Papa JJ's miniatures unboxed!

It's always nice when a big box of fresh miniatures arrive from the postman.

But today's box was a special one. Thank you Jason (Papa JJ). Remember to check out his blog. From which all these miniatures originate from.

~As promised once these miniatures arrive I will be giving them VIP treatment and they will jump my painting queue. Just in perfect timing as I finally completed my 30 man Spearmen regiment! Be sure to check back as I post their progress step by step, from assembling till painting complete!

Terrain purchases!

Well after the Maelstrom orders we still have forest and hills left to make. So today I went to Art Friend to check out what they had. And boy was I surprised! They had a truckload of Woodlands Scenics stuff in stock! Two whole shelves of it! From rubber molds to entire terrain kits and so much others! Even all the shaker bottles of all kinds of flock were in stock. Guys in SG please do check it out. I bought myself some underbrushes for my Empire army, felt kinda bored with the usual static grass. Want to achieve abit of the historical minis look. Been very much inspired recently.

~So here we have 12 tree armatures and 2 large bags of Lichen. Plus the spare armatures laying around I guess it should be enough to make quite a forest. Each tree should stand about 7" tall. $40SGD total. That makes it to about $3SGD per tree. Pretty reasonable.

Can't wait to get terrain building!

Rulebook in the house.

Kelvin over at the Painting Shop just got all his goodies for Warhammer today! Go check it out to see what loot he got

The Storm is ending.

Just a friendly reminder that Maelstrom Games massive 17.5% sale is ending this weekend. So just spend some time thinking about what you might be missing in your army, painting tools and materials, heck even that new army or game system you have been contemplating for awhile!

Go grab your fix soon. Because like they mentioned, the next sale will probably only come year end during the Xmas seasons.

Voucher Code : THE-PERFECT-STORM

~I just placed my paint restock and remaining miniatures required for my Nuln Army. 30 handgunners, 3 great cannons, 3 mortars and 20 outriders anyone?

Go on and buy something for yourself. You know you want to. :)

August White Dwarf.

Well my August WD just came in the mail today.

This issue is Daemon issue. Lots and lots of stuff on the new plastic releases. Some very nice alternative colour schemes as well!

However my gripe with the subscription issues are that they normally arrive in my mailbox in a very bad condition. Granted I paid so much less than if I were to pick it up off the shelves at our LGS. It's about $12SGD at the LGS and only $8SGD with subscription.

~Broken spines, folded covers and overall ghettoness is what comes along with the subscription. I'm really particular about this as I have a WD library from 1995 till now and I have every intention of keeping them in good condition on my bookshelf. I wonder if GW could do anything about it. (I'm guessing not). But I'll try sending them an email anyway.

Sigh, looks like I won't be extending my subscription with WD once my years issue is up. I'd really rather pay $4SGD more for a good condition copy.

Anyone of you facing the same problems?

custom broadside dryfit ( XV-88s ver. ja )

this is my take on the tau broadside suits. I bought the models. the cannon was a p.o.s. all warped and shrunk in the most obscene form. shame on you gw. your most useful parts were only the head and backpack.

Terrain Updates

YC, YX and I met up yesterday to purchase a box of Tamiya Battlefield Accessories. YX also picked up a preflocked mat from Woodland Scenics which we will be using for forest templates. 

I will be checking out Art Friend this weekend to purchase cardboard to use as the base for the forests we will build. 

If you have added your contribution to my account, please let me know and I will change the spreadsheet to reflect your contribution. 

Melvin will have to take charge on the terrain front as he has the most experience when it comes to terrain making. The plan is to get a weekend where everyone gathers to build the terraintogether so we will have to wait for the terrain to arrive. 

I will be putting in the order for terrain with Maelstrom today. 

games workshop; go eat a fat sloppy choad

I'm pretty pissed at gamesworkshop... their tau crisis suit designs and production models are possibly the toughest models I have ever attempted to model.

firstly, lets start with the design aspect. I thought crisis suits were supposed to be piloted by a tau pilot. With the model, there is physically no way a tau can ever fit inside. If it were a suit of external armor systems, the tau pilot must have a stance as wide as a buffalo (nuts included) to fit into the suit's pelvis stance. From whats shown on the forgeworld site, a normal tau without armor looks more like a tall lanky disco junkie from the 70's afro, bell bottoms and all in full glory... how do they sit inside that god forsaken suit I do not know... btw, there seems to be no torso movement at all, can you imagine living life doing everyday things without being able to rotate your waist?

I think the tau suit idea is a good one... but like most imitators, the execution is an epic fail. Since the tau designers have proven that their IQ is roughly congruent with that of a cabbage, I hereby nominate my garden gnome eddy mc to undertake the next tau codex' suit designs entirely. With all due respects, leave the robot designing to the Japanese.

Secondly, lets go over the quality of gw products, how many times have tank panels not lined up symmetrically with the corresponding sides? how many forgeworld doors have you bought that seem to suffer from more shrinkage than penis on a cold day if ice fishing? how many tau suit heads have dents on the smack middle of the top panel? (see picture, red circles marks the spot)

Now gw wants to charge $24.03 (nyc tax included) for this crappy model? how can I quantify this fact and have it make sense in the most marginal manner? Thats almost like saying Catholic priests do not molest underage boys and that the pope does not look like emperor palpatine... This makes me re-think all holy truths and everything else I've been taught...

Being calm now, I must say normally i never buy any fake goods as I believe people should get dues for what they put out on the market but this case is different... clearly we can see that even with the high premium gw is already charging, they still cannot afford a proper quality control team to oversee their products... and yet all nations rip on china for bad quality... I think from now on, I will only buy 1 box or unit of whatever I need, fix that up and just re-cast my own master molds into however many pieces I need. At least that will save me a lot of time than trying to make good something that's defective.

Terrain Purchases

These are the terrain pieces we will be buying based on the budget and discussions we have had so far.

Watchtower 1
Arcane Ruins 1
Temple of Skulls 1
Basilica Administratum 2
Sanctum Imperialis 1
Manufactorum 2
Foliage 1
Shrine of the Aquila 1

For those who have contributed, please check your personal emails as it will have a complete list of items, prices and terrain we are trying to build.

tau army progression

With 36 fire warriors, sniper drone team, 18 drones & 9 stealth suits done, the outstanding units are 10 crisis suits with an armada of tau tanks.

Since last week, camo and basic coloring for the 6 tau tanks are done. final posing and mods to the battle suits are also done awaiting basecoating in black.

The reason why the tau are partially red is because to be frugal, I bought all the tanks and the battle suits 2nd hand for a huge bargain. I guess the kid who put the models together did it in a rush. All of those pre-owned models were basically gut up into bits and pieces, filed down, reposed, joints modified and converted and then put back together in my style of assembly.

I decided to take a break from my space wolves to work on the tau for a change. Being a huge gundam/mecha fan, my experiences with building and modeling tau has really allowed me to feel really in my element of talent whenever I work on these models. I want them to look like they jumped out of the appleseed universe. Lets hope it all works out.

Jeanstealers!

Fear the Tyranid JEAN-stealers

New High Elves

I saw this today and I cannot wait for the Blood Island starter.

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4829917&postcount=721

Plastic Gryphon, Seaguard, Sword Masters and Elyrion Reavers! I am going to be broke in Oct!

how to airbrush tau camo

Heres a simple how to on tau camo.

1. My tau are themed based on the sa'cea sept color pattern made up of pure shadow grey (darker tone) & a 50/50 mix of shadow grey & spacewolves grey. (lighter tone) I've decided that the darker tone will be the primary color where as the lighter tone will be the camo pattern. First Airbrush the lighter tone evenly over the target surface.

2. tape rows of masking tape onto a self healing cutting mat with the rows touching eachother forming a larger sheet surface. (see picture) then use a ruler and score out intercepting diagonal lines throughout the sheet until you have irregular angles.

3. Using the irregular shapes, tape them onto the target surface in the desired pattern.

4. airbrush an even layer of the primary color (darker tone)

Special remarks:

the reason why your masking isn't working can be 1 of the 3 reasons below:

a. your airbrush regulator needs to be pumping out less than 1 lbs of pressure. anything stronger will blow off the masking tape or cause the paints to seep in.

b. you need to be hitting the masking tape with the airbrush on the top or "face" surface. if you hit it from the sides. paint will build up between the edge of the tape and the unmasked surface. When you peel off the tape, the edges will look shit.

c. your masking tape probably has dust or dirst stuck to the edges. buy a new roll.

Incoming: High Elves

Just got the latest E-Newsletter from GW. Seems like the Pointy Eared goody two shoes are the first in line to get new minis in the 8th Edition.

Extract from the mail.

The High Elves are the noblest of races, the remnant of a once-mighty civilisation that spanned the globe. The titanic destruction unleashed by the Daemons of Chaos and the monstrous betrayal of the Dark Elves left their nation a shadow of its former might and glory, and yet the High Elves fight on. For millennia they have stood sentinel against the depredations of Chaos, thwarting the machinations of the Dark Gods over and again, and though their population has dwindled, the skill and determination of their armies remains steadfast.

In battle, the armies of the High Elves are a glorious sight to behold. Ranks of elite soldiers clad in unspotted white and glittering silver stand against the dark tide of the Forces of Destruction. With a mystical grace and agility that is incomparable to the lumpen, slothful gestures of lesser mortals, they cleave through the foe with spear and blade - their skill and speed a match for any foe. Volleys of white-fletched arrows are sent slashing into the foe, accompanied by the heavier, deadlier shots of the Eagle Claw Bolt Throwers, which can punch through even the thickest armour. Powerful High Elf Mages direct the ebb and flow of the Winds of Magic to smite the foe with incandescent flames, or protect their allies with the dazzling power of Asuryan, the king of the Elven gods.

For more information about the High Elf releases in October, watch out for future newsletters, keep an on the Games Workshop website and check out October's issue of White Dwarf.

The Forgotten Hive Fleet

Hive Fleet Mandasar

I met up with enrgie yesterday and we bought some really nice Mycetic Spore proxies (there are no official models for them spores yet ;) He suggested i put up my old Hive Fleet on the blog. I do indeed recall some fond memories of my old Tyranid army, and successfully located them in storage. I couldn't find some of my other 'Nid minis, they may have scuttled off on board a passing Space Hulk.

These were painted in 2002 (i think). There was this guy at Soulcraft at Paya Lebar MRT who taught/gave me painting tips on highlighting and using washes. The Tyranids here are my first attempts at putting that advice to the brush :)

The Hive Tyrant, The Terror of Hive Fleet Mandasar

Front view. His age shows i thinks...


Side view. Here he is hobbling to the front lines, hungry for a biostuff snack.


Dental shot of his deadly gums.

Tyrant Guard

Great buddies these two. Always accompanies the Hive Tyrant. Shields sometimes used as makeshift fans for the Tyrant if weather is too hot.

The Warriors

The Tyranid Warriors, aka the Synapse Brothas. I couldn't find the other six. They must have gone on their musical tour. Two are armed with Venom Cannons and the rest i think have Deathspitters.

The Gribblies

The 'Gants


The 'Gaunts

When not being trampled underfoot by their bigger cousins, they fulfill their role in swarming over the enemy, or distracting their fire...

The Assassin

The Lictor aka Lord of Surprise. Also another surprising thang is that the flesh hooks are still attached. I remember how flimsy those metal chest arrows can be.

'Fexes!

The Carnifex, the most feared tank bustin' bone cruchin' critter of the Hive. I always loved the Screamer model of olde.


The 'Fexes sharin' a private joke. The one of the left is armed with 2 sets of scything talons, but suffers from rubber claw syndrome(RCS). He always fluffs the penetrating result roll. The one of the right is armed with a barbed strangler and talons.

Zoanthropes

Love at first psych! I think these models stand the test of time. Still awesome sculpts today.

Biovores

The unearthly combination of Tyranid and Ork genes. They do look 'orkish' in the big or rather slack-jawed kinda way.

Not sure if i want to repaint them, probably not haha! It was however a pleasant trip down memory lane for me, hope you enjoyed the pics too.

With the purchase of the Mycetic Spore proxies, there is some motivation to reorganize my Hive Fleet again...Time will tell ;)

Terrain day plan

As discuss earlier with Enrgie, he is setting up a gaming place. With his gaming board incoming(6x2"x2"???),  we will need more terrains, to make sure everyone contribute to the gaming group. Everyone will need to contribute S$30 to buy terrains. Around S$26 will be use to buy gw and/or other companies terrain kits. The S$4 will be use to buy materials to DIY some basic terrains like forest, hills and impassable terrains.


If S$30 is too much or for some reasons you don't want to contribute financially, you can donate a decent size terrain piece (eg: DIY ruin building) and some paints/spray paints(2 cans) to the gaming group, the terrain piece can be DIY or bought, it just got to look decent and not some lame ice-cream sticks  glue together crap.  


For me I will be contributing S$30 for the terrain day fund and also giving my woodland-scenics trees (around 10 pine trees) for DIY forests. 


A brief count, we may have 6-7 people willing to contribute. That will come up to 6-7 pieces of gw terrain if we buy all gw terrain kits.  Including the DIY terrains we will have more than enough terrain for both 40k and fantasy. 


Edit- So far the contributors are the following
1)crazyrat
2)Enrgie
3)Skanwy
4)Krom
5)Beef nuggets

A piece of good news, maelstrom is giving 17.5% discount again till 1st august 2010. We should decide and purchase the stuffs before the discounts ends.

Your 17.5% off UK RRP discount voucher ends on the Sunday of the Perfect Storm birthday weekend, the 1st of August 2010, at midnight (GMT)

Your voucher code is: THE-PERFECT-STORM

Feel free to add ideas to this post or comment below if you are contributing. 

Batrep: Orcs vs Space Wolves

While my shipment of stuff makes it way over from Hong Kong to Singapore (I am relocating to Singapore), I was down at YC's place for a game. Since I didn't have my stuff, I borrowed YC's Orcs.

Head on over to http://picasaweb.google.com/enrgie/RayVsKrom# for the battle report between Krom and myself. This was a 1500 points of Space Wolves vs Tyranids.

location : m41- brooklyn, ny, 11201

Terrain Inspiration

Was looking at some terrain photos and was really impressed with the quality of production these pieces so I thought I would share them with you guys. These can serve as a template or inspiration for your projects.

Enjoy the pics!

On another note, I do welcome ideas how we can further develop our collection of terrain at YC's place and my place. 

With Fantasy coming up real soon, there is a need to do up proper terrain for both systems. Ideas guys?