USD ($)
EUR (€)
As the year Marches on…see what I did there…so too do our miniatures. I quite like to make myself a custom hobby bingo sheet at the beginning of the year, focusing on there different hobby goals I want to achieve in the year. It’s fun to cross them off and try and get lines for points etc. I never finish the whole grid, but it’s fun to compare against friends or against how you did the previous year. I’m not sure if any of our other bloggers do this, but they’ve been painting some great models this month none the less!
Ultramarines Ancient Banner-Bearer (40k) by Emma Grave
As this is the month when lots of hobbyists like to share their painted Ultramarines online (#MarchforMacragge), I thought I’d join in the fun. I chose the Ancient bearing an ornate banner from the Warhammer 40k Space Marines Company Heroes box and, because I like to set myself a challenge, I attempted to paint him as close to the revered ‘Eavy Metal style as I could. To get that classic look, I primed the Ancient using Citadel’s Macragge Blue spray then applied a basecoat of Macragge Blue paint to make sure it had a smooth finish. I used a 1:1 mix of Kantor Blue and Abaddon Black to shade in the recesses and the panel lines. For the highlights, I started with a chunky highlight of 1:1 Macragge Blue and Calgar Blue around all the edges, then a thinner highlight of Calgar Blue on its own. I used Fenrisian Grey on the upper edges and finally Blue Horror as a spot highlight on the sharpest corners.
The Ancient’s banner was the most time-consuming part of this paintjob. Some of the design elements are sculpted on, which makes them easier to paint, but I also added Ultramarines transfers and some freehand text to all of the scrolls. I gave the Ancient a desert base using Agrellan Badland technical paint and a few yellow tufts. I’m pretty proud of the result - he took a long time to paint but I think he’s one of my best painted models so far and he looks great in the cabinet.
Roman Scorpion (Hail Caesar) by Neil Parker
I recently bought a box set from the Hail Caesar range, namely, the Legionnaires with a scorpion and crew. I’ve been thinking about running a Gurps Rome rpg campaign, so I felt like getting some setting specific miniatures to paint.
With the scorpion, I mostly used shades of brown for the wood, Vallejo metallic gunmetal for the metal parts with silver highlighting, and Citadels Agrax Earthshade for the wood wash with Nuln Oil for the metal wash. Finally, I used Ushabti Bone for the ropes to give a slightly yellowed look with the earthshade to add to the detail.
For the legionnaire crew, I used the gunmetal and silver for the armour with the black wash for detail. I used two shades of red for the uniform with white for the headscarf. Finally, I add Vallejo Bright Bronze for the armour studs and front armour pieces.
I enjoyed painting these miniatures as they are very different from the fantasy miniatures I normally paint. I had set out to create a worn look and used highlights accordingly. I added a little flock to the base to add context and used the base as a necessary way to keep the pieces including the quiver together.
Super Mutant (Fallout Board Game) by Northern Invasion Stu
This month my ponderous journey through the painting of my Fallout board game continues as I tackle the iconic super mutant. The main things I wanted to achieve were to capture a sickly and pale skin tone; to use neutral and natural looking browns for the clothing; and to create a rusted and worn look for the metallic areas. I used a combination of paints from Citadel and Two Thin Coats which are named below.
I started with a Zandri Dust spray before washing all over with Athonian Camo. I then highlighted the skin with Green Beret before moving on to the browns. I chose a couple of different shades so the foot wrappings would be different from the clothing. Ropes were picked out in Sandstone before I applied Leadbelcher to the metal areas. I washed everything except the skin with Agrax Earthshade then highlighted with the original colours (except the metal which I drybrushed).
The rust was achieved by applying watered down brown to areas and stippling lightly with an orange brown.
The base was simply Astrogranite Debris washed with Agrax then drybrushed Spacewolf Grey. A couple of tufts finished everything off.
I am happy with the final result and am really enjoying painting these characterful and high quality Fallout minis that are found in the excellent board game. So much so in fact that I have ordered some Fallout Wasteland Warfare miniatures as a painting project for fun - the Fallout video game franchise has long been one of my favourites and the miniatures are exceptional. It’s been a long time since I painted something just for the sake of it and I can’t wait to get started!
Diggers (Marvel Crisis Protocol) by Sam de Smith
I've been working through the scenery from the new Earth's Mightiest Heroes core box for MCP and I took a notion to paint up the two wee diggers in the style of Constructicons from G1 Transformers. I've already done some up in Fisk colours but I just fancied something a bit different.
So, after Black priming core areas and light Grey priming the areas that I aimed to do in the bright colours, I hit the Valllejo Game colors! The purples are a simple VJ Warlord Purple, highlighted with (you guessed it) Model Color Deck Tan. The Green is another old faithful, VJ Sick Green but rather than highlighting I wet blended.
Scorpy Green straight into the wet Sick Green and then Livery Green over that, brushed in vertical strokes to create a rough grain. Then, once dry, it was highlighted with Livery Green, and then oil staining created with GW Agrax Earthshade, thinned with water and allowed to naturally run. The buckets were heavily drybrushed with gunmetal and then lightly with chainmail. GW Agrellan Badlands was applied fairly heavily, and then given another Earthshade wash before drybrushed with Model Color Khaki, as were the greens. All in all... devastating!
Armoured Sentinel (40k) by Thomas Gorner
I’ve been on a real painting streak recently and my main focus has been my new Imperial Guard army. My miniature of the month for the month of March has to be the awesome sentinel. This miniature received a great facelift over a year ago and they certainly look the business.
They are almost an auto-include in any IG army, thanks in part to their low cost, high toughness and they also have the ability to be recycled with reinforcements. Fielding a squad of these makes for a really effective unit and one that dishes out reasonable firepower while also being able to soak up hits. If you’re careful, you can also build it in such a way that the cabin top can be removable, so that you can decide whether to send in the armoured sentinel or the scout sentinel without the need for extra models or even magnetisation. The weapons are also friction fit so can be easily switched out. GW certainly did a good job in redesigning these.
Painting this model was exceptionally fun and a lot easier than I thought it would be. I sprayed the model with Zandri Dust and then went ahead with a couple of base coats of Vulkan Green. Once based, I then focused on the various exposed metal parts and mechanics of the sentinel, painting these with Leadbelcher. The plasma gun was completed by using Frostheart contrast paint over a Corax White base. A bit of drybrushing added a nice glow to the gun as well. Once dried, I went over the model with a combination of Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade to give the model some depth. I then finished the model off with some basic edge highlights, as well as using a sponge and a variety of dark paints to add battle damage to the model. The final touch was to add the decals to the various parts of the miniature.
I was really proud of the final result, with the model looking great on the table! I’ll certainly be adding more miniatures to my army!