Packing a Psychic Punch: Grey Knight Librarian

I remember the first time I read the "fluff" in the Warhammer 40,000 2nd edition rulebook concerning the Grey Knights.  I was completely mesmerized by the fact that these "holy" space marine warriors were genetically enhanced to combat the evils opposing humanity, especially regarding Daemons!

Immediately I went to work trying to acquire some, and tracked down an Inquisitor as well to round out these psychically attuned Daemon-baned warriors!  Needless to say, when nobody in my gaming group (back in the day) had an answer for Daemons, these guys brought in a whole new mechanic.  Chief among these warriors is their Librarian, who packs quite a wallop with almost 32 spells at his disposal, and for a few more points can kit him out pretty wickedly (including servo-skull stopping of scouting and infiltrating units!)

At any rate, this guy has been sitting on my shelf for far too long, collecting dust... so I decided to dust him off and finally get him painted.  Here is the frontal:

 

The filigree on the staff and loin cloth was a bit of a pain, but overall, I think he turned out pretty crazy cool!

Varying poses from the front.  I really like the dynamic, and especially like the manner in which he is handling the gun.

The back shows off the detail on his back, including the scroll work on the purity seals and the tomb on his shoulder.  Basing was pretty easily done, gluing down a base-on-base with some sand and rock sprinkled around... pretty cool result!

 

Vote for him at Cool Mini or Not!

 

Let me know what you think! :D

X-Wing: Battle in the Skies!

Well, with the repaint that I had recently completed on the X-Wing, it wasn't hard to get cajoled into a match!  We ended up inviting a couple of pro-gamers (Rick, and Chris) to come down and show some of the local boys, how to play Star Wars X-Wing!  With the promise of cold sodas and some pizza, they graciously accepted!

Here is a pic of everybody getting together to begin; one thing you gotta love about gaming, is that it is not age specific!  Great time for parents, and grandparents, to connect with their kids!

 

Chris is giving some basic instructions on moving, allocating your action, and so forth... young jedi-wanna-be's are perking up!

 

The Asteroids are down, the Ties are now positioned and we are ready to place our academy pilots!

 

Aside from showing off Chris's very cool "stealth" X-Wing, I was able to get in a rear shot of mine as well.... Go Gavin Darklighter!

Getting some instruction from a pro on how to get our ships in line with each other so we can fight with our "wingman" close!

 

Looking good mate! Let those ties come in after us now! "Red Five standing by!!!"

 

"Gulp!" Here comes Vader sneaking around an asteroid!

As you can see by the placement of the ships here, we really got into a pretty messy dog fight!  With some pros piloting the Ties (...and some noobs behind the stick on the X-Wings, B-Wing and Shuttle) it wasn't pretty! But, "hey" we had a good time rolling the dice, eating some pizza and enjoying good company!  Maybe next time I will have the rest of my ships complete... I hear when they are custom painted, they fly better! ;D

Food, Fighting and Fun!!!

When one paints a lot of miniatures, whether they be for commission work or for personal use, it is a needful thing to get them on the table-top (at some point) and put them to good use!

Last night was a venerable free-for-all of Warhammer 40k!  The battle was taken from the rulebook, 6th ed. pg 364, called "Pact of Blood" where any and all armies are welcome, and (upon arrival) are then teamed-up into likely, or unlikely, allies!

We ended up with: 1) Tau, 2) Chaos, 3) Dark Eldar, 4) White Scar Space Marines, 5) Space Wolves, and 6) Inquisition Grey Knights!  We had experienced vets, as well as noobs wanting to learn how to play... great fun had for all!

Everyone showed up with a standard army list of 650 points not knowing really what to expect, or how things were going to go down!

The "good guys" comprised of Zach, John and myself fielded an army comprised of Space wolves, White Scars mounted on bikes, and some deep striking Grey Knights with an Inquisitor Lord.

The "bad guys" were comprised of Hunter, Mitch, and Leon fielding the Tau, Chaos and Dark Eldar (respectively).... here is Hunter's Tau behemoth, which was a rather devastating factor with it's heavy plasma blasters, until my Grey Knights landed! hee hee hee!

Some of Mitch's Chaos cultists and Greater Daemon of Khorne getting ready to fire it up, and take to the air! (Vector striking by Daemon flyers is nasty!)

 

 Leon's Dark Eldar Ravagers roll an insane amount of dice when shooting, turning the opposition (the good guys) into Swiss cheese!  Kor'sarro Kahn and his bikers never get off the front line! Sheesh!

Of course, John had his own venerable collection of dice with which to choose from as well! :D

Mitch's Chaos Hell Drake blowing up the Scar's Rhino troop transport, forcing the tactical squad inside to disembark and get out and stand and fight!

Zach the "noob" whose entire force (save the deep-striking terminators) was wiped out in turn one, is now gleefully getting ready for revenge on Hunter's Tau forces!

Deep striking terminators coming out of a drop pod... an opponent's worst nightmare!

Hunter's reaction after Zach drops in, making short work of what remains of Hunter's Tau forces! Oh the joy of one' first draw of blood on the battlefield! LOL!!!

The pinnacle of the battle was (of course) getting the greater Daemon into a fight with my Inquisitor Ordo Malleus Lord who, tragically, ended up perishing at the hand's of Khorne!  To my defense, the Inquisitor had already taken two wounds from no less than four squads, over 60 dice rolls to shoot, and making MULTIPLE saves leaving the daemon only "1" wound to contend with! (I'll get him next time!!! Grrrr!)

However, to Mitch's surprise, I did manage to turn him into a little-itty-bitty spawn creature upon getting sucked into the warp, turning his 350+ point model into a 45 point model, that the John could now step on like the inconsequential "bug" that he was!!! Sooooo... I still got my revenge!!! Glory for the Emperor!!!!

Here is the lot of us (I am the vertically challenged one in the middle!), talking smack, hamming it up, with Hunter and Zach still throttling each other after a hard-fought battle!  To quote Lord Baden Powell, this is what "boys" love to get together and do: Food, Fighting and Fun!  "That is the world of the boy!  I guess as one grows into manhood... some things still don't go away!

Imperial Fist, 3rd Company Commander: Brother-Captain Silas Hammerhand

When I first started posting on my blog, this miniature was one of my "test" pieces to see how things would go... little did I know the place I would be in now! With a new store to keep on top of (which includes all the games I need to know); I have had to get back into Warhammer 40K! 

With the 6th edition rules now, I am able to field a pretty severe Inquisitor/Grey Knight army, and the fast attack option that Kor'sarro Kahn (White Scars) means I am needing to go a different direction then the beloved Imperial Fists I used to play back in 3rd-4th edition at the turn of the century.  Lamentably, the Imperial Fist Commander that I custom built: Brother-Captain Silas Hand, Captain of the Fist's Third Company, is need of a new home!

 

This is a one-of-a-kind custom mini that can only be purchased on EBay!

 

This miniature is modeled WYSIWYG: armed with bionics (Feel no pain on a 6+ when wounded) along with artificer armor (2+ Armor Save), an Iron Halo (4+ Invulnerable Save), Master Crafted Relic Blade (+3 Strength, 2 AP), and Combi-Melta gun... pretty cool stuff for only 150 points!

 

 

 

(Cast a vote for him at Cool Mini or Not!)

 

If you know anyone who is currently in to 40k, perhaps they might know someone fielding the Imperial Fists... don't hesitate to share this post with them so they can nab this guy! Thanks for stopping in! :D

Grey Knight Paladin

I remember when I first saw the Grey Knights in Second Edition Warhammer 40K and immediately fell in love with the lore/story/fluff that they brought to the game!

So I started tracking down the original grey knight minis (that were not that great back then) and painted them up with a white and red paint scheme reflective of what I thought a warrior backing the inquisition should be...

With 6th edition out, and needing to get a versatile squad (which allies with almost anything), it seemed a logical choice!  So here is the first 'test' paint scheme to see what approach I will take with them.

 

A few more side views to get a bit of a better look at him...

 

(click the pic to enlarge)

 

Lemme know what you think! :D

The Inquisition: Always Present!

Before breaking for the weekend Blood Bowl Tourney, I was working on a commission prize piece Agememnon, and had to interrupt the progress on the Inquisitor Galandor Krom miniature that I was customizing for Warhammer 40k.  After fabbing a custom nemesis force halberd out of bitz, and throwing him onto a cool base... here he is!

 (click any pic to enlarge)

Guarding the gates of the Inquisitorial Sanctum!

 

Truthfully, I quit playing 40k in the year 2000 but with a need to provide "supplemental" troops for the Gaming Store, I decided to go back to a beloved inquisitor model that I used to use on the battlefield... it has been so fun recreating the Inquisitor Lord Kalidor Grom!

Various views...

 

Additional views...

Leading a Deathwatch Kill Team against the scourge of the Eldar...

 

Getting ready to cast the "Vortex of Doom" against these Saim Hann craftworld Eldar!

 

By Krom!  If the Vortex doesn't get them, his nemesis-force halberd will!!!

Thanks for having a look and don't forget to tell me what you think! :D

(Vote for him at Cool Mini or Not!)

Agememnon the Troll!

We interrupt these inquisitorial WIP proceedings to bring you this special message:

AGEMEMNON THE TROLL!

 

One of my good friends is sponsoring the Black Hole Brawl, NAF sanctioned Blood Bowl tournament in Raleigh, NC this weekend, and asked that I provide the painting for one of the prize miniatures that is to be given away as a prize.  This fantastic Troll Star Player (Agememnon) was a blast to paint!

 

I tried hard to stay with a complimentary color-scheme sticking with blues and oranges.  Here are some frontal poze pics...

 (click any pic to enlarge)

 

And here are the back ones! :D

 (vote for me at Cool Mini or Not!)

I surely hope that whomever draws this big guy can put him to good use!

Eldar Encounter!

Today is a troupe of Eldar that I needed to hurry and finish up with a growing 40K presence in the store.  A really nice chap whom we will refer to as "Chris" dropped these guys off awhile back, and they just needed to be finished up!

 

These Eldar Guardians are from the craftworld of Saim-hann, fielding the red uniforms with the White helmets, black masks and the Eldar runes of "outcasts" as their squad markings...

They are gearing up, preparing for a battle against a deathwatch kill team, hence the heavy weapon battery attached to them...

 

One of the crew members speaks up, "My Lord, think not that we should invoke the wrath of the D-Cannon on our black clad foes?"

 

The Distortion cannon's crew awaits their orders, prepared to send a blast of galaxy ether into the opponent's unsuspecting squad by opening a conduit into the warp and sucking them into the blackness beyond!

 

The oncoming Marines look determined and unforgiving as the kill team levels their heavy bolters and charge their power weapons...

Who will rein victorious?

Will the D-Cannon hit it's target evening the odds?

Will the Space Marines' bolters unleash their volley's of hellfire rounds pinning the Eldar and rending them to pieces?

Only these questions can be decided on the table-top battlefield as you take command of your army of choice in the game called...

Warhammer 40K!

Dark Elf Defiance!

Here are the last few Dark Elves!  These Dark Elf Blitzers were very fun to paint, and I really like the large skulls on the chest plate armor... VERY DElfy!

This particular Blitzer has a very deft look to him, as if he is sprinting down the field with his fist knuckled up ready to pop an unsuspecting player in the chops!

Of all the blitzers, this one is my favorite!  I love his dynamic pose.  I love his full faced mask reminiscent of a gladiator.  I love his full-faced skull-chestplate.  Just a really fantastic mini!

 

Here is the completed team!  Every time I finish up a team, I find myself feeling very grateful for the opportunity to get my brush on another set of miniatures.  It is a very gratifying and fulfilling endeavor.  Hope you like them!

Dark Elf Runners?

Yeah... I know, why are these Dark Elf "Runners" standing up with footballs like they are throwers?!  These GW minis are throwback OOP minis from the early 1990's when Blood Bowl DElf teams actually had throwers instead of runners!

With the changes in the Blood Bowl Competition Rules (LRB 6.0), DElves no longer have thrower positionals... but whatever!  The minis work just fine for filling in for the runner minis.

 

Since both "Runners" *wink* are exactly the same mini--I am only putting up a few pics of some sides of one of the models.

Overall I am rather happy with how they turned out!

 

Catch ya tomorrow! :D

Wild, Wild, Witches!

 

Welcome to the Wild, Wild, Witches!  These Dark Elf ladies are absolutely vicious on the Blood Bowl pitch!  With Jump-up, Dodge, and Frenzy, they are capable of bludgeoning and beating the opposition into submission (and sometimes into the crowd) they are a must on any DElf team!

The client who commissioned me to paint this team wanted a "wintery theme" to go along with the name "Grimm's Reapers" so the blue skin was a 'must have' on these ladies!

The Number Seven Witch Elf has a deadly elegance about her that would make anyone trepidatious about approaching her! 

(You can vote for her at Cool Mini or Not!)

This second Witch Elf kind of looks like the Bride of Frankenstein, and probably hits like it too with those double fist spikes she has to impale the opposition on... Nasty!

(Go to Cool Mini or Not! to vote for her)

 

Really need to thank Chris for commissioning me to paint up his DElves--great fun!  Looking forward to posting the rest of the team!

 

(In case you forgot... here is what "she" looks like!)