Thursday 19 February 2015

BerserkerBro - Deff Dread

BerserkerBro - Deff Dread

Two posts in one day - amazing stuff!! Just wanted to share an excellent conversion from the mysterious man known as BerserkerBro. A converted Deff Dread crewed by Grots of course!

Another towering monstrosity from the hands of BerserkerBro.
Obviously it's not done being painted yet; but I think we can all agree, that's one huge metal beastie he's made there! 

Just for a little perspective for those of you not too familiar with GW products. Nearly every part of the model is converted or customised and it stands over twice as tall as the original kit! Or to use an analogy, BerserkerBro is to converting what Makoto Nagano is to Ninja Warrior.


The legend himself - Why so serious?
By comparison, I would be this guy:


Call me MR octopus!

Second Edition Madness

Wednesday Night Showdown - Squats vs Tyranids

This is just a quick round up of the game of 40k second edition between my Tyranids and Keith's Squats last Wednesday. I'm not going to write a full battle report because I don't really remember who did what to who etc. Also I'm very lazy. For those who haven't had the pleasure of a hearty game of second edition I will summarize the differences below:

1 - The shooting phase uses the archaic system of 'to hit' modifiers based on cover, speed of target etc. There are also restrictions based on model facing and closest target. This turns every shooting phase into a sort of gentleman's agreement.

Me: I'll let you shoot my Termagants if you take a hard cover modifier.
Gentleman Opponent: Very sporting of you old bean. Of course I will expect your Termagants to endure the same hardship upon returning fire.
Me: Damn you Gentleman Opponent!! Ok, we'll say soft cover.
GO: Splendid! Fresh horses and Sarsaparilla for all my men!!

2 - You can cast psychic powers in your opponent's turn as well as your own. This is particularly good fun if he/she doesn't have any psykers.

3 - The colours are brighter, the templates are bigger and everything is 400% more awesome.

Ugly models, garish colours and dice with funny symbols on them. - AWESOME!!!
As Keith was playing the role of gentleman opponent; he was kind enough to let me use the old Armorcast rules for my Haruspex. He then proceeded to immobilize it and destroy half of it's ranged weapons on turn 1. And before anybody asks; yes it counts as a vehicle. In spite of these setbacks it still went on to kill both the Squat Warlord and Engineer Guildmaster before the end of the game.
Always does me proud - no matter the edition.
Other stars of the Tyranid horde were the Hive Tyrant who reaped a steady tally of Squats with his Venom Cannon. The Zoanthrope, who ran riot in every Psychic phase and my warriors, who spent the entire game stubbornly refusing to fail their armour saves. I should probably mention at this point that Keith's army included five mole mortars. FIVE!! That's really the reason why my infantry didn't achieve much. They were either dead or stuck in exploding mole mortar craters.

At any rate, the game ended in yet another victory for the Tyranids. I for one can't wait for the re-match; especially if I can use my Lictor.

Friday 13 February 2015

Dark Eldar Painting Progress

Grotesques:


Finally I have emerged from the depths of painting torture with a worthwhile offering! It seems like it took me an eternity to turn out one of these things (probably because the whole process was frustrating) but I have completed converting and painting an Aberration for my unit of Grotesques.


Isn't he cute!
Apologies for the quality of the photos, it's what happens when you use an antiquated camera from work because you can't be bothered to go upstairs and find a decent one.

Obviously he's based on the Warhammer Vampire Counts Crypt Ghoul chassis but with some Talos Pain Engine parts thrown in for good measure. Chopping and changing the parts was pretty easy; the difficult part was sculpting a loincloth out of green stuff to hide the unsightly furry mound where (presumably) his junk would normally be. However, I was pleased with the end result (sadly the photos don't really show off my sculpting).

As usual the painting was far more taxing than the conversion work. First I worried about the colour of the flesh; I wanted it to blend in with the rest of the army but still look sore and pallid. I don't know if I really managed pallid; but a dab of Khorne red mixed in and glazed over the top was pretty effective for making him look injured and in pain.


Who are you calling ugly?
I ran into painter’s block when I realised the amount of components that would need to be painted in metallic colours (I hate painting metal!). I wanted the metals to look darker and more corroded than my usual Eldar colours. A couple of washes of Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil created a nice base for me to highlight from; and overall I’m pretty pleased with the end result. So pleased in fact that I've made good headway into painting the rest of the unit. Now if only they had a transport.........