Balancing Terra...

So... its been a while...

But I have done some painting!

This started with me considering my Star Trek inspired Imperial Guardsmen and wondering whether there were any any other opponents for them that could also draw inspiration from classic Trek.

Two options came to mind. First Orks and Klingons, which do actually have a lot in common. However the original series Klingon uniforms are a rather nondescript and a bit... well... uniform (not very Orky). Plus I'm pretty happy with my current Ork scheme so I moved on.

Next was also quite obvious Eldar and Vulcans (Star Trek's very own psychic space elves...). Except apart from Spock (in his Starfleet uniform) the only other Vulcans featured in the original run are mostly civilian and also not really opponents for my Redshirts.

Fortunately Romulans exist and they actually have a bit more interest in their uniforms. So I tried to replicate these uniforms on some Eldar models. This also gave me the opportunity to paint the Eldar Trader from the Adventurers range who I've had for a while but hadn't been able to come up with a scheme for. In keeping with my preference for more alien Eldar I gave them blue skin (so they've become more a mix of Romulans and Andorians...).

So we start with Count Torma-Loch. The coloured half is on the opposite side to that of the inspiration but worked better particularly with the armoured model below.

 

I gave Torma-Loch a bit of female company in the form of the Talisman Sprite.

  

She suffers from one of the jankiest face castings of the era but still. I tried to replace her flowers with gemstones and gave her a bun to match better with the trader. I painted the wings as a slightly fleshy-bone colour as a sort of wraithbone decoration rather than actual wings.

Finally I painted them a bodyguard, hopefully with more to come.

 With this one I tried to bring in the blue of the lower ranked Romulans and the gold helmet. Tried out a new "prismatic" technique on the sword blade, definitely haven't quite mastered it although the sword probably wasn't ideal with the flat back of the blade.

And to finish the obligatory group shot.

Till next time...

Cap'n Smyrk

*For those not deeply versed in Star Trek and wondering about the post title, the Romulans first appeared in an episode entitled "Balance of Terror"*

Ghost hunting...

 Welcome Oldhammerers...

I have continued with painting Eldar in recent weeks with a couple of new minis.

First up is one of the original Ghost-Warrior minis, the Assassin-class.

Tried to get go quite dark with a high contrast highlight to give a shadowy feel, given they are supposed to be stealth troopers.

The freehand Wraithguard rune didn't come out quite as well as I'd hoped.

The second is not a new model but a repaint of my Eldar Commander to bring him more in line with my more recent Eldar, am planning to do that to my other earlier Eldar as well.

As well as repainting his armour to darken it up I gave him a traditional Eldar striped helmet plume.

And finally a quick comparison to one of the newer Eldar.

Till next time...

Cap'n Smyrk

Dragons of Old...

Some time last year I made a post about reproductions of the battle maps for first White Dwarf Battle Report I encountered.

This battle report was the origin of my general love of the Eldar in 40k (blasphemy to my normal fantasy preference for Dwarves...).

It was also where I gained my love of the original Fire Dragon Aspect Warrior miniatures (not sure why since they were painted in a somewhat uninteresting reddish-brown with yellow helmets). In particular the Fire Dragon Exarch remains one of my all time favourite 40k miniatures.

Back when I started this blog I painted up some Fire Dragons but although I had the Exarch I didn't paint it through a bit of trepidation about painting my favourite mini.

Finally I've got around to painting him up.

I chose to paint his helmet metallic rather than the orange of the ordinary troopers to help differentiate him. I chose the copper because it is still reminiscent of the orange.

Here's the whole squad so far.

 After taking this photo I've noticed that I clearly used a different red than I thought when highlighting the earlier troopers... Blast...

Anyway. Till next time.

Cap'n Smyrk

Not (A)Eldar(i)...

So as promised I've painted some of the original Eldar range.

I went for a darker scheme than that I used on the earlier models, closer to the schemes used in the Rogue Trader rulebook, although keeping to the blue and red colours I'd previously used with pale grey weapons and blued metallic "chain".

I painted a full 5-men (or elf...) squad with a leader and lascannon.

They were mostly painted with Vallejo paints and blue wash, with a few Citadel (both old and more recent) and even one Humbrol paint.

Since they are all painted the same way I've only made close ups of the lascannon warrior and the squad leader.

Originally they came out a little more purple than I really wanted but a further blue wash seems to have solved this problem.

Now I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, unfortunately this means I much prefer them to my old scheme...

Oh well...

Till next time.

Cap'n Smyrk

Adventure time...

I finished off the Eldar Scout I was painting this weekend. I'm pretty happy with how he came out, I am finally getting the hang of painting gemstones.

Anyway here he is in glorious technicolour...

Have to say his sword is more of a bludgeon than a blade, being somewhat lacking in the edge department...

A shot of him with his fellow scout that I already painted.

Finally here is my Rogue Quest adventuring party as they currently stand.

Now I just have to decide what to paint next...

Till next time.


Cap'n Smyrk

Adventurer in Progress...

Thought I show a few work in progress picks of my Eldar Adventurer.

He has his base colours and is just waiting for a bit more shading and some highlights. Still need to paint his various gem stones as well.

And a pic of him with my earlier Scout to show where he should end up.

Also remembered that I have this Necromunda Wyrd lying around who might end up taking on the role of the Wizard in the Rogue Quest party.

 Till next time.


Cap'n Smyrk

Round Up 2015

Happy new year to all you Oldhammerer's out there, I hope everyone had a enjoyable festive season.

So as a follow up to my similar post in 2014 I thought I have a look back at what I have achieved in the last year.

This year I've managed to paint 25 models and greatly increased the cast of my Euphoria setting.

Captain Smryk's crew has grown considerably with six additional members including a first mate, a medic, a pilot and some cannon fodder.

First Mate "Ace" Ryker

Chief of Security Sphinx and Helmsman Pyke

Ensign Rizzo, Doc 'Bones' and Crewman Raybone

Inquisitor Tycho and his retinue have made their appearance.

Ankyra Voth, Inquisitor Tycho, and Gerhard Cornwallis

A sneaky assassin

Regis Evangeline Margeritte d'Sarck, Governor of Euphoria and her entourage has also taken to the stage.

Milady d'Wysper, Regis d'Sarck, Tighert Ankhe and Father Toil

The Euphorian Arbites Precinct has been reinforced.

Judge Diens

Arbitrator Locke

The insidious Cult of the Incandescent Astral Wyrm has continue to gain new adherents.

William Dymm, Vardys Jax, the Emissary, Sister Lorritta, Jakob Dymm

And the Eldar have also gained a few reinforcements.

Including a Scout...

...several extra Fire Dragons...

...and a Death Jester.

Additionally I have painted one extra who isn't connected with Euphoria.

Hugh Ponsonby Wilberforce...

So lets have a look back at my three targets from last year and see what I will set myself for the coming year:

1 - Paint at least 17 models. I've definitely managed this one, having painted 8 more models than my target. Onwards and upwards on this one.

2 - Base all my models. Yeah... so this one I've basically failed at, managing to base only one model...

3 - Manage at least one post a month. This one I did quite well at until June when I didn't post at all. Again during August and September I didn't post, these were mostly due to external factors.

So for 2016 I think I will continue on the same lines with my targets, as real life and other hobbies certainly eat into my time with regularity. Therefore my targets will be:

1 - Paint at least 26 models. Again I'm going to try and at least match my previous years efforts painting wise. I plan to attempt some batch painting of groups of similar models in the coming year which should help with this one.

2 - Base all my models. Going to try again on this one, need to get down to a concerted basing session.

3 - Manage at least one post a month. Based on the last year trying anything more is likely to be difficult.

Inspired by Asslessman and Axiom of Magpie and Old Lead's Rogue Quest I also have an idea for getting in some gaming next year too (at least of the solo variety). Not going into to much detail now but it involves the fact that I have a copy of the old Ultramarines game box complete with its space hulk floor plans...

Till next time.


Cap'n Smyrk

No Laughing Matter...

Its amazing what having four days off work will do to your painting efforts, four minis in a week, a new record for me!

Won't last of course, back to the old slog again next week but it was nice whilst it lasted.

Anyway here's the Death Jester finished off, complete with diamond pattern trousers.

All the latest styles...

You can just about make out the red glow in the skull's eye socket...

So my second attempt at the diamonds came out to my satisfaction, its not particularly neat but luckily the fact that its on cloth rather than a flat surface disguises this to some extent.

Have got a number of options for what to do next, one of the Adventurers Astropaths and the old Arbite with Power Maul and Bolt Pistol. Or there are always some more Eldar...

Til next time...


Cap'n Smyrk

Here Be (Fire) Dragons...

Finished off two more classic Eldar Fire Dragons to go with the one I painted last year.

Same scheme obviously and amazingly have come out looking reasonably similar despite the gap between painting. As with the first one these were bought already based and primed.

The one on the left with the green base is the one I had already painted.

View with the outer two showing off their fronts.

Having had most of this week off work I've also been painting quite of few things. Including this WIP Harlequin Death Jester. I don't show many WIPs but I was so happy with how the bone came out on this one I've decided to show him off.

Last Tango in Warp Space...

Got to paint a few gemstones on his Shuriken cannon and I want to try getting a typical Harlequin diamond pattern on his lower legs, my first attempt didn't succeed and has been painted over.

Finally I have a new addition to Smyrk's crew. I realised that it had plenty of characters but no real grunts to act as a bit of cannon-fodder. Given Smyrk's general Star Trek references there was only one answer.

Redshirts!

And so I present the latest recruit, Ensign Rizzo.

His gun's colour scheme is based on the retro-raygun style phaser rifle used by Kirk in the episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before"

His uniform matches the style of Smyrk's just with a red shirt...

I intend to get four or five of these to back up Smyrk and give Sphinx someone to boss about, possibly including a heavy weapon. All of them will follow this same scheme and like Rizzo will get their names from unfortunate redshirts from Star Treks original series courtesy of this useful little list Redshirt Deaths.

That's all for now but I might right up some more character info for the members of Smyrk's crew.

Til next time...


Cap'n Smyrk

Lurking in the Shadows...

With my continuing painting mojo I have finished yet another mini. Well I actually finished it earlier this week but have only just got around to taking some pictures.

Anyway this is one of the original Eldar Scouts (not Rangers...) currently nameless but could fit into the environs of Euphoria in a number of ways.

I'm quite pleased with how the gemstone on his belt has come out, one of my best yet.

Also quite happy with how the cloak came out.

I've wanted him to match up with the other Eldar I've previously painted and as such have gone for shadowy rather than camouflage since the colours fit better with those I've used on the others.

I've gone with a dark bluey-grey 'Drowesque' skin tone which I will be using on all my Eldar (at least those with exposed skin). This is mainly to make them more alien and differentiate them more from the humans.

Probably going to be more Eldar for the next few minis, partially because they're what I have most of and because I've run out of 'character' minis for Euphoria.

I'll probably do another post tomorrow showing some of the old school models I found lying around that I've had for years as I mentioned last time but never actually got around too...

Anyway til then.


Cap'n Smyrk