Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Tanith 1st and Only: "Mad" Larkin and Plasma Gunner



The Ebay listing photo
This project was one that I took on a impulse buy and I'm not sure if I'm gonna regret it or not. Wanting to expand my collection of metal Ghost, I turned to Ebay and found this duo. I offered the seller 10$ plus 4.95 shipped for the pair and laughed it off as probably unlikely to be accepted. The joke was on me however and the seller accepted. Now I had to figure out how to turn these ghost from hideous models into true servants of the Emperor.

When I got them I stripped of their horrible smelling bases and dropped them in LA's Totally Awesome. This seemed to do alright but to speed up the process I dropped them next into rubbing alochol (90% proof) and let them sit for two days. Giving them a hard scrubbing, I got them to the next stage as seen to the right.

After their stripping
After that it was time for painting! I gave them a good bath of primer (Not literally) before taking them inside and starting to paint them. I went for my standard Tanith Black / Grey scheme and tried my best to make them up to par with the rest of the army. Each model was given particular attention, especially to the plasma gun. I then added on the basing for each model before letting them dry. Overall this process took about six days.

Sharp eyed viewers can notice the Gideon Tank from Madrobot Miniatures that I ordered. I plan to do a review of them coming soon. Stay tuned for that!
Final Product!  "Mad Larkin" and a Plasma Gunner

"Mad" Larkin is one of the most famous characters of Gaunt' Ghost. Being known as the insane sniper and sniper master, Larkin is a near constant character throughout the series. His character gradually grows throughout the series becoming one of the best that Dan Abnett has written.

The Tanith Plasma gunner was also a lot of fun to work on. While I personally don't recall there being a Tanith that carried a plasma gun in the series, the addition of a Tanith with one is not to be over looked for list building. This model will almost certainly be used to fill out my scout squads or to used as a plasma gunner in a line squad. Overall Ive had alot of fun saving these models from Ebay and making sure that they fill the voids in my Tanith Army. Hopefully next time I take the Tanith out they will be able to make it into the game.


Till next time!


Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Dramatis personae: Krieger 18D and Sister of Battle Hana



18D and Sister Hana Dressed up as a Commissar
This one has been sitting in my drafts queue for a while and I haven't been able to work on it or share it. These pictures come from my friend Bandogora who is putting together our Dark Heresy party into model format. Today we cover two of the of the most prominent figures in the warband, Krieger 18D and Sister of Battle Hana.

18D needs no introduction having been shown here before. As a former member of the 18th Krieg Assault Regiment, 18D was recruited by Inquisitor Ackermaan and brought into the war band to be the sniper / assassin due to his marksmanship. This he has done with remarkable accuracy having survived having his arm blown off by a auto cannon manned by heretics and cultist. Although the loss of his arm was a blow to his morale, the squad sniper quickly recovered and set on killing heretics.Last game saw him come face to face with a Tyranid Lictor, which he promply stabbed and fired into the creatures gullet. However, there are secrets in the backstory of 18D and some of them could destory the man, should the wrong parties find out. As always the dark gods are watching and playing the long game....

Sister Hana
Next up is Sister of Battle Hana, seen here dressed up as a commissar by 18D after their work with the 18th Krieg Assault regiment. Hana is a young woman coming from a feral water world on the edge of the Imperium. Her order of sisters focuses on relics of the past and Hana is learning what it means to be one of the Adepta Sororitas as her loyalty to the party grows with each encounter. Yet for all the goodness in her, there is a fear that she might not be able to do what is expected of her. With the disappearance of the parties NPC sister, Hana has been forced to come forward as the religious figure of faith for the party, a job she was not yet ready for. Should the secrets that 18D has be exposed, would she still see her comrades in the same light?


Hopefully soon we will have the other members of the party included in a group shot. Each model is being done by Bandogora to the closest extent that he can for the respective backgrounds. Will the party be destroyed by 18D secret or will they be able to handle the terrible truth that lies in wait?

Sunday, July 17, 2016

[Forge World] Metallica: Welcome Home (Sanitarium?)



Wip before I added the final dry brush
Today I present to you the first models of my Forge World Metallica Army. These models are all nearly Exclusive Miniatures products with a few Games Workshop models thrown in since there were no 3rd parties.This army will be a slow build army since I mostly intend to play my Guard or my Tau. These models were chosen to be Forge World Metallica for two reasons. First, Metallica is a awesome metal band. Secondly, in Dark heresy, my friend Edwazhere, chose to be a tech priest from Metallica meaning that I've gained a fondness for the planet and its priest.

Added Dry Brush
These models gained a lot of negative press review when I first posted them. Since I hate the GW breacher models, I refuse to use their ugly models (subjective) and when to find models that I felt were closer to how I envisioned my army to be. These female breachers fit with the theme of a Tech Priestess Magos and her warband. The main bulk of the army will be female with the Skitraii being males. Thats all the backstory I have for them now but Im hoping in the future to bulk it out. In the coming days I will write another post on the Skitarri as well as the Magos herself. While many of these models might seem to be out of scale, my local friendly game store and opponent are more than happy to play with conversions and proxies. I'm lucky in that regard. However I know they would not be for everyone and will mostly be a at home army. Besides carrying 2 books and 2 sets of cards is annoying. Hopefully GW will combine them into 1 army. They deserve that amount of love.


All hail the Omnissiah!  Keep checking back and leave a comment to let me know your thoughts and views.

Till next time,

Monday, July 4, 2016

Phantine Air Show (of what is to come)

The Air Wing in its glory
Happy 4th of July to all my American readers. As we come to a end this holiday weekend I want to share with you a project of mine that is going to be a long time running. Painting my Phantine Air Corp.  As seen earlier, the 'Bolts are already done but ahead of me is much more!

Three Valkyries, One Vendetta, and One Vulture. These aircraft make up the bulk of my air wing and are key essential elements of my Phantine army. With the new airbrush I recently acquired I hope to be able to knock these out fast in order to get them table top ready.

The Vulture (with its Blue nose) and invasion strips is painted off of the 352nd Fighter Squadron from World War II. Also known as "The Blue nosed Bastards of Bodney" these airmen accounted for some of the highest aces in the war. By adding their paint scheme into my army I tied together my love for history with my enjoyment of wargaming.

Closer shots of the air wing
these flyers originally belonged to my friend KatoSniper21 but after he left 40k, i bought them off of him and proceeded to redo them in my own colors. The Valkyries and the Vendetta fought in the war over Ventra Majoris during the Dakka Dakka World Wide Campaign. A campaign my own Detachment D-44 was a part of (if any of you were a part of it, Please let me know!)

As we celebrate this day, let us remember that in our own world, there are people fighting for us to remain free and risking there life for us. Even though we war game and have fun, we have to remember the real sacrifice that is asked of all who serve.

Happy 4th Everybody!
Till next time!

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Phantine Skyborne! Ready to Jump!



Command Squad with Scanner
 For the men and women of Phantine, everyday is a fight for survival. Growing up living on mountain tops in closed off cities, the people of Phantine live above the polluted clouds of their world. Called "The scald" these clouds can kill a man in minutes should anyone fall into them. Therefore when the Imperial Guard came for a tithe on Phantine, there was no ground to muster the troops.

Two types of soldiers are pulled from this world: Airmen for the Air Corps and Drop Troopers from the Skyborne. Today we cover the men and woman of the Skyborne. First appearing in Dan Abnettt's Guns of Tanith, the Phantine Skyborne played a vital role not only in reclaiming their world but in the Sabbat Crusade.

A Phantine Sargent
"They were all big, powerful young men wearing cream-coloured quilted jackets and baggy, pale canvas pants bloused into the tops of high jump-boots. The sides of their heads were brutally shaved, leaving just a strip on their crowns. Not as a result of lice treatment, Varl thought. These men kept their hair that way. They were Phantine troopers. Skyborne specialists."  - Guns of Tanith

This description didnt do enough for me so I decided to email the man himself about how the Phantine would look. Dan Abnett was kind enough to respond (for which I am very grateful!):

"I think they would look very much like WW2 aircrew crossed with paratroopers, with the jump-packs being "jet-pack" type units about the size and shape (and appearance) of an un-deployed parachute
Any help?
Dan 

With this information in hand ive set about painting them based off the images I could of World War II aircrews and paratroopers. It is my hope that these are the best representation of the Phantine that I can do.

Scald Squad
My own Only War Character (Captain Jonus Remaus) is a modeled in this army as well with his power sword "Liberus". As a member of the 44th Phantine He is the leader of "Scald" Squad seen here.

Full army shot with Holm Squad on the far right
 The second squad seen here (Far left) is Holm squad. This squad is led by Sergeant "Cowboy". Cowboy was originally nicknamed Cupcake after a superior called him a "cupcake solider",In response, Cowboy bettered himself and during the Ventra Majoris crusade fought against Chaos to protect the world of Sigma Majorus. He is current serving under Captain Remaus and someday hopes to get command of Scald Squad.

My yet un named squad

Seen here is the newest squad of the 44th. This is my last unnamed squad. They are the newest recruits after the Ventra Majoris campaign. Currently they are on patrol with the 44th fighting against Necrons and Orks. Whether or not they can stand against the horrors of the galaxy remain to be seen.

After taking these pictures I realized that I forgot to add in the 2 lascannon sentry guns conversions I had done for this army as well.

The Drop Sentinel in the back is a converted regular sentinel that has been heavily modified to fit the drop role. Its been a big part of this army since the beginning and earned me a few kills of enemy armor during the campaign I ran with my brother against his (read: my) tau forces. It is now a constant part of my drop army.

In the mail I have 2 more surprises coming for this army.  While these are just the ground elements of the army, I hope to be able to show the air elements soon.

Write a comment, say hi or just let me know you were here! Every little bit helps.


Thursday, June 16, 2016

A Tau Crisis [Suit] Story


 So once again, its time for another update! This time from the far eastern fringes. In what is a first for me, I have finally painted all 12! of my Tau Battlesuits. For the advanced Tau player this might not be much but for a Cadre that started out in mid 4th Edition, its been a hassle just getting to this point.

Top down view of the teams
Every time Ive painted them I have never liked a scheme enough to stick with it. This time however I have found one that really spoke to me. I started with a few of my regular suits to get to scheme down and then proceeded to continue on with a new suit each week. Overtime, the suits started to get better looking which helped me feel as if they were getting done. All of the Crisis suits have been converted to some extent since my cadre is using the XV-46 Crisis suit, a variant found in the DeathWatch RPG series. Of course since there is no official pictures of the suit, I went with what i felt best could be achieved closest to the writing of the material. The XV-46 is used a close range suit, designed to work in hostile, close quarters combat such as ship boarding and Zone Mortalis type games. My Cadre however, has requisitioned a few for field testing against their common foes of Necrons and Orks.

Another view of Commander MirrorWater
All the Crisis Suits line up by teams
So whats next? Well im not sure if I want to return to do some more for my Imperium armies or stay working on the Tau. I thought out moving on to the Stealth suits but they get so little game time it wouldnt be worth it (although it would be fun to paint!). Other considerations are the (old style) broadsides which have been converted or maybe a vehicle or two to transport my Fire Warriors. Im going to have to see how time allows me to do these. Im hesitant to work on the vehicles without a airbrush due having always burned myself out on them,  Readers, what would be a good airbrush for a beginner?  Let me know in the comment below! As always leave a comment, say hi! or just let me know you were here. Every little bit helps.





Thursday, June 9, 2016

Thunderbolts of Phantine [XX Squadron]

Commander Jagdea in the lead T-Bolt
Sharp eyed viewers will notice that a cooling duct is missing
a replacement has been requested by the squadron
Here's a project that I've wanted to do for a very long time! A wing of two Thunderbolts from the Phantine Air Corp. First seen in Dan Abnett's Guns Of Tanith and later their own series Double Eagle, the pilots of Phantine remain my favorite Imperial Guard Regiment.

Since Phantine has no ground to muster troops on, their tithe to the Imperial war machine was in the form of pilots, each squadron being 12 (wo)men strong. My Phantine consist of both the Air Corps and their drop troopers known as the Skyborne.

This first T-Bolt is piloted by Commander Jagdea, first encountered in the book Guns of Tanith. Her piloting skills are shown to be second to none and she remains a top favorite character throughout the series as she flies Umbra 1. Since the wiki's are not much help on what the Phantine looked like, I had to resort to the use of the books themselves. They were described as:



"Matte Grey with copper plating on the exposed engines and ducts"


Umbra 2 and Umbra 1 from left to right
This gave me some idea on how to do my own models allowing them to have their own unique feel as close to the book as possible. The Second Thunderbolt is going to be flown by XO Milan Blancher in Umbra 2. Even though Blancher becomes KIA in the book, his character was too cool not to add and since my forces are suppose to be about the time of Sabbat Martyr (773 M41), its possible hes still alive at that point. Besides, with 32 kills to his name, this guy is just too cool not to make a model for!  Someday I hope to add a third and a fourth to the collection but the true goal will be to have a Marauder piloted by another famous pilot of Phantine.

Soon I hope to have my full forces done up in a picture for you all to see!  Keep checking back and leave me a note to saying you were here or just hi! Every little bit helps!

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More