T-Minus 21 Days and Counting

For today I am showing a quick tutorial on how I magnetized my Cyclone Missile Launcher on my Wolf Guard that will be attached to one of my Long Fang units.

Here is the model I will be using. I painted this buy up a few years ago for the original BoLScon, and he will be getting a new coat of paint for War Games Con this year.

Rebooting, and War Games Con

So as I mentioned on Monday, I took the last 6 weeks off from blogging (and hobbying to be honest) to get over some illnesses (it really sucked that that is plural) and to finish up school. Yesterday was my last day of work, and now it is time to get it back in gear.

War Games Con is right around the corner, and I plan on playing in the narrative campaign. For that I have to have a 3000 point army ready to go. I've almost got that squared away except for a few pieces. So as you can see from the newly installed countdownr, I'm got about three weeks to get everything done. I'm thinking it will be fine.

So first up, I am going to list my army:


HQ
Rune Priest: Runic Armor, Chooser, Jaws and Lightning
Rune Priest: Runic Armor, Chooser, Lightning and Hurricane
Wolf Priest: Runic Armor, Jump Pack,

Elite
Venerable Dreadnought: Assault Cannon, DCCW
Venerable Dreadnought: Plasma Cannon, DCCW
Wolf Scouts x5: Meltagun, Wulfen
Wolf Guard x5: Power Fist x4, Combi-Melta x4, TDA and CML
Wolf Guard x8: Arjac, Storm Bolter, Combi-Plasma x3, Chain Fist, Double Wolf Claw, Power Fist, Power Weapon, Thunder Hammer x2, Frost Weapon, Storm Shield x2

Troops
Grey Hunters x8: Standard, Meltagun, Wulfen, Rhino
Grey Hunters x8: Standard, Meltagun, Wulfen, Rhino
Grey Hunters x5: Plasma gun, Razaorback with Las/Plas

Fast
Sky Claws x10: Meltagun

Heavy
Long Fangs x6: Missile Launcher x5
Long Fangs x6: Lascannons x5
Landraider Crusader: Extra Armor, Meltagun

2999 points.

Everything in white I have painted and ready to go. Everything in yellow is in the process of being painted. I don't think that is too much to do in 3 weeks.

We'll see!

Memorial Day 2012

In Flanders Fields, by John McCray, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scare Heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with use who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

To those I served with,
to those I've lost,
to those I'll never get a chance to meet,
happy Memorial Day.

I've taking some time off due to illness and the end of the school year, but I am hoping to have regular blog posts starting again on Wednesday.

There are No Wolves on Fenris Day 2: Green Stuff and Priming

So here is my attempt to use liquid green stuff for the first time one something other than just a crack here or there on a single model.

Last time we some some of the really large gaps in the Thunder Lord wolf (along with some odd "birth marks") and here are my attempts to fix them. I could probably use a couple more coats on the dimples, but I think they'll be fine. As for the gap itself, I think it will be hardly noticeable once the paint is on.

I just can't help thinking, why didn't the 'Evy Metal painter do something about the dimples when he painted his mini up. Am I missing something? Are they supposed to be some cybernetic thingy on the wolf? Odd.

Here are the leaping wolves. For all of the plastics, you have a huge line down the center of the head, and for most of them, another line where the tail meets the body. I'm not 100% sure why the plastic wolf head comes in 3 pieces, and the resin one comes in one piece. It is great for being able to have two different heads, but these models are a lot more labor intensive than most plastic models I've worked with.

I have got to say that working with the liquid green stuff is pretty great. GW knocked the ball out of the park with this stuff. I really didn't enjoying trying to do fine detail work with green stuff. It may have something to do with the four extra thumbs I have on each hand, but I digress. The gaps on the heads were pretty big, and it did take me a few coats to cover them completely, but by the time I was finished painting the LGS on the 6th wolf, the 1st wolf was dry (or at least dry enough for a second coat) and I could go back and work on it some more.

Up next is primer and basecoat!

There are No Wolves on Fenris Day 1: Review

So I went ahead and took the plunge and bought some Thunder Wolf Cavalry a week or so ago. I bought two boxes of three, and the Lord in Finecast. I thought I'd due a day-by-day of me painting the minis, and I'd start with a review. 

News Flash!: Dark Angels Rumors!

So I was sitting in the park the other day when this complete stranger (we'll call him Lion Lover, to protect his identity) comes up to me and starts talking to me. Turns out that his kid goes to preschool in China with the kid of the main author of the Dark Angels codex (it turns out all the writing is done in China)!

Weekend Paint Party: Part 2

So the other mini I slapped some paint on this past weekend was Huron Blackheart. I got the Finecast version of this guy because I couldn't find a reasonably priced metal model on eBay. Now at first I thought that this was a terrible Finecast screwup, but then I realized that Huron is just that jacked up!

Weekend Paint Party: Part 1

So me and a friend of mine often get together on Saturday afternoon and hang out and paint. After spending all week with teenagers it is pretty cool to hang out with an adult (are as close to that as Tom is).

So this past weekend I worked on two models (it appears that my painting ADD even occurs while I'm painting). First up is Arjac Rockfist.

so while I was sitting there, I decided to do my least favorite part of painting, the base. I did up this guy's base to match the rest of my army, although at some point in the future I'm going to add snow a little grass to all of my basses (all 100 of them or so).

Usual paint scheme for these guys. I've got to try to figure out how to get the bend out of the hammer on this guy. Biggest downfall of Finecast is the bends that you get so easily in the long thin pieces. This piece was pretty straight until it got wedged in my carry case on the way home, and now it has a bend that I can't seem to get rid of. What I'm worried about is that I'm going to get the model 100% done and it is going to happen.

Now the reason that Finecast is great is this shield. I it is hard to see the detail here, but the detail is fantastic!

Grey Knights Librarian: WiP 3 (Complete)

As I said in my last post, I can't believe I hadn't already posted the completed pics of this guy. He has been done for a while now. So I figured I'd better get off my duff and get to it. So here we go.

Grey Knights Librarian: WiP 2

I can't believe I haven't posted these pictures before. This guy is actually fully complete, but I wanted to post some WiP pics of him.

Space Wolves Servitors: WiP 3

Well a while back, I posted up my pretty much done Space Wolves Servitors. I have finally really finished them up.

War Games Con

Well I think I am going to go to War Games Con this year. I played at the original one, and the second year I spent my whole time in green stuff classes with having a man-crush on Dave Taylor, and last year I was out of town the weekend they the con was going on. This year I am wanting to go again, and this time I am planning on playing the narrative games a go.

So for the narrative games, you need to bring a 3000 point army, so here is what I am thinking.

Space Wolves Dreadnough: WiP 2

Spending all last week on Black Library has let me build up a bit of a back-log of painting updates, so we get back-to-back dreads.

Here is an updated pic of my weapons display. Of course, I switched the heavy bolter and the lascannon from the pick from yesterday, but oh well.

This guy is 99% done. I bought some runes from Secret Weapon Miniatures, and I have yet to put those on (yeah, I know I should have put them on before I painted, but that didn't happen), but this guy is pretty much done.

Space Wolves Dreadnought: WiP 1

Have you ever seen one of those photos of warplanes or attack helicopters that have all of the available ordinance that the vehicle can use? Well here is my version of it. 

Once again I am updating my oft forgotten Tale of Four Dreadnoughts. Here we have an Assault on Black Reach dread that I got when I went in halfsies with a buddy.

Now way back when I bought this guy, the current Codex: Space Marines had just come out, and the Space Wolves Codex was nowhere on the horizon. In C:SM was a new type of dread, the Ironclad, and through some cheeky RaW, you could sorta say that my space pups could take an Ironclad, so I wanted to model one up. Hense the Leman Russ treads on the shoulder, I wanted to give it a beefed up armored appearance.

Another thing I did was to buy the Dark Angels bits from the plastic dread set, and put those on the back of the legs figuring that an Ironclad would have more protection on its vulnerable bits.

Another of my many weaknesses is my WYSIWYG streak. I really like to be able to model what I have, and so, I bought a plasma cannon, and a claw from Forge World

Oh, and did I mention a twin-linked heavy bolter?

And two sets of twin-linked autocannons? Yes, I know I have a disease!

Last up is one of my favorites, the twin-linked lascannon and the missile launcher. If you make this guy venerable, he becomes nigh impossible to kill!

More next time.

Book Review: 25 for 25 part 5

Well here we go, last but not least, the last five stories of Black Library's 25 for 25.

Snares and Delusions by Matthew Farrer was first published in Dark Imperium and tells the story Chaplain De Haan and Word Bearers as they attempt to take over an Eldar Exodite world. This was a very good story because you totally feel it is going to go one way that the beginning, and then it totally goes a different way at the end. Very good read!

Next up is The Curiosity by Dan Abnett. This story was in Cruicible of War, and it tells us about one of my favorite, least known Dan Abnett character, Magos Biologis Valentin Drusher. I read about Drusher the first time in Fear the Alien. In that story, I really felt that Abnett was riffing on Harry Dresden, but I don't get that feeling in this story. In this one, the Magos, having completed cataloging all of a fauna on the planet, is sent to check on a predator he may has missed. Hijinks ensue!