Here’s what the guys and the Woehammer Community have been working on this week.
Woehammer Hobby (24th Sept 23)
Category Archives: A tale of painters
The Woehammer Display Cabinet – May ’23
We’ve many fantastic painters in the Woehammer Discord. What better way to celebrate them all than to show off their work on the site each month?
Would you like your work featured here? Why not jump into our Discord and post your models in the Display Cabinet channel to get started?
The Woehammer Display Cabinet – April ’23
We’ve many fantastic painters in the Woehammer Discord. What better way to celebrate them all than to show off their work on the site each month?
Would you like your work featured here? Why not jump into our Discord and post your models in the Display Cabinet channel to get started?
Painting Mephrit Dynasty Necrons
I wasn’t planning on starting the new year with a new army, but I wanted to test out a colour scheme before I started work on the Hierotek Circle Kill Team and then Games Workshop went and teased the rules for Boarding Actions. Thus I found myself gluing together the Necrons from the astonishingly good value Warhammer 40,000 Recruit Edition and picking out a colour scheme which started out by selecting the shiniest of metals to really push the Terminator vibe.
I’m pretty happy with the result, which took me about a week of short bursts in the evening and then a chunk of my Saturday (which was mostly devoted to edge highlighting). Here are the paints I used:
- Army Painter Speed Paint – Fire Giant Orange
- Citadel Contrast: Apothecary White
- Citadel Layer: Flash Gitz Yellow
- Citadel Nuln Oil
- Citadel Technical: Armageddon Dunes
- Liquitex Pro Acrylic Ink – Titanium White
- Vallejo Gloss Black Primer
- Vallejo Metal Color Chrome
- Vallejo Model Color 838 – Emerald
- Vallejo Model Color 906 – Pale Blue
- Vallejo Model Color 950 – Matt Black
- Vallejo Model Color 951 – White
- Vallejo Model Color 976 – Buff
I started by priming using the Gloss Black, and then base coating the entire mode with Chrome. I used an airbrush or both of these stages. It’s a tool that lets me prime indoors and without fear of problems from temperature or humidity, and apply the Vallejo Metal Color range as a base coat quickly and smoothly. Substitute your preferred rattlecan or brush on black primer and then brush on the Chrome if you don’t have access to an airbrush.
Next up, give a light coat of Nuln Oil to the whole model to give it some depth. You can skip over the gun and other parts where the metal will be painted over.
Paint the gun Black, then gently dab White Ink into the recesses where the orange glow will come from. This is to give a bright colour to apply the orange to. Ink flows very easily so you can use capillary action instead of carefully painting the tiny gaps. Just add more ink until it flows into the next chamber. Do the same thing with the recesses between the ribs.
The various bits of wiring (such as the connection between the gun and the body and some damaged cables hanging from some of the torsos) also needs a white coat as do the scarabs’ central balls, but they don’t lend themselves to the ink method; use the regular White paint instead.
Once dry, apply the Fire Giant Orange to the white areas. It’s a speed paint, so use the same capillary action method for the guns and use a generous amount elsewhere. Finally use a tiny dot of Flash Gitz Yellow to create a point highlight.
Use Emerald for the face masks, the scarab wings, and the shoulder plates as well as the panels that make up the Royal Warden’s cloak (take care to leave the connectors in plain metal). Apply a tiny amount of Nuln Oil to the masks to shade the eyes and mouths so they have definition. Then go in and edge highlight with the Pale Blue. Use the Pale Blue to paint the stripe up the Royal Warden’s face too.
All the remains are the bases. I used Buff to base coat them, then applied Apothecary White to the rocks before covering the surfaces with Armageddon Dunes which I then highlighted by dry-brushing with Buff. Watch out for the single, tiny scarab that one of the warriors has perched on their tactical rock. Use the same paint scheme as the rest of them for that little fella’.
Add your preferred varnish to protect your paint job, and magnetise the bases for storage and transport if you are so inclined and you can call these Necrons done.
Gallery
Hobby Update – Horus Heresy Blood Angels
Space Marine Spartan Tank
With 40 Space Marines completed I now need to move onto the remaining four models. As one of them is quite big (very, very big), I realised I needed to get started on the Spartan.
As I’ve been playing mostly Fantasy and Age of Sigmar in the last decade I haven’t painted many tanks, so I needed to go back to basics and remind myself how to do it!
Assembly was a long process, but very straight forward apart from a small error with one of the top hatches. Once I’d worked that out it was completed and ready for undercoat.
Undercoat / Step 1
All my models have a black undercoat as I like the slightly darker affect it has on Mephiston Red. It also means there are no grey / white spots left even if I miss a bit! So I can always pretend it’s deliberate shadow.
I decided I would mask off the tracks and some of the weapons to ensure that these remained black as building back over red is a little pointless when it’s already there. If you’ve not done this before just make sure you take a little of the ‘stickiness’ off so that it doesn’t remove the paint when you take them off!
Step 2 – Red Undercoat
With the Mephiston Red undercoat on, and the masking tape removed it’s starting to look a lot like a Blood Angel tank. Next up is some pin washing (which I’ve never done before) with Nuln Oil and a little tidying up of the tracks where the red undercoat has snuck through!
I also need to finish the Lascannon Sponsors of course but they fit on very nicely to allow some movement of the model.
What’s Next
I need to finish the tank, and complete the remainder of the Age of Darkness Box Set. It’s great to be getting close to finishing a starter set!
— Declan & Eeyore
Hobby Update – Horus Heresy Heavy Support Marines
Legion Heavy Support Squads.
The last of the normal marines… having painted 10 Terminators and 30 Space Marines I am now on the final stretch (before characters, Dreadnought and tank).
And what a final stretch… for these I cheated a little bit and bought a second box set.
I selected these, because the Missile Launcher is iconic from the RTB01 box set and my first foray into Warhammer 40k, so long ago.
Missile Launchers
Heavy Bolters
It was great to have a bit of a change following the 30 Tactical Marines and the weapons themselves are easy to paint – especially given the simple scheme for the Blood Angels. Fortunately Black and Red go together!
What’s Next
I am halfway through the Praetors and Dreadnought and they will hopefully be finished before an October trip to Warhammer World. Meanwhile I have also started my Land Raider Spartan – more on that later!
— Declan & Eeyore
Hobby Update – Horus Heresy Tactical Marines
Legion Tactical Squads.
To say that the Age of Darkness box set is bursting with value, is doing it a disservice. With 40 Mark VIs, 10 Terminators, 2 Praetors, Dreadnought and Spartan Tank; it has got everything you need to have a fun game.
I’ve previously finished my Terminators, and have now completed the Sergeants for the Tactical Marines.
As there are 40 Tactical Marines the obvious answer is to build them as 4 units of 10 to give a good backbone of any army, but I picked up a box of missile launchers and heavy bolters… so I have 3 units of 10 Tactical Marines.
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
I really enjoyed painting these models. They have enough detail to be Space Marines, whilst not having too much to paint… no trim! Of course they do have the studded shoulder pads which took a while to get right, but I batch-painted them so got used to it by the 40th Space Marine!
What’s Next
I have finished the Missile Launchers and Heavy Bolters, so the next article will show some pictures of those!
— Declan & Eeyore
Hobby Update – Horus Heresy Terminators
Blood Angel Cataphractii Terminators.
With the standard marines finished (just special equipment and Sergeants to go), I decided to try to finish off my Cataphractii Terminator Squad.
I needed them to pop a little and then I saw what Mengel Miniatures had done over on twitter.
Putting aside that they are the wrong legion, I loved the breakup of the single colour and the use of gold goes nicely with Blood Angels as well. As if to reinforce the hint, I bought the Astartes (Loyalist) book, and veteran marines in Blood Angels use gold (who knew).
The sergeant already had black shoulder pads to designate him, but a full gold helmet definitely doesn’t look out of place, and I’ve once again taken Mengel Miniature’s idea of white on the legs but moved it down to the knee. This has allowed me to use the black transfers for the legion number, although they are small, so it was fun getting some of them on.
I then added gold trim to all the models in places that felt appropriate and … hurrah they are finished.
And some more pictures for details:
What’s Next
I need to finish the Sergeants and special equipment troopers, the Praetors, a Contemptor and the Spartan Assault Tank. Lots to get to, but happy with progress so far.
— Declan & Eeyore
Hobby Update – Horus Heresy August
Blood Angel Batch Painting from Horus Heresy Age of Darkness Box.
Following on from my last update, I’ve made a little progress on my Blood Angels for Horus Heresy despite work being busy and the hot temperatures in the UK.
However, I did get some paint on the non-special models such that they are now complete.
Following on from my previous update, I’ve added more black and picked out the details on the weapons with Leadbelcher and a highlight of Ironbreaker.
The missile launcher’s above show the colours used on the weapons. I have gone for a simple scheme and black and red so very well together.
There are also transfers on all the models, with Blood Angel wings on the shoulder pads, legion number on the left knee and unit marking on the right.
Basing
The basing is a simple affair with Vallejo Thick Mud (Brown) and a highlight of XV-88 to pick out the ridges. I was generous with the mud when applying it and it looks great – not least because it is different to the AoS Destruction base I normally paint.
There’s also loads in a pot, so I’ve hardly used any to base the models so far – it’ll definitely cover a lot of an army.
Finally I finished off the bases with a black rim to keep them neat the tidy.
What’s Next
There’s still the Terminators, Sergeants, and 2 special troopers to finish off. And I need to start the Praetors at some point…! In order to give myself something different to paint I’ve also assembled the Contemptor Dreadnought and given it a quick undercoat to be ready as the next model on the table.
I’m still aiming to complete by October when I’m meeting up with friends at Warhammer World and I think I’m still on target.
— Declan & Eeyore
Hobby Update – Orange is the New Black
Blood Angel Batch Painting from Horus Heresy Age of Darkness Box.
In my continued effort to try to get some Blood Angels for Horus Heresy actually finished, I am continuing to batch paint the models from the Age of Darkness Box. In my last article I got them to Mephiston Red (with some Nuln Oil shading)… what’s next?
Last time I got here:
Orange is new…
But I needed to get the highlighting done. As I was around when the original Beakies were released, my normal go-to- method is to use edge highlighting… but it can take a long time and I only needed battle ready. Fortunately I had heard of some people using the hallowed technique of drybrushing for their marines! Strange, but I did some investigation and I found this by Sonic Sedgehammer:
They suggested two levels of drybrushing, but why do two when you can go straight to the end and pick up 1? Fortunately I had Ryza Rust from some Martian terrain I painted that I got as a gift from a friend, so I was ready to go and skip right to the end.
The technique is explained well in the video, but effectively just drybrush the edges only and leave the panels free of highlight. This gives a good overall impression and whilst I may do a bit of tidy up later I’m happy with the results at the table-top level.
Black Legion?
Not quite, but the next colour was Abaddon Black to get some contrasting colours onto the models. For this I wanted to keep it easy (and quick) which is rapidly becoming a theme. Some of the eagle-eyed readers will have noticed the black in the picture above, and that’s what I did. Pick out the joints, the cables and the back of the backpacks.
Whilst this may be sufficient I do want to add a little silver here and there, but it is a great start and the models are beginning to look like Blood Angels.
I’m really enjoying the batch-painting and seeing progress each time I sit down even if I’m only able to give 1 or 2 hours at a time. By now I’ve normally got bored and hived off some models, but I’m managing to keep with the 50 done to Mephiston Red level – and now they’re all highlighted and some black sections picked out.
But weren’t there 52?
Well yes, I’ve not done the Praetors but there’s a reason for that. In fact there are a few.
- I don’t mind if they take longer to paint – they are characters and should have the glory and attention
- I want to do a few more highlights, so I’ll like do some halfway colours on them to get there
- There’s so much detail I can’t go into ‘automatic pilot’ with them and because I need to think about what colours I want they will take longer.
So the Praetors are out of the batch-painting process for now, but I’ll go back to them soon as I need them to complete the foot troops before I get to the tank and dreadnought.
What’s Next
Well, I’ve already alluded to it, but I’ll be adding some silver to some of the pipes. I think want to start on the cloth/leather for the Terminators and any that may appear on the Beaky Marines, and then I’ll have to move towards the weapons.
I am pleased with the black so far and the contrast it provides, so it’s likely that they will be black as a base as well — but still time to reconsider.
Stay tuned to see how I get on.
— Declan