40K Hobby Progress: Kill Team & Nids

I finally managed to do some basing for my Kill Team models today. It took a long while haha! But the first layer of the basing is ON! Its basically some brownish sand.

Here's my tiny Eldar Kill Team. Still waiting for the glue to completely dry before adding on some grass flock.

Here are the Rangers of the Hidden Moon with some sand on their bases.

I used super glue to stick on the sand for some. Its really solid hold but does have some super glue vapor that causes a white coat to form over some of the miniature's legs.

Back view of the cameleoline cloaks with the crescent moon shaped motifs on the Rangers.

More Tyranids!

I broke out the Malaceptor kit and assembled it today.

Also assembled 6 Zoanthropes. The new Zoeys really look ace! Like the new design of the carapace on their craniums.

Lots of brains in this pic. Psychic Might!!

I dug out some of my old Zoanthropes (painted ones pictured in the back). And I had a converted Doom of Malantai (in front). They can proxy as Neurothropes. And together with the Malaceptor they can actually form the Neural Node Formation!

I heard the Neural Node formation is kinda crap, but I think it'll be really fluffy fun to field, AND paint up :)

I'm still kinda deciding on the final color scheme for my Nids. I planning to try a dark orange with dark blue carapace. Shall see how that goes.

Knight Titan WIP Progress: The Crimson Reaper

More time today and I gots to work on The Crimson Reaper! Got some highlights in and also glued all the pieces of the model together.

Also glued the model to the base. Now to consider some ideas for the base. Maybe something bloody with casualties from both Imperial and Xenos origins. This would help to reflect the collateral damage that the Crimson Reaper is infamous for.

Still got some work to do on the back of the model. Namely highlights and painting the Adeptus Mechanicus symbols.

Side view of the destructive Melta-cannon. His strategy will be to move and run. Then charge and charge :)

The D weapon. The Crimson Reaper's weapon of choice and the last word in close combat encounters. Would loved to have converted a chain scythe for him though.

The Crimson Reaper, with his battle pennant and symbols resplendent. I'm glad the converted leg greaves came out ok. Had a fun time with the conversion.

I'll be basing him soon together with my 250 points of Kill Team minis. Hope to have more pics up soon.

Knight Titan WIP: The Crimson Reaper

I was reading through the new Imperial Knight codex and was inspired to paint up my Knight Titan again. It had been one quarter painted in Black Templar colors but languished in a corner as I was not too motivated to paint it up.

Also sadly, I had also lost the leg armor pieces for my Knight. Try as I might, I could not locate them.

I decided to paint my Knight up as The Crimson Reaper. I like his backstory even though it was just a short blurb, it had potential ;)

"The Crimson Reaper is a Freeblade Knight, who was first sighted during the Rithguard Crusade and has since then participated in battles on scores of worlds alongside the armies of the Imperium. Those who have fought at his side however, struggle to admire him - as he does not care for the lives of his allies on the battlefield and has readily trampled them to death, in his eagerness to clash with the Imperium's enemies." -From the Lexicanum website

(Picture taken from Google Images.)

And there was also a nice picture above to go with the fluff. But before I started painting, I had to remove the Black Templar iconographies and more importantly, fashion another set of lower leg greaves for the Knight...

I used the corner protectors from Daiso. They are made up of a rubbery transparent material and it was easy to bend. I put some greenstuff on each end. There were empty vertical slots running down the entire sides of the leg greaves.

I filled the empty slots with extra skeletons bitz from my Mantic Skeletons haha! This also helps reflect the Knight's name of being a Reaper.

Side view of the legs. I had to chop up the skeleton bitz as the slots are quite narrow. Also had to wait for the super glue to set, and it took an entire morning.

Back view. Used more greenstuff for the back of the legs.

I had to scrape off the iconography from the heraldry shield. It was a sad moment when I decided to paint over the Black Templar crosses I painted on the shoulder pads.

Above pic of my version of the Crimson Reaper with base colors recolored on. Now Reds, Blacks and Golds. He definitely looked better by the afternoon.

I painted the eyes then glued on the face plate. And painted on the iconography of The Crimson Reaper!

The converted leg greaves are primed black but not painted yet. I'm planning to paint the skeletons a bone color. And also paint some gold framed gothic arches around the slots. I'm kinda liking the new leg greaves as it reminds me of the cathedral like leg greaves of the much much bigger Imperator and Emperor class Titans.

Well that's enough hobby for today. I had kinda felt under the weather in the morning, but did have strength to still do some hobbying :)

Will be adding more highlights and washes and finally basing the model.

Hope everyone has had a great weekend.  And here's wishing all a super week ahead!

Eldar WIP: Iyanden Vyper

I just finished a quick paint up of a Vyper from the Iyanden Craftworld. It took about 2 evenings to complete as I could only paint after work. The Vyper unit is a worthwhile unit to paint up as it is a requirement in most of the troop based new Eldar Formations.

Here are some early WIP pics of the Vyper:

Primed black. And ready for the first basecoat.

Basecoat of Tausept Ochre on the areas that will be yellow in color.

I painted the front cover and weapon seat of the Vyper first. I left painting of the crew to the last.

Here's the Vyper, now ready for tabletop games. I'll do a bit more highlights later. But he's good to go.

I added Yriel Yellow to Tausept Ochre (30:70) as the first layer. Then worked my way up to (50:50) mix of Yriel Yellow and Tausept Ochre.

The final layer was (80:20) mix of Yriel Yellow and Tausept Ochre.

For base highlights, I used Yriel Yellow with Ushabti Bone. The lines I used a mix of Dark Flesh with Abbadon Black.

Back view of the Vyper. I gave the spine of the seat a bone white color as a contrast.

And this is also the last 50 points of my 250 point Kill Team paint up.

Have a great weekend all!

Blood and Bone

I had another game this weekend with 2 great guys at the local games shop. We played 500 points a side in a mini battle. I was almost tabled in the first game with Ray. I was totally tabled in the 2nd game with Marshall haha! But it was really fun and I got to use my Genestealers.

I decided to give them a re-paint for their sacrificial efforts on the tabletop. They charged in gladly towards succulent biomass. I tried the warlock purple Nids color scheme previously and tried to make it work. It was ok, but I decided to do a blood and bone scheme instead as it was more visceral and organic looking.

The test model took about 30 minutes as I was playing around with the new flesh tone as well as the reds on the body. I was definitely inspired by Silent Hill type monstrosities :) Especially the undead dogs.

For the fleshy areas on the head, hands and feet, I used a range of new paints. Bugman's Glow for base. Then wet drybrush of Cadian Fleshtone. This was followed by a wash of Reikland Fleshshade. Then some detailing using Kislev Flesh followed by a final very watered down wash of Khorne Red.

For the rest of the body and main carapace, I used a base of Khorne Red (my fav color of late). Then A layer of Khorne Red with Mephiston Red. I then added Ushabti Bone to Mephiston Red for the muscle like streaks on the body. For final highlight, I used Ushabti Bone with just a tiny bit of Mephiston Red added in.

For the most protruding parts of the model like the backbone, elbows and knees, I painted as if the bone was showing.

I had a great time painting this color scheme. Can't wait to do this for the rest of my army of 1850 points. I'll be fielding the Tyrant Node, Broodlord Hunting Pack and Bio-blast Node Formations as my army. Hope its still considered Battle Forged lol!

The weekend nears its end as I post this. Here's wishing all a great week ahead!

Eldar WIP: Shrine of the Emerald Sting

Mr Fluffy is here again as I present some of backstory or fluff for my Eldar Kill Team. Below is a brief write up of their purpose, function and key personalities. Hope you enjoy.

Farseer Glithrandil

Glithrandil has been on the council of Iyanden's seers for many centuries. Glithrandil travels the stars and coordinates the execution of covert operations whose purpose are known only to the council.  

Glithrandil's efforts have borne much fruit in helping the Craftworld avoid much of the conflict and dangers which would have otherwise placed them at peril.

The Eyes of Glithrandil

The purpose of such teams also known as Glithrandil's Eyes was necessary due to the loss of a great number of the Craftworld's psykers during the Tyranid attack on Iyanden.

Unable to prognosticate the skeins of fate with their previous accuracy, Iyanden had to have a physical network in getting vital information to the Craftworld. As such, small teams comprising of Rangers and Striking Scorpions were chosen for their stealth and skills at remaining undetected, until the time came to strike.

The Shrine of the Emerald Sting

The Shrine of the Emerald Sting is identified by their bright green armor and yellow faceplates. They draw the shadows unto themselves when stalking their prey, only revealing their presence when it is time to strike. Usually the last thing the enemy sees is their emerald armor followed by a flash of chainblades and mandiblaster needles.

I'm mostly done with the Striking Scorpions for my Elvish Kill Team :) Above is the first of the Scorpion miniatures I did a week back.

Three more members of the Shrine of the Emerald Sting. The Shrine has been used by Glithrandil for numerous covert actions where the enemy is seconded deep underground or hidden in fortresses where the retribution of the sniper's rifle cannot reach.

The Scorpion strike team is usually led by Lithaina Aranshiel. She was the Exarch of the Shrine of the Crimson Shadow. She was the only member left after its destruction. The reasons for her Shrine's destruction are at present a mystery. Lithaina has been at Glithrandil's side and served as his most trusted aide for many years. She leads the Iyanden strike teams supported by the craftworld's Rangers.

That's all I gots for now. The Rangers of the Hidden Moon are near completion and I will be posting them up shortly.

The only thing left after will be the basing of the models.

Hope the week has been a great one for all. Powering on to the weekend ;)

Slow Burn Painting: Eldar

I only managed to do a bit of work on the weekend. I was mostly assembling a Land Raider for my Blood Wolves project. Did manage to put more paint on the Eldar minis I'm working on for the Kill Team.

Lithaina Aranshiel, The Red Scorpion

I'm still coming up with the fluff for her. But I thought I'd post an update on her. She's mostly done except for some more highlights and the base. May be going for sand and some shrubbery for the base.

I decided to go for blonde hair for as it ties in with the warm color of red of the armor. I painted her Chainsabres bone to represent Wraithbone. She wields the The Bonesabres of Gilthrandir.

Back view of Aranshiel. I really enjoyed painting this miniature. Her pose is dynamic and she looks poised to strike at a moment's notice.

I decided to leave the armor a dull red and not give it too much highlights.

Rangers

I have not finished the Rangers yet. But their camo cloaks are coming along nicely. I'm planning to paint all 20 Rangers. The ones of the left are mostly done while the Rangers on the right are in the early stages. The middle Ranger was the one I painted some time back (yup I finally found him, he hid really well lol!). He was my first and the rest are all based on his paint scheme. 

Hope everyone has had a great weekend. Have a super week ahead :)