Jewel of July – Hobby Update – Wood Elves and Dwarves

Azazel has done it again and managed to get me out of my hobby slouch with another one of his monthly challenges, this time it is the Jewel of July.

This challenge is all about characters and show pieces. I’m sure a number of the blogs will pull out some impressive large models but I have decided to ease myself back into painting with two more humble models.

The first is a dwarf slayer character that was released during the ret-conned Storm of Chaos expansion (I believe around 6th ed Warhammer Fantasy).

Garagrim Ironfist was the War-mourner of Karak Kadrin and son of the legendary Ungrim Ironfist. It was his duty to tend the Shrine of Grimnir and the temple’s store of runic weapons.

This was a model i’d been after for a while but due to not wanting to pay silly prices it had taken me a while to find him. Thankfully an Italian gentleman had put one up on ebay together with the dual pistol dwarf engineer for a very reasonable price. This might have been due to his base being missing but either way I jumped on it and the ‘free’ engineer was a bonus.

It did however mean I had to do something with the lack of base. He was still attached to the ‘sprue’ so I was able to put him in a slotta base but he stood half an inch up. This was fixed by, with my normal ‘attention to detail and foresight’, wedging half a ton of greenstuff onto the base.

Yep my paint board does contain half a dozen projects part painted

If i’d been thinking at all, I would have at least tried to sculpt it into stone. Because I winged it, I instead wedged a number of elf heads onto the base and then added static grass.

Annoyingly, after taking the photo, I realised I needed to wash the beard ornaments

The next character finished for the challenge was the second of my Waystalkers for my Wood Elves. I kept the paint scheme almost identical to the first, which was quite deliberate as the idea was they were the left and right hand of Haldrin Stormlight. The twin deaths.

I did try to up my game with him, adding a lighter green drybrush on the leaves and then far more highlights (the final picture shows the difference). He also got a red sprite rather than blue.

 

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Army Showcase – Luke B’s Warriors of Chaos

One of my club mates is a complete fan of oldhammer models and I recently had the pleasure of being invited to his (for our Bloodbowl league game). Apart from loving the original Tony Ackland art he had, the framed A3 Gary Chalk slaves of darkness artwork in the wall and the drawers of tumbled together oldhammer figures, I finally managed to get some shots of his warriors army, that he had on display on top of a cabinet.

I hope you enjoy!

If you’re curious, the banners are both drawn and then painted by him.

Hobby Update – Zurrock the Mighty

Some time last year I took advantage of one of Mierce miniatures clearance sales. I picked up a number of metal models, mainly standard bearers for various units. I don’t mind getting metal miniatures for these size creatures as I find the Mierce resin to be a bit too brittle and easy to break (though it works well on their larger monsters).

Having been using a pre_painted older Wargor with back banner as the bsb for a while, I thought I should pull my finger out and actually get this figure painted ready for my semi-final game!

I kept the colour scheme similar to the rest of the army but gave him a unique tabard colour. I did try and freehand something on the banner but screwed it up so royally that I ended up painting over it. This was even with me trying to copy a design I’d drawn onto paper! Instead (to make up for my abysmal lack of freehand skills) I gave him some warpaint.

Hobby Update – Wood Elves (neglected model)

I’ve had this model sitting on my paint board since around June last year so I think it can fall under the neglected model title (even if that time frame is a good decade shorter than some of the other models I have) . I’ve periodically slapped a bit of paint onto it but in the last week I set myself the task of finishing this model and embargoed any other related hobby activity (buying/building/painting etc.) until I’d completed it!

With the restrictions in place it motivated me to get my arse in gear!

So I present Haldrin Stormlight (Glade lord/captain on great stag).

A couple of things you may note on the pictures:

Thanks to some advice from Azazel on alternative products (after my unsuccessful use of the GW Mordheim tufts with my normal static grass base on the Aggressors), I picked up some Army Painter meadow flowers. It was great advice and broke up the normally solid green base. I really like the product and would definitely recommend them.

You’ll also notice two duplicate pictures at the end of the post. But are they?

Ok the model is the same but in other news, I’ve finally bought myself a light box and the second photo is the first I’ve taken with it. This was after a recommendation on another blog I follow: St Andrew’s Wargaming. I had a quick chat with him and a few days later I received a TFJ ‘photo tent’ through the post. At only £16.99 it seemed a total bargain and if it didn’t work out, it was cheap enough that I wouldn’t be too annoyed (hell it was cheaper that most of the single miniatures that GW sell nowadays). So going forward i’ll be trying it out for all my hobby posts and I might give it a proper review once I’ve used it for a bit. The one thing I did notice straight away is there is less light reflection.

New light box

Hobby Update – Space Marines – Squad: March!

You can normally tell when I’ve not managed to get any game time in, as there seems to be a direct correlation between no games and my hobby output.

This is the case at present, though I do have a game on Friday. Unsurprisingly this is 40k. Why unsurprisingly? Well the second correlation I’ve noted is not only does my hobby output increase but it is normally directly related to the game system I’m about to play, especially if it is a new(ish) system for me. It’s probably the big kid / new shiny toy syndrome. It happened with Blood Bowl when I painted the Norse team in record time and it’s happening again with 40k.

It helps that my paint scheme is rather simple and it will be interesting to see if the enthusiasm to paint Marines continues after my first game of 8th ed.

It also helps that Azazel keeps throwing out challenges to motivate me, in this case ‘Squad: March!‘ and I’m pleased that I’ve actually managed to complete another one well in advance of the end of the month.

But ramblings over, this is my first completed unit of original Marines.

The eagle eyed of you will note the missing shoulder pad on one of the models. No idea how I missed that! I’ll have to dig around in my bits box. You’ll also note the differing base sizes. I have two units of Devastators that each came with the different sized bases and I just painted the ones with the load-out (las Cannon’s) I wanted to use on my upcoming game.

Paul Bonner illustrations

I have to admit that I really like black and white sketches and pictures. It’s probably a throwback to my utter lack of talent in that respect.

Whilst I can’t claim to have any kind of extensive knowledge on the ‘fantasy’ art world, there are a couple of artists who jump out at me.

If I were to name my favourite fantasy artist it would probably be Alan Lee. His work in the Tolkien world is just phenomenal. It just bought the whole world to life and it was always his b&w illustrations that attracted me the most. His art is Tolkien’s world personified.

However some of the earliest works that caught my eye and influenced my childhood were from Paul Bonner. His sketches regularly appeared in White Dwarf towards the end of the 3rd Edition fantasy and there was a certain crispness to them and the expressions captured seemed so much more realistic that other artists.

So with that preamble our of the way, I’ll share some of my favourite illustrations from him. Ones you rarely see when searching online for his work (including a sketch of elves. I mention this as he is renowned for rarely drawing/painting them).

The picture of Muenchbek is probably one of my all time favourites but I also love the wardancer in the final picture.

I’ll have to throw out a mention to davekay and his scent of a gamer blog who inspired the idea for this post as it is definitely not my normal fare.

Hobby Update – Space Marines

++++++ Report to Inquisitor Marleck on the Shadow Sentinel Librarius ++++++

For hundreds of years it has been assumed that the Chapter lacked the gene required to manifest psychic powers (this time fueling rumours that they were an offshoot of the Black Templars). This opinion was furthered by the number of Culexus assassins that had been seen operating in tandem with the Sentinels in an apparent effort to neutralise enemy psykers.

It is this agents opinion, that this is another example of the misdirection constantly employed by the Chapter. Although he cannot offer hololith evidence, this agent has personally observed at least one Sentinel manifesting powers from the Librarius Discipline. Whether this Marine is an aberration in the Chapter or one of many Librarians rarely seen, he cannot confirm.

Of probably greater importance is the question of why have they gone to such lengths to conceal their presence.

++++++ Report ends. Sector agent Lucian Grite ++++++

The latest edition to the Shadow Sentinels is one of the very rare Chapter Librarians.

I kept the paint scheme in the same simple green and silver but added a bit more detail, a completely unblended variation of colours on his hand because, you know, that’s what psychic powers being cast look like… I also experimented on the sword (unsuccessfully) using the Nihilakh Oxide after I had edged it etc. with the various blues. At present I’ve not gone back to clean that up but will do so.