Monday 20 August 2007

Leman Russ Progress

Took a little bit longer then I'd hoped but the Leman Russ Turret is now complete and married up to the already finished commander, I've already started work on painting the hull, I'm gonna do it in four parts essentially, each side, the main body of the hull and the tracks. The main reason for this is so I can apply a light varnish to each section once complete so as to avoid rubbing paint off as I work on the others (and of course the tracks are largely done on the sprue).




The second picture did reveal some more work needed to be done on the barrel however, just tidying really but worth doing I think!

Thursday 16 August 2007

The Cavalry's Coming (Part 1)

Right, with more work done (and the fact I'm taking a lunch break from a day working on them!), here's a little more on how my Roughriders are going.

As I've discussed my intention has been pretty much from the start to sculpt and then cast my own Roughriders, the reason for this was mainly two fold, firstly I wanted consistantcy through all my Roughriders, and secondly I wanted lots of them with an eye on about 60 models total of different types. These include Lancers (Hunting Lances), Hussars (Chainswords & Laspistols) and Dragoons (Lascarbines/Shotguns/Special Weapons), I've also since decided to give the Hussars Meltabombs.

Initially I intended to use the normal Medieval Plastic Horses that GW have been producing for years but ended up changing my mind with the release of the new WFB Empire Pistoller/Outrider box set, good value and lots of spare bits some of which have gone into use elsewhere already.

After a false start due to the differing size of the two possible horses from the box set I sculpted the legs first, as a short cut this was based around the Praetorian Gunner legs, the boots were taken from here as a time saving measure, while the gunners seated bum forms the core of the lower torso of the rider with extensive modification, the legs were sculpted over a paperclip frame (the soft metal is ideal and plentiful).



The torso started life as one made for the Phoenix Club Praetorian Conversion set I've been working on (currently on hold), it turned out ideal for the Roughriders however and so this is where it'll get it's first use, I may or may sculpt another for the Phoexnix Club project later on.



I've since and currently am working on the arms, I'm doing three separate arms at the moment, one left arm to hold the reins which is what I'm working on at the moment. A right arm at a almost 90 degree angle is already finished (pictured below), this is intended firstly to hold the lance, but as I'm not sculpting hands on can likewise be used for a Chainsword or even Pistol, the second right arm meanwhile is extended outwards a little more intended purely for Pistols or Chainswords, this one I've done the base work for (paperclip cores again are used) and is next on the list.



The Lances (pictured above) will be narrow metal rod cut into 5cm lengths, the ends will be a blob of green stuff in a pommel type device while I've knocked out a lance tip with green stuff and plastic card, this will be cast and then drilled to fit on the rod. The idea for this came from reading about the FW Death Riders from their Death Korps line.

Last up are the heads, the faces are taken from Hasselfree while the Helmets are Praetorian ones removed from their original owners(!), another time saving measure and one which should give better consistency through the Squadrons. Why use Hasselfree heads then? Well for different expressions rather then being limited to the three Praetorian expressions that exist, it also cuts back on what I'm casting.

Wednesday 15 August 2007

Tank Commander & Veterans Night 14/8

Played a game with my current GT list last night against my friends Tau consisting of a Crisis Commander, 3 Crisis suits, 1 Deep Striking Tank hunting Crisis suit, a squad of Stealth suits, 3 squads of Firewarriors, 2 squads of Kroot, a Piranah, two Hammerheads, one with Railgun the other with Ion Cannon and a Broadside.

The mission was loot counter based with five placed, four on my right, one on my left, my deployment saw a firebase in a ruin on my right, supported by the Russ which was dangerously countered by a Hammerhead and Broadside, the bulk of my infantry meanwhile was in the center, with the bulk of the Tau force to my left with blocked LoS by a large building.

I got first turn which almost certainly saved my Russ, driving it at full speed out of LoS while my infantry surged up the board taking within the first couple of turns 3 of the loot counters, the left collapsed under pressure from Stealth suits, Kroot, Crisis suits and Firewarriors with no chance of me recovering it, but that was'nt really an issue with the four realtively tightly clustered loot counters on the right I had no intention of going for the left hand one with more then a token force. Turn three saw some lucky shooting with both Hammerheads downed which basicly wrapped it up thanks to my Mortars dealing effectively with two squads of Firewarriors and reducing the Crisis suits below half strength when a couple of squads failed too. With so much commited to the left he was unable to bring sufficient firepower or scoring units to deny me the counters I took early on with the Russ and Pirahna contesting the forth. The result was approximately 900VPs to 2000VPs.

Progress on the army meanwhile, well alot more done to the Roughrider masters, with a little luck I hope to have the finished masters ready sometime next week, I've begun painting the Russ - the Commander is however finished.


Monday 13 August 2007

More Progress/Getting Worried

Well made more progress, not alot, but a little! The Roughriders horses are done, the Leman Russ is for the most part undercoated, and I'm making more progress on Roughrider masters, arms are slowly taking shape (yes arms in the plural, I'm making more then enough variants on the assumption I wont be happy with some of them) - however with weeks ticking by I am getting a little jittery if I'll get it done or not - time will tell! On the bright side despite not being ready for it the casting kit I ordered has arrived, I was'nt expecting it for another couple of weeks (shipped in from the US as it was considerably cheaper to order a starter kit this way - okay maybe not, but as a set it was, and this being my first delve into casting I did'nt want to take any chances). I've also just started playing around with a little extra, a Priest with Eviscreator, a nice fun conversion really, nothing more. Onto the pictures!

More Roughrider Mounts



Leman Russ Tank Commander WIP





Leman Russ WIP




Thankyou Micro-mark!



Priest WIP