Astro 2013 Prep 2: Progress with less than a week to go.

Just a quick update. The dread is done!! Now it is on to drop pod madness. I have done some initial dry brushing on the display base and the Storm Eagle cradle. More as it gets done.

Astronomi-con 2012 Prep work

So time has run through and it became obvious to me that I would not have the Nid army I wanted for the Astro tourney this year. Something about having to power paint four monstrous creatures and about 30 termagants just did not appeal.

So I started looking at what else would be available in my collection and the Wolves caught my eye yet again. Yes again. Last year I found an interesting special character from a FW book and that image drove the army I threw together for it. 

For this year there is only one model that I have completed that would also serve as an excellent center piece model and that is my converted Space Wolf Storm Eagle (shown in earlier posts on this blog). I originally was considering using both the Eagle and my newly acquired Caestus Assault Ram, but the two vehicles alone accounts for almost half of my points. Instead I have made a list using a small termie unit being led by a rune priest in the Eagle, 2 dreads in Lucius Drop Pods, and 2 Grey Hunter squads in drop pods. I have dubbed the list the Space Wolf Falling Circus.

The list has a risk of being wiped out in turn 1. I figure that the look of the army is more important to me and besides, that just means I have more time for socializing and relaxing. Now the question of the army's display base came to the fore.

The idea I had was of the staging area on the SW ship with the squads dispersing to their pods. The Storm Eagle was the only stand out as I had no idea how to incorporate it into this base. So I settled on the idea of building as hydraulic cradle that would move the Eagle within the ship to its staging and launch areas.The piece is intended to be a part of my long desired but barely started adeptus mechanicus terrain table.The base was designed as I went and is ultimately a bunch of card stock and foam core. The cradle itself is  warped due to the "as I go" nature of its construction but still looks good enough to use and should look fine once painted. 

I have photos below of the army in progress as well as a ton of shots of the base and the cradle. I am hoping to get into the painting this week with a completion date of next weekend as the target completion date. I need time to paint the base as it is now a fairly complex build. Here are the shots:

Phase 1a: Forelimbs Revised

So I spent a lot of time planning and planning, and being too worried I would botch the job that I have let this project sit for a while. Work was also pretty intense but the break is upon me so more time is now available.

I had been pondering how the forelimbs would look in their previous incarnation, and they looked far too plain. The detail necessary would have required a whole wad of green stuff and I began to have concerns regarding how much weight this would add. So for some reason I opted to add armored scales to the limbs using plasticard (yet again). The templates are below. I also modified the concept sketch and I think I have settled on the final look I am hoping to achieve.

The rear limbs will end in a giant hoof like the Fex and Tervigon. These changes will make the beast's limbs look a lot heavier at the terminal point, but should convey a better sense of the toughness of the model and should meet my need to reduce the model's footprint to make it more useful for games.

Phase 1: Hierophant fore-limbs (leg shield)

Inspired by the Tervigon model, this is my attempt to create a platform upon which to do some sculpting to detail the fore-limbs of my Hierophant biotitan. I used plasticard (about 1.5 mm thick) and created a template to guide the appearance of these shields. I drew one side of the shield onto heavy stock card, then used that shape to design a double-sided template. This in turn was used to trace out the desired shape in plasticard. The top ridges of the fore-limbs had to be cut down to allow better contact with the leg shield. So I am now committed to a conversion job.

Here are some basic pictures of the phase one of work. The shapes are still too flat and will need to be rounded using greenstuff but I expect that these shapes will serve as  a guide. I have included shots of the double-sided template with a  ruler for anyone interested in trying this out. Be warned that gluing the plasticard to make this shape was a pain to make happen..

Hierophant ideas

As a quick note, the mega-battle ended up being a no-go for me. Work came first unfortunately but it looked like an insane game. An ork horde led by a stompa line against an entrenched IG position. Very cool indeed and I am sorry I missed it...

So a while back I picked up a hierophant biotitan from a seller on Kijiji. I love the idea of the beastie but the model is all wrong. Specifically the legs. Something that massive would not be able to walk on points. Its claws should sink into the ground with each step. So I have been pondering how to change the creature's legs and feet.

The rear legs are to go to the look of the carnifex's rear hoof-like feet. Its front limbs went through several design concepts, but the one that intrigued me the most is the set of limbs from the Tervigon kit, one of which is circled below. By the way the photo does not belong to me, is used without permission, and I do not assume any rights with regards to the image other than the right to highlight one part of it. Probably meaningless legally but I felt a need to say that. Anyway....


After the sculpting work is done for the feet, the walking pads of the titan's feet will be able to support the model's weight and will allow me to re-position the limbs to minimize the size of any base that I use. Rather than sculpting the whole leg shield out of green stuff, I have cut a shape from plasticard to serve as the basis of the leg shield, and then will layer green stuff on that to add a more organic look to it all. I am quite nervous about this as this is the most ambitious modelling project with regards to the sculpting. On the plus side weird organic components like Nid limbs are very forgiving for inexperienced sculptors (unlike the clean lines required for technologically advanced races in the game). So here is a shot of the model that is the basis of the design, as well as my latest of concept drawings of what the forelimbs should end up looking like.There is a sketch of the rear hoof as well but I wanted to add more to that particular look as it appears a bit too plain for my tastes.

Megabattle on the way!!

So I have been quite a bit more absent from the gaming side of the hobby than I have been from the painting side. And I am finding myself to be quite behind the curve when playing now with a brand new edition out to enjoy.

Last week I took a Nid list out for a spin that managed to do surprisingly well, though in fairness my opponent was a friend who brought out a weaker Guard list than he would normally field (I assume it was just to allow me to learn the game and not get too frustrated). And it is now a very different game indeed from what I am used to.

In a couple of weeks a local gaming club will be running an Apocalypse Mega-battle (10 people per side, 2000 pts each max) and it is an excellent opportunity to field my Hierodule biotitans. I still have about 700 pts to spend but I was thinking of including the Swarmlord to bolster  the biotitans, the Parasite as a unit generator, and a unit of gargoyles to accompany the Parasite and to force me to finally paint these models. They have been assembled and extensively based but have been on the shelf for a  couple of years now. So this looks like a good opportunity to get them done using an event as the impetus. Anything that drives my production of painted models right now is a good thing. This in turn increases my desire to play, which is also a good thing.

Besides....I never get to use my biotitans.

Parasite of Mortrex

Ok this one has been on the shelf for a while now. So the description of this beastie describes it as being about the size of a warrior. And I love the idea of having this creature implanting rippers in it's unfortunate victims. So it needed an ovipositor of some sort with which to implant its eggs. So in delving into the bits box I brought up a set of tyranid warriors from Advanced Space Crusade, specifically the rather large stinger-equipped abdomens. The wings were easy as I had two sets of warrior wings and no desire to field shrikes with their current rules and stats. Hormagaunt scything talons were used for the forward pairs of limbs, while the back set are the middle limbs from the termagant/hormagant torsos. This did two things:

First it broke the Nid rule of 3 pairs of limbs. Wings for nids usually count as a pair of limbs so technically this conversion has four pairs of limbs. So for any offended fluff bunnies, this is a unique tyranid organism and can deviate significantly from the Nid body plan while still looking consistent.

Second the effect is more of a creature that grasps its prey just enough to implant them, or attack with the scything talons at the front. The model has a profile that looks more like a wasp, which gives it it a sense of aggressive movement as the stinger is always pointed forward into an attack position.

I have also resolved that at some vague, undefined point that I really need to build or buy a photo booth. There are so many effects on this model and on the Swarm Lord that are washed out by my attempts to photograph them that I have a hard time closing the discrepancy between what I see vs what I post. Anyway here are the shots, such as they are: