In the grim darkness of the far future there is no Christmas!

have a nice winter solstice guys!

Ironclad is coming!

just got back from Swiss and already at work: i put on my old plastic dreadnought the ironclad's right arm, nice isn't it? i tryied to give him a shooty pose, like he's flaming some enemies of mankind... maybe a bit overdeformed but in the grim darkness of the far future everything is possible! yeah, i know that: gotta model the extra armour, maybe someday...
by the way: have a nice holiday!

new pic added to old post

i simply wanted to tell you that i uploaded a better picture of my veteran heavy weapon team to its post, you can find it here
have a nice evening for all european guys and good day to everyone else!

Valkyrie gunners

quick update: just want to show you these guys, do you like them?

i've painted them quite over the needed because they will be hidden inside the valkyrie hull but who cares, they are nice this way. i'm particularly proud of the targeters and of course of the shoulder insignas.
i'm tired of space marines so i began completing my valkyrie and the next step will be to make it magnetized... and not only to interchange its weapons... stay tuned!

miscellaneous information

the deadline is gone but the space marines paintjob lies. the fact is that i'm currently working on my graduation thesis that is a harder work than painting toy soldiers but i gotta do if
i want to get out of university and start having a social life. yeah, engineering kills it.

so, i made some decisions:

• i'm gonna finish Scipio squad before 2009 ends (maybe)
• meanwhile, during xmas vacation i'll finish to build, magnetize and paint my valkyrie (i got some Bretonnian decals that fit perfectly!)
• eat as much as i can
• party as much as i can
• ironclad arm is en route from USA. i'll paint the dreadnought asap!
• gotta finish chaplain + termies
• every other project is put in stadby for now.

+++++ end of transmission +++++

:-)

how to customize a Leman Russ #2: turret

the Odessa X pattern turret is a quite simple scratchbuiding job... step 1: think a template (or at least steal one). personally i made both things, i've stolen one simplyfing it. step 2: build it: i needed only some glue and 1mm thick plasticard and this is the result!

writing the measures is a nice thing to do if you wanna avoid mistakes!

rear view of the diamond-shaped turret

another nice thing to do: try many ways of putting pieces of equipment on the turret with some adhesive putty

when you are happy with it, it's time to glue! bear in mind what you wanna paint (insignas, numbers...)

in order to have a nice rotation of the turret, the best and simpliest thing to do is make a cross with plasticard, obviously of the same dimension of the circle in the top part of the hull and fill the grooves of the hole (that hold the hooks of the original turret) with milliput.

after this, simply glue the gun one the turret and you're done!

quick map update

well, i added some hive hexagons to my map. the question is: should i group them in the centre of the planet (representing a centralized urbanization) or is it more realistic to scatter them on the surface? i chose the 2nd. the hive tiles are simply pics of Planetary empires found on GW site, cut down with photoshop and pasted on the grid.
also i added o bit of numbers to identify the various tiles so when a player will declare a move it will be pretty simple to understand where i wanna go. by the way those number are still provisional. for the hives i guess i'll use names (like "xxx city" or "yyy hold") instead of numbers.

last but not least: in order to add a bit of taste to the game i think i'll include some extra rules like Planetary empires stratagem cards but, instead of cards, we'll use tables: rolling on them will bring some result, but i'm still working on that.

no one needs planetary empires...

...if you have this DIY 40k map.
well, in reality Planetary Empires seems to be a quite nice product but too expensive, so i made this map for our upcoming campaign. it will be uploaded on a dedicated blog and manually updated after every game. nice, isn't it?
i must add some counters for the rules and for the representation of the hive. the map was made with Greenfish Relief Map Generator 1.4 and the hexagonal tiles are taken from Going on Campaign blog thank you guys!

map based campaign

since i'm tired of competitive powerplay i've planned some rules for a 40k campaign: i just wanna sit back and relax while playing my favourite tabletop game. the ideas are:

• use a hexagon-divided map: this will be made with photoshop and uploaded somewhere in order to be able to update it through a blog: every player will declare weekly his move dropping a comment
• terrain is divided in Urban and Field, so we might use some Cities of Death rules. in addition to this some Field hexagons are designated to be Core terrain for the race that starts the campaign from there (Core Terrain grants 500 pts to be spent in the armylist planning), others are Aerocamp hexagons (allow to replace losses and to change armylist whenever a player wants, a sort of reinforcements gateway). every player has 3 Core & 1 Aerocamp. obviously if these are lost things get difficult. some Urban hexagons might have CoD stratagems but i'm not sure.
  
• every conquered zone (hexagon) grants some points to be spent, as wrote above: Core 500 (very rare), Field 100. the maximum amount of fieldable points is 2000 and of course it is possible to have unbalanced battles (maybe this can be one of many roads to victory).
• players will be 4: Eldar (Kaelis fleet), Space Marines (Ultramarines and Black Templars), Planetary Defence Force (PDF).
• the PDF can be "conquered". in order to do this the wishing player must move in the PDF's Fortress hexagon and make a check: roll a D6, on 4+ the invading commander manages to convince the PDF commander that he's on the right side. from now PDF player must act as he's told by his conqueror. if the test gives a 1,2 or 3 then a normal battle must take place: if PDF wins then it still preserves his independence, if it loses then is conquered as explained above.
• MISSIONS: always casual deployment
  Urban: always KP game
  Field: always Seize Ground game
  Aerocamp & Core: always Capture & Control game
  if the Battle Missions book comes out i'll probably change something and add special missions.
• VICTORY CONDITIONS: control the whole Hive (8 Urban hexagons) or wipe out every opponent by conquering every hexagon belonging to an enemy

suggestions?

i'm not (yet) dead!

it's been a while since the last update, sorry guys!
in these 9 days of no news i'm working on my last 10 men tactical squad, Scipio. above there is a member of that squad: squad commander Quintus! obviously there are many little details to be done, like the highlight on the laurel... as many may have seen the head is a little kitbash: it is taken from WHFB empire cavalry (thank you Orlando). the bolter scheme reminds me Necromunda... or a bee, but i don't care :-) do you like it? the picture is pretty sh*tty i know, that's not my fault but weather's

camo scheme compendium

i'm struggling to understand which camo scheme i really want for my imperial guard and its attached squads of allies so i thought it would be good to make a compendium about that. this is the first part, stolen from many citadel sources, next step is to list every pattern (stripes, poligons...) and then some combinations...

Fantasy Monday #2: Battle Masters Chaos Warrior

a little break from Ultramarines painting, hope you like it. this is a chaos warrior from Battle Masters tabletop game. the first time i painted this guy (1993 circa) i used humbrol enamels, needless to say it sucked. so i stripped paint of with some degreaser and repainted it with the same colour scheme i wanted when i was just a kid and this is the result. i painted the halberd in that way to show it is magical, instead of choosing a flat steel colour. about the photo shooting tecnique: the one above has been taken with the flash, instead the following one has been taken without the flash

which one is better in your opinion?

Librarian's banner

the old metal terminators were pretty static but the good thing about them was that they had a big banner pole so, as i like to paint banners, i'm pretty happy about that. my librarian, blessed with terminator armours, is kinda veteran so i painted a banner in order to show this. his name is Commodus, so i wrote it on the book and combined the tipical heraldry of librarians with the chapter's icon. in order to show his supernatural power i painted upside down flames and lightning bolts that is a nonsense as is never present in nature. pretty silly, i know :-) but the important thing is that this banner must look old school!

Oldschool terminator librarian (aka how to enhance an ugly miniature)

do you remember the dear old librarian in terminator armour? well, let's say this: it sucks. but i have to field him and i don't want to waste money in the new miniature (that, by the way, is marvellous). so i've got to make him a little nicer for the upcoming tournament.

first of all, since back in the days it was sold with the 20mm slottabase, i made for him a scenic 40mm base, urban themed. i just glued a small pipe, a bit of polystyrene that represents a broken block of concrete with some tiled plasticard and some skeletons bits. then i glued the guy over the base and made for him the mandatory piece of wargear you really can't go without:
the storm shield. i used a piece of 1mm thick plasticard (cut with random dimension) and filed it trying to model a nose cone shape, then, with the help of a round pen i pushed it on the cylindrical shape of the pen in order to achieve the typical rounded shape of the shield (dunno if i made it to explain myself), as you know a flat shield would be really ugly-looking. then i added some bits and the usual rivets and this is the result, do you like it? i think it has a believable pose, he simply walks keeping guard up, ready to smash the axe over the enemy's head.
yeah, i know, today my english is worst then ever.

PS: the shield arm is interchangeable, i think i'll magnetize it

more on the dreadnought

so, i made some thoughts about what's better for my purposes between classic dreadnought and ironclad. the task is pretty simple: i gotta thrash some black templars that regularly kill pretty easily my ultras. here we go:

CLASSIC: 105 points for av12, dreadnought close combat weapon and multimelta. cheap and nice. broad weapons selection, far better than iroclad but vulnerable to lascannons and of course melta weapons. about the options:

• replace storm bolter with heavy flamer is almost always a good idea

replace multimelta with:

• twin linked heavy flamer is a bad idea
  
• twin linked heavy bolter worse idea
  
• twin linked autocannon is perhaps good but i don't like it (autocannon has an imperial guard taste for me)
  
• plasma cannon or assault cannon is better than the previous option, imo, anyway amusing
  
• twin linked lascannon pretty good, but bloody expensive!
• replace close combat weapon with twin linked autocannon or missile launcher... well, it's always nice to have a mobile shooting platform, like the Mortis pattern (twin linked lascannon & missile launcher) but if you are not in desperate need of firepower, well... you should avoid.
  
• Take extra armour... well i'd dare say always, as a dreadnought in close combat is always a pain in the ass (for your opponent) and extra armour allows to charge in close combat even if you reported a "stunned" on the damage table

IRONCLAD: 135 points for av13, dreadnought close combat weapon with storm bolter, seismic hammer with meltagun (so it has 4 attacks while charging instead of 3) and extra armour. less cheap but nicer. and never understimate the "move through cover" ability. a lot less vulnerable to lascannons but still fearful of melta weapons. about the options:

• replace storm bolter with heavy flamer is as good as with the classic
  
• replace melta gun with heavy flamer is also good (twin heavy flamer fun against troops holding objectives) but you risk overkill that is never a good thing when you are in the middle of the battlefield provided it isn't the last turn
  
• replace combat weapon with hurricane bolters... don't even think about that
  
• replace seismic hammer with chainfist: no, because it is almost always useless to roll 2d6 for penetration when you have strength 10. i wonder if the chainfist makes you to attack last
  
• take up to 2 hunter killer missiles is overpriced, so no.
• take ironclad assault launchers don't like because enemy power fists will hit last anyway, so no.

it's pretty clear to see that Ironclad is the most suitable for some close combat killing, especially when you gotta crush all those marshalls out there!

dreadnought anyone?

let's talk about dreadnoughts: the classic, the venerable and the ironclad.

personally i do like only the first one: the second is too expensive, the third is an awful miniature, if i will field it i'll certainly convert a classic one (i own the metal one and the plastic one) instead of buying a new plastic ironclad.

my personal two cents: i find myself in the embarrassing situation of losing lots of space marines squads due to some hateful black templars crusades so i said myself: "let's go armour, those bastards can't pierce anything heavier than armour 10... only the power fist (2 attacks charging) can be a problem". in this case armour 13 of the ironclad can be of some help. also a second close combat weapon might be useful. obviously the tactic is to keep the dreadnought ready for countercharge the crusade squad or even bash the land raider that transports them with the close combat weapon.

theoretically, it can work out. but what if i play against other enemies? the problem would rise if i have to play a game against a slower army, like tau or imperial guard... i guess the dreadnought, without a drop pod would be useless... but i hate drop pods.

so? please help me!

imperial guard progress so far

in order to succesfully assemble and paint my imperial guard army i realized this sort of diagram. the idea is stolen from a blog of the community, don't remember the name: if you are the creator please let me know

Tactical squad Traianus

another tactical squad from my Ultramarines army: armed with plasma weapons, Traianus tactical squad usually clears the way for the other, more mobile, battle brothers. other times, when a hard resistance is required, searches the battlefield for heavy armoured enemies and obliterate them.it is the 4th squadron from the 2nd Ultramarines company.

this is Traianus, the sergeant, classic 1999 miniature: veteran sergeant from the command squad box, one of the first new space marines metal miniatures.

every marine that wears not the helmet bears it instead at the belt, i swear!

just take a look!

three marines: they are all equipped with the standard bolter, the one on left shows on his left kneepad the company designation, the center one was kitbashed with the sergeant bare head from devastators kit. every marine is codex-respectful, i mean: they all bear combat knife, grenades and bolt pistol.

battle brother with plasma cannon: metal model back from 3rd edition range. this guy boasts an impressive killcount! head from captain sprue.

squad commander and plasma gunner (from armour through ages). we already talked about this guys here. i added an extra chapter marking on squad commander kneepad.

more guys, not that much to say about them.

i hate how decals get curled when they get dry so i paint chapter heraldry by myself. yeah, it is a little difficult but i think it is worth the effort.

so, as i said, i paint every U on every shoulderpad if it isn't already sculpted. neat, isn't it?

of course i paint also the tactical designation, the only decal i use is the roman numeral.

do you like them? what about the golden yellow trim? do you prefere the shining gold instead? personally, it makes me puke.

the hobby so far

just a bit of service information:

• as many of you may have seen: this monday there wasn't any Fantasy Monday post. the fact is that i gotta paint my whole Ultramarines army for a tournament that will take place on december 22nd so the fantasy posting is interrupted until the job is done. maybe, i'm not sure at all, there will be ONE posting before de Ultras deadline.
• the poll says i shouldn't waste points on heavy stubbers, with a slight advantage on the second option: put them on the demolisher. well i guess i'll keep these two options in mind in order to fit both solutions from time to time.
• i'll post asap the pics of Ultras Traianus squad: yesterday i put some decals on their armours so they are ready for the battlefield
• i've started to paint Terminators: a dream comes finally true.
• the demolisher conversion goes on: i'll soon show you some new concept drawings or maybe the tutorial for the brand new Odessa X pattern Leman Russ turret.
• Space Hulk is addicting: Teo and me got a full week end play and we're quite satisfied. expect articles about this stuff.

land speeder mkIII

this is the 2nd land speeder of my squadron, armed in the same way as the previous. plain classic plastic land speeder, bought just when it came out in 1998, my very first vehicle. as you can imagine i removed the old paint and repainted in a decent way.

dunno why i got this ugly yellowish light. ah, the checker pattern on the flaps is hand made, no crappy decals.

things to be proud part II (above): the targeting gems
only one thing: it is too plain for my, have you got any suggestion?

PS: oh, gosh i just realized i forgot to paint the rail of the cannon and the gem on the top rear flap! i'll get rid of this mistake asap!

812nd cadian "hellmarchers" concept

i mentioned this fictional regiment before, precisely here. since it will be part of our setting i guess it would be nice to include in an imperial guard army at least 1 squad of survivors from the original 812nd, just for background sake. i've imagined them as a regiment of rapid deployement guys, faster than standard cadian shock troopers, inspired by ww2 british "red devils" paratroopers. it would be nice to include some bullpup lasguns but forgeworld's are bloody expensive so i guess i'm gonna convert some from standard lasguns. opinions?

old school land speeder mkII

this is an old model that i bought used. pretty nice but a real pain in the ass to build up and paint (oh gosh, can i write ass on my own blog?) since it is a whole metal kit so it needs a lot of green stuff to stick together and you gotta paint every piece separately if you want a decent result.
ultramarine blue was painted in the usual way (over a black basecoat):
1) regal blue basecoat
2) heavy drybrush with ultramarines blue
3) light drybrush with shadow grey (1st highlight)
4) light drybrush with space wolves grey, only on edges (2nd highlight)


then i painted the pilot like the sergeant of the squadron, his name's Lucius, and i gave him a shield, just to display the army badge. there's not that much to say about the gunner... just a plain space marine manning an heavy flamer.


above, the targeting gem: things to be proud of. any suggestion on how to enhance this model?
what about you? do you like old school models? do you prefere metal or plastic?

[poll] where should i put a heavy stubber?

todays dilemma: i've got only 1 heavy stubber and i don't wanna buy another. should i put that upgrade on the chimera (with heavy bolter and multilaser turret) or on a demolisher (with hull lascannon and no sponson)? both tanks are meant to move almost all the time but of course with different tasks. maybe it would be better to give it to the demolisher because the chimera is more likely to boost 12", thing that a demolisher wont do for a number of reasons... your opinion? please leave your vote on the top right box! thanks!

PS: if you have any suggestions please drop a comment!

Fantasy Monday #1: Heroquest Chaos Warrior

today, november 2nd 2009, begins Fantasy Monday post series. as the name tells every monday i'll post some fantasy vintage miniature painted by me, just to break the sci-fi posting that can be a little boring if kept costant.

this monday i'll show you this Heroquest chaos warrior: it is painted in a quite unusual scheme: for the armour i used tin bitz highlighed with brazen brass on black basecoat. then the insignas and the cloth has been painted with an undercoat of regal blue and a highlight of enchanted blue. i wanted to paint the axe like a magical frost axe but soon i realized that the blue layers were too dark so i imagine this like a generic magical axe. the leather of the glove and the boots was painted black and softly highlighed with german grey because the classic brown leather would not suit the yellowish armour. the base has been painted with a dungeonlike stone blocks pattern and then glued with some flock in order to represent the musk of the humid enviroment.
do you like it?