Re-inventing the Chaos Space Marines

Long story short: I am a farmer. Not a Korean farmer (those guys on mmos that kill monsters and sell the gold over e-bay). A real farmer. I grow plants and I have a steady job in an open air market. So, much of my time is being consumed by that. I need to move from the big city (Athens) to the country (Thiva) to check on my plants, talk to people, do hard work etc. etc.

The past one and a half month, I was in Thiva, participating on a seminar about new farmers, but I managed to paint some Eldar. But now I'm back in Athens, where all my stuff and armies are (except for the Tyranids, those bugs are scattered everywhere). So I started checking on old boxes with bitz and old metal miniatures, and stripped and primed minies that needed to be repainted, and found these:

From left to right, we can see a fantasy Khorne Lord on Juggernaught (who has been "converted" to fit into a Warhammer 40K list - actually just a plasma gun on the shield arm and a round base), a metal Typhus given to me as a present about 4 years ago, a metal Lucius the Eternal (he was a gift along with Typhus) and my very first chaos miniature, Abaddon the Despoiler. Now, this miniature has seen a lot of action: painted, stripped, painted again, sealed with the disgusting Citadel "purity seal", then stripped and primed again, to stay in this state for about 5 years, more or less. Anyway, I've tried to give this guy a dynamic pose, something to make him look more like Abaddon from the Chaos Space Marines codex of 1998. And today, after a lot of thinking, I've made it. It's really nothing special, I haven't even cut or pinned much on him (well I didn't cut anything, I just pinned his arms) and set him on a more or less dynamic pose. I also "repositioned his lightning claw, and turned his head in a way that shows something like "advance" or "charge".

Anyway, I liked the way he turned out, like, out of nowhere.

Now, in other news.

A long time ago, I purchased a pack of Warhammer Fantasy Chaos Knights. My idea was to make a "bike" squadron for my ever growing Black Legion army. Those miniatures (that by the way are awesome) where sitting in a dark cupboard (obviously waiting for the Apocalypse, since they are going to represent the four horsemen). So, with no further ado, a sneak peak of what there is to come:

So, I'm sorry for being so late (for anyone out there who reads the blog), and once more, thank you. See you soon.

Cheers.

The Elder Races

After a long time painting power armour, I chose to see a different aspect of modelling: As I've stated to the previous post , some time ago I was given an army of Eldar, painted with the Ulthwe craftworld paint scheme. Now, to be honest, I never liked the whole idea with wraith bone colouring (I like the idea of the wraith bone being a living matter that can be shaped according to the Eldar whims) so I tried a different approach on the matter. Bellow, with no further ado (my time is short) you can see the outcome.

I hope you'll enjoy it.

P.S.: I know there are a lot of things that can be fixed or made in a better way (e.g. the highlighting on the targeting pole) but I keep this as a reminder on what I did wrong and what can be fixed in the future.

Cheers.

Sneak Peak: Blood Angels

Repositioning the Eldar: A Xenos love story.

A while back, I was given a small (as I thought at that time) Eldar strike force. It started to be an Ulthwe force, painted with those colours, a colour scheme that I like it myself. Recently, I stumbled across them once more. They where sitting in a carton box, 3 years after I moved out of my previous house. Tons and tons of miniatures where sitting there, rolled up in toilette paper (don't ask), just waiting to be unpacked. And in a moment of loneliness, I decided to unpack them and see what's inside the box.

I was overwhelmed.

A box full of miniatures, grav tanks and jet bikes, waiting to be re-modelled and re-assembled. Everything was there: weapon support platforms, a wide range of harlequins, Dire Avengers, Phoenix Lords. And most of them, still in their blisters. But the main problem was the grav tanks and the jet bikes. The majority of those where glued the wrong way, or not glued at all, just stuck together to make a mock up of the tank, just to be used in games. And everything was thrown inside a box of an Eldar Falcon box, mixed up.

So, I took the decision to unpack everything, see what was missing, re-assemble everything, strip what was painted awfully and repaint them. I started with the easy stuff, re-assembling the metal weapon support platforms:

I love the look of those. Pretty good detail, although the Eldar personnel is a little bit static. And metal, that means there is no way of re-positioning those guys.

So, with the easy stuff out of the way, I started to look around for the parts of the grav tanks (an Eldar Falcon and  a Wave Serpent, along with a Vyper and three jet bikes).

Finding the parts for the tanks, was easy enough. I found the schematics, the sprues, (most of them where still uncut). But... I wasn't able to locate the Shuriken Cannon and the canopy for the Vyper. So, I had to improvise. I looked over the two sprues from the grav tanks and found a plethora of spare weapons. So, I salvaged that part of the vehicle. But the canopy was still missing.So... I did this:

I took my small drill and drilled some holes that didn't penetrate the hull of the vehicle. In the finished model, I would make this thing look like it took a burst of rounds right in the face, the canopy was broken and the pilot had to brake it or remove it somehow (just like the pilots in WWII did on their planes), so he could see. Keep in mind here, that the model shown in the picture, was taken apart and re-assembled. In the pictured above, is NOT glued. This is a demonstration of the power of good assembly can do. Always trim and clean your models before applying glue on them.

So, with the Vyper done, it was time to get my hands on the jet bikes. 

A small parenthesis here. All the grav vehicles on the eldar army, come with crystal clear plastic round bases, to give the impression of flying. Those bases were all broken. So I had to make some arrangements. I took the smallest drill I could find, and drilled small holes in them. Then I inserted small steel rods, cut from steel paper clips, to make an effective base. This is the outcome:

I never really liked the rigid look of something so elegant and agile as the Eldar vehicles, so I decided to give them a tilt while on the base. After all they are three in number, and I though it would be cool to make them all look like they are turning together towards an enemy, in squadron formation. The same would apply for the Vyper and the grav tanks as well.

So, after a while, this is a small update on what I was up to. Will a few simple drills and pins, you can give your model a very nice dynamic look. More to come, since this project have only just begun.

Cheers.

Nostalgia..

I've been waiting for two weeks for the Dark Vengeance box to arrive and I've been browsing the internet in search for a project, ideas and other stuff to do with my chaos space marine army, and I've stepped over the old Space Crusade art.

The Milton-Bradley games (abbreviated MB, Hero Quest, Space Crusade, etc.) was my first contact with the Games Workshop miniature range, and I fell in love with them. I even tried to paint some with my plain modelling equipment (Humbrol and Airfix paints). Needless to say, the outcome was horrible.

One of the most exciting stuff in the game, for a nine year old, was the awesome 1st-to-2nd edition artwork, found in the rulebook and on the event cards. Obviously a lot of that artwork was made specifically for the Space Crusade game, and others where taken from the Warhammer 40K: Epic. They were both equally fantastic.

The objective of the game was a mix of 40K background within a Space Hulk environment: you controlled one of 3 Space Marines chapters (Blood Angels, Ultramarines and Imperial Fists) and the "bad guy" controlled the blips on the map. The blips where random, and had the number of the enemies you encountered every time. The mortality rate was high among the space marines and only the sergeant had 6 wounds (where the simple space marine had 1). You could fight against space orks, gretchin, "space androids" (necrons where not a part of the army range back then), chaos space marines, genestealers, and a dreadnought. The game map could change (more like the Advanced Hero Quest) and the space marines, entered and left through an attack platform at some end of the game map. Overall was a great and fun game, for someone who haven't seen or heard of anything that had to do with Warhammer 40K universe.

Bellow you can see some of that artwork that introduced me to the hobby. Enjoy.

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There is a saying..

...that says "the labourer is made by his tools". I know it sounds kinda weird when you read it/hear it in English, but it makes perfect sense. Why do I say that?

My brother bought an SLR camera the other day, and I borrowed it to shoot some pictures of my minis. Bellow you can see the awesome outcome. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking these pictures.

                                   The Legion of the Damned space marine that I promised a while
                                                                            back.

My three chaos cultists that I used as thrall wizards back in the 3rd edition chaos space marine codex (since I couldn't find any more of those to make them a standing unit:

A chaos terminator (the old metal ones) painted a few years back. Although I'm generally satisfied with the outcome, you can see he looks quite sloppy when you take a good look.

A still WIP Night Lord Aspiring Champion/Lord. I love the ears, no matter what other people say.

So, as you can see, we are still learning. I hope you'll enjoy them. Cheers.

Chaotic Heresy

                                                             Even Horus seems clueless:

Yes, it is the time where I have to separate my self from two distinct things: One is the gaming area and the other is the modelling area.

As I've previously stated, and  friend of mine said "here, we don't miss the gamers, we miss the modellers". For better or for worse, this is true, there are not enough people painting or converting. I've never thought my self as a gamer: I own a copy of Warhammer 40K 5th edition and I've only played 2 times with that rule set. So, someone might ask, "why this intro"?

Being a new blog, one out out of thousands out there about the Warhammer hobby, I've read numerous times blogs that incorporate modelling and rumours and/or rules reviews. Unfortunately I'm not into rules, and the only source for new stuff, is the news feed I receive from Forge World and my own hand guiding the mouse when I browse the GW site. So, with the new Chaos Space Marines codex coming out, the new 6th edition already out on the selves I have to make a choice and state, that this blog will strictly stick on the modelling aspect. I don't have the time to discuss rules or rumours, I don't have the knowledge to discuss rules and rumours and last, but not least, these entries are created for fun: people who wanted to paint and have a good time around a table, with a bunch of paints and brushes in front of them. Obviously from time to time, there would be a reference to new stuff from the creators of the hobby, but that's it. I know that there aren't many who read this blog, but you never know.

So, in that new spirit, in other news. Forgeworld released the miniature of the Heresy Era Angron, Primarch of the World Eaters Legion. Awesome model. And pretty cheap for a FW model (50 pounds). We dare to hope and speculate, that with Horus Heresy on sale, we will be happy to see more Primarch Models. Perhaps even an Emperor of Mankind model. 

The new Chaos Space Marines miniature range is out. A new White Dwarf (with a new look), a new chaos codex, and tons of videos. But with this new era of models (the ones that made their appearance with the Dark Vengeance boxed set), leaves me with mixed thoughts. Seems like GW is paving the way, for a new age of models. Models that would be hard to put a hand and convert them to something more personal. With all those click and clacks on the new minis, and the tag line "They can be assembled without the need of glue", seems like a good fun quick to make and play stand alone battles. But I think there's a catch: most of the models have a great deal of detail and personally I wouldn't cut their arms to reposition them or add a different weapon to give them a new look.

On the other hand, it would be a great and quick way for new players who don't have the time or the hand to make miniatures to just put them together and start to play.

Comments are welcome.

The Horus Heresy

So, I receive Forge World's newsletter fairly often, but these days, with the new chaos space marines miniature range revealed on the 22nd of September, and with Golden Demon 2012 in Birmingham  the Horus Heresy era minis are almost done, and are already being promoted.

From what I've seen there is going to be a campaign/series of books like the Badab War and the Siege of Vraks that saw the new Khorne and Nurgle upgrades and the Krieg and Heretic armies respectively. Here though we have a whole different theme: We have legions fighting against legions, pre heresy and heresy era loyalists and traitors killing each other.

We've all seen the signs for some time now, brassed etched and shoulder pads for Sons of Horus, Emperor's Children and Death Guard, the Fellblade, jetbikes, the old school looking Deimos Pattern Predator, the old-school Land Raider. You name it. But now, we have cataphractii. It's actually a heresy era terminator armour, with elements seen previously on the chaos armies (ripper autocannons, combi-bolters, the Rogue Trader era close combat bayonet/chain-blade), and, obviously the cataphract armour, with the special shoulder plates, the armouring in the back of the armour, the special helmet.

A Rogue Trader era space marine.

The new cataphract terminator armour. The similarity on the bayonet is obvious.

It's really nice though, to see that people tend to remember the humble beginning of the hobby with more than love. I always loved the look of those space marines (despite the fact that now seem mishap and crooked next to a new model, those were the ones that I saw first).

The whole miniature range, seem like they jumped out of the Horus Heresy collected visions book. I can't wait to see some of them painted and ready.

Let the galaxy burn!

It's getting hot in here...

No, this post is not about the Horus Heresy. Yes, this post is about the new Chaos Space Marine Codex rumours that fly all around the internet. Yes, this post is about me, pulling out my teeth and trying to find new ways to save money in order to get my hands on those new Chaos Space Marines models (like the new HellDrake flyer) when they come out.

So, first things first: I've ordered my copy of the Dark Vengeance limited edition boxed set, and I'll get my hands on those new age minis in a few days. For better or for worse I won't be able to paint the new Dark Angels (I'm more of a Heretic than a Loyalist), since the boxed set was bought along with a friend of mine who actually collects Dark Angels, so this was perfect, since there are not enough money around and it would take ages for me to paint an other power armoured army. Anyway, back to the rumours.

So, there are a lot of new stuff going on out there. There are sayings about a Legion Codex, more like the old 2003 Chaos Codex, along with new units and the drop out of old units. It kinda reminds me of the 2003 (again) when GW said that "this is the chaos year", when the new (back then) Defiler, came out.

So, we have a new Warpsmith, the Dark Mechanicus (at last!) equivalent of a Warsmith/Techmarine, we have a nice flyer, the HellDrake, a metal dragon/flyer/daemonic engine thing, we have new Raptors, called Warp Talons, we have new Daemonic Engines that the rumours say would replace the old Obliterators, in game terms as well as in modelling. There would be two different modifications for that, the Forge Fiend and the Mauler Fiend, the one being the shooting the other the assault equivalent, respectively.

Rumours say that the new codex would come out in October, although I've heard of coming out as late as January.

So, we sit back and wait, with a bag of chips in our hand, waiting for the show.

Cheers.

So, Winter Is Coming...

..and along with winter, comes the time for cocooning. Everyone stays in, either not having enough money (the reason being the vacations or the new Dark Vengeance box, I don't really know) or it's rainy/windy/cold. That means a lot more time spent inside and a lot more free time for painting, I guess.

Being a free time painter (not a gamer unfortunately), I find autumn and winter to be the perfect time for painting and converting and cutting and doing stuff with your army. So, I've been to my mother's house (that serves as a warehouse for stuff we don't have the space here) and I've brought back my chaos space marines of the Black Legion. This project was born at least 8 years ago, and it's still on-going. I hope at some time I would be able to finish it, or reach an acceptable level of finished models.

Primed minis everywhere....


So, I opened the box, I took out primed minis and started to correct where the primer didn't reach them. I made a respectable number (about 10 or 15) and put them away in the army case for tomorrow, so when I open it for painting they would be ready.

I also got my hands on some other minis that I've made through the years. One of my favourites is the sick possessed chaos space marine with a foetus hanging through it's intestines.

This guy, is part of a team, and he was created back in 2004. I used a chaos space marine body from space crusade, and bits and pieces from the chaos space marine sprue and the lost and the damned zombie sprue. Also some green stuff (obviously). He came out really nice.

So, as I was checking my stuff, I came across an old mini, one of the metal Legion of the Damned models. I think he's a sergeant, although he doesn't have much of detail on him (the old moulds). Anyway, I always wanted to paint this guy (I bought him in a sale of old models in a shop here in Athens) and he was sitting around, primed, since.

I managed to finish him in an evening. He came out pretty nice, for a first time. But, more pictures of him, will be available next time.

Have fun.

The whole, is greater than the sum of the parts.

So, we are created. And I say "we", because there are more. Yes, I know, there is noone here at the moment, but I hope there will be. Anyway, we are looking for more ideas on motivation and painting, so I thought this would be a good idea: something to keep us busy and for other people to inspire us and help us on this cyclopean effort. And I say cyclopean 'cause the majority of the members associated with this, have their armies only primed. Or only glued. Or even still in boxes.

So, these are the facts, we need help. We gather around in a table, in a basement somewhere in Athens, and we spend our time (and our vision) on plastic miniatures. Awesome.

Above, one of those sessions.