WH40000 - what's your opinion?

[Thorne]

Okay. So, I did finish these little guys.



The guy in the back with the sword? He's about the same size, give or take, as your Sisters. He's there for scale.
In retrospect, I should have turned some of them around so their fronts were facing the camera. :/

[Beorning]

That hedgehog! It's so cute!  ;D

But... how the heck did you manage to paint it so well? It must be tiny!  :o

Also, your minis are so smooth...

[Thorne]

That little hedge is about the size of a popcorn kernel - actually, I think he's /smaller/ than a popcorn kernel. Mostly? He's dry-brushed. I did a base in a colour called 'Walnut Brown' - really really dark brown - and then went over him in a pale cream. His face was done with the aide of an 'Insane Detail' brush ... 30/0? Something? Tiny. And I took my glasses off. I'm short-sighted - times like that? It's useful for my functional focus range to be three inches. <.<

The rest is just something like three years of practice. Give or take.

. .. I cheated gloriously on the bitty dragon - I did him in a dark blue (a shade called Nightmare Black), and then dry-brushed him silver.

[Beorning]

I really would like to know the secret of proper drybrushing... As I said, I used it on the new Sister, with mixed results. If you look at the armour, you can see some areas where the drybrushing worked... and some where it cut off some shadows in half. Also, it did help me shade the hair a little, but again, I was hoping for more...

Anyway... detail brush. I'll buying a thing like that as soon as possible. The smallest brush I own now is 3/0 and it's just not enough. Although it's still better than the 0 brush I painted the first Sister with...

[Hemingway]

Well, in addition to what's been mentioned about using very little paint, there's two things I can think of to mention: Paint across the cracks you don't want shaded ( not along them ), and use a very light touch.

If you're still not getting the desired results ... practice, practice, practice. ;D Hairy's telling the truth. I've been painting for a long, long time. And I absolutely sucked for much of that. I was very active a few years ago, and that was basically when I learned to paint passably well.

I will add one thing, though. In addition to just practicing, it's also a good idea to look up guides, and ask around. You'll learn how to use techniques properly, and you'll learn new, useful techniques.

[Oniya]

And I took my glasses off. I'm short-sighted - times like that? It's useful for my functional focus range to be three inches. <.<

*tries to high-five and misses*

Myopics represent!

[Hemingway]

Still no progress on my Space Wolves, but ... I picked up 4th Edition Space Hulk today. I am so pumped about this.

For those not familiar with it, Space Hulk is basically a light version of 40K; Space Marine Terminators versus Genestealers. On a space hulk. With simpler rules. And a ton of cool features.

[HairyHeretic]

I haven't done a lot lately either, aside from adding another handfull of basic CSMs to the 'to paint' pile :)

I did come across a couple of interesting articles though.

http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=118494

This one is for converting CSMs to they can kneel, though I may also be able to use it for my wild hunt bikers, and get a better pose on any chaos knight legs that I use.

http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2543

http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=69370

These two are going to be useful in converting up a character, namely this guy

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Mawdrym_Llansahai

I'm thinking a sort of Fabius Bile look, with robes / long coat. One arm will be a raptor lightning claw, the other a standard arm, but with a converted apothicary unit, and a knife. No idea what I'll use him for in regular games, but he should be a fun project :)

I'm thinking I'll also do a breacher squad with shields and a sniper squad. They will just be regular CSMs in normal games, but they should look good.

[Hemingway]

I just finished a game of Space Hulk. It's way simpler than 40K, like I said, but it's amazing how much it still feels like it. It seems like a really hard game to master, too. It was my first time playing ( and the first time of the guy I played with ) so we obviously didn't have all the details nailed down. Still, it's amazing how quickly it can go in the favor of one team or the other. A Terminator with an Assault Cannon clearing an entire corridor full of genestealers? Pretty bad. A genestealer eviscerating two terminators on the next turn - even worse!

[Beorning]

Still no progress on my Space Wolves, but ... I picked up 4th Edition Space Hulk today. I am so pumped about this.

For those not familiar with it, Space Hulk is basically a light version of 40K; Space Marine Terminators versus Genestealers. On a space hulk. With simpler rules. And a ton of cool features.

I've seen this game in a shop. Does it use normal WH40K miniatures?

I haven't done a lot lately either, aside from adding another handfull of basic CSMs to the 'to paint' pile :)

I did come across a couple of interesting articles though.

I've skimmed through them... Wow. Converting minis is something extremely ambitious...

BTW. What is this "Greenstuff" thing?

When it comes to me, I've received my first payment from the new job, so I ordered three new Sororitas minis: a Superior, a Canonness and a Seraphim. I also plan on buying some additional paints, so that I can paint the third normal Sister I have left from the set I bought last month. I want to plan my own colour scheme on her...

Also, if I have enough money this month, I hope to finally buy the Sororitas Codex.

[Hemingway]

I've seen this game in a shop. Does it use normal WH40K miniatures?

Yeah, that's probably because new releases of Space Hulk tend to sell out immediately. I didn't get mine directly from Games Workshop, which is probably the only reason they had them in stock.

EDIT: I thought you said you hadn't seen it. Sorry. xD

That said - pretty much. It's a board game, so it comes with pieces to build a ship layout ( the eponymous space hulk ), and some remarkably good-looking terminator models ( as well as a giant bunch of tyranids ). It's much smaller-scale than 40K, and uses a more board game type system, which is essentially a highly simplified version of actual 40K rules. The models come in different color plastic from regular minis, but otherwise they're identical - and it's very much possible to paint them. I know people used to buy Space Hulk just for the minis back in the day, to use them in 40K. Not sure how well that'd go over these days, but I don't know.

It's completely stand-alone, though. No need to buy anything beyond the board game.

[Beorning]

As I said, I saw a set of Space Hulk in a boardgame shop I visited recently. I guess these things don't sell out so fast back here... Although who knows? I'll see if the game is still available the next time I visit that shop  ;)

You know, Space Hulk was actually one of my first exposures to WH40K... in a sense. You see, in early 90s, there was a computer game based on it... I read review of it in one gaming magazine, as the title catched my attention (I may have thought it would be a game about the Hulk in space  ;D). It was the first time I've heard of Space Marines, the Emperor etc...

[Hemingway]

Space hulks are pretty creepy and interesting lore-wise, too. Just giant collections of derelict ships drifting through space, occasionally drifting into the warp and picking up hellish monstrosities.

[Beorning]

Hmmm. "Hellish monstrosities"... That begs for some sort of expansion pack for this game featuring Chaos daemons :)

But I suppose you could just create the same kind of setup with normal WH40K and some scenery?

[Hemingway]

I should think so, yes.

Space Hulk is very traditional in that it's Blood Angels against Genestealers, though. Since before Genestealers were even part of the Tyranid.

[Thorne]

I've seen this game in a shop. Does it use normal WH40K miniatures?

I've skimmed through them... Wow. Converting minis is something extremely ambitious...

BTW. What is this "Greenstuff" thing?

Greenstuff is a two-part modeling compound - it's kind of like a really insanely sticky clay. It dries hard, and it can be adjusted/shaped and even carved.
You take a little of each, blend them until they're a nice uniform green, then go to town.

I made a bunch of tentacles with it, once I realized it is easier and better to work it with damp fingers (keep a little dish of water handy) and discovered that it really badly wants a wire frame for support while it dries. Without that, you ... well, it looks like you sculpted a bunch of green poop. Literally.

[HairyHeretic]

I've skimmed through them... Wow. Converting minis is something extremely ambitious...

Yes and no. Conversions don't have to be anything big and fancy. Sometimes it's just something simple, other times, something just for a laugh



In case this one has left you scratching your head in puzzlement, plasma weapons (in the tabletop rules) are (in)famous for regularly overheating and frequently killing their weilders.

Space hulks are pretty creepy and interesting lore-wise, too. Just giant collections of derelict ships drifting through space, occasionally drifting into the warp and picking up hellish monstrosities.

In the fiction they seem to drift in and out of the warp quite regularly, though no one has ever seemed to figure out how they do it, since they ought to need functional warp engines to do so.

But I suppose you could just create the same kind of setup with normal WH40K and some scenery?

I think Forge World did that, with the Zone Mortalis rules.

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/z/ZM6thUpdate.pdf

You could probably use the Space Hulk tiles, and the board sections from Space Crusade to build a complex of your own a little cheaper than Forge Worlds terrain :)

[Kevben Battleheart]

Still no progress on my Space Wolves, but ... I picked up 4th Edition Space Hulk today. I am so pumped about this.

I know that feeling. Most of my models are only base painted and I just added Njal to my army. Soon I'll be adding a Stormwolf to that waiting list of "Needs to be painted."

[consortium11]

I just finished a game of Space Hulk. It's way simpler than 40K, like I said, but it's amazing how much it still feels like it. It seems like a really hard game to master, too. It was my first time playing ( and the first time of the guy I played with ) so we obviously didn't have all the details nailed down. Still, it's amazing how quickly it can go in the favor of one team or the other. A Terminator with an Assault Cannon clearing an entire corridor full of genestealers? Pretty bad. A genestealer eviscerating two terminators on the next turn - even worse!

Space Hulk is/was awesome (I pretty much only played 2nd edition). If nothing else for blip bluffing. God, blip bluffing. You know there's genestealers there... but how many? 1, 2, 3... 6? Or even none at all? Your objective is just around the corner but time is running out... do you risk walking into what looks like an obvious ambush and hope there's only 1 or 2 genestealers there or that the Genestealer player was bluffing completely and it's a blank blip? Or do you take the long route and hope you can make it in time... and that you're not running into another ambush?

As the terminator player there were few things more satisfying than either calling a blip bluff successfully and wading through to easily complete a mission or "folding" on what turned out to be a huge blip and essentially taking a huge group of stealers out of play. Conversely there were few things more satisfying for a Genestealer player than either pining a group of marines down/forcing them to take long detours with an empty blip or watching them attempt to call your bluff and walk into six stealers basically in close combat already.

I also have a soft spot for Space Hulk for reasons already detailed in this thread; back in the day the only Terminators you could buy was a metal boxset for £25 containing five. Spacehulk cost £30 and came with 10 terminators and 20 Genestealers. Sure, the Space Hulk terminators were plastic (no really issue) and had a flamer as their heavy weapon (a bit of an issue if you didn't want a close combat army) but you basically got twice as many (and the genestealers) for the same price. I think I ended up buying Spacehulk about three times because of that...

[HairyHeretic]

I know that feeling. Most of my models are only base painted and I just added Njal to my army. Soon I'll be adding a Stormwolf to that waiting list of "Needs to be painted."

I don't think I know any wargamer who has painted everything they have.

I'm beginning to suspect its some sort of law of nature :)

[Oniya]

It's a condition commonly known as SABLE among the crafting community:

Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy

[HairyHeretic]

So, I got the Flaymaster done this afternoon, but I want to see if I can find a couple of little bits to accessorise him with. I think I have some severed heads around somewhere. I took a couple of quick pics, but they didn't turn out very well. I'll see if can snap some better ones tomorrow and upload them.

[Beorning]

I'll be waiting for the pictures!

BTW. Regarding the SABLE problem: so, what do you do with unpainted models? Do you keep them in parts and unused, or do you glue them together and play with them unpainted?

As I mentioned elsewhere, I may be asking for Dark Vengeance for Christmas... but it has a lot of models. Considering that I'm painting one model a week, then it might take another year before I'm ready to play. So, maybe I should just glue everything together and play unpainted... But aren't glued models harder to paint?

[Lithos]

I am not sure if this is a double post, but Venerated Brother Yuki of the prettymarines sure is material for the thread. Not my work but i think it is actually scarily well done. There was good thread about the work progress too but for some reason pictures on that are long dead.

http://www.coolminiornot.com/171099

[HairyHeretic]

BTW. Regarding the SABLE problem: so, what do you do with unpainted models? Do you keep them in parts and unused, or do you glue them together and play with them unpainted?

I've done both. Some stuff I assembled, with the intention of further work which never got done. Other stuff I've removed from the sprues and just added to my bits boxes. Some I've left on the sprue or even sealed in the box still.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I may be asking for Dark Vengeance for Christmas... but it has a lot of models. Considering that I'm painting one model a week, then it might take another year before I'm ready to play. So, maybe I should just glue everything together and play unpainted... But aren't glued models harder to paint?

Yes and no. I believe you can do tabletop painting quality on assembled models. I've always done it this way, so I'm used to it.  I'm not aiming for a high standard of painting though.

It does mean you'll have problems reaching some areas, that's certainly true, but depending on the pose of the model, those areas may be effectively hidden anyway.