Martian Walker

No one would have believed...

I have been a huge fan of War of the Worlds for longer than I can remember, both the story and the musical and while browsing the web a couple of weeks ago managed to find a fighting machine in the style of Jeff Waynes musical art work. 

 

Luckily I was the highest bidder and just received it today, and here it is, well in pieces anyway.

 

 

I am super happy I managed to find this and will get built and painted as soon as my schedules allow.

So I shall leave you with this.

 

Workbench update

Once again here is a little update to show how the Stormcast are progressing and hiding in the back the French Napoleonic Grenadier - Foundry I painted up last night. I have been making good progress and although only six of the Stormcast have been completed (minus the bases and one head that is) I have managed to give all the models a good wash of Agrax Earthshade + Nuln Oil.

I also managed time to convert the  Garvriel Sureheart model (see below) using that model and bits from Manfred Von Carstein that a colleague gave me (thanks Andrew). It was quite a lot of work to chop the original body away and remodel the shoulders but I now have a unique model and one that fits with my Stormcast's darker theme.

 

So all in all a very productive weekend and a very enjoyable one at the hobby desk.

Also I have had to go through some old blog posts and remove them due to broken image links. This is due to Photobucket charging to use its storage so all my old photos have been deleted.

I may go through my collection and periodically add some older work as and when time allows.

More soon.

French Napoleonic Grenadier - Foundry

So i fancied a change of pace and this little chap has been sat in a box for far to long so I prepped him while I working on building the Stormcast and here is the end result.

French Napoleonic Grenadier:

The model is tiny compared to lots of models I build and paint today but the details are lovely on him, (He is from the Wargames Foundry). I relay enjoyed this change of pace and can recommend this to anyone building forces of wargames models as it keeps things fresh and helps keep the tedium demon away. 

 Here are all the colours I used on him:

I have some more models lined up to keep things fresh while I get through the Stormcast mountain, (if you look closely you can see some at the base of the Titans feet) so watch this space for some more soon.

Luxumbra Infinity collectors Kickstarter

Another Kickstarter has arrived, seem to wait ages then three in the space of two and a half weeks.

This one was the Luxumbra Infinity collectors and had various busts available although I opted for the 75 mm O-yoroi pilot along with its 35 mm compatriot so I could use it in Infinity games.

Here is what turned up:

My only complaint was the packaging was very poor, it was sent in a bubble envelope which meant the box and book where quite battered and bent.

It was nice they included a second set of swords in case of breakages.

Here is the 35 mm version with some free mdf base toppers.

All in all a nice little haul and it will be something different painting a model bigger than 35 mm for once. As always it will be added to the ever growing pile of hobby goodness and I will record my efforts when we make a start on her.

Workbench update - Stormacast, Knight Titan and the flu

Another quick update of tonight's workbench and I have managed to finish building and get a primer coat on the Stormcast and Knight Titan, although any further work has been halted due to Nurgles Rot which appears to be doing the rounds at the moment.

Hopefully get some more done tomorrow if I can shake this bloody plague.

Dreadball 2 Kickstarter from Mantic Games

I finally received the long awaited Dreadball 2 kickstarter last week and was somewhat underwhelmed by the lack of quality shown by some of the finishing and game components.

The package arrived in one box which contained two smaller boxes.

Here's a look inside the main box (see below). Their are lots of empty spaces in the box and i'm not sure were things live. Also the first BIG issue I had was the playing board being very poor. Mine had creases & dents all over the pitch.

A closer picture of some of the poor components which include crappy tokens and dice (see below - they really are very cheap, cracker type quality and I will not be using them in my games).

As you can see I was rapidly loosing interest in this as not only had I waited the best part of  a year and a half for this.

At least the figures for the teams are a little better in quality (see below) and the rule book is the main saving grace for this one, rolling in at 210 pages and containing everything needed to play whichever version of the game you want and with any of the released teams. Apparently their will be team cards released soon but we will have to buy them... thanks Mantic.

When I get round to painting up a few of the models I will revisit Dreadball again and post on my findings but I have to say that this has kind of knocked the stuffing out of not only wanting to play anytime soon but also supporting Mantic on any future Kickstarters.

Infinity Army Box Sets

So to follow up on my Xmas loot haul I may have bought a few things of my own Christmas list as I didn’t get them and knew they were due to disappear at any time. These Infinity army box sets offer a very economical way to add the forces to my collection and are 300 point forces to boot which is the standard skirmish force size in the game. 

 So firstly we have the Combined Army Onyx Contact Force:

The Evolved Intelligence, an alien AI with a vast wealth of knowledge and a cold, relentless will, has conquered, subjugated and annihilated entire civilizations to fulfill its ultimate ambition: Transcendence unto a higher evolutionary plane. To that end, the EI has created a well-honed instrument of conquest: the Combined Army. In it, the AI has gathered some of the most dangerous species from its cosmic domains: the viciously brutal Morat, bred for war and war only; the insidious, sly Shasvastii, capable of anything to guarantee the survival of their species; the Sygmaa Trihedron, race traitors, biotech virtuosos, death dealers. Headed by combat incarnations of the EI itself, they are the most formidable war machine this galaxy has ever witnessed. Now they have set their sights on the Human Sphere...

Then we have the Tohaa:

The Tohaa are an advanced alien civilization currently waging an open war against the EI and its Combined Army. Guardians of one of the great treasures of the universe, the Tohaa have withstood the EI’s onslaught longer than any other race in this galaxy. The Tohaa are masters of biotechnology, capable of building terrible viral weapons and impervious symbiont armors, but also of altering other species, granting them more intelligence so they can fight by their side. The Tohaa need allies, and Humanity seems fitting for the first line of the fight against the Combined Army.

I also have the Ariadna army box and the starter sets for Operation Icestorm and Red Veil which I have had a little while and I am in the process of building and painting them.

I will post ongoing progress of these throughout the year as long as my magpie tendency's don't get distracted elsewhere, See you soon.

Workbench Update

Just a quick update of tonights workbench and it is full of Stormcast Eternals.

 

Dragon Empire Kickstarter

So the first Kickstarter has arrived this year and it is for Dragon Empire from Titanforge games.

The Great Dragon Empire is a fantasy collection that has it roots deep in the Asian mythology, legends and samurai culture including dragons and the magic of four elements to make this world truly supernatural.

I have been looking forward to getting these models as I have earmarked them for games of Ronin, (if any of you know any other good Oriental miniature skirmish games then please let me know). The models are 28mm and are cast in a resin / plastic material. The details are exceptional, much sharper than I though they would be. 

Check out below for better pictures of what I received:

These last three models are what swung me into backing this Kickstarter as they are lovely models and I couldn't resist that dragon which is massive. 

More when I start this project.

Christmas was good to me.

Hello again, I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and had plenty of rest and relaxation. I have finally had a few days off to recharge the flagging battery's so thought I would post up this years little haul (the Mrs was good to me).

Firstly I got some expansion books for Frostgrave and Konflikt ‘47. Both these games offer massive scope when it comes to modelling an gaming and on first look through both look great.

 My second batch of books, this time venturing into the Ghost Archipelago, this looks to be another hit for the author Joseph and looks to be versatile enough that I can use anything from Pirates to ancient Incas.

Next up we have some Infinity models, this is a game that i'm really enjoying getting into and have already heavily invested into. The background is very deep as is the game play. I got a couple of models of a very long list that was given to help out family with ideas for the resident geek. Here we have a Yu Jing Guijia Battlesuit and an Ariadna Kazak Spetsnazs with HMG, lovely sculpts.

Speaking of lovely sculpts the Kharadron Overlords from Games Workshop are amazing models, steampunk flying ships with dwarfs sealed in air tight armour and no shortage of wacky looking tech. I absolutely love these models and the Age of Sigmar is so different to other high fantasy games and very quick to learn and play which is a bonus. Also on the right is a set of Dark Millennium playing cards designed and drawn by no other than John Blanche who i am a great admirer of. His artwork really invokes my inspiration when it comes to building and painting these little fellows, great stuff.

Finally we have Shadespire another Games Workshop game but this ones a board game which uses models and cards and after a demo,game went straight on the list as it was so much fun to play and quick at 30 mins. I was lucky enough to get the starter set with the Stormcast and Khorne models and two other expansions with Orks and Undead. So with that I shall add them to the mountains of hobby to be done, we all have them right?  I will be back with another post soon so Happy new year to you all.