SHOWCASE: Fire Warriors

I did it.  I actually finished a squad.  Dang that feels good.  Doing individual models has always been easy for me, but I really struggle with the monotony of mass units *cough*grey knights*cough* More pics and some added fun after the break.


Here's a few selected figures from the squad up top, and the full squad below. I got a little lazy in my Photoshop cleanup, so the static grass got a bit of a digital mowing. You'll have to take my word for it, they look good. These Fire Warrior kits are getting pretty beat up though, man. There's a lot of flash and cleanup to do. You'll probably see some spots where I could have been more careful in the cleanup, but as much patience as I've learned over the last year painting these things, sometimes I just don't have it in me. That said, I put a lot more time in to this squad than any I've painted before.  I added a lot of details on these, from fully painted (and glossed) lenses, to the much more detailed shoulder shields. These are easily the best painted group of figures I've done so far and I'm pretty proud of them.

My Shas'ui (Sargent for you Imperial types) was a fun easy conversion.  I wanted him posed like he was plotting his next move, reading the battlefield. He's got the arms from the tank commander that comes in the Devilfish kit. I also hollowed out a helmet that you can see clipped to his belt on the back. His is the only weapon with the markerlight on top, stolen from the Pathfinder kit. 

I've been active in this particular gaming hobby a little over a year now.  This is the 4th full squad of figures I've managed to paint in that time, plus a couple of vehicles and a few robot suits.  When I look back at that first squad I painted, one that I was pretty proud of back in Dec of 2012, I'm pretty amazed at the growth I've experienced.  I went to art school.  I have some innate, and some hard earned talent for these kinds of things, but I've learned a ton from this hobby. I can see it reflected in other art forms I practice. Painting these figures has improved my drawing.  It's improved my sculpting and model making. I've learned a ton about photography, and photo editing. I've also had a lot of fun. Thanks to those of you who have participated in or read along with the journey, and thanks to Trip for helping to empty my wallet with this accursed hobby, and for keeping me motivated with this blog. Here's hoping I pick up as much over the next year.

Dec 2012                               Mar 2014

Up next- I've got to finish those GK Terminators.  I mean now that I've included them in the "4 units" I've painted and all...After that, I'll probably force myself to get cracking on the GK strike squad so I can actually field them as their own army.  I've also got a Cadre Fireblade and a Shaper model started, some Knarloc Riders I'm dying to get in to (centerpiece of an all-Kroot Killteam list I've been dreaming of), and a whole Inquisitorial warband arriving in the mail shortly.  I honestly didn't intend to grab the two "most cheesy" armies in the 40k universe when I started this.  I knew nothing about what I was getting in to, nothing about the rules.  I just liked the models. Oh well.  Embrace the cheese.

~Deet