Misumena vatia Tyranids

A bit of a random update on some random painting...

I was gardening the other day, not my natural forte I might add, when I saw a lovely and odd looking spidery thing on a white lily bush. Now my first thought was 'that looks like a tiny Tyranid!', how cute.
As it turns out, it was a something named a Crab Spider, common in Southern England, with the Latin name Misumena vatia. I did take a photograph on it, but I seem to have accidently deleted it when I whilst I was having computer trouble. However, there is a picture of the Spider at the bottom of this blog update, not of course at the top, just in case people are adverse to Spiders. I'm not a great fan of them, I was bitten by a False Widow a couple of years ago, and was very ill. The False Widows pop up in the garden now and again, so I kill them on sight!

All this spidery nonsense got me thinking about Rogue Trder era Tyranids. I had painted mine a long, long time ago in the classic blue/purple Genestealer colours (with green Zoats), but had paint stripped them ready for a repaint which never came. So as an aside I tried out a paint scheme based on the spider on a few test models.

The painting was simple. Black undercoat, based coat of Vallejo Stone Grey, highlight of white, a very very very thin wash of Vallejo Lemon Yellow, and then a final white light highlight. The Genestealer Magus received a very very very thin wash of Citadel Xereus Purple twice. The Zoat and Hunter-Slayer guns/equipment are a thined Vallejo German Field Grey. I gloss varnished the Screamer-Killers/Carnifexes to give a shiny carapace look, matt varnish to the other to avoid that same look.

They were fun to paint, and I am happy with how they look. They are test models, and I don't intend painting the army anytime soon. I have another project I wish to do.

Enjoy :)

 Genestealer Hyrid Magus.
I love this miniature, great detail, and full of menace.

Rear view.

Screamer-Killers/Carnifexes!
I mounted these on 50mm round bases to look a lot better. I find it's always odd to consider that many of the larger old Rogue Trader miniatures were confined to 40mm square bases at the time.
It was these miniatures which sprang to mind when I was looking at the spider.

I was never a great fan of these miniatures, nor the paint scheme they were released in. However with a little re-posing of the body and arms, and a different paint scheme I think they look a lot more terrifying.

The other one.

Rear view.
Probably the best view from which to shoot at it!

 Zoat.
I like the old Zoats, and I have about a dozen 40k ones. I think they look a lot better on the Citadel Oval 60x35mm bases.

 Hunter-Slayer.

 Misumena vatia, the Crab Spider.

The next update will be on the little Dwarf diarama which I am finishing this evening. The after that I am going to tackle a 40k Squat project.

DG1 Oriental Dragon

Another Dragon. Another old Citadel/Ral Partha Dragon. Another Blue Dragon in fact. Indeed another great old Tom Meier sculpt from the 1980's.

This is the DG1 Oriental Dragon from Citadel, originally released in 1984 as a C-Series C14 Dragon. It was also released by Ral Partha as the 01-129 Celestial Dragon, and is still available from Ral Partha in the USA, but sadly not from Ral Partha Europe (this is one of the old 1980's ones though). I have painted it to be a Bound Host Dragon for my 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle Cathay army. Cathay is loosley based on a fantasy China, but was never really expanded on in the 1st to 3rd Editions of Warhammer, and received scant regard afterwards. My plan for the army is to use a mix of the various old C01 Fighters and the various Oriental Heroes/Samurai ranges as a basis, with this Dragon present as well.

Painting the Dragon was easy. Like the Ice Dragon I detailed in my last blog update, I started off with the blue base coat on a black undercoat. For a base coat I used Citadels Caledor Blue, then highlighted a mix of that with a quarter white, then another 50-50. I then gave it a wash of Citadels Technical Nighthaunt Gloom to give a slighty more ethereal and cloud feel. Once dry, a highlight of Citadel Alaitoc blue, then progressive mixes of two-thirds, 50/50/ one-third of Alaitoc blue and white, until I was at the stage to give pure white highlighting to the Dragon's beard, teeth, horns, and 'flowing bits'. The I gave the Dragon red eyes.

The Dragon was fun and quick to paint. I love the face, real personality. I chose the colour blue to give an overall feel of a cloud Dragon, and also in keeping with 1980's Games Workshop in-jokes, as a reference to the  'Blue Dragon' range of Chinese food stuffs.

Enjoy :)

Left hand side.

Right hand side.

Look at that face. :)

'Tail-end'!

I am currently working on a Dwarven diorama. I have also been painting a third Dragon, and am mostly part through a couple of random miniatures. Still, I am sorting out all my 'Oldhammer' era fantasy miniatures into 3,000 point armies, and there are quite a few. This why I have ended up painting random oddments and Dragons from my collection at the moment rather than full armies, but once sorted, I will be tackling the amries.

Ice Dragon.

It might be St.George's day, but it's a coincidence that I have painted a Dragon, although there is no Knight to go with it!

The Dragon itself is an old Citadel one. It is the DG4 Black Dragon, sculpted by Tom Meier and released in 1984, also released as a Brass Dragon by Ral Partha. I decided not to follow either it's name nor the Rolling Stones and paint it black, instead opting for an Ice Dragon approach. This is because I intend to use the Dragon as as part of a bound host in my 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Norse Dwarf army (probably as a bound Winged Dragon 2). Also I think that in painting it black, it would lose some of the textured detail of the scales.

The Dragon was really fun to paint and was quite simple. Black undercoat, light blue base coat, mix of light blue and white, and then progressively highlighting to white. It's gaping maw was a mix of purple, a darker blue, and pink in varying ways to avoid that bright pink look of some painted mouths. I mounted the Dragon on a Citadel 90mm x 52mm oval base, which I think quite suits the model, the model itself being 70mm long and 70mm tall.

Enjoy :)

The left side.

Right side.

The gaping maw!!!

Next update will be another Dragon!

Middle-aged 'Snow White'.

"I used to be Snow White, but I drifted"-May West.

So Imagine that the Fairytale ending did'nt quite go according to plan. The Prince turned out to be dull or something, or perhaps they just got bored when the magic wore off? So, in middle-age, a little plumper, a little grey-er, and a little wiser,  'Snow White' decided to return to the mountains and catch up with some old contacts in the Dwarf community.

In truth, I had a spare 'FS44-2 Seductive Wench' from Citadels early 1980's Fantasy Series-Fantasy Specials range. So, I painted her up as an older version of Snow White. I plan to use her as the Contingent Commander for a Dwarf Ally or Mercenary Contingent for one of my 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Armies.

Enjoy :)

 Front view.
I gave her a slightly more flushed look to her face, and slightly greying hair.

Rear view, with dagger, or fruit knife, for cutting rosy red apples!

Next update will probably be a Dragon as I have been meaning to paint one for a while.

Hot and cold climate C28 Giants.

For a while I have been sorting out my various miniatures into their respective armies. It has been a long process, and far from finished, but it has brought to light several miniatures which had sliped my mind, and also presented me with ideas for where to place and how to paint certain miniatures. Two of those are a pair of C28 Giants.

Now the early pre-slotta C-series C28 Giants range, from where these two Giants came, were a multi part range, with each Giant consisting of one body, one head, and one weapon. These were often supplied randomly, which could result in a wide range of Giants. A year or two (maybe three) ago I decided I wanted to collect a few parts to create two specific Giants for two particular armies: one for a Norse Army; and one for my Southlands Army. This I managed to do, and then I bagged them both up for later painting. 

Couple of weeks ago, as I was sorting my way through boxes of miniatures I found them again, and decided to paint them. I have lots of ideas for miniatures, regiments, armies, etc, and I thought it would be good to create a couple of them.

The first of the Giants is for my Norse Army. I have based him on the idea of Frost Giants, and painted him with a frosty blue skin tone and white beard. In his right hand he is holding a ball, which originally in 1st Edition Warhammer was meant to be a lead ball, something which Giants could throw according to the rules. I thought, being a Frost Giant, I would paint it as a snowball, as in 3rd Edition Warhammer they can still throw things! I gave him a snowy base too, as will the rest of the Norse army.

The second Giant is for my Southlands army. Both he, and the army, are based on the background story from 'The Bowmen of Oreon' RR7 Regiment of Renown. In the story it states that Oreon joined the Sea-Elf Lord Staleor in his Southlands campaign, where they encountered a Giant whom they killed in a maybe less than honourable manner. Anyway, I thought I would try to give the Giant a more 'Fantasy African' feel, so I painted his skin tone darker, and gave him a scrubland looking base to give that warmer climate feel to the miniature.

The background to Oreon's Regiment can be found here: http://www.solegends.com/citrr/1rr07oreons/index.htm
Incidentally, I also have a pre-slotta C08 Elf army, including the pre-slotta Oroen's Bowmen, to oppose the Southlands army.

Enjoy :)

The two Giants.
Both are mounted on 50mm square bases.

Norse Frost Giant.
I painted the eyes to give the impression he is taking aim.

Rear view.

Side view.
I gave him a hammer as it seemed a Norse thing to equip him with.

The Southlands Giant.

Rear View.

The early C28 Giants range.

I am still sorting through miniatures, and painted random things, so not sure what will be next. As I am a key worker I have been somewhat busy over the last couple of weeks and so have'nt painted much.

Take care. :)

Gnome hero on Giant Shrew.

A little conversion and paint job (if you excuse the pun!) .

I had a spare Citadel Gnome miniature from the C33 Mounted Adventurers range, but with no pony for him to ride. So, I tried him out on a Giant Frog miniature, a spare Gimli's pony from Citadels Lord of the Rings range, and even the Citadel C22 Giant Snail. However, he seemed to fit nicely on another C22 Creature; the Giant Shrew.

The Gnome fitted nicely on top once I had added a small greenstuff saddle. I placed the Giant Shrew on a 25mm base as a 20mm was too small, and the 40mm seemed too large. Painting wise he was quick and easy to paint. Also, I wanted to try out the famous shield painting guide in White Dwarf #101 from 1988. It has sort of worked , it does'nt look too bad, I think I need a little more practice, maybe on a much bigger shield!

Gnomes are one of those Warhammer races who seem to be overlooked. They are only present in the Warhammer Armies book in the Dwarf army list, and to be honest, they are not great, with thier T2 being a bit low. So with many other things to choose from in the Dwarf army, and the limited miniatures range not being easy to come by, they are not often seen, which fits in nicely with their Bestiary entry in the rulebook of a dwindling, rarely seen race.  Still, I like them, and I have been buying the odd one or two here and there in order to build a little regiment of C11 range Gnomes, of which I now have 20 plus the Giant Shrew riding hero.

Enjoy :)

Gnome Hero, riding a Giant Shrew.

Left-side view, showing the shield face.

Rear view, with a purple roll-up blanket.

Right-hand side view, with club in hand.

Pre painting.

I am currently very busy with a whole range on non-miniature releated things. However, in my spare time, I am sorting out ALL of my Citadel 1980's era fantasy miniatures into 3,000 point armies. I have been planning a lot of conversions and organisations of Regiments with a view to a major series of blog updates when finished.
In the meantime I am painting random things, and trying out new techniques for painting and modelling.

Squat Thudd Guns.

I have finally painted the last part of the Squats of Hylgar's Hellraiser: The Thudd Guns.

They were quick and fun to paint. I have always considered the Thudd Gun to be an iconic Squat weapon, and so they really had to be included, especially as they are allowed in the army list anyway.

In addition to the two Thudd Guns, I have included the alternative Thudd Gun, also released as the Imperial Guard Auto-Cannon. This was produced in France under license from Citadel by AGMAT, and is sometimes known as the AGMAT Gun.

To crew the guns I have added a few of the Squats from the wider early Rogue Trader Squat range as the Thudd Gun was only supplied with one crew, and the AGMAT with none.

Enjoy :)

Thudd Gun battery.

Thudd gun.
I added some of the rust effect to the gun to give it a slightly more battlefield feel.

The AGMAT gun.
The rear track and the wheels are the same as the regular Thudd Gun, but that is all. The overall look is the same, and the chasis looks like a conversion ofthe original, but the addtion of a larger intergral footplate renders it different.
I think it looks fine and fits in nicely, and faintly reminds me of late 19th Century and First World War artillery.

Squat gunner.
This is the Squat supplied with the gun. He has a peg under his foot rather than a slotta base so he can be placed on the Thudd Gun itself. I chose not to do this, and filled in the gaps on the Thudd Guns footplates with greenstuff.

Rear view.

RT301 Squat "Blish" Browning".
I think he makes a good alternative crewman as he is holding a comm unit/control pad.

RT303 Squat 'Loader Grigg'.
He is part of the Squat  Heavy Weapon range, and seems to be designed to be an ammo carrier, which I also thinks works well as an alternate crewman.

For a variety of reasons this Squat project has taken more time than expected to complete, and my blogging has been very low key. It was, however, fun to paint them, and in the manner and 'feel' of the early Rogue Trader era from which they derive.

My plan now is to switch focus to what I have been doing in the background for over a year.
I have been sorting through my Warhammer Fantasy collections and organising them in 3,000 point armys based on the army list from the 1988 Warhammer Armies book. By and large this has meant sorting a LOT of miniatures into boxes, and so over the next few weeks I will be writing army lists for them. There is a lot of unpainted lead (and a little plastic) at the moment, but once sorted I can then focus on painting again, and then blogging the progress. :)