Wet palette and Jeremie Bonamant Teboul

Hi Guys,

It has been a long while. I had family over from Europe and real life got busy.

Today I want to talk bout two topics: wet palette and a painter named Jeremie Bonamant Teboul (http://www.jeremiebt.com).

Both are interconnected to me as he brought that type of palette to my attention. few years backI was looking for tips on painting to improve the quality of my models. I browser different websites and found a guy very active on various painting community. It was Jeremie, i visited his website where he advertised a project he started with few friends in the form of a book that gathered tips and knowledge they acquired over time. Sinece they were all awarded painter I ordered the book and this is were I read about the wet palette.

Essentially a wet palette is a wide cup not very deep with a towel soaked in water and a sheet of wax paper on the top. I won't go in the details of the physics behind this little DIY miracle but it hydrates your paint perfectly as the wax paper acts as a semi-permeable barrier and thus allowing little amount of water to filter through it and reach the paint.

Mine cost about 2 bucks. I recycled a flat spread cheese plastic box (being French I had to use a Boursin), bought a pack of spongy towel and a roll of wax paper in a dollar shop and done. See the pictures.

 

I find it handy when you paint a unit or an army to keep some of the dry wax paper as a footprint of your mix and color palette too. I always try new products and tile palette but inevitably I go back to the wet palette as it dilute my paint to this near perfect point, the milky 2% fat point! It is efficient, cheap and very ecological, hence the way to go!

Oh yeah! and you can close it to keep your paint fresh overnight. In a cool basement or a fridge.

Now let's go back to Jeremie. you may have heard of him recently as he was awarded the prestigious grand prize during Crystal Brush painting competition at Adepticon 2013 in Chicago, IL. Here is a little video by Wilt Chamberlain : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z295YjbSqE.

Jeremie produced a DVD few years back and now he is back from 2 years of bike trip with a second DVD on wet blending (with wet palette which is much quicker than with dry retarder) and freehand.

Jeremie is a very easy going guy and it shows in its DVD. The main feeling I have when I watch them is that I can get rid of my complexes and fear to f*** my models up and just try new approaches. He shows his model at intermediate steps where it looks not great and shows you how to go back and forth, and even changes tones or light on the go. I do very much encourage you to get your hands on it even though he has an approach orientated to unique piece and diorama, you get a lot of ideas and tips for army painting too. The series on the Minotaur is amaz'balls!

You can find few teaser online and I think the best way in the US is through Cool mini or not website: http://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/dvds/painting-miniatures-with-jeremie-bonamant-teboul-volume-ii-painting-in-fresh-and-freehand.html.

I helped him for translation purposes but I have no financial interest in the DVD so my thoughts are genuine and honest. I also sent a copy to the Greg and Jen form the PAinting Tabled podcast so feel free to go and listen to their thoughts to compare.

That s it for today!.

 A plus,

Tibo

Tzeentch BSB

Hi everybody,

This week I am gonna post some picts I took of my WIP on my BSB for the WoC. Well I am not original in teh fact i went for a Tzeentch marked BSB. There will be hopefully two iterations: one on disk that I am gonna show you today and later one on deamonic mount (cheesier than chiz'it) that I will base on Archaon model.
Initailly when I got the new WoC lord in plastic, like some others, I thought he has a great BSB posture. i worked my kit bash around him. I was looking teh various version of teh disk that GW or orthers have produced over the year for about a month or two. I thought for a while to steal an idea I found on another blog (Rhellion post at The Magnificent Bastards) on mount him on a screamer.  I really like teh disk for teh tzeench herald and i was tempted to buy the model but I could not find cheap. So for teh forst time I try to sculpt something. Usually I over-glorify my green stuff whole filling but not this time. I really tried to give some texture and shapes. The bases is two old flyer see-through bases and few bits and bobs from the my bits box. and here the result:

 I am very happy with the result. I attempted to sculpted screaming faces on the top and give a direction to my disk using spike from tomb guards halberds and the blade of the halberd of the Chaos Lord. I also tried to shape flame running below the disk as if originating form the center. I use the base to give some height to the model without resort to the long plastic holder.
I was not sure initially of the idea to use the vortex beast back portal as a battle standard but it turn out very appropriate.
Finally I spent soem time making sure that the model was adequate for being push around during game and after few games I am glad to see that nothing got even remotely damaged or unsettled.

Alright, I would appreciate any feedback if you would spare few minutes of your time. I am looking forward to paint that BSB!!

Cheers,

Tibo

High Elves book review

I realize that I am not posting so much lately, that is because my hobby time is dedicated to painting  and trying to nail a theme for my WoC. some picts are coming soon. I also came to accept teh fact i want to well structured posts and it is not gonna happen for few reasons: time and the way I tackle the hobby is more organic than well thought mostly.

I am gonna try to post more but shorter posts about what got me excited each week.

This week will be no surprise to mots of us: High Elves army book.

Why this book stand out for me? You love or hate Mat Ward but much to his credit he always try to bring new concepts rules based on the core system, the reign of chaos in the daemons book for instance. Well he did it again. The loremaster is the most exciting concept of the book to me; descent warrior with access to all signature spell of the 8 BRB lores. I also like that, much alike the loci in the daemons book, the heroes means something for the army or some units at least. Each one brings extra rules instead of just boosted statistic or access to magic. Finally that is the first book that gives an incentive to use rider for monster, fire phoenix gets a bonus to come back if they are ridden.

The cover is one of the best of the new template if not the best, definitely on part with the 40K daemons cover! Big thumbs up for the fluff section, unusually well build and organized. They pay a lot of attention
to details such as create an HE-centric time line based which in turn give an insight on HE society that restarts the calendar with each king.

The new units are all great models, yes even the phoenix. My favorite is the loremaster, it has a dragon ball taste to it! The shadow warrior/ Avelorn sister seems incredibly versatile. I like the tendency they have to provide extra heroes, the Lothern Skycutter lord seems a fine BSB in disguise.

Blessings and Corruption

Hi,

It has been a long while I posted anything. It has been fairly quiet TK-wise,
for 2 reasons. I recently learn that I am gonna be a dad. I freaking thrilled about it and it implies me reorganizing a lot of things including hobby-time. Second, I won a lucky on eBay auction and became the happy owner of a all new Warriors of Chaos army. Today I am gonna talk about why and what.

I play WFB for over 15 years. I owned every flavored of Undeads from 5th to 8th (though I mainly painted through 7th, as much I respect Cavatore works the predictable aspect of the game became dull mainly because I did not like the power builds). Undead remains my first love in the game, and to be fair it is Nagash aspect that attracted me especially in the early days of his reign in Khemri. When they split I collected vampire counts and frankly I dig the bloodlines of vampire (Necrarch and Strigoi mostly), then TK came out and I collected them ever since. In this edition I really like the work of Cruddace. I very much enjoy how the list have varieties, weaknesses and synergies. Now on the warriors of chaos side of the story, I was never really tempted because the model missed something to aesthetically appeal to me and were shy of distinctive personality compare to beastmen and deamons. But recently GW brought their A game as far as releases go. I started to get excited about what WoC could be when I saw the Marines of Chaos. I am no  40k enthusiast but I really liked that MoC got real spirit to them now and not only SM painted black. About teh same time I thought that the shrine, the cruchers and the hellstriders were sexy as f***. I heard podcasters trashing the shrine but I never met a player that did not like its uniqueness. The key element is that even before owning the book I have heard that Robin Cruddace was the main author. Finally I won a massive auction for new in box WoC lot with most of the new toys and a batallion. At that point i was lost!

I decided to organize my buy after the initial one based on few big pieces I already owned an dcouple of model I really wanted to paint. I was never atrractyed to teh army as a whole but I have few models i really wanted to paint like everybody and most of thoses were not GW. So here it goes:
 nothing like GW

Lord:

Winged Nurgle prince daemon, aka Gluttony – Fantasy, LEGENDARY size from Raging Heroes

Besides supporting a French company (Cocorico!) the model is just spot on and what I imagine a Nurgle powerful leader shall be! I assemble it by now (soon there will be pictures) and comes together easily. Rougly $65 from there website with shipping and well worth it!

Now if you play WoC you need spare Daemon Princes: I don't like GW one at teh very excpetion of Bel'akor, which is just perfect for undivided prince (make sense since he was) but nowadays you cannot have non aligned prince, plus spare princes do not come with wings. I have in my collection a Kifaro from Studio McVey whihc looks like a rhinoceros humanoid and Minotaure from Figone which is well a mino but bros and very much so deamonic to me so here you go I have two spare so far and I am thinking of Bel'akor!

Chaos Lord... nothing planned so far and I think I will consider it only if princes really do not work as leader. In my mind daemonhood is the ultimate goal of all chaos followers so I want my general to be an achiever! and in truth painting-wise I am looking for central piece as the TK lack of it somewhat. I know there are sphinxes and Casket but you cannot go wild with color if you want your army to tie well (unless you are Mr "awesome" Wapel, but he is more of magician to me!)





Heroes:

BSB - well I will make two of them both Tzeentch .... at the point you can see I am not only paint driven. BUt that BSB is too good to pass and I have no BSB in TK so I am looking forward to try big banner freehand. One will be on disk and will be based on the new lord model on a disk (I like the one of teh tzeentch herald in finecast but we will see if I can get one). I saw Rhellion blog using similar concept, and i makes sense cause tis mode lend itself to it I think. I want my second one to be on deamonic mount and I will use Archaon for base. I never intend to play the big man; I am not big knights of chaos in my army. The model are sweet but much better options are in the list.

One Nurgle wizard Lvl2 - based on a kit-bash that happened during a games day in Chicago in 2010. This model is good memory and now I can use it.

Core:

12 Tzeentch warriors - I hav eth model from the batallion, don't plan to get more so at 12 strong hw/shld marked with Tzeentch seems a usable otption.... plus I toy with the idea to us eteh model of Vilitch a Tzeentch sorcerer and he would need a possy like all respectable sorcerer

5 dogs twice... 30 pts it is bargain.

5 forsaken twice, I think Slaannesh. Got the box in the lot and they are not so bad... very customizable but sadly very static. To be fair I assemble them with different alignment: you don't have really enough to build 10 from the same god.

1 new chariot (I think it is gonna end up Khorne) and one based on dark elf chariot marked with Slaannesh ( I used old mount of Slaanesh)

But on the long run I want a small block of Nurgle warrior (17ish + a character) and for those i went the road of alternative brand and when looking around one choice stood out: Corrupters of the Apocalypse of Avatar of War. Roughly same price than GW standard warrior plus shipping fees and you have unarguably the nicest sculpt currently available for Nurgle Warrior/Chosen)

Special

Well here I have to paint a unit of Dragon Ogre, I dig the new GW model and I am thinking 2 hand weapons. 

I have to make a spot for my Chimeara from late Banelegions, recently Mierce miniatures line (see previous posting). 

One Gorebeast chariot

5 Hellstriders 

Later state of the army will see 2 5 units of chosen and a shrine! So far no plan for trolls/Throgg or ogres.

Rare:

Big vortex beasty! I assembled the big boy so I can play both as the vortex and the back sword are easily swapable and I magnetized the faces. I also have a Banelegion/Mierce mutant called conjunct XIII; I was thinking to use it as a vortex beast or spinned chaos spawn from monstruous arcanum!

Cruchers, models are great and rules well rules... what s not to like! Moreover it is a compensation mechanism for my TK snakes!

In the long term I plan to turn a Maulerfiend or Soul Grinder a into a Hellcanon (not big on the model) if planning tournaments. Skills!

So overall I need to make a spawn in case of random generation event, but I have enough for two style of army: fast MSU (chariot, Dragon ogre, cruchers, flyers) and slower MMU (blocks with shrine).

Soon I will post picture of the assembly line and first painted unit!

Cheers!

Sons of the Mountain.

Clearing the cobwebs in my corner of the blog...

Hey! Hello.
Hearing that R has finished his Tomb Kings has inspired me to take some photos of my Ogres. These brutes are nearly complete, I just have a solid chunk of highlights/details to drum up across the board.

I'm pleased with the outcome, all of that bare flesh really forced me out of my comfort zone (read: Devlan Mud, rinse/repeat.) I even made up some cool tokens as Maw-lore-attribute-helpers.







My greenstuff skills are still formative, but without the high contrast lighting and held at arm's length he looks pretty solid.



Maneaters are my favorite option in the army book. So customizable! They work as a perfect all-purpose unit. I prefer Immune to Psychology and Vanguard or Stubborn.



Really happy with my Sabretusks- simple to paint up. Eventually I want a full unit of 5 with an accompanying Hunter.



I will never paint another Mournfang. Hell, these aren't even complete and I've had enough. The models are awesome, but the fur doesn't come out right for me no matter what I try to do. Just don't inspect them too closely and I'll be alright.

Let me know what you think!

-Matt

Chariots of the gods

Happy New year 2013!

The first post of the year will be about the last unit of my Tomb King army I just finished yesterday... well I still have have to paint the movement tray and to magnetize the chariot bases. So yes it'll be about Chariots!

It will also be a longer post as I don;t update the blog so often so it will make me feel less guilty about that but not only. I want my take on the Tomb King to be out there on the web. It sounds arrogant but it isn't. I listen to most podcasts related even remotely to WFB and on one hand I have to say a fair bit of them have some solid practice with this army but I can agree really with none of them on the strengths and weaknesses of the current book. According to me it highlight mostly the versatility of this second version of the book. So i decided that when I post a new finished unit I will also develop how I make use of it on the field and I just happen to finish a core unit so i will even start in order.

I. The hobby side.

Unit of 4 chariots. Without further ado here come the bad boys:

On the left you have two closer look at the unit champion and on the left side same for the standard bearer.

The paint job is classic and fit the rest of the army. I may add some more ink job on the base later on to unify the army. having a big base size army is a blessing for the model count but keeping the basing on very much the same exact shade is harder than I anticipated. I find small patch of ink helps to tie up the various models by mimicking imperfection of the ground, plus it add some depth to your model almost effortlessly.

II. Gaming side

Pro: 

- core choice, no way otherwise player would consider them

- can take magical banner up to 25 points

- D6 impact hits 

- charioteers have 2 A each

- easy to raise back (1d3 +1)

- T4 model with 3 Wounds

- do not suffer really from Nehekaran Undead special rules as no chariot can march.

- 2 sneaky shots that hits on 5 with 24" range

Cons:

- not really suited for delivering characters because they won't provide look out sir except if you invest over 300 pts or more

- do not survive attrition, hordes, and or cavalry bus

- NEED the charge

Unit size I used the most: 3-4 with no characters or champion but with at the very least musician and standard bearer if room for its points. 

I don't play anymore big chariots buses. It may be my play style but they never give their points back nor survive the battle. I find large unit hard to maneuver and so difficult to get the charge. The inability to have support attacks hit hard this formation, and the +1 S for impact hit per rank f three or more chariots is not enough of an incentive. 

I think 2 units potentially dealing 4D6 strengh 4 is better than one potential 4D6 strength 5. In the same idea, a front exceeding 5 chariots is a waste of points as they will never make contact during charge so will no provide you impact hits. 

Chariots are ideal for focusing the opponent army and distract him from the real threats of your army. You could consider them as expensive chaff but it is narrowing down their use. They have a real psycho impact on your opponent, I have only face opponents that over-estimate or under-estimate them. Their real fighting ability comes from the impact hits and the defensive abilities comes form the T4 and possibility to raise them easily and repeatedly. Bare in mind that baiting for TK means trading as we cannot flee; chariots are mobile enough to be sacrificed to give you a flank to the Snakes. I almost never double charge with them and a sphinx or snakes because a smart opponent will get the wound on them and that will negate the hitting power of my heavy unit. They usually wait on the flank for opportunities. They are good at taking small monstruous cav or negate the charging bonus of heavy human knights. The latter especially if you get the killing blow spell off. They are also useful every turn of the game as they can shoot; granted they are not snipers but good enough to clear small scouts such as skinks or single characters. 

Characters: No thank you! Way to snipable. You need 5 rank-and-file models to have a "look out sir!" (LoS) excluding the champion. It would bring the unit beyond the optimum size according to me for a net bonus very mild as WS 5 or 6 won't make this unit a killing machine at all and potential extra bonus stretgh on impact hit. 

Special Characters: There is two special characters that can ride a chariot, so there are two scenarios here.  Interestingly enough both have huge chariots and that is important to keep on mind for foot print and how to make the best of it. 

First Settra, I tried him few games as I was looking for a way to use my Ushabti. It did not work but I found the games pleasant anyway and he potentiates well Snake Riders. I surround him with a unit of  7 chariots with full command with the banner that grants +1 M. I chose a front of 3 chariots, so my front was solely composed of Settra and the champion, nobody could hit the unit from the front and I have LoS for Settra. The idea is to lock a unit by charging with carrion or scorpion in the flank and then charge the front with Settra unit.

Second is Arkhan and the opposite somewhat. He is ok in a fight but that is not is strong suit. I used him more extensively than Settra for the sake to run a "Death" army, that is to maximize the Ld hexes and the insane amount of Ld based tests leading to wounds or flee that TK can generate. We may not be teh best at that role but we are in the top 3 with this type of army. So here I take again 7 chariots full command, the banner may vary a bit here but I like my chariots to be mobile so I often go +1 M. The front rank is composed of my command and Arkhan sit in the second rank casting mayhem. I usually equip him with non-flying chariot as it is almost the price of a chariot. Do not be afraid to end up in hand-to-hand with Arkhan try to place him in contact with rank-and-file so his weapon brings back wounds on chariots. Do not forget that Arkhan is a TK so his WS carry over teh unit, WS4 is better than WS3. 

Conclusion: Two units of 3 chariots with musician is usually my first choice in a list. They are crazy versatile from clearing the chaff to give an edge in flank charge with infantry or hunt war machines. I only consider big unit to accompany special characters. They are very much the spirit of the army so comes from your core. Honestly what's not to like about them. They are always chariots in my lists.

Questions and comments are all very welcome.

Till next time, take care my friends and stay addicted to the plastic bliss.