Its been a while, here's some Epic!

Now then,

Its been ages since I last updated the blog, I haven't been totally idle although my painting time has been much reduced for one reason or another....

To get back into the swing of things, I decided to paint up some Tau units for my epic army.

Heres the army so far - EPIC TAU

Here is a link to all my epic stuff so far - Epic Page

These Models are OTC Kaiju Mega rigs from Onslaught Miniatures. They are going to stand in as Riptide battle suits in my Tau army.

They are pretty large models, and come as multi part kits with separate arms and weapon options.

I have gone with a standard weapon loadout that matches the Epic Armageddon army lists.











In the pack you get 3 different sets of legs, so each one is slightly different, and the torso is separate so can be posed differently.

Overall they are very detailed models. However putting them together was time consuming because it all had to be pinned together, separate arms, torso and weapons.

Here is the full formation together.

And here is a size comparison with some other OTC miniatures, standard battlesuits, Mega Rigs and  Infantry.

As you can see they are pretty big models, and as the Tau don't have any Titans, they are a good addition to the army, and pack a decent amount of firepower.

Anyway, Ill try and get something Historical painted up soon, but im moving house again very soon so it might be a while!

Cheers,
Steve

Battlegroup Kursk, support troops

Now then,

A while back I got a load of stuff from Skytrex, support stuff for the German forces on the Eastern front. As I had a week off, I have got round to painting it all now.

First up I have painted up the Opel Blitz Radio truck. This took me ages to paint, not really sure why....

This will be a forward signals unit for BGK.

Stretcher bearers (Waffen SS)

 Stretcher Bearers (Wehrmacht)

Dispatch riders (Waffen SS)

Dispatch riders (Wehrmacht)

While Im on about WW2, I thought I would show you these. I had them made for me by Warbases. They are laser cut MDF, with 2 dials inside numbered from 0-9. 

All I did was create the "covers" on word, print them out and stick them on. Now, these are not necessary to play BGK, but im thinking anything that makes a game easier cant be a bad thing....

As it took me so long to paint the radio truck, I have been experimenting. I managed to paint up this PZ IIIN in about an hour (not including drying time).

All I did was paint it dunkelgelb, then painted on the cam, then painted the whole thing with ronseal dark oak stain/varnish.

once dry I drybrushed the whole thing with a light sand colour.

Done.


Maybe a bit rough and ready, but once I have all his mates done then they will look fine.

On the painting desk are 3 Pz III M's.Hopefully using the same speed painting method as the Pz III N above Ill have them all done by Monday...

As alwaysI have been chipping away at the epic Novamarines too...

 More Whirlwinds!

Land raider company!

And finally, here is them all painted so far!....

Cheers for looking,
Steve

Legio Crusius (Warmongers)

Now then,

I have been busy painting up Muslim Cavalry for my Ayyubid army to take on the crusaders, but needed a break so painted up a warhound Titan, to support my epic scale marines.

The colour scheme chosen is that of the Legio Crusius, or more commonly known as the warmongers. I felt like painting something different, so no blue or red, but lots of white again....


Anyway here it is.

I have another one which will be getting painted soon. Overall I had forgotten how bloody difficult it is to paint black, without it looking grey....

My freehand skills were not up to the task for the Legion badge, so I just about managed the white fist instead, after painting over my failed attempts no less than 3 times.

All my Epic stuff can be seen HERE

Changing the subject slightly, here is the current state of the painting table-

Lots of Muslim Cavalry in various stages of being painted.

And also on the painting table, WW2 German tanks...lots of them.

Anyway, completed Muslim Cavalry next!

Cheers,
Steve

Clearing the painting table. EPIC Tau

Now then,

I know i said I would crack on with the crusader stuff, but I had to clear the painting backlog thats been sat on the painting table far too long already. So this week I finished off my epic Tau army, it comes in at about 2000 points or there abouts. I have 1 more unit to do but to be honest im a bit sick of painting them so they will have to wait!

Heres what I have got done:

Tau pathfinders with sniper rifles. These are the excellent onslaught miniatures neo shinobi snipers.

I have continued with the multilevel bases, as I think they look much better than just the bog standard flat ones.

The full detachment, (they should have devilfish transports, but I have made up my own stats for them etc).

Another 3 Piranha recon craft, I can add these to either the snipers above, or the recon skimmer group.

Loads more crisis battlesuits, with a total of 2 shas el commanders.


I have also painted up the shas o. The biggest battlesuit, and the army commander. I can swap out one of the shas el commanders and use him in bigger games.... Or maybe ill just get some more battlesuits and give him his own unit...

Fusion head gunships.

I have reversed the colours on most of the heavy support units in the army, just for a bit of interest and to reduce the amount of white paint being used!

Hammerhead or railhead gunships, the tank killers of my army.

These should prove most useful when engaging marines and all the armour they tend to field.

The full formation, A nice armoured wedge!

Gun drones.

These can be added to alot of formations in the army, but ill probably attach them to the crisis battlesuits.

These are the spare gun pods from the hammerhead gunships, They fit the bill nicely I think.









Barracuda fighter bombers.

These are actually Dark Realm miniatures Kraytonian fighters, but as the "official" models are long OOP and the prices for them on ebay are just plain silly, these have been pressed into service.

I honestly prefer them anyway!

Barracuda's in tight formation on a bombing run!

The full army! (so far).



The great thing is, they all fit in 1 tray!

All my epic stuff can be seen HERE!

Thanks for looking,

Steve




EDIT -  These are next!

The Great Saladin himself!

Updates soon.

Steve

New Plans

Now then,

Its been a while since I updated the old blog, so I thought I would update it with what ive been up to recently. Well, first of all, alot of painting. Namely 6mm sci/fi stuff, Space marines and Tau shenanigans mostly. I have a few to finish off so will save the pictures until later. For now the epic stuff is being put on hold, namely because I have other stuff to get done.....

Ill start with whats getting dropped first.

The Fantasy project.

I had hopes that this would get my 2 lads interested, but alas that's not going to happen. Personally im not inspired enough anymore to spend my spare time painting these, so they will be up for sale on the blog shortly, as soon as I can get them photographed etc. If not then eBay may be the way forward.

So whats new?

Well, first off, I should be back home in the UK by this time next year if not before, so my plans are revolving around minimizing projects and getting existing stuff painted.

So maybe the Ancient Greek cavalry will finally get done, or the Theban hoplites may see the light of day (ive had them for nearly 5 years!)

The 6mm Austrian army is nearly finished, I could probably get them done in a few weeks if I concentrated on them......

I also have a few bits and bobs for my 15mm Crusaders and Muslims that need doing, again a pretty quick job....sigh...

My main "thing" at the moment is WW2.

I have recently been re-inspired by initially rediscovering Flames of War, then, after getting hold of the V3 rulebook cheap via eBay, decided that its still crap.

Instead I have discovered Battlegroup Kursk. LINK

Im a massive fan of the Eastern front, and this ruleset seems to offer all the stuff that is lacking from FOW, BKC, and Bolt Action. The book was ordered last week, so I hope to have it in my possession in the next few days.

In the mean time, heres a few links to useful stuff:

Overview of the game

BGK forum on the Guild ( the hardest forum in the world to join!)

Video overview of the book

dux-homunculorum blog review

There are loads more reviews and stuff out there, google it!

Anyway, more epicness in the next update, then its firmly back to historicals!

Cheers for reading,
Steve

Epic Tau.

Now then,

In my ongoing quest to get a game, I have painted up a small (1000pt) epic Tau army using the excellent miniatures from Onslaught.

Me and James are going for 1000pt games of Minigeddon, just to learn the rules as I add to the Tau forces, then we can get in some bigger games shortly.

Progress so far:

Mechanised Fire Warrior Detachment.

These are the basic foot sloggers in the army, I had spare missile pods from the vehicles so used them as little Tau drones....

I have tried the multi level basing on these as well, im quite happy with how they have came out.

A closer look at the transports, these are Baku (devilfish) APC's. I have converted one to include a commander looking through his binos...












These are Dark Realm Miniatures Kraytonian skimmers, I have used them as Tau Tetra recon craft.












More DRM skimmers, this time more heavily armed, these are standing in for Piranha light skimmers.

Heres a group shot of the Tau recon skimmer group.

These are OTC heavy support rigs standing in as XV8 Broadside battlesuits.

Here is the last unit, more OTC rigs, standing in as XV88 Crisis battlesuits, with an attached leader, a Shas'el commander.

I have given all the commanders Japanese looking symbols on their flags.

Here is the 1000Pts Tau army, there is alot more to add, including pathfinders, hammerhead gunships, loads more crisis suits and of course more fire warriors too.

Me and James had our first game today, unfortunately the Tau forces didnt fare well against the Marines commanded by James....

The situation at the end of turn 3 was grim for the Tau, with only the Broadsides left on the table, and almost certainly going to be gunned down by the marine devastators in the colony complex....

Alone and outflanked, the Broadsides beat a hasty retreat!

All my Epic stuff can be seen here - HERE

Cheers for looking,
Steve