New Mechanicum stuff, and a Kickstarter plug!

First up I have the latest construct in the growing ranks of my Mechanicum army. Another Tech-Adept, this time based off the wonderful Forgeworld Nurgle Daemonic Herald model. I was lucky enough to pick one up on eBay (thanks for the assist Jeff), so he immediately got the "robes and cables" treatment. The gun that is his right arm is from the Dark Eldar Talos kit (as is the rounded armor plate), and the shoulder and upper arm are from the Imperial Guard Sentinel chainsaw arm. The cabling are the fruits of my labors from this tutorial : )

I have a few servitors that are almost painted, you should see them soon.

And now, onto the plugs!

My friend (and Armies On Parade nemesis) James Wappel has a Kickstarter currently running to raise funds to create and distribute his "Painting Pyramid" DVDs. James paints professionally and has a very distinctive style that always draws a crowd.

I invite you to check out his offering here, and pledge to the effort. There are many wonderful things to be learned from Mr Wappel! You can also checkout his blog here.

The second Kickstarter project I'd like to draw to your attention is from my friends Rick Priestly and John Stallard - Beyond the Gates of Antares.

In recent times (ie. 2012) there were a number of "incredibly successful" Kickstarter projects that raised hundreds of thousands (even millions) of dollars, all on the back of very strong offers and pledge rewards that had all been very carefully conceived and developed prior to the launch of the project. In quite a few cases these Kickstarters were essentially pre-order systems for a direct sales model. A few store owners I have spoken to recently have not seen significant sales of (for example) Zombiecide, yet have dozens of gamers who bought their sets through the KS and are playing in-store.

Obviously this is a valid selling strategy, and we must realize at the same time the sort of impact it might have on our local FLGS. I've been involved in quite a few interesting discussions over the last week or so, and it seems that most folks were agreed - Dark Space Corp were tackling their KS differently, possibly even in the "spirit of the original intention of Kickstarter" (no Constitutional scholars need apply).

Instead of a slick presentation of initial ideas, a low target goal, and dozens of ready-made stretch goals, the Beyond the Gates of Antares KS was launched with a concept, a dream, and a target that reasonably matched actual development costs.

That dream is to build a core set of backers who all get to have input into the development of their game. While at first glance this kind of thing might seem "Tom Sawyer-esque" (as commented on TGN), I know that for Mr Priestly that ideas for game rules that work are never a problem. It would have been quite easy for him to write a new set of sci-fi rules, but this is a new approach, an approach made possible by the collaborative tools available online.

So, if you checked out the Beyond the Gates of Antares KS in its early days and steered clear because there seemed to be no clear and obvious piles of figures that you'll never paint, I urge you to return and see what's come of the discussion over the last five weeks. A lot of great ideas, concept sketches, and gaming rules are evolving before our very eyes.

Kind of makes you glad to be a toy soldier geek ; )

Cheers
Dave

Cold snap!

And now I have completed the Malifaux crew for my friend Thomas. I don't pretend to understand the game, but he told me the other night that all the models I had painted for him were those with the Cold Heart ability/special rule/connection, sounds suitably chilly for this cold snap we're having.

When we talked through the scheme at the start of the project we agreed on a palette composed primarily of pale blue, purple, and bone. It was a lot of fun to try and restrict everything to these colors, as well as taking cues where possible from the original "studio paintjobs". As a refresher, here are the first batch of beasties.

This Ice Golem (on the left) was interesting to paint, and by interesting I mean it took me four times as long to finish as I thought it would. lots of layers over the entire model, and even the there could have been more.

Here's the whole crew assembled. I hope you like them : )

The cool bases are from Dragon Forge Design. The clumps of snow on the bases are from Secret Weapon Miniatures crushed glass kit.

The list of paints I used for the project are as follows (in manufacturer groupings):

GW Seraphim Sepia

GW Thunderhawk Blue

GW Averland Sun

GW Boltgun Metal

GW Mithril Silver

GW Rhinox Hide

GW Nuln Oil

P3 Morrow White

SWM Amethyst

SWM Storm Cloud

VGC Black

VGC Hammered Copper

VGC Glorious Gold

VGC Hexed Lichen

VGC Turquoise

VGC Tan 

VGC Dwarf Skin

VMC Pale Sand
VMC Deep Sky Blue
VMC Beige Brown
VMC German Grey

Perhaps you'll seethem on the Malifaux tables at Adepticon : )

Cheers
Dave

Tutorial - Making Cables

After my last post, quite a few people asked me about the cabling I've used on my recent Mechanicum models, and I figured doing a full post on it would be best. So here goes...

On my recent models I've really only used two types of cables: thin greenstuff (above left) and cast "guitar string" (above right). This is because I had misplaced my "tentacle maker", which I have now found and created a ridged greenstuff cable  (above center).

For the two greenstuff cables, I typically start with leftover green stuff that I've been using for other projects. The two methods below work best when the greenstuff has lost its "stickiness" but before it has become too stiff to manipulate.

For the thin cables I push the greenstuff into a long, thin, if irregular, tube. Then, while laying on a smooth surface (in this case a sheets of plasticard), I take a small metal ruler and start to thin out the tube.

By vigorously moving the ruler back and forth along the length of the tube at a slight angle, you can slowly thin it out.

Keep rolling until you reach the thickness desired.

I then attach one end of the tube to the edge of the lamp on my painting desk, leaving them to dry.

Over the course of several sculpting sessions, your excess greenstuff can now become a great collection of flexible hoses, perfect for conversion work.

For the ridged cables, I've used the Tentacle Maker from Greenstuff Industries. Again, just start with a sausage of expiring greenstuff and place it on the base plate.

Put the top plate in place and roll it back and forth... 

...until you reach the desired diameter of cable.

I then typically hang the "tentacles" from my hobby lamp, just as I do for the thin tubes.

And finally, I love using these cast, white metal "guitar string" cables. They are very flexible, hold their position once shaped, and really look the part. There are a variety of diameters available for a great price at Dragon Forge Design. Just tell Jeff I sent you ; )

Cheers
Dave

And the madness continues...

Following on from my last two WIP posts, I present the latest strangeness to be added to the army.

Obviously this image was the genesis of the model. When I took a closer look at this John Blanche painting I was excited and intrigued to see servitors or adepts that seemed to be bonded to the back of this crazy floating thing. As I pondered the reason why, it came to me that perhaps this machine was used for some kind of repair duty. There are lots of clamps and cutters and welding bits and wrenches.

I knew I had to tackle something similar. I hope you enjoy the result of my interpretation.

Cheers
Dave

Building something bigger

Continuing to use the "madness" of John Blanche (some might say "vision") as inspiration, here are anther couple of models I've been building for my Mechanicum army. 

This guy started out as a Tech-Adept or Magos of some kind. At the moment he seems fairly un-augmented, but that will change once the paint starts to go onto the model. Of course, the giant mechanical insect/arachnid that he's using as a palanquin keeps things fairly interesting. I've seen quite a few excellent Mechanicus/Spider centaur/Drider-type models, and was tempted to go down that path, but hopefully I've created something a little more unique to my army.

This one started off planning to be THE arch Magos in my army, but he has kind of grown (and at the same time diminished) into some kind of massive Praetorian monstrosity.

The basis for his tracked unit is a FW Grot tank, clad in a layer of plasticard to tidy things up a little. The autocannons are from the Aegis Defence Line quad gun. I'll mount this guy on a large, oval base and perhaps he could be used as a Forgefiend.

Cheers
Dave