169 Halloween in the Drax Household

Well now,

Being a miserable Brit, I'm not much of a fan of the whole 'Halloween' thing...but the talented Mrs. Drax (being American) is. And (being, as she is, nine months pregnant) who am I to tell her otherwise?

This is hers:
I love my wife.

- Drax.

168 3 Platoon, 2 Section Finished (with freehand)

Greetings.

Well, that's another squad ticked off thanks to TOEMP (see right) - although I've forgotten exactly which TOEMP challenge they were meant to be for now... Ladies and Gents, allow me to present to you the underwhelming and poorly lit 3 Platoon, 2 Section:

Yup - that's it. Here's a pic taken with the camera's flash (note the freehand regimental numbers (24) and aquilas, as noted in my previous post); I decided to keep the weird design on the meltagunner's shoulder:

Here's a detail shot, and in it you can see the squad ID flash on the rear of the base (these are a tremendous help on the 'battlefield') as well as the old varnish on the sergeant and vox (they were both previously in other platoons):

By the way...

I have now officially had enough of Purity Seal, to the point whereby I scarcely varnish anything plastic any more. I've heard great things, though, about Testor's Dullcoat. Anyone care to comment? I know I've moaned before about wanting all my guardsmen to look the same, but that time has passed, not least because of my recent freehanding...

Cheers,

- Drax.

167 Trying Freehand Details

Well hello!

I've almost finished my next batch of Guardsmen (3Pl, 2Section - with a meltagunner generously donated by Col. Corbane) and because (a) I'm starting to run low on transfers and (b) I have to cut out tiny, fiddly digits to make the regimental number, I decided to try it free hand.

After a slightly shaky start, I'm actually quite pleased with the majority of them:

Yes that's right - the two with proper bases are actual transfers. Sorry for the quality of the light - I didn't want to wait 'til tomorrow.

I'll also be doing the aquilas on the right shoulders, as that worked out well with the last squad:

Thanks for your support in my painting exploits so far, gang: it's always really appreciated!

- Drax.

166 DRIVING TEST PASSED!

HULLO!

Just a quickie: this morning I took - and passed - my driving test: hooray!

I know that this sounds ridiculous to any of my overseas (esp. US) readers, but believe me when I say it's fairly tricky, and getting trickier each year. Trust me. There's a reason that (a) many of my friends (smart, professional types) can't drive, (b) my American wife hasn't attempted a British licence, and (c) I've got by for 29 years without one!

At last I'm legally able to drive the 39-week-pregnant Mrs. Drax to hospital next week.

Phew.

- Drax.

165 Leman Russ Annihilator Finished

TOEMP Challenge 5 est fini!

Here is the first of my two Leman Russ Annihilators. I don't think I have a name for it yet; I guess I'm awaiting the Emperor's divine inspiration. That said, feel free to make suggestions:

As I tend to with my vehicles, I've left elements of its old (eBay) paint scheme on - it was very...er...yellow.

I haven't taken an awful lot of trouble over it: I wanted it done, and much of the detail is obscured from the old paint job.

All names gratefully considered - my others, for reference - can be seen here.

- Drax.

164 Veteran Heavy Weapons Finished

Hello, Everyone.

For some obscure reason, Blogspot is not giving me my normal option to change this font to Ariel. Still, I'm sure no-one else cares.

At long last I've finished my hardened veterans' heavy bolter/autocannon team! What follows is how it looks now, with both weapons:

And here's... how it used to look:

Hooray!

This base took me bloody ages to get right, but at least it means that I'm very nearly done with all my veterans. Yay!

I've also started on another couple of bits, and I'll be asking some painting advice soon too...

Cheers,

- Drax.

163 Lascannon Sentinel Finished At Last!

Here you go, then: it's a while since I got anything painted!

Actually, I might touch up a couple of bits - like some DA Green around the edges of the transfer - but she's pretty much finished...the first of my A/P lascannon sentinels, Hope:

For more details of Hope's history, see the post for her sister sentinel, Faith, here.

It ain't flawless, but I'm very pleased with how my ability to paint freehand nose-art is progressing (especially compared to that on Faith, which was my first ever freehand attempt):

Two other angles:

If you look very very carefully, you may even be able to spot some traces of her old black-on-olive disruption camouflage. I often like to keep certain of these such details to retain a bit of history in my models.

Thank The Emporer - at last some progress on painting. Woo-hoo!

More very soon,

Cheers,

- Drax.

162 Space Marines are Posers - I Have Proof!

It's true.

Just look at this double-spread from the 5th Ed rulebook (used without permission):

Now, we all know that those oh-so-clever astartes are ambidextrous...but don't you think it's a little too coincidental that all those to the right of the picture are firing right-handed, whilst all those to the left are - well - lefties?

What would the Emperor say if he thought anyone could spoil the aesthetic of an artistic last stand?

The only chap on the left who's dared to use his right hand is only doing so because the left one's been blown off - can you imagine the dreadful faux-pas had he accidently positioned himself to shoot the baddies on the right? He never would have had an open line to the audience!

And what about his mate with the white-ish bolter, to the left of Red-Knee-Pads at the bottom? Surely those hot spent bolt cases are going to eject right into his power-armoured crotch! Being ambidextrous is all very well, but most bolters appear to be made for righties...

...And don't even get me started on the two big lummoxes in the middle - they may as well have jazz hands!

There you go: space marines are posers - you can almost imagine the librarian setting up his tripod.

It brings a whole new meaning to space marine "cheese"!

- Drax

PS: Thanks to The Inner Geek.

161 'Calneage' Battle Report

At last!

Mike's finished and posted his battle report from our fourth and final game at Calneage '09. Please drop by and tell him what you think of it by clicking here!

Thanks, all - that's probably the last of the Calneage stuff.

By the way, does anyone have an e-version of the Black Templars 'last stand' spread from the middle of the 5th Ed rulebook perchance? I rather fancy doing a post about it...

Many thanks,

- Drax.

160 More Tournament Photos

Hullo.

Here are a few more pics from the 'Calneage' tournament a fortnight ago - courtesy of my doubles ally, Mike the Merciless - he's planning to knock together a battle report too, so watch this space. We came 5th out of 14 teams in the end, so we were very pleased with that! Thanks again to all those who ran and attended it for making it a great day!

Sadly, no pics so far from games 1 and 4, but in game 2, Mike's marines thrust forward on the left flank...
...whilst on the right, my chimeras discover the true meaning of 'dangerous terrain':

The caprice of deployment gave us a solid win in this game, but I loved the Guard/Guard army we were up against: a mixed bunch, but very characterful, and great camo on the vehicles too:

Game 3

This was an interesting one - we were up against an ork army with min/maxed nob bikers...playing for kill points! Oh well - it was actually quite cinematic in the end. Here's the ork horde charging toward us on our left flank...

...as the nobz (on giant squig 'bikes') turbo-boosted to our right flank, which was undefended...until the cavalry arrived:

The nobz charge...

And knacker two of the vehicles, taking many of their passengers with them:

Meanwhile, Mike's librarian charges into the ork lines...

...whilst my (newly disembarked) Platoon Commander heroically surveys the fight from atop the bunker (posing)...

...desperately trying not to think about the hordes barrelling in behind him and his sole surviving grenadier!

After some awesome flaming, my lovely veterans charge in to help out the marines:

And the last nobz are cut to bloody pieces:

Leaving our brave boys (led by the vets) to take the fight back to the orks with fire, sword and cold, hard bayonet:

We lost on Kill Points (quelle surprise), but what joy to face-off against such a horde!

Cheers, all;

- Drax.

159 Points of Reference

Hullo,

Those of you kind enough to take an interest into my recent tournament tryout, please read this brief report by Mike the Merciless in the meantime...

...and please also show some love to TSINI, over at 'Lucky 88th', whom we had the good fortune to play first on the day (thanks to the kindness of Mark, the organiser). His models are a pleasure to behold. Seriously: take a gander at some of his objective/strategy markers...

This is the first of the pics from the day I'll post - testing the water:
I'm afraid the tournament speed-modelling/painting knocked the last TOEMP off the radar (I was going to finish a Leman Russ off this week, but it would appear it's already finished - D'oh!) but never fear: I'm going to try to meet the next challenge now I'm more back on track.

Cheers,

- Drax.