Author Archives: Alex

Blackstone Fortress part 3

12 Wednesday Oct 2022

Posted by in Blackstone Fortress

≈ 18 Comments

Greetings Terrans, I hope this finds you well. I have another quick update on my progress through the Blackstone Fortress set to share, and this one is a bit of a tale of two halfs… First up, I tackled the four Ur-Ghuls in the set:

I did some light conversion work to differentiate them from each other, and the painting was some super-quick and very enjoyable blending work with Contrasts. I stole the ‘fade to dark on the extremities’ idea from several other talented painters, and can take no credit for that :-)

.

Now, as much as the Ur-Ghuls were a pleasure to paint, this next quartet were the absolute opposite… I didn’t think much of the electro nob-head models before, but after painting them I actively dislike them! Still, done is done:

Folks that know these minis will notice that I chopped all the silly head tentacles off in an attempt to clean up these messy buggers… I’ve had some limited success in that regard perhaps, but there is no getting away from just how fussy these things are… Nope, definitely not my faves, and I painted them with as much enthusiasm as I could muster… i.e. not a lot.

.

Finally, and finishing on a good note, I got this dude done:

He was great fun to paint, and looks good with his mate wot I painted up before:

.

And that’s all for today! Next post will be another Realm of Warcry post – me and the other droogs taking part are having a game of Warcry over Zoom tomorrow, a 4 way Champ-off as it were :-)

I’ll let you know how it went & will include some pics of their Champions.

Laters Potaters

Realm of Warcry; Chapter 2, Part 1

05 Wednesday Oct 2022

Posted by in Realm of Warcry

≈ 19 Comments

Greetings Terrans, how goes it? As promised, I have an update for my new Realm of Warcry warband for you – October was the month to paint up the first of the followers rolls, and seeing as it is Orctober, it made sense to get the six Orcs done!

Before we get into that I just want to give a shout out to Argentbadger for his feedback on the Champion’s colours all looking a bit similar… It was bothering me, but it took someone pointing it out to really get me to think about it. As a result, I went back to the mini, (something I very rarely do!), and I brightened up his beard. Hopefully this serves to break the model up a bit visually – I know that I’m happier with him now, but please drop a comment & let me know what you think:

.

Right, on to the followers… So, when I rolled up my warband, there was one thing that I really, really wanted to have an excuse to paint, and that was Kruelboyz. I absolutely loved these when they came out – the vibe is just perfect for me, being a big departure from the more cartoony iterations of Orc/Ork that GW have traditionally peddled. Not that the more comedic Orcs are not good – they are amazing, and fun, and characterful, and all that good stuff… it’s just that they don’t really do it for me is all. However, these Kruelboyz are the kind of Orcs I like – rangy, malevolent, vicious, and with a really strong look that goes beyond ‘big green brute with a massive chopper and/or ott armour’. Seeing the excellent paitjob that the mighty Wudugast put on them only reinforced this opinion – these were Orcs I could believe in!

Anyway, Nurgle saw fit to guide my dice, and I did manage to roll up 6 Orcs as part of my Nurgle warband… No brainer, I went straight for the Kruelboyz Gutrippa kit. Here are the results, with apologies in advance for the out-of-focusness of some of these – they are a pain to photograph:

.

I used a drill to poke some open sores into their skin in places, but otherwise these are made as intended. I had loads of painterly fun playing with the pale green skin, and the faded rags & leathers. The metals all got a goodly amount of gunk, and I shamelessly stole Wudugast’s idea for the yellow shields. Here they are as a group, and with their Chaos Champion:

.

That’s all for now folks, have a good one & catch you all soon.

Blackstone Fortress part 2

04 Tuesday Oct 2022

Posted by in Blackstone Fortress

≈ 23 Comments

Greetings Terrans, I’ve been busy writing an assignment over the last couple of weeks, but I’ve been chipping away at my Blackstone Fortress set here and there & have some goodies to share. First up, a quartet of chaotic Beastmen:

Not a hugely exciting set to paint to be honest – the four comprise of two top halves and two bottom halves, so you can combine them in different ways to make four ‘unique’ models, but there’s no getting away from how samey they look. Still, I’m pleased with them – I painted them up in the same scheme as the Cultists, and they all work well together. I could’ve done more to convert them and so on, but the juice didn’t seem worth the squeeze & I’m happy to have them done. Here they are together:

.

.

.

Next up, I grabbed these weird lil’ chaps as a quick win between writing sessions:

I know that these are called ‘Spindle Drones’, and that they live in the Blackstone Fortress, but otherwise I know nothing about them & I have no strong opinions on how they should look. They strike me as being quite organic so I started out painting them in a neutral bone colour, but they were really, really boring… I wanted to zhuzh them up a bit & settled on splashing some pseudo-tribal blood markings around. No idea if that fits with the fluff, but zero fucks given – it stops them from being so boring and that’s the main thing. Here’s the four of them together:

.

.

.

Anyhoo, that’s all for now folks – next post will be on developments in the new Nurgle warband.