The thunder has been broughten!

Hey fellas! After another loooooong hiatus, I've picked up the old brush again and once more started slaving at my Imperial Fists. For the more astute readers, maybe you've heard of my old Fist army I sold got into the hands of the owner of Battle Foam and now holds a hallowed place of honor in a display case in the American southwest. They've also been mentioned on 40k radio and referenced as "the mustard marines". Hmmph. How undignified.

I'm continuing my newer paint scheme of yellow which stays truer to the old character of my stalwart Imperium defenders. I've also worked on my "counts as" list, switching from an all terminator Loganwing army, to a more conservative DA deathwing setup. I'm including several LR's and a Dreadnought. Nothing fancy.

Since picking up a second job for the holidays I've also come into the proverbial clams, and plan to bring more inventory into the collection. It has become truly staggering in it's breadth and size.

Please stay tuned for more posts forthwith, and the juicy pics therein!

Here comes the rain again...

I just sold my Imperial Fists army. For 200$. Yowza.

See, I have several addictions in addition to 40k. I love Star Wars. To that point, i needed cash to buy a Mandalorian helmet. I know, huh?

More to the point, I've been working towards finishing my IF terminator force. Though I did sell my TH termies :( I still have a lot to finish.

Don't worry, I did sell the army to a good friend of mine. He needed a new force for 'Ard Boys, and he's an amazing player. I know he'll do it justice.

ILYP, OUT!

Terminators and Land Raiders

Imperial fist Terminator Squad

'nuff said.

DUST TACTICS core set review

Today I am changing gears. For a year and a half I have been extolling the virtues of yellow paint and it's application to tiny men in the service to the Holy Emperor of Mankind. Well, in my search for a suitable game to play with the kids where I work(I am a correctional officer at a juvenile facility), I stumbled over some interesting images of mech/tanks at Fantasy Flight Games, purveyors of some of the finest board games ever made. The pictures intrigued me and I looked further for clarification. I was met by some beautiful and stylish miniatures(35mm, non heroic scale). I had to have it.

I would give the core set that I purchased from FFG an 8/10. The box was well packed and designed to accept the rigors of shipping, no shifting here! The rules are concise and uncomplicated without being boring. The Infantry models were the only low point in the box. The pieces themselves were very well made, but lots of the weapons were bent. For some strange reason all the infantry pivot at the waist. Must be a European thing. The vehicles, of which you get four, are beautifully made, lots of detail and they don't simply look like tanks thrown on mechanized legs. I wish they had come unassembled however, as they had quite a bit of flash and I really enjoy putting together my own minis :) On a side note, the box also came with a DUST comic book. Yuck. It was terri-bad. Obviously translated from a foreign language. At one point it illustrates a squad of Allied Rangers being ambushed by a tank, the tank turns on its flood lights and one of the squad screams "I AM BLIND!" before being gunned down. I almost laughed out loud reading it. So in conclusion; DUST TACTICS, buy it for the rad minis, not for the atrocious comic. ILYP OUT!!

pretty friggin' nasty huh? TAKE THAT SENTINELS!!

Imperial Fist Terminator

Thar she blows! I have finished my first terminator for the Fistwing army. I'm going to go with "Fistwing" until something better comes along. :)

You can see I have given this fella the converted TH/SS I had been working on, and they came out beautifully. I also went with a different paint scheme for this IF. I have switched from a vomit brown/flesh wash ink/yellow ink to Iyanden Darksun to Bad Moon Yellow with wash of Devlan Mud. Sometimes you need to explore where the whim will take you. That and I'm running out of Yellow Ink.

I was really pleased with my restraint on not making the shadowy areas any darker, subtlety can be it's own reward, huh?

I am also proud to say I have finally figured out how to get really good writing on my figs, I dropped the Micron ink pen and took a medium stiff bristle brush witha super fine point and some Chaos Black and did some understated squiggly lines on the purity seals, and on certain points on the armor. In the shot above you can see a better detail of the scratchbuilt storm shield from my last post. Bad-ass.

I got to use micro-sol/micro-set for the first time. I had to practice with it for a few times before actual use on the mini, familiarization is very important when your using a tool or technique for the first time. Save yourself the grief and tears and PRACTICE. I like the IF symbol, and with the MS/MS, the decal look beautiful. It literally has that "painted-on look".

This is a close up of the base. Not only did I change up paint techniques, but I also tried some completely different things with the bases. No more desert bases, I took a ball of GS and flattened it out onto the termie base, took a modelling tool coated in a lubricant and did a slate/flagstone design on it. It serves to not only expand my skill, but also gives the termies some extra height because of the GS platform they stand on. See ya next time!

Scratch Built Storm Shield

That's the finished product. I'm pleased it came so close to what I had envisioned. It's not that I don't like the basic storm shield, I just felt I could give it more character.

I started by removing the buckle that connects it to a normal shield.

The main portions were of course fashioned from plasticard, the back a thicker version and the front piece was a paper thin section. My wife handled the piece last and shifted the tail-piece without my knowledge. Supposedly accidentally. Women, can't live with them, can't keep them away from your figs.

Here's the rear where I placed the buckle from the standard shield, I bent it to purpose with some rubber bands and placed the buckle inside the curve so it would reinforce and adhere well.

I then drilled some small holes down the middle and placed some miniature beads(found in a household Brita water filters' filter). I battle damaged it quite a bit in hopes of taking the eye away from the misalignment of the thin piece of plasticard. Last of all, I put a large cluster of purity seals to cap it off.