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Monday 20 August 2012

Grey Knights

Hello all.

Well its been a busy few weeks on the paint station. In preparation for the game at Salute next year I have been painting up some Grey Knights, we still have a long time to get them ready but I thought I would make a start as I intended to start a GK army when they were released and after purchasing a few models never got round to it, so two birds with one stone as it where.

Not really sure what the full composition of my army will be but for Salute we need Draigo and some Paladins so its going to be something along those lines. I like the idea of Draigo, Paladins and Terminators flying onto the board mounted in Stormravens so thats where I am going to start.


I have owned a Stormraven since they were released, again with the intention of painting it up right away but ..... well you know the rest. I actually found this a bit of a challenge as its got a lot of large flat surfaces so getting it to look shaded and not just a big block of colour was hard, and silver isn't easy to make look good, I think it looks ok but could be better. I airbrushed Bolt Gun metal over a black undercoat and then washed in Blue, and a watered down Black. I then hand painted over it with Chain mail a couple of times and then used a Blue glazed over the whole thing. I then painted Chain mail over it again but leaving some of the blue hint exposed. I highlighted the edges in Mithril Silver and picked out the detail. I then painted some areas in Red to break it up a bit. I also realised I had stuck the the tail on the wrong way round, but if I had tried to break it off I doubt it would have broken clean, so I have left it. Question is when it comes to building a second one do I do the same thing so they look the same?


So now we need a unit of Paladins to go into the Raven. The unit is assembled and undercoated Black, I also base coated them with Bolt Gun using the airbrush at the same time I did the Stormraven. They are then washed in Blue and watered down Black, then highlighted up through Chain mail and Mithril the same as the Raven. Details of the scrolls, ornaments etc were done using a palette of Gold, Red and Bleach Bone, these colours will run through the army to keep it tied together. The first Paladin is done and the rest are on the way. 


As well as making progress with the GK's I have also painted another model, this is actually a Dark Elf Sorceress from the Warhammer Fantasy Battle range but I am going to use her as an Inquisitor. It was kind of inspired from the female Jedi from the Revenge of the Sith movie, the pose is very dynamic like she is casting a psychic power and with a few modifications she will fit right into a Grey Knight army. I clipped the top from her staff and added the top from a Nemesis Force Stave, I also added a Servo Skull to the base. Standing next to the GK's she looks so small, but fits right it and looks really cool. I haven't decided on her retinue yet so will take some time over this, but as a model for an Inquisitor I think she looks really awesome. One thing I do when building armies is use things that look really cool, not necessarily what is best in terms of game play, for me its all about the cool. 


Until next time...
  






Friday 3 August 2012

Wraith Engine and "the list".

Hello all...

I found myself in a situation, that most hobbyists have experienced at some point, where I have so many projects on the go I am in danger of not finishing any of them. So many ideas, so many models that I felt I was drowning a bit and not really getting anything done. Especially with the new 6th Ed of 40K out, the potential for new armies and projects racks up. So I decided to use a method my girlfriend uses for such a situation and one that I mocked her for - I made a list.

The idea of the list is to write down the things I have half finished for various armies and actually get them done before moving onto something new and buying more models. For example I am two Mournfang, two Ogres and an Ironblaster away from finishing my Ogres at 2400 points. Of course no army is ever finished and I will get more for them but this will give me my basic 2400 list and it will all be painted. I have a Cryx Wraith Engine that I got, built and then half painted before moving onto another new idea and it has sat on my table half painted for months. I started a Grey Knight army and then moved onto something else. So, I have made a list of the things I am going to paint first and I will get those done. Now painting something because you have to often leads to resentment of said model, so I am going to alternate. The club is going to Salute next year to run a game and as part of this I need to paint some Grey Knights, so I am going to alternate between a model on my list and some Grey Knights, this also means I will get to paint that Grey Knight army that I have bought already and has sat around in boxes since release day.

So number 1 on the list was the Cryx Wraith Engine. I managed to get one of these pretty much on release day and eagerly stuck it together and undercoated it. I based layered it and then it sat there for months looking at me. Once I had done my list and got cracking with it I was done in a couple of days and now I have a Wraith Engine to use in games, and it was all down to the list. So to my girlfriend - I apologise for all the times I mocked you for list making (don't think she reads this so I won't be getting any "I told you so's").

So on to the model, I wasn't too keen on this when it first came out, but it has grown on me and now I have one all painted up I actually really like it. I went for my basic Cryx scheme that I have used on the rest of the army. After a black undercoat it was dry brushed in Boltgun and then over brushed in bronze. The armour was painted in a dark Grey and highlighted with a lighter Grey, the whole model was then given a Black wash. After this had dried I did some highlights on the silver, painted the cloth parts Brown with a Bleach highlight and then washed the whole thing is a watered down Green wash. I think it looks pretty good and fits perfectly with the rest of the army, now to go crush some hobby.

Until next time....