158 The Dream Team: More Details

Hey, all.

This, then, is the force I took to Calneage '09: my first tournament (doubles; 2x500pt), and my first time playing in a long time:
I partnered Mike the Merciless and I'll give more info about how we did in my next post, with some pics from the event. Mike fielded his Angels of Fortune loyalist marines, but I didn't get any snaps of them 'on parade'. Above is the whole damned lot of them and below are some details. I'll include an army list at the end, too. Firstly, the platoon:

They're actually my Pl HQ from 2Pl, 1 section from 3Pl and 2 section from 1Pl - yellow, blue and red respectively. Their normal vox-men had to be substituted out for the tourney fFor more details of my normal platoons, please follow the links on the right).

Here's a close-up of the Pl HQ, with After the War - the regimental mascot of the 2/24th (thanks for kind comments on the last post: Mrs. Drax crafted him, years ago!):

Next, here are the Hardened Veterans who went along; behind them are my two objective markers and my self-build (who went along for the ride):

These last two are of my 'army transport system' - two washing powder tablet boxes! I learned years ago that chimeras fit into them extremely well, and - padded with tissue - I carried all four in this one box, with accoutrements, and they didn't suffer (after a weekend with lots of train travel):

All the rest of the models were in trays in the other 'Bold' box - being inspected here by the real-life 'After the War' - our stately corgi, Cadfael:

Here's my army list:

TROOPS:

Infantry Pl. HQ Squad (5)

Officer’s plasma pistol and ccw
Grenade launcher x3
Chimera (multilaser and hull heavy bolter)
= 110pts

Infantry Squad 1 (10)

Plasma gun
Chimera (multilaser and hull heavy bolter)

= 120pts

Infantry Squad 1 (10)
Melta gun

Chimera (multilaser and hull heavy bolter)
= 115pts

Hardened Veterans (10)
Heavy flamer
Grenade Launcher x2
Chimera (multilaser and hull heavy flamer)
= 155pts

TOTAL: 500pts

Enjoy the pics; more to follow...

Thanks, all,

- Drax.

157 The Dream Team - Sneak Peek

Here they are:
(clickable)
More details to follow.

- Drax.

156 One Step at a Time

Hey!

Well, some of you asked to see him when finished, so here is the latest addition to my choices of hardened veterans - my second grenade launcher:

Note the attempt at a different camo on his cloak - C&C always welcome...

That leaves only the heavy weapons team with the hvy bolter/autocannon combo, (which is almost finished); a plasma gunner and the third-and-final grenade launcher - neither of these last two are very far along.

Cruelly, the idea isn't to create two squads per se (though I've models enough) but to give me the broadest choice. Frustratingly, I've run out of melta gunners at the moment, and I'm too broke to purchase more. That, then, is a plan for the future...

Cheers,

- Drax.

155 TOEMP 4: Limited Success.

Hey, All.

Just a quickie to say that I'll be pretty much playing my TOEMP 'joker' this week - though I honestly didn't think I'd need to. Bugger.

I've been working a lot at night, preparing new teaching resources into the wee hours, so painting's been tricky, and although I've got a fair bit done, there's only one thing complete - an objective marker for my mate Mike the Merciless, with whom I'll be entering the Calneage tournament in Wiltshire, on the weekend after next. Thanks to all those of you who offered him tips in the wake of my last post, and here's the obj-marker I made him:

Even though it's a poxy old marine model, I did very little with the 'pose' and I'm unconvinced by the arm bones and bloodstain (of course, it all looks better in real life, sans flash), I'm actually pleased with this, as it's the first model on which I've ever done edged highlights (or whatever they're called). 'Twas fun to paint in Mike's scheme, but vanilla marine models make Cadian guardsmen into an exciting painting prospect!

I've not been idle otherwise, though! Other things I've done include:

-- Converting three chimera turrets into WYSIWYG multilaser turrets;

-- Basecoating some more armoured fist troopers;

-- Almost finishing my Nork Deddog conversion, and

-- Almost finishing my last remaining grenade launcher veteran - you can see him on the right:

So yes - I've failed on this TOEMP challenge...

...But at least I still got some painting done against the odds!

I'm also almost entirely ready for Calneage now!

- Drax.

154 Help Wanted: Enquire Within

Hullo!

My mate and forthcoming doubles partner Mike the Merciless is having trouble with metal miniatures. Is anyone able to help, please? Follow the link above for more...

This mini is HIS - not mine:

Nice, huh?

Cheers,

- Drax.

153 The Highlight of My Day

Evening All.

Well, work's going surprisingly well and yes - as today's title may suggest - I have been trying some highlighting.
But not on my own miniatures; at least, not as such. In a couple of weekends I'm playing in a doubles tournament with a mate. It's our first tourney, it doesn't look as if it'll be too competitive and we're looking forwards to it...but he lives in Birmingham (far away), the tourney's in Wiltshire, we haven't played together in almost 9 months (the last game I physically played), and he's really busy at work, so I've been trying to work on a quick objective marker for him:

In the background, you'll see I've also been re-arming my chimeras with multilasers, as the tourney (quite rightly) is WYSIWYG. I was going to do this with magnets, but instead I've opted for parallel 15mm-long pins. I did it on a whim and it's worked like an absolute dream!

The smelly space marine isn't finished yet, but here's the pic I'm working from (from his sadly-neglected blog). They're the Angels of Fortitude - a good name for a chapter:

It's weird to try painting in someone else's style (and I'd forgotton how dull marines are to paint!) but it's looking okay. I think Ice Blue may have been better for the highlights, but I don't care. It's dark in the future.

Cheers,

- Drax.

Who really ought to go to bed now.

152 Strategic Defence Review - A Look Forward

Hullo, all, and thanks for all your kind comments recently.

A while ago, Col. Corbane asked what my plans were for the future of my Guard army, and in my last post Oni asked how many points I was up to these days. I plan to answer both of these queries as briefly as possible today.

Firstly: expansion of my Imperial Guard has ceased - at least for the foreseeable future. The recent TOEMP challenges (see logo, tight) and the creation of my new painting chart have made me realise that I pretty much have the Guard army I want. I also have no spare cash at all and a sprog on the way.

Funnily enough, the advent of the new codex has had two important effects:

Firstly, it's forced me to reorganise (and rationalise) my forces (from two full companies [one rifle; one support] to one larger, self-supporting 'tactical' company), thus needing fewer models for completion (although I already had all the models I wanted);

Secondly, and partially as a result of the above, it's lowered my army's points total, from 6800-ish to 5250-ish. Plus my ol' baneblade. That's a considerable drop.

As it stands, then, my future intentions are essentially to paint the army I have. Nothing unusual there, I know, but here's the good bit: slow as I am, I'm actually within sight of finishing it!

The "army I have" is essentially what follows (this is up-to-date, by the way):

I also have enough spare odds and sods to make another infantry platoon (and probably another three stormtrooper squads too, if I'm desperate enough!).

And what will the far future hold? Well, I'd like to put together a squadron of valkyries...but that will simply have to wait!

Cheers,

- Drax.

151 Armoured Fist Platoon HQ (and more Vets)

Hey, all.

Well, back when I engaged with the TOEMP challenge (see logo, right) I posted a list of things I wanted to get painted. As it happened, 73rd's ideas involved specific challenges - for example, painting up Fast Attack or special character choices this time - but that's less of a priority for me as I simply have to plough through the grunts.

And I'm getting there. Below are a few pics of my Armoured Fist platoon HQ. Like the rest of my A/F platoon, they're old metal Cadians, and they're horrible to paint (bland detail; huge hands; cruddy facial features) so they're hard to actually care much about when painting, but here they are:

If you're wondering about the officer's colour scheme, there are two reasons behind it: (1) he was already painted (ebay purchase) so although I touched up his face and re-did his eyes he's still got a sallow complexion and a mottled uniform (the ill-advised red webbing straps are a 'Drax' thing); and (2) he may occasionally proxy Al'Rahem, so the different 'look' works okay.

I enjoyed the challenge of giving two of them grenade launchers. I really love the look of the kneeling one - it looks like FW Elisian equipment - but the other one's not so great. He's got a plastic left arm:

On a brighter note, here's an old favourite of mine - my original hardened veteran sergeant with a sculpted cap:

This is what he used to look like (from this post) - you can see I've improved his skin tone, got rid of the awkward bolter and finished his shoulder pads. The cap was my first ever attempt at sculpting:

Finally, here's a work-in-progress shot of my veteran heavy bolter/autocannon team (the weapon's interchangeable) - if the loader looks dark it's because I've not done his skin yet:

Work'll be busy for a while, and baby's expected in two months, so posting will necessarily slow down for a while.

Hope you're all well; cheers for swinging by,

- Drax.