Old School Bushes out of Raindeer Moss

Hi there! It's been awhile since my last posting. I've sure done some painting and hobby stuff, but it seems to be a challenge to take any fotos, because of the darkness in Finland and my lazyness:). It was in the news awhile ago, that in our city, we had five hours of sun shine last month. FIVE HOURS MAN..! And no snow at all at the moment, so it's really dark out there... I hope we dont get a black christmas (again).

Anyways... here's some pics.

So, I went to nearby forest to take a walk with the kids. And because I see the nature with the eyes of a wargamer, I soon came up with some terrain ideas, and had to pick up some scenery stuff... Here's a clump of raindeer moss.

I cleand it up from all the needless and insects... and stuff. Then I made seperate small "bushes" out of the clump.

Then I wanted to add some colors of the fall... So I just decided to sink the "bushes" in a mix of acrylic colors and water... for few hours.

And here are few of them based...

At this point the bushes seem quite fragile to handle... so I'm thinking of spraying some varnish on them. I'll report if it makes any difference :) Bye now!

Serpents of Hellfire: More Verterans

Hi there! I found time to paint / repaint three of my veterans... Here's some pics.

One of the brothers has an Auspex-scanner, to detect hidden enemy troops in cover. In the other hand he's carrying a Flamer, to turn them, when found, into "crispy critters"...
Other two brothers are equipped with pair of Lightning Claws. And they're in the mood for slicing!

Blip... Blip... Blip... Blip... "Two heretics detected in the ruins... Grilling time"!

In the last posting I decided to make the Veteran robes black. Well, I changed my mind again, as you can see...

I like more of these light brown robes more... It refers to the Dark Angel origin, and gives them more of that "Brotherhood" feeling.

More veterans coming soon... Bye now!

Serpents of Hellfire: Veteran with Chainsword and Storm Shield

Hello! Here's one additional marine for my Veteran Squad. This is the second one in the unit, that is equipped with Storm Shield. I think it's good to have two marines blocking the incoming fire with 3+ invulnerable save...

I'm still working with my chapter colors... plans seem to change as I go. This time I changed the color of the cape to black. And I think it really works better than the red cape with the older models. The broblem is, that now I have to repaint rest of the veterans, and probably do the same with my bikers. Good thing is that black covers with one layer, and high lighting is quickly done with little bit of grey.

Damn..! I forgot to write something smart on the shoulder banner. The shield, bolted on bolt pistol, is taken from old "Field of Glory" Celt Warband box. I think it looks coolish... And I like the idea it's wooden, that gives the shield some "old Chapter-artefact" feeling :) Bye now!

Serpents of Hellfire: Company Master Catulus

Company Master Catulus lost he's right arm during the defence of Cadillus Harbour, capital hive of Piscina IV. Serpents of Hellfire 5th Company were there to support the Dark Angels against hundread hordes of Orks. One of the endless Ork tides cost Catulus heavily, as one lucky Shoota Boy managed to blow up he's right arm from the shoulder down...

Despite the damage, Catulus managed to fight untill the arrival of remainder of the Dark Angels...

After the battle Catulus was rewarded by Dark Angels Tehcmarine to repair he's right arm to be as new. Catulus refused the honour. Instead he asked to be attached to the shoota that took he's arm, as a reminder of he's error in battle. Techmarine agreed, but was wise eneough to enhance the rugged shoota to the Chapters standards... 

Serpents of Hellfire: Squad Angelus

Here's my Serpents of Hellfire Assault Squad finnally ready for action. Two pics from slightly different angle...

Minis are painted in a long time table... The one in the middle is ages old paint job. It took part in "Chapter Master" painting competition back in 2005 (I came on 11th place: with this Chapter :) Rest of the squad is more recent painting.

There you have it... Bye now!

Descent Miniatures: Dragon Done

I did'nt do any paintjob on the Dragon since the last posting, but I painted the base. I used the same method as with my older Descent miniatures. Here's some pics of the base!

The blue stuff is supposed to be acid dripping from Dragons mouth... I could have used more time with that effect, but hey... I got another thing coming :) Bye now!

Descent Miniatures: Dragon WIP

Here's few pics of the "Descent 2nd Edition" Dragon, that I've been working on...

It looks nice from a distance... Next I'm gonna put on some glaces and work on the base with some bitz. Bye now!

Fence, and some "Old Wood" Paint Job...

Hi there. I made some balsa wood fences the other day... It's one of the oldest scenery building tricks in the book, but I have never tried it out... So I had to. And here's how they painted up.

Here's the fence assembled with hot glue. Important trick is to brush the balsa wood before cutting and building. I used an old "root brush" for the job...  it gives some depth for the wood grains, which looks better when painted. Anyways, first layer of paint for "old wood" was Dawn Stone.

On top of that I painted some areas with Steel Legion Drab...

Then I washed the whole thing with Agrax Earth Shade.

Next was the dry brushing with Dawn Stone again.

And finally with Celestra Grey...

Here's two of the fences painted.

And from the other side.

Based...

And finally in action. Works well with the hedges and some Nuln Handgunners... Bye now!

Empire: Nuln Handgunner

Hi there! I was putting together my Empire Handgunners and got my first test mini painted.

I chose to try out Nuln color theme. Not very innovative, but after all Nuln is the home of the Imperial Gunnery School. And home of everything that works with gun powder or steam...

I think I'll stick with these colors for two reasons... A) I like the combination of red and black. B) Really fast to paint :) Bye now!

Empire: Warrior Priest

Hi there! Made this one out of Empire bitz and some 40K parts. The head is from Space Wolfs pack, that I had to carve quite alot with hobby knife. I read somewhere, that the Warrior Priest can have facial hair, and I liked the idea of having some on this one :)

I used 40K purity seals as blessings and prayers... or something.

Painted up nicely too. I'm happy :) Bye now!

Empire: Knightly Order of Manticore

Hello there! I have been glueing together my Empire army, and as a side project, got my first Knight painted.

I traded a group of ten Knights Panther for old Bretonnian Knights with my friend. The Panthers were E-bay stuff, assembled and robustly painted (with glossy wash dipped all over). So I had to repaint every bit to get the shine off...

For some reason I really like the color theme of Altdorf, and desided to use it on the mini. I just painted a wing for the "Knights Panther" symbol on the shield, and so it became a Manticore :)

Have to work on the background story... More coming soon. Bye now!

The Witch Hunter

Hello! I accidentally started an Empire army a while ago... Now I have nearly 1500pts (with characters) in a box. I was really excited about having a Witch Hunter in the army. Mainly because I seem to lose every challenge I ever have to fight (no matter which army I'm playing with)...  I'm not very good at gearing up my characters :)
Witch Hunter might be the right medicine for me, for it is a potential character in the army, getting rid of those annoying, geared up enemy generals from a distance... with pistols blazing!

My broblem was, that I did'nt have any suitable miniature for a Witch Hunter, so I had to go bashing my bitz box. This is what I came up with...

I was short of any suitable bitz (the pointy hat and a cape), but I managed to find the most important piece, the accusative finger. "I want you"!
Then I added the blunderbuss, crossbow, and a pistol on the waist.

Also glued on some protective writings to the crossbow and blunderbuss, hoping it'll effect positively on my dice rollings :)
Well, there you have it. I'll be back with some knightly orders shortly. Bye now!

It's a Jungle out there..!

Hi there! Found some time for hobby again, and made up some more jungle stuff... Here's pics.

This time I tried to make few higher trees, I made half of them with two levels of palm leafs on top of each other. I think they look nice, and make a richer canopy to the terrain piece. Not realistic..?
Hey, they're for fantasy game!

With a tree high as this one, and a 40K infantry base, it's a good idea to glue a washer under the base, to give it the needed balance. Or be smarter as I am, and use a bigger base... I'll be back with these, when painted. Bye now!