Sepulchral Guard Tutorial and pics

Here's a tutorial and some pics of the Sepulchral Guard from Warhammer Underworlds.  I experimented with some inks to see if I could come up with a homebrew contrast (didn't work), and I talk about that in the video.  I may have used the wrong paints, mixes or even the undercoat... not sure, but when I have a chance to use the contrast paints I'll post an update.

Video and more pics after the break.

Ylthari's Guardians how to paint and pics

I started these guys right after Thundrik's warband, but wasn't able to get at them over the weekend.  Overall they were fun to paint.  I think what made it a lot easier was airbrushing the base colours (roughly).  This meant I didn't need to do multiple coats of light grey to get good coverage on their skin.  Other than that these guys were pretty straight forward.  Check out the video and additional pictures below.

New paint rack

Ever since citadel came out with its layer paint range I've been looking for a good way to store those paints.  I have the full set, minus a few of the recent additions, so I need a way to easily find and put away paints as I use them.  For a long time I used a parts drawer thing from Lowes, with each drawer holding about 6 paints (base, layer, layer x2).  This was ok, but not ideal.  A few years back I had made a nice rack for my reaper paints, but that style wasn't going to work for citadel paints.  Any purchased solutions were going to be too expensive or take up too much space for all of the paints.  I finally came up with a solution that I though would work and got to it.

Here's a pic of the final rack.  I put hinges and latches, so you can close it and its semi-portable.  Its a bit tall to take anywhere, and I'm not sure the paints would stay in place if it was on its side... maybe mark II will be improved to fix that.

 more after the break...

Visit to GW Flagship - London England

I just got back from a family vacation in England, and of course I had to stop by Games Workshop while I was there.  I was in London for most of the time, so I visited the new "flagship" store in on Tottenham Court Road.  It just opened a week ago, and is the one with the "Warhammer" sign out front instead of "Games Workshop".

I'm not sure what the norm is for stores in England, but I was somewhat underwhelmed by the store considering its a flagship store in the heart of London.  There was a cool display table at the front of the store (which is in the White Dwarf), but otherwise I'd call it a regular shop. The stock was the same as you'd see anywhere, and there weren't a lot of armies on display.  Definitely not as many as are in the GW's near me.  I probably would have enjoyed a independent retailer better since they would have at least had some other stock that I'm not familiar with.

I figured I had to pick up a souvenir, and since the new Eldar stuff was just announced I picked up the plastic Farseer to paint up as well as some 32mm bases.

Smaug sculpted by Michael Perry, comments...

Saw this pop up on my facebook feed.  It looks like Michael Perry digitally sculpted Smaug before they left earlier this year.  Does this mean its the last model in the Hobbit lineup?  I wonder if the comment about plastic is a sign of internal discussions... I mean, why would they go to the trouble of having him do his first digital model if it wasn't intended to be plastic?  My guess would be that the plan was for plastic, but when the Hobbit flopped (from a miniatures sales point of view) they back peddled to forgeworld resin.

Smaug stuck until release date

Well, it looks like GW's awesome policies have struck again... I had my Smaug delivered to my local GW thinking that it would help ensure I got him on time.  Well, he's there now, but I can't have him until Saturday, because that's the release date (so says the single staff member when I called).  Whoever made this policy needs to give their head a shake.  I know its not up to my local manager, he seems like a nice guy.

You already have my money, the guy is sold out, and its just sitting there.  If I had selected home delivery I'd have it by now.  Why do I have to wait?

You won't usually see me gripe about GW here, but this one seems worth noting.

Nihilakh Oxide Demo (Video)

Here's a quick video showing how the Nihilakh Oxide works (using an Ogre Leadbelcher as a demo).  I really like the look, as the method I use is too dark.  I suppose I could mix a better colour, but I really like how this looks.  I even went back and did a couple skaven models after doing the video because I liked it so much.  Obviously you may not see the need to buy a whole bottle of it, but I can see myself using it quite often.

GW Gives away free Codex books... in Japan

Just came across this news story... apparently GW is actually giving things away to gain market share.  In Japan pdf's of the Codex books can be downloaded for free (some, mostly fantasy).  I don't know how long this practice has been going on, but hopefully it works there and they think about doing it for some of the english language ones.

In browsing the site (via google translate) it looks like some of the updates and campaign books are free kind of like how GW used to do this for old WD articles.

Check it out here (you may have to change the country to Japan):
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/articleCategory.jsp?communityArticleCatId=5500004a&articleCatId=5500004a&catId=&section=community


This story was found here:
http://www.fanhammer.es/2013/10/06/gw-japon-los-codex-libres-en-pdf-por-el-pais-del-sol-naciente/

Wurrzag Completed

I posted the video on youtube a while ago, but appear to have forgotten to put it up here.  Thankfully someone left me a comment to remind me.

Skyshield Landing Pad Video

Here's a video of how I painted up the Skyshield landing pad back before Christmas.  I was getting ready for a game against my brother and needed to paint up some scenery quickly.  Now that you can use this as a fortification its going to see a lot more use, and I thought it would be a good time to make use of the pictures I took.

Dakkajet Kitbash Painted

Here is the second video showing how I painted this project.  I went with a pretty traditional black look with checker patterns.  My burna bommer will be red and I'll do a video for it as well.

Savavage Ork Shaman on War Boar Finished

Here's some pictures and a video explaining how I painted this guy.  The paints are listed at the bottom of this post.  I did him along with Wurrzag and Grimgor, but those videos will be coming later.

More Skaven Clanrats

I actually painted these guys a while back, but just put together a video about the process and discuss using the new GW paints.  Here's some pics with suggested paints at the bottom of the post.

New Paints Review: Conclusions

Here's a video where I sum up my conclusions about the new GW paints.  I've already started painting with them and have finished a Skaven doom flayer (lots of metallics)... they are working out well.

How to Paint Citadel Miniatures 2012 - Book Review

Here's my take on the new how to paint book from GW.  Its a well done book, but at $60 not everybody is going to get good value out of it.

New Citadel Paint Review: Metallics

The Metallic part of a paint range is very important to me and GW has had great silvers in the past, but not so great golds.  Here's a video where I look at the metallics in the new 145 paint range from GW.

New Citadel Paints Review: Texture

Here's another new section of the range for GW.  While not technically paints, they do replace something that you used to have to paint; the sand after attaching it to your base.  There are other similar options out there, but this one seems decent if a little unnecessary.  Might be nice to have one of these sitting around, but most people won't want all 6.

New GW Paints Review: Dry range

Here's a review about the new Dry range of paints.  This is perhaps the most unique offering in the new set, and to my knowledge isn't done by any other hobby paint range.  For the most part I don't see myself using all of these, but for things like bases I will use it.  I can also see the silver one (Necron compound) being the new must have paint.  If you're like me and do metallics first when there's lots (like on Orks) then this is the way to go.  Just drybrush on the Necron Compound over a black base and you've got your silver base coat much faster than painting.

New Citadel Paint Review: Layers

Here's a look at the layers section of the new GW paint range.  I check out how the recommended combinations work together.

New Citadel Paint Review: Bases (foundations)

Here's the second set of paints to be reviewed... foundations.  Overall they seem to behave similar to the old foundations.  The colours aren't the same, but there's lots more.  The coverage seems similar but they might not be quite as matte.  This doesn't really matter because you're going to cover it with a shade and layers.