Friday 15 August 2014

Warriors of the Fang are here!

So a new release of Codex Space Wolves is upon us. My household was awash with talk of these Viking Space marines last week, and my lad is going to be collecting them. Not sure how he fits so many armies into his wanted list with any hope of collecting them all.

I have seen a lot of talk online about the new Space Wolf sledge. Apparently he will be delivering Christmas presents this year. So not very many fans of this newly released model. I'm not 100% convinced about it, but will wait and see what it looks like up close and personal.

The new Space Flyers on the other hand, I love! They shout 'I am as aerodynamic as a brick!' as load as possible, but it doesn't matter in a game about toy soldiers. The idea of the monolithic slab sided vehicle using sheer brute force to keep aloft says everything about Space Wolf philosophy. Why look sleek and fast when you can look like a battering ram and act in exactly the same way.

I will probably not collect any wolves though. I have too many ideas for other armies and would not use them as much as I would want. But I look forward to facing them and can't wait for the lad to get his up and running.

Thursday 7 August 2014

Master Classes at Warhammer World

So I was going to show off some painted models, but due to not being at home in the evening for most of the week I have not finished them off yet. Instead I thought I would report on a great weekend the boy and I had up in Nottingham.

After getting a Realm of Battle a few years ago, I was determined to give this expensive piece of plastic a top notch paint job. Well as is normal for me it remained the grey plastic up until March. I then got some W&N acrylic paint with the intention of painting it a desert colour. I made a complete mess of this. After priming the effect I was left with was streaky yellow paint which looked terrible.

At this point I had given up on doing a decent job, but then spotted an up coming event at GW's Warhammer World. A Realm of Battle Master Class. You could either attend this and get a board or bring your own board for painting. You could even bring along a friend for an extra tenner. So after cleaning up the first board I painted with Fairy power spray, all the boards were primed and off we went to Games Workshop land, or Nottingham as everybody else calls it.

As a regular visitor to this paradise of gaming I was not sure how the day would progress or if this £80 or so trip was worth the cost. Well I can say without a shadow of doubt, this was money well spent. After setting up the board pieces on the table provided, we donned aprons and were given 18, yes 18 pots of GW paint. Along with a little paint roller tray we were advised to paint the whole board this colour with the 2" brushes. As we progressed through the day, the 2 'Masters' from the Warhammer world event team we brilliant in helping to get the best from the board and also how to fix mistakes. Lunch was great as normal, and special consideration for my sons quite particular vegetarian tastes were accommodated by the kitchen.

We finished sooner than most of the attendees as we had no flock to apply to the board (Red planet is barren apparently). Although we didn't need to flock our board I was impressed with the amount of flock that was provided to the people who did. More or less a whole box of the GW basing material per 2' panel. We even left with 2 pots of wash to apple to the skulls once we got home. This was because the wash would not be dry by the time we left and would ruin the work we had done.

Here a few pictures of the board once we got home and completed some of the skull 'pits'.






The skulls a bit closer up.


Some close up action.





I am really pleased with these boards and it was certainly worth the money. After my indecision about the base colour for my deamons, I am going with the red planet theme which should look striking and match the board. Next up will be to do the craters we have and also the forge world piece I have to match.

I asked if there would be a Ultima Quadrant Realm of Master Class, and the response was that it is being looked into. Well if they decide to do it, I will definitely attend. Besides loving the new board and wanting to get one beautifully painted, it is great to learn new skills from people who are masters of their craft.



Now, I best get back to that Dark Eldar squad.

Friday 1 August 2014

Wraith Beasts of Nurgle.

As part of my Corrupted Eldar Nurgle army, I wanted a squad of 5 beasts. The ideal figure for this would be 5 wraith guard. So with my trusty knife, clippers, green stuff and sculpting tool I set to work. As with all my conversions in this army I had not set thing I wanted to do and I let my imagination guide what each individual model turned out like.

I decided to try a helm that was ripping open with a load of puss coming through. I also have a load of tentacle like growths sprouting out from the arm joints. All very simple, but effective.


 here I wanted something bursting forth from the chest. I decided to go with suckered tentacles. There are some barnacle like growths on the arm. The tentacles required a metal pin to hold the shape but I really enjoyed creating them.



Just more tentacles and eye on this beast. There is also a pussy growth on the leg with a nurgling bursting out of the other leg.






An eye stalk on the shoulder plus a hoof like leg make up the fourth conversion. I am not happy with the eye and will be replacing this with something more spindly in a few days.





And the final one on the collection is my favorite. A complicated mouth, which I think will look better painted, along with the complete removal of one leg to be replaced by a triple tentacle arrangement. Once again these tentacles are created around a wire frame for strength.



Here is the entire squad together.


The entire squad has taken some time to build, but I have been really pleased with the results. I have already prepared some bases for them so once I get started on the apint job they should come together quite well.

Next time I will be showing some painted items. A squad of corrupted Dark Eldar Witches! I'll leave you with a picture of the test figure.