Sat down tonight with a Carnifex box and some extra bug arms and built out a Tervigon. I would like to say it was a difficult, skill intensive job, but in fact it was easier than dirt. To wit:
(Click for Larger Versions)
He's basically a carnifex with two monstrous creature scything talons placed in such a way as to allow them to help "support" his weight. Take away the Termigant emerging from the chest and this Tervigon looks exactly like the illustration in the new codex.
Speaking of which I plan on modeling that (not as if I don't have plenty of extra Termigants around to use!), but I wanted to post this basic version to show how easy it is to construct a Tervigon. Thus, there's no excuse not to from a skill point-of-view not to have one and given how essential they are when you plan on bringing Termingants I expect many of these walking bug factories to make an appearance on the gaming table. Likewise, I certainly don't plan on stopping at just one!
Technically, it's an assembled Trygon Prime, but I think it'll be easy enough to play it as a regular Trygon given the two are almost identical. To put it another way, I'll be miffed at any opponent who insists I pay another $50 just to have a slightly different mini!
The model was surprisingly easy to put together with little flash -- it took about two hours. The end result was a little bigger than I had expected, which is good as a large part of the appeal of the Trygon is clearly just that it is big and mean looking.
I've been going through the book extensively this week and finding more points -- potentially good and bad -- than I had originally expected. I've also been crunching numbers to better drill down and understand the these new Tyranids. I don't want to do them an injustice and jump too quickly to negative conclusions, but the problems I saw originally are still there (and some new advantages as well).
More to come...
I've been working on the new models I gained by purchasing my copy of Space Hulk, most notably the Terminators (given I play a Deathwing force). After a night's worth of work I have them all converted.
I made sure to add all of them to terminator size bases -- it makes them fit for 40K while not getting in the way of playing straight Space Hulk -- while also taking the time to convert as much of their Blood Angel regalia as I thought appropriate. I know that some people might just want to go ahead and play them as given even if they aren't BA players, but after going to the trouble of having my own chapter with its own paint/symbol scheme I didn't want my new additions to stand out.
Here are some examples of the minor alterations I made:
In the first example I filed down a whole section of BA iconography to instead fit in a small shield from an Empire box set. Since shields are part of Star Guard (my chapter) symbolism it fits nicely. In the second example take note of the wings on the right leg -- I altered them just enough to change the blood drop into regular angel wings. I also left in the obvious BA symbol on top, however, as there wasn't any easy way to replace it and as long as it exists in isolation in comparison to what's on the rest of the model it should still look nice.
In the third example I worked off (thank goodness for my dremel tool!) the iconography on the shoulder pad so that I could instead later paint in the Star Guard starburst symbol. By comparison, I left on the shoulder pad relief on the fourth example as it is more generic and can fit with any chapter scheme. I will paint a starburt beneath it so as to preserve the overall effect.
That is all for now. When I get to painting them I will naturally post the results of my efforts.
As a father of 3 diaper-weilding children, my gaming budget is very small these days. Usually I can resist giving in to the new stuff that GW has to offer, though things like the bastions and new space marine squad options have tempted me sorely as of late.
I've gotten around my desire for Sternguard veterans by loading up on Deathwatch Kill Team conversions as a cheaper way of fielding WYSIWYG vets. $25 for a conversion kit for 10 marines seems to be the way to go if you've otherwise got a well stocked bit box and unassembled tactical marines laying around.
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod1110206&rootCatGameStyle=
But every once in a while, I make the mistake of looking at Forgeworld. Sure, the greater daemons and titans make me drool on my keyboard, but every so often they put out an irresistable model that's in my price range.
So thank you, Forgeworld. Thank you for ruining my budget once more.
Please keep up the good work. =P
As we quickly approach the final line that is Origins I decided to paint up -- wait for it -- another squad of terminators so that the 40K Space Hulk game can have a more varied number of troopers (and because I just like terminators, of course).
These are the Black Reach terminators which if not quite as good as their regular flavored brethren still paint up rather well.
So, how many terminators does this make for me? Take a look:
What you see there is a whopping fifty-five (55) terminators -- both old and new style. That makes for eleven (11) squads of heavily armored, teleporting death. And, this of course doesn't count my dreadnoughts or land raiders.
Only one problem as I see it -- a "mere" fifty-five means I am still a good forty-five away from having a complete 1st Marine Company. Sigh. I think I'll wait a while before finishing that project.
You know, it really doesn't take this long to make trees. Not in total anyway. But recall that I'm a 40k gamer with 3 small kids and a 60 hour a week job. Trees don't take this much time, life does. =) Anyway, on with part 3.
This time around, we're skipping over painting and basing the trees (we'll come back to that later), and are instead looking at cheap scenery bases to put all my cheap trees on. Recall that I put a rare earth magnet in the base of each of the large trees? Well that's because I'm basing them on steel terrain bases. Really CHEAP steel, in the form of a used whiteboard that a friend got out of a dumpster for me.
You can see that I've marked the whiteboard up with a sharpie and laid out the shapes of the terrain bases before I make the first cut. Metal this thin can be cut with a hand saw, tin snips, or a jig saw. I prefer a jig saw, partly because I already own one and because it's much faster and neater.
The back of the whiteboard is darker and has a thin layer of rubber. That means this is the side that things will stick to better and will cover in one coat. (The white might have to be painted first, and the paint might not stick.) For this portion, get yourself some PVA glue, a disposable paintbrush, and some box lids. Don't forget to cover your workspace in paper, as this is gonna be messy!
Use the brush to coat the base in glue. Make sure you lay the glue on thick, that there are no gaps, and that it goes all the way to the edge. This may be old news to some of you modellers out there, but it bears repeating. Your flock and gravel won't stick well if the glue is too thin, and your terrain will start going bald early in life. Nobody wants that. =)
I'm using two kinds of material on these bases; brown sand and green flock. The heavier of the two should go on first. Pour the sand out in a pattern on the base, and be generous with it. You'll end up with a mound of extra sand that isn't stuck down, and that's fine. You can quickly flip the base over and catch the excess in the box lid to be reused.
Now on to the other box lid to pour the lighter green flock over it. Again, heap it on. If you have enough, you can even swish the terrain base around in the box to cover it more easily. Then turn the base on it's edge and shake and tap the excess off into the box lid.
Voila. 18 terrain bases. Spray them with acryllic sealer once the glue is dry to extend their lifespan under your miniatures' feet.
Note that the bases on the left look different than the ones on the right. One base was a failed experiment in static grass, and I switched to using finer flock. But the difference in shading on the rest is the glue. The ones on the left were done using PVA glue, and there was enough extra stickiness to trap some green flock in amongst the sand. The ones on the right were after I ran out of PVA glue and switched to a spray adhesive instead. It makes for a thinner layer of stickiness, and there's no extra to trap the second color of flock. I think I prefer the PVA glue ones better.
Stay tuned for Part IV, where I finally get around to painting all these dang trees. =P
Here is my last fully painted 40K army -- an Ork Speed Freak gang. The picture below doesn't include twenty painted bikes.
This is an old army I painted about ten years ago. My original theme was that the army had a band of Meks in charge who brought their boyz to complete in an orky competition called "Junkyard Waa!" (Let's see who gets the reference). I later added a unit of nobs and a warboss so that I could buff-up its close-combat potential.
I haven't played the army for a while, partially because the new Ork codex rewrote the design of a Speed Freak force and partially because I've been busy with other armies. However, after going through my models I think that one of these days I will paint up a battlewagon (or two) and the Deffkoptas I got from the Black Reach box in order to update my force. Then the boyz will return to bash some heads in!
The march toward Origins continues. Here is another finished terminator squad:
