Monster March Progress

 

Hi folks,

I have just realised that March is almost over (madness!!) and I haven't posted anything about #MonsterMarch7. I bombed out the challenge last year due to a horror run of bad health, so have been hoping to make amends this year. With the 2nd Ed. Army Challenge about to reach the half-way mark, I was also keen to work on a project that wouldn't feel like I was dividing my efforts. For that reason I have chosen a 2nd Edition Hive Tyrant that will work well with the rest of the army I am currently painting. I have converted it to have wings, which was not an option back in 2nd Edition, but makes for a fun custom biomorph. It opens up an opportunity for me to write a unique Codex entry that can also contribute to the overall challenge. At the moment I am painting it parallel to the other two units I actually pledged for the 2nd Ed. Army Challenge this month: another Hive Tyrant (armed with a barbed strangler, bonesword and spinefist) and a classic Zoanthrope.

So far, I have been able to block in the main colours on each primary sub-assembly, as well as some washes, highlights and other details.

At the moment, I am working on blocking in the main colours on the smaller sub-assemblies, including the arms, bioweapons and tails. This is about as much work as painting a whole unit of little bugs, so I still have a lot of work to do, followed by the basing. I feel pretty confident that I will get them done, though.

To complete one of the side-challenges (secondary objectives?) I have also constructed a faction specific terrain piece. In this case, I have a built a Hive Node, designed to look like a coral outcrop with stinging fronds. The colours fit my swarm pretty well, I think!

That's it for now, hopefully I have some good shots at the end of the month to show off these finished projects.

See you across the table,

Marc

2nd Edition Army Challenge IV: Tyranid Warriors TO-DONE!!!

 

Hi folks,

Towards the end of February, I made a final big effort to get my warriors completed. I had kept them in sub-assemblies, as I knew the completely assembled models had lots of hard to get places in regard to painting detail. The final construction of the model was a real pain though, as the parts are heavy and fiddly to fit. The main problem was that the arm pegs didn't fit the holes in the torso well enough. Knocking the parts against other painted parts caused quite a few chips, so I shelved the whole project for the night and mulled it over. The next day I fixed all of the places where the paint had chipped and drilled out the holes in the torso with a large drill bit, which fit the arm pegs really well. I then varnished all of the parts before attempting to glue them in place again.

Et voila!

Devourers

Deathspitters

Venom cannons and a barbed strangler

In 2nd Edition the devourers get two sustained fire dice when they hit, causing a maximum of six hits each that cause fear. They also have the potential to jam, which is not ideal! The deathspitters are a little more reliable, dealing a strength 6 hit to a single target and strength 3 hits to nearby models. I included them in the brood for a little more consistency. Venom cannons are by far the best heavy weapon choice for Tyranids, though the barbed strangler is pretty funny when it manages to actually do its thing. You need to kill something with the initial strength 4, -1 save hit. Once you have done that, the 3" blast that occurs can really tear a hole in the enemy army. 

Overall, I was very pleased with how the Hive Fleet paint scheme has worked with the larger models. Certainly worthy of a big badge:

See you across the table,

Marc

2nd Edition Army Challenge IV: Termagants TO-DONE!!!

 

Hi folks,

I have been enjoying a short break from blogging, following a really difficult year on the homefront. In January, Dr The Viking's Cowabunga 2nd Edition 40K army challenge started again for a 4th season. Many veterans have joined the challenge again this year, as well as a bunch of rookies. I have decided to paint Tyranids this season and have gone a step further to take on the "Gamers" challenge. That means I will be painting large numbers of models every month to try and create a large army by the end. For the first month, I chose what I think will be my greatest challenge, a brood of 32 termagants! My first challenge was creating a paint scheme that would pay homage to early 90's 40K. I wanted the scheme to be a genuine alternative to the Codex scheme, bright but cohesive. Here is the breakdown:

Over the course of the month, I sat down for a large number of short, but sharp, painting sessions. I really had to push myself for quantity, as my default setting is to take excruciatingly long amounts of time to stress over details. Here are some progress shots taken during the month:

My "Blue" stage...

Blocking in the Jokaero orange

Greens, pinks and starting on the washes

Ready for basing!

The finished product was everything I hoped it would be and even managed to score me some Terminator honours for the first month. I have to say I was a little emotional when I saw what some people had said about them. I love painting these figures with fellow enthusiasts of old school 40k, so creating something that resonates with them is fantastic.

This month I am working on a large brood of Tyranid Warriors, which I have been ferreting away for a couple of years through ebay purchases. The Trooper also gave me a box full of old school Tyranids to include in the challenge, which included even more of them. I really love these sculpts in particular, even though they are kind of rubbish in-game. Hopefully, I'll have some more progress shots this weekend, as I get back into the swing of recording my hobby adventures. Here they are all primed and ready to go:

See you across the table,

Marc

Retro Alien Cactus TO-DONE!!!

 

Hi folks, 

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!!

2022 was a pretty rough year for me, and the Old School Gaming blog has suffered a little because of it. I have had the energy to keep it just ticking over every month, but that has been about it. My big hope for 2023 is that the personal growth I have been focusing on will make the tough times a little more manageable. A huge thanks to everyone who has checked out my posts, here or elsewhere, and left a comment. I deeply appreciate every contribution! 

For my last project of 2022 I have been working with my son on some retro alien cactus, which I am sure most old school gamers are familiar with. They can be made with simple household items but are quite labour intensive and look a little like something out of Super Mario Brothers when they are finished.

Here's a brief how-to:

1) Coat some polystyrene balls with a thin layer of PVA and some sand for texture. We stuck each one with a toothpick to make them easier to handle.

2) 

a. Once the PVA has set, paint the balls light green and then apply a top highlight. 

b. Add some polystyrene hemispheres to the terrain bases, painted the same way. 

c. Flock the bases once the hemispheres are dry.

d. Paint 100 double ended toothpicks, applying a light red to black (in the centre) wet blend.

3) Snap the toothpicks in half as neatly as possible to provide 200 cactus spikes.

4) 

a. Use a metal skewer to create holes for the spikes. This makes the holes neat; trying to simply push the blunt end of the spikes in creates a mess.

b. Add a small blob of PVA to the blunt end of each spike before pushing them into place.

c. Use a metal skewer to add holes to the tops/bases of balls that need to be connected. Connection was made with unpainted toothpicks and a small amount of PVA. I found it easier to connect the parts after the spikes were already in place, I would suggest allowing connections to set first before adding the spikes if you want to do it the other way around.

 

As far as family projects go, this was really fun to do with The Boi. My wife and kids keep walking past them now and giggling! I am really looking forward to using these in a game of 2nd Ed. 40k, I will have to come up with some rules for them; they will certainly be a nasty addition to a Death World table.

See you across the table,

Marc