Review: Mr. Nekonote Station

So I went to C2E2 a few weeks ago. If your only exposure to cons are 40k heavy, please do yourself a favor and attend one of these pop culture/comic conventions. They are ever so slightly less geeky, although the winner of the cosplay contest was a female 40k inquisitor!

The plasma gun was pretty amazing.

So while walking through Artists Alley where commissions were incredibly cheap (but no one I spoke with had really done 40k art), I noticed that there were a few hobby vendors an aisle over amidst the booths full of vintage toys and fidget spinners. Most of those hobby booths were Gundam-focused, of

Incredible Tattoo Tutorial

Photo: GCT Studios
www.bushido-thegame.com

Look at this amazingly painted miniature. Holy cow.The tattoo work is otherworldly considering the size of this figure. I have no idea how it was done, which is strange because

Warhammer 40k goes back to the mainstream.

If you've been online today and surfing 40k sites, I'm sure you've seen the breaking news: GW is going start selling model kits as, well, model kits. It's actually a pretty smart move on their

INCREDIBLE DEAL ALERT!

EDIT: Not sure if you have to be a Prime member. Please comment if you get the deal (plus shipping) if you are not Prime. Thanks! Also, if you successfully purchase, be aware that they don't ship until March.
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I have no idea whether this is an error on amazon's part, but these brushes are normally over $70.00US. But for the past two days they

Some love (?) for Sigmar

Jake over at Ex Profundis wrote an interesting article over the summer about Age of Sigmar and its implications, but today was my first time seeing it.

Organizing your work area, pro-level

Are these enough Skavven for AoS?

Happy New Year, everyone! ZeroNyne here. Yes, I've been pretty much off this blog for about 9 months. Real life is hectic, and as is natural sometimes, the blog started to fall away. But no longer will this site be neglected! The goal is two posts (or more) per week. Since I don't really consider relinking or sharing someone else's blog as a post, I'll have my work cut out for me in the new year.

So, have you made any resolutions? I have.

Batch Painted (Speed Painted) Plaguebearers

I'm on a roll these days getting back into the painting groove. I think it's because Daemons are so different from power armor and Nids. The multicolor scheme that I chose for Nurgle is not as cartoony as I thought, and I like the idea of allying CSM and Daemons...very fluffy.

So I had the presence of mind to document the batch painting of my plaguebearers. As usual, they aren't going to win a slayer sword, but they are definitely at least TT quality. Click any photo to enlarge.

Speed Painting Nurglings (+ a little ranting)

So much has happened in the last few weeks in terms of 40k, but the biggest personal impact has been the advent of Games Workshop's new codex release schedule and its digital/print disconnect. I am loose with WYSIWYG when it comes to an opponent. I'm not "THAT GUY" when it comes to playing against people with unpainted models. But I am a completist when it comes to core rules. I like to have all the rules handy.

Holiday Gift Guide for 40k Widows, Widowers, and Moms, Part 1

Hello, fellow 40k denizen. Is your girl or guy complaining about not knowing what the hell to get you for the holidays? Click on the "read more" link below, slide your laptop/ipad/phone over to your significant other, and scuttle out of the room like a 2nd generation genestealer. Now scat!

Phenomenal Baneblade/Warhound

This is an interesting thing...something that blew me away. I saw it on Apocalypse 40k, but it has a long provenance prior to that.

More than meets the eye.

Adepticon 2013 Part 1: My favorite army, Despicable Me

So I'm noticing that more and more people are blogging about Adepticon, so much so that any sort of summary on my part would be redundant and incomplete. So I thought I'd take the next few posts just to talk about some of the fun stuff I found there. I'm sure even these personal thoughts will be covered elsewhere, but, well, on with it!

I wanted to show you my absolute favorite army I've seen since I started attending Adepticons.
[read on]

TL;DR: Is there coffee provided at the meeting?

This is the third in a series of posts by yours truly with the tag “TL;DR”. As you may have surmised by suffering through my blog these past few years, I write. A lot. And I am quite wordy, so when I write a blog post, I spew forth my ramblings onto the keyboard, and then I edit roughly 60-80 percent of it out. But once in a while, I will write something that cannot be edited down. 

And sometimes, it’s a tedious bit of writing that may hold some value for beginning 40k enthusiasts. So begins my tale that many of you may recognize...

The quiet buzz of people who are merely acquaintances dies down as people find their spots in the small circle of folding chairs, and few folks hustle in shaking off coats that smell of cigarettes and cold outdoor air.

The small, unassuming guy with a receding hairline and math teacher glasses approaches the worn podium, the heavy thud of his boots echoing in this Catholic school gymnasium. It's 7:30pm, and the meeting is about to start. The group is small enough that no PA system is needed, so there is no stereotypical whistle of feedback before he begins, just a gentle throat clearing. [read on...]

Speed Painted Necron Night Scythe

Click to Enlarge

This is not a "how to", just a "how it turned out". As usual, I think my mistakes are much more informative and useful than the things I did right.

Necron Night Scythe. Paints used: Rustoleum 2X Black Primer, GW Chaos Black, GW Scorpion Green, GW Chainmail, GW Badab Black, Micron Red pen.

Total time spent, excluding drying times but including assembly, 2 hours. [READ MORE]

Speed Painted Necron Warriors (and some advice, please)

Apologies for the quality...two bulbs are burned out in my little photo station.

Four hours over a two day period, and all 32 Warriors are finished, from sprue to plastic rods. They need basing, but I can't start on that until I decide on a theme. [read more]

Necron Wash Comparison

Click to Enlarge.

All three are primed black and then basecoated with an Army Painter Chainmail spray.  [more]

Wargamma Tortured Lands Bases

When I went to Adepticon in April, I met a nice vendor who was selling some interesting sculpts. I thought they were very well done, but what caught my eye were his Tortured Lands bases. I basically bought his entire stock.

Wargamma Tortured Lands Bases

I was going to use them for my Grey Knights since I was going for a Draigowing configuration. Since then, my plans for GKs keep changing, and I didn't really have enough of these bases for any of my other planned armies.

Enter 6th Edition, and in particular, allies. I bought some bloodletters and daemonettes for my fluffy Khorne Berzerker and Noise Marine-centric Flawless Host warbands. I decided to paint them up:

The movement trays are from Armorcast. Click to enlarge.

They look pretty good and they are very easy to paint up. Click to enlarge.

Bleached bone, Tentacle Pink basecoats. Devlan Mud wash for the skin, Baal Red wash for the innards. Tin Bitz for the staples. Very characterful. I'll post these again when I base the daemons.

Necron painters...a word, please.

It just occurred to me that I've been watching a Necron every night for the past few years.

I want to pre-apologize for my laziness. What I SHOULD be doing is scouring the various forums out there and asking for advice. But now that more than 2 people are looking at my blog once in a while, I thought I would give this a shot.

I'll make it quick: I've bought the makings of a 1500-2000 pt Necron force and a 2500 pt Eldar/Dark Eldar force with a Harlequin theme. I want to take my time on the Eldar, which means I need to be quick with the Necrons.

So here are three questions, please answer in the comments.

1. Prime with black and then basecoat with Boltgun, or basecoat with Boltgun (I have an Army Painter spray equivalent) and wash with Badab Black? I don't want to drybrush at this point, and I will detail later, but I need that crucial first step done right. Any thoughts?

2. Will the Pylon (FW) be 40k legal at some point?

3. Immortals or Deathmarks (if you had to choose one or the other)?

Thank you kindly.

Amazing Portable Paint Stations

Spanish Design Studio Animaq has created a line of portable and wall-unit paint stations and airbrush hoods that look incredible. A bunch of models are sold out, and it's not clear if they will be restocked (I can't read spanish, and a lot of their text is embedded).

CHECK THEM OUT

Minor Nightmares

And I only say "minor" in relation to poverty, starvation, slavery, and other fun stuff happening in the world.

Every painter's nightmare.

My sympathies to Baphomet.

Basics: Drybrushing, Washes, and Bases

Two of the most important techniques to learn as a beginning painter or aspiring speed painter are drybrushing and washing. Today we'll look at how it applies to very textured bases. In this case, they are skull bases from Secret Weapon Miniatures.

Drybrushing involves loading a brush with paint, removing most of it with a paper towel, and then raking it across the model, catching only the raised portions with pigment.

Washing uses watered down paint (the wash) that is applied liberally to the model where it will seek the deep recesses of the model and also provide a general tint to the other surfaces.
*READ MORE*