Army Showcase - Warhammer Empire

One of the things that really gets me into the mood to paint or into the mood to game is looking at good looking armies on the web or in magazines.

This was the army used by John over at Plastic Legions for Adepticon 09.

Thanks heaps to John for letting me post up some pics of this sexy looking army on my blog.

Dark Angels Rhino

Now to be honest this is my first attempt at painting a vehicle for the game in ...... 21 year of involvement in the hobby. The result isnt to bad, however I screwed up the roof. I have seen a few people with plasticard tactical symbols on the roofs of their rhinos. I might give this a whirl.

Dark Heresy inbound

It seem once you break the shackles of WoW your interests in all manner of other geek things are reborn.

For me I have been meaning to pick up Dark Heresy for sometime. I happen to know someone who had access to a copy. After a flick through I decided it was well worth forking out the cash to buy it.

After a bit of shopping around it seemed that Amazon was the best place for me to pick it up from.

Inbound to me is:

Dark Heresy core rule
Dark Heresy: The Inquisitor's Handbook
Dark Heresy: Disciples of the Dark Gods

Dark Heresy Homepage

Dark Angels Dread

Here is the DA Dread I painted a year or so ago. Ok to game with but I would like to do better.

Lucky I have two more to work on.

Imperial Guard Officer

This guy I threw together with some spare parts I had in my bits box.

The torso and upper body is from an old GW Tank Commander, the legs are from the Cadian box of guardsmen, and the bolter is (of course) from a Space Marine sprue. I had to trim the torso down so the commander didn't seem taller than a Space Marine.

Once again an average paint job. This game came out a bit more gritty than I would have hoped, and looking at the photo I need to touch up his mout, however he will serve is purpose for now. This guy was more about messing around with converting. Came out ok - tabletop standard :)

Imperial Guardsmen

Here is another of my WIP. My Imperial Guard. For these guys I was looking for a REALLY fast way of getting them painting. I am trying to stay away from spending a lot of time on the models.

I am sticking to my mantra that practice makes perfect.

When painting these guys I got to the point of painting the skin, which I had undercoated Scorched Brown ( GW Range) with a few touches I decided I like it as it was. Painting skill has never been my strong point.

With that decision my Imperial Guardsmen become the 51st Cadian Black Hawks Infantry Regiment.

Dark Angels Tactical marines.

Here I present one of my current WIPs. My Dark Angels.

I currently have about 3500 points of marines siting in various boxes around my house so I should have no issues putting together whatever list I desire.

Like I said in my previous post - I am aiming for a tabletop standard for my models at the moment. In those terms I am happy with these models. However on examining the photos with close ups the models don't look so hot.

C'est la vie

My painting philosophy

I suppose now is a good time to mention my painting philosophy. Historically I spent hours on individual models trying to get to it up to "Eavy Metal standards. Generally I would fail in this.

No matter how long I spent I could not get the model the standard I saw in White Dwarf magazines and in army books.

Spending some time looking at the skills, and the progression it seemed clear that the age old saying stands true for model painting.

Practice makes perfect.

Some of the models I have seen are totally amazing, and when I look back at the older works from these players - well they are not so good.

I don't claim to be a good painter. I don't even claim to be a decent painter. However my philosophy is now to try and get models to a standard where they look good on a tabletop.

When people see models they instinctively pick them up and stare at them up close. The fact is, to get models out and to a tabletop standard doesn't mean a standard where they look super ridiculously awesome when someone picks them up. Hell - I would love it if my models did look this good, and in time they will. For now I am just an average painter hoping to improve.

Maybe this blog will help encourage me, and maybe even bring in some tips.

Welcome to Geek Forge

There are times in out lives when we take a step back and look at how we have spent the last few years.

For me it was playing WoW whilst my miniatures and role play books gathered dust on the shelves.

Looking forward down the track I don't want to be in the same position again. This blog, my blog, is not only a way for me to share my love of wargaming and roleplaying with the endless masses, but also a way for me to self motivate myself to get stuck into painting all those models I have collected over the years.

I hope to present my painting models to you all to review, to inspire others, and to gather feedback.

Thanks and welcome

RKO