Xemenes

So in my opinion basing is the best way to put a mini into its own story so I put a lot of effort into them. I just released a video on youtube of my latest base creation for my orruk megaboss! If you have the time please check it out Thanks for the support tga.community is awesome and I love the content here! Hopefully you guys like this too!

Hey all, got another video for you guys! Warhammer Age of Sigmar Let's Build: Orruk Megaboss Thanks for the support, I really appreciate this community so I hope I can give back to it! Cheers!

Wow really nicely done so far!

In my second video I take a look at the orruk megaboss sprues! This model is tastey! Unboxing: Ironjawz Orruk Megaboss! Thanks for checking it out guys

So for some strange reason I never finish my projects, so what better way than to try force myself through than broadcast my plans to the whole community! I did a quick video about what I've picked up so far! Hope you enjoy! https://youtu.be/5eGr845_Y7E Thanks for checking it out, all C&C welcome, I'm still learning

Thanks you , probably about an hour total for the base? But a lot of that was experimenting and figuring it out, could be cut down to like 15 mins in batch production.

Finally all the bits and pieces arrived in order for me to be able to make the base, pictured right, for my dragon ogre shaggoth! Every time I sit down to build/hobby/paint I push myself to try something new and to surpass all my previous work (this is a serious curse sometimes). So looking at the bases I made for my brayheard, pictured left which I made a blog post on previously, I decided the main thing I wasn't 100% happy with was the way things felt like they were stuck on top (probably due to the fact everything was stuck on top) and the base lacked depth like it would in the real world. So my solution to the problem was to start by going down into the base itself to add a layer of depth. I started with a standard 60mm citadel base and took my dremmel tool with a drill bit to in to it. I carved away until only a small amount around the rim was left. A piece of 0.5mm plasticard was glued to the bottom using plastic glue then cut and sanded until flush and seamless with the edge of the base. Using cork I filled in the base with the rocks and glued on several of the dark rune ruin slabs, made with the greenstuff textured rolling pin and super sculpey, to create the desecrated ruin look I was going for. After this I placed a few skulls (because it wouldn't be Warhammer without them) and a bone. Baking soda, sand and ballast was used to create the dirt around the base. I base coated in a dark brown. A gquick bit of paint later and it was starting to take shape. I wanted the dirt and rocks to meld naturally together so both where given an initial wash of Agrax Earthshade both after the base coats of grey and brown, and then after there final dry brush highlights to bring the colours together. However the rune slabs needed to stand apart slightly so a Nuln Oil wash was used as well as a starker dry brush highlight. The edge was given a pure black colour as I feel it frames bases most crisply. Finally several bits of Mordheim Turf was added for a bit of greenery spot colour and a few mini dead leaves to give the impression that the scene is from a forest or a wooded area. A few shots with the mini on the base. Overall I was really pleased with the result, the depth of the base is not shown really well in my photos but it looks so much more natural than previous attempts. In the future I would like to play around with simple water effects and maybe add a greater variety of foliage, possibly adding roots and things. Thanks for reading, sorry for the poor pics, hope you enjoyed! Any C&C is welcome!!

So unfortunately I can only give a small update on my progress because I only managed an hour or so total hobby time this week (trying to work out a colour scheme + baby + working lots = sad hobby time). After much deliberating I decided the scales would be purple as I thought this would be both complimentary and contrasting to the sickly skin, as always the pictures are not 100% true to reality because phone cameras just never are. I am really happy with how the wrist scales really bring out the gold trim on the bracers. The model feels like it is slowly coming to life, this will speed up significantly after all the major components of the colour scheme are worked out. The areas I still need to work on are; bones/teeth/nails, the hair (I was originally going for a simple brown but seeing the purple scales I feel this may look to warm?), the cloth (probably a deep red), the axe head (NMM Silver) and various other minor areas. For me I find colour theory exceptionally hard to get my head around fully but I believe that colour scheme is possibly the most important part of painting a great mini, it doesn't matter how smooth your blending is if the two main colours of your mini clash horribly. I blended each scale individually, in the past I would have probably gone for a dry brush but I never feel it looks particularly good, it was pretty quick using the loaded brush technique. I know 100% I can improve but I am really happy with my progress as a painter. I will admit I had to re-blend a few of the scales as the highlight was too bright and just stood out like a sore thumb but I managed to bring everything in line. I am really hoping I can get this guy and my three dragon ogors done in time for the summer campaign (I really hope its a slow grow campaign, a veeeery slow grow campaign at that). If I do I will probably pick up a second box of dragon ogors to build with the glaives for the rend. This week I ordered a 60mm base for this guy and a dremmel tool so I can hack it to bits and rebuild it. I'm gonna use some of the same techniques I used in my blog post about basing but build it up in a much more intricate way. If it goes well I will definitely do a how to post on it. Anyways enough rambling from me, please comment any C&C I really appreciate it! Thanks!

Thanks, yeah black and white can be difficult but really they just take patience and a slightly different approach. The trick with black was to mix it with blue to create the transition from the highlighr of white so the layer wasn't grey.

Thanks so much for the kind words, yeah for black im finding less is more but still the contrast needs to be there aswell. Its all balance.

So after a fruitless couple of weeks I finally decided to take a step back from my beastmen, this is primarily because I just for the life of me could not get a colour scheme I was even slightly proud of. So what better to do when you are at an impasse? Tackle a brand new challenge of course! In particular the glorious shaggoth model I have had sat in a draw since my birthday back in November. I decided that a lot of the problems with my beastmen was they are small and fiddly and I was almost bored of the techniques I was using. I get into a very perfectionist way of thinking and as fantastic as dry brushing is it doesn't make me feel proud of my results ever. I really wanted to challenge myself with this project as I feel that's what gets me to really dig into painting. I have applied several new techniques to this model and I have to say I'm really happy with the quality and speed of the results I am getting. So sorry for the lazy pictures, they were taken on my phone so are a little grainy and washed out but serve the purpose ok-ish, so here he is! The first new technique I tried was the "Loaded brush technique" and it is really simple but effective for creating smooth, high-contrast blending. It is basically putting down a base coat as normal but then rather than tediously working up through the highlighting via layer upon layer you just load the brush up with the base color and then dip the tip of the brush so a dot of pure white paint sits on it, The with is then used to create the highest highlight and as you paint the white begins to blend with the base paint stored in the brush creating a really natural blend. I've used this on all three of the small sections painted so far; the skin (which has a slightly bruised hue not really captured in the photos), the NMM golden trim on the wrist-guard and the main black part of the wrist guard. I realise this is a very early WiP but hey who cares! For those unfamiliar with the term NMM it stands for non-metallic metal and it involves using all matt colours rater than using paints with metallic flakes in. I have never really had a preference but I have never found my own results with metallic paint particularly inspiring. This technique seemed really scary for me for some reason and although I have only done it on one small bit of trim so far I can say I really love the technique, it has stopped some of my corner cutting and really made me think about just how I'm painting. I know NMM has a huge skill ceiling but honestly it wasn't as hard as I feared, seriously I used 3 paints to achieve the effect on the trim. The second part that seems to be a bit scary to a lot of painters including myself is painting black, but again using the loaded brush and some patience I think I made it look black but not flat if that makes sense? I have taken an entirely different approach to painting this model than any I have painted thus far in my time hobbying and that is the order in which I'm painting it. Before I have always done it in broad sections, such as the skin, then the hair, then all the trim etc. But now I am moving from one part to the next, so I am currently working down the arm rather than painting the entirety of the skin in one go. It's really helping me out just in terms of composition of the model, also if I'm not happy with a certain colour or effect then it's so much less work to change one detail rather than the whole model. Anyways all C&C welcomed I really push myself to improve and more pairs of eyes make lighter work and may spot something I missed. Also if anyone is looking to learn some of these techniques check out Painting Buddha YouTube, I have learnt so much watching them so huge props to them.

After many hours of experimenting, failing, cursing and praying to the chaos gods I finally made 11 whole bases! I know right?! amazing so here they are! I am so please with how these came out, personally I think bases are far more important to the story of a miniature than colour scheme. I really liked the idea for my brayheard that they lived in a vast dark forest, seemingly never ending, but the happened to stumble upon a long forgotten and decaying ruined temple to the pantheon of chaos gods. In the centre of a ruins stands a realm gate which is where the true story of my army will begin. I wanted broken runes and the idols of chaos carved into the stone floor that has been broken and weathered and almost receded into the forest. I used the dark runes textured rolling pin on super sculpey to create the effect I was looking for. This project was unbelievably both fun and frustrating in equal measure, wrestling with the super sulpey and my oven so the thin sheets came out just right so they were brittle and could be snapped for the ruin effect but not burnt by the oven took a hell of a lot of failed attempts, but it is so much more satisfying when it goes right after such a struggle. Painting was simple and then adding details like the static grass and leaves really brought the bases to life and the end result was better than I expected. Thankfully I also took delivery of my beastlord model and I really love this sculpt, the name of mine is Gor'bix and he will command my army! I decided a shield looks much cooler in my humble opinion and a plus to survivability is always good for generals so after a very simple conversion here he is ready to be primed! Thanks for stopping by! Hopefully next week I will actually start painting a unit!

Really great pics

Very nice gors are such under rated models. Nice to see so many!

Unfortunately I am still waiting on the delivery of my textured rolling pins so I can get on with basing, so as I didn't want to entirely waste my day off I decided to put together 10 of my ungor raiders and I have to say this kit was pleasantly surprising. Now these model, especially by AoS standards, are tiny. But I was glad to find that they were full of character. The hunched bodies and disgruntled faces are really lovely and honestly I wasn't expecting it at all. When I bought my battalion box the ungors seemed like a chore but now they have won me over. Loads of options and accessories and really varied posing, something which I sorely miss from the new kits where you get very little choice of how a model is posed. Ranged attacks are sorely lacking in most all the chaos forces in AoS so these guys, although seemingly weak, could be wonderful especially due to their insane movement!

Very cool classic beastmen.

You have a very beautiful and crisp style.

So after a few months away from hobbying I have finally got the motivation and time to jump back into my Brayheard project! I have always loved the beastmen but the old Warhammer fantasy battle was always far too daunting for me, now with AoS I decided it was finally time to show my love to the true chaos army. I managed to pick up a battalion box at a random toy store for 20% off after GW discontinued the box and a few other boxes too. Currently I have built 10 gors, 10 bestigors and a bray shaman (ready to be painted). I have also decided to include a contingent of thunderscorn (a box of dragon ogres and a shaggoth). I'm also debating if I should add chaos trolls (river trolls) and chaos ogres ( iron guts) too the force as well. I have 20 ungor raiders, 20 more gors and 10 bestigors still on the sprue and I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the beast lord. This is a very large undertaking for me but I hope to complete 5-10 models per week. I have decided to make and paint all the bases separately, I ordered two of the textured rolling pins from Green Stuff World on etsy, the runes one and the dark runes one aswell and will use these to make an ancient chaos ruin theme for my bases. Hopefully the rolling pins will arrive shortly so I can spend a day making the ungodly amount of bases I need in one batch and then hopefully prime them and all the models I currently have built. hopefully this blog will keep me on track, nothing else seems too work!