Paints and Patience: A chronicle of...

Quick update and review

2012-02-13T19:59:00.000+00:00

Hi guys currently From the Warps blogroll is down so I've amassed a bit of content whilst waiting for the to return.

My 1.5k Dark Eldar army is complete after about 5 weeks of work put into it and I will put up pictures of the remaining squads and a full army shot.

This Thursday I will be playing my first game with my Dark Eldar against my friend Jamie and will do a full battle report for you to read.

My friend Gary recently found out he was expecting his thrid child and as such had to make some room and I have inherited a fully unpainted necron army (built to the previous codex standards so I will have to purchase the new models). I have decided to do them as a tarnished copper colour using a variety of washes and line highlighting some a bit different from the Dark Eldar.

So in preparation for this I ordered Army painter platemail silver spray as my basecoat and I have to say it is hands down the best spray paint I have ever used. I started with a black basecoat and then went back over with the silver and it is gorgeous such a smooth even coat if you wanted a quick surgical steel look to your necrons they would be pretty much done at the point you would only need a few washes in the recesses and some details painted in. I highly recommend this product for those doing Necrons, Grey knights, Iron warriors etc.

Wychy women

2012-01-27T18:45:00.000+00:00

The mainstay of my army is a solid core of whyches. I'm going to be using the following:

2 units of 9 Whyches with Hekatrix with an agonizer and a whych with Hydra gauntlets in raiders

A lot of what I have heard says whyches should use razorflails (rereoll hits and wounds) but I have decided to use hydra gauntlets (+D6 attacks on the charge) as I feel dark Eldar are the gamblers army and the hydra gauntlets play into that nicely however not statistically as reliable as the razorflails.

I tend to find math hammer is all well and good when thinking of options but sometimes you need to take risks. A typical game of 40k will not play straight to the averages you just don't throw enough dice to get a large enough sample size hence the wild statical anomalies such as space marines scouts decking a nightbringer in close combat for example. This is why I like hydra gauntlets some times they can be awful other times they can decimate, that feeling of uncertainty I find really fun in 40k but your milage may vary.

Next the Hekatrixes/hekatrixi whatever....

The Wyches with hydra gauntlets

And lastly their rides, two raiders.

Thoughts on Reaver Jetbikes

2012-01-19T18:28:00.000+00:00

"My jetbike is my life. It is no less a part of me than an arm or a leg"

As I paint the models I will be using for my upcoming game I would like to spend a fe moments discussing why I have chosen each and hopefully have any glaring flaws in my assessment of each unit pointed out to me.

The Reaver jetbike is a fast attack choice and that really does sum them up well "fast". Being able to turbo boost 36" a turn is really their big trick conferring a 3+ cover save on the unit when it does so. During their movement they can use their bikes as weapons slashing at their foes with bladevanes attached to the bike in a stunning display of Aeriel carnage. This attack deals D3 S4 AP - hit per jetbike on the first unit it passes over during a turbo boost this can be further upgraded to D6 S6 AP - hits for each bike who has the cluster caltrops wargear. This is one build I was considering just flying in and harassing units as I fly around the board dancing out of harms way:

9 X Reaver Jetbikes with a grav-talon and two bikes with cluster caltrops - 248 points

This is designed purely as a fly by unit get in deal damage (and thanks to the grav talon possibly pinning the unit) and then get away out of the range of rapid firing bolters which will tear Reavers apart even with the 3+ cover save from the turbo boost.

However for the upcoming game I'm playing against blood angels and that means pistols, lots of pistols and the AP - hits from the bladevanes will bounce off most power armoured troops. So for the upcoming game I have opted for the following load out:

9 X Reaver Jetbikes with 3 Blasters - 243 points

I chose blasters over the heat lance and I don't fancy getting super close to a Land Raider with the heat lance for the melta effect, where as the higher strength blaster with the longer range appealed to me the most as I can always shoot troops and negate their armour save and at 18" I will be out of the range of most pistols.

However this does mean I won't be turbo boosting as much so will miss out on the built in 3+ cover save so will be relying on natural cover for the squad my plan is to move up into position to shoot at my enemies, fire and use the jetbikes ability to make a 6" move in the assault phase to jump back into cover, (Dark Eldar Reavers have the skilled rider ability so won't be crashing in dangerous terrain) or jumping out of line of sight. Once the enemy gets too close to me turbo boosting away and using the bladevanes then. The only fear I really have is being assaulted and jump troops seem perfect for that as my blasters are 18" range and jump troops can easily move 12" followed by a 6" assault move so I'm thinking I will have to jump backwards to cover and hope they don't get a lucky run roll.

So guys how sound is my logic? any help veteran Dark Eldar players could give someone who is just starting out preparing for my first game would be most appreciated. Also as always comments and Criticisms regarding my painting are most welcome.

From the warp!

2012-01-16T16:37:00.001+00:00

Hi guys just a quick thank you to Ron from From the warp for letting me join the team over there. I urge all my readers to join in with the great blogs and sites over there, no matter what your tastes there is bound to be something for you.

In the following weeks I shall be getting 1500 points of Dark Eldar painted and with the help of a friend of mine called Jamie I will be running a battle report between my Blood Angels and my Dark Eldar. Both the lists have been drawn up at they are both rather fluffy with a very specialised Blood angels army lead by Commander Dante and a night raid of Dark Eldar using a main force of wyches and reavers supported by a squad of Incubi and lead by Lelith Hesperax.

So I have a lot of painting to do I've just finished 9 reavers and a raider and I'm in the process of painting up 20 wyches (though my list uses only 18). I find that giving myself a reason to paint really spurs me to action as opposed to the attitude of "well I have time, I can do it whenever I want".

What gets your mind in the game when it comes to painting is it preparation for a game or tournament? or is it reading a Black library book or listening to one of their audio books (The Horus Heresy audio books are my bread and butter at the moment whilst I paint). Please let me know in the comments below if you want to share your secrets and techniques for keeping yourself from feeling the burn out of and endless sea of grey plastic.

With that I will leave you some pictures of one of my raiders (sans crew at the moment they are coming though).

Stormraven

2012-01-06T10:58:00.000+00:00

This brick shouldn't fly it's like the bumblebee of the warhammer 40000 universe the body feels too bulky and the wings don't feel wide enough and as my dad once pointed out why can the guns shoot the front VTOL thrusters?

As usual I am aware of some bits I need to touch up and finish the missles/ front melta all that is being sorted as we speak. I tend to find having and army with lots of little things needing doing much more motivational than a squad of utter perfection.

Oh and Games Workshop where is my plastic Thunderhawk? where is our super heavy option? you guys really need to get on that us space marines never get any love besides our near completely plastic product range and being the focal point for pretty much everything in the 40k universe...

Bit more Xenos love.

2012-01-05T11:16:00.000+00:00

One of the first models I decided I just had to have in my Dark Eldar army was the Razorwing Jetfighter I really like how sleek and deadly it look and how well it ties in the aesthetics with it's craftworld cousins. So here is my rendition of the Razorwing hope you like it as much as I do.

I think the most fun I've had with this miniature is the freehand on the body. I haven't done a huge amount of freehanding on my vehicles before so this was a chance to have a play and I'm quite pleased with the results.

The "glow" coming from the console is achieved in the same way that I do the glowing eyes for my warriors. I'm going to try and post a video detailing how I do this as a couple of people have asked about it and is a useful technique not just for Dark Eldar but I have seen it used to great effect on Marines and Necrons too.

Dead men walking

2012-01-04T14:37:00.000+00:00

Let me get this off my chest, I LOVE dreadnoughts with a passion I love the idea of them the look of them and their stoic unrelenting assault they provide on the tabletop. So with that in mind Blood Angels seemed perfect for me with their ability to field 11 dreadnoughts in an army (not that you would mind you but it can be done).

Whilst not quite 11 I do love my "squad" of dreadnoughts consisting of 3 furiosos (1 librarian 1 with blood talons and one with frag cannon) and 2 heavy dreads one with assault cannon and one with a multi melta from the attack on Black Reach starter (I seem to harp on about that starter set a lot but I do love what you get and the surprising quality of the clip together models).

Whilst far from finished I hope these guys give you an idea of the look I'm going for. I really do love the blue spot colour across the army as it really does contrast well against the red in my opinion and works doubly well for force/power weapons at it gives them that eerie electrical glow.

May very well pick up a death company dread when I get paid later in the month just for a sense of completion.

No I don't need an intervention I can stop whenever I want.

For now.

New year updates

2012-01-03T18:13:00.000+00:00

Here are pictures of what I have been doing over Christmas and new year whilst I was unable to clear an area to take photos.

Attack on Black Reach Terminators.

Attack on Black Reach tactical marines

There are more pics of many others things in the works I'll be posting them as I take pics hope you enjoy ( I am aware of some details I haven't done on certain models I am getting around to it such as drilling out bolters etc.)

Update

2011-12-24T11:37:00.000+00:00

Sorry I haven't posted anything I have been painting it's just currently my photo station has some sort of festive tree on it. I will be putting up pictures soon after Christmas as I will be aquiring a light box and I will show you all I have been painting (mostly Blood Angels as I've restricted buying anymore Dark Eldar in case anyone gets me anything for Christmas).

Dark Eldar individual shots

2011-12-09T15:14:00.000+00:00

Here are the requested individual shots. The squad is nearly finished just a few details left to do and then they are finished.

Well there they are comments welcome as always.

Dark Eldar full squad

2011-12-07T18:25:00.000+00:00

This is the armour plating done on the entire squad complete with off source lighting on the eyes, I'm glad people like the scheme and that is it suitably menacing.

Xenos sympathising...

2011-12-06T19:31:00.000+00:00

I recieved my Dark Eldar megaforce on Friday and finally I have had a chance to stick together and start work on a colour scheme so I thought I'd share what I have done so far.

Please let me know what you think.

Assault marines continued

2011-12-04T14:09:00.000+00:00

Here is the finished white/cream parts of the marines such as chest aquilas and shoulder pad iconography.

The way I do this is as follows:

1. Base coat with Khemri Brown
2. Wash Devlan Mud
3. Highlight with Khemri Brown
4. Highlight closer to the edgeswith bleached bone leaving the Khemri brown showing
5. Highlight the very tips with skull white

An apology

2011-12-04T10:36:00.001+00:00

Sorry for not posting for the past few days been hectic at work (I work in retail and Christmas can get a bit much) and my other half has been home so I have spent time with her doing some Christmas shopping. I will be putting a few updates up today to quench your thirst though.

Here's one I made earlier

2011-11-29T15:39:00.000+00:00

Before I started this blog I bought two DC boxes and decided I would make them into fancy assault marines to see if it could be done. This was before I used army painter as a base coat and instead they're hand base coated over a Chaos black spray undercoat.

They have blue "Gems" on their armour to denote squad so I can pick out squads of assault marines easier from my carry case.

I'm a huge fan of the Dawn of War series and I loved how the jump packs glow so I decided to try to emulate that and this is the result I ended up with. I will be putting up stage by stage pics of how I did this once I get around to painting them on my current project (which as you can see in the background has received some brown onto the bits that will end up cream).

As a final note I would like to say thank you to Paul from totalwargamer.co.uk for actually managing to supply me with the Dark Eldar megaforce I ordered. After hearing there where only 20 being made available to online retailers I started to worry but they came through for me and made it happen. So if you are in need of some models for yourself or Christmas presents for family and friends I highly suggest checking them out their customer service was excellent and their prices phenomenal.

Yellow helmets painted.

2011-11-28T18:45:00.000+00:00

I have painted the yellow on my assault troopers helmets in the brief time I had to paint over the weekend.

There was a thread on Bolter and Chainsword about how to paint yellow and a lot of people seem to have a problem with this so I'm going to share my method:

1. Base coated black
2. Cover the helmet in Iyandan Darksun
3. Wash Greyphone sepia ink
4. Glaze with Iyandan Darksun leaving the recesses darker
5. Edge highlight the helmet with a 1:1 mix of Iyandan Darksun and Bleached Bone

I will take more pictures soon my camera ran out of charge mid way through shooting and the batteries are currently charging so bare with me. I just wanted to put something up to go with the "painting yellow" guide so people can see the effect I achieve with it.

As another note if you are interested in marines of the first legion (the Dark Angels) check out this blog Roninmodern. I have been following it myself after seeing some awesome pics on Bolter and Chainswords painting forums and it's well worth sharing with all of you.

1K views!

2011-11-26T19:16:00.000+00:00

Thank you to the 1000 people who have looked at my site it's really been helping me to stay motivated even if I just do a little each day.

Assualt squad tutorial continued.

2011-11-26T18:56:00.000+00:00

Part 3: Edge highlight all the armour plating with blazing orange.

Part 4: This stage is completely optional but I however do it due to them being based on lava and I like to give the impression of flames flickering around them. I put small line highlights using elf flesh at the most prominent parts of the model such as hard 90 degree edges.

That is the effect you will get if you use that method I know it isn't to everyones taste but I enjoy the look it gives what do you guys think? do you have a better way to achieve the effect I am after?

Assault Marines WIP part 1

2011-11-25T18:56:00.001+00:00

Here are the steps I have been using to paint my marines first I spray with Army Painter pure red spray before sticking on the helmets and bases which I spray black using GW Chaos Black primer and then stick to the model.

The next step is to wash the entire model with Devlan Mud painting attention to the recesses of the model.

Next thing I do is black out the bolt pistols and chainswords and apply a blood red glaze back over the armour plates leaving the Devlan Mud showing where shadows would naturally fall.

More following in part 2.

Please leave comments below tell me what you think. Anything you would have done differently that maybe I should try?

Comment changes

2011-11-24T23:45:00.000+00:00

To increase people commenting because I would love comments and criticism, tips and ideas anyone can now post comments without signing up to google or anything else. Please keep it friendly I will be moderating posts.

Death company HD

2011-11-24T20:05:00.003+00:00

Army painter review

2011-11-24T13:35:00.001+00:00

As I have just started My unit of regular assault marines I thought it would be a good time to do a review of some of the products I use starting with Army Painter spray.

The can is the standard size that GW use 400ml and this is a "pure red" primer I use this colour over the dragon red that many use as I like to wash down the colour a bit and still have it as a vibrant orange/red when finished. Due to my models being based on lava bases I like to give the impression they are slightly illuminated by their surroundings.

This is a really high quality product and would highly recommend it to anyone who needs a nice flat colour base coat, they do many different colours and I'm very tempted to try their new "alien purple" for my 'nids. This is a great way to do space marines or vehicles anything with large flat surfaces really benefits from this spray the colour is rich covers well is perfect consistency and doesn't discolour in the cold like some other sprays (this is important as I live in a rather wet town next to the sea where it gets rather cold in the winter and the air is rather salty). Another big plus is my other half really dislikes the smell of spray paint and solvents in general but the Army Painter spray has a rather pleasent smell to it, a sweet "candy" like smell would be the best way to describe it.
All in all this is the product I would recommend to people looking for a premium solution to their base coating needs. You can find them over at Army Painter where they also do a great range of scenics for your bases and a range of dips (which I personally haven't used but have heard great things about and seen some really nice quick results from others who have).

Just as a note I do not get paid anything or have any privileges for this recommendation. I just want to share cool and useful things with the community and give my two cents on them.

Update

2011-11-23T09:39:00.002+00:00

Good morning (evening/afternoon depends where you are I guess and when you read this). I have just finished glueing together a regular assualt squad ready for priming which is what I'll be doing next however I might not get around to it today as I'm having to go into hospital but more than likely you should see a flurry of activity from me over the next few days as I recover.

On another note I have just ordered a Dark Eldar Megaforce an extra raider and the DE codex from totalwargamer.co.uk I have never used them before but they where by far the cheapest for the megaforce basically allowing me to get the codex and raider extra for the £130 asking price.

This army contains the following: 1x Venom 1x Raider (2) 1x Ravager 9x Reaver jetbikes 5x Scourges 10x Kabalite warriors and 20x Wyches.

I'm thinking of using this as a base for a Wych cult based army in a winter theme though as of yet I am undecided on a name for the army the main colours will be dark blue with lighter edge highlight blue. It will be a fast raiding type army as I love that piratical nature of the Dark Eldar if anyone has any ideas for a name for my cult something cold or wintery please leave a comment below.

Pimp my Rhino

2011-11-22T16:35:00.000+00:00

Wow that was a marathon painting session, I really enjoed painting this Rhino for my Death Company and just sat and painted it in a day very happy with how the design has come out.

Death Company finished.

2011-11-21T10:19:00.000+00:00

Sorry about not adding over the weekend I work over the weekend so time was a bit short and I wisely used my free time to break one of my molars. Protip: don't do that. Anyway here are the finished standard bolter DC I'm going to get to work on a rhino for them today and then a chaplain. I'm still debating whether to use my old "Blood Angels Death Company" chaplain I've had laying around in a blister pack for about 5 years or whether to buy one of the nice new finecast ones as they are much more durable and easy to work with.