In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.
I have painted the Nemesis board game miniatures recently for a friend, and thoroughly enjoyed doing so. The alien creature were varied and allowed me to play around with different colour schemes, while still appealing to my gross side. The named characters were interesting, not terribly made and had little details to make them individual.
Here they are:
So, it’s been a while since I wrote here. A lot has happened since February and not all of it positive. The painting front continues to go well and keep me busy, which is great. I’ve recently painted a host of board game miniatures, which I shall do a post on shortly.
Unfortunately, we lost one of our cats on the road which hit me pretty hard. She was less than two years and as such, we have now confined the others to inside. I do not want to ever experience that shock again. Crabpuff – or Crumble – is very much missed.
My main change was purchasing this car last week. About five years ago, while in Grand Cayman, Dave and I went on an Island tour in a Defender 110. Since then, I have wanted one of my own. I loved the square chunkiness of them, the sound and the general cool factor – and the fact that you can go all over in them whether there is a road or not.
Since then, I had a go at some off-roading. This was an awesome amount of fun, and while traipsing through mud and lakes, the instructor and I got talking. He confessed that what I was driving was actually a Discovery, which was essentially the same as a Defender, just a bit more comfortable. They were also a fraction of the price to buy.
A fraction of the price eh… Six weeks later, I bought this:
It’s so big! At just over £2000, it was indeed a fraction of the cost of a Defender. Is it easy to drive? No. Is it a lot of fun? Yes! We picked the car up from near Hebden Bridge, and I have been getting to grips with it since. It is a 2003 Discovery 2 TD5. There are other numbers and letters that go with it, but that’s the gist of it.
It definitely has its quirks. When we bought it, we knew there was an issue with the transfer box, so I called up a local Land Rover garage – run by two guys who are enthusiasts – to see if they’d take a look at it. The initial conversation went like this:
‘My Land Rover is leaking oil, can you have a look at it please?’
‘Sure, where is it leaking oil from?’
‘Underneath. I’ve not had a car leak before.’
‘You’ve never had a Land Rover have you?’
So, in it went. Turns out it leaks power steering fluid, it leaks oil and it leaks diesel. Most of these are minor things that need repairing. The fuel leak is getting fixed next week as that is the worst one. I was reliably informed that the price I paid for it was a bargain, and that the car is solid.
I’m looking forward to learning all about it, how it works, how to keep it working and going on all sorts of adventures.
Last year some friends brought me some ‘shifter’ paints for Christmas. I have not had a chance to use them until now, when I decided to see what they were like on a Flamer Chariot that I have had for a while.
The results were a mixed bag. Some of them looked really good, others just sort of shimmery. I wasn’t keen on the effect by themselves, and think they would look good over other colours, so I used some contrast paint to help.
I have also drybrushed different metallic tones over the top to create a shimmery effect for the chariot itself.
I am not too keen on the result in the end, but as this was an experiment it will do. I did learn a bit, and need to have a think on how I might use the paints to better effect on other models.
This time, I wanted to try a blue steel effect with blending. I enjoyed the green and liked how it looking in my last attempt, so tried it on Sanson Farstrider, who I had just laying about.
I am super pleased with how it has turned out. I think the blending looks smooth and the tones have come out really well. I do think the blue needs more mid-tones, though I am happy with the levels of contrast in the mini. I think the red cloak and plume stands out well against the blue metals. The gold looks alright too.
I hope everyone appreciates Eagley on his wrist too!
Something else I promised to myself that I would do this year, was finish off some of the project that got set aside for one reason or another. The first one I have finished is Little Stampy. This diorama was supposed to be a Golden Demon entry, but got set aside when the contest coincided with my 40th birthday.
S, I picked it back up again with the intention of just getting it finished. I had done most of the work, and so finishing off the metallic paint and gluing it together were really the only bits left to do. Here he is:
The hardest part of this mini was the repose. There was a lot of swearing, cursing and some blood that went into getting the leg in the right position and the pipes too. I learned a great deal though, which was point of doing this project.
I also spent a good deal of time looking at water effects on bases. Although I am not convinced this river is the best I will ever do, it was good fun playing around with the different materials.
Most importantly, I learned a lot for the future. I am sure there will be many more dioramas to come.
One thing I decided that I was going to do this year, was try and refine my blending for non-metallic metal painting. It is not a quick method, and it is not one I am confident with. I have done a fair bit of gold but I want to expand that to other colours. As such, I have grabbed a Stormcast mini and had a go using greens instead. I am quite pleased with the results:
I am generally pleased with it. I do think there needs to be more of the middle tones of green, and the weapons need refining, but this is what the process is all about – learning and improving. I have more Stormcast kicking about not doing anything so I will have another go soon and see what I can do to get better.
This guy, as well as some other goodies, is available in the shop: https://hereticdeb.com/shop/
The other prize from Simply Warhammer’s channel was Brôkhyr Iron-master for the Leagues of Votann. This is the first time I have worked on any miniatures from that range, and I found that they were fun. The colour scheme was the winner’s own, and I used that as a starting place to get the miniatures looking great. They used contrast paint, so it was a bit of a challenge transferring that over to the paint I usually use, but who doesn’t like a challenge?
Here they are:
They are interesting miniatures, and I would definitely like to paint some more of them in the future!
Another one of my favourites! I adore painting this miniature, and have not had the chance to do so since 2019 – when I entered him into Everchosen. It feels like a lifetime ago.
This one was a prize paint for someone on Simply Warhammer’s channel. I was only too happy to discuss the mini with the winner and find out what they wanted. After some thought, they decided they wanted to have a Slaanesh feel to the mini as he would go with the Emperor’s Children Army they have planned.
Here is what I did:
He was painted at T2 level, and I added the bonus freehand to give it that required flavour. I am pleased with how the design on the cloak looked, and I know that the winner is too!
I have never actually painted any miniatures from the Tau range, so when I was asked to paint some Kroot I was more than happy to accept, even though they were finecast. It took a bit to get them together, as the warriors are old kits and they took a good deal of cleaning up and messing about with so they looked decent. After that, it was a case of airbrushing the base greens onto them and going from there. They were pretty easy to paint, and I did enjoy them.
Although I am not a huge fan of Tau, I did like these miniatures. It would be amazing if the sculpts/kits were updated though!
As most of you know, I love painting tanks. I’ve had this one kicking about for a while, and decided to paint it yellow. Most people do not like painting yellow! I am not too bothered by it now as I have done it a fair few times. I find that if you get the undercoat right, then it is a lot easier to apply. I try and use a red based brown – like Doombull by Games Workshop – and then apply several thin coats of Averland Sunset. You can also use pink to highlight it, which I have done here using P3’s Carnal Pink. Here are the results:
I used the airbrush for the base yellow, and for applying the grime at the bottom of the tank too. The top part with the gun on I have not attached as yet. As I do not intend to keep this one, it will be easier to post this way!
This tank, and some other goodies, are available in the shop! https://hereticdeb.com/shop/
Heretic Deb! 