Mor Deythan full squad

The fully painted squad of Mor Deythan. Ready to escape the drop site massacre once again for second edition Horus Heresy!

Front view and reverse view -- I am particularly pleased with how the camouflage capes came out in the end. I was aiming for urban camouflage and decided to take a grey-white-black approach with broken lines of paint flowing within the fabric - I think this has worked well. The dusty bases only accentuate the feeling of the miniatures having seen a lot of action on the sands of distant worlds where these Raven Guard are covertly operating.

The equipment set up here is 6 Mor Deythan, 4 with combi-melta guns, and 2 melta guns (I can only hope this is still valid in second edition). 

Back to Bases: Be'Lakor

As bases go, Be'Lakor takes some beating. This then, is the start of one of my projects for the next few weeks and probably months. 

Of course, I have the old miniature of Be'Lakor still in my collection. He is now heavily converted with some pincer arms to give off a bit more of a Slaaneshi vibe. I have regularly used him over many years in a variety of daemon and chaos space marine armies in a variety of guises. Not only as himself, but also as a daemon prince, a generic greater daemon, and more recently as a 30k daemon. 

The new miniature - and it is not so miniature - is nothing short of a beauty. It is not without good reason that it was identified as one of the miniatures of the year when it was released. It is also one that I have wanted to have in my collection since I saw it, but only really had the opportunity when I nicely asked Santa if he would deliver it. I think I must have been a good boy after all. 

With the base now assembled, I'm looking forward to getting the rest of this legend assembled. More later on this project!

Praetors Deserve Quality Bases

Every praetor deserves a good base. The one that I'm planning for my new Alpha Legion acquisition is not different in this regard. Luckily for me, I picked up this beauty recently that I will be using with the praetor miniature (as opposed to constructing one from scratch). 

Of course, this base belongs to Sevatar of the Night Lords legion. It also happens to be one of my favourite ones from Forge World. I like the way that the actual base itself slots into the side of the display base. Many Forge World bases are fully encircled by the display base (cf., various other praetor level marines, and some Primarchs). The ones that slot into the side are without doubt my favourite type due to their simplicity and low level of messing around to get the playing base out from the display base. And of this type, I really dig Sevatars. In fact, I was toying with using this one with Alpharius himself at one point, but decided against it. 

The base comes in three parts (four if you count the black circular citadel base as well). The smallest part is the arm of the marine who lies dead near the foot of the shallow staircase. This part is simple to glue in place though, but I would advise dry fitting your miniature of choice to ensure that this arm works with the rest of the miniature before gluing everything in (doubly so for a kitbash like what I'm up to here). 

Bigmeks Workshop Tiles Resin Bases

I recently purchased a set of 32mm resin bases from a company that I've not tried out before: Bigmeks-workshop.

Naturally, the idea behind this purchase is to have a set of scenic bases that I don't have to put as much effort in to creating as my normal miniatures would otherwise demand. The design I got is the Tiles range (mark two). Their appearance is one of a ruined urban or temple area. Although in some ways the design is fairly basic, I like them from the simplicity point of view. Indeed, the simple shattered tile is much more appealing from an ease of painting view point compared to others that I've tried in the past (e.g., the more complex, but admittedly good looking back2basix range I own; or the magnificent Scibor range).

The bases come in a variety of designs, all on the same theme. I'm sure if I had the time, I could craft something similar and cast them in resin myself. But. That's also part of the reason for buying off another supplier. Fundamentally, the bases are the broken tiles sat on top of rubble. I will get these painted up soon as I'd like to use them in conjunction with some other miniatures that I have on the boil. But more on that at a later date. For now: I'm happy with the purchase and price that I've paid for them. Yes: other companies have a higher level of detail, but they do cost more. That's not an issue for me here though.

Base Painting: Scibor Ruins

Getting a bit more hobby mojo, I have recently turned to painting up some Scibor ruins bases that have been lurking in my collection for a while. These will ultimately be used with some 30k Forge World models that I have similarly been ignoring for a while - but more on those another time.

The image above shows the final bases fully painted. For this work, I undercoated them in black. The base coat was Fenrisian Grey, applied liberally all over, combined with forest green on the leafy parts.  I then inked the pieces in a subtle black to ensure that the recesses of the letterings and decorations on the bases looked correct, and to give a worn look to the overall base. Some dry brushing then followed in lighter grey tones, with some hints of a fleshy cream colour mixed in to give a hint of weathering. The leaves also received some green ink, and then a bright green highlighting. The final touches were to add the gold accents on the shield pieces and other embossed areas of the bases as a contrast colour.

Overall, the effect is one of a weathered, old ruin which is now ready for some miniatured to be pinned on to them. Hope you like this latest bit of painting.

Uses for Resin Cast Offs - A Mini-Resource Collection

Well, yesterday's post asking what to do with resin cast offs produced a wild array of hits and numerous comments published on the blog, as well as emails written to me from multiple sources.

Today, I wanted to just pull some of them together as a mini-resource … it's not earth shattering, but its at least a few thoughts on what can be achieved with all those cast offs.

* Debris and basing materials. Admittedly, this is not highly original, but those cast off bits of provide an excellent source of raw materials ready to be chopped up and finely diced to be glued on to bases.

* Barricades -- the pieces can readily be cobbled together to form a "junk" barricade like some of the resin walls sold by games workshop and others.

* Tank Traps. Also known as Dragon's Teeth. Select the more symmetric pieces from the cast offs -- the ones with a square base. They can readily be used as tank traps or a fixed scenery piece.

* Wood. Turn long resin pieces in to something more resembling wood. A full tutorial can be seen on this You Tube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyiCIxO7u8g

* Bags. Help create bags and packs. A full tutorial video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mGhhc_TjwY  See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WckO9qShoRAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WckO9qShoRA

* Utilitarian pews for an Imperial Church.

* Concrete barrier (Jersey barriers). Arguably another obvious use for these pieces, especially for any terrain that is urban-based.

Happy to add to this list if anyone else emails or comments here or on the previous post :)

Resin Cast Offs

A question for the hive mind today (Tyranids or not).

Does anyone have a (really) good use for resin cast-off bits and blocks from Forge World projects? What do people turn these things in to -- apart from rubble for scenic basing?

Hirst Arts: Cracked Floor Tiles

Digging through the collection, I upturned my old Hirst Arts moulds. Happy Accidents! So this weekend, my daughters and I got together and made some castings. I decided that I needed to do some castings to help with basing some of my current miniature projects that I've got on the go - especially the Alpha Legion 30k army that I've been working on and off with for most of this year. 

If you have not come across Hirst Arts before, then I'd thoroughly encourage you to check out their web site. In brief, the company retails latex moulds from which the hobbyist can cast their own pieces. Its a bit like making lego blocks to be honest. You can see some of my earlier efforts with these pieces in earlier posts where I create a fieldstone bridge as well as some buildings. 

This particular mould that I've got pictured here is the cracked floor tiles (mould number 203 in their catalogue). We used only simple modelling plaster for these. The main problem encountered here was the air bubbles that you can see pictured in the resultant tiles to the side of the mould in the picture. I've clearly forgotten some of my earlier techniques ("wet" water usage, as well as the continuous tapping to move the bubbles to the surface). Moreover, the mixture was not quite optimal as it probably had too much plaster powder contained in it -- its slightly over dense compared to what I've been able to cast in the distant past. I really must get around to trying out some dental grade plaster. Regardless, my daughters and I had a lot of fun creating these. And they will no doubt get a kick out of painting them and using in craft projects of their own! I will be using these in basing, probably sliced up a little bit too (which will render the air bubbles not such a great issue) and gluing them on bases as part of my growing 30k force.

Scibor 60mm Base

I recently bought a 60mm resin base from Scibor Miniatures -- a European company that makes many, and fine resin miniatures (as well as bases) that are suitable for many types of war game settings.

I've bought from them before in the form of some bodies to be used as Grey Knight characters and was very pleased with them (they're available through their website, but also in a number of specialist stores that I've visited in the past - both in Australia and the UK). So I thought that I would purchase some more parts, but this time with a view to making a base - or rather saving me some time in base making - for a new dreadnought that I have in mind.

This particular base is the 60mm version of their ruins range. It features a number of interesting details that include the patterned gothic church interior style, a cracked tombstone (bottom right), a circular cracked base that might otherwise be used for a 25mm base (upper left), as well as other details such as a skeleton with a complete head of hair (left), leaves (lower left) and dirt (right) covering the rest of the ground.

I'm very pleased with this base since there's zero cleanup work to do and its pretty much good to go right out of the box!

Alpha Legion Sniper, with Necron Deathmark Rifle

Another day, another completed Alpha Legion sniper with a Necron Deathmark rifle. This one is mounted on one of the bases that was displayed a few days ago. I think the pose and everything else really clicks well here for me. So I won't write much more and will simply leave you with the image.

Base Making for Snipers

Four new bases for more of the growing Alpha Legion snipers (Reconnaissance squad) that I'm building.

The common theme here is one of a disarrayed battlefield - destroyed and rendered a complete mess by the Legion in their preparations for the attack. No doubt caused by the onslaught of the Alpha Legion's agents before they even got there. Moreover, it follows the precedent set by the scenic resin base that came with Armillus Dynat. 

Although I originally thought about a different thematic base for my Alpha Legion Unbroken Chain army, I can certainly dig the devastation theme. The benefit of it is that it allows a whole range of different terrain whilst simultaneously being able to cater toward different styles, such as variations in height as used in these bases. 

This is exemplified in the upper right base wherein there is a wreck of a tyre adjacent to come cork, sand, slate and a few other bits. If you examine the base closely, you will see a small paperclip pin jutting out from the top of the tyre. This is where the leg of a marine will eventually attach to the base for a running, aggressive pose. For my snipers, they will serve as a elevated levels for the marines to take their shots from. 

Completing an Alpha Legion Sniper (or perhaps Mor Deythan)

Not sure if this one is an Alpha Legion reconnaissance marine, or whether it is a Raven Guard Mor Deythan marine. Or arguably, a Mor Deythan marine that is an Alpha Legion marine in disguise. Or Alpharius himself. Yeah - infiltration. It drives you mad.

The marine follows on from my earlier concept piece with a Death Mark necron weapon. This particular variant is in a running pose and features legs and cape from Anvil Industry as well as the almost compulsory Dark Angels head. 

The base for the marine is a sliced up rhino hatch, covered and edged with some fine sand and a little bit of slate here and there. All that's lacking is the left shoulder pad which is on its way…

Scenic Base, in Preparation

This is a scratch-build base that is currently in a state of preparation. As can be guessed by the size, this base is going to be for a dreadnought. A contemptor dreadnought to be precise.

The circular base is a standard citadel miniature base. On top of this, I've added a pair of parts from the floor of the Imperial Ruins sets -- both a flat grill plate, and one of the sides with a sharp peak on the end. 

Underneath the main plate, I've built five pipes from hollow plastic tubes, arranged with three on the bottom and two on the top. I plan to push some other material through these eventually - perhaps some wires, or maybe even modelling some effluent coming out of them. The pipes are surrounded by a milliput build to keep the platform stable and add some weight to it - largely as a counter-balance for the dreadnought I plan to place on to. Finally, there's some plastic grid that I've added over the pipes and to one side of them.

The contemptor will be added in a dynamic pose, striding up the step to the top of the platform with one foot on top of the pipework seen to the bottom of the image. 

There's still plenty more work to get done on this scenic base, but the basis is now there and I can now proceed with posing the dreadnought on top of it.

Infinity Urban Ruins Bases

Infinity is not a game that I've played much of. Regardless, I have picked up some of the resin bases that are specifically designed for the game. In the image is a 40mm urban ruins resin-cast base - one of a set that I own but have not yet painted up.

The first thing that stands out about these bases is the flavour. The hexagonal tiles are moderately uncommon and will certainly give a "zing" to any miniature mounted on it. Painted well - probably with white, or off-white marble for the hexagons to contrast a darker colour in the grittier regions - these bases boast a great level of detail. This particular piece features a rifle that has been left on the ground, plus spent ammunition rounds and a small pouch. Coupled with a post-apocalyptic feel for the damage appearing on the surface, these bases make a great impact in warhammer 40k (especially Tau or anti-Tau themed armies), or other sci-fi games / roleplaying of a similar ilk.  The quality of casting is high and I can honestly recommend these bases to anyone looking for something a little bit more left-field than the regular bases.

[Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated in any way with Infinity or the resin bases that have been produced to couple with said system. I was not given these bases as a gift - I bought them in a store on a whim as a regular customer!]

Bloodcrusher Standard Bearer Based

The final bloodcrusher of my pack has finally been based after much time has elapsed.  The reason for this is that I bought the old herald when it first came out in metal (you remember working with that medium, right?). 

The base of the bloodcrusher features a few bits from Hirst Arts (the column in white in the foreground, similar to the columns I've placed on my other bloodcrushers) which was cast with regular hobby plastercast (rather than dental grade material).  The rest of the base features bits from the 40k basing kit (in particular the space marine helmet in front of the column), and an etched brass cog to the rear.  This is augmented with scattered slate of small and medium sizes on the rest of the base.  Once painted, some flock of static grass will be added to the base for added detail.  I think this guy is going to fit in well with the rest of his pack...!

Bonsai Pebble Dressings as a Basing Material

Meandering around the local gardening hardware store, I came across some ingredients to help with basing that I wanted to share with you.  Most of us are already familiar with some of the alternative basing supplies that can be found in the hardware store (pebbles) or pet store (e.g. aquarium stones) or other things, but I've not come across support for bonsai trees very frequently.  So imagine my surprise to find a pot of bonsai dressing pebbles sitting there on the shelf.  The pebbles themselves are larger than sand grains, but not as expensive as the slate materials that come with the citadel basing kit. I'll be using them on a number of miniatures in the future!

Scribor: Review of Ruins Bases

Scribor monstrous miniatures sells a range of resin cast miniatures for both fantasy and sci-fi (most being of 28mm scale, but some larger ones too).  Many of the pieces have obvious resonances with warhammer and warhammer 40,000 and can complement bits from either range.  I intend to make a few conversions from their pieces in the coming weeks, but that's a tale for later.

Recently, I purchased a number of bits from them, including a few scenic bases in the style of "ruins".  These are a pair of 40mm circular bases suitable for use with 40k.  The level of detail in the pieces is clear from the image below.

In terms of quality, the resin casts are superior to games workshop's finecast; no two ways about that.  However, they're not quite at the same level as Quantum Gothic ... but they are very very close!  Let me emphasize that the quality of Scibor is great -- its just that I feel Quantum Gothic is fantastic.  

The two bases above have some very fine detail, ranging from the small writing on the (broken) paving slabs, to the creeping vines that come out of the ground.  Such detail is certainly worth paying the price for, and I think, is superior to Back-2-Basix (another company that I thoroughly recommend).

So overall, I'm very impressed with the quality and level of detail.  I would certainly go back to them. And for those of you who are thinking that purchasing from Poland might be an issue -- I got my bits to Australia in a very short amount of time and the customer service from Scribor was excellent.

40k Movement / Coherency Trays

A new product from Back2Basix: 40k coherency trays.  The idea behind them is simple enough: not only do these trays help with moving large numbers of ground troops in a quick and simple manner (especially if you're a tyranid horde player for instance), but they also spread out your troops to a maximum coherency.  The obvious reason to do this is to minimize damage from incoming template and blast weaponry.  But if the infantry need to leave the tray to get inside a building, they can also do that readily as well.  Different trays are available (5, 10 or individual models) which makes for maximum flexibility. Hence if a fixed formation doesn't appeal, an equal number of individual trays would be perfect.

Is this a legal play aid?  Well, I can't see any direct rules against them (unless I'm missing something), and they'll help speed up the movement phase for horde players.  I don't think I'd be bothered to play against such innovations, as it is what good players aim (and mostly succeed) to do anyway.  And moreover, the trays can readily be painted up to the same quality as fantasy movement tray analogues which would probably look great.  I'm tempted to get a few and see what they're like to play with.

Basing a Bloodcrusher

The plastic Bloodcrusher of Khorne is a fantastic miniature.  If you've assembled any, you'll notice that the front hooves are invariably in action -- off the ground and leaping forward with menace.  Only the rear hooves are touching the ground (and a few of them are standing on plastic skulls themselves!).  Hence, to base this bloodcrusher, I adopted a different approach.  

I picked up a bag of metal "off-casts" bits from a model railway exhibition the family went to a few years back -- it was only something like five dollars for a small bag full of random, assorted, and otherwise useless bits.  In the image, you can see a couple of these bits attached to the base (via milliput and superglue).  They are basically bits of a train that have been mis-case, or otherwise rendered pointless for railway enthusiasts (unless they were in to post-apocalyptic train station?).  However, they are absolutely perfect for 40k basing purposes!

I've positioned one of the longer intact stripes of metal off-casts underneath the front hooves of the bloodcrusher's juggernaut.  Dynamically speaking, this creates a minor illusion of the beast stepping over, or leaping over, some debris in it's path.  

In addition to the off-casts, I've attached bits from the 40k basing kit: an abandoned auspex, etched metal, small and larger stones as well as black, fine grit to fill in the gaps in between.  A complete, authentic, themed base in less than 15 mins.  

Painted Resin Bases

A batch of resin bases from back 2 basix, painted up all at the same time and to be used to mount up some of my new plastic Tzeentch horrors.

The bases were undercoated in black, and then drybrushed using dheneb stone. The stone colour was the applied in an even block to the raised portions of the ruins. In the recesses, ultramarine blue was applied followed by a deep blue inking. Nothing further was done to these blue parts. For the raised areas, a wash of sepia was applied. Highlighting of the edges was achieved with a mixture of dheneb stone and skull white. I will (as a final step once the miniature is attached) go around the bevelled area of the base in chaos black to finish off the appearance by getting rid of stray dry brush strokes.

Previous examples of this type of base can be seen on my older Tzeentch horror miniatures. The new bases are an iteration of that paint scheme, but updated a little so that they appear different to the previous ones. I may apply some static grass eventually, but that is a tale for another day.