Gorkamorka - Mekboy Nuzdrar Irnfang

Meet Mekboy Nuzdrar Wozzdrak Urk Irnfang, Cheef Mekaniak to Warboss Kharlukh Klawkrushah.

I have great affection for these oldhammer orks - I love the extent of his bioniks - I imagine that’s a field he specialises in, tinkering away at new ways of “improving” injured ork war boys. Somewhere between a Mek and a Dok.

I absolutely adore the mad amount of tools he’s carrying, from mallets to bonesaw, a hand-drill, a funnel, a fork...

I don’t have a specific project in mind for him currently, although I do have a bunch of orks that I got together to play Gorkamorka, so he might make an appearance there at some point - what do you think - Morker or Gorker?

I painted this figure back in February and in the meantime Games Workshop has shown this brilliant reimagining of this classic figure! I love it and I really want to pick him up at some point!

I’ve got lots of catching up to do after a hectic couple of months of no painting (work re-opening as the Covid lockdowns ease and a serious case of Xbox-itis...). Next up are some spiders and then eventually I’ll get some pictures up from the things I’ve started for the brilliant Cursed City! Stay tuned!

Warhammer 40k - Imperial Missionary

It's difficult to express just how much I love this figure (and the rest of the Preachers and Missionaries) - the sculpting and detail is absolutely fantastic. This is one I managed to get at a reasonable price from eBay and painted him up, unconnected to any other current project - I figure that he might work well in an Imperial Guard force, or bringing the word of the Emperor to some heathens in a shantytown. 

The paint scheme was inspired by the Ayatanis from the Gaunt's Ghosts series - I'm not entirely sure now whether they actually wore green robes, or whether that was what they wore when I pictured them in my head...

Anyway, the figure was painted to look like he'd been operating on his own for a while, without much time to service his weaponry - I imagine him as a roving missionary travelling from ash waste settlement to hive sump and so on.

Thanks for reading - comments and questions are most welcome!

Jackal-Pack - Updated

As part of a relatively recent rebasing crusade I decided to revisit these miniatures from the Black Hat Miniatures Cobalt-1 range. I originally based these on 25mm slotta bases, but I decided that they would suit 30mm bases instead, due to their loping gait. It also gave me a chance to weight their bases (with 2p coins) and I also revisited the paint jobs, updating a few bits here and there and adding rust.
If you're unfamiliar with the range and interested in Rogue Trader-era Warhammer 40k, have a look at the range - lots of interesting miniatures and sculpted by Bob Naismith, so they have that Oldhammer feel!
I intend to use these in some RT-style skirmish games at some point. Thanks for looking - comments are most welcome!

Dark Eldar Raiding Force

The full Dark Eldar team - I showed the repairs to Urien a couple of days ago and these have also been rebased to suit my current style. I'm very happy with how they look - it's probably quite a nice little skirmish force for kill team-sized game - I could imagine them on a slave raid pitted against the various post-apocalyptic scavengers and survivors that I have!

I only have five of these Kaballites completed so far - the rest of the squad are basecoated and awaiting more work. 

The Wyches - the figures were painted around 5 years ago - I also took the opportunity to move all of the Dark Eldar figures to bases that have weights in the bottom as they were quite prone to falling over, being quite spindly.

Any comments or suggestions? I'm really happy with the way these now look! Seeing them makes me want to work on the others I have left over...some day!

Dark Eldar - Master Haemonculus Urien Rakarth

I had a tidy out of my wargames bits/unbuilt figures collection a few months back and stumbled across a box of mixed items that hadn't been explored since I moved from my last place to my current house - basically the last bunch of figures I painted whilst I lived there - I don't think that any of them ever made it on to the blog.

Sadly, one of them had suffered quite a painful-looking accident whilst in long-term storage.

I don't think that Finecast can really be blamed here after being in a foam-filled cardboard box for just shy of 3 years! 

Well, it was time that the little Dark Eldar force I've collected got rebased anyway - they all had the old yellow flock that I used to have on all of my bases. I had to break the join between Urien and the blood worms he travels along on, then re-pin him to them. I then covered up the join with green stuff. Whilst on with that I also transferred him to a much more suitable 30mm base, befitting an ancient and twisted pain-surgeon of the Dark Kin!

Here he is finished! Suitably blood- and gore-splattered and looking very pleased to have located his next treat! Coming up soon are the rest of the painted Dark Eldar I have, which have now also had their bases upgraded to match this. I also have a squad of metal Harlequins, the last half of a Kaballite squad and finally some Hellions to complete.

Let me know what you think of him in the comments section below!

Work in Progress - Archenemy Guards

Another work in progress project - a squad of soldiers to guard the kind of dignitaries, clerics and scholars that are dedicated to the Pantheon of Chaos in the books of Dan Abnett.

I've had this particular conversion in mind for a good long while, after gathering together some interesting bits - in particular the Bretonnian Men-at-Arms bodies and Ramshackle Games turbaned gasmask heads. I found those particular parts again recently whilst having a tidy out, when I also rediscovered the Forgeworld Renegade Militia arms - I realised  that they'd all fit together nicely! With a couple of extra bits I'd come up with a squad to use in Inqmunda and other systems - I imagine them guarding some sort of target for the Alpha Legion Kill Team (posted a couple of days back) or searching a shanty town for a Throne Agent.

More on these when I've painted lots more stuff! Comments most welcome. 

Plague Marines

I decided last week that I fancied painting something a bit different to the normal humans and fantasy figures I've been on with recently - here's what I pulled out of the "undercoated/painting in progress" drawers...

The 3 sons of Nurgle that I finished - lots of rust, verdigris and grime, my favourite things to paint!

More to go!

These Plague Marines were undercoated with Halfords grey primer, but I decided that I wanted to start them from black. I then gave everything a heavy drybrush of Tin Bitz, followed by a drybrush of Boltgun Metal in a few areas (blades, guns, emblems, shoulder pad trims etc.) and followed that up with a verdigris wash over everything. I then selected 3 to try out my planned scheme, using VMC Hull Red for their armour plates, a pinky/brown mix for the boils and other nastiness, then drybrushing, and finally rust, muck, all that good stuff! I have a good few more to go and I need to build a leader for them from the Blightkings boxed set (a wonderful set - another Christmas present!).

Dark Heresy - Titus Grendel, ex-Adeptus Arbites Detective

As mentioned in my post from a few days ago, I've started with a Dark Heresy gaming group - I rolled up my first character the other week, an ex-Adeptus Arbites Detective, now Seeker for a mysterious Inquisitor. My character is partnered with a mouthy gunslinger and a quiet Imperial Guard veteran. My character starts out with a shotgun and Arbites chest armour, but I hope to be able to pick up some more tools of the trade...

I started off the conversion by digging through my sci-fi/post-apoc bits and pieces to see what might work as a basis for the figure. I found a scout torso (perfect for the armoured torso) and I was pondering on what legs to use when I found a Warmachine Cygnar character that I'd bought a while back to turn into a post-apoc character. The trenchcoat seemed perfect and I liked the look of the knee-pads, plus he was sporting a bunch of pouches for handcuffs and the like. Brilliant! Out came the jewellers saw and he was chopped in half at the waist. I was careful to retain the belt whilst on with this. I also dug through the "sci-fi heads" bits selection and found the Sternguard head I eventually went for - mainly as it was one of the few heads that wasn't screaming or shouting...

I also found a holstered shotgun from the Space Marine Scout Bikers and a selection of Scion arms - from these I chose a pair that matched the posing well, removing the pistol/chainblade combo from one and replacing it with a Necromundan pistol hand (with stub gun, but looks like it'll work when I get a nice handcannon!) - the other hand held a sort of ceremonial staff of some sort - I removed the head of this and replaced it with one from a MaxMini shock maul (a set of which I'd bought to build some Arbites, alongside the "Space Police" heads - I may just have to build some local Enforcers for the Dark Heresy game too!). I've started sculpting the rest of his jacket to match the torso to the legs, but it's going to take another session or two to get it just right...

Any thoughts on colour scheme? I'm very happy with the look and pose of the model - it fits the idea I had in my head very well - I'm very happy with the look of a seasoned former Arbites officer...

2013 Round-Up (just 19 days late...)

Hi guys - I've been meaning to write this post for a couple of weeks now but I have only just gotten around to it! A quick recap of what I got upto in 2013 and my next post will cover my current projects and my plans going forward...

The most important part of 2013 (with regards to my blog) is that GAMES ARE BEING PLAYED! It's difficult to underestimate how good this is - I've been "back in the hobby" for 5 or so years now, but even before my break in wargaming, I rarely played (once or less a year, despite having multiple armies!). In the latter half of 2013 I played multiple games of Flying Lead and Songs of Blades and Heroes - I've been planning out games and settings for years and it was a great feeling to see my painted miniatures and terrain on the table! I even got a couple of my non-wargaming friends to start playing (my housemate and another of my best friends) and, most importantly, they kept asking for more battles!

I've actually gotten a really decent amount of figures completed this year for various different projects and I got stuck into my zomb-apoc stuff during October with Zomtober 2013 - here are a few examples of things completed this year:

Michonne and her two "camoflage" zombies - I'm very fond of her paintjob - she was a gift to myself when I'd finished half of my Studio Miniatures plastic zombie horde! Painted as part of Zomtober 2013

Chosen Space Marines of The Desolation - In The Emperor's Name

Goblins from The Hobbit - this was a lovely plastic kit! Lots of variety too. They're to be used as devolved humans in Necromunda/Space Hulk/post-apoc

Some Private Military Contractors from Empress Miniatures (sold as SAS, mine have a couple of headswaps) - these are for zomb-apoc

Wasteland Sniper - this guy is intended as a scout/herald for a new (Caesar's Legion-inspired) faction in my post-apoc. Warmachine/Hordes

Misc Studio Miniatures plastic zombies - I did enjoy painting the ones in the prison jumpsuits and the Drive-inspired one in the front! Painted as part of Zomtober 2013

A biker survivor (em4 Miniatures) and misc feral ghouls (Mantic Games plastic zombies). Painted as part of Zomtober 2013

Missing from the round-up are various different figures, an orc and goblin warband (Celtos miniatures, for my fantasy skirmish setting), 19 pirate scum (40k Chaos Cultists), 30 or so plaguebearers (plastics and kitbashes!), more zombies... A good painting year in general!

Vault 21 - Hunk, ex-Security Trooper

Hunk never did enjoy living underground. Although, he didn't really know much else, having been born and raised in Vault 21. After failing various scientific aptitude tests, Hunk was assigned a position in the security team. Unfortunately, Hunk's heavy-handed approach to handling minor infractions (and a propensity to break out the frag grenades upon sight of the smallest radroach) saw him sent off into the wasteland in order to bring back a water chip...

Hunk is a not-Gears of War COG trooper from the Reaper Chronoscope range. I liked the figure but could never quite figure out what to do with him. I'd painted him in olive green, then in dark grey, then finally decided to turn him into a Vaultie that had "appropriated" some pieces of armour from a Brotherhood of Steel member.

Comments? Questions? This is another figure painted months ago that had been languishing in the blog queue. It feels good to finally get these posted up!

Vault 21 - Hercules, Ghoul Gunslinger

Meet Hercules - the ghoulish gunslinging ex-Vaultie that can hole a bottlecap at 30 paces...

I wish Copplestone Castings would add more to the Future Wars range. There's lots of cool stuff there, but loads of space for more Fallout-inspired goodness! Herc is for my post-apoc project, but I do love multi-use miniatures - he could rather easily slot into the Dredd universe too!

Post-Apoc: Powder Gangers

A lovely figure picked up second hand from a forum - I intend to use these as an objective marker rather than a gang member. The paint-scheme was inspired by the Powder Gangers from Fallout: New Vegas. Does anyone know what range the figure is from? Nice quick paint-job (I tried to get quite a bit of variation in the browns/tans of the jackets and trousers). 

Comments? Questions? Hmm, a full gang of these might be nice...

The White Snakes Cartel

Finally, a nice group shot of the White Snakes plus their hired assassin. Time to get some games in...

White Snakes Cartel - Red Spectre, Hired Assassin

The last member of the White Snakes Cartel, a hired assassin operating under the code-name Red Spectre. 

Red Spectre was hired to "rub" the leader of a rival cartel. The target was wiped out, but was revealed to be an undercover Judge. The fallout from the death of the Judge sent the White Snakes leader his confidants into hiding in a Cursed Earth enclave. Spectre agreed to accompany them for a hefty fee, adding some long-ranged skill to the force of crims...

Red Spectre is an Infinity miniature - I'm not sure which particular faction though, can anybody help me out? The only modification to the stock model was the removal of the long braid at the back of the helmet. I love the rifle she has, in game it'd be some sort of heavy las rifle. Another miniature that could easily work in Necromunda or Firefly-esque settings.

Comments? Questions? The last few models posted have actually been finished for a few months now...actually, around 6 months come to think of it! Bloody real life/work getting in the way!

White Snakes Cartel - Thud, Cyborg Bodyguard

This gentleman is THUD, the cybernetic-organic bodyguard of Klint Gargant, leader of the White Snakes Cartel. The figure is from Reaper Miniatures' Chronoscope range.

This is actually the second time I've painted this miniature - the first time seemed to be a bit of a rush-job, then paint began chipping off rather easily. I removed the paint (alongside his boss, who was stripped at the same time) and repurposed them for this project.  

Comments? Suggestions? He's intended for the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game, wherein cyborgs have some precedent (Mean Machine Angel).

Necromundan Bestiary: Clawed Lasher (Thrullg)

I loved this miniature when I first saw the pre-release photos - it's a Thrullg from the Privateer Press Hordes range. I knew I'd have to buy it (this impulse seems to happen quite regularly...) and purchased it as soon as I could!

I gave him a standard 40k-style 40mm base as I can see him being used alongside Necromunda figures more than I can see myself playing Hordes. I would use him as a "big bad" in the Necromundan Underhive or even as a Dark Eldar Clawed Fiend. 

Comments? Suggestions? I actually used a rather luminous shade of Vallejp green whilst highlighting the figure, but that seems to have been somewhat washed out by the camera...

The Painting Queue

 Yeah, I'll be on a while.

On the plus side, plaguebearers and zombies practically paint themselves. On the downside, I still have another 42 zombies to paint after the above lot. The newly-re-released Army Painter Necrotic Flesh spray helps!

White Snakes Cartel - Sicarii

++++Justice Department - All Points Bulletin ref. 63748/BK – Addendum ++++

Also seeking for questioning – misc. Sicarii (“Daggers”) of the White Snakes Cartel. Believed to be incognito in rad-zones or possible "Cursed Earth" criminal enclave. Wanted in connection to crimes committed in Mega City One, Brit-Cit and Murphyville, not limited to:

Aggravated Assault, Aiding and Abetting, Arson, Assault, Battery, Bribery, Hab Burglary, Conspiracy to Defraud, Disorderly Conduct, Disturbing the Peace, Embezzlement, Extortion via Bodysharking, Extortion via Psyco, Fraud, Harassment, Hate Crime, Identity Theft, Kidnapping, Money Laundering, Murder, Perjury, Public Intoxication, Stimm Cultivation/Manufacturing, Stimm Possession  Stimm Trafficking or Distribution, Driving Under the Influence of Stimms, Sugar Possession, Tax Evasion, Tek Crime, Theft, Tri-D Fraud and Umpty Trafficking with intent to supply.

Sicarii can be identified by White Snakes Cartel uniform – green rain slicker w/ White Snake markings, shaven head and implant optics.

Known accomplices – lieutenant Klint Gargant, cyber-organic bodyguard Rockface, numerous hired assassins and blitzers.

Cred reward offered for information leading to the arrest/termination of target/s.

++++All Points Bulletin Ends++++

The bullet shields to accompany Klint Gargant, who was posted earlier. These miniatures are from East Riding Miniatures "Corporate Wars" range - I actually received these by accident a couple of years ago - I ordered some of the Corporate Enforcers and these guys arrived in their place. The correct minis were sent out very quickly and I was told to keep these - I never really had a place for them until recently! They fit with the bald head/long jacket of Klint. I still have another two additions to this gang to post up and then I will show the gang altogether.

Ravenwing Maul

Just a quick post - I love this studded power maul from the new Dark Angels Ravenwing Command Squad:

Brilliantly brutal! I'm planning a small Carcharadons (Space Sharks) force and this seems to fit their character perfectly! I just bits-ordered 3 of them from eBay, which should keep me going for the time being!

It looks like it's based on the Japanese Tetsubo - very cool. I may not be very into 40k anymore (it seems like they go more overboard on the gothic-ness with every new release - too many skulls spoil the broth) but I love little bits and pieces like this! I've also bits-ordered a bunch of the Ravenwing shoulder pads and their pistol holsters (which are a bit nicer than the standard ones). I'm looking forward to receiving them!

White Snakes Cartel - Klint Gargant, Crime Boss

++++Justice Department - All Points Bulletin ref. 63748/BK++++
Currently seeking for questioning - Klint Gargant, Lugarteniente (Lieutenant) of the White Snakes Cartel. Believed to be incognito in rad-zones or possible "Cursed Earth" criminal enclave. Wanted in connection to crimes committed in Mega City One, Brit-Cit and Murphyville, not limited to:
Aggravated Assault, Aiding and Abetting, Arson, Assault, Battery, Bribery, Hab Burglary, Conspiracy to Defraud, Disorderly Conduct, Disturbing the Peace, Embezzlement, Extortion via Bodysharking, Extortion via Psyco, Fraud, Harassment, Hate Crime, Identity Theft, Kidnapping, Money Laundering, Murder, Perjury, Public Intoxication, Stimm Cultivation/Manufacturing, Stimm Possession  Stimm Trafficking or Distribution, Driving Under the Influence of Stimms, Sugar Possession, Tax Evasion, Tek Crime, Theft, Tri-D Fraud and Umpty Trafficking with intent to supply.
Cred reward offered for information leading to the arrest/termination of target.
++++All Points Bulletin Ends++++

Klint is a Reaper Miniatures figure that I finished a few months back after the Mega City One Justice Department team, as the leader of a gang of crims for the Judges to hunt down. I had fun writing up the list of this upstanding gentleman's crimes - more of the gang will appear in the next week, including a genhanced bodyguard with implant weaponry, some dumb criminal thugs and a hired sniper assassin...