Lord Aquilor Complete

To finish up my work on the Stormcast Eternaals this week, here's my finished Lord Aquilor. This model is pretty big and took some time to complete, but it feels like it was worth the amount of work that I put in. I'm happy with his mount, and once again, I went for a white highlight on the flesh parts to make it look shiny and healthy. I also did some wet blending on his sword to get a bit of a blend going on, and to make it look nice and magical.

He is painted using the same scheme as the rest of the models; with the Verdigris and marble effects. If there's one thing I'm not sure about, it is the rider's face. It looks pretty good, and I'm happy enough with it, but I can't help but feel that it could be better. I might do a bit more work on it at some point, but it'll certainly do for now.

In particular, I really like the eagle-head. It's a lovely sculpt and has a sort of regal character to it that was a lot of fun to work on.

That about rounds out another post, and probably my work on the Stormcast Eternals for the minute. Check back again later to see what I'm working on next!

Stormcast Gryph Hounds Finished

Keeping this week's Stormcast theme going, today I've got the Gryph Hounds from the start collecting box.

These are the smallest thing in the set, but are still mounted on Terminator size bases. I have to admit that I wasn't the biggest fan of the models at first, but they've really grown on me. For one, I love the dynamism and anatomy of the sculpts. I don't know who worked on them, but they feel like they were crafted with a real love for animals. In particular, I like the pose of the one on the left of my pictures wit the leopard spots on its back. It really looks sort of like a playful dog (albeit with a bird head).

I continued the animal pattern theme through by adding stripes and spots to them. Handily, they didn't take that long to paint, and after the airbrush basecoats were done, it wasn't too much to finish off the other details. It's always an advantage when your models are mostly one colour. Like the Palladore I posted yesterday, I highlighted their flesh to white to get a sort of sheen. I'm happy with the results.

With that, another unit is complete. I have one more thing to post for my Stormcast Eternals this week that I've been working on, so check back later if you've been enjoying these posts!

Stormcast Vanguard Palladore Finished

Following on from yesterday's post, I've got the first finished Palladore. I really love these models; they're the reason I bought the set. So cool and interesting, and they gryphon/horse idea is brilliant and very well executed. For me personally, models like this exemplify what makes Age of Sigmar more exciting than the older editions of Warhammer Fantasy that came before it.

The colours for the Gryph-Charger were in part inspired by the colours of a male pheasant. I wanted to blend in some green hues that would match my eternals. I also worked some reds into their extremities and chests and finished this model with some zebra-esque stripes on the hindquarters.

I'm always working on my painting techniques. This model gave me a chance to try to make clear points of light. I've actually gone all the way to white on the brown flesh of the steed to try to get that glossy/healthy look  that you get on a well groomed horse. You can see the effect on the picture below on the highlights on its hindquarters and the neck. I'm really happy with the effect.

He did take a while to finish, but it feels like it was worth the effort. I need to finish off the other two from the unit, but I airbrushed the basecoats in a batch, so at least it won't take quite as long as the first!

Stormcast Eternals Vanguard Hunters

I've been working on my Stormcast Eternals off and on for a while. Over the last week or two, I finally managed to finish some of the units. Here's the first, a unit of Vanguard Hunters.

I really like the scheme, and as I bought them just to paint, it feels good to actually finish them. I've been working on the rest of the start collecting box too, so there should be more updates on the rest of the force coming over the next few days.

I've added a bit of blood spatter to some of the bases and models just to give them a bit more depth colour wise.

That about does it for today. If you like the scheme then stay tuned for more models from the force coming up soon.

Stormcast Eternals - Weathered Marble Paint Scheme

So far, I'm really happy with how this scheme is coming out. I posted some pictures earlier, a week or so ago that were taken on my phone (so much lower quality). I've finished another model from the Vanguard Hunters unit as well, so hopefully, these should give a much better impression of where things are going.

I saw that a new edition of Age of Sigmar is coming out soon (they teased some info at Warhammer Fest over the weekend). I don't actually play Age of Sigmar, and I started this force just as a fun project, but I'll be interested to see where they take the game. I did play one or two games when the game was first released a few years ago, but I found the rules a bit oversimplified for my tastes. I'd really like to see it settle somewhere similar to the most recent edition of 40k; not too complex, but with a strength/toughness system added in to give it a bit more tactical depth. I'm sure it has been refined as a game since the original release, but If I had a wishlist of things to be added, that'd be number one.

The "army" so far. The new model is the Champion for the unit with the bare head. Also a Gryph Hound!

 My progress on the force has been somewhat stunted by the fact that I've been working on something for the anime figure competition again at E2046. I had planned out a series of work in progress posts to do about it, but the deadline for entry is the end of the month, and I'm doing all I can just to get her finished. Hopefully, I'll be posting the finished figure here soon!

Also stay tuned for more eternals once that's out of the way.

Stormcast Eternals - Alternate Colour Scheme Test, Marble Armour

A bit of a random project for me, but sometimes I like to shake things up. I have to admit that I don't know a whole lot about Age of Sigmar, but there's no denying that they make some lovely models!

Sorry the photography is a bit lacking. I used my phone as I was in a rush!

This project really came about for two reasons; one was burnout. After working on my 40k Skaven, I really hit a wall where I couldn't continue anymore. It was really that I had done so much work to such a high standard in a short space of time; I needed a change of pace.

The second thing was that I entered a painting competition at my FLGS, and managed to take first prize in both categories. I won something quite interesting for one of the categories, and I'll post about that later. For the other category, I got some store credit, and I was determined to spend it on something that I could enjoy just as a painting project. While I was there, I had a look at the Start Collecting sets for Age of Sigmar and after a bit of internet fenoogling here we are (not sure that's a word, but whatever. I think it might be what you call Googling something whilst surrounded by ferns...)

Rays of heavenly light... apparently shine on my work. Or is that lens-flare? Hey, is that my pot of Ryza Rust, I've been looking for that!

Anyway, I've just finished a few test miniatures. I wanted something different and sort of mystical looking. I guess it falls into that sort of "Dark Age of Sigmar" type stuff you sometimes see. The paint scheme is based mostly on the Anime figure that I painted for last years GK Competition on E2046 (I'm also working on this year's entry at the moment, but more on that later).

For these models, I've used the airbrush to set up a natural tonal blend of white, grey and brown to be the basis of the marble. it couples well with the verdigris brass effects too. They're fairly time consuming to paint, but I think the overall look is worth the effort.

The force right after the initial airbrushing session. I'm quite looking forward to working on those Palladores!

For the Palladores (read Gryph-Horse riders for the uninformed) I've decided to go with something quite natural. I wanted the colours to look a bit like a cross between a horse and a tropical bird, so I went with green heads (partially to match the verdigris). I think the red chests will be nice when the models are done.

I'm thinking the base is like "Frozen Forest Floor" or at least that was the idea. I wanted something a bit more fantasy than usual. 

They really do look like they belong in 40k though!