Furioso- completed!

Today is short and sweet- my Furioso is now completed, after a very quick and brutal paintup in time for an online painting comp. While the finish is not as smooth as I would have liked its still quite nice, all things considered. Might chuck some more orange on the claws for some more definition, but he's basically done.

I particularly like how the script on his leg turned out.

Hazard Stripes will appear here and there in my army- a nod to 2nd edition 40k.

Brother Adiel, ready to rock n roll

These new paints, washes and glazes make painting a breeze, should have some infantry updates soon.

-Temp

Farewell Orks, Hello more Blood Angels...

It was with a relatively sad feeling today that I handed my Orks over to their new owner, Colin, who had agreed to take them off my hands.  I was extremely driven to collect everything for the army that I felt I needed with the eventual list being pushed towards a Deathskull 'Big Mek' type rabble centred around a Kan Wall core, and in the half dozen games I played with it I was able to pull of some pretty convincing wins- in 5th this army was designed to chew up power armour which it never failed to do. So why sell it after all that?

Simple- I'd never finish them. With a new baby free time can be hard to come by at the best of times, and although I still have my Dark Angels to complete I'd decided that a close-combat oriented power-armour list was the thing for me, hence moving my focus to the Blood Angels. With the remaining funds I have from the Ork army sale I could go huge and buy everything I want but I'm going to try some restraint this time- I've purchased a 'core' of troops and a second Stormraven, and will work on it from there. The only other purchases remaining for the time being is a close combat Terminator unit and a Librarian as my HQ. This gives me a decent sized yet realistically achievable goal for painting and modelling in the months leading up to ANUCON (1500pts) and CANCON (expecting 1850pts).

Recent purchase just arrived- some Forgeworld Blood Angel Terminator shoulder pads. Love the detail, i've never bought anything from FW before but I can see why people like it so much.

So whilst the Orks are gone Colin is one of my gaming buddies, so i'll see the Deathskulls around for sure, and I'm sure I can get a lend if I ever feel the need to step away from the Imperium for a game or two. Although, having built that army I'm not sure about how I feel facing it across a table... at least I know where the weak points are! I hope they serve you well Colin, they are great fun to play!

Got half of the small bases painted up recently and I even glued on the tufts of desert grass/plants, the effect is awesome, better than I ever expected. Whilst the one previous 'test' base was painted with older colours the new ones are all done in the new range, and to be honest there is no perceptible difference. Had to be sure though, didn't want to run dry on a colour and then have to scrap or re-do all the bases, that would suck! I was mighty pleased to find that Gryphonne Sepia's replacement, Seraphim Sepia, is identical. Love me some sepia wash... whoops, I mean 'Shade'. I'm yet to paint the black around the sides of the bases, but thats a minor job for later.

 

 On a final note, one of my minis (Terminator Chaplain from my Sig/Avatar) is up on Facebook at the moment in an online comp, if you are feeling charitable I'd appreciate you 'liking' the picture- the more likes the better chance of me winning! To view the picture please follow the following link:

Slave To Painting- Painting Comp           

This guy here- he's awesome, vote for him!!

Thats all for today, thanks for stopping in for a look :)
Andrew

Second Sphere competition entry- Deathskull Looted Wagon

Wow, talk about being busy! I've had nearly no time to sit down and paint or do anything hobby related since the week before the last big Apoc game as we've been getting stuck into some major home renovations and landscaping upgrades. While this is all well and good it does mean that I've felt bad about neglecting the hobby, and in turn my Blog. I'm hoping to pick up the pace again over the Xmas-New Year's break as i'm not going anywhere or doing anything major, so unless something appears straight out of left field then I should get some more painting and posts completed.

so, on to the topic at hand. I was trawling through a few of my favourite 40K-centric forums the other day and saw that entries for the Second Sphere Heavy Support contest was ending very soon. With my Deathskull Orks recently base coloured I thought it might be best to complete one of the mini/s from their as a submission, however there was a few issues...

The first was time- i'd glanced at this contest ageeeees ago when the rules and details were first put up online, and in the back of my mind had locked in the 22nd of December as the submission deadline. Lucky I looked at the rules post again, because the submission date was actually the 21st, with the voting starting from the 22nd! So I was trying to complete my entry on the last day for submissions to be accepted!! I wish I could say this was the only time this has happened but I'd be lying through my teeth. However, as history shows this is usually when I'm at my most productive- nothing like a looming deadline to get tasks out of the way!!

The second issue I had was with choice- in my current Ork army I have 3 Killa Kans, 2 Battlewagons and a Looted Wagon (with Boomgun) as possible HS choices, all of which were done up in their base colouring- Hawk Turquoise blue, Devlan Mud washed, Boltgun Metal drybrushed, with a nice Blazing orange "rust effect", with random white checks and dags. But which of these to do up?

• Battlewagons- although super cool and imposing, I opted against finishing one of these as there was way too many small details remaining to be painted, and to look good enough to stand a chance of winning I'd have to paint up the crew in their gun cupolas, grabbin claw hatch and the two ladz in the tray manning the big shootas. Im thinking that once both Bwagons are completed i'll be happy to chuck one into the "Transports" competition which comes up early on 2S every year.
• Killa Kans- I literally had a Kan in hand last night about to apply paint to model when I decided against it- whilst i've used Devlan Mud wash to highlight all the hydraulics of the engines, legs and arms/weapons of these models I feel that i'd regret rushing their paintjobs to make a competition deadline. All in all the Kans are my favourite models in the armym, and this persuaded me to work on them with a bit more care and to take my time. Sorry ladz- i'll get to you soon though!
• Looted Wagon- so yes, eventually the Wagon got the go-ahead for a quick completion job to make the competition deadline. The blue was touchup up with some more stippling in the middle of the panels to brighten it up and make the paintjob "pop". When doing this I stayed away from panel edges, joins and 'damaged' parts of the tank where the Devlan wash and Blazing Orange "rust" was found. I also gave the tracks and wheels a quick hit of Boltgun Metal (they were still in black undercoat), folowed by a single heavy wash of Devlan. The majority of the time spent was on the twin pistols (with leather holsters), banner pole and icon strapped to the back of the turret- ironically, when I ended up taking the photos and picking out the three to submit you really cant see any of tthe detail or time that went into this work. I also went back and applied a second hit of thinned/semi-wash Blazing Orange to the current rusty parts of the tank where I felt the colour should be more pronounced, with pure dots of the colour applied where large orange bubbles of rust should show through.

With all my painting done, it was time to get some photos. Some people like to photograph outside in natural light, but if you're like me then you'll want more control- for this reason I use what is commonly referred to as a 'light box". Put simply, a lightbox is a box (OMG no way!) with a bright colour on some or all of its internal walls to reflect light around the object placed in the middle of the box. My lightbox is a carboard carton originally used to hold reams of A4 printer paper- i've cut one side out so its now two side walls, a back wall and floor, all of which have had white A4 paper glued into place. I've then used a pure white energy saving globe (i've found these to provide excellect illumination with almost no colour distortion) positioned just above the camera that i've used for the photos. As for that Camera? Its simply just my iPhone 4 camera sitting on a small wooden block, with the "HDR" photo setting turned on. All I do is get some focus on the model, move the light source around until i'm happy with what I see and start snapping off shots- sometimes the HDR gives better detail shots, other times it might wash some colour out, so it gives two photo versions to select from.

Anyhow, less talk more pics- here's the comp entry photos that I ran with.  You may note that I painted a small 'kill marking' on the turret, as the Looted Wagon has so far been able to destroy a Leman Russ Battletank (a few months back at ANUCON), I thought it only fitting that the crew would mark this somewhere. Its not exactly Orky in how it looks but I reckon it looks cool!

I love how the triangular dags on the turret blastshielding look three-dimensional, even though its just painted on.

A closeup of the turret, showing the Killa Kan "pogo" legs that I used as recoil suppressors.

The competition entry thread will be up a day or two's time (competition committee are generally all UK-Europe based), so make sure to have a look and cast a vote if something takes your fancy!

Thanks for looking!

Tempest :)

 

   

Apocalypse, Contests and Stompa Progress

Hi everyone! Its been massive week for me here at work ,and I've struggled to find the time to put this up.

Apocalypse

This weekend will see another Apocalypse being run at my mate Al’s place, a 4000pt per player affair with key emphasis on a fun balanced game. Everyone’s interpretation of fun or balanced could be different but to me its about taking a balance of infantry and armour, a smattering of heroes, villains, and uber-monsters as well as one superheavy per player. Apocalypse Formations and Legendary Units are great fun and are encouraged, but the big restriction comes in the form of vetoing two “general stratagems”- namely, Flank March and Strategic Redeployment. These two stratagems are potential game winners with the right forces, and seriously unbalance the game to the point that it becomes hard to claw back a victory after this is used against your team. We’ll either go for randomly drawn stratagems, or people can select from the race-specific stratagems as found in Apoc and Apoc: Reloaded.

We are also going to work with a 40- 45 minute per team turn limit (up from 30), this will keep things moving along quickly, and will possibly work with a modified deployment setup where some units will be forced to hold off in reserve- armour, mounted infantry or similar. The scenario is likely to be one where both sides must take and hold objectives (missile silos, central administratum building, power generator etc), with a continuously accruing score. There will also be “bonus” points on offer for killing enemy commanders (most expensive HQ per army), as per the recently updated Cityfight rules in White Dwarf. The table looks roughly like this:

Commander killed by shooting attack from less than 24” away:                   1 pt

Commander killed by shooting attack from less than 6” away:                     2pt

Commander killed in close combat:                                                            3pts

Commander killed by opposing commander:                                              4pts

These “assassinations” and their accompanying points values represent the morale blow to the opponent and how inspired your own side becomes due to the death of the hated enemy- the closer and more heroic/epic/legendary the kill, the greater the points! And, as the game progresses, one side may decide that in order to secure victory they need to pull an all-or-nothing assault to kill one of these commanders, so it means there will be many different priorities to handle in order to secure a win!

All in all, it should be a great game, I cant wait!

     

Contests- 1^st and 1^st!

I entered two of my previously featured pieces of work- the Milk Crate Ruins and the Shokk Attack Gun Big Mek into the Second Sphere Forum’s “Terrain” and “Vintage Mini” competitions respectively, and much to my surprise walked away with first place in both!! Very happy with how they both did, especially with the milk crate terrain as it a relatively slap-together type affair.

If you haven’t jumped onto the Second Sphere forums then you’re missing out! They can be found in the link listings on the left or at http://secondsphere.org/index.php/action,forum

   

Deathskull Orks- Stompa Progress Report

Okay, so the only real progress so far is the completion of the Stompa, (sans Grot Rigger crewmembers) which is to date the most complex miniature (or not so miniature?) I’ve constructed. The hydraulics on the close combat arm alone are the stuff of nightmares, and I’ve had to add some extra bracing and supports for things like the shoulder guards which in my opinion were going to break off in the fullness of time. Overall however I’m quite happy with the model, and have started laying down some blue, with white and check patterns to appear really soon. The current "mottled" blue application was just to test how the colour looked, i'll be covering around 80% of the plating with this colour, and leave several plating sections to be painted in camo, or to look like stripped off some imperial superheavy or building- I want to have a section of a large Aquilla on one of the '+looted' metal sheets. 

The decision had been made to run it without the “Bossplate” on the front, I think it detracts from the cool riveted plating underneath, and I want to highlight this detail on my Stompa. This also lets me keep the plate for something else- I’m thinking of building a “minepig” mine layer similar to the one found in the Apocalypse book, this will form a nice ‘face’ for it. That or a hinging upwards assault ramp on a Battle Fortress.... hmm.

As always, i appreciate your comments and feedback!

Tempest :)

Shokk Attack Mek and FTW inclusion

So, ANUCON is on tomorrow and i've actually done a lot more beforehand than i'd expected, i think the simple colourscheme for this army lends itself to mad-rush speed painting, and lets face it- they're orks- too neat and precise with would ruin the effect. Although a lot of the minis will have sections of black undercoat showing through, all of them will be green skin and blue armour/warpaint. Bases arent done, thats an immense job that wasnt going to happen in time, but as im really only going for some fun then I really dont care!

So on to the Big Mek. I bought this guy from the UK via eBay, he's a 1990 metal model who had never been painted or glued together, a rare find! Thankfully he landed in the mail at the start of this week, so with a quick cut and shut i brought him into my list for this weekend. This then forced me to paint him up- and as the Vintage Mini Competition was running on Second Sphere then I thought why not enter him... I found a plastic AoBR Ork left choppa arm for him, and cut off the weapon, sculpting a dip in the top and bottom of the clenched fist.

For the painting i used a lot of the same colours as the rest of my Deathskulls, but with the inclusion of some brighter colours on the gun itself, this pays homage to the origins of the model and the era it comes from. The small details on the model are what i love the most- the spanner earring, the glass vial on the side of the gun and the stuff tucked into his belt. Also, the tongue poking out of the grinning mouth is pure Rogue Trader "Space Ork".  I also gave him a very brief basing job, however this may not end up being the scheme for the rest of the boyz- i can rebase the Mek later if a better idea comes along.

From The Warp!

Im proud to say that my blog has now been added to the From The Warp (FTW) blogroll, a collective community location for a lot of 40K-centric blogs that aim to positively promote the hobby and gaming.

I'd advise you visit the site and make sure to look around at all their useful articles and list of other blogs, its an absolute melting pot of enthusiasm and creativity over there! Im hoping that through them I contribute to the wider community as well as getting my blog out to a wider audience.

FTW can be found at: http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

'Fallout 3' inspired wasteland ruins, and ANUCON prep

Wow, im so slack. Not at painting or building terrain, but getting round to these posts...

Without further ado, here's my latest creation- terrain built from "recycled" (read: chopped to bits) milk crates. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a stash of old trashed crates, with the bottoms hanging out of them, broken handle pieces and whatnot. With some dangerous cutting using a hacksaw, some MDF basing and a simple yet fancy paintjob we have some great wasteland type ruins.

Since buying Fallout: 3 for my Xbox I've wanted to create some ruins that look like they've been through a nuclear explosion and then left to rot for a century or so- these fit the bill nicely! This is one of the 4 pieces i've constructed so far, and will be used this weekend at ANUCON (40k tourney here in Canberra), im hoping to have about 8 or 9 pieces done to use on the one table. There's even some matching rubble piles to represent the roof or centre sections of the buildings after they've collapsed!

Furhter to this, im working on a super-cool Rogue-Trader (40K's 'First Edition' for you young'uns) mini to take to ANUCON, as well as entering it in an online "Vintage Mini" comp on Second Sphere, which is my 'home' 40K Forum. I wont put up pics of the mini just yet, suffice to say its gonna be awesome :)

Other tasks this week are: Putting together ANOTHER revision of the tourney list im taking, painting up two Deffkoptas to an acceptible 'base colours' level, some more detail on the Warboss... general stuff like that. The terrain has to be done before sleep time Thursday night, in time for table setup on Friday night... will i make it?