Vlka Fenryka - Characters

Not too long ago I shared a test model for a new colour scheme for my brother's 40k army. Well the Rout grows with the addition of two characters, also in this new colour scheme!

First up, my brother's conversion of Lukas the Trickster:

This follows the style of the test model very closely but with a little extra effort on the details, especially the face.

Next, Geigor Fell-Hand from the Burning of Prospero:

This model was supposed to be an Xmas present that I got the year the box set came out, so needless to say it was very, very late. He's also pretty different from the other two models as I was trying to keep it cleaner to make the character stand out.

Until next time, happy painting!

Vylka Fenrika - Test Model #2

I really hope I can keep up this pace of posting. At least we're catching up on the number of posts I managed the last time I revived this blog. One thing I hope to do in the future is post more work-in-progress shots and maybe even some step-by-step guides, allowing me to eke out more material for my blog without actually painting more. (Although my painting process is less paint A, then B, then C as it is paint A, paint B, go back and fix A, maybe add some more shade to A, get bored painting C and start on another bit of the model until I feel like finishing C, and then fixing messy bits of A and B, and then C. I'm not sure this would be useful to anyone except as a warning.)

In the meantime, while I have recently completed some models and have one awaiting varnishing on my table, I also have a backlog of pieces of which I haven't shared any photos, and they'll carry the blog through at least another six posts. I will, however, make no further reference to the fact that they were completed some time ago, as this will help the blog seem more current and up to date. Ah, the magic of storytelling.

Right, onto the post (please imagine everything going wibbly-wobbly to the sound of a harp):

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A while back I painted a space wolf model for my brother, who has an entire space wolf army but doesn't like painting. The idea was to create a quick and easy-to-replicate colour scheme that I could either paint for him, or lay down the base colours and let him work on the details in his own time. This was the result:

Unfortunately, he didn't really like it. He wanted to move away from the 41st millennium colour scheme of the wolves which he thought was more than a little gaudy and cartoon-like. Fair enough. To be honest, while there elements of this paint job I really like, I have to admit there's room for improvement.

So, with 30K Vylka Fenrika as my inspiration and guide, I starting cooking up another colour scheme that was quick, easy to replicate, and reflected the gritty era of the Horus Heresy. It didn't take long for me to envision blasting various greys with an airbrush and then adding depth with washes. It sounded easy and I figured I'd have it ready the next time I saw my brother.

Several months later I dusted off the second test wolf and got to work:

Even the photos got better!

Despite the time lag I was delighted with the result, and so was my brother. I'm really happy with the grimdark, Christopher Nolan's Batman-esque vibe it has. It didn't even take too long to finish once I got started.

The greys were all airbrushed with two different tones (I think German grey and cold grey from Vallejo), washed with brown and black (GW washes), and edge-highlighted with a light grey (I want to say fortress grey, or whatever GW call that now). The bronze was warplock bronze highlighted with runelord brass and a little silver, with a brown wash somewhere in the middle. the rest was just filling in the details and making sure to use lots of dark washes to tie everything together.

Anyway, as soon as my brother gets round to giving me some actual units to paint, I hope to get a lot more of these guys done. Until then, happy painting!

Vylka Fenrika - Test Model

As you may know from a couple of previous posts, my brother is a Space Wolf player who doesn't paint a lot. Or, you know, at all. So I've been trying to come up with a quick and easy way to paint his troops for him. The idea is to airbrush the armour and then let him finish the details. With that in mind, here's the test bloodclaw!

For a model that takes maybe 30 minutes to paint, he doesn't look too bad. All the details are painted with a simple basecoat, wash, drybrush formula, except for the metal (no drybrush), and the face (extra highlighting). I've already airbrushed 4 more grey hunters for my brother, so hopefully he'll get round to painting some of his own later this month. And, if not, maybe I will if I find the time.

This guy was actually finished a while back, but I didn't have time to post him until now. At the moment I'm still working on a bunch of elves (first batch is finished, second batch is under way) and until they're done all other projects have been halted. My poor Eldar will have to wait a little longer for some love.

Anyway, I hope you like this model. Until next time, happy painting!

Rune Priest

Time for another update. This is a rune priest I painted for my brother. It's just tabletop, and there's definitely room for improvement, (practising painting power armour has just gone on my to do list), but I'm pretty happy with some of the details. Anyway, onto the photos!

That's all for now. Happy painting!

A Piece for My Brother

My brother collects space wolves but doesn't paint a great deal. In fact this is the first model fully painted in his army, and I painted it for him. :) It was done over the course of two nights, (although I only did the basecoat the first night), and was more an exercise in speed than style or quality. Still, I'm pretty happy with it as a tabletop standard and so is he.