Thursday, December 30, 2010

Reemergence from the Warp

"The Warp may have consumed our body, but not our will, nor our soul.
Finally, we have escaped from its eternal shackles.
Beware, for we have returned.
Shed the true light of the Emperor shall we continue of, For The Emperor!"

Picture courtesy of Dave Greco

It has been a very hectic three months, I was travelling all over the country. It turns out going the research path wasn't much easier, but as long as I enjoy it, not gonna complain about it.

2010 is nearing its completion so, let's reveal my 2010 resolution and assess it together.

(1) Obtaining a Legio Malaysia Purity Seal
Mission accomplished. I was voted as the best Iron Painter army in the inaugural Legio Malaysia Iron Painter held back in February.

(2) Assemble and Paint the Wood Elves Army
Mission failed. I managed to completely assemble all 2500pts I have, but only ~1000pts are painted. I have to mention that almost all of them were painted during the Iron Painter tournament. Must do better in 2011.

(3) Start a new WH40K Army
Mission accomplished, although by accident. To be honest, this wasn't exactly the army I planned to start, it was something else. To tell you the story, I was converting my second Daemon Prince and some lesser daemons for existing my CSM army. Coincidentally, Paxter organized an online painting competition and I fell into the trap. Suffice to say, now I own a 1250pts Chaos Daemon army. Hmm...I need to assemble and paint that last Daemon Prince to make it 1500pts.

(4) Repaint all Alpha Legion vehicles, including walkers and superheavies
Mission failed. To make it short, I fell into the trap of acquiring more models than I can handle instead of painting what I have at the moment.

(5) Start any work on the Secret Force
Mission accomplished. After 2 years, they are finally out from the box in the corner of my room and clipped from the sprue.As of now, 1000pts has already been assembled and primed, while some has already met the Legio Malaysia standards. My original plan of unveiling was by February 2011, but I'll have to postpone this project to make way for the K2 mega-project. It's going to be LEGEND...wait for it...DARY! (Hahaha, I always failed to resist quoting Mr. Barney Stinson)

That was my 2010 resolution. 3 vs 2, not exactly something I would be proud of.
I've mentioned 'traps' a number of times, would you like to know what they are?
  • A new 3000pts WHFB Warriors of Chaos army.
  • Added some infiltrator marines (counts as normal CSM) for my Alpha Legion army.
  • An Eldar Corsair fleet for BFG.
  • The Fulgrim conversion project.
  • Some random good looking 40K miniatures that turned out to be the foundation for my upcoming K2 army.
And I did them all during the first three quarters of 2010. After that, I barely have enough time to hobby due to work commitments. 2011 promises to be a great year and I expect better results from myself, that includes better time and resource management. I've already made plans for 2011; among them are my K2 army and the Inquisitorial Alpha Legion army (Codex: Grey Knights). And this time, I'll try harder to complete all my resolutions.

HYDRA DOMINATUS!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Tales of Dresden (Part One)

A skull-helmed armored figure sat hunched by the flickering bonfire, silently observing at his warband scouring the battlefield for the spoils of war. Their laughters and joyful shouts whenever they managed to find something valuable brought back memories.

He was previously known as Lord Dresden Kell, a Knight of the Realm, and brother to Madrox Kell, the Baron of Schattenberg. It was a peaceful land; calm and serene. He was greatly respected and envied for his combat prowess in all of Schattenberg, a region in the dukedom of Parravon. For all his greatness however, not few despised him. In fact, he was rather notorious for his public declaration of loyalty to only the Land of Brettonia, and not towards the Lady of the Lake. That was, perhaps, the main factor for his fall from grace. Now, he’s only known as Dresden, a heretic, an exiled knight, the Skull Warrior.

He reminisced the events that lead to his downfall. It was not long ago when the stunted dwarves were a menace to Parravon. A neighbouring outmost region of Parravon, has suffered the biggest loss and therefore requested aid from Schattenberg to quell the menace. Madrox and eight other barons agreed to help, and to their surprise, the mysterious Asrai had agreed to help too.

Ten allied regions and one Asrai host however, were still not enough to repel the dwarven incursion. He still remembered clearly on the day when his brother announced that Shin, an avatar of Lady of the Lake, has answered his prayers and has bestowed upon him the blessings of the Lady. The announcement was greatly celebrated by the whole Schattenburg regiment. Being the atheist that he is, Dresden could care less about this. Suspicion did later grew when similar incidences were reported within the allies, but he was only focused on the war and for the glory of Brettonia. During the battle, Dresden noticed that his brother and eight other barons’ figures were gradually becoming more blur for each time they successfully slayed a dwarven Thane.

With blessings from the Lady, the allied forces were able to defeat the Dwarves but it was not without a cost; only one third of the Brettons survived and less than half of that were uninjured. To make matters worse, the alliance was broken immediately as the hail of arrows that rained upon the dwarves before, now rained at their direction. And he was pretty sure the trees were marching towards them too. Confusion was undeniably prominent within the ranks.

Suddenly, one of the barons led his force against the other nine and only then things became clear. There were nine avian-like armoured clad monsters in the place of where the barons used to be, and they were slaughtering the knights that used to be their allies and custodians. Numerous arrows punctured through their flesh and wings, yet they just shrugged them off and kept fighting. Realizing the impending danger that might befell him, Dresden shouted a battlecry and charged headlong towards the monsters. The rest of the army followed suit.

What happened later was blurry as Dresden was deep into battle frenzy. Only when his sword stabbed on the ridge between the eyes of his former brother did he regain full consciousness. As he looked around, the other former barons were either impaled by multiple swords and lances, or somehow magically laid beneath large trees. The losses were even greater than before, only less than a hundred Bretton still breathing in pain and agony. The Asrai have sheathed their bows and tend to the injured humans, while the mages tapped into their close link to nature to heal the mortal wounds whenever possible. A female elf offered his hand to Dresden, and spoke to him while she helped to lift him up to his feet,

Beware of the Changer of Ways.

And then she left into the forest along with the rest of her kinsfolk, leaving the healed survivors behind. The surviving baron gathered all that was left of his forces and marched straight towards Scarlag Castle, while the others marched back to their own respective regions. Dresden and the surviving Schattenberg knights stayed back for a while, only returning home after he set the former Baron of Schattenberg’s twisted body on a funeral pyre.

Two months passed. It was a typical rural morning; the bright yellow sun has just risen in the east, the pleasant smell of fresh morning air, the ebbing sound of the flowing river, birds chirping cheerfully in the trees. Alas, it was not to be.

Clatters of hooves and a loud ruckus broke the morning serenity. Schattenberg were invaded and citizens were driven out of their homes. Houses and fields were burnt to the ground, horses and livestocks confiscated. All of this horrific incident was personally witnessed by the Duke of Parravon, accompanied by his Grail Knights.

Dresden and all the remaining knights of Schattenberg were then stripped of their royalty and knighthood, while each and every citizen were branded as heretics; all this as a result of the aftermath following the Dwarven war. Schattenberg was completely burnt to the ground, erased from the map of Brettonia, and the citizens were exiled from the Land of Brettonia. Apparently, the other regions that participated in the war also had similar fate as they; man, women, children, the elderly, were all herded like cattles northwards towards the Empire of Sigmar and out of Brettonia.

Devoid of any possession, the former Brettons lived like beggars in the Empire. They did manage to settle down for a while before being driven out again after word circulating regarding the fate of their former barons. None would take them in anymore, and their former knights can only lead their people further up north. By this moment, the exiled ones has completely denounced the Lady of the Lake for condemning them to such fate. More people joined along the way, mostly are outcasts from the Empire, including Dresden’s current brother-in-arms, Matthias Nilstrom. The mix of people with different backgrounds brought new teachings and enlightenment to the group; thus the new-found faith they discover, the religion of Tchar. Dresden however, remained a non-believer.

The outcasts finally settled in a Norse territory, just north of the Empire city called Erengard. By some kind of weird luck, they found a settlement where the settlers also dedicated their faith to the religion of Tchar. Despite the unfriendly cold weathers, the outcasts lived in harmony with the Norse people, and defended their territory against soldiers from the Empire and beasts such as trolls. Finally, they have a place to call home and together, they prayed to Tchar and hope for a better life bestowed upon them.

Happiness again filled Dresden’s soul, knowing that his people were now much happier and safer from what was before. However, the knightly soul in him was rather unhappy on a settled life. He later join the local warband but soon discovered a huge obstacle; fighting on a frozen wasteland was totally a new experience for him compared to horseback battles. As a matter of fact, horses were quite uncommon in the current region he lives. Dresden lived up to the challenge, endured all the obstacles, and proved his worth. It was only a matter of time when the battle standard was trusted to him.

***

Another armored figure approached, hooded and carrying a staff, then sat next to te skull-helmed warrior. Matthias Nilstrom, the self proclaimed Shadowmage, joined the amusement of observing the scavenging hunt. Matthias has yet to cast a single successful spell despite the mage status that he claimed to be, and currently being the subject of ridicule by the other warriors in the warband. As a matter of fact, they were more respectful of his combat prowess rather than his magic ability, as he once managed to inflict a serious wound on an Empire general in a hand-to-hand combat.

Moments passed by, and then Matthias spoke.

Rest easy, my brother. For tomorrow we shall beat down those Sigmar dogs back to where they came from.

***

Monday, September 6, 2010

Fantasy, Full Force

It has been quite some time since I last posted here. The WoC army has only grown slightly, due to nil Chaos Marauders stock in Malaysia, and I have to wait for them to arrive. And guess what, at the same time, my Wood Elves army has made some progress too. I'll post pictures of them later.

I've just received my job schedule for the last quarter of 2010, and I already had some mixed feelings about it; mostly because of the 'projected' limited time for hobby. Taking that fact into consideration, I've decided to abandon any 40K project until December 31st, 2010. Why? So that I can spend that limited time and focus on my WFB army(ies).

Looks like this picture below would be the last 40K game I've played in 2010, against Rizal's spanking brand new Orkish Horde on Merdeka Day. From now on, it'll be exclusively WFB.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

The Northern Gathering

The Legends season is over, and I managed to get second place. As a matter of fact, out of five participants, only two person managed to complete the mission; Jeff being the other one. So, guess who won?

This week, Jeff started on his Death Korps of Krieg project while I started making preparations for an ancient battle. This was all I managed to do for the whole week.

Till then, see you next week.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Legends - Week 6 Progress and Conclusion

Suffice to say, I did it. I managed to complete my entry, and there's still an hour left prior deadline. Here are pictures of the work I did in the past three days, enjoy.


And here's the whole Hydra Cult of Pestilence. It has been 6 weeks of fun, looking forward for a Season 2. Kudos to Paxter of the 40K Malaysia forum for organizing this competition.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Legend - W6D3 Progress

Wouldn't call it a progress...only pinned one model to the base, that's it. I'm really exhausted after returning from work. But Jeff did mentioned that no matter how small it is, a progress is a progress; you can't deny it. So, here it is.


For those of you wondering, this is the old school Keeper of Secrets model. Hopefully tomorrow would be better than today.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Legends - W6D2 Progress

5 days left & still have lots to do. I've decided to change my list as I won't be able to finish my original list on time. So, this would be my updated army list.

Hydra Cult of Pestilence (Chaos Daemons Codex)
1000 points, 32 models - Condition B

Sha’th Solnev the Painseeker (HQ) Herald of Slaanesh on Chariot, Unholy Might, Soporific Musk - 90 points
(HQ) Keeper of Secrets - 200 points
The Tallyman (HQ) Epidemius - 110 points
(T) 7 Hydra Cultists (counts as Plaguebearers) - 105 points
(T) 7 Hydra Cultists (counts as Plaguebearers) - 105 points
(T) 7 Hydra Cultists (counts as Plaguebearers) - 105 points
(FA) 7 Nurgle Hounds (counts as Fleshhounds of Khorne) - 105 points
(HS) Daemon Prince, Flight, Mark of Nurgle, Noxious Touch - 180 points

***

And of course, you'd want pictures (and some update up to 8.30 pm)


***
Some late addition, spent another 2 hours tonight on these. See you tomorrow, hopefully ;)

Legends - W6D1 Progress

I only managed 1.5 hours of hobby tonight but the progress was more than I achieved last weekend. I'm going to scrap my current army list as I don't think I could finish my Beasts of Nurgle in time; they need lots of sculpting work, and considering the deadline, almost impossible. These are sneak previews of my work today. Why preview? Coz they're not done yet.

 





I'll revise my list tomorrow, gotta re-calculate and review my army with the ugly deadline approaching.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Legends - Week 5 Summary

I did less than I planned, only managed these. Now I need to paint those rims.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Legends - Week 3&4 Summary + Week 5 Progress

I've been caught up with some real life matters in the past few weeks. I was still able to do some hobby, but haven't had the proper time to update this blog, until now. These are what I was working on, and as usual I kinda overdo it. I assembled 18, instead of the needed 14. Not complaining though, it'll be a good foundation if I wanna do a last minute army list change.


























Ugh, some of the custom made bases are flawed. It's okay though, there's a first time for everything.  I'll post up a tutorial on how I made the mold after the Legends season end. I need to mention that by the time I posted this blog, these 'counts-as Plaguebearers' already basecoated. Gonna get them fully painted by today, and of course, update of the warhounds. Let's just say I managed to do a mold for the 40mm bases.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Legends - Week 2 Summary

It has been a slow week for the Daemons. No, not due to work but more towards miscalculation. It just dawned on me last Wednesday that the Legio Malaysia's second birthday celebration is actually ~ 1 week away. I still haven't really completed my Golden Kris entries for single miniature and BFG, and I still have 2 more unpainted Raven Guard Dreadnought. Speaking of Raven Guard, hmm...list? Bloody hell, I've forgotten it too, will settle that tomorrow.

So, my only progress for this week would only be these.


Monday, June 21, 2010

Legends - Week 1 Summary

Finished painting the dogs, but I'll still consider them at 80% status at the moment. Reason being they're still without any base yet. I'll post the pictures later when they are truly finished, that means properly based. So, I've spent the weekend trying to produce those bases. Things was going on well, till the moment of casting. It turns out that the silicone that I had is only enough for one mold. I did one for the 25mm's but the 40mm's are still pending. That means no bases for the dogs until I make that next trip to Multifilla. I did try searching for the 2-part RTV silicone around my residential area though, but there were none.













While waiting for the cast to cure (which takes approximately 24 hours), I completed assembly and made a slight conversion on this fellow.











I did mentioned a couple of times that I wanted to change my Legends list from a  pure fluff hobby entry into a proper playable army list. Since I had an 'artist block' on my DP, I decided to give this fellow a basecoat. By the looks of it, that list change could come sooner than later. And later on, I finally had the inspiration on how to paint my Nurgle DP (seen in the background). Note the weird colour choice, but it's only the basecoat. Trust me, it'll be Nurgle-fied.


































Epidemius only need some washes and minor detailing and it'll be done. I'm expecting to finish it by next week. The DP needs some silver trims, post airbrush touching up, bones to be painted, minor highlight, two drybrush layers, and the final wash. Should be able to finish it in two or three weeks. Why so long? Coz I just realized that the Legio Birthday Bash is only two weeks away, and I still have two unpainted dreadnoughts. Not to mention that I haven't actually finished my single and BFG entries.

That's all for this week.
By next week, I'm expecting to have shitloads of 25mm resin bases available.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Legends - Progress of W1D1

I've decided to paint them in squads, so that they maintained colour cohesiveness within squads. Plus, it allows me to use variant hues of green for this army which also means various painting techniques that I've been wanting to experiment on. Today I only managed to paint the main colours. I wanted a ghostly feel with some Nurgle aura mixed into them, and I'm quite happy with the result. Here's the step-by-step for the work I've done today.

First of all, one layer of Terracotta on black primer.











Second, one thin layer of sporadic Camo Green here and there, mostly covering the areas I missed on the first step.











Third, multiple blending layering technique with gradual addition of Scorpion Green, Hawk Turqoise, Ice Blue, Skull White in the build-up. They're airbrushed using the preshading method.






















Here's a close-up on one of the end results. Sorry for the blurry picture, turns out that my camera was low on battery. One question though, should I give it a Thraka Green/Gryphonne Sephia wash or should I just leave it as it is now?














Tomorrow, detailing work. Stay tune for more updates.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Legends - Week 1, Day 1

The Legends competition officially starts. Jeff & Alvin sure made a good headstart by having their models fully assembled and based. With the haywire happened at my work's place last weekend, I have a day off today & tomorrow. What a good start for the competition. My bases aren't ready yet, planning to cast them together with Jeff this Hobby Night. Due to the limited number models to paint, I will only have these hound doggies and the daemon prince available.













Should've taken a picture of the primed daemon prince before applying any basecoat. Will keep that in mind on further updates. Anyway, if you're wondering, this is the armylist that I've submitted.

Hydra Cult of Pestilence (Chaos Daemons Codex)
1000 points, 32 models
Condition B

Sha’th Solnev the Painseeker
(HQ) Herald of Slaanesh on Chariot, Unholy Might, Transfixing Gaze, Soporific Musk
95 points

Bok’rr
(HQ) Herald of Nurgle
50 points

Minchrr’t
(HQ) Herald of Nurgle
50 points

(E) 7 Beasts of Nurgle
245 points
*no models yet


(T) 7 Hydra Cultists (counts as Plaguebearers)
105 points

(T) 7 Hydra Cultists (counts as Plaguebearers)
105 points

(FA) 7 Nurgle Hounds (counts as Fleshhounds of Khorne)
105 points

(HS) Daemon Prince, Flight, Iron Hide, Mark of Nurgle, Cloud of Flies, Noxious Touch, Breath of Chaos
245 points 

***

Note that it's not actually made for a competitive tournament build, and I just realized that 1000pts is actually rather limited for a Daemon army. Luckily the organizer allowed 3x armylist change. I'm now considering to change the list to 1500pts, and also because this dude arrived at my house this morning; a 'survivor from a maelstrom' .






















Stay tune for more updates, and vote for me!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Eldars in stasis, Daemons cometh.

The title says it all. I'm putting my Eldar fleet project on hold to make way for a proper progress on my Nurgle Daemon army. Why? It's because of this Legends competition.

This Daemon army, by fluff and gameplay, would be an expansion/supplement to my existing Alpha Legion army. And, expect loads of conversion on this project. Here are some sneak peek into the project:






















Bok'rr the Nurgle Herald, still needs some greenstuff work to smooth the transition of deformity.












Custom bases, sculpted by your truly.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Immortal Miniature Hoarder

I'm out of town most of this week, and therefore no progress whatsoever on the painting front. Still, it feels weird without any update. During the spare time I had, I've decided to tie some loose ends on some aspects on my hobby. Mostly on the army fluff; doing some recalling and recalculation of the actual painted total army points of my Raven Guard army, adding more background story of Niklas-Tauron from my Alpha Legion army, elaborating fluff for my Eldar BFG fleet, transferring the tale of my Asrai Kindred from my mind to my computer's hard disk, and laid out plans for my Daemonhost army.

Before I forget, I'm now making an official declaration. The name of my Eldar Craftworld will shall now be known as Craftworld Ilfirin, which means 'immortal'.

Anyway, I have this habit of listing down all the stuffs I have that I bought but unassembled yet. It's like a personal stock inventory for my own personal shop, hahaha. I've updated the list again today and guess what: I'm now officially a miniature hoarder. That's two official declaration today, hahaha.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

This is plain AWESOME!

Those who knew me probably knows that my Raven Guard army is a scout-heavy army. And to see this picture on the new artwork section of the Black Library really excites me. It's just too damn cool not to make note about it.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

The Webway opens














A Webway opened, and an Eldar fleet emerged from the portal. Accompanied with choirs of laughter, they claimed themselves as the Harbingers of Cegorach. Led by Dresden Vaedarys, blessed by Farseer Shaeraesol, and guided by the 'Music of the Stars'; following in their wake are shadow, unyielding defiance, skill in arms, swiftness and accuracy. There were also rumours speaking of an incoming gentle falling rain that brings eternal sleep. An unfortunate operative however, managed to transmit this picture before meeting his demise.


*Special credit to NASA for the Hubble Telescope Image.