McMullet paints Lizardmen, Marines and, indeed, other things.

[McMullet]

That's right folks. Time for a serious thread.

It's near on 6 years since I started playing GW games again and I've not actually finished painting an army, except a Mordheim Warband. I have one partially finished army I can play with.

I have, in summary:

• Crimson Fists: Around 2000 points painted. 500 or so unpainted.
• Lizardmen: a few random units painted. 4500 points unpainted. D'oh!
• Tyranids: A mega gigantor big box o' doom, 2 battleforces and a box of warriors. 3 warriors and 32 gaunts assembled (unpainted), everything else on the sprues.
• Orks: I have soime orks. That is all.
• Mordheim: 20 or so Middenheimers, all done.

So there you go. One army I can play with without feeling guilty, and it's Space Marines. The shame!

Here is where I change this.

As is obligatory, here is a picture of my desk:



Look at it there. All desky and stuff.

The first thing on the list is Lizardmen. I like Fantasy much more than 40K as a game, so I really want to finish this army off so I can play properly, in tournaments and whatnot. I recently decided on my Saurus Warrior colour scheme (thanks to everyone who gave their input for that)...



... which was the last stumbling block. While that thread was up and running, I painted some Skinks:



So work is actually starting.

My initial plan for the army is:

Converted Saurus Scar Veteran with Great Weapon (needs stripping before I can start on it)
Saurus Scar Veteran BSB (Undercoated)
Skink Priest (painted, needs rebasing)

13 Skinks with blowpipes (painted, but need retouching and rebasing)
10 Skinks with Javelins - see above (half done, all need basing)
3 Jungle Swarm bases (Painted and based, badly, will strip and rebase)
20 Saurus Warriors (undercoated)
20 Saurus Warriors (not even bought them yet)

3 Kroxigor (2 are painted and based, badly, will strip and rebase)
3 Terradons (2 finished, one needs painting)
20 Saurus with spears, and blessed mark of Tlazcotl (undercoated)

That's 2000 points. Hopefully, I'll take them to the 2007 Carnage Tournament. That gives me a little under 6 months, which is the first semester of the last year of my PhD.

I'm planning to do a few Saurus next. I may mix the end of my Crimsoin Fists and the beginnings of my Nids with this army to relieve the tedium of 60 Saurus Warriors. Watch this space...

[Brush your teeth]

nice colour scheme, and the planned army looks pretty solid aswell.

good luck with the project

[Rich 123]

Aha! Ntl have let me actually use the internet at long last (generous of them what with me paying for it and all!) and it's so good to see McMullet posting some pictures of minis (after keeping your lovely Fists under wraps).

Nice to see a Saurus with a proper paint job on rather than just a test mini. Its turned into a really nice, striking scheme. Very lizardy as well to my eyes (if you know what I mean - but I'm and artist not a biologist so I don't know what I'm talking about!) The skinks are a good development and tie in really well with that Saurus. Would it be too much to ask for a close up of one? Everyone loves close ups!

Really looking forward to your updates, seeing as you really do need to get a WFB army painted. Good luck with getting them all done for the tournie! I'm balking at the painting I have to do for my marines and theres only about 35 of them!

One army I can play with without feeling guilty, and it's Space Marines. The shame!

Hah, hey! Much as marines are a bit naff, you can hold your head up high with those chaps mate.

Good work mate!
Dicky

Oh, and by the way. Kudos on the bottle lurking on the right hand corner of your desk. Shame it isn't full. You'd get cross with me me as tonight I'm drinking lager, not some tasty ales, haha.

[Gekiganger]

[*]Lizardmen: a few random units painted. 4500 points unpainted. D'oh!

Happen to have a list of exactly what is there? That's one heluva strong lizard army.

Watch this space...

Indeed I will

Lovely Saurus btw

[McMullet]

nice colour scheme, and the planned army looks pretty solid aswell.

good luck with the project

Thanks! I'm aiming for a different Lizzie army, with no Salamanders and only a few skinks. Lets see these Saurus pull their weight for a change, they are supposed to be the main fighting force of the Old Ones.

The skinks are a good development and tie in really well with that Saurus. Would it be too much to ask for a close up of one? Everyone loves close ups!

Whyever not.

I'll pick one of the little blighters out for some macro-action when the camera next comes out of its case. I'll pad the start of the project out with a few pics of the Crimson Fists too.

Please note, however, that this army is going to be painted to what I would consider a good tabletop standard - so there'll be plenty of holes to pick in close-ups.

Hah, hey! Much as marines are a bit naff, you can hold your head up high with those chaps mate.

Aw, thanks.

Oh, and by the way. Kudos on the bottle lurking on the right hand corner of your desk. Shame it isn't full. You'd get cross with me me as tonight I'm drinking lager, not some tasty ales, haha.

As long as you're not putting ale in the fridge, I'll spare you from my Wrath.

Happen to have a list of exactly what is there? That's one heluva strong lizard army.

I can give you a rough idea...

1x 4th Generation Slann (painted!)
1x 2nd Generation Slann (using Lord Kroak Model)
1x Oldblood on Carnosaur
1x Saurus Hero on Cold one (not assembled)
2x Saurus Hero on foot
1x Saurus BSB on foot
3x Skink Priest
1x Skink Hero (I need a couple more of those lovely new models that came out with Lustria though)

48 Skinks (2x13, blowpipes, 2x11, Javelins)
48 Saurus (I need another 16 to make 2 units of 20 and a unit of 24 with spears)
3 Jungle Swams (may get a couple more)
20 Temple Guard

3 Terradons (could do with another couple)
4 Kroxigor
10 Saurus Cavalry (could do with another command group to make this into 2 units)
9 Chameleon Skinks

3 Salamanders (inc. one old-style model)

A lot of the points are in all the characters.

When I do everything with it I want, it'll likely be nearer 5K points. The lesson is: Plan your army before you start buying, or you'll go and buy everything.

[Jim Reaper]

Ah, a project log, most excellent! I hope to see some good stuff up here, and soon, or there will be repurcussions.

Colour scheme looks good, the army list looks solid, the only thing standing between yourself and Carnage-related glory is sixty Saurus warriors. Good luck to you sir, I shall be checking back here often.

By the way, the caveat in the title is a good idea, wish I'd thought of it. Gives you a little bit of latitude if you decide you hate the lizards for a bit.

[Scorpio]

Always loved lizardmen...And so far these guys are doing great! I havent seen a good lizardmen army in quite some time so this should be good!

-Scorpio

[Bluesabre]

Looks good so far, should be interesting to see how this pan's out. Keep em coming, lest we hassle you for more....

[McMullet]

Well, a slow day here. I had some photos to sort out and some more to take, so I've not got much actual painting done. I have re-undercoated 5 Saurus (old test minis) and given them their first rough bit of paint. This is the base for the flesh, a messy coat of "Scrofulous" brown (Vallejo). Actually, my mistake, it was plague brown. Let's see how that turns out...



As you can see, this coat is very rough. Hopefully I'll get something more significant done on these 5 models tomorrow...

In the interim, some more pictures:

Close up of a skink: http://mcmulletsminis.fotopic.net/p34529604.html
(click on the picture to get the hi-res version)

A skink that I painted ages ago: http://mcmulletsminis.fotopic.net/p34529603.html
(Again, clicky. I'll retouch these guys a bit to make them more like the new ones)

In the meantime, some pictures of my Crimson Fists to distract attention from the fact that I've done no work:

Dreadnought:



Commander:



More pics of these and other random stuff here.

Thanks for your comments and continued interest!

[Scorpio]

Those are some nice crimson fists...But we want Lizardmen!

-Scorpio

[spikedog]

Ohh cool, now its my turn to post on one of your army diary threads McMullet.

As (I think) I said on your Sarus test scheme thread I love your scheme and can't wait to see a whole unit of these bad-boys painted up. I see you have gone for the opposite scheme on your Skinks, were they already painted like that before you came up with the Sarus scheme?

Also its great to see someone else who makes their armies based on what they like rather than what is the norm or the most powerful, I say go Sarus heavy list! I hope you have fun playing with it.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only person who still has old style pot paints in regular circulation on their desk as well.

[McMullet]

Thanks for the comments... keep chivvying and I might make some progress this evening.

The first unit of Skinks were painted a while back, yes. At that time I hadn't really thought about a rational colour scheme, so I had the blue Skinks, green Kroxigor and blue Slann. I then decided that blue and bone would be the theme to tie the army together, so the Krox need redoing. I like the scheme reversed for the Skinks, as they don't have many scales and an entire model done in bone would look a bit too pale; it also, I feel, makes them look a bit weedier than the Saurus . I think the army should hang together as long as I maintain those two colours. The only problem is stuff like Swarms.

And yes, I do have a rather eclectic collection of paint pots.

More updates tonight, all being well.

[McMullet]

Well, I did a *bit*...

The 5 Saurus now have their basic 2 colours done. A lot of thinned washes were involved which means a lot of drying.

Anyway, here you go...

2 Fellas in close up:



All 5 together (looks like I've done more this way ).



Hope that's enough to whet your apetites - I should be able to get the detailing done before I leave for Spain on Sunday. Maybe even tomorrow night, depending on whether I go to the pub.

If anyone's interested, I'm doing a step-by-step guide, starting here.

[Lavfluris]

Guh, wutz dis Fantasee malarkee? It soundz like sum un iz not paintun iz Orks, datz wut it soundz luk!

[McMullet]

We dun tawk abairt da Orkzes, goddit?

Dere iz no Orkzes!

On a serious note, I refuse to paint or play with Orks unless GW restores my right to teleport snotlings into terminator suits.

[Lavfluris]

On a serious note, I refuse to paint or play with Orks unless GW restores my right to teleport snotlings into terminator suits.

U will b plesantlee grot shokked by da und of da next yur.

[McMullet]

Well, I did go to the pub. I've (nearly) finished these 5 Saurus now though...

Sadly the photos didn't all come out, so you won't see all 5 until I've added the last touches tonight - but here's the jist of it.





A shot from the top, which is where you most often see WFB minis from:




I've made a minor change to the colour scheme, using copper instead of bronze as the basecoat for the gold. Copper covers much better than bronze, and it also makes the metal look like Tumbaga, which was a copper-gold alloy commonly made in Central America by the Aztecs, Incans and so on.

Looking at the pics again, I think I need to do more highlighting on the shields, as at the moment the light looks too directional (they look like they're lit by a red light or something). Also, I still need to paint the inside of the shields, which I'll do tonight.

Next up is, probably, more Saurus. Hoorah.

By the by, basing will be done on a whole unit basis, so don't expect to see bases for a while.

[Rich 123]

Ahh, good to see you're back at the grindstone matey!

They're looking good so far.Personally the shields looks pretty good at the moment although a tiny line of an orange yellow highlight if you want to will make the shields pop that little bit more.

I loved your Skink's evil red eyes but are the Saurus getting the same treatment or will they keep the black beady eyes. I'm not sure which I would like more...

Yay, for painting more Sauruses (Sauri maybe or is it just Saurus?). After having you force me to make all my boring old troops choices first it seems like divine intervention that now you have even more to do Just wait till you can sneer at me making loads of gobbos!

Good luck with this mate, will be great to see these finished and the whole regiment coming together.
Dicky

[Jedi152]

Good, but i thought it'd be too wierd to have a project log thread without a marine in it somewhere. Even the fantasy ones seem to be afflicted.

But then i guess no-one would even bother reading the thread if it didn't.

[McMullet]

Haha, sorry. I couldn't help polluting the thread with Marines. The little blighters get everywhere!

They're looking good so far.Personally the shields looks pretty good at the moment although a tiny line of an orange yellow highlight if you want to will make the shields pop that little bit more.

I'll give that a try. Thanks!

I loved your Skink's evil red eyes but are the Saurus getting the same treatment or will they keep the black beady eyes. I'm not sure which I would like more...

I'll probably put a little bit of red in them. The problem is that the saurus eyes are very small (some of them are little slits about half a mm wide), which makes painting them anything pretty tricky. I'll probably go for just a slight hint of red.

...Sauruses (Sauri maybe or is it just Saurus?).

I prefer Saurus. Sauruses just sounds s-s-s-silly, and Sauri, well, also sounds silly.