Spikedog's all-in-wonder-log! 40K, Fantasy and maybe some Necromunda!

[spikedog]

<UPDATE: 24.07.08>

So most of the pictures in the first half of this thread as well as most of my other threads were kept on my old server, which has now moved and so all the links will appear as broken. I simply do not have the time to go back and change all the links but the pictures I have moved accross to my photobucket account which you can find here:

http://s155.photobucket.com/albums/s...oof/Warhammer/

It is broken down by army so you should be able to find most of the old pictures of mine with relative ease.

</UPDATE>

Well I have decided to condense my few army diary threads and many other random painting and modelling threads into one big log of stuff.

I will update it as I get around to painting or modelling anything to do with my few armies or anything else I may get up to doing.

Currently the armies I have on the go are:

Necrach Vampire Counts
Skaven Bubonic Court
Home Chapter Space Marines
Tyranid Hive Fleet Hiyoki

Also I may have a commission army (My first btw ) that I should start work on soon, you can see the test piece for it below.

Well first up I thought I would bring the latest pics of the above armies maybe that some of you missed first time they were around, plus under I will have a few pics of stuff that I haven't posted yet.

First up we have an overall shot of my Vampire Counts army as it currently stands, the banners have to be finished on the 2 Skeleton units and one of the Black Knight units. (Can be clicked on for larger view)



Also I just finished making this Empire Cannon which will be used as a DoW cannon in my army, I wanted something to try and bring a unified look to the army and I think the green of the metals does that quite well.



Here we have my heavily converted Tyranid Carnifex based on the Forge World Herophant Biotitan model, took me quite a while but I think it looks pretty imposing when standing over my hoard on the table.



Thats pretty much my last few projects to date so it should give you an idea of my armies as they look at the moment, I linked the above text to the original threads just in case anyone wanted to look back at them as well.

[spikedog]

OK and here are what I am working on at the moment,

My test Dire Wolf model using a Chaos Warhound, still not so sure about this one but we will see how it turns out when I am done with the little details.



Also here is my Empire themed Spirit Host, I used 1 model from the existing Spirit Host, plus a Flagellant and a Great Sword. I have 2 more bases like this and when lined up together I think they look pretty good as a set of Empire ghosts. The other two are not painted at the moment however but I will be sure to update you all when they are.



Finally we have the commission work I was talking about in my first post. Some of you may remember my Zombie Giant that I made for the Japanese Games Day last year. (Link here) well I decided to sell it on eBay a few weeks back and the gentleman who bought it was sufficiently impressed that he asked me to do a whole Zombie Ogre army to go with it. Well here is the test model for the army that I have just submitted to him. Hopefully this will get me the go ahead to start working on a whole army of these bad boys.



Well that's pretty much it on my desk at the moment, hopefully you all can drop in now and then and give me some encouragement (and criticism, as you can't improve without it) to help me keep going on the many projects. Plus there will be no need for me to keep making random threads every time I start something new!

[schoolcormorant]

that carnifex is absolutely mind-blowing..and warping
the verdigris on the cannon is amazing.
i am subscribed
SC

[The Laughing God]

That carnifex looks awesome!

Looks like you have a lot of stuff to do,
Now go get painting!

[sLai]

Spikedog-in-wonderland!

Looking ace as always yo dawg!

[Gonfrask]

Wonderfull Bronze!!! how do you do it?

[Khrangar]

Yay, more Zombogres. I did a unit of them a while back but are no where near as good as the one you've done. I can't wait to see an entire army of them.

Khrangar

[Hideous Loon]

Yay, another Spikedog blog! Don't we all love 'em? I am quite fond of the way you've made your Spirit hosts unique, yet combined. Kudos.

[mrtn]

Good work, as usual.

The side of the ogre's beard looks quite flat and boring. Not your fault of course, but maybe you can improve it?

On seeing the chaos doggie again I think that the horns look too much chaos for a dire wolf. The emaciated look is good, but the horns just scream chaos to me. Maybe it's possible to carve them off and resculpt the fur?

Keep up the good work!

[The boyz]

Fantastic work Spikedog.

I love the look of the Cannon. Your Unded army looks very nice aswell. That Carnifex is superb, he truly is a monster. The greenstuffing on the Ogre looks great, I like exposed muscle.

Look forward to seeing more updates.

[Voronwe[MQ]]

The zombie ogre is fantastic, and I hope you'll use a lot of these as unit fillers.

Voronwe

[spikedog]

@ Gonfrask - The patina is so easy it would make you laugh. First you paint the surface with "Brazen Brass" (Yes I know it should be Copper but it just doesn't look as good as the brass) Next you wash the whole area with a very thin wash of "Jade Green" (This is an old Coat'd'Arms colour that GW no longer does unfortunately) Finally you drybrush the surface with "Brazen Brass" again, if you start light you can keep drybrushing until you reach a level of patina you are happy with.

@ mrtn - Yea you're right the Ogre's beard is a little on the flat side, I may add to it in a while but for now I am planning and starting to construct the rest of the first Bull unit. As for the wolves yea I know the horns aren't great, not exactly wolfy but I'm going to see what they look like painted before I do anything about them.

@ Voronwe[MQ] - Although I plan to at some point make some Zombie Ogres for my own zombie units (When I get around to buying some that is) these are for a commission army I am working on.

Thanks to everyone else who has commented so far, it is your comments that will help me finish my huge pile of models some time before I am 40 (That's quite a while yet btw)

No pictures this update but here's what I have been doing today.

First up I have cleaned up all the pieces for the first unit of Bulls as well as planning a few of the conversions, some big, some small. I should have some pictures tomorrow. Also the customer asked if I would magnetize the Bulls so that he could change between the iron fist things and a club so I have been drilling out and fitting magnets this afternoon. I will get some pics of that soon too.

Also my first squad of Elysians arrived today, 8 of the shotgun armed Hardened Veterans I got in a trade. Along with a command squad when I get around to ordering them these will be my Necromunda Retrieval Squad. My gang for hire in a new Necromunda campaign that a few friends and I will be starting here soon. I am dry fitting and cleaning them as we speak so hopefully I can have a test model for you soon.

EDIT: 500 posts, woohoo!

[Anardakil]

Wow. Awesome undead!

[Gonfrask]

Thanks Spikedog, donīt worry i have already Jade Green (in fact, two :P)

[Alex Under]

Wow!

Great idea to join all the spikedog goodness in one thread! I've subscribed The cannon fits in so nicely in your VC army and your painting style in general is probably not the best in fine-art standards, but if you ask me, you have a great personal touch on all miniatures and by far I consider you the best painter/sculptor on the forums. Continue the good work!

Btw, I'm anxious to see the actual Vampire! Any ideas for him yet?

PS: This post doesn't mean that I don't hate you, I profoundly do; I can't even sculpt a **** with GS...

[McMullet]

The cannon and spirit host I like particularly. The spirit host works really well, I think because of the base. Normally, I find that "ghostly" spirit hosts look like they're just unfinished, being uncoloured and all, but with such a colourful base they really do look like ghosts. And using the different models was a clever idea.

The direwolf I'm not so sure of; mainly, it's the horns on his head. They just look too openly chaotic, I'm afraid. The chaos hound model is much better than the direwolves though, so it would probably be worth filing/sawing the horns off and filling the gap with greenstuff.

I like the look of the zombie ogres - forward to seeing more of them (or of anything else ).

[Mooncow]

Im lucky enough to play against these figures, and its a joy! I just wish spikedog would paint faster!!!

The undead are great though cos the army is nearly finished and I think the greeny copper adds a nice spectral glow to the army-its very unique, not the typical red and black and purple...also note the bell theme!

I play ogres, so the cannon is there especially for me I think. Also I like the fact that now spikedog has the chance to cut up and mangle ogres...I think he will take a perverse pleasure in his twisted revenge ...

he hates ogres so...

cant wait till we start playing necromunda...give spikedog enough encouragement and he might make another battlereport!!!

[sLai]

Oh, and the oxide on the cannon could be a little more white-ish in the recesses, you know the color of the liberty statue or so, would make it look even older, as now its just a plain green colour

[spikedog]

@ Alex Under - Wow thanks for the (very) kind words. I don't think I am anywhere close to one of the best painters here but just knowing that someone out there thinks that makes my works that much more enjoyable.

As for the Vampire himself, I do have a model, it is the current mounted Necrach on an OOP skeletal horse. He is sitting there in a ghostly shade of Skull White undercoat at the moment as I am not sure what I am doing with him just yet but I do plan to make him look good. Expect some WIP shots when I start on him.

@ McMullet - Yea I agree about the spirit hosts, I think the bases set them off nicely and when more than one of them is lined up they really start looking good.

The first Zombogre regiment is nearing completion so I should get some pics up in the next few days.

@ Mooncow - The cannon was indeed just for you buddy but now that our "other" regular player has decided to jump on the ogre-cheese bandwagon I foresee it getting a lot of play. I guess I should start work on some crew for it really.

The Necromunda is on its way, I am working on the test figure now so again expect pictures soon enough.

@ sLai - Indeed it could possibly look a little older but I like the way it is at the moment plus it fits my knights. To be honest these are just base coats on most of these models to get them to a playing standard, none of them are varnished yet. When I have the time I intend to go back and hit them with a few more highlights.

Well onto today's (picture!) update.

First up I finished another Spirit Host, 2 down only 1 more to go: (for now)



Also I had a chance to finally slap some paint on some of the banners in my army, they are without highlights at the moment but they should give you an idea of how they are going to look when they are done:



Finally we have a little piece of scenery I decided to pick back up after starting it ages ago. It is pretty much the first real piece of scenery I have ever made so please be gentle but the new Fantasy buildings inspired me to finish it. Obviously it is still missing a roof and detailing but I think it looks pretty good for now:



As always comments are welcomed and encouraged!

[dave is the best]

Wow, that building is great.

Dave