Saturday, December 15, 2012

Deimos Predator Progress

A little more progress on the Predator done tonight. I'm dry-fitting the turret pieces right now and figuring out how to do that back part. Used half of a ping pong ball and a 40mm base for the turret.  Pretty happy with the front, though I'll probably do some trim work to match the model from Forge World.

Deimos Predator

I've been wanting to try and do some custom building lately to try out some new techniques to bring my build quality up, and decided to try and built a Deimos Predator.  You can see the model I will be attempting to build here from Forge World.


Really enjoy some of the ascetics of the vehicle, though my conversion won't have everything, but it should be fun to see what I can come up with.  I did some experiments bulking out the front tonight with some plasticard, actually I am using for sale signs which are much cheaper.  The shape isn't right yet, but the main point was to try out the material and nothing is glued yet, so it will look much better in the final version.


Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Bolt Action and Star Fleet A Call to Arms

The game store I very occasionally make it down to has people playing a wide variety of games.  Two of the most popular right now are Bolt Action and A Call to Arms: Star Fleet .  I managed to pick up both rule-book this week, one through trade on BGG and the other as a gift.  I've finished reading Bolt Action and have started reading Star Fleet and so far like the look of both systems.  I probably won't start up armies/fleets for both systems right now, so I'm trying to decide what I would enjoy the most.  For Bolt Action I'm leaning towards British Commonwealth focusing on an airborne section.  For Star Fleet I'm not sure which fleet I would lean towards, as I would eventually want to pick up two so that I could play with the wife.  I will probably try a game or two out using the Star Trek Fleet Captains ships that I have painted up and if I really like it could eventually pick some of the ships up.



Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Death Company with Jump Packs


Finished up the jump packs for the first five death company.  Really happy with how they turned out.  Will offer a nice contrast to the yellow of the rest of the army.  Still need to finish up the should pads and paint up normal backpacks to have them completely finished.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

New Primer

Here in Seattle we have a lot of rainy days.  Makes it really hard to prime models during the wet season (October-June).  I recently picked up some Vallejo Surface Primer which can be put through the airbrush to see if that would work.  Tried it out tonight and it's absolutely fantastic!  I did have to up my air-pressure a little bit to spray it without blocking the airbrush up, but it goes on super thin and smooth.  The best part is that it comes in a variety of colors to make painting easier.  There is almost zero smell so the wife won't be bothered by the freshly sprayed models either.  Highly recommend.

White Primer at The Warstore


Monday, November 12, 2012

Lamenters versus Tyranids




Michael and I played an 1850 point game today that was a lot of fun.  We played the Relic Mission and Dawn of War deployment.   Michael had first turn and hid everything behind ruins (which with his Warlod trait gave him 3+ saves) and infiltrated the genestealers.  I put my Land Raider center and flanked it with predators with all my marines hiding behind.

First turn we had a bit of wait and see as neither of us wanted to be stuck in the center giving the other player easy charge lanes.  We both moved up a little and positioned.  I did kill a couple hormaguants with the Vindicator, but FNP genestealers from pyschic powers and also 5+ invuls prevented too much damage on the first turn.

Second turn both mawlocs deepstruck, destroyed the Vindicator and killed a couple marines.  His Tyrant dropped down to try and bust the land raider.  He did pen, but only managed to shake it.  My turn I unload everything in the mawlocs behind my line and manage with the charge to kill both.  I also brought the Tyrant down to 1 wound and charged the hormagaunts that were approaching the relic with the death company.   50 re-roll to hit and wound attacks later they were gone.  I also flamed and assaulted the genestealers on my flank Though FNP saved them big time.  In the end we both killed about half our units there.

My warlord had possession of the Relic (thanks to his Warlord trait making him Scoring, but the unit had a Trygon on one side and 12 Genestealers on the other.  The 10 death company were wiped out, but the Reclusiarch in a challenge with the Brood lord stayed up thanks to his invul save.  They were finished off by the Trygon but managed to thin a couple out on their way.

The rest of the game was a big scrum in the middle.  I still had a few shooting vehicles with nothing interesting to shoot, and I poored all my infantry into the middle to try and keep his troops from picking up the relic.  In the end all my troops were wiped out, he had 3 genestealers left on  a flank, too far away to get the relic, but giving him linebreaker.  We both killed each others warlords, but he had first blood.  So the Tyranids won 3-2.  The game was a blast and really close.  We each had fun moments and it was a particularly bloody match.  One of the best games we've played together and we both had a lot of fun.

Lamenters:
Reclusiarch
10x Death Company
1x Land Raider Crusader
10x Assault Marines (PF, Plasma guns)
10x Assault Marines (PS, Flamers)
5x Sanguinary Guard with banner
1x Priest with Jump Pack
1x Vindicator
1x Predator w/ HB
1x Baal Predator w/ Flamestorm
3x Bikes with plasma guns

Tyranids:
Hive Tyrant w/ Wings and Lash Whip
12x Genestealers Broodlord and Toxin Sacs
12x Genestealers Broodlord and Toxin Sacs
20x Hormagaunts w/ Toxin Sacs and Adrenal Glands
3x Hive Guard
1x Zoanthrope
1x Zoanthrope
1x Mawloc
1x Mawloc
1x Trygon Prime

Friday, November 9, 2012

Death Company WIP

Lamenters Death Company
First five of my Death Company.  Still need to finish some details and paint up the backpacks.  I have magnetized their backs so they can be run with jump packs or on foot.  I've painted them up white rather than the traditional black to differentiate the odd past of the Lamenters and the black rage.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Brother Chamuel - Lamenters Sternguard Deathwatch

Lamenters Sternguard Deathwatch

My finished entry for the Sternguard Deathwatch contest.  Really happy with how he turned out, especially the kit-bashed combi-melta.  While I have no delusions of winning it was a fun project to work on and I can't wait to see the squad together.


Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Deathwatch Sternguard Marine

I volunteered to put a model together for the Sternguard Deathwatch competition and charity event for the Badab Veterans group.  Pretty pleased so far with the model, though I still need to drill out weapon barrels and do a base up.For the weapon I kit-bashed a combi-melta up from an infernus pistol, DC bolter and magazine from a storm bolter.  Really happy with how it came out.  In fact this has inspired me to put together a sternguard squad for my own Lamenters after I'm done.


Sunday, September 30, 2012

An Unkindness of Stormravens

Finished up my second Stormraven.  Though not without some issues.  The major problem was me carrying it downstairs to photograph with it still on the flight stand and having it fall down a flight of stairs and smash into a bunch of pieces!  Luckily I used super-glue to attach the wings on and they snapped off where they should have.  Some dings and dents, but I just like to think of it as battle damage.

Lamenters Stormraven
Lamenters Stormraven
Unkindness of Stormravens

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Death Company WIP


What do you do when you can't sleep at night?  Build models!  I recently used pieces from two Death Company box to build some Vanguard Veterans and had quite a few left over bits.  Combining those plus some bits from the bits box, I was able to put together this unit of ten DC.  Two are armed with power fists while the rest are chainswords and bolt pistols.  I will probably pick another box up eventually and build a few of the other options out, like infernus pistols and such, and the kit has tons of great bits for conversions and special characters.  The backpacks will be magnetized and have the option for jump packs as well.  I'm going to paint my DC in a white color scheme rather than the black that is traditionally in Blood Angels armies.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Battle of Epsilon Corvi

Battle of Epsilon Corvi - Mission 2.

Initial board setup
Initial board setup
Lamenters Deployment
Lamenters Deployment
Tyranids Deployment
Additional Deployment
Flying Hive Tyrant moving forward first turn
Assault Squad getting assaulted after flaming Genestealers
Lamenters advancing forward
Mephiston taking on last Zoanthrope and two Genestealers
Mission: The Scouring (6 random objectives, fast attack scoring)

Deployment: Vanguard Strike (Diagonal)
Points: 1750 (kind of)

Lamenters list is here.

The Tyranid list is below.  Sadly there was a mistake on the expected points value, and the Tyranids were only 1500 points.  This definitely skewed the game in my favor.

HQ:
Hive Tyrand (wings)

Troops:
8 Genestealers (toxin sacs)
1 Broodlord

8 Genestealers  (toxin sacs)
1 Broodlord

24 Hormaguants (adrenal glands, toxin sacs)

Fast:
12 Gargoyles (adrenal glands, toxin sacs)

1 Harpy

Elite:
2 Zoanthropes
2 Zoanthropes

Heavy:
Trygon Prime

Tyranids had first turn and they slowly advanced up the middle.  Nervous about the flamers in the front of my army, they tried to stay back a little, but not far enough, as the flamers were able to move in and wipe out one of the units of Genestealers.  A couple marines got killed by the force dome psychic power as there shots  bounced back.

The next turn the Gargoyles, Hormaguants and Trygon wiped out the two squads.  The free overwatch hits with the flamer managed to thin out the Gargoyles pretty well, but didn't do much to the larger creatures.  The other unit of Genestealers assaulted an assault marine squad in cover, and with the lack of grenades, were fairly ineffective.  The Vanguard Vets came in and assaulted a unit of Zoanthropes and killed one, while Mephiston made a huge 10" charge and killed the Trygon, Mephiston with Iron Arm and Warp Speed made him super nasty in combat.

Third turn the Hormaguants charged into Mephiston and managed to bring him down to one wound but the Sanguinary Guard joined in and wiped the unit out.  The flyrant charged into the vanguard veterans and killed two, but the return attacks finished off the big bug.  The genestealers lost combat and ran, though they managed to get into cover.

Fourth turn was mostly re-positioning and the movement toward objectives.  While a few smaller combats finished up.  Going into the last turn the Tyranids were down to the Harpy, one Zoanthropes, and a couple Genestealers.  Mephiston was stuck in combat with the Zoanthrope and genestealers, and an assault squad managed to ground the Harpy and the TH/SS Terminators pounced on it out of the Land Raider.  The game ended on turn 5 with a great victory to the Lamenters.  They of course had a huge upper hand since they were playing with 250 more points!  Always check lists before you start a game.

The game was a blast, and we have two more missions in our mini-campaign.  Learned a bunch of stuff about 6th edition and the army, and I'm really enjoying the new mechanics and play-style.  We played with mysterious objectives this game, and they really didn't have any impact on the game.  Even the sabotaged one never blew up the entire game.  We never remembered challenges, and I keep forgetting to throw grenades, something I've been wanting to try and always forget!  Can't wait for another game.


Friday, August 17, 2012

Invasion of Epsilon Corvi - Mission 2


The strike force has been readied.  They deploy tomorrow to cleanse the bio pools the filthy Tyranids have established on the world of Epsilon Corvi.  The objectives must be destroyed or there is real danger of losing this world.  After action report will be given tomorrow.  This will be the second game in a small narrative campaign Michael and I are playing.  Really excited to get a game in, and as a bonus all of the models I will be using are fully painted!

1750 Pts - Blood Angels Roster
HQ:    1 Mephiston, Lord of Death

Troops: 

Assault Squad
7 Assault Marines
   
2 Assault Marines with Flamers   
1 Sergeant (Power Fist)

Assault Squad
   
7 Assault Marines   
2 Assault Marines with Flamers   
1 Sergeant (Power Fist)

Elite:

Sanguinary Priests   
1 Sanguinary Priest in Power Armour (Jump Pack)   
1 Sanguinary Priest in Terminator Armour

Sanguinary Guard
   
5 Sanguinary Guard (Chapter Banner)

Terminator Assault Squad

5 Terminator with Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield   
1 Land Raider Crusader (Multi-melta)

Fast Attack: 

Vanguard Veteran Squad   
1 Sergeant (Jump Pack; Power Fist)   
4 Vanguard Veteran (Jump Pack)

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Allies Incoming - Tau Hammerhead

Tau Hammerhead

My first Tau model is finished up and ready to ally with the Eldar.  Really excited with how it turned out and love the Mymeara color scheme on these guys.  I'm getting better at doing the black-lining.  My process now is to gloss varnish the model and then use a heavy black wash in the crevices.  You can wipe off any over-spillage with a wet paper towel and it flows into the cracks nicely.  After it dries I apply a matte varnish spray to take the shininess away.  Can't wait to see more of the Eldar and Tau models in the color scheme.

Painting a Storm Raven


So with one Storm Raven down, I figure I should learn a few things from the first build and painting that I could really do a better paint job, with much less effort.  The first thing was not gluing everything together, rather do sub assemblies that can be combined when the majority of the painting work was done.  So I built the wings, engines, and hull separately and then primed and airbrushed the base coat.  I'm much better with the airbrush now as well, and the finish on this one is much better.  I'm using Vallejo GC Heavy Ochre as my base color (thinned down about 1:1).

I also masked off a couple parts of the model that will have the checkered pattern on it.  I used blue painters tape, and then cut squares out and laid out in the area to do the black.  Much easier than free-handing all of them, though I will need to go do some cleanup.  I'm planning on adding more black and red details to break up the yellow and give it some nice contrast.  This model is also magnetized, and I made sure the polarity lined up with the other Storm Raven so I won't have to keep the different bits separate from each other.  The result should be finishing the model in a fraction of the time, to a higher quality.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Calix Loke - Sanguinary Priest

Lamenters Sanguinary Priest in Terminator Armor
Calix Loke is one of the oldest members of the Lamenters Sanguinary Priesthood.  Entrusted with one of only two suits of Terminator Armor that the priesthood possesses, he will generally lead one of the chapters few Terminator squads into battle.  Tasked with keeping the chapters Terminators fighting, he has helped them overcome insurmountable odds to keep the struggling chapter alive.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Sanguniary Terminator WIP

Lamenters Sanguinary Priest Terminator
Did some work on the Sanguinary Priest Terminator model made out of a Grey Knight Terminator.  Still need to clean up and do the power sword, but it came together super quickly and much better than any previous attempt at a white figure.  Followed Ron's guide on From the Warp here.  I'm going to eventually go back and repaint the other priest that I did using this awesome method.  

Painted Lamenters Army

 
After finishing some stuff up this afternoon I figured I would put the army together to see what I have finished to see what kind of army I could run.  To my surprise I have 2500+ points done!  While not the most effective army in the world, I can run a nice fully painted army at a variety of point values now!

HQ's:
1x Mephiston
1x Reclusiarch in Power Armor
1x Reclusiarch in Terminator Armor

Elites:
5x TH/SS Terminators
1x Sanguniary Priest w/ Jumppack
5x Sanguinary Guard
1x Furioso Dreadnought

Troops:
20x Assault Marines

Fast:
1x Baal Predator
5x Vanguard Vetarans (could be run as DC or Honor Guard)

Heavy:
1x Storm Raven
1x Vindicator

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Land Raider Finished!

I finished up the Land Raider last night and put the matte varnish down this morning.  There are areas that could be improved, but I'm happy with it so far and I think it makes a nice center piece to the army.  Really happy with adding more black to it to break up the yellow.  I'll probably be doing this for other vehicles in the army as well.  Still need to come up with a good name for it though.

Lamenters Land Raider Crusader

Lamenters Land Raider Crusader

Lamenters Land Raider Crusader

Friday, August 10, 2012

Lamenters Land Raider WIP

Lamenters Land Raider, Terminators and Ruclusiarch 
Lamenters Land Raider, Terminators and Ruclusiarch 
Lamenters Land Raider, Terminators and Ruclusiarch 
A few pictures of the Land Raider I'm working on and the guys who ride inside.  I've been enjoying jumping back and forth between my two armies and working on terrain, it keeps me from burning out on painting particular color.  Really happy with how the Land Raider is coming, just need to do some touch ups and do the black-lining.  Most everything is magnetized so it can be run as a Crusader or Redeemer.  

I am also building another LR that I got for my birthday as well.  I imagine a list where I run two of them, one with TH/SS Terminators and the other full of Death Company.  Shove that down the middle and it should pretty much take care of anything.  Also armor 14 seems like it could be a little more survivable in this edition, but we will see.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Tau Hammerhead WIP

Tau Hammerhead in Mymeara colors
The Eldar are receiving reinforcements.  With the new Allies rules, I pulled some Tau stuff out of the garage that I've had for a while.  I found part of a Tau mega-force box at Value Village a few years back and have been holding on to them until I had the resources or desire to build a Tau force.  Well with the new ally system I don't need much to get a small force of Tau to supplement the Eldar.  I've decided to just paint in the same color scheme as the Mymeara Eldar to keep a nice cohesive look.  I have no plans on growing them beyond maybe a 1000 points or so for use in Ally games.  I really enjoy the aesthetics of the Tau tanks, the battlesuits, on the other hand, are a little too clunky looking.  I like what Forge World have done with the battlesuits, but can't afford that sort of thing right now, especially for a secondary force.  I should be able to finish this guy up this week, and also have a Land Raider on the table that will hopefully get finished as well.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Editing Miniature Photos with Gimp

I watched this nice video on editing your photos to better display miniature online.  I'm most definitely not a graphic designer, but this is simple enough that I can follow.  I just need to assemble some sort of light box to improve my photos.  I'll be trying this out soon!



Saturday, August 4, 2012

Wraithseer WIP #2

Broke the airbrush out last night after finishing the assembly up on the Wraithseer and put the base coats down.  One thing I love about this army is how fast you can paint it, while having it still look nice.  Still need to do the ten trillion gems and other detail work.  I'm going to do the spear blade and shield with the airbrush in some nice purples when it's dried enough to mask off.  Will be putting snow on the base as well.

Airbrushed Mymeara Eldar Wraithseer Conversion 
Airbrushed Wraithseer conversion in Mymeara colors 
Airbrushed Mymeara Eldar Wraithseer Conversion

Friday, August 3, 2012

Wraithseer Conversion WIP


Wraithseer conversion

Wraithseer Conversion
I finished up my conversion for a Wraithseer for my Mymeara Eldar.  It was not too difficult and I'm really pleased with the result.  The base is just a plastic Wraithlord kit and a D-cannon from a Support Weapon platform.  The spear is made out of the wraithsword cut off on top, plastic q-tips for the shaft and then the fuel tank from a flamer from the wraithlord kit for the butt.  There is a wire run through the whole length of the spear to give it strength.  The shield is just made from plasticard with a spirit stone glued to it.  Really excited to get this painted up and ready to play.


Ice Table WIP #3

 
I managed to get all of the white portions painted yesterday and it is really coming together.  I will give the snow areas a coating of Future floor to give a nice glistening effect and then I just need to figure out how to do my ice.  I'm thinking clear resin with a little blue and a little white ink or paint mixed in.  I'll try to pick some up this evening for testing purposes over the weekend.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Terrain Failure - Ice Crystals

Cutting the ice pillars
Painting the ice pillars
Gloss varnishing the ice pillars fail!
Last night the wife and I had a crafting/Star Trek night.  While she worked on some crocheting I pulled a bunch of scrap foam from building the table to work on some ice crystals to use as terrain.  Managed to make a whole bunch of various sizes and was pretty pleased with the result.  I used some cheap acrylic craft paint (only slightly darker than the actual blue of the foam) and dry brushed the edges white.  This morning before work, I took them outside and gave them a spray of gloss varnish to give them a nice shinny look, but to my dismay they started dissolving away despite the paint!  Generally I use a thicker latex paint on foam which will protect it enough that spray paints and varnishes will work, but the acrylic paint is not thick/strong enough.  Probably half are ruined beyond repair, the other half should be alright, but I'll need to make more.  Next time I'm going to use Future Floor polish through the airbrush instead to avoid further failure.