Realm of Chaos, the Abode of Ravens

I got my initial layers down on the Dreadquaker Mortars, there's a lot of little details though so I'm going to wait until tomorrow to finish these up. Either way, that leaves me with nothing but infantry and cavalry to go before this army is ready to hit the table.











I've got the Bull Centaurs out of their bath and drying now, tomorrow I'll get them started. Or finished. I don't know, things are moving quicker than I ever expected. Enjoy!

The first Dreadquake Mortar is finished save for some weathering pigments I plan to add later. The second is drying while I have lunch and tend the little ogre. My plan today is finish the second Mortar and assemble the Renders. I've included some detail shots of the first Dreadquake, pretty happy with it.

Range Finder, I added a bit of a reflective highlight on the glass but it doesn't show up too well in these pictures.


The boiler includes a steam whistle, one that's pointed directly at the nearby boiler. I've seen plenty of this type of industrial equipment before, it's rarely clean. And the whistles themselves have a tendancy to be a little messy in their immediate area. I added some VGC Verdigris, normally I add some other colors to make armor look appropriately weathered but I thought it would be perfect for the stains left by the steam whistle.


I wanted to go with a different color scheme for the mortars themselves, and chose a Model Color paint I picked up recently (don't recall the name off the top of my head) but it's a nice metallic for a fresh bronze, makes the ammo stand out a bit from the rest of the model.


As usual, I picked out several features with VGC Brassy Brass, which really ends up looking more like Copper to me. With the fluff that I'm writing for my army, the Chaos Dwarfs see the copper as a holy thing, something that reminds them of the hot fury of Hashut as it is such a good conductor of heat. I added some other touches, like the red wheels and the diagonal black and yellow bars on the bumpers. These are pretty standard colors used for safety purposes in the real world, and make the model stand out more.


This army is my first honest attempt at OSL and I'm pleased with the results, I've also been working on blending which has come in very handy on these hot metal parts.


A closer look at the stains from the steam whistle.


Firing platform and loading deck.


Safety First: Slaves don't come cheap. I will need to go back and touch up a bit here, I plan on weathering this a bit since it's probably been butted up against other pieces of a munitions train.


Enjoy, next pictures will be of the Renders.

Here's a two part update, I got the first batch of the Renders ready and gave them a couple of coats with the airbrush. I'm trying to get a diverse, natural look with their hides. Here's how they looked before lunch.







More in the next post...

Continued from previous...

I've called it a day, and the first Render is pretty much finished. I can't say I'm over the moon about the flesh, but eventually you just have to move on. Tomorrow, I will try something a little different for the flesh (shouldn't take that long) and move on to the unit Champion. He was missing a horn, so I sculpted a broken one with GS to make him stand out a bit. I also added a little extra to his base. I used Vallejo Weathering pigments to add snow to the base, and of course my fire effect for the weapon. The blades of Hashut hunger...








Enjoy, more coming soon!

This morning I spent some time on the flesh of my Bull Centaurs, I decided to go back to my normal method for a paler look. I then spent a while detailing shadows with some ink, I'm letting those dry before I go back for more. I'll have the flesh about where I want it today, then I can finish the details (armor, leather, etc). Monday I'll get started on the remaining three Renders and hopefully my corks will be here so I can get to work on the Hobgoblins and remaining Infernal Guard.







Enjoy, more coming soon!

Since I'm so far ahead of schedule (like a month) on my Chaos Dwarfs, I decided to change things up a little today and figure out my color scheme for my Warriors. Since I'm starting from scratch and going with a mono Nurgle theme, I wanted to do something a little different. But also something that would look good beside the rest of my armies, not identical but enough visual cues to compliment one another on the table.

I use basically the same tarnished metal effect I've already used on my Chaos Dwarfs and Ogres so far, but I added copious amounts of verdigris dripping down the armor. My thought was a sort of taint of Nurgle, a touch of rotten. Without going for the standard solid green armor of Nurgle troops. I of course did go with the standard green on the cloaks with a bit of help from the airbrush. Anyhow, I don't think there's going to be any trouble picking these guys out as followers of Nurgle once I'm done, here's some shots of the test models.





Here's the first shield.



I'm magnetizing weapons and shields for these guys, easier to pack and gives me a lot of options. To keep things straight I've decided to use the N end of the magnet for the weapons and S end of the magnet for the shields/offhand weapons.



Anyhow, that's it for now. Let me know what you think and enjoy!

I've been really busy with graduation stuff, it's what happens when you're involved with the community. However, this is getting ridiculous: 13 graduations (friends, family, and of course the local high school where my wife teaches). So, I haven't had a lot of time for the hobby this week. I didn't want to "start" on anything for the Chaos Dwarfs until I had enough time to see it through, so I've continued working on the Warriors test models. They definitely make me feel like I need to wash my hands when I touch them, and they're strangely colorful.

I'm actually writing some fluff for this particular unit of Warriors, they are led by Keldor the Black and Captain Randor, they are named the Nightstalkers. I will be using Skull helms on each of the Warriors in this unit. Their unit standard will also have a white Skull on a black background. I will be making a second unit of Warriors a bit later that will be similarly themed, though noticeably different at a glance.

Anyhow, enjoy with the Chaos Dwarfs so close to completion I'm anxious to get to work on my other projects. This is going to be a fun / productive summer!

Earlier this week I received a pleasant surprise, 400 wine corks! It took 2 bins to store them all...



With the corks in hand it was time to turn my attention to my infantry, I started with the Hobgoblins. I'm waiting on a few bits so I can assemble the second unit the way I want, but I had all I needed to assemble the first 20 and get started. I've got a couple of colors on them now, and I'm waiting on some ink to dry. I decided to switch them over to the same red I'm using to trim the rest of the army rather than the drab moth eaten robes I was using previously. I really thinks it helps tie them visually to the rest of the army while helping to differentiate them from your average unit of Night Goblins.







With the end in sight, it was time to start thinking about my army centerpiece. So, I started working on my scratch built warmachine/terrain feature. Still a lot of work to go, but I like how it's coming along so far, I call it the Voice of Hashut.







The rail gun will be elevated a bit over the infantry, as will the rest of the warmachines and the Hobgoblins. The Infernal Guard will all be at "ground" level so there shouldn't be any clearance problems with the barrel and the troops.

As for the board itself, here's a rough outline of the layout.



KEY:
A1. Dreadquake Mortar
A2. Dreadquake Mortar
B1. Deathshrieker Rocket Launcher
B2. Deathshrieker Rocket Launcher
C1. Magma Cannon
C2. Magma Cannon
D1. 20x Hobgoblin Cutthroats w Bows
D2. 20x Hobgoblin Cutthroats w Bows
E1. 10x Infernal Guard w Fireglaives
E2. 10x Infernal Guard w Fireglaives
F. 18x Infernal Guard w HW/Sh, Sorcerer-Prophet, and Dark Castellean
G1. Daemonsmith Sorcerer
G2. Daemonsmith Sorcerer
H. Hobgoblin Khan

NOTE: I'm not entirely sure what I will be doing with the empty space opposite of H, probably a plaque with the army name or a turn counter or something.

I got a little more work in on the board and terrain this morning. Right now the Voice of Hashut is drying, I've got the first layer of Green Stuff added. I'll get pics a bit later when there's more detail on it, for now here's how the board is looking so far.















I've also repositioned the control deck further forward and trimmed a half inch from the supports, it's now a much more comfortable fit. Also, I've had several people asking me and here's the details, I used Bass Wood for the support structure. The barrel is actually a sink extender piece (picked up for about $2). I ordered the bits off of eBay and spent about $20 total for the whole thing with bits to spare. I'll put together some more info about it a bit later when I have time for anyone interested in putting one of their own together. More coming soon!

The office is shut down today, the weather has become... unpredictable, even for Arkansas. When you have snow in May you hang it up and realize you're going to be stuck inside for a while. Anyhow, I've mounted the terrain to the board and added a few touches, as well as some lightweight spackle.





I used a wet wash cloth to make the texture on the spackle, this also makes getting spackle into gaps and cleaning excess off of the border a LOT easier. I'm going to leave the office sealed up for a day or two while the spackle dries, with such a thin layer it should be ready in the morning. Then I can get back to work.

Yesterday I spent some time on the display board, right now there's a good coat of paint on it. And I've also spent a little time sculpting on the Voice of Hashut. But right now my attention is back on the troops, the first 10 of 40 Hobgoblins is drying now. I'm doing quick dip on these (mostly) with some details added after. I want to burn through the Hobgoblins as quickly as possible then get back to the actual Dwarfs. I'm still missing a few bits for the second unit of Hobgoblins, I should have those sometime this week. Anyhow, here's a couple of wip shots of the board. There's still quite a bit of work I'm putting into it, but it's definitely starting to take shape.

Here's a big update before bed, it's all starting to take shape now...





















I also received a surprise, a big box of Daemons! For those that follow my blog, you have an idea of what's on the way. But believe me when I say, Epidemius has some surprises in store (even if you already have a rough idea of the contents of the big box). There will be some conversion, etc. But after that I figure it will take about 2-3 weeks to paint the Daemons.

Warriors won't take very long either, though I have some more sculpting to do on my Daemon Prince. Anyhow, hope you enjoy!

I had a few minutes so I wanted to get some pictures of the test Warrior, in the words of Jesse from Breaking Bad "Yeah! Magnets bitch!"

I've reversed the polarity of the magnet on the offhand so it's harder to mess up and put the wrong weapon in the wrong place. I've magnetized a full set of weapons for the Warriors and will be batch painting all of them after I finish the Chaos Dwarf infantry. You can see, I also added some weathering pigments and a little bit of Tamiya Clear Green to give a little bit of an oozing look in a few key places. Pretty happy with the look of the Warriors so far, it's a bit more involved than my previous ones, but also a lot more colorful/characterful. I still need some Skull helms though, I'm planning to do about 50 Warriors like this. And yes, I've decided to go skull helms all the way (it's a thematic thing that will make sense later). Anyhow, enjoy!

Good News! Got a new camera last night, a Nikon D3100. My current goal is to finish the Chaos Dwarfs and get a little work done on some terrain so I can get some good pics of the army and future armies with the new camera. With the wife about to be finished with school for the summer I should have more time to paint, so expect some serious updates in the near future.

The current plan is:
Chaos Dwarfs
Warriors of Chaos
Daemons of Chaos
Ogre Kingdoms
Vampire Counts
Beastmen

I'll be doing a bit of terrain between each project. I'm hoping that by the time I'm ready to work on my Beastmen there will be a new book, but I'm not holding my breath.

I haven't had a whole lot of time with my mother in law in town, however I'm not going to complain she bought the new camera for us and got me a smoker for Father's Day. Still, I felt the itch today so while I had a few minutes I decided to take a look at a model I've been wanting to change up for my Warriors, Keldor. First thing I did was lop off of the old Standard and head, I replaced the head with the Nurgle one from the new chariot kit, I'll be using this head for the rest of my BSB conversions. His armor was already painted in my old steel/gold style but it fits with the fluff I've written for him too. So, I'm not too worried about it. Also, with a bit of weathering it's hardly noticeable.

About 15 minutes of work later I had changed him from his previous incarnation to what can be seen below. I'm still undecided on the standard, since he is the army standard bearer I want something I can duplicate several times for other versions (mounted, etc) but also something that will stand out when compared to other banners in the army. Either way, won't be finishing him for a bit as I've got a lot of Hobgoblins and Infernal Guard that need attention, not to mention an entire display board. But this should give you guys a look at the direction the Warriors are heading.



Enjoy!

Trying to make some room in the office, I've been buried in unopened minis lately. That, and I've been anxious to see this guy put together, my Great Unclean One...







And I've also been very anxious to convert these, my first three Beasts of Nurgle. Here are the first three grubs, I wanted to do something a bit like the movie Tremors.







Anyhow, that's it for the beginning of my Daemons. I've got a lot of cleaning to do, and some Chaos Dwarfs in need of attention. But be assured, there will be more work on these soon...

I'm back on the Chaos Dwarfs now, I'm still waiting on the Scibor bases I'm going to be using for the characters. But I wanted to go ahead and get to work painting them (the bases should be here in a day or two). So, I got started on the Dark Castellean. I wanted him to stand out from the rest of the Dwarfs, so I gave his armor a little verdigris.

I painted the hammer head separate from the Dwarf himself, so I could hit the lower portion of the Dwarf with the airbrush for a little OSL effect. The hammer head was painted with a standard brush, using the same colors I've used for the rest of my hot metal effects.













I've just hit him with a final layer and have him drying on the rack now, I'm leaving tomorrow to pick up my best friend for the weekend. I got a new smoker for Father's Day, so I'm going to be busy putting it together and working on the first brisket of the summer. The hobby stuff will be on hold until Monday, by then I hope I'll have the bases and then I can really start making some progress again. Anyhow, hope you enjoy the newest addition to my Chaos Dwarfs.

This will be a two part update, first it's been busy around here lately. It's been hard getting time to get any painting done, but today I decided to knock a couple of things out. First, I finally received the bases I was waiting on from Scibor. I'll be using the Squalid Ground bases for my Lords and Heroes. I assembled my characters as well as a command and got those mounted and primed, so they're all ready for paint. So expect to see the finished unit of Infernal Guard with Shields shortly.







At the other end of the table...

This guy has been calling to me lately, it's the Forgeworld Demon that will be playing double duty as a Daemon Prince and Great Unclean One for both my Warriors and Daemons armies. I started off with black primer followed by a dusting of white Vallejo Air. After that VA Dark Green followed by a dusting of VA Duck Egg Green, then inks. I was going for a toad like look to the skin, and I'm pretty pleased. Unfortunately, I've got to let him dry right now before I can add weathering pigments and other touches. But, not bad for an hour worth of painting.







Continued in the following post...

Continued from previous...













Tomorrow I'll make some finishing touches on the GUO/DP and get some base layers on the CD heroes, lords, and command. I'll likely have my Dark Castellean based tomorrow since he's already painted. The rest, we'll see how far I get. I'll probably paint them all to the end step and do the lighting effects all at once.

Also, my son and I will be leaving for Phoenix on Saturday, we'll be gone until the 24th so I wouldn't expect any updates until after I get back. But, rest assured there will be more painted minis! Oh yes, there will be more painted minis...

Late start today, but I've got the Great Unclean One on the shelf now and I'm about to get to work on the Chaos Dwarf models again, here's how the GUO turned out.











Back to work!

Another two parter, I had a few minutes to kill between packing and all of that jazz. So, I decided to get my bases in order for the characters and see which one would best fit my already painted Dark Castellean. The bases came together quickly, and I decided that with the proximity of the Black Mace I should add a little glow to the base itself.



Honestly, I don't know why I bothered putting so much effort into the base, when only a fraction is actually visible. But these bases are gorgeous.








I'm glad I picked up this mini, he's not a perfect match for the FW models - but he definitely has the imposing look I would expect from such a beastly hero. And, moving on to a bit of speed painting...

...continued from previous post.

It took me 23 minutes to paint the Infernal Mask for my IG unit, I've got another command unit boxed up for later. Still deciding what I want to do with them. For now, I'm focusing on finishing my 2500 point list. The command should go together pretty fast, then I'll have the casters to do (all four of them). Anyhow, here's the Unit Champion, Morghul One-Eye.









And here's a group shot...



I swear, if I could get a few days this army would be finished lol. Anyhow, once I'm back from Phoenix I'm going to knock out these guys and get to work on the Warriors again. I'm anxious to get some games in with my murderous moppets.

A funny thing happened today, while an episode of Portlandia was playing in the background I finished the Infernal Guard Command. Sadly, the pictures didn't turn out quite right on these, I'll have to go back when I have more time and get some better shots of these guys (I'll replace the existing images when I have better pics). Fortunately, the unit shot turned out pretty decent. Also, I have to say I'm very happy with with weathering pigments, giving the guys the Fire and Ice feel in a pretty natural way, without a lot of fuss.

Standard Bearer.









Little Drummer Boy, aka Tom Tom.









The money shot, the whole unit. I'm going to be going back and touching up the weapons on the rank and file troops, the filler guys are slaves so they don't carry the spark of Hashut.



Anyhow, here they are. Casters will be next, then the remaining Infernal Guard. I'll also probably spend a little time on the movement tray, I need to get it and the bases numbered so I can get everybody in the position that works (the action poses look better, but make ranking these guys up a pain).

I'm officially off for my trip to Arizona, I'll be stalking the forums via iPhone while I'm gone but hobby wise I'll be mia until next month, basically.

Back to work today, I had a comission waiting on me when I got home a couple of days ago from my old friend Nigel. He wanted Sigvald painted up to use for a Pathfinder game.









While I was at it, I got to work preparing my next project: Throgg + 18 Chaos Trolls. I'll be converting all of the Trolls using Vampire Counts Crypt Horrors, Heads from the River Trolls, bits from Chaos Spawn, Forsaken, Plague Drones, etc. And of course, green stuff...

I already have Throgg on a base and I can't believe how beefy this model is. I can not wait to paint him. Updates should be coming pretty quickly now, so stay tuned!

Your new stuff looks amazing. You have gotten really good.

Thanks Bdix, I'm still deciding what if any tourneys I'm going to be hitting before Shiloh next year. If all goes well I'll be taking the Chaos Dwarfs to the Alamo, let's hope they like them as much as I do (I doubt it though).

Here's a two parter, I got to work on Throgg and my Daemon Prince today. I wanted to go with some slightly different colors, but still something appropriate for the Plague Father. Here's the Daemon Prince in progress...















Continued below...

...continued from above.

Here's Throgg in progress, a fair amount of detail work left. But I've got the basic colors in for his skin and the base. Should be knocked out tomorrow.













18 Chaos Trolls coming soon...

[color:ad97=#090]Keldor the Lost, Twice Blessed of Chaos, Banner Man of the Crow Tribe.
A few changes to this guy, I added a standard from the Nurgle Plague Drones and one of the heads from the Chaos Chariot. There is a story behind this guy, I suspect I'll share it sooner or later.











Throgg is also just about finished, a few details (mostly the cloak) that need finishing and some touch ups on the base. I'll have pics of him soon.

[color:8582=#090]Throgg, the Troll King
Absolutely love this model, unfortunately I realized too late that there were some mold lines I'd overlooked. Still, I'm pretty happy with how he's turned out, I used the same greens I used on my Daemon Prince earlier, but I went with strict areas of dark and light green instead of blending. This is how I will be painting the rest of my converted trolls, the horde will be in progress soon along with a new converted Chimera (thanks Rusty for the inspiration). Without further ado, here's Throgg...















And here's one for scale...



I'll be adding some minor touches, edging the base in black, etc after I'm sure the pigment fixer is dry.

The yard sale went monumentally well, $600 in the can in a single morning. Better yet, my garage is cleaned out. This means I have the funds and the space to start working on a place to set up a table and play some games. By this time next year I'm hoping to have an 8x4 table with all of the trimmings ready for some games.

That said, I actually had some time to work on the ruins. I added some brown for the tree and the dirt.



The dirt that's currently visible will have some grass and snow in patches before it's all done. But first, I need to darken things up a bit...







It's coming along now, there are some small details I want to add next before adding the snow, grit, and grass. So stay tuned.