Imperial Fists: Woah...That's Heavy...

Over the last few days we've been looking at my work in progress on my Imperial Fists first Tactical Squad. We've looked at the squad as a whole, the Sgt, and the Special Weapons.

To round out this squad, I also magnetized the heavy weapon marine. This time I magnetized both arms so I could let him carry the missile launcher and the heavy bolter, which utilize different left arms.

I considered magnetizing the backpack, but opted not to for simplicity, and to give it a bit of a different look when he's got the heavy bolter. 

 

Having both arms magnetized provides even greater flexibility, as I can equip the model with the cupped left hand to hold special weapons instead of heavy weapons.

The special weapon marines can also be equipped with the heavy weapons, giving your squad further versatility.

Alternately, you could equip the marine with magnetized pistols and close combat weapons of any variety to create an ad hoc squad leader for times you want to select smaller 5 man teams. At this time, I've not built any other Sgt. upgrade arms to demonstrate, but will be looking at that as a future upgrade.
In the future, I'll discuss how I magnetized the miniatures to allow for greatest compatibility, and thus flexibility. Stay tuned!

Links:
Games Workshop

Imperial Fists: Well, Isn't That Special!

Over the last couple of days we've been looking at my new Imperial Fists Tactical Squad, work in progress. I've already mentioned that the squad has been magnetized for optimal use of the special and heavy weapons, and to give me the best bang for my buck when it comes to army selection.

Yesterday we looked at the squad Sgt, and how with a single magnetized arm, it provides a lot of diversity in terms of swapping out wargear.

Today we look at the Special Weapon toting marine.

Again, only a single magnet was installed in the torso, for the gun arm. The left arm was glued in place in a suitably pleasing pose.

Yet with only his gun arm magnetized, he can still be equipped with a large variety of guns.

Plus, even though his right arm is glued on, he can still do double duty with a heavy bolter.

Having this kind of flexibility allows for a much more diverse selection of army lists, where you can easily swap arms to create smaller five man squads with a special or heavy weapon, but not have to invest in additional miniatures or significantly more paint time, as all you have to paint are the contents of a single kit.

Next time, we'll have a look at the Heavy Weapon marine.

Links:
Games Workshop

Horus Heresy Imperial Fists - The Versatile Leader

Yesterday we had a look at the first tactical squad for my Imperial Fists army using the Horus Heresy Betrayal at Calth set.

These were built entirely from a single tactical marine sprue from the HH BaC set, with the exception that I needed to scrounge a single right arm and a shoulder pad from my bits box.

The reason I needed to do that was so that I could magnetize all the special and heavy weapon options. I've yet to do any combi-weapons, as it's really small and hard to magnetize each combi-option.

One strange thing about this kit is they actually provide a few extra left arms with cupped hand, but not an equivalent number of right arms to glue guns on. It's strange because you can't use the extra left cupped hand arms, and there are not enough right arms to make a full set of pairs. They are just random left arms without a purpose. I do have a use for them, however, and have tucked them into my bits box for a future endeavour.

I mentioned magnetizing these models already, and wanted to have a closer look at the versatility of a few of the magnetized miniatures. Today we'll have a look at the Sgt., who is equipped with a powerfist and a plasma pistol.

I glued on the power fist, because Imperial Fists, so at least one Sgt will always have a powerfist. But his pistol arm is magnetized, in case I later decide to give him a different pistol, combi-bolter, or other special weapon.

With a simple single magnet in the torso, the Sgt. can have a very diverse and flexible access to a variety of weapons, ranging from pistols, to combi-weapons, and even to special weapons, as shown here.

As of writing this, I've not done any additional arms to swap pistols, or give him other options, but I eventually plan to, when I scrounge up some more right arms in the MK IV style.

Next time, we will look at magnetizing the special and heavy weapon marines. You've already had a sneak peak with the Sgt. carrying some special weapons.


Links:
Games Workshop

New Year, New Army! Horus Heresy Imperial Fists

Well, it's March 1st, and we are well into the year, so I thought I'd at least better announce my plans for this year.

Along with other projects I have on the go, I'm going to be doing a slow burn build of an Imperial Fists army for the Forge World Horus Heresy rules. To start, I'll be building and painting a complete Horus Heresy Betrayal at Calth set. This will give me a good foundation for the army with the Commander, Chaplain, Cataphractii Terminator squad, Contemptor Dreadnought, and three Tactical squads.

So far I've built the first squad up as a Veteran Tactical Squad. I chose this configuration because it will allow me to play both 30K and 40K, and with the added flexibility of magnetization, I'll be able to field the unit with a diverse selection of options, or as a generic Tactical Squad per the Horus Heresy rules.

Sgt. with power fist and plasma pistol leads his squad who tote a meltagun and heavy bolter.

Stay tuned for progress updates, as well as a deeper look at the interchangeable options and flexibility of the squad that comes with magnetization.


Links:
Games Workshop
Forge World

Can't Keep a Good Necron Down!

Boy time sure does fly!

Here's a quick update showing off some Necron Warriors I painted last night.

These were painted for the annual Toys for Tots Freebootaz 40K Charity Auction, where a bunch of us try to help some kids in need have a happy Christmas. If you are interested in bidding, stay tuned and I will post updates when the auctions go live, hopefully with some high resolution photos as well.

Anyway, enough with the wordy words.

Throwback Thursday: Eldar Flashback

Thursday is a salute to all things throwback. In this ongoing series, I will feature articles showcasing older hobby/game stuff for your enjoyment! This will focus on models in my collection, or old games, or even new projects with older models. Today, we take a quick look at some original Rogue Trader Eldar!

These are the original Eldar models from Rogue Trader Warhammer 40,000.

I picked these up as soon as they were released way back in the late 80s, and painted them up in the Eldar Pirates colours from the Rogue Trader Book, minus the tiger stripes. They later became Alaitoc colours, which became the basis for my long term Eldar army.

Since then I've painted and sold two armies of Eldar, but have kept the original unit, plus a bunch of the old Rogue Trader models, as well as the 2nd Edition metal models with plastic arms. The plan is to use them as a foundation for a Void Dragons Corsairs army, allied to my Alaitoc army, as the esoteric weapon style, and weapon combinations work well with the Corsairs list from the Imperial Armour Volume 11: Doom of Mymeara.

Links:
Games Workshop
Forge World

Minotaurs Space Marines Part 9: Raining Cows!

Hi, everybody. It's been a while since you saw an update on my Minotaurs. Due to time constraints and other circumstances, I shifted gears from that as a full time project, and it's now a side project that I'm working on in dribs and drabs. Even so, I haven't done anything with it in months. Until this week, that is.

Some time during the summer of 2014' a friend and I did a trade, out of which I received a pretty rough Forgeworld Dreadnought Drop Pod. It was in pretty bad shape having been assembled and disassembled, because of how bad the casting was, and poor fitting parts. But I knew with pinning, bending, and extra plasticard I could get it back up to snuff, so took it off his hands, to his relief.

There were two major issues with it. The first being the fins are too thin, resulting in 2-3 mm clearance in mounting the slots. I fixed this by shimming the fins with plasticard, which gave a nice solid gluing surface, and made the structure much more rigid. I also pinned all the joints to ensure extra strength, which really helped. This worked well, and the only issue that remains as a result is a tell tale gap when the doors are closed.

The second issue was that the floor plate was too thin. This was clearly a result of it going concave when it was casted due to too little resin being used, then the lip being sanded down too much by ForgeWorld to make it flat. This is what frustrated my friend as he complained about the doors not working when it was glued together. This was because there wasn't enough room in the hinge openings, causing the doors to physically bind. It also forced the doors upward by 3mm, leaving an unsightly gap at the bottom.

I fixed this by building up the thickness of the floor plate bottom using some 3mm thick sprue, which I carved and shaped to match the corners of the floor plate. The angle of the sprue sides was also a decent match for the taper of the floor. Finally, as part of the original owner's build attempts (I'm the third owner), the thruster base plate had been roughly carved/gouged in an attempt to make clearance for the hinges, but that didn't work, and made things worse due to poor fit and alignment. I hid that damage by running a band of plasticard around the top of the base, on the door sides. This squared up the edges and gave a better glue surface and alignment.

As as a result of these, and after about four hours of work I now have a pretty solid Dreadnought Drop Pod. The doors sit flush on the floor, and open and close easily.

The only issue now is the gap, which won't matter much when the doors are open.... Though I am considering fixing the gaps by adding plasticard, it really will have a declining rate of return, so probably won't bother. There are still a couple of blemishes that need cleaning and filling, and the main thruster needs to be heated and made round, but otherwise I am happy with the build, as I've always wanted one!

I didn't take any WIP shots ( I was too into it, and find interrupting for progress photos kills my progress), but here are some pics of it assembled.

Here it is with the doors closed. The door seals are visible due to the gap.

Directly below the door, you can see the strip of plasticard I used to hide the carved section, and rebuild the thruster plate. You can also see the grey plastic sprue I used on the bottom of the floor plate to give the door the correct clearance to open/close, and sit flush on the floor.

Top Tip: The empty Coke Zero bottle is a toy for my dog when he bugs me while I'm working on something delicate (especially to distract him from stealing my project - true story). For some reason empty plastic bottles are his favourite toy ever.

The doors all open and close nice and smoothly. You can see the gaps in this picture easily. Those doors are fully shut. Lots of work to fill if I decide to do it, as I'll either need to fill the gaps with plasticard, then add new sliding bolt detail, or use green stuff and sculpt in the detail. I could cheat it, and just put the plasticard on the front of the door to hide the gaps, but if I am going to do it, I want to do it to as high a standard as I can.

Top Tip: Keep shrink wrap from your packages (pictured in background). You can use it to blot up excess super glue, or to clean the tip of your superglue bottle.

Finally, this picture shows all the doors deployed. You can see in this picture, the door gaps are irrelevant with the petals open.


Links:
ForgeWorld
Games Workshop

Freebootaz 2014 Toys For Tots Charity Auction Results

Well, another Freebootaz Charity Auction for the Toys for Tots is wrapped up and the results are really great!

The total raised in auction are approaching about $1750 for the combined auctions, all proceeds of which will be sent to Toys for Tots.

I'd like to thank all of you for viewing, supporting, and spreading the word on these auctions, or bidding if you have bid.

I'd also like to thank the Freebootaz forum for once again putting together some great projects for a worthy cause. It's become quite a tradition, and starts early in the year, with planning, assigning project leaders, building teams, selecting project themes, collecting materials, building, painting, and all the other hard work that goes into completing these projects.

The Freebootaz are once again starting a new Toys For Tots Charity Auction project for 2015, and there promises to be some great new armies for auction at the end of 2015. One of the things we are hoping to do this year is to have a front page where you can see work in progress, and follow along with regular news of the projects.

If you want to further support this endeavour, you can join the Freebootaz Forum at the link below. There's an annual fee, but the benefits can be worth it. If you can't join, but want to contribute, you can still do so. Just contact one of the moderators at the Forum and let them know you want to help. Alternately, you can also make donations directly to Toys for Tots, also linked below.

Auction Links:
Da Ork Dynasty Toys for Tots Auction
Tau Empire Toys for Tots Auction
Dreamforge Leviathan Toys for Tots Auction
Ork Stompa (With Sound System) Toys for Tots Auction
Crimson Fists Toys for Tots Auction


Links:
Toys for Tots
The Freebootaz

Freebootaz 2014 Toys for Tots Charity Auction - Crimson Fists

The final Freebootaz Charity Auction for 2014 has been listed! This time for a Crimson Fists army for Warhammer 40,000.

All proceeds will go to the Toys for Tots!

This army was constructed and painted from donated materials as a joint effort by some stalwart volunteers from the 40K Radio Freebootaz Forum, including myself. I've taken photos of the army on my display board (NOT INCLUDED IN THE AUCTION)

This army can be taken as a 1500 point unbound army, with select wargear. It will make a great starter army for somebody looking to get into Space Marines, or Crimson Fists. Or will make an excellent add on detachment for any existing Space Marine Army or other army as allies...

Army Build is as follows:  Unbound!

HQ

• Captain ( or Chapter Master) 
• Anniversary Edition  Standard Bearer

ELITE 

• Venerable Dreadnought with  Assault Cannon and Close combat arm. With  Drop Pod,  
• Dreadnought with  Missile Launcher and Las Cannon  
• 10 Man Sternguard Squad with all weapon options available
• 5 Man Terminator Squad (6 models) with the option of an Assault Cannon or Cyclone Missile Launcher

TROOPS

• 10 Man Tactical Squad with a Power Fist, Grav-Gun and Missile launcher with Rhino
• 10 Man Tactical Squad with Flamer and Missile Launcher.   

This auction also includes a set of special custom laser cut and engraved templates in blue acrylic, as well as the remainder of the Forge World Brass Etch which wasn't used, so that the winner can continue adding models to this army.

See the whole army in the following picture spread, and please go check out the auction. Bid with your heart, and please spread the word on this auction to help get as many people bidding as possible.

Captain and Standard Bearer take centre stage!

Two tactical squads and a Rhino give this army a solid anchor for holding objectives.

Terminators with deep strike will be able to home in on the drop pod, or any Sergeants carrying teleport homers. There are 6 models, so that you can choose to use the squad with either missile launcher, or assault cannon.

Two dreadnoughts will give some solid mobile firepower, and with a drop pod, will have some great flexibility in terms of deployment.

While modelled for use as a Dreadnought Drop Pod, this could also be used for dropping in the Sternguard or Tactical Squad to keep your tactical options open!

Following are pictures of the whole army without display board, and unit specific photos to show them in better detail.

This tactical squad with Rhino has matching gun and trim colours.

The Rhino has Forgeworld resin and brass etch detail.

The dozer blade is magnetized so you can use the Rhino either way, and the hatches are not glued on, so you can position them either side.

The drop pod has two weapon options magnetized. It's also got opening doors.

The dreadnoughts have had a flourish of Crimson Fists detail added to them, and the weapons have been magnetized, so you can mix and match the choices.

The captain has some brass etch detailing added.

25th Anniversary Edition Standard Bearer.

Tactical squad on foot, with flamer and missile launcher.

 

Sternguard Squad, with magnetized weapon for maximum flexibility, can also be used as Command Squad or Honour Guard, especially if used with the BSB, making it a proper Battle Forged CAD army.

These are all the weapon options included with the Sternguard. They all fit at least one model, though not all guns will fit all models, due to the poses and weapon stocks.

And the final touch, the custom templates. The acrylic is a crystal clear blue. The paper has been left on the acrylic to protect them from scratches.

Hopefully you've enjoyed this picture spread. Please go bid, and share this auction to get as many people bidding as possible!


Auction Links:
Da Ork Dynasty Toys for Tots Auction
Tau Empire Toys for Tots Auction
Dreamforge Leviathan Toys for Tots Auction
Ork Stompa (With Sound System) Toys for Tots Auction
Crimson Fists Toys for Tots Auction


Links:
Toys for Tots
The Freebootaz
Games Workshop