Soul Grinder Reconstruction

I recently picked up a lot of Chaos Daemons from a local gamer. Included in the lot was a Soul Grinder that had seen better days. It looks like a small dog had won the fight an gnawed the power fist arm off at the shoulder. I wish I would have taken a couple before shop but i already had the milliput on before I thought about the camera.

I used a big piece of Milliput to fill the void left in the shoulder. I then pinned a piece of 2.5mm styrene rod so I would have an attach point for the arm. once the arm id finished i will come back later and use green stuff the sculpt on the shoulder.

The power claw arm patched and filled with some milliput.

Dry fit of the shoulder.

Longer shot, I think it will work

The key is using a piece of 5/32nd styrene tube to make a locking ring to keep the arm in place while I sculpt the shoulder over the joint.

The first round of green stuff to add some mechanical detail back to the arm.

The flip side of the arm with more green stuff detail. I will not be able to hide all the damage but it is a warped Daemon Engine of Chaos, a little battle damage adds character.

ColKG

Flesh Tearer Damocles Rhino wip

I picked up this Forge world Damocles rhino years ago in a trade and it has never seen the table. I plan to change that. The previous owner had started painting it as a Dark Angels scheme but that is no more. It will now be folded into the Flesh Tearers. It can help bring in my Jump troops and possibly Terminators On time and On target but it has to live to do that. The next 40k league is Forge world friendly so hopefully the other players will join in the Forge world fun.

From Imperial armor 12, it costs the same as three Cyclone missile launchers from the new Blood angels codex and can be taken as an HQ by several Space marine chapters including the Blood Angels.
It can bring in an Orbital Bombardment once per game, str 10 AP1 Large blast , Barrage
It has a teleport beacon so Deep striking units within 12 inches do not scatter.
It has a Command Vox Relay that allows you to add or subtract 1 from all reserve rolls.

Company B T26 tank for Disposable Heroes and Bolt Action

Thanks to Chuuckaroobob, Who is a River to His People, I now have a 1/56th scale T26 Soviet light tank from Company B. I had talked about getting one for awhile but haven't so Chuckaroo gifted me one for my birthday. I have wanted a T26 to back up my Warlord era Chinese army but it has many more uses in different war gaming eras. They were fielded during the Spanish Civil War, early war on the WWII Eastern front and by the Chinese against each other and then the Japanese.

Out of the box the Company B kit had very few flaws and little flash.

The second chance at magnetizing the turret. The first try I used too small of magnets but the second go round worked much better.

The most glaring problem was a bent resin gun tube. In the process of straightening the tube I broke it off. i had suspected this to happen so I replaced it with a piece of brass rod.

The only real detail missing was at he back of the tank on the exhaust. An air bubble had removed the end of the muffler.

I drilled it out a bit and then replaced it with some green stuff and a piece 1.6mm styrene rod. One it is painted nobody will be able to tell it is a repair.

The finished T26 ready for paint.

The base coated T26, next to a Bolt Action Soviet light machine gunner. I plan to add some more highlights but no unit ID marks to get the most playability out of the model across several different armies.

The challenge has already been issued to dispute Chuckaroobo's M3 Stuart title as the king of the battlefield from an earlier game against my Chinese. That game all I had was a Japanese Ha -Go tank that couldn't penetrate the armor of the M3 Stuart that will be different next time.

Las cannon and Twin linked Plasma gun Razorback turret conversion

I may be jumping the gun but I decided that I will probably want to field one or two of the fast Razorback tanks when I put the Fleshtearers back on the table. I acquired a couple Razorbacks a while back in a trade and one had a twin las cannon turret. The turret had been broken and glued back together so it didn't elevate. I popped off one las cannon and raided the styrene collection.

I trimmed down a piece of styrene sheet and glued it to the center pylon of the turret. I added the 1/4 inch piece of square styrene to be the center column of the twin linked plasmaguns. I trimmed down a regular plasma gun and drilled it for a pin in the back and in the bottom to add the greenstuff cable. I ran a wire out the back of the gun and used some greenstuff and a section of 1//8 inch styrene tube to be the connector arm. I drilled two holes in the square tube front for the pins to go in and two holes in the side for the cables to go in. I took a piece of 2.5mm styrene rod and drilled it out to use as the connector for the greenstuff cable.

The second plasma gun added on. I took a tip from another blogger and whenever i have left over green stuff I have started rolling it into thin cables to use for a project just like this.

The turret mounted up.

Razorback with old style dozer blade added. It was about this time that I realized that the cover on the turret was on backwards. I had yet to glue it on because I wanted to paint the styrene parts, so it worked out.

The second Razorback had a twin heavy bolter turret. I decided to leave it until I play a couple games. I did add an old style dozer blade and did a few touch ups on the paint to both of them. They don't really have a Fleshtearer paint scheme but they are good enough for the table. After I get a few games played and decide if the Razorback have a place in the Fleshtearers I will give them a more appropriate paint scheme.

ColKG

The Sword and the Flame in North Africa

Hi Kids,  The local lads got a collective wild hair and decided to have a game!  I think this is about the third this year.  I'm telling ya, 2014 has been a really non-event as far as gaming is concerned. Here's hoping 2015 is a little more lively! We didn't know what we were going to do for this battle; FoW, Disposable Heroes, Naval, the possibilities were endless...
Since we decided not to bother building armies with point values and spreadsheets the natural choice was The Sword and The Flame, and what could be easier than French Foreign Legion vs. Arabs?

 Here we have the 25mm Old Glory & Falcon Arab forces deployed for battle.  There are more of them out of the shot.  Two units of riflemen, about eight for Melee, and two cavalry. We snuck in a machine gun at the last minute. Against all expectations I decided to play the Arabs.

 The French look a little thinner, but have huge amounts of firepower, complete with two machine guns! The Frog players were crying for the other 5 crew serverd weapons too, but there's a limit to just how many bullets/shells we wanted coming our way. Most were Foundry and Falcon.

 The French move up. Those dudes with the red hats were Zouves.

 Headlong rush! The Arabs start moving in.

 The French start blasting away!

 At the end of every charge was a Frog infantry unit forming square! It would have been nice if the movement cards had some compassion, or the Frogs could have failed one of those activation roles, but (literally) no dice!

By the end of the game it was looking really bad for the Arabs; 90% dead or routed off the map, the Frogs lost a few guys but not more than 10%.  Maybe next time we'll go back to hidden set up and movement for the native forces.  I think the high point of the game was my Arab cavalry charging the French MG team from the rear and failing morale to close.  Nice. That's the MG on top of the hill on the left of the picture.

 

All crying aside, we had an astounding turnout; Steve, John, Patrick and Tom all showed up to play, and Bryan (aka "Super B") snuck in at the last minute too!  Even W stopped by to use the bathroom.* He's a gamer, so it still counts!

 

After the game everyone seemed to think we need to game more. Always a good thing, if we can just get our schedules figured out and make it happen!

 

*Ok, I wrote that cause it's funny, in addition to true.  In W's defense, he lives 100 miles away and was halfway someplace on a roadtrip.

 

Old School Fleshtearer Infantry

With the impending drop of the Blood Angels codex this Saturday and the upcoming 40k league at Gaming Underground, I have decided to bring the Fleashtearers out of retirement. I started this army at the height of the 3rd edition 40k "Rhino Rush". When an Index Astartes article in US White Dwarf 250 Nov2000 had the Fleshtearer rules in it. They were basically even crazier Blood Angels more prone to suffer from the Black Rage.

According to rumours the Honor Guard is a casualty of codex change. I think there is still a command squad option but not one for a jump pack equipped one. Find out tomorrow.

One of my favorite character models a Fleshtearer Librarian. He used to have the quickening psychic ability that gave him a big combat boost. He usually ended up dead but reaped many a skull.

More characters. Mephiston, Dante and Brother Corbulo. I started to revamp the army back in 2010 mainly by repainting these characters to a much better standard. As you can tell only half finished.

Three Squads of old school scouts, originally from the Advanced Space Crusade game. The back squad I converted to have four sniper rifles and a missile launcher. The front two squads only had the sergeant a Fleshtearer shoulder pad and a newer bolt pistol.
 Why three scout squads you ask. Under that edition of the rules you randomly added models to your Death company and the Fleshtearer's had a higher chance than regular Blood Angels, so more squads more chances of Death Company additions.

The beat stick of the army the Death Company lead by a Chaplain with a jump pack. Under the old rules the only way to add a special weapon was for a Sgt to fall to the Dark Rage. To cover the random eventualities I built ten regular DC with bolt pistol and chain sword, five DC with bolt pistols and power swords and four DC with bolt pistols and power fists. I never managed to field all nineteen DC but I did get close a couple times.
The other new unit for the Fleshtearers in that Index Astartes was a Death Company dreadnought and you could take as many of these as you wanted. I have one but it is still secured in the "Closet of Doom" with the other Fleshtearer vehicles.

The Fleashtearer Tactical squads. I made them so I could either field one ten model squad with a special weapon and a lascannon or two five man squads, one with a meltagun the other with a plasma gun.

Two seven model Assault squads with two plasma pistols. I liked to field seven model squads. They could take a couple casualties and still have enough power to take down a target.

Last, two veteran Assault Squads. Now I guess these would be Vanguard Veteran squads, hopefully they are in the new codex other wise they are going to roll into a third assault squad.

That isn't all of the army a box in the "Closet of Doom" with a rhino, a couple Vindicators, a couple Dreadnoughts and a few Land speeders. Once I dig it out I will post them up.

Now we wait for the Codex to drop tomorrow and then back to the drawing board.

ColKG

Combat Crusher tanks for Bolt Action and Disposable Heroes

I started on the Combat crusher tanks I picked up awhile back. I started by sanding them down to get the decals off. I didn't think about the camera until I had finished the Sherman tank

Here is the American Sherman in a good table quality paint job. I will probably go back and hit some details and clean up the road wheels a bit but it is good enough to hit a table. Beside it is a 28mm Bolt Action Soviet Rifleman to show scale. Good enough for me.

The PAnzer IV primed up

Base coat of Luftwaffe uniform WWII

Dry brush of Vallejo Sombre Grey.  It is a little clean and can use some more details but good enough for the table. Another Bolt Action 28mm Soviet Rifleman beside it for scale. Close enough for me, especially if it is the only tank on my side of the table.

The two Combat Crusher tanks painted up. I will put a few more details and a wash or two before I call them finished.

ColKG

Cheap tanks for Bolt Action 28mm WWII gaming

After reading an an article on the Santa Cruz Warhammer/Historical blog about cheap tank models to use for Bolt Action WWII gaming in 28mm I went looking for some of the combat crusher models online. I found plenty but with shipping they were not as much of a deal. then a buddy of mine called and said he had found them at Wal-Mart. A quick trip to the local Wally world and I had one of each for a US$9.98 per.

German Panzer IV

American Sherman

I built both tanks to make sure all the parts were there but will take them back apart to paint them. They are not the most detailed kits but they are good enough to play a game with and the price point is hard to beat. The Panzer IV will back up my Italian Paratroopers until I get the 13th Handschar Project off of the ground. The Sherman will support my US Marines against my Japanese force and their two type 97 Chi-hi's. Now I just have to sand them down a bit to get rid of the writing and finish painting them.

ColKG

Albion Fenbeasts acquired

Due to medical issues my hobby time has taken a hit but I finally managed to add some long sought models to the collection. Back in 2001 gw ran the Dark Shadows fantasy campaign. In it you had options to field a Dark Emissary evil wizard or a Truthsayer good wizard. One thing both of them could do was summon fenbeasts to add to your army. They are sort of a swamp monster formed around a magic ogham stone. I have one of both of the wizards but I never picked up any fenbeasts, until now.

A local guy posted up a bunch of models he wanted rid off and I traded him some Dark Angel terminators for the beasts. One is missing a head but I have plenty of bits and greenstuff to fix that. Now I just have to find the two wizards in the "Closet of Doom".


ColKG

More Dusty Olde Figs

Hi Kids,  Lately it seems I'll do almost anything to avoid painting, this post is exactly that.  I've started to check out the facebook pages for Oldhammer and Old School Minis, and this post is a general response to some of the posts others have made.  And taking pictures is a lot faster and easier than painting!

 One of the lads wanted to see everyone's most esoteric mini.  In my humble opinion, this is probably mine.  IIRC, it's from Jeff Valient Studios, Set #7 was written on the box.  I've always just called it the "Chickenman."  At one point it had a lot of detail, but 6 different paintjobs with Testors Enamels have managed to fill in about 85% of that!  I bought this thing at The Complete Strategist on East 33rd, NYC back in the early 1980's. Lots of my figs are from there.  One of the greatest regrets of my life is wasting all that cash on RPG's when I should have been buying more minis!!!!!!!  What was I thinking? D&D? Bah! Humbug!

 Yeah, there's a lot of balsawood bases from the good old days.  I used to cut them all myself.

 Another lad mentioned that he had never seen this Mino still with the ax in one piece.  Well, here ya go!  My Mino's didn't get a lot of use until that edition of WFB when they made Mino's a variant list of Chaos Beastman armies, which probably has a lot to do with his survival without breaking.

 Another guy posted a Marauder Giant Spider Rider.  These 5 are 3 Heroes and 2 Wizards. These are on 40mm bases.  I used these guys a huge amount back when the Fear rules meant the loser broke automatically if they lost the combat. No outnumber or anything else required.  It was the best way to crush Dwarves! And speak of the devil, there's that $3.29 Ral Partha Balrog, the first one I ever bought!  No, he's not the guy with it all hanging out. That was a couple years later.

 Six Groms of the Misty Mountains?  Actually, I thought I had seven.  Why more than one?  About 30 years ago Citadel had a sale, 75 minis for $100. Or maybe it was 100 minis for $75, I can't remember.  Anyway, all you could do was pick out the race, Citadel sent randon figs. A great way to bulk up your armies, but you could end up with some weird stuff.  That's also why I have 35 Dark Elf Cold One Riders with no Cold Ones. I ended up special ordering RAFM "Land Dragons" to use as mounts. Although Cold One Knights sucked so bad I needn't have bothered.

 You think about old Citadel plastics, you've gotta be thinking of these guys.  They were called "Drastic Plastic," and there were only two; an ork and a dwarf.  I have about 10 of the orks, these three were made with ALL the weapon arm options. I think I did this to separate the heroes. Stole the idea from White Dwarf.  Couldn't find the others, but the Basement works in mysterious ways. These retailed for the outrageous price of US$0.25.

 Old Hobbits/Halflings, this one is a Sci-Fi adventurer. I'm not sure if 40K existed at this point.  He's holding a spoon and a pistol.

 At this point I was getting tired of moving stuff around digging for older stuff underneath.  Mini archeology has never been my strong suite. So I just snapped a pic of my second Land Raider where its been sitting for 20+ years. The first one is painted up in the colors of the 8th Imperial Shock Assault Legion, otherwise known as the Imperial Dicks.  Remember, they came in boxes of two. Went for about 700 points IIRC. Too bad a 50 point Eldar D-Cannon could blow 'em to atoms all day long.   Don't worry, all the parts and bits are inside the hull.  And yes, some of those black boxes (empty Copplestone and Tiger mini boxes) fell over right after this pic.

 

When I saw this thing I knew I had to take a picture!  This is what the old version of Nagash looked like back in the early 1990's, still in the shrinkwrap.  This might be a first one they made, I'm not sure.  Yep, $20.00.  Back then that was about 6 hours work at minimum wage. Before taxes. And that store had a policy of pricing everything ABOVE retail!