Space Marine Bike Captain (Scibor)

While waiting for some Daemon models I ordered to arrive, I painted up a Scibor SciFi Motorcycle as a ride for my Chapter Master/Captain. It’s much larger than a regular Space Marine bike – the base itself is about 4″ long. The rider is basicallywearing Terminator armor! I used a Terminator left arm instead of the one that came with the model, and added a sword I found somewhere.

The model itself is pretty cool and looks good, though there are some imperfections and blocky bits when you get in close. The foot pegs were broken off and the handgrips on the handlebars were too short and stubby, so I replaced these with the handles of power axes.

It doesn’t come with a cowling, so I cut up the body of a Venom and fitted that on. By coincidence, the panel line on the cowling kind of matches the line on the gas tank, and that helps tie it all together. It’s magnetized so you can see the stuff underneath. I figure Captain Ojin there took it as a war trophy.

Vindicated

I finished that Vindicator I was working on last month and got it into a game over the weekend. My opponent, Ian, likes to call them “Fail-cator” since he seems to have such bad luck with them, heh. But mine did pretty well. I blew up an Ork Battlewagon, killed some Killa Kans and a bunch of Ork Boyz. Mulching Orks is pretty much what Vindicators were designed for to begin with. In the end, my valiant assault gun was overrun and blown up by the last surviving Killa Kan of the squadron that charged it (which was subsequently plonked by the angry Marines nearby who stuffed their krak grenades down its gullet).

Here are some WIP pics, some shots of the finished model, and some game pics:

I airbrushed the basecoat on this. Only my second outing with the airbrush and it went a bit better than the first time. It’s not the best airbrush out there, and I wonder what results I might get with a more high-end one. Can’t afford it anyway, and I wasn’t using my own to begin with, but whatever. I got better with the flow control and that’s key. I magnetized the siege shield so it can be removed, and did the usual magnetizing on the storm bolter. I could/should weather the model some more, but I’m feeling lazy. It looks greasy and stained enough from sitting in the motor pool so I’ll call it done.

Here’s a shot of it in action!

You can see this pic and more of that particular battle (the last game of a narrative mini-campaign) in the batrep I posted on the Independent Characters forum!

Overall, I like the Vindicator. That big ol’ pie plate scares the crap out of anyone with any sort of horde army, and makes everyone else spread out. Unfortunately, their threat also makes them a priority target, so the trick is giving your opponent something else more urgent to think about than putting a hole in your Vindicator – easier said than done.

Forging ahead on the Command Squad. I’m almost through the most time consuming part, which is painting the armor and details. The arms and weapons will go much faster.

Planning out my Anglo-Dane army for SAGA next year is fun (thinking about spending money I don’t have of course). Also about to get to work on some WW2 GI’s for Bolt Action. Getting busy!

Catching up – Landspeeder, Scouts, campaign games!

Whoa, no posts for over a month! Sorry folks! I have indeed been busy.
On the painting and modeling front, I finished a Landspeeder and a squad of Scout Snipers. Check out the slideshow for the pics!

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The Landspeeder is magnetized to switch out the bow and gunner’s weapons, and the side panels can be removed and the Typhoon missile launchers attached.

The scouts are a mix of the plastic snipers and a handful of the old metal snipers, which I quite like. I knew I wanted to do camouflage cloaks, and I knew it would be a bit tedious to paint (and it was) but once I figured out how to do it, it went fairly smoothly. It’s three colors, grey, dark green and a mix of dark green and brown. The pattern is not exactly like the digital camo pattern you see on modern military uniforms, but a patchwork of square shapes. At the size they’re painted on the mini, they do make the pattern look right at normal viewing distance. I painted on the grey layer, then the green and then the green/brown mix. This was then washed with a very thinned out mix of black, brown and purple. Fortunately, it came out looking okay.

The Sgt. Telion mini serves as Sgt. Oda in my Rising Suns army. This was actually my first Finecast miniature. There were a few tiny little air bubbles but I took care of those with liquid green stuff right quick. I also filed off all the Ultramarines markings, which is very easy to do with Finecast.

At the moment, I have a Vindicator assembled on my painting desk awaiting priming this weekend. I just got it the other day and until then, I’d been working on some Tactical Marines with special weapons, just to use as fillers and to spend my painting time on while I waited to get the Vindi. I should have this one done by the end of the month.

In other news, I have been involved in running a very fun narrative 40K campaign at EndGame. We had our third game last Saturday and it went really well. You can check out the story thread here. There is another thread with pics from the event here. We will be running our next game in the series in January. It’s open to everyone, but space is limited and sign-ups are on a first-come-first-served basis. But, if you’re in the area, we’d be happy to see you across the gaming table.

Space Marine Bikes

Here are some pics of the Space Marine Bikes and Attack Bike I finished recently.

The gun mount is magnetized so I can switch the heavy bolter and multi-melta.

The riders’ arms are magnetized too, for special weapons.

 

Roll out!

Considering a conversion

I like converting minis. Always fun to come up with something original. I just finished a Terminator Chaplain which was a conversion based on one I saw on From The Warp.

Although I added a few touches of my own, it wasn’t my original idea and I now want to do one of my own.

My philosophy on minis conversions in general is to make subtle ones that don’t require a great deal of cutting, re-shaping or green stuff. If I can put something together from different parts that comes out looking unique that’s usually where I want to be.

I now have it in mind to try and make a Space Marine Captain for my Rising Suns, and this time, I want to try using some of the Kromlech samurai bits, specifically, the helmet and sword. I’m not entirely sure I like those helmets though – need to see them for real, not a picture. Of course, I could just magnetize the head so I could swap it for a normal looking helmet. I’m sure I’ll use the sword though. For the body, I want this guy to have a jump pack so I’ll use an Assault Marine torso with a commander’s breastplate. I’d like to give him artificer armor so I need to find some bits that are suitably ornate – I’ve looked at BA Sanguinary Guard but they look more Greek than anything else and have blood drops all over them.

Any recommendations for bits?

Getting into DUST, thinking about 6e, and Brothers in spirit!

Got myself a copy of the DUST Warfare book, and working on painting up an Axis force using the EndGame store miniatures set. Many of the battles in DUST apparently take place in Antartica, but I decided to go for a more temperate European theme and did a Peadot pattern for these German grenadiers.

I need to take a new pic of this guy, since I have since changed the color scheme a bit. His trousers are now the same base color as the jacket (but not camouflaged, and his body armor is now the same shade of grey as the trousers are in the pics above. The lighter body armor helps the camo pattern of the shirt stand out more. I’m torn on doing the camo on the trousers now, since it will take more time and I simply want to get these guys done and ready for play.

Digging the DUST Warfare game itself. Liking everything I’m seeing in the rulebook so far and hoping to play soon. If I can, I’m going to champion it at the store, try to generate some interest and build a community there.

As the imminent release of 6th edition 40K looms, I am steering clear of the rumor sites. Really, why bother? What good does knowing anything about it now do you when you’re not actually playing the game yet and all these rumors are presented without the context of the entire 6e ruleset as a whole? I mean, really, when the book comes out, it comes out, you get it if you want it and you play the game and then decide what you like and don’t like. People…

Finally, I am pleased to have found a kindred spirit across the internet and across the Pond. Targol (I think that’s his name) in France, has also done his own samurai-themed Space Marine Chapter. Unlike mine, he has gone the extra mile to do conversions that make the models look like they’re wearing samurai armor (and he’s done it quite well too). Now, with Kromlech’s selection of samurai bits, I suppose I don’t have any more excuses to not do this as well. I am actually thinking about trying some of the Kromlech parts and making another Captain, this one carrying a power katana and with a samurai helmet – I found some etched brass helmet crests I might use made by Oshiro. The Kromlech heads are cool but until I get some in my hands to see them up close, I can’t decide.

Anyway, check out Targol’s work! It’s really great!

Forge World Mk IV Ironclad Dreadnought

I’ve finished my “Forge World” Ironclad Dreadnought. I put Forge World in quotes because I bought this on eBay from a seller in Hong Kong and since it didn’t come with any packaging, I’ve no idea if it’s actually a FW model. It was a good cast at any rate, and i had no trouble putting it together save the usual things you have to deal with when working with resin.

I paid attention to the polarity of the magnets and matched them to the other Dreadnought I have. In a pinch, I can switch the weapons between the two for a little extra variability. Pretty happy with the results!

So, pics!

DIY Space Marine Chapters?

I’m looking around for people who have done their own Space Marine Chapter with cool, well-executed paint schemes and iconography. Surely not everyone out there paints the same old GW canon Chapters? Send me your links!

And please, spare me the Hello Kitty Marines – seen plenty of those. Gag Chapters are fun, but what I’m really looking for are more serious designs executed across entire collections.

Rising Suns Land Raider

My 40K motor pool continues to expand. I finished this Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer this month. Lots of magnetized bits on this one, but not as many as the Predator. The sponson weapons can be switched around, and the top deck fittings are removable. I also did a couple of crew models – storm bolter gunner, multi-melta gunner and a commander waving his chainsword around (“Get me closer, I want to hit it with my sword!”)

Epic follow-up and scout head chopping

Played Epic for the first time in about 6 years last Wednesday and reminded myself of how much I love that game (Bruce, if you’re reading this, this one was for you, buddy!) I got my ass kicked but the final VP total maybe didn’t reflect how close it was, at least until the last turn. But whatever excuses for getting whooped that I may make I still had a blast. A little rusty on the rules but hey, you gotta knock that off somehow. It was great to see the battlefield covered with troops and vehicles, maneuvering at a scale that makes a lot more sense.

In the past, I played Space Marines most often. In this game, my opponent Adan had the Astartes and I played my Imperial Guard army.

My big error was not covering my artillery company with supporting infantry – I’d have done a lot better if I had deployed my infantry company in range of the gun tubes rather than bottling them up inside the Capitol Imperialis (which I managed to forget to bring on the day, duh). Then when the Marines dropped right on top of my Basilisks and Bombards, I could have just blown them all away. Also, Hydra AA guns are a lot more useful against a Thunderhawk than an Ogryn squad (which I must admit I took just because I wanted to).

So while having my artillery park pasted was a big reason I lost, the big fight I came up short on was on one of the main objectives.

I had an infantry company deployed here, along with a heavy support detachment. The Marines came at me with attack bikers and some assault troops drop-podding in. I almost fought them off, and the battle went back and forth, until when I thought I had it, I got hit by another attack deploying out of Rhinos. By that point my company was nearly broken and when they did break, they blew their morale check and it was over. Had I made that morale check, I still had enough guys left that I might have been able to throw the Marines back.

So it was a great battle and a fun game!

In other news, I’m repainting my Scouts a bit. I’ve never been happy with the way they came out. The kumadori design looks good on the regular Marines, but on the Scouts, it just didn’t work so I’m re-doing them. Taking the kumadori off also fits with my fluff in that the Scouts don’t get to wear it until they’re full-fledged Space Marines. So, they’re getting normal fleshtones, except for the Sergeant who, as a veteran Astartes, has the kumadori. However, the Scout Sergeant model basically has the same head as the other Scouts, so he still looks like a “kid” Marine. I’ve removed the Sarge’s head and replaced it with a slightly trimmed down Marine head. I found one that actually looks like he has half his face replaced with metal, so I figure he’ll make a suitably grizzled old vet.

I’ll put pics of these up when I’m done in a couple days.