Clearing the table...(some more!)

Again, in the desire to clear stuff off my table and starting cleaning up fringe projects and stuff that's been sitting idle for months/years, I knocked out the following small terrain bits.

One is a slightly dry-brushed boat which was too dark to begin with.  Then I completed two small 4-5 space bridges for use with my dungeon project, and two "tunnel" entrances for use with Shoot N' Skedaddle (they'll be adorned with some grass tufts when they show up in the mail!).

Simple and unexciting.  Breath of fresh air though getting some stuff out of "that" corner of my painting table.

And a mechanic shall lead them!

Continuing with my quasi-Mentor Legion fellas, I decided to bash up a terminator for fun.

Going with the older fluff from the Mentor Legion, I decided to add some Mechanicus flair to the unit.  In the ole' fluff, the Mentor Legion serve as a test bed for new weapons and technology.  They work out of a secret home-world, known only to the highest tech priests of the Mechanicus.

As such, I've decided that the Mentor Legion have officers/agents from the Mechanicus added to the Chapter.  Why not?  Seems fun.  Makes sense for those who exist to test weapons and tech.

Here is a kit-bash for ya: (please ignore the legs, they were ruined in a dip accident and I can't figure out a way to save them!)

Modern terminator body with Horus Heresy era arms/shoulders, and a Mechanicus head. 

First Space Marines in 20 years!

Like most people in my age, I stumbled into wargaming through games like Hero Quest, Battlemaster and eventually 40K.  I picked up some packs of cool looking figures when I was maybe 12-13.  They turned out to be Space Marines.

That led to 14 years of gaming 40K (where I actually ended up fielding Eldar).

When Betrayal at Calth popped up I was immediately intrigued.  I have no interest in 40K but I enjoy the fluff and I loved the Horus Heresy stuff.  I picked up a box in the off chance I wanted do something with it (play another game using the models etc.)

In my head I immediately jumped back to Mentor Legion, discovered in an old White Dwarf I picked up at a used book store when I was a kid.  Loved the paint scheme, loved the idea (veteran cadre, testers of all new military equipment, etc.).  Not a normal Chapter by any stretch of the imagination.

I found some MkVI beakie heads and ordered up some fan-made jetpacks from Spellcrow in Poland (easy to find and purchase via ebay).

This is the end result.  Possibly more coming in the future depending on how far I want to go with this stuff.  I can see doing a few more squads and characters, maybe some terminators etc.

Now, for the purists...yes, none of it technically matches up.  I wanted retro-beakie jump marines without spending a ton and this is the result:

Clearing the table...slowly.

I managed to paint up some stuff yesterday.  I'm trying to clean up little bits and pieces as I may need them in my soon-to-be (at least that's what I said 12 years ago) dungeon crawl game.

I threw together a Thief from some Frostgrave bits I acquired in a sprue-trade.  I painted up an Otherworld pack mule which had been sitting on my table primed for...nigh a year.  I used some Perry foot knights to make a couple of armored skeletons (may do more of those later).

Painter's block...damned Ratmen.

Finally got over my hesitation to paint the rest of my simple dozen ratmen (Skaven with some spikes and icons removed and given wicker shields).  Just really didn't enjoy painting these guys at all.  They turned out fine and I'm glad to have them done...hoping this breaks my painter's block as of late.