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Warhammer 40,000 – Space Marine Veterans

With the prospect of a game of Warhammer 40,000 against Coronasan’s Blood Angels planned, and a points limit of 75 power set for the encounter, I have been forced to limit myself to only 3 Imperial Knights in my army.  That however leaves me with 7 points to fill from somewhere else, because sadly no Imperial Knight unit is available for less than 9 power…

Time to fall back on the old faithful Space Marines.  Mine are a chapter that was started over 15 years ago when GW released their first range of spray paints.  I undercoated all my existing plastic and metal Space Marines, along with all my vehicles, in ‘Shadow Grey’.  I later found out that the pots of brush on Shadow Grey were a completely different colour to the spray paint.  A consequence of that poor paint choice has been that I have had a devil of a time painting them since then. I actually dread painting the miniatures as errors cannot be corrected easily, and new parts or figures can’t be added to the existing units without them being painted in a completely different colour…

The answer was to paint any new Space Marine units that I added to the army in a completely different colour.  Then add a dash of that colour to the older figures to either cover up errors or to help link them to their newer brethren.  As the new Space Marines are bright yellow (likely to be another poor colour choice, only time will tell) I have painted the helmets of the Sergeants in these units yellow to both tie them in and show their Veteran Sergeant status.

I only needed 5 Veteran Sternguard Marines for the 7 power that I had to fill.  However, I ended up painting up 11 men, as that was how many I found in the old Space Marines box that matched the look I wanted and the unit profile.

(Please note: I am not a traditionalist when it comes to GW Space Marine armies, so these figures are armed in a haphazard manner that can be loosely translated to: if they have two guns its likely to represent a combi weapon profile of some sort… Anyone who does not play 40k will have no idea what I am talking about at this point I suspect!)

Why on earth did I paint 11 figures you may ask, especially when the minimum size for the unit is 5 men and the maximum is 10..?   Well, that way I can field 2 units of 5 men, each with their Veteran Sergeants wearing yellow helmets, or one larger 10 man unit with only one Veteran Sergeant. Fielding the larger unit leaves me with a yellow helmeted chap that can be played as either a Lieutenant, Captain or General Orificer if I have the points spare…  Simple…

Steam Wars – US Navy Deck Guns

So my excitable little self has grabbed the first set of deck guns and given them a very simple, quick paint job.  I will likely make up the other two sets that I have with more care and attention but for now I have some I can use in our games of Steam Wars.

The US Naval Air Corps is fully armed with new weaponry.

Electro cannon and ships mortar now mounted to the rear of their aether steamer

Deck mounted autocannon and steam truck mounted rocket launcher.

The heavy heat ray has been allocated to their new sky ship and will soften the enemy while it delivers a unit or two of assault rocketmen.

Scale shots with the Black Pyramid gun crew and their gallant officer (available separately).

Autocannon.

Electro Gun. (I have added a small nail art gem to the end of the barrel as a beam focusing lens).

Heavy Heat Ray.

Mortar.

Rocket Launchers.

And now for something a little different…  In honour of Justneedsvarnish some 20mm figures included for scale shots…

In my opinion these 2 guns are most likely to get nearer to the scale.  Remember that the resin is nice to work with, so it should be easy enough to shorten the mountings to get an even closer match to 20mm scale.

Hope you like them.  If so, they are available from Black Pyramid Gaming (sadly I am not on commission I just want to see what other more gifted people can do with them).

Steam Wars – Resin Cast Deck Guns

I have not been doing much lately. That said, I have managed to get a couple of games of Warhammer 40,000 and Gaslands in over the last week or so.  The Knights are 2-0 up at the moment but I forgot to get any photos while I was playing (it was a novelty to play for once, as I haven’t gotten a game in for about 2 months).

I did have some good news and a nice surprise from the postman though.  Back in April 2016 (blimey has it been that long?) I finished a small set of Navy Deck Guns for Black Pyramid Gaming and sent them off to be cast up and put up for sale on their webstore.  Not authentic in any way, as these are Steampunk guns, they were based on my own Steam Wars Navy guns.

Scratch built from Plasticard and MDF I was unsure how (or if) they would come out ok.

The final set that the guys at Black Pyramid have had cast up is based on the weapon options available from their already popular gun carriage range.

I have to say that my initial impression is that they have come out very well.  All five sets are cast in a good flexible resin that lends itself well to filing and scraping without any brittleness.  That said the casts, shown here straight from the packaging, don’t look like they will need much work at all to get them ready for painting.

Mounted Mortar. Three part kit.

 

Heavy Gun/ Heat Ray. Five Part Kit.

 

Twin Missile/ Rocket Launcher. Four part kit.

 

Small Electro Gun. Four part kit.

 

Autocannon. Five part kit.

These are planned to be next on the paint table so you should see finished versions very soon…

 

Nice And Tidy – Storage Solutions

As it remains hot and painting is not easy, and as I remain off work for a few more days, I have decided to keep myself busy (and sane) by trying to tidy the shed up a bit.  Hopefully that will make it more usable when I can finally get back in there.

I have also had too much time on my hands to think.  Never a good thing.  It has led to me becoming paranoid that the shed is probably not the safest place for the last 15 years of toil to be kept.  The issue of insurance and protecting a collection, like we probably all amass, has started to play on my mind.  Therefore I have decided to move the more valuable items back into the house for ‘safe keeping’.

My daughter has recently left home and the spare room has been cleared of excess junk.  This has now afforded me the space to put up a cabinet for all my miniature boxes to be stored more safely and, more importantly to the lady of the house, out of sight…

The unit is a cheap Ikea modular wardrobe frame that has been fitted out with simple shelves and a pair of doors. Total spend £115.  What makes it better, is that it came as a clip together kit.  I only needed a screwdriver for the door hinges…  Far less swearing than usual was heard during its construction…

Fragile, large or just plainly odd shaped items will be up top with cases of regular miniatures below.

So far that is all the boxes in from the shed. Neatly and safely now stored indoors.  Not sure how to break it to the good lady that there are another twenty boxes in other cupboards around the house that are likely to remain where they are…

Now, all that remains in the shed are twenty or so boxes of scenery…  Oh, and all the unpainted stuff…

Out of sight, out of (the good lady’s) mind.  What she doesn’t notice she doesn’t worry about.

The trade off.  I had to put up a set of coat hooks for her to use in the small dead space between units…  A small price to pay for piece of mind!

Steam Wars – Martian Planet Surface

The postman (or at least a delivery driver) has again managed to distract me from any planned work in the shed.  I took delivery of an item that I had planned to buy months ago, but had been putting off, while I waited for just the right item to pop up on Google.

With so many Martian forces at my disposal I had a mind to get a Martian red earth gaming mat.  The problem is that so many of them are not actually red…  They are either more realistic and have a brown/ red colour, or are more artistic with an overly orange/ red hue.  My Martians are on bases that are more…  Red!

This mat from Gamemat.eu who supply mats that are reasonably priced and actually have one in red Martian colour…  6×4 feet and printed on a rubber backed ‘Mousemat’ material it fits my needs perfectly.

I have a few different mats now, and one of the things I like about this mat, compared to the vinyl ones, is it lays flat instantly when you unroll it. It also has a non-reflective surface. Sometimes it is hard to see your figures when playing on shiny vinyl.

I already have a few test craters prepped and in need of some slight toning into the base colour.

Once I have the method correct I have a few more to do before finding some Martian looking buildings.  I had been looking for some ideas/ inspiration but have still not decided on what I will get quite yet…

Warhammer 40,000 – Missile Rack

My original Missile pod for the Knight kit was added to my Knight Gallant and painted in green to match is livery.  Not my best move as it looks slightly odd when used with any of my blue liveried Knights…

A replacement original Knight part on eBay appears to retail somewhere between £8- £15…  So, as it was always likely that I would be looking for a cheaper alternative, I took advice from Coronasan and tried out a missile rack from the GW Taurox transport kit instead.  This retails for about £3 on eBay so was a much cheaper option.

The main issue with this part is that it is designed to go under a roof panel and have its lower side up against the model.  As I wanted it perched up on a domed carapace a slight adjustment was required.

A couple of wires, and a piece or two of MDF offcut, and any obvious holes were covered. After that it was a case of slotting in a magnet and spraying it blue.  Again, its too warm to paint with a brush, so it too will have to sit aside for a few days before I get to finish it off properly…

Warhammer 40,000 – Imperial Knights Scenery Set

With the Knights done, all that remains in the Renegade Knights box are 4 sprues of scenery.  These are meant to be modular and fit together in a multitude of ways.  They do better as gaming pieces if they are glued though as some parts are not very strong if just clipped together as the designers hoped.

Some parts do clip on easily as they hold no weight, like the cables and ladders, whilst others, like the platforms and support legs, are required to be a little more secure.

By gluing a few sections together, and leaving some unattached, the set can remain somewhat modular (the walkway can be laid out in about 4-5 ways).  I will leave the barriers on the edges of the walkways unglued as they can then be used to help strengthen the unglued sections of walkway if needed.

The set has a good physical size to it, whilst remaining open enough so that it doesn’t obscure too much in the way of line of sight.

The real walkway scenery I am looking forward to is Coronasan’s towers and walkways that are being designed and tested as we speak.  We should have some of these ready soon to try out in a game, so watch this space.

(…and yes, that is Coronasan’s old school Armorcast Reiver Titan for scale, along with some GW Space Marines…)

For now though the Renegade Knight scenery is likely to remain undercoated and on hold. I need to wait for the heat in the shed to drop a little more before I can apply paint without it drying on the brush every 2 minutes.

Warhammer 40,000 – Imperial Knights Army Photos, Just Because I Can

Its too hot to paint in the shed again and, as they are about to go into their boxes, I thought some of you would appreciate a group shot and rundown of the new Imperial Knights Army.

An army that only took me about 3 weeks to complete…  An astounding pace for me…

Two caveats on this post 1) The lighting is poor in the shed in the mornings but you get the idea.  2) I have not used these in an actual game so the effectiveness of their load out and battlefield role is my best guess at present…

Knight Gallant: A close combat monster with missile launcher (to be fired on the way in).

Knight Crusader: A shooter that can put out a huge number of mid to long range shots from its pair of cannons. Also mounting an anti-aircraft gun on its carapace, as I just know that a few flyers will be headed my way as opponents.

Knight Armiger Helverins: Agile long range shooters to lend support to their bigger brother.

Knight Paladin: An all rounder that can close with the enemy or stand off and shoot.  Again with a AA mount on its carapace (until I can source a second set of missiles).

Knight Armiger Warglaives: A pair of close combat attack dogs.  I suspect these will be useless against troops in units above 5 men strong but will happily dismantle any Space Marine Terminators or vehicles they come across.

As a bit of added flexibility, my Knight Gallant is also playable as a cleaner, less corrupted, brother to my original, Nurglesque, Knight Errant: A Renegade Knight that sports an AA mount on his carapace and enough heavy fire power to burn through, or crush, any other heavy vehicle he manages to get close to…

Warhammer 40,000 – Final Knight Completed

From a Blog point of view I am calling my Imperial Knights project complete.  When I came home from holiday I did not expect to be off work this long or have a new 40K force finished before I returned to work.  That’s the joy of this hobby I guess. It allows you to remain somewhat distracted from life’s little issues and provides you little wins that can help to raise your spirits.

The last of the Imperial Knight models benefitted from a more organised painting process than the last three.  Some detail work was done before the final construction, which made a few of the bits easier to work with.

As I don’t know which will work best yet, the guns in the left armpit have been magnetised on this one.  The carapace weapon system from the last Knight (a set of AA guns) and the one on this Knight (a missile launcher) are also magnetised so that they can be used on either model.  I should have thought the colour through a bit further, as both work on this model but the green missile unit stands out as odd on the blue knight… (Maybe I should just try to get my hands on a second missile unit…)

With decals applied another layer of colour is added.

This is a close combat specialist so a whopping great chainsword is a must.

So much detail that I chose not to paint.  There is always an option to return to these and add more if it bothers me in the long run.

The base is suitably matched to the last six Knights, but also generic enough to be used in any dark based force as an allied detachment if I want.

I have not, as is usual for me, followed any real heraldic 40K lore for the placement of the decals.  Just adding them where I felt they looked ok.  I was running low on larger decals so had to use a couple of paired smaller ones to cover some of the wider plates.

A big power fist provides him with his second close combat weapon. Being equipped with a set of paired close combat weapons makes him the cheapest of the larger Knights and defines him as a Knight ‘Gallant’.

Having lots of skulls and a slightly ‘Green’ colour scheme makes him stand out a little from the other Knights, and allows me to consider him as a option to field in my Chaos Death Guard army.  Followers of the chaos gods do like to cover themselves in sets of skulls.  He is, perhaps, a little ‘clean’ for Papa Nurgle though…

Warhammer 40,000 – Imperial Knight Storage Options

Yesterday was too hot to paint so, as the shed has been feeling slightly cluttered lately, I decided to get s few things tidied up and put a few things away.  The completed Knights have not so much been put away as found a home.

When Maplins sadly closed its doors recently, I made the effort to pop in and help them clear their shelves slightly.  I picked up a set of three silver tool cases, in small, medium and large, along with a couple of their more expensive pick’n’pluck cases.

Its not like I needed them for anything at the time but, like so many boys of a certain age, I have a ‘thing’ about buying bags… Don’t know why…

This collection of silver cases are one of the many things that have been making the shed feel slightly over filled of late.  In this instance they came in handy though.

The two pick’n’pluck cases are big enough to hold my seven Imperial Knights as well as a Nurglesque Renegade Knight I purchased to support my Death Guard forces but haven’t played as yet.  This should allow me to store them safely rather than be forced to put them in the display case (which I really should try to tidy out this week as it is looking just like a very obvious glass storage box at the moment).

I plan to head out to the shed and finish the last of the seven Imperial Knights as I write this so, if the next post doesn’t show it completed, you will know that I got distracted again…