=] Call to Arms: Chaos Stronghold [=

[Celtic_cauldron]

Ok, I'm late to the party but better now than never...

 

So...

 

I, Celtic_Cauldron , heed the Call to Arms and pledge to paint 2 World Eaters' Rhinos, 1 Black Legion Rhino, 6 Emperor's Children Bikers, 5 Night Lords Chosen, 1 Night Lord Leviathan Dreadnought and 1 Night Lord Sicaran Battle Tank  for a total of 41 points for the Glory of the Chaos War Host and the Chaos Stronghold on or before 17th September 2024, or bear the badge of failure until years end.

 

Pictures:

 

EC Bikers

 

NL Chosen

 

NL Leviathan Dreadnought

 

NL Sicaran Battle Tank

 

BL Rhino

 

WE Rhinos

 

Celtic_Cauldron

[Kharn13]

 

Just 3 more of these left for me, so we are coming down to the wire.  Nice to see people's progress, including those posted merely to avoid a call out. 

 

@Dr. Clock - just missed getting you on my last update (you posted yours while I was typing mine) but I'll get you this time.  Your Doom Weasel rhinos are looking great - I particularly like the freehand khornate symbols and hand prints.  Looking forward to you getting those last few details done. 

 

@Tallarn Commander - Nice to see some paint on the warpsmith, the blue cloak is looking good though may need some trim in another colour (white or red would work) to avoid the finished model being too blue.  That guy on her back pole is a big fella!

 

@Boc - Nice to see you get some paint on your demon engines - the dragon head really works on the maulerfiend, whose stock head is a bit... lackluster.  Can't wait to see if you do anything to differentiate this crawler from your last one.

 

@Cryptix - Congrats on getting your giant scorpion done!  Surprised you went with black for the central plates rather than the more traditional red, but it looks good.

 

@SwordMasterJ280 - A very late addition to the ring!  Welcome to you and your forces of nurgle!  I'll add your Typhus to the Psycheriest Psycher side event.

 

@Bob Fossil - Great to hear from you!  Your nurgle guys look great, but I'm sorry the nurglings are a trial.  As for the various boils, while I personally prefer the orange, I think the green look good as well.  One suggestion is to do half one way and half the other, and use the different colours as unit markings/squad differentiation should you field them as different squads (or expand their numbers to do so in the future - that's what I did with my own demonette squads, where it was originally one squad with pink or purple hair that was expanded into a pink squad and a purple squad).

 

@Brother Argent - Thanks for checking in, and sorry to hear your colour scheme isn't inspiring you to paint.  Keep at it though, as I'm sure the final product will be excellent.  Good call on doing them before your xenos stuff - otherwise we might need to send in a strike force to disuade you from any potential treachery.   Oh, and thanks for the compliment on my purple.

 

@Kharn13 - Good to see your progress on your angriest boy, he's looking good (love the red you've gotten on him).  Sorry about your mom's troubles, but hopefully they don't derail you too much - maybe you could do detail work with her while she watches tv?  Anyway, I'm sure you know what works best for you and keep at it as I for one am looking forward to seeing it completed, given the scarbrand you showed us.

 

@Muskie - Awesome work on the lord - he's fantastic.  You've really knocked it out of the park with your new florescent paints.

 

@gaurdian31 - Thanks for checking in, and I'm sorry your life has been busy.  Looking forward to seeing your last 3 guys done.

 

 

@Norman Paperman, @TrawlingCleaner, @Bonehead, @Ezekyle_Abaddon, @Xin Ceithan,  @Scion @Iron Father Ferrum, @Cpt.Danjou, @legoman, @Brother Nathan, and @Chainsword Cookie - as noted, 3 weeks left, so come let us see and complement your work!

 

 

 

Been fiddling with my phone camera, and have had some success combating the desaturation problem, though am still struggling with that.  Still, I completed the next 7 models of my vow and am on course to finish the last 7 over the next week or so.  Here they are:

 

 

If you want to see closer up photos, I've posted them in my renegade guard thread here.

 

Thanks for the support @Dr_Ruminahui. My mum got really into the paralympics, so I managed to get the rest based and shaded. Just lots of highlighting, weathering and glowies to go!

 

Edited September 3 by Kharn13

[Dr. Clock]

Vow Complete:

 

 

Cheers,

 

The Good Doctor.

[Tallarn Commander]

Esmeralda The Warpsmith is almost done. I still need to add a couple of highlights, weathering powder, and paint a white stripe of some sort on the hem of her dress. I don’t have much experience with stripes so it will probably take a few attempts to get it right. 
 

Edited September 3 by Tallarn Commander

[Cryptix]

Whew, usual update was a little delayed because I may or may not have gotten distracted building vehicles out of the CtA 

Cultists are mostly done, there's a few that need a little cleanup because some black spilled over on the metallic, 2 of them are standing on stones that need to get painted properly prior to basing, and 3 of them have some missing limbs that need Blood for the Blood God, but other than that calling them done.

Now down to just the havocs, I've got two weeks to finish but really closer to 1 week because there's a Lotta bases that got to be done. In the home stretch!

[Boc]

Progress pics...

 

Maulerfiend will be done tomorrow

 

Whites done on the Knights, reds tomorrow

 

 

[Brother Argent]

Well they were a bit rushed at the end and I missed some bitsbut I can hereby declare my vow complete:

 

1x Chaos Lord

 

 

His pet Maulerfiend

 

 

And the Chaos Carpool Lane (2x Rhinos)

 

And that is going to have to do me for the year.  No where near what I had hoped (was hoping to get near 100 pts)  but at least this year I finished, so a huge win over last year where I never even got started.  Good luck to the rest of you and I look forward to seeing what other servants of the true gods you guys come up with.

 

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Had a long weekend and a busy day back at work, so I apologize for the delay.  We are almost done - just 2 more weeks and one last encouragement post before its over.  So keep painting, everyone - we are in the final stretch!

 

 

@Norman Paperman - Almost done!  (Though, you should consider going back and putting on those missing armor plates, as the shoulder is a bit weird without it).  I can say that's probably the most colourful forgefiend I've seen - Tzeench would be proud.

 

 @TrawlingCleaner - Nice job on the Crimson Raiders and Black Legion, both are great!  Looking forward to seeing your forgefiend and derpy defiler finished!

 

@gaurdian31 - Congratulations on finishing your vow!  They look great together, and I'm sure they will look great with the red armored buys you did last year as well!

 

@Boc - Your venomcrawler and rhino are both excellent!  Look forward to seeing your completed dragon headed mauler and your knights.

 

@Celtic_cauldron - Welcome to the Chaos call to arms!  With such a late and large vow, you sure have your work cut out for you.  I hope you can paint like a daemon!

 

@Kharn13 - Glad to hear you've gotten some painting in even with your mom's health issues.  The armor on the Angriest Marine is looking great!

 

@Dr. Clock - Congratulations on completing your vow!  Your rhinos look great besides your decidedly less blue-and-white demon prince. 

 

@Tallarn Commander - Esmeralda is looking great!  What kind of white stripe are you thinking of doing to do on her cloak?

 

@Cryptix - Enough non-CtA building for now - you've got to get going on those heavy weapons dudes!  Your horde of 1950s sci-fi alien cultists are looking really good - looking forward to seeing those final touches!

 

@Brother Argent - Congratulations on finishing your vow - I particularly like the rhinos and the blue maulerfiend, they look great!  And while you might have wanted more, I really appreciate you finishing what you did for the glory of chaos!

 

 

And now for the dreaded callout - @SwordMasterJ280, @Bob Fossil, @Bonehead, @Ezekyle_Abaddon, @Xin Ceithan,  @Scion @Iron Father Ferrum, @Cpt.Danjou, @legoman, @Brother Nathan, and @Chainsword Cookie - we hope so see your finished work soon!  With only 2 weeks left, I hope you are all painting up a storm - whether or not you do will be a big part if Chaos can keep its coveted "highest percentage of completions" status from last year.

 

We are really in the stage where we need to finish what work we already have in front of us, or enjoy the fact we already have.  Only make new vows if you are certain you can complete them.

 

From my end, all I have left of my vow is my rogue psycher and then the basing of the last 7 guys - hopefully I can get that done and share that will you all this week.

 

 

[Tallarn Commander]

Hello everyone, some great progress is being made! Keep up the good work for the glory of Chaos!

 

 

Today I completed my 2nd Call To Arms pledge. I present to you House Nightfall's Warpsmith Lady Esmerelda Hoth.

 

 

 

Dr Ruminahu, you had asked...

@Tallarn Commander - Esmeralda is looking great!  What kind of white stripe are you thinking of doing to do on her cloak?

 

I went with the class Ad Mech checks. Here is a closeup.

 

 

Painting the white stripe with checks was really hard to do. I  went over it and over it and, after awhile, I said, "OK, it's good enough for government work."    I have earned newfound respect for anyone who does this sort of thing on a regular basis. The next time I try this I'll use thin Tamaya tape.

 

 

 

 

 

Good luck to everyone on completing your vows!

 

 

House Nightfall, "Avenge Curze!"

[Celtic_cauldron]

@Dr_Ruminahui Thanks for the welcoming words, Brother.

 

I had the opportunity to work a bit on my vow and some units are already done:

 

The two WE Rhinos:

 

 

The BL Rhino:

 

 

The NL Leviathan Dreadnought:

 

 

The Sicaran and Chosen should be completed by the end of this week. The real challenge being the Bikers.

 

Celtic_Cauldron

[SwordMasterJ280]

my first chaos vow is complete and I am very happy with how typhus has turned out, for the lighting on the base I drilled some holes and bent some paperclips into shape and then superglued them down into the holes, and then painted them blue and painted lines in blue leading from his feet to the paperclips. Then I stuck down some soft toy stuffing around the paperclips with pva glue to make the effect of smoke, then I painted the stuffing with blue as some OSL and painted the tips in black. The Death Guard horde is growing...

[Scion]

Oh ooooh I enter a painting challenge to get motivated again and proceed to not take time and invest in painting...or looking on the forum for that matter 

My last few years of hobby summed up 

Still....not to late to make a change! A little under two weeks...cmon! I can do this, for CHAOS!

Busted out the paints and got an hours work in!

 

Edited September 4 by Scion

[Norman Paperman]

Forgefiend is DONE! 

 

Added the pauldrons and knee guards, got a few layers of colour and highlights on, and a few more details here and there.

 

 

 

 

Very happy with how he turned out. On to the final sorcerer!

 

 

[Bonehead]

Had a bit of an issue with the malcador that nearly sent the whole thing off the rails. Bit of varnish bloom.

Alright, a lot of varnish bloom. A ton. Pretty comprehensive varnish bloom, if I'm going to be completely honest about it.

But I am nothing if not too stupid to give up on an obviously hopeless case. Found some mineral oil and gave it a gentle coat, then left it overnight to dry:

It did end up looking quite shiny, but at least it wasn't covered in frost anymore:

Once that was dry I varnished it again, but didn't leave it in the garage for three hours while I was at the gym, and it made a difference.

Still a bit of frost here and there but nothing so terrible as before: Chipping, weathering powders and rust effects will cover all that. Like this, in fact:

The front right track was still completely frosted, but covering it in mud weathering powder really fixed that problem. So I added loads more:

Then I gave it some black soot powder for exhaust stains. The malcador's supposed to have fairly crappy engines according to my FW book so I was fairly heavy handed.

Just rust effects to go and I'm done. It's not too shabby despite everything, though I say so myself. Think I might actually make the deadline.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

So glad you were able to fix your terrible case of frosting.  Its looking fantastic, and the weathering more than adequately covers up any remaining imperfections.

 

Morale of the story is, I guess, don't go the gym. 

Edited September 5 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Kharn13]

 

Had a bit of an issue with the malcador that nearly sent the whole thing off the rails. Bit of varnish bloom.

Alright, a lot of varnish bloom. A ton. Pretty comprehensive varnish bloom, if I'm going to be completely honest about it.

But I am nothing if not too stupid to give up on an obviously hopeless case. Found some mineral oil and gave it a gentle coat, then left it overnight to dry:

It did end up looking quite shiny, but at least it wasn't covered in frost anymore:

Once that was dry I varnished it again, but didn't leave it in the garage for three hours while I was at the gym, and it made a difference.

Still a bit of frost here and there but nothing so terrible as before: Chipping, weathering powders and rust effects will cover all that. Like this, in fact:

The front right track was still completely frosted, but covering it in mud weathering powder really fixed that problem. So I added loads more:

Then I gave it some black soot powder for exhaust stains. The malcador's supposed to have fairly crappy engines according to my FW book so I was fairly heavy handed.

Just rust effects to go and I'm done. It's not too shabby despite everything, though I say so myself. Think I might actually make the deadline.

I did the same thing with my entire BL army. Truly heart breaking! Great job covering it up though.

[gaurdian31]

Get sick and I missed a lot of great updates. Awesome work everyone and thank you @Dr_Ruminahui I'll see about getting a pick of everyone from last year and this year up at some point.

[Scion]

Look at what a couple of hours get's you done...I got this!

 

[Cryptix]

Havocs done right on time. Onto basing!

[Bonehead]

Malcador properly finished. Did some rust effects. Somehow, the white spirit kind of reactivated the varnich bloom in a few places, so I had to re-do the mud weathering.

Overall, I'm pretty dang pleased.

It's a damn great big pile of steel, rust and other crap. Looks reasonably convincing as a big, heavy machine that's seen hard use and not been washed recently.

I like how the rust weathering powder, applied directly with a brush, has made the eight-pointed chaos stars on the side look much more convincingly like roughly welded steel that's been out in the weather. Same with the crown of rebar spikes.

Speaking of which, here's some detail of the trophies hanging from those spikes:

Nasty stains and all.

And here's a final shot of it with its brethren. Very happy with the set as a whole.

Actually contributed to the challenge for once. Nice.

Cheers everyone, I hope you like it. Stay stuck in and you'll get your own challenges done: everyone's delivering sheer quality so far.

 

[Grotsmasha]

* UPDATED TO THIS POINT *

[Brother Nathan]

Iv yet to truely start... so ive givenmyself this week to get this done... whoops... i can do it... if my toddlers dont break me first...

[Boc]

Obligatory "aaaaaaaahhh we're almost done" status update.

 

Paused a bit on the war dog since I've been going all out on the Rampager. Just a little update with him, the reds are done and some trim is done. Not even sure if this is the same wardog i showed in the last update since I'm working on both of them at the same time lol 

 

 

Really happy with how the reds have come out, used a couple new paints (notably AK Gen 3 Blood Red as the brightest portion).

 

I'll be working on the weapons of the big boy tomorrow, I don't expect they'll take too long to get to the wash/weather steps.

 

 

The torso of the Rampager is, for all intents and purposes, done. I added the washes/weathering tonight, cleaned it up a bit, then it'll dry overnight and I can highlight tomorrow. The legs are done with painting, i put on the gloss varnish on to cure overnight, then do washes tomorrow. I'm thinking Thursday I'll be done completely with all components and the base? 

 

Only a bad back pic or the torso, since I'm really excited how this guy is turning out, so want the final pic to feel kind of like a reveal.

 

So...here's part of his back?

 

[Antarius]

I've been sidetracked by various other stuff I needed to do, but I reckon I can finish off with one more vow, so:
I, Antarius, heed the Call to Arms and pledge to paint 15 Goliath Outlaws for 15(?) points for the Glory of the Chaos Stronghold on or before 17th September 2024, or bear the badge of failure until years end.

 

I was halfway through the priming process when I suddenly realised I needed to snap a picture. At this point I'd just started priming them all brown from below (the ones in front and back have the remains of an old layer of light grey primer that I just sprayed on top of but which will be covered up completely by my next layer of primer, so I hope that still works for the "one colour" primer rule).
I'll go out and give them all a coat of white zenithal over the brown after posting this and then get cracking.

There's 15 models by my count (there would've been 16 but I managed to drop one and break off his arms while getting them on the paint stick...). If we want to count champions and leaders as heroes there's 27 points, but I'm honestly going to spend the same amount of effort on all of them, so I'm not sure it makes sense to differentiate between leaders/champions and regular guys in this case?

 

Edited September 9 by Antarius

[Dr_Ruminahui]

This is the final encouragement post before its over.  My last weekly update is still to come, but it will solely be a congratulations post to those who have finished their vows (or a disappointed dad post to those who didn't).  So keep painting, everyone - this is the last week to do so!

 

 

@Tallarn Commander - Congratulations on completing Esmeralda - she's fantastic!  I like the white cogs teeth, even if they are a bit uneven.

 

@Celtic_cauldron - That's a very good start and some very nice rhinos and leviathan.  That said, you still have a whole lot to go so keep on painting!

 

@SwordMasterJ280, - Well done on your Typhus and other forces of nurgle!  They look great, but could definitely benefit from some closer in photos.  In particular, if you could give me a nice close up front-on for Typhus so I can best show him off in  Psycheriest Psycher.

 

@Scion - Yeah, probably would have been better to pace yourself and have started earlier, but that's a job for past you.  For present you, I'm glad you've started putting paint on models and now's the time to keep doing that!  Looking forward to seeing your crushers and fleshhounds completed.

 

@Norman Paperman - Very nice job on your forgefiend - not much chance of another player taking that one home by accident!  Particularly liking the flesh and teeth - they are a nice contrast to the vibrant blue and yellow of the armour.  Looking forward to seeing your sorcerer done as well.

 

@Bonehead - Fantastic malcador and completed vow!  I know I kind of roped you into CtA, so I am super happy that you were able to finish despite everything life threw in your way.

 

@Cryptix - You are really powering through those models - your heavy weapons guys look great and I'm looking forward to seeing them based.  Kind of lost track in your massive vow how much you have after that, but you should be close to done - so keep at it and put it across the finish line!

 

@Brother Nathan - You are leaving it kind of late, but better late than never.  Don't let that toddler pull you off course - you've got a lot to do.

 

@Boc - Your wardog is coming together nicely and its just that and the ravager left.  Always enjoy myself a Boc painted knight (even though they aren't lords ) so hopefully we'll have 2 of them by about this time next week.

 

@Antarius - Welcome back in the ring with an ambitious final vow - contact @Grotsmasha about the pointing on your characters.  You now need to paint like crazy!

 

I must admit, all the last minute vows and folks that haven't really started painting yet are making me very nervous... so I really hope you guys can finish in time.

 

@TrawlingCleaner, @Kharn13, @Bob Fossil,@Ezekyle_Abaddon, @Xin Ceithan, @Iron Father Ferrum, @Cpt.Danjou, @legoman, and @Chainsword Cookie - this is your last chance!  Keep at it and come post your completions!

 

Myself, I have not finished painting my second CtA vow, which means I've gotten my last set of 6 guardsmen with character done.

 

Here's the guard:

 

 

And here is the the character and my entry to Psycheriest Psycher.  Actual model isn't as bucked tooth as this photo suggests.

 

 

 

Here's the whole vow together:

 

 

And here is a shot of both vows together.

 

 

Anyway, keep at it all!  I would really like chaos to be the "completioniest" stronghold again, but that's all up to you guys!