Is It Meant To Be That Colour?

Okay, so I've just finished the Orks.  Sort of.

I'm now applying a rescue coat of very thin Badab Black to the metal areas and black clothing as I seem to have been a bit over-zealous with the varnish spray.

I went absolutely mad with it to be honest and now some areas of colour have that tell-tale dusty grey sheen to them.  Hopefully the wash should sort it out.  I've had the same problem before, but on a smaller scale and it worked then.

Fingers crossed...

I still hope to get some pictures up tonight though, but I'm not sure how long it'll be before the wash dries.

Very annoying.

Da Boyz Are (Almost) Back In Town...

So near, yet so far!

I've finished the principle paint job on the Black Reach Ork Boyz, but I still need to touch up all of the many little slips and errors on them.  Annoyingly, it should take less than an hour to do, but it's getting rather late now and my daughter would not be impressed if I fell asleep during her swimming lesson tomorrow morning (especially as I'm the one holding her up in the water).

As well as that, I need to run some Bestial Brown around the edge of the bases and I can't varnish them until it's light outside anyway, so I might as well do all of that tomorrow when I'm much less likely to rush.

After they're done, I'll probably spend a couple of days (or less) on Njal's base before deciding whether or not to start some more Blood Bowl miniatures, or some rather spiffing Ork Nobz - or maybe even a Deffkopta or three...  Whatever I choose, I'll definitely leave the Warboss until last - he's a great miniature to end the batch with.

With any luck, there'll be some pictures of the Boyz up by the end of tomorrow...

Rain Stops Spray...

In a typical start to the Bank Holiday weekend, it's pouring down outside, so none of my glorious Wulfen Battle Brothers got even a hint of Chaos Black spray today - but still, I have managed to almost finish those pesky Ork Boyz.

I just have a final highlight of Goblin Green / Sunburst Yellow on the flesh and then the eyes, teeth / hair / bone (same scheme) and the bases before the final touch-up and varnish.

With any luck, they'll be ready to go by the end of tomorrow night...

Well, That Didn't Take Long...

Less than half an hour and the base is (sort of) modelled.  Loads of Green Stuff in a big fat lump, so I'm gonna give it at least 48-hours to dry before I file the edges smooth and undercoat it.

This will be the first time I've ever painted a base seperately from the miniature.  I might need to buy a couple of spare bases as I now have nothing to stick Njal onto while I paint him.

How on earth do I have no spare bases?

And So It Begins...

The gale howled outside, smashing flurries of snow and ice against the frozen window.  I sat huddled over the cracked wooden table, skins and blankets wrapped tight against the chill draft which moaned from beneath the barred door.

The light was low, only a single dancing candle flame, as my trembling hands raised up the battered blister pack and...

...OPENED IT!

The Stormcaller is loose!  Unpainted, yes.  But loose!

Bouyed by the encouragement of what can only be described as a painting Yoda, I have finally begun my work.  Njal Stormcaller is out of his blister, has several bits of pinning metal sticking out of his limbs and is pretty much ready to be undercoated.

I thought if I do my Commander first, at least I can spend lots of time trying to get him perfect so that by the time I come to the basic troops, I'll have gotten it all out of my system and will be able to do a realistic paint-job - realistic as in one day, they might actually get onto the battlefield.

I'm going to hopefully model the base for Njal today (if my daughter stays asleep) with copious amounts of Green Stuff.  I want to have him standing astride cracked ice-flows as he casts Jaws of the World Wolf.

Enemies of the Imperium beware!

The Wolves are coming!!

Sven Bloodhowl's Great Howling - 1500pt Army Option

Well, as I said before, this 1500pt option is intended to give me a useable army for as little initial monetary cost as possible - with that in mind, I've based it around the miniatures I already have and the Space Wolves Battle Force box - with then a few high-points units added to make up the numbers.

This is the first Army List I've written for the latest 40k (that I still haven't played), so hopefully you'll forgive (and point out) any glaring errors...

HQ

Njal Stormcaller inc. Runic Terminator Armour                     270pts


ELITES

Wolf Guard Pack, 5 Strong                                                    90pts
inc.  Terminator Armour                                                       75pts
       4x Combi-Flamers                                                          20pts
       1x Assault Cannon                                                          30pts
       3x Wolf Claws                                                                30pts
       2x Power Fists                                                                20pts
       5x Melta Bombs                                                              25pts

Wolf Scout Pack, 5 Strong                                                     75pts
inc. 4x Bolters and 1x Heavy Bolter                                          5pts


TROOPS

Grey Hunters Pack, 10 Strong                                               150pts
inc.  1x Melta gun                                                                    5pts
       1x Plasm gun                                                                    free
       1x Power axe                                                                  15pts
       1x Wolf Standard                                                            10pts

Grey Hunters Pack, 10 Strong                                              150pts
inc. 1x Melta gun                                                                    5pts
      1x Plasm gun                                                                     free
      1x Power fist                                                                   25pts
      1x Wolf Standard                                                             10pts

Blood Claws Pack, 10 Strong                                                 150pts
inc.  1x Plasma pistol                                                             15pts
       1x Power Fist                                                                 25pts
       1x Lukas the Trickster upgrade                                     140pts


HEAVY SUPPORT

Long Fangs Pack, 4 strong                                                      60pts
inc.  3x Heavy Bolters                                                             15pts
       1x Power Fist                                                                  25pts
       1x Plasma pistol                                                               15pts


DEDICATED TRANSPORT

Drop Pod                                                                               35pts


Which should all come to 1490 points.  It's approximately half of the 3000 point Army List I designed, hence the lack of a Dreadnought, Fast Attack options and the rather unusual make-up of the Long Fangs Pack...

And They Shall Know No Fear.

Am I frightened of painting my Space Wolves?

Is that why I seem to be very good at coming up with reasons to paint anything but?

I think I've set my heart so adamantly on a beautifully painted Space Marine army now that I'm desperate for them to look absolutely perfect on the battlefield.  But I know that they won't.  I have every confidence that they'll look very nice, sure, but deep down - well, not very deep at all, actually - I know that none of them will be the 'Eavy Metal-esque, Golden Demon-winning little men that I actually envision them to be.  I'm simply not that good.

I need to just bite the bullet and get on with it.

I need to set a date to start.

I'm going to set a date to start.

Soon.

Green, Green, Green, Forty Shades of Green...

Well, I've finally started the Orky skin.  I'd hoped to make some headway on the highlights tonight, but have been kept very busy by my daughter this afternoon, so I'm going to finish off the Dark Angels Green basecoat and then collapse into bed.

My new Blood Bowl set arrived today, so I'm still trying to decide whether to paint another couple of teams up after the Boyz, or whether to finish off all of the Greenskins first.

Whatever I decide, I can either get on with some painting or keep write this, so -

Where's the Best Bit?

Very excited this morning to find a copy of White Dwarf on my door-mat, a few days before it hits the shops thanks to my recent subscription.

Having recently been flicking through the ForgeWorld catalogue, I'm very excited by the prospect of getting a few heretic-torching, xenos blasting tanks for my Space Wolves (still in their boxes, I might remind you), so I can't wait to read the new Spearhead rules.  And there's a sneak preview of the new Warhammer book (OVER 500 PAGES!!) to look forward to as well.

BUT WHERE IS THE 'EAVY METAL PAINTING GUIDE THIS MONTH?

Bit disappointed as that's what I mainly read WD for.  It doesn't bode well that my favourite article has vanished in the first issue with the new Editor...

Or, to look at it another way, 'Shut up, you Nancy!  New rules, Games Day details, new Warhammer and LOTS OF BIG TANKS.  BOOM!  BOOM!  DAKKA-DAKKA!!!!!'

It's a bit like Gollum and his Ring...

'He hates and loves the Ring, as he hates and loves himself.'

I feel a bit like that about Ork Boyz.  I mean, they're great.  Seriously, I really enjoy painting green skin.  Bit weird, I know, but there it is.  The problem is, there's so bloody many of them!

And it was definitely a bad idea to try and paint thirteen of them at the same time.  I've spent days painting leather straps - seven stages, times thirteen - that's ninety-one separate painting stages for probably the least noticeable part of the miniatures.

And now I'm faced with the skin itself.  Stupidly, only six stages.  So why am I painting more detail on the leather than the skin?  Madness.  I suppose it's because it's far easier to make Ork flesh look nice.  I'd probably even get away with five stages.  Oh well...

I'm quite tempted to paint the bases first - one, because it's a nice, easy break and two, because it's really easy to rush the bases at the end - and a badly done base can really ruin a decent miniature.

Either way, not sure I can be bothered tonight.  I think I'll watch the final Ashes to Ashes again instead.

No point painting if I'm tired and not in the mood.

Any excuse.

Fury of the Sky Warriors

The Hour of the Wolf draws near and dread breath dances upon the bitter Fenrisian winds - winds which carry the scent of spilled bloods and frozen corpses.

Fists grip axe and Frostblade, teeth glint in the light of the ice moon and the Sky Warriors of Fenris are -

- STILL IN THEIR FLIPPIN' BOXES!!

To be fair, I'd like to announce that I've been collecting Space Wolves since last November, but if I'm totally honest, my 'Great Howling' consists at the moment of a box of ten marines and two blister packs that haven't ever seen a tube of poly cement or a round slottabase.

I have an army list.  Hurrah!

When I finally get hold of the Space Wolf Battle Force, I think I'll begin painting in earnest, but at the moment, I keep getting myself side-tracked by my DelBoy-esque  attempts to earn my fortune painting miniatures.

It's not going too badly at the moment, and the profit I make goes some way towards paying for my glorious Fenrisians, but every time I sell something, I feel compelled to move on to my next pay-cheque project instead of enjoying the fruits of my labours.

With any luck, flogging plastic BloodBowl miniatures (which don't take long to paint at all) should afford me some time to break out the Space Wolves Grey paint, but only if I can stop myself getting too greedy... I mean, I do need a nice new telly...

I'll try and get my 1500pt Army List up soon, but I don't think it'll win me many battles - I've just tried to cram the highest points value into the lowest number of models so that I can get a fightin' army as soon as possible.