Thought I’d post a couple of bits that I’ve been working on. This will only be a brief post. But I’m excited about them so wanted to share…
First up we have a Daemon Ink Fountain. I’ve made this forThe Daemon Ink Inq28 campaign being written and run by Mark over at heresyofus.com. His initial posts about the campaign have been incredibly inspiring and I have a head full of ideas about my warband. I’ve been making copious notes in my notepad. I need to start building really, otherwise I’ll end up changing my mind countless times and then theres the danger of not finishing anything!
The first challenge Mark has set is to think about what Daemon inkwells might look like. I’ve had a resin fountain in my bitz box for years and after reading the post I knew exactly what I wanted to do…
I added some icons and added some spindly arms to the base. I’ve given it a black spray with an overspray of incubi darkness. I’ll throw some paint at it and post an update. It’s based on a Mag Bellum circle base so I can use it on my board as well.
Next up is a key! A 3d printed key given to me by the ever talented Mark. Alex over at leadballoony.com is running a roleplay/wargame over Zoom and this is a recurring symbol we keep seeing…..
Heres some work in progress shots and the finished article. I love little projects like this and it’s further enriched the game and story we are telling.
The online game is proving to be a real hit and each week brings new twists and turns. I’d certainly recommend online wargaming. Not the same as throwing dice in person but a jolly good way to get your wargame fix in these socially distant times we find ourselves in.
Anyway, I depart with gloomy picture of the ancient relic that seems to be at the heart (quite literally in some cases) of the plot.
Quick update. Boards are done. Dry brushing was a success. A variety of greys in random places.
I’ve set it up and it looks good. Nice and dark. A grim wasteland, wet, dank and full of horror. Well, it will be full of horror when the scenery is added!!
I’m now at the stage were I need to think about what scenery to make. I want this board to be usable for various skirmish games. Warcry, Necromunda and Inq28 to name a couple. I’m thinking about a low tech hive. Wood and metal intertwined to create structure. Twisted trees kept alive by will power alone. A few steampunk bits of tech, smoke stacks and rust looms over every surface. That kinda thing!!
Well, so far so good!! My adventures with Mag Bellum have advanced rather swiftly. I stayed up way passed my bedtime last night working on my board. I must say, this is the most hobby fun I’ve had in ages. Don’t get me wrong, I love my hobby but messing around with a pot of filler and a tub of sand creating texture and depth to these tiles was fantastic!
The process was pretty simple. I smeared filler on bits of the board and then used on old brush and stippled over the blobs to spread them out a bit. I tried to avoid brush strokes or lines while trying to stop large peaks of filler appearing. Once I’d done that I put PVA glue on areas and covered with sand. I left it all to dry and then touched up some bits I missed either with more sand or filler.
Then armed with a can of cheap black primer I gave all the boards a base coat. I left it for a bit but before the paint fully dried I sprayed brown and dark green from a distance to add some colour contrast. Finally a heathy coat of my favourite Halfords lacquer all over to seal it properly. The lacquer gives an appearance of wet ground due to the shine on it. Its not gloss but catches the light enough to look like moisture on the surface.
I took pictures as I went along. I got a production line going so there was lots going on at the same time but I managed to grab a few pictures of each stage. Please forgive the darker images. They were taken at 11.30pm last night in my garden. I’ll get some better pictures in due course. Next step is to dry brush everything. I’ll mix a dark grey/brown paint as I want to keep it dark and grim.
Something a little bit different today. I was introduced to Mark who runs the blog, Heresy of Us. He is the proud creator of a modular gaming board called Mag Bellum.
Basically it’s a board built up from lots of mini tiles that magnetise together. He’s developed a clever little gadget called the MagTool that ensures you stick the magnets in the right way and they sit flush with the edge of the boards.
The other pretty cool thing is the scenery tiles. They come with pre cut plates that pop in and out allowing for easy storage. You can pick up additional plates so you can switch your scenery around with ease.
I spent my hobby time last night glueing the magnets in place on 16 of the tiles. I picked up enough stuff to make a 2×2 skirmish board and also got some extra plates to play around with.
Scenery has never really been of much interest to me. I love the look of pretty battlefields and well crafted scenery but never been inspired to make some myself. The last thing I made was an Armies on Parade board which I found a slog! But I’m really excited about doing this. It’s a brilliant idea and the project feels more than manageable as I can paint a tile or two in the evenings.
The easy to store aspect helps my keenness to complete this project as well. My two little sons mean well, but they do like to investigate Daddy’s toys! So to be able to pack this away safely and out of the way is a huge bonus. Everything fits neatly in the box but I’ll be looking for a plastic storage box to keep it even more secure once the texture is on.
Anyway, if you get time check it out. I know the age of Battlemats is upon us but if you fancy a scenery project this is worth a go.
Bit of a picture dump of my activity yesterday…
The MagTool is without question the best bit of kit I’ve used in a long time
I mentioned previously that I’ve been rebasing my Ogre army for Age of Sigmar. I’m working on a rough plan for the army and I needed a Tyrant. In Warhammer Fantasy I favoured Butchers and Bruiser Battle Standard Bearers (Hero Level Characters) over the points costly Tyrants.
I’ve always loved the history of Dogs of War and Mercenary units of The Old World. My favourite character being Golgfag Maneater the Mercenary Ogre. So a plan was born!
We’ve started to see some of the old favourites being reborn in the Realms of Age of Sigmar. Classics like Gotrek and Morathi to name a couple. Both great examples of how GW has taken classic personalities and advanced their history in the AOS worlds. I wanted to give Golgfag the same treatment.
The last official model of Golgfag was a years ago and was made in Finecast. I’ve never had a great deal of success with that material but had purchased one anyway. As you’d expect the sculpt was nice but very bendy and warped in parts. So I scrapped the idea of using him as a base for the model and went looking for a suitable body to represent a reborn Golgfag.
After a bit of rummaging and web browsing I settled on the Ironjawz Warboss. Fully armoured and perfect size for an ogre! New weapons, few skulls and of course, Golgfags head (the best bit of my Finecast kit, thankfully!) I was happy. I then went about giving him a grubby, rusty and beaten up look using texture on those flat armour panels.
Think he’s turned out ok. I’ve named him Golgfag RealmEater. I figured that would be a suitable name upgrade to go with the model. So he is ready to lead new armies across new lands/Realms.
As with most of my little projects, it has me thinking. This has sparked in interest about other old favourites who might do with an AOS upgrade. But the next one has to be Skaff. Skaff is the loyal Standard Bearer in Golgfags Mercenary Ogre unit. There is a brilliant story in the 4th Edition Dogs of War Army Book about them. Check it out if you can. I’m sure you’ll find it online somewhere.
Second part of my Rogue Trader Space Marine mini project.
Captain Kashta, another of the Imperial Marines to flee Terra with Amon. Kashta fought along side Amon at the closing stages of the Unification Wars. Kashta excelled at long range assaults and tank combats. He watched the Imperial Technologies advance in despair. As servitors and robots took over a lot of the work Kashta spent more time working with Tech-adepts to advance the heavy weapon defences of Terra.
Spending a brief period on Mars, he failed the various tests set by his Tech-Priest overseers. He was seen as too much of a maverick and his suggestions in some cases were seen as extreme, almost radical!
As the Horus Heresy moved closer to Terra, Kashta was sent back to assist with ensuring the Imperial Capital was ready to deal with the oncoming storm. He worked along side the Imperial Fists that heavily fortified the Emperors Palace but there are no records of his involvement in the wars and sieges that led to the Emperors death.
Kashta was promoted several times by Amon and is currently 9th Company Captain of The Sons of Egyptus. Captain Kashta leads a heavily armed Battle Company. All trained to use a variety of devastator weaponry. Captain Kashta and the majority of his 9th Company served under Amon in the great civil war of Egyptus, which still rages on…
And, here is the first incarnation of Kashta. Brilliant model to paint. At first I wasn’t too sure about the huge Terminator Honours medallion hanging from his neck but its kinda cool. I’m pleased with how he’s turned out. The face was clunky but a pretty decent sculpt for its age.
Amon and Kashta – Sons of Egyptus
I remain inspired to do the rest of Amon’s Warband and I have the third Marine undercoated and ready to paint. I’ve been thinking about writing a mini game using the Warband. Maybe scenario set during their first arrival on Egyptus and a battle against the locals or desert beasts they disturbed? I dunno, something to think about in the future.
After posting my recently finished Troll Boss I thought I’d share some of his minions. This lot has had new bases and some new paint on them to tidy up some bits that have suffered some damage over the years.
All the bases for this army have magnets stuck on for ease of storage and transport. The whole army fits quite neatly in two storage boxes.
As mentioned yesterday these boys roam the Realm of Shadows! A dark and sinister place. They dwell quite near a Dark Elf stronghold and have grown quite fond of having Elves for dinner!
I also finished off and rebased the first of two giants in the army. This beauty has been work in progress since the plastic giant was first released. But with a new base, promises of plunder and Elf flesh from Bolgur Sourtoof, he’s ready to go!
I went for a zombie green for the skin. I started painting him over 15 years ago and he was going to be included in an undead army that didn’t happen! So he has been the inspiration behind the trolls coming from the Realm of Shadow. This giant has lived in the Realm all his life. He knows these lands well and has proven a valued addition to the Bulgur’s warband.
So that’s box 1 of 2. Work is slow on the second giant at the moment but once he’s done, along with the goblin wizards I’ll share the second box of delights!
A step closer to getting my Chaos Troll army ready for Age of Sigmar. I played Throgg’s Troll Horde back in 7th/8th Edition Fantasy purely because of the modelling and conversion potential. At the time the plastic river trolls hadn’t long been released and I remember grabbing a couple of boxes and some chaos spawn and getting to work! But I digress…
Leading my rehashed army of Trolls will be Bolgur Sourtoof – Duffer of ‘Orrible Dead Fings. The Trolls now spend much of there time in the Realm of Shadows. Bolgur saw a shiny door with glowing bitz and charged through it. This of course was a Realmgate and with that, they now smash stuff in their new shadowy home!
Bolgur has been made from a plastic Lord of the Rings Troll and given spare River Troll bits. He also has feet/hooves from the plastic giant kit. I wanted to link him back to the Gloomspite Gitz a bit so added some mushrooms. I had to think long and hard about how I originally painted my trolls (always write recipes down) but he matches up ok.
So this leaves, two goblin wizards and a giant to paint and then my 2000pt Troll force will be ready to wage war across the Mortal Realms.
Went digging around the loft and found my old Wood Elf army. Played it through 6th, 7th and 8th edition Warhammer Fantasy. Can’t quite remember the army composition but I’m not sure I was very successful with it.
But thought I’d share all the same. Always liked Wood Elves. It was the tree daemons thing. I could be tempted to play some games with them again. Seem to recall having more luck in 6th/7th edition with these. Although I did have a cracking weekend at Warhammer World gaming in a 8th edition Throne of Skulls event. But I think the drinking aspect helped!
I find regiments of models rather charming. They have a distinct look about them. Very different from the skirmished AOS look. Again, my painting style has developed over time but this brighter and greener scheme is very suitable for the style that older editions of Warhammer Fantasy portrayed at the time. I enjoyed adding flock and grass to the tree spirits as I wanted them to look like scenery. I worked for Games Workshop at the time and wanted them to blend into one of the gaming tables I’d built for the shop.
There seems to a lot of talk surrounding The Old World game being made by Forge World and various Facebook Groups have popped up with people sharing older square based armies! So it will be interesting to see if my Wood Elves can be used and reimagined in the new game.
Please excuse the large quantity of pictures. I set up units as I was unpacking the case and snapped away!!
My homebrew Space Marine Chapter. I’ve been gaming with these chaps since 4th Edition. They are (as the title may suggest) Egyptian themed! But NOT Thousand Sons!!!
The army started out as a small warband and kinda grew and grew! Fluff and background started to flow as I painted various marines from my collection. This was a bit different to anything I’d done before, because it quickly grew to a fair sized army. I guess the simple colour scheme helped get a lot done in a short space of time.
But, there was humble beginnings. The Chapter was born after conversations with my gaming group about narrative driven armies, lessor known Space Marine Chapters and taking a slice of 40k law and creating a story that runs in parallel. I started plucking the odd Marine from other (unfinished) projects to add to the ranks and started defining characters.
The current Chapter Master of The Sons of Egyptus is a chap call Amon. Amon has lived for a very long time and his service dates back to the Horus Heresy. So he is old, even by marine standards. His adventure began when he, and a small warband of his closest allies fled Terra after the Emperor was slain. Amon knew that the Imperium would quickly change and he feared what effect that may have on the worlds he held close to his heart. Some say he fled through fear, others because he wasn’t as loyal as first thought, while others believe he left to create a new Empire in the name of his fallen Lord and Commander.
I liked the idea that Amon is Terran born and bred. Details of his past and history leading up to his departure are sketchy at best. Most of his records have been deleted or ‘lost’ from Imperial records. There is little knowledge of where his geneseed originates. There are many theories and rumours but nothing has ever been confirmed. The Inquisition keeps very quiet about the whole affair and actively avoids discussion about the small troop carrier that left Terra all those years ago.
Amon and Co. stumbled upon a small desert world called Egyptus. The planets only settlement was a shanty town, full of beggars, rogues, bounty hunters etc. Imagine Mos Eisley mixed with Mad Max!!
The band of Imperial Marines settled and built shelter on the outskirts of the planet. Quickly devising plans for their next step in what would become a growing saga in Imperial history. Repainting their armour and removing their iconography didn’t sit well with some of them but they needed a new identity quickly! They dropped their titles, ‘Scions of Terra’ and adopted The Sons of Egyptus as their new name. Something that would later come back to haunt Amon.
Here we have the first incarnation of Amon. This is him at the beginning of his new life on Egyptus. He was originally used a test Marine to try out the colour scheme and he got a bit lost in my ‘unfinished’ stuff. But I found him last night and finished him off. I’ve given him a 32mm base so he fits in with my other heroes.
I look back to the early days of trying out colour schemes with some fondness. I settled on the simple grey with blue spot colours after trying a whole host of schemes. At one stage they may have been green and red. But after playing around with that, they looked like Sons of Horus!! The colour scheme has developed a bit over time but their armour has stayed grey.
This was a lovely miniature to paint. Full of detail and character. It was brilliant fun painting a Marine. I haven’t painted a Space Marine for a while. It’s opened up a bit of hobby project for me as well! I’ve got a load of Rogue Trader and Second Edition Space Marine that have been sat around for a long long time! So, I’m going to dig out some favourites and create the original warband that fled Terra. It will give me a good excuse to write the history for each Battle Brother and paint some of my older models that are unlikely to see the light of day anytime soon.
One member of the crew already has a decent amount of fluff. Amon’s second in command and childhood friend, Amenhotep. Amenhotep currently serves in the Deathwatch under the gaze of an Inquisitor know as B. But how he ended up there is for another time.
I thought this would be a good place to start in sharing my own Space Marine Chapter. They’ve become a labour of love and I enjoy adding new bits and writing history for them. As I share the history we may jump about about a bit, so please don’t hesitate to ask questions in the comments!
Jedicorn Hobby 