The Pantheon of Chaos - Demon Lord of Aethus

I imagined my future self painting, and while receiving the memory of my future self, the impossible became possible, possible to probable, probable to inevitable and inevitable became reality in the form of a painted miniature!

During the last 16 months sparks of imagination did occur but none where big enough to lite my fire. Eventually a good old game of Hero Quest with the boys and their nephew did the trick. We played the quest "Necromancer's Lair" by Dewayne Agin. A single quest with three levels for a group of heroes.

The group consisted out of three heroes played by my boys and their nephew. We played two games, one at midday and one at night. Each game brought them one level further down the dungeons. At the end of the second game at around 11:00 PM they where pleading to finish the last level.

But we had to stop and I promised we would finish the last level when the oppertunity would arrise. At least this would give me some time to arrange a suitable miniature to represent Braun Von Baug (the demon Shantil summend).

Having invested in The Pantheon of Chaos by Diego Seratte Pinilla kickstarter it wasn't difficult to determine which miniature to use. The next time we play Hero Quest, this bad boy will be standing ready.

Bad boys bad boys
Watcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When he comes for you

Experiment: Introducing new blood #2

Welcome to the follow-up of my previous post where my boys where able to select their own version of coolness. It took a while to find the miniatures, but once they did arrive all was ready to start painting.

The deal was as follows They would paint their own miniature completely in base colors first and afterwards apply various whashes. In between the fases I would correct various parts and finish the highlights.

You might wonder why I helped and I realize it is not an easy question to answer.

I wanted to achieve two things with this little experiment. The first one - getting them to experience what is needed to completely paint up a miniature. The second one - own your own cool miniature to play games with.

I thought if I didn't correct their work they would possibly complain about how their miniature looked in comparison to the other miniatures. That and I must honestly say that my own tendencies for perfection might had to do something with the decision.

We've played some games and had fun, but I later realized they are still far too young to be seriously painting anything. As a dad you kinda want to share this love for miniatures, but you also know you cannot force it. In a way this little experiment confronted me more with my own expectations and whishes than it had any effect on the boys.

For example: a week or two after we painted them they didn't even remember they had miniatures at all. No matter how you look at it, that kinda hurts.

I decided to drop the effort on the kids department and let them make some effort themselves. If they're really interested they will come someday and when they do I'll remind them of the miniatures they have painted.

Experiment: Introducing new blood #1

Once in a while I try to play a game with the boys. I usually let them play a game of Heroquest or let them fight it out against a couple of monsters on a 1' x 1' table. Nothing fancy, fighting it out against big monsters is what they seem to like most.

Contemplating on how to exploit this interest of theirs I've setup a little experiment to see where it might lead.

The experiment requires heroes and monsters. The kind of which stand out and makes you say "cool". Upon investigating my painted collection I realized a real shortage on the "cool" monster department and heroes far that matter.

Something needed to be done, my fatherhood was at stake. First priority was the "cool" monster shortage. Diego and his Phanteon of Chaos kickstarter fixed that dilemma real quick. I probably might have spend a tiny bit too much on this, but better safe than sorry, right?

Someone needs to paint all that new lead arriving once in a while. You might resort to drastic methods suggested by others or you might want to invest in the future and train your personal eavy metal team.

So, to give them a head start I gave the boys the tools and full responsibility of their own workbench. They can paint whenever and with whatever they like. Some might need to go through some fases before they're able to make this step, but I think it's for the better. If I needed to be with them every time they want to paint they hardly get to paint anything.

While they're on their own practising the arts of the hobby I've let them pick one hero from the various Citadel Combat Card decks. The task was simpel, take one card you think is cool. I then searched and bought the selected heroes. I will help where needed to paint their hero using the combat card as a painting reference. Once we each have painted our hero we will roam the world and battle monsters where no monsters have been battled before!

The hero I selected

The hero selected by oldest son

The hero selected by youngest son

The boy cave

Marauder - MM73 - Witch Elves

It's like falling in love with someone you think is beautiful, but actually isn't and it takes years to realise it. I'm talking about Dark Elves from the 90's.

My inspiration came from the 80's, but my financial strength became sufficient in the 90's. So I ended up buying a Dark Elf army deal. Big box, purple border, and the picture contained a skull tower I believe. It was the latest craze at the moment.

Years have past, and finally I'm able to rectify the error of my doings. I proudly present the first painted regiment of my 80's Dark Elf army.

The original front of the Dark Elf army deal

Citadel - Dark Elf War Hydra v1

In the last couple of months I've played some games of Oldhammer. From these games I've learned that my army choice options in the monster departement where quite limited. I've got plenty of unpainted monster lead lying around, but the task of painting something bigger than usual always scares me a bit, until today.

Determined and inspired I opened the old lead box and got myself something big to paint. No plan, just straight to work. I followed this airbrush tutorial so I wouldn't have to worry about anything, but painting.

I really surprised myself how quickly I got this thing painted. It took me about 8 hours from start to finish.  Below the results:

Citadel - MD8 Skeleton War Machines

Having finished the Skull Chuckers in a relatively short period. I took it upon myself to finish what was left of the MD8 boxset.

Again, I followed the same painting procedure explained in the (evil) Skeletons - Quick Paint Tutorial post. This allowed me to finish the bones parts rather fast and easy, thank god. 

The chariot is placed on a 100x60 base which I bought from GW. Yeah I know, one of the few usefull products they still have.

The highlights on the robes of Morbius are done with the airbrush. I only needed add some washes to get the results you see in the picture. I'm particulairly happy with his face and robes.

Because my skeleton horde has grown considerably since my last painting efforts I thought to treat you guys with an army shot.

So, whats next? Dark Elves or Undead legion?

Looks familiar doesn't it?

Citadel - Skull Chucker(s)

*cough, cough*, man this place is dusty! Let's bring in some fresh air and open a window. Ah, that's better. Now, where were we?

It's been exactly one whole year since my last post on this blog and about time for another post. I got stuck while working on a regiment of Marauder Dark Elves. Sometimes a game of oldhammer is all you need to rekindle enough inspiration to start painting again.

Instead of continuing with the Dark Elves, I decided to paint something easier. Having enjoyed my previous experience with the skeletons, I decided to paint two Skull Chuckers. One of which is from the original MD8 Skeleton War Machines, and the other I won on ebay some time ago.

I followed the same painting procedure explained in the (evil) Skeletons - Quick Paint Tutorial post. Chances are I'll paint up the rest of the MD8 boxset for my next project.

Below the result of my efforts.

Tabletop World - Cottage

After 7 months I finally have something to show for. I've been wanting to post something, anything actually, but just haven't been painting much lately.

I've been on the verge to actually write one of those "I'm still alive posts", but in the end I just couldn't, we all know how awfully pointless those are.

So, in my last post I mentioned something about a shipment from tabletop-world. Those not familiar with the best supplier of scenery around, take a look at their website.

Marauder - MM44/1 - Cockatrice

Having finished the Space Hulk Terminators I found myself thinking of another airbrush experiment project. I wanted more practise and blend at least three different colors on a single miniature. Something like green, blue, yellow, purple color transitions. I figured the Cockatrice model I bought from ebay a couple months earlier would serve this project just fine. I used the following picture as a source of inspiration.

Space Hulk - 2nd Edition - Ultramarines Terminators

Fully equipped with knowledge, wisdom and understanding of my previous project, I set out to paint another squad of five terminators. I wanted to paint a squad of Ultramarines, just like how they're depicted in the Space Hulk 2nd ed. mission book.

Space Hulk - 2nd edition - Blood Angels Terminators

Ever since I've Gone Pro, I fooled around with some forty kay Terminators. A couple of years ago I bought a 2nd edition Space Hulk boxset. I figured those Terminators would be easy airbrush practise and guess what, that's exactly what I got.

Initiatly, I just wanted something to spray paint on and be done quickly, but as the project progressed I realised I couldn't and I ended up doing the whole ensalada.

I started out with one squat of terminators and used the Space Hulk Mission Book for inspiration. I thought the Blood Angels would be the easiest to paint up.

Citadel - C23 - Pit Fighter

I wanted to do something different, something larger than a Dwarf. I believe many of you have the opposite problem, but I've got too many goodfellas.

I bought the Citadel C23 range on ebay some time ago and thought to paint one. The one with the hook and the iron leg seemed easy enough. Just lot of skin and iron. I believe this model was sculped by Bob Olley and is called the "Pit Fighter".

If you're planning on painting these old models be sure to examine them for little cracks and patch them up with putty before painting. I noticed some cracks appeared under the right armpit and back side.

This time I finished the model in only 2 weeks instead of 2 years!

Marauder - MB1 - Dwarf Regiment

Ever since they first appeared in WD issue 117 I wanted to have them. Dwarfs, Marauder Dwarfs to be exact. I must have looked at the ad a million times by now, imagining how they would gloriously march into battle, but it was never meant to be, until recently...

Ad from WD117

(evil) Skeletons - Quick Paint Tutorial

Followers of this blog my have noticed my involvement in a remote WFB3 game called "The Bridge over the River Chai". As it so happens, one of the participants of this game might summon enormous hordes of Skeletons, by using evil necromantic magic. To prepare myself for the such on occasion, I need to expand my current horde of 6 skeletons.

My understanding of an average skeleton is that they are an angry bunch of brain eating maniacs. I always thought John Blanche's vision of them to match this description quite accurately, as opposed to the bone polished, "G" rated versions of the late 90's. I like the macabre looking skeletons, covered in dirt and blood, seeking out vengeance to whoever comes in their path.

Arggh, we're bad to the bone!

Look, we're shiny happy skeletons!

See what I mean? It's all just a matter of taste of course, but to me this is how skeletons should look like. It's interesting to note that the picture above was taken from the WFB3 rule book, which is mirrored, so no, skeletons are not left handed.

Due to a limited time schedule I needed to paint quickly, and while at it, I thought to do a little quick paint tutorial, just for you...

Modular Gaming Table: Part 8

Completing the sixth panel, overwhelmed me with joy, I immediately set out and did a test with a 3x2 configuration.

Config 3x2 x11:y0

Config 3x2 y21:y0

I tried to capture some of the coolness I've witnessed while assembling the hill panels. I have to say the pictures don't do it justice, it looks better in real life. However, you can see that they fit nicely and that the slight down curve of table help pushing the hill panels in place.

Ohh... Tight fit!

I'm painting the panels with a medium quality acrylic paint. I've bought 4 different colors for the ground surface, these are: Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre Extra and Titanium Buff Light. I started with painting all panels with Burnt Umber (shown above). I watered the paint down considerably (3:1) as to avoid blogging the surface with paint and to improve application. It takes two layers on a black surface to get good coverage. The pictures above show coverage of the first layer. In overall I needed two bottles (500ml) of Burnt Umber to paint 12 panels.

TIP: I added black paint to the foam-coat mixture to get a black base color. It would have been easier if I bought black latex paint in the first place.

At the time of writing I've finished the ground surface of all the panels and painted them all with two layers of Burnt Umber.

The panels are now ready to be dry-brushed. This is done with a LARGE brush. I'm dry-brushing the panels with the remaining 3 colors in the following order: Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre Extra and Titanium Buff Light. Below the results of the first two panels.

Don't worry, the panels are far from done, these are just the initial results after dry-brushing. I'll cover the details in upcomming posts, but first I'm taking a one month holiday.