Chariots of Fire

Hello all! I will more than happily admit that I am relieved to see the Chariot done. It's one of my favourite models in the whole army, but goodness did it take an awful long time to finish. It's similar to the Marauder Horsemen in that respect - they are also one of my favourite units, but they took a very long time to finish. Both models have a lot of different textures and elements to them, and both are packed full of detail, so that probably has a lot to do with it.

I did really enjoy painting most of the model, and there is a lot I am proud of on there. For instance, there is my first attempt at edge highlighting hidden away on parts of it. Edge highlighting is a technique I have always been afraid to try, but unless I start doing it I will never get the hang of it. With each model I do now, I am looking for surfaces or areas that don't really matter and can't be seen very well to practice on - that way, it doesn't matter if my painting is sub-par. I doubt anyone will be able to spot the areas I've tried it on in the pictures! Speaking of which...

A mysteriously off centre shot of my Chariot.

I am particularly happy with the way the flesh came out on the driver.

I think that adding a bright red for the horses' eyes helps draw attention to their heads, and also adds to the brutality of their look.

I think this shot really shows of the dynamism of the model.

The 'wet blend' style effect on the whip was incredibly easy to do, and stolen straight out of this Games Workshop painting tutorial. If you have not looked at the painting tutorials before, I would highly recommend one. Even if what you collect has nothing to do with the models being painted, there will be at least one technique to pick up.

And that's all for now! I have started work on another Chaos Lord and 14 additional Marauders for my unit of 16. I will definitely have the Lord done by the next post, and hopefully at least 10 of the Marauders. I think I may also work on a tutorial for how I paint my Marauders as well, so do keep an eye out for that!

Thanks for reading! :)

The Knight Train

Hello all! :) Raze and Ruin has now been and gone! I would love to tell you about all my victories, and about how my Warriors of Chaos stormed across the table, but really they were pretty solidly crushed in four of five games and I came a mighty 35 of 43. However, it wasn't all doom and gloom as I got a pretty impressive second place in the battle for best painted. Given that all 43 armies were fully painted, and there were some proper stunners there, I will take second place as my victory! Maybe first next year! :)

I have to say that having people take the time to look closely at my army and make comments on it was one of the coolest things that has ever happened to me. It's probably comparable to hearing people say nice things about you at your own funeral!

I am currently making painfully slow progress on a Chaos Chariot, so this post will focus on the remaining five knights I did for my huge block of Chaos Knights. I really like the models - they have so much character in each one, they are just a horror to rank up! I'm still really enjoying working on the Warriors of Chaos models, so I think I'll keep it up until I get tired of doing them. I've definitely enjoyed taking a much needed break from painting this month - I've not actually finished painting a single model - but I am keen to get right back into the flow of it :)

Anyway, onto the pictures! (Of the second best painted army at Raze and Ruin 2014 :P)

The five new knights.

The flesh covered shield is definitely my favourite of the lot.

Of course, as any Fantasy player knows, the real stars of any cavalry unit are the horses!

The full train of 10 knights and a Lord on Daemonic Mount. This is the only way the unit ranks up!

The Lord definitely makes a good centrepiece for the unit.

Definitely one of the cooler shields in the unit.

They would never have ranked up without the cavalry bases in between them!

That's all for now! :) Next post should showcase my chariot :)

Thanks for reading!

Warriors and Heroes

Hello all! First of all - let me apologise for messing up slightly - I somehow got my blogging schedule all wrong and I should have made a post last week rather than this week! I'm sure you were all sat around in a malaise last week waiting, and I am sorry that I didn't deliver!

I have finished my second unit of Chaos Warriors (with two hand weapons) and also an Exalted Hero on Daemonic Mount. I have also finished my unit of 10 Chaos Knights, but they'll come in the next blog post! My army for Raze and Ruin, which is a Fantasy tournament I am attending on the 18th and 19th of October, is now completed. I am pretty chuffed with the results, especially given that I had absolutely nothing even built for it at the start of the year. I've been keeping a running total this year, and I am currently on about 130 models, which isn't too bad!

Now I've finished this list for Raze and Ruin, I think I'll paint a couple more units as a treat and move onto something else. My Sorylians for Firestorm Armada beckon, as do my now infamously unpainted Eldar. There's also a slowly building collection of 30k Iron Warriors to consider, but they'll not be started until at least next year.

Anyway, onto the pictures! :)

I think having the helmet in the copper colour draws the eye to the models face, especially as he sits in the middle of the unit of Knights.

I used the character head from the Chaos Chariot kit.

The six models I have painted to add to the unit.

My old metallic paints finally gave up the ghost, so these are the first models I have painted with the new Citadel Paints. I can't see any difference at all.

The unit of 18 Chaos Warriors as it now stands. Variously this unit has been called the 'Khorne-mower' or the 'Khorne-bine Harvester'.

As above, I really can't tell any difference between the metallics on this model and those on either side of him.

I am really proud of the layering I've done on the cloaks - I think it works really well.

That's all for now! Thanks for reading, and wish me luck for this weekend! :)

The next post will feature the full unit of Knights and I'll let you know how my Raze and Ruin went! :)

Thanks for reading!

Tutorial: Snow Bases

Hello all! As I mentioned in my last blogpost, I am currently on holiday, so there will be something a little different for this weeks programming! I often get asked how I do my snow bases, so I thought I'd make a tutorial to show how I do it.

I've always found snow a tough one to get right for miniature bases. There's quite a lot of basing material out there (texture paint and flock), but I've never found it particularly convincing looking. I wanted the snow to look like it was melting, and that my Chaos Warriors were descending out of the North just as the snow was starting to melt.

For my snow bases, you'll need the following:

• Astrogranite Texture Paint
• Badab Black
• Longbeard Grey
• Secret Weapon Miniatures: Realistic Water
• Games Workshop Snow Flock

Firstly, I paint Astrogranite liberally onto the base, followed by a wash of Badab Black and a drybrush of Longbeard Grey. Clearly, if you want a different kind of ground beneath the base, you'd use a different set of paints for this stage.

I then mix the Snow Flock and Realistic Water together. A very liberal amount of the Realistic Water should be added. You want the mixture to be very easy to move around once it's on the base.

I then apply the snow to the base, ensuring that the coverage is not totally equal. The idea is to leave areas where the snow is either thin, or not there, for the texture beneath to show through.

Before the snow is dry, apply a very heavy coat of Realistic Water. You can also use the brush to correct any areas where the flock may be poking upwards and ensure that the snow is smooth.

Leave the snow to dry. I'd recommend leaving it for at least 3-4 hours. Once you've done this, apply another slightly thinner coat of the Realistic Water.

Once this has completely dried (I'd recommend leaving it overnight), edge the base in your chosen colour. I always edge my bases in black - I don't want to draw any attention to the edges of the base when I've put effort into making the miniatures look nice!

It is quite a lengthy process compared to most bases, but I think it's definitely worth it. It's really helped make my Warriors of Chaos the best army I've ever done. I hope this tutorial is clear! I might make one to show how I paint the armour on my Chaos Warriors if this goes well.

We'll be back to a normal schedule for the next blog post, where hopefully I can show that the lions share of my Chaos is done for Raze and Ruin and that I don't need to panic and cram a lot of painting into a short period of time!

Thanks for reading :)

The Warrior's Return

Hello all! Now I've finished my Saga, I am launching headfirst into the swing of painting my Warrors of Chaos again. I've got a bit of work to get 2.5k ready for Raze and Ruin in October, but I'm very confident I'll get it all done. The list I have written focuses less on tactics, and more on the minimum I need to paint between now and the tournament! Hopefully I can get all this done, and bring something a little more powerful to the event.

I'm actually on holiday for the next two weeks, and I've not really had very much time over the last two weeks to paint, so I've only been able to get 6 Warriors done since my last post! Still, it's enough to finish off my first block of 18 Chaos Warriors. I've really enjoyed getting back into painting my Chaos. They are my favourite army to paint by a wide margin. I've still got a lot of models to paint for them, and I'm itching to get stuck into some of the bigger, more centre-piece models I own. I intend to collect about 7-8k of Warriors of Chaos eventually, and have a Chaos Lord on Dragon as a centrepiece.

Anyway, onto the pictures! :)

The six warriors I managed to finish :)

I've painted this face about three times now - I've tried to make each one distinct.

The first of my blocks of 18 Warriors. I plan to get three more done eventually - 3 blocks of 18 Warriors, 1 block of 18 Chosen.

I'm happy at how well the more recent models fit with the older ones :)

This banner is still the best freehand I've ever done.

So, there we go! Apologies for the truncated blogpost, but as I said, I'm on holiday! I've prepared a tutorial for my snow bases for my next post, so keep an eye out for that :)

Also, tickets for Raze and Ruin are now on sale to any interested parties. I'll be taking my Warriors of Chaos down and it'd be great to see a wide variety of people and armies down there. You can get tickets for the event here.

I'm also running a Saga tournament on October 11th, and tickets can be bought here.

Thanks for reading! :)

And the Saga Concludes

Hello all! With the last six levies done, I have finally finished off my Saga warband! It's taken me about a month longer than I expected it to, and means that I'll need to crack right on with getting my Warriors of Chaos done for Raze and Ruin in October. I should definitely be able to get it all done, it's just going to be a much tighter painting schedule than I had originally hoped for!

That said, I have thoroughly enjoyed painting my Saga stuff. As I said at the start - my previous warband was done using poor quality plastics made worse by a poor quality paintjob. When I started them, I wasn't really sure if Saga would be a system that would stick around, so I didn't put very much effort into the models. I now feel that my warband reflects the level of painting I am capable of, and I have been pleasantly surprised by how well they have come out.

Painting the levies was very easy, which is a good thing given how easily they die on the battlefield! I've also taken some pictures of my fully painted Saga force, so enjoy! :)

The six remaining levies done.

This is definitely my favourite face of the whole Gripping Beast plastic range.

The full unit of 12 levies, ready to do very little and mill around the battlefield aimlessly!

My full Anglo-Danish warband. Not bad for just under two months of work!

My warlord.

A better photograph of the Hearthguard from a few weeks ago.

They've only just been finished, and the levies are already hiding behind the shield wall...

That's all for now! Next week I'll hopefully have done some more work on my Warriors of Chaos. I've written my 2,500pts list, and all I have left to finish is:

• 6 Warriors of Chaos with Hand Weapon and Shield
• 6 Warriors of Chaos with Two Hand Weapons
• 1 Exalted Hero on Daemonic Mount
• 5 Chaos Knights

I should be able to get that done for the 18-19th October, but definitely still wish me luck!

Thanks for reading! :)

Something Wicked This Way Comes...

Hello again! I've had a busy couple of weeks and almost totally forgot I was due a post today, so I very nearly completely missed this one! Thank goodness for repeat alerts in calendars!

I had wanted to get a lot more done for today, but I'm still pleased with my efforts so far. I have had my Chaos Sorcerer sat on my painting desk since I started my Anglo-Danish war band, and he was just crying out to be finished. I had got to a point with him where I wasn't totally happy with how he was turning out, and I couldn't see how to get him to a level I was happy with. In the end, it just took a little bit of time away from painting him for me to work out how I wanted to finish him.

I am particularly pleased with the bright blue eyes. I knew I wanted to add something a little different to the miniature to set him apart from the rest of my Warriors of Chaos, but I didn't want to use too much blue and have him clash with the rest of my army. I've tried really hard with my Warriors of Chaos to keep to a consistent palette to tie everything together, and wanted to keep that on the wizard. The blue eyes also draw the eyes to the miniatures face which is something, something, miniature painting theory!

Also, I painted 6 levies for the Anglo-Danish. They are levies with slings, I'm not sure they deserve very many words.

The finished wizard... it only took me 6 weeks to paint him!

I tried to get the snow to run into the cracks on the base, leaving the chaos star in the rocks showing through.

I painted the eyes with a base of Caledor Sky, followed by a dot of Skull White and a glaze of Guilliman Blue.

The first six levies done. Six more, and my Anglo-Danish war band is completed! :)

This guy definitely has my favourite face of the whole lot.

These faces were just as easy to paint as the ones from the Thegns box. I would recommend Gripping Beast plastics to anyone looking to collect Saga.

That's all for now folks! I aim to get the last 6 levies done for next weeks post, and that will then be my Anglo-Danish war band for Saga completely finished! :) Once they are done, I can start on the final push to get my Warriors of Chaos done for Raze and Ruin :) I'm really looking forward to getting back onto painting them, especially with some of the miniatures I've got for them now.

Thanks for reading! :)

How Much Wood Can an Anglo-Dane Chop?

Hello again! I've had a very productive couple of weeks, and I've managed to finish off nearly everything for my Anglo-Danish war band. I've completed 8 Hearthguard with Dane Axes, 4 Hearthguard without and my Warlord. All I have left to finish is 12 Levies, and my Warband is finished!

I have really enjoyed painting these miniatures, and they have been a good break from the Warriors of Chaos. Once I have the levies done, I am looking forward to returning to the Chaos though. I now have a fixed date by which point I need to have my 2,500pts list fully painted and based - 18th October. I am definitely confident that I will be finished in time, and have some really wonderful models sitting in my painting queue, including a Lord of Daemonic Mount, a Warshrine and a Chariot. I've also got a Saga Warband of Scots to do too, but they can wait until later this year! :)

I've also managed to get some fairly simple conversions done on the Hearthguard with Dane Axes. I took the hands that grip onto the dane axe in the 'over the shoulder' pose and attached them to the arms that hold weapons so the axe can be held horizontally. I think it makes for a really great pose for the Hearthguard, and is really a very easy conversion to pull off!

I'm afraid this weeks pictures were taken with my my iPhone as the proper camera is on a walkabout in Scotland!

I'm actually pretty impressed with the quality of my iPhone's camera!

As usual, I really enjoyed painting the shields on these miniatures :)

This is one of the Hearthguard that has been converted as described above. For such an easy conversion, the results are impressive :)

The faces on these Gripping Beast plastics really make the models such a joy to paint. They have the same level of character as a modern GW kit.

I'm really pleased with the layering on the Warlord's cloak.

I'll try and get some better photographs in the next blogpost, when I have the other camera back.

That's all for now! I will try and get the next 12 levies done for the next post, but I would be happy to just have 6 done :)

Thanks for reading!

The Shieldwall Grows

Hello again! I've again been busier than I expected to be in these last two weeks and only have eight more models to show for it. I think I'm going to have to push back my expected finish date for the Anglo-Danes to around the middle of August, which should still give me plenty of time to paint the remaining 800pts of Warriors of Chaos I need to get done for November. And then, maybe, I can get started on my Eldar! Did I mention that I had started an Ork army as well? Plus the small matter of a Lord of Skulls to assemble and paint...

First world hobby problems aside, I have really been enjoying painting these models. The details are really crisp and clear, and I would recommend the Gripping Beast plastics to anyone looking to pick up Saga. By far my favourite part of the model is the shield; I love the level of variety they bring to the painting and the way they look when arrayed in a shieldwall. When I start my Scots, I have some exciting plans for freehand on the shields, so keep an eye out for them later this year! :)

I hope to get more than eight models done for next week, and hopefully I'll be a little less busy and get a chance to do it! Anyway, on to the pictures! :)

With these eight warriors finished, I've done all sixteen I need for my Anglo-Danish force.

Again, the details on the faces were easy to pick out.

Thanks to painting these shields, I am much less afraid of painting white than I used to be.

The shieldwall so far :)

I'm looking forward to giving these guys their first blooding this week!

I'm really loving the way these guys are turning out and looking forward to getting them finished.

That's all for now! I'll be back again in two weeks time with some Dane Axe wielding Hearthguard. And maybe I'll have something to show for my little side project that's been on the back burner for a little bit, but enough of that for now!

Thanks for reading :)