How I did it: Shadespire Stormcasts' Bases

"For more than a thousand years 

the shadow-cloaked riuns of Shadespire lay dormant,

a malevolent scar in the centre of the vast Desert of Bones."

   Hi there, and good morning!

   Finally, after years of painting, an Airbrush made landfall on my shores. Ok, this is not entirely exact: two Airbrushes have landed on my desk... the first one, a beautiful single action Badger, survived just long enough to make around forty models and then it was sacrificed on the Altar of Learning. I've nearly destroyed it in the process of really understanding how an Airbrush works; but no problem, a lot of spare parts are coming (although they are taking too long to arrive), so I hope I'll be able to save it from the edge of oblivion. 

   The second one is an awful, but double action, Fengda, paid around 20 euros (!!!), that made my whole Flesh Eaters Courts army thanks to the sacrifice of his predecessor. And, double action is awesome. Now I'm planning to buy an Iwata and use these three pens to improve my airbrushing skills.

    Another example of models made with my double action Fengda is my Shadespire Stormcast lot, in particular their bases. Stormcasts armour and weapons have been made in the classic Guardians of the Ages way, but bases reflect the gloom of the Mirrored City.

How I did it: Primaris Redemptor Dreadnought

- I have seen worlds burn and crushed nations underfoot, torn down the idols of false gods and slaughtered kings like cattle. Presume not to order me, tiny man, for I am war, and you are no more than chaff before the scythe... -

Venerable Targas

   Ok! This is not meant to be a whole long, boring, tutorial on every single move I did on my Iron hands Redemptor Dreadnought, but instead a smart look on some of its details, such as its base, positioning etc. If you want to start anew the model following some good (and fast) adivices to create black foundations and weathering I suggest you to have a look here, before reading this post.

   

Weapon of Choice: Lifecolor Lichens and Moss

   Find something new, on internet, written in some blogs or just in a new store just visited, that lights on our fantasy is always good. We are all seeking new ways of painting and modelling, improving our methods and buying new stuff... especially buying new stuff, if it is the right stuff (something can't happens anytime, sadly), we can stride a lot in our path. 

   Recently, in a very small store hidden in the biggest city of my province, i found a Lifecolor set of paints to repeat lichens and moss on my models; price (and my fantasy) made it worth of buying, even just for a prove.

How i did it: Chaos Bronze Statue & Dais

- Oh, Mother Night! Fold your dark arms about me. Protect me in your black embrace. I sit alone, an impotent exile, whilst this form, this presence, returns to torment me!

The Lord of Darkness

    I recently bought a 120x180 table to play games at home... i changed location few months ago and in my new house i have a big room where i built my "lab", i put my showcases, PC and so on; last added is the gaming table.

   Well, i thought to buy a gaming mat and some scenery but, since i wanted my table looks very different than the others (and perhaps a little bit less expensive, wasn't a bad idea at all) i decided to build and paint some of those scenery on my own. 

   First of the series is a Chaos "shrine", as i love calling it, made with some pieces of cork, few textures and the slaughterpriest mother GW thought well to gave me with the September Dwarf!

How I did it: Megaboss on Maw-krusha (part 1)

- Live off the land. Go to find war. Kill wot comes close. The old ways are best. -

Grodd

   Few things are exciting like the full abandon when you start thinking about a brand new modelling project, or at least for me. When I say full I mean really full; every day, all of the time, at work or at home, before sleeping, while sleeping, just awoken and so on. For me this feeling, which I imagine most of you are familiar with, involved many parts of the model... such as the backgrounds and enviroment. The enviroment is very important, especially when we talk about huge miniatures, meant to be centerpieces of entire collections.

Marnaldur Gaze of Mork, The Ghyran Iron Skull, riding the mighty Kartart

How I did it: crater terrain

- Every man there go back inside, or we will blow a new crater in this little moon. -
Hoban "Wash" Washburne

I have quite the tormented relationship with terrains and basing.
Basically the more time and resources I spend on basing, the worst the outcome.
That's why I follow two simple rules:

• stick to cheap materials
• never waste more than three days on it