Xeno Race WIP

Lepidosaurians are on the way. Now they have a shaman leader (will play him as an Ork weirdboy) a powerful psyker.

Some of the Skinks are basically finished. I like how the blue stands out against the yellow and orange colors.

With toughness 2 and no armor save it is wise to stay together! Stay tuned for more and guides on how I painted these wonderful lizards.

Merry Christmas!

The Phoenix and the Raven will be back after the holidays. Hopefully with tons of new models to asseble, paint and play with. See ya! Ho ho ho...

MKIII done and painted

What is that rumble? The sound of heavy ceramite plating stomping the ground as my newly painted squad of mkIII advances on the enemy.

Note the different colors of the helmets. Slight variations which makes each model more individual.

I love the amount of bolts which makes the armor seem so robust. Compared to mkIV these are much larger. Even though I want mkIV to dominate my army mkIII could possibly be the coolest looking armor.

Saul feels comfortable now that he is backed up by the new squad.

Painting the Lepidosaurs Part 1

I got some Skinks from GW which I plan on playing as Gretchin (Ork codex). I basecoated them with Skull White and used three shades to get the basic color of their skin. A very simple technique but the results are awesome!

Skull White spray.

Shaded Casandora Yellow (all body).

Shaded Fuegan Orange (Scales, shield and tips of extremities).

Shaded Carroburg Crimson (Scales, shields and very tips of extremities).

I will later add some blue as spot color and paint the spears. The base will have a dessert feeling.

Saul Painted

Here he is in all his glory! Captain Saul Tarvitz, Captain of the 10th Company. The fact that the model was clad in mkIII armor makes it look ancient like something out of 30K. I painted him using the same scheme as I described in an earlier post.

A nobel but stern gaze watches the battlefield. One can feel the intelligent mind constantly making decisions in the ever changing conditions of a firefight.

I am looking forward to seeing him on the table at the head of his Company.

New Xeno Race in 30K

So there are some differences concerning which Xeno (non-human) races that were active during the great crusade and horus heresy compared to the ones that are played in 40K. Eldar, Dark Eldar and Orks appear in both 30K and 40K but Tau, Necrons and Tyranids for example are not mentioned. There are also numerous 30K races that are mentioned in the Horus Heresy Novels that don't occur in 40K such as the Hrud, Laer and Megarachnids (the latter two are far too familiar for the Emperor's Children). What I have in mind is to create some more Xeno races which could be played and used in a great crusade era campaign. The good thing about 30K is that there were countless worlds brought to compliance by the Imperium with just as many races driven to extinction.

I would like to create a reptillan race using Lizardmen from Warhammer fantasy. The models look great and even though I am not a fantasy player I have always wanted a Lizardmen army.

I think I am going to call them the Lepidosauria which is the scientific name for the group including all lizards (and snakes). Lepidosaurs sounds cool enough :)

 These two pictures are stolen from the web (I take no credit for them!) and illustrate how lizardmen could be used in 30K. I however have other plans. Instead of making them look high-tech I will keep them fantasy-looking as a primitive race. But their strength and psychic powers will still make them a dangerous enemy!

Emperor's Children Painting Guide

My goal when painting miniatures is to find the perfect balance between spending too much time per model and not spending enough. Sure it would be nice to have an entire army painted in Heavy Metal style but lets face it we also want models to quickly look good enough for table-top so that we can start with the next project. I have tons of stuff that I haven't painted because I moved on to the next thing. How fun is Hormagaunt nr 16 out of 20? HQ and tanks can get extra attention because they stand out but the regular troops need a reasonable color scheme that gets the job done in good time. Here is the one I use for my Legion and I am happy with the results!

Primed in Chaos Black. White shoulder pads are a 70:30 mix of White Scar and Screaming Skull.

Main color is of course purple and I use Xereus Purple.

Metal details in Leadbelcher (including the ones that will be gold eventually).

To get a nice golden tone I paint Gehenna's Gold on top of Leadbelcher (and this is important because the tone is completely different if you add the gold over black or Runefang Steel).

Clean up any splatter for the first 4 colors. I painted the crest in the same way as the shoulder pads. Black details such as the chainswords and bolt pistols are 70:30 mix of Abaddon Black and Dawnstone.

Highlighted black details with Dawnstone. The lovely wash or shade with Nuln Oil really binds the colors together.

Painted eye lenses with Lothern Blue and then White Scar. Also used Runefang Steel on all bolts, this makes them pop out in a really cool way (especially on the MKIII which has a lot of bolts).

Final results by sponging with Leadbelcher to give a worn appearance. There we are! I skip any further highlighting which saves a lot of time. Hope you liked the guide (sorry about the lights changing but I took the pictures at different times of the day). I will also later post how I make my bases.