Brother Corbulo

Here's a photo of the miniature I entered for the 2010 Golden Demon (Blood Angels Sanguinary High Priest - Brother Corbulo).

Jain Zar

Short background story: I think the howling banshees squad in my army is one of the nicest. However, they see little play time because there is little room in my list once the obligatory harlequins, 10-strong wraithguard, farseer, and heavies are included. There is a Indy Tournament at the end of the month that is being held at the Battle Bunker and I've decided to sacrifice my normal recipe for a softer but more spectacular-looking composition that will have the full compliment of my banshees. Furthermore, I've recently finished the banshee's Phoenix Lord model, Jain Zar, to make sure they gain the centerpiece status they deserve. Below are views of the finished model. I went all out on the NNM and you may notice hits of OSL scattered about.

Blood Angels Assault Squad

I finally finished the Blood Angels assault squad. I put these together a long time ago, so there are some mold lines that I never used to worry about... Also, I put 2 plasma pistols in this squad for some unknown reason. These guys count as Troops now! With the 'Descent of Angels' special rule, these guys are great for taking objectives in the middle of the game. I played around with the Sergeant's power sword, I think one side looks better than the other.

Note: The Sergeant group of 5 was painted after I finished the first group. I didn't like the way the helmets of the first group turned out, so I used much darker shading for the second group.

Not ready for GD yet

So, I've continued my theme of model renovation into the single Fantasy character category. Below are before and after pictures of an High Elf Everqueen model I originally painted about 8 years ago. See if you can guess which things I changed? I'll give the answer in a follow up post.
Eventhough I think she is improved, the dress is not quite GD-quality. I'm having trouble getting the inspiration and courage to paint a nice pattern onto the dress. I guess I still have a month and a half. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to here them.

Blood Angels Sanguinary Priest

Finally started taking pictures of my recent paintings. The first is a Sanguinary Priest (Apothecary). I've never painted a lot of white, so it was a real challenge for me.

The new Codex: Blood Angels allows me to take up to 3 Apothecaries as a single Elite choice, but they are all independent characters that grant a 6" Feel-No-Pain bubble (as opposed to vanilla marines, where they only grant FNP to the command squad). I gave him a jump pack, so I could Deep Strike him (Descent of Angels gives a re-roll on reserves rolls, and only 1D6 scatter). I also gave him an Inferno Pistol (6" melta pistol). The first time I used him, I dropped him in behind a Vindicator tank, blew it up, then jumped to the nearest Tactical Squad to spread the FNP love.

40k Squad Complete

Golden Demon 2010 entry number two is now complete. I finished the movement tray for the squad two nights ago. Although the rules claim that the display base does not get judged, they recommend you have one to ease model transportation. Therefore, I created a modest base that ensured good spacing between the models. Another significant addition to this squad was the addition of Karandras' helmet to the base. My original vision for this model was to show Karandras without his helm. I liked that his tall top-knot-like pony tail could fit rather comfortably inside the tall helmet. However, this aspect would be lost on those not already familiar with the original sculpt of the model. Therefore, I painted and added the helmet to the base to show that he has temporarily taken it off. Below are pictures of the whole squad and then Karandras alone.

Golden Demo 40k Squad

I painted up a squad for the Golden Demon two years ago and did not win (although they earned a finalist pin). The five models I entered took me a painfully long time to paint and I still don't have the energy to try painting up a whole squad again. Instead, I'm going to give this squad a makeover and try again. I believe I made two significant mistakes with the squad the first time. The first mistake was the use of gloss varnish and the second mistake was insufficient "wowness."

I normally spray all of my freshly painted models with gloss varnish to provide a durable protective coating that I then over coat with a less durable but matte, dull coat spray. In the past, this dull coat layer was enough to remove the shiny look but not this time. Successive layers of the dull coat have proven unsuccessful :-( Nevertheless, I have strong plans for fixing the "wowness" issue. If you've heard me rant on this issue before, you can probably guess that I mean more contrast and bolder hardlines. Below is one of the models that received the wowness makeover.
The image on the left is before the makeover. The middle image is after the first round of hard lines and highlights. The hardlines came our really rough, so I spent several more hours on the squad smoothing them out. Additionally, I added more highlights to the greens and painted runes on their forehead. I like the results (minus the irremovable shine).