The Coven of Verminlord Skrax - Painted Models Part 6

The Venoms I am especially proud of, as I discovered a simple and effective way of painting a rusted metal look on the engine and thruster parts. It's simply a basecoat of Mournfang Brown (mixed with a little Agrax Earthshade to improve flow and make sure it gets in all the nooks and crannies), then when that's dry, you drybrush heavily Leadbelcher overtop. That's pretty much it! I've seen a similar effect done with very careful weathering and pigment powders, but I was so pleased with the experiment that I stuck with it on all of them. I wanted to keep the Dark Eldar look of the real Venom parts as is so it really looks like the rat-engineers were really only interested in salvaging and souping up old Venom wrecks.

The Coven of Verminlord Skrax - Painted Models Part 5

The Cronos, or as Skrax calls it, the Swarm Nexus, is a being completely blinded by its own radiant power. The purpose is to provide an aura of vitality and energy that his creations feed off of. The Warpstones found on this world are the key in that.

I was hoping to get the POWER OVERWHELMING feel of the model with it floating mid-air and glowing cables and warpstones.

The Coven of Verminlord Skrax - Painted Models Part 4

I'm getting to the final stretch of my Haemonculus Covens army as all the remainder of the models are finished getting painted and the whole army is coming together. The next few updates are going to showcase the rest of my painted Coven.

These Talos make up the Corpsthief Claw formation, which is a big chunk of points in my army, but a very strong unit. I really think they came together as a whole, these giant mutant rat creatures.

This particular Talos will be running in the Dark Artisan formation with the Cronos and Haemonculus. This is to be Verminlord Skrax' most prized creation. The achievement that has no equal in his army. Where many haemonculi before have failed, he has succeeded (although after hundreds of failures), he has hybridized some Tyranid DNA with one of his subjects. It is a slaughtering fiend of barely contained savagery.

Zone Mortalis Tiles Project - Storage Solution

I finally figures out a decent method of storage and transportation of my tiles project. I simply stumbled on the perfect size plastic storage bins from Walmart.

I am guessing any brand will do, as long as it fits the above dimensions, and ones with lids that lock on via clasps is ideal.

I just simply lined the bottom with some foam material quilters use to cushion the bottom, and that is how I store all 18 tiles and doodads into 4 boxes. Definitely takes up some space, but not as much as them laying out allover my floor collecting dust.

A daughter's gift - Her first painted mini

It's always nice to receive gifts from your family, but lately it's been pretty scripted. When my wife or kids need to get me something for my birthday, father's day, or christmas, I usually tell them exactly what I want or need for my collections. However to keep the spirit of surprise with gift giving alive, I came up with an idea.

I sent my wife with my older daughter, Bree (4 years old), to the gamestore to pick out any miniature kit from their GW shelf for $25 or under. I am always interested expanding my bits collection, and I feel I can make use out of just about any kit. This would be exciting because I would have no idea what I would be getting for my birthday, but I know I could use it for something.

So on my birthday last month she proudly brought to me what she picked out. Excitedly I ripped off the wrapping paper to find a box of Skeletons. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, because my daughter is in love with anything to do with Halloween, like ghosts, zombies, and skeletons. I can think of a good use for these, namely as dungeon denizens for RPGs or SoBaH.

She became fascinated with her gift, so I rewarded her with the opportunity to build and paint one of them.

I may have the potential makings of a little painting slave here. She was excited to copy what daddy does on most of his spare time.

Here is the finished product. As you can tell she has an affinity for the color red, refusing to try any other. I was able to get her to at least apply a shade of nuln oil to it to help bring out the detail. She picked the parts and pose for assembling, and I primed it for her. We will see what she can do in the future. Still a few years off before I start buying kits for her, but this could be the beginning.

HeroQuest Silver Tower - Custom Hero Cards

Just a few little hero cards I made for Silver Tower. While we have the app for handling other hero quest characters outside of the ones that come in the box, I like to avoid electronics at the table where possible. So some have been transcribing the hero cards from the app onto real cards. A few nice guys on the internet have been making that happen, and even going as far as to help with templates so you can make your own.

I love my Duardin heroes, so when I take the journey into the Silver Tower, I plan on bringing them along. The following are my custom hero cards. While they have been renamed and reflavored, the core rules and mechanics are all the same and still there. They will play exactly the same as their originals.

 

This is the Lord of the throng. In Silver Tower he uses the Warden King hero card, but with his abilities reflavored to his signature steamsuit. Also I just realized that I hadn't really showcased these miniatures yet. Unfortunately they aren't painted though.

Lord of the Forhammer Clan, and son of Behrun Forthammer. He leads his throng with the same ingenuity and determination of his steam powered armour. Due to his lifetime work as an engineer, his throng is blessed with much in the way of engineering wonders. The Dispossessed see these as tools for getting back against whom they hold long grudges, namely chaos. Their quest is to reclaim their ancient holds. In AoS I use him as a Dwarf Lord on Shieldbearers. The core mini is from Black Scorpion miniatures, with one arm reposed to hold a hammer from an old metal GW Dwarf Engineer.

Master Cogsmith of the Forthammer Clan, and first son of Lord Dunhill. He is turning out to be an engineer prodigy like his father. Having taken over and even completing many of his family's projects. Even the steamsuit was originally seen as a hopeless cause until Drake got to finishing it. Now Drake manages all the throng's war machines and heads up the Irondrake regiments. The original miniature is a mix of the Cogsmith model and some bits from the Irondrakes.

Runelordess of the Forthammer Clan, and daughter of Lord Dunhill. Stubborn, headstrong, and definitely her father's daughter. Bree is constantly rebelling against her father's wishes, especially the mandate to stay out of the battlefield. Having done so for so long she studied and became proficient with rune magic. Now she refuses to stay hidden any longer and fights with the throng, much to her father's chagrin. The model is from Reaper, which has some excellent female dwarf models, with the shield from my bits collection.