All posts tagged: hq

Hive Tyrant of Hive Fleet Behemoth Close up

Tyranid Hive Tyrant for Hive Fleet Behemoth

Published by Joe B

All armies need a powerful leader, and the galactic swarm of the Tyranids is no exception. So to lead my brother-in-law’s Hive Fleet Behemoth army growing on my shelf is a Tyranid Hive Tyrant – in this case, the old metal beast. Much like my other Tyranids of Behemoth, the blue carapace goes nearly white rather the GW teal and the weapons are a black to white look. This shows through on the darker background here that I made with some black/gray cloth. I tried using the basic white background, but the tips of the weapons got lost. The barbed strangler is a plastic bit from the Carnifex box to give some long range punch to the guy. It is one of the things I have always liked about GW products is that they put in that effort to make the kits inter-operable to give both the flexibility to bit swap but also keeps a uniform look between generations. Even when you look at the new Tyranid Hive Tyrant, the general look and feel are the …

Deff Skulls Ork Warboss

Death Skull Warboss

Published by Joe B

To lead my growing Ork hoard, it needed a good Warboss to knock some heads around. Enter the Death Skull Warboss from Assault on Black Reach, which is very suitable for a head-crunchin’. With a simple adjustment to the right arm, I tipped it out a bit and opened up the model. The gap was filled with green stuff, and I added an extra shoulder guard from the Nobz kit. I figured the power klaw should be suitably messy and covered in gore. The rest of the metal is suitably rusted up and worn out. I also added a nasty looking trophy head and slightly tilted the head towards the Klaw. The missing neck was also filled in with some green stuff and smoothed into place. The blues add a nice contrast to the green skin and the bloody red. Want to paint an Ork just like him? I’ve got you covered with a painting tutorial! The tutorial has the step-by-steps I used for this guy, including the skin and bloody mess. He has so …

Mentor Legion Chaplain

Published by Joe B

Another HQ from the limited edition of Dark Vengeance, this is  Oldss Knirror, Mentor Legion Chaplain. When the limited edition was announced, this was the reason I jumped on it. While I haven’t been a fan of the other Chaplains, the billowing smoke from this guy gave it another level of sinisterness! Before getting started, I planed out what areas would be the green and red for the Mentor Legion, and what would be the black and white of the Chaplain. Leaving the robes white helped breakup all the other colors.   Very little was done to the model other than removal of most of the Dark Angel markings and the addition of the Mentors shoulder marking (another press mold). To do the Mentor Legion icon the whole shoulder pad details were removed and the press mold used to create the eagle head. I then took thin plastic strips to recreate the border. The edges were cleaned up with green stuff and the purity seal on the corner actually covers where I chipped a bit too …

Mentor Legion Librarian

Mentor Legion Librarian

Published by Joe B

And now for some HQ! I present Echst Ralelerin, Mentor Legion Librarian. The model itself is from the Dark Vengeance box with an arm swap with the weapon from the chaos terminator lord. The rest of the work involved careful removal of all the Dark Angel insignia. I really love the glaring look as he focuses at his enemies. I thought the model had a great sense of focus and power except for the pose of the original sword, it was too posed for my tastes so a more relaxed arm stretched about behind gave more focus on his spell casting hand. The maced head staff helps give more dimension to the model as well by creating an up and out line. You can also see from the picture above that I made some custom purity seals to both incorporate the new arm as well as cover the hand swap. I also made the Mentors icon a bit more interesting by covering the eye socket as well. The staff was made from a combination of pieces, …

Green Marines of a Different Kind – WIP Mentor Legion

Published by Joe B

Although I have been much busier as of late with grad school and health goals for the year, I am still making slow and steady progress on the Mentor Legionaries. As you can see i the pictures below, I have a good chuck of the army built and primed. The first up to receive paint were 15 tactical marines (I had the first 5 already done), and the librarian and the chaplain from the Dark Vengeance box. At this point I have the base colors, wash, and the white are now done. First up is the chaplain, I really like this model from the limited edition set and with only a few minor modifications will make a great chaplain for any other chapter. The white base was started with Zandri Dust, followed with a wash of Earthshade. The white was built back up with the dust and finally pure white.   Next up is the librarian. A simple arm swap with one from the Chaos terminator lord, removal of a few of the dark angle markings, and a …

Traitor Guard Tech Priest, Dark Mechanicus

Dark Mechanicus Tech Priest Joins the Traitor Legion

Published by Joe B

I’ve had this model sitting around for a while but had never quite finished it. So after finishing my Warpsmith I grabbed this Dark Mechanicus Tech Priest one off the shelve of never ending projects and put paint to brush. In contrast to the rest of the Traitor Guard orange, I used the iconic Mars Red robes but used green power weapon to match the Chosen and Warp Smith. Conversions were kept minimal on this model since I actually bought the model for how it looks, rather than its game play ability. With just the simple addition of the Chaos star mounted to the back pack, the rest was just paint – which goes to show how crazy the normal Mechanicus is. I tried to continue my experimentation of source lighting with the mystical green glow from the back packs power source.  Although it could have come off a bit Christmasy, I tried toned down the red with the tan highlights. The yellow cabling also helps to break up the green and red looks. The metal was a …

Warpsmith Pre-Painting Front

Warpsmith Review – and first finecast

Published by Joe B

Of all the new Chaos releases, the Warpsmith caught my eye as the most exciting to paint. I was a bit hesitant though, as this would be my first Finecast. I had heard of many issues with the new medium and wasn’t sure what I would find in the box. Man am I glad I took the leap though, the details on this model are outstanding! While I had a few bent parts that were easy to fix with the hot water bath, there was nearly no air bubble issues. About the only issue I had was cleaning all the mold lines which did seem to crop up all over the place. The model came in 12 pieces on two sprues with the largest piece being the leg/torso combo. This piece could make an impressive lord with a bit of work to clean up the back-pack area. The rest of the pieces involve the 5 longer tentacles, the head, back sections, each arm/shoulder, and the ax hand. As you can see the ax was a …

Cypher the Fallen Angel - Front

Completed Cypher and Command Squad

Published by Joe B

As promised I completed Cypher and posting the pictures, off to a good start on my new goals! Cypher was a great character in 3rd Edition Chaos that was mysteriously phased out in the following Codex which really is a shame. Though after reading DFG’s rumor roundup it seems like he may be making a comeback! And here is the full squad together. I am quite aware that I may never be able to play with the squad (except for Apoc of course) but after sitting in my closet for years I figured that Cypher had earned himself a squad. Well the pictures capture that I haven’t really “completed” the squad as most evident by the lack of a banner. I also haven’t finished clear coating and glossing the models (see the back of the medic for a finished piece there), but it is done enough to post and put on the shelf until the day I decide to add custom banners to models. Next up will be some Ork Boyz!

Fallen Angel Command Completed

The Fallen, Command Squad Complete (Part 3)

Published by Joe B

  So I finally completed the last two members of the Fallen Angel command squad to accompany Cypher. Well when I say complete, the models are complete, I now need to create a banner or the pole bearer… I’ll be spending some time on FTW trying to get ideas for that.   First up, the standard bearer:     And the final member: the power weapon bearing dude.     And here is the squad all together waiting their mighty, if mysterious leader.As I paint Cypher up I plan to take more step-by-step pictures to post how I did each step. stay tuned!        

Fallen Angel Chaos Space Marine - 1 - Front

The Fallen, or nearly Forgotten Models (Part 1)

Published by Joe B

As promised in my last post I’ve been working on something that old timer Chaos players may remember: Fallen Angels. These are the secret that the Dark Angels do not want any one to know about. They are the followers of the mysterious Cypher which was a special character option in the 3rd edition Chaos Space Marine Codex. I’ve had these models kicking around my closet for years (Cypher since 3rd edition even) and never got around to painting them up until this last week. After priming and laying down the base coat on all the models I decided to do a test model first to see how it turned out. As there is no official Fallen models I am using normal Dark Angel models for the squad with bits from the command squad. I could not find any special markings to set them apart from the loyal brothers so I just added some blood to the wings, symbolizing them being torn off. Although this model is 90% done I still have markings left to …

Chaos Sorcerer Done

Published by Joe B

Another step to finishing the Golden Throne challenge, my Chaos Sorcerer is not finished. I’m not completely happy with how he turned out but for now he is done, perhaps I’ll come back to him and touch him up. Tzeentch has always been my favorite of the Chaos powers so naturally I did this sorcerer in the colors of the master of change.  The challenge is to have him still fit in with the rest of my army. I’m not sure how well this comes off in the end though. As with Fabius, I took step-by-step pictures: I wasn’t sure what colors I was going to paint where so I “blocked” out the main colors to get an idea of how it would fit together. Next up is 3 squads of bikers for my fast attack. I’m hoping to do this much quicker than the models to date, the Golden Throne Challenge is half over and I have 2/3s of the models left to paint.