Incoming Heavy Gear Blitz!

Hey Everyone,

I got my NuCoal bundle over the weekend! My General Purpose Squad is built, and my Recon Squad is almost built. Unfortunately, the Command Vehicle was missing it's torso. I put in an email to DP9 to get the bit mailed out. I also got my Infantry Platoon on bases. I never painted anything that tiny before (10-15mm scale), so making them look good will be a challenge.

The quality of the models is really awesome. I was excited to see that the Hussar models come with 4 turret bases. Although the model has a total of 5 turret options, two of them use missile pods. That means you can magnetize the hell out of this kit and save money (which is exactly what I am doing)! My first Hussar of the two is almost complete. I just have to magnetize 3 more turret bases and then I will take some pictures for everyone! I definitely plan to pick up another two of the Hussar kits.

Pics before the weekend!

Heavy Gear Sale and my Mecha Addiction

Hi Everyone,

My name is Bernard...and I am an addict. I love giant robot death machines...probably a little more than what would be considered healthy. I would change the name of this blog to "Blood, Elves, and Ass-kicking Robots", but I am lazy. While cruising the blogosphere, I stumbled across a post on Frontline Gamer informing everyone about Dream Pod 9's (DP9) Spring Sale. For those that don't know, DP9 makes 'Heavy Gear Blitz!'. I have somewhat of a history with Heavy Gear, so for the sake of completeness, I will tell this tale from the beginning.

I pledge allegiance, to the Field Guide, of the New Coalition of Terra Nova.

Before I was ever a wargaming nerd, I was a video game nerd. Before that, I was a cartoon nerd, with a certain fascination with mecha. I mean, after all, what is cooler than giant robots beating the crap out of each other? When my family got our first computer back in the 90's, it came with two games; Starsiege and Heavy Gear 2. Starsiege was okay, but Heavy Gear 2 had a badass mech pointing a gun at your face on the box art, and I was instantly hooked. Coming from the consoles of the era, and switching to 3D accelerated graphics, my mind melted from the level of detail contained in the game. I could play against people half way across the planet with my fancy 56k connection (granted, you could never actually hit anyone on said 56k connection). For the time period, the game was amazing. For me, that game combined two of the most important things in the universe....death robots and video games.

You would have to be crazy not to play this game. If you didn't, that guy would blow you to bits!

Fast forward a couple of years, and you would find me in mecha gamer hell. Mechwarrior was putting out the same old game year after year. There were no more Heavy Gear sequels (There was a CG cartoon show apparently, but I never heard of it until yesterday). The Armored Core series wasn't quite doing it for me. No good Gundam games were ever released in America. I could go on forever. My giant robot of death addiction was barely sated with the Gundam 1/144 model kits at my LFGS.

Why did I never see this?!?!

Fast forward a few more years, and you would find me being introduced to wargaming via Warhammer 40k. Immediately, I started searching for table top mecha games, but I only came across Mechwarrior. Those models make me cringe every time I see them. No offense to any Mechwarrior players, I just don't like the style. 40k has mecha by the way of the titans, but you almost have to take out a loan to be able to buy one, so I gave up on mecha gaming all together. And then, last week, I saw the info about 'Heavy Gear Blitz!'. My eyes practically bulged out of my head, and my brain replayed all of the highlights of the Heavy Gear 2 single player campaign. Nostalgia made me hurry over to the DP9 web site and drool over the models. And then my girlfriend calls...

Me: "Hey, so I stumbled across this new mecha game."
Tara: "You aren't going to buy any new models, are you?"
Me: "...maybe?"
Tara: "*sigh*"
Me: "...but they are on sale!"

The demon that possesses my girlfriend when I buy models.

Yea, so I totally caved in and bought a NuCoal force. I have been learning all I can about the game by staring at their forums while I wait for my stuff to arrive. The sale ends on 5/1/12, and details are as follows (verbatim from DP9's site):

"As spring is in full swing, we're having a sale! The Spring Sale will run from Friday, April 13th through Tuesday morning May 1st, 2012. For every $50 of products (including books, miniatures, model kits, package deals, etc.) purchased, we are throwing in a free $10 or less gift product of your choice with the order, if you purchase for $100 you can select a $20 or less gift product instead of two $10 gift products, $150 order gets you a $30 gift, and so on. Do not order the gift(s) as if they are lines in the order or they will be charged with the order automatically, just type your requested free gift name(s) and product number(s) in the comments section of the cash out page and they will be added when we pack the order."

Deals that awesome are pretty rare. Pretty much, if you buy a starter kit, you get some free models. If you buy the NuCoal megaforce (have to rep my squad!), you get $60 bucks worth of free stuff to dominate all of the other crappy factions. What are you waiting for?!?! Get over to the DP9 web site and buy stuff already, or the Hussars below will shoot you in the face!

The queue...

There comes a time in a wargamer's life, where you step back and say, "Damn, how am I going to paint all of this stuff? It is everywhere". For me, that was today. I pledge to paint all of this before the end of the year!

Blood Angels infantry. All the command stuff is painted. Some stuff is base coated.

Blood Angels vehicles. This shot is missing another Stormraven and a Predator.

My Tau force. Magnetized vehicles, some FW stuff. Grey Knights just hanging out.

Anima/Infinity/Warmachine stuff. No where to put it, so they keep my books company.

Old School 3rd edition Space Wolves. Infantry hiding behind the tanks. None of it is game legal anymore (Remember dual-wielding bolters with Wolf Guard because of True Grit?). This all needs to be stripped and repainted for display.

These shots don't even include my Druchii, which are in random places all over my house. Things got this bad because I didn't have a dedicated work space. Prep, spraying, painting, basing, and storage all happened in my bedroom. In order to have workspace, I needed to clear off my computer desk which was nigh impossible as I am a computer nerd in addition to being a scale gaming nerd. My MMO addiction would not allow that to happen. Thankfully, with the new house came dedicated work space!

Where the magic happens. This is actually only a small part of the room. It is like an extra room in my garage. Tons of storage space. I am still shopping around for bitz containers and such. You can see blue and purple which means I have been hard at work on my elves!

My Iwata HP-CS airbrush. Don't know how I managed to survive without one for so long. It won't help you in the Zombie Apocalypse, but it makes painting zombies super easy!

Death Hag WIP

Hello!

I was lucky enough to grab the limited edition Azumi model from Studio McVay. The model was limited to 500 castings worldwide. It is meant to be a geisha assassin, but I think it will fit nicely in the role of my Death Hag. To be a good Death Hag, one needs to be cute and deadly. Nothing screams cute and deadly like a Japanese woman dual wielding katanas, right? So without further ado, here is my Death Hag WIP:

Stupid camera...All that blue looks more purple in person.

The vertical strips of fabric will be painted gold to help tie the Hag into the army.

The amount of detail on this model is insane, and my pictures don't really do it justice. As such, here is a pic from Studio McVey with their suggested paintjob:

I plan to put runic script on the fabric hanging from the forearms. I want to get a really cool alternative to the Cauldron of Blood to compliment her as well. Anyone have any ideas?

Dark Elf Sorceress Alternative

Hello!

Well, as fond as I am of Games Workshop, some of their sculpts for the Druchii are just plain fugly ('effin + ugly = fugly). The biggest offenders, in my opinion, are the Dark Elf Witches, but this post isn't about them. This is about the our sorceress options. GW offers:

1. Morathi on a Dark Pegasus....both fugly and naked.
2. Old school Morathi on foot....ew?
3. Supreme Sorceress with some swirly stuff....yea....fugly and weird.
4. A plastic sorceress with 80's hair like Gene Simmons. (I will admit, I did buy this one)

As I don't play competitively in tournaments, I could care less about the Games Workshop proxy rules. Not trying to bash them, as I completely understand that they want to protect their IP, but as a collector I am keeping my options open. I prefer to have a complete army that will look great on the table top. Not naked chicks with bad hair.

So what is there to do? It would just so happen that there are lots of appropriate options available! I present my first choice, Reaper's Alastriel!

Isn't she just adorable!

This model was a bit of a challenge. It is a really simple sculpt, so I wanted to do a top notch job with the paint to make it stand out. It will, after all, be one of my Lord choices. Initially, I couldn't decide on a color scheme. Overall, my army will use a blue-ish purple, gold, and silver as the main colors. I didn't want to do all of her clothes in purple though, as I felt that the model would be too dark. So, I turned to the lore in the Army Book for inspiration. After reading that many of the sorceresses in Dark Elf society indulge in the pleasure cults, the magic light bulb in my head came on.

"Pleasure cults worship Slaanesh...the Emperor's Children worship Slaanesh...the Emperor's Children are pink...Dark Elf Slaanesh worshipping Sorceresses would wear pink!"

I was quite proud of myself.

I think the cloak turned out well.

The whole model was base coated the same blue-gray you see on the base. The cloak was then layered with 2 blue tones, and then topped with two purple tones. The pink was created by mixing Tamiya red and white. A baal red wash was then applied over it. The skin is just one layer of Tamiya flesh that was airbrushed on. The airbrush really helped to create the shading effects. This was also my first time playing with object source lighting (OSL). I wanted the gem in her staff to shine light onto her hair and I also wanted the runes on the sword to "shine" as well. I think both effects turned out well. I then applied a thinned layer of Quickshade (1:1 QS to Mineral Spirits) by brush. A little touching up and basing, and she will be ready to go to battle!

Her sister-at-arms will be the Warmachine Shepard Solo model. She is only primed right now, but I think she will fit in perfectly.  She has this whole "grim reaper" thing going on. She definitely would not wear pink though, so I don't know which color scheme to go with. Maybe black and gold?

Feel free to share any criticism. What models do you all use for your wizard options?

Dark Elf Hydra...WIP

Rawr!!!

Hello!

I finished my Hydra model a few days ago, and I am waiting for the gloss varnish (Quickshade Strong Tone) to dry. In the mean time, I thought I would share some pics! This was my first attempt at using an airbrush, and I think it turned out pretty well. My camera sucks, so please bear with the pictures.

The under side of the model was primed with black Vallejo primer. I then built up a layer of dark blue, ice blue, and then a light layer of a khaki (all by airbrush). The effect is really cool in person. The blues show through in some areas where the khaki meets the green of the top side of the model, which really helps to blend the two areas.

The top side of the model was primed with black and grey Vallejo in different areas. After that, it was based with a green from the Vallejo Game Color line (I can't remember which), and then a highlight was added with a green from the Tamiya line. Both of the greens were not applied evenly, which allowed the black/grey to make some of the details really pop. It left trippy designs swirled on the skin, which I rather like.

The bone plates were base coated in a Vallejo brown, with a layer of a Tamiya redish-brown, and highlighted with Citadel bleached bone and skull white. I then inked then with a dark brown ink. And then they got another dose of brown ink (different shade) from the Quickshade. The dark brown ink in the Quickshade really helped to blend the colors together.

Enough rambling, more pictures!

You can see the greens blending together here.

You can see the blue showing through at the neck joint here.

Sorceress in the background, more on her later!

Shot of the bone plates on the back.

I learned some really important things while doing this model:

1. My airbrush does not like the Vallejo primers. I had to dilute them to get them to flow properly, even though the bottles swear that I shouldn't have to.
2. My airbrush loves diluted Tamiya paints. Easy as pie to use, easier to clean up.
3. Vallejo Model Air paints are hit or miss. Some colors sprayed fine, but most needed to be thinned.
4. Don't paint when you are tired....you will get chainmail paint on your airbrushed work and want to kill a kitten.

I am consider leaving some of the skin glossy. I think it would give it a slimy, lizard look. I think I will still apply a matte varnish to the bony areas. What do you all think of that?

Dark Elf Collecting...Alternative Models

Hello Interwebz,

My Druchii army started out as the Dark Elf Battleforce in February. Thanks to Legions Games having a used model bin, in a mere two months it has swelled into the following:

2x 10 man crossbow units, with full command
1x 20 man Corsair unit, with full command
2x 5 man units of converted Dark riders, with full command ($10!)
1x Hydra with handlers ($20!)
1x 10 man unit of Executioners ($6!)
1x Converted Dreadlord on a Bretonnian pegasus
1x 14 man unit of warriors with spears, full command
2x 6 man units of Cold One Knights, full command
1x Sorceress
1x Converted Cold One Chariot ($10)
1x Reaper Bolt Thrower and crew

I also use a few models from other ranges:

1x 10 man unit of Shades (Warmachine Mage Hunter Strike Force)
1x Sorceress (Reaper model)
2x Assassins (Reaper models)
2x Dreadlord/Master on foot (Reaper models)
1x Hag, (Studio McVay's Azumi, limited edition)

Next up on my buying list is:
Cauldron of Blood
Executioner Command
A block of Black Guard
A block of Witch Elves

My dilemma is that I do not want Games Workshop models for the Cauldron, Black Guard, or Witch Elves. They are a little "meh", and expensive. I don't mind a higher price point for quality, but paying a lot for something that just looks goofy (looking at you Witches) doesn't sit well with me. I have found great alternative models for the Witches over at Raging Heroes. They call them Blood Vestals, and they look absolutely amazing. I will probably use their Elven Battle Standard model too. Does anyone out there have any ideas for alternative models that can represent the Cauldron of Blood or the Black Guard? I am aware of the Gamezone line, which is awesome, but I am looking for some other options as well!

Hello World

Hello World,

Welcome to Blood and Elves. My name is Bernard, and this space is dedicated to a number of things, but primarily my love of wargaming. This blog is a work in progress, so please excuse the basic layout and such. Things will improve over time, I promise!

My main goal for the moment will be to document my construction of a new Druchii army (Warhammer Fantasy) and finally putting paint on my old Blood Angels (Warhammer 40k). Hence the name, Blood and Elves (did you see what I did there?). I will be posting pictures of works in progress, and critiques are welcome! I am a passable painter, but I am always looking for ways to improve my technique.

Well, a little bit about me...I am 27, from Pittsburgh, PA (USA). I have lived here my entire life. Tried to get away for college, but ended up going to the University of Pittsburgh. I am a web programmer for a health insurance company. I started wargaming in high school, around 1999. My first game was Warhammer 40k, and I had a Space Wolves army (back in 3rd edition when they could use Leman Russ tanks). The models looked like absolute crap (my paintjob, not the actual models), but I was having fun. My entire D&D group added 40k to our gaming rotation, and all of our weekends were wasted at Phantom of the Attic (an LGS). I started collecting Blood Angels around freshman year in college, but I didn't really have much time to play. Then there was a gaming void (8 years) due to lack of funding while working part time jobs....and then BAM! Full time employment in customer service....and then student loan payments. Last October, I was lucky enough to land a job in my field (Computer Science), which meant a nice pay increase. Blood Angel collecting was back full force. And then I discovered a ton of new gaming systems were created during my hiatus...Anima Tactics, Infinity, Warmachine, etc, etc, etc. I was buying models quicker than I could paint them. And then, this past Valentine's Day, my girlfriend buys me a Dark Elf Battalion for WFB. My bedroom was a clutter of white metal, pewter, and plastic. It wasn't pretty.

I recently moved into a new (larger) house, and finally have a dedicated studio for painting. The new house is also very close to Legions Games in Pittsburgh, so I am hoping that will allow me to squeeze in some gaming sessions once everything is painted.

Armies in progress:

40K: Blood Angels and Tau
WFB: Dark Elves
Infinity: Yu Jing (what happens when China takes over the world)
Warmachine: Retribution of Scyrah
Hordes: Skorne...maybe Everblight too
Anima Tactics: Samael
M.E.R.C.S.: Yellowjackets


Tools of the trade:

Airbrush: Iwata HP-CS
Brushes: Citadel set
Paints: Tamiya and Vallejo
Varnish: Quickshade and Vallejo brush on