The Next Warhammer Scenery Painting Challenge!

On March 8, 2017March 7, 2017 By James CastroIn Art, Games, ProjectsLeave a comment

It may be patently obvious from my Sector Imperialis post I love Citadel Scenery.

Being a narrative player the world building portion of the game is my favorite, and nothing builds a story better than creating an interesting environment for your battles.

Over the years I’ve acquired a lot of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy battles scenery. I’ve painted a few pieces but never got around to painting the vasst majority. Completing my cityscape got the painting bug back in me and I decided to start doing the rest. It’s no small task but even the small progress I’ve made makes a huge difference!

Craters, earthshaker cannon craters, a crashed Aquila Lander, a Citadel Hill, two Citadel woods, fantasy walls and fences, Magewrath Throne, Eternity Stair, Temple of Skulls, Firestorm Redoubt, some quad guns and Icarus Lascannons, a Wall of Martyrs Bunker, a Haemotrope Reactor, and some Promethium Relay pipes.

A lot of the craters and the hill I hand painted with what was left over from my Realm of Battle board. Everything was spray painted with GW or Army Painter sprays. Mournfang Brown, Desert Yellow, and Khorne Red making of the majority with some Fang spray on the Wall of Martyrs details.

Here you can see more Wall of Martyrs defensive lines, a Plasma Obliterator, a Balewind Vortex, the Honored Imperium set, and two Bastions.

The Skyshield landing pad, Fortress of Redemption, armored shipping containers (behind the towers) Witchfate Tor, Dreadstone Blight, The Garden of Morr, a watch tower and chapel from the fortified manor set (where my walls and fences came from too), Arcane Ruins, and the Dreadfire Portal.

Here’s the lot!

My Basilica Adminstratum, Manufactorum, Shrine of the Aquila, And Sanctum Imperialis ses are actually primered too, but they didn’t fit on my table!

Here’s hoping in the next few weeks I can provide updates on the progress of these sets too. Getting all of this done will be a major accomplishment for me!

Making Easy Wargaming Smoldering Wrecked Vehicle Markers!

On March 1, 2017February 28, 2017 By James CastroIn Art, Games, ProjectsLeave a comment

While trying to re-learn the intricacies of Warhammer 40k again I remembered what a pain it is to show a vehicle as being “wrecked.” Many makers, including Citadel/Games Workshop, make “wrecked” markers, but none of these ever seem to have the gravitas necessary to show the drama of an exploded tank or burning transport.

While re-learning the game I found myself watching a lot of battle reports on YouTube. By far the best have been by StrikingScorpion82 whose games are both narrative and competitive. They are also filled with great personalities and cinematic moments. Scorpion also has a number of reviews and “how to” videos, my favorite being how he makes his wrecked vehicle markers. His are durable, well-built works of art. You can see his technique here:

After seeing this I wanted to make some of my own, but wanted to add a bit of effect and admittedly wanted to spend twenty dollars or less… They aren’t as dynamic as his but are MUCH better than turning a tank of its side! here’s what I did:

I started with some red flickering LED tea lights. I got mine from Amazon for $8.59:

I went for red to give it the internal smoldering look I wanted. They come in packs of twelve to give you plenty to work with.

I added some bent paper clips, which won’t be anywhere near as durable as the copper wire Scorpion uses but I had them on hand. I used Gorilla Glue white to attach them to the candles. I used two different version; one bent in half the other bent to stand all the way up with a folded hook at the top. The latter proved to be FAR easier to work with:

I masked off the bottoms of the candles (where the batteries, electronics, and switches are) and prepped the “smoke” portion.

Scorpion started with cotton wool, but I only had access to polyfill, which I got at Walmart for around $4. I used copious amounts of PVA glue on the sides of the candles and shaped some polyfill around the base. I then took various portions of the polyfill and shaped different “smoke” shapes around and on the paperclip bases:

20170226_183227 — You can see the polyfill around the basses in the back. The rubber bands weren’t actually too hard to take off, but also weren’t really needed. I just held each piece for a few seconds and they usually stayed. Ignore Konrad cat seated in the background…

20170226_184058 — Like Scorpion I made various sizes, based around two basic heights.

I followed the instructions on the tutorial and spray based them all gray.

Then added the black spray around the lower portions of each marker.

You can see the finished videos of them below!

Realm of Battle Sector Imperialis COMPLETED!

On February 22, 2017February 21, 2017 By James CastroIn Art, Games, Projects6 Comments

So it finally happened. Over the weekend I took two days and completed the Sector Imperialis Realm of Battle board I started 2+ years ago!

Again following on from our lord and savior, Duncan Rhodes, I used the techniques he detailed to complete the painting!

Using pre-printed gaming mats is easy and fast, but for drama and detail it’s hard to beat this board. Tt’s flexibility (six tiles that can arranged in various ways) and aesthetic are hard to beat.

You can see the tiny bit of Nurgle’s Rot I added to the open sewers for effect.

In Rhodes’ terrific tutorial he suggested using washes of varying colors to add character to the road. This worked VERY well. Here you can see the colors he recommended, Nuln Oil, Agrax Earthshade, and Athonian Camoshade with Dawnstone drybrushed over it. You can also see the gutters. They have also been washed with all three and finished with some Typhus Corrosion. A bit of Typhus Corrosion was also added to the detritus in the gutters to unify the look.

Other than Skavenblight Dinge, which was used for all the road and stone sections, my Leadbelcher stock took a big hit. All this metal… Here the metal floows and mechanical components are displayed. All were washed in Nuln and drybrushed with Necron Compound.

These bronze sections are some of my favorite pieces. They were based in Balthasar Gold, washed in Nuln Oil, drybrushed with Necron Compound, and detailed with Nihilakh Oxide.

One of the crypt sections and one of the eagles I wanted a marble effect. They were based in Ceramite White, washed in Drakenhof Nightshade, and drybrushed with Prixati White.

If you’re thinking of painting one of these beware…you’ll get through some paint, this handful got me through about half of it:

This was a great project and one I may be detailing and changing periodically as I use it. It’s a great central piece and if you have one a fun project!

HalloWarhammer: Horror in the World of Warhammer 40k

On October 31, 2016October 30, 2016 By James CastroIn Books, Random Fun, ReviewsLeave a comment

So as most know I’m a huge fan of Games Workshop’s fictional world. One of the best aspects of this world is it can essentially house every kind of genre imaginable. There are Ciaphas Cain comedies, Ultramarine traditional war stories, Last Chancers underdog guerilla stories, and even a few romances thrown in for good measure.

One genre that really lends itself to the world of daemons, monsters, and heroes is horror. The Warhammer world has its fair share of horror stories (if you go into Fantasy Battles that’s even more true what with vampires, zombies, and Hammer Horror atmosphere everywhere) but I thought I’d share a couple of my favorites!

Old Soldiers Never Die (Sandy Mitchell) – Ciaphas Cain and his Valhallan 597th end up on the planet of Lentonia to assist in the quashing of a recent rebellion. During their time there a host of plague zombies arise and the put-upon commissar is forced to deal with a near spot-on Romero zombie uprising and a chaos cult. Even driving his command vehicle through the streets running them down. It’s a great little story and a perfect Halloween zombie fix for fans of 40k and the hero of the imperium. For even more Ciaphas Cain zombie fun also check out Dead in the Water, a great audio drama about Cain on his own Apocalypse Now adventure.

Waiting Death (Steve Lyons) – The galaxy’s quintessential tough-guy Colonel “Iron Hand” Straken and his Catachans are stationed on Borealis Four. During a long march his unit stumbles across a mysterious village where the regiment comes under siege by shadowy monsters who appear from nowhere, assault the wily jungle fighters, and vanish again. The description of the monsters is horrific and the tension voiced marvelously by Toby Longworth causes a wonderfully suspenseful narrative. It has a bit of a twist to it and the final monster is downright frightening. Not really “gothic” horror as such but its reminiscent of 80s action horror.

Alone (Joe Parrino) – This is the one that inspired me to write this article. Raven Guard Librarian Ithkos Jevel is lost on his own in an abandoned imperial ship. As he attempts to contact his battle brothers he is accosted by a presence who mocks him over the vox. The voice acting by Gareth Armstrong, Robin Bowerman, and Jonathan Keeble is amazing. Especially the eerie, shrill voice of the mocking daemonic presence that continuously torments Ithkos during his journey down the dark corridors, often imitating the voice of one of Ithkos’ fallen comrades. Especially the evil reading of the line “You walk in dark places!” The imagery provided in the audio drama is equally frightening. The lifeless eyes of statuary truly has the feel of an Exorcist or Omen film. One scene in particular stays with me as true horror. One of the statues of saints comes to life and assaults Ithkos. The statue described as moving in a horrific, spider-like manner reminds me of something out of Silent Hill. This audio drama more than any of the others makes me realize just how effective horror radio shows must have been during the heyday of the serial radio program. If you’re looking for something thematic to paint or build your armies this season it doesn’t get much better than this!

Warhammer Fantasy Painting: Skarsnik!

On August 3, 2016August 2, 2016 By James CastroIn ArtLeave a comment

Skarsnik is one of my favorite Warhammer characters. The so-called warlord of the Eight Peaks (I’m a Queek Headtaker fan so I dispute that) has a great personality, a weirdo backstory, and some creative tabletop rules that include his wonderful partner-in-crime Gobbla.

I got my model (as I’ve gotten many of my favs, see Taurox the Brass Bull) off of eBay damaged. I actually like damaged models. You get them cheap and give you tons of chances for creativity. You can use your own parts to replace missing ones and even completely change a model entirely. It’s ton’s of fun and economical.

I had to add my own spikes to Skarsnik’s back and replace his sickle-sword but that was just part of the fun. I give you my Skarsnik:

Warhammer Fantasy Painting: Night Goblin Big Boss on Great Cave Squig

On July 27, 2016July 26, 2016 By James CastroIn ArtLeave a comment

So here’s a fact: I like squigs. I don’t know why but I can’t get enough squig units or squig related models.

After finishing my wyvern and liking the way his squiggy shield turned out I moved on to paint my Night Goblin Bigboss on a Great Cave Squig.

First off I love this model. The posture of the gobbo looks like he’s barely holding on to his bounding mount and the squig is wonderfully expressive and full of personality.

I went classic on all the colors. The night goblin boss is wearing traditional black robed with a bit of blue edging.

I was pretty happy with the helmet too, as it’s clear it was looted from dwarfs.

But the squig is where it’s at in this model.

His massive teeth are incredibly fun to paint and I haven’t had a chance to paint real bone so clearly in previous models.

I was running low on 40mm bases so I repurposed one from a troll. It worked pretty well as the pre-textured based made for nice cave environment.

Next week, the biggest Night Goblin boss with the greatest squig of them all (may he rest in peace…)

Revenant Publications

Tag: warhammer