Wednesday 23 September 2009

These Boots were made for - surviving!

Yes, the guy with indestructible boots is pretty much finished, I've just got to glue the pieces down, but I think I'm happy with the layout.




There it is, a Sacred Ground Strategem / Objective Marker.

Medivac - painted

I finished my "Guardsmen in need of assistance" objective marker - all but glued in place.

Actually I've just noticed the injured guardman needs some blood effects on him, but that can wait for now.


i'm quite suprised how well the wood effect came through, it was really hard to get a contrast between the mud and the wooden boards - especially with my limited palette

for those interested, I used "snakebite leather" on the wood, and "graveyard earth" on the mud, the upright wooden stakes were painted with bestial brown to give a contrast to the duckboards. I then washed the whole thing in "brown ink" (i'm not even sure if GW still do their inks...)
to bring the mud down to a darker tone, I washed that heavily with "badab black wash" making sure not to get any on the wooden parts.


ive just started painting up my "skeleton guardsman", pics to come soon - he's lookin very green
TSINI


Tuesday 22 September 2009

Objective Markers! 2 and how to have a laugh at guardsmen!

For those of a nervous disposition or with weak hearts, I warn you that what lies ahead, is pictures of disturbing and hilarious nature.

I started to paint up my "guardsmen in need" and the creative instinct took a hold, I caught myself staring backwards and forwards between a guardsman, and that lying down skeleton.

"Wouldn't it be great if i hollowed out some armour, and put it on the skeleton... and what if his boots were untouched too :D"

So here he is!!

Honest to god, I'm still laughing now, I have been all day. The boots just look hilarious!!



I actually had to remodel the spine - neck end, because the original cuves into the body armour, and I wanted the head to be on the floor nearby.




Anyway, back to painting, I just thougth I'd share my pics.
Cheers

Monday 21 September 2009

Objectives Markers!

Well, My To-Do list for Calneage this saturday goes as follows
  • 5 autocannon teams to tidy up and badab wash
  • 2 sergeants to detail and badab wash
  • Model and paint 2 objectives
So I sat down with my new Iron Halo bases and got on with making my objectives.

Heres the first one, "soldiers in need of assistance"

its hard to make out while the base is still undercoated, but its a Trenches of Agin base, which i thought would be perfect for some infantry dug in, in need of a med-evac (medivac?)

the poor sap with the injuries was a nice simple conversion, it turned ot beter than I imagined. I simply chopped off his leg, shoved some greenstuff in there and re-positioned it. I also did some extensive work on the torso/leg joint to get him into a sort of "slightly sat up" position, to show he was alive not dead - this was also aided by the other guy, giving covering fire, it keeps the objective alive, rather than scattered dead Guardsmen (which would mean nothing to the imperium :D)





The second objective I started putting together, will double up as a "sacred ground" strategem for Cities of Death. Ive chosen a nice "ornate looking ruin" base and intend to place a recently deceased soldier, alongside a decomposing or skeletal one. I havent decided which to go with, or whether to make the skeleton a recent "plasma" or "viral corrosion" death.



and my last objective marker, which will be the simplist to do, doubling up as a fuel dump strategem





I'm not sure how far i'll get on all 3 this week, but as long as I can get 2 finished it'll all be gravy for Calneage.
All I have to do now is finalise my tactics to garuntee myself last place Bwahaha!
Cheers for now

TSINI

Saturday 5 September 2009

Field Command - COD strategem extreme!

after BOLS had a thread discussing game expansions, Cities of Death, Apocalypse, Planetstrike. i fetched my Cities of Death book, and quickly remembered my army was supposed to be a cityfighting force, a hard bitten force of urban warfare specialists.
after a good rummage through my massive box of sprues, and a thorough look through the modelling section of the book, i stated to concoct some strategem modelling projects.
this one may have gotten out of hand, but it cerainly struck a chord with me when i saw the vostroyan Command stretegem.

so here it is, a WIP, Command "Key Building" Strategem for Cities of Death.

here you can see the setup without the guys in place. a table, chair, antenae setup and generator


the generator/antenae is looking quite simple at the mo, i want to add a speaker, but not sure where to get one from, i could nick them from vox casters i guess.


the table is really simple, as you can see

The seat is made up from an ejector seat taken from a Forgeworld Lightning fighter (my friend gave me the empty one years ago, i always had a feeling it would end up a field command seat) i figure it would have been found in the rubble and the commander would have laid claim to it.
i leant it up against some sandbags, its how i'd imagine a scratch built command chair
and some minor detailing on the back fleshes out the boring flat bit.
here the crew are shown in place, a commander pointing at a place on the map, steadying himself against the table, and a comms officer checking an auspex.


now for the fun bits!, the table top equipment
firstly, an angle poise desk lamp


made from the new sentinal searchlight, and the head of a spade(shovel) on the tank sprue


and below, the map, aerial photos, letter and "lucky ace - naked lady" cards







i have also made, but not pictured as it would be impossible to make out at the moment, a little stopwatch/compass, i ahvent decided which it will be, but it looks liek a pocket watch at the mo, pictures to come when its finished.

and because this picture dissapeared from mylast post, i thought id tack it on the end here, it shows the Iron halo base used for my vulture gunship.

on this note, i have to go to work, and will pick up my command strategem later on tonight.
im also currently awaiting my next delivery of iron halo bases, which i will be making into objective markers for the calneage tournement - i think they will also double up as COD strategem markers.
Cheers for now
TSINI

Tuesday 1 September 2009

Is It A Bird? Is It A Plane?!... pretty much, and yes!

one walks like a bird, and the other is indeed a plane, albeit a VTOL one

i thought i'd show you guys my recent painting projects, as i havent been posting for a while, no real excuse, just didnt have anything cool to show off! :D

firstly, ive basically finished my sentinel for calneage (its still puzzling people why ive taken a plasma cannon to a small arms fight, but all will be revealed)

i think the paint scheme works well, it transferres between my troops and tanks nicely, with small patches of blue/grey breaking up the mainly dark grey. keeps a steady theme, whilst not overdoing it wit the blue (the original camo scheme i intended to do was so utterly busy and not very effective)

i havent decided yet quite what to place in the compartment space at the back of the sentinal, the box supplied looks a little simple, i'll have a rummage around in the bitz box tommorrow.
you can't see from this angle but the pilot of the sentinal has a "Horizon" view inspired by current aircraft on his joystick (its so simple to do, bottom half bestial brown, top half ice blue)

and onto my favourite vehicle (despite its unnervingly short lifespan on the table, every game it shows up in, its destroyed the turn it arrives! - i hate hydras... on the other team of course!)
THE VULTURE, or in my roster as "Green Eagle 1"

ive changed the colour scheme since it was last pictured, its now a lighter shade of grey all over (ive decided to do all aircraft and aircrew fortress grey rather than white) and have the 88th blue/grey nose


the eagle eyed readers will notice the "Iron Halo" flying base i think it looks sweet! although its nowhere near finished. i will inform you that this is in fact the original forgeworld vulture, so it took me and afternoon with a dremel to make the damn thing sit on a new flying stand... i also have to order another flying stand for my second valkyrie yet to be built.
the green bands on the tail designate the squadron as Green squadron, as will my valkyries, and stormtroopers (Borlina Air Servicemen)

and here you can see the pilot is also given a green band to tie him in


all i have to do now, is lighten the skin tone of my pilots (they dont need sun tans anymore!) check over the craft for any missed details (i imagine there are lots!!) finish off the cockpit, and wash over the vehicle in badab black. it may need some highlighting after that to make it look nice.
nextpost, i will probably showcase the interior of my valkyrie, along with some progress shots of my conscripts (WOOOOOOOOOOOO!! they love to die!! and look good doing it) and possibly some other squads that are coming together.
cheers for now!
TSINI

slideshow

The Lucky 88th History

The Lucky 88th

The Royal planet of Borlina is just off the Cadian gate, once a thriving hive planet with a high percentage of royal and rich descendants from Terra itself. Now a diseased, war torn hell hole, home to a twisted secret the Inquisition would rather not recount.

The Curse of Borlina

During a Chaos incursion (Blood & Bile of the Rich Invasion 960.M41) Inquisitor Payne ordered the Orbital Bombardment of the entire planet, choosing Viral Bombing as the means of execution of the foul beasts and corrupted Governors.
Unfortunately the Borlina PDFs were also sentenced to death, whilst deeply in conflict with the Chaos forces.
Under pressure from Inquisitor Rayvenn (of the Black Storm), Inquisitor Payne mercifully ordered areas with high concentrations of loyal forces to be bombed with a weaker strain of the virus. Whilst the planet was bombed with Virus 1, a highly corrosive airborne agent which subsides after 1 day. Virus 13 (a Plague like virus with no corrosive element) was deemed legal for use over loyalist troops, who were forewarned, advised to find cover and don gas equipment. Low on supplies, deep in conflict and without gas equipment the lucky 88th miraculously fought off Virus 13 as if it was a bad case of flu.

Affirmation

A nearby Commissariat fleet jumped at the opportunity to put together their own personal force and made planet fall to gather together the pockets of loyal troops into a fighting regiment. This proved quite difficult, requiring the aid of the nearby Space Marine chapters (“Dragon Marines” and “Black Storm”) to seek out loyal forces.

The largest surviving regiment had barricaded themselves in the Master Palace, which impressed the commissariat no end, for it was a disease ridden nightmare, the very palace itself was a Nurgle infested monstrocity.
Having already adopted the name “Lucky 88th” due to the large amount of survivors from the 88th regiment the troops added a Lucky Ace symbol to their armour and vehicles, much to the annoyance of the commissariat who view it as graffiti and unofficial. In return the more senior commissars keep their gas-masks on when in combat to stir anger into the men, making them fight harder for the injustice caused to them. Lower Commissars tend not to test such practises, wary of the men turning on them when cut off from high command.

Recruitment: The Virus Run

Any outsider coming into contact with any surviving member of the Borlina virus attacks must first be inoculated from the infectious version of the virus which can be fatal to weaker immune systems. New Recruits however are not so lucky. Firstly they are put through a year of heavy training wearing gas masks. Graduation into the Lucky 88th is only complete after a gruelling month fighting through the Virus Run, a heavily infected area of the former Borlingrav Palace, now a Bastion of pestilence and disease. The survivors of this infamous death zone gain the respect of the rest of the regiment, except for the veterans who hate all outsiders including the commissariat.