I think I'm finally getting somewhere...

A combination of holidays and isomnia the last few days has meant I actually got some stuff done, I've been cranking out the progress on my Dark Elves at a fair rate.

Sorry for the bad photos - I lent my good camera to the missus for some project she's got in the works, so I'm not going to see it for a few weeks. In the meantime, I'm making do with my crappier one. I'm not letting a bad camera stand in the way of an update


First up is the standard bearer for my plastic Executioners.



The unit is based off the Zealots from the Malus Darkblade books, so I hit a little snag when it came to the standard, as the Zealots had never gathered together on the battlefield, so what should i do for the banner?

My solution: make the standard look like it's made from skin tied to a pole. Brutal!


Next up is my attempt to add a little 'pop' to my manticore and make it stand out on the battlefield (as if a flying mass of claws, teeth and rage doesn't stand out enough!)



I think it was Shadow Grey I added to the mane, before washing it with Baal Red.Don't know what you guys think, but I don't like it so much. I just can't seem to get his mane right


And finally, I'm showing you some of the progress I've made on Lord Malakai and Arkeus. It's not much, but it's slowly getting there.

The wind membrane was done by painting a Bleached Bone basecoat then layering on various shades of black and brown washes.



You can also just about see the start I made on the rider. I'm painting him up and attaching him to his mount one stage at a time, starting with the body, then weapons, then the rest of his cloak (what you see there is just the groundwork). I'm giving myself a time frame of about another month on this, but uni work's going to start piling up soon so who knows.

All in all, i'm doing really well. All i've got left now that's grey plastic is this:



These should be undercoated black in the next few days, which will mean that evey single one of my Druchii are at least partially painted.

Progress is good!

Inspiration - Magnus the Red

I've been reading A Thousand Sons by Graham Mc Neill and loved it. Both times i've read it it, the urge to create a pre-heresy Thousand Sons army has been almost overwhelming. But not as overwhelming as the urge to create this guy:



Magnus the Red, the Crimson King, Lord of Prospero, Primarch of the Thousand Sons Legion. I get such a vivid picture of him from the novel, even more so than the other Primarchs and I'd love to scratch build a model for him, but while my green stuff skills are ok, they're nowhere near good enough to attempt this.



Another project for the 'maybe one day' pile, along with my Warlord Titan and Dark Mechanicus army...

Bored with 40k

These last few months, I really havn't got much gaming done. But those few times when i've managaed to get a game in, i've leant instinctively towards fantasy. I'm not sure why.

I've been playing 40k for over 8 years now, having gotten into it, like many of us did when the craze for it swept through the geeky cliques of my high school. Out of the people who got into it then, I think only me and my best friend stayed into into it beyond those initial few months.

Now 8 years is a long time to spend playing any game and I consider myself a firm veteran. I remember when Kroot Mercenaries was a legal force. I remember when there were so many varient builds that you didn't know what you were up against, even if you friend told you what army he was bringing (the incident with the shooty-death Blood Angels stands out particularly painfully in my mind).
It's been a rollercoaster ride, but I just feel I need to shelve 40k for a while, get some fresh perspective. The game just doesn't excite me any more and it shows on this blog. Fantasy has been creeping in more and more and my 40k posts seem to be just one complaint after another.

So where now?

Well I want to get my Dark Elves fully painted and finished. I've signed up for a few online painting challenges in order to motivate me to keep going with them. Only time will tell if it works, but i'm feeling hopeful with it

I also really want to get into 8th Edition in a big way. I've only played a single 8th ed test game, but I loved it, so when uni allows me a chance to get back into gaming, that's the route i'm going to take.

So as one hobby door closes, another opens for me.

Wish me luck.

Oh my good God!

GW never ceases to amaze me. Not with their models, but their ridiculously high prices.

They've just put the advanced orders up for the High Elf second wave. £25 for either a box of 10 Phoenix Guard. That's £2.50 each for a plastic model! And then they have the cheek in the 'Today' article about them to suggest field White Lions as a 30 stong horde. That's £75 for a single unit. No characters, just 30 plastic (plastic!) models! I remember a few years ago I could get 20 cadians for £18.

Is it just me or is GW trying to price people out of the hobby? First £45 for the fantasy BRB, now £25 for 10 frickin' models?! It's like they don't want any customers.

Now I was considering getting a box or two of both the Phoenix Guard and the White Lions but quite frankly this is going to be way too big a dent in my hobby fund to justify.

Sorry for the rant, but this has gotten me properly worked up, which hasn't happened for a long time.

A whole load of Dark Elves

It's been a while since I've shown some progress on my Dark Elves, so I thought I'd show off what I've done.

Before I start, I just want to apologise for the awful pictures. My desk lamp needs a new bulb, so until then, there's huge shadows every time I take pictures. It will be fixed soon, I promise.

Anyway, on to the pictures...

First up is Arkeus, the Black Dragon of Lord Malakai, Vaulkhar of Karond Kar.

I built this guy last year but the wings kept snapping off when I it took it out to play a game with it, so I took the wings that came with the high elf dragon kit and replaced them with a pair of Manticore wings. Much more menacing with the claws, as well as looking a lot sleeker and much more compact, so it actually fits into a carry case now.






Next on the agenda is Malakai himself. I'm not sure what to arm him with. the dude I used to have on there carried a lance, but that kept getting bent out of shape, so I'm thinking maybe giving him a halberd, which would not only look cool, but also give him some close combat oomph if he's left high and dry by the random charging distances in 8th edition. I'd give him a magic weapon, but I want him to fit into 2000 pts, so I need to keep him under 500 pts, which means after buying the Dreadlord and Dragon, I'm left with 40 points left to equip him with. At the moment I'm thinking of fielding him as the following

Lord(140)
Dragon (320)
Halberd (6)
Armour of Darkness (25)
Repeater Handbow(6)

Total - 497

Yes, he's a little light on equipment and doesn't have a ward save, but he's being fielded in games where there won't be too many big things due to points restrictions and I can avoid the ones that do appear. He's there to sweep up the flank and hit big infantry blocks in the side with his breath weapon (which he can now use in combat mwahahaha!) I plan to team him up with a unit of Cold One Knights and see how that works.


Next up is the progress on my Corsairs. I'm testing a Baal Red wash for the armour, tying them in with the Khainite elements of the army. I don't like painting these guys, but they can bulk out my force until I have the money to buy my Witch Elves.




Here's the start of my attempt at a freehand standard for my corsairs. Just in case you can't tell, it's going to be a hand with a glowing sword coming out of a sea of blood. It's still early days and I have no idea how well this will turn out



My Cold One Dread Knight. I'm still pondering on whether or not to paint his mount red, to make it a bit different, as most people have green Cold Ones. Plus I feel that the red would fit the Khainite theme too





And my Sorceress. I've spent the longest time trying to to get a decent blood-like effect on the magic 'swirl' (being in the service of Khaine). There's still a lot of work to go into this and I need to find a replacement staff for her too. She's probably going to go on the back burner though until my Corsairs and Dragon is done




So what do people think? Any and all constructive criticism is welcome

Khorneguys Commissions

I'm announcing the launch of my commission service.

As many of you are probably aware, I've been extremely short of cash recently to the point where i can't do my hobby. Doing an english degree means i'm likely to be even more permanantly skint this year as well, so i've decided this is a great way to get my hobby 'fix' and still earn money at the same time.

So basically if you want to commission me, shoot me an email at rickyjoy9@yahoo.co.uk and we'll talk.

My prices are on a job-by-job basis, depending on a variety of factors, like complexity of work, etc, but i'm sure you'll find them very competitive.