Step by Step: Modeling Combi-Plasma and Terminator Captain

This is a step-by-step tutorial on how to turn a Storm Bolter to a combi-plasma weapon. I am going to focus on the side-by-side combi-plasma that comes with the Terminator Librarian rather than the over-under that comes with the new Tactical Squad box or Sternguard box.

Bits you will need:
1. Terminator Storm Bolter
2. Plasma Pistol
3. Bolter

Chaplains on Parade

I have lots of posts on the que to write just now. Here is a preview:

Regular Blogging on Hold

I know that posting has been down of late. I was engrossed in New Vegas for about a month and now I am painting up a storm. No time for posting except for that late night drunken rant about Whirlwinds and new models. Truth is, right now I would rather paint than anything else. Free time being limited, I put painting ahead of other aspects of the hobby like playing or blogging.

Project TMM CV is on hold as is posting about new minis. I am going to have a lot to catch up on as I still have not done my Year Book post from 2012 and 2013 is almost over! I have been a bad bad blogger.

Finished - Termies, Quad Gun and Hellbrute

Unfocused Mini-Rant Against GW

This could be a small part of a larger point but I'll start with a point about Whirlwinds and go on rant my ranty rant.

I just figured out why GW decided to make a new kit rather than give a new rule or change a rule to an existing model. It, like everything else lately seems to be, is about money. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but when you put money ahead of the integrity of the game, that is when I have problems with it.

Case in point is the Whirlwind vs the Stalker/Hunter. 

Since rumors of the new Space Marine Codex have circulated, and maybe much before that, there have been further rumors of giving sky fire to Whirlwinds. Seems a very efficient way of updating the SM to 6th and giving them an option for anti-aircraft while preserving the fluff in an Occam's Razor kind of way. This seems reasonable. GW would not have to do anything other than add a line to the Whirlwind's entry. 0.5 seconds of work and then you would increase the sales of whirlwind kits, right?

Finished

I have not been updating but I have been painting. Recently finished are:

St Celestine

A custom TH/SS Terminator Captain based on Lysander

A custom Chaplain

A second Crisis Suit

A SB/PF Sargent/Captain

A metal Scout with missile launcher

A Dreadknight and two weapons

Various Crisis Suit weapons

Each of these rally deserves their own post but it is unlikely that they will get it. 

Finished - Living Saint plus extras!

Saint Celestine is finished and I can't stop thinking about what an awesome model she is. 

Also, on the table are a BA Termie Captain based on Lysander, a BA Vet Sargent based on a Crimsom fist model and a Chaplain based on a Games Day mini. 

I am taking a break from painting and playing right now and that meas taking a break from blogging too. I know there is a lot of buzz about the new SM codex and lots of other stuff, but I am too busy to write about it. There is a lot of personal stuff going on but mostly I have fallen into Fallout: New Vegas and can't get out. Nothing is better after a hard day at the office than shooting drug addicts in the head. 

And that's what I am doing!

Likely the F:NV bug will wear off soon and I'll get all jazzed up about something but for now it is just a hiatus. 

Finished - Oily Knight

This is a mini that I painted for my buddy Keith. He plays Space Wolves but paints them like Grey Knights. While painting this guy, I gave him a good base of Chainmail and then painted on the gold accents with Shining Gold.After that, the whole model got a wash of Seraphim Sepia. Now, something happen to my first and only pot of SS and it does not dry matte. It dries shiny and does not pool right. I'll assume that I was something I did to the pot because if they are all like this, I won't be able to use it as a wash. Because SS colors well but does not shade worth a damn, I painted on Agrax Earthshade to give depth. 

On the table now - Tau Riptide

Just the weapon, jetpacks and some finishing touches and this Riptide will be ready to go. 

Finished - Thunderwolf Cavalry

 It is not all Tau-love here at TMM. I have had this Thunderwolf on my desk ready to be painted for a few months now. The painting went surprisingly fast. I don't know if I have talked about painting wolf tails on this blog and a quick search did not reveal it. It is basically a base of Dheneb Stone and washes of black, dev mud and sepia that are layered to create depth. After that there is either a dry brush of Dheneb Stone or painting on each of the tufts of fur to brighten things up. With all the hair on this wolf, I chose drybrush. I do not have the kind of time.

I am happy with the pose for the most part. I wanted to reposition the head but I traded for this and the head was plastic glued in place. I did not initially want to position his torso sideways but in order to use the hand that has the fist gripping the hair, I had to turn the body. In the end, I like it!

Finished -Tau Commander

This bad boy deserves an epic write up, but this post will have to do for now. This is really a Farsight model but I repositioned the arms, to make a regular commander. I think it is superior to the basic suit and on par with the regular Commander model.

MSRP for this mini is $50 and the paintjob is worth at least that. $100 is the value for this guy. There are also conversions and magnets involved valued at $25 for a grand total of $125. 

Finished - Tau Gun Drones

Just finished these drones. I thought the large flat surface would present a challenge, but it turned out really well. It was a good transition from painting Firewarriors to Crisis Suits. 

I did a little conversion on them by flipping the carbines from vertical to horizontal. Man, I hope they still fit in the the cupolas of the Devilfish.

Further EDIT: They fit in the Devilfish just fine and look sickening.

Even Further EDIT: I have realized that the Drones need more red on them. I may just put a few bands on the antennas or maybe they need some striped on the dome. Can't decide.

I'll wait to value these drones when I have finished more of them . They are hard to place a value on as they tend to come with other minis. They are also really hard ot paint and take a long time. Truly a conundrum. 

Finished - Tau Crisis Suit

Done! This weirdo has 4 magnets in him and is ready for the table.

... you know, after I mount him properly on a base.

Retail value for this guy is $25 and the paintjob is about that as well. There are also some pretty significant conversions and magnets in this mini that I value at $20 for a total of $70. When I finish more Crisis Suits I'll post them in the TMM CV. For now I am going to skip posting with that tag for this mini. 

On the table now - Tau Crisis suit and Drone

Just a quick post for now. I am working my way through rehabing my Tau army and the white and black color scheme is proving very challenging to get right. For the most part, I am happy with how they are turning out, but it is requiring some adaptation to my painting style to get the desired results. 

A Couple of Problems with The GW Site

Oh. Your. God. 

GW: 27.7.13

Me: Is that a date or something, because there is no 27th month.

GW: 27.7.13

Me: Oh you are an British company and that is how you do dates over there. That's cool, but it is pretty lazy for you not to format your dates properly for the US site. It is kind of like the way you spell "colour."

GW: 27.7.13!

Finished - Long Fangs

In the interest of posting more, here are some crappy pics of my Long Fangs!

While the title and tags say that they are finished, they are not. I still need to apply transfers and clear coat them. After that they will need some static grass (if I decide to go that route with the SW) and only then are they really finished. 

The pictures also turned out crappy. That is likely due to the lighting and the white background. I did not notice how bad they were until I got to posting them. By that point, I just wanted to finish this post and did not want to get out the studio. 

The old and the new

I am redoing the Tau. They were my first army. I shelved them at the start of 5th Ed and have not really touched them since then. I took them out for a spin with the new Codex and they are brutal! 

You know me; I can't field something that is not painted. The old Tau are painted but super ugly. I played with them once and it made me feel icky to have such a gross looking army on the table. It was the first time that I did not have someone say something nice about how my army looked. Not to sound arrogant, but that was weird for me. 

I am keeping the same colors but taking it up to a new level. I am using my blue to white trick for the whites and kind of phoning in the black jump suits. I am just washing the under suit black and calling it good. It is not worth it to go all out on black cloth.

Long time no post

No posts in over a month? Not cool! I am going to try to get a legit post up at least once per week in addition to pics of what I am working on. I have been painting up a storm and just nee dot take pics and a few min to post.

On the table now - Living Saint and faces

I am working on the Living Saint and am trying something new. This is a beautiful mini and is a joy to paint.

Usually I just do simple faces when I am forced to paint them. Tallarian Flesh, Tanned Flesh, Dwarf Fresh, Ogryn Flesh wash, touch up with Dwarf Flesh. The flesh wash has some red tones in it but I do not typically use any other colors. In almost any advanced flesh painting tutorial, you'll see people mixing in purples, greens and blues into their fleshes.

I touched my toe into this pool by adding some color to the lips with a Mechrite Red base and a light wash of very thin red and some purple paint and wash on the eyes.

I am mostly satisfied with the results. I want to experiment more with this and the Desert Wolves army is a good chance to do that as many of them will be missing helmets.

On the table now - Grey Hunters and Blood Claws

I've started work on my Troops choices for the Space Wolves army. I am painting them in pairs with one GH and one BC at a time. Usually I paint in groups of 3 or 5 and all of the minis are usually very similar. I want all my Wolves characters into themselves and to this end I am trying to construct and paint each mini uniquely. 

I am trying to keep a few themes going. I want the Grey Hunters each to look like venerable and grizzled warriors. To this end, I have included lots of wolf tails, skulls and decorative shoulder pads. I want the Blood Claws to look like feral and savage young warriors. To represent this, I keep the stripped down with just the most basic wargear that they need. 

I am using a lot of bare heads in this army. The mix may end up being about 1:1. I find this is an easy way to give a mini a lot of personality in a simple way. Also to add to variety, I have tired to paint the squad markings on the right shoulder pad uniquely on each mini. This is hard because I want to use spikey lines as design elements and the variety is quickly exhausted. 

Mostly, I am really happy with how things are coming alone. I have two more on the table now and that means that I am close to having 2 fieldable units. That means I am just two minis away from a legal SW army. WOO!

A Couple of Articles That Don't Suck

Mostly, BoLS produces unreadable garbage. Even their photos are slipping of late. Goatboy makes awful cartoons. The rumors are as prolific as they are inaccurate. All in all, it is a far cry from what it was.

But lately there are a few diamond in this slag heap. Well maybe not diamonds but flawed garnets at least.

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2013/04/hobby-painting-bronze-easy-way.html

First up is a decent painting article covering weathered bronze. It starts off well with a picure of what it is trying to recreate. It then lists all the paints you will need to start this project. There is a pretty good step by step as well. It ends with a showcase of models sporting the effect. A pretty good article.

I do not have much bad to say about it. I would have liked to see all the paints come from one range as most of the folks I know stick to a brand. The step by step could have been a little more detailed and the pictures could have been with the steps rather than in a block.

Really not bad at all.


http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2013/04/goatboys-model-review-kromlechs-orc.html

The next article is by Goatboy. I know that many of you may be shocked to see me write something nice about him and you will not be disappointed. The article is crap. Poorly structured and executed. If you are not a Goatfan, don't read it.

What is good are the minis. They are Mega Armored Nobz stand ins and they are awesome! I had not heard of this company but am going to take a closer look at them as I start my Orks.

While the minis he covers may be good, Goatboy's coverage is poor. He does not even link to the site where you can see more pictures of these minis or buy them. Thee is no real effort in writing a quality article or really covering the minis in a meaningful way. This is obviously an assigned article and he undertook it in his standard half-ass style.

Seriously though, gonna buy dem orks.

And two more Assault Marines.

 Ugh!

So I have those Assault Marines drying on the sideboard and I get to counting. I see that there are 16 of them and that makes two groups of 8. I thought to myself, "Man, if only I had two more then I could make two full squads of 9 each." (I keep my Sargents separate) Then I get to thinking that I did have two full squads! That's when I found these two stragglers in the foam. 

I've updated the costs on the previous post to reflect this. 

Blood Angles Assault Marines

I took my close combat boys out of their foam form some touch ups. I magnetized the backpacks so I can give them a ride at -35 points thanks to my BA codex. The down side is that the backpacks are damaging the shoulder pads and vica versa. I touched up the respective parts an then gave all the problem areas a coat of Microscale Micro Flat. That is the old school was back when wargamers had to hang on the coat tails the model train kids. 

Now they have to sit out for a few days to make sure they are super-dry. If I did not, then the sticky sides of the problem areas would peal each other apart. So they are riding the bench.

Every one of these models has loads of character. Each one has a unique pose and detailed wargear. I even went so far as to customize their grenades by hacking apart frag and krak grenades and making custom sets. They all have Assault Marine shoulderpads from GW. I have one guy with two axes as CCW with no Bolt Pistol. Just to even things out, I have a guy toting a pair of pistols and no CCW. There is a guy kneeling as if he just landed a low blow and is caught frozen in his backswing. 

But looking back, these are some broken old models. The primer on the older ones is way thick. the paint is sloppy. On more than half, the clear coat is so think, it makes them look like balloon marines. The heavy primer also ruined the grass by making it look like green glass spikes. 

I learned a lot from those broken old boys. How far we have come.  

Finished - 3 Obliterators

I finished three Obliterators and you can too! They turned out pretty well. I was working from some busted and incomplete old minis that I got in a trade so reconstructing the arms was difficult. there are a few plastic bits that had to be thrown in to fill all the little slots. 

Most noticeable is the swap of bare heads for Terminator heads. One of the minis that I got was missing a head and had an old metal CSM Terminator head in place. I could have made a stink about this but I actually liked the effect. 

Step by Step: Painting Chaos Daemons Bloodletters

This is my first attempt at a step-by-step painting guide. Some of the pictures did not turn out as well as I would have liked but the guide will hopefully not suffer too much for it.

After painting over a company of Blood angles, I am sick of painting red the conventional way. With the Bloodletters, I wanted to go with something a little different than what I've done in the past.

Finished - 10 Bloodletters

In classic Vurumai-style, I skipped the things I was supposed to paint next and banged out something awesome instead. Rather than finish my SW special characters or put any paint on the Obliterators, I finished 10 bBoodletters in just about a day. that is some sort of speed record for me as I usually paint a mini a day. 

I have my first step by step post coming up about how I painted the Bloodletters but that may have to wait a bit. In the past, when I have mentioned what I was going to write about next, that post never appeared. I am going to try to break that pattern. 

On the table now - 3 good, 3 bad

Things have been quiet of late here on TMM Blog. That is because I have been in a fury of painting since the new year. I have quite a back log of minis to post as Finished as well as the Yearbook post. It has never taken me this long to get that yearbook post out. I would feel bad about that if I was not churning out some of my best looking minis ever. 

I am putting the finishing touches on Mordrak right now and will move on to 3 Obliterators for the Iron Warriors and three Space Wolf special characters. 

The (Welcomed) End of an Era

Faeit 212 (usually a source of good rumors and intel) reports that Battle Bunkers are a thing of the past and I can not say that I am shocked at all. There are many reasons that Battle bunkers are a bad idea but here are my top 5:

-1 Faith in GW

I unsubscribed from GW newsletter today and the picture below is why.

I am so disappointed in GW for this nonsense. The most recent newsletter was a lot of PR rhetoric about these new one click bundles as if they are something new and hot. All these things are are a grouping of vaguely themed items with catchy names. There is no reason to buy these unless they are exactly what you are looking for. There is not even a discount for buying in bulk. The price of the bundles are the same as purchasing the items individually.