Ground control: A base for the Razorwing

As I work out the fluff for the Dark Eldar, I realized that I also needed to do the same for their opponents, the Knights of the Broken Blade.

As you have probably seen in previous posts, the Dark Eldar are after a Hippodrome on this Imperial world, which is being defended by that particular chapter of marines.  I had to figure out what it was that they were racing in that Hippodrome.  When I saw the Raging Heroes cyberwolves, then I knew... dire wolves!

The locals gather by the hundreds of thousands to watch these spectacles.  The marines take the largest and most powerful of these wolves and 'enhance' them with cybernetic parts.

The final battle takes place in the Hippodrome, similar to the battle for Manila during WWII... part of which took place in a baseball stadium.

So, to begin, I knew that I wanted the locals to have a more Romanesque feel, which meant one thing... mosaics!

I started the process by laying down some basic colors and patterns.

I didn't want to get too crazy with details at this stage, since the mosaic tile effect would not be very visible if there was a lot of blending.

I kept the basic colors as greyed down and neutral as possible, so that the final brighter colors would stand out more as individual tiles, without having to outline every single one!

I took some Reaper dark liner paints, and my liner brush, and set about making those tile patterns.  They tend to be pretty straight, but they will also follow curves, a bit like directional brush strokes.

Cracks were also added at this point.

You can see that some lighter (and brighter) colors were added on the shield design and the surrounding part of the patterns.  A few 'missing' tiles were designated by some very dark paint.

More of the interior design was brought to life by adding those brighter colors.  You can see the increasing contrasts in the wolf and the two figures beneath it.  I had looked for Roman Wolf Mosaics online, and had found an image that had an 'ancient' feel.  This was to contrast with the sleeker more modern Dark Eldar freehand...

With a few more bright tiles added, you get the impression that some of the tiles are catching more light than others, or are at a slightly different angle, etc.  It's a little like an impressionist painting, as you are working with dots of paint, for the most part!

I also added some clumps of grass and flock, for a bit of color and texture contrast.

Next up is the Hero on the Cyberwolf, kindly donated by Raging Heroes!

I am hoping to do another one of these designs on a Venom base, and a few more on the jetbike bases... stay tuned!!

Up and away! A Venom is ready to go!

You have seen the pieces and parts of this figure already... now it's time to see it all together!

Like the Periodic Table, lots of elements went into creating the entirety of this Venom.

Lots of freehand, OSL, basing, blood, and much more!

I have finally gotten into a comfort zone painting these guys... a point where constant experimentation becomes a more routine process.

It is always a relief to get to that stage!  Everything gets a bit easier then.

Identifying exactly what sort of icons and symbols I want is an agonizing process of rapid decision making, but once that is done, you can have lots of fun with it!

I have some top views of this which show the upper skin of the vehicle even more.

Stay tuned!!!

An elephant never forgets

We step into the way back machine once again with another set of miniatures from MSB Toys.  You already saw the Rhino man.  I painted these back in 2005, I think.  

As with the rhino, the textures on the skin were pretty rough, and difficult to paint.

I do know that seeing some of these 'critter-folk' got us thinking about that line of miniatures centered around a skirmish battle game.  There were going to be a number of creature races... bears, birds, cats, etc.  Seeing the rhino and elephant men definitely put the thought in my head :-)

It would certainly be really fun to sculpt some of these myself, although I would definitely go bigger scale.  Say something that would fit on a 75x50 mm base, along the lines of the new dragon ogres or bull centaurs.

I am not sure which armor/armament direction I would go.  I think the motif of the above elephant would be the most appropriate.  Perhaps even a truly massive elephant as the large creature.  Even bigger than the Mumakil from LOTR.

Who knows... maybe someday!!!

Pieces and parts... another Venom

OK!  Working on another Venom.  Just as I did with the Razorwing, I tried to paint this guy with as much stuff un assembled as possible.

It is certainly much easier to paint the cockpit and pilot this way!  Obviously the banner was not attached either.

What surprised me was how much easier it was to paint the crackling lava freehand with just the upper skin of the vehicle.  I will post those images later tonight.

Here are some views of the cockpit and the magnetized splinter cannon.

The gunner...

The base, made from backed sculpey...

And the whole thing together.  From this point on, it was mostly freehand and then assembly!

FANtastic... finding one more Ilyad figure

I know I have said this at least 3 times before... that I have uncovered the last Ilyad figure in my archive.  Well, somehow I managed to discover one more!

This is one more fun figure from one of my favorite miniature lines.  As always, I lament their demise.

I also liked this color scheme.  Green and purple combos show up quite a bit on my minis. :-)

The clean details in both sculpting and casting really help a painter out!  Seeing this gal reminds me of the Raging Heroes figures I have been painting...

Deepest Africa... more Fenryll minis

We continue with the Fenryll miniatures I dug up from the archives the other day.  The colors on these are pretty good examples of what I want to do with the "How to" painting video on this flesh tone.

  I have been prepping a few Reaper minis for this particular video.

When doing a darker color such as this, you have lots of opportunities to work warm and cool shades withing the flesh tone.  Basically, you are concentrating warmer colors where you would have more blood flow close to the surface.

Also, the surrounding colors will have a significant impact on the choices for your flesh tones.  In this image, you can see that I was trying to have the warmer browns contrast with the greenish troll head.

I've got a few more of these to go yet!  Putting the white war paint on them also helps to provide a measuring stick to the color temperatures of the flesh tones, as it is either neutral or slightly cooler.

Never operate without a safety net

Here is one of the items that is supposed to keep the little gangs of girls alive a little longer... hopefully. Pretty much every rule change in 6th edition is designed to make Dark Eldar die easier, but maybe this would help.

In confined spaces, the shardnet can at least prevent a few more attacks.  That is, if it can stay alive with all the overwatch shots, etc.  Between that and all the other grenades I gave them, I am hoping they can still do something in a game.

I have learned that they are mostly useless against space marines, but that is just about every unit.  If Feel no pain had stayed the same, the DE would have a shot, but not any more.  Going up against stuff with low saves helps them a lot, but I doubt there will be many low save armies at Adepticon.

Anyway, work continues!