chose themselves. 

So the following pictures are after the second coat in step 3 

The second layer gives a nice depth, and really brings out all the details in the Alpha legion parts used on this model.

 This is actually one of the first models that i tried to do by brush. I simply sprayed it with a light step 1 and onwards.

bringing out the model on the left, as we will follow him on the rest of this little trip i am sketching out. 

And this is as far as i got for my 30+ modells in the seven or so hours that i i borrowed my friends airbrush, overall i was really glad to give it a swing. And the result finally lived up to my expectations.

But i was not nearly finished, was i? 

Starting up my Horus Heresy alpha legion army Part I (What not to do)

G'evening

so as the sun gently nestles 'neath the horizon i pour a large whiskey and start chronicling my humbling experience in painting the Alpha legion

So as i outlined in the previous post i had some....problems...with doing my horus heresy 30k Army. The gist of it is that i was totally enamored with Forge worlds own formula for doing the Alpha legion, yet a crucial part of the formula is to work with several thinned layers of Tamiya's own clear series.

Now for those of you that don't know, Tamiya basically does a high end of painting supplies and models, whose intended use is mainly for model cars, aircraft and high quality army miniature models. Their items can be summarized as High-end, in the sense that quality, materials, and items are all of the highest standards. But might run you on the pricier end of the cost spectrum.

Their Clear series is a line of alcohol based paints that,when properly thinned and used are great over metallic surfaces for a clear irridescent shine. I can also recommend using them over clear plastic (like cockpits) for your 40k models, as it gives a great tinting, as one would expect of say..Eldar aircrafts.



So the basic forgeworld recipee is, as i wrote earlier. As follows

1. AIRBRUSH WITH THINNED LEAD BELCHER/ IRON BREAKER (50/50 MIX) 
2. AIRBRUSH FROM TOP OF MODEL WITH THINNED RUNFANG STEEL 
3. MIX A LITTLE TAMIYA CLEAR GREEN WITH TAMIYA CLEAR BLUE (25/75 MIX) AND AIRBRUSH OVER THE MODEL IN 2 COATS 
4. AIRBRUSH ARMOUR PANELS WITH TAMIYA CLEAR BLUE. BLENDING FROM MIDDLE OF FIGURE DOWN, SO THE STRONGEST BLUE COLOUR IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PANNELS 
5. AIRBRUSH FROM THE MIDDLE UPWARDS WITH TAMIYA CLEAR GREEN 
6. USING AN AIRBRUSH BLEND A HIGHLIGHT ON THE HIGHEST PANNELS (HEAD, SHOULDER PADS, TOP OF BACKPACK) WITH RUNEFANG STEEL WITH A TINY AMOUNT OF LOTHERN BLUE, EXTREMELY THINNED DOWN. 
7. APPLY THINNED COAT OF TAMIYA CLEAR BLUE OVER THE HIGHLIGHT AND BLEND INTO THE SURROUNDING AREA. 
8. USING A BLUE GLAZE, DRAG DOWN THE WHOLE MODEL ALLOWING IT TO SETTLE IN THE DEEPEST AREAS. 
9. SILVER – BASECOAT WITH LEADBELCHER 
10. WASH WITH NULN OIL 
11. HIGHLIGHT WITH LEADBELCHER IN STRIKING MOTIONS TO CREATED CHIPPED AND WEATHER APPEARANCE 
12. HIGHLIGHT WITH IRONBREAKER

however as i lacked ready access to a airbrush i figured i would follow step 1-2 and then do the mix as outlined in step 3, and apply a thinner, and then cover the model in two light layers.

This garnered the following result 

Technical failings on other parts aside. The Problems is that you get a very "patchy" application. However, not to be deterred i attempted to use varying amounts of thinner. And experimented with adding more Tamiya green

The guy in front is the one with the "darkest" cover of Tamiya clear blue and green

Now, having just trial painted five different models. And finding that there was just no success to be had without an airbrush, i decided to try a different approach. However, there are two good points to learn from this sojourn.

I) Tamiya Clear green is a definite "Sub" paint. For those who haven't painted houses or the like this basically means that, when mixed with a paint of equal viscosity, it melds with the other component and adds a tint, but not a clear mix. 

this is important how? : Because it taught me the need of several separate layers of tamiya green when Airbrushing 

II) When doing a metallic layer, you simply cannot have a bright undercolor . you need a dark basecoat, and then added silver hightener to bring out the details.

Still not wholly deterred i attempted to redo the formula with a darker basecoat (more  leadbelcher less steel) . Which turned out like this. 

Huge honking fingerprint aside, it was getting better, but simply not what i imagined, nor what the FW scheme looked like. 

I scoured the interwebz and looked at different forums as how people had done Alpha legion, and i found one post on bolter and chainsword that advocated a sotek drybrush, followed by a darkblue wash. 

Now i had previously been bequeathed a bottle of the following from a mate 

 

Which i thought would fit the role qutie well. So i took a model i had done from spare parts and tried the following formula

I)basecoat abaddon black
II) prime with Vallejos green-blue
III) wash drakenhof nightshade
IV) edge highlight details with runefang silver

The result looked like this

Now this is a pretty rough draft of what it looked like, since i was pretty fed up by this point. So it looks a bit more polished today. I kinda digged the end result. It was nifty, and i made a point of remembering it. But it wasn't what i was into.

So i gave it one last shot.

Back to the Webz i went.

I found a third way, which involved alternating washes.

Basically


I)Abaddon black
II) base leadbelcher
III) highlight with runefang silver
IV) do a drakenhof nightshade
V) do a biel-tan shade
VI) alternate the two as desired. With an inclination of Drakenhof as the primary component
VII)Highlight with silver on "raised surfaces" and add more drakenhof

This resulted in this model

Which,again, while looking decent. Just didn't scratch the itch i had.

So by this point i had more or less given up, and longed for the sweet release of death. Or well, a bit less dramatically. For the sweet smell of airbrush.

Little did i know that salvation laid less than a hands reach away.........

Plaguebearers finished up

G'evenin

So i found my plaguebearers after the ONE game i've had with them.

I popped ten of them with a  psyker herald of nurgle that had the loci(think of it as a special rule you can buy) that gives his unit FnP. They did great, so as a reward (for me, not THEM, no their reward is to go BACK IN ZEE BOX) i dirtied them up a tad, Agrax earthshade for the teeth, and some clear tamiya red for...well, everything.

Pretty happy with the end result, still not settled on the base though, the simple mud base seems to be lacking some rot.......

  

 Pretty happy with these guys overall, particularly with the happy lil' nurglings pulling at the guy in the back.

well. ta'!

Chosing a legion

'cheers!


As the new years mirth abates and i try to catch up on my backlog i find myself bound to outline what i consider my  "grand project" for 2016.

The legiones astartes

Now like most people i have wanted to get into the Forgeworld peddled plastic heroin (now more expensive than crack,check it out and tell me you learnt something) ever since the first book dropped. The rulebooks themselves are sublime works of the kind one would expect to have been wrought by some half-blind smith whose secular celibacy allows him to weave such sorcery. The quality of the books,both in toightness of rules therein, and in the comping of fluff as such is evident through the dedication of it's community, and in the adherence of those who swear fealty to the Forgeworld studios.

It is a given that a man of a certain age and inclination will look at 30K and covet it, not desire. But good ol' fashioned coveting. The sort that allows for compromising of hygiene, personal finances, and redrawing of friendships to more efficiently fold into other acolytes one wants to meld into.

It costs more, i mean it's not so much the elephant in the room as it is mahogany bookshelf, IE everyone sees it, and recognizes that it will cost more than your generic cardboard Ikea crap. But the system itself, and the rule set means that most people look at that minor issue and find ways around it.



So to was it with me. In other words. I wanted to get into this immediately. Looking at my game group i have sort of come to terms with the fact that i am the de-facto black cloak. I am damned by my own hand. Both by the fact that i find a well written antagonist the driving engine of any good drama, and in my group most players tend to lean towards moral ambiguity grey-ness at worst. I have no issues diving headfirst into villainy. I blame White wolf publishing, they used to issue game systems that allowed self entitled teens the means to live out power fantasies. Meaning that i got a taste for it, and i have no issues rolling up the nefarious blackguard ne'er do well that steals from the party, and whose inevitable betrayal will make him pay for the pizza that evening.

With that in mind i immediately looked at the traitor legions.

The emperors children were my first choice. There is something appealing to me with the EC's constant search for becoming greater than what they are, to deserve both the accolades they have been awarded, and garnering further fame that they doubtlessly deserve, for they are cast in the image of their primarch, and he bears the emperors approval. How could they be less?

Gamewise they favour swift strikes, lots of challenges and they put a lot of hopes in their cacophanii.

After some consideration i decided otherwise, as their special units didn't speak to me.

The second candidate was the death guard. two reasons.

I)I got offered a deal where i got my filthy mitts on Mortarion and five death shroud terminators at a low price. Everybody loves a bargain.

The model quality that engenders aforenamed coveting. 

II) Their is something admirable and highly relatable in the indomitable determination and unyielding toughness in the face of hardship. It's an easily relatable trait that everybody has had to tap into at some time in their life (Which is of course he intention, showing a dark mirror of a trait of strength and how it is so easily perverted)

I even got so far as to buy 1000 pts of units for a 30K death guard army. Then i got in some trouble again.


I think i mentioned before how i have some weaknesses in my painting tool set (more accurately, i have a half empty box, and one hammer and a screwdriver and cant comprehend when somebody shows me a wrench) one of them is difficulty in taking on a challenging paint scheme, and committing and going through with it, then i saw this scheme (albeit not on these models)

I do not OWN this picture. I have not painted these models. I merely used it as a template for inspiration. I hope no noe takes offence, and if they do, please tell me and i will replace it with a big red X 

And then i had my legion of choice.

Alpha legion, the unseen, the hydra that watches, the unknowable.

The scheme was, to me highly intimidating. The original forge world recipe is as follows

ALPHA LEGION 
1. AIRBRUSH WITH THINNED LEAD BELCHER/ IRON BREAKER (50/50 MIX) 
2. AIRBRUSH FROM TOP OF MODEL WITH THINNED RUNFANG STEEL 
3. MIX A LITTLE TAMIYA CLEAR GREEN WITH TAMIYA CLEAR BLUE (25/75 MIX) AND AIRBRUSH OVER THE MODEL IN 2 COATS 
4. AIRBRUSH ARMOUR PANELS WITH TAMIYA CLEAR BLUE. BLENDING FROM MIDDLE OF FIGURE DOWN, SO THE STRONGEST BLUE COLOUR IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PANNELS 
5. AIRBRUSH FROM THE MIDDLE UPWARDS WITH TAMIYA CLEAR GREEN 
6. USING AN AIRBRUSH BLEND A HIGHLIGHT ON THE HIGHEST PANNELS (HEAD, SHOULDER PADS, TOP OF BACKPACK) WITH RUNEFANG STEEL WITH A TINY AMOUNT OF LOTHERN BLUE, EXTREMELY THINNED DOWN. 
7. APPLY THINNED COAT OF TAMIYA CLEAR BLUE OVER THE HIGHLIGHT AND BLEND INTO THE SURROUNDING AREA. 
8. USING A BLUE GLAZE, DRAG DOWN THE WHOLE MODEL ALLOWING IT TO SETTLE IN THE DEEPEST AREAS. 
9. SILVER – BASECOAT WITH LEADBELCHER 
10. WASH WITH NULN OIL 
11. HIGHLIGHT WITH LEADBELCHER IN STRIKING MOTIONS TO CREATED CHIPPED AND WEATHER APPEARANCE 
12. HIGHLIGHT WITH IRONBREAKER

and gives a GREAT sheen and bee-uh-ti-full depth when done correctly. But it is fiddly, and i did'nt have nor planned on getting an airbrush.Still, i had the 1000 + pts of pre-heresy i had bought, so i figured i might as well have at it to the best of my abilities.

The results, were.....disheartening. But i'll save that for future posts.

I had. At least found my legion. Which is like finding an expensive cult that you really, really REALLY want to be a part of


And what is that if not family?

How to quickly and easily paint Nurglings.

g'evening

So as i mentioned in the previous post i "Adopted" and army from my mate who did not have the space nor time to assemble, paint and give a good home to an additional army.

Ironic on two accounts.

I) It is Daemons, which contains a LOT of naked skin and hide. The one thing i am highly apprehensive of doing.
II) He is trying to focus on his armies in a more direct manner. Something i should do as well.

He initially gifted me a substantial amount of models, so we made an agreement where i  helped him sell all of the unopened packages, and in return i got to pick everything i wanted to keep. Which is more than fair as far as i am concerned.

So ,back on point. Upon receiving the models i really got a shine for the nurgle models, particularly the plaguebearers and nurglings, which is fortunate, as you will do whole lot of them if you go pure daemon list, unless you have a penchant for daemonprinces, which is also pretty nifty.

Quick painting nurglings 

This is intended for a decent table top standard painting. And as such, is pretty general.

First off, a couple of things to keep in mind.

Your average nurgling sprue has six groups of nurglings, as well as a spread of smaller collections of nurglings, this means two things straight up.
I) you can get a pretty big variation on the spread of guys. And no bases need look exactly the same
II) I've never met anyone who insists on having dual rows of nurglings, i have single lined mounds, and usually add some looser collections to fill them out. Depending on who you play and under what conditions this might be an issue. But otherwise this is a pretty good way of saving some time and money, it also simplifies painting, but that is easily amended by just doing "line" by line of nurglings.

either way.

Lets get going. Spray the entire line of nurglings black, with an airbrush and a properly thinned black this is pretty easily done. If, like me, you use a can of black. Take you time.

Next up, from an (approx) 90 degrees spray the line with a grey colour, vallejo modelair german grey is ideal for the purpose. Now, to finish the base colour, spray, from the very top, with a white paint. Either GW base, or Vallejo base white. Whatever your choice is.

So why the hell are we doing this in such an unnecessarily complicated way? The idea is that when we apply the shade we get a nice and natural transition, so that the shade gives the illusion of a shift.

The next step is painting sores,pustules, tongues, maggots, whatever you feel should be more of an open wound than not. Then apply a watered down layer of either GW's own Moot green, or like i did, the escorpena green that Vallejo does.

The result thus far should be something akin to this.

The next step is pretty much the biggest and easiest one. I cover the model in Gw's own Biel tan green shade. I then followed up by doing some extra work on the sores by dragging lines of thinned Tamiya clear green, which i think gives a running sore like effect, as if they were oozing from the open wound

Next up we do some easy clean up. I did the horns with "kabalite green" the teeth with ushabti bone, and the eyes with yriel yellow.

The step after this one is wholly voluntary (as is all of my shoddy work, of course) but i covered the entire model in a gloss varnish. I wanted the pustulant,gibberings mounds of nurglings to seem slick with slime. And i felt the gloss varnish gave me the effect i wanted.

The end result looks like this.

In my mind it is highly suitable for tabletop work. Not golden demon winning. But competent at least.

I decided to go with a dirty grungy basing. So i liberally added some stirland mud.

I doubt i will ever get to use a "special character" nurgling, but should the day dawn. Here i have one.


*EDIT*

i remembered that i pretty much used the same method towards finishing my plaguebearers. The intended usage is the same, but as they are bigger models (and bee-uh-ti-full ones at that) i spent some time with details, like gums, eyes and horns. These are not the finished models, as they lack the tamiya-clear-gore-detail (great grungecore band name here folks, up fo' grabs!) but a pretty decent capture of what i went for. If i could give a tip it would be that for plague bearers the boils really pop if you do them yellow. And the teeth look really rotten if you just Agrax earthshade them.

i was happy with it, and it looks well on the tabletop in my eyes.

runny eyes, hightened pustules, and rotten teeth. A-go-go!

i hope this is of use to someone.

ta'!

Summing up 2015 and hopes for 2016

Good grief i have been slipping up as of lately.

So, this is my (highly delayed) summing up of 2015.

High points

This is one of the highpoints. Sad? maybe, but these reavers got first blood on turn 1 and put the fear of Dark eldar in a Tau player.

• I finally finished up my first army (only five years in, y.a.y.) my Kabal of the hope betrayed are finally painted up to 2500 points worth. And i have also based almost all of it. Which i, unfortunately have no pictures of. 
• I found a functional set-up for my dark eldars. I have a good set up with my haemonculus formations working as high toughness shock troops. The Master artisan with a webway portal and a scalpel formation does wonders, particularly against LD vulnerable armies. 
• I got my hands on the last additions that i needed. These are (to date) unfinished and unassembled. But i have a good idea on where i can add them. Of particular note are two Sslyth for my court of the archon. 
• I finally decided on a 30K legion, that i want to play. 
• I got a good number of games in with my Dark eldar. And a semi-regular thing against my friends Tau army. 
• I "adopted"" an additional army from my friend who didn't have the space, nor the time for it. 
• family stuff. ALL OF IT. 

I have to say that triple lance ravagers are one of the actual tips i got from the internet that is never disappointing.

Shout Outs

+ The games workshops customer service, no seriously. I lodged two complaints this year, and both were handled quickly, and diligently to my full satisfaction,one, a delay of delivery. i was reimbursed with vouchers to soften the blow of the delay. Which i promptly spent and then some at the GW webstore, Well played Customer service. The second one concerned the fact that i had not received a correct amount of bases, it turned out i had in fact received the correct amount (in my defence it was for nurglings, so go figure) but they still sent additional ones. I like to rag on Geedubs as much as the next roller (i play DE) but hot diggity dee if the customer service ain't great. 

+ i found a podcast i liked, which kept me going throughout my December painting spree. 

http://age-of-darkness-podcast.blogspot.se/ 

I like their mix of casual and serious approach to 30k, and i think they have a great chemistry between them when it comes to discussing both the crunch and fluff aspect of 30k 

+ i feel that i have improved as a painter. I'll gladly admit that this is a a subject experience, but i have attempted  new techniques, and i have particularly gotten over my fear of painting skin tones. Which is usefull as i have started a new army that requires a lot of skin. 

+oh shit i am linking people a lot for work i am incapable of reproducing. But moving on, trying to break my BOLS (bell of lost souls) addiction, since the amount of reposting and clickbaiting is getting strenous even for somebody who browses free online newspapers. But the following site sure has great on the floor reporting for all things 30k heresy related. "Battle bunnies" 

low points

-i adopted another army! oh shit son what the hell are you doing? You have a family now. This is your sixth army. 

- i finally decided on a 30k legion army. Because apparently i DO HATE MONEY. 

- I caved and got the haemonculus codex and covens units for my army. better than Craftworld eldar, but still a cop out. 

So here we have some of VIP's. The venoms are scalpel squadros. And the talos,chronos and Haemon with a sniper rifle are my artisan formation. Not really a "ozymandias moment a lá shelley" but still capable of smashing face. 

So there you have it. 2015 in retrospective 

so what are my 2016 goals? 

• tying up my two new armies 
• finishing 2000 pts of horus heresy 30K. 
• getting a game, or two in with that army. 
• CUT DOWN ON MY damn spending, seriously i need a fricking intervention. 

Getting in deeper on new stuff in my other posts tho' 

happy new year!