Them Orks will loot anything

Last Monday there was a bounty of bitz in the bitz bins at the FLGS.  As well as a bunch of gratefully purchased IG legs there was this little termagant (termagaunt?).  Well I don't have a tyranid army, but my youngest son has a looty Ork army.  So here we have it, probably to use as a 'counts as' nob due to the size of it.  The Looted Termagant.  May have to actually buy some more and make a whole squad.

Holy pinning batman

One of my kids got some Warmachine Protectorate of Menoth stuff for his birthday.  A paladin of the wall.  Three pieces, no problem, just put the cloak on after it is painted.  The Avatar of Menoth.  Eighteen pieces including some that look like they will be really annoying with thin attachment areas.  Damn, that is going to take a while.   A box of Exemplar Errants.  Six of them but each appears to be at least 4 pieces, maybe 5 as I only had a quick look. now I've had a good look is many pieces for a total of 44 bits of metal to pin and glue.

I see lots of drilling, staples and superglue in my future.  As much as I like metal stuff for the weight, this would be so much easier if these were plastic.

UPDATE:
OK, couple of days later and the arms are all pinned and attached.  I'm starting on the shoulder pads but they are even more fiddly.  Limited contact areas so super glue would not hold well.  If I pinned it I'd be drilling right through the pin that attaches the arm to the body so that is no good.  I tried gorilla glue and it went OK on the first guy.  Second one I made a mess on though.  With gorilla glue you need pressure on the joint while it hardens, and it hardens slowly.  Which means rubber bands around things and trying to get them in just the right place.  First guy I did two at once.  Second guy I tried that, but after making a whole mess of everything I'll leave it to one at a time from now on.  This will be slow.

Grey Knights

Apparently they will kick much ass when the new codex comes out.  The 'Say ni' ability for one is great.

So anyway, I had a few Grey Knight minis and wanted to use them as painting experiments.  For this latest one I got my wet palette wet for the first time.  It worked, the paint I was blending for shading (adeptus battle grey to codex grey) did stay wet.  It also soaks in a fair bit so you need lots of paint.  Plus, dropper bottles would be good, I use GW pots so transferring to the palette makes a mess.  I wanted to at least make a vague stab at the NMM method of painting.  It came out OK, looks good, although not metallic.  More like just realistically shaded grey.  I took time to figure out where light would be falling and got it right for the most part.  I also took some time on the lettering panels, basing them in Chardon Granite with a dry brush of gold across them before I started the rest of the mini.  Pity because you really can't tell.  Oh yeah, and Secret Weapon ruined temple base.  Seemed appropriate.

I've got a GK termie with psycannon, one with force sword, and another standard, but heresy era, termie that is painted grey.  Add those to a death cult assassin and a load of IG stormtroopers that can be Warrior Acolytes.  Do I have an army yet?  :)

Warmachine - wave one finished

I've finally finished the first set of Warmachine minis we picked up at christmas.  This is the Khador and Menoth battle boxes, a few mercenary solos, and then some Cygnar stuff and a couple of units rescued from the consignment case at the FLGS. 

From Cygnar with have my "best ever consignment case purchase™"  These three were $20, unassembled and all crammed into one box.  Caine, a Stormclad and a Defender for a 13 point start.  Happy with how they came out, although I need to redo the eyes on the war caster.  I suck at eyes.

From Menoth we have the 11 point start of Fletcher's army, a basic Menoth battle box.  Again, fairly happy with how they came out.  Only issue is a like a dirty, battle worn kind of look.  On the white though its killed detail some.  I may go back and try and tidy these up a little.

From Khador we have the17 point start of Morgan's army, a basic Khador battle box with a unit of Doom Reavers.  These all came together well, I'm happy with how the came out.

And lastly, assorted mercenaries.  Greygore Boomhowler and Co, Taryn Di La Rovissi, Rutger Shaw and  Dannon Blyth and Bull.  The Greygore lot were the other consignment case find.  The rest were picked up just because they were cool minis.  They'll be useful to balance points out though when we start playing and learning the rules as there are 14 points worth here in 4 selections.

We've got a few more coming.  I've got Reinholdt and the other half of some Khador Mekanics sitting on the painting table (first half are done).  Then the kids are getting a couple of the cheapo minis for valentines day, and Fletcher is getting a bunch of Menoth stuff for his birthday.  I'll say one thing for Warmachine, seems like getting a good, playable army together is far quicker and cheaper than 40K.  Obviously its a smaller scale game, but with a lower entry cost building a nice custom army or two is no big deal.

More Warmachine minis finished

 

Been making good progress on the Warmachine figures my kids got for xmas.  The two units of troops are now done (Doom Reavers and Greygore Boomhowler and Co) and the Khador warcaster is done.  Now I just need to finish the Menoth warcaster and all the jacks and its done.  And all of those are at least 75% complete so it'll all be looking purty pretty soon.

Of course there is more on its way.  I managed to get a Cygnar battle box for $20 on ebay, and its Fletcher's birthday in a couple of weeks and he's said he'd like some more for his Menoth army.  Seeing as the painting is what I really enjoy, no complaints there.

Warmachine - first completed minis

I'd originally picked up a Warmachine piece in the consignment case of my FLGS just because I thought it was a cool model.  Turned out there were three in the box I bought, 2 heavies and a warcaster.  Took them home, downloaded the freebie quickstart rules and figured it looked like a good game.  My kids also took a look and were interested so I got them a couple of the starter battle boxes for christmas and a couple of mercenary solos myself.  These are all assembled, and in various stages of being painted, but the first 5 are finished. 

Got to say they are very nice models.  The warjacks are decent, but the characters are well above average.  Better casting quality than what I'm used to from the GW metals.  I picked up some Secret Weapon bases and the snow kit for these guys.  All comes together really well.

Soft Snow

Just a quick example shot of this.  I've been itching to try the one of the snow effects offered over st Secret Weapon so I picked up his winter scenics kits.   Really easy to use, and really effective.  There is a tutorial on his site that shows different ways of mixing the snow.  I'm liking the snow/realistic water blend as its a little softer then the snow/PVA.  So props to the kit, if anyone has been looking for a similar effect this is an easy and effective way of getting it.

Work in Progress

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, despite my intention to post at least once a week.  To make up for that here are a few of the things I've been working on.  The woman with chainsaw is from Reaper Minis.  I've been really impressed with the quality of their stuff.  Clean castings with plenty of character.  This one is finished and will end up on a shelf.

Next up is the almost finished Ultramarine Command Squad.  Fletcher wanted a cool looking squad with a close combat set up.  I picked up a Dark Angel veteran kit and had a few other bits so this is how they ended up.  I'm happy with how they can out and Fletcher loves them.  Just need some detail on the bases and a coat of sealer and they are finished.  And OK they probably should have the Ultramarine logo on the shoulder, but I suck at painting it and don't have any of the stuff needed to do a good job with transfers.  They look better without it.

And lastly, something I just started.  I picked up a few Tau on ebay, thanks to having a balance on my pay pal for a while (and still got some money there, rubs hands together).  A couple of crisis suits and a broadside.  So first, wow, GW metal casting really frickin' sucks.  I mentioned how much I like Reaper's casting.  Well GW was the opposite.  Flash everywhere is annoying, but the thing aren't even shaped right.  They are all buckled and curved.  Pretty pathetic really, and particularly as their plastic stuff is second to none.  Anyway, I wanted to have a bit of fun with the Broadside so here we go.

Russ Plus - Extra armor finished

Image heavy post, but its worth it.  Here is my finished Russ Demolisher with the new Secret Weapon Miniatures extra armor kit.  It all goes together really well, gives the tank a slightly more 'techy' look which fits the huge plasma cannons just fine.  The last two shots show it with different guns, but also with the sponsons off and replaced by flat panels.  So thank you to Mister Justin for coming out with this kit.  I get a damn fine looking tank out of it.

Russ Plus part 3

Almost finished.  Needs to be a bit rustier.  :)   Looking good though.  I'll get some decent photos once its done.

And here is the rust and the exhaust black, ready to make the tank look a little more like it has seen some use.  The weathering on the treads was rust brown (below) and terracotta earth with a wipe or metallic iron over the top.  Looks great.

Russ Plus part 2

My demolisher is all assembled now so I took a few more photos to show off the new armor.  I need to clean the model up a bit more than I realised.  Funny how a few macro shots can highlight that.  It's looking good though, can't wait for it to be finished.  Be even nicer to have it proudly as the center of my IG army.  Well at least until some bastard gets a fluke shot on it with a melta gun.  :)

Oh, the side panels do actually line up perfectly.  The slight gaps you can see in the photos are all to do with my imprecision with magnets rather than the size or shape of the panels.

Leman Russ Armor Kit

Here's a couple of shots of the Russ I'm adding the new Secret Weapon armor kit to.  The parts went on really easily and look great.  The turret armor needed to be set back a little on the demolisher turret as the wider moving front would get blocked by the armor if it was slid all the way forward.  The side armor has a decent amount of give as to where exactly it sits so you need to make sure both sides line up.  I've magnetized everything on this tank.  On the turret you can change out the main gun and the ammo box on the back.  On the sides the sponsons can be removed and replaced by the sidings that come with the kit.  And of course, all the rest of the guns will be swapable.  Here's the first few shots.  I'll post more as it progresses.
 

New toys

I picked up a manticore that is now assembled.  I pinned the stormeagles so they are removable.  Also added a bit of 'realistic blood effect' when I cut myself on one of the staples I was using for pins.  My IG army is now near "completion".  A couple of chimeras and another vet squad (plasma vets this time) and it'll be ready to do or die on the battlefield.  I've been really enjoying building and painting it, but its definitely time to put it to the test a bit more.

Of and the second new toy isn't really a toy as it will make me money.  Canon 300 f/4 L IS.  And people say GW stuff is expensive.  I used it for the manticore photo.  Not bad for handheld in regular lighting.  Can't wait to take it out to put it through its paces.

Slowly but surely

Things have been progressing OK on the painting front.  The backlog has been building though, and as I'm working on learning new techniques and trying new things I've been slowing down.  The Chaos Daemon is 'finished'.  I'm OK with it, the style I was going for only half worked.  I finished another Russ too.  Went simple on this one and actually prefer it to some of the stuff I did on the Chimeras.  I magnetized all the weapons too, although the turret can only swap between battle cannon and vanquisher cannon.  The demolisher turret was so much easier to magnetize.  Lastly, the 3 reaper minis I picked up.  I've been working on doing my skin tones better, so added some darker colors.  Repeated attempts to get things looking OK so its on a bit thick.  The guy (officer of the fleet for my IG) is coming along OK, the other two though, not sure about.  I'm far from happy with them yet.

Reaper Minis

I picked up a few Reaper Chronoscope minis as I'd been checking out their line for a while.  I'd never bought any because, hey, GAMES WORKSHOP FOREVAR.  Seeing them though, makes me think GW has a lot in common with Apple.  Their product is no better than anyone elses, frequently limited, and often has weaknesses you can avoid elsewhere.  They just rely on marketing and customer herd mentality to ignore that.

So I look at these guys.  They need next to no clean up, I've only seen some really minor flash.  The mold lines are next to non-existent.  The have just as much character as the GW minis and more than some.  And, they were $3.  The absolute cheapest you can get a metal GW mini for is $5 and that is in a set of nearly identical figures.  Most of the individual minis are $10.75 and up to $17 for the slightly larger ones.  Compared to a better cast $3 mini?  Damn.

The woman on the left is going to be added to my IG snipers, the woman in the middle is going on a cool looking display base, and the guy on the right is going to be an officer (possibly a commissar) in my IG army.  Yeah yeah, I know you can't use non GW stuff in a tournament.  Thing is while I like the games I'm more in it for the modeling side.  I have more fun there making them than playing with them.

Oh and these came from Miniature Market who'd I'd definitely recommend and will use again.  Good prices, quick shipping, very well packed.

New daemon prince - WIP 1

Loved the model so I figured I had to get one as a show piece.  At this stage I have zero interest in a Chaos Daemon army so all this is for is a cool looking mini.  Anyway, so far he is assembled and I've got a Runic Mountain base for him.  I've also pinned the feet and drilled holes in the base.  I didn't glue it down yet to make it easier to paint.

IG Veterens Done (mostly)

Got these done a little quicker than I expected.  They still need some sealer and probably unit icons at some point, but this is close enough.  The wash didn't work as intended this time.  Not sure if I put too much on (it was late at night) or had it too thick.  Not a disaster, but it makes them look a bit muddled.

 One of the cool things on these guys was the Secret Weapon backpacks.  They fit perfectly and really add a lot to the figures.  Some of the mods I did on these were a bit of a pain.  The backpacks fit like they came with the minis though.

IG Veterans WIP 3

Just a quick update.  Next few days are going to be busy so this is about as far as they are going to get until probably next weekend.  Flat coats are all done, and a bit of the detail work.  Next its time for highlights, washes and dry brush where they finally start to look good.  The completed guy in the photo is one of my normal guardsmen as an example of how I've changed the color scheme.  Basically vets are black/gray instead of green.  yeah I know, revolutionary isn't it.