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):

Be'lakor, the Dark Master

Last month, I started painting Be'lakor, the Dark Master and I also posted an update about it. Well, it is finished now and I can proudly say that this is one of the best paintjobs that I've done recently. During the past few months, I have managed to paint a lot more models than I thought possible and I am very happy because of that. In the span of 5 weeks, I've painted Be'lakor, Yndrasta and almost finished my Knight-Vexillor with Banner of Apotheosis. I still work in smaller batches (from 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on time available) and I try to keep it consistent as much as possible. The results are definitely showing - and I think I will be able to finish quite a few miniatures by the end of the year.

As for Be'lakor, I really like the model and paintjob itself was fun and very enjoyable - especially because I was able to paint most of the model using drybrushing (my favorite technique). The colour scheme I chose is a bit different from the original one - as I mentioned in the previous update, I think that the original scheme is too dark and you have a hard time trying to visually separate the different parts of the model. In the same time, I tried not to go to another extreme and make model too bright, because Be'lakor is, after all, the Dark Master (so I tried to keep it "dark", but not too dark). Below are the pictures of the fully painted model.

And besides looking great, Be'lakor can be included in several of my Warhammer 40K armies, so I look forward to fielding it (I really want to try Disciples of Be'lakor list). Unfortunately, seems like the most interesting list that I wanted to try in Age of Sigmar - Legion of the First Prince - will be completely changed in the new battletome, so I won't be able to run demonic legion in AoS once the new book is released. Ah well, Be'lakor will now have to hang out with my Chaos Warriors, Knights and Varanguard (and that should be a pretty good company after all :D )

Painting Be'lakor, the Dark Master - WIP update

Two weeks ago, I started painting Be'lakor, the Dark Master. I really like this model - not only because it looks great, but also because it can fit in multiple armies I play for both Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40K. However, I think that the paint scheme on the box cover is not the best one, so I decided to paint it in a bit different way. My main complaints regarding the box cover paint scheme are lack of contrast and the model being too dark. In my opinion, certain parts of the model could be much more emphasized (base, sword and parts of the armour, for example) but instead, they are not easily distinguishable from everything else. Wings are particularly problematic, because they are a large surface with not much going on (except for the chains). So, with that in mind, I started working on the model. It's still far from finished, but I am really satisfied with the progress so far. Here are some pictures:

I tried to address all of the mentioned issues. I opted to use gold for the armour and the anklets/bracelets - because I think it works much better and it was also used on the old Be'lakor model. From the very beginning, I knew that I wanted to paint the sword in very bright colours (and match it with the eyes) so I opted for this "green warpflame" effect that I used on my Lord of Change. When it comes to wings, my plan is to paint the membrane in some lighter colour and then add shading and maybe spots (similar to ones that the reptiles have on their skin). 

So far, I have really enjoyed working on this model and I can't wait to have it fully painted and put on the table. Of course, I'll post some pictures here as soon as it's finished :)