Ork Clan Choice

Been furiously putting together orks, and working on my speed painting plan.  The big question I have is what clan do I go with?  My previous edition of orks were Bad Moonz.  Love the icons, might be worth going again with them. What are your thoughts?

Bad Moonz: Yellow, which is a pain in the butt but looks really nice.  I like the life of excess that they live and how they pimp out everything.  Plus the Moon icon is cool.

Goffs: What I think of when I think of orks.  Horns & black/white checks.  They're big and mean like orks should be.

Blood Axes: Awesome conversion potential here since they like to mimic imperial guard.  Plus there are a ton of third party resin pieces that fit well (greatcoat orks).

Here's the list I'm thinking up for the gladiator.  Basically you get a 1750 list and then get to choose which 500 point sidebar you pick each round. The Mek and one unit of grots ride around in the stompa!

Main list: 1750

HQ: Big Mek with kustom force field, three grot oilers
HQ: Warboss on bike with Klaw, attack squig, cybork, & boss pole
Elite: 5 Lootas
Elite: 5 Lootas
Troop: 10 grots with herder
Troop: 30 shoota boyz with the nob with klaw
Troop: 30 shoota boyz with 2 big shootas with nob with klaw
Troop: 30 slugga boyz with nob with klaw (mainly using them since I have a ton of slugga boyz lying around)
Heavy: Big Mek Stompa

Sidebar A

Troop: 7 Nob bikers inclusive of painboy, warbanner, 2 uge choppas, 3 klaws.  Complex unit.
Troop: 10 grots with herder

Sidebar B
Troop: Dread with 4 CC weapons & extra armor and grot
Heavy: 3 Killa Kans with rokkits
Heavy: 3 Killa Kans with grotzookas
Elite: 6 lootas

Adepticon is Fast Approaching

Now that I have my paint man-cave established it's time to get ready for the projects.  With Adepticon just around the corner (less then 4 months away), I need to put together the plan.

I luckily signed up right under the wire for all three days of 40k gaming.  Will be doing the 40k championships on Friday, the Team Tournament on Saturday and the Gladiator on Sunday.  This means 11 games of 40k.  Whoa. Since I'm a glutton for punishment, I'm going to do two new armies; Blood Angels & Orks.

Since the Chicago meta-game has been chock full of Space Wolves, I shelved my wolves for the time being.  I want to do something that I don't see very often so I pulled together the all jump pack (mainly Sanguinary Guard) list.  It seems to be a lot of fun to play and I'm well along the path of getting them complete.  This will be my championship force.

For the team tournament, I'm in a fix.  We'll be doing a desert based theme, so I will need to temporarily fix my models to other bases.  Meaning I can't cross over my Blood Angels I paint on Friday for Saturday.  Not a big deal but it means I need to come up with a fun 1k list.  Only model I really want to run for sure is a Baal Pred.  It'd be nice to try one of the new storm raven kits coming out soon; and pull together a smash-mouth death company & death company dread to run inside.  This doesn't leave me a lot of points left over for scoring troops!  More on this later.

For Sunday, I need a new "big model" to have fun with.  I've played my bio-titan (nicknamed Fluffy) for the last few years, so it is time to try something new.  I've been meaning to get going on orks, so a Stompa would be the excuse to pull together a new force.  Since this means painting approximately 3k points worth of orks (1750 list and two 500 point sidebars), this means I need to go the speed painting route.  I'm testing up some ways to make that happen and still make the force look nice.  I may go the Warhammer Fantasy style of painting... spend time on the characters & interest pieces and let the rank guys be basic.  Also I think I'll just spend some extra time on the skin and keep the rest generic.

More to follow on the paint project and the proposed lists!

Back in the Saddle!

It's been over a month without touching a paint brush and I'm fiending to get it on.  We just moved into the new house and I now have a proper hobby area.  Here's a few shots of my new area, I can't wait to break it in.  Tomorrow I'm running a tournament at our local shop so I'll get a chance to paint some miniatures during the rounds... that is as long as I'm not also running the ringer. The blog resumes!

Moving... packing sucks!

It's almost embarassing how much hobby stuff we collect.  The wife has been kind enough to let me keep the basement for my hobby workshop.  Well, after three trips to get more boxes, I'm still not done packing.  We're in the process of moving to a new (bigger) house in November, and with both of our work travel schedules we needed to get ahead of things.

One of the projects was going through my piles of paints and weeding out the not-so-good condition ones.  Goodbye paints, you served me well!

Still plugging along on the Blood Angels though.  During the football and hockey games I've had the chance to assemble all of the jump pack troops.  My 1850 list will consist of only 34 models.  For my 4 Sanguinary Guard squads I'm debating on the load out of equipment, so I put together 3 alternate equipped ones which brings my model count up to 37 models to paint.

I got some of the bases from scibor miniatures (purchased through the coolmini website).  As you can see from the picture, they're on their first stage.  I think I'm going to paint all the bases as once, then tackle the troops 5 at a time.

The photobooth and most of my lighting has been packed up, but I'll be sure to take pictures along the way.

Blood Angel Assualt Marine Test Model

Here's my first test model for the "normal" red assault marines.  I'm happy with the way the red turned out, but I was a little sloppy on the metallic.  For this unit with knee pads, I'll use that to distinguish squad markings.  I'm also going to go with the traditional yellow helmets for assault squads.  Next on the docket is more Sanguinary Guard... beautiful thing about a 34 model army is progress is quick!

Sanguinary Guard Test Model

Had a blast painting up my first test model for the Sanguinary Guard.  A little tedious on the wings, but overall I think the model turned out nice.  Waiting for my scenic bases to come in, so I'll hold off from doing a lot more models until they arrive.  Crazy, an 1850 list will only be 34 models!  Almost done with my standard assault marine as well, should have pictures up on that tomorrow.

Hobby A.D.D. Kicking in

Ouch, I didn't expect Hobby A.D.D. to kick in so fast, I'm almost done with the core of my 1850 Space Wolves list!  I had the chance to play in our local tournament scene last weekend and had a great time playing my wolves... due to my inexperience with the army I went 1-1-1.  It looks like Space Wolves are turning into the "it" army in the Chicago metagame.  Out of the 20 people playing in the tournament, there were 6 of us with Space Wolves.  I'm playing them due to my love of the army, but I don't want to be singled out as one of those guys...

Here is the docket of armies in que that I've bought up the models and excited about painting:
- Finishing Space Wolves
- Orks
- Death Korps of Krieg
- Dark Eldar

Which leads me to another power armored army... the Blood Angels.  I'm in love with the new plastic kits; the Sanguinary Guard and the Death Company models.  I don't want to do the razorback & armor 11 spam I'm seeing all the rage in marine lists, I'd like to try something that makes the Blood Angels different.  Jump packs! So I'm set out to make an "elite" low model count list with Dante & Sanguinary Guard that'll be a fun change of pace.

It'll be fun painting gold and I found some amazing miniature bases I've been dying to try out.  I ordered a bunch of bases from Scibor Miniatures: http://sciborminiatures.com/en_,index.php that look pretty sweet.  I'm going with the ancient ruins style.  Very epic, and would go over well with the jump troop concept.  Plus after doing all the snow and urban bases, I can now focus on a "jungle" theme.  Do lots of things with foliage and flowers...

Here's my concept so far that I've found browsing the internet...

HQ: Dante
HQ: Honor Guard with 3 meltas, one flamer (comes with priest)
Elite: 5 Sternguard in Drop pod with 2 meltas, 1 combi melta and 1 combi flamer
Elite: 1 Sanguinary Priest with Jump Pack (to go with one of the Guard squads to get a jumping bubble of effect)
Troop: 5 Sanguinary Guard
Troop: 5 Sanguinary Guard
Troop: 5 Sanguinary Guard
Troop: 5 Sanguinary Guard
Troop: 5 Scouts with camo cloaks, sniper rifles and missile launcher (had to take this to have something in the backfield on an objective)
Heavy: 5 Devestators with 4 missile launchers
Heavy: 5 Devestators with 4 missile launchers

Idea would be the Dante Squad and Sternguard squad drop to get rid of the nasty armor, devestators to help with transports, and my sanguinary guard to mop up infantry.

Just not sure how I'll handle deathstar units like Thunderwolf Cavalry w/lords or Nob Bikers; or big blob units like Ork mobs with power klaws.

A little help from the cat

I've been painting in the kitchen lately to be able to spend some time with the wife and not retreated into my man cave of a basement.  One week left before the tournament and way too many miniatures to paint seeing I'm traveling 4 days this week.  The cat has been jealous of my time, and decides to jump up on my shoulders while I paint.  Not so easy to pull off! 

In progress 5 more thunderwolves, 14 power armor marines, 2 rhinos and 2 razorbacks!

Thunderwolf Lords Done

Just finished up my thunderwolf lords.  Both have magnetized arms, unfortunately the Canis Wolfborne version has a shoulder magnet a little too far out.  It makes him look like a linebacker with real broad shoulders!  Hope you like them both.  The second one was based off of a sculpt from http://www.mrdandy.com/wargamma/  I really like what he did with the different poses.  I have a full squad of them mid way through the painting line.

Next up on the docket is my drop pod!  Only 8 days to go until the tournament.

How-To: Fenrisian Wolves

Hey all, I had a bunch of people ask how I went about making these wolves so I'll post my tutorial.  Here's the quick & dirty method.  Should be up on the Space Wolves blog soon too! http://space-wolves-grey.blogspot.com/

The challenge for me was the goblin wolves only contained two poses and looked too "happy".  They didn't have that feral beast about them.  I found the chaos warhound box as a great substitute.  Not only are they reasonably priced, they have all unique poses.  Here is how I went about making them in a fairly easy manner.

First, it was hacking off any chaos bits.  Horns were chopped off along the top of the back, and any scales on the flanks were shaved down.  I also clipped some of the bottom teeth and trimmed off any horns on the legs/ankles.  I put on the tail, but shaved it down to a simple cylinder without any spikes.

I then added greenstuff to the back and top of the hindquarters as well as rolled it around the tail.  Fur was achieved by starting towards the front of the model and working towards the tail pulling with a sculpting tool.  Remember, keep the tool wet (yes, I've ingested my fair share of greenstuff). 

Then I plugged the two spots for the old "ears/horns" and rolled a small triangle for an ear.  Using the pointed end of the citadel sculpting tool I made the interior of the ear.  Some of the warhounds had stunted noses, which required a small dot to be added at the end.

 My painted ones are in the previous post, enjoy!

Working now on finishing up my 2 Lords on Thunderwolves and starting up the drop pod.

WOOF! Fenrisian Wolves Done

Slow weekend of painting, but I did manage to get my last 12 Fenrisian Wolves painted.  I also did the fur colors for my two Thunderwolf Lords.  I should be able to make some good progress on them tonight during some Monday night football! There should be a tutorial up soon on the  furry wolves.

Finished Grey Hunters

Here's some final shots of the latest batch of finished grey hunters.  Next project will be tackling painting the fenrisian wolves and the two wolf lords on thunderwolves.  I'm hoping I can get the army to at least a playable level by September 25th, we have a local tournament then. Nothing like a little pressure!

Assembly Line Blues

Note to self, never again assembly line 25 highly detailed miniatures... ever ever again.  That was painful.  I usually work in the 10 or less mode, and I think I'll return to that.

On Friday I set a goal to paint 20 Grey Hunters, Assemble a Wolf Lord and sculpt fur on 10 Fenrisian Wolves.  Well I was an overachiever this weekend.  25 Grey Hunters done (minus snow, which will be added tonight), 2 Wolf Lords assembled and magnatized and 12 Fenrisian Wolves done along with an article that will be posted on the Space Wolves Blog http://space-wolves-grey.blogspot.com/  later in the week.

Here's a shot of Russ's finest ready for snow tonight.  Nicely done shots later once I break out the camera & booth.

One thing I noticed is my hobby area is too messy, a situation many of us gamers get ourselves into.  Add that to the fact the cat likes to jump up in the area I'm working and it's a danger zone.  Rather then doing the right thing and cleaning it up I went the painful route and painted in the not-lighting-optimal area which is my kitchen.  Not smart.  A back ache and eye strain weekend later, I'm ready to go back to my usual workstation.

Ginger(hair) Recipe & Wolf Updates

The weekend of hobby marathon has been progressing great and I'm making huge strides on my Space Wolves.  I decided to tackle an extra lot of grey hunters.  In progress of 25 and started an additional 5 to catch up to my batch last night.  Combined with the 10 behind my paint, that would complete my 40 grey hunters needed for my 1850 list.

While paining up the bunch at my local battle bunker (Downers Grove, IL) I figured I'd mix up some hair color a bit and in honor of one of the employees there... figure out how to paint some gingers!  Here's my attempt at the hair color.  The photo turned out a bit more orange that it is in person.  Started with Vomit Brown, washed with Gryphonne Sepia, then line highlighted with Iyanden Darksun, then a final real light wash of Baal Red.  Voila!  Two Gingers, the one with the mohawk is now named Dave.

For my two wolf lords on Thunderwolves, I figured it'd be best to magnetize the arms.  Was a little bit of a process to make sure everything went together right, especially since I didn't have the patience to let the green stuff dry before letting the magnets set.  After it's all said and done, here are the two lords.  Had to hack up Canis Wolfborn a little to make sure both arms fit.  Now I can swap arms as I chose.  The second wolf is from a great miniatures company http://www.mrdandy.com/wargamma-battle-wolves/

Tonight I'll work on a couple additional long fangs along with sculpting additional fenrisian wolves. I'll be putting a tutorial on the wolves, stay tuned.

 

Hobby Marathon Challenge

The wife is traveling on business this weekend, and I'm actually home for a change... which means the hobby apocalypse is upon me!

I'm going to try and provide updates through the weekend to keep myself motivated.  Here are my goals:

* Put together (along with a detailed "how to") 10 more fenrisian wolves
* Paint 20 grey hunters
* Assemble / convert one thunderwolf wolf lord magnatized for multiple weapon options

We have a tournament on the 25th of September I'd love to have my wolves ready... will be a challenge to have them ready in time!

Templar are Back!

Wow, I can't believe it has been since Adepticon since I've played in any formal day of gaming.  Luckily I'm getting a three game tournament in on Saturday in the Chicago area Adeptus Windy City series.  I think it's time to bring out my old faithful Black Templars and see how the old codex can do against all these new fancy ones!

Here's what I'm thinking for 2k...

HQ: Emperor's Champion with "Accept any Challenge" for the reroll gooodness for the army
HQ: Chaplain with melta bombs and 3 cenobite servitors to attach to the terminators on foot

Elite: 10 Assault Terminators, 6 Lightning Claws, 4 Thunder hammer / SS all with Furious Charge

Troop: 15 man Crusader Squad (9 initiates, 6 neophytes), meltagun, powerfist in Land Raider Crusader with smoke launchers
Troop: 14 man Crusader Squad (9 initiates, 5 neophytes), meltagun, powerfist in Land Raider Crusader with smoke launchers (champion's ride)
Troop: 5 man Crusader Squad with Lascannon and boltguns
Troop: 5 man Crusader Squad with Lascannon and boltguns

Heavy: Vindicator (expensive at 125, but needed)

Back to the Wolves

Last week I had the chance to actually get a game in, imagine that.  Had the opportunity to play an 1850 game with my Space Wolves.  I'm a firm believer that unpainted miniatures don't do as well in the game as painted ones.

My gamer ADD has me flipping back and forth between projects, so I think it's time to settle in to get the core of my Space Wolves done before I jump on an Adepticon project, the Empire, or another 40k army.

Even though it hurts, I'm trying the mass painting method.  I usually stick to around 5 models at a time (or 10 if they're exceptionally simple).  Here's my try at 25 grey hunters.  The yellow looks exceptionally bright since the grey has just been inked and not highlighted yet!

Once I get these guys done, it'll be on to the Thunderwolves.  That is if I can survive the monotony of painting 25 at once!

Empire Progress, Knight Conversion

Got my first 20 spearmen done... 30 to go!  Hopefully this big block of 50 will pay off!  Still a little work to do on the standard bearer, but overall I'm happy with the quality.  This is definitely a speed painting army.  The banner decal I purchased off an old site "Imperial Forge".  Nice decals and will help speed up things.  Unfortunately it looks like they're no longer in business.

I'd like to use some of the old empire set for the second through 5th ranks.  I love the spears at attention to flush out the back ranks.  I picked up some extra empire heads to do some simple head swaps.  The question is will these old plastics mix in with the current state troops?

Finally I figured I could use some knights with great weapons.  Now that they're back to being +2 and with empire already having low/average initiative, the extra strength after the charge may come in handy.  Not a big fan of the knights of the white wolf though.  I figured the new plastic greatswords would be a great kitbash.  After piecing this together, I think it could use a slightly longer torso.  The greatsword torso sits a little shorter due to the legs adding a portion of the torso.  Thoughts on if this will work or if I'll need to add some plastic card?

Just started churning out my old metal greatswords.  Should have the unit finished this week!

Empire State of Mind

Damn... hobby ADD strikes again.  I've been bitten by the Warhammer bug.  It's been 8 years since I've dabbled with Fantasy, and I think I'll give it another shot.  The challenege is painting en masse - I'm used to the individual nature of 40k painting. 

Here's my stab at the empire.  I wanted to keep a dirty feel - not too bright on the colors.  I saw a long time ago the city of Boghaffen; purple and dirty white.  Either that or Ostermark (purple and white?)

Using mainly foundation paints - foundation purple and dhneb stone were the base colors.  Quick highlight of white (on dhneb stone) and mixed in a little light purple then washed a black wash on the purple and devlan mud on the white.  Chainmail on the metal parts with a little burnished gold trim, and foundation red for accents.  Hit them both with a black wash.  Picked up the red with some blood red accents.  Flesh was simple.  Foundation Tallarn flesh with bleached bone highlights then washed with ogryn flesh wash.  Finally trimed off the black and did a little calthan brown on some hair.  Parchment & Skulls were bleached bone, white highlight and mud washed.

Simply done!  The purple photographed really dark - but that is the look I'm going with.  Thoughts?

Back from the Honeymoon! Space Wolves

Just got back from getting married and spending time in Greece & Spain for the honeymoon.  Got a bunch of painting done this weekend.  Unfortunately I didn't get to set up my lightbox so the photo's didn't turn out right.  Will get that fixed ASAP.  Wanted to show some progress.  First batch of Fenrisian Wolves are painted and my first 10 Grey Hunters.  Made some major progress on the Thunderwolves too! 

Now Monday - Friday more traveling :(

Fenrisian Wolves - Green Stuff

I had the chance to get my first practice game in with the Space Wolves on Saturday, they look so sad in their various stages of paint.  My opponent didn't even know about the Fenrisian Wolves.  So sad, they're such a great part of the flavor of Space Wolves.  Even if they're not the most effective, I'm determined to make them work.

The plastic chaos warhound unit seems to be the best fit.  I like the dynamic poses and the fact that their are more then two variants (unlike the goblin wolves).  I trimmed all of the horns, scales and tails and worked on some greenstuff to make them more "wolflike".  I also added some ears.  Here are my first 7.  The camera battery was dying so I didn't have the time to set up my photobooth.  Sorry about the shots!  Now about 10 or so more to go.

By the Power of Greyskull!

I've been doing too many assembly line armies, and I think it's time to reward myself with something fun.  When I saw this space wolf head months ago, it screamed "He-Man". 

Then I took a look at the white lion from the High elf chariot and thought it would make a good battle-cat.  Combined with some chaos marauder horsemen parts and a whole lot of greenstuff... I think I can make a fenrisian mounted wolf lord with a "frost sword" and storm sheild modeled up like he-man.  Yes it's so out of warhammer context, but I think it'll be a fun project.

By the power of Greyskull!

If you have any ideas on how to make this conversion work, let me know.

Dirty Vehicle - Help Needed!

I just started working on my Space Wolves vehicles and here is a rhino chassis that's almost done. I don't want to do any chipping or weathering of the main part of the model (although I'll do some exhaust markings), but I could use some help "mudding" up the bottom.

Ideas on how to apply some dirt / mud without overdoing it? Stippling the best route?

This is my speed painting army, so I don't want to go over the top for timing. 

Next Project - Space Wolves?

Well, in typical fashion I have way too many project ideas.  After painting on the Imperial Suns, I need a fix of doing some "easy" fast paint armies.  I think I've settled on Space Wolves.  My goal is to get an 1850 list done before the wedding coming up mid May.  Riiiiight.... I think I can make it happen though.

The other armies on the docket are:
- Big Mek dread bash list (lots of killa cans, dreads, etc.)
- Nicely painted  Death Korps of Krieg army
- Blood Angels for the Team tournament next year
- A fantasy army of some sort - either Empire, Brettonians or Chaos Warriors

I discovered and am loving the grey primer by Army Painter.  This is going to be my saving grace when it comes to the fast Space Wolves army.

Sorry for the crappy pictures, I tore down my photo booth... will be back up in a bit.  Ouch, and after look at them, a little out of focus.  At least some pictures are better than none.

I've started by priming grey (which is more difficult then it sounds due to the fact it's only a shade darker then plastic), then painting on chainmail for the metal parts, and burnished gold for trim.  Also any dark brown things I hit up first too.  Followed by a generous coat of the badab black wash... presto!  I have the first stage of the model done.  Here's a shot of the model after it's initial wash.

After that I'm using the Reaper Masterclass Stone Grey triads to get a darker greenish grey look.  My goal with this army is similar to my desert guard force... NO MIXING.  That's right folks, I'm going to try and do everything straight out of the jar. 

Here's a model with most of the painting done.  I haven't finished the browns or touched up the face.  I'm doing my basing last so I can dirty up the bottoms of the legs.  After this, I'll put on a coat of snow.

I've also picked up some thunderwolves from Mr. Dandy at http://www.mrdandy.com/wargamma/  Great sculpts that went together relatively easily with little greenstuff needed.  Here's the primed models ready to go.

Here's the list so far.  Next up on the conversion docket is the fenresian wolves.  Nobody seems to be taking them, but I'm going to try and make them work!

Cheers,
BC