Skin Test Results

When I painted the last squad, I had my first ever marine without a helmet on. In an effort to create a more personable army, I decided I was going to have a few marines without helmets on. I just wanted a few to add a bit more personality to the army.

After finishing my last squad, which had one un-helmeted marine in it, I decided that I needed to learn a bit more about different skin styles. I did a little research and tried a few things out. I ended up making a test just like I did on the shoulder pads and laurels. Take a look at how it the different skin tones turned out!

I selected half of the heads with hair and half without so that I can practice with hair as well. Here's how it looks:

After it was all done, I wrote up all my recipes so that I won't forget them in the future:

Next up on the project list is the third squad of tactical marines. I'm going to have three marines without helmets. After this test, I'll be able to add some racial diversity to this squad and the rest of my army.

What do you think about it?

First Terrain Piece

Despite the late nights at work and the piles of homework, I've managed to crank out another project for 40k. This time, I've finished my first piece of terrain: The Citadel Wood set. In addition to finishing this piece, this is a new type of model for me to photograph since I did took the pictures on the terrain table instead of in my photo booth. Hopefully, as I finish more terrain pieces, I'll get more proficient and have better pictures to show you.

Speaking of finishing more terrain pieces, this is the first of many Citadel Wood sets that I'll be making. I want this to be a forest board with a farmhouse and farm in one corner. I want all the trees in my forest to match, so I'll be sticking with multiples of this set. I figure I'll need a total of 12 to 15 sets to adequately cover the board. Now that I have the process down, I think I'll be able to complete multiple sets at once and make everything go faster.

Check out how it all came out! Let me know on Facebook or in the comments section!

Up next, I'll be working on another Knights Bellicose tactical squad. I'll most likely work on a Chaplain as well so that the army has some leadership and can be played. Keep checking back to see how it all turns out and have fun painting!

Second Squad Complete!

 With work and school, it's taken me a long time to get this squad finished. It has a lot of new ideas in it, so take a look at how it turned out! Check out the Knights Bellicose page to see the new squad!

Also, I've posted the pictures right here for you!

Every squad has all three specialist weapons, so I have some
choices (no grav guns in the army, though).

This is the first squad to use the new plasma gun technique.

My two beakies. Now they're more important members of
the squad. In my army's fluff, there's two beakies per squad
and they're a specialist position.

This is the first marine I have to not wear
a helmet. In the future, there should be more
skins to come, so I'll have some racial
diversity in the army.

My first attempt at laurels. It came out well,
I think.

A nice shot of the bases. Differing bases will help tell the
squads apart on the battlefield. Check out the other squads
to see how they're different.

Squad marking. Almost everyone in the
Chapter will have one.

Group photo!

Up next is the Citadel Wood. This project will be the first of many, as I am planning on covering my board with forests. It'll be an interesting project as I want to try to find a way of painting in an economical fashion (so I don't have to paint each individual leaf). I think that drybrushing can tend to look too "lazy," but I'm going to see how maybe some washing looks. I'm just afraid that I'll mess it up if I try my layering technique on something like that. Any thoughts? Feel free to leave a comment about that.

Don't think I forgot about my skin tone test! I have some more ideas about that, so keep checking back!

Second Squad Nears Completion

Sometimes, life gets a little hectic and Warhammer has to go by the wayside for a bit. This time, I just started school and have had to get my new schedule in order. Between going to school during the day and working graveyard, I was having difficulties finding time to sleep, let alone paint.

Thankfully, life has gotten slightly easier and I have time to work on Warhammer again! I think the best way to get back into the swing of things would be to show you all how the squad is going! Take a look!

My first attempt at painting skin on a Marine.

Finally! Some beakies with character! In the past, I've always
made them the loser of the squad. Now, I vow to actually
include them and make them contributing members.

Designated marksmen. Two per squad (one per fire team).

The heavy bolter really shows off how well
the red works with the armor's colors.

Three assault weapons. Every Tactical Squad in the army will
have a choice of specialist weapons (but no grav guns).

This is my favorite plasma gun ever!

Squad leader. I love how this guy turned out.

Laurels. I'll have two-ish veterans per line
company.

Power sword. This time, I'll be showing a difference between
power swords and relic blades, to make them easier to tell apart.

All that's left is backpacks and bases.

In the last squad, the bases were simple flock overbrushed with gray. This time, I think I'll add some lines to the squad to represent lines in the street. This squad will have white lines. The next squad will have yellow lines. This should help make things a little easier when trying to tell the squads apart on the table top. What do you think?

After this squad is finished, I'll be working on the Citadel Woods and running my skin test, to try and figure out some new flesh tones to make my army look a little more racially diverse. I'm really looking forward to making the army look a little more personable than most other armies I see out there.

Feel free to leave a comment and suggest a recipe for my next skin test. Until next time (hopefully next week), have fun painting!

Taping Brushes, Skin Test

So I use Games Workshop paint brushes. When I'm not using them, I keep them in a little metal cup. It looks like this:

If you've noticed, Games Workshop likes to color code their brushes.

Have you noticed the problem? How in the world are you going to see the colors if your brushes are standing up in your cup?

 My suggestion is that you head down to Home Depot and spend a few dollars on some electrical tape.

I tape up my brushes to make them easier to see. Now, when they're sitting in their cup, I can immediately see which brush is which without having to sort through them and read what's printed on them. Check it out!

As of right now, I'm working on a new way to paint flesh. I only have one real way of doing it now and, in the spirit of racial diversity, I'd like to figure out more shades. I'm planning on making another test similar to the shoulder pads and laurel tests. Here's what I have so far:

If everything goes smoothly, there will probably be a tutorial coming from this. Keep checking back to see how it all turns out! Until then, have fun painting!

2nd Squad Insignia, Laurels Test

This week, I'd like to start with an update on my progress with the Knights Bellicose 2nd squad. We're getting close to finishing it off. After the squad is complete, I'll paint up a company Chaplain and have a playable force! Here's how I'm doing so far:

Keeping consistency in the squad numbers is the hardest part.

The Chapter insignia is coming out nice and consistent.

Since I'm getting close to working on helmets, I've started thinking about doing something special for the squad leader. I've never attempted it before, but I want to paint some laurels on him to make him a veteran. I wasn't sure how I wanted them to look or what process I was going to use, so I tested a few theories just like I did for the shoulder pads. Check out how it went:

I think this is the one I'm going to go with.

This was a simpler idea. What do you think?

The whole test setup, showing my third
idea.What do you think?

The test nests in with the shoulder pads so I can see it all together.

I'm thinking about going with the traditional laurels. What do you think? Feel free to leave feedback in the comments section or on my Facebook page.

Until next time, have fun painting!

Ultramarines vs. Eldar

Not long ago, my best friend Sean Tipper came over to visit. One day during his visit we went down to Dice Age to get a game in. There isn't enough terrain ready for the table at the house or we would have put up a battle report from there so you guys could see the terrain table in action. I was really curious how a heavily forested board would play since that's mainly what my fist terrain table would play like. We rolled for terrain and then put trees on the board wherever we could.

I thought it was a pretty fun game! It was my first time playing 7th Edition and I haven't used my models in a while, so I ended up learning a lot. Check out the pictures below to see how the game went!

Trees everywhere!

A heavily forested board should let me know how the table
at home will turn out.

All set up!

The two remaining Ultramarines from the combat squad make
a final push for the objective in the trees. They never made it.

See the dreadnought? Being the only armor on the table,
he went down pretty quick.

Epic combat! Captain Sicarius did pretty well!

The devastators taking out a target of opportunity.

Sicarius in the end

Stretching out from an objective to see around a hill

The Eldar holding two objectives

In the end, Sean won with the Eldar. It was a really fun game. I'm looking forward to getting some terrain done so that I can have games like this at home. That being said, the next Knights Bellicose squad is almost completed! It'll be my most lively squad to date because I plan on making it available for use in kill team games. Next up will be a few trees to use on the terrain table! Keep checking back to see how things turn out!

Until next time, have fun painting!