On the table now - More Genestealers and Lictor

Finished - Purestrain Genestealers

On the table now - Puresteain Genestealers

On the table now - Genestealer Cult

Finished - Test Genestealers

 I have a lot of balls in the air and many of those balls are Genestealer-shaped. I have finished the three initial test Genestealers from this post. I also have three more Genestealers in progress from this post. 

I did some interesting thing son the bases of these Genestealers. I went for a subtle and dark tone for the bases. The minis painted up great but are overall very dark in tone. I wanted the minis to be the focus and didn't want the bases to overpower them. To that end the bases are shaded twice as much as I would have if they were part of the mini and not highlighted as much. You can see this specifically on the skulls and the red armor. The red actually contains no Blood Red and the final highlight is Mechrite Red. I even went so far as to apply a Blood Angel Transfer to the shoulder guard. 

I'll so an epic post when if they are ever finished and determine their value then. 

Finished - 2 Lootas

 The Lootas finished quickly and I love that. I was missing more bits than I thought for these minis. In addition to missing the connecting struts, I was missing the targeting/extra weapon bit for the side of the gun. 

I replaced the strut bits with sprue. I feel like it worked ok. I wish I had weathered them a bit more or covered them with plates to make them a bit more Orky.

I covered the holes that the targeting/extra weapon bit would have gone in with glyphs. This worked great. 

In the end, They are bodies for the Green Machine and fit in well with the rest of the squad. I updated the value of the Loota squad on their Finished post. 

On the table now - Genestealers and Lootas

 Until inspiration strikes, I am working on some smaller side projects in addition to my main project of Greg's Genestealer Cult. I had some extra bits to make some more Lootas so I banged them out. The down side is that I am missing the supporting structure that links the ammo arm to the gun arm so I'll have to figure something out later.

I am also trying to get my technique down for painting the Space Hulk style Genestealers so that I don't mess up Gregs minis. I think I have a good idea how these paints work. After painting so much red, blue and purple are like a dream. It is actually hard for them not to turn out well. 

Finished - Nurgle Helbrute

I was so excited about getting my Nurgle Helbrute back from Greg at Cranky Old Gamer that I primed and painted him up in record time. Greg did everything that I asked for. I wanted a central eye rather than a face, eviscerated intestines, smoke stacks like Typhus and Nurgle symbols all over. I lost the Plasma Cannon for the Helbrute kit in the mail and sent a Space Marine Devastator Plasma Cannon along as a substitute. Greg made a good call and went above and beyond to buy a CSM Plasma Cannon. Classy move. He sculpted everything perfectly and just as requested. 

I especially like the way he took extra effort to integrate the three circles of the Nurgle symbol into the details. You can see it in the smoke stacks and in the subtle details on the leg armor. 

Modeling

I didn't have to do much to the mini in ways of converting. Greg did all the heavy lifting. I did want to give him an awesome base though. I have several metal Dreadnought front plates laying around and since they are never going to get used on Dreads, they make great basing material. I used one on my Thousand Sons/Tzeench Helbrute and it turned out well. For the Death Guard/Nurgle Helbrute I wanted to take it to the next level. Death Guard and Grey Knights have a tenuous relationship through Nathaniel Garro. There is also a fair amount of animosity between the Death Guard and Grey Knights. The Death Guard hate everyone but perhaps the Grey Knights edge out enemies out by a hair. 

On the table now - Genestealers

Greg from Cranky Old Gamer is quickly becoming my go to guy for green stuff work. As payment for the awesome Nurgle Helbrute, I offered to paint up Greg's Genestealer Cult converted minis. Before I start putting paint on someone else's minis, I wanted to test it out on some Space Hulk minis that need paint on them anyway. Sort of a two birds situation. I am using this step-by-step as a guide because I have never painted a Tyranid before. 

Finished - Pariahs, Immortals and Plague Marines

I finished all my little side projects and the weather was so nice that I took them outside for a photo shoot. I am not going to detail any of them as they are all part of other units that still need to be documented.

More pics under the cut.

Finished - Nurgle Rhino

The first of the Cult Rhinos are done. My buddy, Greg at Cranky Old Gamer, sculpted the spine on the top hatch for me. I like my vehicles clean and simple. Some people go a little crazy with the green stuff when they do Nurgle conversions so much so that on trade boards anything described as "Nurgle" should be assumed to be irredeemably covered in crappy green stuff with holes poked in it at the very least. I could have don more sculpting of corroded metal, bent armor plates and tentacles but vehicles take long enough to paint and again I like them clean and simple. 

I started paint the Death Guard Marines and Typhus back when I was a lot less experienced (2011/2012) and their colors reflect that. I think that I wanted to do was a corroded, corrupted and plague-ridden version of the Death Guard pre-Heresy colors but painting white is hard enough and painting corroded white seemed impossible. It is still out of my reach even now to do it as well as it exists in my head. The colors that I settled for are closer to the older pictures of Death Guard rather than the more modern presentation. 

Finished - Two Commissars

I finished the two Commissars that I was working on. I think they turned out comparable to the first one that I did. I don't think that I improved on anything but they did paint up faster than the first one. I think that I am learning when to quit messing with a color and move on. 

I like the depths and variety of color even in the browns, the clean but well-used look of the wargear and the faces. I was able to paint the khaki in different tones by washing it black, Agrax Earthshade and sepia washes then touching back up. The effect is nice. I also washed the wargear a variety of colors then touched back up with Mythril Silver. I am getting better at faces and trying to use only 4 steps. 

I dislike the lack of weathering and the level of detail on the Plasma Pistol. I had intended to drybrush on Steel Legion Drab onto the bottom parts of the minis to represent dust and weathering but I forgot. It needed to be done, washed and touched up and I just skipped it. I painted the cooling coils on the pistol silver and then washed blue. The new blue wash (Draken Nightshade) is darker and less blue than Asurmen Blue. Usually I touch up things after but I skilled the minute details on the pistol this time. 

Retail value for these minis is $16 each. Given that they are older out of print minis we can round that up to $20 each for replacement cost. Paintjob is 7/10 for me and valued at $20 each. Total value of each mini is $40. Trade value is $55 each. I think that each is worth a Codex.

On the table - Nurgle Rhino

I traded for this Rhino with Death Guard doors a while ago on Bartertown. I didn't realize that it was missing the headlights until I was doing the shading just now. I threw on some CSM searchlights and I don't know how I feel about them. On one hand they look insectoid and mutated and on the other hand, they are kind of distracting. I can always cover them up with spare headlights later if I continue to find them unappealing. 

The plan is to have a Rhino painted in the colors of the four CSM Legions dedicated to each of the Chaos Gods with the Forge World doors and front plates. I want to do some little extras on each of the vehicles. On the Nurgle Rhino, I had a new friend Greg sculpt a spinal column into the top hatch. 

Finished - Necron Flyer

I love the Doom Scythe/Night Scythe kit. It is affordable as it is priced at $45 which is pretty standard for a Flyer. The real great thing is how easy the kit is to assemble and paint. It does not look like it, but there are very few parts to it.  Most of these that I see are sprayed silver and called "finished" after a little green is painted on the lenses and weapons. Necrons really suffer from the bad rep they have had since 3rd (let's be honest, since forever) of drybrushing silver. It s sad. 

The rules are also great. The armor is a little light at AV 11 (pretty standard for Flyers) but it has Living Metal to offset that. It carries 12 models and is the only thing that can transport units that are not Warriors. 

On the table now - Commissars

My side project now is a pair of Imperial Guard/Astra Militarum Commissars. I do not really play IG/AM but I do have 40 Stormtroopers left over from the 3rd Edition Grey Knights Codex when you needed cheep Troops to make them a fieldable army. The idea is to use them to make a Militarum Tempestus army. I have some Valkyries chilling in the tower of new minis to use as the chariots of the gods. 

I painted the Powerfist and book guy before and traded him for a dinky Codex. Now, I have a spare even if one of these guys get traded.