Miscellanea from dark futures: Warzone mutants, samurai, Chaos and more!

[jawd500]

Hi folks!

Well, I've been in absentia for ages now, so I really wanted to post something here quickly to keep the project alive. My hobby enthusiasm has waned a bit, and I don't seem to be able to find as much time to do it as I had previously. Still, I get a few bits done when I can. But without waffling on anymore with preamble, here's what I've been doing when I've been at the painting table.

Space marine - first ever oil test
Oils are something I've wanted to try for ages. I had this spare mini knocking around, and I've got a small space marine force still languishing on sprue. Getting good results quickly is my hobby holy grail, so I was pretty interested when I came across this video for doing some grimdark ultramarines:

  

I took the plunge and brought some Streaking Grime by Mig and gave it a whirl. And you know what? I think it worked out pretty well! With this I've found actually found a method of getting a good look within a couple of painting sessions, at least when it comes to loyalist Astartes. I'll be doing Ultramarines when I get round to painting his comrades. Yeah, it's generic, but it makes a nice change to all the reds and greens I've been doing, and the nostalgia factor helps too.

[jawd500]

Mutant Chronicles chap

Not really much to say about this guy. He'd been languishing on my desk for ages waiting for a varnish, so I finally just covered him with some acrylic stuff and called it quits. Varnishing is the bane of my existence when it comes to wargaming, so if anyone's got any advice on getting a really durable, matt coat for minis (which doesn't frost!) let me know!

[jawd500]

40k and Misc WIP bits

And finally a couple of desk shots. First is the squad of Word Bearers from the last time I posted. I've hit a bit of a rut with these guys, as I'm not sure whether I should oil wash them or not. If I don't, I'd just agrax wash them and build up the red again, which would take ages.  If I do, I'm worried they'll end up looking far too dark, as the red I based them with is definitely on the deep red-brown side of things. Plus, if I'm going to do more oil washes, I'm definitely going to need some sort of filter mask - even doing the single space marine, outside, left me feeling very light-headed!

The other bits are some more metal models that need varnishing and basing. These poor buggers have been stuck on the painting tray for ages. Again, still stuck on varnishing ideas!

[jawd500]

Hello hello folks!

Well it's been a heck of a while since I last posted, but at long last I've returned from the ether with some painted minis. I'll start with a bang and share the project I've been most happy with - sci fi Samurai for the Mutant Chronicles universe!

These guys were built using the plastic Fireforge Samurai as a base, with some Stargrave scavenger arms and green stuff press mold ammo pouches to bring them into the (retro)future. They were painted using a mixture of Contrast and regular paints, and based using materials from Geek Gaming Scenic's line. The diamond patterns on the banner poles were transfers from Warlord Games, who I believe do some Ancient Japan stuff (dunno - I got the transfer sheet from eBay).

[jawd500]

Next up, some more Mutant Chronicles stuff.

First, a metal Nepharite. These are basically the equivalent of 40k's Chaos Lords/ Daemon Princes in the Warzone Universe; big ugly brutes with lots of spikes on them generally up to no good. He'd actually been finished for quite a while and just needed basing, but I'd held off because I was trying to find the best way to varnish him. I used a rattle can on a test mini to get a nice protective coat, but it ended up obscuring the details and I just threw in the towel. So instead he had the usual 1-2 punch of Stormshield followed by AK Interactive's ultra matte. It doesn't protect at all from chipping, but what are you going to do? I've more or less concluded that varnishing is something of a mugs game, and best avoided if possible. I guess the answer is to just avoid metal minis as far as possible!

[jawd500]

Next is a Lutheran. This weird preacher guy belongs to one of the warring tribes of Dark Eden (aka old Earth) in the Warzone universe. The Lutherans are a tribe of mutant semi-Christians living mostly in what used to be Europe. I don't have any particular fondess for this faction, but I had the figure knocking about and wanted to test myself at speed painting. He took an hour and 15 to paint, and overall I was pretty happy with him. The two things I learned are that a) using brown over black as a basecoat is a solid shout and b) not to focus on boring details. All the brown (the wood, leather, etc) is just that basecoat brown with a wash over it (and the rest of the model). Still, my aim is to spend no more than 30 minutes on a model (and 20 ideally), so I've still got quite a ways to go when it comes to mastering speed-fu.

[jawd500]

Speaking of speed painting, here's an attempt with Contrast paints. He's another Warzone figure, and this time, he's plastic! Thank the lord! He's a Necromutant from the old Siege of the Citadel board game, painted with a mixture of Contrast and regular paints. He's also been slightly converted with the addition of an ammo pouch, and a plasticard base plate on the magazine. Not much to say about him, except that he took about an hour to do, which is still too long. I've got about a dozen of these identical lads to do, so I need to find a scheme that'll help me cut the time down furhter.

[jawd500]

And finally, we go back to some old school Chaos. First up are a pair of Mantic models, painted in the scheme of my Death Guard warband. One had his head swapped with a GW plastic horse skull because I thought it looked cool. The model is a Veer Myn (aka Space Skaven) leader, and the other a knock off conversion model Mantic put out called 'Mortis'. He was released to lead squads of zombie soldiers back in the day, and was basically a counts-as Typhus. I suppose having one of the models have a horse skull is rather fitting then, if we've got any Judge Dredd fans out there.

Like the Nepharite, this pair had been sitting at the 'base and varnish' level for ages. A word of warning to those using AK's matte varnish: while the varnish does indeed deliver a totally matte finish, you have to be a bit careful what you wish for. Not only can leave a faint chalky whiteness in places it pools, but it'll also make areas painted metal or black look very grey and flat. I'm trying out Instar's matte Varnish+ now, and while the end result isn't as absolutely matte as AK's stuff, it's much more controllable (AK UM basically has the consistency of water, while Instar's varnish is more paint-like) and doesn't chalk up as much. Since - I think - the degree of matte is ultimately a product of how much white particulate there is in a given varnish (as it disperses reflected light), this is probably one of those 'you pays your money and takes your choice' conundrums. Like I say, varnish is truly the bane of my life!

[jawd500]

And here at last are the pre-scale creep Chaos Marines that I was working on all those months ago. I'm not going to lie; these were not fun to paint by the end. I'd tried - and failed, as always - to speed paint them, and the end result is in honesty what I'd call tabletop standard, which is disappointing for the amount of time they took. Still, everything's a lesson, and I did manage to learn a few things. For one thing; do the trim first when you're doing Chaos Marines! My advice would be; prime black, overbrush the whole model dark brown, then drybrush the trim metal. After that you can fill in the panels using the colour of your choice. It sounds like it would take longer, but trust me, it's much less of a headache to do it that way.

So what's next? I've got a whole bunch of plastic Imperial Regulars (basically not-WW1 Tommies) from the Warzone 2nd ed box set I've converted up, along with some Bauhausers (not-WW1 Germans) for them to square off against. They've been a fun - if rather obsessive - project of mine for a while, inspired in part by Daeothar's wonderful conversions https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=49399.0

[hubbabubba]

Good work, especially like those future samurai, well played.

[KGatch113]

Good work, especially like those future samurai, well played.

yah, I wish I had seen them before ordering resin samurai future warriors....

[mikedemana]

Nice looking additions! I like that you are still experimenting around with painting. I seem to add new techniques or styles at a glacial pace. Maybe it's the "Can't teach an old dog new tricks..." adage! 

Mike Demana