Iron Hands Librarian

Gundam John had a unique request for a commission: Iron Hands Librarian with a Jump Pack.  He's taken to bringing Blood Angels as allies to the Tau.  As he's not much of a fan of the Blood Angels and a huge fan of all things machine, doing counts as Blood Angels with Iron Hands is the way to go. Basically, I got this from a lot of drilling, paper clips and wire.  There are a few in progress shots before the final.

 I started out with the legs from the bikers and cut the leg at the knee.

 I then put some drill holes through the top, sides and back.

 Next I drilled a 1mm hole straight down into the foot, Straightened out a paperclip and placed it stright down so it runs the length of the interior of the calf.  After that I wound some wire around a 1/8" drill bit and then pulled on it to create the coils (really easy).

 This picture is terrible.  I cut a space marine jump pack up to get a singlethruster.  I added the plate from the front of a bike as wings to the side of the thruster.  More coils and springs and lots of plugging gaps and holes with green stuff for this.

 Again I struggle with the camera, this is the jump pack upside down.  I created a green stuff Psychic hood and attached it to the inside of the jump pack, rather than to the Librarian himself.  I really wanted to be able to see the librarians head clearly and thought separating it a bit, floating above, would help. 

Gundam John couldn't decide what kind of force weapon, but wanted a hammer as well.  So I just ended up using the hammer and will have him go "counts as" for whatever it needs to be.  In place of a pistol I used a scout shot gun.  This is one of my favorites so far and the picture really doesn't do it justice, but will have to do!

Oh and coming soon: Avengers Terminators!

Blogging is Hard/Henchmen Complete

I rarely am at a loss for words and coming up with content to write about for the blog comes pretty easily with all of the projects that I have going on.  Remembering to take pictures of said projects while I am working on them, or before I deliver the commission is another another matter completely.

I recently finished up a huge commission for my friend Simon. Simon was looking for some very unique henchmen for his Grey Knight Army and I can happily say that unique is what I delivered.  In my mind I was picturing a world that had been settled a generation ago by the Imperium recently under scrutiny by the inquisition.  When the Inquisitor arrives up loyal fanatics of the Emperor rise to his call from all walks of life; former military, sanctioned psykers, anyone that could hold a weapon, monkeys, crazy legless Ogryn cyborgs, etc.

Below are a few snapt shots that Simon's roomate Matt was kind enough to take for me since I had already dropped these off! Many of these are finished versions from the previous post on this project.

This is just a handful of the 75+ models I did.  I'll be adding a few more pictures later this week of some the counts as non-GW henchmen that I did, as well as a summary of how my second 6e game went this weekend and the 2000 list that is in process.

Time off

Down the Cape for a bit, but brought some models and paints with me. Here's a look at today's "table."

Tonight's Table: Bases

First Taste of 6e

 Last night I was able to get my first game in of 6e.  I've been chomping at the bit to get a game in since I got the book, just like everyone else.  I have been able to get a read through of all of the rules once over so far.  Bill's there and he brought his orks...and their Tau friends.  He's been through the book and got in a couple games so he's already been making adjustments.  Me, I'm bringing my BA Mech army that I have had so much success with.  I want to see what has changed and what I have been using will still be successful. 

By turn 2 I had my answer, pretty much nothing!  I wasn't surprised, but really nothing from the traditional mech elements from my list was working at all.  I had thrown in some Assault Marines with Jump packs as a bit of a twist and these performed adequately as expected, but everything else was a mess. This is a shooting game now and transports afford 0 protection for my MSU, which get dumped out and shot up, well before they got where they needed to go.

I wasn't shocked with how the game went, but needed to see the list I had had so much success with get stomped down before giving it up.  I've been working on the new list already since last night.  It isn't overly imaginative or creative, but includes units I like to play with, that I think will mesh a little better with 6e...except for how to handle flyers...

Running my Edge of Dawn Chapter as Blood Angels....
Librarian Fear the darkness and unleash rage
Librarian Fear the darkness and unleash rage
Honor Guard with Flamer x3
Honor Guard with Plasmaguns x3
10 Assault Marines with jump packs and powerfist
10 Assault Marines with jump packs and powerfist
10 Assault Terminators with 6 Hammer 
10 Assault Terminators with 6 Hammer
5 Terminators with Cyclone Missile Launcher

Ogryn Servitor w/ Plasma Cannon WIP/6e Impression so far

Still working on all the henchmen for Simon's "Grey Knights" list, though there isn't a single Grey Knight in the list.  The latest is a plasma cannon servitor that goes with the Techmarine.  Still a WIP but I'm so excited I had to get some shots up of it.

The entire army is a eclectic combination of different models and kit bashes.  The henchmen are a ragtag group that is fanatically following the inquisitor from all backgrounds.  This one is hardly the exception.  The plasma cannon was from an older dreadnought and obviously metal, which made this a bit of a challenge.  I needed a pretty sturdy support which is why I chose the fantasy ogre torso and head.  The track was something that Simon suggested when I was going through the bits.  He also tossed some strange gears and claw bits from a random accessory kit he won in as well.  Good thing the custom bases are metal as well, otherwise I would have had a really hard time given the weight of the weapon.  Even still I had to pin the torso, down through the track, into the base to keep it from toppling over.  I also had to pin it a bit over to one side, because it would still tip even when pinned it was so side heavy!

The last bit of priming for Simon's models should happen tonight, then it is on to painting the bases.  I prefer doing them in a batch so hopefully I can get through those in just a day or two.  There are still about 20 models that don't have a speck of painting on them, so I'm not even thinking about being done.  However, with Simon moving at the end of July, I do have an inherent deadline that I need to make, which keeps me motivated! 

I did finally get my hands on the 6e rulebook last night and am pouring through it.  Since I haven't gotten through much of it yet, all I have seen that is knew is the shooting wound allocation, Overwatch and the split of the assault into sub-phases.  So far I really like what I see.  I can't say for sure but from the little I have read, having a torrent of shooting seems more important than ever. I'm sure I'll have much more to cover as the week goes on about the new rules.  First 6e game should be this Thursday night at the FLGS, probably 500 point games.