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So it’s been more than a week since I’ve posted but I’ve actually been super productive when it comes to painting–with some results being better than others. This weekend was my birthday and, as is tradition around my house, on my birthday I get some new miniatures as a gift (kinda a gift to myself because I pick them out) and then paint for as long as I have time. In this case, I took Monday and Tuesday off work, so it was a four-day-long painting fest.

Warcry Red Harvest

So this was my official birthday present: I wanted something that had a lot of models–that would last me a long time–and I wanted something that I could review here on the website. And seeing as how I’ve never actually played Warcry before, and also seeing as how I really, really loved the aesthetic of the new Red Harvest set, this was the box for me.

I set about assembling the terrain first. I have a deep love for terrain, and one of the main things that I’ve loved about both Red Harvest but also the original Warcry (and also Catacombs) is the terrain that comes with the models. So I put together everything, and I even based some of the terrain (it doesn’t require bases, but I thought it would look good like that). And then I began the long process of painting.

The thing about anything Chaos in Warhammer is that it’s going to be covered in tons of metallic trim, and that’s certainly the case with the Red Harvest terrain. It does indeed look good–I think this picture speaks for itself that the terrain really is amazing–but it takes a LONG time to paint every little copper and silver metal strap and detail.

The miniature itself was frustrating. I have a tendency to paint bigger miniatures. Truescale, with their little fiddly arms and tiny features, are very hard for my big fumbling hands. (I know that Warhammer isn’t truely truescale, but it’s closer than a lot of what I paint.)

Consequently, I got frustrated after painting this guy, and was exhausted after two straight days of getting this terrain piece just right, and I broke out some Space Marines.

(Buy Warcry Red Harvest from Amazon) (Buy Warcry Red Harvest from Element Games)

The Tridents of Volodymyr (Sword Brethren)

I had a box of Black Templars Sword Brethren which I liked a lot, but I had been holding off on painting them because I knew that there would require conversion. I didn’t want to paint Black Templars, which means I had to do something about the Maltese Cross that was all over their shoulder pauldrons and chests. And I didn’t like the chains that held their weapons to their hands. So I’d been putting this box off.

But I needed something bigger to paint than this Warcry miniature, so I cracked them open and began the careful work with a hobby knife of scraping the crosses off. It was easier than I thought it would be, but my work was not 100% perfect. Even so, once they were painted it just looked like my paint on the pauldrons was too thick, because it wasn’t a smooth curve.

I painted the first one with no real thought of which chapter I wanted, but when it came time to paint a symbol on his pauldron I realized I had painted them yellow and given them blue power swords, and that felt very Ukrainian Flag to me. So one shoulder pauldron got a blue and yellow flag in a circle, and then the other pauldron was a conundrum. I wanted something Ukrainian, but didn’t want a sunflower, so I googled Ukrainian symbols and found the Trident of Volodymyr.

Gentle reader, I will not show you the abysmal freehand work of painting the Trident of Volodymyr on all of the five pauldrons. I am NOT a good freehander, and they are shaky at best.

While I was working on them thoughts were flowing through my head about how I would paint an entire chapter as a homebrew Tridents of Volodymyr and auctioning them on eBay to raise more money for the Ukrainian Save the Children Fund, but after painting that fifth freehand I knew that was a foolish endeavor. So, here they are. Odds are good that I will strip them and paint them as a new chapter when I determine what my next Space Marine army is going to be.

(Buy Sword Brethren from Amazon) (Buy Sword Brethren from Element Games)

Avatar of Khaine

This was a spur-of-the-moment purchase. I have never collected any Aeldari, and even the new launches of the Aeldari sculpts haven’t been handsome enough to tempt me. (With one exception I’ll get to in a minute.) But Games Workshop’s current marketing strategy of sending out early models to expert painters and having them create something awesome had sparked something in me. I had seen more than a few Avatars of Khaine and they were all wildly different from each other. And I wanted one.

So I bought one. And, while I was at it, I bought Maugan Ra, because I really love that sculpt (he’s the exception). He’s based and I’ll be painting him probably tomorrow, so you can expect to see him in a future Hobby Streak article.

Anyway, the Avatar of Khaine. The blue I chose for his body was originally going to be a blue lava–brighter in the crevices and darker on the surfaces. But I liked him like this once I got going and gave up on that idea. I took the color scheme for him from when I painted the eels in the Akhelian Guard. It was that same Thousand Sons Blue, Ahriman Blue, Temple Guard Blue, Fenrisian Grey color scheme. And, the red was just a transition starting with Khorne Red and ending up in Phalanx Yellow. Honestly, the blend that I got on the headdress is the best wet blending I’ve ever done, I think. I’m super proud of it.

The last decision was whether to paint all of the trim in gold or in brilliant white. I chose gold, and I think I’m pretty happy with that decision. All in all, I’m stupidly proud of the Avatar of Khaine and hope I can paint something else as well as him soon.

I doubt I’m going to start collecting Aeldari, though. But I might pick up the Corsairs when they come out as a boxed set.

(Buy the Avatar of Khaine from Element Games)

That’s all for this week! What did you paint this week? Are you joining in the hobby streak?