Talk about busy!

So I've managed to burn the candle at both ends getting stuff ready for the Battlefoam Wild West Shootout Indy GT this weekend! I'm flying out on Friday evening, so I figure I can sleep on the plane. No more posts until after the show. I just have too much to finish off.

Anyway, on to the five key points of tonight's post:

1) The AT-70 Reavers. After seeing the tank built by Rabidchild on his blog (Pick a Damn Army, new to my blog roll) I decided to run with a smaller turret than my Ragnarok turret. Here are the two tanks as they stand right now.

For maximum transportability and flexibility, I magnetized the lascannon, the cupola hatch, and the battlecannon. In the future I'll build out some different guns for the turret, and different hatches as well.

2) The Usurpers. There was a good reaction to my Usurpers, so I thought I'd show you the painted pieces! I've gone with the same color scheme I used on my Valdor and Malcador, Dark Flesh with Khemri Brown/Bleached Bone icons.

After seeing the M7 Priest model from the Flames of War range I saw that the shells were placed vertically in cases on either side of the rear of the crew compartment. On my Usurpers I had to turn them around and lay the shells horizontally. In the picture below you can see the rear of four shells nestled in their storage, just ready to rain death down upon the worshippers of the Corpse God.

3) Commission - Fulgrim. I still squeezed in some time on my Fulgrim commission. He is so very close to completion with just a few more details. The cloak has given me plenty of trouble, but it is almost there. Just a little more time...

4) Mantic Games. A friend of mine who is the Sales Director (or something similar) for Mantic Games was in town this weekend for a trade show, and he dropped off a few sprues of the new Mantic Games Elves on my desk. I guess after the weekend I'll be starting on painting these guys up. You can find out more about Mantic and what they're up to on their blog, also new to my blog roll!

5) Blogs! There have been another recent spate of new blogs and I'm just getting around to checking them out. I have also added my mate Anthony Reynold's new blog to my blog roll, and there are probably many more to come. Keep an eye out for them as I add them.

Well there you are, another week, another looooong post. Wish me luck for the tournament, I haven't played 40k since last November ; )

Cheers

Dave

Expanding the Motor Pool!

I can never seem to get the hang of the smaller, more regular posts that so many other bloggers are able to pump out. They may be far apart, but at least they're big and meaty ; )

Anyway, it is less than two weeks until I'm going to be playing in Phoenix at the Battlefoam "Wild West Shootout" Indy GT. I'm pretty psyched, even though I have seven vehicles to get finished by then. Plenty of late nights for me I think.

Here are the first three almost complete. My platoon command "Chimera" on the left with a turret-mounted heavy flamer, my Psyker Battle squad's ride is in the center (I just need to finish the gunner and camo netting, and my N-20 Flame Halftrack (Hellhound) on the right.

Close-ups of my heavy-flamer toting transport.

My Psyker squad transport. This one will typically be sitting still in terrain, hopefully gaining a 3+ cover save on a regular basis.

The N-20 Flame Halftrack. The halftrack suspension is copied from the halftrack I made for my GD Diorama here. The tanks in the back are from a Forgeworld super-heavy tank, and the front of the inferno cannon is from an Ork Burna Boy.

In Sabbat Martyr, Dan mentions the self-propelled artillery support used by the Blood Pact, the Usurper. When I last chatted with Mr Abnett he said he had the WW2 M7 Priest in mind when he created the Usurper. Therefore I put my own spin on the piece, basing my two off Leman Russ tracks and toting Medusa siege guns.

Obviously it isn't directly copied from the Priest, but it certainly takes a lot of keys from it.

My Battlefoam cases arrived recently, so I couldn't resist seeing how everything was going to be packed for the trip to Arizona. I'll be packing it with a mix of stock trays and custom trays. I'm looking forward to traveling with these cases.

So you've seen the first five vehicles, here's the start of the sixth (which will be the same as the seventh). Still a long way to go on the AT-73 Reaver (Leman Russ). So wish me luck on that.

I've had quite a few folks asking me about commissions recently, which is great. With any luck I'll be able to support my hobby from commissions alone next year. That would be nice. On that note, I'm actually giving something away in November!

I've donated a paintjob to the charity auction that will be held at Mechanicon in PA on the first weekend of November. This is the first year for the event, and the team putting it together have been working really hard to get everything together. If you're on the East coast of America, you'd be pretty crazy to miss what will grow into one of the larger gamer-run events around.

For details on Mechanicon, click here, and get yourself along to the show. Don't forget to bid on my paintjob (on the 28mm human-sized miniature of your choice), and have fun!!!

Cheers

Dave

No Pact in sight!

I think it was last post, but I know I've mentioned the Perry Miniatures American War of Independence (AWI) American Militia miniatures I was painting for work. Above is a shot of the first 20, painted as patriots (by using some blue/grey colors) using the "dip" method. This is the first time I've really used it, and it was quite interesting. I enjoyed the process for these miniatures so I painted another 20! Finished them up this morning, and painted them as loyalists (by using a red/brown where I'd used the blue/grey on the others).

You'll be able to see more shots in November's issue of Wargames Illustrated (#265).

Anyway, back to the sci-fi/fantasy realm.

I currently have two commissions on the go. The first is to convert and paint a Fulgrim in the same style as Chris Borer's Slayer Sword winner from Chicago in 2007.

I still have quite a bit of sculpting work to go. Wish me luck!

The second one, below, is to build and paint a Night Lords Chaos Lord with two Lightning Claws and a combi-melta. The commissioner wanted the boltgun and meltagun integrated into the claws. He also wanted wings (the Night Lord influence). We both agreed, however, that winged helmets were silly.

I wanted to do something slightly different with the wings (rather than just use the very cool Possessed winged backpack). After seeing the winged Daemon Prince by Lemmingspawn on DakkaDakka, I wanted to do something similar.

Here's the right claw with the bolter integrated into the "little finger" spot.

And the meltagun on the left claw.

All that remains now is to get it painted!

Only three weeks until I have to have my seven Blood Pact vehicles finished for the Battlefoam tournament, as well as having these two jobs done. Should be a busy time.

Cheers

Dave

The Archenemy's Command Squads

Too long, it has been too long!

As well as painting a few of the Perry's Loyalist Militia from their American War of Independence and a few of the British Legion too, I've managed to finish off the Command Squads for my Blood Pact army.

Here's the Command HQ. From left to right: Standard Bearer, Officer of the Fleet, Company Commander, Plasma gunner, Vox Caster, and the second Plasma gunner.

And here's the Platoon Command: From left to right: Vox Caster, Flamer, Platoon Commander, Flamer, and Heavy Flamer.

The Standard Bearer.

And the Officer of the Fleet. I thought a lot about what kind of "man" would be crewing the fleets of the Archenemy and settled on the idea that there would be quite a lot of Dark Mechanicus types, plugged into warp-twisted machines, guiding their vessels according to the will of their masters (and the Dark Gods they are sworn to serve). This Forgeworld Renegade Preacher seemed like a great choice. I hope you like him.

So there you go. that's it for this update. Hopefully I'll be able to get another up by Sunday. If my wife and daughter are feeling better and I don't catch the cold that they've had these last few days ; )

Oh, and my wife says "Hi!" to everyone!

Cheers

Dave

Quite the update...

Well it has been a pretty busy month. My parents were in town, visiting from Australia, for almost 4 weeks. We went to Boston for a wedding, and North Carolina's Outer Banks for a weeks vacation, and a whole lot more. I managed to squeeze in a few hours here and there, working on my Battlefoam Wild West Shootout army. I finished up ten more Infardi and ten more Blood Pact troopers.

Here are the Infardi component of my army, two squads of Infardi (Penal Legion Squads) supporting Pater Sin and his runt psykers (Psyker Battle Squad).

I only have 4 infantry models left to paint for the army, including the Standard Bearer above. The model is, of course, a crazy kitbash including parts from at least five kits. I'm really looking forward to going to town when painting this guy!

To round out my Command Squad I have the Fleet Officer and a second plasma gunner.

And to complete my Platoon Command Squad I put together this heavy flamer trooper, with his fuel tanks carried by a beaten slave.

Here's the latest idea for my list. You'll notice I have seven vehicles left to build and paint. Should be fun for the next six weeks!

HQ

• Company Command, plasma pistol, Regimental Standard, vox caster, 2 Plasmas, Fleet Officer - 130

Elites

• Psyker Battle Squad, Chimera, Camo-netting - 175

Troops

• Infantry Platoon

- Platoon command, Chimera w/two heavy flamers, vox caster, 2 flamers, heavy flamer – 120

- Infantry Squad, plasma gun, vox caster, autocannon - 80

- Infantry Squad, plasma gun, vox caster, autocannon - 80

- Infantry Squad, plasma gun, vox caster, autocannon - 80

- Infantry Squad, melta gun, vox caster, - 65

- Heavy Weapons Squad, 3 missile launchers, - 90

• Penal Legion Squad – 80

• Penal Legion Squad – 80

Fast Attack

• Hellhound, - 130

Heavy Support

• 2 Medusas – 270

• Leman Russ, lascannon, heavy bolters – 185

• Leman Russ, lascannon, heavy bolters - 185