Sons of Horus, Pt.II

 

More tiny Marines! I have finished enough squads and Rhinos to form a combat company. 

The itsy-bitsy Rhinos have a bunch of parts, and require a bit of care to assemble. They do look great, and a have a few weapon/hatch options.

More tanks to come! And I contemplate the world's smallests decals.

Go Build Something

Good Lighting And Sharp Brushes Help

Sons of Horus, Small

 

Back to the small scale! After some trials and lots of errors, I figured out how to paint my Epic infantry. 

A lot of people paint them on the sprues, but that was a bit klunky for me, and a few (tiny!) figures had to be assembled. Those Dreadnoughts are SEVEN @#$% parts. Ahem. So that was not going to work out for me. After trying blu-tack and crazy glue, I set upon good ole hot glue to temporarily attach the wee figs to a piece of wood. 

I find this method fast and really easy to paint. Removing the little dudes does take a sharp X-actor and a bit of patience though. It also makes painting the bases much easier without anything on them.

I have some more infantry to paint up, then it's tank time!

Work Smaller, Not Harder

Wait. That's Not Right

Star Destroyer, Large

 

Imperial Star Destroyer. One of my all-time favorite starships (Galactica '78, Yamato, Enterprise-Refit, and the K'Tinga are the others in my top five). I have made a couple of the older plastic models, and I have the super fancy Bandai, and the big Revell/Zvesda kits, still unbuilt. But I have always longed for a really big model, maybe not the studio scale eight foot long monster, but larger than any available plastic kit.

Along comes the 3D printing revolution. I'm not (yet) a CAD artist, so I had to wait for someone to make a really nice STL that could be printed out...FAB365 makes a wide array of very nice files. 

So we just scaled it up by 200% and about a 120 hours later, Mrs Blackheart's fancy Prusa XL printer made a 30" long beauty.

The one thing I didn't really take into account was the huge amount of paint it took.

It was a lot, six-ish pots about three drybrush layers. Printing it in black saved a few painting steps as the model has very nice panel lines. Now to hang it up in my office.

Go Make Something

The Force Is Strong With This One

Thunderhawk Stand has a New Home

 

The STL for Mrs. Blackheart's Thunderhawk Stand can now be found at:

https://www.printables.com/model/761250-warhammer-40k-thunderhawk-stand

It's free! So get one now.

*Thunderhawk not included

Let The Robot Make Something

Just Keep an Eye on it

The Boltgun, accept no substitutes

 

There are many like it, but this one is mine. 3D printing has hit full sized fun!

Mrs. Blackheart has gotten a fancy new Prusa XL, (huge, filament 3D printer) so I found  her a project worthy of it. Who has not wanted a full (human) sized Bolter? Well, I'm sure lots of people don't, but I'm not with that crowd.

A mere 150+ hours of printing will get you this:

Then, spray paint all the parts, now add some bolts, nuts, and a couple of springs. A few parts needed to be glued together, and so many test fittings and trimming. The charging handle slides, the magazine can be ejected, and the trigger pulls. A well done design. 

It was a bit of an inviloved project to bring together, but so worth it.

Afterwards she printing one using just colored filament, no painting at all! It came out really nice.

Now I need to start looking for a good chainsword file...

Go Make Something

That Can Purge All the Xenos and Heretics

Little Dudes

 

Long ago, Adeptus Titanicus was the first Games Workshop product I ever bought. It was quickly followed up by a purchase of the newly released Space Marine a few weeks later. A grand introduction to the fledgling Warhammer 40K universe. I have purchased and played every version of what has come to be known as Epic Scale ever since. 

I really enjoy the Grimdark at this scale, legions of infantry, companies of tanks, air power, and of course, Titans. It just looks so damn cool on the battlefield. Naturally I took the plunge as soon as the newest version, Legion Imperialis was realised. 

The slightly bigger scale (8mm vs the older not-quite-6mm) give the minis a bit more heft, and maybe a bit easier to paint? I am going to dive right in and start assembling/painting. I guess I should read the rules as well.

Go Roll Some Dice

Really Small Ones

High Noon...with a Warhound

 

When the Stompa and four Deff Dread Gang rolls into you town, you have to make a stand!

I just had the urge to see what a Warhound (1100 points) can do in 10th edition.  Who should Lupus Magnus do battle with? A Stompa and 4 Deff Dreads (1320 points) proved to be a interesting battle.

Orks went first, the Stompa did 18 wounds, very nearly half of the Warhounds HP, with its opening salvo. Mostly from the Deffkannon. The lighter weapons had real trouble damaging the Warhounds Toughness of 14. The 2+/5+ save helped as well. 

Lupus Magnus return fire gutted the Stompa, 27 damage done from the Turbo Laser Destructors. The Dreads turned out to be very hard to damage with the Vulcan Mega-bolter: 18 hits, 6 wounds, 4 points of damage to Big Hugga, the close combat Dread.

Ill-fortune befell the Deffkannon's gun crew on the second turn, six shots, two hits, three points of damage! The Rokkits from Dread Tuska managed to score three hits, but not a single wound got through.

The Stompa was removed from the table by the Warhound's Turbo Laser return fire. Another four points of damage from the Vulcan Mega Bolter was just enough to kill the damaged Dread.

  In the end, only one Dread made it into close combat. It did not go well for it.

A quick and enjoyable battle that was something different. The Orks had really cold dice, and that made a huge difference. The Vulcan Mega Bolter seems extremely underpowered for a Titan Weapon. Next time I will use the stats for Plasma Blastgun instead. 

I am working on a variation of this mission, where the Warhound has to stop a mass of Orks from moving off the table edge it is guarding.

Go Roll Some Dice

Try Something Different

New Year, New Body

 

Famed Necron Overlord Imotekh the Stormlord has already completed his New year's resolution!

His brand new sexy (plastic) body is so much more majestic than his old, shorter, Finecast resin form.  Much sharper details as one would expect, and no more living in dread that the resin will snap, and be nigh impossible to repair. New figure will lead his Phalanxes, Old body goes to the museum shelf! 

I had mentioned that I am doing a Inquisitor versus Necrons narrative campaign. I want it to be Solo/co-op. Yes, that is correct. Much like Blackstone Fortress or some of the newer 40K computer games, I want it to be a heroic co-op adventure in the form of a skirmish game. The players will take the role of Lord Inquisitor Kyria Draxus and her buddies as they respond to a call from a mining outpost. 

Spoiler: The Ad-Mech have dug up a Necron Tomb. The Necrons woke up grumpy, Ad-Mech are pushy, hijinks and sci-fi violence ensue!

The biggest question is, what system should be used for this? I have started my quest, and have gathered a few different rules sets to audition. This will take a couple of weeks to determine a winner. I'll post with the results in a bit.

Getting In a New Shape Is Easy

If You Don't Have A Permanent Body Anymore