Painting Table Update: Plans Afoot!

So, this time last year I was still dabbling with by Assault on Black Reach chaps and I feel I've moved on a lot, painting wise, in the last year. I've settled on a couple of core armies and themes, my standards have improved, and I've even got a little bit adventurous here and there. I've also read a colossal amount of helpful guides on the internet and even set this blog up to both seek help and to offer what little advice I can back out again.

So, with the end of the year upon us, whats is next?

Well currently I'm finishing up on the pair of Sorylian Cruisers (for Firestorm Armada) that I got a while back, and they're nearly done. Hopefully I'll get some time this weekend.

After that my Sternguard's Taxi - a Razorback - is assembled but needs starting on next. I also got a Leman Russ for xmas (yay!) so I need to decide on what I'm building it as, build it, and then paint that up in a variant of the Urban Camo I've used for my existing Guardsmen.

After that I'm a bit more divided. I've got some cash to spend (from selling some old Lego sets on Ebay) and my original plan was to spend it on some more Tau. But consistent rumours seem to place new (and probably better) Tau boxes out in the middle of the year, and I'd be inclined to wait for them. And I'm also still very taken with painting Blood Ravens, with a vague, yet growing ambition to paint up a force representative of all units that appear in Dawn of War.

So at the very least I'm going to pick up a Librarian and possibly some Terminators to escort him around. After that, I guess we'll see.

Blood Raven Sternguard - COMPLETED

So the rest of my Sternguard are complete, and the full squad is assembled. To mark the occasion I've build myself an improvised lightbox and taken some pictures using that - they're not all perfect and there is the odd focus problem i didn't have before, but the general presentation is a lot better! So, here they are:

More individual pictures after the jump.

WIP Sternguard - now with better photos!

So, a day off work means more painting, more progress and, shockingly, some better pictures. Think how much progress I'd make without that pesky work to do!.

I now have three of the squad (mostly) finished - by which i mean they're at the stage where i periodically pick them up, touch up a tiny area of paint and put them down again, and of course they need properly basing, which i'll do at the end. As a group, they look like this:

The armour is what I've used before, mechandrite red base with a thinned blood red layer over the top, and orange dry brushing for the highlights. I've seen the tip to use Thraka Green to wash direct into the recesses and i like how that's turned out. Shoulders are Bleached Bone with a Devlan Mud lining to deepen the edges, with black trim where appropriate, and the purity seals are the usual bleached bone/sepia combination with either brown or black squiggles for effect. More close ups under the cut!

Blood Ravens Sternguard WIP: Wombles!

So, the next project (before I go back to my Sorylian Cruisers) is the Finecast Sternguard I picked up for my expanding Marine force. Even after a bit of cleaning up, I keep discovering small, messed up areas on them - in fairness you get this on metal figures too, and I suspect the finer detail versus plastics mean there is more to go wrong, but it's faintly annoying and occasionally beyond my meager fixing skills. Anyway, the squad is progressing, with heads and armour mostly done.

Whatever else I say, I love the design and poses of these guys. 

This feels like the end of the "production line" stage, so now we are at the detail it's a matter for picking one up and just going around and around him till it'm satisfied. The only one I've put a lot of work into is one of the "womble-nose" chaps, so here he is:

Underground, Overground, DEATH TO LITTER DROPPING HERETICS! 

He's mostly finished - with the odd bit of touching up around the place to do, and the gun detailing which you can't see (because I didn't photograph that angle). You don't get a decent shot of his shoulder pads either, which are of course creamey coloured as he's a Blood Raven. That said the more I look at these figures the more I've come to realise that there is very little space for the Blood Raven iconography to go on them, due to the very "busy" shoulders that they have. Maybe I could use a knee pad for that, or try my shakey hands at a bit more freehand work...

Shocking non-40k Post!

Yes its true, I've again lapsed from the True Path of the Emperor and painted a non-40k piece. I expect the Brutal Door-Smashing of the Inquisition any moment.

I can across Firestorm Armada whilst looking for ships to supplement the Full Thrust rules i have, and used to play quite a bit. And their ships are pretty cool - so whilst I'm unlikely to ever play the game I picked up a couple for the sheer joy of painting them, and because collecting figures for games I'm never going to play is my current favorite hobby. The Sorylian Battleship is the only one so far painted, so here he is:

The Stripes and markings are free-hand, which still needs a little practice

I've tried to stick to "simple, bold colours" rather than anything fidly

Engines - may take another pass at them, I think they're reasonable
but not totally right. 

Anyway, its a lovely model and I hope I've done it justice. May need some pictures against a white background as well, but this was late last night and I wanted to go to bed!

Finally, in order to appease His Imperial Might, the next project is these guys: