THOUSAND SONS - Magnus the Red!

I mentioned in yesterday's post that I had also worked on a Magnus the Red... well... here he is!

My client was after something very close to the box art, and that seemed like a very cool proposition, at the start. The further and further I got into the painting I realized it was all going to take me considerably longer than I had quoted for, about 50% longer. But I'm a man of my word (and learn lessons best when they're impactful) so I did not increase that cost to my client.

Magnus was painted in a few sub-assemblies (the body, the wings, and all the armor and accessories), and then put together at the end.

The base is one of the excellent new bases from the Shattered Ritual line from Secret Weapon Miniatures. I have had the pleasure of seeing these bases develop - as my friend Chris Borer worked on them he'd show off the odd WIP photo here and there. Very cool. I'm pretty sure you can find them for purchase HERE.

Again, I handed them off the the client over the weekend, and he was very happy : )

Such a wonderful model, and brilliantly engineered by the team at GW.

Cheers
Dave

THOUSAND SONS - A squad of Rubric Marines

I recently finished a commission for these ten Rubric Marines and the might Magnus the Red. I handed them off to the client on the weekend and he was very happy, always a good thing : )

It has been a long time since I painted some Thousand Sons, and these new models are really spectacular (and super-detailed). My advice to anyone quoting on these? Think about how long you expect them to take, then double it. ; )

Cheers

Dave

Daemon Engines? Excellent choice!

A long time ago (or so it seems) I built this Stalk Tank to fight alongside my Blood Pact army. I've always had the desire to build another one, but have lacked the time required. There also wasn't really a pressing need or an easy way to integrate them into a "proper list".

But now 6th Edition has brought along Allies, and the Chaos Space Marine codex has brought some tasty new Daemon Engines. I think I might have to start bulking out the Blood Pact.

First up, I have a Mantis Tank to put together. It was sent to me by my friend Laurent of Blight Wheel Miniatures. It was designed by one of my favorite sculptors (and new addition to the Citadel stable), Morback! Obviously this saves me a great deal of hassle in building one myself, which means I can get stuck into the painting : )

If you are interested in picking up a Mantis Tank you can buy them online here.

Photos of Forgefiend and Maulerfiend from the GW website, used without permission.

I'm also loving the two new plastic Daemon Engines from today's GW releases. I think one of each of the Fiends will do nicely.

Photo of Blight Drone from the FW website, used without permission.

I have two Blight Drones from back in the day, one of which is already painted. This seems like a great time to get the other one painted up too.

Photo of Helbrute from the GW website, used without permission.

And finally, I now have two Helbrutes. Perhaps they'd do well supporting my Blood Pact infantry too?

Lots of great Daemon Engine fun on the way. It'll take some time, but hopefully it'll be worth the wait.

Cheers

Dave

PS. I have no idea if they'll actually be any good in the game, I don't have my Codex:CSM yet, but I'm sure I'll enjoy the building and painting part ; )

The Bearer of Bad Tidings

Don't worry, nothing's wrong.

This title is just the title of the last entry I worked on this year for the Chicago Golden Demons.

Mike Anderson did a wonderful job sculpting this model. Such a simple pose that conveys all manner of barely-checked brutality. I bought two of these models as soon as I saw it. As far as conversion work I simply replaced the head with one from the Chaos Knights sprue and replaced the shield with the shield/standard combo from the same sprue. I think the banner top is from the Chaos Marauder Horsemen sprue.

I went for a very simple palette to enhance the simplicity of the model.

Anyway, I have since passed the Bearer on to a friend who helped me through some tough times with kind words and cheerful encouragement. I wish you the best in your studies Ben, I'm sure we'll meet again soon.

Onwards to more projects.

At the moment I'm working on dozens of things (it certainly feels that way). I have to finish the truck tutorial for you all, post the plans for it, assemble and paint 6 of them for sale (a little experiment), build a couple of Usurpers (Blood Pact Medusas) and two AT-70 Reavers for a tournament in October, paint up 20 more troopers for that same tournament, host my parents for three weeks, and continue to work towards building the stockpile of great articles for Wargames Illustrated to get us a bit further ahead. There are a couple of other projects in there but I'll talk about those later.

Until next time, have fun and keep painting!

Cheers

Dave

PS. I forgot to mention, the plinth he is standing I bought from Jeff at Dragon Forge.

Back from the Windy City and settling in...

Games Day Chicago was a fun day for me. I know a lot of people have been a bit disappointed by certain aspects of it, but I think it's all about having your expectations met or exceeded.

I expected to have a fun day catching up with friends, meeting new painters, talking about toy soldiers, and perhaps even walking away with a trophy or two.

Check, check, check, and check!

I entered all 11 categories I was able to. A bit of overkill perhaps, but you can't with the MegaMillions if you don't buy a ticket. Again I was lucky that all my entries made it past the first cut. Of course that made the final judging very nerve wracking, particularly as it wasn't until the Diorama category that I saw one of my entries with a Winner tag in front of it.

That's right, The Withdrawal took Silver in the Diorama category, as did Cherubael in the Large Scale Model category.

Amusingly enough, my nemesis in these two categories was another Aussie, Kyle Morgan, who had flown in from Sydney to compete. As he was flying so far he brought eight entries (must be something in the Australian blood, or that we're raised to "'ave a go, ya mug!"). Kyle's beautiful work netted him five trophies in all (I think). You can see some of his work at the Oz Painters forums, where he posts as KyleM.

Anyway, here's a list of my entries by category:

1. 40K Single - Kalak81, Adpetus Mechanicus Skittarii (pictured in this post)

2. 40K Squad - Pater Sin and his Psyker Brood (pictured in this post)

3. 40K Vehicle - Nurgle Blight Drone (pictured here)

4. 40K Large - Renegade Berserker Ogryn (pictured here)

5. Warhammer Single - Chaos Sorceror (pictured in this post)

6. Warhamer Regiment - Ironskin Ogre Rhinox Riders

7. Warhammer Large - "The Bearer of Bad Tidings", Chaos Standard Bearer (pictures coming soon)

8. LoTR Single - Dying Boromir

9. Diorama - "The Withdrawal of the 144th" (pictured here)

10. Large Scale Model - Cherubael (pictured here)

12. Open - Departmento Munitorium Truck (pictured here)

Here's Kalak81, the Skittarii I have been working on as a commission piece for a friend of mine. I know he's very excited to get his hands on this model. The handover goes down next Tuesday!

A special edition model that I picked up from Jeff Hall (who's blog you can see here) at the last Bizarre Bazaar. For some reason I wanted to go with the purple.

And the class photo of Pater Sin and his Psyker Brood. I apologize that not everything is in focus. For some reason I got this splitting headache and blurry vision as I looked through the viewfinder ; )

Congrats to all the other entrants and winners! Keep an eye out on the GW site over the next few weeks for the other winning models.

Cheers

Dave