Thing: The Myrmidons - Vorenus

 

 

So, I am on time with my post this week, however I am slightly behind with my work. I expected to have the legs positioned and start work on the arms but due to having to go Carpet shopping, and other house issues, I am only half way through the legs. Get ready for a picture heavy and word light post!

 

 

This is where we were up to last week, the model was sat ready to be hacked and chopped with a wealth of ideas ready to be tested. Chopped and hacked he was, I really regret using Black Reach Terminators, but, I made some headway and I hope with some Greenstuffing they will look decent by the end.

The first thing I did was slice his legs off at the knee joint, I made the effort to cut from the back halfway through so that the cut would go through the flexible joint area, to keep the aesthetics, I then cut down from the back of the raised knee pad creating a rough L cut.

 

I then drilled holes in both Shins and Thighs for the pin (paperclip) to be put it giving me easy dry runs to get the leg positioning right. 

I then straightened out one of my 100 paperclips ready to cut and use as pins...

and then I used my cutters to cut two lengths of paperclip to roughly half an inch, and then had to cut them down again and again because they were too long, but its always better to have too much and cut down than not have enough and start again.

Here you can see the pins being ready to use for their first dry run, and its obvious how the pins are too long, I cut them down a couple of millimeters at a time until I felt they were the right length.

 

I then realised that I hadn't positioned the top of the leg for a kneeling position... thankfully I hadn't glued anything yet, and spent about 20 minutes slicing through the hip joint, I had to trim the leg down on the inner thigh so that it would point straight forwards instead of at an angle. I then re-glued it into position (which put me behind a bit).

While the glue was drying I decided to try my hand at making rivets for the outside of Vorenus' Storm Shield. I pushed the drill bit right down into the pin vice leaving just the tip showing, then cut the plasticard to shape and placed it onto the un-opened blu-tack (like modelling clay). I then pushed quite hard in a set pattern (starting with each corner then at regular intivals) leaving me with indents like above...

and the front looked like this (not the best picture but I am using my phone). This gives me the basis of the storm shield, and should be easy enough to finish now. This week I will finish positioning the legs, and I hope to start work on the sword arm.

Stay tuned, and feel free to let me know any tips or tricks I might have missed.

Thing: The Myrmidons

Coming at you a fortnight and two days late!!! I havent been able to do much with Birthdays, and house moving but I did manage to buy all the parts I think I will need, and I have started chopping bits off models. I however don't have any WIP pictures yet, and will hopefully have them next week (where I hope to do an update on time).

As you can see, I have:
Metal Paperclips (these will be used to pin parts of the model (mainly legs to help get them into the right angles)
Plasticard (this will be used to create unique shields, tabards, studded leather aprons, and maybe some armour plates to beef up the models)
Blu Tack (this I will be using as "soft modelling clay" to put under the plasticard when pressing down using a pin/needle to create rivets)
Various Tools (I have a small saw, clippers, pin vice (mini drill), and a hobby knife/stanley knife)
and a Cutting Board (I got this because I always end up cutting myself or whatever I am leaning on, this also gives me a nice large space to keep things seen, and a level surface to work on)

 

 

Here is the first model I am working on, he is just a standard Black Reach Terminator, I will also be using a standard Assault Terminator Storm Shield, and a Grey Knight Terminator arm and Broadsword. What will be done with this guy is that he will be armed with Storm Shield and Frost Blade. His legs are going to be cut and repositioned so that he is kneeling forwards thrusting his sword ahead of him. His shield will be held over his head with an enemy tumbling over it, I plan to extend his shield and make it into a Roman style tower shield using plasticard, the current shield will then become the butress. I also plan my first attempt at a studden apron out of plasticard to go between his legs.

 

For next week I hope to have some pictures of this guy in bits, and started to be pinned, so that he will be in the right position. I think that this might have been easier if I had started with normal Terminators, but we have to work with what we have.

Thing: The Battle for Kramirp

So, I have a rough drawing (in paint) of the game board I plan to build, so without further ado, here it is:

The, grey patches are buildings/ruins, the brown being general rubble/craters, and the yellow will be statues. I plan to have four ruins (with tumble down walls giving a ramp up the levels), the last two buildings will either be bunkers, or home built multi-storey buildings which will come apart. The big building will be the palace, with its own canopy, pillars, and defence points, the windows will have some boarded up, and some open, with either, fire points or emplaced weapons, these will be purely aesthetic, and it will use the rules for a ruin, the back wont be covered up for easy access to models inside. The statues, will either be fully untouched (using the statues GW sell), demolished in places, fallen over (like the first bottom statues), or just a plinth remaining. I think I will also add in some Tyranid corruption the closer to the palace, maybe even having tentacles/vines wrapped around one statue. There will be general rubble and smaller craters to provide some cover in alleys, and the main street, but leaving plenty of open spaces for vehicles and a few tacticle fire lanes. The board, will be built on six 2'x2' boards, making it easier to transport and store, it also means I can focus on one section at a time rather than trying to build the odd bit here and there.

Comments and critisisms welcome. See you all next week, with hopefully, a started model.

Thing: The Myrmidons

So I promised an update today, and I know it's getting late, but I felt I had to stay focused. I haven't finished the map yet, so this will just be a short post throwing some of the ideas I have for models out there for you all to digest and throw back.

Firstly, I plan to use the Space Wolf codex as it means I can take Wolf Guard as my veteran marines, and can mix terminator armour in and out of squads, and equip each model individually. This is by no means going to be a competitive army, though I do hope for it to be more than a walk over.

I have always had the idea of Space Marines being able to just run through mortal men with ease, so I wanted my models to be almost swamped with enemies. By this I mean one or two on each base making each model into a mini-diorama, I'm hoping to try and pin these models so that they can be removed, but I'm not sure how that will go, it may leave some models in odd poses or may just be impossible with some of my ideas.

The first Myrmidon I plan to build will be based loosely off a scene from 300, it will feature the Terminator dropped onto one his lead knee (or maybe just leaning heavily forwards) turned slightly to the left lifting his shield (left hand) up over his head with either a guardsman or Genestealer on top being thrown over, while his right hand is thrust forwards with his spear impaling a guardsman. I'm hoping this will give the impression that he has been charged from the left, rolled with the weight to unbalance and throw the charger while giving himself momentum to thrust forwards from the turn. At least one model will have a Tyranid carapace as a shield, and I will probably have a few of them using improvised weapons as their bolters run out of ammo, and other weapons get stuck in dead bodies, I am thinking to have one terminator using a lasgun as a spear or mace.

For my Chapter Master Akileis (Logan counts as) I will have him wielding an axe (power fist) and a dagger (frost blade) and his storm bolter locked to his thigh (unless it looks too big). He will be locked in combat with a Tyranid Warrior wielding lash whip and Bonesword. The whip will be coiled around his axe handle which he will be pulling with drawing inside the warriors sword and his dagger will be poised to thrust into its throat. (This means if I can pin the axe head I can remove the warrior without the model looking too silly)

I also plan to have at least one rune priest, but have yet decided how to fit him into the army, I'm not sure how priestly to make him look. I may have him modelled as a point of calm in the middle of the army.

At least one Dreadnought will be stood on a Tyranid Warrior body, grabbing a leaping Genestealer out of the air. This will be one of the hardest models to make as I will be using the Black Reach Dreadnoughts, I may invest in a Venerable Dreadnought for this model just to make it really stand out.

Thing: The Myrmidons, and the battle for Kramirp

Lately I have been really out of the Hobby, I have a new job meaning our regular Monday night games have to be small and late, and soon I will be working so late I won't be able to play at all, moving into a new house and having a kid to look after means that I get little time to do anything at home.

However I came into possession of a large number of Terminators a while ago and have yet to do anything with them, and have played around with a few ideas. I have also planned to build an entire scenic table for my new house, now that the house is almost ready, I thought I would throw my ideas out here for people to prod me to get them done (I get a lot of ideas that just fade away).

The table has been playing around in my head for a while, and I am now starting to get some solid ideas going, I also thought, why don't I tie the Terminators and game board together leading me onto the Battle for Kramirp and The Myrmidons. This is going to be a very long term project, I am hoping to do one model a week and the table wont be started until after Christmas probably.

So, onto The Myrmidons and where they came from:

The general idea is that I wanted a chapter that was close combat oriented, but were just as happy with long range fire support, I also wanted them to be a veteran chapter, either going along the lines of the first company, or just thats how they work. I orginally played with the idea of the Minotaurs, but wasn't that captivated by their background, so I have decided to do a successor chapter, from the Minotaurs. The Myrmidons enjoy the same ties to the High Lords of Terra that the Minotaurs have, and as such have a ready supply of Terminator armour, and aspirants. The Myrmidons don't recruit from one home world, prefering to take the greatest heroes from any technologically stunted planets they pass. The chapter only has two fully equipped companies of Space Marines, but maintain five full companies of scouts, this is because an aspirant, once starting on the road to becoming a genehanced brute must rise from the 7th Company scouts, up to the 6th, then the 5th and so on. Once a scout has reached his full potential in the 3rd Company, then he will be given his first suit of Power Armour, these are some of the best suits that the Imperium can provide along with their choice of weaponry. Generally, because of the cultures that they Myrmidons recruit from the favoured weapons are axes, spears and swords, usually acompanied by a shield, though some have found a kinship with their ranged weapons. These soliders are usually heroes of their homeplanet famous for their marksmanship with a bow, or other similar weapons. The Myrmidons as such have a reliance on infantry and rarely use vehicles, this has made them excellent urban fighters, to make up for the lack of heavy tanks they often deploy Terminator squads, or intersperse Terminator armour between squads to soak up the heavier firepower and provide mobile heavy support.

The Battle for Kramirp:

The latest engagement (and the proposed game table) of the Myrmidons has taken place on the planet of Manutia, in the city Kramirp, the Myrmidons have pushed deep into the city fighting against a renegade Planetary Defence Force. The fighting has been street by street, room by room but the Myrmidons are at last making the final push on the Palace of Mosley, this is when the full level of corruption is displayed, but it isn't one to be expected. The PDF and city governor have been tainted by a Genestealer cult and the Palace is infested with smaller Tyranid creatures as well as some larger ones which have been kept hidden in they myriad passages and tunnels. The Myrmidons now face a desperate fight to destroy the Tyranids and their cult guardsmen before they are overrun.

I plan tomorrow to have a rough sketch of the table layout from a birds eye point of view constructed in paint (so it will be very basic) along with a few ideas I have planned for the Myrmidons, which won't be pictures yet (I plan to start building one tomorrow), but general written ideas I have bouncing around, and any tips or problems you think I will encounter (and ideas of how to get past them) will be very welcome.

So there is my return to blogging essay, return tomorrow for an update, and I then plan to do weekly updates every Wednesday until the project is complete. Hopefully with a lot more pictures!!!