Update: Furtive Foxes and Fantasy

I am switching to Dark Elves for Fantasy. Maybe it is because I have been playing dread fleet, but I want to have a dark elf raiding army. Plus, I love their miniature line. 

On to the bigger update, my chief shaman is modeled, and the green stuff is being cured right now. I cannot wait to paint this model. It is one of my favorite conversions I have ever done. Here is the list of kits that was used: space marine librarian, space wolf box set, Fenrisian wolves, chaos aspiring champion, chaos terminator lord. 

Progress

First, I must begin by saying this is the first time in a long time that I have been excited about putting together an army. I am still working on the background on how the Space Foxes became corrupted by Tzeentch to become the Furtive Foxes, but I have made progress in the hobby aspect of them. 

You might notice a little green stuff on these Chosen from the Dark Vengeanxe box set. I have attempted to turn the tattered cloth into pelts. It was a pretty easy thing to do, and I am pretty happy with the results. This is really my first time working with this much green stuff. I wanted to show how it turned out before I put paint to it. 

This is the cloak to the champion of the chosen. This wasn't terribly difficult to do seeing how it was applying green stuff and sculpting it to look like fur. 

This cloak, however, proved to be a lot more difficult. This is my first entire cloak constructed out of green stuff for one of my sorcerers. It took me a lot of trial and error to get the size down correctly. In the end, it seems worthy enough to trail behind one of my commanders. 

Now here is what I have painted. So far I have only completed one Chosen model that was a test model. He cloth also had green stuff applied to it to make it seem like a fox pelt. 

It's a bit blurry, but it shows the general idea. I really like foxes. They are gorgeous animals, and I mimicked the colors as best as possible. Instead of just orange, I figured out how to do a metallic orange. Gloves, forearms, shins, and boots are painted black, and the ab area is white. Blue was used for gems and eyes to make it pop a little. Weapons are bone white. 

A couple of friends who are big fans of Alabama football have said that they had to be chaos since they were Auburn colors. 

And finally the Helbrute. The color scheme worked well for it as well. Skin was done with Rakarth flesh washed with Fuegan Orange, then again with Rakarth flesh. His abs are also white. 

Although my Eldar was the first army where I came up with my own color scheme, I have a huge love affair with my growing chaos army. In all my years of warhammer, I don't think I have put this much effort into converting and bit bashing an army. Nothing was added to the helbrute, but the pelts on the Chosen take the models a little away from being Crimson Slaughter to my vision. 

I'm really looking forward to fielding completely painted models soon. 

Extremely Hairy Chaos Space Marine Redux

The call of creating my own chapter was just too strong to continue working on my Word Bearers. Currently all models in traitor's red are enjoying a nice mean green bath. 

I love Space Wolves a whole lot, and I love Chaos a lot too. And this new edition coming out has me really excited. Some might gripe about the unbound organization chart, but here are my plans with it. I am going back to the Chaos Space Fox chapter I have came up with. I think I might stick mainly with Tzeentch, detailed background coming soon, but I want Khorne berserkers to be like blood claws, thousand sons to be like grey hunters, and noise marines to be like long fangs. 

If not allowed to use the unbound organization chart, I will be going all Tzeentch with daemons as allies. 

My army has it's paint scheme ready, just need to test it out. It's going to a lot of blitz bashing and converting. I plan on having a daemon with a fox head and fur if my commanders ever get dark apotheosis. 

More to follow soon. 

A Negative Post About Negativity

I haven't been particularly active playing any games recently. I think my last miniatures game was played over a month ago at this point. The why of this is unimportant for this post, but suffice to say that real life has gotten in the way as of late. This doesn't mean I don't keep up with the goings on of everything. And the current big thing is that 40k will be receiving a new edition. 

I AM HAPPY ABOUT THIS.

But still this post isn't so much directed at the new edition of the game. It is the immediate response I am seeing from many people. Maybe they are trolling, or maybe they are just generally unlikable people (I have my suspicions about various ones), but many people have already come out with the doom and gloom, and the woe is me, and of course the sky is falling. Look, I get it, GW hasn't provided us with a lot of reasons to have hope. But I think it has gone way too far towards condemning things that haven't even been seen yet.

Are there some valid criticisms? Yes. And criticism is a good thing when used properly. Most of what these people are spouting is not criticism but vitriol and hate. It is only worse when it comes from those that you know are actively seeking the destruction of a community and that don't participate in it through games or useful discussion. What is being sought by these people is a shock response or an abeyance of our happiness. So I write this seeking those who read those comments, and to remind them that others out there do enjoy this hobby. Not all are terrible people seeking to ruin the fun of others in our quest to be the biggest dick in the universe. And if possible, try to block them and their useless comments from skewing your views.

Hobby Excitement: ebbs and flows

I've been out of commission for the past six weeks: first a job interview in Kentucky which didn't pan out, then three academic conferences, one in Tuscaloosa, one in St. Louis, and one in Paris.  In all that time, I haven't picked up a paintbrush or assembled a single model. I did get a few games of Warmahordes in with my Everblight, testing out Rhyas with reach (she's still bad, folks) and Fyanna the Lash (I'm impressed thus far). The state of 40k has me pretty unenthused about my Eldar, as short of adding in a broken Seer Council or Beastpack my army is at the top of its form. My Tenshi-Tachi SM are still waiting for more paint: bikes take so much work! And my Dwarves are, well, dwarves.

There are, however, a few things I'm growing excited about:

40k Escalation is at 750 points for this Saturday, May 3rd. I'll be around the shop on Sunday as well.

Nashcon is Memorial Day weekend, May 23-25th.  Scarecrow, Josh, and I will be going. $35 bucks gets you access to three days of 40k, Fantasy, and Warmahordes. If anyone else is interested in joining us, let me know.

WOOD ELVES. Rumors suggest new stag rider models, and it sounds like I can have the all-cavalry wood elves army I've wanted for the past 2-3 years. Good times. I'll most likely be selling my Dwarves to fund the pointy-eared ones.

This is what life in the hobby is like for me. At times I tire of the routines, and at times my imagination is set ablaze by a new army concept, a new model, or an upcoming event. More to come as I get settled into the summer.

~wraithdrad~

Gentlemen, I give you more Khorne

Finally got to test out my daemons of chaos on the battlefields of fantasy Saturday. Instead of talking about all my mistakes that I will inevitably learn from, I just want to say my ultimate goal for this army. Right now, I am obsessed with the minions of the Blood God. I have two grand conversion ideas for a bloodthirster and a daemon prince of khorne. Also realized I need a skull cannon. Blood crushers wouldn't be bad either. Maybe more bloodletters too. 

I was a bit disappointed in my Plaguebearers, but that may have to do with my own mistakes as a general. I want to drop the herald of Nurgle for a herald of Tzeentch and stick him in the middle of a big squad of pink horrors. Also did not think I would like any servants of Slaanesh, I want to add more seekers after they were able to hold back a steam tank for several turns. 

I am looking forward to the next game 

The Crimson Corsair

As Hive Fleet Kraken reached further into the Imperium, a battle raged on the surface of Caladan. The Imperial forces were stretched thin waiting for reinforcement. It was in this maelstrom that The Crimson Corsair's legend blossomed into life. A Freeblade Knight, he stood at the gates of Pavonis and alone held the tide of Tyranids at bay for three days without rest. When finally the enemy overwhelmed his defenses, a swarm of the beasts covered nearly his entire form. It was then that the mighty knight heard the sounds of drop pods landing nearby. The Blood Phoenix had arrived to support the defense of the planet and flamers brushed over The Crimson Corsair, cleansing the beasts from his back. Ever since that day, the knight has owed a debt of allegiance to the Chapter and will answer any call for aid, going so far as to emblazon the Chapter's emblem on his armor.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

I have had my Imperial Knight model for over a month now. Last Friday I finally started putting my thoughts into action and began the process of assembly. Last night I finished. Below are the steps along the way.

So my idea was to repose the model so that it was either kicking through a wall or stomping down on a bunker. I opted for a combination of the two, where he would be stepping down onto a wall, to peek over the other side.

First, the wall. I wanted to break up the ground somewhat, so added a couple of layers of cork to the base. Next I used some foam for the wall, cutting a divot into the top of the center where the Knight would be stepping. I added some toothpicks for rebar sticking out and some bits of sprue for interior aesthetics, if the interior were still intact. Some random bits of foam were added for broken off pieces of the wall.

Someone suggested that I put some crouching models on the other side of the wall. I looked around a bit, but eventually decided upon some really old metal Guardsmen models I have had lying around for twenty years gathering dust. Pins hold them in place, and if you look closely you will see the dab of green stuff for that extra support for the paper clip pin underneath them.

 

I wanted one to be on his back under the foot of the Knight, reaching one hand up as if to ward off the inevitable. I had to cut one arm from the old model and added some green stuff to mold a new arm and hand.

Next up was to start actually putting the Knight together. Most frustratingly, there is no customization intended with this model. The legs are straight solid pieces and the attaching wires, pistons, etc. are made at a length for the model to be posed in one position. So I cut it up. Just one leg, the one I wanted to be perched atop the wall. Doing so left some big holes in the model that would be visible at the angle needed, so I thought to cover these with green stuff.

 Ultimately, I did not like the look of this, so I cut off the green stuff and added a straw and coffee stirrer to connect the two pieces, so from any angled view it would appear to be wiring.

The legs are still not attached to the base at this point. I needed to gauge how everything fit together first. While the "wiring" was drying, I set about putting the rest of the model together. I am leaving the mask off until the face underneath is painted. You can spot my choice of mask sitting off to the left in the picture below.

Once the straw had dried, I started pinning the feet of the Knight so it would be secure on the base's uneven terrain. I angled a drill in and put some holes inside the feet aimed for the center. Bending the tip of the pin into that hole, and then filling the foot with green stuff, created a fairly secure connection.

Here, the legs are in place and I sit waiting for glue to dry. Okay really I was putting together the rest of the model.

Once everything had dried, it was all put together. I took some time here to magnetize the gun options.

Voila! Complete.

Fee Fi Fo Fum. I smell shite in that guardsman's britches!

I still have some small details to add here and there. Ribbons and seals to the Knight, Chaosing up the guardsmen to show them as recently falling to Chaos, some more damage to the wall maybe... and of course the rest of the basing process.

When I finish all of that, and finish basing my Dark Elves, maybe I will get around to putting some paint on the model.