Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Happy Holidays

Here's hoping everyone has a happy and safe holiday this year. 

See you lot next year, with hobby content! (maybe)

Cheers,

CJ

Monday, December 15, 2014

Tis the Season!

Last year my coworker and I were playing Terraria a bit and he told me about Starbound. At that point it was very much in beta. A year later and it is still in beta, but the first major update in quite some time is coming. Here is the official trailer for the Winter Update.


We're that much closer to 1.0 :)

Cheers,

CJ

p.s. I'm bad at doing hobby stuff when the days are short. Sorry.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Heard of this BTC thing?



I found this on Reddit and it cracked me up. Even more funny is the fact that WU is using bogus DCMA notices to have the content removed from social media sites. Problem, WU? This type of image is legal since it's comparative advertising.

If you haven't bought some BTC hype yet, you ought to look into it. Good things are coming, people.

Cheers,

CJ

p.s. hobby content coming soon I promise.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Techmarine Command Squad 001


In March I painted up this guy for the painting contest over on /r/warhammer40k.

He counts as a Librarian with that big ass axe of his. I decided when I was organizing models and bits into potential units back when I updated my overall Drax-agram that he needed a command squad. Now that I have a (sort of) regular game to join in, I'm actually getting it put together.

A couple years ago and in anticipation of this project I bought a few sets of bionics from here and there. I ended up with four legs that I couldn't help but try in the above configuration. I seem to recall a Skitarii commander from one Black Library novel or another with four legs and a battle axe. With that in mind I set out to build my company champion.
Early configuration of legs
The torso on the hips made for too squat a profile, so I added a 'spine'
This arm proved impractical for the pose I wanted, and has been replaced
The Company Champion is well on his way now. He will be equipped with a power weapon and combat shield. As intended, he is a bit taller then the other lads.

Apothecary's power pack
The Apothecary will have the standard gear, of course, and I used another of the bits purchased a bit back to add a servo arm and a couple of mechandrites.

My Standard Bearer is an old white metal Techmarine. His bolt pistol has been swapped out for a storm botler and the banner is the mechanicus sigil with a couple bits from the Rhino kit added on. The sigil is from a CoD panel originally.


Here is the  assembled command squad. Most of them still need power packs and servo arms, but by the time I get to publishing this post I will probably have started on those. Hell, at the rate I post these might even be painted by then.

So here is were overall the army sits. I have the bits to move forward on the Devastators. Once their done I need to decide how I want to represent all those servitors.

Cheers,
CJ

Friday, October 17, 2014

Mind the Gap...

I've been slacking with the weekly updates and really on the doing things since I finished off 1st Platoon. The big push to knock it out wore me out as far as the guard were concerned. Then I got a game in three weeks ago and tried a list with a lot of Scions... that shit didn't work out so well. It was a 2v2 with Orks and Eldar versus  IG  AM and Tau. A lack of familiarity with the game coupled with generally dismal dice rolling and poor performance by the Taurox left me with little oomph related to the Suppressor variant project, even though I found an appropriate turret in a box of knock off building blocks.

So.

Last week I got a bits order in (traded some craters for em) and started thinking about my counts as Mechanicus army. In the aforementioned game, I wanted to play my Space Marines, but I wasn't as prepared as I might have been. Since those bits arrived, I'm working to remedy that. I'm building up a command squad and a unit of Devastators, and hope to have both done in time for the game next Friday night.

Still not dead,
CJ

Monday, September 22, 2014

Suppressor: Building a better Taurox 002

I'm back with more on how I'm building myself a better looking Taurox (in my opinion). For anyone who plans to do any sort of scratchbuilding I cannot stress enough the usefulness of having a good steel ruler on hand. I also keep a 12" adjustable square on hand. Together they are awesome.

Using my nice steel ruler and a mechanical pencil, I carefully marked out most of the parts I will need for this next step of construction. Before going too crazy with the cutting I made sure to mark any guide lines I might need later.
A steel ruler helps get all these guide lines right, too

After all the cutting I ended up with a couple piles of identical parts and a pile of offcuts. These can be used as braces for the project, or just added to my bucket of scraps. Either way they will find use later.

Watch me turn this pile of parts into a third hull
First I score the sides of the LEGO bricks with a stencil knife. This will help the superglue adhere to the surface better. The attach point between LEGO and sheet styrene will be the only place I use superglue on this model.
Once both sides are in place, I drill out holes for the LEGO axles to fit into
Examples of the braces I mentioned before
Here they are, three Suppressor pattern Taurox hulls ready for the next stage of assembly. The bits on the top of the forward and middle hulls are the forward view ports. I'll leave them separate from the hull until I am ready to start adding details.

Next step: finish the armour.

Cheers,

CJ

Friday, September 19, 2014

Suppressor: Building a better Taurox 001


Last week I showed off my mac & cheese taurox proxy prototype. This week I am excited to tell you that my order from Plankystone via Bricklink.com came in, and I was able to begin construction of my variant pattern as my continued commitment to the 6MMRPC..

Supply drop!
Here is roughly what I'm looking for from my Suppressor pattern Taurox. I did up a bunch of 1:1 drawings, then built the card version to see what it looks like, and I was happy then. Now that the wheels are here, I'm very happy.

Before I started cutting into the plasticard shown above, I built a jig out of the LEGO bricks I had on hand.

This piece of plasticard is the base I'll build on. Using the jig allows the placement of all bricks to be the same across all three builds.
I repeated this process for all three models. It was rather easy with the jig to help keep everything in line.

Three Suppressor pattern chassis ready for continued construction.

Cheers,

CJ

Sunday, September 14, 2014

eBay: amidoinitrite?

...I'd like to think so.

Hello everyone out there in internet land. I've recently had some great luck on eBay and I'd love to share with you all.

The above is the contents of the latest auction I picked up. Included were the following:

  • 1 sealed Space Marine Tactical Squad (2004 recut)
  • 2 Imperial Aquila 40k dice sets in tin
  • Crashed Imperial Aquila Lander terrain
  • Battlefield Accessories sprue still in bag
  • 4 white metal Space Marine Scouts with sniper rifles
  • 1 Battle for Maccrage Space Marine Tactical Squad
  • 1 Space Marine Devastator with heavy bolter
  • Codex: Tau (3rd ed)
  • Codex: Tyranids (4th ed)
  • Codex: Space Marines (4th ed)
  • Battle for Maccrage mini rulebook

Not bad, eh? Even better is the fact that for the aforementioned prizes I paid less for the winning bid than the shipping, and the total was still only 29$. The moral of the story is to watch eBay, ladies and gentlemen. I don't know if the fact that the codices are all outmoded or what, but the contents of the auction were clearly listed, and the photos that were included with the listing showed basically the same that mine does.

This wasn't a last minute snipe, either. I had forgotten about this one, and got an email letting me know that I had in fact won the lot. Want to know the real kicker? I came to this listing in the first place in search of the crashed lander terrain piece a few weeks ago when the terrain bender I've been on set in.

In other news, in the 6MMRPC I've taken steps to begin prototyping of the Suppressor pattern Taurox:

This is my proof of concept, and a practice run at getting all the measurements figured out in 3d. Everything is going well so far. Stay tuned for more progress on the mac n cheese tank ;)

Cheers,

CJ

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Paint Table Saturday no. 15

Welcome to the return of Paint Table Saturday. With the completion of 1st Platoon, I have since turned my attentions to 2nd Platoon.

Here they are ready for paint...

...and the first completed model of 3rd squad 2nd Platoon.

This new found progress leads me to the second part of today's post:

The 6 Month Mountain Reduction & Painting Challenge has kicked off, and I've decided to get in. Other bloggers such as Admiral DraxRictus, and Mordain 7th are in ahead of me, and where I took the inspiration from in the first place. The rules are as follows:

1. No purchasing of new miniatures, EXCEPT if you use a joker card.  Like in a deck of cards, you get two jokers to use on a figure purchase during the six months of the challenge.  Could be a blister pack, an ebay bundle, or a single figure...you can't splurge.

2.  Gifts do not count against you. Christmas and or birthdays etc. Also, if you're given gift cards by your hobby illiterate family or friends, you can without penalty use them on anything you want miniatures wise.  I luck out here, as I'll have Christmas and my birthday during this 6 Months.

3.  Paints, terrain (or materials), and other hobby supplies do not apply to the no purchasing rule.

4.  At least one hobby related blog post and/or Instagram update a week.  If you Instagram, be sure to hashtag your pic with #6MMRPC

5.  Zombtober will be part of the 6 month challenge so, Zombie related stuff during October is ENCOURAGED!

Good luck!

Cheers,

CJ

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Cadians: 1st Platoon Complete

This Labor Day weekend sees the 1st Platoon of my Imperial Guard army officially completed. The officer, standard, and melta trooper have are all painted and affixed to their new bases.

Obligatory Purity Seal shot
The Platoon Standard turned out better than I had hoped it might
1st Platoon in all its painted glory
That's all of them.


 Next to paint is a squad of Steel Legion Troopers for my 2nd Platoon. I've also been playing through the original Dawn of War again. I loved the models THQ used for terrain in the first installment of that game, and might replicate some of it for my own table.

Cheers,

CJ

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Quick 1st Platoon Update

I finally put some paint to my Aegis Defense Line, and with that done I finally turned my attentions to the last three models of 1st Platoon.

The guy with a pin in his neck is getting a shiny new Tempestus Scions head appropriate for his station as platoon commander.

The platoon standard is mostly done, after work tonight I hope to knock out the officer and the melta trooper. The they need bases, and first platoon will be done.