Aquamarine (Pre) Progress Chart

Happy Holidays! I wish the best for you and yours!

It has been quite a while since I have been able to paint or post much of anything. My wife has gone back to the hospital. Life around the Zorcon household is very stressful and unpredictable. That being said, I have taken some time to get a few posts in before the end of the year: My son and I played the largest game of 40K I have played since 2ed (1500 points); Another post will showcase giants; Plus (hopefully) a few other posts of some of my collections.

Now on to this post. I do not have my Aquamarines organized into squads, let alone a playable army--There have been too many repaints, rule changes, poor decisions over the years. What I did do was take inventory.

The bulk of my figures/models are from 1e 40K. I do have some from 2e, even fewer from 3e, and only a hand full from 4-5e.

Because of the varied load outs, and having a fairly large bitz box, I did not list every weapon combination. The only things I specified were the Mk of the vehicles and the roll of the troops.

325 Space Marines (about 1/3 RT001)
          2      Commanders
          5      Librarians
          10    Chaplains
          2      Apothecaries
          18    Techmarines
          22    Sergeants
          174  Marines
          34    Heavy Weapons
          31    Special Weapons
          46    Assault Weapons
7 Space Marine Scouts
52 Terminators
          2      Commanders
          4      Librarians
          5      Sergeants
          17    Marines
          10    Heavy Weapons
          9      Assault Weapons
3 Razorbacks (Mk1)
3 Predators (Mk1)
4 Land Raiders (3@ Mk1; 1@ Mk3)
7 Rhinos (6@ Mk1; 1@ Mk3-mod as Damocles?)
6 Dreadnoughts (4 @ Mk1; 2@ Mk2)
3 Robots (Mk1)
3 Bikes (2@ Mk1; 1@ Mk3)
3 Bike + Sidecar (Mk1)
8 Land Speeders (5@ Mk1; 3@ Mk3)

With perfect utilization, I could make 30 units of Space Marines, and 9 units of Terminators.

About 2/3 of all this is assembled and about 2/3 of whats assembled is painted.

Ardbeg Scotch Party

Well, my plans for 23 more posts by the end of the years have slipped by. They days have been a blur with the looming holidays and my wife going in and out of the hospital. She is home now, but has began the process of retiring and starting disability.

Enough of RL... on to why I am here!

My band has another gig. After our last show, we were offered a weekly spot at Paddy's Bar & Grill. We unfortunately had to turn down the offer due to scheduling. Kilty by Association only practices once a week, and collectively we simply don't have the time. However, we countered with a once a month gig and Paddy's liked the idea.

The event will be showcasing Ardbeg Scotch. There will be Scotch tastings and, well us! Here is the poster I created.

The concept and composition was my idea, but I turned to Lord Grimskull to draw the line art. I then dropped in the colors, the background and added the text.

Only 1 practice and 1-1/2 weeks until the show... can't wait!

Animal

For my band's last show, I dressed up as the Muppet Animal.

I used colored hair spray for my hair and my skin. For what I could spend, it seemed the most durable and had the best coverage.

The ankle and wrist shackles I made out of craft foam. I cut the strips out of a large sheet, and bought a package of shapes. All hot glued together with strips of Velcro for easy  on and off.

The chain was from a Halloween decoration. I made a choker out of Velcro and looped it through the chain.

The gig was a huge success!! We were offered a weekly spot at the bar, but unfortunately we had to turn it down. We said we could do a monthly show and it looks like that may happen.

Car Wars

My GM, is looking for someone to take the mantle either intermittently, or after our DH campaign has run its course. I ran two D&D campaigns prior, and the second one is a popular choice within the group as the next game.

While I am not opposed to that, I have a hankerin' for something else. A Car Wars campaign! My idea is that the group would be employees/co-owners of a small local shipping company. The structure would be small delivery runs, some accounting/business, and when money is tight, head off to the local AADA arena for a rumble.

I envision the cars as the focus. But am looking at either boosting the primitive character development in Car Was or running an altogether different character system. Out of the 7 of us, only 3 have played Car Wars before (back in the 80's it was one of our favorite games).

As an introduction to the game for the other 4 players, I am planning an Division 15 arena battle. Everyone would have the same car. I based the vehicle off the Armadillo in the Vehicle Guide vol 3. Essentially, I dropped about 1/3 of the armor F, B, L, R and the AP rounds in the RL to add a ram plate and an extra magazine for the RL.

This is v 0.1 of my vehicle record sheet. At this point it is heavily based on the standard sheet. After we play the arena battle, I will make adjustments as we see fit.

The Game of Life

My wife just spent a week in the hospital. She has been struggling quite awhile before hand and it is not over yet--Out patient treatment for the next 3-4 weeks and another 2-3 weeks at home before going back to work.

Taken from the interwebs without permission

This impacts us financially as the up-to-2-months she will be off work will be unpaid. We do not have disability insurance. We do not have any other significant form of income (I stay home to care for our son and my mother-in-law). Nor do we have access to assistance programs.

We also have no savings. My wife has been sick off and on for various reasons over the last 10 years. She underwent 13 surgeries (including breast cancer and foot surgery) plus my 2 month hospital stint (brain tumor). This has drained us, an inheritance, and we still owe money.

I have painted a grim picture. What is my point? My wife and I keep forging ahead. People often say to us "It will get better". Well, I can say after hearing that for over 10 years, sometimes it doesn't--Sometimes it gets worse. But that does not mean we are giving up in any way... Its just reality.

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Spending time with my friends through games (as a true hobby) has been a pastime of mine since 1980. It is who I am, how I express myself, and an important part of my life. Its NOT just because I like games...

Created by Zorcon as a fan wallpaper for the video game
"Bikini Karate Babes"

I am socially awkward, even with close friends at times. Games put me on an equal playing field and I am more comfortable. But most importantly, games are a way for me to escape from the stresses of life and actually cope with it better.

Without games, I do not know how I would have made it this far.

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I have been keeping an eye on my post count. In 22 more posts, I will have posted in 2013 the same number of posts as the previous 4 years combined! With everything going on, it will be a big challenge, but I am up for it! 

Quick Pickled Pepers

This is one of my favorite things to make and always keep on hand!

QUICK PICKLED PEPPERS
Inspired by (http://projectsmall.blogspot.com/2011/01/quick-pickled-peppers.html)

Ingredients:
2 qt water
2 qt cider vinegar
4 Tbs agave
4 Tbs salt
4 bay leaves
4 Tbs coriander seeds
4 Tbs black peppercorns
15 Jalapeno Peppers
8 Serrano Peppers
3 Bell Peppers
2 Anaheim Peppers
2 Poblano Peppers
3 cloves garlic, peeled

I also like to add hard boiled eggs, baby onions, elephant garlic (instead of regular garlic), and cucumbers.

Preparations:
Wash the peppers (plus hard boiled eggs, baby onions, elephant garlic, and cucumbers), then take a sharp knife and stab them a few times so the brine can permeate. You can keep them whole or slice them. I say do both, that way you have more of a selection to choose from! Pack into mason jars.

In a non-reactive pot, combine all the other ingredients and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Pour over the peppers and allow to cool on the table. Once cool, move in the fridge. You can start eating them tomorrow, but honestly they taste way better in a week or month!

Tau Progress Chart

Doh! after scheduling 5 posts out on a 3 day interval, I lost track of when I had to come back and write up some more posts!! I will have to catch up over the next few days. This post will be a little shorter than originally planned...

Here is a progress chart for my Tau Empire army. I intended to include group shots, but I haven't made much progress beyond what has already been shown in previous posts.

Tau is my newest army. I played the heck out of my Space Marines in 1st-3rd editions. After a long hiatus of playing I started collecting Tau. But a friend and I only managed to play one game of 4e and two games of 5e at 500-750 points. So, there isn't a lot here completely painted. I also got sidetracked with scratch building and painting various Forge World units and a set of objectives.

To further put me behind, I am changing the color scheme of the Army. From a variation of the Iconic T'au sept to a white with red and black scheme. My goal is to not repaint the finished models until I get an equal mount of models painted in the new scheme.

Mining HeroClix (part 2)

Very quick update on my HeroClix to Dark Heresy conversions.

Only one conversion for this group. I replaced Morrow's hands and bone knives with WHFB Elf hands with swords.

No conversions for this group (yet), but I swapped out Witchblade and Hydra Medic for Domino and Skullbuster.

Three head swaps from very old IG sergeant heads.

If you want to follow this project from the start, take a look at Mining HeroClix (part 1) and Clowning Around.

BFG Progress Charts

I am an Old Skewl GW fan boy. As such, Battlefleet Gothic is one of my favorite games. Since I just added to my collection in a recent large loot purchase and  showcased some old pictures of my painted fleets, I thought it would be appropriate to create and share these progress charts.

The Imperial Navy is the back bone of my forces. They were originally painted purple with gold trim and a yellow prow. But over the years I have began to think this is too much like a Slaaneshi-scheme. The new scheme will be a battleship grey with a yellow prow.

I have been collecting Space Fleet ships over the years to be used as older ships of the fleet. I am still considering weather of not to paint them slightly differently or not.

My Space Marine fleet is painted up like my 40K home-brew Space Marine chapter--Turquoise with orange trim. I have 2 cruisers painted as Grey Knights in homage to my old opponent, who played chaos. I am considering painting a squadron of escorts on the same scheme and doing the same for the black ship. 

For now I am calling this my "Pirate" fleet, but I envision it like either a planetary defense or Rogue Trader Fleet. The list is currently based on the Wolf Pack list formerly available of GW website. If I choose to make this a Rouge Trader fleet, I will likely find another list to base it off of. I plan on the colors to be an an assortment of reds, whites, greys, and gunmetals--More random and weathering if a planetary defense fleet, and more structured if a Rogue Trader fleet.

Clued In

Here are my finished Clue figures. This project was started about 2 months ago I posted Part 1 and Part 2 here.

Obviously, these are the men. I really fought against adding more detail. But I wanted a more cartoonish look, and honestly, I didn't want to commit any more time to this project.

I am very happy how the conversions turned out. A quick rundown: Sculpted a barrett on Mon. Brunette; Removed top 1/3 of head and sculpted a new one on Prof. Plum; Sculpted shoulder straps, tie, and holster and added new hand with gun on Sgt Grey; Sculpted a sun hat on Miss Peach.

Colors are close except for Miss Peach, who's dress has a little more pink. Job well done (IMO!), except in hindsight I would have made the tiles on the base a little smaller--Almost half.

If you have any C&C post 'em below.

Jass Posters

Back in this post I showed you a CD design project I completed for a 20's style Jazz band. I forgot to include the posters that were also part of the project.

The primary poster. At my customer's request, I left space for the venue to add the details of the event. 

This high contrast version is intended for senior centers and assisted living facilities. Again, the open space is for the venue to add the specific information about the event.

I left a white border on these posters as it is likely that whoever is printing these will not have acces (or want to) print on over-sized stock and trim to size. I prefer the look of color/art to the edge of the page (called bleed) but the parameters of this project would not allow.

Loot!

After selling some MtG cards, completing a design job, and a bit of birthday money, I funded a major shopping shopping spree...

Taken from internets without permission.

FLGS

• Tau Riptide
• Tau Xv8 Commander 
• Tau Commander Shadowsun
• Tau Pathfinders
• Tau Darkstrider
• Tau Cadre Fireblade
• 6 Valejo Paints

Taken from internets without permission.

The War Store

• DreamForge Games: Eisenkern Stormtrooper Rifle Squad
• Munchkin 7: Cheat With Both Hands
• Munchkin Level Playing Field
• Munchkin Boxes of Holding Set 2
• Munchkin Duck of Doom Plush
• Munchkin Duck of Gloom Plush
• Munchkin Tricky Treats Booster Pack

Taken from internets without permission.

Paulsons Games

• Mech Soldier Head  (3)
• Mecha Commander Head (3)

Taken from internets without permission.

Victoria Miniatures

• 12 Shoulder Boards
• 5 Victorian Torsos
• 5 Camo Cloaks
• 5 Dress Uniform Torsos
• 10 Slouch Hat Heads
• 10 Plinth Helmets

Taken from internets without permission.

Goodwill

• Yahtzee World Series (for the cool dice)
• Star Wars Monopoly Classic Trilogy

Taken from internets without permission.

eBay

• 5 Stalwart Class Escort Ships (Space Fleet)
• 4 Thunderbolt Class Cruisers (Space Fleet)
• 8 Cobra Class Destroyers (Space Fleet)
• 2 sets Dark Vengeance + 40 Cultists + Limited Chaplain (figures only)
• Star Wars Monopoly Original Trilogy (figures only)
• Star Wars Monopoly Limited Collector's Edition (figures and coins only)

Battlefleet Gothic Lookback

Here are a series of shots I took of my BFG figures about 10 years ago. I have made some additions to both fleets over the years in addition to starting the task of repainting both of them.

Space Marine Fleet: 1x Battleship; 4x Crusers; 4x squadrons Escorts

Imperial Navy: 1x Battleship; 4x Cruisers; 2x Lt Cruisers; 4x squadrons Escorts; 16x bases of Attack Craft

Orbital Defense Platforms and Asteroid Base Station

Close up of Orbital Defense Platforms 

Close up of Asteroid Base Station
showing docking ring and launch bays

Close up of damaged Orbital Defense Platform

The Orbital Defense Platforms were made from rubber feet from a plastic storage bin and model/toy bitz. The asteroid base was made for various household, model, and figure bitz. 

I really like how the damaged Orbital Defense Platform turned out. After hollowing out a the rubber foot, I used card board to represent the decking and the crumbled up rubber as the fire/explosions.

Next up will be to make a progress chart. Since these pictures, I have not only increased the Space Marine and Imperial Navy fleets, but added a good sized Rogue Trade/Pirate fleet.

All three of my fleets could fight each other, or better yet ally with each other. Someday I would love to battle against an opponent(s) with all my fleets combined!!!!

Mining HeroClix

In this post, I unintentionally started a larger project. I don't plan to do any heavy conversions with these--Mainly head and hand swaps.

Cabal of Sorcerers:  Psyloke, Umar, Yukio, Rasputin, Diablo. I plan to paint these in one common color a unique secondary color.

Girl Gang 1: Witchblade, Tiger Lily, Echo, Abby Chase, Hydra Medic. Gang 1 and 2 will be painted in the same colors, but I may flop the colors between the groups.

Girl Gang 2: Kabuki, Typhoid Mary, Ashleigh, Shi, Marrow.

Security Team: SHIELD Trooper, SHIELD Agent, Lobster Johnson, Bullseye, Paladin. This group will represent organized thugs, a security team, or possibly officers.

On average, these figures are about 1/5 head taller than a typical 28mm figure and a full head + compared to a 25mm figure. I am ok with that but I realize others would find the scale difference unacceptable. This is intended to be a quick project that will bulk up my modern/sci-fi figure inventory.

Dark Heresy Servitors Showcase

 

I finished the servitor I have been working on along with his "brother". These are two new additions to our Dark Heresy acolyte cell. In-game, they are sporting a Heavy Stubber and a Grenade launcher, but these two will eventually see service with my Aquamarines, hence the load out.

I made a change to the missile launcher since my last post. After removing the "ammo clip" I first used, I added one from a Space Marine from the 2e boxed set.

I also added a few bits of plasticard to the sides and top of the backpack, making it more like a standard servitor backpack.

A nice little project complete!

Clueless

So here is a little update on my Clue figures. I started laying in color on all the accessories. I am keeping this to 2 color (3 on the skin). No blending--Just simple cuts. Some of the detail is nice, but most of the hands and faces are terrible. I do not think I could make sense out of it if I was blending the colors.

This is taking me much longer than I anticipated. Partly due to my botching the spray primer. I must not have shaken the can enough as I got this weird powdery rough texture all over. It grabs the brush and absorbs a lot of paint, making the process take longer.

Painting a squad of 10 guys at the same time is not new to me, but this is 10 individuals with many unique colors. While I tried to reuse the secondary colors as often as I could, there was still about 40 colors that went into this project!

One change I made was to remove Sgt Grey's left hand and add a HeroClix Hydra Medic's hand with gun.

This isn't the best picture, but the colors are actually quite close (on my monitor).

On the Bench

Here is what I have been working on recently.

Made some progress on the Clue figures. Laid down shadow color and cut in base color. See the first post of this project here.

I assembled these specifically for our Dark Heresy campaign. They are going to be representing a Sentinel Powerlifter and Underwater Exo-Suits respectively. I will likely leave the Sentinel as-is for now, but will paint up the Tau Stealth Suits in my Tao colors.

I have modified 2 of the Stealth Suit legs to make a better running/jumping pose. Detail shots to come later.

Samhain

My band has a gig on November 2nd celebrating Samhain, a Celtic harvest festival. We are getting a lot of good buzz and hope to get a really good turnout!

I designed the poster. I started out laying everything out in CorelDraw (vector graphics), but as the design developed, it looked too "graphic". So I printed what I had out and traced it giving the art a more rustic feel. Then I scanned it back in, opened it in Photoshop, finished a few more details before coloring it.

Clowning Around

As it seems easier for me to start projects than to finish them, I started yet another one! 

It all started a couple weeks ago, when I had my personal HeroClix collection out looking for the name of a specific figure. Deathbot wandered by to see what all the ruckus was about. He asked if he could play with them and I said yes. A little while later, I walked by and saw one of my HorrorClix bins open and noticed the "circus" folk. I thought... what about a clown themed gang! Something like a cross between a Necromunda Goliath gang and a clown from a slasher movie.

So here we have the first installment of the clown gang. These figs are all from a eBay store inventory. I chose to keep these guys armed only with melee and flame weapons. I thought it would be a nice change up to the usual fair. Also, our Dark Heresy group is headed towards an under water hive on the next mission--Firearms are banned there.

I started hacking up the the figures before I remembered to take a pic. These are all HorrorClix figures. The pair on the left are Jesters, the middle one is a Mime Monster, and the last one is a Luchador.

Here is the group shot. I really like how these are turning out and would love to make a second group of five. Unfortunately, I only have 2 more Jesters. Might have to troll eBay for the rest, or get more creative! Here is a run down the mods so far:

• Jester 1: Removed original arm and added bare left arm from a HeroClix fig.
• Luchador: Pried open his hand and gave him a Skaven flail; Added 2 Flagellant weapons on the ends of the big "stick"; Added a Night Goblin head. I am considering making the nose a clown nose.
• Jester 2: Re-positioned the right arm and head.
• Mime Monster: Removed hands, and added 2 Skaven hands with blades.
• Larken: This is a Ramshackle Games mini. I added a SM loincloth and an Orc choppa to his hilt. I may green stuff a "clown fro".

In addition to the clown gang, I also started 4 other 5-man groups. All of these groups I intend for use in Dark Heresy although I admit they will likely look more suited to a modern setting.

• Cabal: A mix of male/female sorcerer types. I plan on painting them with a common main color and accent with a unique color for each.
• Security: Dudes with guns and light armor. I want them to pull duty as PDF or private security.
• Gang 1: Chicks with guns. Some with light armor. Will be interchangeable with Gang 2.
• Gang 2: Chicks with melee. Some with light armor. Will be interchangeable with Gang 1.

I saved a handful of additional figures that could easily represent a personality, but I probably wont get to them for quite awhile.

In future posts I will detail my progress with the other groups. I have actually removed all of them from their HeroClix bases and made modifications to 3-4 of them.

Bloodbowl Showcase - Greenfield Packers (Halflings)

Almost 3 years to the day since my last Blood Bowl Team Showcase! In writing this post, I also made some updates to the Dwarf Warhammer's post.

I really enjoy playing this team. Simply for the rare chance of pulling off a one turn TD! I love the Throw Team Mate skill!! The full team roster consists of:

• Coach
• 2 Assistant Coaches
• Wizard
• 4 Cheerleaders
• 14 Halflings
• 2 Treeman
• Puggy Baconbreath
• Deeproot Strongbraanch

Here is a group shot. I don't know why I didn't include all the regular player nor why I included the Star Player, Puggy Baconbreath (the is the right most Halfling with the big spike on his shoulder pad. All these figure are 2e with one or two 3e Halflings.

These two were apparently late showing up for the team picture.

This is the Star Player Treeman, Deeproot Strongbranch. He is an old figure I had (Grenadier I think). I made the shoulder pads out of plasticard and made the rivets out of plastic tubing.

Here are two Assistant Coaches and the Halfling Master Chef. I made the assistant coaches out of old GW metal Halfling spearmen and fabricated the clipboard (plasticard and paper) and trophy (Eldar weaponry).

Halfling Apothecary is a D&D miniature that came out around 2000.

The female cheerleader is also a 2000 circa D&D figure with greenstuff pom-poms. The Halfling Master Chef's assistants were promoted to cheerleaders where they launch "The Flying Hobbit" into the air every time the Greenfield Packers score.