40k WIP...

 I don't usually like to show Work in Progress pictures of my miniatures, as sometimes the whole WIP part can get lost online, but it feels like with how long my army is taking to come together, plus the upcoming holidays around the corner that may also stall my progress, I figured I would make an exception.  Who knows, maybe I'll like showing off WIP pics, and this could become a new thing each week or every other week, depending on progress.  *ahem* Anyway, I figured I would show off my the progress of the traitor Dark Angels CSM squad for my Red Corsairs army, as well as the slow-going work on Iyanden Spiritseer...

Up first, are the Dark Angels for my Red Corsairs...

As you can see, not a lot of progress.  I think I've got the green of their armor finished, and that's about it.  I'm keeping it rather dark, with the highlights in a bit of a subtle, more "painterly" style like I've always done.  I've never been a fan of the hard edge highlighting, or hard line highlighting.  as with before, I put each one under a light, and simply painted the "hot-spots" shown by the light, I've found that this, coupled with light's natural ability to create even further white hot-spots on a model, just lends a natural look when seen from a tabletop view.  I'm shooting for "tabletop standard" and I think that is what I should end up with once finished, so I'm pleased thus far.  Still, there is a LOT of work to be done...

 Next up is another slow-going miniature, my Iyanden Spiritseer.  I only work on him periodically whenever I want a break from Marines and the Red Corsairs, which is why he takes so long.  I am at the point where all that is left is some detail work and some highlights, namely on the bone armor and all the 50,000 gems scattered allover him.  The plan for the gems is start building up red gems in the traditional style, from a black base, and as you can see, I have not even finished the base on a majority of them!

Now, before anyone makes any "bandwagon" claims, let me state a few things. 1) I started painting/collecting 40k in 2nd ed, and started playing 3rd ed.  2)  I had a really nasty Alaitoc army in 3rd, and 4th ed, and took a break from 40k in 5th ed.  3) I actually have a large Eldar rune tattooed on my forearm, which usually is enough to halt any "bandwagon" statements by itself.  (it's the rune for the Rangers, or "those that wander amongst the stars" as it is officially translated from an olde codex)  4) I sold my old Alaitoc army, and the only reason I switched to Iyanden when I decided to return to 40k with 7th ed, is that I wanted to avoid anything "finecast", which cut out using pretty much all the aspect warriors and the rangers as well.  I thought about converting my own rangers out of Guardians, and although my conversion skills kinda suck, I still may give it a shot one day.  So, with Aspect Warriors and Rangers out, a plastic Iyanden seemed a logical choice, they've got their own little overpriced supplement, interesting fluff, and the new plastic Wraithguard are pretty sweet as well!


*Ahem* Now that I've had my Hipster "doing it before it went mainstream" rant, I'll continue talking about my Spiritseer model...


Next up is the spear/power weapon.  Honestly, in all my days of 40k, I have always struggled with painting power weapons,  I've tried numerous techniques, and have yet to find I actually like, only ones I've been able to tolerate.  My Spiritseer has been no exception!  I've tried multiple styles, multiple colors, and again, still just not happy.  I even thought about just leaving it bone colored since I doubt I'll actually pay the points for a power weapon in game anyway.  Then I found the pic to the right, with the sword all in blue flames, and really fell in love!  To me, THAT is what an Eldar power weapon SHOULD look like!  I've yet to really stumble across a model that manages to truly capture that look either.  With that as my inspiration, I repainted his spear for the 100th time, with mixed results imo...


I know it is a bit blurry, but you get the point.  I wanted to keep the overall bone look, I've always had a really hard time justifying a lot of metallics in an Eldar army.  I wanted to give it a flaming weapon look, but long story short, I definitely think it needs more work.  It just looks a bit too flat, too 2-D imo.  My next step *I think* will be actually green stuffing the flames to give that 3-D look.  Also, even though the sword in the picture above looks a bit too metallic to me, I may experiment with shades of blue on the spear blade, lighter on bottom, slighting darker on top.  IF I can pull it off, I think it may turn out pretty nice, but that is a big IF!  The final step will be incorporating a little bit of OSL fromt he blue flames onto the shaft and the gem, but that's going to be a final step, and again, only if I like the overall finished product.  So, yeah, I've got my work cut outt for me... fingers crossed he turns out alright!


And there you have it, the current models on my painting desk at the moment!  I could have included my 3 Arena Rex gladiators on here, but really the only progress I've made with them is a skin base coat, so really, what would be the point of including just that?!?

Until next time, stay Nerdy or stay being a Ninja....
- WuhSawBe-