So, yeah...

I bought a tank today.

It was a moment of weakness. I had 55 points left to spend (and a £5 voucher burning a hole in my wallet) and a razorback was exactly that (the points, not the money). 

Brings the tally down to:

22 vs 35 = -13

But hey, new toys! Unusually, I've actually built something the same day I bought it...

As the wife was reaching a couple of friends to knit tonight, when I wasn't bringing people cups of tea or cooking dinner I got to spend some quality tank building time...

However, having people round and rewatching episodes of Firefly isn't necessarily the most conducive environment to model making...

As I realised just after gluing the lid on, I missed installing the interior wall and had to tear it apart...

Which led to some filing and green-stuffing to try and tidy it up afterwards...

All's well that ends well though, as I now have me a tank!

Which brings me up to 500 points built (and based)!

Nerdmarines muster for war!

There have been rumblings of some potential 500 point 40k, so several episodes of Firefly rewatching later (and furiously fighting the urge to jump back into the Firefly project) we have 445 points of Nerdmarines built. They're a mix of monopose starter set marines (freely mixing and matching parts from different sets in the case of some models) and proper multipart marines from the box I got when I cancelled my White Dwarf subscription (and an old metal Captain with powerfist having taken a demotion to Vereran Sergeant status), with custom chapter shoulder pads using the moulds I rigged up a while ago for the original test model. Expect more in depth shots (such as the terrible conversion work I've done to de-Dark Angel the Dark Vengeance Librarian) should my attention span hold long enough to get something painted...

Collecting Dwarf Slayers Redux

Having had a fellow enthusiast by the name of James Peake (he doesn't currently have a blog, but I'll update with a link if that changes) get in touch, I was able to cross off a couple more Slayers from my list of Dorfs I need. Unfortunately, he'd also pulled together a much more comprehensive list that the one that I'd previously cobbled together (in the form of a pdf and spreadsheet), which revealed in handy pictoral form that there's a bunch more than I thought that I want (please note, my list still doesn't include Slayer pirates, 54mm releases etc, as they're not currently on my 'want list'):

(10/10, woo!)

(at some point I'll get around to picking up the Troll Slayers...)

(just need the command figures now from the newest set!)

The following images are shamelessly stolen from James Peake's PDF, so I can take no credit for them (except for the shaky crossing through to signify that I own them already, that's all me)

(If I were to get the Blood Bowl Slayers though, I'd be faced with a difficult choice: do I convert them to be armed so that they fit into a unit, or leave them as-is in their original form?) 

(Mmmm, Talisman-y)

(I own two of these, but I forget which. Note to self: dig out of storage and cross them off shakily using MS Paint)

 (Oh, the unit filler you'll be)

(Unreleased, iirc. Can't justify the price this guy tends to go for...)

I realise now that I still don't have a picture of the Battle for Skull Pass plastic slayer for this, but hey, you know what it looks like right?

[edit]: no change to the tally, as the trades were on a one-for-one basis - two marauder slayers and a more modern standard bearer for these three, who are now having a relaxing bath in the stripping pot:

Geekfest 2014

A handful of pics live from dreary Folkestone:

It's hot and full of people here.

There's a whole load of stuff from Blade Runner though, which is pretty cool...

I mean, I'm not normally that excited to see an umbrella, buts when it's this one: 

Or even this:

Hmm, Blade Runner in 28mm anyone? There's been nothing suitable for miniature gaming, alas, although I did pick up some old issues of Inquest, to remind myself of older, simpler times...

The apes have infiltrated us. I fear for our lives.

Also, I suggested that this man might be cosplaying as George Lucas:

But didn't get a chance to get a better pic, largely due to the half-naked lady that keeps walking past. We assume she's here for the body-painting, but she's no more painted now than she was an hour ago...

Not wildlings sighted!

Looks like Silent Invader at miniature mojo is working on some miniatures that would be perfect for wildlings:

Full details are available over at:

http://wargameterrain.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/miniature-mojo-new-medieval-wild-winter.html?m=1

I'm quietly quite excited about this, as I've been looking for some suitable attired wild types for when my ASOIAF project eventually heads north of the wall, and these are near enough exactly what I've been looking for! Either way, I've been eyeing some of SI's minis for use in my currently forming The Last of Us inspired project, plus the fact that it'd be nice to support him - many moons ago, I bought (and actually painted!) the first mini he ever released (which you can just about see on the right in this pic from my very first post here)!

[edited 12/05/14 to add links!]

Work table Saturday: Firefly, skeleton and Myconids...

Had I been more productive last Wednesday, this would have been a paint table Saturday, but alas it just wasn't meant to be. 

First of all, a gunslinger type for Firefly:

Star Wars miniatures body (having originally donated his head for a VSF Martian conversion that I realise now has neither been painted or posted despite having been built at least three years ago) with an Anvil Industries head that I picked up at Salute.

Yes, I know, I changed my mind on what basing system to use for Firefly. I'd only finished a couple of miniatures before now for this project though, so it won't be too much work to go back and rebase miniatures. 

Although this spate of preparation productivity started with me wanting to paint a skeleton miniature that I had knocking around (that you'll see at the edges of coming photos), I ended up with the urge to prep some mushroom men. As I'm sure I mentioned in a previous post, my love for myconids came from an old Inquest supplement, but really, what's not to love? Myconids are categorically awesome:

Yeah!

Rockin' Myconid pics aside, I've cleaned up all the mushroom chap miniatures I own, some Agarix from Hasslefree and Myconids from Ral Partha:

Whilst converting one of the Ral Partha chaps into a Rotpriest (one day, 4e, one day) with a little mushroom staff, I had a little bit of an accident:

Judicious use of liquid Green Stuff and Superglue managed to fix it though, but it was a pain as it was such a thin contact point that I couldn't pin it for strength:

Looking through my notes on ideas for Myconid encounters, I found this statblock:

Hmm, what miniatures could we grab back from John that would make a good basis for a floating mushroom spore?

Pow, minus 4 to the Tally (now 22 vs 34 = -12), but 4 more minis to paint! Apparently, I didn't take any pictures this morning of the minor conversion work that I did on these to repurpose them to my needs, so you'll just have to use your imagination for now...

Having made my Rotpriest conversion, I wanted to do something with the other Ral Partha Myconid that had a more exciting looking cap, and after a dig through my bits box turned up a GW goblin mushroom piece, he looks like some sort of wizard farmer (is he about to stroke those mushrooms, or is he summoning them?)

Which brings us to where I am now, waiting for the glue on the basing to dry so that I can start applying undercoat!