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Busy, busy, busy, and lots of great blogs!

August 9, 2012, 1:01 pm
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Sorry for the delay in getting back to you all, but things have been pretty crazy around here. We are mere days away from sending our 300-page mega-issue of Wargames Illustrated off to the printers, my eldest daughter has started at pre-school, and my youngest has finally cut her first teeth (so no sleep for us)!

While I'm gathering the details of the competition entrants and shipping them off to Falk, here's a list of great blogs to check out, all recommended by the competition entrants : )

Already on my blog roll are the following:

28mmvictorianwarfare.blogspot.com
agentlemansones.blogspot.com
www.akaranseth.com/blog
briancarlsonminiatures.blogspot.com 
eyeoferror.blogspot.com.au
fischers-design-shop.blogspot.com
fromthewarp.blogspot.com
legionofplastic.blogspot.co.uk
recalcitrantdaze.blogspot.com.au
taleofpainters.blogspot.com
xenite.wordpress.com

And up for consideration will be the following:

11thcompany.blogspot.com
2ndcitywarzone.blogspot.com
aychplace.blogspot.ca
damnedcrusade.blogspot.com
darkfuturegaming.blogspot.com
www.freshcoast40k.com
hakomike.blogspot.com
hephsforge.blogspot.com
indy40k.blogspot.com
www.irondogstudios.com
maelstrom-therisingsign.blogspot.com
www.matakishi.com
oppositionforce.blogspot.com
paintingagency.blogspot.com
rustandthecity.blogspot.com
www.screamingheretic.com
spielerfrau.coverblog.de
studiogiraldez.blogspot.com
synaps3.blogspot.com
tabletopteek.blogspot.com
www.tabletopwar.net
www.terrainthralls.com
theback40k.blogspot.com
thebrushandbolter.blogspot.com
theindependentcharacters.com/blog
www.theshardnetandimpaler.com
touchedbygreatness.blogspot.com
ttfix.blogspot.com
tutofig.com

I hope you enjoy checking them all out!

Cheers
Dave
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We have a winner! and some Armies On Parade stuff

August 11, 2012, 11:29 am
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After consulting with Falk over at The Black Crusade 2012 to confirm all donations, I counted up the number of entrants (38) and headed on over to random.org. After punching in the numbers in and hitting enter, it came up with number 25.

Congratulations to Kayle! As the 25th person to enter, he wins the army : ) Please get in touch with me Kayle so we can arrange getting the army to you.


And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.



Here's a look at the final models I painted up for my Armies On Parade entry in Chicago. I was thinking that my army was fairly esoteric, and that I really needed to push that even more. Enter the "hobby horses" for the Procession of Morr. Based on the bodies of Ka'Daai Fireborn, and using the heads from Black Knight horses, and arms from Chaos Spawn. The feathers on their heads are from the Empire Greatswords. Oh, and plenty of greenstuff.




Not only were they interesting to create, they drew a LOT of confused looks and questions at Games Day. The most common question was "What are they in your list?" It was interesting, if people got an answer like "Ogre Ironguts" they were able to start to come to terms with their weirdness. However, if they couldn't fit them into a framework they started looking for other answers, even suggesting the army was a Vampire Counts army and they were Vargheists or something similar.

Interestingly enough, if you step back and look at the army all laid out, it could very easily be translated into a Vampire Counts army...


Here's the last shot of the whole thing (without the Wizard Lord and "hobby horses"). Scuttlebutt at the show said that I came in third. It also said that James Wappel's army came in second. You can check out his entry development here.

And, of course, first place went to the amazing surprise entry of J.J. Marino's Dark Eldar. You can see them here. Not only was J.J.'s army a real crowd pleaser, he was a nice guy to boot.

Until next time, keep painting!

Cheers
Dave
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Golden Demon, Chicago 2012

August 15, 2012, 2:41 pm
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Well, it'd been over two weeks since Games Day in Chicago, so I figured it was time to throw up pics of the models I entered in Golden Demon. Before we get to the photos, however, I must say that I liked the new set-up used by GW at the show, and bringing the GDs back into the main hall was, in my opinion (and despite the noise) was a successful move.


Here's my Warhammer Single entry. I wasn't expecting too much from him, but I figured it was worth a shot. Result - Finalist.


I entered the front three ranks of my Red Bears of Mecklenburg Greatswords unit in the Warhammer Regiment category. After seeing all the entries on the day, I felt I had a pretty decent chance of a trophy with these guys. Halfway through the day they disappeared from the cabinet, and couldn't be found. There were a few different thoughts from my friends at the show, including a possible trophy pick, but just minutes before the presentation ceremony they were spotted in the cabinets - in the Open category. I immediately rushed to check on why and was informed they had been moved because they didn't fit the basing requirements for the Warhammer Regiment category (which requires each model is on its own, individual gaming base - a restriction I find asinine, but that's how it is). In the Open category my Red Bears had absolutely no chance. Result - Finalist.


In Warhammer Monster I entered my Ogre Thundertusk. I really love this model and was happy with how I'd painted mine. Before the show I rebased the model on a Dragon Forge resin base and added some new snow, made using the Secret Weapon Miniatures Crushed Glass. It was definitely fun to try out this new (for me) product, and I'm looking forward to using it again. As usual, there were some lovely models in this category. Result - Finalist.





And finally, I entered my Iconoclave piece in the Diorama category. This is the entry I was most hopeful for, but there were lots of great entries in this category too. In the end it didn't quite hold up to the trophy winners. Result - Finalist.

I walked away fairly disappointed, but also full of ideas for next year. Let's see how many of them I can execute.

Congratulations to all the winners. Those trophies are all well deserved, particularly Todd's FIFTH Slayer Sword!

Cheers
Dave
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What's next?

August 19, 2012, 1:48 pm
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With Games Day behind me (and all the work for Armies On Parade and Golden Demon with it), it is finally time to turn to my future projects and try to get them in some sort of order.

Above you can see the test model for my next 40K project. It's been quite a while since I painted up a 40K army, so it's going to be fun getting stuck back in. This model is an Assault Marine from the Lamenters Chapter, one of those who sided with Huron Blackheart during the Badab Wars. But more on this later.

My future painting plans include:

• Around 1,000 points of Lamenters
• Five regiments of Union infantry for our Guns of April 2013 project
• Finishing off the first regiment for my Napoleonic Russian army
• Painting up the cool Witch Hunter model from the new Empire list
• Some Americans and Germans for Flames Of War

And getting into some serious planning for my 2013 Armies On Parade entry ; )

What are you guys planning?

Cheers
Dave
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Sniffle...sniffle...cough...cough

August 26, 2012, 12:04 pm
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Well, I haven't had a chance to get too much done this week. It was not only a busy one as I got back on track with Wargames Illustrated work after we delivered our monster issue to the printers the week before, but I was struck with a nasty cold fresh from the kiddies at my daughter's new pre-school. Parents reading this will know what I'm talking about : (

Anyway, I wanted to post this earlier in the week but found myself asleep each night before I had the chance. I recently received an excellent package in the mail all the way from the UK. James Griffith is a hobbyist who has recently decided to capture and corral a number of wildly entertaining visions and get together with some very talented artists to bring these visions to life in the form of Infamy Miniatures.

James (via Infamy) is bringing to life all the well-known characters from Victorian London folklore with an extremely dangerous twist. Sherlock Holmes and Watson are not the helpful chaps you might remember, Jekyll and Hyde will surprise you too, as will his take on Peter Pan and Tinkerbell.

James recently ran a very modest Indiegogo campaign that was successfully funded and those funds will see the planned models and gaming world start to flow from Infamy Miniatures, much like the muck from London's sewers into the Thames.

One thing that struck me as I opened the package containing Sherlock Holmes is that the style of the Infamy Miniatures is quite different to almost every other range out there. Above you can see Holmes standing ready with his cane and steampowered mechanical devices, but it's not until you see him compared to the Lamenters Assault Marine below that you get a sense for how tall and slender this model really is.

Cast in a superfine resin, each piece is amazingly detailed and everything goes together so smoothly. As you can see in the model above, there was only one blemish in that one of his magnifying glasses was a tad thin, easily fixed by the application of some greenstuff.

I'm considering painting up Holmes standing in front of a section of wall from the Garden of Morr set, just to emphasize the grimness of the alternate world James is creating.

Cheers
Dave
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Dark and Angry!

August 31, 2012, 1:28 pm
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There has been some more progress this week on my Lamenters/Badab War army. Namely wrapping up the test model for the Death Company (above) and starting on the next four models (below).

Originally I was reticent to include any Death Company or Sanguinary Guard in my army as I thought their primary colors were white and gold respectively. I wanted this army to be grim, dark, and full of anger. White just didn't speak to me. When I took another look at the Imperial Armour book I noticed that the Lamenters Death Company were actually black, I changed my mind very quickly.

One change I have made, however, to the scheme is to replace the red Xs of the typical BA Death Company with the bright yellow of the Lamenters, providing a stronger link back to the regular Chapter Marines.


These four are nearing completion. Just a bit of touch up, then highlighting the black. Once I've painted the next five Death Company bodies, I'll paint up the nine backpacks I need to finish off the entire squad.

Anyways, I hope you like how they're coming along.

Someone asked, in a recent post, if I have a list ready for the army. Well, I kind of do. Here goes:

HQ: Unsure at the moment

Elites: 
• Furioso Dreadnought with Blood Talons

Troops: 
• 10 Tactical Marines - Serg w/powerfist & plasma pistol, 1 w/plasma gun, 1 w/plasma cannon
• 10 Death Company - 1 w/powerfist, 2 x melta pistols
• 5 Assault Marines - Serg w/powerfist & plasma pistol, 1 x meltagun
• 5 Assault Marines - Serg w/powerfist, 1 x meltagun

Heavy Support:
• Storm Raven - unsure of final weapon configuration.

If you have any thoughts, feel free to leave them in the comments below, or let me know next week when you visit the Grand Opening Event for Dropzone Games. I'll be hanging out Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so make sure you drop by!

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More Death Company and the Dropzone Grand Opening!

September 7, 2012, 1:28 pm
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Two things quickly: the first are the next five Lamenters Death Company I'm working on. You can see them above. Still yet to finish the parchments, silver, checks, and black.


Then here are a few Panthers I'm working on for a small commission. I'll show you some WIP shots as I go along. Should be interesting working on some Late War schemes after last year's Early War Germans.

If you'd like to chat a bit more about painting Flames Of War tanks, come and hang out to the Dropzone Games Grand Opening tomorrow. I'll be leading a class on FOW Tank Painting from 3pm : )

Have fun!

Cheers
Dave

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Lost in the Warp reaches 200th post, running a competition!

September 11, 2012, 2:10 pm
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One of the most fearsome characters in all of Warhammer lore, with one of the least 
fearsome models. Picture © Games Workshop, used without permission.

Hi everyone,

Just a quick post to guide you towards a great blog/site/forum run by a friend of mine - James Craig. James is not only a great guy, but an excellent modeler and painter, so I urge you to head to his blog, Lost in the Warp, and dig through the archive of excellent material...oh, and enter his competition!

Cheers
Dave

PS. Why the use of the Nagash pic? He certainly grabs some attention, doesn't he? That, and James used the pic too ; )
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Kickstarted!

September 14, 2012, 6:24 am
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There have been a lot of miniature wargames-based campaigns launching on Kickstarter recently, and it has been very interesting to watch things tick along.

As someone who has worked in the "toy soldier biz" for the past two decades, I'm well aware of the costs involved in getting things off the ground, and then the momentum needed to keep things rolling. I'm fairly certain that sometime in the next few years that someone will write a thesis on the pros and cons of it all.

One thing that many of us will have seen (or even felt ourselves) is the level of excitement surrounding a successful campaign, and even more so with a wildly successful campaign (like Dreadball, Zombicide, or - the grandaddy of them all - the Reaper Bones campaign). We get caught up in what seems like a wonderful thing, and we're reluctant to miss out.

Well, fortunately I've been able to hold off on jumping into the "incredibly effective pre-order system" until now. Yesterday I pledged my support for the Dreamforge Games campaign and I'm looking forward to getting a hold of my Leviathan Mortis and Eisenkern APC next year.  Why this campaign Dave, and not the others that promised crazy rewards (like 250+ minis at the $100 level)? Well, the other minis didn't really speak to me, I just wasn't interested in having a bunch more models around I'd never paint. However, I've been excited by Mark Mondragon's designs for the last few years. Once or twice my hand even hovered over a button that would've seen me purchasing the original resin models.

So, I've finally taken the leap. Head on over to the campaign and see if there's anything there that "floats your boat", and if there is, think about jumping on it asap. Less than two days to go in the campaign.

Kickstarter campaign:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dreamforge-games/something-wicked-this-way-comes-crusader-plastic-m

Dreamforge Games blog:
http://dreamforge-games.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!
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First game of 6th Edition!

September 19, 2012, 6:06 pm
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You know, I don't talk much about my gaming. That's mainly because I don't do much of it at all. But last night I played my first game of the new edition of 40K... and I quite enjoyed it.

I cobbled together 1,000 points of Lamenters and threw down against my friend Jake's Eldar. So, not only was it my first game of 6th, but it was also my first game with a tiny, super-elite force: Death Company Tycho, 8 Death Company with jump packs, 5 Assault Marines, 10 Tactical Marines, and a Furioso dreadnought.

It was Jake's second game of 6th, but he was well-versed in what his Eldar could do. He ran a very shooty force: 3 scatter laser-War Walkers, 2 squads of 10 Dire Avengers, 2 Wave Serpents, and a Farseer.

It was interesting learning a few things about the new system: defending against psychic powers, removing casualties from shooting, 2d6 for charging, and - much to Jake's chagrin - a lessening of the survivability of those damn Wave Serpents.

After three turns of dancing around, gunning my squads down with what seemed like endless Bladestorms, Fortune, Guide, Doom, etc etc. I was down to Tycho, 2 Tactical Marines, 1 Death Company Marine, and a Furioso surrounded by the bulk of Jake's army.

Fortunately I got a chance to split my meager leftovers and, in a couple of glorious combat phases, I got to see just how brutal the Death Company version of Tycho can be. While my remainders took out a War Walker and a Wave Serpent, Tycho single-handedly took down a loaded Wave Serpent. He then weathered a crazy Bladestorm where he was hit 22 times (thanks to Guide), wounded 17 (thanks to Doom), and proceeded to save 15 times, and let his Feel No Pain suck up one of the other two wounds.

Still standing, he went on to take out the rest of the Dire Avengers and the Farseer in combat! By the end of turn 5 Jake had a single War Walker remaining. Quite the turn around.

In honor of this first match, I'm going to kit-bash a sweet Tycho stand-in. Now I just need to come up with a name and a bit of a background story for him.

Here's to many more games of 40K : )

Cheers
Dave
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Malifaux in plastic!

September 26, 2012, 1:32 pm
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A week or so ago a nice brown box landed on my doorstep. I was unsure what it was, but as it was addressed to me I figured I should open it. Turns out it was a cool preview/review package from the guys at Wyrd Miniatures, makers of the very popular Malifaux and its lesser-known cousin Puppet Wars. Inside the box were some samples of their cool new plastic models (above), alnog with some packs of their new colored bases. While not really my style, these bases could certainly work well for many gamers when basing their particular factions. Oh, and did I mention they're plastic? Hard plastic, not plastic resin, in a similar style to the plastic sprues from Mantic and the latest sprues from Wargames Factory.



Like many of you, I like big robot suits too, so the first box I broke open was LAZARUS.


Inside I was pretty surprised to see how it was all packaged. The hard plastic sprues were unlike any I've seen before and certainly not what I'm used to (surrounded by a plastic frame, for a start). Also included in the box was the unit card for the game, and a set of assembly instructions.


Four small sprues of hard grey plastic pieces, and one sprue of soft blue plastic cables. I assume you could save these until after you've painted the rest of the model and glue in the "glowy" bits, much like the green rods on Necrons. Or you could just as easily include them in your build an paint them another way.



The second box I opened was Willie the Demolitionist and there he was, all on a small sprue, much like the way GW are offering many new plastic character models. Also included were his base and unit card.



There is no doubt that Willie is nice and finely detailed. Check out those small bundles of dynamite!


It seems the sprues are also designed to be stacked in the warehouse, much like the sprues from Wargames Factory.


The Willie model was just so dynamic and characterful I just had to put him together.



Finally I took a look at the Dark Debts box. After the two different sprue presentations in the previous boxes, I was unsure what to expect (although I thought there might be multiple sprues), but upon opening I found all the parts of the Dark Debts models on one sprue.





The sprue certainly had the feel of a GW special box set (like Dark Vengeance and Space Hulk) about it. Obviously everything has been digitally sculpted and then digitally sliced apart to be arranged on the sprue in the most efficient manner. As each model really only goes together one way (although there are a few options for one of the Illuminated), it was cool to see what could be done.


I couldn't help myself, and had to clip a couple of my favorites from the sprue. Jakob Lynch (on the left) consists of seven parts, and a full ten parts go into the making of the Illuminated model on the right!

Initially I feared that the detail might be a bit too soft, much like the first few offerings from Wargames Factory a few years ago. It seems, however, that Wyrd have been able to push past that initial learning curve and jump in at what I would consider the "quite crisp" segment of the digital-sculpting-to-miniature spectrum. The details aren't as crisp as you'd expect from GW, but then again, GW have invested vast amounts of time and money to get to where they are now. For first offerings these are certainly some VERY impressive pieces.

Even if you don't play Malifaux (or aren't interested in playing) then you can always pick up a few of these sets as they release and incorporate them into your other gaming!

EDIT/UPDATE: Here area couple of other reviews of the Malifaux plastics
• Viruk's review on Independent Painters
• GentleBen's review on Bell of Lost Souls

Cheers
Dave
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Lamenters Update

September 30, 2012, 8:43 am
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Time to slip in a quick update on the progress of my Lamenters. After the game a couple of weeks back, I was very excited about the success of my Death Company Tycho. Above you can see the kitbashed model I'll be painting up soon to represent my Lamenters version of this fierce character.
I didn't have an actual combi-melta handy so this one is cobbled together from a few parts to represent Blood Song, the combi-melta capable of firing the Sternguard Veteran special ammo, not too shabby on a character with the Relentless special rule. On his outstretched left hand, I've added a few strips of plasticard to represent The Dead Man's Hand, the special rules/equipment that helps Tycho become a beast in combat. I'm looking forward to getting paint on him.


A few people have been asking me "Why the square bases Dave?" when looking at the Lamenters I have underway. Now that my order has arrived from Secret Weapon Miniatures (well, it actually arrived last week), I can reveal my plans. You can see the bases in the packs above are from the SWM Bone Fields range. As part of my mission to take this bright yellow army and embed it firmly in the grimdark universe of 40K, I knew that both skulls and blood would be needed. All of my trooper models are posed with a bit of a hunch, and an "angry" posing for the arms. Now, imagine these dark and angry Marines stalking across an area covered in blood, gore, and bones. Splashing through too much gore, seeing some of it splattering up on their greaves, dripping from the teeth of their chainswords. I'm also looking forward to getting this part of the project just right.

Cheers
Dave

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Puppet Wars In Plastic!

October 4, 2012, 1:23 pm
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Last week (I think) I showed you all the plastic Malifaux that were sent to my door by the great folks at Wyrd Miniatures. Well, I had a few other sprues arrive with that box, and when I offered to send some of them on to a few of my friends who love Puppet Wars, I was offered, in return, a few cool bases.


That's right. This post was delayed while I waited on USPS to deliver the above pack of 'planky' bases from Chris Borer (and his Full Borer Miniatures line). These bases are ones he has made for the metal Puppets and weigh in at 23mm in diameter. They are very nicely detailed with wood grain and nail and screw heads. Check them out here.


Chris also sent me a prototype of his 30mm planky base designed to work well with the slightly larger plastic Puppets. Speaking of which, I clipped off and trimmed up three of my favorites from the sprue. I love the poses of each of these, and the detail in all of the models seems to be a step above the Malifaux plastics, putting them directly on a par with GW's plastics. The models vary in their number of pieces (the girl above was six if I recall correctly, while the creepy chap at the bottom was only two).


These models just look great, overflowing with malicious character. I'm sure they'll paint up quickly, and you could spend all evening on each one to really bring them to life.


Once again, well done Wyrd!

Cheers
Dave

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Daemon Engines? Excellent choice!

October 6, 2012, 6:59 pm
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A long time ago (or so it seems) I built this Stalk Tank to fight alongside my Blood Pact army. I've always had the desire to build another one, but have lacked the time required. There also wasn't really a pressing need or an easy way to integrate them into a "proper list".

But now 6th Edition has brought along Allies, and the Chaos Space Marine codex has brought some tasty new Daemon Engines. I think I might have to start bulking out the Blood Pact.


First up, I have a Mantis Tank to put together. It was sent to me by my friend Laurent of Blight Wheel Miniatures. It was designed by one of my favorite sculptors (and new addition to the Citadel stable), Morback! Obviously this saves me a great deal of hassle in building one myself, which means I can get stuck into the painting : )

If you are interested in picking up a Mantis Tank you can buy them online here.


Photos of Forgefiend and Maulerfiend from the GW website, used without permission.

I'm also loving the two new plastic Daemon Engines from today's GW releases. I think one of each of the Fiends will do nicely.

Photo of Blight Drone from the FW website, used without permission.

I have two Blight Drones from back in the day, one of which is already painted. This seems like a great time to get the other one painted up too.

Photo of Helbrute from the GW website, used without permission.

And finally, I now have two Helbrutes. Perhaps they'd do well supporting my Blood Pact infantry too?

Lots of great Daemon Engine fun on the way. It'll take some time, but hopefully it'll be worth the wait.

Cheers
Dave

PS. I have no idea if they'll actually be any good in the game, I don't have my Codex:CSM yet, but I'm sure I'll enjoy the building and painting part ; )

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Lamenters Update: 2nd Game Victory!

October 11, 2012, 7:38 pm
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Well I played my second game of 6th Edition tonight, and boy what a game! I was up against my friend Jordan and his Dark Angels (just before he packs up and moves his family across country). I took the same list as my first game (no sense in confusing myself) and I was a little disturbed to see that Jordan was fielding 36 Marines! A Chaplain, two 10-man Tactical squads, one 5-man Devastator squad, and one 10-man Assault squad (held in reserve).

We rolled up a Dawn of War deployment, and The Relic mission. Jordan deployed first, but my luck started early when I seized the initiative from him. By the second turn my Tactical squad had the relic surrounded, and my Assault Marines were tying up one of his Tactical squads. Things went kind of how I expected, with my combat specialists wearing down the Dark Angels until Tycho could get into combat and finish the job, and my static squad was thinning his gun line. I landed my Death Company behind his gun line, and he countered with his Assault squad dropping in to the side of my Dreadnought.

Man of the Match definitely goes to that Furioso Dread with Blood Talons. I survived Jordan's initial plasma pistol salvo, turned and charged into the fray. We checked all the special rules (my goodness there are a lot of them) to make sure we did the combat correctly, then my Dread proceeded to wipe out his entire squad in a single turn. It was a very strange series of rolls to watch, and it got a bit ridiculous around the sixth or seventh victim, but it certainly pushed the game completely in my favor. A turn later and I'd managed to bring down the last of Jordan's green-armored "super-humans". Jordan's response to the outcome? He asked the store staff member if he could exchange his Dark Angels for Blood Angels : )

I've also been chugging away on the modeling and painting for the Lamenters. At the top you can see the Man of the Match Dreadnought on his Bone Fields base with a Marine carcass beneath his left foot. I was originally planning on painting this model as a Space Shark (my nemesis is painting these for our Badab War action), but perhaps the corpse should represent a Dark Angels Assault Marine?


Above you can see the next two yellow models to roll off the bench, the sergeant and a trooper from my Tactical squad. The yellow is a little brighter than my test model, but I'm not too concerned about that.


Here's a look at their right shoulder pads. Initially I wanted them to be the 5th squad, but the "5" in this style of numbering looked a little too much like a "$", so I made them the 4th squad. I enjoy painting detailed numbers like these, it adds some great depth to the models.


Finally, here are the next two models on the block.

Have fun with you painting... AND gaming ; )

Cheers
Dave

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Lamenter Update: 3rd Game Loss and Movember!

October 23, 2012, 11:41 am
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Two more Tactical Marines finished since my last update. I've been working away diligently on them, along with three other projects that will eventually see the light of day on this blog or another. I'm pretty happy with the consistency I've been able to keep with the yellows. I think once I'm finished with the squad I'll be able to go back in and wrap up the final shading with a glaze or three in the right spots.


There's a slight difference you might notice about these two guys, and it's the sword icon on their left shoulders. I decided when I was assembling the squad that five of the models would get this icon on their shoulders, and they'd form one of the demi-squads should I decide to use their "combat squad" option. To further enhance that look, this group will have their "4" in black.


And then I have another two underway. The Marine on the left is the demi-squad leader, denoted by the chalice on his backpack. The Plasma Canon Marine has been a lot of fun to work on, with such large areas of yellow needing to be shaded in some way.

My Third Game!

For my third game I played against seasoned veteran John Swann and his Space Wolves. Again I found myself outnumbered and outgunned as John ran: a Rune Priest, an 8-man Wolf Guard squad (all with different gear) in a Rhino, two 10-man Grey Hunter squads in Rhinos, and a Vindicator.

We played a game with multiple objectives scattered across the table and right from the start I was under heavy fire from John's Vindicator. After the first turn we found ourselves in a situation of each of us removing an entire squad at a time. First my Assault squad was gunned down, then my Death Company Tycho (to be renamed Janus) finished off a GH squad in combat (six models on the charge!), then the Vindicator took out my Death Company, then my Furioso wiped out his Wolf Guard in one turn (despite having lost a blood talon arm to snapfire on the way in). It was a frenzied display of blood-letting indeed. Sadly, my men could simply not hold on against the constant attacks from the Strength 10 large blast, and John won the day, although all casualties he caused were through shooting, so a moral victory in my books ; )

And finally...Movember

Please click on the link here to see our post about Movember on the Guns Of April blog. Obviously I'm going to ask that when you donate to the cause (and I know you'll do me proud) that you donate to my individual page here. In our team we have a side bet going on which side (Union or Confederate) will bring in more money, so I'll need your help as more of those damned Rebs are growing mustaches than we glorious Yankees.

Enjoy your gaming, and more about Lamenters, gaming, and embarrassing mustaches later!

Cheers
Dave
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Happy Halloween, Bone Bases, and Movember!

October 31, 2012, 7:36 pm
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Happy Halloween, to those who celebrate it, Happy Wednesday to those that don't! My girls had a great time giving out treats and then collecting some from the great folks in our neighborhood. My wife and I will be good for chocolate for while now.

Amongst the wide variety of things I've been dabbling with over the last few weeks, I decided to start in on the cool Secret Weapon Miniatures bases I'll be using for my Lamenters. Here are a few I've finished (well, almost finished, just the gore and blood to add once the models are in place).



This one is the base for my Furioso Dreadnought. I'm pretty happy with how the dead Carcharadon turned out. I hope my nemesis Dave likes it too.


And here's the start of the base for my Storm Raven.


Finally, I just wanted to remind you all about our Guns Of April team for the great charity effort that is Movember! By supporting me growing a mustache, you are supporting both awareness about and research into a number of men's health issues, including testicular and prostate cancer.

Click HERE to get your donation on!

Cheers
Dave
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Lamenters Update, and getting Lost

November 7, 2012, 7:28 pm
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Sorry for the significant delays in getting posts up in recent weeks, but things have been pretty hectic. A two-week visit from my mother, Superstorm Sandy, and my coverage of Fall In have all conspired to impact my hobby and blogging time. I've still been plugging away at a few things, so here's an update on the boys in yellow - my Lamenters.


Here are a couple of finished models, including the plasma-cannon toting Marine.


And then the next two I finished up this evening.


Here are the final two models for the Tactical squad, still lots to do on them, but I'm feeling very close to reaching the final squad, the Assault Marines.

In my next Lamenters post I'll try to give everyone a detailed look at how I've been painting these bright yellow grimdark Marines.


And now for some thing completely different...

My friend James Craig from the Lost In The Warp blog has recently kicked off a multi-blog series of collaborative posts with mutual friends of ours, Mike Butcher and Shawn Welte. These posts are based around Mike and Shawn's converting skills and James painting ability (and James' very cool Beastman army).

You can check out James' first post on the series here.
And Mike's blog here.
And Shawn's blog here.

Enjoy : )

Cheers
Dave
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Lamenters Update: Painting Yellow

November 11, 2012, 4:00 am
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I've had a lot of folks asking questions about the way I've done the yellow armor on my Lamenters. Well, here's my rough run-down. Unfortunately the transitions aren't incredibly obvious the photos below (or perhaps that's a good thing) but I hope it helps.

Note: My thanks to Brice Cocanour, Damon Drescher, and Caleb Wisseuback, who have all done some lovely yellows before and let me in on a few of their secrets.


1. After priming the model in white, I basecoat it with GW's Averland Sunset. I like this color, but sometimes it'll go on a little unevenly, take your time with it. For my Assault Marines, Dreadnought, and Storm Raven I'm planning on putting this layer down with an airbrush.

2. To ensure an even, solid coverage, I highlight the model with a mix of GW Averland Sunset and VGC Sun Yellow.

3. The next highlighting stage is with VGC Sun Yellow.

4. The final highlighting stage is a mix of VGC Sun Yellow and VMC Pale Sand (I love Pale Sand, a fantastic color that gets used all the time).


After all the highlighting is complete, it's on to the shading. This is where I was in unfamiliar territory as the vast bulk of my painting has always been working up from the shade to the highlight, but it was certainly fun learning how to work this way.

5. I began shading with a mix of GW Averland Sunset and GW Skrag Brown, adding more Skrag Brown as I went along. This stage is actually about three or four passes, adding more depth each time.

6. This stage is for adding the final depth shade, a thinned wash or two of VGC Charred Brown. I paid particular attention to the corners of the shoulder pad and the rear of the greaves.

7. And the next step is to tidy up everything with some VGC Black.

Well, I hope that sheds a bit of light on how I've been painting these guys. I'm pretty happy so far with the progress I've made. The real test will be the Storm Raven with its large, flat panels.

Wish me luck.

Cheers
Dave
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Movember: The halfway mark!

November 16, 2012, 8:37 am
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So, here we are just over halfway through Movember. My 'stache is coming along nicely, filling in everyday and becoming more luxurious. It has earned hundreds of amusing (and smart-ass) comments from friends and family, but not enough donations yet. I'm more than happy to take grief from those that have donated ; )

Please visit the Movember & Sons website here to learn more about the cause.

Then visit my MoSpace and donate away!

: )

Cheers
Dave

PS. More yellow models very soon.
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