Welcome my friends! Boy do I have a post for you today. I finished not one, not two, but three new deff dreads for my deathskulls. I was a painting machine this last week!
So I was sitting around, getting my adepticon list ready for Travel. Was originally going to bring a host of minis, (two 1500 point lists), but it was getting ridiculous. I can't bring the big dreads AND a 1500 brigade, its just way too many models. So I decided on just the dread slam, because everyone loves the ork dreads walking around and getting blown up. So I assembled them. Three deff dreads, 2 gorkanauts, 1 morkanaut, 1 meka dread, and a big mek. The big mek I didn't have any more (so you saw that guy get painted up)...and well the deff dreads, the deff dreads were looking prettttty bad.
In fairness, these dreads had been painted twice over (without stripping), without much care and attention to adding contrast or detail to them. (just general blocking of colors). You can really see (in the following photos), just how far I've taken the chipping and weathering by comparison (These dreads were painted for Nova Open 2015 above).
I went about making these dreads to match the latest buggies and giant walker I created, so they follow a similar style of painting. Skeletal understructures are done in a more clean metallic, to contrast with the sharp wear of the armor plates. It's a tabletop scheme and works well. The poses and exhausts were also designed for maximum game play (bit static, but won't pop off or snap) with exhausts modified to reduce "snapability". Anyone who has ever played with a deff dread knows how easy those top exhaust manifolds pop off. This also gave all three dreads very individual character. This one if very much the "little brother" of the group.
This one uses a miscast of a mega dread engine to replace the stock one. It fit so well, I just had to use it. I did however weigh down the front section of the base with double 3/8 washers. Both this dread and it's little brother make use of the wazzbomb jet's smasha gun as a 3rd KMB. I felt using the KMB on the upper arm made it look too weedy, so found this gave a good balance vs the CC weapon on the other arm.
All the dreads have washer weights, but this one, and the next one have the double offset weights.
Last but not least, the big un! Some of you may remember the old flying deff dread I did for Nova Open Charity four years ago (geez!). I included him as the last photo in this batch. Well I really liked that dread, and wanted to do a more gaming oriented version of him. (along with applying newer skills!). This is the result. I wanted to get a pose as if he was either 1) Landing or 2) About to engage the thrusters for a charge. I'm really happy with him, and he really has an awesome presence on the field.
Some closeups of the armor plates. I feel this is some of my best weathering work to date. It's so good it makes even the last few pieces I did look a bit paler in comparison! Ha, that's what you get for working on an entire army. You'll always be better at the end then the beginning!
Speaking of the army! Here is my list for Adepticon! Army is looking fantastic, and I love the yellow/blue mix, really works well. I think I'll try to keep around a 50/50 mix of bad moonz and death skulls (maybe mix in some goffs or evil suns) just to add some variety and pops of color. Army is really growing over time!
WARRRIORRSSSSSS Come out and PLAAAAAAY!
Thank you all for your constant encouragement and support. It's done wonders for my hobby fuel, and my progress over the years! See you at adepticon! Remember to follow my twitter for up to the date photos and shenanigans!
