Trying out the washes!

Well, I got a flash of inspiration last night. So I started on my Nurgle Daemon Prince. A project that's been on hold since the beginning of this year. I was itching to try out the new GW washes on it. Right now, what you see, is the result of a black undercoat, the armor has been painted with Orkhide to get a dark green base and all the fleshy areas has been painted with Dheneb Stone. I wanted a pale, but not white tone to work with. Then I applied a first set of washes. Some Baal Red to the fleshy parts to bring a red/pink-tone into it. After that things just went crazy and another layer of washes was applied. Ogryn Flesh to the fleshy parts and some Badab Black to the armor parts.

Next step will be to add a first set of highlights with watered-down Elf Flesh to the most distinct of the fleshy areas. Detailwork will be added as I go along.

But right now I think the new washes has spared me a lot of time on this on. Next update will show how this one looks after just 4 hours of work. Stand by for an update!

The new GW washes!

I had the heavenly experience to try out the new GW washes at the local GW-store today!
And after reading the latest issue of White Dwarf, I have to say that I was curious to say the least. And to continue on the same line: all the things they say about this new product is true! And GW is not paying me to say this about their product. The experience is a lot different from using the, now, old GW inks. The coolest thing about them is:

1) The washes dont "pool up" on the surface, like the inks could do if you used to little water.
2) You can, without problem layer the washes, a lot of times, without risk damaging the underlaying washlayer or the underlaying paint.
3) When it dries, the wash dries with a matt finish.
4) It seems that the wash can be applied with a lot less "drying time" in between layers of wash and layers of paint.
5) The different washes can easily be mixed together and thinned with water.

But there are some things that you must remember about them:
1) Use much more wash on your brush than you think from the beginning.
2) It tends to "pool up" on flat surfaces (but this can create a cool effect in some cases).
3) Apply the wash and let gravity do the job! Don't try and brush it, just apply it.
Now on to the sad part. Due to "delivery mixups" I won't be able to get my hands on these goodies on the release day, which is tomorrow! And that's big time bad! Now I have to wait until I can get my hands on them.

So from now on, these are on the top of my wish-list!

New releases, stuff and books.

There's a lot of stuff going on right now! The release of the new Daemons and all the buzz about the new, 5:th edition of Warhammer 40k is about to go to my head. I'm getting tired about all the rumors about all the changes that are to come! (or not to come). Frankly speaking: I don't care! But the reason for that could be that I'm more interrested in building/converting/painting than in gaming! I read the latest edition of White Dwarf the other day, and the info on the new rules edition was scarse to say the least. But the stuff about the "line of sight" isn't really that new. At my place this one has always been the "house-rule", in all 40k and Necromunda games.
But I do have to say that if GW wants to take the game down a more "storyfriendly"-road, then I'm the last person to complain! I have always opted for more story and less rules. I'm no "rules-lawyer" and I hate everything that it stands for. What the new, 5:th edition of Warhammer 40K rules will contain is a question for the future to resolve. I'm not going to dig into all the rumors out there!
On a more interresting point Fantasy Flight Games have announced the releases of the "Purge the unclean" and "Inquisitors Handbook" -books. Now that's good news I tell you! But it there will be a hefty pricetag on them both. But the "Inquisitors Handbook" feels like a "must-buy" in my mind. In my opinion there are a lot of gaps in the core-rulebook that needs to be filled. I'm especially thinking about more info on guns, armor, gear and vehicles. And there are a lot of info-gaps when it comes to some of the Xenos. I'd like more gamestats on Orks, Eldar, Tyranids and why not stats on Space Marines when they are at it.
Well, I don't think that I will ever be perfectly satisfied. But you can always hope that they hit the jackpot!

Read more books, it's good for you!

There are lots of books out there, set inside the frame of different games. Most notoriuos, in my mind is the campaign-world of Forgotten Realms and other Wizard Of The Coast creations. Personaly I have avoided the whole "Drizzt-craze", but the last years I have found a few good books set in the Warhammer 40K-universe. My love for the Necromunda-game got my eyes on the book "Status: Deadzone" back in 2001. It's a collection of different stories "from the Underhive" and I can really recommend it, if you're a fan of Necromunda. This one really brings the dirty and dangerous life in the Underhive to life!
When I'm still on the subject of the Hiveworld of Necromunda I feel that I have to continue down that line for a while. A lot of people praise the character "Kal Jericho" and the tales about his adventure. But so far I'm not 100% impressed.
Right now I've just finished reading the "Blood-royal"-story. And for me, Will McDermott and Gordon Rennies story comes across a bit to blurred.

Everything moves in a rapid speed. And there are a lot of characters to keep track of. But I realized, a few pages into the story that you might get more out of the story if you read more of the stories containing Kal Jericho and his "friends". Well, I feel that my misstake was to jump directly into the fire. I should have opted to read the story: "Cardinal Crimson" before I started on "Blood Royal". But in my personal opinion the stories about Kal is easily outplayed by other stories from the underhive of Necromunda, like "Salvation", by C S Goto. A story that really puts the administration of the hive-world into a whole new perspective. It's Kafkas nightmare realized!

And it's all in those dark, fun, details that the Hive-world of Necromunda comes alive! I could spend the rest of the day talking about the books, but I won't. Get your hands on them and read them instead! Personaly I'm off to "Lasgun wedding", by Will McDermott. Maybe it will change my mind about Kal Jericho and his "friends"! (I sure hope so).

Rapid Insertion.

I've been a bit pressed lately to finish this "Rapid Insertion"-mini for the SLAGFEST-08 competition on the WIP website. I had a real hard time comming up with an idea for this competition. "Put what you want on a 40mm base"... Well that's a bit to open for me. I need guidelines! ;-) But after some tinkering I came up with this rope-thing. And after that I just kind of winged it. So here we have a trooper from the "XIII"-something being dropped into an urban warzone somewhere in the galaxy. There are several details about this one that I'm not satisfied with, but that just have to do for now.

The number "XIII" on the shoulderpad is not ment to connect him with the 13:th penal legion but more to illustrate that in two earlier competitions my entries was placed on number 13 on the list of voting options. This time I almost hoped for the one in charge to put me back on place 13, instead my entry went up on the list at number 4.

This one was originaly the testsubject for some of the skincolur and camopainting that I used on the "Rapid Insertion"-piece. It is also something that the movie "Aliens" inspired me to do. You could also call it a demonstration of "the poor mans combiflamer". And it's not a beret on his head(!), it's a red cap. Over all I'm more pleased with the outcome of this one, he might even qualify to join the IG Killteam. On the other hand he's ment to be a penal-legion trooper, so I might use him as the first penal-trooper in a new project, Last Chancers!
I've been reading the Last Chancers collection, by Gav Thorpe (pure insane, high octane military madness, you got to read it!), and it's almost impossible not to get a lot of cool ideas for new projects. So I've been a bit distracted from my other projects for a while now. But I'm putting the Last Chancers-killteam of until I can get my hands on a Colonel Schaffer blister. And when I'm on that subject: why on earth does the blister come armed with a plasmapistol ?! He's always using his powersword and boltpistol in the books. Well that's surely one thing that I have to fix when I get my hands on it, replacing the plasmapistol with a boltpistol is the first thing I'm going to do! But that's all in the future right now.
Hmmm... there are lots of things in the future, got to revise that "to do"-list...

Ordo Xenos, second update.

Things are not progressing as fast as I want, when it comes to this project. And reading "The Last Chancers" is not helping right now. The books really puts me in the mood for building some penal-legion-scum. But I have put that idea on hold until I get my hans on a Colonel Schaefer blister (I have always wondered why that mini is armed with a plasmipistol when he's always whipping out his boltpistol in the stories). The Ordo Xenos project so far includes an addition of Deathwatch marines, as you can see. And the "domesticated" Tyranid. An old idea that I finaly got to put my hands on.