Friday, June 8, 2012

Now that's one Mean Jelly Bean!

Tonight we have another member of the Brood faction, which is dominated by monsters and other critters.  He is standing on a 40mm base, to give you an idea of scale.  He is called Mean Jelly Bean, and it was based on the artwork (of the same name) of Brom.  I really enjoy his classical style of oil painting, and I tried to replicate it when painting this figure.

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This was a version that I did way back in 2003.  The colors are not terribly different, but the approach certainly was!  My palette has changed a lot since then, and continues to change almost weekly, it seems. :-)  I mix a lot more muted pale greens into my golors, along with purple grey colors like the old GW shadow grey.

By comparison, these colors were far simpler, just a variety of browns.

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I think I have a few other "then and now" figures like this, which could be interesting to check out...

Dread(ing) more Chaos?

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Sorry about that . :-)

Here is another Tainted World Eaters dreadnought.  Gee, everything seems to be tainted, doesn't it?  It must be me.  Too much fiber.

This time, he's got himself a wee little gun... so he might shoot his buddies.
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He's standing next to one of the banner bearers you have seen me post recently:
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And now a shot showing the sculpey bases.  Since he had a heavy bolter, I used some polystyrene tubing to creat some spent shell casings...

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Thursday, June 7, 2012

Sneek Peek! Introducing the Legions of the Tainted Pharaoh (Armies on Parade)

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I figured that it is just about time to begin posting images of my new Fantasy Army: The Legions of the Tainted Pharaoh.  The story for the army has been written, and that will be posted next week.

The concept behind the army is that it has been corrupted in a deal with a Tzeentch Demon who has passed himself off as a Khemri Deity.  In return for making the Pharaoh and all his men corporeal again, they must submit to his plans.

Therefore, most of the iconography has Tzeentchy themes, blending those with more typical Tomb Kings designs.  The colors are wild and 'exhuberant', showing the ever increasing taint of the God of Change.  I have been sculpting and converting Carrion which will convey this idea even more.

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The reason for this unusual concept was my desire not to have any of the normal colors that you see ... Gold, Red, Blue, etc.  Those color schemes have been done quite well, and there is no sense in me repeating them :-)

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The army board design is even more elaborate than the Temple of Blood, and construction begins in earnest this weekend!  I will post some of the sketches and in progress photos for you to see!

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The floor designs were a big part of the army for me.  I have wanted to do something like it for quite a while.  My other units of chariots and horsemen not only have the designs you see on this example, but the movement trays which hold them have hieroglyphs which proclaim the alliance with this "new" God.

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The 'metal' surfaces in the army will be variations on silver, with little or no gold.  The idea is that the corruption of Tzeetch has changed everything that was gold into a quicksilver or mercury, constantly blending into new shades.

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Here are some shots of the minis:
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And now for the base with no minis:
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Lashing out...some Brood

Here are a few more Dark Age miniatures from the Brood faction.  I always thought that I could turn these guys into 40k Demons.  I wasn't sure if I should go Slaneesh or Khorne.  Either way would be fun!  I have a few more around, so I may give that a try.

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Don't get Furious... another Angels Solarus dreadnought

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I believe that this is a Furioso dreadnought, done in the usual Angels Solarus scheme. The piece on the top of the dreadnought is magnetized, just like the arms.


It was less tricky to adapt the Solarus color scheme to most of the dreadnoughts, since the surfaces are more angular, and you don't have to worry about turrets either! :-)

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Painting Preds: The first "How to" page created

OK!

I have just added this page to the blog.  This post, and future related posts, should appear on the top title bar.

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/p/step-by-step-painting-predator.html

It shows numerous step by step shots of the process of painting one of those World Eaters predators:

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Starting all the way from this:

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Please note that white brush on primer was used to this vehicle.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Using Reaper minis as neat LOTR stand ins

I know that debates rage on about "counts as" and crossing miniature ranges, but sometimes that is really the best option.

I have been using these Reaper minis as part of my army for a while, because they are far easier to identify on the table as the King of the Dead and Elven Captain respectively.  When things get in a scrum, as all games seem to do eventually, it is important for both sides to know what they are charging or being charged by!

The Army of the Dead official mini looks far too similar to the plastic versions to stand out in a big way.  So, I found this guy, and liked the figure a lot!  As I paint more of the AOD, I will show you some comparison shots.

I have a reference book from the LOTR movies that shows the mock ups for the AOD prior to the computer generated effects.  The colors are very different from the uniform glowing green that you see almost every time.  It has been very fun to paint them in this way, and each guy is quite different.

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This is another Reaper figure that seemed perfect for LOTR.  He is Seregond, a Galadhrim captain.  He is painted in my Knights of the Blood Rose color scheme.

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Here;s a quick sample of the Kinghts of the Blood Rose color scheme.  I will probably paint over the metallics in the fall.  I just prefer doing my NMM.  Part of that had to do with the realization that the brightest metallic color is a dingy gray when placed next to white.

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Some of the real Galadrhim elves to show how the basing will match all the way through the army...
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