The Oppo: Bonehead's Lost, Damned and in all likelihood Disappointed

[Gnasher]

I really like the rebar choas stars & am so going to rip that off at some point, good work!

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I agree - the colours also work much better now with the weathering, like we expected them to.  The rebar spikes as well - do you intend to keep them camo or with you be doing them in leadbelcher or the like?  If it is the former, I would do the edges of the tips in metal to make them look sharpened.

[Bonehead]

On 6/4/2024 at 9:11 PM, Gnasher said:

I really like the rebar choas stars & am so going to rip that off at some point, good work!

Thanks man! The sincerest form of flattery and all that. Glad to hear it!

23 hours ago, Dr_Ruminahui said:

I agree - the colours also work much better now with the weathering, like we expected them to.  The rebar spikes as well - do you intend to keep them camo or with you be doing them in leadbelcher or the like?  If it is the former, I would do the edges of the tips in metal to make them look sharpened.

The rebar spikes will have (hopefully) some black weathering powder to look like welding spatter where they're attached, which I'll also do on the shackles holding the stars on. I'll also add some chipping down to bare metal, and you hit it on the head, fresh metal on the tips to look sharp. I'm going to see if I can do that before varnishing- better to be protected. But I think the metallic look will probably suffer under the varnish. Not much of a problem if it does, but I'd just like to see.

They're also going to get rust weathering powder up the wazoo.

[Bonehead]

Minor tank progress today. Got the tracks blocked in and the red hands done, then ran right out of time; the tracks took forever. Just got to do the metal chipping on the rusty metal then it's varnish time.

I could, if I were so inclined, call these done right here and leave them as they sit, but by crikey I've started so I'll finish. Weathering powder really just makes them pop so much more, and some of the chipping really isn't good enough and could use covering up with grime.

Hopefully tomorrow I can get the metal chipping done, spray the varnish and start in on the rust effects once that's dry.

Regardless, here's where they finished up today:

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Those are looking super sweet!

 

As soon as you finish them, you should really consider starting a new something and pledging it in the 2024 Call to Arms - the Realms of Chaos could really do with your representation! 

[Bonehead]

Well, I have a bit of an issue with that.

Chiefly, this sentence in the rules kind of trips me up: 'Models pledged to a Stronghold must come from the army books associated with those Forums covered by each Stronghold'

Basically I haven't got the chaos army book for the current edition, and I'm not buying it either! The game looks like a cross between magic the gathering and a maths exam in its current state. I hate both of those things. The only book I think any of my stuff belongs to is the old Vraks books and they're 5 editions out of date.

It's the malcador next, so if there's a way I can pledge that, I will.

Edited June 15 by Bonehead

[Bonehead]

Also, this is an interesting take on the whole tank-painting deal.

And not just that but an incredible way to pick up some amazing techniques: this guy is in a class of his own. If anyone wants to know where I get ideas from, well, now you know!

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks for the video - I'll check it out when I have a moment and let you know my thoughts.

 

I'm pretty sure you are interpreting that line wrong - there has never been any requirement that one owns the books one is painting units from.  Rather, what that is saying is that you have to pledge something from a codex in the appropriate stronghold for that codex - in other words, that you can't pledge a, say, an ork Stompa in the Imperial forum. 

 

Indeed, @Grotsmasha has stated that for this particular forum, its really our call on whether an "imperial guard" unit is Imperial or it belongs to the Realms of Chaos.  So, this is one of the rare situations where you can pledge stuff whose rules are in an imperial codex for a different (the chaos) stronghold.  So your stuff would be golden.

[Bonehead]

Well, I pledged the malcador. Not sure what I'll be doing after that, so it was all I wanted to pledge. I've been enjoying doing vehicles much more than I expected to, so I might bust out a couple of chimeras for my loyalists next.

Pledging it seemed a fair bet because basically, the ground is clear. The russes are very nearly done. All they need is some minor detail work: I realised I forgot to add the dangling enemy helmet and lasgun trophies, and the lenses aren't done. Apart from that I'm finished. Witness the rusty, filthy majesty:

Fronts with lots of missing paint, dirt, rust streaks and bristling firepower.

Sides, showing more dirt, the (i think) significantly improved rust effect on the stars, dramatically more rust streaking, and many red hands.

Rears, displaying a sizeable chunk of reasonably convincing dirty tracks, clearly visible friend/foe ID and very sooty exhausts. And more rust streaks.

This view /|\ shows some nice weathering on the turrets, and the gathering of rust and dirt where water would pool at lines where angles meet. You can also see that the tops have seen a dusting of dirt weathering powder, helping to make the whole thing look consistent.

Next, a quick shot of some troopers escorting them over my workbench. There's a good view of the sooty end of the vanquisher's barrel.

I was stuggling to get the camera to focus in natural light, so I fetched a lamp out for the next shots. it discoloured things somewhat, but hopefully the detail is a little better.

First, the rebar detailing on the vanquisher turret. You can see yet more rust streaking, as well as the shiny sharpened tips; and possibly a little hint of my attempts to render a bit of burnt soot from welding spatter:

And for Gnasher, I did manage to sort of sneak a red hand print in under one of the rusty chaos stars:

Not that you can see it much. It's bugger to photograph, I'll say that.

Finally, a -somewhat in focus- look at the demolisher's side for rust and dirt detail:

Man, I wish I could afford a better camera. Or a better camera user.

Anyway, the demolisher needs a commander, but I still haven't scraped to gether enough cash for a big order from Victoria minis. Hopefully soon.

Regardless, I like how they came out. The demolisher's a little too rusty, but for my first try at white spirit streaking, it'll do just fine.

Overall, the very final stage of adding tons of dark earth weathering powder to the tracks and lower hull, and a more restrained dusting on the upper surfaces really worked to pull everything together, and using a pencil to add dull metal gleams to the tracks and hard angles was the cherry on top.

Cheers for looking!

[Bonehead]

Oh, and I managed to bag some absurdly old and pretty rare models to add a final flourish to the Immortals, too.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Very happy to see your pledged malcador - really looking forward to seeing how it turns out and its great that you can help out the forces of chaos for this CtA.  Last year the Chaos Stronghold was super friendly and supportive, so hopefully its the same this year - certainly, I'll be doing my part cheerleading it to help ensure that it is.

 

Your tanks are fantastic - the camo and dust came out really nicely and provide for a nice, muted look while still being quite colourful and having a lot of "pop" visually.  I also like how the rebar spikes turned out, and I don't think they really need anymore fiddling with.  Are the hands decals or painted?  If they are painted, on your next batch of tanks you might want to make the human sized ones more irregular and smeared, as if they were actual hand prints made by your infantry - though, it may be none of the hands on the tanks are actually that small.  And one last thing - you should touch up the black dots at the end of the exhaust pipes, as those are representing holes/shadows and shouldn't be weathered over.

 

BTW, they look great next to the infantry - you've created a very visually cohesive look while still having the infantry look distinctive and not disappear when next to the tank (bad for camo, great for visual appeal) due to their armour being of different colour.  Interesting, when I do my infantry I'm aiming for the same effect, but flipped - the armour will match the tanks (dark purple, mostly), while the cloth will be different and in more neutral, natural tones (tans, browns and greys).

 

In short, I love how this army is coming together, and I'm sure the malcador will be a great addition - as you stated earlier (in the CtA thread?), due to its first appearance in the Vraks campaign, it does seem to have strong historical and spiritual links to the renegade guard, plus its got that brutal, hulking look that matches that aesthetic you've got going with your own renegade forces.

 

Oh, and I watched the video you provided - very interesting, but way more work (and new techniques) than I'm willing to put into doing a model.  Which isn't surprising, given the painter is on whole different level of skill, and your tanks are already more work than I would be willing to do. 

Edited Wednesday at 04:28 PM by Dr_Ruminahui

[Bonehead]

Can't say I substantially disagree about the amount of effort 'ole Martin aka Night Shift puts in- but it is his full time job. Patreon opens up some career options that just seem distinctly unfair to the rest of us who have to labour away in boring admin. But I'm just grabbing about five hours in a good week. The tanks are probably about 20 hours for the pair, paint and modelling. I do it to calm the tourette's jitters, so the longer any individual project takes the better- less expensive.

I do like to pick up a technique or two from a real master. I've got a lot of mileage out of the old Forge World Model Masterclass books. But yeah, trying to match that standard is definitely not on the cards.

Did a little bit of touch-up this morning: the Vanquisher got a pintle stubber because I realised its total anti-infantry capability was approximately zero, and I did the cupola periscopes and the demolisher's big front periscope. Better light means better photos. Wish I could take credit but this camera is just a moody, moody wee bastard.

I think they're probably both going to get a trophy helmet or two anyway- it just isn't quite right without them.

The hands are all painted- good idea about the smearing. I'll try some of that on the malcador.

In the meanwhile, I hope I'll see a bit of paint on yours soon. The scheme as described sounds pretty damn cool.

[Gnasher]

A skull or two, or even better a fresh head on the rebar would convey the message to the goodies very nicely I think. Stubber makes all the difference btw.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Yeah, I really like the stubber - it adds a nice visual element to the tank that's different from the camo, and the fact its the "vraks" top feed stubber design really ties it in nicely with the malcador.  I also like the dark steel finish you gave it - very appropriate and, as I said, a nice contrast to the softer, more muted tank hull colour pattern.  I personally would pick out the grips in tan or brown, but that isn't strictly necessary.

 

The glass on the tanks looks great too - I like how the more recessed periscope is in more muted colours than the more exposed bits... nice touch.

Edited Wednesday at 07:23 PM by Dr_Ruminahui

[Bonehead]

I did think about doing it something other than just plain black with grey drybrush, but as it often does, laziness won out. The infantry have black guns, that's my excuse.

Always good when someone notices your tiny little touches. Much appreciated, Doctor!

The trophy helmets will have dubious stains around them- I hope that'll do you Gnasher, I've not actually got any skulls, I don't think.

Anyway, I got the chance to check my bank balance the other day and crikey, had I underestimated it for once. Been working a lot lately. Going to start putting together my VM order. I want to flesh out the existing platoon and add another 3-squad one and an hq, as well as two heavy weapon squads, so it's going to be a big one.

I'm also going to get me some of these, along with all the necessary gasmasks, from Anvil:

https://www.anvilindustry.co.uk/female-sci-fi-gangers-7-miniatures

Really dig the sci-fi ganger range, so it'll be one set each male and female. Instant cultists. Don't think I'll struggle to find a way to integrate them.

[Bonehead]

Next lot of parts has begun to drift in: Anvil heads and webbing literally the day after ordering, and some vintage robed baddies from eBay.

As you can see, I'm planning a fairly sizeable increase in the traitor guard's numbers.

Meanwhile, the old lead are the (i think) pre-40k Disciples of the Red Redemption. Ehard about them on a necromunda group. Checked eBay, each one was going for over 15 quid. Then I found a set of all 5 sculpts with the neame spelt wrong or something, not matching all the words, anyway, for 55 quid.  Bosh, job done.

Characterful lot, they are. Mostly going to join the melee-armed crew. Some collector-troubling hacking up is giong to happen. Not the standard guy though, he'll remain the way he sits and accompany the Immortals' leader.

They do scale very nicely with the existing redemptionists:

There's visible light chainmail on a few of them- I think I'm just going to paint that as fancy gold brocade adornments. They don't need much, but they do need something. Old drummer-bloke is going to need changing, and same for the guy with the shield. It's tempting to leave the rest as they come though- maybe put a holster on a belt here, a grenade there. They do come pre-sculpted with grotesque masks, which is handy. Maybe one of them will join a heavy weapon crew; I do need to build the last of those.

They should make a nice final rounding-out for the immortals anyway.

Malcador first, regardless.