+ inload: M3. 022 +

+ inloading: The Isorian Senatex of Omu and plans for M3.001022 +

+ WIP Isorian Tsan Ra +

+ Happy new year to you all. I thought I'd show what I've been working on over the Christmas break – and talk a little about the ideas, side-projects and back-burner stuff that's currently enthusing me. +

+ The Isorian Senatex +

+ In one of those rash statements made at the start of any extended holiday, I declared, 'I'm going to paint all the Beyond the Gates of Antares stuff I have over this break.' Predictably, I didn't quite get there, but I'm pleased with how things are coming along. +

+ This human Phase Squad (named after their bio-tech armour that protects them by partially 'phasing' them out of sequence with the physical world) is complete, and I'm pleased with how they came out. +

+ I played around quite a bit with the scheme, and ended up with something akin to the official scheme. Warlord's Isorians have dark brown armour with orange accents, while I've gone for a cooler green with purple. Quite distinct hues, but the overall impression – dark with white faces – is similar. You'll note the yellow facemask and white 'carapace' on the leader. At one point, they were all so painted: 

+ ... but at length I decided that I preferred the cool white of the finished squad, retaining the yellow and white as a mark of rank. The leader can be picked out quite easily in the pict-capture below. Note the fairly extensive use of orange and green accents on the guns. I don't usually use glowy special effects on my 40k models – it rarely chimes with my vision of the grimy nature of the universe – but for the more optimistic Beyond the Gates of Antares (BtGoA) it seemed fun to play around with some light. +

+ The creepy floating eyeball at the rear right is a spotter drone. Drones are an intriguing part of the BtGoA setting, effectively acting as physical representations of unit upgrades. You can go bare bones, with no drones; all-out, with squads heavily supported and enhanced by drones; or a mix. There are lots of different types, giving advantages like relaying targetting data to improve your chances to hit, or allow friendly units to offer more accurate supporting fire; setting up directional force fields to provide mobile cover; or provide medical support. I'm interested in exploring them, and it seems a nice visual way to remind players of what their squads can do. +

+ Another experiment with the colour scheme, this officer model was provided as a freebie by Warlord, which was a lovely surprise. He's received a minor conversion in the shape of an arm swap, and was a good chance to play around with the scheme. Here, the whole carapace was painting ivory, and the mask black. I ended up moving away from this on the basis it looked a bit too 'Judge Dredd'. Not necessarily a bad thing (who doesn't love Judge drokking Dredd, right?), but I wanted something a bit different. +

+ Once the scheme had been tested out on the human elements, I turned to the gribbly aliens – the Tsan Ra. I kicked off with this officer; the leader of a Tsan Ra command squad. Officers are a good place to start when finding your way with a scheme, because they lend themselves to looking a touch different. Once you're happy with them, you can use what you're learned to inform the rest. Here you'll note the presence of the yellow mask and some simple line script. Minor decorations that add a bit of contrast. +

+ The models are covered with little flanges, bulbs, circles and similar lumps and bumps, and I'm not quite sure what they're meant to be. Some, like the coils on the guns, are probably of some sort of firing mechanism, but the bits on the walking forearm (lower right of the picture) are more mysterious. A glove? Natural extrusion? Field projectors for the armour? +

+ I fell back on just painting what looked right, and trying to keep some sort of consistency across the human and tsan ra models to keep them looking part of the same team. For example, where they were on the hard grey armour, I mostly painted the ribbed elements as gently glowing pink – perhaps some sort of power source indicator or armour cabling – but you'll note on the 'knuckles' of the hand here that I've left it the same leathery colour as some of the other bits that I've decided are fabric. Why? Well, it just struck me as odd that you'd have a powered bit here – but it seems a nice decorative touch that the Isorians might include for simple aesthetics. +

+ ...and with the test squad and officers in place, it was on to the rest.+ 

+ This isn't quite everything – there is another weapon team and some drones – but you can see that this was a potentially doable project. It's not a huge amount, but I rather underestimated how complex the models were individually, and also how long it would take me to faff around and find a scheme I liked. Above is the first stage. The models were primed brown (from Halford's camouflage spray range), then the green bits painted with Incubi Darkness and drybrushed with a mix of Incubi Darkness and Vallejo Off-white. Next I painted the bases with Skrag Brown (I think), before switching to my old favourite Charadon Granite for the carapace, weapons and masks. +

+ This is all essentially layers and drybrushing. Drybrushing can be a bit of an overlooked technique – I think a lot of hobbyists overuse it when they’re starting out and relegate it to being a ‘beginner’s trick’ – but it’s ideal to help pick out areas of light and shade on complex and unfamiliar sculpts. Whether any of it remains visible at the end is largely moot if it helps you enjoy the rest of the sculpt. +

+ The rest of the tsan ta command squad; the tsan ra and human phase squads; and a plasma light support team (interesting as drones are, I prefer crewed support weapons). +

+ The next stage was washes and painting in the accent areas. I used Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil for the grey areas, and Thraka Green for the soft armour/suit 'fabric'. This is one of the old washes – you could use Coelia Greenshade for a bluer-green, or Biel-Tan green for a modern equivalent. +

+ After that, I switched from batch painting the whole lot to working on smaller groups. The whole group above includes figures that are more developed, as well as those that have progressed only in that the bases have been drybrushed with Citadel Desert yellow and Vallejo Off-white.+

+ The Isorian humans might have creepy bio-armour, but they're still humans underneath. I wanted to make this clear, and included as many unmasked faces as I could to humanise the force a bit. These faces and bases made me feel like I was making small but significant progress in the first painting session of the year. Experience has taught me that batch painting doesn’t really suit me, so for relatively large numbers like this Isorian force, I do a hybrid approach – batch paint things like bases and then switch to some fun close detail like the faces in the first shot. This allows me to build things without getting burnt out. +

+ I couldn't resist the siren call of more Tsan Ra, so after getting the army a bit further along, I concentrated on the Tsan Ra Phase Squad. They're not quite finished, but definitely getting there. +

+ WIP Isorian Tsan Ra +

+++

+ What else? +

+ With completion of the Isorian Senatex force within striking distance – before the end of January, all things going well – I'll be able to explore other things. +

+ First and foremost of these will be the War of the False Primarch. That will be moving into the penultimate stage shortly, and I'll be using that opportunity to get my Silver Stars polished off in both 40k and Epic scale. +

+ For the PCRC gang, I'll be working on the War in Heaven – basically an excuse to paint up my Necrons and start the WD138-inspired Alaitoc force. +

+ ...and finally, something for the Baraqu conclave: a Kill Team of Salamanders for an event in March. +

+ Two of these have time limits on; the others I want to be far more relaxed. +