Eons ago...

It has been a long time since I have posted, more than two weeks all told. Strangest thing is that I have been busy. Busy painting models but not necessarily for those armies I have pledged to paint.

Those who have good memory will know that I plan on applying for the Army Painter job at Games Workshop Headquarters. Well it is no longer a plan, I have got four photos done for the application.

I must say it was a very difficult decision mulling over what I thought the people assessing my application would want to see and how could I best show off my talents. There are a lot of half finished models knocking about on my desk right now, poor souls who were started and not finished. A few even more unfortunate souls have merely been used to test new schemes as well.

So without further ado enjoy the four photos I have chosen and wish me all the best of luck.

An a little more....

I didn't want to clog the first post back after a while with lots of photos so here is another post.

As you can guess the painting is going hard and I have a few treats for you.

This is one of the three Helbrutes that I own. This was painted before I decided I was going to do Night Lords. I am not particularly happy with the skin as painted but the armour I am very proud of. The striping effect is only on a few plates of the model, I was careful with my highlights and as a result managed to give the impression that all the plates are scoured. Force wise it is going to be okay as I plan on having some Death Guard to go in the army so it can be an alliance of Nurgle and Unaligned.

An now for some works in progress.

Some Blood Angels Assault Marines, they are almost finished but I like how the skin has come out and strangely their blonde hair as well.

Some of the Chaos Cultists from the Dark Vengeance set. The second guy may or may not look like a Cawdor gang member. I may have been unable to resist painting him in that colour scheme.

Now the good part (as if the other bits weren't), I was mulling this over for a bit since the job advertisement came up and after some suggestions from a number of people (including Staff at the HQ) I have decided to go for it. The Army Painter job with Games Workshop.

Now I need four high quality photos of models representing my painting skills. It suggests pictures of squads as well as single models. Now that I have set my mind on applying, I need to pick what I will submit. Now I think the key will be showing as much of my talent as possible, so different colours and techniques.

So far I have decided it will consist of two 40k photos, one Warhammer and one Lord of the Rings (or Hobbit if you want to be picky). Now 40k I have a lot of choice with 5 big armies and some models from a variety of others. I think we will need to have some Space Marines in there as they are the staple of the GW hobby. It is the other three that I am undecided on at the moment.

Over the next weeks I hope to have selected what models I will be using and also painted them where necessary.

Toodle pip!

An then a mighty break....

Well it has been a long time since I have made a post...a couple of hours and it would of been a month since I updated.

So you aren't really bothered to hear my excuses for the delays you are here to see some painted models. So without further ado we have some Dark Eldar.

Be warned there are a lot of photos, I did try to fit three on every line but it wouldn't let me :-(

It's a real simple colour scheme but involves a deceptive number of washes. I think in the future I will paint the dark red clothing underneath first. It is modelled slightly on Nick Bayton's colour scheme.

In other news I managed some 40k games over the past month. I decided to use my Necrons and went for an experimental list as well. I dropped the Annihilation Barges, the Wraiths and the Scarabs. Instead I went with some of the lesser seen Elite options. In this case it was the Lychguard with deflection shields.

The first game was against some Iron Hands with the mission Relic. I narrowly lost due to my Overlord dropping dead to an overwatching stormbolter. As a result a dreadnought with only one arm stopped tore through what was left of my army.

The second game was against Iron Warriors (you sensing a theme here?). This one wasn't so nice for my opponent as I tabled him in Purge the Alien. I had Vargard in my list and the special rule forcing Chaos characters to issue a challenge was a drawback for my opponent. Vargard slowly made his way through several champions, a War-smith and then defeated the rival warlord all in challenges.

The third game was against Imperial Guard. Now I haven't played the new (for some people too old) incarnation of the army. My opponent had gone for an elite heavy Guard army with a smattering of Special Characters. Other than Iron Hand Stracken and Sly Marbo there were only two vehicles to contend with a Chimera and Hellhound. This game was also a tabling at Warhammer World but I have discovered a new found fear for Sly and his appearing trick. When he comes armed with a S10, AP1, large blast demo charge which he can use when he appears, lots of Necrons get blowed up. Thank the C'Tan for we will be back rolls.

In other news I have submitted to the lure of Warriors of Chaos especially with the new release. So I have dug up some of the models that have been languishing away for a bit.

I think my favourite of the two has to be the Khorne Exalted Champion. The other is the special character Wulf model but I replaced the head which was a little gormless and any warrior of chaos should carry an axe not a pansy sword. Looking at the pictures now I think I may have been a little too subtle with the red highlights cause at the moment it looks very similar to the cloak (It is totally different, honest).

An then came the plague....

It was a lot worse than this....honest!

Been a while since I posted. Feels like weeks have gone by but the Internet tells me less than two weeks have passed since my last post. I would like to blame it on a number of things including the common cold (plus a virus) but in all honesty it's laziness on my part.

Illness aside it hasn't been an unproductive two weeks. My enthusiasm has been nothing but on the up an up and I managed to start sorting through some of the models that I have knocking about. there has however been a shot across the bow metaphorically speaking with the photos being leaked of new Warriors of Chaos out in just two weeks. New army book and some gorgeous models means lots of temptation for me. 

Cthulhu would be proud

Especially these guys who are a vast improvement on the Gary Morley versions that have been in use for as long as I have been on this planet.

Anyway, last time I posted I promised pictures of other models I have painted so far and I do after live to please.....enjoy.

Some of the Night Lord models. Need to work on my lighting for my photos. Also I just need to finish backpacks and also add some lightning to some of the armour plates. 

One of my 9 Dark Eldar Jetbikes. These things are amazing in game and pretty cheap for what they can do. Also pretty easy to paint.

That concludes finished models. Got about a week left in the first month, quite a high standard set to complete but cracking along. All my Blood Angel models have been basecoated when I got bored so a lot of those to complete. Plan on finishing a lot of the bases for models this coming weekend and setting up a proper schedule.

Toodle pip...

Then came the paintbrush and the paint....

I think he made a deal with the Devil to get this good...

Once again we start with a picture of models not like my own. Some people find that looking at better painted models than your own can be very off putting. There was even an article by Jervis Johnson in the latest White Dwarf (plugging GW there cause they sorely need it) addressing this. Myself I found it had the opposite effect on my painting.

Similar to most people I started collecting the hobby when I was but a child.My classification of whether a model was painted or not consisted usually of one single coat of paint and if I was lucky this wouldn't be the glossy model car paint kind.

One of my earlier masterpieces...

However I went through a change (stop giggling) about 10 or so years ago. I remember constantly pouring through my copies of White Dwarf, looking at the models that the Eavy Metal team had painted. Yes I was amazed, mystified and the mind still boggles at how they can paint so well but it never put me off. I looked at those photos in detail, working out how to layer through this and a little bit of my own experimenting. Then came the highlights and so forth but over the years I have gotten better through tackling the unknown. The articles on painting may have had a part to play in my development as well.

But your not hear to listen to me waffle on about how I became a better painter, you came to see my progress. So without further a do we we shall start with the Blood Angels.

Yes they are missing their guns and the Sergeant seems to be missing his backpack. Plus the more astute of you will point out they are not based so not complete. The lot of you would be correct in pointing this out (you will suffer for your attentiveness) however this was new ground for me. 

I had always steered away from a bright red colour scheme in the past because I never was able to do it without a white undercoat on the model. Now we painters can be very picky and I like my models undercoated black because if you miss that little bit under the armpit that can only be seen at one very obscure angle, if it was black undercoated it wouldn't be noticeable  With white it would stand out more than Brian Blessed in a Library. 

I digress, so I tried out bright red using the scheme suggested with the new paints and I think it came out really, really well. I want to try out some assault marines next mainly because I like the way the Blood Angels change the colour of their helmets based on their function. 

So that is it for tonight, of the completed models possible Chaos, possible Dark Eldar next. I will however show you what I am currently working on, adios.

He swaggers just like Jagger...