Death Korps of Krieg Basilisk

Technically it's not 100% done, as I want to add a couple of artillery crew in the back. One of them has a rang finder and the other will be lugging a shell. The sticking point is getting a good shell for the guy to hold- the only Basilisk shell I see on the Forge World site is not sold separately. It's only with the Earthshaker Emplacement, which costs a pretty penny. Any suggestions for an alternate manufacturer or idea?

In the meantime, here's a few more pics. I've also gotten two vox operators, a Watchmaster, and a lasgun trooper done since the weekend. I've only got the LR Punisher, two Chimeras, the Command HQ, and a couple more troopers left to go for 1500. Almost there!!

Iyanden Victory!

Had my very first game of sixth edition 40k with Khairul's Angels Sanguine. Had a blast, especially since his army needs to get close to work. That means I actually get to shoot with all those wraithcannons! Many thanks for the game bro- 6th edition is cool :)

Iron Painter DONE

Over the weekend I participated in Legio Malaysia's first 24 hour "Iron Painter" competition. From 10 AM Saturday to 10 AM Sunday, we had to paint a game legal force of at least 30 models in that time. Models started assembled and primed, but that's all. I managed to complete a Guard Armored Recce force from the Flames of War "Hell's Highway" book, display base and all, in about 16 hours.

I'm really happy with how it turned out. I've done a few of these Iron Painters, and I can safely say this is the nicest looking army I've ever done for one. I even got some fantastic invasion stripes on the underside of my Typhoon, fully painted crews in the M10's, and weathering on everything.

So, now it's time to get back to some 28mm fun- either finishing my Death Korps army, continuing my Avenging Sons, or getting started with Iron Warriors. Any suggestions...?

Iron Warriors and Penal Legion Test

For the first time in quite a long while, a new codex has really gotten my hobby juices perkyelatin! I think the new Chaos Space Marine codex is fantastic, and I decided to try doing a quick Iron Warrior test for a possible new army. Back when I was living in New Hampshire and gaming at the Game Castle on a regular basis, I had a complete Iron Warriors army that I played quite a few games with. I've since gotten rid of the army, but I think I'll do up a " Mk II " version with all new models and groovy cork/lava bases.

I also painted up a "Penal Legion" test for my possible Iron Painter entry. It's mostly done with airbrushing, and I think I'm on the right track. Could make a cool supplement to my Krieg army as prisoners pushed out in front of guns...

I realize the orange fatigues might be more in keeping with a Department of Corrections type modern day outfit, but hey, it's evocative of a prisoner nonetheless. I do realize this isn't fully highlighted and shaded, but it's a promising start nonetheless....

Regardless, comments and criticisms are most welcome.

Avenging Sons Dreadnought COMPLETE

   Well, after trying a few Tau schemes and not finding one I liked AND could be painted fairly fast, I've decided to make part of my overall Avenging Sons project my choice for the upcoming Iron Painter. Here's the list I'm currently thinking of:

Chaplain in Terminator Armor

8x Assault Terminators

2 squads of 10x Tactical Marines

Stormtalon Gunship

That's 30 models on the nose (the minimum for Iron Painter) and is itself a legal list, again as Iron Painter stipulates. In the meantime, I'm going to paint the remainder of the army so that when Iron Painter is done, I'll have a 1750 point army fully painted and ready for the table.

As always thanks for checking it out- coming up next will either be a small Scout squad or a Land Raider Redeemer...

Iyanden Eldar Fire Prism COMPLETE

After almost a year of Flames of War madness, I've decided to pop back into 28mm stuff and have some fun with 40K. I've been thinking about different projects I could do for the upcoming Iron Painter, and one of them was doing a nice addition to my Wraithguard-heavy Iyanden Eldar army. So, I took a whack at doing a Fire Prism and this is how it turned out.

Given the modest amount of effort behind it, I'm really pleased. I used the same palette and methods as I did previously, with the only difference being the black/blue/light blue gradient. Thanks to the mighty airbrush it was actually pretty easy all things considered. However, it was a fair amount of hassle given the number of pieces I had to keep it in until the very end.

So, up next is a Tau test. I'm going for a very clean, non weathered look for these guys, using a primary palette of green, black, and white. I'll get some pics up this week and you can tell me what you think.

As always, comments are most welcome- thanks for checking it out.

Good Start to My Hobby Vacation

I'll get some pics up tomorrow, but for now I just wanted to post up some progress and motivate myself for the upcoming hobby binge of Flames of War and 40K. For FoW, I painted the last four Rifle/MG teams today. This finishes 1st Platoon 100%- huzzah! I also managed to assemble, putty, prime, and basecoat my Divisional AT Gun Platoon of PaK36 guns. Muy bueno.

I've decided 100% that once this army is done, I'm going to make my final, well overdue push to get my Death Korps of Krieg finished. The initial 1500 point army is detailed below, with a nice start I might add!

Really, there's not a whole lot left to do to at least get my army on the table and rolling some dice.

I'll get another post done on Monday with full pics and details of the progress so far. Until next time....

SPARTACUS Just Around the Corner

I was fortunate enough to play quite a few playtest sessions on this game both here in Malaysia as well as in New Zealand, and I can definitely say this game is a lot of fun. It does a great job capturing both the intrigue and the arena bloodshed quite well in the game. When you play and participate in your first slave auction, gladiator battle, or alliance to ruin another player you'll see what I mean.

I haven't seen the finished game in all its glory yet, but I'll be certain to get a copy as soon as they become available! Try yourself when you can- I'm sure you'll dig it. If you're lucky enough to be able to attend GenCon this week, there will be a huge Spartacus playing area set up so be sure to pop by and check it out!

Two More Stands Done

More painfully slow progress with the completion of two more Rifle/MG team for 1st Platoon. I really need to get off my ass and get this army done before Tau, Death Korps, and Avenging Sons projects completely derail my Flames of War mojo...

Tau Camo Test

Fooled around tonight with a possible Tau camouflage scheme I've had stuck in my head for a couple of weeks. The concept is a camo scheme for an aquatic world that looks like water and bubbles rising up through it. For this test I used clumps of silly putty as the mask and then did an Ultramarine Blue to White gradient on top of it. It's admittedly abstract looking, but I'd love to get done feedback from you guys. My thinking is that the leading edge of the tank would be white and fade to blue towards the back.

Thoughts?

Two More Stands Done

Got two more stands done tonight- 1st Platoon's Light Mortar Team and one Rifle/MG team. No pics tonight though- I'll wait until I get the rest of the unit done and post them all up at once. If all goes well at Hobby Night tomorrow, we'll see those pics Saturday at the latest!

1st Platoon Halftracks Done

Finally got these done, though I'm a bit disappointed with some decal silvering that occurred in a couple of spots. I'll probably paint up a couple more pieces of stowage and glue them on in places that will obscure those spots. I should've used more gloss varnish!

Painting has started on the platoon, and tomorrow should show some good progress. Here's another pic and the updated progress tracker- thanks for checking it out!

1st Platoon Primed, Hanomags Well On Their Way

I haven't been setting the painting world on fire the last few days, but each day is seeing more an more done. Today I primed my 1st Platoon, and got a good start on their halftracks. I laid down the grey basecoat, painted on all the basic colors, gloss varnish, and the oil pin wash. I should've done the decals before the pin wash, but it shouldn't be a big problem. I'll let the oils dry tonight and tomorrow get them cleaned up, decals on, a little dust.... that's about it.

I really want to get 1st Platoon completely finished this weekend- we shall see...

Company Command HQ DONE

Well, I can officially say that one unit in my army is done! Tonight I painted my 2iC SMG team, and that completes the Company Command HQ. Tomorrow's goal is finishing 1st Platoon's four halftracks. See you then!

Progress Tracker Up!

While I didn't get as much done over the weekend as I should have, I have reignited my hobby spark and gotten things going. It's been motivating to make the posts and get feedback from you guys- much appreciated! Every night I make any progress at all, I'll update the above project tracker and repost (along with pics of the finished stuff of course!)

No model pics tonight, but expect some progress in the next couple of days. I did get a bunch of infantry stands puttied up, and black primer airbrushed on my 2iC and the first platoon's halftracks. I don't normally hobby on Mondays, but I might make an exception. We'll see. In the meantime, I'll leave you tonight with the tune I've been listening to while typing this. Good stuff!

More (Painfully Slow) German Progress

All I painted today was this 2iC motorcycle team. Ugh.

I've gotta go WAY faster if this is going to get done. Hopefully getting back into the painting/blogging habit will nurture this furtive spark of creative progress. We shall see.

German EW Panzerschutzen Company Progress

It's not a whole lot of progress, but progress is progress folks. I'll take it!

Been fiddling around with the paint job, and for this army I've found the happy medium between speed vs. quality. I'll leave you tonight with more pics, and with any luck lots more over the coming weeks...

New Video Setup

Recently, my wife got an early birthday present in the form of a Canon S100- a fairly high end point and shoot camera. While playing around with it, I thought I'd try using it and a few fluorescent desk lamps to see what kind of painting tutorial video I could shoot. WOW is the result. For comparison, here's an old video I did for Battlefront almost a year ago:



You can definitely see the difference in resolution, horizontal bar artifacts from the lights, and focusing problems. There's virtually none of that using the S100, and the color is much more vibrant and not so washed out. I'm thrilled, and looking forward to doing more over the coming weeks...

Progress

I think I'm on to something here...

About... FACE!

Well, at lunch today Khairul and I were doing some campaign planning, and we noticed that we had 6 confirmed Allied players, and only three confirmed German ones. So, we both decided to just over to the dark side and paint up German lists. He's going for the Luftlandesturmkompanie from Burning Empires; that is going to be AWESOME to see 10+ gliders on the table.

As for me, I'll be doing a Panzerschutzenkompanie, with three full platoons riding in style (see above) and all their assorted backup. I never thought two StuG A assault guns could be so scary (or expensive) in an army list!

I got my Company HQ assembled and puttied up tonight, so tomorrow after work I'll have a go at painting them. Pics tomorrow one way or another... I promise!

Resurrecting the French

After finishing the Bagration campaign a few weeks ago, my thoughts immediately turned to starting another Flames of War campaign on Hobby Nights. We really enjoyed ourselves (despite the Soviet defeat!), and thought it would be fun to run another campaign that's limited to the actual combatants involved. So, "Case Yellow" will be our next one starting on the first Friday of September, allowing only French, British, and German early war armies (preferably from Blitzkrieg).

Loyal AM devotees will recall a series of French posts I made a while back, which unfortunately petered out as interest waned. Truth be told, in retrospect I wasn't too keen on the bases I made for the army, and I didn't care for the basecoat + wash concept I painted the army with.

So, starting tonight I've gone back to square one and come up with something better. It's a nice compromise between speed and appearance methinks. Tomorrow I'll post up some pictures and record my progress as I work towards September's campaign. See you then, with pics!

T-34 obr 1942 Company Done

Five more tanks to go and my army is done!

:)

Soviet ISU-152 Detachment DONE

I decided to ditch the Tank Rider infantry and go all tank for my force, primarily because these ISU-152's are the only thing I'll have that can have a go at German big cats. This might be a mistake- we'll see with some playtesting early next month. In the meantime, I'm one unit of T-34's away from finishing my army- huzzah!

Command HQ T-34/85 COMPLETE

On a roll! 13 tanks to go and we're done...

10 Soviet Mk II Matildas DONE

Woo hoo! 10 more tanks in the book, and only 14 left before the force is done. Progress abound!

T-70s Done!

Painted the tracks, roadwheels, and rust on the exhaust. Huzzah!

Soviet T-70 Company Progress

Tonight I primed and basecoated 10 T-70 tanks for our upcoming Flames of War campaign. I also got the decals done for the turrets. With any luck, I'll finish this company tomorrow.