All ahead full and damn the torpedoes!

Well, to (most likely) no-ones surprise, I didn't stick to the plan...

You see, Battlefleet Gothic happened...
Or rather Battlefleet Gothic Armada II. And my enduring love for BFG combined with the stockpile I still have for it.
So last weekend, I took advantage of my airbrush and quickly cranked out my Chaos Fleet.
I had these stood around assembled for a while now, so it was a matter of priming, then shading/basecoating, followed by drybrushing final highlights and detail painting.

I also discovered how easy starfield bases were to do with the airbrush:
Put in your favourite white, pump the trigger a few times to get a drop of paint in/on the tip and then push down on the trigger, causing that drop to come spattering out! I then added a few nebulae/dust clouds with the remainder of the white and some earth colour:

Anyway, here is the fleet itself:

The painting was very quick: primer black, preshade with Vallejo Air Golden Yellow, basecoat (lightly) with Vallejo Air Red Gore, then a topside highlight with Vallejo Air Scarlet. Then on to brush painting: drybrush with regular Vallejo Scarlet, followed by Vallejo Bloody Red. Paint all the bits that need to be metal black, then GW Ironbreaker. Wash the metal parts with GW Nuln Oil Gloss. Paint bridge windows and navigation lights with Vallejo Golden Yellow, as well as the occasional dotted in windows.  With the points added for a Chaos Lord and maybe a reroll this comes out at 1500 points. If I can find extra models, I may expand it in the future, perhaps some extra escorts and a Grand Cruiser, if available.

As you can see, this fleet serves the Word Bearers Legion. (the icon is a 3d printed shoulder pad icon from shapeways, glued onto the bridge.

Speaking of Word Bearers... While the game states that it was a Black Legion vessel that is trapped inside the Blackstone Fortress Warhammer 40,000 Quest game I decided mine would be Word Bearers. So while I had the airbrush out, I quickly painted their main colour (same recipe as for the chaos fleet):

I also basecoated the skin for the Negavolt Cultists and for the Kroot tracker, but neglected to take pics...

And while I originally bought Tooth and Claw for the Genestealer Cult content, the Space Wolves have forced their way, howling and panting, to the front of the queue. Here's a (gloomy) photo of the first Blood Claw pack and Smash-Jarl assembled and ready for basing and primer:

Yes, the special weapns marine is magnetized. ;)

With regards to the social part of the hobby my (ir)regular gaming buddies and I are discussing starting up a BFG campaign. As several have interest in an Ork fleet, but no ships, we're holding a scratchbuilding day in a few weeks time. I plan to take along my unassembled Ork ships, partly to assemble and partly for size reference. I'll also be bringing a handful of spare bits for them to use and for me to try and build a few drifting/burning wrecks out of.
I'm also resisting to start spending on BFG again, I feel a powerful craving to order sets of 3D ordnance and Voss/Armageddon style prows, but I have enough stockpile of BFG I feel I should attend to first.

Oh, and the Necromunda Sump Pools didn't end up completely as intended. Here they are, just after I finished doing the basic painting by airbrush:

 And just after I poured the resin:

Sadly the resin didn't behave exactly the way I had hoped it would. It lifted a bit from the edges in places, leaving a visible 1mm gap between the resin and the edge of the pool. The surface also remained tacky. I tried to solve the latter with gloss varnish, but it dried up too matt and killed the depth effect. 
I don't want to trash these pieces as they look too cool, but I'm still pondering how to fix it. Maybe use some acrylic water effect over the top? Or use a thick layer of gloss varnish from a spray can (and then matt varnish the ash edges of the pools and rusty stuff)? I'm still considering what will work best.

See you all next time!