First few bases of Epic Orks

 

Finished my first few bases of Epic Orks! So far I've finished 3 Nobz, 2 Grotz and 4 Stormboyz (my z key is going to be worn out by the endof this project).

What? I like snow bases, ok?!

Posted with Blogsy

LatD Stalk Tank finished!

Ok, so my Stalk Tank is a little different from others. And I have a very good and fluff reason for that (or, rather, I had the model and it was already base coated). It's based off of a AT-43 Cog Prowler, all I've added is the tanks at the back to make it look a bit more grimdark gothic. This is also the first outing for the the snow basing I'm doing for these guys - I'm quite happy with the... Erm... 'Melty' effect that water effects gives you.

Also, as an aside, the mould lines on these models are horrendous! And, because of the material they're made from, almost impossible to remove.

 

From now onward ive re-jiged my hobby budget allowence (to force me to paint more). So now the money I have available to spend is:

((Total value of what I've painted or sold - total value of what I've brought)/2) + (number of groups of 5 models * £1.5).

So currently I've sold one guy, and painted three, with a total value of £41.19 (this new guy weighs in at £7.50). I've brought no new toys and I've not painted a group of 5 (such as a squad or a rank, not 5 individual characters). So the total available to me now is £20.60. Hopefully this new system will make painting groups of lower value models more worthwhile.

Posted with Blogsy

A good host...

Finished the first deamonhost for my LatD. Well, I say finished. I still haven't settled on a basing scheme (I'm thinking snow basing).

Anyway, the nearest equivalent for this guy is the standard GW deamonhost, which currently costs £7.70. Which sets my current running total to £33.69, so I'm doing quite well. Hopefully onto some cool stuff soon!

Posted with Blogsy

Lost and the Damned Arch Heretic

Lost and the Damned you say? Didn't I just say I was cutting down on my spending? Well, yes. But the thing is, I've been very interested in putting together a LatD army for a good while and my copy of Dark Vengeance has been sitting around feeling rather unloved. On the upside, I've knocked together most of a 2000 point army from spares and conversions and the like. Like a free army. Well, not free, since I did pay for it all at some point but still...

 

Anyway, all that talk leads to this, the first painted model for my Lost and the Damned force, my Arch Heretic. They way I envision LatD is a collection of the dregs of society - so it's all zombies, mutants, pirates and cultists lead by someone who thinks himself a little too good to be in the gutter (like a fallen nobleman or some sort of rogue inquisitor);

 

This models made from an old Inquisitor Corteaz model I got in a bitz box. With the head of the Dark Vengeance heavy weapon cultist and a terminator bolt pistol and empire outrider pistol. I'm quite pleased with how he turned out and, since this is my only fawtykay army there's a good chance these guys are getting some neat backup in the form of a Titan in the near future. Sometimes it pays to align yourself with the dark gods.

 

And, as I laid out last time, this guy counts as £11 toward my Hobby Diet (I still can't think of a better name), so the current total is:

Painted: £11

Sold: £14

Brought: £0

Total: £25

 

So I've now got £25 to spend toward new toys! And yes, I did see that GW forgot to include plastic Dragon Ogres in their WoC splash release, what's up with that? Anyway, I'd best get back to painting. If they ever release plastic Battle Sisters ill drive right up to Nottingham and just start throwing my money at their giant Spess Mahrine statue. So I'd best start saving now.

Posted with Blogsy

Treeman ancient WIP

Just thought I'd quickly post up a pic of my Treeman (woman?) ancient, before I start painting it.

I managed to get my hands on an, increasingly hard to find, Ultraforge tree woman (seriously, someone needs to get these back into production. And their giant).

Now, it's off to the priming station!

 

Posted with Blogsy

WiP Nurgle Herald

Bit of a rubbish picture (it's from my iPad, under office lights) but I've made some progress on my Herald of Nurgle - I've still got to finish the base, but I've not got a scheme down for the daemons.

Posted with Blogsy

Some Nurgle Beasts

I'm stuck up in the midlands on business. But luckily I brought some minis and paint! So far I've done the base coats and initial washes (that's why the skin is so orange, it's almost white when I'm done). Now I've just got the highlights to do. I've forgotten how quickly these guys are to paint, and once I've sorted out some primer, I'll get back to work on these guys.

 

 

Kickstarter roundup:

Whew, it feels like all I do is kickstarter summarys. But I think I'm addicted, no wonder the dragons den dragons keep throwing their money at sauces and airline cases. Anyway, what have I thrown my money at recently?

The two I've backed, that have finished their campaign, are Red Box Games and Reaper Bones. Red Box make some very nice models (the "chaos warrior" guys are especially nice, as are the wraiths), but a bit costly in metal - which is where the kickstarter came in, now it seems they've got enough cash to start producing models in plastic... Or resin... restic. Similarly, Reaper Miniatures have taken to kickstarter to help fund production on their Bones line (I think I covered this on a previous update) - good news is, they've got their funding - they're now the second most funded kickstarter in the games category (beating doublefine). Due to the stretch goals smashed, the amout of models you got from a $100 pledge is absurd. The addition items are pretty cool too, the artwork for the giant cthlulu is especially neat.

As for active kickstarter, I've been on a few. Soda Pop's Relic Knights are pretty sweet, if you're into their anime stylings - they might be a bit marmite. The demon guys are especially nice models.

Mantic Games are back! Yes, it seem just yesterday that I was backing Kings of War v3 (which I should be getting my reward for next week) now they're back, cap in hand. And what a cap it is. I dropped $150 on this as soon as I saw it pop up on Twitter. I'm a huge fan of Speedball 2 (it's one of my favourite games, ever) so a tabletop version with rats, orcs and dwarfs seems like its almost made especially for me. From what I've seen of the Veer-min team, they're very nice models (some of mantic best).

And now the on I'm most excited about:

Dreamforge Games have teamed up with Wargames Factory to produce a plastic Titan. If you read those last two words and didn't scramble off to back it, nothing will convince you. Except that it's a plastic Titan for under $100. The only reason I ordered 1 was because they chose their grey-knighty one for their first release, if it was the Mortis (a chaos titan with a skull head) I'd of ordered two, or three, by now. One of their stretch goals is to produce a 15mm Titan, which makes it perfect size for a knight titan. I'm excited.

Something that may turn people off is their collaboration with WGF, as a while back there was a serious amount of bad blood surrounding that company and their new owners. but I'm hopeful for this new venture, and I hope it leads to lots of nice plastic titans to come.

Of course kickstarter isn't the only crowsourcing site for games company's. Indiegogo is what we've got over here in Europe. I've not really explored it (my credit card is very thankful of this), but I've seen some of the completed projects (Titan Forge in perticular) and I'll be keeping an eye out there in the future.

 

Nurgle DP

An update on the progress of my Deamon Prince. Still got the base to do.

Abyssal Dwarf Overmaster and Golems

Sometimes you get an idea in your head that just won't go away. I had the idea for an Abyssal Dwarf army that's similar in theme to the terracotta army.

But (mostly due to a lack of a Model Air Terracotta paint) I instead went for more of a clay/marble look (with a whole bunch of weathering powder to make it look ancient). The red skin is mostly so it would stand out, and would make the models more otherworldly than regular dwarfs/abyssal dwarfs.

Overall I'm happy with the models, and they took almost no time at all to paint (most of the time was drying). Whilst I've got too many armies on the go at the moment, these guys might make an appearance again in the future.

Nurgle Deamon Prince WIP

Did some more work on my Deamon Prince. Still got all manner of weathering to do, and painting his tabard. And sword. And bony bits. Ok there's still quite a bit more to do. But his skin is done! .... Mostly.

And we're back in the room...

It's been a while since my last post, but I've not been idle! Well, not in the real world anyway (work got busy and I was doing some training - and since I do all my hobby stuff at work now, it's fallen by the wayside... tl;dr, too busy for hobby).

I have been up some hobby tho! Following the kickstarter I've started a blog over on the mantic forum/blogs covering my progress though them - I've avoided posting it up on here so I didn't just post the same things twice.


But what of the OC? Fear not! I've decided to start a new army more befitting for this blogs title:

So I've got myself a whole bunch of deamons and some fancy resin bases to put them on. I'll post up some more pictured once I've made some actual progress. (also, if it's true that CSM are in the pipeline, I can make an allied deamon/word bearer force. With lots of cultists...)

 

Plastic Daemons and Kickstarted Reaper

First things first: New Daemons! Next month a whole load of Daemon models are getting a release (have Daemons finally gotten their, fabled, 'Second Wave'?). There's quite a few interesting bits to the release, but the thing that's caught my attention the most is the plastic Nurglings and Plaguebearers (finally...):

(I've not posted all the pictures since, by now, you can probably find them all over the blogs/twitter/BoLS)

From what I can see, i like the models. The Nurglings in particular are a nice touch (they look much more like the artwork now) but they might look a little samey if you have more than three tho (that does depend on how multi part they are). I'm reserving judgement on the Plaguebearers until I can see a higher quality picture (this Saturday).

Because I've only seen this posted on warseer, here's the full list of releases for August:

(as an aside, the last few scans from white dwarf have been released the Tuesday before the preorder opens - like clockwork. Can we all stop calling it a rumour leak? It's clearly an advertisement aimed toward those who like to think their 'in the know'. In this case, anyone who reads warseer. Myself included. And it works. Every time.)

In other news. My current fanboy flame, Reaper Miniatures, have gone and got themselves a Kickstarter to help produce their new Bones range. I'm already in for $100, but unlike some recent kickstarters (looking at you sedition wars) I'm probably not going to increase my pledge with the stretch goals. Of course, I remember saying I wouldn't be backing Sedition Wars, so who knows.

 

The cold dead...

I've made a start on my Kings of War Undead army. I've just got some shield decals and the front two ranks last to do and this unit is done! Hopefully I can get these guys sorted before my kickstarter haul arrives.

When I started this unit, I didn't really like mantic's range of skeletons, but during the time it's taken to finish them, they've actually grown on me. Mantic's stuff in general usually takes a little while for me to come around to (except the zombies. They were amazing from the get go) - in general I like their stuff (it's like the old-school gw stuff, but in plastic), and the relatively low entry point (price wise) is always a plus.

Now I'm faced with a tough decision, do I start a veer-myn force now, or wait until the inevitable Warpath kickstarter.

 

Leprechaun on Owl, Finished!

This painting-at-work is probably the best hobby idea i've had. Well, most productive anyway. He's now sitting proudly on my fake windosil (it's a real window, it just points into a store room).

As a side note, this was the first time i've painted eyes on a model, bloody hard, anit it?

Mantic (and more) on Kickstarter

Over the weekend Mantic Games started a Kickstarter campaign to help them raise $5000 to fund tooling and the like to bring forward the release of some models (including the werewolves - left). Jumping forward to today, they're at $43,000 with some really cool stuff on the horizon (the fight wagons at 50k have some serious potential).

Check it out here

At the moment I've pledged $50, but if it goes over $50k, I'm likely to up my pledge to $100 (the bonuses at $100 are just too good to pass up).

Aside from Mantic, Stuido Mcvey have started a Kickstarter to help production of Sedition Wars: Battle for Alabaster (think Space Hulk), which looks very nice indeed (the Strain models alone a cool enough) - $25 shipping to the UK is a little steep tho, now that it's funded I might just wait for its general release and pick up a copy.

Away from Kickstarter (but still with that Kickstarter feel) Avatars of War are going into the business of full armies and have launched a campaign on IndieGoGo to get a dwarf army into production (including dwarves riding war-bears) which sounds neat. They're only a day into their campaign and have already raised $2,600 of their $20,000 goal.

It seems like lot of the models they're wanting to produce will be in WarCast (their version of resin) and the last units they made in WarCast (Warriors of Apoc) suffered significant delays (they were released back at the beginning of the year and have only just started shipping out) due to unexpected demand. So it seems like further stressing an already stressed system wouldn't be a very good idea. That, and the fact that I'm not hugely interested in more dwarf models, means I'm going to watch this on from afar. Of course $20,000 would probably be enough for another spin-casting machine and operator (I believe WarCast is spin-cast) which could work though the backlog quicker.

In short, lots of nice things for the hobby coming soon!

 

Raise the white flag of war!

Finished my Warlord on Bonebreaker/Rat Ogre Masterbred for my Skryre Skaven. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, the white is easier to do than i thought (and a lot easier than the previous yellow colour scheme). Now i just need to get these clanrats done....

WIP Banelegions Blunt Claw

Still painting this guy, I've gone for very sharp highlights mostly because it's easier, and I like the end result. Still got quite a bit to do yet, the trophy rack being the main thing.

Something Like a Review of Reaper Bones

The base was an experiment, i'm not
too happy with how it turned out.

So, i've managed to tear myself away from Skaven for long enough to finish painting up this guy (Reaper Bones Ogre Chieftain) so i though i'd throw together a quick review to answer some of the questions i had about the Bones range of minis.

First impressions:
Now, this is probably the biggest thing people seem to want to know:  If you buy one of these expecting a plastic model, you're going to be sorely disappointed. It's probably more accurate to describe the material as a hard rubber, rather than a soft plastic. if you get what i mean.

The downside here is that, whilst minimal, mould lines will need to be 'cut' off rather than scraped. which can cause some problems. The detail is also a little soft in places (you can't see it that well in the picture, but the mammoth on the gutplate - parts of the front of it's head just kinda merges with the plate without any real defining line) but, for the most part, the detail is crisp and well-defined (the face on the club is a stand-out part of this model)

Hobby Prospects:
Reaper say that these models can be painted straight out of the blister without any priming or prep. I, on the other hand, primed my models using an airbrush with Vallejo Acrylic-Urethane Black Primer (because i'm all fancy like that) - i have read that some primers can react badly with the polymer ('never dry' badly, not 'explode, kill you' badly) but i experienced no problems whatsoever (i've also read that the Army Painter line of primers work fine, but i've not tried them out). The Main reason for priming, for me, was that the models are cast in white plastic, and i'm not a fan of painting over a white undercoat.

As for converting? I was left a little unimpressed. The problem i've had is back with the material again - it's a little too flexible to give you a clean cut with snips, so any clipped off bit need to be cleaned up with a knife - not a huge problem, but still an inconvenience. Aside from that, green stuff sticks to it fine (probably better than plastic, definitely better than metal) and super is your go-to type of glue.

Summary:
I feel that this review comes across as a bit negative, but i actually like these range of models (the Gnoll Warrior is a bit iffy, tho). Plus, that guy up there (if brought direct from Reaper) will set you back £1.62. So, while i'm not the type of person who defines quality by frugality it's very hard to argue with a nice looking model for less than a bottle of coke and a packet of crisps (or a single pint, depending on what you order). Like some of Mantic's stuff, i'm willing to overlook some minor issues if the price is low enough.

If i had to give the Bones range a rating out of 5, i'd probably give it a high 3.5 - it loses a couple of points because of the small issues i mentioned and the limited selection currently available (although this last point will be invalid once they start expanding) i'll be picking some of these up again in the future.

Hobby Update: Abombaclypse!

Wow, it's been a while. So, what have i been up to in my absence? Well, i (finally) finished painting my Abomination for my Skaven (no conversions this time around - but i do have something planned for the future). I haven't painted the eyes on the rat heads for a good reason, honest! (i'm waiting until i've practiced OSL some more)  

I've also been busy converting up some Mantic Dwarves into Chaos Dwarfs (i'm not using the Abyssal Dwarves for two reasons, firstly they're a bit too costly for what they are and secondly, i had these guys lying around.) - Ignore their current paintwork, it was from a very early experiment with dip.

They're still very much a WIP - i've got a whole load of green stuffing to do once i've finished chopping bits off. 

Warlord on Warlitter WIP

Got to get on with this painting, i keep writing up Daemon lists. Must. Resist. At least until I finish the rats.

Something plastic this way comes.

Ok, so i'm a little out of the loop here, but since i last checked, Reaper - through their Bones line - have started releasing models in plastic! For, like, pennies (well, hundreds of pennies) so i had to check them out. I ordered a Dwarf Warrior, a Ghost, and Ogre Chieftain and a Cave Troll all for under a tenner, delivered. Can't really argue with that, i'll post something like a review once they've arrived and i've messed around with them a bit (if i like them, their Kobold models may become my Skaven Slaves - £14 for 30 models delivered isn't bad).

Edit: Forgot to include a like to the Bones line on the Reaper site, here.

The rats need some firepower!

Started work on my Skryre WLC. Still got a ways to go - their skin isn't going to be that orange when I'm done.

Salute 2012

I'm not dead! I've just been doing work stuff, the usual excuse (the blog i write for work is here. If you're into your eco and green and recycling stuff, check it out. If not, dont?)

I was at Salute 2012 this past weekend tho, so i did do that. Which is why i'm currently suffering from, what i'm going to term, a 'spending hangover'. But i enjoyed myself and will definitely be going again next year (if only because you sometimes need to see things in the 'flesh' to really appreciate them). But i did learn some valuable lessons;

1. Plan who you want to see and stick to it. Also, pace yourself (spending wise).
2. London traffic is manic. Especially the day before the marathon.
3. Don't bother with Forgeworld. You'll be more relaxed and Gamesday is only 6 months away, they'll show off more then.
4. Don't trust your sat-nav. It really wants to show you all the sights of london (and i mean all. Up close. I was worried at one point that i'd see through the Queens bathroom window and get executed for treason).

My pick of the weekend is this guy:

Maelstroms BaneLord Blunt-Claw. Fantastic model. and Huge! It's hard to tell from the picture, but he only just fits on the 20mm base. He (and he is a he. Ref: Rat Balls) towers over almost any other Skaven model (only the Abomb and Rogres are bigger, and the Ogres are only just bigger). Probably the best warlord model i've seen in a long time. And i have him! Three months early! 

Sometimes i have to restrain myself from just buying the entire BaneLegion line, Salute was one of those times. They've got a load of ex-Rackham guys making models for them, and it shows (i also love all the old Rackham models). I just hope they release more Under-Vermin, and Snake Men. 

 Also, Black Scorpion have some awesome Pirate Orc models (with a Pirate Giant!) which are probably going to be my next army.

Plague Servitors

Over the weekend I got a bit bored, so I knocked up some plague Servitors for my Nurgle Squats, mostly by rolling plastic glue in my bits box.

White Dwarf 388 - Empire!

So White Dwarf 388 is out and, would you know it, it's all about these empire chaps. Even though the pictures have been on the internet for a week or so, it's nice to see them in print. Now that i've had a proper look at these guys i can say that i'm still not blown away by Karl Franz/Generic General on Griffon. The pose is just too static, it looks like a statue of a griffon (especially when you put it alongside the Island of Blood griffon), and i'm still not sold on the random Steam Tank hull they've strapped on its chest. That said, the two-headed one is the best of the bunch.

With the, slightly disappointing, griffon out of the way i'm very happy with all the other releases, especially the Celestial Hurricanum, which may get re-puropsed as a Tzeentch Warshrine for the Warriors of Chaos army i have to keep stopping myself from buying.

Now i've seen the Demigryph Knights, i think they look cool, plus, they're on 50x75 bases, so they wont look stretched out/dwarfed by their base.

Of the rest of the models, the Master Engineer is nice (i prefer him to have the scope) the captain is holding his weapon all weird, but shouldn't be too hard to convert. The Witch Hunter and Warrior Priest are the best of the four new finecast (the wizard is probably third). My only complaint is with the re-released finecast models, to be exact the "HEROES OF THE EMPIRE - VALTEN", three resin models for £40? World. Gone. Mad. I don't think Forgeworld charges that much (i'm ignoring the existence of Lietpold the Black here, otherwise my argument would look stupid).

All in all, i'm impressed with the Empire releases (also, am i the only one who's noticed that Flagellants are Special choices now?) and it's taking a lot of willpower for me not to start collecting them (that said, i have ordered the book and Master Engineer, just to see them in the 'flesh'). Once i've completed the Vampires (or Skaven) i'll consider Empire (or Warriors).

New Empire, Monstrous Arcanum & Forgeworld Terminators!

So, pictures of the new Empire Army Book and models have 'leaked' onto the internet (don't think it really, technically, counts as a leak if the leak is just pictures from next weeks White Dwarf - I think the term everybody should be using is 'Advertising'). That aside the models i'm most impressed with?

These two sets (the Demi Gryphon Knights i can take or leave and the new Karl Franz is sweet, but the Griffons Chest plate just seems a bit off to me - if it's optional i will, of course, change my mind). To be exact the Witch Hunter (top left) and the Warrior Priest (bottom right) are the two I like the most. Also the Horse-Drawn Cart with the model of the old-world solar system is just too cool.

Aside from that, Forgeworld has a couple of new releases:

Monstrous Arcanum:

"This is the eagerly-anticipated first book in a new series from Warhammer Forge, and as its name suggests Monstrous Arcanum deals with a veritable carnival of monsters both arcane and bloodthirsty. Within this 113 page, full-colour hardback book, you will find 32 new monsters – nightmarish horrors and noble beasts, creatures of magic made flesh and the victims of terrible curses inflicted by dark powers – presented in the form of Binding Scrolls for use with any Warhammer army."

More big monsters in Warhammer is only a good thing, the Warpfire Dragon and Basilisk models alone have convinced me to order this book. Also, "first book in a new series" does that mean more books full of big nasties? I'm sold. 

And finally:

Tartaros Pattern Terminator Armour. Or, for short, Mini Contemptors. If i were in the market for new Terminators (or any terminators, for that matter) i'm be getting these. For one, they'd look great alongside the Contemptor Dreds. 

Although, they could do with a bit Chaosing up. Maybe some mould, tentacles and rotten ooze. No, stop. My bank can't take any more!

Squat Flyer

I've started work on my Arch Magos for my Nurgle Squats. Still some work to do, but i'm pleased so far with how it's turning out.

Finished zombies

Finally finished the zombie regiment. The gore turned out alright, if a little time consuming.

Gore strings

Messing around at work with Tamiya clear red and UHU glue, I've been trying to make stringy gore for my zombies, so far it looks alright.