Three Warmachine Figures

I recently finished up three Warmachine figures. One Mercenary and two 'casters for Menoth.

First we have the new Steelhead solo, Sgt. Nicolas Verendrye. I've actually been waiting for a 2-point  Steelhead solo for some time, to fill out my Damiano theme list. He fits in perfectly. And he was a lot easier to build than those blasted Steelhead Halberdiers.

Then we have one of the "new" journeymen 'casters. This one for Menoth: Tristan. Cool figure...I like him.

Finally, there's the latest Menoth 'caster, Durst. I've played him several times and really enjoy his tanky ways.

'Til next time.

Vayl, Stingers and Harriers

This month's Tale of Warmachine Painters challenge got some Legion of Everblight figures on the table.

Two Stingers.

A couple of Harriers.

And Prime Vayl. Total of 11 points for the month.

'Til next time.

Demo Corps and Forsaken

This week I'm back to the Tale of Warmachine Painters 100-points-in-a-year painting challenge. So, for January we have a min-unit of Man O' War Demolition Corps and two Forsaken.

I painted one of these snow-camo Khador pieces back in December as a test figure. I'd been watching some weathering demos on YouTube and wanted to try out a few techniques. I'm happy with how they all turned out.

Even though they have worn down snow camo, they still fit in with my other dark grey Khador pieces.

I also finished off a couple of Forsaken figures from Legion of Everblight. Personally, I don't like these sculpts. They're too small and just a little on the funky side. Anyway...

'Til next time.

Legion of Everblight Solos

Last month, I painted these Legion solos for the local Warmachine painting challenge (where we are all trying to paint 100 points of figures in one year). 

So, first off, we have these Spell Martyrs. Yes, it was very fun painting the burst chest cavities. Lots of red ink in there.

I also painted a set of Incubi, chewing their way out of the Legion corpses they inhabit. Gross.

'Til next time.

Two Everblight 'Casters

For central Alberta's October Warmachine painting challenge, I decided to bulk up on some Legion 'casters. I've had Kallus sitting around the hobby room since he first came out a few years back. Epic Absylonia, on the other hand, has just recently been released. As soon as was able to get her through the LGS, I picked her up...very cool flying model.

I'm gravitating more and more to the blue-skinned theme in Everblight, so here they are.

Kallus, obviously, was super-easy to paint. Tons of armour, with just a face, some hair and a leather skirt. Absylonia, on the other hand, with her wings, tail and so on, was more of an interesting challenge. Love the model though.

'Til next time.

Assembly Line Painting: Blighted Legionnaires, Farilor and Standard

Our monthly Warmachine painting challenge beckoned this week. 10 points of figures (give or take) every month for a year. Who knew this would be such a grind!

Anyway, this month I decided to knock out an infantry unit...and it was a good opportunity to discuss the topic of assembly line painting. My models are the Blighted Legionnaires for Everblight, along with the officer and banner attachment. 

Here was everything before assembly started.

Most Warmachine and Hordes units are good candidates for assembly line painting. They most often wear the same gear, are armed the same way, and just have a few different poses. I particularly like the Legionnaires for the assembly line method, because they carry so much metal armour. That makes everything pretty quick to paint.

So the main idea behind assembly line painting is that you have a number of similar figures (in this case, 12), and every time you sit down to paint, you do one similar pass on each model. These particular models would require about 14 steps to finish...so that's a good two weeks of painting assuming a half-hour painting session every day. A steady pace, but not strenuous.

As usual, I started with assembly and basing. Then everything got shot with white primer.

Next came the obligatory dark wash to pre-shade the models and pop out all the details.

So, down to painting. Working from the inside out, the scale mail and other "golden" armour areas got a thin coat of P3 Blighted Gold. This is a dark greenish gold, similar to bronze, which can be dry brushed into a very interesting metal colour.

The bronzy areas got a drybrush of Vellejo Old Gold.

And a final highlight drybrush of P3 Radiant Platinum. The end result is kind of a shimmering bronze.

Next came the steel areas...thankfully, lots of that on these models. I started with a watered down coat of Reaper Shadowed Steel applied, as always, to all the models in the unit. It has kind of a bluish tinge, which I thought would contrast well with the bronze scale mail.

Then the steel was given a wash of Umber and Blue, mixed together. This darkens the metal, and increased the blue coloration.

In the next painting session, I did a GW Chainmail drybrush pass on all the steel areas. This lightens up the steel and gives it a dull sheen.

In the next assembly line session I moved onto the leather skirts worn by each figure. I started with a thin coat of Reaper Ruddy Leather.

The next two passes were Oiled Leather and Burnt Orange. This was straight layering...I wasn't going to get bogged down in blending all the colours here. In assembly line painting, the goal is to get out a unit of well (not professionally) painted figures in a reasonable amount of time. The next step would serve as my blending pass.

The leather areas were then given a thin coat of Umber wash. I did this to help blend the layers together and unify the look of the skirts.

I was going to move onto the skirt fringes next, so it was time to do the bases, so that the fringe wouldn't get ruined later. Basing was standard brown, orange and off-white. The circular plastic bases were painted with a few thin layers of black.

OK, on to the leafy fringe. I know that this is not the usual colour scheme for Legion. In the studio scheme, the parts I'm picking out as leaves, Privateer Press calls out as black feathers. Well, all my Legion of Everblight models are done in a jungle scheme...so leaves it is. I used a progression of Reaper Pine Green, Leaf Green and Pale Green.

Once this was done on all the models, everything got a blast of Testors Dullcoat, and then the bases were finished off with static grass.

And that was it. Two weeks of step-by-step steady painting, and this unit came off the assembly line.

'Til next time.

Scythean and Raek

Well, August turned out to be a pretty busy month on the hobby table. Here are a couple of Legion of Everblight warbeasts for Hordes. These are my entries into the Edmonton "Tales of Warmachine Painters" painting challenge for this month.

First up is a Scythean.

I airbrushed on the skin striped scheme, and then hand-painted the metallic chitin, claws and teeth.

This is a Raek, which, like all my Legion beasts, juxtaposes skin and organic-metal components.

And the two of them together.

'Til next time.

Gun Mages and eStryker

There is a local painting challenge (found at Tale of Warmachine Painters): 100 points in one year. So essentially, everyone in the group (and there must be 50 of us) has pledged to paint 10 points of Warmachine units per month with two "free" months away from the paint brush.

So, for July, I've painted up eStryker, worth 5 points as a Warcaster, and a unit of Gun Mages for 6 points.

Nothing special with eStryker...and honestly, he was a little rushed.

Now, my beef is with the Gun Mages. For some reason I just hated painting these guys. And I spent a lot of time on them...and still, they look rushed to me and a little incomplete. But they were just awful to do. No idea why...just didn't like the whole experience

Painting can be funny that way sometimes.

'Til next time.

Warmachine Battle Report: Focus on Kromac

Last week, I had local Warmachine player, Josh Richter, over for a game. He brought his favorite Circle army, while I played some of my new Mercenaries. Here is the pre-game interview with Josh, along with the battle report.



I brought out my Bart/Galleon list, which, of course, featured Galleon.

Here was my Spiny Growth module. Wrong Eye, Snapjaw and Bullsnapper.

And a tarpit of Boomhowlers.

This was my armour de-buff crew: Ragman, the Lady and Holt.

Finally, this was the core of the Galleon's support crew, including a Vanguard, Dougal and the Tinker.

Josh led with Kromac's double-Stalker battlegroup.

Two units of Woldstalkers.

And two units of stones.

Hope you enjoy the battle report.

'Til next time.

Witch Coven Battle Report...and the Goblin Tinker!

So this month I have a new interview and battle report video blog post...this time with local player, Garnett Germain. Garnett brought out Witch Coven, so we talk about Cryx in general, and then the Witch Coven "Machine Minds" tier list in particular. For the battle report, I put up a Damiano list.



On the painting front, things have been slow recently. However, I have managed to finish off a great little model: the Goblin Tinker.

I really like the character of this figure.

He's essentially a repair bot, but he hauls around this neat little wagon full of spare parts.

He also carries around this wonderful stove on his back.

Anyway, a lot of fun to paint and a nice model to boot.

'Til next time.