Catachan characters finished

 A couple of weeks ago I posted up about my Chatachan characters, two of which came from my Warhammer+ subscription and one I got for my birthday. I have since cancelled my Warhammer+ subscription, mostly as I don't think there is enough content on there to justify it. But anyway, the characters. 

I spent a lot more time on these three guys than I would normally spend on models, even characters, and used a number techniques that I don't normally bother with, as I really wanted them to be the centre piece models they should be. 

Colonel Iron Hand Straken was first up, as the only HQ choice here. With his arm and flesh to do, he was probably the hardest one to paint up as well. I went for a base coat on all colours, followed by a wash and a dry brush of the base coat. After this it was in to highlights and edge highlighting along side some detailing work. 

Personally I really like the results and am pleased with how well I think I've done with them. There are a few bits I think I could have done better, such as the sword pommel, which looks better in person but not as good as the skull he carrying around. I also think the silver edge highlighting could be improved, especially on his shotgun, but with the wash and dry brush step you can still see all the details. 

Sly Marbo was up next, sort of, as I actually painted all of the in batch until it came to the final bits and pieces, like the Ork head. The first think that has to be mentioned and possibly the most obvious thing on the model is the eyes. Yes they are very, very squiffy. I have still not yet mastered eyes, I tried several times to get the eyes to line up and look normal but this was one of the best I could manage and they are still rubbish, part of the reason I usually don't bother with eyes. Again the main points of improvement are the silver on the gun, as I think I could have done it better and made it pop more. You'll probably notice that all the guns are just bare metal coloured, I did this as I thought that, as jungle fighters, they would just keep there weapon very minimalist, as not bother with anything but basic aesthetics. The other thing I could improve on is the edge highlighting of the packs and webbing. Unfortunately I didn't have that wide a range of colours for it, so I had to do the best I could with what I had and I think I could have done with a brighter brown for the every last highlight. The same could be said with the greens, as I only actually have two different greens and a third one would have been useful, either has a mid colour or a bright highlight.

Gunnery sergeant Harker is the last model. This model has some different challenges to the others, with the mass expanses of flesh and the high gun that dominates the model. The process with this model is exactly the same as the other two and again, I think that I could have done some.more to emphasise various elements. The muscles turned out quite well I think with some good definition, likewise with the trousers. The gun is the weakest point of the model, not including the very wonky eyes, I seriously need to get better at doing eyes. The gun could have been edge highlighted more as it's still quite dark and while the shading on it does give definition, brighter edge highlights would have made it pop a little better. 

All in all I do really like these three models and I'm quite proud of them. They will hopefully be hitting the table top in the not to distant future, once the new codex comes out.

Other models that I've been working on are my Deathwatch and head a little preview;

Yes, I know it's not black but there's a reason for that, which I'll go into in detail in a later post, but this is the standard bearer for the Deathwatch fortress. A veteran of many battles, Scion of Sanguinius, brother of the Eagle Knights, beholden to Inquisitor Sophiana and Ancient of Watch Fortress Abyss.

Lord solar Leontus

 Ok, let’s get this out the ways now, I think the horse is stupid. I like the idea of this model, just not the sculpt. As some one on YouTube (on the Kill Team Casuals podcast) it looks like a rejected AoS hero model, with some bionic legs and I have to agree. While I appreciate it is a very detailed and beautiful looking model, I just don't like it. If I ever get one, I will paint it up very differently, a lot darker with only a hint of gold.

There is no doubt that it looks better in the battle scene below, but most of that is probably due to filters and lighting that you won't get on a tabletop.

As I said the detail is amazing, there are so many fine details throughout the model, from the gloves to the holster and on to the base. It really shows off the level of detail that GW can get in their models these days.

However, I still just don't like it. If I was to make one of these models, I would look to use one of these models as the base;

I really like the stormcast beast, but I suspect it will be to big. Any of there 3 models will add that sci-fi look to the mount far more that a robot horse does. Anyway, I doubt I will bother with this model either way. 

Rogal Dorn tank

 The new guard tank has had a big reveal recently and as usual I’m a little late to the party. Now I’ll be upfront about this tank from the beginning, I am not a fan of this thing. I think that it is very in keeping with the whole guard aesthetic and will fit in quite nicely with the other tanks, as shown below but I just don’t like certain elements of the design and I really don’t think it was what the guard range really needed. The guard are really lacking in Fast Attack options and there are two very obvious vehicles that could fill the gap nicely, the Taurus ( along side the venator version) and the centaur scout vehicles. Anyway, that’s for another post, let’s have a look at this beast. 

There is no doubt that this tank is going to be s pretty good model to have on the tabletop. It’s going to be trouble for your opponent and an asset to you, however I just don’t quite see yet how it’s going to be significantly better that having leman Russ’s on the table. I know it’s got more wounds, 19 to 14, and it’s battle cannons are better but I still think at the moment that is rather have three russ’s than two dorns. 

There are also several design elements that I don’t like, the main one being those stupid stunners on the front. They just look silly and pointless and even if I get one, I will not be putting them on there. One of the other bits I don’t like is the stubbier gunner on the back. I know it sort of fits with the WW2 / Vietnam aesthetics but I just think it looks silly. If I do get a tank, I’ll be kit bashing it so that it has 3 stubbers being used from the copolas. Other bits I don’t like are the oversized gunshield and the fact that someone’s put the exhausts on upside down. I know it’s the 41st millennium but I still think gassing your own infantry as they follow your tank is a bad idea. 

On the other side of things, there are parts I do like, the biggest being the fact that the tanks sits nicely within the existing range. Overall it’s a nice looking tank. 

As I mentioned, it fits very nicely in the current range of tanks, both in size and design wise. 

I still think that redoing the Macharius tank from forge world would have been a better idea. Anyway, talking of the baneblade, we got a little bit more information on the new data sheet and it is a nice little buff. 

A few extra wounds, a bit more toughness and the turret weapons rules are going to mean that this monster is getting close to where it should always have been. I have always enjoyed fielding my Hellhammer and I will again with the new stats, especially as the sponsors are now effectively free!

Boarding action walls

 Another short post today, catching up with the previews that were shown off several weeks ago now! A lot has happened In these last few weeks it's been difficult to keep.uo.with everything that's been going on. Anyway, this is one of the things I have been most hyped about out of the previews we saw. I have always wanted a Zone Mortalis type of setting and have spent many hours trawling eBay, shapeways and other sites looking for affordable walls to make a board with and now GW have released there own version. 

It's not the cheapest around, it's GW, it never was going to be but its definitely not the most expensive or the worst looking set I've come across. That I also like is the fact that it contains the boards as well, even if they are slightly weird sizes. I don't know what it is with GW and their board sizes but why they just can't stick to one set of sizes and be done with it I don't know. 

I would.love to be able to get two sets of this but I think I can only justify buying a single set, maybe I can pick up some of the kill team stuff going cheap at some point but I doubt it. Even 500 point battles will be good fun I think and be a real change from the normal missions. I don't think I will bother with the book that's supposed to accompany the terrain, I'll either just pinch the rules from somewhere else or just make up the bits I need to to get it to work. Either way I'm excited about getting this set and getting some games it.