Winter is Coming (3)

Told ya! Well. At least that's what it looked like yesterday. We sometimes get this kind off weather here, warm spring on Friday, a single morning of winter on Saturday and back to spring the next day.
I've been pretty busy recently so there isn't much to show at this point. Still, I managed to finish painting Jaimie Lannister from the Darksword "A Game of Thrones" range. In the book he's a rather nasty guy. Known as Kingslayer, he's a twisted, cunning guy with an insatiable lust for power.
The sculpt is absolutely amazing with all the small details like the lion on the armor or the smirk on the face. Painting him was a very enjoyable experience.
I've finally had a chance to take full advantage of the Andrea gold set I got for last Christmas. The set consists of three shades of gold (base, light, shadow) and three washes (golden yellow, chestnut and black). It's really great as the paints have excellent coverage and mix nicely with the washes that really help when used as glazes as well as creating nice shades. For some reason I wasn't able to take a decent pic of the back of this mini. Each time it looked like it was shiny (irl it's finished off with a matt anti-shine varnish). The one I chose for this post is my best effort, a poor one but at least it's better than nothing.

Winter has come

Just like Viruk I've been working on couple of DarkSword minis related to "Game of Thrones". I had a blast painting those pieces. Each and everyone is a masterpiece. The detail level is simply amazing, especially when it comes to faces, they are so lifelike. Anyway I had to paint 2 different parties, one consisting of 4 characters (which I'm not able to identify, guess it's time to brush up on those books) and the other includes 3 Night Guardsmen.

Winter is Coming (2)

I briefly talked about the outstanding quality of Dark Sword minis in my previous entry. This time I'd like to write a bit more and show some more detailed pictures of these models.
The first word that comes to my mind when I think of these models is 'realistic'. The proportions, facial features, everything is lifelike. It's a nice change after painting WARMACHINE and Warhammer models (and I'm not saying that those models are worse, it's simply a different approach to sculpting miniatures).
Darksword miniatures are also extremely well detailed. Little things like a scar or a sneer are clearly visible on the facial features. Other small bits like belt buckles or armor ornaments also look great.
The quality of the cast is superb - there are just a few mold lines to get rid off. Some of the minis from the range are multipart (hands with weapons or heads need to be glued). Much to my surprise, the model of Raven Keeper (the fat guy with a raven) is cast in one piece. How they managed to get such a great sculpt cast in one piece is beyond my understanding.
There is only one thing that bothers me about these models - the weapons. The metal from which the minis are cast is very soft (compared to other miniatures, for example Citadel or Privateer Press that seem to be using a heavier and tougher material). It causes some problems while working on the weapons. Let's take a sword as an example - it's quite long and it has small mold lines along the blade. You need to be extremely careful while removing them as the metal is very soft and bends easily. This king of material will bend only a limited number of times after which it breaks. Still, if you're careful enough you shouldn't have big problems here.
well, that would be all as far as my short review of Darksword miniatures is concerned. Check out the pictures I attached in this post, I think they show the quality of the sculpts pretty well. Also, make sure to have a look at the official website. I've already started painting one of them and will be posting pics of a finished mini soon. Until then, keep the paint flowing.
Cheers,
Viruk

CMON & eBay update

I've been kind of slacking lately update-wise, so today I'm jumping in with huge mass of pictures. I've finished both Sanguinary Guard and Assault Squad and now I'll be moving back to Ultramarines.

I've also listed effects of my last Blood Angels stretch on eBay so if that's your army , please be welcome to bid on them ;)

Links :

Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard Standard Bearer: CMON & eBay

Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard (A): CMON & eBay

Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard (B): CMON & eBay

Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard (C): CMON & eBay

Blood Angels Assault Squad: eBay

Arwen: CMON & eBay

And now picture time :

Winter is Coming

I know, the title of this post may be misleading to say the least. Still, I cannot think of a more suitable one that I can think while writing about anything connected with R. R. Martin's "A Game of Thrones". Anyone who read it should agree.
I friend of mine has recently asked me to paint a couple of minis for him and his buddy. They turned out to be three models from Darksword's Masterworks - a range of minis inspired by Martin's work. I read the first tome about ten years ago. Now I felt more inspired to return to his work and immediately ordered first three books from the series. Needless to say, I'm having a blast reading them in the original language.
Now, as far as the minis are concerned, all I can say is wow. The overall quality of the sculpt is great and level of detail is simply amazing. I don't think I've ever seen faces that would be sculpted better than these ones, they're so full of character!



I will write more about the models with better pictures after the weekend. For now I'll leave you with this picture as a snek peek for the things to come.

Wraith Engine is here!

Yes, finally, PP has released pics of a painted version. Sheer awesomeness if you asked me. I totally dig the model, it has an eerie alien look to it, while still being "cryxian" enough. Great job PP, can't wait to lay my hands on this one!



Make sure to check out the official PP website for a 3D Rotation.

And here's a nice little song to get you in the groove, feel the wrath :]

Gorman Di Wulfe

Had a solid painting session with my younger brother yesterday. I managed to paint one complete mini during a late afternoon/late evening sit-down. Gorman should make a very helpful addition to my slowly (but steadily) growing Cryx force. He should add some firepower with his grenades and the his Smoke Bombs should provide some cover for my caster.
It's so much more enjoyable to work on one mini at a time instead of painting a larger batch of models simultaneously. It allows you to plan better and focus more closely on highlighting everything in a more coherent way.
I started by preparing a base. I used wine cork for the stone. Putting Gorman on it gave the model a little more dynamic pose. I also usually start painting the base first as I do it mostly using the good 'ol drybrush technique, which makes getting unwanted traces of paint on the model all to easy. Still, at this stage it's not a problem.
I wanted to paint him using mainly dark shades of brown and gray with some blues and greens to add a little variety. Only the lenses on his mask were painted with red highlighted to yellow as I thought a little bit of a warmer color should fit in nicely (the frontal silver piece looks much brighter in the pic than irl). I also wanted a color scheme that would match my other painted Cryx units.
Overall I'm pleased with the effects though I didn't manage to take a picture that would show everything well. Probably too much light today and that's why the model seems to be a bit too shiny (even though I used an anti-shine matt varnish).
As you can see I also painted the marks for front and back arc on the rim of the base. I've seen different approaches to it, some that I didn't like too much (like painting half of the rim in a different color). I went for a quick and easy solution ans simply added two thin vertical lines on the sides of the base. I highlighted them so that they are clearly visible but at the same time don't affect the overall look of the model.
And as a bonus, a mini that my brother started painting. It's still a work in progress but I really like what he's done so far. His Idrian Skirmisher Chieftain is coming along nicely so far.





Now back to the brush, since I am currently on a sick leave, I plan to deal with my backlog (only one WM model remaining !!).

Angelic Host Day 6: Blood Brothers

Last days I was less active hobbywise, due to some uni problems, plus some negative energy from my failure to get job at academic radio....well that's behind me now. On weekend I started work on BA Assault Marines Squad, just to rest from Sanguinary Guard. I decided to use most of my airbrush and try to paint with it as much as I can.

That was day one of that project. Next step wasn't taken until today. I sat in the afternoon and I painted before long session with brand new Dragon Age 2 :):)

And as for the music bit, I've choosen probably the most suitable piece for Blood Angels. Blood Brothers by Papa Roach.

Disappointed

I got a few GW paints in these new pots and I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed.
First of all, the lids lack the element that Foundation paints and washes have, i.e. this piece of plastic that keeps them open (have a look at the picture above). I know that most of painters (myself included)do not take paint straight from the pots but this is pretty annoying even if you open them only for a moment to take some paint on the palette. I don't understand why GW would give up a fairly good design in favor of more cumbersome design. It's just a little thing but still, devil is in the details.
Another thing that surprised me was the actual amount of paint in a pot.
I don't know whether I was just unlucky or it's a common trend but instead of 12 ml, there were about 8 ml inside. Tough luck probably but all of the three paints I got were not full.
Other than that the containers look OK. I like the fact that they are transparent so that you can see the color of paint when you look at it from the top.
I've used GW paints since I got into the hobby and even now when there are so many other similar products, I stick to some of my favorite colors (Scorched Brown and Bleached Bone are a must for me). I will probably continue to do so but I can only hope that GW improves in this field.
OK, enough rambling about paints. I've been pretty lazy with painting recently and managed to finish only 8 minis.



Half trolls painted for a buddy of mine who is very much into the War of the Ring. The quality is not top-notch as I simply speed painted these, trying to maintain a table-top level.

Pick of the Week

For this Pick of the Week, Viruk and I, both agreed that we should introduce you all to Regular Ordinary Swedish Meal Time. Epic bunch of guys turning regular cooking into something that can only be found in WH40k or WFB ;)

Here's a sample, but be sure to check their whole channel on Youtube :)

Angelic Host Day 5: Golden Brown

Yesterday I did some work on remaining Sanguinary Guard. I decided that I'll paint them as one batch, hopefully It won't affect the quality much ;)

So far I only did half of their armour in NMM, hence the title. That's a lot of work with brown and yellow ;)

Angelic Host Day 4 : Say Hello to the Angels

Standard Bearer almost done, just the matter of picking the flock on base, but I'll wait with that for the rest of the squad.

Some alternative piece to match that disturbing guy with wings ;)

Jack in the Box part III

I've recently completed my biggest WARMACHINE hobby project - fully magnetized Cryx helljack. I posted a few WIP pics a while ago. Painting it was very enjoyable, though a bit tiresome at times. Working on several similar models (or rather parts in this case) can be a bit tiresome.
I can't really say which one I like the most as they all turned out OK (at least in my humble opinion). I guess Slayer has to be my favorite here. I am quite happy with the dynamic pose I managed to put this one into. You can see him in the pictures compared to the metal version I painted a few months ago.
Painting these guys assembled would be a pain in the neck. Their weapons have so many details placed at weird angles that reaching them with brush would be virtually impossible. The sculpts are pretty much out of control and Corruptor is a good example with his Necrojector and Sludge Cannon.
I have to admit that I didn't really do my best with the painting on these guys. Not my best effort as I was rushing things a bit. Still, I just wanted to get a solid 'tabletop' look without cutting corners too much while painting.
The Reaper looks a bit like some kind of beetle. At least this was my first thought when I put him together. I left Malices' addition to the harpoon glued permanently as making this part detachable would be pretty tricky.
Malice was the hardest one to work with as it took me a while to come up with an idea to incorporate all the elements. Magnetizing the soul tokens and placing the magnets randomly on the main body did the trick. I wanted the soul tokens to be very bright and stand out against the dark color of armor. I did it this way to make sure they are distinct enough and easy to notice while gaming (it's so easy to forget little details like extra tokens in the middle of a challenging game).
I used Vallejo pigments for the rust effect. They are very easy to use and they give a pretty realistic rust effect. Combined with a pigment fixer (definitely a must while working with natural pigments), they don't chip off easily.
So, here it is, once again in its full unholy glory:



Thanks for reading and watching. Any kind of feedback is appreciated :)