Tempus Fugit

December always brings me round to Star Wars models for some reason.  The blue guy is Thrawn, and the unpainted model is his Noghri bodyguard, Rukh.

A close-up of the Ysalamir I sculpted.  I reckon it's quite cute.  Don't know why there appears to be some staining in the photo.  It's not there in real life.  Maybe Thrawn should invest in a litter tray or something?

It's been a while since I was active on the old blog front.  Don't know how time slips away.  One minute I think "it's a bit too hectic to blog right now", the next, I realise it has been ages since I visited!

Anyway, I really wanted to make a final post for 2013 to wish everyone out there a merry Christmas (or whatever winter festival you choose to celebrate) and a happy new year in 2014.  Hope it will be a great year for you all.  Thanks for visiting my humble corner of the interwebs, and for all the support and inspiration you continue to provide as I visit your blogging abodes.

I should mention the fellows in the picture before I go any further.  As you will have read previously, most of December's hobby time has been spent prepping models for a Christmas painting binge.  The gaming butterfly turned my attention to Star Wars for a while, and I decided to try out audiobooks while I set to work with knife and file.  The book I chose was "Heir to the Empire" by Timothy Zahn, and quickly I put aside the models I was working on to convert my favourite character, Grand Admiral Thrawn from said audiobook.

A quick rummage through my spare fighter pod figures turned up Moff Tarkin, Darth Maul, and Bossk which all had potential.  Thrawn was made by removing the horns from Darth Maul, and replacing Tarkin's head with the newly-shorn Maul head.  I added a high collar and hair with green stuff, and after a little thought, an Ysalamir (small creatures which provide immunity to jedi powers) rather than epaulettes, which I didn't think fitted the style of imperial uniforms.

Rukh was made by cutting and transplanting the feet from Bossk and Darth Maul (that lad has taken a lot of converting punishment), cutting the light sabre blades away, and adding Bossk's head, and a GW plastic Orc knife blade to what was previously the light sabre.  Next came significant green stuff work to blend the join between body, legs and head, and more work to make the head look a bit more Noghri-ish: Changing the nostrils, adding teeth, a lower lip and chin, a little work on the cheeks and lower eyes, and the distinctive ridging around the brow/head.

The soft, rubbery material the fighter pod models are made from can be a real pain to work with at times, but it does make conversions like this really easy.

Right, well I'll sign off now.  There's an OU assignment to be completed, and an additional course in forensics to prepare for in the new year.  Plus, I'm very excited to be hosting another small gaming event for my pals in the new year.  This one will be called "Chunkmanay" (don't know if I ever explained the chunky theme?  Some other time, maybe), and promises to be a real barn-stormer.  I will try to maintain discipline and take photos/notes rather than getting caught up in the games this time!

Have a great time this winter, enjoy your holidays and presents, and I'll see you again in the new year!

Cheers,

Jon

Planning for Christmas

Phew!  Well, that's another assignment submitted for good or ill.  So, I haven't been particularly active on the old hobby front lately.  However, I don't like to post on the blog without putting up something nice to look at, so here's a few things I prepared earlier:

This is Conan v1.0, my original attempt at depicting the famous barbarian.  He's a berserker from the Demonworld Empire range.  Still got a bit of a soft spot for this model.  Sure, the proportions are a bit cartoony compared to the Copplestone Barbarians, but I like him.  He'll probably still get used in games of Crom or SBH, for a bit of variety.

Next up, we have Pulp Citizen to blame for this:

Comissioner James Gordon for 15mm Batan games.  After I saw PulpCitzen's Riddler from the Knight Models range, I had to scratch my Batman itch a little.  So, after a rummage, I got out the green stuff and converted one of Rebel's Irish hitmen.  Seems like more work on paper than it was in practice.  I just lengthened the coat, and added lapels, a shirt collar, tie, glasses, moustache and that odd belt that often dangles unused on the back of the raincoat.  Just finished painting him today.  I'm considering adding a little something to the base to brighten things up.  Part of a chalk outline, or a piece of police tape blowing past his feet, perhaps?

There's one last Irish hitman remaining, so maybe I'll go for a conversion with a bit more panache and try a Joker conversion on that model.

Other than that, I'm building up a stock of cleaned and primed models ready to paint over Xmas right now, so I can enjoy a festive painting binge.

Kim and I are also planning some games to play, since this is one of the years when we spend Christmas at home, rather than travelling.  So far, we're looking at Kim's favourite game, Mighty Monsters, followed by her second favourite, Mighty Armies.  I fancy a bit of Crom, and some sci-fi gaming, so possibly a bit of 5150 or Dead Walk Again (who knows, maybe both?), and we'll be trying out the Pulp City rules in anticipation of the kickstarter coming up at the end of January.

So, as you might guess, we won't be watching the re-runs of Harry Potter or the Great Escape on telly this year!  Anyone else making hobby or gaming plans for the festive season, or do you just look forward to a break and a post-turkey nap?

Pigskin Painted!

Huzzah! I've really enjoyed working on this guy from start to finish.  Normally, I don't hold with slathering gore all over a model, but I think the subject matter called for it.  Note:  most of the gore is concentrated around the front of the model, as I'm going for the "butchers animals and people" feel, rather than suggseting that Pigskin bathes in vats of blood, or is suffering injuries.

Not sure if the photos have really picked it up, but I've been careful to paint the pig head in a different skin tone to the body.  I'm trying to really hammer home the fact that this is a severed pig's head being worn as a mask, rather than this guy being a pig-headed mutant.

Senator Pigskin

As is typical in my life, shiny new things derail the best laid plans.  I stumbled across this kickstarter project for the Spinespur game, and quite like the sound of it.  Unfortunately, I don't really have the money right now to invest heavily in another kickstarter, so I'm planning on a small contribution to get the pdf rulebook (when the commensurate funding level is reached) and maybe a couple of models.  In the meantime, I thought I'd have a go at building myself a 15mm Slaughterhouse agenda force (one of my favourite themed forces) while I wait for the kickstarter to finish.

So, I thought I'd start with the head of the Slaughterhouse agenda, Senator Pigskin himself (image taken from comfychairgames.com):

As you can see, he's basically a large guy with a meat cleaver and a meathook on a chain.  Oh, and he has a penchant for wearing a pig's head.  Charming fellow, eh?  By the time I finally crawled into bed last night, I had made this version:

After some consideration of various barbarian models, I eventually decided to go all-out and make this guy a real monster.  Cobbled together from an assortment of gw plastic remnants that I had lying around, and judicious use of green stuff, he's based on my idea for 15mm ogres, so the top of most 15mm scale model heads will reach his chin.  I also fancied making my model a bit less buff than the original, so he was assembled and bulked out in such a way as to keep the muscles, but add a bit of bulk.  I imagine him being slow but hard-hitting (of course, that may not be how he is described in the rules, but never mind.  I like this look and that's what matters).

If you are wondering about the parts used, the cleaver is from an ogre sprue, gloves are from a Khorne berserker, torso/arms from a savage orc, shoulder pad from a 40k ork, chain from an ork biker, with the hook made from the butt of a kroot rifle, legs from a goblin, the apron is a cut-down kroot bone-cloak, pocket bones are from the crypt ghouls sprue, and the knives are an accessory from the kroot sprue, used to cover an area where the original goblin loincloth was not covered by the apron.

The pig's head is based on a goblin head with the eyes drilled out (how freaky does that sound?  It was a weird feeling, drilling out a models eyes.  Made me feel like a deranged serial killer or something).  Green stuff was used to variously blend things in, bulk things out, and create the pig features.  The most bizarre thing to admit is having to bulk out the arse on the model.  Because a large, chunky torso was being glued to teeny little legs, Pigskin's butt needed to be bulked out to make the join more natural looking.

Anyway, I'm rather pleased with the end result.  I added gloves, because I figured they would be a necessary item of abbatoir apparel, and compliment the apron well in that regard, and the shoulder plate was added just because I thought it looked good, and added something to the otherwise bare right hand side of the model.  The only thing I would change about this build is the meathook.  If I had been able to find one of the chaos marauder standards, or some dark eldar bits, or anything a bit more meathook-y(?), I would have gone for them instead.  But, that's not a huge regret.

For now, Pigskin is off to be sprayed, and it's time to rummage through my 15mm lead pile to find him some minions (I reckon there must be some zombie survivor models that would fit the bill).  With luck, the only money I'll need to spend will be on some 15mm pigs.

Taking Stock: ITEN

Oh, my poor blog.  How quickly I neglected to update you!  Still, I think the next step on this path of righteousness is to take a look at how far I've gotten with this year's projects and see how much further I have to go with them.  First up, ITEN (In The Emperor's Name).

This is probably the best update to start with, since I only have this week to complete my Harlequin Troupé before travelling to Glasgow to put them to the test.  I have worked out that in 200pts, I can include 3 characters and 1 basic Harlequin.  So, with that in mind, I decided to make the entire cast of characters (Troupé Leader, Death Jester, Shadowseer and Solitaire).

Here's how the troupé looks so far:

Left to right: Solitaire, Death Jester, Troupé Leader and Shadowseer.  Still working on the Solitaire head.  The wings are just for decoration, by the way.  I figured that playing the part of Slaanesh in performances would entail something to make her look daemonic.  Closer looks next:

 

The Shadowseer is a combination of Dark Eldar Wych and Kabalite Warrior parts, in order to get the back-mounted grenade launchers.  Note, as with most of these guys, the Space Marine plasma pistol.  It just works, and was easier to get hold of than Eldar weapons.  The base is a marker from the old Warhammer Skull Pass set.  Just a lick of paint and this model is ready to go.

 

The Solitaire.  I converted the blast pistol into a Harlquin's Kiss by cutting it away from the original hand, and mounting it on the wrist of another arm.  The wings are from a Dark Eldar Scourge, and I wish  had known beforehand that they need a Scourge torso front.  Still, a little work with a scalpel sorted out that problem.  Base decoration is again from Skull Pass, and I'm working on a converted head to complete the daemonic imagery.  Should be completed in time for Friday, maybe not painted, though :(

The Troupé Leader.  Pretty basic.  Based on a Dark Eldar Wych, with the Sybarite back banner.  The mohawk is a transplant from the Avatars of War Dwarf Berserkers set.  Everything else is sculpted with green stuff.  On the advice of my friend, Deke, I'm considering cutting away the hook on the shoulder pad, which is a little bit too Dark Eldar, on reflection.  As you can see, he's undercoated, ready for painting.  I should at least get a base coat laid down before the weekend.

And finally, the Death Jester.  Not too much fancy dan work on him.  I wanted to avoid the maxim that having a heavy weapon means standing still all the time, so I used a set of dynamic Wych legs and another Skull Pass marker to make it look like he is constantly spraying bursts of fire from the shrieker cannon at people and moving on before they can return fire.  The head is from the Vampire Counts skeleton regiment (I specifically wanted a skull that seemed to be laughing maniacally.  The top knot has again been donated by an AoW Dwarf berserker.

So, what next?  That's my set of characters well underway.  All I need now is a less glamourous member of the chorus to join them.  While I may, at best, be able to get a base coat on the warband, I'm confident that this project, at least, will be completed by the end of the year.  Probably jinxed myself now...