Showcase: Evil Sunz Trukk and Grot gunner Warlord

I've been making a lot of progress and quickly this week. I wanted to do the Trukk first because it's just that awesome of a model.  didn't actually take all that long.  very rusty exhaust, lots of pigments and Typhus Corrosion, and flames!!

Plus the Grot gunner warlord from Kromlech is done, ready to lead - from the back!

Op Ed: Good move GW, NOW the excitement builds!

So just about 36 hours ago I posted that I was really 'Meh' about the Ork releases so far and not very excited for the new codex.

Oh, how much changed in a few hours.

So today was leaked the next White Dwarf with the stats of the new Big Guns - renamed Mek Guns - and oh boy is the news good. I really hope these stats carry over to the codex unchanged. They are AMAZING.

So they are still artillery, with the T7 and still come with 2 grots each - still no grot blastas though.  However the base price drops to 18 pts each for kannon.  That's only a drop of 2 pts each. But they can upgrade to lobbas - for free! That's a 7pt per model reduction!! Zzap guns are only a 5pt upgrade.

Did I mention they can now go up to a unit of 5. FIVE. FIVE LOBBAS.

You know how much I love lobbas. They've always been a hell of a good buy and very useful. My cousin learned the hard way one game when I killed 15 guardsmen in a single volley.  heh.

But now I can have 5 in a unit? For less?  Ammo runts are limited to one per model, but that means up to 5 ammo runs.

A unit of 5 lobbas, with 5 runts is just 105 pts. Only 21 more then the unit I field now.  For 2 extra shots and 2 extra ammo runts.

oh. my. Gork.  I have to get this new WD.

There are also 4 new guns options, at 12pts per model upgrade. 1 is ..not that great. the other three though are each VERY good. 

That means a full unit of 5 with 5 runts will run a *mere* 165 pts.

All 4 have 36" range with BS3.

First is the Bubblechucka. It's a large blast and both strength and ap are D6. However it's one roll for both...so S1 Ap1, S3 Ap3, etc.  Not that useful. However if the die rolls were separate  - potentially S6 AP1 - then it would be good.  Still, not too many large blasts in the Ork army for just 30pts..

Now for the good stuff.

Smasha gun: S4+D6, AP1.  AP FREAKING 1!! with an average S of 7-8 - and potentially 10, that is a huge addition to the Ork army.  A unit of these can do a lot of damage to Wraithknights...

Kustom Mega-kannon.  S8 AP2 blast, gets hot!  Plasma cannons on steroids!  Just more of exactly what we needed..reliable, high S low AP shooting.

and the creme de la creme.

Traktor kannon: S8 AP3, skyfire with the special ability traktor:  when shooting a zooming flyer they score an additional immobilized result on any glance or pen. 

Read that again. I had to, to believe it.  Don't forget, in 7th ed flyers have a 1/3 chance to crash and burn on an immobilized results.  That means these guns, on a single glance, can kill any flyer.  Say that again.  Slowly, and let it sink in.

Did I mention that isn't all? anytime a FMC is wounded by one, they take a grounding check at -3.  That means only on a 6 does it keep flying. 

Lootas have been for a long time one of the best anti-air units in the game. Now, they are nothing compared to traktor cannons.

The new kit is pretty cool too, I might pick up one for bits and grots.  They are a lot bigger then the previous metal Big Guns so I can't in good conscience use my current models.

I need 10, with all the weapon options. Maybe 15.  I can see running 5 lobbas, 5 traktor kannons and 5 mega-kannons. That is a LOT of fire power for 435pts.

Time to get working. I have a LOT of scratch-building to do.

Quick review: Imperial Defense Emplacement.

I volunteered to paint a pair of the Imperial Defense Emplacement kits for my FLGS. 

It's a simple kit in 8 parts that still has a lot of detail.

The downside, like all the Wall of Martyr kits, is the martyrs themselves. The bodies and gear scattered around the front. I covered all of that up with simple spackle, giving a good rocky look.

A quick and easy paintjob with lots of drybrushing, washes and sponges gives the kit a pretty good look.

It's the perfect size for GW infantry models, as shown with some firewarriors. Clear line of sight but still good cover.  The kit is modular, so you can arrange it in a variates of ways and of course, it's all compatible with all the other Wall of Martyrs kits.

Overall the kit looks great, is quick and easy to assemble and paint, and will work great in game for decent cover. Get enough Wall of Martyrs kits and you can even use as an aegis!

Clocking in at under $30, not a bad value overall.

Rating 4 out of 5 WAGGHHS!

Star Trek Attack Wing U.S.S. Enterprise-D complete!

Finished painting the Enterprise-D tonight. The color is Vallejo model color medium sea grey. I think it's perfect. I then went and did the lifeboats in yellow, engines and Bussard collectors.  Then it got a good coat of Dul-Cote for durability. It was a lot of work, it's not perfect, but I think it looks great!

I also picked up another ship.

Time to hit the commissions.

Drybrushing: not to be overlooked.

Once again, going against conventional wisdom will usually give you better results then following blindly.

"They" will tell you that dry brushing is for beginners, and "real" painters will always blend. 

Sure, if you don't mind taking 18 months to paint your army. 

Getting a good blend and highlight can be done with drybrushing, plus it is super quick and easy.  To do it right, however, does take practice and patience.  Once you master it, though, the results are great.

I've decided NOT to spend forever blending and/or highlighting my Space Wolves. I've decided to go the drybrush route. I've never really done much of it, pretty much only for terrain, bases and the occasional slugga.

Getting shadows and highlights with drybrushing requires similar approach as blending, getting the high areas or even using zenith highlighting.  This is all stuff I'm working on, but since I've only done 2 guys so far I'm still very happy with the results I've had.

The other trick to effective drybrushing is masking.  Here are some picks of me doing the chest and belt buckle gold on my first Grey Hunter:

Here is the masking. I based the gold areas with Balthasar Gold and then washed withNuln Oil. Masking tape is Tamia tape and poster tack takes care of the details.  The masking took less then 5 minutes.

And after the drybrushing is complete. Started with a drybrush of Balthasar Gold, followed by Auric Armor Gold, followed by Golden Griffon (the dry paint).  I washed with sepia, then re-highlighted with Golden Griffon.

Here he is once the masking is removed.  Perfect job, good depth and highlights. Maybe too much Golden Griffon, but still very happy with it.

I should note this was the first time I've tried the GW dry paints..and omg they are awesome.   So much pigment that controlling it is a bit difficult but what I've tried so far (the metallics) are just fantastic.

So that's it for now.  More Space Wolves to come, as well as my OFCC display board.

Arachnarok Spider WiP #2; New GW paint line

Finished the howda and then decided to pin it to the spider. Turns out I made a mistake in assembly so I had to make some modifications to the spider.  Nothing that will ever be seen though so no biggie. I plan on mostly airbrushing the spider, which I can't always do, so I started on the base. lots of detail but nothing I have not done many times before. Won't take long to finish, then I will have all weekend to paint the spider. Might actually make it by the end of the month after all.

I'm completely ecstatic for Coelia Greenshade. It is a nice blue-green wash from the new shade line. before I had to mix my own blue-green wash from Thrakka green and Asurmen blue.  The blue has so much stronger pigments then the green that getting it right was a pain.  New shade color, no more mixing. thanks gw!

I also mixed the base ice color, which is 1:3 liche purple and scaly green (yes I know they dropped scaly green years ago, so I used a Vallejo equivalent) which makes the most amazing deep blue color.  Hopefully one of the new paints will be close enough where I don't have to mix that either.  I'll be checking out Sotek green and Thunderhawk blue to see if either of those will work. Not mixing, especially when airbrushing, will make me do the happy dance.

Lastly picked up Mourn Mountain Snow to try it on the basing for the O&G.   I like how it turns out, a lot.  It has a very slight blue tint.  Before I used a combination of flock layers and the white sand to get the look I wanted. Now I plan on just doing a layer of mourn followed by a quick flock. Time saver!!!

So anyway I need to make an update video.  Maybe tomorrow.

My first Finecast experience

I picked up my first Finecast model, a Boss Zagstruck. I'm planning on trying out some stormboy tactics to add some more speed to my meta-denial list, including trying out this guy. 

Here is a pic of all the flaws in the model. Mostly they are either invisible (all the bubbles on the bottom where no one will see them) or irrelevant (an Ork rocket pack has an exact look how...?).  The one notable exception is his chin. That is something that can't be overlooked.  But still, they are all small flaws and don't really effect building, painting or playing with the model..but because of the chin I will be calling up and getting a replacement.

Now that the process problems are discussed, let me talk about the material. It is a dream to work with. Easy to file and scrape, very light, and way easy to glue.  A drop of CA and parts are bonded, no pinning no bullshit.  I can't imagine having this guy in metal, what a pain that would be to clean and assemble!  Another note is is base, where he is basically standing on a small piece of broken pipe coming out of the ground. I expect this may break someday as it is a weak spot in the piece, it is very flexible as-is. I'm planning on getting a Dante as soon as my FLGS can actually get one in, and a Mad Doc as soon as it is released.  Not to mention a couple rock lobbers for my O&G.  I really do like the Finecast material, a lot.  They just need to fix the process.

I'm also going to have to find another stormboy (the old metal ones to match my current ones) because I plan on running a full unit of 21 models when I take Zag thanks to the new FAQ. That is a lot of points, and I'm not sure where I will get them..that's why I need to play test :)