Knights Bellicose Progress #3

I've been trying to update you guys every week, but last week was a little too hectic to put up a blog post. That, coupled with the tutorials and the Relic review, means that I haven't updated you with any Knights Bellicose progress in quite a while! I'm not completely done with this squad yet, but here's how I'm doing so far!

All that's left is backpacks and bases.

2 Marines per Tactical Squad will have scopes on their bolters,
so I'll have one designated marksman per combat squad.

Just like with the Ultramarines, I have two beakies per squad.
How do you think the color scheme came out on the beakies?

On every Tactical Squad, one of the beakies
will have an auspex.

Finished tactical arrow, painted using the
Shoulder Arrow Tutorial.

The Knights Bellicose chapter symbol

Some scorch marks on the front end of the flamer

Now, I'm working on the backpacks. I've just finished painting all the little parts that will slow me down later. I've painted all of the vents, the internal components (the top part on the left backpack), and the little parts that connect the main backpack to the vent balls on the sides. Painting the little stuff like that and getting it out of the way is a great way to keep you moving later. I can't suggest it highly enough.

The squad should be finished before too long. Also, I'm about ready to order the static grass I need to finish my first terrain board! Keep checking back to see how it all turns out and, in the mean time, have fun painting!

Shoulder Arrows Tutorial

My Knights Bellicose have reached the point where I'm ready to start painting the insignia on their shoulder pads. I figured this would be the perfect time to write a tutorial, so I wrote one to teach you all the little tricks for making sure your tactical squad arrows turn out straight and don't end up looking like mushrooms. I just recently figured that part out, so I figured I'd share.

Head on over to the How To section to check it out! My tutorial section is really starting to fill up, don't you think?

Until next time, have fun painting!

Relic

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of going down to Lake Tahoe to celebrate my best friend's birthday with him. Among other things, we were able to play our first game of Relic.

Being our first time ever playing, we did get a bunch of things wrong. It's a lot easier than the first time I ever tried to play 40k, but there's still a lot to do. After screwing up our first game, I'm confident that I could play subsequent games without messing anything up. Truth be told, that's how I like to learn games. I like to screw everything up at first, but be able to learn it all for next time.

The game did a really good job of sticking to the lore of the 40k universe. I played as a commissar and I had the ability to shoot my allies to increase my own dice rolls. Little things like that made the game a whole lot of fun and really helped us feel our characters. It's a wonderful game and I'd recommend it to any 40k player. Here's a little peek at how the game went!

All in all, I have to say it was an incredibly fun game and I can't wait to play it again!

New Tutorial

Work has been progressing steadily on the Knights Bellicose squad. This week, I've finished the power sword on the sergeant! What do you think about how it came out?

As promised, I've used the painting of this power sword to post a new tutorial in the How To section! Also, I re-uploaded all of the previous tutorials as PDFs to help make the images look better. There's a little paragraph and image about it in the How To section. Check it out and let me know what you think!

All in all, it's been a pretty big update to the tutorials. I'm pretty excited about how it's all turned out and I hope you are too! So until next week, have fun painting!

Knights Bellicose Progress #2

This week, I was able to make a little more progress on my Knights Bellicose squad. My job is changing a bit and hopefully it means I'll get more time for painting. Hopefully, that means more substantial updates each week to show you!

Check out how the squad is going so far! The heavy bolter marine is completely done. This time, I put the squad markings on the shoulder pad instead of on the leg (how it was for the Ultramarines). This should help make close combat a little easier. What do you think?

Completely finished heavy bolter marine

Here's a good shot of the urban base. It's rather plain for the
regular squads. Elite and HQ choices throughout the chapter
will get more ornate versions.

Tactical squad marking

Knights Bellicose chapter marking

All my squad leaders will have power swords and bolt pistols, as
opposed to chainswords and plasma pistols with the Ultramarines

Beakie with an auspex

Feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think. Until next time, have fun painting!

Terrain Table Progress

Not long ago, I finally got an airbrush to work on my terrain table. I've only done three of the boards, but here's how they look so far:

I'm still thinking about adding in some static grass anyway, even though I said I wouldn't. The road and the dirt spots look fantastic, but I think that having some static grass will make it all look more realistic. What do you think?

Here's an image of the airbrush I used. It took me a little while to figure everything out, but I really like how this little guy works!

Tune in next week to see how the Knights Bellicose turned out (and may be to see some more progress on the table). Until next time, feel free to leave some comments to let me know what you think of the table. Have fun painting!

Knights Bellicose Progress

Today will be a shorter post. There's not a whole lot to talk about today because I've been focusing on just one project. The good news, however, is that work is progressing steadily on my first Knights Bellicose squad! Check them out!

The squad is coming along nicely!

Close-up of my two current favorites

The Knights have always worked as single models and I was always worried about how they would look as an entire army. So far, I think they're looking really good! What do you think?

And now, do you remember the terrain problems I've been having? My wonderful wife has suggested that instead of trying to fix it with more brushes and paint, that I should just go ahead and get an airbrush. After reading tons of tutorials, watching some videos, and talking to other painters, I'm going to go ahead and get one. The terrain project is on hold for the time being until I can save up the $100 for one, but it should be a good investment when I finally get it.

After the three tables are finished, I'm hoping to continue using the airbrush to prime all my models. No more paint cans leaving blotchy spots on the models. No more obscuring details. From here on out, I'm planning on having nice, even, thin coats of primers. I'm also hoping that it will make vehicles easier to paint. Once I get it all figured out, I'll be sure to post a tutorial for you guys! Keep checking back to see how it all turns out!

Until next time, have fun painting!