Monday 19 August 2013

Converting a Herald of Khorne - WargamingForFun's Fantasy Escalation

I was determined to use the Herald model that comes as one of the option builds for the skull canon build in the daemons kits.

Luckily the Herald doesn't share any parts with the alternative build so a full herald can be built. Unfortunately the model when built the model is in a full stretched leg pose, something similar to a scene from a ballet rather than a battle.



First cut was along the upper thigh to change the orientation of the leg. A small amount of plastic was removed in a 'V' shape to ensure the required direction.



Next cut was at the elbow to ensure the lower arm is twisted to accommodate the flag pole in a vertical pose rather than horizontal. The original arm reached out to grab a chain.



The final mod was the most complicated. I cut a flag pole and drilled out the centre of both parts of the pole. I then removed the chain link from the Herald's hand and drilled straight through the remaining fist. A paper clip was then positioned from one pole through to the other pole via the Herald's hand. I used both a touch of super glue for the initial metal to plastic fix with some plastic glue to complete the joint. I hope this will be strong enough for the gaming arena.



I used a few parts from left over Warriors of Chaos kits to create a suitable base. No texture at this point as I haven't decided upon theme for the army yet.



He does stand up on his own too.



Sunday 26 May 2013

Bolt Action Goodness - Eastern Front

Played a couple of small 750 point games tonight against a good friend Matt Perks and Joshua. Below are some close up shots that I took while Matt was setting up his Soviet Hordes.



 Elite Germans running into place while covering fire supplied by a medium mortar.



Officer offering moral support in the face of superior numbers. 


Soviet heavy machine gun shots at and take out my half track troop carrier first turn.


Mortar reigns down fire on my poor weapons teams.

Sunday 12 May 2013

Painting Diary 2013 - 8

This blog seems to be turning into a record of my painting now rather than a hobby blog but like most people out there real life just keeps getting in the way. I was determined yesterday to have a hobby day and completed two Warriors of Chaos Models and the Cryx Starter or Battlegroup Box. I'm not sure what that says about me choosing two different game mechanics but painting the bad guys for each ;). There is one good guy in there though. He fights for Menoth and collects souls and uses them to gain power before releasing them into the next world. Hang on when you say it out loud he does not seem much of a good guy!!!


First up is either a Lord of Hero choice for the Warriors of Chaos on a Skullcrusher. This guy hits like a train in the game and sometimes costs more than name characters like Karl Franz depending upon how he is tooled up.


Lots of detail made him fun to paint, and because he is one of the old lead figures gave me a good work out.





Next is the new Bull-gorger Chariot. Again this guy hits like a train. I built the chariot with the cloaked guy on the back so that it could be used as a plain chariot, a hero choice or even a wizard in the game.


This is the High Reclaimer from Menoth. One of the few characters in the Menoth faction that does not wear white.


He has a magical flaming-hot weapon that I tried to represent but using a range of washes rather than wet blending paints.


On to the first of the Cryx troops. This is Deneghra the caster from the Cryx stater box.


 The model is the classic pose which I prefer to the newer incarnations of her.


Unusually in the starter box you get three light Helljacks (warjacks) and one heavy Helljack.


Deathripper 



Defiler


Slayer

Painted models so far in 2013 = 67

Sunday 14 April 2013

Painting Diary 2013 - 7

Despite being off for a couple of week from work, doing quite a bit of the hobby, I haven't completed many models on the painting front.

I determined to get a couple of painting tutorials in this weekend and picked up two of the Tau releases from Games Workshop.




This is Cadre Fireblade, a plastic model. 


 

This is the Darkstrider finecast model.

Usually I like to give a bit of back ground on the mins but when it comes to the Tau I haven't a clue what they do so I'll leave that for others.

Saturday 23 March 2013

Painting Diary 2013 - 6

The amount of painting I have done this month has been low to say the least. Most of my spare time has been used editing videos for the wargamingforfun YouTube channel. I did get a bonus day this month due to an unseasonal snow day and managed to get my mitts on these guys.



 This is the front and back view of an Empire Captain riding a Pegasus. It comes from a bit of kit basing of several kits. A Pegasus from Bretonnia and an Inner Circle Knight from the Empire, with some Demigryph bits thrown in for good measure and even a pistoleer's arm.


The red heraldry ties the flyer in with the rest of my Empire army.


I left in his earring as the marauder head looked suitably windswept for someone flying through the air.


Swooping into battle, got to have a cloak.

Around a year ago I bought two Warsphinx off eBay. They had been put together solidly but not neatly and needed a bit of a refurb. At two for the price of one though I still felt like I'd had a bargain.

I haven't done a painting tutorial on these as the model in places shows gluing joints and I like to use new models for the tutorials. A bit of time though and these guys are ready for war.



I have used two golds, both Baltasar and Auger (?), to get the two tone effect on the metal work. The actual sphinx is under coated black and then line painted with a light blue. I could have toned this down with a wash but I feel it adds to the 'magical' creature effect.

The howdah I just base coated and then used the Quick Shade from Army Painter and then the purity seal from GW to tone down the shine. While a basic technique it is effective and matches the rest of the Tomb King army that I am building.


Here Kitty Kitty!!


Painted models so far in 2013 = 57

Saturday 23 February 2013

Painting Diary 2013 - 5

 I have painted a unit of three dragons ogres this week for an up coming tutorial for the 'wargamingforfun' website and You Tube channel.

I really enjoyed putting these together and painting them.

Seem to be a fair alternative to the Juggernauts in the Warriors of Chaos Army book as they are special choice rather than rare.

At initiative 2 I thought that I would build them with great weapons as they will usually go last in the combat anyway and strength 7 is not to be sniffed at.



Totally different from the Dragon Ogres is the unit of gaunts from the Tyranid faction of Warhammer 40K

 
 
This is the first time that I have used the Armageddon Dust texture finish on the base. Quite effective and a lot quicker than my glue sand paint and highlight method but I feel more work would be needed on larger bases. A good alternative though and I will be trying the other textured paints in the range.
 

 
 
Not a colour I would have picked to line the carapace of the gaunts but pink does work a lot better than I expected. I have yet to decide if I will tone down the lining with a wash.
 
Painted models so far in 2013 = 54
 

Sunday 17 February 2013

Painting Diary 2013 - 4

In the past two weeks I have completed the construction/reconditioning of some Tomb King figures. I swapped some Lizard Men with Andy for some these Tomb Kings and I wanted to paint them to match the other figures in my army.

The scorpions were still in the original packaging are are made from metal. Say what you like about finecast it is a lot easier to glue together than metal. That said you do feel that you have your monies worth when picking up metal figures.


The paint scheme is quiet simple. A priming coat of Bone from the Army Painter's range with detail picked out using regular miniature paints. When fully dry I used the 'Dark' quickshade again from Army Painter. I fixed the sand used on the base using sand. (No point painting sand to look like sand!)


Three chariots using the same technique. It is important to let the quickshade fully dry before the base is applied as it will never come off the varnish if applied when sticky.



Finally I used a spare Tomb King/Prince from the Warsphinx kit to give me the option of a mounted hero.

I found it a lot easier to paint the figures then gluing the men on the back of the chariot rather than painting them in place. Once the quickshade was fully dry I applied the anti shine spray to remove the gloss finish of the varnish. This does of the effect of making the metallics look dull but these can always been coated in a gloss varnish if required.

Painted models so far in 2013 = 36.