Anniversary Marine Project (Part 2)

And the work progresses....

Adam, winner of our birthday giveaway, stated how he would like the model's base completed in the first part of this series and I wanted to make sure I was making a good effort at it. I started with a darker brown, Folk Art Raw Umber, to give the ground some darker shadows.

Folk Art Raw Umber basecoat on the base.

Then I added the Stirland Mud. First I had to run down to the local hobby store to get it though as I didn't have it yet. It is a texture paint, and it looks like chunky mud or fudge from the Chocolate Fetish that somebody put into a Citadel paint pot, but rest assured, it definitely is a paint. It's a good product and great for basing models and I wish I had it for when I was working on my Bolt Action British infantry.

Midcoat of Stirland Mud texture paint.

Scab Red base on eyes and gem.

After that I dry brushed on the Pallid Wyche Flesh like he said he did, but I though it looked too 'frosted' for my tastes so I washed over it with Sepia Ink. Sepia is weird blend of brown and green and it's just perfect for the swampy look I think Adam was asking for.

Pallid Wyche Flesh drybrused on ground.

Sepia ink wash over ground.

Next I painted the armor using a lot of Nuln Oil over Leadbelcher and Delta Ceramcoat Metallic Pewter. I am pleased with the result.

Armor painted.

Armor washed.

Gold highlights on brass.

During the course of the last few pics, in addition to working on the armor, other details were also painted. The power coils on the plasma gun were painted with Scab Red and then Evil Suns Scarlet; Still some work to be done on those bitz. The brass bitz were finished off with Shinning Gold as was the plasma gun itself.

Space Wolf Scouts (part 1)

Shadow War Armageddon has given me the excuse I needed to finally get my Space Wolf Scout project started. I have been using a set of old metal Scouts with my Wolves for years, but I was never terribly passionate about them. Especially the actual Space Wolf sculpted ones with atrophied and/or flayed looking arms (seriously, how were those ever approved for production?!).

For my Scout Kill Team, I put together 3 plastic Scouts, and with a reluctance to hack up any Scout parts in order to have a Meltagun and a Plasma Gun, I decided to incorporate these two old metal Space Wolf Scouts into my new Kill Team -for now anyway. How their paint jobs turn out will determine their fate. The other metal scouts are going to get bumped over to the Ultra Marines as I feel that they will work better over in that army.

Space Wolf Scout Kill Team.

During the building of the Shadow War Kill Team list I also came up with names for the scouts. From left to right, we have the Scout Sgt Magnus Stormborn, Scout Ulf Blackstone, Scout Rolf Krakentooth, Scout Gunner  Tryggr Thunderclaw, and Scout Gunner Gunnar Murderbreath.

Magnus Stormborn was a fun model to construct. I used the marine arms from a mix of older Space Wolf sprues. I positioned the arms a little bit high on the torso so that the top of the shoulders just passes the top edge. This gives the illusion that they are more like the shoulder pads on the arms of the plastic scouts.

Sgt. Magnus Wolfborn.

Having stated that, I am still tempted to put at least one paldron on him in the spirit of the first Wolf Scout Sergeant I painted back in the '90s.

"I'm not a Space Crusader, I am an Advanced Space Crusader!"

However if I do do that, I think I'll pass on giving him white gloves...

Anniversary Marine Project (Part 1)

The winner of the Neverness Hobby Chronicle birthday-6th year anniversary giveaway, Adam, reached out to accept the reward and inform me on how he would like to have the model completed:

"When I first got into the hobby back in 2010, I bought a box of Black Reach, my friend took the orcs and I took the marines. I picked a black/bronze scheme for them, and slopped some paint on. I was never happy with the results (black is hard to paint!) so I quickly moved onto imperial guard, but I've since picked up some 30k stuff and have been wanting to return to my...preheresy Iron Warrior loyalists? A similar paint scheme done by someone much more talented than myself could be a fantastic reference piece and inspiration."

Adam's original paint scheme from 2010.

So this miniature is going to be inspirational piece? That is pretty cool, but also it ups the game a bit as now I really got to do the best job I can do on this marine, especially if it's going to be the inspirational piece for a whole army!

After some additional correspondence he decided to take a Plasma Gun option with the heating coils painted red. That should be fun, since I have never painted them in any color other than blue.

I immediately started the night I first heard from Adam by picking a base and cutting a slot for the slotta tab.

Slot.

And presto, he was based!

Astartes Erectus.

Adam also gave me some direction on the look he wants for the base:

"I've tried to base my marines with a swamp inspired theme. I've attached an image of a contemptor base I was working on as well as one of my old Black Reach Marines. I found that Stirland Mud with a bit of Pallid Wych Flesh drybrushed onto it gave it the color I liked for the ground."

Sounds easy enougb to me, and the effect does look sufficiently swampy.

Tread'n on swampy ground.

After thinking about it over the course of a week, I figured out how I am going to paint this scheme, which will reveal that in future posts as I progress on the model. In our correspondence Adam requested that I lay off the 'hazard symbols' that seem so common with this Legion, and should be an easy request to fullfill as those things can be time consuming.

Iron Warriors Heresy-era scheme

So having said all that I was able to get started on the model. Gathering and selecting the bits, and assembling the plasma gun arm took me longer than expected, but I'll blame the resident toddler for distracting me. Here I have started the base and primed the model black:

Primed.

 Next I have begun the drilling and pinning for the arms. Neccessary if one hopes to not be reglueing them back on all the time.

Drilling the holes.

Test fitting.

And there you go, the project has offically started!

Celestial Lions Kill Team (Part 7)

Progress continued on the 2 Specialist Marines from Part 5, and they were coming along at a decent rate when something occurred to me...

Basecoats.

I realized that I was short a single standard Tactical Marine needed in order to make a 10 man unit. I found this basic 2nd edition era multi-part plastic marine that I thought would do the trick just fine. Those of you curious of his exact origin, he is from the Space Marines: Warriors of the Imperium boxed set. As that link will reveal, this specific guy was very nearly converted over to chaos!

As found.

I needed him to conform with the others of course so that version of bolter had to go. Also the base had to be upgraded. I do believe that the swap over to a 32mm base simply does wonders for these older models.

Upgraded.

It didn't take too long to get him up to the level that the Specialists were at, and now I am working on all three at the same time.

Caught up to the other two.

I have reached the point where I am about to draw on the Chapter Icons. Seems like a good spot to leave this update for now...

The Shadow War begins...

Harlequins in the Underhive.

Finally we got in a game of Shadow War: Armageddon. Warfrog and I have been itching to play a game together for...well, way too long now, and we finally managed to get our schedules to align. Both of us are veterans of the 2nd edition era of Warhammer 40,000 and the 1st Edition of Necromunda, and Shadow War speaks that same language but with a few subtle variations. So we agreed to give it a shot.


I decided to give my Harlequins a go as they haven't hit a gaming table yet and the equipment they come with (Flip Belts and Holo Shields) gives them a special in game edge in the type of environments we tend to encounter in these Underhive games.  I pulled together a Harlequin Kill Team from the models I have been clowning around with off and on. I was a bit shocked with how quickly the points were exhausted during list building and with some of  the sacrifices I had to make as well. I arrived with a Leader, the Troupe Master,  with a monomoleculer  sword and a shuriken pistol, a Virtuoso with a Neuro Disrupter and a mono sword, a Trouper with a Harlequins Kiss and Shuriken Pistol and a Mime with no additional equipment other than his concealed knife and wicked ability to walk against the wind. -That's just 4 miniatures!

Warfrog had a similar challenge while creating his Tyranid Kill Team and ended up with only 3 models, however they have a total of 12 Wounds to my 5 Wounds. His Leader had q Bonesword and a Lash Whip, a Warrior with Scything Talons and a Devourer and a Weapon Beast with a Venom Cannon. Note that Warfrog's miniatures were not physically armed as he hasn't managed to get that far with his magnetizing project yet, but with the list this small we had no problem remembering these details.

Warfrog brought some of his old Necromunda terrain which we set up into an appropriate underhive themed kill zone. We chose the first mission in the book which is pretty much a straight up fight. I deployed and went first.

The Underhive and Deployment.

Zipping through the Underhive, dashing up ladders, across cat walks while avoiding incoming fire from the Tyranids, the Troupe made it's way into the realm of the 'Nids.

Maneuvering through the Underhive.

The Virtuoso took the first wound off of a Nid  using his Neuro Disruptor only to have it fail it's ammo roll. The Tyranid Leader and the Warrior jumped the Harelquins on the cat walk, and removed the Trouper with the Harelquin Kiss from the game. The Virtuoso and the Troupe Master soon joined the fray and the dance of death began and continued for many rounds.

Warfrog and I had a lot of fun re-engaging with these particular Assault rules. In the Necromunda games we played since 40k 3rd ed came out, the Assault phase was usually over in a round with combatants not being as specialized as our Tyranids and Harlequins in this fight were.

Melee on the catwalk.

Somehow, and in time, the Harequins eventually overcame and defeated the Tyranids, only to find the Weapon Beast, who had been shooting up the Mime while the others where locked in combat, waiting for them with his Venom Cannon primed and pointed in their direction.

"Now Space Elves, you face your final trial!"

The last few rounds of the game were quick and ammusing. The Sustained Fire Dice kept providing the Venom Cannon with many shots, that ment the Harlequins could do nothing but stand up at the end of their turn due to the pinning. Eventually the Troupe Master went Out of Action.

Crawling towards cover.

The Mime eventually rushed over to aid the Virtuoso only to fall victim to the same trap!

Finally, after many rounds of both of us passing Bottle Tests on or just under the number, the Harequins decided they had enough and fled the field.

Anyone familiar with Necromunda, Gorkamorka or Mordheim can attest to the post-battle phase where you determine if anyone gets stat advances, new skills or lingering injuries. Shadow War uses a similar, although stream-lined, system. My Troupe Master ended up with a head wound that resulted in him now having Frenzy. Reading over that rule this maybe more of a benefit for him than a hindrance but we'll see if this Team ever gets a 2nd game. I used my 100 points to buy some extra gear and to get my Troupe Master that Power Sword I wanted him to have from the get-go. Now it's just a matter of seeing if the locals only want to do one-off games or if we're going to allow a loose campaign to happen or not. Time will tell in regards to that, but for now, I can say that Warfrog and I had fun romping around the Underhive again.

"...and the winner is:"

A week ago I announced a small and fun Anniversary "competition" for you readers to take part in, and I am glad to see that we had a few people participate (thank you!). The prize is an old metal marine and, if you choose, I'll even paint it!

"Pick a color, any color!"

After discussing it with a few friends we decided it would be best to disqualify anyone that I know personally (to avoid any perception of bias), and since they know me personally if they really want me to paint something all they have to do is ask, right? No, this thing was ment for all those other people from around the world that visit this blog, and as a way to reach out to someone I may likely never meet in person.

So per the rules established last week we have 6 qualifying contestants:

I had the lovely "Mrs. Neverness" pick out a die and roll it while I filmed it:

And presto, we have a winner: Adam McDaniel!

You can message me in the comments below to discuss what you will have me do with the miniature or message me privately at neverness92@gmail.com .

Adam, I am eager to see what you are going to have me do with this miniature, as I am sure some others are as well. Hopefully you haven't been swayed by any of the  hobby hooligans that are trying to make me regret this (for their amusement) and you have a...sane... option in mind! ;)

Alright, thanks again everyone, see you in the comments!

(Note: The winner has one week to respond/get in touch with me, otherwise the prize will be forfeited and I will randomly select another winner).

The Neverness Rogues Gallery.

It's this blog's 6th Anniversary , and I spent some time recently exploring the early posts from this blog and seeing how I added things to it over time like new gadgets and pages on the tab bars. Recently I soft-launched a new page on my tabs bar simply called Rogues. It's actually short for
The Neverness Rogues Gallery.

Rune Priest Jarl Blacktooth.

The idea came to me while working on She Who Milks. I introduced her as a member of the Neverness Rogues Gallery. But it immediately occurred to me that I didn't formally have such a gallery, it was just being said as an expression. Regardless, I liked the idea of an actual rogues gallery. I have quite a few uniquely named characters that I have used over the decades as well as a few official Special Characters from the game.

The idea of naming one's own heroes has been a concept since the beginning of this game, and I can fondly recall the very first 40k games that I played where my friends had very unique and cool Mighty Heroes to lead their forces. It made the game seem a bit more personal and special to have a guy that you made up being either the hero or villain in a scenario or campaign.

So go ahead and click the link to the gallery to see them gathered in one spot as well as to see updated pics.

Do note that I am still building the site and will update it semi-regularly until it's caught up.

Happy Birthday Neverness Hobby Chronicle

The very first post of this blog was posted on 4/26/2011. It was called Genesis and it humbly laid out a vision for the intent of this blog; A footnote version of a manifesto if you will. Strangely I posted on the 26th of April (Celestial Lions-kill-team-part-6) but I was oblivious that it was the blog's birthday.

Over time we have all witnessed other blogs do give-aways of some sort to commemorate an anniversary for their blog, but I never seem to either remember or notice when the anniversary comes and goes for my own. This time I decided I am going to make an exception and in doing so also acknowledge the 30th birthday of Warhammer 40k as well:

 I AM GIVING AWAY A SPACE MARINE.

"Win me!!!"

Recently I won an ebay auction on a bunch of late '90's era metal marines. In that batch was another model very similar to the marine featured in Celestial Lions Kill Team Part 6. At first I thought I would use him with either my Ultra Marines or Death Watch as I have no intentions on expanding the Celestial Lions past the current Kill Team and Land Speeder, but I was unsure. When I realized the 6th year anniversary of this blog was here it occurred to me what I could do...

So here it is:

• Write a comment* below and tell us what your favorite** post was from the Neverness Hobby Chronicle over the past 6 years. (Be a sport, don't say it's this one!). Just a title will do.
• After a week, I will tally up*** the comments and randomly select a winner. Only one comment per person will count towards the tally.
• The lucky winner will win the armless Space Marine in the 1st pic above.
• The winner and I will correspond and we will figure out what we will do with it. You can either have the miniature "as is" or tell me how you would like it painted (i.e. Howling Griffins, Dark Angels, Black Nova Marines, Blood Monkeys etc.) 
• If you have me paint it I will provide weapons, backpack, arms and the base. If you want it "as is" you will not get these.
• I will showcase the progress of the project on this blog of course, which I hope will be entertaining for everyone.
• When you can expect it will depend on how soon I complete it, but I assure you it will be before this Blog's 7th anniversary. If you want it "as is" then you'll get it way sooner.
• It will cost you nothing but time and patience as I will cover shipping and, of course, the miniature will be free for the winner. 
• So get to it, comment now! 

Go for it, you know you want it. 

*If for some unfathomable reason you can not post a comment you may message me privately and I will post for you. Posts must appear on THIS post to count.

** OK, fine: least hated.

***If I know you personally (we message on FB, you have my phone number, etc.) you will be excluded from the tally to remove any sense of bias. However, feel free to join the fun and to comment regardless. And if you really want me to paint a marine for you, you know how to just ask me. :)