OCD and Modeling...bad mix...

You ever have that nagging feeling in the back of yer head something doesn't quite look right...? That was me when I looked at the last tank I posted about. The turret just didn't look...proper...so I fiddled around a lil...






I've never modeled up a vehicle with a copula gunner before...but I must say I'm pleased with the results so far. Arms lined up with the stubber quite nicely, with lil fuss. I broke out the drimel as well, widening the hole in the turret top so the hatch would fit flush. On the gunner itself, I found a resin head from the forgeworld shotgun vets that had a nifty pair of goggles on it's helmet...really makes for a nice tanker crewman.

Now, while messing with all that, it struck me I was back to square one, as I had an extra turret laying around now. After pondering a lil and a lil shopping spree at the local hobbytown...





I made a punisher turret....(The pics are trash I know, I'll be posting a better quality ones soon)...Was a simple conversion really. A 3/32" tubes cut into six 6" sections, positioned around a central solid 3/32"rod as the base. 5/16"diameter tubing was widen a lil using a rounded file...enough where the barrels would fit inside as you see in the pic. One section in the turret as the base, the other smaller section at the business end of the barrels as a lil shrouding. About an inch was hidden inside the turret, as anything longer sticking outta such a small turret just didn't look right. A lil green stuff around the base too fill in the gaps and presto, alternative turret for the other three russ hulls I have!

The rest of the turret was my usual raiding of the bitz box to gunk it up. Order some tamiya stowage kits off of ebay, and will probley add some of those bits too this old girl as well.


My next post will be early next week, and hopefully I'll have some coverage of the turney me and some friends will be attenting...wish me luck!!

Papa JJ is da man!!!

So, a few weeks back, Papa JJ over at dicerolla.blogspot.com/ had a lil contest, and while I didn't win, I got one heck of a consolation prize...


a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank">


....thats 1 forgeworld hellhound, one leman Russ, 2 cadian shotgun vet forgeworld upgrade kits and a cadian heavy weapons team!!!

Already put the Russ kit to good use, pairing it up with the exterminator turret from one of my earlyer posts....




..will glue on some stowage once I have the base coat on...probley some tarps over the sponsons and jerry cans in the back. I'm debating about poping off that top hatch and doing something different with it...made a tank commander manning the pintel mount.....not sure tho...hrmm....



I love the fact that this was an older russ kit, as the newer ones no longer have the road wheels included in the kit. I used about half the normal number of wheels you would usually use for those tracks, saving the rest later on for additional stowage. As you see here, they fit nicely on the rear locking compartment. Added in some packs and another tool box to the back of the turret as well.

Looking forward too painting this ol' girl up very soon...and thanks again Papa JJ!!!

Another slow week...

Yep, life been alil hairy this week....again....(tho there is one big ol' bright spot thanks too papa JJ...will devote a blog post too that lil bit of happiness very soon!!!). Was able too get a lil bit of model time in tho.....



Like alot of my post, this one isn't finished. I wanna work in some regimental decals...(a nice lil XIII somewhere would be nice)...will wait till I figure out what high lighting I want in there...



Purchased some Cadian upgrade bits from forgeworld a while back...love those backpacks. Been working them into the army here and there. Makes for a nice lil splash of "different" when you take the time to look the army over.



The head is from the same kit...kinda like it. I'm thinking I'll tack on a helmet on the belt along with some pouches/grenades....sorta give him the look of being out in the field for an extended period...Will post more pics once I've gotten to that stage.


In other news, got a 2250pt turney in about a week. There is apparently no painting requirement....sorta. They aren't requiring you to have the army completely painted to play in the turney, but you will take the usual hit in the over all and best army category. Since I'm not worried about winning, I'll be taking the guard instead of my more complete painted chaos plague marines. Should be fun, but I'm struggling to flesh out the points for 2250. Gonna have too raid the bitz box this week and flesh out the platoons a lil.

well, thats all for now. Will post the big news..(thanks too papa JJ)...very soon...!!!

Just a quicky...

Been busy this week, but was able to get this done...






It stands a lil high, but I still love this model..can't wait to get it on the table...


Played a lil Heavy Gear against Da Masta Cheef last night...was an interesting experence. I love the fluff of heavy gear, just have never gotten my head around the mini rules. Kinda reminds me of classic battle Tech for the depth of rules the game has...will post some painted pics of the gears I have soon.

Like I said, just a quicky tonight....Hopefully I'll have more to chat about next time.

Converting a leman russ turret...

Found an old turret while getting some models together for an ebay auction...and had a moment of inspiration. Figured i could raid the bitz box, cut up some guard heavy waepons I had...



Presto.....Cheap, easy exterminator.....







I have some stowage to add to the back of the turret once I have the base coat and inking done...may pop the hatch lose and see about putting a tank commander in there as a "counts as" for pask. Will have too see..

Gonna start looking for an older russ on ebay that will fit this turret's turret ring. will make a nice 3rd tank to round out my 3rd heavy slot.


Also got a chance to start my first sentinel today...



Always loved this model....really cool lil kit. My intent is too run several as a flanking force to threaten any fire support my opponet may have hidden in his backfield.

Got the gloss coat drying atm, will look to do transfers tommorrow....hopefully weathering by the weekend. eventually I need too get around too basing this stuff as well....

Thats it for now....o/

First game with the guard...(edit - added pics at the end...)

The 13th hit the table last night for the first time. Unfortunately, no pics to be had. Forgot my camera, and can't figure out how to get the pics I did get with my phone transferred off the dumb thing...

Oh well, here is what I took.

1500pts-

Company command section-
Captain w/ powerfist
regimental standard
vox
medic
2 bodyguards


1st platoon

command section
lieutenant w/ powerfist
vox, 3 flamers

3 squads with grenade launchers and autocannons. 1 squad had a vox.

1 mortar squad


2nd platoon.

command section
lieutenant w/power weapon
vox, 3 grenade launchers

3 squads, each with vox, grenade launchers and autocannons

1 Mortar squad
1 las cannon squad


Leman Russ demolisher w/ sponson plasma cannons and las cannon

Leman Russ w/ sponson heavy bolters and las cannon

and lastly, a hell hound....tho I forgot about taking this and never used it the whole game.

My opponet was Da masta Cheef from over at the Da long wayz dezert groop blog . He played his traitor guard army...(standard guard army with lots of forgeworld traitor guard bits). I'm blanking on his exact army list, but I do remember it being light on infantry, with one hellhound, one banewolf, one russ and a basklisk..along with a couple chimeras.

Table was 4' x 6' city fight board with lots of terrain. Scenario was the objective one from the rulebook...(it's 8am here....my brain isn't working yet...)...with 5 objectives on the board. Objectives were spread across the table nicely, with one about about 12"-13" in from each corner, and the 5th in the center of the table.

Cheef got the first turn, deployed across the table, with his vehicles in as much cover as possible and still providing good firing lines.

I deployed, from left to right, 2 squads from 2nd platoon in cover near the objective on that side of the table, along with 2nd platoon command section and a squad of mortars backing them up. The standard russ was deployed here as well, as it's longer range weapons could take advantage of the lighter cover this side of the table.

Center of the table had 1st platoon deployed as a single squad. Backing them up was the company command squad and the lascannon sqd, as this provided the best feild of fire to go after cheef's more centerally deployed basklisk and russ. 1st platoon's objective was to walk onto the center capture point and hold it as best they could with the fire bases in the corners providing supporting fire.

On my right, in the heavier terrain, was the 3rd squad, 2nd platoon in cover near that sides objective backed up by the Demolisher, 1st platoon's command squad and the last mortar squad.


Now I had planned on doing one of those fancy turn-by-turn battle reports...but like my camera, I forgot to take notes. Long sorry short, I won, tabling him on turn 7. Lost 1st platoon early too a bad moral check. Captain advanced thru midfield to contest the center objective, eventually getting into a nasty lil hand to hand combat vs Ceef's HQ. Corner object held there points nicely the whole game...tho sly marbo and a hellhound made a mess of the left flank for a while.

Was able to seize the initiative, which allowed me to take out the basklisk early, and suppress the other leman russ till I could kill it in the middle turns. Think it got one shot off, making a mess of one of 2nd platoons squads along the left flank. Mortars made a mess outta his infantry. Really liked how those preformed. Of all things tho, I had a hard time killing his hellhound...dumb thing just wouldn't die.

I made a few rule mistakes, and it took a bit to get use to the orders. I do like the order system tho, adds a nice lil twist to the army. Wasn't to impressed with the infantry squads. Basically, they were just bullet magnets all game holding objectives. Was expecting a lil more outta the autocannons..(a friggen shaken or stunned result woulda been nice)...but they did zip all game. Tanks preformed nicely, no complaints there.

If I were too change anything about this list, it would be to somehow work in a lil more long range anti-tank firepower.....mabey another lascannon sqd.

Well, thats it for now....will mabey post again the first of next week with pics of the sentinel scout walker I'm working on atm. Till then, o/...


Edit - Lil update...Cheef found pics of the fight friday night..




Cheef's army is in the forground...this is at the end of turn 1, and cheef has already lost the basklisks...



Cheef's deployment zone...



My deployment zone...



Hopefully, better pics will be ha nxt time.