Ultramarines Test Model

Well since my blog has a bit of an Ultramarines theme I though I better put up some photos of my Ultramarines Test mini.



























I'm not yet 100% happy with the results as I have never been great at painting power armour. I've always felt more comfortable with flesh, fur and cloth but that's what you get when you choose an army in power armour! But the decision was partly to try and force myself to paint power armour better. I'll slowly get there I guess...



























The shoulder pads need to be redone a bit and some of the other highlights lessened but so far I am pretty happy with his outcome. He's going to be a member of the 4th company so his shoulder pad rims will be the colour of my Salamanders, (hence my Salamander test model :D I'll put him up in the next few days)

So any comments or feedback?

Fenrisian Wolves Conversion

Hi everyone,
Today I thought I would post up my Fenrisian Wolf Conversion!!



























As you can probably tell these are based off of a Chaos Warhound with the tail from the Goblin Wolf Rider Box. I chopped the tab off of the wolf tail and then carved down the sides of the tail to get it to fit quite snuggly in the gap in the warhound for the tail. This also gives it more connection for the glue to work and allows you a fair bit of control over its final positioning. I got the idea from Gw Chatswood as the boys there had built some but for the tails they used the wolf tail talisman from the Wolf Pack box. I think they looked pretty good but I wanted a longer tail to be more wolf-esq even those these things are some crazy xenos wolf.

I've used the green stuff to pad out the stomach area to give the animal a bit more bulk and to create fur on the rest of the body. I quite like the bulkiness of the original fur as it looks like a mane to my mind.

This was my first time greenstuffing again for some time and possibly my first ever doing fur so I was quite happy with the results. I laid down a thin sheet of green stuff over the area I wanted to create fur on and went from there. I had to add a bit of extra fur to one of the legs as the green stuff stopped too high and it looked a bit strange and the other leg just looked better. What do you guys think? Any tips or hints I should check out?



























So far I only have one completed but I have another two ready for some green stuff action.
I'm not sure yet how I will cover up the scales some of the hounds have far down their legs but I figure I will do the rest of them first then worry about it. I might have a bit more tidying up of the model as I removed the spines but these are hard to remove fully. As you can see below I have used the hobby knife to clean them up a fair bit but after seeing this photo I think I might need to fix him up a little more.














Also do you think I should add green stuff to the tail to make it shaggy like the fur on the body or do you like him as is?
Thanks guys!

Edit:
There's also some great conversion ideas for Wolves of Fenris over at B+C. I really like their current wolfy theme!

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...

Ultramarines Movie

Wow!

So we are actually getting a Warhammer 40k movie!! That's totally awesome!!

But they will have high exceptions to live up to but I think the Dawn of War series were well done, especially no. 2.

There's not much to go on over at their official website but I've signed up for updates so hopefully I'll hear when things start happening.

The guys making it have only listed the Bionicle movies as their other works. Although they obviously aren't my thing and I haven't actually watched them from what i have seen they are pretty well done. i just hope they will be able to do the gritty, gothic 40k universe justice. Maybe they are working with the guys making the Space Marine game as that looks pretty nice!

Here's hoping to an Awesome movie, lots of Dvd sales which then leads to more Awesome 40k movies!!

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.

Kill for the Living, Kill for the Dead, Kill for the Warmaster!!

These were posted over at Terran Forge, a nice looking blog you should all check out.
























































Any guesses? :D

399 Visits!!

Wow!! Thanks guys! In less than a week from adding a hit counter we are already up to 399!! Thanks so much!

I didn't realise there were many people even viewing the blog so thanks a lot for checking me out. As uni gets towards that end date of 31st of October my hobby will continue to increase and you'll start seeing peeks of my actual hobby!! :D

As a reward for our 399 visits I will post up some photos of what I have been working on recently this weekend.

Special thanks goes to my 12 followers and anyone who has left a comment!! Thanks guys and girls!!

Keep those comments coming so I know what you are all thinking, what you want and what you do and don't like!

New Imperial Guard and Treadheads

Hey guys...

Check out these rad new Imperial Guard models on Gw's website!
I'm pretty impressed so far. I think I'll have to get some for my Tandaris Army....


The Imperial Guard Tank Crew have to be my favourite release of this month I think (as Space Wolves are next month :D ) Those guys are so full of character to my mind.

They are definitely going to be joining the ranks of the Tandaris soon. Not sure thought if I should use them as tank crew or just as extra cool minis....















Imperial Guard Tank Commanders: Well I think I have the right two buried away somewhere but I don't have that Commissar Commander. He's a definite acquisition I'll need to make.















Tank Stowage: I've been searching for some extra baggage to add to my tanks other than the two from the heavy weapons teams (which I need for my veterans) and the one from the Tank Accessory sprue, which I need to get a few more of so I can enclose the tracks of my tanks.















Speaking of tanks I saw a rad tank conversion in the City Store on Saturday which was a Leman Russ featuring the engine/exhaust block off of a Land Raider on the back and used predator side sponsons. This made a really striking looking tank which I think would work well as a Command Tank for a more modern force.

I think I will be sticking to the "older" chassis for the Leman Russes in the Vostroyan Army and the "newer" chassis for the Tandaris Tanks. This means that all the Punishers and such in the Vostroyan Army will be the hull of the current Leman Russ and the Leman Russes in the Tandaris Army will be the new hulls. This is to represent the fact that the Vostroyan Army is much, much older and hence have older (but better maintained and built) tanks where as the newer more modern Tandaris Army will utalise the "fast build" chassis that has just been released with the Punisher et al box.


The only one I'm not so sure of is these guys, labelled Imperial Guard Heads. I'm not even sure what all the heads are meant to be (ie Cadian, Catachan, commanders, vehicle drivers, characters, etc...) Any ideas guys??















These guys are all released here along with Colonel 'Iron Hand' Straken and Gunnery Sergeant Harker, the new Warhammer basing kit (which is pretty nice, I saw it instore on Saturday as Ben got one for his "checked" Orc Boys) and the Dead Grass, which is pretty much the colour I was looking for to use with the Salamanders.

Any Ideas on what I've raised??
Thanks guys!

p.s. Tomorrow I start my conversion of Chaos Warhounds into Fenris Wolves....

Army Roster Sheets

Hey guys,

I just found some great looking army rosters from Oni's blog Pit of the Oni.

Check them out. Some pretty good looking army rosters which the more recent ones you can fill in directly. Good Stuff! I know I'll be printing some off for my next game!

Also whilst you're there check out his great job on magnetising Predators and Rhinos!

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.

Space Wolf Sprues!!

I was going to regale you all with my heroic tales of Space Hulk from last night but instead I'll give you this.
Once I download my Space Hulk Photos I'll put them up.

In the mean time Live From Games Workshop International Its:

An Interior Shot From The Codex!!














With Special Guest Star: The Space Wolf Sprue!!!

The Wolftime Approaches Even Closer!!

These come from Big Jim's Space Wolf Blog and originally from Rabianegra at Warseer but I couldn't resist having them on my own blog if for no other reason than for me to stare lovingly at them....












































































Bonus points for naming the characters correctly as well as spotting all the cool bitz and pieces!

The Wolftime Approaches

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

Ultramarine 4th Company

Oh No!!

These 4th Company Ultramarines totally put me to shame!!

Maybe I'll paint one or two of mine in their scheme and see how they look?
But there is no way I can pull off that great looking freehand work and detail!!

Check them out! They're amazing!

Tandarian Imperial Guard

Hey guys. I need your help!!!

Which colour scheme should I paint my Cadian Imperial Guard?
So far I have asked four guys and gotten four different answers...


So my army is to be a force from Tandaris which was featured in a series of Australian White Dwarf Articles. It was three battle reports set on the planet of Tandaris where the Vostroyans (with later Daemonhunter Forces) take on the local populace who have been turned Traitor by a daemon plague. As I needed a theme for my Cadian based guard models and I love the Vostroyans and wanted an army a little different from the other Cadians, since most regimental numbers seem to be taken :D , this seemed like a logical and fun choice!

My Tandarian Force isn't fully planned out yet but I know that...

They are a mainly urban force (as to fit in with my Cityfight Vostroyans)
The bases will be loose dirt or rubble possibly with snow? (nothing too fancy)
They will be equipt with Trucks and Halftracks to replace Chimeras and Hydras; ala Dave Taylor Miniatures


So the four colour schemes are....

Dave Taylor's 144th Cadians - Found here











Simon Brown's Cerberus VII Regiment - Found Here and Here











Luther Blisset's Heron Hounds - Found Here and Here













King's Standard Bearer's Cadian VIII Veteran Sergeant - Found Here - New Update Here!



















So which colour scheme do you think looks best or is best for the army I have described?
We are solely judging on colour schemes not paint jobs or conversions as I'm sure I won't be able to do anywhere near as good a job as these guys have done. I've left the poll open for 100 days to try and get as many responses as possible but I'll probably get going on these a bit earlier as I'm dying to get some painting happening!!

edit: Ok after some input from Dave Taylor I've adjusted the poll to around 50 days, ending on my birthday. Also Uni ends just after that so I should be able to kick them off soon after that. Assuming I don't get taken away by The Beast Within....

As I develop and clarify the fluff for my Tandarian Forces I'll let you guys know as it develops. I'm still not sure whether to make them a PDF or a raised guard unit?? Possibly the last unit raised as the planet was consumed by the plague virus... Thoughts? Comments?

His child-like wonder and enthusiasm

My friend just wrote this about me in a quiz thing.
Seems quite cool.

→What is the funniest thing you've ever heard/seen 14 do?
Too many things to list. His child-like wonder and enthusiasm is hard to beat though, and should be an inspiration to avoid the grown-up in all of us.

Army Progression Checklist September 2009

Hi all,

I'm going to post up my current army progression checklist and every six months update it so I can keep track of my progress (or lack there of). Ill try and keep it all the same format for easy updating and ease of reading:

Warhammer 40K
Ultramarines - 4th Company
Built - roughly 800pts built and based with two tactical squads almost built
Painted - test model almost finished, assault squad base colour and wash applied
Painting Scheme - decided: based on Captain Sicarius Masterclass article
Basing Scheme - decided: slate with fine sand (then grass flock or snow)

Imperial Guard - Tandarian
Built - three squads built with heavy weapons, Converted Leman Russ and Chimera almost complete
Painted - None
Painting Scheme - urban colour scheme: not yet decided upon possibly similar to urban tau scheme from eastern empire or dave taylors 144th cadian diorama
Basing Scheme - urban basing scheme: not yet decided upon

Warhammer Fantasy
Empire - Von Schleickenhammer's Vampire Hunters (including Sylvanian and Stirland Forces)
Built - 15 hand gunners, warrior priest
Painted - Just about to start test models

Painting Scheme - Sylvanian colours as seen in heraldry book and WD articles and units of renoun such as the Essen Death Heads
Painting Scheme - Stirland, and Stir River Patrol
Basing Scheme - soil, undead and grasses

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