Court of the Archon assembled

The Court of the Archon in its basic configuration is complete today with the addition of the Lhamaeans.  These last two models are single piece Finecast.  They were easy to work with and I've got another one in the process of being converted to alter the pose.  I have a few alternates to add in yet... a converted Lhamaean (just to vary the pose) and a couple of Ur-Ghul that will use the remaining heads from the Finecast kit but use another body... again for variety.

Moving now on wrapping up Greasus Goldtooth and prepping the squiggoths and a Forge World Vampire Hunter that I came across recently.  The Kabal is particularly keen to add the Vampire but it had been partially constructed and only retains the first page of instructions so I'll be a little bit sorting it out.  My primary concern is the engineering of a flight/display base for it as its not immediately clear how such a base would be attached.

Dark Eldar Sslyth

I love scaly aliens!  The Sslyth were both fun and aggravating to work with.  They strongly resemble the old 3ed WHFB Chaos Snakemen which was nostalgic but, where the old snakemen were metal minis, these were Finecast...

The Finecast has great detail but on kits this articulated it was just plain fragile. 



Accidental contact with a sword or other protrusion resulted in the minis either catapulting across the room as the somewhat rubbery material behaves like a frail spring!   Just a little tap and the figure practically achieves orbit!  anything stronger than that and the limbs would just break... as the glued joints are actually sturdier than the casting itself the break would often be at someplace other than the actual join. 

An additional issue is that one of the swords has a stubborn curve in it which resisted my "working with resin" attempts to straighten.  It did recover from its letter "C" original curve to one that it much less eye catching but it was never fully corrected and so one of these fellows is likely to be a hazard to his mates!




The figures are also very light in the sense that they do not have sufficient weight to stand on their own except under ideal circumstances.  Since I've been playing with water effects for this unit I had the happy coincidence that the depth of water effect I've been using actually adds weight to the bases making these minis very stable! 

While I'm happy that they ceased falling over if looked at or, god forbid, brushed while moving a neighboring miniature I still have some concerns about their durability as playing pieces and their storage/transport survival rates.  On the plus side I do still have a lot of old metal Chaos Snakemen so if these don't survive I can always re-purpose some of those!   Who knows... maybe even a unit or two of mercenary Sslyth are in my future!

Ghosts and a Shadowseer

 Today I have a quick go at zenithal and point source highlighting.  I picked these vintage ghosts because they were open and lying about... and because it occurred to me that the essential monochrome nature of the subject would make it easier to pay attention to the highlights and not get distracted by the details.  I just picked out a a basic zenithal theme on the figure in general, mostly limiting this to the final highlight on the robes and hair.

 I used the same figures to experiment with some point source lighting using the eye(s) as the source.  I'm starting to get the hang of it... there is still a way to go but these figures helped me cement the concept and refine some acutal hands on technique.

 
 In keeping with my current focus on filling out the Dark Eldar I finished up a Finecast Harlequin Shadowseer.  I also have an enormous Craftworld Eldar army and I like the link up that the harlequins represent.  After all only the eldar themselves really make the distinction between Dark and Craftworld... for most of the galaxy they are just seen collectively as those treacherous, weedy, pointy-eared, alien gits!

I also started work on three Dark Eldar Venoms.  The lower hull sections are complete with the exception that I haven't drilled in the magnets for the weapon mounts.  I played a few games last week using proxies for these and learned a lot about how they could fit into my army.  I'm thinking that three is about ideal for my style and that some lists, primarily my Carnival of Pain" will really only use 2.  All of this assuming a points total in the vicinity of 2k.

This week should see more work on the venoms and on Greasus Goldtooth.

Arrived!

After an extended move I'm finally in the house although I'm not entirely unpacked as the renovations monster reared its ugly head! 


The good news is that I will make it to Geekfest 2011 for the continuing saga of Corpulous Prime.  In this installment the world will be subjected to the rigors of a full blown WAAAGH! in addition to the existing factional fighting.  Should be a great couple of weeks of modelling and mayhem!

I did take a couple of hours to work on one of the new Finecast models.  A Harlequin Shadowseer.  The model is beautiful and had very little mold release although it is indeed frail.  I manage to snap the wrist of the gun hand while removing the model from the frame.  It was easily repaired but I'm not certain how robust these things will be for actual gaming... especially given that they are replacements for the exceedingly durable metal minis.  My Ork, Eldar, Chaos, Space Marine, and Imperial Guard armies still include models (both metal and plastic) I purchased 30+ years ago and I wonder how many of the Finecasts will still be serviceable as game pieces in 2041 and beyond.  Time will tell I suppose.
Project Thunderhawk seems to have made the move relatively intact.  No small achievement for the Metal Beastie!  It is scheduled to return to the dry dock for finishing work immediately following the 4th of July weekend with an eye to finishing the project before Games Day at the end of the month.

I should be back to regular MiniSwelter updates by the first week of August and do plan to drop in stuff as I am able prior to that.

That concludes the mini update for MiniSwelter!