Weekly hobby update #5

This week, I finally decided to resume work on some of my models that were almost finished or had been sitting half-painted for quite some time. One of them was this Daemon Prince of Khorne, which I started painting a long time ago. However, I realized I didn’t like where I was going with the colour scheme, so I simply stopped working on it and moved on to other models. I knew that at some point I would return to it, once I had figured out which direction I wanted to take it in.

Well, that time finally came, and I am very happy with the progress so far! I completely repainted the wings and one part of the armour. Previously, there was simply too much red: the wings were leathery red, the armour had more red sections, and the model was basically drowning in different shades of red. I don’t think it was a bad paintjob, but overall, the colours bothered me and the model just didn’t look right:

So I took a look at some illustrations and other paintjobs of the same (or similar) model and figured out how I wanted to approach it. This is already much better than it was before. The wings still have plenty of texture, but they are now clearly defined, and since they are predominantly dark, the head and face stand out much more. You can see in the pictures below how the model looks now.

There is still some work left to do — the horns, tail, weapon, a few more details, and the base — but I can’t wait to put this bad boy on the battlefield!

Painting Abraxia

Over the past two months, I haven't painted much. I took a small break from the painting, and also focused on some other things in my spare time. The only model I was working on during that period was Abraxia - I got it back in October (you can see the blog post here). 

Abraxia is a very nice model and I like it even more because I can use it for both AoS and Warhammer: the Old World (she can be lord on a daemonic mount). I decided to go with a colour scheme similar to the one on the box. The only exception was the face: I was afraid that the darker skin tone will completely blend in with the rest of the miniature, so I went with something completely different - a pale face with blood-red warpaint. I also enjoyed working on a spear - the glowing/fire effect is fun to paint. The miniature is almost done and you can see the result on the pictures below. Keep in mind that there's still some work left to do (sword, claws and few other details).

Now I have enough models to field "Swords of Chaos" army of renown! I've wanted to field Archaon's elite army for a while (basically, since 2nd edition). It's not fully painted (yet), but I don't mind - one of my hobby goals this year to play at lest one game using this army and finally see it in action :)

Abraxia and some other things

This week, I finally managed to find "Abraxia's Varanspear" set that contains Abraxia and 3 Varanguard. This set was very hard to find - none of the stores where I buy Warhammer miniatures had any in stock (it was out of stock with GW as well). Finally, I found one in a local WH shop. I assembled it yesterday and will assemble the Varanguard in the next few days. Abraxia's model is really beautiful:

Ever since the 2nd edition of "Age of Sigmar", I wanted to play Archaon's elite army - but aside from Archaon and one unit of Varanguard, I have never fully assembled it (main reason is that I've prioritized finishig some other armies over that one). However, it stayed on my "to-do list" all this time and I have never abandoned the idea. As soon as I've seen Abraxia, I knew it's time to finally finish "Swords of Chaos" army. Oh, and let's not forget the fact that in the new edition of Age of Sigmar, "Swords of Chaos" is army of renown, composed only of Archaon. Abraxia and Varanguard (with some awesome rules as well). I really can't wait to finally bring that army to the table - even unpainted (there's already a lot of stuff in the pipeline right now). 

Oh, and here are also some pictures of one of the endless spells for Disciples of Tzeentch (Daemonic Simulacrum):

Varanguard - work in progress

This morning, I had a couple of quiet hours, so I used them to do some work on the last model of the first Varanguard unit. I did most of the gold on barding and I also did a lot of work on the mount's skin. 

I really like the progress I've made, because this one was sitting on my shelf for quite a while. As you can probably see, I removed some parts of the armour on the mount's head, because I simply did not like them (and I think it looks more sinister this way).

Here are the colours that I have used so far:

• The miniature was primed with GW Chaos Black spray
• Layer of Vallejo Black was applied over the miniature
• Mount's skin was painted with GW Rakarth Flesh
• GW Flesh Tearer's Red (Contrast Paint) was applied all over the mount's skin
  
• Layer of Wazdakka Red was applied over the raised areas
  
• Skin was highlighted using Trollslayer Orange and Fire Dragon Bright
• Gold details on barding were painted with Retributor armour
• Barding was washed with Aghrax Earthshade 

Next step will be to finish the gold details on the barding completely and add some edge highlights. 

Painting Varanguard, part 2

Few days ago, I have finished painting second model in the first unit of Varanguard. This one, in my opinion, is the hardest to paint from the unit, because all of the cracks on the horse barding and the shield. Depending on the colour scheme you use, those details could take a lot of time. I went with the more difficult option of trying to create flame/lava effect inside the cracks - however, I was not happy with the first few attempts, and had to start over each time. This frustrated me a bit, because my painting time is limited and I want to move with reasonable speed - but in the same time, I can't simply leave the miniature with the paintjob I am not satisfied with (and by satisfied, I mean "good enough", not perfect). However, I managed to finish the miniature and I am happy with the result. 

I started painting the tihrd (and last) miniature of the first unit and I think that paintjob should be a lot easier. When The whole unit is finished, I will post a short tutorial that could hepl you if you want to recreate this colour scheme.

 

Painting Varanguard

This year was pretty bad for me when it comes to painting. Due to lockdown, job change and much less spare time available (I became dad last year), I did not manage to paint as much as before. Spare time that I had, I spent mostly on working out (to stay in shape) and reading. The only model I have painted was Archaon (but I am very satisfied with how it turned out). Recently, I've manged to squeeze in some more time for painting, so I started slowly working on my Varanguard. The plan is to have two units of Varanguard for the 1500 point Everchosen list (with some Chaos Marauders horsemen as well). On the pictures below, you can see the leader of the first Varanguard unit. 

I was worried about the colour scheme that I have chosen, because I was not sure about the combination of the red skin on the mount and the black armour with gold trim/details. In general, I don't like paiting black armour, but I definitely wanted to try that for this unit. I tried to separate all of the important details, as well as create contrast with the miniature base, to make miniature stand out. I really like the end result and cannot wait to finish the second model from the unit.

Archaon!

Archaon and Varanguard were models that I have been looking at for quite some time. They look really amazing, but they are also very expensive - and I already had several armies and not that much time to paint or play. So I decided to wait before I jump onto another expensive side-project.

And then, the Slaves of Darkness book was released. However, the book was not what I expected (and I expected something similar to Cities of Sigmar) and it was a bit underwhelming, at least for me - except for one thing: The Host of the Everchosen army. This was exactly the type of the army I wanted to play, revolving around Archaon and his elite warriors: models were great, the rules were cool and I loved the fluff.

I decided to build 1500 point army, containing Archaon, two units of Varanguard and something else to fill the remaining 100 points (probably Marauder horsemen, since I like the models). Varanguard and Marauder horsemen will also fit the Knights of the Empty Throne all-cavalry list that I had in mind (but more on that in some future posts).

So, I finally purchased Archaon and the Varanguard. As soon as Archaon arrived, I started assembling and painting. The first problem I had was how to fix the model to the base - there are only tiny connecting surfaces on Dorghar's tail. So, I decided to add some scenery to the base (I had some spare Azyrite ruins lying around) and then added pins that went from the ruins to Dorghar's tail.

After this was done, I could start painting the model. This is probably the most fun I had painting since I finished Alarielle, the Everqueen. Below is the final result.