Hive Ganger Scum!

"Abdul Goldberg has crossed you for the last time - it was pure luck that your paths crossed on this isolated planet outside of Imperial control. He and his crew are relaxing down at Greasy Kim's Bar and Diner, unaware that you and your crew are ready to pounce. The Diner is mostly deserted, with only a few lonely vac-heads and spacers to witness the fight."  - Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader, pg 243-244.

"Look sharp, you space-rats!"

I really didn't get much hobby stuff done this week, mostly due to the fact that I was either exhausted or busy after work. I did manage to get a little paint on some Hive gangers/scum conversions I've been building. I really like the idea of exploring the grubbier side of 40k and the new Genestealer neophyte kits really evoke some of that civilian feel. I took some of the less "stealer-ey" bodies from an extra copy of Deathwatch Overkill and added some mercenary heads from Puppetswar.eu and viola! Some spacers and vac-heads!

Just a small selection of the custom heads Puppetswar makes.

This was the first ganger I made. Just a head swap and some ammo from the Ork sprue.

Eat yer heart out, Starlord!

Duke Nukem' rounds out the last of this scurvy crew.

I'll probably do a gang of 12 models or so - I want to pick up one of the Neophyte squad kits so I can have guys with shotguns, heavy stubbers, et all. This should give me a nice little skirmish force for a Necromunda-style game.

Cheers!

Goliath Rockgrinder Done! Imperial Knight Begun!

I apologize in advance for the low quality of the photos in this post - I just didn't make enough time this week to get proper shots like I wanted to. That being said, I managed to finish up my Goliath Rockgrinder finished up and I'm super chuffed with how it turned out. It was a nice cap to my Genestealer Cult project.

All aboard!

I think the orange suits really tie the room all together, man.

Just when I thought I was done with hybrid neophytes - 5 MORE!

Love the dude about to huck a bundle of dy-NO-might!

I also started work on an Imperial Knight kit. Ever since it was released, I've been itching to paint one of these big goons; but despite that I seem to paint a bunch of 40K I actually rarely PLAY the game - so justifying the price tag to myself was a little tough to do. Turns out, my buddy Marky had purchased the Imperial Knight Renegade set and had two of these guys hanging around. He generously allowed me to paint and assemble one of his - so hopefully this gets it out of my system.

The kit assembles fast - I managed to get this far in less time than painting the Goliath.

When I started the build, I wanted to spray the whole thing a metallic color as base to start from. I knew Games Workshop made a Leadbelcher spray - but at $20 there was no way I was buying it from them. Thankfully, having worked on the professional side of the hobby, I know that all the major hobby brands are subcontracted out and that there HAD to be a comparable color available at my local hardware store. After a little sniffing about, I settled on "Aged Bronze" from Rust-oleum. Sprayed on after a black primer, the color was virtually indistinguishable from Leadbelcher.

Cost all of $5.

The main chassis sprayed and dry brushed with Runefang Steel. DONE.

Going for a sort of Howling Griffons classic color scheme.

All the detail on this model is just lovely.

So work will continue apace on the Imperial Knight for this week. Feeling good about getting him done by next weekend.

Cheers!

Goliath Rockgrinder WIP

This week, I managed to get a lot of work done on my Genestealer cult's Goliath truck. I plumbed for the Rockgrinder variant based solely on the fact that the dozer blade with all the grinding drills on the front is so damn cool. I opted to leave the back of the vehicle exposed so that I could put other crew models on it. I know its not technically how the vehicle is supposed to be built for 40k, but I just really built it for how cool I thought things would look - not for the optimal build in the game.

From the first time I saw the model, I was reminded of the Martian mining
vehicles in the original "Total Recall" movie. Love at first sight.

I assembled the kit in about 4-5 hours - there are a ton of parts and lots of options. I don't think I've built a Games Workshop tank kit in at least a decade - and they've learned a lot in that amount time. I tried to leave certain elements separate as sub-assemblies so that I could get to all the different parts easier. I left the big flame-thrower, the dozer blade, the wheels, the crew and the main chassis all as separate
elements.

The dozer blade was dry brushed with multiple shades of metal, then I painted the
hazard stripes and yellow over top (leaving metal showing). Finally the weathering
was dry brushed on.

The flamethrower was pretty straight forward to do. I glazed purples onto the
front of the weapon to show heat stress on the metal.

Here I've glued the tires on after I laid down the base color and weathering on
the main hull.

I knew I wanted the vehicle to feel old and well-worn, so I really tried to go to town with weathering and chipping. The gene stealer neophyte color scheme I'd chosen really felt like Rebel flight crews from Star Wars, so I looked at stills and models of X-Wing fighters from the original trilogy. Once I was ready to paint; my first step, after assembly, was to prime the vehicle black. This was followed by a coat of grey spray and then a pass with white. After that, Everything was blended together by carefully drybrushing the whole thing from grey to white.

I added a lot of rust streaks by thinning down Brown Ink and streaking it on with
a detail brush.

All of the weathering was done with a big, soft dry brush and the chipping was done with a bit of torn foam from blister packs and stippling with a small brush. I was really trying to push the idea of a vehicle that worked in an iron mine - where iron oxide dust and the rust on the vehicle became indistinguishable from each other. This would also help tie the vehicle into my army's orangish color scheme.

Everything put together.

All that's missing is the crew.

I love that back bed. It reminds me of a shitty truck my dad owned when I was a kid.

I still have to do the actual crew - the machine gunner, the flamethrower operator, and a handful of hybrids hanging out on the crew deck. Hopefully that shouldn't take me too much longer. I plan on having that done by next week with any luck!

-Cheers!

Genestealer Hybrid Step-by-Step

Yarg! Last time I listed out a bunch of projects I wanted to finish up before tackling a larger project like Burning of Prospero, and instead I've gotten sidetracked painting more Genestealer Hybrids for a small cult. The minions of the 4 Armed Emperor have insidiously woven their tendrils into my painting queue  and now my entire desk is over-run with them. Thankfully, I really REALLY like these models so the painting has gone quick, but I managed to take photos for a step-by-step of how I tackle doing so many so quickly.

These techniques are designed to paint ARMIES to high standards quickly. As much as I like seeing an individual model painted nicely, its legions of them that thrill me; ergo my painting style has evolved to reflect this. I don't come to the table with unpainted miniatures, and the ones I bring are nicely done with extra time spent on centerpiece models. For troops, I want something that gets them done quickly and to good standard. Quantity has a quality all its own.

STEP 1.
The model is assembled and primed White with a spray.
Base colors are laid in:
Flesh - VGC Dwarf Flesh
Jump Suit - GW Trollslayer Orange
Gun/Gloves/Boots/Tubes - P3 Greatcoat Grey
Tongue - VGC Pink
Lights - GW Yriel Yellow and/or Lothern Blue
Metals - GW Leadbelcher
Neatness is helpful here but not 100% critical.

STEP 2.
The whole model is washed with Army Painter Strong Tone Ink.
I use a brush to make sure that the ink is spread evenly, otherwise it can pool and dry
in big dark patches.
My technique is very similar to a "Dip Technique" except
that the shading isn't the final step. We'll be going back in and
working our color up so we don't have a muddy looking figure.

STEP 3.
After the first ink wash has dried, I go back and apply
a wash of Army Painter Dark Tone ink over all the areas that were grey.
This will result in a dark, almost black, grey on these items later.
The features of the face and the tongue were also given a thin wash of GW Druchii Violet.

Step 4.
With all our washes dry, I use GW Trollslayer Orange to work the raised areas of
the jumpsuit back up in color. I also then use a thin amount of VGC Dead White to highlight the
edges and broad areas of the armor/respirator.

Step 5.
The skin is painted VGC Dwarf Flesh, leaving the recessed areas in as much shadow as possible.
The tip of the tongue is also painted VGC Pink again, leaving the area towards the mouth alone.

STEP 6.
The metals are highlighted with GW Runefang Steel.
The cheekbones, eyebrows, nose, forehead ridges and cranium are all highlighted
with a 50/50 mix of VGC Dwarf Flesh and GW Ushabti Bone.
A stripe is added to the gun by painting a line of GW Trollslayer Orange and then another
over it in GW Yriel Yellow when the first stripe is dry.
After this, the model will be taken off its pedestal and pinned onto a resin base.

And that's it. I tend to paint models in batches of 3-5, working on one step on multiple models at a time. I know of people who work in larger batches, but the smaller number makes me feel like I'm making progress as I add finished models to existing units. Over 3 days off during my winter break, I managed to get 14 of these guys done with plenty of breaks for bad movies, trips to the dog park and visiting friends. The key here is remember that you are painting troops who will take a single hit and be off the table in no time. Reserve techniques like blending, picking out eyes, freehand designs, ect. for models like heroes or monsters or tanks that will stick around for most of the game.

I've got a handful of models to finish before calling the army done, and this arrived on my doorstep yesterday:

Vroom.

So I guess you can figure out what you'll see next on this blog.

Cheers!

Genestealer Coven Limo

"Yo, Dawg! We heard you liked Genestealers, so we put a Genestealer in your… ALL HAIL THE HIVEMIND. GLORY
TO THE FOUR-ARMED EMPORER!"

Back in November I posted some pictures of a taxi model I got from the crew over at Warex-minis. Having really enjoyed painting that kit and working on a burgeoning Genestealer Cult army, I decided to grab another of their sculpts - the Genetic Coven Limo. The model is based on the original limousines that Games Workshop made for the 'Stealer Covens but never made commercially available. The moment I saw it, I knew that I wanted this kit.

Pimp that ride. This vehicle is a hover variant. 

That's a helluva cow-catcher on the front of a luxury vehicle.

I really dig the whole 80's Batmobile-esque engine on the back.

The sculpting and casting was really crisp and the whole thing arrived very quickly from across the globe to my house in Seattle. I can't recommend this company and its models enough. Even if I don't use the model in-game, it makes and awesome addition to my scenery collection. I can just imagine using it in an under-Hive scenario in Necromunda. Awesome stuff.

Cheers!

Deathwatch:Overkill Fully Painted

Today I put the final touches on my models for my copy of Deathwatch: Overkill. 52 models in a little less than 3 months. I really enjoyed the trip and its always super satisfying to complete this type of project. I like painting box set games as they have a nice finality to them once all the models are painted.  Seeing as Rob has been busy getting his scenery business up and running (pffft… what an EXCUSE!!!) it looks like I've won our friendly challenge. In any case, I hope he manages to get his copy of Dreadfleet fully painted soon.

Family Photo!

I ended up using bases from Secret Weapon Miniatures and they really helped speed things up. I found the model bases from them had an excess of build lines from the 3D masters, but in the end I am still very happy with the look and building all 52 bases would have been needlessly time consuming.

I LOVE these models most of all. I may try to get some more just to paint.

These models just drip evil. In a good way.

All the specialist units for the Genestealer side.

I also need to own and paint some more of these monstrosities.

Even the vanilla Genestealers in this set were really nice.

The nefarious masterminds hard at work.

Battle Bros for life.

Battle Bros before Stealo's.

Last but not least.

I'm looking at picking up a copy of Warhammer Quest: The Silver Tower soon, so that will probably be my next big project. In the meantime, I've some scenery work to do and a 15mm scifi army to knock out and my Napoleonic basing project continues. So, I've still got plenty to do in the future. Hope everyone has enjoyed following along as I finished Deathwatch:Overkill.

Cheers!

Deathwatch:Overkill - Game Review

Over the course of this week I managed to finish up the last two Deathwatch marines, bringing my set close enough to fully painted (I just need to do bases for the entire set) that I felt ok playing the game in all its glory. I know, I know - most of you probably think I'm crazy for not playing the game with unpainted models, but I only feel like I'm getting the full experience of a game when everything is fully painted. So now that every model is at least close to finished, my buddy Ron came over to take the game out for a spin.  We managed to play through the first 4 missions - each of us playing Genestealers and Marines twice a piece.

The Deathwatch advances while Ron lays an Ambush card.

The Librarian. I guess he likes to read!

Biker marine. Its really satisfying when he's killed, cuz
he is a PAIN.

Before we go any farther, I just want to explain my criteria for judging a game. I prefer games that put theme and story ahead of intricate or novel mechanics. I'm not saying that games that have interesting mechanics are bad, I'm just saying that they aren't necessarily for me. I can't get emotionally involved with playing a game that could be re-skinned as something else and not lose an ounce of gameplay (most deck-building games fall into this category for me as an example). Thus, I judge games more on the emotion they generate. I'd rather have a game where something swings wildly and upsets the balance than a game that goes exactly by the numbers. But that's just me.

The heavy weapon marine was my personal favorite!

Moving forward while watching your back!

If I had to quickly describe Deathwatch: Overkill quickly, I'd call it Warhammer 40,000 with an abbreviated rules set. This isn't a bad thing in my opinion - the game feels like it was trying to distill the two sides down to their core essences and use as efficient a set of rules as possible. while still maintaining rules like Armor Saves that are the hallmark of Warhammer. This leads to game whose core-rules are only 6 heavily illustrated pages long, and whose intricacies come from individual model rules and card interactions. The forces in the game play very distinctly, which was a really nice surprise.

The Deathwatch side gives you 11 marines to choose from, with the marine player being able to use only 4 to 6 of them in each mission. Each marine has a pretty distinct feel with different weapon load outs and special rules - and they are AWESOME fun to play. Having two shooting phases per turn, as opposed to the Genestealers one, the marines really put the Overkill subtitle to the test. The Deathwatch team will mow down hordes of Genestealers during a game, striding like near-untouchable gods of war towards their objectives. I felt their gameplay finally reflected the 30 years of Space Marine fluff where handfuls of these super-soldiers conquered entire enemy bases, cities or space ships. Engaging in a running murderfest of Genestealers is wicked fun, only balanced by the gut punch when something inevitably goes horribly, horribly wrong.

That moment before shit gets REAL.

A lot of the Deathwatch team's gameplay is centered around choosing the correct threats to deal with first and applying the proper amount of force to remove them. Even though they have an enormous amount of firepower at their disposal, the Deathwatch will always have a hard time getting everything. It becomes a matter of what threats can be allowed to temporarily endure while eliminating threats that may not be as obviously dangerous.

The Genestealer player has an inexhaustible supply of troops that swarm onto the board and are blasted into oblivion only to reappear again to the Deathwatch player's dismay. Through the use of an interesting card mechanic, the Genestealer side's play isn't just a rehash of Space Hulk. During each turn, the Genestealer player is dealt a hand of cards (the size of which is dependent upon the mission rules) from which they place models on the board and play special rules that can boost their attacks, protect them from shooting, slow down marines, ect. Only a handful of special strategies can be played per turn, so the Genestealer player needs to really choose what rules they will use or what models they will deploy. Cards with great troops on them tend to also have great special rules, so there is a lot of decisions to be made each turn. This leads to a greater involvement on the Genestealer player's end and really gets both sides invested in the game.

Not every plan is perfect. I was just about to launch an attack when
my Genestealer killed himself by fumbling his jump roll across
the gantry!

Deathwatch: Overkill is kind of a great counter-point to its obvious sister game, Space Hulk. In Space Hulk, the marine player endures a building tension and uncertainty of victory; while in Deathwatch: Overkill the Genestealer player is faced with what sometimes feels like the insurmountable task of killing the finest soldiers the Imperium has to offer. Its a nice change up for what could have ended up feeling like the same games.

The simplicity of gameplay - while still feeling familiar to WH40K - allows most missions to played in about an hour which has a lot of appeal to me. Missions didn't feel as though they dragged on for eternity and we were able to advance in the mission story quickly. By the second game, we were more immersed in the scenario than having to remember individual rules and I was really into the developing story of the game.

I really enjoyed my chance to play Deathwatch: Overkill and I'm looking forward to more. A few points to note that may concern people:

- This is strictly a two player game. I really can't see multiple players coordinating on either side. Not a big deal to me, but a total no-go for some.
- Due to some sloppy editing, the Genestealer character cards refer to the "Ambush Phase" which technically doesn't exist. It was easy to figure out the card meant the "Broodmind Phase" during which you place Ambushes, though.
- The first mission is very difficult for the Genestealer player. The scenario is basically a training mission where the marines commit genocide and have all the fun. Ron was very on the fence with the game until the second mission where he saw that the Marines could actually be killed and that it wasn't going to be a one-sided affair.

Adding resin bases to my models!

These first 6 were just a test. I think they turned out pretty well.

All told, I feel really good with my purchase of Deathwatch: Overkill. It has me eyeing Assassinorium: Execution Force and has really ramped up my enthusiasm for picking up Warhammer Quest: The Silver Tower.

Cheers!