No more silver armour....

Seeing as I failed miserably at posting pics of my previous commission (Grey Knight Draigo feller), I am trying to make up for it with my 3rd one today. As you can see, I experimented with background colours and some feedback would be appreciated if you would?
This fig was not fun to paint, much like Draigo - something about the whole Steel'n'gold scheme and uber detail on the sculpt I think. Glad it's off my desk.
The customer wanted just a good tabletop level based off of the studio scheme, so no freehand.

Interlude 4

*Disaster Strikes!!!*

My camera died. So no pics and not through my own laziness for once. Would offer Phone Camera pics, but that is more embarrassing than no pics.

But work has been ongoing! The Brother Captain Stern commission is about 75% done. 3rd and 4th rounds of highlights need to be applied and then I'll seal the thing. The end.

Plague Marines are likewise 75% done so soon I'll have two full squads of 7. next up for the Nurgle army I think will be the long neglected Blight Drone.

Ebay auctions revenue surprised the shite out of me, coming up with 200% of expected returns on all the old stuff I put up. This is good for me and bad for my paint queue which will no doubt be suffering from new items needing paint jobs thereafter.

I managed to score one of the 1000 limited edition Chaos Space Marines Codex's. A bout of insomnia had me looking up stuff on the GW website and I saw it on sale and not sold out yet, so I snapped one up with the unapologetic intention of selling on again at a profit to further increase my hobby funds, or perhaps to add to the WiiU fund I am contemplating starting.....

Lastly, whilst nosing about the net, searching for UK Golden Daemon 2012 pics, I came across this relatively new and rather well put together blog. (Their own pics from Games Day were rather well done indeed.) Masterminis.blogspot.com also offer painting tips and other advice for those who want to up their hobbying game and purport to cover most of the upcoming major European hobby events in the future. I look forward to seeing what they will post up. Right now, they have a competition give-away thing for the lovely super-duper Forge World Angron mini just showcased in the latest White Dwarf. If you like it and don't want to have to fork out the 50 quid+ for one, you can win one here - http://masterminis.blogspot.com/2012/09/win-signed-copy-of-forge-worlds-angron.html

(I think a post of blogs I follow more than others might be upcoming. Well, sometime in the future at least.)

Shameless

*****Warning – Shameless Plug incoming!*****




Okay, this hobbyist like many others is short on hobby funds and so sadly has to offload some old and very likely not-going-to-be-used-in-the-near-or-any-future stuff. So I have the inevitable Ebay auctions ongoing as I type this. Of course, the more the merrier and with new Chaos Marines stuff coming out (Though most of the pics I’ve seen thus far have me rather underwhelmed.) and me wanting the new plastic plague bearers and nurglings (Also one other secret project.), $$$ are needed.



So if you are at all interested in Old school Squats, Squat Bikers and other 1980's Games Workshop and other Rogue Trader Era (+ some 90's stuff) goodness feel free to bid with impunity!

Here's the link:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/daiharries76/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25&_trksid=p3692 

Why So Serious?

"Captain Gulliver Bevingham-Nixon is the Trader Prince's ship's captain and advisor on most things star-faring based. Don't mistake his small profile for thinking the man is an easy target, he's more of a Jack Russel in temperament and his men tiptoe lightly about him about the ship for fear of igniting his temper. One of his favourite punishments (For just about any infraction, imagined or otherwise.) is to send the unlucky git down the Ship's massive Bilges with a half full Flamer and combat knife to clear out any unlucky Hrud that might be nesting about. "

This mini has sat half-painted for about a year in my painting queue. I finished him up last night. Before I knew it, he was done. I showed my wife and she laughed at my scheme, asking "Why So Serious?" in reference to the Joker from Batman: the Dark Knight. It hadn't even occurred to me that I had chosen colours to match the Joker until then. I had just thought it was a cool idea to give the mini green hair with some background describing nobles of his planet dye their hair for fashion, or some such.... *facepalm* O well, he stays as is and I tried to describe his personality as being somewhat volatile in a similar vein to the Joker.

I've also finished painting up the Trader Prince's "Chosen Men", Snipers for my Company Command Team. I frikken love these Cadian snipers sculpts- just the right amount of detail and great poses without being too much of a pain to paint up. (My first go at painting up camouflage too in a LONG time on those cloaks.) The gold trim (If you can see it.) on their cuff's denotes their elite status.

And a quick snap of the boys together looking all mean and snipey-like.

And a couple pics of the Company Command Squad completed pieces to date.

Below is a WIP pic of the Trader Prince himself  (LOVE that Creed model! Not bothered by his rules though, so he's just a Commander in effect.) and the Vox Trooper from his Command Squad - yet another old old old Confrontation Tech Ganger I had lying about from my earliest gaming days.

And the poor Master of Ordinance who is still stood about with nothing more than a base coat. (For now.)

 Also some cheeky WIP pics of three remaining Plague Marines for my 2nd squad with arms held on by the amazing spell-like powers of Blu-Tac. They've also been sat all base-coated and no-where to go, so I started a little on them. Still lots to do though before they are done.

Lastly, I worked some more on the Brother Captain Stern commission which is at around 30% done.(Don't know why getting through this one has been such a chore?). Though no picture for him, yet.

Bloody hell this post turned into a super silly long beast. I blame Col. Ackland's Rough Rider WIP post m'self. :P Apologies for the pics' lighting - have too much to get on with today and so the lightbox was not an option. So instead, natural lighting from the stairwell window had to suffice.

A Room with a 40" View

The floors in my hobby room are redone and all is right with that part of the world. (Next up, terribly more frustrating hallway flooring, but that's a tale for another time.)

I mentioned to Col. Scipio that I'd post up what it all looks like now that I've managed to get it back in order.... mostly.


 Here's the view from the portal. Lighting isn't as good as I'd like seeing as the sun rises and peaks on the opposite side of the house. Thank the gawds for Daylight bulbs! (The stack of books on the futon on the right are all to be sold soon on Amazon. No point keeping rulebooks for games that will never be played.)

The all important desk with wee shallow shelves for me paints and current projects. (Ignore the wires, they came along after the shelves were put up. had I planned better, there'd be a gap between the shelves to allow the wiring to go through. O well.) The desk is an affordable Ikea effort with some very handy wide drawers under slung for other hobby stuff like tweezers, baggies, cork, etc.

Currently working on stripping Metal Squats and painting up three Plague Marines. The USPS box actually has all of my basing supplies. Going to need to get a better container now I look at this pic. Also a better lamp is in the workings - that tiny thing means painting sessions usually end up with some nasty back pain.

The futon - Not only a place to pass out and snore in private (As opposed to getting kicked out of bed for said snoring.), but also where my wife sits and enjoys the wonders of that massage machine thingie and....

.... enjoy a film or some such on the flat panel mounted on the wall. This is also a place to retire and turn on the footie and get some peace and quiet.

Storage is most important, both for supplies and also books and silly toys that I, as a nerd still collect. Please note, none of the none-hobby stuff shown in the next two pics is worth anything. Except to me.

Super Nerf gun to keep 7-year-old Nurgling in line. You can sit in here, just don't touch ANYTHING!

As well as having shelving for boardgames, extra hobby stuff is also in the closet - including collected free foam board from work. (Hence "Trash")

And finally, what man-cave is complete without some convenient way to chill his brews? Best Xmas present ever from the wife. :)

 

 

There was interest shown in my display cabinet so here's a pic of the whole thing. It's really nice and I have no idea which company made it. As you can see in the pics, there's plenty to get done and I'll eventually need a 2nd display option once I'm "fully painted". At my pace of painting output, should have be fully painted with 40K stuff alone by 2020!

 

Ain't Getting on no Plane!

"Ben Bones, a former pit slave from Hive world Kolos XII, caught the eye of the Ordo Malleus Interrogator Scheiner whilst on mission to rescue the daughter of the Imperial Govenor from the clutches of a small Genestealer Cult. The hulking pit fighter managed to save the Interrogator's life and tore a purestrain Genestealer limb from limb in single combat. The Governor's daughter had sadly already been indoctrinated by the xenos and so had to be purged along with the rest of the evil sect, though Bones' efforts had been noted as more than beneficial to Inquisitorial investigation. The Interrogator ordered the Ogryn released from his indentured servitude and offered the brute a position within his team, which Ben Bones accepted eagerly, seeing his new lease on life a 2nd chance from a personal representative of the God Emperor Himself. "

Okay, blurb for this chap may be a bit crap, but writing with a 7-year-old next to you asking incessant questions tends to make a clear stream of thought somewhat tricky. :) Took me an age to finally get back to this character as I had been out of ideas for an effective scheme to deck him out in. The sculpt itself is from the Heroscape kids boardgame, some sort of Ogre (though I can't find the figure online for the life of me.). It's made of very soft plastic though, so modding it was a rather interesting affair - though it turned out okay in the end. (Only real complaint I have about the sculpt is the silly join between his right arm and shoulder/chest - a bicep growing out of there is rather weird, but there you go, it was a free fig afterall.)

The stripes on his back are meant to be scars from the whippings he would have taken as a slave. And eventually I'll make some sort of stencil to add some sort of code type text to the bomb on the base. The devotional adornments and graffiti on his blade are a tribute to the original fluff written for Ogryns in the 40K Compendium where they were said to look up to Commissars as their personal voice of the Emperor himself.

Below the pics (In natural light for once!) of Ben Bones are a few shots of my display case and the mini's I have painted thus far.

Lastly, done a little more work on the Brother Captain Stern commission. I so do not like this sculpt. Not as bad as Draigo, but still annoying to paint.