Shades head to the Brighton Warlords! An army progression thread.

[SotonShades]

Hello guys, girls and trolls.

In a little under a month's time I will be making my way down to Brighton for what is always an awesome tournament, hosted by the Brighton Warlords. I've been there several times before for a variety of tournaments, but this one will be 40k, 1500 points and a few restrictions to help some of the older codex's that can't fully take advantage of 6th ed just yet (also to nurf a few of the meaner allies combinations without making them unusable/maintaining the characters of the armies). Never one to make life easy for myself, I'm not taking a list I have used at other tournaments or that I have fully painted up. No, not me. Some of you may have spotted [URL="www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?30172-Tournament-1500-points-Space-Marines-with-Imperial-Guard-allies"]a list recently posted by me[/URL] up in the Tactics forum: Well here is what it looks like;



As you may have spotted, I still have a lot of work to do with these guys. A handful of miniatures are fully painted but the majority, even some that look it, are not. I think the only things I am happy with are the Vendetta, the Primaris Psyker and the Penal Legionnaires. Well, that is the allied detachment dealt with at least...



The bike squad will form the core of this force; a fast moving, high toughness scoring unit (thanks to the biker captain) that can split in to two units if I really need them too? Naturally they are going to be of a reasonable priority to a lot of my opponents, particularly if they can take out my vehicles quickly.

I am actually fairly happy with the three knightly bikers at the front. That said, they stand apart from the army visually, so I'll probably add in a bit more red on the bikes. The other guys will take a lot of their visual clues from them though, with primarily silver armour, the black and gold left shoulder pad and perhaps some individual heraldry though I may restrict that to the robed bikers.



Speaking of bikers, here is the Captain. There are some much better pictures of him on [URL="http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?26090-Jet-Bikes-SotonShades-vs-Machinator"]here[/URL], along with a fairly full description of what I have in mind for painting him. You will have to scroll down a fair way, but there is plenty of interesting stuff to read (I hope you'll agree) along the way.

[SotonShades]

My Mortis Contemptor obviously needs a LOT of work. On the one hand I don't want to rush doing him. On the other, I have a lot to do. He might only get a basic paint job that I can update later on, but I would like to be at least in the running for Best Painted at the tournament. That may just be a pipe dream, as there are usually a good number of very well painted armies at Brighton Warlords (see [URL="http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?16886-Cvife-s-Pre-Heresy-Death-Guard-%28A-blatant-rip-off-of-Bigred!%29"]Cvife's Death Guard[/URL], who have won before, for a hint of the stiff competition I could be facing) but I am hoping my conversions, particularly the posing of the Contemptor and the Captain, might just pull a few votes my way.



Last but not least, the 'bulk' of my force. Two tactical squads and a pair of Vindicators. With the exception of the Powerfist Sergeant and his friend with the flamer I don't think I have got the red on any of the marines' armour right. Most of them need a lot of detailing work (such as eyes, chapter marking etc) as well as decent highlights. I will get them all up to a minimum standard before going too much into that kind of stuff though.

As for the Vindicators, they are all but done.A couple of details need picking out and a couple of repairs need to be made, most notably on the one on the right who doesn't even have his Storm Bolter. They will probably be one of the last things I do though as they will hold their own as they are. This picture really doesn't do them justice at all. That's what you get for trying to take photos at night without a proper light source I guess.



Newho, so my plan? I am going to try to do some updates every day or two showing at least some noticeable progress. May not be easy, as the weather forecast looks like it could be 100% humidity for most of the next 7 days, so undercoating is right out the window. Still, not like there aren't plenty of other bodies I can be working on.

Comments, criticisms, idea and suggestions are all welcome as usual. Also, please please bug me if I haven't posted for a few days to keep me motivated to keep having progress to show. Cheers much

Shades

[Fizzybubela]

They look great!

[SotonShades]

Right, so... I didn't manage to do posting every couple of days. Sorry about that. So much for this thread keeping me motivated, eh?

I do have some updates for you today though! Rejoice, sit back and enjoy;



This may not look like much of an update, but it is. I've gone through all my marines in this list and touched up the reds and painted over the very rough chapter symbols and identification numbers on the legs. Several of them still need a highlight/overbrush with a lighter, fierier red, but I am working my war through that.



These guys are getting there. They have had their legs redone with Jokaero Orange, brightenned up with Trollslayer Orange and then toned with Seraphim Sepia. I also redid the purity seals and am currently touching up the yellow sections. On a side note, this squad has been dropped from an 8 man squad to a 7 man so that I can afford a Storm shield for the Captain. The sharp-eyed amongst you will notice there are still 8 models in this picture. That is because I am far less intelligent than I look so have still been working on the full 8 man squad, the last of whom I have been doing for no real reason. Rest assured, he is now set aside, ready for the next time I work on my marines.

And now for something most of you will find a little more interesting;




Yes, thanks to a friend who allowed me to re-colour the underside of his gaming board in a room that isn't so cold the paint freezes rather than drying, I have finally managed to get this guy undercoated! I have been wanting to get on and paint the Contemptor for a while now, but the inclement weather here in the UK has been preventing me from doing so. Now I can go all guns blazing (or at least, all brushes dripping... well; you get the idea) and get on with it.

Never give in to peer pressure children. On the other hand, everyone who has seen my vindicators has been suggesting I do the Contemptor in the same scheme, which I wasn't going to do. However the idea is growing on me, so I'll be doing him as a crossover between my marines and the tanks, with the same colour layout as the marines, but using the dark, drydrushed red instead of the bright fire red on the marines, a dark metallic (probably bronze or the like) instead of orange and a lighter, goldish metallic instead of the yellow. I will probably have a bright helmet though, either in red, yellow or silver to make the head really pop. I'll also be using other gunmetal metallics on various parts of the model, particularly the guns, and a little of the turquoise/light blue on the weapon cowlings, but not too much.

I will probably do something fairly similar to my orks for the dead Kan on the base as well, looking relatively fresh, so it does look like the Contemptor has kicked him down, rather than just standing on a wreck that was all ready there.


On a final note for now, I have also undercoated a few of the bikes as well, but haven't photographed them. I'll get on to that when I have a worthwhile number to show you and/or when I am ready to start painting the squad.

So that is is from me on this post. Fingers crossed I'll get some stuff done today so you can see some progress before the end of the day, or tomorrow if not.

Shades

[SotonShades]

Got some progress done on the Contemptor (and more importantly nothing to do before heading out to one of my gaming clubs but let it dry and take some photos!)




As you can see, it isn't a lot of progress, but it gives you a decent impression of where it's going. Along with touching up the undercoat I have

• Dry brushed red onto the body*
• Painted Warplock Bronze onto the shins/feet
• Painted Balthasar Gold onto the Knee joints, elbow joints, sarcophagus aquilla and exhausts

*I used Wazdakka Red for the drybrush, but it came out a bit too bright and slightly pinky. I washed it down with Agrax Earthshade, but I think I should have used Wild Rider Red instead as although it is a brighter shade of red, it isn't a strong as Wazdakka so more of the black below would have come through making for a darker tone all together. That said I am pretty pleased with the end result and it sits really nicely next to my Vindicators.

So that is it for me today painting-wise. I'm off to test the mettle of my list against a Salamanders army. Two forces rather obsessed with fire? What can possibly go wrong!

Shades

[SotonShades]

Progress Report;

Contemptor is all but finished. The KillaKan on the base has every shade of blue GW produces on it (wish I was kidding. Still, fun to experiment) and the rest of the base has been painted, washed and drybrushed to within an inch of its life! The bronse on the legs got highlighted, washed dark, re highlighted and glazed with a thin orange wash. The gold on the knees, elbows and exhausts have been highlighted, washed and re highlighted, to be nice dark, dirty looking, while the aquilla has been picked out in a bright, full looking gold, shaded with purple to make it stand proud rather than dirty. Still need to finish the weapons (experimented with the cowling of the cyclone launcher, still trying to get the dark turqouise right) and the head done. Will get some pics up shortly, though possibly tomorrow.

In other news, in the brief flash of sunlight we had today I managed to get the first undercoat on the captain on the jetbike... Now just need to pray for another one so I can get a black coat on him (first coat is car primer, which is a godsend when painting resin models) so I can actually start applying colour.

I have loads of free time this coming week, so fingers crossed I might actually get these guys done in time. That said, if I'm not furiously painting away in my hotel room the night before, it won't be a real tournament experience for me! Hopefully I shouldn't be too weather dependent for getting things undercoated either, so full steam ahead.

Shades