GW's Black Library has just released a short story as part of their Summer of Reading. Their first release of the second week is The Shadow of the Beast, featuring the Scythes of the Emperor! Think of this as a beginning to their encounter with hive Fleet Kraken.
Completely used without GW's consent, but all credit goes to them!!
It is a short story. But being as it is about the Scythes, I am getting it. Add it to the other published Scythes story Orphans of the Kraken, in the now called Space Marines: The Omnibus. Excuse me, I have some reading to accomplish...
This post can be a boring or even irrelevant post for most people. As our craft room in the house is again under construction due to discovered rotten wooden frames, I decided to talk about something else. Today I am talking about colorblindness and how it corresponds to me and my situation.
I am red/green colorblind. I have known for sure since I tried to apply as a Nuclear Engineer for the US Navy. I failed their colorblind test during the initial physicals. Unable to see the numbers within the circles was a bit frustrating. I had no idea what these other kids were seeing. The testers notified me of the deficiency just as I was about to take the first entrance math test. I guess being able to differentiate colored buttons on a panel would be rather important in a nuclear crisis. Having failed that, I went from a potential high paying job to Data Processor, who were a dime a dozen. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. Afterwards, my mother had me checked by an eye doctor to verify the findings.
I was given a test of about 30 colored pieces ranging from blue to purple with the first blue and the last purple not movable. There were other pieces, red, oranges, greens, and yellows in spaces between, and I had to fill them in. I lined them all up perfectly, except that the yellows at the end didn't really match up with the purple at the end. Basically, I placed a blue piece then a purple which then flowed into reds/greens, and then oranges/yellows, as opposed to blues, greens, yellows, oranges, reds to purples. I guess that explains why the Los Angeles Lakers weren't dressed in Blue and Gold.
For the most part I can tell colors apart. It's not all black and white. I can see reds. I can see blues. But I may not see a difference with a shade of blue and purple, or a shade of green and brown or even yellow. Worst of all are pastels, with the greens, yellows, and some browns almost being indistinguishable. Or the blues, purples, pinks, and grey giving me the the same problem. Learning my shortcoming, I would just avoid those circumstances where possible and carry on.
I haven't really struggled with being colorblind. There are few situations that pop up where it really matters. Although, during paint ball there was the time the enemies's orange flag was sitting among the green leafed bushes that I was unable to make out. Resulting in me getting shot with victory within arm's reach. Everybody else was confused on why did I not just grab the flag sitting right in front of me? I couldn't see it, and the judge wasn't going to tell me where it was... Me being the last member on my side, we lost.
Further down the road of life, other things began to become more noticeable. Getting dressed can be embarrassing at times when I mix my browns and greens thinking they matched, or my blues and purples, or various other combinations. Multicolored ties definitely didn't fit in too well with my wardrobe! I slowly tended to favors black or white shirts a lot, very difficult to mess those up.
Traffic lights for me are in order from top to bottom Red, Yellow, and White, not Green! That's fine. As I know the order and what to look for, but what if that light at night was sitting amongst a set of street lights? I would be hard pressed to pick out the 'green' traffic light amongst the other lights as they all appear white to me. Usually, I would never notice the traffic light at all in those cases. This could lead to a sudden stopping or running of a light since I was unable to judge the timing of a suddenly appearing traffic light. This is also compounded by the fact that at night, the red and yellow lights are practically the same for me. So, do I stop at this flashing light, or do I go through it? Not knowing if it is red or yellow. That can be problematic.
Which leads me into painting miniatures. Being unable to match a painted model or picture for it's colors, I have to rely on known formats.
Ultramarines are blue,
Blood Angels are Red,
All Chaos is evil,
And Dark Angels (in green) shoot them dead!
I have to use color charts. The one Games Workshop came out with several years ago I still use. They also have an even older one, but I didn't scan that one. Besides, most, if not all, of these colors are no longer available. Although, I never realized that Snakebite Leather was an orange. At least, whenever I use it my wife asks, 'why did you paint it orange?' For me the Blood Red is a true red. It's a strong color, very vibrant. Yet a friend of mine says it's too red, the Mechrite Red is a truer red. That just never made sense to me. Back me up on that if you can.
As I slowly understand the limits of what I can see and do, I began to expand and experiment with my painting. My wonderful wife is always there to help me pull out and match up families of colors. She is quick to point out if a green is too blue or has too much yellow to go with the the other green I picked out. She was the one to notice the 'pink' tone on my dozer blade. Me, not knowing any better used Rose Madder as a dirty brown color for my oil filters, not realizing it was a red! I have never heard of Rose Madder outside of a Steven King story! Thinking the blade was coming out quite nice, I never knew there was pink all over it. I still don't see it! This led to a repaint and a very frustrated painter for a couple of days, having to try and fix or cover up other spots of 'pink'.
Just now, am I using a wet palette. Since I can control the colors that are being used, I have confidence I can't mess it up too much! I just limit myself to 'avoid those circumstances where possible and carry on'. I am adapting.
And this carries into correcting the colorblindness problem. Enchroma is a site that is trying to find the limits of human color vision and correct colorblind deficiencies. Enchroma has a test you can take to get an idea of what level of colorblindness you have. Taking it several times, I usually come out with a Strong Protan, which in their description, sounds like it's the last step before full black/white vision. The link has a nice explanation of what I see in relation to other people. It even mentions the traffic light dilemma. Although, you cannot convince me that peanut butter is NOT green! You may also notice I didn't say 'normal' people a couple of sentences ago. I, may actually be right. Just because I am a minority, doesn't mean I am wrong!
Friends have sent me links about finally being able to see color. Or videos where people put the Enchroma glasses on, and voila! everything becomes the way it is for 'other' people.
Wouldn't this be awesome?!?! Especially for us red/greens?
I ordered a pair of the $350 glasses with some ebay money I gathered. The glasses arrived in a very nice case with a nano fiber cloth to clean them. The pair of glasses I chose were rather fashionable, if I say so myself, the Cx Gamma* set. The glasses sat in their case unused for about a month. What was I getting into?
*I don't know why they say it's not available until November '15?
Anyway, there was a SeaWorld trip we had planned with several of our friends. I brought the glasses along to pull them out and give them a shot when I was ready.
For all the videos you see, it's a fairly big deal for the people to see colors in a different way. To be able to see a distinction with the greens and yellows. You can tell they are visibly moved when they can see purple for example. Honestly, I was a little scared to put them on. How will this change me? Will my blue car no longer have the same appeal as it did when I chose it? Would I be able to see how badly I painted my Dark Angels? My wife was afraid I wouldn't like her naturally red hair any more.
Well, there was a garden of flowers in bloom just waiting for me to see them in their natural hues. Putting the glasses on, I must admit they seem to almost glow with iridescence. But everything else had a more reddish tinge to it. All the blues were more purple. The yellows and tans had an orange or peachy tinge to them. Greens were different, but not noticeably so. The reds were stronger that was for sure. They almost glowed like an infra-red, very off. It was almost like how tv shows depict colors in the ultraviolet spectrum that bees see. For me, apparently, the glasses upped the red factor but not the greens. I can see differentiate reds just fine in my opinion. The glasses were not helping.Maybe I need to wear them more? I can't say seeing more red will help me out anymore though.
That day ended up being a tad depressing. Not quite as bad as the Navy physicals day. My hopes were up that I would repeat the videos I had seen. Telling myself I wouldn't cry like the guys in youtube clips. Soon, I would wear my fancy glasses while painting to get an idea of what I needed to work on. None of the high hopes came to pass. Peanut butter is still green and Clorox is still blue. Maybe I should avoid driving at night and stick with black and white shirts. Put down the paint brush and find a new hobby? The hell with that, I will just avoid those circumstances where possible and carry on!
To go with the Chimera 'Hell Spawn', I built up a squad of veterans for my Skulltakers! Much like the other Kanak units, these are a mix of Chaos Marauders and Catachans. But these guys have a twist!
The twist is I am using some Blightwheel heads with masks. They are quite what I imagine a Bloodpact trooper would look like. I preferred these over the Secret Weapon heads with masks due to the overall sculpt. The Blightwheel sprues also came with horns with which to glue to the helmets. I didn't even bother as they are so tiny, a small bump or snag will pop them off. I tried to drill a small hole to countersink them into to make the bond stronger, but just couldn't find the right diameter drill bit. It was either too small or too big. I quit while I was ahead. I think they look fine nonetheless. I used most of the shoulder pads I had to give them the extra armor look if I want them to be Granadiers with carapace armor.
The squad itself is armed with two melta guns and a demolition charge, whom is a metal figure with a head swap. I must say, I am really impressed with the Imperial shoulder pads from the Baneblade sprue. Those pads, just seemed to fit the look perfectly. You can see them mainly on one of the melta gunners and the banner bearer.
The sergeant received the huge skull shoulder pads. They fit the role nicely. To show their subtle change to Chaos, all the visible Imperial Eagles were removed or filed down. The Sergeant could be said to have an 8-point star on his back, or it could just be a huge target symbol...
All of the troopers have tattoos of flames on their wrists. I also tried to incorporate the symbol from the rune on the banner onto their arms. The banner
The only thing I did differently for these guys was to try and use oil washes and other tank specific weathering techniques on their shoulder pads and helmets. The results were mixed. As they are so small, the weathering gives the appearance of a camo pattern.
I wanted to post these some time ago, but the ETL IV competition photos superseded them.
My Ravenwing Command Squad completed about a year ago when I was cleaning out the Dark Vengeance box set. They were painted in three steps. The black portion was done first with all the edging. The silver parts were next, which went the fastest. The white took the longest encompassing the base coats and the build up of layers.
The Apothecary was primed white separately from the bike. It just makes everything so much easier that way.
The Black Knight received an upgrade with a magnetized arm. He now has a choice of the Corvus Hammer or a Blade of Caliban. Assuming they aren't run as standard Black Knights, he will run with the sword every time.
The Banner bearer also received a magnetized arm. For when he runs as a Black Knight, he can swap out the banner for the Hammer. The banner was pretty much copied from the book itself. I even went to the GW site where I could grab a picture and zoom in to get a better idea of how they pulled it off.
They may not be my best stuff, but I really wanted to get them out and completed. All that extra white takes a bit of time. It's the feathers that were really getting tiresome. I have to think about getting a full squad of them
I finally finished my third vow for the ETL IV hosted by Bolter and Chainsword. I was hoping to get two more vows completed, but things have gotten in the way... Anyway, this one was relatively simple, a Chimera and a Deathstrike Missile Launcher. It still took me about two weeks, twice as long as planned.
The Chimera is to be a transport for my soon to be Veteran squad. With that in mind, the Chimera was done up with some slight alterations to show a possible taint by Chaos. The spikes added and the rusty hooks on the side are there to add to the atmosphere. I even painted tiny horns to the skulls of the Aquila on the sides. The silver face is a Mordheim leftover. I am just trying my best to avoid adding any other Imperial symbols to the craft.
I did another variation on the camouflage, a sort of poor man's urban camo. I created my company with an urban environment in mind, hence all the greys I've been using. I also reached a bit further and put a face on the dozer blade. It may be a bit hokey, but there is precedent. During the Korean War, the US Army painted tiger faces onto the fronts of M-26 Pershings, as some of the Chinese were superstitious. In order to make my veterans more fearsome, their tank too received a face!
I just had to add a huge template weapon to my list. The Astra Militarum cannot get any bigger than the Deathstrike Missile! Since I like to paint in pairs or more, I grabbed a Missile Launcher.
I haven't yet used the weapon yet, but I am dying to see what it does.
The missile was primed white with the warheads masked off. I then used Astronomicon Grey, masked it off and then Mechanicus Standard.
I made no modifications to this one. The front line troops are the ones suffering the changes. The backline troops have not yet begun the metamorphosis.
Saving the best of my Scythes for last, I present my Storm Talons. These are the last pieces I have done for my Scythes as of now. Working in my usual style, I built and painted the pair at the same time. The two even are armed the same. Painting is where there are some differences.
Talon number 1 on the left received some stripes and more of a yellow tail. I just wanted to experiment with striping a tad. It came out pretty good. Like all my other Scythe models, they were primed white to give the yellow more of a pop when it gets airbrushed on. Anything to remain yellow was then carefully taped off to completely painted separately, i.e. the cockpit. Black was then sprayed onto them. The black was given a stippling of blue/black that I had to soften it some. I had not yet gotten into using weathering powders yet that can be used to 'fade' the paint.
The cockpit was fully detailed. A Techmarine is piloting the vehicle with accompanying Scythian shoulder pad. The canopy was taped over with the trusty Tamiya tape. Which was then slightly cut away in the corners of the glass to expose the framework. The entire glass piece then sprayed yellow, tape removed, and a clean piece was left behind. Regular PVA glue was used to attach the canopy. Use of superglue or plastic glue can cause the clear pice to 'fog' up, especially if it isn't given the ability to let the fumes escape.
The biggest experiment with these was on the bases. Number 5 was done in normal fashion of glue and sand after placing the wall. This resulted in a very flat piece even with a few rocks on it. On Talon number 1, I put some light modeling paste down (Golden). Wetting it, I added sand to the putty and molded a small crater into the base. This gives the ground a more realistic feel to it. Some undulations and even moving it up against the wall to show the build up of debris as you would see naturally. For large base like the guys use, the light modeling paste was much better in achieving realistic results.
The only drawback I had was with the clear stand. I taped it up with regular masking tape so I could save my Tamiya tape. During the gloss coating and dull coating, the tape failed in spots. I went ahead and sprayed the rest of it to avoid the splotchiness of the effect. Why not just glue the flying stand on afterward? By getting it attached in the first place you get the strong bond of plastic to plastic melting together. It's more work, but going the easy way in this case would not be the best way. Lesson learned that I did not hold back with the Tamiya tape when I painted up my Ravenwing aircraft in an earlier post.
Each time I do a project whether it be a squad, a tank, or terrain. I always want to add something new to the repertoire of techniques. The technique can be something simple like the striping on here, or using the modeling paste. I recommend trying something new each time you work on a project.
If you haven't already heard, the guys from Fallout Hobbies are Kickstarting a design it yourself decal sheet! Why am I mentioning this? Well, if you are in any way like me and have a difficult time painting freehand or in a straight line; this could be the way to go. You can make up your own design and request them to make a sheet full of your design!
As they have explained on their site, you cannot print white! There is no standard white colored ink you can use in your regular desktop laserjet or inkjet printer. Without the white as a base any light colored decals you put onto a dark background tend to disappear. You can see an example of this 'fail' on my Scythe's Commanders backpack banner. The strong yellow became quite faded. You may not have noticed if I didn't admit this. This was a decal I printed out for myself. I didn't create it.
If you have ever worked with decals, you may notice that may of the bright colored decals have a white background when you look at the backside. In painting terms, think of this as the base color before the main layer goes down. It gives the light color something to build off of when placed onto the dark colors.
Why am I excited for this? Because the decals I have for my Scythes are a perfect candidate for this upgrade! Here are the decals from the Bell of Lost Souls site. I also created a sheet of generic unit designations too. These would be great in white!
jpeg version
jpeg version
You don't have to recreate the pyramids to take advantage of this opportunity. The decals on the Bell of Lost Souls site are free. You can grab some of the BOLS decal sheets that are in color and have them redone on a white background. It would make it so much easier to build up your Heresy era Space Marines, especially for Ironhands or Raven Guard. Here is a quick link to help you find them faster!
So, hurry now as the Kickstarter ends on the 23rd of July. I am sure you can still order from them afterwards, but I am also sure the cost would be higher.
