Badger's Log - Squat Infantry Completed!

Morning folks,

Over the last 2 weeks I've been in full painting flow (mostly as stress relief to a busy period of work), to try and shift some of my backlog and to get out of the hobby lothargy I was in.

It took me a while to finally get a clear day, where I was off work and had time to spray them up - but I managed to get the Squats sprayed up in that time.

Backlog for these guys now stands at:
- 1 Archconfessor Kyrinov
- 5 Dominions
- 6 Crusader Henchmen
- 20 Sisters of Battle
- 5 Command Squad Celestians
- 10 Seraphim
- 1 Saint Celestine
- 1 Immolator

Now, onto some piccies!:

Group shot of all the remaining Squat infantry. Here we've got 20 Warriors, a 5 man Celestian command squad, Arch Confessor Kyrinov, 6 Crusaders and 5 Dominions. Took the pic while the black wash was settling, so the bases aren't finished here...

Celestian Command Squad:

This is my Celestian Command Squad. I know there was a lot of moaning about how they (and other Non-Guard command squads) aren't so hot, but I really liked the idea of modelling them. I think I messed up though and made the model with a Flamer instead of a Heavy Flamer as I intended. Oh well!

These guys have Green cloaks to separate them from my other cloaked squads (standard Celestians have Black, Retributors have Blue). The way I see it is, the more experienced they are is dictated by the colour of their cloak. Bog standard Celestians have no colour, then their cloak is coloured when they specialise.

This is my Apothecary, which is the real reason I wanted to make the command squad. Feel No Pain is always good, and I liked the idea of a Dwarf Apothecary. What's the best pain relief for Dwarves? Ale of course!! So he's heartily drinking a mug of it and lugging around a barrel of it for his chums.

Last unique one is this fella with the Loud Hailer (if that's what it's still called), with his trumpet from the Dwarf Miners kit. Originally I was going to give them a drum, but I thought the trumpet looked better on the figure.

Arch Confessor Kyrinov:

This is one of the special characters I fancied making, just so I've got pretty much every unit in the codex now. For his iconic items, he is the only model in the army to carry a Hammer (his Mace of Valaan) and his Miner's light counts as the Icon he carries (I think it's the Icon of Quenelles, but I'm probably wrong). He's got a cream cloak, so that he should be really easy to spot on the battlefield amongst the others.

Squat Dominions:

Everyone swears by Dominions, and I figured they would be my dedicated anti-tank unit, combined with an Immolator. So I converted these guys up to have 2 Meltas. Also, being a scout unit, I thought that they would carry a much smaller version of an Imagifier, as opposed to a big hefty banner the other units carry.

The Dominions are painted with Red capes to distinguish them. I figured since they're scouts, they're normally fastest to the fight... and we all know that Red ones go faster!

Squat Crusaders:

When the changes were made so that Death Cult assassins were now part of a Battle Conclave unit, I fancied rounding my 3 man unit of Death Cults up to a 10 man mixed unit. So I made these 6 Crusaders with Power Weapons (not sure if they're named "power swords" in the army list). I tried to bulk these guys up with some shoulder armour too, since they'd need to be well equipped for close combat.

Squat Warrior Squads:

These guys are more of the same. 10 man squads, Imagifier, Sergeant with power axe, Melta, Flamer. I've decided to name all my squads after Dwarves from Lord of the Rings, starting with Thorin's company from The Hobbit. I just need to work out a way of distinguishing them on the tabletop.

Squat Seraphim:

Rolling straight on while I'm in painting mode, I started touching up the areas where the spray had missed on these guys.

Then when I couldn't get back to sleep this morning, I figured I'd crack on with the Seraphim and drybrushed the metal areas. So well on the way to getting this army complete now. Just these fellas and the Immolator to go!

Cheers,
SB

Badger's Log - Brotherhood of the Forge Progess

Morning folks,

After some time in exile, my Brotherhood of the Forge are currently underway and hopefully will be finished by the end of Christmas break from work. It's taking a fair while to assemble them though, mostly because of the awkwardness of converting the guns.

Either way, over the last 2 nights I've finished off some bits and BOBs...

Arch Confessor Kyrinov
Part of my plan for the army (along with the dream for all my armies) was to have the option of at least 1 of each unit in a Codex. And since I had a spare Dwarf knocking about, I decided to make Kyrinov.

I'm not too keen on him ruleswise, I much prefer Uriah Jacobus and St Celestine, but I've given him his Icon (the lantern) and his Mace of Valaan (The only model int he army with a hammer). He fits the job and we'll see how he gets on in games!

Dominions
These were planned a fair bit later into my initial thoughts for the army. I'd bought the models and planned what I was going to do, then backtracked and thought I'd make a unit of Dominions.

I made these guys with 2 Melta Guns to try and make use of the scout move and knock out a vehicle early on, along with giving them a Simulcrum Imperialis to try and ensure they pass their act of faith to get twin-linked. The plan is that their cloaks will be red (because red ones go faster!) as it should differentiate them from the rest of the force.

Crusader Henchmen
Crusaders with storm shields and power weapons was something that I wanted since the last codex, unfortunately, my dream of 9 Crusaders with an Inquisitor in a Land Raider was crushed (in the old codex) by only being allowed a maximum of 3 henchmen of each type. And now in the new Codex, my Land Raider option is gone...

These guys are the first time I've used normal Dwarf warriors to build from. The idea being they've got Power Axes and their large shields make up the Storm Shield. I've also bulked them out with some shoulder armour to try and get the feel these are heavy assault shock troops. I might also go back and add masks onto the faces of these guys and give them some more protection.

Where next? 
Well, I've got 10 Seraphim to build and 20 more normal infantry, along with an Immolator. It's taking me a fair bit of time to actually get through them because of how the weapons and arms have to be cut up meaning I've got to glue the weapons in 3 or 4 stages. Either way... They should be quick enough to paint up once they're sprayed and get on the table!

SB

Badger's Log - Deathwing HQs

Ello all,

Blogs are like buses, you wait ages for one and then two show up together. I've been mega busy at work over the last month (still am) but I thought I'd chip in with some info and pics of what I've been working on at home.

First up, I've been hanging fire on getting a Space Marine army for ages, despite how many people said I should. I've never really liked the background of the poster boys of the Imperium and they've never really had a chapter that I liked. I toyed with the idea of Space Wolves for a while, but then there's 3 people at MAWS who have Wolf armies and I don't fancy making it 4. Then I thought about how I can make an elite army on the cheap - Deathwing.

If I was going to do Marines, I'd do them properly. Always being vastly outnumbered, but the hardest guys I can get onto the battlefield. Luckily, a bloke from MAWS was selling a LOT of GW stuff, so I picked up some stuff on the cheap ready to go.

I've assembled everything I've currently got (pictures over the weekend maybe?) but I thought since Col.Straken talked about conversions yesterday, I'd show off my Deathwing HQs in an unpainted state.

Belial with Lightning Claws - Magnetised on the arms to swap weaponry out.

 

Belial with Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield

Belial with Storm Bolter and the Sword of Silence

Chaplain with Storm Bolter and Crozius Arcanum

Librarian with Force Weapon and Storm Bolter (Lots of Grey Knight bits used!!)

So yeah, they're all made from plastic assault terminators with various bits of I've bought or pestered to be given off other MAWS members.

Really excited to get painting these guys now though and get them used in games!


Peace,
SB

A look over the years

I thought that seeing as my Birthday is just a week away (no-one told me!) I would take a trip down memory lane and look at some of the models I have built and painted over the last six years.

My first army that I bought, built AND painted was my Eldar, before that was my Daemonhunters (but Suicide Badger painted them). With my Eldar I had an Idea for a Khainite (Khornate) Exodite army that had scavenged weapons and armour from battlefields. My list was weak as I didn't understand about having a mission for each unit properly, and having units which could fill multiple roles. Although I had a list which consisted of

The Avatar
12 Storm Guardians
12 Guardians
10 Pathfinders
6 Fire Dragons
10 Banshees
and a Fire Prism

with various other bits added on, I think I did well and tried to use ideas I had read and heard to adapt, but the problem was these ideas didn't fit my playstyle which I began to figure out as I got bored with my Eldar. Below is one of my "Conversion" attempts and one of the first models I painted, which was a Tau Devilfish turned Wave Serpent.


As you can see, it was just hacked at with a knife then painted black and red with a roughly painted Khorne symbol, not my best painting skills, but was a start.

I fumbled around with a couple of armies after 1-2 years of Eldar and decided I enjoyed Chaos, as the suited my playstyle of throw some men at the enemy and see what sticks. The problem was I had big ideas for my Chaos and I am still working on making them into a World Eater and Night Lord coalition with the beginnings on mutation showing on some models.

I finally decided to do a Raven Guard army as I loved the idea in the 4th Edition Space Marine Codex, the problem being they had a new book, but I thought I would give it a try anyway. My biggest conversion was this Land Speeder Storm (about a month before they announced the official model)

There was very little special about it, I kept the conversions simple, swapping the Marine bodies for Scouts and adding some antennae along with a cluster of Guard grenade launchers for the Cerebus launcher. This was also my first use of 'Ard coat and the Decals, I would have painted the better but I only spent two weeks on them so the white didn't work properly (a lesson for when I started basing my World Eaters, and painting my brighter Space Wolves and Grey Knights)

Next I turned to Space Wolves which I had put off when I heard about the new Codex, I gave it a quick read through and spotting they kept the Scouts outflanking behind the enemy and Long Fangs splitting their shots I lept onto buying 1500pts for a tournament which was a month away. I opted for a Logan terminator army with fire support from one unit of Long Fangs with Grey Hunters in Rhinos to rush for objectives or hang back.

This was my attempt at making Logan Grimnar as I HATE the metal model, I did some mild conversions to make his Axe look like it could be used as a Hammer, and giving him a "wrist" mounted stormbolter, which was just put on the back of a power fist. This was my first attempt at Fur, and was very pleased my Idea worked of using bestial brown with my newfound love of Washes. I also managed to paint him bright colours without them looking spodgy and washed out. I have now adapted my list to use less terminators and more men on foot led my Ragnar (which I also converted)

My biggest conversion was my attempt at a Tyrannofex, I used a Carnifex and ALOT of greenstuff. It is probably one of my best conversions to date and when painted will hopefully look like it is supposed to belong in a Tyranid army.

Keeping with the Tyranids I think one of my best painted conversions/dioramas is my Parasite of Mortex clawing the face off a Salamander (to encourage Angryman to get painting his Salamanders). My Tyranids were painted to look rotten and sickly seeing as I loved the Venomthrope model and rules along with them being started just after my stag do when I felt very very ill. I used brown and green washes which made the models stand out and gave them some definition where my painting skills couldn't. The Salamander was also fun for me to paint, especially the power axe which I spent two hours on to get the red looking like it was rippling lava.

My most recent painting was my six man Deathwatch Kill Team. These guys represent the pinnacle of my painting abilities to date and if you compare them (and the Tyranid) with my Eldar you can see that in six years I have improved if not largely. I managed to layer the whites/parchment to give it a bright colour rather that a spodgey greyish black. I also used a similar method on the Lightning Claws as with the Salamanders Axe giving it a flahsing effect.

So, The point of this post (other than to make myself feel better that I have improved) was to say how we have all changed and advanced in certain areas. I no longer JUST take what models I think look cool, though that does play a big part. I have figured out how I enjoy playing and what my basic tactics usually are. I enjoy hitting the opponent hard and fast using short range firepower to assist my combat troops, while keeping a few heavy weapons at the back to keep my flanks safe, I also try to take at least one unit that can deep strike or outflank.

I now know with conversions sometimes the subtlest changes are the best, a weapon or head swap and repositioning of a model can make it a thousand times better than chopping and changing every last drop.

I have also learnt alot about painting, layering is important, building up the colours helps to get the shade you want. Most importantly, washes make a half decent paint job ten times better.

So, how far have you all come in the time you have been in this hobby, my six years have seen alot of money spent, but some good friends earned and tips and pointers learnt.

[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

[Necrons] Converting Plastic Tomb Spyders

Hey all,

I was originally going to go through some of my new Imperial Guard stuff today, but I forgot to take the pictures last night - D'oh!

So instead, looking through what I do have pictures for, I thought I would show off my converted Necron Tomb Spyders, talk a bit about them and see what people think.

These guys were made around 2 or 3 years ago, in the run up to a tournament, when I was hoping to try out other Necron units in the codex that I didn't have access to. However, as with most hobby moments for me, money was low and rather than pay £24 for 2 Tomb Spyders, I'd have a go at converting some much easier to assemble, paint and maintain from destruction Plastic Tomb Spyders.

The first and most important thing to get across really, was to signify these are Tomb Spyders, as opposed to some new form of Destroyer construct. I tried to reinforce this by putting some Scarabs on the bases, following the Tomb Spyder like some weird mechanical lost puppies. It also adds a bit more bulk to the model, rather than having an empty base like the Destroyers.

I wanted the Tomb Spyders to feel less like mechanical Beetles and more like a kind of Necron medic destroyer. So I used the Torso of the Destroyer, with a standard Necron Warrior head, to ensure they're visually different to the Destroyers.

The bodies and head were to remain like Necron Warriors / Destroyers to reinforce this link that they're Necron surgeons or repair-crons, rather than the usual Tomb Spyders.

One of the reasons Necron players have for taking Tomb Spyders is that they also count as Monstrous Creatures and can pack a punch in close combat. I made the Claw to try and look like a giant pincer, using the Scythe blades from some Warhammer Fantasy Zombies I had in my Bitz box.

I cut the blade where it joined the staff, and glued these onto a Necron Warrior non-Gun arm, at the wrist. That way, they've got what is effectively a power klaw, to count towards their monstrous creature status.

Normally people don't take the Particle Projector option for the Tomb Spyders because of their dodgy Ballistic Skill, however, I modelled mine so that I can take them as an option, by using a trimmed down Warrior Gauss Gun.

This fashioned some kind of Gauss Pistol weapon that was different enough looking from the other Necron guns to be able to represent the Particle Projector - albeit the fact it's a 3 shot weapon.

This is an overall shot of the 2 Spyders I made, costing me a total of £12 for both models, thanks to a very good deal from eBay at the time.

As usual - comments, critiscism and cakes are welcome.

SB.