'Twas the Knight Before Christmas

"T'was the night before Christmas, and all through House Krast

not an engine was stirring in the forge world so vast,

The Princeps were snug in their MIU sarcophagi 

dreaming of war and ordering Moderati.

I in my kerchief and the Forge Master in his wrap,

had just settled down for a long winter's nap.

When up on the orbiting PDF platform, there arose such a clatter;

I ran to the vox caster to see what was the matter. 

A searing Lance beam burst gantry, ladder and boiler;

I knew at once, it was Abbadon -  the Despoiler.

I heard him cry out "On Mayhem! On Murder! For Horus!"

As "Blood For the Blood God!" rang out in chorus.

"Fire up the reactors at once!", I criedAs the Machine Spirit activated in the heart of the hive.

The Knights strode for forth, ready to drive.

With rocket, with chainsword, and one huge gun; 

The Knight slew heretics by the ton. 

"No fair! That's OP!" Abbadon swore. 

Did he forget that in the 41st Millennium there is ONLY WAR?

With Void Shields flickering,the traitor's asses it was kicking.

The Black Legion fled, 

taking a few of their dead,

and I swore as he left, I heard Abbadon exclaim -

"Just wait till I get my own Knight, and then you'll feel pain!"

I just finished up another Knight for my buddy Chris, in payment for him generously giving me the terrain from his Shadow War set. Oddly, he wanted pretty much the same build and paint job I gave to the knight I'd previously painted for my buddy Marky. As always, a fun kit and paint job.

Happy Holidays to all!

Cheers!

Necromunda Board Complete!

While I've had a bunch of projects on my desk lately, one of the major things that I've been working on is completing enough Sector Mechanicus terrain to fill a 4'x6' table with Hive World scenery.

This is basically the Necromunda table that I've wanted since the game first came out in the 90s.

I've still got some stuff to do and add here and there, but for the most part the board is totally playable now. Almost half of the kits used were purchased by my buddy Marky, who has been a huge help and motivator to get this project done.

A genestealer cult pushes across the sludge river.

The mining crew confronts a pair of cultists on the gantry.

Miners, cultists and genestealers collide in battle!

The Foreman squares off against the Word Bearers champion. It doesn't look good.

Close combat cultists ambush an Abberant? Who's got the drop on who?

More genestealer cultists lay down cover fire.

These guys are still ready to fight!

More cultists are ready to pounce!

Another view of the battlefield. 

Besides the Sector Mechanicus stuff, I also added some of the new ST Ryza-Pattern Ruin kits into this set up. I really like those kits as well - moreso because they aren't covered in skulls and eagles and you get a fair amount for $30US. Well worth it and usable across a bunch of scifi settings.

Cheers!

Malignant Plaguecaster

I've been mostly working on small terrain items this week and showing a huge amount of self-control by not just immediately painting up one of the gangs from my new Necromunda set. I've been trying to keep focus on painting up the Death Guard models from the Dark Imperium box set, and have just finished up a second character - the Malignant Plaguecaster.

He's blowing ya some gnarly kisses.

I painted him using the same techniques as my Noxious Blightbringer.

I wasn't so sure about this model when I first saw him, but he was a ton of fun
to paint up.

My force so far...

I've assembled the seven Plague Marines that come in the box, so they will be up on deck next. 

Cheers!

Another Fallen Brother Joins the Battle

My Imperial Fists Horus Heresy army can now field a "Talon" of 3 Contemptor pattern dreadnoughts. I like to think of this as the one totally "bullshit" unit in the army. It feels right to have one of these total nonsense units in a Heresy Era force to me.

Three little piggies...

I used the plastic Contemptor kit for this guy. I embellished him with
some more crusader-ry elements than his brothers.

The Lascannon arm is Forgeworld - an easy enough conversion - and
the extra bibs and bobs are all off the Terminator sprue. 

The shield on the right arm is an extra plastic one I had laying around.

Its all about that 'bot.

With The Three Stooges done, I'm ready to back burner my HH Imperial Fists for a little bit. My plan  is to add a unit of Breachers to the army cuz they are cool as shit - but I will wait until January when I can use a free shipping coupon I lucked into from Forgeworld. So I get a little break from painting yellow.

Cheers!

The Great Hobbycation of 2017

So this year I took an extra three days off during the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US. I stayed home for 9 glorious days of sleeping in, hanging out with the dog, gaming with friends and painting models. Tomorrow I head back to the real world, but I have one night of painting left in me. Its been fantastic.

This "Hobbycation" has also coincided with a neat little hashtag on Twitter called #Hobbystreak. The goal is to do at least 30 minutes of hobbying a day, share your results, and see how many consecutive days you can string together. Its meant to motivate you on projects, inspire others and make taking time out for doing something you like a priority. So far, I've managed to get 18 consecutive days in! I'm aiming for 20. Wish me luck!

In the meantime, here's what I've accomplished over 9 days of pure hobby time!

In preparation for the release of Necromunda, I started on some Sector Mechanicus
kits I was sitting on.

I've managed to create a system to paint this stuff up really quickly.

A squadron of French ships-of-the-Line guards this platform under construction.

You all saw this jabroni last week, but I finished him on the
first day of my vacation.

This thing beats the hell out of the granaries I scratch built out of Quaker Oats tubs when
I was in college.

This is now the 4th skull crane I've done. I should put that on a resume.

I cannot wait for some hot sweaty Gangwar action on this badboy!

I added a third Contemptor to form a Talon in my Horus Heresy army.

God help me, I tried Shadespire and liked it. I'm 3/4s of the way through the Orruk war band.

I used these guys as an excuse to experiment with a
different skin tone. I didn't want to paint green for the
millionth time.

The chance to make comments in a dopey Bane voice makes this guy totally worth
having in any war band.

He likes to bash things. That's his thing. Apparently. 

I finished 10 more Poxwalkers, completing the whole 20 in the Dark Imperium kit.

I set about making a custom conversion from my Inquisitor Greyfax model. I have lots of plans for this gal.

Its been quite an adventure. I'm sure some people would consider my Hobbycation a living Hell, but for me its been Heaven and really great way to recharge. I may have to do this again next year!

Cheers!

Noxious Blightbringer and Step-by-Step

I've been chugging along with hobby projects this week - I finished my first Plague Marine character, assembled a third Contemptor dreadnought and have been chipping away at some more Sector Mechanicus scenery. More on the last two another time, for now here's my Noxious Blightbringer.

For Whom the Bell Tolls! This guy is worth it just for all
the bell puns my opponents will have to endure during a game!

Back detail. This cat is crawling with detail. Its nuts to compare
him to plastic kits from years ago.

I decided on doing my nurglings in a brighter color so that they
contrast well with the otherwise drab colors of the Death Guard.

I managed to take some step-by-step photos of this guy while sharing progress over on Twitter. Here they are with some notes of how I got to the final stages.

Step 1. Spray with a Black primer. Over this, I sprayed
the entire model with Krylon Camp Green.

Step 2. I painted the smock in Vallejo Beastly Brown and washed it with Army
Painter Strong Tone ink. Once dry, I added highlights by progressively
mixing GW Ushabti Bone with the Beastly Brown.
The god was painted with GW Retributor Armor washed with GW
Reikland Flesh Shade and highlighted with GW Shining Gold and final
snaps with GW Runefang Steel.

Step 3. I added more gold trim and base coated the plasma pistol's
and the censor's vents with Vallejo Jade Green. The fleshy parts were base
coated withVallejo Squid Pink then washed with GW Reikland Flesh Shade.
Final highlights on the flesh were done with fine lines of Vallejo Dwarf
Flesh. I also stippled some blood onto the smock with a mix
made of 50/50 Vallejo Red and Black.
The horns were base coated GW Administratum Grey and then
washed with Army Painter Strong Tone ink. This was done in two
coats. After the last coat dried, I did a third coat with Army Painter
Dark Tone ink just towards the tips. Final highlights were
picked out with thinned GW Ushabti Bone.
The Green of the armor was washed with GW Reikland Flesh Shade and
then highlighted with Vallejo Heavy Grey. Final snaps were added
with a mix of Heavy Grey and Ushabti Bone.

Step 4. Silver metals were base coated in GW Leadbelcher and then
washed with Army Painter Strong Tone ink. Once dry, highlights were added
with GW Runefang Steel.
The Nurgling was base coated inVallejo Jade green and washed
with Druchii Violet.

Step 5. The plasma vents were highlighted with Vallejo Jade Green
progressively mixed with Vallejo Skeleton White. The Nurgling was
highlighted by mixing in more and more GW Ushabti Bone with
Vallejo Jade Green. Sores were coated with a thinned down layer
of GW Lothern Blue to give a bruised look. 

Then it was just a matter of popping him off the painting stand and attaching him to a base I'd built. He was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to working on more of these dudes.

Cheers!

A Pox on Your House! And a Dread...

"My Lascannons! They do nassthing!"

Things are still in the 41st millennium on my painting desk lately. Seems I just can't quit the Dark Imperium box set or the Horus Heresy. First up was another Dreadnought for my Heresy Era Imperial Fists army. For a guy who only wanted to dip his toes in the Heresy pool, I feel like I'm suddenly up to my armpits in it.

This Contemptor is made from the plastic kit from Betrayal at Calth.

I added the twin lascannon arm from Forge World with just a little
conversion work.

The plan is do one more armed the same way - because you can do silly things like take a Talon of Dreadnoughts
as a single choice in the Horus Heresy.

I've also set about knocking out the Death Guard side of my Dark Imperium starter kit. I figure I'll just do that and a tank. I know, I know, I'm kidding myself… Ugh! Anyway, I decided to tackle the Poxwalkers first, as there are so many of them. I figured that I would enjoy them the least because of the shear numbers, but I was super wrong. These models are damn-near perfect - lots of character and individuality, simple construction, and the right amount of details to really make them easy to paint with washes. I'm actually looking forward to doing the next 10.

Sing along now - "I'm a Pox Walker, I'm a Pox Walker!"

I'm trying to participate in a hashtag on Twitter called #Hobbystreak. The basic premise is to get at least 30 minutes of hobby a day and to see how many days you can continuously go for. I'm on day 4 so far. Let's see how long I can keep it going.

I like the idea of this unit having been an Imperial Hazmat team that got infected during a routine clean-up job.

What's important is they all seem to be having a good time.

Before I jump into the next batch of 10 guys, I'm going to treat myself with one of the Death Guard characters - the guy with the big bell. 

-Cheers!