It’s been longer than I hoped it would be since my last post, but I’m still trying to get settled after the move, the holidays and more work in the Nerd Bunker. It has slowed down my modeling progress, to be sure. I was going to make another post about the Nerd Bunker (as work has been progressing) but I didn’t want to do two in a row about it, so instead, I’ll show you some work-in-progress shots of one of the few actual modeling projects I’ve been able to work on.
Since I don’t really have a proper place to work at this point and it’s cold and lousy outside, I really can’t prime or spray-basecoat any built models. However, I still wanted to keep moving on with painting my Tau Empire army, so I enlisted the help of a friend.
My friend Sam Lenz is a professional miniatures painter, so I contacted him about paying him to prime and basecoat 12 Kroot and four Tau Pathfinders for me. We worked out a price, I dropped off the figures and he did the work quickly and got them back to me so I could then start doing the detail painting and the washes and whatnot.
Four Tau Pathfinders
These guys were primed black and then airbrushed with a basecoat of Khemri Brown from Games Workshop. Once I got them back from him, I started washing them with Baal Red. I wanted to keep them subtle, as they’re kind of like the Tau version of scouts. I kind of envisioned them as being from a red world (if you’ve seen my Firewarriors) so they’re actually kind of camouflaged. I need to finish up the bases and then they’ll mostly be done.
A dirty dozen
These 12 Kroot warriors were also primed black and then airbrushed Khemri Brown. After that had dried, Sam used a Delvan Mud wash on all of their skin bits. I haven’t even started working with these guys yet, but they look pretty cool already, so I think they’re going to work out pretty well. I just need to figure out my color schemes for them. I think I might try making their headspines in a purple or something like that. Maybe a purple color at the base, and then a middle blue towards the ends and then Bleached Bone right at the tips. That could be pretty cool.
I’m glad I’m able to keep painting even while my workspace is under construction. Momentum is an important thing for me in miniatures painting, so if I wouldn’t have been able to get my built minis primed and basecoated for another few months, it would have caused some serious issues with my eventual success.
Speaking of success, I have two main goals right now: Finish the Nerd Bunker and finish my Tau Empire army. I’ve always found that big projects like that go ‘quicker’ for me and are more likely to get finished if I can have some mini-milestones along the way. With the Nerd Bunker, these milestones will be getting the walls painted (which I will be working on again tonight) and getting my spray room finished so I can set up my airbrush and compressor. As a milestone for the army, I’m working to build a decent ‘Combat Patrol‘ 400-point list, so I can at least get some gaming in and start training myself to play right. I’m getting close on that milestone, too. Check here for more in the following weeks.
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