Friday 27 August 2010

Codex Painting: Space Wolves.

Being a reference guide to the stages of painting, and the colourations thereof, of
Sven Bloodhowl's Great Howling.

STAGE I - PREPARATION:

i. Undercoat with Chaos Black Spray.
ii. Spray with 1:1 mix of Shadow Grey and Space Wolves Grey.
iii. Black out non-Power Armour areas using Chaos Black.



STAGE II - BASING:

i. Glue gravel to base using PVA.
ii. Paint gravel with Regal Blue.
iii.  Drybrush with Ice Blue.
iv.  Drybrush with Skull White.


STAGE IV -  POWER ARMOUR:

i.  Shade recesses with 1:1 mix of Scorched Brown and Fenris Grey.
ii. (optional) Tidy edges with mix from stage (I[i]).
iii. Highlight edges with pure Space Wolves Grey.
iv. Apply an extreme highlight with a 1:1 mix of Space Wolves Grey and Skull White.


STAGE V - BLACK AREAS:

i. (optional) Tidy black areas with Chaos Black.
ii. Highlight with Regal Blue.
iii. Extreme highlight with Codex Grey.
iv. Wash areas with Badab Black.

OR

'EAVY METAL METHOD:

i. (optional) Tidy black areas with Chaos Black.
ii. Highlight with Codex Grey.
iii. Highlight with Fortress Grey.


STAGE VI - GOLD / METALLICS:

i. Apply a 1:1 mix of Scorched Brown and Shining Gold.
ii. Wash with a 1:1 mix of Scorched Brown and Badab Black.
iii. Highlight with Shining Gold.
iv. Highlight with Burnished Gold.
v. Extreme highlight of Mithril Silver.
vi. Wash areas with Leviathan Purple.


STAGE VII - FUR (Method [i]):

i. Basecoat with Bestial Brown.
ii. Build up highlights by gradually adding Bleached Bone.
iii. Extreme highlight of Bleached Bone.
iv. Apply an Ogryn Flesh wash.
v. Apply Skull White as an extreme highlight.
vi. Wash with Gryphonne Sepia.


STAGE VII - FUR (Method [ii]):

i. Basecoat with Scorched Brown over several thin layers.
ii. Highlight with Bestial Brown, more heavily towards edges.
iii. Apply Vomit Brown, drybrushed towards the centre, but painted at the edges.
iv. Highlight with Bleached Bone, using the same method as above.
v. Apply an extreme highlight of Skull White.
vi.  Wash with Gryphonne Sepia.
vii.  Wash with Ogryn Flesh.


STAGE VIII - ANIMAL SKINS / TONGUES:

i.  Basecoat with Scab Red.
ii.  Gradually build up highlights using Bleached Bone.
iii. Extreme highlight of Bleached Bone.
iv. Wash with Leviathan Purple.


STAGE IX - BONE / STONE / PARCHMENT:

i. Basecoat with Bestial Brown.
ii. Highlight with Snakebite Leather.
iii. Highlight further with a 1:1 mix of Snakebite Leather and Bleached Bone.
iv. Add another highlight, this time of Bleached Bone.
v. Extreme highlight with Skull White.


STAGE X - HAIR:

i.  Basecoat Bestial Brown.
ii. Layer with Blazing Orange.
iii. Wash with Ogryn Flesh.
iv. Apply a second Ogryn Flesh wash.
v. Highlight with Dwarf Flesh.
vi. Add a final highlight of Bleached Bone.
vii. Glaze with Baal Red.


STAGE XI - FACE:

i. Basecoat with a 1:1 mix of Vermin Brown and Scorched Brown.
ii. Layer with a 2:1:1 mix of Dwarf Flesh, Vermin Brown, and Scorched Brown.
iii. Layer with pure Dwarf Flesh.
iv. Highlight with a 1:1 mix of Dwarf Flesh and Skull White.
v. Highlight further with a 3:1 mix of Skull White and Bleached Bone.
vi. Wash with a 1:1 mix of Gryphonne Sepia and Ogryn Flesh.
vii.  Wash Regal Blue into the recesses.
viii. Paint the whites of the eyes with Tausept Ochre.
ix. Highlight the whites of the eyes with a 1:1 mix of Golden Yellow and Skull White.
x. Paint the teeth with Bleached Bone, and highlight with Skull White.


STAGE XII (OPTIONAL) - TATTOOS:

i. Paint area Dark Angels Green.
ii. Build up the colour with a 3:1 mix of Hawk Turquoise and Dark Angels Green.
iii. Highlight with Hawk Turquoise.
iv. Extreme highlight using a 1:1 mix of Hawk Turquoise and Skull White.


STAGE XIII (OPTIONAL) - PLASMA / POWER WEAPONS:

i. Paint the area Dark Angels Green.
ii. Highlight with Snot Green.
iii. Highlight with Scorpion Green.
iv. Extreme highlight using a 3:1 mix of Skull White and Scorpion Green.
v. Final highlight of Skull White.


STAGE XIV(i) - SHOULDER PADS [RED]:

i. Basecoat with a 2:1 mix of Blood Red and Dark Flesh.
ii. Shade with a 1:1 mix of Dark Flesh and Chaos Black.
iii. Highlight with Blood Red.
iv. Highlight with Blazing Orange.
v. Extreme highlight of Vomit Brown.


STAGE XIV(ii) - SHOULDER PADS [YELLOW]:

i. Basecoat Tausept Ochre.
ii. Layer with a 1:1 mix of Tausept Ochre and Golden Yellow.
iii. Finally highlight with a 1:1:1 mix of the above, plus Skull White.


STAGE XV - PURITY SEALS:

i. Basecoat Red Gore.
ii. Add a 3:1 mix of Red Gore and Fortress Grey.
iii. Highlight with a 1:1 mix of Red Gore and Fortress Grey.
iv.  Highlight with a 1:3 mix of Red Gore and Fortress Grey.
v.  Wash with Leviathon Purple.
vi.  Highlight with Fortress Grey.


STAGE XVI - RED STRAPPING / GEMS:

i.  Basecoat with Mechrite Red.
ii. Layer with Blood Red.
iii. Highlight with Blazing Orange.
iv. Extreme highlight of Vomit Brown.
v. Wash with Baal Red.
vi. (optional) Extreme highlight of Skull White for gems.


STAGE XVII - FINISHING:

i. Paint edge of base Calthan Brown.
ii. Use Skull White to apply snow to top of base.
iii. Apply any final touch-ups and fixes.
iv. Apply Great Company transfer to appropriate shoulder pad.
v. Varnish with Purity Seal spray.
vi. Paint around edges of transfers where necessary.


GLORY BE TO THE ALLFATHER!

My Work Here Is Done...


Finished 'Test' Space Wolf:  PASS.

Ease / Speed Of Painting Full Army:  EPIC FAIL!

I absolutely love the look of the initial Space Wolf Blood Claw that I've painted, and think that when I eventually finish my Space Wolves army, it is going to look stunning on the battlefield.  However, I dread to think how long they're going to take.

After trying to strike a balance between quality and speed, I think that quality won.

But you never know, once I get into the swing of it, and get in some production-line painting, I may be able to get through a squad every couple of weeks.  If not, the next Codex may be out before a single shot is fired!











Rather depressingly, now I should be on a roll with my painting, I have to stop for about a week because I'm fitting a new bathroom.  No idea what I'm doing.  Never done it before.  Might take a little while.

Still, I've got plenty of Green Stuff, so if I get bored I could always convert the bath into a Land Raider.

Not sure how my wife would feel about that...

Anyway, if I do get a chance to blog at all, I may be able to publish a Colour Codex for my army, detailing (as much for my benefit as anyone else's) every colour mix and technique for the various parts of my army.

As well as that, I thought I may do a couple of one-off articles focussing on individuals from my currently-ill-fated Blood Bowl team...

As long as I don't flood the house, of course.

Thursday 26 August 2010

New Blood Needed After 2-0 Defeat, Coach Urges.

Embattled Green Glade Hackers Coach, 'Unlucky' Darren Lysenko has urged the team's financiers that money needs to be spent if the team are to be in with a chance of performing at the upcoming Bunker Bowl Tournament.

The Hackers suffered yet another embarrassing defeat last night, to the jeers of both home and rival fans.  One Wardancer - Stormwind the Golden Tornado - was even booed by raucous Hackers fans as he was carried almost-lifeless from the pitch.

The Zharr-Naggrund Thrones - the Chaos Dwarf team which heralded the beginning of the Hackers' current run of bad luck - pummelled the Wood Elf team into a 2-0 deafeat, re-igniting calls for the sacking of the team's Head Coach.

'Unlucky' Lysenko urged calm, and called for reflection upon the team's recent defeats.

'We're getting crushed from the outset.  The minute the ball first hits grass, half our line are out of action.  We need something that can bolster our scrimmage line.  We need a Treeman!'

These calls have been welcomed by most fans, although some assistant coaching staff have expressed concerns about where the gold for such a high-profile purchase may come from.

'The thing is, tee-hee,' giggled Page-Tree stunna Wynona Cherry-Blossom, Hackers cheerleader.  'It's fine to talk about what we could do with all of these extra boys running around, but boys cost money, don't they?  What about m - ?  I mean, what about the rest of the coaching staff?  Are we going to lose ours jobs over this?'

Only one person can answer that question - and that person is the one voted most likely by fans to be out on their ear before the start of next season.

Wednesday 25 August 2010

I'll Get Quicker. I Hope.


It's been fairly slow progress on my test-Wolf tonight.

Rather naively, I had hoped to finish him.  Ha!  No such luck!

The problem I had tonight was getting the shoulder pads right.

Now don't get me wrong, it's not going to take a whole night to paint each Marine's shoulder markings, it's just that tonight I had to paint each one about three times before I got the colour right.

I've finally managed to sort out the colour scheme - I just hope that my painting will get both faster and neater by the time I've finished the army.

If you're interested, the reds were painted with a 2:1 mix of Blood Red and Dark Flesh, followed by a shade of 1:1 Dark Flesh and Chaos Black.  They were then line-highlighted with Blood Red, Blazing Orange and finally, Vomit Brown.

The yellows were given a basecoat of Tausept Ochre and then a 1:1 Tausept Ochre and Golden Yellow mix, finally highlighted with a 1:1:1 mix of the previous layer, plus Skull White...







You may have noticed the greenish non-descript tattoos painted onto his face.  Not entirely sure I'm happy with them (anyone seen Braveheart lately?), but as my army is from Sven Bloodhowl's Great Company, the Codex specifically states that they all tattoo their runes and Sagas across their skin.

As they don't look hideous, I've decided that they'll do.

Hopefully, he'll only take a couple more days to finish as I have a week or so (more like three) of DIY which starts on Saturday - so I'll be spending my time replacing the bathroom instead of painting.

Rubbish!

Never mind, hopefully I'll have earned plenty of hobby time by the time it's done...

Monday 23 August 2010

Bring On The Rats!


I was very excited to find the new White Dwarf on my doorstep this morning - and even more excited after I had taken my first cursory flick through it.

Naturally, given the release of Island of Blood in a few weeks, the majority of the issue focuses on the new Skaven and High Elf miniatures, and very exciting they are too!  I've already picked the Skaven for my next army project once my Space Wolves are finished (not that they ever will be!) and I can't wait to get hold of them.  Still, that's a long time away yet.

Painting-wise, there's a large and varied 'Eavy Metal Masterclass which covers a variety of different subjects, from banners to Space Marine armour to Gretchen skin - far too much to mention here, but I can't wait to sink my painting teeth into what's on offer.

Of course, it's not all been about White Dwarf today.  This evening I've been busy picking away at my 'test' Wolf and the good news is that he's... well... getting there.  Slowly.

Hopefully, a couple more days should have him done!






Although I've got the formula for the Power Armour sorted, I'm still going to go back and neaten it up.  I'm not all that happy with the dry-brushing which I employed in order to save time painting up the huge amount of troops that I hope to field.  However, I'm getting quite quick with my painting now and hopefully, if I layer the highlights instead, it should only take me a day or so longer for each squad.  I hope you'll agree that that'll be well worth it to have a beautiful army on the field.

I decided to paint the accelerator on the plasma pistol green instead of the more common blue because it stands out from the grey of the armour more.  If anyone's interested (and for my own future reference!!), it was painted Dark Angels Green, then Snot Green, followed by Scorpion Green and then highlighted with a 3:1 mix of Skull White and Scorpion Green with an extreme highlight of Skull White.

Oh, and rest assured it was a lot less work than it sounds!

As for the wolf pelts, I painted them very simply with Bestial Brown and gradually built up the highlights to pure Bleached Bone.  I then washed them with Ogryn Flesh and added a Skull White highlight before another wash, this time Gryphonne Sepia.

The actual wolf flesh on the skins and the Marine's tongue were painted with Scab Red and built up to pure Bleached Bone before I added a wash of Leviathan Purple - a wash that I also applied to the golds, after looking at them and deciding that they were a bit too 'fresh from the forge'.  I think that it makes a subtle difference, ageing them up a bit.

I am very happy with things at the moment, but can't wait to get him finished so that I can begin my army in earnest...

Sunday 22 August 2010

Da Red Arra's!!

Well hurrah and hurrah!

That's another fine Blood Bowl team under my belt.  I decided to paint an arrow marking on the armour in the end because I've been lovingly calling these boyz the Red Arra's since before I began painting their red armour.


I'm very impressed with them in the end, despite how tricky it was to get everything just right.


And here they are:














Let me know what you think!

As for my next painting project, I've promised not only myself but my gaming buddy wiredwrong that I'd finally make an effort to get some more of my Space Wolves army painted, so I'll be painting my first pack of Blood Claws over the next couple of weeks.

Of course, updates and pictures will be posted here...

Wednesday 18 August 2010

4-1? Oh, For The Love Of - !

Well, I played another great game of Blood Bowl tonight, but once again, the Green Glade Hackers were completely outclassed by - and by the end of the game, also completely outnumbered by - the Human team we were pitted against.

As you may have already guessed, we lost by a massive 4-1, almost as bad as last game's 5-1 defeat.

We really need to pull ourselves together before we enter October's Bunker Bowl Tournament at the Chelmsford Bunker (http://bunkerassault.co.uk/)!

The game couldn't have started much worse for us, losing our Thrower by the end of our second turn.

Things began to unravel at an amazing pace after that, with one of our two Wardancers being Blitzed to death before we were even near the end of the first half.

We went into the break 2-0 down and managed to score a consolation touchdown early in the second half, but we saw any chance of equalizing slip rapidly away as the Humans scored another two touchdowns in quick succession and another four Wood Elves were killed.

By the end of the game, we were outnumbered two-to-one!

A terrible, terrible day - but then that's Blood Bowl, and even though we were soundly mauled, it was still a lot of fun!

Stay On Target... Stay On Target... Stay - Oops!


Oh well, nearly but not quite.

I had hoped, having set myself a target of getting the Orc Blood Bowl team finished by Friday night, to have finished the teeth and bone on the Orcs tonight, but once more, time has run away with me.

I did manage to finish the Black Orc skin to a standard that I am very pleased with - so pleased in fact that I decided to go back and make a slight tweak to the normal Orc skin.  It is however, so slight that you probably wouldn't notice it in a photograph.

But just in case:


I have simply washed Scab Red and Ogryn Flesh into the recesses of the skin to give it a bit more contrast, but you can barely tell from the pictures, even though in real life, the difference is rather distinct.

Anyway, I have managed to do the Bestial Brown basecoat on the bone and the first highlight of Snakebite Leather - as well as gluing gravel to the bases.  This will be nice and dry for tomorrow, so that I can base them properly after I've added some more highlights to the bone (a 1:1 mix of Snakebite Leather and Bleached Bone, then pure Bleached Bone, then Skull White).

Hopefully, I'll get the bone and the bases finished by the end of tomorrow, but I'm quite busy so we shall have to wait and see.

You can't wait, can you?

Go on, admit it.

You know you can't!

Tuesday 17 August 2010

The Story So Far...

Just a quick update for the night, really.

I've finished the skin of the normal Orc Blood Bowl players, although I didn't get chance to start the Black Orc skin yet - still, probably better to come at if fresh tomorrow...


Not bad at all, and definitely doing a good job of bringing out the reds - although I am leaning more and more towards giving the armour one final highlight of Vomit Brown, or perhaps something even lighter...

With a fair wind and a bit of luck, I should hopefully finish (and start!) the Black Orc skin tomorrow, and maybe even get some other bits and pieces done.

Here's hoping, anyway!

Monday 16 August 2010

Skin and Bone...

Well, at least that's what I was thinking - just paint the Orc skin, the bits of bone, and then (of course) the obligatory tidy-up and bases, and the Orc Blood Bowl team would be done.

However, being a perfectionist (almost) I have decided that evey good Blood Bowl team needs some sort of markings on their armour - That said, my personal Wood Elf team, The Green Glade Hackers, do not have any markings, but that is not to say they aren't 'good' at Blood Bowl, they just don't have any armour.

(Alright!  They aren't any good at Blood Bowl either!)

Still, where was I?  Oh yes, right in the middle of the Orc skin, I suppose.

I just intend to add the final two highlight stages tonight (see my earlier posts if you're interested as to what these will be...) and then hopefully I'll get chance to start on the Black Orc flesh.

As for the markings, I have been lovingly calling these boyz 'The Red Arra's', so don't be surprised if there ends up being something dangerous and pointy painted on them somewhere...

Anyway, here are the latest two stages I've painted on the skin today:





They're really starting to come together now after a few false starts.  I can't wait to get on with them tonight now...!!

Saturday 14 August 2010

Aaaaaand Relax!


Well, with the majority of the tricky bits behind me, save for some tidying up and highlight work, tonight I basecoated the Orc flesh.

What a relief!  This Blood Bowl team will take me up to a grand total of fifty-three Orc/ks painted this year, and I'm quite confident in saying that I've got Orc flesh pretty much sussed.

Okay!  I put my hands up!  It certainly wouldn't stand up in comparison to the work of the Darren Lathams and Anja Wettergrens of this world, but as an... um... enthusiastic wannabe, I don't think I do too badly...

In fact, it is amazing that I've never collected Orcs because I love painting green skin so much!

There are many other things which I find challenging and engaging to paint, but I can think of nothing that is more fun.

Anyhow, so as not to get carried away and risk rushing, I've forced myself to stop at the basecoat for tonight so that I have plenty of time tomorrow to work on the highlights.





Just as a quick update, I painted the metal around the helmets last night and earlier this evening.  I basecoated them with a mix of Boltgun Metal and Badab Black, followed by a wash of Badab Black and thinned Choas Black.  Finally I simply highlighted with Chainmail and then Mithril Silver.

This method, you may note, is a little bit lighter and less 'dirty' than the metallics I painted for my recent Space Ork project.

The reason I went for a cleaner look (outlined in Anja Wttergren's Blood Angels Sergeant Lorenzo 'Eavy Metal Masterclass) is that despite still being Orcs, I felt that a Blood Bowl team's uniforms would be kept a bit more carefully than the armour of a hardened warrior - a bit more razzle-dazzle - or at least as much razzle and dazzle as an Orc can muster.

My plan for the skin (as always) is to begin with a basecoat of Dark Angels Green, followed by a 3:1 mix of Dark Angels Green and Goblin Green.  This will then be followed by a 1:1 mix of the previous colours, working up to approximately 1:3 Dark Angels Green and Goblin Green.  Finally, I'll highlight with pure Goblin Green before adding a hefty touch of Sunburst Yellow for the last, extreme highlight.

Oh, but you may have noticed someone missing...


I'm going to try something new for the Black Orcs, as traditionally their skin is painted a much deeper, more muted shade of green.  I haven't decided on the exact colour mix yet, but no doubt White Dwarf's numerous tutorials will point me in the right direction!!

Hopefully more tomorrow, when I should be at least half way through the skin...

Long Is The Way...


"Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light."
John Milton, Paradise Lost.

A bit dramatic, I admit, but that is certainly how I'm starting to feel about my current painting project.

The problem is, I decided to challenge myself with the two colours that I find the most difficult, red and black.  This was a very brave endeavor, noble even, but I think next time, I'll limit myself to only one 'problem colour' at a time.  That is not to say I'm unhappy with the way it's going at the moment, but I had hoped to have the team finished by Sunday night.  It's now late Friday / early Saturday (depending on how you want to look at it) and I think I'll be lucky to have them finished by next weekend.

Thankfully, both the reds and the blacks are almost finished, but there's still some work to do yet before I'm completely satisfied.

If you've read any of my previous posts, you'll be well aware of the work that's already gone into the Orc Blood Bowl team's red armour.  I cannot however be quite as precise about the black!

The cloth on these Orcs consists of a heady mixture of Chaos Blacks, mixes of Regal Blue, washes of Chaos Black, Badab Black and - yes - Regal Blue again.  I have some extreme highlights of Space Wolves Grey thrown in there as well, in-between all of those washes, and now I have decided to take a break and move on to the metallics and the flesh - which will then allow me to finish off what I've done so far with some sort of perspective.

Anyway, here they are at the moment:






I think I'm going to need a holiday soon!

Wednesday 11 August 2010

Red Dread: Redemption.

Time's up!  Stop writing and put your pens down!

The reds are as done as they will be until the final touch-up phase.

As with the blacks that I did on the Human Blood Bowl team recently, until I start to get more colour onto the miniatures, I can't really judge the contrast on the reds any more accurately.

I think they'll look great against the bright green skin, so I'm going to leave it at that until I have something else to judge against.

I'm very pleased with the way that they look so far, if a little bit disappointed with how long they've taken me - still, the end result is the key and not the time taken!



Tonight I will start (and hopefully finish) the black areas, which, despite the length of time taken on the Black Omegas, are relatively simple compared to the red armour!

Best laid plans and all that.

I'm sure you'll hear about it all soon!

Red Rum! Red Rum!

Aaaaaaargh!  It was there!  It was - well, almost there, and then I got a bit too clever for my own good and messed it up!

Not fatally, but enough to add another day to the reds!

That's right, the reds still aren't finished.  This is slowly becoming a record.

I decided to redden the reds even more by applying a thin glaze of Blood Red to the finished armour.

Ooh, I though, that looks lovely.  Let's do a bit more, not stopping to consider that I was essentially washing a lighter colour into the recesses.

The first coat looked nice.  The second looked hideous.  Basically, the shaded parts of the armour were the lightest bits!

Next time, I need to just leave things alone.

Never mind though, all is not lost!

It turns out that the armour looks very nice (and finished!) if I finally do the Vomit Brown highlight and then wash pure Baal Red over the armour...


A bit of a Before-and-After example there.  If you're wondering, the 'good' one is the one on the right!

Anyway, too late to do any more now, so off to bed and fingers crossed that after tomorrow I may be able to paint something other than bleeding red!

Monday 9 August 2010

Redlock.

It's been a few days since I last added any updates, but unfortunately I've been wading through a soggy mire of reds and oranges.

The Orc Blood Bowl team that I'm painting at the moment is going to have a deep red armour, with black cloth and some tainted metal decoration.  Apart from the flesh, which I always prefer to do last, red is the most prominant colour on the Orcs, so I decided to start with that...

I started three days ago.

Don't get me wrong, it's all going very well, but large areas of red are fairly new to me - small details, Space Marine auspexes, Orc/k eyes, yeah - I can do them very comfortably.  But to get a strong red takes me a lot of work...

And the work is still on-going:







With a bit of luck, all that remains in a final hard-edge highlight of Vomit Brown, but here's how I got to where I'm at now:

  • Two thin coats of Mechrite Red were followed by...
  • A wash of Asurmen Blue into the recesses of the armour...
  • Then a highlight using a 1:1 mix of Mechrite Red and Blazing Orange...
  • And a highlight of pure Blazing Orange after that.
  • Then came a highlight of 1:1 Blazing Orange and Vomit Brown...
  • And finally, two coats of Baal Red Wash.
I'm still applying the wash to some of the miniatures (I'm waiting for the first coat to dry on a few of them at the moment...), so I'm off to finish that now and then hopefully I should get the final highlight done by the end of tomorrow.

Goodnight for now!

Friday 6 August 2010

Who Loves Babylon 5?


Alright then, who likes Babylon 5?

[sigh]  Fine then!  Who's seen Babylon 5?

Well, I love it, so I don't care what you think!

Anyway, what on earth has that got to do with Blood Bowl, I hear you ask?

A very good question, I reply.  I shall tell you...

I've finished painting the Human Blood Bowl team, and if I do say so myself, I think they look awesome.

I was wondering what kind of markings to put on the team and was having a look through some of my old transfers, thinking about their black armour and found -

Well, remember the Psi-Corps?  And Mister Bester?  And his personal Star Fury squadron?

Well, I give you...





THE BLACK OMEGAS!



Oh alright, they're upside-down Ultramarines logos, but they work pretty damned well, I reckon!












Now just for those pesky Orcs...

Thursday 5 August 2010

Never Feed Them After Midnight.


I recently commented on a friend's blog that I always make it a point never to do the final touch-up phase of my miniatures last thing at night -  I'm tired, I'm rushing, I'm desperate to get them finished.

If I don't leave them and come back fresh the next morning, I can guarantee that I'll miss something important, only to notice it once the varnish has settled.

At the moment, I'm rueing this rather honourable commitment as I'm so close to finishing the Human Blood Bowl team:






Even now, I've already edged the bases with Goblin Green (the first of two thin coats, at least), so I just need to check them over thoroughly and add the transfers - numbers on the bases, and the team logo on their chests.

Team logo, I hear you ask, what team logo?

Well, I'm going to - ah, but that would be telling!  I'll leave you all guessing for another night - but let's just say, there is going to be a definite nod and a wink to Babylon 5...

Hopefully, by the time you read my next post, they'll be finished!