Site News: Free Warlord Sprues

Wayland Games are offering free sprues from Warlord Games, who specialise in historical miniatures. All you need to do to redeem your free sprue, is fill out the following web form:

Free Warlord Sprue

And thats it, enjoy your free miniature!

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Site News: Calendar and stuff

Family stuff today, so I don't think I will get any table and brush time tonight. However I would like to introduce the new calendar feature; found below the site banner. Mainly a tool to keep me motivated, the Schedule page will give readers a brief break down of my projects. While this will not affect my daily blog posts, it will give readers an idea when final product posts days are, or (in future) when I am fully booked for commissions. It will also let readers know which events I will be attending this year and any painting competitions (on-line or otherwise) I may be involved in.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Grand Mother is here!

Haha, sod's law really...I had just settled down to start work on the Man-Hunter when what would drop through the post box? Non other than the awesome Grand Mother figure.

The new box is a fraction the size of previous releases but does come stamped with the figure artwork, which is a nice touch. I am very much in favour of the large deck protector plastic cover, as for me it keeps the stock card art safe from being crushed and adds even more of a collectible feel to the product. I am happy to see that once again I have gotten a low number (nerd I know!).

Wip: Kingdom Death's Manhunter

I have decided to keep the KD games momentum going and putting on hold my Anima Tactics collection. I have now committed myself to painting the Manhunter as a companion to my newly finished White Lion. I really like how large this figure is and I am hoping to make the skin really stand out using washes and glazes. One of the key things I am trying to decide on, is how to deal with the browns. The trench coat almost screams to be painted a dark brown but I am afraid that it will clash too much with the hang man's frame and rope. I need a colour break to keep the figure interesting and stop it becoming a big brown mess, I also want to try and capture a 'dusty cowboy' feel, so my MIG pigments will probably come into play in the final stages of this paint job.

This will most likely be the last Kingdom Death figure I will be able to complete before "Grand Mother" arrives, then the priority shifts as I am really keen to work on their latest figure. While there have been many Angelic miniatures released in the past, what captivates me with "Grand Mother" is the elegance in design and pose that seems to be lost in a lot of Angel esque figures I have seen in the past. Couple that with a interesting spin on the lore, makes for one very interesting model.

With some luck and a lot of coffee, Manhunter will be complete by the end of the weekend.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Gallery: The White Lion

"Huge terrifying lions with a strange human curiosity and human hands. Their white fur shines with flecks of gold when the sunlight hits them directly, a strange contrast to their bloated and sad faces. They are a dominant predator in the holy lands and have become a symbol of inspiration and beauty for the entity that resides over all. Occasionally they are trained and kept as partners by Man-Hunters."

I had a number of minor mishaps painting this figure, from little bits of crap getting into the paint to stealth mould lines I only noticed after priming. I had originally decided on a cold colour set, but the image of gold flecked fur in the sunlight (in the description) caught my imagination, so I went for a more regal and warmer colour set to reflect what I envisioned as a golden aura. As much as possible, I stuck to the description and painted the front arms in human skin colours and I also added colour to the wrinkles on the face also to bring out the sculpted features. I am happy with the outcome as I feel the finished article captures both the powerful predator and saddened human features.

DiStudios

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Wip: Kingdom Death's White Lion

The White Lion is complete and I am currently prepping for the photo-shoot. If all goes well it will be up within the next few hours. It was actually quite a stressful job to complete as all manner of complications occurred ranging from; poor colour choices, particulates in the paint to overly heavy primer. I think the final result is pretty good considering all the problems I have had with it. In the end it is vastly different to how I had originally envisionaged it, but in a positive way, which is always a good thing.

Looking forward to posting the photos soon!

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Wip: Deathwing Squad #1

First squad is built and cleaned, no shoulder pads however as I am waiting on a Forge World order to arrive (tomorrow should be the day). While I really like the Space Marine Terminator models but find them very plain when compared to the 2nd edition Deathwing Terminators.

Site News: New Gorm photos!

Right, I was really  unhappy with the state of affairs of my miniature photos. SO after a really tall cup of coffee (its 2:44am here) and a crash course in how to use my digital camera and GIMP, I have re-taken the Gorm photos. I think these are a lot better than the ones I posted last week, you can definitely see the different colours I have put into the figure.

Check out new Pictures HERE

A few important things I have learnt from this re-shoot (Thanks for the guidance Mr Poots!):

1. Always keep your Raws! (original pictures), you never know when they might be needed!
2. GIMP is your friend! (Editing software)
3. The iPhone is not a suitable camera replacement!
4. Photobucket is not a suitable substitute for decent editing software!

I will be remembering these points for all of my up coming photo shoots, so more eye candy and less eye bleeding from 14th legion.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Make sure you check out the great range of Kingdom Death figures. I promise you, you will not be disappointed! CLICK

Wip: Belial Part 1

Two Warhammer Projects in two weeks! I am happy to share the early stages of my rendition of  Grand Master Belial. I started work on this piece last Friday after discovering a spare pair of (badly mauled and foot re sculpt) Terminator legs. To get some extra pose ability, I removed the upper thighs and replaced them with pins and plastic tubing.

Wayland Games: Discount Voucher

Wayland Games are offering are offering 5% off every purchase over £30.00. This voucher does not apply to Flames of War and a few other products which already offer free shipping.

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WAYLANDIS2
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This offer lasts until the 22nd of February, so to take advantage of this great offer and reinforce today: Wayland Games - Discount Wargames

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Quick Tips#3: Repairing broken horns/spikes

This evening I decided to break out the lovely Forge World Great Unclean One, It has been sitting in it's case with rest of my Nurgle for quite some time and I felt that such an impressive model deserved some attention. Much to my horror I discovered that the two small horns on his head were broken, not sure how it had happened but naturally a irritating discovery. I decided that tonight I would repair the beast, as leaving it till later would probably mean next year. So here is Repairing Horns & Spiky Bits 101, lets have a look at the necessary tools for this job:

Putty

The putty of choice for this type of job is Brown Stuff, this is because it has less stickiness then green stuff and has a firmer finish once dry. This is a excellent quality when working with items that you might intend to sand or shave once dry.

Pin Vice, drill bits, Wire

The size of bit is dependant on the repair, In my case I am using paper clips to repair the horns so the drill bit is around 0.5mm in size.

Tweezers & Super glue

Necessary to hold the pins and securely plug them in place.

Gallery: Black Hide Wrastler

The Blackhide Wrastler was the main reason I started a Blindwater force, I had decided back when Hordes was first released that I could not justify a second Privateer Press army an would stick to Khador. MKII and the release of the Blindwater faction changed this. I decided to bend the left arm a little so it was less "Jazz hands" and more thrashing in the water and lashing out at a foe, originally I intended to create splashes of water out of resin, but the figure would have become too delicate to use as a gaming piece. I am really happy with all the small details I have added such as the ferns, wood stump (complete with fungus) and of course the swamp water. The hide is a mix a olive green mix while the spine scales are a darker shade with repeated washes to bring out texture and detail.

I like the colours used for this warbeast and will probably use it on the rest of my Blindwater collection.

DiStudios

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Warmachine Galleries Updated

I am happy to say that the gallery pages are now working properly. This blog is my first using the Blogger system and I have to admit I had been finding the transition difficult, however after much self learning on the trusty Macbook and with applications like GIMP, I have finally managed to edit older images and link my photos to thumbnails in a manner I am happy with. Gallery 2 consists of older works and should link directly to photos, while Gallery one will link to relevant blog posts. I intend to use the blog post approach for future photos shoots as it is the fastest way to present new work, but it is nice to know how to link photos to thumbnails and consolidate multiple photos into one file.

A replacement bulb also arrived today for lamp number two, which means I again have enough light to take decent photos again.

Please check out the updated galleries:

Gallery 1

Gallery 2

Happy viewing and thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Wip: White Lion & Genma

Today has been a great hobby day for me. Not only did my Anima Tactics order turn up, but I also finished the Gorm and added more content to the blog galleries (about time really). To finalise todays efforts I have two figures built, cleaned and primed; ready for me to crack on with tomorrow.

I am sticking to the Kingdom Death theme by working on the smaller but no less impressive White Lion. I actually picked this model up at salute 2010, direct from the KD Games stand, where I got a chance to speak to the members of the team (great people and next to Mike McVey too!) and it has dawned on me that it has taken almost a full year to get round to opening the box and finding the courage to work on it! Like the Gorm, I have no colour reference for this figure, so the colours I choose will be completely personal taste. I intend to use cold colour (greys, blues) for the skin, and offset that with a warmer (but still dark) set of colours for the base...time will tell if this works.

Gallery: The Gorm

The Gorm was the first large monster kit released by kingdom Death games in 2010, it is a truly nightmarish design splicing elephant, baby and angler fish into a massive demonic creature. To try and give it a suitably unnatural look, I applied multiple washes of green, blue and reds over a medium grey base. I then mixed pale flesh tones into grey for highlights, finalising with a pure white high light. The figure was a absolute joy to put together and paint but I feel the photos have taken away some of the colours I put into this piece.

I had a lot of fun painting this figure, and with this done I finally have the courage to tackle the rest of this highly detailed miniature range.

DiStudios

Send The Eighth!

To keep up to date with all our goings on, like and follow our Facebook, Google + & Twitter pages.

Anima Tactics: New Arrivals

I am a big fan of Anime, so it was only natural that, should I stumble on miniatures based on this style that would pick some up. Throughout 2010 I had picked up various figures from systems like Infinity and Soda pop due to the art direction and sculpts. However I found myself losing interest in the aforementioned systems, while Infinity has great looking figures I was not in the mood to start yet another sci-fi game and Soda Pop miniatures seemed to lack consistency in sculpt quality as the range expanded. Luckily for me, I discovered Anima Tactics.

With amazing art and even more amazing sculpts, I found myself ordering the odd figure with my Privateer orders. Over 2010 this resulted in a collection of around a dozen figures including two special edition Celia models. This morning I received my first fully Anima Tactics order (around four miniatures), and with the lull in Privateer releases have decided to finally focus some attention on these amazing figures.

Wip: Kingdom Death's Gorm II

Some progress on the Gorm today. I managed to add shadows and highlights to the creature and even some  washes for tone. Although I did want the figure grey to maintain a cold feel, I think I need to add something in terms of more depth of colour, maybe a light wash of an off blue? 

Kingdom Death: Grand Mother

Hot off the heals of 2010's Wet Nurse release, KD Games starts 2011 with another stunner of a figure: "Grand Mother"

Wip: Kingdom Death's Gorm I

Part of this year's vows, I have taken the first step to painting up my Kingdom Death figure collection. For those who don't know; Kingdom Death games are a boutique miniature company specialising in the Fantasy /Horror genre, most notably they are the team responsible for the "Wet Nurse". So which figure have I decided to start my Kingdom Death year with? Non other than the Gorm, KD Game's first big bad monster.

Army List: Blindwater Congregation 35pts.

Despite recent success with my current Blindwater list, the arrival of new figures (Ironback Spitter and 3 Bull Snappers) has meant a slight change to how I view my army. Previously I had been content to drop swamps and slowly make my way up the field with a plethora of solos providing harassment, before going for the "Black Tide" kill. However as my opponents adapt by taking amphibious/knockdown immune and in some case armour piercing units, all very anti Blindwater units that are a result of my very obvious one trick pony. What the list lacks is fire power, melee is too predictable a manoeuvre and in these situations the ability to do harm from the safety of a cold, comforting...swamp is invaluable. While I do indeed have a Croak Hunter, I would not really classify it as reliable firepower, one short range poking stick is not really that impressive.

"The new" Blindwater Congregation 35pts

• Bloody Barnabas
• Blackhide Wrastler
• Bull Snapper
• Ironback Spitter

• 6 Bog Trog Ambushers
• 2 Croak Hunters
• 5 Gatormen Posse
• Thrullg

Hordes: Ironback Spitter

The Ironback Spitter is the last Warbeast to be released for the Blindwater Congregation, best described as a giant cranky phlegm spitting turtle (or Gamera), this beast fits perfectly with it's fellow swamp creatures from the bayou. The figure is a large pewter multi part kit with intricately carved armour details, and comes in 6 components.