Greetings all!

Though long, my absence from the blog-o-sphere has been still some what productive, in more ways than 1.

In the past few months since my last post, I have:
- Moved out of home with my girlfriend of nearing on 3yrs,
- Got myself a new job
- Become a god father
- and many things I have more than likely forgotten.

Hobby wise though, much more progress has been done, and even more projects side lined.
For now, the Tyranids and the Dark Elves are side lined indefinitely until I get the inspiration to continue with the projects.
The Bloodpact on the other hand... much has been done and continues to be done, with many projects underway, planned or completed.

Units completed for the Bloodpact include:
- Harker with Vet squad consisting of 3 meltas and 6 shotguns, 1 of which also carries a demolition charge,
- 2 snipers and heavy bolter team to swap in/out of Harkers squad as needed,
- Scout Sentinel with autocannon and hunter killer missile
- Guardsmen Marbo

New units started/underway include:
- Iron Hand Straken with Comm squad consisting of cc weapons,
- Salamander-style Chimera with multi-laser and heavy bolter,
- Mutant/Renegade squad with 3 plasma guns, autocannon team and 4 lasguns, 1 of which also carries a demolition charge,
- Bull-dozer styled Chimera with multi-laser and heavy bolter,
- Leman Russ Executioner with hull lascannon,
- Macharius with 2 vanquisher cannons, 2 heavy flamers and heavy stubber,
- Malcador with battle cannon, and as yet to decide on sponson and hull weapons,
- Drop Sentinel with multi-melta
- Leman Russ/AT-70 Reaver conversion with hull heavy bolter

Still on the work bench from before include:
- Vendetta/Dark Eldar Raven conversion,
- Valkyrie/Locust conversion,
- Heavy Weapon squad of 3 autocannons,
- Heavy Weapon squad of 3 lascannons,
- Squad of 10 guardsmen with a flamer,
- Platoon Command squad,
- Medusa/N20 Half-track conversion
- Squad of 5 Rough Riders
- Astropath

Yet to start include:
- Colossus/Usurper conversion
- Hydra flak tank

Unfortunately I have yet to take any pictures as the camera is still packed away, and been rather slack in getting it out. Soon as I get some pics up I will go into more detail with everything.

Also, during this time away I went to the Australian Games Day 2011.
Considering it was the first Games day we have had since early 2000, it was alot of fun, and got a few books signed by Graham McNeil as well as a photo with him. Being 1 of my favorite writers from the black library, was very happy to get the chance to meet him.

I also entered Golden Daemon last year, and made it right through to the finals at games day.
The miniature I entered was my Truck Transport that I built from the designs put out to the public by the renowned Dave Taylor a few years back.
Unfortunately I didn't place in the top 3, not even in the 6 that get recognized for making it to the finals.
I did manage to find out why that is too; the truck is too realistic.
Honestly I think its a bit BS, as the guy that won had an average paint job, yet it was a fully scratch built executioner, but then, that is a fully scratch built truck I entered.
All in all it was a learning experience, and so now I am working on melding my realistic style in with the artistic style that Golden Daemon requires.

Well that's all for now, no promises as to when I will be able to post/get the pictures up, but until then, all the best with your hobby.

Its been that long...?

Dang...

Didn't realise how long it has been since I last posted...
I feel rather ashamed about this...

Last few months have seen minimal hobby work done, due to purchasing a new computer and getting all that sorted out, as well as a long and tedious work lift that kinda saps out the will to be creative...

Yet, I do have some things to report on the hobby front!
I have made progress production wise, and also made some decisions about how I will be approaching my hobby work for now.
Though I am lacking pictures at this point in time...

1. The half-track has been sidelined atm, as I really should finish the list I have written up before I start adding extras to it...
Thus I have started converting the following:
- HQ squad
- Sly Marbo
- 2 squads for the transports
- 2nd heavy weapons squad
- 2nd transport
Almost finished, just requiring minor details and basing include:
- 2nd squad on foot
- Platoon command squad
- 1st heavy weapons squad
Everything else Bloodpact wise is on the sidelines til those are completed, so i can get the first 1k list done and get them on the table before i branch out to the extra 850pts..

2. The Dark Elves though only mentioned in passing months and months back are slowly taking shape after months of list writing and re-writing.
So far I believe I have about 750 or so points worth assembled, perhaps more, and a paint scheme decided on, and started to paint them up.
So far the following are assembled/started painting:
- Master on foot
- 9 Spearmen retinue
- 15 Corsairs
- 5 Dark Riders
- 5 Shades
- Assassin
Yet to be started include:
- Additional 10 Spearmen
- 15 Corsairs
- Lord on Cold One
- 9 Cold Ones retinue
- 10 Cold Ones
- 5 Shades
- 2 Reaper Bolt Throwers
- Sorceress
Should prove an effective force when used right, and once all painted up will hopefully look stunning on the table top.

3. Tyranids have been sidelined near indefinitely.
I have yet to actually do any work on the actual army since the coming of the current codex, the only things that have been done to the army have been due to entering modeling/painting comps at the local GW and nothing more.
Once I have finished what I have on the table atm, then I will be resurrecting them.

4. Easterlings have joined the Tyranids on the sideline.
Hearts just not there atm, and waiting for some finecast captains to hopefully come out, as after looking at what I have to do to make my current white metal captains look decent... I may as well just use them as paper weights the quality of the miniatures is that poor.

Thats about all I have in the way of updates atm, not much considering the time between last post and now, but I am trying!

Til next time all

Bloodpact N20 Half-track -Your input please

Hey all,

Today is not a post of pictures and all that jazz, but today is a post asking for input from those Gaunts Ghosts fans out there for the fluff side of things, but also for gamers in general for the playability side.

As this title suggests, I am currently working on a N20 half track conversion for my Bloodpact. Where I used the ork truck as a basis for the transports (counts as chimeras) I am using the ork battlewagon for the basis of this conversion. No WIP pics as yet, but currently the base of the wagon is built (that's all I am using from the kit in terms of structure) and I am currently making the plasticard body for it.

So far I'm happy with the progress, but I've come to a point where I didn't do much thinking beyond. In order to really keep building this thing, I need to know what I will be using it as in game terms. In the book, Honour Guard, the N20's that I'm basing this model on are armed with 70 mil Anti-Tank cannons. This leaves me with 2 most fitting options:

1. use this to represent a Leman Russ Vanquisher.
   Armour 14, 13, 10 Rng 72" Str 8 Ap 2 Heavy 1* *extra d6 for armour pen
   155pts

Or-

2. use this to represent a Medusa Siege Cannon with Bastion Breacher shells.
   Armour 12, 10, 10 Rng 48" Str 10 Ap 1 Heavy 1* Blast *extra d6 for armour pen
   140pts (155 if I give it enclosed crew compartment)

Now, that doesn't seem like much of a big deal, but in terms of how I go about making it, it brings up a few dilemmas...

My army is very strongly themed on the books, but in a few areas there is minimal detail given on certain units and vehicles beyond a minor description. When it comes to these things, like all hobbyists doing armies based on novels, movies, etc I try to keep as true to the source as I can. In the book it doesn't specify if the N20 has a fixed gun (like the Medusa) or a gun that can rotate like a turret or even if it has a turret (like the Vanquisher). It doesn't even state whether its open topped or not. In terms of reading its great, leaves a lot to the imagination. In terms of hobby design its good cause gives some freedom to go with what you think. In terms of building a unit for gaming, its giving me headaches....

Sd.Kfz. 251/22 Ausf. D

This is pretty similar to what I have in my mind when I think of the N20 half-track:

Unfortunately it is a model, but its the clearest/best picture showing the gun mount. Its not so much a turret as a pivot point, as the gun only has a 90 degree fire ark.

Sd.Kfz 250/9

The other option, which I'm not too keen on to be honest is to have the turret, such as this:

This gives off too much of an armoured car feel in my opinion, and not a tank killer like the previous.

In terms of what looks like what, the first picture I feel best represents what would be the 'counts-as Medusa' with the 2nd picture best representing (though with a much smaller barrel) a 'counts-as Vanquisher'.

Personally I am more drawn to the Medusa style look of the half-track, though perhaps making the gun smaller and more centrally mounted, so it has the full rotation ark, as well as keeping the shield around the gun.

And so I throw it out to the masses for some input on the following:

1. What do you feel this should count as in game terms
2. Model it based around the 251/22 or the 250/9
3. Any other input for the project.

Let me know your thoughts and will hopefully have some WIP pics up in my next post.

Til then.

----- I will be taking a picture of all the pieces, with list of parts (labeled by number), the quantity of each part, as well as the dimensions prior to assembly so I can make more of these, and pass on the info for anyone who wants to make 1 after seeing the finished product. Instructions of assembly with step-by-step will also be compiled into a doc. Will post up on my blog if requested. -----

Bloodpact Primaris Psyker

Hey all,

I seem to be failing dramatically with the whole "1 post every 1-2weeks" I made a few months back... Life has a habit of getting in the way of things I must say. But despite all this I have made more progress with my Bloodpact, though not so much in the way of pictures...

Anyway back on track now.

I'm sure the Gaunts Ghosts fans out there will remember in the book 'Only in death', where they enter Hinzerhaus and Wes Maggs points out the portrait of the lady in the black dress, and that she is described in a very similar fashion to that of Ulrike, the 'witch' in the Bloodpact team sent to Balhaut in the novel 'Bloodpact'. This character is who I chose to base my Primaris Psyker on.

When it came to deciding on whether to pick a miniature to base the psyker on, or convert my own, I thought back to an old White Dwarf back when the Daemon Hunters codex first came out. In this issue of which I cannot remember the issue number, there were many examples of the WD teams own Inquisitor with henchmen units. 1 of these units included what looked like a witch in portable stocks. I went through the GW online store and there miniatures catalogues searching for what that miniature was based on.

After a hr or so I found it. It was based on 1 of the Undead Banshee miniatures from the WHFB range. I just so happened to be going through the GW online store at the terminal in my local store, so went straight over to the wall that the fantasy range was on. And as luck would have it, they had 1 last banshee in stock, and it was the 1 I wanted.

This miniature looks so good out of the pack, that there was no conversion work needed to achieve the look I was after. All it needed was to be repositioned slightly once on the base, so instead of looking like she is gliding forward, she looks like the power of the warp is surging through her and lifting her into the air. The next thing I had to work out was that she needed was a base that helped her look the part of a 'witch' rather than a banshee. This was done simply by using a small pile of skulls from the Skulls pack that GW sells. Placing her on top of the pile of skulls has raised her a decent amount higher than the rest of my infantry, as well as helping the base to not be as crowded as it would be had she been standing next to it. The rest of the base is done in the same agricultural/industrial area broken concrete and earth look.

When it came to painting her, I didn't want to go down the same road as others have when it comes to highlighting black. All the black highlighting I have seen uses grey tones for the highlighting. That may be well and good for Marines, but when it comes to cloth and material, I think about how real black fabrics are dyed. The dye for making material black will always have a base colour (the colour the black turns to when it fades is the base colour) which will be 1 of these 3 colours- red is more often than not the base colour, blue and green.

As much as using red would help tie in the miniature with the army, that's not what I wanted. Green wouldn't look right with the rest of the army. What I was after was the deep, dark look of a funeral gown. Deep, cold, black. So Blue was the way I had to go. To do this the whole gown was done in black to begin with. Then using enchanted blue I picked out the raised areas on the main gown, and did the same on the under garment using midnight blue. To draw all the colours together I used the Asuryman and Badab washes. Don't let the picture fool you though, it is actually a lot darker than it appears, the flash is just really bright for some reason.

This miniature, being an undead banshee to begin with, has holes in it as little spots of decay, as well as an eye missing. Rather than fill these in, I opted for painting them with a green glow look, to help reflect the raw energy flowing through her. I know its normally depicted as purple/pink in the books, but this small amount of bright green I feel gives off a better quality to the miniature than using purple or pink would.

The hair was done using my airbrush with thinned out skull white. Starting with a black base colour, and working my way from the tips towards the head, I slowly built up the colour, so the hair became darker at the roots. I couldn't remember if her hair colour was mentioned in the books, but I feel that white is fitting. Once that was done, a wash of badab was done to help make individual clumps of hair stand out, then a highlight with a brush was done to pick out the raised areas.

When it came to doing the skulls, I wanted an aged look, similar to that of an animal skeleton you may come across in the bush or forest. Also similar to those of human remains you see in museums and the like. To achieve this, I went with chardon granite as a base, leaving the recessed areas I covered the rest with bleached bone then a fine highlight of skull white to pick up the raised areas only. This was then washed with devlan mud then gryphone sepia. To give the impression of ritual blood magic being done or some such, each skull has had a marking made in my blood mix done to it. Each symbol is different to the next.

The gem on the necklace was picked out in red gore with a blood red highlight, with the necklace itself as well as the bracelet being done in shining gold. Unfortunately at this time I cannot remember how I did the skin, but as I post more of my Bloodpact up I'm sure I will stumble across the method in my notes and so post it then. Once all this was done, and the miniature attached to the base (pinned on through a hole that goes right through the skull pile and out the base, so the whole thing is 1 solid piece), I coated it in Army Painter quickshade strong tone, and once that was dry I sprayed it with some matte varnish.

And there you have it, Ulrike the Witch, my Bloodpact Primaris Psyker.

After such a delay between posts, I wont state what I will blog about next or when, I will just do my best to keep feeding my stuff to you.

Til next time.

Bloodpact Baneblade Completed Pics

Hey all,
Sorry it took longer than expected, but they are now here, the pictures of my completed Baneblade!

As mentioned in my first post about the Bloodpact Baneblade here, this beast is the first unit I ever did for my Bloodpact. Originally I was just doing it up for something that looked cool, but then as time went on, and my local GW store had a tank camo scheme comp for the release of the current (new at the time) IG codex, the project went from a concept piece right through to the start of a growing Bloodpact force.

Now, the Baneblade kit has a lot to offer for both imperial and traitors alike, but not so much so in the case of the imperial symbols everywhere and the machine spirit shrine at the rear. So first thing I did during the assembly of this beast was to defile all those pieces of Imperial belief adorning it. To further add to the traitorous feel, the vehicles lascannaon, autocannon and heavy bolter barrels have all been modified with pieces from multiple Chaos Vehicle Accessoriess sprue. Spikes made out of paperclips twisted together were added to the hull at random intervals at odd angels to serve as mounting points for the barbed wire I would add later on.

The smoke launchers were replaced with havok launchers, and a tank trap from the Battle Field Accessories Set was attached across the front, not as a dozer blade, but more as a trophy collection point for when the this tank goes on 'crowd control' duties. Extra communication arrays have been added to the side of the turret, with the normally short aerials being replaced with longer lengths of wire.

To make it stand out from other traitor Baneblades, I cut off the battle cannons end, and attached it to the demolisher cannon, more that doubling its length. As my battle cannon now no longer had a barrel end, I attached the Hellhammer cannon barrel end in place of the old 1. To me it makes the tank look that much more deadly, and to emphasis the point that when this cannon fires there is going to be carnage, using a scene from Dan Abnetts book 'Honour Guard', a corpse has been attached to the end of the barrel so that it looks like this guy was attached over the cannon mouth when it fired, leaving his remains dangling, serving as both a message and a trophy.

When it came to trophies and defiling, I kept everything in theme to chaos and more specifically the Bloodpact. So copious amounts of blood, gore, and corpses had to be used. Across the front as seen before I had piled up a mound of guard helmets, and over the machine shrine, I have attached a mutilated guardsmen. I chose to paint him in the same colours as the helmets on the front. Using a knife from the Cadian Heavy Weapons team sprue, and a piece of parchment made out of green stuff, I attached it to his chest, with some line work to make it look like a message is written on it.

To keep with the theme of the Bloodpact recruiting from defeated units of Imperial guard, and to tie it in with the rest of the ground vehicles ive got on the go, the tank was first painted in a 3 colour urban camo scheme. Then once that was completed, I painted on my own blood effect recipe to look like blood has been brushed on by the Bloodpact, as well as spray ups from the corpses crushed under its tracks. Liberal coats were added to the front to emphasis the carnage dealt by this behemoth when it goes on a rampage.

To add to the look that its wet blood splattered over the sides of the tank, I added bloody hand and foot prints leading up and away from each ladder, in the case of the ladder on the tanks side, they lead right up the side of the turret and into the first hatch.

After all the painting was done the barbed wire was added and coated with brown ink to give the rusted look, and the tank commander with hatch were attached into place. I painted this guy seperately as its hard to airbrush his colour on when attached to the tank. Its alot easier to mask up just his hatch rather than the whole turrent piece.

And there you have it, the completed Bloodpact Baneblade in all its traitorous glory.

Until next time all.

Bloodpact army list: Reached a crossroads...

Hey all,

a non-picture/progress report today yet still something of interest, though maybe more so for me than for you, as I am seeking some opinions on what road to go down with a part of my army...

First off, I will type up the list as it stands in its fullness, and then the junction point I am at.

My list is as follows, starting with a 1000pt army for my FLGS monthly tournament, then with the 850pt expansion I have added on to it (turns out Australian tournaments aren't as big as 1850pts, but meh, gives me more to play with).

1000pt list:

HQ-
Command Squad- Commander with B/P and P/S
                           - 4x Guardsmen with L/P and CC/W
                           - Astropath
                           - Fleet Officer

Elites-
Marbo

Troops-
Vet. Squad 1- Harker
                    - 3x Snipers
                    - H/W team consisting of H/B and L/G
                    - 4x Vet. with L/G

Vet. Squad 2- Vet. Sarge with B/P and P/S
                    - 2x Vet. with Melta
                    - Vet. with Heavy Flamer
                    - 6x Vet. with shotguns
                    - Grenadiers doctrine

Platoon Com- P. Comm with with B/P and P/S
                    - 2x Guardsmen with Flamers
                    - 2x Guardsmen with L/P and CC/W

Plat. Squad 1- Commissar
                     - Sarge with B/P and CC/W
                     - Guardsmen with Flamer
                     - 8x Guardsmen with L/G
Plat. Squad 2- Sarge with B/P and CC/W
                     - Guardsmen with Flamer
                     - 8x Guardsmen with L/G
Squads formed together into a single squad of 21

Plat. H/W Squad-3x H/W team each consisting of A/C and L/G

Fast Attack-
Valkyrie- H/B sponsons
             - L/C
             - Missile Pods

S.S.S.- 2x Scout Sentinels
          - 2x Autocannons


Total of 1000pts

That is my current 1000pt army list, and this is the 850pt expansion for it:

Troops-
Plat. Squad 3- Sarge with L/P and CCW
                    - 7x Guardsmen with L/G
                    - H/W team consisting of M/L and L/G
                    + Chimera transport- 2x H/B

Plat. Squad 4- Sarge with L/P and CCW
                     - 7x Guardsmen with L/G
                     - H/W team consisting of M/L and L/G
                     + Chimera transport- 2x H/B

Plat. H/W Squad-3x H/W team each consisting of L/C and L/G

Fast Attack-
Rough Riders- 2x Extra Riders
                    - 2x Riders with Meltas

Heavy Support-
LRBTS- 2x LRBT not upgraded

Art. Bat.- 1x Colossus


Total of 850pts

Now, as the sidebar shows, a lot of this is either still under construction or as yet not started. The extras at the bottom of the list on the sidebar are just that, things that I did either for the sake of fluff, the idea just popped into my head, or because of painting comps/re-thinking my army list.

I'm open up to peoples general views of the list, I have done a few trial games and it seems to run rather well, though I admit it has been a limited arena of versing Daemons and Eldar so far. The general idea behind the list is id rather assault than be assaulted, so the first 1000pt is designed to get in fast and get the job done.

You would be surprised how well a squad of 20 guardsmen with a commissar does in an assault, and the amount of squads they can tie up in an assault at a time. Harker and his boys infiltrating ahead (along with Marbo popping out somewhere) to cause some disruption, the heavier vets being dropped in close to/behind enemy lines to deal some damage, with the main command squad staying out of the way to keep my reserves coming quicker and my opponents more slowly.

The 850 expansion is the armoured follow up, with the squads to move in and secure objectives, some rough riders give a lil extra support vs flanking armour, and some armoured might to push back anyone that's gotten in too close.

My dilemma is as follows:
My army is entirely based on fluff, loosely with the rough riders (you will see why once I have the squad completed, atm very happy with the trial mini), and its the rough riders I'm not too sure about, as well as the sentinels.

The sentinels fit the fluff, as they are being converted into SteG 4 Light Armoured Cars, yet I'm unsure as whether to keep the sentinels, or swap them out for another squad of rough riders, or even swap out the rough riders for more sentinels....

Anyone able to give me some feedback on this, its got me rather stuck...

Teaser: Origins of my Bloodpact

Hi all,
its time for more Bloodpact pics but unfortunately yet again I have no finished work pics...
This time I forgot to transfer every pic off the USB my girlfriend gave me before she took it back to put more onto...



So today I dug through my computers archives in search of pics from a project I started when the kit first came out yet didn't finish about a year ago, a year before any actual work on my Bloodpact started.

This is purely a teaser post today for what you should expect in my next post on this, and also hopefully work towards giving insight in to the origins of my Bloodpact forces theme and style.

Til next time!

Bloodpact Looted Truck Finished pics

Hello again fellow hobbyists,
I have returned with what was promised, pictures of the completed truck!

I'll run through a list of the additions that were made before and after I started painting that aren't shown in the WIP pictures in the previous blog, and if theres anything I haven't listed that takes your interest just comment me. I can't quite recall how I achieved the colours atm but if asked I'm sure I can go dig up some paints list from somewhere.

First off is the obvious barbed wire, which was added right in the final stages of painting. Its the standard GW wire with just brown ink dabbed on straight out of the pot. I do this with the barbed wire on my other vehicles and on the bases of my infantry also, as I find it gives a better aged look to the wire compared to if i watered it down. Also in this picture you can clearly see the grill at the front of the engine bay. This was achieved by sticking in bits of wire I had cut to size.

Second of the extra bits of detail is the rivets, the truck is literally covered in them. I did these following the instructions in the tutorial done by the Painting Corps, the link of which is here. Its not as hard as you would think, and no where near as time consuming as it looks. The instructions they give are very clear and easy to follow, so as long as you don't rush yourself it will come up great.

The next addition on the list was added after the main portion of the painting was done, and that's the patches of rust that cover the vehicle. Every place that has the potential to rust, has portions of rust on it. Where the rust is coming through the paint, I have used the rust effects to stain the paint. The chains holding the bench seats up, the hinges on the pintle heavy bolter, on the wheel hubs, metal plates on the wheels, everywhere. This was achieved by using a product called Scenic Rust made by Deluxe Materials. I will do a tutorial on how to use this stuff soon, as I'll soon have a few things ready to get rusted up.

This vehicle is definitely a veteran of the years, so along with the rust and old looking paint job, when it came to doing the tyres and the camo tarp I made sure that they looked old and weathered. I wanted this vehicle to look like its been neglected, perhaps salvaged after a battle or when its driver turned traitor he bought the truck into the bargain, and definitely not like its fresh off the assembly line.

The final touch to firmly place this vehicle in the Bloodpact parking lot is the addition of the most defining aspect about them: blood. Across the front is blood splatter from all the victims too slow to get out of its way, on the handles and steps is blood from boots and hands, and the tray has clotted blood strewn across the mesh, be it from the transported troops or slaughtered victims is any ones guess. The clotted look was achieved thanks to the contact adhesive i used to attach the mesh. It clumped up and leaked through the mesh and settled on top, and added into the bargain, it did so randomly.

There you have it, the completed Bloodpact looted truck, which will be used to represent a Chimera in my Bloodpact force. Comments and questions as always are welcomed.

Bloodpact Looted Truck WIP pics

Hey all,
I finally got some pics off my girlfriends laptop, not any of my finished product pics but in fact some WIP of the Bloodpact truck I finished a few months back, plans courtesy of Dave Taylors blog, just search under the lable 'Truck' for the templates i believe it is.

I followed the instructions and used the templates for the most part, but found that after i had started painting it, that i had forgotten to put a few of the extra armour and the access into the engine bay! Oh well....

During assembly, modified the plans to suit my vision of what I wanted the truck to look like. The modicifactions I made include the following:

- I made the benches fold down benches rather than fixed, as I didnt want this to look purely like a troop transport vehicle.

- I made the canopy casing over the tray of the truck more like 1 of the troop carriers from WW2, having a skeleton frame going from 1 side to the other, so when the tarp is pulled over the top it creates a box effect over the tray.

- Rather than a plank style floor in the back, I have used plastic fly-wire to represent a metal grated floor, for extra grip when moving around. I also used this material bundled up on 1 side of the tray to represent the roof tarp, which can also be used in game as camo netting if desired.

- More handles poking out of the sides of the truck and tray, and a small ladder to 1 side of the trays rear, like transport trucks of today, allowing for a trailer to be towed if the driver was so inclined.
- No lights on the truck except for the search light on top, but this was purely due to a lack of lights in my bits box I must say.
- And a piece of mesh on 1 side for some extra armour.

The weapons on there are purely cause im not much of a fan of the multilaser, not sure why really, but felt that since im doing a looted ministorum (hope I spelt that right) transport, that the Bloodpact would have afixed weapons to the vehicle in a some what unprofessional manner, so all heavy bolters.

There is more done do it, but not applicable to the WIP pictures, as the other touches were added during and after the painting process.

Other than those few little details, the whole thing was constructed as the instructions said to do so. Thanks to Dave for the templates and instructions on how to build this beast, couldnt of figured out how to do 1 without them.

Next time, pictures of the fully painted up Blootpact Looted Truck.

A Step Forward

Hey all,
its been way too long since my last post and I do apologise, life tends to get in the way of some good hobby work, more so in the way of blogging about it.
Unfortunately I have no pictures as yet to put up, they are all still on my girlfriends camera, but I do have updates none the less.

First off, thanks to the input from The GunGrave, the font on my blog will no longer hurt your eyes. See, chaotic symbols hurt your eyes at first, but once you give in, everything will be O.K! :)

The next piece of news is on the 25th i turned 25, and despite me telling her not to do anything, my girlfriend baked me a cake, which to my surprise she had decorated to match the basing of my Bloodpact army. She even went to the extent of taking molds from some of my works in progress to make chocolate terrain out of! I will be posting pics of this as soon as i get them.

Now into the hobby side of things. As it stands, I have a lot underway and no much to show for it in terms of completed items.

A few months back i had finished my Baneblade (and forgot to post about it completely), and entered it in a tank painting competition being held in honor of the spear head expansion release. I am very happy to say I took the win for that 1, and walked away with a GW spray gun and a propellant can.
As it stands i am yet to use it, preferring to use my Anest Iwata LPH-80 spray gun or Iwata eclipse HP-CS airbrush with my Iwata Studio Series mini compressor (I will be discussing these items in a future post) for any mass painting jobs.
Until i get some pictures up, all i can say to describe this beast is that it looks the part of a traitor tank, not a tank that was built for the service of the true gods.

Yet another vehicle, my truck transport has been finished, and is atm in GW Southland for the boxing day conversion competition, of which the name eludes me atm. This is also done up to look like a scavenged/traitor vehicle, covered in rust and gore, with a well worn paint job.

Whats on my desk being worked on atm is a whole other, much larger, kettle of fish entirely.

Harker and his boys are nearly done, I have but to convert/assemble 3 snipers for his squad, then start/finish off painting the squad and they are ready to lay down good cover fire. With the squad having 2 heavy bolters and 3 sniper rifles that shouldn't be hard to do.

My 2nd vet squad, heavily armoured in there carapace armour is coming along well. I have finished converting the remaining shotties for the squad, and assembled all the bodies. Now all that remains is to attach the shotties to the bodies, convert another melta and another squads worth of heads, then its all onto the painting table. ive painted up the main parts on 3 completed models already, and I must say im very pleased with how they will turn out.

The Primaris Psyker i believe will be the only model in the army that is not converted in 1 way or another, other than bringing it over from 1 GW gaming system to another. I wont give away any details on this project, you will have to wait to see this 1.

Sooo many troops! As it stands i have 3 basic troop squads under way, as well as a heavy weapons squad, platoon command, and some of the company command squads additional members... So I have about 40 foot slogers on the go atm.

The Rough Riders i have done very little to atm, as these boys will take a lot of prior planning of the bases prior to assembly, so i get the look just right. The inspiration for these miniatures came to me from reading Dan Abnetts "Traitor General" a few years back, and the images are still vivid in my mind.

Back into the vehicles, I am half way through the first of my Urdeshi produced AT-70 Reavers. Being faster, lighter armoured and lower tech versions of Leman Russ Battle Tanks, they are heavily converted, and loosely based on images of the WWII German Panzer IV. Seeing as these tanks were produced by the captured Urdesh Forgeworld, these tanks will be in full Bloodpact livery.

The Locust fighter (counts as a Valkyrie) has not progressed further than being chromed atm. I hit a mental block with this 1, so am taking some time away before coming back to it with a fresh mind. In terms of basing, rather than a huge styrene ball painted as a rock, i have begun the construction of a open portal. Made to look like fire hovering in mid-air, with daemonic faves and arms reaching and leering out of it. I am also sculpting a Bloodpact trooper walking out through the flames, to make it clear its a portal.


Well i think that about wraps it up. All projects are accounted for outside of terrain (which i will leave for another day, my hands are tired from all this typing, editing, etc etc...), and anything else i have missed can wait for the next post.

Til then :)

CHARGE!

 Finally managed to get some pics up of my finished squad, along with the display base i made to go with them for my 40k squad entry into this years Australian Golden Daemon.
The competition closed and first round judged 2 weeks ago (thats how slow i am), and these guys made it through!
I dont know how golden daemon works in other countries, but here we enter at store level, winners then get judged at a state level, winners of that go to nationals where 1st 2nd 3rd winners and the slayer sword winner is judged. This saturday (3 away including today) is the state level judging, so fingers crossed!
So without any further delay i present my first completed squad, and a few of my favorites within it.
Please feel free to comment constructively and ask any relevant questions :)

Squad Sarge with his over-sized chain sword

Squad comms guy




The 2 shovel wielders

Distracted Again...

Been a while since had a chance to post, and i still am lacking time, so i will make this brief and to the point.
Currently on my work bench is:

Being assembled/converted to bloodpact
- Hardened Vet squad in carapace armour
- AT-70 Reaver (leman russ conversion)
- Harkers Devils squad
- Another troop transport truck
- Heavy weapons team of autocannons

Being Painted
- 1st basic squad of Bloodpact
- Locust Interceptor (valkyrie conversion)
- 1st troop transport truck
- Harker

A side project being done is also a Dark Mechanicum based 'Lord of Change'. If this conversion wins the competition im entering it in, i will gain free entry into this years Australian Golden Daemon, which would be very appealing.
The down side is i still have to complete about 5 of my 7 entries, but hey, just means more of a challenge! :D

Pics will be up as soon as i can arrange it.

Well, back to the grind stone...

A Bloody Short Blog

This blog is going to be short and sweet, as i woke up not that long ago and its already 2pm!!!
Have so much to do it isnt funny, so this is just simple basics, mainly due to 5pic max post it seems :S

First up is my commisar and vet sarge for my current WIP Bloodpact squad.

As you can see, instead of a simple grotesque mask i have given him a full face hood, something which will be used to pic out all my commisars, along with the possibility of giving them storm coats (opinions on that are most wanted).
To represent the khornate side of the army, he is carrying an extended khorne beserker axe. considering the size in comparrison to the model, i think it represents his power weapon perfectly.

Here we have my vet sarge.

I swaped his standard chain sword with a khornate 1 from the beserker sprues also. As this is also oversized, in the games where i give him a power weapon it wont need to be hacked up and changed, a sword that big should be a far compromise.
As with all my standard troopers, he has the standard grotesque mask (i will do a blog on how i make these soon).
All the Bloodpact have every single imperial logo carved off there armour and weapons.
To further define the pact from normal guardsmen i have sliced off all the protrutions from there helmets to leave them with the bowel style helmet as described in the books. it also helps to show off the mask as the head is less busy this way.

I will have more infantry up within the coming days, so to finish off today are some more WIP of the locust fighter (aka valkyrie)

I was originally goin to go with the 'giant rock/crystal warp portal' idea, but after seein it on the base... its crap. At least in the way i have done it. Either i will just create a warp rift/reality tear to hover above the base, or perhaps a tunnel entrance on the ground.
Either way theres alot more to do to satisfy me in that regard...


Here we have a view of the first armament i have assembled and magnatized for the fighter.
At first i thought the rocket pods would be too big, but after seeing it all put together, it just makes it look more threatening.
Also you can see how i have used 2 of the rather old hunter killer tubes to create my air intakes for the engine.

Off topic, 1 thing i have noticed many times is people assembling that tube and placing it on the vehicle backwards... The flap portion of the assembly is actually the front, not the rear. If you look at modern SAM and SSM batteries, that flap opens when the missile is primed after the target has been painted. The hole end of the assembly is at the rear so the jet wash from the missile has somewhere to go, as the missile itself is resting on a mount on the otherside of that hole. (I think i will post up some pictures of this)

And here we have the tail view of the locust.
On either side near the rear of the fuselage i have place 1 of the vents from the same hunter killer missile tubes. These are go go with the fact i have left the jets on the wings. While those jets would help this baby take off/land and do very sharp bank turns, these rear side jets would turn the jet while hovering.
A lil too much though, but hey, we all love our hobby dont we :)

That is for another post, next post will cover more of the WIP infantry squad, including WIP autocannons heavy weapons squad if time permits.

As promised...

In my first post about a week ago i promised to put up some photos of my work in progress, in which i also promised to take them with a decent camera....
Failing the decent camera part, my phone will have to suffice for now.
So with out further delay here are my current WIPs of my Bloodpact.

First up is my Locust fighter (Valkyrie substitute)-

This is clearly my first time arranging pictures in a blog so please forgive the mess...

As you can see i have yet to attach the wings, armaments and landing gear.
All of which should be done by tonight for the most part.
All parts used are from the Valkyrie kit,
following the instructions from Spikey Bits Jet Instructions with a few minor adjustments-
I continued to cut out the fuselage beyond that stated so i could fit in a singular engine, which is made up of the 4 quarter pieces you get in the kit (2 per engine), and mirrored that cutout into the undercarriage.
The air intakes are from the old hunter killer missile tube, cut from 1 corner to the opposing corner lengthways.
(Im not all that good with instructions so please let me know if i failed to be clear)

This beauty will be painted up to have the same white pearl look as in the book 'Double Eagle',
as the look described in 'Sabbat Matyr' i dont think is all that fitting...
Using a similar process but with a diferent pallet, I will be using a similar process as outlined by Dave Taylor in his post The Rapid Assault Force Approaches.
While a choice selection was used in his pallet, i will be aiming for a more final colour than bone, purely for a stronger contrast.

The next in line for this post is a troop transport for 1 of my hardened vet squads-

This was made following all the instructions posted by Dave Taylor, which can both be found in part 1 and part 2 using the templates posted up here.

The only changes i made were to use florist wire to make a small 2 step ladder into the back of the truck on the rear left, used chains to hold the bench seats in place (fixed seats dont work in a work horse vehicle tray imo), and made the frame for the canopy out of florist wire too.
Extra handles and support bars are also made using florist wire.
The floor of the tray was roughly covered in contact adhesive before a cut to size piece of plastic fly screen was layed over the top. This uneven surface will be used to effect as i would expect there to be gore from the troops it transports all over the place.
There is still alot to be done before i start painting, more tidbits to attach, refining of some details, and possible battle damage/field repairs.

It will be painted up to look like an Imperial Transport, then i will attack it with my blood and gore mix to show it has been looted by the pact.

Thats it for now,
any constructive comments or extra ideas appreciated.

How the blood came to flow...

Ok,
i have yet to get any decent pictures taken,
but thought id run through the concept for the look and feel of my Bloodpact,
as well as discuss a few sources of inspiration for future and previous projects.

Like many people who have read the Gaunts Ghosts series,
i was inspired to create a Bloodpact force.
At the time i was an Imperial Guard player,
and the idea of stopping guard to start a Bloodpact army pretty much stopped any ideas eventuating into reality.

At the time of the release of Apocalypse i had stopped working on my guard for several years,
and had started a 1000pt army for $400,
and seeing as it had to be a new army i had chosen 'nyds (of which the whole army list had to be re-worked due to new codex).
It was during this time that something major caught my eye,
and so i started assembling a Baneblade (which i have still yet to complete...) for the purpose of a guard tank to get my interest back into them and finish them off (never happened).

After a new release of Gaunts Ghosts (Only in death i believe it was),
the urge for blood came back in full force.
This was when the perfect idea hit me,
why bother starting a new army when i can convert an incomplete guard army into the Blood pact army i had been wanting to do.

So,
loyalty out the window and in with the powers of chaos.

First thing i had to do,
outline what seperated the guard from Blood pact from a standard guard army,
aside from the obvious aesthetics of the infantry,
it all came down to vehicles, the powers of the warp and xenos.
So i looked through all my novels,
and through my sabbat crusades book (bought for $30 AUS at the time),
for all vehicles and creatures and such that were used by the dark powers.

Aside from scavenged tanks and traitors,
i came up with the following-
Usurper self propelled howitzers
SteG4 armoured cars
AT 70 Reavers
AT 83 Brigand
N20 and N22 Half tracks
Stalk tanks
Locust aircraft
Loxatyl xenos mercinaries
Wirewolves
Bay Hounds

(i may have forgotten some of what i came across,
as well as some spelling).

The next step was to work out how i would include these units into my army...
-Usurpers clearly had to be a form of artillery (based around ww2 german artillery, similar to the basis of Dave Taylors 'Priest', but with a central cannon based more towards the rear with a longer barrel
-SteG 4s as sentinels (as its not mentioned that they are transports. I cant remember where i got the inspiration from for these, so once posted if anyone knows please tell me so credit can be given)
-Locust aircraft as valkyries/vendettas (the problem was how the troops would be transported, but after seeing how this issue was overcome by Dave Taylors Warp Locator , i was reminded of the huge pink crystals in 'Only in Death' that the Bloodpact were teleporting in from, as well as giant ogryn and human mutations, and so they will be placed on the bases of the craft. The concept for converting the aircraft i found thanks to Spikey Bits jet fighter)
-Loxatyl would be my Ogryns
-A lone Wirewolve would represent Sly Marbo
-AT 70 Reavers would be a form of Leman Russ, as would the AT 83 and the Stalk tanks (all will make sense once the conversions are done, but the idea did click in from seeing the Stalk tank by Dave Taylor and the AT 70 thanks to Rabidchild)
-N20 and N22 Halftracks would likely be chimeras, hellhounds, and light artillery.
-Bay Hounds... they would just be an upgrade option for the N20 and N22s, representing there search lights (idea based on events in Traitor General)

Thats about all i can remember for now,
its all written down somewhere,
will post more when i remember more.

After that,
colour scheme was next on the agenda...
Seeing as how the Bloodpact are made up from recruited units as well as traitor units,
a portion of the army would be done in loylalist guard camo and uniforms with a suitable goreish reworking done to them,
while the rest would be purely done in a scheme suiting the pure Bloodpact.
Im a spray painter by trade,
so through work i have access to a whole tinter machine as well as certain types of sealer for spraying on cars,
of which i have found a mix that once sprayed out at EXTREMELY low pressure with high fluid settings creates the look that someone choaking on there own blood just coughed all over your army.
Looks great and oh so fitting too.
Down side being you have to let certain mixtures sit for a few days prior to adding it all together or you lose the whole dried clotted blood effect.
Its also very shinny so you must either put in matting agent with the mix,
or spray over it with mat varnish.

That settled,
where should they be fighting?
After long deliberation,
and a chance watching of Behind Enemy Lines,
i decided on the look of an Eastern Europe industrial complex thats gone to ruin.
So blackened and greyed rocks and rubble,
dark coloured mud,
with scorched and dead grass and weeds.
Perhaps some pools of oil and water too.
Similar to the scene depicted in the area around the spoils outside Vervunhive in the book Necropolis,
just with more vegetation,
or at least signs it was there...

Well thats the concept behind the look and feel of my army,
once i have the photos together i will go through the basis of my army make up,
force organisation and the reasoning behind my choices.