Salamanders Tactical Squad

Hello everyone,

Time flies. We are already in 2018 and I have just begun to paint again after many months of absence. The minis stayed in a corner while I was waiting to reach a certain cruising speed in regards to family life. And yes, it changes the deal to be a dad. But hey, with a little will, I got back on my feet pretty quickly. After all, painting is like cycling, you never forget .

For 2018, I have big plans. First, I will try to finish my Salamanders army because I feel that I am close to the end. Then the Catachan army will also be part of the plans. Of course, it would not be a new year without delusional projects ... Taking my old Empire army out and considering the progress I made in painting, I decided to repaint everything. Crazy project considering the number of figurines to redo. But with the airbrush, I am rather hopeful to go quickly.

To start the year in style, here are some pictures of my Salamanders tactical squad. Enjoy!

Salamander Rhino/Razorback

After a long absence and a painting break of almost five months, I come back on stage with big projects. It must be said that my life has changed a lot for me since I know that my pretty wife and I will become parents in June. So it changes perspective. I replaced the figurines with little doll's clothes. And then I suddenly realized that if brush painting would not be a problem once my baby arrives, the airbrush sessions would become rarer. So I decided to give a neck stroke for the remaining two months and try to do everything I can do with the airbrush before the baby arrives and save the brush work for later.

I also return to show pictures of the works that I had not had the opportunity to publish and especially my Rhino / Razorback Salamanders:

Undead Werewolves / Ghasts

Hello everyone. A small novelty today that will change from a world I know well. A little adventure towards a less familiar world, where shapes, colors, packaging are similar but not the same. I love Coca and I tasted Pepsi ... Well I have to tell you that I liked Pepsi .

I was trying to boost my vampire counts army with shock troops, preferably monstrous infantry that would complete my cannon fodder and cavalry. So I opted for Vargheists (renamed Ghasts in the ninth age). However, even if the GW Vargheists figurines are pretty cool, I wanted to change and try something else. By doing a little research on the web, I stumbled upon a werewolf unit from GW's main competitor, Mantic, who markets the miniatures for their Kings of War game. And I was not disappointed. Not only do the miniatures cost much less than those of GW, but in addition they come well-packaged in a box that resembles a VHS box. The figurines are molded in a hard enough resin which makes them solid and easy to work on. They require a little more work, including a bit of green stuff to fill in two or three holes, but the overall quality is very good.

And especially, once painted, they are very cool:

Salamanders Lieutenant Rogue Trader OOP

Hello everyone, I am coming back today with a little wonder that will get some people twenty years back. This figurine was offered to me by my friend Thomas before I left for London and still smells like lead! It is a Space Marine lieutenant from the time when Warhammer 40k was still called Rogue Trader, with the so recognizable beakie. Even if the sculpture has nothing to do with the finesse of the current models, painting it was a real dive into a distant world and plunges you into a certain nostalgia.

This little guy will come to boost the ranks of my Salamanders army:

Vampire Counts Necromancer

Hi everybody, small break from Warhammer 40000. I present to you today a very singular miniature because it is really vintage and uncovered completely by chance. In my bitz box, I had a small metal figure that I thought was a mercenary wizard or something else, completely forgotten for years and missing the left arm. After some research on the Internet to determine where this little guy came from, I realized that I had in my hands a necromancer for Mordheim, which explained why I could not identify it from the Warhammer catalogue... Let me just say this is the perfect fit for my last fantasy army in date. The only challenge was finding an arm to our friend. It was done with my inexhaustible empire bitz reserve: a militia arm of the empire would do.

The paint job was rather quick and easy: base coat and highlights with the airbrush, followed by a quick but effective painting in only one evening. Cherry on the cake: a "black magic" effect on the eyes. I wanted to give the impression of a look full of magic to contrast with the human aspect in the middle of an army of undead. To achieve this, I first basecoated the eyes in white, followed by a very thin and well diluted layer of Moot Green. I then performed a "glaze" which consists of several very diluted layers around the eyes. And here is the final work:

Salamanders Drop Pod

Finally back. And with a lot of good news and pictures. Let's start with a piece that was very nice to paint but not necessarily easy to assemble: a drop pod for my Salamanders army. I made the decision to paint each piece separately and all with the airbrush, which greatly facilitates the work for such imposing models. I was also able to put into practice the masking work, which also caused me some problems. Indeed, the first step was to create the flames on the sides. After a good coat of gloss varnish, I applied masking tape on the whole to be able to paint the rest green. And when came the time of taking the tape off, everything went well except for one of the sides that was completely peeled off... Rather than doing all the work again, I just repainted the black side and applied decals to cut a bit with the monotony of the monochrome side (photos 3 and 4).

Another problem with this miniature: assembling it. The problem of painting everything separately is that with the different layers of paint and the varnish to protect the miniature, the pieces have had a little trouble fitting together, Despite the magnetization of the doors (photo 5), two have trouble to close completely. But hey, we're not going to dramatize, I'm pretty happy with the final result:

Salamanders Predator

Hello everybody,

After enjoying a relaxing vacation and a return to work with a lot of pressure, I had very limited time to finish all my projects this summer. Add to that a problem with my computer that no longer saved my photos and publications became scarce. And yet, I still managed to finish a few nice miniatures. The one that I present to you today is definitely one of my older pieces. I painted it very approximately at the time, first with the Ultramarines colour scheme and then in a Salamanders green, and it needed a big makeover. So I started, like I did with all my space marines, to fully repaint it. After a bath of Bendix for plastic and acetone for metal parts, I had to rebuild everything back in good order, contrary to what I'd done 15 years ago. I then took advantage of a free afternoon to begin the airbrush work starting with my now sacrosanct flames. The problem with repainting old minis is that the work is much longer because everything is already glue and masking work becomes essential. After carefully masking the panel, I then started with the hard work that finally took me little time. And here is the final work:

Second Leman de Catachan/ Second Catachan Leman Russ

Hello everybody!

I take advantage of a lull in August and especially to have done the necessary photos to publish an article about my latest work. Before leaving for London, my buddy Thomas kindly gave me some minis that he no longer used, including some vintage pieces and a Leman Russ he wanted to use his Blood Angels. After ordering on Ebay two missing pieces (to build a turret), I could finally start to paint this tank which is probably for me one of the nicest GW models. I still have at home the Imperial Guard codex in which we still see figurines of imperial guards sitting on the tank. Unable to resist something as beautiful, I immediately went searching on Ebay "Catachan tank rider" and was able to purchase two minis that come from another time.

The result is pretty cool:

Vintage Little Treasures

Enjoy!

Salamanders Apothecary

Let's go, a little article before the weekend. Continuing with the command squad, here is an apothecary. In fact, I painted it some time ago. White is more difficult to master than other colors and you will see, I did not necessarily give myself the means to achieve a beautiful miniature with gradients of white/gray. Nevertheless, this model has the merit of having a huge number of small nice details like cables or vials of blood at the belt!

Hexwraiths

Hi all, the interruption has been a bit long because of intensive work. So photos and projects pile up, but I have not had much time to publish. Today we return to our first love, namely Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Since I arrived in London, with no friends to play with, I enrolled at the London Warhammer Gaming Guild to test my new Vampire Counts. Well I have had time to play only four games, which is not bad you might say. Very relaxed atmosphere, we meet lots of nice people and more, we play the Ninth Age: let's say complete secession from the damn Age of Sigmar! And as it turns out, it allowed me to test my pretty Vampire Counts, and; cherry on the cake, with good results. And I remembered that I did not post pictures of my Hexwraiths, the last painted unit of Vampire Counts...

Here are the horrors: