Trying something

 

Gosh he’s a big chap!

 I blame Matt of the Mottblog (it’s usually his fault somehow).  He was the one who pointed out that my Tyranid/genestealer painting frenzy had given me about enough for a 1000pt force under 40k second edition.  All I needed was a Hive Tyrant…. Is that eBay I hear calling?

Offer accepted Sunday, arrived Thursday, base coat and wash Friday (yes, I should have stripped the previous paint but couldn’t be ar***d), details Saturday and Sunday.

“He’s right behind me, isn’t he?”

Having settled on a technique that is quick, easy and effective, I’ve gone from being intimidated by Tyranid models to really rather enjoying them.

What next? Lictor? Carnifex? Zoanthrope?

It’s a big Rat… on a Bigerrer Rat

Yep, that’s what it is.

Foot Knights

 Half a dozen Wargames Atlantic foot knights assembled and painted to try out Great helm.

Great Helm is an intriguing looking set of skirmish rules for small scale combat amongst knights, available from Indie Tabletop.  A nice touch is you can download a free version of the basic rules (which I’ve done), but it sound like there’s still plenty more to justify splashing out on the full rules at some point.

Love the WA foot knights.  Absolutely loads of options of heads, weapons etc, but they remain simple enough to paint up really quickly.  Only downside is some of the weapons are a little fragile, as you can see on the axeman here who appears to have already lost his axe.

More rodents!

Yep, more Spearhead.  A full unit of 20 Skaven was released over two issues; unfortunately I only managed to acquire the second one, with enough on the sprue to assemble 9 clanrats.  Still pretty good though.

Colour Forge Dead Animal bits primer, ivory drybrush, then contrast paints for the skin and fur.

Interestingly, each sculpt is unique and individually posed, with integral shield.  In some ways it felt like a bit of a return to the early days of miniature sculpts.  In some ways I miss the boxes with loads of parts that allowed you to really build your own unit (like the amazing Empire Militia) and had loads of conversion potential, but at the same time, the modern monopose minis allow the individual sculptor more chance to show off.

Spearhead - time for the Good Guys

 I admit to quite enjoying painting basic Stormcast.  They’re quite straightforward to paint to a decent standard.  GW Retributor Armour base, Gulliman Flesh over, then highlight and detail.  The hero types still suffer from a bit too much twiddly detail, but not too much. 

Still baffled at some of GW’s design choices though.  I get that this isn’t a multi pose model, but each shield is designed to only fit one specific Stormcast, despite them mostly being identical and otherwise all having the same fit and proportions.  Not a big issue, just seems unnecessarily complicated.

I can’t help thinking that if Warhammer Fantasy had stuck with the concept of the Gods of Law that was around in the early days (and early WFRP), these models might fit the role of ‘demons’ of Law.

More Spearhead. Big Ratty boize

Not exactly current affairs, but the third issue of Spearhead was three Rat Ogres.  Although I’ve done loads of ogres before, rodenty ones were a first.

Assembly wasn’t too bad by modern GW standards.  I ended up with a bit of a gap in one, but it was my fault rather than the kit, and not very obvious in the end.

They had a base coat of Colour Forge Dead Animal Bits (great colour, great name), and white drybrush, then I made wide use of contrast paints and washes.

That looks sore!