My current project though found me rummaging through my old White Dwarf magazines trying to find specific articles or Eavy Metal images, and I was getting frustrated. So to solve it I built a tool.

The White Dwarf Archive is an index of all articles in each issue. It means you can search for Orks and get a full listing of all articles mentioning them. or Adrian Wood and find his battle reports. It’s pretty lenient on the searching and so far has been giving me good results.

Just to clarify, there’s no content there, I didn’t fancy trying to outrun the IP mafia. There’s a short description of each article and that’s it.

I haven’t covered every issue. I think I’ve done 1-250, then it’s a bit more piecemeal after that. But since my project is a 2nd edition army that more than covered my needs! I’ll keep adding others over time though.

Feel free to have a play and shout if anything breaks!

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The scouts are from Tyranid Attack, the old boxed game that was kind of like a slimmed down Advanced Space Crusade. Enjoyable enough as I recall, but I bought it back then mainly for the models. As you can probably tell if you’re a regular reader, I get a bit erm, skittish when it comes to holding onto projects. So I like to bounce around wherever my inspiration takes me. As a kid that took me through several space marine chapters. And alas no, I never used to strip the minis before repainting.

Considering how much paint is on these bad boys they don’t look awful. I mean they’re rudimentary and the details on the chests and faces is a little filled in, but still. However no more. Enter the hero of the hour:

Only £4.99 from the local B&M (think slightly upmarket dollar store) I found this stuff through a forum post or possibly facebook a few years ago. It’s great, takes paint off plastic and metal, doesn’t damage the models and doesn’t smell too bad. Erm, disclaimer though, it looks pretty awful….

Eugh. Can’t say you weren’t warned! Drop in the models, leave them for half an hour or so and it’s wicked witch of the west time.

Then five minutes with hot water and an old toothbrush and tada…

You can see the right leg and left armed are stained red (told you, he was a Howling Griffon in a former life). A few stubborn bits in the crevices, but chuck him back in for a second bath and ready for the reveal.

Can’t tell these guys are pushing 30 can you? Very happy with the way they cleaned up.

Finally after a fresh coat of contrast paints the Eagle Warrior Scouts are now ready for get on a table. Or more realistically stand around in a cabinet waiting for the rest of the army to be painted. But still, very happy with the results.

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The things below are accrued from a wide variety of sources, YouTube being an obvious one (Midwinter Minis most notably for me), but there’s also a hodgepodge of 30years experience thrown in. On with the painting concepts…

Don’t Try to Colour inside the Lines

Or more accurately, don’t try to colour inside the lines from the start. I have hundreds of badly painted minis from my youth and a bit part of is down to patchy coverage. There’s undoubtedly primer or base coat showing at the joins between colours, and when I used to use white primer it looks truly horrid.

These days I prime in grey usually, then basecoat with a massive brush with a decent point (I think it’s a size 6 or 7, just a cheap one from Amazon). I tend to paint colours with the worst coverage first, then slap paint pretty much everywhere. Then if possible I’ll move onto a colour which doesn’t share any boundaries with the first. This means you only need to be neat and tidy on a small number of colours. Man I wish I knew this years ago, I find it very liberating. And on that note..

Learn to Tidy Mistakes

You’re going to make mistakes, everyone does. So? It’s rare you’ll ruin it. You have to do something so serious that a quick bath in stripper and re-prime won’t remedy the worst of errors. So accept that and learn how to tidy them.

Usually a clean, damp brush applied straight to the mistake will wick the paint right off. And it it doesn’t, you can usually overpaint. Sure a mistaken black line onto that yellow you’ve just put the fifth glaze coat on is frustrating, but even that could be mitigated by painting the black first.

I used to be so scared of cocking up that I’d get analysis paralysis and just put the brushes down. Don’t do that.

Different Techniques

I spent a long time with just prime, base coat, wash, done. And whilst it gets minis finished they all tend to look drab. Don’t rely on that one technique that you know helps (I’m very guilty of an over-reliance on washes).

I recently learned to glaze properly, and whilst I won’t be using it on everything I’ve found I can actually paint yellows and whites in a way I really like. YouTube channels are amazing for exposure and education on new techniques.

Painting Handles

I wish I’d had one of these twenty years ago. My hands have always shook quite a lot, so fine detail painting involved gripping the model so tightly I’d get cramps. Now I can hold the model loosely, balance my left (painting) hand on this and be able to hold the brush without too much pressure.

It also lets you spin the model around quickly. And keeps my clumsy fingers off the fresh paintwork!

Light

I’ve used a normal desk lamp with a normal bulb. Yes I know, a daylight bulb has been on my amazon wishlist for a decade or so. But I manage, my eye for colour isn’t that finely tuned so I don’t sweat it.

But I have just recently got better at moving the lamp rather than my hands. Pulling the lamp and twisting the model to be able to see where the paint brush is actually going has made such an improvement in my control. Stupidly simple obvious thing that I overlooked for so long.

Posture

I’m 41, I’m a software dev so I’m a professional sitter. But even so, my body does not like me if I do extended painting sessions without thinking of posture. Sit upright, don’t hunch, lean back in your chair if your lamp will stretch far enough. 18 year olds may mock, but trust me your joints are not your friends. They’re angry bastards just waiting to spend the second half of your life stabbing you.

So there you go, super simple painting concepts a lot of people know, but if you didn’t then great, and if not I hope you nodded sagely in agreement!

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So I decided to put together a warband for Mordheim. And that meant finding some models. Much trawling of the internet has returned quite a few sources, so I thought I’d share.

Grenadier Models (from eM-4-Miniatures)
These sculpts were made the same year I got into the hobby, 1991! But they’ve stood the test of time surprisingly well, crisp and dynamic. The weapons are a tad on the chunky side, but when you look at the cost you can’t complain. They come on integrated bases, which I removed for conformity with the newer models below.
I bought mine from eM-4 but you can also get them from Forlorn Hope and Mirlton. Mirlton carry the largest range of them, Forlorn are the cheapest at £1.28 per model, including delivery!

Heresy
In their Fantasy-Heroes-Barbarians section are 15 barbarians ranging from a halfling to the mighty Thrud. I bought a Big Boris Mk2. In reality he’s a tad large compared to the Grenadier sculpts standing 38mm toe to eye. The Mk1 is a lot shorter, and would probably scale better, but the new sculpt is just that bit more refined.
Worth noting Heresy is cheaper through some resellers. Tritex Games carries a range of Heresy models, including the barbarians (and some old, now oop ogres).

Hasslefree Miniatures
A smaller range of barbarians in the Fantasy Humans section. I’ve bought both standard versions of Wolf, one standing looking at the floor, the other swinging his sword. Like Heresy, lovely sculpts. They’re about 33mm to the eye, I’m going to use them as a pair of larger ‘berserkers’.
As with Heresy HF minis are usually cheaper elsewhere. I got one Wolf from Wayland Games where he’s cheaper AND postage is less, and the other from Tritex with some oop Heresy stuff.

A couple of photographs to show scale comparisons between the above three manufacturers. The pencil line on the background is at 28mm to give a rough idea of scale.

CP Models
CP has a growing collection of barbarians, and whilst I really liked the look of the sculpting at the time I wasn’t sold on the poses so didn’t pick these up. But cheap models and the one with the axe and sword puts me in mind of an Iron Maiden guitarist for some reason..

Alternative Armies
Finally the AA site has had a redesign, so things are easier to find. They are in 28mm High Fantasy – Barbarians. These are 1980’s sculpts, but some nice dynamic poses for about £3.00 per mini.

Black Tree Design
Black Tree do carry quite a few barbarians, including some nice barbarian cavalry from the Harlequin range. To be honest I was tempted, but there’s been so much bad press about Black Tree and order delays I was hesitant. I will say I’ve never ordered from them and it’s all hearsay, but the models didn’t seem worth the effort.

Reaper Miniatures
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Reaper. Their stuff is a wide spectrum of scales, but the ones I’ve bought in the past have been closer to 32mm than 28mm. However in this particular project that wouldn’t matter so much. I was rather taken by Goldar the Barbarian. The reason he’s not on my desk? To order from the Reaper site the model is £3.24. The shipping is £10.03. Erm, no thanks. Buying Reaper in the UK has always been tedious (though Mighty Lancer Games now carry a huge stock, if a little hard to browse)

I’ll keep adding to this list if I find more suppliers of 28mm barbarians, I’m certain there are others out there (I’ve not mentioned GW, and Avatars of War have a single barbarian in their line up), but since I now have a full compliment of barbarians awaiting paintwork I won’t be buying any more for a while.

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A quick Google Images search for ‘medieval cart’ rendered me a few ideas:

To make your own you need only a few tools and materials:

• Balsa wood (I used 3 thicknesses, 1mm, 2mm and 4mm)
• 2 pins
• Styrene strip (optional)
• Styrene discs (optional)

• Knife (sharp, but expect balsa to blunt it quickly)
• PVA Glue (wood glue/white glue/Elmer’s)
• Superglue
• Steel rule
• Fine sandpaper
• Something round (I used a 10pence piece)
• Pencil

First of all I sliced off a piece of the 4mm balsa to make a strip, 2mm by 4mm. This was then cut into three lengths, 2 at 65mm and 1 at 36mm. Please note all dimensions are flexible, alter them as you wish to adjust the proportions of your cart. I just wanted to give some figures for those who would like to follow along.

Next take the 2mm balsa and cut a piece 28mm by 30mm. Now using the pencil score in the planks. Be careful not to go right through the wood. I had the planks running the same direction at the 30mm length.

Now the fun part. Take your knife, and whittle one end of the 65mm pieces to a thin cylinder (I won’t tell you to be careful because I always find that part of tutorials incredibly patronising. If you chop your finger off it’s your own damned fault!).  I started my handles about half way along the beam.

Now assemble the main frame. Turn the flat piece upside down and glue the beams in position along the edges, running the same direction as the planks. Then in the middle of the flat piece glue the small beam.

Now set this assembly aside to dry.

Move onto the wheels. Take the 2mm balsa and place your circle marker. Then cut around this. I did it in a rough shape to start with then sanded the piece smooth. The reason I love balsa, it’s so easy to work! Don’t worry about them being perfectly round, this is a peasant cart after all.

Once you have both pieces cut then again score planks on using the pencil.

Now take the 1mm balsa and cut 6mm wide strips. Glue them equidistant from the edges of your wheels on the planked face. Then turn them upside down and trim the excess. Obviously this is easier if you let them dry first!

Take the two pins and poke them through the centre of each wheel.

Now get your cart assembly, put glue on the end of the lateral beam and carefully push the pin into the centre. This will form an axle of sorts, but mainly it will hold it snugly in place whilst the glue dries. To get mine in I used the bottom end of my knife, which was flat, as a small hammer.

I hit a minor stumbling block as the pins end to end are longer than the beam. This means they have to overlap, and if you’re unlucky like me they’ll bounce off each other and pierce the beam.

No problem, just grab a small piece of the 1mm balsa we used earlier and glue on a cover. Mishap covered up.

Once both wheels are on flip the cart over and it’s looking something like.

As I wanted this to be a hand cart I wanted to have it freestanding, so I added a couple of legs. Just two small lengths of 2mm balsa glued on the inside of the beams. It took a couple of attempts to get the length right, but the cart now stands up almost level.

You could stop here, but I wanted to tidy a few things up on mine. First I grabbed some strip styrene from the nice people at Evergreen, making modeller’s lives simpler for many years! I applied superglue to one side then pulled the strip all the way around the circumference of the wheel.

When the ends met I simply chopped off the excess with my knife. Then, being a 40K modeller as well, I went to my rivet reserve. These are small pieces of plasticard chopped into discs with a leather punch. There are other ways to make them, but that’s always worked for me. I have also made use of plastic confetti (on the Stadtheim Brewery for instance). Two different sizes where glued over the pinheads to create a hub.

And the build is complete! I’ll paint the styrene as metal, and the wood I’ll probably just colour using wood stain like I have the rest of the Stadtheim accessories.

In total this build took about 30minutes, though I’d suggest leaving drying time in the middle for the sake of your sanity.

Good luck making your own fantasy carts!

The post Fantasy Carts appeared first on BlokeCrafted.

So when I did my Praetorian ogryns I hit the same problem a lot of people have, how to come up with a decent ripper gun for the conversion. This is the method I created, maybe it’ll be of some use to others or perhaps serve as inspiration.

Please note the images are in reverse order on the right, just a symptom of the blog project log script I wrote. I’m rewriting the site so this will make more sense then, honest.

The components:

• 1x Imperial Guard Missile Launcher
• 1x Imperial Guard Grenade Launcher
• 1x 2nd Edition Space Marine Bolter
• A couple of scraps of plastic/plasticard
• Greenstuff for tidying

You’ll also need some tools, I used a craft knife, a razor saw, a couple of files, some very fine sand paper (Tamiya’s stuff is great), and some glue (plastic cement and superglue).

The first image shows the components with the grenade launcher mid-hack. You need both the barrel and the ammo drum, so make sure you get a nice tidy cut between the two. Then cut off the hand/arm section and shove it in the bits box.

Next cut the missile launcher. Here you only need the part around the sight, as shown. Aim just behind the sight at the back, and just over half way through the eagle at the front. See the pic for clarification.

Finally chop up the bolter. A bit more complicated. Remove the barrel after the eagle (try and keep the eagle in good condition to leave on the finished weapon). Remove the ammo clip. Then cut a 45 degree angle up as shown.

First stick the barrel from the grenade launcher onto the sight unit from the missile launcher. This will take a bit of shaving to make them line up, you can see the rough marks on mine where I did this. Be sure to sand it smooth afterwards though for a factory finish. The hardest part of this entire conversion is getting the components in a straight line. Ogryns are a bit too dense to shoot around corners, so try and give them a dead straight weapon. File, sand, and if in doubt leave your plastic cement sitting on the pieces for a few seconds before joining them. This softens up the plastic and lets you play it into place.

You need to file a nice round notch out of the ammo drum as shown. I’m very luck in that my box of files has one with a perfect radius. If you don’t have one you can manage with a craft knife. I did my first one like that and it’s possible. But a file is a lot easier!

Stick the ammo drum onto the two helpfully positioned bands around the missile launcher. It should all fit snugly, if not get the craft knife on it and shave bits down. As you can see in the image, the drum should sit level with the front of the sight unit, which is of course now acting as our breach. Perhaps

Finally stick the little wedge of the bolter to the back of the missile launcher sight. This won’t fit perfectly, since the bolter is square and the launcher round. But a little filing and fine positioning will make a pretty neat join.

Now you need a hand. I used a fist from the club show. The hands themselves are pretty much all the same so whichever ogre fist you have spare. Chop the top and bottom off, perhaps leaving part of the grip showing underneath.

The next pic shows the ripper gun complete with fist, then two shots of it in place on my next work in progress Praetorian ogryn. I actually had to swap his arm for the more extended one shown to get a nice position with the gun. Worth building the gun first in future I think.

Finally you need a stock. This requires a bit of bodging, since the ogryn’s muscles are well defined and unfortunately not square. I cut two pieces of plasticard and attached them as shown. This was done by trial and error, so don’t expect to get it right first time.

I purposely made my stocks thin so it would look like they were wrapped under the muscle. If you did a large chunky one then it would have to be formed to the shape of the arm and might look a bit odd.

The last step, which I don’t have a pic for yet, is just simple gap filling with green stuff. On my last ogryn I had to fill around the stock to blend it in with the arm. I also sculpted the index finger extended into the trigger space to give it a more dynamic look.

And that’s it. Dead simple, assuming you’ve got the bits lying around. If you don’t have the old school bolter try a new one or maybe even parts of a lasgun, whatever you have. I just happen to have dozens of the things kicking around (hazard of being an old hobbyist I guess). Hope it helps some!

The finished article

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Lego Parts List

I’m planning on having a go at one myself, but a lack of lego around here means I have to find a source. So I went through fitmanb’s instructions and came up with a parts list that can be ordered through Bricklink , an online lego marketplace.

Instructions

Then I thought I’d try and figure out how they’re supposed to fit together. So I came up with a set of Lego instructions, which you can see on the right. Obviously these aren’t much use in isolation, and you’ll still have to visit WIP to get fitmanb’s instructions for joining this to the sentinel legs and the cockpit, but hopefully they can help clarify the lego parts.

The instructions were made using a series of programs based around LDraw, a 3d lego modelling program. Great fun if you’re bored or a lego fan or both.

Good luck building your APUs, and thanks to fitmanb for letting me post this here.

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So I forked out my 30quid and picked up the starter pack. Firstly these things rock. I’m very impressed with both the build quality and the level of detail. I’d say these could be converted very easily into GW models with no obvious problems..

The set I bought was the starter set, cheapest price I found online was 30quid, so I went to argos and paid that for it. Comes with 8 vehicles, 1 funk hexagon terrain set thing, 20 troopers (1:48 scale, too big for 40k so mine are now listed on ebay!), and all the other bits and bobs you need to play. I must say as a game boxed set feels a lot better value for money than the 3rd ed 40k set did (not bought the new one so I can’t comment). Still..

The 8 vehicles, you get two each of the following:

Spider
The one that started this little trip. Very cool six legged thing. Like all these models it clips together rather than glueing. When I first heard that I thought it’d be naff, but the kits are really well designed (I suppose airfix wouldn’t put their names on something cak) and it’s not obvious, but has the added bonus that the joints are articulated.

I’ve shot all these models (not very well I’m afraid) with a Praetorian for size comparison. Although it occured to me the mordians aren’t the butchest of fellows. Oh well.

Like a lot of these vehicles the spider has 2 “real firing” weapons you can mount as options to normal static ones. Again at first wasn’t taken with the idea, but after reading the rules I quite like it. Basically in the game you can take a normal 40k type shot with rolls to hit and so on, or you can get your hands dirty, get down there and actually fire the gun. If you’re good you can do a lot more damage. I quite like that idea. Perhaps wouldn’t work too well when you’re aiming at an Imperial Guard army worth a thousand quid, but still a nice idea.

Thunder
This is the only flyer in the set. Comes with a rather star trek looking base to keep it up in the air (about 6 inches up!). I can’t look at this without it screaming ork deathkopta at me, but I want to use the wings and engines upside down in an IG lander craft (kind of like the one on forgeworld, but you know, designed rather than hewn from a brick).

I think perhaps the thunder and spider are the earlier model kits, since they don’t have alternative weapons. Or perhaps there’s a reason in the fluff, since they’re both from a different army to the others.

Hurricane
I think this one is a bit too robotwars in it’s present form to really grab me. But I think those tracks could be useful to pretty much everyone? And from a certain angle it looks a hell of a lot like an old epic chaos warmachine that I can’t remember the name of. Oh and does the buzzsaw look like it should be attached to the arm of a chaos dread?

This one, and the next, both come with a series of weapon sets that let you build different variants. Nice touch I thought..

Werewolf
The legs on this are amazing. They’re chunky and detailed and are blatantly going to be the basis for my praetorian sentinels! Cockpit is the same rather dumpy one from the hurricane.

Again fully poseable legs, which means you can get a really good stance from it before gluing the whole thing together. And again three different variants to pick from.

Overall I have to say I’m impressed with the models. And indeed with the system as a whole. Not played it, but it seems well thought out and possibly a good feeder for slightly younger kids (the “live fire” thing being a great hook) into something a little more upmarket, certainly cost wise. Well worth a look for Chaos, Ork and Imperial players I reckon.

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