[Malifaux] Run and Hyde, it's avatar Seamus....

Apologies for the bad pun in the title. Here's the new big guy for my gang - turns out Seamus has a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde complex without the Dr Jekyll part...

I've literally been working on this model for about two to three months, but I'm very pleased with how he turned out :) As he's pretty much the centrepiece of the gang, I wanted to spend some time on him. I deliberately painted the tattered rags of clothing in the same colours as the jacket and shirt on my normal Mad Hatter model to tie the two together, and mounted him on a scenic base to make a change from the plain cobblestones I normally go for. I've only really used him in one game, but he was great fun and a joy to get on the table at last. I think I may be using him quite frequently from now on!

And, last but by no means least, I did a quick look through my blog and I'm pretty sure that, despite having had them painted for absolutely ages I never posted these two. So, here they are - a pair of Dead Doxies to add a bit of glamour and razzmatazz to the crew!

As you've probably noticed, I decided to give Photoshop a go to make a change from my table and bookcase as backgrounds. Any verdicts as to whether it's better or worse are greatly appreciated :)

Ben

[Epic] Phantom Titan #2

The second Eldar Phantom titan! Just the Warlock and two Revenants left to paint now, and that'll be all the Eldar titans finished. Despite having two painted now, I've yet to really use them or form a conclusion - I've tried them out in a couple of games, but not really enough to form the bond of love I have with Revenants or the regret-filled ambivalence I have for my Fire Prisms.

I've had a couple of games this week as well - the Eldar took to the field in Epic, ending in a draw leaning towards a defeat, and Seamus led his belles to battle once more in Malifaux, transforming into his Mr Hyde avatar and managing to win the game by achieving both my strategy and both schemes. Now his avatar model is painted, I think he has to go on the blog soon!

Ben

[HC] Riddle me this, Batman...

What do a leading comic book villain, the 'Stealth' power and a lime green suit have in common?

Well, I'm not sure the Riddler would like it, but the answer is nothing! I love the Heroclix Arkham Asylum model for the Riddler, and his powers are frankly great fun in-game too, but his lime green suit has never appealed to me. So, I've repainted him going for a more modern comics interpretation, particularly with the Hush story arc in mind. The suit's a much darker green, offset by a black shirt and the iconic purple tie and gloves. I also redid bits of the cane, and painted the money bags in a darker brown to match the new tone of the model. Might do a bit of reworking at some point, but I'm happy enough with him for now.

 I've also repainted a second Mad Hatter model I bought. Aside from being my favourite character (well, alongside Scarecrow!) in the comics, he's also pretty much my favourite model to use in-game - true to his comic book status, the Mad Hatter can mind control anyone with no penalties to himself, and I've discovered an immense pleasure in taking control of other people's powerhouse pieces and turning them on their own team! With regards to the colour scheme, I decided to repaint him in a blue theme (yeah, I love painting blue) with purple details to dial back the colours for a slightly darker effect. Unlike my Hush-era Riddler above, Tetch isn't really based on any particular comic - if you pressed me for what inspired the blue, I'd have to say a combination of BTAS, and some of the costumes in the Loeb/Sale stories.

Despite everything I do find these models fun to repaint. In other news, I've just realised I still haven't put up my latest Epic painting, so that'll be posted soon! I've also just finished working on some more Malifaux models, and have even picked up the good Doctor McMourning to paint. I was going to base him normally so I can give another Ressurectionist Master a go, but I have just found an amazing scenic base so we'll have to see if he ends up as a display piece or not!

Thanks for reading and enjoy the weekend (or insert whatever time is appropriate for when you're reading this)

Ben

[Epic] Heavy Support for the Corvidae

It's a wet, grey Monday morning, so what better to start the week than a new blog post. 

It's been a pretty eventful week on the games front, so I thought I'd do a quick round-up of the week's victories and defeats. The Wood Elves took to the field again and fared rather well, going up against Lizardmen and earning a solid win through various flank charges, the Treeman being his usual bad-ass self and my Spellweaver managing to Dwellers the Slaan below the forest floor before Tree Kin and Dryads started rampaging through the Lizardmen flanks. I also got in a 4k game of Epic with the nearly-painted Thousand Sons, which ended in a 2-1 in favour of the Eldar after various brutal assaults and the Vampire Raiders roaring in with amaizng pin-point attacks. And finally, my Void took to the Heroclix field again and won a 600pt game with the help of the Riddler and Loki.

On the painting front, it's been a bit more mixed this week as I broke up the tiny trim with some larger models. I've finished my armour formation of Predators, as well as painting a sorcerer to lead my disc riders.

Also, I've got some new models! Direct from America, these 'scuttlers' should work well as Defilers and sit perfectly on a 2p piece as a base. They'll be up on the blog sometime soon...

And finally, I've been working on some more heavy hitters. I've finished the second Oracle-pattern Warphound titan for my Thousand Sons, with a bit more adventurous attempted freehand on a sunburst pattern on one shoulder pad.

Hopefully I'll have some more Malifaux models done for the next blog post, and will finally post that Riddler I think I've mentioned before - especially after he did so well in the latest Heroclix game!

Thanks for reading,

Ben 

[Review] I am the Law!

I went to see Dredd 3D with some friends last Sunday, and thought I might as well do a spoiler free write-up here in case anyone is thinking of going to see it. And I'll even keep it short!

Picture (C) DNA films 2012

Coming at this as someone who has never been closer to Dredd than the old Adeptus Arbites models, I quite enjoyed this. The film opens with a fast-paced chase as Dredd rockets after a group of criminals on his bad-ass bike that actually rivals Batman's bike from The Dark Knight. We're then introduced to the second main character of the film, Olivia Thirby's Judge Anderson - a rookie with psychic powers about to be evaluated by the senior Judge Dredd. A routine investigation into a triple homicide quickly turns sour when they raid a tower block controlled by the infamous criminal overlord Ma-Ma - who, upon realising that Dredd and Anderson have arrested a lieutenant who will squeal under interogation, locks down the tower and sends her army of drug enforcers to kill the Judges.

The film sets out to deliver an action-packed closeted environment thriller, and it certainly succeeds. One of the strengths of the film that impressed me was that it never seemed to aspire to anything else - it knows it's an action film and revels in this, rather than trying to shoehorn in additional themes. The gunplay is very well done, and surprisingly spaced out between dialogue, exploration of Judge Anderson and the intrepid pair trying to turn things to their advantage such as getting outside to radio for backup. Both Karl Urban (Dredd) and Olivia Thirby deliver good performances in the circumstances, keeping a dry approach to dialogue without it boring the viewer. I also have to throw in a mention for the retro look the costumes and, in particular, the tech the Judges use got - I love that! The music helps build the atmosphere but isn't anything special by itself, and the 3D effects are actually well done, especially at the end (which I won't spoil for you).

So, the all-important conclusion - would I recommend it? If you're looking for around two hours of action, this is certainly the film to see. Just don't go in expecting it to change your outlook on life or fundamental beliefs, and take it as a well-done adaption of a classic dystopian British comic. I'm not sure if I'll bother to pick up the DVD, but I'm definitely glad I went to see it.

3/5

Oh, and I now so want this!

[Epic] We are legion!

It's been a long week, so it's been nice to just kick back at the weekend and paint some models. Ok, who am I kidding - I've been worrying about work like the workaholic I am. But I did still do some painting!

I've finished another formation of Thousand Sons, and a formation of Rubric Terminators. But as I'm sure you won't want to just see more pictures of another formation a lá the last few weeks, I thought I'd do a whole shot of all the Thousand Son and Rubric Terminator formations I've done!

The latest formation. I only realised after I took the picture that I forgot some of the gold trim on the Rhinos - this has now been fixed!

Four formations of Thousand Sons and three formations of Rubric Terminators.

I'm pretty happy with how that's all looking. I want to do a whole army shot including all the painted armour, titans etc. but that will have to wait until the board is out. Having said that, I've got a game booked against Gus of Epic Addiction, so I'll let you know how that goes and try to take a few shots as the Thousand Sons may well be taking to the table with nearly all (do we dare hope all?) of the units painted! I never thought I'd see the day... ;)

Other than that, I've been working on a few more models for next time - yes, I'm starting to perfect the habit of painting stuff in advance for this blog - and was going to put up another Heroclix model, but I forgot. Will try and remember to shoot him next time! Talking of Heroclix models, I'm now after a Judge Dredd model after seeing the movie. Possible review time...

Ben

[Epic] The rising darkness

So, here we go at last - my latest Epic objective marker! I love making these things...

A bit of backstory - about a year ago I bought a job lot of Epic eldar off of eBay, which included about 10 of the old Epic-scale chaos androids. I've heard of them being used as necrons before, and while I never had an inclination to start a third Epic army, my brain immediately focused on a way to use them - as an objective marker for a buried Necron tomb beginning to wake up! I imagine that it works as an objective for any army, although particularly for eldar (who would naturally want to close it down ASAP) and maybe even my Thousand Sons - I reckon some over-inquisitive sorcerer would love a poke around in a centuries-old tomb!

It literally took me around a year to turn this idea into a practical reality, but it's finally finished. I'm personally really proud of it - for those long-time readers among you who remember back that far it doesn't top my Imperial dig site for me personally, but it's a very close second! The model is made from plasticard for the tomb, with modroc sculpted over a scaffold-like framework of old sprue pieces for the earth. The ornamentations on the tomb are made from parts of a 40K destroyer, and as mentioned the necrons themselves are the old chaos androids. It's certainly the most complex objective I've converted to date - I probably should have done some WIP shots - but it should look great on the battlefield. It was a nightmare to photograph though, so I might try and re-do the shots later on.

And to break up the Epic-ness of this blog of late while still keeping on the darkness theme, here's a quick shot of one of the Heroclix models I've repainted! I didn't think his teeth looked anywhere near big, sharp or scary enough when I got this model, so one black wash and some skull white highlighting later, voila!

I'm working on some more Thousand Sons right now, but there are some Epic eldar models on my desk as well right now - so don't worry, they haven't been forgotten!

Thanks for reading, comments are greatly appreciated :)

Ben