Angels, Wolves & Xenos - Swarmlord - Carapace Markings

[Bryan Blaire]

Got the Kine G'namadth mostly assembled, although they are not yet fully shaded or with initial highlights on all parts of the model, and two are missing their masked heads:

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I went with a black metallic finish on their axe blades - Adamantium Black (Reaper Miniatures paint color, has a dark black/grey with blue tone) with Nuln Oil Gloss for non-shadow areas, Nuln Oil matte:gloss for blended areas, and straight Nuln Oil for shadowed areas. I'm going to do as fine as possible a Iron Warriors edge highlight, and bright point highlights with either Leadbelcher or Ironbreaker. Unlike previous packs, I went with bronze instead of gold for the majority of their metals, as it tends to be more dull when not consistently feeling the touch of the buffing cloth - I imagine these guys would have more reflective surface discipline than your typical Wolves/Marines, given their hunting role. The gold accent work on the axe blades has been done to minimize reflectivity there as well, although there will still be some glinting areas.

I've found that while I think the following axe size would be patently absurd in real life (for a human), it is actually the size I wish I'd used for all these guys now (given their nature as transhumans with multiple musculature modifications wearing powered tank-like/equivalent body armor), as the smaller hatchet sizes probably should have gone to Incursors instead.

I do like how this guy looks, even with the large axe - and while the stance may seem impractical given the axe size and physics working on that massive blade, I have self justified it with my thought that they can likely lock out certain servos, making the armor and fiber bundles due most of the work holding weapons steady.

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All in all, I think this pack is coming along, progress is in spurts and while I'd like to be more consistent, it just doesn't seem to be how I work.

And then I still have to get into their basing - I'm actually hoping that that perhaps I can better fake some dusty build up with a glaze and dry brushing.

[Bryan Blaire]

Svarnir Ironblood finally got his Great Company marking:

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“A little too close to the pauldron” gratuitous close-up:

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I should probably paint some battle damage on that icon - at least some paint chips to match it’s surroundings.


And now, for the new additions, the crazed pack willing to throw themselves into battle with foul sorcery afoot:

Björnsten Thriceskulled


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Björnsten is named the Thriceskulled for the ancient Deathsworn skull helm he bears, his skull’s seeming resistance to the mental intrusions of sorcerers and maleficarum, as well as the savage head-butt kill he achieved against a warlock who brawled with Björnsten after both were disarmed, his spells seeming to slide off the Wolf.

(And now I notice that his damn little computer screen never got done…)

Haukr Duskfiend


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I was trying to show a good shot of the gem on the axe, the difference between the worn gold and the oiled bronze metals, and how the bases are composed:

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Haukr is the second brother of the Kine G’namadth - I tried to show that he’s starting to show his grey (I don’t like the idea that Marines age normally, so I follow a “Become ‘grey hunter’ level when they begin showing grey, not fully grey” philosophy) - there are grey streaks in both his beard and hair. It’s probably really hard to see (I know where it is because I put it there and I still find it hard to see) though.

[Bryan Blaire]

Torgil Grimhearted


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Torgil bears a helm painted by an artisan to resemble a grey wolf head with barred teeth at the end of the “muzzle” of the helm, against the “heart of a winter hurricane” green of the Kine G’namadth armor.

Rungnir Stonearm


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I’m proud of the way the gems and axe turned out on Rungnir, so I’m including some additional close up images for those:

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Rungnir shows his graying hair with a streak in his prominent beard braid, as well as going toward the rear of his beard.

Haldor the Younger


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Haldor bears the only non-modified power pack in the squad, with a new Phobos power pack adorned with totemic items - his previous power pack was destroyed in the combat event that precipitated his undergoing the Rubicon Primaris process.

All his battle brothers bear legacy power packs (some of very ancient provenance) that have been modified with additional power cycles and emergency venting by the Iron Priests to provide enough energy surge to cover active combat situations, but deliver lower energy to meet requirements during stalking and observing periods.

Group Pict-Capture:

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The heavier dust on their boots is supposed to represent a bit longer time on surface that their compatriots, who should necessarily have less than the Kine G’namadth display - the hunting Kine are typically inserted before even the infiltration units of Drakeslayer assault forces to give them time to identify and possibly slay any sorcerous power wielders they can find to limit friendly exposure.

I think they still need something more, so I’ve been considering trying to do some pin wash style/wet loaded brush glazing into the crevices to show a bit more grime build up there - thoughts?

Finally, the unit, being a much more shadow/infiltration hunt oriented unit than most that would be found in the Elites section of the force organization table, bears minimal shining gold, instead using oiled bronze on most of their armor and weapon fittings where you would normally find gold instead, limiting their use of worn/ancient gilding to minimal weapon surface ornamentation and their knot-work on the right shoulder armor plate.

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I apologize for my lack of response in most of the threads here - I typically try to respond more than just click Like, however, some life events over the last few months have robbed me of a lot of creativity and enjoyment in my usual interactions due to stress. Things are getting better recently, so I hope to return to more interaction than I have been showing for a while. This hopefully also explains the lack of decent fluff for these guys - I’m working on it, and will get that posted at some point. I prefer to have more fluff on my units that I’ve woven here.

I appreciate any and all comments, or even just Likes, and I appreciate all Frater in this forum for encouraging each other and just showing interest in what others are doing!

[Kierdale]

They’re really good! Brutal :tu:

[Bryan Blaire]

They’re really good! Brutal

Thanks Kierdale! I really like how the Hounds turned out - if only they were better in an army. :D

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Been working on the member of the Eight, Farsight’s companions, down in the Tau forum - finally got a bit farther on O’Vesa - base coated and armor panel lined all of the torso block and jet pack thruster elements. I also finally got the engine glow the way I really wanted it to look - went for powered up because he’s going to be firing his ion accelerator and needs the counterbalancing element - engines on the front and below are not light brightly, while the rear three are, and his body is slightly hunched forward.

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I’ve still got some clean up to do, and for some reason, all my Contrast armor panel lines on the torso came out much glossier than they have before, so I’m either going to have to hit them with a couple layers of Lahmian/matte medium or I will need to fully matte varnish them to get that to go away. His sensor head unit is also done with a green lens style eye, but I’m saving that for when I get the cannon positioned to add that sense of weapon importance/target acquisition.

I’m saving shading and highlighting for full assembly on this one to see how that goes.

[Triszin]

Nice and clean

[Bryan Blaire]

Nice and clean

Thank you Triszin!  Pretty happy with how he’s going so far.

[Smoke Frog]

Your space wolves are fantastic!

 

Big fan of Björnsten Thriceskulled especially, your conversion work and use of bits is inspiring! As is how you have painted their heraldry. 

[Bryan Blaire]

Your space wolves are fantastic!

 

Big fan of Björnsten Thriceskulled especially, your conversion work and use of bits is inspiring! As is how you have painted their heraldry. 

Thanks Smoke Frog!  I really like how they turned out, and I’m definitely going to be returning to the Wolves in the future once I can get access to all my boxes again.  I still have some more green stuff icons to use for chest pieces, but I need to make some more of the skulls, and possibly skull impressions in oyumaru.

[Bryan Blaire]

Here is my “completed” (minus markings and base) O’Vesa of the Eight Companions (Riptide):

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Completed O’Vesa Model - Brightened:

Model - Darker Light (hopefully shows up the highlighting/contrast a little better):

Closer Look at the Energized Shield:

I was trying to show the shield powered up via the inner ring, glowing the blue-green color I have been using for the ion power of the Tau generators - not sure I fully pulled it off, but wanted to try and show the energy flowing out along the connector units.

Fusion Blasters - Resting Power:

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I was hoping here to show the fusion blasters of O’Vesa’s suit in a resting/de-energizing state, perhaps having just fired in preparation for the ion accelerator blast.

I like the way it came out - used Baharroth Blue in the entire recess and around the rim, then put a small amount of Contrast Medium across about the middle third or so, and then used 1:3 Terradon Turquoise from the back of the recess up to about halfway through the pure Contrast Medium. That dried in a very nice gradient and I really like the effect - I will definitely be using it on other larger blasters from now on.

Fully Highlighted Rear Thrusters:

I posted these before, but now the entire back of the unit is highlighted as it should be. I really like how the thrusters on the packs turned out.

I’ll have to finish the base when I’m finally in a good place to get it primed, but I’m going to try and match it up to the blended Sectors Mechanicus and Imperialis bases that I’ve been using on the other Tau forces I’ve made.

[Triszin]

That is sharp. Super clean, and honestly amazing.

 

Awesome job

[Bryan Blaire]

That is sharp. Super clean, and honestly amazing.

 

Awesome job

Thanks Triszin!  Not sure why I have so much of an issue with doing weathering on my models - feel like I either over do it or don’t do it well, but it just never seems right to me.

 

I do think I need to do some shading on the inner body, but I also don’t want to overdo that and make it look bad from other angles.

[Bryan Blaire]

In the ‘Nid-ginning, there was the Lord of Swarms, and his head was… ehhhhh - started.

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[Bryan Blaire]

The Swarmlord has gotten his carapace markings completed on his head!

I realized that I got a little more red on the corners than I wanted and so it didn’t blend down as much as I was hoping - I’ll have to be more careful when I work my way down his main body - but I would like some thoughts on the markings. The brown isn’t supposed to blend into the yellow or red, instead running right up against them (well, the blend area would be so small as to make it almost impossible for me to blend it). I also didn’t intend the “gums” to come out quite so stark red, so I may go back at some point and work on changing those colors to a more purplish hue as well.

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I am basing the coloration on Apheloria virginiensis, specifically the corrugata subspecies, which seems closest to the colors I was hoping to paint:

https://bugguide.net/node/view/1963402 (Bugguide image of Apheloria virginiensis)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/xtwizx/518398719 (Flickr image of Apheloria virginiensis corrugata in a nice pose)

This is the first time I’ve done everything with Contrast on a model piece, and I like how it’s looking over all - things have blended relatively easily (much easier to do than my normal acrylics, even with my flow improver, blending medium, and air brush thinner mix), and I’ve done almost no shading with the standard shade colors like I would with the normal acrylics I work with (put a bit of sepia down on the backs of the small spikes in the yellow).

So now it’s to see if I can get a consistent coloration across the entire model (which is less important to me on a fleshy/biological entity than it is on an armored one), or close to consistent, while still blending.

I also need to post up my paints lists w/steps for this one.