Marauders Ahoy!

This fortnight has been just jam-packed full of hobby goodness as I continue to paint my unit of Marauders while attempting to finish work on some of the terrain projects that have been sitting around my hobby room collecting dust.  For a lot of us, having shelves full of models and half-finished projects is not unusual , in fact I’m sure that for some it is the norm (I know it is for me).  In my case, I have a metric crap-tonne of unfinished terrain floating around my house, from scourer-pad hedges to foam core sheeting castles.  Hell, I’ve even got a couple of gaming tables floating around that are half-completed.    Unfortunately however, there comes a time when you have to make a choice – either you finish some of the projects that have been started, or buy a bigger house.  As I’m not really in the market for a bigger place, I guess the decision has been made for me. 

So now that I’ve come to this quasi earth-shattering conclusion, I’m going to need some serious motivation to see it through to the end.  Though like any good procrastinator, it takes a bit to get me really fired up to model.  Enter Dice and Brush and FBroundup.  Reading ‘Dice and Brush’s’ latest article, I’ve become motivated to get some of those unfinished projects completed.  This is a blog written by Johan Mars (@rymdvofflan on Twitter) and I have to say, his artwork is inspired.  Another great article that has encouraged me to soldier on (and will most likely spawn countless new modelling projects) is Mike Sweetman’s Article: The Warhammer Fantasy Battle Warriors of Chaos Unofficial Army Roundup . Mike’s done a good deal of research here and has compiled a list of resources relating to the Warriors of Chaos.  I’m particularly fond of the Dragon Ogre Conversions and will no doubt be including some in my army soon enough (didn’t I tell you it would spawn another project?).   The third and final page I’d like to mention is that of my good friend Mark who’s just recently started a blog for his Warmahordes project entitled ‘Project Circle’.  Alredy he’s off to a good start with a number of models alreays painted and underway.  I’m proud to say that he’s been smashing through the painting using an unconventional method and the work he’s producing is impressive indeed.  Makes me wish at times I was more dedicated in getting my Legion forces completed as quickly. 

Over the course of this fortnight, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time working on three of my long-running terrain projects – a ruined building, an armoured bunker and a crashed landspeeder.  For those who’ve read my last hobby article, you will be familiar with the ruined building that I’m working on.  It has to be said that the Cities of Death terrain is some of the most impressive modular buildings GW has ever created.  The sheer number of different wall panels spread across 4 or so distinct buildings means that there is more flexibility in this kit than a yoga-practicing porn star (most likely cheaper too depending on where you live.  If you’re living in Australia however, GW’s prices certainly encourage you to give serious thought to the Porn Star).  With each of these projects, I’ve used spackle to seal any exposed foam, ensuring it won’t get eaten away by the spray paint used in the painting process.  There’s nothing worse than seeing your hard work disintegrating before your very eyes, eaten away by the propellant contained within the spray can you just used to undercoat the model.  Once the spackle was dried, I then painted PCA glue onto the base areas around each of these buildings before pouring beach sand over the top to provide a texture that can be painted over later.  I recommend painting over the based areas with a layer of watered down PVA glue to ensure that the sand or whatever basing material that you’re using remains on the terrain and not everywhere else.  One coat should be sufficient but a second coat may be necessary depending on the basing material used.  Keep in mind that a lot of the loose material that is not securely stuck to the base will come off with the brush.  The best way to deal with areas where there is a large amount of loose material is to further water down a small amount of PVA glue and gently apply it to the area so that the glue can trickly through the pile, sealing it all in place.

The bunker was a spur of the moment idea that came to me after unpacking a new toaster that I received last year.  The moulded cardboard that cushioned the item seemed to me to be the perfect shape for a reinforced bunker that may have been utilised by a Planetary Defence Force or perhaps a minor waypoint for the Adeptus Arbites.  The best part was there were two of them in the box.  With a bit of trimming and the canny use of various tank components that live in my extensive 40K bits box, my first bunker was created.

The crashed Space Marine Landspeeder was the result of my general dissatisfaction of the paint job that vehicle possessed and the fact that I hated the assembly process of the old plastic Speeders with a passion.  Grabbing together some foam core off cuts and excess polystyrene, I cobbled this piece together as a means of creating a quick and easy piece of scatter terrain that would add a bit of realism to the game and perhaps tell a bit of a story.  The speeder was taken to with a pair of pliers ripping off various components that would have been torn off during the crash before being ‘buried’ under a number of foam off cuts that acted as the various dirt etc that was dug up by the nose of the craft during the landing.  As can be seen in the pictures below, there were no survivors. 

With all the work I’ve been dedicating to getting my old terrain projects finished, I’m surprised I’ve managed to paint as much as I have.  This fortnight when I wasn’t busy slopping plaster on ever surface near and far from my workspace I was busily painting my Marauders in a bid to get the miniatures I assembled a couple of months back painted and based.  While painting these models, I’ve come to realise that while aiming to paint a set amount of points each month is a great way to ensure that you are getting an army painted and ready for the table, it sucks AND blows when you’re working on models that have a base cost of 4 points.  Even with light armour and shields, my Marauders are still only rocking in at 6 points a model, which is less than impressive considering the amount of time and effort required to paint them is no different to any of my other model in my army.  On the upside, I was able to complete the Champion I started last fortnight as well as the Standard Bearer and two of their buddies which is pretty good all things considered.  If they were Chaos Warriors, I’d be scoring 16 points a model with Command Group bonus points.  The challenge has been painting them in such as way so that they blend in with the old models (painted a couple of years ago now) and I’m pretty confident that has been achieved.  With these four out of the way, I’m that much closer to having that unit completed which is something I’m very happy with. 

Well that’s all the progress I’ve made thus far, I’m looking forward to finishing off the terrain mentioned above and as long as I can find the right tones of grey, you can bet I’ll be using a couple of spray cans to get the job done.  As always, if you have any questions or comments, tips or criticisms please let me know.  I’m always keen to hear what everyone else has to say and I’m always open to new painting / modelling techniques you may have.  Before I go, here are my stats for this fortnight:

Number of Warhammer Fantasy Units Completed: 6

Number of Hordes Units Completed: 1

Number of Points painted this fortnight:  40 (4 Marauders with LA & Shields with Standard and Champion). 

Catch you all later

Trev