Showcase; Imperial Knight Errant, Winter Effects Weathering

Hi All

Bluddtoof here, finally I've got round to finishing off the weathering on my Freeblade Knight Errant. It's only taken me 2 years!
So I was really quite nervous about this little project; the knight is probably my best work to date, I was very concerned I'd mess up the finish with poorly done weathering, I'm not experienced at all with weathering.
I'd done quite a bit of research on different methods and materials over the last year or so, a lot of advice came from my code40k colleagues, a big shout out to the boys for the help!
I bought a winter effects kit a while back that has quite good instructions included, Scene- A-Rama is the brand, and I experimented a bit with the various materials with mixed results.
The "snow base" liquid makes an excellent base layer for applying snow in the form of flock or powder, the snow powder in the kit is made of crystals of varying sizes all mixed up, I used it in conjunction with GW snow flock and Bicarb, applied in different layers for the final finish. This came after a great deal of playing around. Some of it I then coated in the "Ice Effects" liquid, a thickish clear resin that sets real quick.
All of this worked ok and was pretty easy after I'd worked out the method.
The tricky bit was Icicles, I knew I wanted the knight to be crusted with icicles hanging from the shoulder guards and carapace to simulate it having stood sentry for ages in sub zero temperatures and now just awoken to the call to arms. The kit has instructions to use the ice resin to make icicles...... it doesn't work, I tried and tried and tried, the resin just spreads and makes an icicle shaped flat sheet.... no good for the application I wanted..... so.... Luko Dakka delivered the solution with a quick explanation of how he used melted flying stems.....some practice later..... and Icicles I'm really pleased with! Hurrah! A word of warning tho if you try the melting plastic method...open a window and wear a face mask, nasty fumes.
In case you've not tried it here's my method I used....
Over a tea candle, hold a flying stem at both ends with a pair of needle nosed pliers in each hand. Hold the stem about 10-20mm above the flame, too close and it will scorch and even ignite...that was an interesting minute or so! Too high and you'll be waiting a LONG time. Keep a close eye on the surface of the plastic, it will start to develop fine striations and very shortly it will sag visibly.. Immediately apply a little tension and REMOVE from the heat, keep the gentle tension applied and the stem should quickly stretch very thin, keep pulling gently and the plastic should keep stretching with the thick end bits slowly feeding into the thin middle bit, you'll feel the resistance increase gradually, keep applying gentle tension until it won't stretch any more. You should now be able to let go and you'll have a long piece of plastic with a really thin middle section flaring out at both ends to fat bits. Chop this in the middle and cut/shape the fat ends to create the bit that connects to the surface the icicle will hang from, 2 icicles from 1 bit. You can then go on to do the same with the chopped of ends too if they're big enough.
This took me a few attempts to get right, it's very much a matter of FEEL with each piece, if you pull too fast it'll snap and then curl up.....ruined! Pull too little it'll just sag, too long over the heat...sag, burn, mess! Thankfully clear plastic flyer stems are cheap and plentiful, you generally get extras with any skimmer model.
One thing I did find tho was that once you've melted a piece and let it set again it doesn't melt cleanly ever again, I'm sure a chemist could explain it!

Anyhoo, enough blather! Piccies....

As you can see I haven't applied a huge amout of snow on it, I didn't want to obscure the paint job too much but I wanted it to look like it had recently had snow fall which has been dislodged as it starts to move.
Hope you like it, I do, I'm very pleased with the finish and I'm looking forward to rest of my Knights and trying different winter effects methods on them.
As ever C&C welcome....

Bluddtoof

A New Hobby Season - Confession of a 40K Addict

Hi All,

For years I have followed Dave's from confession of the 40k addicts progress using his hobby season format.  It has seemed to be a nice motivational tool.  So when Dave a couple of weeks back put a shout to see if anyone would like to join him for the next season starting I thought yep I am in for this! Extra motivation tools cant be a bad thing right?  So what is a hobby season  guess you are asking?

Well its simple and the best thing in a hobbyist arsenal a list!  A list of projects you would like to complete in the next 12 months.  Dave has also kindly made some icons or stamps to go along with the hobby season.

Ok along with the stamp above Dave has made some cool completed stamps which I attend to use. They are split down into major and minor hobby list stamps.  First up is the major stamp followed by my list of major projects for the next 12 months.

 Major Projects 2016/17

Mortarion Primarch of the Death Guard
Spartan Assault Tank
Knight Cerastus Lancer
Cerebus Tank
New Desert Themed Board
Deadzone Board (not 40k thats ok right!)
Leman Russ Primarch of the Space Wolves
Imperial Navy Avenger Strike Fighter
Necron Teseract Ark
MDF Necromunda Terrain
Re paint baneblade

Ok so there are 3 major scenery projects on here which is typical of me!  I love scenery so not surprised by this.  I will be surprised if I finish all 3!  This is 11 major projects but its a list right (dare to dream!).

Minor Projects 2016/17 (this could go on for a while!)
2 X Chimeras
1 X Taurox
1 X Valkyrie
2 X 19th Dicer Psykers
1 X Colonel 19th Dicers
4 X Repaint of Leman Russ Tanks
5 X Enforcer Pathfinders
1 X Enforcer Strider
5 X Enforcer Peacekeepers
10 X Volkite Death Guard
2 X Rhinos Death Guard
3 X Medusa's Death Guard
30 X Tactical Legion Death Guard
10 X Assault Marines Death Guard
10 X Deathshrouds Death Guard
6 X Jetbikes Death Guard
3 X Drop Pods Space Wolves
3 X Thunderwolf Cav Space Wolves
1 X Iron Priest Space Wolves
20 X Fenrisian Wolves
1 X Wraithknight Eldar
6 X Fire Dragons Eldar

Ok, I am stopping for now as this will get ridiculous and achieve the opposite of motivation!  Alongside this motivational tool I will continue painting points which I update on the right hand side of the blog and my annual review around new year.  My basic target has always been to paint a minimum of 100 minis a year which I am on target for this year so far!

So how many projects do you reckon I will complete from the lists above? Let me know in the comments and also please share links of you hobby lists / motivational techniques?

Cheers

Doc out

Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought, Thunderbolts Space Marines. Build and WIP.

Hi All

Bluddtoof here with an update on my progress towards Dreadnought number 11 for my Space Marines; the Thunderbolts. That's right, 11! I may have now reached critical mass on dreadnoughts......or maybe not!
So anyhoo, this is my second contemptor, as I said in my previous post about my latest mortis pattern I'd originally planned on a mortis contemptor, however this was shelved with the build of the mkv. Last month I visited GW HQ with some of the code boys for the FW open day and whilst browsing the store cabinets I saw the iron warriors contemptor and immediately thought "that'd look cool as a thunderbolt". Knowing I had a spare contemptor Lascannon arm in the bitz box I had a quick think about weapon options and plumped for a heavy conversion beamer and cyclone launcher (I've got plenty of assault capable dreads so another fire support dread made sense and the HCB is a nice gun.
I think this load out will make him a threat to pretty much anything non flyer and with 2 mortis dreads I've got flyers covered.
Currently...

I started the build process and straight away decided to go with sub-assemblies, which I don't usually do with my Imperial dreads. I also played with a range of basing and posing options, I considered a braced firing position but the ankles don't rotate enough to get a good look. So I decided on a stoically advancing pose with both feet posed in mid step to convey a sense of motion. I also wanted him to look like he was firing and thought through this too, I've had little success with previous attempts at OSL but I'm going to try it again on the conversion beamer and also I really wanted to try rocket exhaust modelling, (after seeing the fantastic displays at GW) so I did some research and with a little advice from the code boys I got some clump foliage and had a go.
Here's a few pics of the process of building...

The bits laid out awaiting clump foliage for the exhaust clouds.
All the load bearing joints got pinned using 1 mm uncoated jewellery wire, FW resin is very light so the pins are really only there because I don't trust "super" glue, but also to make the process of painting sub assemblies for later attachment easier.
As usual the hardest part with a contemptor is positioning of the legs and feet to get the desired pose, there are a lot of pieces to work with and super glue sets fast so you need to work quickly, again pins and dry runs are the order of the day.

Making the cyclone was really good fun and I'm pleased to have learnt a new technique, here's a series of shots...

The missiles are from the marine tactical sprues, well old ones anyway, I haven't bought a new kit so I don't know if you still get them. Carefully chop out the small, narrow shaft connecting the fins to the missile body and discard. Clean up the new surfaces and VERY carefully drill a hole in the back of the missile body and through the centre of the fin assembly.
Remove your selected missile tip(s) from the cyclone, clean and drill a hole. Fit your wire into the launcher, thread on the fin section and fit the missile body. Just the tiniest drop of thin super glue after assembly fixed the fins in place so that I could fiddle with the positioning at my leisure.
I think it's really important to use different lengths of wire to avoid an unnatural symmetry.
I spent ages wiggling and adjusting the wires to get them straight and in line!

Next the exhausts!

This was surprisingly easy, if you've not used this method then I would suggest you get some NOW! Dirt cheap, a fiver for a huge bag, and easy to use. The clumps break into bits easily but hold size and shape too allowing you to fix a clump in place and then carefully pinch little bits off to get the desired structure. Once it was built I gave the whole piece a good coat of spray matt varnish to hold it and stop the foliage from sucking up too much paint.

All in all very pleased, next post will be with more paint on it.
As ever C & C welcome.

Bluddtoof

If it's not covered in mud or blood then frankly son, you ain't Krieging hard enough!

Evening all, Dark Bristles here with a little update as too what I've been up too of late.

A good few months back I showed off a Krieg Vanquisher tank that I'd finished up....

Well my good buddy and I decided to partake in the doubles tourney this coming weekend at Worcester Wargames and I decided to give my self a (frankly pretty tight) deadline of getting 1K of my Krieg all finished up and ready to war. 

So after sitting up for a while smashing out various ideas for lists, I settled on what I wanted to take and set about pumping out squads of infantry as quick as possible. Bearing in mind however this is my own personal army and a force I've been wanting to paint for a long long time (ever since I returned to the hobby in fact) I was adamant I wanted to keep the standard as high as I could. 

So tight deadline and self imposed high standard. Fun fun. 

I supposed a good place to start was the top of the chain so Company Command Squad with converted Master of Ordanace.....

Infantry Platoon Squads - 2 of these, a Platoon Command Squad and 3 Heavy Weapon Auto Cannon teams 

Cheeky pic of the big guns....

Death Korps Death Riders. My absolute favourite models that's FW produce, I love them. PAIN IN THE BUTT to paint however haha. Found them really tricky! Powered through though and am pleased with the results. 

So this is the complete force....1k of Death Krops of Krieg. Or 15 Blast Templates a turn minimum depending on how you count it :) 

Anyway, this is to be run alongside my friends Militarum Tempestus formation, I'm the shield, him the the spear. Together, the Emperors Hammer! 

I'll be doing my very best trying to take pictures over the course of the three games so stay tuned for a full event write up early next week :)

Thanks for looking guys and girls - Catch you in a bizzle. 

Dark Bristles

Using the Interwebs for Hobby Purposes - Video Battle Reports

Hi All,

Welcome to the second post in the irregular series that is "Using the Interwebs".  The first post in this series can be found here.  This post will concentrate on video battle reports.  As no doubt most of you reading this will know, there is a mass of video battle reports out there.  In fact you could replace TV completely with video bat reps should you wish too!

Having tried to put together a video battle report recently I have clearly realised the decent ones have good equipment, delivery, beautifully painted armies and scenery..... in short they are a challenge to get right.

Video battle reports can be used for multiple reasons.  So what can we gleen from video battle reports?  First off, along with podcasts (a future using the interwebs article) it is often something I put on when I am painting but that's not all.  They can be used to; learn the rules, pick up painting inspiration, consideration of tactics for your army and often understanding armies you don't collect.

Many of the volume video battle reporters are sponsored and run a "freeview" and "pay for" channel. Personally I don't pay for any channels as I don't have the time to watch that volume of battle reports. The other thing to note many of these channels offer a free trial if you find a series of videos which particularly interests you.

So the first channel to mention is Miniwargaming.  They have multiple series, rooms and systems. They produce reports for multiple systmes including warhammer 8th edition before the change to AOS.  Some good reports are:

Warhammer 8th featuring Dwarfs and Tomb Kings (my two armies!)



Warhammer 30K - Horus Heresy - This is a different kind of game using Zone Mortalis.




Last battle report to share from miniwargaming is to share the start of one of their narrative campaigns.  They go into a lot of detail to deliver a narrative but unfortunately put some of the reports in their subscription service the "Vault".



The next channel to mention is Table Top Tactics from Lawrence, Beard and the rest.  I like this channel for understanding competitive 40k and list building.  Well as I would like to "be somebody" here is some links:

First up a competitive practice report vs ACEFACE.  In fact that is another good thing about this channel is the link up reports with other youtube battle report channels



Another report this time in collaboration with SN battle reports and also to mention I love the atmospherics at the beginning of the videos.



On to another of the real big boys of battle reports is Striking Scorpion 82.  This channel in my opinion has the best scenery and some stunning painted models.  Perhaps the main criticism is it sticks too much to the same types of games and missions.  Having said that this first video is Apocalypse battle report different to the normal 1850 reports this channel sticks to in the main:



Another slightly different and narrative game involving Steel Legion and Orks (clearly I am drawn to these types of games!).  This is an attack vs defence game.



Ok, I could put links in forever as I like so many video battle report channels but instead, to keep the post to a readable amount here is a list with clickable links of other notable video battle report channels:

Winters SEO - 40K / 30K channel, mentioned in first Using the Interwebs post.
The Legion Wargamming - 40k
The Long War - 40K, Competitive gaming
Aceface - 40K (as featured in report above), Competitive gaming
Geeks 40K Channel - 40K
Bell of Lost Souls - Pretty much all systems, can be very inconsistent in quality
Once Bitten 360 - Fantastic Warhammer 8th Reports, now moved onto the 9th age (not for me) but the channel has a large library.

I could keep going with links but I will stop there at some of the major channels I watch.  I am sure this list is not exhaustive and would ask for you guys to share the links of your favourite  channels below in the comments.

Enjoy the watching

Cheers

DOC out.........