Reinforcements - Send In The Dogs!

Told you I was getting back into the swing of things! The paints and brush are back on the table, which is a good feeling. I've been working on a counts-as Khorne Hounds unit for my Rat Daemon army. The above is a unit of 15, which comes in at 225 points of super fast, Grey Knight slaughtering goodness.

I bought a bunch of Chaos Warhounds from the fantasy range, then used green stuff to fill the holes on either side of their head where the horns are supposed to go. That turned out to be rather easy as the scuplting tool could just follow the lines of the hair to either side.

Here they are a little closer. These photos were taken with my new iPhone 5 and it is way better at photographing miniatures that the 4. I'll bring the rest of the rats home from work and take some nice closeup pics of the army very soon.

The dogs will let me run my Daemons at 750 points without Fateweaver, using a list like this:
 
Herald of Tzeentch - Daemonic Gaze, Bolt of Tzeentch 80
8 Horrors - Bolt of Tzeentch, The Changeling 151
5 Horrors - Bolt of Tzeentch 95
5 Horrors - Bolt of Tzeentch 95
8 Nurglings - 104
15 Flesh Hounds 225 
750 points

Resurrecting my Plague Marines III: Army Lists

I'll tell you what; building armies with this new codex is a refreshing change - there are plenty of options! Here is something I am confident I would love to play.

Resurrecting my Plague Marines II: The Unpainted

Following on from my previous post, here I am going to go through my unpainted / unassembled Chaos Space Marine models. These forces have been gathered from bargain purchases off Wargamer AU in the four years since I built the original army. These reserves have been patiently awaiting their chance to be unleashed on unsuspecting enemies and spread a little pestilence.

In general I love the assembly and modelling part of the hobby, but the level of detail I have gone to in this army makes some of the tasks a little onerous. Still with a new codex (well I don't actually have the codex but its starting to look like I'll have to pick it up) one can find the patience and energy to do what has to be done :)

Resurrecting my Plague Marines I: The Painted

Well, well, well. A new Chaos Space Marines codex sees the light of days. Four years ago (or something to that effect) I was just getting back into 40k. I had harboured a fondness for the followers of Nurgle for a long time, and made the commitment to start a Nurgle army. My idea was to theme the force around a Chaos Sorcerer and his immediate retinue, supported by a horde of plague animate zombies brought back to life by the Sorcerer's will.

By the time I had got my shit together and bought a couple of CSM boxes, the new simplified codex wa released and my plans were in tatters. The best they could do was vary my zombies as Lesser Daemons, which didn't really work thematically. They (and my chaos lord) didn't have Feel No Pain damn it! I love my FNP. I built that force up to around 1200 points, before my "el cheapo" Crimson Fists force started to dominate my hobby time.

Review: 28mm Russian Heads from West Wind Productions

I'm building a WWII Russian themed Imperial Guard Armoured Company. Its taking me a while, but one of the blockers has just been overcome - my Russian heads from West Wind Productions have finally arrived. West Wind have a line they call their Separate Heads System, where most of the heads they make for 28mm lines are available separately.

Firstly, let me complain about how long these tool to arrive. They took a LONG TIME. Checking my emails, I put my order in on 23rd June and was informed they shipped from the UK on 5th July, two weeks later. They arrived OVER FIVE WEEKS after that, on 10th August. Don't expect swift service here folks.

At least everything arrived as ordered.  I ordered 80 heads with helmets and 20 with caps. They come in packets of 20, with four connected to each sprue, cast in white metal. There is also a colourfully illustrated catalogue, that sadly has no pictures. Duh! There aren't any pics online either, I had to go sight unseen and that doesn't help sales folks.

40k Squeaky Daemons

Kai-Rat Fatecheeser!

I'm going to the Judgement Day 7 tournament on August 4th, less than three weeks from today. They are going to be running 6th edition, of which I have not even seen the rulebook. I'm not going to buy the big rule book (its $120 is Australia!) so I pretty much will have to learn the rules from the internet. That should be fun.

However in order to keep myself on my toes I have decided to build a new army for the event. Its a stupid idea I have been playing with in my head for a while - building a budget Chaos Daemons army using only the skaven models from the Isle of Dread box. My original idea was to model Horrors by taking a basic skaven model and replacing the hand weapons with sculpted flames, so that each rat's hand appears engulfed in fire. The flames would be painted blue/green/yellow to look magicky.

The next logical step is to use the Rat Ogre models as Daemon Princes. Also with their hand on fire to represent the good old Bolt of Change. I had done a couple of test scupts of fire when I was thinking of building a fire themed Ork army, with Wierdboys on fire and Lobbas with flaming ammunition. So I knew it was possible.

I've got a set of moon-themed resin bases that I won at Judgement Day 5, which I am going to use mainly because I have all the right base sizes. My idea in painting them is to keep the colours drab, paint the flames and eyes bright, then have a have a stab at object source lighting. Might not be a good idea to do that in the next three weeks though! I guess they will be lucky to get three colours in the time available.

I have a few more ideas to round out the army. I have some Giant Rats that will work beautifully as Nurgling bases. The LotR Warg models will make a perfect Flesh Hound - everyone needs something to deal with the ubiquitous Grey Knights right? Finally the skaven two-rat special weapons teams should be convertable into Flamers with a little thought.

Thank the lord that Judgement Day aren't requiring list submission before the even. I have a heap of list ideas though I need to settle soon if I am to make sure that everything is painted. I'll leave you for now with the two examples of lists I am thinking of taking:

Squeaky Daemons (750)
Herald of Tzeentch - We are Legion, Master of Sorcery, Bolt of Tzeentch (95)
8 Horrors - Bolt of Change, Changeling (151)
5 Horrors - Bolt of Change (95)
5 Horrors - Bolt of Change (95)
8 Nurglings (104)
Daemon Prince - Mark of Tzeentch, Daemonic Flight, Master of Sorcery, Bolt of Tzeentch (210)

Squeaky Daemons with Cheese (749)
Fateweaver (333)
5 Horrors - Bolt of Change (95)
5 Horrors - Bolt of Change (95)
5 Horrors - Bolt of Change (95)
8 Flesh Hounds - Fury of Khorne (130)

New and Old Projects

I'm about to start assembling and modeling on a new 40k army, and I'm getting pretty excited about it. This will initially be a 750 point force hopefully ready for this years Judgement Day around August. The great thing about this project is that the total cost of the models is only going to be $30! How is Plague Marine going to perform such a feat? Well there is going to be a lot of sculpting involved; by the end of this I should be a master a sculpting flames and painting object source lighting. That's all I'm going to say for now, but you should see more once I complete a test model.

Anyway this lead me to sit back for a second and ask the question: exactly how many projects am i juggling at the moment?

WIP "Young Helbrecht" Sneek Peek

For an upcoming campaign, I'm painting and adding new models to my Crimson Fists army so that I can play a 3000 point all deep strike list.

I'm going to need a Helbrecht counts - as; and it just so happens that I have his headless body, with distinctive back-slung combi-melta, lying in my bits box from. Well that made this project easy. I had to cover his bionic arm with green stuff as he hasn't lost it yet - that happens at the culmination of the campaign!.

The final touch really glams up the model. There were a bunch of cherub-held cloaks in the bits box at Battle Bunker so I grabbed one. I think it makes him look cool.

The Necron Abyss Conspiracy

I now have around 6000 points of Crimson Fists, of which around 4000 points are painted. I start with a coat of Necron Abyss across basically the whole model. It's a great color - dark but still visible, and as close to purple as a blue can get whilst staying manly.

So imagine my horror when, listening to the last episode of the Turn 8 podcast, the host drops the bombshell that Necron Abyss and Regal Blue (a disgusting blue reminiscent of Ultramarines) both map to the same foundation colour accordin to Games Workshop.

British Parachute Company - Pics!

I've been a lazy photographer for many months now. But I have not been so lazy at the painting table. So now that I have finally got off my butt and taken a few photos, I would like to proudly present my 1500 points of British Parachute Company all painted and varnished. 

What Up With The Plague

Hi. Long time no see. It just doesn't seem that I have the time to post regularly at the moment, so sporadic will have to do. Also, I really suck at photographing minis, mainly because of terrible indoor lighting. I've got a bunch of minis to show you, but need to organise a photo shoot. Looks like this post is going to degenerate into me telling you about the projects I have been up to recently.

Firstly I have bought the 3rd edition Flames of War rulebook and am in the process of reading this tome. Its full colour, beautifully illustrated with a massive index. The inside cover map is beautiful. And it comes with a free army list book. Expect a review when I have finished it.

Rifleman Dread Conversion Tutorial

Apologies if you have seen this before - I accidentally published it before it was ready, a few months ago now. Yes it has taken me that long to finish off the article! Hope you enjoy it...

Ah the Rifleman, the unlikely star of 5th edition. Taking the humble autocannon and turning it into a reliable transport wrecking blizzard of firepower. Here's a snapshot of one of my Rifleman Dreadnoughts. I'm very happy with the way that they turned out, and their performance on the tabletop. There don't seem to be tutorials with anyone building them my way on the web, so I felt duty bound to share the process with you lot.

Cheap-As Counts-As Paladins

As a self-confessed Terminator lover, I was really itching to build myself a Grey Knight Terminator army ever since the Codex rumours started. When stories of 2 wound Terminator Troops did the rounds my ears perked up, as I realised that an army of these guys could be bought incredibly cheaply. I started to look through my collection to see what I could sell to finance another army.

Today I had the sudden realisation that I basically already have all the models I need. I just need to pick up a new batch of magnets, and a few weapon options I don't already have, and mod my Loyalist Terminators up so that they can fill the role of Grey Knight Paladin on the battlefield.

Why go out and buy a set of models that are virtually identical to the models I already own - including another 2 rifleman dreads? The answer would be for the modeling and painting potential, and to avoid confusion. Well I am happy with my Crimson Fists from an appearance perspective, and am sure I can do the modeling to overcome any confusion in the counts-as department. Besides, the list I am going to build has 14 models so how much confusion could there be?

Scratch Built Thunderfire Cannon - Part 1

I've always wanted to try out the stupendous firepower of the Thunderfire Cannon on the battlefield. Sadly the only time I proxied one it died in the first turn of shooting and never got to return fire :( Sure it's fragile, but that is mitigated somewhat by the 60" range and 3+ cover save that it is hopefully getting.

I was donated an already painted Techmarine a few years ago. I was playing him as Master of the Forge for my Terminator/Dreadnought list. So I have that covered, and it seemed that scratch building a Thunderfire Cannon to go with him shouldn't be too hard... The theme of my Crimson Fists army is "cheap", so the idea fits that perfectly :) I have never done a scratch build before, so don't expect anything wondrous. I should be able to scale the lofty peak of "servicable" however.

Here are the bits I am going to use. The tracks and engine plate come from an old Ork vehicle, a Razorback roof plate and gun casings (i think?) and a bunch of bits kindly donated to the project by Battle Bunker Aki (including the punisher cannon - thanks mate!)

Review: Back 2 Base-ix Flight Stands

Anyone who owns a model based atop a Games Workshop flying stand knows that they suck. When that little plastic pin snaps off it not only leaves you with a useless flying stand, it also blocks the damn pinhole so that you need to drill it out before another stand will work. And these bloody things break all the time!

Did you know that you no longer need to suffer needlessly from this ailment? There is a product that will solve all your problems... Back 2 Base-ix flying stands are the answer my friend. These little babies use laser-cut transparent acrylic and magnets to deliver a basing solution that really works. I am in the process of converting my Tau army over, and am loving the results. It really is a different world, free of stress and frustration :)

Painting my 2nd ed Tanks

I am methodically working through painting an addition six Rhino chassis that I have picked up through various second hand purchases on wargamerau. I probably only spend a couple of hours a week on them if I am lucky, so it is taking me a while - but they are progressing at a regular pace.

At this stage I have done all the base colours, which to me is the hardest part of any project. Washes and highlights take up far less time because you are dealing with a lot less paint at these stages. I have started applying Badab Black to provide shading across the models. This will be followed by 2 layers of lighter blue (they are base coated in Necron Abyss) and hand painting the fists logo - something I had done on every one of my models in this army.

Some of you may never have seen the old models for Space Marine vehicles. Well I present the Vindicator, Whirlwind and Predator. The models certainly look different to their modern equivalents!

I am especially fond of the Vindicator and would love to have two more for my collection. It is my firm believe that Vindicators should always travel in threes on the battlefield. Notice how I have replaced the twin-linked bolters that came with these old models with terminator storm bolters.

The Whirlwind model is OK but has too many metal studs for me to paint! This one looks like it has suffered some battle damage from a previous owner.

Now I have 3 Dakka Predators - each armed with an autocannon and two heavy bolters. That's some serious firepower!

Building a Travel 40k Set

I don't have much of a budget to spend on my hobby. When you combine two children with a large mortgage it doesn't leave much left for the finer things in life. So I have to be smart when it comes to making hobby purchases. Most of my armies have been carefully scraped together from the scraps off other gamers' tables. It can actually be a lot of fun to use my conversion skills to take a pre-loved model and turn it into something that looks good on the table.

Like most of us I have this secret desire to build an army or three for just about every codex out there. Army ideas come a lot faster than finished projects! So after lusting after the idea of a jetbike Seer Council, and adding up how much it would cost me even in second hand models, I had the idea to build some armies using magnetised Epic miniatures. I must admit I had thought about this a couple of years ago, but it was placed on the hobby project back-burner. Well now is the time for me to give it a go and see what eventuates.

The idea is to build a Travel 40k set - a board and terrain that it sprayed with metallic paint. I will then magnetise the model bases, so that the board can be folded up into a case and transported around! You could easily play part of a game, then pack it up in seconds - great for the busy father. My intention is to base the smaller minis using fridge magnets so that they don't hold on so tightly that they get snapped in two.

The first thing I did was hit google, and I was suprised that there wasn't very much out there. I did find two brilliant forum links that are well worth having a look at:

• WarSeer: So last night I painted 2 Revenant Titans...
• WarSeer: Magnetic Travel 40k!

So it can be done! Well I worked my eBay mojo and managed to snag 20 Eldar jetbikes, 10 Vipers and most of an Eldar Warhost sprue - this has all the aspect warriors and other eldar foot models. Also in the deal were 3 Fire Prisms and 2 Falcons. The package arrived from England this week, and I was very impressed by the quality of the models given their scale. With a bit of attention I hope to paint them half as well as these awesome Grey Knights.