Slaughterpriest (Part 2)

"Bloody skulls for the bloody guy!!!"

Sounds like I have a decent war cry for this giant Cult Leader, even though I have yet to come up with a name for him. I have, between projects, managed to slap some color onto him however. First I primed the model in Chaos Black spray and then I worked on the foundation coloring for the base.

Primed and color on the base.

Following the steps I pulled from a White Dwarf (and first used by me on my Bolt Action British Infantry) for painting Caucasian flesh, I based coated the fleshy bitz in Bugman's Glow.

Bugman's Glow basecoat on skin.

And followed it up with a coat of Cadian Fleshtone.

 Cadian Fleshtone coat.

This was followed by a sloppy wash of Reikland Fleshtone ink. Also, you might notice in these pics that I was painting up the skulls on this miniature during these stages as well.

Reikland Fleshtone wash.

Next, I wanted to get some of the other areas painted before putting the final colors of flesh on the model. Mostly because I wanted to avoid getting any other color on it. First, I used scab red as a basecoat for the armor. I am going to the paint the armor bits so that they are uniform (in color, not quite style) with the Khorne Berserkers  that I have been working on. I am resisting the temptation to leave him like this...I think that scab red works really well on this guy!

I then painted Balthasar Gold on the areas that will be golden/bronze.

That's it for now, I should have this chap finished soon.

Original Ork Dreadnought (Part 5)

My Dreadtober project is now finished, and with a few days in October to spare! Hooray!

Finished and ready to Waaargh!

The following is from the battle report in the post called The Rise of Mad Dok Grotsnik Part-2.

Now, this Deff Dread was the original, circa 1988, Ork Dreadnought. It is piloted by a gretchin. The original idea was that in a cruel experiment a Pain Boy and Mek Boy would partner up and stuff a grot into one of these things, and the crazed power-tripping grot would wreck everything in it's path. The next Ork Dreadnought models came out in 2nd edition and featured an Ork Pilot, and was also bigger to accommodate the large passenger. The 3rd edition dred would only get bigger, and with the current plastic model the size difference is quite laughable! In fact, the grot concept is back in the form of Killer Kans, and we all know, they rock, and they are bigger than this original model. But I don't care, as it still does what it does, and I have it on the proper sized base. I decided that when I paint these (I have two of them and they are both armed the same) I will do them in Bad Moon colors. Maybe the extra wealth of that clan can afford the 'miniaturization' of technology?

That was written a few years ago, and as you can see I had the intention for a long time to make these dreads into Bad Moon Dreads. And, now, finally, I have completed the first one!

Finished! Frontview.

As stated at the end of Part 4, I was inspired by the abandoned construction machinery across the road from my home. Especially inbthe way it was weathering. I applied some rust spots to this dread using a mix of Apple Barrel Indian Red and Folk Art Asphaltum. I watered them slightly to get the color thinned so that it pool on the model's surface. This achieved a very natural looking effect to me and I am pleased with how it look.

Left side view.

I was careful not to be overly liberal with the application of this rust color so as not to overwhelm the model. I wanted to keep it subtle.

Rearview.

I then used Mitheral Silver, an ancient Citadel color, to apply stratches and scrapes in the paint. I put them in areas that I thought would most likely make contact with something.

Rightside view.

Lastly I flocked the base, took the whole model outside and sprayed it with a finish. It was a beautiful day out so I chose to take advtage of it and take some natural lighting pics.

And with that, Dreadtober is a wrap! It was a lot of fun and I am glad I participated even though the Dreadtober site never added this blog to it's blog roll or myself to it's participant list.* A minor, though disappointing, quibble. Maybe next year?

But do I really want to wait until next year for this Dread's companion to be done? Hmmm...

*Looking at the email I sent, it appears I had a typo in the email address. Oops! I didn't get a failed message alert so I bet whomever got that email was confused as heck! LOL! 

Street Lights. People.

Hello.

"Heeey... wanna date?"

The majority of the battle reports I have written for this blog were played at our local Hobby Town USA in Johnson City Tennessee. The vast bulk of the scenery was painted by a HT staffer (Patrick) and a few other volunteers. I worked there briefly in 2015 also but I never had the opportunity to paint any of the scenery. I decided to change that, albeit in a small way, and brought home three of the single lamp posts that someone had mounted onto 25mm bases.

I painted them up quickly, but carefully to get a clean and effective look. I used Apple Barrel Forest Green as the base color over a black primer. Um, not sure what I used to dry brush over this but I think it was Straken Green. Then I concentrated on the details, particularly the 'light', which I built up using four tones of yellow. I believe I did a decent job capturing a 'light' effect here (eat your heart out Kincade!).

After that, I splashed on some orange and brown inks for rust and wear. And that was pretty much it.

 It's a small contribution, I know, but it's a contribution never-the-less and I hope to paint something else for our gaming tables. Getting these to Hobbytown so players can use them, well that's another challenge. So will be living through the stream of Space Wolf piss jokes I am about to be hammered with....

Nik Fury -Rogues Gallery Spotlight.

Here is an oldy! We continue Orkober with another showcase from the Neverness Rogues Gallery.

Way back in 1989, the summer that the first plastic Space Ork boxed set was released, Doc TSG was at my house while I was building some orks. And he got in on the action and built this guy. He made the cigar from a bit of sprue and we dubbed him Nik Fury as a result. 

Nikk Fury. Leada of Da Howl'n Kommandos. 

He cobbled together the craziest kustom kombi-weapon for this model. The Dr has always had a gift for crazy kustom ork weapons, and I regret that I have no pics to show you some more examples of this fact. This particular one is a twin-linked plasma pistol combo mounted onto an axe. Not sure if that was meant to be a power axe or not.

His other arm is the classic power klaw from that set, and I still think that it is probably one of the best bitz GW ever produced. This model was painted while still living in East Anglia in the early '90s, and although most of this scheme is quite dated by my current ork paint scheme standards, I really dig how that klaw still looks. If I recall, I tried to get the metal to look mostly like an old copper penny. And I had a limited selectuon of paints to use at the time. I based it with Terracotta from the Space Marine Paint Set, and likely dry brushed it with Snakebite Leather before giving a wash of Brown ink. I think I used Chainmail to dry brush over this for the final effect. Simple stuff really. I never did anything with bases back then as I just didn't know how to do them. It took me a few years to figure out how, and I just never went back to my old miniatures (like this one) to get them caught up.

A wicked a lethal (for he user) Kustom Kombi Weapon. 

That original boxed set came with a plethora of accessories, many of which remain in my bitz bin to this day.  Some of the more memorable bitz were the stick bombs, pouches, and even a trenching shovel for digging in!

Geared up! 

He was never an army leader or anything too awesome, but he has been instrumental in some games for either tying up the enemy or outright killing someone important. But most remember him for the zany conversion or the cool name.

UPDATE: Here is the long lost pic of the time Nik Fury, a nob, defeated an opposing Ork Warlord, the nefarious Masta Cheef himself! Thank to the Da Masta Cheef for reminding me of this event.

Da Masta Cheef defeated by Nik Fury.

Original Ork Dreadnought (Part 4)

"Oy, 'hoo ya call'n yeller?!"

The current stage of this model.

Since the Part 3 I have made significant progress on this project. The Grot pilot is now finished. Adter inking him, he was given a highlight of Apple Barrel Kiwi follow by an extreme highlight of Sunburst Yellow.

Finished ork skin.

Then I finished the details like his eyes and wires.

Eyes and wires.

With the grot pilot done, focus returned back to the main model. Bad Moon Yellow, an awesome old Citadel paint from the '90s, was lined around the edges as a highlight.

The original Bad Moon Yellow.

Additional low lights of Firey Orange was reapplied to the grooves that were accidentally painted over. Some of the metallic areas were painted as well. I reached a point where I felt it was time to reattach it's arm, and ta-da, it was whole again. All in all, it's getting there and I am pleased with the progress and the relative speed at which I have painted this.

Re-armed.

But I don't want this thing to look like it just got painted before the battle started (we aren't played 2nd edition anymore, right?) so I want it to appear worn and chipped. I found inspiration just outside the window. Across the street from the shotgun shack we live in, is a failed development. On it there is a piece industrial machinery that has not moved in years, and it just so happens to be in a workzone yellow color. The aging on it is worth studying as is the wear on the paint and on the hydraulic cables. We shall see where this inspiration takes my Dreadnought next...

Abandoned construction equipment near my home.

Ror Ruk the Ravager: Rogues Gallery Spotlight

Hello again, and happy Orktober. "Wait Neverness,  don't you mean Dreadtober?" Yes, it is that also, which is why my Dreadtober project is an Original Ork Dreadnought. Figured I could kill two razorwings with one stone with that choice, right? It also has given me an excuse to fill out some of the incomplete listings on the Neverness Rogues Gallery page, in particular the Ork entries.

Rok Ruk! 

First up is Ror Ruk the Ravager, also known as Ror Ruk the Reaver, has been my Ork Warlord as far back as 1989. His original model was the Chaos Ork Renegade miniature which at the time was the tallest ork mini on the market. With the change in ork sizes brought on by 40k's 3rd edition, I updated the miniature to this model. I am still quite proud of it.

Right away people tend to comment on his Attack Squig, whose part is played by a Dark Eldar slave from the old Asdrubal Vect model. I confess that I was inspired by Peter Jackson's King Kong movie at the time I assembled this model. I tried to make it come across as if perhaps the big lug is looming over her protectively while she puts on the charms to her would be rescuer. You know, a "save me -if you can" vibe. At one point I flirted with the notion to go with a Stockholm Syndrome theme and have it so she painted her skin green, but I was afraid she would just turn out looking like an Orion Slave Girl from Star Trek.

The dread klaw.

The klaw is from the 3rd edition-era Ork Dreadnought, which I ordered back when GW's Bitz Program was still a thing. It's really very big but not so big as to look stupid. In the next pic you can see an old communicator on the klaw's base. It is from the RTB01 Space Marine kit, and it is there to cover up a hole left over from joining the pieces up. I think it turned out quite well for such an unsophisticated fix. The arm that it's attached to originally had an Attack Squig on it, but I was careful enough with cutting it off that I was able to make it into it's own model.

Mystery guns.

Am I the only one who has ever wondered about those two guns holstered on the back of all the Ork Warlords? Exactly what are they, and why have they always been ignored by GW as far as WYSIWYG rules are concerned.

It's been a few years now and I think he turned out great and has held up well. He hasn't been on the tabletop in while but that is more to blame due to that horrible 7th ed Codex than anything else. Hopefully Ror Ruk will see the tabletop again soon, where he will bash more 'eads and ravage more cities.

Or die trying.

Again.

Original Ork Dread (Part 3)

More progress has been made on this grot driven Ork Dreadnought.

It's current state.

The pilot was given a coat of Goblin Green over the Caliban Green basecoat.

Goblin Green on a Grot.

Next, I painted the whole dread in Sunburst Yellow.

Sunburst yellow.

I then mixed Yellow Ink with Green Ink until it was approximately the color of anti-freeze. I thinned that with a dot or two of water and proceeded to wash the grot with it.

Yellow/green ink mix.

I then picked out some areas with Abaddon Black. These will likely end up a metallic color. I also painted up the base a bit more too.

Black base coats.

I next painted the weapons and the inside area where the grot sits using Tin Bitz. I also used a dark blue to pick out the windows as well. (Do they have grot glass blowers?)

Tin bitz on select metal bitz.

And that is all for now!

Original Ork Dread (Part 2)

When we left off in part 1 of this Dreadtober project, I had just completed the modeling of the base. This is it's current state:

Base coated.

After priming the model using only the finest of primers (Chaos Black in a spray can) I proceeded to basecoat the grot "pilot" using Caliban Green.

Pilot base coated.

I then worked on the base by getting the dirt and rocks mostly finished.

Bases painted

Then I moved on to basecoating the whole model using Fiery Orange. I applied the first coat (in the pic below) a bit too thin so I added about 2 more layers on top of this. There was far too much black showing thru for my liking.

Fiery Orange layer.

And that is where it's at. I know, it's not dramatic progress,  but hobby time has been limited. So I will use the remainder of this space to get a bit notalgic. I wanted to see painted examples of this model simply because it is so old and weird that I was (and am) unsure what's what on it. Luck would have it that GW showcased this in an early '90's 'eavy Metal article that showcased Dreadnoughts. And, bonus points, it's in Badmoon colors!

Badmoon dread (and more) by the 'eavy Metal team.

Note that this example has longer and taller legs than the one I am painting. And a back banner. I have decided not to fool with a banner -at least for now! The early Ork Dreads were often modeled with the hatch on the driver's heads, as if to imply that they were peaking out. This carried over to the 2nd Edition Ork Dreadnought also, and I just never really liked it. Althougb I find this image inspiring, this era of Ork paint schemes never truly grabbed me because I found them to be too clean, a bit 'clownish', and not gritty enough for how I envisaged the Space Ork Raiders. The model I am painting should come out quite a bit more battle-scarred then this example. Hopefully. It definitely won't have red claws!

Also, no way could I move on without mentioning that Blood Angel Dreadnought; I have always kind of adored this version with the stubby legs. And missile launcher was also my favorite gun option for it too.

Options, lots of options.

This is a catalogue entry displaying the various components. All the Ork Heavy Weapons of the era could work with it's weapon mounts. The miniatures I got however both had the same options in their respective blister packs (lascannon and Heavy Flamer), and they have performed decently for me over the decades so I haven't seen a justification for switching them out.

Seriously, what's with the red claws?

As you can see in this image, and the one below, the model was sold as both the two armed version (killer kan?) and as a four armed expansion pack. By the time I got them I was living back here in the States,  and GW US was selling them in a combined pack.

A snip from the original White Dwarf ad.

I still really like that red scheme! It was a pre-clan-era scheme, and it's a shame it didn't stick around. It contrasts well with the green skin of the orks.

I hope you enjoyed the flash back, hopefully soon I will have more progress on the model to show you. Till then, WAAAAARGH!

Original Ork Dread (Part 1)

Happy Dreadtober! I have decided to tackle this old -very old- and truly venerable, Ork Dreadnought model. I have two of these actually, obtained from a '90s blister blowout deal that GW US used to offer (those were the days!). It's definitely way over due for some paint.

A veteran of many wars.

This particular model has gotten slightly banged up. As you can see one of it's arms is detached. I recall glueing this thing together fairly fast as I needed it for a game almost as soon as I got it, so there were some mold lines/flash that I had to scrape off. And way back then GW did not make round bases bigger than 25mm, so when 3rd edition came around I had to use an Epic Titan base. They were too thin to utilize the foot peg, so I just glued the square base to the round base with plans to green stuff away the joins.

Base construction (front).

Which is what I did here. I also glued on some rocks and dead Eldar parts (the best kind!) in order to make it appear that this machine is stomping through a debris strewn battlefield.

Base construction (back).

And finally I added the grit.

Grit added to the base.

Then I took it outside and primed it. And that is where we leave this thing for now. Stay tuned for more!