Making small Jungle plants

After I watched this video from Eric's hobby workshop I tried to copy what he did and although I'm happy with my results he is an absolute legend. 

The bigger palm trees using a foam plastic plate I copied Eric's recipe cutting out the flat circle in the middle and then drawing leaf shapes from the centre with a biro to make indents in the plastic and then cut them out. 

The leaves were then stuck to garden wire branches I'd pre twisted together using UHU glue rather than hot glue as I was doing this a bit at a time in my breaks. 

 I then painted it using moot green without a primer as I had not way to protect the plastic from the spray. Then they got a layer of warp lightning. 

 Calling it done there. Going to do a few of these for my forest/jungle tiles to make more dense terrain. 

The small plants were made out of paper the same way he had by spray painting a piece of art paper. 

 Again need to do more of these as they add loads to the variety in my tiles. 

Control panel sprues

I saw a video on using old sprue to create terrain. One of the ideas I have had was for my iron labyrinth to have rooms in with more purpose to act as objectives.

My first go was just a flat panel. It looked okay from two feet away. 

The room of control panels had a similar feel. It was a nice scratch build just fumbling my way through and adding bits as I went. 

I posted this on Reddit and some users gave me some great ideas to make smaller buttons that will hopefully make them look better once painted. 

Building a promoted magnatised Lieutenant

To make my next Lieutenant I made the decision to use one of my Hellblasters. I still wanted it as a hellblaster and for it to be both a Autoboltgun Lieutenant and a sword with plasma pistol Officer too.

 Magnets are our friends here.

 I got a bunch of 2mm Magnets to do my Grey Knights along with a pin drill. I wound up using a lot of them up on this mini. Two went either side of the chest in the armpits. These are the main two that hold the different arms. I then got busy choosing arms.

The Intercessor kit has a left arm holding a autoboltrifle. The right arm gave me trouble as there was only a couple of choices. A pointing finger and a bolt pistol. 

I wanted him to have his officer helmet on his belt but that would stop him being a sergeant. The answer? More Magnets! I had wanted to put the magnet in the belt but it was too big and would kill too much detail. To hang his hat therefore I cut a steel pin down and super glued that to his belt. I cut the neck off two spare helmets and glued Magnets inside them. They then sit on the pin. 

For the sergeant I wanted the plasma pistol which would also work for the sword Lieutenant. 

 This gave me a problem though as it was the opposite arm so the head wouldn't be looking in the right direction. I tried mocking it up with the head facing straight ahead so he wasn't aiming or the arms held down like he wasn't firing them but it looked wrong. 

 The answer? Magnets! I want the cybernetic head from the hell blasters kit so a magnet in the head wasn't going to work so another cut down pin was drilled into the base so the flattened end stuck to the bottom providing a good magnetic spot. 

I then put a magnet in the neck of the body and the head snapped to that and can be adjusted to face either direction. I have my own aposable space marine. Even the magnet helmets snap to the neck so he can change that too. 

officer

Looking in my bits box I was short a standard power sword but had loads of Grey Knight Great swords. I trimmed the hand of the pointing arm and the grey knight hand went in just fine. There was a double hand grip on the one I had to use because I needed a right hand so I cut the bottom off the pommel. 

There finished. Well almost I might try and put a set of arms together and another helmet for a standard marine with blaster. 

Promotions to Lieutenant

After my last post on Space marine HQs (Here) I got to thinking about the models I had left to paint and assemble and whether it was worth promoting a couple of members to be Primaris Lieutenants.

  I've had 5 Reivers sitting on my to paint shelf for over a year now. When I made the original box set I split it in half (sounds familiar) to make two squad with both the weapon options available mostly so I could pick and choose in kill team. I don't really embrace the whole pistols and knivies thing. I'd rather double tap with the assault carbines and then charge then use pistols at 12" only. Also the carbine Reivers have heavy bolt pistols so  if your facing an armoured enemy and want a -1 AP shot instead with their holstered bolt pistols there's no reason they can't just shoot with that instead. Only the extra attack in close combat with the knife is the only reason not to take carbines but when you think about it if my 5 Reivers shot them before they charged they had 10x S4 0AP attacks then 16 S4 0AP close combat attacks. If the 5 pistols/knife boys attack they get 5x S4 -1AP and then 21 S4 0AP close combat attacks. 26 either way. Yeah there's the -1 to consider but there's also the fact the 5 carbines would have been laying down 10 S4 shots in the turns they hadn't anything to charge. It swings around and around. And if you look at things like Infiltrator/incursors they can also pump out shots and get extra atttacks out of their paired combat knives (so Reivers can't stow their carbines to pull a single knife but Incursors can stow their rifle and pull twin blades?). 

Stupid rules aside the Reivers suffer when compared to line troops and so they are "drop in the backfield and pick on something weak and cause havoc". Which Marines don't have the spare points for. Its left me with little enthusiam for painting them.

 Nicely though the Serganent has the same hair cut as the Reiver Lieutenant and that weak connection alone is worth saying that he can be promoted and give my assualt elements a 5 wound 5 attack re roll wounds support character.

 To make him look the part I checked out the official model on the website. Other than the bionic eye the official model has a lucky charm dagger hanging on his belt with the top half of his helmet, a lack of ammunition pounches compared to his brothers (somebody is probably carrying them for the Rupert) and a right hand pauldron on his armour. There is a smoke grenade at his feet which apparently he had to swap his Grav Chute for. Yep that Reiver Lieutenant can't grav chute in with the rest of his Reivers (WHY!!! And that smoke grenade is pants, once per battle if something is shooting your character it get a -1, I guess its got situational uses and against snipers but Meh I'd rather have the Grav Chute). I went to the bits box and looked for a Right pauldron and funny enough I had a few. I had to rip off the Grav Chutes and his Grapnel holtster because he can't have one of them either (lets face it he's going in with the assualt intercessors at this point). I could make the smoke grenade using green stuff and some bits but.... Meh. The Helmet should be fairly easy with a spare Reiver helmet and a drill I can take the face off and glue it on the belt somewhere. The lucky charm? Looking at my spare knives even the guard don't carry fruit knives into battle so he's going to have to have a nice little relic like every one else and some extra purity seals for good measure. Other than that he's going to be fairly "stock". You may be thinking why not just make a Lieutenant in Phobos armour and get the chute and the twin knives and the bolt carbine like you want? Firstly because I plan to buy the vanguard marine set with that Lieutanent in it so there's no point having a second and secondly I don't have the bits to make a convincing infiltrator boss without buying a infiltrator kit at which point I may as well buy the Vanguard set. Please see point one.

 It strikes me that this is getting ranty and thats because I don't like characters not having access to most of the armoury and without having their own special niche guns that would preclude them from that armoury. Chaplain's absolver pistol for example. It seems like someone is saying "No you're a Reiver Lieutenant if you can't shoot them with a pistol you're in the wrong place. No you can't have a decent close combat weapon you're a Primaris and Cawl only made you fancy guns and let the short arse first born keep the shiny swords... unless you're a captain like me.... but I'll tell you what, in this universe where every spare inch of wall and equipment is covered in skulls and bones, take this Skull helmet that looks less like a skull than the chaplain's trust me it'll scare the daylights out of the enemy. 

 Real reason? 

 The official model doesn't have them so you can't have options. How much did that official model cost you. Over half the price of a full squad of Reivers. They could have easily put in arm and weapon options to justify the cost even a diffent head or equipment so you could make either, Nope. Nothing. Probably so you'll pay twice as much for a second. 

The model makes the rules not the rules make the model and its backwards. Its a design philosophy that causes all sorts of problems and balance issues and makes it hard for me to justify buying any characters especially ones that look exactly the same as those 10 standard guys. I. E. Lieutenants. 

 There thats better. I feel I've got something off the chest there.

On to my next one. This shouldn't be so bad. I haven't put together my other squad of hellblasters. I still can't decide what to do with them although I have heard they are getting assault 3 on the 24" gun. Yes, 10 bad boys taking 30 S6 -4AP shots at anywhere up to 24". Hmmm nice. Same place I heard that also said they were too pricey compared to eradicators. Well we know what will get nerfed in points then.

 So my plan is to magnatise, at the shoulder, a sergeant. That way I can still have a full squad of blasters if I don't take the Intercessor Lieutenant. It's a trade off but an easy one to make. Fluffwise we can just say he's a Warren officer. Option wise he can take either a mastercrafted autobolt rifle or a power sword and plasma pistol. I should have a power sword knocking about (don't ask me where) and I like the plasma pistol in the set. But as I'm magnitising I may as well have both. Much better than the Phobos Lieutenant. 

 Don't know when I'll do this but probably soon as its got my creative juices flowing and it makes sense to have junior officers leading my small force encounters. 

Father Feirros, the Chaplain and the Librarian walk into a bar...

After assembling my gifts from the command box I was getting excited about marines again. The new sculpts in the box are great and I'm looking forward to making them up.

 One of the things I am aware if with my force is its lack of depth. Admittedly it's been sucking hind tit to the Drukhari but I only have a couple of HQ choices and they are either a captain or a first born techmarine.

 Fortunately I had been given vouchers to element games so I needed to choose.

 First up was the Librarian. I have never been a big fan of "magic" since it was expanded with 2nd edition in "dark imperium". Fortunately 8th Ed really fixed the psyhic phase and 9th hasn't changed that.

 I had two choices for the libby. A primaris Liberian or one in terminator armour. I'm a big fan of terminator models and suspect GW may retire them in the next 10 to 20 years so I'd better get one now as I may not get another chance. 

 My ichy fingers though were going over Iron father Ferrios. I thought his sculpt was really cool when it came out and as an iron hands successor chapter the Death Tempters should be all about the Forge. I already had a tech marine so I should not have got him but I couldn't resist. I should have got a lieutenant (or a box of Intercessors and do some converting)

 Also just before presents were received I was going to get a recruit edition starter set to get the extra models. When I walked in the store I saw it was larger than the first strike box I was expecting and there was no way I'd get away with buying "a large box" just before my cake day. So I grabbed a Primaris Chaplain. I like the look of this model but I don't like the current trend in GW of making everything single pose. Not a deal breaker but just like my stuff to be a bit more unique. Something that looking at it my Death Tempters definitely are not when compared with my Drukhari. 

All images are screenshots from Games workshop  (TM) website its their stuff not mine and I am just using it to show you what cool stuff they sell. 

Another year goes by

Another year has passed and I have hauled in some more plastic to feed my addiction.

As you can see it's a mixed bag for the different armies I'm collecting. 

 The biggest box there is the Command Edition starter set. Yes I actually have a physical copy of 9th Ed rules. With Space Marines and Necrons inside it's a double reinforcement without having to start a new army. Yay. 

I have even managed to put them together fairly quickly (thanks to the not requiring glue.... Well to start with). 

That's a lot of grey plastic already. 

 The Hellblasters are next on the list. I have been looking at the weapon types and wondering what to do. With three to choose from I'm torn. They can have 36" S8 heavy 1 or 30" S7 rapid 1 or 24" S6 Assault 2. I think for my boarding action specialists they would have some assault plasma to burn down corridors as they advance. Game wise they makes them a little under powered and short ranged but consistent at 2 shots. Meaning they can stay at 20" or so and flame on. S6 is good against T3 and T5. 

 So I'm going to run 2 squads for now and the second squad I don't know what to do with. I was leaning towards the Rapid S7 as it still allows mobility and with overcharge gets it to that S8 sweet spot. But they have to be overcharged to be better than the assault version and have to be 9" closer to the enemy to get 2 shots. 

The Heavy S8 sticks in my mind as a fixed gun platform. With only one shot each they are looking at vehicles and elites but with D1 unless overcharged they'll struggle to do more than strip some wounds and even primaris aren't tough enough to stand up to concentrated return fire that'll let them keep chipping away. So not them. I do like the little backpack things though. 

 The Genestealers get their brood lord which annoyingly means I made those kitbashed HQs for nothing. Well I can find a use for them I'm sure. 

 The venom and the star weaver are for a kitbashed Archon ride. Plan is to make the star weaver as Drukhari looking as possible and the coat wearing Harlequin has Archon potential. The other players I may paint up as Quins to stretch my painting skills or just add to the bits box. 

 That'll actually make my Drukhari force more viable with 4 dedicated transports available. 

 The white box is a Drukhari void raven bomber. This will be my main antitank monster in larger games along with the jet fighter. 

 If that wasn't enough I got some terrain in the form of a iron labyrinth Beta set and a £15 voucher for Element games. I am looking to get more space marine characters as my force is troop heavy (and very vehicle light for a Iron hands force) but can only get one. 

 The Drukhari are looking a lot stronger once this and my other purchases are finnaly finished. The Space Marines are getting a big shot in the arm too and the Necrons get their first new models in 16 years. 

 With this much new plastic I should be set until Christmas but my stupid brain is already lining up the next purchases. I MUST BE STRONG. 

Dangerous plants

One of the many toys we have laying around the house had an accident recently. This little rubber ball got sat in the sunlight with another heavy pointed toy sat on top of it and the rubber plastic ally deformed.

The moment I picked it up it struck me as a mouth of some evil plant. Such mind seeds soon bloom into terrain inspiration.  So I snagged the ball for myself and into the garage it went.

I gave it a quick base of poly filler and sprayed red primer and then a top coat of green. It then got a quick dash of bright green paint to bring out the thorns. The other plant bits are from a pound land fake plant ball. I hope to add in my little jungle plants I've been making to give it a bit more variety.

 I was also thinking of adding some tendrils but not sure how to do it without ruining the "mouth" with obvious add-ons.

 Game wise this obviously would have been dangerous terrain to any models that try to move through it in a previous edition but I can't find rules for it in 9th. Weirdly it can't be classed as "dense" because its not 3" high. Which seems silly to me. I may have to add a taller tropical plant at the back to bring that in. 

 All it can be at the moment is difficult ground (-2" movement) and Unstable position (can't finish a move on top of it... Cos it'll eat you). Other than that it does nothing. A bit pants really. House rules needed.