[Personal Work] Cyriss Reflex Servitors

The next models in the army I chose to work on were the Reflex Servitors. These little guys have some interesting rules, with advance deployment, counter charge, pathfinder and dig in, they lurk at the fore of your army and blow themselves up on contact with the enemy.

The models themselves are pretty easy (one part models, something I miss greatly from the MKI days), with little major clean up. There are a few things to bear in mind when building these (and all other servitors, as well as anything else that PP may chose to put on their new flight stands in the future). 

Firstly, much like with GW's stands, the socket designed to accommodate the tip of the stand is not really fit for purpose. You will not get a decent connection and your models will keep breaking off the stand if you don't take some steps. Grab a large drill bit (I use one from an electric drill I use to build my scenery and tables). Use this to bore out a large, deep socket that fully encloses the top of the flight stand. This should lightly grip the model to make sure your connection is tight.

The next thing to bear in mind is that the flight stand is designed to fit in to the standard bases, which have an off center slot. If you look at the tab on the flight stand, you will notice that it does not cit central to the piece. Make sure you get it glued in the right way round to keep the stand central, or else your servitors will be flying very off centre.

The final issue I had was that the flight stands are made of a fairly "greasy" plastic which does not really take to superglue very well at all. I ended up using a combination of the depth of the sockets I drilled, and a small blob of blu tac (green stuff would be better but I didn't have any mixed and the blu tac was by my light). This will react oddly with the super glue and cause it to go off slightly and set faster. I do not advise doing this on most minis (though some swear by the trick) as it gives a weaker bond, but for a piece like this it helps set the glue slightly, allowing you to leave it to one side to properly bond while you work on other things.

You can see on the finished assembly, I pre based the model, as well as undercoated it as a whole, meaning the flight stand is not clear. Ultimately I am not too bothered about see through parts, and this army will not be a display/comp piece, so I want to make it as quick and painless as possible.  Again, for a comp piece, I would have a very different method, but I want these guys on the table and painted ASAP.

In terms of painting, I chose to stick to the studio scheme. I don't tend to do this, and had visions of a khaki/weathered army. Ultimately, speed over ruled creativity, and I can drybrush metal when I have to.

The full six were painted from undercoat to finished in one sitting (I broke for lunch in the middle) and I think they took about three hours total. So thirty mins per ball, which isn't  too bad. I have plenty more models to paint and really can't make this a major endevour . Overall I think they look fine on the table and the quicker I can get these done, the more time I can spend on the more important parts like the casters and the Prime Axiom.

I used the paint guide in the Cyriss book, but used washing and layering with some drybrushing to keep it quick and dirty. I will be blending on the casters as they will be the focus of the army, but for the rank and file I don't think they need it.

Hopefully there is some useful information that you can use in building and painting your Cyriss. Next up will some Angels I think.

[Event report] Lock and Load photodump 1

I didn't take as many photos as I had hoped at the event, and my attempts to get the cabinets are terrible (and others got photos elsewhere, so I am sure you have seen it all by now).

Here is the first of two photodumps of the 2013 Lock and Load, mainly focussing on terrain ideas I want to steal.

[Personal Work] Convergence of Cyriss - Light Vectors

I thought I would start out my chronicle of the building and painting of my Convergence with some of the jacks. The main draw of this force (for me at least) is the chance to run far more jack heavy than I would in my usual warmachine games.

I started with the light vectors as there would be no magnetising needed. Due to the way PP sell their light kits, you don't end up with multiple weapons configurations per box, so there would be no need to make any combi-jacks.

Opening up the five kits I had aquired, I was faced with a mess of parts (only three of the kits are shown here).

Each vector has the same core chassis, three legs, a lower and upper chassis and enough knee pads to cover their modesty. The slight difference comes with the Mitigator and Diffuser, which use the small round plug to attach the arms, and the Galvinizer which instead has those arms plug into its head unit.

I had decided to abandon my plans of clever colour schemes and top end painting as I want to get the army on the table as quickly as possible. As such I have resigned myself to the studio scheme (something I rarely do) and am not doing as thorough a clean up job as I normally would (just as well as restic/hard plastic/spruless plastic continues to be a pain to properly clean up).

Just as well as I found all five of the kits had suffered the same miscast on the lower chassis. Each one has three engine block details , and one of these had been blown out in molding in each case.

In terms of building, there is nothing too drastic to worry about with the kit. The only issue I had was that there are two leg designs with the kit, one of which is extended straighter. I found that upon assembling the mini, I was left with a very lopsided jack, with one longer leg, leaving the other two feet floating.

I decided to mitigate this by matching up identical legs where possible (on of the benefits of buying on masse I suppose), which left me four jacks standing properly, and one that will need a small rock to prop up his one smaller leg.

Having messed around with the heavies, I found similar issues, and this may well have been dealt with by heating up the legs and reposing. Certainly this was necessary with the heavy I have assembled so far.  Its not the end of the world, but something to keep in mind when building your vectors.

As previously mentioned, the Galvinizer, with his buzz saw arm, assembles slightly differently to his fellows, with his arms in his head, and the connection points at his waist cleverly serving double duty as "glowy bits".

I pinned the guns of the other two jacks onto the chassis for extra stablity. The connection point is fairly small, and I get impatient waiting for superglue to dry, so a quick pin (drilling into plastic is as easy as it gets), saved my patience and let me crack on.

The only other thing to pay close attention to is that there are two different knee pads to match the two leg designs. The only difference is in the connection socket on the back of the part, so pay close attention. I shaved all the plugs down anyway to get the parts as tight to the leg as possible, but if you are going for a stock assembly its worth keeping in mind.

I will return to update this post with the final jacks once I get some decent pics.

Till next time, where we look at some servitors.

[Commission] Viktoria Avatar.

The Convergence construction marathon has begun, and Restic (or sprue-less plastic, or utter crap as I like to call it) is still a thing.

In the interim, I finished up a commission that I started before I left for the states.

These are the Viktoria avatars from Wyrd's Malifaux range. Good fun to paint and having two similar models in the same scheme (one is sort of the evil deamon twin of the other) made for fun.

Enjoy.

[Personal Work] A convergence is coming.

Yup, I bought in to the shiny new faction. Though what I am planning is not so shiny (not using metals as the main colours I think).

I'm going to try to do some step by step stuff for this as damn these kits are pretty hectic, so hopefully the blog will become a resource of more than just ego stroking for a while (but don't worry, that will still take place too ;) )

First up, the group shot.

I picked up everything that was available at the event, ending up with the following:

2x Battlebox (for the lights)
2x Heavy Kit (for magnetising)
Diffuser
Prime Axiom
Aurora
Axis
3x Angels
2x all four servitors
2x Token Set

So a pretty decent starting point for the faction (though I would have preferred a few more infantry to get us going, as good as the Axiom is).

Hopefully I can get things glued together over the next few days. This is going to be a gaming army not a display army so don't expect too much from it.

First up I think we shall tackle the light jacks.

[Personal Work] P3 results are in.

Its been a while since I posted as I was working on something for the 2013 P3 competition at Lock and Load. This ended up taking up a lot of time and I didn't paint much else.

In the end I managed to secure a silver for the model (as well as a silver for my Revenant cannon which is on the blog if you want to check it out). I'd hoped to progress to a gold, but was just off the mark. I got a lot of good feedback from Meg and Matt and  have lots of stuff to focus on this year in hope that I can return to the States in 2014 to try again.

If nothing else this model is much brighter and more contrasty than anything I have painted, so that's progress.

It almost makes me think about painting a Troll army... almost.

So, here he is, Krump of the Hunters Grim.

Handbags at ten paces [Personal Work]

I'm currently running a Journeyman league at the club (players start with small armies and each week add a couple of figures to work up to full 35 point games).

Part of the league involves scoring points for your painting. I decided to run my Minion Gator faction to force me to actually get some paint on them.

So far I have painted a warlock and a unit, and by the end of the league (two more weeks) I'm hoping to get a beast and a solo done too. That represents about half a 35 point army.

The models are being speed painted, and I am using my airbrush to do a lot of the heavy lifting, which has been good in terms of developing my airbrush skills. Still got a way to go yet, but its been great finally spending some time with the kit.

So, here are the models so far.

[Personal Work] Epic Deneghra

With the changes to the meta in the UK scene, I have finally sold my soul and am playing Epic Deneghra. I've had the model since I got in to Warmachine, but never really used her as the Goth Wedding Barbie looks just bugs me.

I'm starting a new scheme for my army (hopefully this is the last one) so this is the test piece for the scheme. The green cloth and glow is a departure, and I am trying to up my blending and contrast across the army.

I still need to hit the model with some varnish, then add the last few light hits, but she is ready for the table at the very least, which is just as well as I am using her in an event next week.

Hopefully I will get her companion jack Nightmare finished up in the new scheme...

[Commission] Dreadball team finished.

I finished these guys up a little while ago and forgot to post them, so here they are:

Next up on the painting table will be the Wyrd Victorias Avatar form, as well as the minis I am planning on taking to Lock and Load for the P3

[Commission Work] Dreadball Orcs

I've been plugging away at these guys for a while now. Still got three more Orcs to do and then the team is done. Then its on the humans. 

For Mantic figures, I honestly don't think these are too bad. Pity they are Restic rather than proper styrene, which means they cleaned up really badly, but this seems to be the way the industry is going for now, so we all have to grin and bear it.

In other news, Macro lens is a bitch...

[Commission) Menoth Vassal

Just finished up a Menoth Vassal as part of the Welsh Open army give away. I think I posted the jack I painted a while ago, can't really remember.

Anyway, this was pretty quick and dirty, took about two hours give or take. The whites are obviously pretty stark, but there is a certain charm to the model.

I also managed to paint two more of the Dreadball commission I am working on, but the pictures are terrible so I will save those for another day.

Finally, among all that I managed to get some more work done on my Nightmare repaint. Not sure why I am repainting this guy in a new scheme, that is not the new scheme for my army, but hey ho. Lots of two brush blending and washes going on here, still a little rough in patches, but its a good step forward. Certainly good practice for the Covergence of Cyriss...

[Commission Work] A couple of Cowboys (or girls)

Time for another update and something a little different.

Here are three Wyrd Miniatures Ronin , for Malifaux. These were good fun to paint and wen surprisingly quickly. Looking at about 4-5 hours here from start to finish.

I think these are the first Malifaux models I have painted, I still find the metal they are made from a pain to work with (that Katana is really flexible). Maybe now the plastics are trickling out then I will get to work on some of the newer models and see if that makes things better.

These are my basic level of paint (£10 per figure), but for that you get a clean, three level highlight. Nothing too fancy, but great for rank and file.

Other projects on the go at present are some Dreadball teams for commission and some new Cryx stuff for me.

I have also decided to get in to two new games... Infinity has caught my eye for its low model count and sci fi stylings, and I am hoping to get some Aleph underway pretty soon, if I can find them anywhere in the shops.

I have also just picked up the Dark Age core rules. I've had my eye on the game for a while now, and the new Kukulkani has tipped me over the edge. Can't wait for the models to come out so I can get cracking.

With Relic Knights coming later in the year, its going to be a skirmish lead few months.

'Til next time.

[Personal Work] Tiny men in massive hats.

It may have come to your attention that I have done hardly any painting so far this year. To be honest, I haven't done any serious painting since October I think. Which is a worry. This is partly down to fatigue, and partly down to me trying to get stuff built and boxed up rather than just painting one or two models a month.

Good news is I am down to my last Nyss before the unit is fully assembled. I have had none of the issues people have described when it comes to building these guys. Guess its because I have pinned every joint and part on each model to make them easy to hand and hopefully durable. I need to do a little greenstuffing before painting to mask some of the neck gaps (thinking furry collars). I've managed to get two games in with them so far. Pretty impressed with their shotting, but its amazing how not that impressive POW 9 weapon masters really are. Guess I am spoiled by Banes (who knew). Still, they are there to shoot over most other things so I am happy with the unit.

As part of my efforts to get back in to painting, I decided to do something a little different to warm up and relax myself. I have been a massive fan of Epic since I became aware of wargaming as a thing. Indeed, my first memory of GW came before I have ever even stepped foot in there, seeing a poster of an Imperator Titan as I walked bast a store and being blown away by the sight of a castle on legs. It just looked cool.

I have two Epic armies these days, Orks and Guard. The Orks were one of those forces you accidentally end up owning, but the Guard are my passion. Epic is the only scale that really lets you play the guard as they should be, masses of grunts, waves of tanks and a titan or two backing them up. Not to mention the air support swooping in and strafing the unwitting enemy.

When it came to choosing a colour scheme for my guard, I had every intention of going for the Valhallans in their classic white and green piebald scheme. But just before starting the army I was gripped by a madness and decided that Vostroyans were the way forward. Not only that, but I decided sculpting hats on 6mm models was a really good idea...

I am going to dig up my force and put some photos up shortly, but to keep you reading, here is a shot of the Fire Support Team that I have just finished. I love 6mm scale (people always say it seems hard to paint, not at all, the details are so small that you can get some amazing results pretty simply).

The hats are not perfect, but on mass they look pretty effective, as I hope I can show soon.

Hope you like them.

Till next time.
 

[Personal Work] Of Elves and Alligators

One of the things I have realised recently is that I own a lot of models... not as many as I used to, but still far too many. Even worse, many of these are not even built. They have never seen the table or had dice rolled in anger against them. That's just sad and has to change!

It may have come to your attention by now that Cryx is my one true love these days, and much of my pile of lead (all gamers have one right?) is comprised of masses of thralls in bits. Sort of apt really, a pile of body parts waiting the mad necrosurgeon (or in this case me) to come along and breath unlife into them.

Despite my love of all things Zombie,  the infantry swarm of yore is falling by the wayside to an extent at the moment. Something to do with giant electric blue robots and irritating blonde pole dancers or something...

So us Lich Lords are having to come up with new ideas in the fight against the living. Enter the mercs.

I was a purist for MKI, but sadly you can only fight the inevitable for so long. I have been picking up various merc solos and units for a while now and slowly slotting them in to my forces. Interestingly, most of the mercs I own are ranged... says something about Cryx I think.

To that end I am currently in the process of adding a full unit of Nyss Hunters, as well as Wrong Eye and Snapjaw to my current army list. Ok, the Voodoo Croc is not known for his ranged game, but he trumps the ranged meta brilliantly by ignoring it completely, hiding in his portable ponds with his overgrown handbag of a friend.

The Nyss bring both melee and ranged potential. CRA and hunter let me deal with some annoying things at range rather than up close, but they can always go in swinging with those claymores if it gets up close and personal.

While I am a fair way from putting paint on either of these options yet, assembly is going well. WEaSJ are done awaiting greenstuff, and I have done four of the elves. Considering these are comprised of 7-8 pieces each (all of which are pinned on mine) I am doing well. I am even adding all the optional extras to every model, so that's 3-4 parts on top of everything else.

So, raw fingers covered in glue, and still over half the unit to go... but I am hoping to bring them to battle tomorrow so I better press on.

While the glue was drying on SnapJaw I also found some time to continue my work on the ebay Nuln army. Nothing that impressive yet as I am overpainting some older minis, but the lack of actual paint in a blogpost would upset me, so this is better than nothing.

I should finish these up early next week, then its on to that Dreadball team that is on my desk I guess...

[Personal Work] New Year Update

Despite my best intentions and me putting in a reasonable amount of hobby time over the December period I failed to get any blog updates done... which was bad of me.

So, I had better remedy that now, and also hopefully kick start a more productive year with plenty of hobby coverage to keep all 15 of you entertained. If there are even 15 of you out there reading this.

One of the things that I have been becoming even more aware of these days is the vast amount of gaming crap I have built up again. When I moved to London I sold off vast amounts of GW minis, but still have three Conrfontation armies, not to mention all my Cryx, board games and sundry other bits and pieces hanging around.

With the Relic Knights kickstarter shipping rapidly approaching I need to clear out some space from the hobby room. To this end I am tidying up the remains of my GW stuff to ship on. Of course I will be keeping my Tyranids for the time being, I have spent a great deal of my Christmas holiday stripping and cleaning up these little blighters, so despite not being enamoured with 6th ed 40K I will hold on to them for now.

However, I still have odds and ends left from my fantasy armies, in particular my Empire. Despite my best efforts with ebay there seems to be a lack of interest in the Empire these days, at least in their raw form.

To that end I have decided to paint up what I have left of the army and hopefully get them to a point where people may actually take them off my hands.

My old empire army was painted up in the colours of Altdorf, but as this is a quick and dirty paint job I have decided to go Nuln as a lot of the work is done in the undercoat stage.

So far I have painted a mortar crew as well as half of a long gunner unit.
Some nice basing and using the red and khaki  as a spot colour helps grab attention despite the fairly plain overall scheme.

I'm hoping to get the remains of the "ranged" element of the army done this month, then reward myself with some characters. Then I will sort out the cavalry and finally the infantry. I should have about 1500- 2000 points by the time all is said and done, though I don't have the new army book so can't work it out exactly.

So, let me know what you think of the scheme. If you know anyone who might be interested in picking up some Empire models then feel free to pass them my way.

Expect another, slightly random update later in the week and hopefully we will be back to our regular Warmachine and Hordes schedule, as well as some new commissions in the not too distant future.

Thanks for reading and happy 2013.