Not dead, just restin'

Just a quick snapshot from my workbench from a couple of weeks ago, showing what will probably be shown next...

I've been busy with work as of late, but I will get some proper updates sorted soon!

Epic Lost and the Damned Force

I recently picked up a box of Epic 40k miniatures from my parents house - another side project that I've had on the go for a while. I orginally picked up a couple of different eBay auctions just over a year ago to start a Lost and the Damned force, inspired by various blogs and plogs.


I built a couple of  test bases and I was rather happy with them, but the rest got sidelined - until this week...

Centre in the above picture is my Arch-Heretic and his retinue. The rest of the bases are bog standard beastmen/mutants. I've changed various shields here and there and modified weapons. The retinue is based on a two pence piece and the rest are on one pence pieces, to give an idea of size for those who haven't seen Epic figures before...

More bases of mutants.

Big mutants - these are minotaurs and trolls. I've swapped weapons around here quite a bit, or given them new ones from little pieces of scrap plasticard. I've also added the odd normal mutant to their bases here and there, to add to the horde feel.

The Arch-Heretic's transport, plus a couple of non-STC pattern transports originating from the beastmen's homeworld.

Non-STC standard Leman Russ equivalents.

Non-STC Leman Russ Demolisher equivalents - these are all plastic Ork battlewagons, with modified turrets and dozer blades added from various Imperial vehicles.

Hellhounds - these are brilliantly oldschool, I love the clunkiness! These are from an earlier version of Epic.

Not entirely sure what these would be used as - probably more non-STC standard Leman Russ equivalents.

Picked this up for pennies on eBay - an Ork Squiggoth. I'm going to use it in the force, I'm just not sure what as yet...

More 'stealery goodness...

Finished off a spot of painting on Saturday evening after a relatively busy day...

The next 4 Space Hulk Genestealers. Very happy with this scheme, seems to work rather well and it's also the Space Hulk classic :)

After being bullied into starting a force for Epic by various friends, these are my test miniatures, shown WIP earlier in the blog.

These are on their way for the force - old Mk1 Imperial Hellhounds, I think they fit the corrupted PDF/Renegade Forgeworld-built aesthetic of the "Leman Russes" (which are converted from the Ork battlewagons).

Next up for my 40k Chaos Marines - 5 Havocs. I'll probably add to their number with some bolter Marines for cannon fodder. These are aimed at taking on the Ork horde of my main gaming friend, I also have pretty much the same unit in my Imperial Marines.

I've also been working on a few bits and pieces tonight, but nothing particularly solid enough to post updates for. I currently have 5 Sternguard (converted from the robed Dark Angel veterans) and a power armoured Librarian using the Dark Angels special character Ezekiel - I've always loved the model and managed to pick up the figure for pennies on eBay minus his sword. I've managed to convert him up a nice fiery force weapon, from the Empire Wizard kit sprue. More on these soon - I also have a couple of other robed characters and the next 5 Sternguard awaiting paint.

In non-wargaming news, I finally managed to get out into the garden to work in the greenhouse for a while. My parents recently turned what had been a storage outhouse for all kinds of junk into a storage outhouse for their budding business, meaning the greenhouse became a place to dump all the empty plant pots. I had a slight tidy out of these, got rid of the stuff that wasn't of use anymore and managed to get some seeds sown - jalapeno chillies, mixed salad greens and lettuce to begin with. The aforementioned Orkish gaming buddy shares my love of jalapenos (and is vegetarian...boo/hiss) so they should come in handy later on in the year! At the moment I'm pondering sowing more jalapenos, need to sow a hell of a lot more lettuce, sow radishes, chop back some herbs, sow more oregano, decide what to fill my outdoor vegetable beds with... The list goes on!

I also just started watching a new TV show - V (link). It's a good ol' "invasion by aliens" story, but it's really well done, very polished and filled with great actors. The first episode was quite a "ooh, what was she in again?"-type of episode, but none the less, it's tense, well written and really is worth a watch. There are only 6 episodes out so far, and only 8 in the first season as far as I can tell - give it a go!

Comments and critique would be great, if anyone out there is listening? :)

Wargames in an Epic scale...

Well, a few of my online-friends have recently been showing me some great blogs and plogs from around the internet featuring some fantastic Epic armies. I've never been a huge fan of the scale, despite the ability to field Titans (which I've always found to be rather great, totally imposing, since getting into the hobby) and other superheavy vehicles. Browsing eBay (which has some ridiculously priced Epic out-of-production stuff) I managed to find a cheap bunch of Lost and the Damned Chaos stuff to try out...

Mutants (Beastmen) - I think these are actually quite decent with a little work, I'll be replacing or pruning their blades here and there, adding rocks to their bases - things like that, just to keep them interesting. On the subject of basing, as shown, I'll be using pennies, as I really don't think the current Epic edition basing strips fit the aesthetic of a horde army.

Big Mutants (Minotaurs and Trolls) - Managed to get a decent amount of these in the auction, but the weapons are fairly horrible on the standard models - the troll looks like he has a chicken drumstick for a weapon, and the chunky axe on the minotaur was pants. I replaced them with the black plasticard as shown. They'll get new axes and other weapons to mix it up a bit.

Traitor Leman Russes - they're supposed to be something like the the cheaper knock-off tanks produced on the less well-equipped Forgeworlds, such as Urdesh from the Gaunt's Ghosts novels. They're Ork Battlewagons (of which I got around 14 in another cheap eBay auction), which are fairly plain apart from the cutty/choppy/rolly weapons they usually have where a dozer blade would be on an Imperial tank. I removed these and cleaned them up, modified their cannon a little to make them slightly more human. They're also mounted on coins, like the rest, as I always think it looks great in Epic.

I've always preferred the Lost and the Damned to Chaos Space Marines and I'm looking forward to adding more tanks, cultists, plague zombies and traitor guardsmen to the army!

In the past couple of weeks I've been gaming more than I have in the past few years, which feels great - it's nice to actually get around to doing something with the stuff I've painted and modelled for years now! My gaming buddy and I are talking about the possibility of a Necromunda/Inquisitor/BFG campaign in the making, as well as more Space Hulk (I'm working on getting all of the Genestealers painted - they're all basecoated now, which looks nicer on the board), Blood Bowl and 40k. It's very nice to be able to explore the gaming side of the hobby as well as the hobby side of things!

Comments most welcome :) I'll be expanding on the future gaming prospects soon!