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Tuesday 10 December 2013

Mantic Deadzone! Lots of pictures - be warned!

Lots of bags! Four Factions here + Mercenaries

So the dust has settled and I finally have some time to collate some of the photos I took of the Strike Team Kickstarter box.  There was a lot, I haven't started on the scenery yet, so here is a short update of the models I have unboxed.  More photos to come but that will be another blog post.

Group shot of the Enforcers, from bits bag to 5 built.  They look great together, and once the others are built will be a nice little strike team.


Here we have the Enforcers Captain - REALLY nice model but not well cast.  Sadly the cloak has a huge cast line through the back of it and its very thin, so I doubt will file down very well without the use of green stuff to bulk it out and smooth over.  There were a few casting lines over the model, but on the whole, he is pretty cool.




Once cleaned up he should look fine.  I opted for the full helmet option, as opposed to the open face as I just didn't like it.




Ok these will make great substitute models for Orks - particularly Mega Armoured Nobz.  I particularly liked the buzz saw and the captain model.  These were actually fairly good casts, very little casting lines were left on them, just a little tidying up required.


I did get asked to throw up some scale shots, so we could compare these models to other 28mm stuff - here you can see how the Enforcer Captain and Sniper Specialist fare to an Imperial Guard Captain and Dark Reaper Exarch model.  Not bad!



Within the Kickstarter box, you get all the rules and counters you need to play and not one, but TWO gaming mats.  First the paper version, which is fine but the really great one is the printed mat - it's so much better to play on and has much more durability.  The scenery sprues are great from a first glance, they are very very tough plastic (I think most of the models are a weird mix of resin and plastic - plastic glue was useless on them - use superglue instead)






Tuesday 3 December 2013

Cypher, Advent Calendar and The Fallen

As Games Workshop announced the festivity treat of the Advent Calendar - rumours are abound the Internet of the coming of old characters, one of my personal favourites - Cypher.

In it's fairly well done (IMHO) but very obvious spoiler, here's the GW video:



When Dark Vengeance hit, the first thing I did was to convert the DA Librarian to a counts as Cypher, I couldn't use him, but damn - the model looked cool and I'd have it anyway.

Here's a snap of the WIP - I plan to go to town on this one, including tidying up the armour and making it look like an older suit, complete with studs and much more detailing to the sword behind.  I'm thinking of adding chains and green stuffing some more details.


To go with him, I have a lot of the DV Dark Angels to shave and tidy up, then make them more ancient and heresy era with studs and green stuff.  I can then play them as either pre-heresy Dark Angels or Fallen Angels in my Black Legion force.  Win/Win!  

What do you guys think?

Sunday 17 November 2013

Some WIP stuff!

Inquisitor Hellyos

First up is an old model I created when Daemon Hunters was released... yeah... a long time ago!  I really liked the idea of a book worm inquisitor with a large pistol.  This guy is pretty basic, but in mind fits the role nicely.


Not too bad for a model I painted a few years ago!

Brother Armond


Now we move onto a recent WIP of mine, a Deathwing Leader painted up as a commission piece in the colours requested.  I still need to add a layer to the whites and blues, then tidy up the whole armour.  Then I will crack on with the sword - possibly painting it up in brown and bone effect, to create a nice relic blade.


Traitor Lord Commissar 

My real passion though is my Black Legion, which has just taken on a whole raft of new recruits from a defeated Imperial Guard force.  They are now traitors, and this chap will be my Traitor Lord Commissar - even they can fall from grace... This one has suffered some minor mutations that mark him out for greatness!  I wanted to kit bash an old Vampire I laying around, this fit perfectly.  Cadian legs, bit of green stuff and hey presto... fairly "smart" uniform to denote his previous rank and bits to tie him to my Black Legion and he on his way.  Just need to tidy the clothes up a little on the green stuff, but this will be done soon.  


Monday 11 November 2013

Faeit 212: Warhammer 40k News and Rumors: December is Going to Be Crazy: Tyranids are Coming...

Wow... Might have to dust off the old models lying around!

Faeit 212: Warhammer 40k News and Rumors: December is Going to Be Crazy: Tyranids are Coming...: The Tyranid invasion is here, and its hive fleet will be visible for pre-orders November 30th, hitting us on December 7th. I resisted an...

Tuesday 22 October 2013

Counts as Typhus of the Black Legion

I realised I never actually posted much about the Typhus scratch build I did awhile back.

After reading the Black Legion supplement, I decided to set about re-creating the Mournival but with Abaddons Chosen, starting with the Slaughterborn...

Tyhpus rules fit nicely, and allows me to just get running with a powerful model.

Here is a WIP through to painted guide of what I did.

I took the standard model of Typhus and cut into it, removing the torso (the metal one! not the finecast one).  When I had the legs free, I then cut into Archaon (Warhammer) and trimmed his cloak, bent it down and added a bit GS to tidy it up.  I grabbed the Ork head from an Armageddon Steel Legion Sgt, and built the scythe from the Warhammer Nurgle lord and plasticard.  Guitar wire was the used to provide pipes as above, then lots of GS to bulk out the stomach and sculpt minor details like hair on one of the skulls and the back pack.  I had to build that entirely from GS and plastic tubes to mimic the destroyer hive on the normal Typhus model.
Undercoated Black ready for painting


The Destroyer Hive 


Poor lighting unfortunately, but he is finished! I will try to get a better shot done and change it soon.

Finally, the group shot!


Monday 7 October 2013

Legion Update

Black Legion - What's Painted so far




Time for an up to date post on the army painting, the Black Legion are now getting painted nice and fast, with 18 x Marines, Abaddon, Thousands Sons Sorcerer, Hellbrute, Landraider, Typhus counts as, Storm Eagle, 10 x Chosen and 5 x Havocs already based and finished.  

Abaddon - WIP shots

That’s enough for a small 2,000pt game! (With a few undercoated models standing in, I have got 2,500 points from it nicely.  It literally ripped apart a tank heavy Imperial Guard army.)



Next up is the Raptor squad, Maulerfiend, Bikers and possibly the Cultists... there are about 60 of them to get through! 



 I really enjoyed painting these - Forgeworld models are always good, but these seemed to be enjoyable more than previous stuff.  Although, they were a pain in the proverbial to get cleaned up ready to take paint.



I decided on a Heavy Flamer and a mixture of power fists and Lightning Claws for the squad, to roam free or accompany Typhus at the moment.

Once the Cultist are done, he will run with them and make.... 

ZOMBIES!! - who wouldn't? 

Here are some work in progress shots of the bikers, these are now undercoated black ready for painting, hey look really good here, but once undercoated I was annoyed to find a lot of detail was lost.

Might go back to the drawing board for these.

Next up will be a photo of the Chosen (10 man unit) and hopefully a Rhino or unit of Raptors.

Comments are welcomed!

Friday 4 October 2013

So I have been playing around in my evenings whilst I haven't been modelling and painting stuff.

I have always wanted to write a book, and the Horus Heresy and Gaunts Ghost's books really gave me the bug to get on with it.

So here is my first attempt, it doesn't have a title yet, and this is only 3000 words (give or take) but it's from the first chapter.

Be kind. Well, don't be kind but appreciate my spelling isn't the best in the world.

-- -- --

1

Darkness

“Damn them.”

“They can rot in the pits of the abyss for all I care.  Kill them, burn them, and utterly destroy them.” – Majir Tor’Grath

           
The first dawn had passed on Zyphas, the planets sole star passing overhead to warm the bitter cold ground from the nightmare that had been the dark hours.  Men and women cowered with fear as the last remnants of the evening vanished, allowing them a brief moment of almost peace – the calm before the storm as it’s often called.  As Morgaph looked out over the frail forms of nearly thirty survivors making the journey to the fields and shanty towns down river, he paused for a moment to look up to the sky.  As the light from the dawn broke the darkness, the scene reminded him of a childhood story where light fights the dark, and eventually a hero emerges and destroys the darkness forever.  Never had he thought the story could come true, until they arrived.

“Who are they? Will they hurt us? What do they want?”
The voices of the survivors rattled around the small confines of the shanty town hall, the largest building in the area capable of holding such a rabble in any formality.  Morgaph was the first to break the noise with a calming yet overpowering voice – “They will be here soon, the landing was not far from here and we know of no other settlement that has survived.  We need to find shelter, we don’t know which side they are on”
As he spoke, the gathering quietened, the look of sudden understanding spreading like fire throughout every face in the room.  Not one soul needed reminding of the terrors that hunt in the night on Zyphas, the thought that something worse had come for them in the daylight didn’t sit well.  A riot broke out, first just a scream, then panic and rushing to exit.  The larger of the survivors pushed through the masses and inflicted more harm than good, bones breaking and any sense of order diminished – a free for all riot of fear and the very real need to escape taking over the small amount of control that remained. 

Morgaph exited from the rear of the building, lighting one of the very last smoke sticks he had left.  All things considered, he thought to himself, there may not be another chance.  The stick never made it to his lips, his body fell backwards with a small wound just starting to trickle blood down his brow.  Slumping to the floor, Morgaph died. Nobody saw his killer, and nobody would remember his death.

Watching in complete silence, save for the voice in his mind, Ancronir the silent studied the scene.  The human had been easy, he had to die as he showed the traits of one who could lead the rabble.  That would only detract from this exercise and delay the coming of the Majir.  He settled the scope of the long rifle, breathing gently as he sourced his next target. The voice in the back of his mind suddenly came to the fore “Do it… Kill it!”Quickly!” Ancronir fought the urge to just shoot everything wildly, remembering less often that his body was own his and his skills were still useful to the Majir, despite the growing voice within to forget the past and just shed blood.  No, this time he thought to himself it would be his way, not the voices way.  Ancronir put pressure to the trigger grip, squeezing slowly as if savouring the joy of every moment, watching down his scope as he sighted the next prey, he felt the mechanical pull of the spring beneath the grip, the inner workings of the long rifle as if in slow motion – the sudden acceleration of the projectile firing down the barrel.  He held is breath just enough to watch the moment of impact, a split second after pulling the trigger the prey fell.

“You missed.” Hissed the voice in his head.

Moira fell, bloodstained from a wound to the back of her neck that sprayed blood over the children running in front of her, two boys – no older than six standard years.  Their faces dirty, pupils like pin pricks in the whites of their eyes, they ran on, Moira put her hand to her neck and tried to apply pressure whilst herding the boys to safety.  Turning the corner of the hut they thought would hide them, she took note of what was going on.  Dust was flying up from the ground as the few survivors fled from the area of the impromptu meeting and ran from the possibility of being attacked.  She realised too late that that possibility was a reality, as she finally stemmed the wound from bleeding out. 

“Why us… Why?” she stammered, hoping someone would answer but knowing otherwise.  The boys tried to comfort her, but they were dazed, the fear and panic ruining any chance of comprehension they may have had.  Daring a look out of the window, Moira looked to see who had shot her.  She saw nothing but the final few survivors running into the distance, the dust began to settle and a strange calmness took over the shantytown.  A single figure on the horizon clad in darkness and standing as tall as a normal man, strode into the town.  He carried a rifle and had bags hanging from his body, clearly not a survivor – Moira held her neck and took another look. 

“No… Please… No!” Moira picked herself up and gathered the boys to make a quick exit. 

-- -- --

Would you be interested in more?