Defkopta to Warbike conversion part II

Second warbike conversion.  This one is just a straight warbiker boy not a nob.  Chopper style for this guy.  Little too big for my base, LOL.  So he's poppin' a wheelie.

Thanks for looking!

-BJ

Finished - Ice Despot Klawgrot

Well the painting is done.  Only thing left is some snow effects on the base.

Enjoy...

-BJ

Frozn' Tundra Orks Update

Some more updates on the Orks.

Skin done on the WB and the Biker Nob.

Here's the formula I worked with.

Base Coat - 2:1 Hawk Tourquise and Orkhide Shade
                 - Add Hawk Tourquise to mix
                 - Add Ice Blue to the mix
                 - Add Skull White to the mix
                 - Add more Skull White to the mix
                 - Separate a small portion of mix (couple of tank brush loads) then add equal amount of Skull
                   White for final highlight.
                 - Thrakka Green wash to blend everything in and add a bit more green tint to the skin

"Uniform" is done as well.  I kept this pretty simple so I can reproduce on the 100+ models I have to paint up.

Base Coat - Codex Gray
                 - Shadow Gray shapes
                 - Space Wolves Gray shapes
                 - Black Ink/Flesh Wash (4:1) + 3 parts water wash (I use the same mixture on boltgun metal)

WIP Shots

More later,

-BJ

Ork Warboss - Ice Despot Klawgrot - Ov Da Frozn' Tundra Orks

Oi!  All yuz humies com chek diz out!

Began work on the Warboss for my Frozn' Tundra Ork Clan (yeah don't like to stay completely by the book as ya'll know).

Skin tone will be more ice blue/green, and maybe a snow/urban camo scheme for the pants.  Not sure on that yet.

Everything will be based on Dragon Forge Urban Rubble bases (Great work as always Jeff!) with my snow recipe added to create the cold effect.

Base for the WB is done for the most part.  I've got to add a frozen muck coming out of the pipe and then the snow, but that's after I get the WB finished and on it.

Here's some WIP shots.  More to come as I add them.  I'll also give the colors used on the skin tone once I finalize them.  I based him with a 2:1 mixture of Hawk Turquoise and Foundation Orkhide Shade.  Gives a really nice deep sea green color to build the "blue" up from.  Obviously I'm going to pull the WB from the cork base and pin to the perty base.

Also here's a quick WIP shot of the Warbiker Nob conversion.  

-BJ

Defkopta to Ork Nob Warbiker Conversion

Alright, so the conversion work on the 1st of the Defkopta to Warbike conversions is about as done as I'm going to try.  Pinned and mounted on a DragonForge biker base (love this company).

Waiting on some wheels to finish the other 4 though I'm not sure if I'm going to run them as a full Nob unit or not (probably will since I can take it as a troop choice with the Warboss I'm running) ;-)

Pics aren't the best, still trying to get my new painting area up and running and can't find my dang camera so had to use my phone.

Enjoy!

BJ gots choppa 'appy

I know, I know, it's been a LONG time since I posted anything.  Between work, and some not so pleasant health issues I've been kind of down for the count as far as the hobby goes.  Sooooo after relocating to San Antonio from Illinois I decided to start giving some time over to my very, very, very neglected Orks (Froz'n Wagh Klan).

So I have pretty much all the models I want for the army and it keeps it pretty much just under 1500 points depending on what wargear I use for the Warboss.  I've got 4 Warbosses (3 are AOBR, and then the FineCast Warboss with the Attack Squig) so depending if I decide to do any conversion work on the AOBR ones I shouldn't go over 1500 points.

Through various resources I came into posession of 3 full AOBR sets.  I know static poses, but not the way I build them, hehe (more on those conversions later).  That and I ended up with 12 AOBR Defkoptas.  Well I only plan on fielding 5 of them, so what to do, what to do...

Time ta get choppin!

Okay forgive the lack of WIP shots on HOW I did this, but here is the first Defkopta to Warbiker Nob conversion.

Bits used:

• Razorback twin-linked Heavy Bolters
• Space Marine Bike wheel
• Chimera bits
• Dozer Blade bits from an old Rhino
• Space Marine Land Speeder bits
• Green Stuff
• Plasticard

I started work on a second one, but then realized that my much needed SM Biker Wheels are no longer in my bits box...Hmmmm....KIDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-BJ

Review - Killzone - HECK YEAH!!!

KILLZONE IS READY!!!

This is all the buzz right now on many of the 40K blog sites so I thought I'd throw in my $0.02 of 40k bloggy goodness.  Similar to what Fritz40k is striving for with his 750 point list challenge, Big Jim over at Galaxy in Flames and the guys who worked with him to develop "Special Operations: Killzone" are striving to bring the skirmish back into 40K and ignite what I think will be a new level of interest in the small point games.

So lets see/hear those Killzone lists!

I haven't had a chance to get in a Killzone game yet, hoping to get something in later this week or weekend, but reading through the rules it's pretty straight forward.  You will need your specific army codex, and a copy of the 5th Edition 40k rules as well.

One of the things I found most interesting are the Special Wargear upgrade options for units.  Things like Refractor Fields (give your Team Leader one of these bad boys for a5+ invulnerable save), Suspensors (Heavy Weapon bonus - Relentless but half the range if they move), and the Targeter (team member adds +1 to all shooting hit roles if he doesn't move) are my personal favs.

Basic principle is that you can play the scenarios as individual skirmishes or run though the campaign creating a "Tall" tale story-line.  I like the concept, and it just screams FanFiction write up.

So here's the Flame Guardian's Killzone list, I will more than likely work with existing models from my Show Project for this list for the time being, but

Team Alpha - 248 Points

• Sternguard SGT - Storm Bolter, CCW, Frag & Krak Grenades, Reactor Field
• Sternguard Vet - Combi-Plasma, BP, Frag & Krak Grenades
• Tactical SGT - Power Fist, BP, Frag & Krak Grenades
• Tactical Squad - Bolter x 5, Heavy Bolter x 2

Team Beta - 248 Points

• Sternguard SGT - Bolt Pistol, Dual PW (counts as dual LC), Frag & Krak Grenades, Reactor Field
• Assault SGT - PW, BP, Frag & Krak Grenades, Melta Bombs
• Assault Marine - Flamer
• Tactical Squad - Bolter x 4, Flamer x 2

So come on folks,  lets see those lists!

-BJC

Special Projects - Armor on the CHEAP!!!

Okay so this series on Special Projects is for all you cheap...I mean frugal gamers out  there.  You know who you are!

Seriously, I'm one of them.  Family, mortgage, etc... Lets face it, the hobby we have chosen to become well "invested" in isn't cheap.  Even those of us who seed the best deals on eBay or Bartertown understand that there comes a point when you are going to need a serious upgrade to your army and with 5th Edition, it seems to be all about the Armor!

I'm all about the Foot Slogger Army.  For me, for my time, for the space I have to store armies and models I've always refrained from having much if any mobile armor in my armies.  I simply don't like painting tanks.  Too many flat surfaces, blah, blah, blah.  However, with 5th Edition rules favoring armor and or Mechanized armies, its become absolutely necessary that I add some armor elements to my army and ASAP.

So what's a modeler/painter supposed to do?  Well it's been common practice to use proxy models in pickup games for what since inception of miniature wargaming?  And, though they may or may not be allowed in most tournemants, scratchbuilt models have become a sign that sets the true modeler/converted aside from the average joe gamer.  Soooooooooooo, here we go.  The decision is made, scratchbuilt it is.

Now I know what you're thinking, what/where/how?  Well for the time being I'm going to delve into the world of paper-scratchbuilt armor, then replace them with some more GW approved models later.  Say it isn't so!  You're going to proxy scratchbuilt PAPER models????? No not exactly.  C'mon, give me a break!  Would I do that?  HECK YEAH I WOULD!  ;-)

In all, there are some stunning templates out there at the bwc-archive yahoo group. Of course I have no intention of building them solely out of Card Stock either.  A little balsa wood, some plastic tubing, card stock, and GW bits should yield what I'm looking for.

So for my Flame Guardians I'm in need of some Drop Pods (2) and a Razorback.  Now unfortunately I can't find a good template for the full Razorback, but they've got some great Rhino templates and a few different Drop Pod variants that I'm going to play with (still waiting on approval to post the templates in the blog).

I'm planning on building a couple of different variants of these vehicles.  The first variant will be the straight up Card Stock/Balsa Wood variant.  No GW bits, no plasti-card.  Just build straight from the template.  I'll use some colored Card Stock (Red/Yellow) so I can see how they'll turn out with no painting.  Second variant will use the templates in combination with more advanced materials.  Still using the Card Stock/Balsa Wood, but also adding in plasti-card, plastic or brass tubing, and various GW and FW bits to make the models more tournament legal (or as best I can).

Thoughts?

Show Army Project - Vanguard Veteran Completed

Well the Flame Guardians project is moving pretty slowly.  Seems that every time I sit down to work on my own stuff something comes up.  Interesting how these things never come up when I an working on a client project...

Well I finished up the Champion (Sgt) for the Vanguard "Honored Ones".  Wish the pic came out better, I'll have to see about shooting some better pics and change the angle of my camera maybe.

 

 

Over all I'm enjoying the color scheme and the time per mini isn't too awful (averages about 5 hours over 2.5 days worth of painting per mini) though Kantor did take about 12 hours.  I love the Pre-Heresy Jump Packs I picked up from Chapterhouse Studios.  I used a Sgt Chronus head and BT EC arm for the rest of the "conversion" if you can call it that.  Bit of broken guitar string rounded out the conversion.  The base is one of the Ruins 25mm resin bases from Micro Art Studios (all the bases will be from this range).

More on this as I finish them out.

-BJC

BJC MiniStuido: Special Projects

BJC MiniStuido: Special Projects: "Special Project 'Show Army' Here I will be chronicling a special Show Army that I got as an idea from a Bartertown admin who I did some pai..."