Cleansing the palette

I live in a nice apartment in Hamburg which is one of the most green cities in Europe. There is a wonderful row of trees in front of my house and a gigantic chestnut tree in the back. These trees, which I generally like, cause no end of annoyance when it comes to painting. Spring and autumn means no leaves and the general gloom is suddenly replaced with wonderful light. My apartment isn't so dark but when all the windows are fronted by thick foliage it does tend to block a lot of light. The Northern European winters are gloomy enough that the abscence of the leaves makes no difference. I am currently tempted to move my desk to avail of the ligh but in another two or three weeks the leaves will be out and the lightt will be back to normal. A big penthouse apartment would be nice, I suppose we can all dream!

I have been busy working on my Menites and I can confidently say I will have them finished this week. I did a bit of a rush job on the Cleansers but they are done. I gave them white helmets to separate them from the other regiment I have. These are the last unit I will paint for Menoth for a while. I know soon enough something will take my fancy and I won't be able to resist but I really want to get my Circle force up to a level where I am satisfied with them at this point. I will be playing mainly Circle from here on out. I signed up yesterday for some tournaments here in Germany. The first one is in Kiel and has some funky rules. it is forty two points and infantry are restricted to twelve of those points. That really hampers menoth and so the Circle will have to come out and play. I am thinking that an eBaldur list would be good fun to try as I can easily get to tier four despite the restrictions. It doesn't really bring me much in terms of advantage but its nice to be able to say! I assembled the new Baldur model yesterday and attempted to sculpt a more decorative base. I wasn't very succesful. I can't see why the epic warlocks don't get the nice decorative bases like the epic warcasters! I will see today if I can make something more of the base.

Chieftan and Guide

Finally I am done with Idrians. These two were really nice to paint up. I didn't do anything fancy with them. I kept the metallics simple on the chieftan. Mainly Burnished Gold(GW) washed with Ogryn Flesh(GW) and touched up with some of the original base coat. I didn't want to put too much into the armour as I wanted it to look brass/bronze rather than actual gold. Brass is a really hard colour to convey and I always keep it as dark as I can. The guide is pretty much the exact same scheme as the rest of the unit, Khaki(VJ) highlighted with Bleached Bone(GW). I did work a little bit more than usual on the silver metallics, especially the sword. In the photo it has really caught the light but there is some nice highlighting there. It is a little more noticable on the edge on sword towards the back. I am getting my metallic highlight mixes fine and the transitions are okay. I still have no idea where to put the highlights though. I am going to have to find a guide and just copy someone elses work.

The guide model has to be one of my recent favourites. He is really tiny and a little bit tricky to assemble. The pose though is outstanding. The chieftan is fairly standard and while the quality is very high the guide really shines. It would have been fairly simple to just have a standard enough pose for the guide but the fact he is down tracking someone is perfect.

I assembled my final unit today, a second batch of Flameguard Cleansers. The basecoat is almost done for them and I will have them done tomorrow. It looks like if I can power through the six of them I will have all of my menites complete by the end of the month. That's a strange feeling. I think it will be the first time I ever finished all of my models for an army. I know this doesn't preclude me from buying more in the future but its nice to know there is nothing more to do currently! I will need to get some form of a group shot once all is done I guess.

Allies are annoying!

Here are the Idrian Skirmishers complete. I have the attachement almost done too so I guess they will be shown tomorrow. I lost a bit of motivation while doing these as I don't see myself using them soon. Having the Masters looming and playing in the War-Torn Alliances league helped keep me focused on the Protectorate. Now that they are passed I really want to start getting my Circle force going again. So the paintjob suffered on these. They came out fine but not quite to the standard where I would have been happy. I think som of this stems from the fact that I can't actually use them with my mercenaries. I was looking forward to that and when I reviewed the rules I noticed they are only available for Magnus Tier lists. I don't want to collect a Magnus theme list so thats the Idrians relegated to the menites. At least now according to the Chief Lostie I have an awesome unit to use. Trying to figure out exactly who they work best with will be fun.

I have just started taking classes again so time for painting is going to slowly wane as I get more and more work piled on top of me. Hopefully I can keep up a decent pace. I know that my spending on miniatures won't drop so I really don't want to make my lead pile to start spilling out of its neatly stacked shelf. It is not nice to notice that the amount of still boxed Khadorans I have is greater than the stock of my local store...

Idrians almost ready

I am finally recovered from holidays and the ensuing illness! It always seems to be the way, let down your guard and relax then come home sick. I guess it may be due to the copious Beamish and Karhu that was drunk in Ireland and Finland. I did have some good company while sick at least: The Elder Scrolls IV. So rather than painting I got to play that. It is no Skyrim but as my machine can't handle Skyrim its good enough for me. AT least that itch is scratched and I can get back to painting.

This weekend I was able to sit and make some progress on my menites. The first half of my Idrian regiment are done. These were actually fun to paint and nice to ease myself back into the groove with. I didn't put much varied colour into them. I want them to look fairly muted and I think that worked out decently. They are a little different from the rest of the menites but thats how it should be. They are just allies after all. Today I will be finishing up the last four and starting on the attachment. I want to get all of my menites finished this month which is going to be tough. Five days left and thirteen models to go! I think I can manage it.

Severius again

Just like Kreoss this is my second time to paint the Grand Scrutator. I have been using him a lot in the recent Wartorn Alliances league and it is about time I painted this model up. I acquired him as part of a parcel of stuff picked up on Ebay. Its tough to get much stuff on Ebay here in Germany but sometimes I manage to get a few things. Often I have seen things selling on Ebay.de higher than retail rpice which always strikes me as odd. Anyway back to Severius. I think he is one of the menites stronger 'casters. He synergises with everything, especially the stuff I like to use: Templeguard and Zealots. Defenders Ward offers the Templeguard an effective defence of seventeen when they are getting charged. That is right on the cusp of impossible to hit.

I have been attempting to improve my red blends and here is a terrible shot of what I have been doing. Using Vajello Hull Red and mixing it progressively with Blood Red (GW) I have managed to get some really nice transitions. Its good practise for my Khador even though I think I will do them as the 5th Border Legion.

Gdaybloke's fault

So having listened to how good the Idrians are for what seems an age on the Lost Hemisphere podcast I crumbled and bought some. Gdaybloke sings their praises and who am I to argue! The models are nice enough. They split between cloaked and uncloaked which gives the unit a little bit of an odd look on the table. I prefer the cloaked ones. They have a better scout look. The others don't fit quite into the same image. As far as painting goes I am keeping these simple. I don't need to have them fit into the level of painting that my Mercs have. I do want them to look good but not to stand out too much from the rest of the menites. I am going to keep the colours subdued. The sample above shows what I am going for so far. I am really annoyed however that I can't use these in a Mercs list except with Magnus. I should have done my research first so its my own fault. They do seem to be really restricted however which seems odd. I was sure that the Allies would appear more often in Merc lists.

A pair of Guardians

During a crazy phase of Ebay purchases I picked up a Guardian Warjack. The problem I didn't realise at the time was that I already have one. I had completely forgotten as I had never fielded it before. It sat on a shelf in my old home in Ireland and when I was back there last I noticed it and brought it back to Germany. I painted it up last week fairly quickly. It needed some reassembly and pinning but it was already basecoated so it didn't take long to do. The white is not as flat as it appears as usual. I added the weathering chips by hand this time rather than using the salt or hairspray technique. I had to do it this way as the model was already base coated. To be honest it came out as good and maybe I should keep doing it this way? I have some wreck markers that need to be painted and I will use the salt technique on them.

The Guardian is a neglected Warjack. For nine points it really is expensive especially when you consider how effective the Reckoner is for only eight. All that the Guardian offers is an arc node, reach and critical pitch. The Reckoner offers a whole lot more. I really wonder how the Guardian got so mispriced. I think eight would be reasonable and seven too cheap. Maybe the problem is more that the Reckoner is far too cheap! I have been trying to think of a list to use the two of these in. I really can't find one that they would fit in. Arc nodes aren't really as effective as they were in MKI. Reach is good at least, especially on such a slow 'jack. The critical pitch is just an unreliable bonus and I wouldn't figure it in my plans too often.

Objectives done finally

I picked these up when they came out but I only got around to painting them when they were required for the Wartorn Alliances League. I had intended keeping them for terrain pieces but I can always pick up a second set when it comes to that. I think they would look really cool added to some buildings as decoration. I painted them up in the same manner as last weeks obstructions. I like the washed out greyness of the wood. It's more realistic than the typical rich wood colour I see used.

I was a little disappointed when these didn't come with some cards. I think it would have been great if they were given rules like the objectives in Steamroller 2012 if not given those rules directly. ;aybe in the future something like that will be included in the box. I do hope that PP keep up making things like this. Especially some terrain pieces!

The Kreoss Project: part 6

It has been a long while since I made any progress with this project. However in my recent fervour to complete my menites I have pulled out the Grand Exemplar and painted him up. Everyone tells me that he is great but I just don't see it. The same upkeep abilities don't present themselves and I will really miss Lamentation. He doesn't boost his force to the same degree that pKreoss does. The Castigate spell stops arc nodes but not channeling so things like the gallows grove and spell martyrs ignore this. Chasten removes enemy upkeeps on the models hit. Again not as effective as Lamentation. The feat is good, especially with such an effective melee army. It really seems to be his shining ability. I guess I will have to try him out more often on the table to see how he works!

This week I am having holidays in Ireland so plenty of Beamish/Guinness will be drunk. The Irish Masters was great fun and once I get back to Germany I will write up a report.

Kreoss for the Masters

I already have a Kreoss model painted but as I am missing his staff somewhere I decided to use that as an excuse to paint up the variant pose I had picked up. I also need this fellow for the Irish Masters I am attending over the weekend. I won't do well in it as I am just not that competitive a player. It is still going to be fun. Kreoss is one of my staple 'casters and I want to stick with what I know. The list is also one that I use a lot. I don't think it is especially brilliant or anything but I am familiar with everything contained within. I guess that there are a few changes I could make to improve the competitiveness. The zealots for instance could be exchanged with deliverers for instance. The list I will use is:

High Exemplar Kreoss (*5pts)
* Revenger (6pts)
* Reckoner (8pts)
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Holy Zealots (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Holy Zealot Monolith Bearer (2pts)
Knights Exemplar (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Temple Flameguard (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Temple Flameguard Officer & Standard (2pts)
The Covenant of Menoth (2pts)
Vassal Mechanik (1pts)

Aanyone got suggestions for change?