The Flight - Part Five

I'm back with another update of work on my Inquisitor warband diorama "The Flight". Click on the link here to take you back to the last four updates.

Well, this update shows the work so far on Sister Aaliyah, the Repentia soul-bonded to my inquisitor. Above you can see the initial take on her. Using Dark Elf Corsair legs and Daemonette torso and head, I'd got quite a ways down the track to having her done...

Then GW released the new Dark Elf models. I went halves in the Cauldron of blood model with a friend who really wanted the Medusa. Below you can see my second version of Aaliyah underway. Still a bit more work to be done, but I'm enjoying the slenderness of her frame, particularly when compared to the bulk of Urgo-Wrath.

Anyway, I'll leave these images here. Feel free to tear them apart ; )

Cheers
Dave

The Flight - Part Four

Another update on my Inquisition-themed diorama. Click these links to see Parts One, Two, and Three.

The first model to check out is Areta, Inquisitor Bartok's Assassinatrix. Areta actually started out as a potential part of my Mechanicum army (after being inspired by the assassin in the story of the same name), but once I'd read Anthony's story for my diorama, I knew I could repurpose her.

Built from Dark Eldar Wyche parts, I think she has a great, coiled menace about her. Following on from the idea of having all the henchmen with shrouded or augmented sight, I think I'll be adding some bionic eyes to Areta.

And then there's Saskia, Bartok's telekine. I'm thinking that  should either put up a veil over her face, or simply paint her eyes without pupils. Still a lot more work to go, and lots of fiddly details on the bodice and skirts of her dress.

Cheers
Dave

The Flight - Part Three

This week I hope to bring you a few more photos of my work in progress for "The Flight". You can check out the first two parts of this ongoing project here and here.

Here's my completed build for Urgo-Wrath, the brute of the warband. His initial form is that of the Warhammer plastic Nurgle Lord model. I trimmed back a lot of the "bloat" and puttied in a lot of the decayed sections. I rebuilt the front of his torso to give him a more muscular look, but I went for an unrefined, slab-muscled look.

His rotor cannon is from the Space Wolves Wolf Guard Terminators kit, and the backpack (loaded with incredible amounts of ammunition) is from the Space Marines Devastator kit (it's a heavy bolter back pack). Initially I was hoping to be able to use the original ammo feed from the HB, but things just didn't line up. So, building it was the only way. Hopefully the new ammo feed will paint up crisply.

Anyway, feel free to let me know what you think of this guy. There isn't too much wiggle room, but there might be some detailing I could include.

Cheers
Dave

The Flight - Part Two

For Part One, which lays out the project, click HERE.

One week on and I have a few WIP images to show you for my diorama (The Flight). Above is Urgo Wroth, now with arms and lots of other detailing.

And a few different models here. On the left is my initial model for Areta. She is based on a model I started originally as a Mechanicum assassin. Most of Areta is from the Dark Eldar Wyches kit. In the center is my first stab at Saskia, who owes much of here look to the Dark Elf Corsair kit, along with bitz from DE Wyches, Daemonettes, and the VC Coven Throne. On the right is the start of Sister Aaliyah, made from Dark Elf Corsair legs and a Daemonette torso. I'm thinking now, however, that I might need to use some of the new Dark Elf Witch Elves pieces to start her over again.

In addition to the work on the diorama, I started putting together my recent Forgeworld acquisitions.

And put a little paint on my Mechanicum Skittari Centurion.

I hope you like them.

Cheers
Dave

The Flight - Part One

For a little while now I've been posting a fairly random series of posts, with nothing really to connect them other than they're all about toy soldiers (surprise surprise). At the same time I've been marveling at the patience, dedication, and endurance of people like David Soper, Klaus, and Colonel O'Truth. These hobbyists (and many more like them) can really take their time with a model, be it a single Skink priest or an enormous scratchbuild with tens of thousands of hand-cut rivets.

Well, I've decided to give this approach a try and will chronicle my building of "The Flight" (working title) in a similar manner. I'm also planning on collaborating with a few other artists on various projects over the next 12 months, and this is the first of those collaborations.

I've been thinking my way through this particular diorama idea since Games Day 2012. After attending the classes of Victoria Lamb and Roman Lappat at Adepticon earlier in the year, I knew I had to spend a bit more time planning this project out if I was going to push my own limits and get the best out of it that I could. The two rough sketches above are ones I did on the flight home from Adepticon. They show the basic structure of the diorama, some ideas for lighting/colors, and the genesis of the story - the flight of an Inquisitor and his henchmen towards a waiting gun-cutter at the end of a Star Wars-style walkway.

Well, after turning over a bunch of things in my mind, I asked my good mate - author Anthony Reynolds - if he could help me out by making something more concrete out of my general idea. He was a real champ and sent me this:

As we run, overpowered las-fire and solid-slug projectiles hurtle by us, buzzing like angry insects. I would have been hit a dozen times already if not for Saskia. She has her hand out behind her as she runs, slender ring-encased fingers splayed. She’s nudging the enemies’ shots away, deflecting the incoming fire with her mind, just enough to miss us.

Spotlights from ornithopters overhead chase us, leading our pursuers on. More of them are closing in fast; I hear their jumbled thoughts crashing against me.

We have what we came for. The heavy stasis-tube is mag-locked to my thigh. Contained within: the gene-seed of an Adeptus Astartes. The Ordo suspects their genestock is compromised. We will see. Thankfully, it is not the Space Marines themselves that are hunting us. Not yet.

My name: Miklos Aladar Bartok. My rank: Inquisitor, Ordo Hereticus.

I kill one of our pursuers. My wrist-mounted inferno pistol burns his head to ash. Two more fall to the heavy, chunking fire of Urgo-Wroth. The massive, slab-muscled warrior – vat-grown from augmented gene-stock and heavily mecha-augmented – is a living tank. The gantry-bridge shudders with his every step as he runs. Saskia doesn’t bother exerting her psychic powers to protect Urgo-Wrath – he can handle everything this enemy throws at him. His body is riddled with las-burns and bullets unable to penetrate the thick shielding implanted within his flesh.

His malformed twin, held aloft on humming suspensor arrays, is similarly left unprotected by Saskia. Incoming fire hammers at the crackling refractor field bubble that protects him. He retaliates with stabbing fire of his own, darting sinuously through the air, his face twisted in savage pleasure as he kills. I do not approve of the glee he takes in snuffing out life… but his usefulness outweighs his moral failings.

More of our pursuers – I cannot yet bring myself to name them enemies – fall to Areta’s shadow-blades. Part of the darkness shrouding the immense facility, she disappears and reappears at will, appearing behind, above, below and next to our pursuers, despatching them with ruthless thrusts and cuts before jumping again. To her foes, she is a living shadow, a murderous shade that is all but impossible to target. To me, she is much more.

My cadre is rounded out with three others: Luthor Hayne, my pilot, a murderer, ex-ganger and substance abuser, and also the best gun-cutter pilot I’ve ever met; Sister Aaliyah, a mournful penitent of the Adeptus Sororitas, soul-bonded to me and desperate to atone for some past indiscretion; and the mercenary Hand, giving the rest of us covering fire. He’s possibly the most dangerous of us all, with his two kill-drones. One day there will be a reckoning between us, of that I’m certain.

Hayne brings my cutter down through the acid rain storm. Lightning reflects off its glossy, void-black hull. It’s a gorgeous craft, as sleek and swift as a knife. The turret-cannon underslung beneath its insect-blade nose opens up, churning through the ranks of our pursuers. Still, more of them are closing in, and they are bringing in heavier elements now. Military-grade.

We’ve done more than stir up the hornet’s nest; we’ve dropped a grenade right in the middle of the hive, and the hornets are not best pleased.

I smile. It’s going to be a close-run thing. I send out a mind impulse to my cadre.

+ Break off. It’s time to leave. +

I've started work on Urgo-Wroth. After I finish the detailing on him, I'll start to add his heavy bolter. I think I'll have him standing on the platform near the waiting gun-cutter, his chunking fire lighting up the scene a little.

Throughout this process I'm really happy to take suggestions from you all. Understand that I might not follow them, but they'll all impact the progress in some way, shape, or form.

Cheers
Dave

Back from Adepticon, setting priorities...

Well, it has taken a little while, but I'm finally caught up on things after arriving home from Adepticon on Monday. Sleep was, of course, the big one, and I'm pleased to say that crashing out on the couch each night after the girls were in bed has been very nice. Adepticon is a long show, with long hours and terrible pillows, so sleep isn't always the best. The greatest thing that I find that helps me power through such a great event is the interaction with my fellow painters, gamers, vendors, and enthusiasts of all stripes. Conversations about all manner of toy soldier related excitement can only be a good thing, right?

I spent four days taking photos of various types of historical gaming action, covering: Flames Of War, Black Powder, Bolt Action, Hail Caesar, Warhammer Ancient Battles, and SAGA. Over 220 photos that will end up illustrating at least four (possibly more) articles for Wargames Illustrated! Very pleased with that result.

I also had four entries for the Crystal Brush painting comp. Originally I was reluctant to enter, but decided to take a shot at the last moment (ie: I found myself splashing blood on the bases of my Lamenters at 11:00pm Wednesday night before leaving on Thursday). I entered my Lamenters Sergeant on Sci-fi Single, my Mechanicum in Squad, my Dreadnought in Vehicle (shown above in one of the CB official photos), and my Bridge Guard in Sculpting. Sadly none of them took away a trophy, but it was heartening to see a significant increase in the number of entries this year (200, over 125ish last year). Congratulations to all of those who took a trophy : )

We also ran our second Guns Of April game, our First Day of Gettysburg "what if?" scenario. I've just written up a report of the game for our GOA blog, you can check it out here. It was a lot of work, and not without its issues, but we all had a great time and are already looking forward to next year : )

I also took two seminars. The first was by an old friend from Australia, Victoria Lamb, the owner of Victoria Miniatures and the primogenitor of Object Source Lighting (so that's the class I took). The second was by Roman Lappat (aka Jarhead) from Germany, co-author of the wildly successful mini blog Massive Voodoo. I've been enjoying the MV crew's work for years, s I couldn't pass up a chance to sit in on his theory class. So many wonderful things were covered in the class, I just hope one day that I'll take the time to apply all the lessons learned to a competition entry.

On my way home I started sketching out a diorama I have been wanting to do since Games Day last year. Thankfully I hadn't already started because the things I learned in both classes have meant that I'm going to have to put A LOT more time into it all. Here you see the genesis of the piece. Perhaps I'll have it ready for Adepticon next year?

It should be a lot of fun to work on.

So, priorities then? Over the next two months I'm going to be working on:

• My Mechanicum army - my 2013 entry for Armies On Parade
• A FOW army commission
• The Malifaux Relic Hunters crew

Then for July I'm going to work on:
• a couple of Golden Demon entries
• possibly a Tau commission

And in August I'm going to work on:
• a Primarch for a friend of mine attending the Horus Heresy Gaming Weekend in Warhammer World.

Stay tuned for the progress ; )

Cheers
Dave

"Voi hesh Anarch, Magir!"

So the diorama is complete. all of the pieces are glued into place, and I've actually packed it up and shipped it off to Chicago along with the display board for my Armies on Parade.

I hope you like it.

Cheers
Dave

PS. Only three more blog followers until we get to 1,500! Not too bad for a dodgy little blog about toy soldiers. I've settled on what I think will be a pretty decent competition and prize. Details to come.

The Grind

A little bit of work done on my Diorama entry for Golden Demon over the weekend. I had this idea over ayear ago, and was even able to chat with Dan Abnett at Adepticon '11 about it, refining my ideas about it all.

In Traitor General, Dan Abnett first introduced us to an iconoclave. This is typically a building/area of great significance to an Imperial populace (usually a cathedral or something similar). When a Chaos force conquers a planet and enslaves the former Imperial citizens, many of them are forced to bring all Imperial statues and icons to the iconoclave, where other citizens spend grueling days and nights systematically reducing these icons to dust. They aren't allowed to blow them up, it's not simply about the destruction of these symbols of the Imperium, but it's about the Dark Powers forcing the gradual and permanent grinding down of all that is the Imperium, most importantly the spirit of it's people.

Above is the model that is the focal point of the diorama, a nameless citizen who has paused in his soul-crushing duties to reflect on what was. I'll be adding a bit of weathering in the form of pale powders to this model, but I wanted a few shots of him before the dust went on. One other element of the story to note is the imagio on his right arm, a chaotic parasite of some kind implanted by the conquering forces and used to identify the citizen and his schedule under the new regime.

Here is one of the supporting cast, a citizen covered in stone dust from the statue being destroyed before him. He also has an imagio showing on his right forearm.

And another citizen crouched by the statue, chipping away for hours on end, and already suffering from the debilitating taint of Chaos (note the lesions and pustules).

Their task master, meanwhile, will stand high above them on the walkway you see below.

The brass-etch walkway pieces here are from Secret Weapon Miniatures and are absolutely perfect for what I had in mind. Last year, around this time, I had to make a tough decision and not pursue this diorama. I was busy with the Marienburg Land Ship for my AoP entry. But since then, this release from SWM has made it possible to bring all my thoughts together.

I hope you like it, there's still a little more work to go.

Cheers
Dave

The Withdrawal: Diorama entry for Chicago Golden Demons - Part 2 (The Finishing)

Only 48 hours till I fly to Chicago!

Here's the finished diorama. Unfortunately the pics look a bit washed out, I'll have to take a few more next week (maybe while getting some practice in with my new work lighting rig and camera).

Anyway, I decided to stick with the 144th Cadian regiment, something about the number just spoke to me. The models are not glued down yet, that'll happen on Saturday morning, so you may see some gaps between feet and ground. This is so that it will be a LOT easier to transport this beast out to Chicago. No sense hoping it'll arrive in one piece so I'll start with it traveling in 15 or so pieces ; )

I hope you like it. This diorama represents the largest amount of time I've spent on a model that wasn't intended for gaming. Even if it doesn't win a trophy, I'm still very happy with the journey and the end result.

Cheers

Dave

The Withdrawal: Diorama entry for Chicago Golden Demons

Right after Baltimore Games Day I started thinking about a diorama I could do for the Chicago Golden Demons. I mean literally right after! By the time the second beer was hitting the back of my throat I had the kernel of an idea, and by the end of the third the idea was really fleshed out.

In dioramas you typically see troops advancing, fighting off menacing hordes of traitors or aliens, and occasionally you'll see some commander (or tanker) poring over his charts. For a couple of great recent dioramas done by a member of the DakkaDakka community (Gundam-Mecha) you can look here and here. These are certainly part of the inspiration for working on a diorama like this.

Anyway, my earlier point was that only very rarely do you see the wounded being pulled off the frontlines.

Enter, "The Withdrawal of the Cadian 144th".

Obviously I will need a vehicle to evacuate my wounded Imperial Guardsmen. I'm currently working on a half-track version of the Troop Transport Truck. The suspension is based on the Semovente tank. The riveting is a bit different for this beast. In the "heavy duty" areas I'm using 1mm ball bearings glued into small holes drilled in the plating.

I will also need a location to park the half-track and get the guys loaded up. The base is 1/4" MDF, overlaid with varying thicknesses of Apoxie Sculpt from AVES Studio. This two-part putty is easy (if a bit messy) to work with, gives a smooth finish, and dries rock hard!

Pressed into the surface and standing proud above the drainage ditches is a cracked and crazy road made from the concrete rubble made by Gale Force 9. There's quite a bit more work to be done to the base.

And then come the Imperial Guardsmen of the Cadian 144th. These first two will be loading a stretcher onto the half-track.

The next two are an Autocannon team (you'll see what I mean soon), plus the Departmento Munitorium half-track gunner taking a break.

The walking wounded.

An argument over who is being evacuated. The Departmento NEVER makes mistakes!

And finally, a vox operator calling the rest of his platoon in, a standard bearer to act as a rally point, and no, that guy isn't dancing! He'll be seated in the back of the half-track, resting his bandaged leg.

All of the troops will be painted to their finished "pristine" state. And then weathered like they've just been through some rough stuff.

I hope you like it so far!

Cheers

Dave