EPIC28

Playing EPIC in 28mm.

Tuesday 30 June 2015

Trawling the boxes.

Ok, this is the first trawl of the bitz box.  First up is this arco-eviscerator.


The new bit here is the cable and socket from Zinge Industries.  There's another mantic ghoul based one to make and then nine GW ghoul based ones.  Having bought the Zinge cables, there are no more bitz to buy, so this invaluable addition to some =I= warband and his ten fellow arco-eviscerators are a 'win'.


Next:


This guy is a random Crusader, the only bitz here are the Empire greatsword arms and Ad Mech head. I'm liking the attitude.


Then a Spaze Muhreen:


Random SpaceWolf.  He was the standard bearer whose standard is now the Saranian army banner. He needs a bit of TLC; twiddly bits on the axe shaft and some pack badge on his near white shoulder pad.  Which SW transfer goes on a white shoulder pad, I wonder.


And now the Iggies.  First the NCOs:


Two bolter armed sergeants.  Note bolter ammo pouches worn on the back.  These guys are the leaders for the next bunch;


Squad Rapier:



One squad of three MLs.  Some of the spotters/loaders have extra ammo pouches for the squad leaders' bolters.  Most of the figures are wearing extra pouches from Pig Iron.  No extra bits bought for these.



And the next squad, Squad Dvina:



As before, all of these Iggies are wearing the visor and microphone head from the vehicle accessory sprue.  The build details are as before.  These missile squads will be local air defence for the foot sloggers, hence the mix of binos and auspex.



Dvina and Rapier are both AA missile systems, hence the names for the squads.

There's lots of stuff in there, it's going to be a long time before the boxes are empty-ish.  There's more Iggy bits, Edlar bits, vehicle bits.  All the left over stuff and flotsam and jetsum of my existing armies. It's going to be long but interesting trawl....

........For instance; I have a collection of DKK small arms left from all of the DKK project-y stuff.  So two boxes of early war Warlord Games Heer and sufficient VL Tannenberg heads gets me a platoon of Paladian Guard  See how easy it is to use up the bitz from the box and get another unit ?

In other news, packing away the armoured assets today, I fitted the turret rings to all of the DKK tanks.  By way of explanation: FW Mars Alpha Leman Russ hulls have a big hole like the old Leman Russ kit.  FW Leman Russ turrets have a re-modelled peg to fit the new Leman Russ kit.  So when you buy a FW tank kit, you get a sort of doughnut piece.  The wizards at FW have made it to retain the FW turret in the old Leman Russ hull, which means its actually a gnat's bollock too large for the opening in the FW hull. So they need shaving down, a decent chamfer at the bottom and then a gradual shave up the sides.  So fitting thirteen of these two years after they were painted is another tick in the 'completing the project' box.

The Raging Heroes (so badly named - hero is the male, they should be Raging Heroines) TGG girls have all gone to their various new homes for assembly and painting. I'm hoping to hear some news about the first bunch of Blood Pact soon.

And trawling through the boxes has elicited more bits for the Blood Pact.  So those are now set aside for that purpose.  My existing Cadians are going to be re-painted to match the camo-cadians - greater homogeneity for the overall army.

What with the Valkyries now actually 'flying' on their flying stands, it does sort of feel like the army is starting to feel a bit more complete.  Sure, there's bucket loads still to do, but each extra miniature cobbled together from what's left in the boxes is one step closer to eventually binning one of those big boxes and having some more space for boxes of completed minis.


Friday 26 June 2015

More Picts of Iggies

Summer is here and it's been hot and sunny all week (mid June), so I was looking forward to getting all three tables out and seeing just how much IG there is lurking in the corners of the garage.


But it's Saturday, so it's raining (sad face).  But it's not the end of the world (any world), as I can still fit two tables up in the garage and see how far I get.  I'm starting out with the DKK, cos they don't get out much.


As it is, they do fill me with a sense of joy and fulfilment as I get them out and line them all up.


The odd coloured tank is the commissar's ride.  A small bit of 19 Armoured Regt massing there.


Behind a small bit of 262 Line Regt.


They stretch off into the distance...


King Russ (still without tracks).  The banner behind belongs to the Valhallans.  He's the only Valhallan on the table. The ASL Sentinels are behind him.  Sentinels are bonkers, IMHO, but if you play guard, you gotta have 'em.


Phyladi Alpha and Phyladi Beta, flanked by Chas and Dave, whose job it is to prevent pesky undesirables from reaching the Warhounds.  This pict shows the 'hedgehog' hydrae and the Ad Mech AA Whirlwind as well the DKK & Dneipr Engr Assets.


902 Div HQ with Gen Commandant Welbahn standing on a mule for a better view.  Note the Mordian 7th Iron Guard mechanised platoon in front and the Death Riders to the bottom of the pict.


This shows the bulk of the ASL in front of 36 Tactical Lift Wing with Elysians squadded up ready to embark.


2nd Corbanian Regt behind the Cadian Recce assets.  Inquisitor Dredd is there with three of his most suitable henchmen and a Rhino from the Ordos motor pool.


Another view of the Corbanians.  Elysians and ASL also in this pict. I need to put the numbers on the Valks.


And a slightly longer shot.  I'm disappointed that:


  1. It wasn't sunny and so these picts are all a little dark
  2. The picts were shot in doors so there's no angle wide enough to get a decent view of the whole lot
  3. There's only two tables out so there are lots of iggies not on the table; Valhallans, Moss Troopers, Necromundans, penal squad, Liaison teams, etc


So my aim of getting them all out didn't happen.  We'll see what the weather's doing tomorrow.

Update: So I put all of the infantry away again (sigh).  But did get done:


  1. Based the three armoured sentinels
  2. Assembled (Based) twelve flight stands
  3. Made a random crusader and an arco-eviscerator for a future =I= warband.
  4. Trawled the boxes and have half done seven IG ML teams. 
  5. Found the tracks for the King Russ/Panthers. 

Tuesday 23 June 2015

Belligera Rex


Paint and Pictures by Karitas.  This was entirely done out as a Legio Gyrphonia asset before being turned to the red side.  A labour of love by it's creator - cheers dude !  Anyway, it occurred to me that it hadn't actually been shown off at all, so here it is in all it's skully glory:


The red is actually slightly darker IRL, I think it's the lights cutting through the paint to the yellows and greys underneath.  Perhaps. Anyway, I'll leave you with the tale of woe that led to the creation of this fearsome beastie:


As a part of the Imperial response to WHAABurket, eight hundred years ago, the Titan Legion Legio Gyphonicus, sent a small maniple as part of the larger Mechanicus contribution to the war effort.  The one Reaver and pair of Warhounds were pivotal in keeping the Orks within the San Cantor hive area.
For reasons not remembered, the Fabricator General of the Adeptus Mechanicus ended the campaign in command of all imperial forces.  A substantial Mechanicus garrison was intended to secure the Devos System as it was a major trade port (and indeed, food producer,) for Agripinna and hence the Fleet Obscura.  The Legio Gyphonicus would return to collect their damaged Warhound as soon as they finished their next urgent assignment.

The Garrison was left with one damaged Warhound, the Canis Fidelis, to guard whilst the main Skitarri force was redeployed to face another threat somewhere else.   The Ork menace from the San Cantor rubble field resurged, along with a requirement for reinforcements for the Skitarri armies elsewhere in the sector.  With over half of their military capacity and entire supporting arm stripped, the remaining Adeptus Mechanicus contingent, now supported entirely by (and effectively becoming an elite arm of,) the PDF, set about their task.

In the event, only by calling upon the damaged Canis Fidelis were the Orks contained.  The Fabricator Captain of the remaining mission, Magos Ptolomy Inx was slain by storm boyz at the climax of the battle; the Canis Fidelis was rendered immovable as it assaulted the crater formed by the Rok, where the heart of the San Cantor Hive had been.

The Legio Gyphonicus sent an Ark to collect the Canis Fideliseighty three years later, but the location codes had been wiped as a security measure by the PDF.  The crater, irradiated remains of the Rok and the rubble of the Hive all combined to hide the Canis Fidelis from its potential rescuers. 
The Machine Spirit of the Canis Fidelis was not happy.  It had seen its fellows from the original Devos task force maniple repaired and then taken on to their next mission.  It knew that the Fabricator General had left.  It experienced pain as it walked back to the Rok for the last time to face the greenskins again.  It felt its Princips and Moderati die and watched as the stormboyz slew Ptolomy Inx.  It felt abandoned.

Canis Fidelis became, in its immobile state, an object of veneration, indeed, a god, to the scavvie population of the San Cantor ruins.   A population of mutants and scavangers formed from the remains of the Hive population and remnants of the Adepts and Servitors whose last command from Ptolomy Inx was to serve the Warhound, keep its location hidden from enemies and serve its needs.  Through these minions, Canis Fidelis knew that the Legio Gyphonicus had returned to rescue it and had given up when their first search had failed to locate it.


At some point the abandonment turned to anger.  Canis Fidelis had passed.  Encouraged by its worshippers, Belligera Rex emerged.   Driven to constant war by the remnants of the Orks, Khorne soon found converts in the ruins of San Cantor.  As the wrath built within the Machine Spirit of Belligera Rex, so did its need to become operational once more.  It’s minions were set collecting code.  It would walk again. 


Friday 19 June 2015

Lord Zhufor

Leader of the Skulltakers, a World Eaters sub faction.  With a hell beast lurking in the background. Zhufor the Umpaler even has angry face on his hat.


The Aspiring Champion, Riffla Victor, is a rising star in the forces of the arch enemy and may well be seen leading the 'zerkers, despite being a Word Bearer.  Whereas Zhufor still has his bodyguard of Zerkinaotors, just as he did on Vraks.


Zhufor may well just be a blood crazed homicidal psychopath, but some how he recognises the DKK from somewhere in his past.  Obviously this makes him angry (angrier ?).  Go figure, as the word bearers would say.

Anyway, he's basically after Belligera Rex, a Lucius Pattern Warhound which was 'lost' by the War Griffons and has spent the last 800 years being slowly corrupted, was basically being worshipped as a God of War and Destruction.  These things can get right into one's machine spirit after a while.

Paint by Mr Lee

Tuesday 16 June 2015

More Iggies.

You may remember this man from here.

But this is Moss Trooper Doak coloured in.  A platoon of six rifle quads and a command team were coloured by Mr Lee. Yep; he did all of that tartan, as well as the DKK QM at the bottom of the post.

 026583-AAA Moss Trooper Doak
2 Bn Hulin Rifles

Moss Trooper Doak wears the traditional kilt and Tam’o’shanter of the Drookian disporia scattered throughout the Imperium.  He wears a locally manufactured Flak vest with a body rig carrying his ammunition and personal equipment.  He is armed with the locally manufactured (Hydraphur) G44 assault rifle, a small calibre auto gun with a high rate of fire.  The G44 can be equipped with a standard IG Kantrel pattern bayonet, probably scoured from 72 Army Groups stocks.  Additionally he carries a canteen and additional knife as a part of his belt kit.

Moss Trooper Doak is typical of the units raised on Devos IV by the Departmento to service 4* General Zhukov’s third Korps (38 Korps).

Click the pics for a better view; these are Vicky Lamb kilts and swedes with Pig Iron bodies.  The  extra canteen and knife are there to visually tie the torso to the legs as without these, the mini looked distinctly like two random bits, one sat on top of the other.  With these items bridging the gap, Moss Trooper Doak looks a lot more like a single entity, rather than a victim of some vaudeville magician.


The most popular way to escape Drook is as a member of the Imperial Guard during one of the foundings made by the Departmento as a part of the planetary tithe.  Drook has as a complex ecosystem and the planetary governor knows this and sponsors groups who profess a wish to emigrate away from Drook during periods between tithes.  Many of these groups volunteer themselves to join Departmento labour or construction organisations; further reducing their costs in exchange for a period of indentured service.


Post imperial service, bands of Drookian diaspora can travel quite widely, offering their skills, expertise and manpower, often for several generations, before settling.  Depending on the amount and attitude of the new blood joining the group from the populations through which they move, by the time they do settle, they may or may not be recognisably culturally Drookian.


On Devos IV, Drookian civil engineers (ie everyone from detailed designers to muck shifters, approximately eight thousand working individuals and their families) were brought to the planet sixty years ago to enhance the fortifications for the system defence silos on Devos XII and the quality of the installations for the PDF, especially hardened aircraft shelters and covert runways for the aviation battalions organic to the PDF.

In the interim years, they stayed[1] and have vastly improved the infrastructure on both continents, in terms of power transmission and distribution, roads, civic buildings, the spaceport and so on.  They had also become heavily involved with the mining industry, such as it is in the Devos System either operating mines themselves or in providing and servicing the requisite machinery.

Most recently they had enjoyed a late flourish of military architecture as General Horpan’s reforms saw hidden bunkers and secret ‘stay-behind’ military supply caches being built.  With the souring of relations with the wider Imperium, these contracts dried up and the vast majority of these people, itinerant navvies and machine operators, have found themselves stranded on Devos IV.  

The Departmento Munitorium, in response to 4* General Zukhov’s demands for a larger army has sent Comptroller Bellormus to Devos IV with a mandate from Spinward Command to raise four new regiments for the Imperial Guard.  These are to be the core of 72 Army Group’s 38 Korps.

Approximately 90% of the Devos IV PDF now calls itself the People’s Libertine Army and is in open rebellion against the Imperium of Man.  Those small fractions that are left professing loyalty are considered suspect by the Ordo Hereticus and thus cannot be used as a cadre to form new units around.  Comptroller Bellormus’ first stop is to the poor mining communities of Hulin (NW continental Acer) where he has successfully raised his first regiment.  As the majority of the recruits are culturally Drookian, the Departmento has been able to draw on the Drookian military heritage and the Hulin Rifles look like a Fen Guard regiment. 

Further enhancing the lure of the Imperial Guard for the population of Devos IV, the Marquis of Hakysake’s son is now a subaltern in the Hulin Rifles. 

Comptroller Bellormus now has a delicate balance to maintain; the whole point of the Devos IV campaign is to preserve food production for the Cadian Gate (where 99% of exports go).  With two large continents, one is about to be ravaged by war; he does not really wish to jeopardise food production from the other by stripping all of the available manpower to fight a war which will halve food production for (potentially) decades.   The rest of the units raised from Acre are not likely to have such a strong identity.

The intention at the outset is that 38 Korps will be five Divisions, each of three regiments.  Comptroller Bellormus estimates a wartime establishment of 120.000 for 38 Korps, roughly in line with 17Korps and 18 Korps.   The various Departmento Labour and Construction Corps brought to Devos IV and deployed in support of the military operation will reach 650,000 by the end of the year.   
He will be lucky to raise one Division from Devos IV (in reality, from continental Acer).  His as yet unpublished plan is to start impressing bodies of the Labour and Construction Corps once the serious fighting starts.  His hope would then be that the war is won before any of these actually reach the front line; then they can be re-mobilised in their intended roles to help re-build after the war.
The Hulin Rifles, however, are under no illusions.  Theirs will be a combat role – many of them have first hand experience of the fortifications now being used by the PLA.  They have a cadre of professional soldiers drawn from across 72AG to train and lead them.  Morale is high, readiness is improving as more resources as being made available for their preparation.   Training grounds used by the DKK a year ago now reel to the sound of the bagpipes. 

These people are naturally tough, independently minded and loyal.  Well led, well trained and well equipped, they are going to be the shining star of Comptroller Bellormus’ recruitment programme.  He can only hope that what follows lives up to high standard that these recruits will be setting.

Additionally, the QMG for 262 Regt has arrived at Fort Nuttar.  He is trying to persuade firstly his own Divisional HQ and then 17 Korps HQ to Lobby 72AG to release the AT ATs back down the chain of command to enable his (siege) regiment to keep pace with the rest of the Division.


The Vostroyan's have managed to ship a number of these unusual vehicle to Devos IV despite their not being on Comptrollor Bellormus' manifest.  There are no undeployed Vostroyan Infantry units to use these giant metal beasts, hence QMG Starke's "speculative request".

The wheels of the Army Group staff move very slowly, so we will have to wait to see if he succeeds. 



[1] ie could not afford to a hire a transport large enough to lift their population to another world that wanted them; Their normal MO would be for small groups or individuals to travel off world looking for opportunities and then send for the rest of their kin when a viable opportunity presented itself. 

Friday 12 June 2015

Imperial Guard Recce Options



"(So) the purpose of a sentinel is to carry what an infantry team cannot into places where conventional vehicles cannot go.  That's it.  In any other situation, the resources involved in keeping a walking machine working make them not worth it."

Not a discussion about lists and PV.  But as it's me, you knew that.

The Imperial Guard traditionally has a number of options for recce troops.  So we'll have a look and see if we can figure out why the elephant in the room (the walker in the motor pool) even exists.

Foot soldiers.  Specialised infantry assets have always been used in recce.  Eric Bana in Backhawk Down, Space Marine Scouts on the table top, even down to the 'point man' at the front of his platoon. Recently in the British Army this has been either a bloke with a metal detector/explosive sniffer or a bomb finding dog handler and his furry asset.  I Vietnam War films, at least, it's a guy on full auto with the safety off.  For more fortykay-ness, try reading anything about the Tanith First and Only.  They're a recce unit.



Foot recce are good up mountains, in swamps and jungles, in buildings, over rubble, down tunnels, on trains and just about anywhere else you can think of.  From a campaigning point of view, they can be strategically slow, as they tend to walk everywhere.  But they use the same small arms ammunition as everybody else, so logistics arn't a vast problem.



Salamander.  The armoured formation option.  Open topped, loaded with STAR kit, overcharged engine, pretty well fit for purpose.  Within an armoured formation there is a robust supply chain keeping the salamander fleet fuelled up and working.  The low profile makes it easy (for an armoured vehicle) to hide and its armour and the fact that it cannot fall over make it the most durable of all of the recce options.



On the subject of Chimera chassis vehicles, I'd like to moot the idea of an M3 (CAV) Chimera.  For those unaware, there is the M2 (Infantry) Bradley that most people think of, which carries an infantry section.  Like the Chimera.  Then there is the M3 version which has a smaller crew (3 or 4) and carries more ATGW missiles and has a different battlefield role.  I recommend "Carnivore" by the gloriously named Dillard Johnson for a decent picture.  Any way, there could be CAV Chimera, as a recce asset.  If you only to convert one or two mid turret Chimera, here's your excuse.


One of the main advantages here is fire power, whether autocannon, multi laser, heavy stubber, bolter, HK Missile(s) or whatever, there are usually options to get more rounds down the range. Those two are going to work best in places where the other armoured assets shine; ie not up mountains, not in swamps, not in close terrain like dense urban areas.

Rough Riders.  Including the Death Riders.  The reasoning must go something like; "If we can send human soldiers, we can send horses.  And if we have have to import all of the human food, we can import the horse fodder as well."  Better yet, if the planet has been terraformed, the horses can eat grass.  One huge chunk of the supply chain has just been circumvented.  And these beasties need farriers and veterinarians, not spare engines and endless replacement track links, a half a dozen people for a small battalion sized unit, not thousands of tonnes of spares, jigs, rigs, tools and plant items.  If you want efficiency in the Departmento Munitorium, then rough riders are it.  No-brainer, as Kevin Bacon would say.



These can handle very rough terrain and in a charge, as a bunch, could be devastating.  Although following Napoleonic trends in Europe, only one cavalry regiment began the US Civil War with lances and reputedly threw most of them away in their first engagement.  They should've taken the explosive tipped ones...

Technicals - 4x4s mounting a crew served weapon.  Cheap, easy to source and useful over terrain that is mostly flat, including built up areas.  There are two ways to go here; import your own, reliable, trained on, fit or purpose vehicle which you know is available because you brought it with you.  The Tauros Option or WMIK, if you're a Brit.   The other, which is not modelled in 40K AFAIK, is to commandeer locally produced "Toyota pick ups" and bolt your squad support weapons to them.  I suspect that as there would be a ready market for utility vehicles on every inhabited world, that the DM would possibly be set up to use this option (carrying weapon mounting kits and green paint etc).



These offer speed and firepower.  Being recce troops, you'd hope that they would run away if they actually came into contact with the enemy, so a lack of armour shouldn't be a problem.  The other 'win' for using locally sourced vehicles is availability of spares, trained and experienced mechanics (assuming there are any left) and indeed, possibly local manufacturing facilities to make new (military specific) ones.   If it is a world lacking in resources, where fuel for the armoured fleet has to be imported, you can bet your bottom dollar that the locals run their utility trucks on spomk juice or what ever is locally available - another bit of pressure, however tiny, taken off of the interstellar supply chain.

And that brings us to the one with no real world picture.  Oh all right then.



Sentinels.  Not for closed terrain, not for anywhere you can drive, certainly not for anywhere you can take a tank.  Not for somewhere too wet.  Not for open terrain.  Not for lumber yards.    I would estimate that the support team and resources required to keep one Sentinel in the field are at least equal to those for a Main Battle Tank, probably greater - a walker is a vastly more complex machine, requiring an extremely high power to weight ratio.  Looking at the Sentinel model and the size of it's engine, we might reasonably assume that it revs much higher than conventional vehicle engines to provide the required power.  So it uses more lubricants and wears through its working parts quicker.  All of it's systems are like this.  The hydraulics for its legs are complex, vulnerable and would require a much higher maintenance schedule than the other recce options discussed here.

If this is the recce asset of choice for picking its way through an ice or lava floe, then it's 'walking brain/balance tubes' will be phenomenally important and quite likely require re-calibration on an almost constant basis.   And once the Sentinel falls over, it needs a crane to get back up again.
The maintenance team is bigger than that of an MBT, and possibly higher skilled and definitely uses more resources, as discussed.

So WTF is it for ? It is for use somewhere that requires heavy weapons to be moved around faster than the infantry types can manage themselves. So somewhere like moderately dense urban or jungle (urban jungle ! See what I did there ?). Somewhere were a heavy weapon is likely to have to break cover in order to fire effectively and therefore needs to be slightly more durable than an infantryman. The other thing that these are is impressive.  If the AT-STs had been playing their heavy flamers over the ewoks, the rebels would never have been able to take the shield generator station.  If you're a section on foot and one of these sudden looms out of the rubble at you, you'd probably want to be somewhere else.

Should the scouting rule be limited to the cabriolet version ?  No. the armoured one is also, as I have described, a light infantry tool.  It might not be doing the recce itself, but is there to give the recce assets some much needed punch, as they tend to lack firepower.  The cabriolet may be used in a recce role itself, but it is a poor option for finding out what is waiting around that corner - compared to a make up mirror on the end of a bent stick - too fragile to be as useful as the armoured one and yet still requiring resources that might keep an MBT in the field for a year, just to keep it walking around for a fortnight.

Of course, the rules remove the scout move from the armoured one, but there you go; the rules are written by games designers, not people who think about military hardware.

Tuesday 9 June 2015

Armoured Sentinels.


These are dust models.  I had been pondering about some form of axle running through the body of the beast onto which I would then mount the weapons.  But of course eventually I realised that I could just use magnets and then be able to swap out the weapons.


Anyway, I thought that these would make for pretty good 'counts as' armoured sentinels.  Once again Sgt Kwiz provides a sense of scale.  Good work Sgt.  He says that being a photographic model beats a combat drop 9 times out of 10.  Not a complete idiot then.

The purpose of an armoured sentinel has to be something that the infantry it supports cannot manage on their own.  In the open, armoured cars with TL Las cannons, Las cannon armed Tauros and other tanks can take on enemy armour.  The infantry themselves can take on enemy footsloggers.  So the purpose of a sentinel is to carry what an infantry team cannot into places where conventional vehicles cannot go.  That's it.  In any other situation, the resources involved in keeping a walking machine working make them not worth it.  More on this later.


So these will go to the Saranians, like the Kielerkopf APCs and eventually be finished in the ambush colourscheme.

The ASL already have a detachment of Armoured Sentinels and another three (numbers 9, 10 & 11) are in the boxes...

And why do 902 Div's recce specialists need this level of AT ?

Friday 5 June 2015

Progress so far in 2015


Clacking, lacking and tracking, as it were.  Here's the previous version, with the round up from last year.

Now the up to date one:

DKK Salamanders - need finishing off.
ASL Crassus - Done
Valhallans - now so old they need touching up. 
3rd Thunderer Conversion.  
Additional Officers Nearly all done (but I keep adding more....)
"Word Bearers" er, um, tbc. 
Leviathan Mortis' - Despatched to the Dark Mechanicus
DKK Grenadiers WIP
Full Size ATAT fleet Test Mega Bolter Done
DKK Hydrae Built & Painted
Thunderbolts - WIP
Clone wars Vendetta conversions  Test Model Done
World Eaters Land Raider
Meridian Infantry
Inquisitorial Gun Cutter
Isenkearn APC Test Model Done
Isenkearn Command Squad WIP
Imperial Basillica
Elsyian Army  Done
TGG Kickstarter girls Delivered late May
And then a trawl of whats in the boxes

So it's all going OK, although you'll note that there are only two things "done" so far this year.  

In case you were wondering what 'and then a trawl of what's in the boxes' might involve; it does include things like significant amounts of iggy bitz which might make useful Blood Pact types when used with bits from people like Victoria Miniatures, Puppetswar, Maxmini and so on.  There are FW DKK and Elysian weapons which would look great on re-purposed bolt action minis - with the different weapons, new heads and different paint, you are going to be hard pressed to identify them for what they were designed as.  

Tuesday 2 June 2015

Keillerkopf APC with paint.


Pre-shading in red brown and then the 'usual' Dark Sand base coat.  This colourscheme has to tie in with the one used for the DKK without being the same (sounds like an android advert..) - not the thin wriggly lines of the DKK vehicle fleet but something close.


So I plumped for a hertzer like 'ambush' scheme.  What his basically means is ensuring that coverage between the three colours is 1:1:1 and then putting brown and yellow spots on the green, green and brown spots on the yellow and yellow and green spots on the brown. Possibly would have been better with hard edged camouflage, but it looks ok.  Spots can be done with a cut down old brush; giving a decent circle.  What you see here is me throwing on 'circles' rather impatiently There'll be filters and so on so I'm not so worried. .


The windows unmasked and decals applied.  One thing that did not work so well was the hair spray and salt over the red brown undercoat.  No amount of warm soapy water caused the desired weathering effect.  Not surprising really, there were three or four other colours over the top by that point.  Ho hum.  Wheels back on soon.

Update Sun 17 May 15:  Here's a learning point - you'll need the rear wings/mud guards on to paint it.  However, the wheels will not go on with the wing/mud guard in place.  I had to break these off - fortunately I'm an old hand at dismantling my own handiwork, but will stick to blue tac next time.


With filters (AK interactives) and euro dust (er, erm, Mig.  Yup, definitely Mig 'European dust') the wheels will be blended in with the rest of the vehicle.  But this view gives you a nice sense of the almost brutal aesthetic of these bad boys.  And here's the backside - the first thing I look at, usually.



Oh and Tanith Lee died recently.  We all will, but when it's someone you read as a teenager, it is that little bit more poignant.