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Although it came down to the wire...I managed to finish my February 12 Months of Hobby vow way close to the deadline. But done is done! In hindsight, I wish I had taken more care on the highlights and left deeper shadows and done a brighter high tone as the final step. After a few nights thought this isn't a big enough deal that I expect to go back and touch them up. Rather, I'll carry forward the lessons learned for the small number of Khorne daemons I have left in the backlog. I DO need to revisit the banner eventually. I couldn't decide between doing something with a decal or attempting a free hand....so it ended up being nothing but a highlighted black flag. The sword blades also will likely get reworked when I get inspiration. This was my first time using a full set of AK interactive paints. I've been really impressed with them so far but wish there was an easier way to determine color shades. There are almost too many options. And the names don't help with identifying which ones go together well. I'm fortunate that there's a local store with a good selection to look through and compare. I don't I'd feel confident enough trying them if I was going off online views only. The bloodletters were very good practice to prepare for the blood thirster that is in queue. Given how long the squad of 10 took it doesn't seem likely that I can finish the thirster in a single month. So, need to decide if I will pledge it as part of the 12 months of hobby or work on it over a longer period of time. Probably will go with the longer timeframe as I'd like to do it more as a centerpiece. The blood thirster would be farther than primer stage if I could decide how I want to do the base. Haven't been able to decide between trying more of a lava effect (which impacts lighting source), a bunch of skulls in general layout of the 8-fold sigil, or something that suggests the Khorne symbol. Because I can't decide on that...next up for painting will be finishing the brimstone horrors I started long ago. So...next update will be more Tzeentch themed! Smaller group shots of the rest of the bloodletters in the spoiler section. + + + + + + + + + Daemon Backlog Status + + + + + + + + + Starting backlog (what I've found so far, pretty sure there is more I haven't gotten to yet): Khorne Bloodthirster 3 blood crushers 10 bloodletters (completed for February 12 Months of Hobby event) Tzeentch Lord of Change Burning chariot of Tzeentch 12 pink horrors 14 blue horrors 14 brimstone horrors (mostly painted but never based, vowed for March 12 Months of Hobby event)) 3 screamers 3 flamers

A.k.a - Progressing when you only get 60-90 minutes at a time to paint and are bad at estimating how quickly you can go in a session. Halfway through the month and I'm at least on track to finish my February vow for the 12 Months of Hobby by the end of the month. That's a marked improvement over January! I have gotten distracted by planning out a different project but that has been something I've been able to do when I couldn't paint...so no foul for this month. I've gotten through 3-4 layers on the Bloodletters flesh and am mostly happy with how it has turned out. They are turning out slightly more orange tinted than I had planned for. I think this may be due to how I layered/glazed the color so far. The big test of 'can I live with it' will come after the next stage of more extreme highlights. Based on results so far, I will need to be a bit more cautious with how I approach the bloodthirster. New bloodletters (pre final highlights) vs older herald The Herald of Khorne I kept is definitely a more muted dusty rose on the highlights. It's different enough that 'll need to give more thought to whether I want to touch up the herald at some point - certainly not needed and I was planning to have variations of tone anyway if I did another bloodletter unit. This is also a gentle reminder that I need to be better at writing down what paints I mix together! Because the intent is to have the bases done as well for the monthly vow, I also started on them while I debate how I want to highlight the red flesh. The rocks are 'done' (unless I finish everything and have free time to touch them up a bit more). The dirt/ground around them hasn't been touched yet...I need to make sure everything is fully dried before I muck about too much. There's a bit more color to the rocks in person, not exactly noticeable unless you're looking at them up close. The color variations might slightly help these look more like rocks than sticking with a solid grey tone...or it could be my mind playing tricks on me. Rocks, and more rocks! Like the skin tones, these don't quite match what I have previously done for the herald and spawn. That is probably easier to fix at the end if it ends up bothering me. Honestly, while I'm satisfied with the result on the rocks, I'm half tempted to start over. However, these aren't for centerpieces and if I get started down that path this early in the project then I'll never finish! Intent is to keep this style of bases for everything but the greater daemons and any future characters. Those I plan to embellish more and be more diligent in the rock coloring.