Painted: Lion Guard Captain – GW Store Birthday Model

I was lucky enough to snag one of the Primaris Captain models from the local GW Store Birthday, and decided to paint it up in the colors of my newest Chapter – tentatively named the Lion Guard (I’ve decided to abandon the Dawn Guard for now as I’m not entirely satisfied with their color scheme). This is definitely one of my favorite Primaris models so far, and I am more than satisfied with what I was able to accomplish with the paint job. More pics after the jump!

December 11th GW Game Day – Rynn’s World

Pedro Kantor watches as the Orks crash into the thin blue line.

It’s been a busy couple of months for me (getting married and touring Korea and Japan tends to take up some of your time) so my apologies for the lack of content on the blog. Thankfully, the stars aligned and I was able to play a game with Matt and Harry before the inevitable Christmas rush. We played to 1250 points, and the mission we rolled up was the Scouring.

Plenty more pics after the break!

Painted: Dawn Guard Intercessors

For the umpteenth time in my 40k career, I have started a new Chapter of Space Marines.

I present: the Dawn Guard! More pics after the break.

Painted: Blood Angels Redemptor Dreadnought

As per my previous entry, the brand new Redemptor Dreadnought has been my newest project, and I put the finishing touches on it just last last night. To say the reception of the new mini online was mixed is a bit of an understatement; I fell solidly in the “dear God that looks like a Robocop villain reject” camp – until I actually started assembling the kit, which is without a doubt one of my favorite non-infantry kits that I’ve ever put together. More details and pics after the break.

Dreadnought Puzzles

 

I don’t know how many of you have noticed, but Games Workshop just released more Space Marine miniatures, including a new dreadnought.

I bought one. Hard to believe I bought more Space Marine stuff, huh? Despite having the same reservations towards the Redemptor that I had towards the Primaris (they’re trouncing decades of established lore and imagery! It’s expensive! It looks horrendous! WAAAAH!) I’ve come to realize that it is indeed a wonderful miniature. Much more digital ink shall be spilled on these pages regarding my opinions of it (and the work I’ve done to make it look a little better, in my opinion). But first I’d like to bring to your attention an interesting building/hobby development that I’ve noticed in the kit.

In the first picture above you’ll note the left side of the Dreadnought’s chassis needs the exterior armor glued on. On the hobby mat next to it are the two pieces which make up the armor. See below for a closer look at their undersides:

Note the two tabs on each plate of armor. Note also the two tiny male and female nubs on the two bits. The larger tabs line up with the slots on the chassis, while the two nubs line up with each other in order to ensure the bits are aligned.

The end result is above – a perfectly aligned, perfectly placed couple of bits of armor. This design element is repeated all over the kit, with tabs and nubs placed in strategic locations to ensure everything goes together as it should.

Is this a new innovation? Are Games Workshop the first to implement it in their kits? Does it keep the Redemptor from looking like a pot-bellied Robocop reject? No on all counts. But Games Workshop have made a lot of strides in a lot of different areas over the past year or so, and this is just another one of the small quality-of-life improvements they have made that have contributed to their stellar past year.

Painted: Blood Angels Primaris Lieutenant

I figured I was due a reward after painting up my ten Intercessors, so I decided to delve into what was probably my favorite mini in the box: the Primaris Lieutenant with a power sword. I loved everything about the mini, from its pose to its armament, to the fact that it wasn’t overly loaded down with bling.

More pics after the break.

Painted: Blood Angels Intercessors

As per my previous entry, the new Primaris marines have dominated my painting table over the past week or so. In my fifteen plus years in the hobby I’ve never tired of painting the Adeptus Astartes, but I haven’t been this excited to paint up a squad since the dawn of 3rd edition and my first box of multi-part Tactical Marines.

I, like most other hobbyists, was a little skeptical at first of these new models and the fact that they rendered two decades of Marine models seemingly obsolete. But after spending a week putting paint to model, I can confidently say that I have been won over by these models.

More pics and my color recipe for Blood Angels red after the break.

Bigger, better, redder

…and I never bought another “old” marine again.

It took a lot of thought, but I eventually settled on Blood Angels for this new chapter in my Adeptus Astartes hobby history. I found it fitting that I start with the same Chapter that first brought me into the hobby so many years ago…

The Warmaster Part 6 – Highlight of the Night

Spent most of the past couple of nights highlighting the gold and red on Horus, and am quite happy with the results. The red had Mephiston Red reapplied to the raised areas, then highlighted with a Mephiston Red/Evil Sunz Skarlet 50/50 mix, and then straight Evil Sunz Skarlet. The gold followed the Adeptus Custodes recipe, with a layer of Liberator Gold, followed by an edge highlight of Auric Armor gold and some tiny amounts of Runefang Steel (essentially anywhere that there was a sharp point).

The red turned out quite well, although some parts of the gold were so fine that it wasn’t overly obvious that they were highlighted in any way. Regardless, the gold is shiny and gleaming, which is what I wanted, so I’m happy with the way it turned out.

I also painted up the Luna Wolves emblems on his right knee and left shoulder (interesting that his left knee and right shoulder bear the Sons of Horus eyes – perhaps it was intentional that they were on opposite limbs?). These saw a basecoat of Celestra Grey followed by a slight Nuln Oil wash and highlights with Ulthuan Grey.

I forgot to mention in earlier parts that the metallic parts (cables, hydraulics on his armor, etc) were basecoated in Ironbreaker, washed with Nuln Oil, and then re-highlighted with Ironbreaker and Runefang Steel.

Next up: the Warmaster’s mug.

The Warmaster Part 5 – Red, Red Wine

The Warmaster got his first coats of red last night, mainly on his pteruges, the red Eyes of Horus on his armor, and of course his giant flowing cape. I decided after the above picture was taken that I would also paint the vambrace on his left arm and most of the Talon of Horus in red to balance out the colors a little bit, as he needed a little color variation in his limbs.

I followed the red with a wash of Agrax Earthshade, not only on on the red but also the gold parts of his armor. I was tempted to try using Reikland Fleshshade on the gold as I did with my Adeptus Custodes models, but after trying it out it just looked a little too reddish for my taste. The Agrax Earthshade kept the gold looking like gold. I applied the wash only to the thicker/larger gold highlights, as I saw little point in shading the smaller bits of gold since I’d eventually be re-applying the basecoat to it anyway to clean it up.

With the red added the mini is starting to take shape – time to start thinking about midtones and highlights!