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!

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

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!

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!

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:

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!!

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!

Pandemic update #1 - Roar!

Pandemic. Never thought I'd lead with that but we are all experiencing crazy times. I want to wish anyone reading this the best health, and I hope you and your family/loved ones are safe and in good health. The one upside of this "social distancing" and "stay home/stay safe" shutdown means I am working from home, and it affording me more time to focus on hobby time. This is significant for me as I have always turned to hobbies to reduce stress, clear my head and lower overall anxiety. There's always a silver lining....sometimes you just have to look harder for it.

With all that said, here is were I am with the Seraphon army:

Completed and Painted:

15 Saurus Knights with Lances
20 Saurus Warriors (23 total with 2nd full command) with clubs and shields
20 Skinks with Boltspitters and shields
1 Skink Priest
1 Skink Starpriest
1 Scar-Veteran on Cold One
1 Oldblood on Carnosaur


Did you notice the last entry?

Here he is underway - first model to get the airbrush treatment:

 I didn't base him initially so I could easily get to his underside and legs.

Sponge is for cleaning the airbrush tip/nozzle while spraying to prevent buildup - game changer for preventing spatter!

Returning to where it all began...

Well, not exactly. My first war game was Battletech. Bought my first Ral Partha pewter mechs in the late '80s when they looked like this :

I have kickstarted the recent reboot of Battletech along with Battletech: Clan Invasion by Catalyst Games (I will cover more on that later) but this isn't exactly the "roots" I am speaking about. The first war game I really got into, played in stores, and collected and built many armies for was.......


Wait for it.....

The Great Army Restoration Part 1

Ugly, unfinished, messy, half-assed, incomplete, boring, lazy...all words that might describe the above picture, and all are true, to an extent. We all have armies that need some TLC in one form or another. Most often these get pushed to the wayside as the next shiny thing comes out and our hobby brains gravitate towards that. This is my 2016 plan to change that for one of my oldest and most loved armies, my marines for Warhammer 40k.

Warmachine games on FnF

This past Friday saw our group get together for our FNF - Friday Night Fights. "RoyalFalcon" and myself brought our Warmachine and got 2 games in. The first was only 15pts, allowing Royal to try his Farrow out and get a feel for them before we moved up to 25pts. I ran Cygnar. Here is the report on the first game:




The second game was at 25pts and saw Royal's Farrow (Minions) against my Mercs - and I got to try Ashlynn out for the first time:


We called the game at the end due to time(it was approaching midnight) and it was going to be cat and mouse for a while. Overall we learned a lot about Command Checks and terror, and it was a fun, bloody game.

Cheers,

Ca$h

Every Painful Detail 24 and 25

The Mistake.


A little trick.

Every Painful Detail, pt 23: Heavy Gear

As Game Summit gets closer, work on the last of the Arena tables now begins.

This is kind of a reboot for the Every Painful Detail series. I'll be making more entries up until the last table is done.

Every Painful Tournament: Golden Marine XV

An Ottawa tradition: The gentleman's tournament where victory doesn't matter... only sportsmanship and presentation.

Personally, I think Matt V's videos are better, but this is more of a "from the top end looking down" perspective.

Every Painful Detail, pt 22: Terrain

Here's a look at some of the terrain I'm useful recently, the techniques, and explanations of why I do certain things.

Every Painful Detail, pt 21: Playtesting

A short look at a very small Fantasy tournament I had at my place to see how people like the tables I've been working on.

Twentieth torturous video

Every Painful Detail, pt 20: The Crik
Water goes in the crik. Everyone knows that.