Rogue trader army WIP - 40k Chaos Part 5

I'm currently participating in a painting challenge with other members of the oldhammer forum :

I've decided to enter the challenge with the RT core of my chaos army :

So far, I've only managed to spray them all grey after the black prime to give a first zenithal lighting and give some of them some highlights :

First step : black prime

 2nd step : Zenithal grey spray (I may have been heavy handed on these) :

 3rd step : highlights (11 minis out of 18)

The result is a bit bluish which gives a sort of surreal vibe about them. I hope the black wash will be enough to get them from the "grey" zone to the "light black" one. What I was told to use is a mix of black with matt medium (50% of each) thined with water. This proved to work great for him so I'm keeping the same recipe here.

I have to confess that first time I painted those some 17 years ago, I didn't enjoy the experience much. Details were not clear enough for me and since we were in the midle of the "red era" they appeared weak to me.
This time I actually took the time to outline the details by highlighting everything and though I still hate edgelining, I hav eto confess it's a real pleasure to give them a more subtle approach. I understand now why these looked great in the photos and not in my hand, they are demanding minis but the time spent is well worth it for they have this really stange and dark feeling. one of the best examples came out yesterday, check out Don Hans' version, it looks like Giger himself bent over Hans to guide him...

I apologise for the new backpacks but the old ones I have are coverd in paint and varnish and I still can't get my hands on Dettol in France (I may have a way of getting some from canada though). Chloroxylenol is hard to find here...

Anyway, progression so far :

- basing and priming : 100%
- Zenithal grey spray : 100%
- First highlights : 61 %

What to do next (until end of July):

- finish highlights on everyone
- dip everyone in black+ matt medium + water mix to darken everything
- special parts (flesh, bone, fur,...)
- metals
- details
- varnish


PS : oh and don't forget Round 2 is out for the selection of the best Khorne champion : http://bestminiever.blogspot.fr/

Cheers everyone

More Nurgle followers and the ultimate fun painting challenge - Battle chaos part 20

Here are some more Nurgle champions.

This one is special to me since he is one of the 3 first I got (back when they were packed in lots of 3 for a ridiculously low price). It's the 3rd time I paint this one after making him a chaos marine and then repainting him with a PJ that did'nt suit me.

When I started to paint the other folks, I felt I had to clean him up too and so he went straight in an acetone bath. This time his the most pleasant version (for me at least) and I finally managed to paint him without using any drop of green. I believe the result is good enough to prove Nurgle doesn't always need green (OK the static grass IS green, I 'll give you that).

Nurgle champion with Sword

 The second one is not my favourite of the lot but I do like his dark aura. I believe the snaketongue is what turns me down but I didn't have the courage to alter this mini. Colours on the photos don't show up as bright as they are so I'll need to sort out a new photography method.

Apart from the chaos champion that have had most of my love until now, I've felt it was time to pay attenton to my Rogue trader chaos army as well. It's just at this moment I heard about the fun painting challenge of the oldhammer forum. It was just the perfect occasion to get my fingers moving. Though I was tempted to enter the challenge with my Kaleb Daark, I wanted to give these guys some time and I wanted to present something "Old" enough for an "oldhammer" project.

So here are the primed participants to the project :

- 1 Chaos Dreadnought
- 5 squats with power armour
- 10 traitor marines
- 1 chaos lord in terminator armour

I've only primed and given them a quick highlight with a zenithal grey spray to give more depth to my black, but I still have got plenty of black shades and multiple highlight before it looks good.

The end of the challenge is at the end of July, I'll keep you updated on this one.

Oh and concerning the Khorne champion competition, don't forget to vote if you still haven't : http://bestminiever.blogspot.fr/

We're only 4 days to the end and 2 champions have a comfortable advance on the others but it's not too late to make your favorite  go to the semi finals !

The doomed one rising from the bits box - Battle chaos part 19

Last time I showed you Kaleb's new embodiment he was just a pile of bits roughly assembled with blutak and some magnets.

This time I'm going to show you a little more.

The next step after drilling and placing the magnets was to create a joint of both receiving parts (the legs) so that the chest fits nicely on them. I started from this :

I added a big putty roll around each receiving part and pressed the chest part on them the way it would be when assembled (I also used saliva to be sure the fresh Duro wouldn't stick to the wrong part). This gavec me the print of the chest part. Once dry I only had to cut off all teh exceding material and do a nice putty blending to reach this state :

The very same was done with the heads.

Once this part was done, I could go on with the actual building process !

The building process happened yesterday night and nothing nor anybody was there to stop me so I guess I overdid it a little... I found so many bits I wanted to try I may have used too much.

(I had to use the wolf cloak, giving a mini something sculpted by Jes always reassures me since it can't be a total failure with JG parts)

 You can see on the picture above I've started to alter the axe to give it teeth, the next step being the lower jaw.

Another great interest in using magnets to assemble parts is that you can paint less parts (the chest goes for both mounted and on foot versions) but you can also give the mini different attitudes :

Dreadaxe, you're my weapon and I will always love you, you know that?

Morning everyone, my name is Kaleb and this is Dreadaxe, my daemonic axe aiming right at your skull.

 This magnet strategy also allows me to give an alternate head to represent Kaleb after a long time romaing in the wastes, his vital energy being drained from him by his powers (needs hair but you get the idea) :

 And at the end of his journey, I can even assemble him as a chaos fiend in a "Pete Taylor way"

Next time I'll do the base and show him aside his oldschool version just to have a laugh.

Cheers

Who's the boss ? (or the best khorne champion at least...)

Ok, so  this time is THE time      ♪ ♫ \o/ ♫ ♪

You can now vote for your favourite Khorne champion amongst the 12 exquisite minis our Dear Jes Goodwin designed as presented in the red catalogue.

The page is here Best Mini Ever.

Don't forget to spread the word and to post links of your painted version of your champion.

Vote for me, NOW !

The election for the champions of the other gods will follow then. If you want to elect the best thug or the best beastman, the best wardancer, the best genestealer cultist or anything else, just drop a comment !
Cheers

Nurgle Sorcerors - Battle Chaos Part 18

Today's batch concerns two nurgle sorcerors. At least one of them is an official sorceror : Hutk-Nke Plague Priest, the second being the champin with bell staff and sword who looks  a lot like a sorceror to me, his name shall be Rahp'spit.

Hutk-Nke Plague Priest, sorceror of Nurgle

 I'm really happy not to have used a drop of green on this Hutk-Nke, The photo doesn't really show the bottom of his cloak being coeeverd in shit but I find him Nurglesque enough to my taste.

Rahp'spit, sorceror of Nurgle

 Rahp'spit here has on another hand a completely green attire but it was not to fit a nurgle scheme but more becasue I imagined him as a former cleric or priest with green clothing because of his link to all things natural. Better photos wil come to show the work on the cheek to make the cheek bloody.

The photos here don't really show the contrast and though they've been varnished with "antishine" they do show reflections because of the too strong light source (next series shall be better I hope)

Apart from all this, I'm about to finish most of the Khorne champions in order to launch the match for the best mini of the range.

Many people have viewed the site but to my greatest sadness, no answer whatsoever...

Since it's the 25th anniversary of the "Slaves to Darkness" I believe beginning with what's your favourite Khorne champion is highly relevant. If you want to vote and make people vote, please share the link and keep an eye on the best mini contest.  I'm nearly sure most of you  would like to know which campion from the range is the most popular and to make it battle against its Slaanesh counterpart. 

The vote for the best Khorne champion will be in 3 rounds to select  4 out of the 12 champions then 2 from the 4 and then the ultimate Khorne champion. keep an eye...

There can be only one (or a fistful at least)...

Ladies and gents, I am proud to announce you that  I'm launching a competition to decide what could be the most acclaimed mini from all the ranges we love and cherish.

I'm telling you rigt now, I've not heard of any such competition so if it alredy exists, tell me I'm a moron and I'll shut everything down.
If not, please by all means tell me what you would want to see in this competition and make it yours !

The page is here Best Mini Ever.

Oh and if you ever have a blog, a website or even a mailing list and you love this idea, please spread it. I'm not aiming at a "views" or "followers" record here, but I just want everyone to have his/her chance to propose a range and to vote for his favourite mini.

Cheers

Kaleb will live again !

I've recently been lurking in my bits box and found a few things that teased me...

Someone dare tell me this is not our beloved DREADAXE, the pterodactyl axe given to Kaleb Daark by Malal himself.

I might want to add some green stuff under the blade to make its lower jaw.

Thanks to Orlygg's fantastic article about Malal, I've learnt many things on Kaleb and his brief journey amongst us. I should have mentionned it in my first post about Kaleb Daark and the chaos brothers but I simply didn't know this brilliant post at the time.

There seems to be remnants of Malal's existence in many ways amongst the fluff and minis of recent GW's productions, a few hints here and there. Maybe it's just fanservice or is it a clue about the love designers still have for the doomed ones...

Anyway, now we have dreadaxe and other epic 28mm pieces, what do we do?

You got it, we're gonna make a brand new model. The aim here is to use every bit I have to try to match the best I can to the original mini but with recent plastic bits.

Here are the ones I've selected so far...

And since I'm lazy as hell, I've even decided to use the magic power of magnets to build only one torso of the guy. This way I'll just have to stick him to the proper legs (mounted or on foot) whenever I want...
I'm also planning on doing the same for the head but I have an issue so far being I can't really find the right helmet. I do have the bat wings to put on it though. I might find what I'm looking for amongst the new High Elves release.(if anyone can help me with a spare shadow warrior helmet?)

I'm also tempted to build an older version of him like if he never had died or like if he had come back from the grave , thus giving him an old or ruined face instead (his powers drain a lot of his energy). Or shall I go for a clean one to match the original mini?

Seriously, magnets are soooo good. It's like playing LEGO but making Malal champions out of it, how good is this?

I'll make updates about this one to show the evolution and to keep me motivated to finish it.

I would appreciate any thought on the matter  regarding the bits to add or the old/original choice and even on the painting style, hardcore oldschool, modern realism or just my regular style.

Shall I cover the base with corpse of champions form the 4 gods?

Any idea...

We can do it anywhere !

I'm talking about loving our lead and giving it the time it deserves...

Working in an office as a civil engineer gives you little time to dream and work on your beloved little lead soldiers when you are on a great and motivating project.
BUT... there are times when you have to launch hard calculations or programs that take years (20 to 30 seconds years to be honest) and times you have to spend on the telephone talking to people, listening to people, giving orders to people, well...doing your engineer job.

Now, a man has got to be strong and use his precious time in the right manner. Let's not look at the sky (the weather is terrible anyway) or the ceiling (what's the use), nah...
Let's take a piece of paper and draw and work on your OTHER projects ! OK I admit it takes years to achieve anything but you see things growing at the pace of a tree growing... Puting colours on such a shield requires at least 20 conversations on the phone (provided it's not important calls) or 30 calculations on your computer (provided everything goes well).

I want to add I will not allow myself to do anything more than this, since anything more would require too much attention, thus being a lack of respect to the people I'm on the phone with or I'm  working with. Just consider this as an aternative to drawing 3D cube or colouring the holes in every letter of a text.

On another hand, drawing such stuff on your desk doesn't help with being looked at as anything else than the maniac you are (especially if you start shouting "Blood for the blood god" in the toilets).

Hess Poison Breath - Battle Chaos part 17

Now here's Hess Poison breath, one of the sorcerors of my Nurgle warband amongst others.

I really like this one because it is part of a load of minis in the chaos sorcerors/champions that almost has a "steampunk" vibe,  including some of the Khorne champions (these chaps shall come soon on this blog...) or Sli'ith Ironlung for example. Some of these are even playable as easily as fantasy characters as 40k ones.

Hess Poison Breath

 For those who've read the previous posts about the warband, you will notice that I failed on this mini too to avoid the green though I've kept it to the minimum.

My main goal one this like for the others was to achieve the best rusty metals I could and to try to stick the closer I could to Les Edward's illustration colours though my reds are far less bright than his.

The result is not as readable as I would have loved but I suggest you have a look at three flies for nurgle's version which is one of my favourite.

Oh and by the way, a few days ago I was lurking in my bits box and noticed something that caught my eye :

Doesn't that remind you of something? Doesn't this axe in the shape of a pderoctacyl head remind you of a long gone friend? Someone gone too early? No?

If yes, I'm planning on making him come back in an EPIC 28mm way...

See you soon

Cheers