Freebooterz ork army part 5

Warlord Gutzdreg is a bit slow. Ok, he's a lot slow. Even among orks Gutzdreg is not known for being too bright. Warlord Gutzdreg was once a powerful Goff warlord of the Blackbulls, a local head family. He ruled the local Goffs with his violent temper and strong arm, but eventually the Goffs in the settlement were overthrown by a family of Bad Moons who managed to undermind the Goffs' authority with sneaky cunning and bribes of teef. Rather than live under the rule of the Bad Moons Gutzdreg left with a group of his skarboyz to find a good scrap. Around the time the last of his skarboyz fell in battle Gutzdreg met Badgor. Badgor was the only ork Gutzdreg had ever met who was meaner and stronger than he was and he readily joined his warband and their worship of the god of war and slaughter.

Warlord Gutzdreg

Equipment: Power armour, powerfist, bionik bolt pistol hand.

Chaos Attributes: Fast, Moronic

Chaos Reward: Strength.

Freebooterz ork army part 4

I have decided to go with the Freebooterz army instead of the Death Skulls. I am creating several Freebooterz units right now. So far I am working on a Death Skulls outcast retinue, Freebooter pirates and a Khornate chaos renegade ork warband. I will be doing several more units as time goes on. I will be using the Deathskull nob and weirdboy I painted as part of my Death Skull outcast retinue and the Freebooter pirate will be a part of the pirate unit I am working on. Lately I have been converting and painting the chaos renegade ork warband. It is up to 7 out of the 10 members, I just need to get my hands of 3 more madboyz.

First, to present the champion of the warband, Badgor Gargrim.

Chaos Rewards: Eye of God (Sword of Might, Collar of Khorne and Flesh Hound), 2x Regeneration (one given to Warlord Gutzdreg), Chaos Armor (gained from Mark of Khorne), Daemon Weapon (bloodletter).

Chaos Attributes: Fear of Blood, Iron hard skin, Weapon Master.

Badgor Gargrim was once a Goff and an elite member of the Stormboyz corp until an unfortunate encounter with daemonic possession. Badgor was possessed by a bloodletter during a battle against Khornate renegades on a planet near the Eye of Terror. After that Badgor was a little "off". He left the corp and wandered from settlement to settlement till he stumble upon a group of madboyz. The madboyz recognized one of their own instantly and they became fast friends and drinking buddies. Badgor traveled with the roving madboyz, often leading them in battle. The bloodletter in his 'ead continued to scream his desire for blood into Badgor's mind and eventually he began dedicating his kills to Khorne and started a fine collection of skulls. Badgor Gargrim has gained many rewards in the service of Khorne and is a powerful fighter, though once the blood begins to flow he has a habit of blanking out while the bloodletter in him dreams of freedom in the lands of Khorne.

Brotherhood of the Crow part 28

I finished painting the second of the miniature that I was sent from Germany. It was so great to paint a Goodwin champion after so long. I love painting models covered in armor and his fleshy bits made it even more fun. This is the last model I have for this project so it will be on hold till I can get more fantasy chaos minis. At least I was able to finish the chaos warrior unit.

Brotherhood of the Laughing Father part 7

Finished the second of my Goodwin hybrids. Hopefully I'll get the arms for my Olley hybrids on Monday and I can start on them next. Once I have one or two of them done I'll post a group picture.

Brotherhood of the Laughing Father part 6

Finished my first, and maybe last, purestrain genestealer. I decided to keep my original color scheme rather than revert back to the "normal" genestealer colores. I'll be keeping an eye out for more purestrain genestealers while I paint my hybrids.

Brotherhood of the Laughing Father Basing Tutorial

Thanks to a request by Miguel Sousa on Facebook I decided to do a basing tutorial for my voodoo genestealer cult. The basing is very easy and takes, maybe about a minute to do if you have an airbrush and hairdryer.

Here is a list of the paints and tools I use for these specific bases.
1. Dirt from the yard or a flower pot. I prefer it from the yard because it doesn't have perlite or vermiculite in it, but since my yard is made of sand(?) I have to use flower pot dirt.
2.Superglue (cyanoacrylate).
3. A flat "drybrushing" paintbrush.
4. A base (duh)

 The paints I use are:
0. Surface Primer (Vallejo)
1. Oak Brown (Army Painter)
2. USAF Green (Vallejo Model Air)
3. Desert Khaki (Reaper Master Series)
4. White (Vallejo Model Color)
5. Brown pigment; I don't remember the name. (Vallejo Pigments)
6. Faded Green pigment (Secret Weapon Pigments)

I start by gluing the dirt to the base. I let the dirt dry out for a couple days first. Its something I recommend doing during a period where you don't feel like painting that way you aren't waiting on it do dry before doing a project. I've heard you can bake it in the oven if you want it to dry faster, but I've never tried it, plus it might destroy any tiny roots you might have in the dirt, which are really awesome looking on the base as small branches and roots.

Then I prime the base using an airbrush. It doesn't take very long for the glue to dry. Its faster than gluing sand because the dirt absorbs the glue more easily. After, I scrape off the primer from the sides of the base. You can use a hobby knife, but I use my fingernail if possible so it doesn't damage the shiny surface of the base. You can paint them black also, or whatever color you prefer, but I find I always rub the paint off the sides when I play with the models so I just leave it as black plastic.

Next I water down the Oak Brown to the consistency of water. When you apply the mixture it should soak right into the base. I usually do the more rocky looking parts in brown and the finer textures in green to simulate moss and such. The dirt should vary in size so you get a more natural look. After this step you should have a very pale base.

I use a hairdryer on the low setting to dry the base. It should be pretty watery so if you add any more paint at this point it will just blend in and not really add anymore color. After it is dry I paint it with the same colors, but at "normal" consistency for painting a miniature. Don't go overboard on trying to get the paint in all the crevices. After you are done painting this step you should notice that the deepest parts are still the lightest. That is the way it should be.

Next I use Desert Khaki to drybrush the entire base. I usually go heavier on the brown areas and lighter on the green areas. I will mix in a little white in further highlights, but not a lot since the pigments will pull the contrast back down anyway and subtlety is key to this style of base.

Before I add the pigments I spray the base with matte varnish. If you do it after it tends to ruin the "dryness" of the pigments and lessens the effect. If I add metal objects, like pipes and steal beams onto the base I use a rust colored pigment as well. I like the Pale Green pigment because it adds a "toxic" feel to the base without using a water effect. For sewer water effects I use Tamiya Clear Smoke straight out of the bottle as the last step, after pigments. I'll mix Tamiya Clear Red with the Clear Smoke for blood effects.

You can use different color pigments and paints to create different environments as well. Hope this helps.

Brotherhood of the Laughing Father part 5

I've started on the hybrids now. The first one is a second generation with an autopistol and a power sword. Because these members of the cult are not seen in public they openly display their allegiance to Papa Nurgle. I love this Goodwin sculpt, but I wish Bob Olley had done some full hybrid sculpts. I need about 5 sets of plastic imperial guard arms to finish my hybrids, but can't find any. I find that the "hybrid" arms are way out of scale for the models and they end up looking like alien gorillas.

Brotherhood of the Laughing Father part 4 Voodoo Pepper

Meet Pepper Laveau aka Voodoo Pepper. Pepper is the voodoo queen of Second Heaven and high priestess of the Brotherhood of the Laughing Father. Its rumored that she has the ear of the Administratum representative of New Heaven and many powerful officials regularly visit Pepper for advice. None of them know that her true allegiance is to the Brotherhood as well as to Nurgle. Pepper had already earn a powerful reputation as a priestess before the Brotherhood took her into their fold. Her reputation and power have grown greatly since she has been initiated into the cults inner mysteries. As a show of the Laughing Father's favor Pepper has been gifted with a daemonic familiar in the form of a nurgling, though "Jenkins" stays well hidden when she is among the uninitiated.

I think the gun came out pretty good. I had to make it from scratch because the previous owner cut it off from above her finger up. The right hand was missing as well so I had to replace it. She was a joy to paint and I can't wait to get a hold of more models like her.

The Brotherhood of the Laughing Father

Deep beneath the surface of Kalfu in the underhive city of Maalik lies New Heaven.

In one of the titanic layers of Maalik, which was flooded many hundreds of years ago by a disastrous failure of an upper level's water system, a vast swamp has grown to encompass nearly the entire level.There are three massive spire cities within the layer and these are the only means of reaching higher levels. The canals of these cities are just as likely to be plied by vicious gang members as they are the Imperium's enforcers. The spire city of New Heaven is rife with gang warfare and violence. Worse still are the vast swamps that stretch between the cities. Dark creatures live in the forbidding swamps that have grown in the hive. The swamps provide safe haven for mutants and beastmen who escape persecution in the cities. They breed and flourish among the mangrove forests of the fetid swamps forming "families" of inbred monstrosities.

Deep in the heart of the spire city of New Heaven a rot festers. The Brotherhood of the Laughing Father appears, at first, to be a harmless religious group which emphasizes family ties and ancestor worship. Above all sits the Laughing Father, a father figure who looks upon his followers' deeds with parental pride. Below the Father are the First Sons, the most blessed of the cult's followers. But this appearance is only skin deep. It is known to the gangs of New Heaven as one of the oldest and deadliest groups in the city. The Brotherhood ruthlessly hunts down and slaughters any of the gangs that encroach on its considerable territory. There are rumors that the Brotherhood travels into the swamps at night to converse with families of unspeakable countenance. Those who spread these rumors are mercilessly crushed by the followers of the Laughing Father.

The truth of the Brotherhood of the Laughing Father is far darker than any of the gangs suspect though. In truth the Brotherhood is a coven of genestealers whose goal is to spread their influence throughout Maalik and into the other hive cities of Kalfu. Darker still are the pacts they have made with the Plague Father's daemons. For a hundred years the cult has been spreading its influence throughout New Heaven. They have secured allies both in the city and beyond. An army of beastmen and mutants lurks in the swamps surrounding New Heaven awaiting a call to arms from the Brotherhood. While within the city limits members of the Brotherhood have infiltrated several levels of Imperial law and the group's illegal activities and violence are largely overlooked. As the years pass and the Brotherhood's influence grows it will soon be too late to stop them from taking the city and spreading to the other layers of Maalik.

Death Skulls army part 3...maybe.

So, after reading more about Freebooters I might end up changing my "Death Skulls Army" to a Freebooter army. There are a lot more units to a Freebooter army than I realized and most of them are just the normal ork models like mekboyz and warboss retinues, so I can still include Death Skulls. But no Freebooter army would be complete without actual Freebooter models. Unfortunately I am very lacking in the Freebooter models department. I do have one though and here he is all painted up. I decided to make him a Flash Git with gold gilt armor and weapons.

                                     Next up will probably be a Khorne worshiping Stormboy.

Death Skulls Army part 2

The next addition to my Death Skulls. This is my favorite Weirdboy in the range. I feel lucky to own him. He was really fun to paint and I think he turned out well. He is one of the only Weirdboy sculpts that doesn't have a grounding staff so I had to make one.

Death Skulls Army part 1

It turns out that the one thing I have in abundance when it comes to oldhammer miniatures is space orks. I have a ton of 2nd ed. space orks so I put together a 2000pt. list of Death Skulls since they are my favorite tribe and because I have about 40 heavy weapon orks. Unfortunately I really wanted to include a Mad Mob, but I only have one Madboy. Here is the first nob I've painted for the army so far. I'm having to strip all the ork models so it is taking some time. I also have a Weirdboy that I painted up earlier that I will include in the army, but I haven't done his base yet. I don't know if its just my mood today or if I've just been looking at it too long, but I don't like the pictures I keep taking of this ork. I decided to go with a very realistic, weathered look to the army. I'm not really a big fan of electric blue Death Skulls, except maybe their tattoos, so I decided to go with a sun bleached blue. Unfortunately this model only has a little flesh showing so I wasn't really able to add any tattoos or colorful skin tones so I just went with a normal green. I decided to go a different direction with the glowing eye and made it yellow light instead of red.

Brotherhood of the Crow part 27

Here is where I am at with the Brotherhood of the Crow. A great bunch of guys. This project is coming along nicely. I need to get a champion on a palanquin to represent Mortimer, the Baron of Crows. The only unit fully done is the "D3 Plaguebearers" so I have a long way to go yet. There are several units I don't have a single model for, but its a lot easier to paint as you go than have a pile of models waiting to be painted. It feels a lot better to have everything you own for an army painted. I have four more Nurgling stands and five more goblins waiting for paint. After that it's "paint as I get them".

Brotherhood of the Crow part 26

Here he is Scaathor Two-Blades, the last chaos warrior...that I own. I'll have to wait till I get more to finish the unit. Only two more to go and the unit is finished! I think the tiger skin worked pretty well. I'm not sure why I did the helmet red, it just felt right.

Genestealer Cult of Nurgle part 3

You can't have a Nurgle genestealer cult without Nurgle. I just finished striping and repainting my Great Unclean One for my genestealer cult. I was going to use him for 3rd ed fantasy, but its really difficult to take one in a chaos army, except for a daemon army, so I decided to use him for Rogue Trader instead.

Nurgle's Trinity. The Great, Great Grandfather, Great, Great Grandson and the Unholy Daemon.

Genestealer Cult of Nurgle part 2

A few last minute additions and he was all Blanchitized. Hide ya wife, hide ya kids here comes the Voodoo Magus!

Genestealer Cult of Nurgle part 1

So the good people of the Emporium of Rogue Dreams have convinced me that rather than trade away my genestealers I should paint them into a cult. Since Nurgle is my copilot, and I've never seen a genestealer cult dedicated to Nurgle, I decided that he would be the cult's patron. Along with that I decided that I didn't want to paint him the same color as a "standard" genestealer so I went with the complimentary colors of the standard colors instead. His name is Papa Justify though I haven't thought of a name for the cult yet. I was thinking of doing a voodoo themed cult. One of the rewards I rolled for him was slime trail so I had the idea that he would be tracking industrial waste from the hive's runoff around with him.