Monday 31 July 2017

Errant Dukes - Resin Crates, Barrels and Objective Markers - A Review

Hey all,


Something a little different today! I recently got my hands on some nifty little bits of scenery and today I'm just going to take a look at them. These are just in their cleaned resin state so far, but as time allows I'll be putting some paint on them to use in games and I'll show them off once they are all painted up as well.

Errant Dukes is a little resin scenery start up company that I mentioned some time ago, but now they have a CrowdFunder up and running if you want to check out other upcoming stuff and put some dosh down. But for now lets just look at what they've got!

Barrels


The barrels come in at a nice height next to a marine, including the Primaris marines, with the advent of 8th edition cover, I will probably be putting these on bases as a form of area terrain, which while limiting in terms of deployment, will maximise the cover mechanic in games I play. Stacking the barrels give you the potential for complete line of sight blocking terrain for smaller models, particularly if used in conjunction with other bits of terrain like barricades.

Each Barrel comes with crisp logo detail on them for flammable substances, biohazard waste etc as you can see below:








Each set of 5 barrels costs around £5 including postage and packaging, but they only charge 25p for each additional item on their eBay store so each additional set only costs £3.75 (£3.50 base). I personally think that is great value!

However, the ones I really like are the objective marker barrels, nicely numbered and because of their cylindrical shape they are dead easy to measure from the centre of the objective. Incidentally I will be mounting these on 150mm bases. This will make it easy to measure how many models are within the 3inches of the objective centre as you'll just count the models that are on the base, easier than cracking out the tape measure if its a close call!




Crates


The crates come in a variety of sizes with one blank, undetailed side for sitting on, this is nice as it kind of forces your hand in how you stack them and means you end up with crates on their short side, so standing nice and tall. I can see that some people might prefer texture on all the sides, but for me this doesn't really bother me at all.



The crates are priced similarly to the barrels but go up or down in price depending on size. Five small square crates come in at £2.50 + PP and the largest crates, such as the one on the right standing up cost £4.50 + PP for two plus a long thin crate standing on its short end.

The crates also come in an objective marker variety which I actually prefer to the barrels, just because they are super clear to read and I know that sometimes you end up look at your objectives going - which one is that again!?



Overall


I really like the pieces that Errant Dukes are currently producing and they have more plans in the offering! If you check out their Crowdfunder you'll see that £20 can get you a very nice selection of both fantasy crates as I have here and also sci-fi crates that they have in the works. I will personally be pledging for some of the sci-fi crates for some additional variety to what I already have.

I am a big fan of smaller companies producing wargaming materials and the like, as I feel they very often fill distinct niches in the market. I think the level of detail Errant Dukes offers is extremely good for the price. So I encourage you to go have a look at them either on their Crowdfunder or through their eBay store :)

Peace out,

Rob

Monday 24 July 2017

Deathguard 2.0

Hey all,


Bit of a photo dump today! Life is still hectic for several reasons that I will elucidate on at a later date, however the main one is a very good (as in happy) reason so I shan't complain at all! In lieu of my decreased hobby time, I've had to double down on my commissions to meet those commitments, so I have been smashing out the Deathguard in my free time this past week. Behold, half of the second batch more or less...


















I made an effort to make the paint distinct from the first batch so that you don't just have carbon copies on the table, but not so much that they look odd paced together. So different blade and horn colours etc mainly, plus use of blood and pus. 

Peace out,

Rob

Tuesday 18 July 2017

3000 Points of Solar Auxilia - Overview and Farewell

Hey all,


Finally getting round to it, here is an overview of my full painted 3000 points of Solar Auxilia. I'm super happy with the army, in both its look and how it is to play. That I said I am currently in the process of selling the army. This is partly to clear space and partly to provide funds for life in general as well as future hobby purchases. I took a while deciding on which of my armies to sell, and the Solar Auxilia were pipped by the mechanicum and my Istvann force for a few reasons. One of the main ones being that both the mechanicum and astartes armies are quite heavily converted in a multitude of ways, compared to the standard nature of the Auxilia. Other than that it has to do with how fun they are to play and how much money they would yield plus overall likelihood to sell.

Anyways, here's a photo dump for you to look at :)



























Peace out,

Rob