Creative January Warhammer 40,000 Commander's Edition Space Marine Force

I managed to get my project in just under the wire for Creative January.  This is the Space Marine Force painted as Dark Angels using some pretty quick techniques and oil washes.  I'm really happy with the way they turned out.  I was going for an advanced tabletop quality for this force and I think I managed that.  The Ravenwing Outriders have the simplest paint jobs but I had to fully assemble them before painting and the legs of the bikers were molded into the piece with the exhaust so it was harder to get to the seat of the bikes.  They remained black which worked out okay.  

I was most happy with the way the bases blend into the red clay side of the battle board.  I think the color also provides a nice contrast to the Space Marines armor. 

  

The commander was definitely the hardest miniature in the box.  It took me nearly a full weekend to paint him.  My wife has been working on the Necrons that came in the boxed set so we will hopefully be able to play out the starter Scenarios soon.  

I managed to snag a box of Dark Vengeance from my FLGS for about $100.00 so I'm going to have several more Dank Angels to paint up soon.  The nice thing about this set is that all of the Dark Angels have their iconography molded on so I won't have to deal with fiddly decals.  

 When I painted the Outriders I also painted this old Chaplain.  I think he is from 2nd Edition.  He's metal and has a small base but I'm going to use him with my Scout detachment so he should work well for them.  I've found several other sets of Space Marines but my son is also working on his own chapter so we are splitting them between our forces.  I have "Kill Team" on order which I'm actually looking forward to playing than the full game.  I have a lot of 40K miniatures from the past from several different factions so I should be able to make several small forces.   

Warhammer 40K Dark Angels first squad finished for Creative January

 

I finished the Assault Intercessor Squad from the Warhammer 40,000 9th Edition Command Edition boxed set.  These guys were a lot of fun to paint.  I finished them off using some oil washing techniques.  Oil washes are a lot easier to use than most people would think.  They are easier to use than acrylic ink based washes in fact as long as you take a bit of care with your work space and gentle enough with your application.  I may make a post showing the difference between the two sometime soon.  

I had intended to show the rest of my process in painting these as I did in my first post but I've got a lot of miniatures to paint and not a lot of time to edit the images required for a step by step.  I didn't really use any exotic techniques.  Mostly standard dry brushing and highlighting.  I did use makeup brushes for the drybrushing which I have just started using.  I would highly recommend those for drybrushing and I'm looking to get a larger and better quality set soon.  

Next up on my paint table is this Primaris Captain from the boxed set and an older Dreadnaught I've had laying around for a while.  

 

Creative January Project Dark Angels Space Marines Assault Intercessor Squad

So a largely photography based creative group I belong to on Facebook just issued a Creative January challenge so as a non conformist I am submitting some Space Marines.  I've just picked up the Commander's Edition for Warhammer 40,000 9th Edition and these miniatures were included in the Space Marine Force.

Assembly was interesting.  I have not played 40K in several editions although I did have a few 8th edition miniatures.  I'm not a big fan of the push to fit assembly but these went together pretty well with only a few mold lines to clean up.  I like the size and dynamic posing of the newer Games Workshop models but I miss the utility of the older multi part kits.  

First base coat was in black automotive primer.  For rattle can primers I prefer automotive primers because they tend to be pretty thin and therefore don't obscure detail too much.  I make a noob mistake and started painting a bit too far from these minis so they got a tad bit grainy from some of the paint droplets drying before the hit the mini but I'm just gonna press on and work with it.  

Next I grabbed some kind of random dark green and sprayed from above and at a 45 degree angle which left black in the lower recesses and undersides of the figures giving me some quick and dirty shading.  I've seen this technique used but outside of a few terrain projects I have not used it myself.  

Next I did some highlighting using a makeup brush for my drybrushing.  I used a pretty cheap brush but it worked pretty well.  These are really bright for my intended Dark Angels color scheme but I'm going to used some oil washes to finish these models so that will darken them considerably.  I know I use craft paints.  Deal.... 

Because these models are so dynamic I decided to pull some of the parts off to get at the miniature better.  Unfortunately during assembly I had decided against this so I glued a couple of the looser bits in place.  I almost always paint fully assembled miniatures but I think one models like these I may start taking advantage of this newer assembly method.  

Whenever possible I like to paint in one setting or I try to pick projects that I can finish in one day but I've just started a new supervisory position at work and I'm only getting about an hour or so at the paint table before fatigue sets in.  I plan to make more progress over the weekend.  I will almost surely have these done but Sunday night.  

 

Hell Knights Scouts skin and hair WIP

I got the skin tones and hair done on the scouts.  Now I just have the weapons and bases.  I'm pretty happy with the way they are turning out. 

Hell Knights Scouts and Sniper WIP

I got the drybrushing done, blocked in the skin tones and applied the wash.  Now I have to highlight the skin and finished the details.  I really like this stage because it always feels like I'm almost done. 

Painting my "Hell Knights" rifle squad (Cadian Imperial Guard with Pig Iron Heads)

 Just thought I would share a technique I have been using to quickly paint up squads of troopers.  It works really well for military type minis and Battlemechs and such.  Here are a selection of Games Workshop Cadian Imperial Guard minis with Pig Iron heads.  These guys took a while to put together.  I cut off all the imperial symbols from the guns, armor, and canteens because I want to use these guys for several different games.  They will be the main troops for my "Hell Knights" mercenary army for my own generic sci-fi setting.   
First thing I do is select the base color.  In this case I chose a dark brown.  I used a Rustoleum cammo spray paint as my base cote.  Krylon makes a cammo paint system as well but the local Walmart doesn't carry that line anymore.  These paints are designed for people who think painting their pickup in a cammo pattern will actually help them sneak up on Deer and Turkey and other woodland critters.  No shit they really believe that. 
Anyhow after I base cote them then started blocking in the cammo pattern I've selected for this army in a warm medium brown. 

 Next I blocked in the rest of the cammo.  I'm only painting the armor and boots on these guys cammo. 

 After I got the cammo blocked in I started on the web gear and grenades and equipment. 

 At this point I dry brushed all the models with a light sand color.  This way I highlighted the model with one color.  This works really well for drab colors and really speeds things up. 

 After the dry brushing I put in the flesh tones and brighter colors.  I painted the visors on the helmets blue and the little lights and optics green. 

 After that stage I put a wash over the entire figure.  I used dark burnt umber with a drop of dark blue.  I also added some future floor wax to the mixture.  I use this kind of wash quite often.  It really gets into the cracks and ties the mini together. 

 After the wash I added details and highlights to the skin tones and brighter colors.  I also added the metallics at this stage. 

Finally I finished their bases and clear coated them.  I'm really happy with the way they came out.  I've used this technique or variations on it quite often with good results.  They actually painted up faster than they went together.  I spent a couple hours a night on them for a week so I have perhaps 10-12 hours in the entire squad. 

Holy Gamer Pals Batman!

Apparently the gods want me to play Warhammer 40K. Or at least my friends do. Anyhow one of my gamer friends came up with a brand new 5th edition rule book that he couldn't account for. He also had a Terminator Assault Squad with Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield and a spare Librarian so he just gave them to me. Over a hundred bucks worth of stuff for nothing.

So the same friends girlfriend also paints minis and she gave me a great tip for mold line removal. This is an electric manicure tool and it's like a dremmil with a very low power motor. It's perfect for removing mold lines and light flash without damaging the figure you are working on. It was about $7.00 at Walmart.

Got Fist?

Well I've done it. I've started painting Warhammer 40K figs again. Here are some Marines from the "Assault of Black Reach" boxed set I'm painting up as the Crimson Fist chapter. I'm in the process of heavily weathering them at the moment. I used a lot of drybrushing and cheap craft paints. Suck it GW! I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out.

Here's a shot of them prior to the weather and wash.