The Hogs of War - Warhammer 40k Conversions and Tactics

Best Rube Goldberg Ever

2010-03-11T21:59:00.000-06:00

Many of you may or may not know that I teach physics, and this means I have a fondness of all types of nerdery and pseudo science!

If you have not yet seen the world's largest Rube Goldberg machine, you have to check out the link below. Its an okay go video, that they set up in a warehouse. They brought physicists in to design it, and you can see them all at the end of the video when it all finally works and they all go bonkers. The whole take is one long video with no breaks or editing, and it took them almost 70 times to get it all to work.

The question I first asked was 'why is the guy who starts it covered in blood?' You find out at the end!

Starting Dark Eldar - Truly For The Masochistic

2010-03-11T10:30:00.000-06:00

I am a habitual project starter. In a previous post you can see where I decided to not buy any more models until everything I had was complete. A few weeks after starting the great clean up I caved when I saw some Dark Eldar Warriors for sale really cheap on eBay. One would ask why I was looking for Dark Eldar miniatures on eBay in the first place but that isn't important.

A few days after winning the auction my goods arrived. I had already decided that I wanted to paint these guys up pretty quick - no use spending tons of time painting an ugly model. What is the saying? Something about putting makeup on a turd.

Everyone dogs on the Dark Eldar models. It is hard not to - they are just so old. When I started putting together the models I quicky realized there were two poses - gun up, or gun across chest. This really made me appreciate the newer kits and all the variety of poses that they have.

As I was putting together the models I was looking at this little mountain of spikey bits. I know that Dark Eldar are supposed to be pointy and dark, but I just couldn't bring myself to glue all these little spikes on them. It just seemed excessive. So I left the extra spikes off. Looking at the guns they also looked like they had too many spikes/blades. Do you really need a bayonet on your grip when you have one on the barrel? I decided that my little raiding dark ones did not so I cut it off.

Something else about these guys make them for the truly masochistic - the plastic they are made from do not want to take glue and none of the arms line up. I have never ran into this before. Since switching over to Gorilla Super Glue I have not had a problem getting models to stick together. These guys just don't want to stay put together. This is compounded by the fact that none of the pairs of arms will lign up correctly. I am having to twist the arms and position them just right to get the 'holder arm' to line up with the 'gun arm' so that there aren't any big gaps.

For all the hate I just spilled on these guys I must say that by the time I had finished putting them together the little guys had really grown on me. The models are really dated but I think that if you leave the extra spikes off and trim the one off the blades they don't look that bad. It is adding in all the 'hurr - we are spikey!' bits that make them look so goofy.

After the gluey mess finally dried it was time to paint one of these guys up. My first choice in color scheme was a nice dark red with bright red highlights. I was inspired by LittleBoyBlues posts on his Khorne Daemons so I went and bought some Testor's Red Spraypaint. I primed the model black and then sprayed it with the red paint. I let it dry and then added some red highlights. It looked terrible. I don't know what I did but it just didn't pop for me. I had failed at painting Dark Eldar.

I was heart broken. I was staring to wonder if I could ever figure out how to paint Dark Eldar.

Well, I was actually more mad than I was heart broken but I didn't let that get me down! I decided that I would bring back a color scheme from some Space Marines that I had started before my Imperial Fists took off.

The final color scheme I settled on was a white scheme with bright blue accent colors. I let my wife pick out the blue. I was leaning towards read but she said that I always do something red or something dark and she wanted me to do something bright.

The process for painting these guys is really straight forward -

Prime the model white
Wash the whole model with Gryphonne Sepia
Highlight the edges of the model with a mix of Bleached Bone/Skull White
Highlight the extreme edges with Skull White
Paint the gun and helmet plume with Foundation Mordian Blue
Drybrush/Highlight the gun and plume with P3 [[ ? ]]
Drybrush/Highlight the gun and plume with Ice Blue
Paint any metal Mithril Silver - This is predominately the blades on the Dark Eldar weapons
Base and Seal

Easy as that.

So far I am happy with the color scheme - it turned out way better than my attempts at red. I am a bit scared of painting a vehicle this way as I am just not sure how it will turn out. I am also leery of buying any Dark Eldar vehicles at the moment - they are rumored to be getting an entire range of new Dark Eldar models when they do the new Dark Eldar codex (hopefully later this year). I figure I can blend in some warriors but if the new vehicles look a ton better than the old ones (won't take much) then I don't want a bunch of jalopy looking skimmers on the field.

Ork Looted Wagon Conversion - Heavy Weathering - pt. 1

2010-03-10T10:30:00.001-06:00

When TSE had a sale back in January I decided to pick up a few Warhammer 40k pieces that I normally wouldn't have had the need for. I was pretty excited about working on my Orks at the time so I decided that they needed a Looted Wagon with a Boomgun. I decided that the best piece to base this conversion off of would be a Space Marine Whirlwind. I couldn't remember seeing anyone convert one of these to a Looted Wagon before so I figured I would take a shot at it.

I assembled the vehicle as normal. I had a few door hatches left over from my Stompa so the Rhino chasis got those slapped on. I also had a bunch of plates left over from the Stompa as well as some from Ramshackle Games. I glued on some extra bits and bobs and made the vehicle chasis looks suitably Orky. If you are thinking about doing any 40k Ork Conversions then I would strongly suggest picking up an Ork Stompa - there are TONS of great conversion bits in there. Now the fun part started.

I wanted the Whirlwind Launcher to look really unique. I didn't just want a Whirlwind Launcher with an Ork Glyph on it. I built one of the missile pods as normal and glued it on the launcher base. I then scratch built a big rocket for the other side. If I had the rocket left over from the Stompa I would have used that, but it was already glued down on the big boy.

For the big rocket I used pieces from the Drop Pod, a Ramshackle hatch cover, a fin off of a Deff Kopta, and a tank from the Imex Chemical Plant. The end result was a pretty snazzy little rocket.

Once everything was together and dried I shelved this project for about a month. I have recently been stirred into activity on this model again. Littleboyblues posts on weathering put the bug in my ear and I have decided to try my hand at this technique on this model. The first step for when I weather a model is to actually beat it up a bit, and that is where I started on this model.

I use a cut-off wheel on my Dremel tool and put gouges and cuts in the model. I will actually take the spinning disc and kind of 'slap' the model with it. This creates a very rough and irregular pattern on the model. Once I have given it enough gouges and scratches I break out the super course sandpaper and 'clean it up' a bit. This does two things - it adds light scratches all over the model, and it also de-burrs the melted plastic from the Dremelling.

This is usually as far as I would go weathering a vehicle. I would paint it up as normal and then add some rust/metal to the scratches as a final step. One of the techniques I came across while researching different weathering techniques was using liquid mask to make rust effects. The linked tutorial uses pigments and varnish - which are on their way in the mail - but I figured I could get started without having those materials on hands.

After priming the model black I applied pva and baking soda to places that I wanted there to be some heavy rust. Once that dried I put down a spray coat of a nice reddish brown. I then went in and used a mix of brown and Vallejo Orange Red (an AWESOME rust color) in the cracks and gouges.

I let this dry for a good hour in front of a fan and then broke out the liquid mask. I applied this over the areas with the rust and score marks. I let this sit overnight and would see how it turned out the next day.

In the next post I will let you know how this process turned out and show you the next steps.

Casting Models And Terrain The Easy Way

2010-03-09T10:30:00.004-06:00

It is time for another adventure in casting miniatures. In the past I have cast a few different things - resin bases, wax seals, and I even tried my hand at casting some long out of print models. I have had some really mixed results - the wax seal and resin bases turned out great. My attempts at casting miniatures ended in defeat. I have found a new product that simplifies this whole process.

In the past I have used a two part RTV Silicone compound that used a base and a catalyst to make my molds. This process was an absolute mess. Goop got everywhere, curing time was outrageous, the cost was high and it was just really hard to work with.

In my searching endeavors I have come up with a new way to make silicone molds that I am really excited about. Instead of using a catalyst and a base I am now using a two part putty.

If you are thinking about starting out in casting / mold making this stuff is the way to go. It is super easy to work with. You just pop open the tube, scoop out equal amounts from each, and then mix together. This stuff mixes together a lot easier and faster than green stuff. It is a good thing too that it is fast to mix - you have about three minutes from when you start mixing until it is no longer workable. I mixed up too much on one batch and was going to cast another piece, but the putty had already set. You definitely need a game plan when you decide to mix this stuff together.

One of the best parts of this method is the price. A one pound kit cost me right at $30 shipped. One pound is quite a bit of silicone. So far I made the sandbag terrain mold and a few smaller detail molds and I still have about %20 of the product left. This is a really good value.

The mold you end up with is very tough. You can use it for resin casting, plaster casting, and even pewter casting. I've never tried casting a pewter miniature but I figure it is good to have the option.

I was a bit worried that I wouldn't get a good cast when I squashed the putty onto my mold. I was casting a pretty large piece for my first attempt - a sandbag wall piece of terrain. I mashed the putty onto the terrain piece and made sure to smush it up tight. I then flipped over the piece to kind of level it out and to have a flat surface to balance it on for when I cast the pieces.

After about thirty minutes my fears were relieved - the mold turned out great. The mold picked up detail as well as using a pour in silicone.

The first thing I tried to do with my new mold was to cast it with resin. This ended up not working out very well. The resin that I had was a bit old and had been out in the cold garage. I gave both bottles a good shake (I think this was a huge mistake) and then mixed it together and poured away. It ended up being a disaster.

Here is what I think happened.

When I shook the bottle of amber resin it turned a milky white color. Since there wasn't much resin left I think I aerated it by shaking it. When I mixed the two components together I don't think they mixed well because of all the air. I stirred and stirred until it looked right but I know something was wrong when I poured it in the mold. It was like the two parts had separated. I had a nice mixed part on the bottom and a clear part floating on top of that.

I grabbed a stick and started trying to mix it inside the mold but at that point it was already too late. I let it sit for a while. After a few minutes the resin began to set. After about half an hour it was as done as it was going to get. I pulled it out of the mold and it was terrible. The resin was still goopy in places. The whole thing was sticky and had a very marbled look to it. I threw the piece away in disgust and started cleaning out the mold.

I next tried casting the piece in Plaster of Paris. The casting process went very smoothly. The only thing is the pieces are pretty much unusable on the table. The plaster of paris is so brittle that just rubbing your finger on the terrain piece will rub the primer off. I had to find something tougher.

Years ago when I was casting Hirst Arts molds I used Merlins Magic plaster. I got to looking around for something simliar and I came across Excalibur plaster. I ordered in a box of this and have been using it to cast with. So far I have had really good luck with it. In the next few days I will have a post up that goes into pretty good detail about how the casting process is going. There might even be a video...

Death Korps of Krieg part 5

2010-03-08T07:30:00.000-06:00

Excitement Ensues!

I made a lot of progress over the past week. I had my DKOK's assembled and they are ready to go minus 3 flamers I was short that I'll have to order soon. I finished assembling my 4 Hydra flak tanks. I got one more Valkyrie assembled as well. I'm excited I've ordered the Forgeworld Model Masterclass book and eagerly await it in the mail. I'm more than on schedule for my June deadline. My goal was to get everything assembled by March. I'm well on my way and I look forward to getting my brush wet! :P

My favorite guy is this one. To me it screams cool. A DKoK veteran jumping out of a trench blasting is melta gun to undoubtedly take out enemy armor.

Winged Nurgle Sorceror - The Old Death - Finished

2010-03-07T10:30:00.000-06:00

Three months ago I first posted about a model that I was very excited to start working on - The Old Death from Enigma Miniatures Massive Darkness line.

Since then this model had sat neglected in my box of projects until a few weeks ago when I started my big push to finish up all of my outstanding projects.

I wanted to use this model as a winged Nurgle Sorceror so I decided to paint him using a very dull palette. I primed the model black and then went over that with a flat grey primer. From there I painted the robes with Catachan Green. I dry brushed the wings with Fortress Grey and then a mix of Fortress Grey/Skull White. For the metal I used Dwarf Bronze since it looks really neat with a layer of Devlan Mud over it. I picked out any bone with Bleached Bone and then heavily washed the whole model with Devlan Mud.

After that i went back and picked out a few places of the bone with Skull White and added a very few highlights to the metal using more Dwarf Bronze.

Once this was complete I started on the base. I wanted this model to have a special base since it is such an awesome sculpt. I am a fan of scenic resin bases and I settled on using the Bloodbath Floor resin base, also from Enigma.

I was a bit concerned about using this base in with my Warhammer 40k bases since it is round lipped but once I got it all together and painted I wasn't worried any more. This base is just really amazing. I really like the way that it has a sense of depth.

I painted this using Scab Red, Blood Red, and Red Gore. I then picked out a few of the chunks floating around using Bleached Bone and Rotting Flesh. Once that was done I sealed the model and then went over the blood with a nice layer of 'Ard Coat to make the blood shine.

13th Company Update - Thunderwolf Cavalry Conversion

2010-03-06T10:30:00.001-06:00

It's been a while since I updated you on the progress of my 13th Company Space Wolves. These guys have taken a back seat to some other models that I have been working on lately but I managed to get a paint job on the Thunderwolf Cavalry model that I converted in this post.

This model was a blast to paint. I used the same scheme as the rest of my models - I primed it black, hit it with flat grey spray paint, and then did the details with a 50/50 mix of Blood Red and Scab Red. After that I hit the teeth with Bleached Bone and washed the whole model with Devlan Mud. This gives the model a very grimy/dirty appearance that really fits in well with the theme.

Converted Thing in the Woods from Games Workshops Mordheim Line

Since finishing this model up I have a few more models that I have gotten ahold of that I will be using to round out my unit of Thunderwolf Cavalry. I am really looking forward to doing these conversions. Here are the models that I have found so far -

As Jester pointed out in this post The Mouth of the Abyss from Hell Dorado miniatures would make an excellent Thunderwolf - especially so for my 13th Company. The sad thing is these models are hard to come by right now since Hell Dorado filed for bankruptcy a while back. Since then another company has bought the rights and master molds but there hasn't been much progress on getting the models back into production.

The Mouth of the Abyss from Hell Dorado

Another excellent model that I found was the Battle Hyena from Zenit Miniatures. I picked this model up from Cool Mini or Not's store and am very pleased with it. The model is cast in resin so it will be easier to work with than the above metal model. This model is a bit expensive, but far cheaper than using Canis as a base for a conversion. The model is just a bit on the small side but I think it will definitely be passable as a mount for a Space Wolf.

Battle Hyena from Zenit Miniatures

The last model that I have picked up to try and convert is The Maw from Hasslefree Miniatures. There are three different poses for this model and I just love all three of them. There is one slight problem though - the models are just too small to be used as mounts. I bought these without seeing a size comparison and they are about the size of a dire wolf model - maybe a bit bigger.

Sadly I wont be able to use them as a mount, but that isn't going to stop me. I have modeled one up being held on a chain by a 13th Company Space Wolf and I plan on using these as my rank and file Thunderwolf Cavalry. The models that I will convert out of the above models will be used as Wolf Lords or Wolf Guard Battle Leaders on a Thunderwolf Mount.

The Maw from Hasslefree Miniatures

And here are a few models that I haven't picked up myself but that I have seen people using in various forums.

MaxMini.eu has a giant wolf model available. I have had good luck and have been impressed in the qualtiy of their molds on the things that I have ordered from them.

MaxMini Giant Wolf

Here is a conversion from The Bolter and Chainsword using a High Elf Lion as the base -

Converted Games Workshop High Elves Lion

Another model that I have seen used is the Circle Orboros model from Privateer Press. Here is a shot of it converted up that I found over at Warseer.

Circle Orboros Wolf

And last on the list here is a wolf model that came out of Russia about the time the Space Wolves Codex landed. They were sold on eBay and listed on Cool Mini or Not as Space Thunder, Monstrous Riding Wolf, of Wolves. Kind of an odd name but a pretty cool looking model. I clicked on the link from the CMON page but did not see any listed on the sellers eBay page so I am not sure on the availability of these models.

Space Thunder... Russian Thunderwolves

And last but not lease - using a Juggernaut of Khorne as a mount. Our very own Monkey published some really nice pictures last week in this post on using the models.

Converted Juggernaut of Khorne by Monkey

Has anyone else found any suitable models for Thunderwolf Mounts? Let me know in the comments and I will update this article.

Blood Angels Sprues - First Look

2010-03-05T16:30:00.001-06:00

This just in from Watching Paint Dry -

Wow. These sprues look packed. I thought they had managed to fit a lot in on the Space Wovles sprues but this just really takes the cake.

I am not sure what kit this is for. I see two Jump Packs per sprue as well as what looks like a two handed Power Sword and a MASSIVE looking powerfist. I am guessing that this is the Sanguinary Guard sprue from the weapons loadout. I am not sure what the big wings are for. They don't look like cloaks - maybe they will fit in vehicles.

I can't wait for the new Blood Angels Codex and the rest of the Blood Angels sprues to come out - these are shaping up to be some of the sickest models ever released.

There is also a new batch of rumors from over at Warseer that are from The Dude -

General info

Release 8 April 2010

Written by Matt Ward

Rules

Army-wide Special Rules
Combat Tactics – As per C:SM

And They Shall Know No Fear – As per C:SM

Red Thirst - Almost all BA units have it. After deployment roll D6 for each unit with the Red Thirst rule. Any unit that rolls a 1 must exchange Combat Tactics for Furious Charge and Fearless.

Descent of Angels - Anything with a Pump Pack can re-roll reserve rolls and will only Scatter 1d6 when Deep Striking.

Weapons & Wargear
GW have said there will be a range of specialist wargear for the Blood Angels

Infernus Pistols – 6” Melta pistols

Hand Flamers - S3 AP6 Template

Death Mask - Force a Ld check at -2. Fail and fight at WS1.

Over-charged Engines are gone, replaced with Fast on some vehicles.

Blood Talons - close combat weapons on the Furioso Dreadnought. A dreadnought CCW with a Stormbolter, likely upgradeable to Meltagun/Heavy Flamer.

Magna-Grapples - A R12” S8 anti-vehicle harpoon weapon for Dreadnaughts. On a successful Penetrating or Glancing hit, the target vehicle is dragged 2D6" toward the Dreadnought, facing unchanged. Will only pull a vehicle as far as the edge of Terrain or 1" away from (friendly?) models. It has been said it can cause Tank Shock.

Psychic Powers
The Sanguine Sword – Gives Librarian S10
Wings of Sanguinius – As per GW PDF
Quickening - As per C:SM
Unleash Rage - Gives unit Preferred Enemy
Blood Boil – A successful Psychic test causes a wound on an enemy unit, allocated by enemy Player. If the Psychic Test is passed with a result of 5 or less, The Blood Angels player allocates the wound.
Unnamed - Draw a line of length 4D6” from the Librarian ignoring friendly models. Enemy models take a single S8 AP1 Lance hit.
Unnamed - Units within 6” get a 5+ cover save
Unnamed – One enemy squad has to take a Ld test to Move, Run, Shoot or Assault.

HQ
Dante, Lord of the Blood Angels – He and his squad don't scatter when Deep Striking. He doesn't have Eternal Warrior.
Death Mask of Sanguinius – As per regular Death Mask, plus pick a single Independent Character at the start of the game and cause -1 to WS, A, I and Ld.
Gives his squad Hit & Run
Allows Sanguinary Guard as Troops

Gabriel Seth, Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers – Captain stat line Armed with a very large Chainsword (S8, rending), Bolt Pistol and Iron Halo
Can forgo his normal attacks and cause one auto-hit on everything in base to base contact with him
If an enemy rolls 1 to hit him, he hits back with a basic close combat attack.
Causes all units with Red Thirst to suffer it on a 1-3.

Mephiston, Lord of Death – WS7 BS5 S6 T6 W5 I7 A~5 Ld10 Sv 2+ Around the cost of a Land Raider
Armed with Psychic Hood, Plasma Pistol, Force Weapon, Frag & Krak grenades
May cast 3 psychic powers per turn,
Transfixing Gaze - Does not require a psychic test. A single Independent Character must take a Ld test with a -4 modifier. If they fail Mephiston may re-roll failed hits and wounds. The enemy may fight back is they survive.

Tycho, Captain of the 3rd Company – Hits like a Monstrous Creature (at S4) and can re-roll a single To-Wound roll. His Combi-Melta has access to Sternguard special ammo.
Apparently there are multiple versions such as Death Company in the codex.

Reclusiarch Chaplain – Death Company get to re-roll to-wound and to-hits on the charge with the Liturgies of Hate

Librarian – No news yet

Company Captain – No news yet

Honour Guard – No news yet

Astorath the Grim – Armed with Power Axe, pistol and Jump Pack
Described as an Uber Chaplain. Apparently, if he is with the Death Company, they can re-roll Hits and Wounds.

Sanguinor, Exemplar of the Host – A “mysterious avenging angel” armed with 2-handed master crafted Power Sword (possibly S6), Bolt Pistol, and Jump Pack. WS8 ST5 T4 A5 Sv2+ 3++
Forces successful invulnerable saves in close combat to be re-rolled
Can nominate an enemy HQ and get re-rolls to all To-Hit and Wound rolls on that model
All friendly units within 6” get +1 attack
Blessing of Sanguinor - One sergeant in your army has +1 to WS, S, W, I, A and Ld

Elites
Chaplain – Death Company get to re-roll to-wound and to-hits on the charge with the Liturgies of Hate

Terminator Squad – No news yet

Terminator Assault Squad – No news yet

Dreadnaught – Can upgrade to Venerable, Furioso, and Furioso Librarian
Furioso Librarian have a single Blood Talon and Force Weapon, they have to choose which to use in close combat, but they DO get the +1 attack for having multiple CCWs. They can take 2 Blood Angel psychic powers (including Wings of Sanguinius) and has a Psychic Hood.

Techmarine – No access to the Thunderfire Cannon

Vanguard Veterans – A bit cheaper than C:SM. No Relic Blades, but access to the Glaive Encarmine (master crafted Power Weapons). Able to take Hand Flamers. Can supposedly take an Exsanguinator

Sternguard Veterans – As per C:SM

Sanguinary Guard – Armed with wrist-mounted Angelus Boltguns (12" S4 AP4 Assault 2), Glaives Encarmine (master crafted Power Weapons) Jump Packs and Artificer Armour. May take Death Masks. Max squad size of 5.

Sanguinary Priests – Unit of 1-3.

Brother Corbulo – Upgrade to Sanguinary Priests. Same profile. Armed with a S5 rending Chainsword. Red grail gives Feel No Pain and Furious Charge within 6”. Supposedly only gets FNP himself on a 2+

Troops
Assault Squad – As per C:SM but have Red Thirst

Tactical Squad – As per C:SM but have Red Thirst

Death Company – Furious charge, fearless, relentless, FNP, 3-30 models, 0-1 choice. Armed with Bolter, Bolt Pistol and Close Combat Weapon. Can take Power Weapons and Power Fists. Can take Jump Packs.
Cost with Jump Packs is the same as it is in the GW PDF.
Not a Scoring Unit

Lemartes, Guardian of the Lost – Upgrade character for Death Company. Armed with Crozius, Bolt Pistol and Jump Pack. Gets stronger if he loses one of his two wounds.

Death Company Dreadnaught - May take one for every 5 Death Company in the army. Several different weapon options including Magna-Grapple, Blood Talons (some form of Melta weapon), etc.

Scout Squad – Standard Scouts. No “Mad Max” style ones

Fast Attack
Baal Predator – Pretty much the same, but is Fast, has the Scout USR, and the option for a turret-mounted Flamestorm Cannon.

Bike Squadron – No news yet

Attack Bike Squadron – No news yet

Land Speeder – No news yet

Land Speeder Storm – Likely Added

Heavy Support
Devastator Squad – No news yet

Whirlwind – As per C:SM

Predator – No news yet

Vindicator – As per C:SM but are Fast

Stormraven Gunship – Armour 12 all around, Skimmer, Fast, Assault Vehicle, Deep Strike.
Armed with twin-linked Assault Cannons, twin-linked Heavy Bolters and 4 Bloodstrike Missiles.
Ceremite Plating make is immune to Melta weapons' extra penetration due to being able to withstand atmospheric re-entry temperatures
Bloodstrike Missiles Range 72” S8 AP1 Heavy 1, One-shot
Transports up to 2 squads of up to 12 Marines total (Jump Troops take up 2 slots) and up to 1 Dreadnought at the same time.
Transported Dreads take a single S4 hit on rear armour if the Stormraven explodes
Models can be deployed at any point of the move, even if it goes flat out but they must take a Dangerous Terrain test (Jump Pack Troops have a better chance of passing). Models deployed in this way cannot assault.
No fire points
4 access points (front, sides and top (?))
May replace Heavy Bolters with either twin-linked Multi-Melta or twin-linked Typhoon Launchers. May also take Hurricane Bolter sponsons.

Dedicated Transports
Rhino – 50 pts. As per C:SM but are Fast

Razorback – No news yet

Drop Pod – No news yet

Land Raider – Standard, Crusader and Redeemer. Only available as Dedicated Transports. Can supposedly Deep Strike somehow.

Minis

Releases are:

Death Company (BA upgrade kit) – Makes 5 plastic Death Company / Blood Angels.

Originally Posted by The Voice
The sprue you are referring to contains:

5x Bolt Pistols
5x Chainswords (1 two-handed)
5x Bolter arm sets
2x Hand Flamers
2x Perdition Pistols
2x Plasma Pistols
1x Power Sword
1x Thunderhammer
1x Powerfist
5x Jump Packs
5x Backpacks
5x Legs
5x Torso backs
5x Torso fronts
8x Heads
20x Shoulder pads
Other small bits

Sanguinary Guard - Makes 5 plastic Sanguinary Guard

Originally Posted by The Voice
Sanguinary Guard look very similar to Sanguinor, with muscled armour, winged Jump Packs, haloed heads, two-handed weapons (three swords, two axes) and wrist-mounted Bolters. There are additional wrist mounted weapons of the Melta and Plasma variety and a lovely battle standard.

Originally Posted by The Voice
As to the Sanguinary Guard, contents are as follows:

5x legs (look like Dante/Tycho)
5x torso fronts (all muscled, no belts)
5x toros backs
5x winged Jump Packs (5 parts each)
5x left arms with wrist mounted Bolters
1x left arm with wrist mounted Plasma Gun
1x left arm with wrist mounted Melta Gun
3x 2-handed swords
2x 2-handed axes (1 double headed)
15x shoulder pads
1x large standard with winged grail icon on top
Multiple heads of different types such as with haloes and laurels
Other small bits like hands for the left arms

Picture here:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0k/BASprue.jpg

Seems The Voice forgot to mention the Power Fist on the sprue

Baal Predator – Makes 1 Plastic Baal Predator

Comes with Assault Cannon and Flamestorm Cannon turret options as well as Heavy Flamer and Heavy Bolter sponson options.

Metal Blisters:

Sanguinor, Exemplar of the Host

Originally Posted by The Voice
Sanguinor has muscular armour similar to the current Dante miniature. His single engine Jump Pack has large wings on the sides and a halo on top. He adopts the classic “exalted angel” pose similar to Celestine with arched back and arms flung wide. His face is passive with shoulder length, wavy hair. His left hand holds a small grail, his right holds a sword.

Originally Posted by The Voice
Sanguinor has the typical broad-bladed sword used by most Space Marines. The Blade is a hand-span wide, straight, with a diamond point and a Fuller. The Guard is a typical cross guard, slightly embellished and with no Quillions. The Grip is about a one and a half hander, and the Pommel is quite plain.

Gabriel Seth

Originally Posted by The Voice
Chapter Master Gabriel Seth is armed with an Eviscerator (or very large Chainsword) which is longer than he is, double edged, with a very long grip (about 3.5-4 hand spans). He has fairly standard Power Armour, sparsely adorned with some scrollwork etc, and his backpack sports a cloak, small wings and an Iron Halo. His right shoulder pad has trim shaped like a saw blade, and his left sports a Flesh Tearers symbol with a single wing, similar to Tycho’s heraldry. He is posed running forward, pulling back for a two-handed sideways sweep of his blade and has the standard yelling head.

Astorath the Grim

Originally Posted by The Voice
Astorath has muscular armour similar to the current Mephiston miniature. He has a shouting head with long, flowing hair and a single engine Jump Pack with small wings on the sides. He is posed to be coming down in a hard 2-handed overhead swipe with an axe that’s handle is crafted to resemble a spine.

Lemartes, Guardian of the Lost

Originally Posted by The Voice
Lemartes, Guardian of the Lost, will get a brand new and much better miniature upon release. He stands atop a small pile or rubble, feet together, with right arm pointing a Bolt Pistol and left arm at ease holding a Crozius topped with a 2-headed eagle. His armour is adorned with many rivets and purity seals. His right shoulder pad is a jawless skull, and his left sports an embossed Blood Angels icon. His torso has a harness for his Jump Pack which itself is adorned with chains and charms and has the Blood Angels icon embossed on top of both intake vents. His helmet is a haloed skull with pipes to the sides of the mouth, but this time the eyes have lenses and the halo is more subtle.

Vanguard Veteran with Hand Flamer and Power Weapon.

Originally Posted by The Voice
For example, there is a Veteran with Jump Pack, Hand Flamer and Power Weapon due for release. His armour and Pump Pack are sparsely adorned with blood droplet gems, Purity Seals and scrollwork. Standing in the typical tip-toed pose of a jump troop, his upraised left arm holds a broad-bladed double-edged power sword with winged blood droplet guard and two-handed grip. The head is bare with a fairly typical short-haired Marine face in a “grumpy, but not yelling” pose.

Death Korps of Krieg part 4

2010-03-05T07:14:00.000-06:00

It's in the detail.

Going with the sky is the limit with my DKoK army I decided to make it as real as my current modeling/painting skill level would allow. I've done a metric ton of internet research on everything from the DKoK's themselves to WW2 to current tanks and soldiers uniforms. I would be lying if I said I wasn't completely stoked about this army. What really has gotten me all worked up is the vehicles. Since my last army (Renaissance marines) I've learned a lot about vehicles and painting. I'm ready to put all this theory into practice. I've constructed up 5 tanks now and I would like to think that each one tells a story. The 4 below will all eventually be hydra flak tanks.

They first hydra is one of my favorites. I put little indention all over the front of the vehicle centering most of the dents around the front hatch. This was to represent the traitor guard shooting a heavy stubber at the front of the tank every time the hatch was opened trying to take out a DKoK that was inside. I also included extra treads in case the tank got immobilized and needed to make field repairs. I also bent the ladder on the other side to show that this tank has been in use. If you've ever walked past construction vehicles you would know that almost everything is bent and well 'used' on treaded workhorses. I included a couple of used gas cans on the back placed casually as if they were thrown to the side after use.

This one is my favorite. I included an auto cannon shot from the traitor guard into the left front track guard. I have DKoK lasguns leaned up on the sand bags on the left of the vehicle. The guardsmen have undoubtedly been fighting off troops to the left side of the vehicle as all the sand bags are piled up on that side with the spare guns laying about by the top hatch. I also included the ammo crate on this one so they wouldn't run out of ammunition fending off the infantry.

This tank I've included lots of shovels on top and some on the side as well as a tow cable on the side. This tank was recently stuck in the mud. The dangers of trench warfare. While stuck the tank and crew were taking some heavy fire to the front of the vehicle. I'm guessing from an Auto cannon heavy weapons team from the damage up front.

This last hydra just came to the front lines. It has no damage yet and hasn't had to drop sand bags off any where yet. Also all the tools are secured in there right spots and all the luggage and baggage are in their rightful place on the side of the vehicle.

Cheap and Effective Non GW White Primer

2010-03-04T10:19:00.000-06:00

In an attempt to save you and myself some money I have been trying numerous hobby alternatives. The foremost in my attempts to make my gaming dollar go farther has been centered around me NOT buying any GW sprays or primers. I remember when a can was 8$ and I thought it was too expensive then (and it was if you look at how expensive the primer actually costs GW to make and sell). Now their primers and sprays have gotten up to 15$ a can which is well beyond rediculous.

Below is the best alternative primer I have found that is white. You can get it at Walmart for under $3.00 a can. yes, that means that GW is effectively marking a similar product up by 500%. This goes on smooth and does not obscure any details. GW and P3 paints go over it just fine, and even better - I haven't had any bubbling or particle heavy sprays from it like I sometimes got from GW sprays.

Here is what the can looks like:

And here is a picture of my most recent wraithlord sprayed so you can see a model for yourselves!

My Pair of Baals

2010-03-03T10:21:00.000-06:00

Have you seen the Blood Angels 'leak' yet? Most people certainly have. Its out there and I think it looks pretty similar to the 5th edition rules 'leak' which panned out to be mostly correct. What did I notice in the BA leak? That a standard load out Baal predator is only 10 points more than it was before and this includes a twin linked assault cannon and a pair of heavy bolters. The new Over Charged Engines won't require you to roll to see if the engine will stall (thank goodness!)- the tank will always be fast now, but it does mean that if a tank with OCE goes over 12" it will effectively be destroyed on the dice roll of a 3+. on a penetrating shot. I don't think that rule is so great for a rhino, but here is where OCE engines will be nice:

On a baal predator! You no longer have to roll to count as fast, so the tank will always be able to move 6" and fire everything or move 12" and fire the Assault cannon. It can still go 18" if you need it to, but that will make it a Space Marine death trap.

With this logic I have gone ahead and finished painting up my second Baal Predator to reduce the amount of painting I have when BA drop. Painting up three Storm Harbingers will be time consuming enough!

Here is my second baal:

and here they are together in all their majesty:

Armageddon Pattern Medusa Guide 2

2010-03-02T10:32:00.000-06:00

Part 2 of the Armageddon Medusa. To begin with the enclosed portion of the tank a pair of side wall pieces are glued into the top. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of detail on the interior of this vehicle, as I was worried about the area around the gun and what you would be able to see inside.

The enclosed portion has a pair of resin hatch doors that don't glue on very well. These are just barely attached at one point and I can see these as being something that will come off pretty regularly.

At this point I went ahead and also built the remainder of the tank. The tank itself is nothing more than a normal basilisk, but the back is left off the tank. The bottom portion of the resin kit fills in the gap where the earthshaker cannon would sit in the basilisk. At this point it had become pretty apparent that I would need to pain the interior of this tank, and if I am going to pain the tank I want to be able to open it to admire the work. To fix this I took the back door of the tank and added in a pair of paper clip pins to make the door where it could open and close.

The bottom piece of the interior was my favorite part and you can see it below. It is machinery and shells for the cannon. It just slid into the bottom of the compartment and was glued down. At this point I also test fit the gun and floor assembly which slid in over the shells and was horrified to see how difficult it was to fit it all in. After some trimming and filing I was able to make it all slide into the housing as it should. However it is still a very difficult fit. The gun supports have to slide past some of the detail and moulding on the side of the bottom compartment and the gun and floor makes the compartment want to flare outward. The top compartment piece then sits down on the whole thing and sort of squeezes it all together.

Finally I glued on the back door housing onto the top piece. The top resin piece was pretty bowed and this little piece took the bow out of the resin and held everything it its correct shape.

From here I primed the entire thing white and began painting the interior. Next time I will show you how I went about the painting of the interior and the final assembly.

Female Imperial Guard Resources

2010-03-01T10:30:00.002-06:00

A while back I came across a thread on a forum about female Imperial Guard. Someone was looking for a source of female Imperial Guard heads. I didn't think too much of it at the time since the fledgling Imperial Guard force that I am working on is all wearing gas masks. But then I remembered that Jester actually had one of the very few female Imperial Guard models - the female Commissar. As you can see in this post he sold this model for a pretty penny quite a while back.

A marvelously painted example of the Imperial Guard Female Commissar

This got me to thinking about what other female Imperial Guard models there were. I looked around on the web a bit and came up with a pretty short list -

Female Commissar
Female Catachan w. Grenade Launcher
Female Tanith w. lasrifle
Female 'Last Chancers' - Rocket Girl and Warrior Woman
There were at least 3, and probably more like 5, female Guard in the Rogue Trader period of the Imperial Army.

Of these models the only ones available for purchase from Games Workshop are one of the Last Chancers models - I am guessing that it is Warrior Woman since she doesn't have a rocket launcher - and the female Catachan with Grenade Launcher - available from this blister (although it is random).

Warrior Woman

Female Catachan with Grenade Launcher

This little exercise in search led me down a path trying to find models that would work well as a stand-in for more female Guard models. The most recent offering that I found was for a female Imperial Guard head upgrade sprue from ChapterHouseStudios.com -

This kit came and went pretty quick. They are not longer available to buy on their website. Last I saw on this they were thinking about doing a resculpt to address a few issues that the community had with the models.

I looked around quite a bit but this was the only company that I found offering head models. From here on out it is complete models -but there are some real winners in this bunch.

Copplestone Castings is a European company that has some really slick models. Their Future Wars series actually has a few different sets of female models in it. My favorite were the FW 11 Female Troopers.

These models look like they would fit right in with either Cadian or Catachan forces. This set runs you about 8 British Pounds (which figures out to about $12.50 at the time of writing.) You might think that shipping would be an issue but it looks like they have a flat worldwide posting of 10% so that isn't too bad at all.

Another company that has a really nice female model is Urban Mammoth. Their female Land Pilot looks like it would make an excellent command squad model. This model is a bit pricier than those above ringing in at 4.50 British Pounds.

Well, that about sums up the different options that i have found so far. Sadly it looks like there just aren't that many out there. If anyone has a good source for more models drop a me a line in the comments and I will be sure to update this post.

UPDATE!

Here are a few more pics and links from the comments -

Hasslefree Miniatures has a female head conversion set but they lack hair.

Micro Art Studio also offers a female head sprue. These have hair and are cast in resin.

Battlefield Berlin offers a little conversion kit. It comes with a head and a front armour piece.

February Rumor Roundup

2010-02-28T10:30:00.003-06:00

Here are the big stories that broke during February -

Dark Eldar are getting some traction for an end of the year release -
Dark Eldar codex - from Warseer
Eldar Nightspinner, Dark Eldar Ravager News - from Warseer and BOLS

Sisters and Daemon Hunters have disappeared from the online store leading many to believe that they are coming soon. There have also been some rumors of some 3 up Grey Knight models floating about -
GW no longer stocking DH or SoB - from Warseer, BOLS Lounge, and Heresy-Online
2010 Models - from Warseer and BOLS Lounge

There is also just a smidge of talk about Tau getting a new codex in 2011
Tau Rumor Compilation - from BOLS Lounge

A little news on the 40k MM0
THQ President comments on 40k MMO - from Dakka Dakka

Warhammer Fantasy 8th Edition is really gaining some traction for a summer release -
WFB 8th edition rumours thread.. - from Dakka Dakka8th edition gameplay changes 8th Edition Gaming Changes - from Heresy Online
Box Set Contents - from Heresy Online
Ogres look like they might be coming out this year -
Ogre Kingdoms Rumors - from Warseer

Or are they? -
Harry Chimes In - from Warseer

And last but not least a whole host of Blood Angel rumors -
Blood Angels Thread v.3 - from Dakka Dakka
Blood Angels MkIII - from Warseer
Blood Angels Upgrade Sprue Contents - from BOLS

My Thunderwolves

2010-02-27T16:30:00.002-06:00

For months (read as" what seems like forever"), I've been working on my Thunderwolves. Like everyone who wants to run these, I had a heck of a time finding a suitable model. I decided to go with the juggernaut models, and I think with the right application of paint and the judicious application of a file and some green stuff they turned out alright. I tried to make them look like a fusion of monster and machine, though they are admittedly mostly machine. The mouths of the wolves were my nod toward life.

I added the wolf to the Powerfist model to add some character and to balance the model as I positioned him a bit too far to the right. The most annoying part was making them sit right. I had to shave the inside of the legs. I like the fact that they appear to be leaning forward, lunging toward the enemy. They are Space Wolves after all. However, I will admit that the PF model rides a little high, but he was painted, and I wasn't going to carve him up.

In practice, I've run these guys in just about every conceivable combination. Initially, I ran them in a unit of four with a Wolf Lord. I had one PF, one SS, one Melta Bomb, and one bare. This was very effective but remarkably costly. I then dropped the Wolf Lord, much to my chagrin, and ran them in a unit of 5 with a bolter added in. This was almost as effective; however, Ld 8 is a difficult hurdle to overcome, especially in tournaments with Psychic Battle Squads and massive dakka. They were too many points that could break relatively easily.

So, I'm now running them in units of three, but I'm running two units with a PF and a SS. This means that they can deliver significant death, but if they break, you're not up a creek. It also gives you 2 points of threat that are moving very rapidly toward the enemy's lines. The SS allows you to take the occasional lascannon shot as you'll rarely be hit with multiples from a single unit. The PF gives you 5 S10 attacks on the charge, which will give any army pause. Usually, these guys will make back their points, but in truth, their most important function is as a fire magnet. They allow your other murderous units, which hopefully you have, to get stuck in. You can run one unit straight down the pipe and hold one in reserve as a particularly nasty counter-assault unit. Reserve works well in a regular game, but in tournament with its time limit, you have to be prepared for them not to come in.

Anyways, that's all I have for now.

Later,

Monkey

Video Inspiration - Painting Difficult Models

2010-02-27T10:30:00.000-06:00

I found this video while lurking around on Dakka. It just sounded to weird to not watch. The video is from AGProductions. You can check out more videos in their YouTube channel.

In this video Christopher talks about a very difficult model that he painted up. The video is a bit long but is absolutely hilarious and makes several really good points. You get to see the painted model at around 7:25 but it really is worth sitting through up until that point.

Death Korps of Krieg part 3

2010-02-26T07:27:00.002-06:00

Getting out of the mud...

I don't know how many of these will make the cut in my final tournament list but I plan on having a total of 8. 6 Vendettas and 2 Valkyries. As its "paint my army for tournament" crunch time I need to narrow down exactly what I want so I'm not painting unnecessary units. I have 2 Vendettas now and 1 Valkyrie assembled and primed in Mr. Hobbies Mr. Surfacer 1000. The best model primer in the world!!! (IMO) I also have 1 Valkyrie being assembled and am working on purchasing 2 more. Most people convert up their lascannons for their Vendettas. I've seen some killer ones and some that look very natural. Wildeyedjesters Chaos Vendettas are a great example of this. I've already spent so much on 9 forge world tanks and 60 some odd Dkok whats a couple more forge world conversion kits. :P Now I'm off to the Internetz to look up paint schemes for my mad airborne trench fighters!

The Blood Drive part 3

2010-02-25T08:14:00.003-06:00

Enter the Machine!

I've started (in my opinion) the worst part of painting an army. The assembly lining of the common infantry. It's generally 2 weeks of painting hell for me. I assembly line because I'm not fond of painting the normal guys and this is the quickest way to get them out of the way. Especially when there is 60 of them to paint. Give me Elites, Walkers, Monstrous Creatures, Vehicles any day. Assembly lining takes the fun out of painting for me. However its the most efficient way to get what you don't want to do out of the way. Get out one paint color and one brush and blow through a step in 2 to 3 hours. The only problem with this is the better you want your models painted the more steps you have to do. (general rule of thumb anyways) So the better you want your infantry the more 2 to 3 hour steps you'll have, thus elongating the torture. I just have to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The 'Light' consists of 8 blood crushers with convertions, 2 demon princes and a fully converted Thirster! Oh boy! I wanna wet my brush just thinking about it.

But alas Khorne help me get through this and I can promise much war and blood shed once I have a fully painted army. (Maybe not the blood shed I want sticking with mono god but any skull is a win for khorne after all.)

Tactica - Land Speeder

2010-02-24T10:30:00.002-06:00

Lately there have a been quite a few articles pop up on Land Speeder Tactics. I figured I would throw my hat in the ring on this front since I am running a pair of them in my current Space Marine list.

Time and time again the two Land Speeders have done me right. After a few games of running them they had become one of my favorite units in the entire army.

The way I have mine loaded out is for an all-comers list - Multi-Melta and Heavy Flamer. This gives me some awesome tank popping ability as well as some anti-horde.

There are pros and cons of deep striking the Land Speeder. The biggest drawbacks are not being able to fire both weapons and the possibility of a bad scatter. I have negated both of these effects by sending in two drop pods on the first turn with teleport homers and the weapon combination on the Speeders usually means that only one weapon will do the job against the unit you are firing at.

Now that you have read my two bits on this subject check out what a few others around the net have to say on the subject -

Bell of Lost Souls - Landspeeder Tactica
Librarium Online - Tactica Land Speeder
Space Wovles - Land Speeder Tactics

This past weekend at a doubles tournament I had really good luck with my Land Speeder. I was only taking one in the list since each team-mate only had 1000 points but it served me right. The versatility of the Heavy Flamer or Multi-Melta really paid off. In the first game we played I was able to roast an entire 7 man squad of Fire Warriors. In the next round of shooting it shrugged off quite a few shots before it was destroyed.

In our second game I again used the Heavy Flamer but this time it was on some Tyranids. I actually got more than one round of shooting out of it in this game since the bugs diverted their firepower to other juicier targets.

In the last game of the tournament I was able to deploy the Multi-Melta to maximum efficiency - I popped a Chimera with it on the turn I landed. After that it went up in a ball of flame but it had done it's job.

For me this just drives the point home that splitting the unit between anti-horde and anti-tank is the way to go. Against any list I face it will be effective.

Boardgame Review - Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot

2010-02-23T10:30:00.002-06:00

A few Fridays ago the Hogs got in a few rounds of a new game we had picked up - Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot.

Don't be put off by the silly name and the goofy box art - this is actually a really fun game. The game is card based, you have a hand, various draw and discard piles, and an in-play area called the bunny circle. You go around the table taking turns playing cards and resolving the outcome. Pretty simple at first glance.

The way you actually play your cards to the table is a very neat mechanic. You basically have to plan a turn in advance. You lay two cards on the table, one closer to the center of the table than the other. On your turn you flip over the top card and resolve it. Then the bottom card moves up and you play a card from your hand to become the new bottom card. Play then passes to the next player. I really liked this element as it almost reminded me of Robo-Rally and the way you would have to program your moves.

The action centers around your rabbits that you put in play. You have to have a rabbit in play to use most of the cards. Having multiple rabbits can also give you an edge as it may allow you to play an extra card - basically giving you two turns at once. Your rabbits can be short lived though - there is a veritable host of ways to kill off a players rabbit.

In order to win the game you have to find the magic carrot. There are about 20 different carrot cards that you can collect throughout the game - these are highly contested because this is how you win the game. At the end of the game one carrot at random is determined to be the magic carrot and whichever player has that carrot wins the game. We were a big fan of this mechanic because it really gave everyone a chance to win even if one player was running away with the game. You always felt like you had a chance.

There are so many wacky things that can happen in this game that I can't even begin to go over them here. This is a type of living card game and there are currently about a dozen expansions out for it. All of the expansions fit together really well and each one adds a new element to the game.

I rate this game pretty high. It was a blast to play and was pretty fast once we got the hang of it. Each game played very differently from the last. If you can get over the goofy name there is actually a bit of depth and tons of re-playability in this game and you should give it a chance.

Traitor Guard Chimera #5: The Eyes Have It

2010-02-22T13:30:00.000-06:00

Another day, another chimera in the mechanized expansion. Only an army filled with chimeras is fit for unmasking the false emperor. For this chimera I was set on giving it a big glaring eye in the back. I look at my chimeras as a chance to give my army some character and i definitely don't want them to look similar.

I sat out by building the standard chimera but turned the guns around backward in the sockets to make the round piece visible only. I planned on turning these into smaller eyes after green stuffing some nurgley parts around them. Then I sat about the house looking through my wife's plants and odds and ends. I was on a quest for a suitably oval shaped rock, marble or some sort of bauble. Finally I found the piece I was looking for in a small planter filled with rocks adorning the back of our spare toilet. The rock was requisitioned by the chaos warlords and turned side ways in the back of the chimera. The wife was none the wiser.

Once the rock had glued down with some plasticard bracing inside the tank, I began giving the chimera the needed buboes, boils, hives, warts and disgusting bits. I wasn't too careful with how I applied them since I wanted this part to look nurglish. Finally I took a thin piece of green stuff and put on eye lids over each eye. This was the trickiest part as I am not too used to working with very thin sheets of green stuff.

Here is the finished green stuff chimera awaiting paint. Hopefully the paint will make the rock look more like an eye!

Maintenance In Progress

2010-02-22T09:30:00.001-06:00

Don't mind the mess today - I am going to be tweaking the sight just a bit to get ready for some changes that are coming.

Update: The maintenance is now over. I tweaked some of the settings and re-did the template to hopefully speed some things up. You will also notice a few new links at the top that will take you to some new sections. I have moved the tournament pictures to their own page since they were getting squished. I also moved some of the more static info up there. I hope to expand the pages section as we move forward. Any even info will likely be posted up there.

If you have any problems with the site just drop me an email or leave a comment and I will take a look at it.

Deffkopta Conversion - Deffkopta to Warbuggy

2010-02-21T10:30:00.000-06:00

Since I am in the progress of going through and finishing up all of my old projects that I have laying around I had to find a use for an abundance of Deffkoptas. I ended up with a gob of these models from the Black Reach set. I have already painted up five koptas for my Orks and I just don't think that I need any more.

Since I want some buggies/wartraks but don't like the current models I decided that I would convert some.

The general idea so far is to chop off the portion that holds the copper blades, slap on some tracks from Ramshackle games, and see how it goes.

I placed an order for the tracks last week and am just waiting on them to come in. I am not sure how well this will work as a buggy with one set of tracks so I ordered enough to have two sets of tracks per vehicle.

Here is a shot of the tracks I ordered.

The Blood Drive part 2

2010-02-20T08:39:00.005-06:00

Knocking out the base coats!

I've come up with an interesting way to do base coats. Being a fairly impatient painter. (this I'm sure has been around a while I just thought of it recently though, so It's new as far as I'm concerned) I did this technique to my necrons and a commissioned soul grinder a while back. Gradient base coats are a great way to add depth to your army or model and after you finish you won't be able to tell that you even did anything at all. It's one of those subtle things that you won't see but your brain will register as the model looking better and you just assume the brush work must be better than normal. However its just a rattle can wonderland of a trick. :P I'll use my current project as an example.

For my Khorne army I assembled all the models and glued on my sand, rock, quark mix to the bases. I do this before I prime or paint because the primer and paint acts as an additional adhesive and protective coat to the sand keeping it down better. I first primed all the models all over using Rust-oleum Rusty Metal Primer. This both primes the model and gives us a good base of dark red/brown to work up from.

This is where you start getting artsy with the rattle can. I now took Tamiyas Color Dull Red and stood all the models up and leveled the can at about a 45 degree angle staying about 10 inches away and sprayed lightly all around each model as to not cover all of the Rusty Metal Primer.

Lastly I took Tamiyas Color Bright Red (this is a gloss) Leaving the models in the same position as above I got directly over the models at a 90 degree angle staying at about 14 inches away and gave a SHORT burst to each model.

Now the downside to this technuique on these particualar models is that I go from a Flat re/brown to a satin dark red to a gloss red. This can be troublesome while you paint as the differing degrees of reflectivity may think that as your painting it looks off which after its finished and all dull coated clear will bring this in to cohesion and make it perfectly fine. However if this bothers you there is two ways to fix it. The First being only use all flat paints. (I used the gloss bright red because I couldn't find a flat bright red and I personally pretty much exclusivly use Tamiyas or Mr. Surfacers products.) The second way to fix this is simply spray your models with a light coat of flat clear before you start your brush painting.

The upside to this is it creates natural highlights and shadows on the models. For instance my models have a gradient (blended transition) from dark red/brown to medium dark red to bright red. It's basically cheating and taking advantage of our canvas being 3D.

This in no way means I'm done. I still have some washes and highlights to do. About 6 steps in total to finish the skin on my red demons. You may think that after my 6 steps or so of brush paint then what was the point. Well like I said earlier It's a subtle effect that your brain wont register or see. You won't say "oh he used a bunch of rattle can paints for his base coats." You will think the model is painted better than a model using the same brush steps but just being based with a solid color as the foundation.

Side Note: I use Tamiyas and Mr. Surfacer's Primer paints and clears because the atomize very small. When using this technique I wouldn't recommend paints like Testors as the spray isn't as fine and holding the can away at 14 inches and doing short bursts your more likely to end up with spots or speckles instead of a smoother gradient.

Hydra Dominatus

2010-02-19T12:00:00.005-06:00

This week and the last I have been working on getting 3 defilers assembled and based for a list I wanna start testing for 1850 and 2000. As much as I love this model it can be a pain to put together and I believe not glueing the legs down make a lot of them just fall down because the middle isn't glued tight. With all 3 of mine the only thing not glued is the turret. All that is left to do on them is to make the 2 extra close combat weapons(which I am having issues figuring how to model) and start to paint. A couple of pictures to go with the models I believe I am done with defilers for now with 3 its the most I can take in a normal list and in Apoc I wanna field all sorts of things not just spam one.