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The scarab Farm is finally ready!

2012-02-11T00:45:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago, I started working on scarabs. I was using a push mold method originally intended by the great blogfather to be used on the new style scarabs, but I was able to use it on the classic raider style. This was excellent. I then had the opportunity to make casts of my objective markers to use as bases. As much as I enjoy the markers, they were mostly for mounting the scarabs, which I wanted to have a swarm feel, so either stacked up on bases, or flying around. After a marathon hobby week, while entertaining two kids under 4, I have finished them. Here is a quick overview of the process:

step 1: scarabs are painted silver, incidentally making them look more like production scarabs.

Step 2: Light Black Wash

Step 3: Attach to bases(insanely time consuming)

Step 4: groovy black sand

Step 5: Consume!

Ok, those are pretty quick and dirty pictures. I plan to have a more complete work up after their first tournament, The Battle For Stones River. I did use all three squads of scarabs in the above photos to assure everyone all of them are complete.

Edge Highlighting for slackers

2012-02-04T23:15:00.001-06:00

First of all, I love DakkaDakka. I read posts there quite often, and try to emulate techniques shown. When I came across this article on edge highlighting, I thought it looked pretty simple. However, the more I tried it, the more I just could not seem to nail it down. I think it might be the "2 shades lighter" part. Of course, in my mind, I had already done all the edge highlighting for my army....so not being able to do it in person was a bummer.

However, today, messing with my airbrush it occured to me that adding white might be a good substitute for this, and since I base all my models white...and I have an airbrush....

I basically used a white primer for the base, then hit these guys with blue(the color I've picked for their helmets, obviously) and before it could dry, I hit it from a distance with the airbrush on full power. The curves seem to catch the air flow just right and the paint on them is pushed just a bit thinner, giving a look similar to edge highlighting that I am very happy with.

Now...if the airbrush would just paint eyes...

Progress on Hobby Challenge!

2012-02-04T23:07:00.000-06:00

So the guys over at the IC have this challenge going. Basically, you paint up an 1850 army(with sideboard of 400 pts) by Adepticon and they give you a chance to win glamorous prizes.

I have stalled out on mine and not made any progress since September. Today, I added glorious orange to my grey grey knight to make them not so grey orange knights:

Scarab project is ready for paint(all 93 of them!).

2012-02-03T09:34:00.001-06:00

Hello all,

Just a quick update to my scarab project. I worked tirelessly at the forge all weekend and got my scarabs about 60% finished, but had a change up in the process mid way. I had been making my own objective markers for use in adepticon and as they were on 40mm bases and the scarabs were on 40mm bases, it occured to me that I might as well just base them all the same.

My idea for the objectives was to be a very simple matter, just a symbol. I was delighted to learn that the serpent is a big deal in the Egyptian mythology, and thus Necron, and I just happend to have the perfect idea for a base.

This was a pretty easy set for me, I had plenty of the symbols floating around in my toy box. I carefully trimmed a few and applied them to a base, filled in the gaps(only a bit, I don't want smooth edges) with Elmers and off to the silicone bakery.

As I've shown before with my scarabs, they are one sided push molds like Ron demonstrated, so they generally have no detail on the bottoms. However, since I used high strength silicone instead of green stuff, I was able to cheat a little and get the appearance of a complete copy.

To keep the general aesthetic of the new scarab bases, I elected to 'float' my scarabs over the bases using paperclips cut into tiny lengths. The guys shown below are prototypes, as I plan to completely paint both halves before final assembly.

Anyway, that is where I'm at on that. I'm glad to be able to make enough scarabs for the farm and still continue with my classic necron raider army. I will be posting pictures of my force as it grows as well as showcasing its current incarnation, so please check back.

Forgeworld scarabs!

2012-01-26T14:35:00.000-06:00

Ok...I like them...sadly, I've already made enough of my older no longer made scarabs, :(

Forge World Scarabs

Update to Scarab Factory

2012-01-23T20:19:00.000-06:00

Waiting for Dreads on XBL.

2012-01-23T14:59:00.000-06:00

As we all know, on January 24th, THQ is going all out with its space marine game and adding dreads.

I for one can not wait.

THQ Announcement:

AGOURA HILLS, Calif. Jan 18, 2012 – THQ Inc. today announced the second downloadable content pack for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is scheduled to release for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Playstation®3 computer entertainment system, and Windows PC on 24th January (US) / 25th January (EU).

The premium add-on pack called The Dreadnought, adds a new multiplayer mode called Dreadnought Assault where both teams battle to capture a central location on the map and the winners spawn a player controlled Dreadnought. The Dreadnought is armed with an Assault Cannon / Auto Cannon, a Meltagun and a Power Fist / Power Claw and must capture points across the map to score points for their team. Once the Dreadnought is destroyed a new spawn point will appear.

The Dreadnought DLC also includes three new multiplayer maps Desolation, Dome Mechanicus and Chem Refinery, as well as new achievements / trophies and has a suggested cost of 800 Microsoft Points / US$9.99.

In addition to the premium add-on content all players of Space Marine will receive a new multiplayer Capture and Control Mode for free. Playable on all the game’s multiplayer maps, this team based mode challenges players to capture and defend locations around the map to score points.

Jim Huntley, Vice President of Global Brand Management commented, “Fans of Space Marine have been asking for vehicles for a while so we are delighted to be bringing the iconic Dreadnought and Chaos Dreadnought to consoles for the first time in this DLC content.”

Alongside this add-on content THQ will be releasing two new player skins for sale on the Xbox LIVE® online entertainment network, Playstation® Network and STEAM. Players will be able to purchase unique Iron Hands and Death Guard skin packs for a suggested price of 240 Microsoft Points / US$2.99 each.

The Space Marine DLC content is scheduled to be available to purchase on Xbox 360, Playstation®3 and Windows PC on 25th January(US) / 25th January (EU).

Attempting a scarab factory so I can play scarab farm!

2012-01-22T18:28:00.004-06:00

Hello everyone. I must confess, I was really sweating playing my Necrons under the current edition codex....I love these guys, but it seems I would not be able to get models to play the way I wanted.

You see, I have a fun Necron army....a classic all metal raider army. Luckily, I came across Fritz who was also playing and this lead me to From The Warp. Ron had a very cool idea to do scarab bases in line with the way Forgeworld had their ripper bases. That is all well and good, but I use slightly larger scarabs. So, I had to adapt...

Predictions based in nothing more than madness

2012-01-22T13:08:00.001-06:00

Carnac the Magnificent. by Victor McCay

So one thing I've noticed, among the blogs I read, is the scatter shot prediction method.. Basically, you have a list of hugely crazy predictions and when one is right you seize on that one to back up your future crazy predictions.

Now, generally, I see people taking predictions from noteworthy sources(such as the TEW with their necron leak), changing just a bit and then claiming you were right.

Now, with that in mind, I think I'm going to start my own predictions and please feel free to add your own.

Lets start with an easy one, sixth ed boxed set!

A lot of people have argued you can not have a boxed game without space marines, and while that has been the case, my wild speculation for the sixth ed box will be : Tzneetch marines vs eldar, black library battle...and optional tie to the black library books,

Oh come on, we know chaos is coming and including them in the 6th ed would allow the company to drop the boxset that much faster...and eldar...sheesh, they'd be ok in there. Besides, ahriman vs eldrad would be epic.

Next stop 6th ed rules: I'm gonna predict more models used per game....and models that have not sold well will be great in the new edition....snarky and cynical, perhaps, but I need at least one prediction to come to fruition so I can back up my other wilder ones,

Anyone else wanna play?

Bizarro, errr, Reversed Buffalo Wings Marines

2011-12-29T20:49:00.000-06:00

So trying out my buffalo wings paint trick today, I thought, it works so well this way, why not reverse it. I have to say, this marine looks much more like the single pass air brush marines I see online all the time, so I won't be rinsing and repeating, but this is how we learn things.

Cerebrus Legion Terminators...the warm marines!

2011-12-28T16:04:00.000-06:00

So its been a while, with work, a sudden operation for my spouse, and the subsequent holidays, I've been out of sorts for months. But finally, back on the wagon for the IC challenge. Recently, while making lunch for my two little ones I had a great idea. I was making hot wings and noticing how the sauce on the wings as it cooked spread and tore/thinned leaving wonderful shading. So I stored that way til the next time I was painting.

Today I tried something similar on my warm marines, basically a lot of air...and very very bright colors. I'm not confident on the process yet,so I won't bore anyone with details, but I got these guys:

As you can see it is not a perfect process...yet. I added in a little pre shading on the claws and details, just to break them up a little.

I do, however, love the automatic shading on items with larger surfaces, such as the powerfist. I plan to continue this technique until I can quickly paint up all my marines. I currently have 40 in the queue for this challenge, but I have probably 150 that need to be added to this army to cover all the permutations of using various codicies(thank you Goat!). Even though I plan to use the same marines and vehicles for each chapter's codex, I do plan to have all the correct models that are specific to that army as well, such as sanguinary guard, grey knight models, etc...so loads of different opportunities for beautiful orange marines.

Blogging suspended due to heat and AC issues, but hobby progress!

2011-08-01T23:03:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

Sorry, I've had to cut off the blogging for a while, which is sad since I'm making a ton of progress on my grey knight army for the Independent characters hobby progress army challenge. I've been taking pictures, but just can't get motivated to go out to the computer room until the temps drop below 100 for a while.

But to prove I am making progress(however undocumented), here is a pic of my test model for my warm marines:

I hope to return in a couple weeks with a flurry of posts to show my army changing from a pile of sprues to a fully painted force ready to stomp Carl's ultramarines at Adepticon!

Keep Cool!

A Brief Finecast review

2011-06-26T21:57:00.000-05:00

It seems everyone was against finecast when I first heard about it. I have to admit, its only because of my advancing years that I decided to not give into the fanfare and instead wait until I had my very own finecast model before passing judgement.
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Hobby Progress Challenge, WIP looted wagon

2011-06-14T14:06:00.000-05:00

Not much to report, finished up a looted wagon that I believe will be in my sideboard for the IC's challenge.

Before and after its primer:

This little guy is part green army man tank(for the wheels, mostly) part tamaiya tank, and then just random ork and imperial bits and a cannon from a small toy.

1/18th war, first battle report

2011-06-09T13:04:00.000-05:00

As I've said previously in this blog, not only am I working on a play table, 1/18 city playset for my kid, I'm also working with a buddy of mine on a wargame for our action figure collections. Coincidence, right? Well, before I posted the rules I've been using up on the work group for the project, I felt I needed a second test(the first being before the rules were very fleshed out and basically just dice rolls at random).

The Independent Characters Hobby Progress Challenge

2011-06-06T13:28:00.001-05:00

The Independent Characters - View forum - The ICs Hobby Progress Challenge

Carl, Geoff, and Zach(and I'm sure their two hitmen) are busy cooking up a sweet contest for those 40k players eager to start, complete, or just paint an 1850 tournament list.

GW Price Hike, a Hooligan Revolution!

2011-05-22T20:54:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone. I won't bother commenting on the upcoming GW bendover tax...err price hike, I'll just say I agree(for once) with the Hooligans:
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Free Chaos Renegades? Head on over to the wolf god!

2011-05-21T09:00:00.002-05:00

I do so love free miniatures, :)

Grey Knights Army List

2011-05-20T09:00:00.003-05:00

So, this week I have been working on a list to test out my grey knights in friendly games this weekend. I can't believe how much the army has changed from its last codex. I feel I'm going to have to buy or convert up quite a few models(which I'm sure is the point of any new codex). The biggest change for me is the amount of special weapons. I am in total shock at how effective the new psycannons are. So naturally, I want as many as I can muster. To me, this means purifiers, of course since I'm re-using my 3rd ed army, it also means purifiers with force halberds. Here is my working list so far:

1850 Pts - Grey Knights Roster

Total Roster Cost: 1846

HQ: Castellan Crowe
1 Castellan Crowe,

Troops: Purifier Squad (11#, 356 pts)

1 Purifier Squad, + Psybolt Ammunition

1 Knight of the Flame,(base cost + Nemesis Daemonhammer )

4 Purifier, (base cost + Psycannon )

5 Purifier,(base cost + Nemesis Force Halberd )

1 Rhino, (base cost + Searchlight)

Troops: Purifier Squad (11#, 356 pts)

1 Purifier Squad, + Psybolt Ammunition

1 Knight of the Flame,(base cost + Nemesis Daemonhammer )

4 Purifier, (base cost + Psycannon )

5 Purifier,(base cost + Nemesis Force Halberd )

1 Rhino, (base cost + Searchlight)

Troops: Purifier Squad (11#, 356 pts)

1 Purifier Squad, + Psybolt Ammunition

1 Knight of the Flame,(base cost + Nemesis Daemonhammer )

4 Purifier, (base cost + Psycannon )

5 Purifier,(base cost + Nemesis Force Halberd )

1 Rhino, (base cost + Searchlight)

Troops: Purifier Squad (11#, 356 pts)

1 Purifier Squad, + Psybolt Ammunition

1 Knight of the Flame,(base cost + Nemesis Daemonhammer )

4 Purifier, (base cost + Psycannon )

5 Purifier,(base cost + Nemesis Force Halberd )

1 Rhino, (base cost + Searchlight)

Heavy Support: Dreadnought
1 Dreadnought, 136 pts = Psybolt Ammunition + Searchlight + Assault Cannon + Twin-Linked Autocannon )

Heavy Support: Dreadnought
1 Dreadnought, ( Psybolt Ammunition + Searchlight + Twin-Linked Autocannon + Twin-Linked Autocannon )

As you can see, quite a few psycannons and a pair of twin linked autocannons to boot. I think this army is probably a little too bland, but I'm hoping it will help me get my feet wet so to speak and provide a basis for an eventual "all comers" list.

Armies that never quite took off

2011-05-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

I think we all have them, good ideas for armies, love of models that make us want to play armies, random bits in our bits boxes that make us think we could do an army cheaply or well. But they never really go anywhere.

Today, I thought I would share a few of mine. The first my poor neglected space wolves. I was calling my hunt(for lack of a better term) "Baldr's Reign" but I never really liked them, another baby blue army after fielding my ultramarines for years was a no go. Eventually, I just painted them orange and they are still space wolves.

Next, oh boy, my Ultramarines 1st company; I had high hopes for this army but never go around to adding any vehicles or converting up a Belial(though the new Deathwing FAQ is encouraging). Add in that now I would need to rebase the entire force to the large 40mm slottas...just not worth it right now.

Ahhh, my much loved IG force. Most of these guys got pushed into the Daemon Hunters force back in 3rd ed, but a few models I just didn't have the heart to change up. This guy looks mean, but he's steel legion...so not exactly an army I can afford to play.

My first army was Dark Angels. This squad was painted by a good friend of mine as a birthday present, but I quickly switched to ultramarines. Because of the way I based and painted back then, I actually have about 40 marines, a rhino, and a dread to go with these, probably a 1000 pt force that will never see the tabletop.

Ok, this isn't a refugee from a lost army, it was Christmas gift, but since the picture was found while looking for the above, I had to include it. Rogue Trader marines FTW! Also, this guy has a santa hat, thus he was "Christmas Calgar."

Ahhh, the mythril hunters cadre....the Tau was a super fun army that I enjoyed back in the day. I actually had a very large force of these, but my opponents refused to play them. The guys show below were human auxillaries, which I think even had rules. Anyway, when I traded the army away...these guys were unwanted, so they stayed in the display case. They are certainly a fun set of models and remind me of simpler times when the Tau were a force to be reckoned with.

Oy, 2nd ed Tryanids...need I say more?

Orcs in fantasy...another short lived idea. I blame the starter box. Interestingly enough, I found use for the chariot in my Daemons army, so all was not lost.

This poor guy is just a representative of my 2nd edition Biel Tan eldar army. I loved these guys back in the day, but the modern cookie cutter eldar lists just make me want to box these til another edition comes out. This guy also got called the "algae avatar" quite often, so fun times.

So I hope you guys enjoyed a brief tour of armies past and never to be. Maybe you have your own phantom armies floating around.

Dusting off the Grey Knights or....Joining the Bandwagon!

2011-05-18T09:00:00.002-05:00

Back in the darkest days of 3rd edition, I fell to the lure of very nice models and mediocre rules...the forces of the Daemon Hunters! I never really liked the way they played, so beyond just enjoying the models...I didn't really want to play them. I shelved them waiting for the day they might be fun again.

Now, with a new codex, I don't know, I feel dirty playing them. I wasn't loyal to them while they were suffering under their old rules, so I feel like I'd just be jumping the bandwagon to play them now. Also, this army has a nice detachment of IG that can no longer be used....so do I want to start an IG army? Not sure.

Anyway, here are the models:

Cerberus Legion Terrain, WIP

2011-05-17T12:07:00.001-05:00

So I think my table needs a few pieces that tie it in with certain armies I play. This is pretty easy to do with orks...I already have the barricades and various pieces of wreckage, but with my warm marines, I wanted to go in a different direction. I also needed to tie them back into the space wolves(a hard sell with no surviving successor chapters), so here we go:

I figure a statue of a guy wearing animal skins should tie them back into Fenrir as well as anything(or Hyboria). This started life as a conan desk statue, but I primed it grey and washed it in tamaiya smoky ink for what I hope is a marbled look.

Additional photos:

First battle against grey knights!

2011-05-12T14:22:00.000-05:00

I had my first chance to battle the Grey Knights this week at the local game store(local being a relative term since it was a 90 minute drive). Pictured above, my space wolves attempting to meltagun a Land Raider Crusader. I have to say, I am not as impressed with the way the army plays as I was when just reading the codex. As a Grey Knights player(hesitant to play them until the bandwagon leaves town), I had high hopes for them. It appears the leadership of 8 is actually important with such an elite army.
My force was my typical space wolves at 1750, 2 vindys, LRC with 15 bloodclaws and wolf priest(awesome scoring unit!), 5 wolf scouts with melta gun, 2 grey hunter squads with one meltagun in drop pods, 2 rune priests, and Ragnar. His forces consisted of 2 10 man squads with halberds and one guy carrying a 2++ rod, both riding in Land Raider Crusaders, I think a leader type of some sort(he got stuck out of position and in a vehicle the entire game), and one each of the 3 assassins. Granted, the player was still testing out the codex and was not fully optimized, but I had no problem overcoming this force with my own semi optimized list. I tended to avoid close combat(nemesis weapons look scary) and was able to just control the shooting game. I will say the LRC with psy ammo upgrade is awesome, even if a little harder to fully utilize. I was able to use my drop pods to fully neutralize his assassins and then use my vindys to keep his grey knights mounted up. We were playing roll dice and tie and that certainly didn't help. The game was going to be a nice tie(as always), but in round six, I landed a vindy round into his squad holding his objective and he failed his leadership....and ran right off the board. Winning on a bad die roll? I'll take it.

My buddy Jestyr traveled with me playing his WIP deathwing against a WIP Ultra army. Why someone would put off playing ultramarines this long and still want to play them is beyond me.

As you can see here, a classic castle defense, which did not work against all those cyclone missile launchers. Jestyr made short work of him. The player, while normally a strong adversary, recently switched from jetbike eldar to power armor, so I assume that is where the disconnect occurred.

My second game had me playing against a completely mobile bike army(ok, he had one pod and one vindy). I played my same force(with the addition of a squad of wolf guard) against 40 bikes, a vindy, a pod with dread, a captain on bike, and Khan on bike. It was going fairly well until turn 3 when one bike captain took out half my army. It was very humiliating, so I will not relate it here.

I would like to say thanks to Castle Perilous for providing not only a place to play, but a ton of beautiful terrain and various game boards. This is a wonderful store to play in with a very active gaming community.

BBI WW2 weapon packs, 1/18 scale, found at Tuesday Morning

2011-05-09T20:45:00.000-05:00

So while watching my wife assault the local Tuesday Morning looking for deals, I tried to amuse myself in this mecca for the meticulous saver. I did find a nice pair of sprue clippers masquerading as some lady beautification device for half the price GW wants, so that made me a bit pleased, but I still quested further into the toys section. Most of it was quite horrible, but at the end, near a ton of Tron figures, I found some cool litlte 1/18 scale guns. They seemed to be accessory packs(from back in the day of collecting IMHO) for a BBI's figure range. they had multiples of two separate sets, so I purchased one of each.

As you can see, BBI originally thought these were worth five bucks each, but the market seems to have determined otherwise. I thought they were a steal at 2 bucks...oh how right I was...someone was getting robbed.

The first one had a cart of some sort, as well as a thompson, a bazooka, 4 ammo boxes, grenades, a trench tool and a few other random bits I didn't even bother to catalog. The first thing I noticed about these toys...they are very cheaply made, I thought I was going to destroy the cart just putting the wheels on.

After messing around with these for a bit...not impressed. The one cool thing, the 1/18 scale makes all my joes look like giants...which is good for a killer robot with a funny hat.

Speaking of scale discrepancies, these guys seem to work great for my 40k marines. I think the cart in particular looks fetching on my terminator and the grenades will definitely find their way onto my marines as I continue to build the warm marines.

Sadly, the other pack was even more useless to me

And again will find its way into my 40k bits box...can't have too many grenades and rockets and ammo belts.

Another building WIP, just needs touch ups

2011-05-06T19:48:00.002-05:00

A few months ago, my pal Segnett and I decided we were going to build large scale play sets for our sons. As I've posted previously, I quickly finished a bank or other similar building entry(with the bank to be finished later) and an interior set for a jail cell. Today I took another WIP a few more steps down the road. This is going to be a blown out building, rubble, crack house, whatever you want to call a really cool place for Cobra to ambush GI Joe, :)

Since Segnett and I are also working on a 1/18th scale skirmish game, this will also be a nice piece of terrain for that system when we are ready to test it.

This building started life as a power team elite desert battle area. I changed that with a single coat of paint to more closely match(but not exactly) the command center from the same line which will be the joes base in this large scale play set. I'm not sure how realistic the brick under the crumbling facade is, but I think it looks fun on the table and bright colors seem to engage my son more than dulled ones, which I would have used if this was for adult war gaming. Who am I kidding, I would have used this fire engine red for my terrain as well.

A technique I have picked up recently(and linked in this blog) is using acrylic fixed print outs as posters. I think this really adds something to this piece and I plan to use this in a much more pronounced way in upcoming pieces(both for this play set and my war gaming terrain).

Shown below for proper scale using one of my favorite(if not realistic) customs.