As promised

As promised yesterday I have taken some more and better photos of my recent activity.

First up, my Jager Gear. As I said yesterday this is just a test scheme but I have to say it came out beautifully and will be carried over with very few tweaks to the whole army once I have purchased it. The photos are quite dark though. He is a bit brighter in real life and the purple has less of a blue hue to it.

Next up is a closer view of my only completed Flames of War mini. A Tiger tank. I have left off the additional brown and green camo stripes as this vehicle is fresh from the factory and hasn't received them yet. (real reason is that I cant paint them on very well yet) It has suffered from some paint chipping during transit from the UK to the USA which I will touch up when I get all my paints out.

And lastly, the last 2 completed Tactical squads from my 2nd Company Ultramarines.This rounds out the full company which is also pictured.

 The above squad does have the full 10 guys, only noticed the one was out of shot after all the equipment was put away.

100 Space marines. 60 Tactical, 20 Assault marines and 20 Devastator marines.

Back in action

Its been a while but in my defense a lot has happened.

Biggest thing is that I moved across the Atlantic from the UK to the USA. North Carolina in fact. This has meant that there has been bugger all money for hobby. Even worse is that I don't have any area to paint so haven't even been able to paint us the back log.

Still, I have managed to get some hobby done. Played a few games of 40k but also a few games from other systems. I have had a few games of Battletech and Heavy Gear. I have also started collecting a Flames of War army.

Now, since no one wants to just read a text update I suppose I should throw in some pictures.

First, my FOW army. Going with Germans and currently have 10 tanks. Only 1 is painted up though the other 9 have all been basecoated. Will be adding infantry in the future. Just chose tanks so as to be able to get an army on the table as fast as possible.

My tank park. 3 StugIII's, 5 Panzer IVH's and a single Tiger (which is painted up).

Now this chap is a test Jager from Heavy Gear. Its a test colour scheme but it just looks spanky. Will be running an army from the Eastern Sun Emirates with Southern Republican Army support.

I am really liking the look of Heavy Gear. I like that it plays quite differently from 40k with stacked modifiers and objectives that are very different from the bog standard 40k stuff. I also think the minis are rather attractive and I also love the fact that its a low model count game.

Tomorrow, when there is better light and I am not so tired, I shall put up some more pics of the Gear and tanks. I shall also put up some photos of the 2 completed Tactical Squads that I mentioned in my last post. I now have the full 2nd Company Ultramarines.

Out with the old and in with the new....

No pictures today.

After almost 18 months of solid play I find that I have grown bored with my Deathwing. Dont get me wrong, I still love that army but it is stale at the moment. Every game feels the same. I am starting to deploy the same way every time and doing the same thing with my squads.

So I am moving back onto my first love, my Ultramarines 2nd Company. I have to say that its been an experience using them again after all this time. I have forgotten a few of the rules and I am seriously missing my 2+ armour save.

However all in all its been good. Played a few games with them though have yet to win a game. 2 close fought games vs Necrons and Orks which were good fun and a thrashing to GK which was not (my disgust with GK will form another post)

I have also starting the process of completing the company. I currently have 80% of it done with only 2 tactical squads left to paint. Of that the one tac squad is almost done. Just need to paint weapons and put on decals and it will be done.

Quite what I am going to do with 106 marines I dont know but it sure will look pretty when I am done :)

Kitbashing - fun for the whole family

Recently, Ron over at FTW put up a post on converting your independent characters. (http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2011/04/converting-your-independent-characters.html) In it he talked about a number of ways to do this.

I want to talk about my favourite method which is kitbashing. With the plethora of plastics this makes things much easier than it used to be.

Because I am at the stage where my army is fully built I find myself spending much of my time making my IC's looking awesome. I am also on a drive to purge all metal from my Smurfwing army to make it as light and easy to transport as possible.

I enjoy kitbashing as you can get a great look without resorting to too much greenstuff or cutting. I love going through my bits box or perusing bits sites looking for inspiration for my next mini.

Anyways, on to my 3 IC's for my army. Captain, Librarian and Chaplain.

Captain:

First up. Captain Agemman of the First Company. I have previously posted this chap but I am going to explain a bit about how and what I used to build him.

Firstly, he is mostly based off the Chaos Terminator Lord. His legs, torso, arms and cloak come from that kit. Other bits come from: Tactical Marine Box, Venerable Dreadnought box, Dark Angels Veteran upgrade, Space Wolf Terminator box and forgeworld.

Firstly I greenstuffed in all the holes in his cloak to make it less tatty.I then cut away the chaos bits off his legs and replaced them with a DA terminator shoulder shield and a banner top.

Torso was made by cutting up the chaos torso and then cutting and fitting in the front of a venerable dreadnought. Some minor GS was used to make sure they blended into each other.

Apart from that everything is standard. So with a nights worth of cutting and GS I have made a very unique looking IC that looks good and that stands out.

Librarian.

When I saw the new GKT box I just knew I had to use the bits to make a librarian. They came with a ready made Hood for instance. I have also previously posted a model I made to use as a librarian and I admit that I used the arms off that model for the new one.

The majority of the chap is from the  GKT box. However there are bits from the Sanguinary Guard, Assault Terminators and the DA veteran box. There was no cutting involved in making him and only a teeny bit of Greenstuff to cover up some of the GK iconography on the left leg and the hip guards.

Not much work but again, I am left with a unique and good looking librarian who stands out on the table top.

Chaplain

Now this guy is my pride and joy. I am so thrilled with how he came out. He actually has the most GS work done on him, primarily on the helmet. I used one of Rons tutorials for this(http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2010/11/chaplain-skull-helmet-conversion.html)
I learned that this takes a lot of effort for a novice like me so have commissioned him for a second helmet that is going onto another Chaplain that I have planned.

This guy has bits from all over. Torso came from from the Chaos Terminator Lord with the iconography removed and a random skill put in its place. Legs from the GKT kit. Shoulder pads from Forge world. Storm bolter arm from the Terminator Kit. Combat arm from the Chaos Lord kit and the horrifying flail bit from an Empire Flagellant. The skull that makes up his helmet came from one of the new Tomb King Boxes.

I wanted to make him as vicious looking as possible which is why didnt give him a traditional Crozius. This flail makes him look like he is bringing it down onto the bodies of the Emperors Enemies.

So there we go. Three IC's that have been built by kitbashing and looking good. Have a look in your bits box and see what you can come up with.

Upcoming minis

Once again been awhile since my last post. Life has intevened a bit and time has been at a premium.

I have however, been able to kitbash a few new figures for my Smurfwing. Using the lovely new GKT kit I have made up a Librarian as well as started on a Chaplain.

The Librarian is painted and has already been used in a game to good effect. The chaplain is about 90% done except for a helmet. I want a nice skull helm but lack the skills to do it well. Thus I have, for the first time in my life, commissioned one from Ron of "From the Warp" Hopefully will be done in the next few weeks and I will have my Chaplain ready to go out and do battle.