I'm a terrible blogger.

Holy shit.  I was just chatting with a nice gentleman on my home away from home, Reddit.com.

This guy was looking for info about getting into the miniatures business, particularly to play a new game called Dropzone Commander (it looks cool, check it out).  I recommended my blog, since the first few posts are decent to get started.

Then I realized that its been like, 6 MONTHS since I have updated or posted anything.  Holy shit I suck at this.  I was on a tear at first.  New posts every couple of days... then nada.  Zip.  Zero.  And whatever other words mean zero. 

I need to get back on it.  My slow interent here on Hoth is a big deterrent (poor me, sniff sniff).  I have worked on so many projects, but my fevered mind works too quickly to stop and take photos.  Im like some sort of mad genius man.  Or not.  Mostly not.  But I do get excited when im working and forget to take pics.  Then next thing you know, Im done building and painting... then Im thinking, maybe people wanted to see that.  Oh well. 

I will work on that.  Until then heres some pics of a Storm Talon I just did!

Oh the Heresy... converting Space Marines to Chaos.

Hello.

Its been forever since I updated my blog.  I suck.  Anyways, I get a lot of models used off of Ebay.  Its my favorite thing ever.  So I recently picked up some Sanguinary Guards... now because I dont always like the standard Chaos Marines I always like to convert the standard Marines inot the ways of chaos... awwww yeah.

Heres the models, they came in decent shape, not too much paint on them, just some serious silver undercoat... First I dropped these fuckers in some Simple Green for a day or two, scrubbed them up and now they are ready to get chopped up. 

whoever had these before used plastic cement unfortunately, so a few chunks of plastic came with the arms and wings, nothing that the exacto blade doesnt fix... I hate plastic cement... it really makes taking off arms and parts a pain in the ass.

The Dremel strikes!  I had to grind down the neck pocket quite a bit as the plastic from the original head was still in there...

I have a nice chaos head, and a sweet chainsword and bolt pistol to go on this fella...



So I get the wings re-positioned and get the arms glued on... this took a little time to get the wings right, but way better than they were before... it also took quite a bit of super glue... also started the initial dremeling, getting rid of that stupid Blood Angels stuff haha...

so now I throw the sweet as Chaos head on... also I use the Dremel to create pits and weathering in the armor... once Im done with that, I go over the Dremeled bits with plastic cement (I know I said I hated it earlier, but for this its awesome, it melts down the plastic and leaves it smooth)...

I continue to get my Dremel grind on... leaving this badass looking roughed up, but thats the way Nurgle likes it...

now hes ready to paint!

so next post I will paint this guy up... going to try something new with this one...

DAN

Vassal 40K or "NOW I NEVER HAVE TO LEAVE THE HOUSE"

Hello.

I havent posted anything in a while.  I know I suck.  I have about 500 different projects going at once as usual...  I was just thinking as I was constructing some models "I really should be taking pictures of this for the blog"  but alas, I did not.

So whats really got my attention is a little thing called Vassal... if you havent tried this yet, GET ON IT.

you download the engine (fo free!) from http://www.vassalengine.org/  Vassal gives you a sweet virtual tabletop to play on, and you can play just about any turn based game ever... like... EVER.  Holy shit they have everything from chess to battleship to fuckin Monopoly.  PARK PLACE BEYATTTCH.

Anyswayze, there is a plug in for the bestest game ever, Warhammer 40K.  I have to say, for someone like me who is trapped on the remote planet of Hoth, this is great.

you get your virtual tabletop, "sprites" (the little virtual models) a random die generator dealy, all kinds of cool stuff.  You still need your rulebooks and codices, but man its a great way to get a game in without leaving the house, or in my case, putting on pants.

so heres a snazzy little screen shot... you can load up any kind of scenery really, snow, plains, urban... whatever your little head can dream, so dream it ya fuckin dreamers!

you build your army lists the standard way and select your "models" from within the program, drag and drop and BAM!  Army is ready to go... always wanted to try an all bike list, but dont want to spend 20 bucks per bike??  Always wanted to do a completely mechnanized IG but dont want to drop hundreds of dollars or build all those damn tanks??  On Vassal you can do it all, your only limit is your own sick twisted little imaginations.

Vass

Vassal comes complete with nifty buttons that do your rolling... need to roll to wound and hit?  Plug in your too hit and wound rolls, select the number of rolls and let the virtual dice roll... random die generations for to hit/wound, vehicle penetration, saves, etc... now you dont have to spend 30 bucks on a little plastic container of dice!  what a deal!

The Vassal engine my look a bit daunting at first, but really once you get into it, it is super intuitive.  Hotkeys control just about everything, and there are plenty of drop down menus available on the units themselves that allow you to mark and move your units as necessary... heres a sweet vid that explains a ton of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSgMV8Ls3l4

So the gist is I love Vassal.  Its just about the best way to get some good games in, try new and interesting lists, and most importantly, Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women.  Check out my Vassal meeting spot on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/Vassal40k/

next time I will have some models to chop up, promise.  But until then, get some games in online (pants optional!!)

-DAN

Paintin'- Nurgle-Nators: fun with translucent colors

So on my favorite subreddit today, someone mentioned they wanted to see more experimental painting.. the point was made that many blogs show you how to duplicate techniques that are already out there, and thats totally cool and shit, but how about trying different things?

Well ladies and gents, thats exactly what the Wargaming Anarchist is about... I have been told I do things in somewhat different (read: wrong) ways, but I have found there is no ONE right way.  I think thats what discourages newcomers to the hobby... being told how to paint, what colors to use, etc... what works for one might not work for another... Heres a great example of how I like to try different things with my models, even if it doesnt always make sense...

So, I have some terminators, who with the aid of my trusty dremel have been thoroughly beat up (Nurgle-ized I call it)... I think I might have gone a little overboard, but hey, whats a 50 dollar box of models between friends if you cant basically destroy them with a power tool???

Heres my first homeboy Nurgle-Nator... I wanted to actually paint him a bright sickly greenish yellow.. I thought out loud, how can I do this?  To myself I said, how can I make my yellow nice and bright?  So far I havent had much luck with yellows, so I came up with a new plan...

First I start by painting on a nice icey blue color... one thing I always tend to do is mix paints on the model when they are wet... so I started with a darker blue, and added brighter blue over it while it is wet... blending the lighter shade onto the higher parts of the model... wet brushing I guess.  Yeah, lets call it that.  Even tho that makes no freakin sense.

I keep adding more white to my light blue mix, brushing it over the model while the coat below is still wet, this blends it and makes it look a little less harsh then straight up drybrushing.  I sort of swipe my brush at it, making wooshing sounds with my mouth with each pass.  WOOSH WOOSH.  This helps me to concentrate.  I think its important to make silly sounds when you paint.  Centers the chi.

Ok, so I work up till I get to just straight white.  All up on that fool.  Now I bust out the blue wash and dabble it on the armor, working to avoid the trim of the armor.  Dabble, dabble, dabble.  I love washin models.

Now I let all the dry.  At this point you are wondering if im fuckin color blind, cause I said I wanted to do this guy in a yellow green... ahhhh, well we need the secret ingredient:

Booyah, yellow ink beyatch... now I got to be honest, I dont think they even make this shit anymore... Im pretty sure you can get inks from other companies, but as far as I know, citadel doesnt offer inks... I dont know why, cause inks are awesome.  Really the whole gist of this write up is to show nifty things you can do with stuff like this.  I like to think of colors in layers on my models... each layer can be translucent, effecting the colors beneath it.  You can get some cool effects this way, and add tons of depth and interest to a model.  Im going to use this to change my blue into a nice green color... why not just paint it green you ask?  'Cuase thats fuckin boring!

Magic color change Terminators!  It kinda reminds me of that blue fundip that turns green when you lick it... or is it green and then turns blue?  Fuck, I dont remember... all I know is that fun-dip is just about the best shit ever.  This is just the yellow ink, painted straight onto the model...

for a minute I almost left him half and half like this... but maybe thats a little too bright?  Might work better for those actual space marines that want a cool split paint job...

Hes lookin Nurgly already.  So now I figured I would paint on some details and whatnot.

YES I USED BRONZE AGAIN.  Fuckin love bronze.  His shoulder pads and little details get some bronze here and there... im trying not to go apeshit with bronze like I normally do.

cables, ribbed (for your pleasure) parts of the joints and other little bits here and there get some light grey.  I think its really important to pick out these little details.  Even without shading if you do parts like these cleanly enough they will make the model look way better... but we are going to wash this'n of course.

Some black wash does the trick... meanwhile I keep painting other details like the skull hanging from his belt, and the gears and shit in the lightening claws.

AWWWWW YEAH MUD TIME.  Ok, just a little bit of Devlan Mud goes on the bronze parts, and a few bits on the armor itself that I want to make darker, the grill in the center of the chest and some under the trim of his leg armor.

this is a shitty pic but you get the gist.  Im feeling pretty good and emotionally attached to this fella now.  His green color is indeed sickly and yellow as I desired.  His claws still look a little too clean tho.  I was tempted at this point to go ahead and go over them with bronze or silver, but fuck it, lets keep em greenish-yellow.  Not a lot of greenish yellow claws out there.  Unless you are a tyranid.  And if you are a tyranid why in the holy dog fuck are you reading this?  You should be out digesting whole planets and what-not.  Furthermore, Tyranids cannot read, so I can insult them with impunity.  Screw you and your little hooved feet, tyranids.

I washed some sepia onto his claws to give them a nice dirty look... even his claws drip with nastyness and filth... one scratch from these bad boys and BAM! Cancer.  Sorry buddy, thats how we Nurgles roll.

So the skull gets some highlighting, then a final wash of sepia since I have the bottle open.  Why not.  Oh yeah, maybe I ought to paint this fuckers eyes.  Nice and red.  Scary.

This picture is way bright, but you get the gist.  So hes pretty much done... maybe I ought to put him on a base or something cool like that... hmmmm

One new terminator to slice fools up in the name of Father Nurgle!  Also handy for chopping vegetables, hedge trimming, and striking down followers of the false Emperor.  Good times.

-DAN

The Plague Grows...

Awwwww yeah.  So I finally met someone here in the remote location of Hoth that plays 40K.  So getting geared up for a game this weekend.  It will be the 3rd game with my new CSM army so im frantically getting my models together.

Up till now I have been sort of building a few pieces here and there, painting a model here and there, but havent really concentrated on getting whole units done... well I guess now is the time... heres some of the units I worked on this week:

NURG-ZERKERS:

Honestly, I really hate the Khorne Berzerker models... nothing against good ol Khorne, I just dont like the way the models look... especially the funny rabbit ears they all have hehe... so here are my Nurg-zerkers... Khorne Berzerkers who musta caught something from their Nurgle friends... they are a jumble of standard marine parts, chaos parts, and my favorite, the chain axe.  Also grabbed a bunch of the hooded dark angel heads cause I think they look bad ass.  I wanted to give them something that signified they were a unit and I thought the hoods was a nice touch...

Of course they are in varying stages of paint, and if you look close, the fella in the middle has a hood made of green stuff... Green stuff, is there anything it cant do?  I ran out of hooded heads and decided to just green stuff them instead of pay another 7 bucks or so for a few heads... good call I think, they came out pretty decent... Also, Im toying around with a new basing idea, the pools of blood and gore is actually a colored hot glue... the hot glue sticks come in different colors and ive found the red to be most useful... what do you think?  Sometimes I think it looks goofy, so maybe the next few wont have quite so much on there, but I wanted some red to signify that they still get down with the blood god.

PLAGUE MARINES:

what more is there to say?  These fuckers are takin me a while since I want to make sure I get every little bit of mold lines and shit that I can.  I spend quite a while just cleaning parts, and im still sure I missed things here and there... well here is the first squad ready to roll... just need some paint.  I hate playing with unpainted models, but I dont have time to get these lookin nice before my game on saturday.

some plasma gunners... the homeboy on the left is using the plasma gun from the space wolves, so hes gettin some extra power from the space wolf rune on there hahaha... Ive found that special weapons are expensive to buy as bits, and the space wolves sprue was a lot cheaper... so some of these guys have SW weapons, but its all good... they probably stole them from some foolish space wolf.  The fella on the right has the appropriately chaos-y plasma.  Its got spikes and shit, so you know its chaos.  Ouch!

As you can see I am very well organized... I have some terminators ready for paint... I just cant decide on a good paint scheme... I actually had two of them painted up but then I decided I hated it, so in the Simple Green they went.... I just cant decide what colors to paint them... I want to mix it up and just not do more brown and green... im thinking black?  Any ideas?  you can also see the last raptor I have to paint up, but going to wait on that so I can do a write up on how to paint em...

Thats it for now, just wanted to do a quick update.  I have a metric shit ton of stuff to construct and paint as usual... the followers of Nurgle hit the table soon!  Im stoked!

-DAN, HERALD OF NURGLE

Resin all the things- Objective Marker!

So someone on Reddit asked how to make an objective marker.  I had never really considered making objective markers, cause well, we usually just use a nice glass bead, or a random model or something... so the need for one has never really come up... then I thought, why not make one, and why not make it so I can produce as many as I need, with my most favorite thing ever: MUH FUCKIN RESIN!!!

Resin is just some fancy liquid that comes in two parts, you mix it, it gets hard, you paint that shit.  Easy as that.  Forgeworld does all of its kits in Resin, and GW is jumping on the Finecast wagon and producing resin models as well... goodbye lead!  I like resin, its lighter, easier to glue together, and when I drop a model, unlike metal, the glued parts dont go flying off everywhere.

Ok, so for my objective marker, I looked around my little room here and decided I would use this nondescript cyclops skull as the main part of my marker.  As you can see I added an eye and a sweet ass horn... Im imagining it will be some sort of golden idol, laying in a pile of rubble.. perhaps the remnants of a chaotic statue of questionable power?  The bust of particularly succesful plagubearer?  A sculpture created by an annoying art student and imbued with mystical forces?  Is it the fucking CRYSTAL SKULL and now each game will be met with a hokey ass jump the shark plot twist like the last Indiana Jones movie??  Who knows!

Ok so I have a 40mm base that I will use.  It has some Nurgly stuff molded onto it with milliput that I have already made a cast of, so Im just going to glue shit on top of it.  Thats how I roll.

Time to cut up some sprue to make "girders" and things... this will be the basis for the rubble that our Golden Skull is laying in... I also have some guitar string laying around so im going to cut that up too...

Now I glue it all on the base with supah gloo... I really just drown that shit in super glue and let it sort of fall naturally onto the base... I throw in some cut up pieces of guitar string, and I even sneak a knife in there, cause it just happened to be sitting here...



Now I get crazy with even more super glue... I add some random blobs of super glue here and there, trying to focus on the bottom most parts of the model... now I grab my coarse ballast and pour it on there.. just like fruit loops in a bowl.

Now we have this mess:

I set that bad boy aside to dry... then get ready for the good shit... the RESIN.

I use Alumilite resin.  Its the bee knees:

And alumilite mold making putty:

I got my little plastic cups, and my popsicle sticks... also I use measuring spoons for resin-ing things... the resin comes with little measuring cups, but I hate them!  The marks are hard to read and they get dirty very easily... these spoons are much easier to clean and give me better accuracy when measuring.  I recommend them.

so first I got to make a mold... I grab equal parts of the modeling putty... I get it as close as I can just by feel, but this stuff is pretty forgiving, so if theres more of one than the other by a little bit it will still work fine...

mix it together, and get it so its a nice even color all the way thru... that looks about right:

Ok, so now its time to squish this shit all over the model... I start by rolling out a long piece of it, and wrap it around the base, pushing it into the model nice and snug, then I use pieces to build up my mold around the rest of the model, taking care to push the putty down into and around the details.. eventually you have this pink cacoon looking thing:

Ok so I got to let that harden... I go and google naked pictures of celebrities for 15 minutes or so.  After a while it should be good to go and I can remove the model from inside... things look good:

RESIN TIME!!  So I measure out the thicker resin first... it takes me a little longer to get it all off of the spoon, so I always throw it in first...

Now the clear stuff...

mix that shit till its got a nice even color... Im careful not to get all crazy with it, stirring too vigorously will add bubbles and we dont want that.  No sir.

Now as I pour it into my mold, I use the popsicle stick to "push" the resin into the details... just sort of spread it on in there... this helps me reduce the amount of bubbles... the little tiny details usually get bubbles in them if I dont make a point to do this... but for rubble and anything nurgle, Im not too worried about it...

I just have to let it set and soon we will have an awesome objective marker.  Sometimes I stare at it, willing it to set faster... this usually doesnt work.

About 15-20 minutes later, its ready to go!  I carefully pull it out of the mold, and there we have a brand new shiny objevtive marker of the chaos gods.  I forgotten golden idol, sitting innocently in the rusted rubble of some far away structure...

A quick paintjob and some weathering powder later, this marker is ready for the battlefield:

This picture is kind of crappy, but I finished off the base with some nice DA green, and in real life, its actually quite nice.  Now that I have a mold I can bust out as many of these suckers as I need.  A few bubbles aside this one came out pretty good I think.  Now I must go retrieve the Idol before the Inquisitors get to it first. 

-DAN