Commission: Death Korps Of Krieg "The Bloody 18th"

     

Middle Blue Krieger

     So here it is, my first commission work!, Originally I wasn't going to post this till it was done but I wanted to get in the mood and excited for the project. This project is for a close friend of mine "Bandogora".  He sent me his first five (5) Death Korps to be painted in the middle blue scheme. Readers of my blog will recall that my first Krieger that I painted was "Clark", a member of the Inquisition and part of Umarus's War band.

That Battle damage (Not mine but clients request to look similar)

These first 5 models arrived just as i was starting to type up this blog post. After looking at the models it was apparent they needed A LOT of TLC. These models had seen better days and it was up to me to make sure they were granted the right tools for the trade. After soaking them in a bath of LA's Totally Awesome, I cleaned them off and got to work putting them together. The picture to the right was requested as the bases for the wear and tear look on Bandogora's own work. No base work was requested and when asked the client refused to have any done.

Another Concept found online

My First look at 18D from pictures

That Red has got to go

 Bandogora had a request for me to make one of the models "18D" also known as "Alein", and make him specifically different from the other 4 Kriegers. 18D was Bandogora's character in Dark Heresy produced by Fantasy Flight Games. 18D was described as a Krieger sniper, so his character was going to have to stand out from the other four. A scope and a camo cloak was request for 18D which I promised to get.

He'll look better soon 

 Bandogora had purchased the models second hand and it was obvious they had seen a lot of wear and tear.  To replace the broken lasguns i suggested that Bandogora purchase some Victoria Lamb arms which he did. These arms were meant to make the regiment more his own and to replace the missing lasguns. What I had failed to realize was how broken these models were, It was going to be rough.

My plan is simple.

 I'm going to prime the models grey and then go over them with a space wolf grey / blue. Once the model is looking good I will add in some brown for the boots and the chest piece. My only hope is that Bandogora hasn't used anything too rough on the black primer, The Flamer is probably going to be the hardest part of this commission but we will see. I also want to add in some highlights and some rough wear and tear that was requested. Since my scopes and on-going Tanith project models had not come in yet, This is all going to be a Work in Progress.

Keep checking back! The Bloody 18th of Krieg will rise once again...

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All in the Squad....

The All Guardsmen party!

Well today is both a sad and exciting day indeed. Today, (February 28th 2015) I sold my first ever Tanith army. The winning bidder is lucky getting a army that has served me well across the various battles of the 41st millennium. The Emperor Protects...

However, this means that my second Tanith army that I have been posting about finally was ordered as well. This army will be composed of Brother Vinni's Models, as well as Victoria Lamb's.  So not all is lost. I kept my vehicles of the Padrus 8th Armored and the Phantine Forge world models that are made from Elysians.  With this force, I intend to start off my new army right with a new paint scheme and many new techniques.

Twitch, Tink, Doc, Cutter

However, what I have for today is taken from Shoggy's "All Guardsmen Party". These collection of stories follow Shoggy's Role playing game group as they try to survive in the Inquisition as Imperial Guardsmen. Sarge, Tink,Doc, Cutter,Nubby, and Twitch have been been the focus of this small project of late.

These characters instantly spoke to me. Many of the heroics told throughout the story are of simple men trying to survive in the universe that hates them. If you haven't gotten the chance to read the stories I highly recommend it! Shoggy is a wonderful story teller!

Doc, Cutter, Sarge, and Nubby

So far I have started on Sarge, (now Inquisitor Greg Sargent) and Cutter. From the story, Cutter and Sarge are two of my favorite characters. Sarge repeatedly proves himself to be a capable leader. His use of leadership and the "NCO disaster manual"  proves to be repeatedly used throughout the story. Cutter for his own replaced Heavy after the latter's death early on. Cutter was once a scribe that quickly learned to love his chain sword and close quarters battle. Cutter would end up on many of the parties early adventures. In one instance he threw himself down a shaft after his beloved chain sword swinging it into the body of a possessed tech priest. Only quick thinking on the part of Nubby would save him. Yet like others, death came for him at the hands of two Chaos Space Marines and a Heritek. His chain sword cutting into the half man, half machine, the last words he heard were "burn" as a massive explosion went off around him burning him and the heretic to death as they fell into oblivion. In tribute to these awesome characters I am making them into model form.

Another thing I wanted to post about was the Phantine Skyborne I've been working on. Since they were saved from the E bay, I wanted to get a community opinion. In one of my earlier stories I wrote about the recruitment poster that my character Jonus Remaus had stood in for. Many posters responded positively to the lore and background. When I found this poster I couldn't help but smile. It seemed to match everything I had written about the Phantine born man. Although the poster is for the PDF, the viewer can imagine it being for the Skyborne or even the aviator corps.

So I'm asking you my dear readers. Should I repaint my Phantine to better match this pilot and the look of a World War II aviator? I think the look would better match what i had expected from the Phantine but at the same time I feel that I like the state they are at now. Maybe time will tell, since i'm redoing my Valkyries to match the Phantine aviator corps.

As always there is more to come and many new exciting things I wish to share with all of you! However at the moment I am unable to disclose more,

Till next time, keep rolling those dice......!

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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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