The rise of Forge World Muninn

[Beardbattered]

Started work on the base colors for my first skitarii vanguard unit. I highlighted the coats slightly brighter than my original test model. This should make the color pop a bit more once they're weathered. So far I'm very pleased with the color.

This for example is the Knight Paladin I painted and I would consider him TTS (maybe even good TTS. I am still adding details and corrosion effects etc.):

http://www.bilder-upload.eu/upload/4c820f-1455906071.jpg

http://www.bilder-upload.eu/upload/4a49f9-1455906143.jpg

That knight looks awesome! I'm going to follow your log today.

[WarriorFish]

Nice blue, keep them coming Skitarii always look cool :tu:

[MoGuy]

Those Tech-Priests with their fancy schmancy airbrushs and soft color transitions...! Ah, one day... one day... :/

That knight looks awesome! I'm going to follow your log today.

Thank you! ^^ It would be awesome if you would visit my Forgeworld. I don't have an airbrush (student, living with flatmates and since I want to be able to work at night I can't really use an Airbrush without disturbing the rest), so I had to paint him the old-fashioned way. Still think yours are painted with higher quality though. I will work on his base a bit and make it look less "empty".

Also: I love the colorscheme of your Skitarii! One thing though I would add/change is the dirt on their robes. Try using Typhos Corrosion, Ryza Rust, that mud color or a few layers of Agrax Earthshade. Right now it looks a bit to flat for my taste. Example: The rifle of the Vanguard on the left is just a brown blob in the middle. But this is more my taste than actual criticism.

[Beardbattered]

Also: I love the colorscheme of your Skitarii! One thing though I would add/change is the dirt on their robes. Try using Typhos Corrosion, Ryza Rust, that mud color or a few layers of Agrax Earthshade. Right now it looks a bit to flat for my taste. Example: The rifle of the Vanguard on the left is just a brown blob in the middle. But this is more my taste than actual criticism.

Thanks for the kind words! And thank you even more for the critique! Now that you've pointed out the mass of muddy colors mixing in the center of the vanguard, I can't unsee it! I made a few very very minor adjustments to the rifle and a few surrounding areas to HOPEFULLY separate them a bit. I highlighted the metals on the rifle a bit brighter and did an edge highlight on the wood stock. Let me know what you all think. It may not be enough yet, but I'd rather do too little than do too much at this point.

BEFORE

AFTER

As for the dust on the coats. I'm taking a look around for a slightly lighter dustier tone to mix in so it won't be so monotone. Thanks so much for the advice! Let's get these guys sorted before I start with the assembly line painting!

P.S. Now that I'm looking at it. That chest cog might need some brightening up as well.

[MoGuy]

 

 

 made a few very very minor adjustments to the rifle and a few surrounding areas to HOPEFULLY separate them a bit.  I highlighted the metals on the rifle a bit brighter and did an edge highlight on the wood stock.  Let me know what you all think.  It may not be enough yet, but I'd rather do too little than do too much at this point.

 

Looks good! The ammo-roll is now well defined and doesn't get swallowed by the surrounding brown tones anymore. 

 

Two more points:

 

1.) Do you want to keep the cables on his back black?

 

2.) I would highly recommend shading the silver armour parts. I use Agrax Earthshade and then a layer of Seraphim Sepia, which creates a nice worn-and-rusty effect. 

[Dread]

I really like the colors you've chosen. To me, they keep to a more neutral and non flamboyant cohesiveness. Just beautiful and so clean. As for the chest, I bit of highlight can help but looks good either way. On the shoulder piece, using a black wash to bring the lens out couldn't hurt.

[SevenPlagues]

Please allow me to give my vote for doing the Drop Pods in your Admech colours. Cohesiveness is key, and I love to see Drop Pods painted up in schemes outside the typical Space Marine liveries.

Also, more generally: these models look SUPERB. The Atrapos in particular. I am really amazed and admire in particular the weathering you've done around the feet/bases. What powder do you use? I'd like to mimic that colour on my own bases.

[Beardbattered]

Thanks so much for all of the kind words and advice guys! I really do appreciate it! I have been absolutely swamped at work so I haven't really had the energy to do any major hobby when I get home. Once things ease up I'm going to go back and do some more work on that skitarii test model.

Please allow me to give my vote for doing the Drop Pods in your Admech colours. Cohesiveness is key, and I love to see Drop Pods painted up in schemes outside the typical Space Marine liveries.

Also, more generally: these models look SUPERB. The Atrapos in particular. I am really amazed and admire in particular the weathering you've done around the feet/bases. What powder do you use? I'd like to mimic that colour on my own bases.

This is the stuff that I use. For some reason I could just not get this image to upload properly, no matter how many times I edited it! I picked it up on the cheap at my local model train store.

[Beardbattered]

Had a few moments to spare between chores today, so I sprayed a few base colors on the pods. One is nearly finished and two more to go! I might put some decals on these yet, not sure. Don't have a ton to spare.

[MoGuy]

Looks great, however, I do not like the white parts. Are those supposed to be highlight? Because they make it seem as if the model is extremely well lit and very dark at the same time, which creates an unnatural contrast. Other than that they look really great. You have an eye for weathering! :)

[Beardbattered]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're speaking about the edges of the fins? If I understand that right, then it's mostly due to very poor lighting. I'm next to an open window and the winter light is quite harsh. I'll try to get a better photo when I get a chance.

 

Tell me if you meant something else. Alterations can still be made.

[MoGuy]

Jup, I meant the fins. They look almost as if they had been sprayed with White Scar. I too don't have a photobox and know about the difficulties of poor lighting. :/

[Beardbattered]

Okay, I got the other two pods weathered up. Just need a final flat coat. I feel like something is missing. I might go back and add some decals.

[Beardbattered]

Finally got a chance to apply some decals to my drop pods. I probably spent about 3 days just staring at my stack of transfer sheets trying to figure out what to do. So, this is what I finally settled on! These old aquilas are being really stubborn. My microsol doesn't seem to be strong enough to soften them. Anyone have any suggestions for a slightly stronger solvent? You can probably see in the picture that there is some "silvering" around the image.

Other than the pods, I've been putting some base colors on my next squad of vanguard. Hopefully I can get enough units out of subassemblies to get a 2k game in soon. When I do, I'll snap some pictures and give a report.

[MoGuy]

Looks good! I can only see some silver around that eagle decal on the left pod. The other decals are from your Imperial Knight, right? Is the eagle one from the same transfer sheet? I never had that problem though. I just dip my decals in water and let them soak for a few seconds (I dunno why people always say that it needs at least 30 sec to soak. Mine will move after like 5 seconds). My suggestion: Let 'em soak longer. See if that helps.

 

I would like to see some pics of your whole army, just to get some understanding how far you have come. :) 

[Beardbattered]

The eagles are from a bunch of really old space marine vehicle sheets that I had laying around. I'm not sure if the solvent isn't reacting because of how old they are or because the old gw transfers seem to be quite a bit thicker than the newer ones. I ordered some Walthers decal solvent. Hopefully that will do the trick. It's probably not super noticeable to others, but I know it's going to drive me nutter butters.

 

As for the decal soaking, you're doing it prefectly. It's actually best to soak them very briefly and then let them sit on a nonabsorbent surface until the decal loosens. If you let them soak for too long the adhesive on the decal will break down too much and it won't snug up to the surface properly.

 

I'll try to get the remaining base colors on that squad so I can get a group shot of everything. There's not a ton painted so far, I'm a dreadfully slow painter. I have a bad habit of getting decision paralysis and agonizing over the smallest details.

[MoGuy]

 

 

 I have a bad habit of getting decision paralysis and agonizing over the smallest details. 

 

Get an assembly/paintinline going! :) For example: Put all 10x Vanguard on your desk and do their bases. Then you prime the Vanguard and add the first base color. Then the second base color until you have painted all models. When you get to the details like the engravings on the weapons etc. you just paint them gold (or whatever). You can still change stuff and agonize about the details later. Your prime objective should be to get paint on as many parts of your models as quickly as possible. That way you have a coherent looking force and you can still paint the details over another period of time. 

 

But since you now have your color scheme, I would think that painting your troops will go much quicker! Start with your Dominus (he is our only HQ after all so he deserves to get that fancy painting before the more common henchmen) and then paint all your Vanguards/Rangers or do them Squad by Squad and paint one big model between each Squad. That way you don't get tired of painting all those small models and will still get stuff done. 

 

Last advice: Don't stress yourself! Being engaged and working overtime for your loved one is stressful enough. If you don't have the time or energy to paint your models in big(ger) quantities, just paint a few of them ever so often. Nagging you about why you haven't painted 500 points this week is a job that you can leave to me. ;) 

[Beardbattered]

Alright MoGuy, a deals a deal. I had to haul all of my stuff out to the dining room for the space, so forgive the poor lighting please. My phone doesn't deal with these larger shots particularly well. I put a fancy dslr camera on the wedding registry, so fingers crossed that someone picks that up for us! I managed to convince my fiance that it would be good to have one on the honeymoon.

This is everything that I have at least base colors on.

And everything else! In varying stages of assembly and magnetization.

And my wip supporting force of Dark Angels.

[Tyriks]

You're right about how nice a good camera is as a wedding present. That's how I got mine!

[MoGuy]

 

 

Alright MoGuy, a deals a deal.  I had to haul all of my stuff out to the dining room for the space, so forgive the poor lighting please

 

Worth it! 

 

Few questions about the 4th pic: 

 

1.) What is that model next to your Dominus and in front of the Kataphrons? An Assassin?

 

2.) What are those models behind your Infiltrators?

 

3.) Have you build the Kastelans without their heads or are those alternative heads?

 

 

 

And my wip supporting force of Dark Angels.

 

"Oh yeah, those are just my supporting Dark Angels" *Proceeds to pile up 2000 points worth of models* xD 

 

I think your Ad Mech units look really coherent with the Knights and the Drop Pods. Once you have more models painted with the base colors your army will look amazing on the table! 

 

And I like your choice in the Dark Angels. Only Space Marines I find visually interesting. Their Interrogator Chaplain models look AMAZING! The rest of the other Space Marines al look the same with varying colors and a few unique models. 

[Beardbattered]

Yeah, sorry I may have under-sold the Dark Angels. I think I've got around 5,000 points all together if you count all of the junk I still have boxed up. (I have a problem)

To answer your questions:

1.) You are correct! My Culexus assassin. I will be putting him in a pod with a few vanguard if I feel like being a real try-hard jerk.

2.) Those are my kitbashed Sanguinary Priest and scouts to give me cheap access to the drop pods. I'm not a fan of the BA aesthetic, so I wanted to make something that would at least look coherent with the admech.

3.) I'm not a fan of the big googley head on the bots, so I spun the heads around and set them lower into the chest cavity. I'm thinking I'll paint them as a glossy black orb. Not really sure yet. Maybe osl? Idk. I do plan to do some more modifications to the bots, so look forward to that when I get the time.

Today I got my new Walthers decal solvent in the mail. Hopefully I can get an update on those dumb silvered aquilas on my pods either tomorrow or Saturday. Saturday morning is HOBBY TIME! I'm going to try to get those decals sorted and start base colors on my onagers! Fingers crossed that nothing comes up!

[MagicHat]

Note that a Culexsus is not an independent character, so can't join a unit even in a pod. He could ride in one on his own though.

[Beardbattered]

Note that a Culexsus is not an independent character, so can't join a unit even in a pod. He could ride in one on his own though.

Gah, poo! You're right! Looks like Carl the Culexus is riding alone. Thanks for the heads up!

[Beardbattered]

Here's today's progress. Not as much as I would have liked, but hey, things come up. The weather took a turn for the :cussty, so my gloss coat is going to need some extra time to cure properly. I'm going to set aside some time tomorrow to get some more done.

If I can manage to get these two guys base coated I'll have enough done to get in my first 2k point game! Anyone have any neat ideas for basing on these two? I've been trying to think of something a little more interesting than just some cork and texture paint. Feel free to post images in here if you find something inspiring!

[WarriorFish]

Looks good, first time I've seen images of a build in progress too. "Waist" joint looks just like the Knights which means likely just as easy to magnetise should you wish :)