2 Down!

Just a quick update. I got another Centurion done! I feel like I have my process down fairly well and simplified it a little. I banged this model out in 2 sessions. I committed to a hobby challenge on the Warhammer subreddit to finish the squad within the month. I think with a few after work brutal paint sessions, I can get it done. Anyways, here's #2:

sup?

Bros.

Hobby Goals:

1. Centurion #3 and his gunz
2. Based and primed Tactical Squad + Captain

For the emperor!!

Finally finished my rhino. Not as much detailed as I wanted, but I need to buy more paints. And with more paints comes more responsibility... Or something to that extent.

All in all a basic rhino. Just had my heart set on finishing it today between my morning work meeting and my actual shift. That and apparently the only time my puppy wants me to pay it any attention is when I have the airbrush or brush in my hand. Oh wells. Next order of business, I think I'm going to finish up some blood claws troops!
Soundtrack: Tides of Man, Thrice

Dost thou lift, broeth?

This airbrush compressor is starting to piss me off. Oh well, gotta do it little by little I suppose. Got the color scheme down for my rhino, found the rest of the pieces (I have a lot of sprues) and they are primed and drying as we speak slash type.

It looks a little weird, I know, but I need to go in and fine tune the areas. Got the gold and bolt gun metal on, and need to find some brown paint for the tracks. Other than that I'm feeling pretty good where this is heading. Think I'm going to paint the top doors yellow to kind of make the tank stand out a bit more. 

Soundtrack: Minus the Bear, MF Doom, The Neighbourhood

EDIT: so I was looking at some YouTube videos to see what was going on with my compressor... Turns out there was thread tape in the package and I needed to put that around the thread of the regulator, since it was leaking air. Now my compressor shouldn't be leaking, shouldn't shut off after such minimal time, and I can hobby it up for longer.

Also, look what I found.. 

I want a mid-week post too...

Spotted at Endgame in Oakland, Ca

With Nyle and Stiz cranking out some inspiring content today, I felt some pretty powerful hobby envy. This fueled my fire to bang out the last bit of my first Centurion Model.

Here are the results of my grindiest paint sessions yet. I give you all the weapon options for my first centurion:

My NMM process for dulled reflective steel.

Base: Abbadon Black(2) + Mechanicum Standard Grey(2) + XV-88(1)

Wash: Nuln Oil(1) + Water(1)

Layer/ Guide Coat: Mech. Stand. Grey

Highlights: Thunderhawk Blue + Mech. Stand. Grey +  White Scar

Reflected Light: XV-88 (2) + Mech. Stand Grey(1) + Ab. Black(1)

Goblin Green shaded w/ Ab. Black, lightened w/ White Scar

 Here's our bad boy trying on a few of his new fits:

Your nips are HARD.

Coming soon:

-Another Centurion Body (maybe as early as this coming technically Monday?)

-All that dude's guns (ugh.)

-Sculpted/modeled Tac Squad Bases (yusssssss!)

-???!!!1!!?

What a nooooob

So I decided to take my airbrush out for a spin, finally right? Little did I know my cheap compressor would overheat after a little while and I would have to let it cool down for 30 minutes before it starts back up again :/. Anyways while I wait for it to cool down, thought I'd share the tank thus far...

All in all I'm pretty stoked on how easy this airbrushing business might actually be. All the whitish colors are just the areas I'm going to be making dry brushing style adjustments, and going to go in and add some yellow to a couple of parts. Stoked to finally be back at it again. 

Soundtrack for this phase: The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium

Oops I did it again

Two minis in two days! What on earth am I doing with mylife! Oh well there will be time for panic attacks later. Since Jamo and Stiz have been painting space marines I figured I should too. Here is a Minotaurs Master of The Forge I have had lying around a while. Painted him up today! I was gonna use him as a counts as Vulkan Hestan and to that I end I wrote some fluff about him. He can also be fielded as a Master of The Forge with a conversion beamer, combi flamer, and a thunder hammer or power axe. Hope you enjoy.

Ithika Herekles, The Burning Spear of Minos, Minotaurs Master of The Forge.

When the Minotaurs previous Master of The Forge fell in battle, Chapter Master Asterion Moloch put forth a challenge to his Techmarines. They were to each build a powerful tool of war and the greatest craftsman would be elevated above his peers. Working day and night in the Minotaurs forge ship Pergamum, skirting the bounds of techno-heresy to appease their lord and satiate their ambition, the Techmarines built many strange and wonderful devices. But when Ithika Herekles presented Moloch not one, but ten masterfully crafted power spears, the victor was no longer in doubt. Named the Spears of Minos, these powerful weapons are now wielded by Molochs personal body guards.

Herekles' strength was always in the crafting of arms and armour for his battle brothers. Though he is privy to the secrets of all machines within the Minotaurs armouries, he is more likely to be found crafting and maintaining powerful weapons than repairing the chapters armored vehicles, leaving their care mostly to his subordinates. It is the crafting of flame and melta weapons in particular that Herekles excels at, and any force he accompanies is invariably armed with the best of such weapons in the chapters armoury.

Herekles' is also remarkable for his combat prowess. He is one of the greatest fighters in the Chapter, easily the equal of any Minotaurs Captain. Every bit as headstrong and ferocious as his brothers, when on the battlefield he does not hang back, making hasty repairs to the chapters fighting vehicles as other Techmarines do. Instead Herekles can always be found in the thick of the fighting, slaying enemy champions and leading brutal assaults of fury and fire to turn the tide of battle and secure victory for his master.

Though in some chapters this non-codex eccentricity would be frowned upon, the Minotaurs have always held greater respect for personal combat prowess over technical expertise. In addition, the large number of Techmarines within the chapter and the Minotaurs vast vehicle armoury means there is little loss in armoured effectiveness as a result. Having vast numbers of superior weaponry produced by the Pergamum is also seen as ample compensation.

(Counts As Vulkan Hestan) Artificer Armour, Frag and Krak Grenades, Bolt Pistol, Heavy Flamer, Incindium, The Paros Device.

Incindum: Incindium is a long hafted plasma cutter masterfully crafted by Herekles himself. Intended to be a devastating weapon as much as a useful tool, when wielded by Herekles it is as capable of slicing through ceremite as easily as any of the treasured Relic Blades housed within the chapters armory. In game terms it is a Master Crafted Relic Blade.

The Paros Device: In place of the traditional Servo Harness worn by most Masters of The Forge, Herekles carries an arcane energy generator used to power various technical devices, his weaponry, and a personal force field. The Paros Device grants Herekles a 3+ Invulnerable Save and counts as a set of Digital Weapons.

Chapter Tactics: A force lead by Herekles will have access to some of the best arms in the chapter. A force lead by Herekles will exchange the combat tactics rule to count all flame and melta weapons as twin linked and all thunder hammers as master crafted.

Designers note: To represent Herekles' preference for being at the forefront of a conflict, he does not have the Bolster Defenses or the Blessings of the Omnissiah special rules. Instead he has a boosted stat line representing his combat prowess.

#edit#

So this morning I took my Master of The Forge into the garage to stick him in the figure case with his brothers. I noticed somethings. One, his verdigris is much weaker..ie not noticible at a gaming distance. Two, no one has red or yellow cables. They are all turqoise. Obsessivly unable to allow such disparity, I made some adjustments and have replaced the old photos with new. Alright time to stop painting for a few days...

The Best Laid Plans...

I have only painted two models in the last year...that's it. I own many, many models, and at this rate, they will never all be painted. Time to rectify the situation.

My plan to rectify this is twofold, sell/trade off all the models I am no longer interested in, and start painting my half finished and more interesting projects. I took the first steps of my plan tonight!

I reorganized my crazy stockpile in the garage. Next I sorted though all of my paints, thew out the old ones, and re-hydrated those that needed it. Next step is to catalouge everything I want to get rid of. I started by sorting my Tau and LOTR stuff...I made a list to send out and try to sell some stuff.

So after all that I sat down and put some paint on a mini that had been stagnant for over a year. This Beastmen Tusgor Chariot is now 90% finished. The missing steps are to add blood to the weapons and varnish the sludge, both of which must happen after the mini is sealed with matte finish, which has to wait for a dry day...something we rarely get around here. So this is as done as it will get till we see some sun.

It has been a productive day! Lets hope for another one next week!

Total Hobby Domination

This has been a pretty damn productive week for hobby time. This post is gonna have it all: Painting, conversions, fluff, workspace! Lets not dilly dally any further with introductions and jump right into it.

To begin with, I promised I would paint some Centurions. This promise has been 80% kept.

BAM!

So I've managed to paint the 1st centurion body. I painted this guy while he was still in a bunch of pieces so i could get to every unnecessary nook and cranny. I will definitely do more dry fitting before painting on the next one so i know what I can avoid spending a lot of time on.

 For instance, a lot of the exoskeleton that is just beneath his armor plating gets covered up with, well, armor plates.

The Man Inside Me

Where dem pistons go at?

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the NMM effect I got on this model. I did a half assed version of zenithal highlighting + a half assed version of sky/earth colors. I think it equals about 70% of an ass (you always loose ~30% to heat).

I did the extra smart thing and did a color guide to figure my shit out before ruining a model.

You can see how dumb these things start out

I will definitely be doing more of these for painting materials I'm not super familiar with. I'll post a step-by-step guide to my scheme this coming week if only to have it all documented in one place. Here are some more sweet angles of my dude:

Knuckle sammich, anybody?

Brush yo shouldas off

Work that.

Where my guns at?

Hullo.

I still need to paint up his weapon set. That is a whole painting session in and of itself. These dudes are packing heat.

I probably could have gotten it done this week if I wasn't so distracted by my favorite thing:  building models! But who cares? Its all progress, baby.

Up first: Grav Gun Marine. 

Mine's bigger than GW's.

I'm furious that the marines have a dope new special weapon option this edition and that I have in excess of 100 space marines sitting around unpainted or waiting to be built. I cannot justify buying a new box of marines for one gun. Instead, I'm representing these weapons with the tesla cannon bits produced by Max Mini.

I think its a pretty good looking substitute and I can justify it with my Chapter's fluff (more on this further down). The only problem is that it is such a pain in the ass to get a model to hold the damn thing! I had to do quite a bit of arm repositioning and to get it to sit.

Sup now?

I got grips.

God help me if this breaks off.

It doesn't help that this model literally shattered into every component piece as I was trying to do all these crazy adjustments. I think I got this one as a bits trade a while back. Either I or its original owner attempted to plastic glue it together after it was primed. This does not work. I'm back on super glue and nothing will ever change that again.

Anywho, I got to play with one of my new tools this week while building this dude. I used my Tentacle Maker by Green Stuff Industries to create the ribbing between the adjusted arms and torso.

Underwhelming in appearance, invaluable as a tool.

Little teeth.

Textured.

I made these little texture pads, cut them to the right shape and applied them between the arms and torso. I had already slightly filled the area with green stuff.

Texture applied to the left 

All textured out.

I made them a little small so I had to use a few pieces to cover the area's height. It wasn't to hard to fill the gaps and make one smooth piece.

All that for just a peak.

That was a super fun model to make and a great use of the tentacle maker but I know what you're thinking: Where the tentacles at!?

Onto the good stuff:

Sup.

My Captain got the full tentacle maker treatment as well as a bunch of cosmetic and functional upgrades from the last build I made. I previously had some old guitar string I was using for cabling on this model. I couldn't stand looking at it any more so I ripped them out and added in these dope new cables. I'm really impressed with the different looks I got with this one tool.

You can also see I set him up a new bionic leg and some magnets so I can load him out with different toys.

No pits, just chesty.

A purely cosmetic faux Techmarine servo arm/pack.

Cabled out since Cub Scouts.

I ended up retooling his lightning claw arms to magnetize and added in cabling to make them look more complete.

"You there, boy in the street!"

To the window.

Back it up.

To the wall.

I also made a new set of arms for when the gloves come off. Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, I summon thee!

Behold: Face Wrecker, Wrecker of Faces.

"I got this."

Coteaz aint gon' need dis.

Shielded.

Arms back, chest forward.

Wepz.

I'm super pleased with how he cam out. I can't wait to paint him.

Lastly, I worked a little on the fluff side of this army. As I may have mentioned, I started the idea for this army 2 codices ago when the Chapter Traits system was still a thing. I was using one called "Scions of Mars" which has now effectively been rolled into the Master of the Forge's special rules. In broad terms, it puts emphasis on the war machine side of the Marines list. 

I've always loved the tech cult/mechanicum lore and iconography in 40k. I also love the Techmarine models and dreadnoughts and heavily armed/armored troopers as well. I wanted to build a chapter centered around these ideals and models while telling a story with the army.

I started digging into the character of the army by creating a chapter name and badge. I give you the Red Scholars chapter icon:

And of course, some quality fluff:

Founding

Hundreds of thousands of years of human innovation and knowledge have been cast to every corner of the galaxy, buried beneath the sands of time and the fallout of war. Between Old Night isolating man from each other and the Horus Heresy nearly causing the Imperium to devour itself, incalculable amounts of technological power have simply disappeared from our collective minds. Through the Red Scholars, the Mechanicum hopes to restore mankind to its lost technological superiority thereby securing our place above all other races among the stars.


The Red Scholars' founding was a clandestine representation of the bond between the Adeptus Mechanicus and Iron Hands Space Marines. The Iron Council in concert with the highest Magos of Mars forged a chapter of Marines with the express purpose of acquiring and securing mankind's scattered technological secrets. By pairing the superior arms and closely guarded secrets of Mars with the indomitable might of the Space Marines, the Red Scholars are the perfect soldiers to undergo this quest.

To carry out this mission, the Red Scholars were founded with gene stock of the Iron Hands' most skilled artificers. Their aspirants were taken from only the acclaimed clan foundries and forges of Medusa. After the initial founding, Red Scholars Forgefathers and Apothecaries also select aspirants from Mars and other prominent Forge Worlds. By employing such great minds of metal, the Red Scholars hunt down and decipher technologies that have not been in use for millennia.

The Path of the Scholar

Red Scholars also seek machine perfection in their bodies as well as their minds. The Forgefathers of the Red Scholars share the belief in the weakness of flesh with their parent chapter. They consider the grueling and often lethal process of becoming a Marine only the first iteration of becoming an ideal weapon. But just as steel must be heated and tempered lest is shatter, so too must the marine be slowly melded into something just as unbreakable.

Upon acceptance into the chapter, Red Scholar marines are given the rank of Apprentice.  They prove their mettle and cold, calculating battle mind by performing forward operations and covert missions to locate and secure tactical objectives. They are also used as long range support as they have yet to undergo the augmentations that would put them on par with fully indoctrinated marines.

The core of the chapter is formed by the Journeymen. The art of Space Marine Augmentation was a dual effort between the Mechanicum and Forgefathers to create machinery that enhances the near-perfect trans-human physiology of Marines. After surviving the Apprentice program, Red Scholar Marines are given their first round of battle augmetics. Often these are simple augmentations of limbs or sensory organs like eyes and ears.  Over time, the Journeyman is expected to continue modifying his body, replacing his weak flesh inch by inch with designs of his own devising. 

Once a Red Scholar has achieved an 80% augmetic form, they enter the brotherhood of the Twice Forged. They perform all further self augmentation under the tutelage of the chapter's Forgefathers. They are slowly taught greater and deeper secrets left from the dark age of technology. If he survives the compulsory 100 years of service as Twice Forged, the Journeyman will now be forever encased in his power armor as what little organic components he has have now been fully integrated in the suit.

Those of the Twice Forged whose minds can visualize the schematics of battle are raised to the rank of Master. Although this is a lesser honor than that of Forgefather, Masters still hold a great deal of influence in the Chapters macro goals. Although their directives stem from the Forgefathers quests for technological secrets, Masters are allowed full autonomy in execution of their wars. They are given access to the chapter's full strength of arms and technology to aid them in their mission.

-------

And thats all I've gotten down so far. There is a lot more to flesh out but I'm excited with the Chapter's origins so far. I'm hoping to incorporate more references to the lore in the miniatures as I progress through the army.

Oh, before I forget, I too have a new hobby workstation, Steve!

The Anvil and Forge. Just came up with those right now but they're totally officially called that.

Man thats a lot of hobby for one post! Before this gets any longer, here are my goals for this week then thats it, dammit.

1. Finish Centurion 1's weapons.

2. Paint Centurion 2 and weapons.

3. Finish bases and prime my new Tac Squad.

Those Centurions are a lot of work but hopefully they'll go faster now that I have the process down.

...And its another technically Monday post. Screw it, my official posting day is Monday now.