Epicast Stompa revisited

While unpacking the workshop I rediscovered an old friend from 40K 2nd Edition... Its from Epicast back in the bad old days when GW licensed a few outside companies Like Epicast, and, later, Armorcast to produce stuff that occurred in the fluff but GW itself was not producing.  Eventually all of those licenses were withdrawn and consolidated back into what we now know as Forge World.

These early models came with rules in the form of Data Sheets so they could be played, with the consent of your opponent, without any new rule books being required.

Second edition was the high water mark of the cartoon style for 40k and my Orks were as cartoon-y as they come. These first couple of pictures are of the Stompa appear (with the addition of the beginnings of some lining that I started before remembering to snap a photo) as I played it for decades.  Bright primary colors and almost zero weathering, highlighting, or shading.  The roof tiles over the rear assualt doors were perhaps the only attempt at weathering.  

This was not entirely a sacrifice on the altar of speed.  The cartoon style really relied on mass color coding with a very small number of spot details as focal points... much like Anime does even now. I wanted to update this old can a bit so it didn"t look super incongruous with my current Orks but retained its 2 ed. roots.

Below is the result.

As you can see I chose not to start over from scratch and just continued on over the old paint.

I started with a lot of Brown Rust (Secret Weapon(SW)) to move the nearly monochrome green into a two color scheme, jazz up the freehand chevrons, and to make the iron jaws of the skull a bit more fearsome. This was all large brush stippling.

Following the Brown Rust I did a full model Drybrush with Silver (Vallejo(V)) followed by a full model wash with Armor Wash (SW) and then wiped away the excess wash with a paper towel.  

Orange Rust (SW) was stippled in the central areas of any Brown Rust areas, Phoenix Red (V) stippled over red areas. 

Brass Casing (SW) was used to touch up and shade gold areas and Engine Metal (SW) touched up and highlighted all metal areas. The battlecannon barrel mouth got some thin coats of Orange Heat (SW) fading into Purple Heat (SW) fading into the base green.  The entire model then was lined with Rust Shadow (SW) with extra effort directed at establishing a more detailed impression of a blade track for the chainsword.

The model has always been unsteady on its feet and prone to falling over so in a final omage to 2nd ed., and to play with my newly rediscovered static grass applicator, I  grabbed a big oval bass and loaded it up with 2mm static grass.  In 2nd. ed almost all the armies I encountered, including my own, were straight up flocked unlike the more significant efforts expended on modern bases.

Here is the completed model with some Ork Burna Boyz making their wicked way into the Undertown... gonna be a bad day for someone!

 Back to the desk!

Cheers

Mistress Slithiss - Lust Elf Excruciatrix WiP

 Two versions of Lady Slithiss - Excruciatrix from the TGG2 Kickstarter from Raging Heroes.  These were just released for regular sale and are great models for Chaos, Deark Eldar, Dark Elf, Necron, or AdMech.

I thought I'd make these two with the same costume scheme and compare the two models noting especially how different or similar they might be.

I started on the SF version first and immediately lost one of the mechanical hands... grrr!  No worries with a little improvisation the missing hand was converted and assembly continued!

 The model has a lot of spines and fiddly bit that would be difficult to paint in place so I elected to partially assemble and paint the model before finishing the assembly and adding top highlights and other details.

 For the Fantasy Version I took the same approach... minus launching a tiny hand into the ether...

Here are the primed models... the fantasy version in 11 parts and the Sci-Fi version in 6 parts.

The Sci-Fi version had easier access to the joints for painting so I was able to build it a little more prior to painting.

The Fantasy version is a bit tighter in the spines and... I decided at the last moment I wanted to put it on a 25mm square base... all of my 25mm square bases are in transit from Romania... DoH!

Fortunately they are scheduled to arrive tomorrow!... Unfortunately  I'll have to locate them in the huge pile o boxes... but thats a battle for another day!  The fantasy model is temporarily mounted on a 20mm square to help with painting it and I'll fix the base after.

I primed the models with Krylon Paint and Primer camo Tan.  everything seems to be going to plan so far....

I worked the base flesh just a bit with Forest Skin from the Malefic Skin tone set from Vallejo then moved on to the purples.

Base coat was Liquitex Soft Body Acrylic Brilliant Purple followed by a wash coat of Liquitex Deep Violet ink.

The ink covered has a really rich color!  I then went back to the brilliant purple adding a drop of ink to for layer highlights followed by another layer with a drop of CraftSmart White.  A final layer of pure Craft smart white was lightly dry-brushed.

I noticed after the fact that one of the little Pub Crawling Fantasy Mice from Reaper is Ogling the twin Excruciatri...  I can't imagine that ends well for him... poor chap!

The two models share a general pose and a flowing robe with lots of appendages but really are two completely different models!  Often different versions just have a techno gadget replace their main weapon or a different should pad... Raging Heroes went above and beyond to make these two models unique. I don't believe they share any common parts at all! .. and yet the unifying theme keeps them looking related to each other so.. score for RH!

 Some scale comparisons!

The two Slithiss and Shiveryah SF version.

Keep in mind the Fantasy Slithiss is bluetacked to that square base which is adding some height to the model.... It'll finish a little taller than the SF vesion but not as tall as it currently appears!

The twins and Canoness Veridyan from GW.


Now to prepare the house for the invasion of the boxes!  Its going to be a busy week but I'm hoping to sneak in some time to work on these!

Build it!
Paint it!
Play it!

Toughest Girls of the Galaxy 2 Preview; Executrix Champion Sephea and Dark Elf Mascot Violet

I got a preview set of the the freebies from the Toughest Girls of the Galaxy 2 "Darkness and Light" (TGG 2) and I'll be painting them up just as fast as I can manage but, even though the freebie set contains Sisters and Lust Elves I really fixed on Executrix Sephea and the Mascot Violet as my first targets.

 Its kind of funny that I first got interested in the Kickstarter because of the Sisters of the Chalice/Orphanage and then became completely enthralled by the Lust Elves and now have really started looking hard at the Void and Dark Elves.

 I usually play Dark Eldar in 40K and have proxied some RH stuff in my armies before... Asharah SF version as the Archon of the Blood Rain, and the Blood Vestals SF version for Wyches as well as the fantasy versions for Witch Elves.  Because I have a full blown Dark Eldar army already built and painted up I thought I'd have less interest in proxy Dark Eldar... boy was I wrong about that!  At this point I'll be building a parallel pure Void Elf army, complete with its own backgrounds, as kind of a "Darker Eldar" army that is related to my main Force  "The Blood Rain".



The figures are very finely detailed and crisply cast.  There are few mold lines and they are generally well placed.  After a thorough cleaning I primed up Sephea and Violet and set to work.







The Blood Rain has a very identifiable color scheme and the new Void Elf Shard is going to as well.  First things first, Asharah's Void Elves will be the "Vertigo Shard" and will have a lot of asymetric designs worked into the heroes and vehicles... I'm thinking that the Blood Rain will retain the old school Dark Eldar vehicles while the Vertigo Shard will get the new style... we'll see how that plays out for troops but these minis are so inspiring I might go there!

My first thought is to take the iconic Incubi... all black and skulls and scary... and re-imagine them in rose and indigo.  You see that here with Sephea and Violet... who will serve as the Shard's Communion Familiar... sort of a modified creature that talks to lesser beings so the Void Elves don't have to... The actual Executrix troops will have the same, or a reverse, of Sephea's scheme... all depends on how the rose sits against the flesh... tricksey!

 I imagine Executrix Sephea's first meeting with Val'orn Archon of the Hidden Kindred to have gone something like this:


 "Dire Lord!  The Void Kin vessel approaches as anticipated." whispered the diminutive Communion Familiar.
Archon Val'orn of the Hidden Kindred, vassals of the Blood Rain Kabal, winced.  He did not agree with this course of action but the Kabal  had chosen this path and he was compelled to obey.

 "Dispatch Ar'Rrath" he directed.








 "Void Sisters we welcome your arrival and look forward to this exchange. Klaivex Ar'Rrath is on his way to you. When can we expect your Executrix?" the tones of the communion familiar were carefully cultivated... radiating an indifference just short of actual insult... it was unclear, to the uninitiated, whether or not a reply was actually expected.


 "You may expect me now." replied a lilting and remotely amused voice from the foot of the command dais.  A tall blonde female Void Elf, for no outsider had ever seen a male Void Elf... if indeed any of them existed, clad in brilliant blue and pale rose armor stood gracefully in the single moment before the command deck erupted in furious activity.

 Two Incubi clad in the heavy armor, and bearing the signature great blades of their profession, moved rapidly to flank the new arrival.


 "How quaint, you actually wear....black... oh, and skulls.... yes there are skulls!  I imagine that is fearsome!" mused the newcomer.

"Stay your blades Incubi!" laughed Val'orn "I suspect this is Executrix Sephea... your new Klaivex."

The Incubi came to a sudden, and complete, halt as Val'orn turned his attention to Sephea... "I expect to learn something of that trick as part of this exchange but recommend that you use it with caution while you are among the Blood Rain."

For all his glib demeanor Val'orn was off his guard.  The Void Elves had a reputation that was equal parts mystery and terror, even by the standards of the Kabal, but this sparkling gem did not align with his own vision of fear.

"As you command Dire Lord, although... if I might mention such a trifle... while caution might be useful if simple fear is your desire" a slight pause, a blatantly incredulous eye cast toward the Incubi she was to command, she continued "it's usefulness is substantially diminished when invoking true terror."

"We shall see Executrix... we shall see..."  Val'orn retreated within the protective void bubble of his command throne and wondered again about the wisdom of this course.



The story is still unfolding but such an auspicious beginning!




Sephea and Violet, in its role as Communion Familiar. The Mascot "Violet" should probably be renamed to "Indigo" in my service since I painted her that way... but, reduce confusion, Violet she remains!

Sephea seen paired with a rare female Archon from GW.

Oh... before I forget completely!

Painting notes:

Skin: Basic Flesh (Vallejo), Flesh Wash (P3), retouched with Basic Flesh.

Indigo areas: Nightmare Black (Reaper), Deep Sky Blue (Vallejo) highlights, wash Sapphire (Secret Weapon), spot highlights Deep Sky Blue.

Rose areas: Rose Brown (Vallejo), highlights Brains Pink (Reaper), wash Drying Blood (Secret Weapon), retouch Rose brown, spot highlight brains pink.

Designs in the rose area were painted between just before the first wash using Deep  Red (Reaper)



I based her on the same Blasted Swamp (Secret Weapon) bases that majority The Blood Rain is based on.  I thought about a separate basing scheme for the Vertigo Shard but they may still be used with the Blood Rain quite a lot and it will be more unifying to have the bases regularized.

Oh! before I forget.... Sephea and Violet are both part of the big pile of freebies you get for pledging at the LT. level or higher.  It's still possible to join the Kickstarter if you do it before the Pledge Manager opens.  Raging Heroes expects this to happen in less than two weeks.

Next up... Nuns with Guns!

JR Miniatures Reactor Building Ruins and Destroyed Robotics Lab and more...

A while back I picked up JR Miniatures' Reactor Building Ruins and Destroyed Robotics Lab.  I got a set as a gift for my nephew and a set for myself which languished in the box for the next couple of years while we moved around the world... twice! 

I recently unearthed my set from the big pile of boxes and decided to paint them up as I had turned up short on SF terrain for a game this week.

This first one is the Reactor Building Ruins.  I got started with a black spray paint than worked up the interior walls as plastered, tiled, and metal.  When thinking about ruins, especially modern or SF I tend to think gray.  Not because the building might have originally been gray but more that they were probably constructed primarily of concrete or something similar... this will be pulverized in the destruction of the building and coat everything with the gray dust.

You can see Mortaria for scale wandering through the ruins.


First came the plaster which is Menoth Base (P3) and a brush up of Splintered Bone (Reaper).

Grays were next using Dark Grey (Craft Smart) and a brush up of Misty White (Reaper)

After the grays I did metals using gun metal gray (Vallejo) then the GW technical paints Ryza Rust and Typhus Corrosion with top brush of Misty Gray (Reaper) and Rustungs Farbe (Old Gamecraft labelled Fantasy Forest... but yeah its just silver :))

The chest was done using my standard wood process described in detail here 



I kind of liked the textured walls that make the building look reinforced.

I'm not really sure how the building names were derived although the Destroyed Robotics Lab has a lot of regularly spaced holes in the walls like for power conduits or tubing of some sort. 




















 Here is a "before shot" , I find I often skip that because I just see the finished thing in my head.







 I liked the layout of these and they are really useful terrain pieces on the tabletop.  The spacing is very good and the models take paint very well.  The two buildings took were turned out in a couple of hours with almost zero prep.






As the games progress I'll add slogans and posters etc... evolving scenery!










 Next up A few shots of the WiP Raging Heroes 54mm Raven the Chainbreaker. 



There was some minor bubbling mostly in the top of the head and in the small of the back.  This bubbling was mild and the tiny pits were easily filled with liquid greenstuff. Bubbling of this type is common and not a cause for concern. 

Otherwise the casting was very clean with just a couple of vents in the small of the back to sort out.

I did manage to break the connecting chain between the to poles of her back banner while cleaning the model but I kind of liked the way it looked broken so just cleaned up around the chain link and left it swinging free.

 Here you can see the elements of the base being worked in.  The base is built up with white pumice (vallejo) some square brass tube (GW) and a resin scanner (GW).

 I got really excited about the incoming Toughest Girls of the Galaxy 2: Darkness and Light Kickstarter and began working on basing schemes for the various factions.

 I settled on this for the basic SF Sister's of the Chalice.  I then realized that the Sister's have no "Bike" equivalent so I'll redirect these bike bases to the Jailbirds... so I guess you'll be seeing those bikes in the near future!

... and finally... a glimpse at the main painting tray. I seem to have a dozen figures on the tray all in various states of WiP...

It has some really cool stuff on it... more on those next time!

Aleksandr Kurganov, Krell, and the most disturbing gnome...

 Aleksandr Kurganov, Chief Commander of the KST.  This is a massive, and heavy, model.  I chose the metal version for this one and it plunks down on the tabletop with authoriTAY!

Shown with a Nurgle Terminator and Assault Marine for comparison.  I like that he is shorter than the Space Marines but still imposing.

 I split the difference on positioning on the base.  The left foot overhangs the base a bit but shifting him too much farther over and the cloak would have become a weapon in it's own right!

He's on a 40mm beveled base like the Terminator and is pretty stable on that.  I went with a Grey and Red scheme to fit in with some incoming Inquisition troops that I'll be working into the campaign fluff.

 This cape has a lot of room for silliness.  I did some stark shading but decided against freehand for the moment... I'm kind of torn between inventing a House Kurgan Sigil and waiting to see what Raging Heroes comes up with in that regard.

 Reaper Bones I Kickstarter.   I really just signed up for everything with the idea that I'd be using it to fill out a long neglected FRPG collection as my interest in Tabletop Roleplaying was perking up. 

In one random bag that I pulled out of the massive Kickstarter box was this... Gnome... pleasure cultist?  ... Inquisitor?

In spite of being perhaps the most disturbing Gnome miniature I've ever seen it was a lot of fun to paint and gave me a few ideas for story lines... I was a bit inspired by the Penny Dreadful character with the outrageous and, I assure you , completely natural..... hair! 

 Yeah... chaps!  pimpled, warty, gnome buttocks... oh my!

It did get a Slaanesh-esque sigil on the hood but otherwise but otherwise a plain utilitarian purple color.  I thought about designs and stripes but thought they might obfuscate how outrageous the miniature really was.










The Gnome spending some quality time with Warlord Krell...

Krell is still missing his back banner and is on a round lipped base instead of his original square one.  I think both of these minis are being added to the pile of stuff for Carnevale. 

Have fun and beware of gnomes in chaps!