A SHORT Post Today

GET IT?!

The past couple of weeks have seen me working on some little projects (get it? Get It?!) that I thought I could finally share. Due to a trade with a friend, I came into the possession of some more Westfalia Halflings and I decided to expand my force a bit. I added eight more Halberdiers to the existing unit of twelve, so now I've got a nice meaty group of guys to anchor the core of the army. 

Ready to Rumble. Or at least their bellies are rumbly.

Now that I've got a good sized army, it was time to add some scenic bits for them to defend. I built the two Hobbit Hovels in the first picture because I just couldn't wait for the resin ones Forge World is producing to come out. Before making them, I scoured the internet for a nice step-by-step set of instructions on how to make a hobbit dwelling and nothing seemed to give me what I was looking for. I'm building a third hole at the moment and I'm taking pictures as I go, so I expect to put up a tutorial soon. 

Over in Age of Sigmar-land, the latest General's Handbook has dropped and that usually heralds a change in points and rules for some of my armies because of course it does. Seems like the Kharadron Overlords were the most affected - I lost over 200 points off my existing army! So now I had to add something to bring it back up to 2000 points. I didn't particularly want to drop the money or time on an additional sky-ship, so I turned my attention to the Shadespire war band, Thundrik's Profiteers. 

Thundrik + blimp guy+ some guys with guns = PROFIT.

These guys were cheap to buy, quick to paint and seem hideously over-costed for the game. Perfect! They are all really nice models and I continue to be amazed by the Plug-and-Play style models GW is making lately. 

Cheers!

Shambling On...

In an attempt to keep updating my blog no matter how mundane the posts will be, here are some recent projects that I knocked off my hobby desk. Oddly, these are all duplicates of stuff I've previously done. These units just help flesh out their respective armies. 

Ten more Pox Walkers shamble their way into the front lines of my Death Guard army.

I completed another ten Pox Walkers for my Death Guard army over the course of a week, bringing the number in the force to a grand total of thirty. I painted these guys mostly with washes, snatching some time here and there to work on them in groups of two's and three's. Before I knew it, all ten were ready to roll. 

I really love these models - I'm sure I've said so before here. They are wildly characterful will loads of great details, but the sculpts practically paint themselves with simple techniques. These kinds of models are the best kind in regards to army painting. A real joy on every level.

"Prepare to fire a load of bullshit on my coordinates. Three! Two! One!"

I also finished up a second Rapier Quad Mortar for my Horus Heresy army. One of these weapons has been ridiculously good for me in games, so I decided to up the ante and get a second. I think that's enough, though. Two of these things raining Phosphex on my hapless opponents will result in a lot of salty feelings and low grumblings, I'm sure. Three would result in a full scale rebellion, I'm sure.

Still, very fun models to build and paint. Once again, I added MKIII helmets and shoulder pads to the MKIV armor that came with the kits so that they would integrate into my army a little better visually. 

I've still got some stuff to natter away on - but I feel like I'm getting ready to paint another army from scratch. I've been kicking around the idea of a speed-painted Thousands Sons force for the Horus Heresy, or finally starting an Early Imperial Roman army for something completely different. I guess we'll just have to see what inspires in the coming days!

Cheers!

Beyond the Gates of Antares

The starter set for Beyond the Gates of Antares by Warlord Games

I took on a rare commission and painted up a starter kit of Warlord Games' new(ish?) science fiction game, Beyond the Gates of Antares. Life has been a little crazy and it took me longer than anticipated, but I'm happy with the results. It also brings the total of models that I've painted this year to 190.

One side is the determined forces of the Concord Strike group and their legion of drone assistants.

The other side is brutal Algoryians, who I assume are still sore about the 2000 US Presidential election.

 I'm also continuing some work on forces for my Horus Heresy army. I should have some more to share real soon.

Cheers!

Deathshroud Terminators! I LIVE!!

The Death Guard have shambled back onto my painting desk with a trio of Deathshroud Terminators.

I'm not dead nor have I forgotten about this blog. Over the last month things have just been a little hectic with travel, some sickness, and general craziness in life. I managed to get more gaming in of late than painting, and what I've been nattering away on hasn't been stuff that'd make a super compelling blog post... unless there is a big clamor to see Reaver Titan weapon arms and I've missed it.

Over the course of the last few weeks, I've tackled an elite unit for my Death Guard army - the Deathshroud Bodyguard. These guys will add some really nice punch to the melee element of my army, as well as increase the survivability of my HQs. And they are fun, corpulent balls of crazy!

These guys will pair well with my Lord of Contagion, Enoch Globulus. 

These are great sculpts with lots of options in the kit.

I'm sure the decision of doing golden scythes isn't for everyone - but
I thought they added a feeling of age to the models.

Love the tentacle on this guy - he's helping!

I've got a couple other projects in the queue lined up. I'll try and make a better effort at updating in the future! Promise!... crosses fingers furiously...

Cheers!

Mixed Bag 15: Paper and Iron

Progress on my own projects has seemed laborious the last few weeks, so I haven't had too much to post it seems. I have been doing some painting and crafting, though - just feels like I'm doing odds and ends lately. Much of my time has been taken up with making paper miniatures for my Dungeons and Dragons group. I kinda fell down the rabbit hole making these.

My group is playing as a pious, yet eclectic, group of Witch Hunters on the prowl smiting Evil!

This was all in service of creating a set of floor plans to allow them to explore the ruins of a three level keep. Like I said, I fell down a rabbit hole - but it was a ton of fun. 

Exploring the first level.

Heading up to level two!

Skeleton Attack!

It all culminated in a boss-fight with a terrible Wraith!

I also created a series of quick print packs that are up for sale on DriveThruRPG.com. Each pack is designed to give you a mini-army. Print as many or as few as you could ever need! There is an Undead Attack! Pack!!, an Orc Attack! Pack!! and one for a horde of gobbos in the Goblin Attack!Pack!!

In the world of three dimensional miniatures, I painted up some stuff for my buddy Chris as a trade. He generously gave me some more Halflings from the Westfalia line he had laying about for some quick paint jobs on a pair of Armiger Helverns and a Rhino for his Iron Warriors.

I painted these up in House Krast livery to match his other units.

The Minotaur insignia are for the Great Battalion that Chris' force belongs to.

I ended up doing the insignia on the top hatch freehand after
screwing up the decal several times.

All in all, a weird mix the last few weeks. 

Cheers!

They Call Me The Seeker

"They call me The Seeker
I've been searching low and high
I won't get to get what I'm after
Till the day I die"

                                  -The Who

Despite some radio silence on my blog, I have been chugging away on some more 30k Imperial Fists and nibbling away on a unit of High Elf Dragon Princes that should be done sometime after Ragnarok. Man, those models are a LOT of work.

With their special boltgun rounds and precision attacks, I felt like the Seeker units in my army should use MKIV armor instead of MKIII

I've been trying to expand the Fast Attack choices in my Heresy army, and I'm not super drawn to jetbikes so I opted for some Seekers. Tasked with head-hunting vital enemy characters or crewed machines, Seeker Squads are equipped with multi-choice boltgun rounds to get the job done. I'm aiming to have two five-man squads in the force, so here is the first one done. I went for a bit of reverse color scheme to add more black so they feel more stealthy. Or as stealthy as a 7' tall giant wearing yellow armor bits can be.

Next up is a lascannon equipped Tarantula sentry gun. Why this counts as a Fast Attack when it can't move at all is beyond me, but here we are. I got this model from Kromlech and it was a fun little model to crank out. I look forward to making "zzzzap!" noises soon.

This was a nice little alternative model. Easy to build and paint and super
obvious what it is.

Cheers!

Rhinos Ready to Rumble - Step-by-Step

My armored spear head for my Imperial Fists grows!

I've added some much needed armor and mobility to my Imperial Fists army in the form of a pair of Rhino APCs and I thought I'd share a quick step-by-step of the whole process. The building of the kits is totally standard, and everything went together quickly. After that, I primed the hulls white for two reasons: first, a good priming coat is always a good thing and two, the white would form the basis for the tactical insignias on the top doors of the transport.

After the primer was dry, I took some painters tape and masked out the arrows. I laid the tape out on a piece of glass before I cut it to shape. Then I transferred the mask from the glass to the actual tank.

The tanks were then sprayed with Testor Model Master's Afrika Mustard. Once that dried, I applied several coats of GW Yriel Yellow with an airbrush. Once all that was dry, the tape was removed and the white tactical arrows were revealed. The arrows weren't perfect, but any over-sprays could be easily cleaned up with some Vallejo White.

I then did some panel-lining with GW Agrax Earthshade to create some definition between armor plates and add some initial weathering. Some black panels were added and then some chipping was added with a sponge and Vallejo Dark Flesh. Some chipping on the tactical arrows were added with Yriel Yellow. This helped age the model and hide any bleed-through or mistakes from the initial masking.

Next was finishing up some details like painting the smoke stacks, view ports and tracks. Weathering was added to the bottom of the tank with a heavy drybrush of Vallejo Beasty Brown. Decals from the Forge World sheet for Imperial Fists were then added.

I added some final weathering with streaks of GW Reikland Flesh Shade and a few chips on the black  areas with P3 Coal Black. And they were done!

Cheers!