April Motivational

 

Until next time, have nice day...

Hobby Spending - April 2022.

 

During the Easter school break, both me and the Mrs had booked time off work and we went away for a few days with our son for a family getaway.

During this, whilst visiting my mother, we went to a local carboot sale (yard sale for any yanks reading) in Bridlington and I was rewarded with sighting a battered looking box with some distinctive Warlord Games branding.

I'd binned the box when I took this photo, as it was falling to pieces:

A bit of a peruse through and it turned out to be the German half of the Band of Brothers starter set, a full box of Waffen-SS infantry AND a King Tiger, built but unprimed.

Even better, all the extra details and the heads/arms and accessories for the infantry were still on the sprues.

The guy was asking for £20 for the entire box, so I snapped his hand off and parted with a crisp twenty-note and walked away with the most of a German platoon, not bad.

Once home I realised I had run out of a couple of paints, so off to We're Partying Now which is up the road from me, and I picked up a pot of Mephiston Red and Aggoros Dunes, whilst there, Impulse kicked in and I purchased a novel:

'Da Gobbo's Demise' by Denny Flowers.

I love greenskins, especially in 40k, so when I spotted this on the shelf, I knew it belonged on my bookshelf!

Onto the numbers:

The monthly rundown:

Bolt Action Germans: £20.

Pot of Mephiston Red: 2.75.

Pot of Aggoros Dunes: £4.75.

Da Gobbo's Demise: £7.99:

Total for April: £35.49.

Budget for April: £50.

Over/Under Yearly Budget: under budget by £48.22.

Until next time, have nice day...

Slaaneshi Daemons, part 1.

 

Salathi stared through the thinning viel between worlds. It hungered to be set loose upon the material realm, the daemonic essence of its sister-neverborn churning in the roiling soup of the warp.

The glittering, musk filled atmosphere grew thick with apprehension and excitement as the ritual on the material planes grew to its conclusion.

Shrieks of ecstacy erupted from the Daemonettes as they crowded around the forming tear into realspace and their patron, the Prince of Pleasure, raised one of her clawed appendages and slowly caressed the edge of the glowing warp portal, causing it to expand and open with each touch.

Salathi, and it's comrades, had to wait their turn to head through the tear as The Masque of Slaanesh had to take center stage and be the first through as Slaanesh's herald.

With a devious smile, the Masque transformed itself into a mist of lilac energy and leapt through into the body of the woman conducting the musical ensemble who had unwittingly summoned the attention of the warp.

The conductor spasmed as The Masque entered her body, flailing her arms high. A dreamy smile appeared on the woman's face and her nose started to bleed, with one word of "yes" whispered from her bleeding lips and her soul was damned forever.

Ten more instrumentalists jerked and nodded dreamily, however the audience's eyes were affixed upon the composer who had began to levitate above the floor. 

Her skin grew pale and grey, but flawless. Her features changed, eyes blackened and opened wide, her nose receded and her lips became full and moist, hiding a mouth full of razor sharp fangs.

Her red dress transformed into a billowing gown of darkest black and a golden corset wound it's way around her torso. Her hair darkened to black and coifed itself high above her head, and a ruffle forced it's way through her skin to encircle her neck.

The worst was yet to come as a second pair of arms forced their way out of her back with a sickening series of pops and cracks as they grew. Each was tipped not with a hand, but a great chitinous claw nearly two feet long. The fingers on her original hands extended into dextrous claws themselves, and a pair of curved horned forced their way out of her head.

This same process had also been happening in the background with greater or lesser horrifying results, as the other possessed members of the orchestra were similarly transformed.

With a crack like thunder, the newly transformed Masque of Slaanesh landed, clawed feet splintering the wood of the stage, and her black eyes snapped open taking in the shocked faces staring at her.

Bunching muscles in backward jointed legs, she sprang into the audience and began an orgy of violence in praise of the Lord of Excess...

*****

I previously mentioned that I'd picked up some Slaaneshi daemons as a way of expanding my Chaos forces.

One good thing is that the Daemons of GWs universes can pull triple duty in both AoS, 30k and 40k. 

Although these have 40k in mind for the Chaos forces I am building up.

So the unit as a whole:

And the unit champion:

I originally started off following a tutorial online in order to replicate the traditional pastel colours you often see Slaaneshi troops depicted in, but it didn't quite work the they looked horrid overall.

So a quick dip in the Diall/IPA Paint Stripper mix and a thorough clean before being reprimed led to a coat of Space Wolves Grey contrast being used for their skin, which I felt worked perfectly for the look I was after.

Afterwards it was a simple matter of blocking in the black and gold to tie them to the Black Legion gear I'd already painted up, however I used Fleshshade on the gold instead of Earthshade to give a more opulent/regal look to the metal, as opposed to the weathered look to the the mortal troops.

The command staff:

Every Daemonette in the unit has Black hair (to keep the colour palette tight) apart from the unit leader who has the flowing white hair to make her stand out.

I chose to use both banners from the box, because why not, more banner is always a good look, and suitably for Slaanesh, the chaos instrument with the log tongue flicking out is quite unnerving.

The banners:

Close ups of the two banners showcase a couple of the deviances from the main colour palette, in the skull with its bright bone sitting high, and the rich purple of the fabric banner.

Purple is Slaanesh's traditional colour (just look at the Emperor's Children) and I wanted to include it in the models somewhere. 

A Genestealer Purple base washed with Druchii Violet provided a suitable base, the symbol is Ushabti Bone washed with Seraphim Sepia.

The Daemonettes:

The six Daemonettes of the unit as just painted as before, quite a quick project and one which I was aiming to have completed during my days off work this past week. All told the unit took maybe two hours start to finish, including drying time, which isn't bad I think.

Contrast paints really helped a lot here with a lack of having to highlight the majority of the miniatures.

I'll work on the Hellstriders and The Masque next, but will be on the lookout for a second unit of Daemonettes to fulfill a formation for the modified Apocalypse 2019 rules I'll be using these for.

Until next time, have nice day...

March Motivational

 

Remember, it's important!

Until next time, have nice day...

Hobby Spending - March 2022.

 

 Little bit of a more bumper month for Wargaming goodness compared to February.

Mirfield Miniatures had a good deal on the first Monday/Tuesday of the month and I snapped up:

The Masque of Slaanesh, new in her blister:

And a unit of Seekers of Slaanesh on sprues:

These will go to the 40k Chaos force I'm putting together, the flavour of Daemons of which my son chose after expressing interest in the game.

I simplified the four gods and explained them as:

Khorne - War/Offensive Power.

Nurgle - Plague/Defensive Power.

Tzeentch - Fate/Sorcery.

Slaanesh - Excess/Speed.

I'm working on the forces and hoping to play some games with him in the second half of the summer holidays after we've had our holiday, that way we won't be starting to play and then taking a break for a couple of weeks and having to get him into it again.

(Sadly he shows no interest in modelling/painting unless it's on Roblox or Minecraft...such is the modern world).

And this Dark Angels Master:

I have always liked this model, and with the upgraded head from the upgrade sprue it was a no-brainer to add it to the order from Mirfield.

He's going to become Corswain and have a retinue of a couple of units of Dark Angels for Heresy, and a unit of the psychic anti-daemon terminators (I forget what they're called) if I can figure out how I'd make them!

Most of the next purchases are bits and bobs in order to get another of my projects stocked up:

Mk.3 Torso's:

Mk.3 Boltguns:

These are both for some 30k World Eaters, as the Mk.3 armour suits their assault nature being thicker at the front and the Bolters are chunkier then the others, perfect for hitting people with.

Next are some Grenade Launchers (sadly no photo, as I got excited when they turned up and built the Destroyer unit) and 3D Printed Jump-packs:

These are for some Blood Angels to accompany Antor who I bought last month and who I intend to turn into a Heresy-era Centurion, the Grenade Launchers will be used for a small unit of Angels Tears Destroyers (sadly no Phosphex Party).

Sticking with the deals for second hand miniatures during a recent weekend away, I visited Mighty Lancer Games in Bridlington.

I walked out with these:

A damaged Huron Blackheart (an easy fix to replace his weapon), an Exalted Sorcerer for the Thousand Sons and four pre-owned Chaos Marines for £17...bargain.

Huron will be converted into a Chaos Lord for the Black Legion stuff, and the four marines will be used to fill out squads.

The Exalted Sorcerer was bought because I have had a used box of Rubric Marines since lockdown, but they were missing their sorcerous leader, so he's going to drop in there and they'll be an allied faction to the Legion.

So, here are the totals for the month:

The Masque of Slaanesh - £12.

Seekers of Slaanesh - £10.

Dark Angels Master - £3.

3D Printed Heresy Jump Packs - £8.

MK3 Armour - £3.

Mk.3 Boltguns - £3.

Grenade Launchers - £4.

Used Chaos Marines - £17.

Total for March: £60.

Budget for March: £50.

Over/Under Yearly Budget: under budget by £34.01.

So I went over budget this month, but I am still well under budget in the overall scheme of the year.

Until next time, have nice day...

Monster March 7 - part 5; The Final Reveal.

 

Light glittered from every surface imaginable as the torch illuminated the treasury room.

The three thieves stood by the entrance, entranced by the scene infront of them, an entire kingdoms treasure in a vault which stretched far above them, so high that the light from their torch could not reach the ceiling.  No-one would notice if some went missing, as well as their target which was down here somewhere.

Gingerly, unbelieving that they had made it this far, they stepped off of the stone steps and moved amongst the treasure piles. Skittering piles of coins over causing a cascade of rolling bow wave as they moved.

"Wait, this was too easy. There should still be menials and clerical workers down here keeping tab on the tax levels and outgoings" one said as she stopped where she was.

"Who cares? Just fill your pack with gold and we'll find the Pitaxian Sceptre and be out of here" one of her companions replied, already filling his backpack with plundered gold pieces, a huge grim plotting his face.

The grin dropped as the huge doors clicked and locked shut. All three turned and began to scan their surroundings, the reflective light of the gold no-longer a thing of beauty but a distraction.

They lost sight of their companion in the dark.

"Gunter, Gunter, where are you mate?" 

There was a muffled cry and a thud in response, then the whisper of air over leathery skin, almost as if something was flying down here. 

Metal scraped as a sword was drawn, arrow was knocked onto bowstring and held ready, but the edge was upon them. The heist had been going so well, too well now they agreed, something was down here with them. A guardian perhaps, surely this kingdom wasn't insane enough to have monsters lurking in their undercroft?

Coins rippled in movement and both thieves jumped and turned at the sound. Weapons at the ready but the light from the torch was pitiful and they couldn't see anything.

"Marcus, get back up here, we need to find a way out" the woman said.

"Oh, I'm afraid it's too late for that my dear" a voice purred out from the dark, causing both to swing around again.

"Marcus, and...I don't believe I got your name..."

"Eva" she replied.

"Don't tell it you're name dummy" Marcus hissed.

"So, Marcus and Eva, I've already dealt with Gunter there, so you two won't be leaving I'm afraid. But I will know who set you upon the course to your doom and what they wanted".

"Show yourself Demon, I'll fight and die before I tell you anything" Marcus shouted hefting his bow manically left and right.

A huge thud, and a cut off scream announced the arrival of their nemesis.

Saerthaera dropped from the ceiling above, landing square on Marcus and squashing him flat, erupting a jet of blood in all directions from underneath her huge clawed foot.

She reared up, towering over the shocked Eva, eyes glinting in the meagre torchlight, red scales tinged orange.

"Now, let us talk, you and I"...

*****

You've gathered your friends around the table, snacks and character sheets at the ready. Player Handbooks are open on class and spell lists. The group note-taker has their notepad open and pencil at the ready.

Gradually as the Dungeon Masters screen is unfolded and blocks off the section of rulebooks, dice and other paraphernalia, the conversation about the table dies off and everyone looks expectantly at the Game Master.

"Greetings, when last we left our dragon..."

-----

Greetings, when last we left our dragon I mentioned that I had very little left to complete, mainly her base and some details.

I'm happy to report that the Matte Varnish stage worked as intended:

This was the rather undignified pose of waiting for the black base rim to dry as I always paint a section underneath the rim black as well. I find that it stops the inevitable flakes round the rim forming, especially once varnished.

My can of Army Painter varnish was used, warmed gently in a sink of warm water, and shaken thoroughly before a test application on a "volunteer" Grot I had lying around to ensure that there would be no cloudiness upon drying.

I must admit to still being very nervous, as it could very easily have ruined the entire project at this late stage (due to work shift schedule, I won't get anymore time to work on her this month).

Afterwards, it was just a matter of overbrushing the gold, picking out the cauldron on her base and painting in her eyes and teeth.

Below I present Saerthaera, in all her glory:

 I am happy to have her finished well in advance of the deadline and not to have been pushing it.

A little background behind her.

Saerthaera, was a player character in a Pathfinder kingdom builder campaign my friends played in*.

It was set in a region known as the Stolen Lands, which were split into a series of other smaller regions, each of which could be added to the players kingdom as play continued.

Saerthaera, was the daughter of an Ancient Red Dragon known as Choral the Conqueror, and who was actively working to return and conquer the region.

She had been sent out in human form to gather intelligence on the kingdoms, but took to human affairs and the running of the kingdom, so decided to betray her father** and work against him in the long run.

If memory serves, she ended up ruling a northern barbarian tribe and was working on becoming the ruler of the kingdom of Brevoy, by way of killing off the rest of the ruling family and taking over.

In honour of the game, Saerthaera was purchased and now thanks to Swordmaster, I have transformed her from bare grey primer, into the display piece she deserved to be all along!

Some detail photo's:

The focal point is obviously her head and face, I took extra time here to add highlights to the ridges and blend the purple into the red.

Finally I added her eyes.

With a "miniature" this size, her wings will draw a lot of attention, so I made sure to work towards the weathered, aged leathery look.

The "Butt shot"***, the bricks on the rear of her base are actually sculpted using Green Stuff, as the area was flat on the stock model.

Once again, with the ridge running down her tail, I took the time to work to blend the purple into the red to get a soft transition of colour.

Every Dragon loves treasure, and Saerthaera's base is liberally covered in the stuff. Gold and Silver coins, Rubies to keep the warm feel of the entire model. The half buried cauldron is spilling more rubies onto the floor. 

The ruined walls are in place because I imagine that she's turned the treasury room into her personal horde area and wanted to transform amongst the kingdom's wealth to relax.

Lastly, just to remind everyone about just how big this model actually is:

That is my converted Stormcast Eternal Knight Questor, not entirely a small miniature, and he is dwarfed by the Dragon.

Once again, thanks to Swordmaster of Hoeth for running Monster March, and I'm extremely happy to have taken part and finished in good time.

I'll have to start planning for next year's monster!

Until next time, have nice day...

*****

"What I want to know is who hired you, and what do they want" Saerthaera grumbled, "So?"

"Why would I tell a dragon anything?" Eva asked and swung her sword at the dragons face.

Contemptuously, Saerthaera swatted the sword aside, then with a surprising amount of grace and dexterity turned and pulled the sword from Eva's hand, throwing it out of reach into the treasure pile.

Eva scanned around eyes settling upon Marcus's bow and arrow.

"You'd never make it in time my dear" Saerthaera said, "I am Saerthaera, treasurer of the kingdom, daughter of the Conqueror and currently, I should be the sole object of your attention".

A growl snapped Eva's eyes back to the dragon.

She whimpered, "If I tell you, will you let me go?".

"Of course" Saerthaera said, although the reptilian face was much harder to read facial cues on then a regular humanoid.

Eva sighed deeply.

"Alright, a man named Calistrus hired us. He was after the Pitaxian Sceptre as it's a sign of office and one can rule the city-state of Pitax using it".

"Calistrus, I've never heard this name".

"Really, he works gathering relics and treasure for your father, Choral the Conqueror".

At the mention of her father's name, Saerthaera's eyes snapped back into sharp focus, stare boring down on the hapless adventurer.

A glow began to rise in her chest, visible between the chest scales, getting brighter as it worked it's way up her neck.

Eva panicked, having figured out what was about to happen and ran for the doors, even as Saerthaera pursed her lips and let forth a stream of fire, aimed directly at the running thief.

The superheated flame caught Eva, who didn't have time to scream before she was immolated, a cloud of ash and a pair of charred boots all that was left.

*****

Half and hour later, Saerthaera, back in human form, walked the groggy Gunter out of the doors to the treasury, pointing out the remains of his compatriots as they passed.

"Now you know what to say when you return, don't you?" She asked.

"That the treasury is guarded by a red dragon, and that Mamzel Saerthaera will suffer no fools to attempt to steal from her".

"Good man, here's five gold pieces for your trouble" she said smiling broadly as she placed the coins into his hand.

"Thank you, um, who are you?"

Her smiled turned to ice as she looked at him again.

"Mamzel Saerthaera, now get out of my city!".

*****

* I've been invited to play in campaigns many times by this group, unfortunately working changing shift work as I do I can't commit to a regular game on a regular night at a regular time. Also I don't want to say I'll play, and then my character only turns up one out of three weeks or something, maybe longer if there is overtime shifts to cover!

I live vicariously through their reports and offer opinions about what they should try to do. I also sometimes give motivations to the higher up NPCs who need to make decisions regarding things in the game world, kind of make the world a little more real feeling behind the scenes.

** Because she's a RED Dragon, duh.

*** Oo-er, Butts!

Monster March 7 - part 4; Detailing.

 

"Explain to me again" Saerthaera growled and glared at the minister of the interior.

Minister Erid visibly shrunk under the withering gaze which seemed to bore into his head. He stammered, unwilling to speak until he forced himself.

"Whilst you were gone we detected two separate intrusions into the treasury. No clues about who the perpetrator's were or what they took have been found" he swallowed hard.

"And you, Ser Madalena, what have the Griffon Knights to say on the matter?" The yellow reptilian eyes swung to glare at the knight stood at the end of the table. Her polished steel armour, dark yellow Hauberk decorated with white griffons reflected in the polished hardwood tabletop.

"We were unable to apprehend the thieves" the fierce blonde woman replied, holding Saerthaera's stare unblinkingly.

Paperwork was flung across the room as the objects ontop of the table were flung aside and a full glass of wine shattered against the wall.

"Unbelievable! I take leave to visit Lord Inferno to seek aid against my father to defend the kingdom, and YOU LET SOMEONE STEAL FROM MY TREASURY?" her voice rose to a roar causing Erid to cower under the edge of the table.

"Our treasury" Madalena tried to correct.

"We are still searching..." He began in a high pitched voice.

"Oh shut up both of you, I will handle this myself" Saerthaera spat through clenched teeth, "now get out".

The two members of the government left the suite, one almost running, the other a warriors straight-backed march. She watched them leave and then checked the corridor outside her door to truly make sure they were gone, there had been an epidemic of spies before she left. Scanning the corridor, there was only the Griffon Knight guard left at the end and she summoned him to attend.

Two hours later, Saerthaera re-emerged to her sitting room and summoned her aide.

"Yes Mamzel?" she said, as she gingerly stepped around the ruined plate armour which dotted the room.

"Ah, Anaya, we have work to do. First though, get rid of that back to the barracks please" Saerthaera said, pointing to the sleeping knight in her bed chamber.

*****

It is the third week of Monster March, and the fourth installment of this series.

Once again I will go over the progress made on Saerthaera here, and how I've been painting her. I encourage anyone reading to go and visit Swordmaster of Hoeth's blog to take a look at the various monsters which the community is painting for the month.

When last we left our dragon, she had had the detailing of the bone plates and purple fin areas painted and detailed up.

We start this time with the basecoat on the wings, which was Tallarn sand, and then washed with Riekland Fleshshade, being careful to avoid pooling and tidemarks on the large membranous wing sections:

On the left is the basecoat only, and the right the washed sections I worked round all the areas of the wing like this until everything was washed.

I then used a large drybrush and proceeded to drybrush/stipple Tallarn Sand in the center of the membrane and about 3/4 on the length towards her arm:

I purposely did this in a rough fashion in order to try to get some texture into the paint and some "weathering" to her wings so that they didn't look like new skin. I plan to replicate this effect once or twice more and halfway up the wing and maybe then the bottom 1/4 to give a gradient effect to the colour.

Whilst waiting for things to dry, I took the opportunity to get the stone work on her base painted grey, washed with Earthshade and drybrushed again with Mechanicus Standard Grey and then a very light drybrush of Ulthuan Grey:

I plan on adding the other details to the base and painting the rim black, before giving her a coat of Matte Varnish, then going back in with the gold and silver to make the treasure pile vibrant again.

Then it will just be a matter of picking out a few details like her eyes and some detail on her teeth as I'm not happy with the effect so far.

Overall, I'm happy with how she's turning out and progressing on schedule so far.

I estimate that she's taken maybe five hours of work so far, most of which has been drying time for shades.

In the next and final installment of this series, I'll give her a proper showcase of finished photo's, as well as give some text about who she is and where the model came from, as well as finishing her short story I started here.

Until next time, have nice day...