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Cool mini. Goggle and chainsaw are always a winning combo.

EDC

Merry Christmas to all, nothing much here, though I did get Fury Road on bluray and a rather miscast and ill-fitting miniature that will no doubt be a joy to put together:



Ah, the French. They make lovely miniatures, the execution can be a bit lacking though..

Miss von Gaut will become a future Imperial noble of some sort. But we'll see about that, first things first, I've got four days off, so I'm going to man up and see about wrapping up that zombie apocalypse survivor miniature, sans base, I'll have to get stuff for that some time next year.

May as well post this here as well, a rough plan of what lies in store for me hobby-wise 2016. At the end of 2016 we shall point and laugh at how much of this hasn't been done in the end due to reasons, which will mostly be me being a lazy arse or being distracted by other things yet again.

- Get a Solar Auxilia army of 2500 pts ready for a game in April this year, as I'll be going to the UK for the first time in.. quite a few years now to pay a visit to a friend and his wife, which of course means that one must bring an army along for an obligatory fight to the death. Most of the models for this army are already present, but still need to be painted and based, so it's going to be a hard few months to get it all done. I'll also need to track down a Stormlord for the list, not to mention convert it to give it its Heresy-era armaments, because where we are going we don't want no weedy stubbers.

- Wrap up 2500 pts of Imperial Knights with a small allied contingent of Mechanicum for completion sake and for when my regular Tau opponent wants to go big-game hunting again.

- Build a 1000 pts Solar Auxilia force for Zone Mortalis missions. While I have most of the units already in my possession, the general idea is to also add in units that normally wouldn't see as much play, like the power axe armed Veletaris squad, they make for a great melee unit there.

- Get started on an allied force of Imperial Fists (Heresy-era of course) of around 750 - 1000 pts, in proper yellow and all that for a few games against the Iron Warriors of a fellow local Heresy player, so probably Zone Mortalis themed as well.

- If I'm feeling really brave or stupid, I may look at something along the lines of either a Warhound or Ordinatus Ulator.

So, for the list I'm working on my order just came in, courtesy of Raging Heroes:

One metal Drakenfeld who will become a Strategos, minus the stupid gun and silly helmet:



One box of..



Three boxes of..



A resin nuncio vox operator:



And one metal Tercio Vexilla bearer:



All this, minus the Strategos, combined will become a single Lasrifle Section of twenty models, complete with vox and banner. The metal head of the Strategos will go to the Troop Master of this squad, plus the Vexilla bearer will also get a nice padded helmet to fit in with the rest of the girls.

These ladies will become the Voidborn Hoplites, to explain away their freakish thin and tall builds when compared to the other miniatures in my army. These ladies may or may not also be getting a Dracosan armoured transport, if the order ever gets there in time. If not, they'll be slogging it on foot with the Tactical Command Squad.

Mistakes have been made, as in, while the minis look nice and are certainly crisp (if still fething greasy after cleaning them TWICE, seriously, are these supposed to be suppositories?), they are anything but perfect for the creation of proper squads or units. If there's one thing these sets miss it is enough sets of regular arms holding a rifle or aiming with it, instead we're getting way too many special-pose parts. The running poses are also quite.. active. It's a good thing I got the two specialists to keep me from using more running legs, but then again.. one of them is running, in an awkward direction no less.

So yeah, my own stupid fething fault, mistakes have been made, keep calm and carry on I suppose. That's six down, fourteen more to go, which will be quite challenging as these aren't exactly conversion friendly due to their greasy nature and a severe lack of normal rifle-toting arms!

Yea, I got some wereshewolves and was surprised at the resin. It definitely has a greasy, almost waxy feel to it. It also has a ton of tiny bubbles all through it. Do yours have that? Do they disappear with priming? I am trying to figure out if that is a complaint I should include when I finally email RH about it.

 BrookM wrote:
if still fething greasy after cleaning them TWICE, seriously, are these supposed to be suppositories?

Lol ! This ! Ended up cleaning mines with a brush, in order to clear the hardest spots. Cannot complain about bubbles though, weren't any.

 KernelTerror wrote:

 BrookM wrote:
if still fething greasy after cleaning them TWICE, seriously, are these supposed to be suppositories?

Lol ! This ! Ended up cleaning mines with a brush, in order to clear the hardest spots. Cannot complain about bubbles though, weren't any.

Agreed! Some minor flash and mold-lines, but no bubbles or holes, so honest kudos to them for that.

Very cool - subscribed

Also subbed, you don't see an all female solar ax. army that often

man, i love the RH girls!!!
they have really made Guard seem fresh again...

i look forward to seeing this army come together...
good luck, jonge!!!

cheers
jah

Hmmm no bubbles huh? Well... time to start drafting that email. Thanks guys.

 Wehrkind wrote:
Hmmm no bubbles huh? Well... time to start drafting that email. Thanks guys.

For what you pay for these models, having flawless casts is the least you can expect from them in my opinion.

 Ustrello wrote:
Also subbed, you don't see an all female solar ax. army that often

There are some dudes in there, somewhere.

I've got a squad of Forge World flamers and a Veletaris Storm Section, these represent the "old guard" of the army, the original Saturnyne veterans who've been around since before the Crusade kicked off and follow the lady into anything, no matter how deadly. The rest of the army is more or less recruited and taken in over time, from worlds like Minerva and from the ranks of the fleet itself. There will be at least one more Forge World addition before the year is over, a squad of power axe toting troops, because I really need me some can openers for the next Zone Mortalis game!

But other than them, I suppose it's not so much a sausage fest as with most armies.

Though I am getting to the point where I'm slowly reaching the maximum amount of purchases for this army for some time to come. On the list right now is another Dracosan, a commander for that vehicle and a Stormlord, both of which I'll be needing for my game in April this year.

Unless I wind up revising the list yet again! I keep on tweaking it more and more as I look at it. Nothing too major any more, just minor tweaks in an already quite bare bones list.

Looks like a project that'll really shine when they're done. Great models, though cleaning them seems a horrifying prospect.

I finally got the last of my KS1 in a few days ago. Now I need to open the whole lot up and do a QA check to see if anything is missing, miscast, etc. Not something I'm looking forward to...

 Azazelx wrote:
Looks like a project that'll really shine when they're done. Great models, though cleaning them seems a horrifying prospect.

I finally got the last of my KS1 in a few days ago. Now I need to open the whole lot up and do a QA check to see if anything is missing, miscast, etc. Not something I'm looking forward to...

If I were you I'd bite the bullet and get it over with, replacement of faulty items may be a hassle on its own, seeing as we're part of that infamous group of commenters of the original KS thread.

All I know is, somewhere down the line, probably post-April when the trip is over and done with, I'll be looking into getting an ultrasonic cleaner or the like.

Cool. Looking forward to see how the RH models progress.

EDC

With a lot of swearing and breaking down into tears of pathetic frustration so far.

 BrookM wrote:
If I were you I'd bite the bullet and get it over with, replacement of faulty items may be a hassle on its own, seeing as we're part of that infamous group of commenters of the original KS thread.

All I know is, somewhere down the line, probably post-April when the trip is over and done with, I'll be looking into getting an ultrasonic cleaner or the like.

Nah, they've been pretty good lately. I've had semi-regular contact with them sorting out my missing freebies, so it's all good there, I believe.

I've got an ultrasonic cleaner, but I'm a bit hesitant to throw resin or trollcast models into it without someone else having been the guinea pig.

 Azazelx wrote:

 BrookM wrote:
If I were you I'd bite the bullet and get it over with, replacement of faulty items may be a hassle on its own, seeing as we're part of that infamous group of commenters of the original KS thread.

All I know is, somewhere down the line, probably post-April when the trip is over and done with, I'll be looking into getting an ultrasonic cleaner or the like.

Nah, they've been pretty good lately. I've had semi-regular contact with them sorting out my missing freebies, so it's all good there, I believe.

I've got an ultrasonic cleaner, but I'm a bit hesitant to throw resin or trollcast models into it without someone else having been the guinea pig.

Woah, is Trollcast that gakky then?

Well, it's a nice enough material, though it seems covered in super-astroglide. I've got no idea if it'll be fine or do badly in an Ultrasonic, though.

When I first got my US Cleaner, I put some older, lead-based models in there and found to my horror that they started to disintegrate from the vibrations. Newer pewter/tin models, and even plastic are fine (as long as the plastic isn't heated too much). But with that first find in mind, I'm hesitant to try resin or trollcast models.

Well, If I had resin models to strip, I'd drop one of those forge world offcuts that looks like a Jersey Barrier in and try it, but I've got nothing similar for trollcast to use as a test object.

I have never had problems with resin or Trollcast in my US using Simple Green or water. Then again, I never had problem with lead either, so that's a little worrisome.

How hot does your US get? Mine is warm enough to create condensation on the lid from evaporated fluid, but not warm enough to prompt resin to get flexible etc.

I decided to quit being a little bitch and power through this fething squad in one go, because like feth am I going to end every day with enough rage to kill toddlers and those weak of heart with one of my death glares. Only thing the ghouls are missing right now is extra kit around their waists to bulk them out a bit (and hide their Liefeld Syndrome spines), like a much-needed bayonet, but I'll probably add that when I've primed them and I can more reliably stick gak to their bodies without having to hold it into place for ten minutes. Due to the limited amount of part variety there are some.. odd ducklings in the bunch. Or should I say, the Suicide Girl Hopefuls trying too hard in between the more normal alt models we're used to? Or well, at least I am anyway.

Enough waffling, here we go.



The Troop Leader, nuncio-vox operator and troop vexilla bearer. The two specialists are more or less straight out of the blister, with a headswap for the vexilla bearer. Sadly the nuncio-vox operator came with head attached and quite a bit of hair as well, so she's the only one in the section with a bare head. No worries though, the Troop Leader, straight from the troops boxed set with a spare head from another Raging Heroes metal and armoured plates from Victoria Miniatures is sure to steal any unwanted attention away from her. I very much like to think that the Troop Leader had the same padded crash helmet as the rest of her section until she saw Astartes sergeants for the first time, with their impressive helmet crests. My guess is she got jealous or something and wanted one as well, excellent for being recognizable by her troops in the thick of the fight. She also doesn't need to worry about her troops saluting her in the field, with a helmet like that it's quite obvious who's in charge of the unit. Oh right and I'll be adding something of an antenna to the nuncio-vox somewhere down the line of course, the little dish that came with it was too greasy to glue onto the top of that unsupported, plus it would snap off in less than ten seconds after looking at it.



Next up we got runners. I hope you like girls with long legs and crooked backs, because that's going to be something of a theme with this unit. Not much to say about these other than.. we could've done with less of these extremely posed running legs. One of them is holding onto a landmine / demolition charge, which I'll just explain away as being a breaching charge or the like.



More runners, two of whom are clutching grenades, perhaps opting to deliver them by hand instead of throwing them? The middle one will be cleaned up later this weekend, I'm painfully aware of the dried super glue. Also, the one on the right is stumbling or something?



Another runner, the last one, I swear! Plus, a pair of girls who remembered how to use their grenades. I think..



A pair of girls blazing away and one who is.. not sure what the middle one is doing, take a pick:
-"Take my hand, I need you for the next part of the power ballad!"
- "Come get some then if you think you're fething hard enough!"
- "Don't come any closer or I will have to exercise my right to use deadly force!"



Another lass with a demolition charge, one holding her gun at the ready, while the latter is giving a clear signal here: NO. JUST NO.



Finally.. A rather concerned looking trooper looking on as her comrade is trying to pull the pin from a grenade with her soon to be ruined teeth. I'm not sure if that was the intention of that grenade arm, but I decided to go with it, I rather like it actually.

So, there we have it, another unit built. All that's left for them now is for their Dracosan to show up, because where we are going, we'll be driving in style.

I'm not sure why, but I absolutely love that nuncio operator. It's one of the couple 'moving' figures you've shown that somehow looks like it should.

The quality of those casts is just jaw-dropping - makes me wish I had the stones to start another Not-Guard-But-Definitely-Guard army.

I'm also surprised how volkite-ish the rifles look.

some tidy figs there. liking them. Dracosan is defintely the way to go!!! love that model. nice job man

Very nice indeed. I must say I actually prefer the standing poses to running poses...

EDC

Frankenberry wrote:I'm not sure why, but I absolutely love that nuncio operator. It's one of the couple 'moving' figures you've shown that somehow looks like it should.

The quality of those casts is just jaw-dropping - makes me wish I had the stones to start another Not-Guard-But-Definitely-Guard army.

I'm also surprised how volkite-ish the rifles look.

The quality is indeed really, really good. It's just a bit on the brittle side and really greasy, no matter how many times you clean it. The vox operator in particular is resin and dances around on one foot, I am not taking bets on how long it's going to take for her to break.

Personally I'm not a super big fan of their weapon designs, especially the heavy weapons, they look awfully poorly designed and useless. The rifles are generic enough to be passed off as laser rifles though. Plus.. 30k, everything looked more sci-fi back then.

Januine wrote:some tidy figs there. liking them. Dracosan is defintely the way to go!!! love that model. nice job man

Many thanks! I'm still waiting on when the Dracosan is going to arrive, but in anticipation of it, I've already decided to order the future commander mini for it:

evildrcheese wrote:Very nice indeed. I must say I actually prefer the standing poses to running poses...

EDC

Same here, there are just too many running legs in those boxed sets, along with a severe lack of regular arms holding a rifle in both hands. As striking as they look, these sets are not exactly regiment-building friendly kits.

In other news, work is slowly progressing on the Lasrifle section, nothing noteworthy to show off yet. I've also ordered, alongside the tank commander shown above, this lady:



She may either become a future addition to the tactical command squad as another Strategos orrrr with some sawing and hacking, the commander of the Stormlord / Baneblade (if I can be arsed to magnetize it that is) I may be picking up this Sunday for my list. Yet another option is, especially with the cybernetic eye implant, to turn her into another Imperial noble for my Questoris Knights, who aside from the youngest, all have a cybernetic eye of some sort as a means of communing with their suit of armour.

Wait, what?

I was told my army was too noble bright or something, so to grimdark things up a bit these nobles hook up through the eye socket and not a few dozen plugs in the back of the head.

Love the idea of using Raging Heroes. Unfortunately this may have cemented my decision to not buy any of them myself. The awkward poses and anatomy were my biggest concerns during the KS, and now I see that I was right to worry. The sculptor seems to enjoy making comic book-y poses but does not have the chops to pull them off (or maybe that's exactly what he does, in that Liefieldian way...) I was holding a box of Jailbird troopers in my hand the other week but decided to hold off. Either way, really looking forward to seeing what you can do with them!

You can't see it in the shots I put up, but all the girls from the troop boxed sets have crooked backs like they're posing on a bike or fast car or are from a Rob Liefeld comic..



My boxed set of Jailbirds doesn't seem to have it as bad as the KST's though.

That is hilarious.

Here's a crappy profile shot of one of the grrrls:



Tell me that ain't healthy, right guys?

Also, I'm really bad at sticking these together, as they all turned out like that, with the odd gap in the back.