Tuesday, September 27, 2016

40k Deathwatch - Display boards and Land Raider progress, plus a broken vow

A bit more forward motion on the Armies on Parade force! A fellow 40k enthusiast and I decided we'd do a paired set of army boards, with his Craftworld Eldar facing off against my Deathwatch and he spent some time in his shop over the previous weekend putting together something for us.


He cut the 2x2 board and laid in some hills and craters on my side, and the floor level for some Eldar ruins on his side. As my bases are almost all dirt, and his are mostly Eldar Architecture, he left the ground color up to me. Took the paints I use for my bases to the local art supply store and found a couple bottles of craft paint that were pretty darn close (no way I'm painting the boards with Vallejo dropper bottles), and set to work. Much paint spatter later I had the dirt in, and some admittedly ham-fisted flocking - I haven't ever tried any terrain at this size so it was all rather experimental.


I handed off the Eldar side so he can tart up the Eldar portion, and went with some grey stone coloration for the craters, which will get some blast effect painted or airbrushed in at some point in the near future. So far, so good!


On the less enthusiastic side however are the vehicles. As I had remembered from the Imperial Fists and Iron Hands, fine edge highlighting just isn't my forte and the issue is exacerbated on larger pieces, such as the Land Raider. I did take the precaution of painting the whole model in Chaos Black before getting started, which has allowed me to clean up the lines where it was particularly egregious (and looking at the pic there's plenty more to clean up). Still, I'm hopeful that once the detail starts going on it'll start to pop.


I was reasonably happy with the slate/marble effect I tried out on the doors and detail plates on the front (and repeated on the dreadnought coming soon). It's not perfect, but with a little practice it might be a fun technique to add to the toolbox - practice makes perfect!


In other news I've perhaps slightly broken my vow to hold off on adding anything else to my Thousand Sons until the Forge World book and the new GW box set are released. Just a little bit. Ahem. The deal was too good to pass up, and thanks to one of the excellent folks on the Heresy30k Forum for ensuring the sons of Magnus have a sweet new ride! Much like the first one I built for the World Eaters, this kit was an absolute bastard to assemble, and even with prodigious use of clamps and rubber bands it still isn't quiiiiite seamless. Some of that can be attributed to warpage and shrinkage but honestly I've never heard anyone say "Wow, that Storm Eagle was so much fun to build!" ...I will say it's a cool looking model once it's put together though!

13 comments:

  1. The display board is going to look fantastic with the two forces opposing each other!

    I'm trying to put one together at the moment for my Sons of Horus, have to get a wriggle on as it's not far away now and I don't want it to look rushed.

    The LR looks great man, I hide any bogus line highlights I do with a bit of sponge chipping, can end up making it a little more battle worn than you might want though.

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  2. Looking good. I think the idea with paired armies for the display is really good as it gives some more sense to the scene, especially if arranged in an attack formation and not as a regimental muster.

    When assembling the torso to my warlord I found it useful to heat the larger resin parts with a hair dryer before pressing them into place, making it easier to get a snug fit. I am however not sure how that would work against plastics.

    Anyway, I am sure you will make it.

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  3. The paired display board is a cool idea, should look great when they are both finished. Have you ordered any of the new 1k sons transfers?

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  4. Hard to resist a good model eh? Especially if it is a nice deal.

    Good luck on the 'raider.

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  5. I do love the Storm Eagle model, it's something I definitely want to add to my collection, probably for the Emperor's Children though rather than my 40k armies.

    The board looks great, and I think once you get models on it the flocking will look better, the craters certainly look very good!

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  6. Loving the marble effect on those doors! You'll have to share a how-to at some point.

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  7. Nice to other people's vows falling. Not good from the 'oh crap we've spent more money' POV, but its nice to know I'm not alone...

    The storm thingy looks good, I must admit considering those for The Rout...

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  8. The marble effect on that door is frikken cool mate. Very nicely done! Might have to give it a go some time soon on some terrain pieces I have...

    Display board looks good so far - add some different shades of grasses and the odd tuft to break up the uniformity some. I think it would help it loads to stand out more.

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  9. The display board looks great and the marble effect is spot on, nice work mate.

    I must do my Stormeagle sometime.... Damn this work thing getting in the way of hobby time!

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  10. Uh oh....

    https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-CA/Thousand-Sons-Legion-Transfer-Sheet-FW

    What now?

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  11. Looks cracking mate! The display board aspect is always been the stumbling block for me entering AoP!

    I'm hoping to pull my finger out and get on it next year!

    Looking forward to seeing it all made up with both armies :)

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  12. @Red Scorps: Thanks! Aye - the vehicles are all going to get some sponge chipping and mud spatter. Weathering conceals a multitude of sins! Hah!

    @Agis: Indeed, there was a lot of hot water and dry-fitting involved, but even so some of the pieces just don't seem to line up as expected. It's a cool, albeit frustrating model to build I've found.

    @Bronislaw Czevak: Not yet, holding off until there's enough in the basket to qualify for free shipping. Saving up money for the upcoming Inferno release, knowing there's going to be a couple hundred bucks worth of books and minis that I'll definitely want to pick up!

    @Rory Priest: Indeed, was a rather good deal that I just couldn't pass up! Provides some assault flexibility to the force for sure!

    @Nick Thrower: Cheers! It's a great model that performs admirably on the tabletop, but requires some finesse and tools to assemble. ...And a bit of swearing. Hah!

    @#2501: Will do! This was a bit of a test, going to try a couple more to dial it in. I think in more striking colors (greens or blues) it may work better too. Experimentation ahoy!

    @Zzzzzz: Haha! Indeed - it's a perfect assault craft for the Wolves, certainly looks the part as well!

    @Catachan Commissar: Amen, brother. Waaaay not my forte, knew I'd be kicking myself at this stage in the army. Oof.

    @Dai: Thanks! It was mostly just messing around with sponges and streaking, and a couple reference images of marble from good old image search! Good call, some further tufts will help break up the putting green effect. Cheers!

    @Siph_Horridus: Thanks man! Curses to Real Life(tm)!

    @Zab: Haha! Oh I'm more or less vibrating with excitement, knowing that both Inferno from FW and the Prospero box from GW are just on the horizon. My wallet cringes in terror with the incipient FW order!

    @Rob Hill: Thanks man! It's been a new experience for me, never really tried a big ol' terrain piece like this. It's been a fun challenge though!

    Thanks very much for all the kind words, everyone!

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