And I'm Back!

It's been a weird few weeks for me.
My Lady and I broke up, and she took the Puppers, so that was a gut punch...
And then I rolled straight into crew gunnery with the Battalion, so I didn't really have much time to brood. Follow that up with prep for more live-fire exercises and preparing my replacement to take over my beloved platoon, and there hasn't been much free time.
Also, the camera on my phone stopped working. But it's working again now, so I'm back to posting. Go team.

Since then, here's what I've been working on: a new Necron force, in no way related to the upcoming Indomitus boxed set coming out in a few weeks.

I quite like how the Lychguard are turning out... They're surprisingly delicate models, especially to a Guard player. I grew up playing Space Marines and Guard, so these spindly metal skeletons are a bit of a shock to my system. Very pretty models, though. And for once, the paint-job looks better in photos than in real life. Curious.

They aren't done yet. Heck, of the seventy models in my newly-rising tombworld, I only have a single lowly Warrior complete:

A surly-looking chap, isn't he? I guess being dragged in chains into the fires of biotransference would make anyone cranky, sixty-million-year-long nap or no. Another fifty-nine of these to go...

More NCOs to lead my still-growing Storm Troopers army:

Mad Robot Minis now makes not-Kasrkin legs. Finally, I won't have to source Kasrkin from eBay or shave sprue bits to create armored legs. It's a welcome relief.

And lastly, some more terrain:

It doesn't quite mesh with the jungle, does it? I guess I'll just have to go make more jungle terrain. Oh shucks...

-Six out.

Show Case: Renegade Guard

Once, the armies of the corrupted and the damned rampaged across gaming tables near me. An unholy tide of traitors, deserters, and cultists, glorying in the exaltation of Chaos and the blood god Khorne.

 Dozens of red- and black-clad renegades swarming the lines of the Loyalists. There was something very fun in those games: no genetically-engineered supermen charging across the battlefield, no perfectly-evolved alien monsters bursting out of the underbrush. Just some insane daemon-worshipping loonies squaring off against men in body armor. Just... humans. Not something commonly seen in tabletop games of Warhammer 40,000. 

Veterans of the Krassian 147th defend Hill 308 against the soldiery of Chaos

The Connaught 13th defend the left flank of Hill 308, engaging in hand-to-hand.

 And they were lovely models, too. Expensive, since they were cobbled together from Anvil Industries, Games Workshop, Mad Robot Miniatures, MaxMini, and a few more. But oh-so-very pretty when used en-masse.

A pair of totally-not-Blood Pact troopers

And because I'm so very extra, they even had custom dice.

 GW has some grand cultist models out there too... The rogue commissar from the Dark Vengeance box had a great backstory and was a blast to paint. 

I hear good things about the new 2020 Chaos Warriors boxed set, but I'm not going to invest in any... Instead, I'll continue to poach the old Chaos Warriors. Not a lot of variation in pose, but still fine sculpts and very different from the usual disorganized, slap-dash Chaos-worshipper fighter. These guys were organized, armed, and well-equipped. A quick base swap and they easily made the 'port into my Chaos forces.

If you have an army that you'd like to display, by all means, shoot me the pictures and tell me about your force.

 -Six out.

Spare Parts, Bud...

It's been an interesting couple of weeks. I spent it hunting down spare parts, finding spare parts (a plague upon every sharp-edged piece of metal in an armored vehicle! *rubs new dent in skull, wipes blood off of scalp*), casting parts out of resin, painting parts, losing spare parts... At this point, I'm just all spare parts...

I had a "fun" Saturday at Staff Duty, though. Got a healthy bit of painting in, for the first time in a while. Started off with an Officer of the Fleet. Normally I model these support characters to look like USAF JTACs, since they call in air strikes and coordinate with the air wings. The Games Workshop models are nice, but that much braid on a dress uniform, while in a combat zone is just silly... But I saw a kitbash online, and wanted to give it a go.

Mostly GW parts, with a smattering of Anvil Industries and a re-cast backpack.

Getting the laspistol seated just right was a hassle... But check out that swagger stick! So fashionable.

 All he needs is a lick of paint, and...

One new Fleet Officer ready to call down destruction on the heads of the enemies of Mankind. I'm getting a very Mordian / USMC vibe from this cap. Not just the peaked cap and swagger stick, but he's got red piping on the trouser seams and jacket cuffs. Not sure why, but a model without red on just doesn't pop. Shame about the air-bubble in the backpack's antenna. I think... I think there might be an opportunity to put in a waterslide transfer on that Cadian-style pauldron.

Started work on a counts-as Techpriest Enginseer.

I wasn't really sure how the pose was going to look in the end, and I had some choice on what helmet this aspiring cogboy would have on his head. Wound up going with the Anvil Industries' Council Marine head, and slicing up the arms to get a decent arm together.

Still not sure about the pose, but it'll work. Still great parts, and a fun model.

A very fun model indeed. I had great fun picking out the armor panels in red. Just needs basing, a coat of wash, and a few details to finish off.

I finally glued on some armor plates to protect the Goodest Boy Ever.

A great model... And he fits perfectly on a 30mm base with a Storm Trooper commander.

I tried very hard to make the model's coat mimic my family's old German Shepherd, Buck. Still needs a layer of wash, and some details, but these two are well on their way to the front lines.

Look at that Good Boy! Look at him!

Also, some Highlanders from Victrix.

Can't wait to finish these fellows up.

I'd love to do up some more characters and a few more squads for my Storm Troopers army, but I haven't even set foot in my hobby room in days... Let alone put brush to model. We'll see.

-Six out.

Casting: Take Two

Back in, oh, I don't know, 2008 or so, I tried resin casting some Space Marine bits. I was fourteen at the time, so it didn't go very well. Here I am, twelve years later, older, wiser, sadder, and trying again. Hopefully, it'll go more smoothly this time... Without getting resin all over Mom's sink. That stuff set like Gorilla Glue, and man, she was not happy about that one...

Mold kit from Hobby Lobby: the same stuff I tried last decade.

Rather than trying to cast an entire model, I'll start out with some bits. I need Kasrkin backpacks, and dozens of them. And Kasrkin helmets. Later one, I'll experiment with some partial models. For now, a set of three two Kasrkin packs.


Mold box. Initial concept was a box made from Legos, but I'm impatient at the best of times, so I went with a Tupperware lid and gluing the packs to a plastic base as seen.

That didn't work, the lid I was using was too shallow and would have left holes in the bottom of the mold. So I just glued the packs into the mold box and used some electrical tape to give the mold some extra depth.

The mold is set! It took all night, I went to work, came home, and popped it out.

Time to pour in the resin...

5ml of resin was too much...

Finished product! The antennas need some shaving, but overall, not bad! Now I just need to make another thirty-six, plus however many more Storm Troopers I'm going to make...

Photo credit goes to my Lady -my pic was straight up veggie quality. Squash plant, even...

Next project will be to replicate this mold a couple of times so I can make more than two packs at a time, and then maybe later, full-up Kasrkin.

Maybe later?

It'll need a two-part cast, and I don't quite have my head around how that will work. Maybe just the torso, so I can add kneeling legs easier.

-Six out.

Modifying Lasguns

 Quote For The Day: “[F]ighting humans is a losing proposition: All you get is sorry, hungry and sore.” -Mr. Keene at the Battle of Richmond, Gust Front, by John Ringo.

Stormtroopers get snazzier kit than the regular Guard: carapace armor, respirators, night-vision, grav-chutes, and most notably: hotshot weaponry. More powerful than the regular lasgun, they still lose range in favor of superior penetration. It always baffeled me why the old Kasrkin models had beefier lasguns than the regular Cadians but still lost range; the older metal stormies' and the new Scions' hotshots... Well, I'm not a fan of the look. All the stock lasguns look too long to me. And for such a mobile force, the cables from the backpack to the weapon seem a silly design. Modern forces carry magazines and boxes of spare ammunition for a reason. So, I cut the models up. Edit: apparently Mad Robot Miniatures now makes a set of heavily-armored infantry that looks and quacks much like a Kasrkin.

Take a standard Kantrael pattern lasgun from the Cadian sprue. Lop off the  muzzle / muzzle and bayonet, saving them for later. At the join between the skull and right-hand wing, cut again and discard the excess. Should have a skull with a wing flaring off the left. Shave off the integral sight. Chops complete.

Glue a thin piece of sprue on the top of the weapon, replicating the optics rail seen on the old M-16 series weapon or the newer FAMAS weapons used by the French.

Sand down, glue on, and smooth it out. Add armor, bayonets, and optics to taste.

Since the Scions got their own codex back in 6th Edition, they had access to the hotshot volleygun. A fantastic weapon: high rate of fire, good penetration. It's  been a staple for my storm troopers ever since. With my previous collection I'd settled for gluing an extra barrel onto a Kantrael pattern and calling it a day. However, since I obviously hate myself, my new ones are extra. An extra magazine to extend the existing one, underslung secondary barrel, optic mount from another Kantrael on the side to beef up the assembly... Hellfire.

As with all hobby pictures, it looks better in real life, held from an arms' length away.

-Six out.

Another Sunday Staff Duty

...And that's why I spent all day painting. And burned through The 13th Warrior, Hot Fuzz and Oh! What A Lovely War. Read two books. Picked up two boneheads from the MP station. Quiet day, really.

Sat outside for awhile, watching the rain come in and the sun go down, smoking my pipe for the first time in awhile. It was a lovely evening for it, too: the smoke from my pipe curling up and away through the sheets of water pouring out of the sky as my Irish playlist hums in the background.

Zombicide: Invader is a terrific solo / co-op game: scads of models (hundreds), simple rules (I've taught more than one grandmother to play), lots of fun. Sadly the models don't come painted (eh, I'd have eventually repainted them myself anyway) and, as mentioned, there's rather a lot of them. Hundreds. It's enough work to go through the characters, let alone the zombies. Er, aliens, I guess. Invader is alien zeds rather than humans.
This dude is from the Black Ops expansion box. Andre, I think.

Looks better at arms length, with a coat of Nuln Oil on.

 Why do all hobby photographs come out awful? This guy looks so much better in real life.

 And because it's Zombicide, this is totally-not-Nebula from the MCU 'verse.

Finally getting through the flight crew for my light-up Valkyrie.

Disaster struck. We've all had this moment... There goes a quarter of my Nuln Oil. 

Commissar trio. Look at all the medals!

More Highlanders... I wish I could say I was almost done with these angry Scotsmen, but I've dozens of them, unassembled, in a bag at home.Victrix makes nice minis.

Thirteen models in a single night is not so terrible... Shame I didn't get to sleep, but that's Staff Duty.

-Six out.

Terrain: Rubble And Graves

So... my Lady is pretty much the best. She ordered the Sigmarite Mausoleum and Azyrite Chapel for no other reason than to see me smile. It would explain why she's been walking around chuckling randomly for the last week, though!

I'm still scratch-building terrain and rubble area terrain from spare parts: building an actual kit from GW is going to be an exciting experience. Cracking open the Mausoleum kit, and holy slate, batman! This is going to be too cool... My battlefields are going to be so extra. Can't wait to throw these together.

I mean, look at this dude:

A few more highlights, and he's just about done. There's two of these in the mausoleum box...I'll have to experiment with a tan limestone-style color scheme.
Current progress on scratch-build #4:

Cutting up and gluing pieces of sprue is a hassle. But there's no other way I can see to building up the mounds of rubble that an urban battlezone would feature. Looks good in the ruck of a full-up field battle when painted, though. And later, if and when I ever get into Adeptus Titanicus or Battletech the same terrain will work just as well due to the cyclopean nature of the Imperium' architecture.

-Six out.