Dwarfs, Skeletons, and Romans--Oh My!

 Just a few shots of things I'm working on...

                           
                             Do the eyes first just to get them out of the way.
                                 

Yes, I know they look crazy, but the eyes will get smaller once

the highlighting and detailing time comes.

                                                       Like this...
                                     

...and this.

Experimenting with different colors for skeletons

Different rusting effects.

15mm Early Imperial Roman Auxilia.

Big Ass Update

 The holidays, work, and the flu have prevented me from being active on this blog the past few weeks.  The good news is that I've gotten quite a bit of painting done.  I finally have 1,000 points for my 40k Orks!  I'll probably come back to it and paint 1,000 more points, but I need a change of pace;  I've always been more of a fantasy lover than sci-fi.  A few days ago I went down to the gaming store and picked up some new models--Warhammer Fantasy Dwarf Warriors.  I painted the first one up as a tester model.  I'm happy with how it turned out and will paint the remaining 15 models using the same colors, but varying which parts of clothing get what color.  The unity of the warriors will be in the same color shields.  I need a break from painting greenskins.  Oh, which reminds me, over the Christmas weekend I painted up 5 Ork Nobz.  So, here's a few shots of those Nobz and my first Dwarf Warrior.

Deffkoptas

It's been a busy past few weeks, which means not as much time to paint.  I'm still not finished with this 1,500 point ork army, but I was able to paint up two Deffkoptas over the weekend.  I wanted them to match the Trukk, so I used the same military green color, but added some rust pigments and gave them a little character by adding the kill tally to one, and the flame design to the other; that gave me a good chuckle.  Anyway, here's a few pics of the process.  I'm also working on a squad of Nobz.  Those dudes are badass on the gaming table.

 

Ork Warboss

 A lot of blood and sweat went into this one, but  I think he came out pretty well.  He's a culmination of all the painting techniques I've learned so far.  I tried to highlight interesting areas--especially the red cloth and green flesh.  I can finally see the slow, gradual improvements in my painting.  I can also see areas that I still need to work on.

                                                       Waaaaaaagh!! 

The highlighting on the skin and cloth

Leather hoslters

                                         "Oim 'unna bash yer face in, 'uman!"

Finished Trukk (Finally!), Killa Kan, and Nob

       I'm really happy with the final turnout of the Trukk.  The machine gunner and driver have been completed, and I also found a great paint for blood effects: Tamiya X27 Clear Red Acrylic Paint.  Some areas mixed with brown and/or black paint (for oxidized blood), and other areas painted with pure clear red (for fresh blood) makes for a more realistic blood splatter.
       For the Killa Kan, I just drybrushed the whole model (after priming it black) with Leadbelcher, and then highlighted some areas by drybrushing them a brighter silver.  After that, I used my trusty brown and red rust pigments, followed by generous washes of Agrax Earthshade (brown), Nul Oil (black)l, and Biel-Tan Green to taste.
       Lastly, for the Nob, I undercoated him with white, did a wash of Biel-Tan Green on the skin, painted the clothing with a 50/50 mix of Abbadon Black and Nul Oil.  I used Leadbelcher for the armor and weapons, and a mix of Wazdakka Red and Nul Oil for the straps, and finally, Dwarf Bronze for the bullets and small bits of the Power Klaw.  After that, I washed the entire model with Agrax Earthshade, except for the weapons which I washed with Nul Oil.  Pretty simple, but I gotta bang these guys out if I wanna start playing.

This guy's ready to rock n' roll

The trukk don't stop fer nuffin'

Dakka

The final product

Walking pile of rust with a scorcha'

This Nob's gonna lead a mob of 30 boyz into battle

Trukk!!

 Yeah, yeah, I know I just posted about my unfinished ork truckk yesterday, but this is my blog, and I can do whatever the %&@* I wanna do.  I added some paint chippings, fixed up the blood/rust on the front ummm... "impailer" and did some tweaks here and there.  Pretty darn happy with it.  Vroom vroom, baby.

                               Can't wait to run over enemies with this bad boy

                            Dem dere paint chippins lookin' mighty nice wif dat
                            dere mud


I know I still haven't finished the driver and the machine gunner, but I'll have those up within the next few days I'm hoping.

Weekend Update

 What better way to spend the long weekend ( a sincere "thank you" to all our American veterans) than paint miniatures?  Oh, that's an easy one:  Drink beer and act obnoxious.  Amidst my busy weekend schedule, I somehow managed to find time to paint.  I got half of the auxilia in the can for my DBA Early Imperial Roman army, and I'm nearly finished with a trukk for my Warhammer 40k orks.  I had a grand time experimenting with different techniques and colors on this one.  I asked myself:  "What if a WWII Sherman tank and a garbage bin got drunk in a bar, and then staggered home together?  What would their lovechild look like?"  Well, this is what my twisted imagination came up with...

                      It just needs a few more touch-ups, and I still need to paint the                 
                  driver and machine gunner.  (Saving the best for last).

                    White glue, ground cinnamon, a mix of dark brown, and   
                 a smidgen of yellow paint gives an interesting mud effect.

                     I'm pleased with the mud on the wreckin' ball and tires.

                              My DBA army is officially half-done!


 That's it.  Next on the agenda: Finish up the trukk, and start working on the Roman
  cavalry. Giddyup.