Kroot Konversion

ITEN spurred me into dusting some of my Kroot off and touching them up, but last night I got an idea to convert a Kroot with a Pulse Carbine. It's not easy carving out the hands so they can properly cradle a Tau Pulse Carbine, but subtle application of a jeweler's saw goes a long way.

I also gave him the royal treatment when it came to the paint job--almost no inks were used. A lot of blending and highlights.















Can't wait to field this guy at the head of my Kroot Recovery Team on Sunday!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

ITEN: The Kroot Represented

In the Emperor's Name offers a great many warband options, and I was ecstatic to see a Kroot force in there. In response I pulled out the necessary Kroot models and gave them a bit of a polish, adding some additional highlights, jazzing up their bases, and getting the ready for skirmish gaming.

And that's the beauty of games like ITEN, a handful of models and off you go!

Anyway, here they are!











In a game this past Sunday the Kroot faced off against a squad of desperate Vostroyan Imperial Guardsmen. Although the Kroot nearly escaped with a key but of valuable Archaeo-Tech, they ultimately fell under the barrage of lasgun fire from the well drilled IG.

Later this week I'll try to put together another warband, and maybe this weekend I will take some pics and do a proper battle report. In the meantime I am up to my neck (all of a sudden) in merc paint work, so I need to strike while the iron is hot there.

Thanks for visiting the blog!

--Scott

Warhammer 40K: Kroot Load-beast

Every now and then I pull out my Kroot and work on them some more. This past week I converted a Star Wars Reek to use as a Great Gnarloc proxy. The official Forgeworld Great Gnarlocs are cool, but they're not tough enough to justify my spending $90 a piece on them.

I went this route instead!









I simply added some equipment attached to a band of green stuff! Easy and effective!

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Kroot Master Shaper

A few weeks back I did a conversion for a Master Shaper for my some-day Kroot Mercenary army. As an aside, I will at some point dedicate a post to the concept of "some-day" armies, a term introduced to me by grizzled gamer friend Tom Palamara years ago.

Anyway, the Master Shaper leads the Kroot Mercenary forces, and I wanted him to be impressive in body, so I used a plastic Khorne Berzerker to show that he has the Mark of the Favored Child. I gave this guy a Melta-gun and a power sword. He's also festooned with all sorts of other great gear from the Kroot plastic frame. The large shoulder pad is from the Tyranid warrior sprue.











Scott

Nobody Asked Me, But...

I decided the above will be a title of a post whenever I just want to lump some random stuff together in one go. So here goes:

• The Lion Men (aka the Pride) are done! Bob Naismith sent me final images of the figures, I approved them, and they are winging their way to Old Glory for casting. When I have some masters cast up in two weeks or so, I will post some images. I am leaning toward a late summer 2009 release for the 10-15 codes of SuperFigs I have amassed over the last two years. More previews to come...
• The last two issues of my favorite comic book, Guardians of the Galaxy, have been awesome. Writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning have taken the cosmic supers deep into the War of Kings storyline, and break-neck action abounds. As a big Imperial Guard fan, it's great to see them in action against the Guardians! After a period of musical fill-in artists, Brad Walker is settling in nicely as the book's new regular penciler. His lines are a bit softer than fan favorite Paul Pelletier's, but the stuff looks great! If Paul and Rick Magyar do not return after the 6-issue War of Kings series, the book is in good hands with Mr. Walker.
• Since I'm mentioning my favorite Marvel space-based supers title, I should also pimp my favorite DC cosmic title, R.E.B.E.L.S. Great stories from Tony Bedard and gorgeous art highlight this "proto-Legion of Super Heroes" in the contemporary DC universe. Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis might have detected my love for rock-based characters, so seeing Strata back in a regular monthly title is awesome!
• The parts fit on GW's Krootox kit is abysmal. I had forgotten just how bad it was. Great model, but really lousy assembly.
• Not a sports blog, but I have to bid a fond farewell from my beloved Pittsburgh Pirates to Nate McClouth. Traded to the Atlanta Braves for three prospects, Nate was my favorite Bucco. On bad Bucs teams Nate was always a tremendous asset, and when he got to play full-time last year he became a sensation. I know he'll perform well for Atlanta, especially with Chipper Jones protecting him in the lineup, but Nate's quote to the media on the trade sums up why this city loved him so dearly: "This was my 10th year in the organization. There were a lot of people I got to know well. And the toughest part, really, is that I wanted to win here. This organization is such a big part of me." Best of luck, Nate! I've never been a Braves fan, but part of me is now.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Scott

The Call of the Kroot

Well, having just "finished" an 1100 pt. Tau force for Warhammer 40K, I now find myself working on another Kroot army. Back in 2003-2004 I built and painted a Kroot Merc force. Now in 5th ed. 40K there are no official rules for this, but there is a nifty fan-made codex that works well enough--as long as you're not fond of winning much!

Below is a shot of my old Kroot force, which I sold a while back to someone in the Pacific Northwest.





I had quite a bit more. My latest Kroot force is in its nascent stages, and will be started with the Carnivores from my Tau army:




Not sure where this will lead me. I may add some Great Gnarlocs from Forge World, or I may just focus on the stuff I can readily get at my FLGS: Kroot Carnivores, Hounds, and Krootox. I may run out of gas on this, but luckily this time I have a co-conspirator, Joe Urban of the Sons of Blight blog. He's agreed to add some Kroot to the pot and combined forces with me. We can lose horribly together!

Scott