Dark Eldar Mandrake

Sorry for taking so long on painting this stuff.  A mix of being home for the holidays (and the required family events that ensue) and my odd urge to replay through Mass Effect 2 really created an unwelcome situation for my Mandrakes.  Alas, I finally got one done.  The Matte varnish I used had a bit of a gloss to it which is really amplified in the picture but isn't as bad in person.  Next time I'm going to snap pictures BEFORE the varnish though, just to give a better idea on what the guy actually looks like.  This guy was an experiment to see how I wanted to paint the squad and to make sure I get all the colors rights so he's not great, but I'm happy with how he turned out.  The rest of the squad *should* turn out better though.  We'll see!

Pain Tokens of PAIN

Ok, I'm still waiting on my shipment of Warriors and Archon so I decided to build/paint up some Pain Tokens just to get myself remembering how to paint as well as test out my basing idea (I wanted lava world).  So here are the two tokens, turned out pretty decent I'd say!

Tutorial: How I Paint Space Hulk Terminators

A slew of how-to's and tutorials coming your way this week it seems! First the part one of the Craters and Explosions (with part two later this week) and now this one. I've really been getting stuff done lately, feels good!

Now to the tutorial...

Conventional painting tutorials are generally very bland and monotonous. They attempt to show you the method of painting (which, of course, has its own merit) but most fail to explain why steps were chosen and why things were painted the way they were. Everyone has their own painting style and instead of just showing you how I paint my Space Hulk Terminators, I’ll explain why I chose the paints and techniques I did in an attempt to give you a new point of view when tackling a new mini.

First I must note that this technique was developed to be quick and conducive to bulk painting (thus the inks and washes). Anyways, lets begin!

Step one involved a simple base coat of Mechrite Red slightly watered down. Watering down your paints, especially foundation paints, is incredibly important because otherwise they will be very thick and ruin details on your model. Granted my method doesn’t really make the most of the incredible details on the models, I still urge you to water down your paints slightly. I chose Mechrite because, like all the foundation paints, it provides a very solid base color and only requires one coat.


Step two I used some Brown Caligraphy Ink and washed it over the model. Caligraphy Ink, unlike normal hobby inks, is not water proof. This means if you get water on the model, the ink will begin to run. On that same token, these inks were free because I found them sitting in my basement so I made the most of them. If you have Caligraphy inks you can counter-act the fact that it’s water-proof by mixing in some Matte Medium. I failed to do this on one of the later steps and you’ll be able to see what happens when you don’t. I chose a Brown Ink over, say, Black because Browns tend to deepen Reds more whereas Blacks tend to just dull models down.



Step three involved a drybrush of 50/50 Mechrite Red to Blood Red. This simply serves as a primary highlight.


Step four is a secondary highlight of a straight Blood Red drybrush. At this point the brightness of the Blood Red is meant to accentuate the edges and provide a nice contrast with the browns in the recesses. The armor begins to come together at this point.


Step five is a Baal red Wash. I do this to to not only blend the highlights together but also to emphasis the reds in the model.


Step six is a final highlight and is a very light drybrush of 60/40 Blood Red to Fiery Orange. This final highlight provides a noticeable contrast between itself and not only the recesses but the red of the armor itself. I wanted the models to be noticeable and eye-catching on the Space Hulk board so this highlight serves to do just that.


Now here, step seven, is where I screwed up. I apply Red Caligraphy Ink here in order to deepen the reds and give the model a slight gloss. However, I failed to mix in any Matte Medium and as you will end up seeing in step nine, the red starts to show through a bit.



Here’s where the detailing begins: step eight. I decided to paint any metallic silver parts first as that seemed to be the most prominent color on the model other than red (obviously). I used Boltgun Metal for this, but Chainmail would suffice as well.


Step nine involved base coating any gold or parchment colored surface with Bestial Brown. I decided on Bestial as it is, more or less, a bridge between Snakebite Leather (good for golds) and Graveyard Earth (good for parchments). I decided on using this middle-road color in order to maintain some uniformity over the model and helping to blend the details in a little to make them more subtle (and thus increasing the appeal of the red armor on the table). Next I drybrushed any gold surface over with Shining Gold (for obvious reasons) and then a very light highlight drybrush of 2:1 Shining Gold to Mithril Silver. This just accentuates to extreme edges producing a more vibrant gold color. The Purity Seals were simply painted in Bleached Bone with a highlight of 50/50 Bleached Bone to Skull White. I then used Black to draw small writing on the seals. Finally, over all of the gold and parchment surfaces, I applied a Gryphonne Sepia wash to them. This, like the Bestial Brown undercoat, serves to tie the different details together (and also adds a nice weathering effect to the parchment).


The final step is to highlight the gun with grey (I did a line highlight of Codex Grey with another Fortress Grey highlight just to make the gun ‘pop’ a bit more) and paint the lenses. What I did (for the eyes) was base coat Dark Angels Green, highlight 50/50 Dark Angels to Scorpion Green and finished the highlight off with a straight Scorpion green line in the front of the lens. To top it off I placed a small Skull White dot in the rear of the eye to simulate a reflecting effect that optics would have.




And that’s about it. When I finish my Genestealers (perhaps next week or so) I will post a how-to on them as well!

Paintin' Up Space Hulk: Genestealer Test Batch

Finally found some free-time and the motivation to paint some 40k, and two Space Hulk Genestealers are what were produced. In my earlier Space Hulk post I had a Leviathan theme, but the method I had was just not as effective nor fast enough for me to want to continue it. So I started from scratch and came up with this theme which was fast and painless. Normally I'm not into speed-painting or anything, but when it comes down to it, I just need some table-top quality models to make Space Hulk more visually thrilling and that's what I'm doing. All but two of my Terminators already have their armor painted red and it's only a matter of time before i finish them (though I want to put the base coats on the 'Stealers first just when Pat or Alex and I play a game it'll look at least semi-decent). Anyways, here's the pics, let me know what you think!

At My Worst

Ron asked all the From the Warp members to send them a description or link to a post about the worst of our modeling/painting endeavors. I am doing the latter.

When I first started the hobby (not too long ago, admittedly. Bought my first box in March of 2007) I played an Angels of Absolution army (an off-shoot of the Dark Angels). Bone, as I quickly discovered, wasn't the easiest nor fastest thing to paint. At times I would be very patient and be able to add depth to models to make them at least half-way decent and at others I would just want to paint them and forget them. One such example is my old Company Master and Command Squad. Back then it didn't seem so bad, but looking at them in my figure case I always think to myself "What the hell was I thinking when I painted this squad?!"

And here that squad is:

It's kind of uplifting to look at these pictures because to think that in just a few short years I was able to up my skill from that squad to a something like my Khan model and my Golden Demon finalist Commissar!

Valhallan casts: first squad painted!

Well I finished painting my first Valhallan squad. Meh. I'm so used to painting high quality Games Workshop models that going to casts I made is, well, different. The coats aren't very detailed which was very confusing for me to paint. Also, since the casts had imperfections, they really messed up the way I paint because the final product looks very sub-par. I'm, suffice to say, disappointed at the quality of the models (but hey, it was my first attempt at casting!) but I'm happy with the scheme so far. Not with the quality of the squad because, as I said, it's very sub-par IMO. At the same time, at least I got them done. Only 30 more of these to get done :/

Luckily I already pre-ordered the Cadian battleforce so those conversions will, I promise, look LOADS better painted. I think I'm going to use my casts as Conscripts where I can. For now they are my troops though!

Anyways, onto the pics!




10 points for me :D

Vanquisher Redux

Hey guys, it's Kev. I posted that Leman Russ Vanquisher earlier but kind of stopped working on it. I don't know why, it was just kind of... "meh". Then on John's Toy Soldiers I saw a pic of the new IG codex that had a wonderfully painted Valhallan Leman Russ. So, using that as inspiration, I decided to re-paint my tank. Originally I was going to wait until I finished this thing to post it, but Alex really wanted to see it and, quite frankly, I probably won't finish it for a few weeks because I have a lot of crap i have to do. So here is the PIP of the newly painted Vanquisher:






I haven't gotten very far with the turret yet, so I left it off.

Hope you guys like it!

Painted Valhallan Sculpt! (finally!)

Well, I have finally got off my ass and painted one of my Valhallan resin casts. When I first got the idea for my fluffy Valhallan army, I wanted to paint them to a very high standard. However, having unprofessional models (ie. NOT Games Workshop), it's incredibly hard to paint very well because there tend to be imperfections where you don't want them. Quite annoying, but such is the price for saving money.

Though, that said, I have to say I'm quite content with the way they look. They are to what I consider a table-top standard and, for my sculpts, that's perfectly fine. But when I start converting Cadians, oh I promise a much higher standard for them!

Now onto the pictures (click to make 'em bigger!)...

Ivan Karamazov: Valhallan Senior Officer

So I painted up my Senior Officer, Ivan Karamazov.
There is no painted metal on him whatsoever, it was my first attempt at a model with only NMM (there's not much, but still).

Valhallan Vanquisher PIP

Well since courses are starting up again this week for me and my 11-6 days are looking bleak for as much 40k a I'd like, I decided to post up some pictures of my PIP Vanquisher for my Valhallans!

Hope you guys like it!
(my first attempt at tank rust mind you!)

Note: The Heavy Bolter that I glued on the hull fell off at one point and when I glued it back on, well, I must not have been paying attention because it's upside down! Thanks for pointing that out Alex!







If you scream in the middle of a battlefield, but you just killed everyone with the giant gun on your tank so there's no one around to hear it, did you actually make a sound?

The Knights of Orion

Hey, Kevin here. Well I figured I might as well start showing my homebrew Space Marine chapter, The Knights of Orion. I have a good 5,000 points of these guys and they're growing, though i have yet to complete painting a whole squad (many are close, but still need detailing and all that crap!). Here is the fluff behind my chapter and some pictures of things I actually have completed for the army, enjoy!

The Knights of Orion

The Knights of Orion are a mysterious chapter, first appearing in Imperial records when they attacked a Chaos Strike Cruiser headed toward the Cadian gate. The Knights of Orion, according to the accounts of a small Imperial escort passing through the system, "Appeared out of nowhere. . . as if they were spawns from the warp". Indeed, after an Inquisitor and a large retinue of Grey Knights were dispatched to deal with mysterious chapter did the Imperium discover that this Space Marine force was lost and considered dead in the warp shortly after the Second Founding. No records remained of the Knights of Orion's history, only what could be recalled from memory.

Their Chapter Master, Arkaedin, told the Inquisitor that in about 500.M31 the Knights of Orion were dispatched to pursue an Iron Warrior Strike Cruiser. The marines followed them into the warp, which was set as a trap which they could not escape. They lost 80% of their force, including most of their Librarians who desperately tried to keep the warp spawns from entering their cruiser. Fighting ensued for what seemed like years until, finally, the Techmarines and Librarians that remained were able to construct a nearly impenetrable, highly modified Geller field. By that time, however, the damage was catastrophic. Not only did nearly every marine die, but all the Chapter's records and history were burned or destroyed in the fighting. This would not have ordinarily been a problem, but events soon occurred that would change the chapter forever.

Not able to find a safe passage from the warp to the material realm (without sacrificing the modified Geller field), the Knights boldly decided to wage war on nearby Demon worlds, in an attempt to gain a small foothold in the warp. In order to do this, however, each marine had to be trained to gaze upon the warp without delving into madness. Also, they had to have psychic shields to prevent the warp from penetrating their weak minds (with regard to psychic capability). Eventually such a device was created and implemented into the helmets of each marine; yet their minds still had to be trained properly. It was a long, arduous process that involved wiping all emotional memory from the marines. This included their homeworlds, their chapter history, and their primarch. All that remained was the knowledge of being a warrior, the Emperor and the Imperium for which they fought. Only one marine in the chapter retained the history, and his name was Dorian, Epistolary of the Knights of Orion.

During a battle on a Demon world, the Knights would push forward, only to be pushed back further than they started. This world was home to a Bloodthirster, and if it died the planet was in a perfect defensive position if the Imperium would ever invade the warp in massed force. Thus, seeing an opportunity arise, Dorian used all his psychic might to manipulate the guardians of Bloodthirster Gal'thek's palace into destroying it themselves. The Librarian strained and strained to get this done and succeeded, but the Bloodthirster recognized psychic warfare when it was used. Enraged that some mere mortal from the material realm would attempt to use magic on his planet, the prophet of Khorne emerged from his palace and sought out the offender. Gal'thek landed in front of the bold psyker and, with a mighty swing of his axe, decapitated him spraying gore vertically and all over the torso of the Bloodthirster. Knowing there was no chance at victory, the Knights of Orion quickly evacuated the planet to their ever growing Strike Cruiser.

Arkaedin, in charge of the Knights since his the original Master, whose name he cannot recall, died when they first entered the warp, decided it was time to try and return to the Imperium they barely remember. It was shortly after this decision that they were able to find an appropriate gate to the material realm and realized it was caused by a Chaos strike cruiser. They decided to raid the ship and destroy as many as they could, after all, they failed their original mission for the Iron Warriors escaped successfully. Ironically, it was an Iron Warrior ship that they now pursued, and this time they would not be denied victory. The 400 Knights (out of the original 2000) raided the ship and killed all 1,700 Iron warrior marines, taking only 18 casualties. The success had everything to do with their surprise attack from the warp. The Iron Warriors had no chance.

So here they were, in an Imperium far changed from the one they barely remembered. A chapter long lost to the annals of history. A chapter that would fight for the Emperor until every last marine lay dying in glory.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Origin
There are many theories as to the history of the Knights of Orion. The most popular are the Salamanders (since they have many similar traits) and the Ravenguard (for their specialization in stealth and infiltration fighting). The more radical ideas are the Iron Hands (for their superb construction skills) and the Dark Angels (for the numerous Dark Angel iconography). There is another suggestion that they are a successor chapter of the Alpha Legion, but there is little evidence to support this.

Fighting Style
The Knights of Orion seem to have a perfect knowledge of when to shoot and when to assault. They make use of many melta and flamer weapons as well. In almost all their battles the deploy scouts; the main reason being that they have so few in number that their scouts need to get as much action as possible. The Legion of the Damned also seem to favor the Knights of Orion as in many campaigns this legion can be found dropping to give aid to the Knights in many situations.

The Knights of Orion rarely perform any defense maneuvers as they are a mobile force (such as the Imperial Fists or Black Templars). As such, they embark on missions to annex as much territory for the Imperium as possible.

Chapter Symbol
The Chapter symbol for the Knights of Orion are two crossed swords with a flame in the middle. The Swords represent their nobility in the face of war while the flame is the heat upon which all weaponry is forged, and therefore very important to the chapter and Imperium itself.




Now for some pics. You already see the top of the Rhino, so here's the rest of her:





My Librarian, Venerari:





My scout Sergeant Julius:






And a converted Ironclad (using the Assault on Black Reach dreadnought)



What do you guys think?