On The Table - Vindicair Comission

Painted up this mini for a friend of mine. He says it is Chinese replica of a Vindicare Assassin and given that it is made our of off-color, brittle resin, I believe it. Pretty good cast though compared to some.

I based the mini in Kanto blue then painted a 1:1 mix of Darnstone and Abbadon Black on the harness and the weapon. The mask is painted straight Dawnstone. The whole mini got drybrushed with Dawnstone. After that, everything was ashed Nuln Oil.

I used the new dry compound for the first time and it is actually better for drybrushing than the regular stuff. Goes on more smoothly, don't have to wait for it to dry and overall easier to handle. I hope it lasts.

I did a very light dry brush of Dawnstone once the wash was dry to bring things back up. I then shaded the blue suit with Agrax Earthshade and Gulliman Blue. The black areas were hard edge highlighted with Dawnstone.

The pillar he is standing beside, was based Dawnstone and then washed Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade in between dry brushes. I did a final drybrush of Ushabti Bone to make it pop a little more.

Pretty simple painting and it didn't take that long. If this were a commission, I would probably charge $40 for it but that usually includes about $5 in shipping too.

On The Table - More Deathwatch

It has been slow going on these three guys.

I think that the furor for Deathwatch has died down. I've lost almost every game that I have played with them and that is not helping.

I got really excited about Black Shields and made two that were loaded out. In game play, they under-performed and that made me sad again. I made this more low-key version but I think the results will be the same.

I also got excited about the Infernus Heavy Bolters. I want four of them in a Drop Pod ruining my opponent's plans. I have not done this quite yet but I think, given the track record, that I will be disappointed again.

This was not meant to be a morose post regardless of how it sounds. I am pleased with my Deathwatch army and am looking to expand it further. 

On The Table - More Deathwatch Marines

I am trying to clear the table of projects so I can start on my legit Imperial Knight kit. I will need more Infernus Heavy Bolters to field the number and type of Kill Teams that I want and also because they are awesome Wargear. I wanted to make a lower-points Black Shield with a little more utility than the melee killing-machines that I have already made. This guy will have a Power Sword and Grav Pistol. He come in at 67 points rather than 77/82 points. He is armed with a combination of AP 2/3 weapons so he will not be useless against any types of troops.

At this point in painting, the black has a good start. It is basecoated with 1:1 grey and black, drybrushed grey and washed black. The silver metals are basecoated and washed black with the armor. Tonight, I painted on the base colors for the gold and parchment. I also painted on the red colors on the cloak. 

On The Table - Corvus Blackstar

Well drunk-me tried to do some detail painting and sober-me is just now finding out about. Wisely, drunk-me decided to paint the bottom of the Corvus and not on the top or front. Good move, drunk-me.

Surprisingly, when sober-me tried to take over painting, I had a harder time replicating the fine lines that drunk-me did. It might have something to do with me having to add some water to the pot of grey paint that I was using and maybe that made it harder to get clean lines.

Drunk-me also tried to wash the red areas to try and make them darker. Unfortunately drunk-me can't tell when enough is enough (in more ways than one way). The red areas became a muddy mess and had to be repainted from scratch.

On The Table - Deathwatch Black Shield

In between working on the Corvus Blackstar I have been doing a little work on my second Black Shield. My initial thought was to give the Black Shield a pair of Specialist Weapons like LC, CF or TH, LC.The purpose of this was to give versatility of choosing between S 8 and reroll to wound and still getting the extra attack. For a mini whose only special rule is to double their base Attacks, I thought that tooling them up for close combat would be wise.
After my first (and to this point only) game with Deathwatch, I think that Black Shields with a lot of Wargear might be over-rated. For an 88 point model that only uses its special rule against very specific enemies, it is a pricey gambit. I am starting to think that just a Power Weapon would be a better option. Maybe on my next Black Shield.
In the meantime, I am going to stick to the "three Terminator" worth of points version of the Black Shield. As of right now, I have only one bit to make a Black Shield left in my collection. the bits run for about $4 on eBay but maybe I could swap for one or two on Bartertown.

On The Table - Corvis Blackstar

Things are going better with painting the Corvus Blackstar. Since the last update, I painted on the silver areas and washed them black. I also painted on black wash in selected areas rather than dipping the whole mini.
I was not able to get the recesses as dark as I would have liked. I briefly contemplated stippling on pure black on the areas that needed shading but decided against it. I traced on some black lines on some of the deep recesses and it mostly worked. I also tried alternating between Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil to try and get a deeper black.
It is kind of working but it is going to take some tinkering and experimentation to get this mini finished but I am more sanguine than in the last post. I think that this mini is going to turn out well.
The plan is to finish this as the prototype model and experiment a little more on the next one. The third and final Corvus Blackstar will be the "command" mini with a lot of conversions and modifications. What those are I have no idea but I am sure that awesome things will come to me after I google "Corvus Blackstar conversions.

On The Table - Mistakes

Compare this picture to the last in progress picture and it looks improved. I hate it though. I think that after the wash it is going to look awful and I am bracing myself for it.
Anyone that says they can paint anything any color is a dirty liar. At this point I am pretty much an expert in painting black, red and white but only in my styles. I can't do the green/black or purple/black that is popular with Necrons and Dark Eldar. I can't paint the red highlighted with tan like the 'eavy Metal nerds do with Blood Angels (though I could fake it if I needed to). I can't do the corrupted white like you see on pre-Heresy Death Guard or grey/white.
I can do red on small scale like Power Armor but that is completely different from painting red on vehicles. I am finding out that my prowess with black on Power Armor does not translate to the large scale of this flipping flyer or, emperor forbid, the Drop Pod of the future. Things are just not the same.

On The Table - Corvus Blackstar

I did some work on the Blackstar. I finished all the sanding and joining. I basecoated it 1:1 black and grey like I do with my Marines, but I am starting to second guess that at this point. the painting style that I use on my marines relied on a total black wash to homogenize and shade the model. I've learned that trying to shade the whole model on a vehicle is usually a bad idea. It is impossible to get an even coat an the whole model and there are always large and visible mistakes. I think I am going to try and do a lighter drybrushing and paint on my wash rather than dipping.
I was very nervous about doing the red lines like the Codex models has. I've painted a few lines on my Tau models and it is hard to get the big ones right. I used painters tape to get the lines straight but really just eyeballed it.
The next step will be dry brushing grey on and then painting the silver areas.
I decided against all the gold on the Codex model. I am just going to all the large areas silver with gold skulls.

On The Table Now - Corvis Blackstar

This is a beastly kit and very complex. There is a Land Raider's worth of surface area and twice the detail. I would not be surprised if this took 40 hours or more to complete.
I've already magnetized the primary weapons and accessories. Even with a black, silver and red color scheme, this will take forever to get done.
I regret buying three of these models at this point as I will likely never field three of them. I like the formation but outside of Apocalypse games, three of these will never see the table top.
The much more likely transport will be a Land Raider rather than Blackstar.

On The Table - Ultramarine Terminator Shoulder Guard

Just got some Forge World shoulder guards in for the Deathwatch Terminators. Blood Angels and Ultramarines are over-represented in my Deathwatch army. The former because they are my largest army and the latter because they are over-represented in Space Marines in general, both on the table top and in the fluff. In Deathwatch RPG, Ultramarines make awesome leaders. They make Awesome everything really. For that last reason, I have made an effort to include an Ultramarine in every type of unit I have in the Deathwatch Army.
That and blue is easy as hell to paint.
The shoulder guard in the picture(call em "pads" if you want but my Marines wear armor and not pads) is not finished but is pretty close. There is a little more work to do on the Purity Seals but it is close to done.
I am going to use 1 or 2 more shoulder guards and try to trade the rest. I think that the passion for the new shiny that is Deathwatch, but I think there will still be some people on Bartertown looking for interesting Terminator pauldrons.

On The Table - Watch Master

This bad little monkey came together very fast. It helped that I had today off and didn't work on anything else. I am really happy that I painted then assembled this mini as there area important areas that would have been impossible to paint properly when the mini is fully assembled like most of the left arm, most of the legs and all of the inside of the cape. This is a good thing to remember when Deathwatch is no longer the new shiny and second hand minis become more available. As much as I would like to convert a second one, an assembled version of this mini would not be worth very much aside from using it as bits.
I am still looking for a head for this mini. I want to do a head swap and give him a Chapter right pauldron. I have not picked out either. I am considering a noble face with Ultramarines, a stoic face with Crimson Fists, or maybe something exotic like a hooded Dark Angel or a robotic Iron Hands. Regardless of what I choose, I'll need a fancy Forge World shoulder guard.

On The Table - Watch Master

I am very excited to get started painting the sexy beast that is the Watch Master. On the surface, the rules are a bit confusing. He has the stat line of the Watch Captain with one extra Attack, one more Wound and a base 2+ save for almost double the cost. He also comes standard with a Clavis and a Guardian Spear (an Adeptus Custodes weapon) standard. I am not sure that given his beefy points costs that the ability to change your Mission Tactics an extra time is even worth it.
What is puzzling is what you can't give him. He only has access to Special Issue Wargear and Relics of the Vigilant which means you can't put him on a Bike, you can't give him a Jump Pack, you can't put him on a Bike. He is pretty much a special character without a name given the limited options.
I dislike this highly. The standard Wargear (especially the incongruous Guardian Spear), does not really make sense. The lack of options is frustrating as well as the lack of conversion options. It seems overtly purpose-built to sell a single kit as you can't really field this choice without this particular model. Then, even if you do, you can only field him an particular ways.
I miss the days of the "build-you-own-hero" days of 4th and 5th Edition where you could customize your commander as you saw fit. Want an Assault based leader? How about a Jump Pack, Relic Blade, Digital Weapons, and a Master-Crafted Grav-pistol. That doesn't suit you? Take your pick of the other options. With this Watch Master, WYSIWYG with very few exception.

Finished - Three More Deathwatch Marines

While these three bad boys are not completely finished (they are missing some pauldrons, back packs and some details), they are mostly finished. I am very pleased with how they turned out. I used some old pauldrons that I painted near the end of the last time I painted Deathwatch. The White Scar is metal and not painted very well. I did some touch ups on it before gluing it in place.
I like how the heads turned out. The White Scar head looks awesome. The waste on the older Mk 8 torso on the DW legs looks abnormally skinny. I don't like my Marines to have an hourglass figure. The Black Templar has a great pose. I like how you can hide much of helmet you can hide on the DW kits. I love the Salamander and his big hammer.
I put a magnet in the Salamander so he can double as an Assault Marine.

On the Table Now - White Scars Face

The Deathwatch Vets box is awesome. I love all the heads (though some are problematic), but there are no good White Scar ones. I like the classic top knot, I like the mongol-style beards. The head from Overkill is good but it is attached to the body. The face above is clearly meant to be a Space Wolf. With the addition of a CSM top knot and some creative painting of the chin as beard, as we have a first class White Scar head.
I've tried to up my face painting game recently. There was a time where I would do a basecoat of a mid-range flesh tone, wash it flesh, touch it up and call it good. I experimented with extra highlighting but the faces turned out looking more corpse-like that I wanted.
On a whim, I picked up Bugman's Glow thinking that I could use it to highlight leather in an interesting way. While, I never really integrated it into my leather paining, I did start using it to shade the deep wrinkles on faces. I still undercoat with Tallaran Flesh and basecoat with Cadian Fleshtone, but then I paint on the Bugman's Glow into all the places that need more depth. There is a little touch up of Cadian Fleshtone and only then do I wash it with Reikland Fleshshade. A little touch up and it is done.
Integrated into that mess, I have also started putting a little purple wash around and under the eyes. It started off on a fluke but this technique has really started to pay dividends.

On The Table - Deathwatch Marines

On the table now are three more Deathwatch members. This time they will be a White Scars Vet with Power Weapon and Bolter, a Black Templar Vet with a Combi-melta and CCW and a Salamander with Heavy Thunder Hammer, from left to right. I think that I may want to magnetize the Salamander so he can be a Vanguard Marine. That will save me from having to make duplicate models even though Vanguard can't have Heavy Thunderhammers.

To which I ask, "Why?" 

Why restrict the Heavy Thunder Hammers to just Veterans? It seems that Terminators, Vanguard, Watch Captains or Bikes could use them as options. Even if there were not bits available, they would make interesting conversion opportunities. To just not have them available seems odd. 

The Heavy Thunder Hammer (HTH) is a bit of a rules anomaly too. It is the same cost as a regular Thunder Hammer (30 points). For this you lose the ability to equip another weapon (because of two-handed), S 10, and gain the Insta-death rule on 6s to wound. Seems fishy as most things are already insta-killed by S 10 anyway and the few things that are S 6 and higher are not really worth bringing special Wargear for. 

Finished - Deathwatch Scouts

Ok so they are not completely finished. In the picture, I forgot to do the grey hard-edge highlighting on the hands but other than that they are finished. 

I had some difficulty fitting the heads on the bodies. I really wanted the vox mask for the Salamander Scout but it would not fit in the very small space facing the way the gun was pointed. I had a similar problem with the sexy goggles on the Blood Angel. In the end, I ended up liking it as it adds variety to which direction the model is facing. 

I did a little conversion to the Ultramarine "leader" by giving him two scopes. The big scope is an Ork scope with the Orky bits filed off and the smaller scope is a SM scope. I accidentally mounted it backwards with the angled part mounted forward but I don't think it maters. 

Ok The Table Now - Headless Scouts

I am making good progress on the Deathwatch Scouts/Snipers. All the bases are finished and the finished bodies are mounted. I just have to finish guns, pick out heads and they are finished. 

As it stands, I have picked out the following Chapters for the Scouts reading from left to right and skipping Rufus. Blood Angels, Space Wolves, Ultramarines, Space Wolves and Salamanders. The repeat of the Wolves has to do with fluff and bits. In the fluff, Space Wolves do not use the Scouts as in-field training but rather as exile-in-combat for their problem kids. As a result, they have WS 4 and BS 4 Scouts when most updated (all at the time of writing this) have WS 3 and BS 3 Scouts. Ignoring the behavioral problems of having a Space Wolf (let alone a problem child Space Wolf) on a Kill Team, this would make them prime recruiting for Deathwatch. I included a plethora of Wolves in the sniper section of Deathwatch, because I have many left of heads for SW Scouts. 

So, counting Rufus, I'll have 3 Space Wolf Scout/Snipers and (so far) 6 in the army. Over-represented? Maybe, but Wolves have always been awesome and over-represented given that there are 12,000 of them max in the 40k Universe. 

On The Table - Deathwatch Scouts

The project for my one day off this week was DW Scouts. I made the choice to use them rather than normal Marines with Stalker pattern Bolters for a few reasons. 

One, they add variety to the "all Power Armor" army. There are rules for Deathwatch Scouts in two of the RPG books. I am still unsure why GW did not give Stalker pattern Bolters to Scouts only in the Codex. It would have sold more of those old Scout kits.

Two, there is only one Stalker pattern Bolter in the Deathwatch box. That is insane when it could have been a bit that clips onto the Bolter rather than a whole gun. It is even more insane when there are already Sniper Rifles in the Scout box. I wanted 5 of these and I am not going to buy 5 kits. 

Finished - Chapter of Deathwatch

From left to right: Silver Skulls (Ultramarines successor), Black Shield, Blood Angel, OG Dark Angel, Raven Guard (Tactical), Iron Hands, Space Wolves.

I love the variety of colors in the pauldrons but they take forever to paint due to the constant color switching. I like how the BA and SW pauldrons stand out and think that from now on, I will paint only colorful pauldrons rather black or dark ones. Hello Imperial Fists!

Finished - Deathwatch Specialists

From left to right, Shotgun and Storm Shield, Infernus Heavy Bolter and Power Fist/Lightning Claw Marines. 

Swapping the Bolter for a Shotgun is free and the Storm Shield only costs 10 points. I really like the look of the Breacher Marines from Forge World and want to make my own with these sexy tower shields. I like the idea of a Marine that wants to get up close to use the Shotgun but also is smart enough to not want to die first. 

I want as many of the Infernus Heavy Bolters as I can get. They are move-and-shoot Heavy Bolters and Heavy Flamers. Best of all, the Heavy Bolters shoot at full range rather than the 18" of previous editions and the Heavy Flamers are not one-shot like I thought they would be. You can also add in Hellfire shells for 5 points if you want to be able to take down those high Toughness creatures like the Carnifex and the Wraithlord. This is my new favorite weapon perhaps of all time. 

Up last if my favorite combination of weapons if it is possible to take them. Because of the way the Speacilist Weapon rule is phrased, other weapons with that rule add an addition Attack even if they are not the same weapon. Using Power Fist and Lightning Claw give you versatility depending on what you are facing. I knew that I wanted to do this on my Black Shield as his special rule only work in Close Combat to double the number of attacks in special circumstances. It would have been more useful if it also worked at range too. Since it does not, I am absolutely kitting them out for close combat. I forget how splitting Attacks works in this edition, but at least I have the option of attacking at Initiative or last with S 8. My plan for the other Black Shield is for Thunder Hammer and Lightning Claw for the same purposes, but I'll likely proxy it with a Power Weapon for aesthetic reasons.

I just need to finish Chapter pauldrons for these Marines.