A Tale of Four ...Inquisitors?

It's hard to believe that three years and a few editons of 40K have come and gone since our last post! Other than AirmanG, none of us have really played 40K in the last few years. When the latest edition of 40K was released a month ago, myself, Bossman, Boltergeist, and AirmanG decided to try it out. To go along with the new edition, we've decided to do a monthly painting challenge similar to GamesWorkshop's "A Tale of Four Gamers".

For our first month, we decided to paint up the minimum needed for a Patrol Detachment, plus anything extra. A few of us are trying to finish up old projects and get rid of our backlog of miniatures.

AirmanG decided to paint up the new Nurgle miniatures from the Dark Imperium box set. Here's what he's done so far.

Asmodai is still trying to finish his Crimson Slaughter models from the Dark Vengeance starter set.

Boltergeist is working on an Imperium force, and is starting out with some Flesh Tearers Space Marines.

And sneaking in last, is Bossman who is also working on an Imperial force based around Raven Guard Space Marines.

We're already working towards our second month's goal, which is two units of our choice. Check back between now and then for some work in progress posts!

WIP: Death Guard Plague Marines

Hey all, back again to show a couple of things I've been working on. There have been rumors and speculation that a few of us here at the Istvaanians will be doing another Tale of Gamers style league soon to get our armies done and some games in. My army of choice at the moment is my all nurgle CSM army with demonic allies.


I recently went all out and got hold of a few FW Death Guard upgrade kits, along with some Mk II and III heresy era legs and Maxmini biohazard backpacks. I'm pretty pleased with the results-- they all work together and give a cohesive look to the models. These have been primered white and given an airbrushed basecoat of old style Gretchin Green foundation paint.

 

This is my WIP Chaos Lord. He carries the Burning Brand of Skalathrax, modeled as a Nurgle toxin cannon with a fuel tank backpack (known at the gaming table as the Goop Gun). The base model is the chaos lord from Dark Vengeance. He obviously has a ways to go, but I like how he is shaping up. As usual, let me know what you think.

-- Boltergeist

Battle for Stones River: Photos

Hey all, just wanted to share a few photos from the tournament. My camera isn't the best for this sort of thing, but I think you can make them out well enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks all for making this year another success! We are already looking forward to next year.
-- Boltergeist

Terraforming: Underhive!

Blast from the Past!

So L0rdM0nki and I (and two inquisitorial henchmen) are looking to get a Necromunda campaign going in the near future. We've all played since the beginning-- 1995 to be exact (I looked it up. Now I feel old. Ah well.). We've played here and there through the years and the old warhorse has reared its head once again for some minis throwdown. For being a 'specialist game' Necromunda really is up there as one of the best games GW has ever made. If you've never tried it I highly recommend taking a look. The rules are free on the GW site, so get to it!

Box o' bulkheads, ready for action!

In any case I dug out my old terrain that has been gathering dust for several years. Back in the day my basement collected some wetness and so my original set of box set terrain perished. I had to toss out the cruddy card pieces and kept the plastic bulkheads. Undeterred, I still have a second original set plus a rerelease set from when Necromunda: Underhive came out.  I since made new terrain using bulkheads and plasticard (learned my lesson), although compared to current cities of death terrain and so on the whole shebang looks pretty cheesy. I thought I'd show you what I've been working on and hopefully entertain and enlighten with the WIP of updating it.

Bits and Pieces collected in the past 18 years...

My current plan is to mount what I've got on hardboard bases-- much like figures, even shoddy terrain looks better on a finished base. Plus I can build in my collection of bits and pieces to make terrain fit for both Necromunda and 40k. A base with texture and detritus can really make a world of difference in setting the stage for wargame battles.

Homemade terrain using bulkheads and plasticard. Needs a facelift!

I hope you enjoy my venture into nostalgia, talk at you soon!
-- Boltergeist

Blast from the Past: Typhus conversion; TLAC/ML Hellbrute

Hey all, just a quick post here to show you what I've been messing with lately. First up is a Typhus conversion based on the RT era Chaos Lord model. It's a bit small now, but I've always liked it.

The arms are from the plastic chaos lord kit-- the scythe is the sorcerer's staff topped with a zombie scythe blade, yet again topped with the pick weapon from the whfb chaos knights. The back banner is one from the plastic plaguebearers, as is the hand holding the severed heads. He still needs some gaps filled and obviously a paintjob, but with the new arms and the height added from the base I'm pretty happy with it.

I've also been tinkering with the hellbrute model. I like the detail and the pose, but the weapon loadout isn't all that useful to me. Plus, I like to avoid using straight out-of-the-box models when I can help it.

The autocannon was made with plastic tubing; pretty straightforward there. I removed the fist arm at the joint and added a Havoc launcher. I had to trim down the plate that goes on the back of the fist, but it fits on there well as the top of the missile launcher. I replaced the normal face with an eyeball from the chaos spawn kit to help the pose make sense.


Thanks for reading, talk to you soon.

--Boltergeist

Black Legion test paint

Hey all, back again with a quick update. Over the weekend I tried a test paint scheme for my new improved Black Legion. As everyone probably knows, black is easy to paint but hard to paint well. I personally don't care for the extreme edge highlight techniques you usually see on GW models, so thought I'd go for a different approach.

I wanted the black to become the backdrop for the other elements on the model, particularly the gold. After priming black (of course) I began by drybrushing the armor areas with metallic black. This keeps the black from becoming too tinted with blue or grey, while also adding a degree of luster to the plates and allowing the edges to catch the light.

One thing I've found over the years is that it works best to drybrush in a single consistent direction. You are trying to highlight when drybrushing, so you want the upraised areas to catch the paint, not the bottom. I see a lot of people use a back-and-forth motion and it can ruin the effect you want.

I tried a new technique on the gold, and I'm pretty pleased with the results so far. I basecoated with old Calthan Brown, then did a messy highlight with new Averland Yellow. I then went back over it with a layer of new Auric Armour Gold. The gold covers well by itself, but I found that the colors underneath show through and add a good bit of depth to it.

 With that done, I went back with Devlan Mud to pick out the rivets, skulls, and so on. Finally I used a thin edge highlight of Reaper Buckskin Pale as the final highlight. While not a metallic it blends in well and really helps it pop.

I'm still not 100% sold on the black and will probably keep experimenting, but I'm happy with the gold for now. Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think!


-- Boltergeist

More mutants sighted

Mutant with crab arm

Hey all, I thought I'd post up a few WIP shots from my growing force of mutants... Sorry for occasional blur and color issues; I took the pics quickly but I think you'll get the idea.

The theme of the army is that the warband seeks out the favor of the chaos gods, and sees mutation as proof of that favor. So, each member has various 'gifts' of greater or lesser usefulness. I always liked the old Realm of Chaos books' view that the gods are so alien there is nothing methodical or meaningful about what is granted to their followers-- mutations or other gifts that make the bearer unstoppable or completely disabled are one and the same.

Mutant with spider carapace and arms

Marine with Autocannon

Marine with spiky appendage and melded helmet

Mutant with demonic face and claw. Made from a Rogue Trader chaos marine and current bits.

It amuses me that he's licking his bolter.

My favorite so far-- this marine is bordering on becoming a spawn.

He has to support himself with his sword as he struggles to fire his weapon appendage.

He still needs a good bit of green stuff, but I'm happy with the pose.

Thanks all! More to come...
-- B.