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These are copies of a discussion I've been having in a Google+ community about using Water Effects and my experiments so far. Hopefully others can add to it here. Part 1: Does anyone know any tutorials or videos for making pools and water effects on bases??? Part 2: Ok, here is the one I've started working on as a test. I've tried the Vallejo water effects first, but it isn't sitting flat. I'm going to keep adding to it. I've ordered some clear plastic beads to go in before I do the next layer and I'll top it up again. I've added some Nurgles rot to get the green tinge. Part 3: So the water effects experimentation continues. I added the microbeads to the water effects and it works but is very subtle. It also didn't really help having the sand on the bottom of the water as the bubbles and sand grit intermingle making it hard to pick them out. For the Allarielle model I think I will make the water deeper so the bottom can't be seen which will hopefully make the bubbles work better. I also think I overdid it a bit which gave a more crystalline effect in places where the beads piled up (this might make a great Ice Base...). However by continually topping up the water effects I have managed to fill the base and it does look slimy. I also popped the model I painted in the 45 minute speed painting completion for the Painting Masters (an event we did in the UK at the start of 2015 alongside the Gaming Masters) just so the base dissent go to waste. I think I'll add some more plants as its a bit bare but I', not that concerned as its a basing exercise.

These are the final unit I am doing for the army. I've tried a little cheat for these guys - I sprayed them green then overs prayed white and then used nothing but washes for the colours. The only highlights are on the face, the claws and the tabard section. The black bark and the brown bark is just drybrushed. I like the models so I might get a few more, but it's not top of the list at the moment.

After having a week off on holiday I'm back on the Sylvaneth. I took these to Alliance, Ben Curry's one day event, but they were not finished at the time. They also qualify as my entry for our latest Hobby Challenge at Derby Wargames Club. When I got back I completed the banner and added the foliage so that they would fit in with the rest of the army. I went for a pale ethereal skin tone combined with bright green hair. I keep the weapons in a similar hue to hopefully give them the impression of being some what spectral in nature. I gave the blades a green glaze to tie them in more with the rest of the models. Overall I think these are great models and they are fun to paint, but they were not great in the games I used them. All I have left now are some Spite Revenants and Allarielle herself and that will be the army complete so I can start on something new (or more likely i'll be rebasing something older!)

Just a quick apology for not getting a post up over the last few days, but I've been busy and not had much time to complete anything! However this morning I was able to get the Hunters on to their bases. The bases are just smaller versions of the base that you can find details of how they are done in this Drycha article. One thing that might be of interest is how the flock stays on - I very rarely have any issues with the foliage falling off the models. I use Superglue Thick from GW and am quite generous with how much I apply over the branches it will be sticking too. The foliage then has to be pressed down firmly into it and this seems to give a strong bond that lasts.

Here is a quick photo of where I'm going with the Kurnoth Hunters. I used the Airbrush to lay down some base coats and then went in with a dry brush of Underhive Ash. I then fixed the white areas which I had done in a very round about manner. I like the contrast between the White and the dark brown. The bow was done in dark reaper with the brown details picked out. Overall I am quite happy with the scheme so I'll be doing the others in the same way.

Completed Drycha last night. She was pretty fun to do. I put all the Flutter Flies and Squirmlings on so it was a pain to get them paint. I really didn't take that much care with them. I then went and did all the basing, which again was a lot of tufts, clump foliage and flowers. I also added the Woodland Scenics tree foliage to the top of Drycha and around her back so that she would fit in with the rest of the Sylvaneth models. Overall I am pleased with the model. She fits in nicely and looks pretty dynamic.

I've bought some of the new kits for the Sylvaneth - basically I got one of each except for Allarielle with a goal to get them all painted for Alliance, @Ben event at the start of August. My Sylvaneth have always been a fairly fast army to add to as I tend not to spend a great deal of time on them, although with these new models I will be trying to make sure that I focus on some of the details as the models are too nice to just rush through haphazardly. I started with Drycha as she was the main character in the army that I will be running. The model went together OK, although there were some pretty tricky assembly parts. I'd give it the usual 8/10 for how cleverly it is engineered, but probably a 6/10 for speed and ease of assembly. I really like the pose she is in now that I have the model assembled after not being a fan in the photos that I had seen. I started out with a black and white undercoat before busting out the airbrush to do the first few layers. I base coated the whole thing in Vallejo Air Mahogany and then started hitting spots with lighter browns and camo green. Then it was a case of quickly dry brushing everything and doing plenty of washing to get the variation in colour. I've gone in and added some line highlights to the claws and tidied up things like the head dress and the loincloth, but otherwise I'll be leaving it as it is. Next up was the honeycomb. This was done in Troll Slayer Orange before being washed heavily with carrouburg crimson. I made sure to get the wash in all the holes. I then went back over with the orange followed by Firedragon Bright. For Drycha herself I just base coated her with a couple of layers of Palyd Wich Flesh and then washed her with Drakenhoff Nightsade. She then highlighted up quickly. I need to get some of the Green gem paint to do the eyes. And that is her pretty much done. I just need to base her and finish the bugs off which shouldn't take too long. After that I'm going to crack on with my Kurnoth Hunters

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!

In the beginning I made some resin forest bases (these have now been made into 25mm round bases) I painted some test models, Grots and Squigs and these turned out okay. I cleaned all the mould lines from the models prior to carrying out a mass undercoat and base coat using an airbrush. To do this efficiently I pinned each model (I will be using homemade forest resin bases) with a long paperclip to a cork to create a cork spraying carousel. See image below. I love the Fellwater Troggoth models but wanted greater variation in them so I set about converting them. I also sculpted hair onto the backs of their necks with greenstuff to tie them in with the original metal models and to cover up the smoothness of the neck. I added fanatics being molested and changed some of the weapons and arms. I have completed five Fellwater Troggoths so far. I also set about converting the Giant Troll Hag from Forgeworld. I added branches to the tree walking stick and added some ornaments to it. Hair was added from the Gorgon kit. The idea with this piece is that Bog Momma is chasing the squig hopper who has a bunch of flowers in his hand. This is to lure Bog Momma to war through the forest. All the forest creatures flee before her as she tramples her way through the forest leaving a path of destruction. They are also fleeing from her stench. She craves 'pretty things' and things which may make her smell nicer but she inadvertently kills everything with her foul odour. Pictures are of the finished model although this requires rebasing. I have completed the Squig Hopper unit with its scenic regiment tray. This maybe used during games of Aos to speed up unit movement so I have added a leaf litter insert into the bottom of the tray for when models are removed. I intend to do this with all the massed infantry units. I am currently working on the Forgeworld Colossal Cave Squig which I have converted. WIP mages will be posted on Twitter @bishmeister1 and here once completed. Thanks for looking.

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.

Recently, my hobby time has been taken up with painting models for other people. While this has been great for my bank balance, it has sapped a little of the enthusiasm I had previously for painting my own models from the Warhammer Quest game. I have been stuck on painting the Tzaangors for about a week and a half now - they sit beside me as I write this, daring me to continue their progress. So too does the Fyreslayer, standing atop his pedestal, naked save for a coat of Barbarian Flesh spray, a single wash of Flesh Wash ink and a stern expression of distaste. And this situation can only get worse. I start a new job on Monday, plus I have three new commissions about to come in (all for models from the Frostgrave range) so this means once again, all my spare hobby time will be going into other people's models. I can feel the heated glare coming from my To-Paint pile really starting to heat up now. Still left to paint are: Fyreslayer Tenebrael Shard 6 Tzaangors Gaunt Summoner 8 Familiars Ogroid Thaumaturge 8 Grot Scuttlings 2 Skaven Deathrunners But I'm not worried. This is giving me a chance to embrace the new approach and actually stick to my plan of not buying more models until these are all painted to a basic gaming standard (block colours, shade wash, simple basing). Meanwhile I can finish reading the Silver Tower novel (see my upcoming post about my AOS reading plan) and peruse through the Grand Alliance Chaos book while waiting patiently for the General's Handbook to be released. As for gaming - I'll be playing some Quest later today with my fiancee as we start a brand new campaign from the start now we have gotten to grips with the rules. I'm also hoping to start some regular gaming over at Warhammer World in the coming months, forcing myself to get out into the Realm-world and become more active in my old age. This will probably start with the upcoming AOS weekend in August - for which I have already bought my ticket. I'm even going to enter my first ever Golden Demon competition. I don't expect to win or even place, but I do expect tp ush myself into doing something I've never done before and the success will be in achieving that simple goal. So the Changer Of Ways has truly had an effect on me, and the patience of the Silver Tower will be rewarded. In time.

So not a lot of time to type this week. I've been slowly adding elements to rank and file, but then halfway through today I found myself unable to put down the Lord Castellant. He and his Gryph-hound are up to tabletop standard. I also bought myself a Winsor and Newton Series 7 #1 brush. God, what a difference. I started using that and a Royal Langnickel at the same time and the Langnickel is just about shot. The winsor looks new. To be fair, I am treating it with utmost care. Alright, I'll go more in depth next week, but here are some shiny new pictures of the 5 models that are ready to rock out of the 33 I'm looking to get finished by June 18th. I have my work cut out for me, but I'm pleased with all the elements of the color scheme. I think I've even gotten an Idea of how I'll finish the prosecutor wings, so look for those next week.

I've been putting this aside long enough. With the baby, work and everything, it was really hard to find the will to sit down and paint anything. Eventually, I had to tell myself "no more trolling, until you paint something"... I mean people are out there playing, and I'm sitting here watching pictures. No more of that. I sat down, and finished the "only need a few more layers" Liberators that I started (!) last August. It feels great to actually have something finished, bases and all. It's been so long since I last finished any painting project, we might as well call this the first models I ever painted. As an adult anyway. In 21st century. I went with the "how to paint book", simply because I know nothing about colors. If it wasn't for Duncan Rhodes' videos, I wouldn't even know which end of the brush goes in the pot. Still, I'm quite happy with the result, and I got a better hang of it now. The models themselves (those are the guys from the starter set) are quite nice for beginners, with nice sharp detail that lends to edge highlighting, and a lot of metallic surface that is so much more forgiving when it comes to highlights. The only real problem I had was with the right shoulder pads - but that's probably because I ruined it when trying to fit the gaps after gluing the models together - I'm even worse with green stuff than I am with the brush. The part I enjoyed most was the parchment - very easy to paint, and really giving a nice result. As for the scheme, I went with Hammerhands, partly because as I said before I would probably fail badly at creating my own color scheme, and partly because I wanted one army that would be the poster boys that never get left behind in lore, and all other poster boys (Celestial Vindicators and Hallowed Knights) have so wierd color schemes my stomach couldn't handle it. After all that effort, what better way to reward an old Troggoth than to get a blog of my own? Let's just make a deal - something gets painted for every non-painting entry... ok, every 2.

Welcome to another irregularly updated blog! In this blog, you'll find badly taken pictures of badly painted models, some pitiful attempts at conversions, and slow-to-read backstory for said models. If you're lucky, you may even trudge through old school tactics that don't apply anymore. Why should you even pay attention to this undertaking? Because I'm trying. Stay tuned for an update tomorrow.