Rhoven, Gius and Cassian

First off, apologies for no update last weekend...I was out of town.

OK, so continuing through the "to do" pile, I've decided to concentrate on Menoth stuff for the time being. Here is the Visgoth character unit: Rhoven, Gius and Cassian.

This was my first attempt at trying to paint fire. Obviously, I'm still trying to get the technique down right, but I think it was an ok first go.

The two bodyguard characters are Exemplar pieces, so they benefit from being in a Kreoss army list...I'll give them a try there first.

'Til next time.

Epic Skarre & Kreoss

Started digging into the "finish this stuff, dammit" pile and knocked off two figures this week.

First up was Epic Skarre from Cryx. I'm not much for Warmachine fluff, but I get that Skarre is from the "pirate" branch of Cryx, rather than the rusty iron branch that I've been working on so far. As such...a more normal painting method.

I love the skeleton the sculptor molded in the prow of the ghost ship base.

I also finished Epic Kreoss, one of my favorite Menoth 'casters. I've been playing him partially painted for about a year. No longer!

Can't wait to get a Tier 4 list going with this guy.

Side note. Happy days! Last week I won a pair of tickets at work to go see the U2 360 concert here in Edmonton. What a spectacle!

Well, I'd still like to work through stuff on the must finish list...so...

'Til next time.

Tutorial: Making A Forest

A couple of weeks ago, I got the bug to make some terrain. I think it was all the Cryx infantry that was driving me a little batty...it was time to do something different.

I'm making this forest in the style shown at the back of the Warmachine rule book. Essentially, this is a forest template base with stands of multiple, moveable trees to facilitate unit movement through the forest as necessary.

I start with 1mm plasticard.

The large piece on the left will be the forest base template, while the three pieces on the right are the bases for the tree stands. Theoretically, the three tree stands fit nicely inside the bounds of the forest base template. As you'll see, practice is different than theory.

Because the tree stands will rest on top of the forest base template, I didn't want too much texture on the base. I used fine silica sand...the type found in aquarium shops for salt water tanks. This was sprinkled on top of white glue.

Skipping ahead a bit, here the forest base template is given the brown/orange/off-white paint treatment, and some watered down glue is then dabbed on to take the static grass.

Moving on to the tree stands, I glued several Woodland Scenic tree armatures to each tree base. Beforehand, the armatures are bent into the correct shape, and coated with a thin layer of acrylic texture gel to hide the join lines and give the bark a finer texture. Each one was sprayed black, brown and dark grey, and then drybrushed with light grey and given a wash of Reaper Brown Woodstain.

Each tree armature was bulked up with Woodland Scenic Foliage Clusters. This forms the main shape of each tree.

As seen here, each tree was then given an application of bits of Woodland Scenics Fine Leaf Foliage. This adds texture to the tree model and helps break up the clumpy shape of the foam clusters. Here, the tree bases have also been given the glue and sand treatment, and painted brown.

Drybrushing orange-brown and off-white onto the base sand brings out the texture, and just off to the right of the base you can see a pile of twigs I used to glue onto the tree stand bases to give the finished model a more natural and rustic look.

As you can see here, my plan to get three tree stands onto the template went awry due to the bulk of the finished foliage. No matter. The forest template now holds two moveable tree stands, and the third will form the basis for another template I'll do later.

'Til next time...

Painter's ADD...Thanks Privateer Press

So this is what happens when you have painter's ADD. The following models are sitting on my table in various preliminary stages of painting...from assembled and primed/inked to fully base color-blocked.

These are all Warmachine/Hordes models...the product of being too enthusiastic about four armies.

For Menoth, there is a full unit of Errants with attachments, Bastions, five 'casters, Rhoven and guards, another Vassal, a couple of Flameguard and a long-unfinished Castigator.

For Cryx, three 'casters, three units of Necrotechs with extra Scrap Thralls and a Harrower Helljack.

For Legion, Epic Lylyth, Strider attachment, two light warbeasts and four lesser warbeasts.

Finally, for Khador, Karchev and three heavy 'jacks.

As I sit down to do some painting I feel like I'm standing at the chocolate counter...I have no idea where to start.

I know...tomorrow I'll post that forest tutorial!

'Til next time...