The Work of James K. Craig
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Though this article was more or less ready to go before Christmas I have only just gotten around to formatting it. Sorry again for the delays - a combo of work pressure and family responsibility have really stretched me thin recently and I heartily apologise.
(I think this is a reasonable graphic representation of me trying to keep up with life)
That being said I have the new Beastmen Armybook, have made some interesting choices with my beasts and will continue to blog their development for some time. Heck I even entered another tournament since the one im talking about today where I got to try the new list 
So lots to discuss/show/build - and thats just my one army. I am also getting back to FOW modelling, a couple more scenery pieces, going NUTS with my new favorite game BLOODBOWL!!! and I may even be teaching a college interest course on painting and weathering models!!! So do stay tuned! now back to the beasts:
With the minos out of the way I only had a few things to finish off for the tournament. Fully aware that this was going to be the last ride for my old beasts and likely to carry over for a while as stand in models while I adjust to the new book I tried only to add things that should carry over tot he new book without too much worry.
I “completed” a couple of 3 hour ungor herds - 22 models = 6 hours work!!!!! I didnt really put too much effort into these because 1) I was running out of time and 2) These were just some extra assembled ones I got in a lot from a buddy when I bought his beasts. It is fully my intent to finish converting my own ungors and/or use the new ungor models in the long term but for now - for the mixed herd setup it was get em done - and quite frankly they still look not too bad for rank fillers really.
I think I just did these with the old badger 100g airbrush and a couple of quick washes/teeth paint touches
Yeah they are pale but, like the minos, they were done in time and met the colour requirements for the tournament without looking like complete @$$ :P (and adding the “space fillers” of my mordheim minotaur and the mid transformation spawn from my Morghur base really dressed the units up as well.) So for nil time and much to do I am generally pleased - they do their job of neither detracting nor jumping out from the models on the table allowing the pieces that are properly done to shine.
I hope that in the new rules ungors will be useful as I actually look forward to doing my actual proper ungors to replace these. I have all centigor spear arms (got on that before bitz orders disappeared) for them so wont have to deal with the little bendy spears and I have several really cool conversions in various states of completion. Until then these will stand in.
Here is the last of the units I painted up to a speedy get it on the table standard for that tournament -
Long term I have a second one of the knarloc chariots to finish but I didnt want to rush that so this is an orc Chariot that I got in a pile of stuff from a buddy - I ripped off the drivers, changed the standard, pulled off the boar heads and used the one tuskgor head I could find in my bitzbox and a better looking ork special character boar head.
The driver was actually the paint scheme test/idea model for my Beastmen - he has been sitting for many moons gathering dust so I thought he deserved to take a chariot for a spin ;)
When all was said and done I had a fully painted Beastmen army that functioned well as a whole. Between picking up enormous “soft” scores for painting and sportsmanship I actually managed to win two of my three games in the tournament. As such I came out statistically WAAAAAAY ahead of my opposition and was named the 2009 LOST GAMES CLUB WARHAMMER CHAMPION!!!!!!! WOOOOHOOO!!!
Nobody saw that one coming.
So a spoiler - as I had been asked - yes I did manage to finish the stuff for that tournament…..no im not going to reveal the rest yet still feeding it out a step at a time as I am able and as is reasonable. As to the Minotaurs that I was building, here ya go - they were done enough to take with me but far from truly done - Basically I did my basecoats and first highlight using the airbrush and then tossed in a couple quick details but nothing much. When I built these It was in full realisation that new plastic minotaurs were on the way and as such I didnt want to put too much time into painting them in case I really liked the new models. Well the truth is - not only have these models REALLY grown on me, but I am not totally thrilled with the new GW minotaurs either.
The concept is cool but the anatomy bothers me (those legs - UGH!), either way I have really grown to love my own minotaurs so I will be spending more time painting these and they have found a proper home in my force for the long term. I may pick up a few bits from the minos and rearm a couple models or replace a banner but we shall see…. In the meantime here are the 8 models I made - im pretty proud overall I think they have a very unique look and will be really sweet when finished! Enjoy.
Got this question in my inbox:
Hey mate if you dont mind me asking i really like your army and was wondering, if you wouldnt mind sharing the recipe for the skin and fur, much appreciated.
Matt
No problem  Note: I rarely use pure colours and almost all of these are mixes based on my aesthetic preference at the time of painting. Unless otherwise noted the paints are all Vallejo
Grey Skin:
German Grey is the main base colour This is then built up with mixes with basalt grey, london grey, light grey and sometimes US grey (ill have to double check the name on that last one) for a warmer tone. I use Luftwaffen blue grey to cool down some of the shadows and sometimes a touch of SS camo black brown or buff mixed into a grey (again for warmer shadows and tones)
Fur:
SS Camo Black Brown mixed through GW scorched brown and GW bestial brown. Sometimes I will add a touch of Buff or Ivory and wash with Vallejo smoke or sometimes a GW wash.
Horns - mixes of SS Camo Black Brown, Buff, Ivory
NMM Steel - Luftwaffen Blue Grey built up with Basalt grey, touches of german grey and matte alluminium.
You will notice that the majority of the colours are used throughout the model - never in just one place - this helps to create harmony and unity in the model - looks much more natural this way - on the other hand it also means more difficult mixing and aesthetic judgements in order to keep each part looking like a separate identifiable materials.
So it has been about a month since I last posted and the honest truth is that Christmas holidays totally sucked away any spare web updating time I thought I might have.
So here is a belated Christmas card to all my readers….
Here are a couple pics of my son on Christmas morning (at my parents house) and while I was taking care of him on my own through the holidays….
I did manage a few random hobby things but not much (finished glueing arms on the dark elf bloodbowl team I made for a kid at school etc.) and I played some Dark Heresy with my buddies who came home for Christmas (oooh radicals handbook and dark conspiracies for Christmas……Drool!!!!)
Best gift of the season though goes to my wife who has agreed to purchase me a custom figure case from battlefoam to carry my beastmen in - more on this whole process to come in the next few months when I finalise which size/spaces I am going to need for new beasts army book stuff……
Otherwise we should now be back to buisness as usual - a new beasts post for next week is already prepared and the one for the week after is coming along nicely. I will continue blogging these for a bit in anticipation of the new book and will also update on my bloodbowl team in the next while.
Also please do check out my Bloodbowl League Blog Crusadercup.blogspot.com which is updated weekly during our season!
As discussed in my previous post I decided to field a very different Beasts army for tthe upcoming Lost WFB Championship event. I would not be taking Morghur and creating the usual spawn spam list that i enjoy so much (I LOVE ARMY RANDOMNESS). Instead I would be creating an army around a Doombull and two units of minotaurs (which I didnt have), two herds (which meant painting up 20-30 ungors), two chariots (of which I only had one painted), my giant and a little extra surprise for my opponents if I manage to get it all done in one month of time……) Oh and I wanted it all painted.
UGH.
First up was the Minotaurs which I decided to make from the Ogres I had collected. I bitz ordered marauder champion horse heads like the one above, got out my glue, knife and putty and got to work…. And after some reworking and rethinking I came up with the following for my first four.
I think they look pretty good though the learning curve has been interesting. I will be making 4 more of these and expect that I will probably then come back and edit these a bit -several require more hair for a start and I intend to change the left arm of the club weilder as the pose is too compact - but it is a good start nonetheless. Also, I genuinely like the look. Hot dang!!! Im not sure I am going to even bother with the new GW ones when they come out unless they are spectacular.
 
I am particularily pleased with the variety of looks that I have been able to achieve with the same horse head as the basis. A few new horns and some careful clipping made for great variety. I would especially like to thank the bloodletter champ who gave his horns to the cause in such an unselfish manner heh heh heh
 
These arent going to be golden demon pieces and so may have the odd rough edge but I think that they assembled well enough and, with a little application of skill, should paint up well enough that modelling flaws need not be noticable in any meaningful context.
Well thats it for now - much to do - cya with my next installment.
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