Ripley in a Powerloader

 I've got quite a bit of time to myself at the moment, so I've been making lots of models. 

I went to the local games shop and bought the "Sulaco Survivors" boxed set from Gale Force Nine's Aliens game. I love Aliens, which I first saw when I was 15, and which blew me away. It's still an awesome film, and I'd been interested to see what the models were like for a while.

It was also, I'm sorry to say, one of the cheapest things in the shop. Back in the day, you bought models in blister packs, usually in small 4 or 5-man squads of metal miniatures. They tended to be anything from £5 (usually for a character) to £15 (for a little squad). I still remember the outrage of each metal wraithguard costing £8 (about £12 now, which is still enough for one robot).

Anyhow, most GW characters are £20 or more - and £20 for a single plastic goblin seems outrageous to me, even if he does have a magic stick. Boxes of units are generally £25 or more. Other companies make cheaper boxes - North Star's plastic box sets for Frostgrave and Stargrave are really good value - but I don't usually want 20 blokes, even for the good price of £20. 

So, the Sulaco Survivors set was £12. It includes two models for Ellen Ripley and Bishop each. Ripley is in the powerloader that she uses to fight the Alien queen, and on foot and "enraged". I expect that this means that she's a special character in the game. Bishop comes in standard and "broken" form, for when he's been torn in half. Try getting a GW special character for less than £20. Or several of them in the same box. From a film franchise.

As it turns out, the models are good and sharp, although I had to scrape off a lot of mould lines. Assembling the powerloader Ripley was quite fiddly, and I had to paint most of her separately. It's a really nice, neat model, and really captures her about to clock the Alien queen.

My pictures don't really do it justice, but this is a very nice model and I'd recommend it, although it's probably for more experienced modellers (which both of my readers probably are). I had a good time making this and I'm pleased with the result.

Next time, more robots.

Wonky Metal Tyranid Warriors

 

I've been busy with the nostalgia Tyranids. It's been one of those projects that you chip away at, and a lot of the models aren't anything especially great. One of the coolest things about the Tyranids is the sheer number of the horrid little buggers than you can field: however, this doesn't show up especially well on camera. 

I've also been painting a couple of old metal warriors. Now, nostalgia aside, I think these are pretty ropey models. In fact, compared to the super plastic warriors from a few years earlier, they're terrible. The detail isn't as good as the plastics, and the features are cartoony. While I'm generally in favour of Oldhammer, I do think that there are some poor-quality models from back then, and these - along with such joys as the half-naked Khorne berserkers and the cheesy old undead - are some of them.

(In this case, I wonder if it's the result of trying too literally to turn a John Blanche picture into a miniature. Blanche certainly has his place as an artist, but I think he's better at drawing humans and demons than aliens. But that's just guesswork.)

So, I had two nearly-complete warrior models. I gave both of them necks made from Dark Eldar pistols, which makes them look a little less daft. One had one of those goofy tongue-out Tyranid heads, but I couldn't do a lot about that. They were both missing left arms, so I made some new ones out of old plastic termagant arms, elongated with wire and green stuff. This turned out to be easier than I'd feared. 

(It's worth pointing out here that early Tyranids carried their guns, which makes much more sense than the later versions, who have their weapons apparently growing out of their bodies. This would seriously limit their tactical flexibility, and bothers me way more than it should.)

The old school barbed strangler, which this guy holds, is a really cool design. It's got a sort of facehugger/ribcage structure at the back, a barrel apparently made out of bone, and a couple of anuses. A shame, then, that the model is saddled with those whopping great claws.

This chap has a devourer. It used to have a description worthy of Cannibal Corpse lyrics: a muscular tube ending in a cone of rotting flesh, infested with writhing worms. I tried to reflect this in my painting, but I don't think much could do justice to such a description. Because I'd run out of silly old metal claws, he got some modern rending claws left over from a genestealer.

They join their two derpy comrades armed with venom cannons. I've got to admit that, as a group, they do look sort of cool.

Great Big Scratch-Built Ork Robot Walker Thing!

 Once again, I've been looking at an old model and trying to make it a bit more modern. Ages ago, I made a scratch-built ork walker out of bits and pieces. Its body was based on a broken AT-AT model, with random Zoid parts and bits of 40k scenery. Detailing was also added with bits from a very cheap German tank that I bought years ago from a model shop. The legs were two thrusters from Tau tanks!

I thought it would be nice to give it a few more details and improve its painting a little (and to brush off some of the dust that had accumulated on it, too!). 

As you can see, it's quite large. 

It has a big gun made partly from a chimney and the top of a pen. I'm pleased with the discolouration on the barrel and the blue plasma bits below the... other bits.

Less interesting rear views:

So that's the main robot done! I have ordered some resin rockets to mount on his shoulders, but I don't want to break up the silhouette, which I think works quite well. I could add some more detailing - is a model like this ever finished? - but for now I'm taking a break. Rargh!

From 40k Inquisitor to Fantasy Vampire

 

A while ago, the local gaming shop was getting rid of some back-issues of that Warhammer magazine where you slowly built an army. On the front was the Inquisitor Kyria Draxus model, for "only" £10. I bought it, not really knowing what I'd do with the miniature. 

I think it's one of those models that has lots of cool details and doesn't really come together as a whole very well. The little dragon, the cloak, the smooth armour and the skull on her shoulder all look nice, but it's a bit "bitty" and the position is a tad odd. So, I chopped it up. The head, skull and arms were replaced.

The new arms are very old plastic Mordheim bits. The new head came from a Sister of Battle that I used as the leader of my Sisters of Sigmar warband a while ago. It's got a strange, old-fashioned look. I filed down and covered some of the sci-fi bits of her armour. I felt that it needed a bit to balance out the big halberd, so I added a screaming head from some kind of chaos warrior. Having long hair in Warhammerland is a really bad idea, because people will inevitably use it to hold up your severed head.

And then I added paint. A dark red and purple scheme felt suitably vampiric, but that can look a bit bland, so I tried to incorporate a few bits of lighter colour.

Most of the undead are not very picky about who or what they drain of blood. However, the smarter ones tend to know not to get high on their own supply of peasants. In fact, some vampire nobles are quite protective of their flocks. Here we see Katerina von Augen, displaying the severed head of the chaos warlord Gruffwulf Ruffguff at the third battle of the River Plog.

I also painted a Supernatural Veteran for the good people of Silver Bayonet. This guy started off as an explorer from their Egyptian supplement, which is why he had an odd head-dress under his top hat - presumably to keep the sun off. That looked a bit weird in a rainy hellhole like Blognia, so I sculpted long hair over the top of it. And then the hair looked like dreadlocks, so I gave him darker skin. 

While fighting the living dead is not a very appealing prospect for most people, fighting the living dead for money is very appealing to a few. As a result, men of learning - some of it pretty arcane - have flocked to Blognia in search of revenants and cash. One such traveller is Jean le Beaucourt, swordsman, occultist and millinery connoisseur. 

Back to Blognia - Peasants and Vampires

 Right then, more Blognians!

The great majority of Blognians are part of the rural peasantry. Despite the modernising efforts of the Duchess, most of the population remains in the countryside. The peasantry remain friendly and welcoming - provided you are also a peasant, and preferably a blood relation of marriable age.

Many peasants are the retainers and bondsmen of their liege lords and, even if not literally owned by them anymore, remain touchingly and stupidly loyal to their feudal masters. As well as the traditional crafts of moustache-growing and vendetta, the peasants also help the undead with tasks that cannot be carried out by creatures who avoid the sun and have no reflection. That said, in these tumultuous times, some peasants have banded together to overthrow their vampiric masters. Vampire-hunting is big business in modern Blognia, and the peasants want a stake in it.

Here are three peasant fighters. They're made from Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago crewmen. I cut the hand of the bearded man and turned it a little, to open the model out a bit, but otherwise they're unconverted.

And this is an old metal GW Strigoi vampire model. It's got weirdly little feet and is in a slightly strange position, but the face is cool and I like this rather feral style of vampire.

And here is a whole unit of peasants, or possibly brigands, equipped for some kind of uprising. I'm surprised how colourful they are: that wasn't my original plan, but what the heck. I rather like it.

More Orks and bonus random space people

 A while ago, I made some Bad Moon space orks. I promised to make some more. Well, here they are, along with a few other random space geezers.

This guy is some sort of mek. He's got an awesome hammer and an apron full of tools. I love the details on some of these sculpts.

This chap has a heavy weapon. The gun is actually a plastic bit from an otherwise ropey sprue of Mantic orks. I don't know why, but I seem to have two copies of the ork (but not his gun). I don't know what I'll do with the other one. I have a vague feeling that the ork himself is seriously old.

Third up is a metal Bad Moon ork with a ridiculous hat. I gave him checked trousers for no good reason. Perhaps he stole them off a chef. Given that this little warband is essentially a gang of pirates, perhaps he is the ship's cook.

*

And here's a few bonus weirdos. This first chap is unusual because my friend Owen did most of the converting work on him about 30 years ago. The upper body and left arm are from a Krymech model (yes, it's that old), and the head and right arm are an old plastic Imperial Guard bits. I finished the conversion off by adding legs from a Bolt Action Russian soldier, and a walking stick made from a bit of plastic spear. My top tip here is to drill through the base from underneath and push the stick through from below. Otherwise it gets a bit fiddly. The letters on this chap's chestplate are supposed to say "SWAT", but it was very hard to pick them out, so they look more like either TWAT or SWOT, which isn't good.

Here's an unconverted Krymech trooper. He's rather spindly. He'd made quite a good model for someone in heavy armour that isn't based on a space marine.

And here's a weird person who might be a robot. This one of those conversions where the bits came from different places but felt as if they went together. The arms and legs were from Skitarri soldiers, the chest was from a Tau tank driver, and the head came from some kind of Age of Sigmar Sigmarine person. I think the great big topknot was originally from a chaos cultist of some sort.

Anyhow, I tried to paint this guy in a dramatic colour scheme, vaguely inspired by matadors (hence much red). I really like the fading effect on the hair: I'm now tempted to do this on an entire model.

And that's me done for now!

Medieval Dreadnought Conversion

 This week, I found some very old 40k vehicles that I made about 15 years ago. They weren't great to begin with, and they'd got battered after a trip to the attic, so I thought I'd have a go at rebuilding one of them. I wanted it to fit in with the rest of my marines, who have a jolly, knightly look.

This is a conversion of an old plastic dreadnought, using (mainly) the upper body of a dreadnought and the legs of a plastic sentinel. The sentinel legs were bulked out with two wheels and some plasticard. The kneepads came from an old plastic chaos knight, and the loincloth was an old plastic cloak. The exhausts were given some plastic chaos tank bits for bonus medievalism.

The right arm of the dreadnought is a standard twin lascannon. The right arm has a metal cannon part that I got in a job lot of bits years ago. I think it's from an ancient steam tank. The dreadnought got plates on his thighs, which came from a dreadnought shin guard which I sliced in half (I couldn't find two).

The shields on the front were bits of plasticard, sanded to shape and painted with heraldry. The head comes from an Imperial Knight, although I cut the lower half off. To begin with, I thought the head was too big and looked silly, but I've got used to it and frankly the whole thing is a bit silly. The little emblem on the top was once on a Bretonian knight's helmet. 

Let's call him Mordread.