Blog Elite Guard of Texustria (painting stuff)

May the blessings of the Old Ones be in your favor

 

Well, it looks like the Old Ones had different plans. They are sending me to Kentustria instead of the tournament. I won't get to play, but I will get to see my family instead. I think the trade off is worth it.

On the other bright side, I've almost finished the solar engine and I started painting my stegadon in prepartaion for the tourney. At least it isn't a total loss, hobby wise.

 

Edit: Just realised it wouldn't work.

Edit Edit: Woops, I posted this in the wrong topic.

 

What wouldn't work?

 

So I took an impromptu trip to Kentucky a couple weeks ago and came home with an air compressor that my Father-in-Law wasn't using. Like any overly enthusiastic hobbies would do, I immediately began purchasing accessories to make it more useful. Among the accessories I purchased was a cheap airbrush. When I say cheap, I mean cheap. I've never air brushed before, so I didn't want to spend $100+ on a gravity fed, dual action brush. Instead I found one new for $35 on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0067BAYNO/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've only tried to use it once, but it didn't go well. I didn't thin the paint enough, so very little came out. If the weather cooperates, I'll try again tomorrow. This will make base coating my remaining skinks, saurus, temple guard and stegadon much easier. Not to mention the 6000+ pts of Orcs and Goblins that are on the shelf without a drop of paint on them. Or the two HE Phoenixes that stare forlornly at me daily.

Anybody know of any good sites for thinning hobby acrylic paint for use in an airbrush?

 

My friendly neighborhood Vampire Count came by a few times this week and managed to raise this thread from the dead. He left a terrible mess of zombies parts in my living room the first two times though. The third time, most of the zombies were still "alive" and the mess was almost entirely saurus and skink in nature.

The first two games were played at 750 points. The first match pretty much ended in turn two when my lowly skink chief challenged his Lvl 2 Vampire. What could a Vampire possible have to fear from a Skink Chief you ask? Three words: Egg of Quango. I didn't really expect the chief to hurt the vampire, let alone kill him outright. It was a rather pleasant surprise though. We ended the game a turn or so later when the army really started to crumble.

The second game was played with very similar lists to the first game, but he killed my Egg bearing Skink Priest in the first round with Gaze of Nagash (I spaced including a unit of skinks for him to hide in). I still ended up winning the match, but it took much longer than the previous match.

The third game was played a few days later at 1500 points. I tried to assasinate his general (Heinrich) with my General (Old Blood with ASF sword), but he declined the challenge. Next turn a large horde of zombies bearing Krell flanked charged me and the Old-Blood went down by Krell's axe. Interestingly enough, the Skink Chief avenged him with his trusty Egg of Quango (I absolutely love the Suicide Egg Chief! Like the Spanish Inquisition, no one expects it.) I also learned that Terror Geists don't like a Sharpened Horns Ancient Steg to the flank (not that I ever though it would). When I sceeded the match I only had the Steg, a Salamander, a Bastilodon and my lone Skink Chief (still holding a horde of 60+ zombies at bay) left on the table. My saurus, Old-Blood, Tetto'Eko, Skink Priest and Skink Skirmishers had all been assimilated by the nocrotic host before me.

 

There has been zero serious WFB for me lately. I pretty much gave up trying to organize new games when one of my regular opponents started consistently flaking on me. He says he wants to play, we set a time and he no-shows. Very frustrating. I've been filling my time with SWTOR instead, but I need to break out the Lizards soon or my wife will begin questioning all the shelf space they currently occupy.

 

I'm sad to hear that you haven't been able to play lately, especially since it's because of a no-show friend. Aren't there other channels, though? Like your local game shop or some web pages? I think Bartertown has a fairly active game search sub forum. Maybe you'd have a better luck with them.

 

My biggest constraint is time. I have three children between the ages of 6 and 3 and a fourth in the oven. It is very difficult for me to get a game in at a local shop, which means I tend to play at home (I host the game board and terrain for our little group). I need to work on getting to know other WFB players in my area though. Need to enter a couple one day tournaments too. That, more than anything, should help scratch the itch.

 

I haven't managed to get any games in yet, but I have started painting again. I put another coat of blue on my Hydra as well as got a good start on my Frostheart. I'm not sure which Lizzie model I'll paint next, though I swear I can hear my Stegadon wimpering softly from time to time, so it will probably be her. Otherwise she might charge me when I'm not looking.



I'll post some pics in a few days when my schedule opens up a bit.

 

Ok. Here are my first attempt to paint a Frostheart Phoenix.





I have a lot of work to do on the head and legs yet, not to mention I have to drill out the broken plastic stand and remount the bird.

 

That's nice and simple. I think the key with this model is in the details - the small things.
When I eventually get one, I'll definitely be shaving those snowflakes off the wings though!
Looking forward to seeing how he turns out

 

I'm all about simple when it comes to painting. I get more satisfaction out of completing the project than making it look perfect. I have to manage my perfectionism or I'll never finish anything.

 

you've got to allow perfectionism to slowly creep up. I just put a cap on it, if i don't have some level of perfectionism then I get sloppy and I pride myself on my army's paintwork and bases.
I actually need to go back over some models and touch up because i'm not happy with them!

 

Right. I tend toward perfectionism, so I put a very low cap on it. Table top quality is good enough for now. I don't varnish specifically so I can go back and make them better once I get sufficiently more skilled at painting.

 

I picked up some basic Vallejo Airbrush paints today. By basic I mean basic colors. I'm looking forward to trying them out this weekend.

 

Have you tried the flamespyre yet? I've tried once (with anointed) but the fire marker stayed on the ground all game... haha
I like the theory of it though! What are your thoughts? You going to be making one as well (and posting tasty photos)?

 

I pre-ordered two Phoenix kits (they went up for pre-order on my birthday, so I couldn't resist). I've got the Flamespyre built, just have to paint it. I'm going to hold off on it until I get the hang of the airbrush. I only painted the Frost heart with traditional brushes due to impatience and boredom. I will definitely post pics as I go.

 

I've been trying to look through the ulthuan forum for the flamespyre i've seen and really liked, but i can't remember who did it. The feathers were dark and the flames were almost white, it was really impresssive, for me, due to the contrast between the feathers and the flames.
If anything else, a little more realistic than red feathers too... perhaps yellow/gold may be a tad more realistic?
I've got a while to think about it, i'd say.... ahaha

 

I looked through Ulthuan for a bit tonight and didn't see anything that really jumped out at me. I do like the idea of white hot phoenix though! I'm thinking something along the lines of his fire is intense that he is mostly white with only hints of red/orange/yellow (good thing I bought white paint today). I used white primer, so I'm good on that count. I wonder how a white foundation (adding more white to the primer that is already applied) with red washing then white dry brush/highlighting would look....

EDIT: I was discussing the color scheme with my wife and while we were talking I realized I have a white primed IoB Griffon (3 of 4 IoB Griffons on my shelf) that is just begging to be painted. Looks like I have my test model for the Flamespyre.