Tiny Terrasaurs

When I painted the Raptix, I used P3 paints because I only had the colours I wanted to use in P3. For the rest of the Terrasaur units that I had, I was lucky in that I already had pretty much all the colours I wanted to use in Vallejo Model Air paints, so I didn't need to worry about thinning. I guess that's why the airbrushed coats, are smoother - although there was still some degree of spotting, which is especially visible on the Spikodon.

I did like the splatter effect that I inadvertently achieved on the Raptix, so for the Elite Carnidon I tried to replicate it manually by flicking paint off a paintbrush. The resulting spots looked good, but were smaller than what I got on the Raptix. I'm not sure how to control the spot size. I also experimented with a more neutral shade for the Elite, which I think worked better with greens I was using.

 

I put more effort into the eyes this time, painting the area black first. I tried several eye colours across the models; I think the yellow worked the best simply due to being the brightest. The eyes are still hit-and-miss though; they mostly look OK on the Carnidons, but don't really work on the Brontox and are just too small to see on the Spikodon (I probably should have skipped the black outline on the Spikodon since the surrounding area is so very dark anyway).

Colours:
The Carnidons were basecoated in Vallejo 72.705 Game Air Moon Yellow, then had Vallejo 72.732 Game Air Escorpina Green airbrushed down at about 45 degrees, followed by Vallejo 72.729 Game Air Sick Green airbrushed almost straight down.

The Spikodon was also basecoated in Vallejo 72.705 Game Air Moon Yellow, with Vallejo 72.729 Game Air Sick Green airbrushed at 45 degrees and Vallejo 72.728 Game Air Dark Green airbrushed straight down.

Finally the Brontox also started with Vallejo 72.705 Game Air Moon Yellow, then had Vallejo 72.706 Game Air Sun Yellow airbrushed down from 45 degrees, then Vallejo 72.708 Game Air Orange Fire was airbrushed straight down.

The Elite Carnidon then had Vallejo 72.728 Game Air Dark Green flicked down from above with a brush, to try to get a spotted pattern.

All the models then had their teeth and claws picked out in Formula P3 Menoth White Highlight, eye outlines and pupils painted in Vallejo 70.950 Model Color Black, and Formula P3 Ryn Flesh applied inside the mouth.

For the eyes I used Vallejo 72.005 Game Color Moon Yellow, The Army Painter Warpaints Electric Blue, Citadel Edge Blue Horror, Citadel Edge Guass Blaster Green, and Citadel Layer Moot Green on different models - though I can't remember which model got which colour.

Finally all the models were dipped in Army Painter Quickshade Strong Tone shade/varnish, except the Elite Carnidon and the Spikodon, which instead got the much colder Army Painter Quickshade Dark Tone shade/varnish. Once this was dry a coat of Vallejo 26.518 Matt Acrylic Varnish was airbrushed on.

The Carnidons felt a little too big for 25mm bases, so I put them on 30mm round acrylic bases. The other two were small enough that the 25mm clear acrylic round bases felt appropriate.

Lazy Lizards

Some time back I prepped all my Monsterpocalypse Terrasaur units, figuring they would be quick to paint. Then I got real busy. UNTIL NOW!

I wasn't really invested in these guys, so I decided to try to paint them as quickly and lazily as possible. I used three passes with an airbrush to try to create the gradient, picked out a few details by hand, then dunked them in Quickshade. I think I got all the actual painting done for all four models within around two hours; I'm pretty sure that's a record for me!

Other than the crappy-looking eyes I actually think these guys look decent, and the eyes are so small that they will be barely visible on the table anyway. So overall I would consider this an acceptable tabletop-level paint scheme. Nothing to be proud of, but good enough for models that are gaming pieces first and foremost. And the speed with which they came together is actually very encouraging for me; I've not been motivated to paint much due to how long it takes me, so knowing that I can actually paint fast if I decide to makes me happy.


Colours:
After priming white I airbrushed on a basecoat of Formula P3 Menoth White Base. I then airbrushed Formula P3 Rucksack Tan down from around a 45 angle, followed by Citadel Layer Doombull Brown from directly above, to try to get that reptilian "lighter belly scales" look. I must have either screwed up the paint consistency or the airflow (or both), because instead of smooth coats I ended up with very obvious splatters of the darker colours:

Which I figured actually didn't look too bad; the reference image I was working from (a velociraptor from Jurassic Park) had a spotted colour scheme so I decided this fit well enough and just went with it.

I picked out the claws and teeth in Formula P3 Menoth White Highlight. The inside of the mouth was Formula P3 Ryn Flesh. I initially tried painting the eyes in Vallejo 72.005 Game Color Moon Yellow to match the yellow eyes in my reference image, but it didn't stand out so I switched to Citadel Layer Moot Green instead, with a dot of Vallejo 70.950 Model Color Black from the pupils.

I dunked them in The Army Painter Quickshade Strong Tone dip/varnish and flicked off the excess, rather than carefully applying it with a brush the way I normally would. To my surprise only one of them went flying across the room in the process! And somehow the paint wasn't even damaged! Amazing!

Finally, after leaving them a day to dry I airbrushed on a generous layer of Vallejo 26.518 Matt Acrylic Varnish. Once that was dry enough I glued them onto some round 25mm clear acrylic bases, rather than the square bases they come with, to make them usable in different games if desired.

Retro-Sci-Fi Flyers

The G.U.A.R.D. flyers blister was the next on my Monsterpocalypse paint queue. I put them off for a while as that's kind of what I do, but finally I decided to knock them out. Once I started painting it was actually a pretty quick process by my standards; I think it was about two weekends of actual painting, over the course of less than a month I believe. That's largely because of this whole "isolation" deal taking my usual weekend social activities off the table.

Something about the look of the Strike Fighters brought to mind that old fashioned raw alumninium plane look. So I went for a simple silver colour scheme. The sky-blue windows are supposed to be, well, reflecting the sky. Red details just look right.

The planes are covered with very fine panel lines. Initially I tried painting a black wash directly into these panel lines to make them more visible, but it was very hard to keep it neat so they ended up looking a bit messy from up close. The end result was visually pleasing, but very cartoony; it just wasn't really what I was going for and didn't really match the style of the Monpoc models I'd already painted.

The other thing was that shading in all those panel lines individually was exhausting work that took HOURS. I was not prepared to repeat the process three more times, so instead I tried a much easier shading method, where I simply applied a black wash to the whole model then drybrushed a silver on top to try to regain the bright metal basecoat. This barely did anything for the panel lines, and the surface ended up looking duller and dirtier than the pure silver of the unwashed model, but it was MUCH faster and easier, and stilled looked alright; actually the much more subtle panel lines are kind of more in keeping with the idea of this being a large vehicle at a very small scale. So I stuck with this scheme for the rest of the fighters.

I liked the idea of the Rocket Chopper having a dark stealth look, so I basecoated it in a metallic black. Of course just black is boring, so I picked out details in silver (to stand out from the darker gunmetal highlights). I painted the canopy blue in keeping with the fighters, but when for a darker blue to fit the darker theme. Of course the rockets needed to be red, which works well to make them pop, but I refrained from using it anywhere else.

In this case painting pure black directly into the panel lines worked very well, as the effect is more subtle than with the silver fighter, but also more necessary as otherwise the panel lines would be almost invisible with such a dark colour scheme. It actually didn't take as long as it did with the fighter either, and I was more willing to put the time in anyway as, while I'm somewhat indifferent to the Strike Fighters, I really like the Rocket Chopper.

Colours
The Strike Fighters were airbrushed with Vallejo 71.065 Model Air Metallic Steel. The first one had The Army Painter Quickshade Washes Dark Tone painted directly into the panel lines, while the rest where given a full wash followed by a drybrush of Vallejo 72.052 Game Color Silver instead. The canopies were basecoated in The Army Painter Warpaints Electric Blue, and Citadel Glaze Guilliman Blue was applied directly into the recesses. The wing tips and other details were then picked out in Vallejo 72.106 Game Color Scarlett Blood.

The Rocket Chopper was airbrushed with Vallejo 71.073 Model Air Metallic Black. A mix of water, Formula P3 Mixing Medium, and Vallejo 70.950 Model Color Black was painted directly into the panel lines. I highlighted some of the outer edges with The Army Painter Warpaints Gun Metal, while several details were picked out in the much brighter Vallejo 72.052 Game Color Silver. The canopy glass was painted in Vallejo 72.021 Game Color Magic Blue, then washed with Citadel Glaze Guilliman Blue, then Magic Blue was layered back into the middle of the individual panes. Finally the missle heads were picked out in Vallejo 72.106 Game Color Scarlett Blood.

Day Of The Beast

It wouldn't be proper to play a game of Warmachine on Friday the 13th (again) without running Khador's very own Jason Voorhees: Beast 09. Unfortunately for me he wasn't on my side...

Ah-hem. So I threw together a couple of 30 point lists for a second game against Fuzzy (who I mixed up with Saint while writing a previous battle report in a rush; that has now been fixed). I took Andy out for a spin, bringing a Decimator (because I think the model works with him) and a Kodiak (because I was feeling too lazy to dig out the Juggernaut arms). The Wardog was there to deliver Fighting Dirty, and a Koldun Lord would help with damage.
Malakov2
- Decimator
- Kodiak
- Wardog
Nyss Hunters
- Valachev
Koldun Lord

I gave Fuzzy the original battlebox caster, Sorscha1, because she's a lot of fun. She can be a bit focus starved if she wants her jacks to do work, so the Forgeseer seemed to be a good support piece.
Sorscha1
- Beast 09
- Spriggan
- Sylyss
Croe's Cutthroats
Greylord Forgeseer


Pre-Game:
The table had just been used for 40K; I figured playing on the same terrain would demonstrate that Warmachine does not need flat terrain (it seems I had given people the impression that it didn't work with regular terrain). Rather than roll for a scenario or something I decided to just put two "flags" (the Butcher and Mechanic models seen below) in the middle of the table (they are a little to the side, but I figured that was the part of the table we would actually use considering our low model count). I decided to stick to the basic scoring system from the rulebook, so any model in base contact can score, any model within 4" contests, and first to 5 wins.

I won the roll and chose to go first. Fuzzy chose the Decimator as the Cutthroat's Prey target.


Deployment:
I deployed my battlegroup facing the rightmost flag and the Nyss to my left. Fuzzy deployed most of his forces to my left.

Round 1:
Malakov cast Escort and put Repo on the Decimator, then walked forwards, gave himself Prowl and threw a cloud over himself. The Decimator trampled then repo'ed forwards for a total of 12", matching the Kodiak's run. The Nyss Hunters ran forwards. My solos joined Malakov in the cloud.

The Cutthroats walked forwards and started shooting at my Nyss Hunters. Needing mostly 9's, they somehow managed to kill 5 Nyss before repositioning backwards. Beast09 and the Spriggan ran towards the flags. Sorscha put up Fog of War.

Round 2:
The Kodiak ran to base the flag. The Decimator took a couple of shots at the Spriggan for very little damage (I didn't allocate enough focus; with Fog of War even a Spriggan is hard for a Decimator to hit unboosted!) then tried to bodyblock the flag. The Nyss walked and Zephyred into range of the stealthy Cutthroats, killing I think 4 of them. On Nyss Hunter based the flag, while Valachev hugged a wall for cover.

Between aiming Cutthroats and an always-angry Beast09 (those Nyss kids were having too much fun!) Fuzzy took out all my Nyss Hunters, leaving a lonely Valachev wondering what had just happened. Sylyss ran to base the flag, while the Spriggan ran away from my jacks. Scoring began this turn so we both scored a point.

Round 3:
I put the Decimator into the Spriggan, taking about half his boxes but not crippling anything. The Kodiak stayed back to guard the flag, venting steam to help hide my squishies. The Wardog ran forwards in order to be able to apply Fighting Dirty next turn if I saw an opening. Valachev walked over to base the flag on the left and killed Sylyss with an ice shotgun. This prevented Fuzzy from scoring this turn, getting me a point up.

Sorscha cast Boundless Charge on Beast09 and the Forgeseer handed out some focus. The Spriggan softened up the Decimator, then Beast09 came in and finished it off. The Cutthroats killed the dog and based the flag. We both scored, bringing the score to 3:2 to me.

Round 4:
I dropped all my upkeeps for focus. The Koldun Lord cast Brittle Frost on the Spriggan - I would have preferred to use it on Beast09 but he's immune... The Kodiak charged in to the Spriggan, finishing it with his initials. I had actually hoped to be able to throw it into Beast09. Oh well. He then bought a couple of attacks on Beast09, completely whiffing his damage rolls...

The Kodiak used Vent Steam. Malakov feated; with the steam cloud in place the Kodiak (who I think was the new Prey target) would be able to walk behind it after Beast hit him, where he couldn't be targeted anymore. I bought an extra attack with Open Fire, which at least did a bit of damage. Malakov also shot at Beast09, managing only to hit the Kodiak in the back. At least he didn't actually do any damage.  We both scored, but as I was ahead at 4 points I would win next turn if Fuzzy didn't contest.

At this point I thought it was a good idea to explain Sorscha's feat and other abilities to Fuzzy. While doing so we realised that Malakov was inside Sorscha's threat range. So she Wind-Rushed forwards, popped feat to freeze all my models, then charged Malakov and killed him with two hits.

Post-Mortem
I actually did not realise that Malakov was that close to Sorscha. Clearly I'm still rusty. I also realised today that Sorscha's feat counters Malakov's pretty well; his feat says nothing about ignoring Stationary after all.

I thought the Koldun Lord would solve Malakov's damage issues, but a) I'm too cagey with him, and b) Beast09 don't give a damn. Actually I could have given the Koldun Lord repo and/or Prowl, and even a cloud, meaning that Malakov might be one of the better casters for keeping him safe even after he uses Brittle Frost. Still, I think Andrei might not be at his best at this point level.

Anyway, this was a fun game, and one that didn't drag out as long as Warmachine sometimes can for a slow player like me. Fuzzy's dice were pretty hot, rolling 9's with surprising ease. But that was pretty fair really, seeing as he'd just come from a game of 40K where his dice were stone cold...