Annihilation and Command Barges Completed!

Hello all!

It's been far too long since my last blog post and I must start off with an apology - I simply haven't had the time these last few days to post up any progress. The week before last was spent in Holland with my family; naturally not a lot of painting got done and the lack of internet connection meant I couldn't show any progress anyway. Last week's been spent seeing friends before they go back to university, as well as preparing for my own return. I have been painting however, and spent a good few hours across three days putting all the finishing touches to the last two barges.

There was one more Annihilation Barge to be painted and this one is exactly the same as the previous two so there isn't much new to see here.

I also painted up a Command Barge to match the original I was given by the client. I think it matches up pretty nicely (you can see them both on the right of the group shot) and I'm happy with the overall result. It looks similar enough to the Annihilation Barges to fit in well with them, but different enough (mainly in shape - the lack of a massive gun will do that) to stand out. It's going to look especially tasty with a Lord mounted on it...

And finally just a quick group shot of the four barges I had in my possession at the time of taking these pictures. Only one Annihilation Barge is missing. It's quite the fleet now! I've given all the Necrons back to the client and I'm hoping he'll be able to take a couple of shots of this army in action over the next few days so I can put up a few here - these things look a whole lot better on their bases!

I'm glad these guys are finished and, more than that, that the Necron Overlord is happy with the results on his models. May they be kicking asses and taking names on battlefields across Tolworth soon.

Just a final note to say thank you to everyone who regularly reads my blog or gives it the occasional visit to see what I've been up to. The middle of last week saw my thousandth page view, which is very encouraging and a great motivator to keep producing stuff and blogging about it. Once again, a big thanks to everyone that has taken an interest.

See you all soon.

Another Finished Annihilation Barge & Progress

It's been a couple of days and despite a busy schedule I've done a bit more work on the fleet of Necron Barges that has to be completed soon. After finishing one the other day, we now have two painted Annihilation Barges, one painted Command Barge, one half painted Command Barge that needs adjustment and one more assembled, and primed, Annihilation Barge. That's a lot of the word Barge... It's starting to lose meaning.

From this...

...to this!

Admittedly there is not a lot new to see here, as all these barges are tediously similar. That, however, is the point of this project - similarity is just very 'Necron'. It might not be the most interesting thing to paint the same model in the same way over and over again, but, having said that, it is a good opportunity to work on delivering consistency and accuracy - both of which are (in my eyes) necessary for a good painter.

Next up is the second Command Barge that was already painted but has to be adjusted to fit in with the new scheme. So far all I have managed to do to this one is to cover with black the areas that will need to be black (forgetting about the 'vinyl' - that comes later). With this one it is just a question of covering over the areas that need to be different colours, as well as cleaning up some of the highlighting in order to better resemble the other vehicles in the fleet.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday assembling and priming the last Annihilation Barge as well. Unfortunately I lacked an instruction manual, which made the whole process a little slower. I was being overly careful as a friend of mine had advised me that it is a notoriously difficult kit to piece together. In the end it came together fine, with no major hitches along the way. Time to break out the Dheneb Stone!

I also picked up a couple of the new Citadel Base paints yesterday at the shop, just to try them out. I bought  a white, a red, a bronze/gold (intrigued and excited about the possibility of a gold that covers well!) and a green. I was quite impressed on trying out the Base Paints when I got a chance, so I will be looking to use these in the near future. The green, white and red in particular will be seeing use when I paint the tartans on my Trollkin Champions.

That's all for today folks! Enjoy celebrating the possibility of zombies through the eating of chocolate, I'm going to get on with some painting.

One Finished Necron Annihilation Barge

It's been a long time since I've updated you all on my progress, so it's definitely time for a new post. I had flue for the majority of last week so I wasn't able to get as much stuff done as I would have liked... It was real flu, I promise! Not hypochondriac-man-flu!

Anyway, time is of the essence with these Necron Barges as they need to be ready before I go back to University - they are apparently needed for a tournament called Mayhem which the guys from Heroes and Legends will be attending in full force. Because of this I have been trying to up my pace without losing any quality (very hard, I can tell you!) and I have spent the majority of today at my desk.

The result? One finished Annihilation Barge!

I wanted to make it look as similar as possible to the Barge that's already painted to enhance the feel of the uniformity that is such an integral element of the Necrons. Unfortunately this uniformity does make for some rather dull painting sessions.... But it's all good, I'm keeping in mind the end result, which should be pretty solid.

Slowly the fleet grows...

These Barges are taking me somewhat longer than I expected... There's actually rather a lot of surface area on these vessels, despite them looking quite small. The other issue is that it takes about three coats of Dheneb Stone to get the solid layer and the crisp finish that I want to achieve. These layers have to be thin or else the paint will go lumpy. It's a necessary, but time-consuming, process...

I've also started work on the second Annihilation Barge and it's ready to have its 'tattoos' painted on, before I start work on the Skull White highlights. This one is going to be a bit more of a pain because, unlike the Barge I just finished, the cannon's already been glued in place on this one - this is going to make it really hard for me to get at the areas underneath the cannon and on the underside of it. 

Well, that's it for now! I've also spent a bit of time working on assembling a Dire Troll Mauler for Hordes. My 'greenstuffing' skills leave a fair amount to be desired but I'm quite happy with how he's turned out. More on him in the future I hope.

Ciao!