Star Wars Imperial Assault: Return to Hoth Part 3

Wrapping up this expansion with the heroes MHD-19, Verena Talos, and Loku Konolua as well as Echo Base Troopers. Check out Part 1 and Part 2 if you missed it. 

All done and ready to play!

Star Wars Imperial Assault: Return to Hoth Part 2

Continuing on from Part 1, we've got the SC2-M Repulsor Tank, General Sorin, Dengar, and two wampas. Part 3 coming soon; wrapping up with the heroes.

Star Wars Imperial Assault: Return to Hoth Part 1

We've taken to not playing Imperial Assault without painted miniatures as it just adds so much and looks so much cooler. I've made my wife wait almost 3 months now to play the Return to Hoth expansion while I wrapped up some other projects and get around to getting all the miniatures painted.

We'll get things started with some Snowtroopers and HK assassin droids.

Convergence of Cyriss Project

I've had a small lot of Convergence sitting around for the past 8-10 months that I've done very little with. Other projects have taken precedence over it and I could never pull myself away to get back to it.
Recently I acquired a large lot of Convergence that nearly completes the faction and I've got some renewed interest in getting this army up and running. This is going to be a very different project for me as I'm going to attempt to basically paint the entire faction at once. Now, I would never consider doing something like this if I was painting the models to a high standard. No, this is going to be a quick, table top quality job with minimal to no mold line cleaning to get the faction done and onto the table.
Last year when I got my first batch of models for the faction I started brainstorming some paint scheme ideas based off a single color in the Vallejo range, "Gunmetal Blue" or if you prefer.....

(Kids, ask your parents)

I tested out the color on a few pieces and liked the result for the most part but felt the color wasn't as saturated as I would have preferred.

I then got distracted and went onto other things. Finally coming back to it now but I've decided to go with a different blue using Createx's line of wicked airbrush colors.

This color is much more saturated and gives a stronger metallic finish which is what I'm looking for. I've seen a couple people use this line before and really love the work that Tyson Koch did with this line of paints (http://www.figurepainters.com/).

I tested out a few pieces with the color trying out different primer colors as well as backing it first with a base coat of a few different shades of silver metallic before applying the blue.

I found that I liked the look best when it's applied over a darker metallic silver. So, finally time to get to work.

Got my base color down over the first batch of models. I've still got some things to assemble and prime for the next batch but I'm liking the look and once the other colors are filled in, I think it will look pretty good for the table top.

Legion: Throne of Everblight Magnetized WIP

This model is ridiculously tall which makes it extremely difficult to transport. I've magnetized it in the middle so it can be transported in two pieces. The top is fairly heavy so I used 4 pretty large magnets and the hold is very secure. I have a second one that I still need to assemble and will be doing the same with that one.

Six Years of Miniatures Part 3

Picking up where we left off in Part 2. I would say from here on out the progress is certainly more subtle but it is definitely there. I've spent the last 2-3 years trying to hone in and just practice at what I already do well so that I can do it very well in less time. There are still the occasional projects where I need to learn a new technique or paint with a new color but they are much less so now.

Late 2014:

This one doesn't have any new colors or techniques really but sort of represents a practice makes perfect mentality as it's all the same colors I used back on my first Protectorate models but implemented much better.

2015 was a year I spent finishing a ton of projects. I had a lot of unpainted miniatures around and I did a lot of what I call "quick and dirty" paint jobs on rank and file Warhammer models. As such my painting skill progression has a little less to show. But there are a few notables.

Early 2015:

Again another example of progression with a lot of the same colors I'd used on my first Legion of Everblight models

This next one was the first large miniature I'd ever painted and it was an exercise in patience to get through it. I also employed a custom made ruined base and a magnetized, reposed dragon.

Late 2015:

I'm throwing this one in since there were a couple things that I tried here that I'd never done before. I tried to achieve a muddy water effect as well as creating a harbor dock type basing. I also tried my hand at a rust effect for the first time.

Early 2016:

This was the first model I used an airbrush on to achieve a gradient of colors and is also an example of progression with a lot of the same colors that were used on my first Legion beasts. 

Mid 2016:

My second large scale miniature and continuing to hone my skills with at this point long time techniques, colors, and recipes.

Late 2016:

My technique and process has changed in how I achieve the ice effect on my bases.

2017:

This year was a little bit of a slower year. I spend a good bit of the first half of the year on speed painting board game minis, a few commissions, building terrain for 40k games, as well as building an ice themed table for warmachine/hordes games. I also took a little bit of a hiatus for a couple months where I didn't really paint much.

Late 2017:

Towards the end of the year I got back into the swing of things with a commission with some colors I hadn't worked with in a long time.

and catching up on a few Legion models that needed done.

Early 2018:

Finally, this last entry brings us up to where I am now. I had always wanted to paint this model and in some ways I'm glad I never got around to until now.

So, just to wrap things up. Let's just do a couple side by side comparisons here for fun.

 Late 2011   

Early 2017

        

             Mid 2012             

Mid 2015

Early 2014

Early 2018

Six Years of Miniatures Part 2

After doing a post showing off my display of miniatures in Part 1, it felt appropriate to do a post logging my progress as a painter and hobbyist.

The first couple years I think are particularly interesting as my improvement was exponential nearly every time I started a new model so vast improvement is seen in just the first year, really.

Late 2011:

This miniature goes back to late 2011 when I decided to dig out my Warhammer Battle for Skull Pass box and start painting up some dwarves. 

Early 2012:

My next efforts were trying to utilize the fabled dip method for quick results that looked half decent.

Mid 2012:

My first efforts of actually learning how to paint fell on my first Warmachine models. I found a few recipes that worked and first started learning how to paint black which is a tough one.

Early 2013: 

At the time I felt like I really leveled up with this model. There were a lot of firsts on this one. I was getting better at shading reds and gold and this was also the first model that I employed using blues instead of greys to highlight black. This was the first model I tried for a glowing fire effect in the eyes and vents. First model that I ever magnetized. First model I did conversion work on (repose and torso extension). Finally, first model where I made a custom base for it.

Mid 2013:

There was always that next thing to paint that I had an idea for or an effect I wanted but didn't know how to do it but I'd always figure it out. This next model was one of those where I wanted to figure out how to do a marble look for stone as well as tarnished and oxidized metal.

Early 2014:

I started a new faction in Warmachine/Hordes, Legion of Everblight. A lot happened here. I spent a ton of time trying out different color combinations and recipes for the effects and scheme I was going for. The blue/green skin for the dragons, pale blue/gray for the elven skin, blue glow, fire glow, reposes, and learning ice effects.

I also started to learn how to wet blend this year

 Mid 2014:

I started playing around a bit more with source lighting

Well, this post is starting to get pretty lengthy so I'll pick up the rest in Part 3 I think.

Check out Part 3 here