Sippin' On Paint Water

Shark Skin: How to Paint Carcharodons

2012-03-13T01:51:00.000-04:00

After reviewing the votes and realizing there was in fact a tie between the Lamenters and the Carcharodons, I decided to get started with the Carcharodons as I did a separatist chapter with the Mantis Warriors and I thought I would try and do a couple of loyalists for every separatist. I put some extra work int this one, I even learned how to spell Carcharodons. Without further ado, I present how to paint Carcharodons.

Paints you'll need:

Adeptus Battlegrey

Fortress Grey

Chaos Black

Charodon Granite

Boltgun Metal

Dwarf Bronze

Chainmail

Skull White

Washes you'll need:

Badab Black

Devlan Mud

Baal Red

1. Start with a coat of flat black spray primer.

2. A quick drybrush of Adeptus Battlegey on the entire
mini.

3. A thorough drybrush of Fortress Grey, make sure to
create an even finish in this stage.

4. Time to create some visual interest by breaking up the
light grey of the model, I used a mix of 2 parts
Chaos Black with 1 part Chardon Granite, apply this to
the shoulder pads and if you want some other areas
of the mini.

5. Paint all the metal bits such as the boltgun with Boltgun
Metal.

6. Paint all the joints hoses and weapons casings with
Chaos Black.

7. Wash the entire mini with Badab Black, I didn't mix any
water with the wash as I wanted it to darken the mini
substantially.

8. Paint the armor details like the chest emblem with
Dwarf Bronze.

9. Drybrush the Bronze areas with an equal parts mix of
Chainmail and Dwarf Bronze.

10. Apply Devlan Mud to the bronze details, be careful to
not get the wash on other parts of the mini.

11. Chapter badge time, start by making a backwards 'C'
with Skull White.

12. Now add an extra tip to the top and bottom of your
'C' and make a line extending from the center of the top of
the 'C' towards the bottom.

13. Fill in the body of the shark and add the dorsal fin to
top of the emblem.

14. Now using Chaos Black paint three small lines to make
gills and add a small triangle to make the eye. While you
have the Chaos Black out you can touch up any mistakes
that were made with the Skull White.

15. Paint the lenses of the helmet with Skull White and
after the white is dry add a large drop of Baal Red Wash
to each eye.

16. To finish off the model I painted the base with a mix of
Charcoal by Delta and White from Apple Barrel, these
cheaper craft paints let me paint my terrain to match my
minis.

At this point you have a fully painted Carcharodon, this level of detail will let paint an army quickly and to a good standard. It took me about forty-five minutes to paint this one figure and if you were batch painting squads at a time you could probably finish each squad in three to four hours of work. But I know what everyone wants to see...

Space Sharks!

Polynesian styled tattoos.

Now the examples in Imperial Armour don't have any kind
of Tactical badges, but if they did they would probably
look like this.

Hope everyone found this tutorial helpful, I really enjoyed painting him and I'm looking forward to the next mini in the series. I'll be painting a Lamenter next since the poll was a tie, followed by a Marine Errant and then a Sons of Medusa marine. The next one should be up later this week but it will likely be Monday or Tuesday before the fourth installment of Badab Tutorials. If you have a specific chapter you would like to see after this line up leave me a comment and I'll see what I can do. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

The Perfect Mounts

2012-03-09T23:11:00.000-05:00

My goblin cavalry were sitting at a bit of a road block as I couldn't find mounts for them that I wanted, last weekend I checked at my local Hobby Town to see if they had got in any of the new Fenresian Wolves, but as usual they were at least a week behind on new GW product. With another week passed, and the knowledge that their GW orders come in either Thursday or Friday me and my friend Chris headed back, once again no wolves. After striking out again on a trip to Hobby Town we decided to hit up the less frequented Grinning Gamer, it's a small store in Greensboro that caters to mostly RPG's so I thought I might be able to find some suitable alternitives to the GW wolves as he does have a massive stock of Reaper Minis, and that is where I found my perfect little mounts. These two ugly little dogs seemed just right, originally I hadn't intended to make their mounts as funny as their riders but these two seemed to good to pass up. Enough text, conversion time.

The one on the left is more Pit Bull, while the one on the
right is more Bull Dog.

Both dogs size up just right at being believable mounts for
my goblin cavalry.

Now with the dogs in hand it shouldn't be too much longer till my Goblin Aristocracy order the revolting Orks to be ridden into the mud from whence they crawled. Tell me what you think of my work so far and what you think should be next for Le Petite Revolution de Vert. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

An Executioners Update

2012-03-09T07:06:00.001-05:00

Just a quick update of my progress on my Executioners Strike Force, the other Tactical Squad is blue along with my counts-as Chronus, while the two other tanks are completely silvered and are ready for washes, the terminators have already had their Badab Black wash but are still awaiting blueing.

I shouldn't lose any figures on the tabletop now.

Can't wait till I finish Chronus' Predator.

The Terminators are starting to look very menacing.

I wanted to keep everyone out there who is interested in this force up to date with the small amount of work I've actually done to them over the last month or so. Every time I look at them assembled on the muster field that is this donut box, I wish they were already finished, but when I cart a unit over to my painting desk I'm lucky to get a single stage done on a unit before life interrupts me or my back starts hurting. Stick it out with me and hopefully I'll have them done before summer. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Finally Building My Prize

2012-03-08T21:39:00.000-05:00

I few months ago I received my prize for winning The Fallen Princes Painting Contest but I hadn't done anything with it, it set under my painting desk gathering dust. Slowly it was buried beneath boxes and other items cast aside in the name of progress. Earlier tonight as I was painting and I dropped my brush beneath my desk, much like an Adeptus Mechanicus Exploritor I ventured into the dark crypts that is the under-desk. Like so many ill-fated expeditions I stumbled onto something I was never meant to find...

The Chaos Lord!

Tons of pieces, had no idea what I was going to do with them.

Legs, gotta build legs.

Alright a Dark Wolves Lord, now we're getting somewhere.

Making the cape better, needs something...

Rotten wolf head.

Zombie RARR RARRR!

Should be fun to paint.

I've been trying to get caught up on everything lying around my apartment, but there is way to much to do at once. Maybe if I stop getting new stuff right now I can be done with everything in the next five years. Ooh I just got a coupon in my email for Hobby Town, operation buying freeze suspended indefinitely. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Mantis Style: How to Paint Mantis Warriors

2012-03-07T21:30:00.000-05:00

This is the first in a series detailing how to paint the different chapters of the Badab War, I hope to do a figure and an article for each Chapter, but I want to make this clear from the start there are plenty of ways to get similar or better results than the ones presented here. I hope this series of articles will help beginners and Badab Veterans alike in their attempts to paint the forces of the Badab War.

First up Mantis Warriors.

I start with a black spray primer.

Next I apply a solid coat of Knarloc Green to the majority
of the model, followed by a drybrush of Knarloc Green
mixed with Tausept Ochre.

Now paint the shoulder pads and face of the helmet in
Tausept Ochre.

Time to paint the metal bits and accents with Boltgun
Metal.

At this point it's time to apply Chaos Black to the
Boltgun casing and joints of the armor.

Now it's time to bring some definition back to the mini,
I brush on a thinned wash of Badab Black, my mix
is three parts water to one part Badab Black.

After the wash your yellow bits may look a bit more brown
than yellow, mix one part Skull White with one part
Tausept Ochre and apply it to all the yellow parts of the mini.
I also paint the lenses and the base shape for the knee detail
while I have the Skull White out.

Just a little Ogryn Flesh wash over the lenses and their done.

Finish off the knee detail by painting the Maelstrom
Warders badge in Chaos Black.

Now it gets a little tricky, I find when painting chapter badges
it's best to start off with a simple shape, for the Mantis
Warriors the best starting place was an 'X' in Chaos Black.

Add some fangs to your 'X' and then fill out the head of
the mantis with Chaos Black.

Add the eyes with some Blood Red and the nostrils with
Tausept Ochre, and don't forget to paint the line down the
middle.

Ready to defend against the Maelstrom.

This Tactical Badge was taken from an example in Imperial
Armour.

A little plain on the backside but good looking overall.

I hope this helps some people out there, I know I had a lot of fun painting it. It was quick process to paint this figure, it took me about an hour and I'm sure you could paint a squad in about four. I'll be putting up a poll for which chapter I should do next so be sure to vote, and if your favorite chapter isn't featured in the poll leave me a comment as a write in vote. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Armored Reinforcements from Combat Wombat

2012-03-07T15:50:00.001-05:00

My order from Combat Wombat arrived today and my initial impressions are good. The casting quality is very good with few air bubbles and no noticeable flaws and the order came with stickers. Didn't realize it when I fist unpacked everything but there were some small rare earth magnets included, nifty bonus. I would definitely do business with him again and I'm really excited about getting to work on these.

So much stuff, I don't know where to get started.

Dumping everything on the table at once was
a little premature.

I think I'll pin the turrets so I can mix and match them.

That's all I have for right now but keep checking back for more progress, I'm not sure how I want to paint these right now, I have a full company of GZG NAC infantry that I just based and I don't know if I want to continue my PGCC bright scheme or switch to a more realistic military scheme. If you have an opinion leave me a comment. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Late Night Hobby Hang Time

2012-03-03T09:40:00.000-05:00

I had a couple of my good friends over last night to work on minis and hang out, we normally do this a few times a year either to finish a specific project or sometimes to work on several different ones. Last night everyone decide to work on different things and catch up with what's been going on in our lives.

Chris diligently working on his newest project,
Sons of Medusa.

Ian working on a nifty Space Marine Captain
on super custom base.

And me painting some of Ian's Word Bearers that I
should have finished last week.

"Stop taking pictures of me."

"You just took another picture didn't you?"

"We need more glue, this ones dead."

We didn't get a whole lot done but we had a lot of fun and that's the important part of these kinds of activities, maybe next time I can trick everyone into helping me finish one of my too many projects. It just occurred to me that this is the first time my ugly mug has been posted on this blog, hopefully I lived up to what people were imagining, sorry to disappoint if you though I was actually a cup of paint water, I tried for a while but the ceramic was fragile and I kept spilling myself. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

A Brief History of PGCC Involvement on Sellas

2012-03-02T00:32:00.000-05:00

To understand the current situation on Sellas it's important to have some knowledge of the planet prior to the involvement of the PGCC or Conclave. Sellas is an arid world that orbits the binary stars of Vela and Caspiron, early human colonists attempted to settle Sellas in order to take advantage of its mineral wealth, but due to the difficulty of getting water, large scale colonization efforts were discontinued, this resulted in a small population of humans simply being abandoned and left to their own devices. This "native" population continued to develop over several hundred years with little involvement from outside populations and avoided taking part in the hostilities of The Rim War. Most Sellans lived in small farming settlements or mining towns and generally avoided off-worlders when they rarely landed on Sellas.

A common sentiment among Sellans.

This all changed about twenty-five years ago when a PGCC survey team "discovered" the rich mineral seams that had been forgotten by everyone but the people of Sellas. Within a year of the discovery, the PGCC had established Sellas as a Client world and was excavating several million tons of ore a year. The population of Sellas began to rapidly expand, water brought in by the PGCC as well as moisture collection technologies spread throughout the settlements of Sellas. Workers from off-world and non-humans soon found themselves living and working on the newest backwater of the PGCC, this continued for a number of years. Native Sellans began to resent these outsiders and developed several Planetary Militias and pro-isolationists parties in order to maintain the beliefs and traditions of Sellas.

This is going to be the leader of the SLF.

The PGCC was not about to let some backwards militias endanger the possibilities of limitless profits on Sellas. To achieve this goal Sellas was declared a Franchise World and Franchise Director Schuban was given absolute power over all security issues on Sellas. Schuban's first action was to abolish all Sellan militias and disarm the "natives", these actions were met with resistance but eventually most Sellans submitted to these edicts. For a time peace and progress were the way of things on Sellas.

A captured SYMON in the colors of the SLF.

Nearly twenty years since Sellas' inclusion as a Franchise World and the situation on the ground is rapidly deteriorating. For a number of years the production rates of the mines on Sellas has been declining and as a result pay and benefits for Sellan workers has declined. This situation came to a head a mining facility called Fauster's Landing, angry workers armed with digging tools and blasting equipment attacked the local PGSCD office killing several of the Combat Technicians stationed there. The PGSCD response was fast and brutal, rapidly redeploying Technicians from nearby settlements the rioters were eliminated in mass, hundreds were killed and many more fled into the countryside. The actions of the PGSCD only served to radicalize many Sellans who had accepted their lot in life.

These guys will be fun for solo gaming.

These minis are going to be the start of the SLF and I'm looking forward to getting in some solo games with them in order to better familiarize myself with the rules for 5150. They are going to be primarily orange and grey with black weapons and webbing, I'm also going to try a mix of skin tones and hair colors to make them more visually interesting as a force. If you have any ideas for names for characters or locations on Sellas leave a comment, your ideas might just get mixed into the fluff. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Goblins WIP

2012-03-01T02:20:00.000-05:00

I'm nomin' on some late night cheeseburgers and trying to get some work done on one of my cooler projects, and I thought I would share what I've managed to do so far. These are going to be 'Le Corps de Lutin Coureurs Loup', imagine goblin cuirassiers. This means I'm going to have to sculpt armor, helmets, sabers, and all the other accouterments that it can entail. What have I gotten myself into?

Not impaled, just glued.

What do you think of the helmet?

Not the most realistic boots but I like them.

Unfortunately they won't have any thing to ride until I can get them some wolves to saddle up, I think I'll get a box of the new Fenresian Wolves, I really like the sculpts even if the price is a little high. Those wolves will be massive sitting under these diminutive cavaliers. I need to come up with a name for 'the ork and goblin French Revolution' that isn't nearly as many syllables, if you have any suggestions leave me a comment. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Gun Truck and Garage

2012-03-01T00:04:00.000-05:00

I made a couple of more things to go with my 15mm terrain and gaming, the Gun truck will be going to Impcommander and more than likely he'll also be painting the garage.

These two fit in nicely beside everything else.

The gun is taken from a Mechwarrior Click.

The box and plating is just some styrene card.

That's all I have for right now, work has been exhausting lately and I just haven't felt like working on anything when I get home. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Le Marquis de Ville-Champignon In Color

2012-02-28T03:35:00.000-05:00

I finished painting this handsome little goblin, and I've been thinking about making some other nifty guys to go with him. I was considering making an ork and goblin version of the french revolution. The orks would be the downtrodden Third Estate and the Goblins would be the nobility and clergy, kind of flip the script on the goblins being the slaves to the orks all the time, besides the orks will be easier to convert into peasants and the goblins look hilarious in fancy clothes.

What do you think of the blue and pink coat?

Gold jewelry and buttons.

Let me know what you think about my ork and goblin revolution idea, if I go through with it I'm going to try and keep it a small skirmish game. One of the major reasons I don't play Warhammer Fantasy at high point levels anymore is that you need one hundred plus minis for most armies or several large monsters, for this project I'm considering a couple dozen ork revolutionaries and maybe half as many royal goblins with better weapons. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Battles From The Frontier World of Sellas

2012-02-25T18:39:00.001-05:00

Insurgent and Conclave activity has been on the rise lately on Sellas due the recent arrival of several high ranking Conclave officers, this has resulted in the need for urgent resupply of forward operating bases. In a bid to maintain the frontier outposts on Sellas forces from the PGSCD attempted to move a convoy of trucks through the narrow mountain pass of Gothago.

The convoy with PGSCD detail, including their new SYMON.

The snaking pass at Gothago.

As the convoy trundled through the pass several insurgent units backed by CMI infantry rushed from hiding and attacked the passing Combat Technicians. The results were disastrous for the PGSCD, nearly all personal were lost in the attack. The trucks were all destroyed which at least keeps the valuable supplies out of the hands of the Conclave.

The PGSCD gave as good as they got, but it wasn't enough.

"We need immediate evac! Oh God, they're everywhere!"
Last transmission from convoy.

The view from the CMI missile post.

It was a fun game but definitely a bloodbath, Impcommander was in charge of the Conclave forces and committed forty infantry to the attack. I had my two squads of superior troops and my heavy SYMON, I tried my best and killed almost thirty of his troops, but once the unit at the end of the canyon opened up on my depleted forces there was no way my men were going to make it out of there. I guess the outpost is going to have to rely on airborne resupply until the PGSCD can clear the road of hostiles. So far everyone local we now have playing 5150 is really enjoying it but we're pretty sure we're doing it wrong, but as long as it's fun we don't mind. Next weekend me and Chris will be going over to ColKilgore's for dinner and some battle so that should be a lot of fun. Until then thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Le Marquis de Ville-Champignon

2012-02-24T23:41:00.002-05:00

Unlike the court of old France I listen to the demands of the people, so with that I present Le Marquis de Ville-Champignon. As Gigawatts demanded a figure with a powdered wig, he said an ork would be better but I knew he meant a goblin would be best. Think about it, who would better at looking down their nose at you than a goblin, of course he may need a step stool to accomplish this feat but he certainly isn't lacking in the nose department.

I have no idea where a goblin would get such fine duds but
this one has certainly found an accommodating tailor.

His wig currently looks a bit like a Jerry curl,
but I think it will look the part when painted.

What color should his coat be?

So many buttons, so many buttons!

I had originally intended this mini to be a one off but I really like how he turned out, I might have to make him some friends, after all what's the point of courtly life if you're all by yourself? Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Old Minis

2012-02-24T05:08:00.000-05:00

I was having dinner at my parents house and got to digging around in my old room; I found a half a dozen vaguely medieval looking humans that I had forgotten about until they were rediscovered. I had gotten these when I was fifteen or sixteen to use as a Mordheim Warband, but I never finished painting them. I don't recall who the manufacturer of these figures are but I remember they're cheap at about a dollar a piece, not bad for metal minis. I decided I would go ahead and paint them up; I started with the most armored of the figures, I imagine he's the leader, perhaps the captain of this mercenary band.

Captain Antoine Filburge.

I gave him a mole like the aristocracy wore in the French
court of Versailles, I thought it fit his nonplussed expression.

Free hand cobblestone base.

Fancy-Pants!

These are the others, the one in the middle was the only one
I finished when I got them but his spear broke at some point.

I might use these as town guards with my fantasy adventurers, otherwise I don't think I really have any particular use for them. If you have any suggestions for the others or know what company made them let me know, I changed the settings for comments, that two word system with different punctuation was really getting on my nerves, I can't change it on other peoples blogs but I can change it on mine so I did. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

How To Paint Word Bearers

2012-02-22T05:23:00.000-05:00

After a pretty lengthy break from painting anything 40K related I thought the best way to get back to it was a tutorial on how to paint Word Bearers. Word Bearers are pretty popular so I'm sure there are other articles on this subject, but the way I paint mine is quick and yields good results.

The first step is priming, this is one of the few times I use something other than black as the primer coat. I've found that Krylon makes an excellent color just right for Word Bearers, Burgundy in a Satin Finish, make sure you use satin or flat when priming in any color, gloss can work but you'll be fighting an uphill battle trying to apply regular paints with a brush over a gloss coat.

Full even coverage is the goal.

Once the primer is cured, I usually give it a few hours but overnight is better, it's time to get your brushes dirty. I start by painting all the metal bits of the minis with Boltgun Metal. When painting the metal bits it is important to cover all the metal surfaces completely. This is not a drybrush, you'll want to completely obscure the red underneath.

Super shiny but it will make sense in a few steps.

Next it's time to undercoat the areas of bone or horn on the models, for this I use Khemri Brown as it coats nicely and is an excellent color to paint a much lighter shade over.

I can't stress how much I like Foundation Paints.

Now we apply some color to the chapter badge, now I'm pretty lucky because these guys all have 3D badges, but if you don't then a transfer or some freehand after the mini is entirely painted should get you where you're going. I paint one even coat of Tausept Ochre over the part of the badge that is flames.

It will better in a minute, I promise.

This next part is simple, paint Chaos Black on everything that you'll want to be black, weapon casings, joints, hoses, and of course the daemon head of the chapter badge.

By now they should start looking the part.

This is the step that brings the whole mini together, a nice heavy coat of Devlan Mud Wash. The wash helps to cover up any small mistakes and darkens and shades the entire mini in one quick step, it's so easy it's like cheating.

Told you it would look better in a minute.

About now I normally choose to paint the base with a heavy coat of paint. I like to paint my bases with cheaper craft paint for a couple of reasons. First you can use up a lot of expensive paint trying to get into all the nooks and crannies on a sand covered base, and secondly it lets me paint my terrain with the exact same paints so my minis match their battlefield. For these I've gone with Charcoal, it's made by Delta and is part of their Creamcoat line of acrylics.

These two are tabletop ready, or you can add some detail.

Now it's time to to brighten up the the bones and horns with a quick application of Bleached Bone, I've found that with overlapping coats of a single color you can skip mixing highlights. Just paint a single thin coat on the entire surface then as you apply the later coats paint them in smaller and smaller layers leaving the earlier coats visible on the edges. The guy on the left is a good example of this technique.

Looking bad to the bone.

Almost at the end now, I paint a highlight of Chaos Black mixed with Skull white on the chapter badge, you could also use Codex Grey but I prefer a very dark grey highlight. While I have the Skull White out I also paint the helmet lenses.

Just a few more steps.

Then I highlight the base by drybrushing a coat of Charcoal mixed with Skull White, it's important for the drybrush to be light and stay on the raised areas and out of the recesses.

Nearly finished.

This next bit is a quick way to naturally highlight lenses, simply apply a wash of your choice over a coat of Skull White, for these Word Bearers I used Gryphonne Sepia, it goes nicely with the flames of their chapter badge.

We see you.

And finally it's time to do the last bit of highlighting on the chapter badge, I mix some Skull White with some Tausept Ochre and paint it on the edges and raised parts of the flames.

Ready to illuminate the galaxy.

There you have nice and fast, hope I explained everything well, let me know if you have any questions about this process and I'll see if I can't answer them. This should be the first of a few 40K articles this week, so keep an eye if you're a fan. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Rebels and Robots from Rebel Minis

2012-02-18T20:17:00.000-05:00

Like I always do with any project I'm working on I jumped into 15mm feet first and probably over bought things and will eventually have to buckle down and start working on stuff before I end up with boxes of unfinished miniatures. However my order from Rebel Minis arrived yesterday and I was too excited to not get some work done on the new arrivals. I ordered a couple of packs of Post Apoc Survivalists as well as some Wild CATs and Tom CATs. Everything was in good condition and I was really pleased with the Post Apoc Survivalists, I would definitely recommend these for near future security forces or insurgents. I was not entirely happy with the shape of the CATs heads however and decided to do what I could to make them more appealing to me and dynamic.

That's a Survivalist on the left, the CATs in the middle
and an Orion Heavy Infantry on the end.

The way I would describe the overall shape of the CATs heads is organic with bulging eyes, that wasn't really what I wanted in a large combat robot, so I converted the first one to have recessed optics and a bulkier neck. This fellow now more closely resembles a Cylon but that was unintentional. I also beefed up his shoulders with some armor plates and positioned his arms to be carrying his rifle in both hands, that meant I had to sculpt him a new left hand.

I feel his pose conveys a greater freedom of movement now.

For the second CAT I went with a more reinforced closed armor look; I intend to finish him off with a combination of the shield that comes on the Tom CAT frame and one of the clamp arms from the Wild CAT frame. I think I'm also going to try and make him an over shoulder weapon system but I want some kind of heavy laser.

I'm going to add more armor plating.

A comparison of the unmodified pose and the converted one.

I'll probably give the two stock CATs armor like this one.

Closeup size comparison.

The CATs are huge compared to normal humans.

That will wrap this article up it will probably be the last 15mm article as I have got to make some progress on my many 40K projects. Thanks for reading, feel free to comment and as all ways stay thirsty.

Some Paint Work and Adobe

2012-02-15T06:43:00.000-05:00

I couldn't sleep last night, so I thought instead of lying in bed waiting for sleep that wasn't coming I would try and get a jump start on some painting. I started by drybrushing the first stage of color on my infantry, truck and building. This small amount of activity led to me feeling a little peckish, so I polished off the last of some cookies I had and realized the container they were in could be quite useful for making some interesting looking buildings. Fast forward to two hours later and I was sliding the plaster buildings from the re-purposed cookie tray. I'll be adding a layer of blue polystyrene under the plaster buildings so they look like they are half buried beneath the planets surface, similar to structures found in North Africa. Then all I'll have to do is add some sci-fi doors and some nifty accessories to the outsides of the structures and I should wind up with a good looking indigenous settlement for my Combat Technicians to kick around in. While I waited for the plaster to harden I finished my truck and my prefab barracks.

I'll be painting the plaster buildings a red adobe style.

Nifty door details.

PGCC, for all your housing needs.

The truck painted up in PGCC colors.

So far I'm really liking 15mm as a scale. I've managed a good amount of progress; I would like to get the plaster buildings on their bases after work tonight and try and finish at least a squad of my Combat Technicians. If you have any suggestions for the building or the truck don't hesitate to leave a comment. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Some Tiny Progress

2012-02-15T00:39:00.000-05:00

I been busy for the past couple of days; I started on some terrain for my 15mm stuff and filled in the bases of the first batch of figures. I intend to get all this stuff painted for the weekend for my first games of 5150: Star Army. These guys will be facing off against Impcommander's mid-tech humans.

I want to make some kind of water tower next.

My first 15mm building, it looks like a prefab barracks.

I converted this Matchbox truck to look more robust.

The Das worked well for leveling out the bases.

Time to really dig into my paint pots and develop some painting blisters. I know a few of you have some experience with 15mm gaming and I would like to hear from y'all on what you think of 5150: Star Army, as well as if you have any suggestions for other rules or ways to play. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

The Votes Are In

2012-02-13T03:26:00.002-05:00

With the poll now closed it's clear that the preferred name for the new resin bases is 'Steel Streets', I want to thank everyone who voted and submitted potential names. I'll be getting the prize out to Laughing Ferret as soon as I get some contact info from him; I can be reached at cbhollowell at aim.com. With the formalities out of the way, I thought I'd share some recent experimental minis with you. These were primed black and then dusted with white primer to highlight the entire model. If done right the entire mini looks like it's been painted in grey scale. After the primer was dry I painted these solely with washes, the whole process took about thirty minutes to get to the stage they're at now.

Not completely finished, but a very quick start.

This guys skin turned out great.

I have another thirty or so to go with this first batch.

I don't have a concrete plan for what these are going to be used for, but I imagine them as a force of pilgrims or zealous crusaders led by members of the ecclesiarchy. I have a bunch of old metal inquisitorial stuff that might get built into things to go with these, but we'll see what happens. Thanks for reading, feel free to comment with any suggestions you have for these and stay thirsty.

Finally Here!

2012-02-11T04:31:00.003-05:00

I checked my mailbox today, and found the minis that I had ordered form Blue Moon Manufacturing, I was so excited to get these and knew I had to go ahead and paint some right away. After working on these minis, which are the first 15 mm minis that I've ever had, I've learned a few things. First, these minis are just that, mini, by far the tiniest humans I have ever tried to paint well. I had some Epic 40,000 Guardsmen when I was sixteen, but I just painted those green and called it a day. Well I was determined to do justice to these guys, so I put some time into the one finished mini I have. The others shouldn't take as long now that I have worked out a paint scheme.

This is Service Leader Witherspoon.

I only have twenty right now but that may change.

I tried to paint the PGCC symbol on his chest.

Solid black guns, I tried metal but it looked funny.

A little plain any, suggestions?

Rank stripes and a name tag.

The lessons learned from painting this guy will be applied to the rest of the minis, so I should have a good looking force of Combat Technicians before too long. With the un-primed minis I'll be using some Das to level out their bases as the stick up quite a bit from the pennies. If there are any tips that may help me out with working at this scale I would really appreciate it if you left me a comment, I'm new to the world of the super tiny mini and it may take me a while to get a hang of it. Thanks for reading and I hope to get some helpful hints from those 15 mm enthusiasts out; keep reading and stay thirsty.

The People Shall Decide

2012-02-09T13:51:00.001-05:00

It's been less than a day since I asked for name suggestions and y'all did not disappoint, but I have a bit of a problem there are two names I really like. So in the spirit of the internet I'm going to leave this one up to popular decision. The choices are 'Steel Streets' submitted by Laughing Ferret and 'The Rivetlands' submitted by Impcommander. These are both great names as they help to conjure up an image of what these bases look like, but also the kind of environment one might find their miniature in if they were based this way.

Sadly I'm going to have to use most of these myself.

It's hard to tell because of the color, but the detail level is crisp.

I'll be putting a poll up on the blog so you can vote for your favorite of the two nominees, so make sure and vote. With all these castings done now I can get started on my super secret project, mwahahahaha! I'm sure everyone out there will like what I make of these, keep checking back to find out what it is. I just finished adding a new page to the blog with pricing and contact information if you are interested in ordering any of the resin items I'm currently producing, check it out, Sippin' On Paint Water Custom Resin Items. Thanks for all the name submissions and for reading, I'll keep trying to make work worthy of your time, and hopefully money in the near future. Stay thirsty.

It's All About Base These Days

2012-02-08T15:31:00.000-05:00

I finished working on these today and they are now getting a luxurious bath in some silicone mold rubber. I plan on casting them up in resin for a project I'm working, but this is where it gets interesting for my readers. I would like to have a name to slap on these and maybe get some up for sale on my eBay account, and that's where y'all come in. Help me name these by leaving your suggestions for a name in the comments section and the the person who's suggestion I like best will get a set of ten for free.

There are five different bases, but two sets of two are similar.

Who doesn't want free stuff?

There is one stipulation you must be a follower of Sippin' On Paint Water for you to be a winner, in other Base related news; Silar over at The Badab Veterans is running a GW Basing Kit giveaway, all you have to do is follow his blog and leave a comment on the article. So many free bases, if only someone was giving out figures to go on them. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

The PGSCD

2012-02-07T03:35:00.001-05:00

Since its Incorporation the Pan Galactic Security Contracting Division has striven to achieve the goals set before it by the Board of Directors. In many ways the PGSCD resembles a corporation rather than a military, although it has a central command structure led by one of the Board Members, many of its operations are conducted under the direction of a Franchise Director, a rank comparable to General in most armed forces. Usually a Franchise Director will be responsible for the security of an entire planet or in some of the less populated sectors the entire star system. In order to maintain security on a planetary scale a Franchise Director will have between one hundred employees, in the case of sparsely populated or distant colonies, and one hundred thousand employees in the case of the capital world of Jonah's Rift. Directly under the Franchise Director is the position of Sub-Director, Sub-Directors are usually charged with the responsibilities of a ExO, focusing primarily on logistics and supply rather than strategy or battle plans. Without the efforts of Sub-Directors, Franchises would soon find themselves stretched beyond their supply lines and cutoff from support. It's extremely rare for Franchise Directors or Sub-Directors to find themselves in the field of fire, but it has happened on some of the smaller colonies of the PGCC.

Posters like this are common in most colonies.

Below the rank of Sub-Director is Operations Manager, these men and women are typically in charge of large combat units numbering in the hundreds, and can even call on heavy support such as tanks, mechs and artillery. Operations Managers are not allowed to engage in offensive action without the authorization of a senior officer, this ensures that despite the power at their disposal they can't start a war at their own whim. Directly under the command of Operations Managers are Engagement Supervisors, this rank would be similar to a Lieutenant or other comparable junior officer, Engagement Supervisors command multiple Task Groups, which in turn are led by Service Leaders and are made up of four to six Combat Technicians, the lowest rank in the PGSCD. The unique combination of the PGSCD's command structure and high level of technology have been major factors in the success of the PGCC.

A thermal image of a Combat Technician on a night-op.

Standard equipment for Combat Technicians is Mk. III Fully Armored Tactical Dress, or as most CT's refer to them "FAT D's", despite the somewhat comical acronym for the PGSCD's standard armor it offers the men and women wearing it serious protection. "FAT D's" contain many sub-systems that augment the abilities of the individual and ensure the survival of the wearer in adverse situations. To compliment the significant defense of the PGSCD, CT's are armed with compact Rail Carbines, these weapons are capable of high rates of extreme velocity firepower. Further augmenting the offensive abilities of individual Task Groups one CT is usually armed with a Neutron Laser Projector or the more common "Buzz-saw", a fully automatic rail weapon with a rate of fire nearly twice that of a Rail Carbine. This combination of arms and armor has ensured success across the territories of the PGCC.

I wanted to flesh out the armed forces of the PGCC and further cement my ideas on what I'm going to do with the minis when I get them. I've been having a lot of fun being creative and making the posters for my forces, as well as writing background for my homemade faction. I want to thank everyone for reading and as always stay thirsty.

Origins of The PGCC

2012-02-06T16:20:00.002-05:00

The PGCC started as a group of companies on the outer-rim of Earth's colonies, the largest of these companies was Pan Galactic Mineral, which despite its name was only active in mining on the dusty world of Bolias. In an attempt to reduce operating costs PGM bought out several small shipping companies that were contracted with supplying PGM with transport for mineral resources and colonizing supplies. This move seen the profits of PGM rapidly expand as they became the largest transport company in the entire sector. The board of investors soon realized the the key to the success of PGM was vertical integration, with this in mind PGM established a new subsidiary company, Pan Galactic Fuels. In a bold move PGM conducted a hostile takeover of their only refined fuels competitor in the sector Bolian Neutronic Solutions, with the local sources for fuel and raw materials, and the majority of ships capable of inter-stellar travel in the hands of a single company, PGM became the sole authority within the Bolian sector.

An early recruitment poster for the PGCC.

At this point PGM looked to consolidate its control of its home sector as well as to make in roads in the surrounding colonies. The way in which PGM looked to this was to establish the Pan Galactic Security Contracting Division, an organization made up mercenaries, Rim-War veterans, and privateers, responsible for "protecting" shipping and industrial assets within the Bolian sector. After the incorporation of PGSCD incidents of piracy against PGM dropped to zero while attacks on independent companies skyrocketed. With the goal of total control, the next move for PGM to undertake was the acquisition of the most powerful banking house in the region, New Terran Securities and Futures, PGM went to the chairman of NTSF and offered him a simple ultimatum, he could accept a spot on the PGM board of directors and sign over his controlling share of NTSF stock to PGM, or he and his family would find themselves the victims of the surge in piracy. With control of NTSF came the ownership of nearly all debts within five sectors, and with this new leverage PGM began a campaign of foreclosure and property seizure. Within a decade PGM controlled almost every commercial or industrial interest in the entire quadrant and the PGSCD dwarfed all the colonial militias. On two dozen different worlds PGM simply ordered the planetary governments to step down in exchange for severance packages or be "downsized", the majority of those governments obeyed, only the planet of Foedastyu resisted, but they could only hold out for seventeen days. After "The Restructuring" as it came to be known, PGM changed its name to the Pan Galactic Commerce Commission, and took on the new goal of galactic conquest through trade or force.

The current recruitment poster for the PGSCD.

In the generations since "The Restructuring" the PGCC has started taking a gentler approach to the majority of its acquisitions, after all it can be a dangerous galaxy and sometimes it's good to have the protection of group like the PGSCD. The other way in which new member corporations are coerced into joining is through greed and technology. The PGCC are an open civilization that has seven different species within its numbers although nearly eighty percent of its employees are human, humans occupy various positions at all levels of the company including seven of the nine board-members and almost ninety percent of the PGSCD, the notable exception to the PGSCD is the large number of Thuban pilots and Froq Shock Infantry. Despite these new ideas favoring unity and acceptance the PGCC does not hesitate to use force in order to end labor strikes or settle trade disputes. The PGCC has prided itself on being expansionist and pushing the boundaries of technology, while maintaining the bottom line.

A typical billboard found near many PGCC facilities.

This is what I've managed fluff wise for the PGCC so far, I've channeled a lot of what is going on in the news into my ideas for them, the whole argument about corporate rights, money equaling political power, and the corruption that's inherent with it. I wanted an evil empire sort of force but not necessarily a militarist empire, that's where business comes in, evil enough for some to hate them but not so evil as to be repugnant to everyone, everyone buys oil but you wouldn't buy it from the Nazis. If you have any ideas or suggestions feel free to leave me some comments, thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

The PGCC Are Coming

2012-02-05T18:47:00.001-05:00

The orders have been placed, the minis will soon be sent and before you know it the PGCC will be deploying to my tabletop. Enough being enigmatic, what I'm talking about is my decision to embark on a 15 mm adventure, the PGCC is my homemade faction, they are a galactic trade organisation that ensures the bottom line through force. Why submit to union demands when you could deploy a few strike teams to eliminate the organizers, and then "negotiate" the resisters into submission.

PGCC Bringing unity through prosperity.

Now I will share with you the minis that I have ordered to be the starting forces of the Pan Galactic Commerce Commission, the first up are the Orion Republic Heavy Infantry by Blue Moon Manufacturing. I loved the look of these guys with their dome helmets and chunky enclosed armor.

They look great like this, but mine will be painted in PGCC colors.

With the Infantry taken care of of it was time to find some support units for my PGCC strike teams, that's were the Silverback Assault Mech comes in, this great looking mini is made by Ravenstar Studios. The Mech has a similar look to the infantry as well as a jump thruster which fits with the rapid deployments I imagine for my forces.

I really like the level of detail on this mini.

I'm probably still a week out from getting any of these minis in my hands but I'm extremely excited about painting these and getting them into action. Just like my many other projects these will probably see off and on interest, so if you're not a fan of 15 mm don't worry there's going to be tons of 40K all over my blog, but if you are a fan there should be some great things coming down the pipe. I want to thank everybody for reading, and if you have any good ideas for 15 mm sci-fi or any suggestions for these minis leave a comment, as always stay thirsty.

Executioners 1000 Point Strike Force Completely Built

2012-02-05T00:05:00.000-05:00

I had a very busy Friday night that rolled right around into Saturday night, there was no sleeping in between so I'm headed into my fortieth hour of consciousness, so let me apologize in advance for any errors or typos that might occur. I finally finished building all the minis in my 1000 point Executioners Strike Force, I don't know what took me so long to finish them as I manged to build two tanks, a Sergeant Chronos counts-as and some other goodies that won't be mentioned in this article all in the course of a single night. I was so excited to get them built that I went on a priming binge and even painted the Manufactorum pictured behind the Strike Force. Continuing on my Mountain Dew fueled progress offensive I then took these guys to the local gaming store for some field trials. Unfortunately I could only get one game in as no one wanted to cut their lists back to fight me at 1000 points, but the ever reliable Aaron, AKA Impcommander was willing to fight me using his traitor guard. It was a very fun game for me that ended in a draw on turn six, both sides had suffered serious casualties but had failed to take their opponents objectives.

I get super excited to see my army start to come together.

This is my Chronos on foot.

And here he is riding in his Predator Destructor.

I used the same components as Chronos on foot but helmeted.

I'll have to think of a suitable name for this tank.

In the Executioners even the tanks sport trophies.

The Rhino for Third Squad, that's right double Storm Bolters.

That wraps this one up, I think I should probably head to bed now so I don't sleep through the Super Bowl. If you have any suggestions for names for the Predator leave them in the comments section, thanks for reading and stay thirsty

Executioners Blue-Steel Tutorial

2012-02-03T16:40:00.000-05:00

Here it is as promised a tutorial on how to paint the blue-steel shade I use for my Executioners, this one has been a long time coming and I'm really glad to get it up on the blog. Like almost all my minis I like to start from a black spray primer stage, it gives a nice even surface to work from and provides some natural shading as you progress through the painting. It's important to give the primer time to cure, a few hours is usually plenty of time.

I like to work in batches of four to ten models most of the time.

The next step is to dry-brush the entire mini in Boltgun Metal, It's critical to coat the model evenly at this stage as any surface flaws will be accentuated during the washes that are applied later. This step goes by pretty fast, I painted all ten models in the squad in about five minutes.

Repetitive brush strokes are to key to an even paint job.

After I finish the last mini in the squad enough time has usually elapsed so that I can start on the next stage of the first mini that I started with. That next stage is a dry-brush of Chainmail, the reason for this is to pick out all the raised details such as rivets and edges on armor or weapons.

At this point your mini should look very shiny.

Once again if you're batch painting like I do then you shouldn't have to wait to apply the next stage, but if you are only painting a couple of minis it's important that the metallic paints are completely dry, otherwise you'll end up with minis that have metallic recesses and primer black raised areas. If everything is dry then it's time to apply the first wash stage, liberally brush on a wash of Badab Black, I use mine straight from the bottle but if you want a less extreme contrast then you could use equal parts water to Badab Black. This step will shade all those hard to reach areas and tiny details like vents and sockets in the armor.

You could stop now if you wanted silver Marines.

Even when I'm batch painting I usually have to take a little break in between the Badab Black wash and the Asurmen Blue wash, normally I get myself something to drink and stretch my back out a little. Once the Badab Black is completely dry it's time to apply the first coat of Asurmen Blue, coat all the armor areas evenly and avoid getting it on things like weapons and other normal metallic bits.

At this stage you have a nice blue hued metal.

After you let the first coat of Asurmen Blue dry at least half way, it's okay if it's still wet in the recesses, it's time to apply the second coat of this wash, this should leave you with a striking dark blue-steel color just like the one on my Executioners, but this technique could also be useful on Chaos Warriors of Zteench or sci-fi minis that need a sleek space armor look.

Looking good at this point.

As you can see by the next shot with a little practice it's relatively easy to recreate the desired results, these two minis were painted weeks apart but the shade is almost identical.

"Twinsies!"

Well I hope this article is helpful to some out there, I know there aren't too many of us Executioners players out there, and there isn't much in the way of resources so I do want my modest work to add to the growing interest in this oh so nifty chapter. Feel free to leave any questions or comments and I'll do my best to answer them, as always thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

My Second Executioners Squad Built

2012-02-01T18:13:00.000-05:00

I have to make this one fast as I go to work in about five minutes but I did manage to get all of my second Tactical Squad built, this will actually be third squad and I'll have to come up with names and backgrounds for everyone but that's a work in progress.

I tried to instill dynamism in some of the poses.

Everybody loves a Power Fist.

One handing a plasma gun, what's the worst that could happen?

By far the angriest looking member of the squad.

That'll have to do it for now, I'll try and get some painting progress on these guys up tonight or tomorrow as well as a step by step on how to achieve the dark blue steel look of my Executioners. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Some More Finished Nuclear Renaissance Terrain

2012-01-31T17:35:00.000-05:00

It's been kind of a slow week here at Casa De Paint Water, but I did finish a couple of small terrain pieces that I think are pretty neat. One is a barricade of boxes and barrels while the other is a toxic spill with barrels and a half of a pallet.

I hope to use both of these soon.

I think I did pretty well on this speed limit sign.

I went with the old sci-fi stand by of glowing rad-waste.

An ancient sign whose meaning is lost to the wastelanders.

This pallet came out miscast so I chopped it in two.

Evidence that someone has been playing "Texas Polo".

I plan on getting some more work done on my Executioners this week, I'm really going to buckle down and finish building my second Tactical Squad, but my hobby ADD always gets in the way so there is no telling what I will actually work on this week. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Tanker Truck

2012-01-30T11:26:00.000-05:00

I made this truck the other night and in the interest of posting things on my blog, I thought I would share it with everyone today. The body of the truck is made from a Ramshackle Games Truck and I used a very large prescription bottle to make the fuel tank. Added a few bits of thin card stock to make some securing bands and to cover up all the molded details on the bottom of the bottle, and the next thing you know I have a pretty good looking fuel tanker for my games of Nuclear Renaissance.

All the parts one would need.

Tape can be extremely useful while waiting for glue to dry.

I use Green Stuff to get the wheels to stay on better.

Add some nifty details to make it seem more like a tanker.

Finally a post-apocalypse hood ornament.

I've already got this one primed but I haven't laid a brush on it yet, how would y'all like to see it painted? Put your ideas in the comments section and you might get to see it finished by the end of the week. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Barrels And Crates

2012-01-27T01:35:00.000-05:00

Here's some shots of what I've been doing with my recent production of barrels and some shots of the crates that I managed to make. I was really pleased with the level of detail on the crate, but I'm afraid I overestimated how well an open mold would work in conjunction with all the slats on it, almost all the resin crates have come out of the mold with some of the mold in between the boards. So the wooden crate might well be a very limited run for me. Anyway, on to the stuff.

These little barrel piles will work as objectives or terrain.

Barrels aren't so good at getting out of the way of bullets.

I used various shapes of files to make different dents.

Stacked like this the barrels achieve impressive height.

All painted and looking rusty.

Oil spill.

I put some fresh Chainmail on the dents and scratches.

For the Dark Gods of scale comparisons.

Can you spot the master crate?

Detail shot of the super wood grain.

Oh my, what ever could be in these mold boxes?

I'll have a special treat for anybody who can guess what's in the mold boxes, don't worry I'll give you a few hints like, it has something to do with crates and barrels, it's two parts but these parts will be put together to make one intact piece, it is used to move boxes around but has no wheels or handles, that's all the hints you get right now but make sure to leave your guesses in the comments section. I do want to thank everybody for all the positive feedback lately, keep reading and stay thirsty.

Roll Out The Barrels

2012-01-26T15:51:00.000-05:00

For Christmas I received a resin casting kit from my parents, and this past week I finally got up the nerve to try it out. For the first thing I was ever going to cast I wanted to make something simple and also an original, with these two objectives in mind I set about sculpting my master model, an oil drum. The original was a fairly simple thing to make, it's just a piece of wooden dowel covered in Green Stuff with some indents on its side and a small spout on top. I didn't take any shots of the mold making process but with the instructions that came with the kit it was a simple affair if a little messy. I have to say I'm pleased with the overall results and now I'm the proud owner of a heap of resin barrels.

The master with the first three copies, I have managed to fix the bubble problem, mostly.

I've started to make some objective markers for Nuclear Renaissance using the twenty or so barrels that I have completed at this point and I even made a new mold last night of a heavy wooden crate. If this turns out well then all those nifty little things that my battle field has been lacking due to my cheapness/laziness will soon be turned out at the rate of Malaysian slave labor factory. If anyone has some tips on casting or some suggestions for things I can make in the future let me know in the comments section, thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Weathering The Storm

2012-01-25T08:19:00.000-05:00

The ride for Second Squad is finally back I had to drive this thing around for days to get the right amount of dust and combat weathering on it, do you know how hard it is to find an urban war zone in North Carolina?

Dirty dirty dirty.

I added some more scratches to the front.

I also added dirt to all the drop doors.

Imaginary holes for the imaginary bullets to come out of.

Now this thing is adequate, but I warn you if you're going to follow the link I'm about to post you best put down some plastic because this is a serious mind-grenade. BOOM! Check it out I know everyone will love it, and stay thirsty.

10,000 Visits And Some Nuclear Renaissance

2012-01-24T13:27:00.002-05:00

Well if you're reading this chances are Sippin' On Paint Water has had its 10,000 visitor and you might even be it. To celebrate here's a brand new character I made for my games of Nuclear Renaissance. He's Schlub of Argyle, Duke of Eddy-Burger, and not only does he hold this prestigious title but he's also reigning champion of Lightning Pit, "A couple of guys go in. A single one exits!". As a Barbarian-mutant-cannibal-warlord Schlub gets to enjoy the finer things in post-apocalyptic life, like a throne made of oil drums, the empty skulls of his enemies to sip from, and of course all the horribly mutated lady cannibals he can handle.

Schlub is a mighty warrior, but he may need some backup
to fight the Delinquents.

With his trusty sword "Thunderguts" Schlub takes to the wastes.

Sometimes though the best offensive is defensive.

Schlub's red mane may be brighter than he is.

Like the previous Duke of Eddy-Burger, Schlub wears the
Argyle Sweater Vest of Dukedom.

Schlub will follow the ancient roads of the wastes
to fresh conflict and loot.

Until next time keep your boom-stick close for you may never know when Schlub will appear upon your doorstep demanding gasoline to drink and whiskey to bath with. Thanks for reading , all the visits, and stay thirsty.

+++ INQUISITORIAL ELIMINATION ORDER +++

2012-01-24T09:20:00.001-05:00

+++ BEGIN TRANSMISSION +++
It is with the utmost urgency that I compile this important report for you my lord, I can not stress enough how critical it is that we strike against this most nefarious agent of the Dark Gods. I have spent the last two hundred and eighty-four days fighting alongside the Imperial Resistance here on Dubrovzech, as you ordered me to, and while the current state of the conflict is such that it is unlikely to end in the near future, If you could order the redeployment of a single Oficio Assassinorum Operative tasked with the elimination of this target then we could see this entire campaign shortened by months or even years.

It is quite likely that by sending this transmission that I, as well as the cell I have been operating with will be destroyed, but the opportunity to end one of the instigators of the heresy here on Dubrovzech can not be ignored. The last known coordinates of the target will be sent via compressed data-burst, I must sign off now in order to ready our last stand against the heretic forces of Dubrovzech, I only hope that you heed my warning and act with all haste.

As always I remain a loyal servant of the Emperor,
Interrogator Pavil Yolokan
+++ END TRANSMISSION +++

Skyrar's Dark Wolves Second Mini Finished

2012-01-24T00:24:00.000-05:00

Here's the next of Skyrar's Dark Wolves, Thri'kar Ek Khul, formerly Ingil Frosteye. Now a vessel for a Daemon from the warp, Ingil's form has become increasingly more disturbing and less like that of his fellow Dark Wolves.

I wanted his bony crests to look raw, so I washed them in a mix of ink and wash.

I prefer the way his badge turned out, it's more toothy.

I feel like the bright yellow of the weapons presents a good contrast to the rest of the figure.

I think I might paint more things like this on the rest of the Dark Wolves.

I wasn't sure how to paint his runes so I painted them Skull White and glazed them with an ink mix I use for blood.

That wraps up this guy, I think I'll paint the one with Lightning Claws next. It's been fun to take a little break from painting my Executioners but don't worry Badab War Veterans, the ax enthusiasts are still at the front of the queue. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Throndgir Bloodmaw of Skyrar's Dark Wolves

2012-01-23T04:00:00.000-05:00

I want to start by apologizing for how blurry some of these pictures turned out, I generally leave my camera on auto-focus, which is usually fine but today it decided to focus on something other than what I was focusing on.

Revel in the blood soaked savagery of Throndgir.

This one was supposed to focus on his face, but it's a good shot of his belt.

The warband badge is a little cartoonish, but I like it.

I had thought about dressing up some of his armor with Chaos Stars.

Enjoy this super detailed shot of his left foot, I iz photo-fail!

Hope you enjoy him, any suggestions for the other Dark Wolves or something to add to this guy would be appreciated. As always thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Executioner Squad Gorasan Ridding In Style

2012-01-20T04:21:00.000-05:00

The transport for Second Squad is all painted up, and I'm hoping to get some more battlefield experience with my Executioners this weekend, my friend Chris is supposed to be coming over tonight and maybe I can talk him into helping me get Third Squad built since First Squad went and got themselves given away as a prize.

Some say the Twin-linked Assault Cannon is overpriced, but it's been consistently good for me.

So shiny, retinas scorched beyond repair, AARRRGH!

That's better, I apologize for the previous shot, don't worry the other photographer has been sacked.

I tried to paint loads of stuff on this tank to make it interesting.

And hopefully distract everyone from how streaky the main color is.

Just one more thing done in my Executioners army, I think I'll paint the Chaplain then the Terminators but I definitely have to build Third Squad and my Predator, I don't think people will let me proxy stuff much longer, there were some angry mumbles regarding the ethereal sponsons on my Predator stand-in. One last thing before I end this one, do you think I should add some urban weathering to this mini? Leave you opinion in the comments section, thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

And The Winner Is...

2012-01-18T15:50:00.002-05:00

Well the deadline has come and gone for the Executioners fluff contest and I'm proud to present the winning entry today, I hope everyone enjoys it.

Operation Vendetta.

In the waning days of their service to Lugft Huron, during the Badab War, a council of the captains, and the chapter master of the Executioners sat in the dimly lit bridge of the battle barge Noble Ire. Its topic was on that which no chapter ever hopes to have questioned, its fealty and service to the Emperor. Long did the lords of the chapter lay in deliberation, determining whether they would lead their men into damnation or salvation accordingly.

The Executioners are a chapter based on honor, tradition and chivalry. They had faced many opponents of great worth and allowed them their humility and their lives as was customary on Stygia-Aquilon the homeworld of the chapter. Huron had ordered his forces to “nurse maid” as he put it, the Executioners after their battles. That is, to exterminate the surviving forces that the executioners had allowed quarter. This both appalled and shamed the honor of the chapter as a whole, and was terrible for the morale of the battle brothers, who already had moral qualms engaging fellow marines.

It was decided that Huron, had to be taught the error of crossing the Executioners, and this time he would be offered the same opportunity as he had offered to so many of the chapters former opponents. End yourself or we end you…

The target of this vengeance would be a key manufacturing and mining planet of Huron’s named Ollisa’s Jump. The 7^th company of the Astral Claws, was located on the ground along with the entire planets traitor PDF. The tactics of the Executioner assault was simple, strike at PDF emplacements and poorly defended civilian targets to break the will of the defenders, then in the chaos of the rout assail the isolated Astral Claws and butcher them to a man.

It is estimated that nearly four million civilian and PDF died in the initial bombardment and drop assaults. This had a much lessened effect on the defending guardsmen than was expected. The ferocity of the carnage served to harden the will of many defenders and soon the Executioners were bogged down into a protracted city battle with two regiments of the Ollisian Defence Forces. The Astral Claws took the opportunity to secure the most key installations on the planet, and await the arrival of reinforcements.

After three days of hard fighting the 2^nd company of the Executioners massacred the Ollisian 33^rd and 32^nd when they attempted to surrender outside of Ollya Primus. The capital was now secure and the area outside the curtain wall clear for mass drop.

Orchestrated by the Astral Claws, the Ollisians fell back to their fortified safe zones, and waited to repel the Executioners first advance. As the 3^rd and 4^th company rolled out across the savannahs of planets primary continent, they met with little resistance until hitting a string of heavily fortified towns along a river known as the Yorn. Another protracted stalemate ensued, with the Ollisian PDF and civilian militia waging a brutal guerrilla war against the encroaching space marines. The 8^th company of the Executioners was able to break this massive stalemate, after a powerful (but costly) assault on Bastion 1. The primary PDF command and control center on the planet, which up until now had proven impenetrable.

With a crossing across the Yorn River secured the 3^rd and 4^th advanced more quickly, overrunning PDF elements with relative ease now that their command structure had been broken. Similar events were happening planetwide. With Executioner forces closing in on the last organized center of resistance, The Tower of the Dragon, a massive obsidian fortress built during the Dark Age of Technology and heavily defended by Arcane weapons and the might of several regiments of the Ollisian PDF and the Astral Claws.

The Siege lasted for several weeks, until it was decided that they could wait no longer for fear of Huron’s reinforcements arriving. A titanic assault took place, incorporating ancient tribal surge techniques and the modern spearhead and death from above tactics normally associated with space marine engagements. Casualties for the chapter were horrendous, but the Tower was taken and its entire garrison massacred. As was promised the Executioners left a world awash in the blood of their vengeance.

The war for the Badab sector would wage for many more months, but the executioners had their fill of it. They later surrendered to the Imperial Fists and have since returned to the domain of the Emperor.

This winning entry was submitted by Impcommander, you can check out his blog over at Skies of Flies Ground of Rust.There you have it I thought the whole thing was pretty nifty and worthy of the grand prize, and I'll be getting Impcommander his prize ASAP. Thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Skyrar's Dark Wolves Update

2012-01-18T02:24:00.000-05:00

I know you all probably thought I had forgotten about these guys but I just did a little more paintwork on them and I was so excited by how they were starting to come together I couldn't wait for the wash to dry. So here they are a few shots of what they look like at the moment.

I can't help but make "Rar!" noises when I paint them.

This guy is going to get some face love, no homo.

Is that the first stage of a chapter badge?

I hope all you Chaos fans are happy with the update, I know it's been nonstop Executioners around here lately, I might even try and get some non-power armor guys up some time, until then stay thirsty.

Executioners Brother Jotun Finished

2012-01-16T23:58:00.000-05:00

Here we are the last member of Squad Gorasan, it's been a lot of fun and I'm looking forward doing this process all over again with my next Tactical Squad and my Terminator Squad.

Brother Jotun has only recently joined Squad Gorasan, promoted from his term with Second Company's Devastator Squad. During his service with Second Squad he has done well to ingratiate himself with his brothers and has proven a capable Heavy Bolter gunner. Like many of the "Sanguine Novum" he seems to have some traits and minor flaws not in keeping with the older members of the Executioners, the notable flaw of Brother Jotun is the recent failure of his Occulobe, while Apothecary Kojil doesn't believe this to be a symptom of a greater failure of Jotun's Geneseed it is a troubling development. Jotun has tried to offset his disability by wearing a helmet with vision enhancements. If these kind of physical issues continue to plague Jotun it is likely that he will find himself relegated to chapter support duties, and if these issues persist within the Executioners it may lead to the collapse of the chapter.

Brother Jotun has wielded a Heavy Bolter for most of his career as a Space Marine.

Jotun's helmets seems to have offset his vision issues.

Jotun's eyes may be weak but his body remains strong.

There you have it Squad Gorasan all finished and ready for the tabletop, I'm eager to test these guys out and start tallying my victories. Keep checking back and stay thirsty.

Executioners Brother Androkus Finished

2012-01-16T17:23:00.000-05:00

Nearing the end of Squad Gorasan, I have to mention something about this mini, he has a service stud on his brow, I was able to make it using Liquid Green Stuff, this stuff is amazing. Alright on to the show.

Among the Badab Veterans of Squad Gorasan Brother Androkus is by far the best marksmen, on countless occasions his skill with a Boltgun has saved the lives of his brothers. These skills were developed as an initiate under the tutelage of the late Sergeant Haytus of the Tenth Company, and mastered during Androkus' service in the Second Company within the Sternguard Squad. It was Sergeant Gorasan who realized Androkus' leadership abilities and requested him to be transfered to Second Squad. Androkus often leads the other half of Second Squad when they are deployed as Combat Squads, and it seems obvious that upon Gorasan's promotion or death that Androkus will be promoted to Sergeant of Second Squad.

Brother Androkus, fast aproaching his second century of service with the Executioners.

Androkus' customized Boltgun has served him well.

Androkus adorns himself with Oaths of Moment and his battlefield achievements.

"So long as the enemies of man bring destruction to the Imperium, I will bring death to them!"

I'm going to try and get the last member of Squad Gorasan up before the day is done but I have to head off to work right, I hope everyone likes my work so far and if you have any questions or comments don't hesitate to ask. Stay thirsty.

Executioners Brother Kolath Finished

2012-01-16T09:00:00.016-05:00

I'm running out of commentary to put in these articles before I jump into the fluff so here we go.

Brother Kolath is the third "Sanguine Novum" to join Squad Gorasan, and of his squad he is the most pious, that is no slight against Second Squad for any Space Marine is warrior first and monk second, but in Kolath the balance may be reversed. When others choose to spend their time in the training cages honing their skill with blade and ax, Kolath can be found within the chapel praying before the image of the God Emperor. This has made Kolath unpopular with many of his brothers who view these duels as an act of kinship and a test of skills and while Kolath's skill with a Boltgun or blade has never been questioned, his lack of passion for brutality and melee that mark so many of the Executioners is certainly disturbing. Despite this unusual trait Kolath may still have a bright future within the Executioners for no other chapter has quite so many Chaplains and no brother is as completely motivated by the Liturgies as Kolath. At this early stage in Kolath's career however, it is still unclear whether or not the Rosarius is in his fate.

Many already refer to Brother Kolath as "Puer Fidei".

Kolath's Purity Seals contain many excerpts of holy scripture.

"Faith will shield the pious more surely than any fortress protects the heretic!"

Just two more to go and Squad Gorasan will be complete and I can start painting some of the other units in my Executioners strike force, unfortunately I will have to build those units before any paint touches them. I hoping to get both the other articles finished before the day is done so keep checking back and stay thirsty.

Executioners Brother Tomas Finished

2012-01-15T23:50:00.000-05:00

I made it home earlier this evening as was able to get back to work on my Executioners, I decided to finish one of the minis with a weapon upgrade.

Brother Tomas was one of the first "Sanguine Novum" and since his induction into the Executioners he has fought with ferocity and zeal. Early in his service with the Second Squad he proved himself able and willing to adapt to the frantic nature of battle. On Ballust IV, when Brother Danto was felled by an Eldar war construct, it was Tomas who hefted Danto's Meltagun and ended the xenos engine and dragged the wounded Danto to the safety of Second Squads transport "Incindium". After the battle Danto was too injured to return to front line service, Brother Tomas was the obvious choice to replace him as Second Squads Meltagunner, Tomas has served in this role for nearly twenty-five Terran years at this point and his tally of enemy vehicles destroyed and xenos creatures killed continues to grow.

Brother Tomas' combat attachment is rarely clean for the enemies of man are numerous.

Tomas wears the badge of Second Squad with pride.

"There is great honor in anointing one's wargear in the blood of the enemy."

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has commented so far on my Executioners paint work and fluff, I really appreciate it and it helps to drive me forwards on this project That I have committed myself to. Keep checking in for more Executioners and stay thirsty.

Delays

2012-01-14T21:44:00.000-05:00

I've fallen behind a little bit on progress on Squad Gorasan, but I have some decent excuses for it, first I had to go shopping this morning to get my sister a gift for her bridal shower, luckily I didn't have to hang out at the estrogen fest, so I went to my LFGS and picked up a box of Assault Terminators. Once I got these bad boys home I couldn't resist getting them built.

Proud veterans of the Badab War.

While getting these guys put together I've been watching the playoff game between the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos, and I am so pleased with course of this game so far, between the Assault Terminators and the Broncos getting their butts handed to them it's been a pretty good day. Keep checking back and stay thirsty.

Executioners Brother Darasak Finished

2012-01-14T02:06:00.001-05:00

Here is the fiercest looking member of Squad Gorasan other than Kang himself, some of you may recognize the Space Wolves head that I used on him, the Space Wolves box is great for making tons of conversions. Many of the helmet-less heads are perfect for adding a particularly angry or barbaric looking marine to a squad.

Brother Darasak has been with the Executioners since he was found as a boy, even then it was clear that he had the natural temperament of a warrior and was selected by the Chaplains to begin initiate training. Darasak has always lived up to the image of the Executioners as bloodstained barbarians, he even goes so far as to maintain his savage hair style and daub his face with the blood of the first casualty he inflicts. These kind of practices would not be tolerated in many Space Marine Chapters but the Executioners have always stood apart in this respect, preferring that their enemies fear them and know the fate that awaits the enemies of the Emperor of Mankind. Darasak like many of his brothers believes in the practice of head-taking, but the conditions of the battlefield do not always allow for this custom, it's for this reason that Darasak has emblazoned a skull on his right knee pad so he may make a tally mark for each of his kills, despite the merits of Darasak's system most Executioners still prefer taking actual heads. During the Badab War Darasak was one of the most decorated members of Second Squad, though he continues to mourn the loss of brother Farkob, Darasak feels personally responsible for Farkob's death as it was his malfunctioning chainsword that failed to kill the Nova Marine who shot Farkob during a close assault action, since that day Darasak has only fought with his Boltgun and fists. Brother Darasak can usually be found at the front of any assault that Second Squad finds itself in, bludgeoning the enemies of the Executioners to death with his adamantium shod fists.

Brother Darasak a brutal exemplar of the Executioners.

Darasak's unique method for tracking his kills.

The single bronze bead on his "Red Cord" is in memory of Brother Farkob.

Past the half-way mark and still making good progress, I hope everyone is enjoying the fluff so far, I have really enjoyed writing it and would encourage anyone else willing to make the attempt to try and do the same thing for your own army. Keep checking back for the rest of Squad Gorasan and stay thirsty.

Executioners Brother Bakas Finished

2012-01-13T17:21:00.000-05:00

This mini marks the half-way point to be being completely finished with Squad Gorasan, I'm really happy with the overall look and feel of these guys, I thought as I progressed that I would begin to tire out and lose interest, but the finished mini have had the opposite effect, it's a bit like running downhill.

Brother Bakas has served the Executioners for over a century, and in that time he has served with dignity, but the scars of war run deep in him. Bakas was promoted to full Battle Brother shortly before the outbreak of the Badab War, at that time Bakas stood out from his brothers, unlike most Executioners Bakas was possessed of a wry sense of humor and good spirit, traits that set him apart with the usually stern Executioners. This all changed after his first engagement in the Badab War, at the time Bakas was part of Sixth Squad which was responsible for holding the Second Company's flank against the advancing forces of the Nova Marines. They bravely held their position against four separate attacks by elements of the Nova Marines, but when the fifth attack came it was preceded by a fierce bombardment from a Nova Marines Line Breaker Squadron, the bombardment was so powerful that it toppled the ruined building that Sixth Squad was sheltering in. Every member of Sixth Squad was killed in the blast or resulting collapse, all save Bakas, as the battle progressed the Executioners managed to push back the Nova Marines and retake the flank that Sixth Squad had been responsible for. In the smoldering rubble they found Brother Bakas alive but grievously wounded, he rasped through bloody and broken lips to his rescuers that if it took a thousand years he repay those that had slain his brothers. Despite his pledge to his fallen Brothers the Badab War ended before he could have his revenge against the Nova Marines. After his recovery he was moved to Second Squad to replace Brother Farkob, who was slain in the same battle Bakas was wounded in. Since that time Bakas has done his duty to his chapter but has become increasingly morose and withdrawn from his brothers.

Bakas has proven his worth time and time again.

A bitter vengeance burns within Bakas.

This candle commemorates his fallen Brothers of Sixth Squad.

Bakas' "Red Cord" is a constant reminder of his failed vengeance.

Bakas finds little comfort in his faith but is still a devout follower of the Emperor.

There you have it, another Executioner down, I'll try and get another one or two up tonight so look out for those and stay thirsty.

Executioners Brother Rikto Finished

2012-01-13T12:00:00.002-05:00

Back with another member of Squad Gorasan, I'm making good progress on these guys so far, even managed to get the piece of terrain he's standing on painted so I could have a nifty background for my background articles.

Brother Rikto is young by Space Marine standards, at only forty-two Terran years old he's part of the "Sanguine Novum", Marines recruited during the Penitent Crusade. Despite this "shortcoming", he is well regarded by the older members of the Second Company, and even given the responsibility of carrying Squad Gorasan's Auspex. It is likely given his performance thus far that he will serve his chapter for many years with honor and courage.

Brother Rikto consulting the Auspex for potential threats.

While he has not been awarded any notable Battle-honors...

Brother Rikto has proven a competent and pious warrior.

Like many "Sanguine Novum" he bears slightly different Tactical badges.

Losses during the Penitent Crusade have seen the reintroduction of much older equipment.

Just six more members of Squad Gorasan to finish and these noble barbarians will be able to hit the tabletop in style. In my test games they did pretty well but I'm a firm believer that painted minis do better so we'll see how the strike force preforms after they are finished, until then keep checking back there should be six more of these so I hope you like reading and looking at cool stuff. Thanks and stay thirsty.

Executioners Brother Lokun Finished

2012-01-13T00:27:00.000-05:00

Here's the next finished member of Squad Gorasan, Brother Lokun, this mini has some neat things about it that set it apart from the rest of the squad. Things like his old pattern Chainsword and Mk. VIII power pack.

Brother Lokun has served with the Executioners for more than two centuries, and in that time he has never served the chapter outside of a Tactical Squad within the Second Company, this is not due to a lack of ability or failure of character but rather a decision on his part. Brother Lokun believes it is his duty to the Emperor to
serve as a Tactical Marine until he meets his end in that station. Early in his career as an Executioner Lokun displayed an affinity for artifice and craftsmanship, but when approached by Techmarines of the chapter Lokun stubbornly refused to be trained as a Techmarine, going so far as to say "A Marine who would take an oath to any authority other than his chapter and the Emperor may as well throw in his lot with the arch-enemy." such a statement did not sit well with many within the chapter, but none questioned the piety which fueled such sentiments. It's no surprise than that during the Badab War Lokun spoke out against siding with the Astral Claws rather than submitting to Imperial authority. Despite his misgivings he served with courage and distinction during those dark and bloody years saving the lives of many of his fellow Battle Brothers. Many of the Sergeants within the Second Company seek his council, including Gorasan, and on occasion even Captain Aklak Thunis has come to him for advice on how to proceed. Within Squad Gorasan Lokun continues to serve with distinction, he fulfills many roles within his Squad, to the youngest members he is a mentor and teacher and lovingly referred to as "Senex", while to the veterans of the Badab War he is totemic example of what the Chapter was prior to it's Penitent Crusade, whatever his role Lokun always strives to do his duty to the Emperor and the Executioners.

Brother Lokun, the longest serving member of the Second Company.

He bears two centennial studs on his brow, and is fast approaching his third.

He wields his personally crafted Chainsword "Tabo Artis"

Lokun vigilantly maintains his wargear, including his Mk. VIII Power Pack.

There's another one down, now there are just seven more to go within Squad Gorasan, then it will be right to Third Squad and its ten members. I'm really enjoying coming up with background for each mini, it makes the amount of work that goes into each figure really seem worth it. Keep checking back and stay thirsty.

Executioners Brother Thax Finished

2012-01-12T17:44:00.001-05:00

I decided to switch things up a bit in order to showcase each individual member of Squad Gorasan, I'll be posting a photo heavy article for each mini as I finish them. This is going to change up the pacing quite a bit as I will probably be posting two or three articles a day from now til Sunday in order to get everyone their spot in the limelight. First up is Brother Thax.

Brother Thax is a veteran of the Badab War and assault specialist within the Second Squad, he experienced a short tour of service within the first company, but requested transfer back to Squad Gorasan following the Badab War citing that his abilities would be better suited to training the influx of recruits to the Second Company. Like most veterans of the Badab War within the Second Company he bears the "Red Cord", a battle honor that remembers the blood spilled during that disastrous conflict.

Often blood spattered, Thax is a vengeful avatar of war.

Like all members of Second Squad he bears the dual white stripes.

I really enjoy painting the Executioners Chapter Badge.

Here you can see the "Red Cord" and his First Company Service Medal.

Despite his barbaric appearance Thax is a pious son of the Emperor.

That wraps up Brother Thax, be sure to check back frequently so you don't miss any of the members of Squad Gorasan, any comments or suggestions would be helpful so don't hesitate to comment. Keep reading and stay thirsty.

Executioners Squad Gorasan Shaping Up

2012-01-11T16:52:00.000-05:00

Steadily making progress on this squad, they're really starting to look the part. Today I managed to get some of the different colors on them, after the other stages of the bronze color were applied the models began to feel right. It's hard to explain, but as the minis progress I stop looking at them as little toy soldiers and start to accept them as Executioner Space Marines.

Almost ready to reap a heavy tally of skulls.

The Combi-flamer is coming along nicely.

I wanted Chaplain Khel to have the steel armor of the chapter.

Most of the chest emblems will be black, I wanted the Aquila to stand out.

Painting skin is one of my favorite things on a Space Marine.

This one came out blurry, he wouldn't sit still.

I'm definitely on target to get these done by this weekend but I haven't done any work on the other units in the strike force so I might have to set aside some time and really get to building. If I do get some work done the other squads I'll try and get some shots of them up before they get any paint work. Till then good luck with all your own hobby projects and stay thirsty.

Snails pace: another Executioners update

2012-01-11T02:49:00.000-05:00

I think the title sums this one up pretty well, I'm still hard at work on these fellows but I haven't made much progress. The whole squad has the final color for their armor and I even got around to painting some of the bronze detailing on the members of Squad Gorasan, but that's about it. I need to build the second Tactical Squad before the weeks out and I have come up with some neat ideas on how to make them all look unique and cool.

The Razorback is Boltgun Metal at the moment.

Some of the nifty bronze details for contrast.

Closeup of some of the conversion details on the Chaplain.

An Executioner Chaplain isn't complete without trophy skulls.

I'm going to keep up the work on this squad and the others that make up my Executioners strike force, but I want to remind everyone about the fluff contest, I have received one entry so far and it even contained a nifty pic of some Executioners, but the contest is still up for grabs and won't be over till the eighteenth of January, so get those entries in and don't be afraid of what you come up with, it's fan-fiction, I'm not looking for Pulitzer prize material. Get to typing those stories and stay thirsty.

Some Baestmen Progress

2012-01-11T01:08:00.000-05:00

Taking a quick break from my Executioners I thought I would show a little love to my Slaaneshi Beastmen, just like the standard bearer these guys will wind up having too many arms or at least having unusual ones for Beastmen.

Quite a bit of work ahead of me, this is less than half the unit.

The fellow with the tongue looks plain.

That's better.

I'm going to have to strap a shield to this guys claw.

This is just the preliminary Green Stuff work, I'm going to go back and finish everything off with fur or Slaanesh styled armor components. This definitely has been a fun project so far, and I'm going to keep working on them, but with Warhammer Fantasy being the less popular system in my area they are going to remain a back burner project for me. I hope y'all enjoyed the update, and stay thirsty.

Old tanks to a new home

2012-01-10T17:44:00.001-05:00

This post is for my friend Aaron, he was looking for some rhinos to make a traitor Sisters Battle army, I wish I could elaborate more on his intentions of that project but that's all I know.

They need some work.

Well, maybe a lot of work.

OK, they are still technically Rhinos, so that's all that matters.

Good luck on your Traitor Sisters of Battle, and I hope these two clunkers can help you spread your special brand of heresy, til next time everybody stay thirsty.

Executioners Squad Gorasan update

2012-01-09T11:37:00.000-05:00

I made a little progress on my Executioners force over the weekend, I assembled the rest of Squad Gorasan, the Razorback "Incindium", as well as the conversion for my counts-as Cassius, in my Executioners force his name is Khosatral Khel. I even managed to get in a three games when I went Hobby Town on Saturday. The games were small at only 1000 points but I did get to play against three different forces. I manged a win against Space Marines and Eldar, but I lost to a Chaos Space Marine Army, overall I was pleased with the performance of the Executioners.

I think I'm off to a good start with these.

I still have to do some Green Stuff work on him before painting.

A Master-crafted Combi-flamer is really useful.

Chainsaw Melta Gun.

This thing is really good til a Daemon Prince eats it.

My goal for this week is to get this squad painted and the other Tactical Squad fully built, I'm not sure if I'm completely satisfied with the list right now, I had a pretty mixed performance from the Whirlwind, It might get replaced with a Rhino and some upgrades for the other squads. Keep checking back for more progress and stay thirsty.

Sergeant Gorasan finished

2012-01-05T17:52:00.000-05:00

Here he is all painted and looking brutal, Sergeant Kang Gorasan, leader of the Second Tactical of The Executioners Second Company, I hope to get the rest of his squad built before the weekend and maybe get them some battlefield experience at my local Hobby Town USA on Saturday. That being said though I don't intend to rush the rest of his unit just to get them to a tabletop, like I stated in my previous post I want to give these guys the effort they deserve. I hope to write up some background for each unit and my strike-force as a whole as I complete them, I had some good inspiration from the first contest entry I received as well as a good article on Mengel Miniatures, Squad Numas, check it out if you don't already follow him.

This man clearly knows what is best in life.

Just a little further back so you can see the whole pose.

Truly an honor to be allowed to wear ones name upon the chapter badge.

He bears the badge of the Imperial Fists, the progenitors of the Executioners.

The mighty chain-ax "Rectifier".

And finally the badge of his Squad.

Well that will be wrapping this one up, I don't have time to write up some fluff right now as I have to be heading in to work, but I will definitely try and find some time in between this post and the next one to get my thoughts together and write something that I think you all might find entertaining to read, but in the meantime enjoy the bounty of the internet and stay thirsty.

Executioners redirect and contest

2012-01-04T12:25:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I posted anything about my Executioners and the reason for that was simply that I had lost interest in them. So I evaluated why I had lost interest in these guys that I had thought were so cool when I decided to start an army of them, I went back and reread the fluff and it still appealed to me, the finished squad sits on my desk and every time I look at them I think they are some of the most distinctive Space Marines I have ever painted, so why did I feel so apathetic about the project? That's when it occurred to me, It wasn't "The Executioners" I was dissatisfied with, it was "My Executioners" that turned me off from the project. I had cobbled together the force out of leftover minis, I had put all of five minutes into the army list that I was building them to, and I had done the worst thing a hobbyist can do, I didn't try to work up to my imagination. I had this amazing idea of what "The Executioners" could be and I settled for plastic dudes with the right paint scheme. With the problem realized I decided to take action, my first step was to fix the minis issue, I picked up quite a bit of brand new Space Marines for raw materials, I've decided to go with a new and different way of making urban bases, and I'm going to tackle each new unit and model with the intention of imbuing it with the individual character that they deserve. This guy is my first step down this new path.

Sergeant Kang Gorasan, "The Growling Death".

This massive Chain-ax will be treated as a power weapon.

I intend to paint his armor with his many battle honors.

With my solution for the minis problem under way I went after the next issue, my army list, I had scratched it together to fit what I had available and I was using Codex: Blood Angels, while at the time I felt I was being true to the concept of the Executioners, It never felt right when I played with them. That feeling was the result of two major factors, wrong book, and I didn't have any tanks. Now I'm not saying you need tanks to play Executioners, but I need tanks to play 40K, tanks are the only reason I started playing 40K. From now on I am using Codex: Space Marines, and I'm using as many pieces of armor as I want, which will be a subatantial number. With the first two problems out of the way I come to the third and most difficult one, in order to solve it I will have to give my best effort every time and that's not always easy for me, I'm naturally lazy and easily distracted. There is no quick fix for this, and it's going to be something I'll have to deal with until the army is finished, but if all of you are willing to try and stick with me through this I'll do my best to scratch yours and my own Badab itch. Now if you're still reading this article (I think it's the longest one I've ever written) and you are an Executioners player or an aspiring Executioners player than your in for a real treat, I'm going to give away my finished tactical squad to the person who sends me the best piece of Executioners fan fluff. I'll choose the winner two weeks from today, that'll be January 18, 2012, the only condition is you have to be a member of this blog by January 18. Send your entries to cbhollowell@aim.com, it can be a link to your own blog or written in the email, it doesn't have to be incredibly long but I'm looking for at least a couple of paragraphs. If your interested in what the prize looks like just click the link, Executioners Tactical Squad. I hope everyone is as excited about this new start as I am, so keep checking back and stay thirsty.

Another Word Bearers squad

2012-01-03T04:00:00.000-05:00

Well this is the first full squad of Word Bearers Chaos Space Marines that I have fully painted for my friend Ian, they'll be marching their way to Greenville soon, but there is another squad waiting on painting table as well as a large squad of Chaos Terminators.

Ready to enlighten their enemies.

An icon to summon their daemonic allies.

A Champion of the Dark Gods.

I'm going to try and get the other squad of these guys finished soon and then I can start on the next bit of work on my Renegades, hopefully by the end of the summer my Renegades and Ian's Word Bearers can take the fight to the lapdogs of the false Emperor. Keep checking back and stay thirsty.

!!WARNING!! GET THE KIDS AWAY FROM THE SCREEN !!WARNING!!

2012-01-02T02:16:00.000-05:00

The title of this one is serious, but the subject matter is definitely a practical joke. I had a couple of my good friends over to play some 40K and hang out, and an opportunity for mischief presented itself. Early in the game between my friend Ian and my friend Chris, Chris lost his Predator Tank to the wily advances of a Daemon Prince. To make him feel a little better I was going to lay some nifty paint-work on his recently deceased tank, but when I got his model to my painting desk he called out "Don't paint any penises on my tank!". Well I hadn't intended to, but after that I felt obligated to make a phallus on his Predator. The following image is explicit look away if you are under age, Amish or easily offended.

Money Shot!

The lesson of this article is: Don't yell at when I'm painting! I hope you all enjoyed you New Years celebrations and as always stay thirsty.

Fly the flag

2011-12-30T21:00:00.000-05:00

This is my freshly finished Renegade Guardsmen Standard Bearer, he carries the flag for the 77th Dubrovzech PDF. He's the first completely finished model of the regimental command platoon, and probably my best opportunity to do some cool free-hand work in the entire army.

The 77th's battle honors include the defense of Dubrovzech...

and the "Violation of St. Baldwins Reach".

I hope to get my renegades finished in the first part of the new year, but I still have a lot of work to do. After the Command section I think I will focus on getting the recon elements done, and finally the planned horde of mutants and degenerates that make up the important cannon fodder of the force. Well that's all I have for now check back later and stay thirsty.

Second Ultramarines Tactical Squad

2011-12-29T23:48:00.001-05:00

Here they are the second squad of my retro Ultramarines force. To tell the squads apart I decided not to paint tactical markings on this squad and instead every member has a lightning bolt on their left grieve. I think all I need for them now is a Rogue Trader Rhino so they can close with the enemies of Imperium and smash them right in the "Eye of Terror".

I think I'll nickname the squad the "Thunder-birds".

Lightning tears!

Ultra! Ultra! Yes we is!

These guys have been a lot of fun to paint but I still need to make them a commander, and think of something to do with the remaining squad worth of minis. If anybody has any ideas about what to do with the remaining models leave me a comment, and stay thirsty.

Word Bearers Possessed finally finished

2011-12-28T05:13:00.000-05:00

Well I finished this squad of Possessed finally, after too many delays and setbacks these guys are ready to spread their particular brand of misery across the tabletop in the names of their Dark Gods. Now there are only about fifty infantry and a half a dozen tanks to paint and the entire Word Bearers force will be finished.

They look pretty scary all massed together.

Mess with the heretic, you get the horns!

I call this guy Murder-chest.

These guys will be going back to school with my friend Ian soon, so if you find yourself in his neck of the woods of Greenville, North Carolina, do your best to give them the beating they deserve. I'll warn you though he's a pretty good player and has a number of tricks in his bag. That's all I have for this one check back soon and stay thirsty.

Half-way to half-finished

2011-12-24T02:22:00.001-05:00

I'm back with a little progress towards the Herd of Depravity, like the title says I'm half-way to half a unit. The command models are shaping up nicely so far, but they have some way to go before they ever see the light of day to receive their first taste of primer.

You don't need an ax when you're part crab-monster.

The "horn section", I'm sorry I can't resist a terrible pun.

First rank of the horde.

I haven't forgotten about the RTB 01 Space Marines, so look for them tomorrow if you have time between Christmas festivities. I appreciate any feedback on this or any other of my articles, and as always stay thirsty.

Slaangor standard bearer finished

2011-12-23T05:11:00.000-05:00

Finished up and ready for pain, this standard bearer marches to war in exaltation of the Dark Prince Slaanesh, unfortunately he is the only member of his warband at the moment so he may not do so well in battle. I did sit down and write up a 500 point list that will be the first wave of my Slaanbeast army. This guy will be part of a 20 Gor unit, the Gors will be supported by 10 Ungor raiders, 10 Warhounds, a Razorgor, and a Chaos Spawn. The Herd of Depravity, will be led by a Bray-Shaman to add a little magic punch to all the claws and teeth.

I'm really happy with the way the banner turned out.

I love his expression, it's full of disgust.

Despite the design his shield still feels plain.

Open claw, insert human.

I think I'm going to enjoy building the rest of his unit, and with any luck I'll be getting a game or two of Fantasy in shortly so I can test them out. I think I'll try and talk my friend Chris aka "Bearer of the Great Book of Dwarf Grudges" into playing me with his Dwarfs, I'll also try and finish the second Ultra Marines unit before the week is out, so check back for that and stay thirsty.

Slaangor update

2011-12-22T03:11:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update of the Slaangor standard bearer, like I said before I'm sticking with the traditional Slaanesh paint scheme of pinks and purples. I decided to go with a very bright pink reminiscent of GW's Tentacle Pink, unfortunately they don't make it anymore, so I've gone with a basecoat of Mechrite Red, with a coat of Mechrite Red and Skull White mixed together over that. I'm happy with the color so far. The purple bits a quite a bit easier as it's just a wash of Leviathan Purple over the finished flesh tone.

I painted a typical Beastmen symbol on his shield.

The banner is going to be the same pink as the shield.

I'll be going back over the claws with more wash.

That wraps this one up, so far I'm feeling very enthusiastic about this Slaangor project, I might go ahead and build some more of this unit, but with Christmas fast approaching and there still so many RTB 01 Marines that need Ultrafying these guys might have to wait. Hope y'all like the work so far if you have any comments or critiques let me know and stay thirsty.

Make it snappy

2011-12-21T03:56:00.000-05:00

Long time readers might remember that awhile ago I picked up a lot of Beastmen minis, well I have finally started to do some work on them and this guy is my first test model. I thought I would make a unit of Slaanesh devoted Gors. This one is made of an Ungor torso, head and shield arm, and a Daemonette's arms and legs. I think I'm going to stick with a traditional Slaanesh paint scheme of pinks and purples, but I was thinking of black and white for their pelts, maybe something like ermine.

It's a big banner, hopefully for a big unit.

I'm excited about painting different designs on their shields.

SNIPPETY! SNAP! SNAP!

I think Beastmen look better with tails.

Well I'm going to try and get some sleep now, this third shift blogging is starting to get to me, but keep checking back for more updates and stay thirsty.

First Ultramarine squad finished

2011-12-19T04:04:00.001-05:00

Mission accomplished! I've managed to get the first of the two tactical squads finished, this is the one with the flamer and helmet-less Sargent. The other squad has a missile launcher and helmeted Sargent. When I was painting this squad I tried to add some painted details to each figure, despite the uniformity of the models some of them seem to have unique personalities.

The whole squad ready to defend the realm of Ultramar.

Looking forward to burning some Xenos.

I feel like he's asking "You talking to me?".

He originally had the slogan on his fist, so I painted it back on.

I like him because he seems to be aiming.

That's basically a third of the strike force finished so I'm making some pretty fast progress, I'm definitely going to try and maintain this pace. I think the captain I want to make will be modeled after Captain Sicarius but you probably won't get a look at him until he's finished. Check back to see how the next squad will look and stay thirsty.

Painting offensive

2011-12-18T23:24:00.000-05:00

After a quick refit at the local Manufactorum, I now have a new weapon to use in my Hobby-Blitzkrieg. Both of these components have been with me for a number of years but the concept of combining them hadn't struck me until tonight. The merits of a a good "Tank Brush" can not be overstated when attempting to finish things as quickly as possible, and hopefully this wonder weapon will help achieve my holiday painting goals.

Ramming speed!

I think I'm going to try and get started on my RTB 01 Space Marines tonight and maybe have them finished before Santa makes his yearly assaults on everyone's chimneys. It's back to my painting desk now, and as always stay thirsty.

Retro progress and some other random stuff

2011-12-17T20:43:00.000-05:00

I have managed to get the two tactical squads assembled, and even made a little progress towards some other projects and recent additions to my massive collection of minis and assorted works. I'm still haven't come up with a good plan to make Assault Marines out of the remaining RTB 01 Marines, but if you have any suggestions please let me know.

Just a few coats of blue and these bad SOB's will be ready for the tabletop.

To go along with my old minis I just got this new one, he'll need some work before I can paint him.

This pile of bits will be some Inquisition themed Space Marines, I hope to use them in some upcoming themed games.

And finally another Plague Engine to add to Galgathrax's War-host.

Hopefully after work tomorrow I can make the dent in the backlog of hobby projects even deeper, keep checking back for all my mini shenanigans and stay thirsty.

I'm not dead yet

2011-12-16T03:24:00.000-05:00

I know it has been a long while since I posted anything on the blog, so to prove the title of this one correct I thought I would post one of my recent acquisitions. This past Saturday at an event that my local gaming group hosts yearly I purchased some of the old RTB 01 Space Marines. They are in a state of neglect at the moment but with some glue, paint and love of the God-Emperor they might just turn out to have some life in them yet.

There are over thirty of these guys.

The first painted one.

I thought I would go kinda retro with the paint scheme.

Hopefully there won't be such a long gap between posts this time, if anyone has any advice or comments as to how to proceed with these just leave me a comment, and as always stay thirsty.

Gilgamesh and friends

2011-11-09T01:58:00.000-05:00

Finally got some paint on Gilgamesh and the rest of the clan. I'm slowly managing to chip away at the heap minis that need some work. These guys are part of the Giggles Clan, a warband for Nuclear Renaissance, available from Ramshackle Games.

Gilgamesh, the Ever-living.

The whole family in various states of completion.

Levi, the keytarist.

I'm trying to stay on track for the too many things that I've decided to work on, but I'm still managing to make some progress. Keep checking back and stay thirsty.

Dark Mechanicus update

2011-11-03T16:54:00.000-04:00

Here's some more recent shots of the Dark Mech Skitarii, I think he's coming along nicely. I've been trying to add some tech-details while still maintaining the robed monastic feel. The bionic Mechanicus parts will primarily come in with the addition of his arms.

I'm not very happy with his belt buckle.

I do however like the wire that snakes from his hood.

Not the most action packed pose but I'm happy with the symmetry.

A couple of spinal plugs, AC and DC.

That's what I've managed so far let me know what you think, for the arms I'm planing on lots of muscles and pistons, maybe some kind of pneumatic cutting arm and a machine gun hand. Thanks for reading and let me know of any ideas or opinions that you have, as always stay thirsty.

Dark Mechanicus preview

2011-11-02T19:49:00.000-04:00

This is a special post for my friend Aaron over at Skies of Flies Ground of Rust, we recently decided to embark on a joint project to make a small army of Dark Mechanicus. This is the first mini for that project that I have started, I plan on making him a Skitarii, the line infantry for the Adeptus Mechanicus as well as the Dark Mechanicus.

He'll be getting some face gear and bionic arms.

He will probably have robes for his lower half.

If anyone has any suggestions or ideas for how to make this guy really stand out just leave me some feedback in the comments section, and as always stay thirsty.

Pumpkin Monsters, ahhhh!

2011-10-28T23:18:00.000-04:00

Fully painted and ready to frighten the neighborhood green grocer, the Pumpkin Monsters are gourd to go. I don't know what I'm going to do with them but I'll try to think of something, maybe a scenario where a farmer has to defend his home from his former livelihood, his pumpkins.

Maybe I can get them to do the Thriller dance.

"Rwarrr! Seeeddssss!" You know because they're pumpkins.

Well that's all I have for right now, but I'm really enjoying working on these spooky minis again so I might be making some things like these soon, check back to see where my mind wanders next, stay thirsty.

Spooky Halloween!

2011-10-28T21:15:00.000-04:00

With it drawing close to that most haunted of holidays I though I would post some of my "Spookier" minis. First up are some ghouls I started a few years back, but I never finished their bases. There's still time though, it's not like the undead are worried about aging.

My version of a bestial vampire.

That's one big unit filler.

"Urrgh, braaaiiiinsss!"

Finally some pumpkin headed monsters.

I'm going to try and get the pumpkin monsters painted before the ghouls and goblins hit the streets, but I might get side tracked by a trick or two. I hope everyone has a happy Halloween and stays safe out there, and as always stay thirsty.

Scrap Walker

2011-10-27T23:33:00.000-04:00

After finishing the Scrap Tank I got started on this demented little creation, the Scrap Walker, not only does it appear to be mechanically unsound but its cannons placement is vaguely phallic.

Kachonk Kachonk!

Kaboom!

Just like the Scrap Tank this one is going to get a lot of added details from rivets to stowage, I want it to look like the pilot doesn't just drive this thing but also lives in it. Check back soon for more of my paint water induced creations and as always stay thirsty.

Fully painted Scrap Tank

2011-10-26T11:04:00.000-04:00

It's been a few days since I posted anything, but I have returned, and I've brought some fully painted minis to show off. I present to you the Scrap Tank, in all its rusted glory.

I tried adding some blast damage here and there.

Perhaps the Scrap Tank is of Soviet origin.

I wanted the random pipe on the side to be part of the exhaust.

I didn't reference any real Russian tanks, but I figure it looks right.

I'm looking forward to getting to try this mini out on the tabletop, hopefully it won't get it exploded. Definitely going to try and get some more updates on the blog this week so keep checking back and stay thirsty.

Plastic knight competition

2011-10-19T02:53:00.000-04:00

I've decided to enter MASSIVE VOODOO's Ultimate Plastic Knight Competition, this is the mini I'm going to enter, I'm definitely fighting uphill with this guy.

Over sized head.

Hideous mold lines.

More hideous mold lines.

All of these things will change, all of them! Muhahahaha! Sorry, I got a little carried away with that, anyway keep checking back and stay thirsty.

Reppin' a real life friend

2011-10-15T20:51:00.002-04:00

I had to send up a shout-out post for a cool guy I know in real life, he's an excellent painter and a serious wargamer who helped to initiate me into the hobby when I was but a wee lad. Now he's launched his own blog and I'm sure it's going to be filled with loads of nifty minis to ogle. Head over to Casualties of a Paintbrush and check it out.

I'll warn you he really likes blue.

Looking out for a fellow painter, and as always stay thirsty.

Scrap tank

2011-10-14T20:41:00.000-04:00

I pieced this contraption together using card stock and some extra Ramshackle Games armor plates and track sections. I think the neatest part is the turret, which I made from two wheel wells glued together, the gun is part of some long forgotten piece of equipment.

Terminator for scale comparison.

I'm going to go back and add some rivets to the card sections .

Anyone have any painting suggestions for this one? I'm not sure what colors I want to paint it and I would really appreciate some input as to what y'all might think will look good. I'll leave you with the usual sign off of stay thirsty.