Rounds Inbound, Part 2

Took some time this afternoon to do some painting and knocked out the proxy Griffon. While I was at it I also painted up a Destroyer I'd built based on an old beat up Leman Russ chassis. Not my best conversion work by a long shot, but it's servicable I suppose.

I really should have done more with the barrel, I may end up replacing it with something more interesting looking in the future. It's been unusually cloudy for the last week or so, and the models come out looking a little more blue than they truly are - it's supposed to be rather nice tomorrow, hopefully I can get some better-lit shots...

Rounds Inbound, Part 1

I stopped by my FLGS this afternoon and picked up a slightly damaged Whirlwind for about half the usual retail price. The Rhino was badly warped, and will end up being terrain fodder, but the launcher was intact. I had been reading the Adeptus Arbites codex from BoLS, and the Black Maria caught my eye. I thought about making one, but I subsequently thought that it would be more useful to use the bits to make a proxy of some sort instead, as it would be easier to justify as part of my guard army. That being the case I decided to use the launcher to make a vehicle that I will use as a proxy Griffon.

By happy coincidence, the panel that the Whirlwind launcher ordinarily attaches to is exactly the same width as the main hull of the Chimera, once turned sideways. A small strip of plasticard was sufficient to cover the gap left over when slotted into the top of the Chimera, other than that the whole kit went together almost as if it was designed to do so!

On the back side I used a couple pieces from the standard Chimera kit which fit almost perfectly, all I had to do was trim off a couple protrusions. I added a rear hatch and a few bits of stowage here and there to cover up some of the open spaces.

In game, I plan on using the model as a proxy Griffon with the armored crew compartment upgrade. I chose the Griffon as the range, template size and damage were all roughly similar to that of the Whirlwind's Vengeance missile option, though the griffon does hit slightly harder (Strength 6 as opposed to Strength 5). I dry fit both missile pod options, and though technically the Vengeance missiles are the larger of the two missile options, I felt the smaller missiles in their racks looked better when mounted to the Chimera chassis.

A super simple conversion, I'll have to make another pair to fill out the squadron!

Adeptus Mechanicus Land Crawler, part 1

As I've mentioned in the past, I'm slooooowly working on putting together an Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator army based on the fine work over at the Tempus Fugitives site. One of the heavy support options in their Cult Mechanicus army list is the Genetor Biologis Land Crawler - "Based around the same STC that Arkhan Land used when developing the Land Raider, the Land Crawler is built as a mobile Genetor Biologis laboratory. Usually it collects samples from various subdued populations; however in time of open conflict its large manipulator claws are quite capable of collecting samples in multiple parts rather than wholly intact..." - Codex Cult Mechanicus, S. Mackaness

A friend of mine made a decent start of a Mechanicus army at one point, and had subsequently sold me a large chunk of the models. One of which was the beginnings of a Land Crawler, utilizing several Forge World wall panels and symbols.

I've cleaned it up a little bit, and I'm gathering bits to finish it off - I've built a pair of claws (though I'm still figuring out how and where I want to mount them), and I'm working on a dissection table to go in the rear area, using various servo-arm bits and greenstuff. Not super high on my priority list of things to work on of course, but as I was fiddling around with it a few days ago and was taking pictures of the guard models, I figured I'd start documenting the build process...

Get your motor runnin'... Part 2

Still working on building the proxy rough riders on Hornet motorcycles and I snapped a quick picture after primering the few I've managed to assemble. I decided to change up the hunting lances based on a post by John and Mike over at Santa Cruz Warhammer seeing as I had a number of rokkit bits left over from the Ork sprues.

At the moment I only have six of the ten models built for the first squad, as I ran out of the plastic rod I was using for the lances. The end result will be seven lancers, two meltaguns and the sergeant, and I intend to build a second squad once I have a chance to place an order with Ramshackle Games for another 10.

Lastly I'm planning on using a slightly modified version of one of the single-cast bikes with integral riders to create a proxy Mogul Kamir miniature that is better suited to the history of the Mordian 7th Regiment.The fellow that runs Ramshackle Games threw this miniature in with my order due to a slight delay in shipping, and with the addition of a helmet and removal of some of the more egregious 'evil' bits I think it'll work. I'm working on a suitable bit of fluff to explain his looks and equipment as they relate to the Mogul Kamir rules.

So far so good!

You got Rogue Trooper in my Rogue Trader!

I've never been too keen on the use of special characters in smaller games of 40k, defined to me as anything less than 4000 points. I will admit however that stems from years of playing 2nd edition a.k.a. Herohammer, wherein it seemed an entire army could be wiped from the table by virtue of a handful of characters (don't even get me started on the Fantasy rules from that era. There's a reason I don't play WFB anymore).

However, I will also admit that the recent trend of characters allowing certain tactics or alternate force organization charts for an army is, at its heart, an equitable way to allow players to inject a little uniqueness to their armies that is otherwise lacking in the 'vanilla' lists. That said, I personally see the characters as presented in the codex's to be mere 'examples' and I enjoy coming up with my own fluff to justify the game mechanics associated with a given character, rather than just telling my opponent "oh yeah, and Lord Castellan Creed, leader of the entire Cadian 8th decided to show up for our skirmish".

To that end, I intend to create a few of my own versions of the special characters in the Imperial Guard codex more suited to the fluff for the Mordian 7th Regiment. I decided to start with a relatively simple project first - everyone's favorite pseudo-Callidus action hero extraordinaire, Sly Marbo. Of course, I wanted to go in an entirely different direction style-wise, and I cast back to the old 2nd edition days for inspiration. I really had no choice in the matter though, there was only one solitary killer from days of old who would do...

The Rogue Trooper. A genetic soldier from the darker days of Nu-Earth, betrayed by the Traitor General, and sworn to revenge for his fallen comrades. Swift, silent, and deadly, the Rogue Trooper carried with him the memory chips of three of his dead squadmates, each capable of offering advice, warnings, and the occasional bit of comedy.

The model is predominantly Catachan bits and a Cadian head, though in retrospect he ended up being a bit more 'burly' than the Rogue Trooper is generally portrayed.

As there was just two models to paint (see below) I was able to bang them both out after work today. Fairly straightforward paintjob really - green fatigues, leather boots, pouches and helmet, and the trademark blue skin and yellow eyes. From a gameplay perspective he has all the special rules that Marbo does, I simply justify them differently - for example, he's not armed with a ripper pistol, but rather Gunnar his trusty rifle (bearing the chip of one of his old squadmates). However, in game it has the exact same statline.

Of course, if I'm going to make a Rogue Trooper, I'm more or less obligated to make the Traitor General. My intention is that any time I take the Rogue Trooper, my opponent would be given (at no additional points cost) a Company Commander (armed with a plasma pistol and powerfist, but without a supporting command squad) to represent the Traitor General. If the Rogue Trooper manages to kill him however, he counts as double the associated victory point/kill points/whatever we're using to keep score in a given game.

In order to keep things sporting, the Rogue Trooper may not deploy within 12" of the Traitor General when using his "He's behind you!" rule. The Rogue Trooper may enter play within 1" of any other enemy model as normal.

Now I realize that I'm mixing my universes here, but for a short period, GW was liscened to distribute a Rogue Trooper game, so it's ever-so-slightly canon! The other special characters I'm working on are much more true to the fluff of the Mordian 7th Regiment - but as Marbo is so over the top, I felt his proxy model needs a bit of 'flair' as well!

Da Brain Boys, Stage 4 - Da End!

It was slightly less overcast this weekend, so I was able to snap a couple better pictures of the two Big Meks and their Grot Assistants:

I also pulled out all of the orks I'd finished off for this batch and took a group shot before I packed them up for shipment.

It's always nice to get a project completed - the feeling of accomplishment is fleeting though, as I immediately filled the shelf recently vacated by the Orks with a mess of newly built and primered guardsmen! Painting these was fun nonetheless, and it really got me in the mood to work on the glorious 7th - I've taken a number of pictures of new projects in process, which I'll share over the upcoming week: Forward motion on the mechanized rough riders, proxy special character figs, and more!

Da Brain Boyz, Stage 3 - 'Ere ta fix yer gubbinz!

Victory! The last of the Orks are done! My usual Thursday evening plans were canceled this week so I had a free evening to finish up the two Big Meks - one with a Shokk Attack Gun and one with a Kustom Force Field generator. It's been a bit overcast the last few days so the pictures came out a little darker than usual - It's supposed to be fairly decent today so I hope to get a group shot of all the Orks I've managed to paint over the last few weeks. I'm actually pretty pleased, 37 figs done in a little more than three weeks, quite a bit faster than I'd anticipated.

Now to get them boxed up and shipped out - I'd sold the majority of the army back in December, and had been commissioned to finish off the remaining Orks by a fellow that ended up with most of them. There remains a small unit of scratch-built Freebootaz that I'm keeping for now as I intend to run a one-shot Dark Heresy game for my friends wherein they play Ork Pirates. I'd built the custom Pirate Kaptin using the Warboss model from the AoBR set, and the Freebootaz are built using the Nobs from the same set, plus some suitably modified Snazzguns made from the leftover weapons from the Lootas/Burnas box (as I'd built that set out as Burna Boyz).

Now it's time to get back to my first love - the glorious Mordian 7th! I've built a few models here and there while working on the Orks, and I'm currently trying to decide what I should work on next. I have a nasty habit of building and converting tons of miniatures then getting discouraged at the vast amount of painting to be done. I think I'm going to try and paint up what I've built so far before building anything else, though I'll admit I'm really itching to take a crack at the Valkyrie kits! Perhaps I can use that as a reward to myself for painting up the guardsmen that I have assembled though...