Khador - 15-point Achievement!

With the Widowmakers finished and joining the Battlegroup, it brings my Khador forces to the 15-point Achievement mark!

I really enjoy building Warmachine armies using the incremental point system in the Journeyman League - it breaks up the army building process nicely, in way that doesn't make the whole process seem so daunting :)

So, I'm gonna work on some terrain now - but after that it's straight back into my Khador with the Man-O-War Shocktroopers and War Dog planned for next week!

Sync out.

Khador - Widowmakers

So that's the unit of Widowmakers done - I've snapped some full army shots so I'll put up my 15-point Achievement post soon.

The Widowmakers look really cool together as a unit, and hopefully they can hold their own on the table top. Looking at them all together like this I think that the colour scheme I'm using translated well from the Battlegroup to this unit - hopefully it translates well to the rest of the army too!

Sync out.

Khador - Widowmaker Leader

I decided I'd use the female Widowmaker as my Leader, although I'm not entirely sure why. She's the only Widowmaker that doesn't have a rifle mount - so I'm assuming that because she doesn't need one, her skill level exceeds that of the other models. She also has a hat.

When I get home from work today I'll get their basing done, and that'll be the Widowmakers completed!

Sync out.

Merry Christmas!

My Christmas present this year from my family is - you guessed it - toy soldiers! I've just put through an order with Defiant Gaming, for two complete 35-point Hordes armies!
If you've seen the 35-point Holiday Bundles offered by Privateer Press, have a go at carting them up at Defiant Gaming - they're cheaper even when including a set of premium Chessex Dice to replace the Privateer Press dice included in the bundles.
And to spread the love this Christmas, Defiant are having a Christmas sale, reducing their already low prices - great service, cheap prices and fast postage - what more could you want?

Season's Beatings!

I understand that as a wargamer, I'm impossible to shop for. My attention span jumps between game systems, armies within these game systems, and then units within these armies - how are my family supposed to keep up?
Well, I have an awesome wife. The standard protocol for my birthday and Christmas is my wife organises contributions from the family, then I get to go shopping with the collection!
It's really win-win for everyone - they don't have to try and figure out what to get me or bother going to get it, and I can get exactly what I want.

Give the gift of war

So with my wife, parents, brothers and in-laws all kicking in, I had enough (and then some) to get a 35-point Hordes army - but that was before Defiant spread the Christmas spirit and decided to have a Christmas sale!
Defiant's Christmas sale, combined with the excess from my Christmas money and a little bit I had saved up, I was able to get another 35-point Hordes army, and some paints on the top!

So stay tuned, PLENTY more Warmachine and Hordes action to come! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Sync out.

Khador - Widowmaker

Again, fairly similar to the other two Widowmakers. I've decided I'm going to do my Khador with darker skin and blonde hair, just to take them a step further from the standard Khador look.

So now there's just the Widowmaker Leader to go, and the basing on each of the Widowmakers to finish off - then the unit will be complete and I'll have hit the 15-point Achievement!

Sync out.

Khador - Widowmakers

I knocked out the second Widowmaker last night, which was the same model as the original test model. Decided to snap a small group shot, as proof that I actually did something yesterday!

Oh, I haven't completed the snow on the basing yet. After doing the snow basing on Sorscha, I decided that it wasn't worthwhile to mix up a batch of the snow basing mix for just one model - so after I finish all the Widowmakers, I'll do all their snow effects together.

Sync out.

Khador - Widowmaker Test

Without a guide as to how to apply my alternate Khador colour scheme to the Widowmakers, I took some creative liberties with the colours, and after looking at these photos I'm happy with how he turned out.
The cream/red/black colour ratio is fairly consistent with the Battlegroup I did last week, which I think was my main concern, and taking a step back and looking at the model overall, I'm pleased with the balance of these colours.

Sync out.

Khador - Widowmakers Undercoated

To get my existing Khador force up to 15-points from the current Battlegroup, I decided to use the Widowmakers after reading various sources online.
The models are all single piece, so with no real assembly I cleaned, based and undercoated them, ready for painting during the work week!

Sync out.

Terrain - Hills

My Hills Terrain

To take a break from army building, I thought it would be fun to craft my own terrain pieces. I'd watched some How-To's online, and thought that making hills would be an easy first step into terrain making.

I always want my terrain to be versatile, and making three pieces as shown above allows them to stacked in a variety of configurations to allow for an ever changing battle field. Some examples of configurations of the above three pieces are shown below.

Sync's How To

Materials

PVA Glue

Grey Paint (for rocky, grey hills)

White Paint (for highlighting)

Modelling Sand (I chose a medium fine)

Static Grass

Extruded High Density Foam (also called Pink/Blue/Yellow Styrofoam)

< Sources of Extruded HDF in Australia >

Extruded High Density Foam - Styrofoam is OK, but the finish won't be as smooth

Equipment

Hobby Knife

Large Paint Brush

Little Throw Away Brush (for applying PVA glue)

Metal Ruler (must be metal!)

1. Cut your terrain pieces - sizes totally up to you, but I made three; a small, medium and large piece.

Draw lines on your Extruded HDF - I made my lines jagged and random
for a little more realism.

Cut along your lines, about half-way through the HDF with your blade.
Then 'snap' the foam apart, to make the edges a little more rugged looking.

I actually made a  whole bunch of pieces out of the sheet I had, but for
now three pieces of hills terrain is enough.

2. Craft the edges of your hills 

You NEED to watch this 4:40 minute video from Viv at Battlebunker. At 1:30 he shows an amazingly simple technique to get a great effect with just a metal ruler. At about 2:50, he describes the difference between foams, and why Extruded HDF is much better to use.

After some edge crafting

3. Add some rocks for a bit more depth to the pieces

Pretty simple, just glued some rocks directly onto the pieces, and waited
for them to dry overnight.

4. Paint the hills

Might take a few base coats (I did three watery coats, to make sure I got
into the crevices and recesses.

After a quick dry-brush with the white, the hills were looking pretty good.

Close up!

5. Little bit of grass here and there.

Leave it overnight to dry and stay stuck.

6. Get them on the table!

Sync out.