Stompa update

There hasn't been too much work going on with the Stompa for Orktober since my last update, so I feel we will need an Orkvember too. And today I have gotten a long way with the flamer that will replace the big chainsword. 

I am quite happy with the way things are turning out with the Stompa even though it takes me far longer than I had originaly planned. Also I have had a small setbak with the body, as one of the cut beams that holds the gun shield up has fallen off. The gunshield is sitting solid though, but I need to find a way to stick it back on as it looks a little weird with just one beam holding it up.

This is what the arm looks like right now. I will need to put a little greenstuf or something on the big hose going from the arm to the weapon as it is a little gap there.

I have manged to use most of the hoses from the original setup. What is missing now is to glue the two fueldrums to the other side of the gun an glue on the shouderguard and then I think I can call this arm done. There is also a hose I will try to add between the two fueldrums. I will also see if I can fit a bigger tank or some more fueldrums somewhere on the back of the Stompa as I imagine a flamer like this will go through a lot of prometheum. 

The next step is to make the left arm. This will be modified slightly from the original to make it different from the one on my first Stompa. The idea as I might have mentiones before is to add a Dethsrike missile to the arm. Originly I had planned not to have the big gun, but I have decided to use that as the rail to fire off the rocket in  steady way. Ocorse, being pillaged from the Astra Militrum it is nowhere near as powerful as it is being fired from an Astra militarum weapons platform, but it will still make a big boom. Then I will see what I can add of other weapons. The original Stompa using a hammer on what is a big bomb for him, and I would love to see if I could replicate it with the Dethstrike as that would make a great explanation why it doesn't perform as great as the original.

Stompa update - Orktober

Here is a small update from the Orktober Stomba build. I am glad I have gotten this far. The head is not glued on yet, as I want to fit the arms first, but I think the head will be in the position it is on these pictures, looking the same way as the belly gun.

As you can see there is an open turret in the head, and there will be an Ork sitting in the hatch pointing the way he want to go, holding a gun in the other hand. I think that will be fun to have an Ork verison of the commanders that sit in the Super Heavy tanks of the Imperial Guard with a raised sword. I was a little late to think about putting a sword or an axe in his hand instead of the gun, but I think I will get the same effect no matter.

The bellygun is not glued in a certain position, so it can move up and down, but it will not stand by itself unless it is in the highest or lowest position. As you can see there are quite a lot of Greenstuff involved to keep the "sheild" of the gun in place. I didn't manage to get it 100% straight, but I figure that is ok because it is done by Orks and they put practical use in front of beauty any day.

Another Ork engineering thing is that they have used sharpened beams to hold the "shield" in place at the bottom. This was first done to give me a solid stand to glue the shield on to, and I figure the Ork Meks have done the same.

There is a Goblin sitting in the belly of the Stompa in the original casting. He can be covered up with a glyph if one doesn't like him there, but I thought it would be cool to have him there to work as a lookout and see how the shooters hit their targets. So I had to cut away a little part of the gunshield to make this happen, but again I figure that is just what the Ork Meks would do.

Here is a picture to show how much Greenstuff I actually had to use as the curve on the gun shield is a lot more curved than the curving of the Stompa. I plan to paint this so it looks like there are some rust there, and I might also add som glyphs or some other Orky stuff to cover it, but that will be done when the main parts are built so that I see what parts I have available.

The next step now is to build the arms, and that will mean quite a lot of convertion-work. I plan to replace the big chainsword in the right arm with a big flamer-type of weapon and I plan to build that from the weapon from the Imperial Knight kits. The other arm is a big gun in the original set, and I have thought a lot what to do with this arm. Do I want to keep the gun, do I want to make something completely different? So far I think I've landed on a solution where I keep the big gun, but change most of what is on the top of it. I have a big rokkit (Imperial Guard Deathstrike Missile) and I would love to add that to the top of the gun, and use the gun as sort of a slide to fire off the rokkit. Then I am sure I will add some smaller dakka around it.

Tomorrow is October

Tomorrow is the first day of October, or Orktober as many Warhammer fans know it.

I have not ben able to do much with my armies these last weeks as my real life has been very busy. I have been playing with 3 big bands both practices an concerts and that has taken a lot of the time I normally would have spent with my minis.

But I have done something at least. I have built a unit of Warriros of Chaos with big axes and shields. They will go in to the growing army eventually and I alreadyknow exactly howI want to paint them up. The next thing I will do for this army is to add arms and heads on the ones I have painted metal, and then I will probably prime and paint them again as I think contrast paints will do them a lot more justice than the old washes I used on them. 

I will keep painting the Tyranid, but since it is October I think I need to so something Orky. The first thing is to finish my Ork driven Cargo 8 Ridge hauler from Necromunda. I need to paint the container and do some small details on the rest of the model before I can call it done. It has been standing on the edge of my desk for too long, so this needs to be finished.

Then I will do a BIG project and see what I can get out of it. I have a Stompa that I have decided will get a big bellygun in form an Imperial Eathshaker cannon. My plan is to cut away what I need of the panels to get the gun mounted and then I will install the gun shield on the outside of the armored panels on the Stompa to cover up the cuts. I have not decided how I will paint it yet, but tht wil come at a later time, the first thing is to get it built. 
I also want to do something with the weapons so it doesn't look exactly like my first Stompa, but I am not sure exactly what to do there. I know I want to replace the big chainsword on one stompa with a Ork-made flamer of some sort, and I think this could be the model to do it on, as it will have a limited use of a big sword because of the big, long gun sticking out of the belly.  I am sure I will figure out a way to do it as the build comes along. I have thought of using knight parts to make the flamer and then I will need to ad barrels and other things to make it both look functioning and orky.

re-visiting an old army and Tyranid update

I haven't been able (as usual) to paint as much as I would like, as I am busy two evenings each week playing the trombone, and also this Saturday (weekends are usually the time I get most Warhammer work done) I played a gig with one of my Big Bands together with a big reed-group from the local music school.

But I have actually almost finished something...

The Neurotyrant just needs a final looking over and maybe some clean-up. Also I need to paint some rust on the pipe it stands on on the base. This will be done with a pice of packing material and brown and silver colors and I will do this next sitting.
The two Neuroloids that comes with it are done. I will post pictures when the Neurotyrant is done too.

The Neurogaunts (both the synapsis creature and the 10 bodyguards) are as good as done, they need their final checkup to see if clean-up is needed before I call them finished.

The same status can be said for the 2 Ripper Swarms, they are also just awaiting their final check-up before I call them done.

I have put on the first coat of dark purple on the carapace of the Screamer-Killer, and the next plan here is to add the whilte (bone) color and then paint a second layer of dark purple to make sure the carapace is nice and clean and then the remaining colors will be added.

I made myself a "test" model of a Barbgaunt and a Von Ryan's Leaper and they are comming along nicely. The main colors (body, carapace and claws) are painted on as well as the eyes. But this is just one for each type, and there are 5 Barbgaunts and 3 Von Ryan's Leapers in total. Also I added another box of 5 Barbgaunts to the collection and this box needs to be painted up after I have assembled and primed it.

The 20 Termagaunts are still only primed, and I plan to batchpaint these in units of 5, but I might take more than one batch at the time. The plan is to add a color to one batch, then do the same to a second batch and the second color to the first. That way I will have nice progress and I don't get bored painting the same things all the time and then they will be finished 5 at the time.

The Psychophage is started on, I have painted the inside of the mouth (not the teeth but the purplish gums) and the "gills" but I am still debating what color to paint the "smoke" comming up from the chimney-like towers on its back.
I am currently thinking some sort of sickly green to make it a contrasting color while still looking nasty.

To do something else than Tyranids I started to put together a unit of Chaos Warriors for my AoS Chaos army. This is a quite new box of Slaves to Darkeness and they are armed with large axes and shields. The shield design istotally different from my older Chaos Warriors. They come in a box of 10, and I am making them with full command, then I will chek the rulebook and see how many of them can be in a unit to check if one box = one unit or if I should make larger units. Only thing I found so far is that all models in the unit need the same kind of weapons.

I wanted to make this new box to see how they compare to the older plastic Chaos Warriors that I have quite a lot of. So far I think it is the same issue as we have with "1st generetion" Space Marines compared to the Primaris where the new Chaos Warriors are like the Primaris when it comes to size.
It bothers me a bit, but not more than that. I will just keep them in separate units and say that the people from one part of the Chaos realms are just slightly taller than the rest. 

I intend to re-visit my box of partially painted Chaos Warriors of the old type that I have given shiny armor and painted them with the appropriate color for their chaos gods and use contrast paint over their shiny metal armor instead of the washes I used now. This will give them much brighter colors and I feel especially the Khorne warriors were bleak with the wash I used. They are just sligly pink colored metal but with contrast they will be bright red metallic and that seems more fitting for warriors of Khorne. Then I will see how the other looks, but I think it is best to give them all the same treatment but with different contrast colors so I reacon I will do the same with green and purple.

End of week update

This end of week update comes a little earlier than usual, as I am going to my cabin to do some wotk there these next 3 days. And when I come back, my dogs will be with me again for the comming week.

It has not been many days since the last update, and I haven't been able to sit and paint as much as I have wanted becuse real life has gotten in the way a little. But that is the way it usually is, so that's perfectly normal. 

Still I feel I have been quite productive when I have been sitting down to paint. I have worked on the Neurotyrant and its two small Neuroloids. The Neuroloids only needs wash and drybrushing for the purple an Morghast Bone parts (no drybush on the brains), and then the bases needs a drybrush and the rims needs to be painted.
The Neurotyrant itself has gotten its upper carapace painted and also the brain and the brain stem. I had planned to work on the smaler beasts first, but I really wanted to see how the darkest of the purple carapaces would turn out, and with this one I got the chance to see the darkst beside the lightest as it has what appears to be two Neuroloids clinging to its body still.
The dark purple is called Xereus Purple, it is a little more red and not as dark as the Phonecian Purple I use for weapons, but it quite a lot darker than the Genestealer Purple that will be on the smaller beasts like the Termagants.

I have also painted up most of the Neurogants, all 10 or the reagular ones and the synopsis one with the sort of communications array in its back that the others are protecting fiercely. These are smaler than the Termagants, and they are painted in a lighter purple called Kakophoni Purple. This is also used for the Neuroloids and for the Ripper swarms. The Neurogaunts are missing the Volpus Pink for their softer parts and the Screaming Skull for their teeth and then they need a thin layer of wash an a drybrush. Then I need to make the bases and paint the rims. But before I go over them with the washes I want to make sure all the paint is dry and then look over them one last time to see if there are anywhere paint is missing or a color has ended up where it is not supposed to be. There are some quite small an fiddly areas to paint so I suspect this might be the case. If so I will fix that before I start with the washes.

I have also almost finished the two Ripper Swarms that came in the box, they are missing some details around their heads where I think I will need to use some more Morghast Bone and then I need to paint the teeth. Then they are ready for wash and drybrush too. I have made their bases already, but they need to be drybrushed and the rims needs to be painted.

I have gone over the big beasts an used Liquid Greenstuff in the visible cracks where the big bodyparts has been glued together, and all models that have eyes have gotten them painted with Imperial Fist Yellow. I figured I might as wel paint them first for once, as I usually need to clean up around the eyes if I paint them later in the process. So hopefully I can be careful enough when I paint the skin and capapace on the heads so that I don't need to repaint them. One reason for wanting to paint eyes fist is that I have white primer and yellow will pop more over "pure" white than if I paint it over Morghast Bone.

The next thing I need to do now is to figure out what colors to use on the symbiotic weapon hat is on the Barbgaunts. The "flesh"-part of the weapons will be painted Phonecian Purple but the weapons also have carapace armorplates and originally I thought I would paint that like the beasts that are stuck to the back of some of the other nids (like the Neurogaunts) but it seems like the Barbgaunts also has this same symbiotic beasts on their necks and it obviously is two different kind of creatures.

Just a small Tyranid update

I had to go to my local Warhammer store yesterday to pick up the Minka Lesk figure I had ordered a few weeks back. I got two so I plan to make one as a sergeant and one as a lieutennant or captain. The figure comes with at least two weapon options (maybe more as I haven't studied the sprues, just looked at the box art) so it will be quite asy to make two different looking models that doesn't appear to be the same person. Both will serve with the Walpurgian 3rd in the 27th Infantry regiment.

While I was there I also got some more paints for my Tyranid army. I think I have mentioned in here earlier that I wand the big 'nids to have a slightly darker carapace and the small to have lighter, and I belive I have worked out how to do it now. One solution could be to just use a heavier wash on the big ones, butthat would also give them a different look so instead I decided to get 3 shades of purple. I don't remember the names right now as I'm not in the same building as my paintstation at the moment, but I will present them when I show off WIP pictures.

The idea now is that the Neurogaunts (the small verson of the Termagaunts) will have the lightest carapace, and I think I will also see if I can use this color of some of the carapace on the "arms" of the bigger Tyranids as that armor is probably softer than the thick one on the back. I also think I will use it on the two small Neuroloids that come with the Neurotyrant and on the Ripper swarms.

The most common sizes will be painted Genestealer Purple, that is the main creatures of the army, the Termagaunts, but probably also on the body carapace of the Barbgaunts, the Von Ryan's Leapers (they have nore carapace but are about the same size) and the Tyranid Prime.
For the Tyranid Prime I might use Genestealer purple for the carapace and then the lighter purple on the skin between the bones in the wings but I will have to see what the lighter color looks like when I get it on the Neurogaunts before I make the final decition.

The Neurotyrant, Screamer-Killer, and Psychophage will ge the darkest purple, and I will also use that on other big beasts that will be released and aquired later. 

I will need to add another color, maybe a contrasting one for some parts on some of the creatures. The small Neurogaunts and the bigger Barbgqunts have symbiotic creatures attached to them, and I will have to see what colors I should paint them. For the Barbgaunst I think I will use the same dark purple that I use for the weapons on the Termagaunts as their sympioctic creature is a weapon. For the Neurogaunts I really don't have any idea yet, but maybe I will find inspiration looking on pictures of other painted minis or something comes to me as I sit and paint the other colors on them. 

End of the week status, and Tyranid update

A week with the dogs and then another week without them has passed, and now I have collected the dogs again to have them with me for the comming week.

This week I have not been able to sit and work on my Valkyrie, but I haven't gotten hold of the missing piece either so I am in no hurry. I am quite sure I have one more Valkyrie so I can take the piece from that and finish the one I have started so I will do that in the not too distant future.

What I have been up to though, is building and priming all the Tyranids in the Leviathan boxed set. 

So when the dogs go to back to their second home I will start painting them up. I know most of my colorscheme now, but some of them will need another color added as they have either much bigger and probably tougher carapace than the small ones so it might need a slightly different color. Maybe I can do that with a heavier wash or by using a purple contrast paint isntead of my regular wash. I will see what I can do.Also one of the Tyranids has wings so I need to find a color to put between the "bones" on the "leather" of the wings. 

I am now looking forward to the release of more Tyranids from the new range ro make the splinter fleet grow. New creatufres as shown off, but also more of the ones I already have. One of the tings I'm looking forwar to the most is stangely enough the small ones like th one I used for my test model, as thy will come with many weapon options.

I have started to work on a backstory for the army and the story is that this is a splinter fleet from Hive Fleet Kraken. The Splinter Fleet is designate Sotha Tertius as it was the third splinter fleet discovered near the planet Sotha. They never fought there, but they were seen travelling to an unknown detination. Usually the forces of the Imperium would try to stop them, but they were too heavily involved trying to fight the two other splinter fleets in the area as they fought hard. This week I will keep on working on the back story and see if I can fill it out more. 

"End of the week" status

Even though it is alredy a few days in to the week I'm caling this the end-of-the-week update. I'm collecting my dogs again tomorrow and will have them the comming week, so my Warhammer hobby will get a few days rest.

These last days I've managed to almost complete my Tyranid test-figure. The only thing remaining now is to paint the rim of the base. I think the color scheme turned out real well, and for once I managed to just get a thin coat of wash on the model. Then I went for a thicker coat on the base. For the purple I washed with Druchii Violet and then I drybrushed with Genestealer Purple that I used to paint it in the first place. 
The skin and base was drybrushed Agrax Earrtthshade. The skin got a thin coat while the base got a good load. Then I used Moghast Bone to drybrush the skin gently, and the base got a heavier drybrush with Screaming Skull. 

Here is a close-up of the base, after the drybrush. When I get the rim painted this mini will be done. I look forward to building, priming and painting up more in this color scheme and I look forward to seeing lots of Tyranids painted up like this on the table.

The other project I have been working on is the Valkyrie for the Imperial Guard. This is what it looks like now, The next step is the cockpit, but that will happen when the dogs go to their other home.

I have to say the instructions for this set is pretty bad (hopefully they have gotten better over the years as my model is old), but despite of that I do enjoy building it, and I think it will look pretty good when it is all built and painted.

You don't see much of the inside from the side, even though the side doors are open, but that might chage slightly when the bird is standing on its stand. But still I wanted to paint the interior so I spent some time on that.

This is looking in through the back gate, and you can almost see the two gunners manning their heavy bolters peaking out of the side doors. Before I glued the wings on I checked if I could take them out and put them back in. I am not sure it will be as easy now that the wings are on, but I have to try sometime. The gunners are glued to the gun, and the gun is put in its cradle that is glued to the armholding it to the side of the Valkyrie. So by lifting and tilting the gun I should be able to take the figures out. I need to do this if Iwant to close the doors. For one of the other Valkyries I plan to build the guns but not add the crewmen.

I wanted to paint up the interior, so I have painted some pipes and cables and also screens and buttons.

I had to add a picture from the behind too. The tailgate is open, but I will see what whill happen when the model is finished if it closes, if I plan the model on the base with the gate open or if I might have to glue it shut.

Tyranids color cheme

Yeserday I wrote that I had bought the Leviathan box and that I would start a Tyranids army and build it up slowly to an acceptible size. 

When I was at the store I talked about my plans and got a "miniature of the month" called a Termagant to use as a test model for my color scheme. The Termagant is one of the smaller creatures of the Tyranid army and it is armed with some sort of bio-gun. There are several of these in the Leviathan box, and in the new online reveal yesterday we were shown this same creture with a lot of different weapons. 

This is apparently one of the most common creatures in a hive fleet, sort of the infantry, so I look forward to building and painting up a lot of them with different weapons options. 

I think I have found the color scheme I want to use.

The colors I have landed on is Morghast Bone for the bodies. I wanted a light color, but white is hard to get to look good at least without painting many layers. And I think this color will fit well as some sort of camouflage against my bases that will be Armageddon Dust or Armageddon Dunes like I do with all (at least almost all) my 40K models.

 

For the claws I wanted a horn color, so I went with Nazdreg Yellow. This is a color I use for most of the horns I paint in Age of Sigmar. This gives the claws a natural color, but not the classic black that you see on many pictures of Tyranids.

Then the hard scales, or the armor if you like, got painted with Genestealer Purple. This is a light purple color and I like that. I also think it contrasts well with the Morghast Bone and I have known for a long time that I would like to use purple on my Tyranids if I ever wanted to get this army.

The tongue and what looks like gills on the body has been painted with Volupus Pink. This is the same color I have used for tongues and the insides of mouths on a lot of other projects and I'm quite happy with that. 

After these pics were taken I painted the teeth Screaming Scull as this is whiter than Morghast Bone but not classic white.

I also found the color I think I want to use for the bio-weapons and I landed on Phonecian Purple. It is a darker purple but still quite bright. I have painted it on now, and to make it clear that the weapon is biological and part of the organism I painted the scales on the top of the weapon Genestealer Purple to match the scales on the body of the Termagant.

I will have another look at the model tomorrow, and if I'm still happy with the colors I will put Armageddon Dunes or Dust on the base, and then start with washes and drybrushing if I feel I need that after. My idea right now is to use the same paint as I have used now to drybrush.

I will post final pics when this work is done.

Imperial Guard, Space Marines and a new faction

If you have seen the lables for this post, then you already know that the new faction is Tyranids. So let us start there and let the cat out of the bag. I have bought my first Tyranids. I was at Warhmmer Oslo today and they had four of the new Leviathan boxes in the store so I got one. 

I have long stayed away from the Tyranids because I have no idea how to paint them up. I have tried with some Genestealers but have not been satisfied so I have stayed away. But as the years have passed I have given it a lot of thought and seen a lot of nicely painted 'Nids and now I feel the time is here to give it  go. I plan to give them a light paint scheme with some sort of off-white and light purple and maybe some pink or light red.

Today Games Workshop revealed models that will replace some of the old range and they look really good, so I look forward to expanding the force over time. But I do not want to do it too fast, as I have way too many models to build and paint as it is.

The Leviathan box also includes Space Marines and they have made new versions for several of the units. One unit that is all new is the Terminators that has been made bigger than the old ones and apparently the heads are placed in a more natural place compared to the shouders than on the old ones. I look forward to building and painting them, and I will get more of them when they are released as a separate box. I already have so many Terminators, but I think there always is room for a few more. 

I have also started on a new unit for the Walpurgian 3rd. This time it is a Valkyrie from the 1st Airborne and I have an idea how I want to paint it up. I have painted most of the interior of the troop or cargo compartment, but  the weapons and gunners remain. I am working on them now.

I think the Valkyrie will be black and dark gray just like the vehicles I have painted up for the army, but I will have to think a little bit more on what parts should get what color. The inside of the troop/cargo copartment is black, and I think the cockpit interior will be the same. The pilots will have dark gray pants, or maybe Death Corps drab if I want it to look like a rugged flight suit. I will see how they look when I come to that step in the instructions.

I have one big problem with the Valkyrie, and it is a showstopper so it will not be completed for a while. One of the two side panels for the front cockpit is gone from the set. Probably it has broken off, and I have managed to loose it when opening the box and looking at the sprues some time before. So I have to wait for the Valkyrie to come back in stock so I can get a new one. I talked to the staff at the Warhammer store and asked if they know if GW makes spares but they told me they don't but they would contact customer service for me anyway, as it could be possible that they had a spare sprue if something went wrong in the moulding of new sets. But I am thinking I will buy another one and then use most of the parts for an Ork flyer. Then I have extra crew and some extra parts to use on future builds. My plan is to have three Valkyries and kit them out a little differently for each.

More Ogors

I had planned to do mostly painting for this period, but I ended up spending a little less time than planned with the minis and also doing more buiding than painting.

For painting I have painted up the wheels and chassis on an old ork Trukk, I wanted to find out how the red contrast paint I use for my squigs would work for the trukks. I am quite happy with the way it turned out, so I will paint the  rest of the old trukks like this too. Also the old bike that I have from the same era.

I have also painted up the wheels on my Cargo-8, so it is one step closer to being finished. 

When it comes to building I have made two new units for my Ogor army, And i have also found a "unit" that i have been ooking for for a long time in my storage. The unit I found was The Great Mawpot, I plan to build that up soon, but there are a few other Ogor units I need to build forst.

The first unit I have built is an old box of mournfang cavalry from the Warhammer Fantasy age. That box has two of the Mournfang cavalry, and I have one more box to build so I can make one unit of four. 

I plan to make that unit with full command, and then the fourth Ogor will get armed with a club and a metal fist. Then I have a modern box with four Mournfang Cavalry and a Stonehorn or Thunertusk, and I will build that Mournfang cavalry with the two handed weapon options.

The second unit is in the rulebook, but not part of the Age of Sigmar figures. Instead it is part of  the Warhammer Underworlds range caled Harrowdeep. It is the unit called Blackpowder's Buccaneers. It consists of maybe the coolest figure in the entire Ogor range, the pirate captain with the big gun and the sword. He can be the commander of units of Leadbelchers and I do plan to have several units of those.

He also has to gnoblars with him, and to weird animals (a bird and a monkey). I know how to paint the gnobars but I am not sure how to paint the monkey and the bird yet except  would like the bird to have bright colors to look a bit like the parrots from pirate movies.

Ogors and Guard update

I haven't finished any units since my last update, but I have done some work. 

First off i have started to paint my first Field Ordnance Battery, the biggest mobile artillery in the Guard that isn't self-propelled. I till haven't figured out what units are used to pull them in to position, but I am hoping we will get some units for that in the future.

The bombast field gun, the one that looks like a regular cannon, has gotten a coat of Mechanicum Standard Grey. The next I need to do is paint the front shield and the wheels black and then the barrel (at least parts of it) and some small details metal. Then I plan to paint a stripe on the black shield, but I have not decided yet what color it shoud be. I'm currently considering red, yellow or orange.

The malleus rocket launcher has also gotten a coat of Mechanicum Standard Grey and the plan here is also to paint the wheels black and maybe the front support pillar. Then the rocket pipes will get a metal color and some green details. Then the plan is to paint the front of the front support pillar in one of the colors mentioned earlier. 

Then I will paint the crew and the ammo boxes. I am still considering if I want to give the crew the same look as the infantry or if I should give them a different color on their coats. I think it depends what I end up doing with the cavalry. They have Russ Grey jackets now, but I am not sure if I like the army to have so many different colored jackets or if I want most of my army to be the same. 

I have also built and primed an Ogor Ironblaster. It was an interesting build with one of the biggest instructions I have seen on a Games Workshop model. It had more steps than on some much larger models that is around today.

I ended up building it skipping some of the steps, but I still think I managed to get it to look as it should in the end. I am looking forward to see if the instructions have changed lately, as I have ordered up a new one. The one I built was from when Warhammer Fantasy was a thing, so it was really old. I know I will get more of them as I would like to have at least two maybe three Ironblasters and one or two Gnoblar Scrap Launchers that is built from the same set.

Another unit I have built and primed is a unit of Gluttons, apart from the Gnoblars. I plan to build me some of those too, but I'll get to that in due time. I have lots of them in the bitz boxes but they are basically lots of two different models as there are two models that you only glue a head to and there are 3 sprues with these models in each box A regular unit would have two of them, but it is hard to make them look individual.

I ran out of square bases for the Ogors now, I only had four left, but I found two bases of the right size that had some rocks and a dwarf shied on them. I am not sure what models they were made for originally, but it seems I have built the models on different bases in the past.

Games Workshop don't sell the square bases anymore, but they will bring them back when the Old World models come out some time in the future, but I think that is still quite a long time in the future. So either I will look at Ebay for the bases I need, or I will have to wait. 

The Ogors I had started to paint before all got a new layer of paint on them, so that they have all painted their pants now. Itill have the last batch I primed to paint along with this last unit of Gluttons, and the idea is to start on their skin next. I need to check the bases on the last unit of Leadbelcchers, and I think they have square bases as it is an old box. so I vill probably build and prime them before I start on the skin on the next units so that I can paint them up along side.

Then I will start on the Mournfang units and the big beasts (Stonehorns or Thundertusks, I still haven't decided what I will make them as).

just a quick one...

Just a quick little post this Monday. I mentioned in my post a few days ago that I had decided on how I wantd to display the Walpurgian 3rd markings on my army. I am afraid that is not true. Right after postin that I discovered that my design had a "V" and not a "W" and since the Walpurgians write their planet name with a W then a design based on a V will not work. so I will have to rethink it once again. Maybe I can use the idea for my Leagues of Votann instead as they are called the Valiant Veteran Alliance so there I have the V.

But the Space Marine iconography I am rather sure of, there I just need to try and paint it on and see how it will look on a shoulderguard. 

Status update, Orks and Ogors mostly

I don't have any pictures to show off for this update, but there has been some progress in the hobby room since I last posted here. 

The biggest updates are on the looted Cargo-8 for my Ork Waaagh. It is almost ready for the tabletop now, as a transport of some kind. The Cargo-8 is mostly painted up, I am missing the wheels, the cago container (the flatbed is done though) and just a few details (like the teeth) on the Ork driver and his companion Grot. I managed to squeeze the grot in beside the driver where the gunner usually would be, so now he points forward while looking at the driver. I like the pointing Grot, and I hope to make some other versions of him for future builds. The body is from the Ogor Gluttons box where he is standing lookout on the platform on top of the banner (if you choose to use that option). Since I have some banners where this option isn't used I have some spare. I plan to use this body with a fitting head in future projects as well. I don't remember in what set I found the head for this Grot, it just sort of lay around in my Ork bitz boxes. Hopefully I will manage to finish painting this model next week as I have a day off on Thursday.

I have also assembled a unit of six Ogor Gluttons with command. Since my first box of theese has a banner with both a lookout and a horned skull, I only used the horned skull for this icon bearer. I also found a different head for the bellower so he didn't end up identical to the one from my first unit.

My plan is to assemble one more Ogor unit and then prime them and add them to the pile of unfinished Ogors I already have on my desk (but I might make two boxes as well once I start).

I went with snow bases back when I originally made the unit that I have given a new skintone, and I have no interest in cutting them off their bases and making new. So instead I decided to try and make them look a bit more detailed, as just plain white snow looks a little dull. So I have started to experiment with adding some contrast paint to make patches of ice, and then I plan to add a new layer of snow on top to blend it in. On some of the bases for the bigger figures in the army (like Stonehorns and Thundertusks) I would like to add some mud as well (still with a little snow on top), to tie the army closer together with the other AoS armies I have. They will also get the green rim around the base as that is something I do for all my AoS minis.

I have started to paint my Witch hunters Galen and Dora ven Denst for my Cities of Sigmar army, and so far I have finished their coats and Doras classic hat. I decided to paint it in brown to give it a tough leather look instead of the classic black that the old witch hunters wore. They will not b in uniform, so I am a bit more free when it comes to painting their clothes.

The Walpurgian 3rd has also gotten some love, I have not gotten around to paint the big guns yet (they are primed and ready to paint), but I have started to paint the Castellan and the Commissar from the new release and the plan is to paint the Castellan with a light skintone and Commisar with the same skintone as I use for my Ogors for AoS. Then I will see if I can "sneak" in some more units with a darker skintone as an army with just one skintone might look a little dull. Since the Walpurgian have integrated other units in to their army over time then that is a good back story for different skintones, and Commissars rarely come from the same planet as the units they serve with so that is yet another good argument to paint him different from the other units. 

I've also started to think of unit markings for my armies. I think I know how I want to make unit markings from the Gatekeepers (my Space Marine chapter) and the Walpurgian 3rd, and I have started to think of how to do it for my Votann and Mechanicus armies.

Ork Looted Cargo-8 Ridgehauler is completed

The looted Cargo-8 Ridgehauler is done for now. I could not fit a gunner in the front compartment, so I am thinking of trying to add something on the roof, but that will come as a future improvement. 

I am very happy with the driver. He was made from spare bitz from my boxes. I think his head and torso is from one of the ork flyers, and I belive his right arm is from a biker and I have no idea where the left is from. I'm thinking someone carrying a two handed weapon. The arms doesn't really fit as well as I was hoping, but the most important thing was to get them on as they won't be very visible once the roof is on.

I think the Driver should have some sort of assistant and I found this Grot body in my Ogor bitz and a head among my Orky bitz so I decided that he could get the job. Not sure why he is pointing the way he does (well as a matter of fact I do as he originally stands on  lookout-platform on top of a banner pole) or even if he will be standing in that seat or on the other side. If I get him on the other side he points out the direction the wagon is going so tht might be nice, so I will see what I can do. I will paint both him and the driver compartment before I glue him in anyway.

Here are the details of the left and right side showing how I glued the front pice of the battle wagon on to this. The plates are spares from some Imperial Guard vehicle, I think it is the Chimera. I had three plates that I glued together and then cut them in half to get one for each side. With a little modification on the connection of that battle wagon front it fit rght in. 

Before I fitted everything I also wanted to make an Ork gunner to stand in the gunners position, but it turned out the driver Ork was so broad shouldered that he couldn't fit after all. Still this must be the tallest, slimmest ork of the lot. I took him apart again after so I can use the torso for something else, and maybe I can glue the back on to the legs again and build the gunner like he was supposed to be built so I can use him for another project in the future.

My plan now is to paint the model up. It has 8 wheels so that means it must be fast, so becaiuse of that I will paint it red  as that is the right color for a fast vehicle. I will paint some of the sides, the cabin and the "plow" red with some rust and bare metal showing to make it look like some of the paint has been worn off. The chassis under the cargo container or flatbed will be painted in darker metal, also with some rust, an I plan to use either grey or dark green on the fenders on the back. They will also be rusted up.

Looted Cargo-8 Ridgehauler almost compltely built

I have done some more bulding today, and the Cargo-8 Ridgehauler that has been looted by the Orks is almost done. I am missing the crew, and I plan to go look for that in my storage unit tomorrow. I will need to cut up some Orks no matter what I find, as their legs are to wide to fit inside the cockpit. I tried today to place one of the gunners from the Battle wagon on the side of the gunner for this set, and his left leg ended up in the middle of the driver's seat. So either I must have a Grot crew driving and defending this wagon, or I must reposition the legs of some Boyz. Maybe I take an Ork gunner and driver and a Grot co-pilot. I will see what I find. 

I got the idea to take a Deffkopta pilot to drive the Cargo-8 as I had a box handy, but the pilots were attached to the Deffkopta so it would have to be a lot of cutting and also it would leve a unit one pilot short so I decided against it. 

This is what a standard Cargo-8 Ridgehauler looks like without a crew. The spikes can be left off if one chooses, but I think in hostile terrain having sort of a battering ram would come in handy. And since the special Battle wagon front fits outside it I decided to put it on. I also glued on the lights as they fit with the front as well.

Here I have placed the front, but it is not glued on. It stands on the ground in this picture, but it will be raised a little higher so that the top of the plow will stick to the bottom of the headlights. 

This is another challenge that needs to be solved. It turns out the front is just a little thinner than the Battle wagon, so the plow doesn't attach against the sides of the Cargo-8, but I plan to fix that by cutting up some spare vehilcle parts from my bitz boxes and glue it on to the sides to block it out, I figure that would be something the Ork Meks would do, not caring that much about estethics but more about function. I think I know what parts to use as well, so that will be done tomorrow. Then I will add the ladder parts above to hide the holes on the driver side of the vehicle where the ladder is supposed to be.

The Cargo-8 comes in two configurations. One with a flatbed and one with a container. I was thinking to use the container for this vehicle, but now I'm not so sure. This is what it looks like with the container standing on top of the flatbed, but I am thinking I might have both unglued so I can swap beween them.

Here is the container seen from the top. As one can see there are hatches on top of the container, and it is designed so that you can add gun turrets on top of those hatchs and get more firepower. I think the Orks would like that, but then I think I will need the turret parts from a Battle wagon or a plane to get the right size for an Ork or Grot gunner to work the turret mounted weapons. 

This is what the vehicle looks like with the flatbed. It is quite a bit of room, so if I choose to keep this modular and not glue it in place, I can add some sort of gun on this platform. Forgeworld has something called an Ork Supa Cannon that I think would look geat on this, but I might also be able to use a Mek gun (I have several that is still in ther boxes on sprues in storage either at my storage unit or at my cabin) or I might even design my own sort of scrap cannon. Maybe if I find an altrnative gun-arm for a Stompa, I could use the huge gunbarrel that works as an arm on the regular Stompa as the barrel of a self made gun. I am alredy thinking on trying to find an alternative arm for the one that will get the long bellygun, so I will see what I come up with, and I do love to make veird conversions so this could be an interesting challenge...

Some Orky goodness in progress...

A while back while being in my local Games Workshop store I started to talk with one of the staff members about making one of my Cargo-8 Ridgehaulers in to something else. We talked about entering them into the Astra Militatum as suppport vehicles and I might do that but I think it can be done without any real conversion work, It can probably be done with a paintjob and by changing the drivers and the gunners to troopers by using Astra Militrum body parts. Since I have three Cargo-8 Ridgehaulers one could serve with the Astra Militarum, one could be a regular "civilian" wagon train on regular duty, and the third would be converted to the Orks. We talked about how the front that is used for the Gun Wagon and Battle Wagon might look cool as a front on a looted Cargo-8. So this is what I will do with this one. I just tried to see if the pieces for the front would fit, and it looks like it will fit quite well and maybe just with some minor modifications, so I am exited to see what I can make of it. This is where I am so far...   

The next step will be to start buiding the driver cabin, and I will have to see how much I can buld before I have to put some Orks inside. I will see what I have avilable in my bitz boxes or in other sets that won't be needed there. If I don't find anyone I will have to try and find what set that has figures I can use an buy that when I can afford it. 

Right now I am thinking I might need a figure from one of the planes or from one of the wagons. If I have to use one from the planes it would have to be the pilot and that mean that I would have a plane without a pilot so that would mean that I would have to try and build a big double plane that has one cockpit to control it and maybe one cockpit tht serve other purposes. If I use a figure from one of the wagons I could take one of the figures ment to sit in one of the towers as yo uprobably would not see the legs anyway. Or I could just take a regular Ork boy and cut him up maybe. That would certainly be the cheapest optian and might also be the best if I could find a way to do it. I think I will take a trip to my storage unit tomorrow and see what I have there. 

I will post more pictures of the process of the conversion as wok goes forward, and I will also post pictures of my second Ork conversion project that I plan to start shortly. I have a Stompa that I plan to convert with a belly gun and maybe some other conversions too as I plan to do something with the arms to make them different from the arms I have on my finished Stompa (Da Punisha). I wil make the chainsword arm into an arm firing a big flamer of some sort, and I have to figure something out for the big gun that works as a left arm on the Stompa set. I have a Forgeworld arm (grabba arm I think it's called), but I plan to use that for my third Stompa. So I will see what I can figure out.

New figures to paint

I have assembled a few figures lately. The first two are stand alone figures from the new Astra Militarum range, and will serve with the Valpurgian 3rd. The first one is a Commissar. He is standing with his trusty chainsword by his side, and it looks like he is about ro raise or lower his boltgun. 

The second figure is the new Cadian Castellan. I am very happy that Games Workshop has given us four different heads and several weapon options for this figure so there is no need to make any Castellan in the army the same. I am not 100% sure what the exact combat role of a Castellan is, so I do not know how many I will need in my army but that is one thing I will read up on in the rulebook and decide on.

I have given this Castellan a plasma pistol and a chainsword. I like chainswords a lot, as they look scary and at the same time they are easier to paint up to look good compared to a powersword that I usually only get to look like a regular sword. 

This figure has a scenic base that is made in such a way that the figure can't stand  on his own feet unless he is glued to the base. But the base is made in such a way that I can modify it a bit to make it look slightly different for the different Castellans.

The next two figures came in one box, and are for Age of Sigmar, for my Cities of Sigmar army. They are the Witch hunters Galen and Doralia ven Denst, a father and daugher duo. 

They will not be painted up in uniform, but will instead have leather coats and Doralia will have a leather hat or maybe it will be black to add some more color. They will probbly work as a separate unit.

summary of the week

This week I've been a little all over the place.

I started last week with a Field Ordnance Barttery, and finished building and priming it this week. I had hoped I could build them with 5 troops and 1 sergeant, but there were not enough arm-options for regular troops to do this so I had to make one sergeant for each gun. That means a big unit will have 6 sergeants unless I can find some arms that I can use in the regular infantryboxes with the new guard models or with the upgrade sprue that I will have go get anyway as I would love the arms holding wrenches to field as crew for my revcovery vehicle. But even if I can make some changes in future sets so I only have one sergeant for every second gun I have come to the conclusion that I will need to make some Ensigns (2nd Lieutennants) to take command of a battery of six guns as that is how I would love to field my guns. I would love to add some kind of unit markings on these guns, especially on the Bombast gun and the heavy las-cannon as they have quite big shields in front that would look rather monotone if I just paint them in black. I am thinking of painting the front shield black and the reas of the gun Mechanicus standard gray as that will match with my tanks. Then I plan to add a vertical stripe of a brighter color as a unit marking on the guns on one side of the shield just like Games Workshop has done in many of the pictures in the rulebook. I will also bring my tanks home from storage just to add the same vertical stipes in the front on each side of the tanks.

I primed up my Lord Castellan Ursula Creed that I talked about in an earlier post. I look forward to getting her on the battlefield in the future. I managed to get her primed separately from the base, so that I can paint both to a good standard (at least for me) before I glue them together. I think I know what colors to use on most of her details, so it is just a matter of getting started.

For Age of Sigmar I primed up the unit of Ironguts and I have also started to paint them and has gotten the first layer of skin color on. Interestingly, I see that Games Workshop now has that unit marked as "Sold out - no longer available online" on their web page and this is a little weird. I am quite sure they are in the new rulebook and will continue to be a unit, so it will be interesting to see what they will do. Usually when they mark them like that it means the unit is going out of production, but it could be that they will release them again in a new packaging. I hope so, as I would love to have more of them as I love their armored heads. 

The final model I have primed this week is the Squigboss with Gnasha squig (ot the seeing-eye squig as I think it looks like with the harness) and I already know how I will paint this model as I have a planned scheme for all my Gloomspite Gitz. 

When I had painted the first layer of skin on my Ironguts I wanted to sit and work more with minis that day, but didn't really feel like painting more so I decided to start on a unit I haven't built before.
I started to build a Leviathan Dreadnought with ranged weapons. Interestingly Games Workshop lists this as both a Leviathan Dreadnought and a Leviathan Siege Dreadnought, but it looks like it is the exact same model with the exact same weapon options. I have two of this unit and one Close combat one, so I look forward to adding them to the Gatekeepers in due time. My idea is to try and weather them a bit by stipling some metal color on the blue paint so that they look their age while still looks like they are being well taken care of. Since they are relics from the Horus Heresy and I plan to have them in my 40K army I think this is only fitting. And if I should play a game of 30K then it just looks like they have been in combat and seen some action and I think these Dreads probaly would be where the fighting is most intense so it would work well there too. 

I haven't yet decided on what weapon options to give them, apart from the very cool four barreled Storm Cannon. There is a Cyclonic melta lance and a Grav-flux bombard to choose from, so I will read a little bit in the rule books to see what the different weapons do and how they seem to work on a field of battle, and either I find that one is so much better than the other that I need to take it for both, or I will make one of each. But I love the look of the Storm cannon, so both of them will field that but I think one would have it on the right arm and the other on the left just for the diversity. I might consider getting a third in the future and give it two Storm cannons just because I think it would look really scary, but I will read the rules and see if that is a legal option first. Also I nned to get the model and an extra weapons sprue first. 

The Leviathan is rather massive and big compared to a regular dreadnought, but still I though they would be even bigger looking at pictures of them. But I haven't placed them beside a Contemptor or a regualr old-style box yet so I might change my mind on them whan I do that nce they are fully assembled. I will post a picture in here for comparison when I do that. 

So far the Leviathan has the legs and most of the torso assembled, so I need to finish the top and back of the torso and add the arms and weapons an then glue it all together. I amsure it will look awesome, and I hope my painting will do it justice. 

A little Astra Militarum update

At the moment I am working on building my first Field Ordnance Battery unit for the Walpurgian 3rd. This is basically artillery pieces mounted on wheels that needs to be pulled in to battle. This is the biggestweapons the Walpurgian 3rd has that is not self propelled.

At the moment I have two sets (each set has two artillery pieces), but I know I will get more over time. This is a new set for this year for the Astra Militarum, so I don't yet know how it is best to field them but that is something I am working on finding out. They come with three different options: Bombast field guns (basically a regular cannon), Malleus rocket launcher (multiple barrels) and a heavy lascannon (looks like it is a bigger version of the lascannon you get with the heavy weapon squads). Each cannon has a crew of 3 with a loader, a spotter and a gunner. The two teams form what is called a Field Ordnance Battery. 

What I am trying to find out is how many sergeants you have in a unit. Is it one for each gun, or is it one for each battery? And do you usually field two similar artillery pieces in a battery, or do you field two different set-ups? I am leaning towards fielding two artillery pieces with the same set-up as one unit, and put one sergeant in charge of that unit. Then I will eventually (as I get more guns) put up to 3 batteries together as one bigger unit with a Veteran sergeant (or any other sergent rank) in charge of 6 artillery pieces and their 3 regular sergeants. But I will see as I build the crew for the first unit if I find out something more about this. I might also ask my friendly Warhammer store staff if they know.

So far I have built the two cannons of the first battery and their gunners. I have made one Bombast and one Malleus and I plan to build the same setup for the second batch. Then when I get a third box I will make two heavy lascannons. Next time I get to sit down and work on my minis will be on Friday, and then I will build the rest of the crew. 

I mentioned earlier that I have built Usula Creed, and I am also trying to find out how I will field her in the army. My highest ranking officer is the figure for Usaker E. Creeed and I plan to keep it that way, but I would like to have Ursula in a regular sot as a high ranking officer, then if I shuld happen to play an official tournament or something (not very likely) then she can be the general. I might make her as Major Belle Boyd, the commander for the 2nd Armored artillery units, if not I will have to think up a higher ranking officer position where I can put her.

Ogor progress

I have worked more on my ogor amy. 

Here we see the Leadbelchers and Bragg, and they are starting to get some paint on them. So far i have painted the skin and hair as I had to redo that for the unit of Gluttons that was already painted, and I have also painted their cannons. I still need to paint the scrap sticking out of two of the cannons, their pants and shoes and also some details but they are comming along.

And speaking of the Gluttons, here are two of them. They are almost done now, but I need to repaint their teeth and I think I will use a lighter brown on their lips and maybe some other facial details that I want to make stand out. If I do that I will do it for the entire army.

Then the bases will get the green rim and I think I have a new technical paint that looks even more like patches of snow, so I will try to add some of that on top of what I already have on the bases.

When I was at my storage room on Saturday I brought home some more units to build, and I just had to make this unit of Ironguts. They are about 95% done, but I need to add some small details like some shields and knives. I have decided that the one with the big club and the one with the sword raised above his head will have a gnoblar on the base, but I discoverd when adding a gnoblar to one of the Ledbelchers that they would sort of get in the way of the painting, so I plan to prime them and paint them separately and then just glue them to the base before I add the basing to them.

The symbol on the banner pole is just amazing so I had to take a picture to show that off. I look forward to work more with this unit, hopefully I can prime them tomorrow or the next day.

But this is not all, I found a couple more boxes in the storage unit and I look forward to showing them as they are assembled. One of the boxes is quite big...