Day 18: Celestial Lion Veteran Sergeant (3/4)

Here's the third Celestial Lion. I consider him the most impressive, although that's probably because the most work went into him.

When I'd originally put these guys together I wanted the sergeant to stand out, so I came up with a little conversion. I eschewed the arms that came with this mini (a pair of lightning claws) and gave him some plastics.

If you aren't familiar, The Celestial Lions chapter are known for loudly criticizing the Imperial Inquisition, an being largely destroyed as a result. For that reason I knew the sergeant needed a special sword. This sword in fact. I thought it'd add a fun bit of character. (Don't worry about the Inquisitor, he borrowed a sword from Mephiston)

Overall, this guy is my favorite from my Lions. Someone even posted him on Lexicanum for the Celestial Lions while he was still a work in progress. Maybe now that he's complete I'll have to see about putting him back on.

~Muninn

Day 17: Celestial Lion (2/4)

Today brings us another member of the Celestial Lion kill team.

This one brought a new challenge: that axe. I like my power weapons to look wicked, but I don't want to overuse my magma technique. I've seen this kind of colorful high contrast metallic look a few places, & I've tried to emulate it before (on a Tiefling Paladin & an Eladrin Warlord) but I haven't had a lot of luck. This time, instead of attempting to wet blend metallics and inks, I used a multi-step process.

I started with a base of Mithril Silver/Asurmen Blue, then picked out highlights and lighter areas in Mithril. I then used another wash of Asurmen, resting the mini upside down so it would be darker towards the tips of the axe. Then I picked out highlights in Mithril again.

I think it worked out well for a quick & dirty coloring effect.

~Muninn

Day 16: Imperial Fist

Years ago I won a few eBay auctions full of Space Marines. They were both pre-built. The first lot still had all it's mold-lines, the second lot looked like the mold lines had been hacked off with a bowie knife, which was worse. I salvaged the ones I could, and tend to use the rest as test minis.

Late last year I felt like doing something new, and like anybody with too much free time, and too little sense, I let 4Chan decide.

Aside from the Star Phantoms shoutout, the best suggestion was Imperial Fists. I've been meaning to try a yellow wash technique too, so it fit. White Dwarf & GW painting guides are always touting how easy it to create a decent yellow armor with washes & glazes, & I thought I'd give it a go.

Obviously, It wasn't as easy as the painting guides make it out to be.

I started with a few layers of Lamenters Yellow Glaze over white primer. The end result *was* really yellow, but it wasn't a very deep color. I wanted it to be darker in the recesses. I gave it a glaze of Seraphim Sepia to give it darker tone. Once dry, I picked out armor highlights with white, then hit it with another layer of Lamenters.

Pros:
* It's still faster than most other yellow painting methods.
* It produces a clean look. Great for tabletop quality minis.

Cons:
* The color is more lemony than I like. This might be fine for brighter armies like Iyanden, but I feel like Space Marines need to be a bit more grimdark. (I usually work from Snakebite Leather to Golden Yellow, up to Bad Moon Yellow highlights. It's a nice rich yellow, but it takes forever.)
* Without having a paint to fall back on, it can be tough to fix blemishes & areas where you overpaint. Usually I painted it black, then silver to make it look like weathering.

I'm glad I did it, if for no other reason than to test a new painting process, but if I were to do a unit of Imperial Fists I'd go a more traditional route.

~Muninn

P.S. It's the 16th, so we're halfway through. It's all downhill from here, right?

Day 15: White Scars Terminator

Last week a friend of mine took to my local 40k facebook group with a problem: He was headed to a TSHFT event in Washington in a few days, but he was short a Lightning Claw terminator for his new list.

We have a friendly little group, so another buddy, Abusepuppy, offered up one of his termis that'd he'd built & primed white for his old Blood Angels army. I gave him a few pointers on how to paint it up quickly, but he asked if I'd give it a once-over for my May Challenge.

So here we are:

I call him Brother-Sergeant Come-at-me-Bro

When I got him last Thursday he needed a little work. Abusepuppy had done some great work converting him, but there were a few small mold lines to clean up, the soft armor at his armpits looked a little off, and his right shoulderpad had a GS skull that didn't fit with the White Scar theme.

It was an interesting mini to paint. I gave it thorough coating of white primer, then lined the recesses with Mechanicus Gray mixed with Lahmain Medium to make it more of a wash. After lining the piece I cleaned it up with a few layers of White Scar paint (how appropriate). It took a bit of practice, but I think it turned out nicely.

One thing I've noticed is that white primer sucks for bases. I had to pant and repaint that base several times because the black kept rubbing off with casual handling. Anyone else notice this problem? I suggested that he seal the mini with dullcoat before it saw any action on the tabletop. Here's hoping he kicks some ass at TSHFT. (and by extension, my friend as well)

Either way. It was a nice mini to work on, and it's given me a few idea on how to paint up my Ethereal conversion, since my Tau army is mostly white. I'll have to see how well the technique transfers to xenos.

~Muninn

Day 14: Long Fang (5/5)

Alright, this unit is done.

I still have 5 Night Wolves to finish this month: 3 sergeants, a Lone Wolf terminator, and a Wolf Guard. All of them are here on my painting table, quietly waiting their turn to reach completion.

There's quite a bit on my painting table at the moment actually. 5 termis, 7 marines, a daemon herald, a Tyrant Guard, some warmachine, reaper, and my end-of-the-month game store painting contest entry. That might not seem to be a lot, but my painting table is a GW painting station sitting on a tray table (now that the twins are walking I have to be able to move my bench to the top of our dresser for protection, for both the twins and minis)

More tomorrow,

~Muninn

Day 12 & 13: Celestial Lion (1/4) & Long Fang (4/5)

Years and years ago Yorrik & I were contemplating a Kill Team campaign at our FLGS. If I remember correctly he was working on a SoB team, and I decided to create a group of elite space marines. I started getting interested in 40k when the Armageddon books were coming out, so I always liked the fluff behind the Celestial Lions.

Who better to play in kill team missions then a group of dejected marines fighting to regain their honor and save their chapter? I started five minis almost a decade ago, but I've only be able to find four of them to finish this month.

I've always liked their color scheme, although the gold can look a little grainy. I'm still using my old Shining  Gold though, so I don't know if newer line, or other manufacturers have smoother application.

The next mini is the fourth Long Fang to grace my painting table this month.

Say what you will about Space Wolf minis, but good lord are there a lot of head options. I've been painting this commission for a while now, and he has yet to duplicate a single head. It's kinda nice actually.

~Muninn

Day 11: Night Wolves Long Fang (3/5)

Here's another Long Fang I finished. Like I said, I'm hoping to hammer out the remainder of my commission this month, so get used to this scheme. :P

The armor scheme was relatively easy for these guys. As far as the armor & details were concerned I didn't blend or fade. Just color, color, wash, color. Sometimes not even that much.

I put the same amount of detail in the face and hair as I do for all my minis, since people pay more attention to faces & heads so they need to be presentable.

Blue: Necron Abyss basecoat ---> Hoeth Blue highlights ---> Asurmen Blue (watered down) wash
Bronze: Warplock Bronze basecoat ---> Runelord Brass layer ---> Agrax Earthshade (watered down) wash
Silver: Boltgun Metal basecoat ---> Nuln Oil wash ---> Boltgun Metal highlight
Leather: Balor Brown ---> Agrax Earthshade wash ---> Balor Brown layer
Fur: Bestial Brown basecoat ---> Agrax Earthshade wash

More tomorrow, I'll try to break up the stretch of Night Wolves a bit with a different chapter or two. We'll see how it all shakes out.

~Muninn