I looked at a lot of different ways to paint him, forums, cool mini and such…

I finally got started.  I decided to build and paint him in stages.

Assemble and paint the legs/hips.

Add the back bone, head and smoke stacks.

Add the shoulders.

Do his chest.

His carapace and his arms are last….

Once again I have a second hand model from my big box-o-Cryx.  Pretty easy to strip, but removing the arms was close to DYNAMITE.  The wad of glue holding those balls in was huge…  By now you have probably figured I am doing the Deathjack.  Don’t leave home without it…

So you have the before.

I wanted a dark model, but not Black.  I plan on a lot of Green Glow too.  I reviewed the fluff in the NQ and decided to make some of him bone.  Chicken jacks can be bone, why not BUF…

So his toes, fingers and spine will be bone…  If I don’t want black, what?  I thought about Brown.  To many Poo jokes.  Dark Dark Green, I didn’t think it would work with the green glow.  Dark Blue?  Played with photoshop a little (thanks spud) and I liked it.  So the armor will be Coal Black.

I assembled the legs, feet and hips.  I like a mix of metals, so the dark steel and dark brass that I have used before got used again.

So I attached the body and head, the spine is bone similar to FoW Cryx formula.  I did a bunch of green glow around the spine, like his engine was glowing from inside out.  I did some brass and steel on the rods connecting to his head.  The head has a lot of Blighted Gold, Armor wash and Brass Balls highlights.  Green glow in the eyes slot on the head too..

I attached the smoke stacks, did them in Blighted Gold and Pig Iron.  Washed all the little lines with a thin Menoth White Highlight.  Then I added the green glow and drybrushed it with Brass Balls..

Time to add a soul.  Iosian Green Base, Wyrm Green heavy drybrush, Sulpuric Yellow for a light dry brush..  Pretty easy with good results I think…  This goes in the middle of his chest under the head and neck…  I did some steel and brass highlight on the body before I added the soul and the two claws that are part of his chest reaching for it..  I did some green glow around the soul and claws too…

I added the shoulders and carapace next.  They got a base coat of Coal Black.  The carapace edge is Blighted gold with a dark wash and brash balls.  The skulls on the shoulders are bone.  A lot skulls have glowing eyes.. I looked at the three spikes and they have a lot of detail.  So I make them the same way I did the carapace edge, but I washed them with Menoth White highlight and added some green glow…

The body was positioned to be bending over like it was after something on the ground.  His hands are not up in the air, they are reaching for something.  I pinned all the hand spikes and the two part hands are pinned to the shoulder posts…  The hand armor is Coal Black like the shoulders and legs..  I highlighted all of them with some Coal black and Menoth White Highlight.

As I sit here, he is above my monitor looming over me…

The Coven theme gives a Hell Jack advance deploy for each Warwitch Siren in the army.  So I did two of them.

Nothing special, Cryx Bane Base & Cryx Bane Highlights, brass, steel and a little pail flesh..

These two will drive you crazy…

I also always thought that a lady like to have a servant.  Well they can use a Skarlock Thrall.  Bone, flesh, some brass, green like the ghost, green glow and some browns…

The Coven wasn’t my first painted Cryx caster.  I did Mortenebra over a year ago.  I had plans to do here theme list.  My wife’s robe snagged Morti and her pal.  They fell on the floor and got stepped on.  I put them away in the box of broken dreams..  I order and got replacement parts, but never fixed her….  Broken heart I guess.

Well, with a bunch of jacks and two warwitch sirens painted and ready to go, I thought of my old plan.   I got some more Dragon Forge bases and as you can see, broken arms and broken legs…  After some touchup, new arms and new legs they seem pretty much ready to go…

I had  to add some stuff just for Mortenebra.  Every girl like a gift to make them feel special…

Do these two make you feel special…    Something for Morti to use in Flank Scenarios…  those two are ugly enough to curdle milk…

Just last week, I figure I was still missing something..  The coven has 9 focus, a good spell list.  Why not an Arch Node…

So I did one of each metal chicken…

That is Project Sisters…  at least until I decide to do Skarre…  I my paint and swap partner ever mails the her…  I sent mine in time for Christmas 2009…..  Maybe some day…

Till next time,

Just do it…

So far I have:

Witch Coven of Garlghast +5 points
* Egregore
* Corruptor 8 points (magnetized)
* Reaper 7 points (metal)

Darragh Wrathe 4 points
2x Necrotech 1 point each
3 Soulhunters 6 points
3 Soulhunters 6 points
8 Scrap Thralls 1 point each

Right now I am Tier 2.

So for Tier 3 I need the Withershadow Combine and Tier 4 requires more Hell Jacks.

The Withershadow seemed very easy after the Soulhunders..  Dark bronze, dark steel and bones..  some cloth which I basecoated with Black then I did thin layers of color and washed it with a dark (green & brown) ink wash.  The last thing was the green glow.  I use my green glow mix (green & yellow ink).  First I thin some Menoth White Highlight flow improver & mat medium (to reduce the shine).  Then I wash it with the green glow.  I did it for the waist to the chest, the ribs, around the head and on the boiler where it looked appropriate.

A little bit of Magenta and some dark wash on the book and upper body cloth and this one is done.

The third one isn’t really any different.  They are dark and dirty.  Live underground, don’t wash unless it rains and never change their cloths.  I don’t have picture of them on Dragon Forge bases yet..  Ooops…

The Withershadow Combine are nasty against Jacks.  If you deploy first, the jack are usually far far away.  Tier 3 allows you to redeploy a model or unit after everything is deployed.   Just picture the Avatar over on the left and your Withershadow on the right…  Move them over and turn that pile of junk into a Seether…

So, now it is time to dig in my box-o-Cyrx and find some Hell Jacks…  Nightmare, nope not legal…  Spider Jacks, not this time…  Have not figured the assemble & mount on the base thing with them yet…  D.J., well, he is intimidating…  I really want to do a good job on him and I don’t think I have figured him out..  Hey, here is a Seather and a Slayer….  All the parts, look like a win/win…

Nothing different from the other Hell jacks.  Blighted Gold, wash with brown in mix, a thin layers of Cryx Bane Base on the large armor plates,  dry brush with Brass Balls.  Apply green glow in same old way..

Seether help keep some focus on the ladies.  Great MAT to boot.  Slayers are pretty cheap and basic, but engine of destruction is makes everything better…..

Well, I am legal at 50 points Tier 4 now, but that isn’t enough.  I have other things I want add.

Tier 4 allows a Hell Jack to Advance deploy, one for every War Witch in the army…  I think you can guess what I want to add…

Until next time…

Just do it…

I get up, coffee, job search stuff, breakfast, more job search stuff…  It has gotten to be a routine.  Very little with anyone except my wife.  When ever that is done, I usually go the Whiz (local game store).  Most days I park on one of the gaming tables and paint.  Sometimes it is terrain work, getting stuff ready for TempleCon.  Most of the time, I am working on something for Class of the Titans.  If you don’t know what that is, check out http://losthemisphere.com/blog/ ….  I average 3-4 days a week and sometimes a Saturday.  Normally it is 4-6 hours of painting.  I am a slow painter, but practice has helped me with the speed.

Project Rolling – Pretty easy to declare it complete.  The gray is what was done before I started.  Bold is what I have painted and Red is what I still want to finish.  I have the Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer on the painting table.

Tyrant Xerxis +5 points
* Bronzeback Titan 10 points
* Rhinodon 7 points
* Titan Cannoneer 9 points
* Titan Gladiator 8 points

4 Cataphract Arcuarii 5 points
4 Cataphract Arcuarii 5 points (Officer & 1 Grunt)
6 Cataphract Cetrati 10 points
* Tyrant Vorkesh 3 points
6 Paingiver Beast Handlers 3 points
6 Paingiver Beast Handlers 3 points
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer 3 points
Venator Catapult Crew 3 points
Venator Catapult Crew 3 points
Venator Flayer 2 points
Venator Flayer 2 points
6 Venator Reivers 5 points
* Venator Officer & Standard Bearer 2 points
6 Venator Reivers 5 points

The only hard thing about doing the Artillery was getting the gunner and the Flayer Cannon to line up on the gun shield.  I ended up pinning the arm to the gun, then attaching the arm/cannon to the body and cannon all at once.  The Catapults are pretty easy to assemble.  Nothing amazing abut the grunts.  Skorne Red, Coal Black and Gold are the majority of it..  These are the first Venators for me, so these the prototypes for the Reavers.

The prevailing forum judgement seem to be down on the artillery.  For me, Advance Deployment for these means The Catapult is probably stationary and in a firing position on turn 1, the Flayer Cannon might be, but turn 2 it is for sure…  Support fire for Xerxis in a Brick can’t be all bad.

Then I moved on to the Reavers.  It was about now that I got the NQ with The Abyssal Cohort in it..  That is a new Xerxis theme list.  It uses Reavers too…  So I moved on the a big unit.  I had twelve Reavers and the Unit Attachment.  So, fourteen models.  I have always had a hard time doing large units.  Well, nothing else to do but plow into it..   Maybe there is an advantage to being out of work!

With the Reavers done, it was time to look ahead.  The new Xerxis theme was almost done, just a few solos to fill it out.  I already had one Extoller and three Ancestral Guardians painted.  So I pulled out Hakaar, Aptimus Marketh and another Extoller.  While I was getting the models out, Zaal and his buddy Kovaas called to me…  paint me, paint me

You guessed it.  I have always looked at the Zaal theme as the one I really wanted to play.  The bump in the road was the units.  The thought of painting a dozen Immortals and that many or more living units seemed like a mountain I could not climb.   Now that the Caster was painted and the solos are all done, I think it might be possible.  For the Xerxis list I need to do two units Karax.  This will complete that list.  For the Zaal list, I need the Karax, then two units of Immortals…   Gulp, 24 infantry…  Top that off with it is just over 3 weeks till TempleCon when I made that choice.  So here it is, sixteen days to TempleCon.  Where am I know you ask.  Still painting…

Immortal Host give Ancestral Guardians Advanced Deploy, Extollers get three soul Tokens and the Kovaas starts in Play…   That lovable angry ghost can do the nasty from the start of the game.  If  your opponent doesn’t have a ton of magic weapons look out.  When it get destroyed you can easily have 3-4 ancestral guardians ready do become another Kovaas.  AoE cloud with good Power and thresher with a MAT of 8 and a good P+S, soul tokens from enemy living, this thing is going to be fun…  On top of that, if Zaal take damage, you can transfer it to an Ancestral Guardian and it gets to be the next Kovaas…

Well, I need to finish the Karax, twelve them.

Almost there, I need do the weapons, drybrush the face and paint the banners. Then on to the Immortals!!!

Till next time,

Just do it…

IBodger is a must if you have a smart phone.  I will bold what I have already talked about in previous posts.

Honestly, be out of work is rough.  It is hard to be cheerful and to write something interesting when I spend so much time chasing leads.

TempleCon preparation takes some time.  Terrain work and such.  I have been chasing down scenario tables.  Most of the ones we had last year are returning and several new ones will be making a debut.  It will easily be over twenty tables.

PAX East is drawing my attentions, no details yet, but it sure looks like fun.

I will make a promise.  A new years resolution I guess.  I will post an update here at least once a week.

Over the last two months I have been painting a lot.  I will give detailed updates on the projects that I was working on earlier last year.

Project BigK – has been finished.

Project Sister – has been finished.  More done than I planned on, a lot more.  I have a couple of things that I may still add to this.

Project Rolling – Not a lot of attention, but I have new stuff on the table right now.  Considering it is my only active project you can plan on seeing more Skorne from now till TempleCon (my deadline)

I also have things to paint for a charity event at TempleCon – Memory Machine.  Details coming very soon.

One last thing, Project Pipes – nothing big – a small thing to work on.  This one will show up during TempleCon.

I have been gone to long and I am sorry for the absence.

Till next time,

Just do it!

For the plastic kit, I read a couple of guides on magnetizing, borrowed some drills and jumped into it.  The head was pretty easy.  There as enough depth in all the heads to add a magnet to each.  The arm/shoulders had a different problem.  The arm is a small cup that doesn’t have enough depth to drill a hole for magnet.  So I drilled the shoulders twice as deep.  This allowed me to glue one magnet on the arm and it slips into the deep well of the shoulder.  I didn’t use any power drills, it took a little over an hour to drill and glue the magnets.  Remember, be careful to check the polarity.  It isn’t good to have a part that repels, if you get it backwards, it is hard to undo it..

Most of the Jacks got base coated in Blighted Gold.  My idea of a Cryx Jack is the armor being Brass and the bones (structure) being steel.  Some of the weapons being steel, depending on how they look.  So I pulled out Pig Iron for do those parts.  A P3 Brown Ink wash, not straight, Flow Matt Medium Mix (FMMM) 1 part ink to 4 parts mix.  I used that wash of the whole thing.  Then a light dry brush of Brass Balls.  The Steel got a P3 Armor Wash & FMMM wash and a Cold Steel dry brush.

I took the glowing parts and used Menoth White Highlights, thinned out with a little FMMM, about 50/50.  I had to do a second coat in a couple of spots.  Now for the glow.  A 50/50 mix of Green & Yellow P3 Ink to 4 parts FMMM.  Slop it in.  If you get a little over the edges it just adds some glow around those areas.  After this I dry brushed a little Brass Balls where I got to much glow…

Now I have a bright shiny Jack.  I want to make the armor plates darker.  I did a thin coat of Cryx Bane Base.  This is a dark greenish grey.  Once that dried, I (once again) dry brushed a little Brass Balls.

The Corrupters weapons got a little bit of color.  Each weapon has three tubes and the jack has three abilities I can use with either weapon.  My idea was to make each a different color.  Heartfire, Wurm Green & Arcane Blue seemed like good choices.  They seemed really bright so a quick black wash to add some definition to edge and dull them up seem to do the trick.

The pipes, I washed with the glow mix and dry brushed with Brass Balls.  You see a pattern yet?

Last was to put them on the Dragon Forge Bases.

My first Cryx Jacks seem easier than I expected.  It may be a very simple paint job, but damn they look good..

Till next time,

Just do it…

I have been using a box of unpainted Cryx for a footrest under my desk for a long time. Why haven’t I painted them you ask?  Well, a lot of excuses.  First I don’t paint enough, have not picked a list, uncertain of a color scheme and a hundred other excuses.  Maybe I should blog less and paint more…

Well, I had to make a choice.  Lost Hemisphere dragged me kicking a screaming into Clash of the Titans.  Does anyone really think a little over six months is enough time to paint three 35 pt theme forces?  Well, I signed up for this insanity and I only have two list…

I normally pay caster with low Focus or Fury.  It just seems to work out that way.  Well, I wanted a spell slinging caster and I wanted to put some Cryx on the table.  My LGS has several Cryx players, but no one seems to play the Coven and Egrogore.  So I decided to see what I could do with them.

I tried to make the Egrogore look different from any one I had ever seen.  Stop and think about that.  It doesn’t have legs, it always seems to be on plastic flight base or a post shoved into the ground.  This has been a hang up of mine, how to model it…  Over a year ago, when I opened the Forces of Warmachine Cryx book, I had an OMG moment.  There it was on page 63!!!  The Egg (Egregore) was oozing darkness, three of them.  So I tried to find a way to model it…  I won’t bother you with all the details (maybe another article someday???).

It is base coated in a mix of Thamar Black & Pig Iron ( I call that dark metal) and some of the parts are Blighted Gold.  Then I used Menoth White Highlight to fill in between the metal bits.  A 50/50 mix of P3 Yellow and P3 Green ink and a Mat Medium & Flow improver mix gave it that green/yellow glow effect.  I drybrushed with Brass Balls and Cold Steel on the metal.   I did Thamar black over the legs and mixed it with some Menoth White Highlight to give the legs some shadows.  Last I took some pillow stuffing and soaked it in black ink, let it dry and glued some onto the legs.  Trying to get a smokey look around the feet.  I glued it onto a Dragon Forge Base and my first Cryx model was done.

I wanted the sister to be a little lighter than the book colors, nothing bright light Christmas tree decorations. I wanted them to still look ominous.  I followed the pail flesh paint scheme in the FoW book.  Then I did the Armor (fore arms and thighs) in Blighted Gold, P3 Brown Ink made into a wash and Brash Ball dry brush..

The rest was cloth and leather (to me at least).  I base coated the cloth in Bastion Grey and the leather in Thrall Flesh.  The cloth was lightened with Menoth White Highlight in several steps.   The armour wash shaded by following the Dead Flesh write up in the FoW Cryx.  Then a drybrush with Thrall Flesh to lighten it up…

Here is a shot from about half way.  I did a very thin wash of Beaten Purple on the back on their skirts.  Knives are just Cold Steel, P3 Armor Wash and a dry brush of Bright Silver.

Of course I put them on the Dragon Forge bases.  To make the energy lines, I used a little Morrow White to make white lines.  Then I put a thin line of the Green/Yellow ink mix over that.  When it dries it is light in the middle and dark on the edge.  I really like that.

So here is to a new faction, I have a lot more to paint.  A lot more to write about too…

Till next time,

Just do it…..

As is my habit, I wandered past the books.  Mostly cook books and romance novels with a few new releases.  My eyes popped open when I saw The Rum Diary.  I grabbed a copy and stood there for 10 minutes reading the first chapter.

If you don’t know, The Rum Diary is a novel written by Gonzo Journalist Hunter S. Thompson.  He wrote this before his carrier got going and it wasn’t published until 1998.

I used to read Rolling Stone magazine in the 70s.  I always looked for articles by Raoul Duke.  Thompson used that as a pen name.  Anyone every read Doonesbury, yes the Duke is based on Thompson.

To me reading his work is like an autumn day, walking in the woods.  The cool air, smell of the falling leaves, just so refreshing.

I will tease you with a taste.

“They run the whole gamut from genuine talents and honest me, to degenerates and hopeless losers who could barely write a post-card–loons and fugitives and dangerous drunks, a shoplifting Cuban who carries a gun in his armpit, a half wit Mexican who molests small children, pimps and pederasts and human chancres of every description, most of them working just long enough to make the price of a few drinks and a plane ticket.”

I will consume this book like I am starving and then I will dig in the box of books in the basement, that the wife keep bugging me to sell, and find the Great Shark Hunt, Fear and Loading in Las Vegas and other HST jems..

I am out of work and there is a lot of stress floating around.  For some reason, I am smiling right now.  Not sure why, but I know it has something to do with the words of Hunter S. Thompson.  There will never be another like him………

A parting gift for those of you who have never read anything of his…

http://www.latexnet.org/~csmith/sausage.html

These three models are twenty six pieces between them.  The body of Vorkesh is hollow.  I used Squadron Green putty to fill that hole.  The harpoon on the Arcuarii leader was bent when I got it.  I drilled it out and pinned it.  Not really that hard to do.

Vorkesh is pretty reasonable on parts.  He has shoulders, weapon and shield.  I drilled and pinned the weapon arm.  The shoulders and shield have nice large areas to glue.

The Arcuarii, here is where it gets crazy.  Well at least I am not doing six of them this time.  Shoulders and flags, the leader gets his flag, the grunt has his weapon and a loop of chain.

As is my habit, I prime and base coat the part and glue them as needed to detail the model.

My first step is go to do the gold.  I base coat with a Rhulic Gold replacement.  (I hear rumors that we might see it back in stock this year).  Then I use P3 Brown ink (thin it out with mix medium and flow improver) .  Last is a Solid Gold dry brush.  Make sure you thin the paint, if you do this straight out the pot, you will lose a lot of detail.

Next I took Skorne Red and base coated the cloth in the back.  The left over paint was thinned down with Mix Medium and Flow.  I used a small brush to dab this into the armor.  Be careful not to get to much.

You cal also see that I am using my cork base with some Renaissance Ink Acrylic around the edge.

Thamar Black is next.  The ropes around his waist, some of the cloth, the gems all get a base coat.   The left over black is again thinned with Mix Medium and flow.  There are small areas of the armor that need that black.

Looking at this back shot of Vorkesh, I missed the gold on his skirt and had to go back and do that.  You can see the red on the armor.  It is to thin.  Better to do two or three thin coat.  If you get to much, you have to redo the gold.  Trust me, detailing that gold is to much work.

I know I am showing Vorkesh photos, but the process is the same for any Skorne with ornate armor.  That is almost every one of them isn’t it?

I did the flesh next.  I like to do that before the shoulders are glued in.  It keeps the gold on the shoulders form turning white…

The parts, shoulders, shield and all get the same thing.  Gold, then red, finally the black.  Then I started gluing on things.

The shoulders and shield of Vorkesh.   I used Coal Black to add depth and color to the inside of the cloth, the ropes and the gems.

Now it is a mater of all the little details.  I used a little black on the “X” on the armor.  These are ropes that hold the armor together (like Samurai armor).  Then I touched the top of them with lightened Coal Black.  I also took a thin P3 Brown ink and went over the red armor.  This added a nice shadow between the gold and red.

The cloth is high lighted and shaded with Sanguine Base and Khador Red Base.  That brown ink also got used on the shoulder horns.   Menoth White Base, then brown ink mix, touch it up with Menoth White Highlights.

The Weapons are Pig Iron, P3 Armor Wash, Cold Steel highlights..

The last thing to talk about are the flags.  I paint them on the spru.  Then I drill the holes a little bigger.  This gets the end of the flag deeply into the hole.  Yes, it is a pain in the ass to put them in, but I really like the way then look.  My other Cataphracts are over two years old.  I have had to reglue two or three.  If you do it right, they don’t fall off.

So I have one of my Tiers done.  I needed two units and now I have three.  I have already done the Bronzeback, so the last requirement is Artillery.  Two units will qualify me for Tier 4.  That won’t be the end.  I still need some more options…

Keep an eye out in Lost Hemisphere for another Clash of the Titans update next week..

Just do it…

I kept looking at Dragon Forge bases and took the plunge.

I got enough to do a 50pt T4 list and a few extras for expansion. I picked the Forgotten Empires set, got some of each size and am very pleased with them. I have a dozen 50mm, five 40mm and twenty 30mm.  I found them with almost no flash and zero imperfections.  I was able to clear the flash with a thumbnail. I picked four P3 colors to use.

I based with Bootstrap leather.

Washed them with Battlefield Brown.

Heavy Dry Brush with Rucksach Tan then a light Dry Brush with Menoth White Base.

It took a little over an hour (know counting the time to let the Battlefield Brown wash to dry…

Two thumbs up…..