-=The Promethean Hammer=- An =][= Munda Collaboration

Hey, realized I haven't been here in a while. School and work is really kicking my butt. But in my spare time, I've finally gotten the support from a small group to start our I-Munda campaign from the bottom up.

Check out our adventures at -

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/320606.page

I apparently suck at this blogging, even with the prompts, and the link button doesn't exactly work, so there it is as a cut and paste.

Grad School/ Painting Schedule

Just like the title, my MBA program starts tomorrow- Work on weekdays, and 8 hours of school on Saturdays... freedom all but a memory. Where does this leave my hobby? Hopefully not in the dust, as I've just come back to the painting scene this year. But I'll have a better idea once I get into my studies and see how much time it requires. Aside from my wife and dog, video games and exercise, this is what keeps me stress-free, so even after those grueling Saturdays, I hope that I can get at least a few hours in on free Saturday nights and Sundays. Here's what I have on the chopping block so far-

Updates (Mostly =I= Munda)

-Just recieved my GW Yriel in the mail. This is going to be the basis for my =I= Munda leader, Inq. Desmond Creed. I've sketched out the conversions, and between all of the Eldar symbols I have to file off, and the =I= symbols/accessories that I have to green-stuff on, I suspect this will be an ambitious project. I suspect this guy will be a pretty far cry from the original model, but I'm definitely going to push the envelope on what I can do as far as Green-Fu, painting, and base modelling.

-Just recieved my Warmachine Mage Hunter Assassin Variant (the original was not executed all that well, compared to the original artwork...) This is to represent one of Inquisitor Creed's retinue- green-stuff galore on this model as well...

-Decided to use some parts (either Eversor head or Vampire Counts skeleton head) to create my Psyber Skull accessory for Creed. I have the transparent stand-pins and goods to create one from scratch.

-Just found my treasure trove bitz box from 10+ years ago!! Whoo hoo! I have Space Marine bitz, chopped up Assassins, some Necron and Necromunda bits... I'm definitely going to use a lot on this Inquisitor team.

-Awaiting 3 more miniatures from Warmachine and/or GW to represent my Psyker, Daemonhost, and another Agent (yes, Inquisitor Creed dips DEEP into the Heresy juice)


All of these miniatures will use the larger bases (GW 40mm or Equivalent) and what I hope will be highly-detailed and well-painted. I'm not too concerned with the basing, except that it has to match the battlefield to some degree. Cracked and dilapidated concrete...? Or metal, sludge, rusty crap....? But I won't get ahead of myself for now.

I'm also contracting the work out to make a website to a younger cousin, although I haven't heard back yet. My next big thing is to scan my sketches, document my conversion and painting progress... all for the website. I've also started with the fluff for Desmond Creed, as well as ideas for scenarios for the story-driven campaign... again... all useless without the site to put them on. I may decide to put my initial =I= Munda stuff on the Izanagi Blog and then transfer it over when the dedicated website is up and running, but I haven't decided yet.

But first things first, school. I'll apologize in advance if I'm absent for sometime. Hope to be back soon.

=I= Munda Blog Notification

After an extremely inspiring "chance" click onto Migsula's "Jade Vessel" blog on DakkaDakka (if you haven't been- check it out... sickeningly good stuff), I've decided to take a chance and start a new site dedicated to the Inquisitor-Necromunda fusion. The role-playing and repeatability potential is endless! Between my IG cousin and myself, I would say we have 75% of the Black Library of knowledge between us- heresies, inquisitors, their accessories and bits, lore, etc..

For those of you not in the know, Necromunda was a WH40K spinoff game of dirty gangs of various flavors facing off in the Underhive of the planet called Necromunda. By battling and winning (or losings) gangs would earn injuries, skill advances, territories, and new equipment. Inquisitor was an extremely detailed large-scale mini game that focused on the various shades of the Inquisition- those who used fire to fight fire, and those who stayed strictly with the light of the Emperor. The combination of the two shows the skilled "nobody" Inquisitor and his/her retinue facing off against the PDF(planetary defense forces), Adeptes Arbites, Adeptus Astartes, and other Inquisitors who don't see eye to eye (you say "for the Emperor", I say "Heretical Mutha*#$R&!@!!!") vying to protect,destroy, or keep the target. Deep narrative, and NOT making the most killer team is going to make this an extremely entertaining prospect.

Migsula's blogpost forum-spot has added rules to start from, as well as several amazing warbands from his younger brother and friends- the Sith-Vampire-Lord conversion in particular is damned good. It casts a ginormous, magnetic shadow, but it spurs me to create my own signature Inquistor.

I've decided to create a separate website for this potentially epic awesome- the website is still pending, but after a good night of drinking and Japanese home-cooking, we've come up with our "hook item" (or several, for multiple, continuous campaigns) that each band will sacrifice their all for, "tenative" website title, and website design. The website will include pictures and battle reports written in "fluff" style, the Dramatis Personnae galleries and their respective fluff, WIPs and tutorials on select figures, as well as any additional rules that we come up with for anyone thinking of doing the same. Right now, we've got about 6 people who will participate, but we hope to root out more heretics, er, gamers from our surrounding Chicagoland/Suburbs areas to join us and make this project great.

Once we have this up, I'll post it on here and link it in case anyone is interested. Izanagi will forge forward, but right now, this is probably my best bet with my limited grad-school-work-infested schedule.

I also plan on starting a Vampire Counts/WHQ blog, but for now this is going to be our focus (and sporadic HF Izanagi updates!).

Pheromones and Shadows- HF Izanagi Lictor 1

As promised - my first and last Lictor done in the Izanagi Hive scheme! Last, you say? YES. I'll explain later. For now- enjoy the first of several shadows I intend to deploy for HF Izanagi!!

Side-View: This is probably my favorite angle- it makes him look like he's about to rip some unsuspecting victim's face off. I decided to do the SM helmet in a Ultramarines-type color scheme, with the usual rust. However, I wasn't convinced at the time of photography. I'll be adding a bit of a wash or more stippled brown to the metal to simulate the rust and damage done by time.

3/4 Front : This model I ALSO sprayed with the matte sealer, but at the 50% mark- right before the feather-work, and a much lighter coat. I noticed a bit of the chalk-effect, but it doesn't detract from the overall model itself. (at least, I hope not) Also, the feathering is much finer than that done on the Tyrant... perhaps ANOTHER redo is in order for the big guy? My only concern is if it was enough of a coat to protect it...

Front- Tentacle View: As I said in a previous WIP post, this model was entirely pinned, then glued, to make it rigid enough to support the dynamic pose I wanted without shattering to pieces during transport or snapping off a limb due to unbalanced weight. The resulting "Bruce Lee wah-taaah" pose made it very easy to paint this model- a very good reward for taking down the Tyrant. The tentacles I did much the same way as the Zoanthrope, but hit a few angles with the old GW Ork-Flesh Wash to add depth and the "slime" aspect.

Back View: A shot of the back-carapace. This is what I felt was missing from the Tyrant- a characteristic shell. The spraying disaster kinda took the wind from my sails, and I was only concerned about saving the colors, rather than doing something spectacular on that particular model. This model has a raised arch-hood on the back and spikey protuberances running along his sides. (much like the horned ridges on the Zoans) I decided to run a line of red down the center and sides, then highlight it all. This ends up separating the black color, but making it into something more interesting to look at. What do you think?

Back-Left View: One final shot of the tail, the scythe, and left hand. I noticed that a lot of the Lictors for the standard GW Hives have the arms painted up in one color- including the scythes' 1st elbow spike area and carapace-like structure up to the sectioned scythe itself. I took a chance and veered away from that; I painted the entire area shoulder-to-1st-joint black, and feathered it with the red, and I'm pretty happy with the results.

So? What do you think? Any critiques or comments are always welcome- helps improve the standard of work! I plan to use this guy to go deep, rattle tanks and heavy weapons squads to help my 'stealers get in close without/before being blasted apart- we'll see how that pans out...

Oh yes, about the "last" Lictor thing- I wanted to see one in the standard scheme just to make sure nothing was "off" about it. I think it fits in quite well, but I have several techniques I intend to practice on my next set of these badboys. One, I intend to try a variation on Sky-Earth NMM type reflection, but it'll reflect the reds and yellows of the sky with the black smoke plumes, the building rubble towers on the ground... basically a 360-degree mirror of an entire urban landscape gone to hell... The one after that... well... that one, you're just going to have to wait for- it's going to border on a diorama/playing piece...

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Musings and Upcoming Hive Fleet Izanagi Pictures

Ah... grueling Mondays- how I love them. This is going to be short entry- basically just my ideas to myself for posterity and further consideration when I have some time. Also, if I could get some feedback on #3, that'd be much appreciated-

1) Spurred on by the completion of the Tyrant, I went on and actually finished/based my Lictor. (and half-finished a simple objective marker!) I'm liking the army the more I paint it. I'm actually trying to play my first-ever game of WH40K this Labor Day Weekend! Going into battle with a Tyrant, 8-man 'Stealers and Broodlord, Tyrgon Prime, 16 Horms, 16 Terms, 3 Ripper Swarms, 3 Warriors, and a Zoanthrope. Very excited- regardless of the outcome!

2) I've decided that until I get a new troop type (gargoyles), there'll be no more pics of the generic Horms, Terms... etc. - with the exception of my 'Stealers, as I haven't gotten around to finishing their bases yet and photographing them. Troops are like most of what I make, up-to-my-standard, but a waste of time for viewers unless there's something awesomely converted about them. Mine are painted nicely, but standard and not worth your time, IMO.

3) I'm also jumping onto the Warhammer Fantasy Bandwagon in between grad school, my Tyranids, and family life. I'm pretty new at the blogging game, but have wanted to do it for a while. I'm going to start a Vampire Counts army and will definitely post my stuff on a blog. Question is- Should I use this one and mix them, as I've already been doing with my custom works? Or start a new one for WH Quest and Fantasy? Advice is greatly appreciated.

Anyways, thanks for staying tuned. Oh yea, before I forget. Does anyone have any blogs they wanna share with me? Something you gentlemen/ladies think it would do me good to see? (I realize that was some really outdated English and apologize) If you have any recommendations about a blog you think I should be following, let me know- I'm always on the lookout for inspirations and kudos where it is deserved for an excellent paintjob or concept!

Hive Tyrant Painting Disaster Bonanza!

FINALLY finished. In addition to the painting troubles, I ran into additional construction and spray-sealant roadbumps... nay, potholes of unbelievable tire-busting size, on my way to the finish line. Following this short rant of the problems, I'll make up for it with lots of pics followed by the description bit. I thank all of you for your patience- this model has been extremely trying to say the least. Actually, here, I'll give a picture just to keep you with me a bit longer... then I'll rant, then I'll continue. How's that?



1-The flexible nature of the greenstuff (and even this stuff is pushing it- you'll see it below) goes against the rigid dry-form of the paint- while doing certain areas, I'd accidentally "rest" the tentacles on the table and put a little weight on them, this reformed the shape of the tentacles and "cracked" the curved stress-points... more paint-over and highlighting to cover the damaged paint job. FML.

2- Oh GW Sealant... damn you to the lowest pits of hell... In order to fix the paint-chipping by fingertips, I attempted to put sealant on the model "during" painting- and by during, I mean when the damn thing was almost done. To be fair, I've done this with my Zoan, and it came out beautifully. BUT... it was still in-progress, at the 35%, 65%-percent way marks. After spraying, my victory-grin turned into a fury-rictus as I saw that the goddamn spray had TURNED MY EFFIN' MODEL CHALKY WHITE!! YOU &@!@#*!ING PIECE OF S#!T SPRAY!! I OUGHT TO BREAK EVERY BONE IN YOUR WORTHLESS BODY AND LEAVE YOU CRAWLING HOME ON YOUR GODDAMN CHIN LIKE THE SPINELESS WORM YOU ARE!!!

*ahem*...After stomping around, a cigarette, and half a litre of crap Japanese sake in about 20 minutes... I calmed down and thought about how to fix it. I have a feeling I had a problem like this with my Zoan, but the added paint covered the mistakes. This one... I used successive washes of Baal Red, Badab Black, and oldskool Red Glaze to "repair" the paint job. I tried my very best to repair this, and here are the results.

Presenting... Izanagi's Hive Tyrant w/ funky custom implanty-things that I have no idea what they represent!!

Front Shot- This is the result after several washes of color to darken the chalked up POS that was the Tyrant. One thing I noticed is that there is a LOT of feathering... I think if it was a standard Tyrant, it might have been ok, but he's veering off into a totally different scheme with so much red- I didn't take into account the 6 extra back-housings and 6 extra tentacle heads.


Left Side- The scythes and gun-arms are magnetized- another reason I felt it necessary to seal the parts was also to present the damage from clamping and unclamping the arms- paint chipping sucks. I'll let you know if it worked out or not.


Back-Carapace- I thought this was fairly successful in its execution- at least, after I washed it and re-highlighted it. Remember how I said there were problems with the cracking paint? It's not only the paint- before primering, I noticed that one of the tentacles' greenstuff was also cracking, probably due to improper formation onto the copper wire. Yup, it's the one on the top-right: see how the bottom of the tentacle is mangled and crappy? That's my attempt to reinforce the cracks that formed (and the horrible FAIL that followed) Perhaps for my V2, I'll find some better material to make it out of.


Venom-Cannon Detail- For this part, I wanted to model after the original Tyranid Warrior- part of me tells me the vine hanging from weapon-to-freehand might have been better as just "grey"... but who am I to listen to the voices talking in my head? I tried it, I like it- I tried to freehand the plastic detail into venom veins that ran all throughout the pipe.


Base Detail 1 - Skeleton and bio-receptacle. Again, the theme for my army is that this Fleet has eaten away nearly every living thing on a world in an urban enviroment- nothing really remains. If you think Fallout (any fans??) they at least have grass on the ground. I used one from the Vampire Counts Skeleton collection- the open mouths and damaged skulls are perfect... oh yea, and the rest of the bodies too. I think I'm going to start adding cracked concrete and roads, etc. for my follow-up minis.


Base Detail 2 - Destroyed banner and rubble. Also another component from the VC Skeleton set. I didn't really know what I wanted to put for the flag- not a red one, certainly, and I thought white or cream would be a bit too "pristine". I decided on a mustard yellow with Devlan Mud wash and slight Bleached Bone highlight. I freehanded an 'X' (I imagine army banners to start w/ the legion name- like the 57th Hellfishes, etc.) with washed down Chaos Black and Codex Grey, all while the Devlan Mud was drying. For the banner pole, I originally imagined it to be shining silver but faded and rusted all to hell now. I used Boltgun Metal w/ a heavy Devlan Mud wash, then stippled some Scorched Brown and Snakebite Leather to simulate severe rust. Result was so-so. I'd rather stick w/ drybrushing, where I have more control. More practice is needed w/ Stippling Brush, I guess.


Armless Tentacle Detail 1 - These pictures are not as good- I just wanted to show the tentacles without the other bits getting in the way.


Armless Tentacle Detail 2 - I'm overall pleased with the result, but definitely have some pointers for my next Large monstrosity- the Swarm Lord. Sword... TENTACLES?!?!?!


Side Close-Up with Head Detail- if you notice, I cut off the small "beard" spike on his chin- No, really. Check the GW website Hive Tyrant. Sorry, that part of it just wasn't doing it for me.

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this presentation. I think he'll make a great centerpiece, but by trying to make him less-fragile, I actually did the opposite. I have no idea how he's going to be transported- I think I'm going to have to make a custom case or some thing for him, otherwise, he'll just be a home-field model.


One last pic- ...Ok... while everything didn't really go according to plan, I got to the finish line, and I think he'll make a fine centerpiece for my army! FORWARD!! THE HIVE MIND COMMANDS IT!

Thanks for staying tuned! Next up- Lictor!


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Rise of a Tyrant

Hell if I know this band.. not a fan of metal of any kind...

Lictors and troops were supposed to be on the menu, but instead, the Hive Tyrant is getting finished. I wish I could say that this was an enjoyable painting experience, but the project was plagued by several problems and oversights. That, and I underestimated the scale of the model- I thought it would be like painting a standard 28mm bug, but bigger. Yup... definitely underestimated.

1) I tried to clean him up as best I could, but with so much detail, I found there were several points I didn't file, slice, etc. before primering the product. FML.

2) The guy all glued together, plus those funky tentacles I made of greenstuff, bits and wires, made hitting a few places a real pain. Now I've got a couple spots on the whole of the model marked by an accidental tip of my paintbrush. My only saving grace was that his arms are magnetized. Those things helped the painting a bit, clearing up space instead of having more odd spikes and bits in the way of the nooks and crannies.

3) The tentacles aren't solid- they have some "spring" to them, and the odd angles they're placed at took time to get all the painting squared away on them.

4) The feathering... Ooooh... the feathering. I know you're supposed to take more time on a "leader" model, make them stand out... look good... but this was just ridiculous. The color palette for the red/orange/peach color consists of 6 different layers. With so many places needing the color, it literally takes 1 hour or more for a single layer of feathering. But by jove... I did it.

5) Paint rub-off. I had to hold him on the model at times to get those hard to reach places. Now it's time to go back and get those areas that I painted but rubbed to paint other areas... in Japanese, we call this an "akujunkan", or vicious circle. I fear that as I paint those parts that I painted but rubbed off, I'm going to rub off other areas, and this cycle of evil will continue... until I throw this model against a wall in frustration.

For future reference... I'm probably going to paint large models piece by piece... and inspect any large models piece by piece (which I thought I did this time, but apparently not thoroughly enough...) I'll be posting pics of the finished project- base and all on my next set.

Stay tuned, and here's hoping I can finish strong on this monster...

... and then I remember I have a Trygon/T. Prime to paint down the line... *sigh*...