Dreadnought and Techmarine

It's been a long and drawn out process, but I've finally finished painting my first Space Marine Dreadnought ( first I've painted, that is) - I picked him up for a pittance on ebay, complete except for the banner pole.

The banner pole is made from a length of the black Space Crusade sprue, and I bought the winged skull from a bitz seller- I'm not sure which modern plastic kit it comes from but it's close enough to the original ( minus the crossed bones)

I used the BA Dreadnought transfer sheet and a printed banner, though I changed the 2 to a 3 on it and repainted the red border and black background.

With the Dreadnought completed, it seemed fitting to paint up this Techmarine in MK 4 Maximus armour too.

Talisman Gypsy and some familiar characters

Though painted more than a few months ago, I've struggled to get a decent pic of this mini until now-the skin always seemed to show up a lot browner than it really is.

The Talisman range is chock full of excellent miniatures, I have the Merchant, Gladiator and Crusader on the "to paint" list.

When I get burnt out on painting "armies", I like to treat myself to a nice characterful fantasy miniature like this.

Heroquest Barbarian as He Man.
It's not exactly an original idea, but it is a good one and had to be done!
I have a shelved Battle Cat WIP that I must get around to finishing too.

My man, Skeletor- taking a rest from his video blog of evil.
Skeletor's Video Log Of Evil

"You hate me how much?"

A few Night Gobbos

I was very much a latecomer to WHFB- I only bought in with the 7th edition starter set "Battle For Skull Pass"...but I've long admired the little green dudes with a penchant for fly agaric mushrooms.
I have a large (3000pts) army of the little buggers and their squig and Troll accomplices that is only partly painted, but seeing as I'm stuck in the middle of painting Space Marines with not much to show I thought I'd do a stop gap post with a couple of Night Gobs.

I just finished this guy, what a total dude of a miniature.

Unusually for me, my NG army is mostly modern minis.
"Boss Drokslit" here ( and the next guy, came 2 to a blister ) was my first purchase after the boxed game and the first one to get painted, and he has led the gits to inglorious defeat in what few, largely unpainted games of WHFB I have played.

He's had a few touch ups along the way.

"Boss Scabbrow"

He's a bad ass.

I was proud as punch when I got these two guys painted, the skulls on the rack gave me a real hard time back then, not having painted for years.
Like Drokslit, he's had a few touch ups along the way.

Shaman "Gakskat" - another modern NG.
I usually turn my nose up at the new fangled minis but Night Gobbos are an exception.

Yum!

MOAR SKULLS

Skarsnik, Warlord of the Eight Peaks and his pet Squig, Gobbla.
I really like the modern Skarsnik, but really dislike the modern Gobbla.

Inspirational Armies, or Imitation is the highest form of flattery

I'm continually amazed by the creativity displayed by people in this hobby, the out of the box paint jobs, conversions, scratch builds and pop culture references I see on blogs and forums blow my mind.
It almost makes me feel a bit dull just wanting to recreate the studio armies seen in White Dwarf and the books...almost.
I have a couple of projects that I plan on doing my own thing with, but what dragged me back into collecting and painting again in 09 was the idea that I would recreate the two armies from "The Fangs Of The Wolf" battle report, which was originally published in WD# 158 but was more familiar to me from it's appearance in the Space Wolf codex- and I do mean familiar because I studied and reread that battle report many, many times over the years!

Ably commanded by Andy Chambers in the report, this army was the bees knees to me back in 93 and although they weren't painted I had managed to collect the majority of it by the time I initially dropped out of 40K and miniatures etc somewhere around 97.
The rest ( and much much more) was picked up via ebay this second time around.

And the opposing Ork warband, commanded by Jervis Johnson as Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka.
My version of this won't be a carbon copy but will be pretty close.
I'm already more than halfway there actually...

Now when I got my first White Dwarf magazine, it was issue # 166.
All I had was a few Heroquest minis and Space Crusade at the time, and had only discovered the magazine and the larger world of 40K and the other games the previous week when I had read through a big stack of WD's on a holiday at my Brother's place.
The free plastic Marine Sergeant that came with it featured in my last post, and the battle report contained within it's pages was another Chambers V Johnson grudgematch, "Angels Of Death"

This is what I think of when I hear the words "Space Marine Army".
Getting this lot painted is my priority at the moment!
As you may well know, this is the battle report where Andy's "Brother Captain Erasmus Tycho" was slain by Jervis' Weirdboy, giving birth to the Tycho special character and mini.

The Orks, mostly the same models as in the Fangs Of The Wolf battle, with the plastic Goffs and Gretchin making an appearance.

This seemed like a HUGE army back then!
To my credit I've restrained myself from collecting Ultramarines and Dark Angels.

Hope you have enjoyed my nostalgic ramblings and the pretty pictures!

Blood Angel Progress

For the last couple of weeks I've been focusing on "the Ninth Legion", more specifically marines from the 3rd company of the Blood Angels Chapter.
I have a lot of Orks and Squats painted, so it seemed time that the power armoured chaps got some attention too, lest they accuse me of bias from their unpainted, dull chinese food container prison cells...as long term unpainted miniatures are known to do.

Brother Captain "Raguel Valerio"

The Sergeant here is a rather special mini for me, as he was my freebie from my very first WD, #166.
He was painted by my brother using enamels back in 93, I have given him a new coat of paint and lease on life, his banner is of that vintage too.
I'm currently working on his replacement ( the same mini ) but this guy holds sentimental value.

Here's the before shot, I thought this was an amazing paintjob back then!

The second half of the 1st Tactical.
While hardly the most inspiring miniatures, they have a nostalgic value for me.

Reinforcements for the Space Crusade squad. Shitty picture, sorry!

This one was just painted out of whimsy, mainly because the Space Crusade box pictured the Blood Angel Commander armed with the heavy bolter and I've always dug it.
In game, the BA guy is much better off with the power glove and sword.

A work in progress.

Chaos, Genestealers and Space Crusade

I've been in one of those phases where my workstation is littered with nearly completed miniatures...so close yet so far.
It's been nigh on a month since my last post, much self admonishment...the productivity has come good at the end but thanks to an absolute mongrel dose of the flu I didn't even touch a brush for about 4 days (which is bad for me) and I felt like I was in that episode of The Young Ones, Sick.

On a much more positive note, I caught up with fellow Oldhammer forum members Captain Crooks and littleleadperson for a most enjoyable day of Gorkamorka, HeroQuest and a small 500pt game of 2nd edition 40K.
While hardly BOYL 2014, the journey of a thousand miles starts with one step and it appears the Sydney Oldhammer Cell has managed to put one foot in front of the other.

Right, now here's some miniatures...

These guys have been my main accomplishment this month, though unfortunately I didn't have them ready for our meet up last weekend. After reading Oldhammer forum member Psieker's recipe for old school Blood Angels ( a scheme I'd struggled with ) I was eager to test it out and I'm most pleased with how they turned out and I'm already working on more.

Not exactly my best work, but I had painted these guys about a year ago and some of them saw action on the tabletop against littleleadperson's Chaos Marines and Cultists at our meetup.

This guy is an overhaul I did of a mini my brother had done a quick and nasty paint job on.
He was originally bone coloured, and his face was rough as guts.
He still retains the extensive blacklining that is my brother's trademark.

Traitor Marines of the Black Legion.
These guys were done a fair while ago.

World Eater Chaos Space Marine- also from a while back ( note the dust and fluff)

This guy was my free mini from WD back in the 90's.

What I consider to be the classic Magus.
He had a pancake for a nose when I got him, my most humble greenstuff skills were used to fashion him a new nose.

The most excellent running Patriarch by Bob Olley.

How come this guy didn't make my top ten list? Beats me...

The start of a Purestrain brood...

Getting on the bandwagon: my top ten miniatures

Seeing the top ten lists doing the rounds of respected blogs, I got to compiling my own list.
Since I'm in the middle of scenery and snotling bases with nought to show, here's my top ten list in no particular order, with all but one actually being in my collection.
Anton, drum roll please...

1. Leman Russ with Freki and Geri

The first proper GW miniature(s) I bought. Modern depictions of Russ annoy me greatly, this is what he looked like, and he was blonde. OK?
Legend has it he and his companions may be gracing the pages of this blog in the near future.

2. Heroquest Barbarian

 

There isn't all that much to him but his sheer Conan-ness and large sword, but I love him.

3. Squat Pirate

He's a dwarf in space, and he's a pirate.

4. Ork Flash Git Nob

He's an ork in space, and he's a pirate. The hair squig, chastity belt (?) and skull faced peg leg really top it off.

5. Blood Angel Captain

It's hardly the most dynamic pose but this guy has always been a favourite of mine.
I had a hard time deciding between him and the Chaplain, but "Captain Erasmus Tycho" as seen in the battle report in my first WD, #166 won out.

6. Big Momma Sky

My top ten had to have a Barbarian of each sex in it, and this is the fairer of the two.

7. Ork Bad Moon Boss

Probably my favourite Space Ork, this guy will one day lead my Bad Moon warband into err, war.

8. Snakeman S'lararet Slintered Fang

I had no idea about Citadel Snakemen until I joined the Oldhammer forum, and I think they're rather nice indeed.

9. Night Goblin Clubber

The humble Night Goblin, resplendent with maniacal grin and large spiked club.
I nearly went with one of the ball and chain fanatics with tongue sticking out but this lunatic called out to me- what a legend.

10. Champion Of Nurgle

The one mini on this list I don't have (as of yet, anyway), this guy is my favourite in a range that features some really legendary sculpts.
I didn't expect any Chaos minis in my top ten, but this guy cannot be denied.