A Bit of Progress - Mainly Terrain

The last week or so has been largely about repetition... bulk producing feature objects for my space hulk project. It has gone well and is mainly a matter of just chipping away with small jobs until the result is achieved.

I modelled and printed simple/generic pipe segments, and remodelled some vent/windows (similar to the ones used on the legion hab).

And have also modelled some floor grate pieces and a couple of console variants to mix things up.

After the larger features are in place i will possibly dig into the bitz box for miscellaneous features; scattering some weapon mags or similar around, wiring, as well as dremelling the smooth surfaces into submission. still some way off yet.

The intention is NOT to do the entire floor with grates... but i may depending on ocd levels... and ambient boredom.
the intention with the floor 'cells' was that the model bases fit into them neatly and stop them shifting around. the grid kind of negates that even though i did made it lower than the cell lip.
I am liking the grid effect more and more so might make a couple more variants and do the entire set.
My original intention with this was to use some gutter guard plastic stuff but the scale is not suitable.


Also; painted up the Legion Terrain (hab domes...done ) and also the starter set barricades (almost done) which need to be ready before saturday session (tomorrow).

The habs probably has probably an average of 6 individual paint layers on any 1cm square section.

Haven't done anything with the interiour... probably won't.

The colour's more a 'grimy dirt' than a standard 'tatooine sand' but i'm reasonably happy with it anyway.

And finally i remodelled (and built) a template hold for Legion markers and distance measurers.

Hasn't been table tested as yet but will give it run tomorrow. Is meant to just hold the constantly used essentials.

Until next time...

On Immersion

Immersion

A couple of weeks ago I was playing a game of Epic with a gaming buddy. 

Previously he had asked why I occasionally snapped unsighted pics of the table with my phone camera from tabletop height.

On this particular game though he actually got down for a model-eye view and noted (paraphrase) 'That actually looks pretty cool. Like a battlefield.'

Which is obviously the point... and one of the main reasons I do this particular hobby.

The competitive side of the game is... meh whatever.

Collecting cool stuff just for the sake of it is... kinda pfft.

But watching a battle unfold (albeit slowly, in miniature, and broken up with coffee breaks and looking up rules) is pretty narly. Usually beats reading it in a book, often beats watching it on a movie.

Perhaps it's a matter of empathy (read: over-imagination) but having a realistic looking battlefield changes my attitude when i'm playing - casualties and victories are more visceral than an abstracted game's framework.

Chess and card games have their particular versions of suspense of course, but seeing a squad get mowed down by the enemy is that much worse; crushing an enemy squad that much more satisfying.

You do of course have to be selectively-blind to bases, stats sheets and coffee cups; but if you can tune all that out it's a great passtime.

Legion - Beginning

Epic Day
Had Epic Day on sunday (couple of days ago). Was enjoyable.

We played two games and i played my Experimental Black Templars for both.

Game one was versus Sisters of Battle with the Templars planet-falling (mainly by stormraven - due to high build up of anti-air opposition, making WE landing craft an iffy selection) in turn 3, hoping to blitz the enemy positions at the last moment.  Without waxing lyrical this was an action packed, brutal game from the moment the first drop pods screamed into atmo - but both sides really held their own despite a high number of close combat clashes.
Final result - Turn 4 victory by Sisters of battle 2:0 on Victory Conditions (Blitz/Takehold)


The force deployed in game 1...

Game two was versus Dark Eldar with the Templar sporting a mix of planet-fall and landing craft troops (less dedicated anti-AC to worry about). Templar dropped in on Turn 2 - enough time to delay and spread out the enemy - not quite enough time for them to all set overwatch! Despite the Eldar being a bit misplaced across the board, they held on bitterly to protect their blitz against the swarm of Templars and their Lander before breaking to several formations' fire.
Final result - Turn 3 victory by Black Templars 2:0 on Victory Conditions (Blitz/Takehold)


Final disposition Game 2...

While my enthusiasm for Epic is... plateaued at best, it was a fun afternoon.


I have been spending more of my hobby efforts on Star Wars Legion recently. Not flat out with it though; it's heading toward winter and garage is becoming too cold for long hobby jaunts. The printer has been running notably and consistently well, even in the colder temperatures.


Legion Models
So i mentioned i got the basic starter set and had just assembled them in the previous post.

Everything starts with a coat of... white (which just feels wrong) or black (aaaah, so much better).

Not going to be doing anything fancy on these models. Just working some washes and dry brushing to bring out the gross details.

Blocking in the 'detail' areas and a bit of clean up. Apart from bases and a dry brush of leadbelcher on the guns this is about as far as they're going.

Vader, early completion.


Legion Structures
Mainly a 'because i can' project, i'm building some dessert hab buildings (downloaded from thingiverse).

Each piece takes about 6 hours to print and that's at draft quality. Printing larger pieces is generally more forgiving (no detail to nouce up, just big flat plains). I was getting some bed lift (pic above) and ended up strapping down the pieces fairly heavily just to avoid 'warp'. Ugly but it works.

So, two building done, models show in situ for scale.

The roofs lift off easily so allows inside access. Not sure how i'm going to base these yet, probably just glue to a sheet of mdf cut to size (hexagon). Means i can paint on a static floor.
There's a bit of filler and sanding work required (roof will need grinding down those 'ribs') and the walls have a heavy striation in places.

I made some doors and 'windows' to spruce them up a bit.

Aside: i also finished off the chaos ships for BFG while i had the printer finishing off odd-jobs. At this stage i'm nonchalant about the fleet but i'll finish off the shucking and get them presentable.


Legion Custom Character - Grand Inquisitor
Not content to wait for an official replacement for Darth Vader i decided to start working on a custom character for my general.

At HOH i picked up a 'grand inquisitor' model from the SW Imperial Assault game. The models are a little shorter but i attempted to 'tru-scale' it by extending and filling the torso and legs with some sprue offcuts and liquid green stuff. It's now a comparable height... if somewhat skinny.

My overall aim here was to make a 'combat-centric' general. Vader is powerful enough of course but desk-punchingly slow and Veers (at least conceptually) should be more about bringing command synergies than combat (as one would expect from a Master Tactician).

When i was looking at stats/abilities/goals my requirements were:
- attack focused - This is an experienced, aggressive unit; entirely suited to getting into the middle of a melee.
- lithe/agile/fast - read:- 'Not a tank like vader.' The Inquisitor is a skinny, lightly armoured dude. If anything he's more suited to running around the guts of a starship than on a true mud-and-guts battlefield.
- well trained/highly skilled - fluff says he was 'trained by vader', he was a jedi temple guard before shizzle went down; and was then a jedi hunter... implying he's no slouch with a lightsaber (unlike certain other 'masters' who only got 3 days training).

Obviously the character is not 'tournament legal', but hopefully will be acceptable for local pickup games. The Inquisitor card is effectively a meld of:
- Vader's saber stats    (trained by vader... and not dead)
- Duplicate of Luke's abilities   (agility and trained)
- Half way between both (DV/LS) for hp & courage   (experienced, 'cold and ruthless' according to fluff, so doesn't break easily)
- Very fast movement speed which is his 'feature'   (training, force ability, agile, hunter)

Which i 'gut valued' at 200 points. He's better than Luke for saber, hp and speed. Worse than vader for abilities and hp. Better than both for speed. Round up to 200 pts to avoid red-faced screams of 'overpowered/underpriced'.

In situ next to vader. He's a bit shorter but the stance is lower and Vader (at least in the original trilogy) looks like he's meant to be quite tall and imposing.
In the fluff the Inquisitor is meant to be 'a hunter', so fast, agile and mainly about attack.

Shown in situ with a pack of minions. Does the trick i think.

We'll see how it runs on the board.


Until next time...

A Few Projects - Some Progress

Just a collections of things i've been working on recently...


Necromunda (a)
I've been working on the terrain (doors/barricades) that came in the box set for the last few week on and off.
Finally done!!

There are still ammo boxes to be done... sometime.


Necromunda (b)
[2018-03-06]
Picked up the Orlock box and dice. Still have book and cards to get but figured i can wait until the figures are painted. [ed: or never.]
Talked to the chap at (Penrith) GW and he mentioned they might be trying to set up a regular evening for N17 sometime in the not too distant... which is somewhat positive.

[2018-03-09]
Everything gets a coat of black. [ed: and there is remains.]

Necromunda (c)

There's still very little interest in Necromunda locally. My orlocks are still black based;  van saar have been released but don't think i could be bothered getting/building more gangs just to have them boxed and never played... which leads to...

Star Wars Legion
Had a demo game of Star Wars Legion on Saturday at the LOCAL hangout. 
I had previously watched some youtube demos which definitely helped.

First impressions:  a reasonable system, entertaining, logical, fast moving... reminiscent of x-wing in many ways.

Looks intriguing and the people were friendly; so got the starter box.

Have assembled already [not bothering with pics at this stage - and superglued the pik out of my fingers like an amateur] and am making my way through the rule book in detail.

Whilst i like the 40k universe about ten thousand times more than i like Star Wars universe, at the moment i'd happily settle for a semi-decent system and local folk to consistently roll dice against.

EPIC

Sweet frack all. Not inspired. Had a couple of 1500pt games... maybe 3 or 4 weeks ago, and am due for Epic weekend next weekend.

No new armies, no new models, no noticeable inspiration. Chris has been doing other things and appear to be happy with that for now.


Space Hulk 3D
Over the last week i managed to plaster up all the pieces. just filling in the worst of the gaps and divots and sanding that back.

"so does that mean you're up to painting?" you ask.

sadly no. i'm now at... well... the creative stage. i'll be gluing on the bits and pieces from my bitz box - grinding out some gnarly, shredded gouges - melting some plasma damage into the bulkhead etc.

running around pristine corridor sections kind of defeats the purposes so i need to add some atmosphere and make it look like an ancient, lived-in, beat up old... hulk.

Probably want a slightly larger storage box as the segments probably won't sit as nicely once i make the wall surfaces a bit more random.

[slightly later] i'm also considering hitting everything with a coat of filler-primer. super-cheap auto have an aerosol version; means more sanding and finishing, but might be worth it to dull the striations, especially since it's so ubiquitous through-out the project.
I'm also considering making some star war legion terrain pieces and might be good to clean it up a bit using filler etc.


and finally... safety...
what?!

someone on thingi posted up a cover for the electrics on the printer (the only thing i've printed for a week or so).

i'm super not into OH and BS, preferring the swanson code or just plain ol' common sense. but even as i assembled the printer (way back when) the exposed electrics seemed like an iffy oversight.
After a 3 hour print i had a wonky cover that would do the job anyway (aka bed lift that was belatedly strapped down with the metal strips and bulldog clips).

Hot Tip:  something i like to do is take photos of how things were BEFORE i take them apart... so when i assemble them back up the wrong way and it trips my garage fuses with a scary 'POP!' i can refer to how they should be.
i made the silly mistake of assuming that the wires would hold their relative position enough when i removed them from the switch.

All worked out in the end; printer runs plus less chance of high-voltage death, so this is my happy face.

Until next time...