Daemonic Distraction

Ok, I got a little sidetracked from my list, but I've been packing to move flat so I've been finding all sorts of old projects that have piqued my interest again, which I feel gives me a good excuse.

Whilst clearing out one of my many cupboards where i keep all my past projects, I found some old Daemon models that I meant to put up here earlier this year. Well, one thing led to another and I couldn't resist painting up a few that I didn't quite finish

For those of you that don't kmow, the whole idea behind my Deamons army is an Imperial world undergoing mass invasion/ possession, with Zombies and possessed Guardsmen forming the majoirty of the force.

First up I've been doing a bit more work on this guy:


I'll be the first to admit it's one of the stranger ones, intended to become an standard bearer when he's done and I can find a good icon to stick on the pole.


I've also started work on my second Deamon Prince, based off a Chaos Knight's horse and whatever I could find in my bitz box



Also, I unearthed the Dark Angels Veterans kit i bought ages ago and misplaced, so I could work on some more Pre-Heresy Thousand Sons...


I've almost got enough for a full squad now, so I really need to decide which codex I'm going to be using, as well as step up my level of production on them - the army's intended to be my entry for Armies on Parade this year. Only nine months left!

Let me know what you think and I'll post more up soon. Throgg's fully modelled and based now so I'll try and get him photographed for you before he gets packed

The Damnation of Tinus - 1750pt Daemons

Ok, I'm still cut off from my hobby desk, but thank god(s) for having copies of all my 40k books on my laptop, so I can play around with army lists.

This time I'm working on my Daemons, trying to tweak my existing list a little and include my newer purchases in there. This is what I've got so far:



Kharagah the Bloody-Hooved

Bloodthirster, Deathstrike, Blessings of the Blood God, Unholy Might, Instrument

Zombies (Formerly the Nobility of Hive Primus)

14 x Plaguebearers, Noxious Touch, Icon, Instrument

Zombies (Former inhabitants of Hive Primus Mortuary)

14 x Plaguebearers, Noxious Touch, Icon, Instrument

The Twisted

9 x Horrors, Bolt of Tzeentch, Icon, Changeling

The Flames of Change

10 x Horrors, Bolt of Tzeentch, Icon

The Grinder of Souls

Soul Grinder with Phlegm

Gilgmesh the Seeker

Daemon Prince, Tzeentch, Master of Sorcery, Bolt of Tzeentch, Breath of Chaos, Daemonic Gaze

Dark Fires of the Changer

3 x Flamers


It's a nice little list to play. The Plaguebearers take objectives in cover and refuse to die, whilst the rest of the army concentrates on keeping the enemy away from them. Simple, yet effective.

I'm still wondering if Kharagah's worth taking in such a low points level, considering I gave up a squad of Flamers, Epidemus and a Tzeentch Herald to take him. Maybe I should save him for a higher points level. I think the only way to be sure is to play a few games with them when Kharagah's ready and see what works better

What do people think?

1750 Christmas Deathwing

So I'm sitting here at my parents for Christmas and I'm bored witless. No access to my hobby desk, which is well over 100 miles away. To amuse myself, I've been doodling ideas for army lists I'd like to do in the future.



One army that's always interested me are the Deathwing and the Dark Angels in general. I've always wanted to do a pure Deathwing force, but the idea of not being able to use Mortis Dreadnoughts has always bothered me and the purist in me balked at the idea of using the Space Wolves book to represent the Sons of the Lion, so the idea was shelved.

That's until my friend handed me a copy of Imperial Armour Apocalypse Second Edition yesterday as an early Christmas present. One of the (many many) options in the book is to field a Mortis Pattern Contemptor - the godsend I was waiting for and that sparked off a melting pot of ideas in my mind

So here's the 1750 point list I've been working out whilst steadily working my way through a bottle of rum:

Azrael, Supreme Grand Master

Belial, Master of the Deathwing

Deathwing Squad Azrael

Heavy Flamer, 2 x Lightning claws, Apothecary, Standard Bearer with Chapter Banner

Deathwing Squad Retribution

Lightning Claws, TH/SS, Assault Cannon, Chainfist, Power Fist

Deathwing Squad Deliverance

TH/SS, Heavy Flamer, Chainfist, Lightning Claws, Power Fist

Deathwing Squad Heavenfall

Assault Cannon, Chainfist, Lightning Claws, TH/SS, Power Fist

Contemptor Brethren Azakion, Mortis Pattern

2 x Kheres Assault Cannon, Extra Armour, Searchlight, Cyclone Launcher

Revered Brother Raziel

Venerable Dreadnought, Multi-Melta


The aim behind the list was to use Squads Azrael and Deliverance, led by Azrael and Belial respectively to spearhead the charge, while the other two squads and the Dreads give fire support.

I deliberately steered away from the usual Interrogator Chaplain as my second HQ, instead i felt that Azraels combat skills and 4+ blanket save over a squad were a better choice, especially when combined with LC's, FnP and a Chapter Banner in the squad he leads.

What do you think?

Throgg the Troll King WIP

I said Throgg is on the way and here he is...



So far I've take the Ogre Kingdoms Gorger, added GS scales to his back and extended his fangs.



He's nearly done. The only major bit left to do is I still need to extend his ears to troll proportions or give him horns. Not sure which I'll do yet, but I also need to add his crown and I like the idea of it pushing down on his ears, so I'm leaning in that direction.

All in all it's quite a simple conversion for a Hero choice (and a Special Character at that), but I like the savage cunning that oozes from the Gorger model and it's so beautifully detailed that there's very little I need to do.

Any thoughts or comments on him?

I Need Money! aka: Revised Project List

Wow, I really am keeping up the post count...

Last post I mentioned my project list has been revised due to money issues, so I thought I'd post up my new list to give you an idea of what I'm working on in the next few weeks

- Build my new hobby area (put on hold while finding a new place to live)

- Finish up my Dark Elf Corsair and Witch Elf units

- Finish painting my Hochland Empire force

- Paint up the bodies to my first five Scarab Occult

- Finish building and painting my first Grey Hunter unit

- Finish painting my Soul Drinker Tactical and Assault Squads

- Finish building Bjorn

- Paint my Rune Priest

- Finish building my Cygor-based Bloodthirster

- Paint at least 50 (out of 350)of my Zombies

- Strip down my previous failed attempt at Deathwing ready to start anew in the new year

- Build my Throgg the Troll King conversion, ready to lead my Ogre Kingdoms/ Warriors of Chaos monster force

As you can see, it's not all that different to my previous project list and still gives me a lot to do. I just really wish I could do the projects that have been 'bumped off' but there's no point starting them if i don't have the cash to finish them.

Sigh...

Still, should be lots of lovely pics of progress for you to see coming soon. Currently on my table are the Bloodthirster and Throgg for their latest round of GS work, so you should be seeing more from them very soon...

Pre-Heresy Thousand Son

Yes, I know he's got no arms, but i want to make sure i get the colour scheme right before I start messing around with weapons and wargear.

I also know he's not on the list of projects i set myself, but the list's been revised to suit my evolving financial situation (ie. I'm too skint for all the projects I wanted to start). Painting these guys replaces my Necron projects I had planned, seeing as I already have all the parts I need for them and rumours about the chaos legion codex have reignited my passion for the chaotic and misunderstood

So here we go, my first test model for my Pre-Heresy Thousand Sons.



I'm still working on him but you get the general idea for the colour scheme. Hardcore Horus Heresy fans would point out to me at this point that not all the Thousand Sons should have the crested helmets but, I'm planning to base the army around the elite of the legion, the Scarab Occult, so they would all have those crests.


I'm thinking of fielding them as Vanilla marines using this rough list

Tigerius (Senior Librarian, maybe even Ahriman himself)

Librarian

2 x ten man Sternguard Squads (special ammo reflecting their powers)

2 x Scout Squads (representing Prospero Spireguard support)

2 x Bike Squads (representing Legion Jetbikes)

Land Speeder Storm (Anti-grav speeders which the Imperial Army had access to)

On the other hand I may just go with Grey Knights to represent them, but they're a bit cheesy for my tastes atm.

I think I'll get some more painting done before I decide on which list to use. I don't see myself doing much gaming before February anyway.

Cygor Bloodthirster WIP

Ok, plans for new hobby area have been put on hold, due to the need to find a new flat, but in the meantime, I'm still working on clearing my backlog of projects for the new year.

First up is my Bloodthirster, converted from the Cygor/Ghorgon kit. I know I said in my original list that it was going to be made from a Zombie Dragon, but that was before I saw this kit. Right from the moment I saw it i knew I'd found the donor model for my plastic Bloodthrister. The Zombie Dragon pieces (minus the wings) have been put aside for another project.



As you can see it's closer to the original model than much of the rest of my Deamon army and still very WIP, but it's getting there.



So far I've started sculpting on the chest armour (to be finished over Christmas) and started adding the distinctive mane of hair that appears on the metal/finecast version. This is going to take the longest, i think, as i'm modelling each strand of hair individually

I'm also going to be scratch-building an axe and whip for him, as well as obviously adding the other wing.



He's obviously going to be quite a bit bigger than the GW version, but I've always thought that the current Bloodthirster is way too small and goofy looking for a walking demi-god of war anyway.

By the looks of things my one is going to end up sized about halfway between the GW and Forgeworld version, which means I should be able to use it as either.

More on this very soon, as well as the other projects...

Quest for a new Hobby Area

OK, before my big plans for a fresh start come the new year (see last post) can flourish, I need a new hobby area.

I figure instead of simply carting my woefully inadequate hobby desk into the new space, it's a great opportunity to revamp my working area.

So I've drawn up a list of everything I've ever wanted or needed from my hobby desk, which I'm going to incorporate into my new area.

1. Obviously I need a surface to work on

2. A place to tidy away my paints, brushes, glues, etc, away from marauding kittens and little hands (my first kid is due in march, so this is especially important)

3. Shelves to display finished projects and store current WIP's

4. Storage for my many bitz boxes (I have nearly ten years worth of these, which number in the dozens), or at least a way to categorise the bitz for easy access

5. A decent lighting set up

6. Noticeboard to store ideas, army lists, sketches and painting recipes

7. Space for my laptop (i need music, videos and access to the blogosphere when i work), but far enough from the working area to avoid splashes and spillages

8. (although optional, due to space restraints) A light box for photographing models

9. Storage for all my old projects that I've thought I'd abandoned but could switch back to at a moments notice


It's fairly basic stuff, but every bit of it's important for me, seeing as i only have about half this list in my current kitten-infested set up and if I'm going to make this change, I'm going to do this properly.

While this seems simple enough, I also only have a small space to work in, so all this also needs to be quite compact.

I'm going shopping tomorrow to see what i can pick up and hopefully by the end of the weekend i should have something that's at least starting to resemble the idea I have in my head.

A mighty hobby quest

I should know better than to venture into GW in the run up to Uni deadlines. I always end up with far too many ideas for projects that i have nowhere near enough time for.

But, in a feat of incredible self-control, I've decided that those can wait until New Year, when i have a six week break and my student loan. In the meantime, I'm going to focus my hobby efforts on getting my current projects done and dusted.


Here's my 'To Do' list to lead me nicely to the 1st of January. You'll notice most of it's stuff that's been featured on The Wandering Mind over the course of 2011 and never seen again.

- Build my new hobby area (more on this next post)

- Finish up my Dark Elf Corsair and Witch Elf units

- Paint my Dark Eldar Kabalite unit that's been sitting on my desk for the last 4 months

- Finish painting my Hochland Empire force

- Finish building and painting my first Grey Hunter unit

- Finish painting my Soul Drinker Tactical and Assault Squads

- Finish my Thunderwolves, including my Lord

- Finish Bjorn

- Paint my Rune Priest

- Paint Trazyn the Infinite

- Finish building and painting my Zombie Dragon Bloodthirster/ Shard of the Void Dragon

- Paint at least 50 (out of 350)of my Zombies

- Strip down my previous failed attempt at Deathwing ready to start anew in the new year

- Build my Throgg the Troll King conversion, ready to lead my Ogre Kingdoms/ Warriors of Chaos monster force

As you can see, it's a fairly substantial list, but one I feel i can manage. The theory is, if i get all this done, I can start the new year without an huge backlog of stuff, allowing me to focus on my new projects.

I'll post the stuff up here as I do them, so you can see how I get on and I'll do a follow-up post in the New Year, where hopefully I can congratulate myself on a job well done. Hopefully.

Here we go then...

Cats and Corsairs

As I mentioned before, my hobby time has been serious cramped by these cute little gits being born underneath my painting desk



However, I am in the process of setting up a temporary paint station in another room, so I can get my army plans back on track very soon, once my uni deadlines are out the way.

I did manage to paint up a test model for my latest unit of Corsairs though



There'll be about 30 of these when I'm done, forming the perfect bunker unit for Master Hyron, who's next on my painting list. He should be done in a very similar scheme to these guys, although minus a Sea Dragon Cloak.

What do people think?