Sisters of Battle - Squad Complete (new plastic models)

I finished my first squad of new battle sisters. These come from the army box set, and use a matching scheme with my Everchosen entry from a few months ago.

They're really nice models. I have to admit, that I was beginning to think that we would never see the mythical plastic sisters in this lifetime, but here they are! They were easy enough to build, but I painted them as a batch, and with a scheme this complex, it was a bit ambitious. It was just too many layers of paint coupled with a massive amount of detail that made it a bit of a slog to the finish in the end. I started painting them in December and made it about 3/4 of the way through, then ran out of steam and had to do some different projects for a bit to build up strength for the final push!

I'm happy with they came out, but a bit daunted to tackle the rest of the box. That said, Squaduary is coming up again soon and I have those small units of Repentia and Flagellants to work on, so that might help push through a little more of the force.

The paint scheme itself is started with an airbrushed coat of purple that is highlighted in purple and white before being given a coat of Vallejo Transparent Red. After I've set the basic blend on the armour up, it's all brush work till the end. I enjoy painting the yellow parts, but the robes are a bit of a pain. They just become very monotonous to paint given their size and the number of clean layers required. Overall, they're a nice looking squad, and a great start to the army. I also repainted my older converted Exorcist to match the scheme, so I'll do a post about that soon.

Ready to face the forces of Chaos?

Everchosen - I'm a Winner!

Just a quick update post to say that my Battle Sister made it through, and that I came first in my local competition! Next up, I'll be going on to represent the store in the online vote.

Just for fun, I also entered the open category, and snagged 2nd place with my 40k Skaven Dragoon conversion. All in all it was good fun, and I think I'll probably enjoy going into the online vote too. I'm not expecting much as I'm sure the serious golden demon guys are going to be out in force, but It's just nice to get a little bit of recognition, and it is a very big global stage, so it should be interesting.

I had a bit of a look around the internet, and I think quite a few people entered Sister Amalia into Everchosen, so I'm sure I'll be up against some very directly comparable models in the next round! (I've seen a few that made it through), so at least I can see how I do compared to them!

Winning was quite fun too, as I was presented with a mysterious golden envelope. Unfortunately, it just continued instructions on how to enter the second stage of the competition, and wasn't stuffed full of gift vouchers!

Sister Amalia Novena - Everchosen Painting Competition

I'm entering the Everchosen painting competition today, so I thought I should post my work on the blog too. It's been a while since I last posted on here, but I have been working on some miniatures, so with any luck, more posts should be coming soon.

This was a cool model to work on. I wanted to do something for the competition, but was undecided about which model to use. I've always liked sisters of battle (and have an old army of the metal ones at home too), so I knew I was going to pick up the first ever plastic one when she came out. Given the timing, I figured that she would make a good entry for the competition too. I also often end up painting female models for competitions. I think it's because I spend so much time painting burly dudes that by the time I get to picking something "just for fun" I'm in the mood to switch it up a bit.

Build-wise, I made a few changes. I took away her bolter and added a sword from a Mechanicus infiltrator. Mostly to make her look more interesting for the competition, but it is a cool part and it wasn't that hard to do. Other than that, I added the archway. After painting, I added some "broken glass" to the arch too (seen at the bottom from the back). There are a few bits scattered on the floor too, but they aren't that obvious and don't really jump out in photos. Nevertheless, I think of it as a bit of an "Easter egg" for anyone who bothers to look at her long enough. The arch is the side struts from one of the citadel building kits, just cut to shape and re-joined at the top and bottom.

As far as paint is concerned, I went full NMM. I'm honestly not the best at non-metallic metals, but that's pretty much why I did it. I always try to push myself with competition entries, so it was an obvious choice. I laid down the base colours and blends on her armour and sword with the airbrush, but after that it was all good old-fashioned brush work. I also added some fairly subtle OSL in the form of the candle and lamp. I'm quite happy with the candle, but I feel like I could've brought the effect through to the actual model better. It doesn't really matter though as I'm happy enough with it as a bit of throw-away wow-factor.

That probably just about rounds it up. Everchosen is decided by public vote, so who knows how this thing could swing. I'm sure I'm  not in with a look-in for the grand prize as the really serious painters are sure to be out in force. A local victory would be cool, so I could at least make it to the online voting stage, but I guess we'll see.

Saint Celestine, Sisters of Battle Painted

Well, here's a project I started in January 2017. Nothing like finally blowing the dust off of a miniature and getting it off of the "to do" list.

I'm not sure what inspired me to work on my Sisters of Battle, I think it might be the news that GW are working on the plastic miniatures. That and all of the Inquisitor Martyr that I've been playing has left me with a hankering to work on something Inquisitorial.

Handily, I was also looking for a new project to experiment on with some paints that I picked up at Salute this year. One of the stands was selling old Vallejo paints really cheap (I think they were old stock or something that had been gathering dust in storage). I picked up a few, but I held back because I wasn't sure if they would have survived. I was a bit cavalier about what I got as well, as I just bought them because they were cheap. Anyway, one of the colours I got was Transparent Red, which as it turns out is rather vibrant and nice to use. I also used some Vallejo Emerald which is a really nice saturated green that I used as a base for the power weapons and things.

Overall, I think that they're some of my favourite models I've painted this year. There's something about them that really captures my own personal style; from the strong contrasting colours to the mix of both non-metallic and metallic techniques. Even the weathering on the robes and the bases are some of my trademark bits, but I don't usually get the chance to do it all on one place.



As far as the paint scheme is concerned, I wanted to try a few different things. For the red armour, I actually based the models in purple and then highlighted it in purple and white before adding a coat of the Transparent Red, which gave the armour a sort of plumb kind of look that I was going for. It was fun to add the high contrast shine to it too, and I mirrored that reflectiveness almost everywhere; from the yellow to the black and even a little bit on the hair.

Playing with that Emerald paint, I also had the opportunity to try to develop my wet blending skill a bit more. I used this to get the blend on the power weapons. In the past this has been something that I've struggled with a bit as it isn't exactly my forte. I think I finally get wet blending though, and I actually got good results with the technique. The thing seems to be - basecoat the whole area and let it dry. Basecoat again and then highlight in the direction you want; blending a bit as you go, but still adding a few mixes of more white or whatever. Then, this is the part I never got -  go back with a dry brush (too much water will just remove the paint you've added, and blur all the transitions; pulling towards the brightest point. You just have to clean and dry the brush between all of the transitions and work fast enough that it doesn't dry completely. A bit hard to explain, but that dry step really makes a lot of difference and allows you to smooth things without taking the paint off.

Anyway, that about does it for now. Check back later for more updates.

Inquisitor Greyfax - Non Metallic Metals Pt 1

fresh from my painting table, I'm bringing you the first WIP images of Greyfax in gloriously gold NMM (non metallic metal). This is still a fairly new technique to me, but I consulted with the divine angels themselves for a slice of godly wisdom (also known as reading Angel Giraldez's Painting Miniatures from A-Z Masterclass Part 2, and trawling the Internet for inspiration).

I started with a few layers of airbrushed Browns, yellows and finally white, before switching to the ordinary brush and using a series of glazes and highlights to try and push the contrast as much as possible. I'm not finished yet, and I've been using her left leg as a sort of proving ground for the technique, but I thought I'd bring you all the initial results of my hard labour.

Once I've finished the gold to a standard I'm happy with, I'll discuss the technique in more detail. For the minute though I'm just really enjoying building up the effect slowly. I think the telling thing was when someone saw it in progress and said "nice gold" not nice yellow, so I think it's working. I'm still trying to push the contrast further though, and will be darkening the Browns to amplify the effect as I go.

I've also started planning out the other colours with black for the corset type armour (which should make her waist look smaller and therefore extenuate the femininity of the armour) and a dark regal blue for the cloak. I'm still not sure what to so with the inside of the cloak (red maybe?). The smaller pipes/details will be silver, but again it will be NMM, so that'll be another stretch. Well, I guess I can only blame myself.

What you're looking at is probably the fruits of about 4-5 hours work.

Check back later for the next instalment, where I'll hopefully be talking about how to paint NMM gold with a finished example of the technique!

On a side note, am I the only one thinking Gray Fox every time I see Greyfax.

"Only a fool trusts his life to a weapon!"

"Snaaaaakeeeeee!"

Saint Celestine Underway

Always on the lookout for nice minis, I couldn't resist picking up the Triumvirate of the Imperium box. It helped that I actually have an army of Sororitas (Sisters of Battle) and that I could split the set with an avid Mechanicus fan, so I got Celesrine (plus guards) and the Inquisitor as a cool new project.

Rather than just another project in a long line of many, I'm planning to paint her up for the upcoming competition at Salute. I have some lofty ideas and we'll see how that works out as we go. For the moment, I've been trying to decide on a build. I'm keeping her in a few bits for ease of painting, but at the moment I'm mostly preoccupied by thinking about what to base her on. Given that it's a competition it should be something nice and impressive ... Hmmm, it's a bit of a conundrum....

Painting wise, I'm thinking non-metallic metal style gold for the armour. I've looked at a few tutorials and taken in a lot of info, so I think it'll be possible. Regardless it'll certainly keep me busy for quite some time! (And with any luck will be suitably impressive if I can pull it off).

Sisters of Battle Exorcist Tank

Just for fun, I'm bringing you one of my older projects today - Namely this rather nice Exorcist that I converted for my old Sisters of Battle force.

It's basically the Immolator Tank with a few spare missiles that I got on eBay attached (I think they come from the Dark Eldar plane, not the Voidraven, the other one). The turret has also been reshaped and modified to allow for this. I then built some extra armour for the front using the spare doors from the Rhino sprues. All in all, I'm surprised how good it looks!