After I posted up Squad Sariel last week, I got quite a few questions about oil washes. What were they? Why use them? How are they used? Hopefully this tutorial can answer those questions as well as give a few more tips on how to get the best results from them.
The first challenge month of the IC HPC is February, but with an unpredictable school schedule on the horizon I was determined to get ahead to give myself some cushion room in the event that I need it. To that end, I’ve spent the month of January working on my first squad; a unit of five Deathwing Terminators armed with thunder hammers and storm shields.
I’m in the process of re-basing my Dark Angels army with a mix of Secret Weapon Miniatures Urban Rubble and Urban Streets themed resin bases. Prior to this project, I was using cork which apparently is heavily frowned upon in painting competitions. Basing is a bit like cleaning and prepping a model in the sense that doing it well likely won’t win you many accolades, but doing it poorly will degrade from an otherwise nice model. The method I’ve started using is fairly straightforward, but uses a few advanced techniques. The tutorial shown here can easily be modified with traditional washes replacing the oil washes, and the pigment phase can be skipped. Furthermore, many of the airbrush steps can be painted using a traditional brush and simply take a bit longer.
I’m not sure why, but I’ve really been struggling with a paint scheme for my Tyranids. I don’t like to paint models the same as the book models. I like to find my inspiration elsewhere. I keep coming back to one image that really suits the mood and feel I want out of my nids. Here is the lictor that I think exemplifies what I’m after, or at least what I think I’m after..
Wednesday, January 22nd 2014, marked four months of operations here at the League of Underwhelming Miniature Painters (LUMP). I hope we’re able to continue for many more months and years. I want to reflect briefly on what we’ve done in the past two months and where we’re headed. First, if you’re reading this, thank you for taking a few minutes to read our articles. I hope you get something out of them because without an audience we’re not accomplishing much. Second, we would appreciate any feedback you have. If there is something you want to see more of, or just see, please let us know and we’ll do what we can to bring you new content.
Update: 7:43 am
The Tyranid Vanguard Infestation dataslate is now up for pre-order on Black Library. More info just in from Eddie at GW Digital:
“The Tyrannic War Veterans might have their work cut out for them next week though, as book one in a brand new Tyrannid Dataslate trilogy is released. The first instalment, Vanguard, deals with the insidious first wave of Tyranid attackers. It contains new background, missions and five new Tyranid formations to use in your games. You can pre-order a copy now, ready to download a week today.”
Also, Eddie says we can have multiple formations in a single Tyranid army:
Updated: 9:03 PM PT
Just an hour ago, Eddie, announced on the Games Workshop: Digital Editions Facebook page that we’ll be seeing 3 data slates for Tyranids incoming in the near future:
“We announced in this month’s issue of White Dwarf that, starting later this month, the first in a trilogy of new Tyranid Dataslates will be released. All three of these are going to have new datasheet formations for Tyranid armies to use, and if you’re a fan of Genestealers (I know i am, far to many games of Space Hulk in my teenage years), I think you’re going to like the first installment in the trilogy.”
Zone Mortalis board at Warhammer World
I’ve been aware of the Warhammer 40k-based game, Zone Mortalis, for about two years now. Zone Mortalis is a rule set created and maintained by Forge World and it reminds me of one of my all-time favorite games, Space Hulk. I would say that if you wanted to recreate the feel of Space Hulk using your existing models and rules, and play something other than Blood Angels or Genestealers then you want to try Zone Mortalis.
If you want to get straight to the meat and potatoes, so to speak, then the rules are freely published on the Forge World website here:
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/z/ZM6thUpdate.pdf Continue reading
This year LUMP plans to take part in what’s become a very popular contest, the Independent Characters (IC) Hobby Progress Challenge (HPC). The IC Hobby Progress Challenge aims to get more people in the community to field painted models. What started as a small challenge a few years ago has blossomed into a pretty large group of challengers this year. The rules are relatively straightforward and are summarized here:
http://www.theindependentcharacters.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=77&t=5962
To quickly summarize, each participant creates a 2000 point list that they plan to paint over the year. That 2000 points is split up into two 1000 point forces to be finished over each half of this year. From those forces, you are expected to then paint a unit every month. The more units that are painted on time, the more chances you have to win a prize. Further entries are given to those that complete the whole thing in its entirety. One restriction this year is that the first half needs to be Zone Mortalis legal. Zone Mortalis is a new way to play 40k from Forge World, and for the most part this simply means that vehicles can’t be chosen.
The Warrior’s Code is a document maintained by the staff at Warhammer World, Games Workshop’s own massive gaming facility at their headquarters in Nottingham, England. This is seen as one standard on which other players base what is “legal” in their games in so much as it drives list building for many people in the UK who travel to Warhammer World for major events such as the Throne of Skulls.
The latest version, 1.4, released today, now includes these additions to legal army lists for Warhammer 40K:
http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m3720191a_Warriors_Code_2014_V1.4.pdf
Update: What does this mean for you local gaming meta? Maybe nothing, but it continues to trend towards allowing everything and the kitchen sink into 40K games. Food for thought.
In case you want to see v1.3 (just released a few months ago) I’ve linked it here:
http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m3640318a_Warriors_code_V1.3.pdf
