Well it was hobbymas in September...

Yes it was hobbymas in September, but unfortunately it did not include much painting.  Alas it was an interesting month.  So for the first time in 20 years, there are no marines on my hobby shelf.

I know in a painting blog, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but I have played marines since day 1 of gaming.  I always liked the idea of being a super human in armor.  I still love them, but with 7th there codex is a B+.  I have hopes that with Tyranid codex will be in the B range and they will be playable.  On a competitive level if you don't have a codex you don't have a chance, and even with a codex, right now if its not chaos, its not top table.  If the nids  I did put a some hours on the belly of the Tervigon. 

I really like the stretched skin over the emerging gaunts.  Last step on the August model is the carapace.  Fingers crossed I can get it done.

So what the hell did i do?  Well I doubled my warmachine collection, literally.  I had some hobby money and toyed with the idea of buying the Grymkin army.  I decided instead, mainly since I was having so much fun painting them I would round I my Cryx army.  Besides, its a limited faction, i will be able to whole army as a lot in a couple years.  I had started piecemeal parts in, then found someone selling off their mark 2 collection.   Aside from assembling and organizing the collection, I painted up Skarre 1. 

Here is just before the final stages, I really liked the face at this point.

In the final version I am not a happy with the face. I have a couple ideas from dr. jones on how to highlight the face.  I will post the final version.  I am much happier with the purple on the coat over the last model.  

Ok Ok, just hold on...

Before you freak out, yes there will be warmachine updates, and yes it will look like I did more work on them then 40k, however, I have to admit that I did a lot of re-work on the Tervigon.  I had been working on the under side pouch.  It was turning out way to yellow, and was hard to discern from the skin.  So I basically started it over.  So the August portion isnt done, and well the clock is ticking on this month.  On to the updates...

Now several layers in, I still have to highlight the purple and smaller sacs.  I am really happy with the way this go round has turned out.  The tone is separate from the skin, and highlighted up to show the new broods forming.  The picture doesn't capture the orange undertone.  It helps blend the cream skin and red carapace.  Another session on the bottom, then I will be ready to highlight up the red.

So one thing I have come to realize is that I get burnt out painting units.  A good example is the GSC group from earlier this year.  The first 5 I was gun hoe for, and started the second unit right away.  By the time I had gotten to the 3rd set, I was ready for a break.  Typically here is where I would take a couple weeks (aka 2 months) off of painting.  I have found that painting the single warmachine solo, keeps things fresh and me interested in painting.  I think its the break from the marine/nid army palettes. When working on those projects you want everyone to look as part of a cohesive group.  With the solos, I can keep the overall tone "dark" but still use color.  I like the fact that I can start the mini on Monday and have it done by the weekend.  Here is the final solo in the withershadow combine.  I struggled with the purple cloak.  It did not highlight up the way the red and blue did.  I will have to play around with the color on other models.  In the end I can live with it, but I want a more "silky" look to them.

As a group the flesh, pulls them together.   I am happy with the group.  Alas its time to hit the nids hard.  Looks like they will be getting a codex this year and be able to play with the big kids again.

/waveshand This is not the update you are looking for

So August wasn't the greatest paint month out there.  With Birthday stuff, foot issues, and general craziness at work I had limited hobby time.  Here is where I will put the disclaimer; those looking for the Nids and Warhammer 40k, this is not for you.  While the Tervigon did get some love, she only got a couple layers in on the lower skin tone, and I didn't get a chance to grab pics today at lunch :-(

 In a general sense, warmachine armies are poorly (if at all painted), compared to what you see in 40k.  I have been to large events like adepticon and local events.  3 slapped on colors, a splatter or 2 on the base and presto "expert " painted warmahordes is the standard.  There are of course the stand out players with greatly painted armies, but in general the quality is low.  I asked around and timing seemed to be the theme.  They didn't think they had time to paint well, so they quickly slapped paint on.  While I agreed it does take practice to get good at painting, especially highlighting,  I wanted to see if with limited time I could turn out well painted models (7-9 scale).   In this case I wanted to take my "8" model painted last time and get a 10.  So here it is, the final touch, now with strings...

...and with that, presto he tops the charts.  Seems simple, but very dramatic, especially in Warmahordes where model conversion is forbidden (at least restricted and frowned upon).  Little details like this really set your army apart.  Most people slap on 3 colors, but you go all the way to do string bows, you are scoring bonus points with judges.  The overall process took about an hour per model.  In actuality I spent about double that on each model, if you count the ink dry time.  My process was to paint to base layers and ink in 1 setting, then come back and highlight everything another night.  To demonstrate, here is the second of the solos at what I call the "base" layer.  This is the stage before inking/washing.

I actually hate this stage, everything looks lack luster and missing depth.  It is however a great example of an "expert" paint job in Warmachine.  No joke, this is level you normally see at events and I have seen it take best painted.  In general I am also avoiding black.  If I had a nickel for every Cryx army I see painted jet black with green eyes and "glowing" green parts I could afford a painting service.  You can paint "dark" and use color... simply amazing.

about 40 minutes and a bunch of highlights later

Really effective process, I used a similar technique on a unit of Banes last year.  There is a final guy in the unit, and he is at the second stage of highlights I think it is safe to say challenge passed.  Fast effective painting that is well more that 3 colors and put you in the running for best painted.

... and still going...

On a painting kick that is.  School for the little guy starting up I didn't have much hobby time this past week.  I did however manage to get 95% done on ... yeah that's right, another Warmachine solo.  These guys have been great to paint.  I can casually knock out a solo/caster a week this way.  I am keeping the army palette consistent so army will still look cohesive overall.  A big draw to painting warmachine is I can really go nuts with inks, and put multiple shade layers in.  The overall look of Tyranids and Marines don't really allow for that, as the bugs are organic and marines paint the metal.

For the non-Warmahordes players out there this guy is part of a 3 man unit.  I plan to keep the metal colors consistent between all 3, the difference will be the ink over the metals and the cloaks.  They will still be a unit, but individually have a different color hue.  I wanted to paint up this guy first, and show him at this stage.  The final piece will be to add the puppet strings.  I think that will push the guy over the top as far as quality goes.  Next time I will have the final shots, /fingerscrossed the strings go on as planned.  After that I better get some paint on the bugs before DR. Jone's sees all these warmachine minis :-)

Damn its a BIG one!

Update that is... So the bi-weekly update is going a little bit better than the weekly version.  This way I have at least sometime to write about each time.  After wrapping up the 10 man gaunt squad a couple of weeks ago I wasn't sure if I wanted to do the warriors or a monster.  I sat at my desk with a bit of painters block.  I really wasn't in the mood to paint more bugs, and the cult are shelved in 8th edition until they get a codex.  Unfortunately they only have genestealer spam which is sub par at best right now.  Plus I really enjoy running the Bugzilla list.  Typically this is when I take a couple days (turns to weeks) of painting.  This time rather than pushing through it and burning out (Fortunately no major events in the next 60 days to cram for) or taking a break and falling behind I grabbed a warmachine solo.  I really liked the model, recently stripped it and figured it would only take a session or 2 to paint up.

 Initially I debated actually painting the model when I got it.  The paint job as ok (actually a 7 compared to most warmachine armies).  I have used the "ebay Pro paint" job as a base coat for other models and it worked out well.  In this case,  I wasn't sure if the detail was lacking (like some PP plastic models) or if it was a sloppy paint job.  Figuring it was a metal model I stripped it to see.  I am glad I did, the armor and face plate had been completely been lost in the previous paint job.  In the end I like the result, I stopped a couple layers short of what I would do for a character.  I love how the cloak looks.  The dirty armor and leather help her to blend in with my other cryx models.

Well if the Siren only took a few days, what the Hell else did I do with my hobby time!?  Well I wasn't quite ready to go back to bugs (relax, they get an update too).  Another gamer was asking how to paint "green ghostly" figures.  While drybrushing lighter shades works well in this case I wanted to try out a couple of techniques.

Overall I am ok with how the model turned out.  Agatha isn't a caster I would normally use, otherwise I would be tempted to redo parts.  I got the effect out of the green without drybrushing, and tried several techniques to find the one I like.  The loose "skins" hanging from the axe and her lower armor would need work, but still an 8 on the warmachine scale.

Yep still going.  I know right, I told you it was going to be a big one.  

BOOM! Since the Warmachine solos don't count toward the paint challenge I figured I better get some bug work in.  Hard to tell but the Tervigon is around the 75% complete mark.  The skill has all 5 layers and the carapace 2.  The last 2 should really make the armor pop.  Its a bad picture to show it, but I painted the emerging gaunt to match the 10 man completed last time.  I also started highlighting the sac flesh to separate it from the main colors, but keep it in the same basic palette.  As long as I keep on track, the first of the monsters will be complete.

I'm coming back

An July is in the bag

... and miracles happen.  I finished the July unit.  Yes I missed last Fridays post, and technically this Fridays post, I spent the time finishing up the guants.  This completes my first unit of guants, only a 10 man, its still complete.  I have my Tervigon summoning unit.  I am really happy with the way they turned out.  Not sure whats next, I can start to work on the warriors that I started this month, or maybe get a big bug painted up.  The Tervigon has a pretty good base coat on it.  The previous owner of the collection had started him.  There is always room for more genestealers...

The initial pic is of the paint bench group.  The 5 guys from July and the 2 I kept on the bench for color matching purposes.  This group doesn't have the blue on the backs.  The blue patterns are used to denote 10 man groups in the larger 30 man groups.  This is not needed when there are onlyg going to be 10 of them.

Back on Track... maybe

So yes its a couple days late.  In fairness I did take the pics Thursday night anticipating my Friday update.  Then all hell broke loose and work was crazy busy.  The good news is the June unit was completed.  I finished the final round of highlights, did the teeth and eyes and presto!

The first group of 5 for the 10 man is done.  This group has yellow guns (those following along, the gun color is how I will differentiate between units.  I am not sold on the center "eye" coloring in this group.  I want them to stand out from the ammo and vents, i don't think this pops quiet enough.  I am going to try something different with the other 5 guys for this unit.  Not pictured here, but this unit has devourer left arms.  When building 90 guants I ran out of arms before flesh borers.  This will limit this unit to 10 guys.  Perfect for 8th ed tervigon summoning.

That means I am on to the July 5 man.  Below are the process shots (from last Thursday).  This Friday you can see just how far they have come in a week.  

** spoiler alert, note the 4 warriors in the back of the pic? They were also started this week with the 5 man guants!  The base colors and initial inking go really fast so it wasn't much extra time to get a jump start on the warriors too.  These guys are just after initial inking, before any highlighting.

EPIC FAIL!

Well you guessed it, 60 days since the last post can only mean 1 thing... epic failure.  Unfortunately the goal completely broke down in May.  I took a week or so off of painting and it really bit me.  Then 8th edition 40k rumors started so I stayed on a painting break.  From there I started thinking going back to bugs was going to be the way to go.  So with all the leaks I used hobby time for gaming and painting stayed on break.

I picked up the brush here and there, and the May unit was actually finished June 21st. The unit finished up nice, the colors are solid throughout the 15 man unit, and it is nice to see them all together.  Glad I went with the 15 man, so i can play Deathwatch with painted cult.  Why not just post then?  well I was hoping to have a magic 10 man month.

At the time these guys were finished I was pumped for 40k and coming off a several game winning streak.  So I decided to return to NIDs.  I thought I could pick up a unit of primed guants and knock them out in a week.  Again EPIC FAIL! the last section of June got crazy and GW announced power creep codex is back so my enthusiasm took a nose dive.  

Alas there may still be hope.  I am going to try (yes again) to post weekly, regardless of status.  Either reporting on status, or lamenting about the GW power creep.  I have the brush in hand and ready to paint.  Assuming I can finish the 5 guants for June, then my issue is do I do more guants? or get some warriors in?

BAM Shacka Lacka

I did it!  Officially the date on the pics is 4-26-17.  The unit was finished, and the challenge still on track.  I will admit that I did get an extra afternoon of paint time, being off from work.  I know, I know, I did use the time to get the squad done, but I also finished up the squad days early.  I tell myself I would have gotten the unit done anyway, but like I said in the last post, panic had set in.

Here are 2 of the guys close up.  The rock drill and  regular guy.  It took an extra layer to get the skin of this group to match the skin of the other group.  Not bad, that is the only blended color I use on the guys.  The rest of the colors are out of the pot, usually thinned with water (80/20) then blended up a shade (50/50).  When I am doing the Nids, the skin and carapace are both blended colors, so several steps include the color matching.

With the extra time I also got in a side project; The Magus and Crouchling.  Full disclosure: the Crouchling was actually a side project last month, when I was working on how to paint the "brains".  This is not the Magus from the Overwatch box, this is in fact an old school (2nd edition baby!) Magus. Thats right, way back in the day they had cult guard.  I like how the main features are still prominent in the model line.  Those who know me, know I like to use an old school model in all of my armies.  This is the one for the cult.

I recently got a new phone and have quite figured out the lighting to get decent pictures.  I went with the traditional red and bone for the Magus.  I didn't get any shots, but the bone armor on his back came out real nice.  The brains are hard to see on the crouchling as well, but I am happy with the way both models turned out.

With 8th edition of 40k on the horizon and big changes promised, I am tempted to "wait and see".  I have a company of marines, and 3 piles of bugs that need painted.  Who knows what will be viable/fun to play when 8th drops.   Rather than stop the paint challenge I am going to focus on grunts for the next couple of months.  I had wanted to paint up a character or 2, but, I think its a safer bet to stick to the grunts.  For painting cult I am going to work on the other contents to Overkill.  Worst case is I have painted models for that game. No matter what changes in 8th, I am pretty sure I will always need guants and acolytes.  My fingers are crossed the cult keep most of the same mechanics.  I really like there ability to move around the board and would love to play them into the next edition.  It would also be a kick in the wallet to have bought all of them and only play them for 6 months, wouldn't be the first time GW got me like that.  I guess they can always go on the shelf.  It only took 5 editions to play cult guard again, they can wait...

Woah, its been 30 days...

Man how time flies.  It new I had not posted earlier this month, but forgot the last post was middle of last month.  Well my initial prediction was correct.  At that point I didn't get much farther on the second squad.  In fact it was just yesterday I looked at work table and realized I hadn't painted since before my work trip.  The "oops" moment was then realizing I got back over a week ago.  Looking at the bench panic set in at this point.  Having now only a couple weeks to finish the unit.

So where is were there were on Friday.  This is basically the pre-wash  stage.  Some of the minor details like pouches and rags are not done.  I got all the base layers on, then washed them.

  This is where they currently are.  The pants and details need several layers of highlights yet.  The skin also has another layer to go.  2 weeks to go in the month, I say its 50/50 at this point to stay on the challenge.  The blue part of the skin is done, that is one of the longer segments, but I still have the purple skin to go up 2 more layers and the minor stuff to do. I am really excited to see the squad as a painted 10 man, then the full 15 man. /fingerscrossed

First round hybrids

A couple days ago I completed the first 5 Acolytes.  The last couple highlight layers went faster than I expected.  I am happy the way flesh tones all turned out.  I really like the "classic" genestealer colors.  Here they are

Overall enjoy the look of the unit.  I can't wait to see the whole 15 man unit.

The yellow cabling helps pull the green out of the carapace and differentiate blue skin tone.  

At this point I am not sure if I can get another 5 knocked out this month.  I have work travel this month and will only have 2 weeks.  I have doubts working with the large color palette that I will get them complete.   

Well how far did they get...

The genesteelers went really fast.  I debated on taking a week off to increase the gaming time, but I wanted to start painting up the GSC Acolyte hybrids. Since this was the first time I was painting codex color genesteelers, I got started right away.  In the end I am glad I did, I repainted the genesteeler carapace 3 times before I got the effect I was looking for.  It also showed that the Kraken color pallet was very quick to paint.  The Acolytes have a much larger pallet, about 3 times as many colors are being used.  The paint time for the unit is much longer with the Acolytes.

The major colors are all on and have the first layer of highlight.  The arm carapace is done, I like the outcome of this version.  I am thinking the flares/grenades will be red with yellow highlights.  It should bring "pop" points to the model.  I am also going with the overall Hivecult color scheme from the GSC codex.  Since I have over 30 to paint.  I am thinking 15 with this skin tones, then do another 15 with the Hive fleet Kraken colors.

Who is this? Whats your operating number?

Well its here, the mid point of the month.  This is the part where I report the models are about half done.  

BAM! Done!  That's right, its not a trick the next 5 man is done. I hit the same hurdle, that first layer of skin highlights.  When I got to that point, I did about 1.5 guys in a sitting.  Same for the second layer of highlights.  Had a couple good nights behind the brush and knocked this group out.  Below is a mix of the 5 completed guys and 2 from the first group.  Hopefully you cant tell which is which.

close ups of 2 recent guys

Up next I think I am going to switch gears.  Even though there are 5 guys left in unit to bring it to 15 man.  I think I am going to start some of the GSC hybrids.  I have 15 - 30 to paint up, depending on which list I play.  I think I am going to go with the Cult of the hivemind colors.  The red should pull the nids and cult together as an army.

Did I make it?

Well its a tough question actually, mainly since its a week into February, lol.  Alas I did make it.  In fact the group was done on jan 28th.  At this point you have to take my word on it.

Here is a single model.  The skin tone matches the termaguants really well.  I also went with the light blue colorization on the backs to tie in to the rest of the army.