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

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.

Painting: Dropzone Commander - Scourge:Ravagers

So here is my final installment for the scourge reinforcements I bought back in November, that I subsequently used at invasion: the Ravagers.

As ever paints used were Vallejo unless stated otherwise

Firstly the models with undercoated with Halfords Black spray, then Hexed Lichen (72.015) was applied all over. This was then followed by Army Painter Dark tone

Front

Back

Next Squid pink (72.013) was drybrushed all over. Escorpena Green (72.032) was then applied to the sensors, vents and wire. Gun Metal (72.054) was used on the back tubes and rim of the vents on the leg. GW Nuln oil was then applied to the areas of gun metal. Army painter dark tone was added to the vents and then the "claws" were painted with Black (72.051)

front

Underneath

I then entered the painful stage (made more so with a detailed underneath!) of painting the exoskeleton/lines with Bonewhite (72.034). After this I tidied them up and used Matt Varnish (70.520) on the majority of the model, apart from the areas painted black with I used Gloss Varnish (70.510).

I'm pleased with the result and they served me well at invasion

Invasion 2016

The weekend of 30th/31st of January was my first Invasion: A Dropzone Commander Tournament.
It felt like quite a build up what with buying new minis, painting them and trialling my list over the course of several months...and it was over in the blink of an eye; Okay maybe not that quick.

It was an absolutely awesome weekend! As well as utterly tiring!

The atmosphere at the venue was electric, with pictures and models of upcoming releases fuelling it (not to mention Dropfleet commander models on display). The Hawk team were on hand to talk through the new releases and the potential rules: Unfortunately non of the new models are released yet with the first due in March, but it's safe to say if any were available for sale at invasion they would have quickly sold out.

Here is my list:

Invasion List
Clash: 1499/1500 points
Standard Army
Standard Roster [1499/1500 pts]
Oppressors [505 pts]
Oppressor: Oppressor(Master), Harbinger(+Mini Arc Caster) [300 pts]
Ravagers: 3x Ravager, Harbinger(+Mini Arc Caster) [205 pts]
Vanguard [429 pts]
Reaper Squad: 3x Reaper, Despoiler(+Twin Plasma Cannons) [219 pts]
^ Sharing ^ Hunter Squad: 6x Hunter [210 pts]
Warriors [305 pts]
Warrior Horde: 2x Warriors, Intruder Alpha [94 pts]
Warrior Horde: 2x Warriors, Intruder Alpha [94 pts]
Reaper Squad: 3x Reaper [117 pts]
Occupation Patrol [260 pts]
Prowlers: 8x Prowler, 2x Intruder Beta [120 pts]
Destroyers: 2x Destroyers, Intruder Alpha [140 pts]

Now on with the games:

Table: 2. Game 1: Military Complex. Opponent: Stephen. Force: UCM. Result: 3-17

My first game of the tournament and I score 3, although a defeat I still scored something, which I was pleased about that. The dice did torment me though providing 1's when 2's were required.

Table: 24. Game 2: Survey and Control. Opponent: Mark. Force: Resistance. Result: 0 - 20.

Utterly spanked! I couldn't do a thing right. His freeriders ran rings around me and a face off between my Oppressor and his Alexander went spectacularly wrong, resulting in my Oppressor being blow apart. I could not roll to save my life. Mark even quipped about buying new dice: "These are new dice!" I sobbed. nothing could consul me after that other than several chocolate biscuits.

Table: 25. Game 3: Ground Control. Opponent: Paul. Force: Scourge. Result: 6 - 14.

This game was frustrating because my luck was changing; I swept across the battlefield destroying everything in my path! Paul couldn't stop me. Then he played the "Quick thinking" card and stole initiative , I forgot to play my Espionage card, which allowed him to activate his Desolator, NEVER have I seen a Desolator used so effectively. It moved over my hunters and unleashed hell! Within seconds he had destroyed 5 Hunters, 2 Reapers and 3 Ravagers. I had pretty much lost everything!
I went home that day a broken man.

Table: 25. Game 4: Bunker Assault. Opponent: Alex. Force: Scourge. Result: 20-0

New day, table 25 start. Who knows what will happen here. Unfortunately for Alex I utterly destroyed him. Not because I was in any way a better tactician than him or anything like that it was just that the dice gods favoured me and punished him. He had absolutely no luck; rolling 1's when 2's were needed, an experience I was all too familiar with. Whereas I couldn't seem to put a foot wrong, rolling with devastating effect. A win but I felt terrible after.

Here's is a link to Alex's blog and his version of events: http://epituderusk.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/invasion-2016-dzc-tournament.html

Table: 20. Game 5: Secure the Flanks. Opponent: Guy. Force: PHR. Result: 7-13

PHR was one of the armies I was least looking forward to playing against; so having my last game against them wasn't a nice prospect. However Guy didn't have a Nemesis, or a Hades but he did have two Medusa! So I knew I wasn't going to win. I hadn't ever played against Medusa and having heard so much about them I was a little apprehensive. However - thanks to Guy - I quickly learnt that they aren't as bad as I imagined and that they can be killed (eventually).

With the results in and a total number of tournament points of 36 (3401 kill points) I came 43rd, which I don't think is too bad for my first tournament. I had an absolute blast and will definitely be going again, armed with the lesson learnt, one of which is that 4 battlegroups is a bad idea!

Painting: Dropzone Commander - Scourge:Harbinger

Well the oppressor can't go to battle without it's transport, so here it is:

After painting the cramp inducing Oppressor the Harbinger was positively easy!
As ever Vallejo paints have been used unless otherwise stated

I started - as with the other scourge models I've painted so far - with Halford Matt Black primer, then liberally painted with Hexed Lichen (72.015)

After the Hexed Lichen was dry I coated the model with Army painter Dark Tone, after which Squid pink (72.013) was drybrushed all over.

Top

Bottom

Next I painted the sensors,vents and arc caster "teeth" with Escorpena Green (72.032) and the vent rim, engines and bottom with Gun Metal (72.054)

Top

Bottom

Army painter Army painter Dark Tone was applied to the vents, and GW Nuln oil to the areas on the bottom painted with Gun Metal. Once the washes were dry, I then drybrushed the bottom with Chainmail silver (72.053) and the vents with Livery green (72.033)

Top

Bottom

Next I painted the spine and other lines with Bonewhite (72.034). The Harbinger has beautiful lines that are nice and thick, with very few faint thin lines. The only thing I found was that due to the larger nature of spine parts Bonewhite looked flat, so I washed it with Army Painter Strong tone and once that dried I mix Bonewhite with Dead White (72.001) and drybrushed the spine with it, which, I feel gives some great depth.

After that I tidied up the model and went over the areas that I missed with the appropriate colour, including some wires that I missed and needed to be painted with Escorpena Green.

Although I've only shown one Harbinger I have in fact painted two, (the second one arrived after I started this one and follows the same process). So that's my Oppressor and Ravagers with a transports ready for Invasion.

My next posts will be covering Invasion 2016, and Ravagers.

Painting: Dropzone Commander - Scourge: Oppressor

So next up on the painting table is the experimental scourge command unit the MECHA CRAB - sorry I mean Oppressor. Yes he will be my command choice for Invasion, which no doubt will be the same for every other scourge player that attends.

Anyway, as always all paints used are Vallejo unless stated otherwise, with the addition of tears again - why! why did I chose this paint scheme, I see lines when I close my eyes! - and gnarled fingers.

Firstly the Oppressor was undercoated with Halfords Matt Black spray, then coated with Hexed Lichen (72.015)

Once the Hexed Lichen had dried Army Painter Dark Tone was heavily applied. After which, once the Dark Tone was dry, Squid pink (72.013) was drybrushed all over.

Then Escorpena Green (72.032) was applied to the vents, sensors and what appears to be cables. Gun Metal (72.054) was added to the rings that coil over the guns and the vent rims

Black (72.051) was then painted on the claws/feet. I chose this black instead of the usual black I use because it has a shine to it and I want the claws/feet to look sinisterly sharp.

Dark Tone was then applied to the vents and cables, as well as the areas that were painted with gun metal. The vents and cables were then drybrushed with Livery green (72.033) once the Dark Tone had dried. The areas painted gun metal were then lightly highlighted with Chainmail silver (72.053).

Next was the hand mangling, tear inducing "exoskeleton" phase. (In light of this my Shaltari force (oh yes, new year new army - coming soon, watch this space) will have a simple scheme). Anyway I digress. Using three different varieties of brush I painstakingly painted each line on the oppressor with Bonewhite (72.034); some were easy and took the direct approach, others I had to be a delicate as holding a butterfly and not killing it. But in the end it was done and I'm happy with the results.

Finally I smothered the majority of the model with Matt Varnish (70.520), apart from the feet/claws on which I used Gloss Varnish (70.510)

Painting: Dropzone Commander - Scourge: Intruder Alpha

With Invasion 2016 rapidly approaching I have been concentrating on painting my scourge reinforcements.

As I touched on with my destroyers, my paint scheme is a little ambitious, it's not a new scheme I've been following it since I started collecting scourge in 2013 but it can certainly be...eye opening.

So below you will find below my painted Intruders. Unless stated otherwise Vallejo paints have been used along with tears of frustration and pain from cramp.

Stage one: the Intruders were primed in Halfords Matt black spray, then liberally coated with Hexed Lichen (72.015). Once dry they were drowned in Army Painter: Dark Tone.

Next the model was given a good going over with a drybrush of Squid pink (72.013). Then the vents and sensors were painted with Escorpena Green (72.032) and the rim of the vents were painted with Gun Metal (72.054)

The vents and the rim of the vents were then washed with Army Painter Dark Tone. When dry the vents were drybrushed with Livery green (72.033). This darkened the vents allowing the sensors to stand out on their own.

I then painstakingly painted each line as carefully as I could with Bonewhite (72.034). Once completed I touched up where I needed to, making tidy looking. I finally applied Matt Varnish (70.520)

There we have it, two intruders ready to carry my destroyers into battle!

Painting: Dropzone Commander - Scourge: Destroyers

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I thought I would kick this year off with the painting of my scourge destroyers.

Now my scourge paint scheme is a little on the optimistic side, as you'll see throughout my next few planned posts.

As ever all paints used are Vallejo unless otherwise stated.

I started with an undercoat of Matt Black spray (Halfords), once dried I painted them in Hexed Lichen (72.015)*

Next I smothered the models in Army painter Dark Tone, then, when the tone was dry, I drybrushed Squid pink (72.013). Followed by painting the vents on the back, eyes and gun energy cells in Escorpena Green (72.032). Next I painted the helmet, gun barrels and outside of the vents Gun Metal (72.054)

I then applied Army painter strong tone to the areas of Escorpena green (except the eyes) and GW Nuln oil to the areas of Gun Metal. Once these washes were dry I drybrushed the green areas with Livery green (72.033) and the metals areas with Chainmail silver (72.053)

Next I painted - very carefully - the teeth with Plague Brown (79.039) and then the "exoskeleton" with Bonewhite (72.034) using very light brushstrokes, almost like drybrushing. Then Army Painter Strong Tone was applied to the teeth and the shoulders.

After that the bases were painted black (I tried grey but felt the models didn't stand out enough) and covered them in Matt Varnish (70.520)

My destroyers are ready!

These were much better to paint than I anticipated in my original post (click here for that post). The detail really came through when the paint and wash was applied.

*Edit: I initially wrote Royal Purple (72.016) but that was incorrect.

Miniatures: Dropzone Commander - Scourge:Intruder Alpha

So as part of trying to clear some of my DZC backlog before Christmas I have also built the last item from my recent scourge reinforcement purchases. This is the Intruder Alpha, which is one of Hawk's older models (comparably) but as I've not personally reviewed it I thought I would do so.

The Packaging

As per previous posts these models come in a blister, which contains the models, firm foam and a card inlay

The model

Each Intruder consists of 6 parts: Main body, Transport cabin, Flight stand, Flight pole and Fight widget

They are a beautifully detailed model

Building the model

As you can see from the pictures in "The model" section these had some tags protruding from the back of the model, but as mentioned in previous posts these were easily removed thanks to the resin. There was then a little tidying elsewhere before they were ready to build.

Next was adding the transport cabin to the bottom of the body; although not difficult it was a little problematic, with the sides slipping during gluing, I thinking this is because the sides are flat and could do with some pegs and hold, but that's just my opinion. Then once glued they didn't look quite right with the bay door of each side the transport cabin not really lining up. I can live with it but it is a little disappointing, especially for a Hawk model.

Despite these very small - almost insignificant issues - these were built very quickly and are still lovely models.

These are now ready to rapidly deploy my Destroyers with a 30" full move/15" deployment move these are guaranteed to be in my opponents face/on an objective or focal point in no time...thank you very much :)

Due to the Christmas holiday this will be my last post of 2015!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Miniatures: Dropzone Commander - Scourge:Ravagers

So what with it being Christmas Eve who know what other goodies I will be receiving so I need to work on my backlog. As such here is my review of one of my recent purchases - the Ravagers.

The Packaging

As per previous posts these models come in a blister, which contains the models, firm foam and a card inlay

The Model

Each Ravager consists of 7 parts: 1 body, 2 guns and 4 legs

As with most Hawk models, this are extremely detailed, especially for their scale.

Building the model

The beauty of resin models is how easy the flash/excess comes off, this is particularly important s the legs were attached to a length of resin so need to be tidied/smoothed off to allow the ball joint to fit correctly.

Once all the flash and excess resin had been removed it was a simple case of gluing the legs into the relevant holes with a dab of superglue, making sure they were aligned so when they stood they weren't wonky. After-which I glued on the guns, which, thanks to the ball joint can face a multitude of ways, some of which are shown in the pictures above.

There we have it, 3 aircraft shooting, better armoured, big brother of the Prowler.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Miniatures: Dropzone Commander - Scourge:Oppressor

As you can't/shouldn't only build the new transport you specifically bought to transport your new commander unit, I built the oppressor shortly after the Harbinger.

The Packaging

So as mentioned in previous posts the model comes in a easy to open blister. Inside the blister you'll find the model, some firm foam and card inlay.


The model

Top

bottom

The model consists of 11 parts: Body, 6 legs, 2 plasma carbines (2 on right in picture) and 2 electroweb casters (attached to strip of resin)

Once again Hawk doesn't disappoint with this model, as it beautifully detailed. Both the top and the bottom are very detailed, bringing excitement at the painting potential.

 Building the model

Top down 

Underneath

At first glance I thought this model would be difficult to build what with all the parts however it was actually really easy.

Firstly I had to tidy it up and remove the flash. There wasn't too much, granted more than the Harbinger but as the excess is resin it cuts of easily and quickly.

I glued the legs on first using superglue, making sure that they aligned so when it's placed on the table it doesn't wobble, fall over or look stupid. After that I admittedly had to consult the internet to check where the plasma carbine and electroweb casters went. After a quick google image search I find the picture and applied the weapons correctly.

That was it! from blister opening to fully built in less than 10 minutes! 

Miniatures: Dropzone Commander - Scourge:Harbinger

As elaborately mentioned in my last post I have purchased some reinforcements for my Scourge in preparation for Invasion 2016.

Here is my personal review of the Harbinger

The Packaging

As with most Hawk products the model comes in a blister pack, which is easy to open by simply pressing on the front until the back opens. Inside the blister with the model is some firm foam and the card inlay.


The Model

As you can see from the pictures above the Harbinger only consists of 6 parts: Body, Tail, Arc caster, flight widget, flight peg, and flight stand.

The model is made of resin and is very detailed.

Building the model

The model was very easy to build with very little flash/excess resin. Once cleaned up it went together easily and quickly using superglue. That said I found that when I went add the tail I was either left with a gap in the join underneath or a miss-align of the "spine". As such I went for the gap so the model looked correct from when on the battlefield.

Within minutes my Harbinger was stuck together and ready to battle....which it was featured in only a few days later, where, unfortunately it was blasted out of the sky by rapiers; thankfully after it had deployed it's cargo!