The great Cygnaran Restoration, Part 1.

Right, it's an effort to keep the blog rolling. Damn straight.

So, my next project, one for myself this time, is to paint myself a new warmachine army. I um'd and arred between two of the biggest, Cygnar and Khador. I'm played Cryx, Menties, Trolls, and Ret before. I decided I want to paint some proper warjacks.

I also have been trying out airbrushing recently. This is why I first thought Khador. Big red armour to spray up. Got it. However, they don't play very jack heavy now do they? So I thought and thought, and made some lists.

Then I remembered, months ago I was talking to my club mates about how I think there is more mileage in two of warmachine's most underused 'casters, Captian Darius, and Commander Stryker. So antother £5 on a warroom deck, and I'm putting adverts up for wanted cygnar.

I'm going to prove to my club, I can get something out of these two! So a few trades later and I've got some 'Jacks coming in the post.

Now, I think my fovourite 'jack in warmachine has got to be the thunderhead. I remember when it came out in apotheosis, as a cryx player at the time I was so damned jealous. So I have my start. Unfortunatly, my second hand T'head arrived like this...

 So, a couple of days in the old detol for you, Mr T. You know how everyone hates 'The DJ pose'? I don't, I love it! However, T's previous owner didn't. His poor scratching arm was sheared on arrival.

Time for some new parts, Big man.

This tiny vice of mine is really old, but still comes in handy. 

We'll have you back together soon.

 Brass upgrades! I think he's going to like me.

Good as new! 

Wouldn't be Thunderhead without the gap filling, so I'm told. 

So I even started layering up with the airbrush. I'm still getting used to the idea. 

You can see my test Ironclad has gone and photobombed me here. More from him next time. 

So, hey, one man's rubbish is another's treasure eh? Give me a couple of weeks and we'll be powering across the board together!

Tharn Chieftain, Circle complete.

Well, I've finished the Circle commission, on time on target. The final model to be done was this here tharn ravager chieftain. He rounds out the contingent quite nicely i think.

I'm quite happy with my skin tones on this whole job. I think my highlights are fairly smooth through out. Ravagers are an odd one, in that the main colour on them is their skin, so i think its worth the extra effort. 

So the whole lot looks like this now. Once they had a coat of matt varnish to seal them, they're ready for their new home. Look out for these guys at smogcon this next weekend if you're going!

Tharn Ravagers & Tharn Wolfriders.

Continuing my post from the other week, I've been hammering on with the Hordes Circle comission. I had a mad busy weekend the other week, so not a huge amount got done then, but other than that, I'm on target to get them in post on time. 

So first up, I've finished the wolf riders unit.

I get awfully worried, my camera skills are not up to much. I just don't have the equipment to take really decent photos of miniatures. I mean, I kind half get it right, but everything looks so much flat than it should.

 

After the wolf riders, a unit of Tharn ravagers is on the list. A full unit plus shaman weapon attachment. I have to say ravagers appeared to have suffered a lot in privateer's switch to plastic. The old metal leader model was stunning, and the new one just doesn't compare. Kinda like the dire troll maulers from our troll blood friends.

Again, managing to make everything flatter than a pancake. 

The shaman is a funky little model though. he looks a little less flat.

Here is our leader. 

And one more of the whole lot for good luck. The bases on all of this lot are being finished off by their proper owner, so I'll not see 'em properly finished. Shame really. 

There's only one more model to go, the chieftain solo to go with these guys. Once he's finished this weekend, it's back in the post for these guys. 

All this privateer painting, joined with the fact our club has picked up the game again has inspired me a little. I've managed to trade some Cygnar via several online sources. I think my next project, juding by the state of what I've received in the post the last few days, will be a full metal restoration job for a Cygnar army of my own. next stop, the scrap yard!

Back in the game, Circle Orboros.

Testing... testing... is this thing on? Yes? excellent, good. Well, I really let this blog o' mine slide now didn't I? Never fear, I am still alive. I'm still in the hobby. Infact, there's a whole lot gone on since last I posted.

Amongst other things, I've built my very own gaming room in the garden, I've become chairman of our gaming club, The Lost Boys, in ainsdale, southport. I've taekn my first steps into historical gaming with flames of war and bolt action. I've also taken up a second hobby, that of fencing. The sport not the garden boundary. But all this may well get a post of it's own soon. right now, I've got some figures to show off.

So, these are work in progress a lot. Once again, I'm painting from all the fun of a white primer. It's time consuming, and I'm on a deadline. These girls aren't for any army of mine, but need to be ready, with a unit of their male counter parts in time for Smogcon at the end of the month. Time to get cracking!

So, I picked up this commission, the full list being:

5 Tharn Wolf Riders.
A full unit of Tharn Ravagers.
A Tharn Ravager Shamen UA.
A Tharn Ravager Chieftain UA.

I'm not completing the bases, so they're going like this.  The first of the Wolf riders, here, about 90% finished. I'm going to get the whole unit to this point, then go back and neaten everything up, look at them with fresh eyes. You will notice my camera can't deal with 2 faces in the same model. Bah. 

The unit leader is a nice model. I'd forgotten how many details privateer cram into their models. Which becomes more apparent with a white primer. Which is fine when there's no deadline.

A shifty looking close up. Tharn obviously don't trust technology such as cameras. 

A note on hair. Yup, it's really damned orange. Or purple. This was not the intention, but once I'd done it, I realized I actually quite like it. I hope my man thinks the same. I could figure a way of toning it down if I had to, I'm quite sure.  

 The next two models to get the treatment in the queue. The chieftain is a belting model. Looking forward to painting him up a lot. 

So hopefully, I'll get the blog rolling again and I'll have more to report soon. What I've realized already from this job, is that I really want to get a Warmachine army back on the table. its been a while!

Til next time.

Daemon centaur slaanesh bot!

A couple of posts back I showed a picture of a pile of plastic parts from everything deamon engine, mainly soulgrinder and maulerfiend parts, hinting at a plan for some new conversion or other.

In truth I had a half baked idea for some sort of soulgrinder for my slaanesh daemons. I was going to mash the two kits together some how, but other than that, I didn't really know where I was going with it.

Then yesterday, I had a flash of inspiration. A good while back I was chatting with one of my mates about how to make a slaaneshi soul grinder, as the stock kit doesn't really fit the theme, no matter how purple you paint it. We decided, inspired by fiends of slaanesh, some so sort of equine monstrosity might just be the way forward.

The slaanesh army in question at the time never got the horsey idea though, and the idea went forgotten about. Until I remembered it yesterday. I looked at the parts again, and before I could forget threw down a very quick sketch on the old tablet.

 

OK, it was not the greatest, I mean, to start with, horses ain't got that many legs. Bare in mind the parts are drawn from memory at work in a hurry. I think it's the start of something though.

So after the idea was in place, I ran home like I'd won a golden ticket to start work on my creation. 

An hour or so cutting, gluing and researching horses and we have this thing on the bench.

This is only the start, obviously, but hopefully you get an impression of where I'm going with it. The main thing I was going for, was a sense of speed in the pose. Hopefully, it looks at least a little bit like a horsey run. 

Hopefully I'll be back before long with more progress. Wish me luck!

Gonders

5 Reasons the latest daemonettes rule the previous versions

As published over the last week, I've been working on a daemon army full of slaanesh's finest. The last slaanesh force I put together was years ago, when the older metal daemonette models were available. You know the ones, females, with far to much chest. You'll know them because they're oddly popular. If you look on eBay at them, you'll see just how popular.

For some reason, or more likely  for 6 reasons, they go for lots money. But now, there's a new plastic box set, and my lord, they don't have bare chest. They go for about shelf price. Why is this the case? Thing is, the new sculpts are so much better. If you don't believe me yet, here's 5 reasons to buy the current box.

1) Plastic. Since GW have started releasing most of their kits in plastic now, you don't have to deal with as many hard to build joins, they're easy to convert, and unless you using GW's plastic glue, none of it needs pinning. This is especially true of daemonettes, who have spindley little joints on the arms. The metal versions were nothing short of a nightmare to glue claws too. There's nothing sexy about a daemonette with no limbs.

2) variety. The old ones were all the same looking, and suffered from the syndrome that lots of gamers dislike, of the cloned unit. C'mon guys' its not the 90's any more.

3) weirdness. The art work, as I've already mentioned, is where the servants of slaanesh really get brought to life. Blanche has poured all his weirdness into it, and there's not a mammorry it sight. Now' Gw have bought the models more in line with the art. Baldness, backward jointed legs, mohawks' and heads that look like your nan on a mid 20's body!

4) cost. Units of the old daemonettes can only come from eBay, or are otherwise second hand. The fact that by my fourth point, people still haven't got over miniatures with boobs means the second hand market knows how to charge for them. Units of 6 for 30 quid? I'll stick with gw's 10 for 16 thanks.

5) Slaanesh models with no boobs. If you remember as far back as the nineties, gw each metal team went through what became known as 'the red period' in that everything that they painted had bright blood red as a spot colour. Unnoticed by some, the design team appeared to go through 'the naked chest period' some years later. Every slaaneshi model ended up with far to much exposed flesh. Now the averaged under sexed gw fanboy loved this phenomena. Looking at the latest releases however, shows gw have actually seen sence and covered up their daemons, so to speak.  

I think i've made my point. So i urge people to go out and bag some of the latest daemonettes when planning your next chaos army, and see how they'll change you opinion.

Gonders

A slaaneshi beginning.

It has become apparent I have a bee in my bonnet enough to blog again this week. I don't know how long it'll last(I never do), but I know why it is.

Firstly, I have something to and heblog about. There's yet another 40k army buzzing around my head, waiting to get out.

Secondly, and less importantly, I have new technology to use. I've got myself a nexus 7 tablet so I'm playing with that.

So a new army. I've often thought about building a slaaneshi daemon army before. I know I need a new 40k army, so now seamed a good time to start it. And it is only a start. I had a half painted khornate daemon prince kicking about in my bits box, so I dragged him out and slaaneshed him up a bit. A new weapon(made from a dark eldar raider's tiller), and a daemonette esque claw seamed to fit the bill.

He's about 90% finished in this picture. 

One thing i do want to do with this army is show how slaanesh isn't just the god of daemonic eye candy, as the world appears to think. Slaanesh is a pretty screwed up god. The best way to explain it is to look at John Blanche's work on slaanesh stuff. Its all really weird Combinations of people, animals fish and general craziness. i want to get that across in the army really.

I also have this pile of plastic, which(hopefully) will become something in the next few weeks, when the army needs some proper support.

So thats all, for now. I can't promise how often updates will be. If you've followed this you may have noticed i'm still getting the hang of posting via a tablet. Maybe next time the blog wil all be at the same time!