Deadite Reaper

Hi!

Well I've had this chap sat half painted on my table for several years now and thought it was high time I actually got round to finishing him off!

He went that away!

He's a mid 80's Citadel miniature and the detailing on him is a bit rough and ready, as is the anatomy but I must admit that I quite enjoyed painting the little guy. I'm not sure I will be painting much more in the scale but it was quite a nice change from the smaller scale gubbins I've been concentrating on of late.

I also discovered a new range of paints that are really rather nice. Anita's all purpose acrylic are available from the likes of The Range and rather affordable too. 

Acrylic Goodies!

The Earth Brown is especially nice when watered down into a wash as can be seen with the robe of the Deadite. It was just several coats of earth brown wash over a khaki basecoat. I picked up a few colours from The Range a while back to see what they were like and I must admit that I like what I've found! I suspect that I will be picking up a fair few more in the coming weeks to add to my collection.

They are allowing me to experiment with a looser and more naturalistic style than what I would usually attempt with lots of earthy, matt tones that look rather decent. While smaller scale painting requires bold colours and sharp highlights, I think these paints work rather well with 28mm scale figures and I may be tempted to try out some experimental paintjobs to see how they turn out.

Alas I'm back to work tomorrow so I doubt I will have much chance to paint anything for a while but we shall see what we can do!

All the best!

Epic Wave Serpent

Hi!

Well I decided to take  a quick break from Rogue Trader and take a look through my Epic stuff and if possible, get something else painted.

Looking at the little boxes of tiny figures, I settled on adding something to my Eldar which are starting to come together nicely following my Nightwing Fighter from earlier in the week. I wanted to add another vehicle to the force in the form some Wave Serpents but sadly I don't have either the classic design or the newer Epic 40k one so settled on a bit of kit bashing!

 Wave Serpent

To represent the forcefield generators that make the Wave Serpent so well protected, I glued on a load of tiny jewels that I'd picked up from The Range for about a quid some time ago. The finished design looks quite decent and I suspect that I will be adding a few more to my force so that my Guardians can ride around in style!

 Falcon and Wave Serpent

As you can see in the picture, my painting approach for the vehicles seems to have changed a little but hopefully not too noticably other than the black paint round the base which seems to be a bit shinier that the older stuff I have.

Eldar Warhost 

Looking at the stuff I have got, I think I need to add some jetbikes to the mix as they are Samhain Windriders after all. I also need to add some Aspect Warriors. I have got a couple of stands of Dark Reapers and Howling Banshees (which I handily forgot to include in the picture!) but looking at my rather meagre Eldar stuff, I'm saddened to find I only have enough for two stands of each aspect!

Still, I shall see what I can put together over the coming weeks!

In the meantime, All the best!

All Hail the Space Pudding!

Hi!

Well I had a bit of a mental session yesterday and decided to add a Space Pudding cult leader to my collection.

Looking through my bits box, I found a robed Retained Knight from the Ion age and set to work with clippers and greenstuff and the final result is Father Johann, High Priest of the Space Pudding, wielder of the spoon of destiny and possible xenos host:

 Father Johann: Loon

I'm quite pleased with how he turned out! Yes his head is a bit on the big side but I'm quite pleased with the mystical robes, pudding bowl hat and mighty spoon which Father Johann puts to good use against the unbelievers!

He will make a good addition to the dramatis personae of Farpoint as a rabble rouser, possible alien threat or objective for scenarios which require his capture for interrogation or assassinations!

I also managed to finish a small Xenos fellow who's been sat based and unloved for some time now:

 Alien Minion

He painted up surprisingly well considering how poor the sculpt was and he makes a decent addition to my band of villains and renegades:

Outlaw Scum

I'm now half way through my holidays and do think I have made some real progress on my unpainted lead and am hankering after playing some small games in the not too distant future but to spice things up, I think I'm going to paint some Epic gubbins next to keep me interested and avoid the dreaded burn out!

All the best!

The Governor Generals Daugher Kidnapped!

Hi!

Well I've been rummaging through my unpainted lead and found a couple of bits and bobs that either needed finishing or a bit of basing so have sat down and got them finished:

 Ganger

First up, there's a ganger that wouldn't look out of place in a lot of settings. He painted up really nicely but is rather on the large side, being closer to 20mm tall than 15mm, not helped by his thick base. Still he will make a handy addition to a force of thuggish minions. I'm still swithering about his hair and may repaint it black as the jokerish green is a little jarring.

Next up, I have retouched and based an old Peter Pig civilian to act as the Governor Generals daughter. She will be doing what damsels in distress do best, namely be kidnapped and held hostage in the slime jungle!

 Arbites engage a gang of desperate criminals holding the Governor Generals daughter hostage!

She's a tiny figure, even for a 15mm scale one but puts one in mind of the spoiled princess sort that is used to getting her own way and will no doubt give her kidnappers a great deal of trouble.

I hope to paint up another dozen or so gangers as well as some more forces of law and order to try our a scenario or two so watch this space!

All the best!

Eldar Nightwing Fighter

Hi!

Whilst watching the Hollow Crown the other night, I managed to paint up a new addition to my Eldar force in the form of a Nightwing Interceptor:

 Nightwing

As all things Epic are horrendously expensive these days, I tend to make use of whatever proxies I can find that look good and this is no exception! It's from the excellent eM-4 plastic fighter sprue that costs £2.55 for 12 different fighters plus bases and while technically small for 6mm gaming, it does the trick. 

I have another Nightwing primed and basecoated and am looking forward to getting it finished off too but may make it a fighter ace's personal ride so will be adding some personalised touches to make things a bit more interesting!

Here's a quick shot of the complete force thus far:

 Red troops on a red planet under a red sun.

I'm really liking how the force is coming together but the next issue will be the addition of some Knights and a Titan which is going to be more difficult to proxy I suspect. In the meantime, I do have a host of infantry I can work on as well as some more vehicles and so on but I do want to eventually add some large walkers to the mix!

Saying that, I do like the way the force looks at the moment as a raiding party rather than a mighty host and looking at Horizon Wars, I think I have more than enough for a decent game or two.

Maybe I will need to stat up a couple of forces and have a bash to see how the game plays as I have some interesting gubbins for my Ultramarines, Squats and Eldar.

An Ultramarine Thunderhawk is about to have a bad day...

There's something really enjoyable about painting stuff in small scale as it's possible to paint them to a good standard in a short time and have a force come together quite quickly and cheaply too!

If anyone can suggest some decent Eldar walker proxies for 6mm or indeed 15mm scale, give me a shout as I want to paint up some centrepieces to the force at some point!

All the best

Imperial Patrol

Hi!

Well I am on my holidays and a much needed break from the hectic excitement of work! Who would think that working in a bookshop would be so much hard work but I love it so I can't complain too much.

Still I'm now on holiday and getting stuff sorted for our upcoming wedding so unsurprisingly hobby time is once again minimal but I have managed to scrape together a few moments to paint up some more gubbins in the form of the basis for an Imperial patrol:

 Ultramarine Combat Squad

I must admit that I do love the combination of detail and ease of painting that 15mm scale provides as painting a similar force to a decent standard in 28mm would take an awful lot more work and with limited time and space, I think that 15's are a good alternative.

I still need to flesh them out to a full strength ten man squad but quite like how things are looking thus far. They are Ion Age retained knights but look the job as the Empress's finest in my alternative Imperium and I look forward to adding to their ranks.

Next up, there's some lowly PDF troopers of the Imperial Guard:

 

Lowly Grunts

I went for the traditional black and grey with brown accents for these chaps as a nod to the classic 40k illustrations and quite like how they've turned out. Inkeeping with my reimagined Imperium, they are a bit better kitted out than of old with more believable armour and autoguns and are originally from Ground Zero Games. I may yet rework the helmets though as I think that the red stripe needs to be a bit bolder...

With a bit of work, I think I will have a decent squad of these chaps sorted out soonish too before moving onto some xenos types and assorted villains to menace my frontier settlers with.

Here's a quick shot of the completed models thus far:

A cosmic cornucopia 

It's been quite a lot of fun painting skirmish forces but I have also recently picked up Horizon wars which seems to be really getting a lot of interest out there so I am going to try it out in a couple of battle reports in the coming months too!

 

 Eldar Warhost

 Ultramarine Strike Force

 Squat Brotherhood

Mercenary Armour

Looking at my current Epic collection, I can't help but feel that I am missing some mechs to lord it over them so will need to rummage around for some suitable proxies as well as adding Imperial Guard, Chaos and Orks to the mix.

Hopefully I will manage some hobby time this holiday so do check back!

All the best!

Epic To Return!

Hi!

Well what exciting news! Epic is making a comeback in the form of Adeptus Titanicus!

Alas no idea as to a release date but it does sound quite interesting as it's been scaled up to 8mm which is going to look amazing as titans will supposedly stand 6 inces tall! We shall see how things go but I'm quite looking forward to developments over the next few months!

Imperial Reinforcements and Xenos Scum!

Hi!

Just another quick update with some more gubbins for my Rogue Trader 15mm project in the form of another Ultramarine and a Gatergore alien!

That was like, Ultra!

I am slowly building up a squad of the little chaps who will be acting as a strike team for my Imperial forces in an upcoming game and quite like the way they are turning out! 

Next up, there's a Gatergore mercenary trooper lurking suspiciously outside an equally suspicious medical clinic:

 Rawr

The sculpt is a bit rough and ready but he fits in quite well with the RT aesthetic and once I have another few done, they will make handy bodyguards, hired muscle or other thuggish minions for my villains to order around.

Eat explosive death Xenos scum!

If I was to do him again, I suspect I'd sculpt more of a tail on him but as a nameless minion of evil, he will do as is. I think I will need to spend some time rummaging around my collection to see if I can find someone suitable to act as the bad guy, possibly a certain Abdul Goldburg or one of his henchmen...

Till next time, All the best!

Ebaying!

Hi!

Just a quick update to say I am having a bit of a clearout of lead over on Ebay!

Check the listings HERE. At present there's lots of Imperial Guard Catachans but over the course of the week I will be listing some confrontation gangers, arbites and Orks, not to mention some assorted fantasy gubbins!

All the best!