HORUS HERESY - Leman Russ and his Wolf-kin

I recently had the chance to work on my first Forgeworld Primarch model, Leman Russ. It was interesting returning to him after I had converted and painted one a bunch of years ago (almost seven years! Check it out HERE).

Obviously the Forgeworld model is a better sculpt, and my painting has continued to improve over the last few years (or at least I hope it has), so it was a lot of fun. The Wolf-kin (Freki and Geri, not sure which is which) were also a lot of fun to paint, as were the bases.

The front part of the larger base for Leman Russ is separate (connected with magnets), so that the Great Wolf himself can slip out and spend some time on the miniature battlefield.

I hope you like them : )

ADEPTICON - The Loot Part 3

I think this is the final "Loot" post from AdeptiCon. It seems I bought quite a bit of stuff (not too much, just more than usual for me).

Well, here it is, my lovely, new Tablewar case! After borrowing a friend's case last year to schlepp stuff to Northern Ireland for Beasts of War filming, I really wanted to get one for myself. Shipping, however, was the big sticking point for me. In the US, the product ships from California, so it's pretty hefty to get it to the East Coast. Thankfully, the Tablewar team have been traveling to shows and I was able to pick this up sans shipping : )

After gluing together the accessory trays, I started adding magnets to the bottom of my Dark Age collection. Thankfully, the Tablewar guys also sell magnets in packets of 50, as I've almost gone through two packets of them!

Getting ready for the Dark Age tournament on Saturday. My St Mark, Bounty Hunters, Salt Flat Nomads, Brutes, and Dragyri Fire Caste collections are all ready to go. The tray at the bottom holds all my cards, templates, tokens, dice, and tape measure, so I can just worry about bringing the case and my phone : )

ADEPTICON - The Loot Part 2

Of course I had to pick up some Dark Age minis at AdeptiCon this year. I bought my own copy of the two-player starter set - Path to Glory - and a few models to wrap up my collection of Bounty Hunters - John Carter, Dedlock, and some Junkers for a conversion or three : )

This is John "Clank" Carter, one of the range of Bounty Hunters, and this one is based on one of the Immortals winners, John Carter (surprisingly enough).

And here I've converted one of the Junkers into one of the Bounty Hunters that has a bit of history with my current warband leader St Mark - X'cess.

I also picked up some scatter terrain from Death Ray Designs, which will be great for my Dark Age terrain collection.

I also had the good fortune to catch up with my friend Victoria Lamb, and she was kind enough to give me the gift of the awesome Sledgehammer BFG (sculpted by another friend Jake Schneider) that she created as part of the latest Reaper Bones Kickstarter. The crew for the gun are in the soft PVC of the standard Bones lines, but the BFG itself is in a hard styrene, with the pieces already clipped from the sprues, and very few mold lines!

UPDATE: A special note for Reaper Bones III backers - The Sledgehammer BFG was NOT for sale at AdeptiCon. Reaper and Victoria Miniatures would not sell the model until after backers get their products. They took pre-orders, but did not sell any models. They'll send out those pre-orders once backer rewards have shipped.

The kit itself doesn't come with instructions, but I expect they'll be available on the Victoria Minis website soon. I was, however, able to build it pretty quickly just by looking at the photos on the packaging.

Within the basic set there are a number of options, like the long wooden planks-style decking above the wheels.

Or you can go with a smaller metal deck plate.

There are going to be accessory packs in resin too, including two track units (one on each side) that replace the wheels.

There is also a resin kit that will allow you to switch the long gun for a much shorter, larger bore howitzer.

That kit comes with some very cool shells too. The one on the left puts me in mind of a phosphex shell from 30K.

I'm a big fan of the wheels, so I'll be gluing them on. I'm now debating whether or not I'll magnetize the howitzer and the long gun so I have the opportunity to switch back and forth.

One more AdeptiCon loot post to go : )

ADEPTICON - The Loot - Part 1

I've mentioned it before, but AdeptiCon was incredibly crazy busy! I did, however, make a little bit of time to do some shopping. 

First up, I finally bought models for my first ever TNT warband (above). I've always been partial to the idea of the Caravaners, but when I heard about the Pyromanatics blister for the game Aetherium (from Anvil 8 Games) I knew I had to pick them up. These will be used as the basis for a Raider gang, because that seems to be the best fit for pyromaniacs slinging gas cans and propane tanks around the place. To support them with something more solid, I added this big robot from Bombshell Miniatures. I haven't worked out all the details yet, but the models are assembled and primed. Always the best place to start : )

Additionally I picked up a handful of models for the gladiatorial game Arena Rex. This group are from the Ludus Magnus faction.

As you can see, I've already painted up Septimus.

Next on deck might be Septimus on the massive bull, Nero!

More loot to come in the next post : )

DARK AGE - Saint Mark and his followers.

Well, AdeptiCon can really take it out of you. Four incredible days of non-stop action and conversations about all sorts of toy soldier goodness. I have basically been drained by it all, until now.

So, getting back to the Dark Age goodness these are my latest models, painted up since the start of February specifically for me to take to the CMON Expo and the big, end of season tournament, the Immortals! The Immortals is the tournament where the winner gets to work with the design team to create a new model (background, stats, art, and model) for the world. It's a pretty big deal, so I've been playing a lot with this force to prepare.

This is my Forsaken - St Mark sub-faction force. The Forsaken are the "last bastion of civilization" (or at least that's how they present themselves). Cunning politicians that plot and scheme and use religion to rule over the masses, the Prevailer Council is in charge, and regularly sends its "Saints" - or generals - off on missions of varying difficulty and value. St Mark is the first "Saint", and plays the role of brash and skilled leader to a tee (all the while hiding his true motivations and cowardice).

He is also quite the womanizer, so I have surrounded him with a force that can be entirely comprised of female models.

Saint Mark (on the left) carries God's Light, a very powerful pistol, and is accompanied here by The Sentinel, one of his lieutenants.

His close-range support come from the lithe and deadly Shades, accompanied here by Mark's other lieutenant, Hephzibah (center). The Hephzibah model is currently undergoing a resculpt, so I converted this one from one of the Shade models. : )

These ladies might seem quite fragile, and not a particular threat, but you'd be wrong in thinking that. They are the very brutal reason I decided to try this list out : )

Saint Mark has a tendency for his gun to malfunction. Including a Weaponsmith is very helpful (allowing me to ignore the first three malfunctions), and the stock Weaponsmith is on the right. On the left you can see my conversion for a female Weaponsmith.

Keeping Saint Mark and his Junkers alive is very important. The Sisters of Compassion (in the red latex) and the Field Medic (front) will do just that. Although I won't be running all of these at once, it's nice to have the regular Sister (left) and the Limited Edition Sister (right).

Firestorms are a very popular choice with Forsaken players, mostly because of their awesome flamethrowers.

These Militia are the cheapest models in my collection at just 25 points a piece. They'll be good for filling those 25 point gaps at the end of list building.

And finally the Haniels. These are infiltrators, and I thought I'd spend a bit of extra time messing about with their cloaks. Do you think it was worth it?

Cheers
Dave