Council of Rust I: The Reawakening!!!

  Sorry I am delayed in posting.  I got so thrilled about the new necrons it seems I threw my back out.  The good news is one doesn't need to walk in order to read the codex or paint scarabs.  So it's all good!

  The new codex is all I could hope for, honestly.  With change comes a change up of tactics.  While some things are not as ideal as they once were I feel what we have gained far outweighs my not being able to efficiently put a destroyer lord with a pack of bugs.  I mean there's so many more useful things I can do with them now that I have NO room to complain!

  I showed up at my local independent retailer, being a block and a half from my house (cause i am spoiled like that) and within the first 20 min. they were sold out of everything.  Books, crypteks, arks, monoliths, Triarch praetorian kits, deathmarks, flayed ones, and anything that's ever wanted to open fire on the Eldar.  It was beautiful and amazing!  So As promised we're going to help you tackle this large project!

The Council of Rust's first gathering!

Building an army of rusty rotten red robots!

Step 1:  Take inventory
  So after taking full stock of what this Necron Overlord has to do to 'reawaken' my troops I thought I'd take stock of all my troops that survived the deep slumber in all the spongy foam they were stored in.

My count:

58 necron warriors (primed.  17 without arms yet to be assembled)

10 warriors needing to be stripped of paint, but built

10 warriors unbuilt >.> ooooh the potential there...

10 Immortals, base painted & needing touch ups

10  scarabs - based & painted

10 scarabs - untouched

10 scarabs - unbuilt (might use as accessories)

3 Wraiths - unbuilt in need of conversion & paint & some love

1 tome spyder - painted

1 tomb spyder - unbuilt 

3 monoliths (in the box)

3 C'Tan Shards (1 Deceiver, 1 nightbringer, 1 conversion.  In pieces)

10 flayed ones (primed, with repairs needed and 1 conversion waiting)

1 destroyer lord - painted

1 Lord on foot - untouched

1 Cryptek - untouched

5 lychguard/praetorians - untouched

10 destroyers (9 built, 1 unbuilt)

  ..so we have a LONG way to go.  So at least step 1 is done.  We have assessed what NEEDS to be done.  It's a lot.  It might make  one's scarabs flip on their back and flail in surrender like a turtle.  This is not an option.  And this procedure can be used to tackle any project, so don't be afraid to follow along using Space Wolves, Tyrranids, Lizardmen, an army of mutant gummi bears, Goblins, whatever your fancy.




STEP 2:  Decide WHAT you want to do with your army!

  I recommend naming your force.  Figure out if you have any iconography or theme to build it around or a colour or two to help unite your army around a central theme.  So my little tomb fleet of the Ahn'kaysheel Dynasty will be centered around a wasp theme.  I'm going to be using a black and gold colour scheme.  Black bodies, yellow plating.  Wasps tear up the galaxy to build their empire, and I figure it would be a cool scheme for robots whom do the same.  So we have a name.  we have a theme.  Lets set up a paint scheme so we can do inventory on our hobby supplies to see what we need!

Ahn'kaysheel Dynasty paint scheme

Prime Layer: Chaos Black Primer

Bases:  Covered in 'scrap yard' pieces.  

      Base coat: picking separate pieces out of the junk on the base alternately base

                 Mechrite red

                 Boltgun Metal (some pieces + rim of base)

                 Vermin Brown  -> Drybrush of Boltgun metal  (for quick rust effect)

     Wash:  Devlan Mud

     Grass: Scorched grass where there are flat/bare spots

Body:  Necron bodies + underbelly of Scarabs/Spyders, Monolith accents (corners & spines)

     Base Coat:  Charadon Granite  

     Wash: Badab Black

Armour plating/Shell:  Includes shoulder armour, accent colour, & Spyder/destroyer/Scarab shells, & Monolith sides

     Base Coat: Iyandan Darksun foundation paint

     Wash: Gryphonne sepia wash

Eyes:

     Base: Mechrite Red

     Highlight: Blood Red

     Glaze: Gloss Varnish

Metal:

     Base: Boltgun Metal

     Wash: Badab Black / or Devlan Mud

     Highlight: Boltgun Metal

Step 3:  How to choose where to begin!

  The council of Rust challenge is simple.  After we have figured out the above just grab at what moves you to start with.  There are no rules for this part.  the important thing to remember is give yourself time, and don't burn yourself out.  The key to finishing your army is to stay inspired by it.

SO!  This is the protocol the Council of Rust is running by:  Every 2 weeks we declare what we are going to work on in reasonable chunks.

• 10 infantry (build/paint)
• 2 special models
• 1 vehicle
• 20 models (strictly building)

So for the first leg of the challenge declarations have been made:

Ahn'kaysheel:  Build/paint/base 10 Scarabs & 3  convert/paint Wraiths  (scarabs a small)

Apophas Dynasty (Mike): Build all Necron warriors & get them ready for priming.

No-H's yet declared empire:  Take inventory, get prepped for 1st deceleration

We'll check back in 11/18 on our progress!

Anyone wanting to join in remotely, there will be an award issued out for those that rise to the challenge of finishing their army and sharing their progress along with us!  :)

**Suspended due to RL things happening in people's lives.  Council of Rust will return with it's very pen page, we promise!**

Necrons - The gauntlet is thrown

Okay.  I'd like to start by saying I am not here to sell anyone on anything.  The fundamental truth is, however, if you like modeling, converting, and building as part of your hobby.... how can you possibly go wrong with amazingly sweet robotic stick figures.  Really.  They're easy to put together, clean looking, cohesive appearing as a group visually, and easy to paint.

That being said anyone whom has not seen the new line-up for the Necron release from Games-Workshop.com that is coming out shortly on Nov. 5th (yes, Guy Fawkes Day.  Coincidence?) is in for a real treat.

Up until now we've been given a standard shape, lightly customized, and little story so far.  Because, really, how much can you say about a bunch of toasters with guns?  Well now quite a bit actually!  They are getting an integrated AI type personality, and much more visual flavour and colour than ever before, not to mention new weapons, war gear, and squads.  As someone whom gets into the story and theme of an army.... well this simply delights me.

So I did the only two things that made sense.

1- Hop up and down like a 5 year old on their birthday.  Who doesn't feel the urge to do that after 9 years of waiting for something?

2- Call my fellow Necron enthusiasts with an idea.  A plan if you will.

Enter the Grand Plan...

  So over the month of November, in celebration of the Necron re-release, I am calling the Council of Rust together and setting forth a challenge.  Over the course of November & December we are each going to get our Necron armies finished... Which is something since most of us have a substantial amount of sprues with bodies still hanging on them waiting to be built.

Council of Rust Challenge:

• To each build a whole army.   (WE are doing Necrons.  if you would like to join us at home with an army to try to stop them, by all means I encourage you to do so)
• Come up with a name & background for our army (ya know, the 'fluff')
• Complete 1 squad or vehicle every 2 weeks (Sadly we all work quite a bit and can't JUST hobby.  Every 2 weeks seemed managable)
• Provide photos of our proof of progress.  
• Share conversion details & ideas we employ to make
• Provide paint schemes & technique demonstrations
• Have a good time

 We are looking to start this the opening release weekend so we can have the book on hand as we celebrate and build and plan on re-conquering the galaxy 6' of table at a time.

  In addition several articles will be posted as we go to learn how we make it all manageable.  Anyone wanting to join in (and you can at ANY stage), contact me and let me know and I will add you to the list.  I'd love to share your pictures of progress.  By all means hobby from your own tomb world if you must.  Showing up in my basement every 2 weeks to meet goals isn't a requirement.  Just the meeting personal goals part.   Anyone wanting to participate I MAY even have a little surprise for upon completion!

First Assignment

(We will optimally want this ready for 11/4 & 11/5)

1.   Make an inventory of what you have for your army.    The rule for army building is roughly:  10 soldiers, 1- 2 leaders, or 1 vehicle at a time.  Working in groups larger than this will lead only to insanity and mental burn out.
2.   Come up with a name for your Army.  It should be called something.  A paragraph of background is not necessary, but it DOES help provide a guide or theme to your army.
3.   Decide on a concept for your paint scheme.  Deciding what materials & colours you are going to use will help you make certain you will have them on hand for when you will need them.

Marbling 101 - The basics

Okay, to kick things off I'd like to state the obvious:  Marble looks pretty!  The problem is it can be a huge pain in the butt to paint.  So I'd like to point out a few things about marble that a lot of people don't realize:  it is manageable.  Don't worry!  Today we are going to tackle the beast!  I'm going to take you through the steps I used to build the marble textures of the plinth for the Garden of Shadows project (See other entry for complete project :D).  I'm going to show you an easy 4 colour progression here.  


  So step 1:  Decide what colour you want your marble to be.  In the case of our project the army this plinth is complimenting has a colour scheme of black and a rich purple.  So to add colour to this centerpiece I opted to do the plinth (and shrine atop) in a nice deep violet marble.




Materials used:

•  A good pointy brush  (I used a Citadel Standard Brush & a Citadel Basecoat Brush for this)
• Primer (here in I used Chaos Black Spray)
• 4 paint colours (black/white, and a dark and light variety of your chosen colour)   I used:
• Chaos Black
• Liche Purple (dark purple)
• Hormagaunt Purple  (Light purple)
• Skull White 
• A good clear gloss acrylic medium.  I used Gloss Varnish
• Water
• A clean palate of some sort (I tend to use tin foil but there are many good palates out and available)
• Paper towel to dry your brush off on!
• A visual reference of what you want your marble to imitate.  The internet is great for sources.  There is no better supplier than nature for visual references of rock!

  That being said I will try to provide links to the materials I use for ease and use.  There are many high quality paints, brushes, tools, etc. out there. Sadly not all of them are created alike.  We will tackle that in another thread.  But this is what I used so you know and you are welcome to use whatever you are comfortable with!


Step 1: Priming & Base Coating

  The first part of any project is to make sure your surface is clean and evenly primed.  By evenly primed I DO NOT mean heavily doused in primer so it will never have hopes of seeing the light of day.  A light even coat of primer is enough.  It only needs to hold the paint on the model, folks.  it isn't meant to be used AS paint :)  So for those of you whom need a guide, hold the can after well shaken, about 12-15" away and make it sund like an irritating person trying to get your attention.  *psst* *psst*  *psst*  Short bursts.  That's all.

  After that we apply the first coat of paint.  I am doing a dark marble so we used a dark primer and a dark base.  In this case both black.

  So now we'll prep the black paint** on the palette and apply to all sides to cover up the primer.  My lil cube went from being matte black to... well matte black.  Not much progress but that'll change.

    **When mixing your paint, please remember that it is in a concentrated state.  You want to follow all the guidelines in the article concerning paint prep.  I hope to have that up tomorrow.




Step 2: Establishing Tone & Texture

  To get ideas for ideas for what you want yours to look like just type MARBLE in your google search and click images.   So the trick to this marble technique is to remember that your "stripes" (regardless of light or dark coloured marble) should be wide and get skinnier as you go.  
 
  Here we're going to use the darker Liche purple because we want to make a even gradation of colour here.  We're not going to be stingy about the width of the lines.  This is going to help provide depth and tone to our marble to give it a strong, rich violet colour.

I find to get a very natural 'organic' feel to them hold your brush towards the back so your hand is far removed from the model.  Shaky is good.  Again don't over water your paint.  you want it smooth and fluid, not runny.

Marble gets it's veins by having deposits of other minerals or fractures that appear in the rock, so I made sure to have a lot of good long lines that wrap laterally around the plinth.  the top I left bear because it's going to have a statue glues to the top of it and no one will see that part.  except you guys... right now.  >.>  oh well.

Step 3: It's starting to look like something!

  So we move to the light purple herein represented by the foundation paint, hormagaunt purple.  Just because it's a foundation colour does not mean it HAS to go on the bottom.  it just means it excels at giving good coverage.  ow we want to define these veins of colour.  I switched up to the citadel standard brush, applied a modest amount of paint to it, and rolled the end so it still has a rather fine point on it.

  Using the same method of holding the brush at the end  we are going to apply only a little amount of pressure to the brush to get a nice medium weight line.  POINTY BRUSHES AT THIS STAGE ARE KEY!  To help accentuate the natural movement of the lines try practicing with rolling the brush back and forth in your fingers while you make your shaky little network of lines!

**remember:  the lines do not have to follow the dark purple exactly.  the majority of them do, but it's not the rule.  Here are 2 different views of the side of the plinth.  On the left you can see a good relation of size and ratio.  on the right, that's how far you need to push down with the brush.  That is to say not very much.  The less of the tip of the brush you use, the finer of a line you get.

Step 4: ..Looks Suspiciously like Step 3

  We're going to repeat step 3 again but with MUCH finer lines and using your lightest colour, here being skull white.  In some areas I've had a couple lines run parallel overlapping in a few areas.  For a clean look I had most of mine trail 'off the canvas' so I didn't have to worry about the piece looking like a series of short dashed likes.  In other places I chose a few of the lines to taper off.  This can be done by slowly lifting the rush up as you drag your line until it is off the model.  Now we're almost done!  You'll notice it will look a bit flat and dull.  Your lighter colour lines and your white lines look chalky and won't visually fit together.  it still isn't meshing.  I know.  we're not finished.

Step 5: Glossing - The Grand Finale!

  So after your veins of lightening have dried and you're done admiring your handy work... it's okay... I'll wait.  Excellent!  We are going to take our 'Ardcoat gloss varnish (which is a clear, non-pigmented acrylic glaze) and apply a nice even coat to all the surfaces.  The key to getting a smooth gloss coat is to remember that it, too, is a very viscous thing.  You can add just a little hint of water to it in order to get i to move about fluidly. 


Why this part?  for one polished marble is shiny!  Also the gloss coat helps reflect light back through all the layers below it making them brighter and MUCH more vibrant.  NOW that first layer of liche purple will really have some depth and backbone to it and gracefully fade up to the lighter colours!


Totally manageable!!!

 

Other references:
  Here's some of the examples where 4 and 3 step marbling were emplyed with a light coloured marble.   The progression being [Skull White] -> [Fortress Grey] -> [Codex Grey] -> [Chaos Black]

 

Why are we all here?!

Greetings fellow geeks and gamers!

>.>  That being said this is the very first blog thing I've ever tried to do so bear with me.  Introductions should be in order.  My name is Arica.  I can be found usually found also as EyeKahn or Blessed Bolt Thrower online.  I am an odd as I am eccentric.  I know.  I graduated from Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) in Savannah, GA in 1999 with a paper square in sequential art (with a focused love for illustrative painting), and my minor focus being costume design... which oddly I get way more use out of these days.   I'm a gamer.  I'm a girl. I LOVE my Warhammer, Mordheim, Warhammer 40K, and Malifaux armies/gangs. I've worked everything in the gaming industry from test player, to model, operating a hobby center, to convention halls, teacher, and more.  I have won a few painting contests and have an axe to sport for it (not to be confused with a slayer sword, kids, but I am awfully damn proud of my artillery!)


So why are we here?!
I get a lot of people saying "Arica that looks so neat!  I could never do that!" .... well that's a myth.  If no one could ever do something that's been done I don't see why I should have been so mythical as to unlock the secrets of the universe exclusively.
Which brings us to now!


The goal of this page is to help enable people's hobbies, nurture creativity, figure out how we're going to take over the world, and uncover why bacon is so damn tasty.  Mostly it's a how-to for certain techniques I'll be employing, my reviews of various products I employ and how to use them efficiently, what to look for as far as quality is concerned.  Also projects and goals my crew and I attempt to meet.

There will be as many pictures as I can manage.  I will be happy to answer any reasonable question that pops up.

So from my first post, let us raise our glass to the gaming industry.  Without them we would not be here nor be able to play Godzilla and rampage around tiny plastic people.