My Entry for Gundam Builders World Cup (GBWC) 2016 - Malaysia

Despite its easy assembly, the process of customising a Gundam model kit ain't that easy. It might not look like much but with all the moving parts, trying to present a decently painted model without all sorts of scratch marks was challenging. What made the process fun though, are friends that participated together in the event; Arzmi, Khairul, Shukur, Yip, and the Blackbase guys. Anyway, here is my Iyanden Wraithlord...err, Gundam Ez-Hazard for GBWC 2016 Malaysia.

Picture Courtesy of the Gundam Malaysia Fans Facebook Page

2016 Armies on Parade: Wood Elves

Mission Accomplished!

This was my entry for the GW Armies on Parade held last 15th October 2016: The Floating Wood Elves Forest. Below are more pictures of my diorama, courtesy of Marvin Kho, Joseph Looi and the Legio Malaysia Facebook page.

By the way, I would most probably think that my future updates will be like this; end results. Any WIP posts will be considered as a bonus. So, the target for November will be Bandai's GBWC Malaysia 2016 for Gundam.

Gundam Project Update

I went missing for a month plus...sorry. I made a pledge to continue blogging this time around, and I intend to fulfill that pledge. For the last month or so, other than usual work issues, I got overwhelmed by the deadline for the August event at Animaganki. In short, the core things that I wanted to do with this model was completed about a day before submission date. The initial plan to add some overbrush, some hard-edge highlights, some sponging weathering, and build a proper terrain diorama. However, one day was not enough to do either of those. Therefore, I decided to stop being ambitious and just submit the model as it was.

I'm going to start by updating a bit my previous project WIP; plastic piping. In short, it's a plasticard technique to alter the appearance of certain parts of a kit. This was the before-and-after picture of my first attempt on a shoulder piece.

I have never thought that putting two plasticard can alter the appearance by a lot. Suffice to say, I got the ball rolling since I was happy with the results. These waist parts were my next attempt.

Next up, upper and lower torso.

Due to some twisted inspiration, the body ended up looking like this.

After some painting in Magneto's colour scheme and applying warlock-like runic decals, the parts looked like these.

And the end product looked like this. (The display base was lackluster, sorry for the lame effort on this part.)

That's a rusted old gunblade on his right hand and the intended pose was to indicate "You're next!". The grinning teeth marking was painted freehand over the helmet.

Summary of parts used:

1. MG Gundam AGE-1 Spallow - core model

2. HG Hi-Mock arms - upper arms

3. HG Denial Gundam thigh piece - lateral side skirts

4. HG Ballden Arms - shoulder missile pod & missing ankle joint replacement 

5. unknown rifle piece courtesy of Blackbase Hobby Shop (Thanks!)

6. a random piece I found for the chest mini-gatling guns

7. GW Basilica Administratum kit - chest piece

8. GW Orks bit - rifle scope

9. GW Eldar bit - gemstones on chest and thigh

10. GW Storm Raven bit - thrusters under the lateral side skirt

11. various plasticards

(Wow! I honestly didn't realise that there were a lot of parts used until I wrote them down here.)

My efforts were awarded with a Merit recognition. After conversing with the judges, I discovered that I scored very high on Creativity, slightly below average on Workmanship, and the bare minimum for Display. If I added a bit more effort on the display base, I would've earned the Bronze recognition. In addition, if my scribing were tidier and my airbrushing was more even, I would've earned the Silver recognition. Nevertheless, I'm already happy with the end result and very glad to receive a lot of pointers on how to further improve myself. Adding to that happiness, I was ecstatic that my work was selected as one of the five judges' favourite; the judge that selected mine was from Modelland Workshop. Thank you very much for the recognition, I really appreciate it! Thank you for the MG Force Impulse Gundam too!

Next projects: (1) Design-and-paint one marine from a custom Space Marine chapter by October 8, (2) Build a diorama display for the GW Armies of Parade on October 15, and (3) a HG-sized Gundam for the year-end event on end of November.

Do note that I've signed up for the Armies of Parade with my Wood Elves. Yes, Wood Elves...not Aelfs, and definitely none of the Wanderers and Sylvaneth nonsense. I'm going to bring everyone back to Athel Loren, and I'm going to enter this event in a Legio Malaysia uniform. It's about time for Legio Malaysia to make a comeback, we've been in stasis for far too long.

Now, to look for a chopped off tree trunk/stump that is 2 feet in diameter...

The Protectorate Starfighter

Hi all.

Just a quick stop to share this really sexy jetfighter here, a future Q3/4 2016 release by Fantasy Flight Games for X-Wing miniatures. The aesthetics are really nice (probably due to the Eldar & Chaos vibe on this ship). I am most definitely going to get at least one for my ever increasing (and soon to be crowded) hangar bay.

If only FFG could make this ship do the following as per original design...

Scribing Circular Shapes

In my last post, I've mentioned about attempting to scribe circular shapes. As it turns out, not to be a good idea at my current skill level for the following reasons:

1. Scribing circles and freehand does not go together. Templates are required, more especially so since I have minor hand tremors.
2. DYMO tapes are insufficient as template/guide for scribing circular shapes, since it requires a larger surface area to stick around the area that you are planning to scribe.
3. Custom-made templates out of plasticard does not work as it'll get cut easily during the scribing process. Metal templates are most definitely the tool of choice. (Thus, postponing this wild idea inside my head of scribing flames on the model)

Thus, after some trial-and-errors, this is the end result from my attempt to scribe circular shapes. There are no 'before' pictures as it was a completely blank surface. You probably noticed that the circles are slightly off-centred with visible scratch marks. I wonder if filling the scratch marks with epoxy putty will solve it. Otherwise, gonna disguise it as battle damage during painting later..hahaha 

I do admit that it looked a bit Necron-ish. Most probably due to my subconcious thoughts, which is heavily influnced by the WH40K universe. Overall, I think it doesn't look that bad..hahaha (trying to cheer myself up, LOL).

So, I've tried scribing. It was a mediocre attempt, but at least I've tried it and got the feel of it a bit. Will definitely seek more knowledge on how to improve myself on this skill later. The next recommended step after scribing would be learning the chiseling technique, but I'll postpone that until my scribing becomes more stable. Gonna try something else simpler first. So, next up on the list of new modelling techniques to try: plastic piping.

Learned Something New - Scribing

Scribing is an old modelling technique which I never knew. The main purpose is break the monotony of parts with large surface area. Having dealt with highly detailed single-posed miniatures before, there was never a need to actually do so, until now.

The Tau armour is an excellent example of an end product on which scribing can be applied. Looking at it closely, the Tau armour is basically flat-surfaced armour plates with grooves cut into the armour. Examining the armour, we can see that there were no added height and thickness to the armour plates.

Scribing is basically the technique to emulate the grooves, in order to add dimensions to the models. As for tools, there aren't any specific ones; blade, nail, chisel or slot-head screwdriver can all be used to achieve the desired effect. Since I just discovered this technique, apparently there are a lot (and I do mean, a lot) of tutorials on scribing posted all over the internet and youtube. There are so many of them that it would be pointless to provide you with URL links for it. I guess the age-old saying was right; you need to know what to look for before looking for anything.

This new revelation made me very curious to try it. This below, is my first attempt at scribing, done on my WIP entry for the Gundam event in August.

Additional panel lines were scribed to these side skirts parts. Just by adding a few groove lines, the part looked upgraded. This is probably nothing new to most of you but for me, it is. If only I knew about this technique on my previous conversion projects. Lesson learnt: there will always be something new to learn.

(Note: on hindsight, a 'before and after' picture would be more favourable)

Definitely need more practice to brush up this new skill, will try circular shapes next.

Revisiting the Past 2+ Years

Somebody once said, one should not dwell on the past.

With that in mind, I'll try to keep this short.

(Honestly, I also can't recall everything, only certain parts.)

end 2013

Only 3 participants completed the Legio Malaysia Army Throwdown II; myself (Tzeentch Warriors), Patrick (High Elves) and Stephane (Dark Elves). Patrick got the Purity Seal. (sorry, can't locate the pictures)

2014

If I recalled this correctly, this is the year that the Wood Elves army book was finally updated after 10+ years. I painted this Treeman for Golden Kris 2014 and received the People's Choice Award (I'm probably remembering this because of the award).

picture courtesy of the Legio Malaysia Facebook page

Then, comes the End Times. It was fun times, just like the old glory days of WFB. Suddenly, the whole WFB universe (and game) was decimated and a simpleton version of it was introduced. I'd be lying if I were to say I'm not pissed about it. Simply said, my friends and I moved on to the X-wing miniatures game. We came, we saw, we conquered; that's pretty much that I can say about X-wing.

Earlier in the year, we also tried Infinity. The models are awesome, the rulebook is free, the gameplay is easy. What turned our gaming group off was (most likely) the advanced rules, it was too complicated for book keeping. Hence, my Santiago Military Order of Panoceania is now somewhere in the storage trays, along with my Wood Elves and Warriors of Chaos.

2014 was also the year that a few friends and I spent hours in the beta version of the 7 Days to Die game. Basically, it's a post-apocalyptic zombie survival game with Minecraft and Fallout elements added in. With the right crew, this is an awesome game, highly recommended. And with Arzmi in the crew, you can definitely say you're safe.

2015

This is more recent, but surprisingly, I remember less than 2014. It's mostly X-wing and Armada. Those games got me so hyped for Star Wars Episode 7, and the movie turned out to be a letdown. Maybe I was expecting too much, but Kylo Ren should've kept his mask on until the 'Han moment', the storyline should be less of a 'copy & paste' and really, another Death Star?

But, 2015 will always be the year that Nahri left; he migrated to New Zealand for good. Wish him all the best.

I stopped playing WH40K in 2015. New codices, formations, rules and kits were released like a freight Shinkansen train every month (on some releases, every week). I was having difficulty to keep up with the various rules and at the same time, the price shot up through the roof due to currency collapse (thanks a lot 1MDB), which made me decide to put the game on hold. It has been a hiatus since, and I'm yet to be interested to play the game again. Like Infinity and WFB, my WH40K armies are in some storage trays somewhere in the house. Like Azlan said recently, my Eldar are lost in the Warp.

Hmm, I just recalled returning to Circle Orboros in mid 2015. Yes, Warmahordes, a game I last played (and sold off) in 2006/7 with Steven & Kai back in Jakarta. During my Orboros hype period, I painted these dudes. Shortly after that, the rut returned.

early 2016

Not much happened, it was mostly still X-wing and Armada for me. On the hobby front, it was an absolute zero for the first quarter. One day, Khairul suggested Gundam to us all. Shortly after that, it snowballed.

We went for weekly visits to the 'Golden Triangle of Gundam' in KL. We also explored various Gundam shops in the Klang Valley. Ivan, Yip and Arzmi now probably owns 10+ boxes (probably 20+) of unassembled Gundam kits. Ivan has also changed for the better and assembled his stuff instead of simply buying, with panel-lining applied. And, this was my entry for Litt Tak's Mid-Year Expo.

GAT X303 Aegis

Yes, I'm doing mecha modelling right now. I'm really enjoying it. Up next on my schedule are two big events, one at the end of August by the local Gundam community and the other in October/November by Bandai. Let's do this!

Side note: I may need to clean up my blog roll and sidebar.

First, after so long...

Last post: November 9th, 2013

Today: June 21st, 2016

That's two and a half years of the dreaded hobby rut.

That statement however, is not entirely correct.
Dabbled a bit into Infinity, X-Wing miniatures, Armada, Dice Masters and Warmachine/Hordes within that time period.
Also joined the online world of Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm.
And, even attempted to domesticate myself with Android: Netrunner.

Let's face it; gamers gonna be gamers, we'll never stop gaming.
It's just that some break and change of environment is needed.
That being said, I've stopped playing WH40K and WFB.
Not gonna call it quit yet, but this is how it is.

Now, at this current moment, I'm just a mere modeller/painter who games a bit here and there.
Updates will probably be a bit scarce, probably once a month or so.
We'll see whatever happens next.

P/S: Hopefully this is not a one-time attempt to come back.

Army Throwdown II #1: Core

The Legio Malaysia Army Throwdown has returneth!

The theme for the current installment if Warhammer Fantasy Battle (WFB). I'm joining again, of course, and this time with my Warriors of Tzeentch. Yesterday night was the First Throwdown session at the relocated Legio Malaysia. Pictured below is my entry for the night, Marauder Horsemen with Javelins.

Pics Courtesy of Hobby Forge and Legio Malaysia

And below are the Top 3 entries of the night, which is solely based on my humble opinion. Do checkout this link to feast your eyes on all 10 entries last night. (Note: You might probably need to have a Facebook account to access the pictures)

Pics Courtesy of Hobby Forge and Legio Malaysia

Pics Courtesy of Hobby Forge and Legio Malaysia

Pics Courtesy of Hobby Forge and Legio Malaysia

 That's all for now, adieu!

The (Not So New) Eldar Codex Review: How does it affect my army?

The biggest hit delivered by the new Eldar codex to my Craftworld was the number of Fire Dragons that I'm allowed to take. That however, was the only drawback to my army, as others relatively remained the same.

Sticking to The (self-made) Fluff

One of the direct repercussions of the Great Fall was that there are only three Aspect Shrines remaining in Craftworld Ilfirin; Fire Dragons, Dire Avengers and Warp Spiders, with Fire Dragons being the most numerous Aspect of all. There are two aspects that intrigued me in the new codex, which are the Dark Reapers and the Swooping Hawks. After thinking this through, I've decided to be consistent with my original fluff.

Craftworld Ilfirin is blessed by Cegorach, represented by the Harlequins. This explains my wild and erratic colour scheme; bright orange, dark blue, and 'midnight' stars. The Craftworld was also among the lucky ones to have a lot of Bonesingers. This concept is represented by Guardians operating various vehicles to war. If you've seen my army, War/Wasp Walkers and various skimmers dominate the table. Eldar is a dying race but they are also more technologically advanced as compared to the monkeighs. This was one of the reasons for the mechanised approach rather than going the compact and elite path.

Being blessed by Cegorach also means that my army will have very minimal 'Walking Dead' and absolutely no Avatars of Khaine. This means Wraithguards/blades, Wraithlords, Wraithknights, and Hemlock Wraithfighter are at the bottom of my consideration during army building. I do have a Wraithlord though, but it's more of a centrepiece rather than gaming purposes. And Eldrad, is simply out of the question since he is an Ulthwe. Has never played him and will never play him as a 'counts as', despite what people say.

The New Stuff

The Crimson Hunter was immediately out of the question since it's considered an Aspect, not even considering it as a centrepiece. As for the Wraithknight, I may paint one in the future since by fluff (adapted from the old Revenant Titan fluff), the construct has a Guardian pilot inside despite it also having his/her twin ghost in its circuit. This will be a future centrepiece project, but shall never be considered for gaming purposes.

Playing to My Strengths

The strengths of War Walkers and Wasp Assault Walkers are quite obvious. I do not need to elaborate on the rate of fire they bring to the table. My army's hidden strength that has been boosted by the new codex are actually the Guardian Jetbikes (also now known as the Windriders) and the Vypers. The 6th Edition rules gave them Jink and high mobility, while the new codex greatly blessed them with BS4. The latter changed my army dynamics by a huge margin.

Double Guide-seers were the backbone of my army in the old codex, and I can now field a single Farseer with Guide and Prescience instead. BUT, by having army-wide BS4 as a default, I am now less reliant on my Farseer as the rest of my army are more capable than before. The farseer's psychic abilities can be viewed as sharpening a samurai blade.

Glaring Weaknesses Observed

With the crazy torrent of lasers/shurikens in my army, flyers are not a big concern as I have glanced a number of them to death. The Wave Serpents' shield also contributed to the cause. My Achilles heel is AV14, especially when fielded in bunches. This was previously not a problem since the Fire Dragons were cheaper (and I used to play with 24 of them). As I said before, Wraithguards are not in my consideration. I've found Brightlance Vypers to be unreliable for this role. My other current options are to switch the Wave Serpents' turrets to Brightlances, or change my sole Fire Prism to a Falcon instead. I haven't decided yet, and will look through the codex again in case I missed anything.

That's all for now. I'm not going to bore you with more words, and I'm pretty sure not many enjoy this aspect of the game. My next posts after this will be all about the Warriors of Tzeentch, as I'm entering them for Legio Malaysia's 2nd Army Throwdown. A total of 15 participants have pledged to take part in this installment. The challenge for me would be figuring out on how to showcase my army and make it 'pop' since there are four Warriors of Chaos armies (including mine) participating in the event.

Reload!

It's been quite some time since I last blogged. If you want, I can tell a very lengthy story but I'd probably just bore you to death. I don't know how to describe the feeling of holding a miniature and getting back into the hobby after a long hiatus. It felt more than great!

October 8th will be the start of the 2nd Legio Malaysia Army Throwdown, and the theme is WFB. I'm taking this opportunity to (re)paint my Warriors of Tzeentch that has been patiently waiting for a proper paintjob. I'll most probably not going to have a Rare entry for the Throwdown since I'll be strictly sticking to my army fluff; no monsters and mutations.

Chaos Warhounds and Tzeentch Sorceror

I've covered Core and Hero so far, and I still have a Chariot and some cavalry models to assemble. I'm also spraying white over the Chaos Warriors' cloaks since they already had a blue basecoat. To me, participating in the Throwdown gives me the chance to start over. Since WFB is set in the Medieval Era, and Chaos Warriors are wild savage-like people; painting them in proper uniform-like fashion just doesn't click to my logic. Uniforms are okay for 40K but looks misplaced for WFB.

I've also recently discovered that Paxter will be painting Tzeentch Warriors too; currently thinking hard to distinguish my army from his. The only option that came to my mind is to paint them ala Brettonians, with personalised (disorder) heraldries and such. The obstacle for that idea; I'm not confident that I can pull that look off. Any other good ideas?

That's it for now, trying to keep it short and simple. My next post will be my (belated) review on how the (not so) new Eldar Codex affected my army build. Lastly, I'm not sure if you've seen this blog, but you MUST check it out. If that masterpiece of art do not impress you as a miniature wargamer, I don't know what will.

Small Update

Pardon the lack of updates, I've been resting a bit. And the new Eldar codex is a bit of distraction. Speaking of the Eldar codex, all I can say is that my 1750pts army now costs 1920pts in the new codex. It's fair enough, Fire Dragons was a bit too cheap for what they can do in the previous codex. Overall, I'm happy with what Phil Kelly has done. The Codex is fluffy, balanced, and captures the feel of Eldar (which translate to 'mobility' for me). Perhaps, the rules Wraithknight and Hemlock need more work but it's too early to complain about them since we don't know what the future holds. It won't surprise me if Hemlock's Mindshock Pod is the 'cheese' some time in the future.

That's all for now. I'm actually rather occupied in helping Mark for the pre-campaign preparation of the Kill Team campaign. Till next time, adieu.

Currently drooling...

Forgive me for the icky title. Those that have played against/with my Eldar army knew that Fire Dragons and Walkers are featured prominently. I've also recently added a Wraithlord to the mix via the Legio Malaysia Army Throwdown, since I really like the 'walker look'. Apparently, Craftworld Ilfirin will have a new addition in the near future.

May 10-18th, 2013 - A Very Productive Period

The local guys may have known this for some time. By pure attrition, I've earned my second Purity Seal as I was the only one who completed the 2000pts Army Throwdown challenge on May 10th, 2013.

Picture Courtesy of the Legio Malaysia Official Site

Two Purity Seals, both earned from 'painting endurance' events (the first one was from Iron Painter). I also earned the Iron Halo from the most recent Iron Painter event. Slowly, I'm beginning to figure out what my strength really is; whilst I may not be the best painter nor gamer, it seems that I might probably have something special in endurance challenge. This theory need to be tested in the next Iron Painter and Army Throwdown events.

May 18th, 2013 marked the day that Legio Malaysia organised their fifth Birthday Bash (Happy Birthday!). For the current installment, Kindred 4 (K4) and Golden Kris was held concurrently during the celebration. Rizal and I didn't do well in K4, both of us rolled too many double and triple 1s the entire tournament, but we won't fret much about it. To cut things short, the 5th Birthday Bash was another great event by Jeff and Khairul (Thanks!).

The pictures below are shots of my entry for the Duel Category; a Raven Guard marine versus a Khorne Bloodletter.

 
 
 
 

This Duel diorama earned me First Place in the Duel category; my very first First Place finish. Honestly, the marine was a hurried job of 'wet-on-dry' and the daemonsword OSL was not so good. Perhaps, my elaborate base won me the trophy. For more pictures (which is a lot) of the Birthday Bash event, please visit Legio Malaysia's Facebook site.

Yes, the trophy is humongous!

I think I had enough of painting proper WH40K and WFB miniatures for now. My next projects will be to paint up the Kill Team terrains I owed Mark and to create a Legio Cybernetica Maniple prototype.