Gifts for Geeks - Tabletop Tyrant Squire plastic figure case winning!

About a month ago Gifts for Geeks ran a competition on their Facebook page to win one of their Tyrant Army cases. It was essentially 'give us a reason why you should get one'. Obviously I've begun to rationalise how I transport my figures but I'm still moving a lot round in takeaway tubs and cardboard boxes. That's convenient for certain awkward shaped models but there are still plenty of rank and file troops that could do with a better home. So I entered and won a runner up prize of one of their Squire cases. These things [including foam] retail at £19.99 so it was a really pleasant surprise when it arrived.

And it came with a free custom Tabletop Tyrant dice too.

The case is made from plastic, it's the flexible sort often used in some ring binders. This is clearly not a case designed to protect against the rigours of war in the 41st millenium but it will hold your foam and figures safely for storage or if you only need to nip to a local gaming club or your mates. Saying that, the extra foam covers make the interior quite a solid mass so there is little flexibility when it's shut, although I wouldn't stand on it.

The front panel has two flaps that hook into holes, when you disengage them the whole front folds up and you can access the trays. I received the standard infantry trays, I really wanted to ask for a 60mm deep pick and pluck one for my warriors and other assorted larger models but thought it cheeky given this was a prize and all. I can always order one anyway :)

As you would expect the trays are suitable for your average troop model, no real surprises and four stack on top of each other.

These are nearly exactly the same as the old Citadel ones so are easily transferable between cases should you feel the need, it's handy for me as I can use this for storage and the Citadel case for transport.

I noticed only one criticism of the foam, the adhesive between the base and tray isn't as strong as I'd like. It doesn't take a lot of effort to separate the two pieces but no doubt if it's left alone they will remain intact for as long as I need them. I'm pretty sure they're actually the cheapest tray out there at £4.50 so they're worth a punt on their own.

And it takes up less space than the Citadel case too. Bottom line, if you need to protect your figures and are cash-strapped then this is an ideal solution. Alternatively there's the KR Multicase that they do for a little more at £22. PeteB swears by these and you can get another 16 models in a case so that balances out the extra cost.

I'm definitely chuffed with it, now I just need to paint more miniatures to go inside!

Imperial Knight - Cerastus in manufactorum pt 13

So, do you know how to play Russian Roulette? Well lets find out if decals are next level or a big old scam. First up I'm trying the old gloss varnish prior to decal to avoid that shine that appears. Have to say the panels come up really nice with that glossy lustre. The colours are much richer too.

House Raven symbol, looks pretty cool.

House Raven coat of arms. I really like this badge, loads of detail I wouldn't have been able to paint. It seems a little desaturated but I still think it was worth adding on. I'm thinking of adding some purity seals on top so it looks like it's received a lot of commendations.

The Metalica manufature stamp. I will be trying to tone down the white with a little sepia wash. You can just make out the bottom edge of the transparency though. I used MIG decal softener to help smooth the decal on. PeteB had been raving about MicroSol so I thought it wise to use some but hadn't found a source I was happy with. I remembered there is a ModelZone in WHSmiths in the Arndale in Manchester but its a hefty walk and as I have to walk past the front of Piccadilly train station I suddenly stopped and decided to pop into a Railway Book and Model Shop, what I found was a treasure trove of obscure items I could use for my hobby which included:

• plasticard
• plastic girders
• yellow flock at 50% off
• MIG Decal softener
• Army Painter washes!

So everything I needed within a one minute walk of my office, which beats my usual five minute walk to pick up Army Painter washes. They even have Bolt Action model soldiers and rules, which may come in handy for Ben and Otty who are exploring WWII games at the moment.

Anyway, I decides to do a little video of me applying the decals. So far I've only done one 40kaddict video and in all honesty I think it's a bit rubbish because it's SOOO boring and I'm pretty sure if my voice doesn't send folk to sleep it may actually cause them to consider self harm of some kind. I think I recall a Doctor Faust painting video where he put on a mad professor voice that really worked and my boss does a lot of voiceover things for work and he gave me tips for better narration. In the end I thought screw it, took my 9 minute video, speeded it up by a factor of four and found some upbeat music I have no right to re-use so if you feel like watching two and a bit minutes of me applying decals have at ye!

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |

Imperial Knight - Cerastus in manufactorum pt 12

Next level? I think so. I couldn't help myself and did another load of damage on the right shin pad and I think I did a much better job than my first attempt.

It's definitely helped mitigate my less than stellar litany efforts. I did however become unstuck because there are supposed to be house Raven decals on that red side and obviously I've now covered it with damage I don't want to cover up and then have to re-apply/blend in. So I think I'll abandon following the heraldry too closely. I suppose I already did that with the white stripes.

I also applied a bit of very bright yellow [not sure which VGC one it is]. Although I was loving the realism of the Tau Sept Ochre my love of high contrast means this captivates me much more now. Although I think I managed to be much subtler with the application than normal.

And so I had to add it to the carapace stripes too. I also added some litany script, which quite frankly I'm just relieved will be mostly hidden by his shoulder pad

I was a little rougher with the application because there's no texture on this edge, trying to paint in some where it doesn't exist. It's passable, and again although the griminess has gone, I still really like it.

As you can see the shoulder pad does cover some of the litany. It looks a little misplaced on it's own, I feel the two panels either side would benefit from some script but being less than impressed with it so far I don't feel too compelled to add anymore disappointment in that aspect.

Here's the other side, where a Titan marking is equally MEH! For one aspect I was always so happy with on the Dark Angels and my Reaver Titan it's just failing here and I'm not sure why.

The shin pad in-situ

I think it's time to try some decals next. Haven't used them in years and part of me doesnt want to - given the freehand nature elsewhere, but they're so nice I feel it would be rude not to.

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 

Dark Angel Objective markers

I made another decision. Despite being perfectly happy with my force field pylon objective markers I decided to do the force field glow effect on the generators. I planned to add glow effects on the Knight so it made sense to recreate the effect I did for my Plasma weaponry to see how it would look. I know that sounds odd as my Plasma guys clearly illustrate how, but I needed more reassurance.

I wasn't 100% convinced this time around. I'm not sure it looks like a glow and more like yellow discs.

With that doubt in mind I added a little more orange inside the creases of the discs.

I think this is more what I was after, it's less defined as an object but I think more realistc as a source of lighting.

I also applied the same effect to the plasma coils in the Teleport homers. Obviously I did them completely differntly to how I did Plasma coils on my weponry but nevermind.

I'm less convinced of the beacon lights but I'm hoping Tamiya Clear Red X-27 may lift them up. The OSL works, it's just the lights themselves that look a bit flat.

Nearly there though and then I can tick them off. Still no idea how to number them, there realy isn't space to put a numeral and even then it'd look slapped on after adding the SFX now :(

The question is do I go with the yellow/orange glow as above [when there's already yellow on the chevrons so it may look confusing] or, do I go with the green glow I did on my Epic Reaver titan?

What do you think? I'm not even sure if this was the final iteration of the orange plasma, maybe that's it, less yellow/white moar orange.

'nids part 180 - Stealing bases

As I keep finding myself painting bits of the Cerastus when I should be waiting to add the decals which then cover those bits I've gone slightly off pist. It's only slightly as my 30 Genestealers are on my To Do List. However, they are by no means a priority, but they are easing my hobby compulsion. As other projects stall and take steps back once again it is the familiar that can deliver that feeling of progress and if I manage these 30 Genestealer this year that's no mean feat in itself.

Really I just wanted to get the bases done. They'd already been shadow washed and all I was doing was dry/wet brushing them with Vermillion. I did all 30 bases and left them to dry. Even if thats the extent of my efforts it's one element of their completion done. I expect to finsih all the Red Planet Base up to the Bonewhite chips. Then if I consider further progress I'll probably chunk them into three groups of ten or even six groups of five. 30 is far too much for batch painting for me, not a problem just on the bases but the actual models are far too time consuming to commit to 30 in one sitting.

10 would be my limit and each colour application would be a nights work but I if I can get my head back into the Cerastus the units of five would be better as it would not represent the bulk of my nights efforts, that really should be on the priority - the knight

I painted some other bits as well, tidied up my force pylons but they're in another post.

Blog Wars X Painting competition pics

The Blog Wars painting competition was up to it's usual high standard. Of course I knew what Liam and Otty were bringing but there weere some really good entries from other people too but my mates efforts did cause some people not to display because they didn't see the point. Which although I don't agree with, because if you've painted an army you should show it off, but I do understand people may feel it's pointless. Hypocritically I didn't display my army either. I'd intended to, but not to compete but as I may game finished dead on 2 hours 30 I really couldn't bring myself to set everything up when I had lunch, keeping up with the family at home and buying my Vargheist.

I did take pictures though and I know Alex wanted better ones if they were available as Liam did all his best army shots and was unfamiliar with the camera. In fairness lighting was pretty grim so I'm not sure my shots are an improvement but I may have caught some angles and shots Liam didn't, so enjoy.

This Dark Mechanicum army was fantastically creepy

Best painted special character category.