Dreams of Mars...

With 15mm gaming and painting (well painting so far!) my wargaming bug has been well and truly woken up. I have been considering a return to Games Workshop for some time and with the release by Forgeworld of their Mechanicum forces and now by GW itself with the Skitarri it has kind of decided it for me.
Ever since I read Mechanicum by Graham McNeil (set during the outbreak of the Horus Heresy)  I have been looking to delve more into the side and along with an Inquisitional Warband  appeal to me the most. They both have a strong Steampunk feel and tap in to the Heart of the Warhammer 40K story with their techno medieval appearance and ideology. As a painter and builder the Mechanicum offers a lot of scope, not just on adapting existing figures but the potential for unique pieces and highly personalised equipment and appearance.
In preparation for a Mechanicum army I have just finished rereading Mechanicum and have started the Priests of Mars which is the start of a Mechanicum Trilogy also by Grham McNeil.
Over on my Pinterest, I have set up a Adeptus Mechanicum board for inspiration:

Adeptus Mechanicus Pinterest

2015 has been a busy year so far and I have got into quiet a few games and amassed a whole host of new mini's to paint up and extended my scratch build plans list again. Before i start on the catchup I thought I would post up a new company called Macroscosm games who i came across on one of the Facebook groups for Necromunda. The initial run of 28mm figures are for the Malignancy who are an underground cult infected by an alien virus with the figures in various stages of infection.
The miniatures are fairly generic and could be used to support factions in 40K, Necromunda as well as the companies own system and verse which is available free on the site.

Malignancy Starter set (Image taken from website)

Macrocosm Games

Tor Gaming

Browsing through the web I have come across Tor Gaming and their 30mm Relics game. 

The figures have a great look to them, especially the stitched up puppets as soldiers. I have not done 30mm before but i like the potential of extra detail and a more intimate skirmish feel, looking over their online store the prices are not bad as well so might pick some up just to paint if nothing else.

Looking over the website they seem to have taken the time to build a strong backstory which is always going to be a pull for me and with their rules going for free I can use some proxies and give it a test drive.

The company are also running a mystery box promotion at the moment so its worth popping over to the site to have a look and enter as well!

Mystery relics box giveaway

I will follow up once I have tried out the Rules and picked up some figures!

 Tor Gaming

Inspiration: Pinterest

Pinterest is a tagging website that allows you build up collections called Boards of what ever you find on the Internet or upload yourself. Most websites now have Pinterest links (Pins) in the same way you can add to Facebook or Twitter or you can add you can add a browser widget. Within the site you can view your boards and also follow the boards of others as well which can fast build up to a extensive feed of inspiration.

I use Pinterest as an ideas and inspiration board for several of my hobbies and have boards dedicated to wargaming, Robots, and Sci-fi which may be of interest:

Pinterest

Speeder Bike conversion

With the release of the trailer for the next Star Wars film i was taken by the new retro speeder and decided to have a go for my 15mm Faction.
The ground forces for my Sci Fi Faction are from Ground Zero Games UNSC range and based the conversion on their Grav Bike, this would give me a rider and help the piece to scale.
For the front bulk I will be using a pen lid from a Highlighter Pen.

sized against the GZG UNSC line unit.

The Clip from the Pen lid was removed and back of the Grav bike was filed flat with the saddle and the side panels removed.

It was then glued to part of a chop stick (flatter so better than just dowelling) with copper wire  and strips of card added to it and the main body. The bottom rim was added from another section of the pen with holes drilled while the fins were other sections filed and heat bent - I will probably use Plasticard if I do any more. The top of the lid was also filed in to give a cockpit recess.

The extra dowelling was stuck where the pen would be and the space filled with NoMoreNails mixture which will keep the parts secure and act as a filler.

Piece base coated and based. Two Pence piece with sand build up with NoMoreNails

The final Speeder bike with and without rider. I have gone for quite a weather look as these will be used as Heavy/long range Scouts.

Ground Zero Games Grav Bike

New Year!

17 Days into 2015 and I have not had chance to do much painting, plenty of time on ebay (more on that  later!) and time to reorganise and take stock of what I have got in terms of paints, equipment and Bitz. When I started back in the hobby I was digging out supplies that had been in deep storage but very glad I kept them and other than some new paints the biggest item on my wish list is a new scalpel and saw as  I was luckily enough to get a mini grinder over the holiday.
Plans for 2015 are to continue with my 15mm factions, break ground with my Amtrak Wars project, probably starting with one of the Gliders and also to look into Warhammer 40K again..

Inspiration: Star Wars

Following the release of the teaser trailer for the new Star Wars film i was struck by the land speeder featured. Very bulky and diesel punk i thought it would be perfect for the style of my space force so have decided to have a go…

Stills of the speeder: