Happy Birthday, Hometown!

I really love these Archangel figures.  I am making a squad of them for my Adepticon army.  Even combining them with some GW Sisters. :-)

This mini was one of the practice figures that I made for the Shades of Gray painting video.

They are fun to paint in any color scheme, but this limited palette gray scheme was very sci-fi.

She is also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321341682642?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

On this day in 1837, the City in a Garden was founded.  Happy birthday to my birthplace and home, Chicago!!!!!

And here is our flag!!

Something rotten in Slime Bay

Yes indeed... all sixteen of the rotters!  You have seen them one by one, but now they are all together in one stinking pile of ooze!

As you can see, there were at least two of every race.  It created an additional layer of challenge to get some differences between each one.

While these were still done in 'assembly line'style, I would only take them to a certain level of completion, and then isolate one or two to finish off.

The idea was to keep things from getting too monotonous.  Had I simply plowed ahead doing them all at once, the same colors would have crept in over and over.  In fact, I even kept most of the completed figures completely out of sight!

Certain elements were done in as common a style as possible, mostly pertaining to the sores and such.  I thought that should be the one thing that tied each figure together.

For as big a project as the Empire Swordsmen had been, this one was really a tough task.  So many minis, but a lot of extra tidbits along the way.

I hope that you did not grow tired of seeing these slimy guys over the last few months!

A monster post for a monstrous unit!

OK folks, normally I break up a mass of images such as this into a few posts, but I have a ton of things going on all at once right now, and I figured I would simply carpet bomb your retinas with all the pics at once!

Here is the culmination of all the work on the Averland Swordmasters.

I recall the nickname of "Goldswords" being applied to these guys early on, so painting the yellow and black was a fun tease for me :-)

I really loved how they all meshed together, despite all of the challenges.

As I mentioned several times over the course of the project, there was even more sky earth non metallic than any other unit I have painted until this point.  Simplicity was the key.

I am pretty sure that I used no more than six unique colors to paint any of these guys.  Even the colors used on the bases and movement tray found their way onto the figures.

This also kept the flesh tones nice and muted, mixing in many of the colors used on the metals.

The really was a tremendous project.  I always learn new things with every figure that I paint, and it was certainly no different here.

I hope that you all enjoyed seeing the individual minis as they were painted one by one.  They were done assembly line style.  Lots of shaded basecoat in the beginning, and lots of glazing.

It is funny to think how much of these guys were painted with big filbert brushes and #8 round craft brushes that cost about 50 cents each!

I can't get enough of these unit shots!  Man.

It was neat to see them in smaller batches, but this really hits me with the realization of what went into completing this.

Now for a few closer shots.

I am taking some pictures of the command figures together as well for you!

And so it begins!

You have already seen the prepped versions of these guys, which are the fantastic new Highland Moss Guard from Victoria Miniatures.  This is the first color test figure.

There is always something very fun about the color test figure, since I am usually shifting colors here and there, adjusting things along the way.  While there is a pre-determined plan, there are those times where seeing it for real means that you need to lighten up an area, or reduce the saturation, etc.

Many of you are familiar with the story of the army.  The Highland Guard will be the allies of my Sisters of Battle with the Celtic motifs.  These tartan clad warriors are just perfect for that mission!

As you saw in the unboxing posts, there are lots of different options for head, weapons, poses, and so on.

Speaking of tartans, I have also decided that each squad would have their own unique colors.  This is not unlike my lizardman army, where each unit of skinks were a different set of colors.

It will be lots of fun!!

The gas masks also play into the story, since the air around the main chapel is a wee bit toxic.

Stay tuned, folks, because it's gonna be quite a ride to Adepticon!  Lots of these lads (and some lasses too) are headed your way!!!!

Go check them out on her site here:

http://victoriaminiatures.highwire.com/products/highland-guard?pagesize=12

Another pair

Here's another set of images of some recent figures to show how color schemes can influence each other.

After painting that original Dragon Knight on the right, I just had to see how something similar would work on the Yvonne mini.

I used all the same colors on her, and it was a lot of fun to transfer them over.

The need to balance the warmer and cooler reds with touches of green here and there (on the skin, swords, etc .) made it very interesting.

And a little glimpse at the freehand...

Hope you like these two :-)

The brain trust of Slime Bay

OK!  It is now time for some group shots.  There are so many figures for this time, most of the group shots will have to be broken down into sections.

To begin, we start out with three re-roll markers.  Man, those little Nurglings like to party!

Any opposing player that strays to close to the Slime Bay sideline could be looking for serious trouble.

Snack time in the swamp!

Rah rah!  Cheerleaders and pennants!

Glory of the Swamp!

I had a lot of fun painting these three minis in particular, although the two big guys were a lot of work!!

More Nurglings... this time giving the Coach a ride...

I didn't realize just how many of the little guys I had painted until I saw all these together!

Next I have to take pictures of the 16 Rotters... that should be fun!

Here are a few final looks at the Coaching Staff.

Seeing them all together like this is very satisfying.  A lot of work went into this team, to say the very least!!!