Tuesday 30 May 2017

Talos Imperial Lander

Hi!

As promised, here's a post that's not all waffle but has some actual content!

The Talos is an Imperial Steadfast class lander capable of transporting an entire platoon into combat. Although a venerable design, it is not popular amongst the Imperial Guard regiments who are forced to travel in it as the combination of high G insertion, poor padding and only the main forward facing exit ramp combined with poor armour plating have given the vessel the dubious nickname of 'The Brick'.

 Imperial Lander XIV, Callsign Talos

Following my previous, rather more swanky lander for the Governor General, I felt that I needed to give his escort some transport too and remembered an old dropship I made back in my teens (sadly long binned) which saw quite a bit of use when I used to play skirmishes back in the day.

 The Brick in profile

Loosely based on the old Second World War era landing craft, the Talos is made of foamcore, thin cardboard and a few bits and bobs and while still rather blocky, I quite like it!


Although not the most high tech vessel, Steadfast class landers do sport powerful engines to help insert their cargo into the warzone as rapidly as possible. Governor General van Dorn has several such vessels at his disposal and hopes to make use of them to deliver large numbers of troops to where they are most needed.

The Steadfast sports a pair of rocket pods which it uses to clear the landing zone as it approaches. Sadly the accuracy of such weapons is limited but it does keep the enemies heads down, hopefully long enough to disgorge its troops before they get shot to bits.

The Talos on maneuvers

I've rather enjoyed making the Talos and suspect I will be adding a few more bits and bobs in the vehicle department in the not too distant future!

All the best!

Monday 29 May 2017

40k On the Horizon

Hi!

Well the hints keep coming and GW look like they may have a bit of a hit on their hands, if for no other reason than the older generation of 40k fans who have fallen away over the years seem to have refound their interest and that's before the game is even up for pre-order!


I'm becoming increasingly interested in the setting, miniatures and rules for a game I haven't looked at for almost 20 years and I am sorely tempted to investigate the game further as it gets closer to release.

I don't know if I am going to try collecting some of the ooh shiney new miniatures when they come out or if I am going to keep going with some 15mm proxies but good on GW for really ramping up the interest in the game!


In other news, I've been slowly building and painting my way through some 15mm scenery and vehicles which I hope to post some pics of in the coming days and have even picked up Age of Sigmar Skirmish which will be getting a review once I have had a proper chance to peruse it.


Hopefully my next couple of posts will contain more pics of my miniatures and less waffle but in the meantime, All the Best!

Saturday 20 May 2017

40k Fascination

Hi!

Well we're getting closer to the big reveal of the new edition of 40k and I must admit I have found myself surprised by just how interested I'm finding myself with the whole thing.


Not since the halcyon days of 2nd edition and my teens have I really been finding myself invested in anything GW has done but there's something about the new edition that's really caught my fancy and I am seriously thinking of getting the rules and having a bash when the game is finally released in June!


I may cheat and use 15mm figures as I don't have the space or time for the chunky 28mm stuff anymore but I must admit that the temptation is there to pick up some new kits as they become available and see what I can do.

Interestingly this has also been giving me a hankering for some of the other specialist games including Epic and Battlefleet Gothic. Again the models are long out of production and in many cases stupidly expensive but there's lots of stuff getting made that would make ideal proxies.

I'm going to have to get my thinking hat on to write up some more background for my alternative Imperium too as the whole 40k setting just got interesting again!

Out of interest, I'd love to hear what others think of the direction 40k seems to be going and if it is also renewing their interest or killing it...

Anyhoo, enough of my ramblings!

All the best!

Friday 19 May 2017

Governor General's Retinue and More!

Hi!

I've been churning my way through some more bits and bobs that I've had on my desk for quite a while and have got some of the Governor General of Farpoint's retinue finished!

The Governor General, Master of Arms and personal defence squad as well as mandatory spoiled and willful daughter!

I'm really liking how the little guys are turning out and I've now got vague ideas of expanding them into a full platoon...

Next up, there's the Governor Generals ride, a Silverthorn class lander:

 Swish Ride

It's originally a Syntha grav tank for 28mm but I figure it looks pretty decent for a 15mm shuttle of some sort. The only conversion I did was to add the small dome on the roof and it's done (looking at it I am oddly reminded of a Reaver Titans head...)

No ship would be complete without crew though so I've got a couple of hardy types to fly the thing:

Dashing Crew

I'm rather taken with the colour scheme of the Governor General's retinue so look forward to adding some more vehicles to the mix and am already planning some flag draped buildings to give the more salubrious parts of Farpoint some class. 

 The Governor on tour.

I'm still not sure what I am going to use rules wise for the force with Rogue Trader, 2nd edition 40k, new 40k, Necromunda/Shadow War and Gruntz all a possibility but I think I am going to just keep painting and see how we go!

Next up, the grunts of the Governor's guard:

 Lowly Footsloggers

They are Ground Zero Games colonial militia but I like the caps which kind of remind me of the Atreides from the Dune Movie and have a bit more panache than the more heavily armoured types.

Finally, it's not all been 15mm! I have finally finished the Bloodbound unit champion who can lead his savage brethren:

 Khorne!

He's a cracking figure and deserved the extra time I spent on finishing him but I am glad to be mixing things up a bit so I don't get bored.

Khorne Champion

Hopefully I'll get a few Stormcasts painted this weekend as well as more denizens of Farpoint so watch this space!

All the best!

Sunday 7 May 2017

Khorne Bloodbound Progress

Hi!

Well I've finally finished another member of the Khorne Bloodbound miniatures I picked up a while back!

And then there were four!

I'm rather enjoying the slow pace of painting these angry fellows and hope to have their leader painted in the coming week but do feel the need to split up the project as I suspect I will get very tired of painting up nothing but furious maniacs all the time...


Needless to say, I am keen on getting enough of the figures painted to try out some games of Age of Sigmar but still have four Khorne and the whole Stormcast force to do so will try painting the Elementals next!


In other news, I am becoming rather more interested in the new 40k so expect to see some space age gubbins to appear in the not too distant future!

I am also hoping to play a bit of a mini campaign using the figures for Song of Blades too as I do like the idea of playing out some small warband skirmishes and adding the odd figure to the forces I have too.

All the best!