Fiddling with Fantasy: Vikings and Grotesque Chaos Knights

So far I've only played one game of Warhammer Fantasy, but that's the same number of 40k games I've played in the last few months.  Inspiration has been lacking, but I'm leaning towards a pure Tzeench force using the brown/sepia paint scheme from my last post.

Using a Sanguinary Guard grotesque-helm from 40k to enhance a clean style.

I hate GW's marauders.  They're as bad as the Catachans.  I thought my army would lack Marauders for this reason, until I saw the historical plastics coming out from various companies.  Gripping Beast became my source for these depraved humans, and they're actually human size, unlike the massive Marauders!  Comparisons show they are about the same size as Empire troops, with slightly smaller weapons.  Here I've added a few Marauder Cavalry bits to the models (which are excellent btw), but the majority went together unmodified.

The only addition here is a Warriors of Chaos banner.

Head swap.

Shield swap.  Marauder shields are actually smaller than the ones in the vikings box.

 

Another head swap.

I think these guys will take the wash color scheme nicely.

Painting Chaos Warriors test models

I haven't been playing 40k for a few months and each project I start seems tiring.  But fear not gentle reader, this is not a complaining blog entry, but a start of something new: square bases.  Some friends of mine recently started Warhammer Fantasy (aka stupid square bases) and it looked like something new, something refreshing.  The latest edition took away much of what I disliked about the game and so I started looking.  Some research and number crunching later I settled on Warriors of Chaos (no surprise there) rather than Vampire Counts because frankly, I want something easy to paint and a hoard army does not fit the bill, even if they are mere skeletons.

Funny enough this article on Bell of Lost Souls talks about just my predicament.  I hope that painting Warriors of Chaos and starting something new will get the ball rolling again and all those languishing projects will once again hope to see the light of day.

I truly am living up to my blog name at this point and so, without further adieu, I give you test scheme A and test scheme B.  Please vote for your favorite on the side bar.

I tried to keep it as simple as I could.  Scheme A recipe: prime grey, block in gold, red, silver and bone, douse in Devlan Mud.

Scheme A

Scheme B recipe:  Prime White, wash armor with Gryphonne Sepia followed by Devlan mud, wash shoulder-spike, horn caps and axe blade with Badab Black, wash cloak, horns and axe handle with Gryphonne Sepia, wash boots, axe-haft and gloves with Devlan Mud.  No paints here!

Scheme B

Scheme A.

Scheme B

Scheme A

Scheme B

Finished Krieg Hellhound painted with Masterclass techniques.

I had fun painting this model up, which makes me think I should do more like it.  I remember a few years ago when I couldn't wait to paint, but it became a chore to paint everything.  After all this hobby is about collecting, sometimes playing, and painting.  In that order.  :)

I had to use natural light to show the subtle details, but the sun was setting so it threw some pretty harsh shadows.  Even still, the dirt weathering pigment is easy to see in the recesses in this one.  It's also worth noting that the tank commander was painted entirely with washes, barring a few touch-ups.

The oil-paint rust streaks merge nicely with the dirt-pigment on the side of the tank.

Two colors of rust colored pigment, heavily reduced (I think I used water to pull pigment off those pipes 3 or 4 times.  Less really is more.)  I'm pretty happy with the oily fuel drums, the effect was simply built up using layers of Gryphonne Sepia, Ogryn Flesh and Devlan Mud.
  On the plate with the Imperial eagle I'm fond of the sponged paint chipping on the left edge turned out.  The dusting of dirt and rust on its right side also looks nice.

Tracks painted with umber, drybrushed with darkened boltgun and then dabbed with weathering pigment dirt.  They didn't pop until I went pack and blackened each rubber pad.  All the metallics were a mix of Boltgun and black to keep a worn, military feel.  I used blue and purple washes over the barrel of the flamethrower to show heat discoloration.  Then I added a little black pigment at the end for soot, followed by white pigment for ash.

I love the rust spots and streaks created by flicking the oil-paint.  I still have a bit to learn about the pigments, but they are surprisingly easy to use.

Building a Blood Pact Tank

The basic outline of the Blood Pact's AT70 Reaver is finished!

Showing off the Forgeworld Turret and modified driver's compartment.


I tried to match the outline of the Macharius and the Mort tanks. (Yes I know there's only one track guard in place.)


Aft section shows off the forgeworld engine filters to match it to my Mort style AT83 Brigand.


Close up. I'm thinking of creating horizontal slats on either side of the engine and an access door below the rear filter. This would approximate the Mort style AT83. I'd love to add some external fuel tanks but the one from the IG sprue seems too large.


To do: add rivets, hatches and front barbette armor, replace main guns with plastic tubing for battle cannon, add magnets for side sponsons, main gun and barbette weapons, add engine details, get married.

Real live encroaches on the blogging and gaming world: I'm getting married this week! Please excuse any lapse in posting. :)

New pictures of the tank I love

I just discovered the way to link these outside of their flash pop-up on the order page, so here you are, more pictures! It seems to be a few inches longer than a Leman Russ, but about the same width.