Is it Friday the 13th? Business as usual here!

After my most successful blogging month ever, it seems some of my biggest referrers have been 'rounded up and shot'. That's a real hit for the community, especially when our appetite for the information they were dealing was so ravenous. I guess that there's a certain amount of 'playing with matches' to some of that content though and the inevitable happened, a real shame for all of us. Hopefully I've treated most of my posts with asbestos gloves but I guess it's a lesson for bloggers big and small and to enjoy the time we have lest it be 'ceased and desisted'.

Until such time I will continue to offer free templates and gaming aids for the community and hobbyist and in these times where the tallest of trees have been felled perhaps it will allow the smaller trees to grow in the sunshine? Probably not, it's more like the big guys have been pulling us up to bask in the sunshine with them, lets hope they're back with us soon the made the hobby a dynamic and exciting place full of rumour and speculation.

WHY??!!

A little bit of Ferron Proxima

Slightly off topic, but when has that ever stopped me. My brother has been with his girlfriend for over a year now and one of the side effects of being with someone who runs a pet shop is the animals you begin to crave. Aside from the parrot they've got together he's also developed a love for lizards. Anyway, he'd got this little 'hide' for them and wanted it painted. Originally I was going to do it sandstone coloured but given my wealth of experience with Ferron Proxima effects I htought it simplest to just recreate a little bit of Ferron geology.

Once again it was Black Car primer then Red Oxide, followed by various dry brushing of Vermilion and my Pumpkin Orange Craft Acrylics.

Lastly some Capuccino Craft Acrylic. Andrew was going to then coat it with marine varnish as apparently that isn't as harmful to the environment given it's in the water with the fishies and little lizards get might anxious around strong smells.

Here's a side view so you can see how I applied some zenithal highlighting, both with the Red Oxide spray and the subsequient drybrushing.

I was quite pleased in the end and surprised that my technique scaled up from 28mm models to large pieces of resin, also because it was something I was familiar with it didn't take too long either.

Warhammer World Photobomb pt5. Miscellany and ToS winners

 The Last bucket load of pictures, here's the Empire general [Karl Franz?] on his War Griffon. I think this was a Golden Daemon entry.

Space Hulk Broodlord and Killa Kan.

May have repeated these Dark Vengeance shots but nevermind.

I saw these Wood Elf Eagle Riders and fell in love

Particularly the little wooden face guards. Liam preferred the Hobbit eagles but I thought these were cool.

Little hooded mask.

Green Arrow!

Gnoblars [?], I think they're cool, like something out of the muppets!

Manticore, would like some of these wings for my second Hive Tyrant.

Oh, Fenris came to Warhammer World while we were unawares.

Here's the awards, although I actually got a bit bored part way through and my award acceptance wasn't capture :(

Otty, triumphant AGAIN!

The Howling Griffon General at least won something.

Liam taking on all comers...

... and yet more accolades.

That's me in the middle, with the brown hoody with the rest of the best army nominees.

Stood next to Mat [the eventual winner] and Liam on Mat's left.

My 2 awards.

Oh yeah, here's my mate Lee, switching from Tyranids to Dark Angels and comes home with best Unforgiven player.

Overall winner - Blood Angels.

Liam gets his 4th award - best sport, alongside 7 others!

Lastly my 3 buds as we leave the GW staff canteen on Sunday night. Cheers guys!

Terrain is everything - Inquisitorial Vault/Reformatry/Bastille

So I've had this Inquisitorial Vault in development for a while. I'd looked at creating a number of straight sided buildings with less gothic elements and more 'brutalist' architecture however during the process I've reintroduced some of the gothic bits - buttresses, detailing etc. with the main feature being numerous windows with bevelled insets.

Each horizontal edge will have a 5x5mm strip spanning the width. I will be using cable ties to face them and cover the exposed foam edges. There will also be vertical buttress strips 10mm deep that will also be faced the same and will stand 10mm or so above the rooftop wall. All the window cavities will be card faced with an additional sheet of foamboard on the bottom of the building.

To make sure the windows were as neat as possible I actually printed a second template and mounted it on the back. This way I could cut through the rear inner window rebate and then turn it over and cut through the outer window at an angle. This turned out to be the neatest finish compared to a test piece which was to cut through all the way down and then all the way up and hope the cuts lined up on the reverse [which it didn't]. Oh, it's pretty much A4 in size, the Space Marine in the doorway used for scale.

Anyway, once the plans are down and you get to have a go you'll soon get the hang of it - new blades an absolute must, because here's what comes next the Inquisitorial Reformatry and Bastille. The Vault is the middle bit it'll be split diagonally so you can gain access inside. The outer Reformatry will also be split diagonally so you can enclose the Vault. The Bastille will sit in the Modular Plug socket on the roof of the Vault. There's also plenty of option for change at this stage. Access to the interior of the Bastille will be difficult so I may consider making the windows double height [and/or width], with option to mix it up a bit [although you'd have to create your own window capping for the insets]. Equally you could choose not to add the buttresses and horizontal details, filling in windows as and when you see fit. I had planned to use some plastic folder wallets for windows too!

Anyway, so that's a little leak of what's going down in Avro Vulcan's workshop, unusually open considering the nature of the plans, perhaps he's trying to prevent being scooped by the Free Radical Collective? The positive note is that the Vault is coming along so the STC will definitely be this year ;) Coincidentally I was watching RED recently and noticed it had a similar aesthetic as the Original Headquarters Building of the CIA.

The funny thing about this build and the accelerated progress is it's all a smoke screen, a 'flim-flam', it's really just procrastination for painting the Dark Angels and the worst [or best] thing about it is this is not the only build I've started. Given my recent success with my Tyranid Aegis Defence Line I'm looking to add something else to my Nids that won't cost me a penny but for my time and creativity...

Cheap figure carry cases and other storage solutions

When discussing my 'secret shame' last year I showed how to make a cheap carry case for figures. I mentioned I'd bought a bigger 24 capacity box and here it is.

The bigger holes are perfect for the slightly more bulky Ymgarl Genestealers and Hormagaunts that are ready to pounce with Talons flailing.

My smaller box is still in use.

As you can see though some of the Stealers are a bit snug in the foam.

but that's not all, I also needed something to store my various markers in and nipped to my local £1 shop and got one of these weekly pill organisers. Now they're just a little small for the triangular psychic markers - I can just about fit 3 in each. The Objective markers are also a tight fit but I'm sure if I shrink the printing by 10% in future they'll be perfect. The elastic band is holding all the separate strips in place, so they don't fall out and it also makes a handy holder for a toothpick, which is the best way to lever out any stuck markers. I did also get one of the smallest craft boxes from the range I used for the figures above. At 59p it was certainly cheaper and had bigger but fewer containers. However there was a gap between the walls separating the containers and the lid so despite organising them they would easily become mixed up. I'm pretty sure another piece of that grey foam would prevent them getting out though.

Alternatively, you can go for the individual pots, here I've used the ever handy Kinder Surprise eggs. I gifted these to each of my opponents at Throne of Skulls, complete with MKII wound markers. It's not completely a bribe for best game [it certainly didn't work in my favour] but more an advert for the blog and get people using the markers. Unlike October where I gave them out at the end I gave them to each opponent before we began and most of them immediately popped them open at the first opportunity to use them in play which justified my decision to gift them beforehand. As there so easy to make it's no skin off my nose, or yours either should you be wishing to share the goodness at your own tournament, just a thought.