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!