even more land raider freehands

i saw you guys like my land raider freehands so i guess you're gonna enjoy this new one

black templars marshall

do you remember this space marines captain? if you don't it is the one who came in the space marines command squad box... nice mini isn't it? well it belongs to Teo and i painted it for tomorrow tournament (wish us good luck please :-)) with a special commemorative banner of our alliance, do you like it?

UPDATE: if you don't know what this banner means, please check out this post that talks about our brand new alliance between Ultramarines and Black Templars

more land raider freehands!

if you liked the last one then you're gonna love this, i guess... these are the names of various Ultramarines commanders that led my army in battle (including captains, chaplains and even the brand new lord of the forge)... i wrote them here like a "hall of heroes" you know... too bad i had to cut names like Prometheus or Spartacus... but there was simply no more room.
sorry for the crappy light but i couldn't wait morning to take this pic since i wanted to show you right now! if you like it i'll provide a better one, so please give me some feedback, thank you.

land raider freehand heraldry

hi guys, please check out my last effort... do you like it? now i'll draw something ASAP for the "roof" and the right side of the tank so stay tuned. ah, i accept every form of advice!

Land raider reporting!

HERE IT COMES!
well, after endless months it is finally ready to face a tournament! please enjoy my brand new land raider... well, not exactly brand new: i bought it in 1999, when the model finally came out, i painted badly the first time but now it looks much better after a radical restyling! what do you think? in reality it is not yet finished, i gotta paint some freehands in order to make it really unique.
well, what about my 1st company tank crew?do you like the banner?

space marine banner

i always hated paper banners until now because i've finally understood how to paint them well. this banner has been made to celebrate the alliance between my Ultramarines and Teo's Black Templars that will fight side by side in a 40k 2vs2 tournament on 20th september, so please wish us good luck! do you like it?

valhallan veteran heavy weapon team

this heavy weapon team belongs to my company command squad. white beret and helmet denotes the veteran status (with just a glance i can realize in no time on the battlefield who has BS4)... also, please note the C on the lascannon armour plate that stands for "command" and the regiment heraldry on troopers' right sleeve. what do you think?

EDIT: please enjoy this better, brand new pic! notice the snow added on the base!

imperial container

this is a piece of scenery made by my friend Orlando for his table and painted by me: it represents a container, like the ones they use on cargo ships... this one belongs to the Cadian 812th, an imperial guard regiment meant to be destroyed by eldar or other aliens in our setting. it is meant to fit a small spaceport in an eldar virgin planet so you can imagine the story that there's back: cadian guys come to colonize the planet, eldars go mad and exterminate the fellows, imperial counter-vengeance arrives shortly... what do you think?

some notes on detailing

what do you do when it comes to detail your 40k squaddies? when i say "detail" i don't mean the highlighting process but a more complex issue like making soldiers look as veterans or "somehow real", not a mere plastic toy.
in my opinion it's not so simple, so i'd like to have your advice. these pictures are about a tactical squad of my army:
1) above you can see my veteran sergeant, Traianus. i painted his banner in a simple but different way than the standard Ultramarines' tactical banner (i think you all know which one): a winged U with some Roman lightnings... very old rome-legion-looking. here's a closeup: it isn't very precise nor clean but seen from a certain distance i'd say it's kinda good.
2) the next guy is the squad commander Marinus. in order to make him look like that i painted a sort of iron halo on the chapter heraldry and i added a pair of seals.
in addition, as i think he must look like a sort of "old one", i gave him a weathered old bolter (the 2nd edition one, with a very "square" look and "open magazine) instead of a new one, paited with a checker pattern; it can be meant like a killcount or whatever... it looks very Ultra.
3) last but not least: Alexander the plasmagunner! since he bears the mk4 maximus pattern power armour i modelled him like a pre-heresy marine: checker pattern on the left leg (killcount?)...
trimless right shoulder pad, horizontal arrows instead of vertical, of course with roman numeral...
a pair of laurels next to the chapter heraldry, they mean he accomplished some mission...what do you think? what about your detailing works?

so, that's all for now. today i'm gonna leave italy for some time (this year i really deserve holiday)... but stay tuned and please spread the URL of my blog and support it if you like. see you soon, have a nice summer!

Tactical squad Caesar

final goodie before leaving for holiday: one of the 3 tactical squads of my Ultramarines army! as you can see they are painted in a true oldschool fashion, i really loved all the 2nd edition space marines and the way 'Eavy Metal team painted them. everyone has its chapter livery and tactical markings, with squad number, of course. i am a tidy guy.
notes:
- the banner is hand painted: i'm not that satisfied about it
- these miniatures date back 1999 or so
- one marine comes from "armour through ages" mailorder box
- lascannon is the metal one
- the bare head is from the captain sprue, i suppose
- the sergeant is the old sergeant with auxiliary grenade launcher, back from 2nd edition, bought when i was 14... damn, time flies, as Gorilla Biscuits say...

[40k army list] Ultramarines

ok, just a quick escape from summer's laziness to ask: what do you think?

HQ
chaplain: power fist (on land raider)

ELITES
none

TROOPS
tactical squad: sergeant with melta bombs, meltagun, lascannon (combat squad on razorback)
razorback: extra armour, twin linked lascannon, dozer blade
tactical squad: plasmagun, plasma cannon
tactical squad: sergeant with power fist, flamer, missile launcher (on land raider)

FAST ATTACK
bike squadron: 5 bikes, sergeant with power sword, plasmagun x2+assault bike with multimelta
land speeder squadron: 2 speeders with multimelta

HEAVY SUPPORT
predator destructor: autocannon, heavy bolter x2, extra armour
land raider: godhammer pattern (lascannons and heavy bolter), extra armour

brand new Space Wolves

i just got up and i found this in the email... do you like it? neat begginning for a new day isn't it?

Red Knight's Paladin!

Ok, this one is 02119: Knight Templar, again by Sandra Garrity. Extremely oldschool looking miniature with that cylindrical helm and the robe on the chainmail, which is why i like it this much! 


I painted it like a Red Knight paladin, a (semi?)deity you should know if you're used to "travel" Forgotten Realms. Painting all that check pattern will turn out to be useful when i'll paint some Imperial Guard vehicle...

By now i'm about to use it as NPC for my campaign. He's a good guy but unfortunately is going to come to a bad end. I say: one must be a true paladin to the end no matter what!

Forgotten Realms interactive atlas

i love Forgotten Realms setting (as many of you i guess), i've set every my d&d campaign in there. some time ago TSR published the Interactive Atlas that now is discontinued... it would be amazing to see an updated version on the store shelves... so please sign the petition on the top of my blog to make some pressure on WOTC/Hasbro, thanks.

Battle Masters' beastman

yeah, another update about old forgotten games... it isn't my fault if they are perfectly suitable with d&d... with this one i started testing my brand new vallejos. the parts i like best are the horns and the shield (painted with 3 layers from orange to yellow). what can i say? vallejos are much better than GW's because they:
- never get dry
- no need of transport brush (who needs one when we have the dropper?)
- more matt (is it correct? my english is all but unbeateable)
- cheaper, even if you buy them one by one
- i like the smell
so, IMO, go for killer-vallejos and you won't regret it.

new imperial guard stuff

well, while surfing around i found those goodies up here... maybe someone is interested. of course, i am!
old colonel Straken is simply no match with the new one, isn't it? i'm officially fallen in love with the new leman russ turret, simply better than the old one. last but not least, i'm surely gonna buy that tank book because i'm trying to paint well my own but it's quite a challenge. GW is doing much better than many years ago, let's hope this behaviour is gonna last.

more Battle Masters stuff

mighty ogre from Battle Masters... i left the armor plate on belly plain red because i tought to paint it with some Gork face you know... but i'm too lazy for now also because tonight there's a Misfits' gig in my town so i gotta go!
die die, die my darling!

Not just boys fun!

Female characters are not so present in gaming universe so i wanted to pay tribute to girls painting this awesome Reaper mini... 02047: Samantha of The Blade sculpted by Sandra Garrity (my favourite when it comes to fantasy miniatures, i think she worked for Ral Partha)... do you like it? personally I love the purple blade.

She has been another villain in the 2nd chapter of my campaign: an evil noblewoman called Fulvia Mesheron planning some conspiracy in the city of Cimbar. She did very well, especially while killing Turag!
Oh well, Turag got revived and killed her in return!

got Vallejos?

today is the day, the mighty 72-colours suitcase by Vallejo has just reached my house. say farewell to social life, who needs one now?

who remembers Battle Masters?

here's a chaos archer from the old Milton Bradley's Battle Masters... another blast from the past! i painted it to represent a magically twisted ranger in our usual D&D campaign. i love it even if it is a poorly detailed miniature.