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Returning to the hobby after 10 years


Karitas

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So, basically i was major into this hobby nearly (ulp) 10 years ago, and because of freinds and students i'm slowly getting back into it.

 

in a couple of weeks i'm going to be playing my first game in about 10 years, and my freinds first game ever, theres alos two others joining us with more recent experience.

 

I'm hosting so as well as ransacking my ancient bits boxes for minis i'm making the terrain, and i wanted to share with you guys what i've got together so far, as ive been lurking here throughout this process.

 

i'm aware of some of the shortcomings, for instance the 5-man mentor squad i know isnt legal anymore but i'm going to be using them to "count as" sternguard, as thier weapons fit with that.

 

i'm also aware that my painting is INCREDIBLY rusty, and my photography is way too dar, i'm looking for ways to throw better light on the subjects.

 

as a disclaimer, the faces dont look that dark irl, neither is the distinction on some of the highlighting so stark, just somehting about the way the camera did it's thing.

 

anyway, please be gentle it's been a loong time :(

 

mentors (count as sternguard) among rocks

 

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3952.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3953.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3954.jpg

 

and without rocks

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3964.jpg

 

a hill

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3955.jpg

 

scouts behind barricades - i have 4 more of these as snipers, and intend to add telion

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3956.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3957.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3958.jpg

 

without obstruction

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3959.jpg

 

bunker with half a tac squad, adding 5 more 1 w/ melta in the next few days

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3960.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3961.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3962.jpg

 

and alone

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3963.jpg

 

next week will see me add an assault squad w/ jump packs, and the jump pack chaplian to lead them. i am also considering the AoBR box to round out the army.

 

(edited the thread title as i think it was a bit cryptic)

Thanks for the positive comments guys, really appreciated.

 

i say rusty, it might just be becuase i've gottne older since i last did this, but my freehand work is terrible these days, to the point that i've ordered a few embossed pads for the assault guys, which i wouldnt have dreamed of doing before.

 

as to the scenery, the bases are CD's, with sculpted styrofoam rocks, based with railway ballast panted with bog standard cheap artists acrylics (vallejo and citadel just too expensive for large areas) and with a bot of static grass and flock here and there.

 

"styrofoam" is the trade name for (and here i get patchy) extruded? polystyrene? as opposed to expanded..

 

its this blue stuff basically

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3965.jpg

 

used for model making in professional circles, and damn good too, it's horribly expensive in the uk unless you can buy in bulk, wheras for the lucky americans it's dead cheap as they use it for insulation.

 

i have seen enterprising people selling it cheap on ebay however, heh.

 

everything else is either balsa, greenstuff, modelling clay or foam core.

 

oh and theres a straw in there somewhere :)

 

for the table itself i'm looking at modular mdf i think, i'd love to make the boards out of styrofoam but it'd be too costly.

 

anyone got any experience using mdf playing boards, specifically preventing damage to the table and therefore wife rage?

Those look good man, I like the darker looking UM's. I too am starting back after a hiatus with an IF army. I just got a sheet of mdf to try out a modular board, seems good enough to paint and glue on, I got 5mm thick and it didn't warp or anything, although if the sheets that thin are too big they will droop a little bit if they are hanging off the end of the table (the sheet I got is 3'x2').

Hi both, and thanks for the comments.

 

i too very much like the darker look, much more like they were in the rogue trader book :) i used to have a huge BA army, but it got sold a few years ago when i left the hobby.

 

being back is mostly the fault of my students.

 

i teach computer game design at a college in the uk, and one of my student's end of year projects is a 40k themed cutscene. so he brought in a few minis to work from.

 

he just happened to mention a conversion plan he had, and being new to the hobby, he hadnt worked with metal minis hardly ever.

 

so i offered to do it for him.

 

he wanted a mutated bannerman for his soul drinkers, so i dragged the box out of the loft and knocked up this guy -

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3915.jpg

 

you can see my test soul drinker behind him - first mini i'd painted in 10 years!

 

and here he is painted -

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3932.jpg

 

well after that was done.. the box was out

 

so i thought, "i know, i'll do a few mentors"

 

and that was it, before i knew it i'd seen the AoBR box, planned an army list for what i already had the bitz for and i'll be playing again in a few weeks.

 

and they say you can never go home eh? :)

Thanks Demaroth :lol:

 

i'll be honest i was more than a tad nervous about posting here, as there are some truly intimidating paint jobs on this forum, not least of which noi's yellow wonders, but this, my first thread has me all fuzzy and warm, so thanks.

 

i'm sure you're going to start with the crits soon and smush my fragile ego, but that which does not kill only makes us stronger eh?

 

with that in mind, the most recent addition is four more scouts found lurking in a box. these four snipers round out the five bolter / hvy bolter guys above and when coupled with a Telion are one of my troops choices.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3976.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3974.jpg

 

and a closer look at my first ever attempt at camo

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3968.jpg

 

still struggling with the lighting for phorography and i think i really need tow hite balance my camera (fumbles for manual) as the colours are off from what i see with my eye.

 

i guess this also means this thread is becoming a blog of sorts. hrm, funny that.

Wow, thanks for the praise, although i wouldn't say I'm at the indimidating stage yet, all I've painted so far is lots of yellow!

 

I really like the camo on the scout cloaks, it really stands out in contrast to the UM armour. What did you use for the tall grass? And that conversion is pretty cool too B)

Hi Noi, thanks for coming back ;)

 

i cite you as imtimidating company because one thing i've always struggled with is clean minis, my guys always end up lloking dirty and a bit rough and to ahcieve what you have, especially with yellow is quite an acheivement :)

 

 

as to the scouts, one of my reasons for choosing ultras this time was just how good the cygnar stuff in warmachine looks with its blue and gold/sand scheme, so i wanted these guys to have a similar complimentary colour, hence the tan legs rather than white, and the "desert" is camo. but like i say ive never done camo before so it was a tad neve racking

 

the tall grass is a woodland scenincs feild grass, ive had it maybe 15 years and still havent made a dent, its only a small pack but man it goes a long way. the pics were while the glue was still wet, they'll get a trim tomorrow as it's probarbly a bit too tall right now.

 

just spent the evening building the last 5 guys of the tac squad above, so i'll get those primed and painted tomorrow hopefully. ive also assembled my jump chaplain and my telion (man his arm was a pain) and will rpime those too.

 

pics of tac squad in progress might be forthcoming tomorrow :)

Hi Thom, and thanks for the comments :)

 

the conversion as i said was for a student. i'm not sure what the metal mini was, being out of touch i think maybe a catchan sergeant?

 

anyway it started out like this

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3906.jpg

 

luckily as it was for someone else i tok a few pics to document, so i can, now i've found this lovely forum, share the stages ^_^

 

i hacked the legs of the metal guy and dry fit a few times to make a fit with the legs, cutting down a marine torso to make a "socket" for the lead torso stump i was making, then fir them together

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3908.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3911.jpg

 

for the mutation i sawed off his hand, then drilled a hole in the stump and glued wire into it for an armature, originally i was going to have him grip the banner, but the student had said that soul drinkers had some small mutations among the ranks, so i went for a tentacle :)

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3912.jpg

 

i then built up the tentacle like arm from greenstuff, afixed the banner pole and greenstuffed a flag for it. the theory being (and bear with me if it's wrong) that this sergeant wasn't so far gone to the warp that even with his muation he still regarded his chapters iconography important enough to carry.

 

after that it was a slap of paint, some shaky -out of practice- freehanding and voila -

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3937.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3938.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3939.jpg

 

 

at the time i made they guy the only knowledge i had to go on was what he'd told me about the Soul Drinkers, and 10 year old knowledge, so it might not be anywhere near "right" for the chapter but he seemed pleased :)

And that's the student ;)

 

Hi Purple.

 

relax, i'm just checking email and then back to the sofa :)

 

Hell be having a go at me later cos i'm off work sick at the moment. as soon as i'm feeling a bit better i'll finish and photograph the rest of that smurf tac squad :)

 

this is the progress thus far -

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3978.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3979.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3980.jpg

 

so, assembled and primed and annoying me cos i cant sit down and concentrate long enough to do anything with em.

 

hrm, wonder wether diagnosis murder is on.. no, no. ,ust .. not.. succumb...

So today i'm feeling a bit better, whcih means ive got some stuff done, and i can leave dowling et qal to thier mysteries :tu:

 

i fnished the tac squad off, with the second combat squad i posted wearing only thier primer above.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3987.jpg

 

and here's all 10

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3988.jpg

 

and on some tank traps i knocked up while i was wating between coats :tu:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_3992.jpg

 

i also had a bit of a chaplain frenzy. I'm making an old BA chappie i've got into a statue to use as an objective marker, and i was originally going to make him all stone-like. but then it struck me, i could do him as a bronze!

 

so heres my attempt at weathered bronze :P

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_4016.jpg

 

while i was waiting for him to dry i embarked on my assault chaplain too, i tried to take my time with this guy, and do things a little different to my normal methods as hes going to be 1 of my main HQ choices. some things on this guy ive never tried before, so i'm interested to hear comments from the floor :)

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Karitas/DSC_4022.jpg

Hi Stefoserpent, and thanks for the praise :D if i could only crack the photography youd see more of my mistakes i promise you :)

 

well yeah it's literally the first time i've ever tried it - it looks a lot more yellow in the photos than on my desk here, where its a more muted and well, gold coloour :)

 

it was painting over white primer with lots of thin washes/glazes of colour, using thicker washes for highlights and working from bestial brown, through snakebite leather and golden yellow to white. stoping every now and then for a very watered down brown ink wash in strategic places.

 

i tried a whole washing/glazing this on a lot of this chaplain that i dont normally take the time to do, and i can definately see the benefit. now if only i can do it faster :)

I'm not usre excels is the right word but i thank you for it :)

 

i've got to prepare a table for the easter hols, so apart from just texturing some boards i've got a fairly long "to do" list that covers some dead trees, a few objective markers, a ruined building, another hill, craters and so on,

 

but the thing currently on my bench is the statue that the chappie is for, though sadly today i snapped my last long blade so itll have to go on hold for a day or two till i get to an appropriate shop.

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