Coils of the Hydra: Sicarian Battle Tank Complete

While i was getting the first Alpha Legion tactical squad off the ground, that special package from Fallout Hobbies arrived!  This meant that i could finish off the Sicarian. More on that in a minute. First up, here she is:

So as you've probably already guessed, i was waiting for some smart vinyl airbrush stencils from Fallout Hobbies to really finish this tank off. I went with Dragon Scales 2 to create this effect, which i am very happy with! Not only does it make the vehicle pop, but also really helps to break up all the metallic colour.

Sadly this Sicarian was afflicted with the common curse of all Sicarian tanks, wonky barrels. I tried my best to get them straightened out, but this was as good as it got.

The usual heat distortion was added to the Lascannon barrels.

Here is the Hydra family portrait so far! I'm really pleased with the continuity of the metallic Teal across the models so far. Hopefully i'll be able to maintain this. I'll also be coming back to all of these models later with some Forgeworld Alpha Legion Transfers once i get around to ordering them.

That's all on the Alpha Legion for now. Next up, some more dabbling in the world of Infinity, then back to the Alpha Legion Tactical Squad.

The GunGrave

Coils of the Hydra: Heresy Alpha Legion Tactical Squad 1 WIP

Now that my Infinity itch is scratched and the Ordinatus Ulator is consecrated and ready for mass destruction, its time to slip back into the Hydras grasp and get some more mini's done!

Now you may be asking, dear reader, what happened to the Sicarian? Well, for all intensive purposes it is complete, but i am waiting for something special to arrive from Fallout Hobbies before i can call it finished. More on that soon!

In  the meantime I've turned my attention to one of two Tactical Squads that I've got tee'd up for the Alpha Legion.

Before i started i got the whole squad mounted on some wooden blocks for easy of painting. Not something I've usually bothered with before, but due to the amount of airbrushing the Alpha Legion require i took the time do get it done. This squad had had the Alpha Legion torsos and heads added. 

Right onto the painting. After completing the Destroyer Squad i wanted to see if i could achieve better shading during the application of the Teal base coat, which would of course aid the washes later on. So i decided to give zentithal shading/base coating a go.

When i tried to achieve better shading on the Sicarian i used black on a white undercoat. This made the Teal darker in the areas where the black was applied. Afterwards i thought the black made the Teal a bit to dark, so this time i'm going to apply the same principle but with grey. So i tried the whole process on a test model before i rolled it out on the rest of the squad.

Then i applied white to the areas that i wanted the Teal to be brighter on. In retrospect i should have been a bit more careful in the application here, but i pressed on.

Feeling rather good about things so far, i pressed on with a thin coat of my transitional Teal paint. And that was where the magic ended....the paint killed the whole effect and did nothing for the model at all!

Feeling despondent about my experiment, i tried to reverse engineer the effect by spraying on some Teal lightened with some white. This only went on to kill the teal effect and make the colour 'matt' rather than metallic!! Disaster!

Never mind, back to the original plan of white undercoat with Teal over the top then!

I'm glad i gave it a go, but to be honest, i think the paint selection let me down here. I think this effect will work much better with colours that are a bit more transparent (like washes or very thinned acrylics) so that the effect shows through. The Teal paint is a bit to heavy for it here. As I've got units on the go in this scheme as well, i can't face changing it now.

After the failed experiment i moved on to the squads bases. Urban rubble is the theme here (as it is for most of my armies!) I applied some green stuff to the bases first to give them a bit of texture, then sanded and sprayed. I may add some black oil paint wash over them as well to give them a bit more definition.

More on these and the Sicarian soon!

The GunGrave

Blessings of the Omnissiah: Ordinatus Ulator Complete!

The last WIP post on the Ordinatus Ulator saw the monster nearly completed. Since then i've added some minor finishing touches (but still not the crew, they'll have to wait!!)

Apologies in advance for the encroaching white of the light box - the beast was just to big for it to handle! And also for the lack of text, i'll let the pictures do the talking!

I finished off the control screens with some more shading t make them pop a bit more. I admittedly wasn't brave enough to freehand some detail onto them!

To finish off the tracks i hit them with some MIG weathering powder like the other Mechanicum Tanks.

Next up - Alpha Legion Sicarian!

The GunGrave

Infinity - ALEPH Asuras

Having been thoroughly bitten by the Infinity bug, i started to research the various factions to decide on an army to collect. It didn't take me long to read about the ALEPH, the AI that controls huge amounts of Human operations across known space. As ALEPH is an AI, it needs cyborg operatives and remote constructs to defend itself and the interests of Humans in the physical world. Sounds pretty cool to me!!

First things first then, the ALEPH starter set!

The first model i decided to paint was the Asuras. All said and done i think i spent around 8 hours on this model. I was able to employ the techniques i used on the Joan of Arc model i practiced on. I was able to refine the process a bit more, still a bit of work to go though.

The bases are from Antenocitis Workshop, called Hex Bases. They fit very well with the Infinity aesthetic.

This is just a quick size comparison for those who have never seen an Infinity model in the flesh. As you can see, they are considerably smaller than what we 40K hobbyists are used to!!

More Infinity soon, but fist i think i need to finish off some of the 30K projects on the go.

The GunGrave

Trying Something New - Infinity

Those of you who know  me will know full well that I'm far to lazy to try another game system. I just can't be bothered to learn it! However i was struck by a bit of an epiphany the other day while working on the recent Mechanicum Ordinatus. Though i enjoyed the recent excitement of the huge war machine, i just felt like i was going through the motions a bit. This could be born of a generalised boredom of 40K/30K, using the same painting methods without much change, or maybe a lack of hobby direction (ie: painting all these models, but not using them etc) Could be all of them!

Whatever the reason, I've acknowledged I'm starting the feel like this about my hobby. Salvation was at hand however, from a chance encounter at a friends wedding! I started chatting to a bloke who turned out to be a wargamer as well. Although he didn't play 40K/30K he did play Infinity. He told me about it and offered me a demo game, which i took him up on!

Long story short, i had a blast! The mechanic was very different from what i was used to and the universe it was set in was colourful and interesting. The mini's are also stunning and highly detailed. So I grabbed myself a copy of the rule book and started studying. While i was in my FLGS the owner also suggested a also get myself a copy of this book:

It is a masterclass volume by the renowned painter Angel Giraldez. The multiple tutorial's take you by the hand and walk you through step by step. As i had never painted an Infinity model before, this was really helpful. It also came with a free mini!

I went straight in and applied the tutorial from the book to the free mini, a Joan of Arc figure. Now these figures are incredibly detailed (more  than any metal figure has any right to be!) I had to buy some new fine detail brushes especially! Anyhoo, here is my first Infinity miniature attempt:

All in all i spent about 6hrs on this model. For a first attempt I'm pretty happy. Though there are a few things i would  change for next time:

• I undercoated the model with a canned grey primer (Army Painter) While this is usually OK i got a very rough undercoat out of it. It could just be bad luck, but I'll use the airbrush next time. 
• Never use a colour that hasn't been thinned! The apex highlighting with the white was straight out of the bottle, but i should've thinned it to calm the colour down a bit. 
• Get some proper brushes. I'm talking Windsor Newton Series 7 here. Cheap brushes just won't cut it, the detail is simply to fine. The ones i bought for this model will probably only last me for 1-3 mini's before they die, and the tips become hooked. 

I really enjoyed painting this mini though, and i haven't felt this engrossed in a model for a long time! I also challenged myself a lot here. OK, i did cheat a bit using a guide, but the techniques were different enough to make the process interesting, and the final result worthwhile. I hope I'll be able to replicate it in the future, hopefully to a better degree!

40K/30K will still form a large part of the content here on AGGTG, but expect to see a lot more Infinity on here as well! Now i just need to choose a faction and get collecting!

The GunGrave