Thursday 29 September 2016

Painting Bolt Action: Soviet Weapons team

So after dealing with my infantry, and finding a scheme I was mostly happy with I have painted up my weapons teams.

Below is a summary of how I did it.

Undercoat of Army Painter Desert Yellow
  • Flat Earth (70.983) for the webbing
  • Cam Olive Green (70.894) for the helmets
  • Luftwaffe camo green (70.823) for canteen, grenades, Mortar, Maxim MMG and magazine box
  • Tan Earth (70.874) for the bedrolls and bags
  • Beasty brown (72.043) for the gun stocks, handle of the knife and some hair
  • Black (72.051) was used on gun barrels, ammo casing, boots and some hair
  • Gunmetal grey (70.863) for the guns, followed by a black wash
  • Gunmetal (72.054) for the bullets of the MMG and the mortat shell
  • GW Mephiston Red was used on the Soviet Stars on the hats and magazine case
  • Army Painter Strong tone wash over the majority of the model, but not the flesh.
  • Uniform drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039)
  • Helmets, mortar and MMG are drybrushed with Gunmetal (72.054) to give scratched look
  • Boots are drybrushed with Stonewall gray (72.049)
  • Webbing with Leather Brown (72.040)
  • Bedroll and bags with Khaki (70.988)
  • For the flesh I took my time compared to the infantry and used Dark fleshtone (72.044), then Tan (72.066), then Dwarf Skin (72.041)
  • Some AP dark tone around the face to act as facial hair (this is applied then dabbed off with a tissue)
  • Matt Varnish (70.520) all over



Saturday 17 September 2016

Painting: Bolt Action - Soviet Infantry

So for a little while now I have been working on my soviet infantry.

This has certainly been a learning curve and I'm still not quite there; essentially I had ideas of where I wanted to go but not quite how to get there, so trial and error have been my only option.

I have followed the same initial process for all 40 models:

Undercoat of Army Painter Desert Yellow

Then following the guide on the soviet paint set, which are from the Vallejo Model color range:

  • Flat Earth (70.983) for the webbing
  • Cam Olive Green (70.894) for the helmets
  • Luftwaffe camo green (70.823) for canteen, grenades, molotov bottles 
  • Tan Earth (70.874) for the bedrolls and bags
then outside of that paint set I used the following from the game colour range
  • Beasty brown (72.043) for the gun stocks, handle of the knife and some hair
  • Black (72.051) was used on gun barrels, ammo casing, boots and some hair
  • Gunmetal (72.054) was used on the catch of the canteen, blade of the knife/bayonet, anti-tank grenades and drybrushed on the helmets
  • The boots were drybrushed with Stonewall gray (72.049)
The fire of the molotov was painted with a base coat of GW Iyanden Darksun, then Sun yellow (72.006), then Bloody Red (72.010) around the edge.

That was the basics after that things didn't stay as consistent as I wasn't happy with the results:

On some models the gun barrels were painted with Gunmetal (72.054), then washed with GW Nuln Oil. I wasn't keen on this as it resulted in overly shiny guns. So I tried Gunmetal grey (70.863) which is much darker and provided a better look for the weapons, this was then washed with GW nuln Oil. This can be seen in the flesh pictures below.

The flesh on most of the models were painted using Bronze flesh tone (72.036) then a wash was applied which was then drybrush/highlighted with Elf Skintone (72.004) but this gave the models too pale skin, everyone looked scared or drained so multiple different techniques were tried for the remaining few that hadn't been through this process.

I tried:
  1. Tan (72.066), then Dwarf Skin (72.041), then Elf Skintone (72.004) on 3 models
  2. Tan (72.066), mix of GW red wash and Army painter strong tone in the gaps, then Dwarf Skin (72.041) on 2 models (courtesy of this guide: http://www.talkwargaming.com/2015/03/tutorial-how-to-paint-bolt-action.html?m=0) although the mix ratio wasn't quite right so ended up a little more red than I had hoped.
  3. Tan (72.066), Dwarf Skin (72.041) soft tone on 2 models
  4. Bronze flesh tone (72.036), soft tone, Elf Skintone (72.004) on 2 models
Processes 1 - 3 had improved results but I still want to find a quick process for painting flesh, as these processes are too long winded in my opinion for infantry. I don't mind spending time on characters and specialist units but for standard infantry I want something that can be done quickly and easily.

Further to the issues with painting flesh I was unhappy with how I washed the troops; 20 were washed with Army painter dark tone, although this looked good it meant that any highlight didn't work so well unless it was bright and a bright highlight didn't work (various paints were used from plague brown to bone)

The next 20 were washed all over with AP strong tone, this produced a much better look that allowed the uniform to be drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039), the bed roll with Khaki (70.988) and the webbing with Leather Brown (72.040).

The bases! the bases almost drove me to insanity! By all accounts they shouldn't be that difficult to add sand to a base and paint it but I encountered two issues;
one some of the positions (in particular the laying down models) were difficult to cover in sand, resulting in some locations getting missed.
The other issue was having to paint the sand on 40 bases! this took ages and lots of black paint.
Going forward I will cover the bases with sand, spray black and then glue the models (I know that's a bad idea, so maybe I'll just do it to the laying down ones and invest in some childrens acrylic black paint so not to use my own "expensive" model paint)
After this I added some static grass and some foliage.







So overall, what I feel is working is:

Undercoat of Army Painter Desert Yellow
  • Flat Earth (70.983) for the webbing
  • Cam Olive Green (70.894) for the helmets
  • Luftwaffe camo green (70.823) for canteen, grenades
  • Tan Earth (70.874) for the bedrolls and bags
  • Beasty brown (72.043) for the gun stocks, handle of the knife and some hair
  • Black (72.051) was used on gun barrels, ammo casing, boots and some hair
  • Gunmetal grey (70.863) for the guns, followed by a black wash
  • Strong tone wash over the majority of the model, but not the flesh.
  • Uniform drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039)
  • Helmets drybrushed with Gunmetal (72.054) to give scratched look
  • Boots are drybrushed with Stonewall gray (72.049)
  • Webbing with Leather Brown (72.040)
  • Bedroll and bags with Khaki (70.988)
  • Matt Varnish (70.520) all over
  • Gloss Varnish (70.510) on Molotov Bottle
So now I need to find a quick, yet effective flesh painting process...

Thursday 25 August 2016

Stuff to report but nothing to show...

Despite working on various projects none are in a position to be shared, so as I'm off for a well deserved rest next week I thought I'd do a quick update post as to what I've been up to recently, that I thought might be of interest

Dropzone commander escalation league:
The DZC league I started in February that was due to finish in May finally finished this month!
The league was great at first, but as it went on it did get a little tiresome as some players were unreliable.
Lessons have been learnt and I know to handle things differently if I do another.

3k DZC game!
That's right! I took part in a 3k game of DZC. I used my Scourge and was defending a town, against the UCM.
It was an interesting setup as I controlled the Scourge, and three of my friends controlled the UCM.
In the end it was a scourge victory.
We played on a 6x4 board, half of the board was densely populated with buildings, with a river and two bridges.
The Scourge had a 3ft deployment zone and the UCM a 1ft deployment.
We played up the length of the board
Scourge were deployed as "blips", the theory being that the UCM knew they were there but they didn't know what units. The blips were revealed if in los of a UCM unit, if a UCM FM went over or if they the UCM opponent chose to fire at one he's roll on a table
1 - Nothing discovered, shot failed
2-5 - unit discovered
6 - all units within 6" of the intended target are discovered.

The mission was for the UCM to secure and hold two bridges (a focal point each), the landing pad (focal point). A sub-mission was for the UCM to discover and reveal the three pieces of Intel hidden in three building these were shown as normal.

We also disregarded several rules:
1. All UCM transports started in their deployment zone.
2. Scourge unit that brought transports didn't have to start inside.

It was a great, albeit long, game, resulting in a Scourge victory,

We soon plan to play the reverse layout, so looking forward to that!

On the project table:
500 point soviet force: All built, only the infantry in the position of being painted (post about those coming soon)
Ghar starter set: Battle suits almost complete (post about those, also coming soon)

So as I said, next week I'll be on holiday, so all going well I should have a painting post the week after

Thursday 18 August 2016

Miniatures: Bolt Action - Soviet: 82mm Mortar

This week I have been working on the Bolt Action Soviet 82mm Mortar that came as part of the Warlord Soviet 500pts deal.

The Packaging


Standard blister pack, where some pressure can pop out the back panel, allowing reuse of the pack if required.

The models


This pack contains 3 crew, 1 mortar (2 pieces: stand & mortar) and a base.
The models are nicely detailed however one crew member appear's to be wearing a longcoat which doesn't really fit with my summer uniform force. This, of course, is a minor issue.

The building of the models


These models had a lots of flash and mold lines, which took several minutes to remove. The mortar was carefully clipped free of it's metal tag then glue was added to the rest part of the stand and the legs, these were then positioned on the base. Glue was applied to the base of the mortar then the mortar was carefully aligned with the stand. Once the mortar was in position the crew was positioned around.

Once the models were tidied up, it took no time to set up the base, I'm looking forward to painting these.

Friday 12 August 2016

Miniatures: Bolt Action - Soviet: Maxim MMG

This week I decided to crack on with putting my outstanding Bolt Action Soviets together, so I can have a game with something other than infantry. In this post I am reviewing the Maxim MMG.

The Packaging


This blister is like most "modern" blister where no cutting is required and just a little pressure from the front will pop out the back panel, releasing the models from their sponge walled plastic prison.


The models


Inside the blister are 3 crew, a Maxim MMG consisting of 4 parts (chasis, two wheels and the MMG) and a large round base.

The crew are nicely detailed, but the MMG lacks depth. (hopefully paint will resolve this)

The building of the model


The crew contained a fair amount of flash and mold lines that needed removing, as did the MMG with the added difficulty that the MMG wheels and chasis are made of a thin light metal so care had to be  taken to clear off excess metal.

The MMG was a little fiddly to build, and did result in me super gluing my fingers together along with a wheel. Despite this the building of the model wasn't challenging.

The MMG and crew were positioned on the base without glue then, once I was happy with their positioning, I glued them down. The gunner needed to be held in the correct position while the glue dried; as he is in a kneeling position I found he couldn't be left on its own otherwise he would fall out of position.

All in all this took little time to prepare and glue together. I'm looking forward to painting it up

FOR THE MOTHERLAND!!

Friday 5 August 2016

Painting: Dropzone Commander - Shaltari:Dreamsnare

While I'm working on other projects, none of which are ready to post about, here my Dreamsnare that I painted while ago as part of the DZC escalation I ran,

Details on how I painted it are below

Like always colours are from the Valejo game colour range unless stated otherwise.




  • I started by undercoating white using Halfords white primer.
  • I then liberally smothered the model in Army Painter Strong Tone, apart from the shield boosting relay which I accidentally covered in Soft tone. This will teach me to read the label. However I feel that it doesn't stand out too much.
  • Then once the Strong tone was dry I drybrushed several times with Bonewhite (72.034) 
  • I then drybrushed Dead White (72.001) several times
  • The pads were painted Electric Blue (72.023)
  • Then the Microwave-cannons, leg joints and leg points were painted Chainmail Silver (72.053), then coated with GW Nuln Oil, once dry I lightly painted the areas Silver (72.052).
  • Next I drybrushed all over with GW Ceramite White. 
  • The canopies were painted with Black (72.051)
  • The models were then cleaned up where needed. After which they were coated all over with Matt Varnish (70.520), followed by Gloss Varnish (70.510) which was applied to the black canopies, and the Gauss cannon barrels.

Thursday 28 July 2016

Painting: Gates of Antares - Ghar: Outcast Disruptor cannon

This week’s post is about the Ghar Disruptor cannon that came with the Ghar Outcasts as part of the Ghar Starter set.

As ever the paints listed are from the Vallejo Game Colour range unless otherwise stated.


Disruptor Cannon

  • I started by undercoating with Halfords Black. I decided to use this undercoat instead of white as I feel that there are more black areas than white. 
  • GW Ceramite white was used on the cannon's legs, weapon shielding and Outcast's flesh.Then several coats of watered down Dead White (72.001) were used on the weapon shielding and legs 
  • Outcast was washed in Army Painter Strong Tone, then once dry, drybrushed with Dead White (72.001) (yes once again I forgot the bonewhite stage and you can see the difference in the first photo with the two models together) 
  • Black (72.051) was used to tidy up the line on the legs, cannon, Outcast spine support, straps and wrist/ankle clips. The solid areas of black were then dry brush with Stonewall Grey (72.049) 
  • GW Mephiston Red was used on the eyes, spine support power cells, ankle/wrist cells, leg power cells, cannon power cells and the power cell at the top of the back.
That's the model done, now the base.
  • As the base had been sprayed black I just glued sand to the main area of the base, that, when dry, painted Charred Brown (72.045), drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039) and then with Bonewhite (72.034). after which Static grass was added.

Loader



The loader was done in the same fashion as the other outcasts:
  • I started with Halfords White undercoat 
  • Then covered then all in Army painter Strong tone. As mentioned in my last post this really helped bring out the detail 
  • Black (72.051) was then used for the majority of the ammo cartridges, belt, bag casing, claws, wrist & ankle clips 
  • GW Ceramite white applied directly onto the armour (the "nappy" like thing between the legs), and the ammo bag. Army Painter Dark tone was then used on the eye recess. Dead White (72.001) was carefully painted over the same areas 
  • GW Mephiston Red was applied to the eyes, and the nodes on the wrist/ankle clips 
  • The flesh of the Outcast was then drybrushed with Bonewhite (72.034), then Dead White (72.001), finally GW Ceramite white was drybrushed on areas I wanted to stand out; like the face and hands. 
  • The areas of Black were tidied up then dry brush with Stonewall Grey (72.049) 
  • The strap to the ammo pack was painted brown and then I went over with leather 
  • I then tidied up the areas of white using Dead White where other colours had accidentally come in contact with it. 
  • Next I coated them in all over in Matt Varnish (70.520), then used Gloss Varnish (70.510) on the areas painted red. 
Now onto the base.
  • I painted the main area of the base with several coats of Charred Brown (72.045), and painted the lip/side Black (72.051). 
  • Then I glued sand to the main area of the base, that, when dry, was painted Charred Brown (72.045), drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039) and then with Bonewhite (72.034) after which Static grass was added.
That's the Outcasts from the starter box complete; only the battle suits and flitters to go...

Thursday 21 July 2016

Painting: Gates of Antares - Ghar: Outcasts

So as mentioned in my last post I have been working on the Gates of Antares Outcasts. These are from the starter set I mention a few posts back.

I can tell how excited I am to paint a model by how quickly it gets to my painting station and is finished. As an example these Outcasts jumped ahead of 20 Soviet Infantry for Bolt Action and the 6 Battlesuits from the 2 player Gates of Antares starter set, all of which have been started yet not finished. 

Now the Outcast unit does come with a disruptor cannon and loader; the loader has been completed along with these guys however the disruptor cannon has not, so those will be in another post.

Anyway, I digress, on with how I painted these Outcasts. Now I wanted a sort of Albino look to them so thought I tried to apply a similar theme to that I used on my Shaltari.

As ever the paints listed are from the Vallejo Game Colour range unless otherwise stated.




  • I started with Halfords White undercoat
  • Then covered then all in Army painter Strong tone. This really helped bring out the detail which I struggled to see when they were in their unpainted state, and so allowing me to defrentiate between the areas.
  • Black (72.051) was then used for the majority of the weapon, belt, spine support, claws, wrist & ankle clips
  • GW Ceramite white applied directly onto the armour (the "nappy" like thing between their legs), plasma grenades and casing areas of the weapon. Army Painter Dark tone was then used on the weapon casing and the eye recess. Dead White (72.001) was carefully painted over the same areas
  • GW Mephiston Red was applied to the eyes, power cell on the weapon, trigger on the grenades and the nodes on the spine support 
  • The flesh of the Outcast was then drybrushed with Bonewhite (72.034), then Dead White (72.001), finally GW Ceramite white was drybrushed on areas I wanted to stand out; like the face and hands.
  • The areas of Black were tidied up then dry brush with Stonewall Grey (72.049)
  • Now two of the Outcasts have protrusions on their weapons, I was unsure as to what this exactly is I assumed it to be a scope of some sort and painted it as such, using Magic Blue (72.021) on what I believed to be the glass on the scope; a small curve of Dead white (72.001) was added to it.
  • Next I painted the teeth Plague Brown (72.039), then, once dry, covered with Army Painter strong tone.
  • I then tidied up the areas of white using Dead White where other colours had accidentally come in contact with it.
  • Next I coated them in all over in Matt Varnish (70.520), then used Gloss Varnish (70.510) on the areas painted red and the weapon "scope".


That's the models done, now the base.
  • I painted the main area of the base with several coats of Charred Brown (72.045), and painted the lip/side Black (72.051).
  • Then I glued sand to the main area of the base, that, when dry, was painted Charred Brown (72.045), drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039) and then with Bonewhite (72.034). after which Static grass was added.


There we are, 6 Outcasts done.




Out of interest, for those of you that read and enjoy my blog posts, what do you prefer: my step by step guides with pictures of each stage or this bullet point guide with the end result picture?


Thursday 14 July 2016

Painting: Dropzone Commander - Shaltari: Ocelot

I'm currently working on my Gates of Anteras Ghar but they aren't ready for the a blog post yet so instead I'll post about my Ocelot that I painted in June as part of the DZC escalation I ran.

Details on how I painted it are below

Like always colours are from the Valejo game colour range unless stated otherwise.




  • I started by undercoating white using Halfords white primer.
  • I then liberally smothered the model in Army Painter Strong Tone
  • Then once the Strong tone was dry I drybrushed several times with Bonewhite (72.034) 
  • I then drybrushed Dead White (72.001) several times
  • The pads were painted Electric Blue (72.023)
  • Then the Particle cannon, transport nodes, leg joints and leg points were painted Chainmail Silver (72.053), then coated with GW Nuln Oil, once dry I lightly painted the areas Silver (72.052).
  • Next I drybrushed all over with GW Ceramite White. 
  • The canopies were painted with Black (72.051)
  • The models were then cleaned up where needed. After which they were coated all over with Matt Varnish (70.520), followed by Gloss Varnish (70.510) which was applied to the black canopies, and the Particle Cannon

Thursday 7 July 2016

Miniatures: Gates of Antares - Ghar Starter Army

As I mentioned a few posts back I got into 3 new gaming systems; one these was warmachine (now trying to sell as I still don't get on with it), another is Bolt Action, (as mentioned in my last post) and the third is Gates of Antares (those following my blog will have realised I own nearly all the Warlord games rulebooks)

The decent into this game started with seeing some models on a website that caught my eye, then a demo by a friend who I knew owned it. Next thing I knew I had bought the 2 player starter, which I split with my friend Grum. What's the logical step that follows a 2 player starter set, an army specific army starter set of course!

That's what I'll be reviewing in today's post:

I deviated from my usual online store and despite Warlord dangle various discount codes I chose R K Studio Wargaming as they had one of best prices around and I was trying not to spend too much money. Now I must admit I was reluctant to use them as I hadn't heard of them but I thought "to the hell with it, Paypal will protect me" and placed my order.

The great thing about their site other than there price is live stock levels! so if you can order it then it's in stock! a plus in my books.

The communication was good, as was delivery, receiving my items the same week I placed the order.

Anyway, enough gushing over an online retailer and onto my review on the Gates of Antares Ghar Starter Army.

The packaging


The box was a lot smaller than I was expecting, which I was initially perturbed about but soon can to enjoy as it slipped nicely into my wargaming cupboard.

The box is made of sturdy card and unusual for Warlord pictures the models on the front and sides instead of artwork.

As you can see by the picture above the front picture reflects the contents. On the sides of the box shows each unit on its own.

The back of the box contains fluff about the Ghar, what the box contains, instructions on how to build the battlesuits and a picture of some battlesuits

Well done Warlord! this is a great design!

The models


Inside the box was a blister (above) that contains 6 Outcasts (6 different poses & 6 bases), 1 Disruptor cannon (consisting of 5 parts (3 legs, 1 arm on controls and the other arm) plus a base) with loader (with a base) & 4 flitters (consisting of two parts (head with the eyes and the rest of the model) each plus flight stands and bases)

The Outcast models are detailed and dynamic, I'm looking forward to painting them

The Disruptor cannon is detailed although the pilot seems to blend into the model, I'm hoping that when I paint it the detail will come out. The accompanying loader has great detail, also looking forward to painting him

The Flitters are also detailed, looking like giant robot mosquitoes.
Battle Armour
Assault Squad
Then there are the battlesuits made up of:

6 Battle armour sprues: Which consists of 19 pieces (4 parts for the body, 1 for the head (3 varients to choose from), 3 parts for the claw weapon, 4 parts for the arm with the scourer cannon, 6 for the legs and feet

3 Assault sprues: These also consist of 19 pieces in essentially the same way as above although they have a plasma claw and Disruptor discharger as their weapons.

The detail on these models is enough to enhance them to allow enjoyment to an experienced painter and yet being basic enough that an inexperienced player wouldn't be put on painting them.

The building of the models

 As you may have seen in the picture in "the model" section the Flitters were attached to a hefty strip of metal.
The first Flitter came away easily, however it also resulted in the snapping off of one of the wings as they are a thin strip of metal. After tidying up the model, removing excess flash and tags I glued the head on then the broken wing, which went on and stayed there.
The remaining three were removed with care.


The Outcast themselves had a fair amount of flash, tags and some mold lines, all of which were removed with ease using a sharp craft knife.


The Disruptor cannon and the loader needed a little tidying from flash and tags, but nothing compared to the Outcasts and Flitters.
However building the Disruptor cannon was a bit of a pain. The legs went in with ease and glued quickly, the arms however were difficult. They are a small piece of metal that needs to fit into a small gap. If, like me, you have sausages for fingers I recommend the use of tweezers, as I still don't own any I struggled on until they fitted and were glued into place.


The Battle armour and Assault Squads came away from the sprues easily, I then glued them together after a little removal of excess plastic from where they came away from the sprue.
I ran a little mass production line on each sprue: removing, cleaning and gluing the body, then attaching the "waist" of which the legs were glued into.
While the glue dried I removed the feet, weapons and head from the sprue. I tidied these up then glued the relevant parts together.
I then moved back to the body and glued the feet on, let that dry for a minute before gluing the feet to the base. While that glue was drying I glued on the weapon arms and the head.

As I mentioned in "the model" section there is a choice of 3 heads. I chose one head for the leader models (1 in each squad - total of 3) and a different head for the remaining models.

The entire box set was built in one evening during a football match from the Euro 2016 competition!

Once again, Well done Warlord this seems to have everything right about it! Keep up the good work...now to get painting.

Wednesday 29 June 2016

Miniatures: Bolt Action - Soviet Infantry


After months and months of trying to convince me to get into Bolt Action my friend Grum finally persuaded me and I invested in the warlord 500 point Soviet set (http://store.warlordgames.com/collections/soviet-army/products/500pts-soviet-army)

As per the link it consisted of a box of infantry, a mortar and a medium machine gun.

In this post I will be looking at the box of soviet infantry



In the box you get 40 infantry; 5 sprues each with 8 alternative posed bodies on them.Then there is more than enough arms and heads to build all 40 and still have spares, as well as lots of detail items such as magazine cases and entrenching tools

Further to this there is 3 weapon sprues which contains rifles, PPSH, PTSD rifles, an LMG and all sorts of other accesories.

Now those of you that have read my previous posts about the Warlord products you'll know that I don't seem to have much luck with them (although to be fair they usually resolve any issues quickly). This case is no different and inside my infantry box were instructions for winter Soviet infantry, which I quickly learnt meant the arm layout didn't match those on the sprue.

After raising a query on a Bolt Action Facebook page some kind soul provided me with the correct instructions, and I have now inserted them here to help any other gamers who finds them-selves in the same situation I did.



Now the issue I have with these instructions as they don't really explain the arm layout; so for example if you wanted some aiming arms or "charging" arms it's unclear which to select and results in painstaking moving of arms and associated weapon to get the look you desired - unless i'm just being an idiot.

So Warlord if you read this please adjust the instructions to reflect clear definitions of what type of arms they are.


The models themselves had quite a few mold lines, which are easily removed. However it seems I was quite lazy and impatient in my building process and I have noticed quite a few still have these as I paint them,

The models come away with relative ease from the sprue, and again any excess plastic can be removed.

Now while I'm talking about plastic; I used ploystyrene cement to put these together, now I haven't used this glue is some time. As such I don't know if it's my lack of recent experience with it, if the glue strength has changed or if it's the plastic warlord use, eitherway I have found that the plastic has melted.
I know this is part of the process of using poly cement on plastic but the melting has turned the hands into indistinguishable blobs, and you can see the telltale melting marks in other locations on the models, so heed my warning fellow gamers and use the glue sparingly or use a different glue

Tuesday 14 June 2016

Painting: Dropzone Commander - Scourge: Corruptor

Sorry for not posting anything in a little while, life has been a bit hectic.
Not to mention the fact I have invested in 3 new system! I am seriously a gaming whore.

So moving on from dwelling on the new investments (no idea where I'm going to store them) here is how I painted my Scourge Corruptors and Razor worms.


As per my previous posts all paints used are from the Vallejo Colour range unless indicated otherwise:

Corruptor

  • Firstly I started with Halfords Black Matt Primer.
  • Next was an all coat of Hexed Lichen (72.015). Previously painted Scourge were then covered in Army Painter Dark Tone but I forgot to do it on these (teach me not to reference my own blog).
  • Next Squid pink (72.013) was drybrushed all over. Escorpena Green (72.032) was then applied to the sensors, and vents. Gun Metal (72.054) was used on the rim of the vents on the top. GW Nuln oil was then applied to the areas of gun metal. Army painter dark tone was added to the vents.
  • Then was a stage that I forgot how time consuming it was to do! Applying Bonewhite (72.034) takes patience that's for sure!
  • I then tidied up the model; cleaning up the Bonewhite over-spill as best I could. Then Matt Varnish (70.520) was applied all over.


Now, separate from the painting I found that the flight widget was a tight fit on the flight peg so removing it for storage was going to be difficult. As such I removed the part of the widget that enters into the model and glued a magnet there, then, as you can expect, I glued another magnet into the hole on the corruptor when the widget would go.

Razor Worms

  • Firstly I started with Halfords Black Matt Primer.
  • Next was an all coat of Hexed Lichen (72.015), once dry Squid pink (72.013) was drybrushed all over the "top" of the worms
  • Bonewhite (72.034) was then applied to the claws underneath
  • Then I applied Matt Varnish (70.520) on the top of the worm and Gloss Varnish (70.510) on the underneath of the worm, I did this to give the worm a slimy look.
  • Then I covered the base in fine ballast

There we have it, two corruptors and their sinister cargo ready for the battlefield

Thursday 26 May 2016

Miniatures: Dropzone Commander - Scourge: Corruptor

As mentioned last week I would either be posting about the Scourge Corruptor or the Shaltari Firebird.
I felt it was time to give Scourge some attention again and started with the Corruptor; this will  also prompt me to paint the Razorworm stands I have.

So without further ado...


The Model

As most of you should be aware (unless you've been living under a rock) the Corruptor comes as part of a multi pack with the Reaver heavy gunship parts giving you the option to build either. Although a savvy wargamer could easily use magnets to their advantage...

Each Reaver consists of: Intruder body, bulkhead, and 2 plasma lances
Each Corruptor consists of: Intruder body, bulkhead, and 2 launch tubes

I already have two Reavers and don't foresee needing any more (a phrase I may live to regret) so I will be building the Corruptor.

These have the same level detail we expect from Hawk, and unlike my Shaltari war striders I can't see any quality issues.



Although the quality isn't called into question I do have to ask what was going through "Hawk Dave's" mind when he designed these yonic looking launch tubes...or maybe it's just me?!

Building the Model

As with any model these had some resin tags, flash and a little mold lines that needed to be cleaned up before being built. These didn't cause many issues although one tag was covering some of the front part of a launch tube which meant a bit more was removed than desired.

The model itself when together very quickly after a simple application of superglue from the intruder chasis to the bulkhead. Then a little glue was added to the holes in the bulkhead for the launch tubes and then the tubes were applied.

There we have it, all built (mostly: I haven't glued in the flight stand widget yet) and ready to be painted.

Friday 20 May 2016

Miniatures & Painting: Dropzone Commander - Shaltari: Ronin

To add to my Shaltari force I purchased some Metroid suits, sorry I mean Ronin.

In my excitement to build them I forgot to take pictures of them on their sprue, and due to their small nature I will combine the build aspect with the painting.

Building the model

Essentially the bodies come on a sprue and the left/right arms come on their own sprue.

As you can see by the picture below these are metal, so wire cutters were requires to remove them from the sprue, then further cutting/sanding/filing was required to clean up the base (this resulted in shards of metal pinging in all directions - something that I haven't had to deal with in a long time).

The arms however came off the sprue with ease, with very little cleaning required.


Painting the model
So keeping in theme with the rest of my army, I used the white scheme, which I have described below




  • I started by undercoating white using Halfords white primer.
  • I then liberally smothered the model in Army Painter Strong Tone
  • Then once the Strong tone was dry I drybrushed everything except the Gauss guns, several times with Bonewhite (72.034)
  • The Gauss guns were painted Chainmail Silver (72.053), then coated with GW Nuln Oil, once dry I lightly painted the areas Silver (72.052).
  • Next I drybrushed all over with GW Ceramite White., i reverted back to my flat drybrush and that produced the result that was missing from when I painted the Jaguar
  • The canopies were painted with Black (72.051)
  • The models were then cleaned up where needed. After which they were coated all over with Matt Varnish (70.520), followed by Gloss Varnish (70.510) which was applied to the black canopies, and the Gauss guns barrels.

I'm so excited about what I'll be posting about next week I have to mention it now...next week will either be building of the Corruptor/Reaver or the Firebird/Thunderbird.

Thursday 12 May 2016

Miniatures: Dropzone Commander - Shaltari: Dreamsnare

As mentioned last week I have added a Dreamsnare to my collection for the last part of the escalation league I'm running.

So this week I'll be reviewing the building of the Dreamsnare.

The Model

The model consists of 9 parts: 3 legs, 1 leg support, 2 dragon cannons, 1 cockpit, 1 main body and 1 shield boosting relay.

The majority of the model is to the usual Hawk quality standard with the exception of the cockpit, which seems to have the same issue I encountered with some of the fins on one of my spirit gates; In the sense that the part isn't a clean cast overall. It's slightly rough to touch, raising concerns on how it will turn out when painted. But despite that I felt it's acceptable.

I just hope it won't ruin the overall atheistic of the mode when painted.

Building the model


As per most Hawk resin models there was a little flash, tags and mold lines that needed removing, all of which were removed with ease using a craft knife.

Much like the particle cannon of my ocelot I wanted to be able to remove the shield boosting relay for storage. So I removed the resin plug with a craft knife and stuck a magnet in the dead centre. I then drilled a small hole into the recess of the body to the same width of the magnets and added another in there. There we have it, one magnetised relay.

I started with gluing the leg support to the body, then the legs to that part. Afterwards I glued the cockpit down and then the dragon cannons on. Within minutes the Dreamsnare was built and ready for painting!