Progression

Hi all

Writing to you fresh from a weekend of pretty much solid hobbying (with housework in and between).
I managed to get the base for my 'Wraithknight' done and dusted, sealed ready for spray coating.

The premise is a nest of dragons eggs, which the wraith is protecting. There are many and varies bones etc from previous hatchings and their first meal.  I like the idea of the progenitor of the planets dragons guarding the next generation very closely.  I'd like to get a 'farseer' on the base somewhere intereacting with the nest, but that all depends on how the dragon ends up on the base as I dont want it looking cluttered.

I also managed to magnetise the wraithcannons and the suncannon to the weapon mounts so that I can configure the load out as appropriate.  I've come a cropper however when trying to mount everything to the carapace I made (altered from the sneak peak shots posted earlier).

The piece in the foreground of the image is the shoulder mounts from the wraithknight kit, where the smaller weapons would be mounted. I have these reversed so that they are flush with the curve of the carapace I've made, however it all looks a little crowded with the heavy weapons mounted further up the spine as seen in the picture. I'm not really sure what to do otherwise. I did consider mounting the heavy weapons on these shoulder mounts and having the scatter laser et al mounted somewhere else on the model but I'm yet to discover where they would fit and look seamless.

EDIT - Struck with sudden inspiration, how awesome does this look?!
I think this might have just solced the issue to be honest. It also serves to blur the line between undead dragon and high tech weaponry a lot more. Marvellous

-----Please let me know how this lkooks as I'm struggling to get my vision of this model to work-----

Not much else to update for the time being really. A friend of mine has suggested we play Inquisitor (a 'specialist game' from GW) except in a 28mm format.  I'm keen on this as I never played it when it came out, and searching for inspiration on the internet has turned up some truly inspiring kitbashes for Inquisitors and their retinues. I also have some pretty good ideas & back stories mumbling away in my subconscious which I will share once I've read up on the game rules etc some more :)

We will also be returning to Mordheim! I can't express how chuffed I am with this, as experience based campaign games are simply the best type of miniatures game to plkay in my opinion, and Mordheim is one of the best. Gorkamorka being my first experience way back in the day... I will be making a Norse warband, and thoroughly enjoying it. Expect updates et al when appropriate.

I'm well and truly broke at the moment so I will be pushing through existing projects for the forseeable future, but updating when I can.

Thanks for stopping by
Lofty

So it Begins

I was going to post teasers with no explanation but I cant bring myself to do it ;)

This is of course my work on a counts as Wraithknight based on a venerable dragon (Elgadon in fact) who has been sustained in life through soulstones and jazz.

The armour on his back won't look so daft when the wings are attached, and is going to house the Wraithknight weapons I have on order!

That's all I'm giving away for now :p

Thanks for stopping by
Lofty

Festivities

Hi all

It's been a few weeks since the last update, but the reasons are pretty valid. The first week in August was performance week for the theatre company I'm involved with, and the week after that we were at a festival, so time has been pretty short to say the least. Then of course I'm having to work this afternoon grumble grumble...

There are a few things to update on though so let's talk about that.
I played another game with my friend, but lost this one only barely.  A lot of fun again, and my Striking Scorpions managed to almost save the day. I struggled to make my Jetbikes effective, and they got chewed up pretty quickly. Perhaps not fully understanding the rules didn't help. In fact it didn't at all :p The game was organised relatively last minute so next time I will have chance to buff up.  My avatar took names yet again, as did the borrowed Wraithlord, but my Dire Avengers got shredded despite being in cover, meaning that they struggled even more to be effective against T5 Nurgle marines :(

On the bright side, the case worked well, and kept everything dry etc. I just need to finish adding magnets to bases and think of something deeper to carry the dragons et al.

The only other news really is some random purchases of ten corsair bodies (with cloaks of course) for less than just ten cloaks, and far more readily available. Out come the clippers, and job done! There are enough now for my Exarchs, Autarch, 'Shining Spears' and spare.
I also stumbled across some High Elf Shadow Warrior torsos + cloaks for £3.00 posted rather than just the cloak backs (out of stock) for £1.50 each! Warlocks here we come!
Lastly but by no means least, I managed to snag a Zombie dragon kit, after receiving an email saying it was restocked, I jumped on and bought it with what I think is the right sized base. I then started to bookmark the correct weapon components for the Wraithknight and check their availability daily, to the extent that the day they came in to stock, I had bought them out of stock by the time the email came out!
What all this comes to really is that next week and bank holiday Monday (who doesn't love those?!) I will be getting my very own version of a Wraithknight together, with WIP photos out the ears!

Sorry it's another one with no pictures, but hopefully there will be a good amount soon with my Wraithknight build.

Thanks for stopping by
Lofty

Conflict of Interests

Hi again

Just a quick one today. I've mentioned before that I'm part of a theatre group (I think I have at any rate) as stage manager, and it's performance week this week so time is scarce! Next week is also busy as we are at a festival from Thursday to Monday so I will be posting again when we get back.

In brief then - I ordered some corsair cloaks (actually ten corsairs with no arms or heads from ebay) as I've pretty much given up on my cack-handed attempts at molding my own so I will be adding those to everyone I can fit when they arrive!
I've also magnetised a lot of bases, to discover that the magnetic sheeting I ordered doesn't have a great deal of pull. Backup plan is to find a small baking sheet that will fit in my case(s)

The real reason for posting however is that I ordered some pretty awesome stuff with my birthday loot.
Whisky Glasses

Shot Glasses

Both of these were actually totally bespoke orders, after seeing the stormtrooper shotglass/tumbler combo on the Etsy store. I am chuffed to bits with them, I love the designs and the look of the sets. Really very please that I ordered them, and would recommened them to anyone on the lookout for geek/collectible 'homewares' (is that the right word?). 

So head over to Unique & Geek Gifts on Etsy to pick something up now! Don't be afraid to ask for custom designs as both my orders were totally custom!

Thanks for stopping by

Lofty

Older and Wiser?

What a great week!

Last Thursday (17th) was my birthday and my wife and I spent the day together.  On Friday night some friends came to stay in preparation for the Manchester Comiccon on Saturday.

We had a great time, I went as Jayne Cobb from Serenity/Firefly and got lots of comments/requests for photos which was very strange as I'm not a people person at all!
I won't go into too much detail other than to share the photos I took of some particularly good costumes that we spotted. We mainly spent the day shopping and looking at all the stalls & memorabilia, not being too interested in the 'celebrity' panels etc.

I managed to source a carry case as well whilst on sale, and first purchase discount brought it to £13 delivered, and I ordered some magnets and magnetic sheets (not as sticky s magnets stuck to my PC case...) and have lined the case (sans cupcake things) and started to magnetise my miniatures for transport.  I'm still looking to source a deeper box for the dragons to go in, but that isnt proving particularlry easy due to the weird dimensions.

There are a few more specific subjects which I will be writing up in the coming week, but also lots going on (I've mentioned before that I stage manage a theatre company who have a performance next week), so bear with me :)

Thanks for stopping by

Loftybloke

Riders

Hi all

Just a very quick post to show off the work I've completed today on the 'jetbikes'. Below pic is one of two Shuriken Cannon armed riders.

You can also (barely) see the bedroll, and baggage I have added. the baggage is the remnants of a Dark Eldar warriors belongings, which are part of the leg assembly. I think it works pretty well.

I based all 6 lizards, though some still need tome attention with a file, and i constructed legs for all riders, and made a seat in each saddle to accommodate the fact that the legs aren't meant to sit astride the moulded saddle.

I am still deliberating how to best arm the riders with regular armaments in order for them to look like they aren't just guardians sitting on a lizard. Will see what inspiration strikes :)

Thanks for stopping by

Lofty

Time Warp

I'm not going to go into why its taken so long to update because there's no real reason other than not having a lot of time/motivation to do so :P call me lazy, call me what you will but here's a couple of backdated blogs :)

29/6/14
Hi again

I know I promised an update a Monday or so ago, and eluded even to more regular updates, but I simply haven't had chance.

This past week we were in Ireland, and the week before that, I can t even think why I didn't get chance to write anything up, but there we are.

Just a brief one today as last week has burnt me out a fair bit and I've ended up with some weird hayfever/headcold combo and my eyes are terrible sore.

I realise that the main factor in updates is timing, and had a bit of a brainwave to solve this, and as such I'm hoping for a keyboard which will work with my 10" tablet for my birthday (July 17th hint hint :P) so that I can write and post things on the train to/from work and utilise some of that time. Hopefully this will go some way towards regular updates, and themed days (WIP Wednesday, DnD Monday) Which I had hoped to do).

I tried out some blu-stuff molds after the last post, and the results were mixed.  It is perfect for casting flat backed items, but for anything which has detail at the back which needs capturing, then a two part mold would be required, and is beyond my current ken. I hope to be able to achieve this though eventually or I'll bankrupt myself buying bits for the Eldar project. It seems that insta-mold maybe best for two part molds so I will be pressing this as a solution at some point.

5/7/14
In the interest of maintaining topic for this post, we are jumping ahead in time a bit here :)
I had an actual game of 40k against a friend this week! Look, proof-

So here you can see my fledgling force bolstered by Dire Avengers for obligatory troop choices and a Wraithlord for points. Just shy of 1k points.

And here are the forces of Nurgle arrayed before me, cultists on the left marines with a mark in the middle, and hellbrute/rhino with plague marines & lord on the left.

I enjoyed the game ALOT. Lots of the rules are the same to the last edition of 40k that I played (going back maybe ten years?) and the new rules serve to make it very fun to play, and easy to pick up.  I want to get my troops choices sorted so the next time i sit down with my miniatures will be guardian jetbikes and Wave Serpents.

I also want to get a transport solution sorted, and in true style, I found my solution here and despite the containers in question being Walmart branded, they seem to be avaialbe with free UK shipping on Amazon. I alos thought that this kind of thing would work also (with trays removed), but I would need to be careful with the height of things like wave serpents and Wraith units. I'm thinking at teh moment that a combination of the cupcake trays and another, deeper plastic box for the larger items will be the best bet. Hoping that both will also fit into some kind of holdall to transport easily and discreetly. Credit to Element Games for the magnetic solutions :)

It's my Birthday in a couple of weeks, and the birthday of a friend (whom i've known for 25 years) and we each mentioned (independantly) to each other recently the new game from Mantic - Deadzone and we are splitting the cost of the starter box four our birthday gift to eachother this year. So expedct some unboxing and painting progress entries for this coming up maybe August kind of time. I think that's it for miniatures and modelling for the time being.

I've mentioned before that I want to add a wraithknight model to the army ant some point and have bounced some ideas of a friend (Deadzone friend) so expect either some mystery WIPs or some more detailed progress discussions (with full disclosure), I will hopefully pick up some of the required parts with any spare money after my birthday :)

That's it for the time being, thought I do have a 'collectables' related post to update with at some point hopefully soon (tomorrow?). There is a Couple of Birthdays today so I won't get much more time after posting this. There are also three birthdays next week including mine... What's so good about July?!

Thanks for stopping by

Lofty