Astra Rodentia Sentinel

Alright, I finished the Sentinel that I showed at the beginning of the month, and just in time to enter Azazel’s Mechanovember, too! As I’ve already spoken about building the model, this post is dedicated to the painting.

But first things first! If you read the title of the post, and have seen my previous posts, you noticed that I’ve got a new name for my Imperial Skaven: the Astra Rodentia. This was suggested by amazingturtles over on DakkaDakka, thanks to her! At first I thought it was a bit too noble sounding for this abhuman rabble, but the more I’ve been thinking about it the more sense it makes. Propaganda and all that..

And on to the painting! I’m super pleased with how this one came out! The first thing I needed to do was to decide on a paint scheme. As my rats are supposed to be a ragtag group of fighters using kit from various sources, I could basically choose anything I wanted. I didn’t want to go with the default Cadian scheme, but due to most of my models so far have green flak armor, the scheme could have some green in it. The rats are also fighting in an industrial setting, so some sort of urban camo would be appropriate. With this in mind, the classic Steel Legion vehicle scheme seemed like a perfect fit, and I’ve always liked the scheme too!

It took a bit of research to figure out what colors to use for the gray and the green. Some sources said that the gray was Fortress or Codex Grey, and the green was Rotting Green. While the latter seems accurate, the gray was surely something darker, or something’s up with the old photos of Steel Legion vehicles. But anyway, I used Dawnstone and Nurgling Green for my model, and I think it works pretty well. The camo was painted by first painting the basic shapes on the model, after which the two colors were mixed together and painted on the borders of the two colors to blend them in. The old sources suggested drybrushing for this blending, but the shape of the Sentinel didn’t really work for that so I just painted it in the normal way instead.

In addition to painting a camo scheme on a vehicle, this project was also a great opportunity to practice some new(/ish) techniques. I’m very happy with how all the lights and lenses came out, and had lots of fun doing all the freehand scribblings and weathering. Speaking of weathering, I finally got myself Typhus Corrosion and Ryza Rust (largely inspired by davekay and Azazel), and used them for the exhaust pipes and various other bits. Fun stuff! Painting the base was a bit of a challenge as I wanted to have a bit of color in there so that it’s not just all solid gray, but at the same time I didn’t want the base to steal the show (which a bright red barrel could easily do). Some yellow warning stripes, the red barrel and the wonderful little rat took care of the color, while drybrushing the whole thing with light gray for highlights / dust effects pulled the base together nicely. I also used some other white-ish colors afterwards to introduce a bit of variation, which worked wonders. Now, traditionally speaking, there’s probably not quite enough contrast between the base and the model, but we’re not letting that bother us!

Finally, I’m using this model to claim a square in the hobby bingo: paint a unit and add scenic bases. I’m perhaps cheating a bit, but a single Sentinel can be a unit so I’m counting it. It’s pretty clear now that I wont be getting a single bingo this year. Looking at the grid now, I think I could’ve claimed at least a couple more squares with the models I’ve done so far, but even with those, no bingo. That’s okay though, the card has been a fun additional motivator and I’m sure to try again next year!

Stormsire’s Cursebreakers

With all that’s been going on IRL, these guys have taken quite a while to complete. Still, after a month and a half on my painting desk, Stormsire’s Cursebreakers are at long last done.

Model-wise, there’s not much to say as they’re a stock Nightvault warband. Nice models. I had to do some gap filling, which didn’t come out super smooth as I only had greenstuff and it wasn’t ideal for the job. I’ve since bought Milliput, which is maybe better? We’ll see in the future, once I get to try it out..

For the paint scheme I chose the Silverlions, as I’ve done with all my Stormcast, but changed the red cloth to purple, which helps to differentiate the SCE warbands on the board. I also got lazy with the gold, and tried just drybrushing it. This, along with using a brown wash gave a more worn look. It’s also closer to what Thilo Engels did with his original scheme.

Another new-ish thing I tried with these models was to practice blends, mainly with the hair on Ammis and Rastus, and the flame on Stormsire’s hand. I chose to paint the hairdos on Ammis and Rastus differently, again for easier identification on the board. Both started from purple, but on Ammis the color transitions to pink, and on Rastus to blue. I think the colors work pretty well, as they’re found in other parts of the models: blue on the glass vials, pink on the weapon straps. Also, stereotypical boy/girl colors 🙂

Most examples of Stormsire’s flame I’ve seen have been in some “magical” color. Cheap parlor tricks, I say. I thought that real(-ish) fire would complement the rest of the color scheme best, and I’m pretty happy with the result. To complement the fire, and to draw attention to Stormsire’s head I wanted to try red hair. Not quite as intense color as on dwarfs, but still reading as ginger. The image on my head was of the GoT Tormund Giantsbane, which I think I achieved, as my wife looked at the model and said “looks quite like the wildling boss man from GoT.”

Finally, by completing this warband I also finished my Nightvault core set, and claimed another square in the hobby bingo (“Paint all minis in a board game and play it”)! I’ve done the tasks in reverse order, as I played the game before painting the models, but I’ll still count it. Hopefully I get to play again before the end of the year though!

Revelators Captain, Collection So Far

Oh yes, my marine Captain is finally finished! With that, I’ve finished what roughly equates to a Start Collecting! box plus some extras, giving me a game legal army (at least what was legal back in 4th..). I’m not planning on playing any time soon, of course, but that’s neither here or there..

This model was converted way back in November last year, and as those who were in the hobby in the 3rd ed. era might recognize, he’s based on the old metal Captain model that came in the Command Squad box. I planned the kitbash/conversion for a long time, but basically I noticed that you could get the plastic Captain to look pretty close to the old metal one just by finding an appropriate head. I think the one I used is from some Primaris kit. I also did a small alteration to the armor: I added the collar and the studs in it to get a closer resemblance to the original. There are some differences, of course, like the backpack which I like more than the basic design.

As this was a special model, I wanted to do something different with the painting. I’d seen Ben Komets’ tutorial on a 2 hour “tabletop” Ultramarine, and inspired by it I thought I’d try to do some panel modulation on the armor. Nothing like proper NMM, but maybe something shinier than the regular grunts. I also wanted to do something with the cloak, and decided to try freehanding the chapter badge in there. Needless to say, painting this guy took quite a bit more than 2 hours to finish, but I’m pretty pleased with myself anyway. Painting the armor was actually quite fun, and while I suspect it took longer than my previous marines, it didn’t feel like it. One cool thing is that I didn’t use any washes on the gray armor!

I got the freehand on the cloak done without too much issues. I did have to repaint the small triangular rays, as I initially their position was off, but that was pretty much it. White design on black had me worried in the beginning, but starting with Celestra Grey and working up from there seemed to work well. The face was fun to paint once again, and I tried some new things there as well. I tried doing the “eye liner” to define the eyes better, and used dark brown and off-white instead of black and white. I think the result is nice, although in the close-up the eyes look maybe a bit too wide. Good enough, I say!

Above you can see the Captain with his Veteran Sergeant (write-up pending), another plastic tribute to the 3rd ed. Command Squad box. And as I mentioned in a comment on a previous post, I took a photo of my fledgling Space Marine army. They’re starting to look respectable! In addition to the Captain, there’s a Tactical Squad, an Ironclad, a Devastator Squad, the Veteran Sergeant mentioned above and the Sergeant from Battle for Macragge starter set (again, write-up pending).

And last but not least, another square claimed in the bingo card! The Captain was a new version of one of my old character models (see the old version in the post about my Ultramarine army). With his power armor he also counts for Azazel’s Mechanismo May challenge.

Revelators Ironclad Dreadnought

It has been a bit too long since my last update, but I’ve finally got something new to show! I’ve finished an Ironclad Dreadnought for my Revelators. This is my main entry for Azazel’s Armoured April challenge.

I’ve loved the Space Marine Dreadnought ever since I first saw it when getting into the hobby back in 3rd edition of WH40k. While it doesn’t look very functional with those stubby legs, there is something special about the boxy hull and the small vision slit. In the 3rd edition days there was only the standard Dread, I think the Ironclad and the Venerable variants came slightly after my miniature hobby went on a long break. And of course, there’s now countless other Dreads as well, like the Primaris Redemptor and all those weird ones from Forgeworld. I’m not too hot on them myself, but luckily the old Castaferrums are still available. I’ve still got an unbuilt Venerable kit and I’m looking to get the classic Dread into my collection as well!

This guy took quite a bit longer to paint than I though it would, it’s a fairly simple model after all. But I did lose two weekends to travelling, and a couple of days to a flu (insert a Nurgle joke here). And layering the armor took ages! Well, it’s ready now and that’s all that matters. Overall this was a fun project. I tried a couple of new things and learned some important lessons.

This was my first vehicle in my current Space Marine collection, and I thought I’d have to do some battle damage so it wouldn’t look too boring. I’d have to keep it from going too extreme though, as my marines have no weathering. I think I overdid it a bit, again, but I’m happy with most of it. Another new trick I tried was masking: I did the soot on the flamers/exhaust pipes after finishing the (clean) armor, and not wanting to mess up that I tried some Faskolor tape that I have left over from my RC hobby. Worked out nicely!

What did I learn? One important thing: MicroSol softens acrylic paint too! So don’t be lazy like me, and apply gloss varnish before laying down the decals and chemicals! Another thing that I’ll be paying attention to in the future is how to handle sub-assemblies, as now I got some minor metal flakes on the arms by holding them with my fingers. Not super apparent, but annoying.

Modelling-wise, this Ironclad is pretty much as barebones as it gets. The only accessory I put on him was the smoke launcher. I did consider purity seals and other decorations, but I kind of wanted to keep him looking very utilitarian, a brawler without any bells or whistles. The one minor conversion I did was cutting out his “toes” and putting the feet on backwards. If I would’ve thought about it a little sooner, magnetizing some bits could’ve been nice, but I’ll just leave that for some other project. And in hindsight, I probably should have improved the base a bit with some fine sand and such. Well, at least I’ve got an example of the OG (at least to me) pre-molded scenic base in my collection!

I wasn’t too happy with the faceplates in this kit, but as I don’t have any better ones currently, I just attached one with a tiny blob of super glue so that it can be switched later. I think I’ve warmed up to it now though, so it’ll probably stay. In my quest to name all my Revelators units after cool video games, I dubbed the Dread ‘Ruiner’, though part of the name/callsign is sadly obscured by the purity seal.

Above you can see him duking it out with my other Dread, done for last Orktober. Is the washing machine a tiny bit shorter than the trash can? More on the Ork Dreadnought later. And, as with most of my models lately, I was able to claim a square in the hobby bingo: “paint a vehicle”.

Revelators Devastator Squad

Finally! New finished models! Time for some more Space Marines from my home-brew chapter Revelators. A theme for Azazel‘s March hobby challenge was squads, and I decided that it was time to paint up my Devastators armed with heavy bolters.

These guys had been sitting in my project queue for more than a year. The basic models were built, but needed some accessories and basing. Additionally, the sarge’s arms were in a really weird pose, raised up and almost covering his face (what was I thinking..). I cut the arms off and repositioned them, and it made a huge difference! I really love the pose now!

Modelling-wise, my favorite thing about these marines are the accessories that I added. Up until now I’ve pretty much avoided adding anything but grenades and purity seals to the models, as the pouches and holsters rarely seemed to fit, and/or seemed way too large. The trick seems to be that you have to cut one of the pouches off (so that you get one large pouch or double small pouch), and then the bits fit pretty nicely.

Of course, as you’ve probably noticed if you’re familiar with SM kits, I’ve also changed the standard armor bits with this squad. I thought that the heavy mk3 armor would fit the Devastators well, but as I don’t really like the mk3 helmets or backpacks, I decided to go with mk7 bits for those. My “lore reasoning” being that the more modern equipment would provide better optics and more efficient power.

Not much to say about the painting, it was a bit of a slog, the gold shoulder pad trims especially took a little back-and-forth (Auric Armour Gold is terrible..). My Raphael brush that I had been using for general purpose painting lost its tip (or got so bad that I didn’t tolerate it anymore) while I was painting the lettering on the banner, so I pulled a fresh one for the face. Oh my word, I think I never had this good tip on the last brush! Well, I probably ruined it right the first time I used it.. But this was the first time I could paint the eyes without having to clean up the eyelids afterwards! Makes me kind of want to try and do eyes with dark outlines, like the big boys do! Just got to keep this one in good shape..

And to top the post off, I’ll get to mark another square in the bingo card! These were proper neglegted models.

WIP: Imperial Skaven

Another week and no new finished models.. Oh well, maybe next week. But in the interest of showing something more recent than stuff from my teenage years (there’s still some to share!), take a look at my most recent models! I know I said in my first post that I’d only showcase finished models (as in “painted”), but let’s count “assembled” as a finished state, shall we?

A good while ago I came across a a tutorial on how to build a WH40k Imperial Skaven by Eric Sexton. I liked the idea very much and eventually got some Cadians and Plague Monks of eBay. Last week I actually started assembling them, and built three test models: a sergeant, a riflerat and a rat with a flamer. I’m very happy with how the little group came out, I like the poses and the bits that I used, everything fit without problems and the anatomy (neck, specifically) seems pretty natural.

I did have to repose the riflerat’s head, as it was originally too high and looked awkward. It was also facing to the left, which I changed in this second/final version. I did end up sculpting the neck twice, but it didn’t take too long, was good practice, and again, I’m much happier with the result. I’m now debating on whether to resculpt the sarge’s neck and give him a collar like the two others have.

I’ve got bits for two more Skaven, but I think I’m saving those for now. My eventual goal for these guys is to create a Kill Team-sized group, so around 10-15 models. I don’t play the game though and don’t know much about the rules, so they might not be a legal team. “Rule of Cool”. I’ll paint these guys up before building any more (and probably have to get some new bits..). Still haven’t settled on a paint scheme, though I’m currently leaning on something Cadian-esque. I’m open to suggestions!

Oh yeah, what’s up with the bases? With these models I thought that I’d go into a bold, new direction, and would paint the models separate from their bases. For ease of painting I superglued the rats to some spare bases. For the actual bases I wanted to try something other than my goto sandy bases, and went for an industrial look. They were really fun to build, and should be equally fun to paint!

Finally, I’m counting these guys for a square in the bingo card. They could’ve worked for a lot of different squares, but I went with “sculpt something on a model”, as doing the necks was more than just gap-filling (not much, but still).

Spiteclaw’s Swarm

“Skritch is the greatest, yes-yes!”

Time for the first proper post, showcasing finished minis! I got this Shadespire warband as a Christmas present from my lovely fiancé. I had looked forward to these rat-men for a long time, and promptly made it my main painting project of January. I’m really happy with how they came out!

I had done some planning on how to paint these guys even before I got the kit. I wanted them to wear purple, since I like the color, hadn’t painted it before and as far as I could find, there’s very few purple Skaven around. I also wanted each of the fighters to have a different fur color. Skritch would be an albino, since the idea of a purple cloak reminded me of Adventure Time’s Rat King. The assassin, or “Festering Skaven”, was obviously going to be painted Eshin Grey. For the rest I chose another gray and a couple of browns.

The bases were painted in my go-to “sandstone” scheme, but I wanted to add some variation to the color. The tiles made this easy, I just painted random ones with Seraphim Sepia and Reikland Fleshshade. For the arch on Skritch’s base I dabbed some thinned done shades in random places. I also painted some green around the gutter to create the impression of moss or some other growth. The water in the gutter was painted with a mix of greens and browns, and given a gloss coat, and I think it works well with the base.

Finishing the Swarm also allowed me to stamp the first box in a hobby bingo card courtesy of Rob Hawkins) that I thought I’d try to fill up this year. Okay, so I’m definitely not going to get it all filled up, but I’m hoping to score a bingo or two at least..