Commision update - Retro Spear elves

Long time no blog.

So here is an update on what I have been working on.

Repaired cleaned and textured bases

Painted base, base coat face.

Test sliver, face painted.

Silver for everyone! Faces repainted

Faces redone a 3rd time finally happy with the end result.

Had a slow start with these, had to travel north for a funeral. Back at the grind stone now. Having fun with a new batch of models that are completely different from my skaven. Experimenting with colours as I go.

Very happy with the colours on the base. First I put dark gray on the sand/texture, followed with a Brown wash, then a light grey dry brush on the texture. Black around the bottom. When every thing else is paint a few bdabs of flock will finish it off.

The face took me 3 tries before i was happy with the end result. Base, wash, layer and another layer.

Choose a dark metal for the base of the armour, will use a light silver to bring out the details.

Kye

P.s. Pete the shields are a pain in the posterior to paint around....thanks!

Warhammer drug deal - Commisions

So here are the baggies of product.

Like a warhammer drug deal.

A friend of mine was trying to sell on his skaven army, and whilst I jumped at the chance, cash is tight. So I offered to paint some of his High Elves as payment. He is a notorious tin boy, and it isn't the first time he has had someone else paint his army, so he jumped at the chance.

So here is my first "commission" 10 High Elven spearmen. Got my work cut out for me, couple of broken spear shafts to fix, and few sheilds to replace (luckily I have spares) and the high standard he expects them painted too.

At the bottom are the example miniatures he would like me to follow.

But here is the payment, 7 metal Skaven Jezzials...... Totally worth it!

So do I have  a future as a commission painter? We'll see how I enjoy this first batch.

The slow regard of silent things - Book review

The slow regard of silent things

Egarly awaited book from Patrick Rothfuss.

Authours note starts the book by warning the reader, that this is not a normal book, and it does not follow the life and times of Kovthe (main character from the first 2 books) but insteads looks in on how Auri (a small support character) lives her day to day live.

Auri is a broken little thing, hiding from the world, but with an insightful and true way of looking at and living in harmony with the world she lives in.

Beautiful written, it paints a picture with words and names, that is more detailed than any map, as it shows not just where things are but the true shape of things using Auri's connection to the world. The play of words of her brilliant mind. Finding out lots of little details of her previous life that go far to explain her character. That are often painful to read.

My one concern, complaint about this book is how short it is, spending six and a half quid on it i was expecting more of it.

But a fun read, one I will revisit and re-read.

Kye

Blades, Belts and Boot straps

Friday

Today in the painting box, we continue painting Storm Vermin. It's all coming together now. Blades are now finished, dry brushed them with Boltgun, then painted mithril along the blade edges. Aim was to have rusty blades with keen edges.

Touched up the dark brown on the weapon hafts.

Using Khremi Brown, I painted the leather straps on the armour, belts and pouches.

Time Taken - 1 hour 50 minutes

Saturday

High lighted the leather straps and pouches.

Also added Mournfang Brown highlights to the fur.

Time Taken - 55 minutes.

Sunday

Finishing touches, red eyes with a little purple wash. Picking out teeth and claws with bleached bone. And a Gray dry brush over the brown base.

Time Taken - 1 hour 10 minutes

Total Project time - 19 hours 45 minutes

Dirty cloth snd Rusty blades

Added a Brown wash to the red cloth. I tired experimenting with different washes, but came back to argax earthshade.

Time take -30 minutes

Next session, I dilluted the original red with 1 part medium and 1 part water. Using this mix I layered onto the raised areas of cloth. This makes those areas stand out, as lighter/cleaner.

 Ibthen base coated the halberd and sword blades with Tin bits (a very old GW metallic).

Time Taken - 1 hour

Total time on these modes so far is - 15 hours 50 minutes.

Most of the hard work is done, the details should come together quickly now.

Falsehood in all it's Guises - Book Review

Falsehood in all it's Guises

The debut of a new aurthor, Falsehood is the story of the immortals left on earth by the Divines, to guide and nurture the human race, many millennia later, mankind has learnt the basics and now the immortals must find new avenues to channel their divine purpose down.

Set in modern day the main character Vaeh struggles with the horrors of her past.

In the fast paced beginning of the book we see Vaeh reliving/remembering a turning point in her long existance.

Vaeh is a wonderful character to follow , with a potty mouth that would makes priests blush. And deep rooted neurosis, that stem from the events of her long life.

I have always enjoyed books the put a different spin on modern religion. And Falsehood does exactly that.

Whilst the plot twists were not unexpected, they were welcome, feeling proper in their timing and direction.

Falsehood needs better proof reading not so much spelling mistakes as it is "spell checker" mistakes.

First person perspective throughout the book meant it wasn't easy to get into at first, but after a while you get into Vaeh's head and it feels more natural to read.

I said reliving/remembering past events earlier, because even in the depths of time Vaeh thinks in present terms, it could have been easier to distinguish what are memories if she recalled things in past tense. But as it is, it feels more like we are bouncing back in time to watch the evsrnts of Vaeh's life, which is not a bad thing.

In conclusion Falsehood has a great story, and that's what I find most important in a book. The writing style needs a little polishing, but I can forgive a new aurthor for this, if their story is worth telling.

And Falsehood is a story worth telling.

Kye

The four horsemen approach.

So it has been widely speculated that the End times will come in four parts. One for each horseman of the Apocalypse.

So far we have had

• Death - Nagash returns to hereld the Endtimes.
• Pestilence - The Glotkin, sweep south bringing disease to the lands of men.

Rumoured next is 

• War - Khaine the Elven God of war comes
• Famine - the Skaven emerge, with the black hunger gnawing at their stomach devouring all foodstuffs.

Pete did a wonderful blog speculating on the Khaine release. So I'd like to cover the Skaven release, and my hopes for it.

So looking at the first two End time books, we see a trend appearing, which we assume and hope continues.

A big Centre piece model the namesake of the book.

Three lieutenants riding large mounts.

And either a new Unit choice or re make of an old unit choice.

Speculation I'd go with the Horned Rat (may he be 13 times blessed) himself as the center piece. But I could also invisge a Moulder creature being ridden, or maybe a Skryre weapon of doom.

I'm hoping the 3 lieutenant's will stick with a more skaven theme and be on bell like altars, pushed into battle by troops. But I could also see a moulder mount, a cross between a HPA and a pox rat.

The options for anything else are to massive to guess at, I'll just have to wait and see.

All said and done, I am very excited for some Skaven love. And i am very interested to see how it's done, as like the beastmen we are working form an old 7th book, and they got Marks of chaos with could be a massive buff to their army, what will the rat men get?!

Ever hopeful,
Kye