Perhaps I Should Have Painted Instead...

Oh well, after a rather lacklustre, if not disastrous England game last night, I'm left feeling rather glad I didn't give myself a hangover today.  It really would not have been worth the effort.

At least I was cheered up somewhat this morning by getting a bit of time to do the much-needed tidying up on Njal's armour.  I'm still not one hundred percent convinced, but it does look much better now and I'm looking forward to hopefully getting some time to do the first highlight coat tonight:

And finally, here are some pictures of the Nobz so far...

This first step on the skin is a simple coat of Dark Angels Green.  After that, the remaining stages are:

3:1  Dark Angels Green / Goblin Green.

1:1  Dark Angels Green / Goblin Green.

3:1  Goblin Green / Dark Angels Green.

Goblin Green.

2:1 (Approx) Sunburst Yellow / Goblin Green.

I certainly won't get chance to do all that tonight - in fact, with working on Njal as well, I only expect to complete the 3:1 DAG / GG layer.

Either way, I hope to have the Nobz done before next Friday.

Njal is a different story...

It'll Look Good When It's Finished. Honestly.

Well, the beer is chilled and waiting, so it's a night off the painting tonight - I've tried painting after a few drinks before and it's a very, very bad thing...

I'm quite nervous about Njal at the moment.  I've added the shading layer, but he's not looking very neat.  Hopefully, tomorrow night after I've tidied him up a bit, it'll be a different story, but I have to remember that most of the miniatures I paint look shocking until the final painting stage, sometimes even until the varnish stage.  Well actually, they sometimes look shocking full-stop, but hopefully not this one.

As for the Ork Nobz, the Dark Angels Green basecoat is done, so just another five stages left...

And now for a beer...

Deff Koptas and a Spot of Redecorating...

I had a few spare minutes this morning, so as well as finishing off the black on the Nobz with a final (thinned, this time) wash of Badab Black, I did a spot of redecorating on this blog - I think the background and colours are all suitably Fenrisian!

The Nobz are now quite happily drying in time for me to start on the Orky flesh tonight.  I think that I've built up quite a lot of momentum with them, and this may be why I have already clipped, cleaned and glued the main body of the three Ork Deff Koptas which are next on the Black Reach painting list.

Well, I say 'momentum', but it might be something to do with the fact that there's a certain low-key sporting event starting today and I am anticipating that I might not get quite as much time to paint over the next few weeks...

Paint It Black.

Another successful day for the Orks today as I managed to finish their white tops and all of the black straps and rucksacks, etc - barring one liberal wash of Badab Black to finish off.

In the end, I only went with one wash of Gryphonne Sepia on the white tops because I thought they looked quite good as they were (although I still did the final Skull White highlight as well):

On the Njal front, I decided to hold off on (or bottled) the second stage of the Terminator Armour in favour of another very thin layer of the basecoat, as it was looking a little bit patchy in places.  With any luck I'll manage to get the shading done tomorrow night - and then no doubt I'll need to re-apply some more of the basecoat around the carved runes - they're so small that not even a Fine Detail brush could get in there without touching the sides.

Most of all, I'm looking forward to finishing the black on the Nobz tomorrow, as then the fun bit starts - the Orky skin...

Steaming Through.

I'm very happy with the rate at which I'm getting through the Ork Nobz today.

I have managed to finish all of the browns and have moved onto the white tops.

If anyone is interested, this is how I painted the brown:

Scorched Brown.
Devlan Mud wash.
Bestial Brown.
1:1 Bestial Brown / Snakebite Leather.
Snakebite Leather.
Thin Devlan Mud wash.
Re-apply Snakebite Leather highlight.

And if anyone is STILL interested in this blog after that, this is how I'm doing the whites:

Space Wolves Grey.
Two applications of Ogryn Flesh wash.
2:1 Ogryn Flesh / Space Wolves Grey.
2:1:1 Ogryn Flesh / Space Wolves Grey / Skull White.
Skull White highlight.
Two applications of Gryphonne Sepia.
Re-apply the Skull White highlight.

So far, I've just applied the second coat of Ogryn Flesh and will let that dry overnight:

Meanwhile, I managed to apply the first layer onto Njal Stormcaller last night - a 1:1:1 mix of Kommando Khaki, Shadow Grey and Space Wolves Grey.

The next coat, due tonight, was a 1:1 mix of Scorched Brown and Shadow Grey to be carefully painted as a shade along the joins in the armour.  I didn't get time to do this tonight though, as I was quite haphazard with the first coat (I always am, I don't really see a reason not to be) and I thought I should neaten it up a little before doing the next, rather tricky part.  So, that said, I spent the rest of tonight painting Chaos Black onto all of the various runes and teeth and bits of fur where I had painted outside the lines:

But there he is, proof that I've now actually started my Space Wolves army.  Rooooooaaaaaaar!

So Far So Good...

Well, the plan is almost coming together for tonight.

I've finished the Orky armour and the first two stages of the brown (and uploaded pictures!!):

I hope you'll agree that so far, they're looking pretty nice.  The black and white markings are quite good I think in that they don't immediately jump out at you, but they aren't too muted either.

And who's this ckeeky chappy hiding behind a paint pot...?

Yes, it is indeed Njal, undercoated and waiting for the first coat on his armour!  It's not looking like a very auspicious start for him (hiding and all), but I promise that the paint pot is in fact only holding him in place while the glue dries on his temporary base.

It should be set by now, so I'm just about to go off and do a 1:1:1 coat of Kommando Khaki, Shadow Grey and Space Wolf Grey on the Terminator armour.  Detail brush all the way on this one, I think.

Wish me luck as I put my first dab of paint on my Space Wolf army...!!!

To Glyph or Not To Glyph?

Glyph.

In the end I decided to add a couple of black and white markings onto the shoulders of the Ork Nobz - although as with the Boyz, they'll be very muted once all the Devlan Mud washes are on.

Speaking of which, the last wash is drying now, so hopefully tonight I'll be able to finish off the metal with a drybrush of Chainmail - and then it'll be brown trousers time, literally.

I undercoated Njal yesterday and have borrowed the base from the Black Reach Warboss while I get him painted.  I had hoped to make a start on the Terminator Armour last night, but got a bit sidetracked.  Depending how quickly it all goes tonight, here is the plan:

1 - Drybrush the metal on the Nobz.
2 - Paint the brown areas on them with Scorched Brown.
3- Wash the same areas with Devlan Mud.
4- While that dries, do the first coat on Njal's Terminator Armour, using the 'Eavy Metal Masterclass for the Wolf Guard.
5 - Get some pictures on the Blog!

I know that I'm probably not going to manage all of that, but I'll definitely give it a go...