Chaos Space Marines: Checking Out the Raptor Sprue

After a couple of weeks of waiting, my Raptor kits finally arrived. So, naturally, as one does when they've been waiting for three weeks for something they so desperately yearn for, I thought I'd go make a pie, maybe browse MiniWarGaming, do some work on my vocals and do some study. With that all out of the way, it was finally time to sit down and see what's in the box...

So. Many. Bits.

So this is what we got in just one of the boxes. Only two sprues, but they were absolutely packed with bits. Let's have a closer look, shall we?

Legs, Jump Packs, bodies and mostly Warp Talon stuff.

More legs and Jump Packs, as well as all the bits you'll want for Raptors!

Both sprues are about as full as they could possibly be with stuff. The number of Lightning Claws that come in this box is brilliant! I think I have a good 18 of them to use after using one for my Raptor Champ and keeping one for my Lord out of two boxes of Raptors.

The other thing I was actually really impressed with was that while you still only get one of each special weapon (as with every GW kit ever), they actually give you two sets of arms to wield the special weapons with per kit, so that even if you only buy 5 you can still take a Meltagun and a Flamer without searching around for any spare bits or buying anything else. Not that taking 5 Raptors is a good idea though...

So what does that mean for me? It means I'm about half way in terms of Plasma + arms to a Plasma Chosen squad. Definitely stoked.

As for the bits themselves, everything looks fantastic. The detail and number of spiky bits are very chaotic. There's even teeth on the top of all the Jump Packs. There's so much customisation available in the Raptor box. It has to be the most enjoyable kit I've ever got my hands on.

Anyway, after a good 2-3 hours of work, I've got them this far:

Who needs Jump Packs when you've got skillz?

Or heads, for that matter...

I'm leaving the heads, Jump Packs and shoulder pads off them all until they've been painted, as well as the Meltaguns. I realised it'd be too hard to paint after making the mistake of sticking some on without thinking, but oh well, what can you do? And the armless guy is going to be the icon bearer. I'll be using the standard from the Slaanesh Helstriders (or whatever they're called... I think that's it?) which I'll mostly be buying so I can mount my Lord on a Steed of Slaanesh.

So that's it from me for now. If you have any excuse to run some Raptors, I'd definitely suggest it. They seem like they'll be a very good option on the tabletop too. Time will tell...

Noise Marine Parts All In

My Sonic Weapons and 25mm Ruins scenic bases from Back 2 Base-ix have finally arrived! Now I'm just waiting on 2 boxes of Raptors and everything I had ordered will be in and we can hopefully start getting a few 750-1000 point games in fairly soon.

Bases make (ノ＾∇＾)ノ "ALL OF THE DIFFERENCE...!"

The bases look very nice and have a good amount of detail on them, but they definitely weren't flawless. Either way, I'm not really complaining because the end result should be great - definitely much better than just basing my guys with sand/grass or whatever. I intend on using these scenic bases for most of my army, except maybe the Cultists and Raptors.

GW's really getting their shit together with Finecast

The other arms are still on the sprues. Despite being Finecast, the Sonic weapons really have very few issues. It just takes a little to clean them up with a hobby knife, but otherwise they were almost perfect. In the set I've opened so far, I've only found a couple of bubbles on the bottom of the wires on two of them, which is hardly much of an issue. The detail is fantastic and I really have no issues about ordering more for my second unit.

I've also changed my list up a reasonable amount since the first draft I posted, so here's what I'm aiming for now:
HQ - 165pts.
Chaos Lord - Mark of Slaanesh, Steed of Slaanesh, Lightning Claw, Power Fist, Sigil of Corruption - 165pts.

Troops - 749pts.
10 Noise Marines - 8 Sonic Blasters, Blastmaster, Icon of Excess - 264pts.
10 Noise Marines - 8 Sonic Blasters, Blastmaster, Icon of Excess - 264pts.
20 Cultists - 18 Autoguns, Flamer - 113pts.
20 Cultists - 18 Autoguns - 108pts.

Fast Attack - 506pts.
Heldrake - Baleflamer - 170pts.
3 Chaos Bikers - 2 Meltaguns - 90pts.
9 Raptors - 2 Meltaguns, Lightning Claw, Mark of Slaanesh, Icon of Excess - 246pts.

Heavy Support - 230pts.
5 Havocs - 4 Autocannons - 115pts.
5 Havocs - 4 Autocannons - 115pts.

Fortifications - 100pts.
Aegis Defence Line - Quad-gun - 100pts.

TOTAL - 1750pts.

C&C more than welcome!

Wood Elves Finally Begun!

Too pretty not to start, right?

After months of wanting to get a Wood Elf army started, I decided I'd cement the decision and buy myself a box of Glade Guard, just so there's no backing out anymore. I've also got an entire 2400 MSU winter-themed list made up, so tell me what you think!

Capes will be painted and added separately.

And the list, just so you know what I'm building to:
Lords - 570pts.
Highborn - Wardancer Kindred, Blades of Loec, Stone of the Crystal Mere - 260pts.
Spellweaver - Level 4 Wizard, Lore of Beasts, Moonstone of the Hidden Ways, the Deepwood Sphere - 310pts.

Heroes - 287pts.
Noble - Battle Standard Bearer, Light Armour, Asyendi's Bane, Hail of Doom Arrow, Ironcurse Icon - 137pts.
Spellsinger - Level 2 Wizard, Calaingor's Stave - 150pts.

Core - 1069pts.
12 Glade Guard - Musician, Standard Bearer, Banner of Eternal Flame - 172pts.
10 Glade Guard - Musician, Standard Bearer - 138pts.
10 Glade Guard - Musician, Standard Bearer - 138pts.
10 Glade Guard - Musician, Standard Bearer - 138pts.
19 Eternal Guard - Musician, Standard Bearer, Razor Standard - 291pts.
8 Dryads - 96pts.
8 Dryads - 96pts.

Special - 133pts.
7 Wardancers - Musician - 133pts.

Rare - 340pts.
5 Waywatchers - 120pts.
5 Waywatchers - 120pts.
Great Eagle - 50pts.
Great Eagle - 50pts.

TOTAL - 2399pts.

So there we have it. The list is meant to be fairly competitive whilst sticking to the winter theme, hence the Eternal Guard and minimal Forest Spirits. It should be quite interesting to play once it's finally complete, especially being the complete opposite of everything I know about Fantasy with my Skaven.

All comments and criticism welcome!

Necron Painting Tutorial - Lychguard

I worked on this for so long... I will guard it with my life.

Hey guys! So, as promised I've made my first tutorial. I decided to paint up a Necron Lychguard as I personally believe that it's an awesome model, but also because it has some fine detail that needs attending to. Just a side note, the pictures included in the tutorial aren't the best of quality, but hopefully they will be good enough to give an idea of what I'm actually doing. Also, all the paints used are from the Citadel range. With that being said, lets begin!

NOTE: Where it says "watered down", I really only put a small drop of water in. Don't water it down too much.

First up, I decided which position I would like my Lychguard to be in, so I played around with it for a little while until I found a position that appealed to me. I also added a brass grate from the 40k basing set, just for good measure.

Next I under coated my model with Chaos Black Spray.

Then, using Leadbelcher I applied a heavy dry brush to all areas I wanted to be metallic metal, this was then followed up with a lighter dry brush of Ironbreaker. To create an underlying tone of rust, I  applied a wash of watered down Null Oil about a 1:1 ratio. Once dry, I applied a watered down wash of Agrax Earthshade, again about a 1:1 ratio. 

Now, with the initial base coating out of the way, it's time to move onto the highlighting! I then reached for Ironbreaker again and applied a light dry brush over the metallic areas. (Be cautious not to apply too much Ironbreaker, as you may spoil the 'rusty' effect. Start slowly and lightly to avoid any mishaps.)

Next, I went for Runefang Steel and with a finer brush applied generous highlights to areas where the light would hit the most. Mainly being the corners and edges.

With the main part of the body all done, it was time to move onto painting the gold. I started with a base coat of slightly watered down Hashut Copper. This was followed by a layer of Gehenna's Gold.

I then applied a wash of Agrax Earthshade over the whole gold area. Once dry, I applied another coat of Gehenna's Gold, but made sure to leave the wash in the recesses. To finish it off, I sparingly highlighted the edges with a 1:1 mix of Gehenna's Gold and Runefang Steel.

With the gold also out of the way, I decided to start work on the Dispersion Shield. The metal and gold were painted in the same way as mentioned above. Because the undercoat of Chaos Black was a reasonably smooth coat, I decided to leave it and not bother painting a layer of black over it. I then moved on to painting the green lighting effects on the edges of the shield. 

This was done using a watered down layer of Warpstone Glow nearly all the way around the edges. To make it look a little more effective, I applied a watered down layer of Moot Green on some of the edges. The ovals between the metal were painted again using Warpstone Glow and Moot Green and were also applied in the same order. I even added a touch of White Scar to the Moot Green, just to make it stand out a little more.

Now, moving onto the sword: this was a little bit tricky. The gold was painted in the same manner as mentioned before. Again, leaving the black from the undercoat I went straight to painting the green power effects on the blade. Using a watered down Moot Green, apply irregular shapes onto the blade focusing more towards the edges. Then, using Warpstone Glow, apply a layer on the outskirts of the irregular shapes. This will be your base coat to work with when you start to blend the paint together. 

To achieve this blending effect, I used a very watered down Moot Green and applied numerous layers, each time trying to create a smooth transition between the two colours. (It is important to note, not to rush this process or else you risk ruining the effect. Wait for each layer to dry until applying the next. It may take a while, but the overall effect will be well worth it!) For extreme highlights, I used a 1:2 mix of Moot Green and White Scar which was applied on the very edges of the blade to finish it off nicely. 

The green light effects on the rod and in the grooves of the blade were painted using Warpstone Glow followed by Moot Green, both of which were watered down.  

Last but not least, the Lychguard's head! Unfortunately I could not get any close up shots of the head as they always came up blurry! But it is still visible in the full body shots I took. So I decided to paint the main part of the head first and leave the gold decoration until last. The white was first painted using a base coat of Ceramite White, I then used White Scar with a tiny drop of Fenrisian Grey and watered it down. I did two layers of this mixture to make it nice and smooth. I then highlighted the edges of the face with pure White Scar. The gold was again painted in the same manner as mentioned above. 

The eyes were painted starting with a layer of Warpstone Green. This was followed by Moot Green, and then mix of Moot Green and White Scar that was applied directly onto the centre of the eye. To create a glowing effect, a very watered down Moot Green was used as a glaze just under the eye.

Final Product

Ready to stomp Zero.

To finalise the Lychguard I picked out his chest glyph and orb using Moot Green. I then based the model to give it some extra detail. So there you have it! One Lychguard armed and ready for battle. I hope this tutorial was of some use to you and please, if you have any comments or questions do not hesitate! Thanks.

Hobbyhammer: Skaven Clanrats and Doomwheel Complete!

So if you scroll down to about 2 posts before this one, you'll know that I'm trying to get 1500 points of Skaven painted up for the local tournaments they run just about monthly. I don't really know why it's at that points level, but that's what it is. The only thing I still need to do is all the spiky bits on the Doomwheel.

Also, I'm no pro painter! These are done to a tabletop standard, and to be honest they're only slightly worse than the best I could do...

Group shot.

My first unit of Clanrats

The second unit.

Doomwheel side-shot.

Sorry about the poor quality of the shots and lighting, these were just some quick shots to show progress more than anything. Let me know what you think!