Paint(ed) Table Saturday - 40K Catachan Armour

Not so much Paint Table Saturday as PAINTED Table Saturday and that can't be a bad thing right?
A finished project is a thing of beauty no matter how small and these two powerhouses of the jungle were finished up this morning.

Hellhound Chimera APC variant and Leman Russ Demolisher variant

I posted about these a little while back, when I talked about what needed to happen before the painting could start. I'm pleased to say the prep work was well worth it and I'm more than happy with the finished items.

A dark green base coat has been overlaid with several lighter coats and then a sponged black/gray camo pattern applied over the top. Despite Evan's cajoling I decided to stick with a two-colour camo as I don't really like three-colour on 40K vehicles.

Exfoliatus is a Leman Russ Demolisher, just the ticket for clearing a path through the jungle and taking on weapon pits, strong points and other nastiness including enemy armour. She was the worse off of the two when she arrived and required serious surgery in the war forges before being fit for battle once more...

Ole Smokey is a Hellhound Chimera APC variant, just the ticket for flushing infantry and creepy-crawlies out of the undergrowth. Or perhaps better still, simply BBQing the whole lot at once and being done with it once and for all!

Both still need another coat or two of Dullcote to hide the last of the decal shine but as I've run out of the damn stuff yet again that will have to wait.

Next up, three Sentinels and an odd Ogryn Bonehead and I'm all done for 2500 points, just in time to start the Painting Challenge once again.

Cheers,
Millsy

It's ON again! The 6th AHPC has been announced!

The real Lord Snow is at it once again! Curt from Analogue Hobbies has announced this year's Painting Challenge so get your brushes out folks and sign up.

I'm on board again this year (how could I not be?!?) but Evan is dithering. Leave a comment below folks and help me ramp up the peer pressure. C'mon Ev, how about a couple of hundred points over three months? Surely that's not too much to ask...

Cheers,
Millsy

There, I fixed it...

With the infantry component of my 40K Catachans 99% complete I've been umming and ahhhing about whether to add a little steel in the form on some AFVs. The canon dictates that a pure Deathworld force is foot sloggers only with a few Sentinels for support. But I'm not doing a pure Deathworld force so in the end I compromised and bought a couple of vehicles. I will at least however restrict myself to weapons and upgrades that make sense in a jungle environment...

Unfortunately despite my best efforts I couldn't see a few issues with the Leman Russ Demolisher before I purchased it on eBay. The right-hand track assembly was very mis-alinged and the two plasma cannon sponsons were both out of position and in one instance so badly assembled as to have big gaps all over. I could quite easily have filled the gaps, ignored the rest and just painted it but I just *know* that down the track I'd have been annoyed with it every time I looked at it.

Before I could do anything about said issues I was forced to deal with this...

You don't have any plans to work here tonight right?

Once Olivia Jigger has been removed I was able to do this...

Getting that track assembly off was a bit of a nightmare and the balance between not doing damage to the model *or* myself was a fine one. The sponsons were even harder. Based on how it was assembled and the glue used I can only assume the previous owner was a juvenile chimpanzee with learning difficulties and motor control issues. Or maybe just someone who didn't care that much at all. Honestly, I don't really mean any of that but I am terminal cynic and love to overstate things :-). The way it was assembled mystifies me a bit as it would be harder to bugger it up than to get it right given the grooves and lugs that align things (or should)?!?

Three hours of work later and we have this now...

Straight tracks, correctly aligned sponsons and no more gaps. Even better all my fingers are still in place and most of the extraneous super glue has now peeled off (me that is). Winner! Next stop is the paint station.

Before I go a couple of quick things...

I woke this morning to the horror of what is going on in Paris. My thoughts are with all the emergency services workers there and especially the victims and families of these terrible acts. If there is any justice in this world the individuals responsible will be found and made accountable for their cowardice and cruelty.

Secondly, if you can spare a [insert your currency here] or two I'm doing Movember again this year. You can sponsor the hideous creation adorning my head here...

Til next time...

Cheers,
Millsy

More Frostgrave Zombies, or A Song of Frost and Gravy

Some more work on the jaundiced ice-mummy zombies of Frostgrave. You'll remember how I did the skin tones on the test fig; well, here he is with his mates, suitably bloody and looking like they've been dragged through a glacier backwards.

Now all I have to do is get some snow on the bases, and complete another nine or ten zombies, and we should be right for a game...

Oh! And I'd better paint up a warband...!

Stay tuned...

Ev

Paint Table Saturday - 40K Commission Time...

This week I've been back at work on a whole-army commission I'm doing for a mate - a Dark Angels Space Marine chapter for Warhammer 40K.

The last seven days or so have seen me painting a small 5 man squad of Veterans, an Apothecary and a Dreadnought. It's chucking down rain again and quite dark for 6:00pm so the pics are fairly ordinary but they give you a good idea on progress....

Weapon arms on the Dread are all magnetised with the ubiquitous rare earth numbers and can be swapped out as desired.

Just the Chapter Master to go in this batch and I can get back to my own stuff for a while.

Thanks for popping by...

Cheers,
Millsy

Catachan XXVII Regiment a.k.a. 'Gator Bait'

They're done! Another infantry army is fully painted! Say hi to the infamous Catachan XXVII Regiment, a.k.a. 'Gator Bait'...

These guys have been, like almost all of my megalomaniac projects, a loooong time in the making. Here's a pic I took quite a few years back now (maybe 3-4???) when I had collected a fair chunk of the intended army and decided I simply HAD to undercoat everything in sight, including an old garden bench...

Snow White and the 110 Dwarves on parade

Sick of them taunting me from their boxes in the Cupboard of Shame I've put my head down and painted hard over the last 12 months or so, pushing onwards through the endless tide of bulging biceps and camo pants. This progress is in no small part thanks once again to Curt Campbell and his Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. It's the gift that keeps on giving I tells ya!

With only a few vehicles left to paint I thought I'd properly document the formation of the regiment.
That done I'm happy to report they now look a lot less white and a lot more like this...

They even have their own regimental flag, lovingly crafted by yours truly with a little assistance from my work Shutterstock account [ahem!].

For those who care about the structure of things, here's a plan of the regiment in all it's glory (including the vehicles which are currently in progress)...

110 infantry in four platoons plus command

And now for some snaps of the individual platoons and such...

Company Command, special characters, Echo (Ogryn) Platoon and Alpha (Veteran) Platoon

Colonel "Snappy Hand" Strachon, Colour Sergeant Biff "Neckbeard" Johnson and Ty "Greta" Garbo

Bravo Platoon - 25 grunts plus mortars and snipers

Charlie Platoon - 25 grunts plus missile launchers and heavy bolters

Delta Platoon - 25 grunts plus lascanoons and autocannons

The non-Ogryn miniatures are all wonderful Michael Perry sculpts, so much nicer and with oodles more character than the current plastic range with their disturbingly odd poses and strange anatomy (even for a Catachan!).

Now I realise that a small section of the community will cry "Catachans?!?! But you have lascannons! Shame! Shame!" and if I was running a purely Deathworld style army that'd be a fair criticism. The fact I wanted a full collection of all the miniatures produced pushed me into a more traditional IG regimental structure and to be honest a more competitive list overall. That also allows me to have a couple of tanks in addition to the ubiquitous Sentinels.

Once the vehicles are done I'll do another post covering them so stay tuned. Until then, may the Emperor watch over you and keep the grim dark and it's evil minions at bay...

Cheers,
Millsy

Frostgrave Zombies - Skin Tones WIP

Here's the progress to date on my mighty undead horde for Frostgrave (all three of them).

I found myself on a bit of a roll, and decided to begin painting one of the Mantic Zombies while I was still feeling motivated.

For the test fig, I went for a base coat of mixed GW Nurgling Green and Bleached Bone, since the wonderful old 'Rotting Flesh' has been discontinued. More Bleached Bone was added to the mix for highlights, and the models were then given a wash of Agrax Earthshade to grubby them up and bring out the detail.

Open wounds were painted in GW Scab Red, and some more highlights picked out in pure Bleached Bone. I decided to go for a compromise skin tone, something suggesting corruption as well as mummification - sort of an 'Ötzi the Iceman with jaundice' look. And let's face it, Frostgrave zombies have been trapped inside a glacier for centuries, so they will look a little bit like our Tyrolean friend!

Hey, kids, it's everyone's favourite Chalcolithic Ice Mummy, Ötzi!

So, one quick coat of yellow glaze, followed by a wash of Reikland Flesh to give the skin a russet tone, and voilà!

Still have to get to work on the clothing, base, and facial details such as eyes and teeth, but I think this test figure is about right in the skin department.

More later, stay tuned!

Ev