Nurgle Inspiration....

Inspiration. Where does it come from? A lot of what I paint, the conversions that I do and the armies that I build tend to be inspired by other people, sure I have a few original ideas (the Squigoth Leman Russ being one of them) but I would guess most comes from seeing other peoples work. The simplest seed can often evolve into something different and that in turn may inspire someone else and that is one of the great things about the hobby we have.

I bought the Nurgle Daemon prince model from Forge World years ago for a Daemon army I was building (when Daemons were good) but I never got round to painting it as my hobby butterfly tendencies took over and no doubt I ended up doing something else. But I was reading this months White Dwarf and right at the back was a really small section about one of the writers trying a new painting technique out on some Plague Bearers. The technique was simple, white undercoat and the just using the new Shades to give it a Nurgle paint scheme. Wow I thought, those models look awesome and it was a technique I had never considered before. So I went upstairs and extracted the Nurgle Daemon Prince model from the draw he has been living in for a couple of years, gave him a white undercoat and got to work. I think you will agree from the pictures below he looks awesome and has inspired me to have another look at the Daemon army, its also shown me a new painting technique to add to my range. It just goes to show the smallest thing can inspire you to action and potentially a new hobby avenue.

Also this month we have been playing a lot of Warmachine at the club I go to in Hemel, as I like to play with painted armies I have again been inspired to finish a couple of Cryx models that have been sitting on the shelf for a while so have actually completed the Deathjack and am eyeing up the Kraken next.

It's been a productive month, and adding to the completed list is the second Ultramarines StormTalon which means my 1850 Ultramarine list is now finished. Of course no army is ever really complete and I have a few ideas for some additions. I am thinking of adding to the Inquisitors retinue, to get these models into the list I need to swap the two Las-Cannons for Missile Launchers in the Dev squad so those are the next things to paint up. I have also started work on the second Grey Knight Paladin squad for the game we plan to run at Salute next year. I have a suspicion that this may inspire me to complete a Grey Knight force in the future.

One other thing that I have found to help the inspirational juices flow is having a good tidy area to paint, as you may have seen from my Facebook post I recently gave my painting area an overhaul and have found that this has given my painting a new lease of life, if the environment is right then the results will come.

So if you are lacking in inspiration or motivation, take a look around at the next club day, look at the armies, models, lists of the other plays and see if something clicks to inspire you in your own work. It could be the smallest thing, a single model, a small conversion but it could lead to a whole new project.

Until next time....

A new HQ in town (and a plane).

Hi Folks.

I am off for a couple of weeks on a well deserved holiday so thought I would do a quick Blog before I go. I have managed to get a good few games in with the Ultramarines and am finding a build that I like. I have been playing with Grey Knight allies which have been performing well zooming onto the table in their StormRaven.

I also got inspiration for this model from a recent White Dwarf that should a similar conversation. I use this model as a Space Marine Captain in Terminator Armour (my HQ choice for the Space Marine part of the army) but I wanted a bit of a theme. I have converted and painted the model as an Inquisitor Lord the idea that he is leading an army of Ultramarines and Grey Knights on some mission for the Inquisition.

The model itself is based on a Space Wolf Terminator body, the Power Fist and Shoulders are from the Space Marine Venerable Dread kit. The right arm is the Bolter from the Chaos Lord kit with the Grey Knight Terminator Psy-Cannon stuck to the side. I snipped the end off and stuck on the muzzle from a Plasma Gun to give the model a massive Combi-Plasma gun. The head and icon are both from the GK Terminator kit as well.

I think it came out pretty good, its a little more static than I was hoping for but if I had put on legs that gave a sense of movement then the model would have looked top heavy. With the wide stance of the legs it balances out the shoulders and power fist a lot better.

I went for a faded gold colour scheme, the gold is to make him stand out from any other Terminator model on the table but also to give him a more archaic look.

Also this week I managed to finish the first of my Ultramarine StormTalons. I wasn't that keen on this model when it was released but its actually growing on me. They have been very good in the games I have used them in so far, although they do tend to get taken out but it's normally after then have caused some damage. With their special escorting rule I tend to have one of them coming on with the GK StormRaven, this looks really cool on the table and the combination of the two planes can wreck a unit. Also as the StormRaven has a Machine Spirit you have the option of directing the Melta weapon on a nearby vehicle - double threat. Its a really great combo.

So i'll leave you with some pictures of the StormTalon whilst I head off to a secluded beach in Brazil.... its a tough life.

Until next time...

Stuck to a StormEagle.

Hey Folks...

Quick update, I felt I must Blog after the last four hours.... So picture the scene, its cold and windy outside so I thought I would spend a nice afternoon watching the England V Wales Rugby League match whilst sticking together my new ForgeWorld StormEagle.

Well four rather stressful hours later, several incidents of gluing myself to other bits of myself I finally managed it. I love ForgeWorld stuff, but sometimes it really doesn't fit well together and its just a battle. This model was a total nightmare, I managed to get it together in the end but there are a few gaps that will need filling and the rear door really hasn't gone on well, but you can't really see it so not too much of an issue. I built it with Ultramarines doors as it will be fitting in with the blue fellas and transporting some Terminators into battle, overall it is a nice model and will look pretty intimidating on the battle field. In the future I was thinking about doing a complete Pre-Heresey army with another StormEagle, I might rethink :-)

I have also finished painting Draigo for the Salute army, He came out pretty nice, the only thing I don't like is the sword, as it's Finecast the sword is a little bent, and even trying to straighten it with some warm water didn't really help. But overall it's a great model with loots of detail and I really enjoyed painting him.

Ultramarines StormEagle.

Draigo.

Until next time...

Nice ride....

Hey folks,

Have been a bit quiet on the Blog front lately but fear not the brush has been busy. I have a few projects on the go at the moment, mainly 40K related as 6th Ed has really got the juices flowing. As I mention in a previous post I have extracted the Ultramarines from the draw they were living in and dusted them down to take to the table once again, they have had one outing so far which resulted in the Eldar getting a right good spanking. 6th is definitely more of a shooting game and my existing army was very much a shooting orientated build, all it needs is a few bits painted up and its fully done.

So all I had left to paint was: -

• One Razorback
• Two Storm Talons. 

I was going to go with 3 Storm Talons but in the end I decided to stick with two and switch the third one out for a Defence Line (with a Quad Autocannon) and a Scout Squad.  The reasoning behind this was that I thought I was a bit light on Troops choices and also the Defence line is great for sticking the Tactical and Heavy squads behind and I also have the benefit of the added air defence with the Quad gun. So this week I have managed to finish the Razorback to go alongside the other one in the army. I went with the Razorbacks over Rhinos as they give an extra couple of heavy guns and if I Combat Squad the Tac units the Heavy weapon half can stay behind the Defence line and the other half can jump in the Razorbacks to go after any objectives. I fitted both Razorbacks with the Ultramarine doors form Forge World as they just look awesome on the model and give some detail to the otherwise flat areas. 

All I need to do now is finish off the two Storm Talons and the army is done. After this I'll build up some other units to switch in and add some variety but this will be after other projects are done, the main aim right now with the Ultramarines is to have a decent fully painted 6th Ed army, although I do have a Storm Eagle winging its way from Forge World which will no doubt take up some of my time in the next week or two. It's such an awesome model, it is 300 points (which is a lot) but is just too awesome not to use on occasion. To get it into the army I just need to drop one Storm Talon and the Dreadnought and thats bang on 300 points. The imagine of the Storm Eagle coming on to the table being escorted by the other Storm Talon is something to really look forward too. 

The other ride that has seen action recently is my Vendetta. I have been experimenting with some Guard allies for the Orks, as I had some "Chaos Guard" from a Lost and the Damned army I built years ago (See previous Blog Post) and thought they would fit in well. What the Guard provide is some much needed anti tank guns which is what my Ork build struggled with. A Vendetta is awesome for this with three twin-linked Las-Cannons zooming onto the board. My opponent then has the dilemma of either trying to take it down or worrying about the Ork horde that is about to punch him in the face. In the first game I tried it the Dakka-Jet and Vendetta both came on in the 2nd turn and just caused carnage. I am trying to get the second Dakka-Jet into the list as if they both come on in the same turn and I Waaargh them they can just remove whole units from the table. The Vendetta is painted up to match the Chaos Guard so its all brown with rusted metallics to show that it hasn't received much love from its owners. 

Until next time...

Deathwing Command Squad and other bits.

Hello fellow plastic crack addicts.

Its been a busy hobby week and with several projects on the go the paint station is covered in models in various stages. The "List" from a previous post has been abandoned in favour of doing what I fancy and it seems to be working out ok.

With 6th Edition getting more of my play time I have finally decided on the direction of my various armies.

1. For the Orks I have settled on a contingent of Imperial Guard allies and they performed pretty good in their first outing and they will soon be joined by a Vendetta.

2. The first squad for the Deathwing has now been finished (Only 6 more to go).

3. I have finalised a list for my Ultramarines and am just finishing up a few bits to get them up to 6th Edition readiness. They were my army of choice in 4th Ed but didn't seem to work so well in 5th so were confined to a box, but I think in 6th they will be pretty good.

Also on the paint station is a unit of Bile Thralls and Epic Deneghra for my Cryx WarMachine army. The Kraken is also stuck together and will be the next thing to see the paint brush when the 40K stuff is done.

Following on from my post about the iPad and the amazing quality of its pictures I thought I would try out the video option, I think that works pretty well to. I am going to try and get hold of a turntable so that I can get decent 360 video of models to put in various Blog's.

A close up of the squad Apocathory.

 The Squad Standard Bearer.

Inq Coateaz (The was the first FineCast model I bought when FineCast was first released). 

A squad of Purifiers I painted up when the GK Codes was released. 

Until next time.... 

Deathwing and iPads....

Hey Folks...

I am trying out posting some Blog pictures using the camera on my "New" iPad (thats an iPad3 for normal people) just to see what they look like. Although I have a pretty funky camera the iPad camera is actually really good for taking closeup pictures of models, one slight pain is that I can't post pictures to the Blog if accessing Blogger from the iPad, this does seem a little odd, therefore I have to plug the iPad into the Mac and transfer the pictures over and then access Blogger from the Mac.... oh well no bother.

So I have taken a couple of pictures of some Deathwing work in progress. These models make up the command squad and well accompany Bellal into battle.

So here they are, not bad for an iPad I have to admit, and actually better than my "proper" camera.

Until next time......

Back to Ultramar

So now I have played a few games of 6th Ed I beginning to see what is working and what isn't. From what I have seen and experienced Shooting is very much the way to go. 

With this in mind I have decided to go back and take a look at my UltraMarines, I became a fan of the 40K poster boys after reading the Graham McNeil novels and had a pretty kick ass army back in the days of 4th Ed. However when 5th Ed came out, and with it, a new Codex the basic Marines seemed to take a bit of a hit and Close Combat armies seemed to  be the new thing (thats when I started my Orks). But now 6th Ed is with us I think it might be time to bring out the Blue fellas again.

I am going to start with the list below mainly as I have all the models, except the fliers, so its going to be easy to get it up and running. The Libby is my HQ of choice, the new powers are pretty cool and can give the Marines a nice boost. The troops will be two basic Tactical Squads, these guys can dish out some nice anti-infantry shooting as well as some decent overwatch if charged and can split into Combat Squads if required to give 4 Troop units. They will both run with Razorbacks with twin-linked Las-Cannons, these can take out vehicles, MC's or move a Combat Squad around. The main attack unit will be the Terminators, tactical Terminators are the monkies nuts these days, with a 2+ save and power fists they can mash anything that comes close. They will be the main objective takers. The rest of the army is there for fire support, the Thunderfire Cannon can target large troop units, the fliers have both infantary and vehicle destroying abilities and the Devs can targat vehicles and MC's. The Dreadnought can also target vehicles and has some anti-infantary firepower also.

I think this army has enough to deal with most things, so all I need to get is the fliers and do some touchups and it should be ready to go.

1850 Ultramarines (Space_Marines)

HQ - 140
Space Marine Librarian (140)
Smite; Force Dome; bolt pistol; Terminator armour; storm shield.

Elites - 380
Dreadnought (145)
twin-linked lascannon; missile launcher.

5 Terminators (235)
assault cannon; chainfist.

Troops - 540
10 Tactical Marines (275)
plasma gun; plasma cannon.
• Razorback: twin-linked lascannon.

10 Tactical Marines (265)
meltagun; missile launcher.
• Razorback: twin-linked lascannon.

Fast Attack - 460
Stormtalon Gunship (155)
Typhoon missile launcher.

Stormtalon Gunship (155)
Skyhammer missile launcher.

Stormtalon Gunship (150)
twin-linked lascannon.

Heavy Support - 330
Thunderfire Cannon (100)

5 Devastators (230)
4× lascannon.

1,850 points