Imperial Fist Update

Since my last post I have been able to pick up the resin casts my friend Alex has printed for me. I have also received some of the excellent (FoW) bases from Warbases.co.uk. 

I wasn't too happy with the scatter material from Woodland scenics, their gravel looked too much like carpark gravel, rather than the war torn cities of the 30th millennium. I painted the bases with Agrax Earthshade and then dry-brushed them with Screaming Skull, which I think has done the job to a presentable wargames standard.

Imperial Fist Grand Tactical Company

W.I.P. Land Speeders and Macharius Tanks

Vanguard Miniatures Fellblade proxy and Rhinos

Currently on the painting desk are 18 Land Raiders, 5 Land Speeders, 5 Macharius Tanks, 10 Cerebus Super Heavy Tank Destroyers, 2 Mammoth proxys and 3 Fire Raptors.

IMPERIOUS DOMINATUS: Warfare in the Age of Horus and Dark Imperium

So since my last post I have been scouring the internet for Net Epic Gold army lists for the Horus Heresy. Facebook is an extremely helpful place at times and someone pointed in the direction of a NetEpic group who have already produced a substantial amount of material for Horus Heresy based on the original Epic rules and their subsequent versions. I haven't play tested the rules yet, but hope to do so at some point over the summer.

In the meantime I have been building a new Adeptus Astartes force - Imperial Fists. I have managed to paint a Grand tactical company and am now working through ten more Rhinos, eighteen Land Raiders and two super heavy tanks from Vanguard miniatures. I have also fabricated some pennants  for the Command stands.

Epic...yes it really is Space Marine!

As ever I have a couple of projects on the go. One of them is investing in Blood and Plunder by Firelock Games, the other is Space Marine. A game released by Games Workshop quite some years ago. It has seen a revival with a new version of Adeptus Titanicus and Aeronautica Imperialis. 

6mm Imperial Fist Rhinos

I thoroughly enjoyed the games I played, perhaps not so much against my brother! He won every time, he really was that good at the game, even when not playing his favourite force of Eldar! For me the revival is that I want to play my games set in the 30K universe with warring Space Marine Legions. Whilst I built and painted a pseudo Space Wolves force back in the day (which I still have, and will almost certainly repaint) I have kicked off with some Rhinos and Space Marines to create a Tactical company. I'll have more to show at a later time.

London's Finest

A short post today. With the festivities of the Easter Weekend almost over I have managed to complete one more miniature for my Empire of the Dead collection. My plan is to get a number of the miniatures painted to run a scenario where the police hunt for Jack the Ripper with the aid of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. I still have a number of miniatures to paint, fortunately some of the club members have the necessary terrain for a few streets in London. In the meantime here is one London town's finest.

Scotland Yard Detective

Call the Cops...it's Mr. Hyde!

So my friend, pleased with the Ford AA truck (see previous post) has convinced me to paint up my Empire of the Dead miniatures I bought from the West Wind Kickstarter back in 2013 (I think!).

I had a look at what I had started painting, Victoria's boys in blue and Mr. Hyde. I haven't had to do too much work to finish them, just needed the nudge. So here they are.

"If I am the Chief of Sinners, I am the Chief of Sufferers also."

The Peelers...

Sloppy Jalopy - the finished article

As promised, here is the finished truck. I began the weathering by giving the model a coat of satin varnish. Once dried I applied various weathering products (MIG and Tamiya). I then gave it a coat of matt varnish. All I need now is to deliver it to my friend...that may be some time.

The finished Model AA Ford Truck

Sloppy Jalopy - Pulp gaming

A friend of mine has been very patient. He gave me a 1/48 scale metal truck to build and paint. That was a couple of years ago (seems to be a trend here). Anyhow I have spent my lunch hours working on the project.

The individual parts

It's interesting that the more modern trucks, or large scale models (trucks etc) are being pushed out in either plastic or resin. To be fair these materials are much easier to work with than metal, particularly when putting together. I had to spend a good deal of time scraping and cleaning the model of excess flash. Still it was time well spent on what has turned out to be a pleasant paint job...so far.

The model truck - sum of all its parts

Some folk out there may call me a heretic but I put the truck together with superglue. Not as strong as a two part epoxy resin glue but I didn't want 'gloops' of glue hanging off the side of the truck. I know it would happen, no matter how careful I was. After the superglue had had time to cure I took the model outside and primed it black using Citadel Chaos Black spray paint.

I put down some initial colours after having had a discussion with my friend. We both agreed we didn't want it black, that would perhaps lose too much of the detail, neither did we want red, a little too ostentatious. We settled on a green cab with a wooden back. Having got this far I did a little research on trucks from the same period and took inspiration from the below.

Used without permission from hotrodhotline.com

So here is the finished painted model truck. I now need to weather the truck, a different process to the initial paint job. I won't paint the wheels red, again too ostentatious for tastes. The truck is likely to be used as a plot point or part of the terrain in my friend's pulp games.

I'll be sure to post the finished model once it's completed.

Taking Advantage of the Lockdown - Dark Ages

So since the lockdown I have worked on my Dark Ages project. I bought a 'deal' box of Normans from Wargames Foundry and then subsequently bought 40 odd Norman Cavalry from Gripping Beast. That was back in the early 2000's. They lay in a tub doing nothing until the lockdown. I was looking for a project I thought I might be able to complete within the time frame.

I am multi-basing the infantry miniatures on 40mm square bases and the cavalry on 50mm square bases.

Wargames Foundry Vikings

Wargames Foundry Vikings

Wargames Foundry Norman Archers & Foot knights

Wargames Foundry Norman Foot knights with Command

Wargames Foundry Norman Foot knights

Once these models are painted I am sorely tempted to pick up some of the Victrix Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. I have to say the sculpts look pretty good from what I have seen so far.