Dreadtober 2022 Week 4

 Almost There…

Another WIP photo of this year's dread.  Body details are finished, now I just need to paint the arms.

Dreadtober 2022 - Week 2

Better Red Than Dread

Dropping this rough workbench photo to update my Dreadtober progress so far.  Most of the base coat work has been completed so I can move on to detail work over the next week.  Lurking in the blurry photo background is my unfinished dread from last year.  Hopefully I can finish him off this month and make this year's Dreadtober a twofer.  Be sure to check out all the goodness over at the main Dreadtober site.  If you enjoy painting classic goodness like the crimson sarcophagus above, Season 4 of the 40K2ndAC is taking applicants. 

 

Dreadtober 2022 - First Blood

 'Ere We Go Again...

Hello abandoned readers. As the pumpkin spice flavored weather sets in, I will attempt to use Dreadtober as an excuse to rejuvinate this blog.  For this year's Dreadtober I have been fully immersed in the 2nd edition spirit in anticpation of the impending kick off for 40K2ndAC Season 4!  This season's entry for me will be an abrupt departure from this blog's namesake in order to paint an army I spent many hours day dreaming about in high school - Orks!  

Larger base means mores skulls, carefully following the 41st millenia's strict skulls per square feet of ground ratios.

Since I won't be painting any space marines for that challenge, I am going to cram in at least one more space marine model before getting stuck in with my Orks in December.  This year's Dreadtober model will be the boxy Mark IV Blood Angels dreadnought which was shown in the ad pages of many a White Dwarf issue in the 90's as well as appearing in several Battle Reports.  As you can see from the pictures it will be the period proper 5 lbs of pewter that could be used as a door stop or murder weapon depending on one's mood.

It's only fitting to leverage Dreadtober for blog renewal since I started this blog back in 2019 to particpate in Dreadtober for the first time.   During that fateful autumn I had a lot of hobby energy after attending Nova Open for the first time that year and I needed an outlet for all the excitement I had about the hobby.  Back then I only played once a month at best and other than that one gaming group I was relatively unconnected to the greater hobby community, even though I live in an area where tabletop gaming is very popular.  

It took forever to scrub all the red from its previous paint job out of all the tiny recesses.

The blog began as a way to connect with the larger hobby community and in that respect it was a massive success.  I now spend so much time gaming with friends new and old that I have connected to through the blog, that the blog itself has experienced long periods of inactivity.  Hopefully the upcoming community projects will keep the blog rolling along, and if not I'll just retreat to a social media site where much less work is required to post my hobby progress ;-)

Thank you to readers who have stayed or have just joined, and see you next week with a dreadnought that will hopefully be at least red.  Be sure to head to the main Dreadtober site for all the community's awesome work.  Also the 40K2ndAC Season 4 is taking applicants if you want to become involved follow the link.

Dreadtober 2021 Week 3

 Bring Out Your Dread!

Dreadtober 2021 Week 2

The Walking Dread...

This week almost all the base coats for the many details were finished.  I'm feeling like it's about to crest that wave where it goes from looking a mess to the downhill side of model painting where it finally looks like something and you're continuing to improve its appearance each time you paint.  The next step will be washes and highlights.  Check out all the great fun over at the main Dreadtober site.  Also, thanks to Marc over at Old School Gaming who is coordinating all the action for Dreadtober.

Dreadtober 2021 Week 1

 Better Dread Than Right Said Fred…

Work on my Venerable Dreadnought is coming along well.  I have the base colors, shades, and part of the highlights done on the legs, as well as beginning to base coat the upper body.  As a tribute to the huge 2nd Edition army I have painted in the last year, I attached a 2nd edition bolter (slightly glue scarred from a tween years attempt at kit bashing combi-weapons) to the base.  Be sure to check out all the great work at the main Dreadtober site and we will see you again next week, same Dread time, same Dread channel.

#Dadgoals - The Battle Is Joined

 Beware The Ides Of March...

My son started collecting his first official 40K army back in the fall and he chose the elite Space Marines of the Deathwatch.  They are a perfect army for a ten year old I think, due to the low model count and ability to arm them with any thing that takes your fancy.  By February he had enough forces assembled and painted so that we could get in his first game with his new forces.  We still played with 8th edition rules, since my update to 9th edition had not arrived in the mail yet.  He placed the scatter terrain and we used my recently completed table tiles in all their wooded wonder.  As per usual he won handily, his small Deathwatch force laying waste to the numerically superior Red Corsairs.  My only moral victory was that the Predator won the tank duel and destroyed his Land Raider.  Once I digest all the 9th edition rules we are excited to start a Crusade campaign so hopefully I'll have some updates on that situation this spring.  Thanks for reading!

A Hundred Yards Over the Dreadtober

 Red Corsairs Helbrute Final Pictures 

Since the generous coordinator of Dreadtober has given us an extra week to add any finishing touches we need to round out our projects.  Even though I had this guy "battle-ready' last week, I felt like the model was a little flat overall.  I tried to counter that by painting all the trim Boltgun Metal which helped to make it a little more visually exciting, I think.  The white also had some highlights added, as well as details on the Dark Angels helmet on the base.  Painting that helmet in the colors of my chosen chapter seemed most appropriate since I'm sure this Helbrute will be most often used by my son in opposition to my 1st Legion forces.  Thanks to Marc at Old School Gaming who coordinated this years project and made a cool badge for everyone who participated.  Be sure to check out the final post on the Dreadtober site that will be coming sometime in the next few days, there were a lot of amazing entries this year.

I've been trying to do some photo alterations to make my pictures look more like the miniatures do in real life but obviously I'm not quite there yet ;-)

Mr Dreadtober On Doomsday

 Red Corsairs Helbrute - To-Done?

Typing the text before I even have the pictures to go with it since I will still be madly painting tonight.  I'm not sure when Macrodutch will compile the End of Dreadtober post for the site, so I wanted to have the most recent work pictured even though I don't think I will be 100% finished when the pictures go into this post.  The model is certainly "battle-ready" in GW's parlance, but I think I'll spend the weekend trying to finish the details on this monster.  Happy Halloween!

Perchance to Dreadtober

 Red Corsairs Helbrute WIP

So many details left to finish up, but highlighting the armor panels last night really shifted the appearance and gave me hope I can finish this guy by Friday.  Keep your power claw talons crossed...

I Sing The Dreadtober Electric

 Red Corsairs Helbrute Second Week

It may not look like much has changed since last week, but things are starting to come together with this Helbrute's paint scheme.  I think I have covered all the horns and spikes with Xandri Dust, thinking that a bone similar to my Deathwing units will work for those details.  The mutated muscles had Screamer Pink and Pink Horror painted over the shaded Mephiston Red that was the basecoat.  I'm hoping to be able to evoke a sort of exposed muscle look with the layering of pink on the red.  I shaded the texture paint on the base to tie the disparate (grass, rock, mud) areas of the turf together.  I'm glad this month is extra long because I feel like I'm going to need all the time I can get to cover all the tiny details on this model.  Check out all the other great projects at the Dreadtober site.

Dreadtober WIP

 Red Corsair's Helbrute First Week's Progress

There is so much detail on this model, it can be a little intimidating when you first start to paint the Helbrute.  I'm trying to work with the base color of shaded Mephiston Red, painting layers right over it and using the combination of colors to try and achieve the colors I want for the many details.  Screamer Pink was painted on the fleshy mutated parts and Squib Orange was painted on the cable housings.  The base is finished from a construction standpoint, I added some small slate rocks from GW around the large rock piece he is standing on.  There was sand added and then painted green in a throwback style to tie it into the bases of my Red Corsairs marines who have classic Goblin Green bases.  Dreadtober rocks to be engaged in again and I can't wait to see what the other participants are working on.

Dreadtober Complete!

My Dark Angels Mark V dreadnought is finally finished.  Considering it's only the first week of November that's pretty good versus my lifetime hobby progress pace.  This may be the first time I completed a vehicle size project in six weeks.  It used to be that I'd paint something almost all the way to completion but stop short of the final highlights and decals.  Fortunately over the last few years my final stage highlighting abilities have improved and I have gotten the hang of decals just in the last few months.  Like a super powered dynamic duo these last elements falling into place means I'm finishing units and vehicles 100% for the first time in my gaming life which is insane considering I've been playing for almost 30 years.

"Taste the cleansing flame of eradication heretic!"

Dreadtober Week Five

"Almost there, almost there ..."

Like Red Leader in the Death Star trench, I am tantalizingly close to finishing my dreadnought.  The final Dreadtober post will go up today and I will be too busy with kiddos Halloween tonight so here are some quick new pictures hopefully in time to make the final update.

Dreadtober Week Four

Tales from the Dreadside

Boy am I glad there are five weeks in October this year.  Sliding in at the last minute with an update for tomorrow's weekly Dreadtober check in.

Dreadtober Week Three

Dreadtober rolls on, shredding painting days off the calendar with it's time-space continuum rending assault cannon...

Dreadtober TBT

This Contemptor was the first dreadnought I've painted.  When I was younger I always went for space marine tanks and I've only started buying dreads in the last few years.  The painting was finished in the spring but I just recently figured out how to use decal solvents to put the last touches on the model.  IMHO, that makes these the perfect pictures for some Dreadtober throw back Thursday action (I'm only several years late on this trend).

Dreadtober Week Two

When Will Then Be Now?

Alright now that I've filled in my pictures of the project's start and last weeks progress we can emerge from the time-stream (hopefully without the former governor of California naked one-knee kneeling in a coruscating blue globe of energy) in the present with a picture of this week's painting.  I want to get an update in tonight since the main Dreadtober site updates with all the hobby progress on Fridays.

Dreadtober Week One

Part The Second

Technically Week One of Dreadtober was last week, but since I just invented this blog on Sunday I'm still back filling a little bit.  If you are one of the what I still assume to be imaginary readers of this blog, you should really take a minute to head over to the Dreadtober site and check out all the awesome models people are working on.  It gives me a very positive feeling about the hobby I love to see so many people participating.  Growing up as a classic rock fan Rocktober always followed Zeptember, but I think Dreadtober may be crushing Rocktober in it's dreadnought sized power fists.

Dreadtober Week One

Part the First

Now that we got some origins out of the way, onto to the pictures of the models!