Assault intercessors – Blue!

November 22, 2022 DebbieForster2 Comments

Between orders, I have managed to get some Assault Intercessors painted, in blue, red and green. Today, I finished the blue ones. Here they are – I’ll talk about what I did with them underneath!

So, these handsome lads were painted initially with the airbrush. It feels like AGES since I did shading with the airbrush, or zenith highlighting or whatever it is the cool kids are calling it these days. I base coated them with dark blue all over. Used a medium blue at 45 degreed and then light blue from the top only using a light blast.

I then picked out the details, did some recess shading and washes and here we are. All ready to be sold and find their new homes soon!

Games Day!

May 12, 2019 DebbieForster3 Comments

Today, I went to Games Day. I did not enter the Golden Daemon contest as my diorama would not have been finished in time – the competition was exceptional and there were some amazing miniatures on display. It was good to see them.

There was a lot to see and get involved ith that it is difficult to know where to begin. I’ll try and keep this focused… Contrast paints. These have the ability to revolutionize the painting aspect of the hobby. They allow anyone to create decently painted miniatures in next to no time at all. After applying a special smooth undercoat, these paints are quite literally slapped onto a miniature and the rest of the work is done. I managed to paint two Brimstone Horrors in under 2 minutes.

All these miniatures were painted using Contrast paints. There will be lots of experimentation going on in the future that much is certain. It will cater to those who do not like painting!

I did a speed paint! In twenty minutes I painted a Storm Cast to what I think was a good standard. I challenged Caitlyn, who spent a good deal of it screaming! Meet Erik:

There was a lot of people dressed in cosplay as well, the costumes were amazing. I took several pictures, got shot by a Kreiger and watched as another friend was captured and slaughtered for heresy!

My favourite part of these events is chatting to the design teams. I got to meet the people who created my personal favourites: Ahriman and Abaddon, and enthused with them. I saw concept sketches and had in depths conversations about how they work and design the models we all love so well. I then got chatting to one of the artists about the Dark Angels Legion. The artwork was spectacular, however the chat about how the legion is differently organised was also interesting.

They have different heraldry depending on who they are. Their squads can be compromised of multiple marines from different specialities and it is a lot more fluid than any other Legion. In the same squad, there might be different individuals who have fought in different areas – the squads are not fixed. So, there might be a guy who fought against orks, a guy who fought genestealers, a seige specialist etc, and each of them will have different runes, while they all share squad, chapter heraldry as well. I think this makes each miniature in a squad an individual rather than a batch painted one and that is awesome!

Finally, there are some shots of the Chaos Knights. Beautiful miniatures they are indeed. They did have a copy of the codex, but it was behind glass and locked – no-one was allowed to look at it, not even the staff!

What an amazing day it was! Exhausting, but a lot of fun! I am sure there will be more posts about this in the near future as I remember things, but for now, this is all I have.

40K · hobby · painting · Painting Tutorial · warhammer

Tutorial: Wet Blending.

February 9, 2019 DebbieForster5 Comments

I was asked the other day about wet blending and how I do it so I said that I would run through how I do it as best as I can. I’ve taken some pictures to try and illustrate the process.

Step 1:

Wet Palette. Nothing fancy, just a take away tub, a sponge and some baking paper:

When adding water to the wet palette, I keep the water just below the top of the sponge. This is my personal preference and it is a case of finding what works for you.

Step 2:

Select the paints you’re going to use. I am painting a cloak on a Stormcast for the purpose of this tutorial and I am going for dark purple.

Step 3

Paint the darkest colour as a base on the area that is going to be blended. Don’t worry if it looks watery or parts of the undercoat show through, this will be fixed when blending.

Step 4:

While the paint is still wet, get the next lightest colour on your brush – not too much of it though – and mix it in the spaces you want to be lighter on the miniature. Try and make the two colours mix without any clear lines between the two.

Step 5:

Repeat this with the lighter colour for the places you want to be lighter. Again, try to do this without leaving any clear lines. I always try to get as smooth a blend as possible.

Step 6:

I also added some darker blends with dark blue because I wanted to add depth to the purple. You can see it in the second image above.

That is how I wet blend. I am aware that this is a tricky skill, or can be, for some and it takes a lot of practice. I’ve popped a couple of examples of what you can do with wet blending, though the limits are just your own thoughts. I hope this has helped!

Larry was a speed paint in half an hour – his blend is less than perfect!

I use wet blending for the base of all the galaxy cloaks I paint.

40K · painting · Wh40K

Improvements

December 8, 2018 DebbieForster2 Comments

It has been a long time since I painted a Primaris Marine, I have been caught up painting heretics and all manner of other creature. So when I ‘rescued’ the Lieutenants from a friend who wanted to burn him, I was more than pleased to paint him up. I am not sure what I am going to do with him as yet, for now he is going to join his Ultra-buddies in the cabinet.

I have pictured him next to the last Primaris Marine I painted and I wanted to share that. We are all improving with every model we paint and the only person we should compare ourselves with is us. I feel I have come a long way since the last one. The highlights, though subtle, are sharper, the face looks better and it seems I am learning how to base.

The new guy looks miles bigger than the old one…

40K · Painting Tutorial · Uncategorized · Wh40K

Tutorial: Galaxy Cloaks!

September 4, 2017August 21, 2022 DebbieForster10 Comments

I have never written a tutorial before but when I was asked about the galaxy cloaks the other day and how I did them I volunteered to do one. I have tried to keep it as simple as I can!

Step 1: Coffee – an essential must have for all painting endeavors

Step 2: Background – I use Abaddon Black as the base for the galaxies so I make sure the entire area is covered and even before I start. I also find that having an image as a reference is very useful, though I do not often refer to it!

Step 3: Base colours. As I was going for a blue based galaxy, I used Kantor Blue and Xereus Purple. At this point, I use one of my very old brushes and stipple the paint on carefully. I don’t put a great deal of paint on the brush and I create the outline of the galaxy.

This is a little dark, sorry about that!

Step 4: Using the same brush, I then go over the outline with a lighter colour – in this case, I used Caledor sky and Xereus Purple mixed with Mephiston Red. I also make sure not to put as much on the brush as at this stage, you want to start seeing spots of colour.

Step 5: Here is where I swap to a smaller brush and begin to build up the layers that form the galaxy. Using watered down – this makes the paint much easier to manipulate – Sotek Green, Temple Guard Blue for the blue and Xereus Purple with a mix of Emperors Children, I then blend and build up the colour until it looks natural.

This one has a swirling appearance to it – use the watered down paint to build the colour up!

Step 6: Stars. This is the step where I add the first layer of stars. I use a very fine brush to spot on the stars that are the same colour as the blended parts. You can add them at a varying sizes too.

Step 7: More Stars. This time, I use white to add in stars. They add a final striking layer to the cloak. I also use a range of sizes and this time, I put in a small cross to show one as twinkling.

So, there you have it, a whirlwind explanation of how to create groovy galaxy cloaks. I am going to be giving them to all psyker type models for the time being as I think they fit the theme. Space Wizards need wizardy cloaks that look like space… Here are a couple of others I have done!

If you found this tutorial useful, please consider buying me a kofi: https://ko-fi.com/hereticdeb

40K · fine detail · miniatures. · space marines · Wh40K

The Cloak of Stars, a 50p Heretic and The Second Company.

August 21, 2017December 4, 2018 DebbieForster2 Comments

I’ve been a bit busy getting married these past few weeks and as such have not had a great deal of hobby time to get either writing or painting. The wedding was wonderful and the honeymoon a big pile of fun too. However, after recovering for a day, we did manage to get some hobby in to make up for it. While away, I was browsing Pinterest and saw an awesome effect on a cloak of a miniature and decided that I wanted to try and recreate it myself. Here are the results:

The effect of painting a galaxy on a cloak was a tricky one that involved creating a base of the swirling colours and then painting an awful lot of little dots over the top finishing off with some white ones. The colour of dots depended on which part of the cloak I was painting but I think it worked out well over all. I think I will be trying this technique again on psyker/librarian characters too. It’s just a shame that this heretic – Ahriman – will likely never see much play time.

The other model I have been painting was found at the Warboot at Element Games a few weeks ago (with a huge hangover no less) and was picked up with a friend who is some sort of demented chaos apothecary with Fabius Bile’s pack back. The Thousand Son miniature was already undercoated and having just finished the novel, I decided to paint him up all nice. He is a fine-cast miniature but let’s not hold that against him, he looks alright and I am sure he and Ahriman will be running off with all the cookies in the cabinet in some sort of heretic shenanigans.

Look at them both – planning on raiding the Ultramarine Cookie Jar already!

Another I wanted to mention was sorting out the marines I had into squads. It was a job I have put off for a while but I finally got the time to sit down and get it done. I knew I had a lot of models and that they needed to be sorted – more so I know who belongs where and who gets what markings. Turns out I have enough for seven squads of a battle company and some Terminators, Dreadnoughts and Bikes (not assembled yet) for support. I also have other models that are not yet put together which will form the majority of the command unit too. Here they are, the Black Hands Second Company in all their ‘organised’ glory.

And finally, I have to mention one of the awesome gifts my husband and I received as a wedding present. We were given a lot of gifts and are exceptionally grateful for all of them. I feel this one needs a special blog mention though:

The Emperor’s Palace on Holy Terra – Now on our living room wall in all its glory.

40K · miniatures. · Warhammer 40k · Wh40K

Sergeant Flowers

August 4, 2017November 26, 2018 DebbieForster1 Comment

As some of you will know, I am getting married tomorrow. The past few days have been a bit of a whirlwind, trying to organise various things; decorations, relatives, cakes and other assorted bits and bobs. I’ve had a lot less time for painting and playing and even less for writing. Fear not, the story is still growing just at a much slower rate than before.

We are not having a huge formal wedding, we’re not those kind of people. We wanted to do something that reflected our quirks and would be enjoyable for everyone, not one of those huge formal affairs were everyone appears tense. I always knew I wanted something in my bouquet; I just wasn’t sure what…

That’s where this guy comes in.

This is Sergeant Flowers. The history I with painting miniatures began when I was around 14 years old and is a story too long for the telling on this post. My recent ‘obsession’ is with 40K and Space Marines so it seemed like a fitting idea to have a guy with a jump pack hidden in the flowers.

A little bit about Flowers then – his first name is Iris (which is painted on the banner in the centre of the black hand). He is the sergeant of the fourth squad in second company and is known for being mean. With a name like Iris Flowers, one worthy of The Emperor’s Children, he has to be. He has served for over 200 years so far and is a dab hand with the lightning claw.

After the day, intend to take him out of the bouquet, fix him to a base and field him alongside the rest of his assault squad. I will leave you with the shot of him all ready for the big day tomorrow.

There will be no problems with heretics or xenos on the big day!

painting · Warhammer 40k

Improvements

July 24, 2017July 24, 2017 DebbieForster2 Comments

Someone close to me suggested that ‘art is a journey’. I’m not one to wax lyrical about the intricacies of art and what it means. I paint miniatures because I enjoy it, I find it calming and it is a great way to unwind after a day at work. I have been painting figures on and off since I was about 13 years old. The first model that I owned and painted was an undead banshee – she is still in the house somewhere I think. I have come a long way since then.

What I want to focus on today is how far I have come over the past few months since finding my way back into the hobby. I managed to pick out one of my first Space Marines and took a picture – here he is in all his Black Hand glory.

When I look at him now, I see the thickness of the edge highlighting and how wonky the lines are. He was a good start however and since then, I have painted a ‘few’ more marines and practiced my brush techniques. Then the Primaris made an appearance and I was faced with new challenges. Here’s the first Intercessor I put my brush to a few short weeks ago:

Since painting this fella, I have improved on my line work and feel the coat of paint looked a lot more even too. I’m more confident in the style of painting – highlighting rather than blending and think the flat colour is really striking when the edges are picked out in a brighter shade. There is always room for improving however and we are always more inclined to see the flaws! The last model I painted was this one:

I am very proud of the ancient and feel it is the best work I have done so far, better even than the Deredeo dreadnought I was pleased with! People have been kind and commented on him on Twitter and Facebook, some going so far as to say it puts theirs to shame. I don’t like such comments! We are all working to improve ourselves and the only people we are comparable to is our self! I’ve compared and shown my progress against my own models, not anyone else’s. So long as we are constantly getting better at what we do, and that there is visible progress to a better looking model, then that is a win!

Warhammer 40k · Wh40K

Battle Report: Dark Eldar

July 15, 2017 DebbieForsterLeave a comment

We decided to kick off the weekend with a game on Friday night. I wasn’t playing against the Death Guard for a change; oh no, this was someone totally new. A friend of mine brought his Dark Eldar over and I was informed that it would be me doing the fighting! My long suffering partner helped me create the army list with some advice here and there about what to do! I took my new shiny Deredeo Dreadnought, freshly painted and gleaming to see what he could do, and a load of the Primaris lads that I have been painting too.

This was my first introduction to objectives. I had to clarify what they were for and I was reliably informed that in order to win I had to do said objectives or kill everything on the board. I looked at my friend and calmly informed him that I was going to kill all his models…

The Dark Eldar went first. They managed to kill a few of the intercessors in the first round. For a while, it was looking pretty even; then the Dreadnought got to fire…

This was the result. I must say that the Dreadnought had a hell of a lot of fire power in it and I almost felt bad for my friend… Almost. He dropped some reinforcements in from space (I cannot recall the name of the unit) and I destroyed them with another squad of intercessors. My Hellblasters peppered his troops with shots and my captain stood about and yelled at people to shoot harder! Those 1 re-rolls from both him and the Lieutenants is devastating. The dreadnought hits on a 2+ and I get to re-roll 1s…

As I had promised my friend, I killed every model on the board and scored my first ever victory in 40K. There was much rejoicing.

With the Captain shouting at him, the Deredeo hardly ever misses… BOOM!

40K · miniatures. · Warhammer 40k · Wh40K

Painting Dreadnoughts!

July 9, 2017December 4, 2018 DebbieForsterLeave a comment

Thought I would do a bit of an update. I’ve not played any games this week owing to time constraints and needing to get other things sorted out (wedding) but I have managed to squeeze in some painting here and there.

I’ve finished the Primaris Intercessor squad and tried to take a half decent picture of them – tricky with an ipad and some sheets of A4 paper but I think you get the idea. I’ve improved with every model I have painted and I am so pleased with the contrasting edge highlighting on the blue armour.

Today’s project was to make a start on the deredeo dreadnought I’ve had sitting about for a while. I wanted to try some blending on the flat areas of his plates and it has taken an age to get right. I’ve also tried to paint a light source on it as well, something I have never done before. He is far from finished but I feel I have done a pretty neat job so far. I’ve also stuck in a picture of Guilliman because he’s now assembled and awaiting some paint. An awesome model who is going to be a further challenge!

As a side note, I’ve reached over 22 000 words of my Chapter’s story and am about to start part 3. Another thing I am proud of this week!

I want to do a couple of shoutouts to awesome people I have met lately too. Dave, a Space Wolf player, has been instrumental in encouraging my to share my stuff with the wider world adn encouraging me to do so. This is a link to his blog, go check it out, there is some great stuff over there!

https://theerrantwolf.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1

I have also met some photographer dude named Chris Frosin! He has just returned to the hobby, is the most enthusiastic person on the planet and also has encouraged me to be better than I am. The updates and questions about what I am painting/writing has kept me focused. This is his website, check him out!

https://www.chrisfrosin.co.uk/

Also… this if you like stupid and 40K stuff, give this blog a bit of a look through… It’s pretty dumb…

https://abaddonandteal.wordpress.com/