Age of Sigmar...The Empire Strikes Back!

Hey all,

So my regular gaming buddy Dan got interested in Age of Sigmar and after flicking through the Generals Handbook I decided to give it a go as a side game! I picked up a lot of second hand Empire models for very cheap as I have really been enjoying playing regular humans recently instead of super humans or other races.

After a couple of games I can say Age of Sigmar is a very enjoyable beer and pretzels game. The only thing we took exception too was the variable game turn roll off, but that is easily house ruled for our enjoyment anyway. 

I'm not planning on spending a lot of time on these models as they literally just a side project for fun and games with no expectation to ever take them to events other than local ones, so not fussed about winning any prizes and thus table top quality will do! 

Here's what I've got painted so far which has taken a sum total of about 4 hours painting. Very rewarding when not going for best quality!

Obviously the bases are still to be done, but I want to block paint them. I've also got the following bought and ready to paint:

10 x pikemen

10 x Handgunners

10 x Handgunners

1 x Wizard mounted

1 x Wizard on foot

3 x Demigryphs

10 x Reikland Knights

2 x Mortars

I'm also planning on buying Karl Franz for a proper Empire force! 

Peace out,

Rob

Solar Auxilia Dracosan Finished!

Hey all,

I finished my second Dracosan the other night, as usual after pictures, I have noticed bits and bobs that need touching up as I always do, but they don't detract from the model and most people probably won't notice them! That put my required Dracosans at 2! I should be building and priming them this weekend at some point as well as starting walking on my second Malcador Infernus and putting some time into my Auxilia command squad! They are going to be done by the close of the year I think :)

Peace out,

Rob

Review of Lasercut Candies Astartes Shields

Hi everyone,

I recently wrote about a small company run by a young lovely guy called Mario, this was Lacercutted Candies which you can read about through the link back that way. Yesterday I received a parcel in the post from Mario with a selection of shields plus he had actually sent me some of the painted samples on top of the order.

Today I'm just gonna run through the shields that I got! Mario was very kind and threw in some of his painted examples which we have below! I have advised he may need to tweak a few designs to avoid possible ip infringement but I don't think he will have any trouble doing that!

A Taghmata Omnissiah seal about an inch across, really lovely.

A selection of legion specific breacher shields and armour panels. I love the iron warriors armour panel above, the big solid IV is just really nice and uncomplicated.

Equally this gun mount skull looks like it would make a really nice touch to a vehicle.

If you do want more skulls Mario has multiple designs in the works and for sale already. The round shield variant is very nice for anyone that want them to be more of a combat shield for Assault squads or storm shields in 40k. As you can see they take primer just fine without losing the fidelity of detail.

My personal favourite is the third legion on the right, which I have ordered 27 of (you'll find out why soon). The death guard and sons of horus shields are brilliant, but these are the ones that I think are most likely to catch Mario out, so I'd grab them soon just in case!

A plain shield is obviously brilliant for anyone that wants to use transfers to spice the shield up from FW or even freehand some detail on. I do like the Raven shield as well.

This is a tiny nub only 1cm across but is a handy way of adding mechanicum detail to any third party miniatures you want to add to your force.

Overall

I love these shields! For clarity you can see in several of the pictures that the laser etching leaves a surface that is not completely smooth. However I personally like this as it adds texture to the shields but I can definitely see that it won't be to some peoples taste, so if you do order them do be aware that the flat surfaces will be ever so slightly textured. But for the price and the quality (and if like me you think it adds to the shields) I think they are brilliant. 

The 27 EC shields that I bought (the ones with the large wings out to the side 3 pictures up cost me around 70 euros including shipping. I actually advised Mario that that seemed a bit cheap to me for what I am getting, and he did say certain shields take longer to make and I think he has a right to a fair price on them. The smaller round shields are cheaper though. 

Overall, great value and a top bloke. I do recommend! If you want to know more visit his facebook page and ask for an invite to buy his products :)

Peace out,

Rob

Army picture of Current Solar Auxilia Force

Hey gang,

Not the best pictures but I didn't want to spend time fiddling with a proper set up till I had more of the army painted, but here we have my currently finished Solar Auxilia! One more Dracosan to add very soon and then the next port of call will be another squad of 10 volkite veletaris, 2 more Dracosans and a command squad before moving back on to some super heavies!

Peace out,

Rob

Solar Auxilia Legate Commander Finished

Hi all,

Just a quick update on my Legate Commander now based and the black coat a little bit more subtly highlighted. Thoughts welcome!

Now he just needs a name! Suggestions below and I will take them all into considerations :)

Peace out,

Rob

Kromlech - New shinies and a weekend Promo!

Hi Gang,

Another post today about some gubbins that crossed my path. I spend a good amount of time each week going through my favourite third party retailers to see what new stuff has been popping up and recently Kromlech have been knocking it out of the park!

They have recently produced a whole line of under slung heavy weapons as an alternative to the rifle style of GW. I personally prefer this style, with the general position and wrist brace making it seem a damn sight more effective at wielding these weapons. 

Magma Cannon

First up we have a multi melta equivalent which has lovely detail and looks suitably bad ass indeed.

Lascannon

The lascannon looks a damn sight more portable than the GW equivalent too. 

I think these also present ripe opportunities for creating your own kind of powered back pack as the weapons seems to have a decent space at the back for drilling allowing you to add your own power cables in. I'm currently designing some very small lists for 30k to represent loyalist sections of traitor legions on Istvann III so I hope to procure some of these and make a decent review out of them :)

Jump pack Promo! Chaos and Loyalist

Finally I also noticed this morning that they have a 20% off sale on their jump packs till the end of the weekend! The chaos ones I love as they are reminiscent of the old metal raptor jump packs, which are to my mind still the quintessential raptor jump pack, with that slightly sloped intake grill. 

Both sets though do have a more downward angled outlet which looks more realistic and practical to my eye. 

Anyway I hope these are of interest and I'll be back with actual hobby updates tomorrow :)

Peace out,

Rob

Dracosan Armoured Transport - WIP

Ey up,

More Solar Auxilia work to show you today. The red on this dracosan has been done in the gaps between other projects as it takes soooo long to get to this point. Each panel is a wash of red glaze followed by a carrebourg crimson wash. The red still needs to be sponge weathered with brown and silver and the black needs to be weathered with silver before the whole thing is given a wash of nuln oil. Bits and bobs to touch up before I start the weathering but its getting there!

Peace out,

Rob