Vacation Means Workshop of Doom Fun!

Well fair readers of the old Blog, it's been a really busy couple of years for the Leadaddict. Between Coaching Football, Being a Football Parent, selling my business, huge demands at work, and an incredibly busy family life, there ain't been many candles burned in the old Workshop of Doom.

But I am here to tell you, the ole addict is gonna have some time to hit this thing right. Starting tomorrow I am on vacation til January 4th. And beside all of my family and friend commitments and the holiday, this old grognard is gonna paint and build armies and terrain. I can't wait. Here's what's on the block to be worked on. A nice mix of old and new:

Lead Addict's Vacation Projects 

Painting

Epic

28mm Post Apoc Teams

Necromunda

High Elves – Singles

High Elves – Bases

Dwarven – Singles

Frost Grave

·         3 Warbands

·         4 Special Characters

·         Undead

Terrain

28mm Post Apoc

Epic Buildings

Necromunda
Frostgrave

I have gotten all of the Frostgrave stuff from the first two Nickstarters and have been working on terrain, so I am looking forward to finishing some ruins and knocking out some warbands.

Since Dragon Rampant is coming out soon, I need to get some armies ready for that. I have Undead mostly done, generic human medieval (bretonnians) mostly done, and a couple of units of Dwarves started. Need to get a full complement of High Elves and Dwarves finished.

A couple of us Basement Generals have agreed to dust off our Necromunda and play some this winter, I have 3 gangs done, time to dust off the unpainted ones and paint them up and have more options and base paint my terrain.

And as the Baron and I get ready for our Fistful of Lead: Wasteland Warriors Kickstarter, time to paint some more figs and finish more have finished terrain.

And I continue to lust after Onslaughts Epic figs. So I may put in a small notTau order and have some 6mm fun as well.

Ambitious. Yes, But as I get back into the swing of things, I wanted to limit my choices, but have a variety I would enjoy. So If I get a unit form each category I'll be happy. We shall see...

Best wishes and Merry Christmas to all

Lead Addict

Epic Buildings Using Hawk Wargames Free Graphics

While watching the Olympics last night, I thought I would put together a few buildings for Epic. I have long since traded my original Epic buildings, and you have to have a cold, heartless, oppressive Imperial City to fight over, so I decided to repurpose the the Hawk Wargames free building facades for the good of the Emperor.

A while back, Hawk Wargames released pdf's of their artwork for what would become their card buildings for Dropzone Commander. These shots below are of the card buildings released.  

But as Dropzone Commander is 10mm, the buildings are just too big. So I used the original artwork, scaled it to 60% and voila, its ready to go.

The facades were printed on a laser printer, cut out, and fixed with spray fix to a building box cut out of foamcore or gator board. I made the first couple with gator board, but for such small buildings the increased structural rigidity is not needed and it is a real drawback to speed, cutting and burning through knife blades. 

So we (me and the boy) switched to foam core and started rocking out building shells.

Here are the first 7 buildings guarded by my recently finished Ultramarines:

Since I can print these out at will, I can have as large a city as I need. I have 8 buildings, and about 30 more printed out. 

I have some predators, drop pods, the rest of my bike company, and some titans to complete, then I am gonna work on enough terrain to fill a 6x8 table. I have a pretty good start with my JR Miniatures terrain, I need new roads, rivers, urban layered terrain and some additional hills.

  

Epic 40k Goodness

Its been a while. Thought I would show you all what I have been working on when time has permitted. I have been noodling away on my current project...Epic 40k.

An old favorite, and the first GW game I ever played was was Space Marine/Adeptus Titanicus 1st Edition. Loved it and it really got me hooked on GW after that for a while in their heyday.

I have been collecting it for years, selling and rebuying plenty of armies along the way. Finding an unopened blister at an out of the way shop is always a pretty great find. Time to pull out dusty boxes of Oh yeah I remember that. Anyway on this go-round I thought I would start with Ultramarines as a base army. Nothing too fancy. Basic house army for anyone to play since they are the simplest to play. so here they are so far.

Specials in front, 1st Company in back

6th Tactical Company with Rhino and Vindicator support, 4th company Bike Squadron on right.

3rd Company Battle Company with Robot, Dreadnaught, Tarantula, Speeders, Razorback, Vindicator and Whirlwind support 

 

Ultramarines are a mix of old and new models. I will be using the second half of my marines and using them for Horus Heresy Era Imperial Fists. We shall see if I get there.

As usual super hurried photography taken right before rushing in to work.

thanks,

LA

Update 2-14-13 Happy Corporate Forced Feelings of Intimacy!

Happy made up holiday from the greeting card companies! (I'm looking at you Hallmark. No really, I'm looking down the street at the headquarters)

On this day of love and false hope of story book romance, I thought I would give my gentle readers a quick update of things I love.

1. I love that I have an embarassment of riches in the hordes of miniatures slumbering to be painted in the Workshop of Doom.
2. I love that my gamers ADD has manifested itself in way that I can literally change to almost any period at any time and have at least one unit to paint or play with.
3. I love old GW boxed games. Boy they have really tanked it after that.
4. I love 3d CAD sculpts for machinery and equipments. And the sculptors just keep getting better. Thanks for pushing the envelope Spartan.
5. I love that my family knows how much I love the hobby and that at XMas and my Birthday, there is always at least one gaiming or mini gift for me.Usually lots.
6. I love my gaming group. They are a great group of guys, who know how to enjoy the hobby. Each brings something different to the mix and we are all better for it. Thanks BG's. Wish I had been there more recently.
7. I love the Wife, the Boys and the Family, etc
8. I LOVE MY DOGS. Nothing puts me in a better mood than playing with the two of them.

And here's a picture of a cinnamon roll in the shape of a vagina that the BAron sent me this morning. If you turn it upside down, it looks like a heart. Kinda.

On the Update side of things:

I finished 3 support cards of troops for the Ultra Marines. 3 units of Dreadnaughts, Robots, Tactical Detachment.

I base painted a unit of Dreads and a unit of Land Speeders for the Imperial Fists as a test go cause I was tired of painting blue.

Spartan Games have now put up for free in pdf their spaceship rules - Firestorm Armada, and their Fantasy Naval Rules - Uncharted Seas. Can't go wrong with free. And their sculpts are second to none. I am going to pick up some US fleets for my BDay and probably order some more assorted stuff. I have to admit, I am as intrigued by their scenery lines as their mini lines. Beautiful stuff.

The Numancia Dragoons taunt me from their perch. I really must finish them soon. Probably on my B-Day weekend when I can carve some time away.

Enjoy your loved ones. Hold them tight and tell them you love them on every other day besides today so they know you mean it and you know they have heard you. Nothing else really matters cause despite the great gathering of toys, you can't take them with you, and the worms don't like gaming. All the love, LA.

Epic 40k pics - Marines

Took some really quick pics this morning before work of my progress on the Marines for Epic. I have a small Blood Angels contingent, which is mostly old but a few newer things. A fully mixed and very large Ultra Marine (I prefer the separate Ultra as its own word instead of the Ultramarines run together) force. I had visions of doing the whole chapter, but I think I will beg off of that and instead expand the Blood Angels force a little, and do an all old-kitted Imperial Fists force. The Blood Angels, and the 2nd Company of the Ultras were painted by my bro-in-law and I got those and an awesome Squat force in some horse trading. That leaves me without a Crimson Fists and Dark Angels forces(which were favorites of mine to paint) in 28mm. So we shall see what the end result is. Let's just get through the Ultras first.

Blood Angels - Without Rhinos-yet

Ultramarines - 2nd Battle Company, 6th Tactical Company, Plus Armored Support from  3rd Company

Blow up of 6th Company and 3rd Company Armor

6th Company Rhinos, and 2nd Company Marines

2nd Company Rhinos, Robots, and Bikes, 3rd Company Armor

The Five Specials - left to right - Chapter Commander, Librarian, Tech Priest, Chaplain, Apothecary

Chapter commander in gilded Land Raider

Librarian in gold encrusted Rhino

Chaplian and Apothecary (yes helix is wrong)

Tech Priest and Servitor

Next is the workbench at the Workshop of Doom, and the weight of the tiny little figs waiting patiently for detail. The Rest of the Ultra Marine Force.

Tactical Marines for the 3rd Battle Company, Land Raiders for the 1st Veteran Company, Rhinos for the 3rd  Battle Company, Thunderhawks and Contemptor Dreads, Current Dreads and Old Skool Robots, New Skool and Old Skool Land Speeders

Blow up of some of the sticks

Primed New Skool Drop Pods (the old skool ones are going with the  Imperial Fists), New Skool Bike Company, Devastators for 3rd Company, 1st Company Termonators  

I choose to paint my Ultras not ultramarine blue, but Game Color Royal Blue. Its a bluer color, without the deep grey of the ultramarine blue, and I like it better on the small models. The wash is home made. I am running dangerously low on Devlan Mud wash. I only have 2 pots left. So I mixed up my own that got pretty close. Its got water, dish spot remover (as a flow aid), paynes grey, charred brown, black, hull red and beasty brown paint as well as a few drops of black pelican ink in it. It worked out pretty good and is sufficiently dirty without being black. That's what I loved about devlan. It had a really great property to grunge up anything in just the right way. So next up is the 1st Company, then the support equipment and finally the 3rd Company.

I have more than enough Marines to play right now, but I want to Round out the Ultras first, fill in the rhinos and a few tactical and special cards for the Blood Angels, and then I will need to decide on the enigmatic Eldar (always my favorite) or the Brutish Ork Horde. Either is ready to go. As are Chaos and Tyranids. I would like to do the Armies in pairs. So maybe this way:

Marines and Orcs
Squats (half way done)
Eldar and Chaos
Guard and Tyranids

Hope you have enjoyed.

LA

EPIC 40k on the Horizon!

Been a little slow on the blog with acyual painted work so I hope to remedy that this week. I seem to be back in the swing of things and had some great time to paint this weekend. So here is what I have been working on.

I have put the Spanish Drgoons on the shelf (they weren't vexing me, just not into them right now) and have pulled out an old favorite. EPIC.

I am going to revisit this old friend, rules and all, and have some fun.

First a discussion of rules.

I have played only the first two editions of Epic. I loved them and Second edition is one of those Top Ten games for me. It was always a lot of fun, the armies were bright and colorful and looked great on the table, and the rules were simple and playable. It could get slow with a lot of troops on the table, as always happened, but still a great game.

Adeptus, where it all started

SM 1st Edition Epic

2nd Edition

Titan Legions

I have gotten some differing opinions about using some of the newer rules.

3rd Edition

 Supposedly the best rules version of the game, at least by the designers. Simplified everything. It made a lot of moves to speed things up by making it much more generic. It also brought the glorious new sculpts of the Eldar and other updates of classic imperial and space marine armor. I will eventually play it, but my heart is still in Second Edition.

4th Edition

 The current set of the rules, available as a free download at the GW site. Gone are the Company Cards system, and again a much simpler game. The design aesthetic for some things in this version got away from GW. and Quite frankly this version of the Eldar and Imperial Titans are some of the worst models GW ever produced. that is why they quickly dumped the stiff and stupid looking Eldar ones and went back to the classic sleek and fast looking ones. There were major changes made to the army lists as well. One of my fellow BG's likes this version of the game.

Crowd Sourced Revised Second Edition

I have followed this version since its inception. A nice reaction by the internets to counter the game tat GW was putting out. This crowd sourced version is incredible. It has detail, heaps of army lists, crazy support on the message boards. Its really a great version of the game that tries to address some of the short comings of Second Edition. If you want to get the Old Skool vibe of Second Edition, but want a better tweak of those rules. Play these rules.

So After all of the thinking and talking to some folks, I am going to build and paint my armies according to the Second Edition Force Cards. This would give me maximum flexibility to use them since those forces tended to be bigger(except some SM detachments).

And since I kept, or traded or have bought off of ebay heaps of Epic stuff (It is one of my constant searches on ebay) they have been patiently waiting to be painted. I am pretty excited about this one. It is a pretty big part of my overall gaming collection. I am excited to dive right into it.

And I have. I'll post some picks of my Ultra Marine Army I am doing. It was partially Started by my Bro in Law and I traded my last remnants of Flames of War stuff for it. He had a Battle Company, With Supporting detachments of Predators, Razorbacks, and Whirlwinds and Old Skool Thunderhawks. He also had a Small Blood Angels Force. A Tactical Company with supporting Predators, Vindicators, Predators, Whirldwinds, and Thunderhawks. Beautiful.

I have forged ahead with Putting together an Ultramarines Tactical Company, Army Specials including Chapter Command, Librarian, Apothecary. Chaplain, and Tech Priest. I have A Battle company on sticks with their Rhinos. As well as a Terminator Company,  a couple of new Thunderhawks, a mix of old Skool Contemptor Dreads along with with Current Style Dreads, New and Old style Land Speeders, a New Style Bike Company, New Style Drop Pods, and more. Its been fun putting this all together. My Marines will be a mash up of all versions of the game. And this fits well with the Ultra Marines.

I am also doing a small force of Imperial Fists, since they are my favorite Marines. It will be entirely done with Old Skool components so it can double as a Heresy Era Force with the Blood Angels that are already done. I thought about doing a Heresy Era World Eater and Death Guard Force as well. We shall have to wait and see.

Now I know a bunch of you don't care about the 40k fluff and to be honest neither do I. But there is some great nostalgia associated with this fluff for me so bear with me.I will be putting pics of painted minis on the site soon. I have a bunch to show you.

After that, the Orks or Eldar sit patiently waiting. So count on sporadic posts about Epic this year to go with Nappies, Post Apoc and and 15mm Sci Fi and Fantasy.