Matt's Chaos Blog

[cunningmatt]

Ok so I've finally gotten round to posting some pictures of what I've been working on this year (not that it is a secret I am just disorganised!)

I've been working on a Warriors of Chaos Army - all Tzeentch which is pretty much done and will be appearing for games soon.

I've painted up the Tzeentch Chaos Spawn I converted in this blog:

http://ogforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,593.0.html

The idea is that they have parts from Tzeentch Daemons to make it look they were Warriors heading for Daemonhood before it all went wrong. Here's the mutant Pink Horror one:









And the part screamer part bird one:











The Giant sadly hasn't faired so well, I basecoated him but then I got distracted!  The plan is across the patchwork of fabrics on his body to paint some colours to match the Warriors of Tzeentch armour - so he looks like a giant with the mark of Tzeentch, but also to paint some parts matching colours to my Beastmen army so he can be used there (presumably as a Beastmen who has raided some Warriors of Tzeentch!)





Also pleased with my Sorcerer of Tzeentch:





And I've painted the old Tzeentch character Aekold Hellbrass:





His sword is called the Storm Blade so I painted up this Lightning pattern (based on a 40K power sword thing I saw in a recent White Dwarf):



And I've modelled some vegetation using the Warhammer Basing kit to look like the ground springing to life wherever he walks, as mention in his blurbs





Obviously he can be a normal Chaos Lord if opponents don't fancy me trying to convert his rule from the old editions!!! Most of this was painted a couple of months ago as have been concentrating on the Beastmen, but a unit of Chaos Trolls, some Chosen and of course the Giant should be painted soon(ish)!

[cunningmatt]

And here's the Beastmen I've been working on, painted all these in about 2 months, so really pleased with the progress - this is much faster than I've painted before as I've changed the way I paint, and there appears to be no noticeable drop in quality!

I've based all the Beastmen with the same melt snow style I did for the Warriors of Chaos for a variety of reasons. Primarily it allows me to swap Spawn, Warhounds and the Giants across both armies. Secondly I've always liked the idea of the massed Chaos Hordes descending from the North, so the two armies can fight side-by-side and look right. Plus given the ever changing nature of the various Chaos lists I'm sure in the eighth edition some units will swap between the armies again, so this way I'm covered. Saying that a lot of the character models have tree branches on (from a Dryad kit) so the bases look more foresty in keeping with the background - personally I'm saying they originate from the Middle Mountains in the Empire!

The Beastmen Gors, painted these in a long weekend - you can see how I painted the banner here:

http://ogforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,866.0.html





Two units of Ungor Raiders, which I painted in the same long weekend as the Gors. The units are largely the same, as I felt Beastmen wouldn't use colour scheme or "uniforms" to differentiate units - probably smell or something, so the models should look at home whichever unit they are in.









Another regiment of Ungors these ones just with hand weapons and shields - they are old 5th edition models I found under the bed. The banner is the new Ungor plastic banner moulded to fit.





More under the bed finds was this fifth edition Bestigor herd, the banner is again from the newer plastic models. Particuarly pleased with the Champion.





I tend to put characters off for ages making it hard to play my new armies, so I decided to make sure I got a couple done quick, this is the old 5th edition Beastlord:





More pics in the entry thread for the latest painting competition:

http://ogforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,857.msg11401/topicseen.html#msg11401

And also a Bray Shaman, a fourth edition model that still seems to be kicking around as the most up-to-date Shaman. Used a technique for Skaven Warpstone from an old White Dwarf for the eyes on the skull to make them look like they are glowing. Also painted some runes of the scarf I've given him (it is snowing in the forest after all!)

[maelzch]

all loking great mate!  Starting 2 armies at the same time is no mean feat!

[cunningmatt]

Cheers, in fairness I did a lot of the Warriors of Chaos before the Beastmen came out, but as always didn't finish the project on time so now have that to add to the various other projects!!

[cunningmatt]

Here's a flock of Harpies I finished this weekend. They're the old 4th edition ones I've had under my bed - I think they look far more Beastmen-ish than the current ones which look good for the Dark Elves, but look a bit of place in the Beastmen army.

Painted them a dark brown to look leathery, and set them slightly apart from my Beastmen.

[fatolaf]

Matt, how big is your bed? (lot of stuff under there.... )

Army looks great mate, now get it down to OG for a game......

[cunningmatt]

There's a lot of stuff under my bed!!

I need to paint a few more units for my Beastmen for a decent sized game, but the Warriors of Chaos are currently out for battle.

[cunningmatt]

Well the one benefit of being made redundant is much more time to paint, not that I'm not busy looking for a job all my working day  Any way here's what I got done in May (probably most productive month ever!!)

Chosen with the Mark of Tzeentch:







The armour's primarily gold beffiting Tzeentch and the silver armour has been washed with Asurmen Blue which gives a nice blue glow to the armour (just point that out to the person who said my Warriors weren't Tzeentch as they weren't blue ;) - not that I mind!!) Pleased with the purple claw on the champion - which matches the purple parts on one of my spawn, like the idea that he is mutating towards Daemonhood/spawn damination.

Chaos Trolls:







These Chaos Trolls have been sitting on the painting table for months, which is shame because I really like the models and I'm pleased with the end result. The darker skin is Shadow Grey highlighted up and the lighter skin is Khemri Brown lightened up to Dwarf Flesh. Bases I did using the Warhammer basing kit, particularly like the Knight Errant shield disappearing in the snow.

Beastmen Gor:











Ol will be very pleased to know I found some more old models under the bed!! This time it's some fourth edition Gors, however I've given them the new shields spare from my first unit of Gors (though I had to file off all the arms as they come attached), the banner is also from the new models though I cut off the side skulls and banner top and added to the metal model. Also had to use a few of the classic monopose Beastmen to make up their numbers though I replaced their halberds with hand weapons. Banner design is copied direct from the Beastmen book using this old technique: http://ogforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=866.0

Good news is I've got two units of Gors now so AMBUSH!!!!!

Chaos Giant:











Finally finished the Chaos Giant this month, will be my entry in Painting Competition 5. Though I've given him the Mark of Tzeentch with his necklace, banner and caged horror for the Warriors of Chaos army, I've also painted some of the trouser panels the Reds and Creams of the Beastmen army so he can fit in either army - nice bit of dual purpose there and takes the painted Beastmen just shy of 2,000 points in 2 and a bit months which I'm really impressed with. Overall am pleased with this conversion so hopefully you'll see a few more in my armies.

[fatolaf]

looking good buddy, soon we will have our 'beast off'....

[Garzini]

That's a top giant :)

[cunningmatt]

looking good buddy, soon we will have our 'beast off'....

I've nearly painted up the missing bits to make it 2,000 this weekend, so in a week or two "Beast Off" should be on.

That's a top giant :)

Cheers mate!

[cunningmatt]

Right this is June's contribution to the Beastmen warband, which was helped by being unemployed for part of the month.

Battle Standard Bearer:

This is the limited edition 6th edition model which I got for quite a good price on eBay, love the model and now that BSBs allow you to reroll all failed leadership test within 12" (according to this month's White Dwarf anyway), very useful for those Ld 7 Beastmen.







Wargor:

Second Wargor/Beastlord - mounted him on a base from the Warhammer basing kit - not that you can tell with all the snow!







Tuskgor Chariots:

These are the old 5th edition models, with two Gor crew, but I replaced the sword arm of the driver with a spearmen arm from the Ungor frame - shaving off the shoulder hair. Tried to paint the axe armed Gor with some extra gold to give him the importance of a Bestigor. Spent a lot of time on the bases - though regretted cutting out the slots in the chariot base and then trying to push the Tuskgors through - took forever, would have been easirer to cut off their tab and glue directly to the base!









Added in an Empire icon from the Warhammer Basing Kit, can imagine the crew deliberately driving the chariot over it to smash it up.



And also added some twigs here as logs which I'm really pleased with, need some varnishing though as a little fragile.

For the second chariot I replaced the second crewman with a spare Bestigor from my unit, again replaced the sword arm of the driver.





Added some rocks here which I managed to get a good moss effect on (probably can't see here) with a light drybrush of Gretchin Green in selective places. Used some flat pieces of slate from the Warhammer basing kit, the rock is relatively shallow - don't want it to look like the chariot is destroying itself!!



Modelled some more logs from real life twigs - managed to get a good effect here as if the rear wheel as smashed the log as it drove over it.





Also painted some unit trays up for the whole army this month - but didn't think they needed a photo shoot!!

[maelzch]

This is the limited edition 6th edition model which I got for quite a good price on eBay, love the model and now that BSBs allow you to reroll all failed leadership test within 12" (according to this month's White Dwarf anyway), very useful for those Ld 7 Beastmen.

This is indeed true, BSBs are very useful now!

[fatolaf]

very good mate, the beast off approaches, all 8th styleee!

[cunningmatt]

Right it's been a while since the forces of Chaos have had a photo shoot, so we've booked them some make-up and responded to their rider requests of a bowl of M&Ms with all the blue ones picked out to give you these pics. I've experimented with a new way of lighting the photos so let me know if you think it's: A) An improvement, B) Worse, C) The Same and not worth bothering or D) Noel Edmonds.

First up are the Minotaurs, they've been down the club a few times already (the party animals that they are), so you may have seen them already:

I really enjoyed painting them up, and the large amount of skin was worth some extra effort so 5 coats and a wash - in the following order:

• 1:1 Dark Flesh - Scab Red
  
• 1:1:2 Dark Flesh - Scab Red - Vermin Brown
  
• Vermin Brown
  
• Gyrphonne Sepia Wash
  
• 2:1 Vermin Brown - Elf Flesh
  
• 1:1 Vermin Brown - Elf Flesh

Here are some close up's and individual shots:








The bases are combinations of slate and leaves from the Warhammer Basing Kit, arrows and a plough from the Giant frame (I cut the plough in three and removed the middle section so I could position it as if the Musician has crushed it under his feet), the wood is just twigs from Clapham Common - dried out (undercoat Chaos Black, drybrush Chardonite Granite, then drybrushed 1:1 Codex Grey - Graveyard Earth, followed by selective drybrushing of Knarloc Green for Moss patches). For the champiuon's base I drilled into the wood to mount the imbedded arrow, and bent the vine from the Warhammer Basing kit around the log.

A second Bray Shaman was added to the army - Two Level 2's is the way forward.





The base has a pile of slate from the Warhammer Basing Kit with a skull from the Chaos Warriors frame on it. The glowing eyes on the skull are painting working from Blood Red through Blazing Orange, Fiery Orange and then Golden Yellow in the very centre. A Blood Red wash is done around the eyes, with very slight orange highlights on the surroundings for the glow.

Another unit of Ungors here, well you can't have too much core and now my original unit can go into ambush. 20 Armed with spears and shields, I quite like the way the spears poke out in all directions on the flanks, gives them a more rabel-esque feel than my High Elves with the neatly arranged spears. Banner was copied from the army book.





Some Centigors, I love the models so had to add them, I did pin all their weapons arms on, however this was suprisingly quick doing it enmass.






I painted the horse torso in a variety of shades of browns, blacks and greys to give the impression of different breeds of horses involved in the hybrids whereas the beast torso was painted as the rest of my army.

The elements on the banner were copied from the old Beasts of Chaos book. Basing wise another trusty Clapham twig for the champion, the standard has a large skull from the Minotaur frame and the musician has a beast skull with undergrowth poking through from the Wood Elf Dryad frame.

Lastly finally got round to some terrain, it has been lurking on the painting shelf for 2 years now. The joins in the pieces aren't great because they were hard to green stuff, but pleased with the stone effect:





The stone was done the same as all the slate on my Beastmen bases - undercoated Chardonite Granite, then drybrushed with Adeptus Battlegrey, then Codex Grey and finally Fortress Grey with a Badab Black wash (occassionally rehighlighted with Fortress Grey if the wash was too severe).

In theory the Beastmen are taking a rest as I've signed up to the Tale of OG Gamers with my High Elves, but I'm sure new additions will appear soon (Malagor and Ghorros seemed to have accidentally assembled and undercoated themselves with the first batch of High Elves)...[/list]

[Blue Moon]

Fantastic Matt. Really like your beastman. Very inspiring. Love the snow bases as well. It would be good to see the scenery beastmenified a bit, but maybe you want to keep it more flexible. Ligthing seemed good. The flesh seems a little redder in the new pics. Is that the lighting or a slight change in painting technique? Would love to see a shot of the whole army.


Andy

[fatolaf]

It's no way as red in real life Andy, wait till you see it in the flesh down the club, it's ace!

[Blue Moon]

I'm sure it is. I don't actually mind the red tinge to the flesh, but I'm sure it looks better 'in the flesh'! See what I did there! ;)

[Mike]

See what I did there! ;)

No. 

[cunningmatt]

Thanks Andy and Ol much appreciated.

The redness is definitely in the pics, not sure what to do I tried moving my daylight strip lamp right above the top of shot and turned off the camera's flash to get better lighting, but it's brought out the red in the flesh. Maybe it's just an extreme version of red eye, or the Minotaurs have been on the sunbed's too long!

I will try and get the whole army together for one of those crowd shots ala X Factor, though my camera tends to struggle picking anything useful out in more than one unit at a time, maybe something to do with sitting on it at Disneyland Paris and cracking the screen. Hmmmm...

I left the scenery generic, mainly as it's my first piece and I just wanted it done, and want to use it with the Warriors of Chaos too. I decided not to go for any snow, as the semi-melt snow I've done on the bases means the troops don't look out of place on a standard grass board, but I think extending it to the scenery might. Don't really want to make a snow set of scenery and a summer set!!