Last nights update

Finished up some painting last night:
I've had this one laying around for quite some time now, but I didn't really get around to finishing it until yesterday.

In my pursuit for inspiration I found the site Epicduckstudios.com. In the gallery I found an interresting paintjob of a Tau XV-Stealthsuit, switching into stealthmode. It led me to spend the whole of last night painting this one, it also gave me a chance to practice the lense-effect:

Sniperteam and bodyguards

Some time back I started on a sniperteam, a spotter guardsman and a specialweapons guardsman armed with a sniper rifle, for one of my optional Special weapons teams.

I also needed some advisors for my Company HQ, so I went about to build two bodyguards:

The next HQ advisor I'm thinking about building is an Officer of the Fleet or a Master of Ordnance - I'll be back on that topic once I've made up my mind.

The latest Renegade Infantry Squad.

I just finished off the latest Infantry squad for my "Strom" Renegade army.

The Sgt. armed with a Boltpistol and a Powerweapon.

Vox-caster, Grenade-launcher and a bunch of mutated guardsmen. This was a fun build, but a bit time-consuming since I used a large amount of different bits from different kits. Right now I'm planning for another Infantry Squad, but I need to do some digging in my bits-boxes for some usable bits before I continue.

Painting the Ogryn Autocannon Support Team

Started the painting on this one two days ago. Right now I still got some detailwork on the metal and the autocannon left to do before I finish of the base with some scorched grass.

The Ogryn-Autocannon Support team...

Started on this build last night. It's still very "work-in-progress".

It's a heavy weapons team with autocannon for my Renegade Imperial Guard army.

Gaps needs to be filled and some other details will be added with grey-stuff, but right now todays detailwork needs to set before I continue.

It's almost like you can hear the Ogryn shout: "ammo !!!"... and the loader answers: "I'm working on it!!!"

What I've been up to...

Last week I started on a new infantry squad for my renegade army.

These are just the part of the squad that's still in the painting-in-progress stage. I mixed in a lot of different pieces into this build.

These three are the only ones that I've finished so far. The two guardsmen in the hoods are clearly inspired by the Vraksian Renegades, and I'm quite pleased with how they turned out.

Adjustments and additions

A gallery page has been added to Plasticfishonline. It can be found in the menu at the top of the page. Step by step I will be adding stuff to it!

Base work

I don’t like building bases for my minis – I love it! I can tinker with bases until the sun comes up if I have the opportunity. My love for base-building comes from the fact that slotted-bases still exist! Some time back I had a large number of minis that needed basing, the only problem was that I only had an equally large number of empty bases of the slotted type. So I started the grievous work of covering up all the holes. From that experience I started to get a thing for the craft of base-building.

 

So what’s the key to building a good base?

I would say that the number one thing to think about is the overall theme of your army. If you are building an urban-type army, then you go for the urban-rubble type bases. Or if you want a more standard battlefield feel to it – then that’s your theme. I tend to mix “standard” battlefield themed bases with a bit more rubble-themed ones. I don’t like to have too many flat bases in my armies. And when I say flat, I mean bases where you just add glue and sand. It gives the base texture but it also makes the mini look like it’s standing on a completely flat surface. And in my opinion a war-torn battlefield is seldom completely flat!

So what do I put on a battlefield base?

It could be pieces of destroyed weapons, spent ammo cartridges, pieces of wire, mesh, stones, masonry. Well just use your imagination – but don’t overdo it! If you put a broken lasgun or bolter on every one of your bases it will soon give the army the look that it’s fighting in a blown-up armory. Just mix it up! Whatever type of base you choose to make – think like this: what things do you expect find on the ground of a battlefield? 

On the three bases on the previous picture I’ve used some pieces of plastic sprue to simulate some urban rubble and some skulls from the Citadel 40K basing set. A can recommend the basing set – to use as complement to your more personal stuff. I also use Citadel basing sand mixed with a bit of small basing slate. The spent cartridges that litter the bases are made from a thin roll of modeling putty, cut into appropriate sized pieces, glued to the base with superglue. The grass I use are the Citadel Scorched grass - I think it has the best look for a battlefield or an urban styled base.

But when it comes to covering up slotted bases and making some nice work out of it, I designed some nice urban styled bases.

  Here we have six 20mm bases and a 40mm base that I styled out with some GF9 “Grey stuff”. The trick is to make the lines uneven, so it looks like masonry. Then add some scratches and lines for details. 
Another trick is to add the “Grey stuff”, not over the entire base, but in patches, the green highlighted areas are the areas where I used the “Grey stuff”. 

The rest of the base is covered with a layer of PVA glue and then dipped in Citadel sand. If you do like this the base will get a more even coverage than if you cover the whole base with “Grey stuff”.

Dark Commissar Update!

I did a bit of work on my "Fallen Commissar".

To get the right "tired" look on his eyes I used a dash of Asurmen Blue-wash before I started on the white. The scar and the lips are shaded with Baal Red. To define the scar a bit more I highlighted the edges with a mix of Elf Flesh and a bit of standard white.
The original wash of Gryphonne Sepia and the following layers of paint gives his face a very thin and tired look - in my opinion.

Here is a shot of his face that I took right after I washed it down with a liberal amount of Gryphonne Sepia.
I tend to switch between the Gryphonne Wash and the Ogryn Flesh Wash. As a rule of thumb I use the Ogryn Wash when I'm painting something more "fleshy" like this one:


My next post will be about bases!