It's been a while but it seems a good time to dip back into Community Painting Picks! So, via the Hobby & Painting Forum and the What Are You Painting Now? thread I've picked out some of my favourites from the last week or so. We kick off with some rather epic looking Tau...

XV105 Tsunami Riptide & Commander Farsight by minigiant

If you wanted to see what the Tau looked like when they got battered and bloody during the fighting then this pair of models from minigiant certainly look to have got it spot on.

I think the thing that drew me to these models was that minigiant hadn't gone down the standard route with them. He'd placed them in a wintery world and made these suits look like they'd gone through the wars. The settled snow and frost, the scuffed and battered armour plating - it all tells a story.

His work continues on Commander Farsight here too. He looks like he has been fighting desperately for hours with his battered armour, the burn marks from explosions across the carapace. The added splash of bloody to the shield rim and the sword also tell a great narrative.

Gaunt Summoner, Lore Master & Pink Horror Librarian by caladors

The mighty caladors who has done great work in the forums getting us excited about painting has also been busy over the last week or so. Here is his progress on a Gaunt Summoner for The Silver Tower using the Galaxy Sky Technique taught by Romain in 3 Colours Up.

While not a completed project we love the effect of this on the model and it really adds to the Tzeentchian feeling of swirling madness. You can see this effect on another of his finished models for the Silver Tower too, the Aelf Loremaster.

Talking of madness he has also been working on an alternative Librarian model for Silver Tower too.

With an added magic staff and books all over the place he seems perfectly placed to cause some mischief and drag the heroes deeper into insanity.

Deadzone Reb Strider by joerugby

Keeping with the theme of realism and grunge we have this Reb Strider from joerugby. Once again we're seeing a model here that tells a story. A pioneering Reb pilot has got a hold of this walker and made it their own.

With a simple colour scheme and a bit of personalisation here and there this has turned from a standard military walker into something to be feared on the tabletop.

Despite being almost entirely dark I think the model actually stands out quite nicely on the tabletop because of the highlighting work done here. The swathes of red cloth across the model also help a lot. I like the little can on the base too, probably the pilots last drink before they climbed inside.

Godrakk On Maw-Krusha by andz

Because I have a fondness for the Age of Sigmar Orruks I was rather taken by the work of andz here on Godrakk. I think the character that Games Workshop created here with his big chunky mount is spot on and it means painters can have a field day.

The work on Maw-Krusha himself is very impressive with a lot of attention to detail being paid to the scales and the way the bony ridges look. Godrakk himself also stands out nicely with that bright green skin.

Lastly the little additions to the base also help ground the miniature in the moment so to speak. The cracked earth beneath his fists shows him landing ready to attack his foes.

British WWII Field Gun by piers

We couldn't go through a Community Painting Picks without finding out what piers has been working on. This British Field Gun from World War II, stuck out there in the desert looks great and is almost as much a diorama as it is a miniature.

Artillery can very easily just become a piece that sits on the battlefield with no crew if you're lazy. So, when someone goes to the effort of making this nice of a scene you need to take notice. Great work here on the gun and the crew.

Kingdom Death Survivors by doctorether

Last but not least we're going to look at some of the Kingdom Death Survivors painted by doctorether. These miniatures are packed with character and the painting here has a real ethereal quality to it which I like a lot.

While the splash of colour we're getting the second survivor below is enticing I think that the more muted appearance of the first survivor here is more intriguing. I like the understated scheme which is then punctuated by the blue blade which become even more unsettling before the grim skull mask.

If you get a chance to check out more of doctorether's work in the forums I very much recommend it as he does a lot of great stuff.

So there you have it. I hope that the work from our excellent community members will help to inspire you to paint up some of your plastic grey collection sitting there on the shelf.

Get stuck in and show off your work in the Hobby & Painting Forum.

What have you been working on recently?