Not blogged much but...

 ..I've not been idle.

Work on the Epic stuff has been continuing with lots of prep work being done on both the Iron Warriors and the Orks. As we are sticking with it for the time being we have reached the point where we need to start playing proper games with better objectives. With this in mind we've started to put together some markers to use.

Being a bit of a hoarder I tend to keep the inserts and waste pieces from MDF kits. They are finished and cut pieces that can prove very useful. Its also lots of fun sitting down and seeing what fun things you can make out of them!

One generator, some cargo pods and a missile silo. With a bit of sand to texture the bases these'll be ready to paint.

As an alternative objective or a piece of scenery I knocked together a little cargo lander. I might well make a couple more and a little space port to add to the scenery.

Painting all the Epic stuff I've bought recently will take a while but I am chipping away at it. Nearly done are some Land Speeders for the Iron Warriors and the start of my ork force. They actually take longer to paint than I thought they would.

I'm still plugging away at the 28mm Iron Warriors as well and they've had their transfers and weathering done now along with Army Dip and matt varnish. Just the basing left to do.

I think they've come out pretty well.

TTFN

Back on track!

I was trailing behind on the 365 challenge. 3 months in and I only had 56 completed.

That has all changed! Finally finishing off the first tranche of 66 Epic figures I've managed to take the tally from 56 up to 122. Perfect!I'm well ahead now! I've also managed to squeeze in some extra stuff too.

First up then......6mm Iron Warriors.

36 Stands of Marines
18 Rhinos
8 Land Raiders
4 Contemptors

Doing the stripes was.....err....fun.

As we are planning to play Epic shortly I thought we better get prepared. The game requires blast markers for in game effects and I'd seen a nice tutorial on how to make some cool ones. Gave it a try and they worked out okay I think.

I've also been trying to prepare the next load of bits for the Iron Warriors but made some assumptions about how compatible 6mm stuff is. The turrets were from Vanguard and is transpires that their stuff, whilst lovely, is true scale. I posted this piccie to an Epic group on Facebook so people could laugh at me and my Noobiness but the owner of Vanguard responded offering to take them back for a full refund. Very Kind. In truth I'll probably just buy the tank chassis's that fit them. I still need predators after all!

At work I've been making progress on the 28MM Iron Warriors. Slowly but surely painting the hazard stripes on their pads. They're home now for finishing so I am very much in the hope that within the next 7-10 days I'll have another 66 figures to add to the tally. Painting the stripes has been less frustrating than I would have imagined. I am really looking forward to seeing the breachers finished as they look so cool!

I've painted sooooo many stripes lately that I really need a break from Iron Warriors and the thought of painting some Orks is making me smile. Quick and fun and dirty! With that in mind I have started getting some Epic Ork stuff prepped at work ready to spray and shift home.

Who doesn't love likkle dreddies?

On top of all this I've managed to squeeze in a couple of games. No. 17 Was AoS with the Seraphon getting a right smacking from the combined forces of Undead and Chaos. Bastards.

Game 18 was a quick game of X-Wing with Urn whilst we chin-wagged about Epic. Scum and Villainy earned their name as they stopped the heroic rebels from collecting vital cargo. That was medical supplies! Bastards!

Tomorrow night is a test game of Epic for me and Urn and I'm really looking forward to it!

TTFN!

22000pts

So the day of the Mega game arrived with much excitement! We had something in the region of 22,000 points on the table

The board had been set up on Saturday with many of the forces unboxed and ready to go on Sunday morning. We mustered, for the most part (eh Urn? ;-), just after nine but it still took us a while to deploy. The orks deployed first and it was a horrible sight to behold especially as BFG & the Silverback were using the Green Tide formation.

'Orrible right?

And that was just one sector of the four set up along the table. massed Orks supported by a stompa, grot guns, squiggoths and herdz of grotz to sit on the objectives on their side of the table.

The Eldar's knees were trembling somewhat as they camped across from the horde.

Thankfully the IG had brought there ever so courageous Ogryn to act as a fantastic distraction and speed bump slowing the tide of green down.

Mean while in the center sectors....

....it was quite-ish in the fields but in the city.....

....a fight was brewing up with a stompa led charge of Killer Kans supported by non-other than Ghazaghull and some of his equally ugly friends!

The fighting spilled out of the city into the sparsely populated Badlands where the IG and Eldar struggled to contain a grot battle tank and some Killer Kans with the forces they had in the region.

A win for the Orks 28 - 20 at the end of turn three. We played the Eldar turn four, as we had a bit of time, but they only pulled back to 28 - 25 so it is safe to say that even with more turns the Orks would have had it in the bag.

Great game and always great to get the big toys out!

'Til the next one!

TTFN.

Da Deff Kopta Sqwadrun..... And da uvver wun

My quest for a fully painted ork army continues apace!

What with having lots of boyz done, I decided it was time for some support. So out from the almost forgotten work box come some Deff Koptas. Quick and easy to paint up and I stripped down the rotors to only two blades so they are easier to store flat!

Goff squadron first, with some decals added to make 'em look a bit flash :) as they are slightly organised, they have the same marking on the front bonnet, with random glyphs added to the sides. I'm pleased with how the decals dulled down with some attention. Lots of colours for missiles on the basis they can't decide which shoot best......

Next up are the slightly crazier evil suns pilots. Same basic work, same squadron load out as the first one (i.e. The basics)

My one game so far with them confirmed my thoughts, great on the first turn and then die horribly to any sort of decent return fire! Still, they do draw fire away from the mobs, which has to be good news.

Just a couple of HQs to finish up now to get my army all painted up......

Orks! (And the foldio)

So, having a new army can sometimes mean part or not painted figures on the tabletop when you're too excited about using the new army to have time to get all the lovely figures painted.

So, when I used my orks the other day I had a few under coated figures and some not based, etc..... And I was rather embarrassed.

The orks don't really qualify as "new" anymore, you see. I've had them for years. I've just never managed to get them painted. Which is rubbish and hence my embarrassment. And you know that feeling when you see something and then can't stop seeing it everywhere? So when I looked at a couple of battle reports on the internet, some figures were bare plastic and metal and it looked properly rubbish. So I was reminded of my responsibility as a GoG to get stuff painted before I put it on the table.

So, without any further navel gazing or self flagellation, please find pics of the based snake bites.

These boys complete a unit to give me 30 of them and give me my fourth unit of 30. Horde-tastic :) as I converted a bunch from warhammer figs, they look a little more primitive and the eBay lot I won came with a drummer, who I just had to keep and he's in the second row, drumming out the advance-at-the-quick. Or whatever armies use these days... Silverback?

Next up was finishing the lootas, who were a mish-mash of undercoat and base coat. Bad moons for these boys, with bright yellow highlighting on the yellow metal areas to keep the shiny lookin'.

And from the side

Ideally I'd get all these ladz highlighted at some point, but with about 150 models in the final army I'm not sure I'd ever get the time, so I shall rely on the horde look to allow me to get away with it..... Not many to go now as I inch my way towards the holy grail of 1,500 points.

And a final word on my Foldio. I saw this advertised on the internet a while ago and it came out of a successful kickstarter. It is a little light box that folds down and goes up in seconds and allows me to finally take half decent pictures not on the workbench.  I got the one with 2 LEDs (as I figured not using one was better that finding out I wanted another) and the small amout extra to buy that model was well worth it. Here is a little pic of the foldio in action.

You can really see the difference in light compared to the rest of the garage.

Converted ork war bikes finished - cyboars!

Here they are, completed and ready to oink onto the tabletop :)

I haven't really highlighted any of my other orks as, frankly, there are just too many of them! I also rely on the "look" of massed boyz making up for this. But I couldn't go that route with these chaps as they were just crying out to be highlighted, so everything got a highlight or a dry brush, except for the metal that I decided to leave as it was to look grimy.

Cyboars arrive!

Ok, so this is something I've been meaning to do for years, quite literally.

Given how old school 40k I am, I always liked the clan structures of the orks, hence my painting if the boys in colour coded schemes. To further add variety and theme to the force I wanted to do cyboars as my war bikers. Finally I got around to it and here they are!

WFB boar rider bodies, wheels from trucks and lots and lots of bits (thanks silverback for the very generous use of your bits box!)

The ork planes came in very handy for exhausts and wheel covers (the spare engine coverings) and deff dredd and killer arms helped a lot too. Enjoy the piccies :)

So have you ever wondered.....

So I was sat there assembling some models and I wondered, just wondered what 7,000pts of Orks actually looks like.

Then I realised that would mean getting out 150 grots and 15 slavers, so I changed my mind and wondered what 6,100 pts (or so) of Orks would look like....

So here you go.

Now this has told me with that 60 Boyz on the table, I think I need more - it is a good job I have another 60 assembled :)

The Green tide flows on

Now that was quick, wasn’t it? Another 30 Boyz to add to the green horde. These ones are from the “Goff” clan and so find themselves with black outfits – drybrushed with grey to pick them out a little and provide a dustier appearance that suits the orks I think.

I luv wurkin' for unkle Ork........

These boyz were deliberately all given helmets to further link them as a unit and the Goffs are militaristic and no right thinkin’ boy would go into battle without one after all :)

Given the large areas of black, I procured some white check transfers from ebay and laid them on the flat shoulder pads and the odd helmet, providing me with a scattering of the check pattern that is another hallmark of the goffs and hopefully helping to break up the black a little.

How do you get 30 Boyz in a battlewagon?  I dunno, ask Fark!  ;)

This lot also differ from the other two units as they have the old slugga/choppa combo instead of shootas. I appreciate that shootas are apparently better in 6th (the internet says so, so it must be true!) but I wanted a bit of variety and when shooting hasn’t worked and something seriously needs crumpin’, these are your boyz!

Three big shootas and the ubiquitous Nob with a Power Klaw completes the unit and the banner on the Nob got some transfers from the jolly nice Ork flyer that I recently procured and that now takes me to 90 boyz ready for action!

Orks - Faaaaaasands of 'em!

Well, not quite, but it is a start at least!  I’ve had these orks hanging around for years. Initially when I picked them up in a bargain basement deal I thought to myself “These won’t take long to paint and will be a nice change of pace on the battlefield”........

Well, I was right about one thing, each Ork is indeed quick and easy to paint. Unfortunately trying to paint over 100 of the little blighters plus vehicles take a lot more time! Hence I managed to get some units painted, only to discover that I needed to change the odd weapon and so the unit wasn’t finished, or I didn’t have time for basing, or I needed more in the unit, etc, etc. so I ended up with a bit of a mess with some units nearly complete, some not really started, undercoated vehicles and frankly no real drive to get them done. I’ve also long known that I’m great at diving into new things and getting them 95% done…. And then they hang around waiting for the last 5% for ages!

So how did they get out of the hobby slump? Well, it was mostly embarrassment on my part! I realised that out of the five 40k armies that I can reasonably field, I could only do the frankly entry level 1,500 points in Imperial Guard (admittedly I do well here with plenty over to switch things around) and Sisters (although the sisters were built for 5th and really therefore need a bit of updating for 6th).

Looking through the half started armies over Christmas, I decided that Orks were the way to go as they quite frankly looked like fun and I hadn’t used them in ages!

So, out came the clippers, spare parts and some additional cheap unpainted figures from ebay (well, if you’re going to have an army not used much, you might as well reinforce it, right?!?!?) and I set to work sorting them into useful units under 6th edition. I’d long ago decided to use the different ork Clans to differentiate the units as having lots of boyz on the table might make it hard to differentiate between them otherwise, so each unit was assigned a clan, and therefore a colour, and off I went.

These first two units are each 30 strong (yep, I managed to go from zero finished to 60 in one fell swoop!) and are from the Bad Moon (yellow) and Evil Sun (red) clans. All armed with Shootas with 3 special weapons in eash.  Very simple painting with a coloured undercoat, then do skin, metal, contrasting colour for some belts, braces, ammo packs, etc. and then a wash of GW black wash (both my old Badab and new Nuln oil depending on what was to hand) and they were done!

"We iz moor flash dan de red boyz and we 'ave rokkits!"

"We iz yellow, green and mean!"

Given the sheer volume of boyz I decided against highlighting further for now as it would take up a lot of my precious painting time and frankly I was sure I’d lose the drive to get them all completed if I did that extra time-consuming step! So, with discretion being the better part of getting an army finished, I stopped with the wash.

"But boss, I fought you said dere would be a big trukk for us!?!?!?"

For the basing, I decided to go for snow basing for a couple of reasons. It’s different to anything I’ve done before and Gareth’s gaming table, where I see them being deployed most of the time, is snow themed so they would fit right in. the mix that I used is white glue, water, bicarbonate of soda and snow scatter/flock. I then dip it in snow scatter to finish. The odd grey stone is pushed in to provide some variety and there we have it.

I’m really pleased with how they’ve turned out and the fact I feel like I’m on the way to getting an army done – as I tend to drift onto new projects a lot of the other things I need for the army are done and so should make it up onto the blog fairly shortly…… and yes, that does sound like famous last words ;)

Transport for grots

So thanks to Fark for access to his trash box of discards.  I spent the afternoon raiding my Ork bitz box and cutting plasticard to create some grot tanks.  I also split open a water filter cartridge to get the small balls to make the nuts and rivets on the various plasticard plates.

Added with some Kromlech turrets and I think I have avoided paying £60 to forgeworld for three of their Grot Tanks........

So what do you think?

It makes me feel like dancing!!!

What turning into a shelf tidying exercise turned into me making another building for the table. 

Oh and another 24 grots and 4 slavers painted.  Including these 2 cheerleaders ... both of whom are having a wardrobe malfunction like Janet Jackson :)

You should never contain your inner Ork

As you can see from the pic, I have loved 6th edition so much that orks are back.

Painted today, ghazgull, burna boys, a burna nob with a KMB, a painboy and if you look in the back ground, I have base coated 70 grots .....

😄

Back in the Groove

Well it has been a while, but since my step back into work I have finally found some time to get painting again.

Since I sold my Sisters of Battle Army for a nice large lump sum, I have invested it in adding to my existing forces.  My plan is quiet simple:

• Bring the Necrons up to date with the new release.
• Enhance my Tyranids into a force that can be deployed in a variety of ways, not just based around the Swarmlord.
• Have enough Orks to face Nick or Nathan at a 5,000 point game...... and that is a lot of orks.

So with those plans in my mind, I have started work on multiple fronts.

After a couple of bargains, I have 60+ ork boyz to paint, plus another 30 burnas/lootas etc and another 30 grots :)  Oh and an ork flyer!

Then I landed an exceptionally painted Nid army, which means to keep a consistent these I need to repaint a number of models to keep them all the same - not much work but it will keep me busy!

You can see the light blue of a necron test figure - I need to acquire some new Blue wash to finish that and the same blue on the pilot of the barge.  I hope you can see the rust weathering on all the necron vehicles (done using the hairspray technique).

Deathskullz reach their first Objective

Here's what I did this week.

I've added another 20 Boyz and 3 Kans to the fledgling Ork Deathskullz Army to give me 500 points in total. Hurrah they're now at a useable level!
I've kept the painting very simple for this army with washes forming the mainstay of depth perception; easier for a horde army!
The full 500....
Yes they are blue. I didn't want green Orks so mine have gone blue - afterall it's supposed to be a lucky colour for Orks right??

How do I tell the 2 squads apart? I paint the gloves/wristbands different colours :-)

Yellow...
Red...
The 2 Nobz... One Yellow and One Red... the third squad will use green...
The outfits of both squads are mainly yellow but with various other foundation colours thrown in for good measure.

Kans - new plastic ones which are very spiky and do hurt. Washed with Black for the oily look...


So 2011 continues to be a good year for completing projects. I also completed the basing on the final Daemons so they're complete and done. Yay.

I'm finding that mixing up my painting is really helping: a unit for the Orks, then a World Eater unit then a marine unit etc. Enjoying the variation.

Next up: 500 points of Space Wolves, Planetstrike scenery for a GoG mini-campaign and Prussians for Dystopian Wars. After that I need to be looking at Dark Eldar, World Eaters, Tzeentch and Shrike's Marines. This assumes I don't get sidetracked by those shiny Grey Knights in April....