My Assault on Assault on Black Reach Part 11

From Mars' Project Blog

From Mars' Project Blog

Got some work done on the dread this weekend. I even found a few spare bits from a Dark Angels sprue I must have had at some point, to spruce it up. I am a pretty big fan of dreds, and am really enjoying painting this.

On Friday, right before I got off work, I was talking some terrain with Magnus from Magnus' Project Log. I got home and decided I should paint on some of the stacks of plastic craters I had sitting in my game room/storage building, affectionately referred to as, "The Shed". When Planet Strike first came out, before any reviews hit, I had preordered and paid for the crap-terrain-crater-things. They had been sitting around collecting dust,because they pissed me off. Anyway, I sat on my porch with some big brushes and listened to the Mariners game. It turned out alright (The painting, not the game. The game was dismal with the Mariners sucking it up as usual...)

From Mars' Project Blog

From Mars' Project Blog

From Mars' Project Blog

Thanks for reading,
T

A Whole Grip o' Stuff

From Mars' Project Blog

I am elated, and more than a little proud, to show off this Njal. I didn't do it, my younger brother did. I used to call him my little brother, but he is taller than me, so I had to switch up to "younger". Anyway, I think this model is an awesome achievement, as I can remember just a few months back as I sat with him and showed him the basics of line-highlighting and blending. He has made an incredible leap with this model, and I am proud of him. Here is a few more pics:

From Mars' Project Blog

From Mars' Project Blog

Still more "stuff" amidst our whole grip is that myself and some old, and new friends, are kicking off another Planetary Empires campaign. I am using the same tiles I did a year or so back. I snapped a few quick shots of them reconfigured for this planet, before they become all worn-torn and grim-dark-dark-grimness as our battles rage across them:

From Mars' Project Blog

From Mars' Project Blog

Lastly, I am still plugging away at my AoBR project. I started on the dred, but might change to the tac squad if they are better suited for our club's next painting challenge. Speaking of that, there were some pretty cool entries listed this month, so if you have a second and a yuku account, go here and vote for what ya like.

Thanks for reading,
T

My Assault on Assault on Black Reach Part 10

From Stuff I Have Painted: Space Marines

From Stuff I Have Painted: Space Marines

From Stuff I Have Painted: Space Marines

Company Master Brother Nemiel ready to assault Black Reach. In all I am pretty happy with him. There were a few areas that could have used a little more, but my deadline and sanity demand that I move on. I was stoked with the way the sword came out. I was trying to keep it as black as possible as I wanted him to have one of the Dark Angel's sacred blades. Enough talk, though some more pices. Including some of the termies and my damnable banner.

From Stuff I Have Painted: Space Marines

From Stuff I Have Painted: Space Marines

From Stuff I Have Painted: Space Marines

Thanks for reading,
T

My Assault on Assault on Black Reach Part 9

From Mars' Project Blog

From Mars' Project Blog

I am within striking distance of finishing this guy. He ended up being pretty time consuming with all the free-handing. I put in quite a few hours this weekend in order to meet my game club's deadline. So I should be able to make it barring anything catastrophic.

I am not a fan of the sculpted banner. The detail sculpted on is nice because you don't have to free-hand paint it. But then you run into the conflict of pretending it isn't raised, since the design would be flat on the banner, or highlighting it like all the other raised areas on the model. One way or another, I felt like it was discordant. When I highlighted the raised part it made the banner look like it was supposed to have raised areas of the design, and then when I opted not to, which was my final choice, it looks like it needs more highlighting. Cest la ve.

Thanks for reading,
T

Made the Honor Roll

I am stoked! I am a pretty avid follower of SCWH and so I was really excited to see that my little corner of the interwebz got some love from them. (Edit-I didn't get how it worked, so I thought I didn't make it, but in the comments I was set straight! -T). Thanks for the nod SCWH! And keep up the amazing work, whatever the future shape of it may be.

In a blog related side note, I was able to sport my Massive Voodoo t-shirt yesterday. It is officially the most expensive t-shirt I have ever purchased, since you pay almost as much as the shirt to have it shipped to the states. But I am something of a fan of this amazing blog, so it was easily reconciled. In an odd twist, I wore it all day, and didn't paint a single bit..."It's like ray-hey-aaaainnnnn..."

Thanks for reading,
T

My Assault on Assault on Black Reach Part 8

From Mars' Project Blog

Got a little work in on my Company Master last night. I got all the shading done via washes. I may brush in some actual paint shading, but we will see. These colors are light and dark enough, respectively, that I should be able to get away with a few washes.

From Mars' Project Blog

At the end of the allotted paining time I decided to do so some finishing work. I had to block this guy in with color completely because I wasn't sure how everything would look. With that done, and him shaded, I could start my usual inside-to-out method. I thought I would finish the flesh colors of his face and his hair.

From Mars' Project Blog

I am eager to get further under way on this guy. I am hoping I can break off a large chunk of time this week, but if not there is the weekend.

Thanks for reading,
T

My Assault on Assault on Black Reach Part 7

From Mars' Project Blog

In hopes of competing in my club's next painting challenge which is due in 10 days, I blocked in all the color on this guy over the weekend. Shamefacedly, I admit that it being due in ten days means I am already down to the wire with how slow I paint. Although I was going to save him for last, the captain from Assault on Black Reach works for my current project, and the club challenge, so he got called up early.

This captain is a Company Master in the Dark Angels 'dex. He can't actually have a power weapon and bolter as a load out, so that is just one big and fancy bolt pistol. I wanted the project to be Dark Angels from the 5th Company so I did the banner and cape to match the badge of the 5th.

From Mars' Project Blog

From Mars' Project Blog

Because there is going to be so much going on with this model, I wanted to block in all my colors, including the base for a lot of the free-handing. I will shade and paint over a lot of it, but the guide helps me out and gives me a basis to go over when it comes time to polish up and line the free-handing for a "finished" look. The nice part about getting it down early is that you will get some color variation and shading on the free-handing just by merit of shading the garment the free-handing is on, so it adds more depth to the work.

From Mars' Project Blog

With all the base colors blocked in I will get cracking on finishing this guy up. 10 days here we go!

Thanks for reading,
T

My Assault on Assault on Black Reach Part 6

From Stuff I Have Painted: Space Marines

Brother-Sergeant Leonis and his Deathwing are ready to assault Black Reach...kind of. While the painting is done, I still need to add decals (Which I am waiting on from Forge World.) as well as some static grass. After that I will give them a shot of dull coat to even out the shine on them. Anyway, here are a few more pics:

From Stuff I Have Painted: Space Marines

From Stuff I Have Painted: Space Marines

From Stuff I Have Painted: Space Marines

Sorry about the crap pics. I am not able to set up my portable light box atm, but I will give them a proper shoot as soon as I can. I used flesh to highlight the reds, and I am not any more crazy about it then progressing up through orange. I am still questing for red highlights I like.

Thanks for reading,
T

My Assault on Assault on Black Reach Part 5

From Mars' Project Blog

BONE DONE! Little excited about this...obviously. The complete build was a Dheneb Stone base, wash with Gryphonne Sepia, another wash in the recesses with Ogryn Flesh, reclaimed the major areas of the model with a mix of Bleached Bone and Dheneb Stone (50/50), a line highlight of Bleached Bone, and finally a very thin line highlight of Skull White. In all it was a time consuming process, but I think the final result was worth it. Good thing I would only have to use this color build on a small selection of models if I pressed forward with this army past the AoBR set.

From Mars' Project Blog

From Mars' Project Blog

Lastly, I decided to give a go at the crackling-energy effect on a power weapon.

From Mars' Project Blog

I have a long way to go, but I think I got the basics down so I am hoping they will look a little better the more I do. Practice makes perfect and all that.

Thanks for reading,
T

My Assault on Assault on Black Reach Part 4

From Mars' Project Blog

Just a quick update. Spent a lot of time blending the bone armor, I need to remember how I used to do it quickly. A lot of the time was because I would get fixated on certain areas and then all hung up. For me, the more I mess with something, it seems the worse it gets. At some point I could just here my mother's chastising voice saying, "Don't pick at it."

From Mars' Project Blog

Anyway, got the inside colors like the silver metallic, flesh on the sgt, and the black done. In the name of speed and sanity I will line highlight the bone armor and leave it be. After the armor is completed this group should wrap pretty quickly and I can be on to the next.

Thanks for reading,
T