Deathwatch Venerable Dreadnought (Dreadtober 2021- Part 4)

Here we are, Nihilus the Deathwatch Venerable  Dreadnought has been finished and within the deadline parameters for Dreadtober. 

Nihilus in the dirt.

A lot of stuff happening on this model that you haven't seen in the previous posts; lets get caught up: 

The most obvious change, apart from being assembled, is the base. Those dead xenos are '90s era tyranids. Keen eyes will note that these parts are not the original models. They are, indeed, resign copies. A friend of mine was experimenting with resign casting back in the '90s and made a few duplicates of the plastic Termagants from that time. Other than learning some new skills nothing ever came of it, but he did give me a few odds and ends "to use on your bases". And here we are, 25 years later and I finally found an appropriate base to use these things on. 

The assembled detritus.

I painted these things using the same methods that I did on my Genestealers a while back. I have always wanted to try painting up tyranids painted in the style of late '80s era Genestealers and here was a chance to try it out. 

Basic colors for the base coat. 

And I think it works! Now, these resign bits are just that, bits. Not enough parts to assemble a complete miniature, so um...no heads. I went with that notion and doubled-down on it by creating the idea that this little Termagant had it's head violently removed somehow. 

Blood for the Blood God!

Back over to the dread, I found that the arms fit a bit too tight. So to make them a little easier to remove and move (up or down, or what passed for articulation in the '70s when I got my first Star Wars action figures) I applied some Vaseline to the pegs on the arms to make them greasey.  A simple solution using a product that I am sure most of you have handy. 

Lube for the Lube God.

And with that the model was assembled, the final details painted and, well, he is now done! 

 

Finished models with alt. gun option.

Rear view.

Note that the las canons were not completed at this time as I have an idea for them that I want to try out...

And now, here are the glamor shots:

Nihilus in the moss.

Nihilus in the wild.

So that's it! I am pleased with it, and happy to have another model done for my Deathwatch force. It's also a good feeling beating that deadline! Hopefully I can pull it off again  next year. 

Space Wolf Scout (Art Monday)

 This week we have a Space Wolf Scout. This piece was published in Inquisitor Magazine #14. 

I still like this one a lot despite some personal criticisms I have with it. Keen eyes (and maybe even old ones at that) will notice that he is based off of the old Warhammer 40,000 1st edition/ Advanced Space Crusade Space Marine Scout models. Up until 3rd edition Space Wolf Scouts were young and brash and not the grizzled loners they are today. I can't recall if the runes on the side of his bolt pistol ment anything or not, but I think they were just randomly done. 

Deathwatch Venerable Dreadnought (Dreadtober 2021- Part 3)

 Well I missed the deadline last week, but no worries, I am back and I have a bit of progress to show for it...

...more bits than progress actually.

Brother Nihilus has a head from the Death Watch Upgrade sprue. I decided to use a method for painting heads that I used in the past which is to mount the head onto a pin-vice. This gives me better control for painting it. It also keeps me from taking foolish risks with the pin-vice like trying to drill the gun barrels on the storm bolter or attempting to drill out all 33 holes on the exhaust ports...

WIP on the head.

The engine exausts were indeed a target for my pin-vice but the epiphany dawned on me that it would probably take me all week just to do that, and It wouldn't change the model in such a way to justify the work. Not when simple black paint will achieve the same desired result. I wanted the metal on the exhausts to appear weathered and old, like a used piece of machinery,  but not decayed and rusty. I achieved this look by washing Agrax Earthshade and/or Nuln oil over the Leadbelcher. I do see a difference and I think it works. 

The rear exhausts. 

I was able to get the head done fairly quick. Gluing it into position was a bit tricky. I had to cut down the antenna on the helmet in order to get the sarcophagus cover to fit right. 

The finished head.

I was edge highlighting the model as I was assembling it, and this tactic seems to be working well for me thus far.

The main hull assembled.

The trim areas that will be gold was base coated using FolkArt Metallic Antique Copper. I love this color, it's like painting with a liquefied penny.  I also added the halo above Nihilus' head.

And this is where I at with it now, hopefully I will be able to get it done next week. Also, the base is a matter I will need to address next week also.  It will be more involved than my typical base. There are less than eleven days left for me to get my Dreadtober project done...

Imperial Guardswoman (Art Monday)

 Welcome to Art Monday. This is another unpublished piece from the mid-90's. It was drawn on the same page as other pieces that did get published in Inquisitor Magazine #14 , but this one just didn't make the cut. 

She definitely rocks the old school look in her retro Imperial Guard uniform and retro las gun. And nothing says Rogue Trader quite like graffiti on every wall. 

One thing I enjoy about looking at my old art is to see some of the techniques that I used that I have since forgotten about. In this on I used a black Prisma Color pencil on the shadows and the bricks that really help the character pop out

. 

Tales From The Smoking Wyrm #4 Kickstarter

 

Snippet of #4's cover, art by Brian Maikisch.

Tales From The Smoking Wyrm issue 4 Kickstarter is now live. Check it out, and hopefully you'll see something there that might entice you to support it.

For those of you that regularly check out this blog, you likely do it because it is primarily a Warhammer 40,000 or miniatures blog. However I definitely played a lot of fantasy roleplaying games back "in the day"*. These included Basic D&D, AD&D (1st and 2nd), Rolemaster, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and MERP. And I did so alongside Warhammer 40,000 and other taple top games. Tales From The Smoking Wyrm, while set up primarily in support of Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) is written in such a way that the content could be moved to one of those OSR games (or even the more modern versions) with little fuss. 

I am once again doing art for this zine. I have some spot illustrations within it and I am contracted to do more. However I am not able to show any of that here at this time. Yet. However if you keep an eye of the Kickstarter campaign, our website, and our Facebook Group** you might see more.

Well, I did draw this gnome...

Onward Retainer! is my regular comic strip-thing that I am happy to say is returning in this issue as well. I get a kick out of these characters and their misadventures and writing and drawing them has been a highlight of the year for me. At this time I have scripts written through issue 10 and the story for #5 is already done. (It's nice to get ahead!)

*My definition of which is the late '80s and early '90s. Cuz I'm old. 

**I can't seem to be able to make a link for it. If you're on FB, just search for Tales Of The Smoking Wyrm. 

Deathwatch Venerable Dreadnought (Dreadtober 2021 -Part 2)

 Work on my Death Watch Venerable Dreadnought has begun. And so has Dreadtober!

(Under construction).

I started from ground up on this machine. What I mean is that a built the legs first before moving to the torso. But let me show you the torso first anyway: 

Spot the magnet.

I had the idea that I would need to magnetize the main weapon arm so I stuck a strong magnet inside the main body of the Dreadnought. I would so discover that this was redundant as not only does this kit come with three complete right arms but they are easily interchangeable. Oops! And, the glue I have used on the magnet was so effective that I have yet to be able to pop it out of it's position. Double-oops! 

Front side of the bare legs.

I noticed as I was building the legs that it would be easier to paint parts of it as I assembled it. So I went ahead and painted the legs metallic with washes of Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade to create depth and a sense of aging to the metal.

Legs from the back.

This is as far as I have managed to get with this kit this week. But so far, so fun. It's a far more versatile kit than I ever would have imagined and I also pleased as the adaptability the design team bestowed upon the model; It's one of the rare few that have this gift! 

Getting closer to coming together...

So far so fun. I think this year's Dreadtober will be as satisfying as the previous years that I have participated in it. 

Changer Of Ways vs. Squats (Art Monday)

 Greetings, and welcome back to another Art Monday. Here is another unpublished Squat piece. This one was done for Inquisitor Magazine back in the mid-'90s for their Squat army list issue. It was rejected due to being overly violent. In hindsight, yeah, I could've toned it down a bit. But was it really any more violent than some of the stuff in Realm Of Chaos: Lost And The Damned? Debatable. Yet I understood the decision. It was a bit of a bummer as it was one of favorites from the bunch. 

The Tzeentchian Greater Daemon was based off of one of the original Rogue Trader-era miniatures of the Changer Of Ways as it was also still the current miniature at that time. GW would eventually settle on the name Lord Of Change for this beastie also.  They couldn't think of a new name for the Squats however, so they would be left behind to die a dishonorable death by neglect...

Deathwatch Venerable Dreadnought (Dreadtober 2021 -Part 1)

 As a natural step from my current build up of my Deathwatch army, I have chosen a Venerable Dreadnought to paint for this year's Dreadtober event.  Yes, it's  break from tradition as I usually choose an Ork Dred to paint. 

Pre-primed.

This model came in the 7th Edition Death Masque boxed set. In the scenario within he had a specific load out, a namel (Nihilus) and even a little back story (he's a Blackshield, apparently). I decided to stick to this however I want to make his main weapon interchangeable. 

Post-primed. 

As you can see I am very much in the early steps now. I have primed the model while the parts are still on the frames. Hopefully this will allow me speed things up a bit more in the early stages of painting.