Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

The saurus reminds me a lot of how I painted up a couple of kroxigors, back in the day. I used false gharials as reference.

You did a much better job, though.

I'm not a big fan of the bastiladon model but I very much like what you did with the... what would you call it in this case? Carapace? Scutes? Osteoderms?

The battle turtle looks pretty sweet. Digging the power crystal. The wood grain on the shield also turned out quite nice.

The base on that bastilidon is looking great. Really.in keeping with your models and also looks realistic on its own merit.

 gobert wrote:
Thanks for the zoology lesson! I figured they were a sub-branch of turtles, with me thinking Red-eared or Yellow-bellied terrapins. I also had to look up what paraphyletic... it seems everyday is a school day, even when I’m not the (short tempered and grumpy) teacher.

Anyway, the Bastilidon looks really cool, the sandy colour of his shell is well done. Neat touch on the stripes on his skin too. I love all of the skinks hanging on for grim death.

Thank you, gobert! If you don't mind, what do you teach? I'm a graduate student so I work as a TA for my department (Anthropology). Summer session (online) is going to start in two weeks!

 Vermis wrote:
The saurus reminds me a lot of how I painted up a couple of kroxigors, back in the day. I used false gharials as reference.

You did a much better job, though.

I'm not a big fan of the bastiladon model but I very much like what you did with the... what would you call it in this case? Carapace? Scutes? Osteoderms?

Woah, that's a pretty reptile! That would actually be a really good reference if I ever added any kroxigors to my army. Thanks for sharing. A quick google reviews that scutes are the term!

 youwashock wrote:
The battle turtle looks pretty sweet. Digging the power crystal. The wood grain on the shield also turned out quite nice.

Well thank you! I'm still struggling with getting thin enough lines for the extreme highlights of the facets of the crystal. I feel alright with where they are now.

 howie wrote:
The base on that bastilidon is looking great. Really.in keeping with your models and also looks realistic on its own merit.

Cheers, I appreciate that! I was just thinking of ways to make the base a bit more cluttered, and I had some extra metal spears and I thought that it would be funny to have some spears that bent when they tried to pierce the hide.

----

Feeling sick of looking at it half-way done, I finally finished off the Realmgate Engine. It took forever. I have no idea why I picked the side with all the dang leaves and roots. Contrast paints saved my life.






Also finished up the bastiladon. Tried to do some scar-tissue type stuff on his lip but not sure if it worked out the way I wanted.





Took some army shots while they were all out:




Thanks for reading, all.

Scar tiisue looks great. I love the mix of colours you use, and how you make them pop. All looks ace

Oh, I meant to say homeschool teacher for my 7 year old! Not an actual teacher! My wife is an ecologist, so I’ve probably picked up a few biology bits through osmosis... I’m an Engineer turned Project Manager irl.

The realmgate engine looks a great centre piece, but does it fit on your display shelf!?! The whole army is looking really good and is certainly starting to fill out.

Nice work Don Qui Hotep.

Cheers,

CB

Nice update, really love the work on the big lizard and using the realmgate's side with all the details paid off in the end, it looks great!

The bastiladon is gorgeous! I just love his scales and plates. And of course his skink buddies, got to have skink buddies

Dang, the bastilidon is looking fearsome! And I love skinks!

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. Sorry for the delay on updates; this is more of a blog than a plog post. I decided to drive from San Diego to my hometown in Northern Illinois to be with my family during the pandemic (taking all the proper precautions before and during the trip). Recovered from the drive and starting to get myself set up for work here (summer semester starts in a week). Naturally I brought some stuff to paint and play with, so hopefully updates will continue shortly, albeit at a slightly reduced pace.

One major perk is that my brother and I are able to get in as many games as we can handle, including starting a 90s Necromunda campaign. This afternoon we played my first AoS game, my Seraphon vs his Maggotkin. It was a really fun game, the lizards lost but not for lack of trying - it ended up being pretty close until the last round, and he ended up winning about 8/9 to 5. I really like the system and didn't mind the double turn, and I think I know how to chop and screw my list a bit to get some better results: more monsters, more magic.

Here's some pics from the game. It was really fun to play with these guys, I feel like that's the last step before a model is finished - it's gotta be baptized in the crucible of war. Hope to share more soon!

Really like the ziggurat. The ancient tech stuff has really let you make some sweet focal points for the army. It all looks good together. Scarface came out good, too. Happy gaming with your brother. Looking forward to Necromunda pics.

Excellent to see a game in full throw. As a worshipper I approve!

Wow! That is one heck of a drive! Something us brits can barely comprehend, 24+ hours of driving by google. Worth the travel by the looks of the game pics! Hopefully you get some painting time to get them all done too!

It's nice that you can be with your family! That's an important thing. And getting games in is a nice bonus!

That temple makes such a neat centerpiece for your game.

 youwashock wrote:
Really like the ziggurat. The ancient tech stuff has really let you make some sweet focal points for the army. It all looks good together. Scarface came out good, too. Happy gaming with your brother. Looking forward to Necromunda pics.

Aw, thanks! I'm particularly happy with the Realmgate Engine, it made me happy to put it down on the table with all the other painted terrain. I've got some 'Munda pics coming at the end of the post!

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Excellent to see a game in full throw. As a worshipper I approve!

And neither did Nurgle neglect his chosen sons; the Blight Kings did a heckuva lotta damage that day.

 gobert wrote:
Wow! That is one heck of a drive! Something us brits can barely comprehend, 24+ hours of driving by google. Worth the travel by the looks of the game pics! Hopefully you get some painting time to get them all done too!

Very much worth it! Everyone's safe and healthy, we're all working from home. I didn't mind getting out of my two-room apartment either. You're not kidding about the drive though - four days of driving, about 7-8 hours per day!

 amazingturtles wrote:
It's nice that you can be with your family! That's an important thing. And getting games in is a nice bonus!

That temple makes such a neat centerpiece for your game.

Thanks again! I think my brother's Gnarlmaw looks pretty good too!

---

A bit of a painting update, I've been steadily stripping and repainting my Necromunda gang as they level up. Basically once they distinguish themselves they get a name and an updated paintjob. I had one zealot that I had never painted and decided to use him as the test model for the new scheme, and, wouldn't you believe, after our first game I happened to recruit a new ganger with an axe and a pistol.

I'll post some pics of the old gang in the Retro Models thread and the updated ones here as I go. On the left is the version I painted about thirteen years ago, on the right is the new version.





Thanks for reading, all.

Oh, dear. Redemptionists. Time to break out the heat. And maybe a giant chainsaw. Great models. I like the blue masks.

Thanks, Youwashock. Looking at my older models I realize I've always liked brighter color schemes. Coming back to them now I still want to keep those colors, just update them a bit for the modern age.

Latest update is the Deacon with a Flamer. Before:



(first shots he's shiny cuz I fished him out of the Pine Sol for a quick photo)

After:


We don't need to dwell on it but I decided to clip off his pointy hood - it has different optics in 2020 USA than it does in 1990s UK. Plus, I realized that now he looks a lot like Ned Kelly, which is really fun.



Would you want to wear a metal mask when you're working with flame equipment? I personally wouldn't, but that's probably just because I lack the proper faith in the Emperor.

Two friends, hanging out:



Next up is the zealot with an eviscerator, one of my favorite models in the gang. Thanks for reading, all.

Great work, love seeing the old Necromunda come out.

Cheers,

CB

Interesting. Also looks a little like Monty Python's Black Knight. See how many times you get to say, "it's only a flesh wound" after rolling for injury.

Nice work on those old minis. If you hadn't told, I wouldn't have guessed that flamer guy was wearing a hood before.

Thanks for the kind words, Viterbi, youwashock, and CB! I've been a bit all over the place hobby-wise the past two weeks; haven't been able to get as many games in since I've started teaching remotely for Summer Session, but we got a few games of Infinity in and over the weekend we played a game of 8th edition fantasy. That was my brother's idea, in the same way that I've been revisiting the lizardmen from my youth he's been building and painting his Empire. He got 2000 points of Oldhammer painted up and so we had ourselves a game. I admit I was a bit skeptical, because I had always heard that 8th edition was what killed the Old World (an ignorant position of which my brother quickly disabused me). We ended up having a great time. His artillery were very nasty in the first turns, one-shoting my bastilidon, but I was able to disable his cannon with my skinks and got lucky when his Hellblaster rolled double-misfires. We got stuck in a fun scrap with his 40 (!) State Troops enmeshed with my Saurus. Around turn 4 I won combat resolution by 7 points but thanks to his Warrior Priest his troops were able to rally in a magnificent way, and the melee lasted for one more turn - long enough for his fanatics to charge my flank and his block of 15 (!) knights to charge my rear. After a turn of carnage I conceded, we both had a lot of fun.

I had to do a bit of proxying, because I've been putting off building the rest of my Seraphon until I finish painting what I have, and we used dice to represent the number of sauruses because they were all rebased onto 32 mm and so couldn't rank up quite the same way. Even so, the tabletop was nice and colorful and it was awesome to see one fully-painted and one half-painted army together!

Part of my army was a unit of 3 Kroxigors. Didn't end up performing that well at all, but I really like their stats for AoS. Problem is Kroxigor models are expensive, and far from my favorite sculpts. So once again I return to our friends at Crocodile Games and picked out some of my favorite Children of Sobek models. Clip off the Egyptian-specific decorations and slap on a couple snakes, lizardmen weapons, and paint what's supposed to be gold like jade and I think they work pretty well. Only got one painted up so far but I think it'll work! I actually checked out Vermis's link to false gharials and ended up using it as a reference-point.

Here's the before:


And here's the after:


A few pics from the game:






Thanks for reading, all.

Looks like fun!

I like the Crocs-i-gor. Sebeki are grand models, so it is nice to see them getting used.

 youwashock wrote:
I like the Crocs-i-gor. Sebeki are grand models, so it is nice to see them getting used.

QFT Nice work Don!

Nice work on the Krox, you really wouldn’t know he was really an Egyptian! That’s a really cool horde of knights your brother has too, is he a dakkanaut too?

Big and smashy. Great crocs, lovely colours.

A great improvement of the present models Don Qui Hotep.

Cheers,

CB

Sounds like a fun game and they're great looking crocs! I especially like the one guys weapons. Big ol' mallets are a lot more fun than hammers

 Don Qui Hotep wrote:
I actually checked out Vermis's link to false gharials and ended up using it as a reference-point.

Haha! Nice. They look great. I always liked those Sebeki minis. Funny, somehow I got the impression Crocodile Games had gone under recently.

Good work on everything.

 youwashock wrote:
Looks like fun!

I like the Crocs-i-gor. Sebeki are grand models, so it is nice to see them getting used.

Thank you! I actually got the idea from this blog years ago, I think that was my first exposure to Crocodile Games sculpts.

 Boss Salvage wrote:

 youwashock wrote:
I like the Crocs-i-gor. Sebeki are grand models, so it is nice to see them getting used.

QFT Nice work Don!

Cheers, bud, I appreciate it!

 gobert wrote:
Nice work on the Krox, you really wouldn’t know he was really an Egyptian! That’s a really cool horde of knights your brother has too, is he a dakkanaut too?

Thanks, I'll let him know! No, he's not on Dakka (I did get his OK to post the pics) but it looks like he shared some photos on Reddit - you can see the table from the Empire's side!

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Big and smashy. Great crocs, lovely colours.

Thanks Graven, and you know from crocs!

 Captain Brown wrote:
A great improvement of the present models Don Qui Hotep.

Cheers,

CB

Aw thanks CB! Really appreciate it. Doesn't feel quite done until you play a game with them though!

 amazingturtles wrote:
Sounds like a fun game and they're great looking crocs! I especially like the one guys weapons. Big ol' mallets are a lot more fun than hammers

Oh, I agree 100%. Years ago I bought a couple weapon sprues from Crocodile Games and ended up gifting some mallets to my chaos cultists. Mallets are good for smashing. I say we change the name to Warmallet Fantasy.

 Vermis wrote:

 Don Qui Hotep wrote:
I actually checked out Vermis's link to false gharials and ended up using it as a reference-point.

Haha! Nice. They look great. I always liked those Sebeki minis. Funny, somehow I got the impression Crocodile Games had gone under recently.

Good work on everything.

Yeah, I appreciate the reference. Crocodile Games is actually still going strong! They just released the Wargods of Olympus rulebook, which is a bit of foreshadowing for my next update. Their release rate is slow as molasses but there's plenty of third party historical miniatures to fill in the gaps that I'm not particularly bothered. A few weeks ago we played a game of WoO and I really got a kick out of it. I really liked the system for alternate activations - each General has a command score, you roll off and compare results. Whoever has the edge activates the first unit (or multiple units, if you win the edge by six or more). The cool thing is that all orders are assigned secretly at the start of each round, and on your activation you can either activate your own unit or one of your opponent's. So if you want to charge your opponent you can activate his unit first in the expectation that it moves into charge range, or your opponent could activate your unit first so that they fail the charge. It's also really fun when your opponent activates one of your units, you flip open the command counter, and you realize that you have no idea what you were thinking. It represents the chaos of the chain of command on the battlefield in a really neat way.

It's an awkward thing because I really want to recommend the game, but there's a lot of asterisks - the slow release rate, high cost of the miniatures, and a fairly moribund competitive scene. But then again, they just released the rulebook which has gotten a lot of buzz, the game itself is a lot of fun, and they offer some modern and interesting takes on Classical mythology. Plus, if you played as much Age of Mythology as I did as a young'n, it's kind of a dream come true to play a version on the tabletop.

We're gonna try and get a game of Necromunda in tomorrow, I'll post up some photos then. Thanks for reading, all.