Sunday 31 May 2015

Deamonhost.1

Still undecided on the paint scheme for my Skitarii Rust Lancers so started on another figure while they stare at me.

The Deamonhost sketched out by John Blanche in his Inquisitor Sketchbook and realised as the Cherubael miniature is an inspiring creation but unfortunately the 28mm versions have lost a lot in translation. My idea for a Deamonhost is an emaciated figure wrapped in bandages and protective wards but further contained with an adapted stasis pod. Wired up and maintained and controlled ( or at least the illusion of control) . The inclusion of the stasis pod will also link into the Adeptus Mechancus element to the warband. 
I have started off with a skeleton from the Warhammer fantasy and replaced the head with one from the Empire cavalry. The legs were also broken and brought together. Most of the figure will be covered with bandages so I haven't been too neat.
I then started with the GS and have added the first layer of bandages an detail. I am very new to GS but from what I have read, it helps to go slow and not try and do too much in one go. 

Friday 29 May 2015

Skitarii Rust Lancer

My two Skitarii Rust Lancers are about done and ready to be painted. 

Partly inspired by S.Dali The Caravan, the Rust Lancers were put together using an Warhammer Fantasy Empire Knight horse and parts of the Forgeworld Tech-Thrall with Mitrelock.
The Horse was prepared by removing/not attaching it's head and tail. The saddle was filed down as was the back of the front armour level with the back. The hoofs were removed and holes drilled and replaced with the ends of Cocktail/toothpick sticks (2 inch). Sections of guitar wire were added to replace the tail and to the middle sections. 

The main intersection is made up from a section of cable from the Zinge Industry model supply range ( 'Flexible Extra Large Bundled Power Cables' left in picture)
It fits into the opening very well and you can push more into the body cavity to add stability. The trunk is then topped with the Tech-thrall which has been cut to just under the chest plate. Cabling from the Mithralock is then taken and attached to the backpack and horse torso. Smaller guitar string sections are then added around the waist as further support. 
Green Stuff cables were then added to the legs and torso. The cables were made using the Roll Maker from Green Stuff World.

Arms and shield were then added from an Empire Knight. The purity seal was made with paper and Green stuff, the seal indent was made with the end of a brush with the bristles removed. 

I am very pleased with how these have turned out and they should fit in well to the medieval overtones of my Inquisitor Warband, also tempted to make up a full unit as they would be perfect in an Adeptus Mechanicum force as a Fast Attack and supporting an Ironstrider


Thursday 21 May 2015

Adeptus Mechanicus: The Copper Oracle

Primary scan + target designated Copper Oracle has been acquired

Structural parameters
= 98.2% compliance with 4th Revision Baroque Indulgence Artistic Principles











The Copper Oracle was constructed by Adept Itzen-Da a pupil of Adept Ulterimua and was a prototype Warp reader. Embedded within the machine is an artificially grown and enhanced brain partly cultured from illicitly gathered Navigator House stock. 

The Oracle was an early step into the exploration of the Akasha Postulation and Noospheric field work. Unfortunately during the initial testing the feedback from the warp connection resulted in temporal instability and the Oracle platform was pulled into the warp. The Copper Oracle is still bound to the Red Planet, by accident or design is unknown, and will periodically reappear in different locations. Sometimes for mere hours and other times for days. Still operational after all this time, the Copper Oracle  dispenses its visions into the desert

More recently sightings have increased and the Copper Oracle has been gathering resources, utilizing ancient pathways and access codes to old to be countered. Only time will reveal its purpose and if speaks with the will of the Omnissiah or Warp inspired madness. 
   
Additional:
Access granted to apocryphal file 1/22.34

Adept Itzen-Da disappeared after the first testing of the Copper Oracle and Official records log that he offered himself for Unwinding and Reclamation as a result of the debacle. Other sources indicate he entered the Copper Oracle during its initialization and remains as part of it still. 


querry search Itzen-Da, Adept hidden rank...

Reclaimation Authorized 30.011.299
Subfiles  
Parts manifest
[Empty]
Transport and storage
[Empty]
Redistribution
                     [Empty]

Sunday 17 May 2015

Castor and Pollux

In between building a Skitarii unit I have started work on two figure for my Inquisitor warband. Two Centaur Servitors, Castor and Pollux, main components drawn from Warhammer Fantasy Empire Knight and the top half of  a Forgeworld Tech-Thrall.


Skitarii Archivist Begg 7-B

Begg 7-B stumbled forward as he stepped off the lowered transport door, the clank of his feet sounding out against the rhythm around him. Automatic systems took over and prevented him from falling but not before he had upset the harmony of the disembarkation and drawing the attention of Alpha Rahon Ta-Ro. The Alpha prioritised his Noospheric link and sent over an urgent query, demerit markers highlighting the disruption and 0.0045 efficiency drop.
Begg struggled to respond, his system starting to overload as external feeds disconnected and his own software started to purge under an external override

+System reroute and PURGE+
+incoming Imperative OVERRIDE+
+Awaiting capacity confirmation and KEY+

The Alpha stepped over to where Begg had stopped and queried again, simultaneously redirecting the halted flow of Skitarii around them both and and alerting the dock rotation Adept. Begg barely noticed through the static haze of isolation and reboot protocols.
Emotional buffers gave way and triggered Pict feeds from the recent Acquisitional Campaign, jarred and overlaid with GPS parameters and Martian Geo date.
The outline of a Copper blue face emerged from the noise.

+PURGE+
+System KEY inload. Awaiting Imperative…
+Cant Variation upgrade. IN HIS NAME WE SPEAK+
+Unit requisition. PRIORITY 1.+

The reorder cleared the static and even the Alpha felt its passing, ancient pre-Heresy imperatives and security clearance leaving a digital wake. Alpha and Adept stood down and resumed their place in the Order of the Day and Begg, filled with the voice of Onmissiah, walked into the desert.





Requisitioned by The Copper Oracle, Begg now serves as Archivist, gathering up the Hard Copy Data streams.

The figure was painted in line with the Copper Oracle. I wanted to work with a muted rusted palette and stretch myself with a more organic and grunted technique than I usually paint with. Inspired by the work of John Blanche.

Saturday 16 May 2015

Reset


The Copper Oracle and extras are all finished! All that is left is to take some shots, reset the table and begin again :) 

Tuesday 12 May 2015

Copper Oracle dreg WIP

While the Copper Oracle settles under its first coat of paint I have started on a couple of minor characters to keep it company. The first is an old Skitarii Begg 7-B. Returning from a campaign, his cogitator and neural suppressors damaged he struggled to cope with increasing waves of emotion and fled into the desert. Expecting to die he was overtaken by a vision of the Copper Oracle and sought it out. Begg now tends the Oracle and gathers up the data  sheets that fall from its mouth and scours the nearby wastes for more

Adeptus Mechanicus: Copper Oracle 4

The head piece has now been filled up. 
First with the main pieces and then smaller figures, ranging from an Epic Scale Ogryn and a Sentinl to a 6mm WW2 tank and Black Tree Cyberman (its a cyborg so totally counts as Mechanicum!) the spaces in-between where then filled with wooden sticks to form antenna and helping to build a loose curved outline to the build. The signature Admech pipework was then added in layers using pipes from Zing Industries excellent range of bitz and Guitar strings. The ends of the pipes were capped of with plugs from the Zing range and added to the while effect.






The 'easy' part of putting it together is about done now so i will be undercoating and getting the first couple of layers down and will hopefully post up tomorrow


Sunday 10 May 2015

Adeptus Mechanicus: Copper Oracle 3

Time to fill the head!
The mounted Knight of the Blazing Sun is the centrepiece and larger pieces pinned around it. Once all of the larger pieces are attached the aim is to build up around them and fill the gaps with either antenna, various Bitz and then cabling.
Granted it's looking a little crude but most of the lower portions will be hidden and all repainted once in place




Saturday 9 May 2015

Adeptus Mechanicus: Copper Oracle 2

Work continues on the Copper Oracle, with some extra basing and some more detail on the head piece




The large socket at the back of the head was constructed using a bottle lid, some straws, cocktail sticks and doweling.
While the PVA/Sand was drying i started work on some of the detail pieces, mainly raiding my bits box  to gather or build a range of techno archaic figures. My favourites are the light bulb on the napoleonic gun carriage and the Grandmaster of the knights of the Blazing Sun with a cannon head and radar dish shield. 







Thursday 7 May 2015

Adeptus Mechanicus: Copper Oracle

Bouncing between projects I have started on a Adeptus Mechanicus shrine. I will fill out more detail later but the basic concept is a head and hands reaching up from the Martian wasteland, possibly the top  of a once looming edifice. The Statue is also warp sensitive and speak in ticker tape prophecy.
The statue will be from a doll and constructed on a plasticard base.
A cardboard roll from kitchen tin foil was used inside the head to act a platform to add a plasticard level for the top of the head. Slate fragments and NoMoreNails were used to build the landscape while the first details were added from my bits box including the spent cap gun cartridge for the eye piece.








Malifaux : The Hanged

For my first Malifaux figures i started with the hanged box. Constructing the plastic figures was not too complicated  although some of the pieces are very delicate, especially the rope, and needed to be removed from the sprue with some care.
The theme of my Crew was to be a victorian lunatic Asylum and I felt the The Hanged on their own did not quite fit in. Deciding on bed sheets rather than rope i constructed them using twisted tissue paper around a wire frame soaked in Superglue. This allowed me to retain a nice material feel and the twisted shape. The tissue absorbs the glue and sets hard.





Over all I am pleased with how they have turned out, though as I might go back and add a small card to each of them  as a dead tag/number. These figures are also a first for me in terms of painting style and using layers and blended paints rather than just out of the pot.

Malifaux

With my interest in all things steampunk, gothic and weird the world of Malifaux has been an interesting discovery. With all my other plans (large army and small)  i like the idea of just a small skirmish band. After much thought, there are so many factions and Crews that appeal, I have decided to start off with the Ressurectionists and a McMourning Crew.
The mad scientist theme is certainly a fun one and gives lots of potential for conversions. For the style of the Crew I want to go for quite muted colours, faded whites and browns with films like Silent Hill and House on Haunted Hill as inspiration.