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I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year! I certainly did and I’m sure our other bloggers did too. Between the mince pies and stuffing ourselves with turkey however, there may have been some time to relax and paint some models. I know I got a few finished and you’ll be seeing those before long. Let’s take a look at what others have been up to.
Nighthaunt Force (AoS) by Northern Invasion Stu
It’s a New Year and that means a new army painting project. This year our local Gaming group is doing an Age of Sigmar path to glory campaign for our YouTube channel using the newly released supplement Path to Glory: Ravaged Coast. Having looked over my collection, I have decided to finally build and paint the Nighthunt models that I have accumulated over the years.
My starting force comprises 500 points of models : eight myrmourn banshees, two chainghasts and a spirit torment. It isn’t the most competitive list by any means, but should be a fun force to develop with plenty of great looking models.
Most of the models I have chosen are push-fit so were very fast to assemble. In terms of painting, I have gone for a classic Lord of the Rings style ghostly look. I primed the models black and then applied various shades of grey using dry brushing to blend between layers and ultimately finishing with white at the uppermost parts of the model. I then applied green wash to achieve the ghostly effect.
Because the monochrome painting scheme looks fairly simple I thought it was important to add some detail to the bases so I have included flowers and some small ornamental elements to add visual interest. I will look to increase the force each month by around 500 points so look out in February to see what I choose to include next.
Take Cover! (Shatterpoint) by Sam de Smith
This month I decided to do something a bit different, although still Shatterpoint, with the Take Cover! terrain set (which happened to be on deep discount here just now!) Shatterpoint is a game that demands plenty of terrain, and this set has a really nice variety, with only one building repeated from the core box. I started by digging into the bits box to give that new door, windows and signage. Then everything got primed either colour forge grey or army painter fur brown - and in some cases both, thanks to the miracle of Tamiya hobby masking tape. The rock scatter got some GW stirland mud dabbed on to give variety in texture and hide a couple of wee gaps. Grey metals were washed with GW Drakenhoff Nightshade, others (and the gonk droid) the ubiquitous Nuln oil; Vallejo fx light brown wash used on the rocks and other browns, before inevitable Deck Tan drybrushing and edge highlights. The swoop bike was done in VJ prussian blue, which is a beautifully rich colour, and the seat in a 50/50 of Earth and Flame Orange. Finally lights were blocked in cold white, before being picked out in Dark Green, Scarlet, Flame orange or Averland Sunset accordingly. Job done!
Lychguard (40k) by Hasvik
I am not sure why I started collecting Necrons. I think it’s because I am the youngest in my group by a fair few years so I think I like RPing being the oldest one at the table just to heckle the whippersnappers and tell them to get out of my cosmic lawn. A lovely old pal of mine got me a box of Lychguard/Praetorians for Christmas so I’ve made excellent progress to get these lads assembled and painted in only 1 year and two weeks! Sigh. As I am neither the most skilled or patient painter, I lean into the dark, grimey and dirty styles of painting because it hides my shame. With that in mind let me introduce you to my Necron paint scheme; These lads have woken up on a swampy hellscape and are not happy about the state their armour/skin is in so
they are extra grumpy. I start with a black prime then full cover in Vallejo Tinny Tin and the raised armour plating in Vallejo Copper. Next they get bathed in Vallejo Verdigris effect before I trace all the glowy bits in AK 3rd Gen white - accept no substitutes. Then it’s over to the airbrush for a quick blast of white ink around the glowy bits. Last I finish them off with a final spray of green ink over the white to make them look like a poorly installed underglow kit on a boy racer-mobile. Now these wee tinmen are ready to wage war for the legion whilst also looking pretty cool from about 3 feet away.
Meganobz (40k) by Neil Parker
This month I’ve been working on a box of Meganobz. You’ve got to love Orks. Possibly the only ones really having a good time in the 40K setting. For this mini I chose a yellow colour scheme. I toyed with various additional colours but I didn’t think it worked so I kept it relatively simple.
The paints I used are mostly Vallejo – Sun and Deep Yellow, with some Glorious Gold, various greens – Goblin and Olive with Citadel’s Athonian Camoshade.
One of the things I love about Citadel miniatures is that you can paint individual parts more easily. Yes, it is fiddly but I prefer this way to help the paint process and I like the range of choice you get for heads and weapons etc. I don’t play tabletop battle, but I do use minis for RPG tactic scenarios and so I’ve constructed this Meganobz to simply look over the top and very threatening.
I built the torso first without the head and airbrushed with Vallejo paints for the base and did the same for the arms and weapons platform on the top. Then I worked on them individually before fixing them together and then working on the head and additional layers and detail using washes and touch up as desired. One detail I thought important was that instead of using a black wash for details, I used Citadel’s Agrax Earthshade for the brown, well-oiled look that I thought appropriate. The boxset does come with a Grot oiler too.
Dain Ironfoot mounted (MESBG) by Ross Coulbeck
Now you might remember a while ago I showed off my finished Dain Ironfoot model. So you might wonder, why is he appearing again? Well because he’s mounted that’s why! Astride a mighty boar (which in reality was a pig called Leroy). I feel this warrants a separate mention because it adds so much to the character. He’s more imposing, more fierce and more kingy (a little foreboding). The Iron Hills dwarves are my favourite army in the LOTR and Dain is the perfect figurehead. I’m hoping in the future I can expand this collection.
Paint wise I won’t talk too much about Dain, as he was the same as before, but I’ll talk about the boar instead. I found a fantastic contrast paint recently, Garaghak’s Sewer, that worked really well for the boar's fur. Yes they also modelled a small hole on his behind, but I didn’t highlight it. The armour was Leadbelcher with Nuln oil, with Retributor Gold and Reikland Fleshshade as a trim. The boar doesn’t have a lot of visible flesh apart from the face and this particular species of boar has a more grey skin to it, so I used Basilicanum Grey and it came out well. The final touch, apart from the base which was similar to Dain, was the tusks. It was fiddly work but I managed these with Kislev flesh and Reikland Fleshshade.
I’m very happy with how he turned out and I hope I can share more MESBG miniatures with you in the future.
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