The New Mechanicus - Ruststalker PIP

A little post to show the very cool Ruststalkers are underway. Initially I was going to fill in their recessed eye lens, but I ended up keeping it and simply shaving down and smoothing out the cluster of external lenses. I have a few more layers of gloss varnish on the faceplates to get them to match the other "black glass" faceplates in my collection.

Cheers
Dave

This Is Not a Test! Launch code activated!

It has finally become a reality! Joey McGuire has been working on his own set of post-apocalypse skirmish rules (This Is Not a Test) for more than three years now. He has been diligently gaming and correcting, testing and tweaking his rules and slowly building up a nice set of miniatures to go along with them. Around this time last year I sat down with Joey and we chatted about the project, with me passing on some advice from my time in the gaming industry.

Shortly after, I was invited to take the photographs for his rulebook. Joey has amassed an incredible collection of miniatures and terrain over the years, so the photography was a delight. In one long day last June, we shot close to 300 photos ranging from individual miniature shots to complete table set-ups. That was a fun day - processing all those shots, not so much, but the results were well worth it.

At the beginning of this year, Joey invited me to do the layout for This Is Not a Test. He already had a lot of great artwork from various artists, the hundreds of photos from our shoot, and the rules completed. It was a simple thing to say yes, and after a couple of months work, going back and forth tightening and tweaking the look, Joey has finally been able to launch his 170-page set of rules and miniatures range.

The rules themselves owe a lot to the skirmish games of GW and others, but the have their own flavor too, so players can feel immediately familiar with certain mechanics, giving them the opportunity to explore the setting much more. With six different warbands to choose from (each with more than 10 different member types) there's something for everyone who loves the possibilities presented by a post-nuclear apocalyptic setting.

Check it all out at the World's End Publishing website, and keep up to date with all the latest news on his This Is Not a Test Facebook page. I hope you enjoy what you see. I know I've had a lot of fun helping Joey see his dream realized!

Cheers
Dave

The New Mechanicus - Some progress...

So, I've managed to get start on my Adepts Mechanicus models. The first unit of Skitarii Rangers are pictured above. The overall aesthetic of these models has grown on me, but they are a bit of a bear to put together. The main flaw, in my opinion, being the difficulty you can have to rid yourself of the seams on the sides of the robes once the front and back halves are glued together. These bases are from Dragon Forge Design's Tech Deck range. But anyway, on to the show.

Here's my Ranger Alpha. I really love this head, so I used it instead of a hooded head. The taser goad is there because I love the rules, and the arc pistol is there to give him something that looks considerably different to the galvanic rifles of his squad.

The two Rangers above, give a pretty good idea of the amount of character these models do have, considering their reduced posability and covered faces.

This current squad has a Ranger with palm caliver and a transuranic arquebus (above). I'm planning on giving this squad three arquebuses (arquebii?), the second squad three calivers, and the third squad three arc rifles. The base is made from the box, with a layer of conversion bits, again from Dragon Forge Design's Tech Deck range (just scroll to the bottom of the linked page).

And finally, the first squad of Ruststalkers are under way. They'll all have glossy black faceplates, punctured by a single, glowing red eye. I've started painting one of these wonderful models, so I'll put up some photos soon.

Cheers
Dave

PS. A drop pod tutorial will be coming soon : )
PPS. If you need some 28mm scale skulls, check out Dragon Forge Design's new Kickstarter HERE. Only four days left to pledge.

And so it begins - NOCF 2015

Over the next few months I'll be ramping up the content here about the 2015 efforts for the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation Army Raffles.

This year we have five different armies/collections planned and underway. There are:
• Flames Of War - a Polish Army (including train).
• Malifaux - close to 70 models including a variety of Masters, meaning that this collection could be a great seed for a club about to get into Halifax.
• 40K - Novamarines, a massive collection is underway.

And the two armies that I'm involved in directing are based on a story by Gav Thorpe:
• Alaitoc Eldar
• Sons Of Orar Space Marines

As you might be able to guess, I'm painting up the drop pods for the Sons Of Orar force.

On Sunday it was nice enough (finally) to be able to sit out on my front porch so, while my wife worked in the garden and my daughters played on the sidewalk, I sat and clipped out all the parts for the three pods. There are a LOT of parts in this kit, and most of them are in multiples of five (which becomes fifteen across three kits!)

I takes a lot of scraping to clean the mold lines on all of those parts.

I'm thinking it might be of interest to do a bit of a "here's how I do drop pods" kind of tutorial. Would you be interested? Let me know if you would in the comments below.

And be ready for many more posts on this subject : )

Cheers
Dave

The New Mechanicus - A Review (part 3)

At the moment I'm working really hard to get a couple of Flames Of War commissions completed. Both US armies - one a tank company, the other a mechanized infantry army. Those new plastic infantry paint up beautifully, but are a pain in the but to clean mold lines on ; )

Anyway, here's part three of my feelings about the new Adepts Mechanicus fun from Games Workshop. This post? A look at the Sicarian boxed set. Although some felt I was basing on the Skitarii models, I was just suggesting I felt they could have been more unusual. Unusual like the Siciarians are. These models really fit with my thoughts/feelings on how the Skitarii could have looked, so it's cool that they're in the army : )

Like the previous two boxes, you can make two different units from the contents. Above you can see the Ruststalkers. I think these are my favorite of the two. The gasmask heads, spindly legs, and dual blades are reminiscent of some of the great John Blanche Femme Militant range. Also, the Princeps has a great deal of General Grievous going on, with his hooded cloak and additional limbs. I love the look of the transonic blades, so much so I'm going to work on converting a massive for one of the Knights I have waiting in the wings : )

There's also the chance that I might have to switch out their heads for Dark Eldar Wyche heads, so that I can have them look like my Thallax, Usurax, and Knight : )

The Sicarian Infiltrators are also cool. Not quite what I'd immediately think of as 40K, but as a concept sketch (dated 1993) that has been doing the rounds would attest, Jes Goodwin has been excited about this look for 22 years ; )

I think their method for "infiltrating" an enemy formation is great. Overwhelm the senses of the enemy through a variety of means, then stride right in and start poke the enemy with their taser goads. Very cool stuff. And speaking of taser goads, I'm loving the way they work in the game, as well as how they look on the models.

So, for the third of four boxed sets I think I'll have to give these guys an eight cogs out of ten score.

For another perspective on the AdMech releases, I'd urge you to check out KrautScientist's blog The Eternal Hunt, for his one part review of all the releases (along with some very cool links to other great modeling being done in the name of the Omnissiah).

And for a look at some great conversions using this Sicarian kit, head to here and here on the Officio Convertorum.

Cheers
Dave