Paiiiiinting

I don't know why I painted skeletons but I really wanted to paint these skeletons.

I got them trading some bitz down at the club and both were missing arms, I decided however only the shield one needed another arm and got a shoddy knockoff skeleton arm from another bitz trade at the club.

For Painting them I decided to try using a single contrast paint as an all round depth highlight shade over a coloured model, I then went about blocking out a few simple colours till the whole model was painted before giving them a very thick wash of skeleton horde contrast. Surprisingly I feel it works and has made an easy table top look that's nice on the eyes and the whole model being covered in the same contrast gives all the colours a similar blend and gives the model a cohesive feel.

Next up we have the 3 next gangers for the Death Lotus Cult, a witch and his two boys. These were being painted in a logical boring process and I was finding it a bit of a drag. Then I accidentally bought Long Beard grey (well the purchase was intentional, not noticing it was a dry paint was accidental). And for the first time ever just gave my models a good thwacking.

Next up was some fun with Hexwraith flame. First I painted the model in light pastel colours to make sure that it would have some mixture of colours but nothing would be too bold and jarr with the ghostly look.  Once the colours were blocked out it was a heavy dousing in Hexwraith and to finish it off an extra good thwacking with Longbeard.  The other girl was a contrast cover up again, much like the skeletons, this time blocking out the model in dark colours, mixing a small amount of black or dark brown into every paint applied. Finally one thick coat of Shyish Purple.

The fun did not stop, while everyone else is playing around with Non-Metallic Metals I decided to try Metallic Non-Metals. 

And so we have the Doctor, Doctor Who you ask? Well the third doctor to particular.

Did I stop painting you ask? Well no, at this point I was banging them out and on an amazing losing streak in Lol so less of that and more painting.

And so I moved onto my Hive Scum, I get these two fellows free thanks to my Blood Pit. Derek and Rob have been accused of being Trump fans due to their choice of skin tan. Ohh and you know they got a good thwacking!

And last but not least we have the Biggest of Boys the Chaos Ogryn. My son requested I paint him like the box art. So that has been done to the best of my ability by purely looking at whats on the back of the box + some thwack thwack. 

Genestealer Detachment

 

Here are my loyal 17. The Genestealer Detachment. These bad boys are here to unlock the the 'Virago' Pattern ShadowSword. Being a Pure Genestealer Detachment they get a 6+ Lightning Reflex invunerable save on all the units that don't already have lightning reflexes. Consisting of 1 Patriarch, 1 Abominant and 3 units of 5 acoloytes....  now lets take a closer look at each squad.

The Original Design

These boys were the original design for the acolytes, slightly more upright and slowly pistolering their way towards you.

The Quick Save/Dynamic Design

This squad started the process for each squad having a different pose, it all happened when I messed up one of my models and then decided it could be saved by having a totally different pose and piece of the Killa Kan I ripped up to bounce off, originally just going to be a squad leader it turned into a full squad when I messed up two more. I think only the one leaping over the leg was intended to be in this squad from the beginning..

The Harlequin Design

 

Probably the most and least fun unit to do, they make them feel so much bigger and deadly but they were also a pain in the ass with all those knee replacements. Then again most units needed hip and ankel surgery so it was only a little more pain on and existingly painful process.

The Abominant

I had the idea of using crushing claws on a broodlord as the Abominant since the model got spoiled, however that looked terrible, it did not look good in an upright pose and to get it looking awesome and in some sort of animalistic pose across all 6 limbs would not fit on the tiny abominant base. Instead they got turned into the BioHammer we see today, more fitting for the required cave mans first step pose on his teeny tiny base.

YOU ARE MINE!

The Patriarch himself was the first model done for the detachment, originally posed on a pipe when I got him it had to be fixed, considering my nids were already based on grass and dirt.. I feel the result makes him stand out from the rest and provides a nice narrative.

Patriarch Power

Do you have a Flag?

 

Do you have a Flag? What you mean that burning pile of scrap used to be a flag well in that case it looks like you don't have one and this territory is ours.

When considering Necromunda objectives I wanted something that my opponents could thematically set fire too and so my 'Relic' for my Chaos gang is a flag. And nothing shows your own it more than a flag, I mean ask Eddie Izzard, it was how Britain ruled the world.

This was amongst the very few things I actually painted however it was not alone meet Immeral Thamynn my latest DND character. 

Hes a warlock of the deep and how can you be bound to a primordial god of deep sea beasts without a tentacle, I got this printed originally as my beast lair marker for Necromunda but when making a new character this was too good to miss out on.

There are a few other pieces thats have been progressed but my big nids lost alot of steam when I found my pot of white paint that I cover them in before the wash had dried and I couldn't paint them if I wanted to. I now have some white paint but its not the same one as GW discontinued the one I was using, hopefully it doesnt change the end colours to much. More on this to come.

On a side note as of Monday Aotearoa New Zealand is officially COVID-19 free, with no active or new cases. Yes, We did that. Life can finally take a turn towards 'normality'. To celebrate here is a DND Character I painted for a friend taken at our first session in level 1.

Sanity and Peace of Mind in Isolation

 

Isolation is a mixed bag, its seems to have brought the household together but it also has brought a fair few stresses with it. Mostly it has been a good time to get some stuff done that has been put off for a long time. Some of it out of necessity and others just purely cause I find I now have more time and energy, gone are the 2 hours of commute or being stuck in town for lunch and quite frankly I feel working from home has improved my mood to a degree.

Computer Space - Terrain has since invaded

So this weekend I was able to tackle two big projects. First was sorting out the Office Space/Man Cave. I have had one desk for a long time, when I didn't have a PC it was dedicate to the Hobby, its small but I was able to work with it. Since the PC has been set-up they have been contesting for space, now with work the PC had to take dominance and I had to set aside most hobby project as they sat next to me but were near impossible to work on. Finally I was able to empty out the entire Man Cave on Saturday. My Step Father in Law who we are living with was able to install a new one legged table for the hobby letting me free up my space and have a dedicated section for both.

A Large hobby desk and a mountain of Sprue.

I need to sort the mountain of sprues I have and that might be a separate task to take all my spare bits off the old sprues and make my storage more effective and less intrusive. Considering nothing new has been brought into the room it does highlight how terrible my space was before.

First Draft Rough Layout

Moving on to Sunday I was able to start on my first board for my Necromunda/40k Table.

Nice Snug Fit between Terrain, a happy accident

This will done as a Sump Town/Toxic Waste Facility. Was able to pick a couple of pieces of Terrain, lay out a rough set up of what it could look like then set about carving the cork board tiles into Islands.

Dry Fit after carving shape into it.

The exposed MDF on the board will be covered with the Toxic Sump Sea. While in Necromunda its quite easy to use existing rules for Sump Pools which usually apply to the 2D tiles but in 40k its not so clear. Do I just go with a 'its knee deep soldier get in there' and treat it like a normal board, maybe I should transfer the Necromunda rules over (-1 toughness to non-vehicles) or treat it more like a forest or crater where there is a -1 to charge distances as charging through liquid is harder than normal ground which considering it covers most of the table would put melee armies at a huge disadvantage (But hey not every battlefield is the same or balanced).

Water Weights as the glue drys to keep it flat.

Isolation

The country is officially in lockdown.....

All the things I'll never see
All the things I'll never be
All there is that's left for me
Is here in this eternity
Of isolation 

The cavalcade, the jamboree

Of life, I thought was meant for me 

I never dreamed that it would be 

Replaced by this eternity 

Of isolation 

All the things I'll never see
All the things I'll never be
All my hopes are memory
All there is that's left for me
Is isolation 

So the big boy is coming along, one question remains 

Claws (A bit of everything) 

Guns (Shadowsword Heavy Bolters) 

or Talons (D6 Talons for the Barbed Heirodule rules) 

Down the Rabbit Hole - Necromunda Campaign

Tested Necromunda on Blackstone Tiles.

As Vorne gathered the fighting force of the cult outside the access way for they were going to take the Smelting works tonight. They would have to come down in 4 separate groups in the shitty old access elevator. Vorne led the first group down with herself, Ribalt and Reek bearing their Flag.

As Vorne got down to the generators floor she planted the flag before sending Ribalt out in front to scout the area. Not long after her beautiful child led down the next group. Razzle and Sable would be soon to follow with the next two groups. Before they could arrive however gunshots echoed out down the corridor.

Quickly she had everyone fan out down the tunnels, sprinting out in front as she rounded the corner she was met head on. As she parried the first blade with her chainsword before being lost in a swirl of madness as their offhand blade came slicing through. This left her facing yet another assailant with two blades dancing before her. Another parry and visions of horrors untold as she stepped back bracing herself for another round. Fwoooosh. Riegar had managed to catch them both in flamer as she stepped bringing the girl to her knees. The Pit King had small chuckle as he shrugged off the flames before eating a face full of bullets from the rest of her crew rounding the corner. Two swift sweeps of Death's blade and she moved on to find new prey.

All Set Up

Over on the other side of the tunnels Shysaleeeshka was truely a Demon as she ripped through the bounty hunters one by one. Attracted by the blood an access pipe was ripped open as a massive tentacle started hunting for food. Ribalt managed to just make an escape, the others on both sides were not so lucky.

As the bounty hunters called the retreat Vorne smiled, finally the cult had caught a good break. Disheartened however for it seems the day had come at cost as Sibles body was dragged down the access pipe. One unfortunate piece of scum had been left behind and alive. Dragging him back to the flag she drew a ritual circle. As an offering for helping her child grow she gave the scums life and soul over to the changer of ways, he who would lead them to a new world. As an exchange of gifts she was given knowledge, darker more quicker access to the profane arcane skills.

Post Victory Shot

On a side note some of the players have given me some photos of their gang leaders to show some of the opposition I am up against. Below is the Leader of the Tallow Town Compact, the Venator gang I faced in the above scenario.

And here is Kotton Mouth, the Kotton Mouth kids being the only gang with a backstory more messed up than mine.

More on the Kotton Mouth Kids and their owners past gangs can be found below, the Klown Goliaths hes selling are certainly worth a look at, top notch paint job on those joker faces:
https://www.instagram.com/necromundane/

As well as my arch rival in the campaign so far, the Cawdor gang Dustmen and their leader the "Nameless One"

For more of the Dustmen and Bunders other works can be found here:
https://www.instagram.com/bunder.log/

Last but not least here is Ilych Kuznetsov Leader of the Belorusskata Trade Outpost and the rest of his gang.

sebby_brush is the instagram account of the other frequent player but he doesn't have any photos of his gang yet. If you see some genestealer cultists go up then that will likely be his gang or part of it.