NOCF - Trophy Land Raider completed!

Back here I showed you the first stages of the repaint of this crazy Land Raider. Well, the model arrived back from John on Friday and over the weekend I worked at finishing off the details.

I hope you like this updated version of my old model. I love the combination of my typically style with John Stiening's awesome airbrush and weathering stylings!

This model has been added to the Blood & Honor: Defense of Macragge army.

You can buy raffle tickets now for this armies and others. If you can't afford to buy tickets at the moment, please help the cause by telling as many others as you can about it, and encouraging them to share it all as well : )

Website: novaopenfoundation.org
Blog: novacf.blogspot.com
and here's the Facebook page too : )

Cheers
Dave

Infamy - Frank Hyde is complete!

Frank Hyde is a pretty intimidating model. He has been hanging around on the periphery of my painting table for more than a year now, but with all the excitement surrounding the Infamy: Welcome to The Big Smoke Kickstarter, I just had to break through the fear and get him done. I've recently upped my pledge to the Continental Breakfast level, which means there'll be a lot of minis coming my way next year. This means I have the rest of this year to get a gaming table together for Infamy. With a few of the 4Ground and Micro Arts Studios Victorian/Steampunk buildings available, I think I can put together something pretty cool.

Anyway, I hope you like Frank! His plinth is from Secret Weapon Miniatures.

And here are a few favorite new models coming thanks to stretch goals in the Infamy Kickstarter

This "painted" Tesla is a digital paint job by Ben Komets, who (thanks to Painting Buddha) will also be doing a painting video that will be free to all online : )

Cheers
Dave

NOCF - The Ultramarines get a boost.

We are now in the final stretches of wrapping up the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation 40K charity army projects for 2014 (although raffle tickets will still be available HERE until the end of August).

John Steining - the man behind the color recipe we've been using for the Ultramarines, and the guy who painted up the awesome House Hawkshroud Imperial Knight - has agreed to help me update an old model from my original Ultramarine army. This is an as-yet-unamed pattern of Land Raider, kitted out to deal with the larger beasties in a Tyranid horde. Not only does it boast twin-linked assault cannons mounted in the hull, but it also has three sets of twin-linked plasma guns mounted in each sponson - lots of lovely, fiery death!

As you can see above, John has worked his airbrushed tonal modulation magic, and all that remains is for me to work on the details and the parts of the Carnifex carcass/trophy that are bolted and chained to the hull : ) You can see more photos on John's blog, HERE.

Check out the NOCF blog and Facebook page for more details of the armies as they grow, and please, spread the word as far and wide as you can!

Mechanicum - The Thanatar has arrived!

When the mighty Thanatar Siege Automata went on pre-order, I couldn't resist. I placed my order through the FW website, and about a week later the order shipped. It arrived last Friday, and I spent a bit of time over the weekend scrubbing, cleaning and assembling the delightful resin parts that go together to create this excellent robot!

In the photo above, you can see that I'm yet to attach the Plasma Mortar or the Mauler pattern bolt cannon ammo feeds. The feeds will go on before painting, the mortar after.

I wasn't sure what size it would be, so when it came through with the large oval base rather than the Knight base, there was a momentary twinge of disappointment. I took the plastic base and built a "Tech deck" base to match the rest of my army using conversion strips and sheets available from Dragon Forge Design.

It was nice to see that it was a similar size to the "knight" I built last year (primarily from the Grey Knight's Dreadknight kit). So, now I just need a name and rules for the "knight". Anyone want to suggest something based off the Thanatar stats in the Horus Heresy: Extermination book?

While I'm talking about the Mechanicum, I thought it might be a good idea to point out the Suppressor here. This "robot" is about to be unlocked in the Infamy Miniatures Kickstarter, which can be found here.

Looking at the size, this thing could certainly double as a Dreadnought in any number of 30K/40K armies, or even as a walker in other games (like Deadzone, perhaps?). I'm thinking it's the perfect size to represent a Castellax Battle Automata on the tabletop. The price through the Kickstarter is even quite similar.

Cheers
Dave

NOCF - Ultramarine Centurions, in detail.

I promised some more photos of the Ultramarine Centurions that I've painted up as part of the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation - 40K Army Raffles, and here they are. Above is the Sergeant of the squad, while below are the two troopers.

And again as a squad in front of that lovely Hangar 18 background : )

So, if you fancy a chance at winning what will undoubtedly be a spectacular army (with models by the likes of Justin McCoy, Aaron Lovejoy, John Stiening, Celso Mendez, Marc Raley, Alex Landing, Les Bursley, Brandon Palmer, and a host of others), AND help the Doctors Without Borders organization at the same time, please head HERE and buy some raffle tickets : )

They've also started a blog and a Facebook page, so you can more easily keep up with the activity. Don't forget to follow and Like the pages.

Best of luck to you, may the odds be ever in your favor!

Cheers
Dave

NOCF - Ultramarine Centurions are complete! - First Pic

After juggling a lot of different painting projects (I think I had six on the go there at one point) I've finally been able to wrap up the Ultramarine Centurions for the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation 40K army raffles this year. I've shown a couple of in progress shots here and here, so it's nice to finally get them under the lights. The cool backdrop is a lovely one from Hanger 18!

NOCF have just started a blog to track the progress of the many painters who are involved in this project, and show you all the cool finished pieces as they roll in over the next two weeks or so.

Speaking of cool pieces, super-busy Aaron Lovejoy (of Guild Painting Services) wasn't able to donate a new model to the cause (as he's super-busy), but he was able to provide this Tigurius from his very own Ultramarine army. Thanks Aaron! I just had to rebase him to fit the theme, using one of the Secret Weapon Miniatures bases from their Omega Bases line (50% of the money from the sale of these bases goes directly to the NOCF)!

I hope you like them, I'll post some more detailed photos tomorrow.

Cheers
Dave

PS. My Thanatar Siege Automata arrived on Friday ; )

Infamy Art book PDF is funded!

I know I've mentioned this a couple of times lately, and that steampunk might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I've recently been working with James Griffiths of Infamy Miniatures on some layout ideas for his now-funded art book stretch goal as part of his Kickstarter campaign.

Should funding reach appropriate levels for the campaign, there's a good chance I'll get to do some more work on the book, and that it might become a printed thing of glorious beauty.

Very excited by this possibility : )

Cheers
Dave

The Infamy Miniatures "Uberprize" has arrived!

You may remember, if you cast your mind back to May, that I was the lucky winner of the Infamy Miniatures Facebook promotion - The Uberprize. I asked you loyal readers to head on over to Infamy's Facebook page, "Like" it, and make sure that if you were selected by James to tell him I'd sent you.

Well, thank you very much, you did exactly that (well, many of you "Liked" the page and one of you were selected to win some goodies)! To my delight, I was the winner of the Uberprize, which has just arrived on my doorstep (yesterday).

With Infamy Miniatures' Kickstarter - Infamy: Welcome To The Big Smoke - about to launch on thursday (July 10), I figured I should crack open the box and tell/show you all what was in the prize!

Included in the prize were six of the 32mm gaming models: Henrietta Jekyll, Chee-chee, Talullah Belle, Sherlock Holmes, Frank Hyde, and The Toad. I'm very excited about these models, they are simply amazing, incredibly detailed. I will admit to already owning Sherlock, Henrietta, and Frank, so I'll be running a competition on my blog here to see which one of you lucky readers could win these "doubles" : )

In addition to the "gaming" sized models, I won a 90mm scale version of Talullah Belle (number 38 of a limited run of 90, I already have plans for her) and a bust of Uncle John. Whenever I start painting a gaming miniature, I'm tempted to push my painting as far as I can, but end up making compromises based on time and gaming need. With a bust, none of that comes into it. As it won't take to the tabletop, it must purely be a display piece. Should be fun. If you'd like to see a few examples of this bust painted up recently for an Infamy competition, head here.

There was also this lovely print of the Talullah concept art...

A funky, laser-cut Infamy logo...

And a roll of four high-quality art prints, two of which are shown below.

I'll show the other two off at a later date (along with another piece of art I really love).

Anyway, get on over to Facebook and "Like" the Infamy Miniatures page to make sure you don't miss the launch of the Kickstarter to really get it all off the ground. And check out their new website too.

Cheers
Dave

Horus Heresy - Death Guard characters (and my 500th post!)

I managed to polish of a few more Death Guard over the holiday weekend. These three Apothecaries that will sit nicely among my big squads, or I can pick one of them to act as a Primaris Medicae (probably the one in the middle with the lovely servo skull).

And my Centurion (Praetor in larger games) is finished up too. I'm very happy with the result. I'll get to use him this week in a 1,000 point game : )

Additionally, I've just discovered that this post will be number 500! That's quite a lot of posts, even over the course of five and a half years. An average of 1.8 posts per week.

Anyway, expect a few more posts this week ; )

Cheers
Dave

NOCF - Ultramarine Centurions - Part Two

Work continues on my contribution to the NOVA Open Charity Foundation Ultramarine army for 2014 - Blood And Honor: The Defense of Macragge.

The Centurions have had two-thirds of their silver completed and now their blues are done (although they are a bit more subtle than this photo might suggest. Next up? Complete the silver, paint the bone and parchment, then on to all the gold trim.

If you'd like a chance at winning one of the two great 40K armies on offer, click on the images below and make a donation to the cause by buying a raffle ticket or twenty ; ) There are also lovely Warhammer, Warmachine, and FOW armies on offer too.

Cheers
Dave

Orks? I didn't know you had Orks!

Well, yes, I do currently have some Orks.

Over six years ago now, in late 2007/early 2008, I painted up 1,000 points of Orks for the 40K Team Tournament at AdeptiCon 2008 (Team Kung Fu Grip FTW!). I painted up Goffs, John Shaffer painted Deathskulls, Chopper painted Bad Moonz, and we drafted a fourth player from Chicago late in the game (my apologies, but his name escapes me right now).

Anyway, these Goffs saw battle in four hard fought games. Unfortunately I was very ill at this particular AdeptiCon ("writhing on my bed in agony" ill), so I wasn't able to play all the games in the Team Tourney (despite trying my best to). Instead, I needed to pull in a ringer for game three. In stepped a friend of mine, Phil Kelly - author of the Ork Codex at the time, who pushed these very models across the table : )

Nobz mob in 'eavy armor - four power klaws and a painboy.

A Tankbusta mob - the bomb squigs were quite fun.

20-boy Shoota mob - Nob in 'eavy armor and two big shootas.

20-boy Slugga mob - Nob in 'davy armor and two big shootas.

And my kitbashed/scratchbuilt Battlewagon - at the time the very cool GW battlewagon had not been released, so this had to stand in. Converted from a Chimera, with loads of plasticard and trukk parts, it also rocked a truncated Earthshaker as the big gun on the rear.

And yes, if you take out the big gun there's plenty of room for 20 boyz!

Why am I showing you all this? Well I've been cleaning out my basement and decided that these boyz have to go. With the new Ork Codex just showing up, it seemed like a good time to move them on to someone who'll use them, rather than letting them languish in a case.

So, is anyone interested? Send me an email at tanithtaylor at gmail dot com with your most reasonable offer. I'll give it until July 11 before I put them up on eBay.

WAAAGH!