WH 40K Orks! New Deff Dredd

Inspiration is a funny thing. I was in my FLGS on Friday and I spotted the boxed set for the relatively new Ork Deff Dredd, and I decided I wanted to do it. We're having a "Haunted Tank" 40K event at the Phantom on Sunday, and I wanted to do something new for my already massive Space Ork force.

So here it is! What a great plastic kit! Allowed me to really stretch my weathering techniques to the next level!











And here's a size comp shot--what a brute!




I'll report on how he does later next week!

--Scott

Dark Eldar: A Grotesque Stand-In

I am all for using official models for games, but sometimes you just find a figure from another game that really works. It happened last year when I was readying my Tyranid force for our Perfect Swarm event at Phantom. I found the perfect stand-in for a Venomthrope model in the Reaper Warlord line.

In the case of the upcoming Dark Eldar for Warhammer 40,000, the Grotesques have been re-made into a large-based hulking brute-squad. We won't see new Grotesque models until sometime in 2011, so in the meantime, I'd like to field them with some suitable stand-ins. Enter, Vor: The Maelstrom. This old sci-fi skirmish game from the late 1990's had a short lifespan, but produced some pretty interesting models which are still sold at the Iron Wind Metals web site.

Among them, the Neo-Soviet Cyclops monstrous infantry will make ideal Grotesques for the DE! At $6.50 a pop, you can't beat the price, and the figs are scary-awesome. I have one in my collection right now that I have used for many RPG's over the years. It's got an older, dipped paint job that still stands up pretty well. I snapped a few pics to show off the look and scale of the figure. Check it out!











As you can see in the comp shot above, that's a 40mm base he's on, and the scale works out pretty closely with what the pics in the DE codex indicate. My buddy Rico and I will be ordering 3 apiece of these excellent models to add to our DE Kabals.

While you're on the Iron Wind site, do yourself a favor and also check out some of the other excellent Vor minis, especially the Neo-Sov Mutants--perfect for Dark Heresy and other sci-fi games!

I may sneak in another post this weekend, but if not, Happy Halloween!

--Scott

Re-Reading Ravenor

I've talked about what a huge Dan Abnett fan I am on this blog before, but it seems like the last 3-4 fall seasons I've gotten in the habit of re-reading his Ravenor trilogy. I still have the original hardcover editions, but I also have the softcover collection seen at the link above. I think I do this because I first read the stories around Thanksgiving.

I also re-read Eisenhorn about once a year, most often in the summer time. As I contemplate running a new Dark Heresy mini-campaign, these books provide the perfect inspiration. It's my hope that Mr. Abnett is even now beavering away on the final trilogy of Inquisition novels, as he has alluded to having one in the works.

Fans like myself can only hope this is the case!

--Scott

The Archon's Court

I have finished my starting Archon's Court for the Dark Eldar. These are the aliens he gets to pal around with during his missions.



What you see above are 2 Sslyth, 1 Lhamaean, 1 Medusae, and 1 Ur-Ghul. As I expand the army, it's my plan to add at least 1-2 more Ur-Ghuls.



Above you can see a closer shot of the 2nd Sslyth I've converted and a Lhamaean. She has been converted using old DE bodies and arms, and a plastic Daemonette head. Below you can see a close-up of her backside and the poison vials I converted using plastic grenades:







Below here's a close-up of the Medusae and the Ur-Ghul.



The Medusae are energy beings hiding out inside a humanoid host. Again, I employed another older DE body, but this time used the arms and head from an Empire Flagellant. Medusae hosts have visors that cover their faces and eyes, and when they raise their visor, powerful energy beams shoot out.

The Ur-Ghul is simply a plastic WFB Ghoul model. It seemed a perfect fit, and I did nothing to alter it.

Here's another shot of my DE flesh tone that I am working on:




This week I hope to complete the old Raider I was given by my buddy Bill (thanks again, Bill!), and perhaps do some planning for our store-related DE kickoff events. Rico has some cool stuff brewing, so I intend to help him out and make the arrival of the new DE models as fun as possible!

--Scott

We Who Are About to Die...

I am patiently waiting for the Dark Eldar plastic Wych boxed set to be released in 2 weeks. In the meantime, I needed to perfect my method for painting their flesh, because I will need to do a lot of it! My buddy Rico suggested this method:

--Prime Black
--Basecoat with GW Dwarf Flesh
--Wash with GW Leviathan Purple
--Highlight with a mix of Dwarf Flesh and Deneb Stone

Well, I needed a test model to try this on, and I had a Foundry gladiator sitting around primed in my backlog, so out he came, and I am quite pleased with my results!







There can always be some fine-tuning to the method, but the key is that this looks pretty good, and will be executable over many models. Can't wait to get those Wyches, and now this guy can join Lanista Pyle's stable of fighters!

--Scott

Halfling Wizard

At some point we're going to try the new D&D Essentials RPG material from Wizards, and I have been thinking about what sort of character I might want to play. One of the options I wanted to try was a Halfling Wizard. Finding suitable halflings for traditional D&D is pretty easy, and now since halflings got a little larger from 3.5 to 4E, many of the old D&D Minis gnomes also fit the bill.

Here's a Gnome I've re-painted to act as a Halfling Spellcaster.





This is a total re-paint, starting with a light brush primer of black, and going from there. I added the knife from my bits box--it's a GW knife I sliced off of a Mordheim figure. The moon wand is also kit-bashed from something, the source of which I cannot remember, but the bit looked good, so I used it.

Anyway, I've also got some interest in the Slayer version of the Essentials Fighter, so that may be an option as well.

This weekend, Gamma World!

--Scott

Dark Eldar: Meet The Sslyth!

There are many very cool things about the new Dark Eldar codex, but in leafing through my shop's preview copy, I noticed that the Dark Eldar Archon can surround himself with a retinue of trusted alien bodyguards. You see, the Dark Eldar are so treacherous that an Archon simply will not trust his own kind to watch his back.

The four alien types written up for this purpose are completely new, and among them include the Sslyth, snake-bodied alien fighters who are extremely tough and quite good in a fight.

I wanted to try my hand at modeling these cool new Xenos, so I came up with a plan to combine WFB Saurus plastics with Kroot plastics. Add in a bit of green stuff, and the Sslyth come to life!



Above is the finished product, all painted and ready for the retinue! I've got more painted shots to show off, but first, here are a few unpainted looks to give a better idea of the components of this conversion.







The conversion requires two sets of Kroot arms and two Saurus bodies. Remove the molded-on leg from the first Saurus body with clippers (the other leg comes separate), then use green stuff to fill in the holes and bulk out the "snake" body. A blob of green stuff should also be employed to help anchor the finished body to the base (along with some plastic glue).

Saw the top portion off of the second Saurus body, and then saw just a smidge at the proper angle from the first body. Join the two bodies with plastic glue. Use green stuff to fill any unsightly gaps. Then play with the Kroot arms until you get the desired fit. I also tweaked my arms a bit to give them different looking weapon load-outs.

Here are some more images of the finished model:












My ideas about Sslyth crystallized as I made this conversion. I envision them using their 4 arms to aid in locomotion when not in battle. When the fighting starts, their short but powerful snake bodies allow them to keep up with the Archon and utilize their full complement of deadly weapons.

Here's a comp shot with one of the new DE Warriors:




One of the core ideas with these guys is that they're mercs, so I tried to give my first conversion a lot of gear. As I perfect my methods on these, I will add different types of non-Kroot gear to further distance them from the Kroot frames. These guys are 35 pts. per model and you can have 1 - 3 of them, but I think their stats justify their cost. I intend to make more!

--Scott

Dark Eldar Raider!

Continuing with previews of the new DE stuff, this week I built and painted the new Raider, the DE basic transport vehicle. Now when a shop gets a "black box" from GW, they don't include any of the normal packaging or instructions, so I was forced to use pics of the ones GW had on their site.

Aside from some quibbles with how the basic chassis and deck plates go together, the build is not too bad, and likely would have gone even more smoothly with instructions.

I am quite happy with the finished product, although I did leave quite a bit off--the riders hanging from either side and many of the banner poles included suggested a storage and transport nightmare to me, so into the bits box they went.



I needed to come up with a device or symbol that I could free-hand, and that was repeatable. My buddy Rico suggested the name "Kabal of the Crimson Tear", so I went with what you see on the sail below.










I decided that Warriors constantly scrabbling up and down the hull would dirty this vehicle up, and I wanted to make my Kabal look likes it's been on campaign for a while, so I employed some basic weathering techniques to make that happen.










Finally, I wanted to include a shot of the new Raider side by side with the old one. I still like the old model, and once I get this one painted (thanks, Bill!), I will happily use it in the same force as the new one.



The old one you see above has been converted a bit with some additional bits. It will get a similar paint scheme to the new one. Sorry for the blurry pic!

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Dark Sun Update: TPK!!!

In finishing up Marauders of the Dune Sea, a published adventure from Wizards, I oversaw the first TPK (total party kill) of my GM/DM career. I certainly did not set out to gakk the party, but a convergence of circumstances led to their ultimate doom:

• They were a 4-man party instead of the standard 5-man group.
• They had 2 strikers instead of a striker and a defender.
• They were unlucky.
• I mis-interpreted a monster power and made a creature too potent for 1 or 2 turns until I caught it.
• We're all still learning the rules.

I think everyone still had fun, and we will likely take a break from DS and make new characters when we decide to pick it up again.

In the meantime, my buddy Rico is setting up to run D&D Essentials, and we also rolled up characters for Lou's Gamma World game (that was a blast--I highly recommend getting that boxed set ).

I rolled up a Telekinetic Empath with the ability to briefly shift into a pure light form. I'll be using this model from vast repository of painted minis. He'll be ideal for post-apoc action.

That's all for now. Later this week, more painted Dark Eldar!

--Scott

Dark Eldar Preview!

I was very lucky to be asked by my FLGS to paint up some of their pre-release Warhammer 40,000 Dark Eldar models for display in the shop showcase. Last night I completed the first test-paint for the scheme I'd like to use, and I am very pleased.

I must also add that these plastics are phenomenal, brimming with character and menace!

What you see below is one of the Kabalite Warriors, the core of most DE forces.









I definitely want this force to look like it's been in the field a while, so I am weathering the lower legs to give them a dirty appearance.





And just for grins and giggles, here's a shot of the new DE Warrior next to an old DE Warrior (who happens to be standing on the 5th green at Augusta, go figure):



I'll have more of these guys on the blog as I finish them. The plan is to bring home a few at a time and paint them up, leaving the rest of the plastic sprues on display at the shop.

--Scott

Heresy Dwarf Hero

Heresy Miniatures is a company I don't talk about enough on this blog. Andy Foster is the primary sculptor and owner of Heresy, and his stuff is just excellent. A while back my buddy Dan ran a Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play game, and I played a Dwarf Engineer. Needing a mini, I turned to Heresy. Andy's Dwarf Inventor/Miner was perfect for my needs. However, having just come into a small supply of tiny rare earth magnets, I went a step further and gave myself some flexibility when it came to my character's weapon selections.

I have yet to magnetize all of the arm options, but the ones I do have done work beautifully, with a small piece of ferrous metal glued to the arm, and the rare earth magnet inserted in body sockets I drilled with my pin vise.





Here is one configuration:







The figure itself is beautifully sculpted, and I could not resist putting him on a 20mm round since I had one handy at the time.

Here is another configuration:





The two-gun mojo thing really works on this guy!

And finally, a "mixed" configuration with hand-weapon and gun:




There's plenty of other great stuff on Andy's site, and one of the coolest things about many of his kits are the elements of choice he includes--multiple heads, arms, etc. Well worth a look!

--Scott