Virus!

I am just writing to say I have a nasty virus on my computer that is preventing me from using google and therefore this site. I hope to have it removed soon so normal business can be resumed! I hope you don't mind the wait!

LATEST NEWS: I just managed to find what was blocking Google. Hopefully the fix is a permanent one. I don't think this machine is virus free but at least all the internet is working now! Some new pics coming soon! I would like to draw peoples attention to the following website. It seems like an invaluable resource when dealing with a troubled computer: Geeks to go!

From burning to glowing

I have always wanted to try Object Source Lighting. I never tried it before as I didn't have any models that I felt were suitable for the technique. I have to paint fire with the Cultists I have prepared for the army so I assume I will have to give them some form of OSL to look right. Therefore I have decided to practise now! I was looking at my dark warhounds wondering what would brighten them a little. I decided to experiment with glowing eyes! Following two guides the first from the Brush Thralls and the second fromCool Mini. I managed to get the dogs to look fairly decent. I am not 100% happy with the effect but it is a start and I can't possibly get it 100% correct the first time that I do it! By the way the dogs are nowhere near finished. I am trying out a few different things with them so see what I can manage.

The fur was the first thing I did with them. I never managed to get my hand on the guide I previously mentioned even though I remembered where I saw it. The guide to painting varied tone fur is in the Hordes Evolution rulebook. I left it in Ireland thinking that I wouldn't need it. Anyway I figured out approximately what I needed to do. Again I am not totally happy but it came out alright. I went with a not too light mixed colour faded down to GW Charadon Granite. The highlights and a glaze tied the tones together well except for the very lighest colour. It still contrasts a little too much. Across the battlefield it isn't noticable.

I haven't started the 'skin' areas at all. I was considering a flesh colour for them but I don't really like the naked look. I have done that before on my Dire Wolves and while it worked okay for them I don't think it would be that nice for these guys. I just need to figure out what colour I can use to enrich and lighten the darkness of their skin now. Once I have that figured out another days work will see the first regiment finished!

The next tournament is six weeks away in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. I won't have my army painted by then. I think if I just sat and painted constantly between now and then I still wouldn't get finished. I will have the army fully based at least. I always texture and paint the bases of the models first. It saves getting paint on the finished model while trying to reach an awkward spot on the base somewhere! So while I won't get the fully painting marks I will get some at least. I might manage a base coat on everything, fingers crossed! At least Battlefoam have gotten back to me now so I might have an army case to carry my stuff in finally. Much better than the metal toolbox I have used for the last fifteen years!

I also have a short break from my german courses now so I can dedicate a little more time to painting. Hopefully this will result in some more progress!

Burning heat

I have begun testing the painting schemes for the army. While the Chaos Sorcerer was just to test the neutral colour choices, this Warrior is to test an exact technique I intend using! I painted him in a really dark bronze colour. I didn't want to go for black due to the fact I don't like black on a model. It is too negative and draws the eye away from details. I built up the flames with Vajello paints as I find them easier to use for this than the GW ones. A hot orange base it built up around where the final lines will be placed. A wash of black tones this down and helps the blends. It also brings the armour to an even darker bronze colour. Once this has dried I can then build up the colours through hot orange to white. This gives the fantastic lava look. The large flat plates on the warriors are really suited to this. This guy is a real WIP. I am testing the colour combinations and blends so please forgive all the other areas! I will eventually figure them out and apply to the warriors. To contrast the armour strongly I will hopefully be doing the cloak quite light. The fur around the collars will be a very light brown, something I intend for the whole fur component of the army. The cloak itself will then be also a light brown but blended up from GW snakebite leather towards GW bleached bone.

As I intend using the bronze as a base for most of the metal in the army I have premixed it! As GW brazen brass is sadly no longer available I had to improvise a little. I had a tiny amount in the bottom of a pot left. Into this I added the Vajello brassy brass. I added black ink to darken and thin the paint a little. Finally a little glaze medium was added to thin the paint further. I will have to leave this overnight to mix a bit more and settle. While I stirred it quite well I find it needs to sit a little longer to mix better. I can check tomorrow and hopefully it will have mixed well. It might not be dark enough so I might have to add some futher ink. I am not sure if I will start straight away on the Warriors then. I would prefer to do something simple like the hounds and get them out of the way so I can do some more interesting stuff. I have been looking online for a tutorial about painting fur. I believe it was on the Brush Thralls site but I can't find it. It was, I believe, a walkthrough of how the Privateer Press studio painted the fur on their Buffalo mounted Trollkin! Anyway it is bound to turn up somewhere. This is the technique I wanted to go for on the hounds as it gave a very natural colour to the furs that I liked a lot. Failing finding that I will look up some reference pictures of wolf fur to give me an idea of what I am going for.

I am continually making it difficult to have a Slaanesh themed army! While I want one still I will really have to work out how I can get all my imagery together! Maybe some burning runes of Slaanesh on the armour? I at least have the symbol on the helmets for the regiment so maybe I can have it painted black emerging from the hot surroundings. I will have to see exactly where it is located in relation to the eye slit to see if that would work. I have come up with the idea of Ash'senal, the Mother Bear and patron godess of the tribe. As an aspect of Slaanesh she protects and suckles her children. In battle her fiery rage is unleased upon their foes.

Small and hairy...the cloaks are almost done!

Nearly there... thirteen cloaks left to do! I have been trying to get the army fully constructed over the last few days. That means basing everything and sculpting the details I have left to do. The worst part is the cloaks simply because they are the most invloved sculpting task. The marauders are now fully done. I have even managed to finish the champion. I was really stuck for inspiration for this guy. I just couldn't get a decent picture of what I wanted in my head! Eventually I just started positioning pieces and seeing what came out. I quickly decided that I liked the idea that he would hold his shield over his head. That left me confused though as to what he could do with his weapon. I considered having him point it forward. However that would make the piece hard to carry, a big concern for this army as I intend travelling a lot with it.

The weapon naturally fit across the body and had the effect of spreading the shoulders and making this model fit his body better. I find with the marauders that they don't fit their bodies. The huge chest muscles just don't look right. By increasing the volume of the shoulders and making them a little taller they suddendly seem to be scaled correctly. The shoulders are easy to do. The cloaks cover them almost completely and increasing the volume of greenstuff covering them makes them look bigger. Making them taller is also easy enough. The position of the legs allows for one of the feet to be raised on a stone or log. I didn't do this for all the models. I did make sure to do it for the Champions though.

The standard needed some sculpting too! I wanted to have a bear skin hanging as a standard. However I didn't want to sculpt the whole thing. I found a great compromise in using the existing standard as a base and simply sculpting the fur unto it. I left the details on it but sank them into the fur to give an impression of depth. I removed the strange hooks from the ends of the standard as they look bizarre. I wanted to add a bear claw or even a bear head to the standard but at the moment that might be beyond my abilities. I will consider it for a future regiment. I might add a few runic talismans or bones to the standard. All in all I am happy with it. I hope it will paint up well!

The full regiment of eighteen is done. I have all the ones with cured cloaks based. I just need to select the shields now. I won't glue them on until the models are painted. I wanted the regiment to look like they were rushing forward in a shieldwall like formation. I turned all the bodies so that it gave the impression of forward movement. The shields should all face directly forward then. I didn't want theem all to be to the side as they usually are. I also need to start thinking about how to make these guys Slaanesh. Most of their skin is covered so tatoos might not be noticable enough. The shields would probably be the best place though I haven't decided yet. I don't want them to be overly corrupted or marked. Hopefully a good skin tone with some interesting shading will give a suggestion of Slaanesh and a few select tatoos and markings will seal the deal!

In the last tournament they didn't see any combat. I don't believe they even suffered a casualty. Not a single spell or cannon shot was directed their way. They serve well as a home for my two sorcerers at least. I am not sure how these guys will preform if ever called upon to charge in. Their insignificance seems to make them ignored while people deal with the more obvious threat of Chaos Knights and flanking Marauder Horsemen!

Testing the colours...

I am trying to not be distracted by all the cute red squirrels in the backyard attempting to hide nuts. Some strange mischevious streak in me wants to go down and move the nuts around! It is quite cool to have squirrels in the backyard. Between them and the odd birds it is quite a sanctuary! I am finally close to a stage where I can begin to paint my Warriors of Chaos. As a break from sculpting cloaks (24 done, 30 to go!) I decided to paint this guy to test the colours, well some of them at least, for the army. I also need some practise as I haven't painted anything to a high standard recently. I wanted to keep them warm so bleached bone was a base for the highlights on almost everything. I have some practise with this style of a palette with my Circle of Orboros horde. I do want to expand on that into new colours.

The skin needed to be sickly, well he is nurgle after all, so I shaded that with a nice green. I want the skin pale but warm for the army. I won't be doing it too much like this guy but it was some practise! For the rest of the army I will build from a brown base except for the more corrupted members. A purple base and whiter highlight should make them distinct. Well I hope so! I have some Daemonettes that will eventually become Forsaken. These will be the most corrupt and feature almost pure white skin. What position this guy will have in my army I don't know as I never intended to have a Nurgle Sorcerer. He came as a gift. Having now painted him I have come to like the model more. I hated it at first. Now I am considering that I might mount him in a chariot so I would have to get a second model. We shall see. Its not a priority just yet.

I need to do something about the poor symbol I painted on the skull. It is terrible. While a bad workman blames the tools I do have to say my detail brush is useless. I can't get paint to 'flow' from it at all. I suppose it is time to upgrade from the GW brushes! I will have to search around Hamburg for a good arts and crafts shop. The Windsr and Newton brushes seem to be the best. They are spoken of most fondly on the Warhammer Forum. I hope the shop near Jungfernstieg sells them. I am finally getting to know my way around without constant references to the map I carry. I still haven't managed to get a game here yet but I still have hope!