... 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.