And now for something a little different...

It's been a little while since my last post. I really haven't had much of a drive for hobby since I moved into my new flat until the last couple weeks. Part of that has been. How busy I've been, but also being in an entirely new space made it hard to settle down into my normal hobby routines.

As usual, it's been an approaching Middle Earth event that's drawn me out of my funk. Rather than painting an army this time though, I decided to do something a little different and make a display board for my Hobbits.

I'll admit it's partially a shameless bid for another Best Army trophy, but it's mainly just a way to get my hobby juices flowing again. It seems to be working so far, though running out of static grass is an annoying stumbling block I've hit. Luckily Amazon should be coming to my rescue tomorrow morning!

It's been pretty fun doing something so different to what I normally work, although it's been a lot more involved a project than I originally anticipated. I expected to have it finished nearly a week ago!

Hopefully all this effort will pay off at the event, although it's already having the main intended effect of getting me raring to go on hobby projects. Next up after this I want to crack on with my Imperial Fists campaign army, which has been sitting in just an undercoated state for way longer than I intended! 

Wish me luck. Hopefully now I've jolted some life back into my hobby mojo, I'll be posting regularly again. Knowing me though, it's about 50/50 which way it'll fall! I'll definitely post up the finished board when it's done though. 

I'm back - with Titans!

My levels of hobby productivity has been a bit erratic recently. As a result, I haven't had a chance to post anything up here for ages. It's hardly surprising, considering how manic this summer has been at work. Now the worst of that is over though, I want to try to get back into my 'one hour a night' routine.

It would be quite helpful to get some regular hobby sessions rolling again, as my pile of plastic needing attention is reaching quite massive levels. On top of the two Grand Master Editions of Titanicus which I've been plugging away at, I also bought a pair of Reaver Titans when they launched last month. I also showed my lack of willpower once again by buying into the hype around the Conquest partwork magazine which just launched:

In my defence, you can't really say no when you can get Primaris Marines for that price! I've never really gotten that excited for Primaris before, but I figure having some for my Deathwatch would be quite useful at some point.

Me and a friend are going to be going halves on a subscription, so expect us to be getting into some Kill Team action at some point soon. As if I don't have enough to be getting on with.

Speaking of which, I've made some pretty decent progress on my first Grand Master box. I've managed to pretty much complete the two Warlord Titans from the box, Metatron Omnissiah of the Legio Xestobiax and Umbra Mortis of the Legio Mortis:

Both are complete barring some decal work, finishing the bases and gluing on some leg panels, but the decals can wait until Forge World get around to releasing transfer sheets or I order some custom ones. I'm really happy with how they've turned out, but I shudder to think how much work went into these. Easily 15-20 hours of hobby time for each one. I certainly think it's worth it though. I'm really thrilled to see how well they've turned out.

You can also see my first batch of House Devine Knights in that shot. I'm planning to do a proper photo shoot of all my Titanicus stuff when I've got the first GM box done, so you can get a closer look at them then.

That's all for now. This was really just a post to get the ball rolling on blogging again. I'll fill you in with more detail on what I've been up to with Titanicus over the next couple of weeks.

Blogmancy - again!

Wow, has it really been nearly four months since I last posted?

Life's been pretty crazy for me over the last few months. Between personal issues and working in retail in a tourist town in summer, I haven't really had the time to keep this blog updated. I would say it won't happen again, but I think we both know it will.

Anyway, just because I've been away from the keyboard doesn't mean I haven't been making hobby progress. In fact I've been making loads of it. Since 8th Edition release I've painted gotten a crazy amount of Emperor's Children painted or nearly painted and my Deathwatch are coming along nicely too.

The problem is that due to not having the time to keep the blog updated,  I've completely lost track of my painting points and 365 Challenge. I'm not even sure what I already claimed points for. Obviously this is a problem. Luckily I've got a simple, yet elegant solution.

I'm going to cheat.

Well not quite. I'm just going to hit a big ol' reset button.

 

It makes sense to me. My painting points were only meant to give me a rough idea of how much progress I'm making, to keep me going in the right direction hobby-wise. I'm not going to stress myself out trying to work out what I've done recently. I'll just start it again from scratch and try to actually keep things balanced this time around

I do want to go back over a lot of the stuff I've been painting recently, as I've been mostly just churning them out to basic tabletop standard so I could get some games in. Now I have a playable 2000 point force for 8th Edition 40k, I can go back give them the full 'love and care' treatment, ready to go in this:

I found this display cabinet going cheap in a local charity shop the other week and I have to say it's rather fantastic. It should be a great motivator for me to actually get stuff finished so I can show them off.

So without further ado, let me show you what I've been working on:

Any Emperor's Children army wouldn't really be complete without a Sonic Dreadnought or two. The problem was that Forge World don't produce models for them any more. Luckily a solution quickly soon presented itself. A mate of mine was having a clear out and had an old Blood Angels Dreadnought he thought I might be able to make use of. Result!

A bit of converting and application of some modelling chain later and I had my Sonic Dread. I had great fun converting up a suitable Blastmaster with some plasticard tubing:

 I've still got a few details to finish up with the painting, but I'm happy with the way this is turning out. I even managed to do a little bit of freehand!.

I particularly like the way I've left a few of the BA-specific details showing, as it conjures up some very evocative images in my mind. I figure that the ever-creative warriors of the 3rd Legion would take great delight in torturing one of their captured cousins, so background-wise, it's still the orginal occupant in there. His screams of torment are now turned against the Imperium he once fought to defend,

 I think Slaanesh has clearly corrupted my mind!

Anyway, I'll post more once he's done. Shouldn't take long, as I'm on a bit of a hobby kick this week.

Pre-Heresy Fabius WIP

I haven't posted for a while. Between finishing uni and starting a new job where I'm on night shift four times a week, the entirety of my hobby time has been taken up with painting as and when I can. This obviously leaves me no time for blogging, despite the amount of progress I've been making on various stuff. I'll try and do a bit of catching and post up some of my projects, but knowing me this probably won't happen.

So what have I been working on? Well, I'm still focused almost completely on my Horus Heresy stuff, although my attention has shifted slightly away from my Sons of Horus 15th company and onto the Iron Warriors and Emperors Children. I've wanted a force of both of them ever since I read Angel Exterminatus a few years ago (and again recently during my 2am 'lunch breaks'), so I thought I'd give it a try.

Despite the source of my inspiration, I'm not likely to be fielding the two Legions together, due to me wanting to make use of the extra Heavy Support slot which the 'Hammer of Olympia' Rite of War brings, meaning that my Iron Warriors can't take allies from other Legions. They are quite likely to receive Imperial Army allies when the next FW book arrives though.

The Emperors Children are going to be a small allied detachment for my Sons of Horus, then maybe expanded to be a force in their own right. I'm really just using them as an excuse to do some interesting conversions though, so that might be a long time coming.

Anyway, here's a taste of what I've been up to whilst I've been away:

This is my Pre Heresy Version of Fabius, based on the GW model. I know at first glance it doesn't seem that different, but this was a much more involved conversion than it looks.

-First of all I had to remove his arms, saving the Xylos Needler for later (his cane's going into a different conversion).

-The next step was to gouge out the Mk7 legs which 40k model had for inexplicable reasons (this part was made easier by the fact that it was finecast), replacing them with Mk4 legs from Forge World, cut to shape to fit inside his flesh cloak.

- Then I transferred the Needler from his 40k arm to a Mk 4 one and gave him a pair of Mk 3 pads

- A Narthecium (a Deathwing one i think) acquired through a trade with a friend, plus a 40mm base completed the conversion

I'll let you judge the results for yourself, but I personally like how it's turned out, as far as the conversion goes at least. I'm going to be using him as a Primus Medicae until Forge World finally get round to specific rules for him.

His paint job's an experiment I'm running, trying to replicate the darker, grittier style which Forge World use for the EC's in their various publications. I'm not exactly sold on it so far, but that might be because I haven't done the gold on him yet, which may help alleviate the overall dullness of the model.

I'll let you know how I get on

Back with actual painted models

So havn't posted anything for a while, but don't worry I've been busy. Finally into my new flat and fully unpacked, including my hobby area and internet connection, so I can start updating The Wandering Mind regularly again

I've been immensely busy painting up things from about a dozen different projects at once, so as I get a chance to photograph them, I'll post them up.


First thing I've got to show you is my WIP Deathwing Dreadnought.



I still need to finish the green and the metal but i'm quite proud of how the bone-colour has turned out.
The look I'm going for is to make the force look like it's been fighting through the depths of a Space Hulk for weeks on end (i.e Very dirty), partly because i think it's a cool look, but also because I can't manage a decent looking clean bone colour scheme


I've also started work revamping my CSM warband, spurred on by rumours of the upcoming Legions book.

Here's my PIP on my lord, based of Huron Blackheart's body, but he's going to end up with A Jump Pack, Thunder Hammer (Power Fist) and Storm Shield (Mark of Tzeentch)



I'll post more of his Warband soon, as I dig them out of boxes. Many of the models are from my old chaos army which I stopped playing when the current CSM book came out and sucked away all the flavour of the faction.

Anyway, I'm going to get back to painting. I'll post more soon

Plans for Rebirth

Ok I'm back. I've been away for a while, due to the need to move flat and lack of internet, but i'm back and i've got big plans.

1. First of all, I'm going to start doing reviews and maybe even articles on The Wandering Mind, instead of just my few-and-far-between painting and modelling updates. The reasons are twofold really:

- I'm very opinionated when it comes to GW and gaming in general and this blog is going to be my outlet for it all.

- I'm doing a writing degree at the moment, with a view to go into journalism at the end of it, part of which is writing reviews, so it'll be good practice for me as well

I picked up the Sabbat Worlds Anthology yesterday, so i think this'll probably be my first review.

2. Next up I've taken it upon myself to get most, if not all my armies done by the end of the year, (mainly due to the lack of funds to start new ones),so you should be seeing a lot more progress on projects that you've seen me start but never finish.
My first point of call will probably be my Blood Pact. I want to add some of Heritor Asphodels 'Woe Engines' to the mix, including a Stumble Gun and a unique take on a Deathstrike Missile Launcher. I might even get these done in time for Armies on Parade.

3. Finally (and i may regret saying this), I'm going to try and post on here at least once a week. The blog's been a bit neglected recently and in serious need of reinvigoration, so this is hopefully what it needs.

So watch this space i will be back very soon.

Rebirth

Just a post to check in and let people know that The Wandering Mind is not dead, I've just been unable to access the internet to post. I shall be working my magic with a digital camera tonight to bring you rather a lot of hobby goodness over the next few days, and indeed the next few months, considering that I now have a three month holiday from uni.

In case anyone was wondering, I've been working on the following:

Space Wolves - A heavily Thunderwolf-themed list which hopefully should be ready in time for Armies on Parade at Games Day UK

Hochland Engineer Empire Force - the shift in provinces is mainly down to the fact that someone at my LGS already has a Nuln themed list. Also i feel i can explore the background and mindset of Hochland more in my army than if I'd stuck with the Nuln route. And the airship is still coming. Slowly.

40k Deamons - I'm finishing these up by the end of the month hopefully, considering they've been in the works two years already. The watchword for this army is Zombies. Lots and lots of Zombies.

Dark Eldar Carnivale Macabre - Watch this space for the show of your life. Featuring Wracks, Grotesques and a Harlequin support act, may well steal your very soul away.

Dark Elf Beastmasters - I'm building this force to be ready to use this summer for the Storm of Magic expansion, which i still have mixed feelings about, probably because of the lack of solid information on it. Even if it turns out to be rubbish, I'll still have a fully painted Druchii amry at the end of it, so it won't be a wasted experience.

Orcs and Goblin army - although it's the least of my priorities right now, this force is slowly building up to completion. Just a few tweeks to move it from 7th to 8th edition and it's ready to go.

And finally I want to get Khorneguys Commissions off the ground, because all these projects don't come cheap. A flashy new page for the service should be up within a few days, so if there's anything you want built, large or small, just shoot me an email and I'll see what I can do for you.

So as you can see I will be rather busy over the next few months and I'm planning to document as much of it as possible on here because if I'm quite honest with myself, I've let The Wandering Mind go a bit recently.

So until next time (when I'll have pictures), Happy Gaming!

Hellebron and her Manticore

As promised this is the start of my showing of progress. This is Hellebron on her Manticore. She’s more or less done apart from obviously adding arms (already done by the time I post), sculpting a cloak to visually link her to the Beastmaster who originally came with the Manticore model and finishing up the paint job. As you can tell she’s based off the Lelith Hesperax model from the new Dark Eldar range and held on by sculpting an extension to the mane around her legs - a long difficult task green stuff, milliput and repostioning the wing, now I see why so many people complain about the metal DE Manticore to be honest

The on foot version will be posted as soon as I work out where the bloody cat’s hidden it

Next from my DE are probably going to be my Wych-based Beast Catchers

I'm not dead!

Honest. I've just moved flat and been without internet for the last few months, so I've not had a chance to post anything up. I still can't post pictures up though because of my browser acting up but this is really just a post to let you know that I'm still around and doing hobby stuff. I'll have plenty for you to see once I've sorted out this technical issue, including:

- Hellebron on foot, finished, with a WIP of her on a Manticore

I'm finally getting her done, along with finishing up my Dark Elves, who've gone from being Khainites to a Beastmasters expedition (but still with plenty of witches in there in the form of Beast-catchers). The reason behind the change is mainly so i have an excuse to include as many big beasties as I can and keep it fluffy.

- Some of my Commission work

yes, I finally have some commission work coming in. It's not much but it's a start. What i'm working on at the moment is a Steampunk style Techmarine with a top hat. Sounds odd, but who am I to argue with a paying client?


- Magnus the Red WIP

This is something i'm really excited about. I've been reading the Horus Heresy series, in particular A Thousand Sons and I've been really inspired to sculpt my own version of Magnus to go with my pre-heresy Thousand Sons. It's still in the early stages, but I think this will be a worthy test of my sculpting skills.


Also, for those of you who remember last year, when I made a resolution to have a finished army by the 31st December, I've suceeded! I have a finished 1000pt Blood Pact force, sitting in front of me right now, fully painted and ready for war. Photographic proof is coming very very soon.

Right, i'm off to try and sort out the picture issue. Watch this space for plenty of hobby goodness in the very near future.

Friday Top Ten #4

Well i'm back from my break. I've been music festival-ing got rained on, soaked, covered in mud and frowned on by relatives upon my return, but it's been a good few weeks.

Anyway, now i'm back with all sorts of ideas for projects, which i'll be posting up over the next few weeks

And without further ado, here's the top ten

1. Drathmere has come up with a novel way of storing your paint pots

2. Zombieburger 40,000 has an awesome Nurgle Rhino

3. A neat objective marker from Heresy Workshop

4 Ron has painted a cool Space Hulk Librarian. There seem to be a lot of Space Hulk models cropping up online recently - 6 months on and it looks like people are finally getting round to it

5. Akenseth is working on a Medusa conversion. I've been considering doing the same thing myself

6. FoxPhoenix is making a Hive Fleet. As an evil genius, i approve of this

6. Some awesome crest helmets from Mister Justin

7. Zen 40,000 has painted a neat Rhino. I don't like them but they eep catching my eye recently

8. Painter with no Name has made the coolest option in the new BA codex.

9. TheMightyFlip has painted a very nice sniper dude

10. Titans are cool. Two are even better, as Siph_Horridus proves

Edit: just realised i accidentally have number 6 twice - looks like it's a Top Eleven this week -consider it a bonus to make up for me being away for two weeks

Back with a vengence

Finally got my internet sorted and my life back on track and here's the bumper post as promised.
It’s probably going to be several posts to be honest, as I tend to ramble somewhat

To kick things off I have to say, despite my resolution a month or so ago to finish paint everything I have before buying any more, I've been a bad boy.

Now, for once, it's not my fault (well, maybe a little...). First off, I can blame a certain family member (who shall go unnamed) for clearing out his sizable bitz box and letting me take my pick.
I got a load of Dark Angel parts, some old gobbos with bows and he also gave me two Obliterator models, which I love (used to have 3 of these babies, back in the days when they were still 0-1). For a while I was considering creating a Fallen Angels army, but then looked in Chaos Codex and remembered why I don't like it.

Then I can blame my local club, who’ve just announced an upcoming 40k league, starting in February. Now I always start a new army for new events, such as campaigns or leagues, as it gives me an excellent excuse to get stuff done that I normally find hard to focus on (like painting in general). With this in mind, my thoughts turned to new armies.

Regular readers of this blog will know of my fledgling Eldar Harlequin army from the summer. A big part of me wants to really get that off the ground, but at the same time, painting even a small amount of Harlequins is a time-consuming process and I’ve got my studies to think of in the new year. I'd rather keep the Harley's as a side piece that I can dip into whenever I like, rather than feel the need to finish them quickly.

Then I thought about Deamonhunters, with emphasis on the non-Grey Knights side of things, which seemed like fun to explore, but at the same time, I’ve never collected a proper imperial army in my life. My existing Guard are traitors and my Soul Drinkers are sort of a grey area which I won’t go into here

Then I read Blood Pact by Dan Abnett and hit on the idea of (you guessed it) Blood Pact. I've always liked these guys and used to have a small force of them, but they sort of got left at the wayside when I started Orks. But Mr Abnett has done his magic again and inspired my latest army. His insights into the inner workings of the Pact have sparked all sorts of ideas off in my mind. I particularly like the guy who's devoted his life to saying all the names of death and the 'Sister' in the black dress and will be finding ways to work them into my army.

Codex wise, I’m basing it off the IG codex, but on reflection, I suppose I could use Deamonhunters to portray some of the more crazy stuff that the 'Pact has at its disposal, along with IG allies to represent the bulk of the force/ Death Brigades. At this point in time I want to base the army around the Balhaut insertion team, although that’s liable to change and evolve as I go along.

With all this in mind, I dug out my old Blood Pact models that haven’t been absorbed into other armies and given them a lick of paint. Pictures will be up soon

I've also ordered a box of Cadians and a heavy weapon team to form the first of my squads. I'm also planning on including my new Obliterators, either as weapons teams or Ogryns. I like the idea of using Obliterators as unconventional weapons platforms, as it gives me a chance to use these great models, even though I no longer play Chaos Space Marines.

Well I’m getting tired of writing, so that’s part one of the bumper post. More soon. Hopefully tomorrow if I can steal a break from my studies