I'm running out of time, only two weeks left of painting. We're almost complete with our display board. I wrapped up my chaos rhino in a pretty simple scheme. A little bit of free hand work but mostly just straight painted.
Additionally I wrapped up all the rest of the bases I'll potentially need to do. Here they are in their painted glory sans static grass!
I'm so behind on painting, especially since I had to sneak in some business travel. I'm almost done with the soul grinder and am trying to crank out two squads of cultists this week. argh!!!!
I got some Titan bases in from Dragon Forge, and I figure I would add a little custom symbol in to make it a little more unique. I absolutely love the two ranges, Sanctuary and Ancient Ruins. This base was originally from the Ancient Ruins side. All of my imperial armies use some variations of these bases.
I thought to give it a little custom flair, and since I am "Knights Angelus" (basically silver dark angels), I'd break up the basing a little with the Dark Angels symbol. Since I love gold, I planned on just painting it on. After sketching in the symbol, I thought it would look cooler if I etched it in.
So I broke out my dremel and put on the etching bit and went to town.
Here's where it stands right now. I think I'll wait to finish it off until I place the model on. Then I may add some water effects and a little bit of grass growing in where the stone breaks up. That will also break up the base and add some interesting elements. I also have a soft spot for the fake leafs and will add those in as well.
Didn't get a chance to take a shot of my progress on the knight, but the legs are 90% done and the torso and shoulder pads are about 75% done. It's been a lot less mind numbing by breaking it into pieces for painting.
For my Dark Eldar army, I was faced with a challenge. Wyches had to be on slot bases since the connection point of the foot was way too weak to connect with any specialty resin bases. I also wanted to have a base that could both work on a desert "arena" area as well as on board a raider or my pleasure ship (out of Return of the Jedi) that I'll eventually have.
I picked up a bunch of diamond plate plastic from Plastruct product code: 91682. I started by cutting out various shapes and gluing them down to the base. I then added one layer of sand, not overlapping any of the plastic.
At this point, I wanted to make sure the sand looked like it was blowing over the edges of the decking. I layered on a second portion of sand over the edges of the decking and raised other areas of the sand to give it depth.
I then primed the models and started with the decking first.
- Based Tin Bitz
- Heavy drybrush of Dwarf Bronze
- Drybrush of Chainmail
- Washed with Devlan Mud
Now I let the ink dry for awhile and could start on the sand.
- First I drybrushed very lightly another coat of Chainmail to pick up the raised part of the decking
- Heavy coat of Khemri Brown on the sand
- Drybrush heavy Desert Sand
- Drybrush Bleached Bone
- Painted the lip of the base black (personal preference).
I'm happy with how they turned out. Simple but effective. I'll spend some time next stepping how I did the flesh tones. This weekend will be a lot of work around the house but I'm going to try and build some of my beastman Wrack substitutes so the Wyches have something to fight in the arena!
It's so nice to see a finished product, I just wish I was a little better at taking pictures. Here are the shots of the 4 squads of Sanguinary Guard with the basing finished. These miniatures took way longer then I expected. I'll have shots of the 2 squads of assault marines finished tonight after I'm done with the backpacks.
For each of the squads, I tried to match their right leg knee-pad. For gaming purposes, I also numbered the bottom of the base so I can identify which squad is which easily.
I had a lot of fun basing some of the taller resin bases. With the ruins, I was able to glue some dried flowers against the facing for support. Places like Hobby Lobby or Michaels are perfect to find supplies. One plant is worth decades of projects. I'm still using the dried plants/flowers from my kroot project a few years ago and I haven't even gotten 10% through the supplies.
Tonight, I'll have the backpacks done for my assault squad and I'm going to try and get as far as possible on the five objective markers. I'll be sure to post progress.
I am a big basing nerd. Whether it's going to the local craft store to buy dried flowers or taking pictures when I'm on a hike with my wife (so I can recreate the look), I'm always thinking about them. I think it really helps immerse someone in the miniature, really capture the feel. Combined with a display board, you can really start to tell a story. Ok, enough of my basing philosophy.
I thought I'd share some of the basing companies I've used when I want to cut some corners and have them do the work! I also wanted to link a few of the bases I've seen sprung up that are making me dangerously close to starting a new army. I've linked each of the companies below, so feel free to scope them out for yourself. I'm all about giving credit where credit is due!
For those of you that have been following my Blood Angels, I've been using Scibor Miniatures for the ruins. I want to capture a jungle ruins theme. Combined with a ton of dried flowers and plants (going to tackle that once the army is painted), I think they capture the look and feel I was going for.
Previously my Black Templar Army went for stone floor look. I tried to bring out the temple floor and wanted a light color base to contrast the dark colors of the army. I went with Back 2 Base-IX. It really beat having to sculpt my own and saved a ton of time.
My next big 40k project will more then likely be the Death Korps of Krieg. Since they're no cheap army to paint, I'm going to invest the time in not only painting them to a high level but basing. My top three contenders for basing companies for the project are: Micro Art Studio, Secret Weapon Miniatures, and Dragonforge. Let me know what you think.
Finally it comes a time where basing sometimes is so inspirational that I start an army just due to the basing! I saw pictures of Micro Art Studio's new Eldar themed base. It's a real toss-up between their's and Dragonforge. Here are pictures of both, they look amazing.
Basing is probably the last thing most people think of when working on a project. It's usually an afterthought. I think there are so many options now to a hobbyist to take it to the next level. For a few extra $'s, you can make all the hard work that you've put into painting shine even more.
Ouch, I didn't expect Hobby A.D.D. to kick in so fast, I'm almost done with the core of my 1850 Space Wolves list! I had the chance to play in our local tournament scene last weekend and had a great time playing my wolves... due to my inexperience with the army I went 1-1-1. It looks like Space Wolves are turning into the "it" army in the Chicago metagame. Out of the 20 people playing in the tournament, there were 6 of us with Space Wolves. I'm playing them due to my love of the army, but I don't want to be singled out as one of those guys...
Here is the docket of armies in que that I've bought up the models and excited about painting:
- Finishing Space Wolves
- Orks
- Death Korps of Krieg
- Dark Eldar
Which leads me to another power armored army... the Blood Angels. I'm in love with the new plastic kits; the Sanguinary Guard and the Death Company models. I don't want to do the razorback & armor 11 spam I'm seeing all the rage in marine lists, I'd like to try something that makes the Blood Angels different. Jump packs! So I'm set out to make an "elite" low model count list with Dante & Sanguinary Guard that'll be a fun change of pace.
It'll be fun painting gold and I found some amazing miniature bases I've been dying to try out. I ordered a bunch of bases from Scibor Miniatures: http://sciborminiatures.com/en_,index.php that look pretty sweet. I'm going with the ancient ruins style. Very epic, and would go over well with the jump troop concept. Plus after doing all the snow and urban bases, I can now focus on a "jungle" theme. Do lots of things with foliage and flowers...
Here's my concept so far that I've found browsing the internet...
HQ: Dante
HQ: Honor Guard with 3 meltas, one flamer (comes with priest)
Elite: 5 Sternguard in Drop pod with 2 meltas, 1 combi melta and 1 combi flamer
Elite: 1 Sanguinary Priest with Jump Pack (to go with one of the Guard squads to get a jumping bubble of effect)
Troop: 5 Sanguinary Guard
Troop: 5 Sanguinary Guard
Troop: 5 Sanguinary Guard
Troop: 5 Sanguinary Guard
Troop: 5 Scouts with camo cloaks, sniper rifles and missile launcher (had to take this to have something in the backfield on an objective)
Heavy: 5 Devestators with 4 missile launchers
Heavy: 5 Devestators with 4 missile launchers
Idea would be the Dante Squad and Sternguard squad drop to get rid of the nasty armor, devestators to help with transports, and my sanguinary guard to mop up infantry.
Just not sure how I'll handle deathstar units like Thunderwolf Cavalry w/lords or Nob Bikers; or big blob units like Ork mobs with power klaws.
