Hobby Update - Super-Industrialising your Hobby

I decided this week I would get myself an air compressor as I've been doing a good deal of work with my air brush lately and was getting a little tired of swapping over air canisters.  A quick trip to my local tool shop and I found this little beauty on sale

Possessing everything I could possibly need, I snatched it up and promptly whisked it home to begin the assembly process.  Now most of you who know me personally will be aware that I'm not one to do things by halves when it comes to my hobbies.  There's a word for my thought process - 

That said, with the size of the tank, I'm fairly confident I'd be able to basecoat my entire army in a single sitting.  Such a statement may be boasting though as such a theory is yet to be tested.  But when you look at the set-up, it's not a difficult leap to make...

From humble beginnings...

To industrial-sized awesomeness!!

Catch you all later

Trev

Campaign Update - Going Apocalyptic

Last weekend saw the Cities of Death campaign I ran for my local gaming group come to a resounding conclusion.  In a final attempt to wrest control of Vogen from the Forces of Disorder, the Salamanders led an armoured assault comprised of several Space Marine Chapters and a contingent of Natuesean Guardsmen on the Palace of Peace.  Accompanied by a pair of ancient Baneblades - 'Godhammer' and the 'Shield of Faith' and the noble Mecharius Vulcan 'Emperor's Voice,' they were set upon by a vast army - a foul conglomeration of Heretics and Xenos who desired the Palace for themselves.  Knowing that their cause was almost lost, the servants of Chaos enacted a foul rite of summoning - creating a warp rift that if left unchecked, threatened to consume the entire planet.  For the forces of the Imperium, it was no longer enough to capture the Palace, for the sake of the Khai-Zhaan itself, the rift device would need to be destroyed.

The quasi-massed forces of the Imperium

A close-up of the Blood Angel contingent

Masters of the Chapter Apoc Formation - the Marine equivalent of a
Colombian death-squad 

The hordes of Disorder gather at the edge of the table...

The 'Crons...

Da Orks....

The forces of the Arch-Traitor

The table...

When the dust had settled, the total were calculated and the results were announced.  The Forces of Order had scored a grand total of 41 Campaign Points, while the Forces of Disorder had used the Palace to close the gap to secure a hefty 39.  By a narrowest margin of 2 points, the Imperium had secured victory!  Many thanks are to be had to all the guys and girls over at Kingaroy Wargamers for making the day possible and for making the Vogen Campaign a success.  If you're keen to see more pics, Mark over at Project Circle spent a good many hours as our dedicated photographer and has collected some mad progress shots so I heartily encourage you all to head over there and check them out!

Catch you all later

Trev

TerrainTuesday - Aegis Defence Lines!

Pic blatantly pilfered from www.games-workshop.com

So we're three weeks into the new year and I'm yet to actually start on a terrain project that is my own.  The upside though, is that my local club is finally getting some painted terrain that they can call their own.  Using the dusting process, I've been able to paint a decent amount of terrain to a relatively good standard in a stupidly short amount of time; which gives me hope for future projects that are my own.

This time around, I'm following up on my work on the Bastion by painting the Aegis Defence lines that go with them.  Same type of painting method as before, just on a smaller scale.  Have to admit, the application of grey was a little patchy in places, though I think that's due to painting a number of them at the same time.

With this lot completed, the vast amount of the club's Cities of Death terrain is now officially painted and sealed.  Being that I'm going to be away for the vast majority of the weekend, I'm not sure how well I'll go with next week's offering.

Catch you all later

Trev

Salamander Update - Preparing for the Apocalypse

This last week has been pretty much consumed by assembling miniatures for the upcoming Apocalypse game to round out the Vogen Campaign that I've been running for the past 3 months.  This has meant a great deal of time has been allocated towards getting the necessary marines built and ready to go.  Due to a fairly savage heat-wave that has consumed most of Australia, painting opportunities this week have been damn-near non-existent.  30 degrees celsius at midnight does not conducive painting weather make!!

Through some small miracle I've managed to build nearly all the mini's I need for this game assembled and ready for the table (though hopefully not too hard... don't want to break the little buggers now do we?).  After a reduction in points for my army, I was able to scale back the number of models I needed for the game by at least 1 or 2 Land Raiders.  I've included a couple of pictures to convey the (still sizable) scale of 2000 points of Space Marines.

For the most part, it's really just another 2000 point army in the end.  With the point restriction, I was unable to include any of the Apoc formations that suited my Fireborn (damn my lack of Thunderhammer / Storm Shield Terminators!!!). While this was unfortunate, it does mean that I can field more bodies on the table which is always good.  That said - in the realm of Apocalypse, I'm not sure if more bodies will make any difference; dinner-plate sized templates will frequently ruin your day and help you remove your beloved models by the handful.  Of the new additions, there are a couple of conversions which I feel are particularly cool, coming from my unit of Vanguard Veterans.

With all of this building going on, I'm not running dangerously low on Forgeworld Shoulderpads and am eagerly looking forward to February which will see a number of my colleagues and I make a collective order to Forgeworld.  In  addition to the mandatory pauldrons for Terminators and standard Marines alike, I'm hoping to pick up the Horus Heresy MK IV Power Weapon kit which will give me more than enough weapons to equip every character with something a little bit special.  Until then, I'll just have to be content with stripping and painting my first purchased model for the year - a Vindicare Assassin.

My first purchased mini for 2013.  Didn't even
make it a month :-)

Catch you all later,

Trev