Getting My Goat

Nothing fancy today, just a nice, old-fashioned beastman from Knightmare Miniatures. 

To me it looks like he’s shouting “You kids, get off my lawn!”. Or in his case probably “You elves, get out of my woods!”. 

See You Later Alligator

Just a quick one today but this reptilian beastman (as opposed to a lizardman) has been sitting on my desk waiting to be finished for what seems like absolutely ages. A couple of days ago I realised that despite work on him stalling completely he really only needed another twenty minutes or so to be completed – and thus inspired I knuckled down.

Amongst the various projects I have planned – but which are as yet untouched – I’d like to paint up an old school chaos warband based around the Knightmare Miniatures range, and so this cantankerous looking crocodile will hopefully be joined in due course by a savage brotherhood. Probably not for a while though as I’m trying to tame my spirit animal, the hobby butterfly, and focus on a few key projects for the time being.

Lone Wolf Winter

Recently I was sorting through a box of old models given to me by a friend when I stumbled upon this old Space Marine. I might have just passed over him but something about his hairdo and aggressive pose made me think of the Space Wolves, which in turn made me think of fellow blogger Alex of Leadballoony, who’s been working on some of these grey-armoured space barbarians recently as part of his Wolf Time project. Over the last several months Alex has been lovingly, and with outstanding attention to detail, crafting a horde of Orks and Space Wolves in order to recreate the Wolf Time campaign from the Rogue Trader era of 40k – a project that’s well worth taking a look at and being inspired by!

Anyway, given my aversion to the Space Wolves (something I could go into the whys and wherefores of but which I think I’ll save for whenever I get around to my long planned Space Wolf kill team), and my close and long-standing affiliation with the Orks, you would have assumed that this would inspire me to paint something green – all very logical but you’d be dead wrong in this case. Instead, in the kind of headlong, spur-of-the-moment charge often associated with the Sons of Leman Russ, I found myself painting my first ever Space Wolf. Plus, it gave me the chance to use some of the vast drifts of modelling snow I was given by another friend who was having a clear out and, given my tendency to base my models in a grubby, Underhive and distinctly precipitation free style, hasn’t really done very much apart from sit on the shelf making me look like I might be a cocaine dealer.

I went for a darker grey scheme than is usually associated with post-Heresy Space Wolves, partly because I think that suits a scout better and partly because I feel the baby-blue scheme is just a tiny bit naff. Throughout painting him I kept thinking that I recognised the colour choices I was making, and sure enough it’s exactly the same as the scheme I used for my first Van Saar (another project I must get around to working on again soon…).

Surprisingly, given that work remains flat out at the moment, I found the time to work on a couple of other models over the weekend as well so, all being well, I should be able to finish them off, get them photographed and string together some words about them over the next few days.

Squabblin’ Goblins – Part 7

I planned to paint this very old spider-loving goblin shaman for Neglected Model Month but alas he was so neglected I didn’t even manage that. Never mind though at least he’s done now!

Oh, and for anyone who thinks that an overabundance of skulls is a modern phenomenon amongst GW’s miniatures there are seven of them on this little dude. Indeed his love of both spiders and skulls puts him on a par with most goths I know (which needless to say is a very good thing indeed).

Garage Days Revisited – Part 2

They say that old Catachans never die, they just smell that way, although sensibly they never say it if any old Catachans are within earshot. This is another escapee from Chris’s garage (and for those who need to catch up on the full story you can find it here). I like to think this chap was the veteran of a fair few battles before he made his way into the dusty darkness of the garage. He’s got tough guy action hero written all over him, and regardless of how often he’s probably been shot and blown up he still makes it through to save the day. What’s more he manages it all whilst chatting on his phone – old though he is he still manages to be relevant to the millennials. After such heroics the least he deserves is to be properly painted at last.

Humanity’s defenders being a diverse bunch I reckon he’ll fit in alongside the rest of my small Imperial Guard collection where his 1980’s action movie musculature will be the envy of my underfed hive-world conscripts.

Sorry babe, gotta go, Sarg is shoutin’ at me again!

Any Spare Change – Part 10

I suspect that this next picture may illicit rather different reactions from viewers, depending on their age or immersion in Citadel’s history. Whilst oldsters may feel a warm glow of fond recollection newcomers will be more than entitled to raise an eyebrow. It’s a chaos renegade of Tzeentch, dating from the Realm of Chaos era (better known as the ’80s) but beyond that I’m still a little sketchy on its provenance. I remember seeing it many, many moons ago in White Dwarf but which issue now escapes me and in spite of digging back through old issues, and being sidelined by many an interesting article, I’m no clearer. Anyone with a better memory who wants to illuminate me please feel free. Thanks to a combination of my own (slightly fuzzy) memories, and the wisdom of Azazel and the crowd on Twitter, I know it’s a conversion, based on a chaos champion of the same era with pink horror arms. Beyond that however my knowledge is sketchy and I’m not certain who deserves credit for creating it.

Anyway, here it is as it appeared in White Dwarf all those years ago, alongside some equally cool looking models.

And here’s a better image shamelessly borrowed from the blog Realm of Chaos 80’s (which if, for some reason, isn’t on your reading list really ought to be).

It’s certainly a unique miniature, so odd and wrong it shouldn’t work, yet somehow perfectly balanced and beautifully executed (at least to my eye). Regardless of its origins I’ve always had a real soft-spot for it and as I’ve been looking over my Tzeentchian gang again lately (which to my slight horror haven’t really been touched since last July) I realised that this would work perfectly as a champion. Time to take a stab at creating my own.

Consider the cables on his back as WIP for now, they’re going to need some improvements once the greenstuff is properly cured.

My aim was to create a model in the spirit of the original, duplicating as many parts as possible, but built from modern bits (finding Realm of Chaos era models now would be a quest in and of itself and then chopping them would feel like sacrilege to me).

Here he is hanging out with a modern Tzaangor.

And introducing himself to gang he’ll someday lead.

As usual if you’ve got any feedback, or if you know any more about the mysterious origins of the original, the floor is yours.

Old and Sick

So today is the day and, following considerable build up, the new edition of Warhammer 40,000 is being launched. New plague marines will soon be stomping their foul authority across painting desks and gaming tables everywhere and what better way to celebrate the newest recruits to the Plague God’s armies than with one which is very, very old indeed?

Much like the old ork I painted recently I wanted this model to sport a gritty modern paint scheme, rather than the brighter, flatter schemes that were preferred when he was first released. He’s also rather short in comparison to the outgoing plague marines, and will be dwarfed by the new Death Guard models.

I went for a very quick and dirty paintjob, this wasn’t a model I wanted to pour too much time and effort into but rather a quick and enjoyable distraction whilst I wait for the new release to arrive. A quick glance at the top photo will also reveal that I did not attempt to drill out the (rather fragile) tip of the gun barrel and indeed the whole model is hardly my best work. A few special effects like the gunk seeping out of his armour and the freehand on his shoulders should help to balance that out though.

Good Ol’ Boyz – Bonus Grots!

Blame it on painting that old Ork but since then I’ve had a real itch to work on a few grots for him to boss around (after all the other lads are never going to stop picking on him for being short so he’ll need someone to bully in turn). Into the box of old models I go to fish out these two gretchin. Like the Ork (and plenty of other things that you’ll see in due course) these were a gift from my good mate Tom who’s been clearing out, so cheers once again dude.

This one’s face seems to have lost some of its definition over the years so I kept the highlighting there to a minimum and put extra effort into other areas in order to draw the eye away. And then I spoiled it by telling you all what I’d done.

Something about their devious, spiteful little faces made me think of redcaps – the evil goblins which supposedly dwelt in ruins along the border between Scotland and England and make a habit of murdering travellers and painting their hats with the resultant blood. Although I didn’t want to paint this one’s helmet as if actually bloody I did think that giving him a red cap would be a suitable homage to the nasty little bastards. Plus, maybe he reckons it makes his thoughts go faster?

Unlike the Orks, who’ve grown somewhat in stature down the years, these grots are still pretty much of the same scale as their modern descendants.

At least the Ork no longer feels like such a titch!

Good Ol’ Boyz

After finishing off my undead I started fishing around for something to follow them with, a pallet cleanser if you will, before getting back to Chaos and my slowly progressing warband for the Chapel. My hand fell on this distinctly Oldhammer Ork, a gift – alongside quite a number of other models – from a friend who was having a clear out.

In spite of being a distinctly elderly model I wanted to paint him in a modern, grubby style, rather than the flatter, more garish tones preferred back when he was first released. I reckon it works well, and of course it ties him in nicely with his newer battle-bruvas.

Of course he’s a little shorter than his new mates but there’s no need to take the mick out of him for it eh!

Old and Weird

Much as I love the modern range of plastic Orks I’ll admit to a real fondness for their older metal predecessors as well. Indeed the very first Games Workshop miniature I painted, way back when, was an Ork, one of the old meganobs – and indeed it is high time he was joined by some comrades of a more recent vintage (why yes – that is a hint of things to come!).

Today though it’s the turn of a model that’s older still, a weirdboy which appeared way back in that seminal tome Waaargh! Da Orks. With his crazy hair, wispy moustache and baggy clothes he doesn’t have that much in common with the rusty-armoured space barbarians of more recent times but I’ve always loved him nonetheless and when the chance came to add him to the growing Waargh! I wasn’t going to miss it.

Rather than worry about the differences however I’ve tried to emphasise them with his (almost jester-like) purple robes and bling. After all he’s a weirdboy and thus entitled to look a little strange (the clue is in the name and all that). As ever your thoughts and feedback are welcome!