Bleep-Boop-Beep

I'm a bit pressed for time this weekend, so I decided to look at getting something painted that wouldn't take much time or effort. Robots usual fit that bill the best, requiring little more than a silver base coat and a wash for most of the model.

With Terminators, Necrons and assorted Space Marine support cleared from the backlog (for now), my best source of robotic quick wins is Fallout.

These are a pair of Robobrains I picked up from the Modiphius stand at the UK Games Expo earlier in the year. I actually got them for free as my purchases passed a threshold (something that's easy to do given the cost of their stuff).

Annoyingly, I don't have a game card for Robobrains and so will have to print one. It's not a major problem, but it will be different from the other profile cards, which will annoy me.

Painting was a doddle, as expected. Silver undercoat, Nuln Oil wash, Black Templar contrast on the arms and treads and Brass Scorpion on a couple of pipes got the first one close to this artwork.

I decided to not try to do any detail on the brain casing as I was aiming for fast and I don't think it would have worked out. Instead I decided to lean into the yellowish fluid more typical of the Fallout 3 version.

The yellow isn't as bright in real life and there is a more patchy nature to it's coverage that doesn't come out in the photos; partly due to the light and partly due to the gloss varnish I've used to evolve the glass dome.

I'm happy enough with them.

I want some variation between the two, as they are the exact same model with the exact same base, and slightly different arm poses didn't do enough to distinguish them.

Therefore I went with a more military look, painting some areas oh the carapace in Vallejo US Dark Green and highlighting with Loren Forest. I got the paint quite thick in places, but this actually serves to give a slightly blistered and weathered look.

A bit more weathering was done with sponged on Leadbelcher, which was added after a transfer lifted from a Bolt Action sheet to provide a serial number.

Modiphius sculpted based are easy to do with a mix of contrast and dry-brushing.

All in all, I'm really happy with them and they add to the number of random threats to be wandering the wasteland when I return to Fallout: Wasteland Warfare, or could even be recruited by Settlers for additional security.

Acquired: -61

Painted: 343

Lead Mountain: 659

Bring Out Yer Dead

So far, my journey into the maelstrom of the Badab War hasn't required very much in the way of creativity, and has largely involved spraying some old models silver.

However, as I move past the basic troops and units, I can start to look at some of the more unique elements of the Tyrant's Legion.

For example, the Corpsetaker Apothecary.

'Corpsetakers' is a name given by the human soldiery of the Tyrant's Legion, to the Astral Claws Apothecary Vivisectors who would stalk the battlefields of the Badab War looking for dead and injured Space Marines, much like any chapter's Apothecaries.

However, unlike other Apothecaries, the Corpsetakers would not limit their search to those of their own side, they would also track down the enemy Marines and harvest their gene-seed, whether they were dead or not, to help expand the Astral Claws chapter.

To be clear, according the the rules of the Imperium, this was NOT ALLOWED!

In the Tyrant's Legion army list that featured in the Imperial Armour: The Badab War books, the Apothecary Vivisector could be fielded with a unit of between two and ten Dissection Servitors.

For my purposes, as I'm using Chaos rules for my Tyrant's Legion, I'll be using the profile of the Dark Apostle (who conveniently comes with two Disciples). It's not a perfect fit rules wise in the main game, but it works really well with the version that appears in the old Chaos Combat Patrol - which conveniently is the one I'm using for the next stage in the campaign.

The Apothecary Vivisector is really nothing more than a standard Firstborn Apothecary that I picked up second hand with the second squad of Tactical Marines.

The white armour was done with a base of Grey Seer, a was of Apothecary White and a dry brush of Heavy Titanium White (from Pro Acryl). I'm happy enough with how he's come out and he does look better in real life as I always struggle to photograph white models.

However, the fact that the Dark Apostle comes on a 40mm base gave me some room to be a bit creative.

Taking some inspiration from a Pete The Wargamer video, I set about using some spare and damaged bits and pieces, along with chunks of cork, to put a dead Space Marine on the base, and as this was a Corpsetaker, I could make it from one of the Loyalist chapters to give a nod to the nefarious background of this unit.

The Salamanders ended up being the unlucky chapter, mainly because I had a single transfer left from using their iconography for some undead cavalry (it's starting to look like I have an issue with the sons of Vulkan), hence the reason why the unfortunate soul has black skin.

Also, choosing Salamanders gave me the opportunity to use this ancient pot of Emerald Green paint, which is still in good condition, despite being as old as the original Badab War article in White Dwarf.

I decided to add chip damage with a sponge to the symbols on the shoulders as it seemed appropriate given that a building has fallen on him. However, it also covered up the fact that the transfers, which are also pretty damn old, had started to tear.

The two Dissection Servitors make use of some free models I got at Salute several years ago. They are appropriately from a game called Maelstrom's Edge and have been robotified with the use of spare heads and other bits.

All in all, I'm really pleased with this little unit, and it means that I'm only a squad of Devastators/Havocs away from completing everything I need for the Combat Patrol part of this challenge.

I'm a little bit gutted that I won't be able to attend the Kill Team tournament that's being held as part of Arbitor Ian's Tale of Four Gamers due to it clashing with a family event. However, it does mean I don't need to learn a new set of rules by November.

Acquired: -66
Painted: 341
Lead Mountain: 656

Nobody expects the tiny Inquisition!

One of the elements that I really like about Carnevale is that even though the miniatures are excellent, the rules are freely available online, allowing you to bring other models you like into the game.

It also shows TTCombat's confidence in their own miniature range, encourages creativity and I think it's an approach other companies could benefit from adopting.

Therefore, whilst perusing my copious backlog, I stumbled on this ancient Inquisitor from the original Talisman board game and immediately thought that I'd like to find him a home amongst my nascent Vatican force.

The model is really simple, and so was my painting of it. The robes are Emperor's Children with a wash of Carroburg Crimson, whilst the hood is simply Grey Seer washed in Nuln Oil and dry brushed white. Everything else is done pretty much how you'd imagine.

At this point I feel I should address the outfit. Obviously, robed and hooded figures like this have certain negative connotations, especially if painted white.

However, outfits like this (specifically the capirote hood) have a longer history linked to the Catholic church and Easter celebrations, especially in Spain where they are still worn today. They were originally placed on people accused of heresy and later adopted as the garb of the confraternities of penitents.

When I originally decided to paint him for Carnevale I had intended for him to be used as a Priest, but upon learning the provenance of the capirote I thought that the Martyr might be a more appropriate profile.

However, when I stood him next to the Inquisitor and Executioner and realising what forty years has done to scale creep, I figured that he might end up as an Altar Boy.

Acquired: -66
Painted: 338
Lead Mountain: 659

Forth, the Three Hunters!

As previously mentioned, having reached Lothlorien in the Quest of the Ringbearer campaign, something had to change.

Whilst in the Golden Wood, the Fellowship of the Ring were given gifts. Most of these (belts, knives, hair, etc.) can be ignored in terms of miniature gaming, but not the cloaks. I would need miniatures with cloaks to not only be accurate, but also to ensure I remembered their rules.

Therefore I went out and purchased The Three Hunters box set to obtain new-fangled plastic sculpts of Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, beautifully bedecked in Elven cloaks.

I had considered buying second hand metal miniatures of Aragorn and Gimli (I still have a Legolas knocking around), but the cost of the specific sculpts on eBay was more than the plastic box, even if I didn't get it a discount from Outpost Games.

The problem was that there are several sculpts of Gimli in a cloak, and so the price of him was fine. However, there's only the Breaking of the Fellowship sculpt of Aragorn that fits the bill (plus one from a diorama), and so eBay does it's thing and the price gets silly.

Having said that, the plastic miniatures were released only a couple of years ago and so are extremely nice and packed with detail, as you can see on Aragorn. From the elfstone given by Galadriel, to the bracers that he will wear in honour of (spoiler alert) Boromir, there is so much to see on what is largely a simple model.

All of this detail made painting him a breeze, as detail responds well to washes, contrast and dry brushing, the three pillars of my painting.

I tried to keep the colours used matched to the decisions I made when painting my first Aragorn twenty years ago, which I think I've achieved, but with more subtlety.

I'm still very pleased with my original paint jobs, as at the time they were very much the best things I'd painted and the original Fellowship of the Ring sculpts still hold up.

However, I have to admit that there has been a step up in quality.

Probably my favourite of the three is Gimli. Not only because in this sculpt he looks like he means business (and is a natural sprinter), but also because he actually has all the many axes that his rules allow for, something that even the movie struggled with.

He's significantly chunkier than his metal counterpart, but also contains much more defined detail elements.

Fans of the films may notice that I've deviated a little from the actual costume, using a brighter gold than is present and doing blue on the helmet.

Part of this is due to wanting to add a little bling to this excellent model, but also for some reason I did the helmet blue originally, and I like it.

Of the three miniatures, I like the Legolas sculpt the least. It's not bad but I think the face is a bit off and it looks a bit odd that he's firing a snooker cue at someone.

I'm also less than keen on some aspects of the painting. I made a mistake and got green paint on his chin, and the fix has left him looking a bit red-faced, which doesn't really work with an elf.

Actually, it's the one of the three where a prefer the old metal sculpt, which, to my eyes at least, looks more like Orlando Bloom. I think with an updated paint job, I'd definitely want to use the old model, and as I have a cloaked metal Legolas, I'm tempted to paint him up to see how good a job I can do him.

And so I'm ready for Amon Hen and the breaking of the Fellowship. As I said last time, I'm not bothering with a new model for Boromir because (spoiler alert) he won't need his cloak for long, where's Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli will need theirs through Rohan, the Paths of the Dead, Gondor and (apart from Aragorn) all the way to the Black Gate.

Acquired: -66
Painted: 327
Lead Mountain: 660

The Seat of Seeing

One of the reasons I really wanted to play through the Quest of the Ringbearer campaign was it would encourage me to collect and build the characters and locations from Middle Earth at a measured pace.

Having reached Lothlorien in the campaign, I know that the next stop is Amon Hen, the Seat of Seeing, in the Emyn Muil where the Fellowship is ambushed by the Uruk-Hai.

It's from one of my favourite scenes in the movies, when Aragorn sends Frodo away walks round the seat to face a veritable horde of Uruks with a look on his face that says, "you boys are in so much trouble."

Despite only being in the background of one set piece, the Seat of Seeing is, for me, one of the more iconic locations in the trilogy, and one that is small enough that I don't need a house extension to store it.

This piece is 3d printed (for those that care, the main body is FDM, whilst the statues are resin) and bought off and Etsy seller, REZ3DPrinting, who I'd heartily recommend - really fast delivery, well packaged, etc.

There was a little bit of cleaning to do on the statues, and the top platform was separate from the column and steps, but the whole thing went together really quickly.

There are some visible layer lines in the columns, but when it comes to stone, that's not really an issue. Additionally, there is a very slight warp on the top platform that means that it's not quite flush at the back of the model. This is not particularly noticeable as I only spotted it when I was gluing the thing together.

The use of resin to pint the statues offers much more detail on the parts of the model that draw the eye, adding to the whole piece.

I've kept the eagles separate so that I can potentially use the main structure in other circumstances, without it clearly being from Lord of the Rings as it has a generic temple/altar feel without them.

The broken sphinx statues will also be quite versatile in pulp or fantasy games. All of which makes this a piece that I'll probably get to use more than I have Weathertop.

When it came to painting, there's nothing to report. A dark grey base with a heavy dry brush of light grey. Job done.

Yes, there are ways of making it look more like real stone, but it's going to have orcs with plastic bases struck to their feet moving round it, so I'll cope with a bit of lacking realism.

I'm really pleased with how the whole piece has come out and I'm looking forward to the next scenarios (there's actually a choice of doing three linked battles, or one big one).

Before I get there, I do need to paint some of the Fellowship in their Elven Cloaks. I do own suitable models of Legolas and Gimli, but I need to track down an Aragorn. I might not bother with Boromir, as it would only be used in this battle, whereas barring a brief costume change at Helm's Deep, they'll be wearing the cloaks pretty much until the end of the campaign.

For tally fans, I'm counting this as one model, as I only counted it as one when it arrived, and it took less effort than a single miniature to do the whole thing.

Acquired: -69
Painted: 324
Lead Mountain: 660

'O Sole Trio...

It's time to take a trip back to the mean streets, canals and rooftops of eighteenth century Venice. Shall we take a gondola? There seems to be plenty of people willing to row us through the city...

This set of models were a Christmas gift from Mrs Cheaphammer last year. As Mrs Cheaphammer is not a wargamer, I often end up with gifts that are very much in the right ballpark, but not what I would have specifically chosen. I'd given guidelines that anything Guild or Rashaar and not in a starter gang (trying to avoid models I already had) would be right from the Carnevale range.

These fit that description perfectly, except that I neglected to mention already have two different Gondoliers from the starter sets. However, it does mean that I can theoretically field a whole guild of Gondoliers, and a second Gondola means that not only will my games look even more Venetian, but I can also actually use the Gondoliers' special rule of being able to field additional Gondolas.

The models themselves were simple enough to put together, although as ever they needed a wash in soapy water and there was flash trimming to do. Additionally, long, thin oars needed straightening with hot water.

I have to say that my favourite of the three is the one with the oar over his shoulder, as the raised oar looks a bit odd, and the female Gondolier's scale is a bit off. She's a big woman when you consider that she's got her knees bent.

In terms of painting they were done simply with contrast paints. Mainly Fleshtearer's Red for the jackets and sashes, Garaghak's Sewer for the boots and Black Templar for the trousers and waistcoats.

These resin models take contrast paint extremely well, leaving very little highlighting needed for a decent tabletop quality.

The gondola itself was done almost exactly the same as the first one I did, except I've given it purple seats. I've done this to not only distinguish them in games, but also because the black and purple works for both the Strigoi and Patricians. I'm not sure the fishmen of the Rashaar really need a boat.

I did consider doing the boat a different colour, as apparently the gondolas in Venice all being black is a relatively new (as in post-war) thing. However, I wanted the goth vibes of the purple and black more than I wanted to explore other options.

My only real gripe with these miniatures is that there were three mooring posts with the gondola, but only enough bases for two.

I could contact TTCombat's customer support about it, but I have five painted now, so I might use the last one as part of basing a model at some point.

Mrs Cheaphammer and I have been playing a bit of Carnevale recently and we're making our way through the introductory scenarios. Given that the setting is somewhat recognisable, I'm hoping that it holds more interest for her that other totally fictional settings.

A few more easily identifiable models will certainly help in that regard.

Acquired: -69
Painted: 323
Lead Mountain: 661

Death Is Not The End

Having recently played, and lost, a game of 2nd edition 40k with my burgeoning Astral Claws army, it was painfully obvious that whatever version of the game I was painfully missing some heavy weapons.

Therefore, I've taken some steps to address this issue. Big, clonking, metal steps.

This Dreadnought brings some much needed weight to my Astral Claws, with the ability to both lay down heavy firepower, and punch things until they cease to be.

It was part of an eBay lot I picked up, primarily for this model, but included a few other bits and pieces that will get used in my various Space Marine armies.

Painting was a bit of a breeze as the Astral Claws are generally silver, and so a spray base coat followed with a wash of Nuln Oil does most of the work.

The blue is Caledor Sky, and I've taken to giving the blue a gloss varnish, which seems to gel better with the metallic main body than a matt finish. I've also taken to edge highlighting the blue bits to give a bit of extra pop. I'm still not the best edge highlighter, but I like the outcome.

For the gold elements I tried something new, which is to use Nazdreg Yellow contrast paint directly over the silver, and it worked a charm.

I'm fact, most of the other painting was done with contrast pains, speeding up the final process massively.

  

The transfers are from the same set I've been using and this model marks the first time that I've used the actual chapter badge of the Astral Claws; the Tactical Marines all bear the icon of the Tyrant's Legion.

My thinking is that only those units that are directly mentioned in the Tyrant's Legion army list should have their chapter symbol, the rest, such as this Dreadnought, are actually seconded from the main Astral Claws, hence this different iconography.

I have a range of weaponry available for different occasions, including a Heavy Plasma Gun, a Lascannon and an Assault Cannon. The model came with a Missile Launcher for the other arm, but I'm going to use that on one of my Blood Angels Dreadnought in games of Horus Heresy.

Although the Lascannon is better for hurting vehicles, and the Assault Cannon works against infantry hordes, I'm going to favour the Heavy Plasma Gun initially as that's what is featured in this artwork from which I took my inspiration.

I originally painted my Dreadnought with the same blue shoulders as in the image, but it made it look too much like an Ultramarine, and so I stripped the arms back and started again.

I'm really happy with the final outcome and it means my force is growing, and with Arbitor Ian's Tale of 4 Gamers campaign officially launched I've already done enough models for a Kill Team and am making headway towards a Combat Patrol equivalent (more on that in a future post).

Acquired: -69
Painted: 317
Lead Mountain: 667