Tau Objective Markers Showcase

I have completed the first 3 of my Tau objective markers: A power station, a fuel depot, and a comm tower. These are the first army themed objective markers I have ever made, however I did make a few generic markers for Necromunda. You can check my earlier WIP posts about the Tau markers <WIP 1> and <WIP 2>.


POWER STATION: In hind sight, I think the power plant may be a little small, but I do like how it turned out. Although, keeping it on a 60mm base I'm not really sure how much bigger I could have made it.

FUEL DEPOT: This is my least favorite of the three... I should have done more modifications to the cap that I used as the basis for this piece... All I can see is the cap with some bitz glued to it!

COMM STATION: This is my favorite objective marker so far. The original plan was to have a technician interfacing with the console, but I opted for versatility and left a clear space on the base to place a figure.

Back to Bases pt 3

The fourth installment to my themed base project is called City Streets. I will definitely use this style of base on my Adeptus Arbites.

This is a very simple and quick conversion.

I covered one-third to two-thirds of the base with a piece of 1/16" plasticard. Then I glued 150 grit sandpaper to the plasticard and 100 grit sandpaper to the other part of the base. I used a small piece of standard window screen to make the storm drain.

I painted the asphalt Chaos Black and drybrushed Shadow Gray. The sidewalk is based with Ash Gray (Reaper Pro Paints) and drybrushed with Fortress Gray. The storm drain is Tin Bitz with a little bit of Dwarf Bronze. Finally I painted the grooves in the sidewalk with Armor Gray (Reaper Pro Paints) and Fortress Gray.

See the first two installments:
<Back to Bases pt 1> and <Back to Bases pt 2>

Attack of the Six-Toed Monster

A number of years ago, while I was preparing for a gaming session of Dungeons and Dragons, I was attacked by a giant feline monster. Following is the documented account of the story.

My players were going to be delving into an ancient dungeon complex, and I had recently purchased a modular dungeon system made by WizKids (under their MageKnight line) just for this adventure.

After I built a portion of the dungeon, I set up a fake encounter to try out how the practical aspect of playing out a combat in a 3D environment. I expected (and hoped) it would be much different that simply drawing on a battle mat.


I continued building more of the entrance level of the complex, and making sure that there would be adequate space in each room for the designed encounters. Ill have to admit that I got a little involved "playing with toy soldiers" at this point, but hey... I was having fun!

Suddenly the table shook!


Pieces flew all over the place... figures fell down... wall and floor pieces scattered! I panicked and scrambled to pick up the mess.

Then it happened...

The foul beast showed herself!

She was huge... looming above the dungeon!


I tried to rescue my soldiers before the feline creature began playing her terrible "cat and mouse" game with them... or even worse... before she ate them!!

But before I could do anything the creature entered the dungeon.

She circled the complex claiming her new territory.

Then... I couldn't believe what I was witness to...

The foul beast sat down to take a nap!


A true story inspired by the holidays... Happy Halloween!

Back to Bases pt 2

Here is the third sample of my basing experiment - Deck Plating. The first two tests can be found at this post: <Back to Bases pt 1>. I like how these turned out, and I will probably re-base my Goliaths in this style, rather than use them on some newer 40K models. I never liked what I did originally with my Goliaths - I used sand and painted it blue.

I made these bases with 1/16" plasticard and plastic canvas mesh. I used a small file to add panel grooves, and 1/32" dia plastic tube for the rivets.

I have considered resin bases in the past. There are a bunch of really great options out there. In fact there is a toxic waste set (cant find it at the moment) that I am (was) really close to getting for my scavies.

Back to Bases

I have not been the type to go all out on my bases. partly because I would rather spend the time painting another figure, and partly because I like the clean look of just simple sand. However, lately I have been experimenting with different coarseness of sand/ballast, and mixing custom blends of static grass.

Because my house is the central gaming hub of our group, I have been the GM in out RP games for the last 10 years, and I am the most prolific painter of our group, my figures are usually the ones out on the table. In the past, even if a figure screamed to be based a certain way (say for example on a stone dungeon floor or a wood tavern floor) my fantasy figures are based the same way (from my khorne army, to my D&D characters, to my Talisman figures).

In some perverse OCD requirement in my head, all my fantasy figures have to be based similarly so all the PC's and all the monsters "match". I'm not sure why I don't have this hang up with my sci-fi minis. However, I still never go too far from ballast/static grass.

So, this weekend, I worked up 2 sample "themed" bases - "Urban Wasteland" and "Sandstone Tiles". Ones that I could repeat as needed.


Now, I almost never model a base before the figure is painted, and even more rarely do I do it before the figure is even ON the base. For me, this was a very strange process. It will take some getting used to. I really like how the "Urban Wasteland" base looks, but I'm not confidant how a figure will look on it - the surface is very uneven. I'm not sure how I am going to mount a figure on this...

I also worked on a third style of base I thought would be easy, but turned out to be more difficult than these two. It will be a split of deck plating and metal grating.

Trouble with Terrain

I currently have 4 2'x2' foam boards to use as a playing surface. They were originally created for Necromunda, and I simply textured and painted the bottom side as grass/dirt. I will soon need a 4'x6' area and at the very least will need to make 2 more 2'x2' boards.

However, I have grown to not like these boards. I sandwiched 2 1" thick insulation boards together, allowing for an "embedded" sewage/sludge river on the Necromunda side. Stacked up these make an 8"x2'x2' cube, and will be 4" thicker with the addition of 2 more boards. This is not easy to store nor to transport from garage to house.

So I have a plan to make a new (more) modular surface, using foam core as the base, with 1" foam board added for depth. I decided on 10"x20" tiles instead of 12"x24" tiles for 2 reasons:

1. I can get more tiles out per sheet of foam core, and a cleaner cut edge on the foam board.
2. It will be much easier to box and store

The trade off is having a "non-standard" board size. For small 40K games and Necromunda it will be either a 40"x40" or 50"x50" area, and for standard 40k games is will be between 40"x70" and 50"x80". Im not really sure of the impact, a few inches either way would make, but the closesest size would be 50"x70".

It will cost me $24 in foam core and $13 in foam board to make all of the tiles above. (Paint and sand extra). Pretty reasonable price, and a a very modular surface.

What are your thoughts?

-- edit
I picked up the foam core today (the art store even trimmed them to size for free!!) I have enough foam board on hand to complete this project, but will need more sand and paint. I also mocked up a 50"x70" table using my current hill pieces.

Tau Objective Markers WIP pt 2

OK, I got three of the objective markers assembled and base coated...

COMMAND/COMMUNICATIONS TOWER: I decided not to include a mini on this piece. However, I did leave a clearing on the base to allow a figure to be placed by the little fly-out control panel.


FUEL DEPOT: The plastic cap that makes up the core of this piece, didn't take the paint well... I probably should have washed it first!! On the other hand, zap-a-gap didn't like it either, so it may not have mattered. As a precaution, I pinned all the add on bitz.


POWER GENERATOR: This was the easiest of the group. Although, I probably should have painted the inside of the hatch doors before final assembly.


If you missed it, here is <WIP 1> to this project.

My Son's Second Army pt 2

I have had most of the figures accumulated for my son's second army for quite awhile now... an Ork Horde. Recently, I scored the bitz for 3 runtherders off eBay. Much like my son's first army there are some guidelines I am sticking to:

• All plastic
• Extensive use of "uni-body" models (especially ones already in my bitz box!!)
• Conversions are limited to arm swaps and backpacks
• All conversions need to be pinned
• Some eBay purchases are OK (unneccessary for the first army)

Essentially its gotta be kid friendly, durrable, cheap, and quick. You can see some samples of what I did with his first army <here>. I dont have as many orks in my bitz box as I did space marines... plus my goal is to create an army of equal points value (1500), so I have had to turn to some interesting places to fill out this army. My first endeavor was using all of my (and some of Laertes') old Blood Bowl orcs with a choppa and slugga arm added (<sample>), which I scored 30 pair for about $8 on eBay.

The second task was filling out the ranks of existing ork and gretchin models from the 2nd edition box set. I now have enough gretchins (and runtherders), but I am still about 10-12 orks short for the second unit of boyz. The army is currently two-thirds the points of where it should be:

• Warboss (black reach)
• 30 Boyz (blood bowl conversions) and Nob (black reach)
• 30 Boyz (2nd edition box set) and Nob (black reach)
• 30 Gretchins (2nd edition box set) and 3 Runtherds (eBay)
• 12 Stormboyz (multi-part boyz bitz) and Nob (black reach)

To fill out the rest of the army I will probably use my black reach deffkoptas and some looted rhinos. I could do a unit of bikes, but I was saving those for my ork army!! Some custum killer kans would be fun, but may be too delicate for the 6 year old abuse they will have to endure.

I did a quick test the other day for a new (to me) painting technique for this army. In hind sight, I wish I had chosen a different chapter for my son's marines. Both armies being predominently green is a bit of a problem. So I decided to try base coating the orks in their armor color. I bought a can of Krylon® Fusion for Plastics® Satin Boot Brown paint (thanks to Laertes for doing the leg work on research).


After the "primer" dried, I applied a layer of Devlan Mud. After that dried, I drybushed a layer of Boltgun metal and then just a little bit of chainmail. I like how it turned out... and its fast!! At this stage, I only have a base color for all the non-metal parts. I will probably apply a wash and 1 layer of hilight.

On a side note, this color is also perfect for my tau... I probably wont use it on the troops as the it coats a little thick, but I will definately use it on my new objective markers, and maybe a tank or two.

Tau vs Necrons (750pt) II Battle Report (Zorcon's Perspective)

Here is my second attempt at writing a battle report. Even though more time had elapsed between the first battle and writing that report, I had taken better pictures during that game to help remember and show everything that happened.

Battle Report Zorcon (Tau) vs Laertes (Necrons) Round 2
OK, this is our rematch. I was a little unsure of my list, but we decided to keep our lists the same for one more battle (although, Laertes did make a minor wargear change to his lord). I will definitely be revising the list for our next game.

I still do not have my head wrapped around the tau. Too many years with marines, and not enough games are under my belt in the “current” rules environment (3rd-5th edition). In my head during a game, I “convert” my tau units to marine equivalents. For example, in my first couple of games I treated my crisis suits as light dreadnaughts, and in my last couple of games I treated them as terminators. I realize for many reasons this is a really bad idea, and I’m working on that…

Zorcon: 750 points of Tau
1 Shas’o with missile pod, plasma rifle, and multi tracker
9 Warriors and Devilfish with disruption pod
9 Warriors and Devilfish with disruption pod
2 Crisis Suits with burst cannon and fusion blaster
1 Hammerhead with railgun, smart missiles, decoy launchers and disruption pod

Laertes: 750 pts of Necrons
1 Lord with resurrection orb
11 Warriors
10 Warriors
3 Destroyers
1 Heavy Destroyer

After the last game (battle report by <Zorcon> and <Laertes>), I really wanted my crisis suits to perform better. I knew Laertes would be targeting them with his destroyers, but I hadn’t really come up with a plan yet.

Mission: Secure and Control / Deployment: Pitched Battle


Setup:
We rolled a 2 for the Secure and Control mission, so we both had one objective marker to place, and did so in our respective deployment zones. Like the last battle, this was a low point-value game, so we opted for a 4’ x 4’ board. Also like last battle, Laertes won the roll and chose to set up first.

Laertes lined up his forces along the edge of his deployment zone. To his left was a unit of warriors guarding an objective, then his lord with the other unit of warriors in the middle. To his right he placed the destroyers, and far right was the heavy destroyer.

I chose to reserve both units of firewarriors , but only one unit in its transport. I placed the suits and railhead to my far left behind a hill. I seized the initiative and got to go first!

Turn 1:
My first turn was pretty quick. The suits were not in range to jump-shoot-jump at the destroyers (and I was not ready to advance them), so they stayed put. Actually, my plan was to make Laertes come to me. All I did was take a shot at the heavy destroyer with the railhead, and missed.

Laertes advanced his lord and unit of warriors towards my objective. He then slid his destroyers and heavy destroyer to the left. The destroyers caught a glimpse of one of my suits and managed to take it out. The heavy destroyer hit but failed to wound the railhead.


Turn 2:
Most of my reserves showed up – both units of firewarriors and one fish. I placed the fish with troops next to my objective and the unit of warriors to my far right. I decided to make a move for the forest with my suits and get a better position to thwart the destroyers. The railhead took a shot and missed the heavy destroyer.

Laertes unloaded the mighty firepower of his devastators on my suits and took them all out. His heavy destroyer hit and stunned the hammerhead. His lord and warriors advanced but got hung up on a fence mid field.

Turn 3:
No reserves came on board. In hindsight, I made a mistake here. I should have advanced my railhead, but since I couldn’t get to a point to target the heavy destroyer out of cover, at the time, I didn’t see the point. So I didn’t move, shot at, and missed the heavy destroyer. My fish dropped its load of troops and drones at the objective and made a screening advance towards the necon’s front line. I then moved the other unit of warriors up to my objective.

Laertes didn’t move either unit of warriors. The unit by the objective shot at the fish, stunning the crew and taking out the burst cannon. The unint in the middle of the field shot at my warriors holding my objective, scoring a few wounds. He then swung the destroyers towards his front lines. Lastly the heavy destroyer hit, but failed to damage the railhead.


Turn 4:
Again, no reserves showed up. I tightened my units around my objective, and shot at the lead necron unit, causing a wound. The railhead took a shot at, but missed the heavy destroyer.

Laertes returned fire on the railhead, and again failed to cause any damage (seeing a pattern yet?). The destroyers continued towards the middle of the board. The forward unit took out a few more firewarriors guarding my objective.


Turn 5:
Not surprisingly, my last devilfish showed up! I placed it as far forward as I could keeping it between the destroyers and my objective. My forward fish tried to tank shock the necron lord and unit of warriors, and then pushed forward to contest Laertes objective. My hammerhead finally took out the heavy destroyer. I regrouped the remaining firewarriors around thee objective, preparing for a charge by the necrons.

Laertes advanced his destroyers and nearly completely wiped out my firewarriors, the few survivors fell back. My devilfish was destroyed by heavy fire from the warriors, freeing up Laertes’ objective. His lord and warriors near the center of the board advance towards my objective.

That was the end of the game. Lucky for me as one more turn would have definitely turned into a loss.


Result: Tactical Draw (Zorcon 1 / Laertes 1)

It wasn’t until the end of the game that I realized a mistake I made before the game even started. When I assembled my hammerhead for the battle (adding all the wargear and weapon loadouts) I accidentally placed burst cannons instead of SMS in the drone sockets. I can’t say this had a major impact on the game, but there were one or two turns I would have been able to fire them.

Once again the destroyers owned my suits. But what bothers me most is that freaking back and fourth with the heavy destroyer. Even though I eventually took him out, I spent the entire game to do it (and the same in game 1). I consider that exchange a loss (in both games).

In a weird way, I consider this game a win for me. In the last two games, comparing our armies, Laertes has the game won on paper:

• 1 necron lord and 21 warriors vs 18 fire warriors and 2 devilfish (Laertes wins)
• 3 destroyers vs 1 crisis suit commander and 2 crisis suits (Laertes wins BIG)
• 1 heavy destroyer vs 1 hammerhead (Laertes wins on point exchange)

So any result that is not a loss for me is a moral vicory!

PHOTO NOTE: I'm not sure what happened, but in a few of the pictures, the lower right corner was black. I copy/pasted a corner from a different shot, and you may notice a double image of the hammerhead.

Tau Objective Markers WIP

Any of these objective markers will be great in a standard game, but I did keep the Key Building Strategem from Cities of Death in mind while designing them.

WEAPONS DEPOT
I used a prescription bottle, a gun drone, and some legos. Think of a gun/equipment locker meets drop pod. This will be a great Ammunition Store Strategem.

CRASHED ESCAPE POD
This is part of a Batman Happy Meal toy and some tau commander bitz. I will use this for a Sacred Ground Strategem.

BACTA TANK
OK, this mock-up is a little crude... it will get better. Lots of found bits, and spare model parts in this one. Obviously this will be used for a Medicae Strategem.

COMM TOWER
This is the top half of my first attempt at a Sensor Tower based of the one by Forge World (found <here>), with a few tau bitz added. This marker could either be a Command Center or Observation Point Strategem.

FUEL TANK
The base of this is piece is a cap from a can of shaving cream with obligatory tau bitz. This is the Fuel Dump Strategem.

POWER GENERATOR
I used the toes from an old model robot, devilfish side hatches, and wooded discs to make this piece. Another obvious one... I'll use this for a Power Generator Strategem.

Tau vs Necrons (750pt) Battle Report (Zorcon's Perspective)

Well, this battle report is a "little" out dated... but it has been sitting in my draft box half complete for $%^& weeks! I finally got it together to finish it…

Battle Report Zorcon (Tau) vs Laertes (Necrons)
This was our first 5th edition game. We had the rules down better then we when we dipped our toes in 4th edition for the first time (IMO anyway). I still need more games under my belt in the same rules set to get a better handle on what units can and cant do (especially mine).

Since 1st edition 40k, I have always been a jar-head (weather playing my custom blend of marines or charging into battle with Khorne). So when we decided to try our hand at playing 40k again a few years back, I decided to try something different and started building a Tau army. I played them in all THREE of our 4th edition battles, and continue with them in our 5th edition games. Laertes switched it up, so rather than facing his Witchhunters, I was facing his Necrons.

Zorcon: 750 points of Tau
1 Shas’o with missile pod, plasma rifle, and multi tracker
9 Warriors and Devilfish with disruption pod
9 Warriors and Devilfish with disruption pod
2 Crisis Suits with burst cannon and fusion blaster
1 Hammerhead with railgun, smart missiles, decoy launchers and disruption pod

Laertes: 750 pts of Necrons
1 Lord with resurrection orb
11 Warriors
10 Warriors
3 Destroyers
1 Heavy Destroyer

Right from the start, I think Laertes has a slight advantage here. This was the first time I have ever faced Necrons (any, not just his). On the flip side, Laertes has seen my Tau across the table top 3 previous times.

Mission: Annihilation / Deployment: Pitched Battle


Setup:
Because of the low point total of out forces, we chose to use a smaller 4’ x 4’ battle board. We will upgrade to a larger board when we increase the point totals. Laertes won initiative, and set up first. He set up everything in his left quarter centered on a dead forest. I set up next, with my forces spread out: Suits, Fish, Railhead, and Fish. All troops were tucked away in their transports. Neither of us had any non-standard deploying units.


Turn 1:
Laertes advanced his destroyers and heavy destroyer, taking advantage of an intervening hill. The heavy destroyer took a shot at the hammerhead with no effect. The warriors and lord remained in/behind the forest.

I sent both fish down opposite flanks, with the suits following the fish on my left. Even though his heavy destroyer didn’t hurt me, I cautiously moved my railhead tight behind a hill, giving up a shot.


Turn 2:
Laertes sent the destroyers across the battlefield after my suits, destroying the commander and wounding and elite. His heavy destroyer again shot at the hammerhead with no effect. One unit of warriors advanced in preparation for on of the fish, and the lord and other unit of warriors stayed in the forest.

I had the fish on the right flank drop its load a turn too early, so the warriors were too far away to unleash all their fire. The fish and suits to the left continued to advance. The suit’s burst cannons were no match for the destroyers, and the fusion blasters were out of range. My railhead took a shot at the heavy destroyer and missed.


Turn 3:
Laetes sent the heavy destroyer in for the kill and made a move for the rear armor of the railhead. But again he hit and failed to penetrate the massive armor of my tank! The destroyers shot at my suits but caused no damage. The lord and warriors in the forest returned fire on the warriors to my right and killed a number of firewarriors sending them off running. His other unit of warriors lined up for the impending “fish of fury” maneuver and managed to take out the fish’s burst cannon.

I rallied the remaining firewarriors, and moved the fish into range to pick up the survivors. My railhead spun around, and unleashed all its firepower on the heavy destroyer killing it. My crisis suits pulled off a jump-shoot-jump maneuver taking out a destroyer. For the first time, I was successful in performing the fish of fury and sent a hail of fire at the necron warriors… netting ONE necron!!


Turn 4:
Laertes closes in on my fish and firewarriors on my left with his destroyers and a unit of necron warriors taking out about half. My guys are resolute though and hold their ground. His lord and warriors in the forest stay there.

My remaining firewarriors fired into the necron warriors, but only wounded one (and he came back later). My suits and hammerhead shot at, and closed in on the destroyers, but caused no wounds. I sent the fish with 4 warriors to the left along my deployment zone.


Turn 5:
Laertes continued pushing forward with the destroyers and necron warriors and eliminated every single firewarrior. His lord and warriors in the forest remained in place.

I withdrew my firewarriorless devilfish. My railhead took out a second destroyer. The suits regrouped behind a hill, and the other fish continued along my deployment zone.

At this point I figured the game was over, but the dice said we needed to continue this game one more round.


Turn 6:
Laertes advanced on the empty fish. The destroyer managed to get into LoS with one of the suits behind a hill and took a shot, causing a wound, removing a model. The necrons in the forest sat down and broke out lunch.

I disembarked the gun drones on the empty devilfish purely for KP prevention. My remaining suit withdrew. The railhead parked behind a hill and took a pot shot at and missed the last destroyer. The fish in my deployment zone hid behind a hill.

Again, the dice decided they didn’t want to go back in the box, and forced a seventh turn.


Turn 7:
Laertes moved the destroyer on top of a hill in position to take out the gun drones and did so successfully. His necron warriors tried to blow up the fish, but not surprisingly failed. And the lord and crew in the forest finished up their lunch.

The railhead took out the last destroyer, and my crisis suit managed to wound one necron before the game finally ended.

Result: Laertes Wins (Zorcon 2 KP / Laertes 3 KP)

That’s the nuts and bolts of our first 5th edition battle. Overall, I think I was being too timid with my vehicles, and overreaching with my suits. I also have no idea how to contend with the necrons’ superior toughness, armor and “I’ll be back” rule. Maybe I’ll figure it out for the rematch.

Blood Bowl Showcase: The Dwarf Warhammers

OK, Ill be honest. This post is a deliberate attempt to delay finishing my 2 neglected battle reports vs Laertes' necrons, as I am finding it very difficult to sit down and write the battle report(s)... so now back to stalling...

Blood Bowl is probably (nah... definitely) my favorite Games Workshop game. It wasn't my first introduction to GW games (maybe third or forth), but it was one that captured my imagination, and one I was good at.

The Dwarf Warmammers are one of the iconic teams portrayed in the fluff of the game . This team was primarily played by one of my friends. At the time, there was only one other member of my group that was into modeling, so I wound up buying and painting almost everyone's team(s) - although one buddy did split the cost of figures with me. I didn't mind as I like painting as much as playing, and I consider myself an avid collector, and a "consumerist".

Even though my gaming group rarely plays this game anymore, I keep tabs on the living rule book found at GW Specialists site, <here>. Over the years I have occasionally gone back and updated a team to comply with the current rules set. Primarily this was refreshing the paint job, adding the support staff, but sometimes included re-purposing and/or adding new player positions.

In the case of the Dwarf Warhammers, throwers, catchers and linemen were phased out, while 2 runners and 2 troll slayers were added to the roster. The team in its current form (LRB5 rules set) has 15 regular players.

• 9 Blockers (plastic Dungeon Bowl linemen and 2nd edition metal blockers)
• 2 Runners (re-purposed 2nd edition kickers)
• 2 Blitzers (converted WHFB regiment dwarves from the "original" white plastic box set)
• 2 Troll Slayers

They are supported by 5 secret weapon players/star players to round out a team of 20 players. Except for Ironjaw, these are all 2nd edition figures.

• Deathroller
• Boomer Eziasson
• Grim Ironjaw
• Flint Churnblade
• "Tin Man" (this guy is from the WHFB range, and has been a counts-as ogre ally, counts-as second deathroller, and also a homebrew secret weapon)

The more "recent" additions to this team are in the support staff. Early on, other than the occasional cheerleader, casualty, or fan figure I came across, I never bothered with representing "off-the-pitch" characters. It wasn't until I played 3rd edition, and started following some of the fan forums, that I bagan to fill out the support staff.

• Assistant Coach, Coach, and Casualty (used as an Assistant Coach)
• Wizard and Apothecary
• 3 Cheerleaders

Assistant Coach,  Coach, and Assistant Coach,

The left assistant coach is made from an older Dwarf Warriors Regiment set. The coach is a converted Dwarf Thorek Ironbrow. The last Assistant Coach is a 2e Blood Bowl casualty.

The Wizard is an older Rune Lord and the Apothecary is a converted GW Dwarf Hero (that I forgot the name of).

Censored images in keeping safe for work

The middle cheerleader is a 2e Bloodbowl figure. The other two are from Mega Minis--I made the pom-poms out of green stuff.

This team is probably my most "complete" Blood Bowl team. But I have 5 others that are a close to "complete"... The Greenfield Packers, The Black Water Oilers, The Chaos All-Stars, The Bright Axes, and The Darkside Cowboys.

Gaurdsmen and Timescape

Here are 2 groups of figures I just finished for our Dark Heresy campaign. Five 1st edition era Imperial Guardsman, and 5 characters from the 2nd edition Talisman expansion Timescape. The guardsman are just simple paint jobs, based of the original guardsman paint scheme. I dug the Talisman figures out of the game box and "freshened" them up.

Adeptus Arbites

I have had a portion of this project on my "to do" list for many years. Adeptus-B and I were very active playing Necromunda for almost 2-years, and I was looking to create a new gang. It started with some old 2nd edition plastic space marine scouts that I wanted to convert to a unit of Arbites with power mauls and suppression shields. After converting the first one, I gathered up the remaining bitz needed to convert the rest of a squad. I will add a post later about what I did to convert them.

Later, I picked up a handful of actual Arbites from GW mail order. Unfortunately we stopped playing Necromunda before I got around to them. Well, now that we are playing Dark Heresy, this project not only moved to the top of the list, it has greatly expanded.

I should point out that I have an obsession to make my figures as multi-purpose as possible. This is one reason why I tend towards "generic", similarly styled bases on all of my minis. Only recently have I began to be more creative, but I still try to keep them somewhat "uniform". But it is not just the bases... for fantasy, I kept mindful that my orcs and goblins should be able to fulfill the role of many types of D&D encounters as well as units in a WHFB orc army.

What I have now is 3 character models, 3 5-man units, a bike, and 3 (counts as) rhinos. These will easily be able to function in a wide variety of roles in Dark Heresy, as a very tough gang in Necromunda, or as a detachment to any Imperial-themed army in WH40K.


I found the vehicles at a local Dollar Tree and added various bits from mk1 rhinos, vehicle accessory sprues, and other odd pieces (I will discuss the details in a later post). Amazingly, they have the same foot print as a mk1 rhino. I envision 2 of them as "hummer" style troop transports, and the other as a command or communications vehicle. One of the character models is lightly converted from the Battle For Macragge set, and I have an old GW Judge Anderson and bike from the Judge Dredd line. I wanted to include a cyber-mastiff and handler in this lot, but I can't buy the cyber-mastiff separately from GW anymore. Any ideas?

As I get farther along, I will add some conversion posts, and a then final completed force.

Scratch-built Space Marine Jump Packs

This jump pack conversion is based on the original Space Marine metal jump packs circa the early 90's (not the current plastic version).

I started off by snipping the nozzles off of a std plastic back pack (also from the same era). I then took two black 1/2 sphere beads and attached to both ends of a small yellow cylindrical bead (of the same diameter) to make the main jet. Then I sliced two 1/32" thick doughnuts off a 1/8" plastic tube to make the trim on the main jet.

The jetse were attached to the left and right sides of the backpack where the nozzles were cut off. They were positioned at an angle similar to the original. The whole thing was topped off by two little red "cherry" beads on the back!

The backpack is a little smaller, but overall I think it has the same look on the battlefield. Here is an entire unit of assault marines.

Dark Heresy

I have been away from the blog scene for a while, but I am back, and intend to post on a regular basis. Now on to the topic at hand...

My gaming group finally started our Dark Heresy campaign last week. We have been very anxious to play, but wanted to finish our D&D campaign first (our second 5-year long campaign to boot - a record!) Some members of my group have even been salivating over a 40K RPG since the original Rogue Trader rules came out in the late 80's (yeah, we're old)!!

I will occasionally post an update to our campaign, but primarily I will be showcasing the figures and models we have been creating for the game. I was the GM for both D&D campaigns, but Adeptus-B will be stepping into that roll for Dark Heresy. He is also an exceptional hobbyist, and will have many contributions in the future.

Adeptus-B and I both have been busy creating an "inventory" of sci-fi figures. I easily have over 1000 figures to represent the various players, adversaries and monsters for a fantasy setting, but only a small handful of characters for a modern or sci-fi setting.

Here are a few examples of Adeptus-B's work...