Eldar on the desk update.

Hi Guys,

Thanks for stopping by!

I figured I'd do a follow-up to my original 1k eldar list post as more of an update on progress as well as exactly what needs doing to each model / unit where appropriate, I was also considering doing this as a weekly / bi-weekly thing and maybe even as a vlog on youtube because sometimes these things are just better on a video than still images... not 100% on this but as always any feedback / suggestions are welcome. I do feel I need to be using youtube more especially now I'm seemingly starting to get a regular reader base for the blog. I believe I should be thanking +Fritz 40K and those on the Warmaster forums for their help and support in this regard.

Anyway I digress, back to the topic at hand, my eldar game league list, as a reminder for those who have yet to read the original post here is my initial 1k list which i've also included an update as to exactly where I am at with each unit:

HQ
Autarch w/ Fusion Gun, Laser Lance, Mantle of the Laughing God, Jetbike (BNIB / yet to be converted)

Elite
5 Striking Scorpions (being stripped)
Exarch w/ Scorpion's Claw (being stripped)
Wave Serpent w/ Holo-Fields (BNIB)

Troops
5 Dire Avengers (painted not yet based)
Wave Serpent w/ Holo-Fields (BNIB)

3 Windrider Jetbike (jetbikes under-coated awaiting guardian body conversion)
3 Windrider Jetbike (jetbikes under-coated awaiting guardian body conversion)

Heavy Support
Fire Prism w/ Holo-fields (painted not yet based)
Warp Hunter w/ Holo-fields (base-coated, highlighted, needs detailing and based)

I have been somewhat distracted with terrain making of late and after making the bunker highlighted in my previous blog posts Pt1 here, and Pt2 here I am almost done with quite a large project which I will post more details of next week.

So here's where I go into a bit more detail about my conversion plans or general outline for what I want to do with each of the models.

With the Autarch I'm basically looking to build / convert him from scratch using green stuff and a dire avengers exarch sprue, ofc I will magnetize where I can for extra options.

The striking scorpions are all old metal models, one of which is missing a sword so I have some bits on hand to make a push mold of one of the other models swords and will just make a new one out of green stuff, the painted scorps are currently sitting in a tub of acetone to remove the paint.

The wave serpents I want to keep pretty much standard but by following the conversions guide on Andrew Hicks website I want to magnetise for all options etc, I may even try to do some freehand designs on the hull to break up to open space on the panels. Andy's website is amazing for inspiration if your a budding or even a veteran conversion oriented person, this guy has some serious skills.

The jet bikes will stay largely standard with possible magnetising of the weapon options so I can include under-slung upgrades, but the models were second hand originally and have a very rough paint job as well as the riders already attached, I'm already looking to remove the riders and remodel them following +IDICBeer 's guide here and I'm also contemplating just stripping these as well.

The warp hunter is currently being painted and as it stands has a nice freehand on it of the Biel-tan symbol and also has some options magnetized underneath for weapons

I will be in the process of moving over the next month so I will try to keep up with my blogging commitments and keep you all with plenty to read about!

Let me know what you think, if you have any comments suggestions questions or any general feedback I'd love to hear it, thanks again for stopping by!

Scratch(build) that itch

Hi Guys,

Thanks for stopping by!

Last week I went through the basic bunker and provided you with a semi-step by step view on building this to a basic level Link for reference: http://biel-tan-wip.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/when-you-get-that-itch-you-just-cant.html. That bunker is now pretty much done with the exception of the base which I'll sort out when I decide on my general board theme though I'm leaning towards either an abandoned eldar world that's now covered in sand or possibly a dark grey / lava world. Construction of this wont start till probably late summer but the general plan is similar to the idea set out by +The Wargamers Consortium in their video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lvj957aoA6M but basically a 2 foot by 2 foot series of modular tiles to make up a 6 foot by 4 foot board. I really like the idea of a modular table so that you can vary your gaming environment and utilise your board to it's fullest potential, but more on my plans once they are finalised and we are closer to actually making it.... back to the topic at hand.

I was quite happy with where we left the bunker, considering I've not done anything like this for practically a decade it turned out well, but there's always more you can do to these kind of things so armed with my tube of poly filler, an xacto blade, the hot glue gun, some fine sandpaper and some magnets I had kicking it about I set about the bunker and tried to improve what I had already created.

The first thing I did was set about the roof and also the window ledges with the xacto blade to create a more angled edge. I then added some magnets as per picture below.

Next up was a liberal coating of the poly filler to all the surface area's. This was to help create a 'seal' to the foam and at the same time give it a more realistic texture to apply the paint to.

Once the filler had dried I then sanded down all of the rough areas, you can see in this pic that those few magnets alone were enough to hold the weight of the structure incidentally it also shows the bunker post sanding and ready for some paint. I chose the army painter Uniform grey primer and coated the bunker in it.




I then applied a subtle highlight to the edges and shaded the underside of the window ledge and along the edges of the support struts. I tried to make my own stencil to make the Aquila on the roof however it failed and I ended up free handing it. And here's the finished product. Let me know what you think, if you have any comments suggestions questions or any general feedback I'd love to hear it, thanks again for stopping by!

 

When you get that itch you just cant help but scratch

Hi Guys,

Thanks for stopping by!

I know I've technically already given you a post 'this week' on my paint racks but as that was more of an ad-hoc review rather than a regular post I thought I'd treat you and post up something else, aren't you lucky!!!

You may or may not have been aware but recently +IDICBeer ran a terrain competition which I initially planned to enter due to a few things but namely an increased workload in my final year of Uni I had to pull out of the comp, but I messaged Nick and he was pretty cool about it and I promised him that I would look to continue my planned terrain piece in future..... I do and it is one of 4 terrain projects I have in mind at the moment 1 of which is what I wanted to go through today. But first just a bit of background as to where this has come from. Way, Way back when I was originally finding my feet in the hobby my friend and i used to battle it out on a regular basis, Games workshop produced a whole load of punched card terrain that fit into the old necromunda plastic bulkhead at this point, I think it was around 2002 ish. But I happened across a post on a forum where people were posting pictures and asking if people had any for sale and just generally pointing out how awesome they were which got me to thinking....... but I'll save the rest for a future blog post!

I've always been told that it's a good idea to start small and ease yourself into something, especially if it's new or your just simply out of practice. With that in mind I started looking through scratch builder resources, print and play terrain sites and various other places to see if there was anything that took my fancy terrain wise and stumbled across this little gem http://paperwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/bunker-40k.html

The idea of paper terrain seems a bit flimsy to me though and with a few bits on hand I set about making a bunker using the paper terrain piece as a guide to follow.

Here's what I started with.:

1 A4 sheet of blue foam 0.5mm thick,
Sharp Xacto knife,
Metal ruler,
Hot glue gun, you could use PVA or wood glue but I found the hot glue was great as it dries solid pretty quickly and allows for easy construction.,

Probably with a general disclaimer at this point, Xacto knifes will be very sharp and they do glide through the foam with little resistance so it's very easy to cut through and has the potential to cause injury, on a similar theme the glue gun (if you use one)  does get really really hot, as does the glue itself, you don't want to touch the metal heated element at the end of the glue gun to the foam as it will melt it and if it comes into contact with your skin you will burn yourself.

At the end of the basic construction of the project I was left with roughly a third of the blue foam left so in terms of material cost it was pretty cheap.

The instructions are pretty easy to follow and the guide itself is very well presented so I've simply taken a few shots throughout the project with a 'final shot' of the basic level of construction with some models around it for size comparison. I do intend to and have actually started doing further detailing work to this bunker, even though it's just to ease me back into terrain making there's no point doing something if your not prepared to give it a good shot.

these three pictures show the angle the edges were cut at in order to create the joins the the main angles of the bunker, the middle shot shows how I used the paper terrain as a guide to creating the foam pieces, these were especially useful when getting the angles right as I was able to hold them in the correct position while the glue was setting, the right hand picture simply shows a few of the pieces cut out of the blue foam.

These shots were taken part way through construction and show the angled pieces put together and the basic shell of the bunker. 

These 2 shots are the same views as above but at the completed stage. This is as far as the papercraft guide takes you and as you can see from below you end up with a decent sized piece of terrain which you can fit around 10 models inside. I've put a couple of dire avengers inside the bunker, a war walker and my current painting project the warphunter in shot for a size comparison.

In terms of time to make this took me no longer than 2 hours total to get to this point and if i'm honest it was pretty easy and I think it actually looks pretty decent too. Let me know what you think, keep an eye out for more terrain oriented posts from me in the near future, including putting the finishing touches to this bunker as well as some more old school oriented terrain stuff.

Hobbyzone.pl Large paint Stand and large corner paint stand review

Hi Guys, Thanks for stopping by!

We've all been there right we get that urge to be a little more organised with our hobby area, whether it's then put off till you have more time or if it's a genuine effort to become more efficient and have less desk clutter through to maybe even setting up a clear working area to do with your own commission service.

I'm usually one with delusions of having a clutter free desk and being more organised but really all I ever do when I tidy up or organise something is then fill the old now uncluttered area up with something new that I probably could have found a better home for anyway. I'm one for watching a lot of video's on youtube regarding painting or battle reports and I kept seeing all these pro painters with a significantly more organised painting area than my own and as my painting area also doubles up as my work area for programming games etc I figured that I would make efforts to try and make things look a little bit neater.

I searched a few different sites out for painting racks and stands trying to find one that I liked the look of and stumbled across a website based in Poland www.hobbyzone.pl who also had what appeared to be the best value for money I'd come across too a large paint rack holding 81 gw sized pots for less than £12 after counting up my current paint collection which was stashed in a drawer and not that easy to access I figured I would need to get one of their corner pieces too which came in at just under a tenner and holds 33 pots.

Well I put my order in and the package arrived in the mail today(3 working days from order to delivery), the first thing I noticed is that it was so well and securely wrapped it could probably survive being driven over by a tank (the picture to the right is after I got through the initial wrapping). This is in no way a negative criticism, in the gaming world there is an undercurrent of apprehension whenever ordering goods from other countries (or in some cases even your own countries... I'm looking at you ebay purchases!).

No-one wants their goods to arrive in anything less than perfect condition and the guys at hobbyzone certainly made sure this was going to be the case. Once I'd got through the cellophane and bubble wrapped exterior and xacto-knifed through the neatly sealed and branded hobbyzone box and then a further interior wrapping of bubble wrap I was greeted with that oh so delicious smell of freshly cut wood that you usually only find in workshops or the like.

I opened the large (straight) paint stand first and checked through all the pieces, no damage and one side covered in a nice clean white finish, I couldn't find any assembly instructions but being a man I figured that had there been any I probably wouldn't have read them anyway. Not that any were needed as assembly was very straightforward, glue is optional and I found that the stand was rigid without needing to glue the joints.












With the large stand sorted and filled with most of my paints I set about putting together the corner piece, same story with the packaging and the oh so good smell of the cut wood again, this time I had a small instruction booklet as the assembly of the corner piece requires that you put the shelves into the 'spine' of the stand and then attach the final 2 supports after the shelves are in place.

Assembly for both racks took less than 5 minutes total and as you can see in the picture below leaves a very professional and organised looking way to store your paints. the only negative thing I can say about these is that I did underestimate the size of the racks as my desk currently isn't the largest but there are smaller racks available on the site and I will definitely be going back for another section when my collection of paints expands. That in itself though is a failing on my part in checking the footprint of the paint stand rather than a negative on the actual product itself.

The picture below shows the 2 racks side by side and filled with my paints and a few extras, you could easily add magnets to the edges of the stands so that they stick together but honestly they will work perfectly well without.

Hopefully this review was of use / interesting, if you have any questions then feel free to drop me a message or comment below, if you think others would benefit from reading this then please feel free to rate and share!

Thanks for stopping by!

Another week and more progress

Hello again and thanks for reading my blog.

Without further delay lets get right into the meat of what I'm planning to do over the next few months. As my friends will know I'm moving down south of the border again in summer to live with my Fiancée while this in itself is amazing I have also been invited to join a 40k league to have some regular play. Which means I need to have an army painted to a respectable level to play with... even though apparently sometimes they play with just assembled models without paint.

Anyway I figure that even though I have a significant amount of stuff I could paint / play my focus has always been the Eldar so my priority should be to get my list ready. What is your list I hear you cry? Well I'm planning on running the following or variations of the following initially which gives me a more focused to do list than I currently have.

HQ
Autarch w/ Fusion Gun, Laser Lance, Mantle of the Laughing God, Jetbike

Elite
5 Striking Scorpions
Exarch w/ Scorpion's Claw
Wave Serpent w/ Holo-Fields

Troops
5 Dire Avengers
Wave Serpent w/ Holo-Fields

3 Windrider Jetbike
3 Windrider Jetbike

Heavy Support
Fire Prism w/ Holo-fields
Warp Hunter w/ Holo-fields

The league is 1k points and this should bring me in at 997 and should be fun to learn with.

So on that note my painting list basically follows the list above with the exception of the Fire prism already being completed and I've also made some progress in the form of completing the old school Dire Avengers which have been sat on my desk for about 2 months which can also be ticked off too! Now you could argue that as they aren't based they aren't finished... well sure once I decide what basing style I'm going for I'll 'finish' them properly. :)

Long time hiatus and what i've been up to

Hello and welcome to my blog. My last post on here seems to have been some time ago due to a multitude of things but mainly that my hobby was taking a back burner while I focused on other things. I now find myself with more time and will attempt to be posting on a more consistent / weekly basis.

So Good news! I have actually been painting things and for a reason too. I've been quite active over on +Fritz 40K  Warmaster Forums. Where you can find me under my usual tag of Zangetsu. There's a WIP post with all of my to do list and updates on progress AND I even found time to enter a competition. Considering my mediocre painter status I actually think my entry turned out pretty well.

I managed to try out some new techniques on this and have actually been starting to use my airbrush. I will get better at it but i'm pretty happy with the end result anyway!

My to do list at the moment consists of the following: 

Eldar 

1 female Farseer scratchbuild,
1 Avatar,
1 Autarch,
Maugan-Ra,
Barroth,
60 Guardians,
10 Guardian jetbikes,
6 Howling Banshee's,
28 Dire Avenger's(8 painted),
3 Support Weapon Platforms with crew,
6 Striking Scorpions, 
7 Rangers,
5 warp spiders,
2 wave serpents,
2 Falcon Grav Tanks,
2 fire prism / Night Spinner Grav Tanks(1 painted),
1 Warp hunter,
3 Vyper Jetbike's,
3 War Walker's,

For my Chaos Space Marines I have the following:
Everything from the DV limited edition boxed set (Lord, 6 Chosen, 1 Helbrute, 20 cultists),
Abaddon,
9 termies (5 painted),
10 marines,
1 Rhino,
1 Forgefiend,
1 Heldrake,

And last but not least I have the following for my Dark Angels:
Azrael,

Everything from the DV limited edition boxed set (Company master, Chaplin, Librarian, 5 termies, 10 marines, 3 bikes),

Dark Angels Battleforce (6 bikes, attack bike and a landspeeder),
5 man assault squad,

I'll leave it at that for now and follow up with another post next week. Thanks for stopping by!