Spacecow's Yearly Roundup

Whee!

Well its been a busy old year here with all sorts of shenanigans with work and hobby but I thought I would have a bit of a perusal of the highs and lows of my hobby year.

For the first time in living memory, I seem to have got myself a decent man cave but still need to get myself a decent gaming table put together and the new year will hopefully see this come to some sort of fruition!

Miniature wise, I seem to have been pulled in several directions at once, earlier in the year I spent rather a lot of time painting up some 28mm scale warbands for Rogue Trader:

 Catachans

I must admit that although this project has kind of stalled, I really want to continue with it in the new year as its been a cracking opportunity to paint my way through my leadpile. The ongoing plan is to build a dozen or so warbands for a Necromunda/Rogue Trader type campaign based in my reimagined Imperium.

Bloodaxe Askaris

Hopefully the coming year will see the warbands expand to a dozen or so figures each along with a couple of vehicles and cover all the main races in the Imperium from Eldar to Tyranids and more beside.

 Planetary Defence Force

I have really been enjoying painting up the oldish school metal and converting all sorts of gubbins and I still have a few more fun bits and bobs to work through. Who knows, maybe I may even manage to get a game or two in while I am at it. The problem is that the more I paint, the more I want to pick up for some of the other great old games out there ranging from Void to Vor, Kryomek to Warzone!

 Goff Warband

Its a bit of a bind but at the same time it has got me thinking of some of the great figures I've had over the years and flogged off during my many house moves and one of my new years resolutions is to source replacements for them and get them painted. Its possibly going to take me quite a long time for some of them but I do think its going to be well worth the effort. I do also want to have a bit of a peruse of some of the newer ranges out there to supplement some of my existing forces as there's some really very tempting gubbins to be had too...

Space Pirates

I do seem to be concentrating on sci-fi in the 28mm scale but I must admit that fantasy just isn't appealing to me at present so will just keep cracking on with what I am enjoying doing and a handy byproduct is that I am getting myself some rather fun little warbands!

Miscellaneous Characters

Now its not all 28mm fun in Richard's hobby time. I have also been creating some similar warbands in 15mm scale too!

 Lucius Goldburg, Crimelord

While the 28mm scale stuff is getting done more from a collecting standpoint, my 15mm scale stuff is totally intended for gaming purposes. While the scale doesn't lend itself to quite the same amount of detail and character as the larger scale, it is handy for creating quick and fun forces on a very limited budget.

 Mollusc Freedom Alliance!

I fully intend to start some regular games with my ever expanding little forces and play out a campaign over the course of 2015 which hopefully will see all kinds of skirmishes with assorted Imperial, Rebel and Xenos factions battling it out all over the Farpoint Sector!

Capitol Light Infantry

Speaking of which, I have been beavering away with some sculpts in 15mm scale which are nearing completion and will be getting auctioned off in the new year too and I will also be working on an ongoing series of articles for my reimagined Imperium project to keep things interesting.

 Farpoint Salvage

Sadly there are a few glaring gaps in the 15mm scale market for the classic 40k races so I will be working on a few conversions and sculpts of my own to represent stuff like Eldar and so on but in the meantime I will continue building the assorted forces I have at my disposal and adding the odd little bits and bobs as I go.

 Ork Warband

Another of my challenges in the new year will be to collect and convert forces for each of the classic Warzone factions so I can relive the glory days of 1st edition Warzone and play out some corporate action in the solar system against each other and the dread forces of the Dark Legion!

 Squat Troopers

While much of my efforts have been concentrated on 15mm sci-fi, I have had a couple of fantasy forces pootling along too. One of which is my Tale of Several Gamers challenge Dwarven army which I really want to get finished!

 Dwarves

I have a cunning plan to provide myself with quite a few steamtanks and wargolems to flesh out the force as well as getting some more variety to the existing infantry I have but thats for another day!

Slann

The other force I worked on earlier in the year was my 15mm scale Slann warband. Its kind of stalled at present but I do want to finish off the little chaps and maybe even round out the force a bit too.

Squats!

Moving Down the scales, I still have a bunch of epic goodness sat needing painting up which I want to spend a bit of time sorting them out as well. I doubt they will see much action but who knows, they could be handy for representing somewhat larger scale confrontations.

 Eldar

There's plenty to paint up and I have to admit that this is a bit of a back burner project but I will be plugging away with the little chaps as I do love the look of the classic Epic stuff and I do just happen to have a fair pile of miniatures to paint up...

Ultramarines

As you can see, I have got a fair amount of bits and pieces done this year and have plans to keep it up in the year to come but I also have one or two other little side projects that I do want to push forward with in the coming year as well.

 Aeronef

Firstly, a couple of years back, I painted up a couple of Aeronef by Brigade Models and I still have a decent flotilla in need of a lick of paint. Sadly my painted ships have sadly been hard done by in the move of house so thy will be given a bit of a stripping in preparation for a fresh coat of paint and re-rigged to add an extra bit of detail too.

Fighter Scale!

Lastly, there is my fighter scale project to take a bit of a fresh look at too! 

As you can see I have plenty to be cracking on with in 2015 and hopefully I will finally manage to fully deplete my leadpile, get a gaming table sorted out and actually play some games too but in the meantime, I hope you have all had a great Christmas and thanks for taking the time to read and follow my ramblings!

All the best!

Silent Running...

Hi!

Well its been a week since my last post and alas there's been a decided lack of hobby time. As previously mentioned, the man cave is out of action at present but a combination of mental work and long commuting has really knocked the stuffing out of me!

I have been doing a little bit of sculpting here and there but unfortunately there's nothing quite finished yet. I have a suspicion that my Tale of Several Gamers Dwarves are going to suffer a similar lack of attention as the silly season continues and upcoming visits from our collective families but I do hope to crack on with them when I get chance.

In the meantime, I will try to keep posting the occasional State of the Imperium article as well as some background gubbins for my alternative Imperium but in the meantime, all the best!

Ork Squad and an Angry Ape!

Hi!

I've currently got the contents of our workroom in my mancave as we sort the place out so painting time has been somewhat curtailed as we get to the onerous task of tidying up! Still I did manage to finish off a squad of Orks that I sculpted up for 15mm.co.uk a few years back. I slightly converted the Nob but the others are unaltered and I'm quite pleased with how they turned out.

 Waargh!

Unfortunately, these are just about the last Orks I have in the house so I will have to see about sculpting up a few more. If there's enough interest in getting them cast, I will put the sculpts up for sale...

Next up, there's an old Irregular Armies giant Ape. The original sculpt is a bit iffy so I added a load of pelt to its shoulders and arms to bulk it up a bit and add a horn in homage to the old Star Trek monster!

Game wise, he is going to be a pet of Lucius Goldburg and has been modified with a control circuit by the crimelords xenos medico. To top it off, he has also been equipped with a frenzon dispencer to make him properly furious in combat!

All the best!

Enemies of the Imperium Part 2

Hi!

I thought it was long past time to actually update my ongoing ramblings about my reimagined Imperium so will spend a bit of time waffling about a few more of the threats that face the Imperium in the 45th Millenium!

Eldar Pirates

The Great Harlequin has reunited the disparate elements of the Eldar race, the Craftworld, Dark and Exodites and forged a new, powerful and unified society that seeks to reclaim its ancient holdings, much of which are now in the hands of the Imperium. 

Eldar Pirate Raid

While the reformed Eldar are still too few in number to take on the Imperium in a straight fight, they have excelled in lightning raids, strategic invasions and commerce raiding. At the forefront of this effort are the Eldar Pirates. Formed from the adventurous, out of favour or somewhat deranged of Eldar society, they range in size from single ships to powerful fleets of graceful, yet deadly vessels. 
eldar fleet.

Eldar Warship

While seemingly operating independently, these freebooters are actually under the command of the great seer council of the Eldar who seek to interrupt the movement of trade and vital supplies throughout the Imperium, weakening it to the point of collapse. Thus far, the Imperial navy seems unaware of the spate of seemingly random attacks on shipping actually form a complex web aimed at dealing a crippling blow to the Imperium as pirate raids seem to hit everything from merchant convoys to agriworlds and even the odd strike at the navy itself. No matter how rapidly the Imperium reacts, the agile Eldar ships seem to dance out of range and vanish before full retribution can be taken on the haughty pirates.

Every ships crew looks different, some wear elaborate or exotic gear, others grim and forbidding uniform while some, usually the Dark Eldar, indulge in scarification and body modification to terrify their foes. It is this sense of freedom and lack of strict Eldar codes of conduct that draw many dreamers and malcontents to join up and the pirates aren't too fussy about only recruiting from within their own race as many unusual xenos species with a grudge against the Imperium or a sense of adventure also make up a sizable proportion of the ranks.

Pirate activity in the Farpoint sector has been growing and several ships have gone missing under mysterious circumstances in the past six months and Governor General Van Dorn has requested the Imperial Navy to increase its patrols. Rumour has it that the previous governor, Alexandr Vosk has been trading with the outlaws in secret in hopes of discrediting his successor and allowing him to retake the lucrative position of Governor.

Hopefully that will give folks a bit of an idea as to what the Eldar Pirates are up to and the eagle eyed may have spotted that I have begun adding new pages to the blog here with background and so on of the forces of the new Imperium and those they fight against. I am also hoping to add some bios of the assorted characters such as the Empress's Attack Dog, Governor General Laars Van Dorn, his nemesis Alexandr Vosk and lots more over the coming week or two as well!

All the best!

Warband Building

Hi!

Well its getting towards the silly season at work and to make matters worse, I've been struck down with man flu over the last few days which has made doing pretty much anything done all but impossible!

I have managed to get some pics taken of my Dwarves for the Tale of Several Gamers challenge but will wait till tomorrow to post them up but have been slowly working through a few more bits and bobs from my lead pile and thought I'd take a few quick shots of some of my warbands that I have been developing for a while.

In my revised Imperium, technology hasn't stagnated like it has in the current GW fluff so I have plenty of scope to keep developing forces that are somewhat more high tech and interesting.

Farpoint Salvage

As things stand, my most complete force is my freelance salvage team, Farpoint Salvage. With a mixture of techs, gunmen and even a combat cyborg, they are a rather mixed bunch but make for an interesting and eclectic lot. 

Formed from a retired squad of Viridian commandoes, Farpoint Salvage excels at recovering lostech from hostile environments and if rumor is to be believed, the occasional unofficial government contract on the QT. I hope to flesh the organisation out a little so I can have a couple more gunmen and some more droids and even a few hostile environment suits!

Next up, there's my Goff warband!

Waaagh!

I now have a dozen or so 15mm scale Orks but need quite a few more to get a decent sized warband put together (I plan on using the force generator rules from Ere We Go to generate their weapons and equipment!) I also need to sculpt up a Mekboy, Painboy, Weirdboy, Runtherd and maybe a few more boyz too. The vehicle is also in need of a fresh coat of paint and some assorted gubbins to give it a suitably ramshackle appearance...

A quick update on them as I have just finished a squad of bolter armed Orks led by a Nob but really want to bulk their numbers up to at least 10-15 for a proper mob!

Hopefully I will get some more pics taken for this weekend of the latest additions as well as a few more warbands in construction as I have a good half dozen little forces underway that are starting to look half decent such as the Mo.F.A and the notorious crimelord Lucius Goldburg!

All the best!