Black Lava by Vallejo

On my adventure to a new gaming store this weekend I was introduced to a new hobby product, Acrylicos Vallejo’s Black Lava.  Black Lava is a thick black  paste that contains small stone fragments and can be used for all sorts of rough textures. 

I bought it up thinking it would be superb for doing terrain.  While I was right, I got to brain storming of all the different things this amazing product could be used for.  Eureka!  Black Lava is the miracle product perfect for mud on tank tracks and model bases.

To the right is a picture of Black Lava painted onto a base.  This was a slot base so I filled it with green stuff first and then used a large flat brush to coat the surface with the Black Lava. 

After letting it dry for a good period of time. I moved on to painting.  Vallejo suggest 45 minutes to several hours of drying time depending on thickness.

 

Here we have the final product.  I actually like using the Black Lava a lot better than using traditional PVA glue and basing sand.  Black Lava is quicker, easier and I think results in a much better base.  Although, I bet that a combination of the two would make for some outstanding results.

In case you’re wondering how I painted the base: Paint Scorched Brown > Heavy dry brush Dark Flesh > Dry brush Bestial Brown sparingly to create unevenness > Dry brush Bubonic Brown > Dry brush Bleached Bone concentrating on only the highest points.

I highly recommend this product and I’m sure there are hundreds of uses for it.  If I come up with anything else I’ll be sure to post.  Thanks for reading.

Genesis Chapter Chaplain – My Personal Masterpiece

Hi all, Oni here… and after weeks of devoting all of my hobby time to completing my Genesis chapter chaplain, my own personal best, I present it to you all now.

I love chaplains and I love this particular model so I decided to go all out and do it the best I could and I have to say, I’m very pleased with the results.  I’m not going to type out a full how-to on this one like I normally do, there’s just far to much.  If you’d like to know how I painted a particular aspect of my chaplain feel free to ask me in a comment and I’ll fill you in.  Thanks for stopping by.

A Long Overdue Update

I figured it was about time for an update. My time has not been idle in regards to miniature gaming. I have actually been inspired enough not only to complete my army, but to do so in a timely manner. I went to visit Oni, we played a couple games, spent too much money on GW products, and hit up Games Day. A great time was had overall.

First update is my greater deamon. I wasn't quite sure if I wanted one of these for my army, as I already have a DP that looks fierce. However, and I'm sure Oni can agree to this, this boy is worth his points! The idea came about when I was rummaging through my bits and found the GD of Nurgle's body and legs. When I made my DP, I had a lot of left over bits, so now it was just a matter of finding an appropriate head and arms. I was checking through my GW bits and found nadda. So I grabbed a box I keep around with bits from other ranges and found some old Vor minis, specifically the growlers. The Growlers head fit so nicely, but something was still missing. I found two more heads, belonging the the Growler pups, and figured I would make this a three headed beast of evil-ly goodness. The arms and hands are from the Growlers as well, with a moderate amount of GS added. Here are some WIP shots:

Now for a change, here are shots from some actual FINISHED models! I cranked a few of these out in record time to get ready for Games Day, such as the dread below. This dread was once in the AoBR box, waiting to be assembled to fight for the praise of the Emperor against all enemies of mankind. Then I came along. Just goes to show you, never count on anything in this game! The actual time it took me to complete this model is under two hours, from assembly to flocking. It might not sound like anything special to some, but that's a record in my book. Basically, just the dread with some Chaos-y goodness thrown onto it. No GS here. I may go back and redo the CC weapon in the future but for now, I think it looks good. On a quick side note, of all the games I have ever played, this dread has given me the most problems with the whole rage roll. I think I lose more games because of this little beast going berserk and killing my units (yes, units, and even once when it killed my Lord first turn) as opposed to my opponent. Maybe it still thinks it's imperial....

Next couple of shots are some Plague Marines I did up quick for Games Day. It took about three hours total for about nine of these guys once they were converted. The top three are Space Marines with added bits and GS applied. The one on top is my personal favorite.

These next pic shows a comparison of how I'm painting up the army. I choose to go with two color schemes as opposed to one just for some diversity. The color scheme on the left is done with Scorched Brown, drybrushed Bleached Bone, highlight Skull White with a Devlan Mud wash. The right one was done with Catachan Green, drybrushed Camo Green, highlight Rotting Flesh with a Devlan Mud wash. Cables were done with reds built up, and the metal is Boltgun caked with Devlan Mud. Two very simple schemes that look good, IMO.

This last little bit has nothing to do with my plague marines, but I thought I would throw it in here just because really. A friend asked me to paint up a wizard for her, so I gladly did. The reason I did this was to prove two things. First, I can still paint 'clean' (meaning when I'm painting nurgle-themed I have a tendency to get sloppy on purpose, because it's nurgle and that's how it is!) and second, I wanted to do a miniature fast, without drybrushing or any quick methods. The flames have about seven levels of highlights, everywhere else between three or four. So here's the results: Forty five minutes for this little pyro.



Thanks for any comments/suggestions in advance.

And Oni has yet to beat me in a game of 40K. So please, help him with his IG army. He needs it :P

~Grendel

Leaping Into Imperial Guard

With all of the new Imperial Guard box sets that have been released along with their new and improved codex, I decided I wanted to try my hand at an IG army.

I purchased the codex when it had been released, but Saturday saw the release of the new Cadian Battleforce box set.  I figured this would give me a good place to start building my army.  I picked up two of them since the box really only gives you a single Troops choice, along with a Command Squad for an HQ and a Valkyrie.  Eventually I’ll grab some tanks, most likely Leman Russ battle tanks and Chimera’s, but this should be good for now.

I’ve come up with a quick list, you guys will have to let me know what you think.  Keep in mind that I’ve never commanded an Imperial Guard army before so any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

Company Command Squad	150
Powerfist, Medi-pack, Regimental Standard, Vox-caster, Plasma gun, Carapace armour
Platoon Command Squad	70
Powerfist, Plasma gun, Meltagun
Infantry Squad	70
Vox-caster, Plasma gun
Infantry Squad	62
Bolt pistol, Meltagun
Heavy Weapons Squad	105
3x Lasscannon
Platoon Command Squad	85
Powerfist, Medi-pack, Heavy flamer, Flamer
Infantry Squad	65
Vox-caster, Meltagun
Infantry Squad	57
Bolt pistol, Grenade launcher
Heavy Weapons Squad	75
3x Heavy bolters
Armoured Sentinel Squadron	135
2x Sentinels, 1x Lascannon, 2x Smoke launchers
Valkyrie	125
Lascannon, Heavy bolters
Total:	999

Genesis Chapter Tactical Squad #2

So I’m starting off May with a bang by completing Tactical Squad #2 of my Genesis Chapter. Just in time for Games Day. I feel like I rushed these guys, but no matter, I’m only aiming for a good table top quality. This squad much like squad #1 (here & here) are snap fit, but are from the Battle for Macragge box set. I found these guys on eBay for $20.00 so I couldn’t pass them up.

I tried a new flesh tone on the sergeant and used a different technique on the bases. For the skin tone I started with Dwarf Flesh like I normally do then did a wash of Ogryn Flesh, but then highlighted using Elf Flesh. I’m pretty happy with the results. As for what I changed about the bases… nothing more than using a heavy over-brush technique rather than dry-brushing. I also tried painting my Purity Seals Bronzed Flesh followed by Gryphonne Sepia wash and highlighted with bleached bone. I’m not as happy with the results so I’m going to stick to my old way... Starting with a Bleached Bone base.

You can find out my colour scheme(s) by looking at some of my other Genesis Chapter posts. (here)

I suppose after this I’ll move on to the half painted Landspeeder that’s been sitting around for a month. Comments and criticism welcome and thanks for stopping by.