What good are New Years resolutions if you don't stick to them!?

As I write this at the closing of 2019 and reflect on the last time I ‘blogged’ lots has happened in my hobby life. Firstly we, the community have been through several incarnations of Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000, lots of new models have been released tempting me to start new projects, I’ve been going to multiple competitive Age of Sigmar events around the country and finally I’ve moved house multiple times.

The subject of moving is what has inspired my melodrama of resolutions for the new year and mostly the topic of this blog post tonight. Having to pack up your entire toy soldier collection and parts to move is a great time to take stock of all the crap you have amassed. What I can tell you is I have amassed a lot of incomplete projects. Furthermore I have come up with a simple philosophy when it comes too hording Warhammer. Simply put if I’ve moved a model or kit still in a box or unused more than 3 times I probably don’t really need it.

This has been an interesting way of really deciding on what needs to stay or go in my collection. Actually I found it quite cathartic to clear out old models that I thought I’ll get to one day maybe 5-10 years ago. Also it’s an added pressure of realising that maybe now is the time to actually jump into a project I’ve been putting off for years. So on that note I want to talk about how I need to clear my backlog. Right now I’m taking a break from competitive Age of Sigmar play which gives me a perfect opportunity to finish of some old concepts.

So the next year I hope to allocate some time to older projects as well as new projects. I think in this hobby its super easy to collect parts and model kits with ideas on how to create that super cool army but it remains in grey plastic or worse half painted. So far I’ve come up with a list of projects I want to complete over the next 6 to 12 months.

*Re-start my Knights Excelsior Stromhost - currently awaiting custom decals, white base coat painted and shaded moving onto details.
*Finish my Vanguard Hammers of Sigmar Stormhost - its in a box, nothing exciting, yet
*Add the final details to my Ironjawz - Actually nearly done, I've got to finish the fine details, weathering, extra details on the bases and display bored, I did say they were nearly done right?
*Update my Nighthaunt army - Gonna paint so many new units, GONNA PAINT THEM SO HARD!
*Finish my Death Guard
*Complete my scions - the army I originally started this blog about!
*Fix my existing graveyard table (And add some more pieces to the collection)

I Hope to add more things to the list as we go but so far I think this is a pretty good start. And talking about starting with the final bit of unpacking finishing hopefully (only 6 months late, see I'm not just slow in my hobby life, I am in my personal life too)  I will be able to start getting some painting done and models assembled.

Lets see how well I go!
Catch you next time,

Brodie
The Slowest Man Alive (According to my wife, OH yeah I also got married!)

P.S. I also have a started an Instagram account. You should check it out, for photo from my life and work in progress shots of what’s on my desk right now.

And Now for Actual Content

Whelp, this maybe a long one... 

With the Horus Heresy buzz generated by the Betrayal at Calth box set, it seems inevitable that I too join in on the trend (Some would call me weak, others a sheep. None the less here we are.). My collection started from a humble Christmas present from family (Kindest regards Corrie, Greg and family) of The Betrayal at Calth box set, and a not so humble present to myself (thanks myself) of the same box set. I am the first to admit I have a problem (see above points about being 'weak').

Mistakes were made.
I dun' goofed. I know it.
You know it.

However, lack of financial control aside I have started down the path of developing a 30K army. Going through forums etc. online, and reading up on background of each legion was my next logical step before assembly to decide which legion to collect. After reading through some of the tales of Night Haunter and his dark legion and feeling a tragic Shakespearean twang, I decided upon the Lords of Night. For anyone who has read through the HH books, or at least skimmed a few wiki pages (that would be the group I fall into) the general feeling I get about the Night Lord legion is one penned as a tragic tale from the start.  A legion corrupted from the very start of the great crusade, a tragic hero doomed from the beginning to fail (due to his own self defeatism) and finally, space Batman (Maybe it would be better to say more The Joker if he believed in justice for Gotham). One of the interesting points I quite enjoyed was Konrad/Night Haunters approach to securing the grip of mankind in the stars - namely through fear - and his demonstration of this through passing a prisoner a bolter and walking away (seriously read/listen to the Dark King if you can. It has a bit of a steep cost, but was quite enjoyable). Furthermore, Konrad as mentioned before strikes (well with me at least) a quite Shakespearean quality. On initially meeting with the Emperor, he foresees his own death and over time many more of his brother's deaths. This motivates a fair amount of his actions (or lack there of, to avoid the outcomes of his visions). Anyway, moving on from my very, very poor literary analysis. With my legion selected; I began research on what I would need to seize the night.   

Some things early on I saw, which I enjoyed, was the work by Dan the Deamon over on Bolter and Chainsword. His 40K Night Lords are a thing of beauty and a great inspiration to my own collection. Some of his techniques I am looking to replicate (with my own flair) and some more of it just downright inspires me to add to this amazing quality of Night Lord work out there on the internet. Equally one of the major fears (Haw! This is Ironic considering the Night Lord doctrines) is to avoid my miniatures looking like those I remember from the 2nd/3rd edition Chaos books. The elusive and stealthy force which dress themselves in icons to inspire fear; whereas on the table top look more humorous and unfitting of their background (You all can picture those comical bat wings on space marine helmets which would be nearly another marine tall!). With my iPhone loaded up with a metric shit tonne of Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie it was time to pump out assembly.

To be honest they are guardsmen, so they probably wouldn't be able to see them in the open.
Also, they should lay off the Red Bull.

Currently, my assembly is going... I'm not going to say 'well', nor will I say 'not at all', just going. My biggest issue currently is parts (well its always my issue but HEY! I'm trying to be a better person). These parts involve mostly sourcing kits for my extras which has been okay. Really, my best source is the undead range from GW and at this point I think I have purchased most of the kits (either for this or pathfinder). The skeleton warriors kits are proving perfect for skulls (obviously) and extras. I'm sourcing the wings for my own helmets from the Grave Guard kits and also using some of the weapons to swap into my list. Finally the ghoul kit is actually proving surprisingly useful for heads and arms as decorations (its hard to describe. Just check the photos). The only thing left on my list to source is a box of marauders and flagellents for chains, skulls and icons. Plus the flagellent heads will be perfect for trophies. So to break up the blocks of text I present to you all, pictures.

Vexilla in all its glory. I would like to make the banner easy
to identify squads using skulls as numbers (eg. 3skulls would be 3rd squad)

Nuncio-vox. Made with a Cadian Vox backpack.
Butchered and reglued. Thanks to Andrew at the GW
Chermside for the idea.

The heads that I am making so far have been a tedious process that require me cutting, filing and stressing to obtain these results. So far I have managed to get a ghoul head and several skeleton heads in place. However, my attempt at a dryad (there is a method to my madness, trust me. Dan the Deamon has made these helmets for his night lords and by far they are my favourite). I really have to thank an old friend for the idea with the skeleton helmet for space marines. I remember when he embarked on making a complete plastic space marine list (even going as far to make Calgar in plastic) and his chaplains were the bases for my skull helmets. Thanks Damian! The ghoul heads are an idea of my own and look much, much better in the flesh then on my shitty iPhone camera.

Pre-gluing. Poly-cement is key for these projects.
It can in some cases remove the requirement for heavy green-stuffing.

Unlike here, where it cannot be avoided.
Up sizing has been a little issue I have faced (eg Small head + big helmet).

For comparison. My custom made heads and the original Mark IV

Other little details I'm able to carry out (due to having 2 boxes of BaC) are modifying my dreadnoughts to allow twin linked weapons if I want. Thanks to Al, down at my local Games Workshop for his help with that little project (and razor saw!).

It's actually quite easy. The joins lend themselves to
being assaulted with a hack saw and re-glued

Next on my list of construction is to turn my Consoul into a more themed Night Lord leader (and not look like all the other Consouls from the BaC set). Also, I have started to look at other units I can make that work both in game and I can make fit into my Night Lords army... potentially some bikes. Wish me luck.

Catch you all soon.
Brodie.



P.S. I figure I should own the entire undead range by the end of this venture. What a bits box it will be.

Developing into a Master-Baser.

Hey guys!

This post is pretty much mostly photos (a picture is worth a thousand words, right?) I recently (well always) have been getting into the bases made by a company called back2basix (thanks to Trevor and Mark for introducing me to their range). The only issue with their base sets they have for sale is that there are a limited number of styles you can use. So to deal with those issues I have recently been looking at making my own.

Here is a brief run down on what I used. I ended up buying the urban basing kit from games-workshop (you can probably see it in most of the photos). The kit comes with different sizes of rocks/rubble, some plastic detailing and brass sheeting. Combined with cork (ripped from a sheet. The rougher the edges the better). Finally. I coated them with sand. Ta-dah! A set of bases. And cue the photos.

I ended up using green stuff to make a mound on the base to give it a 3D effect.

After the green stuff dried; the next step was to layer with sand. 

And behold the finished products.

I've even started on the next batch. I'm playing around with different levels and materials to really bring home the city ruin theme. 

I ended up using a plastic tile sheet that I found at Hobbyrama.
It has the same consistency as plasticard. 

Anyway I thought I'd finish with a group shot. So, at this point I'll just keep on basing. 10 cultists down, 30 more to go. Wish me luck! 

Catch ya guys!

Brodie.

P.S. I spent way to much time un-sticking my fingers after using super-glue. God bless plastic glue and the fact it wont glue my hands together. 

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

Hey guys!

As my hobby buzz continues, I actually am continuing to make serious progress of my Tempestus Milliatrum force (serious sarcasm aside). The second week of January saw the completion of my second Valkyrie. So two down, one more to go.

Being a little more comfortable with the Valkyrie kit I managed to get the assembly time down to a few hours (like 6-8 hours. Is that a lot?). I spent a little bit more time green-stuffing the mould lines (and enjoying the use of liquid green-stuff). I am actually getting used to how to apply liquid green-stuff with minimal fuss. I found the best approach is to use several thin layers and build it up over time. The final stage involves a fair amount of filing to blend it all in. I am really happy with how it turned out and how easy it was to make a seamless joint.

Ta-dah! Pretty proud I must say.

The amount of filing involved was ridiculous. Worth it, but still
pretty nuts. 

Anyways! Here are a few more photos of the finished products. Two down, one to go! I am just ignoring the point that I have to paint them yet.

Two Valkyries completed. Looking good.

The next part of the plan is to magnetise the weapons. The plan is to be able to  interchange the weapons (so I can make the most out of a $110 kit). I have picked up some 1mm x 2mm rare earth magnets (which are hella small) and hopefully I will have some success.  

Anyways,

Wish me luck!

Brodie

P.S. I actually bought a 4th Valkyrie kit. I think I may have a problem. My hell continues.

If I Call This One Foe-Hammer Will Anyone Get the Reference...?

So last year (it seems so weird saying that!) I started working on my Tempestus Millitarum (it also feels rather weird saying that in conversation) and with the passing of Christmas I have received a range of reinforcements.

When they hold that intervention about my Warhammer/plastic crack addiction I want them to remember this moment. Christmas pay is also helpful for buying that third Valkyrie. 

So with a lot of miniatures to assemble (3x Valkyries, 2x Taurox Primes, 1x Commissar and 30x Scions) I thought I'd jump into the more challenging kits (What I was thinking, I'll never tell. Or know for that matter). Firstly, I was really impressed with the overall size of the flyer. I left the weapon mounts unglued on the model as I plan on magnetizing them later (thank you rare earth magnets!) so I can swap the options around depending on requirements. (at $110 AU I plan on getting the most out of this kit.)

The overall wingspan. This thing is a beast. Transporting will be interesting.

Equally, I had a little bit of time to play with liquid green-stuff to fill in some gaps on the model. (I swear the older I get the worse my OCD becomes.) I managed to get some early, filling photos but forgot to take a final one. (I was doing so damn well with the photos!) Yet I am impressed how easily the 'paint' (I would go as far to call it a little thicker than the old foundation paints) goes on and the excess can be wiped away. Five coats did the job. However, I feel that three good coats would have done the job but I was a little more nervous to coat it on.

First Coat. It was easy to paint it on, let it dry slightly and using a wet sponge wipe away the excess, leaving only the green-stuff in the gap. 

The photo really doesn't do it much justice but by the third coat + filing the gap was filing nicely without making it look mismatched. 

Overall the finished shape is pretty good, and I am glad to have one done. I am even tempted to order a fourth one (mostly so I can field quite a painful and evil formation). On the topic of formations and army make ups I am currently fine-tuning the list I am hoping to run for a campaign. The campaign is being played at my old gaming club being run by my friend over at the Triple Helix Project. It's currently in the first phase of three. With the running theme of creating an imperial beach head I am very excited to drop my Scions into the fight.

Scions disembarking from a Valkyrie transport. 

Cannot believe how excited this mini diorama made me to get these guys onto the board. They in general look very dynamic. 

I guess the final thought is, one down, two more to go. I am hoping to speed up the production of the next few, just purely because this one took me nearly 2 days to assemble. (with filing, cleaning, assembly and green-stuffing) I guess only time will tell.

Emperor, help me.

See you soon,


Brodie.



P.S. I actually cannot believe I am considering buying a fourth. This is what happens when Christmas hours are over and I no longer go to university.

-Insert Cut Scene Here-

Crap.

I did it again (Or didn't..)

Funnily enough the end of 2014 has been a big one. Between my last post and this one I have been insanely busy (Very, very busy with reality, there has hardly been any progress on the plastic solider front). After my last post in September I have been working on some hobby projects. I thought I'd share quickly with you my past few months.

Guess who went as the A-Team (namely 'Hannibal' John Smith) for Halloween.

 

Casualties of Halloween. My keyboard and mouse finding it hard to work underwater. I feel their pain especially 2 weeks before final exams.

End of last Exams ever! I happen to be the QUTie in the middle wearing black (on a serious note I hope these guys don't mind I stole the photo...)

And in case any of you where wondering, yes I did manage to graduate my degree!
No one bring up graduate positions with me. Ugh. That is 2015's problem

Nothing but poodles, sunshine and relaxing. 

In all honesty on the hobby front (as this is a hobby blog) I also managed to squeeze in a game or two of 40K with my Tempestus and also a few games of fantasy with my Stirland River Patrol (thank-you Rohan and his evil end times magic). Equally I have been semi-productive with a few hobby projects. I hope in the next few days to put up some photos about what I have been doing hobby wise ( I actually remembered to take photos guys!) and talk about my projects. In the mean time I'll leave you with a teaser of what I 'hopefully' will be posting about in a few days.

Something familiar and something new.

Here's hoping I can do more than 4 posts in a year. Can't wait to post more in the new year!

See you around,

Brodie.


P.S. Energetic poodle pups and warhammer do not mix. In fact energetic poodle pups and ANYTHING do not ,mix.

My people. Sons, and daughters of Helghan...

++ Warning this post is a bit long winded. I tried to put in some pretty pictures to make up for it ++

For anyone that has known me for a long time, they would be well aware of my love of the Kill-Zone Series. Recently I found out that quite possibly the best shooter of all time (Ok, that's really just my opinion), Kill-Zone 1 was released in HD on the PS3. Considering this I still have actually managed to be semi productive in my hobby this past week, even when off defending Vekta. It was while I was playing the game I was reminded of how badly I wanted to re-create a Helghan inspired IG army. However this never came to fruition due to my lack of resources and skills. However during this week when I have been assembling my Scions unit I realized that these models could make a good base for this plan (As I try to justify the amount of time I have wasted on replaying Kill-Zone).

One of the images in the new codex, its like they knew exactly what I had in mind.

If anyone has played the game, the distinctive features of the Helghast were their red/orange glowing eyes and gas masks. Looking over some GW images I think that I should be able to achieve this on my Scions. Making the lights, lenses and control panels red and orange - but more on this later when I actually get to painting.

Firstly I want to point out that I really both love and hate the new scion kit, and it's only after assembling my first 5 troopers that I have come to this realization. The kit comes with a wide range of extras that can be used on customizing your troopers, which I like, but also there is a limitation of available poses with certain components (like special weapons and war gear). For example, all the Hell-guns have power cables that attach to the backpack (which is good, providing you can get them lining up right) however when you try to outfit your trooper with a Vox-Caster the cabling is replaced. Meaning if you want your troopers to have both a Vox and still use a Hell-gun, you will have to convert something. This isn't fatal just more of an annoyance, and there are other examples of this throughout the kit (like the plasma gun). If I was assembling these models 8years ago (back when a power sword and power fist on a Devastator Sargent seemed like a good idea) it wouldn't be as much of a problem. But now I want my models to not only be game functional but also tell a story.

So in the meantime until I can work out how to convert these issues out of the plastics, I will be sticking to stuff that I find both game effective and able to fit with my parameters of the equipment making sense. And on that note here are the troopers.I assembled them to form a squad of 5, with 1x special weapon (hot shot volley gun) and a Tempestus (Sargent with bolt pistol, replacing his 6" las pistol) and the rest equipped with hell-guns. I tried to get WIP shots of them but I was having too much fun assembling them to remember. I also apologize for the photo quality, as A) I took them with my potato (Iphone) and B) was losing light.

2x Scions with Hell-Guns

1x Scion with Hell-gun and 1x Scion Tempestor

1x Scion with Hot shot Volley gun

I really like the way the kit works (minus the above gripes), and I cannot wait to grab a few more to try out different combos with the cables and Hell-guns. I also found it really easy to get a sense of movement throughout the squad which I like. Furthermore I have my first squad ready to undercoat and paint. In the mean time I still have half of Kill-Zone 1 to finish (for inspiration - Its what I keep telling both myself and my girlfriend) and I have to paint these guys and a commissar. Wish me luck.

All the best,

Brodie

PS I was going to complain about the box to my family, friends or significant others but I knew they A) wouldn't care and B) seriously wouldn't care. Plus I know you guys would appreciate it, right? Right.