Primers and Spray.

Remember when we first started? For me I did not even know about priming minis prior to painting. I simply applied paint directly onto the miniatures. The results were horrendous obviously, however I still have that mini, I can remember as clearly as I just began, it was a plastic chaos warrior. The one were it was a single pose, before the first sets of multi-part plastics.

I guess we have all gone down that slippery road before. Trying to find the elusive "perfect primer". Experimenting with various brands/kinds of spray paint. And more often than not we get frustrated with the results, if not totally in love but realizing it to be too costly.

Honestly I love the Games-Workshop primers. They have a perfect consistency, easily available (back then) and were relatively cheap. At least back then when I was working in GW. The staff discount was seriously serious.

But before that and ever since GW left Singapore, Hobby specific primers eg. Tamiya, GW and various others, were just too expensive for a struggling student to afford. Therefore I resorted to cheap spray paint from Hardware stores, and even the supposed "better" spray paints being sold in Paradigm Infinitum for 2-3 times the retail price found in hardware stores.

So I decided I could not afford Hobby Primers anymore. (I can now but choose to distribute my funds more effectively to many other things, like food and more miniatures!) And went ahead going through tons of spray paints. From the RJ paints found in Mustafa to the London paints and of course the infamous Nippon PLYOX. Most of these paints could get the job done. Cheap, good coverage and most importantly, really flat.

The same can't be said for PYLOX. It absolutely suck balls of fury. Prices were highest among the normal, coverage was blotchy, and worse of all their flat black isn't really flat at all! I had to waste time re-coating my minis with chaos black to get rid of the gloss!

After much spray paint "brand-hopping" I finally settled on a brand called "KOBE". I had alot of success with them, getting a good clean flat surface which was genuinely matt. And being one of the cheapest was a nice bonus as well. $3.50SGD a can. Guess it can't get any cheaper than that!


Did a little spray spree. Total cost $21SGD.
Great price!

~Although it seems like a chore, priming and undercoating is an important part to our painting journey. It would be interesting to know what you guys are using to prime your minis and maybe even share some more useful tips and lobangs for them!

Stegadon

Hi all,

I'm a long time gamer of both 40k and Fantasy, you can call me Grimloq. I've just started up my lizardmen again after a long dormant period and decided to paint up one of the new Stegadons. I went with an experimental color scheme. It takes a while to get the color combination right, but when you do it's extremely rewarding, as you have a uniquely painted model. I'm very happy with the results.




I'm still thinking what I want to mount on the back, but when it's completed, I will post more pics.

Grim

Tutorial: Easy Gold.

This is a method I experimented with and found that it worked quite well to produce a fast and effective gold colour.

What is so special about this? Well, if you ask me I honestly think it looks a little Non-Metallic Metal (NMM). And that seems to be the hype painting style most people are into. Which is a really good thing as it really pushes the painting skills of any painter that much higher.

I painted this using both metallics AND non-metallics. Let's see how I did it.

First I sprayed the model with flat black. Then I gave all gold armour areas a heavy drybrush of Mithril Silver. After this I proceeded to give the model it's first heavy coat of Gryphonne Sepia wash(GS). Once the GS was dry. I applied another heavy coat of GS. This was repeated till the model has been coated with 5 heavy coats of GS.

At this point the model will start to look brownish/gold. Just the perfect gold look!

To finish of the model I simply hard-edged/line highlighted the "gold" armour with Golden Yellow.

That's all. It should take about 30mins painting the gold on a SG model. (minus the drying time of course!)
And it's a damn short amount of time required to produce a fine looking gold.

Some Veteran Guardsmen.

Started on my squad of Guardsmen last night. Settled all the modeling and priming prior to this challenge. (alot of work has been put into shaving every cadian shoulder pad and side pants pocket down, but that will be for another post!) Then got down to the messy part of painting the bases. I always do this part first as I can be as sloppy as I want before I detail the miniature itself. If you look closely you can even see one lonely painted (greens) guardsmen at the back. Tonight I shall finish the greens on the other 9!

I honestly think I'll finish these guys up within the week!

News: British Pounds Very Weak

Most of you would realise this by now but the GBP is very low. 


1 British pound = 2.03140492 Singapore dollars
1 British pound = 11.2699354 Hong Kong dollars


Coupled with a discount by Maelstrom Games (Your voucher code is: GW-BEATER) www.maelstromgames.co.uk, you should definitely consider getting that purchase you've been holding off for! 

Event: Tale of 6 Armies

The event has started! If you notice, there is a link on the left hand side of the main page so click on the "Join site to RSVP" and click on "attending" and you will be registered! 

In a nutshell, each of the 6 people have committed to painting and completing 10 models in 2 weeks. The event starts today and ends 6th June. The full list is: 

1. Ray: Tyranids: 10 Termagants

2. Sam: Blood Angels: 10 Sanguinary Guard

3. Youcai: Blood Angels: 9 DC and 1 chaplain

4. Daniel: 10 Space Marine Scouts

5. Defeng: Chaos: 10 Traitor Guard

6. Melvin: 10 Imperial Guard

See you guys at the end of 2 weeks! 

Spartan Space Marines

I just found these and these are amazing to create a Spartan ARMY! Link: http://sciborminiatures.com/

Just look at these pics!

Jumping on the bandwagon?

With the recent release of the new Blood Angels I'm sure there are many people in the world who has been bitten by the latest army craze. Well, besides the fact that they seem quite overpowered with all their new shiny rules. Who can deny that they are just about the most beautiful models GW has put out till date! The moment I saw the pics of the new minis I was sold!

My first ever 40k army was the Blood Angels. I started them almost 10 years ago when I could clearly remember 3rd edition 40k being released. I have since amassed quite a huge BA army. (will try to get some pics up) But sadly I have not played much with them. Ever since I started my Guard army after the BA they pretty much came to a standstill. I still have so many BA unpainted. They have been primed and ready for more than 8 years!

Well.... fast forward to 2010. Where the BA are the latest shiny plastic soldiers. And here I am, rekindling the bloody flame of Sanguinius that attracted me to the world of 40k in the first place. I am therefore building a new BA army. Totally keeping in line with the awesome new Descent of Angels rule. (well it may not be a list that will actually WIN me any games, but who cares? It's freakin' awesome!)

It shall be simple. Nothing that can't fly will not be included. That means NO tanks. All my models shall have jump packs. And models who can't (dreadnoughts) shall have drop pods. I have already ordered a couple of dreadnoughts from forgeworld. And I shall also get pics of the NEW BA army up when all my new models have arrived!

In the meantime. Here are the 3 test models I have painted for my new BA!

Wet Palette Painting

I'm not sure if you guys have tried. Wet Palette painting. This is godsend I tell you. Paints will remain fresh forever like straight from the pot for hours on end! Go try it. I tried and now I can never paint without it. It will save you sooo much time from constantly opening and closing you pots to take paint. And also save sooo much paint that is otherwise dried on the normal palette. It's amazing like magic!

Here's a WIP shot of me using my wet palette!




http://thepaintingcorps.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-to-simple-wet-palette.html

Try it if you guys haven't. You will never turn back!

1750 Nids Vs Space Wolves

Played a game last night with Jay at FA. 1750 Nids vs Space Wolves.

Interesting points to note: the Nids fare really well in the Dawn of War style of deployment. I hit his table half by Turn 1 and the rest of my Nids arrive enmasse in Turn 2. I would be scared shit if I were him!

Pictures say a thousand words so go over to the link and post your comments.

http://picasaweb.google.com/enrgie/1750NidsVsSpaceWolves#

A Shift in Focus

Have recently moved over to the 40k from Fantasy.

The guys have been using YC's blog as platform for discussions etc.

Swordmasters who are an absolute infantry blender! With ASF, the effect of being charged or charging is the same! Best unit to hide my mages in.

If you look at most of my minis, you will notice that they don't have their movement trays anymore. I have magnetised all their bases with rare earth magnets and have used a metal based paper stuck on cardboard. This is amazing to hold them in place while still minimising the base size for the unit. No confusion and they can stay tipped next to a hill

My warband from Mordheim has made it into the army. In fact, the HK guys are planning a Mordheim game and I will be joining! So they will be back!

I still love my unit of Dragon Princes and I am happy that this version of the book has made them so powerful. I am getting another unit of them. I have found that they perform the best in units of about 5-6 as they have two attacks each. Also, never forget that with their immunity to flame attacks, most magic missiles and breath weapons can't hurt them. I have paired them up with two nobles, one with the Star Lance and the other who is a BSB with the Battle Banner (+D6 CR).

I completed this unit of Archers in 2 weeks. The camera was not able to pick out the highlights that I have put into their robes. Still have quite a lot of work but I will be skipping it for the tourney and will come back only if I have time.

White Lions

This is the unit of White Lions that I am currently working on. I have just completed a unit of 10 archers which I will post up after this.

HK Tourney 2009

Two of the classic RBT's in the army. I have purchased a new set of two and I will be doing them up after brushing up on the tournament army.

WIP & new stuff.

Gamers in the Group

Now that I have the players list, there they are:

1. Raymond Tan: High Elves, Orcs and Goblins
2. Defeng: Orcs and Goblins, Dark Elves
3. Daniel: Dwarves, Ogre Kingdoms, Brettonians
4. Samuel: Empire, Vampire Counts
5. Youcai: skaven, Bretonnians
6. Nick: Vampire Counts
7. Mel : Dark Elves, Empire, Undead, Chaos (very messy old edition list)

8. Kenneth : Dark Elves, Beasts of Chaos, Vampire Counts.

Guess i should post some stuff too.

Random Cadians lying around. I know it doesnt fit in a fantasy blog but oh well. I took a pic might as well post it!

And my 5yr old dark elves patiently waiting in line to get coloured......

WIP

VIRGIN POST!!

My table lol

WIP storm vermin, left the details and some touching up on the fur. (22 more to go)

Merdeka Game

Finally, my High Elves broke their record losing streak! Played a fun filled match with Kenneth (3 times Golden Demon winner-just take a look at his army!), full of twists and turns! This was played at Kenny's place (Lurker on the PI forums-all are welcomed to go!) with 2000 points aside. It was HE vs Beastmen.

Highlights of the game were:

1. Kenneth brought an amazing army. Beautifully painted minis and all well represented! He made my minis look bad in comparison. I am glad it has inspired Youcai to paint his elite units of Skaven. Kennth's army comprised a Chaos Giant, Shaggoth to lead, 3 beast herds (mixture of Bestigors and Ungors), 2 Shamans (1 who rolled the D6 Str 4, no armour save spell), 4 Minatours and 6 Centigors. Again, beautifully painted.
2. I brought Dragon Mage, Spearmen, Archers, RBT's, Dragon Princes, Shadow Warriors, Lord on horse, Mage, White Lions, Great Eagles
   
3. Kenneth started the game by moving full pelt forward and we were in melee by turn 2. My Lord fluffed his attacks against the Chaos Giant but remained in battle for 2 turns. In hindsight, putting White Lions and my Dragon Princes with Banner of Elyrion is very good. The DP were able to eventually kill the Giant owing to him falling down and a few lucky rolls.
   
4. White Lions did very well taking out his drunk Centigors in the forest. My bad but Kenneth had forgotten that they were White Lions not Sword Masters. Overran into the herd who were meant to support his Giant.
   
5. Dragon Mage's fail charge saw the Tuskgor Chariot run off the table in turn 2. Turning around, he supported my archers in causing a Beast Herd fear and promptly was destroyed when they fled into impassable terrain.
6. RBT's did a great job by withering the Minatours causing them to panic. Owing to the Dragon Mage behind them and they having to flee away from the object that caused them to panic, they were destroyed!

I am a Greenskin!

Goblins!

I've been hard at work pumping out those Night Goblins for my battle with Joash in Sept!

Here they are in all their glory!

As they belong to the BadMoon Tribe, I've given them accent colours of Yellow. Working on the next two units, spearmen almost done, just completing the archers now.

Go get it! Battle Reporting Software

http://heraldsoftethys.com/fantasy/resources/battlereport.zip

Got it from http://www.bugmansbrewery.com/Diagram-Making-Program-t14732.html

A good software for battle reports

My stuff has arrived!

I just got a boatload of things that has arrived yesterday. The list of things are:
1. 20 Night Gobs
2. 20 Black Orcs
3. Orc Boss and mounted Boss
4. Skarsnik and Gobbla
5. Boss on Spider (limited edition)
6. HE Spearmen
7. HE Archers
8. Lion Chariot
9. 9 Fanatics

I have just completed 10 Black Orcs and boy I love the kit! The minis are chunky as orcs should be. Ranking up is hell though as they are huge!! I love the fact that they look like armoured fighters. I will post pics shortly of the completed miniatures and painted units soon. I'll bring them in to post.

Spider Marine, Spider Marine, Does Whatever A Genetically Modified Super Human With Spider Powers Can

No, the picture isn't upside down. My marines are :P
(and neither of them are anywhere near completion paintjob-wise XD)

I found these heavy duty magnet strips in a local hardware shop; RM3.90 for 15cm of strip. Doesn't sound like much, but I only used 4mm of the strip to magnetize my plastic marine, so RM3.90 will magnetize almost 40 plastic figures; only RM 11.70 will magnetize 120 plastic figures which is the size of a standard GW carrying case.....

Think about it. RM 11.70 (give/take RM3.90 if metal figs need more magnetic power, which they would I think) and some big metal tin (I have many big metal mooncake boxes, although I know they also sell big metal toolboxes) gives me the carrying capacity of a RM150 or so carrying case. Except that, IMO, its superior - theres no foam to scratch my paint jobs, and no limitation to the base size (notice how the dude next to my marine is on a medium base). I could even magnetize my vehicles if I wanted to since no one actually picks up a rhino and looks at what is under it.....

But either way I've always had to transport my tanks seperately, so this is no drawback =P

Well, its superior to the carrying case as long as no one drops my box. I don't think magnets + metal provide that much protection against dropping damage, unless I up the amount of magnet I apply, which would cost more. Still, even if I use 2x more magnets on my miniatures (which I believe would make it very sturdy), we are still talking about below RM25 here.....

Not bad eh!