12.29.2010

Warp Wednesday 18: Whiptails

Hello all, time for another Wednesday!

We will continue getting to know the 609th, but this week, I will begin to discuss the subject of xenology. Xenology is study of xenos biology and cutures ranging from eldar to tyranids. Today's topic: Tyranid Whiptails (tyrannus ---- slicius).
The biomorph known as a whiptail is a simple one and not very common in many known Hive Fleets. The whiptail is a strong, almost metallic, hollow cord instead of the blunt tails of most tyranid organisms. They can be found in many different organisms, from rippers to carnefexes, although rarely in full swarms. Most commonly, a small percentage (2-5%) of a swarm exhibits this biomorph.
The cord contains two long muscles which allow it to coil rapidly, ensnaring potential prey. The end of a whiptail is hooked, allowing the organism to stab its prey repeatedly. Although it is not prehensile, a whiptail may be used for labor duties within the hive.
The whiptail does sacrifice some mobility for its viciousness. The end of a tyranid's tail grows dense, becoming a counterbalance, without this weight the beast moves slower and not as well balanced as its kin. Due to this, whiptailed tyranids are often found at the rear of the swarm, where they ensure all of the biomass they pass by is dead.
(and I am making digestion pits...)
Until the next warp storm hits, be well,
Ricalope.

12.27.2010

The Sunstorm Project - Crystals of Doom

Getting back to the Sunstorm Project, at last. The first post started off the hull designs (here).
The designs were highlighted with hawk turquoise. With the fins, only the upper half is highlighted to turquoise, the bottom left green, the same is done on the sunstorm rune.
Here's a top-down view of the triangle and intersecting diamond pattern. Each tank has the craftworld's rune 'sliding' off the hull.
The green is then highlighted with camo green, just on the edges, but including the designs. Then (although somehow I missed getting a shot of it), highlight the turqoise with ice blue/hawk turquoise.
Next up is the prism cannon's crystal(s). I started off with a base of scab red, then filled it out with red gore. The forward ends of the prisms were highlighted with warlock purple, and the backs with blood red. The purple was then brought up more with a mix of warlock/skull white. Extreme highlighting was done with space wolf grey (purple) and solar orange (red). The crystals were then given a baal red wash. The white 'shine' dots will be added at the same time as the gems (at a much later date).
Next up, the crew.
Thanks for looking,
Ricalope.

12.22.2010

Tony's Larvae Pictures

He is bigger than Frankie, has more firepower than a squad of marines, and has a great smile. His name is Tony, he is one of those six-wound regenerating monstrosities I can't spell.
He is made of a 'smiley' carnifex head, tyrgon body and scythes, hive tyrant legs and some spore mines. And, as always, a lot of putty and wire.
A happy monster is a good monster...
Added back plates and spines to protect those fleshy bits. The tail is made from a venom cannon ammo tendril, never throw away 'nid bitz.
I mashed a bunch of beads into the putty for his belly, then held it in place with more spines for that 'gripping' feel. The guitar wire will eventually feed into the guns.
I decided to opt for the assault 20 gun, instead of the other options, and thought immediately of huge devourers. It wasn't until later that I realized that they were fleshborers, but I am going to stick with it. To represent Tony's additional flame templates, more bio-weapons were added to his back, made from the ends of the venom cannons used by his gun arms.
There he is with guns attached. They are very heavy with all that putty, luckily there were a couple of warriors to lend a claw. There is still much to do, which will likely warrant another post in the future.

They just keep getting bigger....
Ricalope.

Who Needs Grey Marines?

With all those Grey Knight rumors flying around, I have been pondering about the state of the Inquisition. News of a turbo-charged marine list is....well....rather disappointing. If the rumors are true, I will likely only be using 20% of the new codex, as my Inquisitors enjoy using daemonhosts (which might not even be in the new book). Sigh.

But a different idea is brewing, Deathwatch. The under-manned and often ignored Ordo Xenos really needs a push. My proposal -> Dark Angels. The idea is to use the DA codex, rename some things, do some conversions, and hopefully have a arguable Alien Hunter army.

Samael (on jetbike) -> Inquisitor
Librarian -> Inquisitor
Deathwing squad
Ravenwing heavy (to hunt the alien)
Fire Warrior/Scout -> Stormtroopers

...It might work. Thoughts?

Ricalope.

Warp Wednesday Seventeen: The Wolf Pack

Welcome to the second edition of 'Getting to Know the 609th' with the rowdiest bunch of guardsmen around. You might have seen this bunch of hoodlums on the fringes of 'A Day in the Life of...' scrapping on a flank or on the center line. They are known as the 'Wolf Pack.'
The Wolf Pack are the 609th's First Veteran Squad (officially), and are lead by the indomitable Veteran Sergeant Huckish. The manpower of the Inquisitorial Shock Troops, like the 609th IST, are replenished from surrounding sector they fight in and are often made up of platoons from different planets. In the case of veteran squads, often each member is from a different world.
They also specialize in hunting heretic space marines, and to do so the unit carries three plasma guns in addition to Huckish' plasma pistol and Campbell's missile launcher (although he rarely fires it as they don't sit still very often). These three have earned quite the reputation, (for instance; last year at GottaCon they had a 4-5 turn shootout with pre-heresy World Eaters with plasma guns in the open).
Each of them are named after someone who was working in GW Oakville/HQ at the time, as a tribute to our veterans. They were decked out with some putty carapace armor and masks, lots of equipment, and the lasgun barrels were doubled. The wolf pelts were a last addition, which instantly gave them their name. Can you spot Aubin's pet rat?
They enjoy short walks in ruined cities and temples followed with intense fire-fights and being serenaded by screaming heretics on fire. They don't like reserves or night-fighting. Now, with them being a troop choice, they can hold objectives and are used in almost every game. I think some traitors have a bounty on these guys heads by now, since whenever they appear marines start melting.
Which brings us to I 5 1, or more commonly, Lunchbox. The Wolf Pack is often assigned to babysit mechanized platoons, which means that they are assigned a chimera. V. Sgt. Huckish' plan, most often, is to drive Lunchbox into the adversary's cover and assault. This plan is often the cause of Lunchbox's demise. The current Lunchbox is a field-equipped city-fight pattern, likely 'borrowed' from the PDF.
Lunchbox is equipped with a heavy flamer, due to the range it finds itself most often, as well as a heavy bolter/stubber turret. Not much use against monstrous assaults, (which it often finds itself), but great against squishy things.
Looking back on these models, I can spot some improvements and touch-ups I could do on them. I might actually get to doing that, but it would most likely after they get battle-honours, and for that they would have to survive a whole game. I think they could use some purity seals and other bling, but I still like them.

Until next post,
Ricalope.

12.20.2010

Buffy, the Everything Slayer

I have been away from the painting table for a week, this was why. But once I got back I put the final touches on my slayer.
The reason that I painted a helljack was because of two fails at painting clowns on rockets. They looked too circus-y. So, here's a finished 'jack.
As far as Buffy is concerned, I am quite happy with the results. This time around I did at least one wash on each color which made the highlights blend and shadows deeper.
Well, its good to be back,
Ricalope.

12.08.2010

A Day in the Life of Adept Majoris Phoboes (3)

Although Vet. Sgt. Huckish was smashing deamons left and right he was hard pressed to reach the Chosen holding the third objective. Their chimera was immobilized but did succeed in purging the last plague marine with its heavy flamer.
The center line was holding by a thread, lesser daemons had assaulted Crimson Command, and the platoon commander and his bodyguard died horribly. Skold then punished them, sending most of them back to the warp.
The left flank was advancing with the xeno support. The troupe master, Dyscathi, assaulted Dragger and his bodyguard under the fire-support of the dire avengers. The heretic teleported back to wherever he came from half a second before Dyscathi's blade went through him. With only one objective held, the download of information began to dwindle, and the chosen were forcing their way into one of the others. Phoboes set the objectives to self-destruct lamenting the loss of research.
With the vital information cut off, Dragger back on his barge, and warp activity increasing, both sides prepared a withdraw to conserve their forces. Neither side had achieved a greater victory over the other, both sides began planning the next confrontation.

GG.

Warp Wednesday Sixteen: Getting to Know the 609th

I stepped outside the command bunker to find raindrops as big as my head flying vertically at my head, but then someone told me it was Wednesday. So, with raindrops forgotten, I thought about this week's Warp Wednesday. As I decided, the rain ceased. Let me begin to introduce you all to the various members of the 609th Inquisitorial Shock Troops. The best place to begin is with I1 squadron (tank division I, squadron 1) vehicles 1-3.
I 1 1. Meet Orestes, the eldest tread of he Armor Division, and Commander Segienza, the commander of the AD. Each triangle on the barrel accounts for 5 units, where as each diamond accounts for five vehicles, in addition he has a shield for each campaign it has taken part in (seven total). He is quite the venerable tread.
I 1 3. "Pair a veteran with a novice and you might get one good warrior," I believe that was the quote from D's butler. This is I13, he is so new he has not even earned his name. First Squadron, being the command unit, would be the best place to see if any tank crew was "found wanting". So, each new russ is assigned to First Squadron until another is inducted to get their training directly from Commander Segienza and fight under his banner.
I 1 2. Aries is the commanding tank for both the Artillery Division as well as Support. In Imperial Armour Vol 1, an Atlas was a HQ choice (now I have no idea but I only use him in apocalypse games) and I still consider him so. In a couple of games, Aries has been the sole reason for victory, once because of being able to tow wrecks out of the way.
Watch out for gangsta bears,
Ricalope.

12.06.2010

Clowns for the Clown God!

The clowns have putty and sand. I declare that faces are hard as hell to sculpt.
I am contemplating mohawks for some of them...
Except for that, I think they might almost be ready for primer.
I decided against joining the upper body of a metal harlequin for the riders, but due to the hips and sleeves, it would be a mountain of work. As for the metal clowns, I might mix them up with some wytches some day.
And, although those round-topped stands are neat, they were starting to make me angry. So, I puttied over the hole and drilled a new one. Ha!
What a fun day, hope yours was,
Ricalope

Rocket Clowns ~ Before Putty

I was just about to make more coffee and break out the putty...
...But I thought I might show you the assembled clowns. The Muse has all of his equipment now; a laser lance, and a fusion gun (under the hull). The points will be spent for mandiblasters, but they will not be modeled on, as Harlequins seem to always get an extra attack more than other eldar.
Most of the tips of the blades on the bikes were cut and filed into curves. This reduces the 'dark' aspect of the models a little. Also, regular eldar vanes were added as well as some more gems.
In my bitz box there were a couple of wood elf swords which have very similar shoulder plates and smooth surface to paint diamonds. For some reason the dark eldar jetbikes only have the gripping arms, no ccw's. Odd.
The troupe master...er mistress got a shining spear's powersword. The bases have layered plasicard, filed into smooth curves for wraithbone architecture and wood elf bitz for more exodite flavor. That and there are pixies....
Next update.....after putty.
Ricalope.