It looks fantastic with the cables spewing everywhere, very dystopian that “Honeycomb Habitation” is trying to sell you a dream on a billboard that is falling apart.
What I've been doing recently, a painting and modelling log...
- Thread starter Raven Morpheus
- Start date
Thanks @trollmeat, that's kind of the look I'm going for. I have this image of a Fallout Nuka Cola billboard in my head...
Not sure the wires will end up looking like they do currently though, they're possibly not long enough...
The painting plan is for a Vallejo Metal Color steel base with a primer color (a grey or a Hull Red type of colour) and then a top coat of white (maybe gloss white), all chipped, right down to the steel in places, to look like it's been around a while. I may see if I can do some kind of rusting in places also.
That's the plan anyway...
It's not something I've done a lot of, but I did chipping on a GW container and crates a few years ago -
Anyhow I tested some paint on the MDF fret, to see what happened, and I'm not happy with the results. I can still see the grain/finish of the MDF. I didn't think it'd be satisfactory but I was hoping to not buy more stuff this month.
So, anyway, I've caved, and bought some of TTCombat's own sealer.
Not sure the wires will end up looking like they do currently though, they're possibly not long enough...
The painting plan is for a Vallejo Metal Color steel base with a primer color (a grey or a Hull Red type of colour) and then a top coat of white (maybe gloss white), all chipped, right down to the steel in places, to look like it's been around a while. I may see if I can do some kind of rusting in places also.
That's the plan anyway...
It's not something I've done a lot of, but I did chipping on a GW container and crates a few years ago -
Anyhow I tested some paint on the MDF fret, to see what happened, and I'm not happy with the results. I can still see the grain/finish of the MDF. I didn't think it'd be satisfactory but I was hoping to not buy more stuff this month.
So, anyway, I've caved, and bought some of TTCombat's own sealer.
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So, I spent the weekend finishing up the TTCombat laser cut MDF billboard, more on that further down this post...
Today though I did a very quick rough test, on the spare Chaos Terminator body/arm, of the paints I want to use to achieve the red I want on the other 8. And it strikes me that there is very little of the red that I will need to go in and edge highlight...
Anyhow, here's how it turned out, it's a little subtle in places, but I'm happy with it given it was a quick test. It had 3 reds, applied via airbrush, Vallejo Game Air scarlett red as the base, a 45 degree zenithal highlight of Vallejo Game Air bloody red, and a 90 degree top down zenithal highlight of some thinned Citadel Wild Rider red layer paint, followed by edge highlights, using a hairy stick, of Wild Rider red and a spot highlight of Citadel Fire Dragon Bright -
I can also confirm that Vallejo Game Air scarlett red and bloody red are a good, if not exact, match for Citadel Khorne red and Evil Sunz scarlett, on the left in this photo is Vallejo's two reds, and on the right are GW's -
So, this is the TTCombat billboard all painted up. It took 6 layers of paint, mostly because halfway through I ballsed up and put paint down, before putting any chipping medium down, DOH! Routing the LED wiring was a nightmare, there is much CA glue and Arm and Hammer all over the place, sort of holding the wires in position, but at tabletop distance that may not be so noticeable -
Lights out, LEDs on -
I'm happy with how the chipping and rusting turned out, but I could have done better with the wiring. I opted for the path of least soldering, and ended up routing the wires down both sides, which means I haven't left room to pop the top frame off so that I can swap the board with the clear orange one.
The base needs a little work to tidy it up a little, but other than that the billboard is done...
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
Today though I did a very quick rough test, on the spare Chaos Terminator body/arm, of the paints I want to use to achieve the red I want on the other 8. And it strikes me that there is very little of the red that I will need to go in and edge highlight...
Anyhow, here's how it turned out, it's a little subtle in places, but I'm happy with it given it was a quick test. It had 3 reds, applied via airbrush, Vallejo Game Air scarlett red as the base, a 45 degree zenithal highlight of Vallejo Game Air bloody red, and a 90 degree top down zenithal highlight of some thinned Citadel Wild Rider red layer paint, followed by edge highlights, using a hairy stick, of Wild Rider red and a spot highlight of Citadel Fire Dragon Bright -
I can also confirm that Vallejo Game Air scarlett red and bloody red are a good, if not exact, match for Citadel Khorne red and Evil Sunz scarlett, on the left in this photo is Vallejo's two reds, and on the right are GW's -
So, this is the TTCombat billboard all painted up. It took 6 layers of paint, mostly because halfway through I ballsed up and put paint down, before putting any chipping medium down, DOH! Routing the LED wiring was a nightmare, there is much CA glue and Arm and Hammer all over the place, sort of holding the wires in position, but at tabletop distance that may not be so noticeable -
Lights out, LEDs on -
I'm happy with how the chipping and rusting turned out, but I could have done better with the wiring. I opted for the path of least soldering, and ended up routing the wires down both sides, which means I haven't left room to pop the top frame off so that I can swap the board with the clear orange one.
The base needs a little work to tidy it up a little, but other than that the billboard is done...
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
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The billboard still looks fantastic Raven Morpheus.
Cheers,
CB
Cheers,
CB
Whilst watching Free Practice 3 of the Le Mans 24 hours event today I made a start on the remaining 9 (discounting the grenade launcher guy) Steel Legion troopers that I have...
Quick photos, taken with my mobile, apologies for the out of focus nature of them -
Progressing quicker than I thought they would...
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
Quick photos, taken with my mobile, apologies for the out of focus nature of them -
Progressing quicker than I thought they would...
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
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Several years ago, I started a "What If" conversion project for an Imperial Guard army, themed around the idea of it being a high-tech force of mechanized island hoppers in a pseudo-modern/near future theme. I can kind of blame the Battlefield series (specifically Battlefield 2142 and Battlefield 4's Final Stand DLC) for this, specifically involving the hover vehicles used by the PAC.
Chief among the project was what to do for an amphibious Leman Russ, which I've simply referred to as the Grav-Russ (possibly Levkov-Pattern).
It's been one of those slow and painfully costly projects, to put it bluntly. I originally wasted a Leman Russ hull with attempted plasticard work only for the Primaris Repulsor to be released with the hull I was after, and then attempted to marry the thing with a predator's side sponsons and a modified baneblade turret (with Leman Russ armaments, of course).
The side sponsons were a bit of work to convert to plasma cannons, but It was the turret that I had issues with up until recently.
Turned out I wasn't thinking with magnets at the time.
The remaining Baneblade parts (yes, I bought a whole baneblade just for the turret - silly me) have since gone on towards a Stormblade conversion (also ongoing) involving a Warhound Plasma Blastgun.
Chief among the project was what to do for an amphibious Leman Russ, which I've simply referred to as the Grav-Russ (possibly Levkov-Pattern).
It's been one of those slow and painfully costly projects, to put it bluntly. I originally wasted a Leman Russ hull with attempted plasticard work only for the Primaris Repulsor to be released with the hull I was after, and then attempted to marry the thing with a predator's side sponsons and a modified baneblade turret (with Leman Russ armaments, of course).
The side sponsons were a bit of work to convert to plasma cannons, but It was the turret that I had issues with up until recently.
Turned out I wasn't thinking with magnets at the time.
The remaining Baneblade parts (yes, I bought a whole baneblade just for the turret - silly me) have since gone on towards a Stormblade conversion (also ongoing) involving a Warhound Plasma Blastgun.
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All Hail Magnets!
I've magnetised several whole Gangs. My bits box for them is now filled with alternate weapons for the Tools of the Trade rule.
Good looking tank conversions and always love seeing the classic Steel legion models.
I've magnetised several whole Gangs. My bits box for them is now filled with alternate weapons for the Tools of the Trade rule.
Good looking tank conversions and always love seeing the classic Steel legion models.
So, I planned on pushing on with the Steel Legion infantry squad at the weekend, I did a bit more on Saturday morning and then gave up because I just wasn't feeling up to it. Ended up watching the Le Mans 24...
Today I took receipt of a tripod attachment for holding my mobile phone, man does it make taking pictures easier. Doesn't do anything for my quality, but I can work on that.
This is the attachment, v. good for just over £6 - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393969729224?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&var=662528732258&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649
Here's today's photography results -
They're not finished, I just about managed to put down the Citadel Zamesi Desert layer on their coats on Saturday. Still 4 more to get to the same stage.
Oddly regardless of how small I make them in photoshop (for example 1024px wide) these two images display quite small on this site!?! Sorry about that to anyone who actually wants to look at the details...
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
Today I took receipt of a tripod attachment for holding my mobile phone, man does it make taking pictures easier. Doesn't do anything for my quality, but I can work on that.
This is the attachment, v. good for just over £6 - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393969729224?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&var=662528732258&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649
Here's today's photography results -
They're not finished, I just about managed to put down the Citadel Zamesi Desert layer on their coats on Saturday. Still 4 more to get to the same stage.
Oddly regardless of how small I make them in photoshop (for example 1024px wide) these two images display quite small on this site!?! Sorry about that to anyone who actually wants to look at the details...
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
Attachments
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So, today we have a "wot fell thru maaa dorr" type of post...
First up, a Deathwing Command/Knights/Terminator squad. This is for a Deathwing Strikemaster kitbash that I've been trying to get done since 2019, I've mislaid the original parts I had so I've had to buy more. Buying parts, from parts sellers was a non-starter as it would have cost as much, or more, as buying the squad box set! I did buy a couple of extra parts for a couple of weapon options, and some magnets though, oh and a Necromunda 32mm base because I want to be able to use him in Space Hulk and those bases fit nicely with the Space Hulk look...
Next up, for my Steel Legion/Inquisitorial/Grey Knights mash up army, a Brother Captain, and a Chimera -
You read a lot about Finecast, but upon a cursory examination this example of the Brother Captain seems to be pretty good. Just hope I don't break any details when clipping it off the resin sprue - that looks like a lot of unnecessary work!!
You can make a Brother Captain using parts from the Grey Knights Paladins/Terminators box set, albeit with a handful of details not being present, but I don't have the parts left from my GK Paladins squad box set, and like the Deathwing Strikemaster, buying parts would have cost more than a squad box set, so I opted to buy the individual miniature instead.
We've really come to something when buying parts, from parts sellers, to make a model is more expensive than buying squad box sets from GW!!
The army is based on ideas from the 3rd edition Daemonhunters Codex, but even though I don't currently play 40k I've used Battlescribe to flesh out the army idea so that it's at least within the current rules, thus I needed the Brother Captain to lead the Grey Knights detachment consisting of a Grey Knights Paladin Squad. The Chimera, is obviously the transport for the Steel Legion infantry squad I'm currently working on.
I've almost completed buying the army, I only need 2 Sentinels and 1 Temepstus Scions squad and then I have a 1000 point force, 1500+ if I add Yarrick, my Imperial Knight and adjust the list a bit, although it's probably not very good in game terms.
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
First up, a Deathwing Command/Knights/Terminator squad. This is for a Deathwing Strikemaster kitbash that I've been trying to get done since 2019, I've mislaid the original parts I had so I've had to buy more. Buying parts, from parts sellers was a non-starter as it would have cost as much, or more, as buying the squad box set! I did buy a couple of extra parts for a couple of weapon options, and some magnets though, oh and a Necromunda 32mm base because I want to be able to use him in Space Hulk and those bases fit nicely with the Space Hulk look...
Next up, for my Steel Legion/Inquisitorial/Grey Knights mash up army, a Brother Captain, and a Chimera -
You read a lot about Finecast, but upon a cursory examination this example of the Brother Captain seems to be pretty good. Just hope I don't break any details when clipping it off the resin sprue - that looks like a lot of unnecessary work!!
You can make a Brother Captain using parts from the Grey Knights Paladins/Terminators box set, albeit with a handful of details not being present, but I don't have the parts left from my GK Paladins squad box set, and like the Deathwing Strikemaster, buying parts would have cost more than a squad box set, so I opted to buy the individual miniature instead.
We've really come to something when buying parts, from parts sellers, to make a model is more expensive than buying squad box sets from GW!!
The army is based on ideas from the 3rd edition Daemonhunters Codex, but even though I don't currently play 40k I've used Battlescribe to flesh out the army idea so that it's at least within the current rules, thus I needed the Brother Captain to lead the Grey Knights detachment consisting of a Grey Knights Paladin Squad. The Chimera, is obviously the transport for the Steel Legion infantry squad I'm currently working on.
I've almost completed buying the army, I only need 2 Sentinels and 1 Temepstus Scions squad and then I have a 1000 point force, 1500+ if I add Yarrick, my Imperial Knight and adjust the list a bit, although it's probably not very good in game terms.
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
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So, I sat at the table tonight, because I've been wanting to do something, either push on with the Steel Legion troopers, make a start on their Chimera, or something else. And as I wasn't feeling up to painting anything I decided to have a bash at putting the Chimera together...
...had to pick the hottest night of the hottest day in the UK so far this year, didn't I! I had to give up by 00:30 and go upstairs and sit in front of my air con unit due to rising heat/humidity (or my growing intolerance of it), despite having the back door and a window open!
Anyhow, below is as far as I've got with the Chimera tonight, photos over two posts due to the image limit.
Apologies for the out of focus nature of some of these photos.
The main hull glued together -
Top of the main hull, you can see the rail for the hunter killer missile attached. I've left this separate because I want to paint the lasguns separately and then attach them, if I glue them in first it's going to be a pita, so this'll get painted with the rest of the main bulk of the tank, the lasguns will get painted, and then I'll glue it all together -
Bottom of hull showing attachment point for the dozer blade, the dozer blade actually slides on to two of the ridges to line it up nice and centrally, GW appear to have put some thought into that, so I used those plus two halves of a thin round magnet to secure it -
The dozer blade, with two magnets, one on each strut, which meet up with the magnet halves on the hull -
The turret, sans weapons, I had to glue the bit that moves up and down in place, because it doesn't stay put when you try to move the weapons up/down -
GW only give you one of these parts, so you have to choose your weapon, or use magnets -
The turret with the three different weapons -
Rear hatch, leaning up against the turret for support -
Continues in next post...
...had to pick the hottest night of the hottest day in the UK so far this year, didn't I! I had to give up by 00:30 and go upstairs and sit in front of my air con unit due to rising heat/humidity (or my growing intolerance of it), despite having the back door and a window open!
Anyhow, below is as far as I've got with the Chimera tonight, photos over two posts due to the image limit.
Apologies for the out of focus nature of some of these photos.
The main hull glued together -
Top of the main hull, you can see the rail for the hunter killer missile attached. I've left this separate because I want to paint the lasguns separately and then attach them, if I glue them in first it's going to be a pita, so this'll get painted with the rest of the main bulk of the tank, the lasguns will get painted, and then I'll glue it all together -
Bottom of hull showing attachment point for the dozer blade, the dozer blade actually slides on to two of the ridges to line it up nice and centrally, GW appear to have put some thought into that, so I used those plus two halves of a thin round magnet to secure it -
The dozer blade, with two magnets, one on each strut, which meet up with the magnet halves on the hull -
The turret, sans weapons, I had to glue the bit that moves up and down in place, because it doesn't stay put when you try to move the weapons up/down -
GW only give you one of these parts, so you have to choose your weapon, or use magnets -
The turret with the three different weapons -
Rear hatch, leaning up against the turret for support -
Continues in next post...
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So, continuing on...
Apologies again for the out of focus nature of some of these photos.
The hull weapons, these are also magnetised -
Magnet attachment point in the hull, this was a bit non-trivial to fit, but only because I attached the front hull piece first, dumb error -
The two hull weapons in place -
And everything assembled as much as it can be, I may remove the big hook on the rear hatch so that I can have the hatch down properly, although I'm not sure if it smoothly and securely hinges so that you can leave it loose -
And everything in it's box, handily when it's fully built it will store in it's box, I like these top opening type boxes, don't get why GW don't use them across their range -
Still a bit of work to do before starting painting, like drilling out the turret heavy bolter's barrel, and magnetising the hunter killer missile (which I've neglected to photograph). I've left the tracks off on purpose as I'll paint those separately. And there's a couple of smoke launchers on the sprues that the instructions don't even mention, but they're in GW's promotional images, stuck to the left side of the turret, so I'll plonk one on there. I left the cupola hatch closed, because the guy you get is either a Catachan or a Cadian, so no use for a Steel Legion vehicle. I also want to work out if I can magnetise the cupola's Storm Bolter and Stubber so I can swap them out, although I don't think it's possible.
When I was building the Chimera, certain parts of it, like the top hull part, seemed familiar, from a Necromunda conversion by Mike McVey -
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
Apologies again for the out of focus nature of some of these photos.
The hull weapons, these are also magnetised -
Magnet attachment point in the hull, this was a bit non-trivial to fit, but only because I attached the front hull piece first, dumb error -
The two hull weapons in place -
And everything assembled as much as it can be, I may remove the big hook on the rear hatch so that I can have the hatch down properly, although I'm not sure if it smoothly and securely hinges so that you can leave it loose -
And everything in it's box, handily when it's fully built it will store in it's box, I like these top opening type boxes, don't get why GW don't use them across their range -
Still a bit of work to do before starting painting, like drilling out the turret heavy bolter's barrel, and magnetising the hunter killer missile (which I've neglected to photograph). I've left the tracks off on purpose as I'll paint those separately. And there's a couple of smoke launchers on the sprues that the instructions don't even mention, but they're in GW's promotional images, stuck to the left side of the turret, so I'll plonk one on there. I left the cupola hatch closed, because the guy you get is either a Catachan or a Cadian, so no use for a Steel Legion vehicle. I also want to work out if I can magnetise the cupola's Storm Bolter and Stubber so I can swap them out, although I don't think it's possible.
When I was building the Chimera, certain parts of it, like the top hull part, seemed familiar, from a Necromunda conversion by Mike McVey -
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
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So, a slightly cooler/less humid night tonight, and I sat at the table for about 90 minutes. That seems to be my limit at the moment...
I pushed on with the Steel Legion -
I actually managed to get what seem to me to be decently lit and relatively in-focus photos using my mobile, I set the focus manually instead of leaving it on auto. I probably need to set a timer though, or get a shutter remote, because me stabbing at the screen to take a photo did cause one photo to be very blurred (so it's not included above) and possibly another to be slightly out of focus.
I should probably zoom in more, these were only taken at 2.0x zoom. I do feel I need to lower my tripod a little though...
Getting there with these though, I'm down to the point where I just need to put "silver" down on a few details, "black wash" those details, paint the shoulder badges, add a few highlights to the coats and hoses, put some red on the goggle's glass, and paint the missiles and they'll be done...
Which is great, because I really dislike painting these models. Apart from the fact I've made the school boy error of assembling the missile launcher and sergeant, there's a ton of very hard to reach parts that I doubt even Heineken could reach!!
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
I pushed on with the Steel Legion -
I actually managed to get what seem to me to be decently lit and relatively in-focus photos using my mobile, I set the focus manually instead of leaving it on auto. I probably need to set a timer though, or get a shutter remote, because me stabbing at the screen to take a photo did cause one photo to be very blurred (so it's not included above) and possibly another to be slightly out of focus.
I should probably zoom in more, these were only taken at 2.0x zoom. I do feel I need to lower my tripod a little though...
Getting there with these though, I'm down to the point where I just need to put "silver" down on a few details, "black wash" those details, paint the shoulder badges, add a few highlights to the coats and hoses, put some red on the goggle's glass, and paint the missiles and they'll be done...
Which is great, because I really dislike painting these models. Apart from the fact I've made the school boy error of assembling the missile launcher and sergeant, there's a ton of very hard to reach parts that I doubt even Heineken could reach!!
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
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Six months in the making, an epic story of manoeuvring, bombers, torpedos, and poor dice rolls...
So, I finally managed to get round my gaming buddy's apartment and we had a game of Battlefleet Gothic today (Tuesday). Only took six months for us to meet up again, due to my health, my mother's health, bus cancellations and other general life stuff getting in the way!!
Below are photos of "wot hapund", although not of great quality, apologies for that, mobile...
The AOE is two metric "2x4" 6mm thick MDF sheets put together to make a metric "4x4" board. We, rather poorly, taped down some Hobbycraft black paper roll, for a "deep space" surface. We put down a planet and a moon, although we decided they were only going to be background items, and have no impact on gameplay, they're just there for show. Mostly because I felt having read the planet rules that they are a bit of a faff and not suitable for our first game.
We also put down asteroid fields, and we did abide by their rules during the game. Although we just randomly created them, because I didn't realise they are generated by a dice roll, D3 width/length or something. As I am the game advocate I feel that was my responsibility to know that...
And then we deployed our fleets, my gaming buddy used the Imperial Navy fleet I've put together, I was Chaos, the empty flying stems you can see in my fleet were all Iconoclast Destroyers, I just don't have the models. Everything else was WYSIWYG. So the Imperial Navy had a Mars Battlecruiser, a Lunar cruiser, a Gothic cruiser, a Dominator cruiser, 2 Firestorm frigates and 4 Sword frigates. The Chaos fleet had a Styx heavy cruiser, a Murder cruiser, a Slaughter cruiser, a Carnage cruiser and 6 of the aforementioned destroyers.
This was a straight up Cruiser Clash scenario, despite our slightly expanded fleets.
Turn 1, after the Imperial first turn -
Not much happened on turns 1 and 2, just manoeuvring.
End of Turn 3. 4 of my destroyers were taken down, along with 3 of the Imperial Sword frigates.
End of Turn 4. Lots of shield stripping going on, blast makers everywhere, but I was failing to damage the Imperial ships. Meanwhile one of my cap ships (centre of table) was turned into a drifting hulk and set ablaze.
End of Turn 5. More poor dice on my part, resulting in shield stripping but no damage. Ditto for the Imperials. More manoeuvring. The hulk continued drifting forwards.
End of Turn 6. One of my cap ships (far right, just on the edge of an asteroid field) was hit by a nova cannon shot. More bad dice on my part (theme running here?), resulting in shield stripping only. The hulk continued drifting forwards.
End of Turn 7. My cap ship which took the nova cannon hit was destroyed (plasma explosion, which done BA to the Imperial ships nearby). I managed to cripple the Imperial Dominator class cruiser (centre of table, left of the planet). The hulk continued drifting forwards. I was down to 2 cap ships vs the Imperial's 4 and 2 Firestorm frigates. All of which were only lightly damaged, if damaged at all, apart from the crippled Dominator.
End of Turn 8. Further damage to the Dominator, but it wasn't destroyed, it ended the game with 1 hit point left, having successfully put a fire out at the end of turn 8. The Imperials had some difficulty getting on target due to manouvring and AOE limitations (i.e. board edges) so not much happened. The hulk continued drifting forwards.
Final score - 28 to 14 in the Imperium's favour.
Tale of the tape - Frigates/destroyers didn't do much or generally last long. Chaos's poor dice rolls meant they didn't do much damage, whilst the Imperium had mostly good and useful dice rolls, albeit whilst over/under guestimating 2 of 3 nova cannon shots.
We did a few things wrong, like starting out forgetting that lance batteries hit on a 4+ regardless of armour. We kept firing lance batteries before weapons batteries, thus wasting shield stripping potential. We also forgot (in most cases decided not) to use special orders during most of the game. Although we should have been more strict on having to reload ordnance.
I need to re-read the rules and look up some FAQs...
Overall an enjoyable game and made a change from the usual "bring a library, setup in a gunline, and stare at your opponent for long periods" sort of games we have with other GW game systems...
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
So, I finally managed to get round my gaming buddy's apartment and we had a game of Battlefleet Gothic today (Tuesday). Only took six months for us to meet up again, due to my health, my mother's health, bus cancellations and other general life stuff getting in the way!!
Below are photos of "wot hapund", although not of great quality, apologies for that, mobile...
The AOE is two metric "2x4" 6mm thick MDF sheets put together to make a metric "4x4" board. We, rather poorly, taped down some Hobbycraft black paper roll, for a "deep space" surface. We put down a planet and a moon, although we decided they were only going to be background items, and have no impact on gameplay, they're just there for show. Mostly because I felt having read the planet rules that they are a bit of a faff and not suitable for our first game.
We also put down asteroid fields, and we did abide by their rules during the game. Although we just randomly created them, because I didn't realise they are generated by a dice roll, D3 width/length or something. As I am the game advocate I feel that was my responsibility to know that...
And then we deployed our fleets, my gaming buddy used the Imperial Navy fleet I've put together, I was Chaos, the empty flying stems you can see in my fleet were all Iconoclast Destroyers, I just don't have the models. Everything else was WYSIWYG. So the Imperial Navy had a Mars Battlecruiser, a Lunar cruiser, a Gothic cruiser, a Dominator cruiser, 2 Firestorm frigates and 4 Sword frigates. The Chaos fleet had a Styx heavy cruiser, a Murder cruiser, a Slaughter cruiser, a Carnage cruiser and 6 of the aforementioned destroyers.
This was a straight up Cruiser Clash scenario, despite our slightly expanded fleets.
Turn 1, after the Imperial first turn -
Not much happened on turns 1 and 2, just manoeuvring.
End of Turn 3. 4 of my destroyers were taken down, along with 3 of the Imperial Sword frigates.
End of Turn 4. Lots of shield stripping going on, blast makers everywhere, but I was failing to damage the Imperial ships. Meanwhile one of my cap ships (centre of table) was turned into a drifting hulk and set ablaze.
End of Turn 5. More poor dice on my part, resulting in shield stripping but no damage. Ditto for the Imperials. More manoeuvring. The hulk continued drifting forwards.
End of Turn 6. One of my cap ships (far right, just on the edge of an asteroid field) was hit by a nova cannon shot. More bad dice on my part (theme running here?), resulting in shield stripping only. The hulk continued drifting forwards.
End of Turn 7. My cap ship which took the nova cannon hit was destroyed (plasma explosion, which done BA to the Imperial ships nearby). I managed to cripple the Imperial Dominator class cruiser (centre of table, left of the planet). The hulk continued drifting forwards. I was down to 2 cap ships vs the Imperial's 4 and 2 Firestorm frigates. All of which were only lightly damaged, if damaged at all, apart from the crippled Dominator.
End of Turn 8. Further damage to the Dominator, but it wasn't destroyed, it ended the game with 1 hit point left, having successfully put a fire out at the end of turn 8. The Imperials had some difficulty getting on target due to manouvring and AOE limitations (i.e. board edges) so not much happened. The hulk continued drifting forwards.
Final score - 28 to 14 in the Imperium's favour.
Tale of the tape - Frigates/destroyers didn't do much or generally last long. Chaos's poor dice rolls meant they didn't do much damage, whilst the Imperium had mostly good and useful dice rolls, albeit whilst over/under guestimating 2 of 3 nova cannon shots.
We did a few things wrong, like starting out forgetting that lance batteries hit on a 4+ regardless of armour. We kept firing lance batteries before weapons batteries, thus wasting shield stripping potential. We also forgot (in most cases decided not) to use special orders during most of the game. Although we should have been more strict on having to reload ordnance.
I need to re-read the rules and look up some FAQs...
Overall an enjoyable game and made a change from the usual "bring a library, setup in a gunline, and stare at your opponent for long periods" sort of games we have with other GW game systems...
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
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Friday night at the table. I actually managed to spend two, two and half hours at the table tonight.
I pushed on with and have almost finished the Steel Legion infantry squad, I've only got their bases to texture/paint, so little point in taking photos until those are done, hoping to get those done and final photos taken over the weekend.
And I've opened my Man O'War account...
I have a plan for all of the core fleets, I plan on buying ships for all 6, because models (not necessarily originals) for them are so readily available and inexpensive, and the bulk of the ships will be 3d printed proxies from a seller or two on etsy, whilst not the original models they are close enough (possibly too close in some cases) in their look, and look reasonable quality from photos I've seen of them in the wild.
However, I'm also going to include, where prices on popular auction sites allow, at least 1 original ship per fleet, preferably 1 original ship per squadron.
To that end this week I bought an Empire Greatship, and made a start on it tonight by CA gluing the forecastle and aft castle parts to the hull and put magnets in place to magnetically attach the masts, and so that I can store the ship (along with the rest of the Empire fleet when I get it) in a small clear plastic box which I will line with magnetic sheet - not something I normally do, but I feel these models will benefit from magnetic storage.
Quick photos of the assembled/magnetised ship below.
Magnets in the body of the ship, handily no drilling was needed -
Masts attached via magnets -
Fridge Magnet -
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
I pushed on with and have almost finished the Steel Legion infantry squad, I've only got their bases to texture/paint, so little point in taking photos until those are done, hoping to get those done and final photos taken over the weekend.
And I've opened my Man O'War account...
I have a plan for all of the core fleets, I plan on buying ships for all 6, because models (not necessarily originals) for them are so readily available and inexpensive, and the bulk of the ships will be 3d printed proxies from a seller or two on etsy, whilst not the original models they are close enough (possibly too close in some cases) in their look, and look reasonable quality from photos I've seen of them in the wild.
However, I'm also going to include, where prices on popular auction sites allow, at least 1 original ship per fleet, preferably 1 original ship per squadron.
To that end this week I bought an Empire Greatship, and made a start on it tonight by CA gluing the forecastle and aft castle parts to the hull and put magnets in place to magnetically attach the masts, and so that I can store the ship (along with the rest of the Empire fleet when I get it) in a small clear plastic box which I will line with magnetic sheet - not something I normally do, but I feel these models will benefit from magnetic storage.
Quick photos of the assembled/magnetised ship below.
Magnets in the body of the ship, handily no drilling was needed -
Masts attached via magnets -
Fridge Magnet -
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
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So, the Steel Legion troopers are finished. More on those below.
More stuff for Man O'War arrived today. I missed out on a complete set of tokens/templates etc. at £37, on ebay - I'm not interested in getting into bidding wars over cardboard...
I did however purchase the circular tokens/markers (because I can't cut circles to save my life), the terrain templates and the rulebook. The tokens/templates also tell me how thick the card I need to use for the remaining tokens/templates should be.
The set of terrain templates I bought also came with the terrain templates from the Plague Fleet expansion. Bonus!
Photos below of the Steel Legion. Using my mobile, I actually managed to get half-decent photos, photo after photo, for a change!!
Group shot, including the plasma gunner -
Very happy with how that squad turned out. I keep chipping them though, seems Windsor & Newton Galeria varnish isn't tough enough for metal miniatures!
Need to get their Chimera done now...
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
More stuff for Man O'War arrived today. I missed out on a complete set of tokens/templates etc. at £37, on ebay - I'm not interested in getting into bidding wars over cardboard...
I did however purchase the circular tokens/markers (because I can't cut circles to save my life), the terrain templates and the rulebook. The tokens/templates also tell me how thick the card I need to use for the remaining tokens/templates should be.
The set of terrain templates I bought also came with the terrain templates from the Plague Fleet expansion. Bonus!
Photos below of the Steel Legion. Using my mobile, I actually managed to get half-decent photos, photo after photo, for a change!!
Group shot, including the plasma gunner -
Very happy with how that squad turned out. I keep chipping them though, seems Windsor & Newton Galeria varnish isn't tough enough for metal miniatures!
Need to get their Chimera done now...
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
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Monday night at the table.
Spent about two and half hours at the table tonight. It's been quite cool late at night (post 00:00) where I am since Friday, so it's been comfortable sitting into the small hours painting. Just hope that lasts...
Anyhow I made a start on the Steel Legion infantry squad's Chimera. It's had a black undercoat and a Vallejo Model Color 994 Dark Grey base coat. No photos, because, well, it's just dark grey, not really much of a change...
I also made a start on the Chaos Terminators.
They have all had their red base coats and zenithal highlights, doesn't look like much at the moment, but it comes together when you start putting other colours on, and get closer to them -
I then pushed on with the Champion, as I always like to get one of a group done as an exemplar -
The paints I've used so far -
The champion still has lots of work left to do on him, edge highlights on the red on the few hard edges there are, highlights on the "bronze", trophy rack details to paint etc. etc.
Given that I spent about 90 minutes on the champion, and he's not done yet, I'm thinking all 8 will take quite some time to complete, even if I batch paint them, which I feel I can only do to a point...
The "bronze" method I've chosen is a bit of a PITA, the paint (a 1:3ish mix of Vallejo Metal Color Silver and Citadel Contrast Fyreslayer Flesh) is quite thin, gets all over the place, and doesn't cover red all that well it seems. It required multiple coats and I still don't think it's covered all that great. That's what I feel will hold me back on batch painting the other 7...
And yeah, I've forgotten to drill the Combi-Bolter barrels. I'm hoping to do that later, and hoping, really hoping, that doesn't go wrong!!
I also haven't filled the gaps where the trophy racks fit (or not). I don't feel I could have done it so that it wasn't noticeable, so I didn't bother.
I'm somewhat lacking in references for the power mace arm, particularly the shoulder pad. So I don't really have any idea how to paint the "eye of horus" symbol on the shoulder pad, where it's not obviously "bronze", or the shaft of the power maul. So, if anyone can help out with references or ideas on that I'd very much appreciate it.
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
Spent about two and half hours at the table tonight. It's been quite cool late at night (post 00:00) where I am since Friday, so it's been comfortable sitting into the small hours painting. Just hope that lasts...
Anyhow I made a start on the Steel Legion infantry squad's Chimera. It's had a black undercoat and a Vallejo Model Color 994 Dark Grey base coat. No photos, because, well, it's just dark grey, not really much of a change...
I also made a start on the Chaos Terminators.
They have all had their red base coats and zenithal highlights, doesn't look like much at the moment, but it comes together when you start putting other colours on, and get closer to them -
I then pushed on with the Champion, as I always like to get one of a group done as an exemplar -
The paints I've used so far -
The champion still has lots of work left to do on him, edge highlights on the red on the few hard edges there are, highlights on the "bronze", trophy rack details to paint etc. etc.
Given that I spent about 90 minutes on the champion, and he's not done yet, I'm thinking all 8 will take quite some time to complete, even if I batch paint them, which I feel I can only do to a point...
The "bronze" method I've chosen is a bit of a PITA, the paint (a 1:3ish mix of Vallejo Metal Color Silver and Citadel Contrast Fyreslayer Flesh) is quite thin, gets all over the place, and doesn't cover red all that well it seems. It required multiple coats and I still don't think it's covered all that great. That's what I feel will hold me back on batch painting the other 7...
And yeah, I've forgotten to drill the Combi-Bolter barrels. I'm hoping to do that later, and hoping, really hoping, that doesn't go wrong!!
I also haven't filled the gaps where the trophy racks fit (or not). I don't feel I could have done it so that it wasn't noticeable, so I didn't bother.
I'm somewhat lacking in references for the power mace arm, particularly the shoulder pad. So I don't really have any idea how to paint the "eye of horus" symbol on the shoulder pad, where it's not obviously "bronze", or the shaft of the power maul. So, if anyone can help out with references or ideas on that I'd very much appreciate it.
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
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Couldn't sleep, so I went back down about 04:30, through about 08:00. and did some more of the Chaos Terminator champion...
Quick mobile photos, sorry about the blur on the 4th photo...
Getting there. Need to black ink wash the "silver" metal areas, finish up the haft of the power mace, edge highlight the red and bronze in some places, put a decal on his right shoulder pad and that'll be about it.
I tried drilling the Combi-Bolter barrels, but it didn't go all that well, although it looks OK in the photos above. I could just paint black circles on the remaining 7's Combi-Bolter barrels - GW didn't drill out the barrels on these models back in 1996 when they painted their examples!
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
Quick mobile photos, sorry about the blur on the 4th photo...
Getting there. Need to black ink wash the "silver" metal areas, finish up the haft of the power mace, edge highlight the red and bronze in some places, put a decal on his right shoulder pad and that'll be about it.
I tried drilling the Combi-Bolter barrels, but it didn't go all that well, although it looks OK in the photos above. I could just paint black circles on the remaining 7's Combi-Bolter barrels - GW didn't drill out the barrels on these models back in 1996 when they painted their examples!
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
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Formula 1 British Grand Prix this weekend...
...and today happens to be my 45th birthday...
So, I sat watching Free Practice session 1 on Channel 4, and moved the Steel Legion infantry squad's Chimera forwards.
I airbrushed on the camo pattern colour (Vallejo Game Color Dead Flesh) over the top of the grey base coat (Vallejo Model Color 994 Dark Grey), and airbrushed the steel areas where I could with Vallejo Metal Color Steel. Not exactly my best airbrush camo job, but it'll do -
The top hull part hasn't aligned properly at the front and as I've had some damage to the paint work already, I'm inclined to leave it as it is...
The movable lasguns are a nice idea, sadly, like the turret weapon mount, they are too loose and won't stay in any raised position, so I may in the end glue those in position the same as I had to the turret weapon mount.
Satin clear coat then a clay wash all over, followed by a drybrush of Citadel Karak Stone, details to paint and the hunter killer missile to magnetise on and paint and this'll be done.
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
...and today happens to be my 45th birthday...
So, I sat watching Free Practice session 1 on Channel 4, and moved the Steel Legion infantry squad's Chimera forwards.
I airbrushed on the camo pattern colour (Vallejo Game Color Dead Flesh) over the top of the grey base coat (Vallejo Model Color 994 Dark Grey), and airbrushed the steel areas where I could with Vallejo Metal Color Steel. Not exactly my best airbrush camo job, but it'll do -
The top hull part hasn't aligned properly at the front and as I've had some damage to the paint work already, I'm inclined to leave it as it is...
The movable lasguns are a nice idea, sadly, like the turret weapon mount, they are too loose and won't stay in any raised position, so I may in the end glue those in position the same as I had to the turret weapon mount.
Satin clear coat then a clay wash all over, followed by a drybrush of Citadel Karak Stone, details to paint and the hunter killer missile to magnetise on and paint and this'll be done.
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
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Spent a couple of hours today finishing off the Chaos Terminator squad's champion...
I did the base yesterday and left it to crack up overnight, although to be honest I wasn't entirely sure how it was going to turn out, I thought I had put too much Citadel Mordant Earth on it. Think I shouldn't have put matt varnish on the rim though...
Photos -
I'm not sure I would call it much of an improvement over how he originally looked, more of a refresh. For one thing my edge highlights on the combi-bolter/chainwhatever look way too thick, but given that the chainwhatever's edges aren't exactly crisp I couldn't achieve a finer edge highlight...
So, only another 7 to do, I can see these taking ages, me losing enthusiasm, and coming back in another 15-20 years to finish them off!!
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
I did the base yesterday and left it to crack up overnight, although to be honest I wasn't entirely sure how it was going to turn out, I thought I had put too much Citadel Mordant Earth on it. Think I shouldn't have put matt varnish on the rim though...
Photos -
I'm not sure I would call it much of an improvement over how he originally looked, more of a refresh. For one thing my edge highlights on the combi-bolter/chainwhatever look way too thick, but given that the chainwhatever's edges aren't exactly crisp I couldn't achieve a finer edge highlight...
So, only another 7 to do, I can see these taking ages, me losing enthusiasm, and coming back in another 15-20 years to finish them off!!
Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.
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