February challenge

 As I mentioned in my last post I have been inspired by a member of a discord I'm part of, who tends to share month based themes.

This month is Fem-uary; Non sexualised female models

As such these are my currently planned models to paint are:

Hopefully it's obvious but in case it's not the models are Vasquez, Dietrich, Ripley and Newt from Aliens

In particular the GF9 Heroes of Hadley's Hope box set.

As can been seen I have already started these, I've just not had the motivation to finish them so hopefully this themed based month will help.

What I am looking forward to most is the denim for Ripley's Jeans and Newt's dungarees as I've not painted denim much so it will be a nice challenge.

Further to this I have been advised that there isn't a theme for the upcoming months so I am open to suggestions.

So far I have I only have an idea for March: Monster/Mech March 

An attempt at returning...again (again?) and Cav-uary

I have found myself with a bit more time on my hands (don't tell the wife 😉) and instead of mindless doom scrolling I thought a return to writing this blog is in order.

Yep I know I said something similar back in 2019 and that lasted 4 months...so...who knows how long this will last.

At the end of the day it's a documentation of my painting methods, which help me as a reference point on future projects and that's all that matters right? Right?

After writing that intro I sit here staring at the blank page ahead - overwhelmed with what I need to write.

It's easy to throw down a list of paints as a reference but adding intros, and turning it into a document of steps in something else.

Is this why I stop and start on this blog...anyway less self loathing/reflection onwards!

Like many wargamers/hobbyists I spend a fair amount of time looking up ideas on youtube, and that's where I found (amongst many others) The Cult of Crafting and a link to their discord. 

One individual on that discord community started sharing month based painting themes from the "Oldhammer" forum (we all know about Orktober/Orctober but there are others) and that has inspired me! 

With these themes I have a direction, instead of aimlessly working through my backlog, and by damn I'm going to try to stick to it.

I should add that there will be some adjustments to the theme from the Oldhammer forum. As an example January is meant to be "Slann-uary" but I thought that was too specific plus I don't own any lizard models (and remember it's all about me after all) so, through suggestions on The Cult of Crafting discord "Cav-uary" was born.

As part of Cav-uary I have been working on my mounted ECW Dragoons, Robert Devereux (Earl of Essex) & Lord Minimus.

Dragoons.

With the Dragoons I made a bit of a faux par; what is meant to be done is the mounted Dragoons are meant to match the dismounted Dragoons - they are one and the same after all. However I worked on my dismounted Dragoons a long time ago, didn't reference them (or this Blog - which is ironic) and just set about painting my mounted Dragoons.

The paints used were from the Vallejo game colour range, unless stated otherwise.

I started by undercoating them all in grey.

I used the following process, which was consistent on all of them

• The coats were paint with GW Contrast Blood Angel Red, washed with dark brown wash, highlighted with Blood Red (72.010)
• The musket stock was painted with Scorched Brown (72.045)
• The musket barrel, trigger and lock was painted with Vallejo Model colour Gunmetal grey (70.863)
• Flesh was painted with Tan (72.066), then Dwarf skin(72.041) -depending how it looked I sometimes used a a light brown wash or black wash
• The collar was painted with AP Warpaint Matt White - washed with black
• Any Sash was painted with GW Wild Rider Red, washed with black then highlighted with Orange Fire (72.008) - this is the colour of Earl of Essex
• Sword hilt for the average troop was painted with Gunmetal grey (70.863)
• Command sword hilt was painted with Brassy Brass (72,058) washed in black then painted with Glorious Gold (72.056)
• Bedrolls were painted Sombre Grey (72.048) then washed in black
• Hats painted with Model Color Black (70.950)

Leather items:

• Straps, powder poches, bags: Beasty Brown (72.043), then Leather Brown (72.040)
• Reins, Boots, sword sheath and attached strap: Scorched Brown (72.045)

Trousers

• Ultramarine Blue (72.022), washed in black, highlighted/drybrushed with Magic Blue (72.021)

Hair - variation of:

• Scorched Brown
• Beasty Brown
• Leather Brown
• Plague Brown (72.039)
• Cold Grey (72.050)

Lanterns

• Metal: Tamiya Color Dark Iron XF-84
• Glass: Ultramarine Blue (72.022) 

Horses - I really don't enjoy painting horses "on mass" so kept this simple

Undercoated grey, washed black, drybrush with Cold Grey (72.050) then drybrushed with Stonewall Grey (72.049) then drybrushed with AP Warpaint Matt White.

Hooves: Model Color Black (70.950)

Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex

Undercoated Grey

Armour: Tamiya Color Dark Iron XF-84

Flesh: Tan (72.066), then Dwarf skin(72.041)

Hair: Model Color Black (70.950), drybrushed with Cold Grey

Sash: GW Wild Rider Red, washed with black then highlighted with Orange Fire (72.008)

Sword Sheath: Scorched Brown

Sword Hilt: Brassy Brass (72,058) washed in black then painted with Glorious Gold (72.056)

Hat: Model Color Black (70.950)

Feather: Cold grey, washed black, drybrush with Stonewall Grey

Horse: Scorched Brown, then drybrushed with Beasty Brown, Hair and Hooves: Model Color Black (70.950)

Reins:  Beasty Brown (72.043), then Leather Brown (72.040)

Saddle: GW Wild Rider Red, washed with black then highlighted with Orange Fire (72.008), with the trim painted Brassy Brass (72,058) then Glorious Gold (72.056)

Just waiting for a circular base to arrive then I can change his base and create a base suitable for a leader 

Lord Minimus

Undercoat White, washed everything black

Clothes: Model Color Black (70.950), with White trim

Hair: Plague Brown (72.039)

Skin: AP Speed paint Peachy Flesh (Not convinced by AP speed paints, they don't work as well as GW contrast IMO)

Pistols: Scorched Brown, Gunmetal grey metal parts

Monkey: Scorched Brown all over light brush of Beasty Brown, AP Warpaint Matt White face area and stomach, then Model Color Black (70.950) across eyes and mouth.

Reins: GW Contrast Blood Angel Red

Saddle: GW Contrast Blood Angel Red, trim and raised arears were painted Brassy Brass (72,058) then Glorious Gold (72.056)

Just waiting for a circular base to arrive then I can change his base and create a base suitable for a leader

Walls

Painting: Games Workshop: Warhammer 40k: Genestealer Cult: Purestrain Genestealers & Familiars

These have driven me insane!

Especially as it's such a simple and straight forward process!

The process I followed was as follows:

• Undercoat in black
• Paint all areas of flesh with GW Daemonette Hide 
• Wash areas of flesh with AP purple tone
• Highlight flesh areas with GW Slaanesh Grey
• touch up chitin areas with GW Abaddon black
• Drybrush Chitin with Vallejo game colour Stonewall grey (72.040)
• Paint tongue with Vallejo game colour Hexed Lichen (72.015) 
• teeth with either Vallejo game colour Plague Brown (72.039) or Vallejo game colour Bonewhite (72.034), then washed with AP strong tone
• eyes with GW Iyanden Darksun
• Matt varnish was then applied all over except for the claws and tongue, those were covered with Gloss varnish
• The base was covered with GW Astrogranite debris; once dry it was washed with AP dark tone and the edge of the base was painted black

For the familiars there was the addition of GW Mephiston Red for the cloth which was washed with AP dark tone.

So quick and simple however touching up the black areas just drove me insane! Thankfully this is the last of the purestrain genestealers for my force, so I don't need to worry about doing this for a little while.

April - Overcoming an aversion to black

So with April at a close I can proudly announce that I have overcome my aversion to black and as a result finished all the planned projects!

So onwards to May; My planned projects are as follows:

Master Gunner & Sentinel 

Saker Cannon & Crew (inc engineer)

Demi-Culverin

Painting: Pike & Shotte/Pikemans Lament - English Civil War: Foot/Dismounted Dragoons

In this post I will outline how I painted 12 ECW foot Dragoons, the important part (in my opinion) is that I didn't use black at all!

The paints used were from the Vallejo game colour range, unless stated otherwise.

I started by undercoating them all in grey.

I used the following process, which was consistent on all of them
The coats were paint with GW Mephiston Red
The musket stock was painted with Scorched Brown (72.045)
The musket barrel, trigger and lock was painted with Vallejo Model colour Gunmetal grey (70.863)
Musket fuse was painted with Plague brown (72.039)
Flesh was painted with Tan (72.066), then Dwarf skin(72.041)
The collar was painted with White primer (72.002)
Any Sash was painted Imperial Blue (72.020) then highlighted with Magic blue (72.021) then washed AP Blue tone
Sword hilt was painted with Chainmail silver (72.053)

Trousers, areas of leather and hair were all painted differently using any of the processes listed below

Leather (including shoes and hats)

• Beasty Brown (72.043), then Leather Brown (72.040)
• Beasty Brown (72.043)
• Leather Brown (72.040)
• Scorched Brown (72.045)
• Scorched Brown  (72.045) then Beasty Brown (72.043)
• Plague Brown (72.039)

Trousers

• Sombre Grey (this was also used on the cuffs of the (red) jackets) (72.048)
• Plague Brown (72.039)
• Desert Yellow (72.063)

Hair

• GW Iyanden Darksun
• GW Macharius Solar Orange
• Scorched Brown
• Beasty Brown
• Leather Brown
• Earth (72.062)
• Cold Grey (72.050)

Once the model had been painted AP Strong tone was applied all over except for areas of skin, muskets, Sword hilt and trouser painted with Sombre grey.
Areas of flesh were painted with AP Flesh wash
Muskets, sword hilts and sombre grey trousers were coated with AP dark tone

The command group was painted using a similar method with some changes/additions:
Leader
Bright Bronze (72.057) then Glorious Gold (72.056) on the jacket trim and the sword hilt
Chainmail silver (72.053) on the halberd blade

Drummer
Drum skin: Bonewhite (72.034)
Drum trim: Imperial blue, AP Blue tone
Drum string:Plague brown, AP strong tone, Bone white (72.034)

Standard bearer
Standard pole/Lance: painted beasty brown

once all the models have been painted I covered the bases in sand, painted it scorched brown, then covered it with static grass

So close and yet so far...March objective failed

So for the first time, so far, this year I didn't finish all my intended projects for the month.

I completed the ECW cavalry (Click here for details) and the Genestealer cult Patriach, but couldn't find the time to complete the 4 genestealers and 2 familiars.

In light of the above, my objective for April is the following:

• Complete 4 Genestealers  (From March)
• Complete 2 familiars (From March)
• 12 ECW Dragoons on foot

Onwards!