Thursday 3 February 2011

Epic Space Marines part 8. - Ultramarines part 4. Dreads and robots

Epic Ultramarine Dreadnoughts. Not a whole lot to say except the two Dreads with banners managed to do something spectacular in a battle to warrant such displays. I think one in particular took out my mate Chris's Eldar Avatar in one game. So they got the banners and some of the IG decals which look kinda cool if not totally Codex in today's gaming circles.


Just a little shift in focus to pick up on the back dread.


Robots, I loved robots in Epic because you got them on both the Space Marine and Imperial Guard Sprues so you could field quite a lot in your army if you'd bought both box sets, which I had. |I think they had specific 'programs' to follow but they weren't quite as restrictive as you'd imagine and if you paired them with the dreads for a little versatility all your bases were covered.

Wednesday 2 February 2011

My mate in the news

As you know it takes a rare moment to interupt my 'every other day' blogging schedule but today is one such moment.

My mate Liam made the BoLS Wargames Gallery yesterday. I've got a post coming up [eventually] about our 'old' gaming crew and Liam was very much a part of that crew 50% of games were held in his house. His painting and modelling skills are even more advanced now so please stop by BolS and show some love if you can.


Feel the earth tremble!

Tuesday 1 February 2011

40k future container scatter terrain - UPDATE, AGAIN!

As promised in my last update on 40k future container scatter terrain here's an update on the 7 further containers I produced. Before I begin though lets remind ourselves of the wonderful Mentos Cubes donor skeleton.

And here's the first tutorial that showed how to make them.

First up is my liquid container encased in wire mesh.
Firstly I removed the lid and used a poster tube cap to create a new lid. I got some circular 'granny grating' to go on the top. Two corners had brass picture hooks for lifting, the other two corners had some crafting gems, octagonal shaped, they look like ornate rivets/bolts. Then I got some 'granny grating' and judiciously removed chunks of it to get a mesh size suitable to fit the cube.


As you can see some of the grid that was cut out leaves behind stubs but I like this, it makes it look more like rebar, it's more texture at least. I also added some corrugated cardboard on the base so it looks like it's on an integral pallet. The mesh had to have some bits of wire tied round it to ensure the mesh box stayed together but plenty of PVA 'welding' is holding it together. There are also corner supports on the base. Still got to finish the painting, silver on the mesh and rust effects. Not overly keen on my semi transparent plastic with stagnant green liquid inside but there's not much I can do.

Below is the Dark Angel Container, reinforced at opposite corners with some more octagonal shaped crafting gems for rivets. First level of rust applied, orange still to add and metallic scrapes. Also DA chapter markings.


Here's the Biohazard containers. The two with caps on are obviously the right way up. I removed the lid and used a poster tube cap to create a new lid. I used a template to cut out the Biohazard symbol for one lid and used the blank for the other. Two corners had brass picture hooks for lifting, the other two corners had some crafting gems. The third container is the usual upside down reinforced version with 'granny grating' on the top. Not 100% convinced on the yellow, but as it's not finished yet hopefully the orange rust still to add,  metallic scrapes and markings should tone them down a little bit.


Lastly a group shot with the two OOCL containers. Again the rust is a bit overpowering and it's not quite as beige as I'd hoped but we'll reserve judgement until they're complete. Still not sure if keeping them to fewer colours would have worked better, time will tell.


There's still a little something missing in the paint-jobs, they certainly don't have the realism of my turquoise containers, but I have to recall my fundamental law of painting - 'reserve judgement until complete'. So many times I've been unhappy about a model's progress only to be overjoyed at the final results. The original containers themselves went through this process and came out alright, their siblings deserve the same chance.

Sunday 30 January 2011

Epic Space Marines part 7. - Ultramarines part 3. Armoured support

More from my Epic Ultramarines, a selection of amoured support. First up some original Predators, I actually attempted the same effect with my large scale Dark Angels - a ruddy great orange turret! Unfortunately I can't find it anyhwere, so I currently have a 40k Predator chassis, with the las-cannon sponsons but no turret!


Original Whirlwinds, based on the DIY tutorial that was in White Dwarf. I made two full scale Whirlwind Turrets at the time, I've still got them and they're detachable so may wellfeature in my reborn Dark Angels force.


Lastly, Vindicators. These are the Mk 2 design from Epic. I have some of the original Mk 1's based on the DIY tutorial that was in White Dwarf but these were the ones I got fully painted, decalled and varnished. Maybe the decals are a bit Imperial Guard now but I still like the idea that these models have markings on top, so they can be seen clearly by Titans and Gunships overhead. It really brings a sense of scale.

Friday 28 January 2011

Epic Space Marines part 6. - Ultramarines part 2. Thunderhawks

Here's my Thunderhawks. G.O.D. I loved Thunderhawks in Epic. They were the single best unit for Space Marines, shortly followed by Land Raiders and then Tarantulas [in my book]. Realistically there was no way the amount of stands suggested could fit inside one but they were the best delivery unit.

Drop pods were ridiculous, you put a stack of card drop pod markers on a blast template, balanced it on a ruler, then tipped the template, where a marker landed you replaced it with a pod. If it landed off-table or on terrain I think it was destroyed and even if it did land units on First Fire orders got to 'snap fire' at the incoming pods and blow them up before landing - useless!

Better to have one of these babies swoop in from anywhere, blast hell out of everything with it's rockets and cannon and then carry on being a thorn in your opponents side for the remainder of the game.


As you can see there's a squad of three for some Tactical Units and a personal transport, I think this was for a Chaplain, or an Inquisitor, whatever I felt was the best option at the time. Two coloured decals were used to get the winged Ultramarine Skull.

Not so sure how I feel the new version of the Thunderhawk shapes up against these, design-wise, then again these aren't exactly iconic [or even aerodynamic] but I've always liked them nontheless.

Actually, just spotted they look more like the new Stormraven with underslung wings than a Thunderhawk...

Wednesday 26 January 2011

Biel Tan-tastic

So my son got some Eldar for Christmas, that seems ages ago now but this blog isn't always current. Anyway despite my request for advice and my son's initial desire for Iyanden and Nacretineï he decided on Biel Tan. Not sure why, his cousin has White Scars army so they'll look very similar. Now despite my instructions to 'not interfere' I thought I'd at least come up with some painting plans for him to follow so he could get a decent result. However, when I asked him if he wanted to start on some of my old Warhammer Fantasy Battle High Elves he said 'no, he'd rather go straight to the Guardians and Jetbike'. 

Of course I sat with him and painted these fellas whilst he did, ultimately wishing I hadn't because I found a better solution in my tests than the one I suggested based on this tutorial. I really liked Lloyd's guide and his Guardian looked cool but perhaps a beginner using Badab Black as a light wash for white isn't always going to be subtle. 

Anyhoo my test below from left to right is 
  • Vallejo Stonewall grey basecoat with white drybrush [subtle]
    Black basecoat helmet with Sap Green craft acrylic [glossy]
  • Vallejo Stonewall grey basecoat, Badab Black wash, with white drybrush [less subtle]
    Black basecoat helmet with Vallejo Dark Green [matt]
  • Vallejo Stonewall grey basecoat, Badab Black wash, with white drybrush [less subtle]
    White basecoat helmet with Vallejo Dark Green [neon but kind of acts like a wash so built in highlights]
  • Anita's Baby Blue craft acrylic basecoat, with white drybrush [so subtle, so pretty, soperfect]
    Black basecoat helmet with Sap Green craft acrylic [glossy]
The right one is what he should have done, less mess, easier to do and quicker as it's one less paint to add.



So here is my son's first Jetbike using the 'Vallejo Stonewall grey basecoat, Badab Black wash, with white drybrush [less subtle] and Black basecoat helmet with Vallejo Dark Green [matt] method.


And the Guardians...


To be honest I can't say I've learned enough from my Being a Pushy Dad post. I've still helped to much, there were tears and tantrums and really I should just leave him to it. On the plus side we had two sessions of painting to get to this stage and he did instigate the second session which is progress in my book and I think I left him to it more the second time. Inbetween all these Eldar I've got him painting a Genestealer and a base of Rippers but I've not photographed them.

Monday 24 January 2011

'nids part 14. Trygon interlude

Now that you've seen how the Hive Fleet got it's colour scheme here's another example of a big gribbly. I'll put some bigger pics up at some point, he's had some highlights added to his talons since these were taken and I may add one final set of turquoise highlights, as I did with the Tervigon.


The hardest part about painting a Trygon in this way is the tail, that baby goes on forever! Loads of striping and dotting |||| .:.:.