Monday, February 23, 2009

A rummage through the Archives

I've been pretty busy over the weekend, off playing a great game of Flames of War, wine-tasting at a house-warming party, and a hearty nap on the couch. I also did quite a bit of modeling work that is not quite ready to be seen, perhaps tomorrow.

Until then I didn't want to leave you hanging too much so I thought I'd dig into the archives and pull out a few pieces from my Genswick 33rd Rifles army. This army is my homage to the brave troops fighting on Aexe Cardinal in Dan Abnett's Straight Silver, the sixth book in the Gaunt's Ghosts series. The Genswick troops, while not the most colorful, are certainly the most indicative of the archaic grind of the forty year trench war against the Archenemy.  These hardy troopers are the very essence of the "more grist for the mill" mentality of the Aexegarian Alliance High Command.

When GW released the Bretonnian Men-at-Arms sprues I just knew that they would work perfectly to represent the hard-bitten warriors of Genswick and that their broad-rimmed helmets would instantly evoke a visceral connection with the most brutal trench war in human history.


Above you can see an under-strength assault platoon (only 35 of 55 men). I have the other two squads of the platoon buried in another case somewhere. This platoon is designated as "assault" because it has no heavy weapons to hold it back, each squad has a trooper wielding a flamer (perfect for trench clearing), the command section has two troopers with grenade launchers (for keeping the enemy's heads down), two combat veterans, and a decorated Staff Sergeant with his vicious cyber-mastiff (power fist).

Of course, this platoon needs some help to get them into the enemy trenches...


Enter the mighty Gorgon! I've loved the Gorgon idea ever since I saw it in Epic games over 15 years ago. I even converted a Space Marine Land Raider into an enclosed Gorgon when it was released back in 2000. When Forgeworld released it's Gorgon I was incredibly excited, but didn't pick it up at the time (not exactly sure why). It wasn't until the plastic Baneblade made its appearance in October 2007 that my next creation would begin to take shape.

I think it was around January or February 2008 that I completed the Gorgon you see above and below. Layer upon layer of plasticard sheets, strips, rods, and rivets were used to create this beast, built up from the Baneblade chassis. I have 5 Ogryn that I can field in it (as well as the under-strength assault platoon shown above) and I'm sure I'll have to build more of them once the new IG codex is released.

I hope you like the tour around this massive troop transport!






11 comments:

  1. These models are really nice. THe Gorgon looks great, love the weathering on the hatch. Didn't you also have horses with gasmasks?
    I thought that was the most depressing Gaunt story, it captured nicely in your bunch!

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  2. Hi, Dave. I still think your scratch-converted Gorgon is one of your best pieces of conversion work and at the time it was completed it was a clear sign that your already formidable modeling skill had hit a new level. Even these fine pictures can only scratch the surface of the level of detail and "coolness" you built into that model.

    Seeing your Gorgon up close when you first built it also certainly helped inspire me to take the leap into a new dimension of scratch-converting that I had not explored previously and some of the best stuff I've turned out in the past couple years, like the Chaos Stormlord scratch conversion, are the direct result of the encouragement and enthusiasm you provide along with your own projects.

    I hope everyone who takes a peak at the pictures above enjoys seeing the Gorgon as much as I do. As always, your projects and hobby suggestions take the fun factor of this hobby up a notch for everyone.

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  3. The Gorgon looks really cool! Did you ever take in progress pictures of it as you were building it?

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  4. Hi guys

    Thanks for the kind words. It is really a beast of a model and, of course, I built it pre-light tent, so unfortunately there are no WiP shots : (
    I now know better.

    Cheers
    Dave

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  5. The Gorgon's amazing. O.O how many of those Genswick troopers did you make? I remember seeing a heavy weapon team on the olg GW page...
    I'd love to see some more of your work, it's really inspired me to pla less WoW and convert more.^^

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  6. Hi TMWH

    I made over 120 infantry and 16 cav plus a lot of vehicles and artillery. I'm up over 6,000 points I think (including 4 super-heavies).

    Drop the video games and paint, paint, paint!

    Cheers
    Dave

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  7. I loved seeing this army i think in its full glory at games day chicago 2 yrs ago. It was very impressive and i wanted to make one myself but me bieng the shy person i was never asked whos they were or how to make them. I now know how to do them and hope you dont mind me using the idea for the trench coat look seeing as the rumors say no trench coat plastics for guard. I only have one question though if you dont mind. How did you get the lasgun arms to fit, just patience and a little trimming?

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  8. Hi traitorer

    Go for it, the more the merrier! Getting the lasgun arms to fit can be a bit tricky though, so be prepared to carve away a little extra on the Man-at-Arms sleeve or the Cadian sleeve. Pay close attention to where you have to cut and you'll soon get the hang of it, then you'll be able to fly through the conversions.

    Alternatively you could do what some others have done and slice the Bretonnian arms of altogether and add the Cadian arms directly to the model. It gives quite a different look though.

    Cheers
    Dave

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  9. Is there anyway that you could make a step by step guide on the gorgon. It's amazing and I would love a few in my army

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  10. Hi Alan

    Unfortunately not : ( I didn't have my camera/light set-up when I was building it so I have no in-progress shots. With the current exchange rate the FW Gorgons are approx $140US each. Only $45 more than the Baneblade, so currently well worth it, compared to the amount of time you'd spend building even one of these puppies.

    Cheers
    Dave

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  11. Hey Dave, love the Genswick!

    Could you maybe digout and post a few close ups of the cavalry? I want to start a Genswick Reg myself and would really like to see how you did the gasmasks... instead of buying the FW models...

    Cheers!

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