Path to Apocolypse - More from the Front

Well after being distracted several times over the course of a week, my Just Paint It campaign finally restarted.  The next unit to be finished?  Another 5 Triarch Patriarchs.

That makes 10.  Dang I've forgotten the mixed joys of routine painting...  Taking a break until the christmas holiday as I have a whole week off planned to catch up painting the remainder of the Necrons I have already:
Annihilator Barge #2
Triarch Stalker #2
And something else ;)

Also on the way is a cheaper and nicer looking Necron Pylon alternative from Lasercutcard.  Being a fan of the Dawn of War series, the imposing megalith styled defences really call to me.

I need to get more normal warriors.  20 + 10 Immortals just doesnt cut it these days....

As an aside I recently enjoyed Fantasy Flights deceptive board game Battle Star Galactica.  I think I know who the Cylon was...

Thanks for stopping by!
PS: Check out my enemies!!
Rottimus
Terradax

Just F*æ"ing Paint It!! A new quest.

So after finally finishing the Panther Ausf A for a friends birthday present I decided that I would never do comissions and that I needed to play dirty to catch up on my back log.

So, following a rule I have seen on the web "Just Paint It," I decided to lower my standards and go Soviet on my sorely neglected painting back log.  Basically I would be following these standards:

1. Find the thing.
2. Put the thing together.
3. Paint the thing.

No consideration which lasts for longer than a minute would be allowed.  What colour works?  Whats in front of you?  No less than 2 tones.  No buying more until done.  The first up on the list?  These chaps (And chappete) Who for the better part of 6 months have been staring at me every time I have opened my gaming cupboard.  Pleading.  Begging.  Jerks.

So without further ado, and sadly no Wip Pics.  I present the celebrities of the Azin 3rd and last, my Imperial Guard army.

Choose your character!!!

Naval Officer Braggart and Astropath Xi'xu, discuss politics while the scribe skull records everything.

 Commisar's Lucious and Steinen practice execution shots against the latest offenders.

As you can see, each model had a simple palette selected, certain parts where marked out for colours (including a spot colour where appropriate).  Base coat, wash and any required highlighting (No more than two).  The bases were done the same as the rank and file.

As a note though, I'm becoming less and less satisfied with GW's Agrax Brown and Nuln Oil.  It seems as one Staffy put it "they are too good."  I need to find a sharper more aggressive ink to offset the soft staining affect these are putting out...  Any suggestions?

The last to be done was a reused Redemptionist Priest, (Better Red than dead!) and a beautiful fig I got off the internet a long time ago.  Thinking Inquisitor with Hell Rifle?  Very detailed though.  

Old school GW circa the 90's, Necromunda era.  Not too much in the detail department.  Sadly the Anti Shine varnish from Army Painter seems to be getting old, some speckle as an after affect?

Fell foul of "Eye Syndrome."  The figure was so nicely sculpted I just had to give this one some more love. While this went against the rules above, I figured I know the boss and could bride him with some whisky.  (Edit:  It worked!).


After nailing these very unique character models I had planned on moving onto some Spartan Games, Firestorm Armada stuff for a change.  However a recently planned Apocolypse game in January has changed things.  I will be using Necrons.

Let the path to Apocalypse begin!!

GERMAN STEEEEL!

So taking a break to do something new.  After playing Company of Heroes with a good friend of mine, FOR OVER A YEAR, you get to know them well. My my buddy loves Panthers. 

No, not the furry sleek black animal that won't be with us for much longer, the tank!

So, for his birthday I drunkenly promise to build him one for his room.  Now he isn't long into the hobby himself, and quite frankly I haven't got much experience going to town on a single scale model kit.  (There are several differences between scale model building and wargame model building, let me tell you!).

Grabbing a Dragon Panther Ausf A kit on discount from Wonderland Models, I got a damn good deal from those nice Scottish Gentlemen, whose customer service and care is legendary.  I love those guys.  Now I have two reasons to visit Scotland!!

Now the kit is intimidating.  Unlike the usual built for ease kits that GW make, I'd forgotten how damn fiddly and infuriating scale kits can be.  Namely, the instructions were translated horrifically from Japanese and the pics didn't often match the actual product.  This was were my experience making gaming models came in.  I... improvised.

The hardest part as usual with Tank or tracked AFV's was of course the bloody tracks.  These sections took me the longest and I'd be lying if I said the longest part of that was spent actually assembling it.  No, no, most of it was looking back and forth between the instruction manual, to the sprue, to the PC screen where I'd looked up reference pics of actual Panthers in the field. (Incidentally, its a really good idea, but be prepared for lots of blown up German tank pics...)

Now my friend did finally give me a preference on colour.
"Dirty grey".

Right.  I can do that.  It's one of my skills!  But this time I would experiment.  First though, enough text!  First pic.

After assembly, I primed with Army Builder Black.  Simple enough.  Though was the elastic track sections and the sprue in WARM (READ NOT BOILING) water to prep them for the spray.  Otherwise you'll get awful side affects.

For a first coat I used GW's Mechanicum Grey for a good medium tone to work from.  Next I used GW's Nuln Oil wash to pick out the shading.  My intent was to bring out the wear and tear on the tank as I went. 

I then went back over in the MG colour, flattening certain areas but leaving crevasses, drip points and generally leaving the parts of the tank most likely to discolour or suffer paint deterioration first.  Time and time again I see massive differences between highlighting edges and low lighting them with such wear and tear.  I used to be a strong fan of the former, but after this figure... I think I like my tanks dirty. :D

Forgive the pics, sadly I changed camera during this process so all I have is that first one and these of the finished product.  :'(  Still.

Next up was a healthy smatering of Agrax brown in the cracks, more Nuln Oil on the edges before diving into the more pastel colours.  First up was Abaddon Black  on the edges before edging it with the odd faint touch of Skull white to simulate the Tanks primer coat wearing out. 

 Next was the experimental bit and it took no small part of research on youtube etc.  It really displayed that a scary amount of skill is out there.  Pigments.  The thing wargamers whisper about in the same sentence as the meaning of life.  Using Vallejo's rust pack I went a bit nuts, lacing many obvious places where rust would build up and then some.  At one point I had to use the Pigments useful quality of reduction after I had finished as I'd used far too much!

Lesson?  Less is more but you can take it off!  Also, Pigments don't always dry the same colour as they look.  What I thought would be brown turned out to be more rust!!

For the tracks I smothered them in GW's Stirland mud (There must be a better way!!!) and built up the muddy brown to a lighter dry dirt colour using P3 Gun Corps and then dry brushing with Bleached Bone.
I then followed up the same procedure on the hull itself, following the natural destination of all mud thrown up by this beast. 

For the base I simply grabbed a cheap frame from work (Thanks Marius!).  Taking out the glass I sealed the back on and removed the fittings.  I then filled the inside with poly filler (Sparkle på norsk), using tape to mask the edges.  Sadly despite my best efforts, the super glue I used marred the gloss finish of the frame.  Not a huge mistake but, lessons learned.  
The sloshed up "mud" was then sealed with watered down PVA glue, as Poly filler is notoriously thirsty.  Leaving the "tread marks" I used thick PVA this time.  I heaped on two layers of sand, bashed off the loose bits and let it set for an hour before smothering it with a watered down layer.  One more for luck before I finally left it to dry over night.
Painting was simple enough.  Black spray followed by the same paint and drybrush procedure I had used on the tracks.  However, later I would need to use more poly filler and paint to set the Tank into the dirt, so it didn't simply sit on top.

 The dude on top was treated to my ahem, best gamer painting techniques, the face came out better than I hoped.  The detail on the man wasn't the best, but luckily something I'm used to (Have you seen Games Workshop circa 1997??).  Remembering that nothing is ever truly black, the subtle grey highlights on the leather were inspired by recoloured pics of panzer crews. 
And yes, he had to be blonde. -_-
Most of the detail work was simply "simulating" the affect of detail.  Putting on thin lines of rank etc where the figure itself had none.

On a last note, the transfers on this were as usual, an absolute bastard.  S'cuse the French.  Youtube offers a wide variety of helpful tips, but I think I will be getting a transfer setting kit.  It makes this all the easier.  Hell, we didn't have fixing agents etc back in the 90's!

Lots of lessons learned in what turned out to be a fantastic project.
I've got around 20 Imperial Guard tanks waiting similar treatment next year.

Be warned ;)

Thanks for reading,
R

PS:  Any rumours that I destroyed the original tank treads by treating them to a wash of boiling water which shrunk them and I had to beg for replacements, is a filthy lie.  I didn't beg.  I asked nicely. :)

Stripping paint and gaming on a budget.

So. Saving up for a wedding.  Add in a suprise dental bill, student debts a credit card bill etc etc... And suddenly I have joined thousands of broke gamers out there.  No deterred, I decided to focus on doing what I could which didn't cost anything.

Firstly!  Having suffered for too long with a piss poor carry solution (Namely a shoebox filled with sponge) I decided to do two things:

 Firstly I removed my oldest Imperial Guard army from its old double case.  A Christmas present from GW in my days on the line.  It's basically an old mech based snow themed force, bad paint job.  Time to retire it for recycling.  Big bonus is a nice big case which can hold more than I have now.  Also, I managed to order a tray for that bloody Monolith, which pockets for two Crypt barges or Doomsday Weapons should I feel adventurous.

 But the old army had a total of 10 chimera, 2 Chimadon (wiki it!), a Hellhound and more besides.  Horrible paint job.  That would need to go. 

So after consulting my gaming colleagues, I learned not 1 but 2 methods!

Firstly, using washing up detergent, one method is to continually saturate the figures in a bucket of warm soapy water, continually replacing the cold water with more warm and more soap.  The process isn't dangerous but takes time.  Something I sadly don't have.  Usual time required 4/5 hours.
 

 That wasn't going to work with my schedule!  However another slightly more dangerous method involving a local specialty called Blå Spirit (Blue Spirits or Blue Isopropylene (sic) ).  Soak the figures in a bucket for 15 or so minutes and bring out for a scrubbing.  Be warned though!  It effectively reduces the paint into a liquid state for scrubbing and washing off but it will spray around and it will dry off again effectively "moving" the paint.  So.  Do it outside, with gloves and dirty clothing.  The good news is, its bloody effective.

Sadly its also expensive at 6 GBP a bottle.

 Meanwhile, I discovered some more odds and sods that were ready for priming and painting.  This line up of characters are next on my list.
 

 And so are these guys!  I might have mentioned them before, but not too long ago I acquired some Desert War 8th Army guys made for WW2 Games, in this case Bolt Action, though Battlegroup by Warrick Kinrade looks interesting.  A whole platoon for around 15 potatoes from Warlord miniatures.  Not bad.
 

Speaking of Warlord Miniatures and Bolt Action.  A preview of the upcoming Armies of France and her allies has appeared on the internet.  Most importantly (well to me living in Norway) is this pic of the Norwegian Defence Forces.  My dream of reenacting the short but not unheroic war in Norway is coming closer!

Thats all for now, but rumours of my demise are largely inflated...

R

More fluff for the fluffy Inclined!!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Message received.  Astropath Junkt 77#8  Burn out reported.
Trace attempt cancelled.

Message Begins:

To my Dear Lady Karli,

Apologies for not contacting you sooner. I've been evading some of our more puritanical brethren.  It seems our master has somehow gained their ignorant attention.
Since my last message two things have occurred which validate me risking this attempt at communication.

Two instances which I have filtered, verified and simplified for your consumption.

Instance 1.  Hive Fleet Dagon.  What was thought to have been a simple splinterfleet destined to wander into dead space has somehow changed coarse.  I suspect foul play, no doubt Genestealer cults.  Interrogator Quezlenn was sent to investigate but his arrival was far too late. Sadly the Interrogater did not survive.  While in phase 2 planetary consumption, a null ship under the command of Adeptus Mechanicus Biomagus Specialist Lyw-o was researching the splinter fleets eating patterns safely aboard his psychic dead zones vessel.  What he discovered there was bought with great cost to my personal funds though I know you will see me reimbursed.
Lyw-o, while filtering though pict scans, noticed a wasted area erupt in the Northern continent.  All life there vanished in a "green incandescent flare," as he puts it.  Turns out the man is a literary hobbyist also.  What occurred next was most interesting.

***
- by which point the area within this now dead area of the planet, still undergoing consumption, became the focal point of a fierce battle.  I took the liberty of saving the pict play back on multiple frequancies and spectrums and the distinct energy spike of gauss grade weaponry was confirmed.  Necrons, fighting to claim something from the dying world.  The conflict lasted for but 5 hours, 3 minutes and 23 seconds and the outcome was unknown until a space craft was registered leaving the area.  Like my own "Hidden Knowledge" (Chi-null-nova 23 type Null ship), their vessel (Assumed Shroud Class) seemed hidden to the Tyranids. It was bone coloured with red slashes but with the typical green energy pigmented energy that we are used too. 
Whatever they risked penetrating the Hive Fleet's jaws for, one must assume they were succesful.  I have recorded the data for future analysis. -
***

I have taken the liberty in attaching the data.  Its largely binary code, but any decent cogitator should give you something.  The higher meaning here as Agent Sierra said to me, there is a new player in town. 

Instance 2. The second account was filtered from a torrent of Adeptus Astartes after action reports sent out by spies within an Ultramarines Task Force in the nearby sector.  They encountered a small Necron force recovering an artifact (See pic below for better detail), and defended it with a surprisingly aggresive attitude.  So much that the Ultramarine commander was forced to quit the battlefield.  No doubt they will be taking the matter quite seriously, especially now that a certain unknown Ultramarine commander will be compelled to strike back out of honours sake.  Again the Necrons encountered were of bone in colour, almost in a parody of skeletons no doubt, red markings. 
The artefact has been likened to previously recorded Necron data retaining devices, large obelisks which contain almost limitless amounts of information.  Bearing the same coloration as the attacking forces one must conclude they are simply retrieving their old property. 

Recent rumours have pricked my ear regarding a third such artefact, discovered by friendly Imperial forces and currently awaiting Inquisition censorship.  I leave now to investigate this rumour.  Wish me luck.  With the Emperors favour, maybe we can find out what these xenos are up to, and stop it before its too late.

Yours,
Faro.

Making an Aegis Line for the Necrons? A guide (Pic Heavy)

As mentioned in the last post, I've been hard at work building some laser cut card barricades to represent the Aegis Line for my Necrons.  Now as I said, I was a bit skeptical when I first heard they were made of card, but seriously, for the price of $24.90 plus letter costing postage (it was sent flat pack after all :D), I figured what the hell.

Anyway, learned a few neat tips in making this lot, and I figured some people out there are wondering the same.  So this will be continuing the assembly from the instructions as given by the website.

http://www.lasercutcard.co.za/fortifications/cyborg-defense-line
Assembly instructions can be found under "Instructions."
...

Anyway!

 As we left off last time, the Cyborg Barricades were essential made. However.  As I might have again mentioned:  I am a F&"#ing clutz when it comes to my figures and scenery.  So every step had to be made to stablise the structure.  Firstly, we needed a base!

You can see where I've literally dripped superglue along the edge in drops. 
As cardboard is porous, it soaked right in.  No real need to smear it all over the place!

 Using some spare card of my own (pretty much anything thicker than cereal box card really, think hard back book card), obtained from a stationary shop, I created a standard base which just about edged the barricades.  To little and wear and tear would affect the barricades themselves.  To big and the base itself would bend and split over time.

The next stage is an old trick I picked up from a friend in Liverpool.   Polyfiller as we call it back in Britain, which is essentially wall filler.  This stuff is amazing, and can be relied upon to create some really simple and solid thick mud affects.  Too big to use on figures, but perfect for this.  Best to smear it on with a damp brush you don't mind losing.  Really spread it down as the movement seems to loosen up the stuff.

(NB!  Ready made wall filler, light if possible is best, from the tube!)

Wall filler, lättspackel, Swedish Product used in Norway.  Because its CHEAP! :D

Once the stuff has finally dried, and it can take some time, leave for at least an hour.  Press down on the thicker, deeper bits to ensure its solid all the way through.  Again, this stuff is also porous as in it allows moisture in.  Which is bad.  So after its dried, we want to seal it.  For this, we take some P.V.A. glue or Hobby Glue, thin it right down with water and I mean RIGHT down.  It should be really water with a faint white taint to it.  This can be liberally applied to the Filler, try not to soak the cardboard with it as too much water and this type of glue can clench the cardboard as it dries, warping it.  This is why little PVA should be used.  (Though don't panic if you get some on the cardboard, it isn't that big a deal!)

 Once this is dried, again leave it at least one hour.  We want to add on the sand.  Now, you can leave it here if you want.... no?  Excellent.  Now the sand is best applied with superglue as we want to avoid using PVA or Hobby Glue as much as possible.  OBLIGATORY WARNING:  Super glue is really really effective.  Be careful.  I knew a guy who once reached under a table to pick up a Space Marine from under his hobby desk only to find his check stuck to the desk.  Scars happened.  Not "cool" ones.  If you get superglue on yourself, let it dry.  Don't try and wash it!
Applying the superglue at this point can be liberal, use the thin stuff as it spreads out nicely, but don't worry about getting the whole thing covered in one go.  Do it safely in several.  The stuff dries so fast this shouldn't take long and should leave a nice natural bumpiness to the ground.

 

Once this was all dried I was finally ready for the prime coat!  For this I actually used the same colour I use for the figures in my Necrons army.  Skeleton Bone Spray from Army Painter.  Sadly I missed a fair few bits, which I didn't see until I was half way through (teach me for spraying at midnight...) .  Thankfully you can easily paint strait on the card.  Spray is easier though, especially on the sand.

The first coat of paint came in the form of Khorne Red in all of the iconography bits.  This took time.  You really need to add more water than usual when painting on card.  Take note!  The water soaks in and disappears before thick paint can settle.  Thin coats are better. 

Next I layered over the muddy bases and dirt with Games Workshops Dryad Bark watered down to ensure it got in all the holes on the base.

This was then liberally dry brushed both Mechanicus Grey and then Bleached Bone for a simple and effective finish.

Then!  The whole Barricade was washed in about half a pot of Agrax Brown.  Seriously this stuff should get a Nobel peace prize or something.

When this finally dried I began the laborious work of layering on the Skeleton Bone Paint from again, Army Builder.  This really needed to be thin coats, but half way through I was getting tired and decided to just dry brush the things thickly before watering my brush and neatening things up.  The wet brush thinned out the thicker dry brush work and really sped things up.
Army Builder No Shine Varnish to finish.  Because it really is freaking Mat.  Not Satin.  Mat.  I hate Gloss.

Moody Lighting or Night Fight?

Figure shown for size comparison only.  And to get the +2 cover save!!

To flock or not to flock.  Not to flock.

 So yeah, lazercutcard.co.za, good products, very well made by someone who actually seems to have a card engineering degree or something.  I had a few minor mishaps, namely the spines began bending after I may or may not have dropped them on the floor... Thankfully I held them back up and added more superglue, sorted it right out and I almost did the lot.  Looking forward to using them in battle

Has anyone tried this stuff? What was your experience?
Anyway, any questions, just let me know.








Meanwhile!  I came back today with a plethora of second hand un-assembled goodies.  Can you tell what they are yet?

Lastly, I also managed to get a carry case for the X-Wing game, which is amazing, you should all try it right now.  This and the vinyl plastic space mat kindly prototyped by an increasingly resourceful friend means more Xwing is on the way.  Still... theres a lot of empty holes there...

 Laters!
R

Bring your own Aegis!

 As mentioned in the last post, 5 MINUTES AGO!  I have actually made some headway.  OK, a lot!  Its half past midnight and only blood loss from my scalpel antics has stopped me from continuing.

So yeah!  I managed to construct 1 of the 4 sections that you get.

Heres the link: http://www.lasercutcard.co.za/fortifications/cyborg-defense-line

So I got these a while back and as mentioned before, I'm saving for a wedding... so yeah.  Painting things I have.  Its cheaper.  

The package, which turned up with a little hand written thank you  (Can't stress how the little things get me through the day).   The whole pack managed to fit in a rather unassumbing letter and I admit, being wary about the stability of using card here was me thinking "It fits in a letter..."

Anyway as you can see, you get four repeats of 2 differing umm, card sprue?  Not sure what to call them.  Lets say sprue, we're used to that.  

Everything I need.  Now to get off the table.

The card as described by the websites name, is lazer cut and literally pops out of the "sprue without much effort.  That effort being a poke and cut of a preferably sharp scalpel.  Remember, if its not sharp, it crushed the card.  That is bad. 

The instructions were provided in the pack as a little slip with a URL on it, linking to the online instructions page on their website.  Not got the internet?  How did you order them in the first place? O_O

Take a look see!   Instructions.
As you can tell from the first few seconds, the guy knows his stuff.  Easy instructions make what could be difficult techniques, like using super glue on the edges while holding pieces together, easy to learn.  The design of these things is minimalist, no waste, and makes good use of layering up the card to create stable and tough pieces of scenery that are surprisingly detailed.

Each edge is made up of 3 card pieces layered up.

Each piece is designed simply and contains all the guidelines, grooves and doohickes that make it easy to slap together in a hurry.  See how the superglue is applied from the outside edges?  With card being porus as in spongy, it literally soaks up the superglue into the join.  Damn effective, so be sure the join is perfect before application.  Also, try not to get super glue vapors in your eye.  It hurts.

Figure shown because every time I tried to pick him up he bit me.

Now I've constructed 1 sections worth.  3 More to go.  I'm learning how to speed up construction after the initial slow once over.  Made 1 mistake, that's what I got for not looking at the instructions properly.  For the price you actually get loads.  I can't stress how much I am surprised and delighted with this set.

When I manage to find time tomorrow, I'm gonna get the other 3 sets done and sort the basing issue out.  They're tough things, but I am a titanic clutz when it comes to dropping things.  Plus it means I get to layer them up with wall filler and make them appear as if they are rising from the ground.  Necron stuff does that you know. :D

Planning on using the spray too, as the happy accidental concrete texture it produces on the card is really easy to work with.  Plus, those spots where I used a little too much superglue don't like some paints going directly on them. 

Anyway, that's me for now.  Sleeps to have.  Got a 1000pt force to take to a Apoc game at the local GW here in Oslo.  No idea what I'm using.  Probably something bone coloured.

Natta!

R