199 Hydra from Aegis Conversion Details

WOO-HOO! IT'S HALF TERM!

That means I've a week off and - hopefully - some fine weather in which to take photos of my army for 'Post 200'.

In the meantime (and somewhat anticlimactically) here are my notes and annotations for converting the Aegis defence line autocannon into a relatively convincing Hydra. I'll mostly let the pictures do the talking.

First, pre-planning in my Fifth Book of Arcane Scribblings. Some of you have seen this before: it's the exercise book into which I vomit all my hobby thoughts by candlelight late at night as Mrs. Drax dozes next to me. Bizarrely, these particular pages read anti-clockwise [ignore the stuff top-left!]:

Now all the constituent parts:

And the end product - albeit still not quite finished (I've not had the energy to paint of late):

See y'all next post!

- Drax.

198 Hydra - Almost There!

Hey, All,

If you caught my last post, you'll know that I decided - on something of a whim - to try to make a quick and simple conversion of a Hydra from the 'Aegis' defence line, using as few other components as possible. Here's what I've got now (NB: the hull is that of my Wyvern):
I have to say, I'm pretty chuffed with how it's turned out. From this:
[image stolen from www.dakkadakka.com]

Through this:
And this:

To this:

Other than the Aegis kit, I used a Bic Crystal biro (pen) the hatch from a vehicle, two bits of plasticard and four paperclips. I'll do a 'how-to' in the near future if there's any interst, as I kept some pics and I made some sketches.

Any thoughts/advice, please?

- Drax.

PS: Today, I went along to a GCN gaming club. Scary. Only one more post before the group shot now, too!

197 Mortars (and infantry company) FINISHED!

Yup - I've done. I'm actually finished.

All of my basic infantry models are now finished and I am officially in the 'mopping-up' stage of my sprawling old Imperial Guard army. All that remains now is a few odds and ends.

Right, there's no need to prattle on about them - I did them, they have the half-base-experiment-thing which was an absolute pig to do (and not recommended), and I took very little time over the painting. C'est tout.

Look out for the tiny scrap of transfer/decal paper which found its way onto the models for the photo shoot:

There are two more posts before the big Post 200 Group Shot, and I'll try to get more finished for that, but just to keep you with me, here's what I knocked together yesterday...

Wow. 'Finishing' is an incredible feeling.

- Drax.

196 Fighting Suneokun! (and I've done some painting)

Well, I've actually been busy since my last post - not only have I finished a few more models in my build-up to the near-mythical Post 200, I also had the singular pleasure of playing an ad hoc game against Suneokun from Pathfinder. I'll start with that...

[post-game image of a (slightly beaten-up) terrain centrepiece painted in the dim-and-distant past by Mrs. Drax]

If you follow the link to Pathfinder above (and please do!), you'll find his battle report in addition to a very gracious account of his visit. It really was a lovely evening, and Suneokun was a cracking chap to have around. Sadly, we took no photos of our game (I wasn't expecting to play) and - sadder still - I have very little functional memory, so if you're interested, please do explore his very readable account of our 1000pt clash.

Here's my lot the following day - it was actually 1010pts and please note that the chimera has the wrong turret:

It really was great fun to play against his tau, and I had unashamedly good luck throughout. Unit of the match? - my Penal Legion. Fantastic!

Now then, just to keep you updated, here are the models I've finished this week. Fistly, two more commissars:

Note the chap on the right has a deliberately shiny coat. As I said before, I'm letting myself prat around a little with the last few of my core miniatures!

Far more importantly, I finished the last of my sentinels, Charity. She's the sister of Faith and Hope,* and I plan to create a post about the whole squadron in a little while. She's the one on the right, with the heavy flamer:

Finally, and against the odds and my own disillusionment, I've made significant progress on my last mortars - the last of my infantry company:

When I've finished them, I'll have over 240 completely finished troops - about 170 of those will compose my core 'tactical' infantry company. Sheesh!

We're getting there...!

- Drax.

* Named after the three famous Gloster Gladiators from the defence of Malta in the 1940s.