Resolution 2020: Clearing the pile of shame

My pile isn’t that bad as I cleared it a few years ago. It has mainly built up because I have focused so much on painting the Conan and Mythic Battles Pantheon kickstarter models in 2017 and 2019. I also relaxed my rule from “no more than one box of models in my queue” to “no more than one box of models per game in my queue” to “I forgot I had a rule”. The 40k hobby weekend is what killed off that rule.

So for this year I’m only going to buy new models if they are required to continue playing a game.

Then the plan is to just paint models faster than kickstarters arrive.

I’ve tried rotating these images and re-uploading them, but the system seems determined to remember the orientation in which they were taken.

With these models finished my Ad Mech force is a fully painted 75 power point list and is ready for my club’s tournament in March.

I’m now free to paint anything from the pile without having to worry about deadlines.

The models all started with an undercoat of leadbelcher spray. They were then drybrushed all over with runefang steel. I then painted the magic wisps of the spells, and stone base and weapon hilts of the objectives with wraithbone.

The aethervoid pendulum was then painted all over with shyish purple. This contrast paint is very strong. I think the effect would have been better if I’d watered the paint down first, but I’m still OK with the end result.

The soulsnare shackles and quicksilver swords were painted aethermatic blue.

The weapon hilts and shields of the objective were painted with various contrast paints.

The plinth objective had iyanden darksun applied to the central sun and orbiting meteors to make them appear gold. The stone base was painted with basilicanum grey.

All of these models started from a corax white undercoat.

Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws were painted blood angels red, then the teeth were painted wraithbone then with skelton horde.

The Prismatic palisade was washed with a 1:3 mix of iyanden yellow and contrast medium. The skulls on the base were painted skeleton horde and the base was painted basilicanum grey.

The Malevolent Maelstrom was painted aethermatic blue with talassar blue magical whisps.

The Burning Head was painted iyanden yellow at the head, gryph-hound orange behind the head and blood angels red at the end of the flames. All three paints were applied in rapid succession so that I could wet blend the transitions between the colours.

The Geminids of Uhl-Gysh were painted with apothecary white and shyish purple, using alternate colours on each model.

The Emerald Lifeswarm was painted warp lightning and then the insect bodies were picked out ork flesh. I found that the two colours were so similar the bodies didn’t stand out as being darker like I intended, so I repainted them shyish purple.

The Umbral Spellportals were painted iyanden yellow on the frames, aethermatic bluein the portal and magical whisps, and talassar blue was used for the decoration above the portals.

If anyone is wondering why I’m not doing anything with the bases, it is because I will be rebasing all the spells on to clear acrylic bases once they are all painted up.

The purple sun was undercoated Macragge Blue (the most purpley spray colour I had when I built the model) and then painted with shyish purple. Without a light undercoat the contrast paint didn’t work that well. The low areas were dark but I didn’t really get any highlights. To compensate I drybrushed the model with lucius lilac.

The gravetide was undercoated with mournefang brown. I then washed the entire model with agrax eathshade. Once that was dry I drybrushed everything with tyrant skull then picked out the skulls, rocks and broken flagstones with wraithbone. The skulls were then painted hexwraith, the rocks with basilicanum grey and the slabstones with wyldwood. Finally I tidied up the base with mournefang brown.

I almost missed the Chronomantic cogs. I had used the model as an objective marker and left it in an army case. If I hadn’t found the spell card I wouldn’t have gone looking for the model and then been really annoyed when I discovered I had not painted the full set.

It started with a leadbelcher undercoat followed by a drybrush of runefang steel. Some of the cogs were then painted darkoath flesh to give a copper appearance and the rest were painted iyanden yellow to look gold. The magical wisps were painted wraithbone and then warp lightning.

The chests started with an undercoat of mournefang brown spray. I then painted the metal bands and gold coins with leadbelcher. They then had an all-over wash of agrax earthshade. Once dry all the books, papers and other items were painted with wraithbone. The gold areas were then painted with iyanden yellow  and the paper areas were painted with skeleton horde. All remaining items were either painted volpus pink, wyldwood, talassar blue, shyish purple or ork flesh.

The Penumbral Engine was undercoated with leadbelcher spray and then drybrushed with runefange steel. Then the entire model was painted with darkoath flesh, apart from the internal workings and the figurines on the legs, which were painted iyanden yellow.

The endless spells were undercoated with wraithbone spray. They were then painted with skeleton horde, wyldwood, basilicanum grey, shyish purple or hexwraith flame. Finally they were all drybrushed with hellion green. My hellion green is very old so the drybrush effect was very subtle.

A few guys down my local club have started to play Warhammer Underworlds so I picked up the Nightvault boxed set to join in. I thought I could allow myself another 10 models.

They all started with a wraithbone undercoat.

All the metal areas were painted leadbelcher, highlighted runefang steel, and then painted either iyanden yellow for the gold areas or darkoath flesh for bronze areas.

The stormcast robes were painted talassar blue, their weapon grips blood angels red and their spirit flasks aethermatic blue.

The nighthaunts were painted hexwraith flame. Their ropes were painted darkoath flesh, the wooden areas wyldwood, the vines ork flesh and the flowers volupus pink. They were finished off with an all over drybrush of hellion green.

The bases were painted basilicanum grey with details picked out in the colours described above.

This is Red Belle, a miniature I got from a Kickstarter back in 2019. The model is now available directly from Ouroboros Miniatures. I felt like trying out a 75mm miniature for a change and just painting a model for display.

The wings came in a clear red resin, so I left them off the model until the very end. The rest of the model was assembled and then undercoated with three different colours to achieve a zenith highlight. First I painted the concrete base with Storm Vermin Fur. Then I sprayed the rest of the model with Grey Seer. Finally I sprayed Wraith Bone from directly above the model.

The pale areas of the body suite were painted with a 6:1:4 mixture of apothecary white:volupus pink:contrast medium. This gave me a nice off-white effect with just a hint of shading in the recesses.

The pink areas of the body suite were painted with a 1:1 mixture of warlock purple and lahmian medium. This was applied in two thin coats which gave me a very even coverage.

The remaining dark areas of the body suite were simply painted in corvus black.

The face was painted rakarth flesh, washed in the recesses with reikland fleshshade, then highlighted with flayed one flesh followed by pallid wych flesh. Her eyes were painted with pallid wych flesh and then the irises were painted in with teclis blue and the eye brows painted on with mournefang brown.

Left over paint on my wet pallet that I used for the pink areas of the body suite were applied sparingly as eye shadow and to her lips. I took most of the paint on eyes off again with a wet brush and they tidied up the edges with pallid wych flesh.

The top of the hair was painted with terradon turquoise and the bottom half with volupus pink.

A mixture of 2:1 grey seer and terradon turquoise was used for the glow effect on her joints, the wings and the tips of her antennas. It was als used sparingly as a highlight on her hair.

Xereus purple was used to paint the chevrons and numbers on her chest.

The concrete was painted with basilicanum grey and they drybrushed longbeard grey.

Finally the wings were glued in place and the model transferred on to a clear perspex base using gorilla glue two part epoxy resin.

These models all started with a wraithbone undercoat. The bell was painted leadbelcher and then with darkoath flesh. The skeletons were painted skeleton horde, the stones were painted basilicanum grey, and the rats were painted wyldwood.

The smoke was painted ork flesh, and the lightning was painted a 1:1 mix of warp lightning and iyanden yellow.

My Skaven models all have the same bases. I used cork pieces to make a cracked earth with some bases having beads on to represent warpstone pieces. I then used them to create moulds and I cast bases in resin as required. To paint them I first apply stirland mud. Once dry I drybrush with underhive ash then apply a was of agrax earthshade. The edges of the bases are painted mournefang brown.

The warpstone on the base is painted waagh flesh, then two coats of moot green are applied on the raised edges. A dot of 1:1 moot green and flash gitx yellow is applied as a highlight on each corner. Finally the whole piece of warpstone get a wash of biel-tan green.

I painted the full set of three of these, but they all look the same so only photographed the one.

These are really time consuming to assemble and paint for terrain kits. The wooden beams are quite fiddly.

When you build them if you follow the instructions exactly you encounter two problems. One is that each set of beams has either a censer or brazier on them with smoke. If you put these on as you go you will find that the smoke from these all point in the wrong direction once the terrain piece is fully assembled (like mine does). It is better to leave these to the end so you can apply them with a consistent direction.

The second problem is that each terrain piece has three beam sections which are installed to make the Skaven symbol when the terrain is viewed from above. If you follow the instructions you end up with three identical terrain pieces, but looking at the box art you can see that the terrain was designed so that all the different beam sections are interchangeable. This allows you to have three unique looking terrain pieces. Unfortunately the instruction book does not make it obvious that this is possible.

As for painting the terrain pieces, I basically used the same colour scheme as the Skaven Endless Spells (see my last post in this project).

Zacharias is done. He got his own project for the Spring Cleaning Challenge, which you can find here: https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/1501741/#snav

These models started with an undercoat of zandri dust. They were then painted death world forest with treads and weapons picked out in abaddon black. Brass was picked out with balthasar gold. The entire model then got an all over wash of agrax earthshade.

The Hornet then had decals applied.

For weathering rhinox hide was sponged on very lightly. I focused on areas closer to the ground and extremities that are more likely to get knocked and chipped as the vehicle moves around.

The lights were painted with mordian blue.

The bases were painted with steel legion drab. Stirland mud was applied around the feet and tracks to simulate mud.

Finally a static grass applicator was used to add static grass to the bases.

Ymir comes with two head options. Not sure which I prefer but they can be swapped out so I can change them out as I want.

Ymir was undercoated with greyseer and then zenithed with wraithbone.

Ymir was painted with aethermatic blue all over. Then he was drybrushed skink blue, followed by etherium blue and finally praxeti white.

His metalwork was basecoated warplock bronze, then drybrushed brass scorpion, runelord brass, then finally runefang steel.

The rock was painted basilicanum grey and then drybrushed longbeard grey.

It’s been a very long time since I last did batch painting on this scale, but with all my Felsh-Eater Courts models using the same colour scheme it made sense to do them all at once.

The models started with a Chaos Black undercoat. They were then base coated with Rakarth Flesh and washed with a 50:50 mix of Corroburg Crimson and Druchii Violet. Once the wash was dry they were drybrushed with Rakarth Flesh followed by a 50:50 mix of Rakarth Flesh and White Scar. The wing membranes then get another wash of 50:50 mix Corroburg Crimson and Druchii Violet.

With the flesh (i.e. 90% of the models) now done it is now time to pick out the details. Bones were painted Rakarth Flesh, wood XV-88, leather Rhinox Hide, metal Leadbelcher and hair Celestra Grey. All these areas except the hair and metal were then washed with Agrax Earthshade. The hair was highlighted with White Scar. The metal was washed with Nuln Oil.

The eyes are painted Moot Green, allowing the paint to fill the entire eye socket area. The centre of the eyes are then picked out Flash Gitz Yellow and then the eyes and surrounding area are glazed with Lamenters Yellow.

Blood for the blood god is applied liberally on hands, “weapons”, and mouths.

The bases are painted Caliban Green. Any bones are painted Rakarth Flesh and stones painted Stormvermin Fur. Then the raised areas are given a Agrax Earthshade wash. The lower areas are painted with Nugle’s Wrot. The soulepods are painted White Scar then washed with Nihilakh Oxide.

I picked both these models up at Salute 2019. The goblin vampire is painted in exactly the same way as the Flesheater Courts models in my previous post, except after the skin was finished he got a glaze of waywatcher green.

The Talos was undercoated with chaos black spray. The bronze was painted screaming bell, washed with reikland fleshshade, then highlighted with hashut copper followed by sycorax bronze.

The purple was painted naggaroth night, washed druchii violet, then highlighted with xereus purple followed by genestealer purple.

The sword was painted leadbelcher, washed with nuln oil, then highlighted with ironbreaker followed by runefang steel.

The green was painted waaagh! flesh, washed beil-tan green, then highlighted goblin green, followed by skarsnik green.

The leather straps were painted rhinox hide, washed with agrax earthshade, then a cracked leather effect was (hopefully) achieved using fine lines of doombull brown followed by deathclaw brown.

The lightning effect was achieved by supergluing on small pieces of metal scourer, painting them white scar then applying a glaze of guilliman blue.

The base was liberally applied with stirland battlemire. The edges and stone slabs were painted with zandri dust. The gold patterning on the slabs were painted retributor armour, then the whole base was given an agrax earthsade wash. It was finished off with a tyrant skull drybrush all over, then a drybrush of golden griffon just over the gold.

It’s been a few years since I last painted models for my Blood Angels army, but I’ve been painting them to this standard way for about a decade.

The model starts with a chaos black undercoat, then the red is done with a mephiston red basecoat, followed by a corroburg crimson wash, an evil sunz scarlet highlight then a wild rider red highlight.

Then I paint the piping and flexible joint armour with abaddon black.

The parchment is basecoated baneblade brown and then highlighted rakarth flesh.

The skulls are basecoated zandri dust then highlighted ushabti bone.

The wing emblems are basecoated celestra grey and then highlighted ulthuan grey.

The gold was basecoated retributor armour and then highlighted auric armour gold.

The sword was basecoated leadbelcher, glazed waywatcher green, then highlighted runefang steel.

The skin and hair was basecoated flayed one flesh then highlighted with pallid wych flesh. The hair then had a glaze of lamenters yellow to make him blonde.

The plasma chamber of the plasma pistol was painted white scar, the surrounding area was drybrushed praxeti white, and then the area was glazed with waywatcher green and the chamber itself also was washed with biel-tan green.

The phials of blood were painted abaddon black, then evil sunz scarlet to make it look like the blood was flowing with the model’s movement. They were finished off with a layer of ‘ardcoat gloss varnish to give them a glass appearance.

The blood drop gems were painted using @innes tutorial (https://www.beastsofwar.com/project-entry/1530824/). The gems were painted abaddon black, then painted with successive layers of khornes red, evil sunz scarlet, wild rider red then flash gitz yellow. Then a dot of white scar was put in the top corner.

The base was painted mechanicus standard grey. The flat areas were painted with astrogranite. Then the whole base was drybrushed with longbreard grey then finished with a wash of nuln oil.

Mephistus’ eyes and temples were glazed with waywatcher green.

This is another model I picked up at Salute last year.

The model was undercoated with chaos black. The skin was painted with rakarth flesh, washed with a 50:50 mix of druchii violet and carroburg crimson, then layered with a 50:50 mix of rakarth flesh and white scar. Finally it was glazed with waywatcher green.

The armour was painted mephiston red, washed carroburg crimson, then highlighted with evil sunz scarlet followed by wild rider red.

The cape and gloves were painted corvus black, highlighted mechanicus standard grey and then washed with nuln oil.

The hilt handles and pouches were painted mournefang brown, highlighted skrag brown, then washed with agrax earthshade.

The chain mail and swords were painted leadbelcher, washed nuln oil, then highlighted with ironbreaker followed by runefang steel.

The base was painted caliban green, washed agrax earthshade and then the lower areas were painted nurgle’s rot.

Finishing details were screaming skull on the teeth and fangs, evil sunz scarlet for the eyes and then blood for the blood god on the swords and mouth.

Now its the turn for the Aeon Trespass Nymphs. I painted three from the original kickstarter (project here: https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/1243151/) and when the second came around I picked up another 12 of the miniatures.

They are 32mm but being predominantly scantily clad women there are a lot of very delicate joints. For example, the Knowledge Nymph has separate feet that need gluing on by the ankles. Given that, with care and a set of tweezers they go together well enough.

The models were undercoated grey seer and then zenithed with wraithbone. I picked these six models to start with as they all have very similar skin tones. The skin was painted rakarth flesh, washed reikland fleshtone, then highlighted flayed one flesh followed by pallid wych flesh.

The hair was painted mournefang brown, washed agrax earthshade, then highlighted tuskgor fur followed by skrag brown.

The feathers and leather were painted xv-68, washed agrax earthshade, then highlighted tausept ochre then bubonic brown.

The dark grey was painted mechanicus standard grey and then highlighted dawnstone followed by administratum grey.

The light grey areas were painted celestra grey and then highlighted ulthuan grey followed by white scar.

The yellow dress was achieved with a iyanden darksun base and then a wash of casandora yellow.

The blue was teclis blue, followed by a drakenhof nightshade wash and a highlight of lothern blue.

The green is castellan green with a athonian cammoshade wash, followed by highlights of loren green and straken green.

The clay vases and amphorae were basecoated doombull brown, washed with nuln oil, then highlighted with a 50:50 mix of doombull brown and evil sunz scarlet. They had a final highlight of tuskgor fur.