Tau Battlesuit

With the use of the Gamer's Grass, I was able to finally finish off my first Tau battlesuit, which was painted a while back, but lacked a finished base.  This is a conversion that I had planned when the Tau were new, but never got around to doing.  OK, so it has been a few years. I used one of the first model suits to build this guy, so it has limited posebility and weak ankles.

I added some rescue markings like on a fighter plane

Elongated head with rear antenna 

Gamer's Grass, sprue brick, and wrecked hardwood floor

You might be able to tell that I have cut off the jetpack and moved it in, as well as added the spinal antenna array. In addition I made a new head from bitz, and made the gun hand held rather than affixed to the forearm.

The original idea was to make over all of my battlesuits to this standard, but that still has not happened... so we will see what happens when I get there. (hopefully before I have owned them for 20 years)

Gamers Grass

Back in June (!), I got a few sheets of grass from Gamer's Grass, and yesterday I finally got around to using them.

Previously I had used a sheet of Army Painter 6mm Highland Tuft, which I got from Amazon, and was highly crushed when I got it.  I liked the look of it, but it was sort of a pain to cut pieces from, and the price was not great. So when it started to run low, I looked elsewhere.

Size comparison with a Abdul on a 30mm base (and terrible exposure)

Comparison between the Gamers Grass and the Army Painter Grass

Ordering from Gamer's Grass was very easy, and I even saved a few pennies by paying in GBP instead of USD, which was nice. The sheets came packed in a sturdy box, and were not folded or mashed in any way.  The tufts are perhaps a bit more regular than I would like, however, the colors are great, and they are very easy to use.  I certainly see the utility in having a number of colors on hand, and am already considering adding to my stash...

Inquisitorial Kill Team Sakhalin -Part 11

In our final installment of the Inquisitorial Kill Team Sakhalin, we have Brother Agerholm of the Deathwatch.

Bit of a photo dump for this one, as this figure is harder to photograph, and needed more comparison.

Bother Agerholm of the Deathwatch, seconded (some would say exiled from) the Invaders Space Marine Chapter.  Of late he has been often seen in concert with I.O. Sakhalin, to whom the Deathwatch owes a special allegiance.  In this pic, you will note that he is armed with a powerfist and a flexible magazine bolter. 

Another figure started seven years ago, this guy took a long time to build, and even longer to finish.  As you may be able to make out in the pictures, he is built from a standard space marine body, but I extended and widened the torso, created a new set of power cables, and also lengthened the legs and reposed the feet so that he was standing more upright. The head, bolter and shoulder pad are all from the metal Deathwatch set that came out when the concept of Deathwatch

And anticipating questions regarding size, here are some comparison pictures with I.O. Sakhalin and with the Chaos Space Marine I created a while back.

As you can see, he is a big fellow, but a bit more slender than the Stormcast and terminator based Chaos marine.

I have ideas for a further few deathwatch figures, and with the new Primaris marines, most of the true scale work is already done...

Inquisitorial Kill Team Sakhalin -Part 10

Part Ten, near to the end of Inquisitorial Kill Team Sakhalin is the Arsonist, Serafima. 

For a man as conservative as I.O. Sakhalin, his long association with Pani Serafima is more than surprising, as her record of contempt for superiors and delight in immolation of evidence is well known.  Note also that she here seen holding a knife seemingly made of wraithbone, a most curious weapon indeed for someone working with an Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos...

Rather obviously comprised of a Copplestone back of beyond figure and some tacked on bitz, this was a figure that was kicking around my spares box for a while, and then was added at the last minute to this group.

Inquisitorial Kill Team Sakhalin -Part 9

Part 9 of Inquisitorial Kill Team Sakhalin is Pilot Yuri. 

Pilot-Officer Yuri had a rather unfortunate encounter with a lupine life form after an unfortunate mid-air collision with the cargo scull belonging to a xeno-trader outside of a backwater trading post.  As this collision also caused said trader to be captured by I.O. Sakhalin, Pilot-Officer Yuri was offered the opportunity to join his retinue, which given that the alternative was to bleed out on the forest floor, he accepted.  

Another figure which languished for some time, as I was unsure what to do with the robotic arm.  In the end I left it as a servo cable jutting from his torso, which I imagine makes it somewhat useful for interfacing with imperial machinery, and rather less so for reloading his bolt pistol.

Hazard striping is certainly not my best work here, and I may go back and retouch it.

September White Dwarf

This Saturday I managed to make it to the FLGS to pick up the September issue of White Dwarf.  This issue is centered on the 30th Anniversary of Warhammer 40k, and rather unusually came in an over-sized card envelope. This allowed for two posters to be included, one of which is the cover art, and the other an advertisement for Total War: Warhammer II, and also allowed for the actual magazine cover to be fairly spare, with just the White Dwarf and Warhammer 40k/30 logos.

Oversized 

Magazine and contents

Quite large poster of the cover image

You may also notice that I bought a Bones figure.  With the Reaper Bones IV kickstarter closing on Saturday, I was in a Bones sort of mood, and picked this guy up to add to my stockpile... not exactly sensible, but he should turn out nicely.  As for the kickstarter, it ended up breaking $3 million.  I have only put in $1 so far, but expect to add quite a bit before the pledge manager closes (in July!).

Inquisitorial Kill Team Sakhalin -Part 8

Part 8 of the exquisitely drawn out Inquisitorial Kill Team Sakhalin is Trooper Okhlopkov.

One who watches over the others of a battle team can be called 'the Angel' of the group, although if that is true, then Trooper Okhlopkov is a murderous reaper of an angel, bringing to many a terminal flash of the Emperor's light.  Of note here is his custom long-las, which has been carefully treated to remove all of its original celebratory enamel, and refinished in the matte black seen in this pict. 

This figure actually is around eight years old, as I built it in my original flurry of INQ28 mania.  It was, as one might expect, unpainted until needed for a game.  I love the face of this figure, another stellar one from the Perry sculpted Huntsmen box, which as you will have noted formed the bulk of the heads used in this group. (the bodies were long ago allocated to a Necromunda gang, sadly unfinished)

Inquisitorial Kill Team Sakhalin -Part 7

Part 7 of our Inquisitorial Kill Team Sakhalin is Trooper Sova.

It is said by no less an authority than St. Chrisber, that every team put together for the purposes of combat will need a scout, someone or something that proceeds the main force and draws fire, while noting the positions of the enemy.  Trooper Sova fills the position for I.O. Sakhalin, as did his forebears before him.  While there are rumors that he is a psyker, and is thus linked to his owl, I.O. Sakhalin is far too orthodox to employ an unsanctioned psyker. - Marginalia from the Conclave notes of Lord Inquisitor Botteith, lost mysteriously on mission.

Another figure I had planned for a long time, and then put together in a rush of bitz building.  The "bird" aspect of this figure varied for a long time between a Bretonnian falcon and something more exotic, before I settled on this owl. (it was $1 cheaper)

Inquisitorial Kill Team Sakhalin -Part 6

Part 6 of our review of the Inquisitional kill team of I.O. Sakhalin is the enigmatic death cultist Smert-5.

Smert-5 is a member of the blood cult, whose low Gothic name translates to something close to the "Emperor's pointy knives".  Founded by an ex-imperial guard sergeant, the cult has a high emphasis on obeying superiors, and consequently cult members are in high demand as body guards for Inquisitors, Rogue Traders, and others that recruit retinue members.  The cult is aware of this, and uses its popularity as a producer of guards for the galacticaly important to remain in favor with the local authorities. 

This conversion is one that I have thought about the longest, but conversely the one I find most disappointing in actuality. The body is obviously from a vindicare assassin, and the left arm is from the old metal dire avenger upgrade arms. The mask is sculpted, but unfortunately the mask is just not very good, and the crude kabuki paint did not help any. I may go back and paint a layer of gloss over the mask, but I probably will not bother.  (if you view the pictures on "small" they do look significantly better, although that is true of most of my work!)

On the plus side, I did get to test a technique mentioned to me by Tears of Envy, whereby you pre-highlight the figure grey and then paint with a heavy layer of black paint/ink mix and it takes virtually no time at all. I think the body suit came out quite well, considering that again, it took about two minutes to highlight and then ink. (naturally her results are much better!)