Modelling & Painting Tutorials…

One of the benefits of the recent charity project was expanding my list of wargaming contacts and discovering gems within the community. One such gem is Byron at Element Games and his modelling and painting tutorials on the EG forum.

We've all seen online tutorials, or created a few ourselves, so when Byron suggested going to have a look at the ones at Element Games I popped online to have a quick look so I could say that I had. However, I have to hold my hands up and say I was genuinely blown away by what I found.

Byron is a genuine talent and the growing list of tutorials are genuinely useful – I have picked up a lot of tips for my own painting.

Not only does Byron cover miniature painting he's also got tutorials about painting scenery, in particular some of GW's plastic buildings. These have been finished to a stunning level, yet as the tutorial explains, it wasn't difficult at all and anyone can achieve similar results.

40k Dark (Nurgle) Vengeance…

With all the Malifaux painting and the charity auction posts I needed something completely different to look at next.

I have to admit I've been turned off from 40k for what has to be the whole of 5th Edition. I tried to get back into it with my Blood Angel project back in 2010, but the enthusiasm quickly waned. With the release of a new edition or codex there is always renewed interest and this time I get double the trouble – new 6th ed starter box set soon to be followed by a Chaos codex.

I did intend to pick up my Iron Warriors and did a post to that effect last month. However, when I saw the fantastic Chosen models in the Dark Vengeance box they just didn't say Iron Warriors to me. They were too good to pass up so I had to pick a scheme. I have had a fledgling Forgeworld Nurgle army sitting in boxes since just before my Blood Angels appeared on the scene and now seemed an ideal time to give them another look. The Chaos Cultists look like a pack of Nurgle worshippers too so they would fit right in, as would the Hellbrute!

There was one of the Chosen models in particular that cried out to be Nurglized, so I decided to use him as my test piece.

The new plastics are fantastic and I had great fun sticking him together. I decided to go with my tried and trusted "plastic base with penny underneath" treatment to help weigh him down.

Once done I went at him with the greenstuff and "tweaked" his look to be more in keeping with a servant of the Great Puss Master. I didn't want to obscure the model too much as they are too nice to cover up, so it was more a nod in the Nurgle direction.

When it came to painting I went in with the traditional black undercoat.

I bought (all that time ago) a tube of Vallejo Model Color 'English Uniform' – an earthy yellow green colour – which seemed ideal and so this will form the basis for my Nurgle armour going forward. Combined with lashing of Devlan Mud and some Knarloc Green gives a superb effect. For the metal I went with a basecoat of Bestial Brown with the metallic paint to be overbrushed later.

The rest of the Nurgle troops were mid-construction, with most of them stuck onto suitably rotting resin bases. I wanted to go with my weighted penny option for these too so spent some time hacking up the bases to remove the models (which had been stuck down very well!). Bit of a shame but I wanted the heavy bases that I have with my Bezerkers and the resin just wasn't going to work.

I picked out a couple of guys, gave their plastic bits the greenstuff treatment and then set to painting.


Will I manage a complete Nurgle force or will the enthusiasm wane again?
Will I get sucked back into 40k with 6th Edition or will the bright lights of Malifaux and Warmahordes drag me away?

Stay tuned to find out more!

More Nurgle -->

GW Design-Fu Strikes Again

So yesterday a lot of new photos appeared on the net. The new look White Dwarf was seen for the first time. As a graphic designer I have to say…finally, some nice design executed in GW printed matter (though I bet they still don't proofread it).

This whetted my appetite and, off the back of some superb models in the Dark Vengeance box set, I was really looking forward to the imminent Chaos codex and host of new models.

As the day wore on we got to see some more covert photos from inside the new White Dwarf showing off some of these new models.

The sound of my chaos bubble bursting could be heard for miles around!

I wrote an article a couple of years ago about the static or awkward nature of a lot of the poses with 40k models and two years later things are the same…

This guy wouldn't look out of place in Michael Jackson's Thriller video or on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing! Ridiculous pose.

This guy was called a space badger on one site I visited yet, whilst I think it's a rip off of models like the Rackham Hybrid, it is the best of the new stuff I've seen so far.

His more static, gun-toting brother doesn't do much for me really but it's ok.

The biggest offender by far is the new Chaos flyer, the Helldrake. Now, I wasn't a great fan of the Hell Talon that Forgeworld did – it was a bit too Battlestar Galactica and not enough clunky 40k Chaos for me – however, it was a ton better than the latest addition…

This model is ludicrous. Someone obviously had too much Mountain Dew one Friday evening and had a Zoids/Transformers DVD marathon weekend. This just doesn't say Chaos to me at all. Dark Eldar maybe. It's not clinical enough to belong to the newly turned Chaos Marines and it's not mutated enough to belong to long-term Warp dwelling Chaos Marines. It'll also be a nightmare to transport. Why can't we have something a bit more straightforward with mutated bits on it?! Or a different design for each Chaos god!

The thing that kills me is that, compared to the Chaos models in the Dark Vengeance box, some of these are terrible (I'm looking at you Helldrake). Surely they were designed at roughly the same time but don't seem to have any of the same design principles applied to them.

That's my knee-jerk reaction to them (and it is a knee-jerk reaction to be sure). They are covert photos and the paint jobs may not be helping so I'm going to sit tight for White Dwarf before exploding completely.

At least it means I will get to do a lot of converting and scratchbuilding alternatives if my opinion doesn't change… and that means more funky blog posts for you lovely people!

To be continued.

+++++ UPDATE +++++

All Hail Natfka!

Go over to his site now for a stack more photos and see if they sway your opinions.

(Loving the new Raptors!)