Nerd Bounty

No new hobby news, the muse is still on vacation. :(

But, today the postman was kind to me...
Last year I had participated in a Kickstarter for gaming coins, these coins were large, sounded well and were generally wonderfull, their self-claimed "legendary" status was deserved. Their only flaw was that their size and small number made them not entirely practical for actual RPG use, as they couldn't cover small day-to-day transactions.
So I turned to kickstarter once more for a batch of smaller coins to supplement them. These arrived today:

(More pics and loot after the break:)

Big Bird

Not much hobby from me lately, Real Life has been interfering immensely...
Over the last few weeks, in fits and starts, I've been painting a Basilisk for my Chivalry gaming and Dungeoneering stuff:

He's converted from a Otherworld Miniatures Cockatrice with wings from a giant eagle I had laying around somewhere. 
Why do it this way?
Because historically there was a lot of overlap and confusion between Cockatrices and Basilisks, both being rooster and reptile hybrids (they may even originally have been different names for the same mythical creature).
Only very late did the clear divide occur where the Cockatrice was the serpent-rooster and the basilisk turned into a 6- or 8-legged giant lizard. I rather like this ambiguity and confusion.
So I've decided to model the earlier form of Basilisk you see above. Alongside it will go an unconverted Otherworld Miniatures Cockatrice, in a more rooster-like brown black colour. The idea being that on the Basilisk I emphasise the reptilian features more, despite the feathered wings, where on the Cockatrice I emphasise the avian features more, despite the leathery wings. The Basilisk will have it's venomous/life withering attacks, where the Cockatrice will get the petrifying stare. Against a Basilisk you can defend with a weasel, for the Cockatrice you need the roosters crowing or a mirror.
This will mean that I can add more roleplay/story to any games involving either creature: The panicked villagers are raving about an unholy rooster-reptile hybrid monster, but will I be facing a Cockatrice or a Basilisk? Both naturally present their own dangers, means to defend against their special attacks and preferred ways to fight them...

To further muddy the waters, I also have regular Otherworld Miniatures Basilisk (you know, the multilegged lizard type). As this creature will, in my setting, not have any special attacks or supernatural qualities, I will classify it as a Lesser Basilisk, whereas the smaller, rooster-serpent (with it's venomous nature)  will be known as a Greater Basilisk among scholars...

See you next time!

Battlefleet Modhail

Bleh, the weather here has been bad lately, lots of unexpected rain showers, and even the occasional hail and wet snow...
Which pretty much scuppered my plans to get cracking on my Chaos ships for Battlefleet Gothic, as I can't primer them in this weather. :(

So, to tide you (and myself) over, I decided to post some pictures of my main fleet, the Imperial Navy. Mind, these are older pics, taken back when Battlefleet Gothic was still in production, so expect some "vintage resolution".

The pic above is the total of my painted warfleet, including support vessels (Transports for the Convoy scenario).

In addition, I had painted some static defenses, seen below:

Fleet command Space Station, sleek and austere.

A more traditional Space Station:

Traditional Grimdark, that is... ;)

And a trio of Defense Platforms to guard them:

As can be seen, these platforms are dedicated to the Machine God.

And I just realised I never took a picture of my Blackstone Fortres... Go figure.

Still in the to-paint stash of non-fleet assets are 6 more platforms (to be painted in different colours), a trio of Defense Monitors and a batch of System Ships (4 bases of them, for now), more Transports (part of which will be converted into Q-Ships, Armed transports and maybe Fireships) and a pair of Heavy Transports (old Spacefleet models!).
Ideally, at some point, I'd also like to build an Orbital Dock and some more gothic looking defense platforms to go with "floating cathedral" Space Station. And I'm still hoping to one day acquire one of the elusive Ramilies Starfortress models.
All this should keep me building and painting for quite some while. If only this infernal weather would let up, so I can primer some stuff!

See you next time!

Going deeper underground

The display backdrop for my wife her Warhammer Quest set is done!
I installed it into the cabinet today, and presented it to her.

Naturally I also shot some pics of it for you folks...
The first pic is with flash, the second without. I'm presenting both as I like how the pic with flash looks more like the bright cartoony style Warhammer Quest has in it's presentation and miniature painting. Whereas the pic without flash best shows off the colours and mood of it, and shows the more "modern" pallet and style of many dungeon games.

With Retro-Flash Tech:

And without flash, in modern Gritty-Punk-O-Vision:

I haven't yet set the heroes on the outdoor section yet, as the glue in the flock still needs to dry properly.
She's happy (though she scared my by saying: "Nice, now do the rest of the cabinet as well."), I'm happy.
I'm looking forward to switching off the display lights tonight, I want to see how the glow-in-the-dark shrooms in the cave will do. :D

See you next time!

Mercenary Terraformer

For the past couple of weeks, behind the scenes I've been working on some terrain. A while back a friend mentioned he could use some more scenery, but lacked the skills and materials. Now I had the skills and materials, but could use some more hobby budget. We soon came to a mutually beneficial understanding. ;-)

He was looking for some rock formations. After some exchange of ideas we settled on a group of rocky hills and a stone circle. As I delivered the finished product today, I can now share the pics with the world. (When I make something for someone else it's my rule that the new owner gets to see it first.)

So, here is a pic-dump of the construction process for you to enjoy:

"You might as well try to catch starlight as bring the Eldar to battle" -Naval saying

And here is the entire fleet:

It consists of these vessels:
-1 Void Stalker Battleship
-1 Shadow Class Cruiser
-2 Eclipse Class Cruisers
-4 Hellebore Frigates
-6 Aconite Frigates
-6 Nightshade Destroyers
-7 Hemlock Destroyers
Totalling it all up gets me 2300 points of Interstellar Eldar Fury.
Add in a Pirate Prince and a generous helping of re-rolls and I'm commanding a clean 2500 point fleet.

Oh, and an old Space Fleet Eldar Cruiser, which I could use as a really ancient Solaris Class Light Cruiser.
With the miniatures no longer in production, and Ebay prices being the madness that they are, this fleet is now officially declared finished.
Should I ever win the lottery, or BFG get back into production (without prices being jacked up insanely) I'd like to add the official models for the Aurora and Solaris light cruisers and a gaggle of Eldar transports, but currently that's just a pleasant dream...

I really had fun painting the last couple of Eldar ships, and while I'm glad to complete a project, it's also kinda sad to realise that I won't get to paint any more of these lovely little vessels. :(
With this fleet done, in theory I could host a complete game of BFG without the other player needing to bring anything, as I have all the rules, dice and rulers, a set of terrain and two full fleets. (Three, in a way, seeing that my Imperial fleet is twice as large as my Eldar one...)
Nevertheless I think it may be prudent to paint up my (small) Chaos or Ork fleet as well, as Eldar are a notoriously harsh fleet to play against, or with, when still getting used to the rules. Best not alienate new people right away.

I'll be spending the remaining daylight taking individual shots of capital ships and escort squadrons for my (long suffering) wish/plan to make custom individual datacards for each ship in my possession. I really need to settle on a design and layout for them and then wrap my head around a graphics program long enough to actually execute this idea.

Oh, just had an idea, would it be odd that I'm thinking of converting miniatures to represent the respective Admirals of my fleets?

See you next time!

Dealing with a Stalker...

A Void Stalker that is! :)
Basecoated her yesterday, and did the first wash, and continued on her this afternoon.
Painting went surprisingly quick today, despite the large size of the ship:

Finally having glued all the various parts together, I'm surprised by just how big (and heavy!) it is.
With this last and imposing vessel, all the Eldar ships I own have now been painted. I can finally say:
FLEET FINISHED!

When I have time, I'll set up some terrain and make some pics of the fleet as a whole. But for now, just look at this happy face:

She's all smiles, isn't she?

See you next time!