Towards the end of last year, I told you all that this year I was going to challenge myself to actually paint my miniatures. This is not to say that I don’t paint regularly, on the contrary, I’ve been quite proud of the amount I’ve painted since coming back to the hobby. But I rarely finish a project before starting two or three more. This has left me with more unpainted miniatures than I would like, so I decided to set myself a painting goal for the new year.
The rules are simple. Over the course of the year, paint at least fifty-two models, showing my progress at the end of every month. I also challenged the wider community to join me in this war against the grey, as group projects are always more fun than solo outings. So if I was to be on track for my goal, I should be painting at least one model a week, and since it is the end of January, that should mean if I should have at least five models finished.
Well. Let’s see how I have done…
The first model I painted this year was an old one. As in from 1987 old. It was a Chainsaw Warrior mini I picked up from eBay. After I finished this month’s Retro-Hammer article looking into the history of the post-apocalypse solo adventure game, I decided it would be fun to have a go at painting my very own Chainsaw Warrior. This model is the one armed with the Reaper, and I was able to pick him up rather cheaply (compared to the other miniatures in this range).
I decided to go with an almost “Doom Guy” paint scheme with this guy, in part due to the fact that Chainsaw Warrior has more than a few similarities to the original Doom (worth noting that Chainsaw Warrior predates Doom by six years). The model didn’t have very much detail when it comes to the face, so painting the eyes was a real pain. Also, as this is a very old miniature, the proportions are all over the place. Overall, I had fun painting something this retro and suitably 80’s
The next model I painted was a mono-pose Gretchin from the 2nd edition starter box. I found a decent number of these in the scrap bin of a local model store and thought it might be fun to see if I could salvage a full squad of them. A few were beyond saving, but a decent amount (around twenty) scrubbed up quite nicely.
This was a test model for the unit. I decided to go with a more modern Goth colour scheme, as the overall style of 2nd edition had too many bright colours for my liking. It was a pretty simple paint job with lots of dry brushing and washes that produced the desired effect. The only issue I can see bothering me is the flat colour of the gun and the clothes are a little too similar. I may revisit it when I paint the rest of the unit, whenever that will be.
The next bunch of models were a unit of Grey Knight Interceptors for my Ghosts of Mortain force. I wanted to add some variety to my arsenal and decided it was time to add some Fast Attack and Heavy Support to my army. I repurposed some old metal models for this little project, partly because I have been on a bit of a nostalgia trip lately and partly because I have a real soft spot for this range of minis.
After stripping and repairing them (one of the halberds’ spikes had been broken off) I put them on 32mm bases and gave them some spare Interceptor backpacks I had left over from my Strike Squads. I then painted them in the same style as my other Ghost Knights, which I think worked much better than it did with my other plastic miniatures. Maybe it has something to do with metal models have deeper recesses than their plastic brethren, but I was very happy with how they came out. Now to see them get utterly wrecked the first time I put them on the battlefield, as is only right for freshly painted minis.
So that is seven models finished by the end of January, two ahead of my target! Not bad going, but I’m sure that I’ll get stuck painting something huge soon enough and fall behind, so having a buffer is quite reassuring. I’ve already got a head start on some of my February models, and I’ll also finally get around to tackling a rather big box of minis I’ve been putting off, so be sure to check back next month.
Before we finish up though, let’s have a look and see what some others have been painting this month.
First up we have Thomas Gordon, who has been busy painting a pair of Leviathan Dreadnoughts for his Nova Marines. Like many others, I love the Leviathan pattern, as it is suitably chunky and an absolute terror on the battlefield. I like the crisp colours that Thomas has been able to achieve on both these models, and I’m sure they will do the Emperor proud in his upcoming battles.
Rounding off today’s models we have a big one from Carl Smith, a Chaos Knight devoted to the plague god Nurgle. A suitably gross and oozing character, this bloated engine of war is something that would make any loyal servant of the God Emperor void their bowels before being sent to meet him in person. Carl also gets extra style points for giving his Lord of War a fetching cape to enter battle with, because if you don’t look good killing guardsmen can you really call yourself a heretic?
That will about do it for today. I’ll be back at the end of February with another update for you all, so if you don’t want to miss out on that or any of the other great content we do please like and subscribe to keep up to date with all we do here at Master of Magics.
If you want to join me on this journey, show me what you have been working on via twitter @MTGTengu, or contact me in the comments below. If you have enjoyed today’s article and want to support the site directly, you can join our Patreon for as little as $1 a month. Until next time though, remember: “Red makes you go fasta”.
