February vow, -0% complete.

1 Troop choice of Grey Hunters. Can't wait to start these guys. Going to prime them hopefully tomorrow then start on them this weekend!

The new models are absolutely sick. From the weapons to the faces, these are going to be extremely fun to paint.

March Vow 90% Complete!

Woooohooo!  So much paint, so many questions about what the heck I am doing with my life!  So I didn't get the job at Games Workshop HQ, but I am super excited I got an interview.  I'm awaiting some feedback from them so I can continue to better myself and my future prospects.  On with the Claws!

They are almost done.  Just need a wash and highlights on the bases, then the transfers, and a matte seal.  But since it is poring rain I may not get to seal them for some time.  It is far too humid.

I am also going to make a few of these guys Tiger Claws.  Should I paint thier pads yellow with grey trim first or just use the Tiger Claw emblem instead of the Astral Claw Emblem?  I cannot decide!  Your thoughts?

Regardless I am really looking forward to finishing these guys!  I still need to figure put how to diferenciate squads and companies.  I was gonna do a squad numbers on the knee pads but now I am thinking about puting them in the tactical squad arrow and putting the company number on the knee pad.  So many decisions to be made.  What I do will probably depend on what transfers I have available.

To Victory For The Tyrant!

March Challenge 1/3 of the Way There

Howdy, bros. I just realized I updated my challenge thread and neglected to post to our blog. For shame! Its right in the title, as Stiz aptly pointed out, its Bros Before...

Humble apologies aside, here is my second Dreadnought joining the ranks of painted soldiers for the Red Scholars! I give you Reforged Brother Dromen.

Next up is my MotF! I'll finally be nailing down a HQ for this army. Can't wait. His power pack is bedecked in magnets so I'll have lots of opportunities for future load outs.

I'm going to try and bang this model out before Aninja rolls through this Friday! I'm really looking forward to actually getting some games in. I haven't played in years at this point.

Feb Completed and March in Progress!

So today I started painting Squad Nispul and got all the way through finishing the armour.  Just details, bases and transfers left.  I am really looking forward to finishing this unit.  I love painting space marine infantry, and am enjoying it so much I may just add a third tactical squad in later!    At this rate I'll be two months ahead of the game before the challenge actually starts! 

I also took a look at my last post and realized I forgot to paint the coils of Amru's plasma cannon!  How strange and downright embarrassing.  This has been rectified...

Snow Day! February Challenge: Chilled

Oh man, I am on a roll! I knocked this dread out quick. I'm pretty confident this first 1k will be done within a month at this rate! I give you Brother Seberot:

Dat Ass

I had a ton of fun working on a bigger model for once. I got to break out several different techniques. I combined my dry brush NMM with my glaze blending technique for the metal and I was quite pleased with the results. Moreover, I was pleased with how fast it came together. I had so much fun with the glazes that i decided to give his red armor some gentle gradients on top of the edge highlighting. I was well pleased with the results.

I also finished adding snow to all the bases:

Finally, here is my commitment for March! Plasma Dread, Master of the Forge, and a Combat Squad (awaiting some grav guns to complete the entire squad). I know its generally unwise to paint heroes early on but I have yet to finish an HQ choice for this army (aside from the sweet Librarian sent to me by Aninja!). Here's the goal:

Feb. Vow Complete!

I had sooooo much fun painting this guy, and am thrilled with how he came out.n Inspired, I had a photo op and wrote some fiction.  The results follow.

Boarding assault configuration.

My personal favorite loadout, powerfist, heavy flamer, and plasma cannon!

The old standby...assault cannon and powerfist!

Anti-heavy armour Mortis patern.

Here Venerable Amru of the Astral Claws engages The Minotaurs during the fight for the mining city of Koth on Kyro in The Pale Stars region.  Tactical Squad Sulla of the Minotaurs makes a stand as the Astral Claws stationed with the Koth Tyrant's Legion garrison counter attack in an attempt to break out.  After suffering massive defeats at the hands of the Minotaurs, Amru deemed Kyro lost and led the Astral Claws survivors in their withdrawal from the planet, leaving the garrison to their fate.

Though damaged, Amru survived the encounter with Squad Sulla after slaying Veteran Sergeant Scipio in close assault.  Seeing their leader smashed to a bloody, steaming pulp by Amru's powerfist, the squad disengaged to make a tactical retreat.

Amru and many other Astral Claws escaped the doom of Kyro and would live to fight again.  This failing would eventually be atoned for with the shedding of loyalist blood, as Amru lead many bloody ship boarding actions later in the war.  Amru was confirmed as destroyed during the fall of Badab, eventually succumbing to heavy melta fire from Exorcists Devastators aboard the Ring of Steel's Star Fort.

After the battle the Exorcists found that Amru still clung to life within his armoured sarcophagus, though it was little more than a molten, smoking wreck.  His sarcophagus was taken by chapter Techmarines as the Exorcist forces withdrew to blockade the system.  After hours of intense interrogation, Venerable Amru, the roar of the ancients, veteran of a thousand wars, was put to death by Inquisiorial order, his sarcophagus simply being shut down.  His vox disabled, he could not even curse his executioners as he met his second death.

Oh man that was fun!  I can't wait to paint more.  Not sure what to paint next!  They are all so cool!

February Challenge Now 50% More Complete!

One more Tactical Squad for the books! And only in 2 weeks! They'll get their snow when I finish the accompanying Dread this month. I'm getting a little faster at edge highlighting and I'm now pretty confident in applying my paint scheme. Future infantry should go all the faster for it. 

The only thing I'm still fumbling with is highlighting shoulder pads with NMM. I know a lot of NMM painters will introduce arbitrary highlights on big areas to add interest. I tried that but I'm not super pleased with the results. I'll have to experiment more with the next squad.

Alright, now I get to paint my first Dreadnought and then my February challenge is complete! 

More Miniatures

Finally had my forge world order show up! I got some Astral Claws transfers and some Heresy Armour. The armour is so rad! My favorite power armour mark by far. I am really stoked to finally have some!

That said I completed Shadowblade as a late xmas gift for my brother, and got a little bit of work done on the Claws. I converted the librarian and finished assembling the marine squads. The srgs have their weapons magnetized for versatility. Photos follow!