Infamy!

Once again a huge gap in the blog. Work can be like that.
And I bought a new house.

Anyway, painting wise...currently working on the contents of the Storm Claw boxed set and painting the Space Wolves from that ready to battle all the missions in the box v's a friend who is doing the Ork half.

This was the last photos i took as I worked on the armour.
Airbrushed stages were Sombre grey through Wolf Grey, gloss varnished and then oil washed with Engine Grease from MiG (brown was too light, black was too dark). Finally after a couple of days it was matt varnished.

While thats going on...

I somehow made 4 pages in this months White Dwarf Visions magazine. This was my random entry in to Golden Demon in 2013, and as they clearly struggle to fill their pages, they used my entry!

Moar Robots

So with the move over, and now the fun part of decorating underway, I have made a small area available for some hobby time!

On the desk....robots! Currently putting together a Thallax Cohort and some Battle Automata, plus my new FW Lancer Knight....

Finally hobby progress yay!

Time for a 20 year clear out

So...
The move was successful to my new home, but alas, my new hobby den just is not the size of a football pitch...
Given the 20+ years of hoarding, during which time I think I sold just 3 small armies (Howling Griffons, 1st draft Space Wolves and some Chaos Nurgle Space Marines a few years back) its time to de clutter and focus on the things I like the most - heresy and robots...

So I have started listing bits on various web locations such as www.swc.co.uk and Facebook trading sites.

Its quite liberating actually!
Although quite sad at times going through such old memorabilia, OOP models and so on that you just cannot get but have no time to ever paint.

So over the next few weeks, more will be going and slimming down the vast collection...so I can buy some more goodies over the next 20 years!

New home

So after a couple of weeks of drama, me and the wife are finally in our new house! Yay!

And I have assigned myself one of the bedrooms as my hobby central going forwards. It needs a lot of work - the walls need re-plastering/re-skimming and then a full repaint. After than I'll look to getting some furniture in such as a nice desk and some display cabinets and book shelves.
Its very exciting times!

However, having been in this hobby for 20 plus years and thrown or sold very little out in that time, the reality is I have a rather large amount of stuff stored in plastic crates, boxes and army cases that needs a serious slim down. Countless bits boxes need to be packaged, sold or traded so I can recycle the cash in to new shiny projects and more resin goodies.

Here is a pic some friends took when helping me move the stuff in...
There is also a built in cupboard that you cannot see on the right of the picture thats full as well, plus 4 more boxes outside the room

Over the past nights this has begun to be sifted and progress is being made!

More to follow on the creation of my new hobby home. Will make a nice little thing to follow and see how it progresses!

All quiet for a bit

Well, I am bout to move house in a couple of weeks which means packing up the existing place and putting it in boxes for a bit.
We are getting a removal firm in, but they are not touching my toy soldiers!

So this weekend is the first phase of operation plasticrack storage. Sad times indeed as I take 4 weeks off painting and playing while these get packed up.


Hobby related news though (for the record I am NOT discussing 7th Ed rumour mills here as its completely pointless):

My Forgeworld Horus Heresy Istvaan drop site Collectors edition arrived woo! Thats book 3, the army book, legion book, some limited art book and a nice box to put all of it plus volumes 1/2 into as well. Happy days - especially as tis contains The Imperial Fists!

Also took delivery of the Web Exclusive GW Captain models, a Leman Russ Punisher and Commander Pask to be in charge of it - oh yes BS4 Rending Heavy 20 yes please.

I also assembled a Fire Raptor for my local GW store manager Dave. He is a bit scared of doing bigger FW kits so let me do it for him. The local hobbyists chipped in to buy it for him for being a great bloke, so it was free, and assembled for nothing to boot. He best paint it well...

See you on the flip side in June.

Maniple of Knights

So last night i got the final bits done on the 3rd Knight model on the collection.

Here they are in their full glory ready to battle and smash some xenon/heretics etc. As long as they don't bring flyers, we are all good...

Am going on holiday tomorrow, no updates till I return!

Knights again!

Hi all

Spent a lot of time over the weekend getting Knight number 3 nearly ready! Just the head cowling armour plate to go, and some weathering in general across the model and its done!

This will then give me an official Primary Detachment of Knights should I wish to field them, or alternately a maximum Allied Knightly Detachment too.

Hurry up Forgeworld, I need a Lancer or 2...

New model syndrome

So last night I played my 2 Knights in an 1850 game alongside the Typhon as a Lord of War.
All three painted this year and all 3 unused in a game.

I played our newest resident regular gamer at my store who is an avid tournament unpainted army player meta list download net list guru (hence the 1850 points as thats the standard tournament scene apparently)

I faced off against the known Skyblight Dataslate abused list including 9 FMC's. So I am sure you can guess the result.

The knights did nothing but get vector struck to death, so that was great.
The Typhon however alongside my trusty Storm Eagle Roc attributed to 7 FMC deaths which was quite nice. Getting the FMC's to take grounding checks from smaller weapons then killing them on the deck was the key, but the result was inevitable for those familiar with Skyblight.

This is a known internet list abuse loophole that gives you extra FMC's plus respawning deep striking objective taking Gargoyle broods. These little fellas count as scoring and can claim objectives if you are contesting. Yes super scorers.

It was a harsh lesson in the "fun" tournament lists doing the rounds, and the guy is a complete douche when he plays it too.

Ph well, now they have their cherry popped, I am sure the big gun units will fair better on the second outing in the near future!

The Knights are here

As mentioned earlier today, its piccie time!

Now to get on with number 3

            

The Knights are coming

Knights finished!

Just completed my first 2 Imperial Knight models over the Easter weekend. Piccies to follow later.
Also treated myself to a 3rd from my local GW store (and qualified for the free Space marine Captain model while at it). Already built the new Knight with the big melta cannon of death and primed and started base coating!
Very excited at the thought of fielding the maximum 3 as an allied contingent in a game now and bringing the pain!

Also got myself a box of the new Scions models. I am going to be painting these like my Imperial Navy Flyers as the Special Forces type with respirators etc. I have a few cool and interesting ideas for these from a modelling perspective so watch this space sometime soon.

More knightly goodness

More knightly goodness

So a good weekend with the paint brush/airbrush over the last couple of days has given this new update!

Yeah check this - 3 posts in a week yo....

Yeah check this - 3 posts in a week yo....

So I have been working on these Imperial Knights. So here are the WIP shots for your viewing pleasures. Legio Astorum Warp Runners, ditched their allegiance to their old Knight Houses and are now true mechanicum assets running point defence / flank protection role for the larger war engines.

Still plenty to go, but coming along nicely now.

Did I show this before?!

Did I show this before?!

So a while ago I started on my Air Cav. Given the launch of the new Tempestus models, I think they could well be the figures I need to complement the flyers.

Anyway the first flyer completed (without base) is the Vulture Gunship sporting twin Punisher Cannons

Still kicking

No pictures

So I am still here and still painting although not as prolific as late due to home and work commitments.
However I have picked up the paint brush and a few more books etc!

Since Jan this year, I have:

Bought the Limited Edition Knight Codex and Companion

Nearly completed 2 Imperial Knights. These are aligned to the Mechanicum and have joined the Warp Runners Legio to match the Reaver and Warhound I have already finished. The background (although focusses on Houses and Freeblades) does actually include scenarios where Knights have been deployed in support of Mechanicum requirements and in some circumstances change their allegiance and become full on Mechanicum Legio Knights. This fits perfectly well for me, so expect to see a pair of them shortly.

I have just pre-ordered the Collectors Edition of the Heresy Book 3 Extermination and am looking forward to completing the Istvaan series. I am particularly excited as this one contains the Imperial Fists. Hopefully the Legion models, Primarch and so on will follow on pretty soon so I can add them to my Fist army!

Been reading a couple of 40k novels from BL as well. Finally finished The Primarchs and now am on Fear To Tread. Pretty exciting reading the interaction between Horus and Sanguinius given that we know what happens on the Battle Barge over Terra only a few years on from this setting.

Just downloaded the iBooks version of Militarum Tempestus. Its quite a good concept although I am not sure why all of a sudden the Imperial Guard have been rebranded this year to Astra Militarum. Oh well, onwards and upwards! Looking forward to seeing the bigger Guard Codex this weekend and seeing what goodies are in there.

I have not managed to get to any events of late though, missed out on going to the recent WHW Campaign and won't be attending Battle Brothers. I am sure I will get to and event soon enough though, watch this space!

Oh my.....

Oh my.....

Ummm so yeah clearly not got the hang of this blogging thing really. I am sure you are supposed to regular say whats going on and show stuff off for comment right? And its not ben touched since June 2013. Its now Feb 2014. Oops!

So lets attempt to catch up my massed followers in whats been going on for half a year ish.

I've been painting models! Yes thats true, my hobby continues to thrive with new units being added primarily to the Imperial Fist Heresy forces.

Added to the forces of yellow have seen a Legion Glaive Super Heavy Tank, a Vindicator (standard GW version admittedly), 3 Deimos Rhinos, a Scorpius Relic Whirlwind, and a 3rd Tactical Squad.

In addition to those painted forces, upcoming (assembled at least) are a 4th Tactical squad, a 4th Deimos Rhino, a Karybdis Assault Claw, a Fire Raptor and 2, err yes TWO, Typhon siege tanks. Oh and s bunch of Tartarus terminators, and some Centurions for good measure :P Now to get the painting monkey off the back and get these ready for battle!

Since the release of Escalation and Stronghold assault, nearly all these FW goodies are now game legal in any event hosted by GW such as Throne of Skull, Battle Brothers and campaign events. This is an exciting addition as far as I am concerned and really turns the typical "Tournament build list" on its head as Strength D weapons enter standard gaming. Those "Screamerstar" lists are now going to be a thing of the past as a single blast from a Revenant Titan will wipe them from the board no questions asked! For me, thats only a good thing. For the competitive gamers that are trying to make 40k in to a hard core competitive game, its not so good. Remember 40k is not built or designed with competition in mind, for that I personally think you are better off with Warmachine. But anyway...

So in November last year I attended the final part of a year long GW campaign weekend. The Fists rose to the challenge once more with their best record to date with 5wins from 5 games. Most impressive! OK a lot was down to luck with a force thats mostly immune to melta and facing off against the same guys Salamanders list twice. All his bonus skills and rules were completely nerfed instantly with the Ceremite Plated Spartan, Storm Eagle and even Storm Talon.

Best of all was a plethora of painting awards though, winning best vehicle with the Reaver Titan, a short listed best army nomination, winning task force but the best being the most sporting player award. I was well chuffed with that I can tell you. 

So enjoy the few images below, the Glaive, some objective markers and some Rhinos/Scorpius WIP shot