A "small" diversion...

 BATTLTECH!

This was my first miniature game. As I mentioned in my last post, Battletech holds a dear place in my hobby heart. I remember doing odd jobs when I was 12-13 to scrounge the money to buy the starter box:

 Funny story about that. Despite being release in 1985 I first saw this back in 1988 when I was 12 and fell in love with the box art and the description of the game. When I finally had enough cash (I want to say it was $20?) the local store was sold out!! With no online shopping options for a 12 year old in 1988 I instead turned to the only other box they had:

I still have Citytech to this day. But Kickstarter has changed it. In the past year Catalyst Game Labs has "re-released" Battletech and I joined in day 1 of the Kickstarter despite having not played the game in a long, long time. I received the Battletech Kickstarter just over a year ago (I know, grey plastic shame on me!) but decided to wait until the Clan Invasion (Wave 2) came out this year to open it all up and paint it. Here is what I accomplished:

20 Inner Sphere Mechs painted

12 Clan Mechs w/ 2 stands of Elementals.

I am awaiting Wave 2.5 which will basically see my forces double with the addition of all new mechs for both sides! Until then here are some sample pictures of how I painted them all up.

The "core" generic mechs for the Inner Sphere have been painted up as the 8th Lyran Regulars (House Steiner) with 2 lances painted up in Guard colors:

8th Lyran Regular Marauder and Urbanmech

Urbanmech

Marauder

Lyran Donegal Guards Battle Lance

For the Clan side I went with my personal favorite clan - Clan Ghost Bear!

Clan Ghost Bear Heavy Striker Star

I planned to do some insignia work but found a spot online that sells scale decals for all the different units in the Battletech universe so I will be ordering those. Until then I feel this meets my "Play it painted" standard for a few games to reacquaint myself with the rules and system. 

My eyes are also drawn to the Alpha Strike rules for Battletech as it plays in a more "modern" way with open movement and simplified management of your mechs. I will be trying it out for sure! The beauty is the game can be played either way and you don't have to pick one and stick with it - a great idea!

Now that all these mechs are painted I am looking at a massive heap of plastic sprues that are my Ogor Mawtribes army for AoS and I think that may be my next project. As its over 3000 points worth I feel that will qualify the Ogors as my #newyearnewarmy project. So I will start assembly now, in the hopes to start putting some paint to plastic over the Christmas holidays.

Stay tuned for some more Battletech distraction along with more Games Workshop and Star Wars Legion content!

Cheers,

Ca$h

Blood Angels Arrive

 This post is basically a photo dump of the Space Marine half of the Indomitus boxed set. I finished them all with a Blood Angels successor chapter idea in mind. one that is currently on campaign and the wear on their armor is showing. I used a lot of metallics and chipping effects. I think it turned out well enough for how quickly I can turn them out!

The recipe is as follows:

1. Metallic zenithal highlight (airbrush) over black primer (rattle can) 
2. Fleshtearers Red Contrast paint over the armor
3. Weapons and other dark areas are Black Templar Contrast over silver
4. Eyes: White with Escorpena Green (Game Air) over top
5. Dab silver with foam over red for damaged look
6. Other colors used for non red/black parts are :
• P3 : Jack Bone, Khador Red base, Ironhull Grey, Quick Silver
• GW: Fleshtearers Red Contrast, Black Templar Contrast, Iyanden yellow Contrast (for gold)
7. BASES : Cork, GW Astrogranite Debris, Grey (P3 Greatcoat Grey w/ matt medium), Drybrush w/ White - Wasteland Tufts.
   

Click on after the break for pictures of all the characters, bikes and other units!

Necrons rise from the ashes of a lost time..

 With the release of Warhammer 40k 9th edition I purchased the Indomitus box on a whim. Yes, it was a $200CAD whim but the amount of new models inside was simply too good to pass on despite the fact I haven't played 40k in years. 

What is inside?

GW Site showing all the contents

As you can see, that is a ton of models for $200! I didn't really have any plans for the Space Marines but the Necrons really caught my eye. More so, they caught my 8yr old sons eye. He was VERY excited to see them assembled and ready to play with so I obliged him. Truthfully is doesn't take much to encourage me in the hobby space these days haha!

So we started with Necrons! I build and painted a quick table-ready scheme based on his input. He chose all the colors and basing. He has been painting Stormcast for Age of Sigmar but wanted me to do it so "they look great on the table against your army dad" - so I got started. 

He wanted them to look "new" like they are just being built and deployed for battle. He know the lore to the extent that they are like zombies/undead and rise up on planets but wanted his to be like they were found in a warehouse or factory. I think it was a neat idea and helped with his color choices - blue, silver, and purple. I also wanted something I could get finished quickly but still look decent on the table. This whole force took me a week - from sprue to varnish! With his input as to what colors he wanted (and where!) we ended up with this:

Click on after the break for more pictures of all the Necrons!

The last of the Imperials....for now!

 Hello again,

I have spent the last week assembling and painting up the last couple units for my Imperial forces in Star Wars Legion.

I was able to finally pick up two boxes of Shoretroopers after they had been unavailable due to stocking issues at Fantasy Flight for months. Here are a couple pictures:

Click on after the break for pictures of the other unit and how they faired in their first battle last Friday!

AT-ST and on to some 40k!

 In an effort to complete the models I already own, I have finally completed the AT-ST for my Star Wars Legion Imperial forces. I think I picked this up when it first released back in 2018? For $55 it was a steal of a kit and I am so happy to see it finally completed. Here are a couple pictures:

I tried to keep it simple. By that I mean when I went looking at pictures of the AT-ST from Return of the Jedi I noticed it was basically all grey - the guns, the hull, the hoses even. It was all very matt, dull and singularly toned. Attempting to recreate that definitely makes it look a little "bland" in miniature form but I feel it conveys the purely utilitarian approach the regular Imperial forces take. I can't wait to get it on the table!

With the AT-ST complete I have ordered the last remaining unit(s) I need for my Imperials - Shoretroopers. They have been out of stock for a long while, months I was told by my FLGS so I ordered a couple boxes off amazon. Until they arrive I have also started on the Necron half of the 40k Indomitus special release boxed set for 9th edition. My son loves the look of all the killer robots and is keen to learn how to play 40k with them. 

The plan for now is to get that Necron force painted up and to start playing small skirmish games with him to re-learn the 40k game myself. The Necrons in the box total around a 1000 points so its a perfect size starter army for him - and me! I am still unsure what I will do with the Space Marine half. Being all new releases, I am tempted to start a whole new marine force, but I also kinda want to start something new and different for 40k 9th edition. I already have 2000+ points of Emperor's Children Chaos marines so a second marine army doesn't seem to be as exciting despite how amazing the new models are. We shall see what I decide but for now, Necrons are calling. Once I complete the Necrons I will probably swap back to the the two units of Shoretroopers just to get all the Legion stuff completed so stay tuned to see where my hobby journey this year takes me!

Of note, we are putting out live streams roughly once a week on the Dice Devils YouTube channel linked above so please go check it out and let us know how we are doing. We are improving our equipment and layouts for the games each week and really enjoying it. So far it is just Star Wars Legion but it will expand to include whatever I am playing - perhaps even small learning games with my son!?

Cheers,

Ca$h

More Star Wars Legion

 I managed to finish up some more Star War Legion this past week or so. This is just a quick update with some pictures:

Emperor Palpatine

Imperial Guard

Palpatine and his entourage

Click on after the break for my Dewback rider, Bossk and Boba Fett miniatures!

More Star Wars and....live streams?

 Hello again!

It's been a busy October on the painting front, and especially related to all things Star Wars Legion. Matty and I have been getting games in a couple days a week and I have been painting up furiously to get new Imperial units on the table. I have added 3 new units and a smattering of characters to my force and I wanted to update you all with some pictures.

Before I start posting beauty shots, I also wanted to note that we have built a Dice Devils YouTube channel and are starting to try our hand at live streaming our games. This will improve over time as I get better cameras, set ups, overlays etc. so please bear with us while we learn. I have added a direct link to the menu bar across the top. For now the channel has a few of our recent Star Wars Legion games but the plan is to include any/all systems I play - mainly AoS (Age of Sigmar) and 40K along with Legion.

Here are the units I have completed in the past 2 weeks:

Director Krennic

R4 Astromech

Medical Droid

More pictures after the break of the Death Troopers, Imperial Special Forces, etc!

Stegadon Number 2 and some Noise Marines?

 It is done! I finally managed to complete my second Stegadon. This one is built out as the "Engine of the Gods" featuring a Skink Priest and strange Slann magical contraption/portal on top :

 I ended up choosing a more "ancient" look for the stegadon. The red and grey really helped convey the age of this elderly beast. I think it turned out well.

Click on after the break for some more pictures and what I am starting to work on next!

1 done, 1 to go!

 I completed the first of two Stegadons! This one being the base model with Skystreak bow:

I am very pleased with how this came out. Being painted to a "table ready" or in my words "good enough" level I think I am happy to call it done.

Here are some more beauty shots:

I am still trying to figure out the coloring for the next one as its the Engine of the Gods so I feel it should have a more unique coloring for its skin and armor plates. Stick around and I will post some wip shot next week of the next one!

Ca$H

Stegadon - Part 2

 The summer has caught up with me. That is to say, I have been out enjoying as much time as possible up at our trailer on the lake, so painting has slide some. Couple that with my airbrush breaking (irreparable) and it has impacted the amount of hobby I have achieved in the last month. I have managed to get some things done though!

First up I finished the "crew" for both the regular stegadon and the Engine of the Gods version:

They follow the same paint scheme I've been using for regular, champion and priest skinks - yellow, blue and orange respectively. I guess I'm still caught in the old school lore of specific spawning pools growing specific role based skinks. 

I do plan to buy a new Iwata airbrush soon, but I did some digging and found an old Paasche airbrush I bought at least 8+ years ago and NEVER used! It's an entry level but great quality so I figured "Why not?" and busted it out to start on the first stegadon:

It offers surprisingly great control and fine spray lines! I know the picture isn't the best but there was literally zero over spray! I didn't mask any of the areas an was able to get the base colors down just fine! It's easy to clean, but I am not a fan of the under mount reservoir. I prefer the top down models. This will get me through for now and allow some time to really research and choose the best new airbrush for my needs. 

I plan to keep working on this purple/green stegadon over the next week or two and finish it up before moving on to the next one. This will be the regular skystreak bow stegadon. I'm excited get one on the table soon! 

-Ca$h

Sneaky Skinks!

Hi all,

This is just a quick update as I have been busy on a short family vacation and work. I have completed a small unit of Chameleon Skinks. These came in the large lot I picked up and had base coats already done so I just finished the job - highlights, shading, touch-ups and basing etc:

More pictures after the break!

Salamanders

Hi again! This is just a quick update as to what I accomplished this past week. I assembled and painted up 3 Hunting Packs of Salamanders. I even got to test them out in a quick 500pt game against a buddy (he was playing Stormcast) and they performed pretty well. They managed to shoot and charge a unit of 5 Sequitors and wiped them off the board.

The next round they died very quickly to his Celestar Ballista. It fired 4 shots (Rapid fire 18") and he got lucky - all 4 hit, doing 4D6 wounds! Suffice to say that -2 rend and so many hits dropped by Salamander unit down to 2 models, that he then charged and removed off the table hah! Not really a fair trade in points but for the first showing of the Salamanders I can't complain. Hopefully we will get a chance to video the next small game and I can start uploading more content that way too.

Here are models I completed this week:

Next weeks plans : Small unit of Chameleon Skinks and 2 Stegadons!

Until then,

Ca$h

Reinforcements arrive!

With the quick side project of re-basing and touching up my old Empire force to make it into a Cities of Sigmar completed, I have shifted back to working on my Seraphon. Of note I completed the first of 3 Slann I will eventually paint. For now, with the smaller games we play, 1 Slann is more then enough! Here is a nice picture of him :

I also picked up two huge lots of models from a friend who is moving and needed to decrease his piles of plastic shame in his closets. Seraphon and Ogor Mawtribes!


Skip on after the break for some more pics and a list of what I got:

Last Stormcast - for me

But not for the family! I have finished up the Lord-Celestant on Dracoth for the kids starting Stormcast Eternals force :

Not amazing but table ready for the kids!

Skip on past the break for more pictures and information on upcoming units and battle reports!

Thunder bolt of lightning...

It's very very frightening that there are now Stormcast Eternals in the house! The kids decided on that faction and I committed to assist with the assembly and some of the painting. Looking through the battletome they decided on the purple and gold of the Lions of Sigmar:

So with this paint scheme chosen we set to work to put together a simple step by step for the kids to follow to achieve the desired look. I modified the belt/skirt area to make it black (to break up the gold better) and here is where we stand with 10 Liberators completed to a basic tabletop standard :

Click on past the break for a couple more pictures and our planned next steps!

An unexpected pause...

As many may already know, Games Workshop closed down their warehouses, web stores and factories due to Covid-19. This impacted my next purchases for my Seraphon as I wanted to pick up a Stegadon and Slann. With all the local (and some not so local) sold out and not able to restock, I have started to shift focus until I can order the kits I want. So what to work on next? Well, I started by following a tutorial on Lustria Online about how to kit bash an Astrolith Bearer out of the eft over parts from a Seraphon Start Collecting box. This is what I ended up with :

More pictures after the break and a link to the tutorial!!

First Blood and a Skink Starpriest

The first battle for the new Seraphon between two tenacious commanders. My kids! At 11 and 7, they are primed to enjoy the game now and honestly they are excited to try their wits against each other. Both have obviously been exposed to my longstanding table top gaming hobby so it comes as no surprise that as the self isolation and social distancing continue, they are more keen to try different things with their time. I am more than happy to oblige ;)

But before we get to the game, I did finish another model this week :

 Skink Starpriest

More after the break!

Realmshaper Engine discovered in the realms!

The new Seraphon Realmshaper Engine terrain piece is so interesting. Feeding off the story of how the "Old Ones" left temples behind when they departed the now dead Old World, the new Seraphon army terrain piece really ties the Lizard Old World lore into the updated Age of Sigmar lore for the Seraphon - and it has neat rules to boot!

Coming in at 0 points, it's a "why not" addition to my army. By that I mean I can choose to play with it in some lists, and leave it out in others as my fancy takes me. It's the first time I've bought a model for an army that literally has zero points cost. It doesn't directly help me expand my army into higher point ranges but it definitely adds a coolness factor - both to the army and to any table I play on.

So without further ado - here it is:

My thoughts in the build and rules after the break!

Return of the Carnosaur

You read it right - another Carnosaur for my burgeoning Seraphon army! This time around however, it features a Saurus Scar-Veteran instead of the Oldblood on the first one. I approached it the same way, using bright colors through my airbrush to get its foundation colors started. Here is an in-progress shot of the initial coloring:

Click on in to see some more pictures of this mighty beast all finished!

From the skies.....oh, and giant solar lasers on lizards

The progress with this army has been astounding. By focusing even 30 minutes a day on something related to the force (building, basing, priming, painting etc) I have witnessed it grow steadily over the past couple months. It helps that we are still in COVID-19 lock down, but really I had already built the habit as a "new years goal" if you will and it's really bearing fruit.

First up are my new Terradons swooping in to drop their deadly cargo:

I again turned to my airbrush and used it  to pretty decent effect in blending the Terradons from red to yellow. I am still undiminished in my enjoyment of painting bright vibrant colors. Here are some more close up shots of the Terradons: