Quick Update

Hey guys,

Just a quick update here as there hasn't been much hobby happening the last few days (mainly through work, fitness and everyone having their birthday, except for me!) Just thought I would post up two things of note I found.

Firstly an Awesome Custom Space Hulk Board. Max and I have been discussing doing one of these but I don't see it happening anytime soon but this one is pretty inspiring!







Secondly I've come across Tasty Brains Gaming as being a good Oz based hobby supplier for such things as Battlefoam which otherwise are pretty pricey for the shipping when you live down this part of the world.

They are currently running a painting competition for some free booty for those hobbyists living in Oz and Nz so give them a look. I know I'll be giving them a try after a few paycheques come in!

New Blogs

Well Little Max and Josh Davy have both kicked off their blogs!!

Both are great guys who are always up for a hobby and we will hopefully see some of their great stuff!

Little Max - as seen here - is working on his Imperial Fists and Traitor Legion Guardsmen.
Josh Davy is working on his Vampire Counts army.

Congratulations and welcome to the world of blogs!
Check them out as they get their blogs kicked off and up and running!

Also my friend Strider has returned to us from his long holiday so I'm expecting to see plenty of Hobby from him!!

Edit:
Little Max has just been added in spot number two in the FTW Tuesday top ten!!
Nice work man and after only one day of having your blog up and running!!

Also Gw has posted their Space Hulk FAQ here. Unfortunately it doesn't cover a few things that I know have been causing issues amongst some people who have a different take on the rules to everyone else...

Assembling the New Wolf Guard!!

Hi Happy Bloggers!!

Today I got the esteemed pleasure of building the new plastic Wolf Guards for my local Gw store!! I had to follow their army list but other than that I pretty much got free reign in building them with a few pose tweeks from Deke. I've got to say these are gorgeous models!! Great fun to build with oodles of extra bitz. I really wanted to use the Wolf Pack wolf helmet with the final terminator with Wolf Claws but they were already used so I'll have to keep one spare when I build my guys!

These models were so fun to build I think I will be getting a few more packs than I need, including making some for extra Space Hulk Missions! You really have got to check out the Assault Cannon on these miniatures! He has a chain fed ammo feeder which gives him a huge amount of bulk and makes him look UNSTOPPABLE!! When you see this model in person check out how the belt feeder and ammo box attach to the armour's exhaust and power outlet (the oval containing two circles) on his lower back. It just plugs straight into his grille and power outlet and is super snug and flush. :) It's quite ingenious! Imagine attaching him to your 6 man Long Fang unit.... Ouch!
(When assembling him consider pinning him as he is so heavy its pretty hard to get him to stay in the correct position whilst he is drying even when you lay him down!)

There's a sculpted shoulder pad for Deathwolf's Company!! But it's half covered with fur :(
I put it on the Assault Cannon Wolf Guard since he is my favourite! :D
There's also a sculpted shoulder pad for Logan's Company (pre-wolf lord) and the Space Wolves icon and enough Wolfy Crux Terminatus for all five models.

There's also a drinking horn to match that of Canis Wolfborn's to further the tie in to Deathwolf's Great company. And of course there is always the obligatory Wolf Tails, Wolf Skulls and those other bitz that must come with the Space Wolves! There are even some tiny wolf skulls attached to arms, cabling and shoulder pads that include the detail of cavities left by missing teeth, really have a close look at some of the details on these guys. You won't be disappointed!

The only quibble is I'd like to see a few more head options but when combined with the Space Wolf Pack this isn't so much of an issue. I'd also like to see all of the great companies get a shoulder pad then you could swap with mates to get a full pack with the correct shoulder pads! (I'm probably just being greedy but hey I can dream! It's my wish list!)


Some seriously fun miniatures and conversions to be had!
Any Questions about assembling them or the box's content I'll do my best to answer!!
Thanks Guys!!

Also how did I go on my first real attempt at model photography? I think the store's lighting did most of the work though... Any tips for improvement?

Group Shot














Pack Leader with Thunderhammer, Storm Shield and Bear Cloak (and Bear Loincloth! :D )














Wolf Guard with Assault Cannon and Powerfist (Check out that sweet Belt Feeder)














Wolf Guard with Twin Wolf Claws














Wolf Guard with Frost Axe and Stormbolter














Second Wolf Guard with Twin Wolf Claws














Ps... I saw Canis Wolfborn in person. He looks a lot better than in the photos so I'll have to wait to see him fully painted up before I make up my mind on him but I'll definitely be getting one! One of the guys from our store is getting 11!! He's running the Canis Army with Fenrisian Wolves so no Objective claiming for him!!

Also the Cloak of the Doppelgrangrel from Lukas the Trickster is beautiful!! If you get to see it properly you will notice it actually has six limbs and tyranid-esq spinal scales and tail. Painted up it looks really nice and I think I will be adding one to one of my Rune Priests. I don't think it will be a very hard conversion as long as my Priest has the right pose to begin with.

Space Hulk Mission 1: Suicide

Last Monday Night I arrived at Little Max's house to begin our inaugural game of Space Hulk! My valiant opponent Little Max checks over the rules before we kick off our game. As you might be able to tell from our models lack of assembly we pretty much got the game underway as quick as possible!



















As it was his kit he took the Space Marines first and I was the Genestealers. After a fairly generic setup with Lorenzo in the lead followed By Scipio and of course the Zael with the Heavy Flamer Little Max makes a run for it turning a marine and setting him to overwatch to guard his rear. Mean while the blips close in......















Sergeant Lorenzo is taken out by a generstealer hidden behind that door! (this is before we knew the Power Sword rules more indepth)















As Aliens plays in the background we get an eerie visitor from the film.....















After the Sergeant is gone the genestealer lunges into the Heavy Flamer specialist Zael.















And deftly takes him out!!!















The other Marines lacking the leadership of Lorenzo and knowing their mission is lost are wiped out to a man! The Hulk still swarms with Genestealers with the danger of them launching infected lifepods across the sector something must be done!















My turn as the Marines to follow! Let's hope I do Better!!

Mr Smiggle's Very Busy Day - Part Deus

Hi guys,

Sorry for the lack of updates over the past few days but it's been kinda hectic and my net went down which has only just been resolved today.

So Monday night Little Max and I rented Aliens, gathered at his house and clipped out the key players for Mission 1: Suicide. First he played through as the Marines and then we swapped roles. Not surprisingly the marines lost both times but I was pretty close to taking it out as I foolishly ran to take out the objective rather than just sitting back and flaming the hallway and whittling down the genestealers numbers as I hadn't yet used my flamethrower! Silly mistake!

Tuesday I found my missing hobby bag with my hobby supplies!!!

Wednesday night we met again to play through Mission 2: Extermination. Again Little Max played Marines first as he had actually read the rules cover to cover in preparation for our game.

Thursday I met with Dan Payne who's currently living in Melbourne but was up for the week to visit friends and family. We met up at Chatswood Gw for some quality hobby but spent most of our time talking, talking about Space Wolves and checking out their shiny new 'dex and catching up and all of our Friday Night Crew met up for dinner and we met Matt's brand new son for the first time! :D

Friday we headed into the Gw City Store and I got my paint on for the first time in ages! (pictures to follow soon, I'm without a camera for a few days) I realised how poorly I am painting at the moment due to the lack of practise! So I'm trying to hold out until the end of October so I can really get stuck into painting but will keep working on a model here or there to try and remember what I'm doing. Then Dan and I played Mission 1 in the Store and I won as Marines! Noctis is really notching up a kill count! Then we went to Will's place for Space Hulk, Videos games, chatting and a nice dinner out! I didn't play any Space Hulk at Will's but acted as an unofficial Space Hulk rulebook as it seemed like I had the most experience as everyone was busily assembling their Space Hulk before we arrived.

Saturday whilst waiting for my girlfriend to finish her new uni course I went to the City store to do some painting. Whilst there I randomly ran into Kyle M and saw some of his amazing entries for the Games Day UK and some of his "crap" stuff that "wasn't good enough for uk" and is so going to be entered into GD Oz. I also met his friend Steve who also had amazing painting skills and has only been painting for about 4 years! You might remember his Golden Daemon entries from last year which now feature on the promotional poster for this year's Golden Daemon Oz. These two guys have some amazing painting skills and it was amazing to get to hold these models I had seen and admired for some time. They are both really great guys and were helping out those of us who ran to them for advice and it was great to pick the minds of such great painters and see their work in progress as they plan out future entries.

Golden Daemon 2008 Australia - Open Category - Silver - Kyle Morgan













Golden Daemon 2008 UK - Diorama - Gold - Kyle Morgan













Golden Daemon 2008 Australia - Warhammer 40,000 Medium Miniature - Silver - Steve Guo













Golden Daemon 2008 Australia - Open Category - Bronze - Steve Guo













As Kyle is going to be starting a Space Wolf army for tabletop use when he returns from the UK and France I am hopefully going to get to paint some Space Wolves along side him to improve my painting and learn some more advanced techniques such as damage to their armour. This is something I'm really looking forward to after uni is over as I hope this will really push my painting to a higher level. In preparation I want to try and get in as much practise as possible to at least get my painting back to where it was or to a reasonable level. I figure I will try and imitate his models to the best of my abilities to make sure I don't try and cut corners and so make sure I really push myself. I'm currently thinking I will make this army with Kyle and then I might make another one based on the 13th Company. This will give me another chance to practise what I have learnt and give me two armies with different playing styles. I also really love the 13th Company but am currently thinking of doing one of the other Wolf Lords to begin with based on their history in the codex.

Best of Luck to Kyle in the UK Golden Daemon and French Ravage Mix Open!

The Next Next Step

Check out this video from Beasts of War featuring everyone's favourite Popular Corridor Space Game Foam Kit. After our inaugural game of Space Hulk, Little Max and I are gathering some mates to split the postage with so we can keep our hot new Space Hulk's safe.

The Next Step

Well the next thing I need to pick up is two of these sets.













I was worried about how I was going to store the Space Hulk minis as they are so dynamic I doubted that I could fit them into a normal case safely. I probably could if I cut out about half the foam but that kinda kills the whole purpose of the foam for protection.

I was thinking that since I would definitely get two of these sets that at the same time I might get some of the foam protection for my Imperial Guard army.
I think the 432 and the 216 look to be the best sizes for me as the 1520 seems crazy huge!! And I can always get one later on... maybe for apoc and baneblade needs as they arise.

I like the idea of using the 216 for transportation of my specialist game armies, like Blood Bowl, Necromunda and hopefully my upcoming Flames of War army. Whilst I will use the 432 for my Imperial Guard and other similar sized armies with unique needs. I still have a number of Gw cases that ill use but i hate the idea of just cutting half the foam out of them to use them as it can really weaken the foam especially when it comes to tanks, etc removing the base layer of foam. I may even get one just to transport my vehicles in as the Space Marines and Guard have some pretty unique shapes that these guys seemed to have catered for fairly well.

Now my biggest problem is waiting for my tax return to come in and deciding what I will need in the case?
I need some Valks, Russes and Chimeras/Trucks along with my troops and heavy weapons....
Ill have to figure it out over the next few days.

Mr Smiggle's Very Busy Day

I was up late last night doing some work on the computer and getting my blog in order. I'm now a part of both the BoLS blogger Group and the FTW blog group as these have been two of the best ways for me to find blogs myself.

After about 4 and a half hours sleep I had to get up and go to the city with my girlfriend for her new university course (starting on a saturday) and getting a few last minute supplies for her friends wedding (at which she i a bridesmaid and I was "uninvited!"). Then after getting her to the bride's house I got to go on my merry way to Chatswood GW to pick up my two shiny new copies of SPACE HULK....

I got suckered into buying the $8 novel by Gav Thorpe, but it should be a fun if not short read :)














Anyway at the end of the day I had:
Two Copies of Space Hulk
A Space Hulk Novel
A Water Pot
Four paints to start trying out some guard schemes
White Dwarf so I can read all about Space Hulk
And was added to the Two Blog Rolls I wanted to.

so after only 4 and a half hours sleep a pretty good day was had!! :D

Army Progression Checklist September 2009

Future Armies
Vostroyans - 17th Fighting Dogs, 9th Combat Engineers and 025th Armoured Corps
Built - one squad built
Painting Scheme - decided: one half as standard (bryan cook style) and one half as combat engineers as seen in the tandaris campaign
Basing Scheme - decided: city fight rubble, mostly industrial and city rubble

Salamanders
Built - test model and chaplain
Painted - test model begun
Painting Scheme - in progress
Basing Scheme - orange/brown soil and yellow/burnt tall grass

Space Wolves - awaiting new releases!
Painting Scheme - newer codex grey based scheme
Basing Scheme - winter themed bases

Grey Knights
Painting Scheme - based on minivault scheme with a touch of purple to tie together Inq forces
Basing Scheme - plasticard tiling (Very time consuming) with small amounts of dirt and rubble (possibly with some snow)

Sisters of Battle
Painting Scheme - based on order of the bloody rose but purple tips rather than blue
Basing Scheme - plasticard tiling

Inquisitorial Stormtroopers
Painting Scheme - based on minivault scheme
Basing Scheme - plasticard tiling

Inquisitorial Space Marines - Chapter 616
Painting Scheme - combination of sisters of battle and black templar
Basing Scheme - colour scheme to match other Inq forces but otherwise undecided. possibly rubble.

Blood Pact
Orks
Tau

Future Armies
Middenheim
Painting Scheme - Middenland and Middenheim
Basing Scheme - Winter themes bases from the storm of chaos campaign

Wood Elves
Painting Scheme - Undecided
Basing Scheme - forest floor

Ogres
Painting Scheme - Flesh mix created, clothes codex grey and graveyard earth, purple tattoos
Basing Scheme - general plains and long grasses

Skaven - awaiting new releases!
Lizardmen - Mazdamundi's army

Other
Human Blood Bowl Team - The Cougar-Wolves
Space Hulk - awaiting new releases!

Battle Companies of Rohan and Gondor
Urak-hai of Isenguard

Frodo and Sam's Adventures in the Shire

It was just Alec and I instore today when the "mystery box" arrived.
We opened the plain looking box labelled "Frodo and Sam's Adventures in the Shire" and low and behold it was clearly a trick!! It was Space Hulk! (apparently Hurstville got "Squat Army Deal")

So Alec and I spent the afternoon building them all and let me say I'm impressed!!
There is one termie who has just ripped the skull and spine off of a genestealer and is dead hard!!
Some of them are missing the glass in the eye as it has been slashed.
There is an INSANE amount of detail on these model. Seriously. Wow.

Of course the first model I built was Mr Pointy.... !!
I knew I had to after talking with you guys....

Any questions, ask away.

ps... i pre ordered three.

Mystery No More

Sgt: "Kill those bugs!! Take down the broodlord!!"
Marine: "Where Sgt?"
Sgt: "There beyond the machinery! Quickly they are closing distance fast!!!"
Marine: "Sorry Sgt but i still cant see them!!?"
Sgt: "Specialist!"
Pointy: "There."
Marine: "Targeters locked! Enemies vanquished! Good save there pointy!"
Sgt: "Truly you are the emperors finest!"
Pointy: *Embarrassed* "Thanks guys... all i did was point at them"