Inspecting the kit: Greater Demon of Nurgle

So, the greater Daemon of Nurgle. We have already seen a few cool unboxing posts on the web (see for instance Kristian Simonsen's thorough review).  Instead of doing the same, I will just add a few comments to get kit and then get back to the hobby table and work on the model!

So far, I have built the main body and arms. And chopped the antlers of the head with the big grin and glued this in place. Also, I have cut up the sword to have it resting on the ground (just as this awesome guy does it). That is where I am.

This is my 3rd big model of recent date. I built and painted an Imperial Knight three years back and I have just finished an Eldar Knight. Like the other kits, the Great Unclean One builds like a dream. However, as far as I can estimate it actually comes in bigger and fewer pieces, which makes the building process faster. Nice! Obviously the actual model differs a great lot to both the Imperial and Eldar knight being literally almost just one single big fat and bloated daemon. Which certainly fits the name!

As usual when building these kits I get surprised at the way the kits are engineered and go together. Building both the regular head and the cyclops head had an awesome gimmick as a surprise.

Mould lines are easily removed and the joining surfaces and nicely worked into the design hiding them nicely. I will be going over the joins with modelling putty, but to be honest, with some care you could just clean up the pieces and glue them carefully, and you would probably only need very limited putty work for a regular tabletop quality model.

I will leave my praising here, and get back to the model.

2018 - a new year, new challenges, more hobby

Time to return to the blog... In many ways 2017 brought me a lot of new hobby experiences. Primarily while painting Eldar. The small force I started back in early 2015 has turned into a proper army, and since 8th edition dropped in Spring 2017 I have been gaming and adding to the army. By the end if the year I finally feel that I have both the relevant bitzbox content, knowledge of the range and experience to work more freely with the Aeldari aesthetics.

For 2018 the Aeldari army will become more themed towards gaming in the Thorn Moons setting developed by the ironsleet crew. More menacing and alien. Here is a late 2017 conversion: A warlock based on Harlequin and Drukhari plastics.

Also, in late 2017, GW offered me to review some upcoming stuff starting with the new Greater Daemon of Nurgle. Pretty awesome! Initially I sketched this up. This is the beginning of a project that I am sure will take a lot of time, but will be extremely rewarding and fun to do. Trying to "break" the scale of the model to make him even bigger. Lets see if I can make it work. I'll have to start hunting for Epic models or maybe some Warmaster minis... Projects like these mutate during the creative process and I am really excited to see how this one will end up!

Finally, at the very end of 2017 I got back in touch with a bunch of old hobby friends, and I really hope that 2018 will continue on that great vibe. I hope that 2018 will bring lots of painting, gaming and lots of chances to meet fellow hobbyists.

Mordheim: The Possessed Warband

The final installment of my Cult of the Possessed Warband, the whole gang in all it's glory.

I am so happy about this little project. A great combination of producing models for gaming and exploring the imagery of Chaos taking shape in the Damned City of Mordheim. The gaming is a nice bonus, and especially this kind of warband makes for easy gaming; no shooting business and carefully moving models around to avoid getting charged. Just push the models around to get into combat and roll some dice. Plain and simple fun.

Also, to cover the last models I have detail pictures of my mutant hero, and the lone crazed darksoul in the warband.

Mordheim: The Possessed, the Deamons

Next up comes my favorite miniatures for the warband - the daemon beasts that are the Possessed.

Conversion based on Dryad head and chopped up torso, ghoul arms, glade rider hose and random spikes from the bitzbox. I really love the feral and sinister appearance of this beast. Painting these miniatures I am relying on the preshading and stippling techniques used on my Pilgrym daemon conversions from last year.

A more simple conversion for this one but still quite effective. Ghoul head and a skeleton graveguard head on a Plaguebearer body. Again, I go to the ghoul sprue for arms. Same semi-random painting technique as above.

Mordheim: 3 Beastmen

3 henchmen for my Cult of the Possessed warband.

They are all painted using a "zenith lighting" primer technique. Basically, each model is primed black first, followed by white primer sprayed from a 45 degree angle from the top of the miniature. This creates natual "highlights" (the white primer), or pre-sharing (the black areas not hit by the white primer). Call it what you want.

The big trick here is that you can then work shades and washes over the surfaces creating intanttly shaded AND highlighted areas. So in the case of these beastmen being white, for their skin I added subtle shading of purple and pink tones around the mouth and eyes, and some yellowish light browns around the main muscles to blend the transition between the white and black pre-shading. I always re-emphazise the highlights and sometimes the shading also, but the midtones areas can be left finished after that initial wash.

I am really happy with these chaos beasts. Currently, I have the two beastmen with 2 weapons each fighting as henchmen in my warband. Now if only one of these could make it to become a hero in the next advance roll...

Mordheim: Chaos Magister

My Chaos Magister which has had at least 5 different colour robes before I settled for this dirty orange.
Actually, I painted him a while back but was never really satisfied with the paintjob. So when I started recruiting models for my Possessed Warband I thought of it as an opportunity to get the paintjob right.

Mordheim

My Cult of the Possessed warband emerging from the caves beneath the city.

Recently, I have been getting into gaming regularly and prepping for games. I have built a small force of Chaos Possessed: A few beastmen, a magister picked from the drawer of half-finished stuff, some henchmen, mutants and two Daemons. The image above features the deamons and the first beastman painted. Also, the terrain is actual the one half of the Pilgrym gaming board, the old Botanicarium. A nice setting that works nicely as a Mordheim backdrop.

So to kickstart some more frequent posting I want to feature my Possessed Warband in the next posts...

A painterly 40mm post-apocalyptic lady

Just finished this model for a friend. Siouxsie by Hasslefree Miniatures, a seriously dynamic 40 mm sculpt. Considering the scale I decided to go strong on contrasts, but also to go bold texturing the surfaces. An overall painterly approach.

It is a beautiful sculpt without very much detailing. And I really wanted to emphasize the wonderful shapes rather than adding lots of tricks and techniques.

More objective markers

 These where built for a game of 40K about a month ago. Objective markers 1 to 6, using subtle icons and bits. Worked well without any trouble during the game.

Harlequin Solitaire

 First model painted after the Pilgrym game.
All mood, all expression.
A Harlequin army in this style would be pretty impressive.

Pilgrym Palette

Returning from the Pilgrimage I was getting ready to start up some new miniatures, when I had a look at the painting palette. Warm earthy tones, golden greens and spots of orange, red and gold. Pretty awsome project involving some great colours!

Event Counters

Simple, fast to build, even faster to paint. Should serve a nice spicy role in narrative games...

Pilgrym NPCs

3 conversions. 3 painting sessions. Having finished my warband I now have the freedom to explore and build new stuff. With the gaming models locked down, I completed some half finished conversions that have been around for a long time. One of them weas just waiting for paint, another had been robbed for parts for Pilgrym models. And one was almost there, but lacking that energy or idea to finish the character.

Exploring a pretty limited colour palette, I went into town one model at the time, got stuck in, and had fun...

The forgotten Oak - Paintjob and Process

We showed my lastest Pilgrym model on ironsleet.com yesterday. But I also want it shown here.

The model is almost finished. Still need to add servo skulls, and a bit of tweaking colours with the rest of the warband. The post on the Pilgrym-site produced a lot of great comments asking into the process, the actual building of the model, and the mindset behind the concept.

Thoughts on starting on a project with several uncertainties...
Getting from the concept sketch to the model took both courage and compromises. Especially going from the open 2d-concept with a lot of suggested details to actually building the model deciding on all shapes and details was a great process.

The sketch had very few explicit details, so making the model took a lot of bitz research and texture exercises. But at some point it was just about committing and running with the idea…

When building bigger models like these I find myself going through phases of sketching, planning, sketching again, collecting bitz, frustration, thinking, and finally: Gloves off! Just get stuck in!

A word of advice would probably be to try to get ”stuck in” as early as possible.

Modelling the Tree
Building the tree I used wire-frame for the main branches for strength and balance issues. For this model it was important with the wires because I wanted the tree floating along.

 Around the wire-frame I added a layer of green stuff for extra stabilty and oon top of this I mocked up the main shape simply by using tinfoil that I worked roughly into place.

Over this I added modelling putty to get a solid outer layer. Actually in a few places there is still access to the inner tinfoil core. From here I started to add the thinner branches using cut up dryad bitz. These were glued into place with superglue.
On top of this “aggrax earth” – the technical crackling paint from GW – thin in some places, thicker in others. And a few places were left bare.

Going into ”production”...
For a tree production setup for a Mordheim table or similar I’d recommend that you cut down the process to make it easier and faster.


Maybe take out the greenstuff layer and work out something else to get the same effect. Try wrapping the tinfoil with a layer of thin bandage rolls and seal it with pva glue. And if you go this route – maybe the texturing step can also be replaced by sprinkling fine sand straight onto the glue. That combines two steps and saves time…

The mood of the model
Getting praise for a miniature is always fantastic, but the wording of the comments is pretty interesing. I always appreciate when fellow hobbyists take the time to add a comment - it is extremely encourageing and makes you want to produce more and improve your skills. Words like beautiful and perfect are the ultimate compliments, but the really interesting thing is the meaning behind the words.

Is this miniature perfect? Technically it might be and it might not. Depending on your goal. I think it has the perfect level of openess to it. The model suggests a mood, rather than spells it out. And this is what I strive for in my miniatures these days. I what you to look and think and look again when you see the miniature. To activate memory and imagination, think back to other models, pieces of art, places and moods. That is the goal. And if I suceed I think the miniature can be called both perfect and beautiful.
But it is getting that mood and imagination going that makes it so...

The Organ Oak - model follows sketch

Following the sketch shown some time ago, here is the model.

I have used a lot of new things here. Wire-frame in combination with tinfoil to build the basic mass. GW technical paints repurposed for a special task at hand. Also, falling back to trusting gut feeling and my many years of practice.

In short, a lot of work has been done, a lot awaits ahead - and I know just enough to keep going, and still have unsolved issues and ideas that will fall in place along the way. Exciting!

A lot has happened on ironsleet.com. I recommend having a proper look!

Pilgrym sketch, the forgotten Oak

I showed this on IRON SLEET about a month back, so I thought I ought to show it here as well. My concept sketch for the main model in my Pilgrym warband.

An ancient oak having grown through a church organ and afterwards whithered along with the surroundings. Brought to life with tech and psychic energy the tree now serves as a vehicle for the driver - permanently fused into the bizarre "tree instrument".

BTW, here is the initial sketch, which showed up in the corner of a bigger drawing. You might just see the outline of the man - "the composer" - worked into the tree trunk.

 Fiction for the character can be found in the post on IRONSLEET.com.

Pilgrym progress; my first 3 characters

The first 3 characters for my contribution to the Pilgrym project are done. Actually they are even painted, finished this weekend. Here is a pre-paint image. Primer, nothing more. But I am pretty happy how they have turned out.

The painted models will go up on IRON SLEET, the home of the Pilgrym Project within a day or two.

Apart from these models, I will build a big hovering tree-construct. A man fused into a withered tree displaying a set of organ pipes. Skulls and tech for details. The music of the organ could be the sounds of weaponry or a perhaps deep cords to trigger monstrosities of a forgotten Past.

Painting the Wicked Daemon Flora

First Plague Dryad just about finished. I am going for a quick but agressive-looking unit. I am using the stipple technique that I tried out on my Pink Space Marine in the beginning of the year.

2 sessions with the sponge. Then a wash all over. Then final details and base. Still have to decided if the eyes will be bright green, bright blue or red...

Studio-photos: Eldar Falcon

As promised, some images of the whole vehicle.

Eldar Falcon

Eldar Falcon finished for my Eldar army. Transport for the Farseer and a squad of Dire Avengers.

Tried a bit of oils on the belly of the vehicle. Also, I used some stipple-techniques to create different kinds of highlights and texture on the many planes. Not 'Eavy Metal style clean, but with the clean colour scheme it actually works quite well.