Drake's Branch new inhabitants.

I've finally gotten around to painting up some more of the wonderful Knuckleduster 32mm digital west line.  By far my favourite Old West minis I've ever purchased.  The lazer-accurate detail and semi-realistic proportions makes them a little daunting to paint.  I've got some more primed up for tonight or tomorrow.

Haagen-Dazs and his Mocha Creme.

Well...that's the nickname my group in high school gave to the Dark Reaper Phoenix Lord, Maugan Ra (with his Maugetar, the weapon he wields).

Pretty happy with the result of this one.  Wanted to invert the normal scheme (a scheme we've all seen hundreds of times for 20+ years!).

As with Karandras there is a large likelihood he'll be serving most of his time as a lowly Dark Reaper Exarch (particularly since the 2nd edition model comes with close combat weapons instead of a proper Dark Reaper weapon!).  Thanks for looking!

Space Wolves!

I've decided to put together a small Space Wolf force to oppose my Eldar. Mainly for photographs and to aid my nine year old nephew's forces when he wants to play a larger game.  (it's hard building an army on an allowance and your uncle's occasional handouts!).

It'll be identifiable as Space Wolves but absolutely zero of that modern werewolf nonsense.  It'll be a slow build most likely (five marines at a time here and there, the occasional character etc.).  Luckily Space Wolves are great in 2nd edition and it's easy to field a decent amount of points with minimal figures.

Up first is a test figure, the old Terminator Chaplain I love so much (great figure!).  I detest all-black models so he wears a black shoulder pad as his sign of office.

The old Terminators fit very nicely on Renedra 30mm bases.

As received from eBay a couple of weeks back.

I'll likely end up with at least one terminator squad so I'll have something available for Space Hulk and similar games if needed.  As I build up more 40K models I increase my basic science fiction availability as well.

Remember the 90's and White Dwarf? (added more!)

For those of you familiar with Games Workshop rulebooks and their White Dwarf hobby magazine you'll remember the wonderful set-pieces, dioramas and army displays which were featured heavily.  These were normally found on the inside of book covers or, most notably, on the back of White Dwarf magazines.

I threw together a simple template and took some pictures to inspire some of the folks on the Oldhammer Community facebook page.  I'll probably do some more as they're quite fun!

A few more I just put up:

#oldschoolgeek?

Jetbike Warlock's a Cruzin'!

I picked up the Eldar "Start Collecting" box a little while ago.  While I hadn't been at all interested in one (as I don't need any plastic infantry etc.) I was pretty happy to see it launch with a tank and jetbikes.  Guess what I didn't have purchased?  Tanks and jetbikes!

I picked up the Start Collecting box for $64 shipped.  Quite a darn good deal for four jetbike kits and a Fire Prism.  It's a large box of plastic.

Anyway, fast forward to today.  My recent burst of painting had left me almost scraping the bottom of my miniatures barrel for Eldar to paint.  I figured I'd do the Warlock on the Jetbike (I can use him as a Farseer in a pinch).  I picked the Singing Spear because...well because it's awesome.

Pretty happy with the results.  I cut down the post that they provide for the bike, drilled a hole in the 40mm renedra base and superglued it in.  This gives a larger base than is provided with the jetbike.  I have a large aversion to clear plastic flight stands so I primed the stand black for this guy.

Karandras, The Shadow Hunter

I'll be honest, I've never been a huge fan of special characters thrown about frequently in games of Warhammer 40K.  I find it oddly suspect that you can find Marneus Calgar leading every small Ultramarines detachment, and Eldrad Ulthuan zipping across the galaxy to fight everywhere.

That being said I do love some of the models and I used to have Maugan-Ra back in my earlier days (Who doesn't love a special character with a Shuriken Cannon!?).  I even have a new Maugan-Ra en route right now to use as a Dark Reaper Exarch.  Enter Karandras.  Never been a huge fan of the guy, never liked the model (or so I thought).  Upon receiving the figure used and beat up on eBay:

I was still a bit "meh".  Now, deciding to keep with my alternate colour schemes I went with a different approach.  I waited until I had a vague idea in my head and then plowed on.  Here is the result:

Suddenly I found myself really liking the figure.  I realized I was simply put off by the green paint scheme I'd always seen him in.  I simply don't like green!  I'm quite happy with the result, even though up close you can see the paint application was poor.  At table-top level the figure looks excellent.  Being large figures, the Phoenix Lord fits much better on the 30mm base than the normal 25mm as well.

Now back to my original point.  I will mostly be using him as an Exarch for the Striking Scorpions (I dislike their Exarch model immensely) so it is probably rare he'll show up as the actual Karandras himself.  But who knows.

Fear the extra...Reapers?

I had five more Dark Reapers I picked up cheap on eBay.  While it's unlikely I'll end up fielding 10 Dark Reapers at any point (that'd be 670 points not including any Exarchs!) I decided it's better to have them available.  They also don't sell for much on eBay so I figured I'd just use them.

I went for a more classic colour scheme which I'm not incredibly fond of.  I'll see if it grows on me.  If not, I'll end up re-doing these guys in the future.  Waiting on a missile launcher to finish the fifth guy for the squad.  He'll be added when it shows up.

The Craftworld Expands!

So I repainted the second dreadnought today --- having finished it yesterday and immediately putting it in the stripping solution.

Re-primed, re-painted today.

And then I finally decided on a colour scheme for my Swooping Hawks.  They're a bit...different from normal Swooping Hawk schemes but I like it and I'm happy with the unit!

I primed some Dark Reapers also, so who knows when I'll finish them!

Eldar Dreadnought!

I've recently received two beaten up, bent, badly painted Eldar dreadnoughts.  Sadly I was in such a rush to put them in the stripping solution that I didn't take any pictures!  Blast!

Regardless I've assembled both and painted both.  One then immediately went back into the stripping solution - wasn't happy with the results!  Here is the survivor.  He will be joined shortly by his friend.

I've also been sitting on some Swooping Hawks who have been primed and lightly painted...but I've been stumped on a damn paint scheme for four weeks now!  I can't for the life of me figure out how I want to apply colours.  As such they're sitting on the desk, taunting me.  Taunting me so much that I broke my own rules and painted these Dreadnoughts!

For those curious about the above model and its unique weapon placement, allow me to explain.  In 2nd edition an Eldar Dreadnought could take one heavy weapon in addition to his twin power fists and flamer/shuriken catapult (one mounted under each forearm).  By replacing one of the arms of the model with the weapon you could save 15 points of cost.  Was it worth it?  Probably not, but I like the old-school look.

You could mount the heavy weapon on a shoulder mount (covered up by a gem on this model) for an additional cost of 15 points ---- allowing you to keep all of the weapons etc. This faded out of popularity and later models almost never showed it.  This model will have this set-up while the other model will have both arms.  The weapons have been magnetized to mount to both models easily.