Blood Ravens Progress Report

 Welcome back to the Obsidian Tower! The Blood Ravens are very nearly complete, and I'm very excited to post some pictures for your viewing enjoyment!

The Blood Ravens!

I just love to look at them when they're all set up rank and file. Unfortunately, my phone can't seem to grab the whole army in all its splendor in the quality I would like so I had to take a few close-ups...

"I fear no evil, for I am fear incarnate." — Gabriel Angelos

My aim for this army is that I would use more old-school metal models wherever & whenever I could to give it a more retro 3rd-5th edition look.

Terminator Chaplain & Scouts

The theme here is 5th Company Blood Ravens with a special emphasis on color pattern reference from the Dawn of War series game assets.

The Dreadnought

I love that this army includes so many older models. The Terminators and Dreadnought look great together. The Devastator squad can be fully kitted out with either four Rocket Launchers or four Multi-meltas. I had a lot of leftover heavy weapons lying around lol.

The Bulwark

These guys cleaned up nicely! They went from some of my least favorite models to my most favorite, it's great what a new coat of paint can do!

I'm quite happy with the base here

The Dreadnought was an eBay rescue model I got a pretty good deal on. It was covered in black and blue paint from a chapter I'm sure was annihilated in a great crusade.

A couple of pylons I grabbed off eBay

Well, I only have a few more models to paint before the Blood Ravens are officially finished.

• Chaplain
• Librarian
• Terminator Captain
• Terminator Librarian

I wanted to have all the options for command available to the Blood Ravens because I'm a nerd like that I guess. Anyway, thanks for stopping by! Stay tuned for more to come!

Buttermilk Bob's Machiavellian tactics

ULTRA-sonic cleaning

 

Welcome back to the Obsidian Tower. Last time I alluded to the acquisition of an ULTRA-sonic cleaner. Well, today we're taking a look at what I've been doing with it.

Kill me brother!

So I had some crusty old space marines in my collection that were looking very rough. I didn't really like looking at them and I decided something needed to change. I knew I wanted to re-paint them but painting them blue again just didn't seem like the right move.

Powerful stuff...

Since I had just completed my collection of 5th edition codexes, I wanted to try and paint up a chapter that could plausibly be played as more than just "codex marines". I've always liked the Blood Angels but I didn't want to do another headline chapter. No, this time I wanted to try something else. A different flavor of "blood" marines.

Here they come!

As much as I like that the flesh tearers also weren't too fond of Primaris at first, I decided they were a little bit too morally ambiguous. Then I remembered, I already painted a blood raven for fun, and I love Dawn of War.

Had to upgrade to the 'new' base size

Now that I knew what chapter I wanted to paint, I grabbed my crusty old Ultramarines and gave them an Ultra-cleaning in the Ultrasonic scrubber.

We're charging into the Ultrasonic cleaner!

These guys were rough. Their arms were mismatched and they still had two layers of paint from the failed simple green soak six years ago. This time, they were gonna get... super clean.

Obligatory Hobby Station Pic

The super clean sonic bath did the trick and these guys were as close to new as they could possibly get. I took my time trying out some different basing styles before I decided on what I wanted to go with. I liked the look the corkboard gave my chaos marines and I wanted to bring that over to the loyalists.

AAAAGGGHHHHHH!!!!!

This sergeant was a special paint job because he reminded me of the meme of that guy screaming in the dawn of war 1 intro.

Freehand Detail

Had to flex the freehand on this guy. He's the squad leader after all...

Blood Raven Tactical Squad

And here is the final result. Ten tactical marines painted up like Blood Ravens. This force isn't as big as the Ultramarine force. When it is completed it will be composed of: 

• Captain ✓
• Chaplain
• Librarian
• Terminator Captain
• Terminator Chaplain ✓
• Terminator Librarian
• 5 man Terminator Squad ✓
• Dreadnought ✓
• 2x 10 man Tactical Squad ✓
• 5 man Scout Squad ✓
• Scout Speeder ✓
• 10 man Devastator Squad ✓

So as you can see it still has a ways to go. The Terminator squad and chaplain are almost done but you will have to wait till next time to see them. Anyway, thanks for reading! Hope to have more to show soon.

Buttermilk Bob embraces Nurgle

Hobby Update + Brushes & Paint Rant

    Welcome back to Obsidian Tower, the most exclusive hobby blog delivered directly into your eyeballs via microwaves from space!

Gallery

Well, I think I'll start the post off with dessert first. Let's take a look at the most recent paint jobs.

Chaos Terminator Lord

Chaos Terminator Sorcerer

Chaos Lord (Magnetized)

Sternguard Veterans

Hobby Work

    I put a little time into my guys who were already painted as well. I wanted them to have some more quality features.

Magnetized weapon options

Larger base for this top heavy metal guy.

Sonic Cleaner

    I have recently acquired an affordable ultrasonic cleaner (great for Ultramarines), which I have been using to strip down some of the less desirable marines in my collection - those I do not take pictures of. The progress I have made so far has been steady, and I must say that I am impressed with the results.

5th Edition Codex Collection

    After many hours on eBay, I have finally succeeded in completing my collection of 5th edition army books. I find myself deeply enamored with the pictures and rich lore woven throughout these books, which is why this particular edition of the game holds a special place in my heart. It brings me great joy and satisfaction to have obtained them all.

Brushes

    Do brush packs grind your gears as much as they grind mine? It seems like 90% of the brushes included are either too small, too large, or have some other useless quality, like bristles that are too long. I mean, who really needs a giant brush anyway? When I get a brush pack, I find that most of the extra brushes just accumulate into a collection of junk.

Wash brush, a Stick, a shiddy brush, a regular brush, and a dry brush

This is basically all I need to complete a project, but the most important brush of all isn't really a brush. It is something far greater and more powerful than a mere stick of wood with some hair at the end.

The MIGHTY airbrush

     This tool helps me achieve smooth basecoats quickly, and I honestly cannot recommend it enough. As for the paint, well, you can't use a brush without it, can you? So let's just say I have some thoughts on that too.

Paints

    Let's talk about paint. With so many options out there, it can be overwhelming to know what you actually need. Rest assured, I'll break it down for you in simple terms. There are two main types of paint: opaque and semi-opaque. Opaque paint is the best choice for achieving that coveted "two thin coats" of color. On the other hand, semi-opaque paint is perfect for adding those finishing touches, like panel lines, edge highlights, and layering up to a bright and vibrant coat of a specific color. So, unless you find yourself frequently doing those tasks, you can probably skip the semi-opaque paints altogether. Trust me, I speak from experience. My collection is chock-full of them, and I rarely use them.

   There are a few types of paint that I wouldn't purchase again. First up, dry paints. While they're marketed as great for dry brushing, I've found that you can achieve similar results with opaque paint. Frankly, they're redundant. I'd skip them altogether.

'Dry' Paint

    Next on the list is glaze paint. To be honest, I'm not even sure if they still sell this stuff. It may have been a prototype for contrast paint, but even then, I'm not sure what it's meant to do. I've tried it, and it just didn't make a significant impact on my workflow.

Glaze?

    Lastly, let's discuss shade/wash paint that isn't black or brown. While I have a few different colors of washes, I can count on one hand how many times I've used them. So, save your money and skip them altogether. Trust me, you won't miss them.

'Shade' Paint

Anyway, that's all I have to say about that.

Red Corsairs, 3D printing, and Internet

 Welcome back to the most regular and scheduled Warhammer blog on the internet! 

    There have been some interesting developments in Warhammer news since I last posted and I finally feel like I have enough to say about it to write something interesting. I've also been keeping a keen eye on the development of 3D printer technology. As a 3D modeler by trade, I feel a machine like that would give me some unique hobby capabilities! It also seems to me that the technology has reached a nexus of affordability and quality that will soon be hard to ignore. However, it is likely to be a while before I have the proper space for a 3D manufactorum of my own.

    But before I get into the cool new models I would like to collect, let's take a look at the recently painted ones I already have...

Lord Pauoolio Bane of Ultramar

The Dark Apostle

Aspiring Champions

    With the completion of these last few members of dark vengeance, I finally have the whole set painted! Better late than never I guess.

All of 'em together

But that's not all I've been up to. I have set a goal for myself to paint up all the finished assemblies in my backlog. 

Mr. Fist

Plasma Gunner

Chaos Lord

Aspiring Champion

    There are some that I am waiting to complete after I acquire the 3D printer for one reason or another, so they will have to wait. But the models that just require magnets and glue, are in the queue.

This guy thinks he's special

Speaking of magnets, I found this great pen drill online for drilling barrels and small magnet holes.

It's called the 'wow stick drill' and yes it's perfect for a dirty joke.

Around the internet

Blessed 3D Manufactorum

    I've seen some really cool stuff online lately involving the hobby, firstly, the quality of STL files you can get is insane. Some really talented people have created unique sculpts for models as proxies that are better than anything you could buy officially in some cases. For instance, I've always been a big fan of the Dawn of War series of RTS games. Take a look at this unique Gabrial Angelos! What an awesome sculpt! I'd love to print this out and paint up a Blood Ravens cohort. 

Gabriel Angelos

    Recently the imperial guard has been getting a lot of attention too, they have a new sentinel, tank, new infantry, etc... it's all looking pretty good, but I found this guy online who makes his own guard sculpts based on a WWII American army style. It might just be one of the coolest guard styles I've ever seen:

'Sherman Russ'

On the more official side of things, GW is also re-making the Khorne Berzerkers and they look awesome! I have some old ones in my backlog already though so I'm not sure if it'll be picking up a box yet...

I'll admit, these look way cooler than the old ones.

But for everything GW does right, they do something I cannot forgive:

HERESY!

Anyway, that's all I can bring myself to write about for now. Thanks for stopping by to read the blog! 

Till next time, Paint one for me!

New paint jobs/Custom codex

Welcome back to THE Obsidian Tower. I've got my paint station set up again and I have done a little bit of painting. It's nice to make a little bit of progress on the forever backlog. This time I couldn't resist painting a couple of Ultramarines.

Chronus can actually command the Land Raider now.

After all this time, he earned that veteran paint job.

Yeah I know I painted some more Ultramarines, but to be fair they have been in my backlog for half a decade. Painting again has given me some time to do a little bit of thinking. I think a lot about when I used to play regularly, and the old way of playing, before the dark times, before 8th edition. 

8th Edition "The Age of poopy"

That's what inspired me to create Battle Axe 40k. Now that I have done that, and have my own "core rules" to play with. I thought about how I always hated the look of the Space marine centurion. 

Cool conversion somebody did on reddit

When it is finally updated, it will probably turn into a Primaris marine. I thought about how I would change it if there were no Primaris marines. I don't think it would be too hard to make it look cool. Then I started thinking about what else I would change about the Space Marines, and that sort of spiraled into a full redo of the codex. 

  So I made my own space marine codex.

I don't think I'll post it because I'm certain it would violate some kind of copyright. Try to imagine a lot of copy and paste rules and points costs from the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th edition space marine books made into something useable. It's part wish list, part 'best of', if you know what I mean. 

I wish, "You lose!"

It's sort of a mash-up between old and new (more old than new). I tried to be as fair as possible points-wise. I'm sure the point costs probably still need some adjusting. When it's finished, hopefully, it will basically be a book for all the space marines in my collection, and be tailor-made for playing "Battle Axe 40k"

If I ever do get around to playing with all the rules I've written I'll be sure to post about what was good and what needed to change.

Till then, paint one for me.