1/30/14: Review: Puppets War Barghest Fiends Pack

Howdy folks!

Sorry for the spacey lack of updates this month! Its not that I haven't been busy working on projects, a couple of setbacks and things in my personal life have just pushed everything here to the end of the month and beginning of the next. My Tau order finally came in, so I was able to jump into that, and the Necrons will be done early next week, so its coming full circle soon!

I have, however, had a little time to continue on my review of Puppets War's miniatures. This time, I jumped to the models I was most excited to assemble and get rocking: The Barghest Pack! Lets do this, shall we?

Disclaimer: Although I received these models through a promotional offer to promote both myself and Puppets War, I have no obligation to give a biased or favorable view because of the the circumstances. If I don't like a kit or piece, you better believe I'll speak my mind about it! Same goes if I love it!

Puppets War's Barghest Fiends Unit Review
Cost: $35 (approx USD)
Contains: 5 Complete models minus bases

The models come in four pieces: the torso and right legs, two left legs, and a head. Again, like the Rippers, they didn't include bases, so if you're going to pick them up, you'll wanna order some bases for these bad boys! I opted for some GW ones, but I'll touch on that later...

The models had a couple of vents on them, but nothing a pair of clippers and a file couldn't take care of! I was also surprised by the lack of air bubbles! There's a couple on the pads of their feet, but nothing in areas that would affect painting. Bravo Puppets War!

The left legs, as you can see, are all letter-matched to ensure everything lines up. You'll want to dry fit everything together, just to ensure everything lines up though.

As I said, the lack of air bubbles and miscasts in these guys was incredible! I was certain the chains were going to have errors and imperfections, but lo! There weren't any!

The holes where the heads attach was my only negative: The mold lines and flashing inside them made clean up very finicky and difficult on them, especially if you're trying not to damage the collar. I ended up clipping the nub off the backs of the heads and just gluing them in that way. They're still plenty sturdy though!

And the fully assembled beasts! You can see they fill up a full 40mm base with little room to spare! I would have thrown them on a 60mm or even a bike base, but I didn't have any to spare, unfortunately. I remedied the sizing issue by making some sculpy rocks for them to run over ala James Wappel style. I haven't had any time to throw some paint on them, but following Genghis Con, that should change!

These models have excellent uses for Warhammer 40k! My first thought, of course, was Hounds of Khorne: you get the same number, better sculpts, and still save $15! How can you go wrong?! They'd work as Dark Eldar Khymerae and Clawed Fiends and, again, save you money in the end! With a little conversion work, they could work as Kroot Hounds or even a replacement for a Krootox! Like Space Wolves and Chaos, but don't like the Chaos codex? Bam! Chaotic Fenrisian Wolves! You'll be able to find a use for these models in many MANY armies!

Quality: 4.5/5

Clean sculpts with little to no air bubbles or flashing, but the minor issue with the neck drops my rating to a 4.5. 

Price: 5/5

Cavalry rocks in 6th Edition, it shouldn't cost you an arm and a leg to run them! Puppets War delivers on price here easily!

Value: 5/5

Whether you're a gamer or a painter, these models have everything! Lots of detail for painting, but still look great if you haven't had the time to paint them. A basecoat and a heavy wash would do most of the work for you anyways! Lots of army applications, very distinct models! 

Overall: 5/5

These models are definitely the go-to for you Khorne Daemons and Beastmaster Dark Eldar players out there! Even if you don't have an army that can run them, the amount of details, clean sculpts, and poses will make for a fun painting project if nothing else. 

You can find these models and many other excellent ones on Puppets War; they just released some barricade terrain pieces that look pretty sweet!

Now I'm itching to paint these guys up! Hoping to do a ruined Imperial Cathedral look on the bases so they still match my Chaos Marines, but are still different and distinct if I decide to do Daemons at some point. Gotta hold off though, I've got a ton to do before Genghis Con! Tau, Necrons, Eldar, and Chaos Marines are all coming down the pipeline very soon! Stay tuned!

Granesh

1/20/14: WIP: Water RoB Board for Game Space

Howdy folks!

First off, sorry for the delay in posts the last week and a half! My girlfriend was in town for a chunk of it, and the painting mojo was more assembly mojo, and there just wasn't enough to chronicle into a blogpost! Lots of waiting on pieces to come in though, which is always super annoying!

My big project, the last two weeks or so, is a new battleboard for my FLGS that I work at. I'd seen a really nice ocean-themed board on White Dwarf Daily back in December, and decided I would try to make one of my own.

I had a couple of key things I had to meet, though. I opted for less external details to make it less fragile. The boards had to match up with our existing Battleboard and add-on pieces to allow for bigger tables. And lastly, I wanted the hill water sections to  be able to link up to make a river, as well as a lake and an ocean. With that in mind, I dove in!

The two flat pieces had sand glued down around the skull pits to make little islands or sandbars. The hill pieces had sand applied where the hill met the flat piece to create a beachfront. I let these dry. When I do my battleboard, I spray the edges Black, then start on the top. The hills and islands were sprayed with Army Painter's Fur Brown, while the rocky areas were sprayed with a grey primer. The Water was sprayed with Macragge Blue. 

Ah, a completed tile! After the sprays dried, I broke out the GW Scenery Painting kit and got to work! The Brown areas were overbrushed with the Ochre color (old school Snakebite Leather), while the hills were brushed with a dusting of white to bring out details and highlights. as was the water. The beaches were dusted on the shoreline with white to simulate the foam created by waves; they were then dusted with a Bleached Bone spray, then drybrushed with white. 

The shark in the water was done with a quick-made stencil sprayed black.  

Here you can see the board as it sits now! The water was gloss varnished, and still needs another coat or two to really get the watery sheen I want! There's still some minor tonal distinctions on the rocks I need to fix up, and I want to add some special flock to some of the shorelines to look like moss and gunk floating on the water. May add some little details like treasure chests and crabs to the beach, but we'll see!

Here's a shot of the large sandbar pieces. I really like the rock in the middle, it just felt perfect for an island. Gotta hit the skulls, and will probably add some more detail of my own to really make this area pop. You can see the foam-effect I was trying for nicely in this picture and the next!

The beach looks calm....too calm...

Ah yes! The rocks on the hills and beach are large woodchips I grabbed from outside my apartment. I stuck them in the oven on low to dry them out and get rid of any gribblies living in them. They're glued down with woodglue, cemented with the additional sand, then overbrushed like the rest of the rocks. 

Alrighty guys! I should have more pictures of this board as I wrap it up over the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned for that, it should be pretty fun! Like I said, I've been waiting on pieces to arrive, so work on the Tau assembly commission has been pretty slow as a result. The Necrons are almost entirely assembled, and will start painting tonight! Got some stuff to wrap up for Genghis Con as well, so you know its gonna be a busy couple of weeks for me! 

Speaking of busy, I won't be getting any painting done on February 2nd! Why you ask? Well...

Our Denver Broncos are in the Super Bowl! Lets go Denver!

Granesh

1/13/13: Finished: Necrons On Ice, Wave Two

Hey folks!

Exactly a week later, and I have another wave of Necrons for all of you to ogle! You can see the first wave here! This has most definitely been a fun group of models, especially Illuminor Szeras carrying that damned dirty space elf head...sorry, my rage towards elves knows no bounds...Enough blather, pictures!

This wave was composed of 10 Immortals, Illuminor Szeras, Imotekh the Stormpimp, and Zandrekh.

The Stormlord! My client is using him generally as a generic Overlord with a Staff of Light. Really went to town on the cloaks and staves on these guys, they were a ton of fun!

My favorite model in the Necron range, Zandrekh here is being used as a Harbinger of Despair Cryptek with an Abyssal Staff. Don't mess with this fool!

Illuminor Szeras, what to say about him. I'm really pleased with how he turned out, but I think I just had such high expectations of him that he didn't turn out exactly how I wanted. Expect to see him cross the paint desk again! I opted for an orange on the staff and the back of the Eldar head to look like he'd just shot it and is collecting his prize. Client's using him as a Storm Cryptek with Voltaic Staff! Tank wrecker right here!

Hooray Immortals! These guys were a pain in the butt to assemble, but that was operator error more than anything. The stark ice blue really makes them pop, and I opted for just a touch of energy weapon blend on the bayonets to add some detail. They're not power weapons, after all!

Alrighty! That's all she wrote for wave two! Wave three is Tomb Blades, Doom Scythes, and a Triarch Stalker, all which should be a blast to paint up. Might even break out the airbrush for those Doom Scythes, but we'll see. Got some interesting projects coming up, from Genghis Con prep, to Tau and...wait...Starship Troopers?! I can't wait!

Stay tuned guys!

Granesh

1/3/14: Finished: Necrons on Ice, Wave One

I prefer my Necrons shaken, not stirred, of course.

Howdy folks!

First off, hope you all had an incredible New Years, I know I did! Its nice to be back in the studio; I got back last night and, of course, jumped right back into painting! Nearly wrapped up my first Cultist Squad; I know I've said it before, but I'm slowing moving my little gob-cultists out, they'll need to be their own unit. Expect pictures of that soon. For now, though, I've wrapped up the first group of Necrons! Client wanted a blue scheme, so I opted for the beautiful contrast of black and ice-blue. They're Carolina Panthers fans, of course...

As you can see, wave one was a C'Tan, a Destroyer Lord, 3 Heavy Destroyers, and 5 Triarch Praetorians. The Praetorians are the Lord's bodyguard unit, the Destroyers provide long range, and the C'Tan makes a dreadful mess of things.

Had a lot of good feedback on this model! This is the only kit I've ever had problems with involving Finecast, as you can see by the face. The robes easily make up for it though. As a Star God, I wanted him to appear as if he was rematerializing into the physical realm. Would love to paint him again sometime!

The Praetorians. The trim on the black looks good, but got tedious fast. The ice blue really draws the eye around the piece, and they'll look good making sure Mr. Grumpy Lord doesn't take a stray round or two. 

Speaking of Mr. Grumpy Lord! The resin pieces needed some straightening, of course, and there's minor conversion work on the Resurrection Orb arm, but he came out rather nicely! 

Had to do the transfers on the back, the gold compliments the blue rather nicely.

I wanted the Resurrection Orb to have the same ethereal look as the robes of the C'tan, so he's now got a little galaxy in his hand (cue Men in Black references...)

Boy howdy, don't even get me started on them! Those long barrels were bent to hell when I got them, and even with straightening, they're still a little curved. The green rods helped a bit. I did some conversion work on these; the front one has an Immortal's head, the arm from a Cryptek, and his gun traded to the other side, just to add variety. 

These are also my first pictures taken with my new lightbox! Huzzah! Expect this format from here on out! These will be delivered to the client tomorrow, and I should be picking up the next wave of Necrons then. That group will be 10 Immortals and some Cryptek stand-ins, should be a fun group of models! Stay tuned folks!

Granesh