[exload subroutine: GOODCHEER – date spindle MMXVII]
+ From the Old... +
+ Hope everyone had an enjoyable break over Christmas, and we're all raring to go. The start of a new year is a good time to stop and take stock of things, and this applies as much to hobbies as the more fundamental parts of life. +
+ Backburner projects can niggle. This has been the case for me with both my Warhammer Dwarfs and my Warmachine forces in general. Stepping over that initial hurdle and just getting started with them has been a bit of a hurdle – it's always easier to go with an existing project, as there's less thought required in terms of techniques, painting methods and so forth. As a result, the models remain in storage, unpainted, unprimed, or even unbuilt. No glorious battles for those poor souls. +
+ Fortunately, the same things that dissuade you from the first steps of a project prove to be the things that are most rewarding when you do get started. The challenge becomes rewarding, and your enthusiasm is rekindled. The start of 2017 proved the perfect chance to get another unit for the Throng of Nog built. +
+ I've left the shoulder pads off these fellows, as it opens up the fairly limited poses a little more. Aside from a few trims here and there to alter angles and weapons, these are straight out of the box – the aesthetic of these models is pure poetry; just what I picture for the dwarfs of the Warhammer world. +
+ I also continued putting some paint onto the Protectorate. I'm working in fairly small chunks, and aiming to get a game or two in as a staging marker/deadline. Pictured here are two solos nearing completion (the vassals at the front right), plus a light warjack and the ubiquitous choir. +
+ I believe the men of the choir are some of the oldest sculpts that Privateer Press still produces, but they've a perfect example of a solid concept executed decently. They're not great sculpts from a technical point of view (the fabric of the tabards around the waist is very angular, for example – I initially mistook it for unusual hip plates!), but they portray a really strong image and are full of character. For me, they represent a style of miniature – hand sculpted and cast in metal – that has great nostalgic value for me. Such figures share much the same appeal as the Oldhammer movement. +
+ Digging these figures out and getting them one stage further to their finished state was fun and gave me an odd sense of relief. I realised that I'd been feeling misplaced pressure from my hobby; which is silly, really. I'm sure some of you will have felt a similar misplaced sense of expectation, so I'd encourage you to use the new year as a reminder that none of this really matters – for me, it was exactly the thing to relieve my end of year hobby malaise and get me enjoying myself again. +
+ What have you got on the backburner? Consider this a little encouragement to engage with your hobby and start the year off on a productive note; with no sense of pressure or expectation. Good luck! +
+ Post 300 tick [CONFIRM]+
+ audio-exload: [FANFARE] +
+ Resume standard +
+ Transmission restored +
+ A brief period of hobby malaise and generally being busy has left this blog a bit fallow, but I had the chance to sit down and do a bit of painting last night. 2017 is shaping up to be a good one [APPEND/ADDENDUM: famous last words, 2016] at least in terms of our hobby. +
+ I don't think my predictions of what I'll be working on have ever proven quite correct, but it's always nice to have a vague plan, so when I inevitably go off-piste and am stuck for inspiration I have a record of what I could do. With that borne in mind, I'm planning to get some stuff painted for games that I've not played in a while – specifically, Protectorate of Menoth for Warmachine; a Blood Bowl team for the Tallowland Invitational that I'll be running come February [more info in an upcoming inload], and – should that Christmas Elf decide I've been good this year – some of the VIth and XVth Legions for Battle for Prospero. +
+ Sticking with Warmachine for the moment, I was working on a Sanctifier – a heavy Warjack – last night. It's still WIP, but coming on nicely:
+ The inspiration for the scheme was a cross between the warm reds and yellows seen in the Eastern Orthodox Church (the background for this army draws upon the pseduo-Russian Khador and the desert-based Protectorate of Menoth) and construction equipment. +
+ Yellow symbolises both divinity and corruption in Christian tradition, which fits with the odd dynamic the Protectorate of Menoth have with their Warjacks – namely that they're a bit suspicious of using magic, and thus the men and women who build and maintain to their warjacks are seen a 'necessary evil'. As I understand things, the Warjacks themselves are seen with similar ambivalence – valued for their power, but not whole-heartedly embraced. There's a bit of doublethink inherent in the faction which rather appeals to me. +
+ The scheme is looking a bit muted and mustardy at the moment – it's a base of Averland Sunset with Dark Flesh used for shading, and the addition of Dheneb Stone and Vallejo white for highlights. I'll be adding some layers of yellow ink to add some vibrancy, and likely be introducing a little red or green as it looks a little 'Imperial Fisty' at the moment. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I'd like to use the opportunity the Protectorate offers for something a bit different. +
+ The boiler on the back was fun to paint – a mix of Boltgun Metal and brown was used, then sepia ink and Nuln Oil washes. The glow (again unfinished) is simply Vallejo Scarlet added wet-in-wet. +
+ The Menofix (the Sanctifier's main weapon) has been painted with a slight marble effect. I didn't want it to draw too much attention from the body of the machine, as I felt this would detract from the impression of bulk and mass. As a result, it's painted in dark, fairly muted turquoises. +
+ inload: Reports of my demise... +
+ A house move has meant hobby time has been a little curtailed recently, so apologies for the lack of inloadfeed for the past few days. Happily things are starting to settle down, so I'm sure I'll soon be back to supping recaff and synthale while waving picter-dendrites over the old hobby bureau. The new house – my first step into ownership, no less – has a lovely spacious and light room we've set aside for study and relaxing, so I should be better set for lighting and photography, too. Onwards and upwards! +
+ One of the last things I worked upon before packing up was Severius, a Warcaster from the Protectorate of Menoth, a faction from Privateer Press' Warmachine game. A great little metal figure, and quite fun to paint, he was an experiment in colour scheme. I've stepped away from the studio paint scheme, as I'm not a fan of the white and magenta/purple. +
+ A simple approach – initial block colours, layers of washes and inks (sepia, orange and black), then cleaning and tidying – worked well for the figure, which has a chunkiness of sculpting that rewards a quick, simple approach like this. There's a little freehand on the hat (helmet?) in the shape of a menofix (the Protectorate's symbol), and I've picked out some gems in cool blue as a contrasting accent to the overall warm cream/yellow/red scheme, but I've left him fairly simple. +
+ I'm in two minds about the bases of my Warmachine figures. I've come to the conclusion that I don't like the rolled shoulder style, as it makes too much of the block colour on the edge. I've tried black, brown and even extending the texture down to the floor, but nothing looks right to me. For the moment, I'm compromising on a very dark brown, but I'm open to suggestions. +
+inload: Toll the Great Bell Thrice!+
+I have a soft spot for the Adeptus Mechanicus. They're such a unique creation, and because they've never had a large tabletop presence, the background remains relatively vague. This in turn allows space for imagination and creativity in creating fun models.
+
This simple conversion is based on a Warmachine figure, a Menoth Warcaster called the High Reclaimer. Some simple cutting and trimming has allowed me to mount a metal backpack from an old Games Workshop techmarine and replace the head of his axe/halberd thing with a cogged axe. It's a simple change, but in combination with some chequers and painted details, I think he'll come out recognisable as a techpriest of sorts. A lot of the details – the hood, the dehumanising mask, the robes – already suggest a Mechanicus member to me.+
+The crucial difference between the Mechanicus and other minor groups in 40k, like Zoats for example, is that they have a very distinctive aesthetic that's unique to them. If a model has a broadly human silhouette, a red robe, and mechanical additions, chances are that it'll be recognisable as a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus.+
+Sometimes conversions just suggest themselves, and this simple one is just such an example. The grotesque, dehumanised look of much of the Warhammer 40,00 universe – where facial features, limbs and even the torso of the human form is distorted, defaced or altered – really strikes a chord with me. It suggests decay, a fall from grace, and both spiritual and physical suffering. It's dark and bitter and vicious – very fitting for a galaxy at war. I wanted to include some asymmetry in the model, and the hunched pose made a backpack an obvious addition.
+The unbalanced arm and jagged, blocky zigzag shape is static but aggressive, and it neatly echoes the more organic sweep of the cable, weapon and arm. The cabling on the right stops the model feeling unbalanced by the huge servo arm, which is presumably why it was sculpted on the original model.
+Annoyingly, I seem to have scraped the undercoat on his hood, so I'll need to re-prime him!+
+++
