PAINTING: Pledge kept

I haven't blogged anywhere near as much I would like during the past weeks but I hope this entry will make up for that. I've been concentrating on painting my Blood Angels for the Warseer Tale of 40k Painters pledge. It's the end of the first month and I'm happy to declare that I've kept my pledge. I thought I'd give all of my readers the first look at the finished models.

Almost 200 points of Blood Angels muster

I need to paint up 2000 points of Blood Angels over the next year. My aim is to complete 200 points per month which leaves me with a bit of wriggle room if I can't paint anything for a month or two. For my first month I decided to paint five Tactical marines, a Rhino and a Land Speeder.

I finished the Speeder first, as I have blogged here previously.

Speeder front

Speeder side

Speeder side

With the Speeder done inside a week I moved onto the Rhino.

Rhino side

Rhino front

Rhino side

Rhino rear

The Rhino only took a week or so which meant I had two weeks for five Marines. No problem.

I've completely finished the painting of these models but I haven't added the transfers yet. I'll do that later when I've purchased some Micro-Sol. The other five marines I painted months ago, and which will complete this Tactical squad, have some very crinkly transfers curling around their shoulder pads which I want to remove because they look so bad. Thanks for my blog readers who pointed me towards the Bell of Lost Souls transfer tutorial.

This marine has gauntlets from a Chaos Space Marine

Marine with battle damage

Missile launcher

Bare-headed marine

Mark VI Corvus armour

I'm really happy with how these marines turned out and I'm looking forward to getting them onto the battlefield.

I'm in a bit of a quandary for my September pledge. I'm away on holiday for a fortnight so my painting time will be severely restricted. I certainly couldn't paint as many models as I did for August. One option is to paint a single high cost model like a Land Raider - I have one of these already built and undercoated - alternatively I could play a joker and skip the whole month, picking up the challenge for October.

Oh, and I almost forgot, I have the eighth battle in the Vogen campaign up on my battle reports blog. My radical Daemonhunters took on Gary's Chaos Space Marines.

GENERAL: Of Tactical Marines and Land Raiders

I've hauled together my seventh battle report of the Vogen campaign and you can read it here. My Daemonhunters took on Ken's Witch Hunters in the battle of the Ordos.

Meanwhile, apologies for the lack of blog entries. I have been frantically painting my Blood Angels; the Rhino is now finished and I'm right on track to complete the Tactical Marines by the end of the month. Their armour is all but done with two base coats, a Baal Red wash, and two sets of highlights. I'll move on to painting the other details next (pouches, grenades, eyes) then a last coat of Blood Red and the final highlight will see them battle ready.

Then I just need to decide on my next 200 points. I'm, leaning toward my Land Raider because I'm away on holiday for two weeks in September so my painting time will be halved, I've been enjoying painting vehicles, it's already half built and undercoated, it will gobble up a whole load of points (250+) and Land Raiders are now much better in 5th edition. The only negative is that it isn't Troops, and that's what I'm desperate to get on the table.

Maybe the month after I could do some Assault Marines?

PAINTING: Mud on the tracks

More progress on the Rhino. I painted the metallics with Chaos Black and then Boltgun Metal, then washed them with Badab Black. Once that had dried I started adding the weathering effects.

As you can see from the pics, it is not for the faint-hearted. I took my carefully highlighted tank and messed it up! I started with a light drybrush of Khemri Brown, drawing the brush up and away from the tracks and the front of the Rhino, in the direction that mud and dust would be thrown up. Once that had dried I drybrushed Calthan Brown a little heavier over a smaller area. The idea is that the mud has dried furthest from the tracks and gets darker and thicker as you get closer to the ground.

Next I dabbed on copious amounts of Scorched Brown, especially on areas where the mud mix was clumped (mud mix is a mixture of PVA glue, sand and static grass). Later I'll flick ink over the top to represent mud splatters but I need to add the transfers first.

I also added some realism in the shape of oily deposits around the exhausts, stippled with Chaos Black, then roughly edged with Boltgun Metal. I love this effect and it takes so little time to achieve.

The Rhino is looking really good now, and I'm sure it will be finished by Friday. Watch this space.

Also, I've plundered the files from my old website to bring you the latest instalment of the Vogen campaign. This is actually a page I forget about when I first started posting the battle reports - an introduction. I've placed it at the right chronological point in the blog (i.e. right at the start of the campaign) so it would be easy to miss. That's why I'm pointing it out now.

PAINTING: Pimp my ride

Finally, I have photographic evidence of progress on my Blood Angels.
As you can see I have painted the metallics on the Tactical Marines and given their armour a base coat of Mechrite Red. I was hungover on Sunday so I didn't feel like adding the Blood Red layer onto the Marines; instead I gave the Rhino a coat of Blood Red and then edged it in Blazing Orange. I also washed the crevices with Devlan Mud (is there anything this wash isn't good for?).

For some reason I'm really enjoying painting vehicles at the moment even though finishing the infantry would be more useful. I'm not stressing about it, though - progress is progress. As long as all the models are finished by the end of August I'll be happy.

Meanwhile, war rages on the battlefields of the 41st millennium. I have posted my fifth battle in in the Vogen campaign on my battle reports blog and it contains one of the most memorable gaming moments I have ever had. Check out a scrap between my Daemonhunters and Gary's Eldar here.

NEW MODEL FUND: Halfway there

It's been a month since I last blogged about my New Model Fund. I had pledged to make a dent in my debts; have I done so?

Well, the first part of my plan worked as I haven't bought a single model and therefore I haven't increased my debts. Instead I dug out lots of Space Marine models for my Blood Angels and started putting them together. In many ways it was like buying new models because they had been lying around in boxes for years without seeing the light of day. Painting them will probably take the entire year, and I don't need to add many models to make them an effective force. Here's hoping my discipline will stick.

The second part of my scheme was to put loads of stuff up on eBay. My old MP3 player and computer RAM brought in over £50 with the rest of my deficit being reduced with the sale of RPG books.

Here is what all that has done to my fund.

• Total income from sales (and my penny jar) £504.26
• Less selling fees £37.65
• Less models bought £515.12
• New model fund -£48.51

I want to have completely written off my debts by the time my next New Model Fund update rolls around in four weeks time. So, I have started listing my very old Judge Dredd Megazine comics (there are ten up for sale right now), and I still have my SLR and mobile phone to list. Together with cash from my bulging penny jar I'm confident I'll achieve my target.

GENERAL: In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war

I'm still painting red but I have no photographic proof just yet. In the meantime have a look at the fourth battle of the Warhammer 40k Vogen campaign which is now up on my battle reports blog. Again I used my radical Daemonhunters to take on Wayne's Chaos Space Marines. You can read about it here.

I'm proud to say that the above battle report is the number one hundred blog entry on my battle reports blog. There are a real mixed bag of games on the blog ranging from old 3rd edition 4ok battles like the one above, to current 5th edition games I'm playing now, to campaigns, to Warhammer Fantasy Battle. If you haven't checked it out yet I'd urge you to do so now!

GENERAL: Radical versus Puritan

I'm neglecting this blog a little at the moment as I press on with the painting of my Blood Angels. I've now moved on to the infantry and the second five models of my Tactical squad.

I can point you in the direction of my battle reports blog, though, if you are hungry for 40k action. My latest game write-up picks up my exploits in the Vogen campaign as my radical Daemonhunters take on their Grey Knight foes.

PAINTING: Whoooooshhhhhh!

I've maintained radio (well, blog) silence for the past few days while I've been painting up my Land Speeder. Since it was a second hand model I acquired already assembled, I had a little work to do first scraping off mold lines. I also had to repair the aerial on the driver's earpiece with some brass rod. A quick spray of Chaos Black udercoat and it was ready to be painted.


I started with the metallics and overbrushed Boltgun Metal everywhere, particularly on the underside of the model. That was given a wash of Badab Black and I called it done. Next I painted some areas Brazen Brass with a Dwarf Bronze highlight. I washed those areas with Gryphonne Sepia. I drybrushed Chaos Black over the engines and multi-melta barrel to simulate muck and grime, then spotted some Chainmail onto the hard edges to represent areas where the deposits had worn off.

Most of the model would of course be bright red. I began with a Mechrite Red layer over the black undercoat then mixed in a lot of Blood Red, so much that I have none left at all now. I was surprised that I only needed one layer of this, and as you can see the Speeder is a bright, vibrant red colour. I edged the red with Blazing Orange.

To make the crew stand out a little more I highlighted them with Fiery Orange. The difference is very subtle but I think, even if subconsciously, it will catch the eye.

After all the red there were just a few details to pick out like the lights, Imperial Eagle, multi-melta and the crew heads.

I could call the model done (bar the base) but I want to add just a little more detail in the shape of battle damage. Maybe a bit of chipped metal and a few mud splatters will do the trick.

This is the first part of my painting pledge for this month and I have surprised myself by getting it painted ahead of schedule. Now I have two weeks to paint 5 Tactical Marines and a further week to paint their rhino.

Easy!

GENERAL: Games room under siege

When I renovated my house I was very lucky to get my own dedicated games room. I decked it out with shelves, cupboards and a big painting desk, as well as space to set up a table. But I never got round to putting anything other than my tournament certificates on the walls.

That changed this evening when I was dragged around IKEA by my girlfriend and I took the opportunity to buy a large picture frame. I squeezed in the map from the Forge World Imperial Armour 5 - The Siege of Vraks supplement.

It fits nicely at what would be the head of my games table (if it wasn't covered in boxes of models and spare boxes for eBay).

Now I just need to find a frame big enough for the Sabbat Worlds poster...

MODELLING AND PAINTING: The pledge, month one

I've selected the next five Blood Angels to join my 2nd company first squad. Here they are.


As you can see they include a heavy weapon in the shape of a missile launcher. They also have a rhino transport vehicle.

Once I get these models painted they will thicken my Troops choices nicely, and add some much needed scoring ability. They will also give me more rapid firing bolters which I desperately need to take on Gary's Chaos Daemons. The missile launcher will give me some longer range firepower and the rhino adds mobility.

I plan to paint these models throughout August as part of my commitment to the Tale of 40k Painters thread on Warseer. My pledge is to paint 2000 points of Blood Angels in one year. That's about 170 points per month. Since my Tacticals and rhino only add up to 125 points I had to find something else to paint up. After some thought I plumped for a Landspeeder.

This model was bought second hand already constructed. I just need to scrape off the mold lines and give it another undercoat. Altogether, if I get everything painted, I will have completed 190 points.

I reckon I'll need a week to paint each vehicle and two weeks to complete the Marines. My blog here will continue to track my progress in detail and I'll periodically add updates to the Warseer thread too.

And here we go...