On the Painting Table... Beastlord on a Tuskgor Chariot - part 1

My latest work-in-progress, a Tuskgor Chariot fit for a Beastlord.

The chariot consists of an Orcs and Goblin Characters set chariot with its wheels replace with a Chaos chariot's wheels. The boars are Armoured Boars from Pendraken and the Beastman Charioteer is from the Hounds of Khorne character that comes with the hounds in the pack. I've added parts from the Chaos Chariot to give the chariot a more nasty feel to it, something more befitting of a brutal Beastlord.

The actual Beastlord will be a Beastman Character from Eureka Miniatures which I am painting up separately to the chariot.

The Children of the Forest... Warmaster Beastmen, part 2

Whilst the Chaos Warhounds are away getting rebased, I thought I would show off my recent reinforcements to bolster the Beastmen army. These new additions come from the Arkham Horror board game series of models.

These beasties come on a thick base, but can easily be removed from that base. I used a pocket knife to cut under the base of the model, separating it from the base. I then found a suitable flat base and glued the models to these. Once dry, I sanded the bases, but I have yet to flock them.

I can't remember which models are which, but the ones below I believe are a Star Vampire (left) and a Shoggoth (right).

I have been fortunate enough to get a number of Harpy Units on eBay over the years also. Saved me a lot of painting and there are some excellent paint jobs done by those I bought them from. You can see these units below.

Here is a close-up of the four nasties in question, affectionately dubbed (from left to right) as Snotty, Slimy, Shouty and Trevor.

In the game, their stats will likely be Chaos Spawn for Snotty, Slimy and Shouty, whilst Trevor will probably use the Giant stats or some house-rule stats for the Jabberslythe.

These mini's are a pretty good fit for Chaos style nasties and add some variety to the monsters available to the Beastmen.

On the Painting Table... Battleboard Swamps

Time for an update on how the GW Battleboards are going. I wanted to paint in the areas of the board where all the skulls are located in the depressions and turn these into small swamps.

Initially I covered over the skulls by mixing glue with some water and poring a small amount into the depression. I then sprinkled sand over the area. I was careful to ensure that I only covered the skulls. When this all dried, I went through the painting process I posted about early on in this blog.

Now came the hard part. How can I make the swamps. Seeking advice from my local friendly GW and HobbyCo staff, a plan was hit upon. Use 'Ardcoat!

A word of advice, make sure you try this on something else before doing it on the battle-board.

Firstly I glued the tuffs of grass to the board in areas within the swamp. When dry, I added a few drops of blue ink and twice as many green ink to the 'Ardcoat in its bottle. I mixed this up and pored it into the depressions. When it dried, there were a few areas where the 'Ardcoat had cracked. A second coat over the swamp covered these cracks and gave extra depth to the swamp. Here's the result:

 

You get a nice reflective shine with the 'Ardcoat.

The varying depths of the depression, and the transparency of the 'Ardcoat work together really well to give the look of variable depth of a swamp. The green/blue ink colour mix to the 'Ardcoat also gives a great colour.

The Beastmen Cometh.... Warmaster Beastmen

It's been a while since I worked on my Warmaster Beastmen army. One of my many projects that was half way completed when I got distracted by something else. You know how it is.

Anyway, I have recently been inspired to get back to it in preparation for an upcoming game based on a scenario in an old White Dwarf Magazine. To motivate me to get back into the project, I thought I would post a few photos of the Beastmen hoard. Kick me into action to get some more units done before the game. Don't want to be short on units when it comes to facing off against the combined might of the Empire and Bretonnians.

Here's a shot of the hoard so far.

A close-up of the left flank.

The centre.

Right flank.

Close up of the Pendraken Mini's "Jim" as a Beastlord and a Minotaur Shaman.

Two other commanders, the Doombull and Warhoof.

Some of the Ungor Raider units. I haven't decided if I should rebase them to be four models per base rather than the three I currently have. A unit of Razorgor (mini's from Reaper Mini's) can be seen in the back.

Two units of Minotaur's and three of Centigors.

Currently I have five units of Gors. I've used Warmaster Khorne units as these not only look excellent but painted up the right way they look very much like the new GW Beastmen Gors.

The Warhounds were based the long way as per the original Warmaster rulebook. However, I'm thinking of rebasing them lengthways like the Battle of Five Armies wargs and other wolf units. If I base them three mini's to a stand, I will gain and extra unit, making a total of four units. Need to decide this soon before the game.

Another close-up of the Warhounds and Centigors.

 

So need to rebase some of these units and flock the bases. Also need to churn out a few units of Bestigor, a Gor Shaman or two, and a Beastlord mounted on a Tuskgor Chariot.

 

Time to get cracking!

Klingon Task Force - Star Trek A Call to Arms

Finished my first Klingon Task Force for Star Trek, A Call to Arms.

The Task Force consists of two Birds of Prey, one Destroyer, one Light Cruiser and a D4 Cruiser.

I used the following painting process for these:

• Basecoat in Chaos Black spray,
• Wetbrush is Straker Green being careful not to paint over the depressed areas of the model so that the underlying Chaos Black basecoat remains visible in the recesses,
• Wash heavily in Badab Black ink,
• Drybrush in Straker Green,
• Paint warp engines in Ice Blue,
• Paint Impulse Engines in Evil Sunz Scarlet,
• Paint bridge window in Evil Sunz Scarlet,
• Paint raised areas in Warpstone Glow,
• Do some highlights in Straken Green again

Star Trek - the Official Starships Magazine - Deep Space Nine (DS9)

Whilst searching through eBay, I came across the Star Trek the Official Starships Magazine. Looking at the models I saw one for DS9.

I already have a Furuta DS9 model that I intend to use as a smaller Cardassian base station and battle station. But I wanted something larger that I could use for a Cardassian starbase and the actual DS9. I wasn't too sure of the size of the Star Trek the Official Starships Magazine in comparison to MicroMachines, Starline 2400 and Bergstrom models but I took the plunge anyway and bought one.

Turns out its darn near perfect for what I am after. Here are some shots of the model with MicroMachines, Attack Wing, Bergstrom and the Furuta DS9 alongside for comparison.

Its metal, cleanly sculpted and well painted. You can take it out of the box and use it right away.

 

Its worth noting that if you just place the model on the table, the other mini's on their stands sit at the right height to look like they are docked at the station.

Nice!



Klingon D4

I finally got some time to catch up on some painting. So I decided to paint up one of Studio Bergstrom's excellent D4 cruisers.

These ships fall naturally into the Klingon style of ship building and have a sleek look and feel to them. The size of the miniature fits nicely with MicroMachines and the Starline 2400 series. They are an excellent addition to my A Call to Arms take on the new J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot. Here are some more shots of the completed mini.