WFB - Halfling Champion on Giant Scorpion

As mentioned in my post about my Empire Halflings I had a Halfling Champion mounted on a Giant Scorpion and here it is, minus the Champions tooth pick lance and the a couple of the Scorpion's legs, eek! His seat is made out of a shield with Milliput padding and conversely his shield is also made of Milliput.

His legs were bent/snapped at the waist so he could sit properly. I'm not entirely sure where the Halfling was going to pick up such a ride but it was a cool miniature. Incidentally I did also have a Citadel Giant Trantula miniature from way back when, I think it too had a number of limbs removed, what is it with this obsession with amputation?

BloodBowl endzones

It's been a long time since I mentioned BloodBowl mainly because I haven't done anything with it. I have finished dipping the figures in Dettol so I do have a complete Skaven and Elf team with a mixed Skaven/Goblin/Orc/Chaos Dwarf Mongrel Horde, half a Dwarf team and half a halfling side. This was why I prepared these Endzones back when I initially fell of the wagon.




Skaven/Goblin/Orc/Chaos Dwarf Mongrel Horde

My original mixed race good team - Elves/Dwarves/Halfling/Treeman

Dwarves

Elves

Skaven

I made two endzones for my Halfling teams, I'd struggled for quite a while to come up with a good name and like buses two came along at once. I do prefer the Hamshire Hogfeathers name but the Porkbelly Stuffers, typographically speaking, looks a whole lot better. I also tried two types of helmet - the full pork crackling with cloves and a sliced ham. I was happier with the crackling. I need to photograph what I'd painted so far on these as they are very cute - Pink uniforms with crackling shoulder-pads.


Halfling/Treeman

Halfling/Treeman



So, it's another list of items to add to my 'To Do List'. They should be easy to get done as a quick splash of paint will suffice, when will I find the time though?



'nids part 25 - DiY Mycetic Spore pt3.

Immediately you should notice in these pics that Ferron Proxima has had a bit of snow fall. Well not exactly the case, it's just with the run up to the new kitchen certain things have had to go into storage and that's one of them. I may print an A3 sheet just for quick snaps but in the mean time we'll have to make do with this. Moving on, I've used my Terracota coloured Milliput to sculpt some Chitinous plates for the Mycetic Spore.

It's been a considerably long time since I've used Milliput and I recall I hate the stuff on my hands. The chemical reaction makes it hot and it sticks inside all your finger prints so my Mother-in-law kindly got some rubber gloves for this, which have also come in handy when I've been cleaning miniatures. So the Milliput was simply flattened out, I tried a mini rolling pin but it just stuck to it. I used a pair of scissors to cut the rough shape then stuck it onto my Pot Pourri thing and smoothed it with a bit of water, adding marks into the edges with a sculpting tool. Some of the smaller plates on the tentacles aren't so great and I'm sure with a bit more effort, or practice this would have been even better. As it is I think it'll do the job nicely and I thin kthe paint scheme will enhance it further.

The crater base had a coating of sharp sand to tie it in with the rest of the nid bases, the tentacles look a bit too long but as they have a range of 6 inches they're probably a bit short. MOst ikportantly it's progress and on something I am less familiar with which automatically puts it in the difficult job list and so now it's out of the way it's down to painting it. I'mm going to give it a coat of PVA and then I need some white primer. Thankfully, eurocarparts has some white and red oxide Simoniz stock back in, at £3.98 for 500ml with free postage it's the best offer I've found online. However, I'll be in Southport at the weekend and see if I can find any cheaper at the Range or Wilkinsons.

Helsreach - a review

My last book review of Descent of Angels came off particularly disappointed, despite it being an OK book. Saying that my nine year old has just finished it so maybe I should ask his opinion...

Helsreach (Space Marine Battles) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden is more like it. For a start off it's got a map in it. Who doesn't love a book with a map? In actual fact it's got three full colour glossy page maps in it, which is great, but to be honest I'd have been happier with half a dozen black and white maps that showed a little more turn-by-turn action in the Battle of Helsreach. Lets face it a lot of Black Library readers are gamers and they like Battle Reports. If you're going to produce a line of books that catalogue some of the most oft discussed battles in 40k lore why not treat them in a similar fashion? That said they are nicely rendered and you can pick out some of what's going on where but it just would make more sense to have it tied in that little bit more.

Anyway, first up I have to say I love the cover [but obviously I also hate it, this is me after all]. The bold choice to use white on a number of Black Library releases really does make them stand out, particularly against the Horus Heresy novels. The picture is also well executed, which makes it one of those front cover turners, y'know where you're reading and you keep turning to the front cover to see if you're at that bit yet. Only there's one snag, Chaplain Grimaldus [the main character] has just been made Reclusiarch of the Templars and has taken the helmet of his mentor, it's a Chaplain's helmet and we all know what one of those looks like, in fact it's described in the pages:

'I’m stepping closer to the dying alien even as I speak, looking down through my skulled mask,'

Now the figure itself isn't especially 'skull like' but it's a bit more so than the cover

so why does it just look like standard Marine issue helmet? A minor annoyance,  it's only really going to upset us geeks, but it's mentioned more than a few times so it does grate on my nerves a little.

Other than that this is a great book. I'm thinking that these Space Marine Battle books may be a better read than the Horus Heresy ones They're not stuck with a massive story arc that can only be chipped away at and therefore not always deliver a story with a 'beginning', 'middle' and 'end'. Overall I came away with a big appreciation for the Templars. In some respects they're the 'knightly' Space Marine Chapter the Dark Angels should be. I remember a while back coming across this GW article on Black Templar Iconography and think it's be really fun just to plaster your figures with battle tokens and purity seals. If I hadn't gone down the Dark Angel route I may well have defected.

Saying all that they are pompous sods! I think it's cool that you get to see the difference between Chapters, there's some interesting exchanges between the Black Templars and Salamanders and their differences are quite interesting and you can easily understand their viewpoints, it's only really Grimaldus's own self reflection where you feel like slapping him, which I think is either his response or what he receives. But you can't help remember some times that whatever they say they are still a second founding chapter. You can't be too cocky about your purpose and ideals when you're not even a Chapter from the original Legions.

So I will definitely be looking to pick up The Purging of Kadillus (Space Marine Battles) as it focuses on the Dark Angels though I'm not entirely convinced that the Veteran Scout Sergeant and cocky company Captain storyline is something I care for. Meanwhile I will continue on with Ravenor: The Omnibus.

Terrain is everything - Hail the Omnissiah an old STC is found!

Further discoveries on Ferron Proxima have revealed another STC. Originally construction of  Hex Tower 2 were halted by the AdMech Servitor Team Epsilon as there were incomplete and contained corrupt sections of the STC. Using the latest quantum codifiers of Mathematorium Secundus, Team Epsilon were able to substitute pre-existing 'InGen pattern' code into the program matrix to complete the full STC.

These Hex Tower's are now being positioned at strategic locations throughout the Ferron Proxima heartlands. The raised observation position and defensive properties make them ideal lookout posts in the outland regions known for it's regular Xenos sightings. Given the discovery that Ferron Proxima was originally devoid of many hills and high ground, these lookout posts were another option instead of  Vulcan Plateaus due to their ease of construction. Quite often these towers are pre-fabricated and bolted onto a laid rockcrete foundation by bulk lifters. This has meant a rapid deployment of outposts across the Xenos hot spots in the outlands since it's rediscovery.

To access the full STC please point your Cogitators here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B97Rk-BalgZbYWQzNjIwZTMtODdjNC00OWNjLTk1OWQtYWVmZjRjMzgyOTI5/view?resourcekey=0-hYhgbTNXrzJnrVTjqPcpMw

This STC will be uploaded to the full Ferron Proxima STC library shortly. You can access the database here:

http://40kaddict.blogspot.com/2011/02/terrain-is-everything-standard-template.html

Look Around You! - Real world inspiration

Recently Brian at A Gentleman's Ones completed four massive gaming tables to help out with the Heroes Of Armageddon charity endeavour. What's more he detailed how he came up with the design for the tables and more importantly what local Chicago references he was inspired by that were built into the Hive and Wastelands that formed the table. It's truly awesome work, a great team effort and a worthy cause, so take a look.

Now I'm not jumping on the band wagon regarding real world inspiration blog posts, I've been thinking for quite a while about the things that are smacking me on the noggin on a daily basis that just want to be recreated in red rockcrete for little 28mm future space battles. The thing is I tend to have an obsessive nature, when I get interested in something I embrace it whole. In much the same way when you buy a new car and all you can ever see thereafter are the same make I'm like an exocet interest seeking missile, homing in on those things that take my fancy. Of course when you extrapolate that to include architecture, but not like some famous landmark but just a bit of concrete, well sometimes it's a bit of visual overload...

Anyway, here's a bit of inspo, up first some concrete foundation casts. These now form part of the base of a local shopping outlet South of the Car Park that inspired the step in the Vulcan Plateau. Equally these cast buttresses inspired the look and feel of the hill and a future version will reflect this aesthetic more so.

Back in February I attended the funeral for one of my son's Godparents on the coach back we stopped in Truro to pick up more passengers and this was the roof of one of the bus shelters and this heavily verdigris-ed roof was useful inspiration for my Honoured Imperium's Matt Black: Former hero of the Imperium. Obviously he's a bit more vibrant, the picture isn't a true reflection of his colours and maybe using Bonewhite might have matched the tone a bit better but it was useful source material nontheless.

Next up are some as yet unproductive forms of inspiration seen on my walk to the station. As we know 40k Ruins always look like this:

But in actual fact most multi-storey building are constructed with a central lift-shaft core Like these three tower cores being constructed in Manchester. Most of the surrounding building is steel frame girders. And yet this simple box-like constructure with multiple access points [read fire points] seems to be grossly under-represented on the battle field. Just imagine the possibility of a multi storey core with numerous corner and side pieces that represent the outer edges of the demolished structure, so much scope... Whether I have the time or inclination to capitalise on this remains to be seen.

Nearby is this car park. Aside from the glass panes on the building which would make an interesting alternative to the usual stone structures in 40k, I know they refer to it as 'grim-dark' but there would be still plenty of worlds that have access to some form of transparent building materials. It's the wire mesh stairway that interests me more. Granny Grating may not necessarily be the best material for recreating this, the gauge of the mesh is a bit too thick but a simple frame out of foamcard with a mesh up against it would be relatively  quick to produce.

I'd do away with the curves though. You may not be aware but Ferron Proxima shuns the use of curves, it's an architectural anomaly. Sure they are used in arches and some access ports but cylindrical buildings are unheard of. This apparently goes back to the time Governor Sub-Sector Pringle (locally known as 'the Mad Popper') and his sector wide purge on all things cylindrical. It was only through intervention by the Dark Angels Second Founding Chapter - the Angels of Vengeance that the desecration was stopped. The Governor was removed from office without any explanation. Years of random architectural destruction halted in one surgical strike. What happened, or where the Governor now resides is a mystery but rumours, whispered behind closed doors, that he now resides in a secured vault in 'The Rock' persist to this day.

Lastly, for the time-being. here's another building, strangely enough from the other view it looks very much like the 40k Bastion model, but I was struck by the waterfall-esque cascading roofs on the back. Plenty of scope for some tarnished copper panels with plenty of fire ports. Again, maybe not something that may eventually see light on the battlefield but it 'speaks to me' visually on a daily basis.

So if you're in the terrain game you need to keep your eyes open, bits and bobs can spring up and be just as exciting to bring forth into creation as painting the latest figure. In fact I'm getting more pleasure and reward from this kind of enterprise than the figures themselves, and if you hadn't noticed Ferron Proxima is benefiting from this no end!

Ebay sales I might regret - Ravenwing Attack Bikes

Here we have four of the Attack Bikes I had, of which I still have one, and a Jetbike. I have to say I did like this stile of Jetbike, certainly better than the original Rogue Trader model the just looked like, erm, Mothing really. The annoyring thing in this is the extra seat, just between the techmarines head and the multi-melta in the top left. Yep that's the seat I'm currently missing on remaining bike.

I'm pretty sure I knew at the time I had five of these but because these four were separate why I did not just keep that seat - 'just in case' I don't know. I don't think I regret selling them, they would be nice in my Ravewning but there's jsut too many of them and I'm struggling to fit in the bits I want as is. The fact they were all ridden by Techmarines would potentially be an issue if I cared about that but I don't. If I recall I got these from an independent game shop in Preston. We went in 6th Form to see the University of Central Lancashire and I think I ducked out at lunch, somehow found the place, remember this was before google maps, the internet and even photocopying street maps at the library was a challenge! And bought the five of them. Not sure what these babies cost in '92/'93, £2.50 each, £3.99? I had more money than sense back then.

This was the odd one out, in that it had the recessed handle bars which I wasn't a fan of but didn't have a choice in the shop, you got what was on display. Again this was the paint job before the Ravenwing was revealed as all black. My Chaplain, Brother Infernus, is reposted below so you can see where I was at. However, for some bizarre reason I went with a reversed out white with green rivets on the armored plates on the side of the tyres, what was I thinking?

The Techmarine on Jetbike. I'm a bit confused by this because he looks like he's been undercoated black but also primed with my Green Car Spray Paint. But why is his hand not primed [perhaps I was holding it there as it was sprayed] and why are some bits still showing the black undercoat? So many questions although I don't suppose it really matters now. Love his big Techmarine claw shoulder-pad. Doesn't exactly fit fluff-wise nowadays but I'd imagine they'd be perefect for Iron Hands Successor Chaptors such as the Red Talons or the rather more stupid looking [but better named] Brazen Claws, especially with all thother tech gubbins built into the armour.

Old school Space Marine Chaplain, on a bike! Brother Infernus to the rescue. This guy was supposed to zoom around the battle field dropping Vortex grenades like the easter bunny.