Citi-Def COMPLETED

After comming around to a completely different scheme for my Citi-Def I've had a flurry of activity on them, finishing all the full squad and building up some of the additional details. I present them, completed!

The nice thing about this scheme is that it means the figures will work for almost any 28mm skirmish game, so I expect they'll get a bit more action. I've tried to keep the colour schemes to a limited colour palette too, so greens and browns and metallic, as a reflection of the more limited range you get in older comic art.

Anyhow, just waiting for my StormRaven order to arrive, and then I'll be on with that, the biggest vehicle I've done to date. 

Starting Over..!

You remember when I said I was happy with the citi-def scheme? Well I got back from a weekend away and decided that I wasn't. I hated it. I tweaked it a bit on a couple of other figures, then tweaked it a lot, and finally just repainted the whole squad over and started again. This time I've gone for a more "realistic" Forest Camo pattern, which is essentially a series of grey, black and green splodges with a green wash to blend it all down and make it look "camoflaguely". For something done in anger - or at least a bad case of the grumps - it's turned out OK in the cold light of day.

Heavy Weapon Guy Again. 

Twin Pistols. You won't hit anything, but you'll look cool (not) doing it. 

Bazooka Trooper. This shot looks like she's just swapped her arm for the weapon. 

6th Edition Lessons...

I've got to admit i've struggled to paint the last week or so. I just don't seem to be able to get something done with the Citi-Def that I'm happy with. I don't think it's the models, which are nice, characterful sculpts, and I'm still fond of the colour scheme, but I there's definitely something I'm just not engaging with at the moment. I've really enjoyed doing the Judges, but maybe I just need to move onto something else for a bit.

Zooooom! 

On the plus side, me and eldest offspring had our first game of 6th Edition recently, which was great fun. With both sides "full up" at 1500 points each, it was a busy fight over 5 objectives and he just - just - pipped me when the game ended on Turn 5. Given that his Orks are made up of units he thinks are cool, and mine are made up of units i've bought to paint, a certain mis-match is inevitable, but even so we had a good time and learned a lot about the new edition.

Flyers are fun, aren't they? We only have one between us, my StormTalon, but it was a disruptive little monster, especially against smaller squads it could force into morale checks. It only ever looked vunerable the turn I slowed it down to make some turns, whereupon it drew a lot of fire, and I suspect in future I may just leave it zooming on and off the board merrily carving up any squad unfortunate to be underneath it.

My other big lesson was the Power Klaw Nobs (one of the new additions) are horrific agents of death limited only by what they can reach. Ouch ouch ouch, was my general experience of being assaulted by them. Now he wants a Battlewagon to put them in. I'm comming to the conclusion that the Orks may be a good "starter" race for younger players, as whilst not the most straightforward to play, they are excitingly random, you get to roll lots and lots of dice, and there is a generally cheerfully violent tone to them that seems to appeal.

Old Dublo Castle sets make for great impromtu terrain. 

Although maybe that's just us...! 

Colour Test for Citi-Def

Citi-Def are the National Guard of Mega-City One, a cross between an organised Peoples Militia and gun-toting lunatics with access to high-grade firepower. They're often portrayed as the halpless cannon-fodder of whatever crisis is engulfing the city at the time. Naturally I wanted a daft, cartoony scheme for them, which would be unique to their particular Hab-Block. This guy is the test figure for my Cit-Def force (although they'd also be good for Necromunda or the like), a resolute defender of Howard Overman Block. 

I should be able to production-line these guys through once i'm happy with them, as they're not that complex a figure, and after that I expect to go back to my Blood Ravens. I'm actually quite close to a half-way decent 1500 point force, although if -as the rumours indicate - the StormBrick becomes available to Vanilla Marines, I'll have to get myself one, just for the fun of painting it. 

Justice On a Roll!

This is the last of my Justice Department figures, a Lawmaster (and Judge). I've tried - with moderate success - to create a OSL effect around the headlights, which isn't brilliant, but is passable. Its all about creeping up that Learning Curve, right?

Continued Judge-ing

This weeks Judge Dredd Miniatures Game figure is the capable and awesome Judge Giant (jnr, I presume)

I'm really enjoying these figures, they're a nice change of pace from the Blood Ravens. That said with all the rumours going around about the StormRaven becoming open to Vanilla Chapters, I may have to get me one. 

I'm Walter! Try Me!

So, we continue our Judge Dredd Miniatures painting adventure. Currently managing about one a week, although after I've finished the couple I'm in the middle of, I've got a bunch of citi-def to do, and they should be easier to production line. Anyhow, this week it's Dredd's "favorite" house-robot, Walter the Wobot.

there is definitely something weird about taking a metal miniature, cleaning it, base coating it, and then painting it to look all-metal again...

The Dead Shall Rise!

So, the Judge Dredd figures contine to roll off the painting the table. This lovely lady is a Zombie Master, and also my first serious attempt at doing dramatic lighting on a figure. When the base is done she should look lit from underneath, as well as the green spectral effect on her hands and eyes.

Its not perfect, but I'm pretty pleased with her, and picking up a decent base should really top her off. Comments, as ever, appreciated. 

I Am The Law!

10 days into 2013 already, and I'm pushing on with the Judge Dredd figures. Here is the Man Himself.

The only thing left to do is the Base, but i think I'm going to pick up resin bases for these guys to mount him on at a later date (he's not glued to this base, its just holding him in place for painting. 

New Year, New Projects

Well, thats it for 2012, and as the new year comes along, so do new painting projects. Having backed the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game Kickstarter, I now have a bunch of figures for that to be getting on with, which I suspect will be mixed in with the Orks that Ewan got for xmas.

So, Happy New Year, and I'll leave you with the first figure I've got completed, Psi-Judge Cassandra Anderson.

Getting out the Terraining Wheels

As someone who is mostly on the "Painting" side of the hobby, my main outlet for actually playing 40k at the moment is against Ewan, my eldest son, who is pretty fond it as a way of wasting a wet afternoon. The big problem we've had though, is terrain, which has left us fighting over battlefields made of shoe boxes, bits of racetrack, and action-figure statuary. And to be honest I'm not forking out for "proper" scenery for sporadic, knock-about games. 

So, one solution that was suggested was paper-craft terrain. Oho! I thought. So, following a recommendation I ended up at World Works Games, which makes loads of them, and bought the Mars Station set. 

Now I remember how dreadful I am at Papercrafting. Thankfully, as pdfs, I can reprint the damn things. So, a couple of hours of pritt-stik-ing my fingers together and I've got some base tiles and a difficult terrain tile, and a little crawler unit thing: 

The set also comes with modular wall pieces so I can make a couple buildings to go with them, so thats the next job, whilst I'm waiting for my Storm Talon order to turn up. 

Gosh I'm starting to get tired of painting red!

My Tactical Squad is nearly finished, thankfully, and I'm feeling a little bit over-familiar with Marine armour and red paint after a run thats included Devastators, a Command Squad and now the Tacs. Enough Already! And I think it's beginning to show, as I'm not feeling as engaged as perhaps I should be. Still, Should get them finished this week and then it's onto the next project.

The next big project is likely to be from the Judge Dredd: Block Wars kickstarter that I backed and just finished over the weekend. Probably won't get the stuff till November, so will need a stop-gap, although that is likely to be some shade of red! 

More Different to Start the Year...

So, I thought I'd start the year by finishing off the Sorylian cruisers I've had lying around whilst I was painting up the Sternguard. I also thought I'd try and "get clever" with the pictures, using a stronger source to give the effect of...well, a stronger space-bound source like a star. It's not a total pictorial triumph but as my bloody camera got stolen a couple of days ago these are the only pictures I'd uploaded.

Shocking non-40k Post!

Yes its true, I've again lapsed from the True Path of the Emperor and painted a non-40k piece. I expect the Brutal Door-Smashing of the Inquisition any moment.

I can across Firestorm Armada whilst looking for ships to supplement the Full Thrust rules i have, and used to play quite a bit. And their ships are pretty cool - so whilst I'm unlikely to ever play the game I picked up a couple for the sheer joy of painting them, and because collecting figures for games I'm never going to play is my current favorite hobby. The Sorylian Battleship is the only one so far painted, so here he is:

The Stripes and markings are free-hand, which still needs a little practice

I've tried to stick to "simple, bold colours" rather than anything fidly

Engines - may take another pass at them, I think they're reasonable
but not totally right. 

Anyway, its a lovely model and I hope I've done it justice. May need some pictures against a white background as well, but this was late last night and I wanted to go to bed!

Finally, in order to appease His Imperial Might, the next project is these guys:

Painting Table Update!

So, I've got my exams out of the way so I get some free time again! Hooray! I mean, there is still Arkham City to play, but more importantly I've got some painting time, and some new things to paint.

First off I picked up some Sternguard to go with my expanding Blood Ravens army. They're Finecast, of course, so they came like this:

Flash! Ahhh-Aaaaaaa! 

At first I thought they'd be like the Lord Commissar I bought, where the flash just rubbed off cleanly and I wondered what all the whining was about. And in some sprues that was the case. But on others, the flash (not the sprue attachment points!) was thicker than the element caught up in it, and being a cack-handed fool I've managed to damage a couple of the figures whilst snipping and cutting the little buggers free. Most of it I've been able to repair, but the guy in the bottom left, with the gun held out in front of him, has lost his weapon strap. I've left the front part on so I can paint it up a parchment roll, and hopefully this will salvage some character.

Finecast models have the natural reflective index of Moondust. I
think that's the "Secret Ingredient"

I also discovered that the resin doesn't drill the same way as plastic (yes, i know that should be obvious) so theres a couple of hashed up gun barrels as well. But I'll spend some time with little bits of greenstuff and a bit more cutting and filing and hopefully once they're based up no-one will notice.

For a total change change of pace I've also got some spaceships from Firestorm Armada, presumably because I am constantly drawn to shiny things for games I'll never get to play.

I think the Captain of the second cruiser is drunk again. 

Something a Bit Different

I'm having a bit of a major dither about what to paint up next - largely torn between expanding the Blood Ravens force a bit more and a desire to do something in "not red". In the meantime, a mate sent me a link to Mongoose Publishing's Judge Dredd Minatures Games, which do some great figures based the 2000ad stories.  And I've always particularly remembered the Kleggs from when I was a kid - you'll notice my profile uses a picture of one - and I really couldn't resist.

Very quick paint this, actually, as it's mostly strong, bold colours in big blocks, as you'd expect for a comic character. And a bit of a reminder of how much I dislike painting metal compared to plastics or resin. And the base is just greenstuff pushed around to look give a muddy texture, then painted up. Anyhow, pictures!

Its a really nice pose, in my opinion, and a nice rendition
of the character - a little simple but that's how they're drawn. 

From the Front, with his snaggly teeth!

And the jet-pack. All the reference drawings I can find do
them silver, but there are few enough colours on him as it is!