State of the Blog Address for 2016

Last year, I did a two part post reviewing 2015's hobby progress and I've decided to do the same this year.  The good news, for folks who found the previous one too lengthy, is that this one should be shorter since I've accomplished less!  I'm not sure if that comment deserves a :)  or :( though.  Additionally, I'll be trying out some new embedded image formats in this post so let me know if they're presenting a problem for legible reading as I'm having some difficulty in formating them here on blogspot. 

Unfortunately, my previous three big completed hobby projects (Heavy Gear, Robotech, and Halo Fleet Battles) failed to garner me any games despite having 2 player painted forces to use to lure (absent) curious folks into a battle.  In the meantime, I've mostly lost interest in the old standby games of 40k and X-wing and my local (25 miles/40km away) store even closed down early last year.  None of the above really had a positive effect on my motivation to buy, build, paint, or play frankly but I did find a few things to keep me interested in the meantime.

The first project that I picked up on a whim was to build an old RAFM Heavy Gear force up.  These were the figs that first got me into painting independently (although I was a part of a Star Trek FASA group prior to that in which I used other players' figs) and I couldn't pass up the chance to put a few of them together.  I mostly went with a one of a kind style force building with no repeated variants for my northern force.  I'm really happy with how the Grizzlies and Cheetahs turned out but not so much on the Jaguars mainly because of the Arrow Jaguar whose head I had to scratch build/mould with my meagre skills.  I'm also still undecided whether I'll crack open the blisters and build a southern force to potentially face them.   I could theoretically use them with the current nuBlitz rules as I modelled/converted them to be legal for use with them but I've already got multiple painted demo armies in my foam case in the current scale and am even expanding the ones I carry with me a bit (see below for details).


On a similar nostalgic note, I started last year by catching up and rewatching old episodes of pretty much most of the Star Trek series, both my old favorites as well as ones that I missed in both first run and reruns.  This in turn rekindled my original hobby experience and I started designing stat sheets for fan ships for use in the old FASA game.  Most of the designs come from the mind of Bill Krause so I'm very thankful that he let me use his images and ships for my sheets.  He's got a few more designs on the way and I've got a few others I'd like to cover so you'll all be likely seeing more of those in 2017.  Additionally, I worked on some Star Trek Attack Wing house rules that aren't still ready to publish but I do hope to post a review of some Star Trek deckplans hopefully tomorrow.

My only played game though was in the final days of the year with a quick post-Christmas session of Munchkin (Adventure Time edition) that I bought for some younger cousins who were fans of the show.  I'd unsuccessfully tried to get them into card games (although one has since picked up a Pokemon habit in college), miniatures games (with Heroscape), and comics.  Munckin has caught on though with one cousin and his friends and I look forward to passing on my original Munchkin collection to him so it can see some use.  When he turns 21 and starts playing with some friends who have already had a few drinks, the true backstabbing should begin.  :)

Since my previous hobby efforts with Rafm Heavy Gear only involved assembly and conversion and not painting, I decided early this year to dip my toes back into that hobby pool as well.  And by dip my toes I mean exactly that... just some minor weapon conversions on existing painted pics.  After a year of disuse, my inventory on supplies revealed alot of dried up paint pots and glue tubes so my options were as practically limited as they were theoretically by my willpower.  I left off in my previous current scale metal HG project at converting my Northern commander into a legal model as his previous variant/loadout didn't carry over to nuBlitz.  Additionally, my Tau side project had a special character commander model conversion (that I use as my profile pic here) that I wished to be able to use as a WYSIWIG competent normal commander as well so I decided to add another plasma gun to fit the theme of his squad.  These were some very minor projects that hopefully will yield more in 2017.  Ideally, I'd like to finish up the remaining primed, basecoated, and washed broadside suit for that same small ally Tau force.

Finally, I'd end of on a positive note in that I found out about a month ago that another store roughly the same distance from me opened up not far from the location of the previous one.  While I haven't made the trek up there yet, I hope to do so in the next few weeks.  While I suspect the player population is largely the same, I hope that my own personal prospects for getting a few games in will vary from my previous attempts in 2015.  In preparation for this (and after checking the Spartan Games forum), I've taken out my Halo minis from my case and replaced them with a selection of X-wing ones instead.  In all honesty, Halo Fleet Battles has no worse prospects locally than either Robotech or Heavy Gear but I have alot more nostalgia for those minis games so they'll stay whereas I'm primarily nostalgic for Halo in video games.  I've added additionally the above Northern HG commander and some more Nucoal forces into the empty slots as well.

Apologies for the absence!

It's been a while since I updated the blog and it might be a bit longer before I put anything up with real substance.  It hasn't been a particularly good 18 months for my gaming hobby and the lack of actual games has resulted in frankly a lack of enthusiasm in building and painting models to use in those non-existent games.  I've never liked the Apocalypse all the time! direction 40k has taken in the last two short lived editions and Halo Fleet Battles and Robotech both failed to launch locally (and seemingly worldwide as well).   Heavy Gear has had some hurdles (some avoidable, others not) but is progressing SLOWLY but at least the end of that project is in sight sometime late this summer or early Autumn.

Finally, my FLGS (friendly local game store) announced that they were closing permanently so my chances of actually finding new opponents to try out games I'm interested in has dropped significantly as has the possibility of spontaneous gaming with friends and acquaintances.  The next closest store (roughly 70 miles away directly across a major US metro city) that I'm familiar with is just too far to travel without a definitive game scheduled ahead of time with a reliable opponent (that last part being an issue in the past).   For UK readers, the "club" model just doesn't really work well in most of the US including mine so that isn't a realistic workaround either.  Neither I nor any gaming friends have enough terrain to host games ourselves for the most part (barring some space terrain and cardstock buildings) so that is largely out.  My tabletop hobby always has been centered around the neighborhood (or in my case 25 miles away) FLGS. 

I made my first major new gaming acquisition in a long time (since my Halo Fleet Battles starter mid 2015 iirc) with the purchase of some original larger scale Rafm Heavy Gear minis.  I'm frankly not sure what I'll do with them (Build/paint them?  Sell them?  A bit of both?) and in hindsight the purchase was largely fueled by nostalgia more than any concrete hobby project plan.  I've still got the same 40k Tau broadside sitting on my painting desk although I have base coated and black wash lined the model since last posting about it.  If I start back with anything, it would be finishing that model and therefore the WWII themed formation it is a part of.  That's it for now and I'll leave you guys and gals with a few quick pics of my recent RAFM haul.

I now have more of those original scale models than I did back in the 1990's and I'm left with the classic toy quandry... do I open them up to look at and play with them or keep them in the original packaging to keep their value up!   I suppose that is a good problem to have.  :)

2015 and Beyond... Part II

And now we get to what I unfortunately did not finish during 2015 as planned.  First up would be my long planned but stalled 28mm VOTOM/Heavy Gear squad.

While I did try a few paint schemes and techniques like traditional painting as well as washes/drybrushing, I never got the models to quite look how I wanted them toand stripped them down.  I dont think I ever covered it here on the blog but I also converted a snub cannon for the fifth model as well as some extra comm gear for the Jaeger Command squad leader.  I still plan on working on them eventually but the wait and see approach to the Heavy Gear kickstarter I took somewhat drained my enthusiasm for the project.  Perhaps the potential fulfillment of the rewards this year (delayed four months or more so far) will have the opposite effect.

The second project that I had planned but didn't complete was my small Space Wolf 40K Primarch ally force.

While I didn't touch Logan Grimnar on the right, I did a few coats of grey and some metallics on the Iron Priest on the left.  I again wasn't quite happy with the preheresy scheme effect I achieved but I also wasn't unhappy enough to strip it off either.   We'll have to see if I end up able to salvage it in the end.  Like the VOTOMS above, I don't really have a practical use for these in any future foreseeable game so they'll likely stay on the backburner for a while.

Finally, I'm back to what was posted on my last real hobby update and my first really hobby work of the new year...my 40K Tau Broadside conversion.

He's currently primed green with recesses washed black and ready to paint.  With even my glacial pace of painting, I should be able to finish him completely this month and be done for a second time with my Tau side project.  

After that, I'm not sure what I'll do in what order in 2016 but I do have a few ideas knocking around my head.  The easiest would probably be a set of house rules for improving (hopefully!) the effectiveness of fighter/bomber wing combat in Halo Fleet Battles as well as incorporating the boarding actions into the normal mechanics of the rest of the game instead of being entirely separate.  My tentative name for the house rules would be "Their Finest Hour" and I hope to start posting them next month.

Besides my two main stalled projects above, the only hobby work I've got planned is to repaint one of the new T-70 xwings in Poe Dameron colors after seeing the movie.  While I thought the movie was better than the prequels, it didn't entirely captivate me as I found most of the characters uninspiring (except Ray) and the plot too derivative of the original movie.  I did however like the battle scenes and especially the new xwing both in design and Poe's color scheme.

The other thing I'd like to do more of in 2016 is actually play games.  For a variety of different reasons, I only played a grand total of 4 games in all of 2015 from all game systems combined.  I'd probably focus on Halo if given a choice with the upcoming house rules needing some real world testing but I'm not particularly picky!  I'm not sure if my cellphone camera is up for it but I'll likely post battle report videos of any games I play this year both on youtube and linkef here on the blog.

Thanks as always for reading and I hope I didn't cause anyone to nod off while reading!  I've been pecking away at my tablet typing this so I apologize for any typos as I'll hopefully correct them in short order.

2015 and Beyond... Part I

I had initially planned on doing a detailed review of the year 2015 but something derailed my plans... netflix!  I had gotten a membership to the service for Christmas and ,instead of working on the final hobby project of the year and the year in review post, I've been watching things like Knights of Sidonia and Jessica Jones!  It's a bit late for a proper year in review but I'd still like to share a couple of some thoughts on 2015 and 2016 in a sort of State of the Blog address.

First, we'll start with 2015.  While it didn't feel like a particularly productive year, I did mostly accomplish several projects that I set out to do.  The first is my Farsight Tau ally army.

I actually completely finished this project around the summer but then ran into a bit of a snag as credible rumors started coming out about a new set of rules for the army.  When they did a few short weeks later, I realized I'd probably want to add another model to my small group to make it a functional force with the new rules.  I built, primed, and washed that final model (my Broadside conversion) but failed my will save vs Netflix and binged on some shows instead of finishing the model.  I do hope though to get it done this month though.

The next project that I worked on this year was my set of house rules for the Robotech Tactics minis game that I dubbed "Vermilion Squadron".

I got in early on the game's kickstarter in large part because of a promised set of small model count skirmish rules.  When half the rewards were finally released a year late (with the remaining half still pending and approaching three years late...grumble... grumble), the skirmish rules were unfortunately not included and got lost along the wayside.  I decided to try and make a relatively quick set of house rules to retrofit back into the game that functionality.  It wasn't as large in scope of a house rule product as my Heavy Gear houserules but I'm happy with the results.

The final main project that I worked on was two fleets for the newly released Halo Fleet Battles game.  I initially thought that I'd do only a single fleet that was easily divisible in half for demos; after finishing that first fleet, I decided to just make a proper OpFor for the game.

With a few non-modelled options like Spartans and Zealots onboard ships, I'm at around 900-1000pts for each fleet with regard to what I can carry in my foam case.  Not pictured above is the extra base of small UNSC frigates that replace the second large carrier for that faction.

Of course, not everything is rosy as I did have a pair of projects that I had planned to complete in 2015 that I didn't.  I'll be discussing them along with some initial thoughts on 2016 in the next post that I'll hopefully put out today as well.

XV-88S Broadside Variant

 So here is the final basic build after making some additional changes and additions to my prototype.

Changes from my initial prototype include the new support system conversion on the left arm, the sensor head dog ears (the riptide head I'm using had a single unicorn antenna that I was initially going to use), a railgun grip guard in front of the hand, and dual fins on the calves to further accentuate the increased maneuverability of this broadside variant.  My initial goals for this model were to model both the bazooka railgun (thanks again to Kael'yn for the initial proof of concept with the new kit!) as well as the booster nozzle that gives the model deep strike and relentless.  There are still a few tweaks I'm planning on like adding a commander's honor blade (it is technically for a Farsight Retaliation Cadre after all) to both the broadside and the Riptide (which must now take them whereas they were previously not an option) but I'll have to see if I can get a fair price on the bits.  Likely in the intervening period, I'll probably think of a few more tweaks in the meantime.  Below is the fluff that I was developing for my variant model.

XV-88S "Si'ts-Kree" High Maneuverability Broadside Variant

With the rapid pace of weapons development in the Third Sphere Expansion, the Fire Caste noticed an acute need for added firepower to accompany the more aggressive, long ranged, and fast paced use of Crisis Suits exemplified by the new Retaliation Cadre doctrine.  In traditional Fire Caste doctrine, the broadside filled this role quite honorably but it lacked the manueverability necessary to support faster moving cadres once they deployed from their Orca transports.  Additionally, the broadsides were almost completely immobile and unable to participate in extreme environments like underwater or in a vacuum.  Recent advances like the Riptide and it's variants have addressed this need for greater mobile suit firepower somewhat but the availablility of this until recently secret and experimental suit is limited and mass production on the scale of crisis suits is cost prohibitive.  It was decided by the Earth Caste under the direction of the Ethereals and the request of the Fire Caste to develop a high mobility version of the venerable broadside suit.

The highly efficient coolant system under the powerplant was removed and was miniaturized significantly despite maintaining 70% capacity.  It was then placed within the suit torso and coupled with a moderate improvement in the powerplant.  In its place, a single large thruster nozzle was placed capable of short intense burns along with some additional flight stability fins on the legs.  With the thruster is not powerful enough to actually propel the Broadside in sustained atmospheric flight, it is capable of arresting the suit's fall when air dropped from a moving Orca as well as propelling the suit both underwater and in space at moderate speed.  During normal operations, the improved powerplant and targeting software allow added mobility while simultaneously fully charging the railgun and plasma weaponry, previously not consistently possible without a devastating loss of accuracy.  The smaller cooling system is less efficient admittedly and the suit does suffer in the traditional role of sustained full battlefield Hunter cadre support fire.  It is however sufficient for the short but decisive engagements that Retaliation Cadres typically engage in.

It was decided to name the variant after an ungainly Kroot end evolution common to their homeworld.  The Si'ts-Kree is an ungainly large flightless bird with an abnormally large beak and powerful bite.  While technically flightless, it is capable of powerful jumps that allow it to reach perches high up in the tree canopies that would otherwise be impossible to reach for a creature of that size and bulk.  It then typically drops down on the unsuspecting prey and kills it with its powerful beak.

Bazooka Mecha Joe Tau Conversion

Unfortunately, I had to take an unexpected break from my Tau project due to delays in getting my broadside but finally got it a few weeks ago and worked on it this weekend after recently finishing two HALO Fleet Battles fleets.  I roughly followed my idea above with some tweaks of my own to customize it.  Sorry about the pics below as I was taking them while working, snapping pics as I worked on the next step (as evidenced by the instructions and still wet glue!).  While I did plan out and virtually measure twice, I had to improvise a bunch of changes on the fly.

Starting with the railgun, I test fitted it on the other shoulder but decided to keep it on the same side. It just looked better and was more reminiscent of an old RPG fav, the Rifts Glitterboy.  I decided to keep its original orientation instead of flipping it like my inspiration above.  I cut away the same large piece above (click his link to see his step by step photo) but decided not to use it as a grip.  It would be too bulky since I planned on using spare leftover Enforcer hands on the model.  I put on all but one of the original railgun bits (the sensor head scope) and filled in the remaining gaps on the other side where the other hand/arm would go with a spare Broadside "face" bit for the head (you get 5 or 6 with the kit).  I'll probably put a small antenna on the back disc area on the outside face of the gun.  I mounted the back of the railgun on the peg that attaches to the powerplant as well. Finally, for the grip, I decided o use the mounting rail for the seeker missile I wouldn't be using.

I knew I wasn't going to use the missile because I planned to use the bits for a conversion.  I'm building a retaliation cadre in which the broadsides are both relentless and can deep strike, neither of which they normally do.  So I made up some fluff that I'll post later about a new Broadside variant that trades sustained fire capability for additional maneuverability.  To show this on the model, I decided to skip the cooling fan under the powerplant and mount the seeker missile bit there instead.  You need to remove the tab above the back waist on the broadside and slightly trim the intake side of the missile booster engine but it fits as shown below fairly well with minimal fuss with the edge with the longer railing on the bottom. 

This conversion pushes the torso a tiny but forward and I had to trim off and gap fill the raised bump on the broadside groin guard as well as it bumped against the center bottom chest armor when dry fitting.

Since I'm going with an anti-heavy infantry theme for this cadre, I chose the plasma guns as my secondary weapon option. I tried mounting it different ways on the arm but thought they all looked too busy.  Instead, I decided to also mount it on the back.  When I used the normal spacer piece the instructions said, the barrels looked too separated for my tastes and jutted out too far when in the "launch" vertical position I planned on using.  I just trimmed them a bit on the inside face and mounted them directly onto the peg.  It's style over function though as if they were to rotate forward to fire then they'd be blocked bybtge shoulder pad without the spacer piece.  I suspect in fluff the earth caste has miniaturized an extension within the mounting to counteract this.  :)  Here is my initial blu tac mockup with most of the pieces.

I still wanted to show a support system on the model but I didn't like any of the existing ones on the left arm mounting so I tried tried using the remaining scope bit from the railgun.  I decided that too was too bulky and latter kitbashed a custom piece.  I used my leftover Yvahra Riptide head as it was squat and bulky enough that I thought it worked well with the broadside aesthetics.  For the arms, I used two sets of left forearms and right shoulders to lengthen the limbs.  The right railgun arm of the broadside was just too short and asymmetrical for my tastes and I had an extra from months ago when I ordered bits in my unsuccessful quest for alternate Riptide shoulder pads (detailed above).  It was a win-win situation!

I'll be working on gluing this together later tonight and I've already got a few tweaks in mind as well.

The (Tau) Empire Strikes Back!

While I've still been slowly working on my Halo models, I've always had my future Tau models on my hobby desk staring back at me.  It's been a few months since my last tau update but I decided to put the project on hold for a bit as the Tau codex rumors started to gain steam this summer.  The new codex came out and I've been trying to see how both my main Tau army and the small Farsight force I've chronicled here fit into the "new" book.  My main army is large enough to give me a few options but the Farsight force needs more tweaking.

I initially planned to next add two Forgeworld remora drones next to the force but since FW has yet to update their rules but admittedly only been a few weeks.  While the option to use a small Farsight ally force of my existing models still works for now, there are two problems.  The first is that there are now rumors of a Farsight campaign book in a few weeks and also a redone enclaves subcodex in a few months.  With GW now officially embracing the "decurion" onion layeres formation style of army building, the rules that make my small force legal are likely to go away.  The second is that the new style of army building gives just too many freebie rules to ignore especially as any likely opponent will be using something similar for free as well.

The easiest way currently of achieving the same effect (a small semi independent crisis suit force) is to turn them into a retribution force from the hunter contingent.  In order to use that though, I need to acquire a broadside model.  I have a forgeworld xv-88-2 but it just doesn't have the bulk necessary to accompany my enforcer suits so it'll have to be the current plastic.  The best loadout currently is the missiletide suit but I neither like the look of that version nor does it fit into my theme of a small anti-elite armor force.  Instead, I'll be using the currently unfashionable post-nerf railgun plasma rifle version.  I'm also not a fan of that look but it has good conversion potential.

Because of the way the current plastic kit is laid out, the middle model is out as an inspiration.  A popular and useful conversion now is to do something similar to the right and magnetize the railgun tip so that you can swap on the missiles for the other loadout.

http://thehammerofwrath.blogspot.com

I like the options this affords and for a while (long before this codex came out) this was my top choice...until I found this!

XV-88-4 by Kael'yn of the ATT forum

As you can see, it's similar in style to my previous squad entry on the left.  I plan to make a few changes to both weapons and other parts (like adding hands!) but the overall bazooka look is what I'll go for.  I've got some ideas about switching the railgun bazooka over to the other shoulder and having the second hand come over to stabilize it but I'll have to wait until I get a model to see if the idea is truly viable.  Luckily, I have some extra broadside railgun bits including arms that I picked up for my riptide (namely the shoulder pad) that may expand the options.

Riptide ready to roll out!

Just a quick update... I finished the riptide y'vahra conversion's decals and took a group pic with the rest from the small force.  I decided to name the mech "lil' joe" and put a snarky anti-imperial comment on the shield.  It isn't It was still a bit glossy so I did another flat coat after this picture was taken.

While there were a few bumps in the road, I'm rather pleased with the final results.  I had an idea of what to do next and came up with a few ideas for the drones.  Normally, they're on separate bases but I was thinking of mounting them where the wings are (which are magnetized to prevent breakage).  The small end of the drones fit nicely in the groove.  I was trying to think of how the drones that accompany the much faster Y'vahra mech would keep up with it and I came up with "docking" idea similar to how the devilfish transport works.

I'm not sure if I'll work on my remora drones (much bigger "predator" drone style models) or the small missile drones next.  I'm leaning towards test fitting the smaller drones as a proof of concept but actually modelling and finishing the bigger remoras next. 

Y'Vahra in final prep for D-Day

I'd gotten a decent amount of work done in the past two weeks on my Riptide conversion.  It's not completely done yet though as the pic above was taken as the Elmer's glue was drying right after the base flock was applied.  I've still got to do the multiple overcoats of varnish (which then take a half day to fully dry in the summer heat and humidity) along with decal application in between.  I'm still figuring out exactly what decals to put where though.  I had initially planned to put a larger Allied white star on the arm shield generator but I don't have any large enough from my FOW decals and the only offered one from a fellow gamer into Bolt Action is a bit too big sadly (but thanks for the offer, Judgedoug!).  I kept largely the same scheme on the larger mecha with the faux D-Day stripes on the leg, various blues for the plasma weapons, and the white armored shoulder pad on the left.  I wasn't sure where to add the splash of red initially as I didn't want to add a giant mecha bonding knife to the model.  Even though it is largely ceremonial, it felt odd to have a weapon on the hip when neither arm would really be able to use it ever (unlike with the crisis suits).  I've been going back and forth on that one but I'll likely skip putting the old farsight sword (the one I used temporarily for a dual wielding sword commander earlier in a blog update) on his hip.

Since I'm always bugging others to put up scale shots, I put in a couple of figs from various games into the progress shot.  From the L to the R, we have a WHFB ogre (converted to a shadowrun troll RPG pc fig), a space marine, a Robotech scout pod, a Heavy Gear Cobra (made unusable by their most recent southern field guide), and my Tau Commander Farsight conversion.  I hope to have the final shots of the done model up by the end of the week.  Hopefully I'll be a bit more accurate with my completion assessment this time around.  :)

Finally, my apologies to any subscribers that got a phantom new post update last week.  Since I didn't have too much to report regarding painting progress (just the base coats for the main colors), I decided to finally add tags/labels to my blog posts.  When going through the entire list of posts, I accidentally republished an old update again but corrected the mistake soon after.

Back to the Tau

After some work on my VOTOMS 28mm models, I'm back to the Tau.  What prompted my VOTOM work was that I could do it while listening/watching Infinity N3 battle reports on youtube.  I plan on using my Scopedogs with the Infinity rules but I finally got my hands on the silhouette templates that are used for LOS in that game and the VOTOMS are much bigger than almost every TAG (their version of mecha both manned and unmanned) in that game.  Since LOS is incredibly important, I decided to take some time to reconsider how I'd use them in that game (as well as eventually using them for a 28mm Heavy Gear Blitz/Flash game).  I also plan on doing a little bit of touch up work on my newly acquired Robotech minis as well (mainly putting them into a single coherent color scheme as well as adding some decals) but I'd like to get in a game first before doing that.

Luckily (and unluckily), the parts that I needed for my Riptide Y'Vahra conversion finally became available.  Sadly, none of the pieces I had planned for my conversion actually fit the shoulder and I'm decided on using the original riptide shoulder piece for the shoulder instead.  It's still an improvement over my earlier kitbashed attempt IMO and matches the thigh armor style so I'm ok with it.  I'm still not happy with the pose I chose (except in the full frontal view) but I'd likely snap resin instead of glue if I tried to reposition it.  My plan is to finish up the Riptide Y'Vahra this week.

And to cap this post off are the newly released pics of the upcoming Tau mecha previewed today at the Forgeworld Open Day at GW HQ.  The reception seems mixed overall but I'm definitely a fan of the gun hedgehog look of this mecha.  It reminds me of a Tau version of the Robotech MAC II Monster.

Tau Supremacy Armor

And now for the bigger mech!

I've been working on my Riptide Y'Vahra conversion for a few evenings and this is what I've come up with so far.

I had to create the head from scratch using left over and broken star wars, transformers, and 40k Imperial/Tau/Chaos bits to give it a bit more heft compared to the original.  It's a bit too big IMO but I still prefer it to the Thrud the Barbarian tiny head the original model came with.  The arm was similarly created and I'm happy with the final effect there.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to successfully magnetize it to allow fast switching of the normal riptide arm with the Y'Vahra variant weapon.  I figured I'd probably be playing the "normal" riptide more often and wanted the suit to look like a bigger upsized version of the smaller one so opted to glue that arm on.

One thing I'm definitely not happy about is my scratch built shoulder pad.  It just seems both too busy there as well as out of place.  I've since taken it off and repositioned it both higher up on the shoulder as well as reversed (so the short face/angle is pointing toward the elbow instead) and it does look better but I'm still not happy with the result.  I'll be trying to pick up some armor bits on ebay to test out a few other looks but for now both the shoulders are bare.

Farsight and Friends

I now have a legal Farsight ally force painted up!  I decided not to go too crazy with the decals (at the cost of about a half dozen or so that I applied and then took off) and just used the FOW decals as the colored ones made the model too busy.  I went with the white stars on the shoulder, chest, and back (in descending size order) as well as a few spots of text including some pilot nicknames on the forearms of each suit.  Additionally, I put a flag on the left shoulder to go with the theme.  I tried out designation numbers on the left chest for all as well as the white stars on a red bar for Farsight but they just seemed out of place.  Without further talk about stickers on my soldiers, here's the pic:

The next step for the force is to add in another (big) fig that I got in trade a little while back... a Y'Vahra!  

Forge World Y'Vahra Battlesuit

My plan is to convert it to be usable as both a Y'vahra as well as a normal riptide for when opponents aren't keen on using forgeworld rules (especially trial ones like the Y'Vahra currently has).  I'll have to make another left arm as I plan on using the right one for the normal riptide ion accelerator.,  I'll also probably try to convert the head into something a bit more proportional to the model.  The FW variant doesn't have as bad of a tiny head issue as the normal riptide but it still looks off IMO.  I'll hopefully start construction of the models today so might have an update on the next addition sometime late this week.

Farsight Enclave, ready for duty?... Almost!

It took me a while to get the first layer of paint on but slow and steady work over the last two weeks has finally gotten my first hobby project of 2015 (yeah, I know...I'm really late!) close to completion.  Here is my Commander Farsight conversion along with a full squad of crisis suits to keep him company (as well as make a legal 40k Ally force).  You may notice that the squad commander with the twin shoulder/jet pack weapons lost her swords since the last post.  Unfortunately, they were too fragile and pieces broke off twice while painting.  Despite partially pinning them (only partially due to some small pommel sizes), parts were knocked off both while holding the mini for painting as well as when the model fell over after a painting table bump.  Mechanically, I can still use the same in game upgrade I planned but I will miss the visual flair the twin swords provided.  I went with the traditional US WW2 green khaki color along with some gunmetal and brass trim.  For the shoulder and leg color accents, I tried to evoke a bit of the D-Day landing stripes you see on WW2 aircraft to break up all that green. 

I just finished the bases prior to posting this so the models are currently drying.  The next step would be a quick gloss coat and then the decal work begins.  I'm frankly not sure how far to go with the decals.  I'm definitely adding the US white star decals and a US flag from the Flames of War decals below to match both the theme and my existing related Tau army but I'm waffling as to how much more to add.

Flames of War Late War US Decals

I'm considering adding the red and white triple stars to the Commander Farsight model to show his "general" rank status but I'm not sure about the rest.  The same FOW decal pack has alot of nose art style names that I'd like to customize each suit with.  For instance, they have a "Blood n' Guts" decal that I could put on my commander ala Patton.  I'm not sure where to put that though (the forearms like a tatoo, the "butt" as that side is pretty sparse on detail, the top of the jet packs, etc).  The side chest is obscured too much to make it worth it frequently and the head is too small so those two options are out.  I also have another decal pack that has a ton of warning markers on it that I'm thinking about using.

Placing the radioactive marker on the powerplant between the jet pack thrusters is one idea as are putting the danger and warning symbols on the jet packs and weapons (along with the rescue possibly on the chest).  These decals are not precut so they're quite fiddly to work with and very easy to screw up which is one thing going against them.  The other thing is that I'm worried about making the model appear too busy like it belongs in NASCAR.  Any thoughts on the subject would be appreciated.  Probably tomorrow I'll start on the decals that I absolutely know I'll use and where so I should have another update on these models later in the week.  As always, thanks for reading!

Modelling like it's 1989!

I went to a swap meet a few weeks back at a local store and traded for a Tau lot that included some Forgeworld 40k Tau Broadsides.  When checking out the parts for the first time this week (beyond just making sure they were all there before), I did a quick test fit of the shoulder pads of one of the broadsides on my Tau crisis suit models.  I do rather like the results.  The bare shoulders were in a way a necessity for two reasons previously as I didn't have enough after doubling up for my Farsight model and I also needed a way to distinguish the various ranks visually.  Unfortunately I only have a single pair of shoulder pads (the second broadside was missing them) but I did some mspaint magic to show how doubled pairs would look below:

I do rather like how they look with them on.  It seems like the shoulders blend visually with the thigh armor as well as give it a bit more of a samurai anime look as well.  I've contacted Forgeworld to see if I could buy extra but assuming that won't be the case (I've never heard of them selling bits) I've gone in the meantime with one pad each on the left shoulder as with the original model.  I had to sculpt a tau symbol to place on the 2nd flat shoulder pad.  Now, the normal suits will have the smaller pad, the squad commander will have the larger pad, and the army commander will have the pair of larger pads.  I hope to take some pics tomorrow of the modifications as I'm currently waiting for my first attempt at modelling with milliput to set.

I also did some more research that confirmed my suspicions about USMC paint schemes.  It seems like the only variation was on the company level applied in the field and that the tanks left the factories in the same olive drab color as US Army vehicles.  I really don't see myself applying a camo pattern to these suits as I already have on in my normal Tau army to distinguish the "scouts" (the pathfinders and their various derivatives with markerlights).  I leaning at this point to just continuing my existing paint scheme but the original Farsight Red (with Russian decals) is still an option as is a weathered winter camo look.

Thanks for reading and that ends the update about big shoulder pads!  :)

edit:  I figured I'd just update yesterday's post instead of making another very related one.  Here is a lower down shot of the completed models.  I used Milliput to make a second tau symbol for the bare shoulder pad and I filled in the empty lip on the other shoulder pad with milliput.  I also used some liquid greed stuff to plug the casting holes in the finecast.

 The home made tau symbol had some imperfections in the edge so the green smudge you see on the edge is my attempt to rebuild it after casting it.  It looks like I won't be getting additional shoulder pads for purchase so this is the final loadout and they're pretty much ready for priming at this point.

I found last night an example of a Tau army done up in the weathered winter style pattern I mentioned using above (but without the soviet decals of course).  I'm really glad I found it because I never would have thought that it would look in practice so different from what I thought it would in theory.  The painter did a really good job completing the scheme but I in the end think that grizzled look is where I'd want to take my Tau now that I've actually seen it done by someone who likely did a better job than I'd have been capable of (especially on a first try).

I've decided to go with the US WW2 style mentioned earlier but I plan to embellish these models with more decals as well as USMC markings instead of the US army cavalry ones the main force has.  Things like cockpit markings, danger and radiation warnings, flags, etc.   I plan on making the suits a mix of tank and airplane style decals with the olive drab base color and some edge highlighting.

Assembly completed! Now onto painting...

I finished up the assembling the rest of the crisis suits for the Farsight Ally force this past week.  I started by tweaking the weapon loadout of the last model I built.  In my older Tau force, all the crisis suits are modeled with plasma rifles and missile launchers.  The combo was an effective take all comers loadout with the previous codex's rules and visually evoked the Heavy Gear robot style as well that I'm a fan of.  With the current rules (both codex and game rules), it's much better to specialize against a particular target.  I do like the double gun(slinger) look as well so visually I'm ok with the change and if I ever do field the squad then they'll now be able to take on heavily armored infantry a bit better.  Here is the redone loadout standard crisis suit from above along with the new one that I assembled this week.  For the final model I decided to use the standard pose for the torso and legs but gave him a bit more of an active pose above the waist to contrast with the relaxed look of last week's model.

And here is the whole ally force made up of Commander Enforcer suits.  I think there is enough variability in the poses to make the squad look dynamic enough and not just carbon copies of each other.  I'd struggle to find a way to add another model from the same core model without copying one of the other poses though.  Game rules-wise, this ally force consists of Commander Farsight and a troops Crisis suit squad with one upgraded to a shas'vre with the fusion blades signature system.

The next step is thinking about how to paint them.  This will be my third successive project on the blog that, if not continued, would add to my hobby pile of (unpainted) shame so I'm definitely completing something before moving onto anything new.  Since I've been having fun modelling the Tau, I'll probably continue working on them as well.  My original Tau force is painted up in a WW2 US army green scheme with the corresponding white star decals.  I'm not sure if I should continue it with these models or come up with something new but related.   The standard Farsight color scheme is a deep red with some grey trim. 

Commander Farsight model

If I went with that, I'd go with a "russian" decal style with red stars instead of the white to signify the "ally" status and the more martial stance of the Farsight enclaves as well as the "communists in space" stereotype that the tau in general evoke at first glance.   Alternately, I could continue the motif a bit further by doing a WW2 Russian brown base color instead.  Alternately, I could research a USMC scheme to contrast my US Army one for my main Tau force.  I admit that I'm fairly ignorant about WW2 USMC schemes beyond watching some John Wayne movies as a kid and vaguely remembering a patchy camo.  Over the weekend, I'll try and look up a few more options but feel free to comment if you have any ideas in the meantime. 

Crisis Suits - old and new

I worked on both my existing Tau army a bit over the weekend as well as the next addition to my Farsight enclave ally force.

First up is my new-ish Tau commander that previously was a standard fireknife loadout (plasma rifle/missile pod) but is now a weaponless "Buffmander" with numerous support and signature systems that buff the unit he is attached to.  With him are two new converted markerlight drones to help him with his new role.

Next to him you can see the converted fireknife enforcer suit as well.  This picture shows the size and proportion differences between the two sculpts.  I cut and reposed both legs to allow him to lean to the right.  The left leg just needed some glue but the right ball socket hip joint needed to be constructed with green stuff and my meagre sculpting skills after reposing.  The missile pod is actually a left over tank bit from my Heavy Gear collection.   Next up should be the final enforcer crisis suit for my Farsight killteam.

After that, I'll have to figure out which of my three unfinished projects will actually be finished first.  I'm leaning toward the Tau above but I'm open to both the 28mm VOTOMS and Space Wolf Primarchs as well.  Let me as always know in the comments if there is a blog follower favorite.

Tau Commanders Tweaked

After noticing that my eyes somewhat awkwardly were drawn to the Captain Morgan prominent hip and crotch pose of my Commander Farsight conversion, I decided to tweak the pose a bit to decrease the hip joint angle there.  I also decided to take the middle ground in relation to the ribbons and instead added the bonding knife to the hip with the ribbons pointing into the front view instead of adding all the cloth bits.

For the second model in the small ally force, I decided to try and model the special character Commander Brightsword as a younger subcommander shas'vre model leading a crisis squad.  I did a couple of blue tac mock ups of this model with various arm poses and even different weapons (swords in the hands vs blades under the forearms for example) and decided to go with the following.

 

The in game loadout for this model will be a shas'vre upgrade to enable access to the fusion blades signature system along with the prerequisite twin linked fusion guns.  I used some long barrelled fusion guns from a turret I converted to a aegis defense line gun to give it a bit more menacing look as well as reposed the legs to give it a leaning forward running pose as well.  I plan on finishing this project with two additional crisis suits with a fireknife pattern (plasma rifle and missle pod) to fill out the mandatory squad.   Here is a group pic of the two built commanders:

Converting Models For the Greater Good!

Sorry about the delay in posting but frankly I haven't had too much to update until this weekend.  My hobby funk has for the most part continued as I did a few more base colors on my Ferrus Manus conversion but no part of him other than the cloak are finished.  I'm having a hard time finishing up the models (painting) but I did get up enough enthusiasm up after checking out some of my favorite hobby blogs and youtube channels for inspiration to build/convert another model.

I picked up in a trade some Warhammer 40,000 Tau Crisis commander suits that I'd been wanting for two years since they came out.  I really like the extended look of the models compared with the squat almost chibi look of the previous plastics.  The forgeworld variants that came out a decade ago are a marked improvement over the plastics but the sculpt on the "new" commander is definitely my favorite.  I decided to convert one into a Commander Farsight model as I'm not a fan of the official one.  The cloven hooves strangely bother me (but the weird toes don't!) and the pose and ribbons seem at odds on the model.  

GW Store: Tau HQs Link

This was only my third ever finecast model worked on and they've definitely improved on the QA and casting quality in the years since they introduced it.  Unfortunately, the bar was set so incredibly low that even marked improvement still puts the finecast material in the substandard category IMO compared with other companies' resin offerings.  While the giant detail obliterating bubbles are largely gone (at least from the last two models I worked on), there are still alot of uneven surfaced that should have been straight and which require careful trimming next to easy to lose details.  Some pieces didn't fit right so had to be warmed and straightened.  Each piece had double the number of LARGE vents compared with resin both from GW's subsidiary Forgeworld as well as Dream Pod 9's Heavy Gear line.  Both torso corners had bubbles on my model (one on the crisp corner and another enlarging the notch seen above on the right chest) as well as more on the top of the model.  I lucked out in that the biggest flaws on the chest that would have been the most difficult to fix were actually obscured from view by the arm poses described below.  I'd rate finecast right now at about a C+ grade compared with the previous F that it deserved as it is still markedly more troublesome to prep, fix, and clean that comparable materials and offerings.  It's a bit sad because I think the sculptor knocked it out of the park with this particular model.

Getting back to the actual model, the key defining feature of Commander Farsight in the tau army and model range is his focus on close combat.  I decided to use a spare sword from a 40k Eldar Wraithlord kit to arm my conversion model. I've seen a bunch of folks use the rather large sword for the conversion for years but I've only ever seen one model that was built using it as a large two handed sword instead of in a single hand.  It took some creative clipping of the elbows and posing but the sword and the troublesome limbs finally lined up in the correct shape.  The original model has a leaning back pose which didn't fit with the whole samurai robot motif so I decided to give him a bit more leaning forward and aggressive pose.  In order to properly position the leg, I needed something to prop up the foot adecided to use a spare rock rubble piece left over from Ferrus Manus.  After incorporating that on the 40mm base, I actually came up with the idea of using the rest of the leftovers from my primarch to surround Farsight with marine casualites.  I plan to magnetize the scenic display base to snap "over" the game legal 40mm one.

He's armed with the large alien tech sword, a shoulder mounted plasma rifle, and the shield generator fixed to his back powerplant.  Here's a pic of his next to some other Tau and 40k models for a size comparison:

You can see that the newest crisis variant is less "squished down" than the others (the original plastic suit on the left along with a Forgeworld variant character on the right).  I like that it finally looks like the Tau infantry figure can actually fit in the chest of the crisis suit in something other than a 3rd trimester fetal position!  Of course, I'm a bit of a nut for proper scaling in 40k as this blog shows so you'll have to excuse my bias.  Let me know what you guys and gals think and what can be improved.  I'm debating whether or not to put a loincloth and some cloth draping on the model to honor the original "ribbons" festooning the official model but I'm frankly not a fan of the idea.  My marines are already festooned with stuff like that and I rather enjoy the more clean and practical look of the Tau.. or at least as practical as you can get with a flying giant anime robot armed with a big sword.  :)