Painting Salamanders with Contrast Paint

Following on from the previous post, I had a number of comments and direct messages about what I was going to do with this Mark III Iron Armour marine. To put readers (mostly) out of their misery guessing what I'm up to, this particular marine has been painted up in Salamanders Legion colours.

For the bulk of the paint job, I decided on using contrast paint. Now, there are several formulations out there for the "best" green for Salamanders colours. For me, I have opted with the usual (white) basecoat followed by the Warp Lightning contrast paint.  If you've never used contrast paints before, I can thoroughly recommend them -- I have been a convert since finding how well they performed on Alpha Legion marines, and this Salamanders marine is no different. 

The contrast paint goes on really well and gets in to all the recessed areas of the model to provide shaded parts with little effort what so ever. I highlighted the edges in a lighter, more wood green colour, but for the deepest recesses, added a little nuln oil to taste since I wanted this marine to possess a worn look. 

The shoulder pads are done with a gold base, nuln oil layer, and then griffon gold dry brush to bring out the highlights. The inner shoulder pads and back pack are black, but highlighted in a few grey tones to pick out the wires. The face and head follows a relatively similar approach with a black base and grey highlighting for the features. As for the eyes, they're picked out in red, with a fleck of pink in them to give the customary devilish look to the Salamanders. The bolt gun meanwhile is done with lead belcher and nuln oil, with a lighter silver for highlights. 

Since I was wanting a worn look, I have also applied weathering extensively on the miniatures. This is in two forms: the brown dust and mud colours near the feet, and the chip painting at various locations (most obviously the forward knee on this model). This is achieved with a splotching of black and silver to insinuate wear and tear. Finally, some decals have been applied from the 40k range (as I don't wish to splash out for the Forge World ones at this stage). 

Overall, I'm very pleased with how the contrast paints performed yet again! Thoroughly recommended!

Mk. III Iron Armour Marine

A new project? Yes.
A large project? Haven't decided yet. Hobby mojo is very active at the moment though!

But this is just a little tease as to what I'm up to at the moment. The space marine in the image is a Mark III Iron Armour space marine. The bulk of the parts are resin, as sold by Forge World. The bolter comes from the older chaos space marine range and features the ammo feed coming in at the bottom. The naked head is from the regular space marine range.  Meanwhile on the base, I have sawed a left over bit from the older mechanicum range to provide a small platform for this marine to stand upon. 

Obviously at the moment, there are few clues here as to my new (mini- or otherwise) project, but guesses are welcome. I will post up the painted marine later this week, time permitting!

Zone Mortalis update

When the news broke about the new Necromunda underhive scenery being available, I was fairly excited. The new scenery pieces are amazing, and much less expensive (at least in principle) compared to the older resin pieces produced by Forge World that have been discontinued of late.

What I did not quite expect was a full-on update to the Zone Mortalis rules set to be released for the Horus Heresy at the same time! The new rules can be found via the Warhammer community website. 

Fundamentally, the new rules are not that much different to what has gone before. There's an attacker, a defender, a couple of missions, and some special rules. 

As per usual, the tight confines of the Zone mean that a player cannot select a monstrous creature, or dedicated transports. Base size limits are in effect too: no bigger than 60mm, and certainly nothing bigger than walkers. 

Terrain plays a big part still in the Zone. The rules for bulk heads are still there, along with platforms and stairs. Given the new stair wells in the plastic Necromunda kits, these rules will be cited a lot in play I believe.

I like the retention of the special firing rules, as well as the "catastrophic damage" table which is nice to see. The rules for poisoned air, or void fighting remain pretty much the same, and void enhanced armour is recommended to avoid the effects of extra rending rolls being imposed. 

Overall, I like the update. What I feel is missing is some of the more in-depth rules for various types of scenery. It might have been good to see some rules supplied for the Horus Heresy for the sector mechanicus servo-haulers for instance (the entire boxed set could readily be adapted for the Horus Heresy, I contend), along with specific conversion rules for the rest of the sector mechanicus boxed set (some of which is pictured here). Other than that - its all good!

Dreadtober Leviathan Contribution

In an effort to not be entirely out-done in Dreadtober, here is my humble progress to date. I doubt that I will get this one finished up by the end of the month, but its a vast improvement on where this miniature was up to by the last time I focussed on it!

Hope that you like it, unfinished as it is.

Games Workshop / Warhammer Newcastle

Out and about on my travels once more, and I was in the city of Newcastle (UK) recently in the north of England. As per usual, I navigated my way to the local Games Workshop store (Warhammer now) to poke around and see what it was like.

The physical location of the store is very near the Monument railway station (metro) in Newcastle and therefore provides a hugely convenient place for footfall. Indeed, it is one of the better located Games Workshop stores that I've been to in larger cities in the UK or Australia. It is very near some of the modern, large shops and shopping precinct in the city centre and honestly is situated almost perfectly.

The inside of the store is on par with modest sized stores in similar cities. There were a range of tables set up when I was there, for both Age of Sigmar and for Warhammer 40,000. Of particular note was the 40k table that I took a few pictures of below. Clearly in a Necromunda set-up, this display was something that I found both hugely striking and quite inspirational, if a little outside the budget of someone just starting out in the hobby I suppose.

Close up of part of the scene below, focussing on a crate that is being hauled upward. Another very nice detail on the splendid display!

The store itself was well staffed, and they were polite to me, but not nearly as pushy as some of the other stores that I've been to. Indeed, I had a good browse without being molested by constant questions about what armies I was collecting and game systems I was interested in. This was a nice change - they got the level of interaction right for a veteran like me! Thank you.

Overall, I might have given it a slightly lower mark, but the display blew me away, so 5/5 stars!

Daemonology in 30k: Possession

Analysis. 

Rounding off the discussion on daemonology in 30k is the return of an old favourite that has been present in the game as long ago as Realms of Chaos.

In short: sacrifice the caster and replace her or him with a greater daemon! It is certainly worth the points cost, but probably best to play later in the game, just before the sorcerer or caster has lost their final wound for the match.

As for emanations, don't forget that Lord of Sorcery can be taken for free here, which in turn means potentially more daemons to summon. Or just take wings, or something equally good. Actually, since its a greater daemon that is appearing on the battlefield, there's not too much negative aspects to this power.

The only drawback with this power is if the caster fails their test, in which case it results in an automatic perils of the warp. Even so, this is still a risk worth taking for having a bonus greater daemon join your team on the battlefield.