Hive Tyrant... with magnetized wings!

Hive Tyrants are without a question my favorite commander units in Warhammer 40.000. Yes, that's right, not just Tyranids, but the whole 40K. Why? They are imposing, psychic yet still excelling in combat, and they have so many different weapon options, something that is becoming a rare sight in post-Primaris Warhammer. This is why decided to at least partially magnetize my own Hivefleet Leviathan Tyrant.

I actually went only with magnetizing the upper arms, so that I can provide my Tyrant with a variety of melee weapons (and wings). The venom cannon is fixed as I consider it both visually appealing and satisfying on the battlefield. With a Tyrant, shooting is only a bonus, anyway.

Magnetizing the arms is actually very easy, you simply drill a hole where the joint connections would be and place magnets inside. Only problems is with the wings, which are simply too heavy for most magnets (see more on that below).

I went with my usual Leviathan paint scheme - with Ceramite White (White Scar) basecoat, Screaming Skull undercoat, Carroburg Crimson wash and Ceramite White drybrush. The bioweapons are painted with Mephiston Red basecoat, Carroburg wash and Evil Sunz Scarlet drybrush/highlights.Carapace is basecoated black and then highlighted with multiple strokes of Xereus Purple and Genestealer Purple.

One of my favourite looks is with the Scything Talons for upper arms. Unfortunately this combination seems illegal in the 10th edition. Don't get me started on that.

 

The most impressive way to build the model is with the wings. I love the way the miniature looks with feet stamping on the ground and the wings spreading! The wings are painted with a Kislev Flesh equivalent and, of course, they are too heavy to hold on just the magnets. I've fixed them in position using short pins protruding from the wings and fitting into rather inconspicuous drilled holes above the magnets. 

For best results, I recommend starting by drilling inside the wings just behind the magnets and fixing the pins with super glue and/or green stuff. After that, then try the wings on the model and watch where the pin scratches the model. Then drill a hole there. Be careful while drilling that a proper direction is mantained.

Take a look at the pictures below to see how the pinning sytem works:

 Anyway, hope this post is helpful! Let me know if you want help or could use more pictures.

Mechs from Battletech: Introductory Box Set

In last couple of months, I've committed a heresy: I took an indefinite break from Warhammer 40K and instead embraced the first wargame I ever played back when I was a kid, Battletech.

Battletech is a pretty unique 6mm scale gaming system, an oldschool hybrid between a wargame and a boardgame played on a 32mm-hex map, with a very detailed combat system. As a friend put it, "in Battletech, you can almost see the nuts and bolts fly with every hit." The rules are almost the same as in the 1980s, which is a welcome change from all the errata and edition cycles of some other wargaming systems out there.

The first two mechs I would like to present here are from Battletech: Introductory Box Set. This small 15 USD set includes simplified rules, double-sided hex map and two classic mechs - WVR-6R Wolverine and GRF-1N Griffin. It's an ok-ish start with the universe, although I would recommend to get the large box (Battletech: A Game of Armored Combat) first and buy the Introductory Box Set as an expansion. Mostly because the simplified rules take out the most interesting elements (critical hits, heat) out of the game.

The mechs above are the ones you can find in the Introductory Box Set - Griffin on the left, Wolverine on the right. Unlike 40k, Battletech factions use rather similar units, and each faction uses dozens of different color schemes, so you can just paint your mechs in olive green or camouflage and you are good to go. I prefer to paint my mechs in colors typical for the factions in which the mechs are most common, but this is really just an artistic choice.

GRF-1N Griffin is a medium mech, agile and well-armed for long range combat. Since this mech is pretty common in nearly every faction, I've chosen to paint it in the white and blue colors of the Lyran Guards simply for the looks. The whole miniature is finely drybrushed in Leadbelcher to give it a metallic look, except the cockpit, which has been painted with varying degrees of blue (and a tiny bit of white). I plan to use this "metallic" look on most of my mechs.

 WVR-6R Wolverine is another medium mech that can be found across the whole galaxy. This time, I've chosen to paint in the colors of the Taurian Guards, as the Taurian Concordate is not only one of my favorite factions, but also the faction me and my friends are playing for in a RP campaign. The paint scheme features three colors - XV-88 brown, Mephiston red and Retributor Armour gold. As the paint scheme already features a metallic color, I've decided against doing the Leadbelcher drybrush. Like this, the gold really stands out on the miniature. The cockpit has also been done using a different technique - painting it silver, then black, and finally coating it in Ardcoat varnish, which gives a nice, almost realistic reflection to the surface.

In case you would be interested in Battletech, you might want to check out the awesome Clan Invasion Kickstarter campaign, which has Pledge Manager currently opened. The campaign has a Late Backer option, so you can still join in and get any Battletech stuff for extra-low prices! According to the Catalyst Gamelabs, the Pledge Manager will be open at least until the end of January.

More The Pyre cultists!

Just a couple of quick pictures of the rest of my Chaos Cultists. I had these painted for quite some time but never really got to taking pictures of them.

 The paintjob is nothing special, these guys were rushed so I could put them on the tabletop as soon as possible. The modelling is more interesting though - I didn't want to have any clones in the army, so each of these guys had at least a hand- (or arm-) swap done, excluding the cultist champion. It went pretty well.

The most fun model to convert was the flamer guy, who wielded a heavy stubber originally. The Pyre is known for its heavy use of flame weapons, so this conversion was a nobrainer. The flamer and backpack comes from the Cadian troops kit - a very simple yet effective kitbash. It's kinda shame Games Workshop doesn't sell all these original Cultist models, since these guys had a huge conversion potential. Oh well.

The miniature above is a Renegade Militia soldier I got for free at a gaming convention. It's a pity Forge World doesn't produce the Renegade infantry anymore, this army had lots of atmosphere. Good thing is that he goes well with the cultists, so sometimes I use it instead of one of the Champions when I want to field a 20-men sized cultists blob.

Anyways, thanks for reading and see you soon! Now back to working on Shadowspear...

The Pyre Raptors

Raptors. These models come from the Dark Vengeance era (or 6th edition) of 40K, and in regards of Chaos design, I believe it was one of the best editions: one of the reasons being the plastic models of Chaos it brought us, including the Raptors.

I remember these guys were criticized by part of the community for being too over the top, too ornamental and even too big. Looking back, I don't really get this criticism anymore. Sure, the models have plenty of detail and decoration, but they still look so much more grim than the new, supersized, comics-like Chaos models we are getting now (I'm looking at Death Guard, of course). If only Games Workshop would have given us more models with this look - especially the basic Chaos Marines and the Berzerkers, who are both atrociously old and unfortunately, will probably get replaced with Primaris-sized monstrosities.

Anyway, let's get back to Raptors. As my The Pyre warband uses only flame and melta-based weapons, they are an ideal unit for me. I've decided to equip this squad with anti-tank weapons, and went with a Power Fist on my Champion. The specialists were equipped with Meltaguns - one of them comes from a loyalist kit.

I had real fun both assembling and painting these guys, and have even more seeing them on tabletop. I really hope Games Workshop have not lost their minds and will supply us with more "regular" Space Marine and (especially) Chaos Space Marine models, although I fear we are really going to only see Primaris-sized models since now on. I hate to sound jaded, but this really feels like a stab in the back for a long-time fan and customer. Bah, maybe it's time for me to finally write an Anti-Primaris Manifesto or something.

Leviathan Raveners

Ah, Raveners, the relentless burrowers of Tyranid hivefleets. When I was looking for ways of expanding my Hivefleet Leviathan, they were among the first on the list - not because they have great rules or new models, but because of their lovely classic feel.

These guys really do look like Hydralisks from Starcraft - except with four more claws and thorax-mounted weapons! I was tempted to model these guys with hand-held devourers or spinefists, but instead went the thorax route and armed them (no pun intended) with rending claws. I really like the look of Tyranid Warriors, and these guys look like Warriors on steroids - love them!

There are some problems with the kit too, though. It's an old one, and it shows - there were quite many mould lines present, there are no real cosmetic extras included (except an extra tail), and positioning these guys can be a little bit tricky. None of the problems is too serious though, and the kit can be easily bashed with the newer Warrior kit.

Anyway, happy Hivemind Day, and thanks for reading!

WZR: Cable Marionette

I've been quite busy with 40K lately, so only little time was left for Warzone Resurrection. One model I just had to paint though, is the Cable Marionette. This cyberpunkish "cable golem" is just such a great sci-fi concept I couldn't stay away from it. That said, please excuse the rather rubish pictures - still working on my studio. I'll try to make better ones when I'll have all three fully painted.

 Warzone Resurrection models have been mostly hit or miss for me so far, with this one being a clear hit for its high level of detail, realism and atmosphere. I also like how easily can these models be used for other systems - while they fit the world of Mutant Chronicles well, you can imagine them in almost any horror sci-fi setting.

It's really easy to paint these models, as the details really do all the work for yourself. I can imagine just using a single metallic color and a shade would still give a neat result. Regarding the base, I wanted to try something thematic - with cables being an obvious choice. First I wanted to paint them in metallic color, however later I have decided for a mix of colors. I'm still undecided on the base and might go back to painting it in a single color to make the base less distracting. As always, any tips are appreciated!

The Pyre Hellbrute

It took forever and a year, but I have finally finished my Dark Vengeance Hellbrute - another addition to my starting The Pyre warband. Behold!

I absolutely love the design of this thing. From the horns to the sprouting tentacles, the Hellbrute is the epitome of Chaos as a malevolent, ever-changing force. While it's perhaps not suitable to some of the more conservative Chaos legions, it works pretty well for most warbands, and for a snap-fit model included in a starter set box, the level of detail is pretty much incredible.

Regarding the paintjob, I've based the thing white and used Troll Slayer Orange for the armour plates and Warplock Bronze for the armour edges. I decided to go with red color on the daemonic flesh and used Mephiston Red with Bloodletter highlights - I'm very happy on how the glaze made the organic parts stand out, especially in the chest area. The wet look of the tentacles has been done using Gloss varnish.

It's no big secret that the back side of this miniature is not as well-detailed as the front, especially when it comes to the huge blobs of flesh around the spine - which is, in my opinion, a very cool part of the model and at least works well as a distraction from the less detailed parts.

I haven't modified the miniature much, though one thing I really wanted to do was to add a Heavy flamer to its arm - after all, what screams The Pyre more than a Dreadnought armed with two fire-based weapons? I went with a rather simple conversion - after cutting away the chains under the left arm, I've glued on an imperial guard vehicle heavy flamer and covered it with tubes made of green stuff to give it a fused look. The result looks pretty good and works great for barbecue.

Basing has been done in the same style as the rest of my The Pyre warband - as scorched earth, though at first it seemed a little boring, so I've added a dead marine under the creature's feet (and to taunt a friend, I've chosen a Dark Angel for the victim). I really like these weird mutated feet by the way - they help to enforce the overall "living metal" feel of the miniature. I know I'm in the minority here, but I really wish these would have been kept in the Hellbrute box as an option... oh well.

One final thought - I really wish this miniature had Monstrous Creature rules instead of Walker. Afterall, it's apparently much more organic than a Dreadnought suit, and a change to MC could make an insteresting spin on the classic Dreadnought rules. However, for some odd reasons, in 40K Aliens-style walker suits and Eldar giant mecha get MC rules, while this does not. That's just classic Games Workshop game design.

Anyway, thanks for reading!

Alaitoc War Walker 2

It's been some time since I finished my first War Walker, and given how good these are in the game, it was inevitable to get second one sooner or later. So, here it is!

 

War walkers are fun (if a bit challenging) to assemble and paint. For me, this one was a good practice at painting the Alaitoc scheme, and I've learnt an important lesson as well (more on that soon). Again, I've built this one with Scatter Laser and Eldar Missile Launcher weapons as this proved to be a pretty effective combination, even though it lost the Laser Lock combo. Flyers and light vehicles beware!

 

 I had some trouble getting back the right marble pattern after such a long pause from Eldar models but luckily enough, my artistic girlfriend helped me - thanks for that! In the end I'm most satisfied with the paintjob. The canopy, however, ended up looking really bad. During the modelling process I accidently got some plastic glue onto the inner side of the canopy... Which had an immediate effect on the material transparency. The canopy is therefore much darker than on my first War Walker, which sucks... The lesson: keep plastic glue the hell away from transparent bits!
 

Still, the two models don't look so bad together. It's still hard to justify the difference in my head though. Hopefully I'll eventually find a spare canopy... Or paint a power field effect of sorts over these. Given how rare these bits are, I think I'll take a long break first.

One new thing I did for this model was painting the patterns around upper engine exhausts (or perhaps coolers?) with yellow color. It's a really nice bit of eye-candy contrasting with the dark-blue marble around it, so I've used the opportunity and repainted the part on the first model as well.

Well, that's about it. Thanks for reading, and, in case you have a comment or suggestion for the canopy problem - I'm one big ear!

Leviathan Zoanthrope

zoanthropy zo·an·thro·py (zō-ān'thrə-pē)
"A delusion that one is an animal."

Lately I've fallen in love with the Great Devourer - and one unit I particularly enjoy is the Zoanthrope. The model I own is the old finecast one; when the new ones came out, I didn't really like the changes made to them (I'm talking about both the size creep and overall spikey-ness), so I bought the finecast model when it was still available. Now I regret I haven't bought three of them, as the amount of detail on these models is incredible.

I had some trouble with the modelling part at first, though. The tail part was bent which caused the whole model to lean on one side. Luckily enough, just two hot baths were enough to make the model straight again.

 

I absolutely love the design of this beast. A giant brain floating above the animalistic hordes of gaunts works as a great representation of the Hivemind and it's psychic power. The whole thing looks like an embryo, or perhaps a sperm, which gives it a creepy, Giger-inspired look - and that's what works best for the Alien-inspired Tyranids.

The details on the head part of the miniature are truly mind-blowing, and I've tried to accent them as much as possible. In my colorscheme, I use red mostly for biomorphs and orange for less specific wet-looking details, so the brain was obviously going to be orange. The tubes connecting the mouth with the brain are usually painted white, so I've tried to do something different and gave them a red paintjob. It's such a shame the new plastic Zoanthropes are missing lovely details like this! I've given the brain and the tubes a gloss varnish layer (as I do with all biomorphs), which has increased the creepiness factor of the miniature to over 110%.

Anyway, thanks for reading! I'm terribly sorry it took me so long to make a new post. Life was wild lately - I got a new job, new home and I lost my camera, so these pictures were made with a cell phone - hopefully they look good enough. See you soon!

Bauhaus Hussars

After my short flirt with Warzone Ressurection's Cybertronic faction, I've finally decided to work on a proper army force - so I've got the Bauhaus starter set with some extras. How much sense does it make? Not much, but so doesn't life, right? Actually, the aristocratic, retro-futuristic Bauhaus Corporation has been my favorite faction of the Mutant Chronicles universe for a long time; the Kickstarter line of models did put me off though. Luckily enough, the updated version of Bauhaus looks great!

The HQ of Bauhaus is on planet Venus, which has been terraformed into a jungle world. Paradoxically enough, some of the most iconic artwork displays Venus in a snow setting, which has confused a great many of fans in the past, me included. Luckily enough, fluffwise the polar caps of Venus are a neverending battlefield against the Dark legion, so everything makes sense after all.

In fact, winter setting suits Bauhaus very well, as the corporation has been usually painted in blue or white colors. While I knew I was going to do winter basing, I've decided to go with a black-and-white scheme instead of the more traditional cyan blue. I believe the black color helps to contrast the models against the snow-covered bases. However, since blue and gold colors are connected to Bauhaus, I've used them on various small details, such as on the shoulderpads.

The bases were my first try at modelling snow, and it took a few tries to do it right. I went with the cheap option of using sodium bicarbonate (or baking soda) mixed with PVA glue and water. While my first try lead into the creation of an alien, bubblegum-like substance, after adding a good amount of water I got much better results. Still, doing this can be a horrible mess, so I'm considering getting proper modelling snow.

As you can see on the picture below, I've also tried to put the snow on the legs of the miniatures, especially on the clothing. I think the result has a nice, wet look which really helps to bring more action to the miniatures.

I really like the miniatures themselves. While the leg-body poses are defined by the kit, hands with weapons are a separate part, so there is some space for posing. The miniatures are full of small details - sometimes too small, perhaps, so one has to be very careful to thin down paints as to not overpaint any of the tiny folds on the shoulders or helmets.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this post! Ow, and sorry for the difference in picture quality, had to use a different camera this time.

Hivefleet Leviathan Carnifex

Carnifex is certainly one of the most iconic monsters of the 40K universe. Last decade or so, the Tyranid miniature range has been expanded quite a bit, though only few of the new kits match the 4th edition Carnifex box set in its modularity, style and general coolness. Obviously, this kit is a must-have for any self-respecting bug lover!

 I've decided to go with a multi-role Carnifex so I've armed it with talons, devourers and bioplasma. Note I've built the kit before the 6th edition update; my original intention was to go with crushing claws, though these sucked in the 5th edition codex, so I went with the talons. After the 6th edition update, I've learned a lesson: with GW's randomness of updates, it's for the best to just ignore the rules and go with the look you want. Though the talons are pretty cool as well, so no regrets there.

 I've worked on this little bugger for way too long; took me several months to finish it (working on and off, ofcourse). Notice the orange details on carapace. The idea was that the vents there are glowing with the bioplasma produced inside the Carnifex, though I'm not sure whether I've succeeded in that or not - even if it doesn't look 100% energetic though, it gives a cool organic feel to the creature.

One of the kit's problems is that there's not really much options for posing - except turning the head and arms, ofcourse. The bug's legs and spine are almost fixed, though. I didn't feel like experimenting here, so I tried to make a simple "advancing" pose, with the head slightly turned to give it a menacing look.

One of the coolest things about the kit is the large selection of heads. In the end, I went with the bioplasma head, though I was tempted to go with some of the others - especially the "enhanced senses" one. I wonder how hard it would be to combine the heads together in a conversion (like, giving the enhanced senses head a bioplasma jaw). Food for thought...

I've used both gloss and matte varnish on the model. Gloss varnish was used for the weapon biomorphs (talon blades, bioplasma maw and devourers) to give them a wet, slimy look and to differentiate them from the rest of the model, making them more visible. Matte was used on the carapace mostly, to enhance the chitinous look. By the way, note the devourers are not painted in red as other biomorphs, but in a mixture of grey and green - fluffwise, these biomorphs are actually worm nests consisting of rotten flesh afterall. Makes me wonder whether it would be worth it to model few worms out of green stuff here and there to make them look even more repulsive...

  

I've assembled the model on its base so I didn't have much space to experiment there. I settled on a jungle basings for my tyranids, though I didn't want to overdo it here and take away too much attention from the model itself. The plants feel good there though since they help in making the creature look like it's lumbering through the jungle... Maybe I should have used more. I've also added one of those genestealer markers on the base, to show that the tyranid infestation has already begun.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the post and the miniature. I gotta admit - I totally love it, and can't wait to get another Tyranid monstrosity! These models are so much fun to both assemble and paint. And it seems like I already got plenty of ideas for a second 'fex...