Product Review: Victoria Miniatures Border World Rangers

                Well here we are our first new project for 2015!  My long term goal for the New Year is to build myself a fighting force of Victoria Miniatures "Border World Rangers" to gradually phase out my Games Workshop conversions in my Tanith First and Only force. This was a decision by me in order to focus on a better look to my Tanith, I have always wanted to push my painting skills and I believe that the lessons I learned from my first army will help me to improve upon this army to be even better.

This new army is going to be made up of entirely 3rd party miniatures as far as I can go. Future plans include both male and female Rangers as well as custom Commissar Gaunt and Viktor Hark models. I hope to be able to make this my pride and joy army. So since this is a product review lets get to it.

The Ranger body and cloaks

This will not be the first time I have worked with Victoria Lamb models. That experience came when I ordered the camo cloaks from her back in 2013. However, I put off this review for a long time due to wanting to make sure I could give a fair and balanced review. Having decided to start this project, I felt now was the time to do it.

Let me start off by saying that the models are even more gorgeous in the resin then the pictures can tell. After having seen some of the Tannenburg models that a friend of mine ordered, I knew I would get excellent results for this army.

bases,scopes and bodies

legs,arms,heads and bits

The models came excellently wrapped and bubble wrapped to protect them against the shipping and handling. I ordered about 100$ worth to avoid the shipping fees that disappears at 50$ USD (highly recommended). They arrived after about two weeks from Australia to the United States.

The models were examined and found to have been in good shape. They had survived their journey well. After opening the packages, I placed the model spurs into warm soapy water. This was for two reasons. One was to clean off the resin release agent that all resin models have. Without this step the paint will not attach itself to the model. Second, it was to re-bend the models back into proper form on those that had bent in transit.

Overall the models arrived in very good time and order, Right now they are undergoing a wash to make sure they are thoroughly cleaned. I would highly recommend Victoria Miniatures not only for their price, but for their quality. Vic's minis are some of the best I've seen on the miniature market. Anyone looking for an alternative model in 28mm heroic would be advised to check out this wonderful company.

As this is the start of the first project of the New Year, I hope to be able to finish this army in the long term. Its something we'll have to see about though.

Till next time, keep rolling those dice...

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New Year, New Projects: Hello 2015!

Hello and welcome to the 2015 edition of Behind the Lines Gaming. As a new year gets underway we look forward to the new start that a new year will bring. Like last year I will be attempting to post every two weeks but again graduate school might  get in the way. As with last year, this is more a attempt to regulate myself than a true schedule or promise. 

First off, I will be starting off this year with a new army project. I am going to be attempting to create a full Victoria Miniatures army of Border World Rangers. This will be a ambitious attempt to create a true feeling Tanith first and only army of Non-GW models. A review of Victoria Miniatures will also be forthcoming once the start of the army arrives.

 Also I will be working on my Tau army to get it all painted. Some of my flyers have been stripped of their paint and will be redone once I can find time to get to them.  

In non Games workshop terms, I also intend to fully paint up my Menoth army for Warmachine. Right now this project hasn't been shown on here but it is coming along. nonetheless it is underway. (White is a pain to paint) but I am hopeful for the learning experience.

In other Gaming Related news for the New Year:

Also I will be starting my second season of the Edge of the Empire game that I am Game mastering. This time the heroes will head off into the galaxy to fight against the evil Empire. Although the hero's don't know whats in store for them, the galaxy is a wide place. Already in season 1 they had faced death numerous times before. This time they better be ready for true consequences. The Empire wont allow the Rebels to escape this time.

Also underway is a major ambitious goal of Renegade09, Pwnzilla789, and my own that I hope to be able to talk about in the near future. This goal is the largest yet to date but at the moment all is looking to be on track! Stay tuned for a major update soon. I hope that you all are excited as I am.

2015 is going to be a exciting new year that we here at Behind the Lines gaming hope everyone will be excited for! Stay tuned for a much more to come!

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2014: A year in Review

Roll that D6

Its about that time of the year again! 2014 is drawing to a close and 2015 is on the way! What a year it has been! This year started off with a new case and my Imperial guard army becoming a completed project. As this year draws to a close this blog will continue to expand with new content. 2015 is going to be a exciting year full of new projects, new models and expansions. 

First off is going to be the start of a full Victoria Miniatures army full of "Border world Rangers". These models are excellent resin models and contain large amounts of character. I will intend to do a full review on Victoria miniatures that I had planned to do in 2014. Also in the works is my Tau army that is being painted up in a brand new color scheme. This scheme is the result of a lot of trial and error. 

Tau scheme and paints

 Secondly I have also started on my Menoth force. Although no models have been shown yet, the force is well underway. The miniatures market paints have allowed my color palette to expand.  There might be plans to redo my Forge world models in a new scheme in 2015 but that for the moment has been back burned. One of my Valkyries has also been stripped of its paint and a new planned paint job is in the works for 2015. How many of these goals I achieve is still unknown.

As always at the end of the year, Its time to review the top 3 projects. This year has seen many exciting and new things come across my work bench.

#3 would have to be my salamander command vehicle that i built out of a old hellhound. The model was in rough shape when i got her but after some tough love and care she was restored and commissioned into my Padrus 8th armored force. She is still unnamed at this point but the model was one of my favorite to work on!

#2 was  my assassins that i worked on for my inquisitional army. This assassin named A-68 was done up with eldar parts as well as imperial guard, space marine and warhammer fantasy models.  

#1 then for 2014 is a hard choice. Overall i think it would have to be the heavy weapons teams that i redid from scratch. These models took the most time but the end results were way above what i had expected! Although the number of models in the group felt like they were going to take forever, the task actually went by really quickly once the army had gotten started again. It was a proud moment of accomplishment for the year and left me room to start with my tau army.

 As this year comes to a close I want to thank everyone that has kept with this blog! Knowing that people read and watch this blog helps to motivate me to accomplish these task. If you like what you see please become a follower and tell your wargaming friends about this blog. Every little bit helps!
Also leave a comment or just say hello, Every little bit helps! :)

As the year comes to end all i can say is keep rolling those dice. 2015 is coming with many new and exciting projects, Stay Tuned~!

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Product Review: Miniatures Market.com

Here we are again, another Product Review! This time we are looking over the service provided by Miniatures Market.com. I was shopping for some paints on cyber Monday and stumbled across their store. The prices compared to my local game store were way better and the amounts of paint i needed were going to be expensive. Miniatures Market helped me to make that experience much easier. (Note: i am not being paid or anything else for this review)

The ordering was easy however i noted that their was a 4 day shipping delay due to the holiday season and what i believe was my reason for delay. I had forgotten to put in a shipping address for them to ship the paints, Once i fixed this, my status order went from: ready to ship to Completed. This is believed to be my own problem and does not reflect upon their service. Finally on Monday the 8th of December they shipped. I fully believe that my shipping delay was no fault of their own even with the holiday season. Still i was excited to see how the order turned out. The ordre arrived on December 10. 1 day earlier than the expected delivery date. The box was in good shape and all the paints were there in a baggie. I quickly got the box open and put the paints in there new home.

The new colors.

 The paints arrived and i tested out the Turqouise ink anxious to see how it work. All of the bottles were very nicely sealed and the paints arrived in good shape.

Now im not sure about the paint bottles but im not sure if i should keep them in their dropper bottles or put them into seperate paint pots? I think they would retain their life time better if i kept them in their droppers but the chance to have easier access is tempting. Im sure i'll figure it out soon. In the mean time the picture below shows them in their new home on my work desk. Hopefully given time i'll be able to start using these paints and give them a test on some of my miniatures.

So some final thoughts, Would I recommend Miniatures Market?  Yes. Their service and handling was quick and easy. Their customer rewards program made checkout a breeze and the fact that they had some of the best prices I had seen online left me wanting to make another order. I would highly recommend Miniatures market for all your war gaming needs when it comes to paints and supplies. The other materials I look at had wonderful prices as well although I didn't have a need for anything at the time. I intend to order again soon!

My Paint rack

Also of note was my own fun i had in Microsoft excel. I created a full layout for my Tanith First and only army as well as my Detachment D-44. Seen below is three platoons worth of troops and the three veteran squadrons of my Phantine. In the future I hope to expand it with regimental honors, campaigns, battles, and how they fair against each enemy they encounter. Once that is done i also want to do it with my Tau.   Till next time....

Tanith Layout of Platoons and Allies

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Dramtis Personae: The Assassins Awake (Part I)

Thought for the Day: "The Officio Assassinorum knows, beware of what you speak....."

All files pertaining to A-68 have been deleted...
Log in noted....
Alarm alarm unauthorized intruder...
Data terminal shutting down......

Today's topic is on the Temples of the Assassins. This will be a two part series on the assassins that i have made so far. The first one to be covered will be my Eversor Assassin. This assassin code named A-68 will be my first model that I show on here.

A-68 or Assassin 68, is a member of the temple of the Eversors. His mission is to directly find the enemies leadership and end them as quickly as possible in the name of the Emperor.  This project came about due to my desire to have a few models out of the Data slate: Officio Assassinorum (OA).

Eversor Assassin Codenamed A-68

Whatever A-68's human name once was, he no longer answers to it. Instead he is under the watch of the OA and often called upon by Inquisitor Adrastia to help track down Inquisitor Umarus who she is currently tracking having declared him a heretic after his destruction of the world of Haven.

68 began as a Eldar model that was cut down and modded to have slimmed features. Originally he was going to have the trademarked skull helmet and still may (If i can ever find my bits that i had). His power weapon was made from a catachan war blade and a few bits from both the Imperial Guard and Warhammer Fantasy Battle Militia kit.

The paint job was my own mix of 50/50 Abaddon Black and Storm Vermin fur. This mixture gave me a perfect black color of the look of 68. The flesh tones were a simple job of Kislev Flesh with agrax earthshade on top. A small mixture of P3 Coal black was added in for the Tattoo aqualia on top of his bald head. I also hope to someday be able to get custom resin bases for these model like I have for nearly two thirds of my Tanith. Only time will tell.

While 68 might not look like much his fellow assassin is a custom made Vindicare assassin that I will be showing off soon.  68 has yet to see combat on the table but it is my hope that soon I will be able to unleash the power of the OA upon the enemies of the Imperium.

Until Next time and part II


File Closing down....

Symbol of the Officio Assassinorum

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A Tau's Struggle: HQ Shas'O Battlesuit

Shas'O Jar'Kia J'Kaara'Por Better known as Commander Mirrorwater

This story is the tale of one Tau commander out on the Eastern Fringe of the Galaxy. Shas'O Jar'kia Jkaar'a'Por (Mirror Water) was my first true commander model that i got when i was getting seriously into 40k. The model was a rescue job off of Ebay but immediately i knew it was the commander i wanted to represent my forces.
          The world is Jar'kia is newer 3rd phase sept world on the western edge of the Tau Empire near Imperial Space.It is a water world of many oceans and islands that the Tau took from a Ork warboss. Mirror Water and his sept were allowed to settle claiming it for the Tau Empire for their heroic stand in the name of the Greater good.
                    Many battles have been fought against Orks, Black Templar, and Imperial Guard units. This armies famous campaigns include: Malachite, Death at Squat Valley, and the Thanatos Campaign that lasted for many weeks against my own Imperial Guard forces when my brother played as them.

Fluff story from the Malachite campaign:

The ork wave had been pushed back,and the fuel station was held for now. Both Team Blue and Team Red had given their lifes for the Tau Empire. The lone Shas'la that had run from Red squad had been handed off to the Ethereals for motivational purposes. Commander Mirrorwater looked around the wreck. Comrades and green skin bodies lay everywhere. Marching throughout the battlefield, Mirrowater popped shots into any orks still moving and then finally once the reinforcements had signaled the all clear moved his forces back into the rear of the station ,sealing off the ork side. The Rok had hit the station causing a endless wave of orks to overrun it. The tau now knew they were facing a loosing battle against the greenskins. Mirrorwater hit his com, then signaled the drone to reach across the system to the Aun. While the news would be good, the victory had cost many lifes, and Mirrorwater was sure it would be foretold in ages to come as "for the greater good" but right now, all he wanted to do was rest. The time on Bork'an had been nice and relaxing, now the death and warfare was getting to him again. It would only be a matter of time before the Aun figured out his true alleigences and sent someone after his cadre. Yet, for now the taste of victory was upon him. Firing up his thrusts, Mirrorwater headed back to the center command station within the fuel depot.  

 Commander Mirrorwater on his display base

The display base

Here we see that Mirrorwater is not a lot like other tau and might have in fact gone rouge against the ethereal rule. Although he has not yet gone against the teachings of the greater good, he does desire a day when the Ethereal will let him and his forces hunt down the Imperials and Orks that have ravaged his sector. So for his base i wanted to do something that marked him out as my HQ of choice. First i wanted to be able to run him as Farsight, A generic HQ, or as the FW tau commander Shas'O R'myr which the model is based off of. The problem was that R'myr is on a larger base than a normal tau commander would be allowed. After some magnet tricks It turned out that I was able to make it work so that i could get both of them working on there. The design turned out well and im proud of how it looks. The Tyranid pieces were from a friend who had some extras from the old 4th edition starter set. Next came stripping off the old white and green paint job the person before me had painted on it. Once that was done i was able to successfully get my model primed and painted. The basing was textured spray paint. Something i found incredibly easy to use for such a cheap amount of money. (highly recommended over the GW paints).                                                                                                Other work has also been done on his cadre. After the events of the Thanatos campaign, The Tau were forced to pull out and leave the system to the Imperium of man. The victory might have been a total wash for the Imperium except for the fact that many Tau forces were left behind. Whether the world of Thanatos will ever be able to return to the Imperium is unknown. The Gue'vesa and the Gue'la rebels are already trying to petition the Tau to return. Inquisitional power in the system is waning. Soon war might return.

Model and Display Base

Fire-knife Hunter Team

Also seen here is the Tau Fire Knife teams ive been working on to accompany Mirror Water. His Cadre is slowly being painted and rebuilt to face off against the Imperium and other threats to the Tau Empire. I will be posting more pictures of the Army as it comes together. These Crisis suits seen here are fully magnetized and able to change their weapons.

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Iron Belle: A Chimera story

Victoria Lambs models

 So what do I have for you all today? Well originally i was going to do a massive article on Victoria Lambs Miniatures that I had order last Christmas and this past summer. That post was put on hold each time because i felt I couldn't do her models justice in a review. (I do like them though! and highly recommend them)

Seen here is my picture of miniatures that i ordered this past summer from Victoria Lamb. 1 order of camo cloaks and a couple of her Arcadian females bits.  These went into my massive Tanith army. More pictures on those later.

Iron Belle and her Leman Russ Brother

Today's story however is on the little chimera that could. I ordered her off of E-bay as a rescue job for 15$ shipped. I also ordered her twin, Leman Russ that i saw on another order for only 30$ Both of them were a great deal! After a wash in some LA's Totally awesome The chimera was clean and the Leman Russ tank had a deep dark blue and green scheme under her colors making me work harder to get her cleaned down to the primer or plastic. Once she was cleaned up, i clipped off the annoying wire (that i kept poking myself with) and christened her "Iron Belle" or Iron Beauty. With the forgeworld turret, she became one of my first Chimera APCs

"Irone Belle"

There was a few things i knew that i wanted to do with Iron Belle. First she was to be my transport for my Veterans in my Imperial Guard army or for my Inquisitor in my Inquisition army. Secondly, her paint scheme was going to match the urban warfare of the my other Leman Russ Tanks that i had painted up in the colors of the Pardus 8th Armored. Unlike the others Iron Belle was not given a gold skull and wings since she had no prior inquisitional service that i knew of.

Once i started to get the paint on her, she turned out to become better than i expected. The paint scheme quickly came together and the end results were fantastic. She has shown up in other battle reports that I've done over this blog but this is the first real post given over to her. The condition that she was received in was begging to be redone to fight for the Emperor of Man kinds forces. I let her get her wish.

"Iron Belle" side view

Meanwhile her brother tank, was also cleaned up and given new life on the battlefields of the 41st millennium. Whoever had owned her before had drilled out the barrels on the gun and let the tank fully move able. This let me with a very nicely done up rush that i was hoping to get into service quickly. How wrong i was! The layers of paint on the hull kept coming off. I counted 3-4 layers on this rescue job. Whoever had done the jobs before had painted over many layers of painted before them. Needless to say, This project came to cost me a lot of time. I ended up naming her "Lady" because as the paint came off, she became more beautiful. Here was a fully done up, barrels drilled Leman Russ tank hull ready for war.

I also did up Lady in her new Pardus 8th Armored paint scheme. She completed my trio of Tanks (King Lion, Lady and War Dog) allowing me to field a tank squadron on the table.

Here are Lady and Iron Belle today:

Side View

Front view

Side View

Another side view

  

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