Black Templar Marshall

Another speed-painted Black Templar here - a Marshall using the stock AoBR Captain with no conversions.

Black Templar Dreadnought

This was painted as an exercise to see how quickly I could get a walker finished. I used very simple painting techniques to speed things up, and I managed to get it finished far quicker than any of my Blood Angel dreadnoughts! Click on the images to enlarge.

Awkward Basing

I'm back after a hobby free Christmas and New Year, and I'd better get working if I want a painted Blood Angels army ready for April. I've started off slowly, now I'm a hairs-breadth away from a finished ten man tactical squad.


I've been trying to get the smaller pieces from the 40K basing set to fit on bases without taking up too much room, and as I don't have anything powerful enough to sand away that much resin I've had to resort to cutting away the base instead. You can see my rough handiwork in the extremely low quality image to the right, I'll have to fill in the gaps with green stuff.


With any luck you'll be seeing more of my Blood Angels completed and on the pages of this blog within a few weeks.


- Gavin

Blood Angels Devastator - aka Burnt Face Man

We've all made mistakes when modelling or painting our miniatures, both small and large. Even the largest mistakes can be covered up by sheer ingenuity, as this Land Speeder and Land Raider from the Drunken Samurai aptly show. I have never had to cope with that, the nearest I've been is 3 coats of paint on a Rhino - although there is a mistake recently that I've had to cover.


Whilst painting my latest batch of Blood Angels, I slipped with the brush and covered a portion of a face with a black streak of paint - no big deal really, as I could just re coat it. There was also one more thing nagging me about that models head though, while I was assembling it I was really sloppy with the mould lines on that side of his face. This was my Plasma Cannon marine for a tactical squad, so I decided that at some point in the past his cannon had misfired on him, leaving him horribly scarred....

Behold, burnt face man! A bit of stippling with dark browns and blacks, coupled with some ink use, has made me less embarrassed to have missed such an obvious mould line. I just have to finish the rest of the model, and then I can rest easy.


UPDATE - I've also decided to enter the Jawaballs Painting Competition, so I've started work on a Blood Angels terminator a little early. Here's the start of the model, an ex-salamander and an AoBR arm that will hopefully work well with normal Termie arms. Apologies for the poor picture.

- Gavin

WiP - Blood Angels Faces

I've been doing some more work on my tactical marines, and this time I've been working on a section at a time. Here are my latest faces, my third combat squad so far...

Since I never completed my painting guide, heres how I paint red:

- Black Undercoat

- Flat coat of Mecherite Red

- Drybrush of Blood Red

- Wash of Red Ink/Magneta Ink Mix

- Flat coat of Blood Red

- Baal Red Wash

- Blood Red Highlight

- Blood Red / Blazing Orange Highlight

- Blazing Orange Highlight (characters only)

I've got 6 or 7 more models completed so far, but I'm not going to post them till I get hold of a better camera!

- Gavin

Update

First of all, if anyone hasn't noticed yet, the 25mm Warrior is running a caption contest to win some Death Korps. Check it out!

I've also read a great post at 40K Origins on "Why codexes should be free". It makes some great points and is worth thinking about.

I've been doing some painting over the last week, despite my lack of posts, but I just can't seem to finish even one model before I find myself starting the next. Here's whats on my painting table right now:

Click here for full size

After reading Battle for the Abyss, I've got an urge to put together a small pre-heresy army of World Eaters, Space Wolves and Ultramarines, so you may see them posted one day - the Ultramarine in the picture is the test model.

As soon as any of those models are finished, more posts will ensue! 

- Gavin

Experiment with Quickshade - Part 2

I was mightily impressed by my first use of the Army Painter Quickshade, which made a simple box of 4 snap together Guardians look like this:

I thought they looked great, especialy since I put pretty much no time or effort into them. Unfortunately, I don't collect Eldar, so they were pretty useless to me. I've decided to put some Quickshade to use on an army I actualy collect, Empire. Here is a handgunner painted in a very basic scheme of Iyanden Darksun / Blood Red.

Pretty rubbish looking, and the photgraphs don't help at all. I then dipped the model, left it to dry and applied Matt Varnish. Unlike my Guardians this didn't work perfectly first time, the yellow had turned into a Vomit Brown, although I was pleased with the Red, the face and the gun. I think the solution for this would be to use a cheap molehair paintbrush to liberaly splash the shader on the model, leaving less splotches. 

I decided to try and salvage this model by going over the yellow with a new coat of Iyanden, which is something I've not tried yet. I think this saved the model, and I can now proudly use this, as long as I keep him in the rear ranks.

I pulled an old Imperial Officer out of my bits box, and applied a fresh coat of paint to his armour and cloth. I'm going to test the brush on method with this model next.

More Blood Angels coming soon, painted with real  painting...

-Gavin

Blood Angel Painting Guide - Part 1

This is a step by step guide for painting Blood Angels using my method. It's almost certainly not the best looking way to paint Red, nor is it the easiest, but I think it's a nice medium between a quick basic paintjob and a hyper-detailed aproach. I'm mainly writing this down as a record, just in case I ever forget the exact details.

For a quick and easy way to get a decent Blood Angels army on the tabletop, check out http://the25mmwarrior.blogspot.com/ , this fellow uses Army Painter quickshade and get's great results. I've experimented with this stuff on Eldar Guardians, and I think it's wonderful stuff.

Here's part one of my guide :

Paint Needed: Mecherite Red, Blood Red, Red Ink, Magneta Ink, Chaos Black

Step One

Undercoat the sprues with Black Spray, followed by painting on watered down Chaos Black with a tank brush, careful not to splash paint all over the furniture! After the black paint is dry, get the same tank brush, and brush a couple of thin coats of Mecherite Red over any area of the model which will be red. You don't have to be too careful here, you can paint it over with Chaos Black later.

You can cut the models off the sprue, trim any mold lines with a knife and stick the models on the bases now. I tend to paint models in several smaller parts, with the Black Reach marines I'm currently painting I'm leaving the Boltguns and Backpacks seperate till later.

The models should look like this:

Step Two

Paint over the bare plastic left from the sprue with a new coat of Chaos Black, followed by a thin coat of Mecherite Red over any part of the armour that should be red, but has been missed. When this is dry paint the entire model with a watered down coat of Blood Red using a smaller brush, taking care to be neater. Mix up a wash made up of 20% Red Ink, 20% Magneta Ink and 60% Water, and liberaly coat the entire model wherever it should be red. Leave to dry.

Unfortunately Red Ink and Magneta Ink are both no longer sold by GW, and the new inks are too dark to use as an alternative. When I run low on my inks I will almost certainly turn to Valejo's Game Ink range, as they seem to be similar.

Step Three

This is the insanely annoying step, and the one that takes the longest. The idea is to simply paint any part of the model which will not be red with Chaos Black, using your finest brush. Sounds simple, but takes several years. At this point I like to get the base for the Squad Badge on the kneepad done, just for a little variation. As this is the 3rd Squad, I use a basecoat of Iyanden Darksun. 

Here are the results below, along with an example of a finished battle brother. There's plenty left to go, but I find that I can finish a 5 man squad in around 6 hours, when listening to an interesting podcast (Skeptics Guide to the Universe is highly recomended, google it!).

I'll post part 2 of this guide some time in the next few days, I really need to get steaming ahead with my Blood Angels and this will be the perfect excuse to get a squad painted. I think it's a nice example of the effect Inks can have on Space Marine armour, and how a little inking can give it that vibrancy it can sorely need.

-Gavin

Experiment with Quickshade (Updated 20th April)

I recently picked up a tin of this stuff. If it did what it said on the tin, I could finally finish some of the armies that I just can't bring myself round to paint, like the Empire I have sat in a box in the loft.
I decided to test it on an Eldar Guardian, because I had a strange urge to paint some Eldar. The colour scheme is base on Adam FitzGerald's Eldar army, because they rock.

I first slapped on a quick layer of Hormagaunt Purple, with Skull White and Iyanden Darksun in places, with Blood Red Eyes. Took me about 5 seconds, and that's it. I added some sand to the base and simply painted that Khemro Brown, although that was after the picture was taken.


Apologies for the poor quality of the picture.

I then dipped it into the quickshade, shook it off and left it to dry for 12 hours. I then painted the bases rim black, and sprayed with Matt varnish.

I'm actually quite impressed with this stuff. I once tried the same with Wood Stain (inspired by a thread on WarSeer), but it failed. I'm definitely gonna use this stuff to finish my Empire, and may even start an Eldar army painted this way. Not gonna touch my Blood Angels with it though, I prefer the results from 'real' painting.

UPDATE - I've now finished a unit of 4 Guardians in this method, here's a group shot. Took around half an hour from prime to painted for 3 of them, and then 12 hours to dry from the dipping. I've also added Static Grass to finish the unit

.

- Gavin

Devastators WiP

Since I use Dev's in all my lists, it's high time I got some painted. Heres they are, in all their basecoated glory. Not much to look at, they need a lot of work yet.

-Gavin

Monolith WIP

Hello there! I have decided to do a WIP for my Necron Monolith - as you can see in the picture below, it is of the same colour scheme as my warriors.

So far I've done two sides, the base and the column, theyre pretty roughly painted at the moment and I could do with touching them up a little. Next up will be putting the guns on along with the other two sides. All four sides are meant to hold the guns in place in glued so that they are flexible! Anywho I shall keep you guys updated when I do some more.

-Alex

Blood Angels Reinforcements

I've recently bought some more units to fit into my list, and have also been given a load of goodies by Alex - my army is taking shape! I shouldn't have to proxy models for much longer.

Here is a summary of my new Blood Angels:

HQ





I already owned a Chaplain with jump pack, which was serving me nicely. To that I can now add a Chaplain on foot (should I need one, for some reason), and a converted Jump Pack captain. The Chaplain was a gift from Al, and I couldn't resist making the captain up from my bits box. Backpacks need to be added, and I want to change the Chaplains base for a large round one, a habit of mine - to distinguish the officers from the troops and veterans.


I have also been given two identical Sanguinary Priests (Blood Angel medics). I shall probably give one a jump pack, just in case.

Devastators


By combining the plastic Devastator box and a plastic Combat Squad box with my bits box (which is full of metal heavy weapons, for some reason), I can assemble:

• 4 Veteran Sergeants (armed with Bolters, 3 of them are identical metal models!)
• 4 Multi Melta Devs
• 3 Lascannon Devs
• 3 Missile Launcher Devs
• 2 Heavy Bolter Devs
• 3 Plasma Cannon Devs

This will give me a wide selection of heavy weapons to use, I could even field four Devastator squads if I wished (and had an extra HS slot!). I plan to use as many bare heads and grooved legs as possible, so they can be fitted into both tactical and devastator squads with ease - I just need to stock up on fodder Devastators to use them effectively.

Scouts


I've bought and assembled a box of Sniper Scouts, which are handily in my 2000pt list. I want to paint these first.

Variant Sergeants


I've made a few variant Sergeants up as well, armed with power fists and suchlike. This will allow me to change my list in future without remodeling my old Sergeants.

All I need to buy now is a Terminator Librarian, 20 Assault Marines, 2 Forgeworld upgrade packs, 3 Land Speeders and a Razorback. Gonna take me a few months.

- Gavin

Need a Bits Box?

Hey there!

It's 1:45 in the morning, and I really should be getting bed soon. I have work in the morning don't you know! Instead I've decided to write this really short article/advertisement, to help anyone who had a messy bits box.

Believe it or not, for 3 years my bits box was just a box full of bits, completely unordered. After that, it became a bigger box, then a big box and a small box, eventually 2 big boxes. Throughout all 7 years of complete Bits Box chaos, I never once thought of organizing them in any way at all.

Recently, I've found the solution - or my solution, at any rate. It might seem obvious to most people, but small boxes with dividers are perfect. Although they are meant for use with electrical components, it's as if they were designed for modeling.

This one here is the one I use for my 40K armies, with each army having one for it's bits. Soon, I may have to get a second for my Space Marines, cause you know, 8 years of collecting marines is a lot of bits.

This here, is my standard Fantasy box. As fantasy armies tend to have more spare parts and larger pieces (in my experience anyway), the larger compartments are better suited here. Again, each army has one each.

For size comparison, just check the picture at the top of the post. Next time you're near a Maplins store, pick one of these up for a few quid, you won't regret it.

- Gavin

Painting

Heres a list of things that I find it hard to paint without. This is pretty much all I use for painting.

Lots of Paints

Whether it's a pyramid or a pile of paints, I need some kind of paint to put on my models. I usually use the GW and GW Foundation paints, as they are awesome. Valejo seem pretty good, but I'm not 100% convinced yet.



























Natural Light

This is a must have. There are 2 sources of natural light - a window during the daytime, or a daylight bulb (available for a few quid from Maplins, where I work). I only use the bulb when it's too dark to use the window - I generally try to avoid painting by normal bulbs.



















Brushes... and other stuff

I have 6 different brushes in varying sizes, which I alternate between. Tank, Large, Detail and Fine Detail are must haves - and I tend to avoid drybrushes. For very fine detail I use a Kolinsky Sable brush, which costs twice as much as a normal brush, but is also worth twice as much. In my opinion at least, Brad may disagree.


Well, that didn't take long - I think I'll get painting, so I have some more models to post.

- Gavin