For over 100 years Boing Union Dynamic has produce attack craft for the defense of North America and the free world. That's why we are proud to present the Loki anti-gravity attack craft. Utilizing the latest in anti-gravity technology, but the proven effectiveness of a classic airframe, the Loki integrates the best of the new and the old. It's swivel mounted APE chain gun and two DART missile launchers integrated with the most advanced sensor package ever devised for an aircraft of its kind ensure dead accuracy in any condition, day or night.

Loki-we made it beautiful, because it's the last thing the enemy will see!

Tags: Miniatures Vor Union

Latest batch off of the gaming table.  First up is a Reaper Warlord figure that I converted from a fantasy figure to an acolyte for 40k/Dark Heresy.  I cut off a horn on back and added a bag with a lasrifle in it and put a pistol in its hand.  It has a warhammer which is very appropriate for Dark Heresy.  This figure could be a priest, an adept of some kind or even a psyker.

 

Next to him is my take on Reaper’s Chronoscape Nick Stone.  This is a great figure.  I was inspired by Cyborg Trucker’s interpretation.  So much so that I had to go in a different direction so that mine was not a cheap copy.  I wanted something that was ‘tactical’ but not like my usual paint schemes.  I am pretty satisfied with the result overall.  You can't see them very well but I also added some chest pouches to nick.  I figure he'd want to keep his wallet there or something.  That and I had some putty left over and didn't want it to got to waste.  If nothing else it was practice which I need badly.

 

Next up is my Neo-Soviet mutant handler.  Nothing special.  Unless you are a mutant of course.

 

This is my conversion of the Neo-Soviet cyborg Growler Irontusk.  This fig involved some serious cutting and grinding down and then some very frustrating putty work.  It’s smaller than what it represents (although it is on a 40mm base) but it gets the point across.

Tags: Miniatures Vor Reaper Warlord Chronoscape Dark Heresy

Warlord Solon Goldsun says he should be our party’s leader due to his experience and racial benefits, but let’s take a closer look.  Solon is a half-elf from the “southern regions” but is unclear about which province.  That’s because the southern provinces frequently trade with the Drow.  The Drow.  Just exactly what kind of elf is he half?  Warlord Goldsun also uses his experience at the Temple of the Gates of Darkness to show how his bold leadership saved the day and led his previous party to adventure, riches, and experience points.  What had does not tell you is that this was his second party-his first party was slaughtered and had only one survivor, him.  Warlord Goldsun also talks about equitable distribution of magic items and gold.  If that’s true, how come he always winds up with the bonus weapons and armor and the rest of the party has to make to with the occasional potion or second-rate magic item.  Links with the Drow.  A party left for dead.  Hoarding the best treasures for himself.  Does this sound like someone you want leading your party in the Expedition to the Scythed Hills? 
Me either. 

Paid for by the campaign for Warlord Darius Blackmane for party leader.

Tags: Silliness D&D

All in all it's been a productive month.

Tags: Miniatures Vor NeoSoviet

Tags: Vor Union Miniatures

Well, my game room is still in complete disarray but the painting bug finally overcame me and I completed the Contagion Colossus.  This guy was a real trooper-I can’t count how many times during the move he got dropped and I had to re-attach parts-fitting for what is essentially a rotting Praetorian Behemoth but still.  I think in the mean time I’m going to take a brief hiatus from my Warzone stuff and start in on the uncountable multitude of Vor figures that I’ve picked up over the last month starting with the Union.  Once I get them out of my system I hope to do up my Neo-Soviets, then Growlers.  Then I’ll probably to back to Warzone and complete my Dark Legion cleanup before tackling Cybertronic.  Oh yeah, and I should probably get around to organizing that darn room!

Tags: Moving Miniatures Warzone Vor

 

So the movers came.  Every move has mysteries.  How is half of a toddler bed missing?  Where did these screws go?  Why, dear God why did they pack dumbbells in the same box as my FREAKING SCRATCHBUILT THUNDERHAWK GUNSHIP!?!?!?!?!

 

The Arvizo pattern T-hawk (pre-damage pictures available in my gallery) in question came away with two severed landing gear and a wing being completely broken off.  In the end, it is repairable but the emotional scars will follow for a lifetime. 

 

I have not had a chance to open the other boxes so expect the death toll to rise in the coming days.

Tags: Miniatures Moving 40k

This is my take on the Contagion Colossus; it is a Praetorian Behemoth that has come down with a bad case of the plague.  The figure never made it into production and so I used the Praetorian Behemoth and a lot of putty and wire and minor injuries to create the thing.  I can’t wait to finalize some details on it and get it painted up.

Some useless stats on its construction:
Jewler's saw blades broken-8 (a new personal record)
Drill bits broken-2
Putty used-4 ounces
Pinched fingers-1 (a new type of injury for converting)
Lengths of wire/paperclips used for pinning-three inches
Number of plastic forks used-2

It still needs the symbol of Demnogonis on top where the old Algeroth symbol sat, and maybe some final putty work here and there.  I debated making gouges in the (deadly if breathed in) resin but decided to put putty over it and gouge that instead.  Won't really know the final effect until it's painted.  Once again I really stretched my puttying skills with this (and it shows unfortunately).  I will be the first to admit it does not hold a candle to the work of the master (Thom Talamari-his is on page 460 of the UWZ rulebook) but as the only other known one in existence I'm pleased with it.  Strangely I also feel a cold coming on for some reason...

Tags: Warzone Miniatures

Another productive painting week.  I knocked out thirteen  Warzone Screaming Legionnaires, two converted Tekron Warmasters, and a Zenethian Soulslayer, brining this months total up to, uh…carry the one…sixteen figs.

 

The Screaming Legionnaires are not my most favorite figs.  This is my third squad of these guys and I actually pit in a little move effort this time than I did on the first two squads.  The big problem with these figs is that the figures were sold in packs of four with one out of four being a heavy weapons trooper.  In the latest version of the rules you can only have one HW per squad of 8-12.  In this group I have five, so I converted four into regular troopers.

 

The Zenethian is their squad leader and is also unremarkable as far as painting was concerned.

 

The Tekron Warmasters were a challenge and stretched my puttying skills.  I took the top body of the old Tekron figure and mounted it on the legs from a Robogear Spider.  I had to cut the joints off of the Spider chassis, glue them to a round piece of plasticard, then glue that to the bottom of the torso.  I then puttied the joining area up to hide the ugly and give it a dark technology feel, added the legs and painted the fig.   The torse had had the wrench removed, and I sculpted masks over the faces to hide the silly-looking rolling tongues.  For the tentacles, I used guitar wire and scratch-built claws and then pinned the wire to the claws then drilled holes in the torso for the wires to go in. 

 

I have uploaded these to my galley (pending approval) along with some pictures of some buildings I did a few years back.

 

Enjoy!

*edit* Because for some people the mouse click over to my gallery was too difficult:

Since I can only post one image at a time (or until I figure out how it's done) I'll direct you all to the previously mentioned gallery for the rest.

Tags: Warzone Miniatures

Don't let the commercials and endless tie-ins fool you.

It was a fantastic movie.  Frankly, one of the better Kung Fu movies I've seen in a while.  Don't let the fact that it is a CGI animal movie turn you off. 

 

Tags: Movies

Rounding out the month of May I will knocked out two great figures from Hasslefree Miniatures, five (now defunct) Tactical Araktons from Void, and a Razide.  I also did up some barrels I’ve had sitting round for some time and I’m about halfway through a load of Screaming Legionnaires.  I also converted some Tekrons to Tekron Warmasters.  

 

The Hasslefree figs are for my Innocent Bystander collection I’m trying to build.  I picked the Lab Technician and Wolsey to start with.  Both came out nicely.  Wolsey and several other figs bear a suspicious resemblance to a bunch of snoopy kids (I’m waiting for the dog to be released) so I’ll be painting them as such.  Hasslefree has a bunch of contemporary/near future figs that fit my exacting (snobbish) standards for figs (there is a world of crappy 25-28mm out there you have to admit).  Once I clear out Hasslefree, Heresy has a few figs that look promising as well.  My ultimate goal is to have enough to fill a city street where a firefight breaks out; I wanted something more visually appealing than a bunch of tokens.  Yes I am a snob about this sort of thing.

 

The Tactical Araktons are for Warzone.  I’m using them for elite Neronian Legionnaires and their Koraline growth also doubles for Dark Technology mutations/armor.  I think they would also do nicely as figs for Alpha Omega.

 

The Razide is a standard Razide.  This sculpt has been done several times and in my humble opinion this one was the best of the series.  It best captured the feel of the concept art.  I hope my paint job is worthy.

 

The Tekron Warmasters were a fun conversion.  I did two hoping to sell/trade at least one but my takers have been limited so far.  The are pedestrian in quality (I have seen what is out there in hard-core sculpting land, especially Games Workshop fans, and I know my place is on the lowest rung of the conversions totem pole).

 

I’m not sure if the barrels count as figures or not (okay not really) but they make great terrain for almost any modern or scifi scenario.

 

I would have liked to finish the screamers but this weekend I’m off to Virginia to find a house so wish me luck.  Next on the docket is to assembled some Landsraad Troopers from the Cyclopes Forge Lost Worlds Line for a friend of mine and maybe finally get started on a Plague Behemoth conversion.

Tags: Warzone Alpha_Omega Cyclopes_Forge Painting Miniatures

Pretty much had two highlights to my day.  I ran the "Wounded Warriors Run" at Camp Lejeune today.  Like an idiot I signed up for the 10K run (about 6.4 miles).  I usually run about 4 miles twice a week or so depending on how my legs feel.  I certainly felt every extra inch.  I had plan to run an extra mile on Thursday to get up to speed but never got around to it.  I took it easy (not that I had a lot to give in the first place) and finished in just under an hour.  A lousy time for the most part but not bad for a personal goal.  Still-not as stupid as the time I ran the Army Anniversary 10 mile run with no preparation whatsoever.

Second highlight was catching Chronicles of Narnia Prince Caspian.  The first was fairly true to the book.  This time they deviated so far that I can't even keep track of where they went.  Overall it was a good movie but this distracted me so much I wasn't able to enjoy it like I should have.  Kind of in the same way Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban didn't mention that his father's form was a stag making that whole "I saw my father" subplot confusing.  Going back to Narnia, I will say that Reeacheep was exactly as I pictured him.  He makes Stuart Little look like a complete chump and had the best body count in the entire movie.

Tonight I'll finish off my latest (small) batch of painting projects, including Project X, and prepare it for it's final state.

Tags: Movies

Finally finished off the last of my Mishima figures.  That brings this month's paint total up to....hmm....it's a new month...25.  Darn.  I was hoping for more.  On the bright side my Mishima army is now 100% painted.  Because I am moving in a month or so I don't want to start any long-term projects that can't stop and go so I am going to knock out Project X (I found a way around waiting for the figures/parts I ordered to arrive)  and convert some Tekrons into Tekron Warmasters.  About 3% of you in the reading audience understand what that means but I'll try to post pics of the work in progress and what the final product looks like. 

The thing is, I'm an above average painter in the sense that most people think they have above average intelligence.  I've lots of skill, but I don't have the talent that so many out there have.  My figs are good-looking for tabletop play and my conversions are usually solid and fit the bill nicely (you know what you are supposed to be looking at) but I will never win a Golden Demon award.  Frankly, I've come to accept that.  It allows me to appreciate my work in the context of what is is and although I'm jealous of my betters, I also can appreciate their work and be inspired by it in a positive way.

Tags: Miniatures Warzone

I was hoping to finish off my Mishima army last night but just couldn't squeeze out the last few details and get a decent night's sleep.  I can knock them out tonight and base, photo, and coat the last of the figs tonight if all goes well.

In the mean time, I'm sort of stuck between projects.  I'm waiting for some stuff I ordered from Hasslefree Miniatures to arrive (it takes a while to get across the pond unfortunately) to kick off what I am referring to as Project X to keep it secret from certain individuals for now.  I suppose I can start in on a couple other projects in the mean time but I was really jazzed about this project and I hate to lose the momentum-it always takes forever to get spun up again.

Tags: Miniatures

It’s been an interesting few days so far.  I seem to be a big fan of dead games, or maybe so many games fail it hard for one of them not to be one you like.  Anyhoo, one of my favorites both in concept and execution, Vor:  The Maelstrom may be being resurrected.  Over on Iron Wind Metals’ forum, its creator, Mike "Skuzzy" Nielsen, tossed out that he was in negotiation with an unnamed company (which has yet to identify itself so far) saying there is talk of a Vor 2.0 with updated rules and a ten-year timeline advance.  He threw out to forum members to offer up suggestions of what he would like to see.  There were several good suggestions throughout, but then it seemed to break down into a debate about what was more extreme: Vor or Warmachine/Hordes.  Focus people.  In the end I’ll definitely pick this one up even though what I really need right now is yet another game I have figs for and never have time to play.  Technically this won’t count as a new game since I have the first edition of rules and this will just be an upgrade.  Right.

 

On the painting front, I have finally overcome my recent slow-down.  Some backstory:  I don’t have time to paint during the day due to work and when the kids are awake (workdays and weekend) they take priority so the only time I have to paint is in the evenings after they have gone to bed and before I go (still working on sleep-painting, the wife was pretty upset over the results to the furniture from the last attempt).  That gives me about 1.5 to 2.5 hours to get the job done.  I used to be a much faster painter and could whip out a squad of figs in a couple of nights.  Now it seems to take me at least a week for some reason.  Not sure if it is old age or a slight increase in quality making me take longer(I am an average painter-some skill but no real talent-my figs look fine on the tabletop but will never be contest worthy).  Add this to a brick wall of June when I have to shut down move and this leads to a bit of self-induced stress to knock the current wave of figs out.  Like almost every miniatures collector I’ve ever known I have more figs and am acquiring faster than I am painting.  A couple of years ago I started a personal project to finish my various armies by faction which has had great success and with the current batch on my “table” (more about that some other time) I’ll finish off one more army.  As soon as I break the code on pictures posting I’ll start getting some stuff up so you can point and laugh. 

 

Okay let’s close the circle.  How does this tie into dead games?  The figs I’m painting right now are from Ultimate Warzone.  Yes-people still play-in fact this month there is a mini-convention of die-hard players going on up New Jersey.  I’m currently trying to finish off my Mishima corporate forces.  I already finished off Capitol, Cartel, Dark Legion (all the dark apostles), and Bauhaus.  Of course then I got more figs for all of these groups [see above] so I’m back to being behind again. 

 

So to sum up:  Vor coming back maybe (hope is the source of despair): good.  Painting on the upswing:  good.  No actually playing games this week:  bad. 

 

2 out of 3.  I’ll take it.

Tags: Miniatures Tabletop Games