My Painting and Modelling

All fo the miniatures in these posts belong to John Ashton and Heresy & Heroes. So enjoy them! I enjoyed painting them all.

Legions Imperialis – Painting Tiny Tanks is EPIC!

Posted by johnnya10 on 18/11/2023
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Product Reviews. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

Hello hobby pals! Games Workshop were good enough to send me a copy of the new big box full of tiny toy soldiers – Legions Imperialis (and some smaller boxes of equally tiny toy soldiers), and I have been having plenty of fun painting the miniest of minis. So today, I’m going to show you some of the mini-projects I’ve been working on.

legions imperialis box

I could take you through the rules and the like, but others will be doing that who are far better than me at such things. And aside from a few Nostalgia pangs, I don’t know what I’d really comment on. It looks like a really solidly worked game to me. I love that it brings Aeronautica Imperialis and Adeptus Titanicus together with the tanks and little people, and that its name gives my spellchecker as much of a headache as those previous titles. It even comes with whippy sticks, just to give your nostalgia feels an extra bit of excitement. Therefore, I shall leave the rules to the experts and focus on putting brush to plastic with a selection of fun things that I’ve been putting together. Now, where to start…

The Glorious IXth Legion

Well, I wasn’t going to not paint some Blood Angels, was I? I had lots of fun working on this small force, but I certainly have plans to expand it. And if you’re interested in how I painted them, I have an article on How To Paint Blood Angels ready for you.

legions imperialis blood angels

The tiny Contemptors were a highlight for sure. Long time fans of the blog will know that the bigger versions of these are among my favourite miniatures ever, and the tiny ones had me grinning and sawing “Awwwwww…” quite a bit. You need four of them for a full talon and honestly, it was a treat to work on each. Alongside those, a full 20 man tactical squad and 10 terminators rounded out the Infantry element before I started work on the command squad.

legions imperialis blood angels command squad

So can you do freehand work on such a small set of models? Damn right you can. And did I give my captain here a leopard skin cloak? You know I did! All of the tiny men were so much fun to paint, and what I really like about this is the sort of instant gratification you get. If I were painting 10 terminators at Heroic Scale, that would take me more than a month, most likely – maybe even two. These guys took me less than an afternoon, and I’m happy with them. That is one of the true joys of Epic scale painting.

legions imperialis blood angels tanks

And for a bit of armour, I’ve got a couple of Kratos tanks armed with their plus-size melta guns, and a lone rhino to help the command squad get around. The tanks were so much fun to put together and as fast to paint as the infantry too. They look amazing as well. Am I tempted by a full on Battle of Tallarn build? You better believe it.

What About the Leftovers on the Sprue?

legions imperalis shattered legions

As I was building and painting my Blood Angels, I noticed that I was left with quite a few spares – a nice touch that allows you to do alternative builds. But what to do with the leftovers? I decided to have some fun and put together a little base of Shattered Legions marines. It gave me a chance to paint some different colours, and I might use them as a fun little addition to some narrative games. I painted the base for these a little different – to represent the Dropsite Massacre, but if you liked the bases I did for my Blood Angels, I’ve got a tutorial on how I based my Legions Imperialis miniatures for you to enjoy too.

A Bit of Nostalgia

For many, many years now, I’ve kept hold of my ancient Citadel Combat cards. They’re a fantastic resource of Oldhammer paint schemes and ideas, and the miniatures remind me of my childhood too. When I found out that I’d be getting the new Legions Imperialis Baneblades, I knew exactly how I wanted to paint it up…

retro baneblade paintscheme

It’s such a treat recreating the old with the advantages of the new. I had to make my own little flag (plasticard and paperclips are versatile things), but otherwise, it was pretty easy to map the whole thing over. I updated the painting style a bit, but it’s again mainly just drybrushing and contrast paints with a few minor details picked out here and there. As more bits and pieces come out for this game, I may well do a few more of these.

legions imperialis baneblade

And speaking of old models, as I have a small but growing force of old-fashioned epic Blood Angels, I thought I could give you a good sense of the scale shift. The older stuff is a lot smaller than the new things, and yet those old bases seem to be a lot more intrusive in size, but that might just be the Goblin Green and flock. It’s interesting to see though, and you can rest assured that the quality of the new stuff is lightyears ahead of the older bits and pieces.

old and new epic scale warhammer

If you want some tips and tricks to painting miniatures at this smaller scale, I’ve got an article on that too.

The Future…

Well, I’ve still got a lot of Blood Angels to paint, but I’ve got a few other things I’d like to try too. I’ve been playing around with some test paint jobs for other legions already, and as mentioned, I’ve got some retro-inspired paint jobs I’d like to try out as new models get released.

legions imperialis rhinos

Other than that, well, I have about six Warhound Titans now so I guess I should start thinking about those at some point. And I have no idea what I’ll do with my Solar Auxilia, so I’ll have to have a think there.

What I want to leave you with is that I am having so much fun with these models. The scale is challenging, yet freeing and easy to work with. The game looks like a tactical dream, and I can’t wait to see folks playing some truly massive games with all the planes and titans… This feels like the first really “Fun” with a capital “F” games that have come out for a while, and with the miniatures being so much fun to paint, I can’t wait for more of it. Onwards!

Skaven Deathmaster – The Ratsassin That Helped Me Paint Different

Posted by johnnya10 on 05/05/2023
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: . Leave a comment

Hello friends! I’ve finished another model – quite the run I’m on at the moment. I have just completed work on this Skaven Deathmaster and it’s a model I’ve been using to force myself to think a little differently about how I paint. As I share these typically “not-awful-but-not-that-good” photos, let me tell you about how I approached this miniature…

skaven deathmaster

The first thing to cover is NMM. Non-Metallic Metals are not something I’ve ever spent too much time worrying about, but it’s on my list to add this technique as a new arrow to my painting quiver. I think I did an ok job on the dagger and throwing weapon, but it was on the smaller areas I think I need to improve. Small spikes and rivets – my work there needs some effort. Oh, and the gold hilt on the rusted sword in the foreground turned out nicely, I thought. Still room to improve though.

skaven assassin

I decided to change up the way I paint rust too. I’ve gone for a more limited set of colours, and I’ve applied them using a stippling technique to illustrate the glorious randomness of iron-oxide. I went really controlled with the sword, but for the gate and ring on the wall, I was purposefully a little more sloppy (just to see what happened) and I’m happy with all of it – I look forward to putting that to more work in the future. The cloth on our ratsassin friend here is done using much subtler methods, relying a tad more on natural shadows, and trying to really punch up the highlights and get some high contrast in the right places.

skaven miniature

I’m really happy with his tail too – the blending on those subtle pinks came out really nicely, and the red bits of armour came out a treat too. For said armour, I chose to use fewer colours than I usually do for my solid reds, but I used thinner paints and lots of drawing pigment to where I wanted the highlights to pop.

poisoned blade miniature

And there you have it really. As well as showing off a miniature I’m proud of, I wanted to write this post to encourage you to try new things in your painting too. I know that I can very easily get stuck in a bit of a rut, and that my enthusiasm for painting suffers a bit as a result, but trying new things is a great way to get your creative juices flowing again. Having a bit of fun, and not really worrying about “failure” (which, btw, isn’t a thing as long as you’re enjoying yourself), is one of the nicest things you can do for yourself in this hobby. I hope you are having fun with your mini painting too.

I’ve got some really fun projects coming up, beyond this stabby skaven fella, and I’m really looking forward to sharing those with you in the future. Onwards!

Frenzi Da Gobbo – Miniatures as Souvenirs

Posted by johnnya10 on 23/04/2023
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Uncategorized. Tagged: . Leave a comment

Hello hobby people. I want to introduce you to the latest miniature to come off my personal painting production line. This is Frenzi Da Gobbo and I’m very happy with him, and we have a tale to tell you…

old metal goblin painted in a florentine fashion

Now, for Frenzi’s part of the tale, I can only speak to the last few months. I purchased him In Florence, Italy, from a delightful little hobby store called Stratagemma which you can find very close to the Duomo in what is possibly my favourite Italian city. It’s a treasure trove for “Oldhammer” minis, board games, Magic cards, dice, etc, and if I had a limitless baggage allowance and a couple of extra thousand euros, I’d have snaffled up the entire shop. But without said luggage space, and with a baby on the way for me (arriving almost imminently) I restrained myself and picked up a single, metal goblin. And boy has he been a treat to paint.

Stratagemma florence
oldhammer cabinet

I wanted to pay homage to Stratagemma, Florence and Italy when I painted this miniature, and that’s what I’ve done here. His robes are the purple and red that I associate with Fiorentina, Florence’s football team. The yellows represent Stratagemma’s logo, as seen above, and you’ll notice the wings and skulls on his staff are distinctly “Il Tricolore” inspired. Even the potion on his belt is blue (squint and you might see it) – the royal colour of Italy, still used by the Italian national sports teams to this day. Oh, and the name of course – Frenzi – a play on Florence’s Italian name “Firenze”. I think I got enough Italian seasoning in there, right?

back of the goblin with snail on base

But as to the tale I was talking about earlier, like I said, Frenzi has been with me for only a few months, so where he was before, I have no idea. But at some point, presumably decades ago, he made the trip from Nottingham out to Italy, and I have since brought him home with me. Who first purchased him from GW? Who painted him (he’d been stripped when I bought him but there was still a hint of old paint here and there)? How long had he been waiting there for me to buy him? What a life this little metal goblin may have lived.

My story is easier to tell, though probably not as interesting (so I’ll skip it here – you can read the “About” section of the blog if you’re that interested), however it did all lead me to walk into that delightful hobby shop in Florence and pick up this goblin that I have now completed. And while I did buy myself a fridge magnet and a football scarf, Frenzi Da Gobbo will always be my favourite memento of this particular trip to Florence.

italian themed goblin

So I suppose that it got me wondering; have you ever bought a miniature while on holiday to paint up as a souvenir of your trip? I think it’s a rather nice idea and certainly beats a lot of other souvenir alternatives that are usually just tat that falls apart or gathers dust. And the funny thing about our niche and supposedly unpopular hobby is that every city you visit around the world will likely have one shop that sells some sort of miniature. If you’ve ever decided to paint up a mini as a memento of a trip, do let me know in the comments below.

I also want to say thank you to Alberto Font – the legendary painter of goblins whose exceptional work was very useful for helping me to work out what each tiny detail was. I wish I could paint as well as him, but thankfully images are on the internet and they certainly do help to clear things up! Go check out his stuff if you can find it.

And I hope you like the little snail on the base – that’s a real Scottish sea-snail shell on there 🙂

Anyway, I hope you enjoy Frenzi. I certainly had a blast painting him up, and whenever I gaze upon him, I shall be transported back to sunny Florence. And the next time I find myself in foreign climbs, I shall do my best to pick up another miniature to paint up in tribute to my trip. Onwards 🙂

The Lion – I painted a *shudders* Dark Angel (and I liked it)

Posted by johnnya10 on 15/04/2023
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: , . 4 Comments

lion el johnson miniature

*For full effect, the above title should be sung to the tune of Katy Perry’s I Kissed A Girl…

Now, many hobbyists who know me, know exactly how I feel about the 1st Legion and their successor chapters – I hate them. I hate their stupid green armour, their silly secret stuff, their soppy robes, and everything else about them. They’re just so… extra. In my list of best to worst Space Marine Legions, I had them at 20th. Behind the Word Bearers. Behind the two Legions we know nothing about even! It all comes from my time back in 2nd Edition when my beloved, glorious Blood Angels had to share their codex with them. That just wasn’t fair.

So when GW very kindly sent the new The Lion and Retinue box to me, it was with some trepidation that I opened it. And what I have to tell you next will be shocking, upsetting and a betrayal of all my aforementioned beliefs; it’s a really cool model.

the lion without paint

Ugh. Yuk. Did I just say that about about a Dark Angel? Well, yes, I did. This miniature is actually quite fantastic and I had an absolute blast painting him up. I suppose I should tell you about that process but I just need to choke back the rising bile in my gullet first.

When I first saw the miniature in the flesh (or plastic) I got a real Arthurian Knight sort of feel from it. It fits with the idea of the Lion’s return that he should be striding forth like an avenging, armour-clad knight, with ideas of chivalry, heraldry and holy vows at the forefront of his mind. So that led me to the decision that rather than paint his armour green (or even bone-coloured), I would go with a metallic Iron look. Green would be an accent, and details would be wrought in brass (which looks like gold but you’re more likely to feel ok about taking it to a fight). To contrast the silver armour, and stick with the lore a little, the Emperor’s shield would be a faded gold, also representing the decaying decadence of the Imperium; a marked difference to the workmanlike Steel of the rest of his garb.

lion el johnson striding

The only rule I had is that I didn’t want to use Red anywhere on a model that was primarily accented with Green, as I do hold that the two colours can very easily look a little too Christmassy when put together. So glowing eyes and gems would have to be blue, and the wax of the purity seals black – this all helped to give the model a very natural, and even understated look. 

lion el johnson cape

This was a remarkably easy model to tackle really and the simple scheme meant that I wanted the base to have some punch. And as I had so much gold and silver, a bit of bronze felt like the right way to go. I’ve been doing this a lot recently because that weathered bronze is so simple and satisfying to do. 

So there you have it. I enjoyed painting a Dark Angel and I’ve admitted that it’s a pretty awesome model. I may need to paint Commander Dante next just to reaffirm my beliefs that red angels and far better than green ones. 

the emperor's shield and lion el johnson

If you want the challenge of painting a very big Space Marine, I’d pick this one over Bobby G too – less tactical rock, more cape. Does he need to come in a box with some Bladeguard Vets? Probably not, but there is something thematic about it and this is just the limited edition version as I understand it. Another great piece of work from GW. Just don’t ever remind me that I said that about a Dark Angel. Ugh. Onwards.

Back to the Underhive!

Posted by johnnya10 on 25/03/2023
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: . 1 Comment

I am back again! I know I said last time that you should expect more posts from me and that didn’t happen, but I’m back now and the hobby mojo is strong with me. What’s more, it has taken me back to the Underhive and so I’ve been working on some new Dramatis Personae for Necromunda, including this special lady…

Lady Haera 13th daughter of Lord Helmawr Necromunda

First off, I have to thank GW for sending Lady Haera in my direction. I had loads of fun getting grimy and gribbly with this miniature, and it inspired me to start creating a few more things for the Underhive too. I kept her very dark and wanted to push the decaying Imperium theme with her look. The weathered bronze armour, oil washes all over the place, the rusty floor and minimal lighting… it was loads of fun.

And it’s a really nice kit to put together too – mostly very easy and almost no mould lines that I had to worry about. Well done to those at Forge World working in the resin mines for getting this one so spot on.

But as I said, she also inspired me to work on a few other creations too. Let me introduce you to my Beastmaster…

Necromunda beastmaster

I am a firm believer that every miniature is a Necromunda miniature and I’ve had this idea since the Cursed City box arrived with me (it’s just taken me this long to do anything about it). Give him a gun and a cattle-prod and those beasties around hime become potential companions for Hive Scum and Nobles alike. What’s more, he has some retro Milliasaurs to keep him company (thanks to @VioletSun on Instagram for those). 

necromunda milliasaurs
necromunda hive scum conversion

And then there’s this sorry so-and-so – a basic Hive Scum/lasp-pistol-for-hire who’s just kickin’ around in his rusty breaches. This guy helped to remind me about how fun it is to just cobble some bits together to make a basic dude, and that really is a joy when it comes to Necromunda. But from little joys, we must now turn our attention to giant horrors. It came from the Sump…

necromunda sump monster conversion

I really like the idea of the Sump. This underground sea, its shores lapping in the perpetual darkness, is home to all sorts of mutated horrors and I think this may be one of the biggest beasts down there (or is he…?). This was so much fun to put together, and I now have a plan for a mad doctor who helps to create these brutes, forging them from the mutants that he can snare in the shallows. 

sump monster

It’s mainly the Vargskyr from that same Cursed City box, but between some ork, dark eldar and AT titan kits (as well as plenty of unknown bits from the bits box) I’ve created a monster who snares his prey with his harpoon gun, and then carves them up with his circular saw. How’s that for grizzly? 🙂

And so I am firmly back in the Underhive and looking forward to creating some more horrors from the depths of the Underhive in the near future. Onwards!

Gorechosen of Dromm – I Painted For Fun!

Posted by johnnya10 on 12/12/2022
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: . 2 Comments

Well, it has been a while, hasn’t it? I actually finished painting something for the first time in absolutely ages, and it’s the Underworlds warband, the Gorechosen of Dromm. I’m happy with them, and after I talk you through the painting of this threesome (saucy), I will give you some insight as to why I’ve been a little slow with the brushes of late. Now, how ‘bout dat Blood God…

gorechosen of dromm

I wanted to paint this warband for a number of reasons. First off, I wanted an Underworlds warband because I haven’t had a viable one in ages, and I’d quite like to play a few games of it. I’m not really playing many games right now, so having a good excuse to roll some dice is something I’ve been hankering for. I picked Dromm and his pals because when I first saw Drom himself, I was instantly reminded of the art of Frank Frazetta and I wanted to use a palette very much inspired by this artist of legend as I set about this project. Dromm just looks like a Conan villain to me, so lots of warm browns and subtler shades of oranges and reds were a starting point, though I did turn up the Warhammer-ish-ness a bit too.

dromm, wounder of worlds

I started painting them ages ago, but as I’ve just not had too much time to paint of late, they’ve taken me a lot longer than I would have liked to finish. Thankfully, with the England cricket team in Pakistan at the moment, and Test matches kicking off at 5am or thereabouts UK time, I’ve had an excuse to be up early, and sit quietly with my paints. 

the gorehulk

The whole gang is a tribute to Khorne with a nod to Frazetta, and I’ve been continuing to experiment with NMM and playing around with the effects I can achieve based around this technique – I don’t use it much so I’m still getting to a place I like with it and as I’m painting these for me, and not a competition, I just played around with stuff. The big dude looked like he needed a lot of fresh blood on his hands, so I went over the top there. Dromm should have glowing eyes and the shiniest of brass, while the little dude has daemonically red skin. I had loads of fun just playing around with these, and I haven’t really painted for fun in ages, this was incredibly cathartic. Are contrast paints good for creating lighting effects? Let’s find out! Painting horns/bone is boring, so can I just do it simply and quickly? I sure can! This was an exercise in fun, and I loved it.

skullgrinder herax

As many will know, I spent a lot of time preparing for Golden Demon at the start of the year, and while I had a fun, but ultimately disappointing time at that event, due once again to my own over-inflated understanding of my abilities, coming back with another pin was a little, well, disappointing. Now, the standard this year was insane, and everyone I spoke to, from first time entrants to seasoned veterans said the same thing, and my one thing that earned a pin, maybe in years past, it could have snuck a bronze, but there was no chance of that and while others have pushed their standards to new heights, I still feel like I’m playing catch up. What’s more, I was going to do a special podcast about Golden Demon but everything i recorded of myself came off as sanctimonious crap, so I shelved that after working hard on it too. I was a little low, but painting these guys has helped lift me up a bit.

What’s more, I won’t be able to attend 2023’s Golden Demon event due to prior commitments, so I don’t have to worry about pushing myself like that for at least another year, so I need my hobby to give me a fun kind of fizz in the meantime, and this was perfect for that.

And it has got me enthused to do more, which is great. There are some oldhammer pieces I want to get to, a Kill Team project for more small games, and plenty more Necromunda goodness that i need to get from my mind onto my desk. So I’m sorry I’ve been a bit quiet with painting of late, but I will be doing more from now on – I promise. Time to have fun with paints again. 

Anyway, that’s my ramble on painting done, and I hope you like the Gorechosen. As soon as I have some games with them, I’ll try and post some stuff to my instagram (@my_life_in_miniatures) and I’m also now on Mastodon (because fuck Elon) as @HeresyHeroes@warhammer.social – come find me and say hi! 

Anyway, I hope you’re looking forward to a fun festive period, and I hope all of your Christmas wishes come true if Christmas is your sort of thing. Until next time, onwards!

Leagues of Votann: Einhyr Champion

Posted by johnnya10 on 17/09/2022
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: . Leave a comment
leagues of votann einhyr champion

I painted a Squat! I’ve never done that before. Firstly I’d like to thank G-Dubs for sending this my way with plenty of time to get at least one mini actually painted, and while I would like to have done more, I did have that fun Goliath Mauler to do as well (make sure you check out that post) and a lot of Golden Demon prep is happening right now too. But I had so much fun working on this chap, I can assure you that more will follow eventually.

squat character 40k

Now, I could have gone with one of the colour schemes in the book for my Einhyr Champion, but I decided, as we’ve not seen a Squat (or Leagues of Votann member as they are these days) in 40k for a while (not counting all the ones that have popped up in Necromunda), I went full late 80s/early 90s. I channelled not only some old Squat artwork from the days of Epic, but also, apparently, the Manta Force toys I had when I was a young’un (look ’em up if you want to see some sweet space ships). And the League symbol looks unerringly like the old Fila logo, which was not intended, but that too is very much of this era.

einhyr champion with axe

The model itself is a lot of fun to put together with minimal fuss. You get some options to play around with, and the base certainly lends this stocky sod a bit more height, so all is well there. I went with the axe because I had this idea to do a white-marble-looking axe blade, and while it’s not my best marble work, I’m happy enough with how it came out.

I would say, if you like putting together Space Marines, you’ll likely have a lot of fun with the Leagues of Votann stuff. While a different aesthetic, that heavy armour with lots of plates and overlapping pieces definitely give off an armoured super-soldier kind of vibe. Not to mention all of the bolters too of course.

league of votann champion

I actually like the colour scheme I’ve come up with here and should I do an army of these fellas, I’d likely stick to this. The bright primary colours can definitely help them to stand out, and that nod to the Squats of old also helps to embed them in the setting for me.

squat hq choice

What do I think of the rest of the army? I really like the update to the trikes – those hover bikes are very cool, and their vehicles have quite a unique look too. The basic dudes and other squads are great, though I’d like to see some more characters and some more interesting HQ choices – something that GW will no doubt bring us in the future. But yep, as additions to Warhammer 40,000 go, these are a fine one, and I look forward to seeing the variety they bring to the game in the coming months.

And that’s all from me. I need to get back to the Golden Demon prep – not long to go now. But this Champion certainly helped to distract me from that fiddly work, so he gets a thumbs up from me. Onwards!

The Goliath Mauler

Posted by johnnya10 on 17/09/2022
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: , . 3 Comments

Get them engines revvin’ folks! G-Dubs were good enough to send me the brand new Goliath Mauler kit, and I’ve been having a lot of fun getting my Necromunda groove on over the last few weeks. So buckle up, as I show off my brand new wheelz!

goliath mauler

First off, I just want to say that this is the coolest looking “bike” GW have ever brought out. It has that predatory look, an industrial heaviness about it, and it brings a new meaning to the term “Chopper” (or should that be “Crusher”?). It’s a laid back Harley-style killing machine, with a brutal beefcake astride it and I was very excited to get this put together and painted. I should say, the box comes with two, but I’m saving the other in case I want to do something fancy with it one day – I have plans…

necromunda mauler

I’m sure we’re going to see Ork warbosses and Khornate champions riding these machines in the coming weeks, and I for one am looking forward to seeing those conversions, but in the meantime, I’ll talk to you about building it and painting it.

It’s a dream to put together, with very little faff and some well hidden mould-lines too. If you want my advice though, keep the driver and handle-bars separate when painting and affix together when both components are completed. I didn’t do this and made my life a little more difficult than it needed to be. 

ash wastes goliath

I started off with the main chassis first employing a modified version of a favourite rust technique best demonstrated by Pete The Wargamer. Along with the steps he demonstrates in the video, I added some oil washing and some other steps, but it produces a great result when you want something to look rusty and old.

If I was doing this for a compeition, I’d want that engine block to be Chrome, but I’ve never tried that and this is more for my own enjoyment than anyone else’s. I was quite happy that I painted in the speedo and fuel-guage – and of course he’s going hell for leather. 

goliath biker

The ash wastes themselves were painted first (after I made some grooves to illustrate where the tracks and chompy-wheel had bitten into the surface) and then I hit them with some weathering powder. Well, actually I hit most of it with some weathering powder, to illustrate the dustiness of the wastes. That was a lot of fun.

goliath mauler with bolt guns

And that’s more or less all the fun stuff covered. This was a lot of fun, I love the model, and will definitely going back to my 2nd Mauler when I have the time. Onwards!

Praetorii Custos – My Adeptus Titanicus Cerastus Knight Lancer

Posted by johnnya10 on 10/08/2022
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: , . 1 Comment

I finished a model! It’s a rare thing these days so it warrants the exclamation point. Though in fairness, I may go back and make some further tweaks, but for the purposes of this blogpost, we can call it done. Well, 95…ish percent done. Anyway, here’s my brand new Cerastus Knight Lancer for Adeptus Titanicus. He’s called Praetorii Custos and I’m quietly happy with him.

cerastus knight lancer

He’s called Praetorii Custos because that means “Praetorian Guardian” and I gave hime that titl edue to the gold and purple look that I’ve gone for – something Rome’s Praetorian Guard sported when on official duty. It also helped inspire the “P” on the tilting shield, which was very handy as it stopped me trying to paint a skull in that tiny space. Thankfully, I found a larger place to paint a skull.

titanicus knight lancer

I’ve never been much of a fan of the Knight Lancer’s frame-shield, but it’s amazing what you can do with a little bit of plasticard and some careful trimming with a craft knife. Ok, so a skull is a little bit of a lazy option for me, but I tried to go with a bit more detail on this one and I think it paid off quite nicely.

My favourite details, are the “P” on the tilting shield, and the softly glowing red eyes – both made me pretty happy with this one.

adeptus titanicus knight back

Working on something this scale was a great exercise in concentration and restraint. It also gave me an excuse to buy some magnifying glasses and they were a great help (though they did make me feel a bit queasy). They gave me a confidence that I needed to try working on tiny rivets, and an oil wash or two helped in lots of places too – it really hits the lowlights adding definition, and makes everything grimy too.

The purples are Xereus Purple fading up to Genestealer Purple with some of the new Druchii Violet helping with the shadows. All metallics were painted using silvers, and then stained with Contrast paints.

knight lancer

And there you have it really. I’m just chuffed that I managed to finish something really. I might add a bit more dirt and grime here and there, but there won’t be too much extra going on. Well, there are a couple of metal patches I could do with tidying up. But I’m still calling it all done for the purposes of this blog post. I really enjoyed the Adeptus Titanicus scale and I really do want to do more so I may well dive into that, but I’ve got so many options at the moment, we’ll see.

Oh, and in news not related to the above miniature, I managed to get a ticket to Golden Demon. If you see me there, do say hello. I’ll be the hairy one in the check shirt… that might not narrow it down enough but I will be there somewhere. The tiny knight might be there too. 😉

On to the next project. I have no idea what that project might be, but on we go to it. Until then, Onwards!

john ashton knight lancer

Top 10… shamefully unfinished Warhammer projects on my desk

Posted by johnnya10 on 15/07/2022
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: . 2 Comments

I, like any other hobby butterfly, have started thousands of projects, but how many have I reached the end of? Well, not as many as I’d have liked. In an effort to inspire me, I thought it would be interesting to run through my top 10 unfinished projects that have a Warhammer-flavour to them (because there are plenty of other, non-GW things half finished and that’s a whole other level of pain), and see if something would give me that spark. Instead, it’s all made me feel a little rotten. So much not yet done, that I started doing! Curse you, hobby butterfly! Curse you!

nobody suspects the butterfly

So, let’s look through some of my shameful false-starts, shall we? Will I ever complete any of these? Who knows. Maybe. Maybe not. Their fate is not yet written, which I suppose, is why I’m writing about them here. In no particular order…

P.S. Yes, I do usually start painting minis from the feet up – it feels like you have time to get your eye in on the shins and get good for when you start working on the upper bits that people will actually look at 🙂

1- The Noise Marine

I love Noise Marines, and especially Noise Marines with Guitars – I paid over the odds on Ebay for the original and had lots of fun painting that up, and I was thrilled when the new version was released but I… just couldn’t get on with it. I still think it’s super cool, but it just doesn’t grab me in the same way as the old one did. I know I sound like one of those old fogeys who thinks the days of Lead minis were better (and I do not think that – modern minis are very much preferred here), but that one was always a favourite that the new one had little chance of living up to.

unfinished noise marine

If I were going to revive this project, I’d undercoat it black (rather than grey) and go completely bonkers on every panel.  I’d make it a model of challenges that would result in an eye-bleeding cacophone of colours and patterns. But that takes a lot of time and effort, so we’ll see if i ever get back into that mood.

2- Sister Amalia

I’m a big fans of the resculpted and reimagined Sisters of Battle and I picked up this mini because it does harken back to that classic piece of Karl Kopinski artwork that made the Adepta Sororitas so cool in the first place. But then I made things tricky for myself. I wanted to do an almost metallic dark green for her armour, and give her a pale complexion with red hair because, well, I hadn’t seen that done. Then something else must have dragged my attention away from her, and it was another challenge to myself that I am still yet to complete.

unfinished sister

I’d start again from scratch if I went back to this. The model is too damn cool to not do really, and I’d really like to do her justice. And I think I could nail that green armour now, so maybe this goes a little bit further up the queue. Maybe.

3- The Vostroyan

It has been an age since I worked on a Necromunda Bounty Hunter, and this light conversion (if you can even call it that!) from the Cursed City box was a joy to work on and I was being fancy but then, of all colours to stimy me, it was the red of his coat. I like painting red, and I’d even say I was quite cood at it, but I want to get it right and that just felt like too big an ask here. The idea is that this chap is a Vostroyan who now earns his crust (or crusted corpse starch) in the Underhive and that’s too cool to give up on too!

unfinished necromunda bounty hunter

He’s already high on the list, but I just need to stick my courage to the screwing place (something like that) and get on with him. There’s too much lore in my head that I need this mini to help me express!

4- The Imagifier

Another Sister. This was started as part of my yearly “6 paints” challenges and I never got her finished which is a great shame. Between new projects coming along, and the fact that I was going to be stuck tryingto paint her gun bright blue, I just lost interest.

unfinished imagifier

If I slackened my rules on the colours a little, I think i could have fun with this one. I think the sister above takes precedence though.

5- Word Bearers Contemptor Dreadnought

Talk about overreaching! I was going to, many moons ago, try to paint every single one of the Legion-specific Contemptors and I made a good start with the Iron Warriors and World Eaters dreads getting done in good time. Then I went for the Word Bearers and boy did my enthusiasm fall off a cliff. It’s a lovely model, but, meh, I just don’t like the Word Bearers. That, and it was an expensive project that I’m no longer that interested in completing.

unfinished word bearers dread

If the bug to paint nothing but Contemptors returns, I will for sure get back to this big guy, but right now… I got nothing. Also, as far as pricey projects go…

6- Epic 40k Revival

Ages ago, I found all of my old Epic stuff from when I was a kid, and I decided to try and revive some of it. And I did! Turns out Contrast Paints made it a rather easy job to do actually. But after getting a few little bits done, I just ended up thinking “What’s the point?”. I always wanted a fun Epic scale army, and they were looking good, but it’s not like I’m going to get a game in any time soon. It’s a right weird little project to be honest, and as fun as it could be, it just didn’t excite me.

old epic tanks

For Epic to come back? Or for some friends to get mad into old Epic and ask me to join in a campaign? Anything short of that, and I think these gus will be hanging around unloved for some time to come…

7- Kaptin Badrukk

Oh, Kaptin, my Kaptin! This was going to be a Golden Demon entry a long time ago, but I may have decided to steer clear of the Single 40k Mini category because it’s one of the most fiercely contested. That’s not to say I don’t want to give it a shot, and I may still (albeit with another mini), but despite making a promising start with the greatest Ork pirate ever, I ran into some issues. There is just so much detail on that mini, and it all got a bit overwhelming. I still reckon I can make him look good, but the effort and confidence it would take to do the job I want to do, is monumental. One day…

unfinished ork

In order to get me back on this project, I will have to feel in top form with the brush, and I still need to formulate a plan for some of the finer details. This one is definitely a case of “when” and not “if”, but the aforementioned “when” could still be some way off.

8- Chibi Space Marine

I picked up a few of the 40k Chibis when they came out. I had an urge to give this unique kind of model a go in terms of painting, and I even made a start on trying to turn him into a Blood Angel, but other projects (I’ve said that a few times already, I feel) made me put him to one side. As he’s not part of a game, and more of a painting exercise, it’s hard to throw my passion behind it, but I would still like to give Chibi painting a proper go one day.

unfinished chibi

I dunno. Maybe this will never happen, or maybe, if there’s a Chibi painting competition somewhere one day, I’ll make an effort, but it just feels like there’s no real end goal with this one. An experiement – let’s see if it ever reaches a conclusion.

9- Custodes Character

No, I don’t remember the exact name of this guy. He’s a “Blade-something” right? Maybe? The thing is, if I wanted 1000 points of Custodes, I already have that, but painting this guy came at a time i was trying to make every mini look absolutely perfect and it was this chap that made me realise that that attitude was burning me out. I’d forgotten how to paint for fun, and I was just trying to break myself on every project, and if I’m being honest, it’s still hard not to go down that route. So I guess I already have some mixed feelings about this mini.

unfinished custodes

If however I get into a 40k gaming mood some time soon, I may well want some Golden Boys on my side, and this would be a fine way to kick off that project. Who knows though. We’ll see.

10- Marshcrawler Sloggoth

When the Kruleboyz were released, I fell in love with this mini. He’s so ugly! Utterly hideous and his lot in life is arduous and ghastly, and yet, I see only a fantastic kit full of flavour and fun. I wanted to paint it up for Demon, but after the first step – the skin, I realised I’d made some mistakes and it didn’t look good and, well, there that dream died. I don’t know how to fix the skin without starting over, but maybe that’s what I’ll have to do to get this going again. It was quite heartbreaking really, when I realised I’d got this all wrong.

unfinished kruleboyz monster

For next Demon? Maybe? The one after the upcoming one? It sure would be nice to get this fella all sorted and righted, but I need to up my resurrection game to get him back on track.

Bonus- The Titan

unfinished warhound titan

I am getting sick of seeing these pictures of the only armour panels I’ve worked on. It’s embarrassing at this stage really. I always joked that it would be done by 2024 but I may need to revise that at this stage. It’s just so time consuming, and despite how happy I am with the results of what I’ve worked on already, the actual painting intensity makes me a right grumpy git and I don’t like being that person. But I will get it done one day. Just to prove I can.

And there you have them – 11 in total of my unfinished projects, why they remain incomplete, and what it would take for me to get onto going them again. The muse isn’t really with me right now, but I am working on some projects when I get a moment. Fun things, that I need to stick with for the time being until the funk is lifted. In the meantime, I hope you’re having every success with your own projects, and that you are getting lots of lovely toy soldiers done and finished. Onwards!