[Dark Eldar] Converting un-released models?

Hey everyone,

I've been looking at the Dark Eldar stuff for a while now, with a massive increase in interest (obviously) from the new models and Codex. It was the basic DE Warriors that put me off ever starting them. Now, with a new range of minis and a lot of talk about them, I fancy getting myself a raiding force of them.

But,  a lot of the stuff I'm interested in currently have no models... which is obviously a bit of an issue. Those regular readers and friends of mine, will also note that I don't use metal models. Which then gives me another issue in trying to convert items already available in metal, into plastic models.

So - what's on my mind? Bear in mind I haven't actually read the codex, just gauging all my info from what's available online, until my pre-ordered Codex arrives.

Wracks:
These guys are what the old school Grotesques were. Standard infantry sized experimental freaks. I've not seen the artwork from the codex, nor the rules for them but everywhere online seems to be discussing models kit-bashed from 2 or 3 different sets. Meaning that for a standard squad of 10, you're looking at 3 boxsets to make one unit. Big no-no in the Badger rulebook.

My initial idea was Warhammer fantasy Ghouls, with their hunched over, mutant look about them. Plus they're pretty cheap and noticeably different from the other Dark Eldar kits to make them stand out as experimental test subjects.

Then, whilst looking for Grotesque ideas, I thought about making the Wracks a multi-use unit. Wracks in my Dark Eldar army, Plaguebearers in my Nurgle Daemon count-as Hrud army. So the options were Skaven related, Plaguemonks being the stand out. Even with the tail removed, they could still pass as some kinds of hideous mutants covered by their robes. Plus, these guys still come in boxes of 16 or 20 for £18 - score!

Grotesques:
Making these guys kinda relied on how I made the Wracks, and there were 3 options for this. From what I'd been told, they were now Ogryn sized beasties, so the initial candidate was Ogre Bulls from Warhammer Fantasy. Then I started thinking... maybe they'd take too much conversion work to turn into mutants. It'd rely on a fair bit of green-stuffing and to be fair, I'd rather spend the time painting them and getting them on the table.

The next option were Minotaurs. They'd double up as my Penitent Engines for my Brotherhood of the Forge army, but at £30 for 3 models, they're way too expensive for me to warrant.

The last step were the new Skaven Rat Ogres from the Island of Blood Fantasy set. Shopping around eBay can get you 2 of them for £7 - £9, meaning you can have a full unit of 6 for less than £25 with P+P. Winner!

Haemonculi:
Now, these guys are similar to Sanguinary priests from what I can understand. They come as a HQ unit of 1-3 and you can split them up during the game. These guys had to appear more Dark Elfy than the mutants varieties, but also different from any Warriors or Wychs. Problematic for sure...

One option is to buy a box of Fantasy Flagellants for the legs and bare torsos, then mix this with Dark Eldar heads and weapon arms. I'd get 10 legs and bodies, plsu plenty of spare arms and weapons from the Warrior boxset. I think that's the way to go to be fair!

I've also then got bits for an Ancient Haemonculus and a Urien count-as.

Venom:
Now we get onto the tricky stuff when you start messing around with vehicles. The Venom is a light vehicle, with a heavy weapon platform and a transport capacity smaller than a Raider (IIRC it's 5 or 6).

There's 2 options with this, either "Dark Eldar-fy" a vanilla Eldar Vyper jetbike or trim down a Raider in some way.

Personally, I'd go for the second option, leaving me with plenty of weapons and spare chassis to put towards making one of the Flyers in the codex.

Cronos:
I'm not even sure what this fella looks like, all I know is it's similar to a Talos but walking, but the name "Parasite Engine" makes me think of some walking Nurgle robot. Now, in fitting with the Skaven slave theme, it would have been easy to go with a Doomwheel and be done with it.

But, whilst looking around I found this chappy in the Warmachine range: http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/cryx/warjacks/reaper

He fits exactly what I want to do, but it'd mean non-GW parts to an army, something I'm not adverse to doing (with my D&D bloodthirsters and Daemon princes) but considering what it may cost for the Warjacks, the extra quid or two could be used on GW parts to make it fully usable always.

I need to look at the stats before making a decision, obviously, but I think the Warmachine figures are gaining a foothold in my mind.

Bombers:
The first option for these were modified Raiders. I'd seen a cool conversion someone did as a Void Stalker for Battlefleet Gothic. It looked really good, but at the moment I can't find the picture of where it was. Plus, I would imagine a fighter or bomber seating a single pilot, would be similar in scale to a Raider.

The second option is a surprise I'm going to keep until I get hold of the codex... Mwahahahaha!

Do you guys have any ideas? Or any units from your codex you want ideas with modelling?

Peace,
SB

Beer-Hammer 40,000 at Nottingham

Morning all,

It's took me a few days to recover from it, but over last weekend the 40k'ers at MAWS went to Warhammer World in Nottingham, to drink copious amounts of alcohol and play a 500pt 1 day Cup - dubbed the Beerhammer Cup.  The aim was simple - to play 1 game against each player, whilst recovering from pre-game drinking the night before.

My army idea was simple, whatever will take the least space as possible in my bag. I had a plastic tub which, if the list couldn't fit inside of, it needed to be changed. Luckily the 500pt Necron list I'd used a few weeks ago was small in number and (with a bit of help) just managed to get in the tub.

It weighed in as follows:
10 Necron Warriors
2 x 2 Units of Destroyers
2 x 1 Unit of Tomb Spyders with Particle Projector.

Lowe and behold, after finding out everyone's forces, it seems it was the Old Blood against the New Kids. Three 3rd edition Codexes - Necrons, Dark Eldar and Daemonhunters, playing off against 2 of the newest codexes -Blood Angels and Tyranids.

Game #1
So, after a fair bit of messing about with tables at Warhammer World, we got into the gaming and I kicked the competition off playing against Angryman's Tyranids:

The list was something along the lines of:
2 x 1 Zoanthropes
2 Hive Guard
2 x 20 Gaunts with Toxin Sacs and Adrenal Glands

This was the game I was dreading. The sheer amount of Gaunts on the table, backed up by High S and Low AP killy stuff that was there.

Fortunately, my Destroyers managed to snipe one of the Hive Guard early on, took out the Zoanthropes a bit later on and then the Gaunts struggled for Synapse.

Combine that with failing an assault charging Necrons into, then being run down by an assaulting Tomb Spyder as they fled.

Result: Win

Game #2

Game 2 was against Blood Angels (if I remember rightly), the new kids on the block. No vehicles, but focus on the numbers:
5 Man Tactical Squad
2 x 5 man Devastators with lots of weapons
4 Jumppack Death Company with 2 Power Weapons

We played a Capture and Control mission, 1 home objective each.

Thanks to an absolute ton of cover saves from AP2 weaponry, and extremely poor rolling by both of us for shooting, we played out to a draw. I held my Objective, the Blood Angels held theirs.

Result - Draw

Game #3
Game 3 was the battle of the 3rd Ed Codexes. Necrons v Dark Eldar. Now, this is the first time I can remember playing against Dark Eldar and I really enjoy playing against them since they're rare to see.

The list was along the lines of:
Drachon
2 x 10 Warriors in Raiders
Ravager

The mission was again Capture and Control, this time with Dawn of War deployment. The Dark Eldar, being Dark Eldar, hoped to cripple the 1 unit of Necron warriors on the board in the first turn. Unfortunately, thanks to a lot of cover saves on my part from Dark Lances.

Unfortunately, whilst holding my own, the amount of Dark Lances and Disintegrator (?) shots tore into my Warriors and made the army phase out.

This was after a first 2 turns where I managed to destroy 2 of the 3 paper planes in the Dark Eldar army, forcing them to foot slog it over to the Necrons.

Result: Loss via Phaseout

Game #4

Again, another battle of the third edition Codexes, this time Daemonhunters were the opposition. Straken was the opponent, and he chose to use an all or nothing army of Deep Striking Grey Knights with a squad of Inquisition Storm Troopers.

Stormtroopers with 2 Meltas in a Rhino
2 x 5 Grey Knights Deepstriking with Incinerators(?)

The game was Capture and Control, 1 "home" objective each. The Stormrooper Rhino parked in cover, with the Destroyers looking for an easy kill. Unforunately, the Rhino just would not stop making successful cover saves from penetrating hits.

Unlucky for Straken, both Grey Knight units came down in different turns, so couldn't overwhelm the Necrons and were picked off.

It took a while, but eventually the remaining Destroyers managed to shift the Rhino and Stormtroopers from the objective, to give the Necrons a 1-0 victory.

Result: Victory

Final Results

So with 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss to my name, I think the Necrons gave a good show for their money, by ending up on 7 points putting me in 2nd place.

1st place went to Brother Captain Ventris with his Dark Eldar army, through a combination of clever play and taking advantage of everyone's lack of knowledge of Dark Eldar! Combined with the fact his Dark Eldar are yet to lose a game at the club, it's well deserved win.

1st Place - 8pts - Brother-Captain Ventris (Dark Eldar)
2nd Place - 7pts - SuicideBadger (Necrons)
3rd Place - 5pts - Sanguinius (Blood Angels)
3rd Place - 5pts - Angryman (Tyranids)
5th Place - 1pts - Col.Straken (Daemonhunters)

It was a really fun contest, and I really enjoy the smaller scale games where everything hangs on a knife edges - less of a war of attrition.

Here's looking forward to the Combat Patrol Cup in November / December!

Peace,
SB

Stormraven launches

This has been a long time coming and I'm glad I've finally reached the end of it.


When I got the new codex there wasn't that much I needed to add to my army as I already had over 8000 points of blood angels, besides some sanguinary guard and a few new characters. With no model for the Stormraven I decided I'd have my first real attempt at a scratch build. Keeping price to a minimum and because sooner or later they'll bring out an official model.


I wanted to base the Stormraven on the Thunderhawk, as the codex describes Stormravens as having been in the service of the Blood Angels for some time but being mistaken for them. This also gave me the idea of building a slightly larger than GW scale model so that if / when an official model is released I can use my scratch built Stormraven as a Thunderhawk (but time will tell).


If anyone saw my earlier post I ran into a little trouble when deciding how to do the wings and tail. After a lot of messing about and other projects (like painting a whole 2000 point list for a tourney in a week) and other bits and pieces the Stormraven project was put on hold.


The weekend just gone we went to Warhammer World for one of the club members stag do's, after a night on the town. I decided to crack on and try to get the thing finished for this. Alas, I wasn't able to, but got it finished on my day off when I got back home. At last it is finished and ready for its first outing on Monday.

All weapons are magnetised so I can give them all a run out at some point. The hurricane bolters were easy to place and was originally going to have a chin mounted assault cannon. I then had to find a place for the second turret and didn't like the look of one on top or underslung. So they each got stuck on a wing tip.

The magnetised dreadnought isn't painted yet, but thought I'd stick on the customary picture I've seen on most other Stormraven builds.

For the final touch I decided to put the Blood Angels insignia across the wings and hull of the model.

So there you go. Hopefully you like the finished thing, any comments would be appreciated. I don't think it looks too bad for a plasi-foam-card model that cost less than the £6 Valkyrie stand to put together and the couple of hours paint job (it takes me longer to paint 1 marine ).

I know whats going to happen on Monday though, after all that time put into it it'll be 1 shot, 1 hit and "We're going down !!!!!" ---- that's gaming for you !!!

Badger's Big Update - Part 5 - Brotherhood of the Forge

Morning all,

Now then. This is hopefully going to the last part in this mammoth updating spree, but I've saved my pet project for the final post... The Brotherhood of the Forge.

The idea behind this project had been going for a long, long time. You can find the initial blog post that I did HERE where it discusses what my original plan was for the army. It basically boiled down to "I want to buy some Dwarves*, but never play Fantasy".

So, the Codex that I fancied using was the Witchhunters book, mostly because it offered 3+ Armour Saves, but still had low Strength and Toughness on the models, combined with the interesting twist of Faith Points - which is something I really enjoy in 40k (maybe another article some time?).

Without further ado then, I'll unveil the start of the Brotherhood of the Forge, and do a bit of background info
 on them, since they're not technically Squats....

The Original Test Forger

So this guy was the birth of it all, the first actual Brotherhood member that was made and armed, rather than the test paint model. I used the basic Dwarf Thunderer model, armed with a Crossbow stock, then cut this off, along with his spare hand.

I then cut the grip from the Bolter to make a hand hole for his spare arm, cut the trigger grip from the Bolter too and glued it together to make this Bolter arm.

This guy has a cloak on his back and a Shoulder pad, which I thought I had a lot more of, so he eventually became part of the Veteran squad. The cloak and pad separate them visually from the standard members of the Squad.

As for the paint scheme, originally, they were going to be Blue, as was shown on the test model in an earlier post, however, when it came to multi-tasking the vehicles, blue was off the menu since it's my Ork Deffskullz colour - and I can't associate myself with those poster boy Ultramarines!

So I used Adeptus Battlegrey as the fatigues and I think they've come out really well, the grey matches kind of this dark, miner community that I see the Brothehood living in.

Melta Guns on the Cheap

Now, one of the staple weapons for the Witchhunters army is the Melta gun, but as anyone who's ever checked eBay for cheap plastic Melta guns, you'll find they're like 40k golddust. Everyone wants them and can charge a quid or two per gun. Noes I say!

My melta guns are made from Imperial Guard grenade launchers, with the barrel using the Chaos Tank sprue decorations. I see their Melta guns, being part of the Forge, as more ceremonial  items, passed down from generation to generation as gifts.

Brothers of the Forge a.k.a Sisters of Battle

This is the first full squads of "Sisters of Battle". A 10 strong unit, with a Flamer, Melta, Imagifier (Ancient Tapestry of Battle) and a Veteran Sergeant.

If you notice, the Veteran Sarge in this unit has a brown beard. He's a veteran amongst his peers in the Squad, but he's still a youngling to the rest of the Forge. I imagine these guys a bit like Blood Claws in the Space Wolf army.

Forge Lord a.k.a Cannonness

Now, you may recognise this fella as the Dwarf Lord from Skull Pass, which has previously been shown on the Blog before. However, he's had a new coat of grey paint, over the blue, to tie him into the rest of the force.

Forge Veterans a.k.a Celestians

The Forge Lord joins his retinue of Veterans, made up of Celestians with an Imagifier, Melta and Flamer. These guys all have cloaks and Shoulder pads to show their Veteran status.

Forge Prophet a.k.a Inquisitor

Now, in the Brotherhood society, they commune with the Forge through their Prophets, who are able to understand the Forge and relay the message to the rest of the Clan - quite similar to the Mechanicum in that they believe the Forge to be some kind of entity or God.

This guy probably won't stay as an Inquisitor for long however, since looking at his armoury (Whip and Pistol), he's more suited to being the leader of a Sister Repentia (Slayer) unit, but for the moment, he's an Inquisitor.

Forge Oathkeepers a.k.a Death Cult Assassins

Now, these guys I got off eBay for a few quid, knowing that if I was going to do some Space Dwarves, I'd need to use some Slayer equivalents.

Originally, I wanted a Repentia unit, however, with the price it was costing me buying the plastic Slayer models, I couldn't keep it going. So the other alternative, once I had made an Inquisitor, was to use them as Death Cult Assassins.

One thing I didn't want to do with them was have Naked Dwarves running about the table, so I've given them a kind of "stealth suit" look, with a jet black bodyglove.

So there you have it, the unveiling of the Brotherhood of the Forge. I've got a Whirlwind with my Relictors that's being used as my Exorcist for this force, with a removable top hatch to be a Rhino for the Celestians or SoB squad.

Hopefully you guys like them, and I'm looking forward to adding more units. I need another squad of basic dudes, along with fleshing out the Celestians to a full unit. Then I want to look at some Penitent Engine options and how on earth I could make flying Dwarves....

Peace,

SB

Badger's Big Update - Part 4 - Battlefleet Gothic Ork Fleet

Morning all,

Today comes part 4 of my Update-a-thon that's been happening all this week, maybe it'll be a polite break for you from 40k content as well.

Over the last month or two, there's been a lot of interest over, and playing of, Battlefleet Gothic. It was pretty handy to get into at first, since the rules were free downloads, club members had spare ships and the msot important thing, actual size of the ship makes no difference, everything is measured from the Stem or to the Base.

Really, to avoid spending a lot of money on buying Metal ships, or scrounging eBay for Imperial or Chaos fleets, there were really only 2 options to go with for scratch building - Tyranids or Orks. There can only really be 1 winner there, and that's the Orks.

So Warboss Nobrot has amassed himself a fleet in the wastes of Manutia and is setting out to explore the stars!

First and foremost, I didn't want to spend more than £10 on making the fleet. Money is tight at the minute and I especially don't have the money to be buying actual models. Luckily on eBay I found a seller flogging Black Hex Flying bases, 30 of them for £3.50 with postage - Bargain. I then had enough for the initial Cruisers and more to cover breakages and expansion.

The original solution for ships, was to use Kinder Egg and other toy capsules as the hull of the ship and bolt weapons onto there. However, that idea fell on it's face because of the rubbish plastic they use on cheap containers. In addition to that, there was a massive amount of empty space on the hulls that I couldn't fill, meaning the model looked more like some kind of zeppellin than a space ship.

The second draft ships were all cobbled together using Ork weapons as the basis, I'll try and discuss as I go through the pictures:

Cruiser Ships - Kill Kroozers (Left), Terror Ships (Right) and Warboss Nobrot's Personal Cruiser "Da Rotta" (Middle)

The cruiser ships were the first to initially use the container hulls, with pretty much all of the bits used on the newer models. However, the empty space made them look cheap and a poor scratch build. So they were ripped off and a fresh start made.

I used Big Shoota barrels to make the central "spine" of the model. The barrels with circular holes in would be my Terror ships, to represent the torpedo bays. After this, I added some cut off Pistols to bulk out the front area, along the the prow made from the front of a Warbike.

Then I added a "Fin" from an Ork choppa, to add a bit more bulk to the model and probably because it's something an Ork would try fitting onto a massive battleship. Top this off with some Tau bits to stretch out the back end, along with a turbine from a Stormboy jetpack to make a crude engine - Voila, job's done.

They're easily distinguishable on the table via the prow styles. Kill Kroozers use the "Voodoo Mask" style fronts, and the Terror ships use the smaller, more angular "Terminator Face" style. My Warboss's personal ship (also a Terror ship) uses a large skull to distinguish him from the other ships.


Heavy Battleship - Slamblasta



The Slamblasta started life originally as how I wanted to make the Cruisers in the first place, using plastic Ork Kannons from the Battlewagon kit as the basis for the hull. However, I only had 1 of these knocking around, was working to a deadline and on a very tight budget. So, the Slamblasta was born!

I chose Slamblasta since it's the only Ork ship that can take any lances, and I think a Heavy Gunz battery and Lance combo would be absolutely punishing to an enemy ship.

It started off as a plastic Kannon, glued next to an imperial Lascannon to create a dual-thruster looking ship. Then I added some gun barrels from Ork Shootas to represent the Eavy Gunz. Then, some Battlewagon armour plates as the fins, to retain the theme I was aiming for.

The front prow is also a lot different to the standard Cruisers, having a faceplate like they do, but also by adding a large Iron Gob to it. After all, it's the biggest ship in the fleet and wants to show it off! To represent the Lance batteries in the prow, I used some wrench/pipe looking weapon that the Warbiker kit comes with and mounted it in the mouth of the prow.

Brute Ram Ships

These were the first ships I built, because I had a really good idea of how I wanted them to be - very small, very nimble and very choppy! They're really simple to build as well, just an Ork Slugga (the barrel is the engine) glued to a Chainsaw Choppa blade.

Escort Ships - Savage Gunships (Left), Ravager Attack Ships (Middle) and Onslaught Attack Ships (Right)

The escort ships were the second lot to be built, as they were smaller, they were easier for me to get ideas from the bits box. The central spine for these guys was an Ork shoota, then I added some Warbiker exhausts (or Stikkbombs for the Savage ship) as the thrusters.

Then came the issue of how I distinguish these guys based on their weapon options?

The Savage ships I used the Sluggas from the Ork Nobz, as they have a double barrel, which can happily show "Eavy Gunz". Afterall, what's 'Eavier firepower wise than 2 massive guns?

The Ravagers I used Chainaxes as the heads, to try and keep the bladed theme running over from the Brute Ramships, then for the Torpedos, I used spare Bullet Chain sections from the Shootas I had chopped up for the hull of the ships.

Finally, the Onslaughts are basic ships with standard gunz. The tricky part was that I had already enforced the "Standard Slugga Barrels are engines" policy so had to try and find something new to be used as a standard Gunz barrel. Luckily, there's a very nice, rounded, Grot Pistol that fit the part.

So that's that. After a ton of planning and an epic amount of rooting through my Bitz box, I finally got my Ork fleet built and painted, ready for gaming. Next up to add to the fleet are some Roks I've been working on, but I'm not happy with how I've made them, so back to the drawing board!

Hopefully, a section of them should be gracing the tabletop on Monday in all their painted Glory, but knowing Ork technology, they'll only end up blowing themselves up or steering into their own Torpedoes!

Overall, I'm pretty impressed with how they turned out, considering that I paid for nothing, except the bases for the models. I'm even thinking of rolling on from this and looking at making a Necron fleet, just because I enjoyed making the ships so much, it was a real change from 40k.

I've waffled on long enough...

What do you guys think of the Fleet then? Any suggestions or changes to bear in mind if I make any more?

Peace,

SB

*P.S. Tommorrow's update is gonna be a big 'un! ;)

Badger's Big Update - Part 3 - Relictors Space Marines

Good morning all (again).

I'm working through the chunk of content I've got stored up from a marathon Weekend painting session and today's blog post will be my first real attempt at Space Marines.

I don't see the massive appeal that others do with Space Marines, personally, I find them a bit bland and boring and would rather stick to my Xeno armies. After all, in a Universe where there are countless Alien and Mutant races, why should we stick to the poster boys of the Game?

But, I kept seeing the Assault on Black Reach Commander on eBay for 99p and eventually caved and bought one. Now my original idea was to start work on a Blood Ravens force, trying to pre-empt them releasing a Codex or even some minor rules for them.

That plan basically hinged around converting the Dawn of War 2 characters as Squad leaders, Librarian as HQ and not much else... Plus, painting them Red was just too close to Blood Angels for my liking. The paint scheme was also a deciding factor, since my Marine army was to share vehicles with my Brotherhood of the Forge Army.

Out of the blue, I recieve an email notification from a 40k Forum about a topic I had replied to a long while ago - a Background story as justification for an army of borderline Heretical marines. Then I remembered... Relictors!

I remember seeing their rules and conversions in a White Dwarf from a few years ago and the whole Anti-Hero approach they have going on, really got me wanting to paint an army of them.

On top of that, since the Relictors are semi-Heretical there is an absolute ton of options I can do with them in terms of setting up an army. One thing I'm really keen on at the moment is getting multi-Codex use out of what I buy. So as an example, I can use the Relictors as Codex Space Marines quite easily. I can convert up a Relictor equivalent to Thunderwolf Cavalry (thinking Bloodcrushers here), arm everyone with "Daemon Weapon" Frost Blades and move to Space Wolves. I can ally in some radical Daemonhunter choices and mix it up that way.... Or I can go whole hog and play a Black Crusade style Chaos army.

Anyway, I've waffled enough, here's the Marine Captain and the Rhino / Whirlwind.

Relictor Rhino, removable Top Door to trade for Whirlwind.

Relictor Captain - Name TBC

I like the Dark Grey scheme for Space Marines, with a black wash. It was something I had tried on looted Terminator Armour on my Orks and was looking to replicate if starting a Space Wolf army. Only things I need to change is the Shoulder Pads on the Captain - it's supposed to be Black background with Grey trim. Then I need to get hold of some Transfer sheets for Relictors and put some on the Captain's pads.

What do you guys reckon about the paint scheme and the overall Relictors idea?

Peace,

SB

Badger's Big Update - Part 2 - Eldar Guardians

Hi everyone,

Today should be a lighter blog post for you all to digest, with the more bulky stuff coming towards the end of the Week.

Firstly, Cars are a pain. They're expensive to run, can break down out of the blue and absolutely ruin your Wargaming Fund, as happened to me at Britcon this year.

I went with a fair wad of cash in my pocket, ready to be wasted at the Stalls on my Squat army. Lowe and behold, the day of intended spending, the Car breaks down on the way to the event. Now perhaps, some may see it as a sign from the Financial Gods to withhold 40k spending. Me, I just had to decide how much I could likely spend and then go from there.

In the end, I bought a couple of bits and bobs just as test painters. Notably, a box of Snap Fit Eldar Guardians. I've never painted anything Eldar before and since there's a lot of complaining going on about how some people find them to paint, I thought I'd give them a go.

For me it was a choice between the Saim-Hann Craftworld and paint scheme, which is what I had initially been drawn to love about the Eldar range. I remember seeing that excellent Autuarch model when it was first released, the Limited Edition Bonesinger, new posed Farseers and so on. They were some of the tastiest looking models I'd seen.

The other option was Ulthwe. The appeal to me was I felt they would be extremely quick to paint, relying on colours that can be done in a quick single coat (Black and Cream) and also allow me the use of Mr Super Farseer, Eldrad. Now I know, the Internet thinks Eldrad is TEH OMG Character for Eldar, but personally, I love the Synergy aspect of the Eldar army, which part of that comes from the use of Farseer powers. Who better to increase my use of Farseer powers than Mr Eldrad himself.

So - do I choose the nice, bright and crisp looking Saim Hann? Or the super quick Ulthwe scheme?

If you've seen the Blog before, or seen me write, you'd know the answer - Ulthwe of course.

So this is the first Guardian. Really, really simple scheme - Spray it Black, paint the Gun, Facemask and some Ulthwe markings in Dheneb Stone, Gems and Cords in Mechrite Red. Then give it a good old splash of Badab Black wash and leave it be. Then snot green for the Lenses after the wash has dried. Simples!

The original test model used Blood Red for the Gems, but I wasn't sure and also running low on Blood Red, so switched to Mechrite.

They were that quick for me to paint that by time the Wash had dried on the test model, I had managed to paint up the other 3. The only thing that really took the time was resetting the black areas of the model - which is partly down to my brushes needing replacing soon.

So what do you guys reckon to the start of this Ulthwe Force? I reckon (no bragging intended) that if I had the models built and sprayed, I could get a full 2000pt army painted up in a free Weekend. The scheme is just that quick and easy to paint for me.

So what do you guys reckon to the scheme? All my reference to Ulthwe Guardian paint schemes came from the 40k Rulebook on one of the pages in the Campaign section. Are there any details I've missed (being a Mon-keigh) or painted up incorrectly?

Peace,

SB

Badger's Big Update - Part 1 - Black Wash

Hi everyone,

As you've probably noticed, the blog has been a bit bare for a while now, due mostly to members being pretty busy or in the middle of projects that aren't really ready to be posted.... Or in my case, forgetting to take pictures of models I've painted!

I've had some form of Man Flu for the past week and it decided to go full on attack mode on my painting backlog. I ended Sunday feeling better and also chipping away at the dreaded painting Backlog.

So - the aim is, each day I'll post a unit or project that I had worked on over the weekend, chat about it pretty quick and show off some pictures.

First up, as those of you who've seen my armies on the table or on this blog, I'm a massive supporter of Badab Black wash. Considering the busy working patterns I can go through, as well as y'know, attempting to have a personal life, when I get chance to paint, I want to get a job done. Badab Black saved my life!

On that topic, I found myself painting 2 plastic Necron Immortals that had been sat on my desk for a looooong long while. I think I made them about 18 months ago - using a Destroyer Torso, Head and Gun on a normal Warrior's legs.

You used to be able to get hold of extremely cheap unboxed Necrons Destroyers on eBay and the aim was to make a 2nd squad of Immortals using these guys as the basis.

So here they are:

Whilst painting them though, I had them next to newer things I'd painted using Badab Black wash. Whereas my original Necrons pre-date that, (Boltgun Metal drybrush, reset Black areas and then Snot Green the pipes), so I decided to go over them with a Black Wash as tester models for the Necron army.

Suffice to say, I was happy with the result. It blended in some patchy drybrushing and then dulled them so they were more "fitting" of the 40k Universe.

That then got me thinking of my Guard army, who I set the Paintscheme for about 6 years ago when I first got into 40k. They take an absolute AGE to paint since it all relies on layering the cloth, resetting large Black areas and multiple skin coats.

So I attacked some rarely used Guard models to see what my scheme would look like with the Black Wash:



Original Guardsman Paintscheme



Guardsman Post-Black Wash

Again, I was really impressed by the result of this, so I went over a box of the rarely used Guardsmen (Metal Models) as the first stage of the project.

So - what do you guys think? I'm aiming to buy a ton of Black Wash over the next few weeks and go over the Necrons and Guard to really Grime them down and match my other armies. After all... Nothing is ever factory fresh in the 40k universe!

Expect part 2 tomorrow :)

Peace,
SB

40K fiction - otherwise known as fluff

Hi all,

Angryman here with a question.  Are you for or against all the books dedicated to the 40K universe?

The most notable ones are the Horus Heresy series

These books tell the tale of the galaxy wide conflict that almost destroyed mankind as it was on the brink of total domination.

then there are all the black library novels

This arm of GW that specifically deals with fiction and fluff has hundreds of books out that cover all sorts of stories, tales and events that have happened, are happening and could happen in the 40K universe.

I myself am a great fan of the fluff, it sets up a rich story environment in which to plan campaigns, re-create events and inspire unique games.  I have started a couple of armies based purely on what I've read in a book.

So what do you think, are you a fan of fluff?

all comments welcome