Descent: Journeys in the Dark - Mini Painting Project

I've had this board game sitting around for a couple years now, of which I've only been able to play it maybe a handful of times... this is a shame because of the vast array of interesting components that comes with it.  I have been talking with a few friends of mine over at the gaming store and to remedy this lack of play we've come to the conclusion that there needs to be a weekly descent campaign.  Great! In response i've decided that to spice up the game a bit I'd take a go at painting the miniatures that come with the game.  I've decided to paint them in a particular order so that we can get the most out of the game even while it is being painted.  There are also a few conventions i've decided to use to distinguish the master monsters from the regular minions after they've all been painted.

The Full Array of Descent Miniatures

So here's the painting order:

-Core Set Master Monsters

-Core Set Minion Monsters

-Expansion Master Monsters

-Expansion Minion Monsters

-Hero Miniatures

To get the feel of what it would be like to paint a descent miniature i ran a test run on one of the Skeleton Archers.  I painted it much like i would paint other skeletons in my collection taking inspiration from the card provided in the game box.

Skeleton - Front View

Skeleton - Side View

I'm actually rather impressed as to how these miniatures paint up, i was expecting it to be more challenging or to have less detail than it actually does, but all in all it wasn't a bad miniature to paint.

I'll add more updates as models get painted along with any other interesting things i have to add.

Lilith Hesperax V.2 and Update

Its been awhile since i've posted anything, mostly due to my extreme lack of enthusiasm to paint anything worth sharing. On the miniature front, specifically in the area of painting, I've been working on some paint schemes for some Infinity models from the Aleph faction, i've decided on an off blue white that fades into a light purple, think polished ceramic armour.  I've also picked up a few items for the ogre kingdoms, which i have a feeling will be getting some attention this summer/winter if i can find a group of people interested in playing warhammer fantasy, i'm not sure how this new expansion is going to factor in the Ogres (or tomb kings for that matter) as both army's magic systems work significantly different than any other army's.  We'll see when it comes.

For today i have some pictures of the new Lilith Hesperax Model.  I bought this model at the same time as Urien, (see previous post) and painted her, at least partially, the week following.  In her current state she's usuable as a finished, fully painted model however there are areas on this model i feel could benefit from closer attention to detail or even just a touch up or two or ten. To be honest, i didn't like painting this model... it sort of fell through on me after 3 days of trying to work up the ambition to try and do something, (anything!) with this model. Her lack of attention to detail paintjob is also reflected in the less than decent performance on the table top, her rules are awesome, i just can't use her right for the life of me... even with 9 power weapon attacks, i only ever land 1 or 2 of them a turn... that archon is looking better and better all the time. now on to the pictures.

I've decided to go with a light blue skin tone on this model, which takes up the majority of the surface area on this model.  I decided to adhere to the GW colour scheme for the armour, her signature jade green armour plates.  I was tempted to model her with the provided pole arm weapon, but quickly decided against it as the weapon broke when trying to build the model.  This is also one of the last metal castings of this model, as all the current metal kits are being converted to "finecast" resin.

Depending on what happens next weekend i might have a few more models to show off, possibly even a finished song of which i currently have 3 different projects on the go.  So i'm back to the work table, i'll see you in a weeks time.

Urien Rakarth

This guy was more fun to paint than I thought he was going to be.  This was another early morning paint job, done somewhere around the time of 4am.  Late at night i tend to be most experimental with my colour combinations and this time i think it paid off.

I used a combination of P3, Citadel and Vellajo paints on this model using a combination of familiar and unfamiliar techniques.  One of the challenges with this model was the cloak. After several attempts i finally settled on a green colour, shaded with purple and highlighted with a light blue that I've used elsewhere on the model.

The skin tone was an adjustment to a scheme that i had once came up with for some wyches.  The skin tone on the wyches i founds was a little too contrast strong so i decided to go with a much more gradual effect.  The skin was base coated in Trollblood highlight (light grey-brown) and then shaded by adding Regal Blue to the skin tone and washing it into the recesses.  Different areas received different tones using the same technique, mostly purples and pink hues.

The face was especially detailed and interesting to paint, the exposed areas of scalp let me create a striking contrast even with the light colours already used in the models skin.  I rarely use pure white, but i decided to give it a shot here.  I later toned it down a bit with a wash which was dual purpose, also shading the recesses
around the areas of exposed bone.

Miniatures Galore - Malifaux, and Warmachine!

The last couple weeks have been very busy, especially on the miniature painting end of things.  Since i was without my camera for this duration i haven't been able to update the blog, but now that i have my camera, i can show you what i've been working on!
I've been very excited to dig into these Malifaux minis by Wyrd Miniatures for awhile now.  Ever since i saw them sitting on the shelf of the FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Store) i've wanted to get a coat of paint on them and learn the rules to this enigmatic game.  It turns out the rules lend to a rather intuitive if not indepth skirmish game with a host of beautiful miniatures devided into five different factions.  I instantly took a liking to Kirai and her Crew.  I found the spirits to be entirely unique both in this game as well as other games, so i took the opportunity to paint something different for a change.

The initial box set came with six miniatures (the five right most, plus one that isn't displayed in this picture) to which i added two additional models that i ordered separately.  the models from left to right are as follows, Gaki 1, Gaki 2, Ikiryo, Kirai, Datsue-Ba, Onryo 1, Onryo2.

The first two minis of the set that i painted were the Gaki.  In general i found these models to be good sculpts although the joints were a little messy and required modifying and pinning to keep everything together, the head on the second model also didn't fit as well as i would have liked, but in the end they turned out pretty well.  I opted for a different paint scheme from the ones indicated on the box/cards as i found it to be bland consisting of mostly greys and browns.  These models reminded me of the pink horrors of Tzeentch models so i decided to go for a vibrant pink and green paint scheme (i also wanted to try out a few new P3 paints that i had purchased, carnal pink and necrotic green).  The shading and hilighting process on these models was somewhat more intensive than i'm used to doing.  The pink was achieved by painting a base colour of vellajo pink highlighted up with carnal pink, and washed with warlock purple, and a bit of liche purple.  The green was painted with a necrotic green base coat, washed with trollblood base and finally giving a shading of Asuman blue wash in the depest recesses, the green was that brought up with a highlight of necrotic green and finally highlighted by adding underbelly blue to the necrotic green.  For all the blues i used in the painting of their robes, they turned out really green.

The next two minitures i painted from this group were the Onryo.  These minis were incredibly interesting to paint, they have a great amount of detail for a single piece model.  The robes allowed for a lot of blending work.  I don't usually use a great deal of red on my models but i really liked the paint scheme on the box so i decided to go for something similar.  The red cloaks were painted starting with a mechrite red base coat, followed by blood red highlights, washed with ogryn flesh wash, highlighted again with some blazing orange mixed into the blood red and finally some trollblood highlight (like deneb stone) into the mix for a final highlight. The blue i painted very similarly to the robes found on my retribution of scyra models.  This consists of a trollblood base, washed with asurman blue, highlighted with a mix of trollblood base and underbelly blue.

Kirai was painted at 4 am over a coffee in a rest stop along the side of a highway.  I had a lot of fun painting this model.  I hadn't decided on a colour scheme when i first started painting this model, but it gradually evolved as i went.  The orange kimono was painted with a base coat of Iyanden Darksun (ochre) and highlighted up with bad moon yellow.  from there it recieved successive washes of increasingly darker mixes of blazing orange and blood red, every time highlighting up again intermitently with bad moon yellow (highlighter yellow).  The green was a more simple process of jade green highlighted up with adding underbelly blue to the mix.  Quite the awsome model, i love the finished result, the flower blossom motif turned out better than i thought it would.

Ikiryo and Datsue-Ba were my least favorite of the set to paint.  They are great minis, but they just didn't resonate with me.  I put minimal work into Ikiryo and it definitly shows, i may go back at a later time and touch up these models if the mood ever strikes me.

All in all i'm really looking forward to getting in some games of Malifaux, now on to Warmachine.

I added a heavy rifle team to my force this week to get some anti warjack fire in the force, these guys to alright, but i find Khador is still a particularly difficult opponent, even with added fire support.

Enter the Ghost Snipers, same point cost with 5 heath boxes, small base size and a defense 18! when in cover.  These work great with two of them in Ravyn's Veil of Mist.  They also deal an auto 3 damage if they hit (which isn't hard with RAT 8 when aiming).

If that doesn't work there's always the Mage Hunter Strikeforce contingency plan.  The jack hunter rule really makes them ideal for putting hurt on jacks with armour 18 or less, they still have a little trouble with armour 20 or higher.  This is also the new paint scheme for my Mage Hunter Strike Force, only one model completed so far.

...and lastly Garryth also got a new paint job.  So thats it for now, with plenty more on the way and maybe some games of Malifaux in the near future!

Cheers
-Mallius

Warmachine: Retribution Invictors

Just a quick update, I've painted a few minis since i've last posted, however most of them are work in progress.  If i find a decent amount of time i might work on a tutorial for painting retribution models... which would consist mostly of how to paint white armour and green cloth.  I've found all the colours i use are present in the Trollblood faction paintset, with a few additions here and there, the troll blue highlight works great as a base colour for painting white, however if you're looking for a white with less blue saturation i do believe there are better colours in the p3 line for this.

so as for pictures, i have two pictures of a couple Dawnguard Invictors that I painted up this past weekend.  After i finish the remaining two models in the unit and touch up the models i had painted previous to just recently i'll take a group shot and post it on here.  My Warmachine force is sitting at about 40% painted now, i'm looking forward to finally being able to take an army shot but i think i'm a little ways off from that at the moment.

The contours of these models are excellent for organic shading, along with the etching which is great for pigment washes.  (here i've used a mix of hawk turquoise and vellajo paint thinner with an ample amount of water added).  The weapons still need a bit of detail work, they look bland as a solid colour.  Also the first of the two invictors i've posted here looks a little warry, i'm not sure that was the expression Privateer was going for, but it's how it turned out.  The expression is all in how you paint the eyes!

As for future projects, I plan on priming tons of models this weekend including the remaining warmachine models i've yet to prime, and a set of Malifaux stuff that i picked up on the weekend.  I've played one game of Malifaux to try and learn the rules a bit better, and i'm really excited to get in a few more.  The game is really interesting from what i've experienced.  I definitly recommend it for anyone interested in trying something new!  I'll post more about it later.
Till then, cheers!
-Mallius

Warmachine: Retribution Rayvn

The second post in two days! this is a continuation on the last post, so i have some more retribution models to show today.  I use this warcaster quite a bit, Raven was the first model i purchased for warmachine, and probably the reason why i started playing retribution in the first place, i just liked the model, it wasn't till later that i learned her play style.  I find her tier list to be more suitable for the stealthed warcaster however, but i still like how she plays, she can be a beast.

Once again i apologize for the shadows.  These pictures were taken outside using the sun as a light source.

Warmachine: Retribution Arcanist and Narn

I'm taking a bit of a break from painting my 40k stuff and have decided to dig into the pile of unpainted warmachine miniatures I have sitting around.  This was the perfect opportunity to try out a new set of P3 paints that i had picked up earlier that day (the trollblood kit, which has a great selection of colours for retribution models coincidentally).  It was also an interesting experience having painted one of these two models i'm featuring here at a party a friend was holding.  There were plenty of questions abound, and inquisitive onlookers. Suprisingly most people were more interested and excited about the miniature painting than wierded out by it.

So here is the results of my first attempt using P3 paints, i'll let you be the judge of their usage... personally, i like them.

PS, i also used some citadel paints (washes and reds) and pink vellajo game colour on these models.  All the other colours are frome the Troll Bloods faction paintset.

Dark Eldar! The Wyches Have Arrived!

So there is quite a bit to cover in this little post, so i'll get with it. Recently i have not had much time to paint or really explore my hobbies in great depth due to "life events", but now that much of that is resolved i have some new pictures of some painted models to show off, some new and classic Wych models.

The pictures taken here were taken on the front hood of my car with a piece of sketch paper as a back drop, the only source lighting being that of the setting sun, so i apologize in advance for the shadows and any discrepancies there may be, i think only a bit of the vibrancy of purple armour was lost on the classic models due to improper lighting, but other than that, everything looks pretty bang on.

The first image here is a group shot of a finished unit of plastic wyches that i picked up back near the November release of the new line, you may recognize the model to the right of the center model as being one that i posted back when i was doing the initial paint scheme test for these models, well, for the most part they are finished (unless some time in the future a glaring detail pops up, and believe me they always do!).  The scheme is pretty consistent with that of the classic models only including the bluish black body suites of the new models.

the armour is lych purple, with warlock purple highlights brought up and down to varying degrees of shading and highlighting, the body suit is necron abyss, highlighted with fenris grey, washed with bedab black and brought up a bit with some more fenris grey.  The skin tones, is a amalgamation of tallaran flesh, ogryn flesh wash, and deneb stone (this skin tone may be changed for the one featured on the classic models a little further down on future plastic wych models) and of course the metallics are still just simply mithryl silver and Aysuran Blue wash.  I decided to continue with the frozen tundra basing motif, i find it is effective on these models.

This is a Classic wych model, one i painted last wednesday while on an excursion to Black Knight Games in Hamilton ( I love that store, great people, great gaming, great stock, just great in general).  This model features the skin tone i mentioned above a much more pale tone and less tanned (and less work intensive) than the above models and previous wyches i have painted.  The tone is achieved by painting all areas of skin with deneb stone, wash with asuran blue, and highlight with deneb stone, DONE, simple.

I also included a picture of a painted classic mandrake, which i'm using as a wych model in the current edition.  It still has some finishing touches left to be done, but i'm enjoying how well these models sort of bridge the gap between the classic and the new wych models, the guns are still horendously large, the models still incredibly 2-D, but they work.

Well thats all for now, i'll be sure to update more when i get more painted!

Greater Daemon of Slaneesh - Keeper of Secrets, Forgeworld

After a  long hiatus from blogging, i'm back with a few pictures.  I haven't stopped painting or taking pictures of my pieces, i just haven't been posting on this blog, so there is a little bit of a back catalogue to work through, Including a Campaign report from the past month of gaming at Black Knight Games.

Here i have some pictures of the work in progress greater daemon of Slaneesh that i purchased from Gamesday Canada 2008... it's been long overdue.  

As a side note, this model was the victim of a flood recovery at which point it was near destroyed... it has taken a great deal of TLC to restore it, including having to handcraft new fingernails for her left hand.  This was done using a cast off section of old sprue and a dremel grinder to get the slender length i needed from the plastic. These were then filed and shaped with a hobby knife and files

You can see from this angle the two tone nature of the paint scheme i have chosen... i wanted to make the model look as if it were changing the pigment of its skin to appeal more to the enemies it was fighting.  It has been plenty of fun to paint and over all i'm happy with the results. I'll take more pictures in the future!

The Phoenix Has Landed

In my attempt to put a dent in my painting schedule i've managed to get a Phoenix Mirmadon painted to the point where i can show you a few pictures.  This warjack was painted much like the Griffon using the same spray paint technique to achieve the white armour.  I'm happy with how it has turned out so far.

Amassing the Retribution

Yes it's time to owe up to the large amount of unpainted miniatures i have staring me in the face and give them a decent coat of paint.  The process always seems to be more consuming that it originally does at the offset, however i try not to let that deter me when putting the brush to plastic (or metal or resin whatever it may be).

I'm trying out a new painting technique on the Mirmidons in my Retribution of Scyrah force for Warmachine to try and speed along the painting process a little.  To start with i've given the model a prime of black at which point i coated the entire model's accessible points with Astropath Grey and set it aside to let it dry.  After the model had ample time to make sure all the paint was dry i sprayed the model sparingly with white spray paint from the angle of the light source.  After that the model had a good base colour with shading to work with, I then sealed the model with a spray of matte varnish and touched up some of the details where the white was too strong or not strong enough.

The rest of the model was painted much in the same way i would paint the Mirmidons normally, just this time with the white armour of the model completed in a fraction of the time it would normally take.

This method is not fool proof and the convenience of this method does show on the finished product.  Although the model is not 100% complete, i'll post some pics to see what you think of the zenith spray technique and its results.

And here's a pic of a very sad and mostly unpainted warmachine army looking back at me.

Thats 1 heavy Mirmidon, 2 light Mirmidons, 11 Mage hunters, 12 Invictors, an Assassin, 2 Snipers, A Soulless Unit Attachment, an Arcanist, 4 Archers, Rayvn, Garryth, and Narn

WIP Plagueclaw Catapult Paintjob

Here's a few pictures to show you how the plagueclaw is coming along, now with a few coats of pain and nearly finished and ready for the tabletop.  A few things are left to remain such as some more work on the plaguemonk crew, and the "standard" as well as a few miscellaneous details that need touching up here and there.  I decided to go with the orange rust instead of verdigris to go along with the theme throughout the army, it also adds a little more colour where there are plenty of greens and greeny blues already involved in this piece.  Enjoy!

Pre-Heresy Deathguard Plague Marine

To break up the repetition of painting so many rats over the past while (yes there are more on the way, pictures coming soon), I decided to work a little more on the deathguard army after a inspiration hit to paint Plague Marines that still retained a semblance of their former legion colours.  Of course the armour would be caked in dust and filth, but under all that i wanted there to be a connection to the days when they were once among the emperor's finest.  Here is the result!

This model is from the Havok Plague Marine boxed set, which i believe is currently unavailable, although i'm not 100% sure on that one.  The base colours used on the model were Astronomicon Grey and Knarloc Green, and an assortment of various browns, oranges, greens and yellows.  If there is any interest I'll post a tutorial on how to achieve this look relatively simply, believe me it's a great deal easier than you think!