Galleries

Steam Wars Venusians finished

Venusians completed today, and just before any static grass was applied, I took a few photos.  Just to see how they looked in their ‘ride’.

They came up ok in the end.  Softer plastic miniatures like these, with less defined details, always feel to me more difficult to get that good finished look.  I still think it’s my ‘I need lines to colour in up to’ level of painting skill.

In their unfinished Assault Barge. (Ignore the base in this one its all I had at hand.)

As I haven’t managed to match the infantry to the barge all that well. It does leave me thinking: What colour should the barge become so as to match the Infantry?

And lets not speak about how basing to match the table always looks like a fail on other surfaces…

When you don’t see those bases though… Not bad…

Ah, thats more like it…

Next time these hit the table it will be for a game of Rogue Stars.

Steam Wars Venusians

Yeah, I got side tracked again.  It happens.  But if I get something painted that’s not too bad an outcome.  Coronasan suggested we get a game of Rogue Stars played so I decided to paint up a few new figures to help make up a different crew.

As I didn’t have too many new figures in a Sci fi theme at the front of the painting queue, I went looking for some that would fit the need. I delved to the other end of the painting queue, where the figures that once were at the front of the queue get pushed back to, and found these.

I call them Venusian mercenaries. Specialist warrior types that my Steam Wars Martians often employ for the more dangerous missions that they might not want to execute themselves.  Warcradle Studios call them Greys in their Wild West Exodus game.

With the heads done in contrast white (to get a very light grey skin tone) the body suits looked too washed out in such a light colour.  My plan was to match their armour to their attack barge colour but that was never going to work… Contrast black for the guns and contrast grey for the armour.

Contrast paints do make painting units faster. Especially if what you want is a set of solid base colours with a slight highlight/shade effect.  I found myself still adding a quick dry brush of silver over the black of the guns and feel something is still missing from these guys.

As always, using a strong colour when basing generally drab coloured figures helps them stand out more.

For Steam Wars this batch of ten figures gives me two units of 5 figures.  In Rogue Stars I will likely pick just 2-3 of these to go with some other miniatures when I build that crew.

Warhammer 40,000 – Yellow Assault Marines Finished

Quite a quick unit to finish.  I know I haven’t painted all the details that these figures have on them but I don’t think I need to.  I never aim for more than a good TABLETOP finish.  They are playing pieces for a game in the end…

Occasionally one unit or figure might get some more attention but an army needs grunts.  The poor bloody infantry that don’t get such a detailed finish so as to fill the table.

So these guys are done.  Primaris figure from my Kill Team added as he was the basis for the colour scheme.

A veteran 5 man squad with the sergeant front and centre.

And the newer recruits with slightly more up to date helmets.

After a few decals they are now ready to mount up and get going.

If only their ride was ready.

Warhammer 40,000 – Who You Calling Yellow

As I no longer have access to the original blueish grey that was used for the first half of the army, and as a close but not close enough match would REALLY bother me, it was always going to be a yellow base coat for these guys

With their black power packs and shoulder pads though, it at least keeps some ties to the original half of the army.

With base coating done its either weapons then wash or wash then weapons…

In the end, it was weapons wash and back to weapons again…  All because I was going daft painting ten silver swords in a row over that vivid yellow colour.  After dumbing it down with a yellow/orange ink wash it was much easier on the eyes.

Warhammer 40,000 – More Space Marines – Though Not A Green One In Sight

After so long painting Green Space Marines I thought it would be nice to do something a little different…  But what to do? I know! How about some Space Marines…

These ones will NOT be green.  In fact these bits of them look almost silver in this photo.  I shall correct you though…  They are newly sprayed, BLACK power packs and shoulders.

The power packs are for these guys.  A full 10 man squad (made up as 2x 5 man combat squads) of Assault Marines.  This time without jump packs as they will be either bussed about inside a rhino or delivered to the game in a drop pod.

I picked up a pack of normal Tactical Marines and dug out enough chain swords and pistols, from the old bits box, to kit them out.

Quite why they came with slotta bases is beyond me but, we will overcome and all that…

Now, some of you may note the use of Chaos space marine arms and weapons for a few of these boys.  My whole Space Marine army is made up with an odd relic of the Chaos wars thrown in (along with a couple of bionics and Space Wolves parts).

The back story, devised a decade ago, was of a decimated chapter that had to compromise on some codex guidelines in order to ensure their survival. Therefore they were not to picky about welcoming the odd renegade that had been returned from the other side (penitent marines and lost brothers) back to the fold.

This unit will be painted using traditional paints but the sergeants head was always destined to get some contrast skin tone.

Not bad for one thick coat.

Warhammer 40,000 – Big Weekend Game

Last weekend Coronasan and I finally managed to get together for a ‘proper’ game of toy soldiers.

Coronasan has been working hard to get a 6’x4′ gaming table together that is constructed from all of the MDF kits he has designed.

Pringle towers, Pringleless towers, Square towers and base boards, along with a whole heap of scatter terrain and even a dice tower.  Add in the large transporter, that he finished earlier this year, and you have a remarkable and hugely enjoyable table.

Even his Forgeworld Flyer came down off the shelf for this game.

When it’s all laid out this way, it’s enough to make a real impact.

It wasn’t too long though, before he took my mind off the scenery, by deploying a large unit of Grey Knight Terminators. My focus was quickly back on the game as, although my Death Guard are quite resilient, those guys throw out a lot of damage…

My proxy Plague Hulk had to climb its way across most of the table, ever hopeful that an enemy would come into its sights, and into range of its great iron claw.

My right was well protected by these three guys. Between them, they actually managed to clear away all of the first deployment of enemy units, before taking fire from Coronasan’s reinforcements.

The bulk of my basic troopers, along with their support units, had a long, slow trudge across the table though. They don’t run awfully fast with rotten limbs and blubber lolling all over the place.

One cinematic moment was Coronasan’s veteran jump troopers slowly rolling up my centre before being probed to death by my Greater Blight Drone.

In the end it was down to victory points, and I came out on top, although I had lost plenty of my own forces by that time.  My new Death Guard Terminators finally showed up near the end of the game, and managed to push back at the enemy, clearing away most of the final Imperial Resistance.

Final thought for the game… Coronasan and I still, even after this many games, fail to remember the myriad of special rules for each of our armies. Dementia or a boyish excitement that leaves us forgetting everything in our rush to enjoy the moment?

Warhammer 40,000 – Death Guard Terminators

Enough with the distractions.  I need to buckle down and get the last of these GREEN Space Marines painted…

With the planned ‘Big Game’ looming it was time to get these done, so I just ploughed ahead and took my usual, care free, painting attitude to these last 5 figures…

They were fairly easy to complete in the end.  I have an aversion to the GW smoke effects, but this flail was the only bit on this set that was cast that way. In the end I used some of the new GW grey contrast paint over the original green undercoat.  That, along with a good dose of a green/brown wash over the whole figure, left it looking ok to me.  All I ever hope to achieve is a table top gaming standard (whatever that is).

Late at night the lighting in the shed works better for photos it would seem…

Exposed organs and horns galore.

Plenty of dark metals.

Brass trim here and there.

Browns for any hard surfaces like carapace. (Snakebite Leather is fast becoming my favourite contrast paint).

A flash of red for details and cloth.

 

Sorted…

Pirates – We Are NOT Gonna Need A Bigger Boat…

One weekend recently, Coronasan invited me over to his to prep some a boats that have been hanging about in the shed for a while now.  By ‘prep’ he meant ‘chop the bottom off’.  As we are water lining these play mobile ships for use with 28mmFigures.

When I got there I found he had a spare ‘large’ ship that he had no use for and had kindly donated to me.  I say kindly with a little caution as that means I will be obliged to make up a third craft to go with my original two.  Mine now actually look a little small when sat next to this first rate vessel.

After some loud and quite violent looking work with an electric saw, we took some time to sit back and have a cup of tea while we counted our fingers.

Sadly, I now have three rather large projects to add to the ever expanding to do list in the shed.  If I just got on with them though, it would mean I could get a great sense of achievement and success.  Yeah unlikely.  With these three, and a large Millennium Falcon, Coronasan has me sorted for large projects for the next few years I suspect…

 

Not to mention that I might need another 30 pirates to be able to fully crew these lovelies!

Warhammer 40,000 – MDF Industrial ‘Pringle’ Tower

WARNING: lots of very similar pictures…

The Pringle Tower.  Made from a Pringles crisp tube and some MDF.  A perfectly simple idea that can become a piece of scenery quickly and easily.  Coronasan has designed a whole range of Industrial Scenery around this humble crisp tube and expanded that range to include walkways, landing pads and even lighting options for the more technically minded.

Mine is a basic, early production prototype.  It went through a few basic design changes before the final design was settled upon.  Mine has all the basic parts of the final design, but the final kit comes with more guard rails and a couple of terminal points that can be fitted to the central column.

Designed with 28mm miniatures in mind (are GW still claiming their stuff is 28mm these days or is it more 30mm or even 32mm now?).  The floor plans can fit base sizes up to 40mm without too much trouble.

And there is plenty of room up top for objectives to be fought over.

Even my new Death Guard Helbrute can fit on the ledges, although you might argue he would have trouble getting through those hatches…

All in all, a nice simple kit that I should be able to weather up and fit in with my, slowly growing, collection of Sci-Fi scenery.