Squig Power!

Gitz go in this end! (Borat approves)


Rrraaaawwwwrrrr...raaaaarrrrgghh


Grrraaaaawwwwrrr... ok I stop now.


The gun platform -- 6 guns in all


Good news: There's a driver. Bad news: It's an Ork!


Yes, he definitely has line of sight.

She's done!

I picked up this Gargantuan Squiggoth about two years ago, and only recently got her done. Why's she a she? Well her name's Roxy... Let's just leave it at that.

In all the model took me about 3 weeks or so to finish, jolly quick.

So why am I putting up pictures only now?

Turns out she has a rather epic backstory.

When I first received the model in the mail, I cleaned it up with detergent, as is usual for resin kits, before starting to paint.

Half way through the model, I was checking out the paintjob one day, when I ended up with a handful of wet paint, when the model should have been dry for hours.

Roxy, through a cruel twist of fate, was leaking uncured resin.

Thankfully I was able to get a replacement in the mail (thanks Nic!) and Roxy was back on track. But other projects crept in (like 3,500 points of Imperial Guard) and she was pushed back.

So it was a while before I got back to finishing this great model, and I'm glad I did. While all of the Forgeworld Ork stuff is suitably Orky-looking, nothing quite does 'Ork' like this model.

Must be the big teef wot eats ya.

Oi! We wuz 'ere furst!

This is why you should always check for mines first.


The mad blue rush begins. This is the view from my side of the table, just so you know.


Da uvver Bloo Boyz is trying to nick our stuff!

One immobilized Shadowsword tank. 4000 points worth of looting DeffSkull Orks = win.

Lawrence and I played this game to determine who'd be in charge for the upcoming 40K Armageddon campaign. The winner gets to be boss. The loser sinks into grotdom.

We set up the table to look as if the tank had been a'rumblin down a steep sided valley, when it got immobilized by landmines. Both armies then deployed on the short sides of the table, and a mad rush to get to the tank ensued.

The idea is that the player who had a model in base contact with the tank got to pivot and fire it as part of his army. If both sides are wrestling for the controls, then it's 4+ to see if it fires in the player's turn.

The result? I got the first turn, which gave me a huge advantage, so I grabbed the tank early. Lawrence was struggling to win fights around the tank as my orks were hunkered down in the craters around the tank.

Even though I could fire the tank's big guns at his stuff, his godly Kustom Force Field rolls saved him from the worst of it (goddammit).

End result? I won, but we're thinking of a rematch where he gets to go first.

But in the meantime?

"CALL ME BOSS, GROTBOY!"

Snip snip snip aaagh

Kirai - a bad chick to piss off.

I've known about Wyrd Miniatures for a pretty long time now, and suffice to say, wasn't impressed with the quality of their earlier sculpts.

At least until now anyway.

Their recent offerings are pretty darn good from a technical standpoint, so I finally plumped for this box.

The Spirits of Vengeance box comes with a total of 6 models, and are pretty decent models overall.

Kirai in particular, is a very capable sculpt. Apart from one or two small quibbles I have with the model (such as the fact she has waaay too much forehead), it really is rather nice.

I trimmed down her forehead by painting on an additional line of hair over her forehead, lowering her hairline slightly.

Y'know, I have to say it's actually rather nice to finally paint a model with less than enormous boobage for once.

She does kinda look like a really pissed off Fann Wong now though.



Tonight I'm off to work on her minions, will post pics of those. Look out for it =)

Chaosiness

Chaos Marines were my first 40k collection, and I pretty much dove in because of all the weird things you could do to make them a little special.

I've actually just leaned over and taken a look at the models in my display case at my desk here at work, and realized something.

The army has a grand total of 1 squad that contains unconverted models.

Seriously, I just realized this.

No wonder Tsui once said I don't paint anything until I've tweaked it first. Stunning insight -- Hmmm!

Anyway, here are some pics. Along with some thoughts about what went into them.


This dude is literally the second Emperor's Children marine I ever did (the first was my GD that won gold at Oz back in '02)

I figured that you don't see much skin on Slaanesh marines, unlike their daemons (which look like transvestite stripper-prostitute crabpeople who are allergic to clothing).

So I hollowed out his midriff area and sculpted abs for him.

10,000 years terrorizing the far reaches of outer space leaves you lots of time to do sit-ups. Lots.


This model is probably one of my favourites in the entire collection. Something about his nassssssty sneer...

He started out as an experiment to try to incorporate the dead sexy Warhammer Champion of Slaanesh (phew, mouthful) model that came out with the previous Chaos army book.

Trick was to make him look future-y, so I used 40k parts to alter his silhouette (taking a page out of the best anime/manga artists' book).

He has one boot, a backpack, shoulder pads and a pistol, so I think he looks just right for 40k.

I also learned that picking a slimmer, smaller head (this one's from the Dark Eldar range) makes a model look even more statuesque.


Chosen!

These guys started as standard Noisemarines without sonic weapons. When they got hit by the codex change, they became well... useless.

I switched some of their armour plates to black, gave them cloak bits from their backpacks, and *bang* they became chosen.


Possessed... Once they were to be feared, now they fight as well as declawed kittens encased in a paper bag.

These were meant to represent the old rending claws, which KILLED SOMEBODY STONE DEAD everytime I rolled a 6 on a dice (goddammit).

Now they come along for sh*ts and giggles mostly.


Noisies!

I love these guys. Silly-big guns, mad colours and all.

Most of the effort went into the champions, but the troopers sport the occasional modification and freehand work. Mostly I tried to give them more interesting poses with their guns.

More to come!

Sardaris gets his level up!

You failed my armour save agaiiiiin...*


I like this pic best. He looks gnarly.




Gosh his head looks huge from this angle.

Long suffering leader of my eeeeeeevil horde...

This represents Mr S. after his daemonic ascension. He has worked long and hard after all, about 20+ games at last count...

Unfortunately, he seems to die a lot more after his transmogrific... transmorgrif... transgormo... level up.

You'd think being 15 feet tall and clad in daemonic armour would make you more survivable right?

Wrong. It makes you anti-tank gun bait.

Anyway in case you're wondering, here's what he looked like before:


To Mr Sculptor: watch Hellraiser much?




Mr S's truly pwetty sword. *swish*

By the way, guns don't kill people, but $#%$ Plasma Pistols certainly do.

Mr S has shot himself in the foot with his gat more times than I can count.

One time, he even died...

"If the worst should happen, at least we won't be alive to clean up the mess."

Greetings loyal fans! I've kept you waiting... (all two of you anyway).

Apocalypse weekend has come and gone, and it was a real blast! Many a tossed fistful of dice decided the fates of a great many little toy soldiers.

Well to put it mildly, us Imperial boys got well and truly pasted. Guess that's precisely why we have a propaganda department!

More importantly though, it gave me the impetus to get off my arse and get models done. Just in time I might add... and some of them still need work before they see any closeups... and there was that bit I found out I missed on that @#%$ Chimera...

Anyhoo. Lotsa of stuff done. *beam*

Here's the entire force, showcased in a shockingly blurry pic:



Not bad riiiight.... go back a couple of weeks and see that crappy pic of the half-finished models and see what I mean =p

Now I present my superhuman meatshie... I mean allies:

The Awesome: Q's battle hardened Salamanders. Lean, green, and burny:


The Ultimate: Chris's best of the best (of the best) Ultramarines *fanfare*:


Unfortunately only a thin slice of blueboys actually made it to the fight. The rest did not take part, but they get a participation T-shirt anyway =)

And here's the Axis of Evil:

Lawrence's Red Corsairs, flap flap boom boom chop chop. Chaos Marines with more spikes than a KISS concert:


Soo's cobbled together Ork command, pieced together with models from his own and Lawrence's models. And with some Deffkoptas and a Wagon from mine own humble collection:


I don't have a super-awesome blow-by-blow account of how the game went, just a slew of pictures (mostly from deployment, the rest of the game I was... er... playing the damn game).

But it was great fun!


Yessss.... my silly-big missile can see youuuu....*


The armoured fist of the God-Emperor tries not to get totalled in the first turn by the enemy.


Wait, where are all the nice juicy targets? On the other side of the battlefield?! Oh derp.


Pr'aps I should have joined the baddies like I usually do?


Mere moments before my tanks jumped out from behind the dirty big cathedral and shouted 'surprise!!!!'

Hope it looks at least a smidge as fun as it was to play.

Least with allies, you can always foist the blame on them when bad stuff happens!

Roll-Call: Aug 7 looms

Well it's July 30 today and I've a butt-load of models left to do.

Work has been at its busy best, so I've been straining somewhat to get stuff up and running for the big game.

Here's a big list of stuff I have done/need to get done:

Company Command

Chimera APC

Platoon Command

Chimera APC

Infantry Squad with Missile Launcher and Grenade Launcher

Infantry Squad with Missile Launcher and Grenade Launcher

Infantry Squad with Autocannon and Grenade Launcher

Infantry Squad with Autocannon and Grenade Launcher

Veteran Squad with Lascannon and 2 Plasma Guns

10 Penal Legion

5 Ogryns with Bone 'ead

2 Scout Sentinels with Missile Launchers and Hunter Seeker Missiles

Armoured Sentinel with Lascannon

Hellhound Firethrower

Leman Russ, 3 Heavy Bolters

Leman Russ, 3 Heavy Bolters

Leman Russ, 3 Heavy Bolters

Manticore Missile Launcher

Deathstrike Missile Launcher

Shadowsword

Red items are work in progress, green ones are ready to roll.

There's so much to do I've decided to clear the last of my leave and get it all done next week, so hopefully I'll be really productive then.

Although it looks like an awful lot of stuff to clear in a matter of one week, I haven't been completely idle...

The Manticore just needs its missiles finished, the Ogryns need camo pants and the Sentinels need pilots adding.

That leaves a truly scary number of infantry squaddies that need doing though... somewhere in the region of 25+.

It'll be an uphill battle for sure, but painting challenges are only fun if there's a modicum of stress involved, so it's all for the good.

Plus once this lot is done, it's just a Marauder Destroyer, a Vendetta, a Demolisher and 40 squaddies before it's Leviathan time!

On that note, I have requisitioned my as yet unassembled Chaos Baneblade for one half of the Leviathan's tracks. I guess I'll just have to pick something else shiny for Sardaris and his spiky chaotic friends to flaunt around, next to their Brass Scorpion of course.

I've also picked up a Shrine of the Aquila and found a suitably Macrocannon-esque aquarium filter nozzle to use as the gun barrel, as well as tons of Cities of Death railing bits to use, courtesy of the gaming group guys.

The Shrine of the Aquila is perfect for the front of the Leviathan I have to say. It's huge, and very very detailed.

It promises to be absolutely spectacular once done!