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

[Bonehead]

Ok, seven more cultists done, and the paint scheme for the traitor guard is decided.

For whatever reason, I'm especially pleased with this batch. Probably just because I tried the most tricky conversions and got away with them. The poses all look pretty convincing; even the preacher model works reasonably well. Maybe it's because they look somewhat frenzied and energetic -well, mostly.

In this view the three melee-armed ones show quite well; snarling and yelling are in evidence and it demonstrates that I've managed to get the eyes looking in the right direction for once. You can also see how well the shotgun conversion worked out in the less visible facing- the thumb of the hand on the pump just took a little trimming and bending and the model almost looks like it came from the factory that way.

Looking closely you'll notice that three of them are in more purplish robes and four are more red- more variation to hopefully suggest a certain disorganisation and lack of uniformity in a subtle way. The mob is up to over 40 models now- we should top out at about 50.

On to the guard:

I went over the previous red highlight on the gasmask cylinders with a more red shade than the somewhat purple/pink one that was there previously and while it's subtle, it goes with the red hand symbols I added to give them a strong warm spot colour to contrast the cold of the lenses. It's not in the same place on every model simply because irregularity reads as more 'chaosy' to me.

It's on every breastplate (where possible) but the supplementary red hands are wherever felt right at the time. Some have two hands, some have more.

I'm pretty confident I can knock this scheme out pretty quickly a large number of times- the green wash as opposed to brown should pep them up a bit too.

I picked up some larger basing sand to better represent rubble too, so hopefully I'll have to spend less time making 'bricks' out of old sprues.

That's this week's update, anyway. Cheers!

 

[renegadeguard]

These look great, I'm really liking the chaos stars painted on the cultist robes

[Bonehead]

31 minutes ago, renegadeguard said:

These look great, I'm really liking the chaos stars painted on the cultist robes

Thanks! They take bloody ages, so it's good that someone likes them. I'm really beginning to regret the decision to do them now I've done over 40 models...

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I second renegadeguard - they look great and are one of the real attention points of the model, they really form a key part of what makes the models look so good.  Though, not surprised at all they are a pain and a half to do.

 

Your traitor guardsmen look great, BTW - I really like how they came out.

Edited October 27, 2023 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Bonehead]

15 hours ago, Dr_Ruminahui said:

Your traitor guardsmen look great, BTW - I really like how they came out.

Thanks for the positive feedback mate- you're half the motivation over the course of this blog!

Also, it's a good thing you do like the traitors' scheme because I basically used you as a consultant for it. Without your input it'd be a mess!

Almost got the second set of five built and based now so hopefully next week we should see the revised, more thought-out version of it. Working out the order to do it in is going to be half the fight. I reckon it's fastest if I can slap on the camouflage straight after undercoat- that way I can just be quick and messy. We shall see.

[Bonehead]

Next five traitor guard built and ready for undercoat.

Not massively happy with the heavy bolter guy, but he's good enough. The arms are a little awkward, not being designed for the job. The left arm had to be changed so that the handle was being gripped towards the butt end of the gun, not the business end, which makes the whole pose look a little unbalanced, but I can live with it.

Everyone else's poses are fine, I reckon. The HB loader with his shotgun at his shoulder, a bandolier of rounds and a box of ammo came out nice and easily, the meltagunner was a simple easy one- just swapped in a pair of boots to replace the bare feet. The sergeant was just some arms from the VM sergeant kit; no thinking needed there then, and probably my favourite is the running trooper. The legs are from the 'human bomb' model and the head's from Maxmini's 'evil heads' set. Fitting it into a helmet wasn't any harder than any of the other ones and hopefully scattering some of the more extreme heads from this set among the traitor guard should sell the idea that these lot are further down the road to ruin than the cultists; they're wearing the masks to hide something. These are the real bad guys; the ones who herd the cultists forwards and probably gave them lots of suspicious books to read too.

With a bit of luck I'll get these somewhere along the road to finished this week.

 

[renegadeguard]

These look awesome, is that metal gun one of the originals from Necromunda? I seem to remember a metal sprue with a variety of rifles on it. Also, I think the heavy bolter guy looks great but I see what you mean about the balance - perhaps you could add some sort of suspensor like the Orlock heavy stubber model has to suggest it's helping with the weight? I'm planning something similar for a future Sgt. Harker conversion 

[Bonehead]

2 hours ago, renegadeguard said:

These look awesome, is that metal gun one of the originals from Necromunda? I seem to remember a metal sprue with a variety of rifles on it. Also, I think the heavy bolter guy looks great but I see what you mean about the balance - perhaps you could add some sort of suspensor like the Orlock heavy stubber model has to suggest it's helping with the weight? I'm planning something similar for a future Sgt. Harker conversion 

Thanks mate! Very much appreciated.

Yep the autogun is from the necromunda sprue from back in the days of the first edition. I bought an absolute ton back in the day and then I decided to do an entire guard army using the ak lasgun from that sprue so I sbought even more. You can see that army below -and there's another platoon of them waiting to be built.

That was a little expensive, to put it mildly. Luckily a nice man on Facebook did a 3d scan of the ak gun for me so now I just have them printed.

And of course as a consequence of hunting down ak lasguns I ended up with a large overstock of old 1st and 2nd ed necromunda guns. That was a contributing factor in the decision to built the cultist horde and traitor guard company- I felt like I might as well put them to use, and the cultists were an ideal way to use up the tons of mismatched guns I ended up with. The traitor guard got this kind of autogun simply because I had the most of them. Enough for two big platoons and more.

On to the traitor guard themselves:

I've done the autumn camo first run with the newer darker green wash and annoyingly this one's a little too dark. I think I'll just get some empty pots out and thin this colour down with a little wash medium, and maybe just a touch of yellow wash. It's a little on the bluer end of the green spectrum and I want to make it more neutral.

But again I'll be fine with these models without needing to repaint them- I'll just dab in more of the orange brown over the top of the wash and that should brighten them right up.

As for the heavy bolter, I'll let it ride as it is- it's just not quite annoying enough to re-do. I'll model the other ones as crouching, which'll fix it.

Ok, rear view with a better look at the camo and its over-dark shading, then I'm out of here.

 

[Bonehead]

Quick update from Wednesday. Been a bit ill so not got much done the last couple of days, but here the five traitors are with the black and the metallics in.

Just highlights on the brown, visors and one face to go, and the bases to finish.

[Bonehead]

The latest edition of 'Bonehead spams his own paint log' is in

 

Hackett chewed a fingernail and spat. They just grew faster all the time, he was sure. It riled him something chronic. Probably something those pathetic loyalist bastards were putting in the air. They wanted to get inside your head. Make you feel like you were going crazy.

'Never been more sane,' he rasped, startling Szabo and Griszt. Their blank visored gazes turned towards him, expressionlessly.

Poor chumps, he thought. The masks still fit them. No chance to prune your claws while your teeth were hidden behind that lumpen nonsense. So what if the mask didn't fit any more, hey? Didn't need it. Don't need it.

He sucked in a deep, joyful breath and blew it out just to prove he could. The cold blue of the opaque lenses continued to point in his direction.

Jealous, he thought.

Griszt made one of the strange, wordless noises he'd been making a lot of recently.

'Nah, not in this weather,' Szabo replied. 'Man's just taking the air. Worth a man's time, free air'.

Another sound. Both Hackett and Szabo nodded. It was a fair point.

Somewhere ahead the chief seemed to have finished whatever speech he'd been giving the suckers. Either that or the sudden increase in frenzied cheering and chanting was entirely spontaneous. Either one was a possibility, but there seemed to be some kind of movement starting up. You could take the two observations together and make them a sign, or you could call them a pair of random chances. In Hackett's experience, the suckers never seemed to do the thing you wanted them to entirely on purpose at the best of times. Sometimes they did something useful, even if it wasn't the thing you told them to. Or if it was the thing, but an hour early, or a day late.

'I'd not take the bet, anyway,' he commented. Griszt grunted in an agreeing sort of way.

Szabo took a second look over the side of their position.

'Still hard to tell, right enough,' he agreed. 'Maybe they'll get themselves killed usefully this time, maybe not. It's all for the four Winds one way or another.'

'Alright boys, cock and lock 'em,' Hacket grizzled. 'The Winds are getting paid their due soon, whichever way they blow. Let's be ready. Remember the plan.'

 

Bam!

First ten traitors done.

I like how they look as a group. And how they look individually, for that matter. I'm not sure I can quantify what it is I like about the peculiar knee-patches you get on VM penal guard legs, but like them I do. It makes the model distinctive, and that's good enough for me.

The latest batch done. Doing all the little Red Hand details adds a fair few minutes, but they really make the scheme pop. Without them there just isn't enough interesting detail.

bollocks, on the subject of interesting detail, I've just realised I forgot to do the grenades. Whatever, I'll get them taken care of eventually.

Finally, a view of some Red Hands: Once again I've just done them wherever I felt like, and as many as I felt like.

Actually, the right side of every helmet gets one, and the chest armour, but the rest are freeform.

Anyway, it's very satisfying. They take longer than the cultists, but I kind of like them more, so it balances out just fine.

 

Edited November 9, 2023 by Bonehead

[Gnasher]

Love the red hands, is that the CSM decal or are you freehanding them?

[Bonehead]

Freehand all the way! Can't be bothered messing around with transfers.

The secret is I have an absolutely tiny brush and a very old pot of scab red which has become thick over the ... blimey... several decades I've owned it. You very rarely need to put down more than one layer of it.

Just brace your hands on the table, and keep looking back to your reference image. And start in the middle; that way you're more sure you'll be centred on whatever part of the model you paint on.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

They are looking great - still not sold on the red rebreathers, but that's not a huge issue and I don't know what other colour to make them other than leadbelcher.

 

I also think the red hand would look better on the front of the helmet than the side, but I probably should have stated that far earlier.    That said, maybe do it that way (or in addition to the side head hand) for squad leaders?  Would be an effective and evocative way of differentiating them, I would think.

 

As for the awkward heavy bolter, it is a little, but I don't know how one would fix that without making it worse.  Only thought would be put him on a larger base and have a bit of a ruined wall or tree that he is resting it on.  I think the difference between him and the Harker model is the ammo - on your model there is a big ammo box in front of the centre of the weapon, while for Harker there is a belt that loops towards the rear of the weapon and he is holding the weapon less forward, both of which give it a more balanced appearance.  Overall, while a bit off putting, I don't think its that big of a deal - come to think of it, even putting him on a bigger base further back on the base (so the weapon doesn't extend so far out in front of the base) might be enough to remedy the visual imbalance.

Edited November 9, 2023 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Bonehead]

Thanks mate. Just got to do a whole load more- still, it'll keep me busy.

I came round to the red breather capsules or whatever they're called once I had done the hands- then they blend into the model more and make more sense. I think if they were the only spot of red on the model they'd not work at all. Fortunately there needed to be some deep red in the scheme to go along with the burgundy of the cultists. Overall it's quite a strong scheme, but the dull grey armour and the cold blue of the lenses would leave it sort of unfinished-seeming without the warmth of the red details.

And I did consider doing the hands on the front of the helmets, but then I remembered I hate having badges in the middle of the forehead on a helmet- it always makes me think it's just a big 'shoot here' sign. I put the hand on the guns where possible and the chest armour to still have front-visible detail because you're dead right in terms of classic compositional theory- there ought to be something front and centre. But I just couldn't bring myself to put it on the helmets.

As for the hb dude- you're both right, but it's such a pain converting the arms to fit the gun that I just couldn't face going back and re-doing it. i'm hoping that once I've got two more built and he's just one among a crowd the awkwardness will fade away a bit.

[Bonehead]

No real progress this week except a bit of modelling- got a few more cultists built and greenstuffed- and some more models turned up.

Pretty bad photo but you get the idea. Can you see the subtle mutation on one of them, despite the crap focus?

The first batch of stuff to turn up was this lot:

All offered substantially cheaper on eBay than they've been for over a year, so I snapped them up. The thing with the weapon sprues is they now work in three different guard armies and a horde of cultists too. Difficult to resist. The gun-waving dude is basically the cult's equivalent of an o-rhesus positive blood donor. He can go into anyone. There must be ten of that body in the cult already. I might leave this one's arm in the air but have him waving a knife, for variety. The other dude's a fanatic-era redemptionist. Not sure these even got released. The Fanatic range for Necromunda was pretty ropey- I remember being deeply dissapointed with them at the time- and they didn't sell well at all. But this one has a pose I really like. Suitably energetic. Normally they go for silly money but I bagged this one for merely too much.

And the week's model deliveries in full. Somehow, the cheapest way to get the meltagun leader bloke was with a shotgun cultist thrown in for free. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Guess I'll just cut his head off and put a different one in there. I reckon the leader guy's going to join the massive mystery dude in the big bad guy's club, rather than lead a mob of cultists. He just looks too good to be a mere small-time rabble-rouser.

Aaaand time for a small diversion.

You know that thing that happens sometimes when you spray varnish and it's too cold, or too hot, and it goes cloudy? Well, so do I.

I been building a clone of the Klon Centaur and this week I was painting the case, which is why I didn't paint any models. If you want to know why I built my own one instead of buying one, google it. You'll be surprised. Or you already know, of course. The whole deal is ridiculous, but I do like the circuit as a solo booster. And this one comes with some useful little extra switches to tweak and prod the sound usefully.

It's nearly freezing in the garage, which I forgot, so I left it in there to dry. Big mistake.

I believe the right word for that is ':cuss:house'.

But, I also believed I'd heard someone propose a far-fetched solution to the problem. What the hell, it's a free try at it and if it doesn't work I just have to go strip it and start again, same as before.

The secret: olive oil. I don't get it, but you don't need to get it to have it work. I never knew until last year that there's no spark plugs in a diesel engine and it never stopped me renting a van to move house.

Anyway, the results.

Olive oil works. Olive oil works AMAZINGLY.

That was yesterday. It's still perfect today.

For the record, it was extra virgin. Not sure how important that is, but there you go. Just dab a bit on your finger, and rub it on. A cotton bud should work on a miniature.

Just got to wire it up now. Already built the circuit, so I just have to get it all connected inside the case.

Cheers everyone!

 

 

[Bonehead]

Closing in on five finished cultists waiting for paint- just a bit of green stuff to do.

Struggling to find ideas for the final few models, this deep in. There's only so many ways you can convert the same base models before you run out of ideas, I suppose, although I think I'm getting a helping hand with one of them because he arrived with no feet- and I have a pair of bare feet I removed from a traitor guardsman, so that should be a start.

Think I'll just move on to converting Cawdor lads and wait for some inspiration.

I might go back to the frostgrave range and see if I can't find one or two more suitable models to add in a bit of variation.

On the positive side, the next batch of traitor guards are ready. These are easier to get rolling with; just give them a rifle and the endless potential variety of poses means you can always do something you haven't done already. Or at least not in this army. Man it's a pain getting the shotguns into the VM arms though. This lad doesn't have a left thumb anymore. Fixable in a coupla minutes with green stuff, so I'm not angry.

Just some rubble for the bases and we're good to go.

C&C welcome

Cheers all

 

[Bonehead]

Man, it's like a mausoleum in here it's so quiet.

Time to be noisy then I guess.

More traitors nearly done. It's taking a little longer than I remember, but all that's left is the bases so they'll be done and done soon.

Better get building the other half of the squad, really.

Here's a better photo that captures the visors nicely: pleased with how these have come out.

Still not quite got the green wash colour down perfectly, but I've improved it a little by adding more yellow and I'll see how that looks on the next lot.

Cheers everyone

[renegadeguard]

Love these, are you painting the bloodied handprints on or using transfers? I'm gonna do a khornate squad of guardsmen eventually and would like to have them covered in bloody handprints and smears

[Gnasher]

The white 'dot' eyes on the visors make them look sinister & well evil!

[Bonehead]

On 12/12/2023 at 6:31 PM, renegadeguard said:

Love these, are you painting the bloodied handprints on or using transfers? I'm gonna do a khornate squad of guardsmen eventually and would like to have them covered in bloody handprints and smears

Thanks! I'm painting them on. I'm using some paint that's really thick and a tiny brush- new paint for every stroke. You get a beter defined line that way.

[Bonehead]

Haven't completely forgotten the baddies, just got distracted by Greenscorpion's Build-paint challenge in the loyalist guard forum. Disappointingly, I managed to get nothing finished at all out of the various goals I set- Some stuff due to arrive in November got here last week, I got the flu over christmas, and generally had to work more.

Never mind. This week, I've built the next five traitor guardsmen, and I expect to hear no disagreement when I say they're the best yet.

I think the shotgunner has gone about as well as any basic trooper- the pose just looks perfect to me.

However, I can say the same for the heavy bolter team:

I found a pair of arms that just work perfectly for the gunner this time, and an old (2nd ed I think) space marine sword handle fit perfectly. The green stuff ammo boxes are just a little bit ropey, but I hid the worst part of the moulding by shoving it up against the loader's thigh. The head looking upwards adds a nice bit of variation and also makes sense given that they're on urban bases; you look up to windows and roofs as much as you look out at a level when you're in a city.

Using the scout heavy bolter also matches this force nicely against my rogue trader loyalists- also on urban bases. Both have a solid, thickly armoured heavy infantry look to them. It contrasts nicely against the light infantry feel of the green army I've show above.

Second right you can see that I've let myself have one trooper with bare feet. It's going to be a bit of a struggle finding enough boots for all of the incidences of that leg pose that I figure I ought to leave just one guy as he comes. There's something enjoyably weird about it that suits the chaos theme. There's an appeal about the idea that standards are slipping in this force- but in odd ways. Everyone still has armour and standardised weapons and kit, so it's not that they're growing ragged and unravelled as they leave the Emperor's supply lines behind. It's more that individual troopers are just becoming... strange. And Imperial ideas of conformity are being replaced with an unfocussed expression of rebellion in a million tiny and unique ways.

I did forget to give him a knife and some pouches though. Whoops. Easily fixed.

Hopefully I'll be painting these next week. This week I finished some loyalists, so that's why there's nothing finished for this lot.

Happy new year everyone!

 

[renegadeguard]

These are awesome! The heavy bolter looks so much more balanced on this one. Shotgun guy is epic too!

[Bonehead]

Thanks! Hopefully I can do a paint job that does them justice. Maybe.

[Bonehead]

Finally warm enough in the garage to spray some undercoat. Hooray.

Cultists or traitor guard first? Might just do both to be honest...

[Gnasher]

I can see what you mean, do both.

 

Do you have any way to tie these two together? By that I mean have you got a magister/warlord in your head that controls these thuggs?