Sicaran Tank - The Build / Battle Shots Necron vs Dark Angels

Evening Folks,

Doc here so a couple of things to share in today's post.  I have started work on a Sicaran battle tank for my Death Guard so I thought for a change I would share some pictures of the build and magnetising process for the sponsons.

First off as forgeworld kits go its a relatively simple build especially as there are no tracks to build with this kit unlike a Spartan which is a future build.  I have decided to go with Lascannon sponsons but magentise them so I can have a none sponson option if desired or needed as a points saving option.

So as I say pretty straight forward build yet still managed to glue myself to the hull.  Perils of superglue!  The last shot shows my mini dremel / rotary tool from maplin best £12 i've ever spent!  Its great for drilling, cleaning and cutting and takes the elbow work out of it all!

So for those who don't magnetise there really isn't much too it.  Work out how you line up the magnets on the two pieces you would like to magnetise.  Ensure you check the polarity of the magnets you need them to attract to each other (lol).  You will get it wrong at least once and curse!   Just drill the right size hole not too deep just enough to make the magnet sit flat with the adjoining surface.  I superglue magnets in place and use a plastic rod to adjust its position before the glue goes off which is usually very quick.  Dont be tempted to check the two pieces magentise too early as often one of the magnets will pull out of its position if not dry!

Ok, second part of this post I snapped a few shots of our big Dark Angels vs Maynark Necrons game. So close just 1 vp in it, a bloody late night and a great time. On that last point it doesn't look like Innermech was enjoying himself in one of the shots which made me laugh.

 
So who do you reckon won by 1 point folks?

Comments Welcome

Cheers

DOC

Forgemas 14: Treasures from the Lions Vault

Say what you will about the first legion, but when it comes to big shiny toys, we've got lots of stuff hidden away!

As some of you know, The Dark Angels are my favourite army. I collected them when I was younger and started collecting them again when I returned to the hobby years later and since I've been back I've wanted a dirty great centre piece to my army. Something to throw down on the table and let my opponent know I was serious (this probably explains my love of imperial Knights tbh.....). 

Anyhow....

Fellblade......

Wow. Wanted one since I first saw it on the forge world website and after a busy year decided to treat myself at this years Warhammer Fest. Unfortunately they had actually sold out by the Sunday but offered to ship new one with no postage charge if I paid on the day. Which saved me the hassle of carrying it around all day!

Honestly - when this arrived I was kinda sceptical about being able to assemble it with any degree of quality..

Because it's frankly massive..

But I've persevered, cleaned it all back, washed and primed the surfaces and attached magnets to the side sponsons to help with transport etc and over the last coulple of weeks have made some serious progress in getting the colours down. However the size of the model is making life slow going, any amount if time spent working on it seems to just get lost and after a painting session (I only really get a couple of hours at any one time) nothing actually seems to have happened.

Ultimately I'm treating this beast 1 section at a time, completing each piece and then moving onto the next. The turret is now basically finished apart from weathering powders and such and the side sponsons are about as complete as I can get them. I've started to work on the main body now and will update with my progress in a week or so .....

Thanks for reading :) 

Tom

Worcester War Preparation

The 3 week countdown has begun to Worcester War. Normally I would be frantically painting or buying things to use in the tournament Here is my list of last minute paint:

• Carnage 2009, buy and paint an army in 2 months, and learn how to play 40k
• Norwich Tournament 2009 paint 3 land speeders in a week
• SVA 2012 paint Warhound titian in 1 months
• Carnage 2012 year paint 4 dreads in 2 weeks
• Norwich tournament 2012 paint 20 Paladins and Draigo in 1 month
• SVA 2013 paint 2 storm talons and 54 scouts in 1 week

As you can see I like to leave painting until the last minute. This time however I am pretty much complete everything that I would need for WW13, and all the models that I own!

Here is my WIP of Belial

 

An my DV |Chaplain:

i have the armour to highlight and details to pick out , but they are nearly finished.

Also I have completed my games board that I showed you earlier in the month. I think it has gone well. There are things I would definitely do differently. When building the frame I would use glue as well as the screws. As it is stored in my garage then it is affected by damp and the top is warping (very 40k) a little. The board should have been glued to the frame as well as screwed. The painting and texturing was again ok, but I would change how I did the texturing. I mixed sand paint glue and water and then painted the board. The sand has clumped more than I expected and so the texture is a little rougher than I would have liked. I should have glued and then put sand on then sealed with paint. But we we’ll see how it works. The board cost less than £40 so I can always make another one!

I have also used my airbrush for the first time. Historically I have not liked painting yellow on my guys as it takes too much paint and never looks great. I have to used 2 layers of white then 2 layers of yellow. The troops I can get away with but the tanks seem to look shonky. I have limited the amount of yellow on them and they look a little plain. Now I have the airbrush I tested on 2 tanks and painted the doors. I used a vindicator and a razorback. Here are the results. I am very happy with the covering. I need to practice with the brush as it kept blocking so maybe the mixture was too thick then after I had thinned it was pooling in places, too thin?? Practice will start as I have 8 rhinos that need the doors painting!

The Vallejo Golden yellow is no where near the same colour as the GW one, even though internet wisdom suggested that was the same colour.

My final thought is what army to take to WW13. The great thing about WW13 is that it is 1500pts. At 2000 you can take a solid list and have a few points for something a bit new, 1750, your only thing you have to think about is a few bits of wargear, but 1500 you will have to make sacrifices. In 5^th I played with 2 tactical squads as my scoring units, one in a land raider and one in a rhino. With the changes in mission selection in 6^th that tactic is not flexible enough anymore, and you have flyers to deal with. I think you need at least 2.5 strong scoring units in a space marine list now. I have 3 lists to choose from and I am trying one of them out tonight to see how it works. If it works well then I will go with that if not then I will use one I am a little more familiar with….

Worcester War Terrain

Hi All,

Doc again...

So today marks the 1 month to go time frame to Worcester War 2013 and work continues apace for everything to be ready in time!  Todays post will be picture heavy showing off some of the terrain that has been finished and some of the work completed by a friend for WW13.  At time of writing we still have 4 places left for WW13 on the 29th June.  If your interested please click here. 

Ok picture fest time first off new terrain:

I would also like to show a friend of mines new Dark Angels work and his new terrain work.  PMR is returning to the hobby after 10 years away and we have all been impressed on the quality of his work when he hasn't painted for 10 years!  Also the fact that since January he's learnt the rules, painting up an army for the event, building a game board for the event and building and painting scenery for the event!  That's getting on with it!!  Enough of my ramble more pics!

Ok Folks that's all for now, more posts to come on the run up to WW13

DOC

A Quiet 2011, Roll on 2012

Well,
It's been a genuinely quiet Hobby year for me, despite going to SVA (in March, and being 3rd best player and 2nd best Domain!) and having the Battle for Big Toof part 2 (where yet again Da orks prevailed!)

However, next year I think will need to be busier as my backlog of Work is spiralling out of control, this is a perennial problem for Toy Soldier Enthusiasts... and doubly so for those who like to build and play more than paint... (err that would be me then!)

Therefore as it's appraisal time in the workplace, it's also Objective Time in the Geekplace!


and with that in Mind here are my Hobby and Gaming objectives for 2012!

Mandatory Hobby Objectives.
1) Complete a 2000 Point Tyranid Army for SVA & Carnage
Deadline 17th March 2012
Stretch Target - Complete 3000 Points!

2) Sell the CHaos Space Marine Models I have (with the Exception of the Thousand Sons, which I will build and paint as an optional
Deadline 30th June 2012

3) Complete a 2000 Point Beastmen Army for Fantasy
Deadline 31st August 2012
Stretch Target - Paint every Beastman model I've got! (3000 ish points)

4) Paint Deathwing Army - 3000 Points
Deadline 31st December 2012
Stretch Target - October 31st 2012

Optional Hobby Objectives.
Build aforementioned Thousand Sons Models
Scratchbuild an Ork Stompa (in the same vein as My Dreadmob from IA8)
Scratchbuild Another Ork Stompa (Yes, I really do have plans for 2!)
Build up all remaining Ork Models (approx 60 x Shoota Boys, 10 x Flashgit Conversions, 9 x Nob Bikers + Biker Boss)

It would also be really great to try to do a good enough Job of My Tyranids to get a Best Army Nomination at Either SVA or Carnage, so if this happens I'll consider it a Massive Bonus and I won't mind if I don't (because I appreciate there are much much better Painters out there!


and finally of course... to update this Blog more often, A Prime example of which would be the 12 x Grot Tanks and Fighta Bomm I scratchbuilt/converted for our Big Toof Game in October which I *Still* haven't posted! (See them in the first month of Next year!)

Gaming Objectives
1) Be in Possession of a Positive or Neutral Win/Loss Ratio at SVA.
I know Tyranids are considered to be behind the Curve, but I genuinely believe they can put up a good scrap in most games.

2) Be in Possession of a Positive Win/Loss Ratio at Carnage
However I perform at SVA, a week later, I should be doing better!

3) Play at Least 12 Non-Tournament Games of 40k in 2012.
This is a modest 1 per month total, but only because I hope to try and play more fantasy in 2012

4) Play at Least 12 Games of Fantasy in 2012
Compared to my Zero in 2012, this would also give me the incentive to get the Beastmen done!


So, if I reach all stretch targets (Yeah right!) This should leave me with only a 2000 Point Dark Eldar army to build and paint, 3000 Points of Dark Angels to paint, oh... and about 4000 More points of Tyanids to paint! (and let's not forget the permanent backlog of Orks!)
(and they call it Progress?)

Of course, the main thrust, like any Hobby year, will be to Enjoy it, so if I fall short in some areas, provided I have fun doing it, this will be the most important factor, becaue if you don't enjoy your Hobby...


...Why the Devil are you doing it?


:)

Hypaspist Out!