Hobby Progress: More IG

Another week cleared, another batch of minis done. Yet again I found myself painting D's imperial guard (117th, The Inheritors) So I did up a few special weapons teams, and another previously enjoyed lick. I have to say I really enjoyed working on some of the older independent characters/stand in models from this project, there's just something about the older mini's that's really fun to work with, even if they don't have rules anymore, a lot of these guys make great counts as models. Enough with words, time for the fancy stimulating imagery with our snazzy new logo.

 

Straken was a blast to paint up (buns of steel that model has) I was also very pleased with how the Vostroyan officer (he was supposed to be Chenkov) turned out, I think the reds pair well with the basing. On the Cadian officer I used GW's skin technique for the first time, super simple and done in three layers. Finally, who doesn't lover Schaffer.

 

Again I found myself trying a new GW endorsed method of painting. Rather than go with my traditional moo cow splotches, I tried their tiger streak approach, much cleaner.

 

Old school medics, so much fine detail on that model, used the new GW blood and gore technical on the transfusion packs, old RT guardsmen is featured because why not.

 

My own little slice of paradise.

 

This week is all about storm troopers (the old ones) so keep an eye out for my follow up post on those guys, oh I also finally broke down and bought an airbrush last weekend, so I expect to regale you all with tales of misfortune and great reward in the area as well in the near future. That's about it for me, oh don't forget to tune in to The Stuff of Legends next Monday, the next episode (I think) is all about hobby progress and how to get more into the hobby side of the game.

 

 

Cheers

 

-Scott

 

BH Senior Pit Master



 

 

 

Hobby Progress: basilisk

Just when I think I am out, they pull me back in, or rather D asked me to do a bit more work on his guard, so the sentinels are on the back burner for now. Last night I managed to do up a quick basilisk, again this was a second hand piece (didn't bother stopping it this time) from another players guard army (which I also painted) and I didn't bother to soak it since I figured to top layer was light enough to just prime over. The decision to experiment with the cracked earth basing paint did not pan out and I had to re prime/paint the bottom half of the side panels, a good lesson learned there, the GW technicals really helped me out this time around though I think that I am finding my balance with applying just the right amount of weathering to the metal bits, even if my free hand camo still needs a bit of work.

Quick side note:
You can also see the brand new 'Bay Hammer' logo, after several iterations and a few nights spent in Photoshop I have created a design I am finally happy with, t-shirts and bumper stickers to follow shortly.

Cheers

-Scott
BH Senior Polo Sergeant

Hobby Progress

Everything this week so far has been gear towards my upcoming Zone Mortalis throw down with D, which promises to either be a match up for the ages, or a quiet game in which two gentlemen trade jests over the others intimate nocturnal proclivities with livestock. Either way I am super pumped to finally get to play a ZM game for the first time, and really my first 40k game in the better part of a year (watching YouTube tutorials to brush up as I write this) I got a fair amount of stuff done this week, so bear with me while I itemize everything below.


First up is the sentinels, a couple of days ago I posted up a quick shot of the three that I actually managed to get painted. Here are the rest of the horde, all of which are now primed and ready for painting (did I mention a good part of my week was spent hovering over a bucket of simple green swill)

Thursday It got cold again, so my model priming efforts were shut down effectively for the evening, though I did manage to get these two guys done up for Sundays game (I also found out I was a bit short on special weapons squads, so I also put in a sizable bitz order on Ebay (more on that later) I do enjoy coming up with new ways to paint plasma effects but its still a pain to find one that looks right.

 

 

 

Today was a good day for hobby progress since the pin vice set I ordered off Amazon arrived this afternoon and I was able to drill out some of the gun barrels on my Contra Catachans (now known as Rick & Steve) which I also managed to get done up in decent time.

 I will say for $6 they are not bad, they have none of the polish that a dedicated hobby vise does and they were literally covered in grease when they arrived, but for the money they do a decent job, but they were clearly meant to be shop tools and they are not as precise as a GW/Xacto/Tamiya option, still though, hard to beat that $6 price tag.

                                  

Tetanus included in every bag!





Sgt. Steve

 

Spc. Rick

 

That's about it for me this week hobby wise, I expect to get a ton of pics from my ZM game tomorrow so keep an eye for that post in the near future, hopefully I'll start playing more games in general going forward, especially with the new guard codex dropping next week(you probably won't see me for a few days after that) Over all though its been a productive week, and I got to clear a few things off of my Trello.


Cheers

-Scott
BH Senior Dance Commander

P.S.
Almost forgot to mention, I will be making a guest appearance on the Stuff of Legends podcast Sunday, we are going to be talking about photography, and how you can use in the hobby and other fun topics. They don't have a dedicated landing page for the podcast, but I will post a link once its released.

Spent a few hours working on getting the first batch of sentinels done up in the new "jungle funge" style. After a bit of touching in Photoshop its a little harder to tell, but the greens are a little more muted then they appear, and it really helps make the highlights stand out a bit more prominently under normal lighting conditions, which I am still 50/50 on weather I really like that effect, but again those GW technical's really pull their weight when it comes to detailing.

I apologize in advance for the rough quality, it was around midnight when I finally got these guys in the light box. Tonight I m going to work on some melta guardsmen, but I wanted to get the flamer sentinel done up before my mortalis game with D this Sunday over at Legends and I had the multi laser sitting all done up and ready from the previous night, so I managed to bust out the duce.

Cheers

-Scott

BH Senior Fluff bunny shearer

The soak

Yesterday delivered un to me yet another evening of flash monsoons that obliterated any chance of re spraying more of the knightmere force. So with some lack of enthusiasm I returned to the scrub bucket to finish stripping some of the few remaining sentinels that needed a good cleaning, and as you can see above, enjoy a good cup of hot chocolate to help balance out the acrid sweet gut punching sent of industrial solvents.

After giving the walker family a good scrubbing (to the tune of the overlords in the background) I felt to sapped to getting any serious painting done, so en-lue of awesome mini shots, please enjoy the above high res shot of the deep dark green pit of cleansing I spent two hours hovering over last night.

Cheers

-Scott
BH Senior Grandfather
PS

If your in the bay area and want to learn about light box photography I will be hosting a weekend workshop in May. Check out the full details here.

Hobby Progress

Thursday night saw the culmination of a two week grind at the painting table, and I can say that Guard army number four is in the bag. To be clear, I took this project over a year ago when D was trying out some new combo's with guard in 6th, and he had a lot of sentinels that I wanted for my all sentinel list (more about that later) so I agreed to do some work for trade. Leaving out most of the details, a few things happened in the intervening period that kept me from completing the project in its original time frame (new job, buying a house, moving to said house) With the new codex coming out, and the threat of being crushed under a wave of guilt every time I went into the garage I finally managed to buckle down and crank out a decent sized Zone Mortalis force. You can see the fruits of my labor below.

223rd Infantry Regiment "The Inheritors"

The Grunts

 Command Squad

They call him 'La Sombra'

I wanted to give the army a very 'used' look, the whole theme I had in my head while I was painting these guys was "what do the regiments made up of all the leftovers look like?" While I don't think I fully captured the concept, I did manage to incorporate some fun little elements to various models that help them stand out from some of the rank and file.

Up next are vehicles, which I hope to start on this weekend, so expect updates on that front in the near future.

Comments questions and fan mail are always welcome.

Cheers

-Scott

BH Senior Editing Zombie

What Can I paint in 24 hours?

A question I never thought to ask myself un till yesterday morning when I started out on this mind numbing adventure. This all started last week when I heard that there was going to be a large Apoc game over at Legends. Well needless to say work and classes have been keeping my hobby time minimal (4-5 hours a week If I am lucky) So I set off to do several weeks worth of painting in the short span of one day (and then some, I kinda passed out after my third 5 hour energy after having made the mistake of sitting down on my awesomely comfortable microfiber couch to watch Cheech and Chong's next movie for a small break.) That being said let me just spill some wickedly touched up pictures down there for you good people to click on (24 hour paint bender with 3 hours of sleep has left me with no subtlety) enjoy.

This big guy took up a majority of my time, though most of the prep work and base coating was done the day before. I am quite pleased with how the fire turned out on this guy.

Again now subtlety here, everything in frame I painted in the course of the day (for the life of me I cant f

And last and quite literally least, ladies and gentlemen give it up for the B team, shakin it on the side lines because I simply just could not go any further (my thumbs now hurt when I try and open my paints)

And now the sad part of our story, I arrived at the shop only to find D and Dan where the only ones who showed up, what followed was a quite enjoyable but sevearly cut back game which topped out at 20k points, rather then the 200k I was expecting, rather than bi!#$ch and moan I quietly (and not so quietly) took out my rage on Dan's poor Imp guard, which where mercifully tabled down to the man (I even took out some scenery, that rock had it coming) So needless to say it was a fun game and I tip my hat to Dan who once again took a beating with a smile on his lips and a snappy comment for every tank D and I blasted into void space. My hat however does not tip to brother Ian who not only was unable to show for the game but apparently had done nothing to actually organize it. You sir will feel the full fury of my sass cannon once I have eaten and slumbered.

Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Zombie

On The Painting Table: Tau Crisis Suit Commander

The holidays are a time for merriment, warm chocolaty drinks and dragging the corpse of a recently eviscerated Douglas fir into your living room to adorn with shiny balls. It also happens to be that time of year when my wallet shrinks, so to off set this I have taken on a few small commissions. The first of which is this piece of canned sushi, I painted this guy up using my thirty minute mini technique (soon to be on dvd) For about an hours worth of work I think he came out alright. I started with a liberal brushing of lyenden Darksun followed by a good dry brushing of tausept ochre and Boltgun metal for the details. Ill do some touch up on him later today.

Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Editor

An Ode

To the young and to the old, to those who started playing a game and instead helped build a community.
To cramped back rooms with no air conditioning where we whiled away our youth for the thrill of battle.
To old friends and new enemies without either the game would be empty.
To late nights and sore wrists and painted fingers.
To those who lust for carnage and for those who sit in deep contemplation.
To the Nerds,geeks,Brits,yanks,freaks,artists,visionaries,modelers and bartenders, for again without you the game is empty.

Finally to everyone who ever spent months eating ramen to finance a new army, to any one who ever spent a semesters worth of Saturdays in a dimly lit room blasting Zeppelin and banging out a division, and to anyone who's forces where lost to marriage but re discovered by a son or daughter.

Some times its hard to tell some one why you do this, its hazardous to your health and your wallet, and at times can seem a bit foolish. But when all is said and done and the field of battle is cleared and all the drinks are gone, one cant help but sit back and feel like for a few hours they grabbed a piece of something greater, and we didn't even have to leave our living room. And that is the reason most every one dose anything at all, the simple answer is its fun, the deeper reason is passion. It differs from person to person but indeed when the dice start to roll one cannot help but imagine the roar of cannon or the whine of a las.

So for what ever reason you play this goes out to you, and if ever you feel the need to be vindicated just remember, we are all in this together, so might as well have some fun along the way.

Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Editor

P.S.
I will be returning to regular writing in my own witty and over all brash manner, and more to the point I will be getting back to playing. So stay tuned while I bang on things behind the curtain to try and keep things going.

Santa Cruz Warhammer Game Night

Well to do it proper justice it was more a painting and assembly night but for simplicity game night works. So I just got back from hanging out with the guys over at Santa Cruz Warhammer (aka Mike and John & Chris) and it was a fun and productive evening, there where drinks, there was paint and there where bathroom tiles o plenty for painting on. All in all it was a fun yet mellow evening with the guys, hanging out and painting and chatting about the evils of the GW marketing dept and what delightful forgeworld kits Mike had brought over (damn you and your affording nice things) storeys where shared, bitz where traded and techniques where revealed and there was the brief boasting (though mostly by me) of Valkyries. I would like to thank John and Mike personally for inviting me over and hope to see you guys again in future, it was a great chance to meet and talk with some of the other bay warhammer bloggers (we are the only two that we know of) so it was a great meeting of the minds on all sides and I wish Mike the best in finding a color scheme for his new guard, and Chris (I dont want to butcher the spelling) it was nice meeting you. Now if that seemed personal think about this, they live 20 minutes away from me, so least I can do is give a shout out blog wise. So if you haven't checked out the SC Warhammer blog I highly recommend stopping by the see the latest projects and tips from the boys over the hill.

In one final note before I unleash the pictures, tomorrow is my 21st birthday, so in about an hour I will pour my first legal drink, settle in to me couch, and watch my boot leg copy of "The A Team" season one and eventually fall asleep and then wake up and finish up my painting projects from tonight.

Pictured: Me(in Green and needing a haircut) Chris and John (Mike is hidden)

Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Editor

Fresh off the sprue?

Tonight I have adopted a new technique, painting on the sprue, now normally I do not see this however for reasons that have been with me for ages I have trouble some times with fine motor actions so I found that bracing the sprue against my hand I find a great deal more control over my brush, it also allows me to see where I am progress wise. Now I wont recommend this or even say I back this technique however I would love to hear from others on what techniques they use or prefer as I am sure there is no one uniform answer, for example I enjoy listening to books on tape as I paint it sets a much better tempo then some music (listening to "apt pupil" at the moment) but I suppose that just a matter of preference. I know its a slim offering but tonight it is rather calm and the excitement of the previous days release has died down and I now find myself focusing almost hazily on the sublime essential task of painting. You rely get to see what you have done with this method and in the long run saves you some time, want to add a new bit, done just clip it and saves some space on storage and such. I know its a bit of a random topic but things are light as of late but I promise much more engageing content in the comming weeks.



Happy painting

Scott
BH Senior Editor

"My eyes feel like they are gunna bleed"

Powered by the pent up energy of waiting for my Chimera for over a week(added to two cans of ace energy) I have kept up the methodical construction of the body and details and yes I did so commit the sin of painting the bolts, why did I do this, well having changed off many a utility panel in my day I can tell you that painted metal dose not stay painted when you repeatedly take an air wrench to it. So I suppose I am going for simplicity here( as well as maxing out the 250+ points available in options) I must say I am now a fair sight more contempt with the build now that I have had time to sit down and edge out the finer details but I am more then open to comments on this one, yea the paint jobs a little harsh on the body which I hope to add another layer to soon but other then that, ideas, suggestions, all are welcome, I am as they say just getting back into this.

Good painting to all

Scott aka Syxx
BH Senior Editor