A Tale of Three Gamers - Week 9 - A tale of Progress and Woe!

Chris' Week 9 Update

Well folks its been another week of baited breath but still no sight of the paints I've ordered!! It's now been three weeks and unfortunately for the first time Maelstrom have let me down, and they've done it big time.

Still since the last post I have now based everything ready for painting (well apart from arms and pads so I can get details) and am now ready for priming - should it ever arrive, here's a quick pic or two:

I have also spent some time rectifying the problems with my Forgeworld Crisis suit and he too is ready to go and should be primed when it arrives:

Jono's Week 9 Update

Hi All,

A good bit of time away from my ravings, but alas, for those that are interested, here is this week’s bilge! I haven’t had much time since my last update, as I have moved house (I wouldn’t recommend this activity) and been on Holiday to Ireland (this I would recommend, I love the place).

I have however managed to get a bit of painting done, as well as some modeling. I have had a lot of action from Mr Postman too! (ewww, enough about your deviant behaviour Jono - millest) I have completed painting my Tervigon, my Hive Guard arrived and have been assembled AND I have finally managed to source some Ravener heads that are not £3 each! My wallet has also been busy since my last installment, as I have ordered the aforementioned Hive Guard and Ravener heads, Paulson Games Bone Swords, 19 gaunts (1 box of 12 from Maelstrom and 7 from eBay), the AOBR boxed set and Codex Tyranids. *smug*

I have forgotten just how horrid a big pewter model is to put together! Alas, I think that the Hive Guard models are awesome, so it’s worth it! –Hopefully I should have some progress on them for next week’s update!

So, onto the piccies, as I guess that’s what the majority of you really care about.. My Tervigon, pretty much complete!

I need to base it, but I will be doing this when I get a good batch of gribblies to do, so I can get a production line going!

This model has taken me a LOT of work to get this painted. It may not be pro standard, but I am seriously proud of it, so any critique is welcomed! I may well do a few touch-ups on the giant when I get some time, but as it stands, I am proud to have the reproductive system of my army completed!

Hopefully next week Hive Guard, group shots and a few more completed models! As it stands, I have 3 gaunts and my Tervigon fully completed, with the rest in various stages of base coating.. so that’s 4 of 25 models 100% completed.

*head-desk*

Millest's Week 9 Update

OK folks well from me right now I can confirm this week there will be no pictures! First off let me update you on progress. So far everything apart from my Medusa/Griffon is assembled, detailed, based and undercoated and ready to go. I would provide pics but having to use my phone camera means basically you would have a picture of a lot of black blobs, not overly interesting. So with that in mind I haven't included pictures, if anyone (including the other guys) decide for this reason I should convert a dead model as per the rules I am happy to but be warned I may replicate it in life size!!!!!

So to explain why I have no pictures and I'm hacked off, Back at the end of April my camera died, now rather then throw out what to me is a very expensive item I decided to send it to Fuji for repair. Yay, you all say it may be slow but it will be fixed/replaced, well unfortunately not as according to Fuji the camera never arrived! When questioning Royal Fail over this I was repeatedly told that the proof of signature should be up soon, however finally on Wednesday they admitted they do not have a signature for the camera. so I am now down one camera, the cost of one repair and the post of sending said camera. I have had to place a claim with Royal Fail however I was advised that as I don't have the original receipt for the camera (IE a 5 year old receipt) that I will most likely only get refunded/insurance payout for the cost of postage! So if anyone has any advice or information on how best to approach this (can I claim on house insurance - IE contents?) that would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading what amounts to a very poor entry from me and if you decide I should model a casualty let me know.

Challenge No Submission Casualty List


Listed are the number of casualty models each player must have completed by the end of the challenge as a fine for their none submission of weekly updates!

• Chris - 2 models
• Jono - 0 Model
• Dave - 0 Model

As always comments and thoughts are appreciated. Apologies again for the shocking pics normal service will be resumed soon I hope!

Enjoy and see you all next week!

A Tale of Three Gamers - Week 8 - An update from Everyone!!!

Chris' Week 8 Update

First off, apologies for the lack of updates for a couple of weeks, but I still have little to post. My fiancée hasn’t been well, and I’m swamped with DIY jobs at the moment, so modelling has taken a back seat. On a more positive note, one of those DIY jobs is boarding my loft so at least we will have a dedicated gaming space on completion of the challenge :)

 I have literally had about an hour in the past fortnight for modelling, which I spent green stuffing the large join lines and attaching the branches on the citadel wood. I know nobody is particularly interested scenery, but here’s a picture, to avoid my dead model count increasing further.

I have 11 days off work starting Friday, so with a bit of luck, I will be able to field more than half a crisis suit by the end of the challenge...

Jono's Week 8 Update

Hi All!

Really struggled to get a submission this week as moving out time is getting ever so close so spare time is very scarce.  Equally, I did find my mini tripod AND I bet I have still made more progress than Chris!

Back on track..

It may not look that way, but I spent a few more hours on my Tervigon.  The Mecharite Red layers are all done bar one of the scything talons.  Once thats done, all I need to do is the bone elements of the model, a few touch ups and its done.  Well, that lot and the base..

If you check red on the hind legs, compared to the talons in the pic above, you will see that the shading is completely different and much less flat!  After a Mecharite Red layer or two, I have been adding a Baal Red wash followed by shadows with Badab Black wash.  Personally I think it makes the whole model look less flat!

Also, a quick shot from the other side.

You will also see the barrell above, which was on the base of my Terv.  Being a massive MC base, I want to make it stand out a bit.  On the barrell, I tried to replicate rust so used a hairspray technique, as detailed here.  I cannot stress how easy this is, and it looks quite good too!

Lastly, I havent actually bought any scenery for this 'challenge' as of yet because I have had no idea what to buy! -I just can't decide.  On the flip side of this, I have had plenty of ideas for stuff to build.  This was the first thing that I managed to get a solid enough idea, as well as enough bits together to make..

Since moving house involves actually going through all of the junk that is stashed in the loft, I found a load of my old 40k from about 8 years ago.  Amidst the terrible Ultramarines, I found an old cardboard Imperial firebase.  Now the scenery itself is terrible, but the plastic pieces holding it all together were perfect for some storage crates, or indeed a command post.  Other pieces in the mix are plenty of plasticard and 2 right-angled plastic fittings from B&Q.  I have made two of these, both being about 3" tall, and 5" long.  I have enough bits to make a third, much longer one, for a mini storage yard!

So, this is it for me for a few weeks!  I am off to Ireland for a week (bad timing or what) and then it looks like the house will have sold.  I will hopefully get back on track and get some real progress soon!

Millest's Week 8 Update

Well folks as mines the smallest update this week I thought I should go last, give the others some limelight and all that. Basically I'm still sans camera however to prove I've actually done something I've included another Iphone picture. This time it shows the Chimera and Sentinal I've been working on the past week. The Chimera has a few little conversions I'm happy with that really make the model different enough to notice but are still subtle. The Sentinal has had the Autocannon magnatised so I can swap it out with the Missile launcher I have. Other then that this week is BH weekends and my other halfs birthday so there may not be much progress this next week or so but where there is chance I will be working on the bases for the models, the very nice Secret Weapons Miniatures bases previously mentioned, and where possible I will be working on my Medusa stand in for the Griffon in the army list. So heres the pic, enjoy what you can make out:

Challenge No Submission Casualty List

Listed are the number of casualty models each player must have completed by the end of the challenge as a fine for their none submission of weekly updates!

• Chris - 2 models
• Jono - 0 Model
• Dave - 0 Model

As always comments and thoughts are appreciated. Apologies again for the shocking pics normal service will be resumed soon I hope!
Enjoy and see you all next week!

A Tale of Three Gamers - Week 7 - A stressful update!

Jono's Week 7 Update

Hi All,

Somehow, last week I won the competition from the poll. Heck, there may have only been one vote, and that may have been for a model that I am not even using in this challenge (which was technically therefore a null vote), but as he voted for my paint scheme.. I still make that 0.5 - 0 - 0 to me!
In the past week I have been getting to grips with GS a bit more.. As you saw last week, I made a start on my prime, and I had a bit of feedback (thanks!) saying that I should try to beef up my prime a bit. At first I agreed, but then I started putting the rest of the bits on him..

I personally think that he looks rather good as is. He isn't too 'gangly', yet he isn't top heavy due to the lengthening of the warrior legs. Please let me know what you think either way!

I decided to go with the Ravener deathspitter chest piece in the end. I know that some people will laugh at this saying it resembles a certain part of the female anatomy, but I personally really like it so will be leaving it as is! All of the limbs are magnetised and as it stands I have 1 set of scything talons, 1 set of boneswords and a lashwhip. I plan on making a second set of scything talons using Hormagaunt arms, so that I can use these to represent lesser arms too when using the deathspitter. Lastly, I just waiting on a Ravener head before I can finish this guy off and paint him. In the pics I have just balanced on a Warrior head that I have spare.

This is him next to a warrior and a gaunt for size comparison. You can see that he doesn't tower over the other Warrior, yet he isn't exactly small either!

Overall I am incredibly pleased with this guy! Despite the rather steep learning curve with GS, I feel that this guy will look good on the table, and will definitely be of a table top standard once finished!

As always, please, PLEASE leave feedback, be it positive or negative, as it is all greatly appreciated!

Millest's Week 7 Update

Well folks back to the grindstone and back to a painful week this week! First the loss of my PC and everything on it is swiftly followed by a second kick in the balls with my camera going the way of the dinosaurs. So after one expensive repair job it looks like another or a new camera is on the way. So with all that in mind i apologies now but just to show you what I've been up to and to get some thoughts I've taken some pics using my phone camera - if i ever get a working camera these will be replaced.

so onwards and blurred-wards, first up are some of my squad leaders, now i know you have already seen them but i wanted to get some opinions of the bases for them. As previously mentioned all my leaders, from army lead down to squad level will be on 40mm bases with a servo skull (two for leaders and characters) so looking at the pics below does this larger base work or is it a tad excessive, please let me know your thoughts.

Next up some pictures of my two heavy weapons teams on their customer bases, both bases are actually the same "base" base I've just converted bits and pieces on them to make them different. So far the loaders as only stuck in place with blu tac but I'm toying with the idea of magnetising them so i can stick them on spare bases should the gunner be killed, just not sure if the idea would work.

Finally some pics of my finished Veterans to give you an idea on how I've made this squad stand out so far from the basic troops in my force, once i get a camera/repair ill be able to get some better pics of these guys for you.

As you can no doubt tell i really went to town on these guys and hopefully even at this level of crap picture it really shows.

For those of you interested the models are all on bases from Secret Weapon Miniatures and can be purchased at the Secret Weapon Miniatures webstore here! More specifically I have used the Urban Streets Beveled Edge bases that can be found here. I have taken photos and details for a review later on and who knows this might bag me some freebies ;)

As always thoughts and feedback welcome and if anyone knows a camera repair shop in Suffolk please let me know!

Chris' Week 7 Update

Guess what!...... No seriously guess...... oh go on please!
Yep your right no update from  Chris this week, a rather busy week for him, though in keeping with the rules another dead model from Chris!

Challenge No Submission Casualty List

Listed are the number of casualty models each player must have completed by the end of the challenge as a fine for their none submission of weekly updates!

• Chris - 2 models
• Jono - 0 Model
• Dave - 0 Model

As always comments and thoughts are appreciated. Apologies again for the shocking pics normal service will be resumed soon i hope!
Enjoy and see you all next week!