4 Sept 2009

Salamanders for a GoG auxiliary!

Well it's been a busy few weeks for me painting a new Marine force from scratch. A friend of mine Andy Powell asked me to paint him a Salamander force for use in a Tournament. He quite fancied the Salamanders as their Chapter Master Vulkan is pretty nasty and the benefits he bestows his army a re really second to none.









The army was listed with Vulkan (conversion from DH GK Hero Stern!)

3x 10 Tac Marines, utilising 2 Razorbacks and 1 Drop pod for transport. The Heavy wpns are 2 Lascannons and 2 Flamers a Multi melta and a melta.









1 x 5 Scouts in a storm Speeder.









1 x Landspeeder with Multi Melta and Hvy Flamer.


6 x Vanguard Marines including a TH and SS, along with 2 PS and 1 Pl Pist.














2 x Ironclad Dreads with Hvy Flamers and Meltas in dropods, both with Deathwind launchers and 1 with Locator Beacon.
All for 1,750 pts when the additions of a few Wargear bits and bobs.

The paint Job was relatively straightforward, thanks to the input from the SilverBack, who acquired me a tin of Army Painters "Color Primer Greenskin", this made shirt work of the undercoating, which massively reduced the time I would need to paint the whole lot.
I have used the Army Painter before with mixed results and have learned that in order to get a really good result you need to give the tin a really good shake for a 2 minute period then spray no closer than 10-12 inches from the figure. The results are excellent.









After this I over brushed with "Snot Green" then drybrushed with "Goblin Green" once this was dry I washed the figure with "Thraka Green" and then put the black and metals on! These were then washed with "Badab Black". I highlighted the black with "Codex Grey", then some "Fortress Grey". Lastly the eyes were picked out in "Dwarf Bronze".
The vehicles were a challenge for me, I haven't done too many large flat surfaces before now, (being an Ork and Tyranid player primarily, there are not too many even surfaces with this lot!)
I used the undercoat spray then went about drybrushing the edges with "Goblin Green", then I started applying the "Thraka Green" wash, this was put over all of it initially, however the fnish wasn't what I was looking for, so I adopted a style where I applied it in the joins of the plates and the recesses where I imagined light would portray a darker recess. This seemed to work well.
Andy needed a Vulkan character, he needed resuscitation when he realised one figure was £12, I told him that it was still worth it, as he did the job of a whole box set on his own....he wasn't to be convinced though ;-).
I had a few bits in my bits box, way back when you could purchase any parts from GW, so after fishing out my ol' Stern Character I set about givng him the Brother Captain arms, so he looks relatively different, due to time constraints I couldn't convert the Storm Bolter, something I hope to do later on.
Simple yet effective I hoped!

Last but not least, the basing is simply my mix of sharpp sand and "Budgie grit", I then washed this with Army Painter "Strong Tone" then dry brushed with "Bleached Bone". In the near future there will be tufts of dry grass put on to finish!

Hope you like the look! (Since taking the photos, I wasn't impressed with the very "flat" look of the green on the marines and have gone over these again! To a much more "shaded" look, much better!)
Carthage and the 1st Punic Wars next for me with a Roman Army just behind it! Still this is for another site I feel......Enjoy!
The BFG!

23 Jul 2009

The Taking of Osgiliath, a change in scenery!

Well the wait is over and while this may be a little off kilter from the 40K subjects we GoGs have been putting up here, it is worthy of publication.
As you will all remember way back in the end of May beginning of June the GoGs had the culmination of all the army building that went on. We descended on Lenton and had a weekend mini-tournie in honour of The SilverBacks birthday!

The prizes were all donated by the participants and the choosing order for the prizes was done from the lowest in the listings to the winner. So to be fair...(as we GoGs always try to be!) The loser of the tournie would get the best of the prizes. These ranged from boxsets of 40K troops to ForgeWorld models so the choices were fab! There was one prize that I had my eye on though. Our friend Eddie Artillery had offered to make a custom piece of terrain for the chooser of his nominated prize....anything you wanted.....gulp! My mind was a blur of images from 40K defence positions to LotR set pieces! Then it hit me....what about this game we were just venturing in to....War of the Ring! Great!! A building to house troops in during battles! Faaaantastic!!

Well as was expected my Guard only managed one draw all weekend and got slaughtered in all the other games :-(. Oh well!!!! I get the first pick of prizes......without hesitation I chose the terrain feature.

The next week Eddie wanted to kno what I wanted....I was the proverbial kiddie in the sweet shop! So he offered some suggestions! One of which was the town of Osgiliath.....did I read that right! Osgiliath!! The whole town! Eddie said "Yeah of course!" "I have a great vision of the damaged bridge and the surrounding buildings!". OMFG!!! I thought!
Yes Please!
Now such is the dedication of the man, that he missed out on our gaming nights in order to complete the project.....and here are the results!
These are staged using my Isengard army, as unfortunately my Gondor army isn't ready yet! But you get the drift....these are beautiful models, the terrain features encompassed with the buildings is second to none!











Here is a lovely centrepiece of the tower and the ruined place of worship.
Orcs pour across the river..in the background can be seen one of the huge Mordor Trolls followed by a supporting phalanx of Uruk-Hai Pike!


A Mordor Troll rampages through one of the derelict gardens in the suburbs!

The Berserkers prepare to take the fight to the City!









Ugluk restores order with his scouts by taking another impudent head!


Bow armed scouts move through a once magnificent building, now just ruins!( Note the detail in the trailing ivy and the ornate gateway)


Here is a fine example of a two story building now reduced to ruin, through the onslaught of the forces of evil!
A view from one side of the ruined bridge.........and the other!
Eddie has put up a ramshackle planked bridge to cover the gap!
The river section covers a full 4 feet! The bridge being the centre piece for this! AWESOME!!
Here is a better shot of the bridge exspanse, complete with makeshift bridging, you can also see the ornamental statues on the support pillars!


A detailed ruin that will take at least three companies of troops!
Well I hope you enjoyed the tour, this has given me a great incentive to paint the rest of my troops for War of the Ring....however I don't have any Mordor or Gondor troops! Perhaps I need to remedy that!!! :-)
Till next time TTFN!

26 May 2009

The Green Machine Rumbles on



Well, as Our Lizzie lets me have a day off to celebrate her birthday, I spent it wisely and in her honour. I therefore present to you Messers Zagstruk and Snikrot. Zagstruk is a pain to put together but a breeze to paint. Snikrot is pretty easy in both departments.
Next on the table are 10 Stromboyz to hold Zagstruks hat and coat as he dukes it out with anyone close enough.

My preparations for the next Apoc game are in an advanced stage.




24 May 2009

The post is sponsored by JCB


My preparations for the next Apoc game are moving along nicely.


As you can see JCB wanted to branch out into the world of 40K and I have provided them an opportunity. 6 Mega-Armoured Nobs and their own battlewagon, with Kill Kannon. I have left the battlewagon with removable turrets and the hint that it is open topped. Thus it can be used for a variety of roles in any list. I think that this needs playtesting to work out the best use of this.


These are definately not the best painted figures I have done. But it was simple, quick and I think an effective colour scheme. It seems that Eddie might have converted me to the benefits of yellow painting.




















8 May 2009

If you should go down to the woods today...










Well guys, you lot may have sat back on your a***** and been happy, possibly with the exception of Eddie and his alleged undercoated marines, but I am still plowing on and on.

So here are 10 Kommandos all done and ready to creep up where you least expect them. These will soon have Snikrot added to them for a little bit more Orky fun,


So, the next big question for me after shopping at the model shop is what colour shall I paint the battlewagon with KillKannon?????? Answers on a response to the author!

7 May 2009

Quick Update

It's all been a bit quiet around here so thought I'd just pop in and say hello.

We all had a great weekend up in Nottingham and I've got the results and hopefully some photos to post on Sunday.

This tournie marked the end of our initial GOG Challenge and the overall winner will be announced shortly. GOG 2 will be coming soon to a blog near you.

In the meantime we're embarking on different projects and no doubt updates will be posted as the long summer nights continue; hoping to have my Tower of Skulls project up and running shortly and will post updates as time permits.

23 Apr 2009

Well - here it is


Well we are off to Lenton to take part in our final hurrah at the end of 7 months of hard work and laughter. I wish us all good luck and bon chance, and may the best guy buy the beer.
I sincerely hope we are back at work monday still feeling the effects of the weekend whether they be alcohol, humour or good game related.
I leave you with the age old salute of may all of your dice be double sixes (especially for leadership/faith point tests).