2016-04-15

A Week in Miniatures: April 8-15 2016

Originally I was going to write a daily post about the miniatures I work on, but that seems a little too much in my opinion.  So I'm going to summarize what I did every Friday instead!


I ended up creating a database to track the status and quantities of models I'm working on.  Since my current project this month is Warhammer 40,000 models, specifically working on a Horus Heresy-era Ultramarines force, I can tell you that I have 243 models in my hands for this particular army.  In various states of completion, anyway.  But I'm getting ahead of myself since I've decided to only paint 500 points worth of 30k Ultramarines, which is basically a Dreadnought, 20 Tactical Marines, and the Heresy-era equivalent of a Captain.

Last Friday I dug out an old Warhound Titan that was produced back in the late 80's to early 90's by Armorcast.  I reassembled her and lent her to my flatmate for Saturday's Apocalypse game at the local Games Workshop store.  He said that the Warhound put in some work until it was obliterated by twenty Chaos Space Marine Terminators armed with Melta weapons.  To be fair, most things would be obliterated by twenty or so melta weapon shots at point blank range.  The old Warhound has since been given a proper cleaning of her mold-lines and imperfections, primered, and painting begun.  I plan to use the Legio Astorum color scheme since that's what I've planned for my other Warhound.  I've got to work out some kind of technique to paint nebula and interstellar clouds on the large flat surfaces; my plan is to watch Bob Ross paint happy clouds a lot and use a similar technique.

I also finished assembling the remaining two Scimitar jetbikes I had.  Putting the riders' torso and arms on is a giant pain to do.  But they're cleaned up, mold lines smoothed out, and finally ready for priming when I get to it.

At some point in the week I determined I actually had enough assembled models to field a 500 point 30k Ultramarines army I could be reasonably happy with.  Frankly I feel undergunned if my army lists don't include at least one anti-vehicle weapon.  At 500 points, with the restrictions that the Age of Darkness force organization chart creates for 30k armies, there are precious few options for heavy weaponry that will fit after you've filled your mandatory slots.  However, a Legion Dreadnought with a twin-linked Lascannon fits in just fine.  Since the Dreadnought was the only thing not assembled, I cleaned it up and put it onto a base.  All twenty-two models necessary for my 500 point force were primered.  I've since started painting them.

I should talk a little about the colors I'm using.  I'm pretty much just using Citadel Kantor Blue as the base/shade for my Ultrmarines.  And then a layer of Citadel Macragge Blue as the mid-tone.  Infantry will get a highlight of Citadel Altdorf Guard Blue, whereas vehicles are large enough that they don't really require highlighting.  I don't edge highlight, so the highlight colors that GW recommends are far too bright to work.

The colors for the bases are Citadel XV-88, a drybrush of Citadel Zandri Dust, and a drybrush of Citadel Flayed One Flesh.  I like the results, though I suspect the base edge will be done in one of the blues rather than the XV-88 I currently have on the Dreadnought's base edge.  It needs some contrast to look right.

The current plan is to paint on the 500 point force and the Armorcast Warhound through May.  When June rolls around I'm likely to spend three months working on the big Forge World Warhound Titan.  The complexity of the model requires that I paint it as I assemble it.

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