Donovan, Jones & Associates - Turn One Mission, Paydata - Five Parsecs from Home

“Okay, go!” Dask murmured as he rose from the narrow gully that had concealed their approach to the data facility and took off at a dead run. 

Next to him, Whillem thundered ahead, the feral already had his gun drawn and was scanning for targets in the windows of the first main buildings in the facility.

“That looks like the generator building, the data crypt must be somewhere else.” Whillem growled as he vaulted through the window ahead of Dask and landed with a thump on the steel decking.

Shoutheri and Estra took off to their right side while Midori and P’Hol went to the left of the shed. Somewhere up ahead, the corporate security mercs were being roused from their inattention as the close in perimeter alarms began to warble.

“There is someone over here!” Shoutheri bellowed as he led the charge. A split second later, the southern treeline lit up with muzzle flashes as several rapid volleys from automatic rifles stitched up the ground around Shoutheri and Estra, and one lucky burst found its mark across the alien’s heavy carapace. Shoutheri fell forward with a thump, and Estra threw herself to the ground behind him to avoid the lancing gunfire.

Optional Objective Person of Interest

Dask and Whillem vaulted through the window just in time to see Shoutheri go down.

“Dask, I’ll help them, you find another way.” Whillem yelled as he strode towards the window in an attempt to engage the corpsec shooters.

Dask darted into the main generator room, to find P’Hol already there.

“Midori is going wide to establish a base of fire, this way, captain!” P’Hol yelled as she gestured to an unshuttered window by one of the generator units.

Back in the secondary equipment room Estra grunted and heaved as she dragged Shoutheri into cover, then looked up at Whillem.

“It is no good out there. They have good cover and sightlines for that side!” Estra yelled.

“It’s okay, through the generator room. Follow the captain!” Whillem yelled.

While Whillem ran into the generator room, Dask eyed the dead ground between the generator building and the data crypt shack.

“This is stupid,” he said, then jumped through the window and crossed the ground under the eyes of the corpo guards, a hesitant volley of fire spattered off the wall behind him.

Dask slid into cover and took a deep breath, though from just around the corner, he could hear voices and the sounds of boots on grass.

Midori and P’Hol continued their firefight with the corpos, laser fire and bullets slashed between the two positions, though neither found their marks.

“P’Hol, cover me!” Midori yelled as she snapped off another shot with her laser rifle.

P’Hol leaned out of cover and sprayed the mercs with an extended volley from her machine pistol, but it was enough. Midori used the brief moment of hesitation to Dask from cover to cover, and get a better angle on one of the corpo shooters.

“Got you...” Midori whispered as she sighted in her mark and squeezed the trigger.

The corpo collapsed without a sound as the laser bolt perforated his upper torso, and sent him tumbling to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Dask caught his breath and looked up in horror as a corpo guard came around the corner. The corpo carred a large barreled grenade projector. As the corpo spotted dask he readied and sighted Dask in.

“Wait!” Dask yelled, but his cry was cut off by the soft thump of the weapon firing, then his world exploded.

“Is Dask okay,” Whillem yelled as he ran through the generator room and peered around the window frame that Dask had gone through moments earlier.

Whillem spotted Dask, still standing, covered with cuts and bruises and his face blackened with soot. Dask staggered into the data crypt shed while the corpo guard that shot at him cursed and fed another grenade into his projector. Without warning two corpos that were crouching behind a crash barricade opened fire on Whillem, and he went down with a grunt.

Dask leaned against the data crypt and looked over his shoulder, just in time to see the grenade projector carrying corpo appear at the window vaulted through.

“You pirate fuckers are going down!” The corpo yelled as he came on towards dask, swinging his grenade projector like a club.

Dask, still dazed, barely had time to react before an incoming blow clocked him on the chin. He collapsed back against the data vault and the guard raised the weapon again, this time to deliver a killing blow. With the last of his energy Dask raised his gun and fired.

The corpo toppled back, a large hole in his chest. Only then did Dask allow himself the mercy of passing out.

Midori gritted her teeth and bolted through the trees, her laser up and blazing. A split second later she had a flank on another two corpos and took one down with a quick and efficient shot. She came on her weapon raised and she sighted in the last corpo in her line of sight and fired.

The corpo collapsed to one knee as she shot grazed his right leg. At the same time he swung his rifle around and held down the trigger for all he was worth.

The burst neatly stitched Midori across the stomach and she went down in a heap. Before the corpo had any time to react Estra and P’Hol came bolting through the trees. While the corpo tried to change magazines P’Hol brought her blade down into the corpo’s neck, killing him instantly.

“This way! You get a flank on the survivors!” Estra yelled as she produced her shotgun from under her robes and took position at the corner of the data crypt shed.

P’Hol didn’t reply, instead she took off and took position at the far side of the data crypt shed, just in time to get a flank on the two guards advancing on Estra. P’Hol’s machine pistol spat a violent burst that took down one of the corpos, while a steady volley of blasts from Estra took down the other.

“P’Hol, we are clear. Is the captain okay?” Estra called.

P’Hol climbed through the window and spotted Dask slumped by the data crypt, down but breathing.

“Yes, you see to our people. I’ll see if I can do the data breach.” P’Hol called out.

Estra ran off to see to the others while P’Hol opened the terminal and tried to remember what her parents had tried to teach her about digital intrusion techniques. It had been years since she had done this work, and she never had any interest in it. For her the thrill had always been the fighting, this technical work, while well paying, bored P’Hol to tears.

Eventually, Dask stirred at her feet and looked up just in time to see P’Hol get the crypt open and plug in a data storage device for a full download.

“Did we win,” Dask asked.

P’Hol looked down at Dask and smiled at him.

“Yes captain, Estra is seeing to our people and we have the paydata,” she replied.

Donovan, Jones & Associates - Turn One - Pre-Mission - Five Parsecs from Home

Harlen’s World was the perfect embodiment of the idiosyncratic nature of Unity. It was an unremarkable, mostly habitable world with a population in the high millions. It lay on the very edge of the frontier, it straddled the line between a fully fledged frontier world and the backwaters of the Unity’s outer periphery. Officially it was a special economic zone, with exemption from the authority of most Unity regulatory agencies. This made it attractive for corporations that relied heavily on a loose regulatory environment. At the same time Unity had been engaged with a long running public private partnership with a syndicate of local shipwrights to develop Harlen’s World as a sector wide industrial hub with a focus on shipbuilding, complete with the heavy handed regulatory intervention that in theory, it shouldn’t do.

Rolled starting world traits

• Technical Knowledge

• Shipyards

Dask Donovan stepped out of the small shack that served as this landing field’s sales office and admired the vessel that he and his partner had just purchased.

“The price was steep for a vessel that was stitched together from refurbished salvage.” Midori Jones said while she took her own moment to survey the junker that they had just taken a significant loan out for. She swept a stray lock of her short black hair out of the way as the afternoon winds kicked up a little bit, which sent small eddies of dust drifting across the hard packed dirt of the landing field.

“It is within our price range, and Whillem’s report was promising, let’s go and see the man himself,” Dask said, then started across the landing field towards the flanks of the newly registered Hand of Fortune.

Midori and Dask found Whillem running an inspection on the outer hull of the far side of the ship. Whillem had his head half inside an access hatch, with one meaty paw he held a small torch over his head and tried to work enough light into the panel so that he could inspect the deeper recesses of the hatch.

“Good afternoon, Whil, what do you think of the new ship?” Dask asked.

With slow and careful movements, Whillem extracted his large, maned, head from the panel, then turned to look at Dask and Midori.

“Hrm, the forward hull was a TB Nine orbital utility vehicle, welded with the rear main structure of a Unihaul Model A light freighter. The engines are four Orbitech Ten Fifties, mated in a dual binary crossfeed configuration. Her grav system is a custom job that was rebuilt from an old Unity Navy Spectre class patrol boat, and I am still in the process of certifying the life support system, which should be a rebuilt GMI Series Three. This vessel is a kludge, but she is a kludge built with love and care.” Whillem said.

“Yes, built by the Three Peaks Shipwrights, a feral shipbuilding collective. That is what the broker told me.” Dask replied.

“Yes, feral built, sort of. My people don’t have the industrial base of the other races. We have to work with the scraps and cast offs that we can get from your table. That doesn’t mean our work lacks quality. She will fly and will keep you alive while doing it. I wouldn’t get on this boat if it didn’t have those qualities. I’ve also taken the time to inventory our parts. I’ve taken the liberty of trading for some additional spares for the wear heavy systems.” Whillem said.

Whillem’ Action - Traded - Ship Parts (3 credit discount for next ship repair).

“Nice work, I wish I had better news. Sadly this port is awash with freelancers. I can’t get any potential client to take a meeting, especially when there is all of this established talent that we have to compete with,” Dask said, then sighed in frustration.

Dask’s Action - Find Patron - FAILED

Whillem regarded Dask for a second, then turned back to his work.

“Pardon me, captain. but I have some more checks to go before I’ll certify her.”

Dask spread his hands in an apologetic gesture.

“Of course, let me know when you’re done.”

Dask started towards the main access ramp and Midori fell into step beside him.

“He seems serious and professional, for a feral.” Midori quipped.

“I’ve got good references for him, he could’ve named his price working for any of the merchant lines that run from the frontier to the outer periphery. I have no idea why he signed on with us. Let’s see if our other new hires have arrived.”

As Dask and Midori approached the main access ramp they spotted Estra sitting on a crate of rations while staring into the middle distance. Her wild black hair ran down to her shoulders and her robes were caked with a layer of dust. If Dask didn’t know better, he would’ve dismissed her as a regular human living homeless and in poverty on the frontier, not a precursor that had been alive almost a full century more than Dask.

“Hi Estra, how’d things go?” Midori asked as she strode up to the crate and leaned forward.

“Hrm, I took a walk to find a tea house that a nice man told me about the last time I was here, which was maybe a decade ago. The place was gone, but I found a nice noodle stand instead. So I had lunch and some delightful conversations.” Estra replied while keeping her gaze fixed firmly on the horizon.

Estra’s Action - Explore - A Nice Chat

Dask’s brow furrowed with growing impatience.

“Did you learn anything useful?” Dask asked.

“No, but it was a nice time.” Estra replied without looking at Dask.

“Well, Estra. We’ll be skids up in half an hour, so get yourself and your things stowed before then.” Midori said.

“Of course Midori, I’ll be ready. Now shoo, I’m watching the birds.” Estra replied.

Dask gave Midori a long, lingering gaze as they climbed the ramp into the Hand of Fortune. 

“She’s your hire but I’m not sure exactly what she does.” Dask remarked.

“She grew up on a world under K’Erin occupation and has lived almost her entire life bouncing from starport to starport. She has been up and down the frontier twice and knows the ins and outs of the criminal fabric of most of the major worlds. If there is one person that can get us the kind of contacts we need, it is her. Her help has saved my life a couple of times,” Midori said.

Dask shrugged.

“Sure, anyway. What about the thing that I got you to do?” Dask asked.

“All done, I’ve submitted the decoy flight plans. Your horrible siblings should be off your trail for a while,” Midori said.

Midori’s Action - Decoy

Dask breathed a sigh of relief.

“Good, the last thing we want is my damn family trying to get in our way. What about our two aliens?” Dask asked as he rounded a corner and headed into the ship’s lounge; they came face to face with their two aliens.

P’Hol Tkan slid behind the towering form of Shoutheri with her lithe body and delivered two quick jabs to one of his kidney pairs. Shoutheri grunted with pain, then with more speed than an alien his size had any right to possess. Shoutheri neatly bowled over the thin engineer and tried to roll her into a hold. P’hol sensed that she would lose in mere seconds, rolled herself away from Shoutheri’s hold, then came up into a fighting stance. As Shoutheri rose to grapple her but P’Hol delivered a swift kick to Shoutheri’s knee.  Shoutheri hissed and clasped his hands into a ball, then thumped the steel decking three times, the traditional K’Erin signal of submission while in sparring and training. At this point they both noticed Dask and Midori watching, then climbed slowly to their feet.

“You two seem to be getting on just fine.” Dask said.

“This one, her weak looks may fool you, but she can fight!” Shoutheri bellowed as he clambered to his feet and offered P’Hol an extended hand. P’hol smiled and threw her delicate arm into his meaty paw, forming a firm wrist on wrist grasp.

Dask studied P’Hol for a moment and not for the first time found it odd that this engineer would forgo the traditional environment suit and mask that her kind wore. Instead she wore a tight fitting catsuit with cut off arms and legs. She went bare headed and unmasked, her skin was ocean blue and her eyes regarded Dask with a playful smile as they danced between Shoutheri and Dask. She smiled a white, toothy smile at both of them.

“You honour me, Shoutheri. Alas I had the misfortune to be born into this body rather than one like yours.” P’Hol said with her sing song, almost musical, voice.

Shoutheri grunted in admiration, then released the clasp.

“There is always the next life, just don’t be in a hurry to get there,” Shoutheri said, then lumbered over to a nearby couch and sprawled out.

P’Hol’s Action - Training

Shoutheri’s Action - Training

“My captain, do we have our first contract as a crew?” P’Hol asked as she picked up a towel and padded the sweat of her neck.

“Yes and no,” Dask said, then went over to the main holo-table and inserted a data stick.

The holo-table hummed to life, showing a contour map of a small facility in a remote corner of Harlen’s World.

Opportunity Mission - Access

Deployment - Surprise Encounter

Notable Site - Person of Interest

Enemies - Corporate Security

“No joy in getting a client, but I have decent intel for a target of opportunity.” Dask paused as Whillem and Estra appeared in the entrance of the ship’s lounge, then gestured for them to take a seat.

“The holo you are looking at is a remote secure data storage facility operated by a company called Yetrium Solutions. Back in the core worlds they are a fly by night data escrow service, but out here on the frontier, they are almost legitimate.

Their main business is facility secure data transactions between less than scrupulous corporate entities and private individuals. They also don’t ask any questions about  what they are exchanging, which has landed them in significant trouble with Unity regulators back in the core.

What I learned from a cursory dive into the planetary net was that Yetrium have recently received a data packet from a shadowy client who are operating even deeper in the frontier, and they are holding it for a core based client to pick up in a few days once the credits clear.

I also found a way to get us right up to the facility without the area scanners picking us up, we should be all over the local security by the time they even realise they are under attack.

Any questions so far?”

Whillem coughed, then raised a paw.

“Yes, what is the paydata?” he asked.

Dask shrugged, “I don’t know, doesn’t matter. All we know for sure is that it cleared five large UCs. It could be anything from deep space prospecting data to progress reports for a wildly illegal research project. No matter what it is, it is going to be valuable and I’m sure I can find a buyer.”

Estra cocked her head like a curious dog and studied Dask, before her gaze was drawn to the hologram.

“If it is research data, I want a copy. Otherwise no issues from me.”

“What about you three?” Dask asked Shoutheri, P’Hol, and Whillem.

The three of them looked at each other, then shrugged.

“No clean hands on the frontier, may as well get a taste of the action here until something better comes along.” P’Hol said, and Shoutheri grunted an affirmative.

Whillem growled a little bit, but shrugged.

“Our we have a ship, and a debt to service. I don’t think we can turn down any opportunity.” Whillem murmured.

“Excellent, then let’s get some credits.” Dask said with a smile.

Donovan, Jones & Associates - Campaign Start - Five Parsecs from Home

I'm starting a Five Parsecs from Home campaign as an excuse to use my Stargrave minis for something. I'm also planning on a series of narrative posts to describe the in game action.

Two relatively successful business persons, Dask Donovan and Midori Jones have formed a brand new partnership. They are intent on seeking their fortune on the frontier, flying an amalgam of ruined hulls, now repaired, barely, into a brand new ship, the Hand of Fortune. Together they have gathered other like minded rogues to their crew and are now striking out for fame, fortune, adventure and glory. As a crew they sit on the very edge of criminality, getting involved in a variety of less than savoury enterprises, but never quite stepping over the line and mostly being fair and honourable in their dealings.

Left to right: Dask Donovan, Estra, P'hol Tkan, Midori Jones, Whillem, Shoutheri

Ship Roll: Built from salvaged wrecks 

Debt: 31 Hull: 30 Traits: None

Crew Roll: A common cause or belief

Crew Rep: Somewhat honourable bandits

Dask Donovan is the fourth son of the infamous Donovan family, a wealthy clan of traders that have extensive holdings in the Unity core worlds. Having been sidelined by his siblings, he has no chance at directly inheriting the family’s wealth and little influence within the family. Dask has set out to the frontier to seek his fortune and build himself the necessary wealth and power base to challenge his siblings for the control of the Donovan family fortune. Since Dask is the primary shareholder of the vessel, he is the captain of the Hand of Fortune

Dask is trained as a hacker and has had a past career in data and financial crime

Background: Wealthy Merchant Family

Motivation: Power

Character Class: Hacker

Rivals: 2 (The Donovan Family Siblings) (Rival Hacker)

Midori Jones was born on a frontier colony with a very low tech base, Midori has always dreamed of becoming a legend throughout settled space. She has gone into business with Dask Donovan to purchase a ship and seek that fame and fortune on the frontier. Midori earned her initial wealth as an independent trader and brought a wide variety of contacts across the frontier. She is Dask’s business partner and first mate of the ship.

Background: Low-Tech Colony

Motivation: Fame

Character Class: Trader

Estra was born on a precursor colony that has been under K’Erin occupation for generations. Having grown tired of living as a second class citizen, and to satisfy her thirst for the advanced technology, she has struck out to the frontier and has signed on with Dask and Midori. Estra has managed to get by on low level street crime, having honed her survival skills by evading K’Erin patrols, and by enduring the occasional stint in a prison camp. This has made her quick on her feet and has given her a keen sense of survival.

Background: Subjugated Colony

Motivation: Technology

Character Class: Petty Criminal

Whillem was born on a Unity controlled frontier research outpost to as a cub of a pair of research assistants employed there. He grew up amongst the ongoing research programs in the outpost and as a consequence had access to an education that was significantly greater than usually open to many of his kind. Having grown up in this environment, Whillem believes in exploration and discovery and left the outpost out of a desire to blaze a trail into the undiscovered reaches of the galaxy. Whillem spent his first few years as a starship crewmate, further developing his technical skills. By the time he signed on with Dask and Midori he was already a seasoned spacer and a veteran technician.

Background: Research Outpost

Motivation: Discovery

Character Class: Starship Crew

P’hol Tkan grew up in the strict confines of Tech-Guild that her family belonged to. However, she had no desire to learn the inner workings of fusion engines, and instead left as soon as she was able. She became a mercenary on the frontier and remarkably, succeeded at it. She signed on with Dask to provide the crew with a bit more muscle. She longs for the freedom of a freelancer's life and will remain in service with the crew as long as she gets her fair share of the profits and has time to enjoy them.

Background: Tech Guild

Motivation: Freedom

Character Class: Mercenary

Shoutheri has had a hard life. He was raised by a frontier gang on a world devastated by weapons of mass destruction and constant Converter raids. In spite of this he thrived in this environment and eventually found his way off his doomed homeworld and sought a life of continuous adventure with freelancer crews. Right now Dask is offering Shoutheri a chance for adventure and a share of the spoils. As long as Shoutheri has those things, then Shoutheri is happy.

Background: Frontier Gang

Motivation: Adventure

Character Class: Primitive

The Golden Boy

I'm starting to reach the end of my backlog for 28mm, a recent bout of illness, the ongoing plague, and the usual enforced isolation of rolling lock downs has given me ample time to make solid progress on my pile of shame. In my case so much so, that I only have a handful of projects left. At the time of writing all I have is a Blood Bowl team and a bunch of scale model kits.

The nature of scale modelling requires the use of airbrush work and highly organised staging of the project, especially in the painting stage. Which often means waiting for a free weekend for some airbrush time, or just weather that is generally amenable to the usage of rattle cans outdoors. This has often left me without something on my hobby desk that I can do in bits and pieces, which is what minis are great for. So to ensure that I have something on hand to paint I've gone through a lot of my old minis and stripped some of the older character sculpts to be painting fodder for these situations.

The subject in this case is Captain Tycho. Like every kid that got into Warhammer 40k at the second edition boxed set I had a Blood Angels army, and I was up sold this particular model one night at a games night. Say what you will about GWs predatory sales practices, at least the mini they sold me has a nice, iconic look.

Another reason for this project is my contentious relationship with true metallics. They've never worked quite right for me and I've never enjoyed doing them. This goes double for gold and since most high ranking Blood Angels officers have gold armour, like the primarch, I thought this would be a good opportunity to take a solid shot at doing an all gold power armour paint job. Since Tycho was already in the pile he seemed like a decent distraction to pass the time. A bunch of my other projects were on hold, either waiting for the weekend or on materials to complete.

Throughout this article I will refer to a lot of paints with a shorthand to describe which range of paint they are part of. 

VMC - Vallejo Model Colour

This range is designed for scale modelers and tends to provide more natural and earthy colours. All of the technical paints that I use for this project are part of this range.

VGC - Vallejo Game Colour

This range is designed to compete with Games Workshop for the fantasy and sci-fi market. It has more vibrant colours than the model colour range. This tends to be my range of choice for middle of the road paint jobs as they work well with many of the technical paints from the model colour range

GW - Games Workshop

You all know who these guys are, they aren't quite the hegemony they used to be, but many of their products are still quite useful for getting a good paint job, especially for reduced effort.

Stage 0 - Preparation

This is the universal stage for almost all my minis without exception. The one break from the image posted above is my newly adopted habit of fully painting the base prior to the miniature. I do this so I can do dry brushing without having to work carefully around the feet of a painted mini. Of course prior to this step I prime my model along with the base work already glued down. My primer is an all over coat of Corax white, as I am a firm believer that white is the superior primer for achieving a good result, but it does mean you have to work a little harder to get coverage. My usual method for painting the base is very much like 2000s GW house style. A Black rim, brown base with static grass. My method for achieving this is as follows.

1. Paint gravel on the base all over with VMC German Camo Black Brown. This will require at least two coats, as it will need to first soak into the sand or gravel on the base before you get good coverage with the second coat.
2. Over brush with VMC Flat Earth. This stage is a halfway between a dry bursh and regular brushing. You want to lightly drag your brush with a load of paint that isn't completely wet across the surface to build up the earth tones over the black brown. Be careful that the paint isn't too wet or runny, if it is you will flood the black brown. Once this is complete the majority of the base should be the earth colour which then graduates into black brown in the recesses.
3. Dry brush with VMC Dark Sand. This layer should provide some sharp contrast with the other colours and give the base a lot more depth. Keep this as light as you can ideally, though you can make it denser to taste.

Once the base paint job is done I left the rest of the base for the end of the model, as I find that rimming the base now will only end up rubbing off during the painting process. I also don't apply any flock until the very end as well.

Stage 1 - Armour

Since the majority of the miniature will be this colour, I started with the armour. This is generally a no-brainer, as I wanted to get the most surface area done before I start to pick out the detail. Normally I'd also consider doing deep detail as well, like suit linkages, but due to the nature of metallics it is better to do one entirely before moving onto regular colours.

To start with I did some undercoating on the areas that will take the gold, this does help minimize the number of coats required to get an even coverage of the metallic. For this stage I picked VGC Leather Brown because it is a similar tone to the two gold paints in the VGC range I have available. Nothing fancy at this stage, just one coat, I don't care a great deal about the coverage.

Next up is the gold itself. For this stage I used VGC Glorious Gold to achieve my first base coat. This took two layers. One for the initial colour and the next to even out the first coat.

Next I over brushed some VGC Polished Gold over the previous gold colour. I did this to create some variation with the shine, and to aid with providing some highlights. This only needed one coat, as we've already established the overall gold with the previous layer.

Now the gold is pretty much done, we need to establish our shades. I have always had a hard time shading gold, though the general consensus seems to be that reddish browns are the answer to that, especially given how popular Reikland Fleshshade is for this purpose. I ended up going with two distinct shade layers for this gold. The first was my main shade, the second was a targeted recess shade.

For my first shade I opted to use VGC Terracotta as I am very fond of this colour as it is a very rich reddish brown, and when mixed with water and glaze medium, it can make a great shader for many colours.

To apply the shade I used a glazing technique, where I start at the top of the part I want to shade, say an armour plate, and drag my brush from top to bottom. This means that everywhere is coated, but the majority accumulates at the bottom of the surface, just be sure that it doesn't form blotches. Once the piece is dry, I reapplied the shade but this time I didn't start at the top. Instead I aimed one quarter down from the top and repeated the process from there. Then I worked my way down by increments until a graduated shade had been built up on the surface. I repeated these steps until I had the desired shade. Afterwards I used a slightly thicker mix of the glaze to try and pin wash some of the more recessed details in preparation for the second level shade.

The next level shade was the same Terracotta colour, but a little thicker, and with some VGC Dark Fleshtone mixed in to really make any recesses pop. After that I moved on to highlighting.

I felt like I'd lost the luster of the gold, so I grabbed the VGC Polished Gold and reapplied it on some of the more broader and exposed areas. After that I applied my one and only highlight to the gold, an edge highlight of VGC Sliver on the sharpest areas and a few of the upturned areas. After this stage I called the armour done and moved on to the intermediate details.

Stage 2 - Intermediate Details

This category is broadly anything that isn't the armour, silver toned metallics or the skin tones. For this model, the weapon, the wing details on the buckle and pauldron, and some of belt kit and loincloth, the pauldron trim, and the purity seals, seemed like items that needed to be distinct picked out out at this stage.

Intermediate details after all bases, shades and highlights applied.

Trim and Wing Bit

For this part I used VMC Black I used the VMC black rather than the VGC because VGC tends to have a glossy finish, and VMC is very matt. After that I didn't apply and further shading as black can't be shaded. Instead I applied highlights with VGC Cold Grey and called it done.

Wings and Belt Buckle

These parts are the wing iconography on the left shoulder pad and the belt buckle. My method for these doesn't stray too far from the traditional citadel method for painting such designs. To start with I base coated the entire thing with VMC Ghost Grey then gave it a wash of VMC Black mixed with glaze medium. After it dried I found the effect to be a bit to dark, so I base coated again and washed with GW Nuln Oil, and liked the effect much more. Once the wash was dry, I re-layered the mid tones with Ghost Grey, then picked out the sharpest edges with VGC Dead White.

Weapon

The weapon was base coated with VGC Bonewhite as I wanted a nice, warm white for this part, much like the bone white armour of the Deathwing. There was no real thematic reason, I thought it would look good. To shade this component I then mixed a shade using VMC Glaze Medium and VGC Leather Brown. To make this wash I mixed one part shade colour with two parts glaze medium and two parts water. This results in an extremely pigment thin liquid, that when applied like wash will tone the upper surfaces and accumulate in the deeper ones. Once the wash was dry I re-layered the basecoat of Bonewhite, then gave all of the sharpest edges a highlight of VGC Offwhite.

Loincloth, Belt Pouches, and Seal

All of these surfaces were base coated with VGC Gory Red. After that I applied a wash of 50/50 VGC Hexed Lichen/VGC Dark Fleshtone. The reason for this is that if we apply our colour theory, purple is the shade colour for red, but I also wanted to darken it a bit more with a brown colour, and Dark Fleshtone was already in front of me at the time. Once washes were dry I re-layered with the base coat where appropriate, then applied edge highlights of VGC Bloody Red.

Inner Suit

These are the black flexible joints that connect the various sections of the character's power armour together. My method for these is fairly simple as I dislike painting these parts on space marines in general. I always start with a grey colour, in this case VGC Stonewall Grey then I shade down with a mix of VMC Black and VMC Glaze Medium. In between every application I let the paint fully dry. Doing this results in the deepest recesses having a gradual shade built up, while the ridges of the connections remain grey. I repeated these steps until I was happy with the final result.

Scroll Work

I cribbed heavily of GW house style for doing scrolls and parchment, why fix what isn't broken after all? To start with I used VGC Khaki as a base coat, which is basically identical to Ubshanti Bone. Next up, I shaded with a glaze/colour mix of VGC Charred Brown. Then re layered mid-tones, Then highlights of VGC Bonewhite to finish. I saved the writing on the scroll work for the final details stage.

Stage 3 - Skin and Hair

After all skin, hair and face details have been applied.

To do the skin I started with a base coat of VGC Elf Flesh. I applied two even layers until I was happy with the coverage. I then mixed up a wash of VGC Tan  and VMC Glaze Medium. I find that Tan is a great colour for shading flesh, though I accidentally made the wash a bit to thin on the first application, so I ended up going back with a stronger paint to medium mix for a second pass. While the wash was drying I base coated the hair with VMC Buff. This is the base for Tycho's blonde hair. I've always had a hard time with hair, and blonde is my second most difficult to paint colour apart from pure black. The purpose of starting with Buff is that it will be our highlight colour and we will be shading down to our mid-tone. I did by mixing up a batch of VGC Scrofulous Brown with VMC Glaze Medium as a wash.

Again, all of these washes take some time to fully dry, thanks to the glaze medium. I'd definitely recommend having another project on the go, a nice video game, or a book to pick up while it dries.

Once these were dry I immediately re-layered all of the mid-tones on the skin with Elf Flesh. Since the facial detail is very well defined I got a lot of good contrast happening. I then highlighted the face with VGC Pale Flesh paying particular attention to the laugh lines, the eyebrows, cheeks, and the chin. This completed the facial details. To finish up the hair I applied some highlights at the roots and the tips of the hair with VMC Buff and left it at that.

 The eyes aren't much of a problem for me, granted I've had a lot of practice and the right equipment for it. The trick with it is to have a brush that has the ideal point for eyes, and use a very thin paint, but not so much paint that it will run. Since my eyesight is pretty bad, I used an optivisor to help see what I was doing in the final stages of the application.

The colour I used for the eye itself was VGC Offwhite. Then I applied the pupil, slightly towards the nose, leaving more white on the outer edge of the eye. The colour I used for the pupil was VMC Black Grey. With the eyes done the face is now complete. From here I went on to the silver metallics on the model.

Stage 4 - Silver Metallics

Broadly speaking, I consider every metallic that is not gold, brass, or bronze, a silver metallic. This ranges from silver jewelry and almost black gunmetal. My method for painting these details is broadly the same. However, for different metal types I did slight modifications to my base method. I'll go into full details for each.

After all silver metallics completed.

To start with, I base coated all silver metallics, regardless of their final colour with VGC Gunmetal. Then once they were completely dry, I gave them all a very careful wash with GW Nuln Oil. I think this is my favorite style for metallics, though if you feel like it, you can also get similar results with direct application of a very watered down black paint.

This is where the two set of metallics diverged. The first category of metallics are utility metals that are non-ornamental. These include the metallic components of the weapon, and the various connecting hoses on the armour. For these I simply applied a highlight with VGC Chainmail Silver and left them at that. The other category of metallics are the ornamental metallics, these include the necklace and the various blood angels gem sockets on the armour, I also did part of the belt buckle this way. From the current shaded gunmetal, I gave these pieces a layer of VGC Chainmail Silver then highlighted with VGC Silver, to create a shiner silver metallic. The only other metallic I completed at this stage were the bolter shells visible in the magazine. This was simply a layer of VGC Brassy Brass with a GW Agrax Earthshade wash.

Stage 5 - Final Details

This is the stage of the miniature where all the colours are down and things look significantly better. Which means this is the time I took a break and had a think about what details and additional flourishes I wanted to add to the final result.

All final details applied, ready for final basing.

Blood Angel Gemstones

The blood drop gemstones were a bit difficult for me. I started with various layers of Carroburg Crimson and Bloodletter over white, but I didn't think they provided a sufficiently red result. So in the end I went with a contrast paint GW Baal Red as an initial layer, then put in a dot for reflection, then overlaid the dot and the Baal Red with GW Bloodletter as a glaze. I was fairly happy with this result.

Redone Mask Eyepiece

Not much to say here, I didn't like the red for the eyepiece, so I substituted it out for GW Waaagh Flesh. Even though there are no other green details on the model. I was happy to do this because the green contrasts nicely with the red details, thus balancing it out a bit in my opinion.

Decorative Detail on the Weapon

I painted this the same way as I did the wings and belt buckle detail, not much to say otherwise.

Freehand Text on Scroll Work

To finish off the scroll work I sketched out the impression of  writing on the smaller purity seals, using VGC Gory Red to give the impression of a leading illuminated character and then the main text with a very thinned down VMC Black.

The writing on the shoulder bad was a bit more difficult. I'm not great at freehand, and I generally find these tasks quite challenging. The trick to painting text on scroll work is that you need to start at the center of the scroll and work your way out. In this case since Tycho is a five letter word I painted a C in the dead center of the banner, then a Y to the left of it and a H to the right. I then added a T to the left of the Y and an O to the right of the H. This resulted in the text going down nicely and being mostly centered on the scroll.

Chapter badge and scroll work.

Freehand Chapter Icon

This part was the only stage of the model that I would consider a definite fuck up. But it was getting towards the end of the project and I wanted to wrap it up, so I didn't feel like trying to redo or remove it. I attempted to sketch out the Blood Angels chapter badge on my wet palette as practice. Once I was happy with the result I tried to translate that effect to the curved surface of the shoulder pad. I initially used VGC Gory Red, but gradually tried to define the shape more with VGC Bloody Red, and VGC Hot Orange. In the end I couldn't quite get the impression of the wings that I wanted, so I left the design as is.

Final Basing

Once all of the work with the miniature was done, I black rimmed the base with VMC Black and once that was dry I glued some patches of static grass on the base with Modge Podge. Thus completing the miniature.

Final Results

Shoulder pad freehand aside, I am very happy with how this mini turned out. I'm not sure I quite hit the mark with attempting to shade the gold armour, but the overall effect against the other details is still quite good in my book. I think the gemstone details came out pretty well, definitely a point in favor of the contrast line for doing a fairly complex and usually annoying detail very quickly.

Overall, it was a fun mini to paint, and it was nice to paint a single and not worry about the rank-and-file waiting for their turn behind him. I hope to do more of these one offs in future as it makes good fodder to write about, and is generally far less time consuming than a full army, even a small one. Anyway, that does it for today. Good luck with your own painting.

Ground Worth Fighting For

It has been a good long while since I've posted something here, over a year as a matter of fact. It is not that I haven't been busy, far from it. My shame pile has been shrinking to the point where it may well disappear in the near future. Most of what I have left tend to be scale models rather than miniatures, and for both, I have been staying away from online shopping in order to avoid growing the pile anymore, not that there has been much that I have been interested coming out of late.

For a rundown of what I've been doing you should definitely visit Little Mangs of War which is now the home of my miniatures painting progress, and I haven't been feeling the need to post as often as I used to, which allows me to focus on quality again. I've even dusted off the SLR and practiced lifting my photo game and I have to say, the results have been promising.

Anyway, my dad has been keeping himself busy during lockdown with his 3D printer. Which is interesting because I have found myself in a situation where anything I find on thingiverse I can have in quantity if I want it, and all I have to do is ask. Since the printer in question is not a resin job, the print quality is not there for miniatures, but for terrain it has been perfect.

To that end I have decided to continue my half abandon terrain projects that I've had on the burn for a long while, especially for game system that I play more regularly than others. This does mean my dad's 3D printer will get more of a workout, but I have no doubt that terrain crate, or any of the other non-gw manufacturers of fine wargaming terrain will get some of my business.

Completed Projects

The Reclaimed Sector

I started building this one some time ago as my go to set for almost all systems at the 28mm scale. It is a combination of assorted wargaming trees that I build up over the years combined with some MDF ruined wall sections that I've done up to simulate water damage, moss, and rot.

Not pictured is my box of rocks and hills. To provide some elevation, and for variety I have a box of aquarium features, some lumps of coral and modular wargaming hills, both 3D printed and from manufacturers.

The Imperial Ruins

I have a decent collection of the usual modular 40k ruins which work great for games of regular 40k, Necromunda, and Kill Team, but I find them distinctly jarring when using them for other systems and settings. I have enough to set up a regular ruined cityscape, the close confines of the underhive and these also pair well with my Reclaimed sector board if I want to do a semi-industrial landscape or the fringes of a barely colonized Imperial world.

With this in mind I have a few ideas for a couple of new projects I've been kicking around mentally, and stand to be a lot cheaper than usual due to the access to a 3D printer.\

Upcoming Projects

Gaslands

Gaslands is a great little game, but due to the strange scale I'm going to need to have a serious think about a Mad Max style desert map. I've already got enough rocky outcroppings to break up the lines of sight a bit, now all I need are some drivable hills, appropriately scale vegetation, buildings and ruins, as well as some rusted out hulks from former battles. This is probably going to be the most challenging of the projects.

Battletech

A set of Battletech terrain shouldn't be too hard to resolve, most of my smaller trees would look quite at home on a Battletech board, as will my rocks and hills. However, the built environment is going to be a challenge. Fortunately thingiverse has plenty of options to explore and even better, they are easy and quick to paint. I think will be able to throw up a variety of  desert and woodland battlefields before too long.

Stargrave

The drive for this project has definitely been a desire to play some sci-fi skirmish games on a board that doesn't resemble the usual grimdark horror of the 41st millenia. This will mean a lot of 3D prints to fill out a frontier spaceport or colony world, and Mantic have a lot of options with their terrain crate offerings, though I am open to other suggestions.

Anyway, as I start to finish these projects I'll remember to throw up some photos as I go, that is all for now.