converted Redemptionist gang

Here are some conversions I whipped up from the dark vengeance cultist miniatures. As soon as I saw these awesome models I knew some would be great necromunda figures. I'm trying to make sure I don't duplicate any figures as necromunda really needs characterful models to ensure they are distinguishable from each other.  I plan to leave the chaos symbols on these guys, they will just be a corrupted redemptionist gang. I am currently trying to decide what paint scheme to follow.  A dark/flame look is what I'm going for.  Something similar to a model I painted for Dave at minipainting4free.  16 models should be plenty for a necromunda gang.

two deacons with flamers, plus a priest with hand flamer & sword

These are the most important gang members.  I converted the guy with the hooded gas mask to be carrying a flamer (instead of chopping his hands, I just cut off the flamer nozzle and canister and converted his autogun) to be a second Deacon.  My priest I just armed with a converted hand flamer (from the rest of the flamer bits that were left from doing the servo-arm backpack conversion for my ravenwing techmarine) and the final one is unconverted with a different model of flamer.

my zealots, you can only use two but I wanted all three options

The zealots were all really fun to make.  The middle guy took quite a bit of conversion but the two on the ends were pretty simple conversions.  A simple weapon swap gave me a zealot with two flails, and a hand flamer turned the axe wielding cultist into a zealot with exterminator on double handed weapon.  The guy in the middle started out with an autogun, but I trimmed it off his left arm, and replaced the right hand with a hand from some empire figures.  I simply trimmed two chainsword blades and glued them together to make a ridiculously large evisterator with another hand flamer as exterminator.

crusaders with basic weapons (a couple with CC weapons too)

I converted a few of these guys. Far left was a simple shotgun replacement. For the model in the middle I took the shotgun from the priest and replaced the autopistol.    Back right I converted quite extensively; first a head swap with another cultist to make them both different, then added a maul and an autogun.  Last guy is just a simple head swap.

devotees (or crusaders) with CC weapons

The model on the left had the head swap applied, and switched which hands held which weapons.  He got a sword/blade as well - right at that size where it could be a knife or a sword which is always handy for necromunda.  Guy in the middle is a simple head swap (he has far right's head, while far right has a head from a swap above.  The two guys in the back are unconverted.

Ravenwing Week - last day

Call it 5 or 7, this will be the last post about the ravenwing until I either start painting or sort out the bases/display base.  I plan to use the laser cutter like I did for my goblin team, but with a basic plywood sheet.  The bikes bases will be a very simple dirt mix.  Just a couple final pics because I hope you find them interesting.

black knight grenade launcher

I've just used some scout bike grenade launchers bits for my ravenwing black knights.  I do like the new grenade launcher bits but I probably won't be dropping $60 on 3 bikes plus bits.  I'll need to score one more set of these bits to fix up a couple more bikes.

stripping station

Here is my stripping station.  It's an old brita water filter tub, which I filled with simple green.  The aquarium pump I will leave running for several hours at a time when I am sitting in the hobby room.  Keeping the simple green circulating helps with stripping the figures I find.  Still takes a few rounds of scrubbing with a toothbrush, especially depending on what paint was used.

Ravenwing Week - day 4.. I mean uh.. 6?

Sorry for the delay, got caught up and didn't have any photos of the standard bikers.  I still need to get three sergeants done as well as a couple more basic marines on bikes to bulk up the flamer squad.  I did rip off the basic front flaring from the attack bikes I picked up and replaced them with the feathered ravenwing flarings. I've got a bunch more bikes sitting in simple green to strip the old paint off them.

I'm just going to show off some of the dark vengeance bikers I plan to keep using as standard ravenwing assault squads.  A friend convinced me with a bunch of plasma on the black knights which includes twin-linked (thereby decreasing their chances off taking "gets hot" wounds from 16.7% to 2.8%) that I should include some more melta in the list to have a better chance to deal with vehicles.  So I have 2 squads with 2 meltaguns and 1 squad with 2 flamers.  I have converted a few of the plasmagun wielding bikers to flamers/meltaguns and mixed it up a bit converting a bolt pistol biker to meltagun and plasmagun biker to bolt pistol to mix up the poses a bit.

squad with meltas

Am not sure how I plan to show sergeants for my standard bikers.  All the robed bodies will be my black knights/command squad members, so am debating a simple red stripe on the helmet or even a full red helmet to distinguish the sergeant.  This differs from the usual dark angels paint scheme but I don't think I mind that much, it will be nice to have some differences from everyone elses ravenwing.  I am keeping the sergeants arms pretty basic, though they will all have melta bombs (even though they have hit & run, they could still fail their initiative check if I don't have the ravenwing banner) so this should ensure they can do damage to things like dreadnoughts and not (frequently) get stuck in combat.

squad with flamers

I saw some nicely painted ravenwing the other day - am not a fan of the green bike body for standard bikers, but I did like that he used green for the feathered flarings and such.  Am debating doing something similar with red to make my ravenwing look a bit different. Thoughts?

Ravenwing Week - day 3

For today I am going to post a few black knight conversions.  With the new dark vengeance box having a sweet set of ravenwing bikers, there was no way I was going to pay $60 for 3 black knights.  I knew this before I even knew the price!!  Through trading and some purchasing off bartertown ($11 a set of 3!) I have 6 sets of DV ravenwing.  Some will be actual standard bike squads but most of the sergeants will be converted into black knights - simply by chopping the barrel off their bolters and cutting out a rectangular piece from the bottom of a bunch of plasma pistols and gluing them on top.  These are the first three I've converted.

banner guy, will leave hole open for a banner or a corvus hammer

First one I was debating between making him a command squad standard bearer or using my cheapo corvus hammer conversion from the ravenwing feathered banners.  I've been reliably told that using that as a corvus hammer looked like crap so I am going to revert to him being the banner.  I haven't glue the weapon so I will just make a few banner poles.  I am debating how to do the banner, currently I'm thinking of printing something out on sticker paper (and also debating having a plain white space to write what banner it is) - thoughts?

using the dark vengeance captain helmet

Second one I started to convert a basic "captain on bike" for which I used the captains helmet from the DV figure.  Unfortunately dark angels can't take a standard captain on a bike, so I proceeded to convert his bikes weapons to plasma talons as well so he can at least be a ravenwing captain/huntsmaster.  Using the helmet worked really well, and I just used a robed body from the ravenwing sprue mounted on a DV sergeant bike with robed legs.  Will need some green stuff to fill in gaps, but he looks really good IMO.

dark vengeance sergeant converted to black knight

Third one will just be a standard black knight, whatever I end up finding to use as corvus hammers will probably just get glued onto the bikes siding somewhere with some simple straps made of plasticard or
something.  I don't want every black knight to be wielding the corvus hammer, might make it awkward to get into tight spaces.

Does anyone have any suggestions for suitable "pick" like weapons to use as the corvus hammers?  Only requirement is that they be plastic.

Ravenwing Week - day 2

Here's a character model I decided to build just because I wanted one.  I especially don't see any issue since a techmarine doesn't take up an HQ slot, you are allowed to purchase for for every HQ you purchase (barring command squads) so he's easy to include as long as points are available. He also has access to special issue wargear which is very interesting. There's also no option for artificer armour in special issue wargear so barring 3 special characters he is the only other 2+ save and is the only one who can be customized.  He does only have 1 wound, but considering he's on a bike (in my army at least) that's T5/2+, he could be better equiped to withstand being rapid fired to death.

To build him, I took a torso from the standard rhino vehicle sprue, and used standard biker legs, along with the techmarine helmet from the ravenwing sprue and a couple shoulder pads with mechanicum icons.  This was all pretty standard and still has me contemplating adding some more "techno-bling" to his armour - maybe with some thin plastic card.  Opinions?  His armour does look pretty basic.

view from left, some decent mechanicum icons, but armour is very flat

The cool/fun part of modeling this guy was converting a servo-arm backpack out of plastic bits.  Thankfully I had remembered to bookmark an excellent tutorial posted by Mike (devised by a second Mike) over at Constantly Risking Obscurity. It involved using a backpack, 2 flamers and 2 combat knives which would result in one servo-arm backpack and a couple hand flamers. As I started to work my way through the tutorial, I found a melta bomb and thought it would make a good replacement for the fuel canister from a flamer.  So then I figured I could avoid chopping up a second flamer if I could find something else to replace the second "arm" portion. So I plucked the landspeeder antenna bit from a ravenwing sprue and voila - servo arm complete and only one flamer chopped up.  It's also nice that the two arm pieces look different.

plastic servo-arm goodness

Finally, as I was assembling all the pieces into the final model, I was debating what to put in his hand, I didn't want to arm him with anything that cost points so if need be he can be as basic as possible.  A bolt pistol wasn't filling me with excitement though.  While reading through the new FAQ, I spotted that he technically was also armed with a boltgun, so upon review of the wargear list I saw I could replace that for free with a chainsword.  Chainsword it is!!

view from right side

If anyone is planning to run a techmarine on bike in their Dark Angels list, please share what your thoughts are.  Do you plan to use him as a roving repairman? Just a 2+ save ablative wound for a ravenwing command squad?

Ravenwing Week - day 1

Just for fun I've decided to put up a bunch of posts about my modeling of my ravenwing army this week. Since posting helps keep me motivated and there are a number of items I would love some comments/feedback on, I thought why the hell not.

So first up is my Librarian on Bike.  Dark Angel librarians have already been earmarked as a great HQ choice in the new codex; they have the standard 2A/2W (+ force weapon/psychic hood obviously), but are only 65 points base compared to 100 points for vanilla marines and an additional mastery level is only 35 points compared to 50.  This is quite a lot for very little points.

right side, I really like the book mounted on the front

Basically I chopped up the Dv librarian figure to just use the torso & sword arm.  I cut off his "casting" arm and replaced it with a bike/handlebar arm.  I glued him onto a bike with a set of robed legs, and then I mounted the big book from the ravenwing sprue on the front of the bike, and used some rope bits I cut off some decorative pieces from the same sprue to complete the "securing" of the book to the bike.  I really like how this looks.  I also glued on an auspex since of anyone who I want to give up their shooting attack to use the auspex, it's him.

The best "value" that was immediately touted around the internet is taking the divination disciplines primaris power: prescience.  Most people are looking at this as a way to add twin linked to giant IG squads through allies, and I can definitely see that benefit, but for my ravenwing army, pretty much every weapon - except for a few special weapons in standard bike squads and the multi-meltas on attack bikes - already has twin linked so I don't see that as being very strong in this list.  I have absolutely zero experience with the new psychic system though, so am looking for a bit of help.

left side, shows the force sword arm from the DV fig

I have been considering adding the mastery level (with bike a total of 120 points) giving me 2 chances to score the telepathy power "invisibility".  Combined with the Jink skill on a large block of ravenwing black knights, they would get a 2+ cover save without even requiring a turbo-boost! The telepathy primaris power "psychic shriek" is pretty decent and I would definitely take it over "mental fortitude" or "terrify".

Does anyone have any suggestions for better powers to combine with a large squad of black knights?  Especially something to add some protection?  Or, say I do manage to score "invisibility" with my first
power roll, is there a different discipline you would suggest I am to get the second power from?

2012 in review & 2013 planning

Had a pretty busy December, mostly in terms of family commitments (had a lovely trip out west to visit SWMBOs family for Christmas) and getting caught up with stuff around the house.  Coming off the large amount of hobby work required to get my goblin team ready also meant my hobby fervour had mostly dissipated.

2012 was a really stellar year for me in terms of both gaming/hobbying and personal life.  It started pretty slowly but gained some steam with the "give him a goblin" contest, I was super impressed with the response to this! My first blood bowl tournament of 2012 begun with 3 straight wins (woo hoo!) but was followed by 3 straight losses (d'oh!) - a definite mixed bag.  It was February before I got my first painting point with the goblin for Abraxis.  March had it's ups and downs, with my dark elf blood bowl team winning our inaugural (thehobble.com) league season, but needed tie breakers to avoid the wooden spoon at the Canadian Open.  In April I earned my best 2 day tournament result ever, finishing in 4th place and I brought out my new Ganja Girls team for the first time.  May was pretty quiet on the blood bowl front other than league games.  June I managed another 4th place finish at the Orion Cup.  July was a road trip to Zlurpeebowl 8 in Indianapolis, which was an all around epic weekend and where our group won "Best Team" - after which things kept pretty quiet on the hobby front since a lot was happening leading up to getting married in early September (went off without a hitch thanks to my brilliant wife).  Barely weeks later I managed to win my first ever blood bowl tournament at Warpstone Cup in Niagara Falls with the inaugural outing of my new dwarf team.  October continued the trophy trend as I picked up "Most Casualties" and "Rising Star" at Deathbowl X in Ottawa.  Throughout the final months of the year I spent tons of time on my Insane Goblin Posse blood bowl team with the goal of taking home "Best Appearance" at Blingtoof 2 in Milton, which I achieved giving me a total of 5 trophies for 2012.  I didn't paint tons, but I did manage to get the most part of a couple blood bowl teams painted as well as some bits and bobs which dragged me just over my goal for painting points this year at 102 - so another goal achieved!


What's in the pipe for 2013?
First off, no "secret" projects so hopefully more blog posts.  I always find posting helps with motivation and it was very tough keeping the goblin team a secret, and it turned out to be unnecessary anyways.

So with the release of 6th edition for 40K, I had to pick up a couple of the box sets.  I did some trading and such as well to end up with a lot of chaos models, and a lot of ravenwing bikers.

a box of bikes

I am planning to do a moderate sized ravenwing army this year, simply because I want a proper 40K marine army that isn't a bunch of various chapters and because I hope to bring it to this years Astronomi-con in Toronto.  Instead of buying the ravenwing command squad I am just going to convert a bunch of the sergeants into a command squad, I got some attack bikes quite cheap and am now just sitting on the codex release before I do too much else.  I am planning to include a couple of their new flyers though - likely the one that is used against other flyers as that's definitely a weak point in biker armies.  I am also thinking about trying to do something crazy like paint up the whole army in one weekend.  It seems nuts but with so much black I think it is possible.

slaanesh/raptor legion

Secondly with the new chaos stuff I have been doing some small bits and bobs.  Ever since reading the short story compilations "legends of the space marines" and "heroes of the space marines" I have wanted to include the odd "corsair/turned" marine in my armies, with the thought of being able to run them under the chaos codex for apoc games or perhaps for narrative campaigns.  First I just built a raptor legion assault marine using a couple chaos bits.  Second I took the chosen with twin lightning claws and gave him a jump pack to be a possible sergeant - again for my raptor legion.  Currently am working on a Flesh Tearer "assault marine/raptor" using the chosen with a power axe and converting the axe itself into an icon of wrath.  I've got plans to go through a set of the chosen models like this and add a few more "in-between" figures as well.  I don't see myself playing like this very often, but its been pretty fun hobby wise.

khorne/flesh tearers

Also in the works this year is more necromunda gaming.  Necro definitely fell by the wayside last year with a severe lack of locale for our gaming (ie. I moved late 2011 and didn't have my man cave setup for gaming yet) - that has been rectified at the end of this year, with much sorting and tidying and such going on meaning I fully expect to get some necromunda games in this year - and several of the new guys I met in The Hobble this year are interested as well.  I have put together a couple packs of micro art studio laser cut walkway terrain, sprayed them metal and done an ink wash.  Now I just want to add a few extra bits and pieces to look a little more underhive-ish and that will be some major painting points to start off 2013.  Part two of necromunda action is the chaos cultists from the dark vengeance box set.  I still have about 50 figures, and they will make great redemptionist/scaavy/genestealer cult/etc./etc. models for necromunda, so I will probably work on a new necromunda gang this year too.

lots of necromunda walkways

I am expecting to receive a large chunk of my Flesh Tearers back this year from Ricalope.  I believe there's just a few terminators, finishing up a land raider and some jump pack death company to finish and fingers crossed I get it early this year.  If so that should spark some motivation to finish building some more pieces to mail over to him.  I also cannot wait to get my hands on these terminators so I can play some proper Space Hulk!  I've played a couple games with my brother this year, using stand in terminators from other chapters armies.  Will be great to play with the actual miniatures and be spoilt for choice (I used most of a second set of space hulk termies to create some additional figures - I still have all the board pieces/counters from the second set as well so my plan is to create "lettered" blips so I can play all the older missions, need to do some work on my genestealer cult figs too!