+inload: Painting The Sons of the Temple +

+ The Sons of the Temple: picking and executing a paint scheme +


+ Restarted painting Legio Nikator last night, which involved getting a bit experimental. When you're making your own paint scheme – and if you never have, I thoroughly encourage you to try it – it's fun to push yourself and try some new techniques. +

+++

+ Old Spiteful +

+ I started with the old man of the Legion, 'Old Spiteful'; more properly known as Senex Codomannus. After undercoating him black, I did a quick drybrush of Boltgun Metal across the superstructure to give that a base, then began work on the armour plates. I used Solar Macharius Orange for this. It's one of the Foundation series of paints that I never found a use for, but's a lovely soft orange that worked wonders as a base for terracotta. +

+ I began with the carapace, and started working down. +
+ After getting a lovely smooth finish' highlighted up with the addition of Averland Sunset, I then [SCRAPSHUNTERRORABORT]ed it up with a combination of sepia ink and granulation medium. This... sort of worked. Sometimes experimentation gives great results; other times not so much. There's something I like about the effect, but I'm not quite sold yet. +

+ This may be an example of 'mid-piece funk' – that feeling you get halfway through a painting when everything looks a bit messy and disjointed. It can be disheartening; but if you push through, you sometimes find that you end up with something you're really pleased with. Of course, sometimes it just ends up a bit crap – but you can always repaint it. Push on!+

+ A little later on +
+ Picking out some highlights [+see pictcapture above+] gives form to the damage – though I feel the marks are too large at the moment, and may need tightening up with more of the base colour (Solar Macharius Orange). +

+ The white areas are Vallejo's Off White – it's best to avoid pure white on figures of this scale, owing to aerial perspective. This is the effect of the dust and so forth in the atmosphere that makes things look bluer the further away they area – as a result, the tonal range needs to be slightly shortened – slightly deeper highlights, slightly more tinted darks. +

+ The effect of the medium is clear on the loin armour. +

+ If you're never tried granulation medium, it's a fantastic – if largely uncontrollable – way to create texture. The medium causes the pigment particles to cluster together, drying in a patchy, slightly blotchy way. It works best with inks, particularly naturally granulating ones like sepia and Payne's grey, as the suspension is looser than in (say) acrylic paint. If you do use it with paint, then dilute only with the granulation medium – don't add water too, or you'll lose the effect. +

+ Picking a colour scheme – or, the joys of homebrew +

+ Picking your own scheme gives you a lot of freedom, and the opportunity to make your figures more personal to you.  The low number of models in the game makes Adeptus Titanicus a brilliant choice for trying it out. +

+ A simple way to start is by picking a main colour – this can be literally anything. I plumped for an orange-tinged terracotta. Once you've picked that, select a secondary colour. This is where the challenge starts. Some colours clash – by which I mean that they just don't work well together; either blending into one another, or setting off disharmonies. +

+ To avoid this, consider choosing a complementary colour, which can be determined by its position on the colour wheel. Red is opposite green; yellow is opposite purple, and so forth. A pair of complementary colours will always look good in a scheme. In my example, the orangey terracotta is opposite blue; so I could use that as my complementary as my secondary colour. +

+ Harmonising or analogous colours – those immediately next to your initial colour on the wheel – will also work well. Orange is next to red and yellow; so both of those could work. +

+ You can also try a split complementary scheme. This is a bit more complex to explain, but essentially involves using the colours that are analogous (i.e. adjacent to) the main colour's complementary. With orange as my main colour, blue is the complementary. Next to blue on the colour wheel are blue-purple and turquoise-green. +

+ If you're struggling to find a secondary colour, you can't go wrong with black or white. These paints will always go well in a scheme. +

+ The next step is to make sure the tonal contrast is good. While you can push both your main and secondary colours to different shades and tints, at the simplest level, it's just a case of picking an inherently light secondary to go with a dark main colour – or vice versa. + 

+ Solar Macharius Orange is a midtone – neither particularly light or dark. Since I plan to highlight it up, I want to pick a secondary that can be shaded down, so that the result is light orange against dark secondary. +

+++

+ As with the crew – Princeps Teutates Polassar is shown here for reference – I'll be using Hawk Turquoise (and how the PCRC laughed) as an accent colour – if you don't have access to a colour wheel for complementaries and harmonies, try a noospheric search [viz: Google it] it. +

+ Home decor is a good place to start when searching for colours that will go well with your chosen main colour; though bear in mind those schemes tend to be tasteful and restful, rather than warlike and boisterous. I often look at mediaeval heraldry and banners for colour ideas, as they fit my idea of the 41st Millennium. +

+++

+ In the forges: Gaugamela +



+ Another Warlord is primed and ready for paint – I've just got to make sure that the scheme works! +

+ inload: Librarian, Devastators and... er... something else +

+ Blood Angels +

+ Ecanus, Codicier +


+ Codicier Epigines El'Grigor, known as Ecanus 3:08 of the Withinlookmen +

+ A fairly simple conversion; I wanted to nod to the Librarian from 1991 [vizref: pictcapture below] by incorporating a back banner, and playing about with the pose a little. I think I'll add a little scroll in his open left hand to further cement the bond. I toyed with a Mark VI helm, as per the original, but it just didn't look right. I decided to run with an artificer helm that evokes some of the detailing of the original. After all, we shouldn't be slavish when converting. +


+ Besides the twist in pose and bits swapping, the left arm has been fairly subtly repositioned to look a bit more passive than the standard sculpt. This took a fair bit of trimming and testing for not much obvious result, but I think it was worth it – if I'm adding a scroll, I want the focus of the model to be on it. A sword held more tensely robs the pose of that focus. +



+ The only other thing of note in the conversion is the Mark VI torso – a simple case of scraping away detail and replacing it with other detail is part of what will make this model feel like part of the overall force. It's easy for character models to stand out in a bad way. +

+++

+ Devastators +


+ Woo; big guns! These two mark the final outstanding members of the line infantry for the army; leaving just the Chaplain and Medic to build. +


+ Just to demonstrate I am a glutton for punishment, the Mark VI cabling and detail is present on the bolter-armed marine; it's just completely covered up! +


+ I ummed and ahhed about whether to go with boltguns or boltrifles for the right-hand marine, and ended up going with the boltgun – mainly swayed by comments from the Bolter & Chainsword blog [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+].  +


+ Glad I did; he looks much closer to the source material as a result. +

+++

+ Other bits and bobs +

+ Besides Ecanus and the Devastators, I built another casualty, this time taken from the new Black Legion character Haarken Worldclaimer. Really wish GW would release some more casualties as a standalone. +


+ Finally, an 'assault' marine. Not the jump-pack equipped sort, but a unit intended to leg it across the battlefield spraying bolts into all sorts of nasty xenos. +


+ Likely counting as an Intercessor in-game, he'll probably be painted up with Assault markings. +

+ ...and finally +

+ Something I'm disproportionately pleased with: the glass panels in my Rhino. +


+ inload: Ongoing Warfare +


It is the thirty-fifth millennium. The Imperium is in turmoil.

Faith wars with rationality as the Ecclesiarchy and Administratum tussle for power.

In disgust, the Ur-council of Nova Terra has led a fifth part of the Imperium into secession, striking out to form a new Imperium of their own.

Seers speak hauntingly of the half-remembered terrors of Old Night, as warpstorm activity increases across the galaxy. The veil grows thin.

The smouldering embers of rationality and hope slowly fade out, one by one.

Against a galaxy in flames, mankind falls on itself; and as the eyes of man turn inwards, the horrors of the wider galaxy gather in the darkness. 

The Alien Wars begin.

+++

+ ... Or continue, depending on whether you've been following along with the semi-retro Alien Wars project. This year, I'm planning to get some more games in, to build up the Nova Terra Interregnum background with some battle reports. As with the modelling and painting, please consider yourself cordially invited to join in. If you've got something to add; get in contact via the +Commentary Submission Access+ at the bottom of the inload and we can chat. +

+ Hobby time has been precious, but I did get a chance to shoot the Blood Angels in action:

+ Blood Angels confront orks of the Charadon Empire on Lurtz. +

+ The fighting gets close and bloody. +

+ Eldar of Siaob [+nooosphericinloadlink embedded+] use their potent witchery to combat the indomitable Astartes+

+ As ever, Tycho is at the heart of combat +

The eternal struggle: human and xenos.

+ inload: Standard Autocycle Renewal+

+ [/END] Subcycle MMXVIII – Boot subcycle MMXIX: in progress PART I +

+ Happy new year, inloaders; and hope that the break for Sanguinalia treated you all well. Apologies for not updating over the Christmas break, but I fancied a proper rest! New year is always a good time to look back over things; so I thought I'd start with a quick reminder of some different ways you can interact:


+ However, the blog here is always at the heart of things, as I prefer the long-form writing. In this inload, I'll go over a few things I've done, and at some point in the short-term I'll do an inload on what's coming up here, and some cool blogs, projects and links that I've found. +

+ Last year's summary post [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] ended with the note that I wanted to get out and do more with other hobbyists; building some links and sharing ideas. I'm pleased to say that little resolution was a success, as I headed out for a couple of great campaign weekends (thanks chaps!) and got invited to something very exciting. Oh – but that's for next time... + 

+++

+ Resting on my laurels +

+ Something that's popping up on Instragram is the 'top nine' trend, which is basically a quick mosaic of the most popular images you've put on there. Here's mine. Pleased that it's a relatively varied mix of my different projects (quite a few rather shameful unfinished bases though!) +

Top row: Officio Monstrosa Iron Warriors; Alien Wars Blood Angels; Catipürnan World-Turners.
Middle row: Legio Nikator; Praetors of Calth Ultramarines; Praetors of Calth.Ultramarine.
Bottom row: Lamb's World cavalryman; Praetors of Calth Ultramarines; True-scale Terminator tutorial.

+ I am glad to see it's generally the newer stuff that's caught people's imaginations. Bit sad that none of the orks and various aliens made it in – but I think that's fairly inevitable when they're up against Space Marines. 

+ Anyway, it's an interesting result, but not really a bellwether for the upcoming year – I'm quite happy ploughing a little furrow of my own – this is, at root, my hobby, so it'll always be led by what's caught my fancy on a particular day. +

+ Anyway, thank you for reading this blog (particular this very self-indulgent bit!), and I hope you continue to digest and get involved. In the meantime, back to the manufactorum... +

+++

+ Legio Nikator expands +

+ Adeptus Titanicus has taken root in the PCRC, and I've now finished building my Maniple (for now, at least). With Coropedion, the first Warlord, built, I experimented a bit with the pose of the next, Manifest Law:

+ Ipsus Granicus, known as Manifest Law +


+ The main conversion here was to cut into the toes and reposition them, to look like it was striding through low rubble. I posed the ruins and added some spare rubble to the raised foot to look like the Titan was in the process of kicking through. +


+ A pin runs up the rear leg to help offset the weight, but that's not really proven necessary – the plastic is so lightweight that it's fairly sturdy. Note I've put the ruins on a plasticard platform, rather than embedding them in the rubble directly. Little bits like this can help sell the idea of scale. +


+ These primed shots shows the pose more clearly (I sprayed it black after priming with grey), and also shows alternative carapace weapons in place. As with the rest of the Maniple, I've got these – along with the heads and arm weapons magnetised. I'm erring on the side of gatling blasters for the carapace. Who doesn't love multi-barrelled machine guns? However, I've also converted up some missile launchers with trailing smoke – adapted from a technique I used for indicating damage on Aeronautica Imperialis 'planes, it turned out to be quite a good way to add some dynamism to the weapons. +


+ When building the model, I had to keep stopping myself from posing it looking downwards, as though attacking infantry. This isn't Epic! The final pose brings with it a sense of forward momentum and weight, aided by the angle of the upper body and the trailing fist. A final note – I love the head. It's by far my favourite of the four designs we've seen for the modern Warlord. +