Thursday, August 30, 2012

Zombies!

I took a commission to paint a lot of zombies from the guy that bought the AoBR Greenskins.  I've finished the first lot of fifty.  Here are some shots of the progress thus far.
The first thirty zombies get a basecoat.
The final lot of 20 after drybrushing.
The first and second lot of this batch.  Basing still needs to be finished on 34 of the 50 zombies.
The first batch of 50 zombies, all together.  This is one of a few zombie hordes this patron has planned for his army, all using the Kings of War Undead figures from Mantic Games.  For anyone who hasn't gotten a first hand look at these yet... they're just great.  Clean tooling on the molds, crisp detail on the figs.  The assembly is just slightly more difficult than the AoBR starter; but only because the GW figs have pegs to hold them together.  The sprues come packed with gubbins to boot.

In other news, this gem was acquired gratis, courtesy of the neighbors putting it out on the curb...
As soon as one of my housemates saw it, I rounded up my brother and we were out the door, barefoot, to fetch this beast from across the street.  I dunno why on Terra the neighbors decided this had to go, but a big THANK YOU! from Productive Thinking Industries for you.  The desk is not one of those cheap particle board constructs from Walmart, either; this bugger is SOLID.
...and here it is after being populated.  Its going to be nice to have dedicated project space again.

In the pipeline are some KoW Skeletons, more progress on my Stormtroopers, and the beginnings of a Space Marine allied contingent, 'counts as' Adeptus Mechanicus.

Cheers,
-Xi

Monday, August 13, 2012

An Update on da Boyz

They're done AND sold, thus marking the first earnings of my little enterprise here.  The gent that picked up the Orks has commissioned me to paint up some Kings of War Undead by Mantic next, these blokes here.

I'll have pictures up as soon as possible.  I've had photos of the completed AoBR WAAAAGH!, I'll get them posted as soon as I get them from the photographer.

Til next time,
Xi

P.S.  I'm going to be getting in on Reaper's Bones Kickstarter for the Sophie's.  Everyone should check it out here.  The Vampire Level alone is an amazing value.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Nostagia pt. 2

So I got into the hobby because I had collected enough Space Marines to cobble together an army... and not a little one...

So I went in on my first starter, the 3rd ed box with the Dark Eldar and Space Marines.  Does anyone remember those terrible 'trees' that came with the starter?  There were a few battleforces that came with them, as well.  The others came with the gothic ruins sprue... much more useful.  Now that I think about it, I do believe those ruins came with the starter, too.  There was also included the battlefield accessories sprue, which included barrels, ammo crates, and tank traps.  I remember having so many barrels at one point...

I got a SM battle force, and then a mega force just to round out my section.  Keep in mind, this is when a battle force was $75, the mega force was $150, and totally worth it.  I got my army together and played with lots of troops at first, then a mix of vehicles and troops...  basically I had everything I needed for all the options the codex threw out at the time.  I got comfortable with the Marines.

So for about a year I played at the LGS, learning the rules and having a hell of a time creating all sorts of things with the VDR in Chapter Approved.  After that I dabbled in the soon to be defunct RTT scene here in Utah.  We had some absolutely fantastic Outriders before that program went away.  The first one I ever met gave me lots of advice on what units complimented what best, as well as tons of painting and modelling tips.  He pointed out White Dwarf to me, as well.

After a year of Space Marines, I was ready to branch out a bit, and I did...  Into everything.  I started Necromunda, and Battlefleet Gothic.  I picked up minis for Epic.  There wasn't anything I wasn't interested in learning.  The great thing about the LGS back then was that all the older gamers were willing to teach the games to us.  Hell, we even played in campaigns that had events over multiple Specialist Games.  After the SG range lost its *new and shiny* luster, I started a Chaos Space Marines force, and then an Imperial Guard force using Steel Legion figures.

After all that, there was only one GW hobby front left...