Battle Report: Waaagh Orkimedes vs Minotaurs

What was it about this isolated, barren place? What hidden powers lay locked in the vaults of this long abandoned post? Brother Librarian Lycurgon; now recovered; had rejoined his battle brothers on the planet's surface. During his recovery in the care of the Chapter Apothecaries he had dreamt of strange alien objects, inhuman beings, and lucid colours in the sky that bloomed like ripe flowers in his mind's eye. Recent skirmishes with Chaos forces so early into the campaign did nothing but worry him further, where there was Chaos, there was the warp. His concentration broke as memories of the first engagement resurfaced, the memory crisp and precise as if he was living it again, his armour was rent in dozens of places and his shield shattered as a huge Chaos dreadnought in the colours of the Sons of Horus, prepared to finish him. He snapped back into reality and considered the matter, ultimately the Chaos strike force had been vanquished by the fury of the Minotaurs, but Lycurgon knew that Chaos was an infection, just when you thought it had been defeated, it would re manifest and swarm back like a cancer, especially in places such as this, where he could feel the faint warp signatures in everything around him...even the air, this place had to be a conduit and the answer was within the complex itself, like flies to rotten fruit, all of them; Imperial, heretic and xenos alike were drawn to this place. Lycurgon was sure that he would see the ugly face of Chaos again before this investigation was through, but for now there were more immediate issues to hand, the Orks. 

Veteran Sergeant Cordus of Tactical Squad 'Araios' approached and gave salute.

"Brother Librarian." It was a vented statement, hissed forth without any emotion. Lyurgon did not turn to face the Sergeant, but nodded in acknowledgement. 

"Orks sighted north of complex, attack imminent, numbers unconfirmed. Tactical Squads Araios and Dorusas have taken position at the complex's primary gate. Terminator Squad Gerousias awaits yours instructions."

Yes, Lycurgon thought once more...like flies drawn to rotten fruit.

Site News: Over Logging!

Gah the weekend just past, reminded me a lot like the South Park episode "Over Logging", for the first time our internet went down for over four days, leaving me frustrated and disconnected from the world *cue drama*. I think it was all part of a upgrade of some sort and it looks like it is back and working fine again. I just need to that absolutely everything is connected fine again. Anyways to the the important stuff, I had a game over the weekend against an old friend and very talented player named Ru, who is ranked 28th in the UK according to Rankings HQ. He brought his lovely green tide list of Waaagh Orkimedes to face off against Lycurgon's Elite Minotaur strike force. I am currently working on the photos and writing the bat rep and I have to say the outcome of the game has changed my perspective on everything forever *again cue drama!* 

The game was also played on a fully painted gaming table, which means I managed to finish the table in time for the game and I am looking forward to uploading the last tutorial before showing the full table shot. With the table complete and a decent gaming event held, there are now plans to expand the current table to 6 x 4, build an additional table and of course play very regular games. So fingers crossed, more bat reps and more terrain/scenery/table tutorials in the future for this blog yay!

So lots of (hopefully) interesting things to share with you all, now that I have rejoined the web ranks.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Badab War: Terminated!

I am sure I have gone on about my love for Tactical Terminators before, either ways here is the squad I am currently working on: Terminator Squad 'Gerousias', I am just building the second cyclone missile launcher and adding the green stuff insignias before I continue painting the full squad. I have had some feedback concerning the Librarian and I am inclined to agree that the Grey Knight sword does not really fit with the Minotaurs 'look' so I will be exploring some other weapon types to give Lycurgon, but will be avoiding the spear option, I am probably looking at a plasti-card build of some sort, covered with greenstuff to make it look more 'force weapon' like.

Auctions: Forge World, AT-43 ONI, Warmahordes & More!

Large selection of auctions up today from a wide variety of manufacturers, including:

• Warhammer Fantasy
• Warmachine & Hordes
• Smog 1888
• Scibor Miniatures
• Avatars of War
• Anima Tactics
• AT-43 ONI
• Freebooter Miniatures
• Soda Pop Miniatures
• Dark Age Miniatures
• Malifaux

As I said, quite a variety of things to choose from and a good indicator as to what I have accumulated over the years of collecting/gaming.

So why not pay a visit to the store and pick up some new toys! DiStudios Minis

Thanks for looking,

DiStudios

The 14th legion

Forge World: Imperial Strong Point Unboxing

Freshly delivered and Arriving much earlier than expected, the final piece to my 4x4 gaming table saga: Forge World's Imperial Strong Point, a resin cast board section designed to fit in with Games Workshop's Realm's of Battle gaming board. As with my Zone Mortalis unboxing, the most noticeable thing is just how light the board section is, in fact when I first received the box I thought it was empty!

Badab War: Brother Librarian Lycurgon

With the lack of Minotaur updates, you would think the project abandoned, but far from it. The Minotaurs project is the very reason why I have been investing so much time into getting my table complete these past two weeks, as I want to be a position to host more games without the need for my guests to have to bring anything bar their armies. However, today I took a break from the table to focus on one of the key figures of my army: Brother Librarian Lycurgon; a character based on the historical figure Lycurgus 'law giver of Sparta' and progenitor of the military Spartan way of romanticised in today's media. I have made a few figures to represent my character, but each one has been flawed in one way or the other, either being too plain or generic. However I finally feel that today I have come up with something that fits the heroic bill I am looking for.

There is still a great deal to do, such as filling in gaps rebuilding certain parts of the right arm as the shoulder pad does not fit well and there are some fine details that need to be added to give a more Greco look. But I feel once complete I will have a hero fit to lead my Minotaurs into battle! I am really looking forward to showing painted w.i.p's of this character soon.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios
The 14th legion

Hasslefree Miniatures: Sana Unboxing

Hasslefree has long been one of my guilty pleasures. Despite my painting backlogs, metal mountains and resin stock piles, I always manage to justify buying a Hasslefree product. For those of you not familiar with HFM (Hasslefree Miniatures), they are a UK based miniature range sculpted by industry veteran Kev White and they produce a variety of figures for most gaming genres. I believe they are currently celebrating their 9th year as a company. Today I received one of their latest Fantasy offerings: Sana, a female barbarian sporting a Red Sonia esque scale mail bikini and wielding a large axe, don't get much more fantasy than that!

Site Update: Busy days & Breakages

Just a little update as to why there has been little in the way of hobby posts this week. Over the weekend, I managed to break the nozzle of my airbrush. I applied a little too much pressure when securing it back in place and as a result broke the threading, the replacement arrived yesterday along with a 'back up' airbrush so business as usual.

Lots of real life stuff in the way right now such as rebuilding the garden fence and sorting out the new rug and blinds. Today should be the last of it and I hope to start work on the third airbrush/gaming board tutorial this evening. Either ways pure hobby goodness from tomorrow onwards yay!

Project focus for the rest of the month are Minotaurs and of course the table (3/4 board sections now complete), I am looking forward to sharing a group shot of both projects, month's end.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios
The 14th Legion

Auctions: Forge World, AT-43 ONI, Infinity & Warmahordes

Interesting selection of auctions this week, including lots of brand new Forge World kits I will never get round to using such as a Contemptor Dreadnought (I already have two!). There are also some AT-43 Zombies I have found tucked away in a box which have now gone up also. I really want to do a decent clear out before summer hits (won't have time for anything then!) so more stuff will be going up soon.

So head on over and see if anything takes your fancy: DiStudios Minis

Thanks for looking,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Terrain: Gaming Table #2 Airbrush Videos

I decided to add another layer of texture, using Vallejo Stone Effect Red Oxide. Once dried I undercoated the the boards in black undercoat before starting the paint job. I am also proud to share the first two 14th Legion videos ever. I have tried to include as much detail as possible, such as the colours used and corresponding numerical codes, so should you will be able to source the colours used more easily.

++Stone & Rubble++ 

Terrain: Gaming Table #1

Today is the start of one of my primary 2012 goals: to get my gaming table done. I bought Games Workshop's ROB (Realm Of Battle) board not long after release and was over joyed at having a complete 6x4 table large enough to accommodate games of all the system I played, and more importantly has the capacity for easy storage. However like most good intentions, the board had been sitting untouched since the house move, so almost two years or so. With more games at my house on the horizon I decided that enough was enough, no longer would I play on an embarrassingly grey plastic board, it was time to put some time and effort into scenery and make use of those Vallejo pastes I have been stock piling.

The tools being used for this project are as follows:

Citadel Large Dry brush

Citadel Realm of Battle Gaming Board

Vallejo Stone Effect Black Lava

Vallejo Stone Effect Sandy paste

Vallejo Stone Effect Rough Grey Pumice

Citadel Warhammer 40,000 basing kit (slate etc)

Lynn Steiner #3 - Finished

Paint job is complete and I am relatively happy with the result. There are some bits of the figure that I am unhappy with such as the facial tones and some of the black highlights, but that is something I hope to correct with the next figure. This was my first time using the VMC (Vallejo Model Colour) skin tones set and I was a little spoilt for choice when compared to the limited GW range I was using before.

Anima Tactics: Lynn Steiner WIP #2

Not much left to do on this figure, just small details such as eyes, hair and of course the black jacket highlights. It has been very nice painting skin tones again; and I think it has turned out quite nicely; which leaves me looking forward to painting the rest of the miniature line. I find it very important to enjoy the pieces I work on, as they define whether or not you will be able to complete more long term projects, such as an army or full faction.

If I get the time, I will finish off the small details tomorrow and start planning a decent photo shoot for next week, and hopefully this will mean I can start a new Anima figure on Sunday. However I am going to have to be very strict with timing from next week as I should be having a game of 40K towards the end of the months and so need to refocus effort on the Minotaurs.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Inspired? Pick up some paints and brushes from: Wayland Games - Discount Wargames

Sedition Wars: The Grendler

Mail from Mcvey day and the final addition to my Sedition Wars Strain collection is here: The Grendler, and my what a beast it is. My first impressions is that it is probably the largest of the Strain miniatures; including the Cthonion; and from what I can tell it's essentially a giant tentacled maw with legs on super virus steroids. The cast is nice and clean with a little bit of release agent, as I have come to expect from Studio McVey and I see very little in the way of detail loss, bubbles etc. However there looks to be one issue the tentacles...