Wednesday 14 August 2013

23. Random Update part 2 - House Army, aka, Something different. Again.

  A while back I was discussing the hobby with a friend.
This friend is whom originally got me into the hobby (and probably why I've ended up doing Salamanders).

We were talking about how a substantial portion of our friends were into strategy games and board games. Which brought us on to 40k.
A couple of these friends have expressed interest in the hobby before, just not the financial backing, time or resolve to build an army.
We thought it would be great if we could get these folk to play.
But how to go about doing this, without lending them one of my armies (as currently I have no playable armies XD), or throwing proxies around?

One of the pulls of 40k is making your own list, and playing games with nicely painted armies on awesome battlefields (like pretty much all table top war games). So this is what needs to be done.
Then it hit us.
A House army.

I find myself in a unique position: I have way more Space Marines than I have use for.
So the basic idea is, in adittion to my armies, I will also be building a basic set of Space Marines for any, none hobbyists to get stuck in with.
They will be built, and painted, and ready to rock; just like a board game.

If they don't like the game, then fair enough. If they decide they do, then they can keep using the house army. If they decide they want to use 'X unit' instead of 'my Y unit,' then they can go out and buy that for themselves/ donate one to the house army. Thus getting folk started in a more exciting way.


Anyway, enough writing.
I did a test model for it....well, I started one at any rate.


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I've decided to wait until the new codex lands before continuing with either Space Marine project.

But what do you guys think?
Yay house army, or neigh?
What do you think about the test marine
?



Any comments/criticism on this warmly welcomed

Thanks for reading/ adding to my google adsense account. ;).

-DH-

22. A Bolter Shell Covered Road to Glory. Sisters of Battle part 9. Retribution.

Short and sweet with this update.

 I've refurbished and based another squad (almost). This time I went with retributors.
I need to do the backpacks, and the heavy bolters, but the important/ time consuming parts are done!

Pictures!

Bolter Sisters.


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Heavy Bolter Sisters.

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Sister Superior and Sister with Simulacrum Imperialis.

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Squad Shot.

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Completed sisters so far (on one of my sprayed wasteland pieces).

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That is some bad picture quality (good enough to spy some tarmac in the background mind ;])

2/6 Squad completed; 3 x 10 Battle Sisters and some Dominions (for my 400 point list) to go (Oh and Celestine's base and a counts as Jacobs).


Sisters update.
Done.


-DH-

21. Selling Sand to the Arabs. Building a Gaming Board part 5.

 A bit of a quick one, 'cus I keep forgetting to take pictures/do theory/ do much to the Gaming Board.

I did some tests for a suitable basing material (Sorry there are no pictures for the majority of this, just words).

I picked three types of basing sand for consideration.

The old style coarse Games Workshop sand,
The new style fine Games Workshop sand,
and 'Calcium Sand,' from a local pet shop (Used for sand based animal habitats; Lizards and such).


Test1: Basic glue and sanding.

Coarse looks good for a bit of ruble, but is way too rocky for general purpouse in a urban environment.
Fine is a bit too fine, but has great flat coverage.
Calcium is a nice medium.

After doing this test I concluded that the Calcium sand was the best general basing material, however I was was not satisfied with the coverage.
As with all basing sand it tended to rub off a bit too easily. I know another coat of glue would do the trick, but I wanted to give it something more....robust.


Test2: Pollyfiller and sanding.

Basically mixing pollyfiller up and adding sand.
This works surprisingly well.
The Calcium sand looks great as urban wasteland, where as the fine sand make for a great tarmac effect. Coarse sand didn't go down too well.

I decided that was how I was gonna do things... then add a bit of glue and sand to fill any gaps.
So here is my wasteland board tile:



All of them look pretty much similar.
Gonna spray them Humbrol Tank Grey Spray and then work from there (I managed to get a load cheap when Model Zone went into administration).
I've sprayed one so far. Two to go!

I've actually put the tarmac on the roads too... didn't get any pictures mind. I'll post them next time.


Done!

-DH-

Friday 9 August 2013

20. Marble Steps to Glory. Sisters of Battle part 8. Ripping off religion.

Humanahumanahumana what's this? Update!

Introducing...

The Angel and her Wings.

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St Celestine/ High Cannoness 'Abdiel Nathaniel, The Angel of Faith and Fire.'

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Cannoness/ Acting Seraphim Superior: ;Émilia Barakiel Leader of Seraphim squad Jehoel.'

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Flamer Sister front

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Back

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Right foot candle Sister front

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Back

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Left foot candle Sister

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Jumping backwards down stairs

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Standing on steps

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Our old friend, custom flamer

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Not really a lot to say.

   The names are pretty much names of Angels I've chopped and changed.
Abdiel is the Angel of faith, Nathaniel is the Angel of Fire.
Barakiel is the Angel of good fortune and an Archangel in the order of Seraphim.
And Jehoel is The Angel of Presence and Chief Angel of the Seraphim.

If you'd like to see the full list of Angel names, I'm sure there is one on Wikipedia, or you can google it.
I got this when I did - http://whisperingwor...ngelnames_a.php



As for the models...

   I Used the same method as in the previous posts to create the marble and used cork to create elevation.
The candles are just modelling putty. I decided that as it was a religious-esq building a few candles here and there wouldn't go a miss.
I'll probably model more candles on various different basses, but these ones are specifically to hid the pin that is keeping the Sisters airborne.
The sister standing on a step has just had her foot bent into shape.
That is pretty much it


1 Squad down.
3 Squads of battle sisters, 1 squad of retributors, 1 squad of dominions, Celestine's base and Uriah Jacobs to go.
That will cover both my 400 point and 1500 point lists.



-DH-

Thursday 8 August 2013

19. Random update, but it has models so it has a name and number. Part ?

Bit of a random update to go along with my sisters update.
Firstly because there will be little to no thematical language, just normal talk,
and secondly because of the content.

I shall explain.

  My Girlfriend has long expressed an interest in the hobby. I think it is mainly fuelled by her artistic side, though she seems keen to model and play the games too.
This is an expensive hobby to get into, and an expensive one to mess up.
So I thought I'd lend a helping hand.


We built her first Space Marine together a few months back;



 She said that if she collected space marines she'd want to do either Dark Angles, or Black Dragons (cool choices yeah?).
Unfortunately, as cool as the marine is, she wants to collect Tyranids (what is it with ladies and these chitinous monstrosities?).
So, instead of painting power armour I thought it would be better if she learnt to paint on softer edged models;




TEAM ORKZEZ.

While I will be painting;



TEAM MON-KEIGH

Yes! Blood Bowl! (yet another distraction from what I am actually meant to be doing!).

I've had the box set a long time now, and recently, me and my friends have been playing a lot of board games.
It occurred to me that, if I can get these models finished, then it will be just like another board game; once the lists are written at any rate.

Don't expect an update about these guys soon. But eventually, they will turn up again.

Touchdown!

-DH-

18. A Marble Road to Glory. Sisters of Battle part 7. Stripping the line troops and doing things right.

Update time? Yes?
No blog comments? Well fuck you.

I jest, I don't expect any comments, though some feedback/friendly chatter would be nice.

Anyways, Forward for the big E!

So, yeah... guess what happened (*cough*hobby*cough*ethos*cough*).

I stripped my sisters and started form the ground up.
So that post before that said 1,500 points built?
Invalid.

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Instead of waiting around with this project though, I've steamed ahead.
I want my Sisters up and running as soon as possible, while maintaining a decent standard.

So,
Step one; Mould lines, Barrels... in process, almost done.

Step two; Basses!
I want my sisters to be in theme with my urban board... but at the same time I want them to stand out.
The theme I've gone for is 'ruined chapel/ adeptus ministorum building.'
To represnt this I've used plasticard to make marble like slabs and smashed them up a bit; added cracks, chipping, bullet ricochet marks...
Enough talk. WiP pictures!


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2.5 x 2.5 squares form the marble slabs.

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Cut them up, and scuff them up a bit...

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Boom!

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*Shudders*

Only one is fully done, but they're almost their.... just the wear and tear to be finished and that is my whole army (except for Celestine's) basses.

Speaking of Celestine...
   I'm using Celestine as my Primary HQ, but she will actually represent Cannoness Superior of L'Ordre des Angels.
While I want the model to recognisably St. Celestine, I want it to be different enough to obviously not be her. Most of this will be down to the paint job, but I felt a few subtle conversions wouldn't go a miss.
Enjoy!


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Simple enough really.
Remove the dove, stick on the Cannoness Melta Pistol.
Remove the Ardent blade (too flimsy looking if you ask me), and stick on the Cannoness power sword (With a little bit of vambrace still attached).
I need to fill in the gap left by the joint. I might make it look like bionics to help explain her miraculous survivability.


On a similar, but apparently far more complicated topic; I seem to have run into a bit of a problem, and his name is Uriah Jacobs.
While I own him, I hate the model.
As such I want to create my own High Priest, whom is head of the Adeptus Ministorum on my Orders home world.
All I have so far is this;


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Not much, I know. Any suggestions on bitz to use? Primarily after what body/legs/arms I could use.
Advice and suggestion greatly appreciated as I'm stumped.


While trying to upload the pictures my phone bugged out.... so I actually have finished building my Seraphim squad - The Angels wings.
But they can wait until another day.

Comments and criticism more than welcome!

By faith and fire!
-DH-

Friday 2 August 2013

17. It came from the Underhive: Escher gang part 1. Retro reboot and refit.

 I know, I know. Technically I have already posted about my Escher gang before.
However, I have decided to strip them down, and start again. Blah blah, new hobby ethos, blah blah.

If you want a nostalgic blast from the past my gang kind of got started around 2011 - Read 'post 2. The rebellion of a promiscuous Princess' here

Here is the highlights;

Quote
  I have a desperate urge to write some
back story to these ladies (and occasionally gentlemen/lady boys), hence
the title. I'm thinking of having the leader of the gang be the
daughter of some affluent imperial noble from some hive world. This lady
will have a certain taste for the Underhive and its many, *ahem,*
services. She's one of the only noticeably intelligent people in the
gang; this coupled with her access to funding via daddy makes her the
perfect candidate to fit somewhere in a gang hierarchy; seemingly at the
top, but being manipulated by some other agent. I haven't got round to
building this individual yet though so, one to ponder over when I get
round to building her and start writing the back story methinks.

  As a general rule I'm going to keep the core story similar.

The leader of my Gang is going to be 'the promiscuous Princess.'
She is not and actual Princess, just a run away noble from an upper hive merchant family. She is strangely attracted to a life of crime and other 'activities' which go on in and around the Underhive.
She is also not the leader of the gang, as in the organisation, just this particular part of it.

The gang itself will be multifaceted. You have the people the 'princess' has recruited; these will be normal Underhive folk; I say normal, I mean normal for lowlife scum.
However, there will be members whom pre-date the 'Princesses' arrival. These original gang members have a greater involvement in the gang.
This section will be part of a secret organisation within the gang; a lodge, or, cult. These cultists are dedicated to subverting the gangs efforts to acquire certain objects, materials, persons and artefacts which the cult needs to carry out their plans.

Essentially, the Original members are Slaaneshi cultists whom seek to bring a warp entity into reality upon their world, so that they may seize control of the system.
The 'Princesses' gang members are unwittingly supporting the cultists endeavours.



 Enter my bounty hunter, Dengar Roth. Dengar was just your average bounty hunter.
He's had some nasty run ins in the past and as a result, constantly hides his face.
Some say that this is just sensible practise, other say he hides horrific wounds. No one really knows.

Dengar finds himself put into a situation he is not overly comfortable with; He is recruited by an Inquisitor and his Acolyte whom have suspicions that there is cult activity within the hive. They do not tell Dengar this; instead they concentrate on the 'Princess.'
They know full well who she is and intend to use Dengar to get to her. In doing so they hope to gain more information about the organisation.


If everything goes to plan it would be a fairly simple operation... but in the Underhive, nothing ever goes to plan.


  Anyway, enough back story outline gibberish...
I stripped the paint off the gang (Good old fairy power spray!), and got to work basing, rebuilding and throwing in a few new additions.

Check them out!

Dengar Roth and The Princess



The Gang members;













The whole gang.



As for painting, I'm going to avoid the traditional Slaaneshi colours.
I have the over whelming urge to paint them in an 80's theme... gaudy fluorescent colours...
We'll see how it goes.


Anyways, there we go, something different eh?
Stay scummy Underhive.

-DH-

16. A Road to Glroy. Sisters of Battle part 6. Penitent Engine done! BOOM!

Forgiveness is only earned through righteous sacrifice in the Emperors name!

Just a short sisters update today.
I finished the Penitent engine.

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Nothing else to say apart from 'I am glad that is over.'

PEACE - DH-


Thursday 1 August 2013

15. Urban Outfitting. Building a Gaming Board. Part 4.

Insert Update. Upload Enjoyment.

 A while back I mentioned I was waiting on some bitz so I could moved forward.
Well, a week or two ago they arrived. I did all the stuff last week, so here it all is broken down into sections.


Drains.

 Real streets have drains right? So mine will too.
After having a mooch around I decided to try a couple of drain types out.
Simply put, for an imperial world, the brass etch drain from the GW urban basing kit is by far the best looking option.
Insert prototype.


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So theory time (boo!).

  I went out for a walk to figure this out.
On my road drains are roughly 20 curb slabs apart.
In my previous theory post I've stated a slab is approx 3ft long.
So;

3 x 20 = 60 / 2 = 30 cm

A board side is 2 ft / 61 cm = 40 slabs of curb.

So we end up with two drains a side.
Two drains, two board half's. The logical step is to stick them in the middle of each half.

This leaves the drain on the other side. When I was walking around, I saw that drains tended to alternate on each side of the road.
In which case the next logical step is to stick a single drain on the opposite side of the rod, in the middle of the board; the middle of the two drains.


Here's the result;

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Drains done!

Next step. Lamp posts.

 Same reasoning as the drains.
If you walk down a urban road, you're are fairly likely to find yourself basking in the light provided by a lmap post.

Again, only one option jumped out at me for this;


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Cities of death lamp post? YES!

Theory time...

Lampposts turned out to be between 55 - 70 curb slabs apart.

3 x 50 = 150 / 2 = 75cm
3 x 75 = 225 / 2 = 112.5

Quite a large distance. Certainly there can only be one per side of the road, and due to the modular nature of the board having varying positioning of features is not possible. Modularity won out in the end so I decided to have 1 on either side of the road (again, like drains they tend to alternate), and equal distance away from the board edge, and quite far away from each other.

In the end I went for having the lampposts 10cm from the board edge; 50cm apart.
This means that each lamp post will always be 60cm apart from the next lamppost on their side of the road.


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 Now, I couldn't exactly attach them to board; it wasn't based or painted, and painting them would be a nightmare.
More importantly they were bound to get damaged during storage.
Enter the magnets!


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 I've put one in each lamppost, and one in their corresponding position on the board; 10 cm in, both sides of the road, on both board half's.
This means that I can detach them at will (painting, storage, to remove obstruction in game...) and it will help to retain the boards modular nature. The board pieces will be able to placed anywhere, and maintain the lampposts distance.


Boom.

NEXT!


Another feature of your local streets and roads is...

Manholes.

T - H - E - O - R - Y

Very simple this time. there is one every 60 slabs / 2ft (roughly).
So that is 1 per board piece.
The only way to keep the manholes 2 ft away from each other is to put it directly in the middle of the road.


As for what to use there were a few candidates;
A space marine top circular hatch thing...,
The top of a Tau Shield Drone,
An Ork Hatch.

In the end, I went with the most imperial one, The Space Marine ting... pictured here.

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I'd post what it looks like, but it is boring as hell.


Anyways folk, that will do for one night.

Some updates will be thrown at you soon. Basing is up probably next on gaming board agenda.
Those big blank squares wont look like urban wasteland on their own.

I will be throwing in something else soon. Think it is about time I revisited some old friends from the Underhive

Until then any comments and/ or criticism would be welcome.

-DH-

14. A Hate Campaign of Glory: Sisters of Battle part 5. WORST MODEL EVER.

Evening you heretical individuals.

I'm having a fairly terrible day to be honest, so I'm pretty much copy/paste from my B&C WiP
Anyway, on with the show.
 In my fervent need to play some 40k, I set about writing up a some lists.
I've already posted my 1,500pts list, but I have also written a 400pts list (40k in 40 mins anyone?).

I'm not going to bore you with it, as you've already seen all the models in it.
Well...
All except one.



Now, I am honestly not one to bash GW. As far as things go I'm fairly pro workshop;
but...
OH MY GOD!!
I have never hated putting something together so much in all my god damn life!
I am glad I only have to build one of these (which is why it is still NOT finished. Arms to be added and legs attached to the torso :/).

I will be glad when this model is done. I don't even want to paint it. Blergh.

Whatevs

-DH-