Probe Droids

   One of the things you come to accept in this hobby is your level of painting skill, my skill is very much in getting uniformed troops onto the table in a speed that some of my mates can't get over, but that only really pass the 2 foot rule in general. My biggest issue are non-uniformed figures as these slow me down, and if I am not enjoying the process, it can kill my enthusiasm quicker than a horde army will. This is what is happening a bit with the heroes from the Imperial Assault box, so I thought I would treat myself to a unit that I knew I would enjoy painting and would be quick and easy to do. Up hoover the probe droids from the starter set.

    I haven't done anything special with the paint job, it really is as simple as it looks, but on the boards they really look they are supposed to be there. With these guys turning out to be a lot more potent in the game than I expected, it makes sense they should look the part.

Now back to painting heroes I think.

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Rebels Sighted

   I currently have two main hobby plans on the go; I am planning on keeping a minimum of 30 minutes of painting a day before work, even with my busier work schedule and I am attempting to get everything from wave 1 of the Imperial assault set painted so we can play through the campaign with fully painted miniatures.

   These are the first products of this new regime; three rebel troops and Luke Skywalker from Imperial Assault. Much as I am sure anyone who has watched Rogue One is working out ways to recreate the final battle, these guys are just so iconic that I had to have at least a unit, and as some appear in the campaign, it was even more reason to buy a pack. While Luke just looked like fun to paint

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D&D Horses

   I started a new job last Tuesday so my hobby time is even more limited than it ever was, or at least until I settle down and work out what my new routine is. As such, this blog will change as well, being as regular as I can manage but also much more concise.

   The first of these posts is a bit of a cheat post, as I have only actually painted 2 of the models in it, but the horses are just too clever not to post about. My D&D gaming group are working our way through the Hoard of the Dragon Queen campaign book and we have reached a point where we have been given horses by an NPC as we gather we are going to be doing a lot of distance travelling in the next few sessions. 

   I did some research on how other gamers show their character is riding a horse compared to just being next to it and came across a variety of methods, ranging from having a separate model of their figure on a horse, to horses with cut out backs or simply stickers you put on the horse while you remove the character from the board. None of these felt right for our group, however. The system I liked the look of was one put forward by Stuffer Shack and it was probably the simplest system, just have a horse on a bigger base, if your figure is on the base, it is riding the horse, next to the base and it is next to the horse. The next step was to pick horses with colours as close to the horses we each picked but again, the website gives enough choice that I have done pretty close.

From left to right we have; Bucephalas, River, Osiris, Nibbles and Blessing.

    Next up are my only bits of painting; our group's half-elf sorcerer who had been using an unpainted figure since the start and felt left out, and our wizard's mastiff war dog. The half-elf is a Reaper Miniatures figure and is made of their soft plastic which I really don't like the feel of, while the mastiff is from Otherworld Miniatures.

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Don't move! - Now with brighter Troopers, although, they probably still can't hit anything.

   Yes, so this is another new project but I can explain. I was bought the Imperial Assualt starter box by a, very generous, mate and in preparation for our first game, I have bolstered the collection with a few expansion packs.
   When it came to painting, it made far more sense for me to start with the Stormtroopers. So that is what I have done and they were really good fun to do.

  Three of the Stormtroopers.

Kayn Somos - a stormtrooper commander felt like a necessary extra purchase.

 E-web engineers.

Now to paint some rebels.
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Were-Orca

   I bumped into a Kickstarter two years ago that was trying to make myths and monsters from the Americas, had a quick browse and went to click off of the page, and then something dawned on me, I had seen a killer whale on four legs. So back up the page, I scrolled and I looked at the price. I had no idea what I would do with it, but I knew I had to have one.
    As with many Kickstarters, there were a lot of delays but the model itself was definitely worth it. It went together really nicely, the cast was pretty good and it was fun to paint, my only criticism is the sheer weight of the body is going through one slim bit of white metal, so it does slowly lean forward over time.

   Now it is built and painted, I am still pleased with my purchase, but I still have no idea what I am going to do with it. I've based it up the same as my various fantasy figures as it is all I could think to do.

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Hervictus Dispatch Rider

   One of the things that has always bugged me about 40k, and to a lesser extent Bolt Action, is how the game ignores the extra support staff that help maintain a coherent military unit, of whatever size you are playing, so this is something my mate and me want to incorporate into our games in the future. This has lead to a lot of thinking about where these games ignore units entirely or change the role of others, and then how to go about converting such units.

    A unit I have always been curious about, and that I had an idea on how I wanted to convert, was a dispatch rider, especially in an era where the technology has gone so far backwards that communications can be as bad, or worse, than in WW2. We haven't decided if it will be a separate unit or just count as a bodyguard for the command HQ but it should be a really good addition to my fledgeling Imperial Guard company.

   The model is a mix of parts; the bike, hands and legs are from Ramshackle Games, the body, arms and gun on the bike are Games Workshop, while the dispatch bag is from a bag of German WW2 tank stowage I bought from Die Waffenkammer a while back, all on the compulsory Warbases base.

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