40k

Fire Warrior Progress plus New Toys!

/ Deathwatch Studios / Leave a comment

I’ve made less progress than I wanted to on the Fire Warriors over the last couple of days, due primarily to a very generous mother in law, more on that later as here are the Fire Warriors:

Fire Warriors WIP

Fire Warriors WIP

The red on the armour and the black sections have now been completed, so onto the detailing next!

As the mother in law has just received her pension she decided my wife and I needed some money to treat ourselves. Obviously my mind went straight to toys and which ones where so shiny they had to be added to my collection.

I’ve been wanting to get into something outside of GW for a while now, other than board or card games (have played a fair few fantasy flight games, but not a lot else), but not something that would encompass a large force or expensive models. After a fair amount of browsing I decided on Dreadball by Mantic. Violent futuristic sports! Who could resist!

Dreadball!

Dreadball!

The main box was the obvious place to begin (really wish I had got in on the kickstarter, as some great deals). This gives me a good place to start and learn the rules. So far I’ve had a good peruse of what came with it and am suitably pleased. I should be getting a game tomorrow, so will be looking to pop up a review of the contents and the game play in the next couple of days…

Fire Warrior Progress…

/ Deathwatch Studios / Leave a comment

Today was spent getting the red started on the Fire Warrior Squad, all it is at this point is a base of Khorne red mixed with a wee bit of brown (sorry cant remember which one :() with a highlight of mephiston red. From this point I’m going to split them for painting, as I find it easier to go in small chunks, and paint five at a time. Going to try and get the red completed on the first five tonight…

Fire Warriors WIP

Fire Warriors WIP

Fire Warriors Started!

/ Deathwatch Studios / Leave a comment

Received the first of my Fire Warriors Today! Wooooo 😀 so got crackin into them straight away and they are now ready to be undercoated. I have to say I can’t wait to get started on painting these guys, as I’ve been really enthused to get the Tau to a playable level. Its now been at least 2 months since I last had a game of 40k and I’m really getting the itch now but I need to stick to my plan of only playing with painted models.

Fire Warriors

Fire Warriors

Here they are, fairly simple as there’s not a lot you can do with them being basic infantry and all.

Cadre Fireblade Finished!

/ Deathwatch Studios / Leave a comment

Finished off the final details on the Fireblade and am very chuffed with the results. Although the sept and cloak markings took a bit of patience I think I got the effect I was looking for.  Now all I need to do is think up some background for this chap, as I always like a bit of a story to go with each of the models/units in an army, especially an HQ.

Cadre Fireblade

Cadre Fireblade

Cadre Fireblade

Cadre Fireblade

Cadre Fireblade

Cadre Fireblade

Cadre Fireblade

Cadre Fireblade

I do know that this guy will be leading the smaller forces I take, with a Battlesuit Commander taking over as the points go up. I have a list which I will share for you that is something of a target for the first chunk of the force:

Cadre Fireblade

10 Fire Warriors

10 Fire Warriors

5 Pathfinders

5 Pathfinders

Crisis Battlesuit:

Fusion Blaster, Burst Cannon, Target Lock, 2 x Gun Drones

Crisis Battlesuit:

2 x Burst Cannon, Drone Controller, 2 x Gun Drones

Which is 500pts on the nose. I think this is a good starting point as it is made up of a core units of any other list I’ll be making and I’ll explain why.

I’ll always have Fire Warriors as my troops because I really am not a fan of the Kroot models. I realise this will leave a fairly diverse squad out of the mix but I’m more of a painter than a gamer these days so aesthetics will always win out when I’m building my lists.

Pathfinders I feel are too cheap to not be taken, considering what they can do. Sitting these chaps behind the Fire Warriors and using there markerlights helps the rest of the force , but they have the bonus of being a great unit to support using their carbines. Although if they do get targeted, caught in the open, assaulted, looked at in a funny way etc. they will very likely suffer a horrible demise.

Battlesuits I love. I will be taking one unit of each kind in my completed force (a long way off yet :(), so the obvious place to start is with a couple of XV8’s. The main idea with these guys is that they eventually form a squad of 3, with 2 battlesuits with burst cannon, fusion blaster and target lock and one with 2 burst cannons, drone controller and the full complement of gun drones. I like the idea of having a unit that can pump out 28 strength 5 shots and has an extra couple melta shots that can target a different unit 😀

As this is my target I still need the Fire Warriors and another battlesuit. I already have a box of Fire Warriors on the way, so hopefully get to starting them very soon…

Fireblade Progress

/ Deathwatch Studios / Leave a comment

Really getting into the Cadre Fireblade now, and not gonna be long until he is finished.

Cadre Fireblade WIP Front

Cadre Fireblade WIP Front

Cadre Fireblade WIP Back

Cadre Fireblade WIP Back

I’ve been working on his cloak, the blue sections as well as finishing the skin and facial features. The cloak will be getting some extra work with some kind of freehand design, but not decided on what yet. I’m probably just gonna stick to some tau-ish lettering, in red, around the edge and keep it fairly simple. The reason I’ve decided on red for this is I think it will blend in with the rest of the model much better, I’m not looking for it to be flashy or in your face cos I don’t think that’s what the Tau are all about.

So continuing on with this chap I still have all of the sept markings to add, as well as lenses, both on the model and on the base. So as I said, not far to go 😀

Tanks & Fireblade Update!

/ Deathwatch Studios / Leave a comment

Little bit of painting, little bit of modelling today. Started to fill the gaps on the Hydras with some plasticard, and to give you an idea of the gap here’s before and after:

Before & After

Before & After

As you can see the plasticard does a rudimentary job, gonna need to do a wee bit of greenstuffing to smooth the whole thing over.

I also found myself distracted by the Cadre Fireblade, that’s been sitting on the table for a wee while now, and managed to add a few colours to the chap. Didn’t really realise how much of the model is armoured, this makes things a little easier on the model and means I can dedicate more on the cloak and the sept markings. These elements more than anything help to distinguish him from any old firewarrior. Anyway enough rambling, here’s a picture:

Cadre Fireblade

Cadre Fireblade

And just because they look cool :D, the tanks again:

Tanks!

Tanks!

 

 

Tanks! Tanks! Tanks!

/ Deathwatch Studios / Leave a comment

So the next lot of Death Korp has changed slightly as the customer needs a few of his tanks built and undercoated for a tournament this Friday. The Tanks in question are two hydras and another basilisk:

Tanks!

Tanks!

I have been struggling with these all afternoon as they are a fair bit of work to put together. The Basilisk I already knew would be a bit of trouble (primarily due to warped parts), but I never once thought the Hydras would be as much trouble as they are. The kit does not fit together without leaving some quite considerable gaps at the back sides and the bottom, which I would not expect from such an expensive kit. Usually Forge World kits fit together superbly.

So tomorrow will be spent with the plasticard and the greenstuff out trying to fix these sections, and get these tanks looking top notch (hopefully :D)

Harlequins Finished!

/ Deathwatch Studios / Leave a comment

The Harlequins are now complete, and if you’ve been following my progress on them you’ll notice the Deathjester has yet to make an appearance, other than being undercoated. This is because he’s my favorite of these models and I wanted to save him for last. So without further ado, here they are:

Deathjester

Deathjester

Harlequin Squad

Harlequin Squad

Troupe Master

Troupe Master

Harlequin

Harlequin

Harlequin

Harlequin

Harlequin

Harlequin

Harlequin

Harlequin

Harlequin

Harlequin

Shadow Seer

Shadow Seer

I’m very pleased with how they have turned out, but will wait on the judgement of the customer before I call them a success ;P.

Next up to the modelling table though is going to be even more Death Korp! It’s funny how bored I can get of painting the same thing over and over again for my own army, but if its someone else’s I get really into it :/

Harlequin Progress – Almost There!

/ Deathwatch Studios / Leave a comment

The Harlequins are progressing at a fairly rapid rate now, and I’m very happy with how they are looking. Today has been spent mostly on adding the gold to the models (belts, shoulder pads, hilts etc), and beginning the bone on the masks, weapons and accessories, plus a couple of ribbons here and there.

Troupe Master

Troupe Master

Harlequin

Harlequin

Harlequin

Harlequin

Harlequin

Harlequin

Harlequin

Harlequin

Harlequin

Harlequin

Shadow Seer

Shadow Seer

So whats left? I hear you ask (if its not you I’m hearing voices :P). Well finishing off the bone sections is the obvious answer, but following that I will have the hair to and lots of bits and pieces on the shadow seer. For the hair I’m thinking Turquoise and another colour striped, but think I’ll have to try it out to see how it looks. On the Shadow seer I want to add a pattern to either side, crrently thinking moons and suns to go with the emblems dangling from the hood but need to figure out the colours I wold like to use.