2018 Year End Review

As is now the tradition here at the Hobby Chronicle, we shall look back on the projects and miniatures that I actually managed to finish in 2018.

Before I get into that though, let's review what I said a year ago in regards to my expectations for 2018: "Lots of Daemons and some Space Wolves."

Hmm... well I definitely painted and built some Space Wolves and we'll look at some of those in minute. Despite my strong desire and serious intention of doing stuff with my Chaos Daemons, I just didn't get any of them completed this past year. Other things seemed to take priority. So let's look at those other things and see what I did get accomplished:

THE SNOWY RUINS
I decided, almost on a whim, that I really needed to contribute to the local gaming store's scenery. So I painted one of the donated models that was there for use with the snowy board that we sometimes use. I think it turned out quite well. The Snowy Ruins is now located at the Hobbytown USA store in Johnson City TN for you to game on if ever you are in town and needed to get a game in.


SPACE WOLF IRON PRIEST

Next up saw the completion of the Space Wolves Iron Priest that I had started a long time ago as part of a painting competition at a local store. This was a very hard and challenging model to paint and build, but ultimately I am pleased with the outcome. I look forward to getting him into battle at some point.




C3 STRIKE TROOPERS

Beyond the Gates of Antares. Very fun game to play and I enjoy the setting quite a bit. It's a refreshing contrast from 40K and has a good vibe to it. Inspired by a game I played at the time I was able to complete these five c3 Strike Troopers. I have every intention of doing more soon. I have photos saved from my stage by stage paint and build of the Concord drones, but they were lost in November when my phone bricked itself. And no, I 'm not over it and I will continue to lament on this tragedy...

SPACE WOLF SCOUT GUNNER

There is a whole squad of nearly completed Space Wolf Scouts, however I only managed to complete one guy in 2018, and he was started over a decade ago. The rest of the Space Wolf Scouts are almost done, just need to get my focus back on them.








HARLEQUIN MIMES

March was Mime TIme, these were the two models that I made specifically for Shadow War: Armageddon (remember that?) that I guess are just going to be basic Troupers now.

CELESTIAL LIONS LANDSPEEDER

This was a big multi-part project for me, and I am very pleased with how it turned out. It is a fully magnetic Land Speeder Tornado, with all the weapon options available for change out. It's a lot of fun to play with, even though I only got to use it in one Kill Team game prior to the new edition of Kill Team coming out. I am determined to get this into battle again at some point...

GOFF ORKS


I had a nostalgic flight of fancy to try to paint one of the old 2nd edition era plastic Goff Boyz like John Blanche painted them on the cover of the Warhammer 2nd Edition box. I got the Goff Boy finished, but haven't managed to complete the other six miniatures yet.








DARK ELDAR ARCHON

The Dark Eldar of the Obsidian Rose continue to entice me to paint them. I really enjoy these guys and I love that paint scheme. This Archon painted up surprisingly fast and I love how it turned out. This is the first, and so far only, fully Finecast model that I have ever painted, and it was alright.







DARK ELDAR VENOM

Probably my favorite Dark Eldar model so far (as far as my painting and modeling has resulted anyway), the Venom was a very satisfying model to complete. I hope to do more next year, although I only have one so far...

ULTRAMARINES CAPTAIN

Here is another classic, the Rogue Trader era Uramarines Captain.  This one is from around 1990, that I finally got around to finishing it.  This miniature was my brother's, which he gave to me along with his whole Ultramarines army. It is the only Ultramarines model that I painted this year.

CULUXUS ASSASSIN
As part of my annual series of Assassin posts called The Deadly Assassins, I finished off painting this Culexus Assassin. He was over 75% painted as far back as 2004-ish, and it was quite satisfying getting him completed.

GREY WIZARD
Another model started about a decade ago and finished this year. I had a bit of a Fantasy bug back in the summer and this Grey Wizard got to benefit from it.

DARK ELDAR REAVERS

These two Reavers of the Obsidian Rose were the only ones I was able to finish before the new Codexes for the Ork and Space Wolf launched and pulled my attention away. I am very pleased with these and I look forward to doing more of them in the New Year!

NAZDREG

Prior to the launch of the 8th ed Ork Codex I was inspired to paint up this unit of old school Mega Armored Ork Nobz (Mega Nobz as you will). I only managed to get the unit leader done, who is the old models for Nazdreg. I have been picking away at the other guys in the squad, but haven't completed them yet.








BAD MOON WARPHEAD

When I decided I needed a leader for my Bad Moon faction of Orks, I totally fell in love with the idea of using this classic mid-'90s era Warphead. I mounted him on a hero base, which just adds to the epic power that this guy thinks he has. I am quite pleased with it!














GOFF RUNTHERD

The meandering stroll down the road to Gorkamorka continued with the completion of this Goff Runtherd. I am undecided on whether he needs to have his base extended or not...








WOLFGUARD TERMINATOR

Another old thread that I had the pleasure to revisit was the Terminator Basing thread that I started way back when. The initial concept was to show how I upped the base sizes on my my old 1st and 2nd edition era terminator miniatures. This was one of those miniatures, a Space Wolf Wolfguard, that was in the original post. I hope to get more done in the New Year as well.












BLOOD AXE DREADNOUGHT

My Blood Axe Dreadnought was my entry for 2018's Dreadtober challenge. This kicks off what I hope will be my Blood Axe ork faction. I am very happy with how it turned out and the relative ease in which this scheme was to paint. Hopefully you'll see more Blood Axes on this blog in the New Year as well.

SPACE WOLF LANDSPEEDER TYPHOON #2

This was another long ago negglected model that I recently decided to give attention too. The 2nd of a set of three Land Speeder Typhoons, it was nice to get something finished from my longest running series of projects.

CELESTIAL LIONS SERGEANT

A model from the Space Marine Heroes set, this Celestial Lion Sgt was done pretty much on a whim and for the simple thrill of doing another Celestial Lion model. Will he be the harbinger of more Celestial Lions to come? Only time will tell...

BAD MOON MEGANOBZ

On Christmas eve I managed to finish this unit, including the flocking on the Nob formally known as Nazdreg and the original one that I painted back in the '90s.

Again these are only what I managed to finish in 2018. I notice a theme to these completed models, and it seems to be that I was deteremined to finish a lot of neglected or abandoned projects that were started ages ago. I don't think this was a conscious effort on my part, at least not always, it's just the way things turned out. I am pleased with the overall output of finished models. But you'll notice that my output in recent months has slowed down a lot. This is due to a career change that has been challenging and challenging to my free time as well. Hopefully I'll find my groove with it soon and get back to a manageable schedule again 2019.

Oh, and before I forget, here is the progression on the guy we ended last year's review with by saying "coming soon". (Or was that the year before? I just can't recall!)

Krom the Older.

Anyway, I should be done with him by about 2026...meanwhile, thanks for checking in here in 2018, I hope you have an awesome 2019!

Bad Moon Mega Armored Orks (Part 4)

Old School Bad Moon Meganobz.

Hello!
Yesterday I managed to finish up this unit of classic Meganobz. I had been picking at them ever since I posted part-3, usually between the other projects I had been working on also (and those moments have  been scarce!). But yesterday, I found myself with time-off that I had not fully anticipated so I took full advantage of that and jammed these guys out. I didn't take any progress pics, I didn't have time for any pauses like that.

A look at hoses.

Two of the Nobz had the gun with the really thick hose. One I painted in a sort of traditional mech safety pattern and the other was painted blue with white stripes...or white with blue stripes -it's difficult to differentiate.

Bloodletter wash helped with down-toning the yellow and deepening the shadier bits of the yellow armor and moon icons.

The grass tufts were added last. I went for the colors that reminded me of desert shrub grass, as this environment is the one I typically see my orks happiest in. Aside from ruins that is.

The whole unit was done in time for me to take these glamor shots before the Mrs. got home from her toils. Not bad for an afternoon of dedicated focus!

The Meganobz Mob.

Here they are joined by the Warphead and the Rogue Trader era Deff Dread, making up the Bad Moon faction of painted Orks. I do wanted to expand on this group, and in time I will,  but I think I will take a  break from 'yellow' for a while. Having made that statement it is bugging me that I don't have any troops painted up for this faction...

The completed Bad Moon Regiment (so far). 

And that is all for now, have a great remainder of the holidays and a Happy Christmas to you!

Space Marine Heroes: Celestial Lions Sgt (Part 3)

Last time, in Part 2, I was almost finished with this guy. As you can see, I have achieved that goal.

Finished! 

And all I had to do was paint his head. Simple though it looks, I used about five different colors on it before I got it where I wanted it. Also I completed the painting on the peturges when I discovered I missed a bit. Other than a few minor touch-ups, I was able to finish him in about an hour and a half.

Work in progress. 

As you can see here, the shoulder plate icons were finished, with a few minor touch-ups as well. I am pleased that this turned out well considering I didn't use my template.

Rear view.

The way the paint on the Tactical icon turned out, it does give the impression that these badges were painted on as opposed to the overly clean "wrap" look that you typically see. I think it gives these models a bit more character, but your opinion may nor align with mine...

Right side view. 

I think the grey facial hair, inspired by the card he came with (as shown in Part 1), I like him a lot, he has a lot of character, and the pose is quite different from a lot of the marines that have preceded him over the past few decades.

"On ward to death!!!"

Space Marine Heroes: Celestial Lions Sgt (Part 2)

Heads up! 

Here is the Celestial Lions Sgt mostly done, but let's not get, um,  ahead (cringe) of ourselves; here is the Work In Progress steps for this model.

Mid-coats on the stones.

The stonework on the base was basecoated in Craftsmart Graphite before being brought up using Apple Barrel Pewter Gray.  A discrete wash of Nuln Oil was applied, with a more concentrated application done on the joints and cracks. A final highlight of Apple Barrel Country Gray was dry brushed over all of that. By the way, this is pretty much my Imperial Guard Paint Scheme also.

Stonework finished.

The pteruges* were basecoated in Khorne Red, then highlighted on Pink Horror then washed in Carroburg Crimson. I was unsure how this red would look on this model, but I like how these turned out.

The Redding of the pteruges.

This was coming along nicely, but I was unsure about that chainsword. I decided to add some scratches and splash on some Blood for the Blood God and called it done.

Blood for the Blood God!!!

I added a decal for the Tactical symbol which I painted over. But the lion icon I decided to be brave and hand paint it freehand as opposed to digging out the template I made for it last year. I am also pleased with how this came out.

Progress on the icons.

So here he is mostly done. I think you can figure out what I have left to do...

(Hey, the model  came with two and I am indecisive).

* Thanks to Siph_Horridus  for finding out what these things are called.

Pods to Drop Lands to Speed (Part 16)

And I have completed this model! But first let's go through the final steps that got me to this point:

"Which way to the fight?"

As I talked about in part-15 I put some focus onto the Typhoon Missile Launchers. Again, these are the plastics from the Dark Angel sprue, escaping their inglorious fate to be installed onto Space Wolf vehicles where they will carry out missions worthy of the Sagas.

Typhoon Launchers primed. 

Typhoon Missile Launchers basecoated.

As I put the final layers on the missiles I did another pass over the whole  vehicle making sure I got the highlights where I wanted them and that I didn't overlook any details.
Finally, I applied the decals. Always a tedious mission and I am always thankful for Micro-Set!

Decals!

Then came the mounting of the Typhoon Launchers. This act formally completed this model!

Front view.

All-in-all, I think it came out very well!

Passenger side view.

Again, this is Landspeeder Typhoon 2 of 3. However I am numbering them backwards. #1 is going to be completely built from the start as it is still on the sprue. I am thinking I might make that one magnetic  like I did the Celestial Lions Land Speeder back in the previous winter.

Rear 3/4 view of the icons.

Here is a hobby tip regarding the flight stands: petroleum jelly. Vasoline. I know you guys have this stuff on hand, but here is an application for it that I find works brilliantly for the ball joint that came with these old Landspeeders. Apply/smear some onto the ball and snap the ball into the joint. Rotate it around gently and slowly to coat the interior well. You will find that the model will hold up fine with it and that you can detach it from the flight stand without the ball joint snapping off inside of the well. (That was a hard lesson learned BTW).

A handy tip. 

Here is the glamor shoot. I had hoped to get a natural lighting pic from outside, but at this time it is snowing, cloudy and wet, and I would rather not mess this up. Shame, cause it has been awhile since I took any Space Wolf pics using a snowy background. So here is a "top of toolbox red" pic instead.

The glamor shot.

For those keeping count, I have another Landspeeder Typhoon in this series, another Landraider Crusader, about 3 more Drop Pods. I have not a glimmer of a time table on these things. But I will say it will likely be a whim when I do get back this series. Meanwhile, I have three other Space Wolf projects I am actively working on: Primaris Intercessors, a squad of Scouts, and the occasional Wolfguard Terminator. Until then,