Journeyman Painting Log # 9

The body issue. 

Took the plunge today, crossed the Rubicon, passed the event horizon, take your pick of cliches (I love them all).  Torso talk is the order of the day here as I got started on my beast chassis.  I hope to get the heads and limbs ready for painting over the weekend, finish the torsos Monday, and have at least one set of attachments for each chassis finished by Thursday.  A lofty goal?  Perhaps, but it's well within my reach.  The torsos need a final highlight on the skin and underplates, pure white in both cases, while the upperplates just have a base coat.  The upperplates also cover claws, little scales on top of toes, and the ridges down the back, so it's a bit more than it sounds, but I'm still confident that I'll be able to finish them off on Monday even with a trip out to Kettler for Hockey Christmas in July (Caps Development Camp).  Last night at the FLGS I fielded a fully painted Legion list for the first time.  The ability to do so without compromising my build is just around the corner.

Journeyman Painting Log # 8

Salute! 

 First things first, Happy Birthday USA.  Let's all celebrate with some eye candy.

I took a pass on Huzzah yesterday to get some painting in.  Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to post about it, but considering the crapfest that was the previous post perhaps that was for the best.  Remember all that planning and analysis I put into which models to paint next from the so-recently slandered last post?  Out the window.  Instead of painting up some beast torsos I went in a direction no one expected, myself included: Swordsmen.  A couple factors entered into this move.  First was how our Journeyman league works.  To boil it down, for the first four weeks I need to paint 5 points worth of models with small bases being 1 point, medium bases 2, large bases 3, and huge bases being something else that I don't know because I don't have any huge bases.  My tally for the week was sitting at 0, which was the same number as the odds of my finishing two beasts this week (considering that those two beasts don't have heads and arms ready for painting.)  Since I've been working on that Spell Martyr for the past few days I wanted to get it done, which would then require another four small based models (as I have no medium based models ready to paint either).  I could have done four Legionnaires, but I didn't want to paint just part of a unit.  I could have done the other two Forsaken, a Deathstalker, some Shredders, or any combination of those, but frankly that didn't occur to me until just now.

Journeyman Painting Log # 7

Looks much better now. 

Short but productive session today.  First on the agenda was fixing Saeryn as outlined in the last post.  The fix was a success that made Saeryn look like part of my growing army instead of some sort of spiky clown.  Normally I'd have more to say when finishing a model, but I kinda blew my load earlier today.  Instead enjoy some nice white space before the next picture.

Journeyman Painting Log # 6

Armor?  What armor? 

For real this time.  Finished up the first Angelius and Saeryn on Friday before the storm hit and threw a wrench into everything.  The Angelius went much quicker than the Seraph did, probably thanks to less total wing space to paint.  Days after finishing I realize I did the Angelius a little different than the other beasts, with no dark brown on the tips of spikes and plates.  I may "correct" that next time or I may just embrace having beasts that are all subtly unique.  Maybe this Angelius is just younger than the others and hasn't put in the time to get the dark tips yet.

Looks right.

Summer Battle Tour Continues

Just look for the great big hammer. 

Thanks to a scheduling snafu that moved my family's Father's Day dinner to the week after Father's Day, I had the chance to travel to Games and Stuff for a 50 pointer.  GNS is the last of the stores in my extended gaming area to get crossed off my list and it made quite an impression.  It's a two story affair with the shop on the bottom and a big gaming room on top.  They posted a pic of the action this past weekend that showcases this humble author while also showing off the room, which is second only to Game Vault in terms of sheer playing space.  This upstairs space is apparently undergoing renovation but was still the nicest play space I've frequented so far.  I didn't have a lot of time to browse on the way out, so I concentrated my attention on the Warmahordes section and Legion stuff in particular.  They may not have had one of everything in the line on the wall, but it was close enough for me, and it looked like every other faction was represented just as well.  My only real complaint about the store is that it's quite a drive, but that's a small issue.  If you're in the area stop by and check it out.  Enough of the plugs, on with the show.

Journeyman Painting Log # 5

What I did this morning. 

Quick post before heading off to the FLGS tonight.  Vayl got arc markings and a coat of varnish today in preparation for her big debut tonight as a painted model.  When I took another look at her the need for armor highlights wasn't as pressing, so I let it slide.  I got started on Saeryn and the first Angelius who, along with a Spell Martyr, got the first two layers of skin done plus purple lining/base coating.  Hopefully I'll finish up the Angelius tomorrow, but that might be a bit of a stretch.  I'd like to get some good work in on it at least.  In non-painting news, I finished assembling my second Angelius last night and pinned the wings this morning.  All that remains before it's ready for priming is reinforcing the wing joints and puttying over the construction.  Considering that the first Angelius is the bumpiest thing ever where I greenstuffed I'll be taking an extra minute or two to try and make it smooth.  The smooth, graceful lines of the Angelius are what I like best about it (the POW 14 armor piercing tail doesn't hurt either), so it's extra painful to have such a shoddy patch job on one of them, but you have to learn sometime.

Journeyman Painting Log # 4

Add another tally to the "finished" column.

Today I finished pVayl, more or less, as has become my custom.  My original thought was to do her inner dress/robe in purple, but somewhere along the way I roughed in a purple interior to her cloak.  Since I am nigh-powerless to change something I've roughed in the cloak has a purple lining and Vayl has a creamy dress.  In a flash of justification I reasoned with myself that the purple interior was better than the dress as it stuck to the role of purple in my scheme, namely as a lining color.  The orange Oraculus turned out reasonably well, as did the autumn colored leaves.  The only place that looks to need more love is the metal parts of the dress and....hat?  I'm not sure anything can be done for the thing that lives on her head, but a little highlighting wouldn't hurt, and the dress could stand some of the same treatment.  Whether that treatment is via standard highlighting or by applying a second purple wash for additional shading, or even a combination of both, is yet to be determined.

Journeyman Painting Log # 3

What I did this morning.

Had a reasonably productive day at the painting table.  The morning started with a pair of new (to me) products in liquid greenstuff and gesso.  I read somewhere about using liquid greenstuff on the Legion heavy kit to cover the torso joints, which seems like a good idea, and mere months after getting the kits (mostly) assembled I decided to try it out.  The liquid GS was both thicker and thinner than I expected but it brushed on easily and looked like it worked well enough.  My big concern is that the passage of every bristle has been recorded in the GS and will transfer to the painted model, but I'll reserve final judgement until I take a look in the morning when things have dried.

Journeyman Painting Log # 2

Soon to be finished.

Brief update here, or as brief as I can be.  Got a decent chunk of work done on the Seraph yesterday, all the skin, underplates, purples, and the teeth.  All that remains are the upperplates and blighty spikey bits that will end up pure orange.  I would have gotten it finished yesterday if not for the weekly trip to the FLGS, but since that's (at least part of) the point of painting in the first place it would be silly to skip playing to paint.  Plus I already did that on Tuesday.  With any luck the Seraph will be finished today and I'll be able to get some quality progress in on pVayl as well.

In other painting news, I got some gesso earlier in the week and will be trying that out when I get to the painting table today.  While I want to just plow straight into Saeryn with it I'll take the more prudent route and start with a single Spell Martyr to make sure that it works well before moving on to a more important model.

Journeyman Painting Log # 1

Ready to leap into your backfield and eat your mens.

A date long circled passed this weekend, the start of painting for our local Journeyman league.  My intention to get everything, or at least a lot of things, assembled and primed to hit the ground running didn't turn out so well.  I managed to assemble Saeryn and a Spell Martyr, another two Spell Martyrs that need some gap plugging and general reinforcement, plus a unit of Legionnaires that needs some pinning, and a min unit Spawning Vessel that's about half done.  Not exactly an overwhelming start.  I've managed to get some painting in though, so all is not lost.  Foremost is the Raek, which is all but finished, that I got done over the weekend.  Obviously the base needs to get done, plus arc markings, but other than that it's finished.